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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8397.txt b/8397.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec73606 --- /dev/null +++ b/8397.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts, by +Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Posting Date: October 19, 2012 [EBook #8397] +Release Date: June, 2005 +First Posted: July 6, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, John Hagerson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., Litt. D. + + +THE ACTS + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., Litt. D. + + +THE ACTS + +_Chaps. I to XII_ VERSE 17. + + + +CONTENTS + +THE ASCENSION (Acts i. 1-14) + +THE THEME OF ACTS (Acts i. 1, 2; xxviii. 30, 31) + +THE FORTY DAYS (Acts i. 3) + +THE UNKNOWN TO-MORROW (Acts i. 7) + +THE APOSTOLIC WITNESSES (Acts i. 21, 22) + +THE ABIDING GIFT AND ITS TRANSITORY ACCOMPANIMENTS (Acts ii. 1-13) + +THE FOURFOLD SYMBOLS OF THE SPIRIT (Acts ii. 2, 3, 17; 1 John ii. 20) + +PETER'S FIRST SERMON (Acts ii. 32-47) + +THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME (Acts ii. 36) + +A FOURFOLD CORD (Acts ii. 42) + +A PURE CHURCH AN INCREASING CHURCH (Acts ii. 47) + +'THEN SHALL THE LAME MAN LEAP AS AN HART' (Acts iii. 1-16) + +'THE PRINCE OF LIFE' (Acts iii. 14, 15) + +THE HEALING POWER OF THE NAME (Acts iii. 16) + +THE SERVANT OF THE LORD (Acts iii. 26) + +THE FIRST BLAST OF TEMPEST (Acts iv. 1-14) + +WITH AND LIKE CHRIST (Acts iv. 13) + +OBEDIENT DISOBEDIENCE (Acts iv. 19-31) + +IMPOSSIBLE SILENCE (Acts iv. 20) + +THE SERVANT AND THE SLAVES (Acts iv. 25, 27, 29) + +THE WHEAT AND THE TARES (Acts iv. 32; v. 11) + +WHOM TO OBEY,--ANNAS OR ANGEL? (Acts v. 17-32) + +OUR CAPTAIN (Acts v. 31) + +GAMALIEL'S COUNSEL (Acts v. 38, 39) + +FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT (Acts vi. 3, 5, 8) + +STEPHEN'S VISION (Acts vii. 56) + +THE YOUNG SAUL AND THE AGED PAUL (Acts vii. 58; Philemon 9) + +THE DEATH OF THE MASTER AND THE DEATH OF THE SERVANT (Acts vii. 59, 60) + +SEED SCATTERED AND TAKING ROOT (Acts viii. 1-17) + +SIMON THE SORCERER (Acts viii. 21) + +A MEETING IN THE DESERT (Acts viii. 26-40) + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST (Acts viii. 40) + +GRACE TRIUMPHANT (Acts ix. 1-12; 17-20) + +'THIS WAY' (Acts ix. 2) + +A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE EARLY CHURCH (Acts ix. 31) + +COPIES OF CHRIST'S MANNER (Acts ix. 34, 40) + +WHAT GOD HATH CLEANSED (Acts x. 1-20) + +'GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS' (Acts x. 30-44) + +PETER'S APOLOGIA (Acts xi. 1-18) + +THE FIRST PREACHING AT ANTIOCH (Acts xi. 20, 21) + +THE EXHORTATION OF BARNABAS (Acts xi. 23) + +WHAT A GOOD MAN IS, AND HOW HE BECOMES SO (Acts xi. 24) + +A NICKNAME ACCEPTED (Acts xi. 26) + +THE MARTYRDOM OF JAMES (Acts xii. 2) + +PETER'S DELIVERANCE FROM PRISON (Acts xii. 5, R.V.) + +THE ANGEL'S TOUCH (Acts xii. 7, 23) + +'SOBER CERTAINTY' (Acts xii. 11) + +RHODA (Acts xii. 13) + +PETER AFTER HIS ESCAPE (Acts xii. 17) + + + +THE ASCENSION + +'The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began +both to do and teach, 2. Until the day in which He was taken up, after +that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the Apostles +whom He had chosen: 3. To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His +passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and +speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4. And, being +assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not +depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, +saith He, ye have heard of Me. 5. For John truly baptized with water; +but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6. +When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, +Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7. +And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the +seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. 8. But ye shall +receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall +be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in +Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9. And when He had +spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud +received Him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked stedfastly +toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white +apparel; 11. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up +into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, +shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. 12. +Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which +is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey. 13. And when they were come +in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, +and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, +James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of +James. 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and +supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with +His brethren.'--ACTS i. 1-14. + +The Ascension is twice narrated by Luke. The life begun by the +supernatural birth ends with the supernatural Ascension, which sets the +seal of Heaven on Christ's claims and work. Therefore the Gospel ends +with it. But it is also the starting-point of the Christ's heavenly +activity, of which the growth of His Church, as recorded in the Acts, +is the issue. Therefore the Book of the Acts of the Apostles begins +with it. + +The keynote of the 'treatise' lies in the first words, which describe +the Gospel as the record of what 'Jesus _began_ to do and teach,' Luke +would have gone on to say that this second book of his contained the +story of what Jesus went on to do and teach after He was 'taken up,' if +he had been strictly accurate, or had carried out his first intention, +as shown by the mould of his introductory sentence; but he is swept on +into the full stream of his narrative, and we have to infer the +contrast between his two volumes from his statement of the contents of +his first. + +The book, then, is misnamed Acts of the Apostles, both because the +greater number of the Apostles do nothing in it, and because, in +accordance with the hint of the first verse, Christ Himself is the doer +of all, as comes out distinctly in many places where the critical +events of the Church's progress and extension are attributed to 'the +Lord.' In one aspect, Christ's work on earth was finished on the Cross; +in another, that finished work is but the beginning both of His doing +and teaching. Therefore we are not to regard His teaching while on +earth as the completion of Christian revelation. To set aside the +Epistles on the plea that the Gospels contain Christ's own teaching, +while the Epistles are only Paul's or John's, is to misconceive the +relation between the earthly and the heavenly activity of Jesus. + +The statement of the theme of the book is followed by a brief summary +of the events between the Resurrection and Ascension. Luke had spoken +of these in the end of his Gospel, but given no note of time, and run +together the events of the day of the Resurrection and of the following +weeks, so that it might appear, as has been actually contended that he +meant, that the Ascension took place on the very day of Resurrection. +The fact that in this place he gives more detailed statements, and +tells how long elapsed between the Resurrection Sunday and the +Ascension, might have taught hasty critics that an author need not be +ignorant of what he does not mention, and that a detailed account does +not contradict a summary one,--truths which do not seem very recondite, +but have often been forgotten by very learned commentators. + +Three points are signalised as occupying the forty days: commandments +were given, Christ's actual living presence was demonstrated (by sight, +touch, hearing, etc.), and instructions concerning the kingdom were +imparted. The old blessed closeness and continuity of companionship had +ceased. Our Lord's appearances were now occasional. He came to the +disciples, they knew not whence; He withdrew from them, they knew not +whither. Apparently a sacred awe restrained them from seeking to detain +Him or to follow Him. Their hearts would be full of strangely mingled +feelings, and they were being taught by gentle degrees to do without +Him. Not only a divine decorum, but a most gracious tenderness, +dictated the alternation of presence and absence during these days. + +The instructions then given are again referred to in Luke's Gospel, and +are there represented as principally directed to opening their minds +'that they might understand the Scriptures.' The main thing about the +kingdom which they had then to learn, was that it was founded on the +death of Christ, who had fulfilled all the Old Testament predictions. +Much remained untaught, which after years were to bring to clear +knowledge; but from the illumination shed during these fruitful days +flowed the remarkable vigour and confidence of the Apostolic appeal to +the prophets, in the first conflicts of the Church with the rulers. +Christ is the King of the kingdom, and His Cross is His throne,--these +truths being grasped revolutionised the Apostles' conceptions. They are +as needful for us. + +From verse 4 onwards the last interview seems to be narrated. Probably +it began in the city, and ended on the slopes of Olivet. There was a +solemn summoning together of the Eleven, which is twice referred to +(vs. 4, 6). What awe of expectancy would rest on the group as they +gathered round Him, perhaps half suspecting that it was for the last +time! His words would change the suspicion into certainty, for He +proceeded to tell them what they were not to do and to do, when left +alone. The tone of leave-taking is unmistakable. + +The prohibition against leaving Jerusalem implies that they would have +done so if left to themselves; and it would have been small wonder if +they had been eager to hurry back to quiet Galilee, their home, and to +shake from their feet the dust of the city where their Lord had been +slain. Truly they would feel like sheep in the midst of wolves when He +had gone, and Pharisees and priests and Roman officers ringed them +round. No wonder if, like a shepherdless flock, they had broken and +scattered! But the theocratic importance of Jerusalem, and the fact +that nowhere else could the Apostles secure such an audience for their +witness, made their 'beginning at Jerusalem' necessary. So they were to +crush their natural longing to get back to Galilee, and to stay in +their dangerous position. We have all to ask, not where we should be +most at ease, but where we shall be most efficient as witnesses for +Christ, and to remember that very often the presence of adversaries +makes the door 'great and effectual.' + +These eleven poor men were not left by their Master with a hard task +and no help. He bade them 'wait' for the promised Holy Spirit, the +coming of whom they had heard from Him when in the upper room He spoke +to them of 'the Comforter.' They were too feeble to act alone, and +silence and retirement were all that He enjoined till they had been +plunged into the fiery baptism which should quicken, strengthen, and +transform them. + +The order in which promise and command occur here shows how graciously +Jesus considered the Apostles' weakness. Not a word does He say of +their task of witnessing, till He has filled their hearts with the +promise of the Spirit. He shows them the armour of power in which they +are to be clothed, before He points them to the battlefield. Waiting +times are not wasted times. Over-eagerness to rush into work, +especially into conspicuous and perilous work, is sure to end in +defeat. Till we feel the power coming into us, we had better be still. + +The promise of this great gift, the nature of which they but dimly +knew, set the Apostles' expectations on tiptoe, and they seem to have +thought that their reception of it was in some way the herald of the +establishment of the Messianic kingdom. So it was, but in a very +different fashion from their dream. They had not learned so much from +the forty days' instructions concerning the kingdom as to be free from +their old Jewish notions, which colour their question, 'Wilt Thou at +this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?' They believed that +Jesus could establish His kingdom when He would. They were right, and +also wrong,--right, for He is King; wrong, for its establishment is not +to be effected by a single act of power, but by the slow process of +preaching the gospel. + +Our Lord does not deal with their misconceptions which could only be +cured by time and events; but He lays down great principles, which we +need as much as the Eleven did. The 'times and seasons,' the long +stretches of days, and the critical epoch-making moments, are known to +God only; our business is, not to speculate curiously about these, but +to do the plain duty which is incumbent on the Church at all times. The +perpetual office of Christ's people to be His witnesses, their +equipment for that function (namely, the power of the Holy Spirit +coming on them), and the sphere of their work (namely, in ever-widening +circles, Jerusalem, Samaria, and the whole world), are laid down, not +for the first hearers only, but for all ages and for each individual, +in these last words of the Lord as He stood on Olivet, ready to depart. + +The calm simplicity of the account of the Ascension is remarkable. So +great an event told in such few, unimpassioned words! Luke's Gospel +gives the further detail that it was in the act of blessing with +uplifted hands that our Lord was parted from the Eleven. Two +expressions are here used to describe the Ascension, one of which ('was +taken up') implies that He was passive, the other of which ('He went') +implies that He was active. Both are true. As in the accounts of the +Resurrection He is sometimes said to have been raised, and sometimes to +have risen, so here. The Father took the Son back to the glory, the Son +left the world and went to the Father. No chariot of fire, no +whirlwind, was needed to lift Him to the throne. Elijah was carried by +such agency into a sphere new to him; Jesus ascended up where He was +before. + +No other mode of departure from earth would have corresponded to His +voluntary, supernatural birth. He carried manhood up to the throne of +God. The cloud which received Him while yet He was well within sight of +the gazers was probably that same bright cloud, the symbol of the +Divine Presence, which of old dwelt between the cherubim. His entrance +into it visibly symbolised the permanent participation, then begun, of +His glorified manhood in the divine glory. + +Most true to human nature is that continued gaze upwards after He had +passed into the hiding brightness of the glory-cloud. How many of us +know what it is to look long at the spot on the horizon where the last +glint of sunshine struck the sails of the ship that bore dear ones away +from us! It was fitting that angels, who had heralded His birth and +watched His grave, should proclaim His Second Coming to earth. + +It was gracious that, in the moment of keenest sense of desolation and +loss, the great hope of reunion should be poured into the hearts of the +Apostles. Nothing can be more distinct and assured than the terms of +that angel message. It gives for the faith and hope of all ages the +assurance that He will come; that He who comes will be the very Jesus +who went; that His coming will be, like His departure, visible, +corporeal, local. He will bring again all His tenderness, all His +brother's heart, all His divine power, and will gather His servants to +Himself. + +No wonder that, with such hopes flowing over the top of their sorrow, +like oil on troubled waters, the little group went back to the upper +room, hallowed by memories of the Last Supper, and there waited in +prayer and supplication during the ten days which elapsed till +Pentecost. So should we use the interval between any promise and its +fulfilment. Patient expectation, believing prayer, harmonious +association with our brethren, will prepare us for receiving the gift +of the Spirit, and will help to equip us as witnesses for Jesus. + + + +THE THEME OF ACTS + +'The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began +both to do and teach. 2. Until the day in which He was taken up.'--ACTS +i. 1, 2. + +'And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received +all that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and +teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all +confidence, no man forbidding him.'--ACTS xxviii. 30, 31. + +So begins and so ends this Book. I connect the commencement and the +close, because I think that the juxtaposition throws great light upon +the purpose of the writer, and suggests some very important lessons. +The reference to 'the former treatise' (which is, of course, the Gospel +according to Luke) implies that this Book is to be regarded as its +sequel, and the terms of the reference show the writer's own conception +of what he was going to do in his second volume. 'The former treatise +have I made ... of all that Jesus _began_ both to do and teach until +the day in which He was taken up.' Is not the natural inference that +the latter treatise will tell us what Jesus _continued_ 'to do and +teach' _after_ He was taken up? I think so. And thus the writer sets +forth at once, for those that have eyes to see, what he means to do, +and what he thinks his book is going to be about. + +So, then, the name 'The Acts of the Apostles,' which is not coeval with +the book itself, is somewhat of a misnomer. Most of the Apostles are +never heard of in it. There are, at the most, only three or four of +them concerning whom anything in the book is recorded. But our first +text supplies a deeper reason for regarding that title as inadequate, +and even misleading. For, if the theme of the story be what Christ did, +then the book is, not the 'Acts of the _Apostles_,' but the 'Acts of +_Jesus Christ_' through His servants. He, and He alone, is the Actor; +and the men who appear in it are but instruments in His hands, He alone +being the mover of the pawns on the board. + +That conception of the purpose of the book seems to me to have light +cast upon it by, and to explain, the singular abruptness of its +conclusion, which must strike every reader. No doubt it is quite +possible that the reason why the book ends in such a singular fashion, +planting Paul in Rome, and leaving him there, may be that the date of +its composition was that imprisonment of Paul in the Imperial City, in +a part of which, at all events, we know that Luke was his companion. +But, whilst that consideration may explain the point at which the book +stops, it does not explain the way in which it stops. The historian +lays down his pen, possibly because he had brought his narrative up to +date. But a word of conclusion explaining that it was so would have +been very natural, and its absence must have had some reason. It is +also possible that the arrival of the Apostle in the Imperial City, and +his unhindered liberty of preaching there, in the very centre of power, +the focus of intellectual life, and the hot-bed of corruption for the +known world, may have seemed to the writer an epoch which rounded off +his story. But I think that the reason for the abruptness of the +record's close is to be found in the continuity of the work of which it +tells a part. It is the unfinished record of an incomplete work. The +theme is the work of Christ through the ages, of which each successive +depository of His energies can do but a small portion, and must leave +that portion unfinished; the book does not so much end as stop. It is a +fragment, because the work of which it tells is not yet a whole. + +If, then, we put these two things--the beginning and the ending of the +Acts--together, I think we get some thoughts about what Christ began to +do and teach on earth; what He continues to do and teach in heaven; and +how small and fragmentary a share in that work each individual servant +of His has. Let us look at these points briefly. + +I. First, then, we have here the suggestion of what Christ began to do +and teach on earth. + +Now, at first sight, the words of our text seem to be in strange and +startling contradiction to the solemn cry which rang out of the +darkness upon Calvary. Jesus said, 'It is finished!' and 'gave up the +ghost.' Luke says He 'began to do and teach.' Is there any +contradiction between the two? Certainly not. It is one thing to lay a +foundation; it is another thing to build a house. And the work of +laying the foundation must be finished before the work of building the +structure upon it can be begun. It is one thing to create a force; it +is another thing to apply it. It is one thing to compound a medicine; +it is another thing to administer it. It is one thing to unveil a +truth; it is another to unfold its successive applications, and to work +it into a belief and practice in the world. The former is the work of +Christ which was finished on earth; the latter is the work which is +continuous throughout the ages. + +'He began to do and teach,' not in the sense that any should come after +Him and do, as the disciples of most great discoverers and thinkers +have had to do: namely, systematise, rectify, and complete the first +glimpses of truth which the master had given. 'He began to do and +teach,' not in the sense that after He had 'passed into the heavens' +any new truth or force can for evermore be imparted to humanity in +regard of the subjects which He taught and the energies which He +brought. But whilst thus His work is complete, His earthly work is also +initial. And we must remember that whatever distinction my text may +mean to draw between the work of Christ in the past and that in the +present and the future, it does not mean to imply that when He +'ascended up on high' He had not completed the task for which He came, +or that the world had to wait for anything more, either from Him or +from others, to eke out the imperfections of His doctrine or the +insufficiencies of His work. + +Let us ever remember that the initial work of Christ on earth is +complete in so far as the revelation of God to men is concerned. There +will be no other. There is needed no other. Nothing more is possible +than what He, by His words and by His life, by His gentleness and His +grace, by His patience and His Passion, has unveiled to all men, of the +heart and character of God. The revelation is complete, and he that +professes to add anything to, or to substitute anything for, the +finished teaching of Jesus Christ concerning God, and man's relation to +God, and man's duty, destiny, and hopes, is a false teacher, and to +follow him is fatal. All that ever come after Him and say, 'Here is +something that Christ has not told you,' are thieves and robbers, 'and +the sheep will not hear them.' + +In like manner that work of Christ, which in some sense is initial, is +complete as Redemption. 'This Man has offered up one sacrifice for sins +for ever.' And nothing more can He do than He has done; and nothing +more can any man or all men do than was accomplished on the Cross of +Calvary as giving a revelation, as effecting a redemption, as lodging +in the heart of humanity, and in the midst of the stream of human +history, a purifying energy, sufficient to cleanse the whole black +stream. The past work which culminated on the Cross, and was sealed as +adequate and accepted of God in the Resurrection and Ascension, needs +no supplement, and can have no continuation, world without end. And so, +whatever may be the meaning of that singular phrase, 'began to do and +teach,' it does not, in the smallest degree, conflict with the +assurance that He hath ascended up on high, 'having obtained eternal +redemption for us,' and 'having finished the work which the Father gave +Him to do.' + +II. But then, secondly, we have to notice what Christ continues to do +and to teach after His Ascension. + +I have already suggested that the phraseology of the first of my texts +naturally leads to the conclusion that the theme of this Book of the +Acts is the continuous work of the ascended Saviour, and that the +language is not forced by being thus interpreted is very plain to any +one who will glance even cursorily over the contents of the book +itself. For there is nothing in it more obvious and remarkable than the +way in which, at every turn in the narrative, all is referred to Jesus +Christ Himself. + +For instance, to cull one or two cases in order to bring the matter +more plainly before you--When the Apostles determined to select another +Apostle to fill Judas' place, they asked Jesus Christ to show which 'of +these two Thou hast chosen.' When Peter is called upon to explain the +tongues at Pentecost he says, 'Jesus hath shed forth this which ye now +see and hear.' When the writer would tell the reason of the large first +increase to the Church, he says, 'The Lord added to the Church daily +such as should be saved.' Peter and John go into the Temple to heal the +lame man, and their words to him are, 'Do not think that our power or +holiness is any factor in your cure. The Name hath made this man +whole.' It is the Lord that appears to Paul and to Ananias, to the one +on the road to Damascus and to the other in the city. It is the Lord to +whom Peter refers Aeneas when he says, 'Jesus Christ maketh thee +whole.' It was the Lord that 'opened the heart of Lydia.' It was the +Lord that appeared to Paul in Corinth, and said to him, 'I have much +people in this city'; and again, when in the prison at Jerusalem, He +assured the Apostle that he would be carried to Rome. And so, at every +turn in the narrative, we find that Christ is presented as influencing +men's hearts, operating upon outward events, working miracles, +confirming His word, leading His servants, and prescribing for them +their paths, and all which they do is done by the hand of the Lord with +them confirming the word which they spoke. Jesus Christ is the Actor, +and He only is the Actor; men are His implements and instruments. + +The same point of view is suggested by another of the characteristics +of this book, which it shares in common with all Scripture narratives, +and that is the stolid indifference with which it picks up and drops +men, according to the degree in which, for the moment, they are the +instruments of Christ's power. Supposing a man had been writing Acts of +the Apostles, do you think it would have been possible that of the +greater number of them he should not say a word, that concerning those +of whom he does speak he should deal with them as this book does, +barely mentioning the martyrdom of James, one of the four chief +Apostles; allowing Peter to slip out of the narrative after the great +meeting of the Church at Jerusalem; letting Philip disappear without a +hint of what he did thereafter; lodging Paul in Rome and leaving him +there, with no account of his subsequent work or martyrdom? Such +phenomena--and they might be largely multiplied--are only explicable +upon one hypothesis. As long as electricity streams on the carbon point +it glows and is visible, but when the current is turned to another lamp +we see no more of the bit of carbon. As long as God uses a man the man +is of interest to the writers of the Scriptures. When God uses another +one, they drop the first, and have no more care about him, because +their theme is not men and their doings, but God's doings through men. + +On us, and in us, and by us, and for us, if we are His servants, Jesus +Christ is working all through the ages. He is the Lord of Providence, +He is the King of history, in His hand is the book with the seven +seals; He sends His Spirit, and where His Spirit is He is; and what His +Spirit does He does. And thus He continues to teach and to work from +His throne in the heavens. + +He continues to teach, not by the communication of new truth. That is +finished. The volume of Revelation is complete. The last word of the +divine utterances hath been spoken until that final word which shall +end Time and crumble the earth. But the application of the completed +Revelation, the unfolding of all that is wrapped in germ in it; the +growing of the seed into a tree, the realisation more completely by +individuals and communities of the principles and truths which Jesus +Christ has brought us by His life and His death--that is the work that +is going on to-day, and that will go on till the end of the world. For +the old Puritan belief is true, though the modern rationalistic +mutilations of it are false, 'God hath more light yet to break +forth'--and our modern men stop there. But what the sturdy old Puritan +said was, 'more light yet to break forth from His holy Word.' Jesus +Christ teaches the ages--through the lessons of providence and the +communication of His Spirit to His Church--to understand what He gave +the world when He was here. + +In like manner He works. The foundation is laid, the healing medicine +is prepared, the cleansing element is cast into the mass of humanity; +what remains is the application and appropriation, and incorporation in +conduct, of the redeeming powers that Jesus Christ has brought. And +that work is going on, and will go on, till the end. + +Now these truths of our Lord's continuous activity in teaching and +working from heaven may yield us some not unimportant lessons. What a +depth and warmth and reality the thoughts give to the Christian's +relation to Jesus Christ! We have to look back to that Cross as the +foundation of all our hope. Yes! But we have to think, not only of a +Christ who did something for us long ago in the past, and there an end, +but of a Christ who to-day lives and reigns, 'to do and to teach' +according to our necessities. What a sweetness and sacredness such +thoughts impart to all external events, which we may regard as being +the operation of His love, and as moved by the hands that were nailed +to the Cross for us, and now hold the sceptre of the universe for the +blessing of mankind! What a fountain of hope they open in estimating +future probabilities of victory for truth and goodness! The forces of +good and evil in the world seem very disproportionate, but we forget +too often to take Christ into account. It is not _we_ that have to +fight against evil; at the best we are but the sword which Christ +wields, and all the power is in the hand that wields it. Great men die, +good men die; Jesus Christ is not dead. Paul was martyred: Jesus lives; +He is the anchor of our hope. We see miseries and mysteries enough, God +knows. The prospects of all good causes seem often clouded and dark. +The world has an awful power of putting drags upon all chariots that +bear blessings, and of turning to evil every good. You cannot diffuse +education, but you diffuse the taste for rubbish and something worse, +in the shape of books. No good thing but has its shadow of evil +attendant upon it. And if we had only to estimate by visible or human +forces, we might well sit down and wrap ourselves in the sackcloth of +pessimism. 'We see not yet all things put under Him'; but 'we see Jesus +crowned with glory and honour,' and the vision that cheered the first +martyr--of Christ 'standing at the right hand of God'--is the rebuke of +every fear and every gloomy anticipation for ourselves or for the world. + +What a lesson of lowliness and of diligence it gives us! The jangling +church at Corinth fought about whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas was +the man to lead the Church, and the experience has been repeated over +and over again. 'Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? but ministers by whom ye +believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. Be not puffed up one +against another. Be not wise in your own conceits.' You are only a +tool, only a pawn in the hand of the Great Player. If you have +anything, it is because you get it from Him. See that you use it, and +do not boast about it. Jesus Christ is the Worker, the only Worker; the +Teacher, the only Teacher. All our wisdom is derived, all our light is +enkindled. We are but the reeds through which His breath makes music. +And 'shall the axe boast itself,' either 'against' or apart from 'Him +that heweth therewith'? + +III. Lastly, we note the incompleteness of each man's share in the +great work. + +As I said, the book which is to tell the story of Christ's continuous +unfinished work must stop abruptly. There is no help for it. If it was +a history of Paul it would need to be wound up to an end and a selvage +put to it, but as it is the history of Christ's working, the web is not +half finished, and the shuttle stops in the middle of a cast. The book +must be incomplete, because the work of which it is the record does not +end until 'He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to the Father, and +God shall be all in all.' + +So the work of each man is but a fragment of that great work. Every man +inherits unfinished tasks from his predecessors, and leaves unfinished +tasks to his successors. It is, as it used to be in the Middle Ages, +when the hands that dug the foundations, or laid the first courses, of +some great cathedral, were dead long generations before the gilded +cross was set on the apex of the needlespire, and the glowing glass +filled in to the painted windows. Enough for us, if we lay a stone, +though it be but one stone in one of the courses of the great building. + +Luke has left plenty of blank paper at the end of his second +'treatise,' on which he meant that succeeding generations should write +their partial contributions to the completed work. Dear friends, let us +see that we write our little line, as monks in their monasteries used +to keep the chronicle of the house, on which scribe after scribe toiled +at its illuminated letters with loving patience for a little while, and +then handed the pen from his dying hand to another. What does it matter +though we drop, having done but a fragment? He gathers up the fragments +into His completed work, and the imperfect services which He enabled +any of us to do will all be represented in the perfect circle of His +finished work. The Lord help us to be faithful to the power that works +in us, and to leave Him to incorporate our fragments in His mighty +whole! + + + +THE FORTY DAYS + +'To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many +infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the +things pertaining to the kingdom of God.'--ACTS i. 3. + +The forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension have +distinctly marked characteristics. They are unlike to the period before +them in many respects, but completely similar in others; they have a +preparatory character throughout; they all bear on the future work of +the disciples, and hearten them for the time when they should be left +alone. + +The words of the text give us their leading features. They bring out-- + +1. Their evidential value, as confirming the fact of the Resurrection. + +'He showed Himself alive after His passion by ... proofs.' + +By sight, repeated, to individuals, to companies, to Mary in her +solitary sadness, to Peter the penitent, to the two on the road to +Emmaus. At all hours: in the evening when the doors were shut; in the +morning; in grey twilight; in daytime on the road. At many places--in +houses, out of doors. + +The signs of true corporeity--the sight, the eating. + +The signs of bodily identity,--'Reach hither thy hand.' 'He showed them +His hands and His side.' + +Was this the glorified body? + +The affirmative answer is usually rested on the facts that He was not +known by Mary or the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and that He came +into the upper room when the doors were shut. But the force of these +facts is broken by remembering that Mary saw nothing about Him unlike +other men, but supposed Him to be the gardener--which puts the idea of +a glorified body out of the question, and leaves us to suppose that she +was full of weeping indifference to any one. + +Then as to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke carefully tells us +that the reason why they did not know Him was _in them_ and not in +Him--that it was 'because their eyes were holden,' not because His body +was changed. + +And as to His coming when the doors were shut, why should not that be +like the other miracles, when 'He conveyed Himself away, a multitude +being in the place,' and when He walked on the waters? + +There cannot then be anything decidedly built on these facts, and the +considerations on the other side are very strong. Surely the whole +drift of the narrative goes in the direction of representing Christ's +'glory' as beginning with His Ascension, and consequently the 'body of +His glory' as being then assumed. Further, the argument of 1 Cor. xv. +goes on the assumption that 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom +of God,' that is, that the material corporeity is incongruous with, and +incapable of entrance into, the conditions of that future life, and, by +parity of reasoning, that the spiritual body, which is to be conformed +to the body of Christ's glory, is incongruous with, and incapable of +entrance into, the conditions of this earthly life. As is the +environment, so must be the 'body' that is at home in it. + +Further, the facts of our Lord's eating and drinking after His +Resurrection are not easily reconcilable with the contention that He +was then invested with the glorified body. + +We must, then, think of transfiguration, rather than of resurrection +only, as the way by which He passed into the heavens. He 'slept' but +woke, and, as He ascended, was 'changed.' + +II. The renewal of the old bond by the tokens of His unchanged +disposition. + +Recall the many beautiful links with the past: the message to Peter; +that to Mary; 'Tell My brethren,' 'He was known in breaking of bread,' +'Peace be with you!' (repetition from John xvii.), the miraculous +draught of fishes, and the meal and conversation afterwards, recalling +the miracle at the beginning of the closer association of the four +Apostles of the first rank with their Lord. The forty days revealed the +old heart, the old tenderness. He remembers all the past. He sends a +message to the penitent; He renews to the faithful the former gift of +'peace.' + +How precious all this is as a revelation of the impotence of death in +regard to Him and us! It assures us of the perpetuity of His love. He +showed Himself after His passion as the same old Self, the same old +tender Lover. His appearances then prepare us for the last vision of +Him in the Apocalypse, in which we see His perpetual humanity, His +perpetual tenderness, and hear Him saying: 'I am ... the Living One, +and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore.' + +These forty days assure us of the narrow limits of the power of death. +Love lives through death, memory lives through it. Christ has lived +through it and comes up from the grave, serene and tender, with +unruffled peace, with all the old tones of tenderness in the voice that +said 'Mary!' So may we be sure that through death and after it we shall +live and be ourselves. We, too, shall show ourselves alive after we +have experienced the superficial change of death. + +III. The change in Christ's relations to the disciples and to the +world. 'Appearing unto them by the space of forty days.' + +The words mark a contrast to Christ's former constant intercourse with +the disciples. This is occasional; He appears at intervals during the +forty days. He comes amongst them and disappears. He is seen again in +the morning light by the lake-side and goes away. He tells them to come +and meet Him in Galilee. That intermittent presence prepared the +disciples for His departure. It was painful and educative. It carried +out His own word, 'And now I am no more in the world.' + +We observe in the disciples traces of a deeper awe. They say little. +'Master!' 'My Lord and my God!' 'None durst ask Him, Who art Thou?' +Even Peter ventures only on 'Lord, Thou knowest all things,' and on one +flash of the old familiarity: 'What shall this man do?' John, who +recalls very touchingly, in that appendix to his Gospel, the blessed +time when he leaned on Jesus' breast at supper, now only humbly +follows, while the others sit still and awed, by that strange fire on +the banks of the lonely lake. + +A clearer vision of the Lord on their parts, a deeper sense of who He +is, make them assume more of the attitude of worshippers, though not +less that of friends. And He can no more dwell with them, and go in and +out among them. + +As for the world--'It seeth Me no more, but ye see Me.' He was 'seen of +_them_,' not of others. There is no more appeal to the people, no more +teaching, no more standing in the Temple. Why is this? Is it not the +commentary on His own word on the Cross, 'It is finished!' marking most +distinctly that His work on earth was ended when He died, and so +confirming that conception of His earthly mission which sees its +culmination and centre of power in the Cross? + +IV. Instruction and prophecy for the future. + +The preparation of the disciples for their future work and condition +was a chief purpose of the forty days. Jesus spoke 'of the things +pertaining to the Kingdom of God.' He also 'gave commandments to the +Apostles.' + +Note how much there is, in His conversations with them-- + +1. Of opening to them the Scriptures. 'Christ must needs suffer,' etc. + +2. Of lessons for their future, thus fitting them for their task. + +3. Mark how this transitional period taught them that His going away +was not to be sorrow and loss, but joy and gain, 'Touch Me not, for I +have not yet ascended.' + +Our present relation to the ascended Lord is as much an advance on that +of the disciples to the risen Lord, as that was on their relation to +Him during His earthly life. They had more real communion with Him +when, with opened hearts, they heard Him interpret the Scriptures +concerning Himself, and fell at His feet crying 'My Lord and my God!' +though they saw Him but for short seasons and at intervals, than when +day by day they were with Him and knew Him not. As they grew in love +and ripened in knowledge, they knew Him better and better. + +For us, too, these forty days are full of blessed lessons, teaching us +that real communion with Jesus is attained by faith in Him, and that He +is still working in and for us, and is still present with us. The joy +with which the disciples saw Him ascend should live on in us as we +think of Him enthroned. The hope that the angels' message lit up in +their hearts should burn in ours. The benediction which the Risen Lord +uttered on those who have not seen and yet have believed falls in +double measure on those who, though now they see Him not, yet believing +rejoice in Jesus with joy unspeakable and full of glory. + + + +THE UNKNOWN TO-MORROW + +_A New Year's Sermon_ + +'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father +hath put in His own power.'--ACTS i. 7. + +The New Testament gives little encouragement to a sentimental view of +life. Its writers had too much to do, and too much besides to think +about, for undue occupation with pensive remembrances or imaginative +forecastings. They bid us remember as a stimulus to thanksgiving and a +ground of hope. They bid us look forward, but not along the low levels +of earth and its changes. One great future is to draw all our longings +and to fix our eyes, as the tender hues of the dawn kindle infinite +yearnings in the soul of the gazer. What may come is all hidden; we can +make vague guesses, but reach nothing more certain. Mist and cloud +conceal the path in front of the portion which we are actually +traversing, but when it climbs, it comes out clear from the fogs that +hang about the flats. We can track it winding up to the throne of +Christ. Nothing is certain, but the coming of the Lord and 'our +gathering together to Him.' + +The words of this text in their original meaning point only to the +ignorance of the time of the end which Christ had been foretelling. But +they may allow of a much wider application, and their lessons are in +entire consonance with the whole tone of Scripture in regard to the +future. We are standing now at the beginning of a New Year, and the +influence of the season is felt in some degree by us all. Not for the +sake of repressing any wise forecasting which has for its object our +preparation for probable duties and exigencies; not for the purpose of +repressing that trustful anticipation which, building on our past time +and on God's eternity, fronts the future with calm confidence; not for +the sake of discouraging that pensive and softened mood which if it +does nothing more, at least delivers us for a moment from the tyrannous +power of the present, do we turn to these words now; but that we may +together consider how much they contain of cheer and encouragement, of +stimulus to our duty, and of calming for our hearts in the prospect of +a New Year. They teach us the limits of our care for the future, as +they give us the limits of our knowledge of it. They teach us the best +remedies for all anxiety, the great thoughts that tranquillise us in +our ignorance, viz. that all is in God's merciful hand, and that +whatever may come, we have a divine power which will fit us for it; and +they bid us anticipate our work and do it, as the best counterpoise for +all vain curiosity about what may be coming on the earth. + +I. The narrow limits of our knowledge of the future. + +We are quite sure that we shall die. We are sure that a mingled web of +joy and sorrow, light shot with dark, will be unrolled before us--but +of anything more we are really ignorant. We know that certainly the +great majority of us will be alive at the close of this New Year; but +who will be the exceptions? A great many of us, especially those of us +who are in the monotonous stretch of middle life, will go on +substantially as we have been going on for years past, with our +ordinary duties, joys, sorrows, cares; but to some of us, in all +probability, this year holds some great change which may darken all our +days or brighten them. In all our forward-looking there ever remains an +element of uncertainty. The future fronts us like some statue beneath +its canvas covering. Rolling mists hide it all, except here and there a +peak. + +I need not remind you how merciful and good it is that it is so. +Therefore coming sorrows do not diffuse anticipatory bitterness as of +tainted water percolating through gravel, and coming joys are not +discounted, and the present has a reality of its own, and is not +coloured by what is to come. + +Then this being so--what is the wise course of conduct? Not a confident +reckoning on to-morrow. There is nothing elevating in anticipation +which paints the blank surface of the future with the same earthly +colours as dye the present. There is no more complete waste of time +than that. Nor is proud self-confidence any wiser, which jauntily takes +for granted that 'tomorrow will be as this day.' The conceit that +things are to go on as they have been fools men into a dream of +permanence which has no basis. Nor is the fearful apprehension of evil +any wiser. How many people spoil the present gladness with thoughts of +future sorrow, and cannot enjoy the blessedness of united love for +thinking of separation! + +In brief, it is wise to be but little concerned with the future, +except-- + +1. In the way of taking reasonable precautions to prepare for its +probabilities. + +2. To fit ourselves for its duties. + +One future we may contemplate. Our fault is not that we look forward, +but that we do not look far enough forward. Why trouble with the world +when we have heaven? Why look along the low level among the mists of +earth and forests and swamps, when we can see the road climbing to the +heights? Why be anxious about what three hundred and sixty-five days +may bring, when we know what Eternity will bring? Why divert our +God-given faculty of hope from its true object? Why torment ourselves +with casting the fashion of uncertain evils, when we can enter into the +great peace of looking for 'that blessed Hope'? + +II. The safe Hands which keep the future. + +'The Father hath put in His own power.' We have not to depend upon an +impersonal Fate; nor upon a wild whirl of Chance; nor upon 'laws of +averages,' 'natural laws,' 'tendencies' and 'spirit of the age'; nor +even on a theistic Providence, but upon a Father who holds all things +'in His own power,' and wields all for us. So will not our way be made +right? + +Whatever the future may bring, it will be loving, paternal discipline. +He shapes it all and keeps it in His hands. Why should we be anxious? +That great name of 'Father' binds Him to tender, wise, disciplinary +dealing, and should move us to calm and happy trust. + +III. The sufficient strength to face the future. + +'The power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you' is promised here to the +disciples for a specific purpose; but it is promised and given to us +all through Christ, if we will only take it. And in Him we shall be +ready for all the future. + +The Spirit of God is the true Interpreter of Providence. He calms our +nature, and enlightens our understanding to grasp the meaning of all +our experiences. The Spirit makes joy more blessed, by keeping us from +undue absorption in it. The Spirit is the Comforter. The Spirit fits us +for duty. + +So be quite sure that nothing will come to you in your earthly future, +which He does not Himself accompany to interpret it, and to make it +pure blessing. + +IV. The practical duty in view of the future. + +(a) The great thing we ought to look to in the future is our work,--not +what we shall enjoy or what we shall endure, but what we shall do. This +is healthful and calming. + +(b) The great remedy for morbid anticipation lies in regarding life as +the opportunity for service. Never mind about the future, let it take +care of itself. Work! That clears away cobwebs from our brains, as when +a man wakes from troubled dreams, to hear 'the sweep of scythe in +morning dew,' and the shout of the peasant as he trudges to his task, +and the lowing of the cattle, and the clink of the hammer. + +(c) The great work we have to do in the future is to be witnesses for +Christ. This is the meaning of all life; we can do it in joy and in +sorrow, and we shall bear a charmed life till it be done. So the words +of the text are a promise of preservation. + +Then, dear brethren, how do you stand fronting that Unknown? How can +you face it without going mad, unless you know God and trust Him as +your Father through Christ? If you do, you need have no fear. To-morrow +lies all dim and strange before you, but His gentle and strong hand is +working in the darkness and He will shape it right. He will fit you to +bear it all. If you regard it as your supreme duty and highest honour +to be Christ's witness, you will be kept safe, 'delivered out of the +mouth of the lion,' that by you 'the preaching may be fully known.' + +If not, how dreary is that future to you, 'all dim and cheerless, like +a rainy sea,' from which wild shapes may come up and devour you! Love +and friendship will pass, honour and strength will fail, life will ebb +away, and of all that once stretched before you, nothing will be left +but one little strip of sand, fast jellying with the tide beneath your +feet, and before you a wild unlighted ocean! + + + +THE APOSTOLIC WITNESSES + +'Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that +the Lord Jesus went in and out among us ... must one be ordained to be +a witness with us of His resurrection.'--ACTS i. 21, 22. + +The fact of Christ's Resurrection was the staple of the first Christian +sermon recorded in this Book of the Acts of the Apostles. They did not +deal so much in doctrine; they did not dwell very distinctly upon what +we call, and rightly call, the atoning death of Christ; out they +proclaimed what they had seen with their eyes--that He died and rose +again. + +And not only was the main subject of their teaching the Resurrection, +but it was the Resurrection in one of its aspects and for one specific +purpose. There are, speaking roughly, three main connections in which +the fact of Christ's rising from the dead is viewed in Scripture, and +these three successively emerge in the consciousness of the Early +Church. + +It was, first, a fact affecting Him, a testimony concerning Him, +carrying with it necessarily some great truths with regard to Him, His +character, His nature, and His work. And it was in that aspect mainly +that the earliest preachers dealt with it. Then, as reflection and the +guidance of God's good Spirit led them to understand more and more of +the treasure which lay in the fact, it came to be to them, next, a +pattern, and a pledge, and a prophecy of their own resurrection. The +doctrine of man's immortality and the future life was evolved from it, +and was felt to be implied in it. And then it came to be, thirdly and +lastly, a symbol or figure of the spiritual resurrection and newness of +life into which all they were born who participated in His death. They +knew Him first by His Resurrection; they then knew 'the power of His +Resurrection' as a pledge of their own; and lastly, they knew it as +being the pattern to which they were to be conformed even whilst here +on earth. + +The words which I have read for my text are the Apostle Peter's own +description of what was the office of an Apostle--'to be a witness with +us of Christ's Resurrection.' And the statement branches out, I think, +into three considerations, to which I ask your attention now. First, we +have here the witnesses; secondly, we have the sufficiency of their +testimony; and thirdly, we have the importance of the fact to which +they bear their witness. The Apostles are testimony-bearers. Their +witness is enough to establish the fact. The fact to which they witness +is all-important for the religion and the hopes of the world. + +I. First, then, the Witnesses. + +Here we have the 'head of the Apostolic College,' the 'primate' of the +Twelve, on whose supposed primacy--which is certainly not a +'rock'--such tremendous claims have been built, laying down the +qualifications and the functions of an Apostle. How simply they present +themselves to his mind! The qualification is only personal knowledge of +Jesus Christ in His earthly history, because the function is only to +attest His Resurrection. Their work was to bear witness to what they +had seen with their eyes; and what was needed, therefore, was nothing +more than such familiarity with Christ as should make them competent +witnesses to the fact that He died, and to the fact that the same Jesus +who had died, and whom they knew so well, rose again and went up to +heaven. + +The same conception of an Apostle's work lies in Christ's last solemn +designation of them for their office, where their whole commission is +included in the simple words, 'Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.' It +appears again and again in the earlier addresses reported in this book. +'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.' 'Whom +God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.' 'With great +power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection.' 'We are His +witnesses of these things.' To Cornelius, Peter speaks of the Apostles +as 'witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat and drink with Him +after He rose from the dead'--and whose charge, received from Christ, +was 'to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge +of quick and dead.' Paul at Antioch speaks of the Twelve, from whom he +distinguishes himself, as being 'Christ's witnesses to _the +people_'--and seems to regard them as specially commissioned to the +Jewish nation, while he was sent to 'declare unto you'--Gentiles--the +same 'glad tidings,' in that 'God had raised up Jesus again.' So we +might go on accumulating passages, but these will suffice. + +I need not spend time in elaborating or emphasising the contrast which +the idea of the Apostolic office contained in these simple words +presents to the portentous theories of later times. I need only remind +you that, according to the Gospels, the work of the Apostles in +Christ's lifetime embraced three elements, none of which were peculiar +to them--to be with Christ, to preach, and to work miracles; that their +characteristic work after His Ascension was this of witness-bearing; +that the Church did not owe to them as a body its extension, nor +Christian doctrine its form; that whilst Peter and James and John +appear in the history, and Matthew perhaps wrote a Gospel, and the +other James and Jude are probably the authors of the brief Epistles +which bear their names--the rest of the Twelve never appear in the +subsequent history. The Acts of the Apostles is a misnomer for Luke's +second 'treatise.' It tells the work of Peter alone among the Twelve. +The Hellenists Stephen and Philip, the Cypriote Barnabas, and the man +of Tarsus--greater than them all--these spread the name of Christ +beyond the limits of the Holy City and the chosen people. The solemn +power of 'binding and loosing' was not a prerogative of the Twelve, for +we read that Jesus came where 'the _disciples_ were assembled,' and +that 'the _disciples_ were glad when they saw the Lord'; and 'He +breathed on _them_, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever +sins ye remit, they are remitted."' + +Where in all this is there a trace of the special Apostolic powers +which have been alleged to be transmitted from them? Nowhere. Who was +it that came and said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord hath sent me that thou +mightest be filled with the Holy Ghost'? A simple 'layman'! Who was it +that stood by, a passive and astonished spectator of the communication +of spiritual gifts to Gentile converts, and could only say, 'Forasmuch, +then, as God gave them the like gift, as He did unto us, what was I +that I could withstand God?' Peter, the leader of the Twelve! + +Their task was apparently a humbler, really a far more important one. +Their place was apparently a lowlier, really a loftier one. They had to +lay broad and deep the basis for all the growth and grace of the +Church, in the facts which they witnessed. Their work abides; and when +the Celestial City is revealed to our longing hearts, in its +foundations will be read 'the names of the twelve Apostles of the +Lamb.' Their office was testimony; and their testimony was to this +effect--'Hearken, we eleven men knew this Jesus. Some of us knew Him +when He was a boy, and lived beside that little village where He was +brought up. We were with Him for three whole years in close contact day +and night. We all of us, though we were cowards, stood afar off with a +handful of women when He was crucified. We saw Him dead. We saw His +grave. We saw Him living, and we touched Him, and handled Him, and He +ate and drank with us; and we, sinners that we are that tell it you, we +went out with Him to the top of Olivet, and we saw Him go up into the +skies. Do you believe us or do you not? We do not come in the first +place to preach doctrines. We are not thinkers or moralists. We are +plain men, telling a plain story, to the truth of which we pledge our +senses. We do not want compliments about our spiritual elevation, or +our pure morality. We do not want reverence as possessors of mysterious +and exclusive powers. We want you to believe us as honest men, relating +what we have seen. There are eleven of us, and there are five hundred +at our back, and we have all got the one simple story to tell. It is, +indeed, a gospel, a philosophy, a theology, the reconciliation of earth +and heaven, the revelation of God to man, and of man to himself, the +unveiling of the future world, the basis of hope; but we bring it to +you first as a thing that happened upon this earth of ours, which we +saw with our eyes, and of which we are the witnesses.' + +To that work there can be no successors. Some of the Apostles were +inspired to be the writers of the authoritative fountains of religious +truth; but that gift did not belong to them all, and was not the +distinctive possession of the Twelve. The power of working miracles, +and of communicating supernatural gifts, was not confined to them, but +is found exercised by other believers, as well as by a whole +'presbytery.' And as for what was properly their task, and their +qualifications, there can be no succession, for there is nothing to +succeed to, but what cannot be transmitted--the sight of the risen +Saviour, and the witness to His Resurrection as a fact certified by +their senses. + +II. The sufficiency of the testimony. + +Peter regards (as does the whole New Testament, and as did Peter's +Master, when He appointed these men) the witness which he and his +fellows bore as enough to lay firm and deep the historical fact of the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ. + +The first point that I would suggest here is this: if we think of +Christianity as being mainly a set of truths--spiritual, moral, +intellectual--then, of course, the way to prove Christianity is to show +the consistency of that body of truths with one another, their +consistency with other truths, their derivation from admitted +principles, their reasonableness, their adaptation to men's nature, the +refining and elevating effects of their adoption, and so on. If we +think of Christianity, on the other hand, as being first a set of +historical facts which carry the doctrines, then the way to prove +Christianity is not to show how reasonable it is, not to show how it +has been anticipated and expected and desired, not to show how it +corresponds with men's needs and men's longings, not to show what large +and blessed results follow from its acceptance. All these are +legitimate ways of establishing principles; but the way to establish a +fact is only one--that is, to find somebody that can say, 'I know it, +for I saw it.' + +And my belief is that the course of modern 'apologetics,' as they are +called--methods of defending Christianity--has followed too slavishly +the devious course of modern antagonism, and has departed from its real +stronghold when it has consented to argue the question on these (as I +take them to be) lower and less sufficing grounds. I am thankful to +adopt all that wise Christian apologists may have said in regard to the +reasonableness of Christianity; its correspondence with men's wants, +the blessings that follow from it, and so forth; but the Gospel is +first and foremost a history, and you cannot prove that a thing has +happened by showing how very desirable it is that it should happen, how +reasonable it is to expect that it should happen, what good results +would follow from believing that it has happened--all that is +irrelevant. Think of it as first a history, and then you are shut up to +the old-fashioned line of evidence, irrefragable as I take it to be, to +which all these others may afterwards be appended as confirmatory. It +is true, because sufficient eye-witnesses assert it. It did happen, +because it is commended to us by the ordinary canons of evidence which +we accept in regard to all other matters of fact. + +With regard to the sufficiency of the specific evidence here, I wish to +make only one or two observations. + +Suppose you yield up everything that the most craving and unreasonable +modern scepticism can demand as to the date and authorship of these +tracts that make the New Testament, we have still left four letters of +the Apostle Paul, which no one has ever denied, which the very +extremest professors of the 'higher criticism' themselves accept. These +four are the Epistles to the Romans, the first and second to the +Corinthians, and that to the Galatians. The dates which are assigned to +these four letters by any one, believer or unbeliever, bring them +within five-and-twenty years of the alleged date of Christ's +resurrection. + +Then what do we find in these undeniably and admittedly genuine +letters, written a quarter of a century after the supposed fact? We +find in all of them reference to it--the distinct allegation of it. We +find in one of them that the Apostle states it as being the substance +of his preaching and of his brethren's preaching, that 'Christ died and +rose again according to the Scriptures,' and that He was seen by +individuals, by multitudes, by a whole five hundred, the greater +portion of whom were living and available as witnesses when he wrote. + +And we find that side by side with this statement, there is the +reference to his own vision of the risen Saviour, which carries us up +within ten years of the alleged fact. So, then, by the evidence of +admittedly genuine documents, which are dealing with a state of things +ten years after the supposed resurrection, there was a unanimous +concurrence of belief on the part of the whole primitive Church, so +that even the heretics who said that there was no resurrection of the +dead could be argued with on the ground of their belief in Christ's +Resurrection. The whole Church with one voice asserted it. And there +were hundreds of living men ready to attest it. It was not a handful of +women who fancied they had seen Him once, very early in the dim +twilight of a spring morning--but it was half a thousand that had +beheld Him. He had been seen by them not once, but often; not far off, +but close at hand; not in one place, but in Galilee and Jerusalem; not +under one set of circumstances, but at all hours of the day, abroad and +in the house, walking and sitting, speaking and eating, by them singly +and in numbers. He had not been seen only by excited expectants of His +appearance, but by incredulous eyes and surprised hearts, who doubted +ere they worshipped, and paused before they said, 'My Lord and my God!' +They neither hoped that He would rise, nor believed that He had risen; +and the world may be thankful that they were 'slow of heart to believe.' + +Would not the testimony which can be alleged for Christ's Resurrection +be enough to guarantee any event but this? And if so, why is it not +enough to guarantee this too? If, as nobody denies, the Early Church, +within ten years of Christ's Resurrection, believed in His +Resurrection, and were ready to go, and did, many of them, go to the +death in assertion of their veracity in declaring it, then one of two +things--Either they were right or they were wrong; and if the latter, +one of two things--If the Resurrection be not a fact, then that belief +was either a delusion or a deceit. + +It was not a delusion, for such an illusion is altogether unexampled; +and it is absurd to think of it as being shared by a multitude like the +Early Church. Nations have said, 'Our King is not dead--he is gone away +and he will come back.' Loving disciples have said, 'Our Teacher lives +in solitude and will return to us.' But this is no parallel to these. +This is not a fond imagination giving an apparent substance to its own +creation, but sense recognising first the fact, 'He _is_ dead,' and +then, in opposition to expectation, and when hope had sickened to +despair, recognising the astounding fact, 'He liveth that was dead'; +and to suppose that that should have been the rooted conviction of +hundreds of men who were not idiots, finds no parallel in the history +of human illusions, and no analogy in such legends as those to which I +have referred. + +It was not a myth, for a myth does not grow in ten years. And there was +no motive to frame one, if Christ was dead and all was over. It was not +a deceit, for the character of the men, and the character of the +associated morality, and the obvious absence of all self-interest, and +the persecutions and sorrows which they endured, make it inconceivable +that the fairest building that ever hath been reared in the world, and +which is cemented by men's blood, should be built upon the mud and +slime of a conscious deceit! + +And all this we are asked to put aside at the bidding of a glaring +begging of the whole question, and an outrageous assertion which no man +that believes in a God at all can logically maintain, viz. that no +testimony can reach to the miraculous, or that miracles are impossible. + +No testimony reach to the miraculous! Well, put it into a concrete +form. Can testimony not reach to this: 'I know, because I saw, that a +man was dead; I know, because I saw, a dead man live again'? If +testimony can do that, I think we may safely leave the verbal sophism +that it cannot reach to the miraculous to take care of itself. + +And, then, with regard to the other assumption--miracle is impossible. +That is an illogical begging of the whole question in dispute. It +cannot avail to brush aside testimony. You cannot smother facts by +theories in that fashion. Again, one would like to know how it comes +that our modern men of science, who protest so much against science +being corrupted by metaphysics, should commit themselves to an +assertion like that? Surely that is stark, staring metaphysics. It +seems as if they thought that the 'metaphysics' which said that there +was anything behind the physical universe was unscientific; but that +the metaphysics which said that there was nothing behind physics was +quite legitimate, and ought to be allowed to pass muster. What have the +votaries of pure physical science, who hold the barren word-contests of +theology and the proud pretensions of philosophy in such contempt, to +do out-Heroding Herod in that fashion, and venturing on metaphysical +assertions of such a sort? Let them keep to their own line, and tell us +all that crucibles and scalpels can reveal, and we will listen as +becomes us. But when they contradict their own principles in order to +deny the possibility of miracle, we need only give them back their own +words, and ask that the investigation of facts shall not be hampered +and clogged with metaphysical prejudices. No! no! Christ made no +mistake when He built His Church upon that rock--the historical +evidence of a resurrection from the dead, though all the wise men of +Areopagus hill may make its cliffs ring with mocking laughter when we +say, upon Easter morning, 'The Lord is risen indeed!' + +III. There is a final consideration connected with these words, which I +must deal with very briefly--the importance of the fact which is thus +borne witness to. + +I have already pointed out that the Resurrection of Christ is viewed in +Scripture in three aspects: in its bearing upon His nature and work, as +a pattern for our future, and as a symbol of our present newness of +life. The importance to which I refer now applies only to that first +aspect. + +With the Resurrection of Jesus Christ stands or falls the Divinity of +Christ. As Paul said, in that letter to which I have referred, +'Declared to be the Son of God, with power by the resurrection from the +dead.' As Peter said in the sermon that follows this one of our text, +'God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and +Christ.' As Paul said, on Mars Hill, 'He will judge the world in +righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given +assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.' + +The case is this. Jesus lived as we know, and in the course of that +life claimed to be the Son of God. He made such broad and strange +assertions as these--'I and My Father are One.' 'I am the Way, and the +Truth, and the Life.' 'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' 'He that +believeth on Me shall never die.' 'The Son of Man must suffer many +things, and the third day He shall rise again.' Thus speaking He dies, +and rises again and passes into the heavens. That is the last mightiest +utterance of the same testimony, which spake from heaven at His +baptism, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!' If He be +risen from the dead, then His loftiest claims are confirmed from the +throne, and we can see in Him, the Son of God. But if death holds Him +still, and 'the Syrian stars look down upon His grave,' as a modern +poet tells us in his dainty English that they do, then what becomes of +these words of His, and of our estimate of the character of Him, the +speaker? Let us hear no more about the pure morality of Jesus Christ, +and the beauty of His calm and lofty teaching, and the rest of it. Take +away His resurrection from the dead, and we have left beautiful +precepts, and fair wisdom, deformed with a monstrous self-assertion and +the constant reiteration of claims which the event proves to have been +baseless. Either He has risen from the dead or His words were +blasphemy. Men nowadays talk very lightly of throwing aside the +supernatural portions of the Gospel history, and retaining reverence +for the great Teacher, the pure moralist of Nazareth. The Pharisees put +the issue more coarsely and truly when they said, 'That deceiver said, +while He was yet alive, after three days I will rise again.' Yes! one +or the other. 'Declared to be the Son of God with power by the +resurrection from the dead,' or--that which our lips refuse to say even +as a hypothesis! + +Still further, with the Resurrection stands or falls Christ's whole +work for our redemption. If He died, like other men--if that awful bony +hand has got its grip upon Him too, then we have no proof that the +cross was anything but a martyr's cross. His Resurrection is the proof +of His completed work of redemption. It is the proof--followed as it is +by His Ascension--that His death was not the tribute which for Himself +He had to pay, but the ransom for us. His Resurrection is the condition +of His present activity. If He has not risen, He has not put away sin; +and if He has not put it away by the sacrifice of Himself, none has, +and it remains. We come back to the old dreary alternative: 'if Christ +be not risen, your faith is vain, and our preaching is vain. Ye are yet +in your sins, and they which have fallen asleep in Christ' with +unfulfilled hopes fixed upon a baseless vision--they of whom we hoped, +through our tears, that they live with Him--they 'are perished.' For, +if He be not risen, there is no resurrection; and, if He be not risen, +there is no forgiveness; and, if He be not risen, there is no Son of +God; and the world is desolate, and the heaven is empty, and the grave +is dark, and sin abides, and death is eternal. If Christ be dead, then +that awful vision is true, 'As I looked up into the immeasurable +heavens for the Divine Eye, it froze me with an empty, bottomless +eye-socket.' + +There is nothing between us and darkness, despair, death, but that +ancient message, 'I declare unto you the Gospel which I preach, by +which ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, how +that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He +was raised the third day according to the Scriptures.' + +Well, then, may we take up the ancient glad salutation, 'The Lord is +risen!' and, turning from these thoughts of the disaster and despair +that that awful supposition drags after it, fall back upon sober +certainty, and with the Apostle break forth in triumph, 'Now is Christ +risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept'! + + + +THE ABIDING GIFT AND ITS TRANSITORY ACCOMPANIMENTS + +'And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one +accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as +of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were +sitting. 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of +fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4. And they were all filled with +the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit +gave them utterance. 5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, +devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6. Now when this was +noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, +because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7. And +they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are +not all these which speak Galileans? 8. And how we hear every man in +our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9. Parthians, and Medes, and +Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and +Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10. Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, +and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and +proselytes. 11. Cretes, and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our +tongues the wonderful works of God. 12. And they were all amazed, and +were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13. Others, +mocking, said, These men are full of new wine.'--ACTS ii. 1-13. + +Only ten days elapsed between the Ascension and Pentecost. The attitude +of the Church during that time should be carefully noted. They obeyed +implicitly Christ's command to wait for the 'power from on high.' The +only act recorded is the election of Matthias to fill Judas's place, +and it is at least questionable whether that was not a mistake, and +shown to be such by Christ's subsequent choice of Paul as an Apostle. +But, with the exception of that one flash of doubtful activity, prayer, +supplication, patient waiting, and clinging together in harmonious +expectancy, characterised the hundred and twenty brethren. + +They must have been wrought to an intense pitch of anticipation, for +they knew that their waiting was to be short, and they knew, at least +partially, what they were to receive, namely, 'power from on high,' or +'the promise of the Father.' Probably, too, the great Feast, so near at +hand, would appear to them a likely time for the fulfilment of the +promise. + +So, very early on that day of Pentecost, they betook themselves to +their usual place of assembling, probably the 'large upper room,' +already hallowed to their memories; and in each heart the eager +question would spring, 'Will it be to-day?' It is as true now as it was +then, that the spirits into whom the Holy Spirit breathes His power +must keep themselves still, expectant, prayerful. Perpetual occupation +may be more loss of time than devout waiting, with hands folded, +because the heart is wide open to receive the power which will fit the +hands for better work. + +It was but 'the third hour of the day' when Peter stood up to speak; it +must have been little after dawn when the brethren came together. How +long they had been assembled we do not know, but we cannot doubt how +they had been occupied. Many a prayer had gone up through the morning +air, and, no doubt, some voice was breathing the united desires, when a +deep, strange sound was heard at a distance, and rapidly gained volume, +and was heard to draw near. Like the roaring of a tempest hurrying +towards them, it hushed human voices, and each man would feel, 'Surely +now the Gift comes!' Nearer and nearer it approached, and at last burst +into the chamber where they sat silent and unmoving. + +But if we look carefully at Luke's words, we see that what filled the +house was not agitated air, or wind, but 'a sound as of wind.' The +language implies that there was no rush of atmosphere that lifted a +hair on any cheek, or blew on any face, but only such a sound as is +made by tempest. It suggested wind, but it was not wind. By that first +symbolic preparation for the communication of the promised gift, the +old symbolism which lies in the very word 'Spirit,' and had been +brought anew to the disciples' remembrance by Christ's words to +Nicodemus, and by His breathing on them when He gave them an +anticipatory and partial bestowment of the Spirit, is brought to view, +with its associations of life-giving power and liberty. 'Thou hearest +the sound thereof,' could scarcely fail to be remembered by some in +that chamber. + +But it is not to be supposed that the audible symbol continued when the +second preparatory one, addressed to the eye, appeared. As the former +had been not wind, but like it, the latter was not fire, but 'as of +fire.' The language does not answer the question whether what was seen +was a mass from which the tongues detached themselves, or whether only +the separate tongues were visible as they moved overhead. But the final +result was that 'it sat on each.' The verb has no expressed subject, +and 'fire' cannot be the subject, for it is only introduced as a +comparison. Probably, therefore, we are to understand 'a tongue' as the +unexpressed subject of the verb. + +Clearly, the point of the symbol is the same as that presented in the +Baptist's promise of a baptism 'with the Holy Ghost and fire.' The +Spirit was to be in them as a Spirit of burning, thawing natural +coldness and melting hearts with a genial warmth, which should beget +flaming enthusiasm, fervent love, burning zeal, and should work +transformation into its own fiery substance. The rejoicing power, the +quick energy, the consuming force, the assimilating action of fire, are +all included in the symbol, and should all be possessed by Christ's +disciples. + +But were the tongue-like shapes of the flames significant too? It is +doubtful, for, natural as is the supposition that they were, it is to +be remembered that 'tongues of fire' is a usual expression, and may +mean nothing more than the flickering shoots of flame into which a fire +necessarily parts. + +But these two symbols are only symbols. The true fulfilment of the +great promise follows. Mark the brief simplicity of the quiet words in +which the greatest bestowment ever made on humanity, the beginning of +an altogether new era, the equipment of the Church for her age-long +conflict, is told. There was an actual impartation to men of a divine +life, to dwell in them and actuate them; to bring all good to victory +in them; to illuminate, sustain, direct, and elevate; to cleanse and +quicken. The gift was complete. They were 'filled.' No doubt they had +much more to receive, and they received it, as their natures became, by +faithful obedience to the indwelling Spirit, capable of more. But up to +the measure of their then capacities they were filled; and, since their +spirits were expansible, and the gift was infinite, they were in a +position to grow steadily in possession of it, till they were 'filled +with all the fulness of God.' + +Further, 'they were _all_ filled,'--not the Apostles only, but the +whole hundred and twenty. Peter's quotation from Joel distinctly +implies the universality of the gift, which the 'servants and +handmaidens,' the brethren and the women, now received. Herein is the +true democracy of Christianity. There are still diversities of +operations and degrees of possession, but all Christians have the +Spirit. All 'they that believe on Him,' and only they, have received +it. Of old the light shone only on the highest peaks,--prophets, and +kings, and psalmists; now the lowest depths of the valleys are flooded +with it. Would that Christians generally believed more fully in, and +set more store by, that great gift! + +As symbols preceded, tokens followed. The essential fact of Pentecost +is neither the sound and fire, nor the speaking with other tongues, but +the communication of the Holy Spirit. The sign and result of that was +the gift of utterance in various languages, not their own, nor learned +by ordinary ways. No twisting of the narrative can weaken the plain +meaning of it, that these unlearned Galileans spake in tongues which +their users recognised to be their own. The significance of the fact +will appear presently, but first note the attestation of it by the +multitude. + +Of course, the foreign-born Jews, who, from motives of piety, however +mistaken, had come to dwell in Jerusalem, are said to have been 'from +every nation under heaven,' by an obvious and ordinary license. It is +enough that, as the subsequent catalogue shows, they came from all +corners of the then known world, though the extremes of territory +mentioned cover but a small space on a terrestrial globe. + +The 'sound' of the rushing wind had been heard hurtling through the +city in the early morning hours, and had served as guide to the spot. A +curious crowd came hurrying to ascertain what this noise of tempest in +a calm meant, and they were met by something more extraordinary still. +Try to imagine the spectacle. As would appear from verse 33, the +tongues of fire remained lambently glowing on each head ('which ye +see'), and the whole hundred and twenty, thus strangely crowned, were +pouring out rapturous praises, each in some strange tongue. When the +astonished ears had become accustomed to the apparent tumult, every man +in the crowd heard some one or more speaking in his own tongue, +language, or dialect, and all were declaring the mighty works of God; +that is, probably, the story of the crucified, ascended Jesus. + +We need not dwell on subordinate questions, as to the number of +languages represented there, or as to the catalogue in verses 9 and 10. +But we would emphasise two thoughts. First, the natural result of being +filled with God's Spirit is utterance of the great truths of Christ's +Gospel. As surely as light radiates, as surely as any deep emotion +demands expression, so certainly will a soul filled with the Spirit be +forced to break into speech. If professing Christians have never known +the impulse to tell of the Christ whom they have found, their religion +must be very shallow and imperfect. If their spirits are full, they +will overflow in speech. + +Second, Pentecost is a prophecy of the universal proclamation of the +Gospel, and of the universal praise which shall one day rise to Him +that was slain. 'This company of brethren praising God in the tongues +of the whole world represented the whole world which shall one day +praise God in its various tongues' (Bengel). Pentecost reversed Babel, +not by bringing about a featureless monopoly, but by consecrating +diversity, and showing that each language could be hallowed, and that +each lent some new strain of music to the chorus. + +It prophesied of the time when 'men of every tribe, and tongue, and +people, and nation' should lift up their voices to Him who has +purchased them unto God with His blood. It began a communication of the +Spirit to all believers which is never to cease while the world stands. +The mighty rushing sound has died into silence, the fiery tongues rest +on no heads now, the miraculous results of the gifts of the Spirit have +passed away also, but the gift remains, and the Spirit of God abides +for ever with the Church of Christ. + + + +THE FOURFOLD SYMBOLS OF THE SPIRIT + +'A rushing mighty wind.' ... 'Cloven tongues like as of fire.' ... 'I +will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.'--ACTS ii. 2, 3, 17. + +'Ye have an unction from the Holy One.'--1 JOHN ii. 20. + +Wind, fire, water, oil,--these four are constant Scriptural symbols for +the Spirit of God. We have them all in these fragments of verses which +I have taken for my text now, and which I have isolated from their +context for the purpose of bringing out simply these symbolical +references. I think that perhaps we may get some force and freshness to +the thoughts proper to this day [Footnote: Whit Sunday.] by looking at +these rather than by treating the subject in some more abstract form. +We have then the Breath of the Spirit, the Fire of the Spirit, the +Water of the Spirit, and the Anointing Oil of the Spirit. And the +consideration of these four will bring out a great many of the +principal Scriptural ideas about the gift of the Spirit of God which +belongs to all Christian souls. + +I. First, 'a rushing mighty wind.' + +Of course, the symbol is but the putting into picturesque form of the +idea that lies in the name. 'Spirit' is 'breath.' Wind is but air in +motion. Breath is the synonym for life. 'Spirit' and 'life' are two +words for one thing. So then, in the symbol, the 'rushing mighty wind,' +we have set forth the highest work of the Spirit--the communication of +a new and supernatural life. + +We are carried hack to that grand vision of the prophet who saw the +bones lying, very many and very dry, sapless and disintegrated, a heap +dead and ready to rot. The question comes to him: 'Son of man! Can +these bones live?' The only possible answer, if he consult experience, +is, 'O Lord God! Thou knowest.' Then follows the great invocation: +'Come from the four winds, O Breath! and breathe upon these slain that +they may live.' And the Breath comes and 'they stand up, an exceeding +great army.' 'It is the Spirit that quickeneth.' The Scripture treats +us all as dead, being separated from God, unless we are united to Him +by faith in Jesus Christ. According to the saying of the Evangelist, +'They which believe on Him receive' the Spirit, and thereby receive the +life which He gives, or, as our Lord Himself speaks, are 'born of the +Spirit.' The highest and most characteristic office of the Spirit of +God is to enkindle this new life, and hence His noblest name, among the +many by which He is called, is the Spirit of life. + +Again, remember, 'that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' If there +be life given it must be kindred with the life which is its source. +Reflect upon those profound words of our Lord: 'The wind bloweth where +it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell +whence it cometh nor whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of +the Spirit.' They describe first the operation of the life-giving +Spirit, but they describe also the characteristics of the resulting +life. + +'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' That spiritual life, both in the +divine source and in the human recipient, is its own law. Of course the +wind has its laws, as every physical agent has; but these are so +complicated and undiscovered that it has always been the very symbol of +freedom, and poets have spoken of these 'chartered libertines,' the +winds, and 'free as the air' has become a proverb. So that Divine +Spirit is limited by no human conditions or laws, but dispenses His +gifts in superb disregard of conventionalities and externalisms. Just +as the lower gift of what we call 'genius' is above all limits of +culture or education or position, and falls on a wool-stapler in +Stratford-on-Avon, or on a ploughman in Ayrshire, so, in a similar +manner, the altogether different gift of the divine, life-giving Spirit +follows no lines that Churches or institutions draw. It falls upon an +Augustinian monk in a convent, and he shakes Europe. It falls upon a +tinker in Bedford gaol, and he writes _Pilgrim's Progress_. It falls +upon a cobbler in Kettering, and he founds modern Christian missions. +It blows 'where it listeth,' sovereignly indifferent to the +expectations and limitations and the externalisms, even of organised +Christianity, and touching this man and that man, not arbitrarily but +according to 'the good pleasure' that is a law to itself, because it is +perfect in wisdom and in goodness. + +And as thus the life-giving Spirit imparts Himself according to higher +laws than we can grasp, so in like manner the life that is derived from +it is a life which is its own law. The Christian conscience, touched by +the Spirit of God, owes allegiance to no regulations or external +commandments laid down by man. The Christian conscience, enlightened by +the Spirit of God, at its peril will take its beliefs from any other +than from that Divine Spirit. All authority over conduct, all authority +over belief is burnt up and disappears in the presence of the grand +democracy of the true Christian principle: 'Ye are all the children of +God by faith in Jesus Christ'; and every one of you possesses the +Spirit which teaches, the Spirit which inspires, the Spirit which +enlightens, the Spirit which is the guide to all truth. So 'the wind +bloweth where it listeth,' and the voice of that Divine Quickener is, + + 'Myself shall to My darling be + Both law and impulse.' + +Under the impulse derived from the Divine Spirit, the human spirit +'listeth' what is right, and is bound to follow the promptings of its +highest desires. Those men only are free as the air we breathe, who are +vitalised by the Spirit of the Lord, for 'where the Spirit of the Lord +is, there,' and there alone, 'is liberty.' + +In this symbol there lies not only the thought of a life derived, +kindred with the life bestowed, and free like the life which is given, +but there lies also the idea of power. The wind which filled the house +was not only mighty but 'borne onward'--fitting type of the strong +impulse by which in olden times 'holy men spake as they were "borne +onward"' (the word is the same) 'by the Holy Ghost.' There are +diversities of operations, but it is the same breath of God, which +sometimes blows in the softest _pianissimo_ that scarcely rustles the +summer woods in the leafy month of June, and sometimes storms in wild +tempest that dashes the seas against the rocks. So this mighty +life-giving Agent moves in gentleness and yet in power, and sometimes +swells and rises almost to tempest, but is ever the impelling force of +all that is strong and true and fair in Christian hearts and lives. + +The history of the world, since that day of Pentecost, has been a +commentary upon the words of my text. With viewless, impalpable energy, +the mighty breath of God swept across the ancient world and 'laid the +lofty city' of paganism 'low; even to the ground, and brought it even +to the dust.' A breath passed over the whole civilised world, like the +breath of the west wind upon the glaciers in the spring, melting the +thick-ribbed ice, and wooing forth the flowers, and the world was made +over again. In our own hearts and lives this is the one Power that will +make us strong and good. The question is all-important for each of us, +'Have I this life, and does it move me, as the ships are borne along by +the wind?' 'As many as are impelled by the Spirit of God, +they'--_they_--'are the sons of God.' Is that the breath that swells +all the sails of your lives, and drives you upon your course? If it be, +you are Christians; if it be not, you are not. + +II. And now a word as to the second of these symbols--'Cloven tongues +as of fire'--the fire of the Spirit. + +I need not do more than remind you how frequently that emblem is +employed both in the Old and in the New Testament. John the Baptist +contrasted the cold negative efficiency of his baptism, which at its +best, was but a baptism of repentance, with the quickening power of the +baptism of Him who was to follow him; when he said, 'I indeed baptise +you with water, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I. He +shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' The two words +mean but one thing, the fire being the emblem of the Spirit. + +You will remember, too, how our Lord Himself employs the same metaphor +when He speaks about His coming to bring fire on the earth, and His +longing to see it kindled into a beneficent blaze. In this connection +the fire is a symbol of a quick, triumphant energy, which will +transform us into its own likeness. There are two sides to that emblem: +one destructive, one creative; one wrathful, one loving. There are the +fire of love, and the fire of anger. There is the fire of the sunshine +which is the condition of life, as well as the fire of the lightning +which burns and consumes. The emblem of fire is selected to express the +work of the Spirit of God, by reason of its leaping, triumphant, +transforming energy. See, for instance, how, when you kindle a pile of +dead green-wood, the tongues of fire spring from point to point until +they have conquered the whole mass, and turned it all into a ruddy +likeness of the parent flame. And so here, this fire of God, if it fall +upon you, will burn up all your coldness, and will make you glow with +enthusiasm, working your intellectual convictions in fire not in frost, +making your creed a living power in your lives, and kindling you into a +flame of earnest consecration. + +The same idea is expressed by the common phrases of every language. We +speak of the fervour of love, the warmth of affection, the blaze of +enthusiasm, the fire of emotion, the coldness of indifference. +Christians are to be set on fire of God. If the Spirit dwell in us, He +will make us fiery like Himself, even as fire turns the wettest +green-wood into fire. We have more than enough of cold Christians who +are afraid of nothing so much as of being betrayed into warm emotion. + +I believe, dear brethren, and I am bound to express the belief, that +one of the chief wants of the Christian Church of this generation, the +Christian Church of this city, the Christian Church of this chapel, is +more of the fire of God! We are all icebergs compared with what we +ought to be. Look at yourselves; never mind about your brethren. Let +each of us look at his own heart, and say whether there is any trace in +his Christianity of the power of that Spirit who is fire. Is our +religion flame or ice? Where among us are to be found lives blazing +with enthusiastic devotion and earnest love? Do not such words sound +like mockery when applied to us? Have we not to listen to that solemn +old warning that never loses its power, and, alas! seems never to lose +its appropriateness: 'Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will +spue thee out of My mouth.' We ought to be like the burning beings +before God's throne, the seraphim, the spirits that blaze and serve. We +ought to be like God Himself, all aflame with love. Let us seek +penitently for that Spirit of fire who will dwell in us all if we will. + +The metaphor of fire suggests also--purifying. 'The Spirit of burning' +will burn the filth out of us. That is the only way by which a man can +ever be made clean. You may wash and wash and wash with the cold water +of moral reformation, you will never get the dirt out with it. No +washing and no rubbing will ever cleanse sin. The way to purge a soul +is to do with it as they do with foul clay--thrust it into the fire and +that will burn all the blackness out of it. Get the love of God into +your hearts, and the fire of His Divine Spirit into your spirits to +melt you down, as it were, and then the scum and the dross will come to +the top, and you can skim them off. Two powers conquer my sin: the one +is the blood of Jesus Christ, which washes me from all the guilt of the +past; the other is the fiery influence of that Divine Spirit which +makes me pure and clean for all the time to come. Pray to be kindled +with the fire of God. + +III. Then once more, take that other metaphor, 'I will pour out of My +Spirit.' + +That implies an emblem which is very frequently used, both in the Old +and in the New Testament, viz., the Spirit as water. As our Lord said +to Nicodemus: 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he +cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' The 'water' stands in the same +relation to the 'Spirit' as the 'fire' does in the saying of John the +Baptist already referred to--that is to say, it is simply a symbol or +material emblem of the Spirit. I suppose nobody would say that there +were two baptisms spoken of by John, one of the Holy Ghost and one of +fire,--and I suppose that just in the same way, there are not two +agents of regeneration pointed at in our Lord's words, nor even two +conditions, but that the Spirit is the sole agent, and 'water' is but a +figure to express some aspect of His operations. So that there is no +reference to the water of baptism in the words, and to see such a +reference is to be led astray by sound, and out of a metaphor to +manufacture a miracle. + +There are other passages where, in like manner, the Spirit is compared +to a flowing stream, such as, for instance, when our Lord said, 'He +that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living +water,' and when John saw a 'river of water of life proceeding from the +throne.' The expressions, too, of 'pouring out' and 'shedding forth' +the Spirit, point in the same direction, and are drawn from more than +one passage of Old Testament prophecy. What, then, is the significance +of comparing that Divine Spirit with a river of water? First, +cleansing, of which I need not say any more, because I have dealt with +It in the previous part of my sermon. Then, further, refreshing, and +satisfying. Ah! dear brethren, there is only one thing that will slake +the immortal thirst in your souls. The world will never do it; love or +ambition gratified and wealth possessed, will never do it. You will be +as thirsty after you have drunk of these streams as ever you were +before. There is one spring 'of which if a man drink, he shall never +thirst' with unsatisfied, painful longings, but shall never cease to +thirst with the longing which is blessedness, because it is fruition. +Our thirst can be slaked by the deep draught of 'the river of the Water +of Life, which proceeds from the Throne of God and the Lamb.' The +Spirit of God, drunk in by my spirit, will still and satisfy my whole +nature, and with it I shall be glad. Drink of this. 'Ho! every one that +thirsteth, come ye to the waters!' + +The Spirit is not only refreshing and satisfying, but also productive +and fertilising. In Eastern lands a rill of water is all that is needed +to make the wilderness rejoice. Turn that stream on to the barrenness +of your hearts, and fair flowers will grow that would never grow +without it. The one means of lofty and fruitful Christian living is a +deep, inward possession of the Spirit of God. The one way to fertilise +barren souls is to let that stream flood them all over, and then the +flush of green will soon come, and that which is else a desert will +'rejoice and blossom as the rose.' + +So this water will cleanse, it will satisfy and refresh, it will be +productive and will fertilise, and 'everything shall live whithersoever +that river cometh.' + +IV. Then, lastly, we have the oil of the Spirit. + +'Ye have an unction,' says St. John in our last text, 'from the Holy +One.' I need not remind you, I suppose, of how in the old system, +prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with consecrating oil, as a +symbol of their calling, and of their fitness for their special +offices. The reason for the use of such a symbol, I presume, would lie +in the invigorating and in the supposed, and possibly real, +health-giving effect of the use of oil in those climates. Whatever may +have been the reason for the use of oil in official anointings, the +meaning of the act was plain. It was a preparation for a specific and +distinct service. And so, when we read of the oil of the Spirit, we are +to think that it is that which fits us for being prophets, priests, and +kings, and which calls us to, because it fits us for, these functions. + +You are anointed to be prophets that you may make known Him who has +loved and saved you, and may go about the world evidently inspired to +show forth His praise, and make His name glorious. That anointing calls +and fits you to be priests, mediators between God and man, bringing God +to men, and by pleading and persuasion, and the presentation of the +truth, drawing men to God. That unction calls and fits you to be kings, +exercising authority over the little monarchy of your own natures, and +over the men round you, who will bow in submission whenever they come +in contact with a man all evidently aflame with the love of Jesus +Christ, and filled with His Spirit. The world is hard and rude; the +world is blind and stupid; the world often fails to know its best +friends and its truest benefactors; but there is no crust of stupidity +so crass and dense but that through it there will pass the penetrating +shafts of light that ray from the face of a man who walks in fellowship +with Jesus. The whole nation of old was honoured with these sacred +names. They were a kingdom of priests; and the divine Voice said of the +nation, 'Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm!' How much +more are all Christian men, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, made +prophets, priests, and kings to God! Alas for the difference between +what they ought to be and what they are! + +And then, do not forget also that when the Scriptures speak of +Christian men as being anointed, it really speaks of them as being +Messiahs. 'Christ' means _anointed_, does it not? 'Messiah' means +_anointed_. And when we read in such a passage as that of my text, 'Ye +have an unction from the Holy One,' we cannot but feel that the words +point in the same direction as the great words of our Master Himself, +'As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.' By authority derived, +no doubt, and in a subordinate and secondary sense, of course, we are +Messiahs, anointed with that Spirit which was given to Him, not by +measure, and which has passed from Him to us. 'If any man have not the +Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.' + +So, dear brethren, all these things being certainly so, what are we to +say about the present state of Christendom? What are we to say about +the present state of English Christianity, Church and Dissent alike? Is +Pentecost a vanished glory, then? Has that 'rushing mighty wind' blown +itself out, and a dead calm followed? Has that leaping fire died down +into grey ashes? Has the great river that burst out then, like the +stream from the foot of the glaciers of Mont Blanc, full-grown in its +birth, been all swallowed up in the sand, like some of those rivers in +the East? Has the oil dried in the cruse? People tell us that +Christianity is on its death-bed; and the aspect of a great many +professing Christians seems to confirm the statement. But let us +thankfully recognise that 'we are not straitened in God, but in +ourselves.' To how many of us the question might be put: 'Did you +receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?' And how many of us by our +lives answer: 'We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy +Ghost.' Let us go where we can receive Him; and remember the blessed +words: 'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your +children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit +to them that ask Him'! + + + +PETER'S FIRST SERMON + +'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33. +Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received +of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, +which ye now see and hear. 34. For David is not ascended into the +heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on +My right hand, 35. Until I make Thy foes Thy footstool. 36. Therefore +let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that +same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 37. Now when +they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter +and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? +38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you +in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall +receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39. For the promise is unto you, +and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the +Lord our God shall call. 40. And with many other words did he testify +and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41. +Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day +there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42. And they +continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in +breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43. And fear came upon every soul: +and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44. And all that +believed were together, and had all things common; 45. And sold their +possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had +need. 46. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and +breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness +and singleness of heart, 47. Praising God, and having favour with all +the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be +saved.'--ACTS ii. 32-47. + +This passage may best be dealt with as divided into three parts: the +sharp spear-thrust of Peter's closing words (vs. 32-36), the wounded +and healed hearers (vs. 37-41), and the fair morning dawn of the Church +(vs. 42-47). + +I. Peter's address begins with pointing out the fulfilment of prophecy +in the gift of the Spirit (vs. 14-21). It then declares the +Resurrection of Jesus as foretold by prophecy, and witnessed to by the +whole body of believers (vs. 22-32), and it ends by bringing together +these two facts, the gift of the Spirit and the Resurrection and +Ascension, as effect and cause, and as establishing beyond all doubt +that Jesus is the Christ of prophecy, and the Lord on whom Joel had +declared that whoever called should be saved. We now begin with the +last verse of the second part of the address. + +Observe the significant alternation of the names of 'Christ' and +'Jesus' in verses 31 and 32. The former verse establishes that prophecy +had foretold the Resurrection of the Messiah, whoever he might be; the +latter asserts that 'this Jesus' has fulfilled the prophetic +conditions. That is not a thing to be argued about, but to be attested +by competent witnesses. It was presented to the multitude on Pentecost, +as it is to us, as a plain matter of fact, on which the whole fabric of +Christianity is built, and which itself securely rests on the +concordant testimony of those who knew Him alive, saw Him dead, and +were familiar with Him risen. + +There is a noble ring of certitude in Peter's affirmation, and of +confidence that the testimony producible was overwhelming. Unless Jesus +had risen, there would neither have been a Pentecost nor a Church to +receive the gift. The simple fact which Peter alleged in that first +sermon, 'whereof we all are witnesses,' is still too strong for the +deniers of the Resurrection, as their many devices to get over it prove. + +But, a listener might ask, what has this witness of yours to do with +Joel's prophecy, or with this speaking with tongues? The answer follows +in the last part of the sermon. The risen Jesus has ascended up; that +is inseparable from the fact of resurrection, and is part of our +testimony. He is 'exalted by,' or, perhaps, at, 'the right hand of +God.' And that exaltation is to us the token that there He has received +from the Father the Spirit, whom He promised to send when He left us. +Therefore it is He--'this Jesus'--who has 'poured forth this,'--this +new strange gift, the tokens of which you see flaming on each head, and +hear bursting in praise from every tongue. + +What triumphant emphasis is in that 'He'! Peter quotes Joel's word +'pour forth.' The prophet had said, as the mouthpiece of God, '_I_ will +pour forth'; Peter unhesitatingly transfers the word to Jesus. We must +not assume in him at this stage a fully-developed consciousness of our +Lord's divine nature, but neither must we blink the tremendous +assumption which he feels warranted in making, that the exaltation of +Jesus to the right hand of God meant His exercising the power which +belonged to God Himself. + +In verse 34, he stays for a moment to establish by prophecy that the +Ascension, of which he had for the first time spoken in verse 33, is +part of the prophetic characteristics of the Messiah. His demonstration +runs parallel with his preceding one as to the Resurrection. He quotes +Psalm cx., which he had learned to do from his Master, and just as he +had argued about the prediction of Resurrection, that the dead +Psalmist's words could not apply to himself, and must therefore apply +to the Messiah; so he concludes that it was not 'David' who was called +by Jehovah to sit as 'Lord' on His right hand. If not David, it could +only be the Messiah who was thus invested with Lordship, and exalted as +participator of the throne of the Most High. + +Then comes the final thrust of the spear, for which all the discourse +has been preparing. The Apostle rises to the full height of his great +commission, and sets the trumpet to his mouth, summoning 'all the house +of Israel,' priests, rulers, and all the people, to acknowledge his +Master. He proclaims his supreme dignity and Messiahship. He is the +'Lord' of whom the Psalmist sang, and the prophet declared that whoever +called on His name should be saved; and He is the Christ for whom +Israel looked. + +Last of all, he sets in sharp contrast what God had done with Jesus, +and what Israel had done, and the barb of his arrow lies in the last +words, 'whom ye crucified.' And this bold champion of Jesus, this +undaunted arraigner of a nation's crimes, was the man who, a few weeks +before, had quailed before a maid-servant's saucy tongue! What made the +change? Will anything but the Resurrection and Pentecost account for +the psychological transformation effected in him and the other Apostles? + +II. No wonder that 'they were pricked in their heart'! Such a thrust +must have gone deep, even where the armour of prejudice was thick. The +scene they had witnessed, and the fiery words of explanation, taken +together, produced incipient conviction, and the conviction produced +alarm. How surely does the first glimpse of Jesus as Christ and Lord +set conscience to work! The question, 'What shall we do?' is the +beginning of conversion. The acknowledgment of Jesus which does not +lead to it is shallow and worthless. The most orthodox accepter, so far +as intellect goes, of the gospel, who has not been driven by it to ask +his own duty in regard to it, and what he is to do to receive its +benefits, and to escape from his sins, has not accepted it at all. + +Peter's answer lays down two conditions: repentance and baptism. The +former is often taken in too narrow a sense as meaning sorrow for sin, +whereas it means a change of disposition or mind, which will be +accompanied, no doubt, with 'godly sorrow,' but is in itself deeper +than sorrow, and is the turning away of heart and will from past love +and practice of evil. The second, baptism, is 'in the name of Jesus +Christ,' or more accurately, '_upon_ the name,'--that is, on the ground +of the revealed character of Jesus. That necessarily implies faith in +that Name; for, without such faith, the baptism would not be on the +ground of the Name. The two things are regarded as inseparable, being +the inside and the outside of the Christian discipleship. Repentance, +faith, baptism, these three, are called for by Peter. + +But 'remission of sins' is not attached to the immediately preceding +clause, so as that baptism is said to secure remission, but to the +whole of what goes before in the sentence. Obedience to the +requirements would bring the same gift to the obedient as the disciples +had received; for it would make them disciples also. But, while +repentance and baptism which presupposed faith were the normal, +precedent conditions of the Spirit's bestowal, the case of Cornelius, +where the Spirit was given before baptism, forbids the attempt to link +the rite and the divine gift more closely together. + +The Apostle was eager to share the gift. The more we have of the +Spirit, the more shall we desire that others may have Him, and the more +sure shall we be that He is meant for all. So Peter went on to base his +assurance, that his hearers might all possess the Spirit, on the +universal destination of the promise. Joel had said, 'on all flesh'; +Peter declares that word to point downwards through all generations, +and outwards to all nations. How swiftly had he grown in grasp of the +sweep of Christ's work! How far beneath that moment of illumination +some of his subsequent actions fell! + +We have only a summary of his exhortations, the gist of which was +earnest warning to separate from the fate of the nation by separating +in will and mind from its sins. Swift conviction followed the +Spirit-given words, as it ever will do when the speaker is filled with +the Holy Spirit, and has therefore a tongue of fire. Three thousand new +disciples were made that day, and though there must have been many +superficial adherents, and none with much knowledge, it is perhaps not +fanciful to see in Luke's speaking of them as 'souls' a hint that, in +general, the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah was deep and real. Not only +were three thousand 'names' added to the hundred and twenty, but three +thousand souls. + +III. The fair picture of the morning brightness, so soon overclouded, +so long lost, follows. First, the narrative tells how the raw converts +were incorporated in the community, and assimilated to its character. +They, too, 'continued steadfastly' (Acts i. 14). Note the four points +enumerated: 'teaching,' which would be principally instruction in the +life of Jesus and His Messianic dignity, as proved by prophecy; +'fellowship,' which implies community of disposition and oneness of +heart manifested in outward association; 'breaking of bread,'--that is, +the observance of the Lord's Supper; and 'the prayers,' which were the +very life-breath of the infant Church (i. 14). Thus oneness in faith +and in love, participation in the memorial feast and in devotional acts +bound the new converts to the original believers, and trained them +towards maturity. These are still the methods by which a sudden influx +of converts is best dealt with, and babes in Christ nurtured to full +growth. Alas! that so often churches do not know what to do with +novices when they come in numbers. + +A wider view of the state of the community as a whole closes the +chapter. It is the first of several landing-places, as it were, on +which Luke pauses to sum up an epoch. A reverent awe laid hold of the +popular mind, which was increased by the miraculous powers of the +Apostles. The Church will produce that impression on the world in +proportion as it is manifestly filled with the Spirit. Do we? The +so-called community of goods was not imposed by commandment, as is +plain from Peter's recognition of Ananias' right to do as he chose with +his property. The facts that Mark's mother, Mary, had a house of her +own, and that Barnabas, her relative, is specially signalised as having +sold his property, prove that it was not universal. It was an +irrepressible outcrop of the brotherly feeling that filled all hearts. +Christ has not come to lay down laws, but to give impulses. Compelled +communism is not the repetition of that oneness of sympathy which +effloresced in the bright flower of this common possession of +individual goods. But neither is the closed purse, closed because the +heart is shut, which puts to shame so much profession of brotherhood, +justified because the liberality of the primitive disciples was not by +constraint nor of obligation, but willing and spontaneous. + +Verses 46 and 47 add an outline of the beautiful daily life of the +community, which was, like their liberality, the outcome of the feeling +of brotherhood, intensified by the sense of the gulf between them and +the crooked generation from which they had separated themselves. Luke +shows it on two sides. Though they had separated from the nation, they +clung to the Temple services, as they continued to do till the end. +They had not come to clear consciousness of all that was involved in +their discipleship, It was not God's will that the new spirit should +violently break with the old letter. Convulsions are not His way, +except as second-best. The disciples had to stay within the fold of +Israel, if they were to influence Israel. The time of outward parting +between the Temple and the Church was far ahead yet. + +But the truest life of the infant Church was not nourished in the +Temple, but in the privacy of their homes. They were one family, and +lived as such. Their 'breaking bread at home' includes both their +ordinary meals and the Lord's Supper; for in these first days every +meal, at least the evening meal of every day, was hallowed by having +the Supper as a part of it. Each meal was thus a religious act, a token +of brotherhood, and accompanied with praise. Surely _then_ 'men did eat +angels' food,' and on platter and cup was written 'Holiness to the +Lord.' The ideal of human fellowship was realised, though but for a +moment, and on a small scale. It was inevitable that divergences should +arise, but it was not inevitable that the Church should depart so far +from the brief brightness of its dawn. Still the sweet concordant +brotherhood of these morning hours witnesses what Christian love can +do, and prophesies what shall yet be and shall not pass. + +No wonder that such a Church won favour with all the people! We hear +nothing of its evangelising activity, but its life was such that, +without recorded speech, multitudes were drawn into so sweet a +fellowship. If we were like the Pentecostal Christians, we should +attract wearied souls out of the world's Babel into the calm home where +love and brotherhood reigned, and God would 'add' to _us_ 'day by day +those that were being saved.' + + + +THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME + +'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath +made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and +Christ.'--ACTS ii. 36. + +It is no part of my purpose at this time to consider the special +circumstances under which these words were spoken, nor even to enter +upon an exposition of their whole scope. I select them for one reason, +the occurrence in them of the three names by which we designate our +Saviour--Jesus, Lord, Christ. To us they are very little more than +three proper names; they were very different to these men who listened +to the characteristically vehement discourse of the Apostle Peter. It +wanted some courage to stand up at Pentecost and proclaim on the +housetop what he had spoken in the ear long ago, 'Thou art the Christ, +the Son of the living God!' To most of his listeners to say 'Jesus is +the Christ' was folly, and to say 'Jesus is the Lord' was blasphemy. + +The three names are names of the same Person, but they proclaim +altogether different aspects of His work and His character. The name +'Jesus' is the name of the Man, and brings to us a Brother; the name +'Christ' is the name of office, and brings to us a Redeemer; the name +'Lord' is the name of dignity, and brings to us a King. + +I. First, then, the name Jesus is the name of the Man, and tells us of +a Brother. + +There were many men in Palestine who bore the name of 'Jesus' when He +bore it. We find that one of the early Christians had it; and it comes +upon us with almost a shock when we read that 'Jesus, called Justus,' +was the name of one of the friends of the Apostle Paul (Col. iv. 11). +But, through reverence on the part of Christians, and through horror on +the part of Jews, the name ceased to be a common one; and its +disappearance from familiar use has hid from us the fact of its common +employment at the time when our Lord bore it. Though it was given to +Him as indicative of His office of saving His people from their sins, +yet none of all the crowds who knew Him as Jesus of Nazareth supposed +that in His name there was any greater significance than in those of +the 'Simons,' 'Johns,' and 'Judahs' in the circle of His disciples. + +Now the use of Jesus as the proper name of our Lord is very noticeable. +In the Gospels, as a rule, it stands alone hundreds of times, whilst in +combination with any other of the titles it is rare. 'Jesus Christ,' +for instance, only occurs, if I count aright, twice in Matthew, once in +Mark, twice in John. But if you turn to the Epistles and the latter +books of the Scriptures, the proportions are reversed. There you have a +number of instances of the occurrence of such combinations as 'Jesus +Christ,' 'Christ Jesus,' 'The Lord Jesus,' 'Christ the Lord,' and more +rarely the full solemn title, 'The Lord Jesus Christ,' but the +occurrence of the proper name 'Jesus' alone is the exception. So far as +I know, there are only some thirty or forty instances of its use singly +in the whole of the books of the New Testament outside of the four +Evangelists. The occasions where it is used are all of them occasions +in which one may see that the writer's intention is to put strong +emphasis, for some reason or other, on the Manhood of our Lord Jesus, +and to assert, as broadly as may be, His entire participation with us +in the common conditions of our human nature, corporeal and mental. + +And I think I shall best bring out the meaning and worth of the name by +putting a few of these instances before you. + +For example, more than once we find phrases like these: 'we believe +that _Jesus_ died,' 'having therefore boldness to enter into the +holiest by the blood of _Jesus_,' and the like--which emphasise His +death as the death of a man like ourselves, and bring us close to the +historical reality of His human pains and agonies for us. '_Christ_ +died' is a statement which makes the purpose and efficacy of His death +more plain, but '_Jesus_ died' shows us His death as not only the work +of the appointed Messiah, but as the act of our brother man, the +outcome of His human love, and never rightly to be understood if His +work be thought of apart from His personality. + +There is brought into view, too, prominently, the side of Christ's +sufferings which we are all apt to forget--the common human side of His +agonies and His pains. I know that a certain school of preachers, and +some unctuous religious hymns, and other forms of composition, dwell, a +great deal too much for reverence, upon the mere physical aspect of +Christ's sufferings. But the temptation, I believe, with most of us is +to dwell too little upon that,--to argue about the death of Christ, to +think about it as a matter of speculation, to regard it as a mysterious +power, to look upon it as an official act of the Messiah who was sent +into the world for us; and to forget that He bore a manhood like our +own, a body that was impatient of pains and wounds and sufferings, and +a human life which, like all human lives, naturally recoiled and shrank +from the agony of death. + +And whilst, therefore, the great message, 'It is Christ that died,' is +ever to be pondered, we have also to think with sympathy and gratitude +on the homelier representation coming nearer to our hearts, which +proclaims that 'Jesus died.' Let us not forget the Brother's manhood +that had to agonise and to suffer and to die as the price of our +salvation. + +Again, when the Scripture would set our Lord before us, as in His +humanity, our pattern and example, it sometimes uses this name, in +order to give emphasis to the thought of His Manhood--as, for example, +in the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'looking unto Jesus, the +Author and Perfecter of faith.' That is to say--a mighty stimulus to +all brave perseverance in our efforts after higher Christian nobleness +lies in the vivid and constant realisation of the true manhood of our +Lord, as the type of all goodness, as having Himself lived by faith, +and that in a perfect degree and manner. We are to turn away our eyes +from contemplating all other lives and motives, and to 'look off' from +them to Him. In all our struggles let us think of Him. Do not take poor +human creatures for your ideal of excellence, nor tune your harps to +their keynotes. To imitate men is degradation, and is sure to lead to +deformity. None of them, is a safe guide. Black veins are in the purest +marble, and flaws in the most lustrous diamonds. But to imitate Jesus +is freedom, and to be like Him is perfection. Our code of morals is His +life. He is the Ideal incarnate. The secret of all progress is, +'Run--looking unto Jesus.' + +Then, again, we have His manhood emphasised when His sympathy is to be +commended to our hearts. 'The great High Priest, who is passed into the +heavens' is '_Jesus_' ... 'who was in all points tempted like as we +are.' To every sorrowing soul, to all men burdened with heavy tasks, +unwelcome duties, pains and sorrows of the imagination, or of the +heart, or of memory, or of physical life, or of circumstances--to all +there comes the thought, 'Every ill that flesh is heir to' He knows by +experience, and in the Man Jesus we find not only the pity of a God, +but the sympathy of a Brother. + +When one of our princes goes for an afternoon into the slums in East +London, everybody says, and says deservedly, 'right!' and 'princely!' +_This_ prince has learned pity in 'the huts where poor men lie,' and +knows by experience all their squalor and misery. The Man Jesus is the +sympathetic Priest. The Rabbis, who did not usually see very far into +the depth of things, yet caught a wonderful glimpse when they said: +'Messias will be found sitting outside the gate of the city _amongst +the lepers_.' That _is_ where He sits; and the perfectness of His +sympathy, and the completeness of His identification of Himself with +all our tears and our sorrows, are taught us when we read that our High +Priest is not merely Christ the Official, but Jesus the Man. + +And then we find such words as these: 'If we believe that _Jesus_ died +and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring +with Him': I think any one that reads with sympathy must feel how very +much closer to our hearts that consolation comes, 'Jesus rose again,' +than even the mighty word which the Apostle uses on another occasion, +'Christ is risen from the dead.' The one tells us of the risen +Redeemer, the other tells us of the risen Brother. And wherever there +are sorrowing souls, enduring loss and following their dear ones into +the darkness with yearning hearts, they are comforted when they feel +that the beloved dead lie down beside their Brother, and with their +Brother they shall rise again. + +So, again, most strikingly, and yet somewhat singularly, in the words +of Scripture which paint most loftily the exaltation of the risen +Saviour to the right hand of God, and His wielding of absolute power +and authority, it is the old human name that is used; as if the writers +would bind together the humiliation and the exaltation, and were +holding up hands of wonder at the thought that a Man had risen thus to +the Throne of the Universe. What an emphasis and glow of hope there is +in such words as these: 'We see not yet all things put under Him, but +we see _Jesus_'--the very Man that was here with us--'crowned with +glory and honour.' So in the Book of the Revelation the chosen name for +Him who sits amidst the glories of the heavens, and settles the +destinies of the universe, and orders the course of history, is Jesus. +As if the Apostle would assure us that the face which looked down upon +him from amidst the blaze of the glory was indeed the face that he knew +long ago upon earth, and the breast that 'was girded with a golden +girdle' was the breast upon which he so often had leaned his happy head. + +So the ties that bind us to the Man Jesus should be the human bonds +that knit us to one another, transferred to Him and purified and +strengthened. All that we have failed to find in men we can find in +Him. Human wisdom has its limits, but here is a Man whose word is +truth, who is Himself the truth. Human love is sometimes hollow, often +impotent; it looks down upon us, as a great thinker has said, like the +Venus of Milo, that lovely statue, smiling in pity, but it has no arms. +But here is a love that is mighty to help, and on which we can rely +without disappointment or loss. Human excellence is always limited and +imperfect, but here is One whom we may imitate and be pure. So let us +do like that poor woman in the Gospel story--bring our precious +alabaster box of ointment--the love of these hearts of ours, which is +the most precious thing we have to give. The box of ointment that we +have so often squandered upon unworthy heads--let us come and pour it +upon His, not unmingled with our tears, and anoint Him, our beloved and +our King. This Man has loved each of us with a brother's heart; let us +love Him with all our hearts. + +II. So much for the first name. The second--'Christ'--is the name of +office, and brings to us a Redeemer. + +I need not dwell at any length upon the original significance and force +of the name; it is familiar, of course, to us all. It stands as a +transference into Greek of the Hebrew Messias; the one and the other +meaning, as we all know, the 'Anointed.' But what is the meaning of +claiming for Jesus that He is anointed? A sentence will answer the +question. It means that He fulfils all which the inspired imagination +of the great ones of the past had seen in that dim Figure that rose +before prophet and psalmist. It means that He is anointed or inspired +by the divine indwelling to be Prophet, Priest, and King all over the +world. It means that He is--though the belief had faded away from the +minds of His generation--a sufferer whilst a Prince, and appointed to +'turn away unrighteousness' from the world, and not from 'Jacob' only, +by a sacrifice and a death. + +I cannot see less in the contents of the Jewish idea, the prophetic +idea, of the Messias, than these points: divine inspiration or +anointing; a sufferer who is to redeem; the fulfiller of all the +rapturous visions of psalmist and of prophet in the past. + +And so, when Peter stood up amongst that congregation of wondering +strangers and scowling Pharisees, and said, 'The Man that died on the +Cross, the Rabbi-peasant from half-heathen Galilee, is the Person to +whom Law and Prophets have been pointing,'--no wonder that no one +believed him except those whose hearts were touched, for it is never +possible for the common mind, at any epoch, to believe that a man who +stands beside them is very much bigger than themselves. Great men have +always to die, and get a halo of distance around them, before their +true stature can be seen. + +And now two remarks are all I can afford myself upon this point, and +one is this: the hearty recognition of His Messiahship is the centre of +all discipleship. The earliest and the simplest Christian creed, which +yet--like the little brown roll in which the infant beech-leaves lie +folded up--contains in itself all the rest, was this: 'Jesus is +Christ.' Although it is no part of my business to say how much +imperfection and confusion of head comprehension may co-exist with a +heart acceptance of Jesus that saves a soul from sin, yet I cannot in +faithfulness to my own convictions conceal my belief that he who +contents himself with 'Jesus' and does not grasp 'Christ' has cast away +the most valuable and characteristic part of the Christianity which he +professes. Surely a most simple inference is that a _Christian_ is at +least a man who recognises the Christship of Jesus. And I press that +upon you, my friends. It is not enough for the sustenance of your own +souls and for the cultivation of a vigorous religious life that men +should admire, howsoever profoundly and deeply, the humanity of the +Lord unless that humanity leads them on to see the office of the +Messiah to whom their whole hearts cleave. 'Jesus is the Christ' is the +minimum Christian creed. + +And then, still further, let me remind you how the recognition of Jesus +as Christ is essential to giving its full value to the facts of the +manhood. 'Jesus died!' Yes. What then? What is that to me? Is that all +that I have to say? If His is simply a human death, like all others, I +want to know what makes the story of it a Gospel. I want to know what +more interest I have in it than I have in the death of Socrates, or in +the death of any man or woman whose name was in the obituary column of +yesterday's newspaper. 'Jesus died.' That is a fact. What is wanted to +turn the fact into a gospel? That I shall know who it was that died, +and why He died. 'I declare unto you the gospel which I preach,' Paul +says, 'how that _Christ_ died for our sins, according to the +Scriptures.' The belief that the death of Jesus was the death of the +Christ is needful in order that it shall be the means of my deliverance +from the burden of sin. If it be only the death of Jesus, it is +beautiful, pathetic, as many another martyr's has been, but if it be +the death of Christ, then 'my faith can lay her hand' on that great +Sacrifice 'and know her guilt was there.' + +So in regard to His perfect example. If we only see His manhood when we +are 'looking unto Jesus,' the contemplation of His perfection would be +as paralysing as spectacles of supreme excellence usually are. But when +we can say, '_Christ_ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,' and +so can deepen the thought of His Manhood into that of His Messiahship, +and the conception of His work as example into that of His work as +sacrifice, we can hope that His divine power will dwell in us to mould +our lives to the likeness of His human life of perfect obedience. + +So in regard to His Resurrection and glorious Ascension to the right +hand of God. We have not only to think of the solitary man raised from +the grave and caught up to the throne. If it were only 'Jesus' who rose +and ascended, His Resurrection and Ascension might be as much to us as +the raising of Lazarus, or the rapture of Elijah--namely, a +demonstration that death did not destroy conscious being, and that a +man could rise to heaven; but they would be no more. But if '_Christ_ +is risen from the dead,' He is 'become the first-fruits of them that +slept.' If _Jesus_ has gone up on high, others may or may not follow in +His train. He may show that manhood is not incapable of elevation to +heaven, but has no power to draw others up after Him. But if _Christ_ +is gone up, He is gone to prepare a place for us, not to fill a +solitary throne, and His Ascension is the assurance that He will lift +us too to dwell with Him and share His triumph over death and sin. + +Most of the blessedness and beauty of His Example, all the mystery and +meaning of His Death, and all the power of His Resurrection, depend on +the fact that 'it is _Christ_ that died, yea rather, that is risen +again, who is even at the right hand of God.' + +III. 'The Lord' is the name of dignity and brings before us the King. + +There are three grades, so to speak, of dignity expressed by this one +word 'Lord' in the New Testament. The lowest is that in which it is +almost the equivalent of our own English title of respectful courtesy, +'Sir,' in which sense it is often used in the Gospels, and applied to +our Lord as to many other of the persons there. The second is that in +which it expresses dignity and authority--and in that sense it is +frequently applied to Christ. The third and highest is that in which it +is the equivalent of the Old Testament 'Lord,' as a divine name; in +which sense also it is applied to Christ in the New Testament. + +The first and last of these may be left out of consideration now: the +central one is the meaning of the word here. I have only time to touch +upon two thoughts--to connect this name of dignity first with one and +then with the other of the two names that we have already considered. + +Jesus is Lord, that is to say, wonderful as it is, His manhood is +exalted to supreme dignity. It is the teaching of the New Testament, +that in Jesus, the Child of Mary, our nature sits on the throne of the +universe and rules over all things. Those rude herdsmen, brothers of +Joseph, who came into Pharaoh's palace--strange contrast to their +tents!--there found their brother ruling over that ancient and highly +civilised land! We have the Man Jesus for the Lord over all. Trust His +dominion and rejoice in His rule, and bow before His authority. Jesus +is Lord. + +Christ is Lord. That is to say: His sovereign authority and dominion +are built upon the fact of His being Deliverer, Redeemer, Sacrifice. +His Kingdom is a Kingdom that rests upon His suffering. 'Wherefore God +also hath exalted Him, and given Him a Name that is above every name.' + +It is because He wears a vesture dipped in blood, that 'on the vesture +is the name written "King of kings, and Lord of lords."' It is 'because +He shall deliver the needy when he crieth,' as the prophetic psalm has +it, that 'all kings shall fall down before Him and all nations shall +serve Him.' Because He has given His life for the world He is the +Master of the World. His humanity is raised to the throne because His +humanity stooped to the cross. As long as men's hearts can be touched +by absolute unselfish surrender, and as long as they can know the +blessedness of responsive surrender, so long will He who gave Himself +for the world be the Sovereign of the world, and the First-born from +the dead be the Prince of all the kings of the earth. + +And so, dear friends, our thoughts to-day all point to this lesson--do +not you content yourselves with a maimed Christ. Do not tarry in the +Manhood; do not think it enough to cherish reverence for the nobility +of His soul, the gentle wisdom of His words, the beauty of His +character, the tenderness of His compassion. All these will be +insufficient for your needs. There is more in His mission than +these--even His death for you and for all men. Take Him for your Christ, +but do not lose the Person in the Work, any more than you lose the work in +the Person. And be not content with an intellectual recognition of Him, +but bring Him the faith which cleaves to Him and His work as its only +hope and peace, and the love which, because of His work as Christ, +flows out to the beloved Person who has done it all. Thus loving Jesus +and trusting Christ, you will bring obedience to your Lord and homage +to your King, and learn the sweetness and power of 'the name that is +above every name'--the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. + +May we all be able, with clear and unfaltering conviction of our +understandings and loving affiance of our whole souls, to repeat as our +own the grand words in which so many centuries have proclaimed their +faith--words which shed a spell of peacefulness over stormy lives, and +fling a great light of hope into the black jaws of the grave: 'I +believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord!' + + + +A FOURFOLD CORD + +'And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and +fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.'--ACTS ii. 42. + +The Early Church was not a pattern for us, and the idea of its greatly +superior purity is very largely a delusion. But still, though that be +true, the occasional glimpses that we get at intervals in the early +chapters of this Book of the Acts of the Apostles do present a very +instructive and beautiful picture of what a Christian society may be, +and therefore of what Christian Churches and Christian individuals +ought to be. + +The words that I have read, however, are not the description of the +demeanour of the whole community, but of that portion of it which had +been added so swiftly to the original nucleus on the Day of Pentecost. +Think, on the morning of that day 'the number of the names was one +hundred and twenty,' on the evening of that day it was three thousand +over that number--a sufficiently swift and large increase to have +swamped the original nucleus, unless there had been a great power of +assimilation to itself lodged in that little body. These new converts +held to the Apostolic 'doctrine' and 'fellowship,' and to 'breaking of +bread' and to 'prayers,' and so became homogeneous with the others, and +all worked to one end. + +Now, these four points which are signalised in this description may +well afford us material for consideration. They give us the ideal of a +Church's inner life, which in the divine order should precede, and be +the basis of, a Church's work in the world. But, while we speak of an +ideal for a Church, let us not forget that it is realised only by the +lives of individuals being conformed to it. + +I. The first point, which is fundamental to all the others, is 'They +continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine.' + +An earnest desire after fuller knowledge is the basis of all healthy +Christian life. We cannot realise, without a great effort, the +ignorance of these new converts. 'Parthians and Medes and Elamites,' +and Jews gathered from every corner of the Roman world, they had come +up to Jerusalem, and the bulk of them knew no more about Christ and +Christianity than what they picked up out of Peter's sermon on the Day +of Pentecost. But that was enough to change their hearts and their +wills and to lead them to a real faith. And though the _contents_ of +their faith were very incomplete, the _power_ of their faith was very +great. For there is no necessary connection between the amount believed +and the grasp with which it is held. Believing, they were eager for +more light to be poured on to their half-seeing eyes. They had no +Gospels, they had no written record, they had no means of learning +anything about the faith which they were now professing except +listening to one or other of the original Eleven, with the addition of +any of the other 'old disciples'--that is, _early_ disciples--who might +perchance have equal claims to be listened to as 'witnesses from the +beginning.' We shall very much misunderstand the meaning of the words +here, if we suppose that these novices were dosed with theological +instruction, or that 'the Apostles' doctrine' consisted of such fully +developed truths as we find later on in Paul's writings. If you will +look at the first sermons that Peter is recorded as having delivered, +in the early chapters of the Acts, you will find that he by no means +enunciates a definite theology such as he unfolds in his later Epistle. +There is no word about the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; His +designation is 'Thy holy child Jesus.' There is no word about the +atoning nature of Christ's sacrifice; His death is simply the great +crime of the Jewish people, and His Resurrection the great divine fact +witnessing to the truth of His Messiahship. All that which we now +regard, and rightly regard, as the very centre and living focus of +divine truth was but beginning to shine out on the Apostles' minds, or +rather to gather itself into form, and to shape itself by slow degrees +into propositions. 'The Apostles' teaching'--for 'doctrine' does not +convey to modern ears what Luke meant by the word--must have been very +largely, if not exclusively, of the same kind as is preserved to us in +the four Gospels, and especially in the first three of them. The +recital to these listeners, to whom it was all so fresh and strange and +transcendent, of the story that has become worn and commonplace to us +by its familiarity, of Christ in His birth, Christ in His gentleness, +Christ in His deeds, Christ in the deep words that the Apostles were +only beginning to understand; Christ in His Death, Resurrection, and +Ascension--these were the themes on the narration of which this company +of three thousand waited with such eagerness. + +But, of course, there was necessarily involved in the story a certain +amount of what we now call doctrine--that is, theological +teaching--because one cannot tell the story of Jesus Christ, as it is +told in the four Gospels, without impressing upon the hearers the +conviction that His nature was divine and that His death was a +sacrifice. Beyond these truths we know not how far the Apostles went. +To these, perhaps, they did not at first rise. But whether they did so +or no, and although the facts that the hearers were thus eager to +receive, and treasured when they received, are the commonplaces of our +Sunday-schools, and quite uninteresting to many of us, the spirit which +marked these early converts is the spirit that must lie at the +foundation of progressive and healthy Christianity in us. The +consciousness of our own ignorance, of the great sweep of God's +revealed mind and will, the eager desire to fill up the gaps in the +circle, and to widen the diameter, of our knowledge, and the consequent +steadfastness and persistence of our continuance in the teachings--far +fuller and deeper and richer and nobler than were heard in the upper +room at Jerusalem by the first three thousand--which, through the +divine Spirit and the experience of the Church for nineteen hundred +years are available for us, ought to characterise us all. + +Now, dear friends, ask yourselves the question very earnestly, Does +this desire of fuller Christian knowledge at all mark my Christian +character, and does it practically influence my Christian conduct and +life? There are thousands of men and women in all our churches who know +no more about the rich revelation of God in Jesus Christ than they did +on that day long, long ago, when first they began to apprehend that He +was the Saviour of their souls. When I sometimes get glimpses into the +utter Biblical ignorance of educated members of my own and of other +congregations, I am appalled; I do not wonder how we ministers do so +little by our preaching, when the minds of the people to whom we speak +are so largely in such a chaotic state in reference to Scriptural +truth. I believe that there is an intolerance of plain, sober, +instructive Christian teaching from the pulpit, which is one of the +worst signs of the Christianity of this generation. And I believe that +there are a terribly large number of professing Christians, and good +people after a fashion, whose Bibles are as clean to-day, except on one +or two favourite pages, as they were when they came out of the +bookseller's shop years and years ago. You will never be strong +Christians, you will never be happy ones, until you make conscience of +the study of God's Word and 'continue steadfastly in the Apostles' +teaching.' You may produce plenty of emotional Christianity, and of +busy and sometimes fussy work without it, but you will not get depth. I +sometimes think that the complaint of the writer of the Epistle to the +Hebrews might be turned upside down nowadays. He says: 'When for the +time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again +which be the first principles.' Nowadays we might say in Sunday-schools +and other places of church work: 'When for the time ye ought to be +_learners_, you have taken to teaching before you know what you are +teaching, and so neither you nor your scholars will profit much.' The +vase should be full before you begin to empty it. + +Again, there ought to be, and we ought to aim after, an equable temper +of mutual brotherhood conquering selfishness. + +'They continued in the Apostles' doctrine and in fellowship.' +'Fellowship' here, as I take it, applies to community of feeling. A +verse or two afterwards it is applied to community of goods, but we +have nothing to do with that subject at present. What is meant is that +these three thousand, as was most natural, cut off altogether from +their ancient associations, finding themselves at once separated by a +great gulf from their nation and its hopes and its religion, were +driven together as sheep are when wolves are prowling around. And, +being individually weak, they held on by one another, so that many +weaknesses might make a strength, and glimmering embers raked together +might break into a flame. + +Now, all these circumstances, or almost all of them, that drove the +primitive believers together, are at an end, and the tendencies of this +day are rather to drive Christian people apart than to draw them +together. Differences of position, occupation, culture, ways of looking +at things, views of Christian truth and the like, all come powerfully +in to the reinforcement of the natural selfishness which tempts us all, +unless the grace of God overcomes it. Although we do not want any +hysterical or histrionic presentation of Christian sympathy and +brotherhood, we do need--far more than any of us have awakened to the +consciousness of the need--for the health of our own souls we need to +make definite efforts to cultivate more of that sense of Christian +brotherhood with all that hold the same Lord Christ, and to realise +this truth: that they and we, however separate, are nearer one another +than are we and those nearest to us who do not share in our Christian +faith. + +I do not dwell upon this point. It is one on which it is easy to gush, +and it has got a bad name because there has been so much unreal and +sickly talk about it. But if any Christian man will honestly try to +cultivate the brotherly feeling which my text suggests, and to which +our common relation to Jesus Christ binds us, and will try it in +reference to _A_, _B_, or _C_, whom he does not much like, with whose +ways he has no kind of sympathy, whom he believes to be a heretic, and +who perhaps returns the belief about him with interest, he will find it +is a pretty sharp test of his Christian principle. Let us be real, at +any rate, and not pretend to have more love than we really have in our +hearts. And let us remember that 'he that loveth Him that begat, loveth +Him also that is begotten of Him.' + +II. Another characteristic which comes out in the words before us is +the blending of worship with life. + +'They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine ... and in +breaking of bread.' Commentators who can only see one thing at a +time--and there are a good many of that species--have got up great +discussions as to whether this phrase means eating ordinary meals or +partaking of the Lord's Supper. I venture to say it means both, +because, clearly enough, in the beginning, the common meal was hallowed +by what we now call the Lord's Supper being associated with it, and +every day's evening repast was eaten 'in remembrance of Him.' + +So, naturally, and without an idea of anything awful or sacred about +the rite, the first Christians, when they went home after a hard day's +work and sat down to take their own suppers, blessed the bread and the +wine, and whether they ate or drank, did the one and the other 'in +remembrance of Him.' + +The gradual growth of the sentiment attaching to the Lord's Supper, +until it reached the portentous height of regarding it as a 'tremendous +sacrifice' which could only be administered by priests with ordained +hands in Apostolic succession, can be partly traced even in New +Testament times. The Lord's Supper began as an appendage to, or rather +as a heightening of, the evening meal, and at first, as this chapter +tells us in a subsequent verse, was observed day by day. Then, before +the epoch of the Acts of the Apostles is ended, we find it has become a +weekly celebration, and forms part of the service on the first day of +the week. But even when the observance had ceased to be daily, the +association with an ordinary meal continued, and that led to the +disorders at Corinth which Paul rebuked, and which would have been +impossible if later ideas of the Lord's Supper had existed then. + +The history of the transformation of that simple Supper into 'the +bloodless sacrifice' of the Mass, and all the mischief consequent +thereon, does not concern us now. But it does concern us to note that +these first believers hallowed common things by doing them, and common +food by partaking of it, with the memory of His great sacrifice in +their minds. The poorest fare, the coarsest bread, the sourest wine, on +the humblest table, became a memorial of that dear Lord. Religion and +life, the domestic and the devout, were so closely braided together +that when a household sat at table it was both a family and a church; +and while they were eating their meat for the strength of their body, +they were partaking of the memorial of their dying Lord. + +Is your house like that? Is your daily life like that? Do you bring the +sacred and the secular as close together as that? Are the dying words +of your Master, 'This do in remembrance of Me,' written by you over +everything you do? And so is all life worship, and all worship hope? + +III. The last thing here is habitual devotion. + +I suppose the disciples had no forms of set Christian prayers. They +still used the Jewish liturgy, for we read that 'they continued daily +with one accord in the Temple.' I am sure that no two things can be +less like one another than the worship of the primitive Church and the +worship, say, of one of our congregations. Did you ever try to paint +for yourselves, for instance, the scene described in the First Epistle +to the Corinthians? When they came together in their meetings for +worship, 'every one had a psalm, a doctrine, an interpretation.' 'Let +the prophets speak, by ones, or at most by twos'; and if another gets +up to interrupt, let the first speaker sit down. Paul goes on to say, +'Let all things be done decently and in order.' So there must have been +tendencies to disorder, and much at which some of our modern +ecclesiastical martinets would have been very much scandalised as +'unbecoming.' Wise men are in no haste to change forms. Forms change of +themselves when their users change; but it would be a good day for +Christendom if the faith and devoutness of a community of believers +such as we, for instance, profess to be, were so strong and so +demanding expression as that, instead of my poor voice continually +sounding here, every one of you had a psalm or a doctrine, and every +one of you were able and impelled to speak out of the fulness of the +Spirit which God poured into you. It will come some day; it must come +if Christendom is not to die of its own dignity. But we do not need to +hurry matters, only let us remember that unless a Church continues +steadfast in prayer it is worth very little. + +Now, dear brethren, it is said about us Free Churchmen that we think a +great deal too much of preaching and a great deal too little of the +prayers of the congregation. That is a stock criticism. I am bound to +say that there is a grain of truth in it, and that there is not, with +too many of our congregations, as lofty a conception of the power and +blessedness of the united prayers of the congregation as there ought to +be, or else you would not hear about 'introductory services.' +Introductory to what? Do we speak to God merely by way of preface to +one of us talking to his brethren? Is that the proper order? 'They +continued steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching,' no doubt; but also +'steadfastly in prayer.' I pray you to try to make this picture of the +Pentecostal converts the ideal of your own lives, and to do your best +to help forward the time when it shall be the reality in this church, +and in every other society of professing Christians. + + + +A PURE CHURCH AN INCREASING CHURCH + +'And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.'--ACTS +ii. 47. + +'And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being +saved.'--(R. V.) + +You observe that the principal alterations of these words in the +Revised Version are two: the one the omission of 'the church,' the +other the substitution of 'were being saved' for 'such as should be +saved.' The former of these changes has an interest as suggesting that +at the early period referred to the name of 'the church' had not yet +been definitely attached to the infant community, and that the word +afterwards crept into the text at a time when ecclesiasticism had +become a great deal stronger than it was at the date of the writing of +the Acts of the Apostles. The second of the changes is of more +importance. The Authorised Version's rendering suggests that salvation +is a future thing, which in one aspect is partially true. The Revised +Version, which is also by far the more literally accurate, suggests the +other idea, that salvation is a process going on all through the course +of a Christian man's life. And that carries very large and important +lessons. + +I. I ask you to notice here, first, the profound conception which the +writer had of the present action of the ascended Christ. 'The Lord +added to them day by day those that were being saved.' + +Then Christ (for it is He that is here spoken of as the Lord), the +living, ascended Christ, was present in, and working with, that little +community of believing souls. You will find that the thought of a +present Saviour, who is the life-blood of the Church on earth, and the +spring of action for all good that is done in it and by it, runs +through the whole of this Book of the Acts of the Apostles. The keynote +is struck in its first verses: 'The former treatise have I made, O +Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day +in which He was taken up.' That is the description of Luke's Gospel, +and it implies that the Acts of the Apostles is the _second_ treatise, +which tells all that Jesus continued to do and teach _after_ that He +was taken up. So the Lord, the ascended Christ, is the true theme and +hero of this book. It is He, for instance, who sends down the Spirit on +the Day of Pentecost. It is He whom the dying martyr sees 'standing at +the right hand of God,' ready to help. It is He who appears to the +persecutor on the road to Damascus. It is He who sends Paul and his +company to preach in Europe. It is He who opens hearts for the +reception of their message. It is He who stands by the Apostle in a +vision, and bids him 'be of good cheer,' and go forth upon his work. +Thus, at every crisis in the history of the Church, it is the +Lord--that is to say, Christ Himself--who is revealed as working in +them and for them, the ascended but yet ever-present Guide, Counsellor, +Inspirer, Protector, and Rewarder of them that put their trust in Him. +So here it is He that 'adds to the Church daily them that were being +saved.' + +I believe, dear brethren, that modern Christianity has far too much +lost the vivid impression of this present Christ as actually dwelling +and working among us. What is good in us and what is bad in us conspire +to make us think more of the past work of an ascended Christ than of +the present work of an indwelling Christ. We cannot think too much of +that Cross by which He has laid the foundation for the salvation and +reconciliation of all the world; but we may easily think too +exclusively of it, and so fix our thoughts upon that work which He +completed when on Calvary He said, 'It is finished!' as to forget the +continual work which will never be finished until His Church is +perfected, and the world is redeemed. If we are a Church of Christ at +all, we have Christ in very deed among us, and working through us and +on us. And unless we have, in no mystical and unreal and metaphorical +sense, but in the simplest and yet grandest prose reality, that living +Saviour here in our hearts and in our fellowship, better that these +walls were levelled with the ground, and this congregation scattered to +the four winds of heaven. The present Christ is the life of His Church. + +Notice, and that but for a moment, for I shall have to deal with it +more especially at another part of this discourse,--the specific action +which is here ascribed to Him. _He_ adds to the Church, not _we_, not +our preaching, not our eloquence, our fervour, our efforts. These may +be the weapons in His hands, but the hand that wields the weapon gives +it all its power to wound and to heal, and it is Christ Himself who, by +His present energy, is here represented as being the Agent of all the +good that is done by any Christian community, and the Builder-up of His +Churches, in numbers and in power. + +It is His will for, His ideal of, a Christian Church, that continuously +it should be gathering into its fellowship those that are being saved. +That is His meaning in the establishment of His Church upon earth, and +that is His will concerning it and concerning us, and the question +should press on every society of Christians: Does our reality +correspond to Christ's ideal? Are we, as a portion of His great +heritage, being continually replenished by souls that come to tell what +God has done for them? Is there an unbroken flow of such into what we +call our communion? I speak to you members of this church, and I ask +you to ponder the question,--Is it so? and the other question, If it is +not so, wherefore? 'The Lord added daily,'--why does not the Lord add +daily to us? + +II. Let us go to the second part of this text, and see if we can find +an answer. Notice how emphatically there is brought out here the +attractive power of an earnest and pure Church. + +My text is the end of a sentence. What is the beginning of the +sentence? Listen,--'All that believed were together, and had all things +common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all +men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord +in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their +meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having +favour with all the people. And the Lord added.' Yes; of course. +Suppose you were like these people. Suppose this church and +congregation bore stamped upon it, plain and deep as the broad arrow of +the king, these characteristics--manifest fraternal unity, plain +unselfish unworldliness, habitual unbroken devotion, gladness which had +in it the solemnity of Heaven, and a transparent simplicity of life and +heart, which knew nothing of by-ends and shabby, personal motives or +distracting duplicity of purpose--do you not think that the Lord would +add to you daily such as should be saved? Or, to put it into other +words, wherever there is a little knot of men obviously held together +by a living Christ, and obviously manifesting in their lives and +characters the likeness of that Christ transforming and glorifying +them, there will be drawn to them--by natural gravitation, I was going +to say, but we may more correctly say, by the gravitation which is +natural in the supernatural realm--souls that have been touched by the +grace of the Lord, and souls to whom that grace has been brought the +nearer by looking upon _them_. Wherever there is inward vigour of life +there will be outward growth; and the Church which is pure, earnest, +living will be a Church which spreads and increases. + +Historically, it has always been the case that in God's Church seasons +of expansion have followed upon seasons of deepened spiritual life on +the part of His people. And the only kind of growth which is wholesome, +and to be desired in a Christian community, is growth as a consequence +of the revived religiousness of the individuals who make up the +community. + +And just in like manner as such a community will draw to it men who are +like-minded, so it will repel from it all the formalist people. There +are congregations that have the stamp of worldliness so deep upon them +that any persons who want to be burdened with as little religion as may +be respectable will find themselves at home there. And I come to you +Christian people here, for whose Christian character I am in some sense +and to some degree responsible, with this appeal: Do you see to it +that, so far as your influence extends, this community of ours be such +as that half-dead Christians will never think of coming near us, and +those whose religion is tepid will be repelled from us, but that they +who love the Lord Jesus Christ with earnest devotion and lofty +consecration, and seek to live unworldly and saint-like lives, shall +recognise in us men like-minded, and from whom they may draw help. I +beseech you--if you will not misunderstand the expression--make your +communion such that it will repel as well as attract; and that people +will find nothing here to draw them to an easy religion of words and +formalism, beneath which all vermin of worldliness and selfishness may +lurk, but will recognise in us a church of men and women who are bent +upon holiness, and longing for more and more conformity to the divine +Master. + +Now, if all this be true, it is possible for worldly and stagnant +communities calling themselves 'Churches' to thwart Christ's purpose, +and to make it both impossible and undesirable that He should add to +them souls for whom He has died. It is a solemn thing to feel that we +may clog Christ's chariot-wheels, that there may be so little spiritual +life in us, as a congregation, that, if I may so say, He dare not +intrust us with the responsibility of guarding and keeping the young +converts whom He loves and tends. We may not be fit to be trusted with +them, and that may be why we do not get them. It may not be good for +them that they should be dropped into the refrigerating atmosphere of +such a church, and that may be why they do not come. + +Depend upon it, brethren, that, far more than my preaching, your lives +will determine the expansion of this church of ours. And if my +preaching is pulling one way and your lives the other, and I have half +an hour a week for talk and you have seven days for contradictory life, +which of the two do you think is likely to win in the tug? I beseech +you, take the words that I am now trying to speak, to yourselves. Do +not pass them to the man in the next pew and think how well they fit +him, but accept them as needed by you. And remember, that just as a bit +of sealing-wax, if you rub it on your sleeve and so warm it, develops +an attractive power, the Church which is warmed will draw many to +itself. If the earlier words of this context apply to any Christian +community, then certainly its blessed promise too will apply to it, and +to such a church the Lord will 'add day by day them that are being +saved.' + +III. And now, lastly, observe the definition given here of the class of +persons gathered into the community. + +I have already observed, in the earlier portion of this discourse, that +here we have salvation represented as a process, a progressive thing +which runs on all through life. In the New Testament there are various +points of view from which that great idea of salvation is represented. +It is sometimes spoken of as past, in so far as in the definite act of +conversion and the first exercise of faith in Jesus Christ the whole +subsequent evolution and development are involved, and the process of +salvation has its beginning then, when a man turns to God. It is +sometimes spoken of as present, in so far as the joy of deliverance +from evil and possession of good, which is God, is realised day by day. +It is sometimes spoken of as future, in so far as all the imperfect +possession and pre-libations of salvation which we taste here on earth +prophesy and point onwards to their own perfecting in the climax of +heaven. But all these three points of view, past, present, and future, +may be merged into this one of my text, which speaks of every saint on +earth, from the infantile to the most mature, as standing in the same +row, though at different points; walking on the same road, though +advanced different distances; all participant of the same process of +'being saved.' + +Through all life the deliverance goes on, the deliverance from sin, the +deliverance from wrath. The Christian salvation, then, according to the +teaching of this emphatic phrase, is a process begun at conversion, +carried on progressively through the life, and reaching its climax in +another state. Day by day, through the spring and the early summer, the +sun shines longer in the sky, and rises higher in the heavens; and the +path of the Christian is as the shining light. Last year's greenwood is +this year's hardwood; and the Christian, in like manner, has to 'grow +in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Saviour.' So these +progressively, and, therefore, as yet imperfectly, saved people, were +gathered into the Church. + +Now I have but two things to say about that. If that be the description +of the kind of folk that come into a Christian Church, the duties of +that Church are very plainly marked. And the first great one is to see +to it that the community help the growth of its members. There are +Christian Churches--I do not say whether ours is one of them or +not--into which, if a young plant is brought, it is pretty sure to be +killed. The temperature is so low that the tender shoots are nipped as +with frost, and die. I have seen people, coming all full of fervour and +of faith, into Christian congregations, and finding that the average +round them was so much lower than their own, that they have cooled down +after a time to the fashionable temperature, and grown indifferent like +their brethren. Let us, dear friends, remember that a Christian Church +is a nursery of imperfect Christians, and, for ourselves and for one +another, try to make our communion such as shall help shy and tender +graces to unfold themselves, and woo out, by the encouragement of +example, the lowest and the least perfect to lofty holiness and +consecration like the Master's. + +And if I am speaking to any in this congregation who hold aloof from +Christian fellowship for more or less sufficient reasons, let me press +upon them, in one word, that if they are conscious of a possession, +however imperfect, of that incipient salvation, their place is thereby +determined, and they are doing wrong if they do not connect themselves +with some Christian Communion, and stand forth as members of Christ's +Church. + +And now one last word. I have tried to show you that salvation, in the +New Testament, is regarded as a process. The opposite thing is a +process too. There is a very awful contrast in one of Paul's Epistles. +'The preaching of the Cross is to them _who are in the act of +perishing_ foolishness; unto us who are _being saved_, it is the power +of God.' These two processes start, as it were, from the same point, +one by slow degrees and almost imperceptible motion, rising higher and +higher, the other, by slow degrees and almost unconscious descent, +sliding steadily and fatally downward ever further and further. And my +point now is that in each of us one or other of these processes is +going on. Either you are slowly rising or you are slipping down. Either +a larger measure of the life of Christ, which is salvation, is passing +into your hearts, or bit by bit you are dying like some man with +creeping paralysis that begins at the extremities, and with fell, +silent, inexorable footstep, advances further and further towards the +citadel of the heart, where it lays its icy hand at last, and the man +is dead. You are either 'being saved' or you are 'perishing.' No man +becomes a devil all at once, and no man becomes an angel all at once. +Trust yourself to Christ, and He will lift you to Himself; turn your +back upon Him, as some of you are doing, and you will settle down, +down, down in the muck and the mire of your own sensuality and +selfishness, until at last the foul ooze spreads over your head, and +you are lost in the bog for ever. + + + +'THEN SHALL THE LAME MAN LEAP AS AN HART' + +'Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of +prayer, being the ninth hour. 2. And a certain man lame from his +mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the +temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into +the temple; 3. Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, +asked an alms. 4. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, +said, Look on us. 5. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive +something of them. 6. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but +such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth +rise up and walk. 7. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him +up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8. And +he leaping up, stood, and walked, and entered with them into the +temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9. And all the people +saw him walking and praising God: 10. And they knew that it was he +which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were +filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. +11. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the +people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, +greatly wondering. 12. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the +people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so +earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made +this man to walk? 13. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, +the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered +up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to +let Him go. 14. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a +murderer to be granted unto you; 15. And killed the Prince of Life, +whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. 16. And +His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye +see and know; yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this +perfect soundness in the presence of you all.'--ACTS iii. 1-16. + +'Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles' (Acts ii. 43), but +this one is recorded in detail, both because it was conspicuous as +wrought in the Temple, and because it led to weighty consequences. The +narrative is so vivid and full of minute particulars that it suggests +an eye-witness. Was Peter Luke's informant? The style of the story is +so like that of Mark's Gospel that we might reasonably presume so. + +The scene and the persons are first set before us. It was natural that +a close alliance should be cemented between Peter and John, both +because they were the principal members of the quartet which stood +first among the Apostles, and because they were so unlike each other, +and therefore completed each other. Peter's practical force and eye for +externals, and John's more contemplative nature and eye for the unseen, +needed one another. So we find them together in the judgment hall, at +the sepulchre, and here. + +They 'went up to the Temple,' or, to translate more exactly and more +picturesquely, 'were going up,' when the incident to be recorded stayed +them. They had passed through the court, and came to a gate leading +into the inner court, which was called 'Beautiful.' from its artistic +excellence, when they were arrested by the sight of a lame beggar, who +had been carried there every day for many years to appeal, by the +display of his helplessness, to the entering worshippers. Precisely +similar sights may be seen to-day at the doors of many a famous +European church and many a mosque. He mechanically wailed out his +formula, apparently scarcely looking at the two strangers, nor +expecting a response. Long habit and many rebuffs had not made him +hopeful, but it was his business to ask, and so he asked. + +Some quick touch of pity shot through the two friends' hearts, which +did not need to be spoken in order that each might feel it to be shared +by the other. So they paused, and, as was in keeping with their +characters, Peter took speech in hand, while John stood by assenting. +Purposed devotion is well delayed when postponed in order to lighten +misery. + +There must have been something magnetic in Peter's voice and steady +gaze as he said, 'Look on us!' It was a strange preface, if only some +small coin was to follow. It kindled some flicker of hope of he knew +not what in the beggar. He expected to receive 'something' from them, +and, no doubt, was asking himself what. Expectation and receptivity +were being stirred in him, though he could not divine what was coming. +We have no right to assume that his state of mind was operative in +fitting him to be cured, nor to call his attitude 'faith,' but still he +was lifted from his usual dreary hopelessness, and some strange +anticipation was creeping into his heart. + +Then comes the grand word of power. Again Peter is spokesman, but John +takes part, though silently. With a fixed gaze, which told of +concentrated purpose, and went to the lame man's heart, Peter +triumphantly avows what most men are ashamed of, and try to hide: +'Silver and gold have I none.' He had 'left all and followed Christ'; +he had not made demands on the common stock. Empty pockets may go along +with true wealth. + +There is a fine flash of exultant confidence in Peter's next words, +which is rather spoiled by the Authorised Version. He did not say +'_such_ as I have,' as it it was inferior to money, which he had not, +but he said '_what_ I have' (Rev. Ver.),--a very different tone. The +expression eloquently magnifies the power which he possessed as far +more precious than wealth, and it speaks of his assurance that he did +possess it--an assurance which rested, not only on his faith in his +Lord's promise and gift, but on his experience in working former +miracles. + +How deep his words go into the obligations of possession! 'What I have +I give' should be the law for all Christians in regard to all that they +have, and especially in regard to spiritual riches. God gives us these, +not only in order that we may enjoy them ourselves, but in order that +we may impart, and so in our measure enter into the joy of our Lord and +know the greater blessedness of giving than of receiving. How often it +has been true that a poor church has been a miracle-working church, and +that, when it could not say 'Silver and gold have I none' it has also +lost the power of saying, 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, +walk'! + +The actual miracle is most graphically narrated. With magnificent +boldness Peter rolls out his Master's name, there, in the court of the +Temple, careless who may hear. He takes the very name that had been +used in scorn, and waves it like a banner of victory. His confidence in +his possession of power was not confidence in himself, but in his Lord. +When we can peal forth the Name with as much assurance of its +miracle-working power as Peter did, we too shall be able to make the +lame walk. A faltering voice is unworthy to speak such words, and will +speak them in vain. + +The process of cure is minutely described. Peter put out his hand to +help the lame man up, and, while he was doing so, power came into the +shrunken muscles and weak ankles, so that the cripple felt that he +could raise himself, and, though all passed in a moment, the last part +of his rising was his own doing, and what began with his being 'lifted +up' ended in his 'leaping up.' Then came an instant of standing still, +to steady himself and make sure of his new strength, and then he began +to walk. + +The interrupted purpose of devotion could now be pursued, but with a +gladsome addition to the company. How natural is that 'walking and +leaping and praising God'! The new power seemed so delightful, so +wonderful, that sober walking did not serve. It was a strange way of +going into the Temple, but people who are borne along by the sudden joy +of new gifts beyond hope need not be expected to go quietly, and +sticklers for propriety who blamed the man's extravagance, and would +have had him pace along with sober gait and downcast eyes, like a +Pharisee, did not know what made him thus obstreperous, even in his +devout thankfulness. 'Leaping and praising God' do make a singular +combination, but before we blame, let us be sure that we understand. + +One of the old manuscripts inserts a clause which brings out more +clearly that there was a pause, during which the three remained in the +Temple in prayer. It reads, 'And when Peter and John came out, he came +out with them, holding them, and they [the people] being astonished, +stood in the porch,' etc. So we have to think of the buzzing crowd, +waiting in the court for their emergence from the sanctuary. Solomon's +porch was, like the Beautiful gate, on the east side of the Temple +enclosure, and may probably have been a usual place of rendezvous for +the brethren, as it had been a resort of their Lord. + +It was a great moment, and Peter, the unlearned Galilean, the former +cowardly renegade, rose at once to the occasion. Truly it was given him +in that hour what to speak. His sermon is distinguished by its +undaunted charging home the guilt of Christ's death on the nation, its +pitying recognition of the ignorance which had done the deed, and its +urgent entreaty. We here deal with its beginning only. 'Why marvel ye +at this?'--it would have been a marvel if they had not marvelled. The +thing was no marvel to the Apostle, because he believed that Jesus was +the Christ and reigned in Heaven. Miracles fall into their place and +become supremely 'natural' when we have accepted that great truth. + +The fervent disavowal of their 'own power or holiness' as concerned in +the healing is more than a modest disclaimer. It leads on to the +declaration of who is the true Worker of all that is wrought for men by +the hands of Christians. That disavowal has to be constantly repeated +by us, not so much to turn away men's admiration or astonishment from +us, as to guard our own foolish hearts from taking credit for what it +may please Jesus to do by us as His tools. + +The declaration of Christ as the supreme Worker is postponed till after +the solemn indictment of the nation. But the true way to regard the +miracle is set forth at once, as being God's glorifying of Jesus. Peter +employs a designation of our Lord which is peculiar to these early +chapters of Acts. He calls Him God's 'Servant,' which is a quotation of +the Messianic title in the latter part of Isaiah, 'the Servant of the +Lord.' + +The fiery speaker swiftly passes to contrast God's glorifying with +Israel's rejection. The two points on which he seizes are noteworthy. +'Ye delivered Him up'; that is, to the Roman power. That was the +deepest depth of Israel's degradation. To hand over their Messiah to +the heathen,--what could be completer faithlessness to all Israel's +calling and dignity? But that was not all: 'ye denied Him.' Did Peter +remember some one else than the Jews who had done the same, and did a +sudden throb of conscious fellowship even in that sin make his voice +tremble for a moment? Israel's denial was aggravated because it was 'in +the presence of Pilate,' and had overborne his determination to release +his prisoner. The Gentile judge would rise in the judgment to condemn +them, for he had at least seen that Jesus was innocent, and they had +hounded him on to an illegal killing, which was murder as laid to his +account, but national apostasy as laid to theirs. + +These were daring words to speak in the Temple to that crowd. But the +humble fisherman had been filled with the Spirit, who is the +Strengthener, and the fear of man was dead in him. If we had never +heard of Pentecost, we should need to invent something of the sort to +make intelligible the transformation of these timid folk, the first +disciples, into heroes. A dead Christ, lying in an unknown grave, could +never have inspired His crushed followers with such courage, insight, +and elastic confidence and gladness in the face of a frowning world. + + + +'THE PRINCE OF LIFE' + +'But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be +granted unto you; 15. And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath +raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.'--ACTS iii. 14, 15. + +This early sermon of Peter's, to the people, is marked by a comparative +absence of the highest view of Christ's person and work. It is open to +us to take one of two explanations of that fact. We may either say that +the Apostle was but learning the full significance of the marvellous +events that had passed so recently, or we may say that he suited his +words to his audience, and did not declare all that he knew. + +At the same time, we should not overlook the significance of the +Christology which it does contain. 'His child Jesus' is really a +translation of Isaiah's 'Servant of the Lord.' 'The Holy One and the +Just' is a distinct assertion of Jesus' perfect, sinless manhood, and +'the Prince of Life' plainly asserts Jesus to be the Lord and Source of +it. + +Notice, too, the pathetic 'denied': was Peter thinking of the shameful +hour in his own experience? It is a glimpse into the depth of his +penitence, and the tenderness with others' sins which it had given him, +that he twice uses the word here, as if he had said 'You have done no +more than I did myself. It is not for me to heap reproaches on you. We +have been alike in sin--and I can preach forgiveness to you sinners, +because I have received it for myself.' + +Notice, too, the manifold antitheses of the words. Barabbas is set +against Christ; the Holy One and the Just against a robber, the Prince +of Life against a murderer. 'You killed'--'the Prince of Life.' 'You +killed'--'God raised.' + +There are here three paradoxes, three strange and contradictory things: +the paradoxes of man's perverted and fatal choice, of man's hate +bringing death to the Lord of life, and of God's love and power causing +life to come by death. + +I. The paradox of man's fatal choice. + +There occurs often in history a kind of irony in which the whole +tendency of a time or of a conflict is summed up in a single act, and +certainly the fact which is referred to here is one of these. Let us +put it as it would have seemed to an onlooker then, leaving out for the +moment any loftier meaning which may attach to it. + +Peter's words here, thus boldly addressed to the people, are a strong +testimony to the impression which the character of Christ had made on +His contemporaries. 'The Holy One and the Just' implies moral +perfection. The whole narrative of the Crucifixion brings out that +impression. Pilate's wife speaks with awe of 'that just person.' 'Which +of you convinceth me of sin?' 'If I have done evil, bear witness of the +evil.' 'I find no fault in Him.' We may take it for granted that the +impression Jesus made among His contemporaries was, at the lowest, that +He was a pure and good man. + +The nation had to choose one of two. Jesus was the one; who was the +other? A man half brigand, half rebel, who had raised some petty revolt +against Rome, more as a pretext for robbery and crime than from +patriotism, and whose hands reeked with blood. And this was the +nation's hero! + +The juxtaposition throws a strong light on the people's motive for +rejecting Jesus. The rulers may have condemned Him for blasphemy, but +the people had a more practical reason, and in it no doubt the rulers +shared. It was not because He claimed to be the Messiah that they gave +Him up to Pilate, but because He would not meet their notions of what +the Messiah should be and do. If He had called them to arms, not a man +of them would have betrayed Him to Pilate, but all, or the more daring +of them, would have rallied to His standard. Their hate was the measure +of their deep disappointment with His course. If instead of showing +love and meekness, He had blown up the coals of religious hatred; if +instead of going about doing good, He had mustered the men of lawless +Galilee for a revolt, would these fawning hypocrites have dragged him +to Pilate on the charge of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and of +claiming to be a King? Why, there was not one of them but would have +been glad to murder every tax-gatherer in Palestine, not one of them +but bore inextinguishable in his inmost heart the faith in 'one Christ +a King.' And if that meek and silent martyr had only lifted His finger, +He might have had legions of His accusers at His back, ready to sweep +Pilate and his soldiers out of Jerusalem. They saw Christ's goodness +and holiness. It did not attract them. They wanted a Messiah who would +bring them outward freedom by the use of outward weapons, and so they +all shouted 'Not this man but Barabbas!' The whole history of the +nation was condensed in that one cry--their untamable obstinacy, their +blindness to the light of God, their fierce grasp of the promises which +they did not understand, their hard worldliness, their cruel +patriotism, their unquenchable hatred of their oppressors, which was +only equalled by their unquenchable hatred of those who showed them the +only true way for deliverance. + +And this strange paradox is not confined to these Jews. It is repeated +wherever Christ is presented to men. We are told that all men naturally +admire goodness, and so on. Men mostly know it when they see it, but I +doubt whether they all either admire or like it. People generally had +rather have something more outward and tangible. It is not +spiritualising this incident, but only referring it to the principle of +which it is an illustration, to ask you to see in it the fatal choice +of multitudes. Christ is set before us all, and His beauty is partially +seen but is dimmed by externals. Men's desires are fixed on gross +sensuous delights, or on success in business, or on intellectual +eminence, or on some of the thousand other visible and temporal objects +that outshine, to vulgar eyes, the less dazzling lustre of the things +unseen. They appreciate these, and make heroes of the men who have won +them. These are their ideals, but of Jesus they have little care. + +And is it not true that all such competitors of His, when they lead men +to prefer them to Him, are 'murderers,' in a sadder sense than Barabbas +was? Do they not slay the souls of their admirers? Is it not but too +ghastly a reality that all who thus choose them draw down ruin on +themselves and 'love death'? + +This fatal paradox is being repeated every day in the lives of +thousands. The crowds who yelled, 'Not this man but Barabbas!' were +less guilty and less mad than those who to-day cry, 'Not Jesus but +worldly wealth, or fleeting bodily delights, or gratified ambition!' + +II. The paradox of Death's seeming conquest over the Lord of Life. + +The word rendered 'Prince' means an originator, and hence a leader and +hence a lord. Whether Peter had yet reached a conception of the +divinity of Jesus or not, he had clearly reached a much higher one of +Him than he had attained before His death. In some sense he was +beginning to recognise that His relation to 'life' was loftier and more +mysterious than that of other men. Was it His death only that thus +elevated the disciples' thoughts of Jesus? Strange that if He died and +there an end, such a result should have followed. One would have +expected His death to have shattered their faith in Him, but somehow it +strengthened their faith. Why did they not all continue to lament, as +did the two of them on the road to Emmaus: 'We trusted that this had +been He who should have redeemed Israel'--but now we trust no more, and +our dreams are buried in His grave? Why did they not go back to Galilee +and their nets? What raised their spirits, their courage, and increased +their understanding of Him, and their faith in Him? How came His death +to be the occasion of consolidating, not of shattering, their +fellowship? How came Peter to be so sure that a man who had died was +the 'Prince of Life'? The answer, the only one psychologically +possible, is in what Peter here proclaims to unwilling ears, 'Whom God +raised from the dead.' + +The fact of the Resurrection sets the fact of the Death in another +light. Meditating on these twin facts, the Death and Resurrection of +Jesus, we hear Himself speaking as He did to John in Patmos: 'I am the +Living One who became dead, and lo, I am alive for evermore!' + +If we try to listen with the ears of these first hearers of Peter's +words, we shall better appreciate his daring paradox. Think of the +tremendous audacity of the claim which they make, that Jesus should be +the 'Prince of Life,' and of the strange contradiction to it which the +fact that they 'killed' Him seems to give. How could death have power +over the Prince of Life? That sounds as if, indeed, the 'sun were +turned into darkness,' or as if fire became ice. That brief clause 'ye +killed the Prince of Life' must have seemed sheer absurdity to the +hearers whose hands were still red with the blood of Jesus. + +But there is another paradox here. It was strange that death should be +able to invade that Life, but it is no less strange that men should be +able to inflict it. But we must not forget that Jesus died, not because +men slew Him, but because He willed to die. The whole of the narratives +of the Crucifixion in the Gospels avoid using the word 'death.' Such +expressions as He 'gave up the ghost,' or the like, are used, implying +what is elsewhere distinctly asserted, that His death was His offering +of Himself, the result of His own volition, not of exhaustion or of +torture. Thus, even in dying, He showed Himself the Lord of Life and +the Master of Death. Men indeed fastened Jesus to the Cross, but He +died, not because He was so fastened, but because He willed to 'make +His soul an offering for sin.' Bound as it were to a rock in the midst +of the ocean, He, of His own will, and at His own time, bowed His head, +and let the waves of the sea of death roll over it. + +III. The triumphant divine paradox of life given and death conquered +through a death. + +Jesus is 'Prince' in the sense of being source of life to mankind, just +because He died. Hie death is the death of Death. His apparent defeat +is His real victory. + +By His death He takes away our sins. + +By His death He abolishes death. + +The physical fact remains, but all else which makes the 'sting of +death' to men is gone. It is no more a solitude, for He has died, and +thereby He becomes a companion in that hour to every lover of His. Its +darkness changes into light to those who, by 'following Him,' have, +even there, 'the light of life.' This Samson carried away the gates of +the prison on His own strong shoulders when He came forth from it. It +is His to say, 'O death! I will be thy plague.' + +By His death He diffuses life. + +'The Spirit was not given' till Jesus was 'glorified,' which +glorification is John's profound synonym for His crucifixion. When the +alabaster box of His pure body was broken, the whole house of humanity +was filled with the odour of the ointment. + +So the great paradox becomes a blessed truth, that man's deepest sin +works out God's highest act of Love and Pardon. + + + +THE HEALING POWER OF THE NAME + +'And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom +ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this +perfect soundness in the presence of you all.'--ACTS iii. 16. + +Peter said, 'Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power +or holiness we had made this man to walk?' eagerly disclaiming being +anything else than a medium through which Another's power operated. +Jesus Christ said, 'That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on +earth to forgive sins, I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and +walk'--unmistakably claiming to be a great deal more than a medium. Why +the difference? Jesus Christ did habitually in His miracles adopt the +tone on which Moses once ventured when he smote the rock and said, 'Ye +rebels! must _we_ bring the water for you?' and he was punished for it +by exclusion from the Promised Land. Why the difference? Moses was 'in +all his house as a servant, but Christ as a Son over His own house'; +and what was arrogance in the servant was natural and reasonable in the +Son. + +The gist of this verse is a reference to Jesus Christ as a source of +miraculous power, not merely because He wrought miracles when on earth, +but because from heaven He gave the power of which Peter was but the +channel. Now it seems to me that in these emphatic and singularly +reduplicated words of the Apostle there are two or three very important +lessons which I offer for your consideration. + +I. The first is the power of the Name. + +Now the Name of which Peter is speaking is not the collocation of +syllables which are sounded 'Jesus Christ.' His hearers were familiar +with the ancient and Eastern method of regarding names as very much +more than distinguishing labels. They are, in the view of the Old +Testament, attempts at a summary description of things by their +prominent characteristics. They are condensed definitions. And so the +Old Testament uses the expression, the 'Name' of God, as equivalent to +'that which God is manifested to be.' Hence, in later days--and there +are some tendencies thither even in Scripture--in Jewish literature +'the Name' came to be a reverential synonym for God Himself. And there +are traces that this peculiar usage with regard to the divine Name was +beginning to shape itself in the Church with reference to the name of +Jesus, even at that period in which my text was spoken. For instance, +in the fifth chapter we read that the Apostles 'departed from the +council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the +Name,' and we find at a much later date that missionaries of the Gospel +are described by the Apostle John as going forth 'for the sake of the +Name.' + +The name of Christ, then, is the representation or embodiment of that +which Christ is declared to be for us men, and it is that Name, the +totality of what He is manifested to be, in which lies all power for +healing and for strengthening. The Name, that is, the whole Christ, in +His nature, His offices, His work, His Incarnation, His Life, His +Death, Resurrection, Session at the right hand of God--it is this +Christ whose Name made that man strong, and will make us strong. +Brethren, let us remember that, while fragments of the Name will have +fragmentary power, as the curative virtue that resides in any substance +belongs to the smallest grain of it, if detached from the mass--whilst +fragments of the Name of Christ have power, thanks be to Him! so that +no man can have even a very imperfect and rudimentary view of what +Jesus Christ is and does, without getting strength and healing in +proportion to the completeness of his conception, yet in order to +realise all that He can be and do, a man must take the whole Christ as +He is revealed. + +The Early Church had a symbol for Jesus Christ, a fish, to which they +were led because the Greek word for a fish is made up of the initials +of the words which they conceived to be the Name. And what was it? +'_Jesus Christ_, _God's Son_, _Saviour_'; _Jesus_, humanity; _Christ_, +the apex of Revelation, the fulfilment of prophecy, the Anointed +Prophet, Priest, and King; _Son of God_, the divine nature: and all +these, the humanity, the Messiahship, the divinity, found their sphere +of activity in the last name, which, without them, would in its fulness +have been impossible--_Saviour_. He is not such a Saviour as He may be +to each of us, unless our conception of the Name grasps these three +truths: His humanity, His Messiahship, His divinity. 'His Name has made +this man strong.' + +II. Notice how the power of the Name comes to operate. + +Now, if you will observe the language of my text, you will note that +Peter says, as it would appear, the same thing twice over: 'His Name, +through faith in His Name, hath made this man strong.' And then, as if +he were saying something else, he adds what seems to be the same thing: +'Yea! the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness.' + +Now, note that in the first of these two statements nothing appears +except the 'man,' the 'Name,' and 'faith' I take it, though of course +it may be questionable, that that clause refers to the man's faith, and +that we have in it the intentional exclusion of the human workers, and +are presented with the only two parties really concerned--at the one +end the Name, at the other end 'this man made strong.' And the link of +connection between the two in this clause is faith--that is, the man's +trust. But then, if we come to the next clause, we find that although +Peter has just previously disclaimed all merit in the cure, yet there +is a sense in which some one's faith, working as from without, _gave_ +to the man 'this perfect soundness.' And it seems very natural to me to +understand that here, where human faith is represented as being, in +some subordinate sense, the bestower of the healing which really the +Name had bestowed, it is the faith of the human miracle-worker or +medium which is referred to. Peter's faith did give, but Peter only +gave what he had received through faith. And so let all the praise be +given to the water, and none to the cup. + +Whether that be a fair interpretation of the words of my text, with +their singular and apparently meaningless tautology or no, at all +events the principle which is involved in the explanation is one that I +wish to dwell upon briefly now; and that is, that in order for the +Name, charged and supercharged with healing and strengthening power as +it is, to come into operation, there must be a twofold trust. + +The healer, the medium of healing, must have faith in the Name. Yes! of +course. In all regions the first requisite, the one indispensable +condition, of a successful propagandist, is enthusiastic confidence in +what he promulgates. 'That man will go far,' said a cynical politician +about one of his rivals; 'he believes every word he says.' And that is +the condition always of getting other people to believe us. Faith is +contagious; men catch from other people's tongues the accent of +conviction. If one wants to enforce any opinion upon others, the first +condition is that he shall be utterly self-oblivious; and when he is +manifestly saying, as the Apostles in this context did, 'Do not fix +your eyes on us, as though we were doing anything,' then hearts will +bow before him, as the trees of the wood are bowed by the wind. + +If that is true in all regions, it is eminently true in regard to +religion. For what we need there most is not to be instructed, but to +be impressed. Most of us have, lying dormant in the bedchamber and +infirmary of our brains, convictions which only need to be awakened to +revolutionise our lives. Now one of the most powerful ways of waking +them is contact with any man in whom they are awake. So all successful +teachers and messengers of Jesus Christ have had this characteristic in +common, however unlike each other they have been. The divergences of +temperament, of moods, of point of view, of method of working which +prevailed even in the little group of Apostles, and broadly +distinguished Paul from Peter, Peter from James, and Paul and Peter and +James from John, are only types of what has been repeated ever since. +Get together the great missionaries of the Cross, and you would have +the most extraordinary collection of miscellaneous idiosyncrasies that +the world ever saw, and they would not understand each other, as some +of them wofully misunderstood each other when here together. But there +was one characteristic in them all, a flaming earnestness of belief in +the power of the Name. And so it did not matter much, if at all, what +their divergences were. Each of them was fitted for the Master's use. + +And so, brethren, here is the reason--I do not say the only reason, but +the main one, and that which most affects us--for the slow progress, +and even apparent failure, of Christianity. It has fallen into the +hands of a Church that does not half believe its own Gospel. By reason +of formality and ceremonial and sacerdotalism and a lazy kind of +expectation that, somehow or other, the benefits of Christ's love can +come to men apart from their own personal faith in Him, the Church has +largely ceased to anticipate that great things can be done by its +utterance of the Name. And if you have, I do not say ministers, or +teachers, or official proclaimers, or Sunday-school teachers, or the +like, but I say if you have a _Church_, that is honeycombed with doubt, +and from which the strength and flood-tide of faith have in many cases +ebbed away, why, it may go on uttering its formal proclamations of the +Name till the Day of Judgment, and all that will come of it will +be--'The man in whom the devils were, leaped upon them, and overcame +them, and said'--as he had a good right to say--'Jesus I know, and Paul +I know, but who are ye?' You cannot kindle a fire with snowballs. If +the town crier goes into a quiet corner of the marketplace and rings +his bell apologetically, and gives out his message in a whisper, it is +small wonder if nobody listens. And that is the way in which too many +so-called Christian teachers and communities hold forth the Name, as if +begging pardon of the world for being so narrow and old-fashioned as to +believe in it still. + +And no less necessary is faith on the other side. The recipient must +exercise trust. This lame man, no doubt, like the other that Paul +looked at in a similar case, had faith to be healed. That was the +length of his tether. He believed that he was going to have his legs +made strong, and they were made strong accordingly. If he had believed +more, he would have got more. Let us hope that he did get more, because +he believed more, at a later day. But in the meantime the Apostles' +faith was not enough to cure him; and it is not enough for you that +Jesus Christ should be standing with all His power at your elbow, and +that, earnestly and enthusiastically, some of Christ's messengers may +press upon you the acceptance of Him as a Saviour. He is of no good in +the world to you, and never will be, unless you have the personal faith +that knits you to Him. + +It cannot be otherwise. Depend upon it, if Jesus Christ could save +every one without terms and conditions at all, He would be only too +glad to do it. But it cannot be done. The nature of His work, and the +sort of blessings that He brings by His work, are such as that it is an +impossibility that any man should receive them unless he has that trust +which, beginning with the acceptance by the understanding of Christ as +Saviour, passes on to the assent of the will, and the outgoing of the +heart, and the yielding of the whole nature to Him. How can a truth do +any good to any one who does not believe in it? How is it possible +that, if you do not take a medicine, it will work? How can you expect +to see, unless you open your eyes? How do you propose to have your +blood purified, if you do not fill your lungs with air? Is it of any +use to have gas-fittings in your house, if they are not connected with +the main? Will a water tap run in your sculleries, if there is no pipe +that joins it with the source of supply? My dear friend, these rough +illustrations are only approximations to the absolute impossibility +that Christ can help, heal, or save any man without the man's personal +faith. 'Whosoever believeth' is no arbitrary limitation, but is +inseparable from the very nature of the salvation given. + +III. And now, lastly, note the effects of the power of the Name. + +The Apostle puts in two separate clauses what, in the case in hand, was +really one thing--'hath made this man strong,' and 'hath given him +perfect soundness.' Ah! we can part the two, cannot we? There is the +disease, the disease of an alienated heart, of a perverted will, of a +swollen self, all of which we need to have cured and checked before we +can do right. And there is weakness, the impotence to do what is good, +'how to perform I find not,' and we need to be strengthened as well as +cured. There is only one thing that will do these two, and that is that +Christ's power, ay, and Christ's own life, should pass, as it will pass +if we trust Him, into our foulness and precipitate all the +impurity--into our weakness and infuse strength. 'A reed shaken with +the wind,' and without substance or solidity to resist, may be placed +in what is called a petrifying well, and, by the infiltration of stony +substance into its structure, may be turned into a rigid mass, like a +little bar of iron. So, if Christ comes into my poor, weak, tremulous +nature, there will be an infiltration into the very substance of my +being of a present power which will make me strong. + +My brother, you and I need, first and foremost, the healing, and then +the strength-giving power, which we never find in its completeness +anywhere but in Christ, and which we shall always find in Him. + +And now notice, Jesus Christ does not make half cures--'this _perfect_ +soundness.' If any man, in contact with Him, is but half delivered from +his infirmities and purged from his sins, it is not because Christ's +power is inadequate, but because his own faith is defective. + +Christ's cures should be visible to all around. A man's own testimony +is not the most satisfactory. Peter appeals to the bystanders. 'You +have seen him lying here for years, a motionless lump of mendicancy, at +the Temple gate. Now you see him walking and leaping and praising God. +Is it a cure, or is it not?' You professing Christians, would you like +to stand that test, to empanel a jury of people that have no sympathy +with your religion, in order that they might decide whether you were +healed and strengthened or not? It is a good thing for us when the +world bears witness that Jesus Christ's power has come into us, and +made us what we are. + +And so, dear friends, I lay all these thoughts on your hearts. Christ's +gift is amply sufficient to deliver us from all evils of weakness, +sickness, incapacity: to endue us with all gifts of spiritual and +immortal strength. But, while the limit of what Christ gives is His +boundless wealth, the limit of what you possess is your faith. The +rainfall comes down in the same copiousness on rock and furrow, but it +runs off the one, having stimulated no growth and left no blessing, and +it sinks into the other and quickens every dormant germ into life which +will one day blossom into beauty. We are all of us either rock or soil, +and which we are depends on the reality, the firmness, and the force of +our faith in Christ. He Himself has laid down the principle on which He +bestows His gifts when He says, 'According to thy faith be it unto +thee!' + + + +THE SERVANT OF THE LORD + +'Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless +you, In turning away every one of you from his iniquities.'--ACTS iii. +26. + +So ended Peter's bold address to the wondering crowd gathered in the +Temple courts around him, with his companion John and the lame man whom +they had healed. A glance at his words will show how extraordinarily +outspoken and courageous they are. He charges home on his hearers the +guilt of Christ's death, unfalteringly proclaims His Messiahship, bears +witness to His Resurrection and Ascension, asserts that He is the End +and Fulfilment of ancient revelation, and offers to all the great +blessings that Christ brings. And this fiery, tender oration came from +the same lips which, a few weeks before, had been blanched with fear +before a flippant maidservant, and had quivered as they swore, 'I know +not the man!' + +One or two simple observations may be made by way of introduction. +'Unto you _first_'--'first' implies second; and so the Apostle has +shaken himself clear of the Jews' narrow belief that Messias belonged +to them only, and is already beginning to contemplate the possibility +of a transference of the kingdom of God to the outlying Gentiles. 'God +having raised up His Son'--that expression has no reference, as it +might at first seem, to the fact of the Resurrection; but is employed +in the same sense as, and indeed looks back to, previous words. For he +had just quoted Moses' declaration, 'A prophet shall the Lord your God +raise up unto you from your brethren.' So it is Christ's equipment and +appointment for His office, and not His Resurrection, which is spoken +about here. 'His Son Jesus'--the Revised Version more accurately +translates 'His Servant Jesus.' I shall have a word or two to say about +that translation presently, but in the meantime I simply note the fact. + +With this slight explanation let us now turn to two or three of the +aspects of the words before us. + +I. First, I note the extraordinary transformation which they indicate +in the speaker. + +I have already referred to his cowardice a very short time before. That +transformation from a coward to a hero he shared in common with his +brethren. On one page we read, 'They all forsook Him and fled.' We turn +over half a dozen leaves and we read: 'They departed from the council, +rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.' +What did that? + +Then there is another transformation no less swift, sudden, and +inexplicable, except on one hypothesis. All through Christ's life the +disciples had been singularly slow to apprehend the highest aspects of +His teachings, and they had clung with a strange obstinacy to their +narrow Pharisaic and Jewish notions of the Messiah as coming to +establish a temporal dominion, in which Israel was to ride upon the +necks of the subject nations. And now, all at once, this Apostle, and +his fellows with him, have stepped from these puerile and narrow ideas +out into this large place, that he and they recognise that the Jew had +no exclusive possession of Messiah's blessings, and that these +blessings consisted in no external kingdom, but lay mainly and +primarily in His 'turning every one of you from your iniquities.' At +one time the Apostles stood upon a gross, low, carnal level, and in a +few weeks they were, at all events, feeling their way to, and to a +large extent had possession of, the most spiritual and lofty aspects of +Christ's mission. What did that? + +Something had come in between which wrought more, in a short space, +than all the three years of Christ's teaching and companionship had +done for them. What was it? Why did they not continue in the mood which +two of them are reported to have been in, after the Crucifixion, when +they said--'It is all up! we trusted that this had been He,' but the +force of circumstances has shivered the confidence into fragments, and +there is no such hope left for us any longer. What brought them out of +that Slough of Despond? + +I would put it to any fair-minded man whether the psychological facts +of this sudden maturing of these childish minds, and their sudden +change from slinking cowards into heroes who did not blanch before the +torture and the scaffold, are accountable, if you strike out the +Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost? It seems to me that, for +the sake of avoiding a miracle, the disbelievers in the Resurrection +accept an impossibility, and tie themselves to an intellectual +absurdity. And I for one would rather believe in a miracle than believe +in an uncaused change, in which the Apostles take exactly the opposite +course from that which they necessarily must have taken, if there had +not been the facts that the New Testament asserts that there were, +Christ's rising again from the dead, and Ascension. + +Why did not the Church share the fate of John's disciples, who +scattered like sheep without a shepherd when Herod chopped off their +master's head? Why did not the Church share the fate of that abortive +rising, of which we know that when Theudas, its leader, was slain, +'all, as many as believed on him, came to nought.' Why did these men +act in exactly the opposite way? I take it that, as you cannot account +for Christ except on the hypothesis that He is the Son of the Highest, +you cannot account for the continuance of the Christian Church for a +week after the Crucifixion, except on the hypothesis that the men who +composed it were witnesses of His Resurrection, and saw Him floating +upwards and received into the Shechinah cloud and lost to their sight. +Peter's change, witnessed by the words of my text--these bold and +clear-sighted words--seems to me to be a perfect monstrosity, and +incapable of explication, unless he saw the risen Lord, beheld the +ascended Christ, was touched with the fiery Spirit descending on +Pentecost, and so 'out of weakness was made strong,' and from a babe +sprang to the stature of a man in Christ. + +II. Look at these words as setting forth a remarkable view of Christ. + +I have already referred to the fact that the word rendered 'son' ought +rather to be rendered 'servant.' It literally means 'child' or 'boy,' +and appears to have been used familiarly, just in the same fashion as +we use the same expression 'boy,' or its equivalent 'maid,' as a more +gentle designation for a servant. Thus the kindly centurion, when he +would bespeak our Lord's care for his menial, calls him his 'boy'; and +our Bible there translates rightly 'servant.' + +Again, the designation is that which is continually employed in the +Greek translation of the Old Testament as the equivalent for the +well-known prophetic phrase 'the Servant of Jehovah,' which, as you +will remember, is characteristic of the second portion of the +prophecies of Isaiah. And consequently we find that, in a quotation of +Isaiah's prophecy in the Gospel of Matthew, the very phrase of our text +is there employed: 'Behold My Servant whom I uphold!' + +Now, it seems as if this designation of our Lord as God's Servant was +very familiar to Peter's thoughts at this stage of the development of +Christian doctrine. For we find the name employed twice in this +discourse--in the thirteenth verse, 'the God of our Fathers hath +glorified His Servant Jesus,' and again in my text. We also find it +twice in the next chapter, where Peter, offering up a prayer amongst +his brethren, speaks of 'Thy Holy Child Jesus,' and prays 'that signs +and wonders may be done through the name' of that 'Holy Child.' So, +then, I think we may fairly take it that, at the time in question, this +thought of Jesus as the 'Servant of the Lord' had come with especial +force to the primitive Church. And the fact that the designation never +occurs again in the New Testament seems to show that they passed on +from it into a deeper perception than even it attests of who and what +this Jesus was in relation to God. + +But, at all events, we have in our text the Apostle looking back to +that dim, mysterious Figure which rises up with shadowy lineaments out +of the great prophecy of 'Isaiah,' and thrilling with awe and wonder, +as he sees, bit by bit, in the Face painted on the prophetic canvas, +the likeness of the Face into which he had looked for three blessed +years, that now began to tell him more than they had done whilst their +moments were passing. + +'The Servant of the Lord'--that means, first of all, that Christ, in +all which He does, meekly and obediently executes the Father's will. As +He Himself said, 'I come not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him +that sent Me.' But it carries us further than that, to a point about +which I would like to say one word now; and that is, the clear +recognition that the very centre of Jewish prophecy is the revelation +of the personality of the Christ. Now, it seems to me that present +tendencies, discussions about the nature and limits of inspiration, +investigations which, in many directions, are to be welcomed and are +fruitful as to the manner of origin of the books of the Old Testament, +and as to their collection into a Canon and a whole--that all this new +light has a counterbalancing disadvantage, in that it tends somewhat to +obscure in men's minds the great central truth about the revelation of +God in Israel--viz. that it was all progressive, and that its goal and +end was Jesus Christ. 'The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of +prophecy,' and however much we may have to learn--and I have no doubt +that we have a great deal to learn, about the composition, the +structure, the authorship, the date of these ancient books--I take +leave to say that the unlearned reader, who recognises that they all +converge on Jesus Christ, has hold of the clue of the labyrinth, and +has come nearer to the marrow of the books than the most learned +investigators, who see all manner of things besides in them, and do not +see that 'they that went before cried, saying, Hosanna! Blessed be He +that cometh in the name of the Lord!' + +And so I venture to commend to you, brethren--not as a barrier against +any reverent investigation, not as stopping any careful study--this as +the central truth concerning the ancient revelation, that it had, for +its chief business, to proclaim the coming of the Servant of Jehovah, +Jesus the Christ. + +III. And now, lastly, look at these words as setting forth the true +centre of Christ's work. + +'He has sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his +iniquities.' I have already spoken about the gross, narrow, carnal +apprehensions of Messiah's work which cleaved to the disciples during +all our Lord's life here, and which disturbed even the sanctity of the +upper chamber at that last meal, with squabbles about precedence which +had an eye to places in the court of the Messiah when He assumed His +throne. But here Peter has shaken himself clear of all these, and has +grasped the thought that, whatever derivative and secondary blessings +of an external and visible sort may, and must, come in Messiah's train, +_the_ blessing which He brings is of a purely spiritual and inward +character, and consists in turning away single souls from their love +and practice of evil. That is Christ's true work. + +The Apostle does not enlarge as to how it is done. We know how it is +done. Jesus turns away men from sin because, by the magnetism of His +love, and the attractive raying out of influence from His Cross, He +turns them to Himself. He turns us from our iniquities by the expulsive +power of a new affection, which, coming into our hearts like a great +river into some foul Augean stable, sweeps out on its waters all the +filth that no broom can ever clear out in detail. He turns men from +their iniquities by His gift of a new life, kindred with that from +which it is derived. + +There is an old superstition that lightning turned whatever it struck +towards the point from which the flash came, so that a tree with its +thousand leaves had each of them pointed to that quarter in the heavens +where the blaze had been. + +And so Christ, when He flings out the beneficent flash that slays only +our evil, and vitalises ourselves, turns us to Him, and away from our +transgressions. 'Turn us, O Christ, and we shall be turned.' + +Ah, brethren! that is the blessing that we need most, for 'iniquities' +are universal; and so long as man is bound to his sin it will embitter +all sweetnesses, and neutralise every blessing. It is not culture, +valuable as that is in many ways, that will avail to stanch man's +deepest wounds. It is not a new social order that will still the +discontent and the misery of humanity. You may adopt collective +economic and social arrangements, and divide property out as it pleases +you. But as long as man continues selfish he will continue sinful, and +as long as he continues sinful _any_ social order will be pregnant with +sorrow, 'and when it is finished it will bring forth death.' You have +to go deeper down than all that, down as deep as this Apostle goes in +this sermon of his, and recognise that Christ's prime blessing is the +turning of men from their iniquities, and that only after that has been +done will other good come. + +How shallow, by the side of that conception, do modern notions of Jesus +as the great social Reformer look! These are true, but they want their +basis, and their basis lies only here, that He is the Redeemer of +individuals from their sins. There were people in Christ's lifetime who +were all untouched by His teachings, but when they found that He gave +bread miraculously they said, 'This is of a truth the Prophet! That's +the prophet for my money; the Man that can make bread, and secure +material well-being.' Have not certain modern views of Christ's work +and mission a good deal in common with these vulgar old Jews--views +which regard Him mainly as contributing to the material good, the +social and economical well-being of the world? + +Now, I believe that He does that. And I believe that Christ's +principles are going to revolutionise society as it exists at present. +But I am sure that we are on a false scent if we attempt to preach +consequences without proclaiming their antecedents, and that such +preaching will end, as all such attempts have ended, in confusion and +disappointment. + +They used to talk about Jesus Christ, in the first French Revolution, +as 'the Good _Sansculotte_.' Perfectly true! But as the basis of that, +and of all representations of Him, that will have power on the diseases +of the community, we have to preach Him as the Saviour of the +individual from his sin. + +And so, brethren, has He saved you? Do you begin your notions of Jesus +Christ where His work begins? Do you feel that what you want most is +neither culture nor any superficial and external changes, but something +that will deal with the deep, indwelling, rooted, obstinate self-regard +which is the centre of all sin? And have you gone alone to Him as a +sinful man? As the Apostle here suggests, Jesus Christ does not save +communities. The doctor has his patients into the consulting-room one +by one. There is no applying of Christ's benefits to men in batches, by +platoons and regiments, as Clovis baptized his Franks; but you have to +go, every one of you, through the turnstile singly, and alone to +confess, and alone to be absolved, and alone to be turned, from your +iniquity. + +If I might venture to alter the position of words in my text, I would +lay them, so modified, on the hearts of all my friends whom my words +may reach now, and say, 'Unto you--_unto thee_, God, having raised up +His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, _first_ in turning away every one +of you from his iniquities.' + + + +THE FIRST BLAST OF TEMPEST + +'And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the +temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, 2. Being grieved that they +taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the +dead. 3. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the +next day: for it was now even-tide. 4. Howbeit many of them which heard +the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. +5. And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, +and scribes, 6. And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and +Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were +gathered together at Jerusalem. 7. And when they had set them in the +midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? +8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of +the people, and elders of Israel, 9. If we this day be examined of the +good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; 10. +Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the +name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised +from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. +11. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is +become the head of the corner. 12. Neither is there salvation in any +other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, +whereby we must be saved. 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter +and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they +marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with +Jesus. 14. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, +they could say nothing against it.'--ACTS iv. 1-14. + +Hitherto the Jewish authorities had let the disciples alone, either +because their attention had not been drawn even by Pentecost and the +consequent growth of the Church, or because they thought that to ignore +the new sect was the best way to end it. But when its leaders took to +vehement preaching in Solomon's porch, and crowds eagerly listened, it +was time to strike in. + +Our passage describes the first collision of hostile authority with +Christian faith, and shows, as in a glass, the constant result of that +collision in all ages. + +The motives actuating the assailants are significantly analysed, and +may be distributed among the three classes enumerated. The priests and +the captain of the Temple would be annoyed by the very fact that Peter +and John taught the people: the former, because they were jealous of +their official prerogative: the latter, because he was responsible for +public order, and a riot in the Temple court would have been a scandal. +The Saddueees were indignant at the substance of the teaching, which +affirmed the resurrection of the dead, which they denied, and alleged +it as having occurred 'in Jesus.' + +The position of Sadducees and Pharisees is inverted in Acts as compared +with the Gospels. While Christ lived, the Pharisees were the soul of +the opposition to Him, and His most solemn warnings fell on them; after +the Resurrection, the Sadducees head the opposition, and among the +Pharisees are some, like Gamaliel and afterwards Paul, who incline to +the new faith. It was the Resurrection that made the difference, and +the difference is an incidental testimony to the fact that Christ's +Resurrection was proclaimed from the first. To ask whether Jesus had +risen, and to examine the evidence, were the last things of which the +combined assailants thought. This public activity of the Apostles +threatened their influence or their pet beliefs, and so, like +persecutors in all ages, they shut their eyes to the important +question, 'Is this preaching true or false?' and took the easier course +of laying hands on the preachers. + +So the night fell on Peter and John in prison, the first of the +thousands who have suffered bonds and imprisonment for Christ, and have +therein found liberty. What lofty faith, and what subordination of the +fate of the messengers to the progress of the message, are expressed in +that abrupt introduction, in verse 4, of the statistics of the increase +of the Church from that day's work! It mattered little that it ended +with the two Apostles in custody, since it ended too with five thousand +rejoicing in Christ. + +The arrest seems to have been due to a sudden thought on the part of +the priests, captain, and Sadducees, without commands from the +Sanhedrin or the high priest. But when these inferior authorities had +got hold of their prisoners, they probably did not quite know what to +do with them, and so moved the proper persons to summon the Sanhedrin. +In all haste, then, a session was called for next morning. 'Rulers, +elders, and scribes' made up the constituent members of the court, and +the same two 'high priests' who had tried Jesus are there, attended by +a strong contingent of dependants, who could be trusted to vote as they +were bidden. Annas was an _emeritus_ high priest, whose age and +relationship to Caiaphas, the actual holder of the post and Annas's +son-in-law, gave him an influential position. He retained the title, +though he had ceased to hold the office, as a cleric without a charge +is usually called 'Reverend.' + +It was substantially the same court which had condemned Jesus, and +probably now sat in the same hall as then. So that Peter and John would +remember the last time when they had together been in that room, and +Who had stood in the criminal's place where they now were set. + +The court seems to have been somewhat at a loss how to proceed. The +Apostles had been arrested for their words, but they are questioned +about the miracle. It was no crime to teach in the Temple, but a crime +might be twisted out of working a miracle in the name of any but +Jehovah. To do that would come near blasphemy or worshipping strange +gods. The Sanhedrin knew what the answer to their question would be, +and probably they intended, as soon as the anticipated answer was +given, to 'rend their clothes,' and say, as they had done once before, +'What need we further witnesses? They have spoken blasphemy.' But +things did not go as was expected. The crafty question was put. It does +not attempt to throw doubt on the reality of the miracle, but there is +a world of arrogant contempt in it, both in speaking of the cure as +'this,' and in the scornful emphasis with which, in the Greek, 'ye' +stands last in the sentence, and implies, 'ye poor, ignorant fishermen.' + +The last time that Peter had been in the judgment-hall his courage had +oozed out of him at the prick of a maid-servant's sharp tongue, but now +he fronts all the ecclesiastical authorities without a tremor. Whence +came the transformation of the cowardly denier into the heroic +confessor, who turns the tables on his judges and accuses them? The +narrative answers. He was 'filled with the Holy Ghost.' That abiding +possession of the Spirit, begun on Pentecost, did not prevent special +inspiration for special needs, and the Greek indicates that there was +granted such a temporary influx in this critical hour. + +One cannot but note the calmness of the Apostle, so unlike his old +tumultuous self. He begins with acknowledging the lawful authority of +the court, and goes on, with just a tinge of sarcasm, to put the vague +'this' of the question in its true light. It was 'a good deed done to +an impotent man,' for which John and he stood there. Singular sort of +crime that! Was there not a presumption that the power which had +wrought so 'good' a deed was good? 'Do men gather grapes of thorns?' +Many a time since then Christianity has been treated as criminal, +because of its beneficence to bodies and souls. + +But Peter rises to the full height of the occasion, when he answers the +Sanhedrin's question with the pealing forth of his Lord's name. He +repeats in substance his former contrast of Israel's treatment of Jesus +and God's; but, in speaking to the rulers, his tone is more severe than +it was to the people. The latter had been charged, at Pentecost and in +the Temple, with crucifying _Jesus_; the former are here charged with +crucifying the _Christ_. It was their business to have tested his +claims, and to have welcomed the Messiah. The guilt was shared by both, +but the heavier part lay on the shoulders of the Sanhedrin. + +Mark, too, the bold proclamation of the Resurrection, the stone of +offence to the Sadducees. How easy it would have been for them to +silence the Apostle, if they could have pointed to the undisturbed and +occupied grave! That would have finished the new sect at once. Is there +any reason why it was not done but the one reason that it could not be +done? + +Thus far Peter has been answering the interrogation legally put, and +has done as was anticipated. Now was the time for Annas and the rest to +strike in; but they could not carry out their programme, for the fiery +stream of Peter's words does not stop when they expected, and instead +of a timid answer followed by silence, they get an almost defiant +proclamation of the Name, followed by a charge against them, which +turns the accused into the accuser, and puts them at the bar. Peter +learned to apply the passage in the Psalm (v. 11) to the rulers, from +his Master's use of it (Matt. xxi. 42); and there is no quaver in his +voice nor fear in his heart when, in the face of all these learned +Rabbis and high and mighty dignitaries, he brands them as foolish +builders, blind to the worth of the Stone 'chosen of God, and +precious,' and tells them that the course of divine Providence will run +counter to their rejection of Jesus, and make him the very 'Head of the +corner,'--the crown, as well as the foundation, of God's building. + +But not even this bold indictment ends the stream of his speech. The +proclamation of the power of the Name was fitly followed by pressing +home the guilt and madness of rejecting Jesus, and that again by the +glad tidings of salvation for all, even the rejecters. Is not the +sequence in Peter's defence substantially that which all Christian +preaching should exhibit? First, strong, plain proclamation of the +truth; then pungent pressing home of the sin of turning away from +Jesus; and then earnest setting forth of the salvation in His name,--a +salvation wide as the world, and deep as our misery and need, but +narrow, inasmuch as it is 'in none other.' The Apostle will not end +with charging his hearers with guilt, but with offering them salvation. +He will end with lifting up 'the Name' high above all other, and +setting it in solitary clearness before, not these rulers only, but the +whole world. The salvation which it had wrought on the lame man was but +a parable and picture of the salvation from all ills of body and +spirit, which was stored in that Name, and in it alone. + +The rulers' contempt had been expressed by their emphatic ending of +their question with that 'ye.' Peter expresses his brotherhood and +longing for the good of his judges by ending his impassioned, or, +rather, inspired address with a loving, pleading 'we.' He puts himself +on the same level with them as needing salvation, and would fain have +them on the same level with himself and John as receiving it. That is +the right way to preach. + +Little need be said as to the effect of this address. Whether it went +any deeper in any susceptible souls or not, it upset the schemes of the +leaders. Something in the manner and matter of it awed them into +wonder, and paralysed them for the time. Here was the first instance of +the fulfilment of that promise, which has been fulfilled again and +again since, of 'a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall +not be able to gainsay nor resist.' 'Unlearned,' as ignorant of +Rabbinical traditions, and 'ignorant,' or, rather, 'private,' as +holding no official position, these two wielded a power over hearts and +consciences which not even official indifference and arrogance could +shake off. Thank God, that day's experience is repeated still, and any +of us may have the same Spirit to clothe us with the same armour of +light! + +The Sanhedrin knew well enough that the Apostles had been with Jesus, +and the statement that 'they took knowledge of them' cannot mean that +that fact dawned on the rulers for the first time. Rather it means that +their wonder at the 'boldness' of the two drove home the fact of their +association with Him to their minds. That association explained the +marvel; for the Sanhedrin remembered how He had stood, meek but unawed, +at the same bar. They said to themselves, 'We know where these men get +this brave freedom of speech,--from that Nazarene.' Happy shall we be +if our demeanour recalls to spectators the ways of our Lord! + +How came the lame man there? He had not been arrested with the +Apostles. Had he voluntarily and bravely joined them? We do not know, +but evidently he was not there as accused, and probably had come as a +witness of the reality of the miracle. Notice the emphatic 'standing,' +as in verse 10,--a thing that he had never done all his life. No wonder +that the Sanhedrin were puzzled, and settled down to the 'lame and +impotent conclusion' which follows. So, in the first round of the +world-long battle between the persecutors and the persecuted, the +victory is all on the side of the latter. So it has been ever since, +though often the victors have died in the conflict. 'The Church is an +anvil which has worn out many hammers,' and the story of the first +collision is, in essentials, the story of all. + + + +WITH AND LIKE CHRIST + +'Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that +they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took +knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.'--ACTS iv. 13. + +Two young Galilean fishermen, before the same formidable tribunal which +a few weeks before had condemned their Master, might well have quailed. +And evidently 'Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and +Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest,' were +very much astonished that their united wisdom and dignity did not +produce a greater impression on these two contumacious prisoners. They +were 'unlearned,' knowing nothing about Rabbinical wisdom; they were +'ignorant,' or, as the word ought rather to be rendered, 'persons in a +private station,' without any kind of official dignity. And yet there +they stood, perfectly unembarrassed and at their ease, and said what +they wanted to say, all of it, right out. So, as great astonishment +crept over the dignified ecclesiastics who were sitting in judgment +upon them, their astonishment led them to remember what, of course, +they knew before, only that it had not struck them so forcibly, as +explaining the Apostles' demeanour--viz.,'that they had been with +Jesus.' So they said to themselves: 'Ah, that explains it all! There is +the root of it. The company that they have kept accounts for their +unembarrassed boldness.' + +Now, I need not notice by more than a word in passing, what a testimony +it is to the impression that that meek and gracious Sufferer had made +upon His judges, that when they saw these two men standing there +unfaltering, they began to remember how that other Prisoner had stood. +And perhaps some of them began to think that they had made a mistake in +that last trial. It is a testimony to the impression that Christ had +made that the strange demeanour of His two servants recalled the Master +to the mind of the judges. + +I. The first thing that strikes us here is the companionship that +transforms. + +The rulers were partly right, and they were partly wrong. The source +from which these men had drawn their boldness was their being with +Christ; but it was not such companionship with Christ, as Annas and +Caiaphas had in view, that had given them courage. For as long as the +Apostles had His personal presence with them, there was no perceptible +transforming or elevating process going on in them; and it was not +until after they had lost that corporeal presence that there came upon +them the change which even the prejudiced eyes of these judges could +not help seeing. + +The writer of Acts gives a truer explanation with which we may fill out +the incomplete explanation of the rulers, when he says, 'Then Peter, +_filled with the Holy Ghost_, said unto them.' Ah, that is it! They had +been with Jesus all the days that He went in and out amongst them. They +had companioned with Him, and they had gained but little from it. But +when He went away, and they were relegated to the same kind of +companionship with Him that you and I have or may have, then a change +began to take place on them. And so the companionship that transforms +is not what the Apostle calls 'knowing Christ after the flesh,' but +inward communion with Him, the companionship and familiarity which are +as possible for us as for any Peter or John of them all, and without +which our Christianity is nothing but sounding brass and tinkling +cymbal. + +They were 'with Jesus,' as each of us may be. Their communion was in no +respect different from the communion that is open and indispensable to +any real Christian. To be with Him is possible for us all. When we go +to our daily work, when we are compassed about by distracting and +trivial cares, when men come buzzing round us, and the ordinary +secularities of life seem to close in upon us like the walls of a +prison, and to shut out the blue and the light--oh! it is hard, but it +_is_ possible, for every one of us to think these all away, and to +carry with us into everything that blessed thought of a Presence that +is not to be put aside, that sits beside me at my study table, that +stands beside you at your tasks, that goes with you in shop and mart, +that is always near, with its tender encircling, with its mighty +protection, with its all-sufficing sweetness and power. To be with +Christ is no prerogative, either of Apostles and teachers of the +primitive age, or of saints that have passed into the higher vision; +but it is possible for us all. No doubt there are as yet unknown forms +and degrees of companionship with Christ in the future state, in +comparison with which to be 'present in the body is to be absent from +the Lord'; but in the inmost depth of reality, the soul that loves is +where it loves, and has whom it loves ever with it. 'Where the treasure +is, there will the heart be also,' and we may be with Christ if only we +will honestly try hour by hour to keep ourselves in touch with Him, and +to make Him the motive as well as the end of the work that other men do +along with us, and do from altogether secular and low motives. + +Another phase of being with Christ lies in frank, full, and familiar +conversation with Him. I do not understand a dumb companionship. When +we are with those that we love, and with whom we are at ease, speech +comes instinctively. If we are co-denizens of the Father's house with +the Elder Brother, we shall talk to Him. We shall not need to be +reminded of the 'duty of prayer,' but shall rather instinctively and as +a matter of course, without thinking of what we are doing, speak to Him +our momentary wants, our passing discomforts, our little troubles. +There may be a great deal more virtue in monosyllabic prayers than in +long liturgies. Little jets of speech or even of unspoken speech that +go up to Him are likely to be heart-felt and to be heard. It is said of +Israel's army on one occasion, 'they cried unto God in the battle, and +He was entreated of them.' Do you think that theirs would be very +elaborate prayers? Was there any time to make a long petition when the +sword of a Philistine was whizzing about the suppliant's ears? It was +only a cry, but it _was_ a cry; and so 'He was entreated of them.' If +we are 'with Christ' we shall talk to Him; and if we are with Christ He +will talk to us. It is for us to keep in the attitude of listening and, +so far as may be, to hush other voices, in order that His may be heard, +If we do so, even here 'shall we ever be with the Lord.' + +II. Now, note next the character that this companionship produces. + +Annas and Caiaphas said to each other: 'Ah, these two have been with +that Jesus! That is where they have got their boldness. They are like +Him.' + +As is the Master, so is the servant. That is the broad, general +principle that lies in my text. To be with Christ makes men Christlike. +A soul habitually in contact with Jesus will imbibe sweetness from Him, +as garments laid away in a drawer with some preservative perfume absorb +fragrance from that beside which they lie. Therefore the surest way for +Christian people to become what God would have them to be, is to direct +the greater part of their effort, not so much to the acquirement of +individual characteristics and excellences, as to the keeping up of +continuity of communion with the Master. Then the excellences will +come. Astronomers, for instance, have found out that if they take a +sensitive plate and lay it so as to receive the light from a star, and +keep it in place by giving it a motion corresponding with the apparent +motion of the heavens, for hours and hours, there will become visible +upon it a photographic image of dim stars that no human eye or +telescope can see. Persistent lying before the light stamps the image +of the light upon the plate. Communion with Christ is the secret of +Christlikeness. So instead of all the wearisome, painful, futile +attempts at tinkering one's own character apart from Him, here is the +royal road. Not that there is no effort in it. We must never forget nor +undervalue the necessity for struggle in the Christian life. But that +truth needs to be supplemented with the thought that comes from my +text--viz. that the fruitful direction in which the struggle is to be +mainly made lies in keeping ourselves in touch with Jesus Christ, and +if we do that, then transformation comes by beholding. 'We all, +reflecting as a mirror does, the glory of the Lord, are transformed +into the same image.' 'They have been with Jesus,' and so they were +like Him. + +But now look at the specific kinds of excellence which seem to have +come out of this communion. 'They beheld the _boldness_ of Peter and +John.' The word that is translated 'boldness' no doubt conveys that +idea, but it also conveys another. Literally it means 'the act of +saying everything.' It means openness of unembarrassed speech, and so +comes to have the secondary signification, which the text gives, of +'boldness.' + +Then, to be with Christ gives a living knowledge of Him and of truth, +far in advance of the head knowledge of wise and learned people. It was +a fact that these two knew nothing about what Rabbi _This_, or Rabbi +_That_, or Rabbi _The Other_ had said, and yet could speak, as they had +been speaking, large religious ideas that astonished these hide-bound +Pharisees, who thought that there was no way to get to the knowledge of +the revelation of God made to Israel, except by the road of their own +musty and profitless learning. Ay! and it always is so. An ounce of +experience is worth a ton of theology. The men that have summered and +wintered with Jesus Christ may not know a great many things that are +supposed to be very important parts of religion, but they have got hold +of the central truth of it, with a power, and in a fashion, that men of +books, and ideas, and systems, and creeds, and theological learning, +may know nothing about. 'Not many wise men after the flesh, not many +mighty, are called.' Let a poor man at his plough-tail, or a poor woman +in her garret, or a collier in the pit, have Jesus Christ for their +Companion, and they have got the kernel; and the gentlemen that like +such diet may live on the shell if they will, and can. Religious ideas +are of little use unless there be heart-experiences; and +heart-experiences are wonderful teachers of religious truth. + +Again, to be with Christ frees from the fear of man. It was a new thing +for such persons as Peter and John to stand cool and unawed before the +Council. Not so very long ago one of the two had been frightened into a +momentary apostasy by dread of being haled before the rulers, and now +they are calmly heroic, and threats are idle words to them. I need not +point to the strong presumption, raised by the contrast of the +Apostles' past cowardice and present courage, of the occurrence of some +such extraordinary facts as the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the +Descent of the Spirit. Something had happened which revolutionised +these men. It was their communion with Jesus, made more real and deep +by the cessation of His bodily presence, which made these unlearned and +non-official Galileans front the Council with calmly beating hearts and +unfaltering tongues. Doubtless, temperament has much to do with +courage, but, no doubt, he who lives near Jesus is set free from undue +dependence on things seen and on persons. Perfect love casts out fear, +not only of the Beloved, but of all creatures. It is the bravest thing +in the world. + +Further, to be with Christ will open a man's lips. The fountain, if it +is full, must well up. 'Light is light which circulates. Heat is heat +which radiates.' The true possession of Jesus Christ will always make +it impossible for the possessor to be dumb. I pray you to test +yourselves, as I would that all professing Christians should test +themselves, by that simple truth, that a full heart must find +utterance. The instinct that drives a man to speak of the thing in +which he is interested should have full play in the Christian life. It +seems to me a terribly sad fact that there are such hosts of good, kind +people, with some sort of religion about them, who never feel any +anxiety to say a word to any soul concerning the Master whom they +profess to love. I know, of course, that deep feeling is silent, and +that the secrets of Christian experience are not to be worn on the +sleeve for daws to peck at. And I know that the conventionalities of +this generation frown very largely upon the frank utterance of +religious convictions on the part of religious people, except on +Sundays, in Sunday-schools, pulpits, and the like. But for all that, +what is in you will come out. If you have never felt 'I was weary of +forbearing, and I could not stay,' I do not think that there is much +sign in you of a very deep or a very real being with Jesus. + +III. The last point to be noted is, the impression which such a +character makes. + +It was not so much what Peter and John said that astonished the +Council, as the fact of their being composed and bold enough to say +anything. + +A great deal more is done by character than by anything else. Most +people in the world take their notions of Christianity from its +concrete embodiments in professing Christians. For one man that has +read his Bible, and has come to know what religion is thereby, there +are a hundred that look at you and me, and therefrom draw their +conclusions as to what religion is. It is not my sermons, but your +life, that is the most important agency for the spread of the Gospel in +this congregation. And if we, as Christian people, were to live so as +to make men say, 'Dear me, that is strange. That is not the kind of +thing that one would have expected from that man. That is of a higher +strain than he is of. Where did it come from, I wonder?' 'Ah, he +learned it of that Jesus'--if people were constrained to speak in that +style to themselves about us, dear friends, and about all our brethren, +England would be a different England from what it is to-day. It is +Christians' lives, after all, that make dints in the world's conscience. + +Do you remember one of the Apostle's lovely and strong metaphors? Paul +says that that little Church in Thessalonica rung out clear and strong +the name of Jesus Christ--resonant like the clang of a bugle, 'so that +we need not to speak anything.' The word that he employs for 'sounded +out' is a technical expression for the ringing blast of a trumpet. Very +small penny whistles would be a better metaphor for the instruments +which the bulk of professing Christians play on. + +'Adorn the doctrine of Christ.' And that you may, listen to His own +word, which says all I have been trying to say in this sermon: 'Abide +in Me. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the +vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.' + + + +OBEDIENT DISOBEDIENCE + +'But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in +the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20. +For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 21. So +when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding +nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men +glorified God for that which was done. 22. For the man was above forty +years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed. 23. And being +let go they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief +priests and elders had said unto them. 24. And when they heard that, +they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou +art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that +in them is: 25. Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why +did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26. The kings +of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against +the Lord, and against His Christ. 27. For of a truth against Thy holy +child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, +with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, +28. For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to +be done. 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto +Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, 30. By +stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be +done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus. 31. And when they had prayed, +the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were +all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with +boldness.'--ACTS iv. 19-31. + +The only chance for persecution to succeed is to smite hard and +swiftly. If you cannot strike, do not threaten. Menacing words only +give courage. The rulers betrayed their hesitation when the end of +their solemn conclave was but to 'straitly threaten'; and less heroic +confessors than Peter and John would have disregarded the prohibition +as mere wind. None the less the attitude of these two Galilean +fishermen is noble and singular, when their previous cowardice is +remembered. This first collision with civil authority gives, as has +been already noticed, the main lines on which the relations of the +Church to hostile powers have proceeded. + +I. The heroic refusal of unlawful obedience. We shall probably not do +injustice to John if we suppose that Peter was spokesman. If so, the +contrast of the tone of his answer with all previously recorded +utterances of his is remarkable. Warm-hearted impulsiveness, often +wrong-headed and sometimes illogical, had been their mark; but here we +have calm, fixed determination, which, as is usually its manner, wastes +no words, but in its very brevity impresses the hearers as being +immovable. Whence did this man get the power to lay down once for all +the foundation principles of the limits of civil obedience, and of the +duty of Christian confession? His words take rank with the +ever-memorable sayings of thinkers and heroes, from Socrates in his +prison telling the Athenians that he loved them, but that he must 'obey +God rather than you,' to Luther at Worms with his 'It is neither safe +nor right to do anything against conscience. Here I stand; I can do +nothing else. God help me! Amen.' Peter's words are the first of a long +series. + +This first instance of persecution is made the occasion for the clear +expression of the great principles which are to guide the Church. The +answer falls into two parts, in the first of which the limits of +obedience to civil authority are laid down in a perfectly general form +to which even the Council are expected to assent, and in the second an +irresistible compulsion to speak is boldly alleged as driving the two +Apostles to a flat refusal to obey. + +It was a daring stroke to appeal to the Council for an endorsement of +the principle in verse 19, but the appeal was unanswerable; for this +tribunal had no other ostensible reason for existence than to enforce +obedience to the law of God, and to Peter's dilemma only one reply was +possible. But it rested on a bold assumption, which was calculated to +irritate the court; namely, that there was a blank contradiction +between their commands and God's, so that to obey the one was to +disobey the other. When that parting of the ways is reached, there +remains no doubt as to which road a religious man must take. + +The limits of civil obedience are clearly drawn. It is a duty, because +'the powers that be are ordained of God,' and obedience to them is +obedience to Him. But if they, transcending their sphere, claim +obedience which can only be rendered by disobedience to Him who has +appointed them, then they are no longer His ministers, and the duty of +allegiance falls away. But there must be a plain conflict of commands, +and we must take care lest we substitute whims and fancies of our own +for the injunctions of God. Peter was not guided by his own conceptions +of duty, but by the distinct precept of his Master, which had bid him +speak. It is not true that it is the cause which makes the martyr, but +it is true that many good men have made themselves martyrs needlessly. +This principle is too sharp a weapon to be causelessly drawn and +brandished. Only an unmistakable opposition of commandments warrants +its use; and then, he has little right to be called Christ's soldier +who keeps the sword in the scabbard. + +The articulate refusal in verse 20 bases itself on the ground of +irrepressible necessity: 'We cannot but speak.' The immediate +application was to the facts of Christ's life, death, and glory. The +Apostles could not help speaking of these, both because to do so was +their commission, and because the knowledge of them and of their +importance forbade silence. The truth implied is of wide reach. Whoever +has a real, personal experience of Christ's saving power, and has heard +and seen Him, will be irresistibly impelled to impart what he has +received. Speech is a relief to a full heart. The word, concealed in +the prophet's heart, burned there 'like fire in his bones, and he was +weary of forbearing.' So it always is with deep conviction. If a man +has never felt that he must speak of Christ, he is a very imperfect +Christian. The glow of his own heart, the pity for men who know Him +not, his Lord's command, all concur to compel speech. The full river +cannot be dammed up. + +II. The lame and impotent conclusion of the perplexed Council. How +plain the path is when only duty is taken as a guide, and how +vigorously and decisively a man marches along it! Peter had no +hesitation, and his resolved answer comes crashing in a straight +course, like a cannon-ball. The Council had a much more ambiguous +oracle to consult in order to settle their course, and they hesitate +accordingly, and at last do a something which is a nothing. They wanted +to trim their sails to catch popular favour, and so they could not do +anything thoroughly. To punish or acquit was the only alternative for +just judges. But they were not just; and as Jesus had been crucified, +not because Pilate thought Him guilty, but to please the people, so His +Apostles were let off, not because they were innocent, but for the same +reason. When popularity-hunters get on the judicial bench, society must +be rotten, and nearing its dissolution. To 'decree unrighteousness by a +law' is among the most hideous of crimes. Judges 'willing to wound, and +yet afraid to strike,' are portents indicative of corruption. We may +remark here how the physician's pen takes note of the patient's age, as +making his cure more striking, and manifestly miraculous. + +III. The Church's answer to the first assault of the world's power. How +beautifully natural that is, 'Being let go, they went to their own,' +and how large a principle is expressed in the naive words! The great +law of association according to spiritual affinity has much to do in +determining relations here. It aggregates men, according to sorts; but +its operation is thwarted by other conditions, so that companionship is +often misery. But a time comes when it will work unhindered, and men +will be united with their like, as the stones on some sea-beaches are +laid in rows, according to their size, by the force of the sea. Judas +'went to his own place,' and, in another world, like will draw to like, +and prevailing tendencies will be increased by association with those +who share them. + +The prayer of the Church was probably the inspired outpouring of one +voice, and all the people said 'Amen,' and so made it theirs. Whose +voice it was which thus put into words the common sentiment we should +gladly have known, but need not speculate. The great fact is that the +Church answered threats by prayer. It augurs healthy spiritual life +when opposition and danger neither make cheeks blanch with fear nor +flush with anger. No man there trembled nor thought of vengeance, or of +repaying threats with threats. Every man there instinctively turned +heavenwards, and flung himself, as it were, into God's arms for +protection. Prayer is the strongest weapon that a persecuted Church can +use. Browning makes a tyrant say, recounting how he had tried to crush +a man, that his intended victim + + 'Stood erect, caught at God's skirts, and prayed, + So _I_ was afraid.' + +The contents of the prayer are equally noteworthy. Instead of minutely +studying it verse by verse, we may note some of its salient points. +Observe its undaunted courage. That company never quivered or wavered. +They had no thought of obeying the mandate of the Council. They were a +little army of heroes. What had made them so? What but the conviction +that they had a living Lord at God's right hand, and a mighty Spirit in +their spirits? The world has never seen a transformation like that. +Unique effects demand unique causes for their explanation, and nothing +but the historical truth of the facts recorded in the last pages of the +Gospels and first of the Acts accounts for the demeanour of these men. + +Their courage is strikingly marked by their petition. All they ask is +'boldness' to speak a word which shall not be theirs, but God's. Fear +would have prayed for protection; passion would have asked retribution +on enemies. Christian courage and devotion only ask that they may not +shrink from their duty, and that the word may be spoken, whatever +becomes of the speakers. The world is powerless against men like that. +Would the Church of to-day meet threats with like unanimity of desire +for boldness in confession? If not, it must be because it has not the +same firm hold of the Risen Lord which these first believers had. The +truest courage is that which is conscious of its weakness, and yet has +no thought of flight, but prays for its own increase. + +We may observe, too, the body of belief expressed in the prayer. First +it lays hold on the creative omnipotence of God, and thence passes to +the recognition of His written revelation. The Church has begun to +learn the inmost meaning of the Old Testament, and to find Christ +there. David may not have written the second Psalm. Its attribution to +him by the Church stands on a different level from Christ's attribution +of authorship, as, for instance, of the hundred and tenth Psalm. The +prophecy of the Psalm is plainly Messianic, however it may have had a +historical occasion in some forgotten revolt against some Davidic king; +and, while the particular incidents to which the prayer alludes do not +exhaust its far-reaching application, they are rightly regarded as +partly fulfilling it. Herod is a 'king of the earth,' Pilate is a +'ruler'; Roman soldiers are Gentiles; Jewish rulers are the +representatives of 'the people.' Jesus is 'God's Anointed.' The fact +that such an unnatural and daring combination of rebels was predicted +in the Psalm bears witness that even that crime at Calvary was +foreordained to come to pass, and that God's hand and counsel ruled. +Therefore all other opposition, such as now threatened, will turn out +to be swayed by that same Mighty Hand, to work out His counsel. Why, +then, should the Church fear? If we can see God's hand moving all +things, terror is dead for us, and threats are like the whistling of +idle wind. + +Mark, too, the strong expression of the Church's dependence on God. +'Lord' here is an unusual word, and means 'Master,' while the Church +collectively is called 'Thy servants,' or properly, 'slaves.' It is a +different word from that of 'servant' (rather than 'child') applied to +Jesus in verses 27 and 30. God is the Master, we are His 'slaves,' +bound to absolute obedience, unconditional submission, belonging to +Him, not to ourselves, and therefore having claims on Him for such care +as an owner gives to his slaves or his cattle. He will not let them be +maltreated nor starved. He will defend them and feed them; but they +must serve him by life, and death if need be. Unquestioning submission +and unreserved dependence are our duties. Absolute ownership and +unshared responsibility for our well-being belong to Him. + +Further, the view of Christ's relationship to God is the same as occurs +in other of the early chapters of the Acts. The title of 'Thy holy +Servant Jesus' dwells on Christ's office, rather than on His nature. +Here it puts Him in contrast with David, also called 'Thy servant.' The +latter was imperfectly what Jesus was perfectly. His complete +realisation of the prophetic picture of the Servant of the Lord in +Isaiah is emphasised by the adjective 'holy,' implying complete +devotion or separation to the service of God, and unsullied, unlimited +moral purity. The uniqueness of His relation in this aspect is +expressed by the definite article in the original. He is _the_ Servant, +in a sense and measure all His own. He is further _the_ Anointed +Messiah. This was the Church's message to Israel and the stay of its +own courage, that Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed and perfect +Servant of the Lord, who was now in heaven, reigning there. All that +this faith involved had not yet become clear to their consciousness, +but the Spirit was guiding them step by step into all the truth; and +what they saw and heard, not only in the historical facts of which they +were the witnesses, but in the teaching of that Spirit, they could not +but speak. + +The answer came swift as the roll of thunder after lightning. They who +ask for courage to do God's will and speak Christ's name have never +long to wait for response. The place 'was shaken,' symbol of the effect +of faithful witness-bearing, or manifestation of the power which was +given in answer to their prayer. 'They were all filled with the Holy +Ghost,' who now did not, as before, confer ability to speak with other +tongues, but wrought no less worthily in heartening and fitting them to +speak 'in their own tongue, wherein they were born,' in bold defiance +of unlawful commands. + +The statement of the answer repeats the petition verbatim: 'With all +boldness they spake the word.' What we desire of spiritual gifts we +get, and God moulds His replies so as to remind us of our petitions, +and to show by the event that these have reached His ear and guided His +giving hand. + + + +IMPOSSIBLE SILENCE + +'We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.'--ACTS +iv. 20. + +The context tells us that the Jewish Council were surprised, as they +well might be, at the boldness of Peter and John, and traced it to +their having been with Jesus. But do you remember that they were by no +means bold when they were with Jesus, and that the bravery came after +what, in ordinary circumstances, would have destroyed any of it in a +man? A leader's execution is not a usual recipe for heartening his +followers, but it had that effect in this case, and the Peter who was +frightened out of all his heroics by a sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued +servant-maid, a few weeks after bearded the Council and 'rejoiced that +he was counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name.' It was not +Christ's death that did that, and it was not His life that did that. +You cannot understand, to use a long word, the 'psychological' +transformation of these cowardly deniers who fled and forsook Him, +unless you bring in three things: Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost. +Then it is explicable. + +However the boldness came; these two men before the Council were making +an epoch at that moment, and their grand words are the Magna Charta of +the right of every sincere conviction to free speech. They are the +direct parent of hundreds of similar sayings that flash out down the +world's history. Two things Peter and John adduced as making silence +impossible--a definite divine command, and an inward impulse. 'Whether +it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, +judge ye. We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' + +But I wish to use these words now in a somewhat wider application. They +may suggest that there are great facts which make silence and +non-aggressiveness an impossibility for an individual or a Church, and +that by the very law of its being, a Church must be a missionary +Church, and a Christian cannot be a dumb Christian, unless he is a dead +Christian. And so I turn to look at these words as suggesting to us two +or three of the grounds on which Christian effort, in some form or +another, is inseparable from Christian experience. + +And, first, I wish you to notice that there is-- + +I. An inward necessity which makes silence impossible. + +'We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard,' is a +principle that applies far more widely than to the work of a Christian +Church, or to any activity that is put in force to spread the name of +Jesus Christ. For there is a universal impulse which brings it about +that whatever, in the nature of profound conviction, of illuminating +truth, especially as affecting moral and spiritual matters, is granted +to any man, knocks at the inner side of the door of his lips, and +demands an exit and free air and utterance. As surely as the tender +green spikelet of the springing corn pushes its way through the hard +clods, or as the bud in the fig-tree's polished stem swells and opens, +so surely whatever a man, in his deepest heart, knows to be true, calls +upon him to let it out and manifest itself in his words and in his +life. 'We believe, and therefore speak,' is a universal sequence. There +were four leprous men long ago that, in their despair, made their way +into the camp of the beleaguering enemy, found it empty; and after they +feasted themselves--and small blame to them--then flashed upon them the +thought, 'We do not well, this is a day of good tidings, and we hold +our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some evil will befall +us.' Something like that is the uniform accompaniment of all profound +conviction. And if so, especially imperative and urgent will this +necessity be, wherever there is true Christian life. For whether we +consider the greatness of the gift that is imparted to us, in the very +act of our receiving that Lord, or whether we consider the soreness of +the need of a world that is without Him, surely there can be nothing +that so reinforces the natural necessity and impulse to impart what we +possess of truth or beauty or goodness as the greatness of the +unspeakable gift, and the wretchedness of a world that wants it. +Brethren, there are many things that come in the way--and perhaps never +more than in our own generation--of Christian men and women making +direct and specific efforts, by lip as well as by life, to speak about +Jesus Christ to other people. There is the standing hindrance of love +of ease and selfish absorption in our own concerns. There are the +conventional hindrances of our canons of social intercourse which make +it 'bad form' to speak to men about anything beneath the surface, and +God forbid that I should urge any man to a brusque, and indiscriminate, +and unwise forcing of his faith upon other people. But I believe, that +deep down below all these reasons, there are two main reasons why the +practice of the clear utterance of their faith on the part of Christian +people is so rare. The one is a deficient conception of what the Gospel +is, and the other is a feeble grasp of it for ourselves. If you do not +think that you have very much to say, you will not be very anxious to +say it; and if your notion of Christianity, and of Christ's relation to +the world, is that of the superficial professing Christian, then of +course you will be smitten with no earnestness of desire to impart the +truth to others. Types of Christianity which enfeeble or obscure the +central thought of Christ's work for the salvation of a world that +needs a Saviour, and is perishing without Him, never were, never are, +never will be, missionary or aggressive. There is no driving force in +them. They have little to say, and naturally they are in no hurry to +say it. But there is a deeper reason than that. I said a minute ago +that a dumb Christian was an impossibility unless he were a dead +Christian. And _there_ is the reason why so many of us feel so little, +so very little, of that knocking at the door of our hearts, and saying, +'Let me out!' which we should feel if we deeply believed, and felt, as +well as intellectually accepted, the gospel of our salvation. + +The cause of a silent Church is a defective conception of the Gospel +entrusted to it, or a feeble grasp of the same. And as our silence or +indifference is the symptom, so by reaction it is in its turn the cause +of a greater enfeeblement of our faith, and of a weaker grasp of the +Gospel. Of course I know that it is perfectly possible for a man to +talk away his convictions, and I am afraid that that temptation which +besets all men of my profession, is not always resisted by us as it +ought to be. But, on the other hand, sure am I that no better way can +be devised of deepening my own hold of the truths of Christianity than +an honest, right attempt to make another share my morsel with me. +Convictions bottled, like other things bottled up, are apt to evaporate +and to spoil. They say that sometimes wine-growers, when they go down +into their cellars, find in a puncheon no wine, but a huge fungus. That +is what befalls the Christianity of people that never let air in, and +never speak their faith out. 'We cannot but speak the things which we +have seen and heard'; and if we do not speak, the vision fades and the +sound becomes faint. + +Now there is another side to this same inward necessity of which I have +been speaking, on which I must just touch. I have referred to the +impulse which flows from the possession of the Gospel. There is an +impulse which flows from that which is but another way of putting the +same thing, the union with Jesus Christ, which is the result of our +faith in the Gospel. If I am a Christian I am, in a very profound and +real sense, one with Jesus Christ, and have His Spirit for the life of +my spirit. And in the measure in which I am thus one with Him, I shall +look at things as He looks at them, and do such things as He did. If +the mind of Jesus Christ is in us 'Who for the joy that was set before +Him endured the Cross,' who 'counted not equality with God a thing to +be desired, but made Himself of no reputation,' and 'was found in +fashion as a man,' then we too shall feel that our work in the world is +not done, and our obligations to Him are not discharged, unless to the +very last particle of our power we spread His name. Brethren, if there +were no commandment at all from Christ's lips laying upon His followers +the specific duty of making His gospel known, still this inward impulse +of which I am speaking would have created all the forms of Christian +aggressiveness which we see round about us, because, if we have Christ +and His Gospel in our hearts, 'we cannot but speak the things which we +have seen and heard.' + +And now turn to another aspect of this matter. There is-- + +II. A command which makes silence criminal. + +I do not need to do more than remind you of the fact that the very last +words which our Lord has left us according to the two versions of them +which are given in the Gospel of Matthew, and the beginning of this +Book of the Acts, coincide in this. 'You are to be My witnesses to the +ends of the earth. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to +every creature.' Did you ever think what an extraordinary thing it is +that that confident anticipation of a worldwide dominion, and of being +Himself adapted to all mankind, in every climate and in every age, and +at every stage of culture, should have been the conviction which the +departing Christ sought to stamp upon the minds of those eleven poor +men? What audacity! What tremendous confidence! What a task to which to +set them! What an unexampled belief in Himself and His work! And it is +all coming true; for the world is finding out, more and more, that +Jesus Christ is its Saviour and its King. + +This commandment which is laid upon us Christian men submerges all +distinctions of race, and speech, and nationality, and culture. There +are high walls parting men off from one another. This great message and +commission, like some rising tide, rolls over them all, and obliterates +them, and flows boundless, having drowned the differences, from horizon +to horizon, east and west and south and north. + +Now let me press the thought that this commandment makes indifference +and silence criminal. We hear people talk, people whose Christianity it +is not for me to question, though I may question two things about it, +its clearness and its depth--we hear them talk as if to help or not to +help, in the various forms of Christian activity, missionary or +otherwise, was a matter left to their own inclination. No! it is not. +Let us distinctly understand that to help or not to help is not the +choice open to any man who would obey Jesus Christ. Let us distinctly +understand--and God grant that we may all feel it more--that we dare +not stand aside, be negligent, do nothing, leave other people to give +and to toil, and say, 'Oh! my sympathies do not go in that direction.' +Jesus Christ told you that they were to go in that direction, and if +they do not, so much the worse for the sympathies for one thing, and so +much the worse for you, the rebel, the disobedient in heart. I do not +want to bring down this great gift and token of love which Jesus Christ +has given to His servants, in entrusting them with the spread of the +Gospel, to the low level of a mere commandment, but I do sometimes +think that the tone of feeling, ay! and of speech, and still more the +manner of action, among professing Christian people, in regard to the +whole subject of the missionary work of God's Church, shows that they +need to be reminded; as the Duke of Wellington said, 'There are your +marching orders!' and the soldier who does not obey his marching orders +is a mutineer. There is a definite commandment which makes indifference +criminal. + +There is another thing I should like to say, viz. that this definite +commandment overrides everything else. We hear a great deal from +unsympathetic critics, which is but a reproduction of an old grumble +that did not come from a very creditable source. 'To what purpose is +this waste?' Why do you not spend your money upon technical schools, +soup-kitchens, housing of the poor, and the like? Well, our answer is, +'He told us.' We hear, too, especially just in these days, a great deal +about the necessity for increased caution in pursuing missionary +operations in heathen lands. And some people that do not know anything +about the subject have ventured to say, for instance, that the +missionaries are responsible for Chinese antagonism to Europeans, and +for similar phenomena. Well, we are ready to be as wise and prudent as +you like. We do not ask any consuls to help us. Our brethren are men +who have hazarded their lives; and I never heard of a Baptist +missionary running under the skirts of an ambassador, or praying the +government to come and protect him. We do not ask for cathedrals to be +built, or territory to be ceded, as compensation for the loss of +precious lives. But if these advisers of caution mean no more than they +say, 'Caution!' we agree. But if they mean, what some of them mean, +that we are to be silent for fear of consequences, then, whether it be +prime ministers, or magistrates, or mobs that say it, our answer is, +'Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye! +We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' + +So, lastly, there is-- + +III. The bond of brotherhood which makes silence unnatural. + +I have spoken of an inward impulse. That thought turns our attention to +our own hearts. I have spoken of a definite command; that turns our +eyes to the Throne. I speak now of a bond of brotherhood. That sends +our thoughts out over the whole world. There is such a bond. Jesus +Christ by His Incarnation has taken the nature of every man upon +Himself, and has brought all men into one. Jesus Christ 'by the grace +of God, has tasted death for every man,' and has brought all men into +unity. And so the much-abused and vulgarised conception of +'fraternity,' and even the very word 'humanity,' are the creation of +Christianity, and flow from these two facts--the Cradle of Bethlehem +and the Cross of Calvary, besides that prior one that 'God hath made of +one blood all nations of men.' If that be so, then what flows from that +unity, from that brotherhood thus sacredly founded upon the facts of +the life and death of Jesus Christ, the world's Redeemer? This to begin +with, that Christian men are bound to look out over humanity with +Christ's eyes, and not--as is largely the case to-day--to regard other +nations as enemies and rivals, and the 'lower races' as existing to be +exploited for our wealth, to be coerced for our glory, to be conquered +for our Empire. We have to think of them as Jesus Christ thought. I +cannot but remember days in England when the humanitarian sentiment in +regard to the inferior races was far more vigorous, and far more +operative in national life than it is to-day. I can go back in +boyhood's memory to the emancipation of the West Indian slaves, and +that was but the type of the general tendency of thought amongst the +better minds of England in those days. Would that it were so now! + +But further, brethren, we as Christian people have laid upon us this +responsibility by that very bond of brotherhood, that we should carry +whithersoever our influence may go the great message of the Elder +Brother who makes us all one. We give much to the 'heathen' populations +within our Empire or the reach of our trade. We give them English laws, +English science, English literature, English outlooks on life, the +English tongue, English vices--opium, profligacy, and the like. Are +these all the gifts that we are bound to carry to heathen lands? +Dynamos and encyclopaedias, gin and rifles, shirtings and castings? +Have we not to carry Christ? And all the more because we are so closely +knit with so many of them. I wonder how many of you get the greater +part of your living out of India and China? + +Surely, if there is a place in England where the missionary appeal +should be responded to, it is Manchester. 'As a nest hast thou gathered +the riches of the nations.' What have you given? Make up the +balance-sheet, brethren. 'We are debtors,' let us put down the items:-- + +Debtors by a common brotherhood. + +Debtors by the possession of Christ for ourselves. + +Debtors by benefits received. + +Debtors by injuries inflicted. + +The debit side of the account is heavy. Let us try to discharge some +portion of the debt, in the fashion in which the Apostle from whom I +have been quoting thought that he would best discharge it when, after +declaring himself debtor to many kinds of men, he added, 'So as much as +in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel.' May we all say, more truly +than we have ever said before, 'We cannot but speak the things which we +have seen and heard!' + + + +THE SERVANT AND THE SLAVES + +'Thy servant David...'; 'Thy Holy Servant Jesus...'; 'Thy +servants...'--ACTS iv. 26, 27, 29. + +I do not often take fragments of Scripture for texts; but though these +are fragments, their juxtaposition results in by no means fragmentary +thoughts. There is obvious intention in the recurrence of the +expression so frequently in so few verses, and to the elucidation of +that intention my remarks will be directed. The words are parts of the +Church's prayer on the occasion of its first collision with the civil +power. The incident is recorded at full length because it is the +_first_ of a long and bloody series, in order that succeeding +generations might learn their true weapon and their sure defence. +Prayer is the right answer to the world's hostility, and they who only +ask for courage to stand by their confession will never ask in vain. +But it is no part of my intention to deal either with the incident or +with this noble prayer. + +A word or two of explanation may be necessary as to the language of our +texts. You will observe that, in the second of them, I have followed +the Revised Version, which, instead of 'Thy holy child,' as in the +Authorised Version, reads 'Thy holy Servant.' The alteration is clearly +correct. The word, indeed, literally means 'a child,' but, like our own +English 'boy,' or even 'man,' or 'maid,' it is used to express the +relation of servant, when the desire is to cover over the harsher +features of servitude, and to represent the servant as a part of the +family. Thus the kindly centurion, who besought Jesus to come and heal +his servant, speaks of him as his 'boy.' And that the word is here used +in this secondary sense of 'servant' is unmistakable. For there is no +discernible reason why, if stress were meant to be laid on Christ as +being the Son of God, the recognised expression for that relationship +should not have been employed. Again, the Greek translation of the Old +Testament, with which the Apostles were familiar, employs the very +phrase that is here used as its translation of the well-known Old +Testament designation of the Messiah, 'the Servant of the Lord' and the +words here are really a quotation from the great prophecies of the +second part of the Book of Isaiah. Further, the same word is employed +in reference to King David and in reference to Jesus Christ. In regard +to the former, it is evident that it must have the meaning of +'servant'; and it would be too harsh to suppose that in the compass of +so few verses the same expression should be used, at one time in the +one signification, and at another in the other. So, then, David and +Jesus are in some sense classified here together as both servants of +God. That is the first point that I desire to make. + +Then, in regard to the third of my texts, the expression is not the +same there as in the other two. The disciples do not venture to take +the loftier designation. Rather they prefer the humble one, 'slaves,' +bondmen, the familiar expression found all through the New Testament as +almost a synonym to Christians. + +So, then, we have here three figures: the Psalmist-king, the Messiah, +the disciples; Christ in the midst, on the one hand a servant with whom +He deigns to be classed, on the other hand the slaves who, through Him, +have become sons. And I think I shall best bring out the intended +lessons of these clauses in their connection if I ask you to note these +two contrasts, the servants and the Servant; the Servant and the +slaves. 'David Thy servant'; 'Thy holy Servant Jesus'; us 'Thy +servants.' + +I. First, then, notice the servants and the Servant. + +The reason for the application of the name to the Psalmist lies, not so +much in his personal character or in his religious elevation, as in the +fact that he was chosen of God for a specific purpose, to carry on the +divine plans some steps towards their realisation. Kings, priests, +prophets, the collective Israel, as having a specific function in the +world, and being, in some sense, the instruments and embodiments of the +will of God amongst men, have in an eminent degree the designation of +His 'servants.' And we might widen out the thought and say that all men +who, like the heathen Cyrus, are God's shepherds, though they do not +know it--guided by Him, though they understand not whence comes their +power, and blindly do His work in the world, being 'epoch-making' men, +as the fashionable phrase goes now--are really, though in a subordinate +sense, entitled to the designation. + +But then, whilst this is true, and whilst Jesus Christ comes into this +category, and is one of these special men raised up and adapted for +special service in connection with the carrying out of the divine +purpose, mark how emphatically and broadly the line is drawn here +between Him and the other members of the class to which, in a certain +sense, He does belong. Peter says, 'Thy servant David,' but he says +'Thy _holy_ Servant Jesus.' And in the Greek the emphasis is still +stronger, because the definite article is employed before the word +'servant.' '_The_ holy Servant of Thine'--that is His specific and +unique designation. + +There are many imperfect instruments of the divine will. Thinkers and +heroes and saints and statesmen and warriors, as well as prophets and +priests and kings, are so regarded in Scripture, and may profitably be +so regarded by us; but amongst them all there is One who stands in +their midst and yet apart from them, because He, and He alone, can say, +'I have done all Thy pleasure, and into my doing of Thy pleasure no +bitter leaven of self-regard or by-ends has ever, in the faintest +degree, entered.' 'Thy holy Servant Jesus' is the unique designation of +_the_ Servant of the Lord. + +And what is the meaning of _holy_? The word does not originally and +primarily refer to character so much as to relation to God. The root +idea of holiness is not righteousness nor moral perfectness, but +something that lies behind these--viz, separation for the service and +uses of God. The first notion of the word is consecration, and, built +upon that and resulting from it, moral perfection. So then these men, +some of whom had lived beside Jesus Christ for all those years, and had +seen everything that He did, and studied Him through and through, had +summered and wintered with Him, came away from the close inspection of +His character with this thought; He is utterly and entirely devoted to +the service of God, and in Him there is neither spot nor wrinkle nor +blemish such as is found in all other men. + +I need not remind you with what strange persistence of affirmation, and +yet with what humility of self-consciousness, our Lord Himself always +claimed to be in possession of this entire consecration, and complete +obedience, and consequent perfection. Think of human lips saying, 'I do +always the things that please Him.' Think of human lips saying, 'My +meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.' Think of a man whose whole +life's secret was summed up in this: 'As the Father hath given Me +commandment, _so_'--no more, no less, no otherwise--'so I speak.' Think +of a man whose inspiring principle was, consciously to himself, 'not My +will, but Thine be done'; and who could say that it was so, and not be +met by universal ridicule. There followed in Jesus the moral +perfectness that comes from such uninterrupted and complete +consecration of self to God. 'Thy servant David,'--what about +Bathsheba, David? What about a great many other things in your life? +The poet-king, with the poet-nature so sensitive to all the delights of +sense, and so easily moved in the matter of pleasure, is but like all +God's other servants in the fact of imperfection. In every machine +power is lost through friction; and in every man, the noblest and the +purest, there is resistance to be overcome ere motion in conformity +with the divine impulse can be secured. We pass in review before our +minds saints and martyrs and lovely characters by the hundred, and +amongst them all there is not a jewel without a flaw, not a mirror +without some dint in it where the rays are distorted, or some dark +place where the reflecting surface has been rubbed away by the +attrition of sin, and where there is no reflection of the divine light. +And then we turn to that meek Figure who stands there with the question +that has been awaiting an answer for nineteen centuries upon His lips, +and is unanswered yet: 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin?' 'He is the +holy Servant,' whose consecration and character mark Him off from all +the class to which He belongs as the only one of them all who, in +completeness, has executed the Father's purpose, and has never +attempted anything contrary to it. + +Now there is another step to be taken, and it is this. The Servant who +stands out in front of all the group--though the noblest names in the +world's history are included therein--could not be _the_ Servant unless +He were the Son. This designation, as applied to Jesus Christ, is +peculiar to these three or four earlier chapters of the Acts of the +Apostles. It is interesting because it occurs over and over again +there, and because it never occurs anywhere else in the New Testament. +If we recognise what I think must be recognised, that it is a quotation +from the ancient prophecies, and is an assertion of the Messianic +character of Jesus, then I think we here see the Church in a period of +transition in regard to their conceptions of their Lord. There is no +sign that the proper Sonship and Divinity of our Lord was clear before +them at this period. They had the facts, but they had not yet come to +the distinct apprehension of how much was involved in these. But, if +they knew that Jesus Christ had died and had risen again--and they knew +that, for they had seen Him--and if they believed that He was the +Messiah, and if they were certain that in His character of Messiah +there had been faultlessness and absolute perfection--and they were +certain of that, because they had lived beside Him--then it would not +be long before they took the next step, and said, as I say, 'He cannot +be the Servant unless He is more than man.' + +And we may well ask ourselves the question, if we admit, as the world +does admit, the moral perfectness of Jesus Christ, how comes it that +this Man alone managed to escape failures and deflections from the +right, and sins, and that He only carried through life a stainless +garment, and went down to the grave never having needed, and not +needing then, the exercise of divine forgiveness? Brethren, I venture +to say that it is hopeless to account for Jesus Christ on naturalistic +principles; and that either you must give up your belief in His +sinlessness, or advance, as the Christian Church as a whole advanced, +to the other belief, on which alone that perfectness is explicable: +'Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ! Thou art the Everlasting Son of +the Father!' + +II. And so, secondly, let us turn to the other contrast here--the +Servant and the slaves. + +I said that the humble group of praying, persecuted believers seemed to +have wished to take a lower place than their Master's, even whilst they +ventured to assume that, in some sense, they too, like Him, were doing +the Father's will. So they chose, by a fine instinct of humility rather +than from any dogmatical prepossessions, the name that expresses, in +its most absolute and roughest form, the notion of bondage and +servitude. He is the Servant; we standing here are slaves. And that +this is not an overweighting of the word with more than is meant by it +seems to be confirmed by the fact that in the first clause of this +prayer, we have, for the only time in the New Testament, God addressed +as 'Lord' by the correlative word to _slave_, which has been +transferred into English, namely, _despot_. + +The true position, then, for a man is to be God's slave. The harsh, +repellent features of that wicked institution assume an altogether +different character when they become the features of my relation to +Him. Absolute submission, unconditional obedience, on the slave's part; +and on the part of the Master complete ownership, the right of life and +death, the right of disposing of all goods and chattels, the right of +separating husband and wife, parents and children, the right of issuing +commandments without a reason, the right to expect that those +commandments shall be swiftly, unhesitatingly, punctiliously, and +completely performed--these things inhere in our relation to God. +Blessed the man who has learned that they do, and has accepted them as +his highest glory and the security of his most blessed life! For, +brethren, such submission, absolute and unconditional, the blending and +the absorption of my own will in His will, is the secret of all that +makes manhood glorious and great and happy. + +Remember, however, that in the New Testament these names of slave and +owner are transferred to Christians and Jesus Christ. 'The Servant' has +His slaves; and He who is God's Servant, and does not His own will but +the Father's will, has us for His servants, imposes His will upon us, +and we are bound to render to Him a revenue of entire obedience like +that which He hath laid at His Father's feet. + +Such slavery is the only freedom. Liberty does not mean doing as you +like, it means liking as you ought, and doing that. He only is free who +submits to God in Christ, and thereby overcomes himself and the world +and all antagonism, and is able to do that which it is his life to do. +A prison out of which we do not desire to go is no restraint, and the +will which coincides with law is the only will that is truly free. You +talk about the bondage of obedience. Ah! 'the weight of too much +liberty' is a far sorer bondage. They are the slaves who say, 'Let us +break His bonds asunder, and cast away His cords from us'; and they are +the free men who say, 'Lord, put Thy blessed shackles on my arms, and +impose Thy will upon my will, and fill my heart with Thy love; and then +will and hands will move freely and delightedly.' 'If the Son make you +free, ye shall be free indeed.' + +Such slavery is the only nobility. In the wicked old empires, as in +some of their modern survivals to-day, viziers and prime ministers were +mostly drawn from the servile classes. It is so in God's kingdom. They +who make themselves God's slaves are by Him made kings and priests, and +shall reign with Him on earth. If we are slaves, then are we sons and +heirs of God through Jesus Christ. + +Remember the alternative. You cannot be your own masters without being +your own slaves. It is a far worse bondage to live as chartered +libertines than to walk in the paths of obedience. Better serve God +than the devil, than the world, than the flesh. Whilst they promise men +liberty, they make them 'the most abject and downtrodden vassals of +perdition.' + +The Servant-Son makes us slaves and sons. It matters nothing to me that +Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law of God; it is so much the +better for Him, but of no value for me, unless He has the power of +making me like Himself. And He has it, and if you will trust yourselves +to Him, and give your hearts to Him, and ask Him to govern you, He will +govern you; and if you will abandon your false liberty which is +servitude, and take the sober freedom which is obedience, then He will +bring you to share in His temper of joyful service; and even we may be +able to say, 'My meat and my drink is to do the will of Him that sent +me,' and truly saying that, we shall have the key to all delights, and +our feet will be, at least, on the lower rungs of the ladder whose top +reaches to Heaven. + +'What fruit had ye in the things of which ye are now ashamed? But being +made free from sin, and become the slaves of God, ye have your fruit +unto holiness; and the end everlasting life.' Brethren, I beseech you, +by the mercies of God, that ye yield yourselves to Him, crying, 'O +Lord, truly I am Thy servant. Thou hast loosed my bonds.' + + + +THE WHEAT AND THE TARES + +'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one +soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he +possessed was his own; but they had all things common.'--ACTS iv. 32. + +'And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard +these things.'--ACTS v. 11. + +Once more Luke pauses and gives a general survey of the Church's +condition. It comes in appropriately at the end of the account of the +triumph over the first assault of civil authority, which assault was +itself not only baffled, but turned to good. Just because persecution +had driven them closer to God and to one another, were the disciples so +full of brotherly love and of grace as Luke delights to paint them. + +I. We note the fair picture of what the Church once was. The recent +large accessions to it might have weakened the first feelings of +brotherhood, so that it is by no means superfluous to repeat +substantially the features of the earlier description (Acts ii. 44, +45). 'The multitude' is used with great meaning, for it was a triumph +of the Spirit's influence that the warm stream of brotherly love ran +through so many hearts, knit together only by common submission to +Jesus. That oneness of thought and feeling was the direct issue of the +influx of the Spirit mentioned as the blessed result of the disciples' +dauntless devotion (Acts iv. 31). If our Churches were 'filled with the +Holy Ghost,' we too should be fused into oneness of heart and mind, +though our organisations as separate communities continued, just as all +the little pools below high-water mark are made one when the tide comes +up. + +The first result and marvellous proof of that oneness was the so-called +'community of goods,' the account of which is remarkable both because +it all but fills this picture, and because it is broken into two by +verse 33, rapidly summarising other characteristics. The two halves may +be considered together, and it may be noted that the former presents +the sharing of property as the result of brotherly unity, while the +latter traces it ('for,' v. 34) to the abundant divine grace resting on +the whole community. The terms of the description should be noted, as +completely negativing the notion that the fact in question was anything +like compulsory abolition of the right of individual ownership. 'Not +one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his +own.' That implies that the right of possession was not abolished. It +implies, too, that the common feeling of brotherhood was stronger than +the self-centred regard which looks on possessions as to be used for +self. Thus they possessed as though they possessed not, and each held +his property as a trust from God for his brethren. + +We must observe, further, that the act of selling was the owners', as +was the act of handing the proceeds to the Apostles. The community had +nothing to do with the money till it had been given to them. Further, +the distribution was not determined by the rule of equality, but by the +'need' of the recipients; and its result was not that all had share and +share alike, but that 'none lacked.' + +There is nothing of modern communism in all this, but there is a lesson +to the modern Church as to the obligations of wealth and the claims of +brotherhood, which is all but universally disregarded. The spectre of +communism is troubling every nation, and it will become more and more +formidable, unless the Church learns that the only way to lay it is to +live by the precepts of Jesus and to repeat in new forms the spirit of +the primitive Church. The Christian sense of stewardship, not the +abolition of the right of property, is the cure for the hideous facts +which drive men to shriek 'Property is theft.' + +Luke adds two more points to his survey,--the power of the Apostolic +testimony, and the great grace which lay like a bright cloud on the +whole Church. The Apostles' special office was to bear witness to the +Resurrection. They held a position of prominence in the Church by +virtue of having been chosen by Jesus and having been His companions, +but the Book of Acts is silent about any of the other mysterious powers +which later ages have ascribed to them. The only Apostles who appear in +it are Peter, John, and James, the last only in a parenthesis recording +His martyrdom. Their peculiar work was to say, 'Behold! we saw, and +know that He died and rose again.' + +II. The general description is followed by one example of the surrender +of wealth, which is noteworthy as being done by one afterwards to play +a great part in the book, and also as leading on to an example of +hypocritical pretence. Side by side stand Barnabas and the wretched +couple, Ananias and Sapphira. + +Luke introduces the new personage with some particularity, and, as He +does not go into detail without good reason, we must note his +description. First, the man's character is given, as expressed in the +name bestowed by the Apostles, in imitation of Christ's frequent +custom. He must have been for some time a disciple, in order that his +special gift should have been recognised. He was a 'son of +exhortation'; that is, he had the power of rousing and encouraging the +faith and stirring the believing energy of the brethren. An example of +this was given in Antioch, where he 'exhorted them all, that with +purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.' So much the more +beautiful was his self-effacement when with Paul, for it was the latter +who was 'the chief speaker.' Barnabas felt that his gift was less than +his brother's, and so, without jealousy, took the second place. He, +being silent, yet speaketh, and bids us learn our limits, and be +content to be surpassed. + +We are next told his rank. He was a Levite. The tribe to which a +disciple belongs is seldom mentioned, but probably the reason for +specifying Barnabas' was the same as led Luke, in another place, to +record that 'a great company of the priests was obedient to the faith.' +The connection of the tribe of Levi with the Temple worship made +accessions from it significant, as showing how surely the new faith was +creeping into the very heart of the old system, and winning converts +from the very classes most interested in opposing it. Barnabas' +significance is further indicated by the notice that he was 'a man of +Cyprus,' and as such, the earliest mentioned of the Hellenists or +foreign-born and Greek-speaking Jews, who were to play so important a +part in the expansion of the Church. + +His first appearance witnessed to the depth and simple genuineness of +his character and faith. The old law forbidding Levites to hold land +had gradually become inoperative, and perhaps Barnabas' estate was in +Cyprus, though more probably it was, like that of his relative Mary, +the mother of Mark, in Jerusalem. He did as many others were doing, and +brought the proceeds to the assembly of the brethren, and there +publicly laid them at the Apostles' feet, in token of their authority +to administer them as they thought well. + +III. Why was Barnabas' act singled out for mention, since there was +nothing peculiar about it? Most likely because it stimulated Ananias +and his wife to imitation. Wherever there are signal instances of +Christian self-sacrifice, there will spring up a crop of base copies. +Ananias follows Barnabas as surely as the shadow the substance. It was +very likely a pure impulse which led him and his wife to agree to sell +their land; and it was only when they had the money in their hands, and +had to take the decisive step of parting with it, and reducing +themselves to pennilessness, that they found the surrender harder than +they could carry out. Satan spoils many a well-begun work, and we often +break down half-way through a piece of Christian unselfishness. Well +begun is half--but only half--ended. + +Be that as it may, Peter's stern words to Ananias put all the stress of +the sin on its being an acted lie. The motives of the trick are not +disclosed. They may have been avarice, want of faith, greed of +applause, reluctance to hang back when others were doing like Barnabas. +It is hard to read the mingled motives which lead ourselves wrong, and +harder to separate them in the case of another. How much Ananias kept +back is of no moment; indeed, the less he retained the greater the sin; +for it is baser, as well as more foolish, to do wrong for a little +advantage than for a great one. + +Peter's two questions bring out very strikingly the double source of +the sin. 'Why hath Satan filled thy heart?'--an awful antithesis to +being filled with the Spirit. Then there is a real, malign Tempter, who +can pour evil affections and purposes into men's hearts. But he cannot +do it unless the man opens his heart, as that 'why?' implies. The same +thought of our co-operation and concurrence, so that, however Satan +suggests, it is we who are guilty, comes out in the second question, +'How is it that _thou_ hast conceived this thing in thy heart?' +Reverently we may venture to say that not only Christ stands at the +door and knocks, but that the enemy of Him and His stands there too, +and he too enters 'if any man opens the door.' Neither heaven nor hell +can come in unless we will. + +The death of Ananias was not inflicted by Peter, 'Hearing these words' +he 'fell down and' died. Surely that expression suggests that the stern +words had struck at his life, and that his death was the result of the +agitation of shame and guilt which they excited. That does not at all +conflict with regarding his death as a punitive divine act. + +One can fancy the awed silence that fell on the congregation, and the +restrained, mournful movement that ran through it when Sapphira +entered. Why the two had not come in company can only be conjectured. +Perhaps the husband had gone straight to the Apostles after completing +the sale, and had left the wife to follow at her convenience. Perhaps +she had not intended to come at all, but had grown alarmed at the delay +in Ananias' return. She may have come in fear that something had gone +wrong, and that fear would be increased by her not seeing her husband +in her quick glance round the company. + +If she came expecting to receive applause, the silence and constraint +that hung over the assembly must have stirred a fear that something +terrible had happened, which would be increased by Peter's question. It +was a merciful opportunity given her to separate herself from the sin +and the punishment; but her lie was glib, and indicated determination +to stick to the fraud. That moment was heavy with her fate, and she +knew it not; but she knew that she had the opportunity of telling the +truth, and she did not take it. She had to make the hard choice which +we have sometimes to make, to be true to some sinful bargain or be true +to God, and she chose the worse part. Which of the two was tempter and +which was tempted matters little. Like many a wife, she thought that it +was better to be loyal to her husband than to God, and so her honour +was 'rooted in dishonour,' and she was falsely true and truly false. + +The judgment on Sapphira was not inflicted by Peter. He foretold it by +his prophetic power, but it was the hand of God which vindicated the +purity of the infant Church. The terrible severity of the punishment +can only be understood by remembering the importance of preserving the +young community from corruption at the very beginning. Unless the +vermin are cleared from the springing plant, it will not grow. As +Achan's death warned Israel at the beginning of their entrance into the +promised land, so Ananias and Sapphira perished, that all generations +of the Church might fear to pretend to self-surrender while cherishing +its opposite, and might feel that they have to give account to One who +knows the secrets of the heart, and counts nothing as given if anything +is surreptitiously kept back. + + + +WHOM TO OBEY,--ANNAS OR ANGEL? + +'Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which +is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, 18. +And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common +prison. 19. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, +and brought them forth, and said, 20. Go, stand and speak in the temple +to the people all the words of this life. 21. And when they heard that, +they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the +high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council +together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the +prison to have them brought. 22. But when the officers came, and found +them not in the prison, they returned, and told, 23. Saying, The prison +truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without +before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within. 24. +Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief +priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would +grow. 25. Then came one and told them, saying. Behold, the men whom ye +put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. 26. +Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without +violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been +stoned. 27. And when they had brought them, they set them before the +council: and the high priest asked them, 28. Saying, Did not we +straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, +behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to +bring this man's blood upon us. 29. Then Peter and the other apostles +answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 30. The God of +our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31. Him +hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for +to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32. And we are +His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God +hath given to them that obey Him.'--ACTS v. 17-32. + +The Jewish ecclesiastics had been beaten in the first round of the +fight, and their attempt to put out the fire had only stirred the +blaze. Popular sympathy is fickle, and if the crowd does not shout with +the persecutors, it will make heroes and idols of the persecuted. So +the Apostles had gained favour by the attempt to silence them, and that +led to the second round, part of which is described in this passage. + +The first point to note is the mean motives which influenced the +high-priest and his adherents. As before, the Sadducees were at the +bottom of the assault; for talk about a resurrection was gall and +wormwood to them. But Luke alleges a much more contemptible emotion +than zeal for supposed truth as the motive for action. The word +rendered in the Authorised Version 'indignation,' is indeed literally +'zeal,' but it here means, as the Revised Version has it, nothing +nobler than 'jealousy.' 'Who are those ignorant Galileans that they +should encroach on the office of us dignified teachers? and what fools +the populace must be to listen to them! Our prestige is threatened. If +we don't bestir ourselves, our authority will be gone.' A lofty spirit +in which to deal with grave movements of opinion, and likely to lead +its possessors to discern truth! + +The Sanhedrin, no doubt, talked solemnly about the progress of error, +and the duty of firmly putting it down, and, like Jehu, said, 'Come, +and see our zeal for the Lord'; but it was zeal for greetings in the +marketplace, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the other +advantages of their position. So it has often been since. The +instruments which zeal for truth uses are argument, Scripture, and +persuasion. That zeal which betakes itself to threats and force is, at +the best, much mingled with the wrath and jealousy of man. + +The arrest of the Apostles and their committal to prison was simply for +detention, not punishment. The rulers cast their net wider this time, +and secured all the Apostles, and, having them safe under lock and key, +they went home triumphant, and expecting to deal a decisive blow +to-morrow. Then comes one of the great 'buts' of Scripture. Annas and +Caiaphas thought that they had scored a success, but an angel upset +their calculations. To try to explain the miracle away is hopeless. It +is wiser to try to understand it. + +The very fact that it did not lead to the Apostles' deliverance, but +that the trial and scourging followed next day, just as if it had not +happened, which has been alleged as a proof of its uselessness, and +inferentially of its falsehood, puts us on the right track. It was not +meant for their deliverance, but for their heartening, and for the +bracing of all generations of Christians, by showing, at the first +conflict with the civil power, that the Lord was with His Church. His +strengthening power is operative when no miracle is wrought. If His +servants are not delivered, it is not that He lacks angels, but that it +is better for them and the Church that they should lie in prison or die +at the stake. + +The miracle was a transient revelation of a perpetual truth, and has +shed light on many a dark dungeon where God's servants have lain +rotting. It breathed heroic constancy into the Twelve. How striking and +noble was their prompt obedience to the command to resume the perilous +work of preaching! As soon as the dawn began to glimmer over Olivet, +and the priests were preparing for the morning sacrifice, there were +these irrepressible disturbers, whom the officials thought they had +shut up safely last night, lifting up their voices again as if nothing +had happened. What a picture of dauntless persistence, and what a +lesson for us! The moment the pressure is off, we should spring back to +our work of witnessing for Christ. + +The bewilderment of the Council comes in strong contrast with the +unhesitating action of the Apostles. There is a half ludicrous side to +it, which Luke does not try to hide. There was the pompous assembling +of all the great men at early morning, and their dignified waiting till +their underlings brought in the culprits. No doubt, Annas put on his +severest air of majesty, and all were prepared to look their sternest +for the confusion of the prisoners. The prison, the Temple, and the +judgment hall, were all near each other. So there was not long to wait. +But, behold! the officers come back alone, and their report shakes the +assembly out of its dignity. One sees the astonished underlings coming +up to the prison, and finding all in order, the sentries patrolling, +the doors fast (so the angel had shut them as well as opened them), and +then entering ready to drag out the prisoners, and--finding all silent. +Such elaborate guard kept over an empty cage! + +It was not the officers' business to offer explanations, and it does +not seem that any were asked. One would have thought that the sentries +would have been questioned. Herod went the natural way to work, when he +had Peter's guards examined and put to death. But Annas and his fellows +do not seem to have cared to inquire how the escape had been made. +Possibly they suspected a miracle, or perhaps feared that inquiry might +reveal sympathisers with the prisoners among their own officials. At +any rate, they were bewildered, and lost their heads, wondering what +was to come next, and how this thing was to end. + +The further news that these obstinate fanatics were at their old work +in the Temple again, must have greatly added to the rulers' perplexity, +and they must have waited the return of the officers sent off for the +second time to fetch the prisoners, with somewhat less dignity than +before. The officers felt the pulse of the crowd, and did not venture +on force, from wholesome fear for their own skins. An excited mob in +the Temple court was not to be trifled with, so persuasion was adopted. +The brave Twelve went willingly, for the Sanhedrin had no terrors for +them, and by going they secured another opportunity of ringing out +their Lord's salvation. Wherever a Christian can witness for Christ, he +should be ready to go. + +The high-priest discreetly said nothing about the escape. Possibly he +had no suspicion of a miracle, but, even if he had, chapter iv. 16 +shows that that would not have led to any modification of his +hostility. Persecutors, clothed with a little brief authority, are +strangely blind to the plainest indications of the truth spoken by +their victims. Annas did not know what a question about the escape +might bring out, so he took the safer course of charging the Twelve +with disobedience to the Sanhedrin's prohibition. How characteristic of +all his kind that is! Never mind whether what the martyr says is true +or not. He has broken our law, and defied our authority; that is +enough. Are we to be chopping logic, and arguing with every ignorant +upstart who chooses to vent his heresies? Gag him,--that is easier and +more dignified. + +A world of self-consequence peeps out in that '_we_ straitly charged +you,' and a world of contempt peeps out in the avoidance of naming +Jesus. 'This name' and 'this man' is the nearest that the proud priest +will come to soiling his lips by mentioning Him. He bears unconscious +testimony to the Apostles' diligence, and to the popular inclination to +them, by charging them with having filled the city with what he +contemptuously calls '_your_ teaching,' as if it had no other source +than their own ignorant notions. + +Then the deepest reason for the Sanhedrin's bitterness leaks out in the +charge of inciting the mob to take vengeance on them for the death of +Jesus. It was true that the Apostles had charged that guilt home on +them, but not on them only, but on the whole nation, so that no +incitement to revenge lay in the charge. It was true that they had +brought 'this man's blood' on the rulers, but only to draw them to +repentance, not to hound at them their sharers in the guilt. Had Annas +forgot 'His blood be on us, and on our children'? But, when an evil +deed is complete, the doers try to shuffle off the responsibility which +they were ready to take in the excitement of hurrying to do it. Annas +did not trouble himself about divine vengeance; it was the populace +whom he feared. + +So, in its attempt to browbeat the accused, in its empty airs of +authority, in its utter indifference to the truth involved, in its +contempt for the preachers and their message, in its brazen denial of +responsibility, its dread of the mob, and its disregard of the far-off +divine judgment, his bullying speech is a type of how persecutors, from +Roman governors down, have hectored their victims. + +And Peter's brave answer is, thank God! the type of what thousands of +trembling women and meek men have answered. His tone is severer now +than on his former appearance. Now he has no courteous recognition of +the court's authority. Now he brushes aside all Annas's attempts to +impose on him the sanctity of its decrees, and flatly denies that the +Council has any more right to command than any other 'men.' They +claimed to be depositaries of God's judgments. This revolutionary +fisherman sees nothing in them but 'men,' whose commands point one way, +while God's point the other. The angel bade them 'speak'; the Council +had bid them be dumb. To state the opposition was to determine their +duty. Formerly Peter had said 'judge ye' which command it is right to +obey. Now, he wraps his refusal in no folds of courtesy, but thrusts +the naked 'We must obey God' in the Council's face. That was a great +moment in the history of the world and the Church. How much lay in it, +as in a seed,--Luther's 'Here I stand, I can do none other. God help +me! Amen'; Plymouth Rock, and many a glorious and blood-stained page in +the records of martyrdom. + +Peter goes on to vindicate his assumption that in disobeying Annas they +are obeying God, by reiterating the facts which since Pentecost he had +pressed on the national conscience. Israel had slain, and God had +exalted, Jesus to His right hand. That was God's verdict on Israel's +action. But it was also the ground of hope for Israel; for the +exaltatior of Jesus was that He might be 'Prince [or Leader] and +Saviour,' and from His exalted hand were shed the gifts of 'repentance +and remission of sins,' even of the great sin of slaying Him. These +things being so, how could the Apostles be silent? Had not God bid them +speak, by their very knowledge of these? They were Christ's witnesses, +constituted as such by their personal acquaintance with Him and their +having seen Him raised and ascending, and appointed to be such by His +own lips, and inspired for their witnessing by the Holy Spirit shed on +them at Pentecost. Peter all but reproduces the never-to-be-forgotten +words heard by them all in the upper room, 'He shall bear witness of +Me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from +the beginning.' Silence would be treason. So it is still. What were +Annas and his bluster to men whom Christ had bidden to speak, and to +whom He had given the Spirit of the Father to speak in them? + + + +OUR CAPTAIN + +'Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince.'--ACTS v. 31. + +The word rendered 'Prince' is a rather infrequent designation of our +Lord in Scripture. It is only employed in all four times--twice in +Peter's earlier sermons recorded in this Book of the Acts; and twice in +the Epistle to the Hebrews. In a former discourse of the Apostle's he +had spoken of the crime of the Jews in killing 'the Prince of life.' +Here he uses the word without any appended epithet. In the Epistle to +the Hebrews we read once of the 'Captain of Salvation,' and once of the +'Author of Faith.' + +Now these three renderings 'Prince,' 'Captain,' 'Author,' seem +singularly unlike. But the explanation of their being all substantially +equivalent to the original word is not difficult to find. It seems to +mean properly a Beginner, or Originator, who takes the lead in +anything, and hence the notions of chieftainship and priority are +easily deduced from it. Then, very naturally, it comes to mean +something very much like _cause_; with only this difference, that it +implies that the person who is the Originator is Himself the Possessor +of that of which He is the Cause to others. So the two ideas of a +Leader, and of a Possessor who imparts, are both included in the word. + +My intention in this sermon is to deal with the various forms of this +expression, in order to try to bring out the fulness of the notion +which Scripture attaches to this leadership of Jesus Christ. He is +first of all, generally, as our text sets Him forth, the Leader, +absolutely. Then there are the specific aspects, expressed by the other +three passages, in which He is set forth as the Leader through death to +life; the Leader through suffering to salvation; and the Leader in the +path of faith. Let us look, then, at these points in succession. + +I. First, we have the general notion of Christ the Leader. + +Now I suppose we are all acquainted with the fact that the names +'Joshua' and 'Jesus' are, in the original, one. It is further to be +noticed that, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which was +familiar to Peter's hearers, the word of our text is that employed to +describe the office of the military leaders of Israel. It is still +further to be observed that, in all the instances in the New Testament, +it is employed in immediate connection with the name of Jesus. Now, +putting all these things together, remembering to whom Peter was +speaking, remembering the familiarity which many of his audience must +have had with the Old Testament in its Greek translation, remembering +the identity of the two names Joshua and Jesus, it is difficult to +avoid the supposition that the expression of our text is coloured by a +reference to the bold soldier who successfully led his brethren into +the Promised Land. Joshua was the 'Captain of the Lord's host' to lead +them to Canaan; the second Joshua is the Captain of the Host of the +Lord to lead them to a better rest. Of all the Old Testament heroes +perhaps there is none, at first sight, less like the second Joshua than +the first was. He is only a rough, plain, prompt, and bold soldier. No +prophet was he, no word of wisdom ever fell from his lips, no trace of +tenderness was in anything that he did; meekness was alien from his +character, he was no sage, he was no saint, but decisive, swift, +merciless when necessary, full of resource, sharp and hard as his own +sword. And yet a parallel may be drawn. + +The second Joshua is the Captain of the Lord's host, as was typified to +the first one, in that strange scene outside the walls of Jericho, +where the earthly commander, sunk in thought, was brooding upon the +hard nut which he had to crack, when suddenly he lifted up his eyes, +and beheld a man with a drawn sword. With the instinctive alertness of +his profession and character, his immediate question was, 'Art thou for +us or for our enemies?' And he got the answer 'No! I am not on thy +side, nor on the other side, but thou art on Mine. As Captain of the +Lord's host am I come up.' + +So Jesus Christ, the 'Strong Son of God,' is set forth by this military +emblem as being Himself the first Soldier in the army of God, and the +Leader of all the host. We forget far too much the militant character +of Jesus Christ. We think of His meekness, His gentleness, His +patience, His tenderness, His humility, and we cannot think of these +too much, too lovingly, too wonderingly, too adoringly, but we too +often forget the strength which underlay the gentleness, and that His +life, all gracious as it was, when looked at from the outside, had +beneath it a continual conflict, and was in effect the warfare of God +against all the evils and the sorrows of humanity. We forget the +courage that went to make the gentleness of Jesus, the daring that +underlay His lowliness; and it does us good to remember that all the +so-called heroic virtues were set forth in supreme form, not in some +vulgar type of excellence, such as a conqueror, whom the world +recognises, but in that meek King whose weapon was love, yet was +wielded with a soldier's hand. + +This general thought of Jesus Christ as the first Soldier and Captain +of the Lord's army not only opens for us a side of His character which +we too often pass by, but it also says something to us as to what our +duties ought to be. He stands to us in the relation of General and +Commander-in-Chief; then we stand to Him in the relation of private +soldiers, whose first duty is unhesitating obedience, and who in doing +their Master's will must put forth a bravery far higher than the vulgar +courage that is crowned with wreathed laurels on the bloody +battlefield, even the bravery that is caught from Him who 'set His face +as a flint' to do His work. + +Joshua's career has in it a great stumbling-block to many people, in +that merciless destruction of the Canaanite sinners, which can only be +vindicated by remembering, first, that it was a divine appointment, and +that God has the right to punish; and, second, that those old days were +under a different law, or at least a less manifestly developed law of +loving-kindness and mercy than, thank God! we live in. But whilst we +look with wonder on these awful scenes of destruction, may there not +lie in them the lesson for us that antagonism and righteous wrath +against evil in all its forms is the duty of the soldiers of Christ? +There are many causes to-day which to further and fight for is the +bounden duty of every Christian, and to further and fight for which +will tax all the courage that any of us can muster. Remember that the +leadership of Christ is no mere pretty metaphor, but a solemn fact, +which brings with it the soldier's responsibilities. When our Centurion +says to us, 'Come!' we must come. When He says to us, 'Go!' we must go. +When He says to us 'Do this!' we must do it, though heart and flesh +should shrink and fail. Unhesitating obedience to His authoritative +command will deliver us from many of the miseries of self-will; and +brave effort at Christ's side is as much the privilege as the duty of +His servants and soldiers. + +II. So note, secondly, the Leader through death to life. + +Peter, in the sermon which is found in the third chapter of this Book +of the Acts, has his mind and heart filled with the astounding fact of +the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, and in the same breath +as he gives forth the paradoxical indictment of the Jewish sin, 'You +have killed the Prince of Life'--the Leader of Life--he also says, 'And +God hath raised Him from the dead.' So that the connection seems to +point to the risen and glorified life into which Christ Himself passed, +and by passing became capable of imparting it to others. The same idea +is here as in Paul's other metaphor: 'Now is Christ risen from the +dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept'--the first sheaf +of the harvest, which was carried into the Temple and consecrated to +God, and was the pledge and prophecy of the reaping in due season of +all the miles of golden grain that waved in the autumn sunshine. 'So,' +says Peter, 'He is the Leader of Life, who Himself has passed through +the darkness, for "you killed Him"; mystery of mysteries as it is that +you should have been able to do it, deeper mystery still that you +should have been willing to do it, deepest mystery of all that you did +it not when you did it, but that "He became dead and is alive for +evermore." You killed the Prince of Life, and God raised Him from the +dead.' + +He has gone before us. He is 'the first that should rise from the +dead.' For, although the partial power of His communicated life did +breathe for a moment resuscitation into two dead men and one dead +maiden, these shared in no resurrection-life, but only came back again +into mortality, and were quickened for a time, but to die at last the +common death of all. But Jesus Christ is the first that has gone into +the darkness and come back again to live for ever. Across the untrodden +wild there is one track marked, and the footprints upon it point both +ways--to the darkness and from the darkness. So the dreary waste is not +pathless any more. The broad road that all the generations have trodden +on their way into the everlasting darkness is left now, and the +'travellers pass by the byway' which Jesus Christ has made by the touch +of His risen feet. + +Thus, not only does this thought teach us the priority of His +resurrection-life, but it also declares to us that Jesus Christ, +possessing the risen life, possesses it to impart it. For, as I +remarked in my introductory observations, the conception of this word +includes not only the idea of a Leader, but that of One who, Himself +possessing or experiencing something, gives it to others. All men rise +again. Yes, 'but every man in his own order.' There are two principles +at work in the resurrection of all men. They are raised on different +grounds, and they are raised to different issues. They that are +Christ's are brought again from the dead, because the life of Christ is +in them; and it is as 'impossible' that they, as that 'He, should be +holden of it.' Union with Jesus Christ by simple faith is the means, +and the only means revealed to us, whereby men shall be raised from the +dead at the last by a resurrection which is anything else than a +prolonged death. As for others, 'some shall rise unto shame and +everlasting contempt,' rising dead, and dead after they are risen--dead +as long as they live. There be two resurrections, whether simultaneous +in time or not is of no moment, and all of us must have our part in the +one or the other; and faith in Jesus Christ is the only means by which +we can take a place in the great army and procession that He leads down +into the valley and up to the sunny heights. + +If He be the Leader through death unto life, then it is certain that +all who follow in His train shall attain to His side and shall share in +His glory. The General wears no order which the humblest private in the +ranks may not receive likewise, and whomsoever He leads, His leading +will not end till He has led them close to His side, if they trust Him. +So, calmly, confidently, we may each of us look forward to that dark +journey waiting for us all. All our friends will leave us at the +tunnel's mouth, but He will go with us through the gloom, and bring us +out into the sunny lands on the southern side of the icy white +mountains. The Leader of our souls will be our Guide, not only unto +death, but far beyond it, into His own life. + +III. So, thirdly, note the Leader through suffering to salvation. + +In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is written, 'It became Him for whom +are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto +glory, to make the Captain'--or the Leader--'of their salvation perfect +through sufferings.' That expression might seem at first to shut Jesus +Christ out from any participation in the thing which He gives. For +salvation is His gift, but not that which He Himself possesses and +enjoys; but it is to be noticed that in the context of the words which +I have quoted, 'glory' is put as substantially synonymous with +salvation, and that the whole is suffused with the idea of a long +procession, as shown by the phrase, 'bringing many sons.' Of this +procession Jesus Christ Himself is the Leader. + +So, clearly, the notion in the context now under consideration is that +the life of Jesus Christ is the type to which all His servants are to +be conformed. He is the Representative Man, who Himself passes through +the conditions through which we are to pass, and Himself reaches the +glory which, given to us, becomes salvation. + +'Christ is perfected through sufferings.' So must we be. Perfected +through sufferings? you say. Then did His humanity need perfecting? +Yes, and No. There needed nothing to be hewn away from that white +marble. There was nothing to be purged by fire out of that pure life. +But I suppose that Jesus Christ's human nature needed to be unfolded by +life; as the Epistle to the Hebrews says, 'He learned obedience, though +He were a Son, through the things which He suffered.' And fitness for +His office of leading us to glory required to be reached through the +sufferings which were the condition of our forgiveness and of our +acceptance with God. So, whether we regard the word as expressing the +agony of suffering in unfolding His humanity, or in fitting Him for His +redeeming work, it remains true that He was perfected by His sufferings. + +So must we be. Our characters will never reach the refinement, the +delicacy, the unworldliness, the dependence upon God, which they +require for their completion, unless we have been passed through many a +sorrow. There are plants which require a touch of frost to perfect +them, and we all need the discipline of a Father's hand. The sorrows +that come to us all are far more easily borne when we think that Christ +bore them all before us. It is but a blunted sword which sorrow wields +against any of us; it was blunted on His armour. It is but a spent ball +that strikes us; its force was exhausted upon Him. Sorrow, if we keep +close to Him, may become solemn joy, and knit us more thoroughly to +Himself. Ah, brother! we can better spare our joys than we can spare +our sorrows. Only let us cleave to Him when they fall upon us. + +Christ's sufferings led Him to His glory, so will ours if we keep by +His side--and only if we do. There is nothing in the mere fact of being +tortured and annoyed here on earth, which has in itself any direct and +necessary tendency to prepare us for the enjoyment, or to secure to us +the possession, of future blessedness. You often hear superficial +people saying, 'Oh! he has been very much troubled here, but there will +be amends for it hereafter.' Yes; God would wish to make amends for it +hereafter, but He cannot do so unless we comply with the conditions. +And it needs that we should keep close to Jesus Christ in sorrow, in +order that it should work for us 'the peaceable fruit of +righteousness.' The glory will come if the patient endurance has +preceded, and has been patience drawn from Jesus. + + 'I wondered at the beauteous hours, + The slow result of winter showers, + You scarce could see the grass for flowers.' + +The sorrows that have wounded any man's head like a crown of thorns +will be covered with the diadem of Heaven, if they are sorrows borne +with Christ. + +IV. Lastly, we have Jesus, the Leader in the path of faith. + +'The Author of faith,' says the verse in the Epistle to the Hebrews. +'Author' does not cover all the ground, though it does part of it. We +must include the other ideas which I have been trying to set forth He +is 'Possessor' first and 'Giver' afterwards. For Jesus Christ Himself +is both the Pattern and the Inspirer of our faith. It would unduly +protract my remarks to dwell adequately upon this; but let me just +briefly hint some thoughts connected with it. + +Jesus Christ Himself walked by continual faith. His manhood depended +upon God, just as ours has to depend upon Jesus. He lived in the +continued reception of continual strength from above by reason of His +faith, just as our faith is the condition of our reception of His +strength. We are sometimes afraid to recognise the fact that the Man +Jesus, who is our pattern in all things, is our pattern in this, the +most special and peculiarly human aspect of the religious life. But if +Christ was not the first of believers, His pattern is wofully defective +in its adaptation to our need. Rather let us rejoice in the thought +that all that great muster-roll of the heroes of the faith, which the +Epistle to the Hebrews has been dealing with, have for their +Leader--though, chronologically, He marches in the centre--Jesus +Christ, of whose humanity this is the document and proof that He says, +in the Prophet's words: 'I will put My trust in Him.' + +Remember, too, that the same Jesus who is the Pattern is the Object and +the Inspirer of our faith; and that if we fulfil the conditions in the +text now under consideration, 'looking off' from all others, +stimulating and beautiful as their example may be, sweet and tender as +their love may be, and 'looking unto Jesus,' He will be in us, and +above us--in us to inspire, and above us to receive and to reward our +humble confidence. + +So, dear friends, it all comes to this, 'Follow thou Me!' In that +commandment all duty is summed, and in obeying it all blessedness and +peace are ensured. If we will take Christ for our Captain, He will +teach our fingers to fight. If we obey Him we shall not want guidance, +and be saved from perplexities born of self-will. If we keep close to +Him and turn our eyes to Him, away from all the false and fleeting joys +and things of earth, we shall not walk in darkness, howsoever earthly +lights may be quenched, but the gloomiest path will be illuminated by +His presence, and the roughest made smooth by His bleeding feet that +passed along it. If we follow Him, He will lead us down into the dark +valley, and up into the blessed sunshine, where participation in His +own eternal life and glory will be salvation. If we march in His ranks +on earth, then shall we + + 'With joy upon our heads arise + And meet our Captain in the skies.' + + + +GAMALIEL'S COUNSEL + +'Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or +this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39. But if it be of God, +ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against +God.'--ACTS v. 38, 39. + +The little that is known of Gamaliel seems to indicate just such a man +as would be likely to have given the advice in the text. His was a +character which, on its good side and by its admirers, would be +described as prudent, wise, cautious and calm, tolerant, opposed to +fanaticism and violence. His position as president of the Sanhedrin, +his long experience, his Rabbinical training, his old age, and his +knowledge that the national liberty depended on keeping things quiet, +would be very likely to exaggerate such tendencies into what his +enemies would describe as worldly shrewdness without a trace of +enthusiasm, indifference to truth, and the like. + +It is, of course, possible that he bases his counsel of letting the +followers of Jesus alone, on the grounds which he adduces, because he +knew that reasons more favourable to Christians would have had no +weight with the Sanhedrin. Old Church traditions make him out to have +been a Christian, and the earliest Christian romance, a very singular +book, of which the main object was to blacken the Apostle Paul, roundly +asserts that at the date of this advice he was 'secretly our brother,' +and that he remained in the Sanhedrin to further Christian views. But +there seems not the slightest reason to suppose that. He lived and died +a Jew, spared the sight of the destruction of Jerusalem which, +according to his own canon in the text, would have proved that the +system to which he had given his life was not of God; and the only +relic of his wisdom is a prayer against Christian heretics. + +It is remarkable that he should have given this advice; but two things +occur to account for it. Thus far Christianity had been very +emphatically the preaching of the Resurrection, a truth which the +Pharisees believed and held as especially theirs in opposition to the +Sadducees, and Gamaliel was old and worldly-wise enough to count all as +his friends who were the enemies of his enemies. He was not very +particular where he looked for allies, and rather shrank from helping +Sadducees to punish men whose crime was that they 'preached through +Jesus a resurrection from the dead.' + +Then the Jewish rulers had a very ticklish part to play. They were +afraid of any popular shout which might bring down the avalanche of +Roman power on them, and they were nervously anxious to keep things +quiet. So Gamaliel did not wish to have any fuss made about 'these +men,' lest it should be supposed that another popular revolt was on +foot; and he thought that to let them alone was the best way to reduce +their importance. Perhaps, too, there was a secret hope in the old +man's mind, which he scarcely ventured to look at and dared not speak, +that here might be the beginning of a rising which had more promise in +it than that abortive one under Theudas. He could not venture to say +this, but perhaps it made him chary of voting for repression. He had no +objection to let these poor Galileans fling away their lives in +storming against the barrier of Rome. If they fail, it is but one more +failure. If they succeed, he and his like will say that they have done +well. But while the enterprise is too perilous for him to approve or be +mixed up in it, he would let it have its chance. + +Note that Gamaliel regards the whole movement as the probable germ of +an uprising against Rome, as is seen from the parallels that he quotes. +It is not as a religious teaching which is true or false, but as a +political agitation, that he looks at Christianity. + +It is to his credit that he stood calm and curbed the howling of the +fanatics round him, and that he was the first and only Jewish authority +who counselled abstinence from persecution. + +It is interesting to compare him with Gallio, who had a glimpse of the +true relation of the civil magistrate to religious opinion. Gamaliel +has a glimpse of the truth of the impotence of material force against +truth, how it is of a quick and spiritual essence, which cannot be +cleaved in pieces with a sword, but lives on in spite of all. But while +all this may be true, the advice on the whole is a low and bad one. It +rests on false principles; it takes a false view of a man's duty; it is +not wholly sincere; and it is one impossible to be carried out. It is +singularly in accordance with many of the tendencies of this age, and +with modes of thought and counsels of action which are in active +operation amongst us to-day, and we may therefore criticise it now. + +I. Here is disbelief professing to be 'honest doubt.' Gamaliel +professes not to have materials for judging. 'If--if'; was it a time +for 'ifs'? What was that Sanhedrin there for, but to try precisely such +cases as these? + +They had had the works of Christ; miracles which they had investigated +and could not disprove; a life which was its own witness; prophecies +fulfilled; His own presence before their bar; the Resurrection and the +Pentecost. + +I am not saying whether these facts were enough to have convinced them, +nor even whether the alleged miracles were true. All that I am +concerned with is that, so far as we know, neither Gamaliel nor any of +his tribe had ever made the slightest attempt to inquire into them, but +had, without examination, complacently treated them as lies. All that +body of evidence had been absolutely ignored. And now he is, with his +'ifs,' posing as very calm and dispassionate. + +So to-day it is fashionable to doubt, to hang up most of the Christian +truths in the category of uncertainties. + +(_a_) When that is the fashion, we need to be on our guard. + +(_b_) If you doubt, have you ever taken the pains to examine? + +(_c_) If you doubt, you are bound to go further, and either reach +belief or rejection. Doubt is not the permanent condition for a man. +The central truth of Christianity is either to be received or rejected. + +II. Here is disbelief masquerading as suspension of judgment. + +Gamaliel talked as if he did not know, or had not decided in his own +mind, whether the disciples' claims for their Master were just or not. +But the attitude of impartiality and hesitation was the cover of rooted +unbelief. He speaks as if the alternative was that either this 'counsel +and work' was 'of man' or 'of God.' But he would have been nearer the +truth if he had stated the antithesis--God or devil; a glorious truth +or a hell-born lie. If Christ's work was not a revelation from above, +it was certainly an emanation from beneath. + +We sometimes hear disbelief, in our own days, talking in much the same +fashion. Have we never listened to teachers who first of all prove to +their own satisfaction that Jesus is a myth, that all the gospel story +is unreliable, and all the gospel message a dream, and then turn round +and overflow in praise of Him and in admiration of it? Browning's +professor in _Christmas Day_ first of all reduces 'the pearl of price' +to dust and ashes, and then + + 'Bids us, when we least expect it, + Take back our faith--if it be not just whole, + Yet a pearl indeed, as his tests affect it.' + +And that is very much the tone of not a few very superior persons +to-day. But let us have one thing or the other--a Christ who was what +He claimed to be, the Incarnate Word of God, who died for our sins and +rose again for our justification; or a Galilean peasant who was either +a visionary or an impostor, like Judas of Galilee and Theudas. + +III. Here is success turned into a criterion of truth. + +It is such, no doubt, in the long run, but not till then, and so till +the end it is utterly false to argue that a thing is true because +multitudes think it to be so. The very opposite is more nearly true. It +in usually minorities who have been right. + +Gamaliel laid down an immoral principle, which is only too popular +to-day, in relation to religion and to much else. + +IV. Here is a selfish neutrality pretending to be judicial calmness. + +Even if it were true that success is a criterion, we have to help God +to ensure the success of His truth. No doubt, taking sides is very +inconvenient to a cool, tolerant man of the world. And it is difficult +to be in a party without becoming a partisan. We know all the beauty of +mild, tolerant wisdom, and that truth is usually shared between +combatants, but the dangers of extremes and exaggeration must be faced, +and perhaps these are better than the cool indifference of the +eclectic, sitting apart, holding no form of creed, but contemplating +all. It is not good for a man to stand aloof when his brethren are +fighting. + +In every age some great causes which are God's are pressing for +decision. In many of them we may be disqualified for taking sides. But +feel that you are bound to cast your influence on the side which +conscience approves, and bound to settle which side that is, Deborah's +fierce curse against Meroz because its people came not up to the help +of the Lord against the mighty was deserved. + +But the region in which such judicial calmness, which shrinks from +taking its side, is most fatal and sadly common, is in regard to our +own individual relation to Jesus, and in regard to the establishment of +His kingdom among men. + +'He that is not with Me is against Me.' Neutrality is opposition. Not +to gather with Him is to scatter. Not to choose Him is to reject Him. + +Gamaliel had a strange notion of what constituted 'refraining from +these men and letting them alone,' and he betrayed his real position +and opposition by his final counsel to scourge them, before letting +them go. That is what the world's neutrality comes to. + +How poor a figure this politic ecclesiastic, mostly anxious not to +commit himself, ready to let whoever would risk a struggle with Rome, +so that he kept out of the fray and survived to profit by it, cuts +beside the disciples, who had chosen their side, had done with 'ifs,' +and went away from the Council rejoicing 'that they were counted worthy +to suffer shame for His Name'! Who would not rather be Peter or John +with their bleeding backs than Gamaliel, sitting soft in his +presidential chair, and too cautious to commit himself to an opinion +whether the name of Jesus was that of a prophet or a pretender? + + + +FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT + +'Men ... full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.' ... 'A man full of faith +and of the Holy Ghost....' 'Stephen, full of faith and power.'--ACTS +vi. 3, 5, 8. + +I have taken the liberty of wrenching these three fragments from their +context, because of their remarkable parallelism, which is evidently +intended to set us thinking of the connection of the various +characteristics which they set forth. The first of them is a +description, given by the Apostles, of the sort of man whom they +conceived to be fit to look after the very homely matter of stifling +the discontent of some members of the Church, who thought that their +poor people did not get their fair share of the daily ministration. The +second and third of them are parts of the description of the foremost +of these seven men, the martyr Stephen. In regard to the first and +second of our three fragmentary texts, you will observe that the cause +is put first and the effect second. The 'deacons' were to be men 'full +of the Holy Ghost,' and that would make them 'full of wisdom.' Stephen +was 'full of faith,' and that made him 'full of the Holy Ghost.' +Probably the same relation subsists in the third of our texts, of which +the true reading is not, as it appears in our Authorised Version, 'full +of faith and power,' but as it is given in the Revised Version, 'full +of grace and power.' He was filled with grace--by which apparently is +here meant the sum of the divine spiritual gifts--and therefore he was +full of power. Whether that is so or not, if we link these three +passages together, as I have taken the liberty of doing, we get a point +of view appropriate for such a day [Footnote: Preached on Whit Sunday.] +as this, when all that calls itself Christendom is commemorating the +descent of the Holy Spirit, and His abiding influence upon the Church. +So I simply wish to gather together the principles that come out of +these three verses thus concatenated. + +I. We may all, if we will, be full of the Holy Spirit. + +If there is a God at all, there is nothing more reasonable than to +suppose that He can come into direct contact with the spirits of the +men whom He has made. And if that Almighty God is not an Almighty +indifference, or a pure devil--if He is love--then there is nothing +more certain than that, if He can touch and influence men's hearts +towards goodness and His own likeness, He most certainly will. + +The probability, which all religion recognises, and in often crude +forms tries to set forth, and by superstitious acts to secure, is +raised to an absolute certainty, if we believe that Jesus Christ, the +Incarnate Truth, speaks truth to us about this matter. For there is +nothing more certain than that the characteristic which distinguishes +Him from all other teachers, is to be found not only in the fact that +He did something for us on the Cross, as well as taught us by His word; +but that in His teaching He puts in the forefront, not the +prescriptions of our duty, but the promise of God's gift; and ever says +to us, 'Open your hearts and the divine influences will flow in and +fill you and fit you for all goodness.' The Spirit of God fills the +human spirit, as the mysterious influence which we call life permeates +and animates the whole body, or as water lies in a cup. + +Consider how that metaphor is caught up, and from a different point of +view is confirmed, in regard to the completeness which it predicates, +by other metaphors of Scripture. What is the meaning of the Baptist's +saying, 'He shall baptise you in the Holy Ghost and fire'? Does that +not mean a complete immersion in, and submersion under, the cleansing +flood? What is the meaning of the Master's own saying, 'Tarry ye... +till ye be clothed with power from on high'? Does not that mean +complete investiture of our nakedness with that heavenly-woven robe? Do +not all these emblems declare to us the possibility of a human spirit +being charged to the limits of its capacity with a divine influence? + +We do not here discuss questions which separate good Christian people +from one another in regard of this matter. My object now is not to lay +down theological propositions, but to urge upon Christian men the +acquirement of an experience which is possible for them. And so, +without caring to enter by argument on controversial matters, I desire +simply to lay emphasis upon the plain implication of that word, +'_filled_ with the Holy Ghost.' Does it mean less than the complete +subjugation of a man's spirit by the influence of God's Spirit brooding +upon him, as the prophet laid himself on the dead child, lip to lip, +face to face, beating heart to still heart, limb to limb, and so +diffused a supernatural life into the dead? That is an emblem of what +all you Christian people may have if you like, and if you will adopt +the discipline and observe the conditions which God has plainly laid +down. + +That fulness will be a growing fulness, for our spirits are capable, if +not of infinite, at any rate of indefinite, expansion, and there is no +limit known to us, and no limit, I suppose, which will ever be reached, +so that we can go no further--to the possible growth of a created +spirit that is in touch with God, and is having itself enlarged and +elevated and ennobled by that contact. The vessel is elastic, the walls +of the cup of our spirit, into which the new wine of the divine Spirit +is poured, widen out as the draught is poured into them. The more a man +possesses and uses of the life of God, the more is he capable of +possessing and the more he will receive. So a continuous expansion in +capacity, and a continuous increase in the amount of the divine life +possessed, are held out as the happy prerogative and possibility of a +Christian soul. + +This Stephen had but a very small amount of the clear Christian +knowledge that you and I have, but he was leagues ahead of most +Christian people in regard to this, that he was 'filled with the Holy +Spirit.' Brethren, you can have as much of that Spirit as you want. It +is my own fault if my Christian life is not what the Christian lives of +some of us, I doubt not, are. 'Filled with the Holy Spirit'! rather a +little drop in the bottom of the cup, and all the rest gaping +emptiness; rather the fire died down, Pentecostal fire though it be, +until there is scarcely anything but a heap of black cinders and grey +ashes in your grate, and a little sandwich of flickering flame in one +corner; rather the rushing mighty wind died down into all but a dead +calm, like that which afflicts sailing-ships in the equatorial regions, +when the thick air is deadly still, and the empty sails have not +strength even to flap upon the masts; rather the 'river of the water of +life' that pours 'out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb,' dried up +into a driblet. + +That is the condition of many Christian people. I say not of which of +us. Let each man settle for himself how that may be. At all events here +is the possibility, which may be realised with increasing completeness +all through a Christian man's life. We may be filled with the Holy +Spirit. + +II. If we are 'full of faith' we shall be filled with the Spirit. + +That is the condition as suggested by one of our texts--'a man full of +faith,' and therefore 'of the Holy Ghost.' Now, of course, I believe, +as I suppose all people who have made any experience of their own +hearts must believe, that before a soul exercises confidence in Jesus +Christ, and passes into the household of faith, there have been playing +upon it the influences of that divine Comforter whose first mission is +to 'convince the world of sin.' But between such operations as these, +which I believe are universally diffused, wheresoever the Word of God +and the message of salvation are proclaimed--between such operations as +these, and those to which I now refer, whereby the divine Spirit not +only operates upon, but dwells in, a man's heart, and not only brings +conviction to the world of sin, there is a wide gulf fixed; and for all +the hallowing, sanctifying, illuminating and strength-giving operations +of that divine Spirit, the pre-requisite condition is our trust. Jesus +Christ taught us so, in more than one utterance, and His Apostle, in +commenting on one of the most remarkable of His sayings on this +subject, says, 'This spake He concerning the Holy Spirit which _they +that believed_ in Him were to receive.' Faith is the condition of +receiving that divine influence. But what kind of faith? Well, let us +put away theological words. If you do not believe that there is any +such influence to be got, you will not get it. If you do not want it, +you will not get it. If you do not expect it, you will not get it. If +professing to believe it, and to wish it, and to look for it, you are +behaving yourself in such a way as to show that you do not really +desire it, you will never get it. It is all very well to talk about +faith as the condition of receiving that divine Spirit. Do not let us +lose ourselves in the word, but try to translate the somewhat +threadbare expression, which by reason of its familiarity produces +little effect upon some of us, and to turn it into non-theological +English. It just comes to this,--if we are simply trusting ourselves to +Jesus Christ our Lord, and if in that trust we do believe in the +possibility of even _our_ being filled with the divine Spirit, and if +that possibility lights up a leaping flame of desire in our hearts +which aspires towards the possession of such a gift, and if belief that +our reception of that gift is possible because we trust ourselves to +Jesus Christ, and longing that we may receive it, combine to produce +the confident expectation that we shall, and if all of these combine to +produce conduct which neither quenches nor grieves that divine Guest, +then, and only then, shall we indeed be filled with the Spirit. + +I know of no other way by which a man can receive God into his heart +than by opening his heart for God to come in. I know of no other way by +which a man can woo--if I may so say--the Divine Lover to enter into +his spirit than by longing that He would come, waiting for His coming, +expecting it, and being supremely blessed in the thought that such a +union is possible. Faith, that is trust, with its appropriate and +necessary sequels of desire and expectation and obedience, is the +completing of the electric circuit, and after it the spark is sure to +come. It is the opening of the windows, after which sunshine cannot but +flood the chamber. It is the stretching out of the hand, and no man +that ever, with love and longing, lifted an empty hand to God, dropped +it still empty. And no man who, with penitence for his own act, and +trust in the divine act, lifted blood-stained and foul hands to God, +ever held them up there without the gory patches melting away, and +becoming white as snow. Not 'all the perfumes of Araby' can sweeten +those bloody hands. Lift them up to God, and they become pure. +Whosoever wishes that he may, and believes that he shall, receive from +Christ the fulness of the Spirit, will not be disappointed. Brethren, +'Ye have not because ye ask not.' 'If ye, being evil, know how to give +good gifts to your children,' shall not 'your Heavenly Father give the +Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' + +III. Lastly, if we are filled with the Spirit we shall be 'full of +wisdom, grace, and power.' + +The Apostles seemed to think that it was a very important business to +look after a handful of poor widows, and see that they had their fair +share in the dispensing of the modest charity of the half-pauper +Jerusalem church, when they said that for such a purely secular thing +as that a man would need to be 'full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.' +Surely, something a little less august might have served their turn to +qualify men for such a task! 'Wisdom' here, I suppose, means practical +sagacity, common sense, the power of picking out an impostor when she +came whining for a dole. Very commonplace virtues!--but the Apostles +evidently thought that such everyday operations of the understanding as +these were not too secular and commonplace to owe their origin to the +communication to men of the fulness of the Holy Spirit. + +May we not take a lesson from that, that God's great influences, when +they come into a man, do not concern themselves only with great +intellectual problems and the like, but that they will operate to make +him more fit to do the most secular and the most trivial things that +can be put into his hand to do? The Holy Ghost had to fill Stephen +before he could hand out loaves and money to the widows in Jerusalem. + +And do you not think that your day's work, and your business +perplexities, come under the same category? Perhaps the best way to +secure understanding of what we ought to do, in regard to very small +and secular matters, is to keep ourselves very near to God, with the +windows of our hearts opened towards Jerusalem, that all the guidance +and light that can come from Him may come into us. Depend upon it, +unless we have God's guidance in the trivialities of life, ninety per +cent., ay! and more, of our lives will be without God's guidance; +because trivialities make up life. And unless my Father in heaven can +guide me about what we, very mistakenly, call 'secular' things, and +what we very vulgarly call trivial things, His guidance is not worth +much. The Holy Ghost will give you wisdom for to-morrow, and all its +little cares, as well as for the higher things, of which I am not going +to speak now, because they do not come within my text. + +'Full of grace,'--that is a wide word, as I take it. If, by our faith, +we have brought into our hearts that divine influence, the Spirit of +God does not come empty-handed, but He communicates to us whatsoever +things are lovely and of good report, whatsoever things are fair and +honourable, whatsoever things in the eyes of men are worthy to be +praised, and by the tongues of men have been called virtue. These +things will all be given to us step by step, not without our own +diligent co-operation, by that divine Giver. Effort without faith, and +faith without effort, are equally incomplete, and the co-operation of +the two is that which is blessed by God. + +Then the things which are 'gracious,' that is to say, given by His +love, and also gracious in the sense of partaking of the celestial +beauty which belongs to all virtue, and to all likeness in character to +God, these things will give us a strange, supernatural _power_ amongst +men. The word is employed in my third text, I presume, in its narrow +sense of miracle-working power, but we may fairly widen it to something +much more than that. Our Lord once said, when He was speaking about the +gift of the Holy Spirit, that there were two stages in its operation. +In the first, it availed for the refreshment and the satisfying of the +desires of the individual; in the second it became, by the ministration +of that individual, a source of blessing to others. He said, 'If any +man thirst, let him come to Me and drink,' and then, immediately, 'He +that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living +water.' That is to say, whoever lives in touch with God, having that +divine Spirit in his heart, will walk amongst men the wielder of an +unmistakable power, and will be able to bear witness to God, and move +men's hearts, and draw them to goodness and truth. The only power for +Christian service is the power that comes from being clothed with God's +Spirit. The only power for self-government is the power that comes from +being clothed with God's Spirit. The only power which will keep us in +the way that leads to life, and will bring us at last to the rest and +the reward, is the power that comes from being clothed with God's +Spirit. + +I am charged to all who hear me now with this message. Here is a gift +offered to you. You cannot pare and batter at your own characters so as +to make them what will satisfy your own consciences, still less what +will satisfy the just judgment of God; but you can put yourself under +the moulding influences of Christ's love. Dear brethren, the one hope +for dead humanity, the bones very many and very dry, is that from the +four winds there should come the breath of God, and breathe in them, +and they shall live, 'an exceeding great army.' Forget all else that I +have been saying now, if you like, but take these two sentences to your +hearts, and do not rest till they express your own personal experience; +If I am to be good I must have God's Spirit within me. If I am to have +God's Spirit within me, I must be 'full of faith.' + + + +STEPHEN'S VISION + +'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the +right hand of God'--ACTS vii. 56. + +I. The vision of the Son of Man, or the abiding manhood of Jesus. + +Stephen's Greek name, and his belonging to the Hellenistic part of the +Church, make it probable that he had never seen Jesus during His +earthly life. If so, how beautiful that he should thus see and +recognise Him! How significant, in any case, is it he should +instinctively have taken on his lips that name, 'the Son of Man,' to +designate Him whom he saw, through the opened heavens, standing on the +right hand of God! We remember that in the same Council-chamber and +before the same court, Jesus had lashed the rulers into a paroxysm of +fury by declaring, 'Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at +the right hand of power,' and now here is one of His followers, almost, +as it were, flinging in their teeth the words which they had called +'blasphemy,' and witnessing that he, at all events, saw their partial +fulfilment. They saw only the roof of the chamber, or, if the Council +met in the open court of the Temple, the quivering blue of the Syrian +sky; but to him the blue was parted, and a brighter light than that of +its lustre was flashed upon his inward eye. His words roused them to an +even wilder outburst than those of Jesus had set loose, and with yells +of fury, and stopping their ears that they might not hear the +blasphemy, they flung themselves on him, unresisting, and dragged him +to his doom. Their passion is a measure of the preciousness to the +Christian consciousness of that which Stephen saw, and said that he saw. + +Whatever more the great designation, 'Son of Man,' means, it +unmistakably means the embodiment of perfect manhood. Stephen's vision +swept into his soul, as on a mighty wave, the fact, overwhelming if it +had not been so transcendently strengthening to the sorely bestead +prisoner, that the Jesus whom he had trusted unseen, was still the same +Jesus that He had been 'in the days of His flesh,' and, with whatever +changes, still was 'found in fashion as a man.' He still 'bent on earth +a brother's eye.' Whatever He had dropped from Him as He ascended, His +manhood had not fallen away, and, whatever changes had taken place in +His body so as to fit it for its enthronement in the heavens, all that +had knit Him to His humble friends on earth was still His. The bonds +that united Him and them had not been snapped by being stretched to +span the distance between the Council-chamber and the right hand of +God. His sympathy still continued. All that had won their hearts was +still in Him, and every tender remembrance of His love and leading was +transformed into the assurance of a present possession. He was still +the Son of Man. + +We are all too apt to feel as if the manhood of Jesus was now but a +memory, and, though our creed affirms the contrary, yet our faith has +difficulty in realising the full force and blessedness of its +affirmations. For the Resurrection and Ascension seem to remove Him +from close contact with us, and sometimes we feel as if we stretch out +groping fingers into the dark and find no warm human hand to grasp. His +exaltation seems to withdraw Him from our brotherhood, and the cloud, +though it is a cloud of glory, sometimes seems to hide Him from our +sight. The thickening veil of increasing centuries becomes more and +more difficult for faith to pierce. What Stephen saw was not for him +only but for us all, and its significance becomes more and more +precious as we drift further and further away in time from the days of +the life of Jesus on earth. More and more do we need to make very +visible to ourselves this vision, and to lay on our hearts the strong +consolation of gazing steadfastly into heaven and seeing there the Son +of Man. So we shall feel that He is all to us that He was to those who +companied with Him here. So shall we be more ready to believe that +'this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as He went,' and that +till He come, He is knit to us and we to Him, by the bonds of a common +manhood. + +II. The vision of the Son of Man at the right hand of God, or the glory +of the Man Jesus. + +We will not discuss curious questions which may be asked in connection +with Stephen's vision, such as whether the glorified humanity of Jesus +implies His special presence in a locality; but will rather try to +grasp its bearings on topics more directly related to more important +matters than dim speculations on points concerning which confident +affirmations are sure to be wrong. Whether the representation implies +locality or not, it is clear that the deepest meaning of the expression +'the right hand of God,' is the energy of His unlimited power, and +that, therefore, the deepest meaning of the expression 'to be at His +right hand,' is wielding the might of the divine Omnipotence. The +vision is but the visible confirmation of Jesus' words, 'All power is +given unto Me in heaven and on earth.' + +It is to be taken into account that Scripture usually represents the +Christ as seated at the right hand of God, and that posture, taken in +conjunction with that place, indicates the completion of His work, the +majestic calm of His repose, like that creative rest, which did not +follow the creative work because the Worker was weary, but because He +had fulfilled His ideal. God rested because His work was finished, and +was 'very good.' So Jesus sits, because He, too, has finished His work +on earth. 'When,' and because 'He had by Himself purged our sins, He +sat down on the right hand of God.' + +Further, that place at the right hand of God certifies that He is the +Judge. + +Further, it is a blessed vision for His children, as being the sure +pledge of their glory. + +It is a glorious revelation of the capabilities of sinless human nature. + +It makes heaven habitable for us. + +'I go to prepare a place for you.' An emigrant does not feel a stranger +in new country, if his elder brother has gone before him, and waits to +meet him when he lands. The presence of Jesus makes that dim, heavenly +state, which is so hard to imagine, and from which we often feel that +even its glories repel, or, at least, do not attract, home to those who +love Him. To be where He is, and to be as He is--that is heaven. + +III. The vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, or +the ever-ready help of the glorified Jesus. + +The divergence of the vision from the usual representation of the +attitude of Jesus is not the least precious of its elements. Stephen +saw Him 'standing,' as if He had risen to His feet to see His servant's +need and was preparing to come to his help. + +What a rush of new strength for victorious endurance would flood +Stephen's soul as he beheld his Lord thus, as it were, starting to His +feet in eagerness to watch and to succour! He looks down from amid the +glory, and His calm repose does not involve passive indifference to His +servant's sufferings. Into it comes full knowledge of all that they +bear for Him, and His rest is not the negation of activity on their +behalf, but its intensest energy. Just as one of the Gospels ends with +a twofold picture, which at first sight seems to draw a sad distinction +between the Lord 'received up into heaven and set down at the right +hand of God,' and His servants left below, who 'went everywhere, +preaching the word,' but of which the two halves are fused together by +the next words, 'the Lord also working with them,' so Stephen's vision +brought together the glorified Lord and His servant, and filled the +martyr's soul with the fact that He not only 'worked,' but suffered +with those who suffered for His sake. + +That vision is a transient revelation of an eternal fact. Jesus knows +and shares in all that affects His servants. He stands in the attitude +to help, and He wields the power of God. He is, as the prophet puts it, +'the Arm of the Lord,' and the cry, 'Awake, O Arm of the Lord!' is +never unanswered. He helps His servants by actually directing the +course of Providence for their sakes. He helps by wielding the forces +of nature on their behalf. He 'rebukes kings for their sake, saying, +Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm.' He helps by +breathing His own life and strength into them. He helps by disclosing +to them the vision of Himself. He helps even when, like Stephen, they +are apparently left to the murderous hate of their enemies, for what +better help could any of His followers get from Him than that He +should, as Stephen prayed that He would, receive their spirit, and 'so +give His beloved sleep'? Blessed they whose lives are lighted by that +Vision, and whose deaths are such a falling on sleep! + + + +THE YOUNG SAUL AND THE AGED PAUL [Footnote: To the young.] + +'...the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose +name was Saul.'--ACTS vii. 58. + +'...Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.'--PHILEMON +9. + +A far greater difference than that which was measured by years +separated the young Saul from the aged Paul. By years, indeed, the +difference was, perhaps, not so great as the words might suggest, for +Jewish usage extended the term of youth farther than we do, and began +age sooner. No doubt, too, Paul's life had aged him fast, and probably +there were not thirty years between the two periods. But the difference +between him and himself at the beginning and the end of his career was +a gulf; and his life was not evolution, but revolution. + +At the beginning you see a brilliant young Pharisee, Gamaliel's +promising pupil, advanced above many who were his equals in his own +religion, as he says himself; living after its straitest sect, and +eager to have the smallest part in what seemed to him the righteous +slaying of one of the followers of the blaspheming Nazarene. At the end +he was himself one of these followers. He had cast off, as folly, the +wisdom which took him so much pains to acquire. He had turned his back +upon all the brilliant prospects of distinction which were opening to +him. He had broken with countrymen and kindred. And what had he made of +it? He had been persecuted, hunted, assailed by every weapon that his +old companions could fashion or wield; he is a solitary man, laden with +many cares, and accustomed to look perils and death in the face; he is +a prisoner, and in a year or two more he will be a martyr. If he were +an apostate and a renegade, it was not for what he could get by it. + +What made the change? The vision of Jesus Christ. If we think of the +transformation on Saul, its causes and its outcome, we shall get +lessons which I would fain press upon your hearts now. Do you wonder +that I would urge on you just such a life as that of this man as your +highest good? + +I. I would note, then, first, that faith in Jesus Christ will transform +and ennoble any life. + +It has been customary of late years, amongst people who do not like +miracles, and do not believe in sudden changes of character, to allege +that Paul's conversion was but the appearance, on the surface, of an +underground process that had been going on ever since he kept the +witnesses' clothes. Modern critics know a great deal more about the +history of Paul's conversion than Paul did. For to him there was no +consciousness of undermining, but the change was instantaneous. He left +Jerusalem a bitter persecutor, exceeding mad against the followers of +the Nazarene, thinking that Jesus was a blasphemer and an impostor, and +His disciples pestilent vermin, to be harried off the face of the +earth. He entered Damascus a lowly disciple of that Christ. His +conversion was not an underground process that had been silently +sapping the foundations of his life; it was an explosion. And what +caused it? What was it that came on that day on the Damascus road, amid +the blinding sunshine of an Eastern noontide? The vision of Jesus +Christ. An overwhelming conviction flooded his soul that He whom he had +taken to be an impostor, richly deserving the Cross that He endured, +was living in glory, and was revealing Himself to Saul then and there. +That truth crumbled his whole past into nothing; and he stood there +trembling and astonished, like a man the ruins of whose house have +fallen about his ears. He bowed himself to the vision. He surrendered +at discretion without a struggle. 'Immediately,' says he, 'I was not +disobedient to the heavenly vision,' and when he said 'Lord, Lord, what +wilt Thou have me to do?' he flung open the gates of the fortress for +the Conqueror to come in. The vision of Christ reversed his judgments, +transformed his character, revolutionised his life. + +That initial impulse operated through all the rest of his career. +Hearken to him: 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. To me to +live is Christ. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we +die, we die unto the Lord. Living or dying, we are the Lord's.' 'We +labour that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.' The +transforming agency was the vision of Christ, and the bowing of the +man's whole nature before the seen Saviour. + +Need I recall to you how noble a life issued from that fountain? I am +sure that I need do no more than mention in a word or two the wondrous +activity, flashing like a flame of fire from East to West, and +everywhere kindling answering flames, the noble self-oblivion, the +continual communion with God and the Unseen, and all the other great +virtues and nobleness which came from such sources as these. I need +only, I am sure, remind you of them, and draw this lesson, that the +secret of a transforming and noble life is to be found in faith in +Jesus Christ. The vision that changed Paul is as available for you and +me. For it is all a mistake to suppose that the essence of it is the +miraculous appearance that flashed upon the Apostle's eyes. He speaks +of it himself, in one of his letters, in other language, when he says, +'It pleased God to reveal His Son _in_ me.' And that revelation in all +its fulness, in all its sweetness, in all its transforming and +ennobling power, is offered to every one of us. For the eye of faith is +no less gifted with the power of direct and certain vision--yea! is +even more gifted with this--than is the eye of sense. 'If they hear not +Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose +from the dead.' Christ is revealed to each one of us as really, as +veritably, and the revelation may become as strong an impulse and +motive in our lives as ever it was to the Apostle on the Damascus road. +What is wanted is not revelation, but the bowed will--not the heavenly +vision, but obedience to the vision. I suppose that most of you think +that you believe all that about Jesus Christ, which transformed +Gamaliel's pupil into Christ's disciple. And what has it done for you? +In many cases, nothing. Be sure of this, dear young friends, that the +shortest way to a life adorned with all grace, with all nobility, +fragrant with all goodness, and permanent as that life which does the +will of God must clearly be, is this, to bow before the seen Christ, +seen in His word, and speaking to your hearts, and to take His yoke and +carry His burden. Then you will build upon what will stand, and make +your days noble and your lives stable. If you build on anything else, +the structure will come down with a crash some day, and bury you in its +ruins. Surely it is better to learn the worthlessness of a +non-Christian life, in the light of His merciful face, when there is +yet time to change our course, than to see it by the fierce light of +the great White Throne set for judgment. We must each of us learn it +here or there. + +II. Faith in Christ will make a joyful life, whatever its circumstances. + +I have said that, judged by the standard of the Exchange, or by any of +the standards which men usually apply to success in life, this life of +the Apostle was a failure. We know, without my dwelling more largely +upon it, what he gave up. We know what, to outward appearance, he +gained by his Christianity. You remember, perhaps, how he himself +speaks about the external aspects of his life in one place, where he +says 'Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are +naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place, and +labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being +persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the +filth of the world, and as the offscouring of all things unto this day.' + +That was one side of it. Was that all? This man had that within him +which enabled him to triumph over all trials. There is nothing more +remarkable about him than the undaunted courage, the unimpaired +elasticity of spirit, the buoyancy of gladness, which bore him high +upon the waves of the troubled sea in which he had to swim. If ever +there was a man that had a bright light burning within him, in the +deepest darkness, it was that little weather-beaten Jew, whose 'bodily +presence was weak, and his speech contemptible.' And what was it that +made him master of circumstances, and enabled him to keep sunshine in +his heart when winter bound all the world around him? What made this +bird sing in a darkened cage? One thing--the continual presence, +consciously with Him by faith, of that Christ who had revolutionised +his life, and who continued to bless and to gladden it. I have quoted +his description of his external condition. Let me quote two or three +words that indicate how he took all that sea of troubles and of sorrows +that poured its waves and its billows over him. 'In all these things we +are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.' 'As the sufferings +of Christ abound in us, so our consolation aboundeth also by Christ.' +'For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet +our inward man is renewed day by day.' 'Most gladly therefore will I +rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon +me.' 'I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.' +'As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as +having nothing, yet possessing all things.' + +There is the secret of blessedness, my friends; there is the fountain +of perpetual joy. Cling to Christ, set His will on the throne of your +hearts, give the reins of your life and of your character into His +keeping, and nothing 'that is at enmity with joy' can either 'abolish +or destroy' the calm blessedness of your spirits. + +You will have much to suffer; you will have something to give up. Your +life may look, to men whose tastes have been vulgarised by the glaring +brightnesses of this vulgar world, but grey and sombre, but it will +have in it the calm abiding blessedness which is more than joy, and is +diviner and more precious than the tumultuous transports of gratified +sense or successful ambition. Christ is peace, and He gives His peace +to us; and then He gives a joy which does not break but enhances peace. +We are all tempted to look for our gladness in creatures, each of which +satisfies but a part of our desire. But no man can be truly blessed who +has to find many contributories to make up his blessedness. That which +makes us rich must be, not a multitude of precious stones, howsoever +precious they may be, but one Pearl of great price; the one Christ who +is our only joy. And He says to us that He gives us Himself, if we +behold Him and bow to Him, that His joy might remain in us, and that +our joy might be full, while all other gladnesses are partial and +transitory. Faith in Christ makes life blessed. The writer of +Ecclesiastes asked the question which the world has been asking ever +since: 'Who knoweth what is good for a man in this life, all the days +of this vain life which he passeth as a shadow?' You young people are +asking, 'Who will show us any good?' Here is the answer--Faith in +Christ and obedience to Him; that is the good part which no man taketh +from us. Dear young friend, have you made it yours? + +III. Faith in Christ produces a life which bears being looked back upon. + +In a later Epistle than that from which my second text is taken, we get +one of the most lovely pictures that was ever drawn, albeit it is +unconsciously drawn, of a calm old age, very near the gate of death; +and looking back with a quiet heart over all the path of life. I am not +going to preach to you, dear friends, in the flush of your early youth, +a gospel which is only to be recommended because it is good to die by, +but it will do even you, at the beginning, no harm to realise for a +moment that the end will come, and that retrospect will take the place +in your lives which hope and anticipation fill now. And I ask you what +you expect to feel and say then? + +What did Paul say? 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a +crown of righteousness.' He was not self-righteous; but it is possible +to have lived a life which, as the world begins to fade, vindicates +itself as having been absolutely right in its main trend, and to feel +that the dawning light of Eternity confirms the choice that we made. +And I pray you to ask yourselves, 'Is my life of that sort?' How much +of it would bear the scrutiny which will have to come, and which in +Paul's case was so quiet and calm? He had had a stormy day, many a +thundercloud had darkened the sky, many a tempest had swept across the +plain; but now, as the evening draws on, the whole West is filled with +a calm amber light, and all across the plain, right away to the grey +East, he sees that he has been led by, and has been willing to walk in, +the right way to the 'City of habitation.' Would that be your +experience if the last moment came now? + +There will be, for the best of us, much sense of failure and +shortcoming when we look back on our lives. But whilst some of us will +have to say, 'I have played the fool and erred exceedingly,' it is +possible for each of us to lay himself down in peace and sleep, +awaiting a glorious rising again and a crown of righteousness. + +Dear young friends, it is for you to choose whether your past, when you +summon it up before you, will look like a wasted wilderness, or like a +garden of the Lord. And though, as I have said, there will always be +much sense of failure and shortcoming, yet that need not disturb the +calm retrospect; for whilst memory sees the sins, faith can grasp the +Saviour, and quietly take leave of life, saying, 'I know in whom I have +believed, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed to +Him against that day.' + +So I press upon you all this one truth, that faith in Jesus Christ will +transform, will ennoble, will make joyous your lives whilst you live, +and will give you a quiet heart in the retrospect when you come to die. +Begin right, dear young friends. You will never find it so easy to take +any decisive step, and most of all this chiefest step, as you do +to-day. You will get lean and less flexible as you get older. You will +get set in your ways. Habits will twine their tendrils round you, and +hinder your free movement. The truth of the Gospel will become +commonplace by familiarity. Associations and companions will have more +and more power over you; and you will be stiffened as an old tree-trunk +is stiffened. You cannot count on to-morrow; be wise to-day. Begin this +year aright. Why should you not now see the Christ and welcome Him? I +pray that every one of us may behold Him and fall before Him with the +cry, 'Lord! what wilt Thou have me to do?' + + + +THE DEATH OF THE MASTER AND THE DEATH OF THE SERVANT + + +'And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, +receive my spirit. 60. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud +voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And, when he had said +this, he fell asleep.'--ACTS vii. 59, 60. + +This is the only narrative in the New Testament of a Christian +martyrdom or death. As a rule, Scripture is supremely indifferent to +what becomes of the people with whom it is for a time concerned. As +long as the man is the organ of the divine Spirit he is somewhat; as +soon as that ceases to speak through him he drops into insignificance. +So this same Acts of the Apostles--if I may so say--kills off James the +brother of John in a parenthesis; and his is the only other martyrdom +that it concerns itself even so much as to mention. + +Why, then, this exceptional detail about the martyrdom of Stephen? For +two reasons: because it is the first of a series, and the Acts of the +Apostles always dilates upon the first of each set of things which it +describes, and condenses about the others. But more especially, I +think, because if we come to look at the story, it is not so much an +account of Stephen's death as of Christ's power in Stephen's death. And +the theme of this book is not the acts of the Apostles, but the acts of +the risen Lord, in and for His Church. + +There is no doubt but that this narrative is modelled upon the story of +our Lord's Crucifixion, and the two incidents, in their similarities +and in their differences, throw a flood of light upon one another. + +I shall therefore look at our subject now with constant reference to +that other greater death upon which it is based. It is to be observed +that the two sayings on the lips of the proto-martyr Stephen are +recorded for us in their original form on the lips of Christ, in +_Luke's_ Gospel, which makes a still further link of connection between +the two narratives. + +So, then, my purpose now is merely to take this incident as it lies +before us, to trace in it the analogies and the differences between the +death of the Master and the death of the servant, and to draw from it +some thoughts as to what it is possible for a Christian's death to +become, when Christ's presence is felt in it. + +I. Consider, in general terms, this death as the last act of imitation +to Christ. + +The resemblance between our Lord's last moments and Stephen's has been +thought to have been the work of the narrator, and, consequently, to +cast some suspicion upon the veracity of the narrative. I accept the +correspondence, I believe it was intentional, but I shift the intention +from the writer to the actor, and I ask why it should not have been +that the dying martyr should consciously, and of set purpose, have made +his death conformable to his Master's death? Why should not the dying +martyr have sought to put himself (as the legend tells one of the other +Apostles in outward form sought to do) in Christ's attitude, and to die +as He died? + +Remember, that in all probability Stephen died on Calvary. It was the +ordinary place of execution, and, as many of you may know, recent +investigations have led many to conclude that a little rounded knoll +outside the city wall--not a 'green hill,' but still 'outside a city +wall,' and which still bears a lingering tradition of connection with +Him--was probably the site of that stupendous event. It was the place +of stoning, or of public execution, and there in all probability, on +the very ground where Christ's Cross was fixed, His first martyr saw +'the heavens opened and Christ standing on the right hand of God.' If +these were the associations of the place, what more natural, and even +if they were not, what more natural, than that the martyr's death +should be shaped after his Lord's? + +Is it not one of the great blessings, in some sense the greatest of the +blessings, which we owe to the Gospel, that in that awful solitude +where no other example is of any use to us, His pattern may still gleam +before us? Is it not something to feel that as life reaches its +highest, most poignant and exquisite delight and beauty in the measure +in which it is made an imitation of Jesus, so for each of us death may +lose its most poignant and exquisite sting and sorrow, and become +something almost sweet, if it be shaped after the pattern and by the +power of His? We travel over a lonely waste at last. All clasped hands +are unclasped; and we set out on the solitary, though it be 'the +common, road into the great darkness.' But, blessed be His Name! 'the +Breaker is gone up before us,' and across the waste there are +footprints that we + + 'Seeing, may take heart again.' + +The very climax and apex of the Christian imitation of Christ may be +that we shall bear the image of His death, and be like Him then. + +Is it not a strange thing that generations of martyrs have gone to the +stake with their hearts calm and their spirits made constant by the +remembrance of that Calvary where Jesus died with more of trembling +reluctance, shrinking, and apparent bewildered unmanning than many of +the weakest of His followers? Is it not a strange thing that the death +which has thus been the source of composure, and strength, and heroism +to thousands, and has lost none of its power of being so to-day, was +the death of a Man who shrank from the bitter cup, and that cried in +that mysterious darkness, 'My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' + +Dear brethren, unless with one explanation of the reason for His +shrinking and agony, Christ's death is less heroic than that of some +other martyrs, who yet drew all their courage from Him. + +How come there to be in Him, at one moment, calmness unmoved, and +heroic self-oblivion, and at the next, agony, and all but despair? I +know only one explanation, 'The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of +us all.' And when He died, shrinking and trembling, and feeling +bewildered and forsaken, it was your sins and mine that weighed Him +down. The servant whose death was conformed to his Master's had none of +these experiences because he was only a martyr. + +The Lord had them, because He was the Sacrifice for the whole world. + +II. We have here, next, a Christian's death as being the voluntary +entrusting of the spirit to Christ. + +'They stoned Stephen.' Now, our ordinary English idea of the manner of +the Jewish punishment of stoning, is a very inadequate and mistaken +one. It did not consist merely in a miscellaneous rabble throwing +stones at the criminal, but there was a solemn and appointed method of +execution which is preserved for us in detail in the Rabbinical books. +And from it we gather that the _modus operandi_ was this. The +blasphemer was taken to a certain precipitous rock, the height of which +was prescribed as being equal to that of two men. The witnesses by +whose testimony he had been condemned had to cast him over, and if he +survived the fall it was their task to roll upon him a great stone, of +which the weight is prescribed in the Talmud as being as much as two +men could lift. If he lived after that, then others took part in the +punishment. + +Now, at some point in that ghastly tragedy, probably, we may suppose as +they were hurling him over the rock, the martyr lifts his voice in this +prayer of our text. + +As they were stoning him he 'called upon'--not _God_, as our Authorised +Version has supplied the wanting word, but, as is obvious from the +context and from the remembrance of the vision, and from the language +of the following supplication, 'called upon _Jesus_, saying, Lord +Jesus! receive my spirit.' + +I do not dwell at any length upon the fact that here we have a distinct +instance of prayer to Jesus Christ, a distinct recognition, in the +early days of His Church, of the highest conceptions of His person and +nature, so as that a dying man turns to Him, and commits his soul into +His hands. Passing this by, I ask you to think of the resemblance, and +the difference, between this intrusting of the spirit by Stephen to his +Lord, and the committing of His spirit to the Father by His dying Son. +Christ on the Cross speaks to God; Stephen, on Calvary, speaks, as I +suppose, to Jesus Christ. Christ, on the Cross, says, 'I commit.' +Stephen says, 'Receive,' or rather, 'Take.' The one phrase carries in +it something of the notion that our Lord died not because He must, but +because He would; that He was active in His death; that He chose to +summon death to do its work upon Him; that He 'yielded up His spirit,' +as one of the Evangelists has it, pregnantly and significantly. But +Stephen says, 'Take!' as knowing that it must be his Lord's power that +should draw his spirit out of the coil of horror around him. So the one +dying word has strangely compacted in it authority and submission; and +the other dying word is the word of a simple waiting servant. The +Christ says, 'I commit.' 'I have power to lay down My life, and I have +power to take it again.' Stephen says, 'Take my spirit,' as longing to +be away from the weariness and the sorrow and the pain and all the hell +of hatred that was seething and boiling round about him, but yet +knowing that he had to wait the Master's will. + +So from the language I gather large truths, truths which unquestionably +were not present to the mind of the dying man, but are all the more +conspicuous because they were unconsciously expressed by him, as to the +resemblance and the difference between the death of the martyr, done to +death by cruel hands, and the death of the atoning Sacrifice who gave +Himself up to die for our sins. + +Here we have, in this dying cry, the recognition of Christ as the Lord +of life and death. Here we have the voluntary and submissive surrender +of the spirit to Him. So, in a very real sense, the martyr's death +becomes a sacrifice, and he too dies not merely because he must, but he +accepts the necessity, and finds blessedness in it. We need not be +passive in death; we need not, when it comes to our turn to die, cling +desperately to the last vanishing skirts of life. We may yield up our +being, and pour it out as a libation; as the Apostle has it, 'If I be +offered as a drink-offering upon the sacrifice of your faith, I joy and +rejoice.' Oh! brethren, to die _like_ Christ, to die yielding oneself +to Him! + +And then in these words there is further contained the thought coming +gleaming out like a flash of light into some murky landscape--of +passing into perennial union with Him. 'Take my spirit,' says the dying +man; 'that is all I want. I see Thee standing at the right hand. For +what hast Thou started to Thy feet, from the eternal repose of Thy +session at the right hand of God the Father Almighty? To help and +succour me. And dost Thou succour me when Thou dost let these cruel +hands cast me from the rock and bruise me with heavy stones? Yes, Thou +dost. For the highest form of Thy help is to take my spirit, and to let +me be with Thee.' + +Christ delivers His servant from death when He leads the servant into +and through death. Brothers, can you look forward thus, and trust +yourselves, living or dying, to that Master who is near us amidst the +coil of human troubles and sorrows, and sweetly draws our spirits, as a +mother her child to her bosom, into His own arms when He sends us +death? Is that what it will be to you? + +III. Then, still further, there are other words here which remind us of +the final triumph of an all-forbearing charity. + +Stephen had been cast from the rock, had been struck with the heavy +stone. Bruised and wounded by it, he strangely survives, strangely +somehow or other struggles to his knees even though desperately +wounded, and, gathering all his powers together at the impulse of an +undying love, prays his last words and cries, 'Lord Jesus! Lay not this +sin to their charge!' + +It is an echo, as I have been saying, of other words, 'Father, forgive +them, for they know not what they do.' An echo, and yet an independent +tone! The one cries 'Father!' the other invokes the 'Lord.' The one +says, 'They know not what they do'; the other never thinks of reading +men's motives, of apportioning their criminality, of discovering the +secrets of their hearts. It was fitting that the Christ, before whom +all these blind instruments of a mighty design stood patent and naked +to their deepest depths, should say, 'They know not what they do.' It +would have been unfitting that the servant, who knew no more of his +fellows' heart than could be guessed from their actions, should have +offered such a plea in his prayer for their forgiveness. + +In the very humiliation of the Cross, Christ speaks as knowing the +hidden depths of men's souls, and therefore fitted to be their Judge, +and now His servant's prayer is addressed to Him as actually being so. + +Somehow or other, within a very few years of the time when our Lord +dies, the Church has come to the distinctest recognition of _His_ +Divinity to whom the martyr prays; to the distinctest recognition of +_Him_ as the Lord of life and death whom the martyr asks to take his +spirit, and to the clearest perception of the fact that He is the Judge +of the whole earth by whose acquittal men shall be acquitted, and by +whose condemnation they shall be condemned. + +Stephen knew that Christ was the Judge. He knew that in two minutes he +would be standing at Christ's judgment bar. His prayer was not, 'Lay +not my sins to my charge,' but 'Lay not this sin to their charge.' Why +did he not ask forgiveness for himself? Why was he not thinking about +the judgment that he was going to meet so soon? He had done all that +long ago. He had no fear about that judgment for himself, and so when +the last hour struck, he was at leisure of heart and mind to pray for +his persecutors, and to think of his Judge without a tremor. Are you? +If you were as near the edge as Stephen was, would it be wise for you +to be interceding for other people's forgiveness? The answer to that +question is the answer to this other one,--have you sought your pardon +already, and got it at the hands of Jesus Christ? + +IV. One word is all that I need say about the last point of analogy and +contrast here--the serene passage into rest: 'When he had said this he +fell asleep.' + +The New Testament scarcely ever speaks of a Christian's death as death +but as sleep, and with other similar phrases. But that expression, +familiar and all but universal as it is in the Epistles, in reference +to the death of believers, is never in a single instance employed in +reference to the death of Jesus Christ. He did die that you and I may +live. His death was death indeed--He endured not merely the physical +fact, but that which is its sting, the consciousness of sin. And He +died that the sting might be blunted, and all its poison exhausted upon +Him. So the ugly thing is sleeked and smoothed; and the foul form +changes into the sweet semblance of a sleep-bringing angel. Death is +gone. The physical fact remains, but all the misery of it, the +essential bitterness and the poison of it is all sucked out of it, and +it is turned into 'he fell asleep,' as a tired child on its mother's +lap, as a weary man after long toil. + + 'Thou thy worldly task hast done, + Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.' + +Death is but sleep now, because Christ has died, and that sleep is +restful, conscious, perfect life. + +Look at these two pictures, the agony of the one, the calm triumph of +the other, and see that the martyr's falling asleep was possible +because the Christ had died before. And do you commit the keeping of +your souls to Him now, by true faith; and then, living you may have Him +with you, and, dying, a vision of His presence bending down to succour +and to save, and when you are dead, a life of rest conjoined with +intensest activity. To sleep in Jesus is to awake in His likeness, and +to be satisfied. + + + +SEED SCATTERED AND TAKING ROOT + +'And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a +great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they +were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, +except the apostles. 2. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, +and made great lamentation over him. 3. As for Saul, he made havock of +the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women +committed them to prison. 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad +went everywhere preaching the word. 5. Then Philip went down to the +city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6. And the people with +one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and +seeing the miracles which he did. 7. For unclean spirits, crying with +loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many +taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. 8. And there was +great joy in that city, 9. But there was a certain man, called Simon, +which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the +people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 10. To +whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This +man is the great power of God. 11. And to him they had regard, because +that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. 12. But when +they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of +God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and +women. 13. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, +he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and +signs which were done. 14. Now when the apostles which were at +Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent +unto them Peter and John: 15. Who, when they were come down prayed for +them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was +fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the +Lord Jesus.) 17. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received +the Holy Ghost.'--ACTS viii. 1-17. + +The note of time in verse 1 is probably to be rendered as in the +Revised Version, 'on that day.' The appetite for blood roused by +Stephen's martyrdom at once sought for further victims. Thus far the +persecutors had been the rulers, and the persecuted the Church's +leaders; but now the populace are the hunters, and the whole Church the +prey. The change marks an epoch. Luke does not care to make much of the +persecution, which is important to him chiefly for its bearing on the +spread of the Church's message. It helped to diffuse the Gospel, and +that is why he tells of it. But before proceeding to narrate how it did +so, he gives us a picture of things as they stood at the beginning of +the assault. + +Three points are noted: the flight of the Church except the Apostles, +the funeral of Stephen, and Saul's eager search for the disciples. We +need not press 'all,' as if it were to be taken with mathematical +accuracy. Some others besides the Apostles may have remained, but the +community was broken up. They fled, as Christ had bid them do, if +persecuted in one city. Brave faithfulness goes with prudent +self-preservation, and a valuable 'part of valour is discretion.' But +the disciples who fled were not necessarily less courageous than the +Apostles who remained, nor were the latter less prudent than the +brethren who fled. For _noblesse oblige_; high position demands high +virtues, and the officers should be the last to leave a wreck. The +Apostles, no doubt, felt it right to hold together, and preserve a +centre to which the others might return when the storm had blown itself +out. + +In remarkable contrast with the scattering Church are the 'devout men' +who reverently buried the martyr. They were not disciples, but probably +Hellenistic Jews (Acts ii. 5); perhaps from the synagogue whose members +had disputed with Stephen and had dragged him to the council. His words +or death may have touched them, as many a time the martyr's fire has +lighted others to the martyr's faith. Stephen was like Jesus in his +burial by non-disciples, as he had been in his death. + +The eager zeal of the young Pharisee brought new severity into the +persecution, in his hunting out his victims in their homes, and in his +including women among his prisoners. There is nothing so cruel as +so-called religious zeal. So Luke lifts the curtain for a moment, and +in that glimpse of the whirling tumult of the city we see the three +classes, of the brave and prudent disciples, ready to flee or to stand +and suffer as duty called; the good men who shrunk from complicity with +a bloodthirsty mob, and were stirred to sympathy with his victims; and +the zealot, who with headlong rage hated his brother for the love of +God. But the curtain drops, and Luke turns to his true theme. He picks +up the threads again in verse 4, telling of the dispersal of the +disciples, with the significant addition of their occupation when +scattered,--'preaching the word.' + +The violent hand of the persecutor acted as the scattering hand of the +sower. It flung the seeds broadcast, and wherever they fell they +sprouted. These fugitives were not officials, nor were they +commissioned by the Apostles to preach. Without any special command or +position, they followed the instincts of believing hearts, and, as they +carried their faith with them, they spoke of it wherever they found +themselves. A Christian will be impelled to speak of Christ if his +personal hold of Him is vital. He should need no ecclesiastical +authorisation for that. It is riot every believer's duty to get into a +pulpit, but it _is_ his duty to 'preach Christ.' The scattering of the +disciples was meant by men to put out the fire, but, by Christ, to +spread it. A volcanic explosion flings burning matter over a wide area. + +Luke takes up one of the lines of expansion, in his narrative of +Philip's doings in Samaria, which he puts first because Jesus had +indicated Samaria first among the regions beyond Judaea (i. 8). +Philip's name comes second in the list of deacons (vi. 5), probably in +anticipation of his work in Samaria. How unlike the forecast by the +Apostles was the actual course of things! They had destined the seven +for purely 'secular' work, and regarded preaching the word as their own +special engagement. But Stephen saw and proclaimed more clearly than +they did the passing away of Temple and ritual; and Philip, on his own +initiative, and apparently quite unconscious of the great stride +forward that he was taking, was the first to carry the gospel torch +into the regions beyond. The Church made Philip a 'deacon,' but Christ +made him an 'evangelist'; and an evangelist he continued, long after he +had ceased to be a deacon in Jerusalem (xxi. 8). + +Observe, too, that, as soon as Stephen is taken away, Philip rises up +to take his place. The noble army of witnesses never wants recruits. +Its Captain sends men to the front in unbroken succession, and they are +willing to occupy posts of danger because He bids them. Probably Philip +fled to Samaria for convenience' sake, but, being there, he probably +recalled Christ's instructions in chapter i. 8, repealing His +prohibition in Matthew x. 5. What a different world it would be, if it +was true of Christians now that they 'went down into the city of +So-and-So and proclaimed Christ'! Many run to and fro, but some of them +leave their Christianity at home, or lock it up safely in their +travelling trunks. + +Jerusalem had just expelled the disciples, and would fain have crushed +the Gospel; despised Samaria received it with joy. 'A foolish nation' +was setting Israel an example (Deut. xxxii. 21; Rom. x. 19). The +Samaritan woman had a more spiritual conception of the Messiah than the +run of Jews had, and her countrymen seem to have been ready to receive +the word. Is not the faith of our mission converts often a rebuke to us? + +But the Gospel met new foes as well as new friends on the new soil. +Simon the sorcerer, probably a Jew or a Samaritan, would have been +impossible on Jewish ground, but was a characteristic product of that +age in the other parts of the Roman empire. Just as, to-day, people who +are weary of Christianity are playing with Buddhism, it was fashionable +in that day of unrest to trifle with Eastern magic-mongers; and, of +course, demand created supply, and where there was a crowd of willing +dupes, there soon came to be a crop of profit-seeking deceivers. Very +characteristically, the dupes claimed more for the deceiver than he did +for himself. He probably could perform some simple chemical experiments +and conjuring tricks, and had a store of what sounded to ignorant +people profound teaching about deep mysteries, and gave forth +enigmatical utterances about his own greatness. An accomplished +charlatan will leave much to be inferred from nods and hints, and his +admirers will generally spin even more out of them than he meant. So +the Samaritans bettered Simon's 'some great one' into 'that power of +God which is called great,' and saw in him some kind of emanation of +divinity. + +The quack is great till the true teacher comes, and then he dwindles. +Simon had a bitter pill to swallow when he saw this new man stealing +his audience, and doing things which he, with his sorceries, knew that +he only pretended to do. Luke points very clearly to the likeness and +difference between Simon and Philip by using the same word ('gave +heed') in regard to the Samaritan's attitude to both, while in +reference to Philip it was 'the things spoken by' him, and in reference +to Simon it was himself to which they attended. The one preached +Christ, the other himself; the one 'amazed' with 'sorceries,' the other +brought good tidings and hid himself, and his message called, not for +stupid, open-mouthed astonishment, but for belief and obedience to the +name of Jesus. The whole difference between the religion of Jesus and +the superstitions which the world calls religions, is involved in the +significant contrast, so inartificially drawn. + +'Simon also himself believed.' Probably there was in his action a good +deal of swimming with the stream, in the hope of being able to divert +it; but, also, he may have been all the more struck by Philip's +miracles, because he knew a real one, by reason of his experience of +sham ones. At any rate, neither Philip nor Luke drew a distinction +between his belief and that of the Samaritans; and, as in their cases, +his baptism followed on his profession of belief. But he seems not to +have got beyond the point of wondering at the miracles, as it is +emphatically said that he did even after his baptism. He believed that +Jesus was the Messiah, but was more interested in studying Philip to +find out how he did the miracles than in listening to his teaching. +Such an imperfect belief had no transforming power, and left him the +same man as before, as was soon miserably manifest. + +The news of Philip's great step forward reached the Apostles by some +unrecorded means. It is not stated that Philip reported his action, as +if to superiors whose authorisation was necessary. More probably the +information filtered through other channels. At all events, sending a +deputation was natural, and needs not to be regarded as either a sign +of suspicion or an act necessary in order to supplement imperfections +inherent in the fact that Philip was not an Apostle. The latter meaning +has been read--not to say forced--into the incident; but Luke's +language does not support it. It was not because they thought that the +Samaritans were not admissible to the full privileges of Christians +without Apostolic acts, but because they 'heard that Samaria had +received the word,' that the Apostles sent Peter and John. + +The Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Ghost--that is, the +special gifts, such as those of Pentecost. That fact proves that +baptism is not necessarily and inseparably connected with the gift of +the Spirit; and chapter x. 44, 47, proves that the Spirit may be given +before baptism. As little does this incident prove that the imposition +of Apostolic hands was necessary in order to the impartation of the +Spirit. Luke, at any rate, did not think so; for he tells how Ananias' +hand laid on the blind Saul conveyed the gift to him. The laying on of +hands is a natural, eloquent symbol, but it was no prerogative of the +Apostles (Acts x. 17; 1 Tim. iv. 14). + +The Apostles came down to Samaria to rejoice in the work which their +Lord had commanded, and which had been begun without their help, to +welcome the new brethren, to give them further instruction, and to knit +closely the bonds of unity between the new converts and the earlier +ones. But that they came to bestow spiritual gifts which, without them, +could not have been imparted, is imported into, not deduced from, the +simple narrative of Luke. + + + +SIMON THE SORCERER + +'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not +right in the sight of God.'--ACTS viii. 21. + +The era of the birth of Christianity was one of fermenting opinion and +decaying faith. Then, as now, men's minds were seething and unsettled, +and that unrest which is the precursor of great changes in intellectual +and spiritual habitudes affected the civilised world. Such a period is +ever one of predisposition to superstition. The one true bond which +unites God and man being obscured, and to the consciousness of many +snapped, men's minds become the prey of visionary terrors. Demand +creates supply, and the magician and miracle-worker, the possessor of +mysterious ways into the Unknown, is never far off at such a time. +Partly deceived and partly deceiving, he is as sure a sign of the lack +of profound religious conviction and of the presence of unsatisfied +religious aspirations in men's souls, as the stormy petrel or the +floating seaweed is of a tempest on the seas. + +So we find the early preachers of Christianity coming into frequent +contact with pretenders to magical powers. Sadly enough, they were +mostly Jews, who prostituted their clearer knowledge to personal ends, +and having tacked on to it some theosophic rubbish which they had +learned from Alexandria, or mysticism which had filtered to them from +the East, or magic arts from Phrygia, went forth, the only missionaries +that Judaism sent out, to bewilder and torture men's minds. What a fall +from Israel's destination, and what a lesson for the stewards of the +'oracles of God'! + +Of such a sort were Elymas, the sorcerer whom Paul found squatting at +the ear of the Roman Governor of Cyprus; the magicians at Ephesus; the +vagabond Jews exorcists, who with profitable eclecticism, as they +thought, tried to add the name of Jesus as one more spell to their +conjurations; and, finally, this Simon the sorcerer. Established in +Samaria, he had been juggling and conjuring and seeing visions, and +professing to be a great mysterious personality, and had more than +permitted the half-heathen Samaritans, who seem to have had more +religious susceptibility and less religious knowledge than the Jews, +and so were a prepared field for all such pretenders, to think of him +as in some sense an incarnation of God, and perhaps to set him up as a +rival or caricature of Him who in the neighbouring Judaea was being +spoken of as the power of God, God manifest in the flesh. + +To the city thus moved comes no Apostle, but a Christian man who begins +to preach, and by miracles and teaching draws many souls to Christ. + +The story of Simon Magus in his attitude to the Gospel is a very +striking and instructive one. It presents for our purpose now mainly +three points to which I proceed to refer. + +I. An instance of a wholly unreal, because inoperative, faith. + +'He believed,' says the narrative, and believing was baptized. It is +worth noting, in passing, how the profession of faith without anything +more was considered by the Early Church sufficient. But obviously his +was no true faith. The event showed that it was not. + +What was it which made his faith thus unreal? + +It rested wholly on the miracles and signs; he 'wondered' when he saw +them. Of course, miracles were meant to lead to faith; but if they did +not lead on to a deeper sense of one's own evil and need, and so to a +spiritual apprehension, then they were of no use. + +The very beginning of the story points to the one bond that unites to +God, as being the sense of need and the acceptance with heart and will +of the testimony of Jesus Christ. Such a disposition is shown in the +Samaritans, who make a contrast with Simon in that they believed Philip +_preaching_, while Simon believed him _working miracles_. The true +place of miracles is to attract attention, to prepare to listen to the +word. They are only introductory. A faith may be founded on them, but, +on the other hand, the impressions which they produce may be +evanescent. How subordinate then, their place at the most! And the one +thing which avails is a living contact of heart and soul with Jesus +Christ. + +Again, Simon's belief was purely an affair of the understanding. We are +not to suppose, I think, that he merely believed in Philip as a +miracle-worker; he must have had some notion about Philip's Master, and +we know that it was belief in Jesus as the Christ that qualified in the +Apostolic age for baptism. So it is reasonable to suppose that he had +so much of head knowledge. But it was only head knowledge. There was in +it no penitence, no self-abandonment, no fruit in holy desires; or in +other words, there was no heart. It was credence, but not trust. + +Now it does not matter how much or how little you know about Jesus +Christ. It does not matter how you have come to that knowledge. It does +not matter though you have received Christian ordinances as Simon had. +If your faith is not a living power, leading to love and +self-surrender, it is really nought. And here, on its earliest conflict +with heathen magic, the gospel proclaims by the mouth of the Apostle +what is true as to all formalists and nominal Christians: 'Thou hast +neither part nor lot in this matter, _for_ thy heart is not right.' One +thing only unites to God--a faith which cleanses the heart, a faith +which lays hold on Christ with will and conscience, a faith which, +resting on penitent acknowledgment of sin, trusts wholly to His great +mercy. + +II. An instance of the constant tendency to corrupt Christianity with +heathen superstition. + +The Apostles' bestowal of the Holy Ghost, which was evidently +accompanied by visible signs, had excited Simon's desire for so useful +an aid to his conjuring, and he offers to buy the power, judging of +them by himself, and betraying that what he was ready to buy he was +also intending to sell. + +The offer to buy has been taken as his great sin. Surely it was but the +outcome of a greater. It was not only what he offered, but what he +desired, that was wrong. He wanted that on 'whomsoever I lay hands, he +may receive the Holy Ghost.' That preposterous wish was quite as bad +as, and was the root of, his absurd offer to bribe Peter. Bribe Peter, +indeed! Some of Peter's successors would have been amenable to such +considerations, but not the horny-handed fisherman who had once said, +'Silver and gold have I none.' + +Peter's answer, especially the words of my text, puts the Christian +principle in sharp antagonism to the heathen one. + +Simon regards what is sacred and spiritual purely as part of his +stock-in-trade, contributing to his prestige. He offers to buy it. And +the foundation of all his errors is that he regards spiritual gifts as +capable of being received and exercised apart altogether from moral +qualifications. He does not think at all of what is involved in the +very name, 'the Holy Ghost.' + +Now, on the other hand, Peter's answer lays down broadly and sharply +the opposite truth, the Christian principle that a heart right in the +sight of God is the indispensable qualification for all possession of +spiritual power, or of any of the blessings which Jesus gives. + +How the heart is made right, and what constitutes righteousness is +another matter. That leads to the doctrine of repentance and faith. + +The one thing that makes such participation impossible is being and +continuing in 'the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity.' Or, +to put it into more modern words, all the blessings of the Gospel are a +gift of God, and are bestowed only on moral conditions. Faith which +leads to love and personal submission to the will of God makes a man a +Christian. Therefore, outward ordinances are only of use as they help a +man to that personal act. + +Therefore, no other man or body of men can do it for us, or come +between us and God. + +And in confirmation, notice how Peter here speaks of forgiveness. His +words do not sound as if he thought that he held the power of +absolution, but he tells Simon to go to God who alone can forgive, and +refers Simon's fate to God's mercy. + +These tendencies, which Simon expresses so baldly, are in us all, and +are continually reappearing. How far much of what calls itself +Christianity has drifted from Peter's principle laid down here, that +moral and spiritual qualifications are the only ones which avail for +securing 'part or lot in the matter' of Christ's gifts received for, +and bestowed on, men! How much which really rests on the opposite +principle, that these gifts can be imparted by men who are supposed to +possess them, apart altogether from the state of heart of the would-be +recipient, we see around us to-day! _Simony_ is said to be the securing +ecclesiastical promotion by purchase. But it is much rather the belief +that 'the gift of God can be purchased with' anything but personal +faith in Jesus, the Giver and the Gift. The effects of it are patent +among us. Ceremonies usurp the place of faith. A priesthood is exalted. +The universal Christian prerogative of individual access to God is +obscured. Christianity is turned into a kind of magic. + +III. An instance of the worthlessness of partial convictions. + +Simon was but slightly moved by Peter's stern rebuke. He paid no heed +to the exhortation to pray for forgiveness and to repent of his +wickedness, but still remained in substantially his old error, in that +he accredited Peter with power, and asked him to pray for him, as if +the Apostle's prayer would have some special access to God which his, +though he were penitent, could not have. Further, he showed no sense of +sin. All that he wished was that 'none of the things which ye have +spoken come upon me.' + +How useless are convictions which go no deeper down than Simon's did! + +What became of him we do not know. But there are old ecclesiastical +traditions about him which represent him as a bitter enemy in future of +the Apostle. And Josephus has a story of a Simon who played a degrading +part between Felix and Drusilla, and who is thought by some to have +been he. But in any case, we have no reason to believe that he ever +followed Peter's counsel or prayed to God for forgiveness. So he stands +for us as one more tragic example of a man, once 'not far from the +kingdom of God' and drifting ever further away from it, because, at the +fateful moment, he would not enter in. It is hard to bring such a man +as near again as he once was. Let us learn that the one key which opens +the treasury of God's blessings, stored for us all in Jesus, is our own +personal faith, and let us beware of shutting our ears and our hearts +against the merciful rebukes that convict us of 'this our wickedness,' +and point us to the 'Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the +world,' and therefore our sin. + + + +A MEETING IN THE DESERT + +'And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go +toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, +which is desert. 27. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of +Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the +Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to +Jerusalem for to worship, 28. Was returning, and sitting in his +chariot, read Esaias the prophet. 29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, +Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 80. And Philip ran thither +to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest +thou what thou readest? 31. And he said, How can I, except some man +should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit +with him. 32. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was +led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his +shearer, so opened He not His mouth: 33. In His humiliation His +judgment was taken away; and who shall declare His generation? for His +life is taken from the earth. 34. And the eunuch answered Philip, and +said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of +some other man? 35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same +scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36. And as they went on their +way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is +water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37. And Philip said, If thou +believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, +I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38. And he commanded the +chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both +Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39. And when they were come +up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that +the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. 40. But +Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through, he preached in all the +cities, till he came to Caesarea.'--ACTS viii. 26-40. + +Philip had no special divine command either to flee to, or to preach +in, Samaria, but 'an angel of the Lord' and afterwards 'the Spirit,' +directed him to the Ethiopian statesman. God rewards faithful work with +more work. Samaria was a borderland between Jew and Gentile, but in +preaching to the eunuch Philip was on entirely Gentile ground. So great +a step in advance needed clear command from God to impel to it and to +justify it. + +I. We have, then, first, the new commission. Philip might well wonder +why he should be taken away from successful work in a populous city, +and despatched to the lonely road to Gaza. But he obeyed at once. He +knew not for what he was sent there, but that ignorance did not trouble +or retard him. It should be enough for us to see the next step. 'We +walk by faith, not by sight,' for we none of us know what comes of our +actions, and we get light as we go. Do to-day's plain duty, and when +to-morrow is to-day its duty will be plain too. The river on which we +sail winds, and not till we round the nearest bend do we see the course +beyond. So we are kept in the peaceful posture of dependent obedience, +and need to hold our communications with God open, that we may be sure +of His guidance. + +No doubt, as Philip trudged along till he reached the Gaza road, he +would have many a thought as to what he was to find there, and, when he +came at last to the solitary track, would look eagerly over the +uninhabited land for an explanation of his strange and vague +instructions. But an obedient heart is not long left perplexed, and he +who looks for duty to disclose itself will see it in due time. + +II. So we have next the explanation of the errand. Luke's 'Behold!' +suggests the sudden sight of the great man's cortege in the distance. +No doubt, he travelled with a train of attendants, as became his +dignity, and would be conspicuous from afar. Philip, of course, did not +know who he was when he caught sight of him, but Luke tells his rank at +once, in order to lay stress on it, as well as to bring out the +significance of his occupation and subsequent conversion. Here was a +full-blooded Gentile, an eunuch, a courtier, who had been drawn to +Israel's God, and was studying Israel's prophets as he rode. Perhaps he +had chosen that road to Egypt for its quietness. At any rate, his +occupation revealed the bent of his mind. + +Philip felt that the mystery of his errand was solved now, and he +recognised the impulse to break through conventional barriers and +address the evidently dignified stranger, as the voice of God's Spirit, +and not his own. How he was sure of that we do not know, but the +distinction drawn between the former communication by an angel and this +from the Spirit points to a clear difference in his experiences, and to +careful discrimination in the narrator. The variation is not made at +random. Philip did not mistake a buzzing in his ears from the heating +of his own heart for a divine voice. We have here no hallucinations of +an enthusiast, but plain fact. + +How manifestly the meeting of these two, starting so far apart, and so +ignorant of each other and of the purpose of their being thrown +together, reveals the unseen hand that moved each on his own line, and +brought about the intersection of the two at that exact spot and hour! +How came it that at that moment the Ethiopian was reading, of all +places in his roll, the very words which make the kernel of the gospel +of the evangelical prophet? Surely such 'coincidences' are a hard nut +to crack for deniers of a Providence that shapes our ends! + +It is further to be noticed that the eunuch's conversion does not +appear to have been of importance for the expansion of the Church. It +exercised no recorded influence, and was apparently not communicated to +the Apostles, as, if it had been, it could scarcely have failed to have +been referred to when the analogous case of Cornelius was under +discussion. So, divine intervention and human journeying and work were +brought into play simply for the sake of one soul which God's eye saw +to be ripe for the Gospel. He cares for the individual, and one sheep +that can be reclaimed is precious enough in the Shepherd's estimate to +move His hand to action and His heart to love. Not because he was a man +of great authority at Candace's court, but because he was yearning for +light, and ready to follow it when it shone, did the eunuch meet Philip +on that quiet road. + +III. The two men being thus strangely brought together, we have next +the conversation for the sake of which they were brought together. The +eunuch was reading aloud, as people not very much used to books, or who +have some difficult passage in hand, often do. Philip must have been +struck with astonishment when he caught the, to him, familiar words, +and must have seen at once the open door for his preaching. His abrupt +question wastes no time with apologies or polite, gradual approaches to +his object. Probably the very absence of the signs of deference to +which he was accustomed impressed the eunuch with a dim sense of the +stranger's authority, which would be deepened by the home-thrust of his +question. + +The wistful answer not only shows no resentment at the brusque +stranger's thrusting himself in, but acknowledges bewilderment, and +responds to the undertone of proffered guidance in the question. A +teacher has often to teach a pupil his ignorance, to begin with; but it +should be so done as to create desire for instruction, and to kindle +confidence in him as instructor. It is insolent to ask, 'Understandest +thou?' unless the questioner is ready and able to help to understand. + +The invitation to a seat in the great man's chariot showed how +eagerness to learn had obliterated distinctions of rank, and swiftly +knit a new bond between these two, who had never heard of each other +five minutes before. A true heart will hail as its best and closest +friend him who leads it to know God's mind more clearly. How earthly +dignities dwindle when God's messenger lays hold of a soul! + +So the chariot rolls on, and through the silence of the desert the +voices of these two reach the wondering attendants, as they plod along. +The Ethiopian was reading the Septuagint translation of Isaiah, which, +though it missed part of the force of the original, brought clearly +before him the great figure of a Sufferer, meek and dumb, swept from +the earth by unjust judgment. He understood so much, but what he did +not understand was who this great, tragic Figure represented. His +question goes to the root of the matter, and is a burning question +to-day, as it was all these centuries ago on the road to Gaza. Philip +had no doubt of the answer. Jesus was the 'lamb dumb before its +shearers.' This is not the place to enter on such wide questions, but +we may at least affirm that, whatever advance modern schools have made +in the criticism and interpretation of the Old Testament, the very +spirit of the whole earlier Revelation is missed if Jesus is not +discerned as the Person to whom prophet and ritual pointed, in whom law +was fulfilled and history reached its goal. + +No doubt much instruction followed. How long they had rode together +before they came to 'a certain water' we know not, but it cannot have +been more than a few hours. Time is elastic, and when the soil is +prepared, and rain and sunlight are poured down, the seed springs up +quickly. People who deny the possibility of 'sudden conversions' are +blind to facts, because they wear the blinkers of a theory. Not always +have they who 'anon with joy receive' the word 'no root in themselves.' + +As is well known, the answer to the eunuch's question (v. 37) is +wanting in authoritative manuscripts. The insertion may have been due +to the creeping into the text of a marginal note. A recent and most +original commentator on the Acts (Blass) considers that this, like +other remarkable readings found in one set of manuscripts, was written +by Luke in a draft of the book, which he afterwards revised and +somewhat abbreviated into the form which most of the manuscripts +present. However that may be, the required conditions in the doubtful +verse are those which the practice of the rest of the Acts shows to +have been required. Faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God was the +qualification for the baptisms there recorded. + +And there was no other qualification. Philip asked nothing about the +eunuch's proselytism, or whether he had been circumcised or not. He did +not, like Peter with Cornelius, need the evidence of the gift of the +Spirit before he baptized; but, notwithstanding his experience of an +unworthy candidate in Simon the sorcerer, he unhesitatingly +administered baptism. There was no Church present to witness the rite. +We do not read that the Holy Ghost fell on the eunuch. + +That baptism in the quiet wady by the side of the solitary road, while +the swarthy attendants stood in wonder, was a mighty step in advance; +and it was taken, not by an Apostle, nor with ecclesiastical sanction, +but at the bidding of Christian instinct, which recognised a brother in +any man who had faith in Jesus, the Son of God. The new faith is +bursting old bonds. The universality of the Gospel is overflowing the +banks of Jewish narrowness. Probably Philip was quite unconscious of +the revolutionary nature of his act, but it was done, and in it was the +seed of many more. + +The eunuch had said that he could not understand unless some man guided +him. But when Philip is caught away, he does not bewail the loss of his +guide. He went on his road with joy, though his new faith might have +craved longer support from the crutch of a teacher, and fuller +enlightenment. What made him able to do without the guide that a few +hours before had been so indispensable? The presence in his heart of a +better one, even of Him whom Jesus promised, to guide His servants into +all truth. If those who believe that Scripture without an authorised +interpreter is insufficient to lead men aright, would consider the end +of this story, they might find that a man's dependence on outward +teachers ceases when he has God's Spirit to teach him, and that for +such a man the Word of God in his hand and the Spirit of God in his +spirit will give him light enough to walk by, so that, in the absence +of all outward instructors, he may still be filled with true wisdom, +and in absolute solitude may go 'on his way rejoicing.' + + + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST + +'But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all +the cities, till he came to Caesarea.'--ACTS viii. 40. + +The little that is known about Philip, the deacon and evangelist, may +very soon be told. His name suggests, though by no means conclusively, +that he was probably one of the so-called Hellenists, or foreign-born +and Greek-speaking Jews. This is made the more probable because he was +one of the seven selected by the Church, and after that selection +appointed by the Apostles, to dispense relief to the poor. The purpose +of the appointment being to conciliate the grumblers in the Hellenist +section of the Church, the persons chosen would probably belong to it. +He left Jerusalem during the persecution 'that arose after the death of +Stephen.' As we know, he was the first preacher of the Gospel in +Samaria; he was next the instrument honoured to carry the Word to the +first heathen ever gathered into the Church; and then, after a journey +along the sea-coast to Caesarea, the then seat of government, he +remained in that place in obscure toil for twenty years, dropped out of +the story, and we hear no more of him but for one glimpse of his home +in Caesarea. + +That is all that is told about him. And I think that if we note the +contrast of the office to which men called him, and the work to which +God set him; and the other still more striking contrast between the +brilliancy of the beginning of his course, and the obscurity of his +long years of work, we may get some lessons worth the learning. I take, +then, not only the words which I read for my text, but the whole of the +incidents connected with Philip, as our starting-point now; and I draw +from them two or three very well-worn, but none the less needful, +pieces of instruction. + +I. First, then, we may gather a thought as to Christ's sovereignty in +choosing His instruments. + +Did you ever notice that events exactly contradicted the intentions of +the Church and of the Apostles, in the selection of Philip and his six +brethren? The Apostles said, 'It is not reason that we should leave the +Word of God and serve tables. Pick out seven relieving-officers; men +who shall do the secular work of the Church, and look after the poor; +and we will give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.' +So said man. And what did facts say? That as to these twelve, who were +to 'give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word,' we never +hear that by far the larger proportion of them were honoured to do +anything worth mentioning for the spread of the Gospel. Their function +was to be 'witnesses,' and that was all. But, on the other hand, of the +men that were supposed to be fitted for secular work, two at all events +had more to do in the expansion of the Church, and in the development +of the universal aspects of Christ's Gospel, than the whole of the +original group of Apostles. So Christ picks His instruments. The +Apostles may say, 'These shall do so-and-so; and we will do so-and-so.' +Christ says, 'Stephen shall proclaim a wider Gospel than the Apostles +at first had caught sight of, and Philip shall be the first who will go +beyond the charmed circle of Judaism, and preach the Gospel.' + +It is always so. Christ chooses His instruments where He will; and it +is not the Apostle's business, nor the business of an ecclesiastic of +any sort, to settle his own work or anybody else's. The +Commander-in-Chief keeps the choosing of the men for special service in +His own hand. The Apostolic College said, 'Let them look after the +poor, and leave us to look after the ministry of the Word'; Christ +says, 'Go and join thyself to that chariot, and speak there the speech +that I shall bid thee.' + +Brethren, do you listen for that voice calling you to your tasks, and +never mind what men may be saying. Wait till _He_ bids, and you will +hear Him speaking to you if you will keep yourselves quiet. Wait till +He bids you, and then be sure that you do it. Christ chooses His +instruments, and chooses them often in strange places. + +II. The next lesson that I would take from this story is the +spontaneous speech of a believing heart. + +There came a persecution that scattered the Church. Men tried to fling +down the lamp; and all that they did was to spill the oil, and it ran +flaming wherever it flowed. For the scattered brethren, without any +Apostle with them, with no instruction given to them to do so, wherever +they went carried their faith with them; and, as a matter of course, +wherever they went they spoke their faith. And so we read that, not by +appointment, nor of set purpose, nor in consequence of any +ecclesiastical or official sanction, nor in consequence of any +supernatural and distinct commandment from heaven, but just because it +was the natural thing to do, and they could not help it, they went +everywhere, these scattered men of Cyprus and Cyrene, preaching the +word. + +And when this Philip, whom the officials had relegated to the secular +work of distributing charity, found himself in Samaria, he did the +like. The Samaritans were outcasts, and Peter and John had wanted to +bring down fire from heaven to consume them. But Philip could not help +speaking out the truth that was in his heart. + +So it always will be: we can all talk about what we are interested in. +The full heart cannot be condemned to silence. If there is no necessity +for speech felt by a professing Christian, that professing Christian's +faith is a very superficial thing. 'We cannot but speak the things that +we have seen and heard,' said one of the Apostles, thereby laying down +the great charter of freedom of speech for all profound convictions. +'Thy word was as a fire in my bones when I said, I will speak no more +in Thy name,' so petulant and self-willed was I, 'and I was weary with +forbearing,' and ashamed of my rash vow; 'and I could not stay.' + +Dear friends, do you carry with you the impulse for utterance of +Christ's name wherever you go? And is it so sweet in your hearts that +you cannot but let its sweetness have expression by your lips? Surely, +surely this spontaneous instinctive utterance of Philip, by which a +loving heart sought to relieve itself, puts to shame the 'dumb dogs' +that make up such an enormous proportion of professing Christians. And +surely such an experience as his may well throw a very sinister light +on the reality--nay! I will not say the _reality_, that would be too +uncharitable--but upon the depth and vitality of the profession of +Christianity which these silent ones make. + +III. Another lesson that seems to me strikingly illustrated by the +story with which we are concerned, is the guidance of a divine hand in +common life, and when there are no visible nor supernatural signs. + +Philip goes down to Samaria because he must, and speaks because he +cannot help it. He is next bidden to take a long journey, from the +centre of the land, away down to the southern desert; and at a certain +point there the Spirit says to him, 'Go! join thyself to this chariot.' +And when his work with the Ethiopian statesman is done, then he is +swept away by the power of the Spirit of God, as Ezekiel had been long +before by the banks of the river Chebar, and is set down, no doubt all +bewildered and breathless, at Azotus--the ancient Ashdod--the +Philistine city on the low-lying coast. Was Philip less under Christ's +guidance when miracle ceased and he was left to ordinary powers? Did he +feel as if deserted by Christ, because, instead of being swept by the +strong wind of heaven, he had to tramp wearily along the flat shore +with the flashing Mediterranean on his left hand reflecting the hot +sunshine? Did it seem to him as if his task in preaching the Gospel in +these villages through which he passed on his way to Caesarea was less +distinctly obedience to the divine command than when he heard the +utterance of the Spirit, 'Go down to the road which leads to Gaza, +which is desert'? By no means. To this man, as to every faithful soul, +the guidance that came through his own judgment and common sense, +through the instincts and impulses of his sanctified nature, by the +circumstances which he devoutly believed to be God's providence, was as +truly direct divine guidance as if all the angels of heaven had blown +commandment with their trumpets into his waiting and stunned ears. + +And so you and I have to go upon our paths without angel voices, or +chariots of storm, and to be contented with divine commandments less +audible or perceptible to our senses than this man had at one point in +his career. But if we are wise we shall hear Him speaking the word. We +shall not be left without His voice if we wait for it, stilling our own +inclinations until His solemn commandment is made plain to us, and then +stirring up our inclinations that they may sway us to swift obedience. +There is no gulf, for the devout heart, between what is called +miraculous and what is called ordinary and common. Equally in both does +God manifest His will to His servants, and equally in both is His +presence perceived by faith. We do not need to envy Philip's brilliant +beginning. Let us see that we imitate his quiet close of life. + +IV. The last lesson that I would draw is this--the nobility of +persistence in unnoticed work. + +What a contrast to the triumphs in Samaria, and the other great +expansion of the field for the Gospel effected by the God-commanded +preaching to the eunuch, is presented by the succeeding twenty years of +altogether unrecorded but faithful toil! Persistence in such unnoticed +work is made all the more difficult, and to any but a very true man +would have been all but impossible, by reason of the contrast which +such work offered to the glories of the earlier days. Some of us may +have been tried in a similar fashion, all of us have more or less the +same kind of difficulty to face. Some of us perhaps may have had +gleams, at the beginning of our career, that seemed to give hope of +fields of activity more brilliant and of work far better than we have +ever had or done again in the long weary toil of daily life. There may +have been abortive promises, at the commencement of your careers, that +seemed to say that you would occupy a more conspicuous position than +life has had really in reserve for you. At any rate, we have all had +our dreams, for + + 'If Nature put not forth her power + About the opening of the flower, + Who is there that could live an hour?' + +and no life is all that the liver of it meant it to be when he began. +We dream of building palaces or temples, and we have to content +ourselves if we can put up some little shed in which we may shelter. + +Philip, who began so conspicuously, and so suddenly ceased to be the +special instrument in the hands of the Spirit, kept plod, plod, +plodding on, with no bitterness of heart. For twenty years he had no +share in the development of Gentile Christianity, of which he had sowed +the first seed, but had to do much less conspicuous work. He toiled +away there in Caesarea patient, persevering, and contented, because he +loved the work, and he loved the work because he loved Him that had set +it. He seemed to be passed over by his Lord in His choice of +instruments. It was he who was selected to be the first man that should +preach to the heathen. But did you ever notice that although he was +probably in Caesarea at the time, Cornelius was not bid to apply to +_Philip_, who was at his elbow, but to send to Joppa for the Apostle +Peter? Philip might have sulked and said: 'Why was I not chosen to do +this work? I will speak no more in this Name.' + +It did not fall to his lot to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. One who +came after him was preferred before him, and the Hellenist Saul was set +to the task which might have seemed naturally to belong to the +Hellenist Philip. He too might have said, 'He must increase, but I must +decrease.' No doubt he did say it in spirit, with noble self-abnegation +and freedom from jealousy. He cordially welcomed Paul to his house in +Caesarea twenty years afterwards, and rejoiced that one sows and +another reaps; and that so the division of labour is the multiplication +of gladness. + +A beautiful superiority to all the low thoughts that are apt to mar our +persistency in unobtrusive and unrecognised work is set before us in +this story. There are many temptations to-day, dear brethren, what with +gossiping newspapers and other means of publicity for everything that +is done, for men to say, 'Well, if I cannot get any notice for my work +I shall not do it.' + +Boys in the street will refuse to join in games, saying, 'I shall not +play unless I am captain or have the big drum.' And there are not +wanting Christian men who lay down like conditions. 'Play well thy +part' wherever it is. Never mind the honour. Do the duty God appoints, +and He that has the two mites of the widow in His treasury will never +forget any of our works, and at the right time will tell them out +before His Father, and before the holy angels. + + + +GRACE TRIUMPHANT + +'And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the +disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2. And desired of him +letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this +way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them hound unto +Jerusalem. 3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly +there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4. And he fell to the +earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest +thou Me? 5. And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am +Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the +pricks. 6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou +have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, +and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 7. And the men which +journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no +man. 8. And Saul arose from the earth: and when his eyes were opened, +he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into +Damascus. 9. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat +nor drink. 10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named +Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, +Behold. I am here, Lord. 11. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go +into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of +Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for, behold, he prayeth, 12. And +hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his +hand on him, that he might receive his sight.... 17. And Ananias went +his way, and entered Into the house; and putting his hands on him said, +Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way +as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, +and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18. And immediately there fell from +his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and +arose, and was baptized. 19. And when he had received meat, he was +strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were +at Damascus. 20. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, +that He is the Son of God.'--ACTS ix. 1-12; 17-20. + +This chapter begins with 'but,' which contrasts Saul's persistent +hatred, which led him to Gentile lands to persecute, with Philip's +expansive evangelistic work. Both men were in profound earnest, both +went abroad to carry on their work, but the one sought to plant what +the other was eager to destroy. If the 'but' in verse 1 contrasts, the +'yet' connects the verse with chapter viii. 3. Saul's fury was no +passing outburst, but enduring. Like other indulged passions, it grew +with exercise, and had come to be as his very life-breath, and now +planned, not only imprisonment, but death, for the heretics. + +Not content with carrying his hateful inquisition into the homes of the +Christians in Jerusalem, he will follow the fugitives to Damascus. The +extension of the persectution was his own thought. He was not the tool +of the Sanhedrin, but their mover. They would probably have been +content to cleanse Jerusalem, but the young zealot would not rest till +he had followed the dispersed poison into every corner where it might +have trickled. The high priest would not discourage such useful zeal, +however he might smile at its excess. + +So Saul got the letters he asked, and some attendants, apparently, to +help him in his hunt, and set off for Damascus. Painters have imagined +him as riding thither, but more probably he and his people went on +foot. It was a journey of some five or six days. The noon of the last +day had come, and the groves of Damascus were, perhaps, in sight. No +doubt, the young Pharisee's head was busy settling what he was to begin +with when he entered the city, and was exulting in the thought of how +he would harry the meek Christians, when the sudden light shone. + +At all events, the narrative does not warrant the view, often taken +now, that there had been any preparatory process in Saul's mind, which +had begun to sap his confidence that Jesus was a blasphemer, and +himself a warrior for God. That view is largely adopted in order to get +rid of the supernatural, and to bolster up the assumption that there +are no sudden conversions; but the narrative of Luke, and Paul's own +references, are dead against it. At one moment he is 'yet breathing +threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,' and in +almost the next he is prone on his face, asking, 'Lord, what wilt Thou +have me to do?' It was not a case of a landslide suddenly sweeping +down, but long prepared for by the gradual percolation of water to the +slippery understrata, but the solid earth was shaken, and the mountain +crashed down in sudden ruin. + +The causes of Saul's conversion are plain in the narrative, even though +the shortened form is adopted, which is found in the Revised Version. +The received text has probably been filled out by additions from Paul's +own account in chapter xxvi. First came the blaze of light outshining +the midday sun, even in that land where its beams are like swords. That +blinding light 'shone round about him,' enveloping him in its glory. +Chapter xxvi. (verse 13) tells that his companions also were wrapped in +the lustre, and that all fell to the earth, no doubt in terror. + +Saul is not said, either in this or in his own accounts, to have seen +Jesus, but I Corinthians xv. 8 establishes that he did so, and Ananias +(v. 17) refers to Jesus as having 'appeared.' That appearance, whatever +may have been the psychological account of it, was by Paul regarded as +being equal in evidential value to the flesh-and-blood vision of the +risen Lord which the other Apostles witnessed to, and as placing him in +the same line as a witness. + +It is to be noted also, that, while the attendants saw the light, they +were not blinded, as Saul was; from which it may be inferred that he +saw with his bodily eyes the glorified manhood of Jesus, as we are told +that one day, when He returns as Judge, 'every eye shall see Him.' Be +that as it may,--and we have not material for constructing a theory of +the manner of Christ's appearance to Saul,--the overwhelming conviction +was flooded into his soul, that the Jesus whom he had thought of as a +blasphemer, falsely alleged to have risen from the dead, lived in +heavenly glory, amid celestial brightness too dazzling for human eyes. + +The words of gentle remonstrance issuing from the flashing glory went +still further to shake the foundations of the young Pharisee's life; +for they, as with one lightning gleam, laid hare the whole madness and +sin of the crusade which he had thought acceptable to God. 'Why +persecutest thou Me?' Then the odious heretics were knit by some +mysterious bond to this glorious One, so that He bled in their wounds +and felt their pains! Then Saul had been, as his old teacher dreaded +they of the Sanhedrin might be, fighting against God! How the reasons +for Saul's persecution had crumbled away, till there were none left +with which to answer Jesus' question! Jesus lived, and was exalted to +glory. He was identified with His servants. He had appeared to Saul, +and deigned to plead with him. + +No wonder that the man who had been planning fresh assaults on the +disciples ten minutes before, was crushed and abject as he lay there on +the road, and these tremendous new convictions rushed like a cataract +over and into his soul! No wonder that the lessons burned in on him in +that hour of destiny became the centre-point of all his future +teaching! That vision revolutionised his thinking and his life. None +can affirm that it was incompetent to do so. + +Luke's account here, like Paul's in chapter xxii., represents further +instructions from Jesus as postponed till Saul's meeting with Ananias, +while Paul's other account in chapter xxvi. omits mention of the +latter, and gives the substance of what he said in Damascus as said on +the road by Jesus. The one account is more detailed than the other, +that is all. The gradual unfolding of the heavenly purpose which our +narrative gives is in accord with the divine manner. For the moment +enough had been done to convert the persecutor into the servant, to +level with the ground his self-righteousness, to reveal to him the +glorified Jesus, to bend his will and make it submissive. The rest +would be told him in due time. + +The attendants had fallen to the ground like him, but seem to have +struggled to their feet again, while he lay prostrate. They saw the +brightness, but not the Person: they heard the voice, but not the +words. Saul staggered by their help to his feet, and then found that +with open eyes he was blind. Imagination or hallucination does not play +tricks of that sort with the organs of sense. + +The supernatural is too closely intertwined with the story to be taken +out of it without reducing it to tatters. The greatest of Christian +teachers, who has probably exercised more influence than any man who +ever lived, was made a Christian by a miracle. That fact is not to be +got rid of. But we must remember that once when He speaks of it He +points to God's revelation of His Son '_in_ Him' as its essential +character. The external appearance was the vehicle of the inward +revelation. It is to be remembered, too, that the miracle did not take +away Saul's power of accepting or rejecting the Christ; for he tells +Agrippa that he was 'not disobedient to the heavenly vision.' + +What a different entry he made into Damascus from what he expected, and +what a different man it was that crawled up to the door of Judas, in +the street that is called Straight, from the self-confident young +fanatic who had left Jerusalem with the high priest's letters in his +bosom and fierce hate in his heart! + +Ananias was probably not one of the fugitives, as his language about +Saul implies that he knew of his doings only by hearsay. The report of +Saul's coming and authority to arrest disciples had reached Damascus +before him, with the wonderful quickness with which news travels in the +East, nobody knows how. Ananias's fears being quieted, he went to the +house where for three days Saul had been lying lonely in the dark, +fasting, and revolving many things in his heart. No doubt his Lord had +spoken many a word to him, though not by vision, but by whispering to +his spirit. Silence and solitude root truth in a soul. After such a +shock, absolute seclusion was best. + +Ananias discharged his commission with lovely tenderness and power. How +sweet and strange to speaker and hearer would that 'Brother Saul' +sound! How strong and grateful a confirmation of his vision would +Ananias's reference to the appearance of the Lord bring! How humbly +would the proud Pharisee bow to receive, laid on his head, the hands +that he had thought to bind with chains! What new eyes would look out +on a world in which all things had become new, when there fell from +them as it had been scales, and as quickly as had come the blinding, so +quickly came the restored vision! + +Ananias was neither Apostle nor official, yet the laying on of his +hands communicated 'the Holy Ghost.' Saul received that gift before +baptism, not after or through the ordinance. It was important for his +future relations to the Apostles that he should not have been +introduced to the Church by them, or owed to them his first human +Christian teaching. Therefore he could say that he was 'an Apostle, not +from men, neither through man.' It was important for us that in that +great instance that divine gift should have been bestowed without the +conditions accompanying, which have too often been regarded as +necessary for, its possession. + + + +'THIS WAY' + +'Any of this way.'--ACTS ix. 2 + +The name of 'Christian' was not applied to themselves by the followers +of Jesus before the completion of the New Testament. There were other +names in currency before that designation--which owed its origin to the +scoffing wits of Antioch--was accepted by the Church. They called +themselves 'disciples,' 'believers, 'saints,' 'brethren,' as if feeling +about for a title. + +Here is a name that had obtained currency for a while, and was +afterwards disused. We find it five times in the Book of the Acts of +the Apostles, never elsewhere; and always, with one exception, it +should be rendered, as it is in the Revised Version, not '_this_ way,' +as if being one amongst many, but '_the_ way,' as being the only one. + +Now, I have thought that this designation of Christians as 'those of +the way' rests upon a very profound and important view of what +Christianity is, and may teach us some lessons if we will ponder it; +and I ask your attention to two or three of these for a few moments now. + +I. First, then, I take this name as being a witness to the conviction +that in Christianity we have the only road to God. + +There may be some reference in the name to the remarkable words of our +Lord Jesus Christ: 'I am the Way. No man cometh to the Father but by +Me,'--words of which the audacity is unparalleled and unpardonable, +except upon the supposition that He bears an unique relation to God on +the one hand, and to all mankind upon the other. In them He claims to +be the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth, God and +man. And that same exclusiveness is reflected in this name for +Christians. It asserts that faith in Jesus Christ, the acceptance of +His teaching, mediation and guidance, is the only path that climbs to +God, and by it alone do we come into knowledge of, and communion with, +our divine Father. + +I do not dwell upon the fact that, according to our Lord's own +teaching, and according to the whole New Testament, Christ's work of +making God known to man did not begin with His Incarnation and earthly +life, but that from the beginning that eternal Word was the agent of +all divine activity in creation, and in the illumination of mankind. So +that, not only all the acts of the self-revealing God were through Him, +but that from Him, as from the light of men, came all the light in +human hearts, of reason and of conscience, by which there were and are +in all men, some dim knowledge of God, and some feeling after, or at +the lowest some consciousness of, Him. But the historical facts of +Christ's incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension are the +source of all solid certitude, and of all clear knowledge of our Father +in Heaven. His words are spirit and life; His works are unspoken words; +and by both He declares unto His brethren the Name, and is the +self-manifestation of, the Father. + +Think of the contrast presented by the world's conceptions of Godhead, +and the reality as unveiled in Christ! On the one hand you have gods +lustful, selfish, passionate, capricious, cruel, angry, vile; or gods +remote, indifferent, not only passionless, but heartless, inexorable, +unapproachable, whom no man can know, whom no man can love, whom no man +can trust. On the other hand, if you look at Christ's tears as the +revelation of God; if you look at Christ's ruth and pity as the +manifestation of the inmost glory of the divine nature; if you take +your stand at the foot of the Cross--a strange place to see 'the power +of God and the wisdom of God'!--and look up there at Him dying for the +world, and are able to say, 'Lo! this is our God! through all the weary +centuries we have waited for Him, and this is He!' then you can +understand how true it is that there, and there only, is the good news +proclaimed that lifts the burden from every heart, and reveals God the +Lover and the Friend of every soul. + +And if, further, we consider the difference between the dim +'peradventures,' the doubts and fears, the uncertain conclusions drawn +from questionable, and often partial, premises, which confessedly never +amount to demonstration, if we consider the contrast between these and +the daylight of fact which we meet in Jesus Christ, His love, life, and +death, then we can feel how superior in certitude, as in substance, the +revelation of God in Jesus is to all these hopes, longings, doubts, and +how it alone is worthy to be called the knowledge of God, or is solid +enough to abide comparison with the certainties of the most arrogant +physical science. + +There never was a time in the history of the world when, so clearly and +unmistakably, every thinking soul amongst cultivated nations was being +brought up to this alternative--Christ, the Revealer of God, or no +knowledge of God at all. The old dreams of heathenism are impossible +for us; modern agnosticism will make very quick work of a deism which +does not cling to the Christ as the Revealer of the Godhead. And I, for +my part, believe that there is one thing, and one thing only, which +will save modern Europe from absolute godlessness, and that is the +coming back to the old truth, 'No man hath seen God' by sense, or +intuition, or reason, or conscience, 'at any time. The only begotten +Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.' + +But it is not merely as bringing to us the only certain knowledge of +our Father God that Christianity is 'the way,' but it is also because +by it alone we come into fellowship with the God whom it reveals to us. +If there rises up before your mind the thought of Him in the Heavens, +there will rise up also in your consciousness the sense of your own +sin. And that is no delusion nor fancy; it is the most patent fact, +that between you and your Father in Heaven, howsoever loving, tender, +compassionate, and forgiving, there lies a great gulf. You cannot go to +God, my brother, with all that guilt heaped upon your conscience; you +cannot come near to Him with all that mass of evil which you know is +there, working in your soul. How shall a sinful soul come to a holy +God? And there is only one answer--that great Lord, by His blessed +death upon the Cross, has cleared away all the mountains of guilt and +sin that rise up frowning between each single soul and the Father in +Heaven; and through Him, by a new and living way, which He hath opened +for us, we have entrance to God, and dwell with Him. + +And it is not only that He brings to us the knowledge of God, and that +He clears away all obstacles, and makes fellowship between God and us +possible for the most polluted and sinful of spirits, but it is also +that, by the knowledge of His great love to us, love is kindled in our +hearts, and we are drawn into that path which, as a matter of fact, we +shall not tread unless we yield to the magnetic attraction of the love +of God as revealed 'in the face of Jesus Christ.' + +Men do not seek fellowship with God until they are drawn to Him by the +love that is revealed upon the Cross. Men do not yield their hearts to +Him until their hearts are melted down by the fire of that Infinite +divine love which disdained not to be humiliated and refused not to die +for their sakes. Practically and really we come to God, when--and I +venture upon the narrowness of saying, _only_ when--God has come to us +in His dear Son. '_The_ way' to God is through Christ. Have you trod +it, my friend--that new and living way, which leads within the veil, +into the secrets of loving communion with your Father in Heaven? + +II. Then there is another principle, of which this designation of our +text is also the witness, viz., that in Christianity we have the path +of conduct and practical life traced out for us all. + +The 'way of a man' is, of course, a metaphor for his outward life and +conduct. It is connected with the familiar old image which belongs to +the poetry of all languages, by which life is looked at as a journey. +That metaphor speaks to us of the continual changefulness of our mortal +condition; it speaks to us, also, of the effort and the weariness which +often attend it. It proclaims also the solemn thought that a man's life +is a unity, and that, progressive, it goes some whither, and arrives at +a definite goal. + +And that idea is taken up in this phrase, '_the_ way,' in such a +fashion as that there are two things asserted: first, that Christianity +provides _a_ way, a path for the practical activity, that it moulds our +life into a unity, that it prescribes the line of direction which it is +to follow, that it has a starting-point, and stages, and an end; also, +that Christianity is _the_ way for practical life, the only path and +mode of conduct which corresponds with all the obligations and nature +of a man, and which reason, conscience, and experience will approve. +Let us look, just for a moment or two, at these two thoughts: +Christianity is _a_ way; Christianity is _the_ way. + +It is a way. These early disciples must have grasped with great +clearness and tenacity the practical side of the Gospel, or they would +never have adopted this name. If they had thought of it as being only a +creed, they would not have done so. + +And it is not only a creed. All creed is meant to influence conduct. If +I may so say, _credenda_, 'things to be believed,' are meant to +underlie the _agenda_, the things to be done. Every doctrine of the New +Testament, like the great blocks of concrete that are dropped into a +river in order to lay the foundation of a bridge, or the embankment +that is run across a valley in order to carry a railway upon it,--every +doctrine of the New Testament is meant to influence the conduct, the +'walk and conversation,' and to provide a path on which activity may +advance and expatiate. + +I cannot, of course, dwell upon this point with sufficient elaboration, +or take up one after another the teachings of the New Testament, in +order to show how close is their bearing upon practical life. There is +plenty of abstract theology in the form of theological systems, +skeletons all dried up that have no life in them. There is nothing of +that sort in the principles as they lie on the pages of the New +Testament. There they are all throbbing with life, and all meant to +influence life and conduct. + +Remember, my friend, that unless your Christianity is doing that for +you, unless it has prescribed a path of life for you, and moulded your +steps into a great unity, and drawn you along the road, it is +nought,--nought! + +But the whole matter may be put into half a dozen sentences. The living +heart of Christianity, either considered as a revelation to a man, or +as a power within a man, that is to say, either objective or +subjective, is love. It is the revelation of the love of God that is +the inmost essence of it as revelation. It is love in my heart that is +the inmost essence of it as a fact of my nature. And is not love the +most powerful of all forces to influence conduct? Is it not 'the +fulfilling of the law,' because its one single self includes all +commandments, and is the ideal of all duty, and also because it is the +power which will secure the keeping of all the law which itself lays +down? + +But love may be followed out into its two main effects. These are +self-surrender and imitation. And I say that a religious system which +is, in its inmost heart and essence, love, is thereby shown to be the +most practical of all systems, because thereby it is shown to be a +great system of self-surrender and imitation. + +The deepest word of the Gospel is, 'Yield yourselves to God.' Bring +your wills and bow them before Him, and say, 'Here am I; take me, and +use me as a pawn on Thy great chessboard, to be put where Thou wilt.' +When once a man's will is absorbed into the divine will, as a drop of +water is into the ocean, he is free, and has happiness and peace, and +is master and lord of himself and of the universe. That system which +proclaims love as its heart sets in action self-surrender as the most +practical of all the powers of life. + +Love is imitation. And Jesus Christ's life is set before us as the +pattern for all our conduct. We are to follow In His footsteps. These +mark our path. We are to follow Him, as a traveller who knows not his +way will carefully tread in the steps of his guide. We are to imitate +Him, as a scholar who is learning to draw will copy every touch of the +master's pencil. + +Strange that that short life, fragmentarily reported in four little +tracts, full of unapproachable peculiarities, and having no part in +many of the relationships which make so large a portion of most lives, +is yet so transparently under the influence of the purest and broadest +principles of righteousness and morality as that every age and each +sex, and men of all professions, idiosyncrasies, temperaments, and +positions, all stages of civilisation and culture, of every period, and +of every country, may find in it the all-sufficient pattern for them! + +Thus in Christianity we have a way. It prescribes a line of direction +for the life, and brings all its power to bear in marking the course +which we should pursue and in making us willing and able to pursue it. + +How different, how superior to all other systems which aspire to +regulate the outward life that system is! It is superior, in its +applicability to all conditions. It is a very difficult thing for any +man to apply the generalities of moral law and righteousness to the +individual cases in his life. The stars are very bright, but they do +not show me which street to turn up when I am at a loss; but Christ's +example comes very near to us, and guides us, not indeed in regard to +questions of prudence or expediency, but in regard to all questions of +right or wrong. It is superior, in the help it gives to a soul +struggling with temptation. It is very hard to keep law or duty clearly +before our eyes at such a moment, when it is most needful to do so. The +lighthouse is lost in the fog, but the example of Jesus Christ +dissipates many mists of temptation to the heart that loves Him; and +'they that follow Him shall not walk in darkness.' + +It is superior in this, further, that patterns fail because they are +only patterns, and cannot get themselves executed, and laws fail +because they are only laws and cannot get themselves obeyed. What is +the use of a signpost to a man who is lame, or who does not want to go +down the road, though he knows it well enough? But Christianity brings +both the commandment and the motive that keeps the commandment. + +And so it is _the_ path along which we can travel. It is the only road +that corresponds to all our necessities, and capacities, and +obligations. + +It is the only path, my brother, that will be approved by reason, +conscience, and experience. The greatest of our English mystics says +somewhere--I do not profess to quote with verbal accuracy--'There are +two questions which put an end to all the vain projects and designs of +human life. The one is, "What for?" the other, "What good will the aim +do you if attained?"' + +If we look at 'all the ways of men' calmly, and with due regard to the +wants of their souls, reason cannot but say that they are 'vain and +melancholy.' If we consult our own experience we cannot but confess +that whatsoever we have had or enjoyed, apart from God, has either +proved disappointing in the very moment of its possession, or has been +followed by a bitter taste on the tongue; or in a little while has +faded, and left us standing with the stalk in our hands from which the +bloom has dropped. Generation after generation has sighed its 'Amen!' +to the stern old word: 'Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!' And here +to-day, in the midst of the boasted progress of this generation, we +find cultured men amongst us, lapped in material comfort, and with all +the light of this century blazing upon them, preaching again the old +Buddhist doctrine that annihilation is the only heaven, and proclaiming +that life is not worth living, and that 'it were better not to be.' + +Dear brother, one path, and one path only, leads to what all men +desire--peace and happiness. One path, and one path only, leads to what +all men know they ought to seek--purity and godliness. We are like men +in the backwoods, our paths go circling round and round, we have lost +our way. 'The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, for he +knoweth not how to come to the city.' Jesus Christ has cut a path +through the forest. Tread you in it, and you will find that it is 'the +way of pleasantness' and 'the path of peace.' + +III. And now, one last word. This remarkable designation seems to me to +be a witness also to another truth, viz. that in Christianity we have +the only way home. + +The only way home! All other modes and courses of life and conduct stop +at the edge of a great gulf, like some path that goes down an incline +to the edge of a precipice, and the heedless traveller that has been +going on, not knowing whither it led, tilts over when he comes there. +Every other way that men can follow is broken short off by death. And +if there were no other reason to allege, that is enough to condemn +them. What is a man to do in another world if all his life long he has +only cultivated tastes which want this world for their gratification? +What is the sensualist to do when he gets there? What is the shrewd man +of business in Manchester to do when he comes into a world where there +are no bargains, and he cannot go on 'Change on Tuesdays and Fridays? +What will he do with himself? What does he do with himself now, when he +goes away from home for a month, and does not get his ordinary work and +surroundings? What will he do then? What will a young lady do in an +other world, who spends her days here in reading trashy novels and +magazines? What will any of us do who have set our affections and our +tastes upon this poor, perishing, miserable world? Would you think it +was common sense in a young man who was going to be a doctor, and took +no interest in anything but farming? Is it not as stupid a thing for +men and women to train themselves for a condition which is transient, +and not to train themselves for the condition into which they are +certainly going? + +And, on the other hand, the path that Christ makes runs clear on, +without a break, across the gulf, like some daring railway bridge +thrown across a mountain gorge, and goes straight on on the other side +without a curve, only with an upward gradient. The manner of work may +change; the spirit of the work and the principles of it will remain. +Self-surrender will be the law of Heaven, and 'they shall follow the +Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' Better to begin here as we mean to end +yonder! Better to begin here what we can carry with us, in essence +though not in form, into the other life; and so, through all the +changes of life, and through the great change of death, to keep one +unbroken straight course! 'They go from strength to strength; every one +of them in Zion appeareth before God'. + +We live in an else trackless waste, but across the desert Jesus Christ +has thrown a way; too high for ravenous beasts to spring on or raging +foes to storm; too firm for tempest to overthrow or make impair able; +too plain for simple hearts to mistake. We may all journey on it, if we +will, and 'come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon our heads.' + +Christ is the Way. O brother I trust thy sinful soul to His blood and +mediation, and thy sins will be forgiven. And then, loving Him, follow +Him. 'This is the way; walk ye in it.' + + + +A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE EARLY CHURCH + +'So the Church throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, +being edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort +of the Holy Ghost, was multiplied.'--ACTS ix. 31 (R.V.). + +A man climbing a hill stops every now and then to take breath and look +about him; and in the earlier part of this Book of the Acts of the +Apostles there are a number of such landing-places where the writer +suspends the course of his narrative, in order to give a general notion +of the condition of the Church at the moment. We have in this verse one +of the shortest, but perhaps the most significant, of these +resting-places. The original and proper reading, instead of 'the +Churches,' as our Version has it, reads 'the Church' as a whole--the +whole body of believers in the three districts named--Judaea, Galilee, +and Samaria--being in the same circumstances and passing through like +experiences. The several small communities of disciples formed a whole. +They were 'churches' individually; they were collectively 'the Church.' +Christ's order of expansion, given in chapter i., had been thus far +followed, and the sequence here sums up the progress which the Acts has +thus far recorded. Galilee had been the cradle of the Church, but the +onward march of the Gospel had begun at Jerusalem. Before Luke goes on +to tell how the last part of our Lord's programme--'to the uttermost +parts of the earth'--began to be carried into execution by the +conversion of Cornelius, he gives us this bird's-eye view. To its +significant items I desire to draw your attention now. + +There are three of them: outward rest, inward progress, outward +increase. + +I. Outward rest. + +'Then had the Church rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and +Samaria.' + +The principal persecutor had just been converted, and that would +somewhat damp the zeal of his followers. Saul having gone over to the +enemy, it would be difficult to go on harrying the Church with the same +spirit, when the chief actor was turned traitor. And besides that, +historians tell us that there were political complications which gave +both Romans and Jews quite enough to do to watch one another, instead +of persecuting this little community of Christians. I have nothing to +do with these, but this one point I desire to make, that the condition +of security and tranquillity in which the Church found itself conduced +to spiritual good and growth. This has not always been the case. As one +of our quaint divines says, 'as in cities where ground is scarce men +build high up, so in times of straitness and persecution the Christian +community, and the individuals who compose it, are often raised to a +higher level of devotion than in easier and quieter times.' But these +primitive Christians utilised this breathing-space in order to grow, +and having a moment of lull and stillness in the storm, turned it to +the highest and best uses. Is that what you and I do with our quiet +times? None of us have any occasion to fear persecution or annoyance of +that sort, but there are other thorns in our pillows besides these, and +other rough places in our beds, and we are often disturbed in our +nests. When there does come a quiet time in which no outward +circumstances fret us, do we seize it as coming from God, in order +that, with undistracted energies, we may cast ourselves altogether into +the work of growing like our Master and doing His will more fully? How +many of us, dear brethren, have misused both our adversity and our +prosperity by making the one an occasion for deeper worldliness, and +the other a reason for forgetting Him in the darkness as in the light? +To be absorbed by earthly things, whether by the enjoyment of their +possession or by the bitter pain and misery of their withdrawal, is +fatal to all our spiritual progress, and only they use things +prosperous and things adverse aright, who take them both as means by +which they may be wafted nearer to their God. Whatsoever forces act +upon us, if we put the helm right and trim the sails as we ought, they +will carry us to our haven. And whatsoever forces act upon us, if we +neglect the sailor's skill and duty, we shall be washed backwards and +forwards in the trough of the sea, and make no progress in the voyage. +'Then had the Church rest'--and grew lazy? 'Then had the Church +rest'--and grew worldly? Then was I happy and prosperous and peaceful +in my home and in my business, and I said, 'I shall never be moved,' +and I forgot my God? 'Then had the Church rest, and was edified.' + +Now, in the next place, note the + +II. Inward progress. + +There are difficulties about the exact relation of the clauses here to +one another, the discussion of which would be fitter for a lecture-room +than for a pulpit. I do not mean to trouble you with these, but it +seems to me that we may perhaps best understand the writer's intention +if we throw together the clauses which stand in the middle of this +verse, and take them as being a description of the inward progress, +being 'edified' and 'walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the +comfort of the Holy Ghost.' There are two things, then--the being +'edified' and 'walking'; and I wish to say a word or two about each of +them. + +Now that word 'edified' and the cognate one 'edification' have been +enfeebled in signification so as to mean very much less than they did +to Luke. When we speak of 'being edified,' what do we mean? Little more +than that we have been instructed, and especially that we have been +comforted. And what is the instrument of edification in our ordinary +religious parlance? Good words, wise teaching, or pious speech. But the +New Testament means vastly more than this by the word, and looks not so +much to other people's utterances as to a man's own strenuous efforts, +as the means of edification. Much misunderstanding would have been +avoided if our translators had really translated, instead of putting us +off with a Latinised word which to many readers conveys little meaning +and none of the significant metaphor of the original. 'Being edified' +sounds very theological and far away from daily life. Would it not +sound more real if we read 'being built up'? That is the emblem of the +process that ought to go on, not only in the Christian community as a +whole, but in every individual member of it. Each Christian is bound to +build himself up and to help to build up other Christians; and God +builds them all up by His Spirit. We have brought before us the picture +of the rising of some stately fabric upon a firm foundation, course by +course, stone by stone, each laid by a separate act of the builder's +hand, and carefully bedded in its place until the whole is complete. + +That is one emblem of the growth of the Christian community and of the +Christian individual, and the other clause that is coupled with it in +the text seems to me to give the same idea under a slightly different +figure. The rising of a stately building and the advance on a given +path suggest substantially the same notion of progress. + +And of these two metaphors, I would dwell chiefly on the former, +because it is the less familiar of the two to modern readers, and +because it is of some consequence to restore it to its weight and true +significance in the popular mind. Edification, then, is the building up +of Christian character, and it involves four things: a foundation, a +continuous progress, a patient, persistent effort, and a completion. + +Now, Christian men and women, this is our office for ourselves, and, +according to our faculty and opportunities, for the Churches with which +we may stand connected, that on the foundation which is Jesus +Christ--'and other foundation can no man lay'--we all should slowly, +carefully, unceasingly be at our building work; each day's attainment, +like the course of stones laid in some great temple, becoming the basis +upon which to-morrow's work is to be piled, and each having in it the +toil of the builder and being a result and monument of his strenuous +effort, and each being built in, according to the plan that the great +Architect has given, and each tending a little nearer to the roof-tree, +and the time that 'the top stone shall be brought forth with the shout +of rejoicing.' Is that a transcript of my life and yours? Do we make a +business of the cultivation of Christian character thus? Do we rest the +whole structure of our lives upon Jesus Christ? And then, do we, hour +by hour, moment by moment, lay the fair stones, until + + 'Firm and fair the building rise, + A temple to His praise.' + +The old worn metaphor, which we have vulgarised and degraded into a +synonym for a comfortable condition produced by a brother's words, +carries in it the solemnest teaching as to what the duty and privilege +of all Christian souls is-to 'build themselves up for an habitation of +God through the Spirit.' + +But note further the elements of which this progress consists. May we +not suppose that both metaphors refer to the clauses that follow, and +that 'the fear of the Lord' and 'the comfort of the Holy Ghost' are the +particulars in which the Christian is built up and walks? + +'The fear of the Lord' is eminently an Old Testament expression, and +occurs only once or twice in the New. But its meaning is thoroughly in +accordance with the loftiest teaching of the new revelation. 'The fear +of the Lord' is that reverential awe of Him, by which we are ever +conscious of His presence with us, and ever seek, as our supreme aim +and end, to submit our wills to His commandment, and to do the things +that are pleasing in His sight. Are you and I building ourselves up in +that? Do we feel more thrillingly and gladly to-day than we did +yesterday, that God is beside us? And do we submit ourselves more +loyally, more easily, more joyously to His will, in blessed obedience, +now than ever before? Have we learned, and are we learning, moment by +moment, more of that 'secret of the Lord' which 'is with them that fear +Him,' and of that 'covenant' which 'He will show' to them? Unless we +do, our growth in Christian character is a very doubtful thing. And are +we advancing, too, in that other element which so beautifully completes +and softens the notion of the fear of the Lord, 'the encouragement' +which the divine Spirit gives us? Are we bolder to-day than we were +yesterday? Are we ready to meet with more undaunted confidence whatever +we may have to face? Do we feel ever increasing within us the full +blessedness and inspiration of that divine visitant? And do these sweet +communications take all the 'torment' away from 'fear,' and leave only +the bliss of reverential love? They who walk in the fear of the Lord, +and who with the fear have the courage that the divine Spirit gives, +will 'have rest,' like the first Christians, whatsoever storms may howl +around them, and whatsoever enemies may threaten to disturb their peace. + +And so, lastly, note + +III. The outward growth. + +Thus building themselves up, and thus growing, the Church 'was +multiplied.' Of course it was. Christian men and women that are +spiritually alive, and who, because they are alive, grow, and grow in +these things, the manifest reverence of God, and the manifest 'comfort' +of the divine Spirit's giving, will commend their gospel to a blind +world. They will be an attractive force in the midst of men, and their +inward growth will make them eager to hold forth the word of life, and +will give them 'a mouth and wisdom' which nothing but genuine spiritual +experience can give. + +And so, dear friends, especially those of you who set yourselves to any +of the many forms of Christian work which prevail in this day, learn +the lesson of my text, and make sure of '_a_' before you go on to +'_b_,' and see to it that before you set yourselves to try to multiply +the Church, you set yourselves to build up yourselves in your most holy +faith. + +We hear a great deal nowadays about 'forward movements,' and I +sympathise with all that is said in favour of them. But I would remind +you that the precursor of every genuine forward movement is a Godward +movement, and that it is worse than useless to talk about lengthening +the cords unless you begin with strengthening the stakes. The little +prop that holds up the bell-tent that will contain half-a-dozen +soldiers will be all too weak for the great one that will cover a +company. And the fault of some Christian people is that they set +themselves to work upon others without remembering that the first +requisite is a deepened and growing godliness and devotion in their own +souls. Dear friends, begin at home, and remember that whilst what the +world calls eloquence may draw people, and oddities _will_ draw them, +and all sorts of lower attractions will gather multitudes for a little +while, the one solid power which Christian men and women can exercise +for the numerical increase of the Church is rooted in, and only tenable +through, their own personal increase day by day in consecration and +likeness to the Saviour, in possession of the Spirit, and in loving +fear of the Lord. + + + +COPIES OF CHRIST'S MANNER + +'And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: +arise, and make thy bed.... 40. But Peter put them all forth, and +kneeled down and prayed; and, turning him to the body, said, Tabitha, +arise.--ACTS ix. 34, 40. + +I have put these two miracles together, not only because they were +closely connected in time and place, but because they have a very +remarkable and instructive feature in common. They are both evidently +moulded upon Christ's miracles; are distinct imitations of what Peter +had seen Him do. And their likenesses to and differences from our +Lord's manner of working are equally noteworthy. It is to the lessons +from these two aspects, common to both miracles, that I desire to turn +now. + +I. First, notice the similarities and the lesson which they teach. + +The two cases before us are alike, in that both of them find parallels +in our Lord's miracles. The one is the cure of a paralytic, which pairs +off with the well-known story in the Gospels concerning the man that +was borne by four, and let down through the roof into Christ's +presence. The other of them, the raising of Dorcas, or Tabitha, of +course corresponds with the three resurrections of dead people which +are recorded in the Gospels. + +And now, note the likenesses. Jesus Christ said to the paralysed man, +'Arise, take up thy bed.' Peter says to Aeneas, 'Arise, and make thy +bed.' The one command was appropriate to the circumstances of a man who +was not in his own house, and whose control over his long-disused +muscles in obeying Christ's word was a confirmation to himself of the +reality and completeness of his cure. The other was appropriate to a +man bedridden in his own house; and it had precisely the same purpose +as the analogous injunction from our Lord, 'Take up thy bed and walk.' +Aeneas was lying at home, and so Peter, remembering how Jesus Christ +had demonstrated to others, and affirmed to the man himself, the +reality of the miraculous blessing given to him, copies his Master's +method, 'Aeneas, make thy bed.' It is an echo and resemblance of the +former incident, and is a distinct piece of imitation of it. + +And then, if we turn to the other narrative, the intentional moulding +of the manner of the miracle, consecrated in the eyes of the loving +disciple, because it was Christ's manner, is still more obvious. When +Jesus Christ went into the house of Jairus there was the usual hubbub, +the noise of the loud Eastern mourning, and He put them all forth, +taking with Him only the father and mother of the damsel, and Peter +with James and John. When Peter goes into the upper room, where Tabitha +is lying, there are the usual noise of lamentation and the clack of +many tongues, extolling the virtues of the dead woman. He remembers how +Christ had gone about His miracle, and he, in his turn, 'put them all +forth.' Mark, who was Peter's mouthpiece in his Gospel, gives us the +very Aramaic words which our Lord employed when He raised the little +girl, _Talitha_, the Aramaic word for 'a damsel,' or young girl; +_cumi_, which means in that language 'arise.' Is it not singular and +beautiful that Peter's word by the bedside of the dead Dorcas is, with +the exception of one letter, absolutely identical? Christ says, +_Talitha cumi_. Peter remembered the formula by which the blessing was +conveyed, and he copied it. 'Tabitha cumi!' Is it not clear that he is +posing after his Master's attitude; that he is, consciously or +unconsciously, doing what he remembered so well had been done in that +other upper room, and that the miracles are both of them shaped after +the pattern of the miraculous working of Jesus Christ? + +Well, now, although we are no miracle-workers, the very same principle +which underlay these two works of supernatural power is to be applied +to all our work, and to our lives as Christian people. I do not know +whether Peter _meant_ to do like Jesus Christ or not; I think rather +that he was unconsciously and instinctively dropping into the fashion +that to him was so sacred. Love always delights in imitation; and the +disciples of a great teacher will unconsciously catch the trick of his +intonation, even the awkwardness of his attitudes or the peculiarities +of his way of looking at things--only, unfortunately, outsides are a +good deal more easily imitated than insides. And many a disciple copies +such external trifles, and talks in the tones that have, first of all, +brought blessed truths to him, whose resemblance to his teacher goes +very little further. The principle that underlies these miracles is +just this--get near Jesus Christ, and you will catch His manner. Dwell +in fellowship with Him, and whether you are thinking about it or not, +there will come some faint resemblance to that Lord into your +characters and your way of doing things, so that men will 'take +knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus.' The poor bit of cloth +which has held some precious piece of solid perfume will retain +fragrance for many a day afterwards, and will bless the scentless air +by giving it forth. The man who keeps close to Christ, and has folded +Him in his heart, will, like the poor cloth, give forth a sweetness not +his own that will gladden and refresh many nostrils. Live in the light, +and you will become light. Keep near Christ, and you will be +Christlike. Love Him, and love will do to you what it does to many a +wedded pair, and to many kindred hearts: it will transfuse into you +something of the characteristics of the object of your love. It is +impossible to trust Christ, to obey Christ, to hold communion with Him, +and to live beside Him, without becoming like Him. And if such be our +inward experience, so will be our outward appearance. + +But there may be a specific point given to this lesson in regard to +Christian people's ways of doing their work in the world and helping +and blessing other folk. Although, as I say, we have no miraculous +power at our disposal, we do not need it in order to manifest Jesus +Christ and His way of working in our work. And if we dwell beside Him, +then, depend upon it, all the characteristics--far more precious than +the accidents of manner, or tone, or attitude in working a miracle--all +the characteristics so deeply and blessedly stamped upon His life of +self-sacrifice and man-helping devotion will be reproduced in us. Jesus +Christ, when He went through the wards of the hospital of the world, +was overflowing with quick sympathy for every sorrow that met His eye. +If you and I are living near Him, we shall never steel our hearts nor +lock up our sensibilities against any suffering that it is within our +power to stanch or to alleviate. Jesus Christ never grudged trouble, +never thought of Himself, never was impatient of interruption, never +repelled importunity, never sent away empty any outstretched hand. And +if we live near Him, self-oblivious willingness to spend and be spent +will mark our lives, and we shall not consider that we have the right +of possession or of sole enjoyment of any of the blessings that are +given to us. Jesus Christ, according to the beautiful and significant +words of one of the Gospels, 'healed them that had need of healing.' +Why that singular designation for the people that were standing around +Him but to teach us that wide as men's necessity was His sympathy, and +that broad as the sympathy of Christ were the help and healing which He +brought? And so, with like width of compassion, with like perfectness +of self-oblivion, with equal remoteness from consciousness of +superiority or display of condescension, Christian men should go +amongst the sorrowful and the sad and the outcast and do their +miracles--'greater works' than those which Christ did, as He Himself +has told us--after the manner in which He did His. If they did, the +world would be a different place, and the Church would be a different +Church, and you would not have people writing in the newspapers to +demonstrate that Christianity was 'played out.' + +II. Further, note the differences and the lessons from them. + +Take the first of the two miracles. 'Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee +whole: arise, and make thy bed.' That first clause points to the great +difference. Take the second miracle, 'Jesus Christ put them all forth, +and stretched out His hand, and said, Damsel, arise!' 'Peter put them +all forth, ... and said, Tabitha, arise!' but between the putting forth +and the miracle he did something which Christ did not do, and he did +not do something which Christ did do. 'He kneeled down and prayed.' +Jesus Christ did not do that. 'And Jesus put forth His hand, and said, +Arise!' Peter did not do that. But he put forth his hand _after_ the +miracle was wrought; not to communicate life, but to help the living +woman to get to her feet; and so, both by what he did in his prayer and +by what he did not do after Christ's pattern, the extension of the hand +that was the channel of the vitality, he drew a broad distinction +between the servant's copy and the Master's original. + +The lessons from the differences are such as the following. + +Christ works miracles by His inherent power; His servants do their +works only as His instruments and organs. I need not dwell upon the +former thought; but it is the latter at which I wish to look for a +moment. The lesson, then, of the difference is that Christian men, in +all their work for the Master and for the world, are ever to keep clear +before themselves, and to make very obvious to other people, that they +are nothing more than channels and instruments. The less the preacher, +the teacher, the Christian benefactor of any sort puts himself in the +foreground, or in evidence at all, the more likely are his words and +works to be successful. If you hear a man, for instance, preaching a +sermon, and you see that he is thinking about himself, he may talk with +the tongues of men and of angels, but he will do no good to anybody. +The first condition of work for the Lord is--hide yourself behind your +message, behind your Master, and make it very plain that His is the +power, and that you are but a tool in the Workman's hand. + +And then, further, another lesson is, Be very sure of the power that +will work in you. What a piece of audacity it was for Peter to go and +stand by the paralytic man's couch and say, 'Aeneas, Jesus Christ +maketh thee whole.' Yes, audacity; unless he had been in such constant +and close touch with his Master that he was sure that his Master was +working through him. And is it not beautiful to see how absolutely +confident he is that Jesus Christ's work was not ended when He went up +into heaven; but that there, in that little stuffy room, where the man +had lain motionless for eight long years, Jesus Christ was present, and +working? O brethren, the Christian Church does not half enough believe +in the actual presence and operation of Jesus Christ, here and now, in +and through all His servants! We are ready enough to believe that He +worked when He was in the world long ago, that He is going to work when +He comes back to the world, at some far-off future period. But do we +believe that He is verily putting forth His power, in no metaphor, but +in simple reality, at present and here, and, if we will, through us? + +'Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.' Be sure that if you keep near Christ, +if you will try to mould yourselves after His likeness, if you expect +Him to work through you, and do not hinder His work by self-conceit and +self-consciousness of any sort, then it will be no presumption, but +simple faith which He delights in and will vindicate, if you, too, go +and stand by a paralytic and say, 'Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,' or +go and stand by people dead in trespasses and sins and say, after you +have prayed, 'Arise.' + +We are here for the very purpose for which Peter was in Lydda and +Joppa--to carry on and copy the healing and the quickening work of +Christ, by His present power, and after His blessed example. + + + +WHAT GOD HATH CLEANSED + +'There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of +the band called the Italian band, 2. A devout man, and one that feared +God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed +to God alway. 3. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of +the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, +Cornelius. 4. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What +is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come +up for a memorial before God. 5. And now send men to Joppa, and call +for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: 6. He lodgeth with one Simon a +tanner, whose house is by the sea-side: he shall tell thee what thou +oughtest to do. 7. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was +departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier +of them that waited on him continually; 8. And when he had declared all +these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. 9. On the morrow, as +they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up +upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: 10. And he became very +hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a +trance, 11. And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto +him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let +down to the earth: 12. Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of +the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. +13. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14. But +Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is +common or unclean. 15. And the voice spake unto him again the second +time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 16. This was +done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. 17. Now +while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen +should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made +inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate, 18. And called, +and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. +19. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, +Behold, three men seek thee. 20. Arise therefore, and get thee down, +and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.'--ACTS x. +1-20. + +The Church was at first in appearance only a Jewish sect; but the great +stride is now to be taken which carries it over the border into the +Gentile world, and begins its universal aspect. If we consider the +magnitude of the change, and the difficulties of training and prejudice +which it had to encounter in the Church itself, we shall not wonder at +the abundance of supernatural occurrences which attended it. Without +some such impulse, it is difficult to conceive of its having been +accomplished. + +In this narrative we see the supernatural preparation on both sides. +God, as it were, lays His right hand on Cornelius, and His left on +Peter, and impels them towards each other. Philip had already preached +to the Ethiopian, and probably the anonymous brethren in Acts xi. 20 +had already spoken the word to pure Greeks at Antioch; but the +importance of Peter's action here is that by reason of his Apostleship, +his recognition of Gentile Christians becomes the act of the whole +community. His entrance into Cornelius's house ended the Jewish phase +of the Church. The epoch was worthy of divine intervention, and the +step needed divine warrant. Therefore the abundance of miracle at this +point is not superfluous. + +I. We have the vision which guided the seeker to the light. Caesarea, +as the seat of government, was the focus of Gentilism, and that the +Gospel should effect a lodgment there was significant. Still more so +was the person whom it first won,--an officer of the Roman army, the +very emblem of worldly power, loathed by every true Jew. A centurion +was not an officer of high rank, but Cornelius's name suggests the +possibility of his connection with a famous Roman family, and the name +of the 'band' or 'cohort,' of which his troop was part, suggests that +it was raised in Italy, and therefore properly officered by Romans. His +residence in Judaea had touched his spirit with some knowledge of, and +reverence for, the Jehovah whom this strange people worshipped. He was +one of a class numerous in these times of religious unrest, who had +been more or less affected by the pure monotheism of the Jew. + +It is remarkable that the centurions of the New Testament are all more +or less favourably inclined towards Christ and Christianity, and the +fact has been laid hold of to throw doubt on the narratives; but it is +very natural that similarity of position and training should have +produced similarity of thought; and that three or four such persons +should have come in contact with Jesus and His Apostles makes no +violent demands on probability, while there was no occasion to mention +others who were not like-minded. Quartered for considerable periods in +the country, and brought into close contact with its religion, and +profoundly sceptical of their own, as all but the lowest minds then +were, Cornelius and his brother in arms and spirit whose faith drew +wondering praise from Jesus, are bright examples of the possibility of +earnest religious life being nourished amid grave disadvantages, and +preach a lesson, often neglected, that we should be slow to form +unfavourable opinions of classes of men, or to decide that those of +such and such a profession, or in such and such circumstances, must be +of such and such a character. + +It would have seemed that the last place to look for the first Gentile +Christian would have been in the barracks at Caesarea; and yet there +God's angel went for him, and found him. It has often been discussed +whether Cornelius was a 'proselyte' or not. It matters very little. He +was drawn to the Jews' religion, had adopted their hours of prayer, +reverenced their God, had therefore cast off idolatry, gave alms to the +people as acknowledgment that their God was his God, and cultivated +habitual devotion, which he had diffused among his household, both of +slaves and soldiers. It is a beautiful picture of a soul feeling after +a deeper knowledge of God, as a plant turns its half-opened flowers to +the sun. + +Such seekers do not grope without touching. It is not only 'unto the +seed of Jacob' that God has never said, 'Seek ye Me in vain.' The story +has a message of hope to all such seekers, and sheds precious light on +dark problems in regard to the relation of such souls in heathen lands +to the light and love of God, The vision appeared to Cornelius in the +manner corresponding to his spiritual susceptibility, and it came at +the hour of prayer. God's angels ever draw near to hearts opened by +desire to receive them. Not in visible form, but in reality, +'bright-harnessed angels stand' all around the chamber where prayer is +made. Our hours of supplication are God's hours of communication. + +The vision to Cornelius is not to be whittled down to a mental +impression. It was an objective, supernatural appearance,--whether to +sense or soul matters little. The story gives most graphically the +fixed gaze of terror which Cornelius fastened on the angel, and very +characteristically the immediate recovery and quick question to which +his courage and military promptitude helped him. 'What is it, Lord?' +does not speak of terror, but of readiness to take orders and obey. +'Lord' seems to be but a title of reverence here. + +In the angel's answer, the order in which prayers and alms are named is +the reverse of that in verse 2. Luke speaks as a man, beginning with +the visible manifestation, and passing thence to the inward devotion +which animated the external beneficence. The angel speaks as God sees, +beginning with the inward, and descending to the outward. The strong +'anthropomorphism' of the representation that man's prayer and alms +keep God in mind of him needs no vindication and little explanation. It +substitutes the mental state which in us originates certain acts for +the acts themselves. God's 'remembrance' is in Scripture frequently +used to express His loving deeds, which show that their recipient is +not forgotten of Him. + +But the all-important truth in the words is that the prayers and alms +(coming from a devout heart) of a man who had never heard of Jesus +Christ were acceptable to God. None the less Cornelius needed Jesus, +and the recompense made to him was the knowledge of the Saviour. The +belief that in many a heathen heart such yearning after a dimly known +God has stretched itself towards light, and been accepted of God, does +not in the least conflict with the truth that 'there is none other Name +given among men, whereby we must be saved,' but it sheds a bright and +most welcome light of hope into that awful darkness. Christ is the only +Saviour, but it is not for us to say how far off from the channel in +which it flows the water of life may percolate, and feed the roots of +distant trees. Cornelius's religion was not a substitute for Christ, +but was the occasion of his being led to Christ, and finding full, +conscious salvation there. God leads seeking souls by His own wonderful +ways; and we may leave all such in His hand, assured that no heart ever +hungered after righteousness and was not filled. + +The instruction to send for Peter tested Cornelius's willingness to be +taught by an unknown Jew, and his belief in the divine origin of the +vision. The direction given by which to find this teacher was not +promising. A lodger in a tan-yard by the seaside was certainly not a +man of position or wealth. But military discipline helped religious +reverence; and without delay, as soon as the angel 'was departed' (an +expression which gives the outward reality of the appearance strongly), +Cornelius's confidential servants, sympathisers with him in his +religion, were told all the story, and before nightfall were on their +march to Joppa. Swift obedience to whatever God points out as our path +towards the light, even if it seem somewhat unattractive, will always +mark our conduct if we really long for the light, and believe that He +is pointing our way. + +II. The vision which guided the light-bearer to the seeker.--All +through the night the messengers marched along the maritime plain in +which both Caesarea and Joppa lay, much discussing, no doubt, their +strange errand, and wondering what they would find. The preparation of +Peter, which was as needful as that of Cornelius, was so timed as to be +completed just as the messengers stood at the tanner's door. + +The first point to note in regard to it is its scene. It is of +subordinate importance, but it can scarcely have been entirely +unmeaning, that the flashing waters of the Mediterranean, blazing in +midday sunshine, stretched before Peter's eyes as he sat on the +housetop 'by the seaside.' His thoughts may have travelled across the +sea, and he may have wondered what lay beyond the horizon, and whether +there were men there to whom Christ's commission extended. 'The isles' +of which prophecy had told that they should 'wait for His law' were +away out in the mysterious distance. Some expansion of spirit towards +regions beyond may have accompanied his gaze. At all events, it was by +the shore of the great highway of nations and of truth that the vision +which revealed that all men were 'cleansed' filled the eye and heart of +the Apostle, and told him that, in his calling as 'fisher of men,' a +wider water than the land-locked Sea of Galilee was his. + +We may also note the connection of the form of the vision with his +circumstances. His hunger determined its shape. The natural bodily +sensations coloured his state of mind even in trance, and afforded the +point of contact for God's message. It does not follow that the vision +was only the consequence of his hunger, as has been suggested by +critics who wish to get rid of the supernatural. But the form which it +took teaches us how mercifully God is wont to mould His communications +according to our needs, and how wisely He shapes them, so as to find +entrance through even the lower wants. The commonest bodily needs may +become avenues for His truth, if our prayer accompanies our hunger. + +The significance of the vision is plain to us, though Peter was 'much +perplexed' about it. In the light of the event, we understand that the +'great sheet let down from heaven by four corners,' and containing all +manner of creatures, is the symbol of universal humanity (to use modern +language). The four corners correspond to the four points of the +compass,--north, south, east, and west,--the contents to the swarming +millions of men. Peter would perceive no more in the command to 'kill +and eat' than the abrogation of Mosaic restrictions. Meditation was +needful to disclose the full extent of the revolution shadowed by the +vision and its accompanying words. The old nature of Peter was not so +completely changed but that a flash of it breaks out still. The same +self-confidence which had led him to 'rebuke' Jesus, and to say, 'This +shall not be unto Thee,' speaks in his unhesitating and irreverent 'Not +so, Lord!' + +The naive reason he gives for not obeying--namely, his never having +done as he was now bid to do--is charmingly illogical and human. God +tells him to do a new thing, and his reason for not doing it is that it +is new. Use and wont are set up by us all against the fresh disclosures +of God's will. The command to kill and eat was not repeated. It was but +the introduction to the truth which was repeated thrice, the same +number of times as Peter had denied his Master and had received his +charge to feed His sheep. + +That great truth has manifold applications, but its direct purpose as +regards Peter is to teach that all restrictions which differentiated +Jew from Gentile are abolished. 'Cleansing' does not here apply to +moral purifying, but to the admission of all mankind to the same +standing as the Jew. Therefore the Gospel is to be preached to all men, +and the Jewish Christian has no pre-eminence. + +Peter's perplexity as to the meaning of the vision is very +intelligible. It was not so plain as to carry its own interpretation, +but, like most other of God's teachings, was explained by +circumstances. What was next done made the best commentary on what had +just been beheld. While patient reflection is necessary to do due +honour to God's teachings and to discover their bearing on events, it +is generally true that events unfold their significance as meditation +alone never can. Life is the best commentator on God's word. The three +men down at the door poured light on the vision on the housetop. But +the explanation was not left to circumstances. The Spirit directed +Peter to go with the messengers, and thus taught him the meaning of the +enigmatical words which he had heard from heaven. + +It is to be remembered that the Apostle had no need of fresh +illumination as to the world-wide preaching of the Gospel. Christ's +commission to 'the uttermost parts of the earth' ever rang in his ears, +as we may be sure. But what he did need was the lesson that the +Gentiles could come into the Church without going through the gate of +Judaism. If all peculiar sanctity was gone from the Jew, and all men +shared in the 'cleansing,' there was no need for keeping up any of the +old restrictions, or insisting on Gentiles being first received into +the Israelitish community as a stage in their progress towards +Christianity. + +It took Peter and the others years to digest the lesson given on the +housetop, but he began to put it in practice that day. How little he +knew the sweep of the truth then declared to him! How little we have +learned it yet! All exclusiveness which looks down on classes or races, +all monkish asceticism which taboos natural appetites and tastes, all +morbid scrupulosity which shuts out from religious men large fields of +life, all Pharisaism which says 'The temple of the Lord are we,' are +smitten to dust by the great words which gather all men into the same +ample, impartial divine love, and, in another aspect, give Christian +culture and life the charter of freest use of all God's fair world, and +place the distinction between clean and unclean in the spirit of the +user rather than in the thing used. 'Unto the pure all things are pure: +but unto them that are defiled... is nothing pure.' + + + +'GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS' + +'And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and +at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before +me in bright clothing, 31. And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, +and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. 32. Send +therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he +is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea-side: who, when +he cometh, shall speak unto thee. 83. Immediately therefore I sent to +thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we +all here present before God, to hear all things that art commanded thee +of God. 34. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I +perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35. But in every nation +he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him. +35. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching +peace by Jesus Christ: (He is Lord of all:) 37. That word, I say, ye +know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from +Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; 38. How God anointed +Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about +doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God +was with Him. 39. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both +in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on +a tree: 40. Him God raised up the third day, and shewed Him openly; 41. +Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to +us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. 42. And +He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He +which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 43. To Him +give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever +believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. 44. While Peter yet +spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the +word.'--ACTS x. 30-44. + +This passage falls into three parts: Cornelius's explanation, Peter's +sermon, and the descent of the Spirit on the new converts. The last is +the most important, and yet is told most briefly. We may surely +recognise the influence of Peter's personal reminiscences in the scale +of the narrative, and may remember that Luke and Mark were thrown +together in later days. + +I. Cornelius repeats what his messengers had already told Peter, but in +fuller detail. He tells how he was occupied when the angel appeared. He +was keeping the Jewish hour of prayer, and the fact that the vision +came to him as he prayed had attested to him its heavenly origin. If we +would see angels, the most likely place to behold them is in the secret +place of prayer. He tells, too, that the command to send for Peter was +a consequence of God's remembrance of his prayer ('therefore,' verse +32). His prayers and alms showed that he was 'of the light,' and +therefore he was directed to what would yield further light. + +The command to send for Peter is noteworthy in two respects. It was, +first, a test of humility and obedience. Cornelius, as a Roman officer, +would be tempted to feel the usual contempt for one of the subject +race, and, unless his eagerness to know more of God's will overbore his +pride, to kick at the idea of sending to beg the favour of the presence +and instruction of a Jew, and of one, too, who could find no better +quarters than a tanner's house. The angel's voice commanded, but it did +not compel. Cornelius bore the test, and neither waived aside the +vision as a hallucination to which it was absurd for a practical man to +attend, nor recoiled from the lowliness of the proposed teacher. He +pocketed official and racial loftiness, and, as he emphasises, +'forthwith' despatched his message. It was as if an English official in +the Punjab had been sent to a Sikh 'Guru' for teaching. + +The other remarkable point about the command is that Philip was +probably in Caesarea at the time. Why should Peter have been brought, +then, by two visions and two long journeys? The subsequent history +explains why. For the storm of criticism in the Jerusalem church +provoked by Cornelius's baptism would have raged with tenfold fury if +so revolutionary an act had been done by any less authoritative person +than the leader of the Apostles. The Lord would stamp His own approval +on the deed which marked so great an expansion of the Church, and +therefore He makes the first of the Apostles His agent, and that by a +double vision. + +'Thou hast well done that thou art come,'--a courteous welcome, with +just a trace of the doubt which had occupied Cornelius during the 'four +days,' whether this unknown Jew would obey so strange an invitation. +Courtesy and preparedness to receive the unknown message beautifully +blend in Cornelius's closing words, which do not directly ask Peter to +speak, but declare the auditors' eagerness to hear, as well as their +confidence that what he says will be God's voice. + +A variant reading in verse 33 gives 'in thy sight' for 'in the sight of +God,' and has much to recommend it. But in any case we have here the +right attitude for us all in the presence of the uttered will and mind +of God. Where such open-eared and open-hearted preparedness marks the +listeners, feebler teachers than Peter will win converts. The reason +why much earnest Christian teaching is vain is the indifference and +non-expectant attitude of the hearers, who are not hearkeners. Seed +thrown on the wayside is picked up by the birds. + +II. Peter's sermon is, on the whole, much like his other addresses +which are abundantly reported in the early part of the Acts. The great +business of the preachers then was to tell the history of Jesus. +Christianity is, first, a recital of historical events, from which, no +doubt, principles are deduced, and which necessarily lead on to +doctrines; but the facts are first. + +But the familiar story is told to Cornelius with some variation of +tone. And it is prefaced by a great word, which crystallises the large +truth that had sprung into consciousness and startling power in Peter, +as the result of his own and Cornelius's experience. He had not +previously thought of God as 'a respecter of persons,' but the +conviction that He was not had never blazed with such sun-clearness +before him as it did now. Jewish narrowness had, unconsciously to +himself, somewhat clouded it; but these four days had burned in on him, +as if it were a new truth, that 'in every nation' there may be men +accepted of God, because they 'fear Him and work righteousness.' + +That great saying is twisted from its right meaning when it is +interpreted as discouraging the efforts of Christians to carry the +Gospel to the heathen; for, if the 'light of nature' is sufficient, +what was Peter sent to Caesarea for? But it is no less maltreated when +evangelical Christians fail to grasp its world-wide significance, or +doubt that in lands where Christ's name has not been proclaimed there +are souls groping for the light, and seeking to obey the law written on +their hearts. That there are such, and that such are 'accepted of Him,' +and led by His own ways to the fuller light, is obviously taught in +these words, and should be a welcome thought to us all. + +The tangled utterances which immediately follow, sound as if speech +staggered under the weight of the thoughts opening before the speaker. +Whatever difficulty attends the construction, the intention is +clear,--to contrast the limited scope of the message, as confined to +the children of Israel, with its universal destination as now made +clear. The statement which in the Authorised and Revised Versions is +thrown into a parenthesis is really the very centre of the Apostle's +thought. Jesus, who has hitherto been preached to Israel, is 'Lord of +all,' and the message concerning Him is now to be proclaimed, not in +vague outline and at second hand, as it had hitherto reached Cornelius, +but in full detail, and as a message in which he was concerned. + +Contrast the beginning and the ending of the discourse,--'the word sent +unto the children of Israel' and 'every one that believeth on Him shall +receive remission of sins.' A remarkable variation in the text is +suggested by Blass in his striking commentary, who would omit 'Lord' +and read, 'The word which He sent to the children of Israel, bringing +the good tidings of peace through Jesus Christ,--this [word] belongs to +all.' That reading does away with the chief difficulties, and brings +out clearly the thought which is more obscurely expressed in a +contorted sentence by the present reading. + +The subsequent _resume_ of the life of Jesus is substantially the same +as is found in Peter's other sermons. But we may note that the highest +conceptions of our Lord's nature are not stated. It is hard to suppose +that Peter after Pentecost had not the same conviction as burned in his +confession, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' But in +these early discourses neither the Divinity and Incarnation nor the +atoning sacrifice of Jesus is set forth. He is the Christ, 'anointed +with the Holy Ghost and with power.' God is with Him (Nicodemus had got +as far as that). He is 'ordained of God to be the judge of quick and +dead.' + +We note, too, that His teaching is not touched upon, nor any of the +profounder aspects of His work as the Revealer of God, but His +beneficence and miraculous deliverances of devil-ridden men. His death +is declared, but without any of the accusations of His murderers, +which, like lance-thrusts, 'pricked' Jewish hearers. Nor is the +efficacy of that death as the sacrifice for the world's sin touched +upon, but it is simply told as a fact, and set in contrast with the +Resurrection. These were the plain facts which had first to be accepted. + +The only way of establishing facts is by evidence of eye-witnesses. So +Peter twice (verses 39, 41) adduces his own and his colleagues' +evidence. But the facts are not yet a gospel, unless they are further +explained as well as established. Did such things happen? The answer +is, 'We saw them.' What did they mean? The answer begins by adducing +the 'witness' of the Apostles to a different order of truths, which +requires a different sort of witness. Jesus had bidden them 'testify' +that He is to be Judge of living and dead; that is, of all mankind. +Their witness to that can only rest on His word. + +Nor is that all. There is yet another body of 'witnesses' to yet +another class of truths. 'All the prophets' bear witness to the great +truth which makes the biography of the Man the gospel for all +men,--that the deepest want of all men is satisfied through the name +which Peter ever rang out as all-powerful to heal and bless. The +forgiveness of sins through the manifested character and work of Jesus +Christ is given on condition of faith to any and every one who +believes, be he Jew or Gentile, Galilean fisherman or Roman centurion. +Cornelius may have known little of the prophets, but he knew the burden +of sin. He did not know all that we know of Jesus, and of the way in +which forgiveness is connected with His work, but he did know now that +it was connected, and that this Jesus was risen from the dead, and was +to be the Judge. His faith went out to that Saviour, and as he heard he +believed. + +III. Therefore the great gift, attesting the divine acceptance of him +and the rest of the hearers, came at once. There had been no confession +of their faith, much less had there been baptism, or laying on of +Apostolic hands. The sole qualification and condition for the reception +of the Spirit which John lays down in his Gospel when he speaks of the +'Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive,' was present +here, and it was enough. Peter and his brethren might have hesitated +about baptizing an uncircumcised believer. The Lord of the Church +showed Peter that He did not hesitate. + +So, like a true disciple, Peter followed Christ's lead, and though +'they of the circumcision' were struck with amazement, he said to +himself, 'Who am I, that I should withstand God?' and opened his heart +to welcome these new converts as possessors of 'like precious faith' as +was demonstrated by their possession of the same Spirit. Would that +Peter's willingness to recognise all who manifest the Spirit of Christ, +whatever their relation to ecclesiastical regulations, had continued +the law and practice of the Church! + + + +PETER'S APOLOGIA + +'And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the +Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2. And when Peter was come +up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, +3. Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with +them. 4. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and +expounded it by order unto them, saying, 5. I was in the city of Joppa +praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as +it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it +came even to me: 6. Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I +considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, +and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 7. And I heard a voice +saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay, and eat. 8. But I said, Not so, +Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my +mouth. 9. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath +cleansed, that call not thou common. 10. And this was done three times: +and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11. And, behold, immediately +there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from +Caesarea unto me. 12. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing +doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered +into the man's house: 13. And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in +his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call +for Simon, whose surname is Peter; 14. Who shall tell thee words, +whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. 15. And as I began to +speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16. Then +remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed +baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17. +Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who +believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand +God? 18. When they heard these things, they held their peace, and +glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted +repentance unto life.'--ACTS xi. 1-18. + +Peter's action in regard to Cornelius precipitated a controversy which +was bound to come if the Church was to be anything more than a Jewish +sect. It brought to light the first tendency to form a party in the +Church. 'They... of the circumcision' were probably 'certain of the +sect of the Pharisees which believed,' and were especially zealous for +all the separating prescriptions of the ceremonial law. They were +scarcely a party as yet, but the little rift was destined to grow, and +they became Paul's bitterest opponents through all his life, dogging +him with calumnies and counterworking his toil. It is a black day for a +Church when differences of opinion lead to the formation of cliques. +Zeal for truth is sadly apt to enlist spite, malice, and blindness to a +manifest work of God, as its allies. + +Poor Peter, no doubt, expected that the brethren would rejoice with him +in the extension of the Gospel to 'the Gentiles,' but his reception in +Jerusalem was very unlike his hopes. The critics did not venture to +cavil at his preaching to Gentiles. Probably none of them had any +objection to such being welcomed into the Church, for they can scarcely +have wished to make the door into it narrower than that into the +synagogue, but they insisted that there was no way in but through the +synagogue. By all means, said they, let Gentiles come, but they must +first become Jews, by submitting to circumcision and living as Jews do. +Thus they did not attack Peter for preaching to the Roman centurion and +his men, but for eating with them. That eating not only was a breach of +the law, but it implied the reception of Cornelius and his company into +the household of God, and so destroyed the whole fabric of Jewish +exclusiveness. We condemn such narrowness, but do many of us not +practise it in other forms? Wherever Christians demand adoption of +external usages, over and above exercise of penitent faith, as a +condition of brotherly recognition, they are walking in the steps of +them 'of the circumcision.' + +Peter's answer to the critics is the true answer to all similar hedging +up of the Church, for he contents himself with showing that he was only +following God's action in every step of the way which he took, and that +God, by the gift of the divine Spirit, had shown that He had taken +these uncircumcised men into His fellowship, before Peter dared to 'eat +with them.' He points to four facts which show God's hand in the +matter, and thinks that he has done enough to vindicate himself +thereby. The first is his vision on the housetop. He tells that he was +praying when it came, and what God shows to a praying spirit is not +likely to mislead. He tells that he was 'in a trance,'--a condition in +which prophets had of old received their commands. That again was a +guarantee for the divine origin of the vision in the eyes of every Jew, +though nowadays it is taken by anti-supernaturalists as a demonstration +of its morbidness and unreliableness. He tells of his reluctance to +obey the command to 'kill and eat.' A flash of the old brusque spirit +impelled his flat refusal, 'Not so, Lord!' and his daring to argue with +his Lord still, as he had done with Him on earth. He tells of the +interpreting and revolutionary word, evoked by his audacious objection, +and then he tells how 'this was done thrice,' so that there could be no +mistake in his remembrance of it, and then that the whole was drawn up +into heaven,--a sign that the purpose of the vision was accomplished +when that word was spoken. What, then, was the meaning of it? + +Clearly it swept away at once the legal distinction of clean and +unclean meats, and of it, too, may be spoken what Mark, Peter's +mouthpiece, writes of earthly words of Christ's: 'This He said, making +all meats clean.' But with the sweeping away of that distinction much +else goes, for it necessarily involves the abrogation of the whole +separating ordinances of the law, and of the distinction between clean +and unclean persons. Its wider application was not seen at the moment, +but it flashed on him, no doubt, when face to face with Cornelius. God +had cleansed him, in that his prayers had 'gone up for a memorial +before God,' and so Peter saw that 'in every nation,' and not among +Jews only, there might be men cleansed by God. What was true of +Cornelius must be true of many others. So the whole distinction between +Jew and Gentile was cut up by the roots. Little did Peter know the +width of the principle revealed to him then, as all of us know but +little of the full application of many truths which we believe. But he +obeyed so much of the command as he understood, and more of it +gradually dawned on his mind, as will always be the case if we obey +what we know. + +The second fact was the coincident arrival of the messengers and the +distinct command to accompany them. Peter could distinguish quite +assuredly his own thoughts from divine instructions, as his account of +the dialogue in the trance shows. How he distinguished is not told; +that he distinguished is. The coincidence in time clearly pointed to +one divine hand working at both ends of the line,--Caesarea and Joppa. +It interpreted the vision which had 'much perplexed' Peter as to what +it 'might mean.' But he was not left to interpret it by his own +pondering. The Spirit spoke authoritatively, and the whole force of his +justification of himself depends on the fact that he knew that the +impulse which made him set out to Caesarea was not his own. If the +reading of the Revised Version is adopted in verse 12, 'making no +distinction,' the command plainly referred to the vision, and showed +Peter that he was to make no distinction of 'clean and unclean' in his +intercourse with these Gentiles. + +The third fact is the vision to Cornelius, of which he was told on +arriving. The two visions fitted into each other, confirmed each other, +interpreted each other. We may estimate the greatness of the step in +the development of the Church which the admission of Cornelius into it +made, and the obstacles on both sides, by the fact that both visions +were needed to bring these two men together. Peter would never have +dreamed of going with the messengers if he had not had his narrowness +beaten out of him on the housetop, and Cornelius would never have +dreamed of sending to Joppa if he had not seen the angel. The cleft +between Jew and Gentile was so wide that God's hand had to be applied +on both sides to press the separated parts together. He had plainly +done it, and that was Peter's defence. + +The fourth fact is the gift of the Spirit to these Gentiles. That is +the crown of Peter's vindication, and his question, 'Who was I, that I +could withstand God?' might be profitably pondered and applied by those +whose ecclesiastical theories oblige them to deny the 'orders' and the +'validity of the sacraments' and the very name of a Church, to bodies +of Christians who do not conform to their polity. If God, by the gift +of His Spirit manifest in its fruits, owns them, they have the true +'notes of the Church,' and 'they of the circumcision' who recoil from +recognising them do themselves more harm thereby than they inflict on +these. 'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of +God,' even though some brother may be 'angry' that the Father welcomes +them. + + + +THE FIRST PREACHING AT ANTIOCH + +'And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they ware +come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21. +And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, +and turned unto the Lord.'--ACTS xi. 20, 21. + +Thus simply does the historian tell one of the greatest events in the +history of the Church. How great it was will appear if we observe that +the weight of authority among critics and commentators sees here an +extension of the message of salvation to Greeks, that is, to pure +heathens, and not a mere preaching to Hellenists, that is, to +Greek-speaking Jews born outside Palestine. + +If that be correct, this was a great stride forward in the development +of the Church. It needed a vision to overcome the scruples of Peter, +and impel him to the bold innovation of preaching to Cornelius and his +household, and, as we know, his doing so gave grave offence to some of +his brethren in Jerusalem. But in the case before us, some Cypriote and +African Jews--men of no note in the Church, whose very names have +perished, with no official among them, with no vision nor command to +impel them, with no precedent to encourage them, with nothing but the +truth in their minds and the impulses of Christ's love in their +hearts--solve the problem of the extension of Christ's message to the +heathen, and, quite unconscious of the greatness of their act, do the +thing about the propriety of which there had been such serious question +in Jerusalem. + +This boldness becomes even more remarkable if we notice that the +incident of our text may have taken place before Peter's visit to +Cornelius. The verse before our text, 'They which were scattered abroad +upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled, ... preaching +the word to none but unto the Jews only,' is almost a _verbatim_ +repetition of words in an earlier chapter, and evidently suggests that +the writer is returning to that point of time, in order to take up +another thread of his narrative contemporaneous with those already +pursued. If so, three distinct lines of expansion appear to have +started from the dispersion of the Jerusalem church in the +persecution--namely, Philip's mission to Samaria, Peter's to Cornelius, +and this work in Antioch. Whether prior in time or no, the preaching in +the latter city was plainly quite independent of the other two. It is +further noteworthy that this, the effort of a handful of unnamed men, +was the true 'leader'--the shoot that grew. Philip's work, and Peter's +so far as we know, were side branches, which came to little; this led +on to a church at Antioch, and so to Paul's missionary work, and all +that came of that. + +The incident naturally suggests some thoughts bearing on the general +subject of Christian work, which we now briefly present. + +I. Notice the spontaneous impulse which these men obeyed. + +Persecution drove the members of the Church apart, and, as a matter of +course, wherever they went they took their faith with them, and, as a +matter of course, spoke about it. The coals were scattered from the +hearth in Jerusalem by the armed heel of violence. That did not put the +fire out, but only spread it, for wherever they were flung they kindled +a blaze. These men had no special injunction 'to preach the Lord +Jesus.' They do not seem to have adopted this line of action +deliberately, or of set purpose. 'They believed, and therefore spoke.' +A spontaneous impulse, and nothing more, leads them on. They find +themselves rejoicing in a great Saviour-Friend. They see all around +them men who need Him, and that is enough. They obey the promptings of +the voice within, and lay the foundations of the first Gentile Church. + +Such a spontaneous impulse is ever the natural result of our own +personal possession of Christ. In regard to worldly good the instinct, +except when overcome by higher motives, is to keep the treasure to +oneself. But even in the natural sphere there are possessions which to +have is to long to impart, such as truth and knowledge. And in the +spiritual sphere, it is emphatically the case that real possession is +always accompanied by a longing to impart. The old prophet spoke a +universal truth when he said: 'Thy word was as a fire shut up in my +bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.' If we +have found Christ for ourselves, we shall undoubtedly wish to speak +forth our knowledge of His love. Convictions which are deep demand +expression. Emotion which is strong needs utterance. If our hearts have +any fervour of love to Christ in them, it will be as natural to tell it +forth, as tears are to sorrow or smiles to happiness. True, there is a +reticence in profound feeling, and sometimes the deepest love can only +'love and be silent,' and there is a just suspicion of loud or vehement +protestations of Christian emotion, as of any emotion. But for all +that, it remains true that a heart warmed with the love of Christ needs +to express its love, and will give it forth, as certainly as light must +radiate from its centre, or heat from a fire. + +Then, true kindliness of heart creates the same impulse. We cannot +truly possess the treasure for ourselves without pity for those who +have it not. Surely there is no stranger contradiction than that +Christian men and women can be content to keep Christ as if He were +their special property, and have their spirits untouched into any +likeness of His divine pity for the multitudes who were as 'sheep +having no shepherd.' What kind of Christians must they be who think of +Christ as 'a Saviour for me,' and take no care to set Him forth as 'a +Saviour for you'? What should we think of men in a shipwreck who were +content to get into the lifeboat, and let everybody else drown? What +should we think of people in a famine feasting sumptuously on their +private stores, whilst women were boiling their children for a meal and +men fighting with dogs for garbage on the dunghills? 'He that +withholdeth bread, the people shall curse him.' What of him who +withholds the Bread of Life, and all the while claims to be a follower +of the Christ, who gave His flesh for the life of the world? + +Further, loyalty to Christ creates the same impulse. If we are true to +our Lord, we shall feel that we cannot but speak up and out for Him, +and that all the more where His name is unloved and unhonoured. He has +left His good fame very much in our hands, and the very same impulse +which hurries words to our lips when we hear the name of an absent +friend calumniated should make us speak for Him. He is a doubtfully +loyal subject who, if he lives among rebels, is afraid to show his +colours. He is already a coward, and is on the way to be a traitor. Our +Master has made us His witnesses. He has placed in our hands, as a +sacred deposit, the honour of His name. He has entrusted to us, as His +selectest sign of confidence, the carrying out of the purposes for +which on earth His blood was shed, on which in heaven His heart is set. +How can we be loyal to Him if we are not forced by a mighty constraint +to respond to His great tokens of trust in us, and if we know nothing +of that spirit which said: 'Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto +me, if I preach not the gospel!' I do not say that a man cannot be a +Christian unless he knows and obeys this impulse. But, at least, we may +safely say that he is a very weak and imperfect Christian who does not. + +II. This incident suggests the universal obligation on all Christians +to make known Christ. + +These men were not officials. In these early days the Church had a very +loose organisation. But the fugitives in our narrative seem to have had +among them none even of the humble office-bearers of primitive times. +Neither had they any command or commission from Jerusalem. No one there +had given them authority, or, as would appear, knew anything of their +proceedings. Could there be a more striking illustration of the great +truth that whatever varieties of function may be committed to various +officers in the Church, the work of telling Christ's love to men +belongs to every one who has found it for himself or herself? 'This +honour have all the saints.' + +Whatever may be our differences of opinion as to Church order and +offices, they need not interfere with our firm grasp of this truth. +'Preaching Christ,' in the sense in which that expression is used in +the New Testament, implies no one special method of proclaiming the +glad tidings. A word written in a letter to a friend, a sentence +dropped in casual conversation, a lesson to a child on a mother's lap, +or any other way by which, to any listeners, the great story of the +Cross is told, is as truly--often more truly--preaching Christ as the +set discourse which has usurped the name. + +We profess to believe in the priesthood of all believers, we are ready +enough to assert it in opposition to sacerdotal assumptions. Are we as +ready to recognise it as laying a very real responsibility upon us, and +involving a very practical inference as to our own conduct? We all have +the power, therefore we all have the duty. For what purpose did God +give us the blessing of knowing Christ ourselves? Not for our own +well-being alone, but that through us the blessing might be still +further diffused. + + 'Heaven doth with us as men with torches do, + Not light them for themselves.' + +'God hath shined into our hearts' that we might give to others 'the +light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus +Christ.' Every Christian is solemnly bound to fulfil this divine +intention, and to take heed to the imperative command, 'Freely ye have +received, freely give.' + +III. Observe, further, the simple message which they proclaimed. + +'Preaching the Lord Jesus,' says the text--or more accurately +perhaps--'preaching Jesus as Lord.' The substance, then, of their +message was just this--proclamation of the person and dignity of their +Master, the story of the human life of the Man, the story of the divine +sacrifice and self-bestowment by which He had bought the right of +supreme rule over every heart; and the urging of His claims on all who +heard of His love. And this, their message, was but the proclamation of +their own personal experience. They had found Jesus to be for +themselves Lover and Lord, Friend and Saviour of their souls, and the +joy they had received they sought to share with these Greeks, +worshippers of gods and lords many. + +Surely anybody can deliver that message who has had that experience. +All have not the gifts which would fit for public speech, but all who +have 'tasted that the Lord is gracious' can somehow tell how gracious +He is. The first Christian sermon was very short, and it was very +efficacious, for it 'brought to Jesus' the whole congregation. Here it +is: 'He first findeth his brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have +found the Messias.' Surely we can all say that, if we have found Him. +Surely we shall all long to say it, if we are glad that we have found +Him, and if we love our brother. + +Notice, too, how simple the form as well as the substance of the +message. 'They _spake_.' It was no set address, no formal utterance, +but familiar, natural talk to ones and twos, as opportunity offered. +The form was so simple that we may say that there was none. What we +want is that Christian people should speak anyhow. What does the shape +of the cup matter? What does it matter whether it be gold or clay? The +main thing is that it shall bear the water of life to some thirsty lip. +All Christians have to preach, as the word is used here, that is, to +tell the good news. Their task is to carry a message--no refinement of +words is needed for that--arguments are not needed. They have to tell +it simply and faithfully, as one who only cares to repeat what he has +had given to him. They have to tell it confidently, as having proved it +true. They have to tell it beseechingly, as loving the souls to whom +they bring it. Surely we can all do that, if we ourselves are living on +Christ and have drunk into His Spirit. Let His mighty salvation, +experienced by yourselves, be the substance of your message, and let +the form of it be guided by the old words, 'It shall be, when the +Spirit of the Lord is come upon thee, that thou shalt do as occasion +shall serve thee.' + +IV. Notice, lastly, the mighty Helper who prospered their work. + +'The hand of the Lord was with them.' The very keynote of this Book of +the Acts is the work of the ascended Christ in and for His Church. At +every turning-point in the history, and throughout the whole +narratives, forms of speech like this occur, bearing witness to the +profound conviction of the writer that Christ's active energy was with +His servants, and Christ's Hand the origin of all their security and of +all their success. + +So this is a statement of a permanent and universal fact. We do not +labour alone; however feeble our hands, that mighty Hand is laid on +them to direct their movements and to lend strength to their weakness. +It is not our speech which will secure results, but His presence with +our words which will bring it about that even through them a great +number shall believe and turn to the Lord. There is our encouragement +when we are despondent. There is our rebuke when we are self-confident. +There is our stimulus when we are indolent. There is our quietness when +we are impatient. If ever we are tempted to think our task heavy, let +us not forget that He who set it helps us to do it, and from His throne +shares in all our toils, the Lord still, as of old, working with us. If +ever we feel that our strength is nothing, and that we stand solitary +against many foes, let us fall back upon the peace-giving thought that +one man against the world, with Christ to help him, is always in the +majority, and let us leave issues of our work in His hands, whose hand +will guard the seed sown in weakness, whose smile will bless the +springing thereof. + +How little any of us know what will become of our poor work, under His +fostering care! How little these men knew that they were laying the +foundations of the great change which was to transform the Christian +community from a Jewish sect into a world-embracing Church! So is it +ever. We know not what we do when simply and humbly we speak His name. +The far-reaching results escape our eyes. Then, sow the seed, and He +will 'give it a body as it pleaseth Him.' On earth we may never know +the fruits of our labours. They will be among the surprises of heaven, +where many a solitary worker shall exclaim with wonder, as he looks on +the hitherto unknown children whom God hath given him, 'Behold, I was +left alone; these, where had they been?' Then, though our names may +have perished from earthly memories, like those of the simple fugitives +of Cyprus and Cyrene, who 'were the first that ever burst' into the +night of heathendom with the torch of the Gospel in their hands, they +will be written in the Lamb's book of life, and He will confess them in +the presence of His Father in heaven. + + + +THE EXHORTATION OF BARNABAS [Footnote: Preached before the +Congregational Union of England and Wales.] + +'Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and +exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto +the Lord.'--ACTS xi. 23. + +The first purely heathen converts had been brought into the Church by +the nameless men of Cyprus and Cyrene, private persons with no office +or commission to preach, who, in simple obedience to the instincts of a +Christian heart, leaped the barrier which seemed impassable to the +Church in Jerusalem, and solved the problem over which Apostles were +hesitating. Barnabas is sent down to see into this surprising new +phenomenon, and his mission, though probably not hostile, was, at all +events, one of inquiry and doubt. But like a true man, he yielded to +facts, and widened his theory to suit them. He saw the tokens of +Christian life in these Gentile converts, and that compelled him to +admit that the Church was wider than some of his friends in Jerusalem +thought. A pregnant lesson for modern theorists who, on one ground or +another of doctrine or of orders, narrow the great conception of +Christ's Church! Can you see 'the grace of God' in the people? Then +they are in the Church, whatever becomes of your theories, and the +sooner you let them out so as to fit the facts, the better for you and +for them. + +Satisfied as to their true Christian character, Barnabas sets himself +to help them to grow. Now, remember how recently they had been +converted; how, from their Gentile origin, they can have had next to no +systematic instruction; how the taint of heathen morals, such as were +common in that luxurious, corrupt Antioch, must have clung to them; how +unformed must have been their loose Church organisation--and +remembering all this, think of this one exhortation as summing up all +that Barnabas had to say to them. He does not say, Do this, or Believe +that, or Organise the other; but he says, Stick to Jesus Christ the +Lord. On this commandment hangs all the law; it is the one +all-inclusive summary of the duties of the Christian life. + +So, brethren and fathers, I venture to take these words now, as +containing large lessons for us all, appropriate at all times, and +especially in a sermon on such an occasion as the present. + +We may deal with the thoughts suggested by these words very simply, +just looking at the points as they lie--what Barnabas _saw_, what he +_felt_, what he _said_. + +I. What Barnabas saw. + +The grace of God here has very probably the specific meaning of the +miracle-working gift of the Holy Spirit. That is rendered probable by +the analogy of other instances recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, +such as Peter's experience at Caesarea, where all his hesitations and +reluctance were swept away when 'the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us +at the beginning, and they spake with tongues.' If so, what convinced +Barnabas that these uncircumcised Gentiles were Christians like +himself, may have been their similar possession of the visible and +audible effects of that gift of God. But the language does not compel +this interpretation; and the absence of all distinct reference to these +extraordinary powers as existing there, among the new converts at +Antioch, may be intended to mark a difference in the nature of the +evidence. At any rate, the possibly intentional generality of the +expression is significant and fairly points to an extension of the +spiritual gifts much beyond the limits of miraculous powers. There are +other ways by which the grace of God may be seen and heard, thank God! +than by speaking with tongues and working miracles; and the first +lesson of our text is that wherever that grace is made visible by its +appropriate manifestations, there we are to recognise a brother. + +Augustine said, 'Where Christ is there is the Church,' and that is +true, but vague; for the question still remains, 'And where _is_ +Christ?' The only satisfying answer is, Christ is wherever Christlike +men manifest a life drawn from, and kindred with, His life. And so the +true form of the dictum for practical purposes comes to be: 'Where the +grace of Christ is visible, there is the Church.' + +That great truth is sinned against and denied in many ways. Most +chiefly, perhaps, by the successors in modern garb of the more Jewish +portion of that Church at Jerusalem who sent Barnabas to Antioch. They +had no objection to Gentiles entering the Church, but they must come in +by the way of circumcision; they quite believed that it was Christ who +saved, and His grace which sanctified, but they thought that His grace +would only flow in a given channel; and so do their modern +representatives, who exalt sacraments, and consequently priests, to the +same place as the Judaizers in the early Church did the rite of the old +Covenant. Such teachers have much to say about the notes of the Church, +and have elaborated a complicated system of identification by which you +may know the genuine article, and unmask impostors. The attempt is +about as wise as to try to weave a network fine enough to keep back a +stream. The water will flow through the closest meshes, and when Christ +pours out the Spirit, He is apt to do it in utter disregard of notes of +the Church, and of channels of sacramental grace. + +We Congregationalists, who have no orders, no sacraments, no Apostolic +succession; who in order not to break loose from Christ and conscience +have had to break loose from 'Catholic tradition,' and have been driven +to separation by the true schismatics, who have insisted on another +bond of Church unity than union to Christ, are denied nowadays a place +in His Church. + +The true answer to all that arrogant assumption and narrow pedantry +which confine the free flow of the water of life to the conduits of +sacraments and orders, and will only allow the wind that bloweth where +it listeth to make music in the pipes of their organs, is simply the +homely one which shivered a corresponding theory to atoms in the fair +open mind of Barnabas. + +The Spirit of Christ at work in men's hearts, making them pure and +gentle, simple and unworldly, refining their characters, elevating +their aims, toning their whole being into accord with the music of His +life, is the true proof that men are Christians, and that communities +of such men are Churches of His. Mysterious efficacy is claimed for +Christian ordinances. Well, the question is a fair one: Is the type of +Christian character produced within these sacred limits, which we are +hopelessly outside, conspicuously higher and more manifestly Christlike +than that nourished by no sacraments, and grown not under glass, but in +the unsheltered open? Has not God set His seal on these communities to +which we belong? With many faults for which we have to be, and are, +humble before Him, we can point to the lineaments of the family +likeness, and say, 'Are they Hebrews? so are we. Are they Israelites? +so are we. Are they the seed of Abraham? so are we.' + +Once get that truth wrought into men's minds, that the true test of +Christianity is the visible presence of a grace in character which is +evidently God's, and whole mountains of prejudice and error melt away. +We are just as much in danger of narrowing the Church in accordance +with our narrowness as any 'sacramentarian' of them all. We are tempted +to think that no good thing can grow up under the baleful shadow of +that tree, a sacerdotal Christianity. We are tempted to think that all +the good people are Dissenters, just as Churchmen are to think that +nobody can be a Christian who prays without a prayer-book. Our own type +of denominational character--and there is such a thing--comes to be +accepted by us as the all but exclusive ideal of a devout man; and we +have not imagination enough to conceive, nor charity enough to believe +in, the goodness which does not speak our dialect, nor see with our +eyes. Dogmatical narrowness has built as high walls as ceremonial +Christianity has reared round the fold of Christ, And the one +deliverance for us all from the transformed selfishness, which has so +much to do with shaping all these wretched narrow theories of the +Church, is to do as this man did--open our eyes with sympathetic +eagerness to see God's grace in many an unexpected place, and square +our theories with His dealings. + +It used to be an axiom that there was no life in the sea beyond a +certain limit of a few hundred feet. It was learnedly and conclusively +demonstrated that pressure and absence of light, and I know not what +beside, made life at greater depths impossible. It was proved that in +such conditions creatures could not live. And then, when that was +settled, the _Challenger_ put down her dredge five miles, and brought +up healthy and good-sized living things, with eyes in their heads, from +that enormous depth. So, then, the savant had to ask, _How_ can there +be life? instead of asserting that there cannot be; and, no doubt, the +answer will be forth coming some day. + +We have all been too much accustomed to set arbitrary limits to the +diffusion of the life of Christ among men. Let us rather rejoice when +we see forms of beauty, which bear the mark of His hand, drawn from +depths that we deemed waste, and thankfully confess that the bounds of +our expectation, and the framework of our institutions, do not confine +the breadth of His working, nor the sweep of His grace. + +II. What Barnabas felt. + +'He was glad.' It was a triumph of Christian principle to recognise the +grace of God under new forms, and in so strange a place. It was a still +greater triumph to hail it with rejoicing. One need not have wondered +if the acknowledgment of a fact, dead in the teeth of all his +prejudices, and seemingly destructive of some profound convictions, had +been somewhat grudging. Even a good, true man might have been +bewildered and reluctant to let go so much as was destroyed by the +admission--'Then hath God granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto +life,'--and might have been pardoned if he had not been able to do more +than acquiesce and hold his peace. We are scarcely just to these early +Jewish Christians when we wonder at their hesitation on this matter, +and are apt to forget the enormous strength of the prejudices and +sacred conviction which they had to overcome. Hence the context seems +to consider that the quick recognition of Christian character on the +part of Barnabas, and his gladness at the discovery, need explanation, +and so it adds, with special reference to these, as it would seem, 'for +he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' as if nothing +short of such characteristics could have sufficiently emancipated him +from the narrowness that would have refused to discern the good, or the +bitterness that would have been offended at it. + +So, dear brethren, we may well test ourselves with this question: Does +the discovery of the working of the grace of God outside the limits of +our own Churches and communions excite a quick, spontaneous emotion of +gladness in _our_ hearts? It may upset some of our theories; it may +teach us that things which we thought very important, 'distinctive +principles' and the like, are not altogether as precious as we thought +them; it may require us to give up some pleasant ideas of our +superiority, and of the necessary conformity of all good people to our +type. Are we willing to let them all go, and without a twinge of envy +or a hanging back from prejudice, to welcome the discovery that 'God +fulfils Himself in many ways'? Have we schooled ourselves to say +honestly, 'Therein I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice'? + +There is much to overcome if we would know this Christlike gladness. +The good and the bad in us may both oppose it. The natural deeper +interest in the well-being of the Churches of our own faith and order, +the legitimate ties which unite us with these, our conscientious +convictions, our friendships, the _esprit de corps_ born of fighting +shoulder to shoulder, will, of course, make our sympathies flow most +quickly and deeply in denominational channels. And then come in +abundance of less worthy motives, some altogether bad and some the +exaggeration of what is good, and we get swallowed up in our own +individual work, or in that of our 'denomination,' and have but a very +tepid joy in anybody else's prosperity. + +In almost every town of England, your Churches, and those to which I +belong, with Presbyterians and Wesleyans, stand side by side. The +conditions of our work make some rivalry inevitable, and none of us, I +suppose, object to that. It helps to keep us all diligent: a sturdy +adherence to our several 'distinctive principles' and an occasional +hard blow in fair fight on their behalf we shall all insist upon. Our +brotherhood is all the more real for frank speech, and 'the animated +No!' is an essential in all intercourse which is not stagnant or +mawkish. There is much true fellowship and much good feeling among all +these. But we want far more of an honest rejoicing in each other's +success, a quicker and truer manly sympathy with each other's work, a +fuller consciousness of our solidarity in Christ, and a clearer +exhibition of it before the world. + +And on a wider view, as our eyes travel over the wide field of +Christendom, and our memories go back over the long ages of the story +of the Church, let gladness, and not wonder or reluctance, be the +temper with which we see the graces of Christian character lifting +their meek blossoms in corners strange to us, and breathing their +fragrance over the pastures of the wilderness. In many a cloister, in +many a hermit's cell, from amidst the smoke of incense, through the +dust of controversies, we should see, and be glad to see, faces bright +with the radiance caught from Christ. Let us set a jealous watch over +our hearts that self-absorption, or denominationalism, or envy do not +make the sight a pain instead of a joy; and let us remember that the +eye-salve which will purge our dim sight to behold the grace of God in +all its forms is that grace itself, which ever recognises its own +kindred, and lives in the gladness of charity, and the joy of beholding +a brother's good. If we are to have eyes to know the grace of God when +we see it, and a heart to rejoice when we know it, we must get them as +Barnabas got his, and be good men, because we are full of the Holy +Ghost, and full of the Holy Ghost because we are full of faith. + +III. What Barnabas said. + +'He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave +unto the Lord.' The first thing that strikes one about this +all-sufficient directory for Christian life is the emphasis with which +it sets forth 'the Lord' as the one object to be grasped and held. The +sum of all objective Religion is Christ--the sum of all subjective +Religion is cleaving to Him. A living Person to be laid hold of, and a +personal relation to that Person, such is the conception of Religion, +whether considered as revelation or as inward life, which underlies +this exhortation. Whether we listen to His own words about Himself, and +mark the altogether unprecedented way in which He was His own theme, +and the unique decisiveness and plainness with which He puts His own +personality before us as the Incarnate Truth, the pattern for all human +conduct, the refuge and the rest for the world of weary ones; or +whether we give ear to the teaching of His Apostles; from whatever +point of view we approach Christianity, it all resolves itself into the +person of Jesus Christ. He is the _Revelation_ of God; theology, +properly so called, is but the formulating of the facts which He gives +us; and for the modern world the alternative is, Christ the manifested +God, or no God at all, other than the shadow of a name. He is the +perfect _Exemplar_ of humanity! The law of life and the power to fulfil +the law are both in Him; and the superiority of Christian morality +consists not in this or that isolated precept, but in the embodiment of +all goodness in His life, and in the new motive which He supplies for +keeping the commandment. Wrenched away from Him, Christian morality has +no being. He is the sacrifice for the world, the salvation of which +flows from what He does, and not merely from what He taught or was. His +personality is the foundation of His work, and the gospel of +forgiveness and reconciliation is all contained in the name of Jesus. + +There is a constant tendency to separate the results of Christ's life +and death, whether considered as revelation, atonement, or ethics, from +Him, and unconsciously to make these the sum of our Religion, and the +object of our faith. Especially is this the case in times of restless +thought and eager canvassing of the very foundations of religious +belief, like the present. Therefore it is wholesome for us all to be +brought back to the pregnant simplicity of the thought which underlies +this text, and to mark how vividly these early Christians apprehended a +living Lord as the sum and substance of all which they had to grasp. + +There is a whole world between the man to whom God's revelation +consists in certain doctrines given to us by Jesus Christ, and the man +to whom it consists in that Christ Himself. Grasping a living person is +not the same as accepting a proposition. True, the propositions are +about Him, and we do not know Him without them. But equally true, we +need to be reminded that _He_ is our Saviour and not _they_, and that +God has revealed Himself to us not in words and sentences but in a life. + +For, alas! the doctrinal element has overborne the personal among all +Churches and all schools of thought, and in the necessary process of +formulating and systematising the riches which are in Jesus, we are all +apt to confound the creeds with the Christ, and so to manipulate +Christianity until, instead of being the revelation of a Person and a +gospel, it has become a system of divinity. Simple, devout souls have +to complain that they cannot find even a dead Christ, to say nothing of +a living one, for the theologians have 'taken away their Lord, and they +know not where they have laid Him.' + +It is, therefore, to be reckoned as a distinct gain that one result of +the course of more recent thought, both among friends and foes, has +been to make all men feel more than before, that all revelation is +contained in the living person of Jesus Christ. So did the Church +believe before creeds were. So it is coming to feel again, with a +consciousness enriched and defined by the whole body of doctrine, which +has flowed from Him during all the ages. That solemn, gracious Figure +rises day by day more clearly before men, whether they love Him or no, +as the vital centre of this great whole of doctrines, laws, +institutions, which we call Christianity. Round the story of His life +the final struggle is to be waged. The foe feels that, so long as that +remains, all other victories count for nothing. We feel that if that +goes, there is nothing to keep. The principles and the precepts will +perish alike, as the fair palace of the old legend, that crumbled to +dust when its builder died. But so long as He stands before mankind as +He is painted in the Gospel, it will endure. If all else were +annihilated, Churches, creeds and all, leave us these four Gospels, and +all else would be evolved again. The world knows now, and the Church +has always known, though it has not always been true to the +significance of the fact, that Jesus Christ is Christianity, and that +because He lives, it will live also. + +And consequently the sum of all personal religion is this simple act +described here as _cleaving to Him_. + +Need I do more than refer to the rich variety of symbols and forms of +expression under which that thought is put alike by the Master and by +His servants? Deepest of all are His own great words, of which our text +is but a feeble echo, 'Abide in Me, and I in you.' Fairest of all is +that lovely emblem of the vine, setting forth the sweet mystery of our +union with Him. Far as it is from the outmost pliant tendril to the +root, one life passes to the very extremities, and every cluster swells +and reddens and mellows because of its mysterious flow. 'So also is +Christ.' We remember how often the invitation flowed from His lips, +_Come_ unto Me; how He was wont to beckon men away from self and the +world with the great command, _Follow_ Me; how He explained the secret +of all true life to consist in _eating_ Him. We may recall, too, the +emphasis and perpetual reiteration with which Paul speaks of being 'in +Jesus' as the condition of all blessedness, power, and righteousness; +and the emblems which he so often employs of the building bound into a +whole on the foundation from which it derives its stability, of the +body compacted and organised into a whole by the head from which it +derives its life. + +We begin to be Christians, as this context tells us, when we 'turn to +the Lord.' We continue to be Christians, as Barnabas reminded these +ignorant beginners, by 'cleaving to the Lord.' Seeing, then, that our +great task is to preserve that which we have as the very foundation of +our Christian life, clearly the truest method of so keeping it will be +the constant repetition of the act by which we got it at first. In +other words, faith joined us to Christ, and continuously reiterated +acts of faith keep us united to Him. So, if I may venture, fathers and +brethren, to cast my words into the form of exhortation, even to such +an audience as the present, I would earnestly say, Let us cleave to +Christ by continual renewal of our first faith in Him. + +The longest line may be conceived of as produced simply by the motion +of its initial point. So should our lives be, our progress not +consisting in leaving our early acts of faith behind us, but in +repeating them over and over again till the points coalesce in one +unbroken line which goes straight to the Throne and Heart of Jesus. +True, the repetition should be accompanied with fuller knowledge, with +calmer certitude, and should come from a heart ennobled and encircled +by a Christ-possessing past. As in some great symphony the theme which +was given out in low notes on one poor instrument recurs over and over +again, embroidered with varying harmonies, and unfolding a richer +music, till it swells into all the grandeur of the triumphant close, so +our lives should be bound into a unity, and in their unity bound to +Christ by the constant renewal of our early faith, and the fathers +should come round again to the place which they occupied when as +children they first knew Him that is 'from the beginning' to the end +one and the same. + +Such constant reiteration is needed, too, because yesterday's trust has +no more power to secure to-day's union than the shreds of cloth and +nails which hold last year's growth to the wall will fasten this year's +shoots. Each moment must be united to Christ by its own act of faith, +or it will be separated from Him. So living in the Lord we shall be +strong and wise, happy and holy. So dying in the Lord we shall be of +the dead who are blessed. So sleeping in Jesus we shall at the last be +found in Him at that day, and shall be raised up together, and made to +sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. + +But more specially let us cleave to Christ by habitual contemplation. +There can be no real continuous closeness of intercourse with Him, +except by thought ever recurring to Him amidst all the tumult of our +busy days. I do not mean professional thinking or controversial +thinking, of which we ministers have more than enough. There is another +mood of mind in which to approach our Lord than these, a mood sadly +unfamiliar, I am afraid, in these days: when poor Mary has hardly a +chance of a reputation for 'usefulness' by the side of busy, bustling +Martha--that still contemplation of the truth which we possess, not +with the view of discovering its foundations, or investigating its +applications, or even of increasing our knowledge of its contents, but +of bringing our own souls more completely under its influence, and +saturating our being with its fragrance. The Church has forgotten how +to meditate. We are all so occupied arguing and deducing and +elaborating, that we have no time for retired, still contemplation, and +therefore lose the finest aroma of the truth we profess to believe. +Many of us are so busy thinking about Christianity that we have lost +our hold of Christ. Sure I am that there are few things more needed by +our modern religion than the old exhortation, 'Come, My people, enter +into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee.' Cleave to the Lord by +habitual play of meditative thought on the treasures hidden in His +name, and waiting like gold in the quartz, to be the prize of our +patient sifting and close gaze. + +And when the great truths embodied in Him stand clear before us, then +let us remember that we have not done with them when we have _seen_ +them. Next must come into exercise the moral side of faith, the +voluntary act of trust, the casting ourselves on Him whom we behold, +the making our own of the blessings which He holds out to us. Flee to +Christ as to our strong habitation to which we may continually resort. +Hold tightly by Christ with a grasp which nothing can slacken (that +whitens your very knuckles as you clutch Him), lean on Christ all your +weight and all your burdens. Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of +heart. + +Let us cleave to the Lord by constant outgoings of our love to Him. +That is the bond which unites human spirits together in the only real +union, and Scripture teaches us to see in the sweetest, sacredest, +closest tie that men and women can know, a real, though faint, shadow +of the far deeper and truer union between Christ and us. The same love +which is the bond of perfectness between man and man, is the bond +between us and Christ. In no dreamy, semi-pantheistic fusion of the +believer with his Lord do we find the true conception of the unity of +Christ and His Church, but in a union which preserves the +individualities lest it should slay the love. Faith knits us to Christ, +and faith is the mother of love, which maintains the blessed union. So +let us not be ashamed of the _emotional_ side of our religion, nor deem +that we can cleave to Christ unless our hearts twine their tendrils +round Him, and our love pours its odorous treasures on His sacred feet, +not without weeping and embraces. Cold natures may carp, but Love is +justified of her children, and Christ accepts the homage that has a +heart in it. Cleaving to the Lord is not merely love, but it is +impossible without it. The order is Faith, Love, Obedience--that +threefold cord knits men to Christ, and Christ to men. For the +understanding, a continuous grasp of Him as the object of thought. For +the heart, a continuous outgoing to Him as the object of our love. For +the will, a continuous submission to Him as the Lord of our obedience. +For the whole nature, a continuous cleaving to Him as the object of our +faith and worship. + +Such is the true discipline of the Christian life. Such is the +all-sufficient command; as for the newest convert from heathenism, with +little knowledge and the taint of his old vices in his soul, so for the +saint fullest of wisdom and nearest the Light. + +It _is_ all-sufficient. If Barnabas had been like some of us, he would +have had a very different style of exhortation. He would have said, +'This irregular work has been well done, but there are no authorised +teachers here, and no provision has been made for the due +administration of the sacraments of the Church. The very first thing of +all is to give these people the blessing of bishops and priests.' Some +of us would have said, 'Valuable work has been done, but these good +people are terribly ignorant. The best thing would be to get ready as +soon as possible some manual of Christian doctrine, and in the meantime +provide for their systematic instruction in at least the elements of +the faith.' Some of us would have said, 'No doubt they have been +converted, but we fear there has been too much of the emotional in the +preaching. The moral side of Christianity has not been pressed home, +and what they chiefly need is to be taught that it is not feeling, but +righteousness. Plain, practical instruction in Christian duty is the +one thing they want.' + +Barnabas knew better. He did not despise organisation, nor orthodoxy, +nor practical righteousness, but he knew that all three, and everything +else that any man needed for his perfecting would come, if only the +converts kept near to Christ, and that nothing else was of any use if +they did not. That same conviction should for us settle the relative +importance which we attach to these subordinate and derivative things, +and to the primary and primitive duty. Obedience to it will secure +them. They, without it, are not worth securing. + +We spend much pains and effort nowadays in perfecting our organisations +and consolidating our resources, and I have not a word to say against +that. But heavier machinery needs more power in the engine, and that +means greater capacity in your boilers and more fire in your furnace. +The more complete our organisation, the more do we need a firm hold of +Christ, or we shall be overweighted by it, shall be in danger of +burning incense to our own net, shall be tempted to trust in drill +rather than in courage, in mechanism rather than in the life drawn from +Christ. On the other hand, if we put as our first care the preservation +of the closeness of our union with Christ, that life will shape a body +for itself, and 'to every seed its own body.' + +True conceptions of Him, and a definite theology, are good and needful. +Let us cleave to Him with mind and heart, and we shall receive all the +knowledge we need, and be guided into the deep things of God. In Him +are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and the basis of all +theology is the personal possession of Him who is 'the wisdom of God' +and 'the Light of the world.' Every one that loveth is born of God and +knoweth God. _Pectus facit Theologum_. + +Plain, straightforward morality and everyday righteousness are better +than all emotion and all dogmatism and all churchism, says the world, +and Christianity says much the same; but plain, straightforward +righteousness and everyday morality come most surely when a man is +keeping close to Christ. In a word, everything that can adorn the +character with beauty, and clothe the Church with glorious apparel, +whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, all that the world or +God calls virtue and crowns with praise, they are all in their fulness +in Him, and all are most surely derived from Him by keeping fast hold +of His hand, and preserving the channels clear through which His +manifold grace may flow into our souls. The same life is strength in +the arm, pliancy in the fingers, swiftness in the foot, light in the +eye, music on the lips; so the same grace is Protean in its forms, and +to His servants who trust Him Christ ever says, 'What would ye that I +should do unto you? Be it even as thou wilt.' The same mysterious power +lives in the swaying branch, and in the veined leaf, and in the +blushing clusters. With like wondrous transformations of the one grace, +the Lord pours Himself into our spirits, filling all needs and fitting +for all circumstances. Therefore for us all, individuals and Churches, +this remains the prime command, 'With purpose of heart cleave unto the +Lord.' Dear brethren in the ministry, how sorely we need this +exhortation! Our very professional occupation with Christ and His truth +is full of danger for us; we are so accustomed to handle these sacred +themes as a means of instructing or impressing others that we get to +regard them as our weapons, even if we do not degrade them still +further by thinking of them as our stock-in-trade and means of +oratorical effect. We must keep very firm hold of Christ for ourselves +by much solitary communion, and so retranslating into the nutriment of +our own souls the message we bring to men, else when we have preached +to others we ourselves may be cast away. All the ordinary tendencies +which draw men from Him work on us, and a host of others peculiar to +ourselves, and all around us run strong currents of thought which +threaten to sweep many away. Let us tighten our grasp of Him in the +face of modern doubt; and take heed to ourselves that neither vanity, +nor worldliness, nor sloth; neither the gravitation earthward common to +all, nor the temptations proper to our office; neither unbelieving +voices without nor voices within, seduce us from His side. There only +is our peace, there our wisdom, there our power. + +Subtly and silently the separating forces are ever at work upon us, and +all unconsciously to ourselves our hold may relax, and the flow of this +grace into our spirits may cease, while yet we mechanically keep up the +round of outward service, nor even suspect that our strength is +departed from us. Many a stately elm that seems full of vigorous life, +for all its spreading boughs and clouds of dancing leaves, is hollow at +the heart, and when the storm comes goes down with a crash, and men +wonder, as they look at the ruin, how such a mere shell of life with a +core of corruption could stand so long. It rotted within, and fell at +last, because its roots did not go deep down to the rich soil, where +they would have found nourishment, but ran along near the surface among +gravel and stones. If we would stand firm, be sound within, and bring +forth much fruit, we must strike our roots deep in Him who is the +anchorage of our souls, and the nourisher of all our being. + +Hearken, beloved brethren, in this great work of the ministry, not to +the exhortation of the servant, but to the solemn command of the +Master, 'Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of +itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in +Me.' And let us, knowing our own weakness, take heed of the +self-confidence that answers, 'Though all should forsake Thee, yet will +not I,' and turn the vows which spring to our lips into the lowly +prayer, 'My soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken Thou me according to +Thy word.' Then, thinking rather of His cleaving to us than of our +cleaving to Him, let us resolutely take as the motto of our lives the +grand words: 'I follow after, if that I may lay hold of that for which +I am also laid hold of by Christ Jesus!' + + + +WHAT A GOOD MAN IS, AND HOW HE BECOMES SO + +'He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.'--ACTS +xi, 24. + +'A good man.' How easily that title is often gained! There is, perhaps, +no clearer proof that men are bad than the sort of people whom they +consent to call good. + +It is a common observation that all words describing moral excellence +tend to deteriorate and to contract their meaning, just as bright metal +rusts by exposure, or coins become light and illegible by use. So it +comes to pass that any decently respectable man, especially if he has +an easy temper and a dash of frankness and good humour, is christened +with this title 'good.' The Bible, which is the verdict of the Judge, +is a great deal more chary in its use of the word. You remember how +Jesus Christ once rebuked a man for addressing Him so, not that He +repudiated the title, but that the giver had bestowed it lightly and +out of mere conventional politeness. The word is too noble to be +applied without very good reason. + +But here we have a picture of Barnabas hung in the gallery of Scripture +portraits, and this is the description of it in the catalogue, 'He was +a good man.' + +You observe that my text is in the nature of an analysis. It begins at +the outside, and works inwards. 'He was a good man.' Indeed;--how came +he to be so? He was 'full of the Holy Ghost.' Full of the Holy Ghost, +was he? How came he to be that? He was 'full of faith.' So the writer +digs down, as it were, till he gets to the bed-rock, on which all the +higher strata repose; and here is his account of the way in which it is +possible for human nature to win this resplendent title, and to be +adjudged of God as 'good,' 'full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' + +So these three steps in the exposition of the character and its secret +will afford a framework for what I have to say now. + +I. Note, then, first, the sort of man whom the Judge will call 'good.' + +Now, I suppose I need not spend much time in massing together, in brief +outline, the characteristics of Barnabas. He was a Levite, belonging to +the sacerdotal tribe, and perhaps having some slight connection with +the functions of the Temple ministry. He was not a resident in the Holy +Land, but a Hellenistic Jew, a native of Cyprus, who had come into +contact with heathenism in a way that had beaten many a prejudice out +of him. We first hear of him as taking a share in the self-sacrificing +burst of brotherly love, which, whether it was wise or not, was noble. +'He, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the +Apostles' feet.' And, as would appear from a reference in one of Paul's +letters, he had to support himself afterwards by manual labour. + +Then the next thing that we hear of him is that, when the young man who +had been a persecuting Pharisee, and the rising hope of the +anti-Christian party, all at once came forward with some story of a +vision which he had seen on the road to Damascus, and when the older +Christians were suspicious of a trick to worm himself into their +secrets by a pretended conversion, Barnabas, with the generosity of an +unsuspicious nature, which often sees deeper into men than do +suspicious eyes, was the first to cast the aegis of his recognition +round him. In like manner, when Christianity took an entirely +spontaneous and, to the Church at Jerusalem, rather unwelcome new +development and expansion, when some unofficial believers, without any +authority from headquarters, took upon themselves to stride clean +across the wall of separation, and to speak of Jesus Christ to blank +heathens, and found, to the not altogether gratified surprise of the +Christians at Jerusalem, 'that on the Gentiles also was poured out the +gift of the Holy Ghost,' it was Barnabas who was sent down to look into +this surprising new phenomenon, and we read that 'when he came and saw +the grace of God, he was glad.' The reason why he rejoiced over the +manifestation of the grace of God in such a strange form was because +'he was a good man,' and his goodness recognised goodness in others and +was glad at the work of the Lord. The new condition of affairs sent him +to look for Paul, and to put him to work. Then we find him set apart to +missionary service, and the leader of the first missionary band, in +which he was accompanied by his friend Saul. He acquiesced frankly, and +without a murmur, in the superiority of the junior, and yielded up +pre-eminence to him quite willingly. The story of that missionary +journey begins 'Barnabas and Saul,' but very soon it comes to be 'Paul +and Barnabas,' and it keeps that order throughout. He was an older man +than Paul, for when at Lystra the people thought that the gods had come +down in the likeness of men; Barnabas was Jupiter, and Paul the +quick-footed Mercury, messenger of the gods. He was in the work before +Paul was thought of, and it must have taken a great deal of goodness to +acquiesce in 'He must increase and I must decrease.' Then came the +quarrel between them, the foolish fondness for his runaway nephew John +Mark, whom he insisted on retaining in a place for which he was +conspicuously unfitted. And so he lost his friend, the confidence of +the Church, and his work. He sulked away into Cyprus; he had his +nephew, for whom he had given up all these other things. A little fault +may wreck a life, and the whiter the character the blacker the smallest +stain upon it. + +We do not hear anything more of him. Apparently, from one casual +allusion, he continued to serve the Lord in evangelistic work, but the +sweet communion of the earlier days, and the confident friendship with +the Apostle, seem to have come to an end with that sharp contention. So +Barnabas drops out of the rank of Christian workers. And yet 'he was a +good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' + +Now I have spent more time than I meant over this brief outline of the +sort of character here pointed at. Let me just gather into one or two +sentences what seem to me to be the lessons of it. The first is this, +that the tap-root of all goodness is reference to God and obedience to +Him. People tell us that morality is independent of religion. I admit +that many men are better than their creeds, and many men are worse than +their creeds; but I would also venture to assert that morality is the +garment of religion; the body of which religion is the soul; the +expression of religion in daily life. And although I am not going to +say that nothing which a man does without reference to God has any +comparative goodness in it, or that all the acts which are thus void of +reference to Him stand upon one level of evil, I do venture to say that +the noblest deed, which is not done in conscious obedience to the will +of God, lacks its supreme nobleness. The loftiest perfection of conduct +is obedience to God. And whatever excellence of self-sacrifice, +'whatsoever things lovely and of good report,' there may be, apart from +the presence of this perfect motive, those deeds are imperfect. They do +not correspond either to the whole obligations or to the whole +possibilities of man, and, therefore, they are beneath the level of the +highest good. Good is measured by reference to God. + +Then, further, let me remark that one broad feature which characterises +the truest goodness is the suppression of self. That is only another +way of saying the same thing as I have been saying. It is illustrated +for us all through this story of Barnabas. Whosoever can say, 'I think +not of myself, but of others; of the cause; of the help I can give to +men; and I lay not goods only, nor prejudices only, nor the pride of +position and the supremacy of place only at the feet of God, but I lay +down my whole self; and I desire that self may be crucified, that God +may live in me,'--he, and only he, has reached the height of goodness. +Goodness requires the suppression of self. + +Further, note that the gentler traits of character are pre-eminent in +Christian goodness. There is nothing about this man heroic or +exceptional. His virtues are all of the meek and gracious sort--those +which we relegate sometimes to an inferior place in our estimates. +These things make but a poor show by the side of some of the tawdry +splendours of what the vulgar world calls virtues. It requires an +educated eye to see the harmony of the sober colouring of some great +painter. A child, a clown, a vulgar person--and there are such in all +ranks--will prefer flaring reds and blues and yellows heaped together +in staring contrast. A thrush or a blackbird is but a soberly clad +creature by the side of macaws and paroquets; but the one has a song +and the others have only a screech. The gentle virtues are the truly +Christian virtues--patience and meekness and long-suffering and +sympathy and readiness to efface oneself for the sake of God and of men. + +So there is a bit of comfort for us commonplace, humdrum people, to +whom God has only given one or two talents, and who can never expect to +make a figure before men. We may be little violets below a stone, if we +cannot be flaunting hollyhocks and tiger lilies. We may have the beauty +of goodness in us after Christ's example, and that is better than to be +great. + +Barnabas was no genius. He was not even a genius in goodness; he did +not strike out anything original and out of the way. He seems to have +been a commonplace kind of man enough; but 'he was a good man.' And the +weakest and the humblest of us may hope to have the same thing said of +us, if we will. + +And then, note further, that true goodness, thank God! does not exclude +the possibility of falling and sinning. There is a black spot in this +man's history; and there are black spots in the histories of all +saints. Thank God! the Bible is, as some people would say, almost +brutally frank in telling us about the imperfections of the best. Very +often imperfections are the exaggerations of characteristic goodnesses, +and warn us to take care that we do not push, as Barnabas did, our +facility to the point of criminal complicity with weaknesses; and that +we do not indulge, instead of strenuously rebuking when need is. Never +let our gentleness fall away, like a badly made jelly, into a trembling +heap, and never let our strength gather itself together into a +repulsive attitude, but guard against the exaggeration of virtue into +vice. + +Remember that whilst there may be good men who sin, there is One entire +and flawless, in whom all types of excellence do meet, and who alone of +humanity can front the verdict of the world, and has fronted it now for +nineteen centuries, with the question upon His lips, which none have +dared to answer, 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin?' + +II. Secondly, notice the divine Helper who makes men good. + +Luke, if he be the writer of the Acts, goes on with his analysis. He +has done with the first fold, the outer garment, as it were; he strips +it off and shows us the next fold, 'full of the Holy Ghost.' + +A divine Helper, not merely a divine influence, but a divine Person, +who not only helps men from without, but so enters into a man as that +the man's whole nature is saturated with Him--that is strange language. +Mystical and unreal I dare say some of you may think it, but let us +consider whether some such divine Helper is not plainly pointed as +necessary, by the experience of every man that ever honestly tried to +make himself good. + +I have no doubt that I am speaking to many persons who, more or less +constantly and courageously and earnestly, have laboured at the task of +self-improvement and self-culture. I venture to think that, if their +standard of what they wish to attain is high, their confession of what +they have attained will be very low. Ah, brother! if we think of what +it is that we need to make us good--viz. the strengthening of these +weak wills of ours, which we cannot strengthen but to a very limited +degree by any tonics that we can apply, or any supports with which we +may bind them round; if we consider the resistance which ourselves, our +passions, our tastes, our habits, our occupations offer, and the +resistance which the world around us, friends, companions, and all the +aggregate, dread and formidable, of material things present to our +becoming, in any lofty and comprehensive sense of the term, good men +and women, I think we shall be ready to listen, as to a true Gospel, to +the message that says, 'You do not need to do it by yourself.' You have +got the wolf by the ears, perhaps, for a moment, but there is +tremendous strength in the brute, and your hands and wrists will ache +in holding him presently, and what will happen then? You do not need to +try it yourself. There is a divine Helper standing at your sides and +waiting to strengthen you, and that Helper does not work from outside; +He will pass within, and dwell in your hearts and mould and strengthen +your wills to what is good, and suppress your inclinations to evil, +and, by His inward presence, teach 'your hands to war and your fingers +to fight.' + +Surely, surely, the experience of the world from the beginning, +confirmed by the consciousness and conscience of every one of us, tells +us that of ourselves we are impotent, and that the good that is within +the reach of our unaided efforts is poor and fragmentary and +superficial indeed. + +The great promise of the Gospel is precisely this promise. We terribly +limit and misunderstand what we call the Gospel if we give such +exclusive predominance to one part of it, as some of us are accustomed +to do. Thank God I the first word that Jesus Christ says to any soul +is, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' But that first word has a second that +follows it, 'Arise! and walk!' and it is for the sake of the second +that the first is spoken. The gift of pardon, the consciousness of +acceptance, the fact of reconciliation with God, the closing of the +doors of the place of retribution, the quieting of the stings of +accusing conscience, all these are but meant to be introductory to that +which Jesus Christ Himself, in the Gospel of John, emphatically calls +more than once '_the_ gift of God,' which He symbolised by 'living +water,' which whosoever drank should never thirst, and which whosoever +possessed would give it forth in living streams of holy life and noble +deeds. The promise of the Gospel is the promise of new life, derived +from Christ and maintained in us by the indwelling Spirit, which will +come like fresh reinforcements to an all but beaten army in some +hard-fought field, which will stand like a stay behind a man, to us +almost blown over by the gusts of temptation, which will strengthen +what is weak, raise what is low, illumine what is dark, and will make +us who are evil good with a goodness given by God through His Son. + +Surely there is nothing more congruous with that divine character than +that He who Himself is good, and good from Himself, should rejoice in +making us, His poor children, into His own likeness. Surely He would +not be good unless He delighted to make us good. Surely it is something +very like presumption in men to assert that the direct communication of +the Spirit of God with the spirits whom God has made is an +impossibility. Surely it is flying in the face of Scripture teaching to +deny that such communication is a promise. Surely it is a flagrant +contradiction of the depths of Christian experience to falter in the +belief that it is a very solid reality. + +'Full of the Holy Ghost,' as a vessel might be to its brim of golden +wine; Christian men and women! does that describe you? Full? A +dribbling drop or two in the bottom of the jar. Whose fault is it? Why, +with that rushing mighty wind to fill our sails if we like, should we +be lying in the sickly calms of the tropics, with the pitch oozing out +of the seams, and the idle canvas flapping against the mast? Why, with +those tongues of fire hovering over our heads, should we be cowering +over grey ashes in which there lives a little spark? Why, with that +great rushing tide of the river of the water of life, should we be like +the dry watercourses of the desert, with bleached and white stones +baking where the stream should be running? 'O! Thou that art named the +House of Israel, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His +doings?' + +III. And so, lastly, we are shown how that divine Helper comes to men. + +'Full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.' There is no goodness without +the impulse and indwelling of the divine Spirit, and there is no divine +Spirit to dwell in a man's heart without that man's trusting in Jesus +Christ. The condition of receiving the gift that makes us good is +simply and solely that we should put our trust in Jesus Christ the +Giver. That opens the door, and the divine Spirit enters. + +True! there are convincing operations which He effects upon the world; +but these are not in question here. These come prior to, and +independent of, faith. But the work of the Spirit of God, present +within us to heal and hallow us, has as condition our trust in Jesus +Christ, the Great Healer. If you open a chink, the water will come in. +If you trust in Jesus Christ, He will give you the new life of His +Spirit, which will make you free from the law of sin and death. That +divine Spirit 'which they that believe in Him should receive' delights +to enter into every heart where His presence is desired. Faith is +desire; and desires rooted in faith cannot be in vain. Faith is +expectation; and expectations based upon the divine promise can never +be disappointed. Faith is dependence, and dependence that reckons upon +God, and upon God's gift of His Spirit, will surely be recompensed. + +The measure in which we possess the power that makes us good depends +altogether upon ourselves. 'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.' +You may have as much of God as you want, and as little as you will. The +measure of your faith will determine at once the measure of your +goodness, and of your possession of the Spirit that makes good. Just as +when the prophet miraculously increased the oil in the cruse, the +golden stream flowed as long as they brought vessels, and stayed when +there were no more, so as long as we open our hearts for the reception, +the gift will not be withheld, but God will not let it run like water +spilled upon the ground that cannot be gathered up. If we will desire, +if we will expect, if we will reckon on, if we will look to, Jesus +Christ, and, beside all this, if we will honestly use the power that we +possess, our capacity will grow, and the gift will grow, and our +holiness and purity will grow with it. + +Some of you have been trying more or less continuously, all your lives, +to mend your own characters and improve yourselves. Brethren, there is +a better way than that. A modern poet says-- + + 'Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, + These three alone lift life to sovereign power.' + +Taken by itself that is pure heathenism. Self cannot improve self. Put +self into God's keeping, and say, 'I cannot guard, keep, purge, hallow +mine own self. Lord, do Thou do it for me!' It is no use to try to +build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven. A ladder has been let +down on which we may pass upwards, and by which God's angels of grace +and beauty will come down to dwell in our hearts. If the Judge is to +say of each of us, 'He was a good man,' He must also be able to say, +'He was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' + + + +A NICKNAME ACCEPTED + +'The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch'--ACTS xi. 26. + +Nations and parties, both political and religious, very often call +themselves by one name, and are known to the outside world by another. +These outside names are generally given in contempt; and yet they +sometimes manage to hit the very centre of the characteristics of the +people on whom they are bestowed, and so by degrees get to be adopted +by them, and worn as an honour. + +So it has been with the name 'Christian.' It was given at the first by +the inhabitants of the Syrian city of Antioch, to a new sort of people +that had sprung up amongst them, and whom they could not quite make +out. They would not fit into any of their categories, and so they had +to invent a new name for them. It is never used in the New Testament by +Christians about themselves. It occurs here in this text; it occurs in +Agrippa's half-contemptuous exclamation: 'You seem to think it is a +very small matter to make me--me, a king!--a Christian, one of those +despised people!' And it occurs once more, where the Apostle Peter is +specifying the charges brought against them: 'If any man suffer as a +Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this +behalf (1 Peter iv. 16). That sounds like the beginning of the process +which has gone on ever since, by which the nickname, flung by the +sarcastic men of Antioch, has been turned into the designation by +which, all over the world, the followers of Jesus Christ have been +proud to call themselves. + +Now in this text there are the outside name by which the world calls +the followers of Jesus Christ, and one of the many interior names by +which the Church called itself. I have thought it might be profitable +now to put all the New Testament names for Christ's followers together, +and think about them. + +I. So, to begin with, we deal with this name given by the world to the +Church, which the Church has adopted. + +Observe the circumstances under which it was given. A handful of +large-hearted, brave men, anonymous fugitives belonging to the little +Church in Jerusalem, had come down to Antioch; and there, without +premeditation, without authority, almost without +consciousness--certainly without knowing what a great thing they were +doing--they took, all at once, as if it were the most natural thing in +the world, a great step by preaching the Gospel to pure heathen Greeks; +and so began the process by which a small Jewish sect was transformed +into a world-wide church. The success of their work in Antioch, amongst +the pure heathen population, has for its crowning attestation this, +that it compelled the curiosity-hunting, pleasure-loving, sarcastic +Antiocheans to find out a new name for this new thing; to write out a +new label for the new bottles into which the new wine was being put. +Clearly the name shows that the Church was beginning to attract the +attention of outsiders. + +Clearly it shows, too, that there was a novel element in the Church. +The earlier disciples had been all Jews, and could be lumped together +along with their countrymen, and come under the same category. But here +was something that could not be called either Jew or Greek, because it +embraced both. The new name is the first witness to the cosmopolitan +character of the primitive Church. Then clearly, too, the name +indicates that in a certain dim, confused way, even these superficial +observers had got hold of the right notion of what it was that _did_ +bind these people together. They called them 'Christians'--Christ's +men, Christ's followers. But it was only a very dim refraction of the +truth that had got to them; they had no notion that 'Christ' was not a +proper name, but the designation of an office; and they had no notion +that there was anything peculiar or strange in the bond which united +its adherents to Christ. Hence they called His followers 'Christians,' +just as they would have called Herod's followers 'Herodians,' in the +political world, or Aristotle's followers 'Aristotelians' in the +philosophical world. Still, in their groping way, they bad put their +finger on the fact that the one power that held this heterogeneous mass +together, the one bond that bound up 'Jew and Gentile, barbarian, +Scythian, bond and free' into one vital unity, was a personal relation +to a living Person. And so they said--not understanding the whole +significance of it, but having got hold of the right end of the +clue--they said, 'They are Christians!' 'Christ's people,' 'the +followers of this Christ.' + +And their very blunder was a felicity. If they had called them +'Jesuits' that would have meant the followers of the mere man. They did +not know how much deeper they had gone when they said, not followers of +Jesus, but 'followers of Christ'; for it is not Jesus the Man, but +Jesus Christ, the Man with His office, that makes the centre and the +bond of the Christian Church. + +These, then, are the facts, and the fair inferences from them. A plain +lesson here lies on the surface. The Church--that is to say, the men +and women who make its members--should draw to itself the notice of the +outside world. I do not mean by advertising, and ostentation, and +sounding trumpets, and singularities, and affectations. None of all +these are needed. If you are live Christians it will be plain enough to +outsiders. It is a poor comment on your consistency, if, being Christ's +followers, you can go through life unrecognised even by 'them that are +without.' What shall we say of leaven which does _not_ leaven, or of +light which does _not_ shine, or of salt which does _not_ repel +corruption? It is a poor affair if, being professed followers of Jesus +Christ, you do not impress the world with the thought that 'here is a +man who does not come under any of our categories, and who needs a new +entry to describe _him_.' The world ought to have the same impression +about you which Haman had about the Jews--'Their laws are diverse from +all people.' + +Christian professors, are the world's names for each other enough to +describe you by, or do you need another name to be coined for you in +order to express the manifest characteristics that you display? The +Church that does not _provoke_ the attention--I use the word in its +etymological, not its offensive sense--the Church that does not call +upon itself the attention and interest of outsiders, is not a Church as +Jesus Christ meant it to be, and it is not a Church that is worth +keeping alive; and the sooner it has decent burial the better for +itself and for the world! + +There is another thing here, viz.: this name suggests that the clear +impression made by our conduct and character, as well as by our words, +should be that we belong to Jesus Christ. The eye of an outside +observer may be unable to penetrate the secret of the deep sweet tie +uniting us to Jesus, but there should be no possibility of the most +superficial and hasty glance overlooking the fact that we _are_ His. He +should manifestly be the centre and the guide, the impulse and the +pattern, the strength and the reward, of our whole lives. We are +Christians. That should be plain for all folks to see, whether we speak +or be silent. Brethren, is it so with you? Does your life need no +commentary of your words in order that men should know what is the +hidden spring that moves all its wheels; what is the inward spirit that +co-ordinates all its motions into harmony and beauty? Is it true that +like 'the ointment of the right hand which bewrayeth itself' your +allegiance to Jesus Christ, and the overmastering and supreme authority +which He exercises upon you, and upon your life, 'cannot be hid'? Do +you think that, without your words, if you, living in the way you do, +were put down into the middle of Pekin, as these handful of people were +put down into the middle of the heathen city of Antioch, the wits of +the Chinese metropolis would have to invent a name for you, as the +clever men of Antioch did for these people; and do you think that if +they had to invent a name, the name that would naturally come to their +lips, looking at you, would be 'Christians,' 'Christ's men'? If it +would not, there is something wrong. + +The last word that I say about this first part of my text is this. It +is a very sad thing, but it is one that is always occurring, that the +world's inadequate notions of what makes a follower of Jesus Christ get +accepted by the Church. Why was it that the name 'Christian' ran all +over Christendom in the course of a century and a half? I believe very +largely because it was a conveniently vague name; because it did not +describe the deepest and sacredest of the bonds that unite us to Jesus +Christ. Many a man is quite willing to say, 'I am a Christian,' who +would hesitate a long time before he said, 'I am a believer,' 'I am a +disciple.' The vagueness of the name, the fact that it erred by defect +in not touching the central, deepest relation between man and Jesus +Christ, made it very appropriate to the declining spirituality and +increasing formalism of the Christian Church in the post-Apostolic age. +It is a sad thing when the Church drops its standard down to the +world's notion of what It ought to be, and adopts the world's name for +itself and its converts. + +II. I turn now to set side by side with this vague, general, outside +name the more specific and _interior_ names--if I may so call them--by +which Christ's followers at first knew themselves. + +The world said, 'You are Christ's men'; and the names which were +self-imposed and are now to be considered might be taken as being the +Church's explanation of what the world was fumbling at when it so +called them. There are four of them: of course, I can only just touch +on them. + +(_a_) The first is in this verse-'_disciples_.' The others are +_believers_, _saints_, _brethren_. These four are the Church's own +christening of itself; its explanation and expansion, its deepening and +heightening, of the vague name given by the world. + +As to the first, _disciples_, any concordance will show that the name +was employed almost exclusively during the time of Christ's life upon +earth. It is the only name for Christ's followers in the Gospels; it +occurs also, mingled with others, in the Acts of the Apostles, and it +never occurs thereafter. + +The name 'disciple,' then, carries us back to the historical beginning +of the whole matter, when Jesus was looked upon as a Rabbi having +followers called disciples; just as were John the Baptist and his +followers, Gamaliel and his school, or Socrates and his. It sets forth +Christ as being the Teacher, and His followers as being His adherents, +His scholars, who learned at His feet. + +Now that is always true. _We_ are Christ's scholars quite as much as +were the men who heard and saw with their eyes and handled with their +hands, of the Word of Life. Not by words only, but by gracious deeds +and fair, spotless life, He taught them and us and all men to the end +of time, our highest knowledge of God of whom He is the final +revelation, our best knowledge of what men should and shall be by His +perfect life in which is contained all morality, our only knowledge of +that future in that He has died and is risen and lives to help and +still to teach. He teaches us still by the record of His life, and by +the living influence of that Spirit whom He sends forth to guide us +into all truth. He is the Teacher, the only Teacher, the Teacher for +all men, the Teacher of all truth, the Teacher for evermore. He speaks +from Heaven. Let us give heed to His voice. + +But that Name is not enough to tell all that He is to us, or we to Him, +and so after He had passed from earth it unconsciously and gradually +dropped out of use by the disciples, as they felt a deepened bond +uniting them to Him who was not only their Teacher of the Truth which +was Himself, but was their Sacrifice and Advocate with the Father. And +for all who hold the, as I believe, essentially imperfect conception of +Jesus Christ as being mainly a Teacher, either by word or by pattern; +whether it be put into the old form or into the modern form of +regarding Him as the Ideal and Perfect Man, it seems to me a fact well +worthy of consideration, that the name of disciple and the relation +expressed by it were speedily felt by the Christian Church to be +inadequate as a representation of the bond that knit them to Him. He is +our Teacher, we His scholars. He is more than that, and a more sacred +bond unites us to Him. As our Master we owe Him absolute submission. +When He speaks, we have to accept His dictum. What He says is truth, +pure and entire. His utterance is the last word upon any subject that +He touches, it is the ultimate appeal, and the Judge that ends the +strife. We owe Him submission, an open eye for all new truth, constant +docility, as conscious of our own imperfections, and a confident +expectation that He will bless us continuously with high and as yet +unknown truths that come from His inexhaustible stores of wisdom and +knowledge. + +(_b_) Teacher and scholars move in a region which, though it be +important, is not the central one. And the word that was needed next to +express what the early Church felt Christ was to them, and they to Him, +lifts us into a higher atmosphere altogether,--'_believers_,' they who +are exercising not merely intellectual submission to the dicta of the +Teacher, but who are exercising living trust in the person of the +Redeemer. The belief which is faith is altogether a higher thing than +its first stage, which is the belief of the understanding. There is in +it the moral element of trust. We believe a truth, we trust a Person; +and the trust which we are to exercise in Jesus Christ, and which knits +us to Him, is our trust in Him, not in any character that we may choose +to ascribe to Him, but in the character in which He is revealed in the +New Testament--Redeemer, Saviour, Manifest God; and therefore, the +Infinite Friend and Helper of our souls. + +That trust, my brethren, is the one bond that binds, men to God, and +the one thing that makes us Christ's men. Apart from it, we may be very +near Him, but we are not joined to Him. By it, and by it alone, the +union is completed, and His power and His grace flow into our spirits. +Are you, not merely a 'Christian,' in the world's notion, being bound +in some vague way to Jesus Christ, but are you a Christian in the sense +of trusting your soul's salvation to Him? + +(_c_) Then, still further, there is another name--'_saints_.' It has +suffered perhaps more at the hands both of the world and of the Church +than any other. It has been taken by the latter and restricted to the +dead, and further restricted to those who excel, according to the +fantastic, ascetic standard of mediaeval Christianity. It has suffered +from the world in that it has been used with a certain bitter emphasis +of resentment at the claim of superior purity supposed to be implied in +it, and so has come to mean on the world's lips one who pretends to be +better than other people and whose actions contradict his claim. But +the name belongs to all Christ's followers. It makes no claim to +special purity, for the central idea of the word 'saint' is not purity. +Holiness, which is the English for the Latinised 'sanctity,' holiness +which is attributed in the Old Testament to God first, to men only +secondarily, does not primarily mean _purity_, but _separation_. God is +holy, inasmuch as by that whole majestic character of His, He is lifted +above all bounds of creatural limitations, as well as above man's sin. +A sacrifice, the Sabbath, a city, a priest's garment, a mitre--all +these things are 'holy,' not when they are pure, but when they are +devoted to Him. And men are holy, not because they are clean, but +because by free self-surrender they have consecrated themselves to Him. + +Holiness is consecration, that is to say, holiness is giving myself up +to Him to do what He will with. 'I am holy' is not the declaration of +my estimate 'I am pure,' but the declaration of the fact 'I am thine, O +Lord.' So the New Testament idea of saint has in it these +elements--consecration, consecration resting on faith in Christ, and +consecration leading to separation from the world and its sin. And that +glad yielding of oneself to God, as wooed by His mercies, and thereby +drawn away from communion with our evil surroundings and from +submission to our evil selves, must be a part of the experience of +every true Christian. All His people are saints, not as being pure, but +as being given up to Him, in union with whom alone will the cleansing +powers flow into their lives and clothe them with 'the righteousness of +saints.' Have you thus consecrated yourself to God? + +(_d_) The last name is '_brethren_,'--a name which has been much +maltreated both by the insincerity of the Church, and by the sarcasm of +the world. It has been an unreal appellation which has meant nothing +and been meant to mean nothing, so that the world has said that our +'brethren' signified a good deal less than their 'brothers.' ''Tis +true, 'tis pity; pity 'tis, 'tis true.' + +But what I ask you to notice is that the main thing about that name +'brethren' is not the relation of the brethren to one another, but +their common relation to their Father. + +When we call ourselves as Christian people 'brethren,' we mean first +this: that we are the possessors of a supernatural life, which has come +from one Father, and which has set us in altogether new relations to +one another, and to the world round about us. Do you believe that if +you have any of that new life which comes through faith in Jesus +Christ, then you are the brethren of all those that possess the same? + +As society becomes more complicated, as Christian people grow unlike +each other in education, in social position, in occupation, in their +general outlook into the world, it is more and more difficult to feel +what is nevertheless true: that any two Christian people, however +unlike each other, are nearer each other in the very roots of their +nature, than a Christian and a non-Christian, however like each other. +It is difficult to feel that, and it is getting more and more +difficult, but for all that it is a fact. + +And now I wish to ask you, Christian men and women, whether you feel +more at home with people who love Jesus Christ--as you say that you +love Him--or whether you like better to be with people who do not? + +There are some of you who choose your intimate associates, whom you ask +to your homes and introduce to your children as desirable companions, +with no reference at all to their religious character. The duties of +your position, of course, oblige each of you to be much among people +who do not share your faith, and it is cowardly and wrong to shrink +from the necessity. But for Christian people to make choice of heart +friends, or close intimates, among those who have no sympathy with +their professed belief about, and love to, Jesus Christ, does not say +much for the depth and reality of their religion. A man is known by the +company he keeps, and if your friends are picked out for other reasons, +and their religion is no part of their attraction, it is not an unfair +conclusion that there are other things for which you care more than you +do for faith in Jesus Christ and love to Him. If you deeply feel the +bond that knits you to Christ, and really live near to Him, you will be +near to your brethren. You will feel that 'blood is thicker than +water,' and however like you may be to irreligious people in many +things, you will feel that the deepest bond of all knits you to the +poorest, the most ignorant, the most unlike you in social position; ay! +and the most unlike you in theological opinion, who love the Lord Jesus +Christ in sincerity. + +Now that is the sum of the whole matter. And my last word to you is +this: Do not you be contented with the world's vague notions of what +makes Christ's man. I do not ask you if you are Christians; plenty of +you would say: 'Oh yes! of course! Is not this a Christian country? Was +not I christened when I was a child? Are we not all members of the +Church of England by virtue of our birth? Yes! of course I am!' + +I do not ask you that; _I_ do not ask you anything; but I pray you to +ask yourselves these four questions: Am I Christ's scholar? Am I +believing on Him? Am I consecrated to Him? Am I the possessor of a new +life from Him? And never give yourselves rest until you can say humbly +and yet confidently, 'Yes! thank God, I am!' + + + +THE MARTYRDOM OF JAMES + +'Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword.'--ACTS xii. 2. + +One might have expected more than a clause to be spared to tell the +death of a chief man and the first martyr amongst the Apostles. James, +as we know, was one of the group of the Apostles who were in especially +close connection with Jesus Christ. He is associated in the Gospels +with Peter and his brother John, and is always named before John, as if +he were the more important of the two, by reason of age or of other +circumstances unknown to us. But yet we know next to nothing about him. +In the Acts of the Apostles he is a mere lay figure; his name is only +mentioned in the catalogue at the beginning, and here again in the +brief notice of his death. The reticent and merely incidental character +of the notice of his martyrdom is sufficiently remarkable. I think the +lessons of the fact, and of the, I was going to say, slight way in +which the writer of this book refers to it, may perhaps be most +pointedly brought out if we take four contrasts--James and Stephen, +James and Peter, James and John, James and James. Now, if we take these +four I think we shall learn something. + +I. First, then, James and Stephen. + +Look at the different scale on which the incidents of the deaths of +these two are told: the martyrdom of the one is beaten out over +chapters, the martyrdom of the other is crammed into a corner of a +sentence. And yet, of the two men, the one who is the less noticed +filled the larger place officially, and the other was only a simple +deacon and preacher of the Word. The fact that Stephen was the first +Christian to follow his Lord in martyrdom is not sufficient to account +for the extraordinary difference. The difference is to be sought for in +another direction altogether. The Bible cares so little about the +people whom it names because its true theme is the works of God, and +not of man; and the reason why the 'Acts of the Apostles' kills off one +of the chief Apostles in this fashion is simply that, as the writer +tells us, his theme is 'all that _Jesus_' continued 'to do and to teach +after He was taken up.' Since it is Christ who is the true actor, it +matters uncommonly little what becomes of James or of the other ten. +This book is _not_ the 'Acts of the Apostles,' but it is the Acts of +Jesus Christ. + +I might suggest, too, in like manner, that there is another contrast +which I have not included in my four, between the scale on which the +death of Jesus Christ is told by Luke, and that on which this death is +narrated. What is the reason why so disproportionate a space of the +Gospel is concerned with the last two days of our Lord's life on earth? +What is the reason why years are leaped over in silence and moments are +spread out in detail, but that the death of a man is only a death, but +the death of the Christ is the life of the world? It is little needful +that we should have poetical, emotional, picturesque descriptions of +martyrdoms and the like in a book which is altogether devoted to +tracking the footsteps of Christ in history; and which regards men as +nothing more than the successive instruments of His purpose, and the +depositories of His grace. + +Another lesson which we may draw from the reticence in the case of the +Apostle, and the expansiveness in the case of the protomartyr, is that +of a wise indifference to the utterly insignificant accident of +posthumous memory or oblivion of us and our deeds and sufferings. James +sleeps none the less sweetly in his grave, or, rather, wakes none the +less triumphantly in heaven, because his life and death are both so +scantily narrated. If we 'self-infold the large results' of faithful +service, we need not trouble ourselves about its record on earth. + +But another lesson which may be learned from this cursory notice of the +Apostle's martyrdom is--how small a thing death really is! Looked at +from beside the Lord of life and death, which is the point of view of +the author of this narrative, 'great death' dwindles to a very little +thing. We need to revise our notions if we would understand how trivial +it really is. To us it frowns like a black cliff blocking the upper end +of our valley, but there is a path round its base, and though the +throat of the pass be narrow, it has room for us to get through and up +to the sunny uplands beyond. From a mountain top the country below +seems level plain, and what looked like an impassable precipice has +dwindled to be indistinguishable. The triviality of death, to those who +look upon it from the heights of eternity, is well represented by these +brief words which tell of the first breach thereby in the circle of the +Apostles. + +II. There is another contrast, James and Peter. + +Now this chapter tells of two things: the death of one of that pair of +friends; the miracle that was wrought for the deliverance of the other +from death. Why could not the parts have been exchanged, or why could +not the miraculous hand that was stretched out to save the one +fisherman of Bethsaida have been put forth to save the other? Why +should James be slain, and Peter miraculously delivered? A question +easily asked; a question not to be answered by us. We may say that the +one was more useful for the development of the Church than the other. +But we have all seen lives that, to our poor vision, seemed to be all +but indispensable, ruthlessly swept away, and lives that seemed to be, +and were, perfectly profitless, prolonged to extreme old age. We may +say that maturity of character, development of Christian graces, made +the man ready for glory. But we have all seen some struck down when +anything but ready; and others left for the blessing of mankind many, +many a day after they were far fitter for heaven than thousands that, +we hope, have gone there. + +So all these little explanations do not go down to the bottom of the +matter, and we are obliged just to leave the whole question in the +loving Hands that hold the keys of life and death for us all. Only we +may be sure of this, that James was as dear to Christ as Peter was, and +that there was no greater love shown in sending the angel that +delivered the one out of the 'hand of Herod and from all the +expectation of the people of the Jews,' than was shown in sending the +angel that stood behind the headsman and directed the stroke of the +fatal sword on the neck of the other. + +The one was as dear to the Christ as the other--ay, and the one was as +surely, and more blessedly, delivered 'from the mouth of the lion' as +the other was, though the one seemed to be dragged from his teeth, and +the other seemed to be crushed by his powerful jaws. James escaped from +Herod when Herod slew him but could not make him unfaithful to his +Master, and his deliverance was not less complete than the deliverance +of his friend. + +But let us remember, also, that if thus, to two equally beloved, there +were dealt out these two different fates, it must be because that evil, +which, as I said, is not so great as it looks, is also not so bitter as +it tastes, and there is no real evil, for the loving heart, in the +stroke that breaks its bands and knits it to Jesus Christ. If we are +Christians, the deepest desire of our souls is fuller communion with +our Lord. We realise that, in some stunted and scanty measure, by life; +but oh! is it not strange that we should shrink from that change which +will enable us to realise it fully and eternally? The contrast of James +and Peter may teach us the equal love that presides over the life of +the living and the death of the dying. + +III. Another contrast is that of James and John. + +The close union, and subsequent separation by this martyrdom, of that +pair of brothers is striking and pathetic. They seem to have together +pursued their humble trade of fishermen in the little fishing village +of Bethsaida, apparently as working partners with their father Zebedee. +They were not divided by discipleship, as was the sad fate of many a +brother delivered by a brother to death. If we may attach any weight to +the suggestion that the expression in John's narrative, 'He first +findeth _his own_ brother, Simon,' implies that 'the other disciple' +did the same by _his_ brother, James was brought to Jesus by John, and +new tenderness and strength thereby given to their affection. They were +closely associated in their Apostleship, and were together the +companions of Jesus in the chief incidents of His life. They were +afterwards united in the leadership of the Church. By death they were +separated very far: the one the first of all the Apostles to 'become a +prey to Satan's rage,' the other 'lingering out his fellows all,' and +'dying in bloodless age,' living to be a hundred years old or more, and +looking back through all the long parting to the brother who had joined +with him in the wish that even Messiah's Kingdom should not part them, +and yet had been parted so soon and parted so long. + +Ah! may we not learn the lesson that we should recognise the mercy and +wisdom of the ministry of Death the separator, and should tread with +patience the lonely road, do calmly the day's work, and tarry till He +comes, though those that stood beside us be gone? We may look forward +with the assurance that 'God keeps a niche in heaven to hide our +idols'; and 'albeit He breaks them to our face,' yet shall we find them +again, like Memnon's statue, vocal in the rising sunshine of the +heavens. + +The brothers, so closely knit, so soon parted, so long separated, were +at last reunited. Even to us here, with the chronology of earth still +ours, the few years between the early martyrdom of James and the death +of the centenarian John seem but a span. The lapse of the centuries +that have rolled away since then makes the difference of the dates of +the two deaths seem very small, even to us. What a mere nothing it will +have looked to them, joined together once more before God! + +IV. Lastly, James and James. In his hot youth, when he deserved the +name of a son of thunder--so energetic, boisterous, I suppose, +destructive perhaps, he was--he and his brother, and their foolish +mother, whose name is kindly not told us, go to Christ and say, 'Grant +that we may sit, the one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left, +in Thy kingdom.' That was what he wished and hoped for, and what he got +was years of service, and a taste of persecution, and finally the swish +of the headsman's sword. + +And so our dreams get disappointed, and their disappointment is often +the road to their fulfilment, for Jesus Christ was answering James' +prayer, 'Grant that we may sit on Thy right hand in Thy kingdom,' when +He called him to Himself, by the brief and bloody passage of martyrdom. +James said, when he did not know what he meant, and the vow was noble +though it was ignorant, 'we can drink of the cup that Thou drinkest.' +And all honour to him! he stuck to his vow; and when the cup was +proffered to him he manfully, and like a Christian, took it and drank +it to the dregs; and, I suppose, went silently to his grave. But the +change between his ardent anticipations and his calm resignation, and +between his foolish dream and the stern reality, may well teach us +that, whether our wishes be fulfilled or disappointed, they all need to +be purified, and that the disappointment of them on earth is often +God's way of fulfilling them for us in higher fashion than we dreamed +or asked. + +So, brethren, let us leave for ourselves, and for all dear ones, that +question of living or dying, to His decision. Only let us be sure that +whether our lives be long like John's, or short like James', 'living or +dying we are the Lord's.' And then, whatever be the length of life or +the manner of death, both will bring us the fulfilment of our highest +wishes, and will lead us to His side at whose right hand all those +shall sit who have loved Him here, and, though long parted, shall be +reunited in common enjoyment of the pleasures for evermore which bloom +unfading there. 'And so shall we ever be with the Lord.' + + + +PETER'S DELIVERANCE FROM PRISON + +'Peter therefore was kept in the prison: but prayer was made earnestly +of the Church unto God for him.'--ACTS xii. 5 (R.V.) + +The narrative of Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison is full of +little vivid touches which can only have come from himself. The whole +tone of it reminds us of the Gospel according to St. Mark, which is in +like manner stamped with peculiar minuteness and abundance of detail. +One remembers that at a late period in the life of the Apostle Paul, +Mark and Luke were together with him; and no doubt in those days in +Rome, Mark, who had been Peter's special companion and is called by one +of the old Christian writers his 'interpreter,' was busy in telling +Luke the details about Peter which appear in the first part of this +Book of the Acts. + +The whole story seems to me to be full of instruction as well as of +picturesque detail; and I desire to bring out the various lessons which +appear to me to lie in it. + +I. The first of them is this: the strength of the helpless. + +Look at that eloquent 'but' in the verse that I have taken as a +starting-point: 'Peter therefore was kept in prison, _but_ prayer was +made earnestly of the Church unto God for him.' There is another +similarly eloquent 'but' at the end of the chapter: + +'Herod ... was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost, _but_ the Word of +God grew and multiplied.' Here you get, on the one hand, all the +pompous and elaborate preparations--'four quaternions of +soldiers'--four times four is sixteen--sixteen soldiers, two chains, +three gates with guards at each of them, Herod's grim determination, +the people's malicious expectation of having an execution as a pleasant +sensation with which to wind up the Passover Feast. And what had the +handful of Christian people? Well, they had prayer; and they had Jesus +Christ. That was all, and that is more than enough. How ridiculous all +the preparation looks when you let the light of that great 'but' in +upon it! Prayer, earnest prayer, 'was made of the Church unto God for +him.' And evidently, from the place in which that fact is stated, it is +intended that we should say to ourselves that it was _because_ prayer +was made for him that what came to pass did come to pass. It is not +jerked out as an unconnected incident; it is set in a logical sequence. +'Prayer was made earnestly of the Church unto God for him'--and so +when Herod would have brought him forth, behold, the angel of the Lord +came, and the light shined into the prison. It is the same sequence of +thought that occurs in that grand theophany in the eighteenth Psalm, +'My cry entered into His ears; then the earth shook and trembled'; and +there came all the magnificence of the thunderstorm and the earthquake +and the divine manifestation; and this was the purpose of it all--'He +sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.' The whole +energy of the divine nature is set in motion and comes swooping down +from highest heaven to the trembling earth. And of that fact the one +end is one poor man's cry, and the other end is his deliverance. The +moving spring of the divine manifestation was an individual's prayer; +the aim of it was the individual's deliverance. A little water is put +into a hydraulic ram at the right place, and the outcome is the lifting +of tons. So the helpless men who could only pray are stronger than +Herod and his quaternions and his chains and his gates. 'Prayer was +made,' therefore all that happened was brought to pass, and Peter was +delivered. + +Peter's companion, James, was killed off, as we read in a verse or two +before. Did not the Church pray for him? Surely they did. Why was their +prayer not answered, then? God has not any step-children. James was as +dear to God as Peter was. One prayer was answered; was the other left +unanswered? It was the divine purpose that Peter, being prayed for, +should be delivered; and we may reverently say that, if there had not +been the many in Mary's house praying, there would have been no angel +in Peter's cell. + +So here are revealed the strength of the weak, the armour of the +unarmed, the defence of the defenceless. If the Christian Church in its +times of persecution and affliction had kept itself to the one weapon +that is allowed it, it would have been more conspicuously victorious. +And if we, in our individual lives--where, indeed, we have to do +something else besides pray--would remember the lesson of that eloquent +'but,' we should be less frequently brought to perplexity and reduced +to something bordering on despair. So my first lesson is the strength +of the weak. + +II. My next is the delay of deliverance. + +Peter had been in prison for some time before the Passover, and the +praying had been going on all the while, and there was no answer. Day +after day 'of the unleavened bread' and of the festival was slipping +away. The last night had come; 'and the same night' the light shone, +and the angel appeared. Why did Jesus Christ not hear the cry of these +poor suppliants sooner? For their sakes; for Peter's sake; for our +sakes; for His own sake. For the eventual intervention, at the very +last moment, and yet at a sufficiently early moment, tested faith. And +look how beautifully all bore the test. The Apostle who was to be +killed to-morrow is lying quietly sleeping in his cell. Not a very +comfortable pillow he had to lay his head upon, with a chain on each +arm and a legionary on each side of him. But he slept; and whilst he +was asleep Christ was awake, and the brethren were awake. Their faith +was tested, and it stood the test, and thereby was strengthened. And +Peter's patience and faith, being tested in like manner and in like +manner standing the test, were deepened and confirmed. Depend upon it, +he was a better man all his days, because he had been brought close up +to Death and looked it in the fleshless eye-sockets, unwinking and +unterrified. And I dare say if, long after, he had been asked, 'Would +you not have liked to have escaped those two or three days of suspense, +and to have been let go at an earlier moment?' he would have said, 'Not +for worlds! For I learned in those days that my Lord's time is the +best. I learned patience'--a lesson which Peter especially needed--'and +I learned trust.' + +Do you remember another incident, singularly parallel in essence, +though entirely unlike in circumstances, to this one? The two weeping +sisters at Bethany send their messenger across the Jordan, grudging +every moment that he takes to travel to the far-off spot where Jesus +is. The message sent is only this: 'He whom Thou lovest is sick.' What +an infinite trust in Christ's heart that form of the message showed! +They would not say 'Come!'; they would not ask Him to do anything; they +did not think that to do so was needful: they were quite sure that what +He would do would be right. + +And how was the message received? 'Jesus loved Martha and Mary and +Lazarus.' Well, did that not make Him hurry as fast as He could to the +bedside? No; it rooted Him to the spot. 'He abode, +_therefore_'--because He loved them--'two days still in the same place +where He was,' to give him plenty of time to die, and the sisters +plenty of time to test their confidence in Him. Their confidence does +not seem to have altogether stood the test. 'Lord, if Thou hadst been +here my brother had not died.' 'And why wast Thou _not_ here?' is +implied. Christ's time was the best time. It was better to get a dead +brother back to their arms and to their house than that they should not +have lost him for those dreary four days. So delay tests faith, and +makes the deliverance, when it comes, not only the sweeter, but the +more conspicuously divine. So, brother, 'men ought always to pray, and +not to faint'--always to trust that 'the Lord will help them, and that +right early.' + +III. The next lesson that I would suggest is the leisureliness of the +deliverance. + +A prisoner escaping might be glad to make a bolt for it, dressed or +undressed, anyhow. But when the angel comes into the cell, and the +light shines, look how slowly and, as I say, leisurely, he goes about +it. 'Put on thy shoes.' He had taken them off, with his girdle and his +upper garment, that he might lie the less uncomfortably. 'Put on thy +shoes; lace them; make them all right. Never mind about these two +legionaries; they will not wake. Gird thyself; tighten thy girdle. Put +on thy garment. Do not be afraid. Do not be in a hurry; there is plenty +of time. Now, are you ready? Come!' It would have been quite as easy +for the angel to have whisked him out of the cell and put him down at +Mary's door; but that was not to be the way. Peter was led past all the +obstacles--'the first ward,' and the soldiers at it; 'the second ward,' +and the soldiers at it; 'and the third gate that leads into the city,' +which was no doubt bolted and barred. There was a leisurely procession +through the prison. + +Why? Because Omnipotence is never in a hurry, and God, not only in His +judgments but in His mercies, very often works slowly, as becomes His +majesty. 'Ye shall not go out with haste; nor go by flight, for the +Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel shall be your rereward.' +We are impatient, and hurry our work over; God works slowly; for He +works certainly. That is the law of the divine working in all regions; +and we have to regulate the pace of our eager expectation so as to fall +in with the slow, solemn march of the divine purposes, both in regard +to our individual salvation and the providences that affect us +individually, and in regard to the world's deliverance from the world's +evils. 'An inheritance may be gotten hastily in the beginning, but the +end thereof shall not be blessed.' 'He that believeth shall not make +haste.' + +IV. We see here, too, the delivered prisoner left to act for himself as +soon as possible. + +As long as the angel was with Peter, he was dazed and amazed. He did +not know--and small blame to him--whether he was sleeping or waking; +but he gets through the gates, and out into the empty street, +glimmering in the morning twilight, and the angel disappears, and the +slumbering city is lying around him. When he is _left_ to himself, he +_comes_ to himself. He could not have passed the wards without a +miracle, but he can find his way to Mary's house without one. He needed +the angel to bring him as far as the gate and down into the street, but +he did not need him any longer. So the angel vanished into the morning +light, and then he felt himself, and steadied himself, when +responsibility came to him. That is the thing to sober a man. So he +stood in the middle of the unpeopled street, and 'he considered the +thing,' and found in his own wits sufficient guidance, so that he did +not miss the angel. He said to himself, 'I will go to Mary's house.' +Probably he did not know that there were any praying there, but it was +near, and it was, no doubt, convenient in other respects that we do not +know of. The economy of miraculous power is a remarkable feature in +Scriptural miracles. God never does anything for us that we could do +for ourselves. Not but that our doing for ourselves is, in a deeper +sense, His working on us and in us, but He desires us to take the share +that belongs to us in completing the deliverance which must begin by +supernatural intervention of a Mightier than the angel, even the Lord +of angels. + +And so this little picture of the angel leading Peter through the +prison, and then leaving him to his own common sense and courage as +soon as he came out into the street, is just a practical illustration +of the great text, 'Work out your own salvation with fear and +trembling, for it is God that worketh in you.' + + + +THE ANGEL'S TOUCH + +'And, behold, the angel of the Lord ... smote Peter.... 23. And +immediately the angel of the Lord smote him [Herod].'--ACTS xii. 7, 23. + +The same heavenly agent performs the same action on Peter and on Herod. +To the one, his touch brings freedom and the dropping off of his +chains; to the other it brings gnawing agonies and a horrible death. +These twofold effects of one cause open out wide and solemn thoughts, +on which it is well to look. + +I. The one touch has a twofold effect. + +So it is always when God's angels come, or God Himself lays His hand on +men. Every manifestation of the divine power, every revelation of the +divine presence, all our lives' experiences, are charged with the +solemn possibility of bringing us one or other of two directly opposite +results. They all offer us an alternative, a solemn 'either--or.' + +The Gospel too comes charged with that double possibility, and is the +intensest and most fateful example of the dual effect of all God's +messages and dealings. Just as the ark maimed Dagon and decimated the +Philistine cities and slew Uzzah, but brought blessing and prosperity +to the house of Obed-edom, just as the same pillar was light to Israel +all the night long, but cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, so is +Christ set 'for the fall of' some and 'for the rising of' others amidst +the 'many in Israel,' and His Gospel is either 'the savour of life unto +life or of death unto death,' but in both cases is in itself 'unto +God,' one and the same 'sweet savour in Christ.' + +II. These twofold effects are parts of one plan and purpose. + +Peter's liberation and Herod's death tended in the same direction--to +strengthen and conserve the infant Church, and thus to prepare the way +for the conquering march of the Gospel. And so it is in all God's +self-revelations and manifested energies, whatever may be their +effects. They come from one source and one motive, they are +fundamentally the operations of one changeless Agent, and, as they are +one in origin and character, so they are one in purpose. We are not to +separate them into distinct classes and ascribe them to different +elements in the divine nature, setting down this as the work of Love +and that as the outcome of Wrath, or regarding the acts of deliverance +as due to one part of that great whole and the acts of destruction as +due to another part of it. The angel was the same, and his celestial +fingers were moved by the same calm, celestial will when he smote Peter +into liberty and life, and Herod to death. + +God changes His ways, but not His heart. He changes His acts, but not +His purposes. Opposite methods conduce to one end, as winter storms and +June sunshine equally tend to the yellowed harvest. + +III. The character of the effects depends on the men who are touched. + +As is the man, so is the effect of the angel's touch. It could only +bring blessing to the one who was the friend of the angel's Lord, and +it could bring only death to the other, who was His enemy. It could do +nothing to the Apostle but cause his chains to drop from his wrists, +nor anything to the vainglorious king but bring loathsome death. + +This, too, is a universal truth. It is we ourselves who settle what +God's words and acts will be to us. The trite proverb, 'One man's meat +is another man's poison,' is true in the highest regions. It is +eminently, blessedly or tragically true in our relation to the Gospel, +wherein all God's self-revelation reaches its climax, wherein 'the arm +of the Lord' is put forth in its most blessed energy, wherein is laid +on each of us the touch, tender and more charged with blessing than +that of the angel who smote the calmly sleeping Apostle. That Gospel +may either be to us the means of freeing us from our chains, and +leading us out of our prison-house into sunshine and security, or be +the fatal occasion of condemnation and death. Which it shall be depends +on ourselves. Which shall I make it for myself? + + + +'SOBER CERTAINTY' + +'And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, +that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath delivered me out of the +hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the +Jews.'--ACTS xii. 11. + +Where did Luke get his information of Peter's thoughts in that hour? +This verse sounds like first-hand knowledge. Not impossibly John Mark +may have been his informant, for we know that both were in Rome +together at a later period. In any case, it is clear that, through +whatever channels this piece of minute knowledge reached Luke, it must +have come originally from Peter himself. And what a touch of +naturalness and evident truth it is! No wonder that the Apostle was +half dazed as he came from his dungeon, through the prison corridors +and out into the street. To be wakened by an angel, and to have such +following experiences, would amaze most men. + +I. The bewilderment of the released captive. + +God's mercies often come suddenly, and with a rush and a completeness +that outrun our expectations and our power of immediate comprehension. +And sometimes He sends us sorrows in such battalions and so +overwhelming that we are dazed for the moment. A Psalmist touched a +deep experience when he sang, 'When the Lord turned again the captivity +of Zion, we were like unto them that dream.' + +The angel has to be gone before we are sure that he was really here. +The tumult of emotion in an experience needs to be calmed down before +we understand the experience. Reflection discovers more of heaven and +of God in the great moments of our lives than was visible to us while +we were living through them, + +There is one region in which this is especially true--that of the +religious life. There sometimes attend its beginnings in a soul a +certain excitement and perturbation which disable from calm realising +of the greatness of the change which has passed. And it is well when +that excitement is quieted down and succeeded by meditative reflection +on the treasures that have been poured into the lap, almost as in the +dark. No man understands what he has received when he first receives +Christ and Christ's gifts. It occupies a lifetime to take possession of +that which we possess from the first in Him, and the oldest saint is as +far from full possession of the unspeakable and infinite 'gift of God,' +as the babes in Christ are. + +But, looking more generally at this characteristic of not rightly +understanding the great epochs of our lives till they are past, we may +note that, while in part it is inevitable and natural, there is an +element of fault in it. If we lived in closer fellowship with God, we +should live in an atmosphere of continual calm, and nothing, either +sorrowful or joyful, would be able so to sweep us off our feet that we +should be bewildered by it. Astonishment would never so fill our souls +as that we could not rightly appraise events, nor should we need any +time, even in the thick of the most wonderful experiences, to 'come to' +ourselves and discern the angel. + +But if it be so that our lives disclose their meanings best, when we +look back on them, how much of the understanding of them, and the +drawing of all its sweetness out of each event in them, is entrusted to +memory! And how negligent of a great means of happiness and strength we +are, if we do not often muse on 'all the way by which God the Lord has +led us these many years in the wilderness'! It is needful for Christian +progress to 'forget the things that are behind,' and not to let them +limit our expectations nor prescribe our methods, but it is quite as +needful to remember our past, or rather God's past with us, in order to +confirm our grateful faith and enlarge our boundless hope. + +II. The disappearance of the angel. + +Why did he leave Peter standing there, half dazed and with his +deliverance incomplete? He 'led him through one street' only, and +'straightway departed from him.' The Apostle delivered by miracle has +now to use his brains. One distinguishing characteristic of New +Testament miracles is their economy of miraculous power. Jesus raised +Lazarus, for He alone could do that, but other hands must 'loose him +and let him go,' He gave life to Jairus's little daughter, but He bid +others 'give her something to eat' God does nothing for us that we can +do for ourselves. That economy was valuable as a preservative of the +Apostles from the possible danger of expecting or relying on miracles, +and as stirring them to use their own energies. Reliance on divine +power should not lead us to neglect ordinary means. Alike in the +natural and in the spiritual life we have to do our part, and to be +sure that God will do His. + +III. The symbol here of a greater deliverance. + +Fancy may legitimately employ this story as setting forth for us under +a lovely image the facts of Christian death, if only we acknowledge +that such a use is entirely the work of fancy. But, making that +acknowledgment, may we not make the use? Is not Death, too, God's +messenger to souls that love Him, 'mighty and beauteous, though his +face be hid'? Would it not be more Christian-like, and more congruous +with our eternal hope, if we pictured him thus than by the hideous +emblems of our cemeteries and tombs? He comes to Christ's servants, and +his touch is gentle though his fingers are icy-cold. He removes only +the chains that bind us, and we ourselves are emancipated by his touch. +He leads us to 'the iron gate that leadeth into the city,' and it opens +to us 'of its own accord.' But he disappears as soon as our happy feet +have touched the pavement of that street of the city which is 'pure +gold, as transparent as glass,' and in the midst of which flows the +river of the crystal-bright 'water of life proceeding out of the throne +of God and of the Lamb.' Then, when we see the Face as of the sun +shining in his strength, we shall come to ourselves, and 'know of a +surety that the Lord hath sent His angel and delivered' us from all our +foes and ills for evermore. + + + +RHODA + +'A damsel ... named Rhoda.'--ACTS xii 13. + +'Rhoda' means 'a rose,' and _this_ rose has kept its bloom for eighteen +hundred years, and is still sweet and fragrant! What a lottery undying +fame is! Men will give their lives to earn it; and this servant-girl +got it by one little act, and never knew that she had it, and I suppose +she does not know to-day that, everywhere throughout the whole world +where the Gospel is preached, 'this that she hath done is spoken of as +a memorial to her.' Is the love of fame worthy of being called 'the +last infirmity of noble minds'? Or is it the delusion of ignoble ones? +Why need we care whether anybody ever hears of us after we are dead and +buried, so long as God knows about us? The 'damsel named Rhoda' was +little the better for the immortality which she had unconsciously won. + +Now there is a very singular resemblance between the details of this +incident and those of another case, when Peter was recognised in dim +light by his voice, and the Evangelist Luke, who is the author of the +Acts of the Apostles, seems to have had the resemblance between the two +scenes--that in the high priest's palace and that outside Mary's +door--in his mind, because he uses in this narrative a word which +occurs, in the whole of the New Testament, only here and in his account +of what took place on that earlier occasion. In both instances a +maid-servant recognises Peter by his voice, and in both 'she constantly +affirms' that it was so. I do not think that there is anything to be +built upon the resemblance, but at all events I think that the use of +the same unusual word in the two cases, and nowhere else, seems to +suggest that Luke felt how strangely events sometimes double +themselves; and how the Apostle who is here all but a martyr is +re-enacting, with differences, something like the former scene, when he +was altogether a traitor. But, be that as it may, there are some +lessons which we may gather from this vivid picture of Rhoda and her +behaviour on the one side of the door, while Peter stood hammering, in +the morning twilight, on the other. + +I. We may notice in the relations of Rhoda to the assembled believers a +striking illustration of the new bond of union supplied by the Gospel. + +Rhoda was a slave. The word rendered in our version 'damsel' means a +female slave. Her name, which is a Gentile name, and her servile +condition, make it probable that she was not a Jewess. If one might +venture to indulge in a guess, it is not at all unlikely that her +mistress, Mary, John Mark's mother, Barnabas' sister, a well-to-do +woman of Jerusalem, who had a house large enough to take in the members +of the Church in great numbers, and to keep up a considerable +establishment, had brought this slave-girl from the island of Cyprus. +At all events, she was a slave. In the time of our Lord, and long +after, these relations of slavery brought an element of suspicion, +fear, and jealous espionage into almost every Roman household, because +every master knew that he passed his days and nights among men and +women who wanted nothing better than to wreak their vengeance upon him. +A man's foes were eminently those of his own household. And now here +this child-slave, a Gentile, has been touched by the same mighty love +as her mistress; and Mary and Rhoda were kneeling together in the +prayer-meeting when Peter began to hammer at the door. Neither woman +thought now of the unnatural, unwholesome relation which had formerly +bound them. In God's good time, and by the slow process of leavening +society with Christian ideas, that diabolical institution perished in +Christian lands. Violent reformation of immoralities is always a +blunder. 'Raw haste' is 'half-sister to delay.' Settlers in forest +lands have found that it is endless work to grub up the trees, or even +to fell them. 'Root and branch' reform seldom answers. The true way is +to girdle the tree by taking off a ring of bark round the trunk, and +letting nature do the rest. Dead trees are easily dealt with; living +ones blunt many axes and tire many arms, and are alive after all. Thus +the Gospel waged no direct war with slavery, but laid down principles +which, once they are wrought into Christian consciousness, made its +continuance impossible. But, pending that consummation, the immediate +action of Christianity was to ameliorate the condition of the slave. +The whole aspect of the ugly thing was changed as soon as master and +slave together became the slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel +has the same sort of work to do to-day, and there are institutions in +full flourishing existence in this and every other civilised community +as entirely antagonistic to the spirit and principles of Christianity +as Roman slavery was. I, for my part, believe that the one uniting bond +and healing medicine for society is found in Jesus Christ; and that in +Him, and that the principles deducible from His revelation by word and +work, applied to all social evils, are their cure, and their only cure. +That slight, girlish figure standing at the door of Mary, her slave and +yet her sister in Christ, may be taken as pointing symbolically the way +by which the social and civic evils of this day are to be healed, and +the war of classes to cease. + +II. Note how we get here a very striking picture of the sacredness and +greatness of small common duties. + +Bhoda came out from the prayer-meeting to open the gate. It was her +business, as we say, 'to answer the door,' and so she left off praying +to go and do it. So doing, she was the means of delivering the Apostle +from the danger which still dogged him. It was of little use to be +praying on one side of the shut door when on the other he was standing +in the street, and the day was beginning to dawn; Herod's men would be +after him as soon as daylight disclosed his escape. The one thing +needful for him was to be taken in and sheltered. So the praying group +and the girl who stops praying when she hears the knock, to which it +was her business to attend, were working in the same direction. It is +not necessary to insist that no heights or delights of devotion and +secret communion are sufficient excuses for neglecting or delaying the +doing of the smallest and most menial task which is our task. If your +business is to keep the door, you will not be leaving, but abiding in, +the secret place of the Most High, if you get up from your knees in the +middle of your prayer, and go down to open it. The smallest, commonest +acts of daily life are truer worship than is rapt and solitary +communion or united prayer, if the latter can only be secured by the +neglect of the former. Better to be in the lower parts of the house +attending to the humble duties of the slave than to be in the upper +chamber, uniting with the saints in supplication and leaving tasks +unperformed. + +Let us remember how we may find here an illustration of another great +truth, that the smallest things, done in the course of the quiet +discharge of recognised duty, and being, therefore, truly worship of +God, have in them a certain quality of immortality, and may be +eternally commemorated. It was not only the lofty and unique expression +of devotion, which another woman gave when she broke the alabaster box +to anoint the feet of the Saviour which were to be pierced with nails +to-morrow, that has been held worthy of undying remembrance. The name +and act of a poor slave girl have been commemorated by that Spirit who +preserves nothing in vain, in order that we should learn that things +which we vulgarly call great, and those which we insolently call small, +are regarded by Him, not according to their apparent magnitude, but +according to their motive and reference to Him. He says, 'I will never +forget any of their works'; and this little deed of Rhoda's, like the +rose petals that careful housekeepers in the country keep upon the +sideboard in china bowls to diffuse a fragance through the room, is +given us to keep in memory for ever, a witness of the sanctity of +common life when filled with acts of obedience to Him. + +III. The same figure of the 'damsel named Rhoda' may give us a warning +as to the possibility of forgetting very plain duties under the +pressure of very legitimate excitement. + +'She opened not the door for gladness,' but ran in and told them. And +if, whilst she was running in with her message, Herod's quaternions of +soldiers had come down the street, there would have been 'no small +stir' in the church as to 'what had become of Peter.' He would have +gone back to his prison sure enough. Her _first_ duty was to open the +door; her _second_ one was to go and tell the brethren, 'we have got +him safe inside'; but in the rush of joyous emotions she naively forgot +what her first business was, 'lost her head,' as we say, and so went +off to tell that he was outside, instead of letting him in. Now joy and +sorrow are equally apt to make us forget plain and pressing duties, and +we may learn from this little incident the old-fashioned, but always +necessary advice, to keep feeling well under control, to use it as +impulse, not as guide, and never to let emotion, which should be down +in the engine-room, come on deck and take the helm. It is dangerous to +obey feeling, unless its decrees are countersigned by calm common sense +illuminated by Scripture. Sorrow is apt to obscure duty by its +darkness, and joy to do so by its dazzle. It is hard to see the road at +midnight, or at midday when the sun is in our eyes. Both need to be +controlled. Duty remains the same, whether my heart is beating like a +sledge-hammer, or whether 'my bosom's lord sits lightly on its throne.' +Whether I am sad or glad, the door that God has given me to watch has +to be opened and shut by me. And whether I am a door-keeper in the +house of the Lord, like Rhoda in Mary's, or have an office that people +think larger and more important, the imperativeness of my duties is +equally independent of my momentary emotions and circumstances. +Remember, then, that duty remains while feeling fluctuates, and that, +sorrowful or joyful, we have still the same Lord to serve and the same +crown to win. + +IV. Lastly, we have here an instance of a very modest but positive and +fully-warranted trust in one's own experience in spite of opposition. + +I need not speak about that extraordinary discussion which the brethren +got up in the upper room. They had been praying, as has often been +remarked, for Peter's deliverance, and now that he is delivered they +will not believe it. I am afraid that there is often a dash of unbelief +in immediate answers to our prayers mingling with the prayers. And +although the petitions in this case were intense and fervent, as the +original tells us, and had been kept up all night long, and although +their earnestness and worthiness are guaranteed by the fact that they +were answered, yet when the veritable Peter, in flesh and blood, stood +before the door, the suppliants first said to the poor girl, 'Thou art +mad,' and then, 'It is his angel! It cannot be he.' Nobody seems to +have thought of going to the door to see whether it was he or not, but +they went on arguing with Rhoda as to whether she was right or wrong. +The unbelief that alloys even golden faith is taught us in this +incident. + +Rhoda 'constantly affirmed that it was so,' like the other porteress +that had picked out Peter's voice amongst the men huddled round the +fire in the high priest's chamber. + +The lesson is--trust your own experience, whatever people may have to +say against it. If you have found that Jesus Christ can help you, and +has loved you, and that your sins have been forgiven, because you have +trusted in Him, do not let anybody laugh or talk you out of that +conviction. If you cannot argue, do like Rhoda, 'constantly affirm that +it is so.' That is the right answer, especially if you can say to the +antagonistic party, 'Have you been down to the door, then, to see?' And +if they have to say 'No!' then the right answer is, 'You go and look as +I did, and you will come back with the same belief which I have.' + +So at last they open the door and there he stands. Peter's hammer, +hammer, hammer at the gate is wonderfully given in the story. It goes +on as a kind of running accompaniment through the talk between Rhoda +and the friends. It might have put a stop to the conversation, one +would have thought. But Another stands at the door knocking, still more +persistently, still more patiently. 'Behold! I stand at the door and +knock. If any man open the door I will come in.' + + + +PETER AFTER HIS ESCAPE + +'But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, +declared unto them how the Lord had brought him forth out of the +prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the +brethren, And he departed, and went into another place.'--ACTS xii. 17. + +When the angel 'departed from him,' Peter had to fall back on his own +wits, and they served him well. He 'considered the thing,' and resolved +to make for the house of Mary. He does not seem to have intended to +remain there, so dangerously near Herod, but merely to have told its +inmates of his deliverance, and then to have hidden himself somewhere, +till the heat of the hunt after him was abated. Apparently he did not +go into the house at all, but talked to the brethren, when they came +trooping after Rhoda to open the gate. The signs of haste in the latter +part of the story, where Peter has to think and act for himself, +contrast strikingly with the majestic leisureliness of the action of +the angel, who gave his successive commands to him to dress completely, +as if careless of the sleeping legionaries who might wake at any +moment. There was need for haste, for the night was wearing thin, and +the streets of Jerusalem were no safe promenade for a condemned +prisoner, escaped from his guards. + +We do not deal here with the scene in Mary's house and at the gate. We +only note, in a word, the touch of nature in Rhoda's forgetting to open +'for gladness,' and so leaving Peter in peril, if a detachment of his +guards had already been told off to chase him. Equally true to nature, +alas, is the incredulity of the praying 'many,' when the answer to +their prayers was sent to them. They had rather believe that the poor +girl was 'mad' or that, for all their praying, Peter was dead, and this +was his 'angel,' than that their intense prayer had been so swiftly and +completely answered. Is their behaviour not a mirror in which we may +see our own? + +Very like Peter, as well as very intelligible in the circumstances, is +it that he 'continued knocking,' Well he might, and evidently his +energetic fusillade of blows was heard even above the clatter of eager +tongues, discussing Rhoda's astonishing assertions. Some one, at last, +seems to have kept his head sufficiently to suggest that perhaps, +instead of disputing whether these were true or not, it might be well +to go to the door and see. So they all went in a body, Rhoda being +possibly afraid to go alone, and others afraid to stay behind, and +there they saw his veritable self. But we notice that there is no sign +of his being taken in and refreshed or cared for. He waved an +imperative hand, to quiet the buzz of talk, spoke two or three brief +words, and departed. + +I. Note Peter's account of his deliverance. + +We have often had occasion to remark that the very keynote of this Book +of Acts is the working of Christ from heaven, which to its writer is as +real and efficient as was His work on earth. Peter here traces his +deliverance to 'the Lord.' He does not stay to mention the angel. His +thoughts went beyond the instrument to the hand which wielded it. Nor +does he seem to have been at all astonished at his deliverance. His +moment of bewilderment, when he did not know whether he was dreaming or +awake, soon passed, and as soon as 'the sober certainty of his waking +bliss' settled on his mind, his deliverance seemed to him perfectly +natural. What else was it to be expected that 'the Lord' would do? Was +it not just like Him? There was nothing to be astonished at, there was +everything to be thankful for. That is how Christian hearts should +receive the deliverances which the Lord is still working for them. + +II. Note Peter's message to the brethren. + +James, the Lord's brother, was not an Apostle. That he should have been +named to receive the message indicates that already he held some +conspicuous position, perhaps some office, in the Church. It may also +imply that there were no Apostles in Jerusalem then. We note also that +the 'many' who were gathered in Mary's house can have been only a small +part of the whole. We here get a little glimpse into the conditions of +the life of a persecuted Church, which a sympathetic imagination can +dwell on till it is luminous. Such gatherings as would attract notice +had to be avoided, and what meetings were held had to be in private +houses and with shut doors, through which entrance was not easy. Mary's +'door' had a 'gate' in it, and only that smaller postern, which +admitted but one at a time, was opened to visitors, and that after +scrutiny. But though assemblies were restricted, communications were +kept up, and by underground ways information of events important to the +community spread through its members. The consciousness of brotherhood +was all the stronger because of the common danger, the universal peril +had not made the brethren selfish, but sympathetic. We may note, too, +how great a change had come since the time when the Christians were in +favour with all the people, and may reflect how fickle are the world's +smiles for Christ's servants. + +III. Note Peter's disappearance. + +All that is said of it is that he 'went into another place.' Probably +Luke did not know where he went. It would be prudent at the time to +conceal it, and the habit of concealment may have survived the need for +it. But two points suggest themselves in regard to the Apostle's +flight. There may be a better use for an Apostle than to kill him, and +Christ's boldest witnesses are sometimes bound to save themselves by +fleeing into another city. To hide oneself 'till the calamity be +overpast' may be rank cowardice or commendable prudence. All depends on +the circumstances of each case. Prudence is an element in courage, and +courage without it is fool-hardiness. There are outward dangers from +which it is Christian duty to run, and there are outward dangers which +it is Christian duty to face. There are inward temptations which it is +best to avoid, as there are others which have to be fought to the +death. Peter was as brave and braver when he went and hid himself, than +when he boasted, 'Though all should forsake Thee, yet will not I!' A +morbid eagerness for martyrdom wrought much harm in the Church at a +later time. The primitive Church was free from it. + +But we must not omit to note that here Peter is dropped out of the +history, and is scarcely heard of any more. We have a glimpse of him in +chapter xv., at the Council in Jerusalem, but, with that exception, +this is the last mention of him in Acts. How little this Book cares for +its heroes! Or rather how it has only one Hero, and one Name which it +celebrates, the name of that Lord to whom Peter ascribed his +deliverance, and of whom he himself declared that 'there is none other +Name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.' + + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + +THE ACTS + +_CHAP. XIII TO END_ + + + +CONTENTS + +TO THE REGIONS BEYOND (Acts xiii. 1-13) + +WHY SAUL BECAME PAUL (Acts xiii. 9) + +JOHN MARK (Acts xiii. 13) + +THE FIRST PREACHING IN ASIA MINOR (Acts xiii. 26-39) + +LUTHER--A STONE ON THE CAIRN (Acts xiii. 36, 37) + +REJECTERS AND RECEIVERS (Acts xiii. 44-52; xiv. 1-7) + +UNWORTHY OF LIFE (Acts xiii. 46) + +'FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST' (Acts xiii. 52) + +DEIFIED AND STONED (Acts xiv. 11-22) + +DREAM AND REALITY (Acts xiv. 11) + +'THE DOOR OF FAITH' (Acts xiv. 27) + +THE BREAKING OUT OF DISCORD (Acts xv. 1-6) + +THE CHARTER OF GENTILE LIBERTY (Acts xv. 12-29) + +A GOOD MAN'S FAULTS (Acts xv. 37, 38) + +HOW TO SECURE A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE (Acts xvi. 10, 11) + +PAUL AT PHILIPPI (Acts xvi. 13, R.V.) + +THE RIOT AT PHILIPPI (Acts xvi. 19-34) + +THE GREAT QUESTION AND THE PLAIN ANSWER (Acts xvi. 30, 31) + +THESSALONICA AND BEREA (Acts xvii. 1-12) + +PAUL AT ATHENS (Acts xvii. 22-34) + +THE MAN WHO IS JUDGE (Acts xvii. 31) + +PAUL AT CORINTH (Acts xviii. 1-11) + +'CONSTRAINED BY THE WORD' (Acts xviii. 5) + +GALLIO (Acts xviii. 14, 15) + +TWO FRUITFUL YEARS (Acts xix. 1-12) + +WOULD-BE EXORCISTS (Acts xix. 15) + +THE FIGHT WITH WILD BEASTS AT EPHESUS (Acts xix. 21-34) + +PARTING COUNSELS (Acts xx. 22-85) + +A FULFILLED ASPIRATION (Acts xx. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 7) + +PARTING WORDS (Acts xx. 32) + +THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING (Acts xx. 35) + +DRAWING NEARER TO THE STORM (Acts xxi. 1-15) + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST (Acts xxi. 8) + +AN OLD DISCIPLE (Acts xxi. 16) + +PAUL IN THE TEMPLE (Acts xxi. 27-39) + +PAUL ON HIS OWN CONVERSION (Acts xxii. 6-16) + +ROME PROTECTS PAUL (Acts xxii. 17-30) + +CHRIST'S WITNESSES (Acts xxiii. 11) + +A PLOT DETECTED (Acts xxiii. 12-22) + +A LOYAL TRIBUTE (Acts xxiv. 2, 3) + +PAUL BEFORE FELIX (Acts xxiv. 10-25) + +FELIX BEFORE PAUL (Acts xxiv. 25) + +CHRIST'S REMONSTRANCES (Acts xxvi. 14) + +FAITH IN CHRIST (Acts xxvi. 18) + +'BEFORE GOVERNORS AND KINGS' (Acts xxvi. 19-32) + +'THE HEAVENLY VISION' (Acts xxvi. 19) + +'ME A CHRISTIAN!' (Acts xxvi. 28) + +TEMPEST AND TRUST (Acts xxvii 13-26) + +A SHORT CONFESSION OF FAITH (Acts xxvii. 23) + +A TOTAL WRECK, ALL HANDS SAVED (Acts xxvii. 30-44) + +AFTER THE WRECK (Acts xxviii. 1-16) + +THE LAST GLIMPSE OF PAUL (Acts xxviii. 17-31) + +PAUL IN ROME (Acts xxviii. 30, 31) + + + +TO THE REGIONS BEYOND + +'Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and +teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of +Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, +and Saul. 2. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost +said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have +called them. 3. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their +hands on them, they sent them away. A. So they, being sent forth by the +Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to +Cyprus. 5. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God +in the synagogues of the Jews; and they had also John to their +minister. 6. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they +found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was +Bar-jesus: 7. Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, +a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear +the word of God. 8. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by +interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from +the faith. 9. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the +Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10. And said, O full of all subtilty +and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all +righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the +Lord? 11. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou +shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there +fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to +lead him by the hand. 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, +believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 13. Now when +Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in +Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.'--ACTS +xiii. 1-13. + +We stand in this passage at the beginning of a great step forward. +Philip and Peter had each played a part in the gradual expansion of the +church beyond the limits of Judaism; but it was from the church at +Antioch that the messengers went forth who completed the process. Both +its locality and its composition made that natural. + +I. The solemn designation of the missionaries is the first point in the +narrative. The church at Antioch was not left without signs of Christ's +grace and presence. It had its band of 'prophets and teachers.' As +might be expected, four of the five named are Hellenists,--that is, +Jews born in Gentile lands, and speaking Gentile languages. Barnabas +was a Cypriote, Simeon's byname of Niger ('Black') was probably given +because of his dark complexion, which was probably caused by his birth +in warmer lands. He may have been a North African, as Lucius of Cyrene +was. Saul was from Tarsus, and only Manaen remains to represent the +pure Palestinian Jew. His had been a strange course, from being +foster-brother of the Herod who killed John to becoming a teacher in +the church at Antioch. Barnabas was the leader of the little group, and +the younger Pharisee from Tarsus, who had all along been Barnabas's +_protege_, brought up the rear. + +The order observed in the list is a little window which shows a great +deal. The first and last names all the world knows; the other three are +never heard of again. Immortality falls on the two, oblivion swallows +up the three. But it matters little whether our names are sounded in +men's ears, if they are in the Lamb's book of life. + +These five brethren were waiting on the Lord by fasting and prayer. +Apparently they had reason to expect some divine communication, for +which they were thus preparing themselves. Light will come to those who +thus seek it. They were commanded to set apart two of their number for +'the work whereunto I have called them.' That work is not specified, +and yet the two, like carrier pigeons on being let loose, make straight +for their line of flight, and know exactly whither they are to go. + +If we strictly interpret Luke's words ('I _have_ called them'), a +previous intimation from the Spirit had revealed to them the sphere of +their work. In that case, the _separation_ was only the recognition by +the brethren of the divine appointment. The inward call must come +first, and no ecclesiastical designation can do more than confirm that. +But the solemn designation by the Church identifies those who remain +behind with the work of those who go forth; it throws responsibility +for sympathy and support on the former, and it ministers strength and +the sense of companionship to the latter, besides checking that +tendency to isolation which accompanies earnestness. To go forth on +even Christian service, unrecognised by the brethren, is not good for +even a Paul. + +But although Luke speaks of the Church sending them away, he takes care +immediately to add that it was the Holy Ghost who 'sent them forth.' +Ramsay suggests that 'sent them away' is not the meaning of the phrase +in verse 3, but that it should be rendered 'gave them leave to depart.' +In any case, a clear distinction is drawn between the action of the +Church and that of the Spirit, which constituted Paul's real commission +as an Apostle. He himself says that he was an Apostle, 'not from men, +neither through man.' + +II. The events in the first stage of the journey are next summarily +presented. Note the local colouring in 'went _down_ to Seleucia,' the +seaport of Antioch, at the mouth of the river. The missionaries were +naturally led to begin at Cyprus, as Barnabas's birthplace, and that of +some of the founders of the church at Antioch. + +So, for the first time, the Gospel went to sea, the precursor of so +many voyages. It was an 'epoch-making moment' when that ship dropped +down with the tide and put out to sea. Salamis was the nearest port on +the south-eastern coast of Cyprus, and there they landed,--Barnabas, no +doubt, familiar with all he saw; Saul probably a stranger to it all. +Their plan of action was that to which Paul adhered in all his after +work,--to carry the Gospel to the Jew first, a proceeding for which the +manner of worship in the synagogues gave facilities. No doubt, many +such were scattered through Cyprus, and Barnabas would be well known in +most. + +They thus traversed the island from east to west. It is noteworthy that +only now is John Mark's name brought in as their attendant. He had come +with them from Antioch, but Luke will not mention him, when he is +telling of the sending forth of the other two, because Mark was not +sent by the Spirit, but only chosen by his uncle, and his subsequent +defection did not affect the completeness of their embassy. His +entirely subordinate place is made obvious by the point at which he +appears. + +Nothing of moment happened on the tour till Paphos was reached. That +was the capital, the residence of the pro-consul, and the seat of the +foul worship of Venus. There the first antagonist was met. It is not +Sergius Paulus, pro-consul though he was, who is the central figure of +interest to Luke, but the sorcerer who was attached to his train. His +character is drawn in Luke's description, and in Paul's fiery +exclamation. Each has three clauses, which fall 'like the beats of a +hammer.' 'Sorcerer, false prophet, Jew,' make a climax of wickedness. +That a Jew should descend to dabble in the black art of magic, and play +tricks on the credulity of ignorant people by his knowledge of some +simple secrets of chemistry; that he should pretend to prophetic gifts +which in his heart he knew to be fraud, and should be recreant to his +ancestral faith, proved him to deserve the penetrating sentence which +Paul passed on him. He was a trickster, and knew that he was: his +inspiration came from an evil source; he had come to hate righteousness +of every sort. + +Paul was not flinging bitter words at random, or yielding to passion, +but was laying the black heart bare to the man's own eyes, that the +seeing himself as God saw him might startle him into penitence. 'The +corruption of the best is the worst.' The bitterest enemies of God's +ways are those who have cast aside their early faith. A Jew who had +stooped to be a juggler was indeed causing God's 'name to be blasphemed +among the Gentiles.' + +He and Paul each recognised in the other his most formidable foe. +Elymas instinctively felt that the pro-consul must be kept from +listening to the teaching of these two fellow-countrymen, and 'sought +to _pervert_ him from the faith,' therein _perverting_ (the same word +is used in both cases) 'the right ways of the Lord'; that is, opposing +the divine purpose. He was a specimen of a class who attained influence +in that epoch of unrest, when the more cultivated and nobler part of +Roman society had lost faith in the old gods, and was turning wistfully +and with widespread expectation to the mysterious East for +enlightenment. + +So, like a ship which plunges into the storm as soon as it clears the +pier-head, the missionaries felt the first dash of the spray and blast +of the wind directly they began their work. Since this was their first +encounter with a foe which they would often have to meet, the duel +assumes importance, and we understand not only the fulness of the +narrative, but the miracle which assured Paul and Barnabas of Christ's +help, and was meant to diffuse its encouragement along the line of +their future work. For Elymas it was chastisement, which might lead him +to cease to pervert the ways of the Lord, and himself begin to walk in +them. Perhaps, after a season, he did see 'the better Sun.' + +Saul's part in the incident is noteworthy. We observe the vivid touch, +he 'fastened his eyes on him.' There must have been something very +piercing in the fixed gaze of these flashing eyes. But Luke takes pains +to prevent our thinking that Paul spoke from his own insight or was +moved by human passion. He was 'filled with the Holy Ghost,' and, as +His organ, poured out the scorching words that revealed the cowering +apostate to himself, and announced the merciful punishment that was to +fall. We need to be very sure that we are similarly filled before +venturing to imitate the Apostle's tone. + +III. The shifting of the scene to the mainland presents some noteworthy +points. It is singular that there is no preaching mentioned as having +been attempted in Perga, or anywhere along the coast, but that the two +evangelists seem to have gone at once across the great mountain range +of Taurus to Antioch of Pisidia. + +A striking suggestion is made by Ramsay to the effect that the reason +was a sudden attack of the malarial fever which is endemic in the +low-lying coast plains, and for which the natural remedy is to get up +among the mountains. If so, the journey to Antioch of Pisidia may not +have been in the programme to which John Mark had agreed, and his +return to Jerusalem may have been due to this departure from the +original intention. Be that as it may, he stands for us as a beacon, +warning against hasty entrance on great undertakings of which we have +not counted the cost, no less than against cowardly flight from work, +as soon as it begins to involve more danger or discomfort than we had +reckoned on. + +John Mark was willing to go a-missionarying as long as he was in +Cyprus, where he was somebody and much at home, by his relationship to +Barnabas; but when Perga and the climb over Taurus into strange lands +came to be called for, his zeal and courage oozed out at his +finger-ends, and he skulked back to his mother's house at Jerusalem. No +wonder that Paul 'thought not good to take with them him who withdrew +from them.' But even such faint hearts as Mark's may take courage from +the fact that he nobly retrieved his youthful error, and won back +Paul's confidence, and proved himself 'profitable to him for the +ministry.' + + + +WHY SAUL BECAME PAUL + +'Saul (who also is called Paul)' ...--ACTS xiii. 9 + +Hitherto the Apostle has been known by the former of these names, +henceforward he is known exclusively by the latter. Hitherto he has +been second to his friend Barnabas, henceforward he is first. In an +earlier verse of the chapter we read that 'Barnabas and Saul' were +separated for their missionary work, and again, that it was 'Barnabas +and Saul' for whom the governor of Cyprus sent, to hear the word of the +Lord. But in a subsequent verse of the chapter we read that 'Paul and +his company loosed from Paphos.' + +The change in the order of the names is significant, and the change in +the names not less so. Why was it that at this period the Apostle took +up this new designation? I think that the coincidence between his name +and that of the governor of Cyprus, who believed at his preaching, +Sergius Paulus, is too remarkable to be accidental. And though, no +doubt, it was the custom for the Jews of that day, especially for those +of them who lived in Gentile lands, to have, for convenience' sake, two +names, one Jewish and one Gentile--one for use amongst their brethren, +and one for use amongst the heathen--still we have no distinct +intimation that the Apostle bore a Gentile name before this moment. And +the fact that the name which he bears now is the same as that of his +first convert, seems to me to point the explanation. + +I take it, then, that the assumption of the name of Paul instead of the +name of Saul occurred at this point, stood in some relation to his +missionary work, and was intended in some sense as a memorial of his +first victory in the preaching of the Gospel. + +I think that there are lessons to be derived from the substitution of +one of these names for the other which may well occupy us for a few +moments. + +I. First of all, then, the new name expresses a new nature. + +Jesus Christ gave the Apostle whom He called to Himself in the early +days, a new name, in order to prophesy the change which, by the +discipline of sorrow and the communication of the grace of God, should +pass over Simon Barjona, making him into a Peter, a 'Man of Rock.' With +characteristic independence, Saul chooses for himself a new name, which +shall express the change that he feels has passed over his inmost +being. True, he does not assume it at his conversion, but that is no +reason why we should not believe that he assumes it because he is +beginning to understand what it is that has happened to him at his +conversion. + +The fact that he changes his name as soon as he throws himself into +public and active life, is but gathering into one picturesque symbol +his great principle; 'If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new +creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.' + +So, dear brethren, we may, from this incident before us, gather this +one great lesson, that the central heart of Christianity is the +possession of a new life, communicated to us through faith in that Son +of God, Who is the Lord of the Spirit. Wheresoever there is a true +faith, there is a new nature. Opinions may play upon the surface of a +man's soul, like moonbeams on the silver sea, without raising its +temperature one degree or sending a single beam into its dark caverns. +And that is the sort of Christianity that satisfies a great many of +you--a Christianity of opinion, a Christianity of surface creed, a +Christianity which at the best slightly modifies some of our outward +actions, but leaves the whole inner man unchanged. + +Paul's Christianity meant a radical change in his whole nature. He went +out of Jerusalem a persecutor, he came into Damascus a Christian. He +rode out of Jerusalem hating, loathing, despising Jesus Christ; he +groped his way into Damascus, broken, bruised, clinging contrite to His +feet, and clasping His Cross as his only hope. He went out proud, +self-reliant, pluming himself upon his many prerogatives, his blue +blood, his pure descent, his Rabbinical knowledge, his Pharisaical +training, his external religious earnestness, his rigid morality; he +rode into Damascus blind in the eyes, but seeing in the soul, and +discerning that all these things were, as he says in his strong, +vehement way, 'but dung' in comparison with his winning Christ. + +And his theory of conversion, which he preaches in all his Epistles, is +but the generalisation of his own personal experience, which suddenly, +and in a moment, smote his old self to shivers, and raised up a new +life, with new tastes, views, tendencies, aspirations, with new +allegiance to a new King. Such changes, so sudden, so revolutionary, +cannot be expected often to take place amongst people who, like us, +have been listening to Christian teaching all our lives. But unless +there be this infusion of a new life into men's spirits which shall +make them love and long and aspire after new things that once they did +not care for, I know not why we should speak of them as being +Christians at all. The transition is described by Paul as 'passing from +death unto life.' That cannot be a surface thing. A change which needs +a new name must be a profound change. Has our Christianity +revolutionised our nature in any such fashion? It is easy to be a +Christian after the superficial fashion which passes muster with so +many of us. A verbal acknowledgment of belief in truths which we never +think about, a purely external performance of acts of worship, a +subscription or two winged by no sympathy, and a fairly respectable +life beneath the cloak of which all evil may burrow undetected--make +the Christianity of thousands. Paul's Christianity transformed him; +does yours transform you? If it does not, are you quite sure that it +_is_ Christianity at all? + +II. Then, again, we may take this change of name as being expressive of +a life's work. + +_Paul_ is a Roman name. He strips himself of his Jewish connections and +relationships. His fellow-countrymen who lived amongst the Gentiles +were, as I said at the beginning of these remarks, in the habit of +doing the same thing; but they carried _both_ their names; their Jewish +for use amongst their own people, their Gentile one for use amongst +Gentiles. Paul seems to have altogether disused his old name of Saul. +It was almost equivalent to seceding from Judaism. It is like the acts +of the renegades whom one sometimes hears of, who are found by +travellers, dressed in turban and flowing robes, and bearing some +Turkish name, or like some English sailor, lost to home and kindred, +who deserts his ship in an island of the Pacific, and drops his English +name for a barbarous title, in token that he has given up his faith and +his nationality. + +So Paul, contemplating for his life's work preaching amongst the +Gentiles, determines at the beginning, 'I lay down all of which I used +to be proud. If my Jewish descent and privileges stand in my way I cast +them aside. "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the +tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a +Pharisee,"--all these I wrap together in one bundle, and toss them +behind me that I may be the better able to help some to whom they would +have hindered my access.' A man with a heart will throw off his silken +robes that his arm may be bared to rescue, and his feet free to run to +succour. + +So we may, from the change of the Apostle's name, gather this lesson, +never out of date, that the only way to help people is to go down to +their level. If you want to bless men, you must identify yourself with +them. It is no use standing on an eminence above them, and +patronisingly talking down to them. You cannot scold, or hector, or +lecture men into the possession and acceptance of religious truth if +you take a position of superiority. As our Master has taught us, if we +want to make blind beggars see we must take the blind beggars by the +hand. + +The spirit which led the Apostle to change the name of Saul, with its +memories of the royal dignity which, in the person of its great wearer, +had honoured his tribe, for a Roman name is the same which he formally +announces as a deliberately adopted law of his life. 'To them that are +without law I became as without law ... that I might gain them that are +without law ... I am made all things to all men, that I might by all +means save some.' + +It is the very inmost principle of the Gospel. The principle that +influenced the servant in this comparatively little matter, is the +principle that influenced the Master in the mightiest of all events. +'He who was in the form of God, and thought not equality with God a +thing to be eagerly snatched at, made Himself of no reputation, and was +found in fashion as a man and in form as a servant, and became obedient +unto death.' 'For as much as the children were partakers of flesh and +blood, He Himself likewise took part of the same'; and the mystery of +incarnation came to pass, because when the Divine would help men, the +only way by which the Infinite love could reach its end was that the +Divine should become man; identifying Himself with those whom He would +help, and stooping to the level of the humanity that He would lift. + +And as it is the very essence and heart of Christ's work, so, my +brother, it is the condition of all work that benefits our fellows. It +applies all round. We must stoop if we would raise. We must put away +gifts, culture, everything that distinguishes us, and come to the level +of the men that we seek to help. Sympathy is the parent of all wise +counsel, because it is the parent of all true understanding of our +brethren's wants. Sympathy is the only thing to which people will +listen, sympathy is the only disposition correspondent to the message +that we Christians are entrusted with. For a Christian man to carry the +Gospel of Infinite condescension to his fellows in a spirit other than +that of the Master and the Gospel which he speaks, is an anomaly and a +contradiction. + +And, therefore, let us all remember that a vast deal of so-called +Christian work falls utterly dead and profitless, for no other reason +than this, that the doers have forgotten that they must come to the +level of the men whom they would help, before they can expect to bless +them. + +You remember the old story of the heroic missionary whose heart burned +to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst captives, and as there was +no other way of reaching them, let himself be sold for a slave, and put +out his hands to have the manacles fastened upon them. It is the law +for all Christian service; become like men if you will help them,--'To +the weak as weak, all things to all men, that we might by all means +save some.' + +And, my brother, there was no obligation on Paul's part to do Christian +work which does not lie on you. + +III. Further, this change of name is a memorial of victory. + +The name is that of Paul's first convert. He takes it, as I suppose, +because it seemed to him such a blessed thing that at the very moment +when he began to sow, God helped him to reap. He had gone out to his +work, no doubt, with much trembling, with weakness and fear. And lo! +here, at once, the fields were white already to the harvest, + +Great conquerors have been named from their victories; Africanus, +Germanicus, Nelson of the Nile, Napier of Magdala, and the like. Paul +names himself from the first victory that God gives him to win; and so, +as it were, carries ever on his breast a memorial of the wonder that +through him it had been given to preach, and that not without success, +amongst the Gentiles 'the unsearchable riches of Christ.' + +That is to say, this man thought of it as his highest honour, and the +thing best worthy to be remembered about his life, that God had helped +him to help his brethren to know the common Master. Is that your idea +of the best thing about a life? What would you, a professing Christian, +like to have for an epitaph on your grave? 'He was rich; he made a big +business in Manchester'; 'He was famous, he wrote books'; 'He was happy +and fortunate'; or, 'He turned many to righteousness'? This man flung +away his literary tastes, his home joys, and his personal ambition, and +chose as that for which he would live, and by which he would fain be +remembered, that he should bring dark hearts to the light in which he +and they together walked. + +His name, in its commemoration of his first success, would act as a +stimulus to service and to hope. No doubt the Apostle, like the rest of +us, had his times of indolence and languor, and his times of +despondency when he seemed to have laboured in vain, and spent his +strength for nought. He had but to say 'Paul' to find the antidote to +both the one and the other, and in the remembrance of the past to find +a stimulus for service for the future, and a stimulus for hope for the +time to come. His first convert was to him the first drop that predicts +the shower, the first primrose that prophesies the wealth of yellow +blossoms and downy green leaves that will fill the woods in a day or +two. The first convert 'bears in his hand a glass which showeth many +more.' Look at the workmen in the streets trying to get up a piece of +the roadway. How difficult it is to lever out the first paving stone +from the compacted mass! But when once it has been withdrawn, the rest +is comparatively easy. We can understand Paul's triumph and joy over +the first stone which he had worked out of the strongly cemented wall +and barrier of heathenism; and his conviction that having thus made a +breach, if it were but wide enough to let the end of his lever in, the +fall of the whole was only a question of time. I suppose that if the +old alchemists had turned but one grain of base metal into gold they +might have turned tons, if only they had had the retorts and the +appliances with which to do it. And so, what has brought one man's soul +into harmony with God, and given one man the true life, can do the same +for all men. In the first fruits we may see the fields whitening to the +harvest. Let us rejoice then, in any little work that God helps us to +do, and be sure that if so great be the joy of the first fruits, great +beyond speech will be the joy of the ingathering. + +IV. And now last of all, this change of name is an index of the spirit +of a life's work. + +'Paul' means 'little'; 'Saul' means 'desired.' He abandons the name +that prophesied of favour and honour, to adopt a name that bears upon +its very front a profession of humility. His very name is the +condensation into a word of his abiding conviction: 'I am less than the +least of all saints.' Perhaps even there may be an allusion to his low +stature, which may be pointed at in the sarcasm of his enemies that his +letters were strong, though his bodily presence was 'weak.' If he was, +as Renan calls him, 'an ugly little Jew,' the name has a double +appropriateness. + +But, at all events, it is an expression of the spirit in which he +sought to do his work. The more lofty the consciousness of his vocation +the more lowly will a true man's estimate of himself be. The higher my +thought of what God has given me grace to do, the more shall I feel +weighed down by the consciousness of my unfitness to do it. And the +more grateful my remembrance of what He has enabled me to do, the more +shall I wonder that I have been enabled, and the more profoundly shall +I feel that it is not my strength but His that has won the victories. + +So, dear brethren, for all hope, for all success in our work, for all +growth in Christian grace and character, this disposition of lowly +self-abasement and recognised unworthiness and infirmity is absolutely +indispensable. The mountain-tops that lift themselves to the stars are +barren, and few springs find their rise there. It is in the lowly +valleys that the flowers grow and the rivers run. And it is they who +are humble and lowly in heart to whom God gives strength to serve Him, +and the joy of accepted service. + +I beseech you, then, learn your true life's task. Learn how to do it by +identifying yourselves with the humbler brethren whom you would help. +Learn the spirit in which it must be done; the spirit of lowly +self-abasement. And oh! above all, learn this, that unless you have the +new life, the life of God in your hearts, you have no life at all. + +Have you, my brother, that faith by which we receive into our spirits +Christ's own Spirit, to be our life? If you have, then you are a new +creature, with a new name, perhaps but dimly visible and faintly +audible, amidst the imperfections of earth, but sure to shine out on +the pages of the Lamb's Book of Life; and to be read 'with tumults of +acclaim' before the angels of Heaven. 'I will give him a white stone, +and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that +receiveth it.' + + + +JOHN MARK + +'... John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.'--ACTS xiii. 13. + +The few brief notices of John Mark in Scripture are sufficient to give +us an outline of his life, and some inkling of his character. He was +the son of a well-to-do Christian woman in Jerusalem, whose house +appears to have been the resort of the brethren as early as the period +of Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison. As the cousin of +Barnabas he was naturally selected to be the attendant and secular +factotum of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. For +some reason, faint-heartedness, lack of interest, levity of +disposition, or whatever it may have been, he very quickly abandoned +that office and returned to his home. His kindly-natured and indulgent +relative sought to reinstate him in his former position on the second +journey of Paul and himself. Paul's kinder severity refused to comply +with the wish of his colleague Barnabas, and so they part, and Barnabas +and Mark sail away to Cyprus, and drop out of the Acts of the Apostles. +We hear no more about him until near the end of the Apostle Paul's +life, when the Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon show him as +again the companion of Paul in his captivity. He seems to have left him +in Rome, to have gone to Asia Minor for a space, to have returned to +the Apostle during his last imprisonment and immediately prior to his +death, and then to have attached himself to the Apostle Peter, and +under his direction and instruction to have written his Gospel. + +Now these are the bones of his story; can we put flesh and blood upon +them: and can we get any lessons out of them? I think we may; at any +rate I am going to try. + +I. Consider then, first, his--what shall I call it? well, if I may use +the word which Paul himself designates it by, in its correct +signification, we may call it his--apostasy. + +It was not a departure from Christ, but it was a departure from very +plain duty. And if you will notice the point of time at which Mark +threw up the work that was laid upon him, you will see the reason for +his doing so. The first place to which the bold evangelists went was +Cyprus. Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, which was perhaps the reason +for selecting it as the place in which to begin the mission. For the +same reason, because it was the native place of his relative, it would +be very easy work for John Mark as long as they stopped in Cyprus, +among his friends, with people that knew him, and with whom no doubt he +was familiar. But as soon as they crossed the strait that separated the +island from the mainland, and set foot upon the soil of Asia Minor, so +soon he turned tail; like some recruit that goes into battle, full of +fervour, but as soon as the bullets begin to 'ping' makes the best of +his way to the rear. He was quite ready for missionary work as long as +it was easy work; quite ready to do it as long as he was moving upon +known ground and there was no great call upon his heroism, or his +self-sacrifice; he does not wait to test the difficulties, but is +frightened by the imagination of them, does not throw himself into the +work and see how he gets on with it, but before he has gone a mile into +the land, or made any real experience of the perils and hardships, has +had quite enough of it, and goes away back to his mother in Jerusalem. + +Yes, and we find exactly the same thing in all kinds of strenuous life. +Many begin to run, but one after another, as 'lap' after 'lap' of the +racecourse is got over, has had enough of it, and drops on one side; a +hundred started, and at the end the field is reduced to three or four. +All you men that have grey hairs on your heads can remember many of +your companions that set out in the course with you, 'did run well' for +a little while: what has become of them? This thing hindered one, the +other thing hindered another; the swiftly formed resolution died down +as fast as it blazed up; and there are perhaps some three or four that, +'by patient continuance in well-doing,' have been tolerably faithful to +their juvenile ideal; and to use the homely word of the homely Abraham +Lincoln, kept 'pegging away' at what they knew to be the task that was +laid upon them. + +This is very 'threadbare' morality, very very familiar and +old-fashioned teaching; but I am accustomed to believe that no teaching +is threadbare until it is practised; and that however well-worn the +platitudes may be, you and I want them once again unless we have obeyed +them, and done all which they enjoin. And so in regard to every career +which has in it anything of honour and of effort, let John Mark teach +us the lesson not swiftly to begin and inconsiderately to venture upon +a course, but once begun to let nothing discourage, 'nor bate one jot +of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward.' + +And still further and more solemnly still, how like this story is to +the experience of hundreds and thousands of young Christians! Any man +who has held such an office as I hold, for as many years as I have +filled it, will have his memory full--and, may I say, his eyes not +empty--of men and women who began like this man, earnest, fervid, full +of zeal, and who, like him, have slackened in their work; who were +Sunday-school teachers, workers amongst the poor, I know not what, when +they were young men and women, and who now are idle and unprofitable +servants. + +Some of you, dear brethren, need the word of exhortation and earnest +beseeching to contrast the sluggishness, the indolence of your present, +with the brightness and the fervour of your past. And I beseech you, do +not let your Christian life be like that snow that is on the ground +about us to-day--when it first lights upon the earth, radiant and +white, but day by day gets more covered with a veil of sooty blackness +until it becomes dark and foul. + +Many of us have to acknowledge that the fervour of early days has died +down into coldness. The river that leapt from its source rejoicing, and +bickered amongst the hills in such swift and musical descent, creeps +sluggish and almost stagnant amongst the flats of later life, or has +been lost and swallowed up altogether in the thirsty and encroaching +sands of a barren worldliness. Oh! my friends, let us all ponder this +lesson, and see to it that no repetition of the apostasy of this man +darken our Christian lives and sadden our Christian conscience. + +II. And now let me ask you to look next, in the development of this +little piece of biography, to Mark's eclipse. + +Paul and Barnabas differed about how to treat the renegade. Which of +them was right? Would it have been better to have put him back in his +old post, and given him another chance, and said nothing about the +failure; or was it better to do what the sterner wisdom of Paul did, +and declare that a man who had once so forgotten himself and abandoned +his work was not the man to put in the same place again? Barnabas' +highest quality, as far as we know, was a certain kind of broad +generosity and rejoicing to discern good in all men. He was a 'son of +consolation'; the gentle kindness of his natural disposition, added to +the ties of relationship, influenced him in his wish regarding his +cousin Mark. He made a mistake. It would have been the cruellest thing +that could have been done to his relative to have put him back again +without acknowledgment, without repentance, without his riding +quarantine for a bit, and holding his tongue for a while. He would not +then have known his fault as he ought to have known it, and so there +would never have been the chance of his conquering it. + +The Church manifestly sympathised with Paul, and thought that he took +the right view; for the contrast is very significant between the +unsympathising silence which the narrative records as attending the +departure of Barnabas and Mark--'Barnabas took Mark, and sailed away to +Cyprus'--and the emphasis with which it tells us that the other partner +in the dispute, Paul, 'took Silas and departed, being recommended by +the brethren to the grace of God.' + +The people at Antioch had no doubt who was right, and I think they were +right in so deciding. So let us learn that God treats His renegades as +Paul treated Mark, and not as Barnabas would have treated him, He is +ready, even infinitely ready, to forgive and to restore, but desires to +see the consciousness of the sin first, and desires, before large tasks +are re-committed to hands that once have dropped them, to have some +kind of evidence that the hands have grown stronger and the heart +purified from its cowardice and its selfishness. Forgiveness does not +mean impunity. The infinite mercy of God is not mere weak indulgence +which so deals with a man's failures and sins as to convey the +impression that these are of no moment whatsoever. And Paul's severity +which said: 'No, such work is not fit for such hands until the heart +has been "broken and healed,"' is of a piece with God's severity which +is love. 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest +vengeance of their inventions.' Let us learn the difference between a +weak charity which loves too foolishly, and therefore too selfishly, to +let a man inherit the fruit of his doings, and the large mercy which +knows how to take the bitterness out of the chastisement, and yet knows +how to chastise. + +And still further, this which I have called Mark's eclipse may teach us +another lesson, viz., that the punishment for shirking work is to be +denied work, just as the converse is true, that in God's administration +of the world and of His Church, the reward for faithful work is to get +more to do, and the filling a narrower sphere is the sure way to have a +wider sphere to fill. So if a man abandons plain duties, then he will +get no work to do. And that is why so many Christian men and women are +idle in this world; and stand in the market-place, saying, with a +certain degree of truth, 'No man hath hired us.' No; because so often +in the past tasks have been presented to you, forced upon you, almost +pressed into your unwilling hands, that you have refused to take; and +you are not going to get any more. You have been asked to work,--I +speak now to professing Christians--duties have been pressed upon you, +fields of service have opened plainly before you, and you have not had +the heart to go into them. And so you stand idle all the day now, and +the work goes to other people that will do it. Thus God honours them, +and passes you by. + +Mark sails away to Cyprus, he does not go back to Jerusalem; he and +Barnabas try to get up some little schismatic sort of mission of their +own. Nothing comes of it; nothing ought to have come of it. He drops +out of the story; he has no share in the joyful conflicts and +sacrifices and successes of the Apostle. When he heard how Paul, by +God's help, was flaming like a meteor from East to West, do you not +think he wished that he had not been such a coward? When the Lord was +opening doors, and he saw how the work was prospering in the hands of +ancient companions, and Silas filled the place that he might have +filled, if he had been faithful to God, do you not think the bitter +thought occupied his mind, of how he had flung away what never could +come back to him now? The punishment of indolence is absolute idleness. + +So, my friends, let us learn this lesson, that the largest reward that +God can give to him that has been faithful in a few things, is to give +him many things to be faithful over. Beware, all of you professing +Christians, lest to you should come the fate of the slothful servant +with his one burled talent, to whom the punishment of burying it unused +was to lose it altogether; according to that solemn word which was +fulfilled in the temporal sphere in this story on which I am +commenting: 'To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath +not, even that he hath shall be taken away.' + +III. Again consider the process of recovery. + +Concerning it we read nothing indeed in Scripture; but concerning it we +know enough to be able at least to determine what its outline must have +been. The silent and obscure years of compulsory inactivity had their +fruit, no doubt. There is only one road, with well-marked stages, by +which a backsliding or apostate Christian can return to his Master. And +that road has three halting-places upon it, through which the heart +must pass if it have wandered from its early faith, and falsified its +first professions. The first of them is the consciousness of the fall, +the second is the resort to the Master for forgiveness; and the last is +the deepened consecration to Him. + +The patriarch Abraham, in a momentary lapse from faith to sense, +thought himself compelled to leave the land to which God had sent him, +because a famine threatened; and when he came back from Egypt, as the +narrative tells us with deep significance, he went to the 'place where +he had pitched his tent at the beginning; to the altar which lie had +reared at the first.' Yes, my friends, we must begin over again, tread +all the old path, enter by the old wicket-gate, once more take the +place of the penitent, once more make acquaintance with the pardoning +Christ, once more devote ourselves in renewed consecration to His +service. No man that wanders into the wilderness but comes back by the +King's highway, if he comes back at all. + +IV. And so lastly, notice the reinstatement of the penitent renegade. + +If you turn at your leisure to the remaining notices of John Mark in +Scripture, you will find, in two of Paul's Epistles of the captivity, +viz., those to the Colossians and Philemon, references to him; and +these references are of a very interesting and beautiful nature. Paul +says that in Rome Mark was one of the four born Jews who had been a +cordial and a comfort to him in his imprisonment. He commends him, in +the view of a probable journey, to the loving reception of the church +at Colosse, as if they knew something derogatory to his character, the +impression of which the Apostle desired to remove. He sends to Philemon +the greetings of the repentant renegade in strange juxtaposition with +the greetings of two other men, one who was an apostate at the end of +his career instead of at the beginning, and of whom we do not read that +he ever came back, and one who all his life long is the type of a +faithful friend and companion, 'Mark, Demas, Luke' are bracketed as +greeting Philemon; the first a runaway that came back, the second a +fugitive who, so far as we know, never returned, and the last the +faithful friend throughout. + +And then in Paul's final Epistle, and in almost the last words of it, +we read his request to Timothy. 'Take Mark, and bring him with thee, +for he is profitable to me for the ministry.' The first notice of him +was: 'They had John to their minister'; the last word about him is: 'he +is profitable for the ministry.' The Greek words in the original are +not identical, but their meaning is substantially the same. So +notwithstanding the failure, notwithstanding the wise refusal of Paul +years before to have anything more to do with him, he is now reinstated +in his old office, and the aged Apostle, before he dies, would like to +have the comfort of his presence once more at his side. Is not the +lesson out of that, this eternal Gospel that even early failures, +recognised and repented of, may make a man better fitted for the tasks +from which once he fled? Just as they tell us--I do not know whether it +is true or not, it will do for an illustration--just as they tell us +that a broken bone renewed is stronger at the point of fracture than it +ever was before, so the very sin that we commit, when once we know it +for a sin, and have brought it to Christ for forgiveness, may minister +to our future efficiency and strength. The Israelites fought twice upon +one battlefield. On the first occasion they were shamefully defeated; +on the second, on the same ground, and against the same enemies, they +victoriously emerged from the conflict, and reared the stone which +said, 'Ebenezer!' 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.' + +And so the temptations which have been sorest may be overcome, the sins +into which we most naturally fall we may put our foot upon; the past is +no specimen of what the future may be. The page that is yet to be +written need have none of the blots of the page that we have turned +over shining through it. Sin which we have learned to know for sin and +to hate, teaches us humility, dependence, shows us where our weak +places are. Sin which is forgiven knits us to Christ with deeper and +more fervid love, and results in a larger consecration. Think of the +two ends of this man's life--flying like a frightened hare from the +very first suspicion of danger or of difficulty, sulking in his +solitude, apart from all the joyful stir of consecration and of +service; and at last made an evangelist to proclaim to the whole world +the story of the Gospel of the Servant. God works with broken reeds, +and through them breathes His sweetest music. + +So, dear brethren, 'Take with you words, and return unto the Lord; say +unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously,' and the +answer will surely be:--'I will heal their backsliding; I will love +them freely; I will be as the dew unto Israel.' + + + +THE FIRST PREACHING IN ASIA MINOR + +'Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever +among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27. +For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew +Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every +Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. 28. And though +they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that he +should be slain. 29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written +of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. +30. But God raised Him from the dead: 31. And He was seen many days of +them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His +witnesses unto the people. 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings, +how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33. God hath +fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up +Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm. Thou art my +Son, this day have I begotten Thee. 34. And as concerning that He +raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He +said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35. +Wherefore He saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine +Holy One to see corruption. 36. For David, after he had served his own +generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his +fathers, and saw corruption: 37. But He, whom God raised again, saw no +corruption. 38. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that +through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39. And +by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye +could not be justified by the law of Moses.'--ACTS xiii. 26-39. + +The extended report of Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of +Pisidia marks it, in accordance with Luke's method, as the first of a +series. It was so because, though the composition of the audience was +identical with that of those in the synagogues of Cyprus, this was the +beginning of the special work of the tour, the preaching in the cities +of Asia Minor. The part of the address contained in the passage falls +into three sections,--the condensed narrative of the Gospel facts (vs. +26-31), the proof that the resurrection was prophesied (vs. 32-37), and +the pungent personal application (v. 38 to end). + +I. The substance of the narrative coincides, as it could not but do, +with Peter's sermons, but yet with differences, partly due to the +different audience, partly to Paul's idiosyncrasy. After the preceding +historical _resume_, he girds himself to his proper work of proclaiming +the Gospel, and he marks the transition in verse 26 by reiterating his +introductory words. + +His audience comprised the two familiar classes of Jews and Gentile +proselytes, and he seeks to win the ears of both. His heart goes out in +his address to them all as 'brethren,' and in his classing himself and +Barnabas among them as receivers of the message which he has to +proclaim. What skill, if it were not something much more sacred, even +humility and warm love, lies in that 'to _us_ is the word of this +salvation sent'! He will not stand above them as if he had any other +possession of his message than they might have. He, too, has received +it, and what he is about to say is not his word, but God's message to +them and him. That is the way to preach. + +Notice, too, how skilfully he introduces the narrative of the rejection +of Jesus as the reason why the message has now come to them his hearers +away in Antioch. It is 'sent forth' 'to us,' Asiatic Jews, _for_ the +people in the sacred city would not have it. Paul does not prick his +hearers' consciences, as Peter did, by charging home the guilt of the +rejection of Jesus on them. They had no share in that initial crime. +There is a faint purpose of dissociating himself and his hearers from +the people of Jerusalem, to whom the Dispersion were accustomed to look +up, in the designation, 'they that dwell in Jerusalem, and _their_ +rulers.' Thus far the Antioch Jews had had hands clean from that crime; +they had now to choose whether they would mix themselves up with it. + +We may further note that Paul says nothing about Christ's life of +gentle goodness, His miracles or teaching, but concentrates attention +on His death and resurrection. From the beginning of his ministry these +were the main elements of his 'Gospel' (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4). The full +significance of that death is not declared here. Probably it was +reserved for subsequent instruction. But it and the Resurrection, which +interpreted it, are set in the forefront, as they should always be. The +main point insisted on is that the men of Jerusalem were fulfilling +prophecy in slaying Jesus. With tragic deafness, they knew not the +voices of the prophets, clear and unanimous as they were, though they +heard them every Sabbath of their lives, and yet they fulfilled them. A +prophet's words had just been read in the synagogue; Paul's words might +set some hearer asking whether a veil had been over his heart while his +ears had heard the sound of the word. + +The Resurrection is established by the only evidence for a historical +fact, the testimony of competent eyewitnesses. Their competence is +established by their familiar companionship with Jesus during His whole +career; their opportunities for testing the reality of the fact, by the +'many days' of His appearances. + +Paul does not put forward his own testimony to the Resurrection, though +we know, from 1 Corinthians xv. 8, that he regarded Christ's appearance +to him as being equally valid evidence with that afforded by the other +appearances; but he distinguishes between the work of the Apostles, as +'witnesses unto the people'--that is, the Jews of Palestine--and that +of Barnabas and himself. They had to bear the message to the regions +beyond. The Apostles and he had the same work, but different spheres. + +II. The second part turns with more personal address to his hearers. +Its purport is not so much to preach the Resurrection, which could only +be proved by testimony, as to establish the fact that it was the +fulfilment of the promises to the fathers. Note how the idea of +fulfilled prophecy runs in Paul's head. The Jews had _fulfilled_ it by +their crime; God _fulfilled_ it by the Resurrection. This reiteration +of a key-word is a mark of Paul's style in his Epistles, and its +appearance here attests the accuracy of the report of his speech. + +The second Psalm, from which Paul's first quotation is made, is +prophetic of Christ, inasmuch as it represents in vivid lyrical +language the vain rebellion of earthly rulers against Messiah, and +Jehovah's establishing Him and His kingdom by a steadfast decree. Peter +quoted its picture of the rebels, as fulfilled in the coalition of +Herod, Pilate, and the Jewish rulers against Christ. The Messianic +reference of the Psalm, then, was already seen; and we may not be going +too far if we assume that Jesus Himself had included it among things +written in the Psalms 'concerning Himself,' which He had explained to +the disciples after the Resurrection. It depicts Jehovah speaking to +Messiah, _after_ the futile attempts of the rebels: 'This day have I +begotten Thee.' That day is a definite point in time. The Resurrection +was a birth from the dead; so Paul, in Colossians i. 18, calls Jesus +'the first begotten from the dead.' Romans i. 4,'declared to be the Son +of God ... by the resurrection from the dead,' is the best commentary +on Paul's words here. + +The second and third quotations must apparently be combined, for the +second does not specifically refer to resurrection, but it promises to +'you,' that is to those who obey the call to partake in the Messianic +blessings, a share in the 'sure' and enduring 'mercies of David'; and +the third quotation shows that not 'to see corruption' was one of these +'mercies.' That implies that the speaker in the Psalm was, in Paul's +view, David, and that his words were his believing answer to a divine +promise. But David was dead. Had the 'sure mercy' proved, then, a +broken reed? Not so: for Jesus, who is Messiah, and is God's 'Holy One' +in a deeper sense than David was, has not seen corruption. The +Psalmist's hopes are fulfilled in Him, and through Him, in all who will +'eat' that their 'souls may live,' + +III. But Paul's yearning for his brethren's salvation is not content +with proclaiming the fact of Christ's resurrection, nor with pointing +to it as fulfilling prophecy; he gathers all up into a loving, urgent +offer of salvation for every believing soul, and solemn warning to +despisers. Here the whole man flames out. Here the characteristic +evangelical teaching, which is sometimes ticketed as 'Pauline' by way +of stigma, is heard. Already had he grasped the great antithesis +between Law and Gospel. Already his great word 'justified' has taken +its place in his terminology. The essence of the Epistles to Romans and +Galatians is here. Justification is the being pronounced and treated as +not guilty. Law cannot justify. 'In Him' we are justified. Observe that +this is an advance on the previous statement that 'through Him' we +receive remission of sins. + +'In Him' points, thought but incidentally and slightly, to the great +truth of incorporation with Jesus, of which Paul had afterwards so much +to write. The justifying in Christ is complete and absolute. And the +sole sufficient condition of receiving it is faith. But the greater the +glory of the light the darker the shadow which it casts. The broad +offer of complete salvation has ever to be accompanied with the plain +warning of the dread issue of rejecting it. Just because it is so free +and full, and to be had on such terms, the warning has to be rung into +deaf ears, 'Beware _therefore_!' Hope and fear are legitimately +appealed to by the Christian evangelist. They are like the two wings +which may lift the soul to soar to its safe shelter in the Rock of Ages. + + + +LUTHER--A STONE ON THE CAIRN + +'For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, +fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37. +But He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.'--ACTS xiii. 36, 37. + +I take these words as a motto rather than as a text. You will have +anticipated the use which I purpose to make of them in connection with +the Luther Commemoration. They set before us, in clear sharp contrast, +the distinction between the limited, transient work of the servants and +the unbounded, eternal influence of the Master. The former are +servants, and that but for a time; they do their work, they are laid in +the grave, and as their bodies resolve into their elements, so their +influence, their teaching, the institutions which they may have +founded, disintegrate and decay. He lives. His relation to the world is +not as theirs; He is 'not for an age, but for all time.' Death is not +the end of His work. His Cross is the eternal foundation of the world's +hope. His life is the ultimate, perfect revelation of the divine Nature +which can never be surpassed, or fathomed, or antiquated. Therefore the +last thought, in all commemorations of departed teachers and guides, +should be of Him who gave them all the force that they had; and the +final word should be: 'They were not suffered to continue by reason of +death, this Man continueth ever.' + +In the same spirit then as the words of my text, and taking them as +giving me little more than a starting-point and a framework, I draw +from them some thoughts appropriate to the occasion. + +I. First, we have to think about the limited and transient work of this +great servant of God. + +The miner's son, who was born in that little Saxon village four hundred +years ago, presents at first sight a character singularly unlike the +traditional type of mediaeval Church fathers and saints. Their ascetic +habits, and the repressive system under which they were trained, +withdraw them from our sympathy; but this sturdy peasant, with his +full-blooded humanity, unmistakably a man, and a man all round, is a +new type, and looks strangely out of place amongst doctors and +mediaeval saints. + +His character, though not complex, is many-sided and in some respects +contradictory. The face and figure that look out upon us from the best +portraits of Luther tell us a great deal about the man. Strong, +massive, not at all elegant; he stands there, firm and resolute, on his +own legs, grasping a _Bible_ in a muscular hand. There is plenty of +animalism--a source of power as well as of weakness--in the thick neck; +an iron will in the square chin; eloquence on the full, loose lips; a +mystic, dreamy tenderness and sadness in the steadfast eyes--altogether +a true king and a leader of men! + +The first things that strike one in the character are the iron will +that would not waver, the indomitable courage that knew no fear, the +splendid audacity that, single-handed, sprang into the arena for a +contest to the death with Pope, Emperors, superstitions, and devils; +the insight that saw the things that were 'hid from the wise and +prudent,' and the answering sincerity that would not hide what he saw, +nor say that he saw what he did not. + +But there was a great deal more than that in the man. He was no mere +brave revolutionary, he was a cultured scholar, abreast of all the +learning of his age, capable of logic-chopping and scholastic +disputation on occasion, and but too often the victim of his own +over-subtle refinements. He was a poet, with a poet's dreaminess and +waywardness, fierce alternations of light and shade, sorrow and joy. +All living things whispered and spoke to him, and he walked in +communion with them all. Little children gathered round his feet, and +he had a big heart of love for all the weary and the sorrowful. + +Everybody knows how he could write and speak. He made the German +language, as we may say, lifting it up from a dialect of boors to +become the rich, flexible, cultured speech that it is. And his Bible, +his single-handed work, is one of the colossal achievements of man; +like Stonehenge or the Pyramids. 'His words were half-battles,' 'they +were living creatures that had hands and feet'; his speech, direct, +strong, homely, ready to borrow words from the kitchen or the gutter, +is unmatched for popular eloquence and impression. There was music in +the man. His flute solaced his lonely hours in his home at Wittemberg; +and the Marseillaise of the Reformation, as that grand hymn of his has +been called, came, words and music, from his heart. There was humour in +him, coarse horseplay often; an honest, hearty, broad laugh frequently, +like that of a Norse god. There were coarse tastes in him, tastes of +the peasant folk from whom he came, which clung to him through life, +and kept him in sympathy with the common people, and intelligible to +them. And withal there was a constitutional melancholy, aggravated by +his weary toils, perilous fightings, and fierce throes, which led him +down often into the deep mire where there was no standing; and which +sighs through all his life. The penitential Psalms and Paul's wail: 'O +wretched man that I am,' perhaps never woke more plaintive echo in any +human heart than they did in Martin Luther's. + +Faults he had, gross and plain as the heroic mould in which he was +cast. He was vehement and fierce often; he was coarse and violent +often. He saw what he did see so clearly, that he was slow to believe +that there was anything that he did not see. He was oblivious of +counterbalancing considerations, and given to exaggerated, incautious, +unguarded statements of precious truths. He too often aspired to be a +driver rather than a leader of men; and his strength of will became +obstinacy and tyranny. It was too often true that he had dethroned the +pope of Rome to set up a pope at Wittemberg. And foul personalities +came from his lips, according to the bad controversial fashion of his +day, which permitted a licence to scholars that we now forbid to +fishwives. + +All that has to be admitted; and when it is all admitted, what then? +This is a fastidious generation; Erasmus is its heroic type a great +deal more than Luther--I mean among the cultivated classes of our +day--and that very largely because in Erasmus there is no quick +sensibility to religious emotion as there is in Luther, and no +inconvenient fervour. The faults are there--coarse, plain, +palpable--and perhaps more than enough has been made of them. Let us +remember, as to his violence, that he was following the fashion of the +day; that he was fighting for his life; that when a man is at +death-grips with a tiger he may be pardoned if he strikes without +considering whether he is going to spoil the skin or not; and that on +the whole you cannot throttle snakes in a graceful attitude. Men fought +then with bludgeons; they fight now with dainty polished daggers, +dipped in cold, colourless poison of sarcasm. Perhaps there was less +malice in the rougher old way than in the new. + +The faults are there, and nobody who is not a fool would think of +painting that homely Saxon peasant-monk's face without the warts and +the wrinkles. But it is quite as unhistorical, and a great deal more +wicked, to paint nothing but the warts and wrinkles; to rake all the +faults together and make the most of them; and present them in answer +to the question: 'What sort of a man was Martin Luther?' + +As to the work that he did, like the work of all of us, it had its +limitations, and it will have its end. The impulse that he +communicated, like all impulses that are given from men, will wear out +its force. New questions will arise of which the dead leaders never +dreamed, and in which they can give no counsel. The perspective of +theological thought will alter, the centre of interest will change, a +new dialect will begin to be spoken. So it comes to pass that all +religious teachers and thinkers are left behind, and that their words +are preserved and read rather for their antiquarian and historical +interest than because of any impulse or direction for the present which +may linger in them; and if they founded institutions, these too, in +their time, will crumble and disappear. + +But I do not mean to say that the truths which Luther rescued from the +dust of centuries, and impressed upon the conscience of Teutonic +Europe, are getting antiquated. I only mean that his connection with +them and his way of putting them, had its limitations and will have its +end: 'This man, having served his own generation by the will of God, +was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption.' + +What _were_ the truths, what was his contribution to the illumination +of Europe, and to the Church? Three great principles--which perhaps +closer analysis might reduce to one; but which for popular use, on such +an occasion as the present, had better be kept apart--will state his +service to the world. + +There were three men in the past who, as it seems to me, reach out +their hands to one another across the centuries--Paul, St. Augustine, +and Martin Luther, The three very like each other, all three of them +joining the same subtle speculative power with the same capacity of +religious fervour, and of flaming up at the contemplation of divine +truth; all of them gifted with the same exuberant, and to fastidious +eyes, incorrect eloquence; all three trained in a school of religious +thought of which each respectively was destined to be the antagonist +and all but the destroyer. + +The young Pharisee, on the road to Damascus, blinded, bewildered, with +all that vision flaming upon him, sees in its light his past, which he +thought had been so pure, and holy, and God-serving, and amazedly +discovers that it had been all a sin and a crime, and a persecution of +the divine One. Beaten from every refuge, and lying there, he cries: +'What wouldst Thou have me to do, Lord?' + +The young Manichean and profligate in the fourth century, and the young +monk in his convent in the fifteenth, passed through a similar +experience;--different in form, identical in substance--with that of +Paul the persecutor. And so Paul's Gospel, which was the description +and explanation, the rationale, of his own experience, became their +Gospel; and when Paul said: 'Not by works of righteousness which our +own hands have done, but by His mercy He saved us' (Titus iii. 5), the +great voice from the North African shore, in the midst of the agonies +of barbarian invasions and a falling Rome, said 'Amen. Man lives by +faith,' and the voice from the Wittemberg convent, a thousand years +after, amidst the unspeakable corruption of that phosphorescent and +decaying Renaissance, answered across the centuries, 'It is true!' +'Herein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.' +Luther's word to the world was Augustine's word to the world; and +Luther and Augustine were the echoes of Saul of Tarsus--and Paul +learned his theology on the Damascus road, when the voice bade him go +and proclaim 'forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are +sanctified by faith that is in Me' (Acts xxvi. 18). That is Luther's +first claim on our gratitude, that he took this truth from the shelves +where it had reposed, dust-covered, through centuries, that he lifted +this truth from the bier where it had lain, smothered with sacerdotal +garments, and called with a loud voice, 'I say unto thee, arise!' and +that now the commonplace of Christianity is this: All men are sinful +men, justice condemns us all, our only hope is God's infinite mercy, +that mercy comes to us all in Jesus Christ that died for us, and he +that gets that into his heart by simple faith, he is forgiven, pure, +and he is an heir of Heaven. + +There are other aspects of Christian truth which Luther failed to +apprehend. The Gospel is, of course, not merely a way of reconciliation +and forgiveness. He pushed his teaching of the uselessness of good +works as a means of salvation too far. He said rash and exaggerated +things in his vehement way about the 'justifying power' of faith alone. +Doubtless his language was often overstrained, and his thoughts +one-sided, in regard to subjects that need very delicate handling and +careful definition. But after all this is admitted, it remains true +that his strong arm tossed aside the barriers and rubbish that had been +piled across the way by which prodigals could go home to their Father, +and made plain once more the endless mercy of God, and the power of +humble faith. He was right when he declared that whatever heights and +depths there may be in God's great revelation, and however needful it +is for a complete apprehension of the truth as it is in Jesus that +these should find their place in the creed of Christendom, still the +firmness with which that initial truth of man's sinfulness and his +forgiveness and acceptance through simple faith in Christ is held, and +the clear earnestness with which it is proclaimed, are the test of a +standing or a falling Church. + +And then closely connected with this central principle, and yet +susceptible of being stated separately, are the other two; of neither +of which do I think it necessary to say more than a word. Following on +that great discovery--for it was a discovery--by the monk in his +convent, of justification by faith, there comes the other principle of +the entire sweeping away of all priesthood, and the direct access to +God of every individual Christian soul. There are no more external +rites to be done by a designated and separate class. There is one +sacrificing Priest, and one only, and that is Jesus Christ, who has +sacrificed Himself for us all, and there are no other priests, except +in the sense in which every Christian man is a priest and minister of +the most high God. And no man comes between me and my Father; and no +man has power to do anything for me which brings me any grace, except +in so far as mine own heart opens for the reception, and mine own faith +lays hold of the grace given. + +Luther did not carry that principle so far as some of us modern +Nonconformists carry it. He left illogical fragments of sacramentarian +and sacerdotal theories in his creed and in his Church. But, for all +that, we owe mainly to him the clear utterance of that thought, the +warm breath of which has thawed the ice chains which held Europe in +barren bondage. Notwithstanding the present portentous revival of +sacerdotalism, and the strange turning again of portions of society to +these beggarly elements of the past, I believe that the figments of a +sacrificing priesthood and sacramental efficacy will never again +permanently darken the sky in this land, the home of the men who speak +the tongue of Milton, and owe much of their religious and political +freedom to the reformation of Luther. + +And the third point, which is closely connected with these other two, +is this, the declaration that every illuminated Christian soul has a +right and is bound to study God's Word without the Church at his elbow +to teach him what to think about it. It was Luther's great achievement +that, whatever else he did, he put the Bible into the hands of the +common people. In that department and region, his work perhaps bears +more distinctly the traces of limitation and imperfection than anywhere +else, for he knew nothing--how could he?--of the difficult questions of +this day in regard to the composition and authority of Scripture, nor +had he thought out his own system or done full justice to his own +principle. + +He could be as inquisitorial and as dogmatic as any Dominican of them +all. He believed in force; he was as ready as all his fellows were to +invoke the aid of the temporal power. The idea of the Church, as helped +and sustained--which means fettered, and weakened, and paralysed--by +the civic government, bewitched him as it did his fellows. We needed to +wait for George Fox, and Roger Williams, and more modern names still, +before we understood fully what was involved in the rejection of +priesthood, and the claim that God's Word should speak directly to each +Christian soul. But for all that, we largely owe to Luther the creed +that looks in simple faith to Christ, a Church without a priest, in +which every man is a priest of the Most High,--the only true democracy +that the world will ever see--and a Church in which the open Bible and +the indwelling Spirit are the guides of every humble soul within its +pale. These are his claims on our gratitude. + +Luther's work had its limitations and its imperfections, as I have been +saying to you. It will become less and less conspicuous as the ages go +on. It cannot be otherwise. That is the law of the world. As a whole +green forest of the carboniferous era is represented now in the rocks +by a thin seam of coal, no thicker than a sheet of paper, so the stormy +lives and the large works of the men that have gone before, are +compressed into a mere film and line, in the great cliff that slowly +rises above the sea of time and is called the history of the world. + +II. Be it so; be it so! Let us turn to the other thought of our text, +the perpetual work of the abiding Lord. + +'He whom God raised up saw no corruption.' It is a fact that there are +thousands of men and women in the world to-day who have a feeling about +that nineteen-centuries-dead Galilean carpenter's son that they have +about no one else. All the great names of antiquity are but ghosts and +shadows, and all the names in the Church and in the world, of men whom +we have not seen, are dim and ineffectual to us. They may evoke our +admiration, our reverence, and our wonder, but none of them can touch +our hearts. But here is this unique, anomalous fact that men and women +by the thousand love Jesus Christ, the dead One, the unseen One, far +away back there in the ages, and feel that there is no mist of oblivion +between them and Him. + +That is because He does for you and me what none of these other men can +do. Luther preached about the Cross; Christ _died_ on it. 'Was Paul +crucified for you?' there is the secret of His undying hold upon the +world. The further secret lies in this, that He is not a past force but +a present one. He is no exhausted power but a power mighty to-day; +working in us, around us, on us, and for us--a living Christ. 'This Man +whom God raised up from the dead saw no corruption,' the others move +away from us like figures in a fog, dim as they pass into the mists, +having a blurred half-spectral outline for a moment, and then gone. + +Christ's death has a present and a perpetual power. He has 'offered one +sacrifice for sins for ever'; and no time can diminish the efficacy of +His Cross, nor our need of it, nor the full tide of blessings which +flow from it to the believing soul. Therefore do men cling to Him today +as if it was but yesterday that He had died for them. When all other +names carved on the world's records have become unreadable, like +forgotten inscriptions on decaying grave-stones, His shall endure for +ever, deep graven on the fleshly tables of the heart. His revelation of +God is the highest truth. Till the end of time men will turn to His +life for their clearest knowledge and happiest certainty of their +Father in heaven. There is nothing limited or local in His character or +works. In His meek beauty and gentle perfectness, He stands so high +above us all that, to-day, the inspiration of His example and the +lessons of His conduct touch us as much as if He had lived in this +generation, and will always shine before men as their best and most +blessed law of conduct. Christ will not be antiquated till He is +outgrown, and it will be some time before that happens. + +But Christ's power is not only the abiding influence of His earthly +life and death. He is not a past force, but a present one. He is +putting forth fresh energies to-day, working in and for and by all who +love Him. We believe in a living Christ. + +Therefore the final thought, in all our grateful commemoration of dead +helpers and guides, should be of the undying Lord. He sent whatsoever +power was in them. He is with His Church to-day, still giving to men +the gifts needful for their times. Aaron may die on Hor, and Moses be +laid in his unknown grave on Pisgah, but the Angel of the Covenant, who +is the true Leader, abides in the pillar of cloud and fire, Israel's +guide in the march, and covering shelter in repose. That is our +consolation in our personal losses when our dear ones are 'not suffered +to continue by reason of death.' He who gave them all their sweetness +is with us still, and has all the sweetness which He lent them for a +time. So if we have Christ with us we cannot be desolate. Looking on +all the men, who in their turn have helped forward His cause a little +way, we should let their departure teach us His presence, their +limitations His all-sufficiency, their death His life. + +Luther was once found, at a moment of peril and fear, when he had need +to grasp unseen strength, sitting in an abstracted mood, tracing on the +table with his finger the words '_Vivit_! _vivit_!'--'He lives! He +lives!' It is our hope for ourselves, and for God's truth, and for +mankind. Men come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers speak and work +for a season and then fall silent and impotent. He abides. They die, +but He lives. They are lights kindled, and therefore sooner or later +quenched, but He is the true light from which they draw all their +brightness, and He shines for evermore. Other men are left behind and, +as the world glides forward, are wrapped in ever-thickening folds of +oblivion, through which they shine feebly for a little while, like +lamps in a fog, and then are muffled in invisibility. We honour other +names, and the coming generations will forget them, but 'His name shall +endure for ever, His name shall continue as long as the sun, and men +shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed.' + + + +JEWISH REJECTERS AND GENTILE RECEIVERS + +'And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear +the word of God. 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were +filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by +Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed +bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have +been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves +unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47. For so +hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of +the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the +earth. 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and +glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal +life believed. 49. And the word of the Lord was published throughout +all the region. 50. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable +women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against +Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 51. But they +shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. +52. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. + +'And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the +synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the +Jews and also of the Greeks believed. 2. But the unbelieving Jews +stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the +brethren. 3. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the +Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted +signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4. But the multitude of +the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the +Apostles. 5. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, +and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and +to stone them, 6. They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, +cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: 7. And +there they preached the Gospel.'--ACTS xiii. 44-52; xiv. 1-7. + +In general outline, the course of events in the two great cities of +Asia Minor, with which the present passage is concerned, was the same. +It was only too faithful a forecast of what was to be Paul's experience +everywhere. The stages are: preaching in the synagogue, rejection +there, appeal to the Gentiles, reception by them, a little nucleus of +believers formed; disturbances fomented by the Jews, who swallow their +hatred of Gentiles by reason of their greater hatred of the Apostles, +and will riot with heathens, though they will not pray nor eat with +them; and finally the Apostles' departure to carry the gospel farther +afield. This being the outline, we have mainly to consider any special +features diversifying it in each case. + +Their experience in Antioch was important, because it forced Paul and +Barnabas to put into plain words, making very clear to themselves as +well as to their hearers, the law of their future conduct. It is always +a step in advance when circumstances oblige us to formularise our +method of action. Words have a wonderful power in clearing up our own +vision. Paul and Barnabas had known all along that they were sent to +the Gentiles; but a conviction in the mind is one thing, and the same +conviction driven in on us by facts is quite another. The discipline of +Antioch crystallised floating intentions into a clear statement, which +henceforth became the rule of Paul's conduct. Well for us if we have +open eyes to discern the meaning of difficulties, and promptitude and +decision to fix and speak out plainly the course which they prescribe! + +The miserable motives of the Jews' antagonism are forcibly stated in +vs. 44, 45. They did not 'contradict and blaspheme,' because they had +taken a week to think over the preaching and had seen its falseness, +but simply because, dog-in-the-manger like, they could not bear that +'the whole city' should be welcome to share the message. No doubt there +was a crowd of 'Gentile dogs' thronging the approach to the synagogue; +and one can almost see the scowling faces and hear the rustle of the +robes drawn closer to avoid pollution. Who were these wandering +strangers that they should gather such a crowd? And what had the +uncircumcised rabble of Antioch to do with 'the promises made to the +fathers'? It is not the only time that religious men have taken offence +at crowds gathering to hear God's word. Let us take care that we do not +repeat the sin. There are always some who-- + + 'Taking God's word under wise protection, + Correct its tendency to diffusiveness.' + +It needed some courage to front the wild excitement of such a mob, with +calm, strong words likely to increase the rage. + +'Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.' This is not to be regarded as announcing +a general course of action, but simply as applying to the actual +rejecters in Antioch. The necessity that the word should first be +spoken to the Jews continued to be recognised, in each new sphere of +work, by the Apostle; but wherever, as here, men turned from the +message, the messengers turned from them without further waste of time. +Paul put into words here the law for his whole career. The fit +punishment of rejection is the withdrawal of the offer. There is +something pathetic in the persistence with which, in place after place, +Paul goes through the same sequence, his heart yearning over his +brethren according to the flesh, and hoping on, after all repulses. It +was far more than natural patriotism; it was an offshoot of Christ's +own patient love. + +Note also the divine command. Paul bases his action on a prophecy as to +the Messiah. But the relation on which prophecy insists between the +personal servant of Jehovah and the collective Israel, is such that the +great office of being the Light of the world devolves from Him on it +and the true Israel is to be a light to the Gentiles. These very Jews +in Antioch, lashing themselves into fury because Gentiles were to be +offered a share in Israel's blessings, ought to have been discharging +this glorious function. Their failure showed that they were no parts of +the real Israel. No doubt the two missionaries left the synagogue as +they spoke, and, as the door swung behind them, it shut hope out and +unbelief in. The air was fresh outside, and eager hearts welcomed the +word. Very beautifully is the gladness of the Gentile hearers set in +contrast with the temper of the Jews. It is strange news to heathen +hearts that there is a God who loves them, and a divine Christ who has +died for them. The experience of many a missionary follows Paul's here. + +'As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.' The din of many a +theological battle has raged round these words, the writer of which +would have probably needed a good deal of instruction before he could +have been made to understand what the fighting was about. But it is to +be noted that there is evidently intended a contrast between the +envious Jews and the gladly receptive Gentiles, which is made more +obvious by the repetition of the words 'eternal life.' It would seem +much more relevant and accordant with the context to understand the +word rendered 'ordained' as meaning 'adapted' or 'fitted,' than to find +in it a reference to divine foreordination. Such a meaning is +legitimate, and strongly suggested by the context. The reference then +would be to the 'frame of mind of the heathen, and not to the decrees +of God.' + +The only points needing notice in the further developments at Antioch +are the agents employed by the Jews, the conduct of the Apostles, and +the sweet little picture of the converts. As to the former, piously +inclined women in a heathen city would be strongly attracted by Judaism +and easily lend themselves to the impressions of their teachers. We +know that many women of rank were at that period powerfully affected in +this manner; and if a Rabbi could move a Gentile of influence through +whispers to the Gentile's wife, he would not be slow to do it. The ease +with which the Jews stirred up tumults everywhere against the Apostle +indicates their possession of great influence; and their willingness to +be hand in glove with heathen for so laudable an object as crushing one +of their own people who had become a heretic, measures the venom of +their hate and the depth of their unscrupulousness. + +The Apostles had not to fear violence, as their enemies were content +with turning them out of Antioch and its neighbourhood; but they obeyed +Christ's command, shaking off the dust against them, in token of +renouncing all connection. The significant act is a trace of early +knowledge of Christ's words, long before the date of our Gospels. + +While the preachers had to leave the little flock in the midst of +wolves, there was peace in the fold. Like the Ethiopian courtier when +deprived of Philip, the new believers at Antioch found that the +withdrawal of the earthly brought the heavenly Guide. 'They were filled +with joy.' What! left ignorant, lonely, ringed about with enemies, how +could they be glad? Because they were filled 'with the Holy Ghost.' +Surely joy in such circumstances was no less supernatural a token of +His presence than rushing wind or parting flames or lips opened to +speak with tongues. God makes us lonely that He may Himself be our +Companion. + +It was a long journey to the great city of Iconium. According to some +geographers, the way led over savage mountains; but the two brethren +tramped along, with an unseen Third between them, and that Presence +made the road light. They had little to cheer them in their prospects, +if they looked with the eye of sense; but they were in good heart, and +the remembrance of Antioch did not embitter or discourage them. +Straight to the synagogue, as before, they went. It was their best +introduction to the new field. There, if we take the plain words of +Acts xiv. 1, they found a new thing, 'Greeks,' heathens pure and +simple, not Hellenists or Greek-speaking Jews, nor even proselytes, in +the synagogue. This has seemed so singular that efforts have been made +to impose another sense on the words, or to suppose that the notice of +Greeks, as well as Jews, believing is loosely appended to the statement +of the preaching in the synagogue, omitting notice of wider +evangelising. But it is better to accept than to correct our narrative, +as we know nothing of the circumstances that may have led to this +presence of Greeks in the synagogue. Some modern setters of the Bible +writers right would be all the better for remembering occasionally that +improbable things have a strange knack of happening. + +The usual results followed the preaching of the Gospel. The Jews were +again the mischief-makers, and, with the astuteness of their race, +pushed the Gentiles to the front, and this time tried a new piece of +annoyance. 'The brethren' bore the brunt of the attack; that is, the +converts, not Paul and Barnabas. It was a cunning move to drop +suspicions into the minds of influential townsmen, and so to harass, +not the two strangers, but their adherents. The calculation was that +that would stop the progress of the heresy by making its adherents +uncomfortable, and would also wound the teachers through their +disciples. + +But one small element had been left out of the calculation--the sort of +men these teachers were; and another factor which had not hitherto +appeared came into play, and upset the whole scheme. Paul and Barnabas +knew when to retreat and when to stand their ground. This time they +stood; and the opposition launched at their friends was the reason why +they did so. 'Long time _therefore_ abode they.' If their own safety +had been in question, they might have fled; but they could not leave +the men whose acceptance of their message had brought them into +straits. But behind the two bold speakers stood 'the Lord,' Christ +Himself, the true Worker. Men who live in Him are made bold by their +communion with Him, and He witnesses for those who witness for Him. + +Note the designation of the Gospel as 'the word of His grace.' It has +for its great theme the condescending, giving love of Jesus. Its +subject is grace; its origin is grace; its gift is grace. Observe, too, +that the same connection between boldness of speech and signs and +wonders is found in Acts iv. 29, 30. Courageous speech for Christ is +ever attended by tokens of His power, and the accompanying tokens of +His power make the speech more courageous. + +The normal course of events was pursued. Faithful preaching provoked +hostility, which led to the alliance of discordant elements, fused for +a moment by a common hatred--alas! that enmity to God's truth should be +often a more potent bond of union than love!--and then to a wise +withdrawal from danger. Sometimes it is needful to fling away life for +Jesus; but if it can be preserved without shirking duty, it is better +to flee than to die. An unnecessary martyr is a suicide. The Christian +readiness to be offered has nothing in common with fanatical +carelessness of life, and still less with the morbid longing for +martyrdom which disfigures some of the most pathetic pages of the +Church's history. Paul living to preach in the regions beyond was more +useful than Paul dead in a street riot in Iconium. A heroic prudence +should ever accompany a trustful daring, and both are best learned in +communion with Jesus. + + + +UNWORTHY OF LIFE + +'... Seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of +everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.'--ACTS xiii. 46. + +So ended the first attempt on Paul's great missionary journey to preach +to the Jews. It is described at great length and the sermon given in +full because it is the first. A wonderful sermon it was; touching all +keys of feeling, now pleading almost with tears, now flashing with +indignation, now calmly dealing with Scripture prophecies, now glowing +as it tells the story of Christ's death for men. It melted some of the +hearers, but the most were wrought up to furious passion--and with +characteristic vehemence, like their ancestors and their descendants +through long dreary generations, fell to 'contradicting and +blaspheming.' We can see the scene in the synagogue, the eager faces, +the vehement gestures, the hubbub of tongues, the bitter words that +stormed round the two in the midst, Barnabas like Jupiter, grave, +majestic, and venerable; Paul like Mercury, agile, mobile, swift of +speech. They bore the brunt of the fury till they saw it to be hopeless +to try to calm it, and then departed with these remarkable words. + +They are even more striking if we notice that 'judge' here may be used +in its full legal sense. It is not merely equivalent to _consider_, for +these Jews by no means thought themselves unworthy of eternal life, but +it means, 'ye adjudge and pass sentence on yourselves to be.' Their +rejection of the message was a self-pronounced sentence. It proved them +to be, and made them, 'unworthy of eternal life.' There are two or +three very striking thoughts to be gathered from these words which I +would dwell on now. + +I. What constitutes worthiness and unworthiness. + +There are two meanings to the word 'worthy'--deserving or fit. They run +into each other and yet they may be kept quite apart. For instance you +may say of a man that 'he is worthy' to be something or other, for +which he is obviously qualified, not thinking at all whether he +deserves it or not. + +Now in the first of these senses--we are all unworthy of eternal life. +That is just to state in other words the tragic truth of universal +sinfulness. The natural outcome and issue of the course which all men +follow is death. But yet there are men who are fit for and capable of +eternal life. Who they are and what fitness is can only be ascertained +when we rightly understand what eternal life is. It is not merely +future blessedness or a synonym for a vulgar heaven. That is the common +notion of its meaning. Men think of that future as a blessed state to +which God can admit anybody if He will, and, as He is good, will admit +pretty nearly everybody. But eternal life is a present possession as +well as a future one, and passing by its deeper aspects, it includes-- + +Deliverance from evil habits and desires. + +Purity, and love of all good and fair things. + +Communion with God. + +As well as forgiveness and removal of punishment. + +What then are the qualifications making a man worthy of, in the sense +of fit for, such a state? + +(_a_) To know oneself to be unworthy. + +He who judges himself to be worthy is unworthy. He who knows himself to +be unworthy is worthy. + +The first requisite is consciousness of sin, leading to repentance. + +(_b_) To abandon striving to make oneself worthy. + +By ourselves we never can do so. Many of us think that we must do our +best, and then God will do the rest. + +There must be the entire cessation of all attempt to work out by our +own efforts characters that would entitle us to eternal life. + +(_c_) To be willing to accept life on God's terms. + +As a mere gift. + +(_d_) To desire it. + +God cannot give it to any one who does not want it. He cannot force His +gifts on us. + +This then is the worthiness. + +II. How we pass sentence on ourselves as unworthy. + +It is quite clear that 'judge' here does not mean consider, for a sense +of unworthiness is not the reason which keeps men away from the Gospel. +Rather, as we have seen, a proud belief in our worthiness keeps very +many away. But 'judge' here means 'adjudicate' or 'pronounce sentence +on,' and worthy means fit, qualified. + +Consider then-- + +(_a_) That our attitude to the Gospel is a revelation of our deepest +selves. + +The Gospel is a 'discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.' It +judges us here and now, and by their attitude to it 'the thoughts of +many hearts shall be revealed.' + +(_b_) That our rejection of it plainly shows that we have not the +qualifications for eternal life. + +No doubt some men are kept from accepting Christ by intellectual doubts +and difficulties, but even these would alter their whole attitude to +Him if they had a profound consciousness of sin, and a desire for +deliverance from it. + +But with regard to the great bulk of its hearers, no doubt the +hindrance is chiefly moral. Many causes may combine to produce the +absence of qualification. The excuses in the parable'--farm, oxen, +wife'--all amount to engrossment with this present world, and such +absorption in the things seen and temporal deadens desire. So the +Gospel preached excites no longings, and a man hears the offer of +salvation without one motion of his heart towards it, and thus +proclaims himself 'unworthy of eternal life.' + +But the great disqualification is the absence of all consciousness of +sin. This is the very deepest reason which keeps men away from Christ. + +How solemn a thing the preaching and hearing of this word is! + +How possible for you to make yourselves fit! + +How simple the qualification! We have but to know ourselves sinners and +to trust Jesus and then we 'shall be counted worthy to obtain that +world and the resurrection from the dead.' Then we shall be 'worthy to +escape and to stand before the Son of Man.' Then shall we be 'worthy of +this calling,' and the Judge himself shall say: 'They shall walk with +Me in white, for they are worthy.' + + + +'FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST' + +'And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy +Ghost.'--Acts xiii. 52. + +That joy was as strange as a garden full of flowers would be in bitter +winter weather. For everything in the circumstances of these disciples +tended to make them sad. They had been but just won from heathenism, +and they were raw, ignorant, unfit to stand alone. Paul and Barnabas, +their only guides, had been hunted out of Antioch by a mob, and it +would have been no wonder if these disciples had felt as if they had +been taken on to the ice and then left, when they most needed a hand to +steady them. Luke emphasises the contrast between what might have been +expected, and what was actually the case, by that eloquent 'and' at the +beginning of our verse, which links together the departure of the +Apostles and the joy of the disciples. But the next words explain the +paradox. These new converts, left in a great heathen city, with no +helpers, no guides, to work out as best they might a faith of which +they had but newly received the barest rudiments, were 'full of joy' +because they were 'full of the Holy Ghost.' + +Now that latter phrase, so striking here, is characteristic of this +book of the Acts, and especially of its earlier chapters, which are +all, as it were, throbbing with wonder at the new gift which Pentecost +had brought. Let me for a moment, in the briefest possible fashion, try +to recall to you the instances of its occurrence, for they are very +significant and very important. + +You remember how at Pentecost 'all' the disciples were 'filled with the +Holy Ghost.' Then when the first persecution broke over the Church, +Peter before the Council is 'filled with the Holy Spirit,' and +therefore he beards them, and 'speaks with all boldness.' When he goes +back to the Church and tells them of the threatening cloud that was +hanging over them, they too are filled with the Holy Spirit, and +therefore rise buoyantly upon the tossing wave, as a ship might do when +it passes the bar and meets the heaving sea. Then again the Apostles +lay down the qualifications for election to the so-called office of +deacon as being that the men should be 'full of the Holy Ghost and +wisdom'; and in accordance therewith, we read of the first of the +seven, Stephen, that he was 'full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' and +therefore 'full of grace and power.' When he stood before the Council +he was 'full of the Holy Ghost,' and therefore looked up into heaven +and saw it opened, and the Christ standing ready to help him. In like +manner we read of Barnabas that he 'was a good man, full of the Holy +Ghost and of faith.' And finally we read in our text that these new +converts, left alone in Antioch of Pisidia, were 'full of joy and of +the Holy Ghost.' + +Now these are the principal instances, and my purpose now is rather to +deal with the whole of these instances of the occurrence of this +remarkable expression than with the one which I have selected as a +text, because I think that they teach us great truths bearing very +closely on the strength and joyfulness of the Christian life which are +far too much neglected, obscured, and forgotten by us to-day. + +I wish then to point you, first, to the solemn thought that is here, as +to what should be-- + +I. The experience of every Christian, + +Note the two things, the universality and the abundance of this divine +gift. I have often had occasion to say to you, and so I merely repeat +it again in the briefest fashion, that we do not grasp the central +blessedness of the Christian faith unless, beyond forgiveness and +acceptance, beyond the mere putting away of the dread of punishment +either here or hereafter, we see that the gift of God in Jesus Christ +is the communication to every believing soul of that divine life which +is bestowed by the Spirit of Christ granted to every believing heart. +But I would have you notice how the universality of the gift is +unmistakably taught us by the instances which I have briefly gathered +together in my previous remarks. It was no official class on which, on +the day of Pentecost, the tongues of fire fluttered down. It was to the +whole Church that courage to front the persecutor was imparted. When in +Samaria the preaching of Philip brought about the result of the +communication of the Holy Spirit, it was to all the believers that it +was granted, and when, in the Roman barracks at Caesarea, Cornelius and +his companion listened to Peter, it was upon them all that that Divine +Spirit descended. + +I suppose I need not remind you of how, if we pass beyond this book of +the Acts into the Epistles of Paul, his affirmations do most +emphatically insist upon the fact that 'we are all made to drink into +one Spirit'; and so convinced is he of the universality of the +possession of that divine life by every Christian, that he does not +hesitate to say that 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is +none of His,' and to clear away all possibility of misunderstanding the +depth and wonderfulness of the gift, he further adds in another place, +'Know ye not that the Spirit is in you, except ye be reprobates?' +Similarly another of the New Testament writers declares, in the +broadest terms, that 'this spake he of the Holy Spirit, +which'--Apostles? no; office-bearers? no; ordained men? no; +distinguished and leading men? No--'_they that believe on Him_ should +receive.' Christianity is the true democracy, because it declares that +upon all, handmaidens and servants, young men and old men, there comes +the divine gift. The world thinks of a divine inspiration in a more or +less superficial fashion, as touching only the lofty summits, the great +thinkers and teachers and artists and mighty men of light and leading +of the race. The Old Testament regarded prophets and kings, and those +who were designated to important offices, as the possessors of the +Divine Spirit. But Christianity has seen the sun rising so high in the +heavens that the humblest floweret, in the deepest valley, basks in its +beams and opens to its light. 'We have _all_ been made to drink into +the one Spirit.' + +Let me remind you too of how, from the usage of this book, as well as +from the rest of the New Testament teaching, there rises the other +thought of the abundance of the gift. 'Full of the Holy Spirit'--the +cup is brimming with generous wine. Not that that fulness is such as to +make inconsistencies impossible, as, alas, the best of us know. The +highest condition for us is laid down in the sad words which yet have +triumph in their sadness--'The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and +the Spirit against the flesh.' But whilst the fulness is not such as to +exclude the need of conflict, it is such as to bring the certainty of +victory. + +Again if we turn to the instances to which I have already referred, we +shall find that they fall into two classes, which are distinguished in +the original by a slight variation in the form of the words employed. +Some instances refer to a habitual possession of an abundant spiritual +life moulding the character constantly, as in the cases of Stephen and +Barnabas. Others refer rather to occasional and special influxes of +special power on account of special circumstances, and drawn forth by +special exigencies, as when there poured into Peter's heart the Divine +Spirit that made him bold before the Council; or as when the dying +martyr's spirit was flooded with a new clearness of vision that pierced +the heavens and beheld the Christ. So then there may be and ought to +be, in each of us, a fulness of the Spirit, up to the edge of our +capacity, and yet of such a kind as that it may be reinforced and +increased when special needs arise. + +Not only so, but that which fills me to-day should not fill me +to-morrow, because, as in earthly love, so in heavenly, no man can tell +to what this thing shall grow. The more of fruition the more there will +be of expansion, and the more of expansion the more of desire, and the +more of desire the more of capacity, and the more of capacity the more +of possession. So, brethren, the man who receives a spark of the divine +life, through his most rudimentary and tremulous faith, if he is a +faithful steward of the gift that is given to him, will find that it +grows and grows, and that there is no limit to its growth, and that in +its limitless growth there lies the surest prophecy of an eternal +growth in the heavens. + +A universal gift, that is to say, a gift to each of us if we are +Christians, an abundant gift that fills the whole nature of a man, +according to the measure of his present power to receive--that is the +ideal, that is what God means, that is what these first believers had. +It did not make them perfect, it did not save them from faults or from +errors, but it was real, it was influential, it was moulding their +characters, it was progressive. And that is the ideal for all +Christians. Is it our actual? We are meant to be full of the Holy +Ghost. Ah! how many of us have never realised that there is such a +thing as being thus possessed with a divine life, partly because we do +not understand that such a fulness will not be distinguishable from our +own self, except by bettering of the works of self, and partly because +of other reasons which I shall have to touch upon presently! Brethren, +we may, every one of us, be filled with the Spirit. Let each of us ask, +'Am I? and if I am not, why this emptiness in the presence of such +abundance?' + +And now let me ask you to look, in the second place, at what we gather +from these instances as to-- + +II. The results of that universal, abundant life. + +Do not let us run away with the idea that the New Testament, or any +part of it, regards miracles and tongues and the like as being the +normal and chiefest gifts of that Divine Spirit. People read this book +of the Acts of the Apostles and, averse from the supernatural, +exaggerate the extent to which the primitive gift of the Holy Spirit +was manifested by signs and wonders, tongues of fire, and so on. We +have only to look at the instances to which I have already referred to +see that far more lofty and far more conspicuous than any such external +and transient manifestations, which yet have their place, are the +permanent and inward results, moulding character, and making men. And +Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians goes as far in the way of +setting the moral and spiritual effects of the divine influence above +the merely miraculous and external ones, as the most advanced opponent +of the supernatural could desire. + +Let us look, and it can only be briefly, at the various results which +are presented in the instances to which I have referred. The most +general expression for all, which is the result of the Divine Spirit +dwelling in a man, is that it makes him good. Look at one of the +instances to which we have referred. 'Barnabas was a good man'--was he? +How came he to be so? Because he was 'full of the Holy Ghost.' And how +came he to be 'full of the Holy Ghost'? Because he was 'full of faith.' +Get the divine life into you, and that will make you good; and, +brethren, nothing else will. It is like the bottom heat in a +green-house, which makes all the plants that are there, whatever their +orders, grow and blossom and be healthy and strong. Therein is the +difference between Christian morality and the world's ethics. They may +not differ much, they do in some respects, in their ideal of what +constitutes goodness, but they differ in this, that the one says, 'Be +good, be good, be good!' but, like the Pharisees of old, puts out not a +finger to help a man to bear the burdens that it lays upon him. The +other says, 'Be good,' but it also says, 'take this and it will make +you good.' And so the one is Gospel and the other is talk, the one is a +word of good tidings, and the other is a beautiful speculation, or a +crushing commandment that brings death rather than life. 'If there had +been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness had +been by the law.' But since the clearest laying down of duty brings us +no nearer to the performance of duty, we need and, thank God! we have, +a gift bestowed which invests with power. He in whom the 'Spirit of +Holiness' dwells, and he alone, will be holy. The result of the life of +God in the heart is a life growingly like God's, manifested in the +world. + +Then again let me remind you of how, from another of our instances, +there comes another thought. The result of this majestic, supernatural, +universal, abundant, divine life is practical sagacity in the commonest +affairs of life. 'Look ye out from among you seven men, full of the +Holy Ghost and of wisdom.' What to do? To meet wisely the claims of +suspicious and jealous poverty, and to distribute fairly a little +money. That was all. And are you going to invoke such a lofty gift as +this, to do nothing grander than that? Yes. Gravitation holds planets +in their orbits, and keeps grains of dust in their places. And one +result of the inspiration of the Almighty, which is granted to +Christian people, is that they will be wise for the little affairs of +life. But Stephen was also 'full of grace and power,' two things that +do not often go together--grace, gentleness, loveliness, graciousness, +on the one side, and strength on the other, which divorced, make wild +work of character, and which united, make men like God. So if we desire +our lives to be full of sweetness and light and beauty, the best way is +to get the life of Christ into them; and if we desire our lives not to +be made placid and effeminate by our cult of graciousness and +gracefulness, but to have their beauty stiffened and strengthened by +manly energy, then the best way is to get the life of the 'strong Son +of God, immortal love,' into our lives. + +The same Stephen, 'full of the Holy Ghost,' looked up into heaven and +saw the Christ. So one result of that abundant life, if we have it, +will be that even though as with him, when he saw the heavens opened, +there may be some smoke-darkened roof above our heads, we can look +through all the shows of this vain world, and our purged eyes can +behold the Christ. Again the disciples in our text 'were full of joy,' +because 'they were full of the Holy Spirit,' and we, if we have that +abundant life within us, shall not be dependent for our gladness on the +outer world, but like explorers in the Arctic regions, even if we have +to build a hut of snow, shall be warm within it when the thermometer is +far below zero; and there will be light there when the long midnight is +spread around the dwelling. So, dear friends, let us understand what is +the main thing for a Christian to endeavour after,--not so much the +cultivation of special graces as the deepening of the life of Christ in +the spirit. + +We gather from some of these instances-- + +III. The way by which we may be thus filled. + +We read that Stephen was 'full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,' and +that Barnabas was 'full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' and it is +quite clear from the respective contexts that, though the order in +which these fulnesses are placed is different in the two clauses, their +relation to each other is the same. Faith is the condition of +possessing the Spirit. And what do we mean in this connection by faith? +I mean, first, a belief in the truth of the possible abiding of the +divine Spirit in our spirits, a truth which the superficial +Christianity of this generation sorely needs to have forced upon its +consciousness far more than it has it. I mean aspiration and desire +after; I mean confident expectation of. Your wish measures your +possession. You have as much of God as you desire. If you have no more, +it is because you do not desire any more. The Christian people of +to-day, many of whom are so empty of God, are in a very tragic sense, +'full,' because they have as much as they can take in. If you bring a +tiny cup, and do not much care whether anything pours into it or not, +you will get it filled, but you might have had a gallon vessel filled +if you had chosen to bring it. Of course there are other conditions +too. We have to use the life that is given us. We have to see that we +do not quench it by sin, which drives the dove of God from a man's +heart. But the great truth is that if I open the door of my heart by +faith, Christ will come in, in His Spirit. If I take away the blinds +the light will shine into the chamber. If I lift the sluice the water +will pour in to drive my mill. If I deepen the channels, more of the +water of life can flow into them, and the deeper I make them the fuller +they will be. + +Brethren, we have wasted much time and effort in trying to mend our +characters. Let us try to get that into them which will mend them. And +let us remember that, if we are full of faith, we shall be full of the +Holy Spirit, and therefore full of wisdom, full of grace and power, +full of goodness, full of joy, whatever our circumstances. And when +death comes, though it may be in some cruel form, we shall be able to +look up and see the opened heavens and the welcoming Christ. + + + +DEIFIED AND STONED + +'And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their +voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us +in the likeness of men. 12. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and +Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 13. Then the priest +of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto +the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. 14. Which +when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their +clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out. 15. And saying, Sirs, +why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and +preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living +God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are +therein: 16. Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their +own ways. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that +he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, +filling our hearts with food and gladness. 18. And with these sayings +scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice +unto them. 19. And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and +Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him +out of the city, supposing he had been dead. 20. Howbeit, as the +disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: +and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. And when they +had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they +returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch. 22. Confirming +the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the +faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom +of God.'--ACTS xiv. 11-22. + +The scene at Lystra offers a striking instance of the impossibility of +eliminating the miraculous element from this book. The cure of a lame +man is the starting-point of the whole story. Without it the rest is +motiveless and inexplicable. There can be no explosion without a train +and a fuse. The miracle, and the miracle only, supplies these. We may +choose between believing and disbelieving it, but the rejection of the +supernatural does not make this book easier to accept, but utterly +chaotic. + +I. We have, first, the burst of excited wonder which floods the crowd +with the conviction that the two Apostles are incarnations of deities. +It is difficult to grasp the indications of locality in the story, but +probably the miracle was wrought in some crowded place, perhaps the +forum. At all events, it was in full view of 'the multitudes,' and they +were mostly of the lower orders, as their speaking in 'the speech of +Lycaonia' suggests. + +This half-barbarous crowd had the ancient faith in the gods unweakened, +and the legends, which had become dim to pure Greek and Roman, some of +which had originated in their immediate neighbourhood, still found full +credence among them. A Jew's first thought on seeing a miracle was, 'by +the prince of the devils'; an average Greek's or Roman's was 'sorcery'; +these simple people's, like many barbarous tribes to which white men +have gone with the marvels of modern science, was 'the gods have come +down'; our modern superior person's, on reading of one, is +'hallucination,' or 'a mistake of an excited imagination.' Perhaps the +cry of the multitudes at Lystra gets nearer the heart of the thing than +those others. For the miracle is a witness of present divine power, and +though the worker of it is not an incarnation of divinity, 'God _is_ +with him.' + +But that joyful conviction, which shot through the crowd, reveals how +deep lies the longing for the manifestation of divinity in the form of +humanity, and how natural it is to believe that, if there is a divine +being, he is sure to draw near to us poor men, and that in our own +likeness. Then is the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation but one +more of the many reachings out of the heart to paint a fair picture of +the fulfilment of its longings? Well, since it is the only such that is +alleged to have taken place in historic times, and the only one that +comes with any body of historic evidence, and the only one that brings +with it transforming power, and since to believe in a God, and also to +believe that He has never broken the awful silence, nor done anything +to fulfil a craving which He has set in men's hearts, is absurd, it is +reasonable to answer, No. 'The gods are come down in the likeness of +men' is a wistful confession of need, and a dim hope of its supply. +'The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us' is the supply. + +Barnabas was the older man, and his very silence suggested his superior +dignity. So he was taken for Jupiter (Zeus in the Greek), and the +younger man for his inferior, Mercury (Hermes in the Greek), 'the +messenger of the gods.' Clearly the two missionaries did not understand +what the multitudes were shouting in their 'barbarous' language, or +they would have intervened. Perhaps they had left the spot before the +excitement rose to its height, for they knew nothing of the +preparations for the sacrifice till they '_heard_ of it, and then they +'sprang forth,' which implies that they were within some place, +possibly their lodging. + +If we could be sure what 'gates' are meant in verse 13, the course of +events would be plainer. Were they those of the city, in which case the +priest and procession would be coming from the temple outside the +walls? or those of the temple itself? or those of the Apostles' +lodging? Opinions differ, and the material for deciding is lacking. At +all events, whether from sharing in the crowd's enthusiasm, or with an +eye to the reputation of his shrine, the priest hurriedly procured oxen +for a sacrifice, which one reading of the text specifies as an +'additional' offering--that is, over and above the statutory +sacrifices. Is it a sign of haste that the 'garlands,' which should +have been twined round the oxen's horns, are mentioned separately? If +so, we get a lively picture of the exultant hurry of the crowd. + +II. The Apostles are as deeply moved as the multitude is, but by what +different emotions! The horror of idolatry, which was their inheritance +from a hundred generations, flamed up at the thought of themselves +being made objects of worship. They had met many different sorts of +receptions on this journey, but never before anything like this. +Opposition and threats left them calm, but this stirred them to the +depths. 'Scoff at us, fight with us, maltreat us, and we will endure; +but do not make gods of us.' I do not know that their 'successors' have +always felt exactly so. + +In verse 14 Barnabas is named first, contrary to the order prevailing +since Paphos, the reason being that the crowd thought him the superior. +The remonstrance ascribed to both, but no doubt spoken by Paul, +contains nothing that any earnest monotheist, Jew or Gentile +philosopher, might not have said. The purpose of it was not to preach +Christ, but to stop the sacrifice. It is simply a vehemently earnest +protest against idolatry, and a proclamation of one living God. The +comparison with the speech in Athens is interesting, as showing Paul's +exquisite felicity in adapting his style to his audience. There is +nothing to the peasants of Lycaonia about poets, no argumentation about +the degradation of the idea of divinity by taking images as its +likeness, no wide view of the course of history, no glimpse of the +mystic thought that all creatures live and move in Him. All that might +suit the delicate ears of Athenians, but would have been wasted in +Lystra amidst the tumultuous crowd. But we have instead of these the +fearless assertion, flung in the face of the priest of Jupiter, that +idols are 'vanities,' as Paul had learned from Isaiah and Jeremiah; the +plain declaration of the one God, 'living,' and not like these +inanimate images; of His universal creative power; and the earnest +exhortation to turn to Him. + +In verse 16 Paul meets an objection which rises in his mind as likely +to be springing in his hearers: 'If there is such a God, why have we +never heard of Him till now?' That is quite in Paul's manner. The +answer is undeveloped, as compared with the Athenian address or with +Romans i. But there is couched in verse 16 a tacit contrast between +'the generations gone by' and the present, which is drawn out in the +speech on Mars Hill: 'but _now_ commandeth all men everywhere to +repent,' and also a contrast between the 'nations' left to walk in +their own ways, and Israel to whom revelation had been made. The place +and the temper of the listeners did not admit of enlarging on such +matters. + +But there was a plain fact, which was level to every peasant's +apprehension, and might strike home to the rustic crowd. God _had_ left +'the nations to walk in their own ways,' and yet not altogether. That +thought is wrought out in Romans i., and the difference between its +development there and here is instructive. Beneficence is the +sign-manual of heaven. The orderly sequence of the seasons, the rain +from heaven, the seat of the gods from which the two Apostles were +thought to have come down, the yearly miracle of harvest, and the +gladness that it brings--all these are witnesses to a living Person +moving the processes of the universe towards a beneficent end for man. + +In spite of all modern impugners, it still remains true that the +phenomena of 'nature,' their continuity, their co-operation, and their +beneficent issues, demand the recognition of a Person with a loving +purpose moving them all. '_Thou_ crownest the year with Thy goodness; +and _Thy_ paths drop fatness.' + +III. The malice of the Jews of Antioch is remarkable. Not content with +hounding the Apostles from that city, they came raging after them to +Lystra, where there does not appear to have been a synagogue, since we +hear only of their stirring up the 'multitudes.' The mantle of Saul had +fallen on them, and they were now 'persecuting' _him_ 'even unto +strange cities.' + +No note is given of the time between the attempted sacrifice and the +accomplished stoning, but probably some space intervened. Persuading +the multitudes, however fickle they were, would take some time; and +indeed one ancient text of Acts has an expansion of the verse: 'They +persuaded the multitudes to depart from them [the Apostles], saying +that they spake nothing true, but lied in everything.' + +No doubt some time elapsed, but few emotions are more transient than +such impure religious excitement as the crowd had felt, and the ebb is +as great as the flood, and the oozy bottom laid bare is foul. Popular +favourites in other departments have to experience the same fate--one +day, 'roses, roses, all the way'; the next, rotten eggs and curses. +Other folks than the ignorant peasants at Lystra have had devout +emotion surging over them and leaving them dry. + +Who are 'they' who stoned Paul? Grammatically, the Jews, and probably +it was so. They hated him so much that they themselves began the +stoning; but no doubt the mob, which is always cruel, because it needs +strong excitement, lent willing hands. Did Paul remember Stephen, as +the stones came whizzing on him? It is an added touch of brutality that +they dragged the supposed corpse out of the city, with no gentle hands, +we may be sure. Perhaps it was flung down near the very temple 'before +the city,' where the priest that wanted to sacrifice was on duty. + +The crowd, having wreaked their vengeance, melted away, but a handful +of brave disciples remained, standing round the bruised, unconscious +form, ready to lay it tenderly in some hastily dug grave. No previous +mention of disciples has been made. The narrative of Acts does not +profess to be complete, and the argument from its silence is precarious. + +Luke shows no disposition to easy belief in miracles. He does not know +that Paul was dead; his medical skill familiarised him with protracted +states of unconsciousness; so all he vouches for is that Paul lay as if +dead on some rubbish heap 'without the camp,' and that, with courage +and persistence which were supernatural, whether his reviving was so or +not, the man thus sorely battered went back to the city, and next day +went on with his work, as if stoning was a trifle not to be taken +account of. + +The Apostles turned at Derbe, and coming back on their outward route, +reached Antioch, encouraging the new disciples, who had now to be left +truly like shepherdless sheep among wolves. They did not encourage them +by making light of the dangers waiting them, but they plainly set +before them the law of the Kingdom, which they had seen exemplified in +Paul, that we must suffer if we would reign with the King. That 'we' in +verse 22 is evidently quoted from Paul, and touchingly shows how he +pointed to his own stoning as what they too must be prepared to suffer. +It is a thought frequently recurring in his letters. It remains true in +all ages, though the manner of suffering varies. + + + +DREAM AND REALITY + +'The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.'--ACTS xiv. 11. + +This was the spontaneous instinctive utterance of simple villagers when +they saw a deed of power and kindness. Many an English traveller and +settler among rude people has been similarly honoured. And in Lycaonia +the Apostles were close upon places that were celebrated in Greek +mythology as having witnessed the very two gods, here spoken of, +wandering among the shepherds and entertained with modest hospitality +in their huts. + +The incident is a very striking and picturesque one. The shepherd +people standing round, the sudden flash of awe and yet of gladness +which ran through them, the tumultuous outcry, which, being in their +rude dialect, was unintelligible to the Apostles till it was +interpreted by the appearance of the priest of Jupiter with oxen and +garlands for offerings, the glimpse of the two Apostles--the older, +graver, venerable Barnabas, the younger, more active, ready-tongued +Paul, whom their imaginations converted into the Father of gods and +men, and the herald Mercury, who were already associated in local +legends; the priest, eager to gain credit for his temple 'before the +city,' the lowing oxen, and the vehement appeal of the Apostles, make a +picture which is more vividly presented in the simple narrative than +even in the cartoon of the great painter whom the narrative has +inspired. + +But we have not to deal with the picturesque element alone. The +narratives of Scripture are representative because they are so +penetrating and true. They go to the very heart of the men and things +which they describe: and hence the words and acts which they record are +found to contain the essential characteristics of whole classes of men, +and the portrait of an individual becomes that of a class. This joyful +outburst of the people of Lycaonia gives utterance to one of the most +striking and universal convictions of heathenism, and stands in very +close and intimate relations with that greatest of all facts in the +history of the world, the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. That the +gods come down in the likeness of men is the dream of heathenism. 'The +Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,' is the sober, waking truth +which meets and vindicates and transcends that cry. + +I. The heathen dream of incarnation. + +In all lands we find this belief in the appearance of the gods in human +form. It inspired the art and poetry of Greece. Rome believed that gods +had charged in front of their armies and given their laws. The solemn, +gloomy religion of Egypt, though it worshipped animal forms, yet told +of incarnate and suffering gods. The labyrinthine mythologies of the +East have their long-drawn stories of the avatars of their gods +floating many a rood on the weltering ocean of their legends. Tibet +cherishes each living sovereign as a real embodiment of the divine. And +the lowest tribes, in their degraded worship, have not departed so far +from the common type but that they too have some faint echoes of the +universal faith. + +Do these facts import anything at all to us? Are we to dismiss them as +simply the products of a stage which we have left far behind, and to +plume ourselves that we have passed out of the twilight? + +Even if we listen to what comparative mythology has to say, it still +remains to account for the tendency to shape legends of the earthly +appearance of the gods; and we shall have to admit that, while they +belong to an early stage of the world's progress, the feelings which +they express belong to all stages of it. + +Now I think we may note these thoughts as contained in this universal +belief: + +The consciousness of the need of divine help. + +The certainty of a fellowship between heaven and earth. + +The high ideal of the capacities and affinities of man. + +We may note further what were the general characteristics of these +incarnations. They were transient, they were 'docetic,' as they are +called--that is, they were merely apparent assumptions of human form +which brought the god into no nearer or truer kindred with humanity, +and they were, for the most part, for very self-regarding and often +most immoral ends, the god's personal gratification of very ungodlike +passions and lust, or his winning victories for his favourites, or +satisfying his anger by trampling on those who had incurred his very +human wrath. + +II. The divine answer which transcends the human dream. + +We have to insist that the truth of the Incarnation is the corner-stone +of Christianity. If that is struck out the whole fabric falls. Without +it there may be a Christ who is the loftiest and greatest of men, but +not the Christ who 'saves His people from their sins.' + +That being so, and Christianity having this feature in common with all +the religions of men, how are we to account for the resemblance? Are we +to listen to the rude solution which says, 'All lies alike'? Are we to +see in it nothing but the operation of like tendencies, or rather +illusions, of human thought--man's own shadow projected on an +illuminated mist? Are we to let the resemblance discredit the Christian +message? Or are we to say that all these others are unconscious +prophecies--man's half-instinctive expression of his deep need and much +misunderstood longing, and that the Christian proclamation that Jesus +is 'God manifest in the flesh' is the trumpet-toned announcement of +Heaven's answer to earth's cry? + +Fairly to face that question is to go far towards answering it. For as +soon as we begin to look steadily at the facts, we find that the +differences between all these other appearances and the Incarnation are +so great as to raise the presumption that their origins are different. +The 'gods' slipped on the appearance of humanity over their garment of +deity in appearance only, and that for a moment. Jesus is 'bone of our +bone and flesh of our flesh,' and is not merely 'found in fashion as a +man,' but is 'in all points like as we are.' And that garb of manhood +He wears for ever, and in His heavenly glory is 'the Man Christ Jesus.' + +But _the_ difference between all these other appearances of gods and +the Incarnation lies in the acts to which they and it respectively led, +and the purposes for which they and it respectively took place. A god +who came down to suffer, a god who came to die, a god who came to be +the supreme example of all fair humanities, a god who came to suffer +and to die that men might have life and be victors over sin--where is +he in all the religions of the world? And does not the fact that +Christianity alone sets before men such a God, such an Incarnation, for +such ends, make the assertion a reasonable one, that the sources of the +universal belief in gods who come down among men and of the Christian +proclamation that the Eternal Word became flesh are not the same, but +that these are men's half-understood cries, and this is Heaven's answer? + + + +'THE DOOR OF FAITH' + +'And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they +rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the +door of faith unto the Gentiles.'--ACTS xiv. 27. + +There are many instances of the occurrence of this metaphor in the New +Testament, but none is exactly like this. We read, for example, of 'a +great door and effectual' being opened to Paul for the free ministry of +the word; and to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia, 'He that +openeth and none shall shut' graciously says, 'I have set before thee a +door opened, which none can shut.' But here the door is faith, that is +to say faith is conceived of as the means of entrance for the Gentiles +into the Kingdom, which, till then, Jews had supposed to be entered by +hereditary rite. + +I. Faith is the means of our entrance into the Kingdom. + +The Jew thought that birth and the rite of circumcision were the door, +but the 'rehearsing' of the experiences of Paul and Barnabas on their +first missionary tour shattered that notion by the logic of facts. +Instead of that narrow postern another doorway had been broken in the +wall of the heavenly city, and it was wide enough to admit of +multitudes entering. Gentiles had plainly come in. How had they come +in? By believing in Jesus. Whatever became of previous exclusive +theories, there was a fact that had to be taken into account. It +distinctly proved that faith was 'the gate of the Lord into which,' not +the circumcised but the 'righteous,' who were righteous because +believing, 'should enter.' + +We must not forget the other use of the metaphor, by our Lord Himself, +in which. He declares that He is the Door. The two representations are +varying but entirely harmonious, for the one refers to the objective +fact of Christ's work as making it possible that we should draw near to +and dwell with God, and the other to our subjective appropriation of +that possibility, and making it a reality in our own blessed experience. + +II. Faith is the means of God's entrance into our hearts. + +We possess the mysterious and awful power of shutting God out of these +hearts. And faith, which in one aspect is our means of entrance into +the Kingdom of God, is, in another, the means of God's entrance into +us. The Psalm, which invokes the divine presence in the Temple, calls +on the 'everlasting doors' to be 'lifted up,' and promises that then +'the King of Glory will come in.' And the voice of the ascended Christ, +the King of Glory, knocking at the closed door, calls on us with our +own hands to open the door, and promises that He 'will come in.' + +Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians 'that Christ may dwell in your +hearts through faith,' and there is no other way by which His +indwelling is possible. Faith is not constituted the condition of that +divine indwelling by any arbitrary appointment, as a sovereign might +determine that he would enter a city by a certain route, chosen without +any special reason from amongst many, but in the nature of things it is +necessary that trust, and love which follows trust, and longing which +follows love should be active in a soul if Christ is to enter in and +abide there. + +III. Faith is the means of the entrance of the Kingdom into us. + +If Christ comes in He comes with His pierced hands full of gifts. +Through our faith we receive all spiritual blessings. But we must ever +remember, what this metaphor most forcibly sets forth, that faith is +but the means of entrance. It has no worth in itself, but is precious +only because it admits the true wealth. The door is nothing. It is only +an opening. Faith is the pipe that brings the water, the flinging wide +the shutters that the light may flood the dark room, the putting +oneself into the path of the electric circuit. Salvation is not +arbitrarily connected with faith. It is not the reward of faith but the +possession of what comes through faith, and cannot come in any other +way. Our 'hearts' are 'purified by faith,' because faith admits into +our hearts the life, and instals as dominant in them the powers, the +motives, the Spirit, which purify. We are 'saved by faith,' for faith +brings into our spirits the Christ who saves His people from their +sins, when He abides in them and they abide in Him through their faith. + + + +THE BREAKING OUT OF DISCORD + +'And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and +said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be +saved. 2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and +disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and +certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and +elders about this question. 3. And being brought on their way by the +church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the +conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the +brethren. 4. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received +of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all +things that God had done with them. 5. But there rose up certain of the +sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to +circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. 6. And +the apostles and elders came together 'for to consider of this +matter.'--ACTS xv. 1-6. + +The question as to the conditions on which Gentiles could be received +into Christian communion had already been raised by the case of +Cornelius, but it became more acute after Paul's missionary journey. +The struggle between the narrower and broader views was bound to come +to a head. Traces of the cleft between Palestinian and Hellenist +believers had appeared as far back as the 'murmuring' about the unfair +neglect of the Hellenist widows in the distribution of relief, and the +whole drift of things since had been to widen the gap. + +Whether the 'certain men' had a mission to the Church in Antioch or +not, they had no mandate to lay down the law as they did. Luke +delicately suggests this by saying that they 'came down from Judaea,' +rather than from Jerusalem. We should be fair to these men, and +remember how much they had to say in defence of their position. They +did not question that Gentiles could be received into the Church, but +'kept on teaching' (as the word in the Greek implies) that the divinely +appointed ordinance of circumcision was the 'door' of entrance. God had +prescribed it, and through all the centuries since Moses, all who came +into the fold of Israel had gone in by that gate. Where was the +commandment to set it aside? Was not Paul teaching men to climb up some +other way, and so blasphemously abrogating a divine law? + +No wonder that honest believers in Jesus as Messiah shrank with horror +from such a revolutionary procedure. The fact that they were +Palestinian Jews, who had never had their exclusiveness rubbed off, as +Hellenists like Paul and Barnabas had had, explains, and to some extent +excuses, their position. And yet their contention struck a fatal blow +at the faith, little as they meant it. Paul saw what they did not +see--that if anything else than faith was brought in as necessary to +knit men to Christ, and make them partakers of salvation, faith was +deposed from its place, and Christianity sank back to be a religion of +'works.' Experience has proved that anything whatever introduced as +associated with faith ejects faith from its place, and comes to be +recognised as _the_ means of salvation. It must be faith _or_ +circumcision, it cannot be faith _and_ circumcision. The lesson is +needed to-day as much as in Antioch. The controversy started then is a +perennial one, and the Church of the present needs Paul's exhortation, +'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us +free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.' + +The obvious course of appealing to Jerusalem was taken, and it is +noteworthy that in verse 2 the verb 'appointed' has no specified +subject. Plainly, however, it was the Church which acted, and so +natural did that seem to Luke that he felt it unnecessary to say so. No +doubt Paul concurred, but the suggestion is not said to have come from +him. He and Barnabas might have asserted their authority, and declined +to submit what they had done by the Spirit's guidance to the decision +of the Apostles, but they seek the things that make for peace. + +No doubt the other side was represented in the deputation. Jerusalem +was the centre of unity, and remained so till its fall. The Apostles +and elders were the recognised leaders of the Church. Elders here +appear as holding a position of authority; the only previous mention of +them is in Acts xi. 30, where they receive the alms sent from Antioch. +It is significant that we do not hear of their first appointment. The +organisation of the Church took shape as exigencies prescribed. + +The deputation left Antioch, escorted lovingly for a little way by the +Church, and, journeying by land, gladdened the groups of believers in +'Phenicia and Samaria' with the news that the Gentiles were turning to +God. We note that they are not said to have spoken of the thorny +question in these countries, and that it is not said that there was joy +in Judaea. Perhaps the Christians in it were in sympathy with the +narrower view. + +The first step taken in Jerusalem was to call a meeting of the Church +to welcome the deputation. It is significant that the latter did not +broach the question in debate, but told the story of the success of +their mission. That was the best argument for receiving Gentile +converts without circumcision. God had received them; should not the +Church do so? Facts are stronger than theories. It was Peter's argument +in the case of Cornelius: they 'have received the Holy Ghost as well as +we,' 'who was I, that I could withstand God?' It is the argument which +shatters all analogous narrowing of the conditions of Christian life. +If men say, 'Except ye be' this or that 'ye cannot be saved,' it is +enough to point to the fruits of Christian character, and say, 'These +show that the souls which bring them forth _are_ saved, and you must +widen your conceptions of the possibilities to include these +actualities.' It is vain to say 'Ye cannot be' when manifestly they are. + +But the logic of facts does not convince obstinate theorists, and so +the Judaising party persisted in their 'It is needful to circumcise +them.' None are so blind as those to whom religion is mainly a matter +of ritual. You may display the fairest graces of Christian character +before them, and you get no answer but the reiteration of 'It is +needful to circumcise you.' But on their own ground, in Jerusalem, the +spokesmen of that party enlarged their demands. In Antioch they had +insisted on circumcision, in Jerusalem they added the demand for entire +conformity to the Mosaic law. They were quite logical; their principle +demanded that extension of the requirement, and was thereby condemned +as utterly unworkable. Now that the whole battery was unmasked the +issue was clear--Is Christianity to be a Jewish sect or the universal +religion? Clear as it was, few in that assembly saw it. But the parting +of the ways had been reached. + + + +THE CHARTER OF GENTILE LIBERTY + +'Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and +Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the +Gentiles by them. 13. And after they had held their peace, James +answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14. Simeon hath +declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of +them a people for His name. 15. And to this agree the words of the +prophets; as it is written, 16. After this I will return, and will +build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will +build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17. That the +residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon +whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18. +Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. 19. +Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among +the Gentiles are turned to God: 20. But that we write unto them, that +they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from +things strangled, and from blood. 21. For Moses of old time hath in +every city them that preach Him, being read in the synagogues every +sabbath day. 22. Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the +whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with +Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief +men among the brethren: 23. And they wrote letters by them after this +manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the +brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: +24. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us +have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be +circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: 25. +It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen +men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. Men that have +hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27. We have +sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things +by mouth. 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay +upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29. That ye +abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things +strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye +shall do well. Fare ye well.'--ACTS xv. 12-29. + +Much was at stake in the decision of this gathering of the Church. If +the Jewish party triumphed, Christianity sank to the level of a Jewish +sect. The question brought up for decision was difficult, and there was +much to be said for the view that the Mosaic law was binding on Gentile +converts. It must have been an uprooting of deepest beliefs for a +Jewish Christian to contemplate the abrogation of that law, venerable +by its divine origin, by its hoary antiquity, by its national +associations. We must not be hard upon men who clung to it; but we +should learn from their final complete drifting away from Christianity +how perilous is the position which insists on the necessity to true +discipleship of any outward observance. + +Our passage begins in the middle of the conference. Peter has, with +characteristic vehemence, dwelt upon the divine attestation of the +genuine equality of the uncircumcised converts with the Jewish, given +by their possession of the same divine Spirit, and has flung fiery +questions at the Judaisers, which silenced them. Then, after the +impressive hush following his eager words, Barnabas and Paul tell their +story once more, and clinch the nail driven by Peter by asserting that +God had already by 'signs and wonders' given His sanction to the +admission of Gentiles without circumcision. Characteristically, in +Jerusalem Barnabas is restored to his place above Paul, and is named +first as speaking first, and regarded by the Jerusalem Church as the +superior of the missionary pair. + +The next speaker is James, not an Apostle, but the bishop of the Church +in Jerusalem, of whom tradition tells that he was a zealous adherent to +the Mosaic law in his own person, and that his knees were as hard as a +camel's through continual prayer. It is singular that this meeting +should be so often called 'the Apostolic council,' when, as a fact, +only one Apostle said a word, and he not as an Apostle, but as the +chosen instrument to preach to the Gentiles. 'The elders,' of whose +existence we now hear for the first time in this wholly incidental +manner, were associated with the Apostles (ver. 6), and the 'multitude' +(ver. 12) is most naturally taken to be 'the whole Church' (ver. 22). +James represents the eldership, and as bishop in Jerusalem and an eager +observer of legal prescriptions, fittingly speaks. His words +practically determined the question. Like a wise man, he begins with +facts. His use of the intensely Jewish form of the name Simeon is an +interesting reminiscence of old days. So he had been accustomed to call +Peter when they were all young together, and so he calls him still, +though everybody else named him by his new name. What God had done by +him seems to James to settle the whole question; for it was nothing +else than to put the Gentile converts without circumcision on an +equality with the Jewish part of the Church. + +Note the significant juxtaposition of the words 'Gentiles' and +'people'--the former the name for heathen, the latter the sacred +designation of the chosen nation. The great paradox which, through +Peter's preaching at Caesarea, had become a fact was that the 'people +of God' were made up of Gentiles as well as Jews--that His name was +equally imparted to both. If God had made Gentiles His people, had He +not thereby shown that the special observances of Israel were put +aside, and that, in particular, circumcision was no longer the +condition of entrance? The end of national distinction and the opening +of a new way of incorporation among the people of God were clearly +contained in the facts. How much Christian narrowness would be blown to +atoms if its advocates would do as James did, and let God's facts teach +them the width of God's purposes and the comprehensiveness of Christ's +Church! We do wisely when we square our theories with facts; but many +of us go to work in the opposite way, and snip down facts to the +dimension of our theories. + +James's next step is marked equally by calm wisdom and open-mindedness. +He looks to God's word, as interpreted by God's deeds, to throw light +in turn on the deeds and to confirm the interpretation of these. Two +things are to be noted in considering his quotation from Amos--its +bearing on the question in hand, and its divergence from the existing +Hebrew text. As to the former, there seems at first sight nothing +relevant to James's purpose in the quotation, which simply declares +that the Gentiles will seek the Lord when the fallen tabernacle of +David is rebuilt. That period of time has at least begun, thinks James, +in the work of Jesus, in whom the decayed dominion of David is again in +higher form established. The return of the Gentiles does not merely +synchronise with, but is the intended issue of, Christ's reign. Lifted +from the earth, He will draw all men unto Him, and they shall 'seek the +Lord,' and on them His name will be called. + +Now the force of this quotation lies, as it seems, first in the fact +that Peter's experience at Caesarea is to be taken as an indication of +how God means the prophecy to be fulfilled, namely, without +circumcision; and secondly, in the _argumentum a silentio_, since the +prophet says nothing about ritual or the like, but declares that moral +and spiritual qualifications--on the one hand a true desire after God, +and on the other receiving the proclamation of His name and calling +themselves by it--are all that are needed to make Gentiles God's +people. Just because there is nothing in the prophecy about observing +Jewish ceremonies, and something about longing and faith, James thinks +that these are the essentials, and that the others may be dropped by +the Church, as God had dropped them in the case of Cornelius, and as +Amos had dropped them in his vision of the future kingdom. God knew +what He meant to do when He spoke through the prophet, and what He has +done has explained the words, as James says in verse 18. + +The variation from the Hebrew text requires a word of comment. The +quotation is substantially from the Septuagint, with a slight +alteration. Probably James quoted the version familiar to many of his +hearers. It seems to have been made from a somewhat different Hebrew +text in verse 17, but the difference is very much slighter than an +English reader would suppose. Our text has 'Edom' where the Septuagint +has 'men'; but the Hebrew words without vowels are identical but for +the addition of one letter in the former. Our text has 'inherit' where +the Septuagint has 'seek after'; but there again the difference in the +two Hebrew words would be one letter only, so that there may well have +been a various reading as preserved in the Septuagint and Acts. James +adds to the Septuagint 'seek' the evidently correct completion 'the +Lord.' + +Now it is obvious that, even if we suppose his rendering of the whole +verse to be a paraphrase of the same Hebrew text as we have, it is a +correct representation of the meaning; for the 'inheriting of Edom' is +no mere external victory, and Edom is always in the Old Testament the +type of the godless man. The conquest of the Gentiles by the restorer +of David's tabernacle is really the seeking after the Lord, and the +calling of His name upon the Gentiles. + +The conclusion drawn by James is full of practical wisdom, and would +have saved the Church from many a sad page in its history, if its +spirit had been prevalent in later 'councils.' Note how the very +designation given to the Gentile converts in verse 19 carries +argumentative force. 'They turn to God from among the Gentiles'--if +they have done that, surely their new separation and new attachment are +enough, and make insistence on circumcision infinitely ridiculous. They +have the thing signified; what does it matter about the sign, which is +good for us Jews, but needless for them? If Church rulers had always +been as open-eyed as this bishop in Jerusalem, and had been content if +people were joined to God and parted from the world, what torrents of +blood, what frowning walls of division, what scandals and partings of +brethren would have been spared! + +The observances suggested are a portion of the precepts enjoined by +Judaism on proselytes. The two former were necessary to the Christian +life; the two latter were not, but were concessions to the Jewish +feelings of the stricter party. The conclusion may be called a +compromise, but it was one dictated by the desire for unity, and had +nothing unworthy in it. There should be giving and taking on both +sides. If the Jewish Christians made the, to them, immense concession +of waiving the necessity of circumcision, the Gentile section might +surely make the small one of abstinence from things strangled and from +blood. Similarities in diet would daily assimilate the lives of the two +parties, and would be a more visible and continuous token of their +oneness than the single act of circumcision. + +But what does the reason in verse 21 mean? Why should the reading of +Moses every Sabbath be a reason for these concessions? Various answers +are given: but the most natural is that the constant promulgation of +the law made respect for the feelings (even if mistaken) of Jewish +Christians advisable, and the course suggested the most likely to win +Jews who were not yet Christians. Both classes would be flung farther +apart if there were not some yielding. The general principle involved +is that one cannot be too tender with old and deeply rooted convictions +even if they be prejudices, and that Christian charity, which is truest +wisdom, will consent to limitations of Christian liberty, if thereby +any little one who believes in Him shall be saved from being offended, +or any unbeliever from being repelled. + +The letter embodying James's wise suggestion needs little further +notice. We may observe that there was no imposing and authoritative +decision of the Ecclesia, but that the whole thing was threshed out in +free talk, and then the unanimous judgment of the community, 'Apostles, +elders and the whole Church,' was embodied in the epistle. Observe the +accurate rendering of verse 25 (R.V.), 'having _come_ to one accord,' +which gives a lively picture of the process. Note too that James's +proposal of a letter was mended by the addition of a deputation, +consisting of an unknown 'Judas called Barsabas' (perhaps a relative of +'Joseph called Barsabas,' the unsuccessful nominee for Apostleship in +chap. i.), and the well-known Silas or Silvanus, of whom we hear so +much in Paul's letters. That journey was the turning-point in his life, +and he henceforward, attracted by the mass and magnetism of Paul's +great personality, revolved round him, and forsook Jerusalem. + +Probably James drew up the document, which has the same somewhat +unusual 'greeting' as his Epistle. The sharp reference to the Judaising +teachers would be difficult for their sympathisers to swallow, but +charity is not broken by plain repudiation of error and its teachers. +'Subverting your souls' is a heavy charge. The word is only here found +in the New Testament, and means to unsettle, the image in it being that +of packing up baggage for removal. The disavowal of these men is more +complete if we follow the Revised Version in reading (ver. 24) 'no +commandment' instead of 'no such commandment.' + +These unauthorised teachers 'went'; but, in strong contrast with them, +Judas and Silas are chosen out and sent. Another thrust at the +Judaising teachers is in the affectionate eulogy of Paul and Barnabas +as 'beloved,' whatever disparaging things had been said about them, and +as having 'hazarded their lives,' while these others had taken very +good care of themselves, and had only gone to disturb converts whom +Paul and Barnabas had won at the peril of their lives. + +The calm matter-of-course assertion that the decision which commended +itself to 'us' is the decision of 'the Holy Ghost' was warranted by +Christ's promises, and came from the consciousness that they had +observed the conditions which He had laid down. They had brought their +minds to bear upon the question, with the light of facts and of +Scripture, and had come to a unanimous conclusion. If they believed +their Lord's parting words, they could not doubt that His Spirit had +guided them. If we lived more fully in that Spirit, we should know more +of the same peaceful assurance, which is far removed from the delusion +of our own infallibility, and is the simple expression of trust in the +veracious promises of our Lord. + +The closing words of the letter are beautifully brotherly, sinking +authority, and putting in the foreground the advantage to the Gentile +converts of compliance with the injunctions. 'Ye shall do well,' +rightly and conformably with the requirements of brotherly love to +weaker brethren. And thus doing well, they will 'fare well,' and be +strong. That is not the way in which 'lords over God's heritage' are +accustomed to end their decrees. Brotherly affection, rather than +authority imposing its will, breathes here. Would that all succeeding +'Councils' had imitated this as well as 'it seemed good to the Holy +Ghost, and to us'! + + + +A GOOD MAN'S FAULTS + +'And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was +Mark. 38. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed +from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.'--ACTS +xv. 37, 38. + +Scripture narratives are remarkable for the frankness with which they +tell the faults of the best men. It has nothing in common with the +cynical spirit in historians, of which this age has seen eminent +examples, which fastens upon the weak places in the noblest natures, +like a wasp on bruises in the ripest fruit, and delights in showing how +all goodness is imperfect, that it may suggest that none is genuine. +Nor has it anything in common with that dreary melancholy which also +has its representatives among us, that sees everywhere only failures +and fragments of men, and has no hope of ever attaining anything beyond +the common average of excellence. But Scripture frankly confesses that +all its noblest characters have fallen short of unstained purity, and +with boldness of hope as great as its frankness teaches the weakest to +aspire, and the most sinful to expect perfect likeness to a perfect +Lord, It is a plane mirror, giving back all images without distortion. + +We recall how emphatically and absolutely it eulogised Barnabas as 'a +good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith'--and now we have to +notice how this man, thus full of the seminal principle of all +goodness, derived into his soul by deep and constant communion through +faith, and showing in his life practical righteousness and holiness, +yet goes sadly astray, tarnishes his character, and mars his whole +future. + +The two specific faults recorded of him are his over-indulgence in the +case of Mark, and his want of firmness in opposition to the Judaising +teachers who came down to Antioch. They were neither of them grave +faults, but they were real. In the one he was too facile in overlooking +a defect which showed unfitness for the work, and seems to have yielded +to family affection and to have sacrificed the efficiency of a mission +to it. Not only was he wrong in proposing to condone Mark's desertion, +but he was still more wrong in his reception of the opposition to his +proposal. With the firmness which weak characters so often display at +the wrong time, he was resolved, come what would, to have his own way. +Temper rather than principle made him obstinate where he should have +been yielding, as it had made him in Antioch yielding, where he should +have been firm. Paul's remonstrances have no effect. He will rather +have his own way than the companionship of his old friend, and so there +come alienation and separation. The Church at Antioch takes Paul's +view--all the brethren are unanimous in disapproval. But Barnabas will +not move. He sets up his own feeling in opposition to them all. The +sympathy of his brethren, the work of his life, the extension of +Christ's kingdom, are all tossed aside. His own foolish purpose is more +to him in that moment of irritation than all these. So he snaps the +tie, abandons his work, and goes away without a kindly word, without a +blessing, without the Church's prayers--but with his nephew for whom he +had given up all these. Paul sails away to do God's work, and the +Church 'recommends him to the grace of God,' but Barnabas steals away +home to Cyprus, and his name is no more heard in the story of the +planting of the kingdom of Christ. + +One hopes that his work did not stop thus, but his recorded work does, +and in the band of friends who surrounded the great Apostle, the name +of his earliest friend appears no more. Other companions and associates +in labour take his place; he, as it appears, is gone for ever. One +reference (1 Cor. ix. 6) at a later date seems most naturally to +suggest that he still continued in the work of an evangelist, and still +practised the principle to which he and Paul had adhered when together, +of supporting himself by manual labour. The tone of the reference +implies that there were relations of mutual respect. But the most we +can believe is that probably the two men still thought kindly of each +other and honoured each other for their work's sake, but found it +better to labour apart, and not to seek to renew the old companionship +which had been so violently torn asunder. + +The other instance of weakness was in some respects of a still graver +kind. The cause of it was the old controversy about the obligations of +Jewish law on Gentile Christians. Paul, Peter, and Barnabas all +concurred in neglecting the restrictions imposed by Judaism, and in +living on terms of equality and association in eating and drinking with +the heathen converts at Antioch. A principle was involved, to which +Barnabas had bean the first to give in his adhesion, in the frank +recognition of the Antioch Church. But as soon as emissaries from the +other party came down, Peter and he abandoned their association with +Gentile converts, not changing their convictions but suppressing the +action to which their convictions should have led. They pretended to be +of the same mind with these narrow Jews from Jerusalem. They insulted +their brethren, they deserted Paul, they belied their convictions, they +imperilled the cause of Christian liberty, they flew in the face of +what Peter had said that God Himself had showed him, they did their +utmost to degrade Christianity into a form of Judaism--all for the sake +of keeping on good terms with the narrow bigotry of these Judaising +teachers. + +Now if we take these two facts together, and set them side by side with +the eulogy pronounced on Barnabas as 'a good man, full of the Holy +Ghost and of faith,' we have brought before us in a striking form some +important considerations. + +I. The imperfect goodness of good men. + +A good man does not mean a faultless man. Of course the power which +works on a believing soul is always tending to produce goodness and +only goodness. But its operation is not such that we are always +equally, uniformly, perfectly under its influence. Power in germ is one +thing, in actual operation another. There may be but a little ragged +patch of green in the garden, and yet it may be on its way to become a +flower-bed. A king may not have established dominion over all his land. +The actual operation of that transforming Spirit at any given moment is +limited, and we can withdraw ourselves from it. It does not begin by +leavening all our nature. + +So we have to note-- + +The root of goodness. + +The main direction of a life. + +The progressive character of goodness. + +The highest style of Christian life is a struggle. So we draw practical +inferences as to the conduct of life. + +This thought of imperfection does not diminish the criminality of +individual acts. + +It does not weaken aspiration and effort towards higher life. + +It does alleviate our doubts and fears when we find evil in ourselves. + +II. The possible evil lurking in our best qualities. + +In Barnabas, his amiability and openness of nature, the very +characteristics that had made him strong, now make him weak and wrong. + +How clearly then there is brought out here the danger that lurks even +in our good! I need not remind you how every virtue may be run to an +extreme and become a vice. Liberality is exaggerated into prodigality; +firmness, into obstinacy; mercy, into weakness; gravity, into severity; +tolerance, into feeble conviction; humility, into abjectness. + +And these extremes are reached when these graces are developed at the +expense of the symmetry of the character. + +We are not simple but complex, and what we need to aim at is a +character, not an excrescence. Some people's goodness is like a wart or +a wen. Their virtues are cases of what medical technicality calls +hypertrophy. But our goodness should be like harmonious Indian +patterns, where all colours blend in a balanced whole. + +Such considerations enforce the necessity for rigid self-control. And +that in two directions. + +(_a_) Beware of your excellences, your strong points. + +(_b_) Cultivate sedulously the virtues to which you are not inclined. + +The special form of error into which Barnabas fell is worth notice. It +was over-indulgence, tolerance of evil in a person; feebleness of +grasp, a deficiency of boldness in carrying out his witness to a +disputed truth. In this day liberality, catholicity, are pushed so far +that there is danger of our losing the firmness of our grasp of +principles, and indulgence for faults goes so far that we are apt to +lose the habit of unsparing, though unangry, condemnation of unworthy +characters. This generation is like Barnabas; very quick in sympathy, +generous in action, ready to recognise goodness where-ever it is +beheld. But Barnabas may be a beacon, warning us of the possible evils +that dog these excellences like their shadows. + +III. The grave issues of small faults. + +Comparatively trivial as was Barnabas's error, it seems to have wrecked +his life, at least to have marred it for long years, and to have broken +his sweet companionship with Paul. I think we may go further and say, +that most good men are in more danger from trivial faults than from +great ones. No man reaches the superlative degree of wickedness all at +once. Few men spring from the height to the abyss, they usually slip +down. The erosive action of the sand of the desert is said to be +gradually cutting off the Sphinx's head. The small faults are most +numerous. We are least on our guard against them. There is a +microscopic weed that chokes canals. Snow-flakes make the sky as dark +as an eclipse does. White ants eat a carcase quicker than a lion does. + +So we urge the necessity for bringing ordinary deeds and small actions +to be ruled and guided by God's Spirit. + +How the contemplation of the imperfection, which is the law of life, +should lead us to hope for that heaven where perfection is. + +How the contemplation of the limits of all human goodness should lead +us to exclusive faith in, and imitation of, the one perfect Lord. He +stands stainless among the stained. In Him alone is no sin, from Him +alone like goodness may be ours. + + + +HOW TO SECURE A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE + +'And after [Paul] had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go +into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to +preach the gospel unto them. 11. Therefore ... we came with a straight +course.'--ACTS xvi. 10, 11. + +This book of the Acts is careful to point out how each fresh step in +the extension of the Church's work was directed and commanded by Jesus +Christ Himself. Thus Philip was sent by specific injunction to 'join +himself' to the chariot of the Ethiopian statesman. Thus Peter on the +house-top at Joppa, looking out over the waters of the western sea, had +the vision of the great sheet, knit at the four corners. And thus Paul, +in singularly similar circumstances, in the little seaport of Troas, +looking out over the narrower sea which there separates Asia from +Europe, had the vision of the man of Macedonia, with his cry, 'Come +over and help _us_!' The whole narrative before us bears upon the one +point, that Christ Himself directs the expansion of His kingdom. And +there never was a more fateful moment than that at which the Gospel, in +the person of the Apostle, crossed the sea, and effected a lodgment in +the progressive quarter of the world. + +Now what I wish to do is to note how Paul and his little company +behaved themselves when they had received Christ's commandment. For I +think there are lessons worth the gathering to be found there. There +was no doubt about the vision; the question was what it meant. So note +three stages. First, careful consideration, with one's own common +sense, of what God wants us to do--'Assuredly gathering that the Lord +had called us.' Then, let no grass grow under our feet--immediate +obedience--'Straightway we endeavoured to go into Macedonia.' And then, +patient pondering and instantaneous submission get the reward--'We came +with a straight course.' He gave the winds and the waves charge +concerning them. Now there are three lessons for us. Taken together, +they are patterns of what ought to be in our experience, and will be, +if the conditions are complied with. + +I. First, Careful Consideration. + +Paul had no doubt that what he saw was a vision from Christ, and not a +mere dream of the night, born of the reverberation of waking thoughts +and anxieties, that took the shape of the plaintive cry of the man of +Macedonia. But then the next step was to be quite sure of what the +vision meant. And so, wisely, he does not make up his mind himself, but +calls in the three men who were with him. And what a significant little +group it was! There were Timothy, Silas, and Luke--Silas, from +Jerusalem; Timothy, half a Gentile; Luke, altogether a Gentile; and +Paul himself--and these four shook the world. They come together, and +they talk the matter over. The word of my text rendered 'assuredly +gathering' is a picturesque one. It literally means 'laying things +together.' They set various facts side by side, or as we say in our +colloquial idiom, 'They put this and that together,' and so they came +to understand what the vision meant. + +What had they to help them to understand it? Well, they had this fact, +that in all the former part of their journey they had been met by +hindrances; that their path had been hedged up here, there, and +everywhere. Paul set out from Antioch, meaning a quiet little tour of +visitation amongst the churches that had been already established. +Jesus Christ meant Philippi and Athens and Corinth and Ephesus, before +Paul got back again. So we read in an earlier portion of the chapter +that the Spirit of Jesus forbade them to speak the Word in one region, +and checked and hindered them when, baffled, they tried to go to +another. There then remained only one other road open to them, and that +led to the coast. Thus putting together their hindrances and their +stimuluses, they came to the conclusion that unitedly the two said +plainly, 'Go across the sea, and preach the word there.' + +Now it is a very commonplace and homely piece of teaching to remind you +that time is not wasted in making quite sure of the meaning of +providences which seem to declare the will of God, before we begin to +act. But the commonest duties are very often neglected; and we +preachers, I think, would very often do more good by hammering at +commonplace themes than by bringing out original and fresh ones. And so +I venture to say a word about the immense importance to Christian life +and Christian service of this preliminary step--'assuredly gathering +that the Lord had called us.' What have we to do in order to be quite +sure of God's intention for us? + +Well, the first thing seems to me to make quite sure that we want to +know it, and that we do not want to force our intentions upon Him, and +then to plume ourselves upon being obedient to His call, when we are +only doing what we like. There is a vast deal of unconscious +insincerity in us all; and especially in regard to Christian work there +is an enormous amount of it. People will say, 'Oh, I have such a strong +impulse in a given direction, to do certain kinds of Christian service, +that I am quite sure that it is God's will.' How are you sure? A strong +impulse may be a temptation from the devil as well as a call from God. +And men who simply act on untested impulses, even the most benevolent +which spring directly from large Christian principles, may be making +deplorable mistakes. It is not enough to have pure motives. It is +useless to say, 'Such and such a course of action is clearly the result +of the truths of the Gospel.' That may be all perfectly true, and yet +the course may not be the course for you. For there may be practical +considerations, which do not come into our view unless we carefully +think about them, which forbid us to take such a path. So remember that +strong impulses are not guiding lights; nor is it enough to vindicate +our pursuing some mode of Christian service that it is in accordance +with the principles of the Gospel. 'Circumstances alter cases' is a +very homely old saying; but if Christian people would only bring the +common sense to bear upon their religious life which they need to bring +to bear upon their business life, unless they are going into the +_Gazette_, there would be less waste work in the Christian Church than +there is to-day. I do not want less zeal; I want that the reins of the +fiery steed shall be kept well in hand. The difference between a +fanatic, who is a fool, and an enthusiast, who is a wise man, is that +the one brings calm reason to bear, and an open-eyed consideration of +circumstances all round; and the other sees but one thing at a time, +and shuts his eyes, like a bull in a field, and charges at that. So let +us be sure, to begin with, that we want to know what God wants us to +do; and that we are not palming our wishes upon Him, and calling them +His providences. + +Then there is another plain, practical consideration that comes out of +this story, and that is, Do not be above being taught by failures and +hindrances. You know the old proverb, 'It is waste time to flog a dead +horse.' There is not a little well-meant work flung away, because it is +expended on obviously hopeless efforts to revivify, perhaps, some +moribund thing or to continue, perhaps, in some old, well-worn rut, +instead of striking out into a new path. Paul was full of enthusiasm +for the evangelisation of Asia Minor, and he might have said a great +deal about the importance of going to Ephesus. He tried to do it, but +Christ said 'No.' and Paul did not knock his head against the stone +wall that lay between him and the accomplishment of his purpose, but he +gave it up and tried another tack. He next wished to go up into +Bithynia, and he might have said a great deal about the needs of the +people by the Euxine; but again down came the barrier, and he had once +more to learn the lesson, 'Not as thou wilt, but as I will.' He was not +above being taught by his failures. Some of us are; and it is very +difficult, and needs a great deal of Christian wisdom and +unselfishness, to distinguish between hindrances in the way of work +which are meant to evoke larger efforts, and hindrances which are meant +to say, 'Try another path, and do not waste time here any longer.' + +But if we wish supremely to know God's will, He will help us to +distinguish between these two kinds of difficulties. Some one has said, +'Difficulties are things to be overcome.' Yes, but not always. They +very often are, and we should thank God for them then; but they +sometimes are God's warnings to us to go by another road. So we need +discretion, and patience, and suspense of judgment to be brought to +bear upon all our purposes and plans. + +Then, of course, I need not remind you that the way to get light is to +seek it in the Book and in communion with Him whom the Book reveals to +us as the true Word of God: 'He that followeth Me shall not walk in +darkness, but shall have the light of life.' So careful consideration +is a preliminary to all good Christian work. And, if you can, talk to +some Timothy and Silas and Luke about your course, and do not be above +taking a brother's advice. + +II. The next step is Immediate Submission. + +When they had assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them, +'immediately'--there is great virtue in that one word--'we endeavoured +to go into Macedonia.' Delayed obedience is the brother--and, if I may +mingle metaphors, sometimes the father--of disobedience. It sometimes +means simple feebleness of conviction, indolence, and a general lack of +fervour. It means very often a reluctance to do the duty that lies +plainly before us. And, dear brethren, as I have said about the former +lesson, so I say about this. The homely virtue, which we all know to be +indispensable to success in common daily life and commercial +undertakings, is no less indispensable to all vigour of Christian life +and to all nobleness of Christian service. We have no hours to waste; +the time is short. In the harvest-field, especially when it is getting +near the end of the week, and the Sunday is at hand, there are little +leisure and little tolerance of slow workers. And for us the fields are +white, the labourers are few, the Lord of the harvest is imperative, +the sun is hurrying to the west, and the sickles will have to be laid +down before long. So, '_immediately_ we endeavoured.' + +Delayed duty is present discomfort. As long as a man has a conscience, +so long will he be restless and uneasy until he has, as the Quakers +say, 'cleared himself of his burden,' and done what he knows that he +ought to do, and got done with it. Delayed obedience means wasted +possibilities of service, and so is ever to be avoided. The more +disagreeable anything is which is plainly a duty, the more reason there +is for doing it right away. 'I made haste, and delayed not, but made +haste to keep Thy commandments.' + +Did you ever count how many '_straightways_' there are in the first +chapter of Mark's Gospel? If you have not, will you do it when you go +home; and notice how they come in? In the story of Christ's opening +ministry every fresh incident is tacked on to the one before it, in +that chapter, by that same word 'straightway.' 'Straightway' He does +that; 'anon' He does this; 'immediately' He does the other thing. All +is one continuous stream of acts of service. The Gospel of Mark is the +Gospel of the servant, and it sets forth the pattern to which all +Christian service ought to be conformed. + +So if we take Jesus Christ for our Example, unhasting and unresting in +the work of the Lord, we shall let no moment pass burdened with +undischarged duty; and we shall find that all the moments are few +enough for the discharge of the duties incumbent upon us. + +III. So, lastly, careful consideration and unhesitating obedience lead +to a Straight Course. + +Well, it is not so always, but it is so generally. There is a wonderful +power in diligent doing of God's known will to smooth away difficulties +and avoid troubles. I do not, of course, mean that a man who thus +lives, patiently ascertaining and then promptly doing what God would +have him do, has any miraculous exemption from the ordinary sorrows and +trials of life. But sure I am that a very, very large proportion of all +the hindrances and disappointments, storms and quicksands, calms which +prevent progress and headwinds that beat in our faces, are directly the +products of our negligence in one or other of these two respects, and +that although by no means absolutely, yet to an extent that we should +not believe if we had not the experience of it, the wish to do God's +will and the doing of it with our might when we know what it is have a +talismanic power in calming the seas and bringing us to the desired +haven. + +But though this is not always absolutely true in regard of outward +things, it is, without exception or limitation, true in regard of the +inward life. For if my supreme will is to do God's will then nothing +which is His will, and comes to me because it is can be a hindrance in +my doing that. + +As an old proverb says, 'Travelling merchants can never be out of their +road.' And a Christian man whose path is simple obedience to the will +of God can never be turned from that path by whatever hindrances may +affect his outward life. So, in deepest truth, there is always a calm +voyage for the men whose eyes are open to discern, and whose hands are +swift to fulfil, the commandments of their Father in heaven. For them +all winds blow them to their port; for them 'all things work together +for good'; with them God's servants who hearken to the voice of His +commandments, and are His ministers to do His pleasure, can never be +other than in amity and alliance. He who is God's servant is the +world's master. 'All things are yours if ye are Christ's.' + +So, brethren, careful study of providences and visions, of hindrances +and stimulus, careful setting of our lives side by side with the +Master's, and a swift delight in doing the will of the Lord, will +secure for us, in inmost truth, a prosperous voyage, till all storms +are hushed, 'and they are glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth +them to their desired haven.' + + + +PAUL AT PHILIPPI + +'And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate, by a river +side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, +and spake unto the women which were come together.'--ACTS xvi. 13 +(R.V.). + +This is the first record of the preaching of the Gospel in Europe, and +probably the first instance of it. The fact that the vision of the man +of Macedonia was needed in order to draw the Apostle across the straits +into Macedonia, and the great length at which the incidents at Philippi +are recorded, make this probable. If so, we are here standing, as it +were, at the wellhead of a mighty river, and the thin stream of water +assumes importance when we remember the thousand miles of its course, +and the league-broad estuary in which it pours itself into the ocean. +Here is the beginning; the Europe of to-day is what came out of it. +There is no sign whatever that the Apostle was conscious of an epoch in +this transference of the sphere of his operations, but we can scarcely +help being conscious of such. + +And so, looking at the words of my text, and seeing here how +unobtrusively there stole into the progressive part of the world the +power which was to shatter and remould all its institutions, to guide +and inform the onward march of its peoples, to be the basis of their +liberties, and the starting-point of their literature, we can scarcely +avoid drawing lessons of importance. + +The first point which I would suggest, as picturesquely enforced for us +by this incident, is-- + +I. The apparent insignificance and real greatness of Christian work. + +There did not seem in the whole of that great city that morning a more +completely insignificant knot of people than the little weather-beaten +Jew, travel-stained, of weak bodily presence, and of contemptible +speech, with the handful of his attendants, who slipped out in the +early morning and wended their way to the quiet little oratory, beneath +the blue sky, by the side of the rushing stream, and there talked +informally and familiarly to the handful of women. The great men of +Philippi would have stared if any one had said to them, 'You will be +forgotten, but two of these women will have their names embalmed in the +memory of the world for ever. Everybody will know Euodia and Syntyche. +Your city will be forgotten, although a battle that settled the fate of +the civilised world was fought outside your gates. But that little Jew +and the letter that he will write to that handful of believers that are +to be gathered by his preaching will last for ever.' The mightiest +thing done in Europe that morning was when the Apostle sat down by the +riverside, 'and spake to the women which resorted thither.' + +The very same vulgar mistake as to what is great and as to what is +small is being repeated over and over again; and we are all tempted to +it by that which is worldly and vulgar in ourselves, to the enormous +detriment of the best part of our natures. So it is worth while to stop +for a moment and ask what is the criterion of greatness in our deeds? I +answer, three things--their motive, their sphere, their consequences. +What is done for God is always great. You take a pebble and drop it +into a brook, and immediately the dull colouring upon it flashes up +into beauty when the sunlight strikes through the ripples, and the +magnitude of the little stone is enlarged. If I may make use of such a +violent expression, drop your deeds into God, and they will all be +great, however small they are. Keep them apart from Him, and they will +be small, though all the drums of the world beat in celebration, and +all the vulgar people on the earth extol their magnitude. This altar +magnifies and sanctifies the giver and the gift. The great things are +the things that are done for God. + +A deed is great according to its sphere. What bears on and is confined +to material things is smaller than what affects the understanding. The +teacher is more than the man who promotes material good. And on the +very same principle, above both the one and the other, is the doer of +deeds which touch the diviner part of a man's nature, his will, his +conscience, his affections, his relations to God. Thus the deeds that +impinge upon these are the highest and the greatest; and far above the +scientific inventor, and far above the mere teacher, as I believe, and +as I hope you believe, stands the humblest work of the poorest +Christian who seeks to draw any other soul into the light and liberty +which he himself possesses. The greatest thing in the world is charity, +and the purest charity in the world is that which helps a man to +possess the basis and mother-tincture of all love, the love towards God +who has first loved us, in the person and the work of His dear Son. + +That which being done has consequences that roll through souls, 'and +grow for ever and for ever,' is a greater work than the deed whose +issues are more short-lived. And so the man who speaks a word which may +deflect a soul into the paths which have no end until they are +swallowed up in the light of the God who 'is a Sun,' is a worker whose +work is truly great. Brethren, it concerns the nobleness of the life of +us Christian people far more closely than we sometimes suppose, that we +should purge our souls from the false estimate of magnitudes which +prevails so extensively in the world's judgment of men and their +doings. And though it is no worthy motive for a man to seek to live so +that he may do great things, it is a part of the discipline of the +Christian mind, as well as heart, that we should be able to reduce the +swollen bladders to their true flaccidity and insignificance, and that +we should understand that things done for God, things done on men's +souls, things done with consequences which time will not exhaust, nor +eternity put a period to, are, after all, the great things of human +life. + +Ah, there will be a wonderful reversal of judgments one day! Names that +now fill the trumpet of fame will fall silent. Pages that now are read +as if they were leaves of the 'Book of Life' will be obliterated and +unknown, and when all the flashing cressets in Vanity Fair have smoked +and stunk themselves out, 'They that be wise shall shine as the +brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness +as the stars for ever and ever.' The great things are the Christian +things, and there was no greater deed done that day, on this round +earth, than when that Jewish wayfarer, travel-stained and +insignificant, sat himself down in the place of prayer, and 'spake unto +the women which resorted thither.' Do not be over-cowed by the loud +talk of the world, but understand that Christian work is the mightiest +work that a man can do. + +Let us take from this incident a hint as to-- + +II. The law of growth in Christ's Kingdom. + +Here, as I have said, is the thin thread of water at the source. We +to-day are on the broad bosom of the expanded stream. Here is the +little beginning; the world that we see around us has come from this, +and there is a great deal more to be done yet before all the power that +was transported into Europe, on that Sabbath morning, has wrought its +legitimate effects. That is to say, 'the Kingdom of God cometh not by +observation.' Let me say a word, and only a word, based on this +incident, about the law of small beginnings and the law of slow, +inconspicuous development. + +We have here an instance of the law of small, silent beginnings. Let us +go back to the highest example of everything that is good; the life of +Jesus Christ. A cradle at Bethlehem, a carpenter's shop in Nazareth, +thirty years buried in a village, two or three years, at most, going up +and down quietly in a remote nook of the earth, and then He passed away +silently and the world did not know Him. 'He shall not strive nor cry, +nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets.' And as the Christ so +His Church, and so His Gospel, and so all good movements that begin +from Him. Destructive preparations may be noisy; they generally are. +Constructive beginnings are silent and small. If a thing is launched +with a great beating of drums and blowing of trumpets, you may be +pretty sure there is very little in it. Drums are hollow, or they would +not make such a noise. Trumpets only catch and give forth wind. They +say--I know not whether it is true--that the _Wellingtonia gigantea_, +the greatest of forest trees, has a smaller seed than any of its +congeners. It may be so, at any rate it does for an illustration. The +germ-cell is always microscopic. A little beginning is a prophecy of a +great ending. + +In like manner there is another large principle suggested here which, +in these days of impatient haste and rushing to and fro, and religious +as well as secular advertising and standing at street corners, we are +very apt to forget, but which we need to remember, and that is that the +rate of growth is swift when the duration of existence is short. A reed +springs up in a night. How long does an oak take before it gets too +high for a sheep to crop at? The moth lives its full life in a day. +There is no creature that has helpless infancy so long as a man. We +have the slow work of mining; the dynamite will be put into the hole +one day, and the spark applied--and then? So 'an inheritance may be +gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be +blessed.' + +Let us apply that to our own personal life and work, and to the growth +of Christianity in the world, and let us not be staggered because +either are so slow. 'The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as +some men count slackness. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, +and a thousand years as one day.' How long will that day be of which a +thousand years are but as the morning twilight? Brethren, you have need +of patience. You Christian workers, and I hope I am speaking to a great +many such now; how long does it take before we can say that we are +making any impression at all on the vast masses of evil and sin that +are round about us? God waited, nobody knows how many millenniums and +more than millenniums, before He had the world ready for man. He waited +for more years than we can tell before He had the world ready for the +Incarnation. His march is very slow because it is ever onwards. Let us +be thankful if we forge ahead the least little bit; and let us not be +impatient for swift results which are the fool's paradise, and which +the man who knows that he is working towards God's own end can well +afford to do without. + +And now, lastly, let me ask you to notice, still further as drawn from +this incident-- + +III. The simplicity of the forces to which God entrusts the growth of +His Kingdom. + +It is almost ludicrous to think, if it were not pathetic and sublime, +of the disproportion between the end that was aimed at and the way that +was taken to reach it, which the text opens before us. 'We went out to +the riverside, and we spake unto the women which resorted thither.' +That was all. Think of Europe as it was at that time. There was Greece +over the hills, there was Rome ubiquitous and ready to exchange its +contemptuous toleration for active hostility. There was the unknown +barbarism of the vague lands beyond. Think of the established +idolatries which these men had to meet, around which had gathered, by +the superstitious awe of untold ages, everything that was obstinate, +everything that was menacing, everything that was venerable. Think of +the subtleties to which they had to oppose their unlettered message. +Think of the moral corruption that was eating like an ulcer into the +very heart of society. Did ever a Cortez on the beach, with his ships +in flames behind him, and a continent in arms before, cast himself on a +more desperate venture? And they conquered! How? What were the small +stones from the brook that slew Goliath? Have we got them? Here they +are, the message that they spoke, the white heat of earnestness with +which they spoke it, and the divine Helper who backed them up. And we +have this message. Brethren, that old word, 'God was in Christ +reconciling the world to Himself,' is as much needed, as potent, as +truly adapted to the complicated civilisation of this generation, as +surely reaching the deepest wants of the human soul, as it was in the +days when first the message poured, like a red-hot lava flood, from the +utterances of Paul. Like lava it has gone cold to-day, and stiff in +many places, and all the heat is out of it. That is the fault of the +speaker, never of the message. It is as mighty as ever it was, and if +the Christian Church would keep more closely to it, and would realise +more fully that the Cross does not need to be propped up so much as to +be proclaimed, I think we should see that it is so. That sword has not +lost its temper, and modern modes of warfare have not antiquated it. As +David said to the high priests at Nob, when he was told that Goliath's +sword was hid behind the ephod, 'Give me that. There is none like it.' +It was not miracles, it was the Gospel that was preached, which was +'the power of God unto salvation.' + +And that message was preached with earnestness. There is one point in +which every successful servant of Jesus Christ who has done work for +Him, winning men to Him, has been like every other successful servant, +and there is only one point. Some of them have been wise men, some of +them have been foolish. Some of them have been clad with many puerile +notions and much rubbish of ceremonial and sacerdotal theories. Some of +them have been high Calvinists, some of them low Arminians; some of +them have been scholars, some of them could hardly read. But they have +all had this one thing: they believed with all their hearts what they +spake. They fulfilled the Horatian principle, 'If you wish me to weep, +your own eyes must overflow'--and if you wish me to believe, you must +speak, not 'with bated breath and whispering humbleness,' but as if you +yourself believed it, and were dead set on getting other people to +believe it, too. + +And then the third thing that Paul had we have, and that is the +presence of the Christ. Note what it says in the context about one +convert who was made that morning, Lydia, 'whose heart the Lord +opened.' Now I am not going to deduce Calvinism or any other 'ism' from +these words, but I pray you to note that there is emerging on the +surface here what runs all through this book of Acts, and animates the +whole of it, viz., that Jesus Christ Himself is working, doing all the +work that is done through His servants. Wherever there are men aflame +with that with which every Christian man and woman should be aflame, +the consciousness of the preciousness of their Master, and their own +responsibility for the spreading of His Name, there, depend upon it, +will be the Christ to aid them. The picture with which one of the +Evangelists closes his Gospel will be repeated: 'They went everywhere +preaching the word, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word +with signs following.' + +Dear brethren, the vision of the man of Macedonia which drew Paul +across the water from Troas to Philippi speaks to us. 'Come over and +help us,' comes from many voices. And if we, in however humble and +obscure, and as the foolish purblind world calls it, 'small,' way, +yield to the invitation, and try to do what in us lies, then we shall +find that, like Paul by the riverside in that oratory, we are building +better than we know, and planting a little seed, the springing whereof +God will bless. 'Thou sowest not that which shall be, but bare grain +... and God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him.' + + + +THE RIOT AT PHILIPPI + +'And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they +caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the +rulers, 20. And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, +being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21. And teach customs, +which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being +Romans. 22. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the +magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23. And +when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, +charging the jailer to keep them safely: 24. Who, having received such +a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast +in the stocks. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang +praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26. And suddenly there +was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were +shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's +bands were loosed. 27. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his +sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and +would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. +28. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for +we are all here. 29. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and +came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30. And brought +them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31. And they +said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and +thy house. 32. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all +that were in his house. 33. And he took them the same hour of the +night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, +straightway. 34. And when he had brought them into his house, he set +meat before them, and rejoiced, believing In God with all his +house.'--ACTS xvi. 19-34. + +This incident gives us the Apostle's first experience of purely Gentile +opposition. The whole scene has a different stamp from that of former +antagonisms, and reminds us that we have passed into Europe. The +accusers and the grounds of accusation are new. Formerly Jews had led +the attack; now Gentiles do so. Crimes against religion were charged +before; now crimes against law and order. Hence the narrative is more +extended, in accordance with the prevailing habit of the book, to +dilate on the first of a series and to summarise subsequent members of +it. We may note the unfounded charge and unjust sentence; the joyful +confessors and the answer to their trust; the great light that shone on +the jailer's darkness. + +I. This was a rough beginning of the work undertaken at the call of +Christ. Less courageous and faithful men might have thought, 'Were we +right in "assuredly gathering" that His hand pointed us hither, since +this is the reception we find?' But though the wind meets us as soon as +we clear the harbour, the salt spray dashing in our faces is no sign +that we should not have left shelter. A difficult beginning often means +a prosperous course; and hardships are not tokens of having made a +mistake. + +The root of the first antagonism to the Gospel in Europe was purely +mercenary. The pythoness's masters had no horror of Paul's doctrines. +They were animated by no zeal for Apollo. They only saw a source of +profit drying up. Infinitely more respectable was Jewish opposition, +which was, at all events, the perverted working of noble sentiments. +Zeal for religion, even when the zeal is impure and the notions of +religion imperfect, is higher than mere anger at pecuniary loss. How +much of the opposition since and to-day comes from the same mean +source! Lust and appetite organise profitable trades, in which 'the +money has no smell,' however foul the cesspool from which it has been +brought. And when Christian people set themselves against these +abominations, capital takes the command of the mob of drink-sellers and +consumers, or of those from haunts of fleshly sin, and shrieks about +interfering with honest industry, and seeking to enforce sour-faced +Puritanism on society. The Church may be very sure that it is failing +in some part of its duty, if there is no class of those who fatten on +providing for sin howling at its heels, because it is interfering with +the hope of their gains. + +The charge against the little group took no heed of the real character +of their message. It artfully put prominent their nationality. These +early anti-Semitic agitators knew the value of a good solid prejudice, +and of a nickname. 'Jews'--that was enough. The rioters were +'Romans'--of a sort, no doubt, but it was poor pride for a Macedonian +to plume himself on having lost his nationality. The great crime laid +to Paul's charge was--troubling the city. So it always is. Whether it +be George Fox, or John Wesley, or the Salvation Army, the disorderly +elements of every community attack the preachers of the Gospel in the +name of order, and break the peace in their eagerness to have it kept. +There was no 'trouble' in Philippi, but the uproar which they +themselves were making. The quiet praying-place by the riverside, and +the silencing of the maiden's shout in the streets, were not exactly +the signs of disturbers of civic tranquillity. + +The accuracy of the charge may be measured by the ignorance of the +accusers that Paul and his friends were in any way different from the +run of Jews. No doubt they were supposed to be teaching Jewish +practices, which were supposed to be inconsistent with Roman +citizenship. But if the magistrates had said, 'What customs?' the +charge would have collapsed. Thank God, the Gospel has a witness to +bear against many 'customs'; but it does not begin by attacking even +these, much less by prescribing illegalities. Its errand was and is to +the individual first. It sets the inner man right with God, and then +the new life works itself out, and will war against evils which the old +life deemed good; but the conception of Christianity as a code +regulating actions is superficial, whether it is held by friends or +foes. + +There is always a mob ready to follow any leader, especially if there +is the prospect of hurting somebody. The lovers of tranquillity showed +how they loved it by dragging Paul and Silas into the forum, and +bellowing untrue charges against them. The mob seconded them; 'they +rose up together [with the slave-owners] against Paul and Silas.' The +magistrates, knowing the ticklish material that they had to deal with, +and seeing only a couple of Jews from nobody knew where, did not think +it worth while to inquire or remonstrate. They were either cowed or +indifferent; and so, to show how zealous they and the mob were for +Roman law, they drove a coach-and-six clean through it, and without the +show of investigation, scourged and threw into prison the silent +Apostles. It was a specimen of what has happened too often since. How +many saints have been martyred to keep popular feeling in good tune! +And how many politicians will strain conscience to-day, because they +are afraid of what Luke here unpolitely calls 'the multitude,' or as we +might render it, 'the mob,' but which we now fit with a much more +respectful appellation! + +The jailer, on his part, in the true spirit of small officials, was +ready to better his instructions. It is dangerous to give vague +directions to such people. When the judge has ordered unlawful +scourging, the turnkey is not likely to interpret the requirement of +safe keeping too leniently. One would not look for much human kindness +in a Philippian jail. So it was natural that the deepest, darkest, most +foul-smelling den should be chosen for the two, and that they should he +thrust, bleeding backs and all, into the stocks, to sleep if they could. + +II. These birds could sing in a darkened cage. The jailer's treatment +of them after his conversion shows what he had neglected to do at +first. They had no food; their bloody backs were unsponged; they were +thrust into a filthy hole, and put in a posture of torture. No wonder +that they could not sleep! But what hindered sleep would, with most +men, have sorely dimmed trust and checked praise. Not so with them. God +gave them 'songs in the night.' We can hear the strains through all the +centuries, and they bid us be cheerful and trustful, whatever befalls. +Surely Christian faith never is more noble than when it triumphs over +circumstances, and brings praises from lips which, if sense had its +way, would wail and groan. 'This is the victory that overcometh the +world.' The true anaesthetic is trust in God. No wonder that the baser +sort of prisoners--and base enough they probably were--'were listening +to them,' for such sounds had never been heard there before. In how +many a prison have they been heard since! + +We are not told that the Apostles prayed for deliverance. Such +deliverance had not been always granted. Peter indeed had been set +free, but Stephen and James had been martyred, and these two heroes had +no ground to expect a miracle to free them. But thankful trust is +always an appeal to God. And it is always answered, whether by +deliverance from or support in trial. + +This time deliverance came. The tremor of the earth was the token of +God's answer. It does not seem likely that an earthquake could loosen +fetters in a jail full of prisoners, but more probably the opening of +the doors and the falling off of the chains were due to a separate act +of divine power, the earthquake being but the audible token thereof. At +all events, here again, the first of a series has distinguishing +features, and may stand as type of all its successors. God will never +leave trusting hearts to the fury of enemies. He sometimes will stretch +out a hand and set them free, He sometimes will leave them to bear the +utmost that the world can do, but He will always hear their cry and +save them. Paul had learned the lesson which Philippi was meant to +teach, when he said, though anticipating a speedy death by martyrdom, +'The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me into +His heavenly Kingdom.' + +III. The jailer behaves as such a man in his position would do. He +apparently slept in a place that commanded a view of the doors; and he +lay dressed, with his sword beside him, in case of riot or attempted +escape. His first impulse on awaking is to look at the gates. They are +open; then some of his charge have broken them. His immediate thought +of suicide not only shows the savage severity of punishment which he +knew would fall on him, but tells a dreary tale of the desperate sense +of the worthlessness of life and blank ignorance of anything beyond +which then infected the Roman world. Suicide, the refuge of cowards or +of pessimists, sometimes becomes epidemic. Faith must have died and +hope vanished before a man can say, 'I will take the leap into the +dark.' + +Paul's words freed the man from one fear, but woke a less selfish and +profounder awe. What did all this succession of strange things mean? +Here are doors open; how came that? Here are prisoners with the +possibility of escape refusing it; how came that? Here is one of his +victims tenderly careful of his life and peacefulness, and taking the +upper hand of him; how came that? A nameless awe begins to creep over +him; and when he gets lights, and sees the two whom he had made fast in +the stocks standing there free, and yet not caring to go forth, his +rough nature is broken down. He recognises his superiors. He remembers +the pythoness's testimony, that they told 'the way of salvation.' + +His question seems 'psychologically impossible' to critics, who have +probably never asked it themselves. Wonderful results follow from the +judicious use of that imposing word 'psychologically'; but while we are +not to suppose that this man knew all that 'salvation' meant, there is +no improbability in his asking such a question, if due regard is paid +to the whole preceding events, beginning with the maiden's words, and +including the impression of Paul's personality and the mysterious +freeing of the prisoners. + +His dread was the natural fear that springs when a man is brought face +to face with God; and his question, vague and ignorant as it was, is +the cry of the dim consciousness that lies dormant in all men--the +consciousness of needing deliverance and healing. It erred in supposing +that he had to 'do' anything; but it was absolutely right in supposing +that he needed salvation, and that Paul could tell him how to get it. +How many of us, knowing far more than he, have never asked the same +wise question, or have never gone to Paul for an answer? It is a +question which we should all ask; for we all need salvation, which is +deliverance from danger and healing for soul-sickness. + +Paul's answer is blessedly short and clear. Its brevity and decisive +plainness are the glory of the Gospel. It crystallises into a short +sentence the essential directory for all men. + +See how little it takes to secure salvation. But see how much it takes; +for the hardest thing of all is to be content to accept it as a gift, +'without money and without price.' Many people have listened to sermons +all their lives, and still have no clear understanding of the way of +salvation. Alas that so often the divine simplicity and brevity of +Paul's answer are darkened by a multitude of irrelevant words and +explanations which explain nothing! + +The passage ends with the blessing which we may all receive. Of course +the career begun then had to be continued by repeated acts of faith, +and by growing knowledge and obedience. The incipient salvation is very +incomplete, but very real. There is no reason to doubt that, for some +characters, the only way of becoming Christians is to become so by one +dead-lift of resolution. Some things are best done slowly; some things +best quickly. One swift blow makes a cleaner fracture than filing or +sawing. The light comes into some lives like sunshine in northern +latitudes, with long dawn and slowly growing brightness; but in some +the sun leaps into the sky in a moment, as in the tropics. What matter +how long it takes to rise, if it does rise, and climb to the zenith? + + + +THE GREAT QUESTION AND THE PLAIN ANSWER + +'He brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31. +And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be +saved.'--ACTS xvi. 30, 31. + +The keeper of a Macedonian jail was not likely to be a very nervous or +susceptible person. And so the extraordinary state of agitation and +panic into which this rough jailer was cast needs some kind of +explanation. There had been, as you will all remember, an earthquake of +a strange kind, for it not only opened the prison doors, but shook the +prisoner's chains off. The doors being opened, there was on the part of +the jailer, who probably ought not to have been asleep, a very natural +fear that his charge had escaped. + +So he was ready, with that sad willingness for suicide which marked his +age, to cast himself on his sword, when Paul encouraged him. + +That fear then was past; what was he afraid of now? He knew the +prisoners were all safe; why should he have come pale and trembling? +Perhaps we shall find an answer to the question in another one. Why +should he have gone to Paul and Silas, his two prisoners, for an +anodyne to his fears? + +The answer to that may possibly be found in remembering that for many +days before this a singular thing had happened. Up and down the streets +of Philippi a woman possessed with 'a spirit of divination' had gone at +the heels of these two men, proclaiming in such a way as to disturb +them: 'These are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us +the way of salvation.' It was a new word and a new idea in Philippi or +in Macedonia. This jailer had got it into his mind that these two men +had in their hands a good which he only dimly understood. The panic +caused by the earthquake deepened into a consciousness of some +supernatural atmosphere about him, and stirred in his rude nature +unwonted aspirations and terrors other than he had known, which cast +him at Paul's feet with this strange question. + +Now do you think that the jailer's question was a piece of foolish +superstition? I daresay some of you do, or some of you may suppose too +that it was one very unnecessary for him or anybody to ask. So I wish +now, in a very few words, to deal with these three points--the question +that we should all ask, the answer that we may all take, the blessing +that we may all have. + +I. The question that we should all ask. + +I know that it is very unfashionable nowadays to talk about 'salvation' +as man's need. The word has come to be so worn and commonplace and +technical that many men turn away from it; but for all that, let me try +to stir up the consciousness of the deep necessity that it expresses. + +What is it to be saved? Two things; to be healed and to be safe. In +both aspects the expression is employed over and over again in +Scripture. It means either restoration from sickness or deliverance +from peril. I venture to press upon every one of my hearers these two +considerations--we all need healing from sickness; we all need safety +from peril. + +Dear brethren, most of you are entire strangers to me; I daresay many +of you never heard my voice before, and probably may never hear it +again. But yet, because 'we have all of us one human heart,' a +brother-man comes to you as possessing with you one common experience, +and ventures to say on the strength of his knowledge of himself, if on +no other ground, 'We have all sinned and come short of the glory of +God.' + +Mind, I am not speaking about vices. I have no doubt you are a +perfectly respectable man, in all the ordinary relations of life. I am +not speaking about crimes. I daresay there may be a man or two here +that has been in a dock in his day. Possibly. It does not matter +whether there is or not. But I am not speaking about either vices or +crimes; I am speaking about how we stand in reference to God. And I +pray you to bring yourselves--for no one can do it for you, and no +words of mine can do anything but stimulate you to the act--face to +face with the absolute and dazzlingly pure righteousness of your Father +in Heaven, and to feel the contrast between your life and what you know +He desires you to be. Be honest with yourselves in asking and answering +the question whether or not _you_ have this sickness of sin, its +paralysis in regard to good or its fevered inclination to evil. If +salvation means being healed of a disease, we all have the disease; and +whether we wish it or no, we want the healing. + +And what of the other meaning of the word? Salvation means being safe. +Are you safe? Am I safe? Is anybody safe standing in front of that +awful law that rules the whole universe, 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that +shall he also reap'? I am not going to talk about any of the moot +points which this generation has such a delight in discussing, as to +the nature, the duration, the purpose, or the like, of future +retribution. All that I am concerned in now is that all men, deep down +in the bottom of their consciousness--and you and I amongst the +rest--know that there _is_ such a thing as retribution here; and if +there be a life beyond the grave at all, necessarily in an infinitely +intenser fashion there. Somewhere and somehow, men will have to lie on +the beds that they have made; to drink as they have brewed. If sin +means separation from God, and separation from God means, as it +assuredly does, death, then I ask you--and there is no need for any +exaggerated words about it--Are we not in danger? And if salvation be a +state of deliverance from sickness, and a state of deliverance from +peril, do we not need it? + +Ah, brethren, I venture to say that we need it more than anything else. +You will not misunderstand me as expressing the slightest depreciation +of other remedies that are being extensively offered now for the +various evils under which society and individuals groan. I heartily +sympathise with them all, and would do my part to help them forward; +but I cannot but feel that whilst culture of the intellect, of the +taste, of the sense of beauty, of the refining agencies generally, is +very valuable; and whilst moral and social and economical and political +changes will all do something, and some of them a great deal, to +diminish the sum of human misery, you have to go deeper down than these +reach. It is not culture that we want most; it is salvation. Brethren, +you and I are wrong in our relation to God, and that means death +and--if you do not shrink from the vulgar old word--damnation. We are +wrong in our relation to God, and that has to be set right before we +are fundamentally and thoroughly right. That is to say, salvation is +our deepest need. + +Then how does it come that men go on, as so many of my friends here now +have gone on, all their days paying no attention to that need? Is there +any folly, amidst all the irrationalities of that irrational creature +man, to be matched with the folly of steadily refusing to look forward +and settle for ourselves the prime element in our condition--viz., our +relation to God? Strange is it not--that power that we have of refusing +to look at the barometer when it is going down, of turning away from +unwholesome subjects just because we know them to be so unwelcome and +threatening, and of buying a moment's exemption from discomfort at the +price of a life's ruin? + +Do you remember that old story of the way in which the prisoners in the +time of the French Revolution used to behave? The tumbrils came every +morning and carried off a file of them to the guillotine, and the rest +of them had a ghastly make-believe of carrying on the old frivolities +of the life of the _salons_ and of society. And it lasted for an hour +or two, but the tumbril came next morning all the same, and the +guillotine stood there gaping in the _Place_. And so it is useless, +although it is so frequently done by so many of us, to try to shut out +facts instead of facing them. A man is never so wise as when he says to +himself, 'Let me fairly know the whole truth of my relation to the +unseen world in so far as it can be known here, and if that is wrong, +let me set about rectifying it if it be possible.' 'What will ye do in +the end?' is the wisest question that a man can ask himself, when the +end is as certain as it is with us, and as unsatisfactory as I am +afraid it threatens to be with some of us if we continue as we are. + +Have I not a right to appeal to the half-sleeping and half-waking +consciousness that endorses my words in some hearts as I speak? O +brethren, you would be far wiser men if you did like this jailer in the +Macedonian prison, came and gave yourselves no rest till you have this +question cleared up, 'What must I do to be saved?' + +There was an old Rabbi who used to preach to his disciples, 'Repent the +day before you die.' And when they said to him, 'Rabbi, we do not know +what day we are going to die.' 'Then,' said he, 'repent to-day.' And so +I say to you, 'Settle about the end before the end comes, and as you do +not know when it may come, settle about it now.' + +II. That brings me to the next point here, viz., the blessed, clear +answer that we may all take. + +Paul and Silas were not non-plussed by this question, nor did they +reply to it in the fashion in which many men would have answered it. +Take a specimen of other answers. If anybody were so far left to +himself as to go with this question to some of our modern wise men and +teachers, they would say, 'Saved? My good fellow, there is nothing to +be saved from. Get rid of delusions, and clear your mind of cant and +superstition.' Or they would say, 'Saved? Well, if you have gone wrong, +do the best you can in the time to come.' Or if you went to some of our +friends they would say, 'Come and be baptized, and receive the grace of +regeneration in holy baptism; and then come to the sacraments, and be +faithful and loyal members of the Church which has Apostolic succession +in it.' And some would say, 'Set yourselves to work and toil and +labour.' And some would say, 'Don't trouble yourselves about such +whims. A short life and a merry one; make the best of it, and jump the +life to come.' Neither cold morality, nor godless philosophy, nor wild +dissipation, nor narrow ecclesiasticism prompted Paul's answer. He +said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' + +What did that poor heathen man know about the Lord Jesus Christ? Next +to nothing. How could he believe upon Him if he knew so little about +Him? Well, you hear in the context that this summary answer to the +question was the beginning, and not the end, of a conversation, which +conversation, no doubt, consisted largely in extending and explaining +the brief formulary with which it had commenced. But it is a grand +thing that we can put the all-essential truth into half a dozen simple +words, and then expound and explain them as may be necessary. And I +come to you now, dear brethren, with nothing newer or more wonderful, +or more out of the ordinary way than the old threadbare message which +men have been preaching for nineteen hundred years, and have not +exhausted, and which some of you have heard for a lifetime, and have +never practised, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.' + +Now I am not going to weary you with mere dissertations upon the +significance of these words. But let me single out two points about +them, which perhaps though they may be perfectly familiar to you, may +come to you with fresh force from my lips now. + +Mark, first, whom it is that we are to believe on. '_The Lord_,' that +is the divine Name; '_Jesus_,' that is the name of a Man; '_Christ_,' +that is the name of an office. And if you put them all together, they +come to this, that He on whom we sinful men may put our sole trust and +hope for our healing and our safety, is the Son of God, who came down +upon earth to live our life and to die our death that He might bear on +Himself our sins, and fulfil all which ancient prophecy and symbol had +proclaimed as needful, and therefore certain to be done, for men. It is +not a starved half-Saviour whose name is only Jesus, and neither Lord +nor Christ, faith in whom will save you. You must grasp the whole +revelation of His nature and His power if from Him there is to flow the +life that you need. + +And note what it is that we are to exercise towards Jesus Christ. To +'believe on Him' is a very different thing from _believing Him_. You +may accept all that I have been saying about who and what He is, and be +as far away from the faith that saves a soul as if you had never hoard +His name. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to lean the whole +weight of yourselves upon Him. What do you do when you trust a man who +promises you any small gift or advantage? What do you do when dear ones +say, 'Rest on my love'? You simply trust them. And the very same +exercise of heart and mind which is the blessed cement that holds human +society together, and the power that sheds peace and grace over +friendships and love, is the power which, directed to Jesus Christ, +brings all His saving might into exercise in our lives. Brethren, trust +Him, trust Him as Lord, trust Him as Jesus, trust Him as Christ. Learn +your sickness, learn your danger; and be sure of your Healer and +rejoice in your security. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou +shalt be saved.' + +III. Lastly, consider the blessing we may all receive. This jailer +about whom we have been speaking was a heathen when the sun set and a +Christian when it rose. On the one day he was groping in darkness, a +worshipper of idols, without hope in the future, and ready in +desperation to plunge himself into the darkness beyond, when he thought +his prisoners had fled. In an hour or two 'he rejoiced, believing in +God with all his house.' + +A sudden conversion, you say, and sudden conversions are always +suspicious. I am not so sure about that; they may be, or they may not +be, according to circumstances. I know very well that it is not +fashionable now to preach the possibility or the probability of men +turning all at once from darkness to light, and that people shrug their +shoulders at the old theory of sudden conversions. I think, so much the +worse. There are a great many things in this world that have to be done +suddenly if they are ever to be done at all. And I, for my part, would +have far more hope for a man who, in one leap, sprung from the depth of +the degradation of that coarse jailer into the light and joy of the +Christian life, than for a man who tried to get to it by slow steps. +You have to do everything in this world worth doing by a sudden +resolution, however long the preparation may have been which led up to +the resolution. The act of resolving is always the act of an instant. +And when men are plunged in darkness and profligacy, as are, perhaps, +some of my hearers now, there is far more chance of their casting off +their evil by a sudden jerk than of their unwinding the snake by slow +degrees from their arms. There is no reason whatever why the soundest +and solidest and most lasting transformation of character should not +begin in a moment's resolve. + +And there is an immense danger that with some of you, if that change +does not begin in a moment's resolve now, you will be further away from +it than ever you were. I have no doubt there are many of you who, at +any time for years past, have known that you ought to be Christians, +and who, at any time for years past, have been saying to yourselves: +'Well, I will think about it, and I am tending towards it, but I cannot +quite make the plunge.' Why not; and why not now? You can if you will; +you ought; you will be a better and happier man if you do. You will be +saved from your sickness and safe from your danger. + +The outcast jailer changed nationalities in a moment. You who have +dwelt in the suburbs of Christ's Kingdom all your lives--why cannot you +go inside the gate as quickly? For many of us the gradual 'growing up +in the nurture and admonition of the Lord' has been the appointed way. +For some of us I verily believe the sudden change is the best. Some of +us have a sunrise as in the tropics, where the one moment is grey and +cold, and next moment the seas are lit with the glory. Others of us +have a sunrise as at the poles, where a long slowly-growing light +precedes the rising, and the rising itself is scarce observable. But it +matters little as to how we get to Christ, if we are there, and it +matters little whether a man's faith grows up in a moment, or is the +slow product of years. If only it be rooted in Christ it will bear +fruit unto life eternal. + +And so, dear brethren, I come to you with my last question, this man +rejoiced, believing in the Lord; why should not you; and why should not +you now? 'Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' A +look is a swift act, but if it be the beginning of a lifelong gaze, it +will be the beginning of salvation and of a glory longer than life. + + + +THESSALONICA AND BEREA + +'Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came +to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2. And Paul, as his +manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath-days reasoned with +them out of the scriptures, 3. Opening and alleging, that Christ must +needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this +Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 4. And some of them believed, +and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great +multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews which +believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of +the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an +uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out +to the people, 6. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and +certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have +turned the world upside down are come hither also; 7. Whom Jason hath +received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying +that there is another king, one Jesus. 8. And they troubled the people +and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. 9. And when +they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. +10. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto +Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11. +These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received +the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, +whether those things were so. 12. Therefore many of them believed; also +of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.'--ACTS +xvii. 1-12. + +'Shamefully entreated at Philippi,' Paul tells the Thessalonians, he +'waxed bold in our God to' preach to them. His experience in the former +city might well have daunted a feebler faith, but opposition affected +Paul as little as a passing hailstorm dints a rock. To change the field +was common sense; to abandon the work would have been sin. But Paul's +brave persistence was not due to his own courage; he drew it from God. +Because he lived in communion with Him, his courage 'waxed' as dangers +gathered. He knew that he was doing a daring thing, but he knew who was +his helper. So he went steadily on, whatever might front him. His +temper of mind and the source of it are wonderfully revealed in his +simple words. + +The transference to Thessalonica illustrates another principle of his +action; namely, his preference of great centres of population as fields +of work. He passes through two less important places to establish +himself in the great city. It is wise to fly at the head. Conquer the +cities, and the villages will fall of themselves. That was the policy +which carried Christianity through the empire like a prairie fire. +Would that later missions had adhered to it! + +The methods adopted in Thessalonica were the usual ones. Luke bids us +notice that Paul took the same course of action in each place: namely, +to go to the synagogue first, when there was one, and there to prove +that Jesus was the Christ. The three Macedonian towns already mentioned +seem not to have had synagogues. Probably there were comparatively few +Jews in them, and these were ecclesiastically dependent on +Thessalonica. We can fancy the growing excitement in the synagogue, as +for three successive Sabbaths the stranger urged his proofs of the two +all-important but most unwelcome assertions, that their own scriptures +foretold a suffering Messiah,--a side of Messianic prophecy which was +ignored or passionately denied--and that Jesus was that Messiah. Many a +vehement protest would be shrieked out, with flashing eyes and abundant +gesticulation, as he 'opened' the sense of Scripture, and 'quoted +passages'--for that is the meaning here of the word rendered +'alleging.' He gives us a glimpse of the hot discussions when he says +that he preached 'in much conflict'(1 Thess. ii. 2). + +With whatever differences in manner of presentation, the true message +of the Christian teacher is still the message that woke such opposition +in the synagogue of Thessalonica,--the bold proclamation of the +personal Christ, His death and resurrection. And with whatever +differences, the instrument of conviction is still the Scriptures, 'the +sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.' The more closely we +keep ourselves to that message and that weapon the better. + +The effects of the faithful preaching of the gospel are as uniform as +the method. It does one of two things to its hearers--either it melts +their hearts and leads them to faith, or it stirs them to more violent +enmity. It is either a stone of stumbling or a sure corner-stone. We +either build on or fall over it, and at last are crushed by it. The +converts included Jews and proselytes in larger numbers, as may be +gathered from the distinction drawn by 'some'--referring to the former, +and 'a great multitude'--referring to the latter. Besides these there +were a good many ladies of rank and refinement, as was also the case +presently at Beroea. Probably these, too, were proselytes. + +The prominence of women among the converts, as soon as the gospel is +brought into Europe, is interesting and prophetic. The fact of the +social position of these ladies may suggest that the upper classes were +freer from superstition than the lower, and may point a not favourable +contrast with present social conditions, which do not result in a +similar accession of women of 'honourable estate' to the Church. + +Opposition follows as uniform a course as the preaching. The broad +outlines are the same in each case, while the local colouring varies. +If we compare Paul's narrative in I Thessalonians, which throbs with +emotion, and, as it were, pants with the stress of the conflict, with +Luke's calm account here, we see not only how Paul felt, but why the +Jews got up a riot. Luke says that they 'became jealous.' Paul expands +that into 'they are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the +Gentiles that they may be saved.' Then it was not so much dislike to +the preaching of Jesus as Messiah as it was rage that their Jewish +prerogative was infringed, and the children's bread offered to the +dogs, that stung them to violent opposition. Israel had been chosen, +that it might be God's witness, and diffuse the treasure it possessed +through all the world. It had become, not the dispenser, but the +would-be monopolist, of its gift. Have there been no Christian +communities in later days animated by the same spirit? + +There were plenty of loafers in the market-place ready for any +mischief, and by no means particular about the pretext for a riot. +Anything that would give an opportunity for hurting somebody, and for +loot, would attract them as corruption does flesh-flies. So the Jewish +ringleaders easily got a crowd together. To tell their real reasons +would scarcely have done, but to say that there was a house to be +attacked, and some foreigners to be dragged out, was enough for the +present. Jason's house was probably Paul's temporary home, where, as he +tells us in 1 Thessalonians ii. 9, he had worked at his trade, that he +might not be burdensome to any. Possibly he and Silas had been warned +of the approach of the rioters and had got away elsewhere. At all +events, the nest was empty, but the crowd must have its victims, and +so, failing Paul, they laid hold of Jason. His offence was a very +shadowy one. But since his day there have been many martyrs, whose only +crime was 'harbouring' Christians, or heretics, or recusant priests, or +Covenanters. If a bull cannot gore a man, it will toss his cloak. + +The charge against Jason is that he receives the Apostle and his party, +and constructively favours their designs. The charge against them is +that they are revolutionists, rebels against the Emperor, and partisans +of a rival. Now we may note three things about the charge. First, it +comes with a very distinct taint of insincerity from Jews, who were, to +say the least, not remarkable for loyalty or peaceful obedience. The +Gracchi are complaining of sedition! A Jew zealous for Caeesar is an +anomaly, which might excite the suspicions of the least suspicious +ruler. The charge of breaking the peace comes with remarkable +appropriateness from the leaders of a riot. They were the troublers of +the city, not Paul, peacefully preaching in the synagogue. The wolf +scolds the lamb for fouling the river. + +Again, the charges are a violent distortion of the truth. Possibly the +Jewish ringleaders believed what they said, but more probably they +consciously twisted Paul's teachings, because they knew that no other +charges would excite so much hostility or be so damning as those which +they made. The mere suggestion of treason was often fatal. The wild +exaggeration that the Christians had 'turned the whole civilised world +upside down' betrays passionate hatred and alarm, if it was genuine, or +crafty determination to rouse the mob, if it was consciously trumped +up. But whether the charges were believed or not by those who made +them, here were Jews disclaiming their nation's dearest hope, and, like +the yelling crowd at the Crucifixion, declaring they had no king but +Caesar. The degradation of Israel was completed by these fanatical +upholders of its prerogatives. + +But, again, the charges were true in a far other sense than their +bringers meant. For Christianity is revolutionary, and its very aim is +to turn the world upside down, since the wrong side is uppermost at +present, and Jesus, not Caesar, or any king or emperor or czar, is the +true Lord and ruler of men. But the revolution which He makes is the +revolution of individuals, turning them from darkness to light; for He +moulds single souls first and society afterwards. Violence is always a +mistake, and the only way to change evil customs is to change men's +natures, and then the customs drop away of themselves. The true rule +begins with the sway of hearts; then wills are submissive, and conduct +is the expression of inward delight in a law which is sweet because the +lawgiver is dear. + +Missing Paul, the mob fell on Jason and the brethren. They were 'bound +over to keep the peace.' Evidently the rulers had little fear of these +alleged desperate revolutionaries, and did as little as they dared, +without incurring the reproach of being tepid in their loyalty. + +Probably the removal of Paul and his travelling companions from the +neighbourhood was included in the terms to which Jason had to submit. +Their hurried departure does not seem to have been caused by a renewal +of disturbances. At all events, their Beroean experience repeated that +of Philippi and of Thessalonica, with one great and welcome difference. +The Beroean Jews did exactly what their compatriots elsewhere would not +do--they looked into the subject with their own eyes, and tested Paul's +assertions by Scripture. 'Therefore,' says Luke, with grand confidence +in the impregnable foundations of the faith, 'many of them believed.' +True nobility of soul consists in willingness to receive the Word, +combined with diligent testing of it. Christ asks for no blind +adhesion. The true Christian teacher wishes for no renunciation, on the +part of his hearers, of their own judgments. 'Open your mouth and shut +your eyes, and swallow what I give you,' is not the language of +Christianity, though it has sometimes been the demand of its professed +missionaries, and not the teacher only, but the taught also, have been +but too ready to exercise blind credulity instead of intelligent +examination and clear-eyed faith. If professing Christians to-day were +better acquainted with the Scriptures, and more in the habit of +bringing every new doctrine to them as its touchstone, there would be +less currency of errors and firmer grip of truth. + + + +PAUL AT ATHENS + +'Then Paul stood In the midst of Mars-hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, +I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23. For as I +passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this +inscription, To the Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, +him declare I unto you. 24. God, that made the world, and all things +therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in +temples made with hands; 25. Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as +though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, +and all things; 26. And hath made of one blood all nations of men for +to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times +before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27. That they +should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, +though He be not far from every one of us: 28. For in Him we live, and +move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, +For we are also His offspring. 29. Forasmuch then as we are the +offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto +gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30. And the +times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every +where to repent: 31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which He +will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath +ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath +raised Him from the dead. 32. And when they heard of the resurrection +of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of +this matter. 33. So Paul departed from among them. 34. Howbeit certain +men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the +Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.'--ACTS +xvii. 22-34. + +'I am become all things to all men,' said Paul, and his address at +Athens strikingly exemplifies that principle of his action. Contrast it +with his speech in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch, which appeals +entirely to the Old Testament, and is saturated with Jewish ideas, or +with the remonstrance to the rude Lycaonian peasants (Acts xiv. 15, +etc.), which, while handling some of the same thoughts as at Athens, +does so in a remarkably different manner. There he appealed to God's +gifts of 'rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons,' the things most +close to his hearers' experience; here, speaking to educated +'philosophers,' he quotes Greek poetry, and sets forth a reasoned +declaration of the nature of the Godhead and the relations of a +philosophy of history and an argument against idolatry. The glories of +Greek art were around him; the statues of Pallas Athene and many more +fair creations looked down on the little Jew who dared to proclaim +their nullity as representations of the Godhead. + +Paul's flexibility of mind and power of adapting himself to every +circumstance were never more strikingly shown than in that great +address to the quick-witted Athenians. It falls into three parts: the +conciliatory prelude (vers. 22, 23); the declaration of the Unknown God +(vers. 24-29); and the proclamation of the God-ordained Man (vers. 30, +31). + +I. We have, first, the conciliatory prelude. It is always a mistake for +the apostle of a new truth to begin by running a tilt at old errors. It +is common sense to seek to find some point in the present beliefs of +his hearers to which his message may attach itself. An orator who +flatters for the sake of securing favour for himself is despicable; a +missionary who recognises the truth which lies under the system which +he seeks to overthrow, is wise. + +It is incredible that Paul should have begun his speech to so critical +an audience by charging them with excessive superstition, as the +Authorised Version makes him do. Nor does the modified translation of +the Revised Version seem to be precisely what is meant. Paul is not +blaming the Athenians, but recording a fact which he had noticed, and +from which he desired to start. Ramsay's translation gives the truer +notion of his meaning--'more than others respectful of what is divine.' +'Superstition' necessarily conveys a sense of blame, but the word in +the original does not. + +We can see Paul as a stranger wandering through the city, and noting +with keen eyes every token of the all-pervading idolatry. He does not +tell his hearers that his spirit burned within him when he saw the city +full of idols; but he smothers all that, and speaks only of the +inscription which he had noticed on one, probably obscure and +forgotten, altar: 'To the Unknown God.' Scholars have given themselves +a great deal of trouble to show from other authors that there were such +altars. But Paul is as good an 'authority' as these, and we may take +his word that he did see such an inscription. Whether it had the full +significance which he reads into it or not, it crystallised in an +express avowal that sense of Something behind and above the 'gods many' +of Greek religion, which found expression in the words of their noblest +thinkers and poets, and lay like a nightmare on them. + +To charge an Athenian audience, proud of their knowledge, with +ignorance, was a hazardous and audacious undertaking; to make them +charge themselves was more than an oratorical device. It appealed to +the deepest consciousness even of the popular mind. Even with this +prelude, the claims of this wandering Jew to pose as the instructor of +Epicureans and Stoics, and to possess a knowledge of the Divine which +they lacked, were daring. But how calmly and confidently Paul makes +them, and with what easy and conciliatory adoption of their own +terminology, if we adopt the reading of verse 23 in Revised Version +('What ye worship ... this,' etc.), which puts forward the abstract +conception of divinity rather than the personal God. + +The spirit in which Paul approached his difficult audience teaches all +Christian missionaries and controversialists a needed and neglected +lesson. We should accentuate points of resemblance rather than of +difference, to begin with. We should not run a tilt against even +errors, and so provoke to their defence, but rather find in creeds and +practices an ignorant groping after, and so a door of entrance for, the +truth which we seek to recommend. + +II. The declaration of the Unknown God has been prepared for, and now +follows, and with it is bound up a polemic against idolatry. +Conciliation is not to be carried so far as to hide the antagonism +between the truth and error. We may give non-Christian systems of +religion credit for all the good in them, but we are not to blink their +contrariety to the true religion. Conciliation and controversy are both +needful; and he is the best Christian teacher who has mastered the +secret of the due proportion between them. + +Every word of Paul's proclamation strikes full and square at some +counter belief of his hearers. He begins with creation, which he +declares to have been the act of one personal God, and neither of a +multitude of deities, as some of his hearers held, nor of an impersonal +blind power, as others believed, nor the result of chance, nor eternal, +as others maintained. He boldly proclaims there, below the shadow of +the Parthenon, that there is but one God,--the universal Lord, because +the universal Creator. Many consequences from that fact, no doubt, +crowded into Paul's mind; but he swiftly turns to its bearing on the +pomp of temples which were the glory of Athens, and the multitude of +sacrifices which he had beheld on their altars. The true conception of +God as the Creator and Lord of all things cuts up by the roots the +pagan notions of temples as dwelling-places of a god and of sacrifices +as ministering to his needs. With one crushing blow Paul pulverises the +fair fanes around him, and declares that sacrifice, as practised there, +contradicted the plain truth as to God's nature. To suppose that man +can give anything to Him, or that He needs anything, is absurd. All +heathen worship reverses the parts of God and man, and loses sight of +the fact that He is the giver continually and of everything. Life in +its origination, the continuance thereof (breath), and all which +enriches it, are from Him. Then true worship will not be giving to, but +thankfully accepting from and using for, Him, His manifold gifts. + +So Paul declares the one God as Creator and Sustainer of all. He goes +on to sketch in broad outline what we may call a philosophy of history. +The declaration of the unity of mankind was a wholly strange message to +proud Athenians, who believed themselves to be a race apart, not only +from the 'barbarians,' whom all Greeks regarded as made of other clay +than they, but from the rest of the Greek world. It flatly contradicted +one of their most cherished prerogatives. Not only does Paul claim one +origin for all men, but he regards all nations as equally cared for by +the one God. His hearers believed that each people had its own patron +deities, and that the wars of nations were the wars of their gods, who +won for them territory, and presided over their national fortunes. To +all that way of thinking the Apostle opposes the conception, which +naturally follows from his fundamental declaration of the one Creator, +of His providential guidance of all nations in regard to their place in +the world and the epochs of their history. + +But he rises still higher when he declares the divine purpose in all +the tangled web of history--the variety of conditions of nations, their +rise and fall, their glory and decay, their planting in their lands and +their rooting out,--to be to lead all men to 'seek God.' That is the +deepest meaning of history. The whole course of human affairs is God's +drawing men to Himself. Not only in Judea, nor only by special +revelation, but by the gifts bestowed, and the schooling brought to +bear on every nation, He would stir men up to seek for Him. + +But that great purpose has not been realised. There is a tragic 'if +haply' inevitable; and men may refuse to yield to the impulses towards +God. They are the more likely to do so, inasmuch as to find Him they +must 'feel after Him,' and that is hard. The tendrils of a plant turn +to the far-off light, but men's spirits do not thus grope after God. +Something has come in the way which frustrates the divine purpose, and +makes men blind and unwilling to seek Him. + +Paul docs not at once draw the two plain inferences, that there must be +something more than the nations have had, if they are to find God, even +His seeking them in some new fashion; and that the power which +neutralises God's design in creation and providence is sin. He has a +word to say about both these, but for the moment he contents himself +with pointing to the fact, attested by his hearers' consciousness, and +by many a saying of thinkers and poets, that the failure to find God +does not arise from His hiding Himself in some remote obscurity. Men +are plunged, as it were, in the ocean of God, encompassed by Him as an +atmosphere, and--highest thought of all, and not strange to Greek +thought of the nobler sort--kindred with Him as both drawing life from +Him and being in His image. Whence, then, but from their own fault, +could men have failed to find God? If He is 'unknown,' it is not +because He has shrouded Himself in darkness, but because they do not +love the light. One swift glance at the folly of idolatry, as +demonstrated by this thought of man's being the offspring of God, leads +naturally to the properly Christian conclusion of the address. + +III. It is probable that this part of it was prematurely ended by the +mockery of some and the impatience of others, who had had enough of +Paul and his talk, and who, when they said, 'We will hear thee again,' +meant, 'We will not hear you now.' But, even in the compass permitted +him, he gives much of his message. + +We can but briefly note the course of thought. He comes back to his +former word 'ignorance,' bitter pill as it was for the Athenian +cultured class to swallow. He has shown them how their religion ignores +or contradicts the true conceptions of God and man. But he no sooner +brings the charge than he proclaims God's forbearance. And he no sooner +proclaims God's forbearance than he rises to the full height of his +mission as God's ambassador, and speaks in authoritative tones, as +bearing His 'commands.' + +Now the hint in the previous part is made more plain. The demand for +repentance implies sin. Then the 'ignorance' was not inevitable or +innocent. There was an element of guilt in men's not feeling after God, +and sin is universal, for 'all men everywhere' are summoned to repent. +Philosophers and artists, and cultivated triflers, and sincere +worshippers of Pallas and Zeus, and all 'barbarian' people, are alike +here. That would grate on Athenian pride, as it grates now on ours. The +reason for repentance would be as strange to the hearers as the command +was--a universal judgment, of which the principle was to be rigid +righteousness, and the Judge, not Minos or Rhadamanthus, but 'a Man' +ordained for that function. + +What raving nonsense that would appear to men who had largely lost the +belief in a life beyond the grave! The universal Judge a man! No wonder +that the quick Athenian sense of the ridiculous began to rise against +this Jew fanatic, bringing his dreams among cultured people like them! +And the proof which he alleged as evidence to all men that it is so, +would sound even more ridiculous than the assertion meant to be proved. +'A man has been raised from the dead; and this anonymous Man, whom +nobody ever heard of before, and who is no doubt one of the speaker's +countrymen, is to judge us, Stoics, Epicureans, polished people, and we +are to be herded to His bar in company with Boeotians and barbarians! +The man is mad.' + +So the assembly broke up in inextinguishable laughter, and Paul +silently 'departed from among them,' having never named the name of +Jesus to them. He never more earnestly tried to adapt his teaching to +his audience; he never was more unsuccessful in his attempt by all +means to gain some. Was it a remembrance of that scene in Athens that +made him write to the Corinthians that his message was 'to the Greeks +foolishness'? + + + +THE MAN WHO IS JUDGE + +'...He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath +ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath +raised Him from the dead.'--ACTS xvii. 31. + +I. The Resurrection of Jesus gives assurance of judgment. + +(_a_) Christ's Resurrection is the pledge of ours. + +The belief in a future life, as entertained by Paul's hearers on Mars +Hill, was shadowy and dashed with much unbelief. Disembodied spirits +wandered ghostlike and spectral in a shadowy underworld. + +The belief in the Resurrection of Jesus converts the Greek peradventure +into a fact. It gives that belief solidity and makes it easier to grasp +firmly. Unless the thought of a future life is completed by the belief +that it is a corporeal life, it will never have definiteness and +reality enough to sustain itself as a counterpoise to the weight of +things seen. + +(_b_) Resurrection implies judgment. + +A future bodily life affirms individual identity as persisting beyond +the accident of death, and can only be conceived of as a state in which +the earthly life is fully developed in its individual results. The +dead, who are raised, are raised that they may 'receive the things done +in the body, according to that they have done, whether it be good or +bad.' Historically, the two thoughts have always gone together; and as +has been the clearness with which a resurrection has been held as +certain, so has been the force with which the anticipation of judgment +to come has impinged on conscience. + +Jesus is, even in this respect, our Example, for the glory to which He +was raised and in which He reigns now is the issue of His earthly life; +and in His Resurrection and Ascension we have the historical fact which +certifies to all men that a life of self-sacrifice here will assuredly +flower into a life of glory there, 'Ours the Cross, the grave, the +skies.' + +II. The Resurrection of Jesus gives the assurance that He is Judge. + +The bare fact that He is risen does not carry that assurance; we have +to take into account that He has risen. + +After such a life. + +His Resurrection was God's setting the seal of His approval and +acceptance on Christ's work; His endorsement of Christ's claims to +special relations with Him; His affirmation of Christ's sinlessness. +Jesus had declared that He did always the things that pleased the +Father; had claimed to be the pure and perfect realisation of the +divine ideal of manhood; had presented Himself as the legitimate object +of utter devotion and of religious trust, love, and obedience, and as +the only way to God. Men said that He was a blasphemer; God said, and +said most emphatically, by raising Him from the dead: 'This is My +beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' + +With such a sequel. + +'Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more,' and that fact sets +Him apart from others who, according to Scripture, have been raised. +His resurrection is, if we may use such a figure, a point; His +Ascension and Session at the right hand of God are the line into which +the point is prolonged. And from both the point and the line come the +assurance that He is the Judge. + +III. The risen Jesus is Judge because He is Man. + +That seems a paradox. It is a commonplace that we are incompetent to +judge another, for human eyes cannot read the secrets of a human heart, +and we can only surmise, not know, each other's motives, which are the +all-important part of our deeds. But when we rightly understand +Christ's human nature, we understand how fitted He is to be our Judge, +and how blessed it is to think of Him as such. Paul tells the Athenians +with deep significance that He who is to be their and the world's Judge +is 'the Man.' He sums up human nature in Himself, He is the ideal and +the real Man. + +And further, Paul tells his hearers that God judges 'through' Him, and +does so 'in righteousness.' He is fitted to be our Judge, because He +perfectly and completely bears our nature, knows by experience all its +weaknesses and windings, as from the inside, so to speak, and is +'wondrous kind' with the kindness which 'fellow-feeling' enkindles. He +knows us with the knowledge of a God; He knows us with the sympathy of +a brother. + +The Man who has died for all men thereby becomes the Judge of all. Even +in this life, Jesus and His Cross judge us. Our disposition towards Him +is the test of our whole character. By their attitude to Him, the +thoughts of many hearts are revealed. 'What think ye of Christ?' is the +question, the answer to which determines our fate, because it reveals +our inmost selves and their capacities for receiving blessing or harm +from God and His mercy. Jesus Himself has taught us that 'in that day' +the condition of entrance into the Kingdom is 'doing the will of My +Father which is in heaven.' He has also taught us that 'this is the +work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.' Faith in Jesus +as our Saviour is the root from which will grow the good tree which +will bring forth good fruit, bearing which our love will be 'made +perfect, that we may have boldness before Him in the day of judgment.' + + + +PAUL AT CORINTH + +'After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2. +And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from +Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded +all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 3. And because he +was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their +occupation they were tent-makers. 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue +every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5. And when Silas +and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, +and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. 6. And when they +opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto +them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I +will go unto the Gentiles. 7. And he departed thence, and entered into +a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose +house joined hard to the synagogue. 8. And Crispus, the chief ruler of +the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the +Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. 9. Then spake the Lord +to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold +not thy peace: 10. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to +hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. 11. And he continued +there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among +them.'--ACTS xviii. 1-11. + +Solitude is a hard trial for sensitive natures, and tends to weaken +their power of work. Paul was entirely alone in Athens, and appears to +have cut his stay there short, since his two companions, who were to +have joined him in that city, did not do so till after he had been some +time in Corinth. His long stay there has several well-marked stages, +which yield valuable lessons. + +I. First, we note the solitary Apostle, seeking friends, toiling for +bread, and withal preaching Christ. Corinth was a centre of commerce, +of wealth, and of moral corruption. The celebrated local worship of +Aphrodite fed the corruption as well as the wealth. The Apostle met +there with a new phase of Greek life, no less formidable in antagonism +to the Gospel than the culture of Athens. He tells us that he entered +on his work in Corinth 'in weakness, and in fear, and in much +trembling,' but also that he did not try to attract by adaptation of +his words to the prevailing tastes either of Greek or Jew, but preached +'Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,' knowing that, while that appeared to +go right in the teeth of the demands of both, it really met their +wants. This ministry was begun, in his usual fashion, very +unobtrusively and quietly. His first care was to find a home; his +second, to provide his daily bread; and then he was free to take the +Sabbath for Christian work in the synagogue. + +We cannot tell whether he had had any previous acquaintance with Aquila +and his wife, nor indeed is it certain that they had previously been +Christians. Paul's reason for living with them was simply the +convenience of getting work at his trade, and it seems probable that, +if they had been disciples, that fact would have been named as part of +his reason. Pontus lay to the north of Cilicia, and though widely +separated from it, was near enough to make a kind of bond as of +fellow-countrymen, which would be the stronger because they had the +same craft at their finger-ends. + +It was the wholesome practice for every Rabbi to learn some trade. If +all graduates had to do the same now there would be fewer educated +idlers, who are dangerous to society and burdens to themselves and +their friends. What a curl of contempt would have lifted the lips of +the rich men of Corinth if they had been told that the greatest man in +their city was that little Jew tent-maker, and that in this +unostentatious fashion he had begun to preach truths which would be +like a charge of dynamite to all their social and religious order! True +zeal can be patiently silent. + +Sewing rough goat's-hair cloth into tents may be as truly serving +Christ as preaching His name. All manner of work that contributes to +the same end is the same in worth and in recompense. Perhaps the +wholesomest form of Christian ministry is that after the Apostolic +pattern, when the teacher can say, as Paul did to the people of +Corinth, 'When I was present with you and was in want, I was not a +burden on any man.' If not in letter, at any rate in spirit, his +example must be followed. If the preacher would win souls he must be +free from any taint of suspicion as to money. + +II. The second stage in Paul's Corinthian residence is the increased +activity when his friends, Silas and Timothy, came from Beroea. We +learn from Philippians iv. 15, and 2 Corinthians xi. 9, that they +brought gifts from the Church at Philippi; and from 1 Thessalonians +iii. 6, that they brought something still more gladdening namely, good +accounts of the steadfastness of the Thessalonian converts. The money +would make it less necessary to spend most of the week in manual +labour; the glad tidings of the Thessalonians' 'faith and love' did +bring fresh life, and the presence of his helpers would cheer him. So a +period of enlarged activity followed their coming. + +The reading of verse 5, 'Paul was constrained by the word,' brings out +strikingly the Christian impulse which makes speech of the Gospel a +necessity. The force of that impulse may vary, as it did with Paul; but +if we have any deep possession of the grace of God for ourselves, we +shall, like him, feel it pressing us for utterance, as soon as the need +of providing daily bread becomes less stringent and our hearts are +gladdened by Christian communion. It augurs ill for a man's hold of the +word if the word does not hold him. He who never felt that he was weary +of forbearing, and that the word was like a fire, if it was 'shut up in +his bones,' has need to ask himself if he has any belief in the Gospel. +The craving to impart ever accompanies real possession. + +The Apostle's solemn symbolism, announcing his cessation of efforts +among the Jews, has of course reference only to Corinth, for we find +him in his subsequent ministry adhering to his method, 'to the Jew +first.' It is a great part of Christian wisdom in evangelical work to +recognise the right time to give up efforts which have been fruitless. +Much strength is wasted, and many hearts depressed, by obstinate +continuance in such methods or on such fields as have cost much effort +and yielded no fruit. We often call it faith, when it is only pride, +which prevents the acknowledgment of failure. Better to learn the +lessons taught by Providence, and to try a new 'claim,' than to keep on +digging and washing when we only find sand and mud. God teaches us by +failures as well as by successes. Let us not be too conceited to learn +the lesson or to confess defeat, and shift our ground accordingly. + +It is a solemn thing to say 'I am clean.' We need to have been very +diligent, very loving, very prayerful to God, and very persuasive in +pleading with men, before we dare to roll all the blame of their +condemnation on themselves. But we have no right to say, 'Henceforth I +go to' others, until we can say that we have done all that man--or, at +any rate, that we--can do to avert the doom. + +Paul did not go so far away but that any whose hearts God had touched +could easily find him. It was with a lingering eye to his countrymen +that he took up his abode in the house of 'one that feared God,' that +is, a proselyte; and that he settled down next door to the synagogue. +What a glimpse of yearning love which cannot bear to give Israel up as +hopeless, that simple detail gives us! And may we not say that the +yearning of the servant is caught from the example of the Master? 'How +shall I give thee up, Ephraim?' Does not Christ, in His long-suffering +love, linger in like manner round each closed heart? and if He +withdraws a little way, does He not do so rather to stimulate search +after Him, and tarry near enough to be found by every seeking heart? + +Paul's purpose in his solemn warning to the Jews of Corinth was partly +accomplished. The ruler of the synagogue 'believed in the Lord with all +his house.' Thus men are sometimes brought to decision for Christ by +the apparently impending possibility of His Gospel leaving them to +themselves. 'Blessings brighten as they take their flight.' Severity +sometimes effects what forbearance fails to achieve. If the train is on +the point of starting, the hesitating passenger will swiftly make up +his mind and rush for a seat. It is permissible to press for immediate +decision on the ground that the time is short, and that soon these +things 'will be hid from the eyes.' + +We learn from 1 Corinthians i. 14, that Paul deviated from his usual +practice, and himself baptized Crispus. We may be very sure that his +doing so arose from no unworthy subserviency to an important convert, +but indicated how deeply grateful he was to the Lord for giving him, as +a seal to a ministry which had seemed barren, so encouraging a token. +The opposition and blasphemy of many are outweighed, to a true +evangelist, by the conversion of one; and while all souls are in one +aspect equally valuable, they are unequal in the influence which they +may exert on others. So it was with Crispus, for 'many of the +Corinthians hearing' of such a signal fact as the conversion of the +chief of the synagogue, likewise 'believed.' We may distinguish in our +estimate of the value of converts, without being untrue to the great +principle that all men are equally precious in Christ's eyes. + +III. The next stage is the vision to Paul and his consequent protracted +residence in Corinth. God does not waste visions, nor bid men put away +fears which are not haunting them. This vision enables us to conceive +Paul's state of mind when it came to him. He was for some reason cast +down. He had not been so when things looked much more hopeless. But +though now he had his friends and many converts, some mood of sadness +crept over him. Men like him are often swayed by impulses rising +within, and quite apart from outward circumstances. Possibly he had +reason to apprehend that his very success had sharpened hostility, and +to anticipate danger to life. The contents of the vision make this not +improbable. + +But the mere calming of fear, worthy object as it is, is by no means +the main part of the message of the vision. 'Speak, and hold not thy +peace,' is its central word. Fear which makes a Christian dumb is +always cowardly, and always exaggerated. Speech which comes from +trembling lips may be very powerful, and there is no better remedy for +terror than work for Christ. If we screw ourselves up to do what we +fear to do, the dread vanishes, as a bather recovers himself as soon as +his head has once been under water. + +Why was Paul not to be afraid? It is easy to say, 'Fear not,' but +unless the exhortation is accompanied with some good reason shown, it +is wasted breath. Paul got a truth put into his heart which ends all +fear--'For I am with thee.' Surely that is enough to exorcise all +demons of cowardice or despondency, and it is the assurance that all +Christ's servants may lay up in their hearts, for use at all moments +and in all moods. His presence, in no metaphor, but in deepest inmost +reality, is theirs, and whether their fears come from without or +within, His presence is more than enough to make them brave and strong. + +Paul needed a vision, for Paul had never seen Christ 'after the flesh,' +nor heard His parting promise. We do not need it, for we have the +unalterable word, which He left with all His disciples when He +ascended, and which remains true to the ends of the world and till the +world ends. + +The consequence of Christ's presence is not exemption from attacks, but +preservation in them. Men may 'set on' Paul, but they cannot 'hurt' +him. The promise was literally fulfilled when the would-be accusers +were contemptuously sent away by Gallio, the embodiment of Roman +even-handedness and despising of the deepest things. It is fulfilled no +less truly to-day; for no hurt can come to us if Christ is with us, and +whatever does come is not hurt. + +'I have much people in this city.' Jesus saw what Paul did not, the +souls yet to be won for Him. That loving Eye gladly beholds His own +sheep, though they may be yet in danger of the wolves, and far from the +Shepherd. 'Them also He must bring'; and His servants are wise if, in +all their labours, they cherish the courage that comes from the +consciousness of His presence, and the unquenchable hope, which sees in +the most degraded and alienated those whom the Good Shepherd will yet +find in the wilderness and bear back to the fold. Such a hope will +quicken them for all service, and such a vision will embolden them in +all peril. + + + +'CONSTRAINED BY THE WORD' + +'And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was +pressed in the spirit, and testified.'--ACTS xviii. 5. + +The Revised Version, in concurrence with most recent authorities, +reads, instead of 'pressed in the spirit,' 'constrained by the word.' +One of these alterations depends on a diversity of reading, the other +on a difference of translation. The one introduces a significant +difference of meaning; the other is rather a change of expression. The +word rendered here 'pressed,' and by the Revised Version 'constrained,' +is employed in its literal use in 'Master, the multitude throng Thee +and _press_ Thee,' and in its metaphorical application in 'The love of +Christ _constraineth us_.' There is not much difference between +'constrained' and 'pressed,' but there is a large difference between +'in the spirit' and 'by the word.' 'Pressed in the spirit' simply +describes a state of feeling or mind; 'constrained by the word' +declares the force which brought about that condition of pressure or +constraint. What then does 'constrained by the word' refer to? It +indicates that Paul's message had a grip of him, and held him hard, and +forced him to deliver it. + +One more preliminary remark is that our text evidently brings this +state of mind of the Apostle, and the coming of his two friends Silas +and Timothy, into relation as cause and effect. He had been alone in +Corinth. His work of late had not been encouraging. He had been +comparatively silent there, and had spent most of his time in +tent-making. But when his two friends came a cloud was lifted off his +spirit, and he sprang back again, as it were, to his old form and to +his old work. + +Now if we take that point of view with regard to the passage before us, +I think we shall find that it yields valuable lessons, some of which I +wish to try to enforce now. + +I. Let me ask you to look with me at the downcast Apostle. + +'Downcast,' you say; 'is not that an unworthy word to use about a +minister of Jesus Christ inspired as Paul was?' By no means. We shall +very much mistake both the nature of inspiration and the character of +this inspired Apostle, if we do not recognise that he was a man of many +moods and tremulously susceptible to external influences. Such music +would never have come from him if his soul had not been like an Aeolian +harp, hung in a tree and vibrating in response to every breeze. And so +we need not hesitate to speak of the Apostle's mood, as revealed to us +in the passage before us, as being downcast. + +Now notice that in the verses preceding my text his conduct is +extremely abnormal and unlike his usual procedure. He goes into +Corinth, and he does next to nothing in evangelistic work. He repairs +to the synagogue once a week, and talks to the Jews there. But that is +all. The notice of his reasoning in the synagogue is quite subordinate +to the notice that he was occupied in finding a lodging with another +pauper Jew and stranger in the great city, and that these two poor men +went into a kind of partnership, and tried to earn a living by hard +work. Such procedure makes a singular contrast to Paul's usual methods +in a strange city. + +Now the reason for that slackening of impulse and comparative cessation +of activity is not far to seek. The first Epistle to Thessalonica was +written immediately after these two brethren rejoined Paul. And how +does the Apostle describe in that letter his feelings before they came? +He speaks of 'all our distress and affliction.' He tells that he was +tortured by anxiety as to how the new converts in Thessalonica were +getting on, and could not forbear to try to find out whether they were +still standing steadfast. Again in the first Epistle to the +Corinthians, you will find that there, looking back to this period, he +describes his feelings in similar fashion and says: 'I was with you in +weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.' And if you look forward +a verse or two in our chapter you will see that a vision came to Paul, +which presupposes that some touch of fear, and some temptation to +silence, were busy in his heart. For God shapes His communications +according to our need, and would not have said, 'Do not be afraid, and +hold not thy peace, but speak,' unless there had been a danger both of +Paul's being frightened and of his being dumb. + +And what thus brought a cloud over his sky? A little exercise of +historical imagination will very sufficiently answer that. A few weeks +before, in obedience, as he believed, to a direct divine command, Paul +had made a plunge, and ventured upon an altogether new phase of work. +He had crossed into Europe, and from the moment that he landed at the +harbour of Philippi, up to the time when he took refuge in some quiet +little room in Corinth, he had had nothing but trouble and danger and +disappointment. The prison at Philippi, the riots that hounded him out +of Thessalonica, the stealthy, hurried escape from Beroea, the almost +entire failure of his first attempt to preach the Gospel to Greeks in +Athens, his loneliness, and the strangeness of his surroundings in the +luxurious, wicked, wealthy Greek city of Corinth--all these things +weighed on him, and there is no wonder that his spirits went down, and +he felt that now he must lie fallow for a time and rest, and pull +himself together again. + +So here we have, in this great champion of the faith, in this strong +runner of the Christian race, in this chief of men, an example of the +fluctuation of mood, the variation in the way in which we look at our +duties and our obligations and our difficulties, the slackening of the +impulse which dominates our lives, that are too familiar to us all. It +brings Paul nearer us to feel that he, too, knew these ups and downs. +The force that drove this meteor through the darkness varied, as the +force that impels us varies to our consciousness. It is the prerogative +of God to be immutable; men have their moods and their fluctuations. +Kindled lights flicker; the sun burns steadily. An Elijah to-day beards +Ahab and Jezebel and all their priests, and to-morrow hides his head in +his hands, and says, 'Take me away, I am not better than my fathers.' +There will be ups and down in the Christian vigour of our lives, as +well as in all other regions, so long as men dwell in this material +body and are surrounded by their present circumstances. + +Brethren, it is no small part of Christian wisdom and prudence to +recognise this fact, both in order that it may prevent us from becoming +unduly doubtful of ourselves when the ebb tide sets in on our souls, +and also in order that we may lay to heart this other truth, that +because these moods and changes of aspect and of vigour _will_ come to +us, therefore the law of life must be effort, and the duty of every +Christian man be to minimise, in so far as possible, the fluctuations +which, in some degree, are inevitable. No human hand has ever drawn an +absolutely straight line. That is the ideal of the mathematician, but +all ours are crooked. But we may indefinitely diminish the magnitude of +the curves. No two atoms are so close together as that there is no film +between them. No human life has ever been an absolutely continuous, +unbroken series of equally holy and devoted thoughts and acts, but we +may diminish the intervals between kindred states, and may make our +lives so far uniform as that to a bystander they shall look like the +bright circle, which a brand whirled round in the air makes the +impression of, on the eye that beholds. We shall have times of +brightness and of less brilliancy, of vigour and of consequent reaction +and exhaustion. But Christianity has, for one of its objects, to help +us to master our moods, and to bring us nearer and nearer, by continual +growth, to the steadfast, immovable attitude of those whose faith is +ever the same. + +Do not forget the plain lesson which comes from the incident before +us--viz., that the wisest thing that a man can do, when he feels that +the wheels of his religious being are driving heavily, is to set +himself doggedly to the plain, homely work of daily life. Paul did not +sit and bemoan himself because he felt this slackening of impulse, but +he went away to Aquila, and said, 'Let us set to work and make +camel's-hair cloth and tents.' Be thankful for your homely, prosaic, +secular, daily task. You do not know from how many sickly fancies it +saves you, and how many breaches in the continuity of your Christian +feeling it may bridge over. It takes you away from thinking about +yourselves, and sometimes you cannot think about anything less +profitably. So stick to your work; and if ever you feel, as Paul did, +'cast down,' be sure that the workshop, the office, the desk, the +kitchen will prevent you from being 'destroyed,' if you give yourselves +to the plain duties which no moods alter, but which can alter a great +many moods. + +II. And now note the 'constraining word.' + +I have already said that the return of the two, who had been sent to +see how things were going with the recent converts in the infant +Churches, brought the Apostle good tidings, and so lifted off a great +load of anxiety from his heart. No wonder! He had left raw recruits +under fire, with no captain, and he might well doubt whether they would +keep their ranks. But they did. So the pressure was lifted off, and the +pressure being lifted off, spontaneously the old impulse gripped him +once more; like a spring which leaps back to its ancient curve when +some alien force is taken from it. It must have been a very deep and a +very habitual impulse, which thus instantly reasserted itself the +moment that the pressure of anxiety was taken out of the way. + +The word constrained him. What to do? To declare it. Paul's example +brings up two thoughts--that that impulse may vary at times, according +to the pressure of circumstances, and may even be held in abeyance for +a while; and that if a man is honestly and really a Christian, as soon +as the incumbent pressure is taken away, he will feel, 'Necessity is +laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.' For though +Paul's sphere of work was different from ours, his obligation to work +and his impulse to work were such as are, or should be, common to all +Christians. The impulse to utter the word that we believe and live by +seems to me to be, in its very nature, inseparable from earnest +Christian faith. All emotion demands expression; and if a man has never +felt that he must let his Christian faith have vent, it is a very bad +sign. As certainly as fermentation or effervescence demands outgush, so +certainly does emotion demand expression. We all know that. The same +impulse that makes a mother bend over her babe with unmeaning words and +tokens that seem to unsympathetic onlookers foolish, ought to influence +all Christians to speak the Name they love. All conviction demands +expression. There may be truths which have so little bearing upon human +life that he who perceives them feels little obligation to say anything +about them. But these are the exceptions; and the more weighty and the +more closely affecting human interests anything that we have learned to +believe as truth is, the more do we feel in our hearts that, in making +us its believers, it has made us its apostles. Christ's saying, 'What +ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the housetops,' expresses a +universal truth which is realised in many regions, and ought to be most +emphatically realised in the Christian. For surely of all the truths +that men can catch a glimpse of, or grapple to their hearts, or store +in their understandings, there are none which bring with them such +tremendous consequences, and therefore are of so solemn import to +proclaim to all the children of men, as the truth, which we profess we +have received, of personal salvation through Jesus Christ. + +If there never had been a single commandment to that effect, I know not +how the Christian Church or the Christian individual could have +abstained from declaring the great and sweet Name to which it and he +owe so much. I do not care to present this matter as a commandment, nor +to speak now of obligation or responsibility. The _impulse_ is what I +would fix your attention upon. It is inseparable from the Christian +life. It may vary in force, as we see in the incident before us. It +will vary in grip, according as other circumstances and duties insist +upon being attended to. The form in which it is yielded to will vary +indefinitely in individuals. But if they are Christian people it is +always there. + +Well then, what about the masses of so-called Christians who feel +nothing of any such constraining force? And what about the many who +feel enough of it to make them also feel that they are wrong in not +yielding to it, but not enough to make their conduct be influenced by +it? Brethren, I venture to believe that the measure in which this +impulse to speak the word and use direct efforts for somebody's +conversion is felt by Christians, is a very fair test of the depth of +their own religion. If a vessel is half empty it will not run over. If +it is full to the brim, the sparkling treasure will fall on all sides. +A weak plant may never push its green leaves above the ground, but a +strong one will rise into the light. A spark may be smothered in a heap +of brushwood, but a steady flame will burn its way out. If this word +has not a grip of you, impelling you to its utterance, I would have you +not to be too sure that you have a grip of it. + +III. Lastly, we have here the witness to the word. + +'He was constrained by the word, _testifying_.' Now I do not know +whether it is imposing too much meaning upon a non-significant +difference of expression, if I ask you to note the difference between +that phrase and the one which describes his previous activity: 'He +_reasoned_ in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade' the +Jews and the Greeks, but when the old impulse came back in new force, +_reasoning_ was far too cold a method, and Paul took to _testifying_. +Whether that be so or no, mark that the witness of one's own personal +conviction and experience is the strongest weapon that a Christian can +use. I do not despise the place of reasoning, but arguments do not +often change opinions; they never change hearts. Logic and +controversial discoursing may 'prepare the way of the Lord,' but it is +'in the wilderness.' But when a man calls aloud, 'Come and hear all ye, +and I will declare what God hath done for my soul'; or when he tells +his brother, 'We have found the Messias'; or when he sticks to 'One +thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see,' it is difficult for +any one to resist, and impossible for any one to answer, that way of +testifying, + +It is a way that we can all adopt if we will. Christian men and women +can all say such things. I do not forget that there are indirect ways +of spreading the Gospel. Some of you think that you do enough when you +give your money and your interest in order to diffuse it. You can buy a +substitute in the militia, but you cannot buy a substitute in Christ's +service. You have each some congregation to which you can speak, if it +is no larger than Paul's--namely, two people, Aquila and Priscilla. +What talks they would have in their lodging, as they plaited the wisps +of black hair into rough cloth, and stitched the strips into tents! +Aquila was not a Christian when Paul picked him up, but he became one +very soon; and it was the preaching in the workshop, amidst the dust, +that made him one. If we long to speak about Christ we shall find +plenty of people to speak to. 'Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.' + +Now, dear friends, I have only one word more. I have no doubt there are +some among us who have been saying, 'This sermon does not apply to me +at all.' Does it not? If it does not, what does that mean? It means +that you have not the first requisite for spreading the word--viz. +personal faith in the word. It means that you have put away, or at +least neglected to take in, the word and the Saviour of whom it speaks, +into your own lives. But it does _not_ mean that you have got rid of +the word thereby. It will not in that case lay the grip of which I have +been speaking upon you, but it will not let you go. It will lay on you +a far more solemn and awful clutch, and like a jailer with his hand on +the culprit's shoulder, will 'constrain' you into the presence of the +Judge. You can make it a savour of life unto life, or of death unto +death. And though you do not grasp it, it grasps and holds you. 'The +word that I speak unto him, the same shall judge him at the last day.' + + + +GALLIO + +'And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the +Jews, If it were a matter of wrong: or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, +reason would that I should bear with you: 15. But if it be a question +of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no +judge of such matters.'--ACTS xviii. 14, 15. + +There is something very touching in the immortality of fame which comes +to the men who for a moment pass across the Gospel story, like shooting +stars kindled for an instant as they enter our atmosphere. How little +Gallio dreamed that he would live for ever in men's mouths by reason of +this one judicial dictum! He was Seneca's brother, and was possibly +leavened by his philosophy and indisposed to severity. He has been +unjustly condemned. There are some striking lessons from the story. + +I. The remarkable anticipation of the true doctrine as to the functions +of civil magistrates. + +Gallio draws a clear distinction between conduct and opinion, and +excepts the whole of the latter region from his sway. It is the first +case in which the civil authorities refused to take cognisance of a +charge against a man on account of his opinions. Nineteen hundred years +have not brought all tribunals up to that point yet. Gallio indeed was +influenced mainly by philosophic contempt for the trivialities of what +he thought a superstition. We are influenced by our recognition of the +sanctity of individual conviction, and still more by reverence for +truth and by the belief that it should depend only on its own power for +progress and on itself for the defeat of its enemies. + +II. The tragic mistake about the nature of the Gospel which men make. + +There is something very pathetic in the erroneous estimates made by +those persons mentioned in Acts who some once or twice come in contact +with the preachers of Christ. How little they recognise what was before +them! Their responsibility is in better hands than ours. But in Gallio +there is a trace of tendencies always in operation. + +We see in him the practical man's contempt for mere ideas. The man of +affairs, be he statesman or worker, is always apt to think that things +are more than thoughts. Gallio, proconsul in Corinth, and his brother +official, Pilate, in Jerusalem, both believed in powers that they could +see. The question of the one, for an answer to which he did not wait, +was not the inquiry of a searcher after truth, but the exclamation of a +sceptic who thought all the contradictory answers that rang through the +world to be demonstrations that the question had no answer. The +impatient refusal of the other to have any concern in settling 'such +matters' was steeped in the same characteristically Roman spirit of +impatient distrust and suspicion of mere ideas. He believed in Roman +force and authority, and thought that such harmless visionaries as Paul +and his company might be allowed to go their own way, and he did not +know that they carried with them a solvent and constructive power +before which the solid-seeming structure of the Empire was destined to +crumble, as surely as thick-ribbed ice before the sirocco. + +And how many of us believe in wealth and material progress, and regard +the region of truth as very shadowy and remote! This is a danger +besetting us all. The true forces that sway the world are ideas. + +We see in Gallio supercilious indifference to mere 'theological +subtleties.' To him Paul's preaching and the Jews' passionate denials +of it seemed only a squabble about 'words and names.' Probably he had +gathered his impression from Paul's eager accusers, who would charge +him with giving the name of 'Christ' to Jesus. + +Gallio's attitude was partly Stoical contempt for all superstitions, +partly, perhaps, an eclectic belief that all these warring religions +were really saying the same thing and differed only in words and names; +and partly sheer indifference to the whole subject. Thus Christianity +appears to many in this day. + +What is it in reality? Not words but power: a Name, indeed, but a Name +which is life. Alas for us, who by our jangling have given colour to +this misconception! + +We see in Gallio the mistake that the Gospel has little relation to +conduct. Gallio drew a broad distinction between conduct and opinion, +and there he was right. But he imagined that this opinion had nothing +to do with conduct, and how wrong he was there we need not elaborate. + +The Gospel is the mightiest power for shaping conduct. + +III. The ignorant levity with which men pass the crisis of their lives. + +How little Gallio knew of what a possibility was opened out before him! +Angels were hovering unseen. We seldom recognise the fateful moments of +our lives till they are past. + +The offer of salvation in Christ is ever a crisis. It may never be +repeated. Was Gallio ever again brought into contact with Paul or +Paul's Lord? We know not. He passes out of sight, the search-light is +turned in another direction, and we lose him in the darkness. The +extent of his criminality is in better hands than ours, though we +cannot but let our thoughts go forward to the time when he, like us +all, will stand at the judgment bar of Jesus, no longer a judge but +judged. Let us hope that before he passed hence, he learned how full of +spirit and of life the message was, which he once took for a mere +squabble about 'words and names,' and thought too trivial to occupy his +court. And let us remember that the Jesus, whom we are sometimes +tempted to judge as of little importance to us, will one day judge us, +and that His judgment will settle our fate for evermore. + + + +TWO FRUITFUL YEARS + +'And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having +passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain +disciples. 2. He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since +ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard +whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3. And he said unto them, Unto what +then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4. Then said +Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto +the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after +him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5. When they heard this, they were +baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6. And when Paul had laid his +hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with +tongues, and prophesied. 7. And all the men were about twelve. 8. And +he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three +months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of +God. 9. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil +of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated +the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. 10. And +this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt +in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11. And +God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12. So that from his +body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the +diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of +them.'--ACTS xix. 1-12. + +This passage finds Paul in Ephesus. In the meantime he had paid that +city a hasty visit on his way back from Greece, had left his friends, +Aquila and Priscilla, in it, and had gone on to Jerusalem, thence +returning to Antioch, and visiting the churches in Asia Minor which he +had planted on his former journeys. From the inland and higher +districts he has come down to the coast, and established himself in the +great city of Ephesus, where the labours of Aquila, and perhaps others, +had gathered a small band of disciples. Two points are especially made +prominent in this passage--the incorporation of John's disciples with +the Church, and the eminent success of Paul's preaching in Ephesus. + +The first of these is a very remarkable and, in some respects, puzzling +incident. It is tempting to bring it into connection with the +immediately preceding narrative as to Apollos. The same stage of +spiritual development is presented in these twelve men and in that +eloquent Alexandrian. They and he were alike in knowing only of John's +baptism; but if they had been Apollos' pupils, they would most probably +have been led by him into the fuller light which he received through +Priscilla and Aquila. More probably, therefore, they had been John's +disciples, independently of Apollos. Their being recognised as +'disciples' is singular, when we consider their very small knowledge of +Christian truth; and their not having been previously instructed in its +rudiments, if they were associating with the Church, is not less so. +But improbable things do happen, and part of the reason for an event +being recorded is often its improbability. Luke seems to have been +struck by the singular similarity between Apollos and these men, and to +have told the story, not only because of its importance but because of +its peculiarity. + +The first point to note is the fact that these men were disciples. Paul +speaks of their having 'believed,' and they were evidently associated +with the Church. But the connection must have been loose, for they had +not received baptism. Probably there was a fringe of partial converts +hanging round each church, and Paul, knowing nothing of the men beyond +the fact that he found them along with the others, accepted them as +'disciples.' But there must have been some reason for doubt, or his +question would not have been asked. They 'believed' in so far as John +had taught the coming of Messiah. But they did not know that Jesus was +the Messiah whose coming John had taught. + +Paul's question is, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you +believed?' Obviously he missed the marks of the Spirit in them, whether +we are to suppose that these were miraculous powers or moral and +religious elevation. Now this question suggests that the possession of +the Holy Spirit is the normal condition of all believers; and that +truth cannot be too plainly stated or urgently pressed to-day. He is +'the Spirit, which they that believe on Him' shall 'receive.' The outer +methods of His bestowment vary: sometimes He is given after baptism, +and sometimes, as to Cornelius, before it; sometimes by laying on of +Apostolic hands, sometimes without it. But one thing constantly +precedes, namely, faith; and one thing constantly follows faith, +namely, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Modern Christianity does not grasp +that truth as firmly or make it as prominent as it ought. + +The question suggests, though indirectly, that the signs of the +Spirit's presence are sadly absent in many professing Christians. Paul +asked it in wonder. If he came into modern churches, he would have to +ask it once more. Possibly he looked for the visible tokens in powers +of miracle-working and the like. But these were temporary accidents, +and the permanent manifestations are holiness, consciousness of +sonship, God-directed longings, religious illumination, victory over +the flesh. These things should be obvious in disciples. They will be, +if the Spirit is not quenched. Unless they are, what sign of being +Christians do we present? + +The answer startles. They had not heard whether the Holy Ghost had been +_given_; for that is the true meaning of their reply. John had foretold +the coming of One who should baptize with the fire of that divine +Spirit. His disciples, therefore, could not be ignorant of the +existence thereof; but they had never heard whether their Master's +prophecy had been fulfilled. What a glimpse that gives us of the small +publicity attained by the story of Jesus! + +Paul's second question betrays even more astonishment than did his +first. He had taken for granted that, as disciples, the men had been +baptized; and his question implies that a pre-requisite of Christian +baptism was the teaching which they said that they had not had, and +that a consequence of it was the gift of the Spirit, which he saw that +they did not possess. Of course Paul's teaching is but summarised here. +Its gist was that Jesus was the Messiah whom John had heralded, that +John had himself taught that his mission was preliminary, and that +therefore his true disciples must advance to faith in Christ. + +The teaching was welcomed, for these men were not of the sort who saw +in Jesus a rival to John, as others of his disciples did. They became +'disciples indeed,' and then followed baptism, apparently not +administered by Paul, and imposition of Paul's hands. The Holy Spirit +then came on them, as on the disciples on Pentecost, and 'they spoke +with tongues and prophesied.' It was a repetition of that day, as a +testimony that the gifts were not limited by time or place, but were +the permanent possession of believers, as truly in heathen Ephesus as +in Jerusalem; and we miss the meaning of the event unless we add, as +truly in Britain to-day as in any past. The fire lit on Pentecost has +not died down into grey ashes. If we 'believe,' it will burn on our +heads and, better, in our spirits. + +Much ingenuity has been expended in finding profound meanings in the +number of 'twelve' here. The Apostles and their supernatural gifts, the +patriarchs as founders of Israel, have been thought of as explaining +the number, as if these men were founders of a new Israel, or +Apostolate. But all that is trifling with the story, which gives no +hint that the men were of any special importance, and it omits the fact +that they were '_about_ twelve,' not precisely that number. Luke simply +wishes us to learn that there was a group of them, but how many he does +not exactly know. More important is it to notice that this is the last +reference to John or his disciples in the New Testament. The narrator +rejoices to point out that some at least of these were led onwards into +full faith. + +The other part of the section presents mainly the familiar features of +Apostolic ministration, the first appeal to the synagogue, the +rejection of the message by it, and then the withdrawal of Paul and the +Jewish disciples. The chief characteristics of the narrative are Paul's +protracted stay in Ephesus, the establishment of a centre of public +evangelising in the lecture hall of a Gentile teacher, the unhindered +preaching of the Gospel, and the special miracles accompanying it. The +importance of Ephesus as the eye and heart of proconsular Asia explains +the lengthened stay. 'A great door and effectual,' said Paul, 'is +opened unto me'; and he was not the man to refrain from pushing in at +it because 'there are many adversaries.' Rather opposition was part of +his reason for persistence, as it should always he. + +There comes a point in the most patient labour, however, when it is +best no longer to 'cast pearls' before those who 'trample them under +foot,' and Paul set an example of wise withdrawal as well as of brave +pertinacity, in leaving the synagogue when his remaining there only +hardened disobedient hearts. Note that word _disobedient_. It teaches +that the moral element in unbelief is resistance of the will. The two +words are not synonyms, though they apply to the same state of mind. +Rather the one lays bare the root of the other and declares its guilt. +Unbelief comes from disobedience, and therefore is fit subject for +punishment. Again observe that expression for Christianity, 'the Way,' +which occurs several times in the Acts. The Gospel points the path for +us to tread. It is not a body of truth merely, but it is a guide for +practice. Discipleship is manifested in conduct. This Gospel points the +way through the wilderness to Zion and to rest. It is '_the_ Way,' the +only path, 'the Way everlasting.' + +It was a bold step to gather the disciples in 'the school of Tyrannus.' +He was probably a Greek professor of rhetoric or lecturer on +philosophy, and Paul may have hired his hall, to the horror, no doubt, +of the Rabbis. It was a complete breaking with the synagogue and a bold +appeal to the heathen public. Ephesus must have been better governed +than Philippi and Lystra, and the Jewish element must have been +relatively weaker, to allow of Paul's going on preaching with so much +publicity for two years. + +Note the flexibility of his methods, his willingness to use even a +heathen teacher's school for his work, and the continuous energy of the +man. Not on Sabbath days only, but daily, he was at his post. The +multitudes of visitors from all parts to the great city supplied a +constant stream of listeners, for Ephesus was a centre for the whole +country. We may learn from Paul to concentrate work in important +centres, not to be squeamish about where we stand to preach the Gospel, +and not to be afraid of making ourselves conspicuous. Paul's message +hallows the school of Tyrannus; and the school of Tyrannus, where men +have been accustomed to go for widely different teaching, is a good +place for Paul to give forth his message in. + +The 'special miracles' which were wrought are very remarkable, and +unlike the usual type of miracles. It does not appear that Paul himself +sent the 'handkerchiefs and aprons,' which conveyed healing virtue, but +that he simply permitted their use. The converts had faith to believe +that such miracles would be wrought, and God honoured the faith. But +note how carefully the narrative puts Paul's part in its right place. +God 'wrought'; Paul was only the channel. If the eager people, who +carried away the garments, had superstitiously fancied that there was +virtue in Paul, and had not looked beyond him to God, it is implied +that no miracles would have been wrought. But still the cast of these +healings is anomalous, and only paralleled by the similar instances in +Peter's case. + +The principle laid down by Peter (ch. iii. 12) is to be kept in view in +the study of all the miracles in the Acts. It is Jesus Christ who +works, and not His servants who heal by their 'own power or holiness.' +Jesus can heal with or without material channels, but sometimes chooses +to employ such vehicles as these, just as on earth He chose to anoint +blind eyes with clay, and to send the man to wash it off at the pool. +Sense-bound faith is not rejected, but is helped according to its need, +that it may be strengthened and elevated. + + + +WOULD-BE EXORCISTS + +'...Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?'--ACTS xix. 15. + +These exorcists had no personal union with Jesus. To them He was only +'Jesus whom Paul preached.' They spoke His name tentatively, as an +experiment, and imitatively. To command 'in the name of Jesus' was an +appeal to Jesus to glorify His name and exert His power, and so when +the speaker had no real faith in the name or the power, there was no +answer, because there was really no appeal. + +I. The only power which can cast out the evil spirits is the name of +Jesus. + +That is a commonplace of Christian belief. But it is often held in a +dangerously narrow way and leads to most unwise pitting of the Gospel +against other modes of bettering and elevating men, instead of +recognising them as allies. Earnest Christian workers are tempted to +forget Jesus' own word: 'He that is not against us is for us.' There is +no need to disparage other agencies because we believe that it is the +Gospel which is 'the power of God unto salvation.' Many of the popular +philanthropic movements of the day, many of its curbing and +enlightening forces, many of its revolutionary social ideas, are really +in their essence and historically in their origin, profoundly +Christian, and are the application of the principles inherent in 'the +Name' to the evils of society. No doubt many of their eager apostles +are non-Christian or even anti-Christian, but though some of them have +tried violently to pluck up the plant by the root from the soil in +which it first flowered, much of that soil still adheres to it, and it +will not live long if torn from its native 'habitat.' + +It is not narrowness or hostility to non-Christian efforts to cast out +the demons from humanity, but only the declaration of a truth which is +taught by the consideration of what is the difference between all other +such efforts and Christianity, and is confirmed by experience, if we +maintain that, whatever good results may follow from these other +influences, it is the powers lodged in the Name of Jesus, and these +alone which can, radically and completely, conquer and eject the demons +from a single soul, and emancipate society from their tyranny. + +For consider that the Gospel which proclaims Jesus as the Saviour is +the only thing which deals with the deepest fact in our natures, the +fact of sin; gives a personal Deliverer from its power; communicates a +new life of which the very essence is righteousness, and which brings +with it new motives, new impulses, and new powers. + +Contrast with this the inadequate diagnosis of the disease and the +consequent imperfection of the remedy which other physicians of the +world's sickness present. Most of them only aim at repressing outward +acts. None of them touch more than a part of the whole dreadful +circumference of the dark orb of evil. Law restrains actions. Ethics +proclaims principles which it has no power to realise. It shows men a +shining height, but leaves them lame and grovelling in the mire. +Education casts out the demon of ignorance, and makes the demons whom +it does not cast out more polite and perilous. It brings its own evils +in its train. Every kind of crop has weeds which spring with it. The +social and political changes, which are eagerly preached now, will do +much; but one thing, which is the all-important thing, they will not +do, they will not change the nature of the individuals who make up the +community. And till that nature is changed any form of society will +produce its own growth of evils. A Christless democracy will be as bad +as, if not worse than, a Christless monarchy or aristocracy. If the +bricks remain the same, it does not much matter into what shape you +build them. + +These would-be exorcists but irritated the demons by their vain +attempts at ejecting them, and it is sometimes the case that efforts to +cure social diseases only result in exacerbating them. If one hole in a +Dutch dyke is stopped up, more pressure is thrown on another weak point +and a leak will soon appear there. There is but one Name that casts a +spell over all the ills that flesh is heir to. There is but one Saviour +of society--Jesus who saves from sin through His death, and by +participation in His life delivers men from that life of self which is +the parent of all the evils from which society vainly strives to be +delivered by any power but His. + +II. That Name must be spoken by believing men if it is to put forth its +full power. + +These exorcists had no faith. All that they knew of Jesus was that He +was the one 'whom Paul preached.' Even the name of Jesus is spoiled and +is powerless on the lips of one who repeats it, parrot-like, because he +has seen its power when it came flame-like from the fiery lips of some +man of earnest convictions. + +In all regions, and especially in the matter of art or literature, +imitators are poor creatures, and men are quick to detect the +difference between the original and the copy. The copyists generally +imitate the weak points, and seldom get nearer than the imitation of +external and trivial peculiarities. It is more feasible to reproduce +the 'contortions of the Sibyl' than to catch her 'inspiration.' + +This absence or feebleness of personal faith is the explanation of much +failure in so-called Christian work. No doubt there may be other causes +for the want of success, but after all allowance is made for these, it +still remains true that the chief reason why the Gospel message is +often proclaimed without casting out demons is that it is proclaimed +with faltering faith, tentatively and without assured confidence in its +power, or imitatively, with but little, if any, inward experience of +the magic of its spell. The demons have ears quick to discriminate +between Paul's fiery accents and the cold repetition of them. +Incomparably the most powerful agency which any man can employ in +producing conviction in others is the utterance of his own intense +conviction. 'If you wish me to weep, your own tears must flow,' said +the Roman poet. Other factors may powerfully aid the exorcising power +of the word spoken by faith, and no wise man will disparage these, but +they are powerless without faith and it is powerful without them. + +Consider the effect of that personal faith on the speaker--in bringing +all his force to bear on his words; in endowing him for a time with +many of the subsidiary qualities which make our words winged and +weighty; in lifting to a height of self-oblivion, which itself is +magnetic. + +Consider its effect on the hearers--how it bows hearts as trees are +bent before a rushing wind. + +Consider its effect in bringing into action God's own power. Of the +man, all aflame with Christian convictions and speaking them with the +confidence and urgency which become them and him, it may truly be said, +'It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh +in you.' + +Here then we have laid bare the secret of success and a cause of +failure, in Christian enterprise. Here we see, as in a concrete +example, the truth exemplified, which all who long for the emancipation +of demon-ridden humanity would be wise to lay to heart, and thereby to +be saved from much eager travelling on a road that leads nowhither, and +much futile expenditure of effort and sympathy, and many +disappointments. It is as true to-day as it was long ago in Ephesus, +that the evil spirits 'feel the Infant's hand from far Judea's land,' +and are forced to confess, 'Jesus we know and Paul we know'; but to +other would-be exorcists their answer is, 'Who are ye?' 'When a strong +man armed keepeth his house, his goods are in peace.' There is but 'One +stronger than he who can come upon him, and having overcome him, can +take from him all his armour wherein he trusted and divide the spoils,' +and that is the Christ, at whose name, faithfully spoken, 'the devils +fear and fly.' + + + +THE FIGHT WITH WILD BEASTS AT EPHESUS + +'After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he +had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, +After I have been there, I must also see Rome. 22. So he sent into +Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; +but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. 23. And the same time there +arose no small stir about that way. 24. For a certain man named +Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought +no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25. Whom he called together with the +workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft +we have our wealth. 26. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at +Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and +turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made +with hands: 27. So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set +at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should +be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia +and the world worshippeth. 28. And when they heard these sayings, they +were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the +Ephesians. 29. And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having +caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in +travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. 30. And when Paul +would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. +31. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto +him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre. +32. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly +was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come +together. 33. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews +putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would +have made his defence unto the people. 34. But when they knew that he +was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, +Great is Diana of the Ephesians.'--ACTS xix. 21-34. + +Paul's long residence in Ephesus indicates the importance of the +position. The great wealthy city was the best possible centre for +evangelising all the province of Asia, and that was to a large extent +effected during the Apostle's stay there. But he had a wider scheme in +his mind. His settled policy was always to fly at the head, as it were. +The most populous cities were his favourite fields, and already his +thoughts were travelling towards the civilised world's capital, the +centre of empire--Rome. A blow struck there would echo through the +world. Paul had his plan, and God had His, and Paul's was not realised +in the fashion he had meant, but it was realised in substance. He did +not expect to enter Rome as a prisoner. God shaped the ends which Paul +had only rough-hewn. + +The programme in verses 21 and 22 was modified by circumstances, as +some people would say; Paul would have said, by God. The riot hastened +his departure from Ephesus. He did go to Jerusalem, and he did see +Rome, but the chain of events that drew him there seemed to him, at +first sight, the thwarting, rather than the fulfilment, of his +long-cherished hope. Well it is for us to carry all our schemes to God, +and to leave them in His hands. + +The account of the riot is singularly vivid and lifelike. It reveals a +new phase of antagonism to the Gospel, a kind of trades-union +demonstration, quite unlike anything that has met us in the Acts. It +gives a glimpse into the civic life of a great city, and shows +demagogues and mob to be the same in Ephesus as in England. It has many +points of interest for the commentator or scholar, and lessons for all. +Luke tells the story with a certain dash of covert irony. + +We have, first, the protest of the shrine-makers' guild or +trades-union, got up by the skilful manipulation of Demetrius. He was +evidently an important man in the trade, probably well-to-do. As his +speech shows, he knew exactly how to hit the average mind. The small +shrines which he and his fellow-craftsmen made were of various +materials, from humble pottery to silver, and were intended for +'votaries to dedicate in the temple,' and represented the goddess +Artemis sitting in a niche with her lions beside her. Making these was +a flourishing industry, and must have employed a large number of men +and much capital. Trade was beginning to be slack, and sales were +falling off. No doubt there is exaggeration in Demetrius's rhetoric, +but the meeting of the craft would not have been held unless a +perceptible effect had been produced by Paul's preaching. Probably +Demetrius and the rest were more frightened than hurt; but men are very +quick to take alarm when their pockets are threatened. + +The speech is a perfect example of how self-interest masquerades in the +garb of pure concern for lofty objects, and yet betrays itself. The +danger to 'our craft' comes first, and the danger to the 'magnificence' +of the goddess second; but the precedence given to the trade is salved +over by a 'not only,' which tries to make the religious motive the +chief. No doubt Demetrius was a devout worshipper of Artemis, and +thought himself influenced by high motives in stirring up the craft. It +is natural to be devout or moral or patriotic when it pays to be so. +One would not expect a shrine-maker to be easily accessible to the +conviction that 'they be no gods which are made with hands.' + +Such admixture of zeal for some great cause, with a shrewd eye to +profit, is very common, and may deceive us if we are not always +watchful. Jehu bragged about his 'zeal for the Lord' when it urged him +to secure himself on the throne by murder; and he may have been quite +honest in thinking that the impulse was pure, when it was really +mingled. How many foremost men in public life everywhere pose as pure +patriots, consumed with zeal for national progress, righteousness, +etc., when all the while they are chiefly concerned about some private +bit of log-rolling of their own! How often in churches there are men +professing to be eager for the glory of God, who are, perhaps +half-unconsciously, using it as a stalking-horse, behind which they may +shoot game for their own larder! A drop of quicksilver oxidises and +dims as soon as exposed to the air. The purest motives get a scum on +them quickly unless we constantly keep them clear by communion with God. + +Demetrius may teach us another lesson. His opposition to Paul was based +on the plain fact that, if Paul's teaching prevailed, no more shrines +would be wanted. That was a new ground of opposition to the Gospel, +resembled only by the motive for the action of the owners of the slave +girl at Philippi; but it is a perennial source of antagonism to it. In +our cities especially there are many trades which would be wiped out if +Christ's laws of life were universally adopted. So all the purveyors of +commodities and pleasures which the Gospel forbids a Christian man to +use are arrayed against it. We have to make up our minds to face and +fight them. A liquor-seller, for instance, is not likely to look +complacently on a religion which would bring his 'trade into +disrepute'; and there are other occupations which would be gone if +Christ were King, and which therefore, by the instinct of +self-preservation, are set against the Gospel, unless, so to speak, its +teeth are drawn. + +According to one reading, the shouts of the craftsmen which told that +Demetrius had touched them in the tenderest part, their pockets, was an +invocation, 'Great Diana!' not a profession of faith; and we have a +more lively picture of an excited crowd if we adopt the alteration. It +is easy to get a mob to yell out a watchword, whether religious or +political; and the less they understand it, the louder are they likely +to roar. In Athanasius' days the rabble of Constantinople made the city +ring with cries, degrading the subtlest questions as to the Trinity, +and examples of the same sort have not been wanting nearer home. It is +criminal to bring such incompetent judges into religious or political +or social questions, it is cowardly to be influenced by them. 'The +voice of the people' is not always 'the voice of God.' It is better to +'be in the right with two or three' than to swell the howl of Diana's +worshippers, + +II. A various reading of verse 28 gives an additional particular, which +is of course implied in the received text, but makes the narrative more +complete and vivid if inserted. It adds that the craftsmen rushed 'into +the street,' and there raised their wild cry, which naturally 'filled' +the city with confusion. So the howling mob, growing larger and more +excited every minute, swept through Ephesus, and made for the theatre, +the common place of assembly. + +On their road they seem to have come across two of Paul's companions, +whom they dragged with them. What they meant to do with the two they +had probably not asked themselves. A mob has no plans, and its most +savage acts are unpremeditated. Passion let loose is almost sure to end +in bloodshed, and the lives of Gaius and Aristarchus hung by a thread. +A gust of fury storming over the mob, and a hundred hands might have +torn them to atoms, and no man have thought himself their murderer. + +What a noble contrast to the raging crowd the silent submission, no +doubt accompanied by trustful looks to Heaven and unspoken prayers, +presents! And how grandly Paul comes out! He had not been found, +probably had not been sought for, by the rioters, whose rage was too +blind to search for him, but his brave soul could not bear to leave his +friends in peril and not plant himself by their sides. So he 'was +minded to enter in unto the people,' well knowing that there he had to +face more ferocious 'wild beasts' than if a cageful of lions had been +loosed on him. Faith in God and fellowship with Christ lift a soul +above fear of death. The noblest kind of courage is not that born of +flesh or temperament, or of the madness of battle, but that which +springs from calm trust in and absolute surrender to Christ. + +Not only did the disciples restrain Paul as feeling that if the +shepherd were smitten the sheep would be scattered, but interested +friends started up in an unlikely quarter. The 'chief of Asia' or +Asiarchs, who sent to dissuade him, 'were the heads of the imperial +political-religious organisation of the province, in the worship of +"Rome and the emperors"; and their friendly attitude is a proof both +that the spirit of the imperial policy was not as yet hostile to the +new teaching, and that the educated classes did not share the hostility +of the superstitious vulgar' (Ramsay, _St. Paul the Traveller_, p. +281). It is probable that, in that time of crumbling faith and +religious unrest, the people who knew most about the inside of the +established worship believed in it least, and in their hearts agreed +with Paul that 'they be no gods which are made with hands.' + +So we have in these verses the central picture of calm Christian faith +and patient courage, contrasted on the one hand with the ferocity and +excitement of heathen fanatical devotees, and on the other with the +prudent regard to their own safety of the Asiarchs, who had no such +faith in Diana as to lead them to joining the rioters, nor such faith +in Paul's message as to lead them to oppose the tumult, or to stand by +his side, but contented themselves with _sending_ to warn him. Who can +doubt that the courage of the Christians is infinitely nobler than the +fury of the mob or the cowardice of the Asiarchs, kindly as they were? +If they were his friends, why did they not do something to shield him? +'A plague on such backing!' + +III. The scene in the theatre, to which Luke returns in verse 32, is +described with a touch of scorn for the crowd, who mostly knew not what +had brought them together. One section of it kept characteristically +cool and sharp-eyed for their own advantage. A number of Jews had +mingled in it, probably intending to fan the flame against the +Christians, if they could do it safely. As in so many other cases in +Acts, common hatred brought Jew and Gentile together, each pocketing +for the time his disgust with the other. The Jews saw their +opportunity. Half a dozen cool heads, who know what they want, can +often sway a mob as they will. Alexander, whom they 'put forward,' was +no doubt going to make a speech disclaiming for the Jews settled in +Ephesus any connection with the obnoxious Paul. We may be very sure +that his 'defence' was of the former, not of the latter. + +But the rioters were in no mood to listen to fine distinctions among +the members of a race which they hated so heartily. Paul was a Jew, and +this man was a Jew; that was enough. So the roar went up again to Great +Diana, and for two long hours the crowd surged and shouted themselves +hoarse, Gaius and Aristarchus standing silent all the while and +expecting every moment to be their last. The scene reminds one of +Baal's priests shrieking to him on Carmel. It is but too true a +representation of the wild orgies which stand for worship in all +heathen religions. It is but too lively an example of what must always +happen when excited crowds are ignorantly stirred by appeals to +prejudice or self-interest. + +The more democratic the form of government under which we live, the +more needful is it to distinguish the voice of the people from the +voice of the mob, and to beware of exciting, or being governed by, +clamour however loud and long. + + + +PARTING COUNSELS + +'And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing +the things that shall befall me there: 23. Save that the Holy Ghost +witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. +24. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto +myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, +which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the +grace of God. 25. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I +have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 26. +Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood +of all men. 27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the +counsel of God. 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the +flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed +the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. 29. For +I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in +among you, not sparing the flock. 30. Also of your own selves shall men +arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31. +Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I +ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32. And now, +brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is +able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them +which are sanctified. 33. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or +apparel. 34. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered +unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 35. I have shewed +you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and +to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more +blessed to give than to receive.'--ACTS xx. 22-35. + +This parting address to the Ephesian elders is perfect in simplicity, +pathos, and dignity. Love without weakness and fervent yet restrained +self-devotion throb in every line. It is personal without egotism, and +soars without effort. It is 'Pauline' through and through, and if Luke +or some unknown second-century Christian made it, the world has lost +the name of a great genius. In reading it, we have to remember the +Apostle's long stay in Ephesus, and his firm conviction that he was +parting for ever from those over whom he had so long watched, and so +long loved, as well as guided. Parting words should be tender and +solemn, and these are both in the highest degree. + +The prominence given to personal references is very marked and equally +natural. The whole address down to verse 27 inclusive is of that +nature, and the same theme recurs in verse 31, is caught up again in +verse 33, and continues thence to the end. That abundance of allusions +to himself is characteristic of the Apostle, even in his letters; much +more is it to be looked for in such an outpouring of his heart to +trusted friends, seen for the last time. Few religious teachers have +ever talked so much of themselves as Paul did, and yet been as free as +he is from taint of display or self-absorption. + +The personal references in verses 22 to 27 turn on two points--his +heroic attitude in prospect of trials and possible martyrdom, and his +solemn washing his hands of all responsibility for 'the blood' of those +to whom he had declared all the counsel of God. He looks back, and his +conscience witnesses that he has discharged his ministry; he looks +forward, and is ready for all that may confront him in still +discharging it, even to the bloody end. + +Nothing tries a man's mettle more than impending evil which is equally +certain and undefined. Add that the moment of the sword's falling is +unknown, and you have a combination which might shake the firmest +nerves. Such a combination fronted Paul now. He told the elders, what +we do not otherwise know, that at every halting-place since setting his +face towards Jerusalem he had been met by the same prophetic warnings +of 'bonds and afflictions' waiting for him. The warnings were vague, +and so the more impressive. Fear has a vivid imagination, and +anticipates the worst. + +Paul was not afraid, but he would not have been human if he had not +recognised the short distance for him between a prison and a scaffold. +But the prospect did not turn him a hairsbreadth from his course. True, +he was 'bound in the spirit,' which may suggest that he was not so much +going joyfully as impelled by a constraint felt to be irresistible. But +whatever his feelings, his will was iron, and he went calmly forward on +the road, though he knew that behind some turn of it lay in wait, like +beasts of prey, dangers of unknown kinds. + +And what nerved him thus to front death itself without a quiver? The +supreme determination to do what Jesus had given him to do. He knew +that his Lord had set him a task, and the one thing needful was to +accomplish that. We have no such obstacles in our course as Paul had in +his, but the same spirit must mark us if we are to do our work. +Consciousness of a mission, fixed determination to carry it out, and +consequent contempt of hindrances, belong to all noble lives, and +especially to true Christian ones. Perils and hardships and possible +evils should have no more power to divert us from the path which Christ +marks for us than storms or tossing of the ship have to deflect the +needle from pointing north. + +It is easy to talk heroically when no foes are in sight; but Paul was +looking dangers in the eyes, and felt their breath on his cheeks when +he spoke. His longing was to 'fulfil his course.' 'With joy' is a +weakening addition. It was not 'joy,' but the discharge of duty, which +seemed to him infinitely desirable. What was aspiration at Miletus +became fact when, in his last Epistle, he wrote, 'I have finished my +course.' + +In verses 25 to 27 the Apostle looks back as well as forward. His +anticipation that he was parting for ever from the Ephesian elders was +probably mistaken, but it naturally leads him to think of the long +ministry among them which was now, as he believed, closed. And his +retrospect was very different from what most of us, who are teachers, +feel that ours must be. It is a solemn thought that if we let either +cowardice or love of ease and the good opinion of men hold us back from +speaking out all that we know of God's truth, our hands are reddened +with the blood of souls. + +We are all apt to get into grooves of favourite thoughts, and to teach +but part of the whole Gospel. If we do not seek to widen our minds to +take in, and our utterances to give forth, all the will of God as seen +by us, our limitations and repetitions will repel some from the truth, +who might have been won by a completer presentation of it, and their +blood will be required at our hands. None of us can reach to the +apprehension, in its full extent and due proportion of its parts, of +that great gospel; but we may at least seek to come nearer the ideal +completeness of a teacher, and try to remember that we are 'pure from +the blood of all men,' only when we have not 'shrunk from declaring all +God's counsel.' We are not required to know it completely, but we are +required not to shrink from declaring it as far as we know it. + +Paul's purpose in this retrospect was not only to vindicate himself, +but to suggest to the elders their duty. Therefore he passes +immediately to exhortation to them, and a forecast of the future of the +Ephesian Church. 'Take heed to yourselves.' The care of one's own soul +comes first. He will be of little use to the Church whose own personal +religion is not kept warm and deep. All preachers and teachers and men +who influence their fellows need to lay to heart this exhortation, +especially in these days when calls to outward service are so +multiplied. The neglect of it undermines all real usefulness, and is a +worm gnawing at the roots of the vines. + +We note also the condensed weightiness of the following exhortation, in +which solemn reasons are suggested for obeying it. The divine +appointment to office, the inclusion of the 'bishops' in the flock, the +divine ownership of the flock, and the cost of its purchase, are all +focussed on the one point, 'Take heed to all the flock.' Of course a +comparison with verse 17 shows that _elder_ and _bishop_ were two +designations for one officer; but the question of the primitive +organisation of church offices, important as it is, is less important +than the great thoughts as to the relation of the Church to God, and as +to the dear price at which men have been won to be truly His. + +We note the reading in the Revised Version of v.28 (margin), 'the flock +of the Lord,' but do not discuss it. The chief thought of the verse is +that the Church is God's flock, and that the death of Jesus has bought +it for His, and that negligent under-shepherds are therefore guilty of +grievous sin. + +The Apostle had premonitions of the future for the Church as well as +for himself, and the horizons were dark in both outlooks. He foresaw +evils from two quarters, for 'wolves' would come from without, and +perverse teachers would arise within, drawing the disciples after them +and away from the Lord. The simile of wolves may be an echo of Christ's +warning in Matthew vii 15. How sadly Paul's anticipations were +fulfilled the Epistle to the Church in Ephesus (Revelation ii.) shows +too clearly. Unslumbering alertness, as of a sentry in front of the +enemy, is needed if the slinking onset of the wolf is to be beaten +back. Paul points to his own example, and that in no vainglorious +spirit, but to stimulate and also to show how watchfulness is to be +carried out. It must be unceasing, patient, tenderly solicitous, and +grieving over the falls of others as over personal calamities. If there +were more such 'shepherds,' there would be fewer stray sheep. + +Anxious forebodings and earnest exhortations naturally end in turning +to God and invoking His protecting care. The Apostle's heart runs over +in his last words (vs. 32-35). He falls back for himself, in the +prospect of having to cease his care of the Church, on the thought that +a better Guide will not leave it, and he would comfort the elders as +well as himself by the remembrance of God's power to keep them. So +Jacob, dying, said, 'I die, but God shall be with you.' So Moses, +dying, said, 'The Lord hath said unto me, thou shalt not go over this +Jordan. The Lord thy God, He will go before thee.' Not even Paul is +indispensable. The under-shepherds die, _the_ Shepherd lives, and +watches against wolves and dangers. Paul had laid the foundation, and +the edifice would not stand unfinished, like some half-reared palace +begun by a now dead king. The growth of the Church and of its +individual members is sure. It is wrought by God. + +His instrument is 'the word of His grace.' Therefore if we would grow, +we must use that word. Christian progress is no more possible, if the +word of God is not our food, than is an infant's growth if it refuses +milk. That building up or growth or advance (for all three metaphors +are used, and mean the same thing) has but one natural end, the +entrance of each redeemed soul into its own allotment in the true land +of promise, the inheritance of those who are sanctified. If we +faithfully use that word which tells of and brings God's grace, that we +may grow thereby, He will bring us at last to dwell among those who +here have growingly been made saints. He is able to do these things. It +is for us to yield to His power, and to observe the conditions on which +it will work on us. + +Even at the close Paul cannot refrain from personal references. He +points to his example of absolute disinterestedness, and with a +dramatic gesture holds out 'these hands' to show how they are hardened +by work. Such a warning against doing God's work for money would not +have been his last word, at a time when all hearts were strung up to +the highest pitch, unless the danger had been very real. And it is very +real to-day. If once the suspicion of being influenced by greed of gain +attaches to a Christian worker, his power ebbs away, and his words lose +weight and impetus. + +It is that danger which Paul is thinking of when he tells the elders +that by 'labouring' they 'ought to support the weak'; for by _weak_ he +means not the poor, but those imperfect disciples who might be repelled +or made to stumble by the sight of greed in an elder. Shepherds who +obviously cared more for wool than for the sheep have done as much harm +as 'grievous wolves.' + +Paul quotes an else unrecorded saying of Christ's which, like a +sovereign's seal, confirms the subject's words. It gathers into a +sentence the very essence of Christian morality. It reveals the inmost +secret of the blessedness of the giving God. It is foolishness and +paradox to the self-centred life of nature. It is blessedly true in the +experience of all who, having received the 'unspeakable gift,' have +thereby been enfranchised into the loftier life in which self is dead, +and to which it is delight, kindred with God's own blessedness, to +impart. + + + +A FULFILLED ASPIRATION + +'So that I might finish my course....'--ACTS xx. 24. + +'I have finished my course....'--2 TIM. iv. 7. + +I do not suppose that Paul in prison, and within sight of martyrdom, +remembered his words at Ephesus. But the fact that what was aspiration +whilst he was in the very thick of his difficulties came to be calm +retrospect at the close is to me very beautiful and significant. 'So +that I may finish my course,' said he wistfully; whilst before him +there lay dangers clearly discerned and others that had all the more +power over the imagination because they were but dimly discerned--'Not +knowing the things that shall befall me there,' said he, but knowing +this, that 'bonds and afflictions abide me.' When a man knows exactly +what he has to be afraid of he can face it. When he knows a little +corner of it, and also knows that there is a great stretch behind that +is unknown, that is a state of things that tries his mettle. Many a man +will march up to a battery without a tremor who would not face a hole +where a snake lay. And so Paul's ignorance, as well as Paul's +knowledge, made it very hard for him to say 'None of these things move +me' if only 'I might finish my course.' + +Now there are in these two passages, thus put together, three points +that I touch for a moment. These are, What Paul thought that life +chiefly was; what Paul aimed at; and what Paul won thereby. + +I. What he thought that life chiefly was. + +'That I may finish my course.' Now 'course,' in our modern English, is +far too feeble a word to express the Apostle's idea here. It has come +to mean with us a quiet sequence or a succession of actions which, +taken together, complete a career; but in its original force the +English word 'course,' and still more the Greek, of which it is a +translation, contain a great deal more than that. If we were to read +'race,' we should get nearer to at least one side of the Apostle's +thought. This was the image under which life presented itself to him, +as it does to every man that does anything in the world worth doing, +whether he be Christian or not--as being not a place for enjoyment, for +selfish pursuits, making money, building family, satisfying love, +seeking pleasure, or the like; but mainly as being an appointed field +for a succession of efforts, all in one direction, and leading +progressively to an end. In that image of life as a race, threadbare as +it is, there are several grave considerations involved, which it will +contribute to the nobleness of our own lives to keep steadily in view. + +To begin with, the metaphor regards life as a track or path marked out +and to be kept to by us. Paul thought of his life as a racecourse, +traced for him by God, and from which it would be perilous and +rebellious to diverge. The consciousness of definite duties loomed +larger than anything else before him. His first waking thought was, +'What is God's will for me to-day? What stage of the course have I to +pass over to-day?' Each moment brought to him an appointed task which +at all hazards he must do. And this elevating, humbling, and bracing +ever-present sense of responsibility, not merely to circumstances, but +to God, is an indispensable part of any life worth the living, and of +any on which a man will ever dare to look back. + +'My course.' O brethren! if we carried with us, always present, that +solemn, severe sense of all-pervading duty and of obligation laid upon +us to pursue faithfully the path that is appointed us, there would be +less waste, less selfishness, less to regret, and less that weakens and +defiles, in the lives of us all. And blessed be His name! however +trivial be our tasks, however narrow our spheres, however secular and +commonplace our businesses or trades, we may write upon them, as on all +sorts of lives, except weak and selfish ones, this inscription, +'Holiness to the Lord.' + +The broad arrow stamped on Crown property gives a certain dignity to +whatever bears it, and whatever small duty has the name of God written +across it is thereby ennobled. If our days are to be full-fraught with +the serenity and purity which it is possible for them to attain, and if +we ourselves are to put forth all our powers and make the most of +ourselves, we must cultivate the continual sense that life is a +course--a series of definite duties marked out for us by God. + +Again, the image suggests the strenuous efforts needed for discharge of +our appointed tasks. The Apostle, like all men of imaginative and +sensitive nature, was accustomed to speak in metaphors, which expressed +his fervid convictions more adequately than more abstract expressions +would have done. That vigorous figure of a 'course' speaks more +strongly of the stress of continual effort than many words. It speaks +of the straining muscles, and the intense concentration, and the +forward-flung body of the runner in the arena. Paul says in effect, 'I, +for my part, live at high pressure. I get the most that I can out of +myself. I do the very best that is in me.' And that is a pattern for us. + +There is nothing to be done unless we are contented to live on the +stretch. Easygoing lives are always contemptible lives. A man who never +does anything except what he can do easily never comes to do anything +greater than what he began with, and never does anything worth doing at +all. Effort is the law of life in all departments, as we all of us know +and practise in regard to our daily business. But what a strange thing +it is that we seem to think that our Christian characters can be formed +and perfected upon other conditions, and in other fashions, than those +by which men make their daily bread or their worldly fortunes! + +The direction which effort takes is different in these two regions. The +necessity for concentration and vigorous putting into operation of +every faculty is far more imperative in the Christian course than in +any other form of life. + +I believe most earnestly that we grow Christlike, not by effort only, +but by faith. But I believe that there is no faith without effort, and +that the growth which comes from faith will not be appropriated and +made ours without it. And so I preach, without in the least degree +feeling that it impinges upon the great central truth that we are +cleansed and perfected by the power of God working upon us, the sister +truth that we must 'work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.' + +Brethren, unless we are prepared for the dust and heat of the race, we +had better not start upon the course. Christian men have an appointed +task, and to do it will take all the effort that they can put forth, +and will assuredly demand continuous concentration and the summoning of +every faculty to its utmost energy. + +Still further, there is another idea that lies in the emblem, and that +is that the appointed task which thus demands the whole man in vigorous +exercise ought in fact to be, and in its nature is, progressive. Is the +Christianity of the average church member and professing Christian a +continuous advance? Is to-day better than yesterday? Are former +attainments continually being left behind? Does it not seem the +bitterest irony to talk about the usual life of a Christian as a +course? Did you ever see a squad of raw recruits being drilled in the +barrack-yard? The first thing the sergeants do is to teach them the +'goose-step,' which consists in lifting up one foot and then the other, +_ad infinitum_, and yet always keeping on the same bit of ground. That +is the kind of 'course' which hosts of so-called Christians content +themselves with running--a vast deal of apparent exercise and no +advance. They are just at the same spot at which they stood five, ten, +or twenty years ago; not a bit wiser, more like Christ, less like the +devil and the world; having gained no more mastery over their +characteristic evils; falling into precisely the same faults of temper +and conduct as they used to do in the far-away past. By what right can +_they_ talk of running the Christian race? Progress is essential to +real Christian life. + +II. Turn now to another thought here, and consider what Paul aimed at. + +It is a very easy thing for a man to say, 'I take the discharge of my +duty, given to me by Jesus Christ, as my great purpose in life,' when +there is nothing in the way to prevent him from carrying out that +purpose. But it is a very different thing when, as was the case with +Paul, there lie before him the certainties of affliction and bonds, and +the possibilities which very soon consolidated themselves into +certainties, of a bloody death and that swiftly. To say _then_, without +a quickened pulse or a tremor in the eyelid, or a quiver in the voice, +or a falter in the resolution, to say then, 'none of these things move +me, if only I may do what I was set to do'--that is to be in Christ +indeed; and that is the only thing worth living for. + +Look how beautifully we see in operation in these heartfelt and few +words of the Apostle the power that there is in an absolute devotion to +God-enjoined duty, to give a man 'a solemn scorn of ills,' and to lift +him high above everything that would bar or hinder his path. Is it not +bracing to see any one actuated by such motives as these? And why +should they not be motives for us all? The one thing worth our making +our aim in life is to accomplish our course. + +Now notice that the word in the original here, 'finish,' does not +merely mean 'end,' which would be a very poor thing. Time will do that +for us all. It will end our course. But an ended course may yet be an +unfinished course. And the meaning that the Apostle attaches to the +word in both of our texts is not merely to scramble through anyhow, so +as to get to the last of it; but to complete, accomplish the course, +or, to put away the metaphor, to do all that it was meant by God that +he should do. + +Now some very early transcriber of the Acts of the Apostles mistook the +Apostle's meaning, and thought that he only said that he desired to end +his career; and so, with the best intentions in the world, he inserted, +probably on the margin, what he thought was a necessary addition--that +unfortunate 'with joy,' which appears in our Authorised Version, but +has no place in the true text. If we put it in we necessarily limit the +meaning of the word 'finish' to that low, superficial sense which I +have already dismissed. If we leave it out we get a far nobler thought. +Paul was not thinking about the joy at the end. What he wanted was to +do his work, all of it, right through to the very last. He knew there +would be joy, but he does not speak about it. What he wanted, as all +faithful men do, was to do the work, and let the joy take care of +itself. + +And so for all of us, the true anaesthetic or 'painkiller' is that +all-dominant sense of obligation and duty which lays hold upon us, and +grips us, and makes us, not exactly indifferent to, but very partially +conscious of, the sorrows or the hindrances or the pains that may come +in our way. You cannot stop an express train by stretching a rope +across the line, nor stay the flow of a river with a barrier of straw. +And if a man has once yielded himself fully to that great conception of +God's will driving him on through life, and prescribing his path for +him, it is neither in sorrow nor in joy to arrest his course. They may +roll all the golden apples out of the garden of the Hesperides in his +path, and he will not stop to pick one of them up; or Satan may block +it with his fiercest flames, and the man will go into them, saying, +'When I pass through the fires He will be with me.' + +III. Lastly, what Paul won thereby. + +'That I _may_ finish my course ... I _have_ finished my course'; in the +same lofty meaning, not merely _ended_, though that was true, but +'completed, accomplished, perfected.' + +Now some hyper-sensitive people have thought that it was very strange +that the Apostle, who was always preaching the imperfection of all +human obedience and service, should, at the end of his life, indulge in +such a piece of what they fancy was self-complacent retrospect as to +say 'I have kept the faith; I have fought a good fight; I have finished +my course.' But it was by no means complacent self-righteousness. Of +course he did not mean that he looked back upon a career free from +faults and flecks and stains. No. There is only one pair of human lips +that ever could say, in the full significance of the word, 'It is +finished! ... I have completed the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' +Jesus Christ's retrospect of a stainless career, without defect or +discordance at any point from the divine ideal, is not repeated in any +of His servants' experiences. But, on the other hand, if a man in the +middle of his difficulties and his conflict pulls himself habitually +together and says to himself, 'Nothing shall move me, so that I may +complete this bit of my course,' depend upon it, his effort, his +believing effort, will not be in vain; and at the last he will be able +to look back on a career which, though stained with many imperfections, +and marred with many failures, yet on the whole has realised the divine +purpose, though not with absolute completeness, at least sufficiently +to enable the faithful servant to feel that all his struggle has not +been in vain. + +Brethren, no one else can. And oh! how different the two 'courses' of +the godly man and the worldling look, in their relative importance, +when seen from this side, as we are advancing towards them, and from +the other as we look back upon them! Pleasures, escape from pains, +ease, comfort, popularity, quiet lives--all these things seem very +attractive; and God's will often seems very hard and very repulsive, +when we are advancing towards some unwelcome duty. But when we get +beyond it and look back, the two careers have changed their characters; +and all the joys that could be bought at the price of the smallest +neglected duty or the smallest perpetrated sin, dwindle and dwindle and +dwindle, and the light is out of them, and they show for what they +are--nothings, gilded nothings, painted emptinesses, lies varnished +over. And on the other hand, to do right, to discharge the smallest +duty, to recognise God's will, and with faithful effort to seek to do +it in dependence upon Him, that towers and towers and towers, and there +seems to be, as there really is, nothing else worth living for. + +So let us live with the continual remembrance in our minds that all +which we do has to be passed in review by us once more, from another +standpoint, and with another illumination falling upon it. And be sure +of this, that the one thing worth looking back upon, and possible to be +looked back upon with peace and quietness, is the humble, faithful, +continual discharge of our appointed tasks for the dear Lord's sake. If +you and I, whilst work and troubles last, do truly say, 'None of these +things move me, so that I _might_ finish my course,' we too, with all +our weaknesses, may be able to say at the last, 'Thanks be to God! I +_have_ finished my course.' + + + +PARTING WORDS [Footnote: Preached prior to a long absence in Australia.] + +'And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His +grace....'--ACTS xx. 32. + +I may be pardoned if my remarks now should assume somewhat of a more +personal character than is my wont. I desire to speak mainly to my own +friends, the members of my own congregation; and other friends who have +come to give me a parting 'Godspeed' will forgive me if my observations +have a more special bearing on those with whom I am more immediately +connected. + +The Apostle whose words I have taken for my text was leaving, as he +supposed, for the last time, the representatives of the Church in +Ephesus, to whom he had been painting in very sombre colours the +dangers of the future and his own forebodings and warnings. +Exhortations, prophecies of evil, expressions of anxious solicitude, +motions of Christian affection, all culminate in this parting +utterance. High above them all rises the thought of the present God, +and of the mighty word which in itself, in the absence of all human +teachers, had power to 'build them up, and to give them an inheritance +amongst them that are sanctified.' + +If we think of that Church in Ephesus, this brave confidence of the +Apostle's becomes yet more remarkable. They were set in the midst of a +focus of heathen superstition, from which they themselves had only +recently been rescued. Their knowledge was little, they had no +Apostolic teacher to be present with them; they were left alone there +to battle with the evils of that corrupt society in which they dwelt. +And yet Paul leaves them--'sheep in the midst of wolves,' with a very +imperfect Christianity, with no Bible, with no teachers--in the sure +confidence that no harm will come to them, because God is with them, +and the 'word of His grace' is enough. + +And that is the feeling, dear brethren, with which I now look you in +the face for the last time for a little while. I desire that you and I +should together share the conviction that each of us is safe because +God and the 'word of His grace' will go and remain with us. + +I. So then, first of all, let me point you to the one source of +security and enlightenment for the Church and for the individual. + +We are not to separate between God and the 'word of His grace,' but +rather to suppose that the way by which the Apostle conceived of God as +working for the blessing and the guardianship of that little community +in Ephesus was mainly, though not exclusively, through that which he +here designates 'the word of His grace.' We are not to forget the +ever-abiding presence of the indwelling Spirit who guards and keeps the +life of the individual and of the community. But what is in the +Apostle's mind here is the objective revelation, the actual spoken word +(not yet written) which had its origin in God's condescending love, and +had for its contents, mainly, the setting forth of that love. Or to put +it into other words, the revelation of the grace of God in Jesus +Christ, with all the great truths that cluster round and are evolved +from it, is the all-sufficient source of enlightenment and security for +individuals and for Churches. And whosoever will rightly use and +faithfully keep that great word, no evil shall befall him, nor shall he +ever make shipwreck of the faith. It is 'able to build you up,' says +Paul. In God's Gospel, in the truth concerning Jesus Christ the divine +Redeemer, in the principles that flow from that Cross and Passion, and +that risen life and that ascension to God, there is all that men need, +all that they want for life, all that they want for godliness. The +basis of their creed, the sufficient guide for their conduct, the +formative powers that will shape into beauty and nobleness their +characters, all lie in the germ in this message, 'God was in Christ +reconciling the world unto Himself.' Whoever keeps that in mind and +memory, ruminates upon it till it becomes the nourishment of his soul, +meditates on it till the precepts and the promises and the principles +that are enwrapped in it unfold themselves before Him, needs none other +guide for life, none other solace in sorrow, none other anchor of hope, +none other stay in trial and in death. 'I commend you to God and the +word of His grace,' which is a storehouse full of all that we need for +life and for godliness. Whoever has it is like a landowner who has a +quarry on his estate, from which at will he can dig stones to build his +house. If you truly possess and faithfully adhere to this Gospel, you +have enough. + +Remember that these believers to whom Paul thus spoke had no New +Testament, and most of them, I dare say, could not read the Old. There +were no written Gospels in existence. The greater part of the New +Testament was not written; what was written was in the shape of two or +three letters that belonged to Churches in another part of the world +altogether. It was to the spoken word that he commended them. How much +more securely may we trust one another to that permanent record of the +divine revelation which we have here in the pages of Scripture! + +As for the individual, so for the Church, that written word is the +guarantee for its purity and immortality. Christianity is the only +religion that has ever passed through periods of decadence and purified +itself again. They used to say that Thames water was the best to put on +shipboard because, after it became putrid, it cleared itself and became +sweet again. I do not know anything about whether that is true or not, +but I know that it is true about Christianity. Over and over again it +has rotted, and over and over again it has cleared itself, and it has +always been by the one process. Men have gone back to the word and laid +hold again of it in its simple omnipotence, and so a decadent +Christianity has sprung up again into purity and power. The word of +God, the principles of the revelation contained in Christ and recorded +for ever in this New Testament, are the guarantee of the Church's +immortality and of the Church's purity. This man and that man may fall +away, provinces may be lost from the empire for a while, standards of +rebellion and heresy may be lifted, but 'the foundation of God standeth +sure,' and whoever will hark back again and dig down through the +rubbish of human buildings to the living Rock will build secure and +dwell at peace. If all our churches were pulverised to-morrow, and +every formal creed of Christendom were torn in pieces, and all the +institutions of the Church were annihilated--if there was a New +Testament left they would all be built up again. 'I commend you to God, +and to the word of His grace.' + +II. Secondly, notice the possible benefit of the silencing of the +_human_ voice. + +Paul puts together his absence and the power of the word. 'Now I know +that you will see my face no more'--'I commend you to God.' That is to +say, it is often a good thing that the voice of man may be hushed in +order that the sweeter and deeper music of the word of God, sounding +from no human lips, may reach our hearts. Of course I am not going to +depreciate preachers and books and religious literature and the thought +and the acts of good and wise men who have been interpreters of God's +meaning and will to their brethren, but the human ministration of the +divine word, like every other help to knowing God, may become a +hindrance instead of a help; and in all such helps there is a tendency, +unless there be continual jealous watchfulness on the part of those who +minister them, and on the part of those who use them, to assert +themselves instead of leading to God, and to become not mirrors in +which we may behold God, but obscuring _media_ which come between us +and Him. This danger belongs to the great ordinance and office of the +Christian ministry, large as its blessings are, just as it belongs to +all other offices which are appointed for the purpose of bringing men +to God. We may make them ladders or we may make them barriers; we may +climb by them or we may remain in them. We may look at the colours on +the painted glass until we do not see or think of the light which +strikes through the colours. + +So it is often a good thing that a human voice which speaks the divine +word, should be silenced; just as it is often a good thing that other +helps and props should be taken away. No man ever leans all his weight +upon God's arm until every other crutch on which he used to lean has +been knocked from him. + +And therefore, dear brethren, applying these plain things to ourselves, +may I not say that it may and should be the result of my temporary +absence from you that some of you should be driven to a more first-hand +acquaintance with God and with His word? I, like all Christian +ministers, have of course my favourite ways of looking at truth, +limitations of temperament, and idiosyncrasies of various sorts, which +colour the representations that I make of God's great word. All the +river cannot run through any pipe; and what does run is sure to taste +somewhat of the soil through which it runs. And for some of you, after +thirty years of hearing my way of putting things--and I have long since +told you all that I have got to say--it will be a good thing to have +some one else to speak to you, who will come with other aspects of that +great Truth, and look at it from other angles and reflect other hues of +its perfect whiteness. So partly because of these limitations of mine, +partly because you have grown so accustomed to my voice that the things +that I say do not produce half as much effect on many of you as if I +were saying them to somebody else, or somebody else were saying them to +you, and partly because the affection, born of so many years of united +worship, for which in many respects I am your debtor, may lead you to +look at the vessel rather than the treasure, do you not think it may be +a means of blessing and help to this congregation that I should step +aside for a little while and some one else should stand here, and you +should be driven to make acquaintance with 'God and the word of His +grace' a little more for yourselves? What does it matter though you do +not have nay sermons? You have your Bibles and you have God's Spirit. +And if my silence shall lead any of you to prize and to use _these_ +more than you have done, then my silence will have done a great deal +more than my speech. Ministers are like doctors, the test of their +success is that they are not needed any more. And when we can say, +'They can stand without us, and they do not need us,' that is the crown +of our ministry. + +III. Thirdly, notice the best expression of Christian solicitude and +affection. + +'I commend you,' says Paul, 'to God, and to the word of His grace.' If +we may venture upon a very literal translation of the word, it is, 'I +lay you down beside God.' That is beautiful, is it not? Here had Paul +been carrying the Ephesian Church on his back for a long time now. He +had many cares about them, many forebodings as to their future, knowing +very well that after his departure grievous wolves were going to enter +in. He says, 'I cannot carry the load any longer; here I lay it down at +the Throne, beneath those pure Eyes, and that gentle and strong Hand.' +For to commend them to God is in fact a prayer casting the care which +Paul could no longer exercise, upon Him. + +And that is the highest expression of, as it is the only soothing for, +manly Christian solicitude and affection. Of course you and I, looking +forward to these six months of absence, have all of us our anxieties +about what may be the issue. I may feel afraid lest there should be +flagging here, lest good work should be done a little more languidly, +lest there should be a beggarly account of empty pews many a time, lest +the bonds of Christian union here should be loosened, and when I come +back I may find it hard work to reknit them. All these thoughts must be +in the mind of a true man who has put most of his life, and as much of +himself as during that period he could command, into his work. What +then? 'I commend you to God.' You may have your thoughts and anxieties +as well as I have mine. Dear brethren, let us make an end of solicitude +and turn it into petition and bring one another to God, and leave one +another there. + +This 'commending,' as it is the highest expression of Christian +solicitude, so it is the highest and most natural expression of +Christian affection. I am not going to do what is so easy to do--bring +tears at such a moment. I do not purpose to speak of the depth, the +sacredness of the bond that unites a great many of us together. I think +we can take that for granted without saying any more about it. But, +dear brethren, I do want to pledge you and myself to this, that our +solicitude and our affection should find voice in prayer, and that when +we are parted we may be united, because the eyes of both are turned to +the one Throne. There is a reality in prayer. Do you pray for me, as I +will for you, when we are far apart. And as the vapour that rises from +the southern seas where I go may fall in moisture, refreshing these +northern lands, so what rises on one side of the world from believing +hearts in loving prayers may fall upon the other in the rain of a +divine blessing. 'I commend you to God, and the word of His grace.' + +IV. Lastly, notice the parting counsels involved in the commendation. + +If it be true that God and His Word are the source of all security and +enlightenment, and are so, apart altogether from human agencies, then +to commend these brethren to God was exhortation as well as prayer, and +implied pointing them to the one source of security that they might +cling to that source. I am going to give no advices about little +matters of church order and congregational prosperity. These will all +come right, if the two main exhortations that are involved in this text +are laid to heart; and if they are not laid to heart, then I do not +care one rush about the smaller things, of full pews and prosperous +subscription lists and Christian work. These are secondary, and they +will be consequent if you take these two advices that are couched in my +text:-- + +(_a_) 'Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart,' as the limpet +does to the rock. Cling to Jesus Christ, the revelation of God's grace. +And how do we cling to Him? What is the cement of souls? Love and +trust; and whoever exercises these in reference to Jesus Christ is +built into Him, and belongs to Him, and has a vital unity knitting him +with that Lord. Cleave to Christ, brother, by faith and love, by +communion and prayer, and by practical conformity of life. For remember +that the union which is effected by faith can be broken by sin, and +that there will be no reality in our union to Jesus unless it is +manifested and perpetuated by righteousness of conduct and character. +Two smoothly-ground pieces of glass pressed together will adhere. If +there be a speck of sand, microscopic in dimensions, between the two, +they will fall apart; and if you let tiny grains of sin come between +you and your Master, it is delusion to speak of being knit to Him by +faith and love. Keep near Jesus Christ and you will be safe. + +(_b_) Cleave to 'the word of His grace.' Try to understand its +teachings better; study your Bibles with more earnestness; believe more +fully than you have ever done that in that great Gospel there lie every +truth that we need and guidance in all circumstances. Bring the +principles of Christianity into your daily life; walk by the light of +them; and live in the radiance of a present God. And then all these +other matters which I have spoken of, which are important, highly +important but secondary, will come right. + +Many of you, dear brethren, have listened to my voice for long years, +and have not done the one thing for which I preach--viz. set your +faith, as sinful men, on the great atoning Sacrifice and Incarnate +Lord. I beseech you let my last word go deeper than its predecessors, +and yield yourselves to God in Christ, bringing all your weakness and +all your sin to Him, and trusting yourselves wholly and utterly to His +sacrifice and life. + +'I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,' and beseech you +'that, whether I come to see you or else be absent, I may hear of your +affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving +together for the faith of the Gospel.' + + + +THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING + +'...It is more blessed to give than to receive.'--ACTS xx. 35. + +How 'many other things Jesus did' and said 'which are not written in +this book'! Here is one precious unrecorded word, which was floating +down to the ocean of oblivion when Paul drew it to shore and so +enriched the world. There is, however, a saying recorded, which is +essentially parallel in content though differing in garb, 'The Son of +Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' It is tempting to +think that the text gives a glimpse into the deep fountains of the pure +blessedness of Jesus Himself, and was a transcript of His own human +experience. It helps us to understand how the Man of Sorrows could give +as a legacy to His followers 'My joy,' and could speak of it as abiding +and full. + +I. The reasons on which this saying rests. + +It is based not only on the fact that the act of giving has in it a +sense of power and of superiority, and that the act of receiving may +have a painful consciousness of obligation, though a cynic might +endorse it on that ground, but on a truth far deeper than these, that +there is a pure and godlike joy in making others blessed. + +The foundation on which the axiom rests is that giving is the result of +love and self-sacrifice. Whenever they are not found, the giving is not +the giving which 'blesses him that gives.' If you give with some +_arriere pensee_ of what you will get by it, or for the sake of putting +some one under obligation, or indifferently as a matter of compulsion +or routine, if with your alms there be contempt to which pity is ever +near akin, then these are not examples of the giving on which Christ +pronounced His benediction. But where the heart is full of deep, real +love, and where that love expresses itself by a cheerful act of +self-sacrifice, then there is felt a glow of calm blessedness far above +the base and greedy joys of self-centred souls who delight only in +keeping their possessions, or in using them for themselves. It comes +not merely from contemplating the relief or happiness in others of +which our gifts may have been the source, but from the working in our +own hearts of these two godlike emotions. To be delivered from making +myself my great object, and to be delivered from the undue value set +upon having and keeping our possessions, are the twin factors of true +blessedness. It is heaven on earth to love and to give oneself away. + +Then again, the highest joy and noblest use of all our possessions is +found in imparting them. + +True as to this world's goods. + +The old epitaph is profoundly true, which puts into the dead lips the +declaration: 'What I kept I lost. What I gave I kept.' Better to learn +that and act on it while living! + +True as to truth, and knowledge. + +True as to the Gospel of the grace of God. + +II. The great example in God of the blessedness of giving. + +God gives--gives only--gives always--and He in giving has joy, +blessedness. He would not be 'the ever-blessed God' unless He were 'the +giving God.' Creation we are perhaps scarcely warranted in affirming to +be a necessity to the divine nature, and we run on perilous heights of +speculation when we speak of it as contributing to His blessedness; but +this at least we may say, that He, in the deep words of the Psalmist, +'delights in mercy.' Before creation was realised in time, the divine +Idea of it was eternal, inseparable from His being, and therefore from +everlasting He 'rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His +delights were with the sons of men.' + +The light and glory thus thrown on His relation to us. + +He gives. He does not exact until He has given. He gives what He +requires. The requirement is made in love and is itself a 'grace +given,' for it permits to God's creatures, in their relation to Him, +some feeble portion and shadow of the blessedness which He possesses, +by permitting them to bring offerings to His throne, and so to have the +joy of giving to Him what He has given to them. 'All things come of +Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.' Then how this thought puts +an end to all manner of slavish notions about God's commands and +demands, and about worship, and about merits, or winning heaven by our +own works. + +Notice that the same emotions which we have found to make the +blessedness of giving are those which come into play in the act of +receiving spiritual blessings. We receive the Gospel by faith, which +assuredly has in it love and self-sacrifice. + +Having thus the great Example of all giving in heaven, and the shadow +and reflex of that example in our relations to Him on earth, we are +thereby fitted for the exemplification of it in our relation to men. To +give, not to get, is to be our work, to love, to sacrifice ourselves. + +This axiom should regulate Christians' relation to the world, and to +each other, in every way. It should shape the Christian use of money. +It should shape our use of all which we have. + + + +DRAWING NEARER TO THE STORM + +'And it came to pass, that, after we were gotten from them, and had +launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day +following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara: 2. And finding a +ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth. 3. Now +when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed +into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her +burden. 4. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said +to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5. +And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; +and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we +were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed. 6. +And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they +returned home again. 7. And when we had finished our course from Tyre, +we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one +day. 8. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and +came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the +evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. 9. And the +same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 10. And as we +tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, +named Agabus. 11. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, +and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, +So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, +and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 12. And when we +heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not +to go up to Jerusalem. 13. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and +to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to +die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14. And when he would +not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. 15. +And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to +Jerusalem.'--ACTS xxi. 1-15. + +Paul's heroic persistency in disregarding the warnings of 'bonds and +afflictions' which were pealed into his ears in every city, is the main +point of interest in this section. But the vivid narrative abounds with +details which fill it with life and colour. We may gather it all round +three points--the voyage, Tyre, and Caesarea. + +I. The log of the voyage, as given in verses 1-3, shows the leisurely +way of navigation in those days and in that sea. Obviously the coaster +tied up or anchored in port at night. Running down the coast from +Miletus, they stayed overnight, first at the small island of Coos, then +stretched across the next day to Rhodes, and on the third struck back +to the mainland at Patara, from which, according to one reading, they +ran along the coast a little further east to Myra, the usual port of +departure for Syria. Ramsay explains that the prevalent favourable wind +for a vessel bound for Syria blows steadily in early morning, and dies +down towards nightfall, so that there would have been no use in keeping +at sea after sundown. + +At Patara (or Myra) Paul and his party had to tranship, for their +vessel was probably of small tonnage, and only fit to run along the +coast. In either port they would have no difficulty in finding some +merchantman to take them across to Syria. Accordingly they shifted into +one bound for Tyre, and apparently ready to sail. The second part of +their voyage took them right out to sea, and their course lay to the +west, and then to the south of Cyprus, which Luke mentions as if to +remind us of Paul's visit there when he was beginning his missionary +work. How much had passed since that day at Paphos (which they might +have sighted from the deck)! He had left Paphos with Barnabas and John +Mark--where were they? He had sailed away from Cyprus to carry the +Gospel among Gentiles; he sails past it, accompanied by a group of +these whom he had won for Christ. There he had begun his career; now +the omens indicated that possibly its end was near. Many a thought +would be in his mind as he looked out over the blue waters and saw the +glittering roofs and groves of Paphos. + +Tyre was the first port of call, and there the cargo was to be landed. +The travellers had to wait till that was done, and probably another one +shipped. The seven days' stay is best understood as due to that cause; +for we find that Paul re-embarked in the same ship, and went in her as +far as Ptolemais, at all events, perhaps to Caesarea. + +We note that no brethren are mentioned as having been met at any of the +ports of call, and no evangelistic work as having been done in them. +The party were simple passengers, who had to shape their movements to +suit the convenience of the master of the vessel, and were only in port +at night, and off again next morning early. No doubt the leisure at sea +was as restorative to them as it often is to jaded workers now. + +II. Tyre was a busy seaport then, and in its large population the few +disciples would make but little show. They had to be sought out before +they were 'found.' One can feel how eagerly the travellers would +search, and how thankfully they would find themselves again among +congenial souls. Since Miletus they had had no Christian communion, and +the sailors in such a ship as theirs would not be exactly kindred +spirits. So that week in Tyre would be a blessed break in the voyage. +We hear nothing of visiting the synagogue, nor of preaching to the +non-Christian population, nor of instruction to the little Church. + +The whole interest of the stay at Tyre is, for Luke, centred on the +fact that here too the same message which had met Paul everywhere was +repeated to him. It was 'through the Spirit.' Then was Paul flying in +the face of divine prohibitions when he held on his way in spite of all +that could be said? Certainly not. We have to bring common sense to +bear on the interpretation of the words in verse 4, and must suppose +that what came from 'the Spirit' was the prediction of persecutions +waiting Paul, and that the exhortation to avoid these by keeping clear +of Jerusalem was the voice of human affection only. Such a blending of +clear insight and of mistaken deductions from it is no strange +experience. + +No word is said as to the effect of the Tyrian Christians' dissuasion. +It had none. Luke mentions it in order to show how continuous was the +repetition of the same note, and his silence as to the manner of its +reception is eloquent. The parting scene at Tyre is like, and yet very +unlike, that at Miletus. In both the Christians accompany Paul to the +beach, in both they kneel down and pray. It would scarcely have been a +Christian parting without that. In both loving farewells are said, and +perhaps waved when words could no longer be heard. But at Tyre, where +there were no bonds of old comradeship nor of affection to a spiritual +father, there was none of the yearning, clinging love that could not +bear to part, none of the hanging on Paul's neck, none of the deep +sorrow of final separation. The delicate shades of difference in two +scenes so similar tell of the hand of an eye-witness. The touch that +'all' the Tyrian Christians went down to the beach, and took their +wives and children with them, suggests that they can have been but a +small community, and so confirms the hint given by the use of the word +'found' in verse 4. + +III. The vessel ran down the coast to Ptolemais where one day's stop +was made, probably to land and ship cargo, if, as is possible, the +further journey to Caesarea was by sea. But it may have been by land; +the narrative is silent on that point. At Ptolemais, as at Tyre, there +was a little company of disciples, the brevity of the stay with whom, +contrasted with the long halt in Caesarea, rather favours the +supposition that the ship's convenience ruled the Apostle's movements +till he reached the latter place. There he found a haven of rest, and, +surrounded by loving friends, no wonder that the burdened Apostle +lingered there before plunging into the storm of which he had had so +many warnings. + +The eager haste of the earlier part of the journey, contrasted with the +delay in Caesarea at the threshold of his goal, is explained by +supposing that at the beginning Paul's one wish had been to get to +Jerusalem in time for the Feast, and that at Caesarea he found that, +thanks to his earlier haste and his good passages, he had a margin to +spare. He did not wish to get to the Holy City much before the Feast. + +Two things only are told as occurring in Caesarea--the intercourse with +Philip and the renewed warnings about going to Jerusalem. Apparently +Philip had been in Caesarea ever since we last heard of him (chap. +viii.). He had brought his family there, and settled down in the +headquarters of Roman government. He had been used by Christ to carry +the Gospel to men outside the Covenant, and for a time it seemed as if +he was to be the messenger to the Gentiles; but that mission soon +ended, and the honour and toil fell to another. But neither did Philip +envy Paul, nor did Paul avoid Philip. The Master has the right to +settle what each slave has to do, and whether He sets him to high or +low office, it matters not. + +Philip might have been contemptuous and jealous of the younger man, who +had been nobody when he was chosen as one of the Seven, but had so far +outrun him now. But no paltry personal feeling marred the Christian +intercourse of the two, and we can imagine how much each had to tell +the other, with perhaps Cornelius for a third in company, during the +considerably extended stay in Caesarea. No doubt Luke too made good use +of the opportunity of increasing his knowledge of the first days, and +probably derived much of the material for the first chapters of Acts +from Philip, either then or at his subsequent longer residence in the +same city. + +We have heard of the prophet Agabus before (chap, xi. 28). Why he is +introduced here, as if a stranger, we cannot tell, and it is useless to +guess, and absurd to sniff suspicion of genuineness in the peculiarity. +His prophecy is more definite than any that preceded it. That is God's +way. He makes things clearer as we go on, and warnings more emphatic as +danger approaches. The source of the 'afflictions' was now for the +first time declared, and the shape which they would take. Jews would +deliver Paul to Gentiles, as they had delivered Paul's Master. + +But there the curtain falls. What would the Gentiles do with him? That +remained unrevealed. Half the tragedy was shown, and then darkness +covered the rest. That was more trying to nerves and courage than full +disclosure to the very end would have been. Imagination had just enough +to work on, and was stimulated to shape out all sorts of horrors. +Similarly incomplete and testing to faith are the glimpses of the +future which we get in our own lives. We see but a little way ahead, +and then the road takes a sharp turn, and we fancy dreadful shapes +hiding round the corner. + +Paul's courage was unmoved both by Agabus's incomplete prophecy and by +the tearful implorings of his companions and of the Caesarean +Christians. His pathetic words to them are misunderstood if we take +'break my heart' in the modern sense of that phrase, for it really +means 'to melt away my resolution,' and shows that Paul felt that the +passionate grief of his brethren was beginning to do what no fear for +himself could do--shake even his steadfast purpose. No more lovely +blending of melting tenderness and iron determination has ever been put +into words than that cry of his, followed by the great utterance which +proclaimed his readiness to bear all things, even death itself, for +'the name of the Lord Jesus.' What kindled and fed that noble flame of +self-devotion? The love of Jesus Christ, built on the sense that He had +redeemed the soul of His servant, and had thereby bought him for His +own. + +If we feel that we have been 'bought with a price,' we too, in our +small spheres, shall be filled with that ennobling passion of devoted +love which will not count life dear if He calls us to give it up. Let +us learn from Paul how to blend the utmost gentleness and tender +responsiveness to all love with fixed determination to glorify the +Name. A strong will and a loving heart make a marvellously beautiful +combination, and should both abide in every Christian. + + + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST + +'... We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one +of the seven; and abode with him.'--ACTS xxi. 8. + +The life of this Philip, as recorded, is a very remarkable one. It is +divided into two unequal halves: one full of conspicuous service, one +passed in absolute obscurity. Like the moon in its second quarter, part +of the disc is shining silver and the rest is invisible. Let us put +together the notices of him. + +He bears a name which makes it probable that he was not a Palestinian +Jew, but one of the many who, of Jewish descent, had lived in Gentile +lands and contracted Gentile habits and associations. We first hear of +him as one of the Seven who were chosen by the Church, at the +suggestion of the Apostles, in order to meet the grumbling of that +section of the Church, who were called 'Hellenists,' about their people +being neglected in the distribution of alms. He stands in that list +next to Stephen, who was obviously the leader. Then after Stephen's +persecution, he flies from Jerusalem, like the rest of the Church, and +comes down to Samaria and preaches there. He did that because +circumstances drove him; he had become one of the Seven because his +brethren appointed him, but his next step was in obedience to a +specific command of Christ. He went and preached the Gospel to the +Ethiopian eunuch, and then he was borne away from the new convert, and +after the Spirit had put him down at Ashdod he had to tramp all the way +up the Palestinian coast, left to the guidance of his own wits, until +he came to Caesarea. There he remained for twenty years; and we do not +hear a word about him in all that time. But at last Paul and his +companions, hurrying to keep the Feast at Jerusalem, found that they +had a little time to spare when they reached Caesarea, and so they came +to 'the house of Philip the evangelist,' whom we last heard of twenty +years before, and spent 'many days' with him. That is the final glimpse +that we have of Philip. + +Now let us try to gather two or three plain lessons, especially those +which depend on that remarkable contrast between the first and the +second periods of this man's life. There is, first, a brief space of +brilliant service, and then there are long years of obscure toil. + +I. The brief space of brilliant service. + +The Church was in a state of agitation, and there was murmuring going +on because, as I have already said, a section of it thought that their +poor were unfairly dealt with by the native-born Jews in the Church. +And so the Apostles said: 'What is the use of your squabbling thus? +Pick out any seven that you like, of the class that considers itself +aggrieved, and we will put the distribution of these eleemosynary +grants into their hands. That will surely stop your mouths. Do you +choose whom you please, and we will confirm your choice.' So the Church +selected seven brethren, all apparently belonging to the 'Grecians' or +Greek-speaking Jews, as the Apostles had directed that they should be, +and one of them, not a Jew by birth, but a 'proselyte of Antioch.' +These men's partialities would all be in favour of the class to which +they belonged, and to secure fair play for which they were elected by +it. + +Now these seven are never called 'deacons' in the New Testament, though +it is supposed that they were the first holders of that office. It is +instructive to note how their office came into existence. It was +created by the Apostles, simply as the handiest way of getting over a +difficulty. Is that the notion of Church organisation that prevails +among some of our brethren who believe that organisation is everything, +and that unless a Church has the three orders of bishops, priests, and +deacons, it is not worth calling a Church at all? The plain fact is +that the Church at the beginning had no organisation. What organisation +it had grew up as circumstances required. The only two laws which +governed organisation were, first, 'One is your Master, even Christ, +and all ye are brethren'; and second, 'When the Spirit of the Lord is +come upon thee, thou shalt do as occasion shall serve thee.' Thus these +seven were appointed to deal with a temporary difficulty and to +distribute alms when necessary; and their office dropped when it was no +longer required, as was probably the case when, very soon after, the +Jerusalem Church was scattered. Then, by degrees, came elders and +deacons. People fancy that there is but one rigid, unalterable type of +Church organisation, when the reality is that it is fluent and +flexible, and that the primitive Church never was meant to be the +pattern according to which, in detail, and specifically, other Churches +in different circumstances should be constituted. There are great +principles which no organisation must break, but if these be kept, the +form is a matter of convenience. + +That is the first lesson that I take out of this story. Although it has +not much to do with Philip himself, still it is worth saying in these +days when a particular organisation of the Church is supposed to be +essential to Christian fellowship, and we Nonconformists, who have not +the 'orders' that some of our brethren seem to think indispensable, are +by a considerable school unchurched, because we are without them. But +the primitive Church also was without them. + +Still further and more important for us, in these brief years of +brilliant service I note the spontaneous impulse which sets a Christian +man to do Christian work. It was his brethren that picked out Philip, +and said, 'Now go and distribute alms,' but his brethren had nothing to +do with his next step. He was driven by circumstances out of Jerusalem, +and he found himself in Samaria, and perhaps he remembered how Jesus +Christ had said, on the day when He went up into Heaven, 'Ye shall be +witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem _and in Samaria_, and unto the +uttermost parts of the earth.' But whether he remembered that or not, +he was here in Samaria, amongst the ancestral enemies of his nation. +Nobody told him to preach when he went to Samaria. He had no commission +from the Apostles to do so. He did not hold any office in the Church, +except that which, according to the Apostles' intention in establishing +it, ought to have stopped his mouth from preaching. For they said, when +they appointed these seven, 'Let _them_ serve tables, and we will give +ourselves to the ministry of the word.' But Jesus Christ has a way of +upsetting men's restrictions as to the functions of His servants. And +so Philip, without a commission, and with many prejudices to stop his +mouth, was the first to break through the limitations which confined +the message of salvation to the Jews. Because he found himself in +Samaria, and they needed Christ there, he did not wait for Peter and +James and John to lay their hands upon his head, and say, 'Now you are +entitled to speak about Him'; he did not wait for any appointment, but +yielded to his own heart, a heart that was full of Jesus Christ, and +_must_ speak about Him; find he proclaimed the Gospel in that city. + +So he has the noble distinction of being the very first Christian man +who put a bold foot across the boundary of Judaism, and showed a light +to men that were in darkness beyond. Remember he did it as a simple +private Christian; uncalled, uncommissioned, unordained by anybody; and +he did it because he could not help it, and he never thought to +himself, 'I am doing a daring, new thing.' It seemed the most natural +thing in the world that he should preach in Samaria. So it would be to +us, if we were Christians with the depth of faith and of personal +experience which this man had. + +There is another lesson that I take from these first busy years of +Philip's service. Christ provides wider spheres for men who have been +faithful in narrower ones. It was because he had 'won his spurs,' if I +may so say, in Samaria, and proved the stuff he was made of, that the +angel of the Lord came and said to Philip, 'Go down on the road to +Gaza, which is desert. Do not ask now what you are to do when you get +there. Go!' So with his sealed orders be went. No doubt he thought to +himself, 'Strange that I should be taken from this prosperous work in +Samaria, and sent to a desert road, where there is not a single human +being!' But he went; and when he struck the point of junction of the +road from Samaria with that from Jerusalem, looked about to discover +what he had been sent there for. The only thing in sight was one +chariot, and he said to himself, 'Ah, that is it,' and he drew near to +the chariot, and heard the occupant reading aloud Isaiah's great +prophecy. The Ethiopian chamberlain was probably not very familiar with +the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which he seems to have been +using and, as poor readers often do, helped his comprehension by +speaking the words he sees on the page. Philip knew at once that here +was the object of his mission, and so 'joined himself to the chariot,' +and set himself to his work. + +So Christ chooses His agents for further work from those who, out of +their own spontaneous love of Him, have done what lay at their hands. +'To him that hath shall be given.' If you are ambitious of a wider +sphere, be sure that you fill your narrow one. It will widen quite fast +enough for your capacities. + +II. Now let me say a word about the long years of obscurity. + +Philip went down to Caesarea, and, as I said, he drops out of the story +for twenty years. I wonder why it was that when Jesus Christ desired +that Cornelius, who lived in Caesarea, should hear the gospel, He did +not direct him to Philip, who also was in Caesarea, but bid him send +all the way to Joppa to bring Peter thence? I wonder why it was that +when Barnabas at Antioch turned his face northwards to seek for young +Saul at Tarsus, he never dreamed of turning southwards to call out +Philip from Caesarea? I wonder how it came to pass that this man, who +at one time looked as if he was going to be the leader in the extension +of the Church to the Gentiles, and who, as a matter of fact, was the +first, not only in Samaria but on the desert road, to press beyond the +narrow bounds of Judaism, was passed over in the further stages by +Jesus, and why his brethren passed him over, and left him there all +these years in Caesarea, whilst there was so much going on that was the +continuation and development of the very movement that he had begun. We +do not know why, and it is useless to try to speculate, but we may +learn lessons from the fact. + +Here is a beautiful instance of the contented acceptance of a lot very +much less conspicuous, very much less brilliant, than the early +beginnings had seemed to promise. I suppose that there are very few of +us but have had, back in the far-away past, moments when we seemed to +have opening out before us great prospects of service which have never +been realised; and the remembrance of the brief moments of dawning +splendour is very apt to make the rest of the life look grey and dull, +and common things flat, and to make us sour. We look back and we think, +'Ah, the gates were opened for me then, but how they have slammed to +since! It is hard for me to go on in this lowly condition, and this +eclipsed state into which I have been brought, without feeling how +different it might have been if those early days had only continued.' +Well, for Philip it was enough that Jesus Christ sent him to the eunuch +and did not send him to Cornelius. He took the position that his Master +put him in and worked away therein. + +And there is a further lesson for us, who, for the most part, have to +lead obscure lives. For there was in Philip not only a contented +acceptance of an obscure life, but there was a diligent doing of +obscure work. Did you notice that one significant little word in the +clause that I have taken for my text: 'We entered into the house of +Philip _the evangelist_, which was one of the seven'? Luke does not +forget Philip's former office, but he dwells rather on what his other +office was, twenty years afterwards. He was 'an evangelist' now, +although the evangelistic work was being done in a very quiet corner, +and nobody was paying much attention to it. Time was when he had a +great statesman to listen to his words. Time was when a whole city was +moved by his teaching. Time was when it looked as if he was going to do +the work that Paul did. But all these visions were shattered, and he +was left to toil for twenty long years in that obscure corner, and not +a soul knew anything about his work except the people to whom it was +directed and the four unmarried girls at home whom his example had +helped to bring to Jesus Christ, and who were 'prophetesses.' At the +end of the twenty years he is 'Philip the evangelist.' + +_There_ is patient perseverance at unrecompensed, unrecorded, and +unnoticed work. 'Great' and 'small' have nothing to do with the work of +Christian people. It does not matter who knows our work or who does not +know it, the thing is that _He_ knows it. Now the most of us have to do +absolutely unnoticed Christian service. Those of us who are in +positions like mine have a little more notoriety--and it is no +blessing--and a year or two after a man's voice ceases to sound from a +pulpit he is forgotten. What does it matter? 'Surely I will never +forget any of their works.' And in these advertising days, when +publicity seems to be the great good that people in so many cases seek +after, and no one is contented to do his little bit of work unless he +gets reported in the columns of the newspapers, we may all take example +from the behaviour of Philip, and remember the man who began so +brilliantly, and for twenty years was hidden, and was 'the evangelist' +all the time. + +III. Now, there is one last lesson that I would draw, and that is the +ultimate recognition of the work and the joyful meeting of the workers. + +I think it is very beautiful to see that when Paul entered Philip's +house he came into a congenial atmosphere; and although he had been +hurrying, out of breath as it were, all the way from Corinth to get to +Jerusalem in time for the Feast, he slowed off at once; partly, no +doubt, because he found that he was in time, and partly, no doubt, that +he felt the congeniality of the society that he met. + +So there was no envy in Philip's heart of the younger brother that had +so outrun him. He was quite content to share the fate of pioneers, and +rejoiced in the junior who had entered into his labour. 'One soweth and +another reapeth'; he was prepared for that, and rejoiced to hear about +what the Lord had done by his brother, though once he had thought it +might have been done by him. How they would talk! How much there would +be to tell! How glad the old man would be at the younger man's success! + +And there was one sitting by who did not say very much, but had his +ears wide open, and his name was Luke. In Philip's long, confidential +conversations he no doubt got some of the materials, which have been +preserved for us in this book, for his account of the early days of the +Church in Jerusalem. + +So Philip, after all, was not working in so obscure a corner as he +thought. The whole world knows about him. He had been working behind a +curtain all the while, and he never knew that 'the beloved physician,' +who was listening so eagerly to all he had to tell about the early +days, was going to twitch down the curtain and let the whole world see +the work that he thought he was doing, all unknown and soon to be +forgotten. + +And that is what will happen to us all. The curtain will be twitched +down, and when it is, it will be good for us if we have the same record +to show that this man had--namely, toil for the Master, indifferent to +whether men see or do not see; patient labour for Him, coming out of a +heart purged of all envy and jealousy of those who have been called to +larger and more conspicuous service. + +May we not take these many days of quiet converse in Philip's house, +when the pioneer and the perfecter of the work talked together, as +being a kind of prophetic symbol of the time when all who had a share +in the one great and then completed work will have a share in its joy? +No matter whether they have dug the foundations or laid the early +courses or set the top stone and the shining battlements that crown the +structure, they have all their share in the building and their portion +in the gladness of the completed edifice, 'that he that soweth and he +that reapeth may rejoice together.' + + + +AN OLD DISCIPLE + +'... One Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should +lodge.'--ACTS xxi. 16. + +There is something that stimulates the imagination in these mere +shadows of men that we meet in the New Testament story. What a strange +fate that is to be made immortal by a line in this book--immortal and +yet so unknown! We do not hear another word about this host of Paul's, +but his name will be familiar to men's ears till the world's end. This +figure is drawn in the slightest possible outline, with a couple of +hasty strokes of the pencil. But if we take even these few bare words +and look at them, feeling that there is a man like ourselves sketched +in them, I think we can get a real picture out of them, and that even +this dim form crowded into the background of the Apostolic story may +have a word or two to say to us. + +His name and his birthplace show that he belonged to the same class as +Paul, that is, he was a Hellenist, or a Jew by descent, but born on +Gentile soil, and speaking Greek. He came from Cyprus, the native +island of Barnabas, who may have been a friend of his. He was an 'old +disciple,' which does not mean simply that he was advanced in life, but +that he was 'a disciple from the beginning,' one of the original group +of believers. If we interpret the word strictly, we must suppose him to +have been one of the rapidly diminishing nucleus, who thirty years or +more ago had seen Christ in the flesh, and been drawn to Him by His own +words. Evidently the mention of the early date of his conversion +suggests that the number of his contemporaries was becoming few, and +that there were a certain honour and distinction conceded by the second +generation of the Church to the survivors of the primitive band. Then, +of course, as one of the earliest believers, he must, by this time, +have been advanced in life. A Cypriote by birth, he had emigrated to, +and resided in a village on the road to Jerusalem; and must have had +means and heart to exercise a liberal hospitality there. Though a +Hellenist like Paul he does not seem to have known the Apostle before, +for the most probable rendering of the context is that the disciples +from Caesarea, who were travelling with the Apostle from that place to +Jerusalem, 'brought us to Mnason,' implying that this was their first +introduction to each other. But though probably unacquainted with the +great teacher of the Gentiles--whose ways were looked on with much +doubt by many of the Palestinian Christians--the old man, relic of the +original disciples as he was, had full sympathy with Paul, and opened +his house and his heart to receive him. His adhesion to the Apostle +would no doubt carry weight with 'the many thousands of Jews which +believed, and were all zealous of the law,' and was as honourable to +him as it was helpful to Paul. + +Now if we put all this together, does not the shadowy figure begin to +become more substantial? and does it not preach to us some lessons that +we may well take to heart? + +I. The first thing which this old disciple says to us out of the misty +distance is: Hold fast to your early faith, and to the Christ whom you +have known. + +Many a year had passed since the days when perhaps the beauty of the +Master's own character and the sweetness of His own words had drawn +this man to Him. How much had come and gone since then--Calvary and the +Resurrection, Olivet and the Pentecost! His own life and mind had +changed from buoyant youth to sober old age. His whole feelings and +outlook on the world were different. His old friends had mostly gone. +James indeed was still there, and Peter and John remained until this +present, but most had fallen on sleep. A new generation was rising +round about him, and new thoughts and ways were at work. But one thing +remained for him what it had been in the old days, and that was Christ. +'One generation cometh and another goeth, but the "Christ" abideth for +ever.' + + 'We all are changed by still degrees; + All but the basis of the soul,' + +and the 'basis of the soul,' in the truest sense, is that one God-laid +foundation on which whosoever buildeth shall never be confounded, nor +ever need to change with changing time. Are we building there? and do +we find that life, as it advances, but tightens our hold on Jesus +Christ, who is our hope? + +There is no fairer nor happier experience than that of the old man who +has around him the old loves, the old confidences, and some measure of +the old joys. But who can secure that blessed unity in his life if he +depend on the love and help of even the dearest, or on the light of any +creature for his sunshine? There is but one way of making all our days +one, because one love, one hope, one joy, one aim binds them all +together, and that is by taking the abiding Christ for ours, and +abiding in Him all our days. Holding fast by the early convictions does +not mean stiffening in them. There is plenty of room for advancement in +Christ. No doubt Mnason, when he was first a disciple, knew but very +little of the meaning and worth of his Master and His work, compared +with what he had learned in all these years. And our true progress +consists, not in growing away from Jesus but in growing up into Him, +not in passing through and leaving behind our first convictions of Him +as Saviour, but in having these verified by the experience of years, +deepened and cleared, unfolded and ordered into a larger, though still +incomplete, whole. We may make our whole lives helpful to that +advancement and blessed shall we be if the early faith is the faith +that brightens till the end, and brightens the end. How beautiful it is +to see a man, below whose feet time is crumbling away, holding firmly +by the Lord whom he has loved and served all his days, and finding that +the pillar of cloud, which guided him while he lived, begins to glow in +its heart of fire as the shadows fall, and is a pillar of light to +guide him when he comes to die! Dear friends, whether you be near the +starting or near the prize of your Christian course, 'cast not away +your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.' See to it that +the 'knowledge of the Father,' which is the 'little children's' +possession, passes through the strength of youth, and the 'victory over +the world' into the calm knowledge of Him 'that is from the beginning,' +wherein the fathers find their earliest convictions deepened and +perfected, 'Grow in grace and in the knowledge' of Him, whom to know +ever so imperfectly is eternal life, whom to know a little better is +the true progress for men, whom to know more and more fully is the +growth and gladness and glory of the heavens. Look at this shadowy +figure that looks out on us here, and listen to his far-off voice +'exhorting us all that with purpose of heart we should cleave unto the +Lord.' + +II. But there is another and, as some might think, opposite lesson to +be gathered from this outline sketch, namely, The welcome which we +should be ready to give to new thoughts and ways. + +It is evidently meant that we should note Mnason's position in the +Church as significant in regard to his hospitable reception of the +Apostle. We can fancy how the little knot of 'original disciples' would +be apt to value themselves on their position, especially as time went +on, and their ranks were thinned. They would be tempted to suppose that +they must needs understand the Master's meaning a great deal better +than those who had never known Christ after the flesh; and no doubt +they would be inclined to share in the suspicion with which the +thorough-going Jewish party in the Church regarded this Paul, who had +never seen the Lord. It would have been very natural for this good old +man to have said, 'I do not like these new-fangled ways. There was +nothing of this sort in my younger days. Is it not likely that we, who +were at the beginning of the Gospel, should understand the Gospel and +the Church's work without this new man coming to set us right? I am too +old to go in with these changes.' All the more honourable is it that he +should have been ready with an open house to shelter the great champion +of the Gentile Churches; and, as we may reasonably believe, with an +open heart to welcome his teaching. Depend on it, it was not every 'old +disciple' that would have done as much. + +Now does not this flexibility of mind and openness of nature to welcome +new ways of work, when united with the persistent constancy in his old +creed, make an admirable combination? It is one rare enough at any age, +but especially in elderly men. We are always disposed to rend apart +what ought never to be separated, the inflexible adherence to a fixed +centre of belief, and the freest ranging around the whole changing +circumference. The man of strong convictions is apt to grip every +trifle of practice and every unimportant bit of his creed with the same +tenacity with which he holds its vital heart, and to take obstinacy for +firmness, and dogged self-will for faithfulness to truth. The man who +welcomes new light, and reaches forward to greet new ways, is apt to +delight in having much fluid that ought to be fixed, and to value +himself on a 'liberality' which simply means that he has no central +truth and no rooted convictions. And as men grow older they stiffen +more and more, and have to leave the new work for new hands, and the +new thoughts for new brains. That is all in the order of nature, but so +much the finer is it when we do see old Christian men who join to their +firm grip of the old Gospel the power of welcoming, and at least +bidding God-speed to, new thoughts and new workers and new ways of work. + +The union of these two characteristics should be consciously aimed at +by us all. Hold unchanging, with a grasp that nothing can relax, by +Christ our life and our all; but with that tenacity of mind, try to +cultivate flexibility too. Love the old, but be ready to welcome the +new. Do not invest your own or other people's habits of thought or +forms of work with the same sanctity which belongs to the central +truths of our salvation; do not let the willingness to entertain new +light lead you to tolerate any changes there. It is hard to blend the +two virtues together, but they are meant to be complements, not +opposites, to each other. The fluttering leaves and bending branches +need a firm stem and deep roots. The firm stem looks noblest in its +unmoved strength when it is contrasted with a cloud of light foliage +dancing in the wind. Try to imitate the persistency and the open mind +of that 'old disciple' who was so ready to welcome and entertain the +Apostle of the Gentile Churches. + +III. But there is still another lesson which, I think, this portrait +may suggest, and that is, the beauty that may dwell in an obscure life. + +There is nothing to be said about this old man but that he was a +disciple. He had done no great thing for his Lord. No teacher or +preacher was he. No eloquence or genius was in him. No great heroic +deed or piece of saintly endurance is to be recorded of him, but only +this, that he had loved and followed Christ all his days. And is not +that record enough? It is his blessed fate to live for ever in the +world's memory, with only that one word attached to his name--a +disciple. + +The world may remember very little about us a year after we are gone. +No thought, no deed may be connected with our names but in some narrow +circle of loving hearts. There may be no place for us in any record +written with a man's pen. But what does that matter, if our names, dear +friends, are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, with this for sole +epitaph, 'a disciple'? That single phrase is the noblest summary of a +life. A thinker? a hero? a great man? a millionaire? No, a 'disciple.' +That says all. May it be your epitaph and mine! + +What Mnason could do he did. It was not his vocation to go into the +'regions beyond,' like Paul; to guide the Church, like James; to put +his remembrances of his Master in a book, like Matthew; to die for +Jesus, like Stephen. But he could open his house for Paul and his +company, and so take his share in their work. 'He that receiveth a +prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.' He +that with understanding and sympathy welcomes and sustains the prophet, +shows thereby that he stands on the same spiritual level, and has the +makings of a prophet in him, though he want the intellectual force and +may never open his lips to speak the burden of the Lord. Therefore he +shall be one in reward as he is in spirit. The old law in Israel is the +law for the warfare of Christ's soldiers. 'As his part is that goeth +down to the battle, so shall his part be that abideth by the stuff: +they shall part alike.' The men in the rear who guard the camp and keep +the communications open, may deserve honours, and crosses, and +prize-money as much as their comrades who led the charge that cut +through the enemy's line and scattered their ranks. It does not matter, +so far as the real spiritual worth of the act is concerned, what we do, +but only why we do it. All deeds are the same which are done from the +same motive and with the same devotion; and He who judges, not by our +outward actions but by the springs from which they come, will at last +bracket together as equals many who were widely separated here in the +form of their service and the apparent magnitude of their work. + +'She hath done what she could.' Her power determined the measure and +the manner of her work. One precious thing she had, and only one, and +she broke her one rich possession that she might pour the fragrant oil +over His feet. Therefore her useless deed of utter love and +uncalculating self-sacrifice was crowned by praise from His lips whose +praise is our highest honour, and the world is still 'filled with the +odour of the ointment.' + +So this old disciple's hospitality is strangely immortal, and the +record of it reminds us that the smallest service done for Jesus is +remembered and treasured by Him. Men have spent their lives to win a +line in the world's chronicles which are written on sand, and have +broken their hearts because they failed; and this passing act of one +obscure Christian, in sheltering a little company of travel-stained +wayfarers, has made his name a possession for ever. 'Seekest thou great +things for thyself? seek them not'; but let us fill our little corners, +doing our unnoticed work for love of our Lord, careless about man's +remembrance or praise, because sure of Christ's, whose praise is the +only fame, whose remembrance is the highest reward. 'God is not +unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.' + + + +PAUL IN THE TEMPLE + +'And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia +when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid +hands on him. 28. Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, +that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and +this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath +polluted this holy place. 29. (For they had seen before with him in the +city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought +into the temple.) 30. And all the city was moved, and the people ran +together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and +forthwith the doors were shut. 31. And as they went about to kill him, +tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was +in an uproar. 32. Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran +down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, +they left beating of Paul. 33. Then the chief captain came near, and +took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded +who he was, and what he had done. 34. And some cried one thing, some +another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty +for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. 35. And +when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the +soldiers for the violence of the people. 36. For the multitude of the +people followed after, crying, Away with him. 37. And as Paul was to be +led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto +thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? 38. Art not thou that Egyptian, +which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the +wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? 39. But Paul said, I +am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no +mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the +people.'--ACTS xxi. 27-39. + +The stronger a man's faith, the greater will and should be his +disposition to conciliate. Paul may seem to have stretched +consideration for weak brethren to its utmost, when he consented to the +proposal of the Jerusalem elders to join in performing the vow of a +Nazarite, and to appear in the Temple for that purpose. But he was +quite consistent in so doing; for it was not Jewish ceremonial to which +he objected, but the insisting on it as necessary. For himself, he +lived as a Jew, except in his freedom of intercourse with Gentiles. No +doubt he knew that the death-warrant of Jewish ceremonial had been +signed, but he could leave it to time to carry out the sentence. The +one thing which he was resolved should not be was its imposition on +Gentile Christians. Their road to Jesus was not through Temple or +synagogue. As for Jewish Christians, let them keep to the ritual if +they chose. The conciliatory plan recommended by the elders, though +perfectly consistent with Paul's views and successful with the Jewish +Christians, roused non-Christian Jews as might have been expected. + +This incident brings out very strikingly the part played by each of the +two factors in carrying out God's purposes for Paul. They are +unconscious instruments, and co-operation is the last thing dreamed of +on either side; but Jew and Roman together work out a design of which +they had not a glimpse. + +I. Note the charge against Paul. The 'Jews from Asia' knew him by +sight, as they had seen him in Ephesus and elsewhere; and possibly some +of them had been fellow-passengers with him from Miletus. No wonder +that they construed his presence in the Temple into an insult to it. If +Luther or John Knox had appeared in St. Peter's, he would not have been +thought to have come as a worshipper. Paul's teaching may very +naturally have created the impression in hot-tempered partisans, who +could not draw distinctions, that he was the enemy of Temple and +sacrifice. + +It has always been the vice of religious controversy to treat +inferences from heretical teaching, which appear plain to the critics, +as if they were articles of the heretic's belief. These Jewish zealots +practised a very common method when they fathered on Paul all which +they supposed to be involved in his position. Their charges against him +are partly flat lies, partly conclusions drawn from misapprehension of +his position, partly exaggeration, and partly hasty assumptions. He had +never said a word which could be construed as 'against the people.' He +had indeed preached that the law was not for Gentiles, and was not the +perfect revelation which brought salvation, and he had pointed to Jesus +as in Himself realising all that the Temple shadowed; but such teaching +was not 'against' either, but rather for both, as setting both in their +true relation to the whole process of revelation. He had not brought +'Greeks' into the Temple, not even the one Greek whom malice multiplied +into many. When passion is roused, exaggerations and assumptions soon +become definite assertions. The charges are a complete object-lesson in +the baser arts of religious (!) partisans; and they have been but too +faithfully reproduced in all ages. Did Paul remember how he had been +'consenting' to the death of Stephen on the very same charges? How far +he has travelled since that day! + +II. Note the immediately kindled flame of popular bigotry. The always +inflammable population of Jerusalem was more than usually excitable at +the times of the Feasts, when it was largely increased by zealous +worshippers from a distance. Noble teaching would have left the mob as +stolid as it found them; but an appeal to the narrow prejudices which +they thought were religion was a spark in gunpowder, and an explosion +was immediate. It is always easier to rouse men to fight for their +'religion' than to live by it. Jehu was proud of what he calls his +'zeal for the Lord,' which was really only ferocity with a mask on. The +yelling crowd did not stop to have the charges proved. That they were +made was enough. In Scotland people used to talk of 'Jeddart justice,' +which consisted in hanging a man first, and trying him leisurely +afterwards. It was usually substantially just when applied to +moss-troopers, but does not do so well when administered to Apostles. + +Notice the carefulness to save the Temple from pollution, which is +shown by the furious crowds dragging Paul outside before they kill him. +They were not afraid to commit murder, but they were horror-struck at +the thought of a breach of ceremonial etiquette. Of course! for when +religion is conceived of as mainly a matter of outward observances, sin +is reduced to a breach of these. We are all tempted to shift the centre +of gravity in our religion, and to make too much of ritual etiquette. +Kill Paul if you will, but get him outside the sacred precincts first. +The priests shut the doors to make sure that there should be no +profanation, and stopped inside the Temple, well pleased that murder +should go on at its threshold. They had better have rescued the victim. +Time was when the altar was a sanctuary for the criminal who could +grasp its horns, but now its ministers wink at bloodshed with secret +approval. Paul could easily have been killed in the crowd, and no +responsibility for his death have clung to any single hand. No doubt +that was the cowardly calculation which they made, and they were well +on the way to carry it out when the other factor comes into operation. + +III. Note the source of deliverance. The Roman garrison was posted in +the fortress of Antonia, which commanded the Temple from a higher level +at the north-west angle of the enclosure. Tidings 'came _up_' to the +officer in command, Claudius Lysias by name (Acts xxiii. 26), that all +Jerusalem was in confusion. With disciplined promptitude he turned out +a detachment and 'ran down upon them.' The contrast between the quiet +power of the legionaries and the noisy feebleness of the mob is +striking. The best qualities of Roman sway are seen in this tribune's +unhesitating action, before which the excited mob cowers in fright. +They 'left beating of Paul,' as knowing that a heavier hand would fall +on them for rioting. With swift decision Lysias acts first and talks +afterwards, securing the man who was plainly the centre of disturbance, +and then having got him fast with two chains on him, inquiring who he +was, and what he had been doing. + +Then the crowd breaks loose again in noisy and contradictory +explanations, all at the top of their voices, and each drowning the +other. Clearly the bulk of them could not answer either of Lysias' +questions, though they could all bellow 'Away with him!' till their +throats were sore. It is a perfect picture of a mob, which is always +ferocious and volubly explanatory in proportion to its ignorance. One +man kept his head in the hubbub, and that was Lysias, who determined to +hold his prisoner till he did know something about him. So he ordered +him to be taken up into the castle; and as the crowd saw their prey +escaping they made one last fierce rush, and almost swept away the +soldiers, who had to pick Paul up and carry him. Once on the stairs +leading to the castle they were clear of the crowd, which could only +send a roar of baffled rage after them, and to this the stolid +legionaries were as deaf as were their own helmets. + +The part here played by the Roman authority is that which it performs +throughout the Acts. It shields infant Christianity from Jewish +assailants, like the wolf which, according to legend, suckled Romulus. +The good and the bad features of Roman rule were both valuable for that +purpose. Its contempt for ideas, and above all for speculative +differences in a religion which it regarded as a hurtful superstition, +its unsympathetic incapacity for understanding its subject nations, its +military discipline, its justice, which though often tainted was yet +better than the partisan violence which it coerced, all helped to make +it the defender of the first Christians. Strange that Rome should +shelter and Jerusalem persecute! + +Mark, too, how blindly men fulfil God's purposes. The two bitter +antagonists, Jew and Roman, seem to themselves to be working in direct +opposition; but God is using them both to carry out His design. Paul +has to be got to Rome, and these two forces are combined by a wisdom +beyond their ken, to carry him thither. Two cogged wheels turning in +opposite directions fit into each other, and grind out a resultant +motion, different from either of theirs. These soldiers and that mob +were like pawns on a chessboard, ignorant of the intentions of the hand +which moves them. + +IV. Note the calm courage of Paul. He too had kept his head, and though +bruised and hustled, and having but a minute or two beforehand looked +death in the face, he is ready to seize the opportunity to speak a word +for his Master. Observe the quiet courtesy of his address, and his calm +remembrance of the tribune's right to prevent his speaking. There is +nothing more striking in Paul's character than his self-command and +composure in all circumstances. This ship could rise to any wave, and +ride in any storm. It was not by virtue of happy temperament but of a +fixed faith that his heart and mind were kept in perfect peace. It is +not easy to disturb a man who counts not his life dear if only he may +complete his course. So these two men front each other, and it is hard +to tell which has the quieter pulse and the steadier hand. The same +sources of tranquil self-control and calm superiority to fortune which +stood Paul in such good stead are open to us. If God is our rock and +our high tower we shall not be moved. + +The tribune had for some unknown reason settled in his mind that the +Apostle was a well-known 'Egyptian,' who had headed a band of 'Sicarii' +or 'dagger-men,' of whose bloody doings Josephus tells us. How the Jews +should have been trying to murder such a man Lysias does not seem to +have considered. But when he heard the courteous, respectful Greek +speech of the Apostle he saw at once that he had got no uncultured +ruffian to deal with, and in answer to Paul's request and explanation +gave him leave to speak. That has been thought an improbability. But +strong men recognise each other, and the brave Roman was struck with +something in the tone and bearing of the brave Jew which made him +instinctively sure that no harm would come of the permission. There +ought to be that in the demeanour of a Christian which is as a +testimonial of character for him, and sways observers to favourable +constructions. + + + +PAUL ON HIS OWN CONVERSION + +'And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh +unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great +light round about me. 7. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice +saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why perseoutest thou Me? 8. And I answered, +Who art Thou, Lord? And He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom +thou persecutest. 9. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, +and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me. +10. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, +Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all +things which are appointed for thee to do. 11. And when I could not see +for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were +with me, I came into Damascus. 12. And one Ananias, a devout man +according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt +there, 13. Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, +receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14. And he +said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know +His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His +mouth. 15. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast +seen and heard. 16. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, +and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'--ACTS xxii. +6-16. + +We follow Paul's example when we put Jesus' appearance to him from +heaven in a line with His appearances to the disciples on earth. 'Last +of all, He appeared to me also.' But it does not follow that the +appearances are all of the same kind, or that Paul thought that they +were. They were all equally real, equally 'objective,' equally valid +proofs of Jesus' risen life. On two critical occasions Paul told the +story of Jesus' appearance as his best 'Apologia.' 'I saw and heard +Him, and that revolutionised my life, and made me what I am.' The two +accounts are varied, as the hearers were, but the differences are +easily reconciled, and the broad facts are the same in both versions, +and in Luke's rendering in chapter ix. + +A favourite theory in some quarters is that Paul's conversion was not +sudden, but that misgivings had been working in him ever since +Stephen's death. Surely that view is clean against facts. Persecuting +its adherents to the death is a strange result of dawning belief in +'this way.' Paul may be supposed to have known his state of mind as +well as a critic nineteen centuries off does, and he had no doubt that +he set out from Jerusalem a bitter hater of the convicted impostor +Jesus, and stumbled into Damascus a convinced disciple because he had +seen and heard Him. That is his account of the matter, which would not +have been meddled with if the meddlers had not taken offence at 'the +supernatural element.' We note the emphasis which Paul puts on the +suddenness of the appearance, implying that the light burst all in a +moment. A little bit of personal reminiscence comes up in his +specifying the time as 'about noon,' the brightest hour. He remembers +how the light outblazed even the blinding brilliance of a Syrian +noontide. He insists too on the fact that his senses were addressed, +both eye and ear. He saw the glory of that light, and heard the voice. +He does not say here that he saw Jesus, but that he did so is clear +from Ananias' words, 'to see the Righteous One' (ver. 14), and from I +Corinthians xv. 8. Further, he makes it very emphatic that the vision +was certified as no morbid fancy of his own, but yet was marked as +meant for him only, by the double fact that his companions did share in +it, but only in part. They did see the light, but not 'the Righteous +One'; they did hear the sound of the voice, but not so as to know what +it said. The difference between merely hearing a noise and discerning +the sense of the words is probably marked by the construction in the +Greek, and is certainly to be understood. + +The blaze struck all the company to the ground (Acts xxvi. 14). Prone +on the earth, and probably with closed eyes, their leader heard his own +name twice sounded, with appeal, authority, and love in the tones. The +startling question which followed not only pierced conscience, and +called for a reasonable vindication of his action, but flashed a new +light on it as being persecution which struck at this unknown heavenly +speaker. So the first thought in Saul's mind is not about himself or +his doings but about the identity of that Speaker. Awe, if not actual +worship, is expressed in addressing Him as Lord. Wonder, with perhaps +some foreboding of what the answer would be, is audible in the +question, 'Who art Thou?' Who can imagine the shock of the answer to +Saul's mind? Then the man whom he had thought of as a vile apostate, +justly crucified and not risen as his dupes dreamed, lived in heaven, +knew him, Saul, and all that he had been doing, was 'apparelled in +celestial light,' and yet in heavenly glory was so closely identified +with these poor people whom he had been hunting to death that to strike +them was to hurt Him! A bombshell had burst, shattering the foundation +of his fortifications. A deluge had swept away the ground on which he +had stood. His whole life was revolutionised. Its most solid elements +were dissolved into vapour, and what he had thought misty nonsense was +now the solid thing. To find a 'why' for his persecuting was +impossible, unless he had said (what in effect he did say), 'I did it +ignorantly.' When a man has a glimpse of Jesus exalted to heaven, and +is summoned by Him to give a reason for his life of alienation, that +life looks very different from what it did, when seen by dimmer light. +Clothes are passable by candle-light that look very shabby in sunshine. +When Jesus comes to us, His first work is to set us to judge our past, +and no man can muster up respectable answers to His question, 'Why?' +for all sin is unreasonable, and nothing but obedience to Him can +vindicate itself in His sight. + +Saul threw down his arms at once. His characteristic impetuosity and +eagerness to carry out his convictions impelled him to a surrender as +complete as his opposition. The test of true belief in the ascended +Jesus is to submit the will to Him, to be chiefly desirous of knowing +His will, and ready to do it. 'Who art Thou, Lord?' should be followed +by 'What shall I do, Lord?' + +Blind Saul, led by the hand into the city which he had expected to +enter so differently, saw better than ever before. 'The glory of that +light' blinds us to things seen, but makes us able to see afar off the +only realities, the things unseen. Speaking to Jews, as here, Paul +described Ananias as a devout adherent of the law, in order to +conciliate them and to suggest his great principle that a Christian was +not an apostate but a complete Jew. To Agrippa he drops all reference +to Ananias as irrelevant, and throws together the words on the road and +the commission received through Ananias as equally Christ's voice. Here +he lays stress on his agency in restoring sight, and on his message as +including two points--that it was 'the God of our fathers' who had +'appointed' the vision, and that the purpose of the vision was to make +Saul a witness to all men. The bearing of this on the conciliatory aim +of the discourse is plain. We note also the precedence given in the +statement of the particulars of the vision to 'knowing his will'--that +was the end for which the light and the voice were given. Observe too +how the twofold evidence of sense is signalised, both in the reference +to seeing the Righteous One and to hearing His voice and in the +commission to witness what Saul had seen and heard. The personal +knowledge of Jesus, however attained, constitutes the qualification and +the obligation to be His witness. And the convincing testimony is when +we can say, as we all can say if we are Christ's, 'That which we have +heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that ... declare we unto +you.' + + + +ROME PROTECTS PAUL + +'And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even +while I prayed in the Temple, I was in a trance; 18. And saw Him saying +unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they +will not receive thy testimony concerning Me. 19. And I said, Lord, +they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that +believed on Thee: 20. And when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was +shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept +the raiment of them that slew him. 21. And He said unto me, Depart: for +I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. 22. And they gave him +audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, +Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he +should live. 23. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and +threw dust into the air, 24. The chief captain commanded him to be +brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by +scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. 25. +And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that +stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and +uncondemned? 26. When the centurion heard that, he went and told the +chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a +Roman. 27. Then the chief captain came, and said, Tell me, art thou a +Roman? He said, Yea. 28. And the chief captain answered, With a great +sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29. +Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: +and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a +Roman, and because he had bound him. 30. On the morrow, because he +would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he +loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all +their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before +them.'--ACTS xxii. 17-30. + +The threatened storm soon burst on Paul in Jerusalem. On the third day +after his arrival he began the ceremonial recommended by the elders to +prove his adherence to the law. Before the seven days during which it +lasted were over the riot broke out, and he was saved from death only +by the military tribune hurrying down to the Temple and dragging him +from the mob. + +The tribune's only care was to stamp out a riot, and whether the victim +was 'that Egyptian' or not, to prevent his being murdered. He knew +nothing, and cared as little, about the grounds of the tumult, but he +was not going to let a crowd of turbulent Jews take the law into their +own hands, and flout the majesty of Roman justice. So he lets the +nearly murdered man say his say and keeps the mob off him. It was a +strange scene--below, the howling zealots; above, on the stairs, the +Christian apologists guarded from his countrymen by a detachment of +legionaries; and the assembly presided over by a Roman tribune. + +It is very characteristic of Paul that he thought that his own +conversion was the best argument that he could use with his +fellow-Israelites. So he tells his story, and this section strikes into +his speech at the point where he is coming to very thin ice indeed, and +is about to vindicate his work among the Gentiles by declaring that it +was done in obedience to a command from heaven. We need not discuss the +date of the trance, whether it was in his first visit to Jerusalem +after his conversion or, as Ramsay strongly argues, is to be put at the +visit mentioned in Acts xi. 30 and xii. 25. + +We note the delicate, conciliatory skill with which he brings out that +his conversion had not made him less a devout worshipper in the Temple, +by specifying it as the scene of the trance, and prayer as his +occupation then. The mention of the Temple also invested the vision +with sanctity. + +Very noticeable too is the avoidance of the name of Jesus, which would +have stirred passion in the crowd. We may also observe that the first +words of our Lord, as given by Paul, did not tell him whither he was to +go, but simply bade him leave Jerusalem. The full announcement of the +mission to the Gentiles was delayed both by Jesus to Paul and by Paul +to his brethren. He was to 'get quickly out of Jerusalem'; that was +tragic enough. He was to give up working for his own people, whom he +loved so well. And the reason was their rooted incredulity and their +hatred of him. Other preachers might do something with them, but Paul +could not. 'They will not receive testimony of _thee_.' + +But the Apostle's heart clung to his nation, and not even his Lord's +command was accepted without remonstrance. His patriotism led him to +the verge of disobedience, and encouraged him to put in his 'But, +Lord,' with boldness that was all but presumption. He ventures to +suggest a reason why the Jews _would_, as he thinks, receive his +testimony. They knew what he had been, and they must bethink themselves +that there must be something real and mighty in the power which had +turned his whole way of thinking and living right round, and made him +love all that he had hated, and count all that he had prized 'but +dung.' The remonstrance is like Moses', like Jeremiah's, like that of +many a Christian set to work that goes against the grain, and called to +relinquish what he would fain do, and do what he would rather leave +undone. + +But Jesus does not take His servants' remonstrances amiss, if only they +will make them frankly to Him, and not keep muttering them under their +breath to themselves. Let us say all that is in our hearts. He will +listen, and clear away hesitations, and show us our path, and make us +willing to walk in it. Jesus did not discuss the matter with Paul, but +reiterated the command, and made it more pointed and clear; and then +Paul stopped objecting and yielded his will, as we should do. 'When he +would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be +done.' The Apostle had kept from the obnoxious word as long as he +could, but it had to come, and he tells the enraged listeners at last, +without circumlocution, that he is the Apostle of the Gentiles, that +Jesus has made him so against his will, and that therefore he must do +the work appointed him, though his heart-strings crack with seeming to +be cold to Israel. + +The burst of fury, expressed in gestures which anybody who has ever +seen two Easterns quarrelling can understand, looks fitter for a +madhouse than an audience of men in their senses. They yelled and tore +their garments (and their beards, no doubt), and clutched handfuls of +dust and tossed it in the air, like Shimei cursing David. What a +picture of frenzied hate! And what was it all for? Because Gentiles +were to be allowed to share in Israel's privileges. And what were the +privileges which they thus jealously monopolised? The favour and +protection of the God who, as their own prophets had taught them, was +the God of the whole earth, and revealed Him to Israel that Israel +might reveal Him to the world. + +The less they entered into the true possession of their heritage, the +more savagely they resented sharing it with the nations. The more their +prerogative became a mere outward thing, the more they snarled at any +one who proposed to participate in it. To seek to keep religious +blessings to one's self is a conclusive proof that they are not really +possessed. If we have them we shall long to impart them. Formal +religionists always dislike missionary enterprise. + +The tribune no doubt had been standing silently watching, in his +strong, contemptuous Roman way, the paroxysm of rage sweeping over his +troublesome charge. Of course he did not understand a word that the +culprit had been saying, and could not make out what had produced the +outburst. He felt that there was something here that he had not +fathomed, and that he must get to the bottom of. It was useless to lay +hold of any of these shrieking maniacs and try to get a reasonable word +out of them. So he determined to see what he could make of the orator, +who had already astonished him by traces of superior education, and was +evidently no mere vulgar firebrand or sedition-monger. He might have +tried gentler means of extracting the truth than scourging, but that +process of 'examination,' as it is flatteringly called, was common, and +has not been antiquated for so many centuries that we need wonder at +this Roman officer using it. + +Paul submitted, and was already tied up to some whipping-post, in an +attitude which would expose his back to the lash, when he quietly +dropped, to the inferior officer detailed to superintend the flogging, +the question which fell like a bombshell. Possibly the Apostle had not +known what the soldiers were ordered to do with him till he was tied +up. We cannot tell why he did not plead his citizenship sooner. But we +may remember that at Philippi he did not plead it at all till after the +scourging. Why he delayed so long in the present instance, and why he +at last spoke the magic words, 'I am a Roman citizen,' we cannot say. +But we may gather the two lessons that Christ's servants are often wise +in submitting silently to wrongs, and that they are within their rights +in availing themselves of legal defences against illegal treatment. +Whether silence or protest is the more expedient must be determined in +each case by conscience, guided by the sought-for guidance of the +enlightening Spirit. The determining consideration should be, Which +course will best glorify my Master? + +The information brought the tribune in haste to the place where the +Apostle was still tied up. The tables were turned indeed. His brief +answer, 'Yea,' was accepted at once, for to claim the sacred name of +Roman falsely would have been too dangerous, and no doubt Paul's +bearing impressed the tribune with a conviction of his truthfulness. A +hint of contempt and doubt lies in his remark that he had paid dearly +for the franchise, which remark implies, 'Where did a poor man like you +get the money then?' A shameful trade in selling citizens' rights was +carried on in the degraded days of the Empire by underlings at court, +and no doubt the tribune had procured his citizenship in that way. +Paul's answer explains that he was born free, and so was above his +questioner. + +That discovery put an end to all thought of scourging. Paul was at once +liberated, and the tribune, terrified that he might be reported, seeks +to repair his error and changes his tactics, retaining Paul for safety +in the castle, and summoning the Sanhedrim, to try to find out more of +this strange affair through them. The great council of the nation had +sunk low indeed when it had to obey the call of a Roman soldier. + +Thus once more, as so continually in the Acts, Rome is friendly to the +Christian teachers and saves them from Jewish fury. To point out that +early protection and benevolent sufferance is one purpose of the whole +book. The days of Roman persecution had not yet come. The Empire was +favourable to Christianity, not only because its officials were too +proud to take interest in petty squabbles between two sects of Jews +about their absurd superstitions, but reasons of political wisdom +combined with supercilious indifference to bring about this attitude. + +The strong hand of Rome, too, if it crushed national independence, also +suppressed violence, kept men from flying at each other's throats, +spread peace over wide lands, and made the journeyings of Paul and the +planting of the early Christian Churches possible. It was a +God-appointed, though an imperfect, and in some aspects, mischievous +unity, and prepared the way for that higher form of unity realised in +the Church which finally shattered the coarser Empire which had at +first sheltered it. The Caesars were doing God's work when they were +following their own lust of empire. They were yoked to Christ's +chariot, though unwitting and unwilling. To them, as truly as to Cyrus, +might the divine voice have said, 'I girded thee, though thou hast not +known Me.' + + + +CHRIST'S WITNESSES + +'And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good +cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must +thou bear witness also at Rome.'--ACTS xxiii. 11. + +It had long been Paul's ambition to 'preach the Gospel to you that are +at Rome also.' His settled policy, as shown by this Book of the Acts, +was to fly at the head, to attack the great centres of population. We +trace him from Antioch to Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, +Ephesus; and of course Rome was the goal, where a blow struck at the +heart might reverberate through the empire. So he had planned for it, +and prayed about it, and thought about it, and spoken about it. But his +wish was accomplished, as our prayers and purposes so often are, in a +manner very strange to him. A popular riot in Jerusalem, a +half-friendly arrest by the contemptuous impartiality of a Roman +officer, a final rejection by the Sanhedrim, a prison in Caesarea, an +appeal to Caesar, a weary voyage, a shipwreck: this was the chain of +circumstances which fulfilled his desire, and brought him to the +imperial city. + +My text comes at the crisis of his fate. He has just been rejected by +his people, and for the moment is in safety in the castle under the +charge of the Roman garrison. One can fancy how, as he lay there in the +barrack that night, he felt that he had come to a turning-point; and +the thoughts were busy in his mind, 'Is this for life or for death? Am +I to do any more work for Christ, or am I silenced for ever?'--'And the +Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul!' The divine message +assured him that he should live; it testified of Christ's approbation +of his past, and promised him that, in recompense for that past, he +should have wider work to do. So he passed to the unknown future +quietly; and went on his way with the Master by his side. + +Now, dear friends, it seems to me that in these great words there lie +lessons applying to all Christian people as truly, though in different +fashion, as they did to the Apostle, and having an especial bearing on +that great enterprise of Christian missions, with which I would connect +them in this sermon. I desire, then, to draw out the lessons which seem +to me to lie under the surface of this great promise. + +I. To live ought to be, for a Christian, to witness. + +The promise in form is a promise of continued testimony-bearing; in its +substance, one might say, it is a promise of continued life. Paul is +cheered, not by being told that the wrath of the enemy will launch +itself at his head in vain, and that he will bear a charmed life +through it all, but by being told that there is work for him to do yet. +That is the shape in which the promise of life is held out to him. So +it always ought to be; a Christian man's life ought to be one +continuous witnessing for that Lord Christ who stood by the Apostle in +the castle at Jerusalem. + +Let me just urge this upon you for a few moments. It seems to me that +to raise up witnesses for Himself is, in one aspect, the very purpose +of all Christ's work. You and I, dear brethren, if we have any living +hold of that Lord, have received Him into our hearts, not only in order +that for ourselves we may rejoice in Him, but in order that, for +ourselves rejoicing in Him, we may 'show forth the virtues of Him who +hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.' There is no +creature so great as that he is not regarded as a means to a further +end; and there is no creature so small but that he has the right to +claim happiness and blessing from the Hand that made him. Jesus Christ +has drawn us to Himself, that we may know the sweetness of His +presence, the cleansing of His blood, the stirring and impulse of His +indwelling life in us for our own joy and our own completion, but also +that we may be His witnesses and weapons, according to that great word: +'This people have I formed for Myself. They shall shew forth My praise.' + +God has 'shined into our hearts in order that we may give,' reflecting +the beams that fall upon them, 'the light of the knowledge of the glory +of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.' Brother and sister, if you have +the Christian life in your souls, one purpose of your possessing it is +that you may bear witness for Him. + +Again, such witness-bearing is the result of all true, deep, Christian +life. All life longs to manifest itself in action. Every conviction +that a man has seeks for utterance; especially so do the beliefs that +go deepest and touch the moral and spiritual nature and relationships +of a man. He that perceives them is thereby impelled to desire to utter +them. There can be no real, deep possession of that great truth of the +Gospel which we profess to be the foundation of our personal lives, +unless we have felt the impulse to spread the name and to declare the +sweetness of the Lord. The very same impulse that makes the loving +heart carve the beloved name on the smooth rind of the tree makes it +sweet to one who is in real touch and living fellowship with Jesus +Christ to speak about Him. O brother! _there_ is a very sharp test for +us. I know that there are hundreds of professing Christians--decent, +respectable sort of people, with a tepid, average amount of Christian +faith and principle in them--who never felt that overmastering desire, +'I _must_ let this thing out through my lips.' Why? Why do they not +feel it? Because their own possession of Christ is so superficial and +partial. Jeremiah's experience will be repeated where there is vigorous +Christian life: 'Thy word shut up in my bones was like a fire'--that +burned itself through all the mass that was laid upon it, and ate its +way victoriously into the light--'and I was weary with forbearing, and +I could not stay.' Christian men and women, do you know anything of +that o'er-mastering impulse? If you do not, look to the depth and +reality of your Christian profession. + +Again, this witnessing is the condition of all strong life. If you keep +nipping the buds off a plant you will kill it. If you never say a word +to a human soul about your Christianity, your Christianity will tend to +evaporate. Action confirms and strengthens convictions; speech deepens +conviction; and although it is possible for any one--and some of us +ministers are in great danger of making the possibility a reality--to +talk away his religion, for one of us who loses it by speaking too much +about it, there are twenty that damage it by speaking too little. Shut +it up, and it will be like some wild creature put into a cellar, fast +locked and unventilated; when you open the door it will be dead. Shut +it up, as so many of our average Christian professors and members of +our congregations and churches do, and when you come to take it out, it +will be like some volatile perfume that has been put into a vial and +locked away in a drawer and forgotten; there will be nothing left but +an empty bottle, and a rotten cork. Speak your faith if you would have +your faith strengthened. Muzzle it, and you go a long way to kill it. +You are witnesses, and you cannot blink the obligation nor shirk the +duties without damaging that in yourselves to which you are to witness. + +Further, this task of witnessing for Christ can be done by all kinds of +life. I do not need to dwell upon the distinction between the two great +methods which open themselves out before every one of us. They do so; +for direct work in speaking the name of Jesus Christ is possible for +every Christian, whoever he or she is, however weak, ignorant, +uninfluential, with howsoever narrow a circle. There is always somebody +that God means to be the audience of His servant whenever that servant +speaks of Christ. Do you not know that there are people in this world, +as wives, children, parents, friends of different sorts, who would +listen to you more readily than they would listen to any one else +speaking about Jesus Christ? Friend, have you utilised these +relationships in the interests of that great Name, and in the highest +interests of the persons that sustain them to you, and of yourselves +who sustain these to them? + +And then there is indirect work that we can all do in various ways, I +do not mean only by giving money, though of course that is important, +but I mean all the manifold ways in which Christian people can show +their sympathy with, and their interest in, the various forms in which +adventurous, chivalrous, enterprising Christian benevolence expresses +itself. It was an old law in Israel that 'as his part was that went +down into the battle, so should his part be that tarried by the stuff.' +When victory was won and the spoil came to be shared, the men who had +stopped behind and looked after the base of operations and kept open +the communications received the same portion as the man that, in the +front rank of the battle, had rushed upon the spears of the Amalekites. +Why? Because from the same motive they had been co-operant to the same +great end. The Master has taken up that very thought, and has applied +it in relation to the indirect work of His people, when He says, 'He +that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a +prophet's reward.' The motive is the same; therefore the essential +character of the act is the same; therefore the recompense is +identical. You can witness for Christ directly, if you can say--and you +can all say if you like--'We have found the Messias,' and you can +witness for Christ by casting yourselves earnestly into sympathy with +and, so far as possible, help to the work that your brethren are doing. +Dear friends, I beseech you to remember that we are all of us, if we +are His followers, bound in our humble measure and degree, and with a +reverent apprehension of the gulf between us and Him, still to take up +His words and say, 'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I +into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth.' + +II. There is a second thought that I would suggest from these words, +and that is that secular events are ordered with a view to this +witnessing. + +Take the case before us. Here are two independent and hostile powers; +on the one hand the bigoted Jewish Sanhedrim, hating the Roman yoke; +and on the other hand the haughty and cruel pressure of that yoke on a +recalcitrant and reluctant people: and these two internecine enemies +are working on their own lines, each very willing to thwart the other, +Mechanicians talk of the 'composition of forces,' by which two +pressures acting at right angles to each other on a given object, +impart to it a diagonal motion. The Sanhedrim on the one side, +representing Judaism, and the captain of the castle on the other, +representing the Roman power, work into each other's hands, although +neither of them knows it; and work out the fulfilment of a purpose that +is hidden from them both. + +No doubt it would be a miserably inadequate account of things to say +that the Roman Empire came into existence for the sake of propagating +Christianity. No doubt it is always dangerous to account for any +phenomenon by the ends which, to our apprehension, it serves. But at +the same time the study of the purposes which a given thing, being in +existence, serves, and the study of the forces which brought it into +existence, ought to be combined, and when combined, they present a +double reason for adoring that great Providence which 'makes the wrath +of men to praise' it, and uses for moral and spiritual ends the +creatures that exist, the events that emerge, and even the godless +doings of godless men. + +So here we have a standing example of the way in which, like silk-worms +that are spinning threads for a web that they have no notion of, the +deeds of men that think not so are yet grasped and twined together by +Jesus Christ, the Lord of providence, so as to bring about the +realisation of His great purposes. And that is always so, more or less +clearly. + +For instance, if we wish to understand our own lives, do not let us +dwell upon the superficialities of joy or sorrow, gain or loss, but let +us get down to the depth, and see that all these externals have two +great purposes in view--first, that we may be made like our Lord, as +the Scripture itself says, 'That we may be partakers of His holiness,' +and then that we may bear our testimony to His grace and love. Oh, if +we would only look at life from that point of view, we should be +brought to a stand less often at what we choose to call the mysteries +of providence! Not enjoyment, not sorrow, but our perfecting in +godliness and of the increase of our power and opportunities to bear +witness to Him, are the intention of all that befalls us. + +I need not speak about how this same principle must be applied, by +every man who believes in a divine providence, to the wider events of +the world's history, I need not dwell upon that, nor will your time +allow me to do it, but one word I should like to say, and that is that +surely the two facts that we, as Christians, possess, as we believe, +the pure faith, and that we, as Englishmen, are members of a community +whose influence is world-wide, do not come together for nothing, or +only that some of you might make fortunes out of the East Indian and +China trade, but in order that all we English Christians might feel +that, our speaking as we do the language which is destined, as it would +appear, to run round the whole world, and our having, as we have, the +faith which we believe brings salvation to every man of every race and +tongue who accepts it, and our having this responsible necessary +contact with the heathen races, lay upon us English Christians +obligations the pressure and solemnity of which we have yet failed to +appreciate. + +Paul was immortal till his work was done. 'Be of good cheer, Paul; thou +must bear witness at Rome.' And so, for ourselves and for the Gospel +that we profess, the same divine Providence which orders events so that +His servants may have the opportunities of witnessing to it, will take +care that it shall not perish--notwithstanding all the premature +jubilation of anti-Christian literature and thought in this day--until +it has done its work. We need have no fear for ourselves, for though +our blind eyes often fail to see, and our bleeding hearts often fail to +accept, the conviction that there are no unfinished lives for His +servants, yet we may be sure that He will watch over each of His +children till they have finished the work that He gives them to do. And +we may be sure, in regard to His great Gospel, that nothing can sink +the ship that carries Christ and His fortunes. 'Be of good cheer ... +thou hast borne witness ... thou must bear witness.' + +III. Lastly, we have here another principle--namely that faithful +witnessing is rewarded by further witnessing. + +'Thou hast ... in Jerusalem,' the little city perched upon its crag; +'Thou must ... in Rome,' the great capital seated on its seven hills. +The reward for work is more work. Jesus Christ did not say to the +Apostle, though he was 'wearied with that which came upon him daily, +the care of all the churches,' 'Thou hast borne witness, and now come +apart and rest'; but He said to him, 'Thou hast filled the smaller +sphere; for recompense I put thee into a larger.' + +That is the law for life and everywhere, the tools to the hand that can +use them. The man that can do a thing gets it to do in too large a +measure, as he sometimes thinks; but he gets it, and it is all right +that he should. 'To him that hath shall be given.' And it is the law +for heaven. 'Thou hast borne witness down on the little dark earth; +come up higher and witness for Me here, amid the blaze.' + +It is the law for this Christian work of ours. If you have shone +faithfully in your 'little corner,' as the child's hymn says, you will +be taken out and set upon the lamp-stand, that you 'may give light to +all that are in the house.' And it is the law for this great enterprise +of Christian missions, as we all know. We are overwhelmed with our +success. Doors are opening around us on every side. There is no limit +to the work that English Churches can do, except their inclination to +do it. But the opportunities open to us require a far deeper +consecration and a far closer dwelling beside our Master than we have +ever realised. We are half asleep yet; we do not know our resources in +men, in money, in activity, in prayer. + +Surely there can be no sadder sign of decadence and no surer precursor +of extinction than to fall beneath the demands of our day; to have +doors opening at which we are too lazy or selfish to go in; to be so +sound asleep that we never hear the man of Macedonia when he stands by +us and cries, 'Come over and help us!' We are members of a Church that +God has appointed to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. We are +citizens of a nation whose influence is ubiquitous and felt in every +land. By both characters, God summons us to tasks which will tax all +our resources worthily to do. We inherit a work from our fathers which +God has shown that He owns by giving us these golden opportunities. He +summons us: 'Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. Come out of +Jerusalem; come into Rome.' Shall we respond? God give us grace to fill +the sphere in which He has set us, till He lifts us to the wider one, +where the faithfulness of the steward is exchanged for the authority of +the ruler, and the toil of the servant for the joy of the Lord! + + + +A PLOT DETECTED + +'And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound +themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink +till they had killed Paul. 13. And they were more than forty which had +made this conspiracy. 14. And they came to the chief priests and +elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we +will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15. Now therefore ye with +the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto +you to-morrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly +concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him. +16. And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went +and entered into the castle, and told Paul. 17. Then Paul called one of +the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief +captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. 18. So he took him, +and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner +called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, +who hath something to say unto thee. 19. Then the chief captain took +him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What +is that thou hast to tell me? 20. And he said, The Jews have agreed to +desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to-morrow into the +council, as though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly. +21. But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of +them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, +that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now +are they ready, looking for a promise from thee. 22. So the chief +captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell +no man that thou hast shewed these things to me.'--ACTS xxiii. 12-22. + +'The wicked plotteth against the just.... The Lord will laugh at him.' +The Psalmist's experience and his faith were both repeated in Paul's +case. His speech before the Council had set Pharisees and Sadducees +squabbling, and the former had swallowed his Christianity for the sake +of his being 'a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee.' Probably, +therefore, the hatchers of this plot were Sadducees, who hated +Pharisees even more than they did Christians. The Apostle himself was +afterwards not quite sure that his skilful throwing of the apple of +discord between the two parties was right (Acts xxiv. 21), and +apparently it was the direct occasion of the conspiracy. A Christian +man's defence of himself and his faith gains nothing by clever tactics. +It is very doubtful whether what Paul spoke 'in that hour' was taught +him by the Spirit. + +'The corruption of the best is the worst.' There is a close and strange +alliance between formal religion and murderous hatred and vulpine +craft, as the history of ecclesiastical persecution shows; and though +we have done with fire and faggot now, the same evil passions and +tempers do still in modified form lie very near to a Christianity which +has lost its inward union with Jesus and lives on surface adherence to +forms. In that sense too 'the letter killeth.' We lift up our hands in +horror at these fierce fanatics, 'ready to kill' Paul, because he +believed in resurrection, angel, and spirit. We need to guard ourselves +lest something of their temper should be in us. There is a devilish +ingenuity about the details of the plot, and a truly Oriental mixture +of murderous passion and calculating craft. The serpent's wisdom and +his poison fangs are both apparent. The forty conspirators must have +been 'ready,' not only to kill Paul, but to die in the attempt, for the +distance from the castle to the council-chamber was short, and the +detachment of legionaries escorting the prisoner would have to be +reckoned with. + +The pretext of desiring to inquire more fully into Paul's opinions +derived speciousness from his ambiguous declaration, which had set the +Council by the ears and had stopped his examination. Luke does not tell +us what the Council said to the conspirators, but we learn from what +Paul's nephew says in verse 20 that it 'agreed to ask thee to bring +down Paul.' So once more the tail drove on the head, and the Council +became the tool of fierce zealots. No doubt most of its members would +have shrunk from themselves killing Paul, but they did not shrink from +having a hand in his death. They were most religious and respectable +men, and probably soothed their consciences with thinking that, after +all, the responsibility was on the shoulders of the forty conspirators. +How men can cheat themselves for a while as to the criminality of +indirectly contributing to criminal acts, and how rudely the thin veil +will be twitched aside one day! + +II. The abrupt introduction of Paul's nephew into the story piques +curiosity, but we cannot say more about him than is told us here. We do +not know whether he was moved by being a fellow-believer in Jesus, or +simply by kindred and natural affection. Possibly he was, as his uncle +had been, a student under some distinguished Rabbi. At all events, he +must have had access to official circles to have come on the track of +the plot, which would, of course, be covered up as much as possible. +The rendering in the margin of the Revised Version gives a possible +explanation of his knowledge of it by suggesting that he had 'come in +upon them'; that is, upon the Council in their deliberations. But +probably the rendering preferred in the text is preferable, and we are +left to conjecture his source of information, as almost everything else +about him. But it is more profitable to note how God works out His +purposes and delivers His servants by 'natural' means, which yet are as +truly divine working as was the sending of the angel to smite off +Peter's chains, or the earthquake at Philippi. + +This lad was probably not an inhabitant of Jerusalem, and that he +should have been there then, and come into possession of the carefully +guarded secret, was more than a fortunate coincidence. It was divinely +ordered, and God's finger is as evident in the concatenation of +co-operating natural events as in any 'miracle.' To co-ordinate these +so that they concur to bring about the fulfilment of His will may be a +less conspicuous, but is not a less veritable, token of a sovereign +Will at work in the world than any miracle is. And in this case how +wonderfully separate factors, who think themselves quite independent, +are all handled like pawns on a chessboard by Him who 'makes the wrath +of man to praise Him, and girds Himself with the remainder thereof!' +Little did the fiery zealots who were eager to plunge their daggers +into Paul's heart, or the lad who hastened to tell him the secret he +had discovered, or the Roman officer who equally hastened to get rid of +his troublesome prisoner, dream that they were all partners in bringing +about one God-determined result--the fulfilment of the promise that had +calmed Paul in the preceding night: 'So must thou bear witness also at +Rome.' + +III. Paul had been quieted after his exciting day by the vision which +brought that promise, and this new peril did not break his peace. With +characteristic clear-sightedness he saw the right thing to do in the +circumstances, and with characteristic promptitude he did it at once. +Luke wastes no words in telling of the Apostle's emotions when this +formidable danger was sprung on him, and the very reticence deepens the +impression of Paul's equanimity and practical wisdom. A man who had had +such a vision last night might well possess his soul in patience, even +though such a plot was laid bare this morning; and each servant of +Jesus may be as well assured, as was Paul the prisoner, that the Lord +shall 'keep him from all evil,' and that if his life is 'witness' it +will not end till his witness is complete. Our faith should work in us +calmness of spirit, clearness of perception of the right thing to do, +swift seizing of opportunities. Paul trusted Jesus' word that he should +be safe, whatever dangers threatened, but that trust stimulated his own +efforts to provide for his safety. + +IV. The behaviour of the captain is noteworthy, as showing that he had +been impressed by Paul's personal magnetism, and that he had in him a +strain of courtesy and kindliness. He takes the lad by the hand to +encourage him, and he leads him aside that he may speak freely, and +thereby shows that he trusted him. No doubt the youth would be somewhat +flustered at being brought into the formidable presence and by the +weight of his tidings, and the great man's gentleness would be a +cordial. A superior's condescension is a wonderful lip-opener. We all +have some people who look up to us, and to whom small kindlinesses from +us are precious. We do not 'render to all their dues,' unless we give +gracious courtesy to those beneath, as well as 'honour' to those above, +us. But the captain could clothe himself too with official reserve and +keep up the dignity of his office. He preserved an impenetrable silence +as to his intentions, and simply sealed the young man's lips from +tattling about the plot or the interview with him. Promptly he acted, +without waiting for the Council's application to him. At once he +prepared to despatch Paul to Caesarea, glad enough, no doubt, to wash +his hands of so troublesome a charge. Thus he too was a cog in the +wheel, an instrument to fulfil the promise made in vision, God's +servant though he knew it not. + + + +A LOYAL TRIBUTE [Footnote: Preached on the occasion of the Jubilee of +Queen Victoria.] + +'...Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy +deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, 3. We accept it +always ... with all thankfulness.'--ACTS xxiv. 2-3. + +These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the +worst of the many bad Roman governors of Syria. The speaker knew that +he was lying, the listeners knew that the eulogium was undeserved; and +among all the crowd of bystanders there was perhaps not a man who did +not hate the governor, and would not have been glad to see him lying +dead with a dagger in his breast. + +But both the fawning Tertullus and the oppressor Felix knew in their +heart of hearts that the words described what a governor ought to be. +And though they are touched with the servility which is not loyalty, +and embrace a conception of the royal function attributing far more to +the personal influence of a monarch than our State permits, still we +may venture to take them as the starting-point for two or three +considerations suggested to us, by the celebrations of the past week. + +I almost feel that I owe an apology for turning to that subject, for +everything that can be said about it has been said far better than I +can say it. But still, partly because my silence might be +misunderstood, and partly because an opportunity is thereby afforded +for looking from a Christian point of view at one or two subjects that +do not ordinarily come within the scope of one's ministry, I venture to +choose such a text now. + +I. The first thing that I would take it as suggesting is the grateful +acknowledgment of personal worth. + +I suppose the world never saw a national rejoicing like that through +which we have passed. For the reigns that have been long enough to +admit of it have been few, and those in which intelligently and +sincerely a whole nation of freemen could participate have been fewer +still. But now all England has been one; whatever our divisions of +opinion, there have been no divisions here. Not only have the bonfires +flared from hill to hill in this little island of ours, but all over +the world, into every out of the way corner where our widely-spread +race has penetrated, the same sentiment has extended. All have yielded +to the common impulse, the rejoicing of a free people in a good Queen. + +That common sentiment has embraced two things, the office and the +person. There was a pathetic contrast between these two when that +sad-hearted widow walked alone up the nave of Westminster Abbey, and +took her seat on the stone of destiny on which for a millennium kings +have been crowned. The contrast heightened both the reverence due to +the office and the sympathy due to the woman. The Sovereign is the +visible expression of national power, the incarnation of England, +living history, the outcome of all the past, the representative of +harmonised and blended freedom and law, a powerful social influence +from which much good might flow, a moderating and uniting power amidst +fierce partisan bitterness and hate, a check against rash change. There +is no nobler office upon earth. + +And when, as is the case in this long reign, that office has been +filled with some consciousness of its responsibilities, the recognition +of the fact is no flattery but simple duty. We cannot attribute to the +personal initiative of the Queen the great and beneficent changes which +have coincided with her reign. Thank God, no monarch can make or mar +England now. But this we can say, + + 'Her court was pure, her life serene.' + +A life touched with many gracious womanly charities, delighting in +simple country pleasures, not strange to the homes of the poor, quick +to sympathise with sorrow, especially the humblest, as many a weeping +widow at a pit mouth has thankfully felt; sternly repressive of some +forms of vice in high places, and, as we may believe, not ignorant of +the great Comforter nor disobedient to the King of kings,--for such a +royal life a nation may well be thankful. We outsiders do not know how +far personal influence from the throne has in any case restrained or +furthered national action, but if it be true, as is alleged, that twice +in her reign the Queen has kept England from the sin and folly of war, +once from a fratricidal conflict with the great new England across the +Atlantic, then we owe her much. If in later years that life has +somewhat shrunk into itself and sat silent, with Grief for a companion, +those who know a like desolation will understand, and even the happy +may honour an undying love and respect the seclusion of an undying +sorrow. So I say: 'Forasmuch as under thee we enjoy great quietness, we +accept it with all thankfulness.' + +II. My text may suggest for us a wider view of progress which, although +not initiated by the Queen, has coincided with her fifty years' reign. + +In the Revised Version, instead of 'worthy deeds are done,' we read +'_evils are corrected_'; and that is the true rendering. The double +function which is here attributed falsely to an oppressive tyrant is +the ancient ideal of monarchy--first, that it shall repress disorders +and secure tranquillity within the borders and across the frontiers; +and second, that abuses and evils shall be corrected by the foresight +of the monarch. + +Now, in regard to both these functions we have learned that a nation +can do them a great deal better than a sovereign. And so when we speak +of progress during this fifty years' reign, we largely mean the +progress which England in its toiling millions and in its thinking few +has won for itself. Let me in very brief words try to touch upon the +salient points of that progress for which as members of the nation it +becomes us as Christian people to be thankful. Enough hosannas have +been sung already, and I need not add my poor voice to them, about +material progress and commercial prosperity and the growth of +manufacturing industry and inventions and all the rest of it. I do not +for a moment mean to depreciate these, but it is of more importance +that a telegraph should have something to say than that it should be +able to speak across the waters, and 'man doth not live by bread alone, +but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' We who live +in a great commercial community and know how solid comfort and hope and +gladness are all contingent, in millions of humble homes, upon the +manufacturing industry of these districts, shall never be likely to +underrate the enormous expansion in national industry, and the +consequent enormous increase in national wealth, which belongs to this +last half century. I need say nothing about these. + +Let me remind you, and I can only do it in a sentence or two, of more +important changes in these fifty years. English manners and morals have +been bettered, much of savagery and coarseness has been got rid of; +low, cruel amusements have been abandoned. Thanks to the great Total +Abstinence movement very largely, the national conscience has been +stirred in regard to the great national sin of intoxication. A national +system of education has come into operation and is working wonders in +this land. Newspapers and books are cheapened; political freedom has +been extended and 'broadened slowly down,' as is safe, 'from precedent +to precedent,' so that no party thinks now of reversing any of the +changes, howsoever fiercely they were contested ere they were won. +Religious thought has widened, the sects have come nearer each other, +men have passed from out of a hard doctrinal Christianity, in which the +person of Christ was buried beneath the cobwebs of theology, into a far +freer and a far more Christ-regarding and Christ-centred faith. And if +we are to adopt such a point of view as the brave Apostle Paul took, +the antagonism against religion, which is a marked feature of our +generation, and contrasts singularly with the sleepy acquiescence of +fifty years ago, is to be put down to the credit side of the account. +'For,' he said, like a bold man believing that he had an irrefragable +truth in his hands, 'I will tarry here, for a great door and an +effectual is opened, and there are many adversaries.' Wherever a whole +nation is interested and stirred about religious subjects, even though +it may be in contradiction and antagonism, God's truth can fight +opposition far better than it can contend with indifference. Then if we +look upon our churches, whilst there is amongst them all abounding +worldliness much to be deplored, there is also, thank God, springing up +amongst us a new consciousness of responsibility, which is not confined +to Christian people, for the condition of the poor and the degraded +around us; and everywhere we see good men and women trying to stretch +their hands across these awful gulfs in our social system which make +such a danger in our modern life, and to reclaim the outcasts of our +cities, the most hopeless of all the heathen on the face of the earth. +These things, on which I have touched with the lightest hand, all taken +together do make a picture for which we may be heartily thankful. + +Only, brethren, let us remember that that sort of talk about England's +progress may very speedily become offensive self-conceit, and a +measuring of ourselves with ludicrous self-satisfaction against all +other nations. There is a bastard patriotism which has been very +loud-mouthed in these last days, of which wise men should beware. + +Further, such a contemplation of the elements of national progress, +which we owe to no monarch and to no legislature, but largely to the +indomitable pluck and energy of our people, to Anglo-Saxon persistence +not knowing when it is beaten, and to the patient meditation of +thoughtful minds and the self-denying efforts of good philanthropical +and religious people--such a contemplation, I say, may come between us +and the recognition of the highest source from which it flows, and be +corrupted into forgetfulness of God. 'Beware lest when thou hast eaten +and art full, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that +thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget +the Lord thy God... and thou say in thine heart, My power, and the +might of mine hand, hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember +the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.' + +And the last caution that I would put in here is, let us beware lest +the hosannas over national progress shall be turned into 'Rest and be +thankful,' or shall ever come in the way of the strenuous and +persistent reaching forth to the fair ideal that lies so far before us. + +III. That leads me to the last point on which I would say a word, viz., +that my text with its reference to the correction of evils, as one of +the twin functions of the monarch, naturally suggests to us the thought +which should follow all recognition of progress in the past--the +consideration of what yet remains to be done. + +A great controversy has been going on, or at least a remarkable +difference of opinion has been expressed in recent months by two of the +greatest minds and clearest heads in England; one of our greatest poets +and one of our greatest statesmen. The one looking back over sixty +years sees but foiled aspirations and present devildom and misery. The +other looking back over the same period sees accomplished dreams and +the prophecy of further progress. It is not for me to enter upon the +strife between such authorities. Both are right. Much has been +achieved. 'There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.' +Whatever have been the victories and the blessings of the past, there +are rotten places in our social state which, if not cauterised and +healed, will break out into widespread and virulent sores. There are +dangers in the near future which may well task the skill of the bravest +and the faith of the most trustful. There are clouds on the horizon +which may speedily turn jubilations into lamentations, and the best +security against these is that each of us in his place, as a unit +however insignificant in the great body politic, should use our little +influence on the side that makes for righteousness, and see to it that +we leave some small corner of this England, which God has given us in +charge, sweeter and holier because of our lives. The ideal for you +Christian men and women is the organisation of society on Christian +principles. Have we got to that yet, or within sight of it, do you +suppose? Look round you. Does anybody believe that the present +arrangements in connection with unrestricted competition and the +distribution of wealth coincide accurately with the principles of the +New Testament? Will anybody tell me that the state of a hundred streets +within a mile of this spot is what it would be if the Christian men of +this nation lived the lives that they ought to live? Could there be +such rottenness and corruption if the 'salt' had not 'lost his savour'? +Will anybody tell me that the disgusting vice which our newspapers do +not think themselves degraded by printing in loathsome detail, and so +bringing the foulness of a common sewer on to every breakfast-table in +the kingdom, is in accordance with the organisation of society on +Christian principles? Intemperance, social impurity, wide, dreary +tracts of ignorance, degradation, bestiality, the awful condition of +the lowest layer in our great cities, crushed like some crumbling +bricks beneath the ponderous weight of the splendid superstructure, the +bitter partisan spirit of politics, where the followers of each chief +think themselves bound to believe that he is immaculate and that the +other side has no honour or truth belonging to it--these things testify +against English society, and make one almost despair when one thinks +that, after a thousand years and more of professing Christianity, that +is all that we can show for it. + +O brethren! we may be thankful for what has been accomplished, but +surely there had need also to be penitent recognition of failure and +defect. And I lay it on the consciences of all that listen to me now to +see to it that they do their parts as members of this body politic of +England. A great heritage has come down from our fathers; pass it on +bettered by your self-denial and your efforts. And remember that the +way to mend a kingdom is to begin by mending yourselves, and letting +Christ's kingdom come in your own hearts. Next we are bound to try to +further its coming in the hearts of others, and so to promote its +leavening society and national life. No Christian is clear from the +blood of men and the guilt of souls who does not, according to +opportunity and capacity, repair before his own door, and seek to make +some one know the unsearchable riches of the Gospel of Christ. + +There is no finality for a Christian patriot until his country be +organised on Christian principles, and so from being merely a 'kingdom +of the world' become 'a Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.' To help +forward that consummation, by however little, is the noblest service +that prince or peasant can render to his country. By conformity to the +will of God and not by material progress or intellectual enlightenment +is a state prosperous and strong. To keep His statutes and judgments is +'your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall +hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and +understanding people.' + + + +PAUL BEFORE FELIX + +'Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, +answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge +unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: 11. +Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days +since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. 12. And they neither found +me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, +neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: 13. Neither can they prove +the things whereof they now accuse me. 14. But this I confess unto +thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God +of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in +the prophets: 15. And have hope toward God, which they themselves also +allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just +and unjust. 16. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a +conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. 17. Now after +many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings. 18. +Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, +neither with multitude, nor with tumult 19. Who ought to have been here +before thee, and object, if they had ought against me. 20. Or else let +these same here say, if they have found any evil-doing in me, while I +stood before the council, 21. Except it be for this one voice, that I +cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am +called in question by you this day. 22. And when Felix heard these +things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, +and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know +the uttermost of your matter. 23. And he commanded a centurion to keep +Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of +his acquaintance to minister or come unto him. 24. And after certain +days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he +sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25. And as +he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix +trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a +convenient season, I will call for thee.'--ACTS xxiv. 10-25. + +Tertellus made three charges against Paul: first, that he incited to +rebellion; second, that he was a principal member of a 'sect'; third +(with a 'moreover,' as if an afterthought), that he had profaned the +Temple. It was more clever than honest to put the real cause of Jewish +hatred last, since it was a trifle in Roman eyes, and to put first the +only thing that Felix would think worth notice. A duller man than he +might have scented something suspicious in Jewish officials being so +anxious to suppress insurrection against Rome, and probably he had his +own thoughts about the good faith of the accusers, though he said +nothing. Paul takes up the three points in order. Unsupported charges +can only be met by emphatic denials. + +I. Paul's speech is the first part of the passage. Its dignified, +courteous beginning contrasts well with the accuser's dishonest +flattery. Paul will not lie, but he will respect authority, and will +conciliate when he can do so with truth. Felix had been 'judge' for +several years, probably about six. What sort of a judge he had been +Paul will not say. At any rate he had gained experience which might +help him in picking his way through Tertullus's rhetoric. + +The Apostle answers the first charge with a flat denial, with the +remark that as the whole affair was less than a fortnight old the truth +could easily be ascertained, and that the time was very short for the +Jews to have 'found' him such a dangerous conspirator, and with the +obviously unanswerable demand for proof to back up the charge. In the +absence of witnesses there was nothing more to be done about number one +of the accusations, and a just judge would have said so and sent +Tertullus and his clients about their business. + +The second charge Paul both denies and admits. He does belong to the +followers of Jesus of Nazareth. But that is not a 'sect'; it is 'the +Way.' It is not a divergence from the path in which the fathers have +walked, trodden only by some self-willed schismatics, but it is the one +God-appointed path of life, 'the old way,' the only road by which a man +can walk nobly and travel to the skies. Paul's whole doctrine as to the +relation of Judaism to Christianity is here in germ and in a form +adapted to Felix's comprehension. This so-called sect (ver. 14 takes up +Tertullus's word in ver. 5) is the true Judaism, and its members are +more truly 'Jews' than they who are such 'outwardly.' For what has Paul +cast away in becoming a Christian? Not the worship of the God of +Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, not the law, not the prophets, not +the hope of a resurrection. + +He does not say that he practises all the things written in the law, +but that he 'believes' them. Then the law was revelation as well as +precept, and was to be embraced by faith before it could be obeyed in +practice; it was, as he says elsewhere, a 'schoolmaster to bring us +unto Christ.' Judaism is the bud; Christianity is the bright consummate +flower. Paul was not preaching his whole Gospel, but defending himself +from a specific charge; namely that, as being a 'Nazarene,' he had +started off from the main line of Jewish religion. He admits that he is +a 'Nazarene,' and he assumes correctly that Felix knew something about +them, but he denies that he is a sectary, and he assumes that the +charge would be more truly made against those who, accusing him, +disbelieved in Christ. He hints that they did not believe in either law +or prophets, else they would have been Nazarenes too. + +The practical results of his faith are stated. 'Herein'; that is in the +faith and hope just spoken of. He will not say that these make him +blameless towards God and men, but that such blamelessness is his aim, +which he pursues with earnest toil and self-control. A Christianity +which does not sovereignly sway life and brace its professor up to the +self-denial needful to secure a conscience void of offence is not +Paul's kind of Christianity. If we move in the circle of the great +Christian truths we shall gird ourselves to subdue the flesh, and will +covet more than aught else the peace of a good conscience. But, like +Paul, we shall be slow to say that we have attained, yet not afraid to +say that we strive towards, that ideal. + +The third charge is met by a plain statement of his real purpose in +coming to Jerusalem and frequenting the Temple. 'Profane the Temple! +Why, I came all the way from Greece on purpose to worship at the Feast; +and I did not come empty-handed either, for I brought alms for my +nation'--the contributions of the Gentiles to Jews--'and I was a +worshipper, discharging the ceremonial purifications.' They called him +a 'Nazarene'; he was in the Temple as a 'Nazarite.' Was it likely that, +being there on such an errand, he should have profaned it? + +He begins a sentence, which would probably have been an indignant one, +about the 'certain Jews from Asia,' the originators of the whole +trouble, but he checks himself with a fine sense of justice. He will +say nothing about absent men. And that brings him back to his strong +point, already urged, the absence of proof of the charges. Tertullus +and company had only hearsay. What had become of the people who said +they saw him in the Temple? No doubt they had thought discretion the +better part of valour, and were not anxious to face the Roman procedure. + +The close of the speech carries the war into the enemy's quarters, +challenging the accusers to tell what they had themselves heard. They +_could_ be witnesses as to the scene at the Council, which Tertullus +had wisely said nothing about. Pungent sarcasm is in Paul's closing +words, especially if we remember that the high officials, like Ananias +the high-priest, were Sadducees. The Pharisees in the Council had +acquitted him when they heard his profession of faith in a +resurrection. That was his real crime, not treason against Rome or +profanation of the Temple. The present accusers might be eager for his +condemnation, but half of their own Sanhedrim had acquitted him. 'And +these unworthy Jews, who have cast off the nation's hope and believe in +no resurrection, are accusing me of being an apostate! Who is the +sectary--I or they?' + +II. There was only one righteous course for Felix, namely, to discharge +the prisoner. But he yielded to the same temptation as had mastered +Pilate, and shrank from provoking influential classes by doing the +right thing. He was the less excusable, because his long tenure of +office had taught him something, at all events, of 'the Way.' He had +too many crimes to venture on raising enemies in his government; he had +too much lingering sense of justice to give up an innocent man. So like +all weak men in difficult positions he temporised, and trusted to +accident to make the right thing easier for him. + +His plea for delay was conveniently indefinite. When was Lysias coming? +His letter said nothing about such an intention, and took for granted +that all the materials for a decision would be before Felix. Lysias +could tell no more. The excuse was transparent, but it served to stave +off a decision, and to-morrow would bring some other excuse. Prompt +carrying out of all plain duty is the only safety. The indulgence given +to Paul, in his light confinement, only showed how clearly Felix knew +himself to be doing wrong, but small alleviations do not patch up a +great injustice. + +III. One reading inserts in verse 24 the statement that Drusilla wished +to see Paul, and that Felix summoned him in order to gratify her. Very +probably she, as a Jewess, knew something of 'the Way,' and with a love +of anything odd and new, which such women cannot do without, she wanted +to see this curious man and hear him talk. It might amuse her, and pass +an hour, and be something to gossip about. + +She and Felix got more than they bargained for. Paul was not now the +prisoner, but the preacher; and his topics were not wanting in +directness and plainness. He 'reasoned of righteousness' to one of the +worst of unrighteous governors; of 'temperance' to the guilty couple +who, in calling themselves husband and wife, were showing themselves +given over to sinful passions; and of 'judgment to come' to a man who, +to quote the Roman historian, 'thought that he could commit all evil +with impunity.' + +Paul's strong hand shook even that obdurate soul, and roused one of the +two sleeping consciences. Drusilla may have been too frivolous to be +impressed, but Felix had so much good left that he could be conscious +of evil. Alas! he had so much evil that he suppressed the good. His +'convenient season' was then; it never came again. For though he +communed with Paul often, he trembled only once. So he passed into the +darkness. + + + +FELIX BEFORE PAUL + +_A Sermon to the Young_ + +'And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to +come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I +have a convenient season, I will call for thee.'--ACTS xxiv. 25. + +Felix and his brother had been favourite slaves of the Emperor, and so +had won great power at court. At the date of this incident he had been +for some five or six years the procurator of the Roman province of +Judaea; and how he used his power the historian Tacitus tells us in one +of his bitter sentences, in which he says, 'He wielded his kingly +authority with the spirit of a slave, in all cruelty and lust.' + +He had tempted from her husband, Drusilla, the daughter of that Herod +whose dreadful death is familiar to us all; and his court reeked with +blood and debauchery. He is here face to face with Paul for the second +time. On a former interview he had seen good reason to conclude that +the Roman Empire was not in much danger from this one Jew whom his +countrymen, with suspicious loyalty, were charging with sedition; and +so he had allowed him a very large margin of liberty. + +On this second occasion he had sent for him evidently not as a judge, +but partly with a view to try to get a bribe out of him, and partly +because he had some kind of languid interest, as most Romans then had, +in Oriental thought--some languid interest perhaps too in this strange +man. Or he and Drusilla were possibly longing for a new sensation, and +not indisposed to give a moment's glance at Paul with his singular +ideas. + +So they called for the Apostle, and the guilty couple found a judge in +their prisoner. Paul does not speak to them as a Greek philosopher, +anxious to please high personages, might have done, but he goes +straight at their sins: he reasons 'of righteousness' with the unjust +judge, 'of temperance' with the self-indulgent, sinful pair, 'of the +judgment to come' with these two who thought that they could do +anything they liked with impunity. Christianity has sometimes to be +exceedingly rude in reference to the sins of the upper classes. + +As Paul went on, a strange fear began to creep about the heart of +Felix. It is the watershed of his life that he has come to, the crisis +of his fate. Everything depends on the next five minutes. Will he +yield? Will he resist? The tongue of the balance trembles and hesitates +for a moment, and then, but slowly, the wrong scale goes down; 'Go thy +way for this time.' Ah! if he had said, 'Come and help me to get rid of +this strange fear,' how different all might have been! The metal was at +the very point of melting. What shape would it take? It ran into the +wrong mould, and, as far as we know, it was hardened there. 'It might +have been once, and he missed it, lost it for ever. No sign marked out +that moment from the common uneventful moments, though it saw the death +of a soul.' + +Now, my dear young friends, I do not intend to say anything more to you +of this man and his character, but I wish to take this incident and its +lessons and urge them on your hearts and consciences. + +I. Let me say a word or two about the fact, of which this incident is +an example, and of which I am afraid the lives of many of you would +furnish other examples, that men lull awakened consciences to sleep and +excuse delay in deciding for Christ by half-honest promises to attend +to religion at some future time. + +'Go thy way for this time' is what Felix is really anxious about. His +one thought is to get rid of Paul and his disturbing message for the +present. But he does not wish to shut the door altogether. He gives a +sop to his conscience to stop its barking, and he probably deceives +himself as to the gravity of his present decision by the lightly given +promise and its well-guarded indefiniteness, 'When I have a convenient +season I will send for thee.' The thing he really means is--Not now, at +all events; the thing he hoodwinks himself with is--By and by. Now that +is what I know that some of you are doing; and my purpose and earnest +prayer are to bring you now to the decision which, by one vigorous act +of your wills, will settle the question for the future as to which God +you are going to follow. + +So then I have just one or two things to say about this first part of +my subject. Let me remind you that however beautiful, however gracious, +however tender and full of love and mercy and good tidings the message +of God's love in Jesus Christ is, there is another side to it, a side +which is meant to rouse men's consciences and to awaken men's fears. + +If you bring a man like the man in the story, Felix, or a very much +better man than he--any of you who hear me now--into contact with these +three thoughts, 'Righteousness, temperance, judgment to come,' the +effect of such a direct appeal to moral convictions will always be more +or less to awaken a sense of failure, insufficiency, defect, sin, and +to create a certain creeping dread that if I set myself against the +great law of God, that law of God will have a way of crushing me. The +fear is well founded, and not only does the contemplation of God's +_law_ excite it. God's gospel comes to us, and just because it is a +gospel, and is intended to lead you and me to love and trust Jesus +Christ, and give our whole hearts and souls to Him--just because it is +the best 'good news' that ever came into the world, it begins often +(not always, perhaps) by making a man feel what a sinful man he is, and +how he has gone against God's law, and how there hang over him, by the +very necessities of the case and the constitution of the universe, +consequences bitter and painful. Now I believe that there are very few +people who, like you, come occasionally into contact with the preaching +of the truth, who have not had their moments when they felt--'Yes, it +is all true--it is all true. I _am_ bad, and I _have_ broken God's law, +and there _is_ a dark lookout before me!' I believe that most of us +know what that feeling is. + +And now my next step is--that the awakened conscience is just like the +sense of pain in the physical world, it has a work to do and a mission +to perform. It is meant to warn you off dangerous ground. Thank God for +pain! It keeps off death many a time. And in like manner thank God for +a swift conscience that speaks! It is meant to ring an alarm-bell to +us, to make us, as the Bible has it, 'flee for refuge to the hope that +is set before us.' My imploring question to my young friends now is: +'Have you used that sense of evil and wrongdoing, when it has been +aroused in your consciences, to lead you to Jesus Christ, or what have +you done with it?' + +There are two persons in this Book of the Acts of the Apostles who pass +through the same stages of feeling up to a certain point, and then they +diverge. And the two men's outline history is the best sermon that I +can preach upon this point. Felix becoming afraid, recoils, shuts +himself up, puts away the message that disturbs him, and settles +himself back into his evil. The Philippian jailer becoming afraid (the +phrases in the original being almost identical), like a sensible man +tries to find out the reason of his fear and how to get rid of it; and +falls down at the Apostles' feet and says, 'Sirs, what must I do to be +saved?' + +The fear is not meant to last; it is of no use in itself. It is only an +impelling motive that leads us to look to the Saviour, and the man that +uses it so has used it rightly. Yet there rises in many a heart that +transparent self-deception of delay. 'They all with one consent began +to make excuse'; that is as true to-day as it was true then. My +experience tells me that it will be true in regard to a sad number of +you who will go away feeling that my poor word has gone a little way +into their hardened hide, but settling themselves back into their +carelessness, and forgetting all impressions that have been made. O +dear young friend, do not do that, I beseech you! Do not stifle the +wholesome alarm and cheat yourself with the notion of a little delay! + +II. And now I wish next to pass very swiftly in review before you some +of the reasons why we fall into this habit of self-deceiving, +indecision, and delay--'Go thy way' would be too sharp and unmistakable +if it were left alone, so it is fined off. 'I will not commit myself +beyond to-day,' 'for this time go thy way, and when I have a convenient +season I will call for thee.' + +What are the reasons for such an attitude as that? Let me enumerate one +or two of them as they strike me. First, there is the instinctive, +natural wish to get rid of a disagreeable subject--much as a man, +without knowing what he is doing, twitches his hand away from the +surgeon's lancet. So a great many of us do not like--and no wonder that +we do not like--these thoughts of the old Book about 'righteousness and +temperance and judgment to come,' and make a natural effort to turn our +minds away from the contemplation of the subject, because it is painful +and unpleasant. Do you think it would be a wise thing for a man, if he +began to suspect that he was insolvent, to refuse to look into his +books or to take stock, and let things drift, till there was not a +halfpenny in the pound for anybody? What do you suppose his creditors +would call him? They would not compliment him on either his honesty or +his prudence, would they? And is it not the part of a wise man, if he +begins to see that something is wrong, to get to the bottom of it and, +as quickly as possible, to set it right? And what do you call people +who, suspecting that there may be a great hole in the bottom of the +ship, never man the pumps or do any caulking, but say, 'Oh, she will +very likely keep afloat until we get into harbour'? + +Do you not think that it would be a wiser thing for you if, _because_ +the subject is disagreeable, you would force yourself to think about it +until it became agreeable to you? You can change it if you will, and +make it not at all a shadow or a cloud or a darkness over you. And you +can scarcely expect to claim the designation of wise and prudent +orderers of your lives until you do. Certainly it is not wise to +shuffle a thing out of sight because it is not pleasing to think about. + +Then there is another reason. A number of our young people say, 'Go thy +way for this time,' because you have a notion that it is time enough +for you to begin to think about serious things and be religious when +you grow a bit older. And some of you even, I dare say, have an idea +that religion is all very well for people that are turned sixty and are +going down the hill, but that it is quite unnecessary for you. +Shakespeare puts a grim word into the mouth of one of his characters, +which sets the theory of many of us in its true light, when, describing +a dying man calling on God, he makes the narrator say: 'I, to comfort +him, bid him he should not think of God. I hoped there was no need to +trouble himself with any such thoughts yet.' + +Some of my hearers practically live on that principle, and are tempted +to regard thoughts of God as in place only among medicine bottles, or +when the shadows of the grave begin to fall cold and damp on our path. +'Young men will be young men,' 'We must sow our wild oats,' 'You can't +put old heads on young shoulders'--and such like sayings, often +practically mean that vice and godlessness belong to youth, and virtue +and religion to old age, just as flowers do to spring and fruit to +autumn. Let me beseech you not to be deceived by such a notion; and to +search your own thoughts and see whether it be one of the reasons which +leads you to say, 'Go thy way for this time.' + +Then again some of us fall into this habit of putting off the decision +for Christ, not consciously, not by any distinct act of saying, 'No, I +will not,' but simply by letting the impressions made on our hearts and +consciences be crowded out of them by cares and enjoyments and +pleasures and duties of this world. If you had not so much to study at +College, you would have time to think about religion. If you had not so +many parties and balls to go to, you would have time to nourish and +foster these impressions. If you had not your place to make in the +warehouse, if you had not this, that, and the other thing to do; if you +had not love and pleasure and ambition and advancement and mental +culture to attend to, you would have time for religion; but as soon as +the seed is sown and the sower's back is turned, hovering flocks of +light-winged thoughts and vanities pounce down upon it and carry it +away, seed by seed. And if some stray seed here and there remains and +begins to sprout, the ill weeds which grow apace spring up with ranker +stems and choke it. 'The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of +riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and +efface the impression made upon your hearts. + +Here as I speak some serious thought is roused; by to-morrow at midday +it has all gone. You did not intend it to go, you did not set yourself +to banish it, you simply opened the door to the flocking in of the +whole crowd of the world's cares and occupations, and away went the +shy, solitary thought that, if it had been cared for and tended, might +have led you at last to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Do not allow +yourselves to be drifted, by the rushing current of earthly cares, from +the impressions that are made upon your consciences and from the duty +that you know you ought to do! + +And then some of you fall into this attitude of delay, and say to the +messenger of God's love, 'Go thy way for this time,' because you do not +like to give up something that you know is inconsistent with His love +and service. Felix would not part with Drusilla nor disgorge the +ill-gotten gains of his province. Felix therefore was obliged to put +away from him the thoughts that looked in that direction. I wonder if +there is any young man listening to me now who feels that if he lets my +words carry him where they seek to carry him, he will have to give up +'fleshly lusts which war against the soul'? I wonder if there is any +young woman listening to me now who feels that if she lets my words +carry her where they would carry her, she will have to live a different +life from that which she has been living, to have more of a high and a +noble aim in it, to live for something else than pleasure? I wonder if +there are any of you who are saying, 'I cannot give up that'? My dear +young friend, 'If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from +thee. It is better for thee to enter into life blind than with both +eyes to be cast into hell-fire.' + +Reasons for delay, then, are these: first, getting rid of an unpleasant +subject; second, thinking that there is time enough; third, letting the +world obliterate the impressions that have been made; and fourth, +shrinking from the surrender of something that you know you will have +to give up. + +III. And now let me very briefly, as my last point, put before you one +or two of the reasons which I would fain might be conclusive with you +for present decision to take Christ for your Saviour and your Master. + +And I say, Do not delay, but _now_ choose Him for your Redeemer, your +Friend, your Helper, your Commander, your All; because delay is really +decision in the wrong way. Do not delay, but take Jesus Christ as the +Saviour of your sinful souls, and rest your hearts upon Him to-night +before you sleep; because there is no real reason for delay. No season +will be more convenient than the present season. Every time is the +right time to do the right thing, every time is the right time to begin +following Him. There is nothing to wait for. There is no reason at all, +except their own disinclination, why every man and woman listening to +me should not now grasp the Cross of Christ as their only hope for +forgiveness and acceptance, and yield themselves to that Lord, to live +in His service for ever. Let not this day pass without your giving +yourselves to Jesus Christ, because every time that you have this +message brought to you, and you refuse to accept it, or delay to accept +it, you make yourselves less capable of receiving it another time. + +If you take a bit of phosphorus and put it upon a slip of wood and +ignite the phosphorus, bright as the blaze is, there drops from it a +white ash that coats the wood and makes it almost incombustible. And so +when the flaming conviction laid upon your hearts has burnt itself out, +it has coated the heart, and it will be very difficult to kindle the +light there again. Felix said, 'Go thy way, when I have a more +convenient season I will send for thee.' Yes, and he did send for Paul, +and he talked with him often--he repeated the conversation, but we do +not know that he repeated the trembling. He often communed with Paul, +but it was only once that he was alarmed. You are less likely to be +touched by the Gospel message for every time that you have heard it and +put it away. That is what makes my place here so terribly responsible, +and makes me feel that my words are so very feeble in comparison with +what they ought to be. I know that I may be doing harm to men just +because they listen and are not persuaded, and so go away less and less +likely to be touched. + +Ah, dear friends! you will perhaps never again have as deep impressions +as you have now; or at least they are not to be reckoned upon as +probable, for the tendency of all truth is to lose its power by +repetition, and the tendency of all emotion which is not acted upon is +to become fainter and fainter. And so I beseech you that now you would +cherish any faint impression that is being made upon your hearts and +consciences. Let it lead you to Christ; and take Him for your Lord and +Saviour now. + +I say to you: Do that now because delay robs you of large blessing. You +will never want Jesus Christ more than you do to-day. You need Him in +your early hours. Why should it be that a portion of your lives should +be left unfilled by that rich mercy? Why should you postpone possessing +the purest joy, the highest blessing, the divinest strength? Why should +you put off welcoming your best Friend into your heart? Why should you? + +I say to you again, Take Christ for your Lord, because delay inevitably +lays up for you bitter memories and involves dreadful losses. There are +good Christian men and women, I have no doubt, in this world now, who +would give all they have, if they could blot out of the tablets of +their memories some past hours of their lives, before they gave their +hearts to Jesus Christ. I would have you ignorant of such +transgression. O young men and women! if you grow up into middle life +not Christians, then should you ever become so, you will have habits to +fight with, and remembrances that will smart and sting; and some of +you, perhaps, remembrances that will pollute, even though you are +conscious that you are forgiven. It is a better thing not to know the +depths of evil than to know them and to have been raised from them. You +will escape infinite sorrows by an early cleaving to Christ your Lord. + +And last of all I say to you, give yourselves now to Jesus Christ, +because no to-morrow may be yours. Delay is gambling, very +irrationally, with a very uncertain thing--your life and your future +opportunities. 'You know not what shall be on the morrow.' + +For a generation I have preached in Manchester these annual sermons to +the young. Ah, how many of those that heard the early ones are laid in +their graves; and how many of them were laid in _early_ graves; and how +many of them said, as some of you are saying, 'When I get older I will +turn religious'! And they never got older. It is a commonplace word +that, but I leave it on your hearts. You have no time to lose. + +Do not delay, because delay is decision in the wrong way; do not delay, +because there is no reason for delay; do not delay, because delay robs +you of a large blessing; do not delay, because delay lays up for you, +if ever you come back, bitter memories; do not delay, because delay may +end in death. And for all these reasons, come as a sinful soul to +Christ the Saviour; and ask Him to forgive you, and follow in His +footsteps, and do it now! 'To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden +not your hearts.' + + + +CHRIST'S REMONSTRANCES + +'And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking +unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why perseoutest +thou Me! it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.'--ACTS xxvi. +14. + +'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' No. But +God can change the skin, because He can change the nature. In this +story of the conversion of the Apostle Paul--the most important thing +that happened that day--we have an instance how brambles may become +vines; tares may become wheat; and a hater of Jesus Christ may be +changed in a moment into His lover and servant, and, if need be, His +martyr. + +Now the very same motives and powers which were brought to bear upon +the Apostle Paul by miracle are being brought to bear upon every one of +us; and my object now is just to trace the stages of the process set +forth here, and to ask some of you, if you, like Paul, have been +'obedient to the heavenly vision.' Stages, I call them, though they +were all crowded into a moment, for even the lightning has to pass +through the intervening space when it flashes from one side of the +heavens to another, and we may divide its path into periods. Time is +very elastic, as any of us whose lives have held great sorrows or great +joys or great resolutions well know. + +I. The first of these all but simultaneous and yet separable stages was +the revelation of Jesus Christ. + +Of course to the Apostle it was mediated by miracle; but real as he +believed that appearance of the risen Lord in the heavens to be, and +valid as he maintained that it was as the ground of his Apostleship, he +himself, in one of his letters, speaks of the whole incident as being +the revelation of God's Son in him. The revelation in heart and mind +was the main thing, of which the revelation to eye and ear were but +means. The means, in his case, are different from those in ours; the +end is the same. To Paul it came like the rush of a cataract that the +Christ whom he had thought of as lying in an unknown grave was living +in the heavens and ruling there. You and I, I suppose, do not need to +be convinced by miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; but the +bare fact that Jesus was living in the heavens would have had little +effect upon Saul, unless it had been accompanied with the revelation of +the startling fact that between him and Jesus Christ there were close +personal relations, so that he had to do with Jesus, and Jesus with him. + +'Saul, Saul! why persecutest thou Me?' They used to think that they +could wake sleep-walkers by addressing them by name. Jesus Christ, by +speaking His name to the Apostle, wakes him out of his diseased +slumber, and brings him to wholesome consciousness. There are +stringency and solemnity of address in that double use of the name +'Saul, Saul!' + +What does such an address teach you and me? That Jesus Christ, the +living, reigning Lord of the universe, has perfect knowledge of each of +us, and that we each stand isolated before Him, as if all the light of +omniscience were focussed upon us. He knows our characters; He knows +all about us, and more than that, He directly addresses Himself to each +man and woman among us. + +We are far too apt to hide ourselves in the crowd, and let all the +messages of God's love, the warnings of His providences, as well as the +teachings and invitations and pleadings of His gospel, fly over our +heads as if they were meant vaguely for anybody. But they are all +intended for _thee_, as directly as if thou, and thou only, wert in the +world. I beseech you, lay this to heart, that although no audible +sounds may rend the silent heavens, nor any blaze may blind thine eye, +yet that as really, though not in the same outward fashion as Saul, +when they were all fallen to the earth, felt himself to be singled out, +and heard a voice 'speaking to _him_ in the Hebrew tongue, saying, +Saul, Saul!' _thou_ mayest hear a voice speaking to thee in the English +tongue, by thy name, and directly addressing its gracious remonstrances +and its loving offers to thy listening ear. I want to sharpen the blunt +'whosoever' into the pointed 'thou.' And I would fain plead with each +of my friends hearing me now to believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ +is meant for thee, and that Christ speaks to _thee_. 'I have a message +from God unto thee,' just as Nathan said unto David. '_Thou_ art the +man!' + +Do not lose yourselves in the crowd or hide yourselves from the +personal incidence of Christ's offer, but feel that you stand, as you +do indeed, alone the hearer of His voice, the possible recipient of His +saving mercy. + +II. Secondly, notice, as another stage in this process the discovery of +the true character of the past. + +'Why persecutest thou Me?' Now I am not going to be tempted from my +more direct purpose in this sermon to dwell even for a moment on the +beautiful, affecting, strengthening thought here, of the unity of Jesus +Christ with all the humble souls that love Him, so as that, whatsoever +any member suffers, the Head suffers with it. I must leave that truth +untouched. + +Saul was brought to look at all his past life as standing in immediate +connection with Jesus Christ. Of course he knew before the vision that +he had no love to Him whom he thought to be a Galilean impostor, and +that the madness with which he hated the servants was only the glancing +off of the arrow that he would fain have aimed at the Master. But he +did not know that Jesus Christ counted every blow struck at one of His +servants as being struck at Him. Above all he did not know that the +Christ whom he was persecuting was reigning in the heavens. And so his +whole past life stood before him in a new aspect when it was brought +into close connection with Christ, and looked at as in relation to Him. + +The same process would yield very remarkable results if applied to our +lives. If I could only get you for one quiet ten minutes, to lay all +your past, as far as memory brought it to your minds, right before that +pure and loving Face, I should have done much. One infallible way of +judging of the rottenness or goodness of our actions is that we should +bring them where they will all be brought one day, into the brightness +of Christ's countenance. If you want to find out the flaws in some +thin, badly-woven piece of cloth, you hold it up against the light, do +you not? and then you see all the specks and holes, and the irregular +threads. Hold up your lives in like fashion against the light, and I +shall be surprised if you do not find enough there to make you very +much ashamed of yourselves. Were you ever on the stage of a theatre in +the daytime? Did you ever see what miserable daubs the scenes look, and +how seamy it all is when the pitiless sunshine comes in? Let that great +light pour on your life, and be thankful if you find out what a daub it +has been, whilst yet colours and brushes and time are at your disposal, +and you may paint the future fairer than the past. + +Again, this revelation of Saul's past life disclosed its utter +unreasonableness. That one question, '_Why_ persecutest thou Me?' +pulverised the whole thing. It was like the wondering question so +unanswerable in the Psalm, 'Why do the heathen rage, and the people +imagine a vain thing?' If you take into account what you are, and where +you stand, you can find no reason, except utterly unreasonable ones, +for the lives that I fear some of us are living--lives of godlessness +and Christlessness. There is nothing in all the world a tithe so stupid +as sin. There is nothing so unreasonable, if there be a God at all, and +if we depend upon Him, and have duties to Him, as the lives that some +of you are living. You admit, most of you, that there is such a God; +you admit, most of you, that you do hang upon Him; you admit, in +theory, that you ought to love and serve Him. The bulk of you call +yourselves Christians. That is to say, you believe, as a piece of +historical fact, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this +world and died for men. And, believing that, you turn your back on Him, +and neither love nor serve nor trust Him nor turn away from your +iniquity. Is there anything outside a lunatic asylum more madlike than +that? 'Why persecutest thou?' 'And he was speechless,' for no answer +was possible. Why neglectest thou? Why forgettest thou? Why, admitting +what thou dost, art thou not an out-and-out Christian? If we think of +all our obligations and relations, and the facts of the universe, we +come back to the old saying, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of +wisdom,' and any man who, like many of my hearers, fails to give his +heart and life to Jesus Christ will one day have to say, 'Behold, I +have played the fool, and erred exceedingly.' Wake up, my brother, to +apply calm reason to your lives while yet there is time, and face the +question, Why dost thou stand as thou dost to Jesus Christ? There is +nothing sadder than the small share that deliberate reason and +intelligent choice have in the ordering of most men's lives. You live +by impulse, by habit, by example, by constraint of the outward +necessities of your position. But I am sure that there are many amongst +us now who have very seldom, if ever, sat down and said, 'Now let me +think, until I get to the ultimate grounds of the course of life that I +am pursuing.' You can carry on the questions very gaily for a step or +two, but then you come to a dead pause. 'What do I do so-and-so for?' +'Because I like it.' 'Why do I like it?' 'Because it meets my needs, or +my desires, or my tastes, or my intellect.' Why do you make the meeting +of your needs, or your desires, or your tastes, or your intellect your +sole object? Is there any answer to that? The Hindoos say that the +world rests upon an elephant, and the elephant rests upon a tortoise. +What does the tortoise rest on? Nothing! Then that is what the world +and the elephant rest on. And so, though you may go bravely through the +first stages of the examination, when you come to the last question of +all, you will find out that your whole scheme of life is built upon a +blunder; and the blunder is this, that anybody can be blessed without +God. + +Further, this disclosure of the true character of his life revealed to +Saul, as in a lightning flash, the ingratitude of it. + +'Why persecutest thou Me?' That was as much as to say, 'What have I +done to merit thy hate? What have I _not_ done to merit rather thy +love?' Paul did not know all that Jesus Christ had done for him. It +took him a lifetime to learn a little of it, and to tell his brethren +something of what he had learned. And he has been learning it ever +since that day when, outside the walls of Rome, they hacked off his +head. He has been learning more and more of what Jesus Christ has done +for him, and why he should not persecute Him but love Him. + +But the same appeal comes to each of us. What has Jesus Christ done for +thee, my friend, for me, for every soul of man? He has loved me better +than His own life. He has given Himself for me. He has lingered beside +me, seeking to draw me to Himself, and He still lingers. And this, at +the best, tremulous faith, this, at the warmest, tepid love, this, at +the completest, imperfect devotion and service, are all that we bring +to Him; and some of us do not bring even these. Some of us have never +known what it was to sacrifice one inclination for the sake of Christ, +nor to do one act for His dear love's sake, nor to lean our weakness +upon Him, nor to turn to Him and say, 'I give Thee myself, that I may +possess Thee.' 'Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and +unwise?' I have heard of wounded soldiers striking with their bayonets +at the ambulance men who came to help them. That is like what some of +you do to the Lord who died for your healing, and comes as the +Physician, with bandages and with balm, to bind up the brokenhearted. +'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?' + +III. Lastly, we have here a warning against self-inflicted wounds. + +That second clause of the remonstrance on the lips of Christ in my text +is, according to the true reading, not found in the account of Paul's +conversion in the ninth chapter of this book. My text is from Paul's +own story; and it is interesting to notice that he adds this eminently +pathetic and forcible appeal to the shorter account given by the writer +of the book. It had gone deep into his heart, and he could not forget. + +The metaphor is a very plain one. The ox-goad was a formidable weapon, +some seven or eight feet in length, shod with an iron point, and +capable of being used as a spear, and of inflicting deadly wounds at a +pinch. Held in the firm hand of the ploughman, it presented a sharp +point to the rebellious animal under the yoke. If the ox had readily +yielded to the gentle prick, given, not in anger, but for guidance, it +had been well. But if it lashes out with its hoofs against the point, +what does it get but bleeding flanks? Paul had been striking out +instead of obeying, and he had won by it only bloody hocks. + +There are two truths deducible from this saying, which may have been a +proverb in common use. One is the utter futility of lives that are +spent in opposing the divine will. There is a strong current running, +and if you try to go against it you will only be swept away by it. +Think of some little fishing coble coming across the bow of a great +ocean-going steamer. What will be the end of that? Think of a +pony-chaise jogging up the line, and an express train thundering down +it. What will be the end of that? Think of a man lifting himself up and +saying to God, 'I will _not_!' when God says, 'Do thou this!' or 'Be +thou this!' What will be the end of that? 'The world passeth away, and +the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' +'It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks'--hard in regard to +breaches of common morality, as some of my friends sitting quietly in +these pews very well know. It is hard to indulge in sensual sin. You +cannot altogether dodge what people call the 'natural consequences'; +but it was God who made Nature; and so I call them God-inflicted +penalties. It is hard to set yourselves against Christianity. I am not +going to speak of that at all now, only when we think of the +expectations of victory with which so many antagonists of the Cross +have gaily leaped into the arena, and of how the foes have been +forgotten and there stands the Cross still, we may say of the whole +crowd, beginning with the earliest, and coming down to the latest +brand-new theory that is going to explode Christianity--'it is hard to +kick against the pricks.' Your own limbs you may wound; you will not do +the goad much harm. + +But there is another side to the proverb of my text, and that is the +self-inflicted harm that comes from resisting the pricks of God's +rebukes and remonstrances, whether inflicted by conscience or by any +other means; including, I make bold to say, even such poor words as +these of mine. For if the first little prick of conscience, a warning +and a guide, be neglected, the next will go a great deal deeper. The +voice which, before you do the wrong thing, says to you, 'Do not do +it,' in tones of entreaty and remonstrance, speaks, after you have done +it, more severely and more bitterly. The Latin word _remorse_, and the +old English name for conscience, 'again-bite'--which latter is a +translation of the other--teach us the same lesson, that the gnawing +which comes after wrong done is far harder to bear than the touch that +should have kept us from the evil. The stings of marine jelly-fish will +burn for days after, if you wet them. And so all wrong-doing, and all +neglect of right-doing of every sort, carries with it a subsequent +pain, or else the wounded limb _mortifies_, and that is worse. There is +no pain then; it would be better if there were. There is such a +possibility as to have gone on so obstinately kicking against the +pricks and leaving the wounds so unheeded, as that they mortify and +feeling goes. A conscience 'seared with a hot iron' is ten times more +dreadful than a conscience that pains and stings. + +So, dear brethren, let me beseech you to listen to the pitying Christ, +who says to us each, more in sorrow than in anger, 'It is hard for thee +to kick against the pricks.' It is no pleasure to Him to hold the goad, +nor that we should wound ourselves upon it. He has another question to +put to us, with another 'why,' 'Why should ye be stricken any more? +Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die, O house of Israel?' + +There is another metaphor drawn from the employment of oxen which we +may set side by side with this of my text: 'Take My yoke upon you, and +ye shall find rest unto your souls.' The yoke accepted, the goad is +laid aside; and repose and healing from its wounds are granted to us. +Dear brethren, if you will listen to the Christ revealed in the +heavens, as knowing all about you, and remonstrating with you for your +unreasonableness and ingratitude, and setting before you the miseries +of rebellion and the suicide of sin, then you will have healing for all +your wounds, and your lives will neither be self-tormenting, futile, +nor unreasonable. The mercy of Jesus Christ lavished upon you makes +your yielding yourselves to Him your only rational course. Anything +else is folly beyond comparison and harm and loss beyond count. + + + +FAITH IN CHRIST + +'...Faith that is in Me.'--ACTS xxvi. 18. + +It is commonly said, and so far as the fact is concerned, said truly, +that what are called the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity are +rather found in the Epistles than in the Gospels. If we wish the +clearest statements of the nature and person of Christ, we turn to +Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. If we wish the fullest dissertation +upon Christ's work as a sacrifice, we go to the Epistle to the Hebrews. +If we seek to prove that men are justified by faith, and not by works, +it is to the Epistles to Romans and Galatians that we betake +ourselves,--to the writings of the servant rather than the words of the +Master. Now this fuller development of Christian doctrine contained in +the teaching of the Apostles cannot be denied, and need not be wondered +at. The reasons for it I am not going to enter upon at present; they +are not far to seek. Christ came not to _speak_ the Gospel, but _to be_ +the Gospel. But then, this truth of a fuller development is often +over-strained, as if Christ 'spake nothing concerning priesthood,' +sacrifices, faith. He _did_ so speak when on earth. It is often misused +by being made the foundation of an inference unfavourable to the +authority of the Apostolic teaching, when we are told, as we sometimes +are, that not Paul but Jesus speaks the words which we are to receive. + +Here we have Christ Himself speaking from the heavens to Paul at the +very beginning of the Apostle's course, and if any one asks us where +did Paul get the doctrines which he preached, the answer is, Here, on +the road to Damascus, when blind, bleeding, stunned, with all his +self-confidence driven out of him--with all that he had been crushed +into shivers--he saw his Lord, and heard Him speak. These words spoken +then are the germ of all Paul's Epistles, the keynote to which all his +writings are but the melody that follows, the mighty voice of which all +his teaching is but the prolonged echo. 'Delivering thee,' says Christ +to him, 'from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send +thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from +the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, +and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me.' +Now, I ask you, what of Paul's Gospel is not here? Man's ruin, man's +depravity and state of darkness, the power of Satan, the sole +redemptive work of Christ, justification by belief in that, +sanctification coming with justification, and glory and rest and heaven +at last--there they all are in the very first words that sounded upon +the quickened ear of the blinded man when he turned from darkness to +light. + +It would be foolish, of course, to try to exhaust such a passage as +this in a sermon. But notice, what a complete summary of Christian +truth there lies in that one last clause of the verse, 'Inheritance +among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.' Translate that +into distinct propositions, and they are these: Faith refers to Christ; +that is the first thing. Holiness depends on faith; that is the next: +'_sanctified_ by faith.' Heaven depends on holiness: that is the last: +'_inheritance_ among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.' +So there we have the whole gospel! + +To the one part of this comprehensive summary which is contained in my +text I desire to turn now, in hope of gathering from it some truths as +to that familiar word 'faith' which may be of use to us all. The +expression is so often on our lips that it has come to be almost +meaningless in many minds. These keywords of Scripture meet the same +fate as do coins that have been long in circulation. They pass through +so many fingers that the inscriptions get worn off them. We can all +talk about faith and forgiveness and justifying and sanctifying, but +how few of us have definite notions as to what these words that come so +easily from our lips mean! There is a vast deal of cloudy haze in the +minds of average church and chapel goers as to what this wonder-working +faith may really be. Perhaps we may then be able to see large and +needful truths gleaming in these weighty syllables which Christ Jesus +spoke from heaven to Paul, 'faith that is in Me.' + +I. In the first place, then, the object of faith is Christ. + +'Faith that is in Me' is that which is directed towards Christ as its +object. Christianity is not merely a system of truths about God, nor a +code of morality deducible from these. In its character of a +revelation, it is the revelation of God in the person of His Son. +Christianity in the soul is not the belief of these truths about God, +still less the acceptance and practice of these pure ethics, but the +affiance and the confidence of the whole spirit fixed upon the +redeeming, revealing Christ, + +True, the object of our faith is Christ as made known to us in the +facts of His recorded life and the teaching of His Apostles. True, our +only means of knowing Him as of any other person whom we have never +seen, are the descriptions of Him, His character and work, which are +given. True, the empty name 'Christ' has to be filled with the +doctrinal and biographical statements of Scripture before the Person on +whom faith is to fix can be apprehended or beheld. True, it is Christ +as He is made known to us in the word of God, the Incarnate Son, the +perfect Man, the atoning Sacrifice, the risen Lord, the ascended +Intercessor in whom we have to trust. The characteristics and +attributes of Christ are known to us only by biographical statements +and by doctrinal propositions. These must be understood in some measure +and accepted, ere there can be faith in Him. Apart from them, the image +of Christ must stand a pale, colourless phantom before the mind, and +the faith which is directed towards such a nebula will be an +unintelligent emotion, as nebulous and impotent as the vagueness +towards which it turns. + +Thus far, then, the attempt which is sometimes made to establish a +Christianity without doctrines on the plea that the object of faith is +not a proposition, but a person, must be regarded as nugatory; for how +can the 'person' be an object of thought at all, but through the +despised 'propositions'? + +But while on the one hand it is true that Christ as revealed in these +doctrinal statements of Scripture, the divine human Saviour, is the +Object of faith, on the other hand it is to be remembered that it is +He, and not the statements about Him, who is the Object. + +Look at His own words. He does not merely say to us, 'Believe this, +that, and the other thing about Me; put your credence in this and the +other doctrine; accept this and the other promise; hope for this and +the other future thing.' All these come with but are not the central +act. He says, 'Believe: believe in Me! "_I_ am the Way, and the Truth, +and the Life": He that cometh to _Me_ shall never hunger, and he that +believeth in _Me_ shall never thirst.' Do we rightly appreciate that? I +think that if people firmly grasped this truth--that Christ is the +Gospel, and that the Object of faith is not simply the truths that are +recorded here in the word, but He with regard to whom these truths are +recorded--it would clear away rolling wreaths of fog and mist from +their perceptions. The whole feeling and attitude of a man's mind is +different, according as he is trusting a person, or according as he is +believing something about a person. And this, therefore, is the first +broad truth that lies here. Faith has reference not merely to a +doctrine, not to a system; but deeper than all these, to a living +Lord--'faith that is _in Me_.' + +I cannot help observing, before I go on--though it may be somewhat of a +digression--what a strong inference with regard to the divinity of +Christ is deducible from this first thought that He is the Object to +whom faith has reference. If you look into the Old Testament, you will +find constantly, 'Trust ye in the Lord for ever'; 'Put thy trust in +Jehovah!' There, too, though under the form of the Law, there, too, +faith was the seed and germ of all religion. There, too, though under +the hard husk of apparently external obedience and ceremonial +sacrifices, the just lived by faith. Its object was the Jehovah of that +ancient covenant. Religion has always been the same in every +dispensation. At every time, that which made a man a devout man has +been identically the same thing. It has always been true that it has +been faith which has bound man to God, and given man hope. But when we +come to the New Testament, the centre is shifted, as it would seem. +What has become of the grand old words, 'Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah'? +Look! Christ stands there, and says, 'Believe upon Me'! With calm, +simple, profound dignity, He lays His hand upon all the ancient and +consecrated words, upon all the ancient and hallowed emotions that used +to set towards the unseen God between the cherubim, throned above +judgment and resting upon mercy; and He says, 'They are Mine--give them +to Me! That ancient trust, I claim the right to have it. That old +obedience, it belongs to Me. I am He to whom in all time the loving +hearts of them that loved God, have set. I am the Angel of the +Covenant, in whom whoever trusteth shall never be confounded.' And I +ask you just to take that one simple fact, that Christ thus steps, in +the New Testament--in so far as the direction of the religious emotions +of faith and love are concerned--that Christ steps into the place +filled by the Jehovah of the Old; and ask yourselves honestly what +theory of Christ's nature and person and work explains that fact, and +saves Him from the charge of folly and blasphemy? 'He that believeth +upon Me shall never hunger.' Ah, my brother! He was no mere _man_ who +said that. He that spake from out of the cloud to the Apostle on the +road to Damascus, and said, 'Sanctified by faith that is in Me,' was no +mere _man_. Christ was our brother and a man, but He was the Son of +God, the divine Redeemer. The Object of faith is Christ; and as Object +of faith He must needs be divine. + +II. And now, secondly, closely connected with and springing from this +thought as to the true object of faith, arises the consideration as to +the nature and the essence of the act of faith itself. + +_Whom_ we are to trust in we have seen: what it is to _have_ faith may +be very briefly stated. If the Object of faith were certain truths, the +assent of the understanding would be enough. If the Object of faith +were unseen things, the confident persuasion of them would be +sufficient. If the Object of faith were promises of future good, the +hope rising to certainty of the possession of these would be +sufficient. But if the Object be more than truths, more than unseen +realities, more than promises; if the Object be a living Person,--then +there follows inevitably this, that faith is not merely the assent of +the understanding, that faith is not merely the persuasion of the +reality of unseen things, that faith is not merely the confident +expectation of future good; but that faith is the personal relation of +him who has it to the living Person its Object,--the relation which is +expressed not more clearly, perhaps a little more forcibly to us, by +substituting another word, and saying, Faith is _trust_. + +And I think that there again, by laying hold of that simple principle, +Because Christ is the Object of Faith, therefore Faith must be trust, +we get bright and beautiful light upon the grandest truths of the +Gospel of God. If we will only take that as our explanation, we have +not indeed defined faith by substituting the other word for it, but we +have made it a little more clear to our apprehensions, by using a +non-theological word with which our daily acts teach us to connect an +intelligible meaning. If we will only take that as our explanation, how +simple, how grand, how familiar too it sounds,--to _trust_ Him! It is +the very same kind of feeling, though different in degree, and +glorified by the majesty and glory of its Object, as that which we all +know how to put forth in our relations with one another. We trust each +other. That is faith. We have confidence in the love that has been +around us, breathing benedictions and bringing blessings ever since we +were little children. When the child looks up into the mother's face, +the symbol to it of all protection, or into the father's eye, the +symbol to it of all authority,--that emotion by which the little one +hangs upon the loving hand and trusts the loving heart that towers +above it in order to bend over it and scatter good, is the same as the +one which, glorified and made divine, rises strong and immortal in its +power, when fixed and fastened on Christ, and saves the soul. The +Gospel rests upon a mystery, but the practical part of it is no +mystery. When we come and preach to you, 'Trust in Christ and thou +shalt be saved,' we are not asking you to put into exercise some +mysterious power. We are only asking you to give to Him that which you +give to others, to transfer the old emotions, the blessed emotions, the +exercise of which makes gladness in life here below, to transfer them +to Him, and to rest safe in the Lord. Faith is trust. The living Person +as its Object rises before us there, in His majesty, in His power, in +His gentleness, and He says, 'I shall be contented if thou wilt give to +Me these emotions which thou dost fix now, to thy death and loss, on +the creatures of a day.' Faith is mighty, divine, the gift of God; but +Oh! it is the exercise of a familiar habit, only fixed upon a divine +and eternal Person. + +And if this be the very heart and kernel of the Christian doctrine of +faith--that it is simple personal trust in Jesus Christ; it is worthy +of notice, how all the subsidiary meanings and uses of the word flow +out of that, whilst it cannot be explained by any of them. People are +in the habit of setting up antitheses betwixt faith and reason, betwixt +faith and sight, betwixt faith and possession. They say, 'We do not +_know_, we must _believe_'; they say, 'We do not _see_, we must have +faith'; they say, 'We do not _possess_, we must trust.' Now faith--the +trust in Christ--the simple personal relation of confidence in +Him--_that_ lies beneath all these other meanings of the word. For +instance, faith is, in one sense, the opposite and antithesis of sight; +because Christ, unseen, having gone into the unseen world, the +confidence which is directed towards Him must needs pass out beyond the +region of sense, and fix upon the immortal verities that are veiled by +excess of light at God's right hand. Faith is the opposite of sight; +inasmuch as Christ, having given us assurance of an unseen and +everlasting world, we, trusting in Him, believe what He says to us, and +are persuaded and know that there are things yonder which we have never +seen with the eye nor handled with the hand. Similarly, faith is the +completion of reason; because, trusting Christ, we believe what He +says, and He has spoken to us truths which we in ourselves are unable +to discover, but which, when revealed, we accept on the faith of His +truthfulness, and because we rely upon Him. Similarly, faith is +contrasted with present possession, because Christ has promised us +future blessings and future glories; and having confidence in the +Person, we believe what He says, and know that we shall possess them. +But the root from which spring the power of faith as the opposite of +sight, the power of faith as the telescope of reason, the power of +faith as the 'confidence of things not possessed,' is the deeper +thing--faith in the Person, which leads us to believe Him whether He +promises, reveals, or commands, and to take His words as verity because +He _is_ 'the Truth.' + +And then, again, if this, the personal trust in Christ as our living +Redeemer--if this be faith, then there come also, closely connected +with it, certain other emotions or feelings in the heart. For instance, +if I am trusting to Christ, there is inseparably linked with it +self-distrust. There are two sides to the emotion; where there is +reliance upon another, there must needs be non-reliance upon self. Take +an illustration. There is the tree: the trunk goes upward from the +little seed, rises into the light, gets the sunshine upon it, and has +leaves and fruit. That is the upward tendency of faith--trust in +Christ. There is the root, down deep, buried, dark, unseen. Both are +springing, but springing in apposite directions, from the one seed. +That is, as it were, the negative side, the downward +tendency--self-distrust. The two things go together--the positive +reliance upon another, the negative distrust of myself. There must be +deep consciousness not only of my own impotence, but of my own +sinfulness. The heart must be emptied that the seed of faith may grow; +but the entrance in of faith is itself the means for the emptying of +the heart. The two things co-exist; we can divide them in thought. We +can wrangle and squabble, as divided sects hare done, about which comes +first, the fact being, that though you can part them in thought, you +cannot part them in experience, inasmuch as they are but the obverse +and the reverse, the two sides of the same coin. Faith and +repentance--faith and self-distrust--they are done in one and the same +indissoluble act. + +And again, faith, as thus conceived of, will obviously have for its +certain and immediate consequence, love. Nay, the two emotions will be +inseparable and practically co-existent. In thought we can separate +them. Logically, faith comes first, and love next, but in life they +will spring up together. The question of their order of existence is an +often-trod battle-ground of theology, all strewed with the relics of +former fights. But in the real history of the growth of religious +emotions in the soul, the interval which separates them is impalpable, +and in every act of trust, love is present, and fundamental to every +emotion of love to Christ is trust in Christ. + +But without further reference to such matters, here is the broad +principle of our text. Trust in Christ, not mere assent to a principle, +personal dependence upon Him revealed as the 'Lamb of God that taketh +away the sin of the world,' an act of the will as well as of the +understanding, and essentially an act of the will and not of the +understanding--that is the thing by which a soul is saved. And much of +the mist and confusion about saving faith, and non-saving faith, might +be lifted and dispersed if we once fully apprehended and firmly held by +the divine simplicity of the truth, that faith is trust in Jesus Christ. + +III. Once more: from this general definition there follows, in the +third place, an explanation of the power of faith. + +'We are justified,' says the Bible, 'by faith.' If a man believes, he +is saved. Why so? Not, as some people sometimes seem to fancy, as if in +faith itself there was any merit. There is a very strange and subtle +resurrection of the whole doctrine of works in reference to this +matter; and we often hear belief in the Gospel of Christ spoken about +as if _it_, the work of the man believing, was, in a certain way and to +some extent, that which God rewarded by giving him salvation. What is +that but the whole doctrine of works come up again in a new form? What +difference is there between what a man does with his hands and what a +man feels in his heart? If the one merit salvation, or if the other +merit salvation, equally we are shut up to this,--Men get heaven by +what they do; and it does not matter a bit what they do it with, +whether it be body or soul. When we say we are saved by faith, we mean +accurately, _through_ faith. It is God that saves. It is Christ's life, +Christ's blood, Christ's sacrifice, Christ's intercession, that saves. +Faith is simply the channel through which there flows over into my +emptiness the divine fulness; or, to use the good old illustration, it +is the hand which is held up to receive the benefit which Christ lays +in it. A living trust in Jesus has power unto salvation, only because +it is the means by which 'the power of God unto salvation' may come +into my heart. On one side is the great ocean of Christ's love, +Christ's abundance, Christ's merits, Christ's righteousness; or, +rather, there is the great ocean of Christ Himself, which includes them +all; and on the other is the empty vessel of my soul--and the little +narrow pipe that has nothing to do but to bring across the refreshing +water, is the act of faith in Him. There is no merit in the dead lead, +no virtue in the mere emotion. It is not faith that saves us; it is +Christ that saves us, and saves us through faith. + +And now, lastly, these principles likewise help us to understand +wherein consists the guilt and criminality of unbelief. People are +sometimes disposed to fancy that God has arbitrarily selected this one +thing, believing in Jesus Christ, as the means of salvation, and do not +distinctly see why and how non-belief is so desperate and criminal a +thing. I think that the principles that I have been trying feebly to +work out now, help us to see how faith is not arbitrarily selected as +the instrument and means of our salvation. There is no other way of +effecting it. God could not save us in any other way than that, +salvation being provided, the condition of receiving it should be trust +in His Son. + +And next they show where the guilt of unbelief lies. Faith is not first +and principally an act of the understanding; it is not the mere assent +to certain truths. I believe, for my part, that men are responsible +even for their intellectual processes, and for the beliefs at which +they arrive by the working of these; and I think it is a very shallow +philosophy that stands up and says--(it is almost exploded now, and +perhaps not needful even to mention it)--that men are 'no more +responsible for their belief than they are for the colour of their +hair.' Why, if faith were no more than an intellectual process, it +would still be true that they are responsible for it; but the faith +that saves a man, and unbelief that ruins a man, are not processes of +the understanding alone. It is the will, the heart, the whole moral +being, that is concerned. Why does any one not trust Jesus Christ? For +one reason only: because _he will not_. Why has any one not faith in +the Lamb of God? Because his whole nature is turning away from that +divine and loving Face, and is setting itself in rebellion against it. +Why does any one refuse to believe? Because he has confidence in +himself; because he has not a sense of his sins; because he has not +love in his heart to his Lord and Saviour. Men are responsible for +unbelief. Unbelief is criminal, because it is a moral act--an act of +the whole nature. Belief or unbelief is the test of a man's whole +spiritual condition, just because it is the whole being, affections, +will, conscience and all, as well as the understanding, which are +concerned in it. And therefore Christ, who says, 'Sanctified by faith +that is in Me,' says likewise, 'He that believeth not, shall be +condemned.' + +And now, brethren, take this one conviction into your hearts, that what +makes a man a Christian--what saves my soul and yours--what brings the +love of Christ into any life, and makes the sacrifice of Christ a power +to pardon and purify,--that that is not merely believing this Book, not +merely understanding the doctrines that are there, but a far more +profound act than that. It is the casting of myself upon Himself, the +bending of my willing heart to His loving Spirit; the close contact, +heart to heart, soul to soul, will to will, of my emptiness with His +fulness, of my sinfulness with His righteousness, of my death with His +life: that I may live by Him, be sanctified by Him, be saved by Him, +'with an everlasting salvation.' Faith is trust: Christ is the Objeet +of faith. Faith is the condition of salvation; and unbelief is your +fault, your loss--the crime which ruins men's souls! + + + +'BEFORE GOVERNORS AND KINGS' + +'Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly +vision: 20. But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, +and throughout all the coasts of Judsea, and then to the Gentiles, that +they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. +21. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about +to kill me. 22. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto +this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things +than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come; 23. That +Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise +from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the +Gentiles. 24. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud +voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. +25. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the +words of truth and soberness. 26. For the king knoweth of these things, +before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these +things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. +27. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou +believest. 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me +to be a Christian. 29. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only +thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and +altogether such as I am, except these bonds. 30. And when he had thus +spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that +sat with them: 31. And when they were gone aside, they talked between +themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. +32. Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at +liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.'--ACTS xxvi. 19-32. + +Festus was no model of a righteous judge, but he had got hold of the +truth as to Paul, and saw that what he contemptuously called 'certain +questions of their own superstition,' and especially his assertion of +the Resurrection, were the real crimes of the Apostle in Jewish eyes. +But the fatal wish to curry favour warped his course, and led him to +propose a removal of the 'venue' to Jerusalem. Paul knew that to return +thither would seal his death-warrant, and was therefore driven to +appeal to Rome. + +That took the case out of Festus's jurisdiction. So that the hearing +before Agrippa was an entertainment, got up for the king's diversion, +when other amusements had been exhausted, rather than a regular +judicial proceeding. Paul was examined 'to make a Roman holiday.' +Festus's speech (chap. xxv. 24-27) tries to put on a colour of desire +to ascertain more clearly the charges, but that is a very thin pretext. +Agrippa had said that he would like 'to hear the man,' and so the +performance was got up 'by request.' Not a very sympathetic audience +fronted Paul that day. A king and his sister, a Roman governor, and all +the elite of Caesarean society, ready to take their cue from the faces +of these three, did not daunt Paul. The man who had seen Jesus on the +Damascus road could face 'small and great.' + +The portion of his address included in the passage touches +substantially the same points as did his previous 'apologies.' We may +note how strongly he puts the force that impelled him on his course, +and lays bare the secret of his life. 'I was not disobedient to the +heavenly vision'; then the possibility of disobedience was open after +he had heard Christ ask, 'Why persecutest thou Me?' and had received +commands from His mouth. Then, too, the essential character of the +charge against him was that, instead of kicking against the owner's +goad, he had bowed his neck to his yoke, and that his obstinate will +had melted. Then, too, the 'light above the brightness of the sun' +still shone round him, and his whole life was one long act of obedience. + +We note also how he sums up his work in verse 20, representing his +mission to the Gentiles as but the last term in a continuous widening +of his field, from Damascus to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Judaea (a +phase of his activity not otherwise known to us, and for which, with +our present records, it is difficult to find a place), from Judaea to +the Gentiles. Step by step he had been led afield, and at each step the +'heavenly vision' had shone before him. + +How superbly, too, Paul overleaps the distinction of Jew and Gentile, +which disappeared to him in the unity of the broad message, which was +the same to every man. Repentance, turning to God, works worthy of +repentance, are as needful for Jew as for Gentile, and as open to +Gentile as to Jew. What but universal can such a message be? To limit +it would be to mutilate it. + +We note, too, the calmness with which he lays his finger on the real +cause of Jewish hate, which Festus had already found out. He does not +condescend to rebut the charge of treason, which he had already +repelled, and which nobody in his audience believed. He is neither +afraid nor angry, as he quietly points to the deadly malice which had +no ground but his message. + +We further note the triumphant confidence in God and assurance of His +help in all the past, so that, like some strong tower after the most +crashing blows of the battering-ram, he still 'stands.' 'His steps had +wellnigh slipped,' when foe after foe stormed against him, but 'Thy +mercy, O Lord, held me up.' + +Finally, Paul gathers himself together, to leave as his last word the +mighty sentence in which he condenses his whole teaching, in its aspect +of witness-bearing, in its universal destination and identity to the +poorest and to loftily placed men and women, such as sat languidly +looking at him now, in its perfect concord with the earlier revelation, +and in its threefold contents, that it was the message of the Christ +who suffered, who rose from the dead, who was the Light of the world. +Surely the promise was fulfilled to him, and it was 'given him in that +hour what he should speak.' + +The rustle in the crowd was scarcely over, when the strong masterful +voice of the governor rasped out the coarse taunt, which, according to +one reading, was made coarser (and more lifelike) by repetition, 'Thou +art mad, Paul; thou art mad.' So did a hard 'practical man' think of +that strain of lofty conviction, and of that story of the appearance of +the Christ. To be in earnest about wealth or power or science or +pleasure is not madness, so the world thinks; but to be in earnest +about religion, one's own soul, or other people's, is. Which was the +saner, Paul, who 'counted all things but dung that he might win +Christ,' or Festus, who counted keeping his governorship, and making +all that he could out of it, the one thing worth living for? Who is the +madman, he who looks up and sees Jesus, and bows before Him for +lifelong service, or he who looks up and says, 'I see nothing up there; +I keep my eyes on the main chance down here'? It would be a saner and a +happier world if there were more of us mad after Paul's fashion. + +Paul's unruffled calm and dignity brushed aside the rude exclamation +with a simple affirmation that his words were true in themselves, and +spoken by one who had full command over his faculties; and then he +turned away from Festus, who understood nothing, to Agrippa, who, at +any rate, did understand a little. Indeed, Festus has to take the +second place throughout, and it may have been the ignoring of him that +nettled him. For all his courtesy to Agrippa, he knew that the latter +was but a vassal king, and may have chafed at Paul's addressing him +exclusively. + +The Apostle has finished his defence, and now he towers above the petty +dignitaries before him, and goes straight at the conscience of the +king. Festus had dismissed the Resurrection of 'one Jesus' as +unimportant: Paul asserted it, the Jews denied it. It was not worth +while to ask which was right. The man was dead, that was agreed. If +Paul said He was alive after death, that was only another proof of +madness, and a Roman governor had more weighty things to occupy him +than investigating such obscure and absurd trifles. But Agrippa, though +not himself a Jew, knew enough of the history of the last twenty years +to have heard about the Resurrection and the rise of the Church. No +doubt he would have been ready to admit his knowledge, but Paul shows a +disposition to come to closer quarters by his swift thrust, 'Believest +thou the prophets?' and the confident answer which the questioner gives. + +What was the Apostle bringing these two things--the publicity given to +the facts of Christ's life, and the belief in the prophets--together +for? Obviously, if Agrippa said Yes, then the next question would be, +'Believest thou the Christ, whose life and death and resurrection thou +knowest, and who has fulfilled the prophets thereby?' That would have +been a hard question for the king to answer. His conscience begins to +be uncomfortable, and his dignity is wounded by this extremely rude +person, who ventures to talk to him as if he were a mere common man. He +has no better answer ready than a sarcasm; not a very forcible one, +betraying, however, his penetration into, and his dislike of, and his +embarrassment at, Paul's drift. His ironical words are no confession of +being 'almost persuaded,' but a taunt. 'And do you really suppose that +it is so easy a matter to turn me--the great Me, a Herod, a king,' and +he might have added, a sensual bad man, 'into a Christian?' + +Paul met the sarcastic jest with deep earnestness, which must have +hushed the audience of sycophants ready to laugh with the king, and +evidently touched him and Festus. His whole soul ran over in yearning +desire for the salvation of them all. He took no notice of the gibe in +the word _Christian_, nor of the levity of Agrippa. He showed that +purest love fills his heart, that he has found the treasure which +enriches the poorest and adds blessedness to the highest. So peaceful +and blessed is he, a prisoner, that he can wish nothing better for any +than to be like him in his faith. He hints his willingness to take any +pains and undergo any troubles for such an end; and, with almost a +smile, he looks at his chains, and adds, 'except these bonds.' + +Did Festus wince a little at the mention of these, which ought not to +have been on his wrists? At all events, the entertainment had taken +rather too serious a turn for the taste of any of the three,--Festus, +Agrippa, or Bernice. If this strange man was going to shake their +consciences in that fashion, it was high time to end what was, after +all, as far as the rendering of justice was concerned, something like a +farce. + +So with a rustle, and amid the obeisances of the courtiers, the three +rose, and, followed by the principal people, went through the form of +deliberation. There was only one conclusion to be come to. He was +perfectly innocent. So Agrippa solemnly pronounced, what had been known +before, that he had done nothing worthy of death or bonds, though he +had 'these bonds' on his arms; and salved the injustice of keeping an +innocent man in custody by throwing all the blame on Paul himself for +appealing to Csesar. But the person to blame was Festus, who had forced +Paul to appeal in order to save his life. + + + +'THE HEAVENLY VISION' + +'Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly +vision.' Acts xxvi. 19. + +This is Paul's account of the decisive moment in his life on which all +his own future, and a great deal of the future of Christianity and of +the world, hung. The gracious voice had spoken from heaven, and now +everything depended on the answer made in the heart of the man lying +there blind and amazed. Will he rise melted by love, and softened into +submission, or hardened by resistance to the call of the exalted Lord? +The somewhat singular expression which he employs in the text, makes us +spectators of the very process of his yielding. For it might be +rendered, with perhaps an advantage, 'I _became_ not disobedient'; as +if the 'disobedience' was the prior condition, from which we see him in +the very act of passing, by the melting of his nature and the yielding +of his will. Surely there have been few decisions in the world's +history big with larger destinies than that which the captive described +to Agrippa in the simple words: 'I became not disobedient unto the +heavenly vision.' + +I. Note, then, first, that this heavenly vision shines for us too. + +Paul throughout his whole career looked back to the miraculous +appearance of Jesus Christ in the heavens, as being equally availably +as valid ground for his Christian convictions as were the appearances +of the Lord in bodily form to the Eleven after His resurrection. And I +may venture to work the parallel in the inverse direction, and to say +to you that what we see and know of Jesus Christ is as valid a ground +for our convictions, and as true and powerful a call for our obedience, +as when the heaven was rent, and the glory above the midday sun bathed +the persecutor and his followers on the stony road to Damascus. For the +revelation that is made to the understanding and the heart, to the +spirit and the will, is the same whether it be made, as it was to Paul, +through a heavenly vision, or, as it was to the other Apostles, through +the facts of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, +which their senses certified to them, or, as it is to us, by the record +of the same facts, permanently enshrined in Scripture. Paul's sight of +Christ was for a moment; we can see Him as often and as long as we +will, by turning to the pages of this Book. Paul's sight of Christ was +accompanied with but a partial apprehension of the great and +far-reaching truths which he was to learn and to teach, as embodied in +the Lord whom he saw. To see Him was the work of a moment, to 'know +Him' was the effort of a lifetime. We have the abiding results of the +lifelong process lying ready to our hands in Paul's own letters, and we +have not only the permanent record of Christ in the Gospels instead of +the transient vision in the heavens, and the unfolding of the meaning +and bearings of the historical facts, in the authoritative teaching of +the Epistles, but we have also, in the history of the Church founded on +these, in the manifest workings of a divine power for and through the +company of believers, as well as in the correspondence between the +facts and doctrines of Christianity and the wants of humanity, a vision +disclosed and authenticated as heavenly, more developed, fuller of +meaning and more blessed to the eyes which see it, than that which was +revealed to the persecutor as he reeled from his horse on the way to +the great city. + +Dear brethren, they who see Christ in the word, In the history of the +world, in the pleading of the preacher, in the course of the ages, and +who sometimes hear His voice in the warnings which He breathes into +their consciences, and in the illuminations which He flashes on their +understanding, need ask for no loftier, no more valid and irrefragable +manifestation of His gracious self. To each of us this vision is +granted. May I say, without seeming egotism to you it is granted even +through the dark and cloudy envelope of my poor words? + +II. The vision of Christ, howsoever perceived, comes demanding +obedience. + +The purpose for which Jesus Christ made Himself known to Paul was to +give him a charge which should influence his whole life. And the manner +in which the Lord, when He had appeared, prepared the way for the +charge was twofold. He revealed Himself in His radiant glory, in His +exalted being, in His sympathetic and mysterious unity with them that +loved Him and trusted Him, in His knowledge of the doings of the +persecutor; and He disclosed to Saul the inmost evil that lurked in his +own heart, and showed him to his bewilderment and confusion, how the +course that he thought to be righteousness and service was blasphemy +and sin. So, by the manifestation of Himself enthroned omniscient, +bound by the closest ties of identity and of sympathy with all that +love Him, and by the disclosure of the amazed gazer's evil and sin, +Jesus Christ opened the way for the charge which bore in its very heart +an assurance of pardon, and was itself a manifestation of His love. + +In like manner all heavenly visions are meant to secure human +obedience. We have not done what God means us to do with any knowledge +of Him which He grants, unless we utilise it to drive the wheels of +life and carry it out into practice in our daily conduct. Revelation is +not meant to satisfy mere curiosity or the idle desire to know. It +shines above us like the stars, but, unlike them, it shines to be the +guide of our lives. And whatsoever glimpse of the divine nature, or of +Christ's love, nearness, and power, we have ever caught, was meant to +bow our wills in glad submission, and to animate our hands for diligent +service and to quicken our feet to run in the way of His commandments. + +There is plenty of idle gazing, with more or less of belief, at the +heavenly vision. I beseech you to lay to heart this truth, that Christ +rends the heavens and shows us God, not that men may know, but that men +may, knowing, do; and all His visions are the bases of commandments. So +the question for us all is, What are we doing with what we know of +Jesus Christ? Nothing? Have we translated our thoughts of Him into +actions, and have we put all our actions under the control of our +thoughts of Him? It is not enough that a man should say, 'Whereupon I +_saw_ the vision,' or, 'Whereupon I was _convinced_ of the vision,' or, +'Whereupon I _understood_ the vision.' Sight, apprehension, theology, +orthodoxy, they are all very well, but the right result is, 'Whereupon +I was _not disobedient_ to the heavenly vision.' And unless your +knowledge of Christ makes you do, and keep from doing, a thousand +things, it is only an idle vision, which adds to your guilt. + +But notice, in this connection, the peculiarity of the obedience which +the vision requires. There is not a word, in this story of Paul's +conversion, about the thing which Paul himself always puts in the +foreground as the very hinge upon which conversion turns--viz. faith. +Not a word. The name is not here, but the thing is here, if people will +look. For the obedience which Paul says that he rendered to the vision +was not rendered with his hands. He got up to his feet on the road +there, 'not disobedient,' though he had not yet done anything. This is +to say, the man's will had melted. It had all gone with a run, so to +speak, and the inmost being of him was subdued. The obedience was the +submission of self to God, and not the more or less diligent and +continuous consequent external activity in the way of God's +commandments. + +Further, Paul's obedience is also an obedience based upon the vision of +Jesus Christ enthroned, living, bound by ties that thrill at the +slightest touch to all hearts that love Him, and making common cause +with them. + +And furthermore, it is an obedience based upon the shuddering +recognition of Paul's own unsuspected evil and foulness, how all the +life, that he had thought was being built up into a temple that God +would inhabit, was rottenness and falsehood. + +And it is an obedience, further, built upon the recognition of pity and +pardon in Christ, who, after His sharp denunciation of the sin, looks +down from Heaven with a smile of forgiveness upon His lips, and says: +'But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I will send thee to make known +My name.' + +An obedience which is the inward yielding of the will, which is all +built upon the revelation of the living Christ, who was dead and is +alive for evermore, and close to all His followers; and is, further, +the thankful tribute of a heart that knows itself to be sinful, and is +certain that it is forgiven--what is that but the obedience which is of +faith? And thus, when I say that the heavenly vision demands obedience, +I do not mean that Christ shows Himself to you to set you to work, but +I mean that Christ shows Himself to you that you may yield yourselves +to Him, and in the act may receive power to do all His sweet and sacred +will. + +III. Thirdly, this obedience is in our own power to give or to withhold. + +Paul, as I said in my introductory remarks, puts us here as spectators +of the very act of submission. He shows it to us in its beginning--he +shows us the state from which he came and that into which he passed, +and he tells us, 'I _became_--not disobedient.' In his case it was a +complete, swift, and permanent revolution, as if some thick-ribbed ice +should all at once melt into sweet water. But whether swift or slow it +was his own act, and after the Voice had spoken it was possible that +Paul should have resisted and risen from the ground, not a servant, but +a persecutor still. For God's grace constrains no man, and there is +always the possibility open that when He calls we refuse, and that when +He beseeches we say, 'I will not.' + +There is the mystery on which the subtlest intellects have tasked their +powers and blunted the edge of their keenness in all generations; and +it is not likely to be settled in five minutes of a sermon of mine. But +the practical point that I have to urge is simply this: there are two +mysteries, the one that men _can_, and the other that men _do_, resist +Christ's pleading voice. As to the former, we cannot fathom it. But do +not let any difficulty deaden to you the clear voice of your own +consciousness. If I cannot trust my sense that I can do this thing or +not do it, as I choose, there is nothing that I can trust. Will is the +power of determining which of two roads I shall go, and, strange as it +is, incapable of statement in any more general terms than the +reiteration of the fact; yet here stands the fact, that God, the +infinite Will, has given to men, whom He made in His own image, this +inexplicable and awful power of coinciding with or opposing His +purposes and His voice. + + 'Our wills are ours, we know not how; + Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.' + +For the other mystery is, that men _do_ consciously set themselves +against the will of God, and refuse the gifts which they know all the +while are for their good. It is of no use to say that sin is ignorance. +No; that is only a surface explanation. You and I know too well that +many a time when we have been as sure of what God wanted us to do as if +we had seen it written in flaming letters on the sky there, we have +gone and done the exact opposite. I know that there are men and women +who are convinced in their inmost souls that they ought to be +Christians, and that Jesus Christ is pleading with them at the present +hour, and yet in whose hearts there is no yielding to what, they yet +are certain, is the will and voice of Jesus Christ. + +IV. Lastly, this obedience may, in a moment, revolutionise a life. + +Paul rode from Jerusalem 'breathing out threatenings and slaughters.' +He fell from his warhorse, a persecutor of Christians, and a bitter +enemy of Jesus. A few moments pass. There was one moment in which the +crucial decision was made; and he staggered to his feet, loving all +that he had hated, and abandoning all in which he had trusted. His own +doctrine that 'if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things +are passed away and all things are become new,' is but a generalisation +of what befell himself on the Damascus road. It is of no use trying to +say that there had been a warfare going on in this man's mind long +before, of which his complete capitulation was only the final visible +outcome. There is not a trace of anything of the kind in the story. It +is a pure hypothesis pressed into the service of the anti-supernatural +explanation of the fact. + +There are plenty of analogies of such sudden and entire revolution. All +reformation of a moral kind is best done quickly. It is a very hopeless +task, as every one knows, to tell a drunkard to break off his habits +gradually. There must be one moment in which he definitely turns +himself round and sets his face in the other direction. Some things are +best done with slow, continuous pressure; other things need to be done +with a wrench if they are to be done at all. + +There used to be far too much insistence upon one type of religious +experience, and all men that were to be recognised as Christians were, +by evangelical Nonconformists, required to be able to point to the +moment when, by some sudden change, they passed from darkness to light. +We have drifted away from that very far now, and there is need for +insisting, not upon the necessity, but upon the possibility, of sudden +conversions. However some may try to show that such experiences cannot +be, the experience of every earnest Christian teacher can answer--well! +whether they can be or not, they are. Jesus Christ cured two men +gradually, and all the others instantaneously. No doubt, for young +people who have been born amidst Christian influences, and have grown +up in Christian households, the usual way of becoming Christians is +that slowly and imperceptibly they shall pass into the consciousness of +communion with Jesus Christ. But for people who have grown up +irreligious and, perhaps, profligate and sinful, the most probable way +is a sudden stride out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of +God's dear Son. So I come to you all with this message. No matter what +your past, no matter how much of your life may have ebbed away, no +matter how deeply rooted and obstinate may be your habits of evil, no +matter how often you may have tried to mend yourself and have failed, +it is possible by one swift act of surrender to break the chains and go +free. In every man's life there have been moments into which years have +been crowded, and which have put a wider gulf between his past and his +present self than many slow, languid hours can dig. A great sorrow, a +great joy, a great, newly discerned truth, a great resolve will make +'one day as a thousand years.' Men live through such moments and feel +that the past is swallowed up as by an earthquake. The highest instance +of thus making time elastic and crowding it with meaning is when a man +forms and keeps the swift resolve to yield himself to Christ. It may be +the work of a moment, but it makes a gulf between past and future, like +that which parted the time before and the time after that in which 'God +said, Let there be light: and there was light.' If you have never yet +bowed before the heavenly vision and yielded yourself as conquered by +the love which pardons, to be the glad servant of the Lord Jesus who +takes all His servants into wondrous oneness with Himself, do it now. +You can do it. Delay is disobedience, and may be death. Do it now, and +your whole life will be changed. Peace and joy and power will come to +you, and you, made a new man, will move in a new world of new +relations, duties, energies, loves, gladnesses, helps, and hopes. If +you take heed to prolong the point into a line, and hour by hour to +renew the surrender and the cry, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' +you will ever have the vision of the Christ enthroned, pardoning, +sympathising, and commanding, which will fill your sky with glory, +point the path of your feet, and satisfy your gaze with His beauty, and +your heart with His all-sufficing and ever-present love. + + + +'ME A CHRISTIAN!' + +'Then Agrlppa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a +Christian.'--ACTS xxvi 28. + +This Agrippa was son of the other Herod of whom we hear in the Acts as +a persecutor. This one appears from other sources, to have had the +vices but not the force of character of his bad race. He was weak and +indolent, a mere hanger-on of Rome, to which he owed his kingdom, and +to which he stoutly stuck during all the tragedy of the fall of +Jerusalem. In position and in character (largely resulting from the +position) he was uncommonly like those semi-independent rajahs in +India, who are allowed to keep up a kind of shadow of authority on +condition of doing what Calcutta bids them. Of course frivolity and +debauchery become the business of such men. What sort of a man this was +may be sufficiently inferred from the fact that Bernice was his sister. + +But he knew a good deal about the Jews, about their opinions, their +religion, and about what had been going on during the last half century +amongst them. Or grounds of policy he professed to accept the Jewish +faith--of which an edifying example is given in the fact that, on one +occasion, Bernice was prevented from accompanying him to Rome because +she was fulfilling a Nazarite vow in the Temple at Jerusalem! + +So the Apostle was fully warranted in appealing to Agrippa's knowledge, +not only of Judaism, but of the history of Jesus Christ, and in his +further assertion, 'I know that thou believest.' But the home-thrust +was too much for the king. His answer is given in the words of our text. + +They are very familiar words, and they have been made the basis of a +great many sermons upon being all but persuaded to accept of Christ as +Saviour. But, edifying as such a use of them is, it can scarcely be +sustained by their actual meaning. Most commentators are agreed that +our Authorised Version does not represent either Agrippa's words or his +tone. He was not speaking in earnest. His words are sarcasm, not a half +melting into conviction, and the Revised Version gives what may, on the +whole, be accepted as being a truer representation of their intention +when it reads, 'With but little persuasion thou wouldst fain make me a +Christian.' + +He is half amused and half angry at the Apostle's presumption in +supposing that so easily or so quickly he was going to land his fish. +'It is a more difficult task than you fancy, Paul, to make a Christian +of a man like me.' That is the real meaning of his words, and I think +that, rightly understood, they yield lessons of no less value than +those that have been so often drawn from them as they appear in our +Authorised Version. So I wish to try and gather up and urge upon you +now these lessons:-- + +I. First, then, I see here an example of the danger of a superficial +familiarity with Christian truth. + +As I said, Agrippa knew, in a general way, a good deal not only about +the prophets and the Jewish religion, but of the outstanding facts of +the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul's assumption that he +knew would have been very quickly repudiated if it had not been based +upon fact. And the inference from his acceptance without contradiction +of the Apostle's statement is confirmed by his use of the word +'Christian,' which had by no means come into general employment when he +spoke; and in itself indicates that he knew a good deal about the +people who were so named. Mark the contrast, for instance, between him +and the bluff Roman official at his side. To Festus, Paul's talking +about a dead man's having risen, and a risen Jew becoming a light to +all nations, was such utter nonsense that, with characteristic Roman +contempt for men with ideas, he breaks in, with his rough, strident +voice, 'Much learning has made thee mad.' There was not much chance of +that cause producing that effect on Festus. But he was apparently +utterly bewildered at this entirely novel and unintelligible sort of +talk. Agrippa, on the other hand, knows all about the Resurrection; has +heard that there was such a thing, and has a general rough notion of +what Paul believed as a Christian. + +And was he any better for it? No; he was a great deal worse. It took +the edge off a good deal of his curiosity. It made him fancy that he +knew beforehand all that the Apostle had to say. It stood in the way of +his apprehending the truths which he thought that he understood. + +And although the world knows a great deal more about Jesus Christ and +the Gospel than he did, the very same thing is true about hundreds and +thousands of people who have all their lives long been brought into +contact with Christianity. Superficial knowledge is the worst enemy of +accurate knowledge, for the first condition of knowing a thing is to +know that we do not know it. And so there are a great many of us who, +having picked up since childhood vague and partially inaccurate notions +about Christ and His Gospel and what He has done, are so satisfied on +the strength of these that we know all about it, that we listen to +preaching about it with a very languid attention. The ground in our +minds is preoccupied with our own vague and imperfect apprehensions. I +believe that there is nothing that stands more in the way of hundreds +of people coming into real intelligent contact with Gospel truth than +the half knowledge that they have had of it ever since they were +children. You fancy that you know all that I can tell you. Very +probably you do. But have you ever taken a firm hold of the plain +central facts of Christianity--your own sinfulness and helplessness, +your need of a Saviour, the perfect work of Jesus Christ who died on +the Cross for you, and the power of simple faith therein to join you to +Him, and, if followed by consecration and obedience, to make you +partakers of His nature, and heirs of the inheritance that is above? +These are but the fundamentals, the outlines of Gospel truth. But far +too many of you see them, in such a manner as you see the figures cast +upon a screen when the lantern is not rightly focussed, with a blurred +outline, and the blurred outline keeps you from seeing the sharp-cut +truth as it is in Jesus. In all regions of thought inaccurate knowledge +is the worst foe to further understanding, and eminently is this the +case in religion. Brethren, some of you are in that position. + +Then there is another way in which such knowledge as that of which the +king in our text is an example is a hindrance, and that is, that it is +knowledge which has no effect on character. What do hundreds of us do +with our knowledge of Christianity? Our minds seem built in watertight +compartments, and we keep the doors of them shut very close, so that +truths in the understanding have no influence on the will. Many of you +believe the Gospel intellectually, and it does not make a hairsbreadth +of difference to anything that you ever either thought or wished or +did. And because you so believe it, it is utterly impossible that it +should ever be of any use to you. 'Agrippa, believest thou the +prophets? I know that thou believest.' 'Yes, believest the prophets, +and Bernice sitting by thy side there--believest the prophets, and +livest in utter bestial godlessness.' What is the good of a knowledge +of Christianity like that? And is it not such knowledge of Christianity +that blocks the way with some of you for anything more real and more +operative? There is nothing more impotent than a firmly believed and +utterly neglected truth. And that is what the Christianity of some of +you is when it is analysed. + +II. Now, secondly, notice how we have here the example of a proud man +indignantly recoiling from submission, + +There is a world of contempt in Agrippa's words, in the very putting +side by side of the two things. 'Me! _Me_,' with a very large capital +M--'Me a Christian?' He thinks of his dignity, poor creature. It was +not such a very tremendous dignity after all. He was a petty kinglet, +permitted by the grace of Rome to live and to pose as if he were the +real thing, and yet he struts and claps his wings and crows on his +little hillock as if it were a mountain. '_Me_ a Christian?' 'The great +Agrippa a _Christian_!' And he uses that word 'Christian' with the +intense contempt which coined it and adhered to it, until the men to +whom it was applied were wise enough to take it and bind it as a crown +of honour upon their head. The wits at Antioch first of all hit upon +the designation. They meant a very exquisite piece of sarcasm by their +nickname. These people were 'Christians,' just as some other people +were Herodians--Christ's men, the men of this impostor who pretended to +be a Messiah. That seemed such an intensely ludicrous thing to the wise +people in Antioch that they coined the name; and no doubt thought they +had done a very clever thing. It is only used in the Bible in tike +notice of its origin; here, with a very evident connotation of +contempt; and once more when Peter in his letter refers to it as being +the indictment on which certain disciples suffered. So when Agrippa +says, 'Me a Christian,' he puts all the bitterness that he can into +that last word. As if he said, 'Do you really think that I--I--am going +to bow myself down to be a follower and adherent of that Christ of +yours? The thing is too ridiculous! With but little persuasion you +would fain make me a Christian. But you will find it a harder task than +you fancy.' + +Now, my dear friends, the shape of this unwillingness is changed but +the fact of it remains. There are two or three features of what I take +to be the plain Gospel of Jesus Christ which grate very much against +all self-importance and self-complacency, and operate very largely, +though not always consciously, upon very many amongst us. I just run +them over, very briefly. + +The Gospel insists on dealing with everybody in the same fashion, and +on regarding all as standing on the same level. Many of us do not like +that. Translate Agrippa's scorn into words that fit ourselves: 'I am a +well-to-do Manchester man. Am I to stand on the same level as my +office-boy?' Yes! the very same. 'I, a student, perhaps a teacher of +science, or a cultivated man, a scholar, a lawyer, a professional +man--am I to stand on the same level as people that scarcely know how +to read and write?' Yes, exactly. So, like the man in the Old +Testament, 'he turned and went away in a rage.' Many of us would like +that there should be a little private door for us in consideration of +our position or acquirements or respectability, or this, that, or the +other thing. At any rate we are not to be classed in the same category +with the poor and the ignorant and the sinful and the savage all over +the world. But we are so classed. Do not you and the men in Patagonia +breathe the same air? Are not your bodies subject to the same laws? +Have you not to be contented to be fed in the same fashion, and to +sleep and eat and drink in the same way? 'We have all of us one human +heart'; and 'there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short +of the glory of God.' The identities of humanity, in all its examples, +are deeper than the differences in any. We have all the one Saviour and +are to be saved in the same fashion. That is a humbling thing for those +of us who stand upon some little elevation, real or fancied, but it is +only the other side of the great truth that God's love is world-wide, +and that Christ's Gospel is meant for humanity. Naaman, to whom I have +already referred in passing, wanted to be treated as a great man who +happened to be a leper; Elisha insisted on treating him as a leper who +happened to be a great man. And that makes all the difference. I +remember seeing somewhere that a great surgeon had said that the late +Emperor of Germany would have had a far better chance of being cured if +he had gone _incognito_ to the hospital for throat diseases. We all +need the same surgery, and we must be contented to take it in the same +fashion. So, some of us recoil from humbling equality with the lowest +and worst. + +Then again, another thing that sometimes makes people shrink back from +the Gospel is that it insists upon every one being saved solely by +dependence on Another. We would like to have a part in our salvation, +and many of us had rather do anything in the way of sacrifice or +suffering or penance than take this position: + + 'Nothing in my hand I bring, + Simply to Thy Cross I cling.' + +Corrupt forms of Christianity have taken an acute measure of the worst +parts of human nature, when they have taught men that they can eke out +Christ's work by their own, and have some kind of share in their own +salvation. Dear brethren, I have to bring to you another Gospel than +that, and to say, All is done for us, and all will be done in us, and +nothing has to be done by us. Some of you do not like that. Just as a +man drowning is almost sure to try to help himself, and get his limbs +inextricably twisted round his would-be rescuer and drown them both, so +men will not, without a struggle, consent to owe everything to Jesus +Christ, and to let Him draw them out of many waters and set them on the +safe shore. But unless we do so, we have little share in His Gospel. + +And another thing stands in the way--namely, that the Gospel insists +upon absolute obedience to Jesus Christ. Agrippa fancied that it was an +utterly preposterous idea that he should lower his flag, and doff his +crown, and become the servant of a Jewish peasant. A great many of us, +though we have a higher idea of our Lord than his, do yet find it quite +as hard to submit our wills to His, and to accept the condition of +absolute obedience, utter resignation to Him, and entire subjection to +His commandment. We say, 'Let my own will have a little bit of play in +a corner.' Some of us find it very hard to believe that we are to bring +all our thinking upon religious and moral subjects to Him, and to +accept His word as conclusive, settling all controversies. 'I, with my +culture; am I to accept what Christ says as the end of strife?' Yes, +absolute submission is the plainest condition of real Christianity. The +very name tells us that. We are Christians, _i.e._ Christ's men; and +unless we are, we have no right to the name. But some of us had rather +be our own masters and enjoy the miseries of independence and +self-will, and so be the slaves of our worse selves, than bow ourselves +utterly before that dear Lord, and so pass into the freedom of a +service love-inspired, and by love accepted, 'Thou wouldst fain +persuade _me_ to be a _Christian_,' is the recoil of a proud heart from +submission. Brethren, let me beseech you that it may not be yours. + +III. Again, we have here an example of instinctive shrinking from the +personal application of broad truths. + +Agrippa listened, half-amused and a good deal interested, to Paul as +long as he talked generalities and described his own experience. But +when he came to point the generalities and to drive them home to the +hearer's heart it was time to stop him. That question of the Apostle's, +keen and sudden as the flash of a dagger, went straight home, and the +king at once gathered himself together into an attitude of resistance. +Ah, that is what hundreds of people do! You will let me preach as long +as I like--only you will get a little weary sometimes--you will let me +preach generalities _ad libitum_. But when I come to 'And thou?' then I +am 'rude' and 'inquisitorial' and 'personal' and 'trespassing on a +region where I have no business,' and so on and so on. And so you shut +up your heart if not your ears. + +And yet, brethren, what is the use of toothless generalities? What am I +here for if I am not here to take these broad, blunt truths and sharpen +them to a point, and try to get them in between the joints of your +armour? Can any man faithfully preach the Gospel who is always flying +over the heads of his hearers with universalities, and never goes +straight to their hearts with 'Thou--thou art the man!' 'Believest +_thou_?' + +And so, dear friends, let me press that question upon you. Never mind +about other people. Suppose you and I were alone together and my words +were coming straight _to thee_. Would they not have more power than +they have now? They are so coming. Think away all these other people, +and this place, ay, and me too, and let the word of Christ, which deals +with no crowds but with single souls, come to you in its +individualising force: 'Believest _thou_?' You will have to answer that +question one day. Better to face it now and try to answer it than to +leave it all vague until you get yonder, where 'each one of us shall +give account of _himself_ to God. + +IV. Lastly, we have here an example of a soul close to the light, but +passing into the dark. + +Agrippa listens to Paul; Bernice listens; Festus listens. And what +comes of it? Only this, 'And when they were gone aside, they talked +between themselves, saying, This man hath done nothing worthy of death +or of bonds.' May I translate into a modern equivalent: And when they +were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, 'This man +preached a very impressive sermon,' or, 'This man preached a very +wearisome sermon,' and there an end. + +Agrippa and Bernice went their wicked way, and Festus went his, and +none of them knew what a fateful moment they had passed through. Ah, +brethren! there are many such in our lives when we make decisions that +influence our whole future, and no sign shows that the moment is any +way different from millions of its undistinguished fellows. It is +eminently so in regard to our relation to Jesus Christ and His Gospel. +These three had been in the light; they were never so near it again. +Probably they never heard the Gospel preached any more, and they went +away, not knowing what they had done when they silenced Paul and left +him. Now you will probably hear plenty of sermons in future. You may or +you may not. But be sure of this, that if you go away from this one, +unmelted and unbelieving, you have not done a trivial thing. You have +added one more stone to the barrier that you yourself build to shut you +out from holiness and happiness, from hope and heaven. It is not I that +ask you the question, it is not Paul that asks it, Jesus Christ Himself +says to you, as He said to the blind man, 'Dost thou believe on the Son +of God?' or as He said to the weeping sister of Lazarus, 'Believest +thou this?' O dear friends, do not answer like this arrogant bit of a +king, but cry with tears, 'Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!' + + + +TEMPEST AND TRUST + +And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained +their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. 14. But not +long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called +Euroclydon. 15. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up +into the wind, we let her drive. 16. And running under a certain island +which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: 17. Which +when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, +fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so +were driven. 18. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the +next day they lightened the ship; 19. And the third day we cast out +with our own hands the tackling of the ship. 20. And when neither sun +nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all +hope that we should be saved was then taken away. 21. But after long +abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye +should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to +have gained this harm and loss. 22. And now I exhort you to be of good +cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of +the ship. 23. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose +I am, and whom I serve, 24. Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be +brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail +with thee. 25. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, +that it shall be even as it was told me. 26. Howbeit we must be cast +upon a certain island.'--ACTS xxvii. 13-26. + +Luke's minute account of the shipwreck implies that he was not a Jew. +His interest in the sea and familiarity with sailors' terms are quite +unlike a persistent Jewish characteristic which still continues. We +have a Jew's description of a storm at sea in the Book of Jonah, which +is as evidently the work of a landsman as Luke's is of one who, though +not a sailor, was well up in maritime matters. His narrative lays hold +of the essential points, and is as accurate as it is vivid. This +section has two parts: the account of the storm, and the grand example +of calm trust and cheery encouragement given in Paul's words. + +I. The consultation between the captain of the vessel and the +centurion, at which Paul assisted, strikes us, with our modern notions +of a captain's despotic power on his own deck, and single +responsibility, as unnatural. But the centurion, as a military officer, +was superior to the captain of an Alexandrian corn-ship, and Paul had +already made his force of character so felt that it is not wonderful +that he took part in the discussion. Naturally the centurion was guided +by the professional rather than by the amateur member of the council, +and the decision was come to to push on as far and fast as possible. + +The ship was lying in a port which gave scanty protection against the +winter weather, and it was clearly wise to reach a more secure harbour +if possible. So when a gentle southerly breeze sprang up, which would +enable them to make such a port, westward from their then position, +they made the attempt. For a time it looked as if they would succeed, +but they had a great headland jutting out in front which they must get +round, and their ability to do this was doubtful. So they kept close in +shore and weathered the point. But before they had made their harbour +the wind suddenly chopped round, as is frequent of that coast, and the +gentle southerly breeze turned into a fierce squall from the north-east +or thereabouts, sweeping down from the Cretan mountains. That began +their troubles. To make the port was impossible. The unwieldy vessel +could not 'face the wind,' and so they had to run before it. It would +carry them in a south-westerly direction, and towards a small island, +under the lee of which they might hope for some shelter. Here they had +a little breathing time, and could make things rather more ship-shape +than they had been able to do when suddenly caught by the squall. Their +boat had been towing behind them, and had to be hoisted on deck somehow. + +A more important, and probably more difficult, task was to get strong +hawsers under the keel and round the sides, so as to help to hold the +timbers together. The third thing was the most important of all, and +has been misunderstood by commentators who knew more about Greek +lexicons than ships. The most likely explanation of 'lowering the gear' +(Rev. Ver.) is that it means 'leaving up just enough of sail to keep +the ship's head to the wind, and bringing down everything else that +could be got down' (Ramsay, _St. Paul_, p. 329). + +Note that Luke says 'we' about hauling in the boat, and 'they' about +the other tasks. He and the other passengers could lend a hand in the +former, but not in the latter, which required more skilled labour. The +reason for bringing down all needless top-hamper, and leaving up a +little sail, was to keep the vessel from driving on to the great +quicksands off the African coast, to which they would certainly have +been carried if the wind held. + +As soon as they had drifted out from the lee of the friendly little +island they were caught again in the storm. They were in danger of +going down. As they drifted they had their 'starboard' broadside to the +force of the wild sea, and it was a question how long the vessel's +sides would last before they were stove in by the hammering of the +waves, or how long she would be buoyant enough to ship seas without +foundering. The only chance was to lighten her, so first the crew +'jettisoned' the cargo, and next day, as that did not give relief +enough,'they,' or, according to some authorities, 'we'--that is +passengers and all--threw everything possible overboard. + +That was the last attempt to save themselves, and after it there was +nothing to do but to wait the apparently inevitable hour when they +would all go down together. Idleness feeds despair, and despair +nourishes idleness. Food was scarce, cooking it was impossible, +appetite there was none. The doomed men spent the long idle days--which +were scarcely day, so thick was the air with mist and foam and +tempest--crouching anywhere for shelter, wet, tired, hungry, and +hopeless. So they drifted 'for many days,' almost losing count of the +length of time they had been thus. It was a gloomy company, but there +was one man there in whom the lamp of hope burned when it had gone out +in all others. Sun and stars were hidden, but Paul saw a better light, +and his sky was clear and calm. + +II. A common danger makes short work of distinctions of rank. In such a +time some hitherto unnoticed man of prompt decision, resource, and +confidence, will take the command, whatever his position. Hope, as well +as timidity and fear, is infectious, and one cheery voice will revive +the drooping spirits of a multitude. Paul had already established his +personal ascendency in that motley company of Roman soldiers, +prisoners, sailors, and disciples. Now he stands forward with calm +confidence, and infuses new hope into them all. What a miraculous +change passes on externals when faith looks at them! The circumstances +were the same as they had been for many days. The wind was howling and +the waves pounding as before, the sky was black with tempest, and no +sign of help was in sight, but Paul spoke, and all was changed, and a +ray of sunshine fell on the wild waters that beat on the doomed vessel. + +Three points are conspicuous in his strong tonic words. First, there is +the confident assurance of safety. A less noble nature would have said +more in vindication of the wisdom of his former advice. It is very +pleasant to small minds to say, 'Did I not tell you so? You see how +right I was.' But the Apostle did not care for petty triumphs of that +sort. A smaller man might have sulked because his advice had not been +taken, and have said to himself, 'They would not listen to me before, I +will hold my tongue now.' But the Apostle only refers to his former +counsel and its confirmation in order to induce acceptance of his +present words. + +It is easy to 'bid' men 'be of good cheer,' but futile unless some +reason for good cheer is given. Paul gave good reason. No man's life +was to be lost though the ship was to go. He had previously predicted +that life, as well as ship and lading, would be lost if they put to +sea. That opinion was the result of his own calculation of +probabilities, as he lets us understand by saying that he 'perceived' +it (ver. 10). Now he speaks with authority, not from his perception, +but from God's assurance. The bold words might well seem folly to the +despairing crew as they caught them amidst the roar of tempest and +looked at their battered hulk. So Paul goes at once to tell the ground +of his confidence--the assurance of the angel of God. + +What a contrast between the furious gale, the almost foundering ship, +the despair in the hearts of the sleeping company, and the bright +vision that came to Paul! Peter in prison, Paul in Caesarea and now in +the storm, see the angel form calm and radiant. God's messengers are +wont to come into the darkest of our hours and the wildest of our +tempests. + +Paul's designation of the heavenly messenger as 'an angel of the God +whose I am, whom also I serve,' recalls Jonah's confession of faith, +but far surpasses it, in the sense of belonging to God, and in the +ardour of submission and of active obedience, expressed in it. What +Paul said to the Corinthians (1 Cor. vi. 19) he realised for himself: +'Ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price.' To recognise +that we are God's, joyfully to yield ourselves to Him, and with all the +forces of our natures to serve Him, is to bring His angel to our sides +in every hour of tempest and peril, and to receive assurance that +nothing shall by any means harm us. To yield ourselves to be God's is +to make God ours. It was because Paul owned that he belonged to God, +and served Him, that the angel came to him, and he explains the vision +to his hearers by his relation to God. Anything was possible rather +than that his God should leave him unhelped at such an hour of need. + +The angel's message must have included particulars unnoticed in Luke's +summary; as, for instance, the wreck on 'a certain island.' But the two +salient points in it are the certainty of Paul's own preservation, that +the divine purpose of his appearing before Caesar might be fulfilled, +and the escape of all the ship's company. As to the former, we may +learn how Paul's life, like every man's, is shaped according to a +divine plan, and how we are 'immortal till our work is done,' and till +God has done His work in and on and by us. As to the latter point, we +may gather from the word 'has _given_' the certainty that Paul had been +praying for the lives of all that sailed with him, and may learn, not +only that the prayers of God's servants are a real element in +determining God's dealings with men, but that a true servant of God's +will ever reach out his desires and widen his prayers to embrace those +with whom he is brought into contact, be they heathens, persecutors, +rough and careless, or fellow-believers. If Christian people more +faithfully discharged the duty of intercession, they would more +frequently receive in answer the lives of 'all them that sail with' +them over the stormy ocean of life. + +The third point in the Apostle's encouraging speech is the example of +his own faith, which is likewise an exhortation to the hearers to +exercise the same. If God speaks by His angel with such firm promises, +man's plain wisdom is to grasp the divine assurance with a firm hand. +We must build rock upon rock. 'I believe God,' that surely is a +credence demanded by common sense and warranted by the sanest reason. +If we do so believe, and take His word as the infallible authority +revealing present duty and future blessings, then, however lowering the +sky, and wild the water, and battered the vessel, and empty of earthly +succour the gloomy horizon, and heavy our hearts, we shall 'be of good +cheer,' and in due time the event will warrant our faith in God and His +promise, even though all around us seems to make our faith folly and +our hope a mockery. + + + +A SHORT CONFESSION OF FAITH + +'...There stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom +I serve.'--ACTS xxvii. 23. + +I turn especially to those last words, 'Whose I am and whom I serve.' + +A great calamity, borne by a crowd of men in common, has a wonderful +power of dethroning officials and bringing the strong man to the front. +So it is extremely natural, though it has been thought to be very +unhistorical, that in this story of Paul's shipwreck he should become +guide, counsellor, inspirer, and a tower of strength; and that +centurions and captains and all the rest of those who held official +positions should shrink into the background. The natural force of his +character, the calmness and serenity that came from his faith--these +things made him the leader of the bewildered crowd. One can scarcely +help contrasting this shipwreck--the only one in the New +Testament--with that in the Old Testament. Contrast Jonah with Paul, +the guilty stupor of the one, down 'in the sides of the ship' cowering +before the storm, with the calm behaviour and collected courage of the +other. + +The vision of which the Apostle speaks does not concern us here, but in +the words which I have read there are several noteworthy points. They +bring vividly before us the essence of true religion, the bold +confession which it prompts, and the calmness and security which it +ensures. Let us then look at them from these points of view. + +I. We note the clear setting forth of the essence of true religion. + +Remember that Paul is speaking to heathens; that his present purpose is +not to preach the Gospel, but to make his own position clear. So he +says 'the God'--never mind who _He_ is at present--'the God to whom I +belong '--that covers all the inward life--'and whom I serve'--that +covers all the outward. + +'Whose I am.' That expresses the universal truth that men belong to God +by virtue of their being the creatures of His hand. As the 100th Psalm +says, according to one, and that a probably correct reading, 'It is He +that hath made us, and _we are His_.' But the Apostle is going a good +deal deeper than any such thoughts, which he, no doubt, shared in +common with the heathen men around him, when he declares that, in a +special fashion, God had claimed him for His, and he had yielded to the +claim. 'I am Thine,' is the deepest thought of this man's mind and the +deepest feeling of his heart. And that is godliness in its purest form, +the consciousness of belonging to God. We must interpret this saying by +others of the Apostle's, such as, 'Ye are not your own, ye are bought +with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your bodies and spirits which +are His.' He traces God's possession of him, not to that fact of +creation (which establishes a certain outward relationship, but nothing +more), nor even to the continuous facts of benefits showered upon his +head, but to the one transcendent act of the divine Love, which gave +itself to us, and so acquired us for itself. For we must recognise as +the deepest of all thoughts about the relations of spiritual beings, +that, as in regard to ourselves in our earthly affections, so in regard +to our relations with God, there is only one way by which a spirit can +own a spirit, whether it be a man on the one side and a woman on the +other, or whether it be God on the one side and a man on the other, and +that one way is by the sweetness of complete and reciprocal love. He +who gives himself to God gets God for himself. So when Paul said, +'Whose I am,' he was thinking that he would never have belonged either +to God or to himself unless, first of all, God, in His own Son, had +given Himself to Paul. The divine ownership of us is only realised when +we are consciously His, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. + +Brethren, God does not count that a man belongs to Him simply because +He made him, if the man does not feel his dependence, his obligation, +and has not surrendered himself. He in the heavens loves you and me too +well to care for a formal and external ownership. He desires hearts, +and only they who have yielded themselves unto God, moved thereto by +the mercies of God, and especially by the encyclopaediacal mercy which +includes all the rest in its sweep, only they belong to Him, in the +estimate of the heavens. + +And if you and I are His, then that involves that we have deposed from +his throne the rebel Self, the ancient Anarch that disturbs and ruins +us. They who belong to God cease to live to themselves. There are two +centres for human life, and I believe there are only two--the one is +God, the other is my wretched self. And if we are swept, as it were, +out of the little orbit that we move in, when the latter is our centre, +and are drawn by the weight and mass of the great central sun to become +its satellites, then we move in a nobler orbit and receive fuller and +more blessed light and warmth. They who have themselves for their +centres are like comets, with a wide elliptical course, which carries +them away out into the cold abysses of darkness. They who have God for +their sun are like planets. The old fable is true of these 'sons of the +morning'--they make music as they roll and they flash back His light. + +And then do not let us forget that this yielding of one's self to Him, +swayed by His love, and this surrendering of will and purpose and +affection and all that makes up our complex being, lead directly to the +true possession of Him and the true possession of ourselves. + +I have said that the only way by which spirit possesses spirit is by +love, and that it must needs be on both sides. So we get God for +ourselves when we give ourselves to God. There is a wonderful +alternation of giving and receiving between the loving God and his +beloved lovers; first the impartation of the divine to the human, then +the surrender of the human to the divine, and then the larger gift of +God to man, just as in some series of mirrors the light is flashed back +from the one to the other, in bewildering manifoldness and shimmering +of rays from either polished surface. God is ours when we are God's. +'And this is the covenant that I will make with them after these days, +saith the Lord. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' + +And, in like manner, we never own ourselves until we have given +ourselves to God. Each of us is like some feudatory prince, dependent +upon an overlord. His subjects in his little territory rebel, and he +has no power to subdue the insurgents, but he can send a message to the +capital, and get the army of the king, who is his sovereign and theirs, +to come down and bring them back to order, and establish his tottering +throne. So if you desire to own yourself or to know the sweetness that +you may get out of your own nature and the exercise of your powers, if +you desire to be able to govern the realm within, put yourself into +God's hands and say, 'I am Thine; hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.' + +I need not say more than just a word about the other side of Paul's +confession of faith, 'Whom I serve.' He employs the word which means +the service of a worshipper, or even of a priest, and not that which +means the service of a slave. His purpose was to represent how, as his +whole inward nature bowed in submission to, and was under the influence +of, God to whom he belonged, so his whole outward life was a life of +devotion. He was serving Him there in the ship, amidst the storm and +the squalor and the terror. His calmness was service; his confidence +was service; the cheery words that he was speaking to these people were +service. And on his whole life he believed that this was stamped, that +he was devoted to God. So _there_ is the true idea of a Christian life, +that in all its aspects, attitudes, and acts it is to be a +manifestation, in visible form, of inward devotion to, and ownership +by, God. All our work may be worship, and we may 'pray without +ceasing,' though no supplications come from our lips, if our hearts are +in touch with Him and through our daily life we serve and honour Him. +God's priests never are far away from their altar, and never are +without, somewhat to offer, as long as they have the activities of +daily duty and the difficulties of daily conflict to bring to Him and +spread before Him. + +II. So let me turn for a moment to some of the other aspects of these +words to which I have already referred, I find in them, next, the bold +confession which true religion requires. + +Shipboard is a place where people find out one another very quickly. +Character cannot well be hid there. And such circumstances as Paul had +been in for the last fortnight, tossing up and down in _Adria_, with +Death looking over the bulwarks of the crazy ship every moment, were +certain to have brought out the inmost secrets of character. Paul durst +not have said to these people 'the God whose I am and whom I serve' if +he had not known that he had been living day by day a consistent and +godly life amongst them. + +And so, I note, first of all, that this confession of individual and +personal relationship to God is incumbent on every Christian. We do not +need to be always brandishing it before people's faces. There is very +little fear of the average Christian of this day blundering on that +side. But we need, still less, to be always hiding it away. One hears a +great deal from certain quarters about a religion that does not need to +be vocal but shows what it is, without the necessity for words. Blessed +be God! there is such a religion, but you will generally find that the +people who have most of it are the people who are least tongue-tied +when opportunity arises; and that if they have been witnessing for God +in their quiet discharge of duty, with their hands instead of their +lips, they are quite as ready to witness with their lips when it is +fitting that they should do so. And surely, surely, if a man belongs to +God, and if his whole life is to be the manifestation of the ownership +that he recognises, that which specially reveals him--viz., his own +articulate speech--cannot be left out of his methods of manifestation. + +I am afraid that there are a great many professing Christian people +nowadays who never, all their lives, have said to any one, 'The God +whose I am and whom I serve.' And I beseech you, dear brethren, suffer +this word of exhortation. To say so is a far more effectual, or at +least more powerful, means of appeal than any direct invitation to +share in the blessings. You may easily offend a man by saying to him, +'Won't you be a Christian too?' But it is hard to offend if you simply +say that you are a Christian. The statement of personal experience is +more powerful by far than all argumentation or eloquence or pleading +appeals. We do more when we say, 'That which we have tasted and felt +and handled of the Word of Life, declare we unto you,' than by any +other means. + +Only remember that the avowal must be backed up by a life, as Paul's +was backed up on board that vessel. For unless it is so, the profession +does far more harm than good. There are always keen critics round us, +especially if we say that we are Christians. There were keen critics on +board that ship. Do you think that these Roman soldiers, and the other +prisoners, would not have smiled contemptuously at Paul, if this had +been the first time that they had any reason to suppose that he was at +all different from them? They would have said, 'The God whose _you_ are +and whom _you_ serve? Why, you are just the same sort of man as if you +worshipped Jupiter like the rest of us!' And that is what the world has +a right to say to Christian people. The clearer our profession, the +holier must be our lives. + +III. Last of all, I find in these words the calmness and security which +true religion secures. + +The story, as I have already glanced at it in my introductory remarks, +brings out very wonderfully and very beautifully Paul's promptitude, +his calmness in danger, his absolute certainty of safety, and his +unselfish thoughtfulness about his companions in peril. And all these +things were the direct results of his entire surrender to God, and of +the consistency of his daily life. It needed the angel in the vision to +assure him that his life would be spared. But whether the angel had +ever come or not, and though death had been close at his hand, the +serenity and the peaceful assurance of safety which come out so +beautifully in the story would have been there all the same. The man +who can say 'I belong to God' does not need to trouble himself about +dangers. He will have to exercise his common sense, as the Apostle +shows us; he will have to use all the means that are in his power for +the accomplishment of ends that he knows to be right and legitimate. +But having done all that, he can say, 'I belong to Him,' it is His +business to look after His own property. He is not going to hold His +possessions with such a slack hand as that they shall slip between His +fingers, and be lost in the mire. 'Thou wilt not lose the souls that +are Thine in the grave, neither wilt Thou suffer the man whom Thou +lovest to see corruption.' God keeps His treasures, and the surer we +are that He is able to keep them unto that day, the calmer we may be in +all our trouble. + +And the safety that followed was also the direct result of the +relationship of mutual possession and love established between God and +the Apostle. We do not know to which of the two groups of the +shipwrecked Paul belonged; whether he could swim or whether he had to +hold on to some bit of floating wreckage or other, and so got 'safe to +land.' But whichever way it was, it was neither his swimming nor the +spar to which, perhaps, he clung, that landed him safe on shore. It was +the God to whom he belonged. Faith is the true lifebelt that keeps us +from being drowned in any stormy sea. And if you and I feel that we are +His, and live accordingly, we shall be calm amid all change, serene +when others are troubled, ready to be helpers of others even when we +ourselves are in distress. And when the crash comes, and the ship goes +to pieces: 'so it will come to pass that, some on boards, and some on +broken pieces of the ship, they all come safe to land,' and when the +Owner counts His subjects and possessions on the quiet shore, as the +morning breaks, there will not be one who has been lost in the surges, +or whose name will be unanswered to when the muster-roll of the crew is +called. + + + +A TOTAL WRECK, ALL HANDS SAVED + +'And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had +let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have +cast anchors out of the foreship, 31. Paul said to the centurion and to +the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. 32. +Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. +33. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take +meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and +continued fasting, having taken nothing. 34. Wherefore I pray you to +take some meat; for this is for your health; for there shall not an +hair fall from the head of any of you. 35. And when he had thus spoken, +he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when +he had broken it, he began to eat. 36. Then were they all of good +cheer, and they also took some meat. 37. And we were in all in the ship +two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. 38. And when they had eaten +enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. +39. And when it was day, they knew not the land; but they discovered a +certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were +possible, to thrust in the ship. 40. And when they had taken up the +anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the +rudder-bands, and noised up the main-sail to the wind, and made toward +shore. 41. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the +ship aground: and the fore part stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, +but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. 42. And +the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any-of them +should swim out, and escape. 43. But the centurion, willing to save +Paul, kept them from their purpose: and commanded that they which could +swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: 44. +And the rest some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And +so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.'--ACTS xxvii +30-44. + +The Jews were not seafaring people. Their coast had no safe harbours, +and they seldom ventured on the Mediterranean. To find Paul in a ship +with its bow pointed westwards is significant. It tells of the +expansion of Judaism into a world-wide religion, and of the future +course of Christianity. The only Old Testament parallel is Jonah, and +the dissimilarities of the two incidents are as instructive as are +their resemblances. + +This minute narrative is evidently the work of one of the passengers +who knew a good deal about nautical matters. It reads like a log-book. +But as James Smith has well noted in his interesting monograph on the +chapter, the writer's descriptions, though accurate, are +unprofessional, thus confirming Luke's authorship. Where had the +'beloved physician' learned so much about the sea and ships? Did the +great galleys carry surgeons as now? At all events the story is one of +the most graphic accounts ever written. This narrative begins when the +doomed ship has cast anchor, with a rocky coast close under her lee. +The one question is, Will the four anchors hold? No wonder that the +passengers longed for daylight! + +The first point is the crew's dastardly trick to save themselves, +frustrated by Paul's insight and promptitude. The pretext for getting +into the boat was specious. Anchoring by the bow as well as by the +stern would help to keep the ship from driving ashore; and if once the +crew were in the boat and pulled as far as was necessary to lay out the +anchors, it would be easy, under cover of the darkness, to make good +their escape on shore and leave the landsmen on board to shift for +themselves. The boat must have been of considerable size to hold the +crew of so large a ship. It was already lying alongside, and landsmen +would not suspect what lay under the apparently brave attempt to add to +the vessel's security, but Paul did so. His practical sagacity was as +conspicuous a trait as his lofty enthusiasm. Common sense need not be +divorced from high aims or from the intensest religious self-devotion. +The idealist beat the practical centurion in penetrating the sailors' +scheme. + +That must have been a great nature which combined such different +characteristics as the Apostle shows. Unselfish devotion is often +wonderfully clear-sighted as to the workings of its opposite. The +Apostle's promptitude is as noticeable as his penetration. He wastes no +time in remonstrance with the cowards, who would have been over the +side and off in the dark while he talked, but goes straight to the man +in authority. Note, too, that he keeps his place as a prisoner. It is +not his business to suggest what is to be done. That might have been +resented as presumptuous; but he has a right to point out the danger, +and he leaves the centurion to settle how to meet it. Significantly +does he say 'ye,' not 'we.' He was perfectly certain that he 'must be +brought before Caesar'; and though he believed that all on board would +escape, he seems to regard his own safety as even more certain than +that of the others. + +The lesson often drawn from his words is rightly drawn. They imply the +necessity of men's action in order to carry out God's purpose. The +whole shipful are to be saved, but 'except these abide ... ye cannot be +saved,' The belief that God wills anything is a reason for using all +means to effect it, not for folding our hands and saying, 'God will do +it, whether we do anything or not.' The line between fatalism and +Christian reliance on God's will is clearly drawn in Paul's words. + +Note too the prompt, decisive action of the soldiers. They waste no +words, nor do they try to secure the sailors, but out with their knives +and cut the tow-rope, and away into the darkness drifts the boat. It +might have been better to have kept it, as affording a chance of safety +for all; but probably it was wisest to get rid of it at once. Many +times in every life it is necessary to sacrifice possible advantages in +order to secure a more necessary good. The boat has to be let go if the +passengers in the ship are to be saved. Misused good things have +sometimes to be given up in order to keep people from temptation. + +The next point brings Paul again to the front. In the night he had been +the saviour of the whole shipload of people. Now as the twilight is +beginning, and the time for decisive action will soon be here with the +day, he becomes their encourager and counsellor. Again his saving +common sense is shown. He knew that the moment for intense struggle was +at hand, and so he prepares them for it by getting them to eat a +substantial breakfast. It was because of his faith that he did so. His +religion did not lead him to do as some people would have done--begin +to talk to the soldiers about their souls--but he looked after their +bodies. Hungry, wet, sleepless, they were in no condition to scramble +through the surf, and the first thing to be done was to get some food +into them. Of course he does not mean that they had eaten absolutely +nothing for a fortnight, but only that they had had scanty nourishment. +But Paul's religion went harmoniously with his care for men's bodies. +He 'gave thanks to God in presence of them all'; and who shall say that +that prayer did not touch hearts more deeply than religious talk would +have done? Paul's calmness would be contagious; and the root of it, in +his belief in what his God had told him, would be impressively +manifested to all on board. Moods are infectious; so 'they were all of +good cheer,' and no doubt things looked less black after a hearty meal, + +A little point may be noticed here, namely, the naturalness of the +insertion of the numbers on board at this precise place in the +narrative. There would probably be a muster of all hands for the meal, +and in view of the approaching scramble, in order that, if they got to +shore, there might be certainty as to whether any were lost. So here +the numbers come in. They were still not without hope of saving the +ship, though Paul had told them it would be lost; and so they jettison +the cargo of wheat from Alexandria. By this time it is broad day and +something must be done. + +The next point is the attempt to beach the vessel. 'They knew not the +land,' that is, the part of the coast where they had been driven; but +they saw that, while for the most part it was iron-bound, there was a +shelving sandy bay at one point on to which it might be possible to run +her ashore. The Revised Version gives a much more accurate and +seaman-like account than the Authorised Version does. The anchors were +not taken on board, but to save time and trouble were 'left in the +sea,' the cables being simply cut. The 'rudder-bands'--that is, the +lashings which had secured the two paddle-like rudders, one on either +beam, which had been tied up to be out of the way when the stern +anchors were put out--are loosed, and the rudders drop into place. The +foresail (not 'mainsail,' as the Authorised Version has it) is set to +help to drive the ship ashore. It is all exactly what we should expect +to be done. + +But an unexpected difficulty met the attempt, which is explained by the +lie of the coast at St. Paul's Bay, Malta, as James Smith fully +describes in his book. A little island, separated from the mainland by +a channel of not more than one hundred yards in breadth, lies off the +north-east point of the bay, and to a beholder at the entrance to the +bay looks as if continuous with it. When the ship got farther in, they +would see the narrow channel, through which a strong current sets and +makes a considerable disturbance as it meets the run of the water in +the bay. A bank of mud has been formed at the point of meeting. Thus +not only the water shoals, but the force of the current through the +narrows would hinder the ship from getting past it to the beach. The +two things together made her ground, 'stem on' to the bank; and then, +of course, the heavy sea running into the bay, instead of helping her +to the shore, began to break up the stern which was turned towards it. + +Common peril makes beasts of prey and their usual victims crouch +together. Benefits received touch generous hearts. But the legionaries +on board had no such sentiments. Paul's helpfulness was forgotten. A +still more ignoble exhibition of the instinct of self-preservation than +the sailors had shown dictated that cowardly, cruel suggestion to kill +the prisoners. Brutal indifference to human life, and Rome's iron +discipline holding terror over the legionaries' heads, are vividly +illustrated in the 'counsel,' So were Paul's kindnesses requited! It is +hard to melt rude natures even by kindness; and if Paul had been +looking for gratitude he would have been disappointed, as we so often +are. But if we do good to men because we expect requital, even in +thankfulness, we are not pure in motive. 'Looking for nothing again' is +the spirit enforced by God's pattern and by experience. + +The centurion had throughout, like most of his fellows in Scripture, +been kindly disposed, and showed more regard for Paul than the rank and +file did. He displays the good side of militarism, while they show its +bad side; for he is collected, keeps his head in extremities, knows his +own mind, holds the reins in a firm hand, even in that supreme moment, +has a quick eye to see what must be done, and decision to order it at +once. It was prudent to send first those who could swim; they could +then help the others. The distance was short, and as the bow was +aground, there would be some shelter under the lee of the vessel, and +shoal water, where they could wade, would be reached in a few minutes +or moments. + +'And so it came to pass, that they all escaped safe to the land.' So +Paul had assured them they would. God needs no miracles in order to +sway human affairs. Everything here was perfectly 'natural,' and yet +His hand wrought through all, and the issue was His fulfilment of His +promises. If we rightly look at common things, we shall see God working +in them all, and believe that He can deliver us as truly without +miracles as ever He did any by miracles. Promptitude, prudence, skill, +and struggle with the waves, saved the whole two hundred and +seventy-six souls in that battered ship; yet it was God who saved them +all. Whether Paul was among the party that could swim, or among the +more helpless who had to cling to anything that would float, he was +held up by God's hand, and it was He who 'sent from above, took him, +and drew him out of many waters.' + + + +AFTER THE WRECK + +'And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called +Melita. 2. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for +they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present +rain, and because of the cold. 3. And when Paul had gathered a bundle +of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the +heat, and fastened on his hand. 4. And when the barbarians saw the +venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt +this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet +vengeance suffereth not to live. 5. And he shook off the beast into the +fire, and felt no harm. 6. Howbeit they looked when he should have +swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a +great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and +said that he was a god. 7. In the same quarters were possessions of the +chief man of the island, whose name was Publius: who received us, and +lodged us three days courteously. 8. And it came to pass, that the +father of Publius lay sick of a fever, and of a bloody flux: to whom +Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. +9. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the +island, came, and were healed: 10. Who also honoured us with many +honours: and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were +necessary. 11. And after three months we departed in a ship of +Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and +Pollux. 12. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. 13. +And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after +one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli; 14. +Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven +days: and so we went toward Rome. 15. And from thence, when the +brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and +The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took +courage. 16. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the +prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell +by himself with a soldier that kept him.'--ACTS xxviii. 1-16. + +'They _all_ escaped safe to land,' says Luke with emphasis, pointing to +the verification of Paul's assurance that there should be no loss of +life. That two hundred and seventy-six men on a wreck should all be +saved was very improbable, but the angel had promised, and Paul had +believed that it should be 'even so as it had been spoken unto him.' +Therefore the improbable came to pass, and every man of the ship's +company stood safe on the shore. Faith which grasps God's promise +'laughs at impossibilities' and brings them into the region of facts. + +Wet, cold, weary, and anxious, the rescued men huddled together on the +shore in the early morning, and no doubt they were doubtful what +reception they would have from the islanders who had been attracted to +the beach. Their first question was, 'Where are we?' so completely had +they lost their reckoning. Some of the inhabitants could speak Greek or +Latin, and could tell them that they were on Melita, but the most part +of the crowd that came round them could only speak in a tongue strange +to Luke, and are therefore called by him 'barbarians,' not as being +uncivilised, but as not speaking Greek. But they could speak the +eloquent language of kindness and pity. They were heathens, but they +were men. They had not come down to the wreck for plunder, as might +have been feared, but to help the unfortunates who were shivering on +the beach in the downpour of rain, and chilled to the bone by exposure. + +As always, Paul fills Luke's canvas; the other two hundred and +seventy-five were ciphers. Two incidents, in which the Apostle appears +as protected by God from danger, and as a fountain of healing for +others, are all that is told of the three months' stay in Malta. Taken +together, these cover the whole ground of the Christian's place in the +world; he is an object of divine care, he is a medium of divine +blessing. In the former one, we see in Paul's activity in gathering his +bundle of brushwood an example of how he took the humblest duties on +himself, and was not hindered either by the false sense of dignity +which keeps smaller men from doing small things, as Chinese gentlemen +pride themselves on long nails as a token that they do no work, or by +the helplessness in practical matters which is sometimes natural to, +and often affected by, men of genius, from taking his share in common +duties. + +The shipwreck took place in November probably, and the 'viper' had +curled itself up for its winter sleep, and had been lifted with the +twigs by Paul's hasty hand. Roused by the warmth, it darted at Paul's +hand before it could be withdrawn, and fixed its fangs. The sight of it +dangling there excited suspicions in the mind of the natives, who would +know that Paul was a prisoner, and so jumped to the conclusion that he +was a murderer pursued by the Goddess of Justice. These rude islanders +had consciences, which bore witness to a divine law of retribution. + +However mistaken may be heathens' conceptions of what constitutes right +and wrong, they all know that it is wrong to do wrong, and the dim +anticipation of God-inflicted punishment is in their hearts. The swift +change of opinion about Paul is like, though it is the reverse of, what +the people of Lystra thought of him. _They_ first took him for a god, +and then for a criminal, worshipping him to-day and stoning him +to-morrow. This teaches us how unworthy the heathen conception of a +deity is, and how lightly the name was given. It may teach us too how +fickle and easily led popular judgments are, and how they are ever +prone to rush from one extreme to another, so that the people's idol of +one week is their abhorrence the next, and the applause and execration +are equally undeserved. These Maltese critics did what many of us are +doing with less excuse--arguing as to men's merits from their +calamities or successes. A good man may be stung by a serpent in the +act of doing a good thing; that does not prove him to be a monster. He +may be unhurt by what seems fatal; that does not prove him to be a god +or a saint. + +The other incident recorded as occurring in Malta brings out the +Christian's relation to others as a source of healing. An interesting +incidental proof of Luke's accuracy is found in the fact that +inscriptions discovered in Malta show that the official title of the +governor was 'First of the Melitaeans.' The word here rendered 'chief' +is literally 'first.' Luke's precision is shown in another direction in +his diagnosis of the diseases of Publius's father, which are described +by technical medical terms. The healing seems to have been unasked. +Paul 'went in,' as if from a spontaneous wish to render help. There is +no record of any expectation or request from Publius. + +Christians are to be 'like the dew on the grass, which waiteth not for +man,' but falls unsought. The manner of the healing brings out very +clearly its divine source, and Paul's part as being simply that of the +channel for God's power. He prays, and then lays his hands on the sick +man. There are no words assuring him of healing. God is invoked, and +then His power flows through the hands of the suppliant. So with all +our work for men in bringing the better cure with which we are +entrusted, we are but channels of the blessing, pipes through which the +water of life is brought to thirsty lips. Therefore prayer must precede +and accompany all Christian efforts to communicate the healing of the +Gospel; and the most gifted are but, like Paul, 'ministers through +whom' faith and salvation come. + +The argument from silence is precarious, but the entire omission of +notice of evangelistic work in Melita is noteworthy. Probably the +Apostle as a prisoner was not free to preach Christ in any public +manner. + +Ancient navigation was conducted in a leisurely fashion very strange to +us. Three months' delay in the island, rendered necessary by wintry +storms, would end about the early part of March, when the season for +safe sailing began. So the third ship which was used in this voyage set +sail. Luke notices its 'sign' as being that of the Twin Brethren, the +patrons of sailors, whose images were, no doubt, displayed on the bow, +just as to-day boats in that region often have a Madonna nailed on the +mast. Strange conjunction--Castor and Pollux on the prow, and Paul on +the deck! + +Puteoli, on the bay of Naples, was the landing-place, and there, after +long confinement with uncongenial companions, the three Christians, +Paul, Aristarchus, and Luke, found brethren. We can understand the joy +of such a meeting, and can almost hear the narrative of perils which +would be poured into sympathetic ears. Observe that, according to what +seems the true reading, verse 14 says, 'We were consoled among them, +remaining seven days.' The centurion could scarcely delay his march to +please the Christians at Puteoli; and the thought that the Apostle, +whose spirit had never flagged while danger was near and effort was +needed, felt some tendency to collapse, and required cheering when the +strain was off, is as natural as it is pathetic. + +So the whole company set off on their march to Rome--about a hundred +and forty miles. The week's delay in Puteoli would give time for +apprising the church in Rome of the Apostle's coming, and two parties +came out to meet him, one travelling as far as Appii Forum, about forty +Roman miles from the city; the other as far as 'The Three Taverns,' +some ten miles nearer it. The simple notice of the meeting is more +touching than many words would have been. It brings out again the +Apostle's somewhat depressed state, partly due, no doubt, to nervous +tension during the long and hazardous voyage, and partly to his +consciousness that the decisive moment was very near. But when he +grasped the hands and looked into the faces of the Roman brethren, whom +he had so long hungered to see, and to whom he had poured out his heart +in his letter, he 'thanked God, and took courage.' The most heroic +need, and are helped by, the sympathy of the humble. Luther was braced +for the Diet of Worms by the knight who clapped him on the back as he +passed in and spoke a hearty word of cheer. + +There would be some old friends in the delegation of Roman Christians, +perhaps some of those who are named in Romans xvi., such as Priscilla +and Aquila, and the unnamed matron, Rufus's mother, whom Paul there +calls 'his mother and mine.' It would be an hour of love and effusion, +and the shadow of appearing before Caesar would not sensibly dim the +brightness. Paul saw God's hand in that glad meeting, as we should do +in all the sweetness of congenial intercourse. It was not only because +the welcomers were his friends that he was glad, but because they were +Christ's friends and servants. The Apostle saw in them the evidence +that the kingdom was advancing even in the world's capital, and under +the shadow of Caesar's throne, and that gladdened him and made him +forget personal anxieties. We too should be willing to sink our own +interests in the joy of seeing the spread of Christ's kingdom. + +Paul turned thankfulness for the past and present into calm hope for +the future: 'He took courage.' There was much to discourage and to +excuse tremors and forebodings, but he had God and Christ with him, and +therefore he could front the uncertain future without flinching, and +leave all its possibilities in God's hands. Those who have such a past +as every Christian has should put fear far from them, and go forth to +meet any future with quiet hearts, and minds kept in perfect peace +because they are stayed on God. + + + +THE LAST GLIMPSE OF PAUL + +'And it came to pass, that, after three days, Paul called the chief of +the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, +Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people or +customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem +into the hands of the Romans; 18. Who, when they had examined me, would +have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. 19. But when +the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not +that I had ought to accuse my nation of. 20. For this cause therefore +have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that +for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. 21. And they said +unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, +neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. +22. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning +this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against. 23. And when +they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; +to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them +concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the +prophets, from morning till evening. 24. And some believed the things +which were spoken, and some believed not. 25. And when they agreed not +among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, +Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esias the prophet unto our fathers, 26. +Saying, Go unto this people, and say. Hearing ye shall hear, and shall +not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27. For the +heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of +hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with +their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, +and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28. Be it known +therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the +Gentiles, and that they will hear it. 29. And when he had said these +words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. 30. +And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all +that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching +those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, +no man forbidding him.'--ACTS xxviii. 17-31. + +We have here our last certain glimpse of Paul. His ambition had long +been to preach in Rome, but he little knew how his desire was to be +fulfilled. We too are often surprised at the shape which God's answers +to our wishes take. Well for us if we take the unexpected or painful +events which accomplish some long-cherished purpose as cheerfully and +boldly as did Paul. We see him in this last glimpse as the centre of +three concentric widening circles. + +I. We have Paul and the leaders of the Roman synagogue. He was not the +man to let the grass grow under his feet. After such a voyage a pause +would have been natural for a less eager worker; but three days were +all that he allowed himself, and these would, no doubt, be largely +occupied by intercourse with the Roman Christians, and with the +multitude of little things to be looked after on entering on his new +lodging. Paul had gifts that we have not, he exemplified many heroic +virtues which we are not called on to repeat; but he had eminently the +prosaic virtue of diligence and persistence in work, and the humblest +life affords a sphere in which that indispensable though homely +excellence of his can be imitated. What a long holiday some of us would +think we had earned, if we had come through what Paul had encountered +since he left Caesarea! + +The summoning of the 'chief of the Jews' to him was a prudent +preparation for his trial rather than an evangelistic effort. It was +important to ascertain their feelings, and if possible to secure their +neutrality in regard to the approaching investigation. Hence the +Apostle seeks to put his case to them so as to show his true adherence +to the central principles of Judaism, insisting that he is guiltless of +revolt against either the nation or the law and traditional +observances; that he had been found innocent by the Palestinian +representatives of Roman authority; that his appeal to Caesar, which +would naturally seem hostile to the rulers in Jerusalem, was not meant +as an accusation of the nation to which he felt himself to belong, and +so was no sign of deficient patriotism, but had been forced on him as +his only means of saving his life. + +It was a difficult course which he had to steer, and he picked his way +between the shoals with marvellous address. But his explanation of his +position is not only a skilful piece of _apologia_, but it embodies one +of his strongest convictions, which it is worth our while to grasp +firmly; namely, that Christianity is the true fulfilment and perfecting +of the old revelation. His declaration that, so far from his being a +deserter from Israel, he was a prisoner just because he was true to the +Messianic hope which was Israel's highest glory, was not a clever piece +of special pleading meant for the convincing of the Roman Jews, but was +a principle which runs through all his teaching. Christians were the +true Jews. He was not a recreant in confessing, but they were deserters +in denying, the fulfilment in Jesus of the hope which had shone before +the generation of 'the fathers.' The chain which bound him to the +legionary who 'kept him,' and which he held forth as he spoke, was the +witness that he was still 'an Hebrew of the Hebrews.' + +The heads of the Roman synagogue went on the tack of non-committal, as +was quite natural. They were much too astute to accept at once an _ex +parte_ statement, and so took refuge in professing ignorance. Probably +they knew a good deal more than they owned. Their statement has been +called 'unhistorical,' and, oddly enough, has been used to discredit +Luke's narrative. It is a remarkable canon of criticism that a reporter +is responsible for the truthfulness of assertions which he reports, and +that, if he has occasion to report truthfully an untruth, he is +convicted of the untruth which he truthfully reports. Luke is +responsible for telling what these people found it convenient to say; +they are responsible for its veracity. But they did not say quite as +much as is sometimes supposed. As the Revised Version shows, they +simply said that they had not had any official deputation or report +about Paul, which is perfectly probable, as it was extremely unlikely +that any ship leaving after Paul's could have reached Italy. They may +have known a great deal about him, but they had no information to act +upon about his trial. Their reply is plainly shaped so as to avoid +expressing any definite opinion or pledging themselves to any course of +action till they do hear from 'home.' + +They are politely cautious, but they cannot help letting out some of +their bile in their reference to 'this sect.' Paul had said nothing +about it, and their allusion betrays a fuller knowledge of him and it +than it suited their plea for delay to own. Their wish to hear what he +thought sounded very innocent and impartial, but was scarcely the voice +of candid seekers after truth. They must have known of the existence of +the Roman Church, which included many Jews, and they could scarcely be +ignorant of the beliefs on which it was founded; but they probably +thought that they would hear enough from Paul in the proposed +conference to enable them to carry the synagogue with them in doing all +they could to procure his condemnation. He had hoped to secure at least +their neutrality; they seem to have been preparing to join his enemies. +The request for full exposition of a prisoner's belief has often been +but a trap to ensure his martyrdom. But we have to 'be ready to give to +every man a reason for the hope that is in us,' even when the motive +for asking it may be anything but the sincere desire to learn. + +II. Therefore Paul was willing to lay his heart's belief open, whatever +doing so might bring. So the second circle forms round him, and we have +him preaching the Gospel to 'many' of the Jews. He could not go to the +synagogue, so much of the synagogue came to him. The usual method was +pursued by Paul in arguing from the old revelation, but we may note the +twofold manner of his preaching, 'testifying' and 'persuading,' the +former addressed more to the understanding, and the latter to the +affections and will, and may learn how Christian teachers should seek +to blend both--to work their arguments, not in frost, but in fire, and +not to bully or scold or frighten men into the Kingdom, but to draw +them with cords of love. Persuasion without a basis of solid reasoning +is puerile and impotent; reasoning without the warmth of persuasion is +icy cold, and therefore nothing grows from it. + +Note too the protracted labour 'from morning till evening.' One can +almost see the eager disputants spending the livelong day over the +rolls of the prophets, relays of Rabbis, perhaps, relieving one another +in the assault on the one opponent's position, and he holding his +ground through all the hours--a pattern for us teachers of all degrees. + +The usual effects followed. The multitude was sifted by the Gospel, as +its hearers always are, some accepting and some rejecting. These double +effects ever follow it, and to one or other of these two classes we +each belong. The same fire melts wax and hardens clay; the same light +is joy to sound eyes and agony to diseased ones; the same word is a +savour of life unto life and a savour of death unto death; the same +Christ is set for the fall and for the rising of men, and is to some +the sure foundation on which they build secure, and to some the stone +on which, stumbling, they are broken, and which, falling on them, +grinds them to powder. + +Paul's solemn farewell takes up Isaiah's words, already used by Jesus. +It is his last recorded utterance to his brethren after the flesh, +weighty, and full of repressed yearning and sorrow. It is heavy with +prophecy, and marks an epoch in the sad, strange history of that +strange nation. Israel passes out of sight with that dread sentence +fastened to its breast, like criminals of old, on whose front was fixed +the record of their crimes and their condemnation. So this tragic +self-exclusion from hope and life is the end of all that wondrous +history of ages of divine revelation and patience, and of man's +rebellion. The Gospel passes to the Gentiles, and the Jew shuts himself +out. So it has been for nineteen centuries. Was not that scene in +Paul's lodging in Rome the end of an epoch and the prediction of a sad +future? + +III. Not less significant and epoch-making is the glimpse of Paul which +closes the Acts. We have the third concentric circle--Paul and the +multitudes who came to his house and heard the Gospel. We note two +points here. First, that his unhindered preaching in the very heart of +the world's capital for two whole years is, in one aspect, the +completion of the book. As Bengel tersely says, 'The victory of the +word of God, Paul at Rome. The apex of the Gospel, the end of Acts.' + +But, second, as clearly, the ending is abrupt, and is not a satisfying +close. The lengthened account of the whole process of Paul's +imprisonments and hearings before the various Roman authorities is most +unintelligible if Luke intended to break off at the very crucial point, +and say nothing about the event to which he had been leading up for so +many chapters. There is much probability in Ramsay's suggestion that +Luke intended to write a third book, containing the account of the +trial and subsequent events, but was prevented by causes unknown, +perhaps by martyrdom. Be that as it may, these two verses, with some +information pieced out of the Epistles written during the imprisonment, +are all that we know of Paul's life in Rome. From Philippians we learn +that the Gospel spread by reason of the earlier stages of his trial. +From the other Epistles we can collect some particulars of his +companions, and of the oversight which he kept up of the Churches. + +The picture here drawn lays hold, not on anything connected with his +trial, but on his evangelistic activity, and shows us how, +notwithstanding all hindrances, anxieties about his fate, weariness, +and past toils, the flame of evangelistic fervour burned undimmed in +'Paul the aged,' as the flame of mistaken zeal had burned in the 'young +man named Saul,' and how the work which had filled so many years of +wandering and homelessness was carried on with all the old joyfulness, +confidence, and success, from the prisoner's lodging. In such +unexpected fashion did God fulfil the Apostle's desire to 'preach the +Gospel to you that are at Rome also.' To preach the word with all +boldness is the duty of us Christians who have entered into the +heritage of fuller freedom than Paul's, and of whom it is truer than of +him that we can do it, 'no man forbidding' us. + + + +PAUL IN ROME + +And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all +that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching +those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, +no man forbidding him.'--ACTS xxviii. 30, 31. + +So ends this book. It stops rather than ends. Many reasons might be +suggested for closing here. Probably the simplest is the best, that +nothing more is said for nothing more had yet been done. Probably the +book was written during these two years. This abrupt close suggests +several noteworthy thoughts. + +I. The true theme of the book. + +How convenient if Luke had told us a little more! But Paul's history is +unfinished, like Peter's and John's. This book's treatment of all the +Apostles teaches, as we have often had to remark, that Christ and His +acts are its true subject. + +We are wise if we learn the lesson of keeping all human teachers, even +a Paul, in their inferior place, and if we say of each of them: 'He was +not the Light, but came that he might bear witness of the Light.' + +II. God's unexpected and unwelcome ways of fulfilling our desires, and +His purposes. + +It had long been Paul's dream to 'see Rome.' How little he knew the +steps by which his dream was to be fulfilled! He told the Ephesian +elders that he was going up to Jerusalem under compulsion of the +Spirit, and 'not knowing the things that should befall him there,' +except that he was certain of 'bonds and imprisonment.' He did not know +that these were God's way of bringing him to Rome. Jewish fury, Roman +statecraft and law-abidingness, two years of a prison, a stormy voyage, +a shipwreck, led him to his long-wished-for goal. God uses even man's +malice and opposition to the Gospel to advance the progress of the +Gospel. Men, like coral insects, build their little bit, all unaware of +the whole of which it is a part, but the reef rises above the waves and +ocean breaks against it in vain. + +So we may gather lessons of submission, of patient acceptance of +apparently adverse circumstances, and of quiet faith that He who 'makes +stormy winds to fulfil His word and flaming fires His ministers,' will +bend to the carrying out of His designs all things, be they seemingly +friendly or hostile, and will realise our dreams, if in accordance with +His will, even through events which seem to shatter them. Let us trust +and be patient till we see the issues of events. + +III. The world's mistaken estimate of greatness. + +Who was the greatest man in Rome at that hour? Not the Caesar but the +poor Jewish prisoner. How astonished both would have been if they had +been told the truth! The two kingdoms were, so to speak, set face to +face in these two, their representatives, and neither of them knew his +own relative importance. The Caesar was all unaware that, for all his +legions and his power, he was but 'a noise'; Paul was as unconscious +that he was incomparably the most powerful of the influences that were +then at work in the world. The haughty and stolid eyes of Romans saw in +him nothing but a prisoner, sent up from a turbulent subject land on +some obscure charge, a mere nobody. The crowds in forum and +amphitheatre would have laughed at any one who had pointed to that +humble 'hired house,' and said, 'There lodges a man who bears a word +that will shatter and remould the city, the Empire, the world.' + +Let us have confidence in the greatness of the word, though the world +may be deaf to its music and blind to its power, and let us never fear +to ally ourselves with a cause which we know to be God's, however it +may be unpopular and made light of by the 'leaders of opinion.' + +IV. The true relation between the Church and the State. + +'None forbidding him' marks a great step forward. Paul's unhindered +freedom of speech in Rome itself marks 'the victory of the word, the +apex of the Gospel.' The neutral attitude of the imperial power was, +indeed, broken by subsequent persecutions, but we may say that on the +whole Rome let Christianity alone. That is the best service that the +State can render to the Church. Anything more is help which encumbers +and is harmful to the true spiritual power of the Gospel. The real +requirement which it makes on the civil power is simply what the Greek +philosopher asked of the king who was proffering his good offices, +'Stand out of the sunshine!' + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts, by +Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 8397.txt or 8397.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/3/9/8397/ + +Produced by Charles Franks, John Hagerson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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I to XII_ +VERSE 17. + + + +CONTENTS + +THE ASCENSION (Acts i. 1-14) + +THE THEME OF ACTS (Acts i. 1, 2; xxviii. 30, 31) + +THE FORTY DAYS (Acts i. 3) + +THE UNKNOWN TO-MORROW (Acts i. 7) + +THE APOSTOLIC WITNESSES (Acts i. 21, 22) + +THE ABIDING GIFT AND ITS TRANSITORY ACCOMPANIMENTS (Acts ii. 1-13) + +THE FOURFOLD SYMBOLS OF THE SPIRIT (Acts ii. 2, 3, 17; 1 John ii. 20) + +PETER'S FIRST SERMON (Acts ii. 32-47) + +THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME (Acts ii. 36) + +A FOURFOLD CORD (Acts ii. 42) + +A PURE CHURCH AN INCREASING CHURCH (Acts ii. 47) + +'THEN SHALL THE LAME MAN LEAP AS AN HART' (Acts iii. 1-16) + +'THE PRINCE OF LIFE' (Acts iii. 14, 15) + +THE HEALING POWER OF THE NAME (Acts iii. 16) + +THE SERVANT OF THE LORD (Acts iii. 26) + +THE FIRST BLAST OF TEMPEST (Acts iv. 1-14) + +WITH AND LIKE CHRIST (Acts iv. 13) + +OBEDIENT DISOBEDIENCE (Acts iv. 19-31) + +IMPOSSIBLE SILENCE (Acts iv. 20) + +THE SERVANT AND THE SLAVES (Acts iv. 25, 27, 29) + +THE WHEAT AND THE TARES (Acts iv. 32; v. 11) + +WHOM TO OBEY,--ANNAS OR ANGEL? (Acts v. 17-32) + +OUR CAPTAIN (Acts v. 31) + +GAMALIEL'S COUNSEL (Acts v. 38, 39) + +FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT (Acts vi. 3, 5, 8) + +STEPHEN'S VISION (Acts vii. 56) + +THE YOUNG SAUL AND THE AGED PAUL (Acts vii. 58; Philemon 9) + +THE DEATH OF THE MASTER AND THE DEATH OF THE SERVANT +(Acts vii. 59, 60) + +SEED SCATTERED AND TAKING ROOT (Acts viii. 1-17) + +SIMON THE SORCERER (Acts viii. 21) + +A MEETING IN THE DESERT (Acts viii. 26-40) + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST (Acts viii. 40) + +GRACE TRIUMPHANT (Acts ix. 1-12; 17-20) + +'THIS WAY' (Acts ix. 2) + +A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE EARLY CHURCH (Acts ix. 31) + +COPIES OF CHRIST'S MANNER (Acts ix. 34, 40) + +WHAT GOD HATH CLEANSED (Acts x. 1-20) + +'GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS' (Acts x. 30-44) + +PETER'S APOLOGIA (Acts xi. 1-18) + +THE FIRST PREACHING AT ANTIOCH (Acts xi. 20, 21) + +THE EXHORTATION OF BARNABAS (Acts xi. 23) + +WHAT A GOOD MAN IS, AND HOW HE BECOMES SO (Acts xi. 24) + +A NICKNAME ACCEPTED (Acts xi. 26) + +THE MARTYRDOM OF JAMES (Acts xii. 2) + +PETER'S DELIVERANCE FROM PRISON (Acts xii. 5, R.V.) + +THE ANGEL'S TOUCH (Acts xii. 7, 23) + +'SOBER CERTAINTY' (Acts xii. 11) + +RHODA (Acts xii. 13) + +PETER AFTER HIS ESCAPE (Acts xii. 17) + + + +THE ASCENSION + +'The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus +began both to do and teach, 2. Until the day in which He was +taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given +commandments unto the Apostles whom He had chosen: 3. To whom +also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible +proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things +pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4. And, being assembled +together with them, commanded them that they should not depart +from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, +saith He, ye have heard of Me. 5. For John truly baptized with +water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days +hence. 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of +Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the +kingdom to Israel? 7. And He said unto them, It is not for you to +know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His +own power. 8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy +Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in +Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the +uttermost part of the earth. 9. And when He had spoken these +things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received +Him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked stedfastly +toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in +white apparel; l1. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand +ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from +you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him +go into heaven. 12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the +mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's +journey. 13. And when they were come in, they went up into an +upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and +Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the +son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of +James. 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and +supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and +with His brethren.'--ACTS i. 1-14. + +The Ascension is twice narrated by Luke. The life begun by the +supernatural birth ends with the supernatural Ascension, which sets +the seal of Heaven on Christ's claims and work. Therefore the Gospel +ends with it. But it is also the starting-point of the Christ's +heavenly activity, of which the growth of His Church, as recorded in +the Acts, is the issue. Therefore the Book of the Acts of the +Apostles begins with it. + +The keynote of the 'treatise' lies in the first words, which describe +the Gospel as the record of what 'Jesus _began_ to do and teach,' +Luke would have gone on to say that this second book of his contained +the story of what Jesus went on to do and teach after He was 'taken +up,' if he had been strictly accurate, or had carried out his first +intention, as shown by the mould of his introductory sentence; but he +is swept on into the full stream of his narrative, and we have to +infer the contrast between his two volumes from his statement of the +contents of his first. + +The book, then, is misnamed Acts of the Apostles, both because the +greater number of the Apostles do nothing in it, and because, in +accordance with the hint of the first verse, Christ Himself is the +doer of all, as comes out distinctly in many places where the +critical events of the Church's progress and extension are attributed +to 'the Lord.' In one aspect, Christ's work on earth was finished on +the Cross; in another, that finished work is but the beginning both +of His doing and teaching. Therefore we are not to regard His +teaching while on earth as the completion of Christian revelation. To +set aside the Epistles on the plea that the Gospels contain Christ's +own teaching, while the Epistles are only Paul's or John's, is to +misconceive the relation between the earthly and the heavenly +activity of Jesus. + +The statement of the theme of the book is followed by a brief summary +of the events between the Resurrection and Ascension. Luke had spoken +of these in the end of his Gospel, but given no note of time, and run +together the events of the day of the Resurrection and of the +following weeks, so that it might appear, as has been actually +contended that he meant, that the Ascension took place on the very +day of Resurrection. The fact that in this place he gives more +detailed statements, and tells how long elapsed between the +Resurrection Sunday and the Ascension, might have taught hasty +critics that an author need not be ignorant of what he does not +mention, and that a detailed account does not contradict a summary +one,--truths which do not seem very recondite, but have often been +forgotten by very learned commentators. + +Three points are signalised as occupying the forty days: commandments +were given, Christ's actual living presence was demonstrated (by +sight, touch, hearing, etc.), and instructions concerning the kingdom +were imparted. The old blessed closeness and continuity of +companionship had ceased. Our Lord's appearances were now occasional. +He came to the disciples, they knew not whence; He withdrew from +them, they knew not whither. Apparently a sacred awe restrained them +from seeking to detain Him or to follow Him. Their hearts would be +full of strangely mingled feelings, and they were being taught by +gentle degrees to do without Him. Not only a divine decorum, but a +most gracious tenderness, dictated the alternation of presence and +absence during these days. + +The instructions then given are again referred to in Luke's Gospel, +and are there represented as principally directed to opening their +minds 'that they might understand the Scriptures.' The main thing +about the kingdom which they had then to learn, was that it was +founded on the death of Christ, who had fulfilled all the Old +Testament predictions. Much remained untaught, which after years were +to bring to clear knowledge; but from the illumination shed during +these fruitful days flowed the remarkable vigour and confidence of +the Apostolic appeal to the prophets, in the first conflicts of the +Church with the rulers. Christ is the King of the kingdom, and His +Cross is His throne,--these truths being grasped revolutionised the +Apostles' conceptions. They are as needful for us. + +From verse 4 onwards the last interview seems to be narrated. +Probably it began in the city, and ended on the slopes of Olivet. +There was a solemn summoning together of the Eleven, which is twice +referred to (vs. 4, 6). What awe of expectancy would rest on the +group as they gathered round Him, perhaps half suspecting that it was +for the last time! His words would change the suspicion into +certainty, for He proceeded to tell them what they were not to do and +to do, when left alone. The tone of leave-taking is unmistakable. + +The prohibition against leaving Jerusalem implies that they would +have done so if left to themselves; and it would have been small +wonder if they had been eager to hurry back to quiet Galilee, their +home, and to shake from their feet the dust of the city where their +Lord had been slain. Truly they would feel like sheep in the midst of +wolves when He had gone, and Pharisees and priests and Roman officers +ringed them round. No wonder if, like a shepherdless flock, they had +broken and scattered! But the theocratic importance of Jerusalem, and +the fact that nowhere else could the Apostles secure such an audience +for their witness, made their 'beginning at Jerusalem' necessary. So +they were to crush their natural longing to get back to Galilee, and +to stay in their dangerous position. We have all to ask, not where we +should be most at ease, but where we shall be most efficient as +witnesses for Christ, and to remember that very often the presence of +adversaries makes the door 'great and effectual.' + +These eleven poor men were not left by their Master with a hard task +and no help. He bade them 'wait' for the promised Holy Spirit, the +coming of whom they had heard from Him when in the upper room He +spoke to them of 'the Comforter.' They were too feeble to act alone, +and silence and retirement were all that He enjoined till they had +been plunged into the fiery baptism which should quicken, strengthen, +and transform them. + +The order in which promise and command occur here shows how +graciously Jesus considered the Apostles' weakness. Not a word does +He say of their task of witnessing, till He has filled their hearts +with the promise of the Spirit. He shows them the armour of power in +which they are to be clothed, before He points them to the +battlefield. Waiting times are not wasted times. Over-eagerness to +rush into work, especially into conspicuous and perilous work, is +sure to end in defeat. Till we feel the power coming into us, we had +better be still. + +The promise of this great gift, the nature of which they but dimly +knew, set the Apostles' expectations on tiptoe, and they seem to have +thought that their reception of it was in some way the herald of the +establishment of the Messianic kingdom. So it was, but in a very +different fashion from their dream. They had not learned so much from +the forty days' instructions concerning the kingdom as to be free +from their old Jewish notions, which colour their question, 'Wilt +Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?' They believed +that Jesus could establish His kingdom when He would. They were +right, and also wrong,--right, for He is King; wrong, for its +establishment is not to be effected by a single act of power, but by +the slow process of preaching the gospel. + +Our Lord does not deal with their misconceptions which could only be +cured by time and events; but He lays down great principles, which we +need as much as the Eleven did. The 'times and seasons,' the long +stretches of days, and the critical epoch-making moments, are known +to God only; our business is, not to speculate curiously about these, +but to do the plain duty which is incumbent on the Church at all +times. The perpetual office of Christ's people to be His witnesses, +their equipment for that function (namely, the power of the Holy +Spirit coming on them), and the sphere of their work (namely, in +ever-widening circles, Jerusalem, Samaria, and the whole world), are +laid down, not for the first hearers only, but for all ages and for +each individual, in these last words of the Lord as He stood on +Olivet, ready to depart. + +The calm simplicity of the account of the Ascension is remarkable. So +great an event told in such few, unimpassioned words! Luke's Gospel +gives the further detail that it was in the act of blessing with +uplifted hands that our Lord was parted from the Eleven. Two +expressions are here used to describe the Ascension, one of which +('was taken up') implies that He was passive, the other of which ('He +went') implies that He was active. Both are true. As in the accounts +of the Resurrection He is sometimes said to have been raised, and +sometimes to have risen, so here. The Father took the Son back to the +glory, the Son left the world and went to the Father. No chariot of +fire, no whirlwind, was needed to lift Him to the throne. Elijah was +carried by such agency into a sphere new to him; Jesus ascended up +where He was before. + +No other mode of departure from earth would have corresponded to His +voluntary, supernatural birth. He carried manhood up to the throne +of God. The cloud which received Him while yet He was well within +sight of the gazers was probably that same bright cloud, the symbol +of the Divine Presence, which of old dwelt between the cherubim. His +entrance into it visibly symbolised the permanent participation, then +begun, of His glorified manhood in the divine glory. + +Most true to human nature is that continued gaze upwards after He had +passed into the hiding brightness of the glory-cloud. How many of us +know what it is to look long at the spot on the horizon where the +last glint of sunshine struck the sails of the ship that bore dear +ones away from us! It was fitting that angels, who had heralded His +birth and watched His grave, should proclaim His Second Coming to +earth. + +It was gracious that, in the moment of keenest sense of desolation +and loss, the great hope of reunion should be poured into the hearts +of the Apostles. Nothing can be more distinct and assured than the +terms of that angel message. It gives for the faith and hope of all +ages the assurance that He will come; that He who comes will be the +very Jesus who went; that His coming will be, like His departure, +visible, corporeal, local. He will bring again all His tenderness, +all His brother's heart, all His divine power, and will gather His +servants to Himself. + +No wonder that, with such hopes flowing over the top of their sorrow, +like oil on troubled waters, the little group went back to the upper +room, hallowed by memories of the Last Supper, and there waited in +prayer and supplication during the ten days which elapsed till +Pentecost. So should we use the interval between any promise and its +fulfilment. Patient expectation, believing prayer, harmonious +association with our brethren, will prepare us for receiving the gift +of the Spirit, and will help to equip us as witnesses for Jesus. + + + +THE THEME OF ACTS + +'The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that +Jesus began both to do and teach. 2. Until the day in which He +was taken up.'--ACTS i. 1, 2. + +'And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and +received all that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom +of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus +Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.' +--ACTS xxviii. 30, 31. + +So begins and so ends this Book. I connect the commencement and the +close, because I think that the juxtaposition throws great light upon +the purpose of the writer, and suggests some very important lessons. +The reference to 'the former treatise' (which is, of course, the +Gospel according to Luke) implies that this Book is to be regarded as +its sequel, and the terms of the reference show the writer's own +conception of what he was going to do in his second volume. 'The +former treatise have I made ... of all that Jesus _began_ both to do +and teach until the day in which He was taken up.' Is not the natural +inference that the latter treatise will tell us what Jesus +_continued_ 'to do and teach' _after_ He was taken up? I think so. +And thus the writer sets forth at once, for those that have eyes to +see, what he means to do, and what he thinks his book is going to be +about. + +So, then, the name 'The Acts of the Apostles,' which is not coeval +with the book itself, is somewhat of a misnomer. Most of the Apostles +are never heard of in it. There are, at the most, only three or four +of them concerning whom anything in the book is recorded. But our +first text supplies a deeper reason for regarding that title as +inadequate, and even misleading. For, if the theme of the story be +what Christ did, then the book is, not the 'Acts of the _Apostles_,' +but the 'Acts of _Jesus Christ_' through His servants. He, and He +alone, is the Actor; and the men who appear in it are but instruments +in His hands, He alone being the mover of the pawns on the board. + +That conception of the purpose of the book seems to me to have light +cast upon it by, and to explain, the singular abruptness of its +conclusion, which must strike every reader. No doubt it is quite +possible that the reason why the book ends in such a singular +fashion, planting Paul in Rome, and leaving him there, may be that +the date of its composition was that imprisonment of Paul in the +Imperial City, in a part of which, at all events, we know that Luke +was his companion. But, whilst that consideration may explain the +point at which the book stops, it does not explain the way in which +it stops. The historian lays down his pen, possibly because he had +brought his narrative up to date. But a word of conclusion explaining +that it was so would have been very natural, and its absence must +have had some reason. It is also possible that the arrival of the +Apostle in the Imperial City, and his unhindered liberty of preaching +there, in the very centre of power, the focus of intellectual life, +and the hot-bed of corruption for the known world, may have seemed to +the writer an epoch which rounded off his story. But I think that the +reason for the abruptness of the record's close is to be found in the +continuity of the work of which it tells a part. It is the unfinished +record of an incomplete work. The theme is the work of Christ through +the ages, of which each successive depository of His energies can do +but a small portion, and must leave that portion unfinished; the book +does not so much end as stop. It is a fragment, because the work of +which it tells is not yet a whole. + +If, then, we put these two things--the beginning and the ending of +the Acts--together, I think we get some thoughts about what Christ +began to do and teach on earth; what He continues to do and teach in +heaven; and how small and fragmentary a share in that work each +individual servant of His has. Let us look at these points briefly. + +I. First, then, we have here the suggestion of what Christ began to +do and teach on earth. + +Now, at first sight, the words of our text seem to be in strange and +startling contradiction to the solemn cry which rang out of the +darkness upon Calvary. Jesus said, 'It is finished!' and 'gave up the +ghost.' Luke says He 'began to do and teach.' Is there any +contradiction between the two? Certainly not. It is one thing to lay +a foundation; it is another thing to build a house. And the work of +laying the foundation must be finished before the work of building +the structure upon it can be begun. It is one thing to create a +force; it is another thing to apply it. It is one thing to compound a +medicine; it is another thing to administer it. It is one thing to +unveil a truth; it is another to unfold its successive applications, +and to work it into a belief and practice in the world. The former is +the work of Christ which was finished on earth; the latter is the +work which is continuous throughout the ages. + +'He began to do and teach,' not in the sense that any should come +after Him and do, as the disciples of most great discoverers and +thinkers have had to do: namely, systematise, rectify, and complete +the first glimpses of truth which the master had given. 'He began to +do and teach,' not in the sense that after He had 'passed into the +heavens' any new truth or force can for evermore be imparted to +humanity in regard of the subjects which He taught and the energies +which He brought. But whilst thus His work is complete, His earthly +work is also initial. And we must remember that whatever distinction +my text may mean to draw between the work of Christ in the past and +that in the present and the future, it does not mean to imply that +when He 'ascended up on high' He had not completed the task for which +He came, or that the world had to wait for anything more, either from +Him or from others, to eke out the imperfections of His doctrine or +the insufficiencies of His work. + +Let us ever remember that the initial work of Christ on earth is +complete in so far as the revelation of God to men is concerned. +There will be no other. There is needed no other. Nothing more is +possible than what He, by His words and by His life, by His +gentleness and His grace, by His patience and His Passion, has +unveiled to all men, of the heart and character of God. The +revelation is complete, and he that professes to add anything to, or +to substitute anything for, the finished teaching of Jesus Christ +concerning God, and man's relation to God, and man's duty, destiny, +and hopes, is a false teacher, and to follow him is fatal. All that +ever come after Him and say, 'Here is something that Christ has not +told you,' are thieves and robbers, 'and the sheep will not hear +them.' + +In like manner that work of Christ, which in some sense is initial, +is complete as Redemption. 'This Man has offered up one sacrifice for +sins for ever.' And nothing more can He do than He has done; and +nothing more can any man or all men do than was accomplished on the +Cross of Calvary as giving a revelation, as effecting a redemption, +as lodging in the heart of humanity, and in the midst of the stream +of human history, a purifying energy, sufficient to cleanse the whole +black stream. The past work which culminated on the Cross, and was +sealed as adequate and accepted of God in the Resurrection and +Ascension, needs no supplement, and can have no continuation, world +without end. And so, whatever may be the meaning of that singular +phrase, 'began to do and teach,' it does not, in the smallest degree, +conflict with the assurance that He hath ascended up on high, 'having +obtained eternal redemption for us,' and 'having finished the work +which the Father gave Him to do.' + +II. But then, secondly, we have to notice what Christ continues to do +and to teach after His Ascension. + +I have already suggested that the phraseology of the first of my +texts naturally leads to the conclusion that the theme of this Book +of the Acts is the continuous work of the ascended Saviour, and that +the language is not forced by being thus interpreted is very plain to +any one who will glance even cursorily over the contents of the book +itself. For there is nothing in it more obvious and remarkable than +the way in which, at every turn in the narrative, all is referred to +Jesus Christ Himself. + +For instance, to cull one or two cases in order to bring the matter +more plainly before you--When the Apostles determined to select +another Apostle to fill Judas' place, they asked Jesus Christ to show +which 'of these two Thou hast chosen.' When Peter is called upon to +explain the tongues at Pentecost he says, 'Jesus hath shed forth this +which ye now see and hear.' When the writer would tell the reason of +the large first increase to the Church, he says, 'The Lord added to +the Church daily such as should be saved.' Peter and John go into the +Temple to heal the lame man, and their words to him are, 'Do not +think that our power or holiness is any factor in your cure. The Name +hath made this man whole.' It is the Lord that appears to Paul and to +Ananias, to the one on the road to Damascus and to the other in the +city. It is the Lord to whom Peter refers Aeneas when he says, 'Jesus +Christ maketh thee whole.' It was the Lord that 'opened the heart of +Lydia.' It was the Lord that appeared to Paul in Corinth, and said to +him, 'I have much people in this city'; and again, when in the prison +at Jerusalem, He assured the Apostle that he would be carried to +Rome. And so, at every turn in the narrative, we find that Christ is +presented as influencing men's hearts, operating upon outward events, +working miracles, confirming His word, leading His servants, and +prescribing for them their paths, and all which they do is done by +the hand of the Lord with them confirming the word which they spoke. +Jesus Christ is the Actor, and He only is the Actor; men are His +implements and instruments. + +The same point of view is suggested by another of the characteristics +of this book, which it shares in common with all Scripture +narratives, and that is the stolid indifference with which it picks +up and drops men, according to the degree in which, for the moment, +they are the instruments of Christ's power. Supposing a man had been +writing Acts of the Apostles, do you think it would have been +possible that of the greater number of them he should not say a word, +that concerning those of whom he does speak he should deal with them +as this book does, barely mentioning the martyrdom of James, one of +the four chief Apostles; allowing Peter to slip out of the narrative +after the great meeting of the Church at Jerusalem; letting Philip +disappear without a hint of what he did thereafter; lodging Paul in +Rome and leaving him there, with no account of his subsequent work or +martyrdom? Such phenomena--and they might be largely multiplied--are +only explicable upon one hypothesis. As long as electricity streams +on the carbon point it glows and is visible, but when the current is +turned to another lamp we see no more of the bit of carbon. As long +as God uses a man the man is of interest to the writers of the +Scriptures. When God uses another one, they drop the first, and have +no more care about him, because their theme is not men and their +doings, but God's doings through men. + +On us, and in us, and by us, and for us, if we are His servants, +Jesus Christ is working all through the ages. He is the Lord of +Providence, He is the King of history, in His hand is the book with +the seven seals; He sends His Spirit, and where His Spirit is He is; +and what His Spirit does He does. And thus He continues to teach and +to work from His throne in the heavens. + +He continues to teach, not by the communication of new truth. That is +finished. The volume of Revelation is complete. The last word of the +divine utterances hath been spoken until that final word which shall +end Time and crumble the earth. But the application of the completed +Revelation, the unfolding of all that is wrapped in germ in it; the +growing of the seed into a tree, the realisation more completely by +individuals and communities of the principles and truths which Jesus +Christ has brought us by His life and His death--that is the work +that is going on to-day, and that will go on till the end of the +world. For the old Puritan belief is true, though the modern +rationalistic mutilations of it are false, 'God hath more light yet +to break forth'--and our modern men stop there. But what the sturdy +old Puritan said was, 'more light yet to break forth from His holy +Word.' Jesus Christ teaches the ages--through the lessons of +providence and the communication of His Spirit to His Church--to +understand what He gave the world when He was here. + +In like manner He works. The foundation is laid, the healing medicine +is prepared, the cleansing element is cast into the mass of humanity; +what remains is the application and appropriation, and incorporation +in conduct, of the redeeming powers that Jesus Christ has brought. +And that work is going on, and will go on, till the end. + +Now these truths of our Lord's continuous activity in teaching and +working from heaven may yield us some not unimportant lessons. What a +depth and warmth and reality the thoughts give to the Christian's +relation to Jesus Christ! We have to look back to that Cross as the +foundation of all our hope. Yes! But we have to think, not only of a +Christ who did something for us long ago in the past, and there an +end, but of a Christ who to-day lives and reigns, 'to do and to +teach' according to our necessities. What a sweetness and sacredness +such thoughts impart to all external events, which we may regard as +being the operation of His love, and as moved by the hands that were +nailed to the Cross for us, and now hold the sceptre of the universe +for the blessing of mankind! What a fountain of hope they open in +estimating future probabilities of victory for truth and goodness! +The forces of good and evil in the world seem very disproportionate, +but we forget too often to take Christ into account. It is not _we_ +that have to fight against evil; at the best we are but the sword +which Christ wields, and all the power is in the hand that wields it. +Great men die, good men die; Jesus Christ is not dead. Paul was +martyred: Jesus lives; He is the anchor of our hope. We see miseries +and mysteries enough, God knows. The prospects of all good causes +seem often clouded and dark. The world has an awful power of putting +drags upon all chariots that bear blessings, and of turning to evil +every good. You cannot diffuse education, but you diffuse the taste +for rubbish and something worse, in the shape of books. No good thing +but has its shadow of evil attendant upon it. And if we had only to +estimate by visible or human forces, we might well sit down and wrap +ourselves in the sackcloth of pessimism. 'We see not yet all things +put under Him'; but 'we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour,' and +the vision that cheered the first martyr--of Christ 'standing at the +right hand of God'--is the rebuke of every fear and every gloomy +anticipation for ourselves or for the world. + +What a lesson of lowliness and of diligence it gives us! The jangling +church at Corinth fought about whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas was +the man to lead the Church, and the experience has been repeated over +and over again. 'Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? but ministers by whom +ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. Be not puffed up one +against another. Be not wise in your own conceits.' You are only a +tool, only a pawn in the hand of the Great Player. If you have +anything, it is because you get it from Him. See that you use it, and +do not boast about it. Jesus Christ is the Worker, the only Worker; +the Teacher, the only Teacher. All our wisdom is derived, all our +light is enkindled. We are but the reeds through which His breath +makes music. And 'shall the axe boast itself,' either 'against' or +apart from 'Him that heweth therewith'? + +III. Lastly, we note the incompleteness of each man's share in the +great work. + +As I said, the book which is to tell the story of Christ's continuous +unfinished work must stop abruptly. There is no help for it. If it +was a history of Paul it would need to be wound up to an end and a +selvage put to it, but as it is the history of Christ's working, the +web is not half finished, and the shuttle stops in the middle of a +cast. The book must be incomplete, because the work of which it is +the record does not end until 'He shall have delivered up the Kingdom +to the Father, and God shall be all in all.' + +So the work of each man is but a fragment of that great work. Every +man inherits unfinished tasks from his predecessors, and leaves +unfinished tasks to his successors. It is, as it used to be in the +Middle Ages, when the hands that dug the foundations, or laid the +first courses, of some great cathedral, were dead long generations +before the gilded cross was set on the apex of the needlespire, and +the glowing glass filled in to the painted windows. Enough for us, if +we lay a stone, though it be but one stone in one of the courses of +the great building. + +Luke has left plenty of blank paper at the end of his second +'treatise,' on which he meant that succeeding generations should +write their partial contributions to the completed work. Dear +friends, let us see that we write our little line, as monks in their +monasteries used to keep the chronicle of the house, on which scribe +after scribe toiled at its illuminated letters with loving patience +for a little while, and then handed the pen from his dying hand to +another. What does it matter though we drop, having done but a +fragment? He gathers up the fragments into His completed work, and +the imperfect services which He enabled any of us to do will all be +represented in the perfect circle of His finished work. The Lord help +us to be faithful to the power that works in us, and to leave Him to +incorporate our fragments in His mighty whole! + + + +THE FORTY DAYS + +'To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many +infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of +the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.'--ACTS i. 3. + +The forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension have +distinctly marked characteristics. They are unlike to the period +before them in many respects, but completely similar in others; they +have a preparatory character throughout; they all bear on the future +work of the disciples, and hearten them for the time when they should +be left alone. + +The words of the text give us their leading features. They bring +out-- + +1. Their evidential value, as confirming the fact of the +Resurrection. + +'He showed Himself alive after His passion by ... proofs.' + +By sight, repeated, to individuals, to companies, to Mary in her +solitary sadness, to Peter the penitent, to the two on the road to +Emmaus. At all hours: in the evening when the doors were shut; in the +morning; in grey twilight; in daytime on the road. At many places--in +houses, out of doors. + +The signs of true corporeity--the sight, the eating. + +The signs of bodily identity,--'Reach hither thy hand.' 'He showed +them His hands and His side.' + +Was this the glorified body? + +The affirmative answer is usually rested on the facts that He was not +known by Mary or the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and that He +came into the upper room when the doors were shut. But the force of +these facts is broken by remembering that Mary saw nothing about Him +unlike other men, but supposed Him to be the gardener--which puts the +idea of a glorified body out of the question, and leaves us to +suppose that she was full of weeping indifference to any one. + +Then as to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke carefully tells +us that the reason why they did not know Him was _in them_ and not in +Him--that it was 'because their eyes were holden,' not because His +body was changed. + +And as to His coming when the doors were shut, why should not that be +like the other miracles, when 'He conveyed Himself away, a multitude +being in the place,' and when He walked on the waters? + +There cannot then be anything decidedly built on these facts, and the +considerations on the other side are very strong. Surely the whole +drift of the narrative goes in the direction of representing Christ's +'glory' as beginning with His Ascension, and consequently the 'body +of His glory' as being then assumed. Further, the argument of 1 Cor. +xv. goes on the assumption that 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the +kingdom of God,' that is, that the material corporeity is incongruous +with, and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of that future +life, and, by parity of reasoning, that the spiritual body, which is +to be conformed to the body of Christ's glory, is incongruous with, +and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of this earthly life. +As is the environment, so must be the 'body' that is at home in it. + +Further, the facts of our Lord's eating and drinking after His +Resurrection are not easily reconcilable with the contention that He +was then invested with the glorified body. + +We must, then, think of transfiguration, rather than of resurrection +only, as the way by which He passed into the heavens. He 'slept' but +woke, and, as He ascended, was 'changed.' + +II. The renewal of the old bond by the tokens of His unchanged +disposition. + +Recall the many beautiful links with the past: the message to Peter; +that to Mary; 'Tell My brethren,' 'He was known in breaking of +bread,' 'Peace be with you!' (repetition from John xvii.), the +miraculous draught of fishes, and the meal and conversation +afterwards, recalling the miracle at the beginning of the closer +association of the four Apostles of the first rank with their Lord. +The forty days revealed the old heart, the old tenderness. He +remembers all the past. He sends a message to the penitent; He renews +to the faithful the former gift of 'peace.' + +How precious all this is as a revelation of the impotence of death in +regard to Him and us! It assures us of the perpetuity of His love. He +showed Himself after His passion as the same old Self, the same old +tender Lover. His appearances then prepare us for the last vision of +Him in the Apocalypse, in which we see His perpetual humanity, His +perpetual tenderness, and hear Him saying: 'I am ... the Living One, +and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore.' + +These forty days assure us of the narrow limits of the power of +death. Love lives through death, memory lives through it. Christ has +lived through it and comes up from the grave, serene and tender, with +unruffled peace, with all the old tones of tenderness in the voice +that said 'Mary!' So may we be sure that through death and after it +we shall live and be ourselves. We, too, shall show ourselves alive +after we have experienced the superficial change of death. + +III. The change in Christ's relations to the disciples and to the +world. 'Appearing unto them by the space of forty days.' + +The words mark a contrast to Christ's former constant intercourse +with the disciples. This is occasional; He appears at intervals +during the forty days. He comes amongst them and disappears. He is +seen again in the morning light by the lake-side and goes away. He +tells them to come and meet Him in Galilee. That intermittent +presence prepared the disciples for His departure. It was painful and +educative. It carried out His own word, 'And now I am no more in the +world.' + +We observe in the disciples traces of a deeper awe. They say little. +'Master!' 'My Lord and my God!' 'None durst ask Him, Who art Thou?' +Even Peter ventures only on 'Lord, Thou knowest all things,' and on +one flash of the old familiarity: 'What shall this man do?' John, who +recalls very touchingly, in that appendix to his Gospel, the blessed +time when he leaned on Jesus' breast at supper, now only humbly +follows, while the others sit still and awed, by that strange fire on +the banks of the lonely lake. + +A clearer vision of the Lord on their parts, a deeper sense of who He +is, make them assume more of the attitude of worshippers, though not +less that of friends. And He can no more dwell with them, and go in +and out among them. + +As for the world--'It seeth Me no more, but ye see Me.' He was 'seen +of _them_,' not of others. There is no more appeal to the people, no +more teaching, no more standing in the Temple. Why is this? Is it not +the commentary on His own word on the Cross, 'It is finished!' +marking most distinctly that His work on earth was ended when He +died, and so confirming that conception of His earthly mission which +sees its culmination and centre of power in the Cross? + +IV. Instruction and prophecy for the future. + +The preparation of the disciples for their future work and condition +was a chief purpose of the forty days. Jesus spoke 'of the things +pertaining to the Kingdom of God.' He also 'gave commandments to the +Apostles.' + +Note how much there is, in His conversations with them-- + +1. Of opening to them the Scriptures. 'Christ must needs suffer,' +etc. + +2. Of lessons for their future, thus fitting them for their task. + +3. Mark how this transitional period taught them that His going away +was not to be sorrow and loss, but joy and gain, 'Touch Me not, for I +have not yet ascended.' + +Our present relation to the ascended Lord is as much an advance on +that of the disciples to the risen Lord, as that was on their +relation to Him during His earthly life. They had more real communion +with Him when, with opened hearts, they heard Him interpret the +Scriptures concerning Himself, and fell at His feet crying 'My Lord +and my God!' though they saw Him but for short seasons and at +intervals, than when day by day they were with Him and knew Him not. +As they grew in love and ripened in knowledge, they knew Him better +and better. + +For us, too, these forty days are full of blessed lessons, teaching +us that real communion with Jesus is attained by faith in Him, and +that He is still working in and for us, and is still present with us. +The joy with which the disciples saw Him ascend should live on in us +as we think of Him enthroned. The hope that the angels' message lit +up in their hearts should burn in ours. The benediction which the +Risen Lord uttered on those who have not seen and yet have believed +falls in double measure on those who, though now they see Him not, +yet believing rejoice in Jesus with joy unspeakable and full of +glory. + + + +THE UNKNOWN TO-MORROW + +_A New Year's Sermon_ + +'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the +Father hath put in His own power.'--ACTS i. 7. + +The New Testament gives little encouragement to a sentimental view of +life. Its writers had too much to do, and too much besides to think +about, for undue occupation with pensive remembrances or imaginative +forecastings. They bid us remember as a stimulus to thanksgiving and +a ground of hope. They bid us look forward, but not along the low +levels of earth and its changes. One great future is to draw all our +longings and to fix our eyes, as the tender hues of the dawn kindle +infinite yearnings in the soul of the gazer. What may come is all +hidden; we can make vague guesses, but reach nothing more certain. +Mist and cloud conceal the path in front of the portion which we are +actually traversing, but when it climbs, it comes out clear from the +fogs that hang about the flats. We can track it winding up to the +throne of Christ. Nothing is certain, but the coming of the Lord and +'our gathering together to Him.' + +The words of this text in their original meaning point only to the +ignorance of the time of the end which Christ had been foretelling. +But they may allow of a much wider application, and their lessons are +in entire consonance with the whole tone of Scripture in regard to +the future. We are standing now at the beginning of a New Year, and +the influence of the season is felt in some degree by us all. Not for +the sake of repressing any wise forecasting which has for its object +our preparation for probable duties and exigencies; not for the +purpose of repressing that trustful anticipation which, building on +our past time and on God's eternity, fronts the future with calm +confidence; not for the sake of discouraging that pensive and +softened mood which if it does nothing more, at least delivers us for +a moment from the tyrannous power of the present, do we turn to these +words now; but that we may together consider how much they contain of +cheer and encouragement, of stimulus to our duty, and of calming for +our hearts in the prospect of a New Year. They teach us the limits of +our care for the future, as they give us the limits of our knowledge +of it. They teach us the best remedies for all anxiety, the great +thoughts that tranquillise us in our ignorance, viz. that all is in +God's merciful hand, and that whatever may come, we have a divine +power which will fit us for it; and they bid us anticipate our work +and do it, as the best counterpoise for all vain curiosity about what +may be coming on the earth. + +I. The narrow limits of our knowledge of the future. + +We are quite sure that we shall die. We are sure that a mingled web +of joy and sorrow, light shot with dark, will be unrolled before us-- +but of anything more we are really ignorant. We know that certainly +the great majority of us will be alive at the close of this New Year; +but who will be the exceptions? A great many of us, especially those +of us who are in the monotonous stretch of middle life, will go on +substantially as we have been going on for years past, with our +ordinary duties, joys, sorrows, cares; but to some of us, in all +probability, this year holds some great change which may darken all +our days or brighten them. In all our forward-looking there ever +remains an element of uncertainty. The future fronts us like some +statue beneath its canvas covering. Rolling mists hide it all, except +here and there a peak. + +I need not remind you how merciful and good it is that it is so. +Therefore coming sorrows do not diffuse anticipatory bitterness as of +tainted water percolating through gravel, and coming joys are not +discounted, and the present has a reality of its own, and is not +coloured by what is to come. + +Then this being so--what is the wise course of conduct? Not a +confident reckoning on to-morrow. There is nothing elevating in +anticipation which paints the blank surface of the future with the +same earthly colours as dye the present. There is no more complete +waste of time than that. Nor is proud self-confidence any wiser, +which jauntily takes for granted that 'tomorrow will be as this day.' +The conceit that things are to go on as they have been fools men into +a dream of permanence which has no basis. Nor is the fearful +apprehension of evil any wiser. How many people spoil the present +gladness with thoughts of future sorrow, and cannot enjoy the +blessedness of united love for thinking of separation! + +In brief, it is wise to be but little concerned with the future, +except-- + +1. In the way of taking reasonable precautions to prepare for its +probabilities. + +2. To fit ourselves for its duties. + +One future we may contemplate. Our fault is not that we look forward, +but that we do not look far enough forward. Why trouble with the +world when we have heaven? Why look along the low level among the +mists of earth and forests and swamps, when we can see the road +climbing to the heights? Why be anxious about what three hundred and +sixty-five days may bring, when we know what Eternity will bring? Why +divert our God-given faculty of hope from its true object? Why +torment ourselves with casting the fashion of uncertain evils, when +we can enter into the great peace of looking for 'that blessed Hope'? + +II. The safe Hands which keep the future. + +'The Father hath put in His own power.' We have not to depend upon an +impersonal Fate; nor upon a wild whirl of Chance; nor upon 'laws of +averages,' 'natural laws,' 'tendencies' and 'spirit of the age'; nor +even on a theistic Providence, but upon a Father who holds all things +'in His own power,' and wields all for us. So will not our way be +made right? + +Whatever the future may bring, it will be loving, paternal +discipline. He shapes it all and keeps it in His hands. Why should we +be anxious? That great name of 'Father' binds Him to tender, wise, +disciplinary dealing, and should move us to calm and happy trust. + +III. The sufficient strength to face the future. + +'The power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you' is promised here to the +disciples for a specific purpose; but it is promised and given to us +all through Christ, if we will only take it. And in Him we shall be +ready for all the future. + +The Spirit of God is the true Interpreter of Providence. He calms our +nature, and enlightens our understanding to grasp the meaning of all +our experiences. The Spirit makes joy more blessed, by keeping us +from undue absorption in it. The Spirit is the Comforter. The Spirit +fits us for duty. + +So be quite sure that nothing will come to you in your earthly +future, which He does not Himself accompany to interpret it, and to +make it pure blessing. + +IV. The practical duty in view of the future. + +(a) The great thing we ought to look to in the future is our work,-- +not what we shall enjoy or what we shall endure, but what we shall +do. This is healthful and calming. + +(b) The great remedy for morbid anticipation lies in regarding life +as the opportunity for service. Never mind about the future, let it +take care of itself. Work! That clears away cobwebs from our brains, +as when a man wakes from troubled dreams, to hear 'the sweep of +scythe in morning dew,' and the shout of the peasant as he trudges to +his task, and the lowing of the cattle, and the clink of the hammer. + +(c) The great work we have to do in the future is to be witnesses for +Christ. This is the meaning of all life; we can do it in joy and in +sorrow, and we shall bear a charmed life till it be done. So the +words of the text are a promise of preservation. + +Then, dear brethren, how do you stand fronting that Unknown? How can +you face it without going mad, unless you know God and trust Him as +your Father through Christ? If you do, you need have no fear. To- +morrow lies all dim and strange before you, but His gentle and strong +hand is working in the darkness and He will shape it right. He will +fit you to bear it all. If you regard it as your supreme duty and +highest honour to be Christ's witness, you will be kept safe, +'delivered out of the mouth of the lion,' that by you 'the preaching +may be fully known.' + +If not, how dreary is that future to you, 'all dim and cheerless, +like a rainy sea,' from which wild shapes may come up and devour you! +Love and friendship will pass, honour and strength will fail, life +will ebb away, and of all that once stretched before you, nothing +will be left but one little strip of sand, fast jellying with the +tide beneath your feet, and before you a wild unlighted ocean! + + + +THE APOSTOLIC WITNESSES + +'Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the +time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us ... must one +be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.' +--ACTS i. 21, 22. + +The fact of Christ's Resurrection was the staple of the first +Christian sermon recorded in this Book of the Acts of the Apostles. +They did not deal so much in doctrine; they did not dwell very +distinctly upon what we call, and rightly call, the atoning death of +Christ; out they proclaimed what they had seen with their eyes--that +He died and rose again. + +And not only was the main subject of their teaching the Resurrection, +but it was the Resurrection in one of its aspects and for one +specific purpose. There are, speaking roughly, three main connections +in which the fact of Christ's rising from the dead is viewed in +Scripture, and these three successively emerge in the consciousness +of the Early Church. + +It was, first, a fact affecting Him, a testimony concerning Him, +carrying with it necessarily some great truths with regard to Him, +His character, His nature, and His work. And it was in that aspect +mainly that the earliest preachers dealt with it. Then, as reflection +and the guidance of God's good Spirit led them to understand more and +more of the treasure which lay in the fact, it came to be to them, +next, a pattern, and a pledge, and a prophecy of their own +resurrection. The doctrine of man's immortality and the future life +was evolved from it, and was felt to be implied in it. And then it +came to be, thirdly and lastly, a symbol or figure of the spiritual +resurrection and newness of life into which all they were born who +participated in His death. They knew Him first by His Resurrection; +they then knew 'the power of His Resurrection' as a pledge of their +own; and lastly, they knew it as being the pattern to which they were +to be conformed even whilst here on earth. + +The words which I have read for my text are the Apostle Peter's own +description of what was the office of an Apostle--'to be a witness +with us of Christ's Resurrection.' And the statement branches out, I +think, into three considerations, to which I ask your attention now. +First, we have here the witnesses; secondly, we have the sufficiency +of their testimony; and thirdly, we have the importance of the fact +to which they bear their witness. The Apostles are testimony-bearers. +Their witness is enough to establish the fact. The fact to which they +witness is all-important for the religion and the hopes of the world. + +I. First, then, the Witnesses. + +Here we have the 'head of the Apostolic College,' the 'primate' of +the Twelve, on whose supposed primacy--which is certainly not a +'rock'--such tremendous claims have been built, laying down the +qualifications and the functions of an Apostle. How simply they +present themselves to his mind! The qualification is only personal +knowledge of Jesus Christ in His earthly history, because the +function is only to attest His Resurrection. Their work was to bear +witness to what they had seen with their eyes; and what was needed, +therefore, was nothing more than such familiarity with Christ as +should make them competent witnesses to the fact that He died, and to +the fact that the same Jesus who had died, and whom they knew so +well, rose again and went up to heaven. + +The same conception of an Apostle's work lies in Christ's last solemn +designation of them for their office, where their whole commission is +included in the simple words, 'Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.' It +appears again and again in the earlier addresses reported in this +book. 'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.' +'Whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.' 'With +great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection.' 'We are +His witnesses of these things.' To Cornelius, Peter speaks of the +Apostles as 'witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat and drink +with Him after He rose from the dead'--and whose charge, received +from Christ, was 'to testify that it is He which was ordained of God +to be the Judge of quick and dead.' Paul at Antioch speaks of the +Twelve, from whom he distinguishes himself, as being 'Christ's +witnesses to _the people_'--and seems to regard them as specially +commissioned to the Jewish nation, while he was sent to 'declare unto +you'--Gentiles--the same 'glad tidings,' in that 'God had raised up +Jesus again.' So we might go on accumulating passages, but these will +suffice. + +I need not spend time in elaborating or emphasising the contrast +which the idea of the Apostolic office contained in these simple +words presents to the portentous theories of later times. I need only +remind you that, according to the Gospels, the work of the Apostles +in Christ's lifetime embraced three elements, none of which were +peculiar to them--to be with Christ, to preach, and to work miracles; +that their characteristic work after His Ascension was this of +witness-bearing; that the Church did not owe to them as a body its +extension, nor Christian doctrine its form; that whilst Peter and +James and John appear in the history, and Matthew perhaps wrote a +Gospel, and the other James and Jude are probably the authors of the +brief Epistles which bear their names--the rest of the Twelve never +appear in the subsequent history. The Acts of the Apostles is a +misnomer for Luke's second 'treatise.' It tells the work of Peter +alone among the Twelve. The Hellenists Stephen and Philip, the +Cypriote Barnabas, and the man of Tarsus--greater than them all-- +these spread the name of Christ beyond the limits of the Holy City +and the chosen people. The solemn power of 'binding and loosing' was +not a prerogative of the Twelve, for we read that Jesus came where +'the _disciples_ were assembled,' and that 'the _disciples_ were glad +when they saw the Lord'; and 'He breathed on _them_, and said, +"Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are +remitted."' + +Where in all this is there a trace of the special Apostolic powers +which have been alleged to be transmitted from them? Nowhere. Who was +it that came and said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord hath sent me that thou +mightest be filled with the Holy Ghost'? A simple 'layman'! Who was +it that stood by, a passive and astonished spectator of the +communication of spiritual gifts to Gentile converts, and could only +say, 'Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the like gift, as He did unto +us, what was I that I could withstand God?' Peter, the leader of the +Twelve! + +Their task was apparently a humbler, really a far more important one. +Their place was apparently a lowlier, really a loftier one. They had +to lay broad and deep the basis for all the growth and grace of the +Church, in the facts which they witnessed. Their work abides; and +when the Celestial City is revealed to our longing hearts, in its +foundations will be read 'the names of the twelve Apostles of the +Lamb.' Their office was testimony; and their testimony was to this +effect--'Hearken, we eleven men knew this Jesus. Some of us knew Him +when He was a boy, and lived beside that little village where He was +brought up. We were with Him for three whole years in close contact +day and night. We all of us, though we were cowards, stood afar off +with a handful of women when He was crucified. We saw Him dead. We +saw His grave. We saw Him living, and we touched Him, and handled +Him, and He ate and drank with us; and we, sinners that we are that +tell it you, we went out with Him to the top of Olivet, and we saw +Him go up into the skies. Do you believe us or do you not? We do not +come in the first place to preach doctrines. We are not thinkers or +moralists. We are plain men, telling a plain story, to the truth of +which we pledge our senses. We do not want compliments about our +spiritual elevation, or our pure morality. We do not want reverence +as possessors of mysterious and exclusive powers. We want you to +believe us as honest men, relating what we have seen. There are +eleven of us, and there are five hundred at our back, and we have all +got the one simple story to tell. It is, indeed, a gospel, a +philosophy, a theology, the reconciliation of earth and heaven, the +revelation of God to man, and of man to himself, the unveiling of the +future world, the basis of hope; but we bring it to you first as a +thing that happened upon this earth of ours, which we saw with our +eyes, and of which we are the witnesses.' + +To that work there can be no successors. Some of the Apostles were +inspired to be the writers of the authoritative fountains of +religious truth; but that gift did not belong to them all, and was +not the distinctive possession of the Twelve. The power of working +miracles, and of communicating supernatural gifts, was not confined +to them, but is found exercised by other believers, as well as by a +whole 'presbytery.' And as for what was properly their task, and +their qualifications, there can be no succession, for there is +nothing to succeed to, but what cannot be transmitted--the sight of +the risen Saviour, and the witness to His Resurrection as a fact +certified by their senses. + +II. The sufficiency of the testimony. + +Peter regards (as does the whole New Testament, and as did Peter's +Master, when He appointed these men) the witness which he and his +fellows bore as enough to lay firm and deep the historical fact of +the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. + +The first point that I would suggest here is this: if we think of +Christianity as being mainly a set of truths--spiritual, moral, +intellectual--then, of course, the way to prove Christianity is to +show the consistency of that body of truths with one another, their +consistency with other truths, their derivation from admitted +principles, their reasonableness, their adaptation to men's nature, +the refining and elevating effects of their adoption, and so on. If +we think of Christianity, on the other hand, as being first a set of +historical facts which carry the doctrines, then the way to prove +Christianity is not to show how reasonable it is, not to show how it +has been anticipated and expected and desired, not to show how it +corresponds with men's needs and men's longings, not to show what +large and blessed results follow from its acceptance. All these are +legitimate ways of establishing principles; but the way to establish +a fact is only one--that is, to find somebody that can say, 'I know +it, for I saw it.' + +And my belief is that the course of modern 'apologetics,' as they are +called--methods of defending Christianity--has followed too slavishly +the devious course of modern antagonism, and has departed from its +real stronghold when it has consented to argue the question on these +(as I take them to be) lower and less sufficing grounds. I am +thankful to adopt all that wise Christian apologists may have said in +regard to the reasonableness of Christianity; its correspondence with +men's wants, the blessings that follow from it, and so forth; but the +Gospel is first and foremost a history, and you cannot prove that a +thing has happened by showing how very desirable it is that it should +happen, how reasonable it is to expect that it should happen, what +good results would follow from believing that it has happened--all +that is irrelevant. Think of it as first a history, and then you are +shut up to the old-fashioned line of evidence, irrefragable as I take +it to be, to which all these others may afterwards be appended as +confirmatory. It is true, because sufficient eye-witnesses assert it. +It did happen, because it is commended to us by the ordinary canons +of evidence which we accept in regard to all other matters of fact. + +With regard to the sufficiency of the specific evidence here, I wish +to make only one or two observations. + +Suppose you yield up everything that the most craving and +unreasonable modern scepticism can demand as to the date and +authorship of these tracts that make the New Testament, we have still +left four letters of the Apostle Paul, which no one has ever denied, +which the very extremest professors of the 'higher criticism' +themselves accept. These four are the Epistles to the Romans, the +first and second to the Corinthians, and that to the Galatians. The +dates which are assigned to these four letters by any one, believer +or unbeliever, bring them within five-and-twenty years of the alleged +date of Christ's resurrection. + +Then what do we find in these undeniably and admittedly genuine +letters, written a quarter of a century after the supposed fact? We +find in all of them reference to it--the distinct allegation of it. +We find in one of them that the Apostle states it as being the +substance of his preaching and of his brethren's preaching, that +'Christ died and rose again according to the Scriptures,' and that He +was seen by individuals, by multitudes, by a whole five hundred, the +greater portion of whom were living and available as witnesses when +he wrote. + +And we find that side by side with this statement, there is the +reference to his own vision of the risen Saviour, which carries us up +within ten years of the alleged fact. So, then, by the evidence of +admittedly genuine documents, which are dealing with a state of +things ten years after the supposed resurrection, there was a +unanimous concurrence of belief on the part of the whole primitive +Church, so that even the heretics who said that there was no +resurrection of the dead could be argued with on the ground of their +belief in Christ's Resurrection. The whole Church with one voice +asserted it. And there were hundreds of living men ready to attest +it. It was not a handful of women who fancied they had seen Him once, +very early in the dim twilight of a spring morning--but it was half a +thousand that had beheld Him. He had been seen by them not once, but +often; not far off, but close at hand; not in one place, but in +Galilee and Jerusalem; not under one set of circumstances, but at all +hours of the day, abroad and in the house, walking and sitting, +speaking and eating, by them singly and in numbers. He had not been +seen only by excited expectants of His appearance, but by incredulous +eyes and surprised hearts, who doubted ere they worshipped, and +paused before they said, 'My Lord and my God!' They neither hoped +that He would rise, nor believed that He had risen; and the world may +be thankful that they were 'slow of heart to believe.' + +Would not the testimony which can be alleged for Christ's +Resurrection be enough to guarantee any event but this? And if so, +why is it not enough to guarantee this too? If, as nobody denies, the +Early Church, within ten years of Christ's Resurrection, believed in +His Resurrection, and were ready to go, and did, many of them, go to +the death in assertion of their veracity in declaring it, then one of +two things--Either they were right or they were wrong; and if the +latter, one of two things--If the Resurrection be not a fact, then +that belief was either a delusion or a deceit. + +It was not a delusion, for such an illusion is altogether unexampled; +and it is absurd to think of it as being shared by a multitude like +the Early Church. Nations have said, 'Our King is not dead--he is +gone away and he will come back.' Loving disciples have said, 'Our +Teacher lives in solitude and will return to us.' But this is no +parallel to these. This is not a fond imagination giving an apparent +substance to its own creation, but sense recognising first the fact, +'He _is_ dead,' and then, in opposition to expectation, and when hope +had sickened to despair, recognising the astounding fact, 'He liveth +that was dead'; and to suppose that that should have been the rooted +conviction of hundreds of men who were not idiots, finds no parallel +in the history of human illusions, and no analogy in such legends as +those to which I have referred. + +It was not a myth, for a myth does not grow in ten years. And there +was no motive to frame one, if Christ was dead and all was over. It +was not a deceit, for the character of the men, and the character of +the associated morality, and the obvious absence of all self- +interest, and the persecutions and sorrows which they endured, make +it inconceivable that the fairest building that ever hath been reared +in the world, and which is cemented by men's blood, should be built +upon the mud and slime of a conscious deceit! + +And all this we are asked to put aside at the bidding of a glaring +begging of the whole question, and an outrageous assertion which no +man that believes in a God at all can logically maintain, viz. that +no testimony can reach to the miraculous, or that miracles are +impossible. + +No testimony reach to the miraculous! Well, put it into a concrete +form. Can testimony not reach to this: 'I know, because I saw, that a +man was dead; I know, because I saw, a dead man live again'? If +testimony can do that, I think we may safely leave the verbal sophism +that it cannot reach to the miraculous to take care of itself. + +And, then, with regard to the other assumption--miracle is +impossible. That is an illogical begging of the whole question in +dispute. It cannot avail to brush aside testimony. You cannot smother +facts by theories in that fashion. Again, one would like to know how +it comes that our modern men of science, who protest so much against +science being corrupted by metaphysics, should commit themselves to +an assertion like that? Surely that is stark, staring metaphysics. It +seems as if they thought that the 'metaphysics' which said that there +was anything behind the physical universe was unscientific; but that +the metaphysics which said that there was nothing behind physics was +quite legitimate, and ought to be allowed to pass muster. What have +the votaries of pure physical science, who hold the barren word- +contests of theology and the proud pretensions of philosophy in such +contempt, to do out-Heroding Herod in that fashion, and venturing on +metaphysical assertions of such a sort? Let them keep to their own +line, and tell us all that crucibles and scalpels can reveal, and we +will listen as becomes us. But when they contradict their own +principles in order to deny the possibility of miracle, we need only +give them back their own words, and ask that the investigation of +facts shall not be hampered and clogged with metaphysical prejudices. +No! no! Christ made no mistake when He built His Church upon that +rock--the historical evidence of a resurrection from the dead, though +all the wise men of Areopagus hill may make its cliffs ring with +mocking laughter when we say, upon Easter morning, 'The Lord is risen +indeed!' + +III. There is a final consideration connected with these words, which +I must deal with very briefly--the importance of the fact which is +thus borne witness to. + +I have already pointed out that the Resurrection of Christ is viewed +in Scripture in three aspects: in its bearing upon His nature and +work, as a pattern for our future, and as a symbol of our present +newness of life. The importance to which I refer now applies only to +that first aspect. + +With the Resurrection of Jesus Christ stands or falls the Divinity of +Christ. As Paul said, in that letter to which I have referred, +'Declared to be the Son of God, with power by the resurrection from +the dead.' As Peter said in the sermon that follows this one of our +text, 'God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both +Lord and Christ.' As Paul said, on Mars Hill, 'He will judge the +world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He +hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from +the dead.' + +The case is this. Jesus lived as we know, and in the course of that +life claimed to be the Son of God. He made such broad and strange +assertions as these--'I and My Father are One.' 'I am the Way, and +the Truth, and the Life.' 'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' 'He +that believeth on Me shall never die.' 'The Son of Man must suffer +many things, and the third day He shall rise again.' Thus speaking He +dies, and rises again and passes into the heavens. That is the last +mightiest utterance of the same testimony, which spake from heaven at +His baptism, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!' If +He be risen from the dead, then His loftiest claims are confirmed +from the throne, and we can see in Him, the Son of God. But if death +holds Him still, and 'the Syrian stars look down upon His grave,' as +a modern poet tells us in his dainty English that they do, then what +becomes of these words of His, and of our estimate of the character +of Him, the speaker? Let us hear no more about the pure morality of +Jesus Christ, and the beauty of His calm and lofty teaching, and the +rest of it. Take away His resurrection from the dead, and we have +left beautiful precepts, and fair wisdom, deformed with a monstrous +self-assertion and the constant reiteration of claims which the event +proves to have been baseless. Either He has risen from the dead or +His words were blasphemy. Men nowadays talk very lightly of throwing +aside the supernatural portions of the Gospel history, and retaining +reverence for the great Teacher, the pure moralist of Nazareth. The +Pharisees put the issue more coarsely and truly when they said, 'That +deceiver said, while He was yet alive, after three days I will rise +again.' Yes! one or the other. 'Declared to be the Son of God with +power by the resurrection from the dead,' or--that which our lips +refuse to say even as a hypothesis! + +Still further, with the Resurrection stands or falls Christ's whole +work for our redemption. If He died, like other men--if that awful +bony hand has got its grip upon Him too, then we have no proof that +the cross was anything but a martyr's cross. His Resurrection is the +proof of His completed work of redemption. It is the proof--followed +as it is by His Ascension--that His death was not the tribute which +for Himself He had to pay, but the ransom for us. His Resurrection is +the condition of His present activity. If He has not risen, He has +not put away sin; and if He has not put it away by the sacrifice of +Himself, none has, and it remains. We come back to the old dreary +alternative: 'if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, and our +preaching is vain. Ye are yet in your sins, and they which have +fallen asleep in Christ' with unfulfilled hopes fixed upon a baseless +vision--they of whom we hoped, through our tears, that they live with +Him--they 'are perished.' For, if He be not risen, there is no +resurrection; and, if He be not risen, there is no forgiveness; and, +if He be not risen, there is no Son of God; and the world is +desolate, and the heaven is empty, and the grave is dark, and sin +abides, and death is eternal. If Christ be dead, then that awful +vision is true, 'As I looked up into the immeasurable heavens for the +Divine Eye, it froze me with an empty, bottomless eye-socket.' + +There is nothing between us and darkness, despair, death, but that +ancient message, 'I declare unto you the Gospel which I preach, by +which ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, how +that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that +He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures.' + +Well, then, may we take up the ancient glad salutation, 'The Lord is +risen!' and, turning from these thoughts of the disaster and despair +that that awful supposition drags after it, fall back upon sober +certainty, and with the Apostle break forth in triumph, 'Now is +Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that +slept'! + + + +THE ABIDING GIFT AND ITS TRANSITORY ACCOMPANIMENTS + +'And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with +one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from +heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house +where they were sitting. 3. And there appeared unto them cloven +tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4. And +they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with +other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5. And there +were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation +under heaven. 6. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude +came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard +them speak in his own language. 7. And they were all amazed and +marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which +speak Galileans? 8. And how we hear every man in our own tongue, +wherein we were born? 9. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and +the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in +Pontus, and Asia, 10. Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in +the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and +proselytes. 11. Cretes, and Arabians, we do hear them speak in +our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12. And they were all +amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth +this? 13. Others, mocking, said, These men are full of new +wine.'--ACTS ii. 1-13. + +Only ten days elapsed between the Ascension and Pentecost. The +attitude of the Church during that time should be carefully noted. +They obeyed implicitly Christ's command to wait for the 'power from +on high.' The only act recorded is the election of Matthias to fill +Judas's place, and it is at least questionable whether that was not a +mistake, and shown to be such by Christ's subsequent choice of Paul +as an Apostle. But, with the exception of that one flash of doubtful +activity, prayer, supplication, patient waiting, and clinging +together in harmonious expectancy, characterised the hundred and +twenty brethren. + +They must have been wrought to an intense pitch of anticipation, for +they knew that their waiting was to be short, and they knew, at least +partially, what they were to receive, namely, 'power from on high,' +or 'the promise of the Father.' Probably, too, the great Feast, so +near at hand, would appear to them a likely time for the fulfilment +of the promise. + +So, very early on that day of Pentecost, they betook themselves to +their usual place of assembling, probably the 'large upper room,' +already hallowed to their memories; and in each heart the eager +question would spring, 'Will it be to-day?' It is as true now as it +was then, that the spirits into whom the Holy Spirit breathes His +power must keep themselves still, expectant, prayerful. Perpetual +occupation may be more loss of time than devout waiting, with hands +folded, because the heart is wide open to receive the power which +will fit the hands for better work. + +It was but 'the third hour of the day' when Peter stood up to speak; +it must have been little after dawn when the brethren came together. +How long they had been assembled we do not know, but we cannot doubt +how they had been occupied. Many a prayer had gone up through the +morning air, and, no doubt, some voice was breathing the united +desires, when a deep, strange sound was heard at a distance, and +rapidly gained volume, and was heard to draw near. Like the roaring +of a tempest hurrying towards them, it hushed human voices, and each +man would feel, 'Surely now the Gift comes!' Nearer and nearer it +approached, and at last burst into the chamber where they sat silent +and unmoving. + +But if we look carefully at Luke's words, we see that what filled the +house was not agitated air, or wind, but 'a sound as of wind.' The +language implies that there was no rush of atmosphere that lifted a +hair on any cheek, or blew on any face, but only such a sound as is +made by tempest. It suggested wind, but it was not wind. By that +first symbolic preparation for the communication of the promised +gift, the old symbolism which lies in the very word 'Spirit,' and had +been brought anew to the disciples' remembrance by Christ's words to +Nicodemus, and by His breathing on them when He gave them an +anticipatory and partial bestowment of the Spirit, is brought to +view, with its associations of life-giving power and liberty. 'Thou +hearest the sound thereof,' could scarcely fail to be remembered by +some in that chamber. + +But it is not to be supposed that the audible symbol continued when +the second preparatory one, addressed to the eye, appeared. As the +former had been not wind, but like it, the latter was not fire, but +'as of fire.' The language does not answer the question whether what +was seen was a mass from which the tongues detached themselves, or +whether only the separate tongues were visible as they moved +overhead. But the final result was that 'it sat on each.' The verb +has no expressed subject, and 'fire' cannot be the subject, for it is +only introduced as a comparison. Probably, therefore, we are to +understand 'a tongue' as the unexpressed subject of the verb. + +Clearly, the point of the symbol is the same as that presented in the +Baptist's promise of a baptism 'with the Holy Ghost and fire.' The +Spirit was to be in them as a Spirit of burning, thawing natural +coldness and melting hearts with a genial warmth, which should beget +flaming enthusiasm, fervent love, burning zeal, and should work +transformation into its own fiery substance. The rejoicing power, the +quick energy, the consuming force, the assimilating action of fire, +are all included in the symbol, and should all be possessed by +Christ's disciples. + +But were the tongue-like shapes of the flames significant too? It is +doubtful, for, natural as is the supposition that they were, it is to +be remembered that 'tongues of fire' is a usual expression, and may +mean nothing more than the flickering shoots of flame into which a +fire necessarily parts. + +But these two symbols are only symbols. The true fulfilment of the +great promise follows. Mark the brief simplicity of the quiet words +in which the greatest bestowment ever made on humanity, the beginning +of an altogether new era, the equipment of the Church for her age- +long conflict, is told. There was an actual impartation to men of a +divine life, to dwell in them and actuate them; to bring all good to +victory in them; to illuminate, sustain, direct, and elevate; to +cleanse and quicken. The gift was complete. They were 'filled.' No +doubt they had much more to receive, and they received it, as their +natures became, by faithful obedience to the indwelling Spirit, +capable of more. But up to the measure of their then capacities they +were filled; and, since their spirits were expansible, and the gift +was infinite, they were in a position to grow steadily in possession +of it, till they were 'filled with all the fulness of God.' + +Further, 'they were _all_ filled,'--not the Apostles only, but the +whole hundred and twenty. Peter's quotation from Joel distinctly +implies the universality of the gift, which the 'servants and +handmaidens,' the brethren and the women, now received. Herein is the +true democracy of Christianity. There are still diversities of +operations and degrees of possession, but all Christians have the +Spirit. All 'they that believe on Him,' and only they, have received +it. Of old the light shone only on the highest peaks,--prophets, and +kings, and psalmists; now the lowest depths of the valleys are +flooded with it. Would that Christians generally believed more fully +in, and set more store by, that great gift! + +As symbols preceded, tokens followed. The essential fact of Pentecost +is neither the sound and fire, nor the speaking with other tongues, +but the communication of the Holy Spirit. The sign and result of that +was the gift of utterance in various languages, not their own, nor +learned by ordinary ways. No twisting of the narrative can weaken the +plain meaning of it, that these unlearned Galileans spake in tongues +which their users recognised to be their own. The significance of the +fact will appear presently, but first note the attestation of it by +the multitude. + +Of course, the foreign-born Jews, who, from motives of piety, however +mistaken, had come to dwell in Jerusalem, are said to have been 'from +every nation under heaven,' by an obvious and ordinary license. It is +enough that, as the subsequent catalogue shows, they came from all +corners of the then known world, though the extremes of territory +mentioned cover but a small space on a terrestrial globe. + +The 'sound' of the rushing wind had been heard hurtling through the +city in the early morning hours, and had served as guide to the spot. +A curious crowd came hurrying to ascertain what this noise of tempest +in a calm meant, and they were met by something more extraordinary +still. Try to imagine the spectacle. As would appear from verse 33, +the tongues of fire remained lambently glowing on each head ('which +ye see'), and the whole hundred and twenty, thus strangely crowned, +were pouring out rapturous praises, each in some strange tongue. When +the astonished ears had become accustomed to the apparent tumult, +every man in the crowd heard some one or more speaking in his own +tongue, language, or dialect, and all were declaring the mighty works +of God; that is, probably, the story of the crucified, ascended +Jesus. + +We need not dwell on subordinate questions, as to the number of +languages represented there, or as to the catalogue in verses 9 and +10. But we would emphasise two thoughts. First, the natural result of +being filled with God's Spirit is utterance of the great truths of +Christ's Gospel. As surely as light radiates, as surely as any deep +emotion demands expression, so certainly will a soul filled with the +Spirit be forced to break into speech. If professing Christians have +never known the impulse to tell of the Christ whom they have found, +their religion must be very shallow and imperfect. If their spirits +are full, they will overflow in speech. + +Second, Pentecost is a prophecy of the universal proclamation of the +Gospel, and of the universal praise which shall one day rise to Him +that was slain. 'This company of brethren praising God in the tongues +of the whole world represented the whole world which shall one day +praise God in its various tongues' (Bengel). Pentecost reversed +Babel, not by bringing about a featureless monopoly, but by +consecrating diversity, and showing that each language could be +hallowed, and that each lent some new strain of music to the chorus. + +It prophesied of the time when 'men of every tribe, and tongue, and +people, and nation' should lift up their voices to Him who has +purchased them unto God with His blood. It began a communication of +the Spirit to all believers which is never to cease while the world +stands. The mighty rushing sound has died into silence, the fiery +tongues rest on no heads now, the miraculous results of the gifts of +the Spirit have passed away also, but the gift remains, and the +Spirit of God abides for ever with the Church of Christ. + + + +THE FOURFOLD SYMBOLS OF THE SPIRIT + +'A rushing mighty wind.' ... 'Cloven tongues like as of +fire.' ... 'I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.' +--ACTS ii. 2, 3, 17. + +'Ye have an unction from the Holy One.'--1 JOHN ii. 20. + +Wind, fire, water, oil,--these four are constant Scriptural symbols +for the Spirit of God. We have them all in these fragments of verses +which I have taken for my text now, and which I have isolated from +their context for the purpose of bringing out simply these symbolical +references. I think that perhaps we may get some force and freshness +to the thoughts proper to this day [Footnote: Whit Sunday.] by +looking at these rather than by treating the subject in some more +abstract form. We have then the Breath of the Spirit, the Fire of the +Spirit, the Water of the Spirit, and the Anointing Oil of the Spirit. +And the consideration of these four will bring out a great many of +the principal Scriptural ideas about the gift of the Spirit of God +which belongs to all Christian souls. + +I. First, 'a rushing mighty wind.' + +Of course, the symbol is but the putting into picturesque form of the +idea that lies in the name. 'Spirit' is 'breath.' Wind is but air in +motion. Breath is the synonym for life. 'Spirit' and 'life' are two +words for one thing. So then, in the symbol, the 'rushing mighty +wind,' we have set forth the highest work of the Spirit--the +communication of a new and supernatural life. + +We are carried hack to that grand vision of the prophet who saw the +bones lying, very many and very dry, sapless and disintegrated, a +heap dead and ready to rot. The question comes to him: 'Son of man! +Can these bones live?' The only possible answer, if he consult +experience, is, 'O Lord God! Thou knowest.' Then follows the great +invocation: 'Come from the four winds, O Breath! and breathe upon +these slain that they may live.' And the Breath comes and 'they stand +up, an exceeding great army.' 'It is the Spirit that quickeneth.' The +Scripture treats us all as dead, being separated from God, unless we +are united to Him by faith in Jesus Christ. According to the saying +of the Evangelist, 'They which believe on Him receive' the Spirit, +and thereby receive the life which He gives, or, as our Lord Himself +speaks, are 'born of the Spirit.' The highest and most characteristic +office of the Spirit of God is to enkindle this new life, and hence +His noblest name, among the many by which He is called, is the Spirit +of life. + +Again, remember, 'that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' If +there be life given it must be kindred with the life which is its +source. Reflect upon those profound words of our Lord: 'The wind +bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but +canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth. So is every one +that is born of the Spirit.' They describe first the operation of the +life-giving Spirit, but they describe also the characteristics of the +resulting life. + +'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' That spiritual life, both in the +divine source and in the human recipient, is its own law. Of course +the wind has its laws, as every physical agent has; but these are so +complicated and undiscovered that it has always been the very symbol +of freedom, and poets have spoken of these 'chartered libertines,' +the winds, and 'free as the air' has become a proverb. So that Divine +Spirit is limited by no human conditions or laws, but dispenses His +gifts in superb disregard of conventionalities and externalisms. Just +as the lower gift of what we call 'genius' is above all limits of +culture or education or position, and falls on a wool-stapler in +Stratford-on-Avon, or on a ploughman in Ayrshire, so, in a similar +manner, the altogether different gift of the divine, life-giving +Spirit follows no lines that Churches or institutions draw. It falls +upon an Augustinian monk in a convent, and he shakes Europe. It falls +upon a tinker in Bedford gaol, and he writes _Pilgrim's Progress_. It +falls upon a cobbler in Kettering, and he founds modern Christian +missions. It blows 'where it listeth,' sovereignly indifferent to the +expectations and limitations and the externalisms, even of organised +Christianity, and touching this man and that man, not arbitrarily but +according to 'the good pleasure' that is a law to itself, because it +is perfect in wisdom and in goodness. + +And as thus the life-giving Spirit imparts Himself according to +higher laws than we can grasp, so in like manner the life that is +derived from it is a life which is its own law. The Christian +conscience, touched by the Spirit of God, owes allegiance to no +regulations or external commandments laid down by man. The Christian +conscience, enlightened by the Spirit of God, at its peril will take +its beliefs from any other than from that Divine Spirit. All +authority over conduct, all authority over belief is burnt up and +disappears in the presence of the grand democracy of the true +Christian principle: 'Ye are all the children of God by faith in +Jesus Christ'; and every one of you possesses the Spirit which +teaches, the Spirit which inspires, the Spirit which enlightens, the +Spirit which is the guide to all truth. So 'the wind bloweth where it +listeth,' and the voice of that Divine Quickener is, + + 'Myself shall to My darling be + Both law and impulse.' + +Under the impulse derived from the Divine Spirit, the human spirit +'listeth' what is right, and is bound to follow the promptings of its +highest desires. Those men only are free as the air we breathe, who +are vitalised by the Spirit of the Lord, for 'where the Spirit of the +Lord is, there,' and there alone, 'is liberty.' + +In this symbol there lies not only the thought of a life derived, +kindred with the life bestowed, and free like the life which is +given, but there lies also the idea of power. The wind which filled +the house was not only mighty but 'borne onward'--fitting type of the +strong impulse by which in olden times 'holy men spake as they were +"borne onward"' (the word is the same) 'by the Holy Ghost.' There are +diversities of operations, but it is the same breath of God, which +sometimes blows in the softest _pianissimo_ that scarcely rustles the +summer woods in the leafy month of June, and sometimes storms in wild +tempest that dashes the seas against the rocks. So this mighty life- +giving Agent moves in gentleness and yet in power, and sometimes +swells and rises almost to tempest, but is ever the impelling force +of all that is strong and true and fair in Christian hearts and +lives. + +The history of the world, since that day of Pentecost, has been a +commentary upon the words of my text. With viewless, impalpable +energy, the mighty breath of God swept across the ancient world and +'laid the lofty city' of paganism 'low; even to the ground, and +brought it even to the dust.' A breath passed over the whole +civilised world, like the breath of the west wind upon the glaciers +in the spring, melting the thick-ribbed ice, and wooing forth the +flowers, and the world was made over again. In our own hearts and +lives this is the one Power that will make us strong and good. The +question is all-important for each of us, 'Have I this life, and does +it move me, as the ships are borne along by the wind?' 'As many as +are impelled by the Spirit of God, they'--_they_--'are the sons of +God.' Is that the breath that swells all the sails of your lives, and +drives you upon your course? If it be, you are Christians; if it be +not, you are not. + +II. And now a word as to the second of these symbols--'Cloven tongues +as of fire'--the fire of the Spirit. + +I need not do more than remind you how frequently that emblem is +employed both in the Old and in the New Testament. John the Baptist +contrasted the cold negative efficiency of his baptism, which at its +best, was but a baptism of repentance, with the quickening power of +the baptism of Him who was to follow him; when he said, 'I indeed +baptise you with water, but He that cometh after me is mightier than +I. He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' The two +words mean but one thing, the fire being the emblem of the Spirit. + +You will remember, too, how our Lord Himself employs the same +metaphor when He speaks about His coming to bring fire on the earth, +and His longing to see it kindled into a beneficent blaze. In this +connection the fire is a symbol of a quick, triumphant energy, which +will transform us into its own likeness. There are two sides to that +emblem: one destructive, one creative; one wrathful, one loving. +There are the fire of love, and the fire of anger. There is the fire +of the sunshine which is the condition of life, as well as the fire +of the lightning which burns and consumes. The emblem of fire is +selected to express the work of the Spirit of God, by reason of its +leaping, triumphant, transforming energy. See, for instance, how, +when you kindle a pile of dead green-wood, the tongues of fire spring +from point to point until they have conquered the whole mass, and +turned it all into a ruddy likeness of the parent flame. And so here, +this fire of God, if it fall upon you, will burn up all your +coldness, and will make you glow with enthusiasm, working your +intellectual convictions in fire not in frost, making your creed a +living power in your lives, and kindling you into a flame of earnest +consecration. + +The same idea is expressed by the common phrases of every language. +We speak of the fervour of love, the warmth of affection, the blaze +of enthusiasm, the fire of emotion, the coldness of indifference. +Christians are to be set on fire of God. If the Spirit dwell in us, +He will make us fiery like Himself, even as fire turns the wettest +green-wood into fire. We have more than enough of cold Christians who +are afraid of nothing so much as of being betrayed into warm emotion. + +I believe, dear brethren, and I am bound to express the belief, that +one of the chief wants of the Christian Church of this generation, +the Christian Church of this city, the Christian Church of this +chapel, is more of the fire of God! We are all icebergs compared with +what we ought to be. Look at yourselves; never mind about your +brethren. Let each of us look at his own heart, and say whether there +is any trace in his Christianity of the power of that Spirit who is +fire. Is our religion flame or ice? Where among us are to be found +lives blazing with enthusiastic devotion and earnest love? Do not +such words sound like mockery when applied to us? Have we not to +listen to that solemn old warning that never loses its power, and, +alas! seems never to lose its appropriateness: 'Because thou art +neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.' We ought to +be like the burning beings before God's throne, the seraphim, the +spirits that blaze and serve. We ought to be like God Himself, all +aflame with love. Let us seek penitently for that Spirit of fire who +will dwell in us all if we will. + +The metaphor of fire suggests also--purifying. 'The Spirit of +burning' will burn the filth out of us. That is the only way by which +a man can ever be made clean. You may wash and wash and wash with the +cold water of moral reformation, you will never get the dirt out with +it. No washing and no rubbing will ever cleanse sin. The way to purge +a soul is to do with it as they do with foul clay--thrust it into the +fire and that will burn all the blackness out of it. Get the love of +God into your hearts, and the fire of His Divine Spirit into your +spirits to melt you down, as it were, and then the scum and the dross +will come to the top, and you can skim them off. Two powers conquer +my sin: the one is the blood of Jesus Christ, which washes me from +all the guilt of the past; the other is the fiery influence of that +Divine Spirit which makes me pure and clean for all the time to come. +Pray to be kindled with the fire of God. + +III. Then once more, take that other metaphor, 'I will pour out of My +Spirit.' + +That implies an emblem which is very frequently used, both in the Old +and in the New Testament, viz., the Spirit as water. As our Lord said +to Nicodemus: 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he +cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' The 'water' stands in the same +relation to the 'Spirit' as the 'fire' does in the saying of John the +Baptist already referred to--that is to say, it is simply a symbol or +material emblem of the Spirit. I suppose nobody would say that there +were two baptisms spoken of by John, one of the Holy Ghost and one of +fire,--and I suppose that just in the same way, there are not two +agents of regeneration pointed at in our Lord's words, nor even two +conditions, but that the Spirit is the sole agent, and 'water' is but +a figure to express some aspect of His operations. So that there is +no reference to the water of baptism in the words, and to see such a +reference is to be led astray by sound, and out of a metaphor to +manufacture a miracle. + +There are other passages where, in like manner, the Spirit is +compared to a flowing stream, such as, for instance, when our Lord +said, 'He that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of +living water,' and when John saw a 'river of water of life proceeding +from the throne.' The expressions, too, of 'pouring out' and +'shedding forth' the Spirit, point in the same direction, and are +drawn from more than one passage of Old Testament prophecy. What, +then, is the significance of comparing that Divine Spirit with a +river of water? First, cleansing, of which I need not say any more, +because I have dealt with It in the previous part of my sermon. Then, +further, refreshing, and satisfying. Ah! dear brethren, there is only +one thing that will slake the immortal thirst in your souls. The +world will never do it; love or ambition gratified and wealth +possessed, will never do it. You will be as thirsty after you have +drunk of these streams as ever you were before. There is one spring +'of which if a man drink, he shall never thirst' with unsatisfied, +painful longings, but shall never cease to thirst with the longing +which is blessedness, because it is fruition. Our thirst can be +slaked by the deep draught of 'the river of the Water of Life, which +proceeds from the Throne of God and the Lamb.' The Spirit of God, +drunk in by my spirit, will still and satisfy my whole nature, and +with it I shall be glad. Drink of this. 'Ho! every one that +thirsteth, come ye to the waters!' + +The Spirit is not only refreshing and satisfying, but also productive +and fertilising. In Eastern lands a rill of water is all that is +needed to make the wilderness rejoice. Turn that stream on to the +barrenness of your hearts, and fair flowers will grow that would +never grow without it. The one means of lofty and fruitful Christian +living is a deep, inward possession of the Spirit of God. The one way +to fertilise barren souls is to let that stream flood them all over, +and then the flush of green will soon come, and that which is else a +desert will 'rejoice and blossom as the rose.' + +So this water will cleanse, it will satisfy and refresh, it will be +productive and will fertilise, and 'everything shall live +whithersoever that river cometh.' + +IV. Then, lastly, we have the oil of the Spirit. + +'Ye have an unction,' says St. John in our last text, 'from the Holy +One.' I need not remind you, I suppose, of how in the old system, +prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with consecrating oil, as +a symbol of their calling, and of their fitness for their special +offices. The reason for the use of such a symbol, I presume, would +lie in the invigorating and in the supposed, and possibly real, +health-giving effect of the use of oil in those climates. Whatever +may have been the reason for the use of oil in official anointings, +the meaning of the act was plain. It was a preparation for a specific +and distinct service. And so, when we read of the oil of the Spirit, +we are to think that it is that which fits us for being prophets, +priests, and kings, and which calls us to, because it fits us for, +these functions. + +You are anointed to be prophets that you may make known Him who has +loved and saved you, and may go about the world evidently inspired to +show forth His praise, and make His name glorious. That anointing +calls and fits you to be priests, mediators between God and man, +bringing God to men, and by pleading and persuasion, and the +presentation of the truth, drawing men to God. That unction calls and +fits you to be kings, exercising authority over the little monarchy +of your own natures, and over the men round you, who will bow in +submission whenever they come in contact with a man all evidently +aflame with the love of Jesus Christ, and filled with His Spirit. The +world is hard and rude; the world is blind and stupid; the world +often fails to know its best friends and its truest benefactors; but +there is no crust of stupidity so crass and dense but that through it +there will pass the penetrating shafts of light that ray from the +face of a man who walks in fellowship with Jesus. The whole nation of +old was honoured with these sacred names. They were a kingdom of +priests; and the divine Voice said of the nation, 'Touch not Mine +anointed, and do My prophets no harm!' How much more are all +Christian men, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, made prophets, +priests, and kings to God! Alas for the difference between what they +ought to be and what they are! + +And then, do not forget also that when the Scriptures speak of +Christian men as being anointed, it really speaks of them as being +Messiahs. 'Christ' means _anointed_, does it not? 'Messiah' means +_anointed_. And when we read in such a passage as that of my text, +'Ye have an unction from the Holy One,' we cannot but feel that the +words point in the same direction as the great words of our Master +Himself, 'As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.' By +authority derived, no doubt, and in a subordinate and secondary +sense, of course, we are Messiahs, anointed with that Spirit which +was given to Him, not by measure, and which has passed from Him to +us. 'If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.' + +So, dear brethren, all these things being certainly so, what are we +to say about the present state of Christendom? What are we to say +about the present state of English Christianity, Church and Dissent +alike? Is Pentecost a vanished glory, then? Has that 'rushing mighty +wind' blown itself out, and a dead calm followed? Has that leaping +fire died down into grey ashes? Has the great river that burst out +then, like the stream from the foot of the glaciers of Mont Blanc, +full-grown in its birth, been all swallowed up in the sand, like some +of those rivers in the East? Has the oil dried in the cruse? People +tell us that Christianity is on its death-bed; and the aspect of a +great many professing Christians seems to confirm the statement. But +let us thankfully recognise that 'we are not straitened in God, but +in ourselves.' To how many of us the question might be put: 'Did you +receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?' And how many of us by our +lives answer: 'We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy +Ghost.' Let us go where we can receive Him; and remember the blessed +words: 'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your +children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy +Spirit to them that ask Him'! + + + +PETER'S FIRST SERMON + +'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33. +Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having +received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath +shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34. For David is not +ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said +unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, 35. Until I make Thy +foes Thy footstool. 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel +know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have +crucified, both Lord and Christ. 37. Now when they heard this, +they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the +rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38. +Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of +you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye +shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39. For the promise is +unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, +even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40. And with many +other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves +from this untoward generation. 41. Then they that gladly received +his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto +them about three thousand souls. 42. And they continued +stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in +breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43. And fear came upon every +soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44. +And all that believed were together, and had all things common; +45. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all +men, as every man had need. 46. And they, continuing daily with +one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, +did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47. +Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord +added to the church daily such as should be saved.' +--ACTS ii. 32-47. + +This passage may best be dealt with as divided into three parts: the +sharp spear-thrust of Peter's closing words (vs. 32-36), the wounded +and healed hearers (vs. 37-41), and the fair morning dawn of the +Church (vs. 42-47). + +I. Peter's address begins with pointing out the fulfilment of +prophecy in the gift of the Spirit (vs. 14-21). It then declares the +Resurrection of Jesus as foretold by prophecy, and witnessed to by +the whole body of believers (vs. 22-32), and it ends by bringing +together these two facts, the gift of the Spirit and the Resurrection +and Ascension, as effect and cause, and as establishing beyond all +doubt that Jesus is the Christ of prophecy, and the Lord on whom Joel +had declared that whoever called should be saved. We now begin with +the last verse of the second part of the address. + +Observe the significant alternation of the names of 'Christ' and +'Jesus' in verses 31 and 32. The former verse establishes that +prophecy had foretold the Resurrection of the Messiah, whoever he +might be; the latter asserts that 'this Jesus' has fulfilled the +prophetic conditions. That is not a thing to be argued about, but to +be attested by competent witnesses. It was presented to the multitude +on Pentecost, as it is to us, as a plain matter of fact, on which the +whole fabric of Christianity is built, and which itself securely +rests on the concordant testimony of those who knew Him alive, saw +Him dead, and were familiar with Him risen. + +There is a noble ring of certitude in Peter's affirmation, and of +confidence that the testimony producible was overwhelming. Unless +Jesus had risen, there would neither have been a Pentecost nor a +Church to receive the gift. The simple fact which Peter alleged in +that first sermon, 'whereof we all are witnesses,' is still too +strong for the deniers of the Resurrection, as their many devices to +get over it prove. + +But, a listener might ask, what has this witness of yours to do with +Joel's prophecy, or with this speaking with tongues? The answer +follows in the last part of the sermon. The risen Jesus has ascended +up; that is inseparable from the fact of resurrection, and is part of +our testimony. He is 'exalted by,' or, perhaps, at, 'the right hand +of God.' And that exaltation is to us the token that there He has +received from the Father the Spirit, whom He promised to send when He +left us. Therefore it is He--'this Jesus'--who has 'poured forth +this,'--this new strange gift, the tokens of which you see flaming on +each head, and hear bursting in praise from every tongue. + +What triumphant emphasis is in that 'He'! Peter quotes Joel's word +'pour forth.' The prophet had said, as the mouthpiece of God, '_I_ +will pour forth'; Peter unhesitatingly transfers the word to Jesus. +We must not assume in him at this stage a fully-developed +consciousness of our Lord's divine nature, but neither must we blink +the tremendous assumption which he feels warranted in making, that +the exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God meant His exercising +the power which belonged to God Himself. + +In verse 34, he stays for a moment to establish by prophecy that the +Ascension, of which he had for the first time spoken in verse 33, is +part of the prophetic characteristics of the Messiah. His +demonstration runs parallel with his preceding one as to the +Resurrection. He quotes Psalm cx., which he had learned to do from +his Master, and just as he had argued about the prediction of +Resurrection, that the dead Psalmist's words could not apply to +himself, and must therefore apply to the Messiah; so he concludes +that it was not 'David' who was called by Jehovah to sit as 'Lord' on +His right hand. If not David, it could only be the Messiah who was +thus invested with Lordship, and exalted as participator of the +throne of the Most High. + +Then comes the final thrust of the spear, for which all the discourse +has been preparing. The Apostle rises to the full height of his great +commission, and sets the trumpet to his mouth, summoning 'all the +house of Israel,' priests, rulers, and all the people, to acknowledge +his Master. He proclaims his supreme dignity and Messiahship. He is +the 'Lord' of whom the Psalmist sang, and the prophet declared that +whoever called on His name should be saved; and He is the Christ for +whom Israel looked. + +Last of all, he sets in sharp contrast what God had done with Jesus, +and what Israel had done, and the barb of his arrow lies in the last +words, 'whom ye crucified.' And this bold champion of Jesus, this +undaunted arraigner of a nation's crimes, was the man who, a few +weeks before, had quailed before a maid-servant's saucy tongue! What +made the change? Will anything but the Resurrection and Pentecost +account for the psychological transformation effected in him and the +other Apostles? + +II. No wonder that 'they were pricked in their heart'! Such a thrust +must have gone deep, even where the armour of prejudice was thick. +The scene they had witnessed, and the fiery words of explanation, +taken together, produced incipient conviction, and the conviction +produced alarm. How surely does the first glimpse of Jesus as Christ +and Lord set conscience to work! The question, 'What shall we do?' is +the beginning of conversion. The acknowledgment of Jesus which does +not lead to it is shallow and worthless. The most orthodox accepter, +so far as intellect goes, of the gospel, who has not been driven by +it to ask his own duty in regard to it, and what he is to do to +receive its benefits, and to escape from his sins, has not accepted +it at all. + +Peter's answer lays down two conditions: repentance and baptism. The +former is often taken in too narrow a sense as meaning sorrow for +sin, whereas it means a change of disposition or mind, which will be +accompanied, no doubt, with 'godly sorrow,' but is in itself deeper +than sorrow, and is the turning away of heart and will from past love +and practice of evil. The second, baptism, is 'in the name of Jesus +Christ,' or more accurately, '_upon_ the name,'--that is, on the +ground of the revealed character of Jesus. That necessarily implies +faith in that Name; for, without such faith, the baptism would not be +on the ground of the Name. The two things are regarded as +inseparable, being the inside and the outside of the Christian +discipleship. Repentance, faith, baptism, these three, are called for +by Peter. + +But 'remission of sins' is not attached to the immediately preceding +clause, so as that baptism is said to secure remission, but to the +whole of what goes before in the sentence. Obedience to the +requirements would bring the same gift to the obedient as the +disciples had received; for it would make them disciples also. But, +while repentance and baptism which presupposed faith were the normal, +precedent conditions of the Spirit's bestowal, the case of Cornelius, +where the Spirit was given before baptism, forbids the attempt to +link the rite and the divine gift more closely together. + +The Apostle was eager to share the gift. The more we have of the +Spirit, the more shall we desire that others may have Him, and the +more sure shall we be that He is meant for all. So Peter went on to +base his assurance, that his hearers might all possess the Spirit, on +the universal destination of the promise. Joel had said, 'on all +flesh'; Peter declares that word to point downwards through all +generations, and outwards to all nations. How swiftly had he grown in +grasp of the sweep of Christ's work! How far beneath that moment of +illumination some of his subsequent actions fell! + +We have only a summary of his exhortations, the gist of which was +earnest warning to separate from the fate of the nation by separating +in will and mind from its sins. Swift conviction followed the Spirit- +given words, as it ever will do when the speaker is filled with the +Holy Spirit, and has therefore a tongue of fire. Three thousand new +disciples were made that day, and though there must have been many +superficial adherents, and none with much knowledge, it is perhaps +not fanciful to see in Luke's speaking of them as 'souls' a hint +that, in general, the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah was deep and +real. Not only were three thousand 'names' added to the hundred and +twenty, but three thousand souls. + +III. The fair picture of the morning brightness, so soon overclouded, +so long lost, follows. First, the narrative tells how the raw +converts were incorporated in the community, and assimilated to its +character. They, too, 'continued steadfastly' (Acts i. 14). Note the +four points enumerated: 'teaching,' which would be principally +instruction in the life of Jesus and His Messianic dignity, as proved +by prophecy; 'fellowship,' which implies community of disposition and +oneness of heart manifested in outward association; 'breaking of +bread,'--that is, the observance of the Lord's Supper; and 'the +prayers,' which were the very life-breath of the infant Church (i. +14). Thus oneness in faith and in love, participation in the memorial +feast and in devotional acts bound the new converts to the original +believers, and trained them towards maturity. These are still the +methods by which a sudden influx of converts is best dealt with, and +babes in Christ nurtured to full growth. Alas! that so often churches +do not know what to do with novices when they come in numbers. + +A wider view of the state of the community as a whole closes the +chapter. It is the first of several landing-places, as it were, on +which Luke pauses to sum up an epoch. A reverent awe laid hold of the +popular mind, which was increased by the miraculous powers of the +Apostles. The Church will produce that impression on the world in +proportion as it is manifestly filled with the Spirit. Do we? The so- +called community of goods was not imposed by commandment, as is plain +from Peter's recognition of Ananias' right to do as he chose with his +property. The facts that Mark's mother, Mary, had a house of her own, +and that Barnabas, her relative, is specially signalised as having +sold his property, prove that it was not universal. It was an +irrepressible outcrop of the brotherly feeling that filled all +hearts. Christ has not come to lay down laws, but to give impulses. +Compelled communism is not the repetition of that oneness of sympathy +which effloresced in the bright flower of this common possession of +individual goods. But neither is the closed purse, closed because the +heart is shut, which puts to shame so much profession of brotherhood, +justified because the liberality of the primitive disciples was not +by constraint nor of obligation, but willing and spontaneous. + +Verses 46 and 47 add an outline of the beautiful daily life of the +community, which was, like their liberality, the outcome of the +feeling of brotherhood, intensified by the sense of the gulf between +them and the crooked generation from which they had separated +themselves. Luke shows it on two sides. Though they had separated +from the nation, they clung to the Temple services, as they continued +to do till the end. They had not come to clear consciousness of all +that was involved in their discipleship, It was not God's will that +the new spirit should violently break with the old letter. +Convulsions are not His way, except as second-best. The disciples had +to stay within the fold of Israel, if they were to influence Israel. +The time of outward parting between the Temple and the Church was far +ahead yet. + +But the truest life of the infant Church was not nourished in the +Temple, but in the privacy of their homes. They were one family, and +lived as such. Their 'breaking bread at home' includes both their +ordinary meals and the Lord's Supper; for in these first days every +meal, at least the evening meal of every day, was hallowed by having +the Supper as a part of it. Each meal was thus a religious act, a +token of brotherhood, and accompanied with praise. Surely _then_ 'men +did eat angels' food,' and on platter and cup was written 'Holiness +to the Lord.' The ideal of human fellowship was realised, though but +for a moment, and on a small scale. It was inevitable that +divergences should arise, but it was not inevitable that the Church +should depart so far from the brief brightness of its dawn. Still the +sweet concordant brotherhood of these morning hours witnesses what +Christian love can do, and prophesies what shall yet be and shall not +pass. + +No wonder that such a Church won favour with all the people! We hear +nothing of its evangelising activity, but its life was such that, +without recorded speech, multitudes were drawn into so sweet a +fellowship. If we were like the Pentecostal Christians, we should +attract wearied souls out of the world's Babel into the calm home +where love and brotherhood reigned, and God would 'add' to _us_ 'day +by day those that were being saved.' + + + +THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME + +'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God +hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and +Christ.'--ACTS ii. 36. + +It is no part of my purpose at this time to consider the special +circumstances under which these words were spoken, nor even to enter +upon an exposition of their whole scope. I select them for one +reason, the occurrence in them of the three names by which we +designate our Saviour--Jesus, Lord, Christ. To us they are very +little more than three proper names; they were very different to +these men who listened to the characteristically vehement discourse +of the Apostle Peter. It wanted some courage to stand up at Pentecost +and proclaim on the housetop what he had spoken in the ear long ago, +'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!' To most of his +listeners to say 'Jesus is the Christ' was folly, and to say 'Jesus +is the Lord' was blasphemy. + +The three names are names of the same Person, but they proclaim +altogether different aspects of His work and His character. The name +'Jesus' is the name of the Man, and brings to us a Brother; the name +'Christ' is the name of office, and brings to us a Redeemer; the name +'Lord' is the name of dignity, and brings to us a King. + +I. First, then, the name Jesus is the name of the Man, and tells us +of a Brother. + +There were many men in Palestine who bore the name of 'Jesus' when He +bore it. We find that one of the early Christians had it; and it +comes upon us with almost a shock when we read that 'Jesus, called +Justus,' was the name of one of the friends of the Apostle Paul (Col. +iv. 11). But, through reverence on the part of Christians, and +through horror on the part of Jews, the name ceased to be a common +one; and its disappearance from familiar use has hid from us the fact +of its common employment at the time when our Lord bore it. Though it +was given to Him as indicative of His office of saving His people +from their sins, yet none of all the crowds who knew Him as Jesus of +Nazareth supposed that in His name there was any greater significance +than in those of the 'Simons,' 'Johns,' and 'Judahs' in the circle of +His disciples. + +Now the use of Jesus as the proper name of our Lord is very +noticeable. In the Gospels, as a rule, it stands alone hundreds of +times, whilst in combination with any other of the titles it is rare. +'Jesus Christ,' for instance, only occurs, if I count aright, twice +in Matthew, once in Mark, twice in John. But if you turn to the +Epistles and the latter books of the Scriptures, the proportions are +reversed. There you have a number of instances of the occurrence of +such combinations as 'Jesus Christ,' 'Christ Jesus,' 'The Lord +Jesus,' 'Christ the Lord,' and more rarely the full solemn title, +'The Lord Jesus Christ,' but the occurrence of the proper name +'Jesus' alone is the exception. So far as I know, there are only some +thirty or forty instances of its use singly in the whole of the books +of the New Testament outside of the four Evangelists. The occasions +where it is used are all of them occasions in which one may see that +the writer's intention is to put strong emphasis, for some reason or +other, on the Manhood of our Lord Jesus, and to assert, as broadly as +may be, His entire participation with us in the common conditions of +our human nature, corporeal and mental. + +And I think I shall best bring out the meaning and worth of the name +by putting a few of these instances before you. + +For example, more than once we find phrases like these: 'we believe +that _Jesus_ died,' 'having therefore boldness to enter into the +holiest by the blood of _Jesus_,' and the like--which emphasise His +death as the death of a man like ourselves, and bring us close to the +historical reality of His human pains and agonies for us. '_Christ_ +died' is a statement which makes the purpose and efficacy of His +death more plain, but '_Jesus_ died' shows us His death as not only +the work of the appointed Messiah, but as the act of our brother man, +the outcome of His human love, and never rightly to be understood if +His work be thought of apart from His personality. + +There is brought into view, too, prominently, the side of Christ's +sufferings which we are all apt to forget--the common human side of +His agonies and His pains. I know that a certain school of preachers, +and some unctuous religious hymns, and other forms of composition, +dwell, a great deal too much for reverence, upon the mere physical +aspect of Christ's sufferings. But the temptation, I believe, with +most of us is to dwell too little upon that,--to argue about the +death of Christ, to think about it as a matter of speculation, to +regard it as a mysterious power, to look upon it as an official act +of the Messiah who was sent into the world for us; and to forget that +He bore a manhood like our own, a body that was impatient of pains +and wounds and sufferings, and a human life which, like all human +lives, naturally recoiled and shrank from the agony of death. + +And whilst, therefore, the great message, 'It is Christ that died,' +is ever to be pondered, we have also to think with sympathy and +gratitude on the homelier representation coming nearer to our hearts, +which proclaims that 'Jesus died.' Let us not forget the Brother's +manhood that had to agonise and to suffer and to die as the price of +our salvation. + +Again, when the Scripture would set our Lord before us, as in His +humanity, our pattern and example, it sometimes uses this name, in +order to give emphasis to the thought of His Manhood--as, for +example, in the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'looking unto +Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith.' That is to say--a mighty +stimulus to all brave perseverance in our efforts after higher +Christian nobleness lies in the vivid and constant realisation of the +true manhood of our Lord, as the type of all goodness, as having +Himself lived by faith, and that in a perfect degree and manner. We +are to turn away our eyes from contemplating all other lives and +motives, and to 'look off' from them to Him. In all our struggles let +us think of Him. Do not take poor human creatures for your ideal of +excellence, nor tune your harps to their keynotes. To imitate men is +degradation, and is sure to lead to deformity. None of them, is a +safe guide. Black veins are in the purest marble, and flaws in the +most lustrous diamonds. But to imitate Jesus is freedom, and to be +like Him is perfection. Our code of morals is His life. He is the +Ideal incarnate. The secret of all progress is, 'Run--looking unto +Jesus.' + +Then, again, we have His manhood emphasised when His sympathy is to +be commended to our hearts. 'The great High Priest, who is passed +into the heavens' is '_Jesus_' ... 'who was in all points tempted +like as we are.' To every sorrowing soul, to all men burdened with +heavy tasks, unwelcome duties, pains and sorrows of the imagination, +or of the heart, or of memory, or of physical life, or of +circumstances--to all there comes the thought, 'Every ill that flesh +is heir to' He knows by experience, and in the Man Jesus we find not +only the pity of a God, but the sympathy of a Brother. + +When one of our princes goes for an afternoon into the slums in East +London, everybody says, and says deservedly, 'right!' and 'princely!' +_This_ prince has learned pity in 'the huts where poor men lie,' and +knows by experience all their squalor and misery. The Man Jesus is +the sympathetic Priest. The Rabbis, who did not usually see very far +into the depth of things, yet caught a wonderful glimpse when they +said: 'Messias will be found sitting outside the gate of the city +_amongst the lepers_.' That _is_ where He sits; and the perfectness +of His sympathy, and the completeness of His identification of +Himself with all our tears and our sorrows, are taught us when we +read that our High Priest is not merely Christ the Official, but +Jesus the Man. + +And then we find such words as these: 'If we believe that _Jesus_ +died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God +bring with Him': I think any one that reads with sympathy must feel +how very much closer to our hearts that consolation comes, 'Jesus +rose again,' than even the mighty word which the Apostle uses on +another occasion, 'Christ is risen from the dead.' The one tells us +of the risen Redeemer, the other tells us of the risen Brother. And +wherever there are sorrowing souls, enduring loss and following their +dear ones into the darkness with yearning hearts, they are comforted +when they feel that the beloved dead lie down beside their Brother, +and with their Brother they shall rise again. + +So, again, most strikingly, and yet somewhat singularly, in the words +of Scripture which paint most loftily the exaltation of the risen +Saviour to the right hand of God, and His wielding of absolute power +and authority, it is the old human name that is used; as if the +writers would bind together the humiliation and the exaltation, and +were holding up hands of wonder at the thought that a Man had risen +thus to the Throne of the Universe. What an emphasis and glow of hope +there is in such words as these: 'We see not yet all things put under +Him, but we see _Jesus_'--the very Man that was here with us-- +'crowned with glory and honour.' So in the Book of the Revelation the +chosen name for Him who sits amidst the glories of the heavens, and +settles the destinies of the universe, and orders the course of +history, is Jesus. As if the Apostle would assure us that the face +which looked down upon him from amidst the blaze of the glory was +indeed the face that he knew long ago upon earth, and the breast that +'was girded with a golden girdle' was the breast upon which he so +often had leaned his happy head. + +So the ties that bind us to the Man Jesus should be the human bonds +that knit us to one another, transferred to Him and purified and +strengthened. All that we have failed to find in men we can find in +Him. Human wisdom has its limits, but here is a Man whose word is +truth, who is Himself the truth. Human love is sometimes hollow, +often impotent; it looks down upon us, as a great thinker has said, +like the Venus of Milo, that lovely statue, smiling in pity, but it +has no arms. But here is a love that is mighty to help, and on which +we can rely without disappointment or loss. Human excellence is +always limited and imperfect, but here is One whom we may imitate and +be pure. So let us do like that poor woman in the Gospel story--bring +our precious alabaster box of ointment--the love of these hearts of +ours, which is the most precious thing we have to give. The box of +ointment that we have so often squandered upon unworthy heads--let us +come and pour it upon His, not unmingled with our tears, and anoint +Him, our beloved and our King. This Man has loved each of us with a +brother's heart; let us love Him with all our hearts. + +II. So much for the first name. The second--'Christ'--is the name of +office, and brings to us a Redeemer. + +I need not dwell at any length upon the original significance and +force of the name; it is familiar, of course, to us all. It stands as +a transference into Greek of the Hebrew Messias; the one and the +other meaning, as we all know, the 'Anointed.' But what is the +meaning of claiming for Jesus that He is anointed? A sentence will +answer the question. It means that He fulfils all which the inspired +imagination of the great ones of the past had seen in that dim Figure +that rose before prophet and psalmist. It means that He is anointed +or inspired by the divine indwelling to be Prophet, Priest, and King +all over the world. It means that He is--though the belief had faded +away from the minds of His generation--a sufferer whilst a Prince, +and appointed to 'turn away unrighteousness' from the world, and not +from 'Jacob' only, by a sacrifice and a death. + +I cannot see less in the contents of the Jewish idea, the prophetic +idea, of the Messias, than these points: divine inspiration or +anointing; a sufferer who is to redeem; the fulfiller of all the +rapturous visions of psalmist and of prophet in the past. + +And so, when Peter stood up amongst that congregation of wondering +strangers and scowling Pharisees, and said, 'The Man that died on the +Cross, the Rabbi-peasant from half-heathen Galilee, is the Person to +whom Law and Prophets have been pointing,'--no wonder that no one +believed him except those whose hearts were touched, for it is never +possible for the common mind, at any epoch, to believe that a man who +stands beside them is very much bigger than themselves. Great men +have always to die, and get a halo of distance around them, before +their true stature can be seen. + +And now two remarks are all I can afford myself upon this point, and +one is this: the hearty recognition of His Messiahship is the centre +of all discipleship. The earliest and the simplest Christian creed, +which yet--like the little brown roll in which the infant beech- +leaves lie folded up--contains in itself all the rest, was this: +'Jesus is Christ.' Although it is no part of my business to say how +much imperfection and confusion of head comprehension may co-exist +with a heart acceptance of Jesus that saves a soul from sin, yet I +cannot in faithfulness to my own convictions conceal my belief that +he who contents himself with 'Jesus' and does not grasp 'Christ' has +cast away the most valuable and characteristic part of the +Christianity which he professes. Surely a most simple inference is +that a _Christian_ is at least a man who recognises the Christship of +Jesus. And I press that upon you, my friends. It is not enough for +the sustenance of your own souls and for the cultivation of a +vigorous religious life that men should admire, howsoever profoundly +and deeply, the humanity of the Lord unless that humanity leads them +on to see the office of the Messiah to whom their whole hearts +cleave. 'Jesus is the Christ' is the minimum Christian creed. + +And then, still further, let me remind you how the recognition of +Jesus as Christ is essential to giving its full value to the facts of +the manhood. 'Jesus died!' Yes. What then? What is that to me? Is +that all that I have to say? If His is simply a human death, like all +others, I want to know what makes the story of it a Gospel. I want to +know what more interest I have in it than I have in the death of +Socrates, or in the death of any man or woman whose name was in the +obituary column of yesterday's newspaper. 'Jesus died.' That is a +fact. What is wanted to turn the fact into a gospel? That I shall +know who it was that died, and why He died. 'I declare unto you the +gospel which I preach,' Paul says, 'how that _Christ_ died for our +sins, according to the Scriptures.' The belief that the death of +Jesus was the death of the Christ is needful in order that it shall +be the means of my deliverance from the burden of sin. If it be only +the death of Jesus, it is beautiful, pathetic, as many another +martyr's has been, but if it be the death of Christ, then 'my faith +can lay her hand' on that great Sacrifice 'and know her guilt was +there.' + +So in regard to His perfect example. If we only see His manhood when +we are 'looking unto Jesus,' the contemplation of His perfection +would be as paralysing as spectacles of supreme excellence usually +are. But when we can say, '_Christ_ also suffered for us, leaving us +an example,' and so can deepen the thought of His Manhood into that +of His Messiahship, and the conception of His work as example into +that of His work as sacrifice, we can hope that His divine power will +dwell in us to mould our lives to the likeness of His human life of +perfect obedience. + +So in regard to His Resurrection and glorious Ascension to the right +hand of God. We have not only to think of the solitary man raised +from the grave and caught up to the throne. If it were only 'Jesus' +who rose and ascended, His Resurrection and Ascension might be as +much to us as the raising of Lazarus, or the rapture of Elijah-- +namely, a demonstration that death did not destroy conscious being, +and that a man could rise to heaven; but they would be no more. But +if '_Christ_ is risen from the dead,' He is 'become the first-fruits +of them that slept.' If _Jesus_ has gone up on high, others may or +may not follow in His train. He may show that manhood is not +incapable of elevation to heaven, but has no power to draw others up +after Him. But if _Christ_ is gone up, He is gone to prepare a place +for us, not to fill a solitary throne, and His Ascension is the +assurance that He will lift us too to dwell with Him and share His +triumph over death and sin. + +Most of the blessedness and beauty of His Example, all the mystery +and meaning of His Death, and all the power of His Resurrection, +depend on the fact that 'it is _Christ_ that died, yea rather, that +is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God.' + +III. 'The Lord' is the name of dignity and brings before us the King. + +There are three grades, so to speak, of dignity expressed by this one +word 'Lord' in the New Testament. The lowest is that in which it is +almost the equivalent of our own English title of respectful +courtesy, 'Sir,' in which sense it is often used in the Gospels, and +applied to our Lord as to many other of the persons there. The second +is that in which it expresses dignity and authority--and in that +sense it is frequently applied to Christ. The third and highest is +that in which it is the equivalent of the Old Testament 'Lord,' as a +divine name; in which sense also it is applied to Christ in the New +Testament. + +The first and last of these may be left out of consideration now: the +central one is the meaning of the word here. I have only time to +touch upon two thoughts--to connect this name of dignity first with +one and then with the other of the two names that we have already +considered. + +Jesus is Lord, that is to say, wonderful as it is, His manhood is +exalted to supreme dignity. It is the teaching of the New Testament, +that in Jesus, the Child of Mary, our nature sits on the throne of +the universe and rules over all things. Those rude herdsmen, brothers +of Joseph, who came into Pharaoh's palace--strange contrast to their +tents!--there found their brother ruling over that ancient and highly +civilised land! We have the Man Jesus for the Lord over all. Trust +His dominion and rejoice in His rule, and bow before His authority. +Jesus is Lord. + +Christ is Lord. That is to say: His sovereign authority and dominion +are built upon the fact of His being Deliverer, Redeemer, Sacrifice. +His Kingdom is a Kingdom that rests upon His suffering. 'Wherefore +God also hath exalted Him, and given Him a Name that is above every +name.' + +It is because He wears a vesture dipped in blood, that 'on the +vesture is the name written "King of kings, and Lord of lords."' It +is 'because He shall deliver the needy when he crieth,' as the +prophetic psalm has it, that 'all kings shall fall down before Him +and all nations shall serve Him.' Because He has given His life for +the world He is the Master of the World. His humanity is raised to +the throne because His humanity stooped to the cross. As long as +men's hearts can be touched by absolute unselfish surrender, and as +long as they can know the blessedness of responsive surrender, so +long will He who gave Himself for the world be the Sovereign of the +world, and the First-born from the dead be the Prince of all the +kings of the earth. + +And so, dear friends, our thoughts to-day all point to this lesson-- +do not you content yourselves with a maimed Christ. Do not tarry in +the Manhood; do not think it enough to cherish reverence for the +nobility of His soul, the gentle wisdom of His words, the beauty of +His character, the tenderness of His compassion. All these will be +insufficient for your needs. There is more in His mission than these +--even His death for you and for all men. Take Him for your Christ, +but do not lose the Person in the Work, any more than you lose the +work in the Person. And be not content with an intellectual +recognition of Him, but bring Him the faith which cleaves to Him and +His work as its only hope and peace, and the love which, because of +His work as Christ, flows out to the beloved Person who has done it +all. Thus loving Jesus and trusting Christ, you will bring obedience +to your Lord and homage to your King, and learn the sweetness and +power of 'the name that is above every name'--the name of the Lord +Jesus Christ. + +May we all be able, with clear and unfaltering conviction of our +understandings and loving affiance of our whole souls, to repeat as +our own the grand words in which so many centuries have proclaimed +their faith--words which shed a spell of peacefulness over stormy +lives, and fling a great light of hope into the black jaws of the +grave: 'I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord!' + + + +A FOURFOLD CORD + +'And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and +fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.' +--ACTS ii. 42. + +The Early Church was not a pattern for us, and the idea of its +greatly superior purity is very largely a delusion. But still, though +that be true, the occasional glimpses that we get at intervals in the +early chapters of this Book of the Acts of the Apostles do present a +very instructive and beautiful picture of what a Christian society +may be, and therefore of what Christian Churches and Christian +individuals ought to be. + +The words that I have read, however, are not the description of the +demeanour of the whole community, but of that portion of it which had +been added so swiftly to the original nucleus on the Day of +Pentecost. Think, on the morning of that day 'the number of the names +was one hundred and twenty,' on the evening of that day it was three +thousand over that number--a sufficiently swift and large increase to +have swamped the original nucleus, unless there had been a great +power of assimilation to itself lodged in that little body. These new +converts held to the Apostolic 'doctrine' and 'fellowship,' and to +'breaking of bread' and to 'prayers,' and so became homogeneous with +the others, and all worked to one end. + +Now, these four points which are signalised in this description may +well afford us material for consideration. They give us the ideal of +a Church's inner life, which in the divine order should precede, and +be the basis of, a Church's work in the world. But, while we speak of +an ideal for a Church, let us not forget that it is realised only by +the lives of individuals being conformed to it. + +I. The first point, which is fundamental to all the others, is 'They +continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine.' + +An earnest desire after fuller knowledge is the basis of all healthy +Christian life. We cannot realise, without a great effort, the +ignorance of these new converts. 'Parthians and Medes and Elamites,' +and Jews gathered from every corner of the Roman world, they had come +up to Jerusalem, and the bulk of them knew no more about Christ and +Christianity than what they picked up out of Peter's sermon on the +Day of Pentecost. But that was enough to change their hearts and +their wills and to lead them to a real faith. And though the +_contents_ of their faith were very incomplete, the _power_ of their +faith was very great. For there is no necessary connection between +the amount believed and the grasp with which it is held. Believing, +they were eager for more light to be poured on to their half-seeing +eyes. They had no Gospels, they had no written record, they had no +means of learning anything about the faith which they were now +professing except listening to one or other of the original Eleven, +with the addition of any of the other 'old disciples'--that is, +_early_ disciples--who might perchance have equal claims to be +listened to as 'witnesses from the beginning.' We shall very much +misunderstand the meaning of the words here, if we suppose that these +novices were dosed with theological instruction, or that 'the +Apostles' doctrine' consisted of such fully developed truths as we +find later on in Paul's writings. If you will look at the first +sermons that Peter is recorded as having delivered, in the early +chapters of the Acts, you will find that he by no means enunciates a +definite theology such as he unfolds in his later Epistle. There is +no word about the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; His designation +is 'Thy holy child Jesus.' There is no word about the atoning nature +of Christ's sacrifice; His death is simply the great crime of the +Jewish people, and His Resurrection the great divine fact witnessing +to the truth of His Messiahship. All that which we now regard, and +rightly regard, as the very centre and living focus of divine truth +was but beginning to shine out on the Apostles' minds, or rather to +gather itself into form, and to shape itself by slow degrees into +propositions. 'The Apostles' teaching'--for 'doctrine' does not +convey to modern ears what Luke meant by the word--must have been +very largely, if not exclusively, of the same kind as is preserved to +us in the four Gospels, and especially in the first three of them. +The recital to these listeners, to whom it was all so fresh and +strange and transcendent, of the story that has become worn and +commonplace to us by its familiarity, of Christ in His birth, Christ +in His gentleness, Christ in His deeds, Christ in the deep words that +the Apostles were only beginning to understand; Christ in His Death, +Resurrection, and Ascension--these were the themes on the narration +of which this company of three thousand waited with such eagerness. + +But, of course, there was necessarily involved in the story a certain +amount of what we now call doctrine--that is, theological teaching-- +because one cannot tell the story of Jesus Christ, as it is told in +the four Gospels, without impressing upon the hearers the conviction +that His nature was divine and that His death was a sacrifice. Beyond +these truths we know not how far the Apostles went. To these, +perhaps, they did not at first rise. But whether they did so or no, +and although the facts that the hearers were thus eager to receive, +and treasured when they received, are the commonplaces of our Sunday- +schools, and quite uninteresting to many of us, the spirit which +marked these early converts is the spirit that must lie at the +foundation of progressive and healthy Christianity in us. The +consciousness of our own ignorance, of the great sweep of God's +revealed mind and will, the eager desire to fill up the gaps in the +circle, and to widen the diameter, of our knowledge, and the +consequent steadfastness and persistence of our continuance in the +teachings--far fuller and deeper and richer and nobler than were +heard in the upper room at Jerusalem by the first three thousand-- +which, through the divine Spirit and the experience of the Church for +nineteen hundred years are available for us, ought to characterise us +all. + +Now, dear friends, ask yourselves the question very earnestly, Does +this desire of fuller Christian knowledge at all mark my Christian +character, and does it practically influence my Christian conduct and +life? There are thousands of men and women in all our churches who +know no more about the rich revelation of God in Jesus Christ than +they did on that day long, long ago, when first they began to +apprehend that He was the Saviour of their souls. When I sometimes +get glimpses into the utter Biblical ignorance of educated members of +my own and of other congregations, I am appalled; I do not wonder how +we ministers do so little by our preaching, when the minds of the +people to whom we speak are so largely in such a chaotic state in +reference to Scriptural truth. I believe that there is an intolerance +of plain, sober, instructive Christian teaching from the pulpit, +which is one of the worst signs of the Christianity of this +generation. And I believe that there are a terribly large number of +professing Christians, and good people after a fashion, whose Bibles +are as clean to-day, except on one or two favourite pages, as they +were when they came out of the bookseller's shop years and years ago. +You will never be strong Christians, you will never be happy ones, +until you make conscience of the study of God's Word and 'continue +steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching.' You may produce plenty of +emotional Christianity, and of busy and sometimes fussy work without +it, but you will not get depth. I sometimes think that the complaint +of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews might be turned upside +down nowadays. He says: 'When for the time ye ought to be teachers, +ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles.' +Nowadays we might say in Sunday-schools and other places of church +work: 'When for the time ye ought to be _learners_, you have taken to +teaching before you know what you are teaching, and so neither you +nor your scholars will profit much.' The vase should be full before +you begin to empty it. + +Again, there ought to be, and we ought to aim after, an equable +temper of mutual brotherhood conquering selfishness. + +'They continued in the Apostles' doctrine and in fellowship.' +'Fellowship' here, as I take it, applies to community of feeling. A +verse or two afterwards it is applied to community of goods, but we +have nothing to do with that subject at present. What is meant is +that these three thousand, as was most natural, cut off altogether +from their ancient associations, finding themselves at once separated +by a great gulf from their nation and its hopes and its religion, +were driven together as sheep are when wolves are prowling around. +And, being individually weak, they held on by one another, so that +many weaknesses might make a strength, and glimmering embers raked +together might break into a flame. + +Now, all these circumstances, or almost all of them, that drove the +primitive believers together, are at an end, and the tendencies of +this day are rather to drive Christian people apart than to draw them +together. Differences of position, occupation, culture, ways of +looking at things, views of Christian truth and the like, all come +powerfully in to the reinforcement of the natural selfishness which +tempts us all, unless the grace of God overcomes it. Although we do +not want any hysterical or histrionic presentation of Christian +sympathy and brotherhood, we do need--far more than any of us have +awakened to the consciousness of the need--for the health of our own +souls we need to make definite efforts to cultivate more of that +sense of Christian brotherhood with all that hold the same Lord +Christ, and to realise this truth: that they and we, however +separate, are nearer one another than are we and those nearest to us +who do not share in our Christian faith. + +I do not dwell upon this point. It is one on which it is easy to +gush, and it has got a bad name because there has been so much unreal +and sickly talk about it. But if any Christian man will honestly try +to cultivate the brotherly feeling which my text suggests, and to +which our common relation to Jesus Christ binds us, and will try it +in reference to _A_, _B_, or _C_, whom he does not much like, with +whose ways he has no kind of sympathy, whom he believes to be a +heretic, and who perhaps returns the belief about him with interest, +he will find it is a pretty sharp test of his Christian principle. +Let us be real, at any rate, and not pretend to have more love than +we really have in our hearts. And let us remember that 'he that +loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.' + +II. Another characteristic which comes out in the words before us is +the blending of worship with life. + +'They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine ... and in +breaking of bread.' Commentators who can only see one thing at a +time--and there are a good many of that species--have got up great +discussions as to whether this phrase means eating ordinary meals or +partaking of the Lord's Supper. I venture to say it means both, +because, clearly enough, in the beginning, the common meal was +hallowed by what we now call the Lord's Supper being associated with +it, and every day's evening repast was eaten 'in remembrance of Him.' + +So, naturally, and without an idea of anything awful or sacred about +the rite, the first Christians, when they went home after a hard +day's work and sat down to take their own suppers, blessed the bread +and the wine, and whether they ate or drank, did the one and the +other 'in remembrance of Him.' + +The gradual growth of the sentiment attaching to the Lord's Supper, +until it reached the portentous height of regarding it as a +'tremendous sacrifice' which could only be administered by priests +with ordained hands in Apostolic succession, can be partly traced +even in New Testament times. The Lord's Supper began as an appendage +to, or rather as a heightening of, the evening meal, and at first, as +this chapter tells us in a subsequent verse, was observed day by day. +Then, before the epoch of the Acts of the Apostles is ended, we find +it has become a weekly celebration, and forms part of the service on +the first day of the week. But even when the observance had ceased to +be daily, the association with an ordinary meal continued, and that +led to the disorders at Corinth which Paul rebuked, and which would +have been impossible if later ideas of the Lord's Supper had existed +then. + +The history of the transformation of that simple Supper into 'the +bloodless sacrifice' of the Mass, and all the mischief consequent +thereon, does not concern us now. But it does concern us to note that +these first believers hallowed common things by doing them, and +common food by partaking of it, with the memory of His great +sacrifice in their minds. The poorest fare, the coarsest bread, the +sourest wine, on the humblest table, became a memorial of that dear +Lord. Religion and life, the domestic and the devout, were so closely +braided together that when a household sat at table it was both a +family and a church; and while they were eating their meat for the +strength of their body, they were partaking of the memorial of their +dying Lord. + +Is your house like that? Is your daily life like that? Do you bring +the sacred and the secular as close together as that? Are the dying +words of your Master, 'This do in remembrance of Me,' written by you +over everything you do? And so is all life worship, and all worship +hope? + +III. The last thing here is habitual devotion. + +I suppose the disciples had no forms of set Christian prayers. They +still used the Jewish liturgy, for we read that 'they continued daily +with one accord in the Temple.' I am sure that no two things can be +less like one another than the worship of the primitive Church and +the worship, say, of one of our congregations. Did you ever try to +paint for yourselves, for instance, the scene described in the First +Epistle to the Corinthians? When they came together in their meetings +for worship, 'every one had a psalm, a doctrine, an interpretation.' +'Let the prophets speak, by ones, or at most by twos'; and if another +gets up to interrupt, let the first speaker sit down. Paul goes on to +say, 'Let all things be done decently and in order.' So there must +have been tendencies to disorder, and much at which some of our +modern ecclesiastical martinets would have been very much scandalised +as 'unbecoming.' Wise men are in no haste to change forms. Forms +change of themselves when their users change; but it would be a good +day for Christendom if the faith and devoutness of a community of +believers such as we, for instance, profess to be, were so strong and +so demanding expression as that, instead of my poor voice continually +sounding here, every one of you had a psalm or a doctrine, and every +one of you were able and impelled to speak out of the fulness of the +Spirit which God poured into you. It will come some day; it must come +if Christendom is not to die of its own dignity. But we do not need +to hurry matters, only let us remember that unless a Church continues +steadfast in prayer it is worth very little. + +Now, dear brethren, it is said about us Free Churchmen that we think +a great deal too much of preaching and a great deal too little of the +prayers of the congregation. That is a stock criticism. I am bound to +say that there is a grain of truth in it, and that there is not, with +too many of our congregations, as lofty a conception of the power and +blessedness of the united prayers of the congregation as there ought +to be, or else you would not hear about 'introductory services.' +Introductory to what? Do we speak to God merely by way of preface to +one of us talking to his brethren? Is that the proper order? 'They +continued steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching,' no doubt; but also +'steadfastly in prayer.' I pray you to try to make this picture of +the Pentecostal converts the ideal of your own lives, and to do your +best to help forward the time when it shall be the reality in this +church, and in every other society of professing Christians. + + + +A PURE CHURCH AN INCREASING CHURCH + +'And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be +saved.'--ACTS ii. 47. + +'And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being +saved.'--(R. V.) + +You observe that the principal alterations of these words in the +Revised Version are two: the one the omission of 'the church,' the +other the substitution of 'were being saved' for 'such as should be +saved.' The former of these changes has an interest as suggesting +that at the early period referred to the name of 'the church' had not +yet been definitely attached to the infant community, and that the +word afterwards crept into the text at a time when ecclesiasticism +had become a great deal stronger than it was at the date of the +writing of the Acts of the Apostles. The second of the changes is of +more importance. The Authorised Version's rendering suggests that +salvation is a future thing, which in one aspect is partially true. +The Revised Version, which is also by far the more literally +accurate, suggests the other idea, that salvation is a process going +on all through the course of a Christian man's life. And that carries +very large and important lessons. + +I. I ask you to notice here, first, the profound conception which the +writer had of the present action of the ascended Christ. 'The Lord +added to them day by day those that were being saved.' + +Then Christ (for it is He that is here spoken of as the Lord), the +living, ascended Christ, was present in, and working with, that +little community of believing souls. You will find that the thought +of a present Saviour, who is the life-blood of the Church on earth, +and the spring of action for all good that is done in it and by it, +runs through the whole of this Book of the Acts of the Apostles. The +keynote is struck in its first verses: 'The former treatise have I +made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until +the day in which He was taken up.' That is the description of Luke's +Gospel, and it implies that the Acts of the Apostles is the _second_ +treatise, which tells all that Jesus continued to do and teach +_after_ that He was taken up. So the Lord, the ascended Christ, is +the true theme and hero of this book. It is He, for instance, who +sends down the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It is He whom the +dying martyr sees 'standing at the right hand of God,' ready to help. +It is He who appears to the persecutor on the road to Damascus. It is +He who sends Paul and his company to preach in Europe. It is He who +opens hearts for the reception of their message. It is He who stands +by the Apostle in a vision, and bids him 'be of good cheer,' and go +forth upon his work. Thus, at every crisis in the history of the +Church, it is the Lord--that is to say, Christ Himself--who is +revealed as working in them and for them, the ascended but yet ever- +present Guide, Counsellor, Inspirer, Protector, and Rewarder of them +that put their trust in Him. So here it is He that 'adds to the +Church daily them that were being saved.' + +I believe, dear brethren, that modern Christianity has far too much +lost the vivid impression of this present Christ as actually dwelling +and working among us. What is good in us and what is bad in us +conspire to make us think more of the past work of an ascended Christ +than of the present work of an indwelling Christ. We cannot think too +much of that Cross by which He has laid the foundation for the +salvation and reconciliation of all the world; but we may easily +think too exclusively of it, and so fix our thoughts upon that work +which He completed when on Calvary He said, 'It is finished!' as to +forget the continual work which will never be finished until His +Church is perfected, and the world is redeemed. If we are a Church of +Christ at all, we have Christ in very deed among us, and working +through us and on us. And unless we have, in no mystical and unreal +and metaphorical sense, but in the simplest and yet grandest prose +reality, that living Saviour here in our hearts and in our +fellowship, better that these walls were levelled with the ground, +and this congregation scattered to the four winds of heaven. The +present Christ is the life of His Church. + +Notice, and that but for a moment, for I shall have to deal with it +more especially at another part of this discourse,--the specific +action which is here ascribed to Him. _He_ adds to the Church, not +_we_, not our preaching, not our eloquence, our fervour, our efforts. +These may be the weapons in His hands, but the hand that wields the +weapon gives it all its power to wound and to heal, and it is Christ +Himself who, by His present energy, is here represented as being the +Agent of all the good that is done by any Christian community, and +the Builder-up of His Churches, in numbers and in power. + +It is His will for, His ideal of, a Christian Church, that +continuously it should be gathering into its fellowship those that +are being saved. That is His meaning in the establishment of His +Church upon earth, and that is His will concerning it and concerning +us, and the question should press on every society of Christians: +Does our reality correspond to Christ's ideal? Are we, as a portion +of His great heritage, being continually replenished by souls that +come to tell what God has done for them? Is there an unbroken flow of +such into what we call our communion? I speak to you members of this +church, and I ask you to ponder the question,--Is it so? and the +other question, If it is not so, wherefore? 'The Lord added daily,'-- +why does not the Lord add daily to us? + +II. Let us go to the second part of this text, and see if we can find +an answer. Notice how emphatically there is brought out here the +attractive power of an earnest and pure Church. + +My text is the end of a sentence. What is the beginning of the +sentence? Listen,--'All that believed were together, and had all +things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them +to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with +one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did +eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, +and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added.' Yes; of +course. Suppose you were like these people. Suppose this church and +congregation bore stamped upon it, plain and deep as the broad arrow +of the king, these characteristics--manifest fraternal unity, plain +unselfish unworldliness, habitual unbroken devotion, gladness which +had in it the solemnity of Heaven, and a transparent simplicity of +life and heart, which knew nothing of by-ends and shabby, personal +motives or distracting duplicity of purpose--do you not think that +the Lord would add to you daily such as should be saved? Or, to put +it into other words, wherever there is a little knot of men obviously +held together by a living Christ, and obviously manifesting in their +lives and characters the likeness of that Christ transforming and +glorifying them, there will be drawn to them--by natural gravitation, +I was going to say, but we may more correctly say, by the gravitation +which is natural in the supernatural realm--souls that have been +touched by the grace of the Lord, and souls to whom that grace has +been brought the nearer by looking upon _them_. Wherever there is +inward vigour of life there will be outward growth; and the Church +which is pure, earnest, living will be a Church which spreads and +increases. + +Historically, it has always been the case that in God's Church +seasons of expansion have followed upon seasons of deepened spiritual +life on the part of His people. And the only kind of growth which is +wholesome, and to be desired in a Christian community, is growth as a +consequence of the revived religiousness of the individuals who make +up the community. + +And just in like manner as such a community will draw to it men who +are like-minded, so it will repel from it all the formalist people. +There are congregations that have the stamp of worldliness so deep +upon them that any persons who want to be burdened with as little +religion as may be respectable will find themselves at home there. +And I come to you Christian people here, for whose Christian +character I am in some sense and to some degree responsible, with +this appeal: Do you see to it that, so far as your influence extends, +this community of ours be such as that half-dead Christians will +never think of coming near us, and those whose religion is tepid will +be repelled from us, but that they who love the Lord Jesus Christ +with earnest devotion and lofty consecration, and seek to live +unworldly and saint-like lives, shall recognise in us men like- +minded, and from whom they may draw help. I beseech you--if you will +not misunderstand the expression--make your communion such that it +will repel as well as attract; and that people will find nothing here +to draw them to an easy religion of words and formalism, beneath +which all vermin of worldliness and selfishness may lurk, but will +recognise in us a church of men and women who are bent upon holiness, +and longing for more and more conformity to the divine Master. + +Now, if all this be true, it is possible for worldly and stagnant +communities calling themselves 'Churches' to thwart Christ's purpose, +and to make it both impossible and undesirable that He should add to +them souls for whom He has died. It is a solemn thing to feel that we +may clog Christ's chariot-wheels, that there may be so little +spiritual life in us, as a congregation, that, if I may so say, He +dare not intrust us with the responsibility of guarding and keeping +the young converts whom He loves and tends. We may not be fit to be +trusted with them, and that may be why we do not get them. It may not +be good for them that they should be dropped into the refrigerating +atmosphere of such a church, and that may be why they do not come. + +Depend upon it, brethren, that, far more than my preaching, your +lives will determine the expansion of this church of ours. And if my +preaching is pulling one way and your lives the other, and I have +half an hour a week for talk and you have seven days for +contradictory life, which of the two do you think is likely to win in +the tug? I beseech you, take the words that I am now trying to speak, +to yourselves. Do not pass them to the man in the next pew and think +how well they fit him, but accept them as needed by you. And +remember, that just as a bit of sealing-wax, if you rub it on your +sleeve and so warm it, develops an attractive power, the Church which +is warmed will draw many to itself. If the earlier words of this +context apply to any Christian community, then certainly its blessed +promise too will apply to it, and to such a church the Lord will 'add +day by day them that are being saved.' + +III. And now, lastly, observe the definition given here of the class +of persons gathered into the community. + +I have already observed, in the earlier portion of this discourse, +that here we have salvation represented as a process, a progressive +thing which runs on all through life. In the New Testament there are +various points of view from which that great idea of salvation is +represented. It is sometimes spoken of as past, in so far as in the +definite act of conversion and the first exercise of faith in Jesus +Christ the whole subsequent evolution and development are involved, +and the process of salvation has its beginning then, when a man turns +to God. It is sometimes spoken of as present, in so far as the joy of +deliverance from evil and possession of good, which is God, is +realised day by day. It is sometimes spoken of as future, in so far +as all the imperfect possession and pre-libations of salvation which +we taste here on earth prophesy and point onwards to their own +perfecting in the climax of heaven. But all these three points of +view, past, present, and future, may be merged into this one of my +text, which speaks of every saint on earth, from the infantile to the +most mature, as standing in the same row, though at different points; +walking on the same road, though advanced different distances; all +participant of the same process of 'being saved.' + +Through all life the deliverance goes on, the deliverance from sin, +the deliverance from wrath. The Christian salvation, then, according +to the teaching of this emphatic phrase, is a process begun at +conversion, carried on progressively through the life, and reaching +its climax in another state. Day by day, through the spring and the +early summer, the sun shines longer in the sky, and rises higher in +the heavens; and the path of the Christian is as the shining light. +Last year's greenwood is this year's hardwood; and the Christian, in +like manner, has to 'grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and +Saviour.' So these progressively, and, therefore, as yet imperfectly, +saved people, were gathered into the Church. + +Now I have but two things to say about that. If that be the +description of the kind of folk that come into a Christian Church, +the duties of that Church are very plainly marked. And the first +great one is to see to it that the community help the growth of its +members. There are Christian Churches--I do not say whether ours is +one of them or not--into which, if a young plant is brought, it is +pretty sure to be killed. The temperature is so low that the tender +shoots are nipped as with frost, and die. I have seen people, coming +all full of fervour and of faith, into Christian congregations, and +finding that the average round them was so much lower than their own, +that they have cooled down after a time to the fashionable +temperature, and grown indifferent like their brethren. Let us, dear +friends, remember that a Christian Church is a nursery of imperfect +Christians, and, for ourselves and for one another, try to make our +communion such as shall help shy and tender graces to unfold +themselves, and woo out, by the encouragement of example, the lowest +and the least perfect to lofty holiness and consecration like the +Master's. + +And if I am speaking to any in this congregation who hold aloof from +Christian fellowship for more or less sufficient reasons, let me +press upon them, in one word, that if they are conscious of a +possession, however imperfect, of that incipient salvation, their +place is thereby determined, and they are doing wrong if they do not +connect themselves with some Christian Communion, and stand forth as +members of Christ's Church. + +And now one last word. I have tried to show you that salvation, in +the New Testament, is regarded as a process. The opposite thing is a +process too. There is a very awful contrast in one of Paul's +Epistles. 'The preaching of the Cross is to them _who are in the act +of perishing_ foolishness; unto us who are _being saved_, it is the +power of God.' These two processes start, as it were, from the same +point, one by slow degrees and almost imperceptible motion, rising +higher and higher, the other, by slow degrees and almost unconscious +descent, sliding steadily and fatally downward ever further and +further. And my point now is that in each of us one or other of these +processes is going on. Either you are slowly rising or you are +slipping down. Either a larger measure of the life of Christ, which +is salvation, is passing into your hearts, or bit by bit you are +dying like some man with creeping paralysis that begins at the +extremities, and with fell, silent, inexorable footstep, advances +further and further towards the citadel of the heart, where it lays +its icy hand at last, and the man is dead. You are either 'being +saved' or you are 'perishing.' No man becomes a devil all at once, +and no man becomes an angel all at once. Trust yourself to Christ, +and He will lift you to Himself; turn your back upon Him, as some of +you are doing, and you will settle down, down, down in the muck and +the mire of your own sensuality and selfishness, until at last the +foul ooze spreads over your head, and you are lost in the bog for +ever. + + + +'THEN SHALL THE LAME MAN LEAP AS AN HART' + +'Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour +of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2. And a certain man lame from +his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate +of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that +entered into the temple; 3. Who, seeing Peter and John about to +go into the temple, asked an alms. 4. And Peter, fastening his +eyes upon him, with John, said, Look on us. 5. And he gave heed +unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6. Then Peter +said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I +thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. +7. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and +immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8. And he +leaping up, stood, and walked, and entered with them into the +temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9. And all the +people saw him walking and praising God: 10. And they knew that +it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: +and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had +happened unto him. 11. And as the lame man which was healed held +Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the +porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. 12. And when +Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why +marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though +by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? 13. +The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our +fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and +denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to +let Him go. 14. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and +desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15. And killed the +Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we +are witnesses. 16. And His name through faith in His name hath +made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which +is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence +of you all.'--ACTS iii. 1-16. + +'Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles' (Acts ii. 43), but +this one is recorded in detail, both because it was conspicuous as +wrought in the Temple, and because it led to weighty consequences. +The narrative is so vivid and full of minute particulars that it +suggests an eye-witness. Was Peter Luke's informant? The style of the +story is so like that of Mark's Gospel that we might reasonably +presume so. + +The scene and the persons are first set before us. It was natural +that a close alliance should be cemented between Peter and John, both +because they were the principal members of the quartet which stood +first among the Apostles, and because they were so unlike each other, +and therefore completed each other. Peter's practical force and eye +for externals, and John's more contemplative nature and eye for the +unseen, needed one another. So we find them together in the judgment +hall, at the sepulchre, and here. + +They 'went up to the Temple,' or, to translate more exactly and more +picturesquely, 'were going up,' when the incident to be recorded +stayed them. They had passed through the court, and came to a gate +leading into the inner court, which was called 'Beautiful.' from its +artistic excellence, when they were arrested by the sight of a lame +beggar, who had been carried there every day for many years to +appeal, by the display of his helplessness, to the entering +worshippers. Precisely similar sights may be seen to-day at the doors +of many a famous European church and many a mosque. He mechanically +wailed out his formula, apparently scarcely looking at the two +strangers, nor expecting a response. Long habit and many rebuffs had +not made him hopeful, but it was his business to ask, and so he +asked. + +Some quick touch of pity shot through the two friends' hearts, which +did not need to be spoken in order that each might feel it to be +shared by the other. So they paused, and, as was in keeping with +their characters, Peter took speech in hand, while John stood by +assenting. Purposed devotion is well delayed when postponed in order +to lighten misery. + +There must have been something magnetic in Peter's voice and steady +gaze as he said, 'Look on us!' It was a strange preface, if only some +small coin was to follow. It kindled some flicker of hope of he knew +not what in the beggar. He expected to receive 'something' from them, +and, no doubt, was asking himself what. Expectation and receptivity +were being stirred in him, though he could not divine what was +coming. We have no right to assume that his state of mind was +operative in fitting him to be cured, nor to call his attitude +'faith,' but still he was lifted from his usual dreary hopelessness, +and some strange anticipation was creeping into his heart. + +Then comes the grand word of power. Again Peter is spokesman, but +John takes part, though silently. With a fixed gaze, which told of +concentrated purpose, and went to the lame man's heart, Peter +triumphantly avows what most men are ashamed of, and try to hide: +'Silver and gold have I none.' He had 'left all and followed Christ'; +he had not made demands on the common stock. Empty pockets may go +along with true wealth. + +There is a fine flash of exultant confidence in Peter's next words, +which is rather spoiled by the Authorised Version. He did not say +'_such_ as I have,' as it it was inferior to money, which he had not, +but he said '_what_ I have' (Rev. Ver.),--a very different tone. The +expression eloquently magnifies the power which he possessed as far +more precious than wealth, and it speaks of his assurance that he did +possess it--an assurance which rested, not only on his faith in his +Lord's promise and gift, but on his experience in working former +miracles. + +How deep his words go into the obligations of possession! 'What I +have I give' should be the law for all Christians in regard to all +that they have, and especially in regard to spiritual riches. God +gives us these, not only in order that we may enjoy them ourselves, +but in order that we may impart, and so in our measure enter into the +joy of our Lord and know the greater blessedness of giving than of +receiving. How often it has been true that a poor church has been a +miracle-working church, and that, when it could not say 'Silver and +gold have I none' it has also lost the power of saying, 'In the name +of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk'! + +The actual miracle is most graphically narrated. With magnificent +boldness Peter rolls out his Master's name, there, in the court of +the Temple, careless who may hear. He takes the very name that had +been used in scorn, and waves it like a banner of victory. His +confidence in his possession of power was not confidence in himself, +but in his Lord. When we can peal forth the Name with as much +assurance of its miracle-working power as Peter did, we too shall be +able to make the lame walk. A faltering voice is unworthy to speak +such words, and will speak them in vain. + +The process of cure is minutely described. Peter put out his hand to +help the lame man up, and, while he was doing so, power came into the +shrunken muscles and weak ankles, so that the cripple felt that he +could raise himself, and, though all passed in a moment, the last +part of his rising was his own doing, and what began with his being +'lifted up' ended in his 'leaping up.' Then came an instant of +standing still, to steady himself and make sure of his new strength, +and then he began to walk. + +The interrupted purpose of devotion could now be pursued, but with a +gladsome addition to the company. How natural is that 'walking and +leaping and praising God'! The new power seemed so delightful, so +wonderful, that sober walking did not serve. It was a strange way of +going into the Temple, but people who are borne along by the sudden +joy of new gifts beyond hope need not be expected to go quietly, and +sticklers for propriety who blamed the man's extravagance, and would +have had him pace along with sober gait and downcast eyes, like a +Pharisee, did not know what made him thus obstreperous, even in his +devout thankfulness. 'Leaping and praising God' do make a singular +combination, but before we blame, let us be sure that we understand. + +One of the old manuscripts inserts a clause which brings out more +clearly that there was a pause, during which the three remained in +the Temple in prayer. It reads, 'And when Peter and John came out, he +came out with them, holding them, and they [the people] being +astonished, stood in the porch,' etc. So we have to think of the +buzzing crowd, waiting in the court for their emergence from the +sanctuary. Solomon's porch was, like the Beautiful gate, on the east +side of the Temple enclosure, and may probably have been a usual +place of rendezvous for the brethren, as it had been a resort of +their Lord. + +It was a great moment, and Peter, the unlearned Galilean, the former +cowardly renegade, rose at once to the occasion. Truly it was given +him in that hour what to speak. His sermon is distinguished by its +undaunted charging home the guilt of Christ's death on the nation, +its pitying recognition of the ignorance which had done the deed, and +its urgent entreaty. We here deal with its beginning only. 'Why +marvel ye at this?'--it would have been a marvel if they had not +marvelled. The thing was no marvel to the Apostle, because he +believed that Jesus was the Christ and reigned in Heaven. Miracles +fall into their place and become supremely 'natural' when we have +accepted that great truth. + +The fervent disavowal of their 'own power or holiness' as concerned +in the healing is more than a modest disclaimer. It leads on to the +declaration of who is the true Worker of all that is wrought for men +by the hands of Christians. That disavowal has to be constantly +repeated by us, not so much to turn away men's admiration or +astonishment from us, as to guard our own foolish hearts from taking +credit for what it may please Jesus to do by us as His tools. + +The declaration of Christ as the supreme Worker is postponed till +after the solemn indictment of the nation. But the true way to regard +the miracle is set forth at once, as being God's glorifying of Jesus. +Peter employs a designation of our Lord which is peculiar to these +early chapters of Acts. He calls Him God's 'Servant,' which is a +quotation of the Messianic title in the latter part of Isaiah, 'the +Servant of the Lord.' + +The fiery speaker swiftly passes to contrast God's glorifying with +Israel's rejection. The two points on which he seizes are noteworthy. +'Ye delivered Him up'; that is, to the Roman power. That was the +deepest depth of Israel's degradation. To hand over their Messiah to +the heathen,--what could be completer faithlessness to all Israel's +calling and dignity? But that was not all: 'ye denied Him.' Did Peter +remember some one else than the Jews who had done the same, and did a +sudden throb of conscious fellowship even in that sin make his voice +tremble for a moment? Israel's denial was aggravated because it was +'in the presence of Pilate,' and had overborne his determination to +release his prisoner. The Gentile judge would rise in the judgment to +condemn them, for he had at least seen that Jesus was innocent, and +they had hounded him on to an illegal killing, which was murder as +laid to his account, but national apostasy as laid to theirs. + +These were daring words to speak in the Temple to that crowd. But the +humble fisherman had been filled with the Spirit, who is the +Strengthener, and the fear of man was dead in him. If we had never +heard of Pentecost, we should need to invent something of the sort to +make intelligible the transformation of these timid folk, the first +disciples, into heroes. A dead Christ, lying in an unknown grave, +could never have inspired His crushed followers with such courage, +insight, and elastic confidence and gladness in the face of a +frowning world. + + + +'THE PRINCE OF LIFE' + +'But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer +to be granted unto you; 15. And killed the Prince of life, whom +God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.' +--ACTS iii. 14, 15. + +This early sermon of Peter's, to the people, is marked by a +comparative absence of the highest view of Christ's person and work. +It is open to us to take one of two explanations of that fact. We may +either say that the Apostle was but learning the full significance of +the marvellous events that had passed so recently, or we may say that +he suited his words to his audience, and did not declare all that he +knew. + +At the same time, we should not overlook the significance of the +Christology which it does contain. 'His child Jesus' is really a +translation of Isaiah's 'Servant of the Lord.' 'The Holy One and the +Just' is a distinct assertion of Jesus' perfect, sinless manhood, and +'the Prince of Life' plainly asserts Jesus to be the Lord and Source +of it. + +Notice, too, the pathetic 'denied': was Peter thinking of the +shameful hour in his own experience? It is a glimpse into the depth +of his penitence, and the tenderness with others' sins which it had +given him, that he twice uses the word here, as if he had said 'You +have done no more than I did myself. It is not for me to heap +reproaches on you. We have been alike in sin--and I can preach +forgiveness to you sinners, because I have received it for myself.' + +Notice, too, the manifold antitheses of the words. Barabbas is set +against Christ; the Holy One and the Just against a robber, the +Prince of Life against a murderer. 'You killed'--'the Prince of +Life.' 'You killed'--'God raised.' + +There are here three paradoxes, three strange and contradictory +things: the paradoxes of man's perverted and fatal choice, of man's +hate bringing death to the Lord of life, and of God's love and power +causing life to come by death. + +I. The paradox of man's fatal choice. + +There occurs often in history a kind of irony in which the whole +tendency of a time or of a conflict is summed up in a single act, and +certainly the fact which is referred to here is one of these. Let us +put it as it would have seemed to an onlooker then, leaving out for +the moment any loftier meaning which may attach to it. + +Peter's words here, thus boldly addressed to the people, are a strong +testimony to the impression which the character of Christ had made on +His contemporaries. 'The Holy One and the Just' implies moral +perfection. The whole narrative of the Crucifixion brings out that +impression. Pilate's wife speaks with awe of 'that just person.' +'Which of you convinceth me of sin?' 'If I have done evil, bear +witness of the evil.' 'I find no fault in Him.' We may take it for +granted that the impression Jesus made among His contemporaries was, +at the lowest, that He was a pure and good man. + +The nation had to choose one of two. Jesus was the one; who was the +other? A man half brigand, half rebel, who had raised some petty +revolt against Rome, more as a pretext for robbery and crime than +from patriotism, and whose hands reeked with blood. And this was the +nation's hero! + +The juxtaposition throws a strong light on the people's motive for +rejecting Jesus. The rulers may have condemned Him for blasphemy, but +the people had a more practical reason, and in it no doubt the rulers +shared. It was not because He claimed to be the Messiah that they +gave Him up to Pilate, but because He would not meet their notions of +what the Messiah should be and do. If He had called them to arms, not +a man of them would have betrayed Him to Pilate, but all, or the more +daring of them, would have rallied to His standard. Their hate was +the measure of their deep disappointment with His course. If instead +of showing love and meekness, He had blown up the coals of religious +hatred; if instead of going about doing good, He had mustered the men +of lawless Galilee for a revolt, would these fawning hypocrites have +dragged him to Pilate on the charge of forbidding to give tribute to +Caesar, and of claiming to be a King? Why, there was not one of them +but would have been glad to murder every tax-gatherer in Palestine, +not one of them but bore inextinguishable in his inmost heart the +faith in 'one Christ a King.' And if that meek and silent martyr had +only lifted His finger, He might have had legions of His accusers at +His back, ready to sweep Pilate and his soldiers out of Jerusalem. +They saw Christ's goodness and holiness. It did not attract them. +They wanted a Messiah who would bring them outward freedom by the use +of outward weapons, and so they all shouted 'Not this man but +Barabbas!' The whole history of the nation was condensed in that one +cry--their untamable obstinacy, their blindness to the light of God, +their fierce grasp of the promises which they did not understand, +their hard worldliness, their cruel patriotism, their unquenchable +hatred of their oppressors, which was only equalled by their +unquenchable hatred of those who showed them the only true way for +deliverance. + +And this strange paradox is not confined to these Jews. It is +repeated wherever Christ is presented to men. We are told that all +men naturally admire goodness, and so on. Men mostly know it when +they see it, but I doubt whether they all either admire or like it. +People generally had rather have something more outward and tangible. +It is not spiritualising this incident, but only referring it to the +principle of which it is an illustration, to ask you to see in it the +fatal choice of multitudes. Christ is set before us all, and His +beauty is partially seen but is dimmed by externals. Men's desires +are fixed on gross sensuous delights, or on success in business, or +on intellectual eminence, or on some of the thousand other visible +and temporal objects that outshine, to vulgar eyes, the less dazzling +lustre of the things unseen. They appreciate these, and make heroes +of the men who have won them. These are their ideals, but of Jesus +they have little care. + +And is it not true that all such competitors of His, when they lead +men to prefer them to Him, are 'murderers,' in a sadder sense than +Barabbas was? Do they not slay the souls of their admirers? Is it not +but too ghastly a reality that all who thus choose them draw down +ruin on themselves and 'love death'? + +This fatal paradox is being repeated every day in the lives of +thousands. The crowds who yelled, 'Not this man but Barabbas!' were +less guilty and less mad than those who to-day cry, 'Not Jesus but +worldly wealth, or fleeting bodily delights, or gratified ambition!' + +II. The paradox of Death's seeming conquest over the Lord of Life. + +The word rendered 'Prince' means an originator, and hence a leader +and hence a lord. Whether Peter had yet reached a conception of the +divinity of Jesus or not, he had clearly reached a much higher one of +Him than he had attained before His death. In some sense he was +beginning to recognise that His relation to 'life' was loftier and +more mysterious than that of other men. Was it His death only that +thus elevated the disciples' thoughts of Jesus? Strange that if He +died and there an end, such a result should have followed. One would +have expected His death to have shattered their faith in Him, but +somehow it strengthened their faith. Why did they not all continue to +lament, as did the two of them on the road to Emmaus: 'We trusted +that this had been He who should have redeemed Israel'--but now we +trust no more, and our dreams are buried in His grave? Why did they +not go back to Galilee and their nets? What raised their spirits, +their courage, and increased their understanding of Him, and their +faith in Him? How came His death to be the occasion of consolidating, +not of shattering, their fellowship? How came Peter to be so sure +that a man who had died was the 'Prince of Life'? The answer, the +only one psychologically possible, is in what Peter here proclaims to +unwilling ears, 'Whom God raised from the dead.' + +The fact of the Resurrection sets the fact of the Death in another +light. Meditating on these twin facts, the Death and Resurrection of +Jesus, we hear Himself speaking as He did to John in Patmos: 'I am +the Living One who became dead, and lo, I am alive for evermore!' + +If we try to listen with the ears of these first hearers of Peter's +words, we shall better appreciate his daring paradox. Think of the +tremendous audacity of the claim which they make, that Jesus should +be the 'Prince of Life,' and of the strange contradiction to it which +the fact that they 'killed' Him seems to give. How could death have +power over the Prince of Life? That sounds as if, indeed, the 'sun +were turned into darkness,' or as if fire became ice. That brief +clause 'ye killed the Prince of Life' must have seemed sheer +absurdity to the hearers whose hands were still red with the blood of +Jesus. + +But there is another paradox here. It was strange that death should +be able to invade that Life, but it is no less strange that men +should be able to inflict it. But we must not forget that Jesus died, +not because men slew Him, but because He willed to die. The whole of +the narratives of the Crucifixion in the Gospels avoid using the word +'death.' Such expressions as He 'gave up the ghost,' or the like, are +used, implying what is elsewhere distinctly asserted, that His death +was His offering of Himself, the result of His own volition, not of +exhaustion or of torture. Thus, even in dying, He showed Himself the +Lord of Life and the Master of Death. Men indeed fastened Jesus to +the Cross, but He died, not because He was so fastened, but because +He willed to 'make His soul an offering for sin.' Bound as it were to +a rock in the midst of the ocean, He, of His own will, and at His own +time, bowed His head, and let the waves of the sea of death roll over +it. + +III. The triumphant divine paradox of life given and death conquered +through a death. + +Jesus is 'Prince' in the sense of being source of life to mankind, +just because He died. Hie death is the death of Death. His apparent +defeat is His real victory. + +By His death He takes away our sins. + +By His death He abolishes death. + +The physical fact remains, but all else which makes the 'sting of +death' to men is gone. It is no more a solitude, for He has died, and +thereby He becomes a companion in that hour to every lover of His. +Its darkness changes into light to those who, by 'following Him,' +have, even there, 'the light of life.' This Samson carried away the +gates of the prison on His own strong shoulders when He came forth +from it. It is His to say, 'O death! I will be thy plague.' + +By His death He diffuses life. + +'The Spirit was not given' till Jesus was 'glorified,' which +glorification is John's profound synonym for His crucifixion. When +the alabaster box of His pure body was broken, the whole house of +humanity was filled with the odour of the ointment. + +So the great paradox becomes a blessed truth, that man's deepest sin +works out God's highest act of Love and Pardon. + + + +THE HEALING POWER OF THE NAME + +'And His name through faith in His name hath made this man +strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath +given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.' +--ACTS iii. 16. + +Peter said, 'Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own +power or holiness we had made this man to walk?' eagerly disclaiming +being anything else than a medium through which Another's power +operated. Jesus Christ said, 'That ye may know that the Son of Man +hath power on earth to forgive sins, I say unto thee, Arise, take up +thy bed, and walk'--unmistakably claiming to be a great deal more +than a medium. Why the difference? Jesus Christ did habitually in His +miracles adopt the tone on which Moses once ventured when he smote +the rock and said, 'Ye rebels! must _we_ bring the water for you?' +and he was punished for it by exclusion from the Promised Land. Why +the difference? Moses was 'in all his house as a servant, but Christ +as a Son over His own house'; and what was arrogance in the servant +was natural and reasonable in the Son. + +The gist of this verse is a reference to Jesus Christ as a source of +miraculous power, not merely because He wrought miracles when on +earth, but because from heaven He gave the power of which Peter was +but the channel. Now it seems to me that in these emphatic and +singularly reduplicated words of the Apostle there are two or three +very important lessons which I offer for your consideration. + +I. The first is the power of the Name. + +Now the Name of which Peter is speaking is not the collocation of +syllables which are sounded 'Jesus Christ.' His hearers were familiar +with the ancient and Eastern method of regarding names as very much +more than distinguishing labels. They are, in the view of the Old +Testament, attempts at a summary description of things by their +prominent characteristics. They are condensed definitions. And so the +Old Testament uses the expression, the 'Name' of God, as equivalent +to 'that which God is manifested to be.' Hence, in later days--and +there are some tendencies thither even in Scripture--in Jewish +literature 'the Name' came to be a reverential synonym for God +Himself. And there are traces that this peculiar usage with regard to +the divine Name was beginning to shape itself in the Church with +reference to the name of Jesus, even at that period in which my text +was spoken. For instance, in the fifth chapter we read that the +Apostles 'departed from the council rejoicing that they were counted +worthy to suffer shame for the Name,' and we find at a much later +date that missionaries of the Gospel are described by the Apostle +John as going forth 'for the sake of the Name.' + +The name of Christ, then, is the representation or embodiment of that +which Christ is declared to be for us men, and it is that Name, the +totality of what He is manifested to be, in which lies all power for +healing and for strengthening. The Name, that is, the whole Christ, +in His nature, His offices, His work, His Incarnation, His Life, His +Death, Resurrection, Session at the right hand of God--it is this +Christ whose Name made that man strong, and will make us strong. +Brethren, let us remember that, while fragments of the Name will have +fragmentary power, as the curative virtue that resides in any +substance belongs to the smallest grain of it, if detached from the +mass--whilst fragments of the Name of Christ have power, thanks be to +Him! so that no man can have even a very imperfect and rudimentary +view of what Jesus Christ is and does, without getting strength and +healing in proportion to the completeness of his conception, yet in +order to realise all that He can be and do, a man must take the whole +Christ as He is revealed. + +The Early Church had a symbol for Jesus Christ, a fish, to which they +were led because the Greek word for a fish is made up of the initials +of the words which they conceived to be the Name. And what was it? +'_Jesus Christ_, _God's Son_, _Saviour_'; _Jesus_, humanity; +_Christ_, the apex of Revelation, the fulfilment of prophecy, the +Anointed Prophet, Priest, and King; _Son of God_, the divine nature: +and all these, the humanity, the Messiahship, the divinity, found +their sphere of activity in the last name, which, without them, would +in its fulness have been impossible--_Saviour_. He is not such a +Saviour as He may be to each of us, unless our conception of the Name +grasps these three truths: His humanity, His Messiahship, His +divinity. 'His Name has made this man strong.' + +II. Notice how the power of the Name comes to operate. + +Now, if you will observe the language of my text, you will note that +Peter says, as it would appear, the same thing twice over: 'His Name, +through faith in His Name, hath made this man strong.' And then, as +if he were saying something else, he adds what seems to be the same +thing: 'Yea! the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect +soundness.' + +Now, note that in the first of these two statements nothing appears +except the 'man,' the 'Name,' and 'faith' I take it, though of course +it may be questionable, that that clause refers to the man's faith, +and that we have in it the intentional exclusion of the human +workers, and are presented with the only two parties really +concerned--at the one end the Name, at the other end 'this man made +strong.' And the link of connection between the two in this clause is +faith--that is, the man's trust. But then, if we come to the next +clause, we find that although Peter has just previously disclaimed +all merit in the cure, yet there is a sense in which some one's +faith, working as from without, _gave_ to the man 'this perfect +soundness.' And it seems very natural to me to understand that here, +where human faith is represented as being, in some subordinate sense, +the bestower of the healing which really the Name had bestowed, it is +the faith of the human miracle-worker or medium which is referred to. +Peter's faith did give, but Peter only gave what he had received +through faith. And so let all the praise be given to the water, and +none to the cup. + +Whether that be a fair interpretation of the words of my text, with +their singular and apparently meaningless tautology or no, at all +events the principle which is involved in the explanation is one that +I wish to dwell upon briefly now; and that is, that in order for the +Name, charged and supercharged with healing and strengthening power +as it is, to come into operation, there must be a twofold trust. + +The healer, the medium of healing, must have faith in the Name. Yes! +of course. In all regions the first requisite, the one indispensable +condition, of a successful propagandist, is enthusiastic confidence +in what he promulgates. 'That man will go far,' said a cynical +politician about one of his rivals; 'he believes every word he says.' +And that is the condition always of getting other people to believe +us. Faith is contagious; men catch from other people's tongues the +accent of conviction. If one wants to enforce any opinion upon +others, the first condition is that he shall be utterly self- +oblivious; and when he is manifestly saying, as the Apostles in this +context did, 'Do not fix your eyes on us, as though we were doing +anything,' then hearts will bow before him, as the trees of the wood +are bowed by the wind. + +If that is true in all regions, it is eminently true in regard to +religion. For what we need there most is not to be instructed, but to +be impressed. Most of us have, lying dormant in the bedchamber and +infirmary of our brains, convictions which only need to be awakened +to revolutionise our lives. Now one of the most powerful ways of +waking them is contact with any man in whom they are awake. So all +successful teachers and messengers of Jesus Christ have had this +characteristic in common, however unlike each other they have been. +The divergences of temperament, of moods, of point of view, of method +of working which prevailed even in the little group of Apostles, and +broadly distinguished Paul from Peter, Peter from James, and Paul and +Peter and James from John, are only types of what has been repeated +ever since. Get together the great missionaries of the Cross, and you +would have the most extraordinary collection of miscellaneous +idiosyncrasies that the world ever saw, and they would not understand +each other, as some of them wofully misunderstood each other when +here together. But there was one characteristic in them all, a +flaming earnestness of belief in the power of the Name. And so it did +not matter much, if at all, what their divergences were. Each of them +was fitted for the Master's use. + +And so, brethren, here is the reason--I do not say the only reason, +but the main one, and that which most affects us--for the slow +progress, and even apparent failure, of Christianity. It has fallen +into the hands of a Church that does not half believe its own Gospel. +By reason of formality and ceremonial and sacerdotalism and a lazy +kind of expectation that, somehow or other, the benefits of Christ's +love can come to men apart from their own personal faith in Him, the +Church has largely ceased to anticipate that great things can be done +by its utterance of the Name. And if you have, I do not say +ministers, or teachers, or official proclaimers, or Sunday-school +teachers, or the like, but I say if you have a _Church_, that is +honeycombed with doubt, and from which the strength and flood-tide of +faith have in many cases ebbed away, why, it may go on uttering its +formal proclamations of the Name till the Day of Judgment, and all +that will come of it will be--'The man in whom the devils were, +leaped upon them, and overcame them, and said'--as he had a good +right to say--'Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?' You +cannot kindle a fire with snowballs. If the town crier goes into a +quiet corner of the marketplace and rings his bell apologetically, +and gives out his message in a whisper, it is small wonder if nobody +listens. And that is the way in which too many so-called Christian +teachers and communities hold forth the Name, as if begging pardon of +the world for being so narrow and old-fashioned as to believe in it +still. + +And no less necessary is faith on the other side. The recipient must +exercise trust. This lame man, no doubt, like the other that Paul +looked at in a similar case, had faith to be healed. That was the +length of his tether. He believed that he was going to have his legs +made strong, and they were made strong accordingly. If he had +believed more, he would have got more. Let us hope that he did get +more, because he believed more, at a later day. But in the meantime +the Apostles' faith was not enough to cure him; and it is not enough +for you that Jesus Christ should be standing with all His power at +your elbow, and that, earnestly and enthusiastically, some of +Christ's messengers may press upon you the acceptance of Him as a +Saviour. He is of no good in the world to you, and never will be, +unless you have the personal faith that knits you to Him. + +It cannot be otherwise. Depend upon it, if Jesus Christ could save +every one without terms and conditions at all, He would be only too +glad to do it. But it cannot be done. The nature of His work, and the +sort of blessings that He brings by His work, are such as that it is +an impossibility that any man should receive them unless he has that +trust which, beginning with the acceptance by the understanding of +Christ as Saviour, passes on to the assent of the will, and the +outgoing of the heart, and the yielding of the whole nature to Him. +How can a truth do any good to any one who does not believe in it? +How is it possible that, if you do not take a medicine, it will work? +How can you expect to see, unless you open your eyes? How do you +propose to have your blood purified, if you do not fill your lungs +with air? Is it of any use to have gas-fittings in your house, if +they are not connected with the main? Will a water tap run in your +sculleries, if there is no pipe that joins it with the source of +supply? My dear friend, these rough illustrations are only +approximations to the absolute impossibility that Christ can help, +heal, or save any man without the man's personal faith. 'Whosoever +believeth' is no arbitrary limitation, but is inseparable from the +very nature of the salvation given. + +III. And now, lastly, note the effects of the power of the Name. + +The Apostle puts in two separate clauses what, in the case in hand, +was really one thing--'hath made this man strong,' and 'hath given +him perfect soundness.' Ah! we can part the two, cannot we? There is +the disease, the disease of an alienated heart, of a perverted will, +of a swollen self, all of which we need to have cured and checked +before we can do right. And there is weakness, the impotence to do +what is good, 'how to perform I find not,' and we need to be +strengthened as well as cured. There is only one thing that will do +these two, and that is that Christ's power, ay, and Christ's own +life, should pass, as it will pass if we trust Him, into our foulness +and precipitate all the impurity--into our weakness and infuse +strength. 'A reed shaken with the wind,' and without substance or +solidity to resist, may be placed in what is called a petrifying +well, and, by the infiltration of stony substance into its structure, +may be turned into a rigid mass, like a little bar of iron. So, if +Christ comes into my poor, weak, tremulous nature, there will be an +infiltration into the very substance of my being of a present power +which will make me strong. + +My brother, you and I need, first and foremost, the healing, and then +the strength-giving power, which we never find in its completeness +anywhere but in Christ, and which we shall always find in Him. + +And now notice, Jesus Christ does not make half cures--'this +_perfect_ soundness.' If any man, in contact with Him, is but half +delivered from his infirmities and purged from his sins, it is not +because Christ's power is inadequate, but because his own faith is +defective. + +Christ's cures should be visible to all around. A man's own testimony +is not the most satisfactory. Peter appeals to the bystanders. 'You +have seen him lying here for years, a motionless lump of mendicancy, +at the Temple gate. Now you see him walking and leaping and praising +God. Is it a cure, or is it not?' You professing Christians, would +you like to stand that test, to empanel a jury of people that have no +sympathy with your religion, in order that they might decide whether +you were healed and strengthened or not? It is a good thing for us +when the world bears witness that Jesus Christ's power has come into +us, and made us what we are. + +And so, dear friends, I lay all these thoughts on your hearts. +Christ's gift is amply sufficient to deliver us from all evils of +weakness, sickness, incapacity: to endue us with all gifts of +spiritual and immortal strength. But, while the limit of what Christ +gives is His boundless wealth, the limit of what you possess is your +faith. The rainfall comes down in the same copiousness on rock and +furrow, but it runs off the one, having stimulated no growth and left +no blessing, and it sinks into the other and quickens every dormant +germ into life which will one day blossom into beauty. We are all of +us either rock or soil, and which we are depends on the reality, the +firmness, and the force of our faith in Christ. He Himself has laid +down the principle on which He bestows His gifts when He says, +'According to thy faith be it unto thee!' + + + +THE SERVANT OF THE LORD + +'Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to +bless you, In turning away every one of you from his iniquities.' +--ACTS iii. 26. + +So ended Peter's bold address to the wondering crowd gathered in the +Temple courts around him, with his companion John and the lame man +whom they had healed. A glance at his words will show how +extraordinarily outspoken and courageous they are. He charges home on +his hearers the guilt of Christ's death, unfalteringly proclaims His +Messiahship, bears witness to His Resurrection and Ascension, asserts +that He is the End and Fulfilment of ancient revelation, and offers +to all the great blessings that Christ brings. And this fiery, tender +oration came from the same lips which, a few weeks before, had been +blanched with fear before a flippant maidservant, and had quivered as +they swore, 'I know not the man!' + +One or two simple observations may be made by way of introduction. +'Unto you _first_'--'first' implies second; and so the Apostle has +shaken himself clear of the Jews' narrow belief that Messias belonged +to them only, and is already beginning to contemplate the possibility +of a transference of the kingdom of God to the outlying Gentiles. +'God having raised up His Son'--that expression has no reference, as +it might at first seem, to the fact of the Resurrection; but is +employed in the same sense as, and indeed looks back to, previous +words. For he had just quoted Moses' declaration, 'A prophet shall +the Lord your God raise up unto you from your brethren.' So it is +Christ's equipment and appointment for His office, and not His +Resurrection, which is spoken about here. 'His Son Jesus'--the +Revised Version more accurately translates 'His Servant Jesus.' I +shall have a word or two to say about that translation presently, but +in the meantime I simply note the fact. + +With this slight explanation let us now turn to two or three of the +aspects of the words before us. + +I. First, I note the extraordinary transformation which they indicate +in the speaker. + +I have already referred to his cowardice a very short time before. +That transformation from a coward to a hero he shared in common with +his brethren. On one page we read, 'They all forsook Him and fled.' +We turn over half a dozen leaves and we read: 'They departed from the +council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for +His name.' What did that? + +Then there is another transformation no less swift, sudden, and +inexplicable, except on one hypothesis. All through Christ's life the +disciples had been singularly slow to apprehend the highest aspects +of His teachings, and they had clung with a strange obstinacy to +their narrow Pharisaic and Jewish notions of the Messiah as coming to +establish a temporal dominion, in which Israel was to ride upon the +necks of the subject nations. And now, all at once, this Apostle, and +his fellows with him, have stepped from these puerile and narrow +ideas out into this large place, that he and they recognise that the +Jew had no exclusive possession of Messiah's blessings, and that +these blessings consisted in no external kingdom, but lay mainly and +primarily in His 'turning every one of you from your iniquities.' At +one time the Apostles stood upon a gross, low, carnal level, and in a +few weeks they were, at all events, feeling their way to, and to a +large extent had possession of, the most spiritual and lofty aspects +of Christ's mission. What did that? + +Something had come in between which wrought more, in a short space, +than all the three years of Christ's teaching and companionship had +done for them. What was it? Why did they not continue in the mood +which two of them are reported to have been in, after the +Crucifixion, when they said--'It is all up! we trusted that this had +been He,' but the force of circumstances has shivered the confidence +into fragments, and there is no such hope left for us any longer. +What brought them out of that Slough of Despond? + +I would put it to any fair-minded man whether the psychological facts +of this sudden maturing of these childish minds, and their sudden +change from slinking cowards into heroes who did not blanch before +the torture and the scaffold, are accountable, if you strike out the +Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost? It seems to me that, for +the sake of avoiding a miracle, the disbelievers in the Resurrection +accept an impossibility, and tie themselves to an intellectual +absurdity. And I for one would rather believe in a miracle than +believe in an uncaused change, in which the Apostles take exactly the +opposite course from that which they necessarily must have taken, if +there had not been the facts that the New Testament asserts that +there were, Christ's rising again from the dead, and Ascension. + +Why did not the Church share the fate of John's disciples, who +scattered like sheep without a shepherd when Herod chopped off their +master's head? Why did not the Church share the fate of that abortive +rising, of which we know that when Theudas, its leader, was slain, +'all, as many as believed on him, came to nought.' Why did these men +act in exactly the opposite way? I take it that, as you cannot +account for Christ except on the hypothesis that He is the Son of the +Highest, you cannot account for the continuance of the Christian +Church for a week after the Crucifixion, except on the hypothesis +that the men who composed it were witnesses of His Resurrection, and +saw Him floating upwards and received into the Shechinah cloud and +lost to their sight. Peter's change, witnessed by the words of my +text--these bold and clear-sighted words--seems to me to be a perfect +monstrosity, and incapable of explication, unless he saw the risen +Lord, beheld the ascended Christ, was touched with the fiery Spirit +descending on Pentecost, and so 'out of weakness was made strong,' +and from a babe sprang to the stature of a man in Christ. + +II. Look at these words as setting forth a remarkable view of Christ. + +I have already referred to the fact that the word rendered 'son' +ought rather to be rendered 'servant.' It literally means 'child' or +'boy,' and appears to have been used familiarly, just in the same +fashion as we use the same expression 'boy,' or its equivalent +'maid,' as a more gentle designation for a servant. Thus the kindly +centurion, when he would bespeak our Lord's care for his menial, +calls him his 'boy'; and our Bible there translates rightly +'servant.' + +Again, the designation is that which is continually employed in the +Greek translation of the Old Testament as the equivalent for the +well-known prophetic phrase 'the Servant of Jehovah,' which, as you +will remember, is characteristic of the second portion of the +prophecies of Isaiah. And consequently we find that, in a quotation +of Isaiah's prophecy in the Gospel of Matthew, the very phrase of our +text is there employed: 'Behold My Servant whom I uphold!' + +Now, it seems as if this designation of our Lord as God's Servant was +very familiar to Peter's thoughts at this stage of the development of +Christian doctrine. For we find the name employed twice in this +discourse--in the thirteenth verse, 'the God of our Fathers hath +glorified His Servant Jesus,' and again in my text. We also find it +twice in the next chapter, where Peter, offering up a prayer amongst +his brethren, speaks of 'Thy Holy Child Jesus,' and prays 'that signs +and wonders may be done through the name' of that 'Holy Child.' So, +then, I think we may fairly take it that, at the time in question, +this thought of Jesus as the 'Servant of the Lord' had come with +especial force to the primitive Church. And the fact that the +designation never occurs again in the New Testament seems to show +that they passed on from it into a deeper perception than even it +attests of who and what this Jesus was in relation to God. + +But, at all events, we have in our text the Apostle looking back to +that dim, mysterious Figure which rises up with shadowy lineaments +out of the great prophecy of 'Isaiah,' and thrilling with awe and +wonder, as he sees, bit by bit, in the Face painted on the prophetic +canvas, the likeness of the Face into which he had looked for three +blessed years, that now began to tell him more than they had done +whilst their moments were passing. + +'The Servant of the Lord'--that means, first of all, that Christ, in +all which He does, meekly and obediently executes the Father's will. +As He Himself said, 'I come not to do Mine own will, but the will of +Him that sent Me.' But it carries us further than that, to a point +about which I would like to say one word now; and that is, the clear +recognition that the very centre of Jewish prophecy is the revelation +of the personality of the Christ. Now, it seems to me that present +tendencies, discussions about the nature and limits of inspiration, +investigations which, in many directions, are to be welcomed and are +fruitful as to the manner of origin of the books of the Old +Testament, and as to their collection into a Canon and a whole--that +all this new light has a counterbalancing disadvantage, in that it +tends somewhat to obscure in men's minds the great central truth +about the revelation of God in Israel--viz. that it was all +progressive, and that its goal and end was Jesus Christ. 'The +testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,' and however much we +may have to learn--and I have no doubt that we have a great deal to +learn, about the composition, the structure, the authorship, the date +of these ancient books--I take leave to say that the unlearned +reader, who recognises that they all converge on Jesus Christ, has +hold of the clue of the labyrinth, and has come nearer to the marrow +of the books than the most learned investigators, who see all manner +of things besides in them, and do not see that 'they that went before +cried, saying, Hosanna! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the +Lord!' + +And so I venture to commend to you, brethren--not as a barrier +against any reverent investigation, not as stopping any careful +study--this as the central truth concerning the ancient revelation, +that it had, for its chief business, to proclaim the coming of the +Servant of Jehovah, Jesus the Christ. + +III. And now, lastly, look at these words as setting forth the true +centre of Christ's work. + +'He has sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from +his iniquities.' I have already spoken about the gross, narrow, +carnal apprehensions of Messiah's work which cleaved to the disciples +during all our Lord's life here, and which disturbed even the +sanctity of the upper chamber at that last meal, with squabbles about +precedence which had an eye to places in the court of the Messiah +when He assumed His throne. But here Peter has shaken himself clear +of all these, and has grasped the thought that, whatever derivative +and secondary blessings of an external and visible sort may, and +must, come in Messiah's train, _the_ blessing which He brings is of a +purely spiritual and inward character, and consists in turning away +single souls from their love and practice of evil. That is Christ's +true work. + +The Apostle does not enlarge as to how it is done. We know how it is +done. Jesus turns away men from sin because, by the magnetism of His +love, and the attractive raying out of influence from His Cross, He +turns them to Himself. He turns us from our iniquities by the +expulsive power of a new affection, which, coming into our hearts +like a great river into some foul Augean stable, sweeps out on its +waters all the filth that no broom can ever clear out in detail. He +turns men from their iniquities by His gift of a new life, kindred +with that from which it is derived. + +There is an old superstition that lightning turned whatever it struck +towards the point from which the flash came, so that a tree with its +thousand leaves had each of them pointed to that quarter in the +heavens where the blaze had been. + +And so Christ, when He flings out the beneficent flash that slays +only our evil, and vitalises ourselves, turns us to Him, and away +from our transgressions. 'Turn us, O Christ, and we shall be turned.' + +Ah, brethren! that is the blessing that we need most, for +'iniquities' are universal; and so long as man is bound to his sin it +will embitter all sweetnesses, and neutralise every blessing. It is +not culture, valuable as that is in many ways, that will avail to +stanch man's deepest wounds. It is not a new social order that will +still the discontent and the misery of humanity. You may adopt +collective economic and social arrangements, and divide property out +as it pleases you. But as long as man continues selfish he will +continue sinful, and as long as he continues sinful _any_ social +order will be pregnant with sorrow, 'and when it is finished it will +bring forth death.' You have to go deeper down than all that, down as +deep as this Apostle goes in this sermon of his, and recognise that +Christ's prime blessing is the turning of men from their iniquities, +and that only after that has been done will other good come. + +How shallow, by the side of that conception, do modern notions of +Jesus as the great social Reformer look! These are true, but they +want their basis, and their basis lies only here, that He is the +Redeemer of individuals from their sins. There were people in +Christ's lifetime who were all untouched by His teachings, but when +they found that He gave bread miraculously they said, 'This is of a +truth the Prophet! That's the prophet for my money; the Man that can +make bread, and secure material well-being.' Have not certain modern +views of Christ's work and mission a good deal in common with these +vulgar old Jews--views which regard Him mainly as contributing to the +material good, the social and economical well-being of the world? + +Now, I believe that He does that. And I believe that Christ's +principles are going to revolutionise society as it exists at +present. But I am sure that we are on a false scent if we attempt to +preach consequences without proclaiming their antecedents, and that +such preaching will end, as all such attempts have ended, in +confusion and disappointment. + +They used to talk about Jesus Christ, in the first French Revolution, +as 'the Good _Sansculotte_.' Perfectly true! But as the basis of +that, and of all representations of Him, that will have power on the +diseases of the community, we have to preach Him as the Saviour of +the individual from his sin. + +And so, brethren, has He saved you? Do you begin your notions of +Jesus Christ where His work begins? Do you feel that what you want +most is neither culture nor any superficial and external changes, but +something that will deal with the deep, indwelling, rooted, obstinate +self-regard which is the centre of all sin? And have you gone alone +to Him as a sinful man? As the Apostle here suggests, Jesus Christ +does not save communities. The doctor has his patients into the +consulting-room one by one. There is no applying of Christ's benefits +to men in batches, by platoons and regiments, as Clovis baptized his +Franks; but you have to go, every one of you, through the turnstile +singly, and alone to confess, and alone to be absolved, and alone to +be turned, from your iniquity. + +If I might venture to alter the position of words in my text, I would +lay them, so modified, on the hearts of all my friends whom my words +may reach now, and say, 'Unto you--_unto thee_, God, having raised up +His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, _first_ in turning away every +one of you from his iniquities.' + + + +THE FIRST BLAST OF TEMPEST + +'And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain +of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, 2. Being +grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus +the resurrection from the dead. 3. And they laid hands on them, +and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now even-tide. +4. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the +number of the men was about five thousand. 5. And it came to pass +on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, 6. And +Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and +as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered +together at Jerusalem. 7. And when they had set them in the +midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done +this? 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, +Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, 9. If we this day +be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what +means he is made whole; 10. Be it known unto you all, and to all +the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of +Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even +by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11. This is the +stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become +the head of the corner. 12. Neither is there salvation in any +other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, +whereby we must be saved. 13. Now when they saw the boldness of +Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and +ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, +that they had been with Jesus. 14. And beholding the man which +was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against +it.'--ACTS iv. 1-14. + +Hitherto the Jewish authorities had let the disciples alone, either +because their attention had not been drawn even by Pentecost and the +consequent growth of the Church, or because they thought that to +ignore the new sect was the best way to end it. But when its leaders +took to vehement preaching in Solomon's porch, and crowds eagerly +listened, it was time to strike in. + +Our passage describes the first collision of hostile authority with +Christian faith, and shows, as in a glass, the constant result of +that collision in all ages. + +The motives actuating the assailants are significantly analysed, and +may be distributed among the three classes enumerated. The priests +and the captain of the Temple would be annoyed by the very fact that +Peter and John taught the people: the former, because they were +jealous of their official prerogative: the latter, because he was +responsible for public order, and a riot in the Temple court would +have been a scandal. The Saddueees were indignant at the substance of +the teaching, which affirmed the resurrection of the dead, which they +denied, and alleged it as having occurred 'in Jesus.' + +The position of Sadducees and Pharisees is inverted in Acts as +compared with the Gospels. While Christ lived, the Pharisees were the +soul of the opposition to Him, and His most solemn warnings fell on +them; after the Resurrection, the Sadducees head the opposition, and +among the Pharisees are some, like Gamaliel and afterwards Paul, who +incline to the new faith. It was the Resurrection that made the +difference, and the difference is an incidental testimony to the fact +that Christ's Resurrection was proclaimed from the first. To ask +whether Jesus had risen, and to examine the evidence, were the last +things of which the combined assailants thought. This public activity +of the Apostles threatened their influence or their pet beliefs, and +so, like persecutors in all ages, they shut their eyes to the +important question, 'Is this preaching true or false?' and took the +easier course of laying hands on the preachers. + +So the night fell on Peter and John in prison, the first of the +thousands who have suffered bonds and imprisonment for Christ, and +have therein found liberty. What lofty faith, and what subordination +of the fate of the messengers to the progress of the message, are +expressed in that abrupt introduction, in verse 4, of the statistics +of the increase of the Church from that day's work! It mattered +little that it ended with the two Apostles in custody, since it ended +too with five thousand rejoicing in Christ. + +The arrest seems to have been due to a sudden thought on the part of +the priests, captain, and Sadducees, without commands from the +Sanhedrin or the high priest. But when these inferior authorities had +got hold of their prisoners, they probably did not quite know what to +do with them, and so moved the proper persons to summon the +Sanhedrin. In all haste, then, a session was called for next morning. +'Rulers, elders, and scribes' made up the constituent members of the +court, and the same two 'high priests' who had tried Jesus are there, +attended by a strong contingent of dependants, who could be trusted +to vote as they were bidden. Annas was an _emeritus_ high priest, +whose age and relationship to Caiaphas, the actual holder of the post +and Annas's son-in-law, gave him an influential position. He retained +the title, though he had ceased to hold the office, as a cleric +without a charge is usually called 'Reverend.' + +It was substantially the same court which had condemned Jesus, and +probably now sat in the same hall as then. So that Peter and John +would remember the last time when they had together been in that +room, and Who had stood in the criminal's place where they now were +set. + +The court seems to have been somewhat at a loss how to proceed. The +Apostles had been arrested for their words, but they are questioned +about the miracle. It was no crime to teach in the Temple, but a +crime might be twisted out of working a miracle in the name of any +but Jehovah. To do that would come near blasphemy or worshipping +strange gods. The Sanhedrin knew what the answer to their question +would be, and probably they intended, as soon as the anticipated +answer was given, to 'rend their clothes,' and say, as they had done +once before, 'What need we further witnesses? They have spoken +blasphemy.' But things did not go as was expected. The crafty +question was put. It does not attempt to throw doubt on the reality +of the miracle, but there is a world of arrogant contempt in it, both +in speaking of the cure as 'this,' and in the scornful emphasis with +which, in the Greek, 'ye' stands last in the sentence, and implies, +'ye poor, ignorant fishermen.' + +The last time that Peter had been in the judgment-hall his courage +had oozed out of him at the prick of a maid-servant's sharp tongue, +but now he fronts all the ecclesiastical authorities without a +tremor. Whence came the transformation of the cowardly denier into +the heroic confessor, who turns the tables on his judges and accuses +them? The narrative answers. He was 'filled with the Holy Ghost.' +That abiding possession of the Spirit, begun on Pentecost, did not +prevent special inspiration for special needs, and the Greek +indicates that there was granted such a temporary influx in this +critical hour. + +One cannot but note the calmness of the Apostle, so unlike his old +tumultuous self. He begins with acknowledging the lawful authority of +the court, and goes on, with just a tinge of sarcasm, to put the +vague 'this' of the question in its true light. It was 'a good deed +done to an impotent man,' for which John and he stood there. Singular +sort of crime that! Was there not a presumption that the power which +had wrought so 'good' a deed was good? 'Do men gather grapes of +thorns?' Many a time since then Christianity has been treated as +criminal, because of its beneficence to bodies and souls. + +But Peter rises to the full height of the occasion, when he answers +the Sanhedrin's question with the pealing forth of his Lord's name. +He repeats in substance his former contrast of Israel's treatment of +Jesus and God's; but, in speaking to the rulers, his tone is more +severe than it was to the people. The latter had been charged, at +Pentecost and in the Temple, with crucifying _Jesus_; the former are +here charged with crucifying the _Christ_. It was their business to +have tested his claims, and to have welcomed the Messiah. The guilt +was shared by both, but the heavier part lay on the shoulders of the +Sanhedrin. + +Mark, too, the bold proclamation of the Resurrection, the stone of +offence to the Sadducees. How easy it would have been for them to +silence the Apostle, if they could have pointed to the undisturbed +and occupied grave! That would have finished the new sect at once. Is +there any reason why it was not done but the one reason that it could +not be done? + +Thus far Peter has been answering the interrogation legally put, and +has done as was anticipated. Now was the time for Annas and the rest +to strike in; but they could not carry out their programme, for the +fiery stream of Peter's words does not stop when they expected, and +instead of a timid answer followed by silence, they get an almost +defiant proclamation of the Name, followed by a charge against them, +which turns the accused into the accuser, and puts them at the bar. +Peter learned to apply the passage in the Psalm (v. 11) to the +rulers, from his Master's use of it (Matt. xxi. 42); and there is no +quaver in his voice nor fear in his heart when, in the face of all +these learned Rabbis and high and mighty dignitaries, he brands them +as foolish builders, blind to the worth of the Stone 'chosen of God, +and precious,' and tells them that the course of divine Providence +will run counter to their rejection of Jesus, and make him the very +'Head of the corner,'--the crown, as well as the foundation, of God's +building. + +But not even this bold indictment ends the stream of his speech. The +proclamation of the power of the Name was fitly followed by pressing +home the guilt and madness of rejecting Jesus, and that again by the +glad tidings of salvation for all, even the rejecters. Is not the +sequence in Peter's defence substantially that which all Christian +preaching should exhibit? First, strong, plain proclamation of the +truth; then pungent pressing home of the sin of turning away from +Jesus; and then earnest setting forth of the salvation in His name,-- +a salvation wide as the world, and deep as our misery and need, but +narrow, inasmuch as it is 'in none other.' The Apostle will not end +with charging his hearers with guilt, but with offering them +salvation. He will end with lifting up 'the Name' high above all +other, and setting it in solitary clearness before, not these rulers +only, but the whole world. The salvation which it had wrought on the +lame man was but a parable and picture of the salvation from all ills +of body and spirit, which was stored in that Name, and in it alone. + +The rulers' contempt had been expressed by their emphatic ending of +their question with that 'ye.' Peter expresses his brotherhood and +longing for the good of his judges by ending his impassioned, or, +rather, inspired address with a loving, pleading 'we.' He puts +himself on the same level with them as needing salvation, and would +fain have them on the same level with himself and John as receiving +it. That is the right way to preach. + +Little need be said as to the effect of this address. Whether it went +any deeper in any susceptible souls or not, it upset the schemes of +the leaders. Something in the manner and matter of it awed them into +wonder, and paralysed them for the time. Here was the first instance +of the fulfilment of that promise, which has been fulfilled again and +again since, of 'a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall +not be able to gainsay nor resist.' 'Unlearned,' as ignorant of +Rabbinical traditions, and 'ignorant,' or, rather, 'private,' as +holding no official position, these two wielded a power over hearts +and consciences which not even official indifference and arrogance +could shake off. Thank God, that day's experience is repeated still, +and any of us may have the same Spirit to clothe us with the same +armour of light! + +The Sanhedrin knew well enough that the Apostles had been with Jesus, +and the statement that 'they took knowledge of them' cannot mean that +that fact dawned on the rulers for the first time. Rather it means +that their wonder at the 'boldness' of the two drove home the fact of +their association with Him to their minds. That association explained +the marvel; for the Sanhedrin remembered how He had stood, meek but +unawed, at the same bar. They said to themselves, 'We know where +these men get this brave freedom of speech,--from that Nazarene.' +Happy shall we be if our demeanour recalls to spectators the ways of +our Lord! + +How came the lame man there? He had not been arrested with the +Apostles. Had he voluntarily and bravely joined them? We do not know, +but evidently he was not there as accused, and probably had come as a +witness of the reality of the miracle. Notice the emphatic +'standing,' as in verse 10,--a thing that he had never done all his +life. No wonder that the Sanhedrin were puzzled, and settled down to +the 'lame and impotent conclusion' which follows. So, in the first +round of the world-long battle between the persecutors and the +persecuted, the victory is all on the side of the latter. So it has +been ever since, though often the victors have died in the conflict. +'The Church is an anvil which has worn out many hammers,' and the +story of the first collision is, in essentials, the story of all. + + + +WITH AND LIKE CHRIST + +'Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived +that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and +they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.' +--ACTS iv. 13. + +Two young Galilean fishermen, before the same formidable tribunal +which a few weeks before had condemned their Master, might well have +quailed. And evidently 'Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and +John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high +priest,' were very much astonished that their united wisdom and +dignity did not produce a greater impression on these two +contumacious prisoners. They were 'unlearned,' knowing nothing about +Rabbinical wisdom; they were 'ignorant,' or, as the word ought rather +to be rendered, 'persons in a private station,' without any kind of +official dignity. And yet there they stood, perfectly unembarrassed +and at their ease, and said what they wanted to say, all of it, right +out. So, as great astonishment crept over the dignified ecclesiastics +who were sitting in judgment upon them, their astonishment led them +to remember what, of course, they knew before, only that it had not +struck them so forcibly, as explaining the Apostles' demeanour-- +viz.,'that they had been with Jesus.' So they said to themselves: +'Ah, that explains it all! There is the root of it. The company that +they have kept accounts for their unembarrassed boldness.' + +Now, I need not notice by more than a word in passing, what a +testimony it is to the impression that that meek and gracious +Sufferer had made upon His judges, that when they saw these two men +standing there unfaltering, they began to remember how that other +Prisoner had stood. And perhaps some of them began to think that they +had made a mistake in that last trial. It is a testimony to the +impression that Christ had made that the strange demeanour of His two +servants recalled the Master to the mind of the judges. + +I. The first thing that strikes us here is the companionship that +transforms. + +The rulers were partly right, and they were partly wrong. The source +from which these men had drawn their boldness was their being with +Christ; but it was not such companionship with Christ, as Annas and +Caiaphas had in view, that had given them courage. For as long as the +Apostles had His personal presence with them, there was no +perceptible transforming or elevating process going on in them; and +it was not until after they had lost that corporeal presence that +there came upon them the change which even the prejudiced eyes of +these judges could not help seeing. + +The writer of Acts gives a truer explanation with which we may fill +out the incomplete explanation of the rulers, when he says, 'Then +Peter, _filled with the Holy Ghost_, said unto them.' Ah, that is it! +They had been with Jesus all the days that He went in and out amongst +them. They had companioned with Him, and they had gained but little +from it. But when He went away, and they were relegated to the same +kind of companionship with Him that you and I have or may have, then +a change began to take place on them. And so the companionship that +transforms is not what the Apostle calls 'knowing Christ after the +flesh,' but inward communion with Him, the companionship and +familiarity which are as possible for us as for any Peter or John of +them all, and without which our Christianity is nothing but sounding +brass and tinkling cymbal. + +They were 'with Jesus,' as each of us may be. Their communion was in +no respect different from the communion that is open and +indispensable to any real Christian. To be with Him is possible for +us all. When we go to our daily work, when we are compassed about by +distracting and trivial cares, when men come buzzing round us, and +the ordinary secularities of life seem to close in upon us like the +walls of a prison, and to shut out the blue and the light--oh! it is +hard, but it _is_ possible, for every one of us to think these all +away, and to carry with us into everything that blessed thought of a +Presence that is not to be put aside, that sits beside me at my study +table, that stands beside you at your tasks, that goes with you in +shop and mart, that is always near, with its tender encircling, with +its mighty protection, with its all-sufficing sweetness and power. To +be with Christ is no prerogative, either of Apostles and teachers of +the primitive age, or of saints that have passed into the higher +vision; but it is possible for us all. No doubt there are as yet +unknown forms and degrees of companionship with Christ in the future +state, in comparison with which to be 'present in the body is to be +absent from the Lord'; but in the inmost depth of reality, the soul +that loves is where it loves, and has whom it loves ever with it. +'Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also,' and we may be +with Christ if only we will honestly try hour by hour to keep +ourselves in touch with Him, and to make Him the motive as well as +the end of the work that other men do along with us, and do from +altogether secular and low motives. + +Another phase of being with Christ lies in frank, full, and familiar +conversation with Him. I do not understand a dumb companionship. When +we are with those that we love, and with whom we are at ease, speech +comes instinctively. If we are co-denizens of the Father's house with +the Elder Brother, we shall talk to Him. We shall not need to be +reminded of the 'duty of prayer,' but shall rather instinctively and +as a matter of course, without thinking of what we are doing, speak +to Him our momentary wants, our passing discomforts, our little +troubles. There may be a great deal more virtue in monosyllabic +prayers than in long liturgies. Little jets of speech or even of +unspoken speech that go up to Him are likely to be heart-felt and to +be heard. It is said of Israel's army on one occasion, 'they cried +unto God in the battle, and He was entreated of them.' Do you think +that theirs would be very elaborate prayers? Was there any time to +make a long petition when the sword of a Philistine was whizzing +about the suppliant's ears? It was only a cry, but it _was_ a cry; +and so 'He was entreated of them.' If we are 'with Christ' we shall +talk to Him; and if we are with Christ He will talk to us. It is for +us to keep in the attitude of listening and, so far as may be, to +hush other voices, in order that His may be heard, If we do so, even +here 'shall we ever be with the Lord.' + +II. Now, note next the character that this companionship produces. + +Annas and Caiaphas said to each other: 'Ah, these two have been with +that Jesus! That is where they have got their boldness. They are like +Him.' + +As is the Master, so is the servant. That is the broad, general +principle that lies in my text. To be with Christ makes men +Christlike. A soul habitually in contact with Jesus will imbibe +sweetness from Him, as garments laid away in a drawer with some +preservative perfume absorb fragrance from that beside which they +lie. Therefore the surest way for Christian people to become what God +would have them to be, is to direct the greater part of their effort, +not so much to the acquirement of individual characteristics and +excellences, as to the keeping up of continuity of communion with the +Master. Then the excellences will come. Astronomers, for instance, +have found out that if they take a sensitive plate and lay it so as +to receive the light from a star, and keep it in place by giving it a +motion corresponding with the apparent motion of the heavens, for +hours and hours, there will become visible upon it a photographic +image of dim stars that no human eye or telescope can see. Persistent +lying before the light stamps the image of the light upon the plate. +Communion with Christ is the secret of Christlikeness. So instead of +all the wearisome, painful, futile attempts at tinkering one's own +character apart from Him, here is the royal road. Not that there is +no effort in it. We must never forget nor undervalue the necessity +for struggle in the Christian life. But that truth needs to be +supplemented with the thought that comes from my text--viz. that the +fruitful direction in which the struggle is to be mainly made lies in +keeping ourselves in touch with Jesus Christ, and if we do that, then +transformation comes by beholding. 'We all, reflecting as a mirror +does, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image.' +'They have been with Jesus,' and so they were like Him. + +But now look at the specific kinds of excellence which seem to have +come out of this communion. 'They beheld the _boldness_ of Peter and +John.' The word that is translated 'boldness' no doubt conveys that +idea, but it also conveys another. Literally it means 'the act of +saying everything.' It means openness of unembarrassed speech, and so +comes to have the secondary signification, which the text gives, of +'boldness.' + +Then, to be with Christ gives a living knowledge of Him and of truth, +far in advance of the head knowledge of wise and learned people. It +was a fact that these two knew nothing about what Rabbi _This_, or +Rabbi _That_, or Rabbi _The Other_ had said, and yet could speak, as +they had been speaking, large religious ideas that astonished these +hide-bound Pharisees, who thought that there was no way to get to the +knowledge of the revelation of God made to Israel, except by the road +of their own musty and profitless learning. Ay! and it always is so. +An ounce of experience is worth a ton of theology. The men that have +summered and wintered with Jesus Christ may not know a great many +things that are supposed to be very important parts of religion, but +they have got hold of the central truth of it, with a power, and in a +fashion, that men of books, and ideas, and systems, and creeds, and +theological learning, may know nothing about. 'Not many wise men +after the flesh, not many mighty, are called.' Let a poor man at his +plough-tail, or a poor woman in her garret, or a collier in the pit, +have Jesus Christ for their Companion, and they have got the kernel; +and the gentlemen that like such diet may live on the shell if they +will, and can. Religious ideas are of little use unless there be +heart-experiences; and heart-experiences are wonderful teachers of +religious truth. + +Again, to be with Christ frees from the fear of man. It was a new +thing for such persons as Peter and John to stand cool and unawed +before the Council. Not so very long ago one of the two had been +frightened into a momentary apostasy by dread of being haled before +the rulers, and now they are calmly heroic, and threats are idle +words to them. I need not point to the strong presumption, raised by +the contrast of the Apostles' past cowardice and present courage, of +the occurrence of some such extraordinary facts as the Resurrection, +the Ascension, and the Descent of the Spirit. Something had happened +which revolutionised these men. It was their communion with Jesus, +made more real and deep by the cessation of His bodily presence, +which made these unlearned and non-official Galileans front the +Council with calmly beating hearts and unfaltering tongues. +Doubtless, temperament has much to do with courage, but, no doubt, he +who lives near Jesus is set free from undue dependence on things seen +and on persons. Perfect love casts out fear, not only of the Beloved, +but of all creatures. It is the bravest thing in the world. + +Further, to be with Christ will open a man's lips. The fountain, if +it is full, must well up. 'Light is light which circulates. Heat is +heat which radiates.' The true possession of Jesus Christ will always +make it impossible for the possessor to be dumb. I pray you to test +yourselves, as I would that all professing Christians should test +themselves, by that simple truth, that a full heart must find +utterance. The instinct that drives a man to speak of the thing in +which he is interested should have full play in the Christian life. +It seems to me a terribly sad fact that there are such hosts of good, +kind people, with some sort of religion about them, who never feel +any anxiety to say a word to any soul concerning the Master whom they +profess to love. I know, of course, that deep feeling is silent, and +that the secrets of Christian experience are not to be worn on the +sleeve for daws to peck at. And I know that the conventionalities of +this generation frown very largely upon the frank utterance of +religious convictions on the part of religious people, except on +Sundays, in Sunday-schools, pulpits, and the like. But for all that, +what is in you will come out. If you have never felt 'I was weary of +forbearing, and I could not stay,' I do not think that there is much +sign in you of a very deep or a very real being with Jesus. + +III. The last point to be noted is, the impression which such a +character makes. + +It was not so much what Peter and John said that astonished the +Council, as the fact of their being composed and bold enough to say +anything. + +A great deal more is done by character than by anything else. Most +people in the world take their notions of Christianity from its +concrete embodiments in professing Christians. For one man that has +read his Bible, and has come to know what religion is thereby, there +are a hundred that look at you and me, and therefrom draw their +conclusions as to what religion is. It is not my sermons, but your +life, that is the most important agency for the spread of the Gospel +in this congregation. And if we, as Christian people, were to live so +as to make men say, 'Dear me, that is strange. That is not the kind +of thing that one would have expected from that man. That is of a +higher strain than he is of. Where did it come from, I wonder?' 'Ah, +he learned it of that Jesus'--if people were constrained to speak in +that style to themselves about us, dear friends, and about all our +brethren, England would be a different England from what it is to- +day. It is Christians' lives, after all, that make dints in the +world's conscience. + +Do you remember one of the Apostle's lovely and strong metaphors? +Paul says that that little Church in Thessalonica rung out clear and +strong the name of Jesus Christ--resonant like the clang of a bugle, +'so that we need not to speak anything.' The word that he employs for +'sounded out' is a technical expression for the ringing blast of a +trumpet. Very small penny whistles would be a better metaphor for the +instruments which the bulk of professing Christians play on. + +'Adorn the doctrine of Christ.' And that you may, listen to His own +word, which says all I have been trying to say in this sermon: 'Abide +in Me. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in +the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.' + + + +OBEDIENT DISOBEDIENCE + +'But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be +right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, +judge ye. 20. For we cannot but speak the things which we have +seen and heard. 21. So when they had further threatened them, +they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, +because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which +was done. 22. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this +miracle of healing was shewed. 23. And being let go they went to +their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and +elders had said unto them. 24. And when they heard that, they +lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, +Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and +all that in them is: 25. Who by the mouth of Thy servant David +hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain +things? 26. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were +gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. 27. +For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast +anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and +the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28. For to do +whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done. +29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto Thy +servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, 30. By +stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders +may be done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus. 31. And when +they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled +together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they +spake the word of God with boldness.'--ACTS iv. 19-31. + +The only chance for persecution to succeed is to smite hard and +swiftly. If you cannot strike, do not threaten. Menacing words only +give courage. The rulers betrayed their hesitation when the end of +their solemn conclave was but to 'straitly threaten'; and less heroic +confessors than Peter and John would have disregarded the prohibition +as mere wind. None the less the attitude of these two Galilean +fishermen is noble and singular, when their previous cowardice is +remembered. This first collision with civil authority gives, as has +been already noticed, the main lines on which the relations of the +Church to hostile powers have proceeded. + +I. The heroic refusal of unlawful obedience. We shall probably not do +injustice to John if we suppose that Peter was spokesman. If so, the +contrast of the tone of his answer with all previously recorded +utterances of his is remarkable. Warm-hearted impulsiveness, often +wrong-headed and sometimes illogical, had been their mark; but here +we have calm, fixed determination, which, as is usually its manner, +wastes no words, but in its very brevity impresses the hearers as +being immovable. Whence did this man get the power to lay down once +for all the foundation principles of the limits of civil obedience, +and of the duty of Christian confession? His words take rank with the +ever-memorable sayings of thinkers and heroes, from Socrates in his +prison telling the Athenians that he loved them, but that he must +'obey God rather than you,' to Luther at Worms with his 'It is +neither safe nor right to do anything against conscience. Here I +stand; I can do nothing else. God help me! Amen.' Peter's words are +the first of a long series. + +This first instance of persecution is made the occasion for the clear +expression of the great principles which are to guide the Church. The +answer falls into two parts, in the first of which the limits of +obedience to civil authority are laid down in a perfectly general +form to which even the Council are expected to assent, and in the +second an irresistible compulsion to speak is boldly alleged as +driving the two Apostles to a flat refusal to obey. + +It was a daring stroke to appeal to the Council for an endorsement of +the principle in verse 19, but the appeal was unanswerable; for this +tribunal had no other ostensible reason for existence than to enforce +obedience to the law of God, and to Peter's dilemma only one reply +was possible. But it rested on a bold assumption, which was +calculated to irritate the court; namely, that there was a blank +contradiction between their commands and God's, so that to obey the +one was to disobey the other. When that parting of the ways is +reached, there remains no doubt as to which road a religious man must +take. + +The limits of civil obedience are clearly drawn. It is a duty, +because 'the powers that be are ordained of God,' and obedience to +them is obedience to Him. But if they, transcending their sphere, +claim obedience which can only be rendered by disobedience to Him who +has appointed them, then they are no longer His ministers, and the +duty of allegiance falls away. But there must be a plain conflict of +commands, and we must take care lest we substitute whims and fancies +of our own for the injunctions of God. Peter was not guided by his +own conceptions of duty, but by the distinct precept of his Master, +which had bid him speak. It is not true that it is the cause which +makes the martyr, but it is true that many good men have made +themselves martyrs needlessly. This principle is too sharp a weapon +to be causelessly drawn and brandished. Only an unmistakable +opposition of commandments warrants its use; and then, he has little +right to be called Christ's soldier who keeps the sword in the +scabbard. + +The articulate refusal in verse 20 bases itself on the ground of +irrepressible necessity: 'We cannot but speak.' The immediate +application was to the facts of Christ's life, death, and glory. The +Apostles could not help speaking of these, both because to do so was +their commission, and because the knowledge of them and of their +importance forbade silence. The truth implied is of wide reach. +Whoever has a real, personal experience of Christ's saving power, and +has heard and seen Him, will be irresistibly impelled to impart what +he has received. Speech is a relief to a full heart. The word, +concealed in the prophet's heart, burned there 'like fire in his +bones, and he was weary of forbearing.' So it always is with deep +conviction. If a man has never felt that he must speak of Christ, he +is a very imperfect Christian. The glow of his own heart, the pity +for men who know Him not, his Lord's command, all concur to compel +speech. The full river cannot be dammed up. + +II. The lame and impotent conclusion of the perplexed Council. How +plain the path is when only duty is taken as a guide, and how +vigorously and decisively a man marches along it! Peter had no +hesitation, and his resolved answer comes crashing in a straight +course, like a cannon-ball. The Council had a much more ambiguous +oracle to consult in order to settle their course, and they hesitate +accordingly, and at last do a something which is a nothing. They +wanted to trim their sails to catch popular favour, and so they could +not do anything thoroughly. To punish or acquit was the only +alternative for just judges. But they were not just; and as Jesus had +been crucified, not because Pilate thought Him guilty, but to please +the people, so His Apostles were let off, not because they were +innocent, but for the same reason. When popularity-hunters get on the +judicial bench, society must be rotten, and nearing its dissolution. +To 'decree unrighteousness by a law' is among the most hideous of +crimes. Judges 'willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,' are +portents indicative of corruption. We may remark here how the +physician's pen takes note of the patient's age, as making his cure +more striking, and manifestly miraculous. + +III. The Church's answer to the first assault of the world's power. +How beautifully natural that is, 'Being let go, they went to their +own,' and how large a principle is expressed in the naive words! The +great law of association according to spiritual affinity has much to +do in determining relations here. It aggregates men, according to +sorts; but its operation is thwarted by other conditions, so that +companionship is often misery. But a time comes when it will work +unhindered, and men will be united with their like, as the stones on +some sea-beaches are laid in rows, according to their size, by the +force of the sea. Judas 'went to his own place,' and, in another +world, like will draw to like, and prevailing tendencies will be +increased by association with those who share them. + +The prayer of the Church was probably the inspired outpouring of one +voice, and all the people said 'Amen,' and so made it theirs. Whose +voice it was which thus put into words the common sentiment we should +gladly have known, but need not speculate. The great fact is that the +Church answered threats by prayer. It augurs healthy spiritual life +when opposition and danger neither make cheeks blanch with fear nor +flush with anger. No man there trembled nor thought of vengeance, or +of repaying threats with threats. Every man there instinctively +turned heavenwards, and flung himself, as it were, into God's arms +for protection. Prayer is the strongest weapon that a persecuted +Church can use. Browning makes a tyrant say, recounting how he had +tried to crush a man, that his intended victim + + 'Stood erect, caught at God's skirts, and prayed, + So _I_ was afraid.' + +The contents of the prayer are equally noteworthy. Instead of +minutely studying it verse by verse, we may note some of its salient +points. Observe its undaunted courage. That company never quivered or +wavered. They had no thought of obeying the mandate of the Council. +They were a little army of heroes. What had made them so? What but +the conviction that they had a living Lord at God's right hand, and a +mighty Spirit in their spirits? The world has never seen a +transformation like that. Unique effects demand unique causes for +their explanation, and nothing but the historical truth of the facts +recorded in the last pages of the Gospels and first of the Acts +accounts for the demeanour of these men. + +Their courage is strikingly marked by their petition. All they ask is +'boldness' to speak a word which shall not be theirs, but God's. Fear +would have prayed for protection; passion would have asked +retribution on enemies. Christian courage and devotion only ask that +they may not shrink from their duty, and that the word may be spoken, +whatever becomes of the speakers. The world is powerless against men +like that. Would the Church of to-day meet threats with like +unanimity of desire for boldness in confession? If not, it must be +because it has not the same firm hold of the Risen Lord which these +first believers had. The truest courage is that which is conscious of +its weakness, and yet has no thought of flight, but prays for its own +increase. + +We may observe, too, the body of belief expressed in the prayer. +First it lays hold on the creative omnipotence of God, and thence +passes to the recognition of His written revelation. The Church has +begun to learn the inmost meaning of the Old Testament, and to find +Christ there. David may not have written the second Psalm. Its +attribution to him by the Church stands on a different level from +Christ's attribution of authorship, as, for instance, of the hundred +and tenth Psalm. The prophecy of the Psalm is plainly Messianic, +however it may have had a historical occasion in some forgotten +revolt against some Davidic king; and, while the particular incidents +to which the prayer alludes do not exhaust its far-reaching +application, they are rightly regarded as partly fulfilling it. Herod +is a 'king of the earth,' Pilate is a 'ruler'; Roman soldiers are +Gentiles; Jewish rulers are the representatives of 'the people.' +Jesus is 'God's Anointed.' The fact that such an unnatural and daring +combination of rebels was predicted in the Psalm bears witness that +even that crime at Calvary was foreordained to come to pass, and that +God's hand and counsel ruled. Therefore all other opposition, such as +now threatened, will turn out to be swayed by that same Mighty Hand, +to work out His counsel. Why, then, should the Church fear? If we can +see God's hand moving all things, terror is dead for us, and threats +are like the whistling of idle wind. + +Mark, too, the strong expression of the Church's dependence on God. +'Lord' here is an unusual word, and means 'Master,' while the Church +collectively is called 'Thy servants,' or properly, 'slaves.' It is a +different word from that of 'servant' (rather than 'child') applied +to Jesus in verses 27 and 30. God is the Master, we are His 'slaves,' +bound to absolute obedience, unconditional submission, belonging to +Him, not to ourselves, and therefore having claims on Him for such +care as an owner gives to his slaves or his cattle. He will not let +them be maltreated nor starved. He will defend them and feed them; +but they must serve him by life, and death if need be. Unquestioning +submission and unreserved dependence are our duties. Absolute +ownership and unshared responsibility for our well-being belong to +Him. + +Further, the view of Christ's relationship to God is the same as +occurs in other of the early chapters of the Acts. The title of 'Thy +holy Servant Jesus' dwells on Christ's office, rather than on His +nature. Here it puts Him in contrast with David, also called 'Thy +servant.' The latter was imperfectly what Jesus was perfectly. His +complete realisation of the prophetic picture of the Servant of the +Lord in Isaiah is emphasised by the adjective 'holy,' implying +complete devotion or separation to the service of God, and unsullied, +unlimited moral purity. The uniqueness of His relation in this aspect +is expressed by the definite article in the original. He is _the_ +Servant, in a sense and measure all His own. He is further _the_ +Anointed Messiah. This was the Church's message to Israel and the +stay of its own courage, that Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed and +perfect Servant of the Lord, who was now in heaven, reigning there. +All that this faith involved had not yet become clear to their +consciousness, but the Spirit was guiding them step by step into all +the truth; and what they saw and heard, not only in the historical +facts of which they were the witnesses, but in the teaching of that +Spirit, they could not but speak. + +The answer came swift as the roll of thunder after lightning. They +who ask for courage to do God's will and speak Christ's name have +never long to wait for response. The place 'was shaken,' symbol of +the effect of faithful witness-bearing, or manifestation of the power +which was given in answer to their prayer. 'They were all filled with +the Holy Ghost,' who now did not, as before, confer ability to speak +with other tongues, but wrought no less worthily in heartening and +fitting them to speak 'in their own tongue, wherein they were born,' +in bold defiance of unlawful commands. + +The statement of the answer repeats the petition verbatim: 'With all +boldness they spake the word.' What we desire of spiritual gifts we +get, and God moulds His replies so as to remind us of our petitions, +and to show by the event that these have reached His ear and guided +His giving hand. + + + +IMPOSSIBLE SILENCE + +'We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' +--ACTS iv. 20. + +The context tells us that the Jewish Council were surprised, as they +well might be, at the boldness of Peter and John, and traced it to +their having been with Jesus. But do you remember that they were by +no means bold when they were with Jesus, and that the bravery came +after what, in ordinary circumstances, would have destroyed any of it +in a man? A leader's execution is not a usual recipe for heartening +his followers, but it had that effect in this case, and the Peter who +was frightened out of all his heroics by a sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued +servant-maid, a few weeks after bearded the Council and 'rejoiced +that he was counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name.' It was not +Christ's death that did that, and it was not His life that did that. +You cannot understand, to use a long word, the 'psychological' +transformation of these cowardly deniers who fled and forsook Him, +unless you bring in three things: Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost. +Then it is explicable. + +However the boldness came; these two men before the Council were +making an epoch at that moment, and their grand words are the Magna +Charta of the right of every sincere conviction to free speech. They +are the direct parent of hundreds of similar sayings that flash out +down the world's history. Two things Peter and John adduced as making +silence impossible--a definite divine command, and an inward impulse. +'Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more +than unto God, judge ye. We cannot but speak the things which we have +seen and heard.' + +But I wish to use these words now in a somewhat wider application. +They may suggest that there are great facts which make silence and +non-aggressiveness an impossibility for an individual or a Church, +and that by the very law of its being, a Church must be a missionary +Church, and a Christian cannot be a dumb Christian, unless he is a +dead Christian. And so I turn to look at these words as suggesting to +us two or three of the grounds on which Christian effort, in some +form or another, is inseparable from Christian experience. + +And, first, I wish you to notice that there is-- + +I. An inward necessity which makes silence impossible. + +'We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard,' is a +principle that applies far more widely than to the work of a +Christian Church, or to any activity that is put in force to spread +the name of Jesus Christ. For there is a universal impulse which +brings it about that whatever, in the nature of profound conviction, +of illuminating truth, especially as affecting moral and spiritual +matters, is granted to any man, knocks at the inner side of the door +of his lips, and demands an exit and free air and utterance. As +surely as the tender green spikelet of the springing corn pushes its +way through the hard clods, or as the bud in the fig-tree's polished +stem swells and opens, so surely whatever a man, in his deepest +heart, knows to be true, calls upon him to let it out and manifest +itself in his words and in his life. 'We believe, and therefore +speak,' is a universal sequence. There were four leprous men long ago +that, in their despair, made their way into the camp of the +beleaguering enemy, found it empty; and after they feasted +themselves--and small blame to them--then flashed upon them the +thought, 'We do not well, this is a day of good tidings, and we hold +our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some evil will befall +us.' Something like that is the uniform accompaniment of all profound +conviction. And if so, especially imperative and urgent will this +necessity be, wherever there is true Christian life. For whether we +consider the greatness of the gift that is imparted to us, in the +very act of our receiving that Lord, or whether we consider the +soreness of the need of a world that is without Him, surely there can +be nothing that so reinforces the natural necessity and impulse to +impart what we possess of truth or beauty or goodness as the +greatness of the unspeakable gift, and the wretchedness of a world +that wants it. Brethren, there are many things that come in the way-- +and perhaps never more than in our own generation--of Christian men +and women making direct and specific efforts, by lip as well as by +life, to speak about Jesus Christ to other people. There is the +standing hindrance of love of ease and selfish absorption in our own +concerns. There are the conventional hindrances of our canons of +social intercourse which make it 'bad form' to speak to men about +anything beneath the surface, and God forbid that I should urge any +man to a brusque, and indiscriminate, and unwise forcing of his faith +upon other people. But I believe, that deep down below all these +reasons, there are two main reasons why the practice of the clear +utterance of their faith on the part of Christian people is so rare. +The one is a deficient conception of what the Gospel is, and the +other is a feeble grasp of it for ourselves. If you do not think that +you have very much to say, you will not be very anxious to say it; +and if your notion of Christianity, and of Christ's relation to the +world, is that of the superficial professing Christian, then of +course you will be smitten with no earnestness of desire to impart +the truth to others. Types of Christianity which enfeeble or obscure +the central thought of Christ's work for the salvation of a world +that needs a Saviour, and is perishing without Him, never were, never +are, never will be, missionary or aggressive. There is no driving +force in them. They have little to say, and naturally they are in no +hurry to say it. But there is a deeper reason than that. I said a +minute ago that a dumb Christian was an impossibility unless he were +a dead Christian. And _there_ is the reason why so many of us feel so +little, so very little, of that knocking at the door of our hearts, +and saying, 'Let me out!' which we should feel if we deeply believed, +and felt, as well as intellectually accepted, the gospel of our +salvation. + +The cause of a silent Church is a defective conception of the Gospel +entrusted to it, or a feeble grasp of the same. And as our silence or +indifference is the symptom, so by reaction it is in its turn the +cause of a greater enfeeblement of our faith, and of a weaker grasp +of the Gospel. Of course I know that it is perfectly possible for a +man to talk away his convictions, and I am afraid that that +temptation which besets all men of my profession, is not always +resisted by us as it ought to be. But, on the other hand, sure am I +that no better way can be devised of deepening my own hold of the +truths of Christianity than an honest, right attempt to make another +share my morsel with me. Convictions bottled, like other things +bottled up, are apt to evaporate and to spoil. They say that +sometimes wine-growers, when they go down into their cellars, find in +a puncheon no wine, but a huge fungus. That is what befalls the +Christianity of people that never let air in, and never speak their +faith out. 'We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and +heard'; and if we do not speak, the vision fades and the sound +becomes faint. + +Now there is another side to this same inward necessity of which I +have been speaking, on which I must just touch. I have referred to +the impulse which flows from the possession of the Gospel. There is +an impulse which flows from that which is but another way of putting +the same thing, the union with Jesus Christ, which is the result of +our faith in the Gospel. If I am a Christian I am, in a very profound +and real sense, one with Jesus Christ, and have His Spirit for the +life of my spirit. And in the measure in which I am thus one with +Him, I shall look at things as He looks at them, and do such things +as He did. If the mind of Jesus Christ is in us 'Who for the joy that +was set before Him endured the Cross,' who 'counted not equality with +God a thing to be desired, but made Himself of no reputation,' and +'was found in fashion as a man,' then we too shall feel that our work +in the world is not done, and our obligations to Him are not +discharged, unless to the very last particle of our power we spread +His name. Brethren, if there were no commandment at all from Christ's +lips laying upon His followers the specific duty of making His gospel +known, still this inward impulse of which I am speaking would have +created all the forms of Christian aggressiveness which we see round +about us, because, if we have Christ and His Gospel in our hearts, +'we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' + +And now turn to another aspect of this matter. There is-- + +II. A command which makes silence criminal. + +I do not need to do more than remind you of the fact that the very +last words which our Lord has left us according to the two versions +of them which are given in the Gospel of Matthew, and the beginning +of this Book of the Acts, coincide in this. 'You are to be My +witnesses to the ends of the earth. Go ye into all the world and +preach the Gospel to every creature.' Did you ever think what an +extraordinary thing it is that that confident anticipation of a +worldwide dominion, and of being Himself adapted to all mankind, in +every climate and in every age, and at every stage of culture, should +have been the conviction which the departing Christ sought to stamp +upon the minds of those eleven poor men? What audacity! What +tremendous confidence! What a task to which to set them! What an +unexampled belief in Himself and His work! And it is all coming true; +for the world is finding out, more and more, that Jesus Christ is its +Saviour and its King. + +This commandment which is laid upon us Christian men submerges all +distinctions of race, and speech, and nationality, and culture. There +are high walls parting men off from one another. This great message +and commission, like some rising tide, rolls over them all, and +obliterates them, and flows boundless, having drowned the +differences, from horizon to horizon, east and west and south and +north. + +Now let me press the thought that this commandment makes indifference +and silence criminal. We hear people talk, people whose Christianity +it is not for me to question, though I may question two things about +it, its clearness and its depth--we hear them talk as if to help or +not to help, in the various forms of Christian activity, missionary +or otherwise, was a matter left to their own inclination. No! it is +not. Let us distinctly understand that to help or not to help is not +the choice open to any man who would obey Jesus Christ. Let us +distinctly understand--and God grant that we may all feel it more-- +that we dare not stand aside, be negligent, do nothing, leave other +people to give and to toil, and say, 'Oh! my sympathies do not go in +that direction.' Jesus Christ told you that they were to go in that +direction, and if they do not, so much the worse for the sympathies +for one thing, and so much the worse for you, the rebel, the +disobedient in heart. I do not want to bring down this great gift and +token of love which Jesus Christ has given to His servants, in +entrusting them with the spread of the Gospel, to the low level of a +mere commandment, but I do sometimes think that the tone of feeling, +ay! and of speech, and still more the manner of action, among +professing Christian people, in regard to the whole subject of the +missionary work of God's Church, shows that they need to be reminded; +as the Duke of Wellington said, 'There are your marching orders!' and +the soldier who does not obey his marching orders is a mutineer. +There is a definite commandment which makes indifference criminal. + +There is another thing I should like to say, viz. that this definite +commandment overrides everything else. We hear a great deal from +unsympathetic critics, which is but a reproduction of an old grumble +that did not come from a very creditable source. 'To what purpose is +this waste?' Why do you not spend your money upon technical schools, +soup-kitchens, housing of the poor, and the like? Well, our answer +is, 'He told us.' We hear, too, especially just in these days, a +great deal about the necessity for increased caution in pursuing +missionary operations in heathen lands. And some people that do not +know anything about the subject have ventured to say, for instance, +that the missionaries are responsible for Chinese antagonism to +Europeans, and for similar phenomena. Well, we are ready to be as +wise and prudent as you like. We do not ask any consuls to help us. +Our brethren are men who have hazarded their lives; and I never heard +of a Baptist missionary running under the skirts of an ambassador, or +praying the government to come and protect him. We do not ask for +cathedrals to be built, or territory to be ceded, as compensation for +the loss of precious lives. But if these advisers of caution mean no +more than they say, 'Caution!' we agree. But if they mean, what some +of them mean, that we are to be silent for fear of consequences, +then, whether it be prime ministers, or magistrates, or mobs that say +it, our answer is, 'Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than +unto God, judge ye! We cannot but speak the things which we have seen +and heard.' + +So, lastly, there is-- + +III. The bond of brotherhood which makes silence unnatural. + +I have spoken of an inward impulse. That thought turns our attention +to our own hearts. I have spoken of a definite command; that turns +our eyes to the Throne. I speak now of a bond of brotherhood. That +sends our thoughts out over the whole world. There is such a bond. +Jesus Christ by His Incarnation has taken the nature of every man +upon Himself, and has brought all men into one. Jesus Christ 'by the +grace of God, has tasted death for every man,' and has brought all +men into unity. And so the much-abused and vulgarised conception of +'fraternity,' and even the very word 'humanity,' are the creation of +Christianity, and flow from these two facts--the Cradle of Bethlehem +and the Cross of Calvary, besides that prior one that 'God hath made +of one blood all nations of men.' If that be so, then what flows from +that unity, from that brotherhood thus sacredly founded upon the +facts of the life and death of Jesus Christ, the world's Redeemer? +This to begin with, that Christian men are bound to look out over +humanity with Christ's eyes, and not--as is largely the case to-day-- +to regard other nations as enemies and rivals, and the 'lower races' +as existing to be exploited for our wealth, to be coerced for our +glory, to be conquered for our Empire. We have to think of them as +Jesus Christ thought. I cannot but remember days in England when the +humanitarian sentiment in regard to the inferior races was far more +vigorous, and far more operative in national life than it is to-day. +I can go back in boyhood's memory to the emancipation of the West +Indian slaves, and that was but the type of the general tendency of +thought amongst the better minds of England in those days. Would that +it were so now! + +But further, brethren, we as Christian people have laid upon us this +responsibility by that very bond of brotherhood, that we should carry +whithersoever our influence may go the great message of the Elder +Brother who makes us all one. We give much to the 'heathen' +populations within our Empire or the reach of our trade. We give them +English laws, English science, English literature, English outlooks +on life, the English tongue, English vices--opium, profligacy, and +the like. Are these all the gifts that we are bound to carry to +heathen lands? Dynamos and encyclopaedias, gin and rifles, shirtings +and castings? Have we not to carry Christ? And all the more because +we are so closely knit with so many of them. I wonder how many of you +get the greater part of your living out of India and China? + +Surely, if there is a place in England where the missionary appeal +should be responded to, it is Manchester. 'As a nest hast thou +gathered the riches of the nations.' What have you given? Make up the +balance-sheet, brethren. 'We are debtors,' let us put down the +items:-- + +Debtors by a common brotherhood. + +Debtors by the possession of Christ for ourselves. + +Debtors by benefits received. + +Debtors by injuries inflicted. + +The debit side of the account is heavy. Let us try to discharge some +portion of the debt, in the fashion in which the Apostle from whom I +have been quoting thought that he would best discharge it when, after +declaring himself debtor to many kinds of men, he added, 'So as much +as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel.' May we all say, more +truly than we have ever said before, 'We cannot but speak the things +which we have seen and heard!' + + + +THE SERVANT AND THE SLAVES + +'Thy servant David...'; 'Thy Holy Servant Jesus...'; 'Thy +servants...'--ACTS iv. 26, 27, 29. + +I do not often take fragments of Scripture for texts; but though +these are fragments, their juxtaposition results in by no means +fragmentary thoughts. There is obvious intention in the recurrence of +the expression so frequently in so few verses, and to the elucidation +of that intention my remarks will be directed. The words are parts of +the Church's prayer on the occasion of its first collision with the +civil power. The incident is recorded at full length because it is +the _first_ of a long and bloody series, in order that succeeding +generations might learn their true weapon and their sure defence. +Prayer is the right answer to the world's hostility, and they who +only ask for courage to stand by their confession will never ask in +vain. But it is no part of my intention to deal either with the +incident or with this noble prayer. + +A word or two of explanation may be necessary as to the language of +our texts. You will observe that, in the second of them, I have +followed the Revised Version, which, instead of 'Thy holy child,' as +in the Authorised Version, reads 'Thy holy Servant.' The alteration +is clearly correct. The word, indeed, literally means 'a child,' but, +like our own English 'boy,' or even 'man,' or 'maid,' it is used to +express the relation of servant, when the desire is to cover over the +harsher features of servitude, and to represent the servant as a part +of the family. Thus the kindly centurion, who besought Jesus to come +and heal his servant, speaks of him as his 'boy.' And that the word +is here used in this secondary sense of 'servant' is unmistakable. +For there is no discernible reason why, if stress were meant to be +laid on Christ as being the Son of God, the recognised expression for +that relationship should not have been employed. Again, the Greek +translation of the Old Testament, with which the Apostles were +familiar, employs the very phrase that is here used as its +translation of the well-known Old Testament designation of the +Messiah, 'the Servant of the Lord' and the words here are really a +quotation from the great prophecies of the second part of the Book of +Isaiah. Further, the same word is employed in reference to King David +and in reference to Jesus Christ. In regard to the former, it is +evident that it must have the meaning of 'servant'; and it would be +too harsh to suppose that in the compass of so few verses the same +expression should be used, at one time in the one signification, and +at another in the other. So, then, David and Jesus are in some sense +classified here together as both servants of God. That is the first +point that I desire to make. + +Then, in regard to the third of my texts, the expression is not the +same there as in the other two. The disciples do not venture to take +the loftier designation. Rather they prefer the humble one, 'slaves,' +bondmen, the familiar expression found all through the New Testament +as almost a synonym to Christians. + +So, then, we have here three figures: the Psalmist-king, the Messiah, +the disciples; Christ in the midst, on the one hand a servant with +whom He deigns to be classed, on the other hand the slaves who, +through Him, have become sons. And I think I shall best bring out the +intended lessons of these clauses in their connection if I ask you to +note these two contrasts, the servants and the Servant; the Servant +and the slaves. 'David Thy servant'; 'Thy holy Servant Jesus'; us +'Thy servants.' + +I. First, then, notice the servants and the Servant. + +The reason for the application of the name to the Psalmist lies, not +so much in his personal character or in his religious elevation, as +in the fact that he was chosen of God for a specific purpose, to +carry on the divine plans some steps towards their realisation. +Kings, priests, prophets, the collective Israel, as having a specific +function in the world, and being, in some sense, the instruments and +embodiments of the will of God amongst men, have in an eminent degree +the designation of His 'servants.' And we might widen out the thought +and say that all men who, like the heathen Cyrus, are God's +shepherds, though they do not know it--guided by Him, though they +understand not whence comes their power, and blindly do His work in +the world, being 'epoch-making' men, as the fashionable phrase goes +now--are really, though in a subordinate sense, entitled to the +designation. + +But then, whilst this is true, and whilst Jesus Christ comes into +this category, and is one of these special men raised up and adapted +for special service in connection with the carrying out of the divine +purpose, mark how emphatically and broadly the line is drawn here +between Him and the other members of the class to which, in a certain +sense, He does belong. Peter says, 'Thy servant David,' but he says +'Thy _holy_ Servant Jesus.' And in the Greek the emphasis is still +stronger, because the definite article is employed before the word +'servant.' '_The_ holy Servant of Thine'--that is His specific and +unique designation. + +There are many imperfect instruments of the divine will. Thinkers and +heroes and saints and statesmen and warriors, as well as prophets and +priests and kings, are so regarded in Scripture, and may profitably +be so regarded by us; but amongst them all there is One who stands in +their midst and yet apart from them, because He, and He alone, can +say, 'I have done all Thy pleasure, and into my doing of Thy pleasure +no bitter leaven of self-regard or by-ends has ever, in the faintest +degree, entered.' 'Thy holy Servant Jesus' is the unique designation +of _the_ Servant of the Lord. + +And what is the meaning of _holy_? The word does not originally and +primarily refer to character so much as to relation to God. The root +idea of holiness is not righteousness nor moral perfectness, but +something that lies behind these--viz, separation for the service and +uses of God. The first notion of the word is consecration, and, built +upon that and resulting from it, moral perfection. So then these men, +some of whom had lived beside Jesus Christ for all those years, and +had seen everything that He did, and studied Him through and through, +had summered and wintered with Him, came away from the close +inspection of His character with this thought; He is utterly and +entirely devoted to the service of God, and in Him there is neither +spot nor wrinkle nor blemish such as is found in all other men. + +I need not remind you with what strange persistence of affirmation, +and yet with what humility of self-consciousness, our Lord Himself +always claimed to be in possession of this entire consecration, and +complete obedience, and consequent perfection. Think of human lips +saying, 'I do always the things that please Him.' Think of human lips +saying, 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.' Think of a +man whose whole life's secret was summed up in this: 'As the Father +hath given Me commandment, _so_'--no more, no less, no otherwise--'so +I speak.' Think of a man whose inspiring principle was, consciously +to himself, 'not My will, but Thine be done'; and who could say that +it was so, and not be met by universal ridicule. There followed in +Jesus the moral perfectness that comes from such uninterrupted and +complete consecration of self to God. 'Thy servant David,'--what +about Bathsheba, David? What about a great many other things in your +life? The poet-king, with the poet-nature so sensitive to all the +delights of sense, and so easily moved in the matter of pleasure, is +but like all God's other servants in the fact of imperfection. In +every machine power is lost through friction; and in every man, the +noblest and the purest, there is resistance to be overcome ere motion +in conformity with the divine impulse can be secured. We pass in +review before our minds saints and martyrs and lovely characters by +the hundred, and amongst them all there is not a jewel without a +flaw, not a mirror without some dint in it where the rays are +distorted, or some dark place where the reflecting surface has been +rubbed away by the attrition of sin, and where there is no reflection +of the divine light. And then we turn to that meek Figure who stands +there with the question that has been awaiting an answer for nineteen +centuries upon His lips, and is unanswered yet: 'Which of you +convinceth Me of sin?' 'He is the holy Servant,' whose consecration +and character mark Him off from all the class to which He belongs as +the only one of them all who, in completeness, has executed the +Father's purpose, and has never attempted anything contrary to it. + +Now there is another step to be taken, and it is this. The Servant +who stands out in front of all the group--though the noblest names in +the world's history are included therein--could not be _the_ Servant +unless He were the Son. This designation, as applied to Jesus Christ, +is peculiar to these three or four earlier chapters of the Acts of +the Apostles. It is interesting because it occurs over and over again +there, and because it never occurs anywhere else in the New +Testament. If we recognise what I think must be recognised, that it +is a quotation from the ancient prophecies, and is an assertion of +the Messianic character of Jesus, then I think we here see the Church +in a period of transition in regard to their conceptions of their +Lord. There is no sign that the proper Sonship and Divinity of our +Lord was clear before them at this period. They had the facts, but +they had not yet come to the distinct apprehension of how much was +involved in these. But, if they knew that Jesus Christ had died and +had risen again--and they knew that, for they had seen Him--and if +they believed that He was the Messiah, and if they were certain that +in His character of Messiah there had been faultlessness and absolute +perfection--and they were certain of that, because they had lived +beside Him--then it would not be long before they took the next step, +and said, as I say, 'He cannot be the Servant unless He is more than +man.' + +And we may well ask ourselves the question, if we admit, as the world +does admit, the moral perfectness of Jesus Christ, how comes it that +this Man alone managed to escape failures and deflections from the +right, and sins, and that He only carried through life a stainless +garment, and went down to the grave never having needed, and not +needing then, the exercise of divine forgiveness? Brethren, I venture +to say that it is hopeless to account for Jesus Christ on +naturalistic principles; and that either you must give up your belief +in His sinlessness, or advance, as the Christian Church as a whole +advanced, to the other belief, on which alone that perfectness is +explicable: 'Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ! Thou art the +Everlasting Son of the Father!' + +II. And so, secondly, let us turn to the other contrast here--the +Servant and the slaves. + +I said that the humble group of praying, persecuted believers seemed +to have wished to take a lower place than their Master's, even whilst +they ventured to assume that, in some sense, they too, like Him, were +doing the Father's will. So they chose, by a fine instinct of +humility rather than from any dogmatical prepossessions, the name +that expresses, in its most absolute and roughest form, the notion of +bondage and servitude. He is the Servant; we standing here are +slaves. And that this is not an overweighting of the word with more +than is meant by it seems to be confirmed by the fact that in the +first clause of this prayer, we have, for the only time in the New +Testament, God addressed as 'Lord' by the correlative word to +_slave_, which has been transferred into English, namely, _despot_. + +The true position, then, for a man is to be God's slave. The harsh, +repellent features of that wicked institution assume an altogether +different character when they become the features of my relation to +Him. Absolute submission, unconditional obedience, on the slave's +part; and on the part of the Master complete ownership, the right of +life and death, the right of disposing of all goods and chattels, the +right of separating husband and wife, parents and children, the right +of issuing commandments without a reason, the right to expect that +those commandments shall be swiftly, unhesitatingly, punctiliously, +and completely performed--these things inhere in our relation to God. +Blessed the man who has learned that they do, and has accepted them +as his highest glory and the security of his most blessed life! For, +brethren, such submission, absolute and unconditional, the blending +and the absorption of my own will in His will, is the secret of all +that makes manhood glorious and great and happy. + +Remember, however, that in the New Testament these names of slave and +owner are transferred to Christians and Jesus Christ. 'The Servant' +has His slaves; and He who is God's Servant, and does not His own +will but the Father's will, has us for His servants, imposes His will +upon us, and we are bound to render to Him a revenue of entire +obedience like that which He hath laid at His Father's feet. + +Such slavery is the only freedom. Liberty does not mean doing as you +like, it means liking as you ought, and doing that. He only is free +who submits to God in Christ, and thereby overcomes himself and the +world and all antagonism, and is able to do that which it is his life +to do. A prison out of which we do not desire to go is no restraint, +and the will which coincides with law is the only will that is truly +free. You talk about the bondage of obedience. Ah! 'the weight of too +much liberty' is a far sorer bondage. They are the slaves who say, +'Let us break His bonds asunder, and cast away His cords from us'; +and they are the free men who say, 'Lord, put Thy blessed shackles on +my arms, and impose Thy will upon my will, and fill my heart with Thy +love; and then will and hands will move freely and delightedly.' 'If +the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' + +Such slavery is the only nobility. In the wicked old empires, as in +some of their modern survivals to-day, viziers and prime ministers +were mostly drawn from the servile classes. It is so in God's +kingdom. They who make themselves God's slaves are by Him made kings +and priests, and shall reign with Him on earth. If we are slaves, +then are we sons and heirs of God through Jesus Christ. + +Remember the alternative. You cannot be your own masters without +being your own slaves. It is a far worse bondage to live as chartered +libertines than to walk in the paths of obedience. Better serve God +than the devil, than the world, than the flesh. Whilst they promise +men liberty, they make them 'the most abject and downtrodden vassals +of perdition.' + +The Servant-Son makes us slaves and sons. It matters nothing to me +that Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law of God; it is so much +the better for Him, but of no value for me, unless He has the power +of making me like Himself. And He has it, and if you will trust +yourselves to Him, and give your hearts to Him, and ask Him to govern +you, He will govern you; and if you will abandon your false liberty +which is servitude, and take the sober freedom which is obedience, +then He will bring you to share in His temper of joyful service; and +even we may be able to say, 'My meat and my drink is to do the will +of Him that sent me,' and truly saying that, we shall have the key to +all delights, and our feet will be, at least, on the lower rungs of +the ladder whose top reaches to Heaven. + +'What fruit had ye in the things of which ye are now ashamed? But +being made free from sin, and become the slaves of God, ye have your +fruit unto holiness; and the end everlasting life.' Brethren, I +beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye yield yourselves to Him, +crying, 'O Lord, truly I am Thy servant. Thou hast loosed my bonds.' + + + +THE WHEAT AND THE TARES + +'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of +one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which +he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.' +--ACTS iv. 32. + +'And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as +heard these things.'--ACTS v. 11. + +Once more Luke pauses and gives a general survey of the Church's +condition. It comes in appropriately at the end of the account of the +triumph over the first assault of civil authority, which assault was +itself not only baffled, but turned to good. Just because persecution +had driven them closer to God and to one another, were the disciples +so full of brotherly love and of grace as Luke delights to paint +them. + +I. We note the fair picture of what the Church once was. The recent +large accessions to it might have weakened the first feelings of +brotherhood, so that it is by no means superfluous to repeat +substantially the features of the earlier description (Acts ii. 44, +45). 'The multitude' is used with great meaning, for it was a triumph +of the Spirit's influence that the warm stream of brotherly love ran +through so many hearts, knit together only by common submission to +Jesus. That oneness of thought and feeling was the direct issue of +the influx of the Spirit mentioned as the blessed result of the +disciples' dauntless devotion (Acts iv. 31). If our Churches were +'filled with the Holy Ghost,' we too should be fused into oneness of +heart and mind, though our organisations as separate communities +continued, just as all the little pools below high-water mark are +made one when the tide comes up. + +The first result and marvellous proof of that oneness was the so- +called 'community of goods,' the account of which is remarkable both +because it all but fills this picture, and because it is broken into +two by verse 33, rapidly summarising other characteristics. The two +halves may be considered together, and it may be noted that the +former presents the sharing of property as the result of brotherly +unity, while the latter traces it ('for,' v. 34) to the abundant +divine grace resting on the whole community. The terms of the +description should be noted, as completely negativing the notion that +the fact in question was anything like compulsory abolition of the +right of individual ownership. 'Not one of them said that aught of +the things which he possessed was his own.' That implies that the +right of possession was not abolished. It implies, too, that the +common feeling of brotherhood was stronger than the self-centred +regard which looks on possessions as to be used for self. Thus they +possessed as though they possessed not, and each held his property as +a trust from God for his brethren. + +We must observe, further, that the act of selling was the owners', as +was the act of handing the proceeds to the Apostles. The community +had nothing to do with the money till it had been given to them. +Further, the distribution was not determined by the rule of equality, +but by the 'need' of the recipients; and its result was not that all +had share and share alike, but that 'none lacked.' + +There is nothing of modern communism in all this, but there is a +lesson to the modern Church as to the obligations of wealth and the +claims of brotherhood, which is all but universally disregarded. The +spectre of communism is troubling every nation, and it will become +more and more formidable, unless the Church learns that the only way +to lay it is to live by the precepts of Jesus and to repeat in new +forms the spirit of the primitive Church. The Christian sense of +stewardship, not the abolition of the right of property, is the cure +for the hideous facts which drive men to shriek 'Property is theft.' + +Luke adds two more points to his survey,--the power of the Apostolic +testimony, and the great grace which lay like a bright cloud on the +whole Church. The Apostles' special office was to bear witness to the +Resurrection. They held a position of prominence in the Church by +virtue of having been chosen by Jesus and having been His companions, +but the Book of Acts is silent about any of the other mysterious +powers which later ages have ascribed to them. The only Apostles who +appear in it are Peter, John, and James, the last only in a +parenthesis recording His martyrdom. Their peculiar work was to say, +'Behold! we saw, and know that He died and rose again.' + +II. The general description is followed by one example of the +surrender of wealth, which is noteworthy as being done by one +afterwards to play a great part in the book, and also as leading on +to an example of hypocritical pretence. Side by side stand Barnabas +and the wretched couple, Ananias and Sapphira. + +Luke introduces the new personage with some particularity, and, as He +does not go into detail without good reason, we must note his +description. First, the man's character is given, as expressed in the +name bestowed by the Apostles, in imitation of Christ's frequent +custom. He must have been for some time a disciple, in order that his +special gift should have been recognised. He was a 'son of +exhortation'; that is, he had the power of rousing and encouraging +the faith and stirring the believing energy of the brethren. An +example of this was given in Antioch, where he 'exhorted them all, +that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.' So much +the more beautiful was his self-effacement when with Paul, for it was +the latter who was 'the chief speaker.' Barnabas felt that his gift +was less than his brother's, and so, without jealousy, took the +second place. He, being silent, yet speaketh, and bids us learn our +limits, and be content to be surpassed. + +We are next told his rank. He was a Levite. The tribe to which a +disciple belongs is seldom mentioned, but probably the reason for +specifying Barnabas' was the same as led Luke, in another place, to +record that 'a great company of the priests was obedient to the +faith.' The connection of the tribe of Levi with the Temple worship +made accessions from it significant, as showing how surely the new +faith was creeping into the very heart of the old system, and winning +converts from the very classes most interested in opposing it. +Barnabas' significance is further indicated by the notice that he was +'a man of Cyprus,' and as such, the earliest mentioned of the +Hellenists or foreign-born and Greek-speaking Jews, who were to play +so important a part in the expansion of the Church. + +His first appearance witnessed to the depth and simple genuineness of +his character and faith. The old law forbidding Levites to hold land +had gradually become inoperative, and perhaps Barnabas' estate was in +Cyprus, though more probably it was, like that of his relative Mary, +the mother of Mark, in Jerusalem. He did as many others were doing, +and brought the proceeds to the assembly of the brethren, and there +publicly laid them at the Apostles' feet, in token of their authority +to administer them as they thought well. + +III. Why was Barnabas' act singled out for mention, since there was +nothing peculiar about it? Most likely because it stimulated Ananias +and his wife to imitation. Wherever there are signal instances of +Christian self-sacrifice, there will spring up a crop of base copies. +Ananias follows Barnabas as surely as the shadow the substance. It +was very likely a pure impulse which led him and his wife to agree to +sell their land; and it was only when they had the money in their +hands, and had to take the decisive step of parting with it, and +reducing themselves to pennilessness, that they found the surrender +harder than they could carry out. Satan spoils many a well-begun +work, and we often break down half-way through a piece of Christian +unselfishness. Well begun is half--but only half--ended. + +Be that as it may, Peter's stern words to Ananias put all the stress +of the sin on its being an acted lie. The motives of the trick are +not disclosed. They may have been avarice, want of faith, greed of +applause, reluctance to hang back when others were doing like +Barnabas. It is hard to read the mingled motives which lead ourselves +wrong, and harder to separate them in the case of another. How much +Ananias kept back is of no moment; indeed, the less he retained the +greater the sin; for it is baser, as well as more foolish, to do +wrong for a little advantage than for a great one. + +Peter's two questions bring out very strikingly the double source of +the sin. 'Why hath Satan filled thy heart?'--an awful antithesis to +being filled with the Spirit. Then there is a real, malign Tempter, +who can pour evil affections and purposes into men's hearts. But he +cannot do it unless the man opens his heart, as that 'why?' implies. +The same thought of our co-operation and concurrence, so that, +however Satan suggests, it is we who are guilty, comes out in the +second question, 'How is it that _thou_ hast conceived this thing in +thy heart?' Reverently we may venture to say that not only Christ +stands at the door and knocks, but that the enemy of Him and His +stands there too, and he too enters 'if any man opens the door.' +Neither heaven nor hell can come in unless we will. + +The death of Ananias was not inflicted by Peter, 'Hearing these +words' he 'fell down and' died. Surely that expression suggests that +the stern words had struck at his life, and that his death was the +result of the agitation of shame and guilt which they excited. That +does not at all conflict with regarding his death as a punitive +divine act. + +One can fancy the awed silence that fell on the congregation, and the +restrained, mournful movement that ran through it when Sapphira +entered. Why the two had not come in company can only be conjectured. +Perhaps the husband had gone straight to the Apostles after +completing the sale, and had left the wife to follow at her +convenience. Perhaps she had not intended to come at all, but had +grown alarmed at the delay in Ananias' return. She may have come in +fear that something had gone wrong, and that fear would be increased +by her not seeing her husband in her quick glance round the company. + +If she came expecting to receive applause, the silence and constraint +that hung over the assembly must have stirred a fear that something +terrible had happened, which would be increased by Peter's question. +It was a merciful opportunity given her to separate herself from the +sin and the punishment; but her lie was glib, and indicated +determination to stick to the fraud. That moment was heavy with her +fate, and she knew it not; but she knew that she had the opportunity +of telling the truth, and she did not take it. She had to make the +hard choice which we have sometimes to make, to be true to some +sinful bargain or be true to God, and she chose the worse part. Which +of the two was tempter and which was tempted matters little. Like +many a wife, she thought that it was better to be loyal to her +husband than to God, and so her honour was 'rooted in dishonour,' and +she was falsely true and truly false. + +The judgment on Sapphira was not inflicted by Peter. He foretold it +by his prophetic power, but it was the hand of God which vindicated +the purity of the infant Church. The terrible severity of the +punishment can only be understood by remembering the importance of +preserving the young community from corruption at the very beginning. +Unless the vermin are cleared from the springing plant, it will not +grow. As Achan's death warned Israel at the beginning of their +entrance into the promised land, so Ananias and Sapphira perished, +that all generations of the Church might fear to pretend to self- +surrender while cherishing its opposite, and might feel that they +have to give account to One who knows the secrets of the heart, and +counts nothing as given if anything is surreptitiously kept back. + + + +WHOM TO OBEY,--ANNAS OR ANGEL? + +'Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, +(which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with +indignation, 18. And laid their hands on the apostles, and put +them in the common prison. 19. But the angel of the Lord by night +opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, 20. +Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of +this life. 21. And when they heard that, they entered into the +temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest +came, and they that were with him, and called the council +together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent +to the prison to have them brought. 22. But when the officers +came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told, +23. Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and +the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had +opened, we found no man within. 24. Now when the high priest and +the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these +things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow. 25. Then +came one and told them, saying. Behold, the men whom ye put in +prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. 26. +Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without +violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been +stoned. 27. And when they had brought them, they set them before +the council: and the high priest asked them, 28. Saying, Did not +we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? +and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and +intend to bring this man's blood upon us. 29. Then Peter and the +other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather +than men. 30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye +slew and hanged on a tree. 31. Him hath God exalted with His +right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance +to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32. And we are His witnesses +of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath +given to them that obey Him.'--ACTS v. 17-32. + +The Jewish ecclesiastics had been beaten in the first round of the +fight, and their attempt to put out the fire had only stirred the +blaze. Popular sympathy is fickle, and if the crowd does not shout +with the persecutors, it will make heroes and idols of the +persecuted. So the Apostles had gained favour by the attempt to +silence them, and that led to the second round, part of which is +described in this passage. + +The first point to note is the mean motives which influenced the +high-priest and his adherents. As before, the Sadducees were at the +bottom of the assault; for talk about a resurrection was gall and +wormwood to them. But Luke alleges a much more contemptible emotion +than zeal for supposed truth as the motive for action. The word +rendered in the Authorised Version 'indignation,' is indeed literally +'zeal,' but it here means, as the Revised Version has it, nothing +nobler than 'jealousy.' 'Who are those ignorant Galileans that they +should encroach on the office of us dignified teachers? and what +fools the populace must be to listen to them! Our prestige is +threatened. If we don't bestir ourselves, our authority will be +gone.' A lofty spirit in which to deal with grave movements of +opinion, and likely to lead its possessors to discern truth! + +The Sanhedrin, no doubt, talked solemnly about the progress of error, +and the duty of firmly putting it down, and, like Jehu, said, 'Come, +and see our zeal for the Lord'; but it was zeal for greetings in the +marketplace, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the other +advantages of their position. So it has often been since. The +instruments which zeal for truth uses are argument, Scripture, and +persuasion. That zeal which betakes itself to threats and force is, +at the best, much mingled with the wrath and jealousy of man. + +The arrest of the Apostles and their committal to prison was simply +for detention, not punishment. The rulers cast their net wider this +time, and secured all the Apostles, and, having them safe under lock +and key, they went home triumphant, and expecting to deal a decisive +blow to-morrow. Then comes one of the great 'buts' of Scripture. +Annas and Caiaphas thought that they had scored a success, but an +angel upset their calculations. To try to explain the miracle away is +hopeless. It is wiser to try to understand it. + +The very fact that it did not lead to the Apostles' deliverance, but +that the trial and scourging followed next day, just as if it had not +happened, which has been alleged as a proof of its uselessness, and +inferentially of its falsehood, puts us on the right track. It was +not meant for their deliverance, but for their heartening, and for +the bracing of all generations of Christians, by showing, at the +first conflict with the civil power, that the Lord was with His +Church. His strengthening power is operative when no miracle is +wrought. If His servants are not delivered, it is not that He lacks +angels, but that it is better for them and the Church that they +should lie in prison or die at the stake. + +The miracle was a transient revelation of a perpetual truth, and has +shed light on many a dark dungeon where God's servants have lain +rotting. It breathed heroic constancy into the Twelve. How striking +and noble was their prompt obedience to the command to resume the +perilous work of preaching! As soon as the dawn began to glimmer over +Olivet, and the priests were preparing for the morning sacrifice, +there were these irrepressible disturbers, whom the officials thought +they had shut up safely last night, lifting up their voices again as +if nothing had happened. What a picture of dauntless persistence, and +what a lesson for us! The moment the pressure is off, we should +spring back to our work of witnessing for Christ. + +The bewilderment of the Council comes in strong contrast with the +unhesitating action of the Apostles. There is a half ludicrous side +to it, which Luke does not try to hide. There was the pompous +assembling of all the great men at early morning, and their dignified +waiting till their underlings brought in the culprits. No doubt, +Annas put on his severest air of majesty, and all were prepared to +look their sternest for the confusion of the prisoners. The prison, +the Temple, and the judgment hall, were all near each other. So there +was not long to wait. But, behold! the officers come back alone, and +their report shakes the assembly out of its dignity. One sees the +astonished underlings coming up to the prison, and finding all in +order, the sentries patrolling, the doors fast (so the angel had shut +them as well as opened them), and then entering ready to drag out the +prisoners, and--finding all silent. Such elaborate guard kept over an +empty cage! + +It was not the officers' business to offer explanations, and it does +not seem that any were asked. One would have thought that the +sentries would have been questioned. Herod went the natural way to +work, when he had Peter's guards examined and put to death. But Annas +and his fellows do not seem to have cared to inquire how the escape +had been made. Possibly they suspected a miracle, or perhaps feared +that inquiry might reveal sympathisers with the prisoners among their +own officials. At any rate, they were bewildered, and lost their +heads, wondering what was to come next, and how this thing was to +end. + +The further news that these obstinate fanatics were at their old work +in the Temple again, must have greatly added to the rulers' +perplexity, and they must have waited the return of the officers sent +off for the second time to fetch the prisoners, with somewhat less +dignity than before. The officers felt the pulse of the crowd, and +did not venture on force, from wholesome fear for their own skins. An +excited mob in the Temple court was not to be trifled with, so +persuasion was adopted. The brave Twelve went willingly, for the +Sanhedrin had no terrors for them, and by going they secured another +opportunity of ringing out their Lord's salvation. Wherever a +Christian can witness for Christ, he should be ready to go. + +The high-priest discreetly said nothing about the escape. Possibly he +had no suspicion of a miracle, but, even if he had, chapter iv. 16 +shows that that would not have led to any modification of his +hostility. Persecutors, clothed with a little brief authority, are +strangely blind to the plainest indications of the truth spoken by +their victims. Annas did not know what a question about the escape +might bring out, so he took the safer course of charging the Twelve +with disobedience to the Sanhedrin's prohibition. How characteristic +of all his kind that is! Never mind whether what the martyr says is +true or not. He has broken our law, and defied our authority; that is +enough. Are we to be chopping logic, and arguing with every ignorant +upstart who chooses to vent his heresies? Gag him,--that is easier +and more dignified. + +A world of self-consequence peeps out in that '_we_ straitly charged +you,' and a world of contempt peeps out in the avoidance of naming +Jesus. 'This name' and 'this man' is the nearest that the proud +priest will come to soiling his lips by mentioning Him. He bears +unconscious testimony to the Apostles' diligence, and to the popular +inclination to them, by charging them with having filled the city +with what he contemptuously calls '_your_ teaching,' as if it had no +other source than their own ignorant notions. + +Then the deepest reason for the Sanhedrin's bitterness leaks out in +the charge of inciting the mob to take vengeance on them for the +death of Jesus. It was true that the Apostles had charged that guilt +home on them, but not on them only, but on the whole nation, so that +no incitement to revenge lay in the charge. It was true that they had +brought 'this man's blood' on the rulers, but only to draw them to +repentance, not to hound at them their sharers in the guilt. Had +Annas forgot 'His blood be on us, and on our children'? But, when an +evil deed is complete, the doers try to shuffle off the +responsibility which they were ready to take in the excitement of +hurrying to do it. Annas did not trouble himself about divine +vengeance; it was the populace whom he feared. + +So, in its attempt to browbeat the accused, in its empty airs of +authority, in its utter indifference to the truth involved, in its +contempt for the preachers and their message, in its brazen denial of +responsibility, its dread of the mob, and its disregard of the far- +off divine judgment, his bullying speech is a type of how +persecutors, from Roman governors down, have hectored their victims. + +And Peter's brave answer is, thank God! the type of what thousands of +trembling women and meek men have answered. His tone is severer now +than on his former appearance. Now he has no courteous recognition of +the court's authority. Now he brushes aside all Annas's attempts to +impose on him the sanctity of its decrees, and flatly denies that the +Council has any more right to command than any other 'men.' They +claimed to be depositaries of God's judgments. This revolutionary +fisherman sees nothing in them but 'men,' whose commands point one +way, while God's point the other. The angel bade them 'speak'; the +Council had bid them be dumb. To state the opposition was to +determine their duty. Formerly Peter had said 'judge ye' which +command it is right to obey. Now, he wraps his refusal in no folds of +courtesy, but thrusts the naked 'We must obey God' in the Council's +face. That was a great moment in the history of the world and the +Church. How much lay in it, as in a seed,--Luther's 'Here I stand, I +can do none other. God help me! Amen'; Plymouth Rock, and many a +glorious and blood-stained page in the records of martyrdom. + +Peter goes on to vindicate his assumption that in disobeying Annas +they are obeying God, by reiterating the facts which since Pentecost +he had pressed on the national conscience. Israel had slain, and God +had exalted, Jesus to His right hand. That was God's verdict on +Israel's action. But it was also the ground of hope for Israel; for +the exaltatior of Jesus was that He might be 'Prince [or Leader] and +Saviour,' and from His exalted hand were shed the gifts of +'repentance and remission of sins,' even of the great sin of slaying +Him. These things being so, how could the Apostles be silent? Had not +God bid them speak, by their very knowledge of these? They were +Christ's witnesses, constituted as such by their personal +acquaintance with Him and their having seen Him raised and ascending, +and appointed to be such by His own lips, and inspired for their +witnessing by the Holy Spirit shed on them at Pentecost. Peter all +but reproduces the never-to-be-forgotten words heard by them all in +the upper room, 'He shall bear witness of Me: and ye also shall bear +witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.' Silence +would be treason. So it is still. What were Annas and his bluster to +men whom Christ had bidden to speak, and to whom He had given the +Spirit of the Father to speak in them? + + + +OUR CAPTAIN + +'Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince.' +--ACTS v. 31. + +The word rendered 'Prince' is a rather infrequent designation of our +Lord in Scripture. It is only employed in all four times--twice in +Peter's earlier sermons recorded in this Book of the Acts; and twice +in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In a former discourse of the Apostle's +he had spoken of the crime of the Jews in killing 'the Prince of +life.' Here he uses the word without any appended epithet. In the +Epistle to the Hebrews we read once of the 'Captain of Salvation,' +and once of the 'Author of Faith.' + +Now these three renderings 'Prince,' 'Captain,' 'Author,' seem +singularly unlike. But the explanation of their being all +substantially equivalent to the original word is not difficult to +find. It seems to mean properly a Beginner, or Originator, who takes +the lead in anything, and hence the notions of chieftainship and +priority are easily deduced from it. Then, very naturally, it comes +to mean something very much like _cause_; with only this difference, +that it implies that the person who is the Originator is Himself the +Possessor of that of which He is the Cause to others. So the two +ideas of a Leader, and of a Possessor who imparts, are both included +in the word. + +My intention in this sermon is to deal with the various forms of this +expression, in order to try to bring out the fulness of the notion +which Scripture attaches to this leadership of Jesus Christ. He is +first of all, generally, as our text sets Him forth, the Leader, +absolutely. Then there are the specific aspects, expressed by the +other three passages, in which He is set forth as the Leader through +death to life; the Leader through suffering to salvation; and the +Leader in the path of faith. Let us look, then, at these points in +succession. + +I. First, we have the general notion of Christ the Leader. + +Now I suppose we are all acquainted with the fact that the names +'Joshua' and 'Jesus' are, in the original, one. It is further to be +noticed that, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which +was familiar to Peter's hearers, the word of our text is that +employed to describe the office of the military leaders of Israel. It +is still further to be observed that, in all the instances in the New +Testament, it is employed in immediate connection with the name of +Jesus. Now, putting all these things together, remembering to whom +Peter was speaking, remembering the familiarity which many of his +audience must have had with the Old Testament in its Greek +translation, remembering the identity of the two names Joshua and +Jesus, it is difficult to avoid the supposition that the expression +of our text is coloured by a reference to the bold soldier who +successfully led his brethren into the Promised Land. Joshua was the +'Captain of the Lord's host' to lead them to Canaan; the second +Joshua is the Captain of the Host of the Lord to lead them to a +better rest. Of all the Old Testament heroes perhaps there is none, +at first sight, less like the second Joshua than the first was. He is +only a rough, plain, prompt, and bold soldier. No prophet was he, no +word of wisdom ever fell from his lips, no trace of tenderness was in +anything that he did; meekness was alien from his character, he was +no sage, he was no saint, but decisive, swift, merciless when +necessary, full of resource, sharp and hard as his own sword. And yet +a parallel may be drawn. + +The second Joshua is the Captain of the Lord's host, as was typified +to the first one, in that strange scene outside the walls of Jericho, +where the earthly commander, sunk in thought, was brooding upon the +hard nut which he had to crack, when suddenly he lifted up his eyes, +and beheld a man with a drawn sword. With the instinctive alertness +of his profession and character, his immediate question was, 'Art +thou for us or for our enemies?' And he got the answer 'No! I am not +on thy side, nor on the other side, but thou art on Mine. As Captain +of the Lord's host am I come up.' + +So Jesus Christ, the 'Strong Son of God,' is set forth by this +military emblem as being Himself the first Soldier in the army of +God, and the Leader of all the host. We forget far too much the +militant character of Jesus Christ. We think of His meekness, His +gentleness, His patience, His tenderness, His humility, and we cannot +think of these too much, too lovingly, too wonderingly, too +adoringly, but we too often forget the strength which underlay the +gentleness, and that His life, all gracious as it was, when looked at +from the outside, had beneath it a continual conflict, and was in +effect the warfare of God against all the evils and the sorrows of +humanity. We forget the courage that went to make the gentleness of +Jesus, the daring that underlay His lowliness; and it does us good to +remember that all the so-called heroic virtues were set forth in +supreme form, not in some vulgar type of excellence, such as a +conqueror, whom the world recognises, but in that meek King whose +weapon was love, yet was wielded with a soldier's hand. + +This general thought of Jesus Christ as the first Soldier and Captain +of the Lord's army not only opens for us a side of His character +which we too often pass by, but it also says something to us as to +what our duties ought to be. He stands to us in the relation of +General and Commander-in-Chief; then we stand to Him in the relation +of private soldiers, whose first duty is unhesitating obedience, and +who in doing their Master's will must put forth a bravery far higher +than the vulgar courage that is crowned with wreathed laurels on the +bloody battlefield, even the bravery that is caught from Him who 'set +His face as a flint' to do His work. + +Joshua's career has in it a great stumbling-block to many people, in +that merciless destruction of the Canaanite sinners, which can only +be vindicated by remembering, first, that it was a divine +appointment, and that God has the right to punish; and, second, that +those old days were under a different law, or at least a less +manifestly developed law of loving-kindness and mercy than, thank +God! we live in. But whilst we look with wonder on these awful scenes +of destruction, may there not lie in them the lesson for us that +antagonism and righteous wrath against evil in all its forms is the +duty of the soldiers of Christ? There are many causes to-day which to +further and fight for is the bounden duty of every Christian, and to +further and fight for which will tax all the courage that any of us +can muster. Remember that the leadership of Christ is no mere pretty +metaphor, but a solemn fact, which brings with it the soldier's +responsibilities. When our Centurion says to us, 'Come!' we must +come. When He says to us, 'Go!' we must go. When He says to us 'Do +this!' we must do it, though heart and flesh should shrink and fail. +Unhesitating obedience to His authoritative command will deliver us +from many of the miseries of self-will; and brave effort at Christ's +side is as much the privilege as the duty of His servants and +soldiers. + +II. So note, secondly, the Leader through death to life. + +Peter, in the sermon which is found in the third chapter of this Book +of the Acts, has his mind and heart filled with the astounding fact +of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, and in the same +breath as he gives forth the paradoxical indictment of the Jewish +sin, 'You have killed the Prince of Life'--the Leader of Life--he +also says, 'And God hath raised Him from the dead.' So that the +connection seems to point to the risen and glorified life into which +Christ Himself passed, and by passing became capable of imparting it +to others. The same idea is here as in Paul's other metaphor: 'Now is +Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that +slept'--the first sheaf of the harvest, which was carried into the +Temple and consecrated to God, and was the pledge and prophecy of the +reaping in due season of all the miles of golden grain that waved in +the autumn sunshine. 'So,' says Peter, 'He is the Leader of Life, who +Himself has passed through the darkness, for "you killed Him"; +mystery of mysteries as it is that you should have been able to do +it, deeper mystery still that you should have been willing to do it, +deepest mystery of all that you did it not when you did it, but that +"He became dead and is alive for evermore." You killed the Prince of +Life, and God raised Him from the dead.' + +He has gone before us. He is 'the first that should rise from the +dead.' For, although the partial power of His communicated life did +breathe for a moment resuscitation into two dead men and one dead +maiden, these shared in no resurrection-life, but only came back +again into mortality, and were quickened for a time, but to die at +last the common death of all. But Jesus Christ is the first that has +gone into the darkness and come back again to live for ever. Across +the untrodden wild there is one track marked, and the footprints upon +it point both ways--to the darkness and from the darkness. So the +dreary waste is not pathless any more. The broad road that all the +generations have trodden on their way into the everlasting darkness +is left now, and the 'travellers pass by the byway' which Jesus +Christ has made by the touch of His risen feet. + +Thus, not only does this thought teach us the priority of His +resurrection-life, but it also declares to us that Jesus Christ, +possessing the risen life, possesses it to impart it. For, as I +remarked in my introductory observations, the conception of this word +includes not only the idea of a Leader, but that of One who, Himself +possessing or experiencing something, gives it to others. All men +rise again. Yes, 'but every man in his own order.' There are two +principles at work in the resurrection of all men. They are raised on +different grounds, and they are raised to different issues. They that +are Christ's are brought again from the dead, because the life of +Christ is in them; and it is as 'impossible' that they, as that 'He, +should be holden of it.' Union with Jesus Christ by simple faith is +the means, and the only means revealed to us, whereby men shall be +raised from the dead at the last by a resurrection which is anything +else than a prolonged death. As for others, 'some shall rise unto +shame and everlasting contempt,' rising dead, and dead after they are +risen--dead as long as they live. There be two resurrections, whether +simultaneous in time or not is of no moment, and all of us must have +our part in the one or the other; and faith in Jesus Christ is the +only means by which we can take a place in the great army and +procession that He leads down into the valley and up to the sunny +heights. + +If He be the Leader through death unto life, then it is certain that +all who follow in His train shall attain to His side and shall share +in His glory. The General wears no order which the humblest private +in the ranks may not receive likewise, and whomsoever He leads, His +leading will not end till He has led them close to His side, if they +trust Him. So, calmly, confidently, we may each of us look forward to +that dark journey waiting for us all. All our friends will leave us +at the tunnel's mouth, but He will go with us through the gloom, and +bring us out into the sunny lands on the southern side of the icy +white mountains. The Leader of our souls will be our Guide, not only +unto death, but far beyond it, into His own life. + +III. So, thirdly, note the Leader through suffering to salvation. + +In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is written, 'It became Him for whom +are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons +unto glory, to make the Captain'--or the Leader--'of their salvation +perfect through sufferings.' That expression might seem at first to +shut Jesus Christ out from any participation in the thing which He +gives. For salvation is His gift, but not that which He Himself +possesses and enjoys; but it is to be noticed that in the context of +the words which I have quoted, 'glory' is put as substantially +synonymous with salvation, and that the whole is suffused with the +idea of a long procession, as shown by the phrase, 'bringing many +sons.' Of this procession Jesus Christ Himself is the Leader. + +So, clearly, the notion in the context now under consideration is +that the life of Jesus Christ is the type to which all His servants +are to be conformed. He is the Representative Man, who Himself passes +through the conditions through which we are to pass, and Himself +reaches the glory which, given to us, becomes salvation. + +'Christ is perfected through sufferings.' So must we be. Perfected +through sufferings? you say. Then did His humanity need perfecting? +Yes, and No. There needed nothing to be hewn away from that white +marble. There was nothing to be purged by fire out of that pure life. +But I suppose that Jesus Christ's human nature needed to be unfolded +by life; as the Epistle to the Hebrews says, 'He learned obedience, +though He were a Son, through the things which He suffered.' And +fitness for His office of leading us to glory required to be reached +through the sufferings which were the condition of our forgiveness +and of our acceptance with God. So, whether we regard the word as +expressing the agony of suffering in unfolding His humanity, or in +fitting Him for His redeeming work, it remains true that He was +perfected by His sufferings. + +So must we be. Our characters will never reach the refinement, the +delicacy, the unworldliness, the dependence upon God, which they +require for their completion, unless we have been passed through many +a sorrow. There are plants which require a touch of frost to perfect +them, and we all need the discipline of a Father's hand. The sorrows +that come to us all are far more easily borne when we think that +Christ bore them all before us. It is but a blunted sword which +sorrow wields against any of us; it was blunted on His armour. It is +but a spent ball that strikes us; its force was exhausted upon Him. +Sorrow, if we keep close to Him, may become solemn joy, and knit us +more thoroughly to Himself. Ah, brother! we can better spare our joys +than we can spare our sorrows. Only let us cleave to Him when they +fall upon us. + +Christ's sufferings led Him to His glory, so will ours if we keep by +His side--and only if we do. There is nothing in the mere fact of +being tortured and annoyed here on earth, which has in itself any +direct and necessary tendency to prepare us for the enjoyment, or to +secure to us the possession, of future blessedness. You often hear +superficial people saying, 'Oh! he has been very much troubled here, +but there will be amends for it hereafter.' Yes; God would wish to +make amends for it hereafter, but He cannot do so unless we comply +with the conditions. And it needs that we should keep close to Jesus +Christ in sorrow, in order that it should work for us 'the peaceable +fruit of righteousness.' The glory will come if the patient endurance +has preceded, and has been patience drawn from Jesus. + + 'I wondered at the beauteous hours, + The slow result of winter showers, + You scarce could see the grass for flowers.' + +The sorrows that have wounded any man's head like a crown of thorns +will be covered with the diadem of Heaven, if they are sorrows borne +with Christ. + +IV. Lastly, we have Jesus, the Leader in the path of faith. + +'The Author of faith,' says the verse in the Epistle to the Hebrews. +'Author' does not cover all the ground, though it does part of it. We +must include the other ideas which I have been trying to set forth He +is 'Possessor' first and 'Giver' afterwards. For Jesus Christ Himself +is both the Pattern and the Inspirer of our faith. It would unduly +protract my remarks to dwell adequately upon this; but let me just +briefly hint some thoughts connected with it. + +Jesus Christ Himself walked by continual faith. His manhood depended +upon God, just as ours has to depend upon Jesus. He lived in the +continued reception of continual strength from above by reason of His +faith, just as our faith is the condition of our reception of His +strength. We are sometimes afraid to recognise the fact that the Man +Jesus, who is our pattern in all things, is our pattern in this, the +most special and peculiarly human aspect of the religious life. But +if Christ was not the first of believers, His pattern is wofully +defective in its adaptation to our need. Rather let us rejoice in the +thought that all that great muster-roll of the heroes of the faith, +which the Epistle to the Hebrews has been dealing with, have for +their Leader--though, chronologically, He marches in the centre-- +Jesus Christ, of whose humanity this is the document and proof that +He says, in the Prophet's words: 'I will put My trust in Him.' + +Remember, too, that the same Jesus who is the Pattern is the Object +and the Inspirer of our faith; and that if we fulfil the conditions +in the text now under consideration, 'looking off' from all others, +stimulating and beautiful as their example may be, sweet and tender +as their love may be, and 'looking unto Jesus,' He will be in us, and +above us--in us to inspire, and above us to receive and to reward our +humble confidence. + +So, dear friends, it all comes to this, 'Follow thou Me!' In that +commandment all duty is summed, and in obeying it all blessedness and +peace are ensured. If we will take Christ for our Captain, He will +teach our fingers to fight. If we obey Him we shall not want +guidance, and be saved from perplexities born of self-will. If we +keep close to Him and turn our eyes to Him, away from all the false +and fleeting joys and things of earth, we shall not walk in darkness, +howsoever earthly lights may be quenched, but the gloomiest path will +be illuminated by His presence, and the roughest made smooth by His +bleeding feet that passed along it. If we follow Him, He will lead us +down into the dark valley, and up into the blessed sunshine, where +participation in His own eternal life and glory will be salvation. If +we march in His ranks on earth, then shall we + + 'With joy upon our heads arise + And meet our Captain in the skies.' + + + +GAMALIEL'S COUNSEL + +'Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel +or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39. But if it be +of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to +fight against God.'--ACTS v. 38, 39. + +The little that is known of Gamaliel seems to indicate just such a +man as would be likely to have given the advice in the text. His was +a character which, on its good side and by its admirers, would be +described as prudent, wise, cautious and calm, tolerant, opposed to +fanaticism and violence. His position as president of the Sanhedrin, +his long experience, his Rabbinical training, his old age, and his +knowledge that the national liberty depended on keeping things quiet, +would be very likely to exaggerate such tendencies into what his +enemies would describe as worldly shrewdness without a trace of +enthusiasm, indifference to truth, and the like. + +It is, of course, possible that he bases his counsel of letting the +followers of Jesus alone, on the grounds which he adduces, because he +knew that reasons more favourable to Christians would have had no +weight with the Sanhedrin. Old Church traditions make him out to have +been a Christian, and the earliest Christian romance, a very singular +book, of which the main object was to blacken the Apostle Paul, +roundly asserts that at the date of this advice he was 'secretly our +brother,' and that he remained in the Sanhedrin to further Christian +views. But there seems not the slightest reason to suppose that. He +lived and died a Jew, spared the sight of the destruction of +Jerusalem which, according to his own canon in the text, would have +proved that the system to which he had given his life was not of God; +and the only relic of his wisdom is a prayer against Christian +heretics. + +It is remarkable that he should have given this advice; but two +things occur to account for it. Thus far Christianity had been very +emphatically the preaching of the Resurrection, a truth which the +Pharisees believed and held as especially theirs in opposition to the +Sadducees, and Gamaliel was old and worldly-wise enough to count all +as his friends who were the enemies of his enemies. He was not very +particular where he looked for allies, and rather shrank from helping +Sadducees to punish men whose crime was that they 'preached through +Jesus a resurrection from the dead.' + +Then the Jewish rulers had a very ticklish part to play. They were +afraid of any popular shout which might bring down the avalanche of +Roman power on them, and they were nervously anxious to keep things +quiet. So Gamaliel did not wish to have any fuss made about 'these +men,' lest it should be supposed that another popular revolt was on +foot; and he thought that to let them alone was the best way to +reduce their importance. Perhaps, too, there was a secret hope in the +old man's mind, which he scarcely ventured to look at and dared not +speak, that here might be the beginning of a rising which had more +promise in it than that abortive one under Theudas. He could not +venture to say this, but perhaps it made him chary of voting for +repression. He had no objection to let these poor Galileans fling +away their lives in storming against the barrier of Rome. If they +fail, it is but one more failure. If they succeed, he and his like +will say that they have done well. But while the enterprise is too +perilous for him to approve or be mixed up in it, he would let it +have its chance. + +Note that Gamaliel regards the whole movement as the probable germ of +an uprising against Rome, as is seen from the parallels that he +quotes. It is not as a religious teaching which is true or false, but +as a political agitation, that he looks at Christianity. + +It is to his credit that he stood calm and curbed the howling of the +fanatics round him, and that he was the first and only Jewish +authority who counselled abstinence from persecution. + +It is interesting to compare him with Gallio, who had a glimpse of +the true relation of the civil magistrate to religious opinion. +Gamaliel has a glimpse of the truth of the impotence of material +force against truth, how it is of a quick and spiritual essence, +which cannot be cleaved in pieces with a sword, but lives on in spite +of all. But while all this may be true, the advice on the whole is a +low and bad one. It rests on false principles; it takes a false view +of a man's duty; it is not wholly sincere; and it is one impossible +to be carried out. It is singularly in accordance with many of the +tendencies of this age, and with modes of thought and counsels of +action which are in active operation amongst us to-day, and we may +therefore criticise it now. + +I. Here is disbelief professing to be 'honest doubt.' Gamaliel +professes not to have materials for judging. 'If--if'; was it a time +for 'ifs'? What was that Sanhedrin there for, but to try precisely +such cases as these? + +They had had the works of Christ; miracles which they had +investigated and could not disprove; a life which was its own +witness; prophecies fulfilled; His own presence before their bar; the +Resurrection and the Pentecost. + +I am not saying whether these facts were enough to have convinced +them, nor even whether the alleged miracles were true. All that I am +concerned with is that, so far as we know, neither Gamaliel nor any +of his tribe had ever made the slightest attempt to inquire into +them, but had, without examination, complacently treated them as +lies. All that body of evidence had been absolutely ignored. And now +he is, with his 'ifs,' posing as very calm and dispassionate. + +So to-day it is fashionable to doubt, to hang up most of the +Christian truths in the category of uncertainties. + +(_a_) When that is the fashion, we need to be on our guard. + +(_b_) If you doubt, have you ever taken the pains to examine? + +(_c_) If you doubt, you are bound to go further, and either reach +belief or rejection. Doubt is not the permanent condition for a man. +The central truth of Christianity is either to be received or +rejected. + +II. Here is disbelief masquerading as suspension of judgment. + +Gamaliel talked as if he did not know, or had not decided in his own +mind, whether the disciples' claims for their Master were just or +not. But the attitude of impartiality and hesitation was the cover of +rooted unbelief. He speaks as if the alternative was that either this +'counsel and work' was 'of man' or 'of God.' But he would have been +nearer the truth if he had stated the antithesis--God or devil; a +glorious truth or a hell-born lie. If Christ's work was not a +revelation from above, it was certainly an emanation from beneath. + +We sometimes hear disbelief, in our own days, talking in much the +same fashion. Have we never listened to teachers who first of all +prove to their own satisfaction that Jesus is a myth, that all the +gospel story is unreliable, and all the gospel message a dream, and +then turn round and overflow in praise of Him and in admiration of +it? Browning's professor in _Christmas Day_ first of all reduces 'the +pearl of price' to dust and ashes, and then + + 'Bids us, when we least expect it, + Take back our faith--if it be not just whole, + Yet a pearl indeed, as his tests affect it.' + +And that is very much the tone of not a few very superior persons to- +day. But let us have one thing or the other--a Christ who was what He +claimed to be, the Incarnate Word of God, who died for our sins and +rose again for our justification; or a Galilean peasant who was +either a visionary or an impostor, like Judas of Galilee and Theudas. + +III. Here is success turned into a criterion of truth. + +It is such, no doubt, in the long run, but not till then, and so till +the end it is utterly false to argue that a thing is true because +multitudes think it to be so. The very opposite is more nearly true. +It in usually minorities who have been right. + +Gamaliel laid down an immoral principle, which is only too popular +to-day, in relation to religion and to much else. + +IV. Here is a selfish neutrality pretending to be judicial calmness. + +Even if it were true that success is a criterion, we have to help God +to ensure the success of His truth. No doubt, taking sides is very +inconvenient to a cool, tolerant man of the world. And it is +difficult to be in a party without becoming a partisan. We know all +the beauty of mild, tolerant wisdom, and that truth is usually shared +between combatants, but the dangers of extremes and exaggeration must +be faced, and perhaps these are better than the cool indifference of +the eclectic, sitting apart, holding no form of creed, but +contemplating all. It is not good for a man to stand aloof when his +brethren are fighting. + +In every age some great causes which are God's are pressing for +decision. In many of them we may be disqualified for taking sides. +But feel that you are bound to cast your influence on the side which +conscience approves, and bound to settle which side that is, +Deborah's fierce curse against Meroz because its people came not up +to the help of the Lord against the mighty was deserved. + +But the region in which such judicial calmness, which shrinks from +taking its side, is most fatal and sadly common, is in regard to our +own individual relation to Jesus, and in regard to the establishment +of His kingdom among men. + +'He that is not with Me is against Me.' Neutrality is opposition. Not +to gather with Him is to scatter. Not to choose Him is to reject Him. + +Gamaliel had a strange notion of what constituted 'refraining from +these men and letting them alone,' and he betrayed his real position +and opposition by his final counsel to scourge them, before letting +them go. That is what the world's neutrality comes to. + +How poor a figure this politic ecclesiastic, mostly anxious not to +commit himself, ready to let whoever would risk a struggle with Rome, +so that he kept out of the fray and survived to profit by it, cuts +beside the disciples, who had chosen their side, had done with 'ifs,' +and went away from the Council rejoicing 'that they were counted +worthy to suffer shame for His Name'! Who would not rather be Peter +or John with their bleeding backs than Gamaliel, sitting soft in his +presidential chair, and too cautious to commit himself to an opinion +whether the name of Jesus was that of a prophet or a pretender? + + + +FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT + +'Men ... full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.' ... 'A man full of +faith and of the Holy Ghost....' 'Stephen, full of faith and +power.'--ACTS vi. 3, 5, 8. + +I have taken the liberty of wrenching these three fragments from +their context, because of their remarkable parallelism, which is +evidently intended to set us thinking of the connection of the +various characteristics which they set forth. The first of them is a +description, given by the Apostles, of the sort of man whom they +conceived to be fit to look after the very homely matter of stifling +the discontent of some members of the Church, who thought that their +poor people did not get their fair share of the daily ministration. +The second and third of them are parts of the description of the +foremost of these seven men, the martyr Stephen. In regard to the +first and second of our three fragmentary texts, you will observe +that the cause is put first and the effect second. The 'deacons' were +to be men 'full of the Holy Ghost,' and that would make them 'full of +wisdom.' Stephen was 'full of faith,' and that made him 'full of the +Holy Ghost.' Probably the same relation subsists in the third of our +texts, of which the true reading is not, as it appears in our +Authorised Version, 'full of faith and power,' but as it is given in +the Revised Version, 'full of grace and power.' He was filled with +grace--by which apparently is here meant the sum of the divine +spiritual gifts--and therefore he was full of power. Whether that is +so or not, if we link these three passages together, as I have taken +the liberty of doing, we get a point of view appropriate for such a +day [Footnote: Preached on Whit Sunday.] as this, when all that calls +itself Christendom is commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit, +and His abiding influence upon the Church. So I simply wish to gather +together the principles that come out of these three verses thus +concatenated. + +I. We may all, if we will, be full of the Holy Spirit. + +If there is a God at all, there is nothing more reasonable than to +suppose that He can come into direct contact with the spirits of the +men whom He has made. And if that Almighty God is not an Almighty +indifference, or a pure devil--if He is love--then there is nothing +more certain than that, if He can touch and influence men's hearts +towards goodness and His own likeness, He most certainly will. + +The probability, which all religion recognises, and in often crude +forms tries to set forth, and by superstitious acts to secure, is +raised to an absolute certainty, if we believe that Jesus Christ, the +Incarnate Truth, speaks truth to us about this matter. For there is +nothing more certain than that the characteristic which distinguishes +Him from all other teachers, is to be found not only in the fact that +He did something for us on the Cross, as well as taught us by His +word; but that in His teaching He puts in the forefront, not the +prescriptions of our duty, but the promise of God's gift; and ever +says to us, 'Open your hearts and the divine influences will flow in +and fill you and fit you for all goodness.' The Spirit of God fills +the human spirit, as the mysterious influence which we call life +permeates and animates the whole body, or as water lies in a cup. + +Consider how that metaphor is caught up, and from a different point +of view is confirmed, in regard to the completeness which it +predicates, by other metaphors of Scripture. What is the meaning of +the Baptist's saying, 'He shall baptise you in the Holy Ghost and +fire'? Does that not mean a complete immersion in, and submersion +under, the cleansing flood? What is the meaning of the Master's own +saying, 'Tarry ye... till ye be clothed with power from on high'? +Does not that mean complete investiture of our nakedness with that +heavenly-woven robe? Do not all these emblems declare to us the +possibility of a human spirit being charged to the limits of its +capacity with a divine influence? + +We do not here discuss questions which separate good Christian people +from one another in regard of this matter. My object now is not to +lay down theological propositions, but to urge upon Christian men the +acquirement of an experience which is possible for them. And so, +without caring to enter by argument on controversial matters, I +desire simply to lay emphasis upon the plain implication of that +word, '_filled_ with the Holy Ghost.' Does it mean less than the +complete subjugation of a man's spirit by the influence of God's +Spirit brooding upon him, as the prophet laid himself on the dead +child, lip to lip, face to face, beating heart to still heart, limb +to limb, and so diffused a supernatural life into the dead? That is +an emblem of what all you Christian people may have if you like, and +if you will adopt the discipline and observe the conditions which God +has plainly laid down. + +That fulness will be a growing fulness, for our spirits are capable, +if not of infinite, at any rate of indefinite, expansion, and there +is no limit known to us, and no limit, I suppose, which will ever be +reached, so that we can go no further--to the possible growth of a +created spirit that is in touch with God, and is having itself +enlarged and elevated and ennobled by that contact. The vessel is +elastic, the walls of the cup of our spirit, into which the new wine +of the divine Spirit is poured, widen out as the draught is poured +into them. The more a man possesses and uses of the life of God, the +more is he capable of possessing and the more he will receive. So a +continuous expansion in capacity, and a continuous increase in the +amount of the divine life possessed, are held out as the happy +prerogative and possibility of a Christian soul. + +This Stephen had but a very small amount of the clear Christian +knowledge that you and I have, but he was leagues ahead of most +Christian people in regard to this, that he was 'filled with the Holy +Spirit.' Brethren, you can have as much of that Spirit as you want. +It is my own fault if my Christian life is not what the Christian +lives of some of us, I doubt not, are. 'Filled with the Holy Spirit'! +rather a little drop in the bottom of the cup, and all the rest +gaping emptiness; rather the fire died down, Pentecostal fire though +it be, until there is scarcely anything but a heap of black cinders +and grey ashes in your grate, and a little sandwich of flickering +flame in one corner; rather the rushing mighty wind died down into +all but a dead calm, like that which afflicts sailing-ships in the +equatorial regions, when the thick air is deadly still, and the empty +sails have not strength even to flap upon the masts; rather the +'river of the water of life' that pours 'out of the throne of God, +and of the Lamb,' dried up into a driblet. + +That is the condition of many Christian people. I say not of which of +us. Let each man settle for himself how that may be. At all events +here is the possibility, which may be realised with increasing +completeness all through a Christian man's life. We may be filled +with the Holy Spirit. + +II. If we are 'full of faith' we shall be filled with the Spirit. + +That is the condition as suggested by one of our texts--'a man full +of faith,' and therefore 'of the Holy Ghost.' Now, of course, I +believe, as I suppose all people who have made any experience of +their own hearts must believe, that before a soul exercises +confidence in Jesus Christ, and passes into the household of faith, +there have been playing upon it the influences of that divine +Comforter whose first mission is to 'convince the world of sin.' But +between such operations as these, which I believe are universally +diffused, wheresoever the Word of God and the message of salvation +are proclaimed--between such operations as these, and those to which +I now refer, whereby the divine Spirit not only operates upon, but +dwells in, a man's heart, and not only brings conviction to the world +of sin, there is a wide gulf fixed; and for all the hallowing, +sanctifying, illuminating and strength-giving operations of that +divine Spirit, the pre-requisite condition is our trust. Jesus Christ +taught us so, in more than one utterance, and His Apostle, in +commenting on one of the most remarkable of His sayings on this +subject, says, 'This spake He concerning the Holy Spirit which _they +that believed_ in Him were to receive.' Faith is the condition of +receiving that divine influence. But what kind of faith? Well, let us +put away theological words. If you do not believe that there is any +such influence to be got, you will not get it. If you do not want it, +you will not get it. If you do not expect it, you will not get it. If +professing to believe it, and to wish it, and to look for it, you are +behaving yourself in such a way as to show that you do not really +desire it, you will never get it. It is all very well to talk about +faith as the condition of receiving that divine Spirit. Do not let us +lose ourselves in the word, but try to translate the somewhat +threadbare expression, which by reason of its familiarity produces +little effect upon some of us, and to turn it into non-theological +English. It just comes to this,--if we are simply trusting ourselves +to Jesus Christ our Lord, and if in that trust we do believe in the +possibility of even _our_ being filled with the divine Spirit, and if +that possibility lights up a leaping flame of desire in our hearts +which aspires towards the possession of such a gift, and if belief +that our reception of that gift is possible because we trust +ourselves to Jesus Christ, and longing that we may receive it, +combine to produce the confident expectation that we shall, and if +all of these combine to produce conduct which neither quenches nor +grieves that divine Guest, then, and only then, shall we indeed be +filled with the Spirit. + +I know of no other way by which a man can receive God into his heart +than by opening his heart for God to come in. I know of no other way +by which a man can woo--if I may so say--the Divine Lover to enter +into his spirit than by longing that He would come, waiting for His +coming, expecting it, and being supremely blessed in the thought that +such a union is possible. Faith, that is trust, with its appropriate +and necessary sequels of desire and expectation and obedience, is the +completing of the electric circuit, and after it the spark is sure to +come. It is the opening of the windows, after which sunshine cannot +but flood the chamber. It is the stretching out of the hand, and no +man that ever, with love and longing, lifted an empty hand to God, +dropped it still empty. And no man who, with penitence for his own +act, and trust in the divine act, lifted blood-stained and foul hands +to God, ever held them up there without the gory patches melting +away, and becoming white as snow. Not 'all the perfumes of Araby' can +sweeten those bloody hands. Lift them up to God, and they become +pure. Whosoever wishes that he may, and believes that he shall, +receive from Christ the fulness of the Spirit, will not be +disappointed. Brethren, 'Ye have not because ye ask not.' 'If ye, +being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,' shall not +'your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' + +III. Lastly, if we are filled with the Spirit we shall be 'full of +wisdom, grace, and power.' + +The Apostles seemed to think that it was a very important business to +look after a handful of poor widows, and see that they had their fair +share in the dispensing of the modest charity of the half-pauper +Jerusalem church, when they said that for such a purely secular thing +as that a man would need to be 'full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.' +Surely, something a little less august might have served their turn +to qualify men for such a task! 'Wisdom' here, I suppose, means +practical sagacity, common sense, the power of picking out an +impostor when she came whining for a dole. Very commonplace virtues! +--but the Apostles evidently thought that such everyday operations of +the understanding as these were not too secular and commonplace to +owe their origin to the communication to men of the fulness of the +Holy Spirit. + +May we not take a lesson from that, that God's great influences, when +they come into a man, do not concern themselves only with great +intellectual problems and the like, but that they will operate to +make him more fit to do the most secular and the most trivial things +that can be put into his hand to do? The Holy Ghost had to fill +Stephen before he could hand out loaves and money to the widows in +Jerusalem. + +And do you not think that your day's work, and your business +perplexities, come under the same category? Perhaps the best way to +secure understanding of what we ought to do, in regard to very small +and secular matters, is to keep ourselves very near to God, with the +windows of our hearts opened towards Jerusalem, that all the guidance +and light that can come from Him may come into us. Depend upon it, +unless we have God's guidance in the trivialities of life, ninety per +cent., ay! and more, of our lives will be without God's guidance; +because trivialities make up life. And unless my Father in heaven can +guide me about what we, very mistakenly, call 'secular' things, and +what we very vulgarly call trivial things, His guidance is not worth +much. The Holy Ghost will give you wisdom for to-morrow, and all its +little cares, as well as for the higher things, of which I am not +going to speak now, because they do not come within my text. + +'Full of grace,'--that is a wide word, as I take it. If, by our +faith, we have brought into our hearts that divine influence, the +Spirit of God does not come empty-handed, but He communicates to us +whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, whatsoever things +are fair and honourable, whatsoever things in the eyes of men are +worthy to be praised, and by the tongues of men have been called +virtue. These things will all be given to us step by step, not +without our own diligent co-operation, by that divine Giver. Effort +without faith, and faith without effort, are equally incomplete, and +the co-operation of the two is that which is blessed by God. + +Then the things which are 'gracious,' that is to say, given by His +love, and also gracious in the sense of partaking of the celestial +beauty which belongs to all virtue, and to all likeness in character +to God, these things will give us a strange, supernatural _power_ +amongst men. The word is employed in my third text, I presume, in its +narrow sense of miracle-working power, but we may fairly widen it to +something much more than that. Our Lord once said, when He was +speaking about the gift of the Holy Spirit, that there were two +stages in its operation. In the first, it availed for the refreshment +and the satisfying of the desires of the individual; in the second it +became, by the ministration of that individual, a source of blessing +to others. He said, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me and +drink,' and then, immediately, 'He that believeth on Me, out of his +belly shall flow rivers of living water.' That is to say, whoever +lives in touch with God, having that divine Spirit in his heart, will +walk amongst men the wielder of an unmistakable power, and will be +able to bear witness to God, and move men's hearts, and draw them to +goodness and truth. The only power for Christian service is the power +that comes from being clothed with God's Spirit. The only power for +self-government is the power that comes from being clothed with God's +Spirit. The only power which will keep us in the way that leads to +life, and will bring us at last to the rest and the reward, is the +power that comes from being clothed with God's Spirit. + +I am charged to all who hear me now with this message. Here is a gift +offered to you. You cannot pare and batter at your own characters so +as to make them what will satisfy your own consciences, still less +what will satisfy the just judgment of God; but you can put yourself +under the moulding influences of Christ's love. Dear brethren, the +one hope for dead humanity, the bones very many and very dry, is that +from the four winds there should come the breath of God, and breathe +in them, and they shall live, 'an exceeding great army.' Forget all +else that I have been saying now, if you like, but take these two +sentences to your hearts, and do not rest till they express your own +personal experience; If I am to be good I must have God's Spirit +within me. If I am to have God's Spirit within me, I must be 'full of +faith.' + + + +STEPHEN'S VISION + +'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on +the right hand of God'--ACTS vii. 56. + +I. The vision of the Son of Man, or the abiding manhood of Jesus. + +Stephen's Greek name, and his belonging to the Hellenistic part of +the Church, make it probable that he had never seen Jesus during His +earthly life. If so, how beautiful that he should thus see and +recognise Him! How significant, in any case, is it he should +instinctively have taken on his lips that name, 'the Son of Man,' to +designate Him whom he saw, through the opened heavens, standing on +the right hand of God! We remember that in the same Council-chamber +and before the same court, Jesus had lashed the rulers into a +paroxysm of fury by declaring, 'Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man +sitting at the right hand of power,' and now here is one of His +followers, almost, as it were, flinging in their teeth the words +which they had called 'blasphemy,' and witnessing that he, at all +events, saw their partial fulfilment. They saw only the roof of the +chamber, or, if the Council met in the open court of the Temple, the +quivering blue of the Syrian sky; but to him the blue was parted, and +a brighter light than that of its lustre was flashed upon his inward +eye. His words roused them to an even wilder outburst than those of +Jesus had set loose, and with yells of fury, and stopping their ears +that they might not hear the blasphemy, they flung themselves on him, +unresisting, and dragged him to his doom. Their passion is a measure +of the preciousness to the Christian consciousness of that which +Stephen saw, and said that he saw. + +Whatever more the great designation, 'Son of Man,' means, it +unmistakably means the embodiment of perfect manhood. Stephen's +vision swept into his soul, as on a mighty wave, the fact, +overwhelming if it had not been so transcendently strengthening to +the sorely bestead prisoner, that the Jesus whom he had trusted +unseen, was still the same Jesus that He had been 'in the days of His +flesh,' and, with whatever changes, still was 'found in fashion as a +man.' He still 'bent on earth a brother's eye.' Whatever He had +dropped from Him as He ascended, His manhood had not fallen away, +and, whatever changes had taken place in His body so as to fit it for +its enthronement in the heavens, all that had knit Him to His humble +friends on earth was still His. The bonds that united Him and them +had not been snapped by being stretched to span the distance between +the Council-chamber and the right hand of God. His sympathy still +continued. All that had won their hearts was still in Him, and every +tender remembrance of His love and leading was transformed into the +assurance of a present possession. He was still the Son of Man. + +We are all too apt to feel as if the manhood of Jesus was now but a +memory, and, though our creed affirms the contrary, yet our faith has +difficulty in realising the full force and blessedness of its +affirmations. For the Resurrection and Ascension seem to remove Him +from close contact with us, and sometimes we feel as if we stretch +out groping fingers into the dark and find no warm human hand to +grasp. His exaltation seems to withdraw Him from our brotherhood, and +the cloud, though it is a cloud of glory, sometimes seems to hide Him +from our sight. The thickening veil of increasing centuries becomes +more and more difficult for faith to pierce. What Stephen saw was not +for him only but for us all, and its significance becomes more and +more precious as we drift further and further away in time from the +days of the life of Jesus on earth. More and more do we need to make +very visible to ourselves this vision, and to lay on our hearts the +strong consolation of gazing steadfastly into heaven and seeing there +the Son of Man. So we shall feel that He is all to us that He was to +those who companied with Him here. So shall we be more ready to +believe that 'this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as He +went,' and that till He come, He is knit to us and we to Him, by the +bonds of a common manhood. + +II. The vision of the Son of Man at the right hand of God, or the +glory of the Man Jesus. + +We will not discuss curious questions which may be asked in +connection with Stephen's vision, such as whether the glorified +humanity of Jesus implies His special presence in a locality; but +will rather try to grasp its bearings on topics more directly related +to more important matters than dim speculations on points concerning +which confident affirmations are sure to be wrong. Whether the +representation implies locality or not, it is clear that the deepest +meaning of the expression 'the right hand of God,' is the energy of +His unlimited power, and that, therefore, the deepest meaning of the +expression 'to be at His right hand,' is wielding the might of the +divine Omnipotence. The vision is but the visible confirmation of +Jesus' words, 'All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth.' + +It is to be taken into account that Scripture usually represents the +Christ as seated at the right hand of God, and that posture, taken in +conjunction with that place, indicates the completion of His work, +the majestic calm of His repose, like that creative rest, which did +not follow the creative work because the Worker was weary, but +because He had fulfilled His ideal. God rested because His work was +finished, and was 'very good.' So Jesus sits, because He, too, has +finished His work on earth. 'When,' and because 'He had by Himself +purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of God.' + +Further, that place at the right hand of God certifies that He is the +Judge. + +Further, it is a blessed vision for His children, as being the sure +pledge of their glory. + +It is a glorious revelation of the capabilities of sinless human +nature. + +It makes heaven habitable for us. + +'I go to prepare a place for you.' An emigrant does not feel a +stranger in new country, if his elder brother has gone before him, +and waits to meet him when he lands. The presence of Jesus makes that +dim, heavenly state, which is so hard to imagine, and from which we +often feel that even its glories repel, or, at least, do not attract, +home to those who love Him. To be where He is, and to be as He is-- +that is heaven. + +III. The vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, +or the ever-ready help of the glorified Jesus. + +The divergence of the vision from the usual representation of the +attitude of Jesus is not the least precious of its elements. Stephen +saw Him 'standing,' as if He had risen to His feet to see His +servant's need and was preparing to come to his help. + +What a rush of new strength for victorious endurance would flood +Stephen's soul as he beheld his Lord thus, as it were, starting to +His feet in eagerness to watch and to succour! He looks down from +amid the glory, and His calm repose does not involve passive +indifference to His servant's sufferings. Into it comes full +knowledge of all that they bear for Him, and His rest is not the +negation of activity on their behalf, but its intensest energy. Just +as one of the Gospels ends with a twofold picture, which at first +sight seems to draw a sad distinction between the Lord 'received up +into heaven and set down at the right hand of God,' and His servants +left below, who 'went everywhere, preaching the word,' but of which +the two halves are fused together by the next words, 'the Lord also +working with them,' so Stephen's vision brought together the +glorified Lord and His servant, and filled the martyr's soul with the +fact that He not only 'worked,' but suffered with those who suffered +for His sake. + +That vision is a transient revelation of an eternal fact. Jesus knows +and shares in all that affects His servants. He stands in the +attitude to help, and He wields the power of God. He is, as the +prophet puts it, 'the Arm of the Lord,' and the cry, 'Awake, O Arm of +the Lord!' is never unanswered. He helps His servants by actually +directing the course of Providence for their sakes. He helps by +wielding the forces of nature on their behalf. He 'rebukes kings for +their sake, saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no +harm.' He helps by breathing His own life and strength into them. He +helps by disclosing to them the vision of Himself. He helps even +when, like Stephen, they are apparently left to the murderous hate of +their enemies, for what better help could any of His followers get +from Him than that He should, as Stephen prayed that He would, +receive their spirit, and 'so give His beloved sleep'? Blessed they +whose lives are lighted by that Vision, and whose deaths are such a +falling on sleep! + + + +THE YOUNG SAUL AND THE AGED PAUL +[Footnote: To the young.] + +'...the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, +whose name was Saul.'--ACTS vii. 58. + +'...Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.' +--PHILEMON 9. + +A far greater difference than that which was measured by years +separated the young Saul from the aged Paul. By years, indeed, the +difference was, perhaps, not so great as the words might suggest, for +Jewish usage extended the term of youth farther than we do, and began +age sooner. No doubt, too, Paul's life had aged him fast, and +probably there were not thirty years between the two periods. But the +difference between him and himself at the beginning and the end of +his career was a gulf; and his life was not evolution, but +revolution. + +At the beginning you see a brilliant young Pharisee, Gamaliel's +promising pupil, advanced above many who were his equals in his own +religion, as he says himself; living after its straitest sect, and +eager to have the smallest part in what seemed to him the righteous +slaying of one of the followers of the blaspheming Nazarene. At the +end he was himself one of these followers. He had cast off, as folly, +the wisdom which took him so much pains to acquire. He had turned his +back upon all the brilliant prospects of distinction which were +opening to him. He had broken with countrymen and kindred. And what +had he made of it? He had been persecuted, hunted, assailed by every +weapon that his old companions could fashion or wield; he is a +solitary man, laden with many cares, and accustomed to look perils +and death in the face; he is a prisoner, and in a year or two more he +will be a martyr. If he were an apostate and a renegade, it was not +for what he could get by it. + +What made the change? The vision of Jesus Christ. If we think of the +transformation on Saul, its causes and its outcome, we shall get +lessons which I would fain press upon your hearts now. Do you wonder +that I would urge on you just such a life as that of this man as your +highest good? + +I. I would note, then, first, that faith in Jesus Christ will +transform and ennoble any life. + +It has been customary of late years, amongst people who do not like +miracles, and do not believe in sudden changes of character, to +allege that Paul's conversion was but the appearance, on the surface, +of an underground process that had been going on ever since he kept +the witnesses' clothes. Modern critics know a great deal more about +the history of Paul's conversion than Paul did. For to him there was +no consciousness of undermining, but the change was instantaneous. He +left Jerusalem a bitter persecutor, exceeding mad against the +followers of the Nazarene, thinking that Jesus was a blasphemer and +an impostor, and His disciples pestilent vermin, to be harried off +the face of the earth. He entered Damascus a lowly disciple of that +Christ. His conversion was not an underground process that had been +silently sapping the foundations of his life; it was an explosion. +And what caused it? What was it that came on that day on the Damascus +road, amid the blinding sunshine of an Eastern noontide? The vision +of Jesus Christ. An overwhelming conviction flooded his soul that He +whom he had taken to be an impostor, richly deserving the Cross that +He endured, was living in glory, and was revealing Himself to Saul +then and there. That truth crumbled his whole past into nothing; and +he stood there trembling and astonished, like a man the ruins of +whose house have fallen about his ears. He bowed himself to the +vision. He surrendered at discretion without a struggle. +'Immediately,' says he, 'I was not disobedient to the heavenly +vision,' and when he said 'Lord, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' +he flung open the gates of the fortress for the Conqueror to come in. +The vision of Christ reversed his judgments, transformed his +character, revolutionised his life. + +That initial impulse operated through all the rest of his career. +Hearken to him: 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. To me to +live is Christ. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we +die, we die unto the Lord. Living or dying, we are the Lord's.' 'We +labour that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.' +The transforming agency was the vision of Christ, and the bowing of +the man's whole nature before the seen Saviour. + +Need I recall to you how noble a life issued from that fountain? I am +sure that I need do no more than mention in a word or two the +wondrous activity, flashing like a flame of fire from East to West, +and everywhere kindling answering flames, the noble self-oblivion, +the continual communion with God and the Unseen, and all the other +great virtues and nobleness which came from such sources as these. I +need only, I am sure, remind you of them, and draw this lesson, that +the secret of a transforming and noble life is to be found in faith +in Jesus Christ. The vision that changed Paul is as available for you +and me. For it is all a mistake to suppose that the essence of it is +the miraculous appearance that flashed upon the Apostle's eyes. He +speaks of it himself, in one of his letters, in other language, when +he says, 'It pleased God to reveal His Son _in_ me.' And that +revelation in all its fulness, in all its sweetness, in all its +transforming and ennobling power, is offered to every one of us. For +the eye of faith is no less gifted with the power of direct and +certain vision--yea! is even more gifted with this--than is the eye +of sense. 'If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they +be persuaded though one rose from the dead.' Christ is revealed to +each one of us as really, as veritably, and the revelation may become +as strong an impulse and motive in our lives as ever it was to the +Apostle on the Damascus road. What is wanted is not revelation, but +the bowed will--not the heavenly vision, but obedience to the vision. +I suppose that most of you think that you believe all that about +Jesus Christ, which transformed Gamaliel's pupil into Christ's +disciple. And what has it done for you? In many cases, nothing. Be +sure of this, dear young friends, that the shortest way to a life +adorned with all grace, with all nobility, fragrant with all +goodness, and permanent as that life which does the will of God must +clearly be, is this, to bow before the seen Christ, seen in His word, +and speaking to your hearts, and to take His yoke and carry His +burden. Then you will build upon what will stand, and make your days +noble and your lives stable. If you build on anything else, the +structure will come down with a crash some day, and bury you in its +ruins. Surely it is better to learn the worthlessness of a non- +Christian life, in the light of His merciful face, when there is yet +time to change our course, than to see it by the fierce light of the +great White Throne set for judgment. We must each of us learn it here +or there. + +II. Faith in Christ will make a joyful life, whatever its +circumstances. + +I have said that, judged by the standard of the Exchange, or by any +of the standards which men usually apply to success in life, this +life of the Apostle was a failure. We know, without my dwelling more +largely upon it, what he gave up. We know what, to outward +appearance, he gained by his Christianity. You remember, perhaps, how +he himself speaks about the external aspects of his life in one +place, where he says 'Even unto this present hour we both hunger and +thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain +dwelling-place, and labour, working with our own hands. Being +reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we +entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, and as the +offscouring of all things unto this day.' + +That was one side of it. Was that all? This man had that within him +which enabled him to triumph over all trials. There is nothing more +remarkable about him than the undaunted courage, the unimpaired +elasticity of spirit, the buoyancy of gladness, which bore him high +upon the waves of the troubled sea in which he had to swim. If ever +there was a man that had a bright light burning within him, in the +deepest darkness, it was that little weather-beaten Jew, whose +'bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible.' And what was +it that made him master of circumstances, and enabled him to keep +sunshine in his heart when winter bound all the world around him? +What made this bird sing in a darkened cage? One thing--the continual +presence, consciously with Him by faith, of that Christ who had +revolutionised his life, and who continued to bless and to gladden +it. I have quoted his description of his external condition. Let me +quote two or three words that indicate how he took all that sea of +troubles and of sorrows that poured its waves and its billows over +him. 'In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him +that loved us.' 'As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our +consolation aboundeth also by Christ.' 'For which cause we faint not, +but though our outward man perish, yet our inward man is renewed day +by day.' 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my +infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.' 'I have +learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.' 'As +sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as +having nothing, yet possessing all things.' + +There is the secret of blessedness, my friends; there is the fountain +of perpetual joy. Cling to Christ, set His will on the throne of your +hearts, give the reins of your life and of your character into His +keeping, and nothing 'that is at enmity with joy' can either 'abolish +or destroy' the calm blessedness of your spirits. + +You will have much to suffer; you will have something to give up. +Your life may look, to men whose tastes have been vulgarised by the +glaring brightnesses of this vulgar world, but grey and sombre, but +it will have in it the calm abiding blessedness which is more than +joy, and is diviner and more precious than the tumultuous transports +of gratified sense or successful ambition. Christ is peace, and He +gives His peace to us; and then He gives a joy which does not break +but enhances peace. We are all tempted to look for our gladness in +creatures, each of which satisfies but a part of our desire. But no +man can be truly blessed who has to find many contributories to make +up his blessedness. That which makes us rich must be, not a multitude +of precious stones, howsoever precious they may be, but one Pearl of +great price; the one Christ who is our only joy. And He says to us +that He gives us Himself, if we behold Him and bow to Him, that His +joy might remain in us, and that our joy might be full, while all +other gladnesses are partial and transitory. Faith in Christ makes +life blessed. The writer of Ecclesiastes asked the question which the +world has been asking ever since: 'Who knoweth what is good for a man +in this life, all the days of this vain life which he passeth as a +shadow?' You young people are asking, 'Who will show us any good?' +Here is the answer--Faith in Christ and obedience to Him; that is the +good part which no man taketh from us. Dear young friend, have you +made it yours? + +III. Faith in Christ produces a life which bears being looked back +upon. + +In a later Epistle than that from which my second text is taken, we +get one of the most lovely pictures that was ever drawn, albeit it is +unconsciously drawn, of a calm old age, very near the gate of death; +and looking back with a quiet heart over all the path of life. I am +not going to preach to you, dear friends, in the flush of your early +youth, a gospel which is only to be recommended because it is good to +die by, but it will do even you, at the beginning, no harm to realise +for a moment that the end will come, and that retrospect will take +the place in your lives which hope and anticipation fill now. And I +ask you what you expect to feel and say then? + +What did Paul say? 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a +crown of righteousness.' He was not self-righteous; but it is +possible to have lived a life which, as the world begins to fade, +vindicates itself as having been absolutely right in its main trend, +and to feel that the dawning light of Eternity confirms the choice +that we made. And I pray you to ask yourselves, 'Is my life of that +sort?' How much of it would bear the scrutiny which will have to +come, and which in Paul's case was so quiet and calm? He had had a +stormy day, many a thundercloud had darkened the sky, many a tempest +had swept across the plain; but now, as the evening draws on, the +whole West is filled with a calm amber light, and all across the +plain, right away to the grey East, he sees that he has been led by, +and has been willing to walk in, the right way to the 'City of +habitation.' Would that be your experience if the last moment came +now? + +There will be, for the best of us, much sense of failure and +shortcoming when we look back on our lives. But whilst some of us +will have to say, 'I have played the fool and erred exceedingly,' it +is possible for each of us to lay himself down in peace and sleep, +awaiting a glorious rising again and a crown of righteousness. + +Dear young friends, it is for you to choose whether your past, when +you summon it up before you, will look like a wasted wilderness, or +like a garden of the Lord. And though, as I have said, there will +always be much sense of failure and shortcoming, yet that need not +disturb the calm retrospect; for whilst memory sees the sins, faith +can grasp the Saviour, and quietly take leave of life, saying, 'I +know in whom I have believed, and that He is able to keep that which +I have committed to Him against that day.' + +So I press upon you all this one truth, that faith in Jesus Christ +will transform, will ennoble, will make joyous your lives whilst you +live, and will give you a quiet heart in the retrospect when you come +to die. Begin right, dear young friends. You will never find it so +easy to take any decisive step, and most of all this chiefest step, +as you do to-day. You will get lean and less flexible as you get +older. You will get set in your ways. Habits will twine their +tendrils round you, and hinder your free movement. The truth of the +Gospel will become commonplace by familiarity. Associations and +companions will have more and more power over you; and you will be +stiffened as an old tree-trunk is stiffened. You cannot count on to- +morrow; be wise to-day. Begin this year aright. Why should you not +now see the Christ and welcome Him? I pray that every one of us may +behold Him and fall before Him with the cry, 'Lord! what wilt Thou +have me to do?' + + + +THE DEATH OF THE MASTER AND THE DEATH OF THE SERVANT + + +'And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord +Jesus, receive my spirit. 60. And he kneeled down, and cried with +a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And, when +he had said this, he fell asleep.'--ACTS vii. 59, 60. + +This is the only narrative in the New Testament of a Christian +martyrdom or death. As a rule, Scripture is supremely indifferent to +what becomes of the people with whom it is for a time concerned. As +long as the man is the organ of the divine Spirit he is somewhat; as +soon as that ceases to speak through him he drops into +insignificance. So this same Acts of the Apostles--if I may so say-- +kills off James the brother of John in a parenthesis; and his is the +only other martyrdom that it concerns itself even so much as to +mention. + +Why, then, this exceptional detail about the martyrdom of Stephen? +For two reasons: because it is the first of a series, and the Acts of +the Apostles always dilates upon the first of each set of things +which it describes, and condenses about the others. But more +especially, I think, because if we come to look at the story, it is +not so much an account of Stephen's death as of Christ's power in +Stephen's death. And the theme of this book is not the acts of the +Apostles, but the acts of the risen Lord, in and for His Church. + +There is no doubt but that this narrative is modelled upon the story +of our Lord's Crucifixion, and the two incidents, in their +similarities and in their differences, throw a flood of light upon +one another. + +I shall therefore look at our subject now with constant reference to +that other greater death upon which it is based. It is to be observed +that the two sayings on the lips of the proto-martyr Stephen are +recorded for us in their original form on the lips of Christ, in +_Luke's_ Gospel, which makes a still further link of connection +between the two narratives. + +So, then, my purpose now is merely to take this incident as it lies +before us, to trace in it the analogies and the differences between +the death of the Master and the death of the servant, and to draw +from it some thoughts as to what it is possible for a Christian's +death to become, when Christ's presence is felt in it. + +I. Consider, in general terms, this death as the last act of +imitation to Christ. + +The resemblance between our Lord's last moments and Stephen's has +been thought to have been the work of the narrator, and, +consequently, to cast some suspicion upon the veracity of the +narrative. I accept the correspondence, I believe it was intentional, +but I shift the intention from the writer to the actor, and I ask why +it should not have been that the dying martyr should consciously, and +of set purpose, have made his death conformable to his Master's +death? Why should not the dying martyr have sought to put himself (as +the legend tells one of the other Apostles in outward form sought to +do) in Christ's attitude, and to die as He died? + +Remember, that in all probability Stephen died on Calvary. It was the +ordinary place of execution, and, as many of you may know, recent +investigations have led many to conclude that a little rounded knoll +outside the city wall--not a 'green hill,' but still 'outside a city +wall,' and which still bears a lingering tradition of connection with +Him--was probably the site of that stupendous event. It was the place +of stoning, or of public execution, and there in all probability, on +the very ground where Christ's Cross was fixed, His first martyr saw +'the heavens opened and Christ standing on the right hand of God.' If +these were the associations of the place, what more natural, and even +if they were not, what more natural, than that the martyr's death +should be shaped after his Lord's? + +Is it not one of the great blessings, in some sense the greatest of +the blessings, which we owe to the Gospel, that in that awful +solitude where no other example is of any use to us, His pattern may +still gleam before us? Is it not something to feel that as life +reaches its highest, most poignant and exquisite delight and beauty +in the measure in which it is made an imitation of Jesus, so for each +of us death may lose its most poignant and exquisite sting and +sorrow, and become something almost sweet, if it be shaped after the +pattern and by the power of His? We travel over a lonely waste at +last. All clasped hands are unclasped; and we set out on the +solitary, though it be 'the common, road into the great darkness.' +But, blessed be His Name! 'the Breaker is gone up before us,' and +across the waste there are footprints that we + + 'Seeing, may take heart again.' + +The very climax and apex of the Christian imitation of Christ may be +that we shall bear the image of His death, and be like Him then. + +Is it not a strange thing that generations of martyrs have gone to +the stake with their hearts calm and their spirits made constant by +the remembrance of that Calvary where Jesus died with more of +trembling reluctance, shrinking, and apparent bewildered unmanning +than many of the weakest of His followers? Is it not a strange thing +that the death which has thus been the source of composure, and +strength, and heroism to thousands, and has lost none of its power of +being so to-day, was the death of a Man who shrank from the bitter +cup, and that cried in that mysterious darkness, 'My God! Why hast +Thou forsaken Me?' + +Dear brethren, unless with one explanation of the reason for His +shrinking and agony, Christ's death is less heroic than that of some +other martyrs, who yet drew all their courage from Him. + +How come there to be in Him, at one moment, calmness unmoved, and +heroic self-oblivion, and at the next, agony, and all but despair? I +know only one explanation, 'The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of +us all.' And when He died, shrinking and trembling, and feeling +bewildered and forsaken, it was your sins and mine that weighed Him +down. The servant whose death was conformed to his Master's had none +of these experiences because he was only a martyr. + +The Lord had them, because He was the Sacrifice for the whole world. + +II. We have here, next, a Christian's death as being the voluntary +entrusting of the spirit to Christ. + +'They stoned Stephen.' Now, our ordinary English idea of the manner +of the Jewish punishment of stoning, is a very inadequate and +mistaken one. It did not consist merely in a miscellaneous rabble +throwing stones at the criminal, but there was a solemn and appointed +method of execution which is preserved for us in detail in the +Rabbinical books. And from it we gather that the _modus operandi_ was +this. The blasphemer was taken to a certain precipitous rock, the +height of which was prescribed as being equal to that of two men. The +witnesses by whose testimony he had been condemned had to cast him +over, and if he survived the fall it was their task to roll upon him +a great stone, of which the weight is prescribed in the Talmud as +being as much as two men could lift. If he lived after that, then +others took part in the punishment. + +Now, at some point in that ghastly tragedy, probably, we may suppose +as they were hurling him over the rock, the martyr lifts his voice in +this prayer of our text. + +As they were stoning him he 'called upon'--not _God_, as our +Authorised Version has supplied the wanting word, but, as is obvious +from the context and from the remembrance of the vision, and from the +language of the following supplication, 'called upon _Jesus_, saying, +Lord Jesus! receive my spirit.' + +I do not dwell at any length upon the fact that here we have a +distinct instance of prayer to Jesus Christ, a distinct recognition, +in the early days of His Church, of the highest conceptions of His +person and nature, so as that a dying man turns to Him, and commits +his soul into His hands. Passing this by, I ask you to think of the +resemblance, and the difference, between this intrusting of the +spirit by Stephen to his Lord, and the committing of His spirit to +the Father by His dying Son. Christ on the Cross speaks to God; +Stephen, on Calvary, speaks, as I suppose, to Jesus Christ. Christ, +on the Cross, says, 'I commit.' Stephen says, 'Receive,' or rather, +'Take.' The one phrase carries in it something of the notion that our +Lord died not because He must, but because He would; that He was +active in His death; that He chose to summon death to do its work +upon Him; that He 'yielded up His spirit,' as one of the Evangelists +has it, pregnantly and significantly. But Stephen says, 'Take!' as +knowing that it must be his Lord's power that should draw his spirit +out of the coil of horror around him. So the one dying word has +strangely compacted in it authority and submission; and the other +dying word is the word of a simple waiting servant. The Christ says, +'I commit.' 'I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to +take it again.' Stephen says, 'Take my spirit,' as longing to be away +from the weariness and the sorrow and the pain and all the hell of +hatred that was seething and boiling round about him, but yet knowing +that he had to wait the Master's will. + +So from the language I gather large truths, truths which +unquestionably were not present to the mind of the dying man, but are +all the more conspicuous because they were unconsciously expressed by +him, as to the resemblance and the difference between the death of +the martyr, done to death by cruel hands, and the death of the +atoning Sacrifice who gave Himself up to die for our sins. + +Here we have, in this dying cry, the recognition of Christ as the +Lord of life and death. Here we have the voluntary and submissive +surrender of the spirit to Him. So, in a very real sense, the +martyr's death becomes a sacrifice, and he too dies not merely +because he must, but he accepts the necessity, and finds blessedness +in it. We need not be passive in death; we need not, when it comes to +our turn to die, cling desperately to the last vanishing skirts of +life. We may yield up our being, and pour it out as a libation; as +the Apostle has it, 'If I be offered as a drink-offering upon the +sacrifice of your faith, I joy and rejoice.' Oh! brethren, to die +_like_ Christ, to die yielding oneself to Him! + +And then in these words there is further contained the thought coming +gleaming out like a flash of light into some murky landscape--of +passing into perennial union with Him. 'Take my spirit,' says the +dying man; 'that is all I want. I see Thee standing at the right +hand. For what hast Thou started to Thy feet, from the eternal repose +of Thy session at the right hand of God the Father Almighty? To help +and succour me. And dost Thou succour me when Thou dost let these +cruel hands cast me from the rock and bruise me with heavy stones? +Yes, Thou dost. For the highest form of Thy help is to take my +spirit, and to let me be with Thee.' + +Christ delivers His servant from death when He leads the servant into +and through death. Brothers, can you look forward thus, and trust +yourselves, living or dying, to that Master who is near us amidst the +coil of human troubles and sorrows, and sweetly draws our spirits, as +a mother her child to her bosom, into His own arms when He sends us +death? Is that what it will be to you? + +III. Then, still further, there are other words here which remind us +of the final triumph of an all-forbearing charity. + +Stephen had been cast from the rock, had been struck with the heavy +stone. Bruised and wounded by it, he strangely survives, strangely +somehow or other struggles to his knees even though desperately +wounded, and, gathering all his powers together at the impulse of an +undying love, prays his last words and cries, 'Lord Jesus! Lay not +this sin to their charge!' + +It is an echo, as I have been saying, of other words, 'Father, +forgive them, for they know not what they do.' An echo, and yet an +independent tone! The one cries 'Father!' the other invokes the +'Lord.' The one says, 'They know not what they do'; the other never +thinks of reading men's motives, of apportioning their criminality, +of discovering the secrets of their hearts. It was fitting that the +Christ, before whom all these blind instruments of a mighty design +stood patent and naked to their deepest depths, should say, 'They +know not what they do.' It would have been unfitting that the +servant, who knew no more of his fellows' heart than could be guessed +from their actions, should have offered such a plea in his prayer for +their forgiveness. + +In the very humiliation of the Cross, Christ speaks as knowing the +hidden depths of men's souls, and therefore fitted to be their Judge, +and now His servant's prayer is addressed to Him as actually being +so. + +Somehow or other, within a very few years of the time when our Lord +dies, the Church has come to the distinctest recognition of _His_ +Divinity to whom the martyr prays; to the distinctest recognition of +_Him_ as the Lord of life and death whom the martyr asks to take his +spirit, and to the clearest perception of the fact that He is the +Judge of the whole earth by whose acquittal men shall be acquitted, +and by whose condemnation they shall be condemned. + +Stephen knew that Christ was the Judge. He knew that in two minutes +he would be standing at Christ's judgment bar. His prayer was not, +'Lay not my sins to my charge,' but 'Lay not this sin to their +charge.' Why did he not ask forgiveness for himself? Why was he not +thinking about the judgment that he was going to meet so soon? He had +done all that long ago. He had no fear about that judgment for +himself, and so when the last hour struck, he was at leisure of heart +and mind to pray for his persecutors, and to think of his Judge +without a tremor. Are you? If you were as near the edge as Stephen +was, would it be wise for you to be interceding for other people's +forgiveness? The answer to that question is the answer to this other +one,--have you sought your pardon already, and got it at the hands of +Jesus Christ? + +IV. One word is all that I need say about the last point of analogy +and contrast here--the serene passage into rest: 'When he had said +this he fell asleep.' + +The New Testament scarcely ever speaks of a Christian's death as +death but as sleep, and with other similar phrases. But that +expression, familiar and all but universal as it is in the Epistles, +in reference to the death of believers, is never in a single instance +employed in reference to the death of Jesus Christ. He did die that +you and I may live. His death was death indeed--He endured not merely +the physical fact, but that which is its sting, the consciousness of +sin. And He died that the sting might be blunted, and all its poison +exhausted upon Him. So the ugly thing is sleeked and smoothed; and +the foul form changes into the sweet semblance of a sleep-bringing +angel. Death is gone. The physical fact remains, but all the misery +of it, the essential bitterness and the poison of it is all sucked +out of it, and it is turned into 'he fell asleep,' as a tired child +on its mother's lap, as a weary man after long toil. + + 'Thou thy worldly task hast done, + Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.' + +Death is but sleep now, because Christ has died, and that sleep is +restful, conscious, perfect life. + +Look at these two pictures, the agony of the one, the calm triumph of +the other, and see that the martyr's falling asleep was possible +because the Christ had died before. And do you commit the keeping of +your souls to Him now, by true faith; and then, living you may have +Him with you, and, dying, a vision of His presence bending down to +succour and to save, and when you are dead, a life of rest conjoined +with intensest activity. To sleep in Jesus is to awake in His +likeness, and to be satisfied. + + + +SEED SCATTERED AND TAKING ROOT + +'And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there +was a great persecution against the church which was at +Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the +regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2. And devout +men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation +over him. 3. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering +into every house, and haling men and women committed them to +prison. 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went +everywhere preaching the word. 5. Then Philip went down to the +city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6. And the people +with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, +hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7. For unclean +spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were +possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were +lame, were healed. 8. And there was great joy in that city, 9. +But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in +the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, +giving out that himself was some great one: 10. To whom they all +gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is +the great power of God. 11. And to him they had regard, because +that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. 12. But +when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the +kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, +both men and women. 13. Then Simon himself believed also: and +when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, +beholding the miracles and signs which were done. 14. Now when +the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had +received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15. +Who, when they were come down prayed for them, that they might +receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of +them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17. +Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy +Ghost.'--ACTS viii. 1-17. + +The note of time in verse 1 is probably to be rendered as in the +Revised Version, 'on that day.' The appetite for blood roused by +Stephen's martyrdom at once sought for further victims. Thus far the +persecutors had been the rulers, and the persecuted the Church's +leaders; but now the populace are the hunters, and the whole Church +the prey. The change marks an epoch. Luke does not care to make much +of the persecution, which is important to him chiefly for its bearing +on the spread of the Church's message. It helped to diffuse the +Gospel, and that is why he tells of it. But before proceeding to +narrate how it did so, he gives us a picture of things as they stood +at the beginning of the assault. + +Three points are noted: the flight of the Church except the Apostles, +the funeral of Stephen, and Saul's eager search for the disciples. We +need not press 'all,' as if it were to be taken with mathematical +accuracy. Some others besides the Apostles may have remained, but the +community was broken up. They fled, as Christ had bid them do, if +persecuted in one city. Brave faithfulness goes with prudent self- +preservation, and a valuable 'part of valour is discretion.' But the +disciples who fled were not necessarily less courageous than the +Apostles who remained, nor were the latter less prudent than the +brethren who fled. For _noblesse oblige_; high position demands high +virtues, and the officers should be the last to leave a wreck. The +Apostles, no doubt, felt it right to hold together, and preserve a +centre to which the others might return when the storm had blown +itself out. + +In remarkable contrast with the scattering Church are the 'devout +men' who reverently buried the martyr. They were not disciples, but +probably Hellenistic Jews (Acts ii. 5); perhaps from the synagogue +whose members had disputed with Stephen and had dragged him to the +council. His words or death may have touched them, as many a time the +martyr's fire has lighted others to the martyr's faith. Stephen was +like Jesus in his burial by non-disciples, as he had been in his +death. + +The eager zeal of the young Pharisee brought new severity into the +persecution, in his hunting out his victims in their homes, and in +his including women among his prisoners. There is nothing so cruel as +so-called religious zeal. So Luke lifts the curtain for a moment, and +in that glimpse of the whirling tumult of the city we see the three +classes, of the brave and prudent disciples, ready to flee or to +stand and suffer as duty called; the good men who shrunk from +complicity with a bloodthirsty mob, and were stirred to sympathy with +his victims; and the zealot, who with headlong rage hated his brother +for the love of God. But the curtain drops, and Luke turns to his +true theme. He picks up the threads again in verse 4, telling of the +dispersal of the disciples, with the significant addition of their +occupation when scattered,--'preaching the word.' + +The violent hand of the persecutor acted as the scattering hand of +the sower. It flung the seeds broadcast, and wherever they fell they +sprouted. These fugitives were not officials, nor were they +commissioned by the Apostles to preach. Without any special command +or position, they followed the instincts of believing hearts, and, as +they carried their faith with them, they spoke of it wherever they +found themselves. A Christian will be impelled to speak of Christ if +his personal hold of Him is vital. He should need no ecclesiastical +authorisation for that. It is riot every believer's duty to get into +a pulpit, but it _is_ his duty to 'preach Christ.' The scattering of +the disciples was meant by men to put out the fire, but, by Christ, +to spread it. A volcanic explosion flings burning matter over a wide +area. + +Luke takes up one of the lines of expansion, in his narrative of +Philip's doings in Samaria, which he puts first because Jesus had +indicated Samaria first among the regions beyond Judaea (i. 8). +Philip's name comes second in the list of deacons (vi. 5), probably +in anticipation of his work in Samaria. How unlike the forecast by +the Apostles was the actual course of things! They had destined the +seven for purely 'secular' work, and regarded preaching the word as +their own special engagement. But Stephen saw and proclaimed more +clearly than they did the passing away of Temple and ritual; and +Philip, on his own initiative, and apparently quite unconscious of +the great stride forward that he was taking, was the first to carry +the gospel torch into the regions beyond. The Church made Philip a +'deacon,' but Christ made him an 'evangelist'; and an evangelist he +continued, long after he had ceased to be a deacon in Jerusalem (xxi. +8). + +Observe, too, that, as soon as Stephen is taken away, Philip rises up +to take his place. The noble army of witnesses never wants recruits. +Its Captain sends men to the front in unbroken succession, and they +are willing to occupy posts of danger because He bids them. Probably +Philip fled to Samaria for convenience' sake, but, being there, he +probably recalled Christ's instructions in chapter i. 8, repealing +His prohibition in Matthew x. 5. What a different world it would be, +if it was true of Christians now that they 'went down into the city +of So-and-So and proclaimed Christ'! Many run to and fro, but some of +them leave their Christianity at home, or lock it up safely in their +travelling trunks. + +Jerusalem had just expelled the disciples, and would fain have +crushed the Gospel; despised Samaria received it with joy. 'A foolish +nation' was setting Israel an example (Deut. xxxii. 21; Rom. x. 19). +The Samaritan woman had a more spiritual conception of the Messiah +than the run of Jews had, and her countrymen seem to have been ready +to receive the word. Is not the faith of our mission converts often a +rebuke to us? + +But the Gospel met new foes as well as new friends on the new soil. +Simon the sorcerer, probably a Jew or a Samaritan, would have been +impossible on Jewish ground, but was a characteristic product of that +age in the other parts of the Roman empire. Just as, to-day, people +who are weary of Christianity are playing with Buddhism, it was +fashionable in that day of unrest to trifle with Eastern magic- +mongers; and, of course, demand created supply, and where there was a +crowd of willing dupes, there soon came to be a crop of profit- +seeking deceivers. Very characteristically, the dupes claimed more +for the deceiver than he did for himself. He probably could perform +some simple chemical experiments and conjuring tricks, and had a +store of what sounded to ignorant people profound teaching about deep +mysteries, and gave forth enigmatical utterances about his own +greatness. An accomplished charlatan will leave much to be inferred +from nods and hints, and his admirers will generally spin even more +out of them than he meant. So the Samaritans bettered Simon's 'some +great one' into 'that power of God which is called great,' and saw in +him some kind of emanation of divinity. + +The quack is great till the true teacher comes, and then he dwindles. +Simon had a bitter pill to swallow when he saw this new man stealing +his audience, and doing things which he, with his sorceries, knew +that he only pretended to do. Luke points very clearly to the +likeness and difference between Simon and Philip by using the same +word ('gave heed') in regard to the Samaritan's attitude to both, +while in reference to Philip it was 'the things spoken by' him, and +in reference to Simon it was himself to which they attended. The one +preached Christ, the other himself; the one 'amazed' with +'sorceries,' the other brought good tidings and hid himself, and his +message called, not for stupid, open-mouthed astonishment, but for +belief and obedience to the name of Jesus. The whole difference +between the religion of Jesus and the superstitions which the world +calls religions, is involved in the significant contrast, so +inartificially drawn. + +'Simon also himself believed.' Probably there was in his action a +good deal of swimming with the stream, in the hope of being able to +divert it; but, also, he may have been all the more struck by +Philip's miracles, because he knew a real one, by reason of his +experience of sham ones. At any rate, neither Philip nor Luke drew a +distinction between his belief and that of the Samaritans; and, as in +their cases, his baptism followed on his profession of belief. But he +seems not to have got beyond the point of wondering at the miracles, +as it is emphatically said that he did even after his baptism. He +believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but was more interested in +studying Philip to find out how he did the miracles than in listening +to his teaching. Such an imperfect belief had no transforming power, +and left him the same man as before, as was soon miserably manifest. + +The news of Philip's great step forward reached the Apostles by some +unrecorded means. It is not stated that Philip reported his action, +as if to superiors whose authorisation was necessary. More probably +the information filtered through other channels. At all events, +sending a deputation was natural, and needs not to be regarded as +either a sign of suspicion or an act necessary in order to supplement +imperfections inherent in the fact that Philip was not an Apostle. +The latter meaning has been read--not to say forced--into the +incident; but Luke's language does not support it. It was not because +they thought that the Samaritans were not admissible to the full +privileges of Christians without Apostolic acts, but because they +'heard that Samaria had received the word,' that the Apostles sent +Peter and John. + +The Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Ghost--that is, the +special gifts, such as those of Pentecost. That fact proves that +baptism is not necessarily and inseparably connected with the gift of +the Spirit; and chapter x. 44, 47, proves that the Spirit may be +given before baptism. As little does this incident prove that the +imposition of Apostolic hands was necessary in order to the +impartation of the Spirit. Luke, at any rate, did not think so; for +he tells how Ananias' hand laid on the blind Saul conveyed the gift +to him. The laying on of hands is a natural, eloquent symbol, but it +was no prerogative of the Apostles (Acts x. 17; 1 Tim. iv. 14). + +The Apostles came down to Samaria to rejoice in the work which their +Lord had commanded, and which had been begun without their help, to +welcome the new brethren, to give them further instruction, and to +knit closely the bonds of unity between the new converts and the +earlier ones. But that they came to bestow spiritual gifts which, +without them, could not have been imparted, is imported into, not +deduced from, the simple narrative of Luke. + + + +SIMON THE SORCERER + +'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is +not right in the sight of God.'--ACTS viii. 21. + +The era of the birth of Christianity was one of fermenting opinion +and decaying faith. Then, as now, men's minds were seething and +unsettled, and that unrest which is the precursor of great changes in +intellectual and spiritual habitudes affected the civilised world. +Such a period is ever one of predisposition to superstition. The one +true bond which unites God and man being obscured, and to the +consciousness of many snapped, men's minds become the prey of +visionary terrors. Demand creates supply, and the magician and +miracle-worker, the possessor of mysterious ways into the Unknown, is +never far off at such a time. Partly deceived and partly deceiving, +he is as sure a sign of the lack of profound religious conviction and +of the presence of unsatisfied religious aspirations in men's souls, +as the stormy petrel or the floating seaweed is of a tempest on the +seas. + +So we find the early preachers of Christianity coming into frequent +contact with pretenders to magical powers. Sadly enough, they were +mostly Jews, who prostituted their clearer knowledge to personal +ends, and having tacked on to it some theosophic rubbish which they +had learned from Alexandria, or mysticism which had filtered to them +from the East, or magic arts from Phrygia, went forth, the only +missionaries that Judaism sent out, to bewilder and torture men's +minds. What a fall from Israel's destination, and what a lesson for +the stewards of the 'oracles of God'! + +Of such a sort were Elymas, the sorcerer whom Paul found squatting at +the ear of the Roman Governor of Cyprus; the magicians at Ephesus; +the vagabond Jews exorcists, who with profitable eclecticism, as they +thought, tried to add the name of Jesus as one more spell to their +conjurations; and, finally, this Simon the sorcerer. Established in +Samaria, he had been juggling and conjuring and seeing visions, and +professing to be a great mysterious personality, and had more than +permitted the half-heathen Samaritans, who seem to have had more +religious susceptibility and less religious knowledge than the Jews, +and so were a prepared field for all such pretenders, to think of him +as in some sense an incarnation of God, and perhaps to set him up as +a rival or caricature of Him who in the neighbouring Judaea was being +spoken of as the power of God, God manifest in the flesh. + +To the city thus moved comes no Apostle, but a Christian man who +begins to preach, and by miracles and teaching draws many souls to +Christ. + +The story of Simon Magus in his attitude to the Gospel is a very +striking and instructive one. It presents for our purpose now mainly +three points to which I proceed to refer. + +I. An instance of a wholly unreal, because inoperative, faith. + +'He believed,' says the narrative, and believing was baptized. It is +worth noting, in passing, how the profession of faith without +anything more was considered by the Early Church sufficient. But +obviously his was no true faith. The event showed that it was not. + +What was it which made his faith thus unreal? + +It rested wholly on the miracles and signs; he 'wondered' when he saw +them. Of course, miracles were meant to lead to faith; but if they +did not lead on to a deeper sense of one's own evil and need, and so +to a spiritual apprehension, then they were of no use. + +The very beginning of the story points to the one bond that unites to +God, as being the sense of need and the acceptance with heart and +will of the testimony of Jesus Christ. Such a disposition is shown in +the Samaritans, who make a contrast with Simon in that they believed +Philip _preaching_, while Simon believed him _working miracles_. The +true place of miracles is to attract attention, to prepare to listen +to the word. They are only introductory. A faith may be founded on +them, but, on the other hand, the impressions which they produce may +be evanescent. How subordinate then, their place at the most! And the +one thing which avails is a living contact of heart and soul with +Jesus Christ. + +Again, Simon's belief was purely an affair of the understanding. We +are not to suppose, I think, that he merely believed in Philip as a +miracle-worker; he must have had some notion about Philip's Master, +and we know that it was belief in Jesus as the Christ that qualified +in the Apostolic age for baptism. So it is reasonable to suppose that +he had so much of head knowledge. But it was only head knowledge. +There was in it no penitence, no self-abandonment, no fruit in holy +desires; or in other words, there was no heart. It was credence, but +not trust. + +Now it does not matter how much or how little you know about Jesus +Christ. It does not matter how you have come to that knowledge. It +does not matter though you have received Christian ordinances as +Simon had. If your faith is not a living power, leading to love and +self-surrender, it is really nought. And here, on its earliest +conflict with heathen magic, the gospel proclaims by the mouth of the +Apostle what is true as to all formalists and nominal Christians: +'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, _for_ thy heart is +not right.' One thing only unites to God--a faith which cleanses the +heart, a faith which lays hold on Christ with will and conscience, a +faith which, resting on penitent acknowledgment of sin, trusts wholly +to His great mercy. + +II. An instance of the constant tendency to corrupt Christianity with +heathen superstition. + +The Apostles' bestowal of the Holy Ghost, which was evidently +accompanied by visible signs, had excited Simon's desire for so +useful an aid to his conjuring, and he offers to buy the power, +judging of them by himself, and betraying that what he was ready to +buy he was also intending to sell. + +The offer to buy has been taken as his great sin. Surely it was but +the outcome of a greater. It was not only what he offered, but what +he desired, that was wrong. He wanted that on 'whomsoever I lay +hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.' That preposterous wish was +quite as bad as, and was the root of, his absurd offer to bribe +Peter. Bribe Peter, indeed! Some of Peter's successors would have +been amenable to such considerations, but not the horny-handed +fisherman who had once said, 'Silver and gold have I none.' + +Peter's answer, especially the words of my text, puts the Christian +principle in sharp antagonism to the heathen one. + +Simon regards what is sacred and spiritual purely as part of his +stock-in-trade, contributing to his prestige. He offers to buy it. +And the foundation of all his errors is that he regards spiritual +gifts as capable of being received and exercised apart altogether +from moral qualifications. He does not think at all of what is +involved in the very name, 'the Holy Ghost.' + +Now, on the other hand, Peter's answer lays down broadly and sharply +the opposite truth, the Christian principle that a heart right in the +sight of God is the indispensable qualification for all possession of +spiritual power, or of any of the blessings which Jesus gives. + +How the heart is made right, and what constitutes righteousness is +another matter. That leads to the doctrine of repentance and faith. + +The one thing that makes such participation impossible is being and +continuing in 'the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity.' Or, +to put it into more modern words, all the blessings of the Gospel are +a gift of God, and are bestowed only on moral conditions. Faith which +leads to love and personal submission to the will of God makes a man +a Christian. Therefore, outward ordinances are only of use as they +help a man to that personal act. + +Therefore, no other man or body of men can do it for us, or come +between us and God. + +And in confirmation, notice how Peter here speaks of forgiveness. His +words do not sound as if he thought that he held the power of +absolution, but he tells Simon to go to God who alone can forgive, +and refers Simon's fate to God's mercy. + +These tendencies, which Simon expresses so baldly, are in us all, and +are continually reappearing. How far much of what calls itself +Christianity has drifted from Peter's principle laid down here, that +moral and spiritual qualifications are the only ones which avail for +securing 'part or lot in the matter' of Christ's gifts received for, +and bestowed on, men! How much which really rests on the opposite +principle, that these gifts can be imparted by men who are supposed +to possess them, apart altogether from the state of heart of the +would-be recipient, we see around us to-day! _Simony_ is said to be +the securing ecclesiastical promotion by purchase. But it is much +rather the belief that 'the gift of God can be purchased with' +anything but personal faith in Jesus, the Giver and the Gift. The +effects of it are patent among us. Ceremonies usurp the place of +faith. A priesthood is exalted. The universal Christian prerogative +of individual access to God is obscured. Christianity is turned into +a kind of magic. + +III. An instance of the worthlessness of partial convictions. + +Simon was but slightly moved by Peter's stern rebuke. He paid no heed +to the exhortation to pray for forgiveness and to repent of his +wickedness, but still remained in substantially his old error, in +that he accredited Peter with power, and asked him to pray for him, +as if the Apostle's prayer would have some special access to God +which his, though he were penitent, could not have. Further, he +showed no sense of sin. All that he wished was that 'none of the +things which ye have spoken come upon me.' + +How useless are convictions which go no deeper down than Simon's did! + +What became of him we do not know. But there are old ecclesiastical +traditions about him which represent him as a bitter enemy in future +of the Apostle. And Josephus has a story of a Simon who played a +degrading part between Felix and Drusilla, and who is thought by some +to have been he. But in any case, we have no reason to believe that +he ever followed Peter's counsel or prayed to God for forgiveness. So +he stands for us as one more tragic example of a man, once 'not far +from the kingdom of God' and drifting ever further away from it, +because, at the fateful moment, he would not enter in. It is hard to +bring such a man as near again as he once was. Let us learn that the +one key which opens the treasury of God's blessings, stored for us +all in Jesus, is our own personal faith, and let us beware of +shutting our ears and our hearts against the merciful rebukes that +convict us of 'this our wickedness,' and point us to the 'Lamb of God +which taketh away the sin of the world,' and therefore our sin. + + + +A MEETING IN THE DESERT + +'And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and +go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem +unto Gaza, which is desert. 27. And he arose and went: and, +behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under +Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her +treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28. Was +returning, and sitting in his chariot, read Esaias the prophet. +29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself +to this chariot. 80. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him +read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou +readest? 31. And he said, How can I, except some man should guide +me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. +32. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led +as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his +shearer, so opened He not His mouth: 33. In His humiliation His +judgment was taken away; and who shall declare His generation? +for His life is taken from the earth. 34. And the eunuch answered +Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? +of himself, or of some other man? 35. Then Philip opened his +mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him +Jesus. 36. And as they went on their way, they came unto a +certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth +hinder me to be baptized? 37. And Philip said, If thou believest +with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I +believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38. And he commanded +the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the +water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39. And +when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord +caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went +on his way rejoicing. 40. But Philip was found at Azotus: and +passing through, he preached in all the cities, till he came to +Caesarea.'--ACTS viii. 26-40. + +Philip had no special divine command either to flee to, or to preach +in, Samaria, but 'an angel of the Lord' and afterwards 'the Spirit,' +directed him to the Ethiopian statesman. God rewards faithful work +with more work. Samaria was a borderland between Jew and Gentile, but +in preaching to the eunuch Philip was on entirely Gentile ground. So +great a step in advance needed clear command from God to impel to it +and to justify it. + +I. We have, then, first, the new commission. Philip might well wonder +why he should be taken away from successful work in a populous city, +and despatched to the lonely road to Gaza. But he obeyed at once. He +knew not for what he was sent there, but that ignorance did not +trouble or retard him. It should be enough for us to see the next +step. 'We walk by faith, not by sight,' for we none of us know what +comes of our actions, and we get light as we go. Do to-day's plain +duty, and when to-morrow is to-day its duty will be plain too. The +river on which we sail winds, and not till we round the nearest bend +do we see the course beyond. So we are kept in the peaceful posture +of dependent obedience, and need to hold our communications with God +open, that we may be sure of His guidance. + +No doubt, as Philip trudged along till he reached the Gaza road, he +would have many a thought as to what he was to find there, and, when +he came at last to the solitary track, would look eagerly over the +uninhabited land for an explanation of his strange and vague +instructions. But an obedient heart is not long left perplexed, and +he who looks for duty to disclose itself will see it in due time. + +II. So we have next the explanation of the errand. Luke's 'Behold!' +suggests the sudden sight of the great man's cortege in the distance. +No doubt, he travelled with a train of attendants, as became his +dignity, and would be conspicuous from afar. Philip, of course, did +not know who he was when he caught sight of him, but Luke tells his +rank at once, in order to lay stress on it, as well as to bring out +the significance of his occupation and subsequent conversion. Here +was a full-blooded Gentile, an eunuch, a courtier, who had been drawn +to Israel's God, and was studying Israel's prophets as he rode. +Perhaps he had chosen that road to Egypt for its quietness. At any +rate, his occupation revealed the bent of his mind. + +Philip felt that the mystery of his errand was solved now, and he +recognised the impulse to break through conventional barriers and +address the evidently dignified stranger, as the voice of God's +Spirit, and not his own. How he was sure of that we do not know, but +the distinction drawn between the former communication by an angel +and this from the Spirit points to a clear difference in his +experiences, and to careful discrimination in the narrator. The +variation is not made at random. Philip did not mistake a buzzing in +his ears from the heating of his own heart for a divine voice. We +have here no hallucinations of an enthusiast, but plain fact. + +How manifestly the meeting of these two, starting so far apart, and +so ignorant of each other and of the purpose of their being thrown +together, reveals the unseen hand that moved each on his own line, +and brought about the intersection of the two at that exact spot and +hour! How came it that at that moment the Ethiopian was reading, of +all places in his roll, the very words which make the kernel of the +gospel of the evangelical prophet? Surely such 'coincidences' are a +hard nut to crack for deniers of a Providence that shapes our ends! + +It is further to be noticed that the eunuch's conversion does not +appear to have been of importance for the expansion of the Church. It +exercised no recorded influence, and was apparently not communicated +to the Apostles, as, if it had been, it could scarcely have failed to +have been referred to when the analogous case of Cornelius was under +discussion. So, divine intervention and human journeying and work +were brought into play simply for the sake of one soul which God's +eye saw to be ripe for the Gospel. He cares for the individual, and +one sheep that can be reclaimed is precious enough in the Shepherd's +estimate to move His hand to action and His heart to love. Not +because he was a man of great authority at Candace's court, but +because he was yearning for light, and ready to follow it when it +shone, did the eunuch meet Philip on that quiet road. + +III. The two men being thus strangely brought together, we have next +the conversation for the sake of which they were brought together. +The eunuch was reading aloud, as people not very much used to books, +or who have some difficult passage in hand, often do. Philip must +have been struck with astonishment when he caught the, to him, +familiar words, and must have seen at once the open door for his +preaching. His abrupt question wastes no time with apologies or +polite, gradual approaches to his object. Probably the very absence +of the signs of deference to which he was accustomed impressed the +eunuch with a dim sense of the stranger's authority, which would be +deepened by the home-thrust of his question. + +The wistful answer not only shows no resentment at the brusque +stranger's thrusting himself in, but acknowledges bewilderment, and +responds to the undertone of proffered guidance in the question. A +teacher has often to teach a pupil his ignorance, to begin with; but +it should be so done as to create desire for instruction, and to +kindle confidence in him as instructor. It is insolent to ask, +'Understandest thou?' unless the questioner is ready and able to help +to understand. + +The invitation to a seat in the great man's chariot showed how +eagerness to learn had obliterated distinctions of rank, and swiftly +knit a new bond between these two, who had never heard of each other +five minutes before. A true heart will hail as its best and closest +friend him who leads it to know God's mind more clearly. How earthly +dignities dwindle when God's messenger lays hold of a soul! + +So the chariot rolls on, and through the silence of the desert the +voices of these two reach the wondering attendants, as they plod +along. The Ethiopian was reading the Septuagint translation of +Isaiah, which, though it missed part of the force of the original, +brought clearly before him the great figure of a Sufferer, meek and +dumb, swept from the earth by unjust judgment. He understood so much, +but what he did not understand was who this great, tragic Figure +represented. His question goes to the root of the matter, and is a +burning question to-day, as it was all these centuries ago on the +road to Gaza. Philip had no doubt of the answer. Jesus was the 'lamb +dumb before its shearers.' This is not the place to enter on such +wide questions, but we may at least affirm that, whatever advance +modern schools have made in the criticism and interpretation of the +Old Testament, the very spirit of the whole earlier Revelation is +missed if Jesus is not discerned as the Person to whom prophet and +ritual pointed, in whom law was fulfilled and history reached its +goal. + +No doubt much instruction followed. How long they had rode together +before they came to 'a certain water' we know not, but it cannot have +been more than a few hours. Time is elastic, and when the soil is +prepared, and rain and sunlight are poured down, the seed springs up +quickly. People who deny the possibility of 'sudden conversions' are +blind to facts, because they wear the blinkers of a theory. Not +always have they who 'anon with joy receive' the word 'no root in +themselves.' + +As is well known, the answer to the eunuch's question (v. 37) is +wanting in authoritative manuscripts. The insertion may have been due +to the creeping into the text of a marginal note. A recent and most +original commentator on the Acts (Blass) considers that this, like +other remarkable readings found in one set of manuscripts, was +written by Luke in a draft of the book, which he afterwards revised +and somewhat abbreviated into the form which most of the manuscripts +present. However that may be, the required conditions in the doubtful +verse are those which the practice of the rest of the Acts shows to +have been required. Faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God was the +qualification for the baptisms there recorded. + +And there was no other qualification. Philip asked nothing about the +eunuch's proselytism, or whether he had been circumcised or not. He +did not, like Peter with Cornelius, need the evidence of the gift of +the Spirit before he baptized; but, notwithstanding his experience of +an unworthy candidate in Simon the sorcerer, he unhesitatingly +administered baptism. There was no Church present to witness the +rite. We do not read that the Holy Ghost fell on the eunuch. + +That baptism in the quiet wady by the side of the solitary road, +while the swarthy attendants stood in wonder, was a mighty step in +advance; and it was taken, not by an Apostle, nor with ecclesiastical +sanction, but at the bidding of Christian instinct, which recognised +a brother in any man who had faith in Jesus, the Son of God. The new +faith is bursting old bonds. The universality of the Gospel is +overflowing the banks of Jewish narrowness. Probably Philip was quite +unconscious of the revolutionary nature of his act, but it was done, +and in it was the seed of many more. + +The eunuch had said that he could not understand unless some man +guided him. But when Philip is caught away, he does not bewail the +loss of his guide. He went on his road with joy, though his new faith +might have craved longer support from the crutch of a teacher, and +fuller enlightenment. What made him able to do without the guide that +a few hours before had been so indispensable? The presence in his +heart of a better one, even of Him whom Jesus promised, to guide His +servants into all truth. If those who believe that Scripture without +an authorised interpreter is insufficient to lead men aright, would +consider the end of this story, they might find that a man's +dependence on outward teachers ceases when he has God's Spirit to +teach him, and that for such a man the Word of God in his hand and +the Spirit of God in his spirit will give him light enough to walk +by, so that, in the absence of all outward instructors, he may still +be filled with true wisdom, and in absolute solitude may go 'on his +way rejoicing.' + + + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST + +'But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached +in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.'--ACTS viii. 40. + +The little that is known about Philip, the deacon and evangelist, may +very soon be told. His name suggests, though by no means +conclusively, that he was probably one of the so-called Hellenists, +or foreign-born and Greek-speaking Jews. This is made the more +probable because he was one of the seven selected by the Church, and +after that selection appointed by the Apostles, to dispense relief to +the poor. The purpose of the appointment being to conciliate the +grumblers in the Hellenist section of the Church, the persons chosen +would probably belong to it. He left Jerusalem during the persecution +'that arose after the death of Stephen.' As we know, he was the first +preacher of the Gospel in Samaria; he was next the instrument +honoured to carry the Word to the first heathen ever gathered into +the Church; and then, after a journey along the sea-coast to +Caesarea, the then seat of government, he remained in that place in +obscure toil for twenty years, dropped out of the story, and we hear +no more of him but for one glimpse of his home in Caesarea. + +That is all that is told about him. And I think that if we note the +contrast of the office to which men called him, and the work to which +God set him; and the other still more striking contrast between the +brilliancy of the beginning of his course, and the obscurity of his +long years of work, we may get some lessons worth the learning. I +take, then, not only the words which I read for my text, but the +whole of the incidents connected with Philip, as our starting-point +now; and I draw from them two or three very well-worn, but none the +less needful, pieces of instruction. + +I. First, then, we may gather a thought as to Christ's sovereignty in +choosing His instruments. + +Did you ever notice that events exactly contradicted the intentions +of the Church and of the Apostles, in the selection of Philip and his +six brethren? The Apostles said, 'It is not reason that we should +leave the Word of God and serve tables. Pick out seven relieving- +officers; men who shall do the secular work of the Church, and look +after the poor; and we will give ourselves to prayer and to the +ministry of the Word.' So said man. And what did facts say? That as +to these twelve, who were to 'give themselves to prayer and the +ministry of the Word,' we never hear that by far the larger +proportion of them were honoured to do anything worth mentioning for +the spread of the Gospel. Their function was to be 'witnesses,' and +that was all. But, on the other hand, of the men that were supposed +to be fitted for secular work, two at all events had more to do in +the expansion of the Church, and in the development of the universal +aspects of Christ's Gospel, than the whole of the original group of +Apostles. So Christ picks His instruments. The Apostles may say, +'These shall do so-and-so; and we will do so-and-so.' Christ says, +'Stephen shall proclaim a wider Gospel than the Apostles at first had +caught sight of, and Philip shall be the first who will go beyond the +charmed circle of Judaism, and preach the Gospel.' + +It is always so. Christ chooses His instruments where He will; and it +is not the Apostle's business, nor the business of an ecclesiastic of +any sort, to settle his own work or anybody else's. The Commander-in- +Chief keeps the choosing of the men for special service in His own +hand. The Apostolic College said, 'Let them look after the poor, and +leave us to look after the ministry of the Word'; Christ says, 'Go +and join thyself to that chariot, and speak there the speech that I +shall bid thee.' + +Brethren, do you listen for that voice calling you to your tasks, and +never mind what men may be saying. Wait till _He_ bids, and you will +hear Him speaking to you if you will keep yourselves quiet. Wait till +He bids you, and then be sure that you do it. Christ chooses His +instruments, and chooses them often in strange places. + +II. The next lesson that I would take from this story is the +spontaneous speech of a believing heart. + +There came a persecution that scattered the Church. Men tried to +fling down the lamp; and all that they did was to spill the oil, and +it ran flaming wherever it flowed. For the scattered brethren, +without any Apostle with them, with no instruction given to them to +do so, wherever they went carried their faith with them; and, as a +matter of course, wherever they went they spoke their faith. And so +we read that, not by appointment, nor of set purpose, nor in +consequence of any ecclesiastical or official sanction, nor in +consequence of any supernatural and distinct commandment from heaven, +but just because it was the natural thing to do, and they could not +help it, they went everywhere, these scattered men of Cyprus and +Cyrene, preaching the word. + +And when this Philip, whom the officials had relegated to the secular +work of distributing charity, found himself in Samaria, he did the +like. The Samaritans were outcasts, and Peter and John had wanted to +bring down fire from heaven to consume them. But Philip could not +help speaking out the truth that was in his heart. + +So it always will be: we can all talk about what we are interested +in. The full heart cannot be condemned to silence. If there is no +necessity for speech felt by a professing Christian, that professing +Christian's faith is a very superficial thing. 'We cannot but speak +the things that we have seen and heard,' said one of the Apostles, +thereby laying down the great charter of freedom of speech for all +profound convictions. 'Thy word was as a fire in my bones when I +said, I will speak no more in Thy name,' so petulant and self-willed +was I, 'and I was weary with forbearing,' and ashamed of my rash vow; +'and I could not stay.' + +Dear friends, do you carry with you the impulse for utterance of +Christ's name wherever you go? And is it so sweet in your hearts that +you cannot but let its sweetness have expression by your lips? +Surely, surely this spontaneous instinctive utterance of Philip, by +which a loving heart sought to relieve itself, puts to shame the +'dumb dogs' that make up such an enormous proportion of professing +Christians. And surely such an experience as his may well throw a +very sinister light on the reality--nay! I will not say the +_reality_, that would be too uncharitable--but upon the depth and +vitality of the profession of Christianity which these silent ones +make. + +III. Another lesson that seems to me strikingly illustrated by the +story with which we are concerned, is the guidance of a divine hand +in common life, and when there are no visible nor supernatural signs. + +Philip goes down to Samaria because he must, and speaks because he +cannot help it. He is next bidden to take a long journey, from the +centre of the land, away down to the southern desert; and at a +certain point there the Spirit says to him, 'Go! join thyself to this +chariot.' And when his work with the Ethiopian statesman is done, +then he is swept away by the power of the Spirit of God, as Ezekiel +had been long before by the banks of the river Chebar, and is set +down, no doubt all bewildered and breathless, at Azotus--the ancient +Ashdod--the Philistine city on the low-lying coast. Was Philip less +under Christ's guidance when miracle ceased and he was left to +ordinary powers? Did he feel as if deserted by Christ, because, +instead of being swept by the strong wind of heaven, he had to tramp +wearily along the flat shore with the flashing Mediterranean on his +left hand reflecting the hot sunshine? Did it seem to him as if his +task in preaching the Gospel in these villages through which he +passed on his way to Caesarea was less distinctly obedience to the +divine command than when he heard the utterance of the Spirit, 'Go +down to the road which leads to Gaza, which is desert'? By no means. +To this man, as to every faithful soul, the guidance that came +through his own judgment and common sense, through the instincts and +impulses of his sanctified nature, by the circumstances which he +devoutly believed to be God's providence, was as truly direct divine +guidance as if all the angels of heaven had blown commandment with +their trumpets into his waiting and stunned ears. + +And so you and I have to go upon our paths without angel voices, or +chariots of storm, and to be contented with divine commandments less +audible or perceptible to our senses than this man had at one point +in his career. But if we are wise we shall hear Him speaking the +word. We shall not be left without His voice if we wait for it, +stilling our own inclinations until His solemn commandment is made +plain to us, and then stirring up our inclinations that they may sway +us to swift obedience. There is no gulf, for the devout heart, +between what is called miraculous and what is called ordinary and +common. Equally in both does God manifest His will to His servants, +and equally in both is His presence perceived by faith. We do not +need to envy Philip's brilliant beginning. Let us see that we imitate +his quiet close of life. + +IV. The last lesson that I would draw is this--the nobility of +persistence in unnoticed work. + +What a contrast to the triumphs in Samaria, and the other great +expansion of the field for the Gospel effected by the God-commanded +preaching to the eunuch, is presented by the succeeding twenty years +of altogether unrecorded but faithful toil! Persistence in such +unnoticed work is made all the more difficult, and to any but a very +true man would have been all but impossible, by reason of the +contrast which such work offered to the glories of the earlier days. +Some of us may have been tried in a similar fashion, all of us have +more or less the same kind of difficulty to face. Some of us perhaps +may have had gleams, at the beginning of our career, that seemed to +give hope of fields of activity more brilliant and of work far better +than we have ever had or done again in the long weary toil of daily +life. There may have been abortive promises, at the commencement of +your careers, that seemed to say that you would occupy a more +conspicuous position than life has had really in reserve for you. At +any rate, we have all had our dreams, for + + 'If Nature put not forth her power + About the opening of the flower, + Who is there that could live an hour?' + +and no life is all that the liver of it meant it to be when he began. +We dream of building palaces or temples, and we have to content +ourselves if we can put up some little shed in which we may shelter. + +Philip, who began so conspicuously, and so suddenly ceased to be the +special instrument in the hands of the Spirit, kept plod, plod, +plodding on, with no bitterness of heart. For twenty years he had no +share in the development of Gentile Christianity, of which he had +sowed the first seed, but had to do much less conspicuous work. He +toiled away there in Caesarea patient, persevering, and contented, +because he loved the work, and he loved the work because he loved Him +that had set it. He seemed to be passed over by his Lord in His +choice of instruments. It was he who was selected to be the first man +that should preach to the heathen. But did you ever notice that +although he was probably in Caesarea at the time, Cornelius was not +bid to apply to _Philip_, who was at his elbow, but to send to Joppa +for the Apostle Peter? Philip might have sulked and said: 'Why was I +not chosen to do this work? I will speak no more in this Name.' + +It did not fall to his lot to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. One who +came after him was preferred before him, and the Hellenist Saul was +set to the task which might have seemed naturally to belong to the +Hellenist Philip. He too might have said, 'He must increase, but I +must decrease.' No doubt he did say it in spirit, with noble self- +abnegation and freedom from jealousy. He cordially welcomed Paul to +his house in Caesarea twenty years afterwards, and rejoiced that one +sows and another reaps; and that so the division of labour is the +multiplication of gladness. + +A beautiful superiority to all the low thoughts that are apt to mar +our persistency in unobtrusive and unrecognised work is set before us +in this story. There are many temptations to-day, dear brethren, what +with gossiping newspapers and other means of publicity for everything +that is done, for men to say, 'Well, if I cannot get any notice for +my work I shall not do it.' + +Boys in the street will refuse to join in games, saying, 'I shall not +play unless I am captain or have the big drum.' And there are not +wanting Christian men who lay down like conditions. 'Play well thy +part' wherever it is. Never mind the honour. Do the duty God +appoints, and He that has the two mites of the widow in His treasury +will never forget any of our works, and at the right time will tell +them out before His Father, and before the holy angels. + + + +GRACE TRIUMPHANT + +'And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against +the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2. And +desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he +found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might +bring them hound unto Jerusalem. 3. And as he journeyed, he came +near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light +from heaven: 4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice +saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? 5. And he +said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou +persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6. +And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have +me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the +city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 7. And the men +which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but +seeing no man. 8. And Saul arose from the earth: and when his +eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, +and brought him into Damascus. 9. And he was three days without +sight, and neither did eat nor drink. 10. And there was a certain +disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in +a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold. I am here, Lord. 11. And +the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is +called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called +Saul, of Tarsus; for, behold, he prayeth, 12. And hath seen in a +vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on +him, that he might receive his sight.... 17. And Ananias went his +way, and entered Into the house; and putting his hands on him +said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee +in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest +receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18. And +immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and +he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. 19. And +when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul +certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 20. And +straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the +Son of God.'--ACTS ix. 1-12; 17-20. + +This chapter begins with 'but,' which contrasts Saul's persistent +hatred, which led him to Gentile lands to persecute, with Philip's +expansive evangelistic work. Both men were in profound earnest, both +went abroad to carry on their work, but the one sought to plant what +the other was eager to destroy. If the 'but' in verse 1 contrasts, +the 'yet' connects the verse with chapter viii. 3. Saul's fury was no +passing outburst, but enduring. Like other indulged passions, it grew +with exercise, and had come to be as his very life-breath, and now +planned, not only imprisonment, but death, for the heretics. + +Not content with carrying his hateful inquisition into the homes of +the Christians in Jerusalem, he will follow the fugitives to +Damascus. The extension of the persectution was his own thought. He +was not the tool of the Sanhedrin, but their mover. They would +probably have been content to cleanse Jerusalem, but the young zealot +would not rest till he had followed the dispersed poison into every +corner where it might have trickled. The high priest would not +discourage such useful zeal, however he might smile at its excess. + +So Saul got the letters he asked, and some attendants, apparently, to +help him in his hunt, and set off for Damascus. Painters have +imagined him as riding thither, but more probably he and his people +went on foot. It was a journey of some five or six days. The noon of +the last day had come, and the groves of Damascus were, perhaps, in +sight. No doubt, the young Pharisee's head was busy settling what he +was to begin with when he entered the city, and was exulting in the +thought of how he would harry the meek Christians, when the sudden +light shone. + +At all events, the narrative does not warrant the view, often taken +now, that there had been any preparatory process in Saul's mind, +which had begun to sap his confidence that Jesus was a blasphemer, +and himself a warrior for God. That view is largely adopted in order +to get rid of the supernatural, and to bolster up the assumption that +there are no sudden conversions; but the narrative of Luke, and +Paul's own references, are dead against it. At one moment he is 'yet +breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the +Lord,' and in almost the next he is prone on his face, asking, 'Lord, +what wilt Thou have me to do?' It was not a case of a landslide +suddenly sweeping down, but long prepared for by the gradual +percolation of water to the slippery understrata, but the solid earth +was shaken, and the mountain crashed down in sudden ruin. + +The causes of Saul's conversion are plain in the narrative, even +though the shortened form is adopted, which is found in the Revised +Version. The received text has probably been filled out by additions +from Paul's own account in chapter xxvi. First came the blaze of +light outshining the midday sun, even in that land where its beams +are like swords. That blinding light 'shone round about him,' +enveloping him in its glory. Chapter xxvi. (verse 13) tells that his +companions also were wrapped in the lustre, and that all fell to the +earth, no doubt in terror. + +Saul is not said, either in this or in his own accounts, to have seen +Jesus, but I Corinthians xv. 8 establishes that he did so, and +Ananias (v. 17) refers to Jesus as having 'appeared.' That +appearance, whatever may have been the psychological account of it, +was by Paul regarded as being equal in evidential value to the flesh- +and-blood vision of the risen Lord which the other Apostles witnessed +to, and as placing him in the same line as a witness. + +It is to be noted also, that, while the attendants saw the light, +they were not blinded, as Saul was; from which it may be inferred +that he saw with his bodily eyes the glorified manhood of Jesus, as +we are told that one day, when He returns as Judge, 'every eye shall +see Him.' Be that as it may,--and we have not material for +constructing a theory of the manner of Christ's appearance to Saul,-- +the overwhelming conviction was flooded into his soul, that the Jesus +whom he had thought of as a blasphemer, falsely alleged to have risen +from the dead, lived in heavenly glory, amid celestial brightness too +dazzling for human eyes. + +The words of gentle remonstrance issuing from the flashing glory went +still further to shake the foundations of the young Pharisee's life; +for they, as with one lightning gleam, laid hare the whole madness +and sin of the crusade which he had thought acceptable to God. 'Why +persecutest thou Me?' Then the odious heretics were knit by some +mysterious bond to this glorious One, so that He bled in their wounds +and felt their pains! Then Saul had been, as his old teacher dreaded +they of the Sanhedrin might be, fighting against God! How the reasons +for Saul's persecution had crumbled away, till there were none left +with which to answer Jesus' question! Jesus lived, and was exalted to +glory. He was identified with His servants. He had appeared to Saul, +and deigned to plead with him. + +No wonder that the man who had been planning fresh assaults on the +disciples ten minutes before, was crushed and abject as he lay there +on the road, and these tremendous new convictions rushed like a +cataract over and into his soul! No wonder that the lessons burned in +on him in that hour of destiny became the centre-point of all his +future teaching! That vision revolutionised his thinking and his +life. None can affirm that it was incompetent to do so. + +Luke's account here, like Paul's in chapter xxii., represents further +instructions from Jesus as postponed till Saul's meeting with +Ananias, while Paul's other account in chapter xxvi. omits mention of +the latter, and gives the substance of what he said in Damascus as +said on the road by Jesus. The one account is more detailed than the +other, that is all. The gradual unfolding of the heavenly purpose +which our narrative gives is in accord with the divine manner. For +the moment enough had been done to convert the persecutor into the +servant, to level with the ground his self-righteousness, to reveal +to him the glorified Jesus, to bend his will and make it submissive. +The rest would be told him in due time. + +The attendants had fallen to the ground like him, but seem to have +struggled to their feet again, while he lay prostrate. They saw the +brightness, but not the Person: they heard the voice, but not the +words. Saul staggered by their help to his feet, and then found that +with open eyes he was blind. Imagination or hallucination does not +play tricks of that sort with the organs of sense. + +The supernatural is too closely intertwined with the story to be +taken out of it without reducing it to tatters. The greatest of +Christian teachers, who has probably exercised more influence than +any man who ever lived, was made a Christian by a miracle. That fact +is not to be got rid of. But we must remember that once when He +speaks of it He points to God's revelation of His Son '_in_ Him' as +its essential character. The external appearance was the vehicle of +the inward revelation. It is to be remembered, too, that the miracle +did not take away Saul's power of accepting or rejecting the Christ; +for he tells Agrippa that he was 'not disobedient to the heavenly +vision.' + +What a different entry he made into Damascus from what he expected, +and what a different man it was that crawled up to the door of Judas, +in the street that is called Straight, from the self-confident young +fanatic who had left Jerusalem with the high priest's letters in his +bosom and fierce hate in his heart! + +Ananias was probably not one of the fugitives, as his language about +Saul implies that he knew of his doings only by hearsay. The report +of Saul's coming and authority to arrest disciples had reached +Damascus before him, with the wonderful quickness with which news +travels in the East, nobody knows how. Ananias's fears being quieted, +he went to the house where for three days Saul had been lying lonely +in the dark, fasting, and revolving many things in his heart. No +doubt his Lord had spoken many a word to him, though not by vision, +but by whispering to his spirit. Silence and solitude root truth in a +soul. After such a shock, absolute seclusion was best. + +Ananias discharged his commission with lovely tenderness and power. +How sweet and strange to speaker and hearer would that 'Brother Saul' +sound! How strong and grateful a confirmation of his vision would +Ananias's reference to the appearance of the Lord bring! How humbly +would the proud Pharisee bow to receive, laid on his head, the hands +that he had thought to bind with chains! What new eyes would look out +on a world in which all things had become new, when there fell from +them as it had been scales, and as quickly as had come the blinding, +so quickly came the restored vision! + +Ananias was neither Apostle nor official, yet the laying on of his +hands communicated 'the Holy Ghost.' Saul received that gift before +baptism, not after or through the ordinance. It was important for his +future relations to the Apostles that he should not have been +introduced to the Church by them, or owed to them his first human +Christian teaching. Therefore he could say that he was 'an Apostle, +not from men, neither through man.' It was important for us that in +that great instance that divine gift should have been bestowed +without the conditions accompanying, which have too often been +regarded as necessary for, its possession. + + + +'THIS WAY' + +'Any of this way.'--ACTS ix. 2 + +The name of 'Christian' was not applied to themselves by the +followers of Jesus before the completion of the New Testament. There +were other names in currency before that designation--which owed its +origin to the scoffing wits of Antioch--was accepted by the Church. +They called themselves 'disciples,' 'believers, 'saints,' 'brethren,' +as if feeling about for a title. + +Here is a name that had obtained currency for a while, and was +afterwards disused. We find it five times in the Book of the Acts of +the Apostles, never elsewhere; and always, with one exception, it +should be rendered, as it is in the Revised Version, not '_this_ +way,' as if being one amongst many, but '_the_ way,' as being the +only one. + +Now, I have thought that this designation of Christians as 'those of +the way' rests upon a very profound and important view of what +Christianity is, and may teach us some lessons if we will ponder it; +and I ask your attention to two or three of these for a few moments +now. + +I. First, then, I take this name as being a witness to the conviction +that in Christianity we have the only road to God. + +There may be some reference in the name to the remarkable words of +our Lord Jesus Christ: 'I am the Way. No man cometh to the Father but +by Me,'--words of which the audacity is unparalleled and +unpardonable, except upon the supposition that He bears an unique +relation to God on the one hand, and to all mankind upon the other. +In them He claims to be the sole medium of communication between +heaven and earth, God and man. And that same exclusiveness is +reflected in this name for Christians. It asserts that faith in Jesus +Christ, the acceptance of His teaching, mediation and guidance, is +the only path that climbs to God, and by it alone do we come into +knowledge of, and communion with, our divine Father. + +I do not dwell upon the fact that, according to our Lord's own +teaching, and according to the whole New Testament, Christ's work of +making God known to man did not begin with His Incarnation and +earthly life, but that from the beginning that eternal Word was the +agent of all divine activity in creation, and in the illumination of +mankind. So that, not only all the acts of the self-revealing God +were through Him, but that from Him, as from the light of men, came +all the light in human hearts, of reason and of conscience, by which +there were and are in all men, some dim knowledge of God, and some +feeling after, or at the lowest some consciousness of, Him. But the +historical facts of Christ's incarnation, life, death, resurrection, +and ascension are the source of all solid certitude, and of all clear +knowledge of our Father in Heaven. His words are spirit and life; His +works are unspoken words; and by both He declares unto His brethren +the Name, and is the self-manifestation of, the Father. + +Think of the contrast presented by the world's conceptions of +Godhead, and the reality as unveiled in Christ! On the one hand you +have gods lustful, selfish, passionate, capricious, cruel, angry, +vile; or gods remote, indifferent, not only passionless, but +heartless, inexorable, unapproachable, whom no man can know, whom no +man can love, whom no man can trust. On the other hand, if you look +at Christ's tears as the revelation of God; if you look at Christ's +ruth and pity as the manifestation of the inmost glory of the divine +nature; if you take your stand at the foot of the Cross--a strange +place to see 'the power of God and the wisdom of God'!--and look up +there at Him dying for the world, and are able to say, 'Lo! this is +our God! through all the weary centuries we have waited for Him, and +this is He!' then you can understand how true it is that there, and +there only, is the good news proclaimed that lifts the burden from +every heart, and reveals God the Lover and the Friend of every soul. + +And if, further, we consider the difference between the dim +'peradventures,' the doubts and fears, the uncertain conclusions +drawn from questionable, and often partial, premises, which +confessedly never amount to demonstration, if we consider the +contrast between these and the daylight of fact which we meet in +Jesus Christ, His love, life, and death, then we can feel how +superior in certitude, as in substance, the revelation of God in +Jesus is to all these hopes, longings, doubts, and how it alone is +worthy to be called the knowledge of God, or is solid enough to abide +comparison with the certainties of the most arrogant physical +science. + +There never was a time in the history of the world when, so clearly +and unmistakably, every thinking soul amongst cultivated nations was +being brought up to this alternative--Christ, the Revealer of God, or +no knowledge of God at all. The old dreams of heathenism are +impossible for us; modern agnosticism will make very quick work of a +deism which does not cling to the Christ as the Revealer of the +Godhead. And I, for my part, believe that there is one thing, and one +thing only, which will save modern Europe from absolute godlessness, +and that is the coming back to the old truth, 'No man hath seen God' +by sense, or intuition, or reason, or conscience, 'at any time. The +only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath +declared Him.' + +But it is not merely as bringing to us the only certain knowledge of +our Father God that Christianity is 'the way,' but it is also because +by it alone we come into fellowship with the God whom it reveals to +us. If there rises up before your mind the thought of Him in the +Heavens, there will rise up also in your consciousness the sense of +your own sin. And that is no delusion nor fancy; it is the most +patent fact, that between you and your Father in Heaven, howsoever +loving, tender, compassionate, and forgiving, there lies a great +gulf. You cannot go to God, my brother, with all that guilt heaped +upon your conscience; you cannot come near to Him with all that mass +of evil which you know is there, working in your soul. How shall a +sinful soul come to a holy God? And there is only one answer--that +great Lord, by His blessed death upon the Cross, has cleared away all +the mountains of guilt and sin that rise up frowning between each +single soul and the Father in Heaven; and through Him, by a new and +living way, which He hath opened for us, we have entrance to God, and +dwell with Him. + +And it is not only that He brings to us the knowledge of God, and +that He clears away all obstacles, and makes fellowship between God +and us possible for the most polluted and sinful of spirits, but it +is also that, by the knowledge of His great love to us, love is +kindled in our hearts, and we are drawn into that path which, as a +matter of fact, we shall not tread unless we yield to the magnetic +attraction of the love of God as revealed 'in the face of Jesus +Christ.' + +Men do not seek fellowship with God until they are drawn to Him by +the love that is revealed upon the Cross. Men do not yield their +hearts to Him until their hearts are melted down by the fire of that +Infinite divine love which disdained not to be humiliated and refused +not to die for their sakes. Practically and really we come to God, +when--and I venture upon the narrowness of saying, _only_ when--God +has come to us in His dear Son. '_The_ way' to God is through Christ. +Have you trod it, my friend--that new and living way, which leads +within the veil, into the secrets of loving communion with your +Father in Heaven? + +II. Then there is another principle, of which this designation of our +text is also the witness, viz., that in Christianity we have the path +of conduct and practical life traced out for us all. + +The 'way of a man' is, of course, a metaphor for his outward life and +conduct. It is connected with the familiar old image which belongs to +the poetry of all languages, by which life is looked at as a journey. +That metaphor speaks to us of the continual changefulness of our +mortal condition; it speaks to us, also, of the effort and the +weariness which often attend it. It proclaims also the solemn thought +that a man's life is a unity, and that, progressive, it goes some +whither, and arrives at a definite goal. + +And that idea is taken up in this phrase, '_the_ way,' in such a +fashion as that there are two things asserted: first, that +Christianity provides _a_ way, a path for the practical activity, +that it moulds our life into a unity, that it prescribes the line of +direction which it is to follow, that it has a starting-point, and +stages, and an end; also, that Christianity is _the_ way for +practical life, the only path and mode of conduct which corresponds +with all the obligations and nature of a man, and which reason, +conscience, and experience will approve. Let us look, just for a +moment or two, at these two thoughts: Christianity is _a_ way; +Christianity is _the_ way. + +It is a way. These early disciples must have grasped with great +clearness and tenacity the practical side of the Gospel, or they +would never have adopted this name. If they had thought of it as +being only a creed, they would not have done so. + +And it is not only a creed. All creed is meant to influence conduct. +If I may so say, _credenda_, 'things to be believed,' are meant to +underlie the _agenda_, the things to be done. Every doctrine of the +New Testament, like the great blocks of concrete that are dropped +into a river in order to lay the foundation of a bridge, or the +embankment that is run across a valley in order to carry a railway +upon it,--every doctrine of the New Testament is meant to influence +the conduct, the 'walk and conversation,' and to provide a path on +which activity may advance and expatiate. + +I cannot, of course, dwell upon this point with sufficient +elaboration, or take up one after another the teachings of the New +Testament, in order to show how close is their bearing upon practical +life. There is plenty of abstract theology in the form of theological +systems, skeletons all dried up that have no life in them. There is +nothing of that sort in the principles as they lie on the pages of +the New Testament. There they are all throbbing with life, and all +meant to influence life and conduct. + +Remember, my friend, that unless your Christianity is doing that for +you, unless it has prescribed a path of life for you, and moulded +your steps into a great unity, and drawn you along the road, it is +nought,--nought! + +But the whole matter may be put into half a dozen sentences. The +living heart of Christianity, either considered as a revelation to a +man, or as a power within a man, that is to say, either objective or +subjective, is love. It is the revelation of the love of God that is +the inmost essence of it as revelation. It is love in my heart that +is the inmost essence of it as a fact of my nature. And is not love +the most powerful of all forces to influence conduct? Is it not 'the +fulfilling of the law,' because its one single self includes all +commandments, and is the ideal of all duty, and also because it is +the power which will secure the keeping of all the law which itself +lays down? + +But love may be followed out into its two main effects. These are +self-surrender and imitation. And I say that a religious system which +is, in its inmost heart and essence, love, is thereby shown to be the +most practical of all systems, because thereby it is shown to be a +great system of self-surrender and imitation. + +The deepest word of the Gospel is, 'Yield yourselves to God.' Bring +your wills and bow them before Him, and say, 'Here am I; take me, and +use me as a pawn on Thy great chessboard, to be put where Thou wilt.' +When once a man's will is absorbed into the divine will, as a drop of +water is into the ocean, he is free, and has happiness and peace, and +is master and lord of himself and of the universe. That system which +proclaims love as its heart sets in action self-surrender as the most +practical of all the powers of life. + +Love is imitation. And Jesus Christ's life is set before us as the +pattern for all our conduct. We are to follow In His footsteps. These +mark our path. We are to follow Him, as a traveller who knows not his +way will carefully tread in the steps of his guide. We are to imitate +Him, as a scholar who is learning to draw will copy every touch of +the master's pencil. + +Strange that that short life, fragmentarily reported in four little +tracts, full of unapproachable peculiarities, and having no part in +many of the relationships which make so large a portion of most +lives, is yet so transparently under the influence of the purest and +broadest principles of righteousness and morality as that every age +and each sex, and men of all professions, idiosyncrasies, +temperaments, and positions, all stages of civilisation and culture, +of every period, and of every country, may find in it the all- +sufficient pattern for them! + +Thus in Christianity we have a way. It prescribes a line of direction +for the life, and brings all its power to bear in marking the course +which we should pursue and in making us willing and able to pursue +it. + +How different, how superior to all other systems which aspire to +regulate the outward life that system is! It is superior, in its +applicability to all conditions. It is a very difficult thing for any +man to apply the generalities of moral law and righteousness to the +individual cases in his life. The stars are very bright, but they do +not show me which street to turn up when I am at a loss; but Christ's +example comes very near to us, and guides us, not indeed in regard to +questions of prudence or expediency, but in regard to all questions +of right or wrong. It is superior, in the help it gives to a soul +struggling with temptation. It is very hard to keep law or duty +clearly before our eyes at such a moment, when it is most needful to +do so. The lighthouse is lost in the fog, but the example of Jesus +Christ dissipates many mists of temptation to the heart that loves +Him; and 'they that follow Him shall not walk in darkness.' + +It is superior in this, further, that patterns fail because they are +only patterns, and cannot get themselves executed, and laws fail +because they are only laws and cannot get themselves obeyed. What is +the use of a signpost to a man who is lame, or who does not want to +go down the road, though he knows it well enough? But Christianity +brings both the commandment and the motive that keeps the +commandment. + +And so it is _the_ path along which we can travel. It is the only +road that corresponds to all our necessities, and capacities, and +obligations. + +It is the only path, my brother, that will be approved by reason, +conscience, and experience. The greatest of our English mystics says +somewhere--I do not profess to quote with verbal accuracy--'There are +two questions which put an end to all the vain projects and designs +of human life. The one is, "What for?" the other, "What good will the +aim do you if attained?"' + +If we look at 'all the ways of men' calmly, and with due regard to +the wants of their souls, reason cannot but say that they are 'vain +and melancholy.' If we consult our own experience we cannot but +confess that whatsoever we have had or enjoyed, apart from God, has +either proved disappointing in the very moment of its possession, or +has been followed by a bitter taste on the tongue; or in a little +while has faded, and left us standing with the stalk in our hands +from which the bloom has dropped. Generation after generation has +sighed its 'Amen!' to the stern old word: 'Vanity of vanities; all is +vanity!' And here to-day, in the midst of the boasted progress of +this generation, we find cultured men amongst us, lapped in material +comfort, and with all the light of this century blazing upon them, +preaching again the old Buddhist doctrine that annihilation is the +only heaven, and proclaiming that life is not worth living, and that +'it were better not to be.' + +Dear brother, one path, and one path only, leads to what all men +desire--peace and happiness. One path, and one path only, leads to +what all men know they ought to seek--purity and godliness. We are +like men in the backwoods, our paths go circling round and round, we +have lost our way. 'The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of +them, for he knoweth not how to come to the city.' Jesus Christ has +cut a path through the forest. Tread you in it, and you will find +that it is 'the way of pleasantness' and 'the path of peace.' + +III. And now, one last word. This remarkable designation seems to me +to be a witness also to another truth, viz. that in Christianity we +have the only way home. + +The only way home! All other modes and courses of life and conduct +stop at the edge of a great gulf, like some path that goes down an +incline to the edge of a precipice, and the heedless traveller that +has been going on, not knowing whither it led, tilts over when he +comes there. Every other way that men can follow is broken short off +by death. And if there were no other reason to allege, that is enough +to condemn them. What is a man to do in another world if all his life +long he has only cultivated tastes which want this world for their +gratification? What is the sensualist to do when he gets there? What +is the shrewd man of business in Manchester to do when he comes into +a world where there are no bargains, and he cannot go on 'Change on +Tuesdays and Fridays? What will he do with himself? What does he do +with himself now, when he goes away from home for a month, and does +not get his ordinary work and surroundings? What will he do then? +What will a young lady do in an other world, who spends her days here +in reading trashy novels and magazines? What will any of us do who +have set our affections and our tastes upon this poor, perishing, +miserable world? Would you think it was common sense in a young man +who was going to be a doctor, and took no interest in anything but +farming? Is it not as stupid a thing for men and women to train +themselves for a condition which is transient, and not to train +themselves for the condition into which they are certainly going? + +And, on the other hand, the path that Christ makes runs clear on, +without a break, across the gulf, like some daring railway bridge +thrown across a mountain gorge, and goes straight on on the other +side without a curve, only with an upward gradient. The manner of +work may change; the spirit of the work and the principles of it will +remain. Self-surrender will be the law of Heaven, and 'they shall +follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' Better to begin here as we +mean to end yonder! Better to begin here what we can carry with us, +in essence though not in form, into the other life; and so, through +all the changes of life, and through the great change of death, to +keep one unbroken straight course! 'They go from strength to +strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God'. + +We live in an else trackless waste, but across the desert Jesus +Christ has thrown a way; too high for ravenous beasts to spring on or +raging foes to storm; too firm for tempest to overthrow or make +impair able; too plain for simple hearts to mistake. We may all +journey on it, if we will, and 'come to Zion with songs and +everlasting joy upon our heads.' + +Christ is the Way. O brother I trust thy sinful soul to His blood and +mediation, and thy sins will be forgiven. And then, loving Him, +follow Him. 'This is the way; walk ye in it.' + + + +A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE EARLY CHURCH + +'So the Church throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had +peace, being edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and +in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, was multiplied.'--ACTS ix. 31 +(R.V.). + +A man climbing a hill stops every now and then to take breath and +look about him; and in the earlier part of this Book of the Acts of +the Apostles there are a number of such landing-places where the +writer suspends the course of his narrative, in order to give a +general notion of the condition of the Church at the moment. We have +in this verse one of the shortest, but perhaps the most significant, +of these resting-places. The original and proper reading, instead of +'the Churches,' as our Version has it, reads 'the Church' as a whole +--the whole body of believers in the three districts named--Judaea, +Galilee, and Samaria--being in the same circumstances and passing +through like experiences. The several small communities of disciples +formed a whole. They were 'churches' individually; they were +collectively 'the Church.' Christ's order of expansion, given in +chapter i., had been thus far followed, and the sequence here sums up +the progress which the Acts has thus far recorded. Galilee had been +the cradle of the Church, but the onward march of the Gospel had +begun at Jerusalem. Before Luke goes on to tell how the last part of +our Lord's programme--'to the uttermost parts of the earth'--began to +be carried into execution by the conversion of Cornelius, he gives us +this bird's-eye view. To its significant items I desire to draw your +attention now. + +There are three of them: outward rest, inward progress, outward +increase. + +I. Outward rest. + +'Then had the Church rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and +Samaria.' + +The principal persecutor had just been converted, and that would +somewhat damp the zeal of his followers. Saul having gone over to the +enemy, it would be difficult to go on harrying the Church with the +same spirit, when the chief actor was turned traitor. And besides +that, historians tell us that there were political complications +which gave both Romans and Jews quite enough to do to watch one +another, instead of persecuting this little community of Christians. +I have nothing to do with these, but this one point I desire to make, +that the condition of security and tranquillity in which the Church +found itself conduced to spiritual good and growth. This has not +always been the case. As one of our quaint divines says, 'as in +cities where ground is scarce men build high up, so in times of +straitness and persecution the Christian community, and the +individuals who compose it, are often raised to a higher level of +devotion than in easier and quieter times.' But these primitive +Christians utilised this breathing-space in order to grow, and having +a moment of lull and stillness in the storm, turned it to the highest +and best uses. Is that what you and I do with our quiet times? None +of us have any occasion to fear persecution or annoyance of that +sort, but there are other thorns in our pillows besides these, and +other rough places in our beds, and we are often disturbed in our +nests. When there does come a quiet time in which no outward +circumstances fret us, do we seize it as coming from God, in order +that, with undistracted energies, we may cast ourselves altogether +into the work of growing like our Master and doing His will more +fully? How many of us, dear brethren, have misused both our adversity +and our prosperity by making the one an occasion for deeper +worldliness, and the other a reason for forgetting Him in the +darkness as in the light? To be absorbed by earthly things, whether +by the enjoyment of their possession or by the bitter pain and misery +of their withdrawal, is fatal to all our spiritual progress, and only +they use things prosperous and things adverse aright, who take them +both as means by which they may be wafted nearer to their God. +Whatsoever forces act upon us, if we put the helm right and trim the +sails as we ought, they will carry us to our haven. And whatsoever +forces act upon us, if we neglect the sailor's skill and duty, we +shall be washed backwards and forwards in the trough of the sea, and +make no progress in the voyage. 'Then had the Church rest'--and grew +lazy? 'Then had the Church rest'--and grew worldly? Then was I happy +and prosperous and peaceful in my home and in my business, and I +said, 'I shall never be moved,' and I forgot my God? 'Then had the +Church rest, and was edified.' + +Now, in the next place, note the + +II. Inward progress. + +There are difficulties about the exact relation of the clauses here +to one another, the discussion of which would be fitter for a +lecture-room than for a pulpit. I do not mean to trouble you with +these, but it seems to me that we may perhaps best understand the +writer's intention if we throw together the clauses which stand in +the middle of this verse, and take them as being a description of the +inward progress, being 'edified' and 'walking in the fear of the +Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.' There are two things, +then--the being 'edified' and 'walking'; and I wish to say a word or +two about each of them. + +Now that word 'edified' and the cognate one 'edification' have been +enfeebled in signification so as to mean very much less than they did +to Luke. When we speak of 'being edified,' what do we mean? Little +more than that we have been instructed, and especially that we have +been comforted. And what is the instrument of edification in our +ordinary religious parlance? Good words, wise teaching, or pious +speech. But the New Testament means vastly more than this by the +word, and looks not so much to other people's utterances as to a +man's own strenuous efforts, as the means of edification. Much +misunderstanding would have been avoided if our translators had +really translated, instead of putting us off with a Latinised word +which to many readers conveys little meaning and none of the +significant metaphor of the original. 'Being edified' sounds very +theological and far away from daily life. Would it not sound more +real if we read 'being built up'? That is the emblem of the process +that ought to go on, not only in the Christian community as a whole, +but in every individual member of it. Each Christian is bound to +build himself up and to help to build up other Christians; and God +builds them all up by His Spirit. We have brought before us the +picture of the rising of some stately fabric upon a firm foundation, +course by course, stone by stone, each laid by a separate act of the +builder's hand, and carefully bedded in its place until the whole is +complete. + +That is one emblem of the growth of the Christian community and of +the Christian individual, and the other clause that is coupled with +it in the text seems to me to give the same idea under a slightly +different figure. The rising of a stately building and the advance on +a given path suggest substantially the same notion of progress. + +And of these two metaphors, I would dwell chiefly on the former, +because it is the less familiar of the two to modern readers, and +because it is of some consequence to restore it to its weight and +true significance in the popular mind. Edification, then, is the +building up of Christian character, and it involves four things: a +foundation, a continuous progress, a patient, persistent effort, and +a completion. + +Now, Christian men and women, this is our office for ourselves, and, +according to our faculty and opportunities, for the Churches with +which we may stand connected, that on the foundation which is Jesus +Christ--'and other foundation can no man lay'--we all should slowly, +carefully, unceasingly be at our building work; each day's +attainment, like the course of stones laid in some great temple, +becoming the basis upon which to-morrow's work is to be piled, and +each having in it the toil of the builder and being a result and +monument of his strenuous effort, and each being built in, according +to the plan that the great Architect has given, and each tending a +little nearer to the roof-tree, and the time that 'the top stone +shall be brought forth with the shout of rejoicing.' Is that a +transcript of my life and yours? Do we make a business of the +cultivation of Christian character thus? Do we rest the whole +structure of our lives upon Jesus Christ? And then, do we, hour by +hour, moment by moment, lay the fair stones, until + + 'Firm and fair the building rise, + A temple to His praise.' + +The old worn metaphor, which we have vulgarised and degraded into a +synonym for a comfortable condition produced by a brother's words, +carries in it the solemnest teaching as to what the duty and +privilege of all Christian souls is-to 'build themselves up for an +habitation of God through the Spirit.' + +But note further the elements of which this progress consists. May we +not suppose that both metaphors refer to the clauses that follow, and +that 'the fear of the Lord' and 'the comfort of the Holy Ghost' are +the particulars in which the Christian is built up and walks? + +'The fear of the Lord' is eminently an Old Testament expression, and +occurs only once or twice in the New. But its meaning is thoroughly +in accordance with the loftiest teaching of the new revelation. 'The +fear of the Lord' is that reverential awe of Him, by which we are +ever conscious of His presence with us, and ever seek, as our supreme +aim and end, to submit our wills to His commandment, and to do the +things that are pleasing in His sight. Are you and I building +ourselves up in that? Do we feel more thrillingly and gladly to-day +than we did yesterday, that God is beside us? And do we submit +ourselves more loyally, more easily, more joyously to His will, in +blessed obedience, now than ever before? Have we learned, and are we +learning, moment by moment, more of that 'secret of the Lord' which +'is with them that fear Him,' and of that 'covenant' which 'He will +show' to them? Unless we do, our growth in Christian character is a +very doubtful thing. And are we advancing, too, in that other element +which so beautifully completes and softens the notion of the fear of +the Lord, 'the encouragement' which the divine Spirit gives us? Are +we bolder to-day than we were yesterday? Are we ready to meet with +more undaunted confidence whatever we may have to face? Do we feel +ever increasing within us the full blessedness and inspiration of +that divine visitant? And do these sweet communications take all the +'torment' away from 'fear,' and leave only the bliss of reverential +love? They who walk in the fear of the Lord, and who with the fear +have the courage that the divine Spirit gives, will 'have rest,' like +the first Christians, whatsoever storms may howl around them, and +whatsoever enemies may threaten to disturb their peace. + +And so, lastly, note + +III. The outward growth. + +Thus building themselves up, and thus growing, the Church 'was +multiplied.' Of course it was. Christian men and women that are +spiritually alive, and who, because they are alive, grow, and grow in +these things, the manifest reverence of God, and the manifest +'comfort' of the divine Spirit's giving, will commend their gospel to +a blind world. They will be an attractive force in the midst of men, +and their inward growth will make them eager to hold forth the word +of life, and will give them 'a mouth and wisdom' which nothing but +genuine spiritual experience can give. + +And so, dear friends, especially those of you who set yourselves to +any of the many forms of Christian work which prevail in this day, +learn the lesson of my text, and make sure of '_a_' before you go on +to '_b_,' and see to it that before you set yourselves to try to +multiply the Church, you set yourselves to build up yourselves in +your most holy faith. + +We hear a great deal nowadays about 'forward movements,' and I +sympathise with all that is said in favour of them. But I would +remind you that the precursor of every genuine forward movement is a +Godward movement, and that it is worse than useless to talk about +lengthening the cords unless you begin with strengthening the stakes. +The little prop that holds up the bell-tent that will contain half-a- +dozen soldiers will be all too weak for the great one that will cover +a company. And the fault of some Christian people is that they set +themselves to work upon others without remembering that the first +requisite is a deepened and growing godliness and devotion in their +own souls. Dear friends, begin at home, and remember that whilst what +the world calls eloquence may draw people, and oddities _will_ draw +them, and all sorts of lower attractions will gather multitudes for a +little while, the one solid power which Christian men and women can +exercise for the numerical increase of the Church is rooted in, and +only tenable through, their own personal increase day by day in +consecration and likeness to the Saviour, in possession of the +Spirit, and in loving fear of the Lord. + + + +COPIES OF CHRIST'S MANNER + +'And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: +arise, and make thy bed.... 40. But Peter put them all forth, and +kneeled down and prayed; and, turning him to the body, said, +Tabitha, arise.--ACTS ix. 34, 40. + +I have put these two miracles together, not only because they were +closely connected in time and place, but because they have a very +remarkable and instructive feature in common. They are both evidently +moulded upon Christ's miracles; are distinct imitations of what Peter +had seen Him do. And their likenesses to and differences from our +Lord's manner of working are equally noteworthy. It is to the lessons +from these two aspects, common to both miracles, that I desire to +turn now. + +I. First, notice the similarities and the lesson which they teach. + +The two cases before us are alike, in that both of them find +parallels in our Lord's miracles. The one is the cure of a paralytic, +which pairs off with the well-known story in the Gospels concerning +the man that was borne by four, and let down through the roof into +Christ's presence. The other of them, the raising of Dorcas, or +Tabitha, of course corresponds with the three resurrections of dead +people which are recorded in the Gospels. + +And now, note the likenesses. Jesus Christ said to the paralysed man, +'Arise, take up thy bed.' Peter says to Aeneas, 'Arise, and make thy +bed.' The one command was appropriate to the circumstances of a man +who was not in his own house, and whose control over his long-disused +muscles in obeying Christ's word was a confirmation to himself of the +reality and completeness of his cure. The other was appropriate to a +man bedridden in his own house; and it had precisely the same purpose +as the analogous injunction from our Lord, 'Take up thy bed and +walk.' Aeneas was lying at home, and so Peter, remembering how Jesus +Christ had demonstrated to others, and affirmed to the man himself, +the reality of the miraculous blessing given to him, copies his +Master's method, 'Aeneas, make thy bed.' It is an echo and +resemblance of the former incident, and is a distinct piece of +imitation of it. + +And then, if we turn to the other narrative, the intentional moulding +of the manner of the miracle, consecrated in the eyes of the loving +disciple, because it was Christ's manner, is still more obvious. When +Jesus Christ went into the house of Jairus there was the usual +hubbub, the noise of the loud Eastern mourning, and He put them all +forth, taking with Him only the father and mother of the damsel, and +Peter with James and John. When Peter goes into the upper room, where +Tabitha is lying, there are the usual noise of lamentation and the +clack of many tongues, extolling the virtues of the dead woman. He +remembers how Christ had gone about His miracle, and he, in his turn, +'put them all forth.' Mark, who was Peter's mouthpiece in his Gospel, +gives us the very Aramaic words which our Lord employed when He +raised the little girl, _Talitha_, the Aramaic word for 'a damsel,' +or young girl; _cumi_, which means in that language 'arise.' Is it +not singular and beautiful that Peter's word by the bedside of the +dead Dorcas is, with the exception of one letter, absolutely +identical? Christ says, _Talitha cumi_. Peter remembered the formula +by which the blessing was conveyed, and he copied it. 'Tabitha cumi!' +Is it not clear that he is posing after his Master's attitude; that +he is, consciously or unconsciously, doing what he remembered so well +had been done in that other upper room, and that the miracles are +both of them shaped after the pattern of the miraculous working of +Jesus Christ? + +Well, now, although we are no miracle-workers, the very same +principle which underlay these two works of supernatural power is to +be applied to all our work, and to our lives as Christian people. I +do not know whether Peter _meant_ to do like Jesus Christ or not; I +think rather that he was unconsciously and instinctively dropping +into the fashion that to him was so sacred. Love always delights in +imitation; and the disciples of a great teacher will unconsciously +catch the trick of his intonation, even the awkwardness of his +attitudes or the peculiarities of his way of looking at things--only, +unfortunately, outsides are a good deal more easily imitated than +insides. And many a disciple copies such external trifles, and talks +in the tones that have, first of all, brought blessed truths to him, +whose resemblance to his teacher goes very little further. The +principle that underlies these miracles is just this--get near Jesus +Christ, and you will catch His manner. Dwell in fellowship with Him, +and whether you are thinking about it or not, there will come some +faint resemblance to that Lord into your characters and your way of +doing things, so that men will 'take knowledge of you that you have +been with Jesus.' The poor bit of cloth which has held some precious +piece of solid perfume will retain fragrance for many a day +afterwards, and will bless the scentless air by giving it forth. The +man who keeps close to Christ, and has folded Him in his heart, will, +like the poor cloth, give forth a sweetness not his own that will +gladden and refresh many nostrils. Live in the light, and you will +become light. Keep near Christ, and you will be Christlike. Love Him, +and love will do to you what it does to many a wedded pair, and to +many kindred hearts: it will transfuse into you something of the +characteristics of the object of your love. It is impossible to trust +Christ, to obey Christ, to hold communion with Him, and to live +beside Him, without becoming like Him. And if such be our inward +experience, so will be our outward appearance. + +But there may be a specific point given to this lesson in regard to +Christian people's ways of doing their work in the world and helping +and blessing other folk. Although, as I say, we have no miraculous +power at our disposal, we do not need it in order to manifest Jesus +Christ and His way of working in our work. And if we dwell beside +Him, then, depend upon it, all the characteristics--far more precious +than the accidents of manner, or tone, or attitude in working a +miracle--all the characteristics so deeply and blessedly stamped upon +His life of self-sacrifice and man-helping devotion will be +reproduced in us. Jesus Christ, when He went through the wards of the +hospital of the world, was overflowing with quick sympathy for every +sorrow that met His eye. If you and I are living near Him, we shall +never steel our hearts nor lock up our sensibilities against any +suffering that it is within our power to stanch or to alleviate. +Jesus Christ never grudged trouble, never thought of Himself, never +was impatient of interruption, never repelled importunity, never sent +away empty any outstretched hand. And if we live near Him, self- +oblivious willingness to spend and be spent will mark our lives, and +we shall not consider that we have the right of possession or of sole +enjoyment of any of the blessings that are given to us. Jesus Christ, +according to the beautiful and significant words of one of the +Gospels, 'healed them that had need of healing.' Why that singular +designation for the people that were standing around Him but to teach +us that wide as men's necessity was His sympathy, and that broad as +the sympathy of Christ were the help and healing which He brought? +And so, with like width of compassion, with like perfectness of self- +oblivion, with equal remoteness from consciousness of superiority or +display of condescension, Christian men should go amongst the +sorrowful and the sad and the outcast and do their miracles--'greater +works' than those which Christ did, as He Himself has told us--after +the manner in which He did His. If they did, the world would be a +different place, and the Church would be a different Church, and you +would not have people writing in the newspapers to demonstrate that +Christianity was 'played out.' + +II. Further, note the differences and the lessons from them. + +Take the first of the two miracles. 'Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee +whole: arise, and make thy bed.' That first clause points to the +great difference. Take the second miracle, 'Jesus Christ put them all +forth, and stretched out His hand, and said, Damsel, arise!' 'Peter +put them all forth, ... and said, Tabitha, arise!' but between the +putting forth and the miracle he did something which Christ did not +do, and he did not do something which Christ did do. 'He kneeled down +and prayed.' Jesus Christ did not do that. 'And Jesus put forth His +hand, and said, Arise!' Peter did not do that. But he put forth his +hand _after_ the miracle was wrought; not to communicate life, but to +help the living woman to get to her feet; and so, both by what he did +in his prayer and by what he did not do after Christ's pattern, the +extension of the hand that was the channel of the vitality, he drew a +broad distinction between the servant's copy and the Master's +original. + +The lessons from the differences are such as the following. + +Christ works miracles by His inherent power; His servants do their +works only as His instruments and organs. I need not dwell upon the +former thought; but it is the latter at which I wish to look for a +moment. The lesson, then, of the difference is that Christian men, in +all their work for the Master and for the world, are ever to keep +clear before themselves, and to make very obvious to other people, +that they are nothing more than channels and instruments. The less +the preacher, the teacher, the Christian benefactor of any sort puts +himself in the foreground, or in evidence at all, the more likely are +his words and works to be successful. If you hear a man, for +instance, preaching a sermon, and you see that he is thinking about +himself, he may talk with the tongues of men and of angels, but he +will do no good to anybody. The first condition of work for the Lord +is--hide yourself behind your message, behind your Master, and make +it very plain that His is the power, and that you are but a tool in +the Workman's hand. + +And then, further, another lesson is, Be very sure of the power that +will work in you. What a piece of audacity it was for Peter to go and +stand by the paralytic man's couch and say, 'Aeneas, Jesus Christ +maketh thee whole.' Yes, audacity; unless he had been in such +constant and close touch with his Master that he was sure that his +Master was working through him. And is it not beautiful to see how +absolutely confident he is that Jesus Christ's work was not ended +when He went up into heaven; but that there, in that little stuffy +room, where the man had lain motionless for eight long years, Jesus +Christ was present, and working? O brethren, the Christian Church +does not half enough believe in the actual presence and operation of +Jesus Christ, here and now, in and through all His servants! We are +ready enough to believe that He worked when He was in the world long +ago, that He is going to work when He comes back to the world, at +some far-off future period. But do we believe that He is verily +putting forth His power, in no metaphor, but in simple reality, at +present and here, and, if we will, through us? + +'Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.' Be sure that if you keep near +Christ, if you will try to mould yourselves after His likeness, if +you expect Him to work through you, and do not hinder His work by +self-conceit and self-consciousness of any sort, then it will be no +presumption, but simple faith which He delights in and will +vindicate, if you, too, go and stand by a paralytic and say, 'Jesus +Christ maketh thee whole,' or go and stand by people dead in +trespasses and sins and say, after you have prayed, 'Arise.' + +We are here for the very purpose for which Peter was in Lydda and +Joppa--to carry on and copy the healing and the quickening work of +Christ, by His present power, and after His blessed example. + + + +WHAT GOD HATH CLEANSED + +'There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a +centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2. A devout man, +and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms +to the people, and prayed to God alway. 3. He saw in a vision +evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming +in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. 4. And when he looked +on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said +unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial +before God. 5. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, +whose surname is Peter: 6. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, +whose house is by the sea-side: he shall tell thee what thou +oughtest to do. 7. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius +was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a +devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; 8. And +when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to +Joppa. 9. On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew +nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about +the sixth hour: 10. And he became very hungry, and would have +eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, 11. And +saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as +it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down +to the earth: 12. Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of +the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the +air. 13. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and +eat. 14. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any +thing that is common or unclean. 15. And the voice spake unto him +again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou +common. 16. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up +again into heaven. 17. Now while Peter doubted in himself what +this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which +were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and +stood before the gate, 18. And called, and asked whether Simon, +which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. 19. While Peter +thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three +men seek thee. 20. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go +with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.'--ACTS x. 1- +20. + +The Church was at first in appearance only a Jewish sect; but the +great stride is now to be taken which carries it over the border into +the Gentile world, and begins its universal aspect. If we consider +the magnitude of the change, and the difficulties of training and +prejudice which it had to encounter in the Church itself, we shall +not wonder at the abundance of supernatural occurrences which +attended it. Without some such impulse, it is difficult to conceive +of its having been accomplished. + +In this narrative we see the supernatural preparation on both sides. +God, as it were, lays His right hand on Cornelius, and His left on +Peter, and impels them towards each other. Philip had already +preached to the Ethiopian, and probably the anonymous brethren in +Acts xi. 20 had already spoken the word to pure Greeks at Antioch; +but the importance of Peter's action here is that by reason of his +Apostleship, his recognition of Gentile Christians becomes the act of +the whole community. His entrance into Cornelius's house ended the +Jewish phase of the Church. The epoch was worthy of divine +intervention, and the step needed divine warrant. Therefore the +abundance of miracle at this point is not superfluous. + +I. We have the vision which guided the seeker to the light. Caesarea, +as the seat of government, was the focus of Gentilism, and that the +Gospel should effect a lodgment there was significant. Still more so +was the person whom it first won,--an officer of the Roman army, the +very emblem of worldly power, loathed by every true Jew. A centurion +was not an officer of high rank, but Cornelius's name suggests the +possibility of his connection with a famous Roman family, and the +name of the 'band' or 'cohort,' of which his troop was part, suggests +that it was raised in Italy, and therefore properly officered by +Romans. His residence in Judaea had touched his spirit with some +knowledge of, and reverence for, the Jehovah whom this strange people +worshipped. He was one of a class numerous in these times of +religious unrest, who had been more or less affected by the pure +monotheism of the Jew. + +It is remarkable that the centurions of the New Testament are all +more or less favourably inclined towards Christ and Christianity, and +the fact has been laid hold of to throw doubt on the narratives; but +it is very natural that similarity of position and training should +have produced similarity of thought; and that three or four such +persons should have come in contact with Jesus and His Apostles makes +no violent demands on probability, while there was no occasion to +mention others who were not like-minded. Quartered for considerable +periods in the country, and brought into close contact with its +religion, and profoundly sceptical of their own, as all but the +lowest minds then were, Cornelius and his brother in arms and spirit +whose faith drew wondering praise from Jesus, are bright examples of +the possibility of earnest religious life being nourished amid grave +disadvantages, and preach a lesson, often neglected, that we should +be slow to form unfavourable opinions of classes of men, or to decide +that those of such and such a profession, or in such and such +circumstances, must be of such and such a character. + +It would have seemed that the last place to look for the first +Gentile Christian would have been in the barracks at Caesarea; and +yet there God's angel went for him, and found him. It has often been +discussed whether Cornelius was a 'proselyte' or not. It matters very +little. He was drawn to the Jews' religion, had adopted their hours +of prayer, reverenced their God, had therefore cast off idolatry, +gave alms to the people as acknowledgment that their God was his God, +and cultivated habitual devotion, which he had diffused among his +household, both of slaves and soldiers. It is a beautiful picture of +a soul feeling after a deeper knowledge of God, as a plant turns its +half-opened flowers to the sun. + +Such seekers do not grope without touching. It is not only 'unto +the seed of Jacob' that God has never said, 'Seek ye Me in vain.' +The story has a message of hope to all such seekers, and sheds +precious light on dark problems in regard to the relation of such +souls in heathen lands to the light and love of God, The vision +appeared to Cornelius in the manner corresponding to his spiritual +susceptibility, and it came at the hour of prayer. God's angels +ever draw near to hearts opened by desire to receive them. Not in +visible form, but in reality, 'bright-harnessed angels stand' all +around the chamber where prayer is made. Our hours of supplication +are God's hours of communication. + +The vision to Cornelius is not to be whittled down to a mental +impression. It was an objective, supernatural appearance,--whether to +sense or soul matters little. The story gives most graphically the +fixed gaze of terror which Cornelius fastened on the angel, and very +characteristically the immediate recovery and quick question to which +his courage and military promptitude helped him. 'What is it, Lord?' +does not speak of terror, but of readiness to take orders and obey. +'Lord' seems to be but a title of reverence here. + +In the angel's answer, the order in which prayers and alms are named +is the reverse of that in verse 2. Luke speaks as a man, beginning +with the visible manifestation, and passing thence to the inward +devotion which animated the external beneficence. The angel speaks as +God sees, beginning with the inward, and descending to the outward. +The strong 'anthropomorphism' of the representation that man's prayer +and alms keep God in mind of him needs no vindication and little +explanation. It substitutes the mental state which in us originates +certain acts for the acts themselves. God's 'remembrance' is in +Scripture frequently used to express His loving deeds, which show +that their recipient is not forgotten of Him. + +But the all-important truth in the words is that the prayers and alms +(coming from a devout heart) of a man who had never heard of Jesus +Christ were acceptable to God. None the less Cornelius needed Jesus, +and the recompense made to him was the knowledge of the Saviour. The +belief that in many a heathen heart such yearning after a dimly known +God has stretched itself towards light, and been accepted of God, +does not in the least conflict with the truth that 'there is none +other Name given among men, whereby we must be saved,' but it sheds a +bright and most welcome light of hope into that awful darkness. +Christ is the only Saviour, but it is not for us to say how far off +from the channel in which it flows the water of life may percolate, +and feed the roots of distant trees. Cornelius's religion was not a +substitute for Christ, but was the occasion of his being led to +Christ, and finding full, conscious salvation there. God leads +seeking souls by His own wonderful ways; and we may leave all such in +His hand, assured that no heart ever hungered after righteousness and +was not filled. + +The instruction to send for Peter tested Cornelius's willingness to +be taught by an unknown Jew, and his belief in the divine origin of +the vision. The direction given by which to find this teacher was not +promising. A lodger in a tan-yard by the seaside was certainly not a +man of position or wealth. But military discipline helped religious +reverence; and without delay, as soon as the angel 'was departed' (an +expression which gives the outward reality of the appearance +strongly), Cornelius's confidential servants, sympathisers with him +in his religion, were told all the story, and before nightfall were +on their march to Joppa. Swift obedience to whatever God points out +as our path towards the light, even if it seem somewhat unattractive, +will always mark our conduct if we really long for the light, and +believe that He is pointing our way. + +II. The vision which guided the light-bearer to the seeker.--All +through the night the messengers marched along the maritime plain in +which both Caesarea and Joppa lay, much discussing, no doubt, their +strange errand, and wondering what they would find. The preparation +of Peter, which was as needful as that of Cornelius, was so timed as +to be completed just as the messengers stood at the tanner's door. + +The first point to note in regard to it is its scene. It is of +subordinate importance, but it can scarcely have been entirely +unmeaning, that the flashing waters of the Mediterranean, blazing in +midday sunshine, stretched before Peter's eyes as he sat on the +housetop 'by the seaside.' His thoughts may have travelled across the +sea, and he may have wondered what lay beyond the horizon, and +whether there were men there to whom Christ's commission extended. +'The isles' of which prophecy had told that they should 'wait for His +law' were away out in the mysterious distance. Some expansion of +spirit towards regions beyond may have accompanied his gaze. At all +events, it was by the shore of the great highway of nations and of +truth that the vision which revealed that all men were 'cleansed' +filled the eye and heart of the Apostle, and told him that, in his +calling as 'fisher of men,' a wider water than the land-locked Sea of +Galilee was his. + +We may also note the connection of the form of the vision with his +circumstances. His hunger determined its shape. The natural bodily +sensations coloured his state of mind even in trance, and afforded +the point of contact for God's message. It does not follow that the +vision was only the consequence of his hunger, as has been suggested +by critics who wish to get rid of the supernatural. But the form +which it took teaches us how mercifully God is wont to mould His +communications according to our needs, and how wisely He shapes them, +so as to find entrance through even the lower wants. The commonest +bodily needs may become avenues for His truth, if our prayer +accompanies our hunger. + +The significance of the vision is plain to us, though Peter was 'much +perplexed' about it. In the light of the event, we understand that +the 'great sheet let down from heaven by four corners,' and +containing all manner of creatures, is the symbol of universal +humanity (to use modern language). The four corners correspond to the +four points of the compass,--north, south, east, and west,--the +contents to the swarming millions of men. Peter would perceive no +more in the command to 'kill and eat' than the abrogation of Mosaic +restrictions. Meditation was needful to disclose the full extent of +the revolution shadowed by the vision and its accompanying words. The +old nature of Peter was not so completely changed but that a flash of +it breaks out still. The same self-confidence which had led him to +'rebuke' Jesus, and to say, 'This shall not be unto Thee,' speaks in +his unhesitating and irreverent 'Not so, Lord!' + +The naive reason he gives for not obeying--namely, his never having +done as he was now bid to do--is charmingly illogical and human. God +tells him to do a new thing, and his reason for not doing it is that +it is new. Use and wont are set up by us all against the fresh +disclosures of God's will. The command to kill and eat was not +repeated. It was but the introduction to the truth which was repeated +thrice, the same number of times as Peter had denied his Master and +had received his charge to feed His sheep. + +That great truth has manifold applications, but its direct purpose as +regards Peter is to teach that all restrictions which differentiated +Jew from Gentile are abolished. 'Cleansing' does not here apply to +moral purifying, but to the admission of all mankind to the same +standing as the Jew. Therefore the Gospel is to be preached to all +men, and the Jewish Christian has no pre-eminence. + +Peter's perplexity as to the meaning of the vision is very +intelligible. It was not so plain as to carry its own interpretation, +but, like most other of God's teachings, was explained by +circumstances. What was next done made the best commentary on what +had just been beheld. While patient reflection is necessary to do due +honour to God's teachings and to discover their bearing on events, it +is generally true that events unfold their significance as meditation +alone never can. Life is the best commentator on God's word. The +three men down at the door poured light on the vision on the +housetop. But the explanation was not left to circumstances. The +Spirit directed Peter to go with the messengers, and thus taught him +the meaning of the enigmatical words which he had heard from heaven. + +It is to be remembered that the Apostle had no need of fresh +illumination as to the world-wide preaching of the Gospel. Christ's +commission to 'the uttermost parts of the earth' ever rang in his +ears, as we may be sure. But what he did need was the lesson that the +Gentiles could come into the Church without going through the gate of +Judaism. If all peculiar sanctity was gone from the Jew, and all men +shared in the 'cleansing,' there was no need for keeping up any of +the old restrictions, or insisting on Gentiles being first received +into the Israelitish community as a stage in their progress towards +Christianity. + +It took Peter and the others years to digest the lesson given on the +housetop, but he began to put it in practice that day. How little he +knew the sweep of the truth then declared to him! How little we have +learned it yet! All exclusiveness which looks down on classes or +races, all monkish asceticism which taboos natural appetites and +tastes, all morbid scrupulosity which shuts out from religious men +large fields of life, all Pharisaism which says 'The temple of the +Lord are we,' are smitten to dust by the great words which gather all +men into the same ample, impartial divine love, and, in another +aspect, give Christian culture and life the charter of freest use of +all God's fair world, and place the distinction between clean and +unclean in the spirit of the user rather than in the thing used. +'Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled... +is nothing pure.' + + + +'GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS' + +'And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this +hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a +man stood before me in bright clothing, 31. And said, Cornelius, +thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in +the sight of God. 32. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither +Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one +Simon a tanner by the sea-side: who, when he cometh, shall speak +unto thee. 83. Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou +hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here +present before God, to hear all things that art commanded thee +of God. 34. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I +perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35. But in every +nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is +accepted with Him. 35. The word which God sent unto the children +of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (He is Lord of all:) +37. That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout +all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John +preached; 38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy +Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all +that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. 39. And +we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of +the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: +40. Him God raised up the third day, and shewed Him openly; 41. +Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, +even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from +the dead. 42. And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and +to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the +Judge of quick and dead. 43. To Him give all the prophets +witness, that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall +receive remission of sins. 44. While Peter yet spake these +words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.' +--ACTS x. 30-44. + +This passage falls into three parts: Cornelius's explanation, Peter's +sermon, and the descent of the Spirit on the new converts. The last +is the most important, and yet is told most briefly. We may surely +recognise the influence of Peter's personal reminiscences in the +scale of the narrative, and may remember that Luke and Mark were +thrown together in later days. + +I. Cornelius repeats what his messengers had already told Peter, but +in fuller detail. He tells how he was occupied when the angel +appeared. He was keeping the Jewish hour of prayer, and the fact that +the vision came to him as he prayed had attested to him its heavenly +origin. If we would see angels, the most likely place to behold them +is in the secret place of prayer. He tells, too, that the command to +send for Peter was a consequence of God's remembrance of his prayer +('therefore,' verse 32). His prayers and alms showed that he was 'of +the light,' and therefore he was directed to what would yield further +light. + +The command to send for Peter is noteworthy in two respects. It was, +first, a test of humility and obedience. Cornelius, as a Roman +officer, would be tempted to feel the usual contempt for one of the +subject race, and, unless his eagerness to know more of God's will +overbore his pride, to kick at the idea of sending to beg the favour +of the presence and instruction of a Jew, and of one, too, who could +find no better quarters than a tanner's house. The angel's voice +commanded, but it did not compel. Cornelius bore the test, and +neither waived aside the vision as a hallucination to which it was +absurd for a practical man to attend, nor recoiled from the lowliness +of the proposed teacher. He pocketed official and racial loftiness, +and, as he emphasises, 'forthwith' despatched his message. It was as +if an English official in the Punjab had been sent to a Sikh 'Guru' +for teaching. + +The other remarkable point about the command is that Philip was +probably in Caesarea at the time. Why should Peter have been brought, +then, by two visions and two long journeys? The subsequent history +explains why. For the storm of criticism in the Jerusalem church +provoked by Cornelius's baptism would have raged with tenfold fury if +so revolutionary an act had been done by any less authoritative +person than the leader of the Apostles. The Lord would stamp His own +approval on the deed which marked so great an expansion of the +Church, and therefore He makes the first of the Apostles His agent, +and that by a double vision. + +'Thou hast well done that thou art come,'--a courteous welcome, with +just a trace of the doubt which had occupied Cornelius during the +'four days,' whether this unknown Jew would obey so strange an +invitation. Courtesy and preparedness to receive the unknown message +beautifully blend in Cornelius's closing words, which do not directly +ask Peter to speak, but declare the auditors' eagerness to hear, as +well as their confidence that what he says will be God's voice. + +A variant reading in verse 33 gives 'in thy sight' for 'in the sight +of God,' and has much to recommend it. But in any case we have here +the right attitude for us all in the presence of the uttered will and +mind of God. Where such open-eared and open-hearted preparedness +marks the listeners, feebler teachers than Peter will win converts. +The reason why much earnest Christian teaching is vain is the +indifference and non-expectant attitude of the hearers, who are not +hearkeners. Seed thrown on the wayside is picked up by the birds. + +II. Peter's sermon is, on the whole, much like his other addresses +which are abundantly reported in the early part of the Acts. The +great business of the preachers then was to tell the history of +Jesus. Christianity is, first, a recital of historical events, from +which, no doubt, principles are deduced, and which necessarily lead +on to doctrines; but the facts are first. + +But the familiar story is told to Cornelius with some variation of +tone. And it is prefaced by a great word, which crystallises the +large truth that had sprung into consciousness and startling power in +Peter, as the result of his own and Cornelius's experience. He had +not previously thought of God as 'a respecter of persons,' but the +conviction that He was not had never blazed with such sun-clearness +before him as it did now. Jewish narrowness had, unconsciously to +himself, somewhat clouded it; but these four days had burned in on +him, as if it were a new truth, that 'in every nation' there may be +men accepted of God, because they 'fear Him and work righteousness.' + +That great saying is twisted from its right meaning when it is +interpreted as discouraging the efforts of Christians to carry the +Gospel to the heathen; for, if the 'light of nature' is sufficient, +what was Peter sent to Caesarea for? But it is no less maltreated +when evangelical Christians fail to grasp its world-wide +significance, or doubt that in lands where Christ's name has not been +proclaimed there are souls groping for the light, and seeking to obey +the law written on their hearts. That there are such, and that such +are 'accepted of Him,' and led by His own ways to the fuller light, +is obviously taught in these words, and should be a welcome thought +to us all. + +The tangled utterances which immediately follow, sound as if speech +staggered under the weight of the thoughts opening before the +speaker. Whatever difficulty attends the construction, the intention +is clear,--to contrast the limited scope of the message, as confined +to the children of Israel, with its universal destination as now made +clear. The statement which in the Authorised and Revised Versions is +thrown into a parenthesis is really the very centre of the Apostle's +thought. Jesus, who has hitherto been preached to Israel, is 'Lord of +all,' and the message concerning Him is now to be proclaimed, not in +vague outline and at second hand, as it had hitherto reached +Cornelius, but in full detail, and as a message in which he was +concerned. + +Contrast the beginning and the ending of the discourse,--'the word +sent unto the children of Israel' and 'every one that believeth on +Him shall receive remission of sins.' A remarkable variation in the +text is suggested by Blass in his striking commentary, who would omit +'Lord' and read, 'The word which He sent to the children of Israel, +bringing the good tidings of peace through Jesus Christ,--this [word] +belongs to all.' That reading does away with the chief difficulties, +and brings out clearly the thought which is more obscurely expressed +in a contorted sentence by the present reading. + +The subsequent _resume_ of the life of Jesus is substantially the +same as is found in Peter's other sermons. But we may note that the +highest conceptions of our Lord's nature are not stated. It is hard +to suppose that Peter after Pentecost had not the same conviction as +burned in his confession, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living +God.' But in these early discourses neither the Divinity and +Incarnation nor the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is set forth. He is +the Christ, 'anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power.' God is +with Him (Nicodemus had got as far as that). He is 'ordained of God +to be the judge of quick and dead.' + +We note, too, that His teaching is not touched upon, nor any of the +profounder aspects of His work as the Revealer of God, but His +beneficence and miraculous deliverances of devil-ridden men. His +death is declared, but without any of the accusations of His +murderers, which, like lance-thrusts, 'pricked' Jewish hearers. Nor +is the efficacy of that death as the sacrifice for the world's sin +touched upon, but it is simply told as a fact, and set in contrast +with the Resurrection. These were the plain facts which had first to +be accepted. + +The only way of establishing facts is by evidence of eye-witnesses. +So Peter twice (verses 39, 41) adduces his own and his colleagues' +evidence. But the facts are not yet a gospel, unless they are further +explained as well as established. Did such things happen? The answer +is, 'We saw them.' What did they mean? The answer begins by adducing +the 'witness' of the Apostles to a different order of truths, which +requires a different sort of witness. Jesus had bidden them 'testify' +that He is to be Judge of living and dead; that is, of all mankind. +Their witness to that can only rest on His word. + +Nor is that all. There is yet another body of 'witnesses' to yet +another class of truths. 'All the prophets' bear witness to the great +truth which makes the biography of the Man the gospel for all men,-- +that the deepest want of all men is satisfied through the name which +Peter ever rang out as all-powerful to heal and bless. The +forgiveness of sins through the manifested character and work of +Jesus Christ is given on condition of faith to any and every one who +believes, be he Jew or Gentile, Galilean fisherman or Roman +centurion. Cornelius may have known little of the prophets, but he +knew the burden of sin. He did not know all that we know of Jesus, +and of the way in which forgiveness is connected with His work, but +he did know now that it was connected, and that this Jesus was risen +from the dead, and was to be the Judge. His faith went out to that +Saviour, and as he heard he believed. + +III. Therefore the great gift, attesting the divine acceptance of him +and the rest of the hearers, came at once. There had been no +confession of their faith, much less had there been baptism, or +laying on of Apostolic hands. The sole qualification and condition +for the reception of the Spirit which John lays down in his Gospel +when he speaks of the 'Spirit, which they that believe on Him should +receive,' was present here, and it was enough. Peter and his brethren +might have hesitated about baptizing an uncircumcised believer. The +Lord of the Church showed Peter that He did not hesitate. + +So, like a true disciple, Peter followed Christ's lead, and though +'they of the circumcision' were struck with amazement, he said to +himself, 'Who am I, that I should withstand God?' and opened his +heart to welcome these new converts as possessors of 'like precious +faith' as was demonstrated by their possession of the same Spirit. +Would that Peter's willingness to recognise all who manifest the +Spirit of Christ, whatever their relation to ecclesiastical +regulations, had continued the law and practice of the Church! + + + +PETER'S APOLOGIA + +'And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that +the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2. And when +Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the +circumcision contended with him, 3. Saying, Thou wentest in to +men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. 4. But Peter +rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by +order unto them, saying, 5. I was in the city of Joppa praying: +and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it +had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; +and it came even to me: 6. Upon the which when I had fastened +mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, +and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 7. +And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay, and eat. +8. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath +at any time entered into my mouth. 9. But the voice answered me +again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou +common. 10. And this was done three times: and all were drawn up +again into heaven. 11. And, behold, immediately there were three +men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea +unto me. 12. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing +doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we +entered into the man's house: 13. And he shewed us how he had +seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send +men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; 14. +Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall +be saved. 15. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on +them, as on us at the beginning. 16. Then remembered I the word +of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water; +but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17. Forasmuch then +as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed +on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand +God? 18. When they heard these things, they held their peace, +and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles +granted repentance unto life.'--ACTS xi. 1-18. + +Peter's action in regard to Cornelius precipitated a controversy +which was bound to come if the Church was to be anything more than a +Jewish sect. It brought to light the first tendency to form a party +in the Church. 'They... of the circumcision' were probably 'certain +of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,' and were especially +zealous for all the separating prescriptions of the ceremonial law. +They were scarcely a party as yet, but the little rift was destined +to grow, and they became Paul's bitterest opponents through all his +life, dogging him with calumnies and counterworking his toil. It is a +black day for a Church when differences of opinion lead to the +formation of cliques. Zeal for truth is sadly apt to enlist spite, +malice, and blindness to a manifest work of God, as its allies. + +Poor Peter, no doubt, expected that the brethren would rejoice with +him in the extension of the Gospel to 'the Gentiles,' but his +reception in Jerusalem was very unlike his hopes. The critics did not +venture to cavil at his preaching to Gentiles. Probably none of them +had any objection to such being welcomed into the Church, for they +can scarcely have wished to make the door into it narrower than that +into the synagogue, but they insisted that there was no way in but +through the synagogue. By all means, said they, let Gentiles come, +but they must first become Jews, by submitting to circumcision and +living as Jews do. Thus they did not attack Peter for preaching to +the Roman centurion and his men, but for eating with them. That +eating not only was a breach of the law, but it implied the reception +of Cornelius and his company into the household of God, and so +destroyed the whole fabric of Jewish exclusiveness. We condemn such +narrowness, but do many of us not practise it in other forms? +Wherever Christians demand adoption of external usages, over and +above exercise of penitent faith, as a condition of brotherly +recognition, they are walking in the steps of them 'of the +circumcision.' + +Peter's answer to the critics is the true answer to all similar +hedging up of the Church, for he contents himself with showing that +he was only following God's action in every step of the way which he +took, and that God, by the gift of the divine Spirit, had shown that +He had taken these uncircumcised men into His fellowship, before +Peter dared to 'eat with them.' He points to four facts which show +God's hand in the matter, and thinks that he has done enough to +vindicate himself thereby. The first is his vision on the housetop. +He tells that he was praying when it came, and what God shows to a +praying spirit is not likely to mislead. He tells that he was 'in a +trance,'--a condition in which prophets had of old received their +commands. That again was a guarantee for the divine origin of the +vision in the eyes of every Jew, though nowadays it is taken by anti- +supernaturalists as a demonstration of its morbidness and +unreliableness. He tells of his reluctance to obey the command to +'kill and eat.' A flash of the old brusque spirit impelled his flat +refusal, 'Not so, Lord!' and his daring to argue with his Lord still, +as he had done with Him on earth. He tells of the interpreting and +revolutionary word, evoked by his audacious objection, and then he +tells how 'this was done thrice,' so that there could be no mistake +in his remembrance of it, and then that the whole was drawn up into +heaven,--a sign that the purpose of the vision was accomplished when +that word was spoken. What, then, was the meaning of it? + +Clearly it swept away at once the legal distinction of clean and +unclean meats, and of it, too, may be spoken what Mark, Peter's +mouthpiece, writes of earthly words of Christ's: 'This He said, +making all meats clean.' But with the sweeping away of that +distinction much else goes, for it necessarily involves the +abrogation of the whole separating ordinances of the law, and of the +distinction between clean and unclean persons. Its wider application +was not seen at the moment, but it flashed on him, no doubt, when +face to face with Cornelius. God had cleansed him, in that his +prayers had 'gone up for a memorial before God,' and so Peter saw +that 'in every nation,' and not among Jews only, there might be men +cleansed by God. What was true of Cornelius must be true of many +others. So the whole distinction between Jew and Gentile was cut up +by the roots. Little did Peter know the width of the principle +revealed to him then, as all of us know but little of the full +application of many truths which we believe. But he obeyed so much of +the command as he understood, and more of it gradually dawned on his +mind, as will always be the case if we obey what we know. + +The second fact was the coincident arrival of the messengers and the +distinct command to accompany them. Peter could distinguish quite +assuredly his own thoughts from divine instructions, as his account +of the dialogue in the trance shows. How he distinguished is not +told; that he distinguished is. The coincidence in time clearly +pointed to one divine hand working at both ends of the line,-- +Caesarea and Joppa. It interpreted the vision which had 'much +perplexed' Peter as to what it 'might mean.' But he was not left to +interpret it by his own pondering. The Spirit spoke authoritatively, +and the whole force of his justification of himself depends on the +fact that he knew that the impulse which made him set out to Caesarea +was not his own. If the reading of the Revised Version is adopted in +verse 12, 'making no distinction,' the command plainly referred to +the vision, and showed Peter that he was to make no distinction of +'clean and unclean' in his intercourse with these Gentiles. + +The third fact is the vision to Cornelius, of which he was told on +arriving. The two visions fitted into each other, confirmed each +other, interpreted each other. We may estimate the greatness of the +step in the development of the Church which the admission of +Cornelius into it made, and the obstacles on both sides, by the fact +that both visions were needed to bring these two men together. Peter +would never have dreamed of going with the messengers if he had not +had his narrowness beaten out of him on the housetop, and Cornelius +would never have dreamed of sending to Joppa if he had not seen the +angel. The cleft between Jew and Gentile was so wide that God's hand +had to be applied on both sides to press the separated parts +together. He had plainly done it, and that was Peter's defence. + +The fourth fact is the gift of the Spirit to these Gentiles. That is +the crown of Peter's vindication, and his question, 'Who was I, that +I could withstand God?' might be profitably pondered and applied by +those whose ecclesiastical theories oblige them to deny the 'orders' +and the 'validity of the sacraments' and the very name of a Church, +to bodies of Christians who do not conform to their polity. If God, +by the gift of His Spirit manifest in its fruits, owns them, they +have the true 'notes of the Church,' and 'they of the circumcision' +who recoil from recognising them do themselves more harm thereby than +they inflict on these. 'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, +these are the sons of God,' even though some brother may be 'angry' +that the Father welcomes them. + + + +THE FIRST PREACHING AT ANTIOCH + +'And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they +ware come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord +Jesus. 21. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great +number believed, and turned unto the Lord.'--ACTS xi. 20, 21. + +Thus simply does the historian tell one of the greatest events in the +history of the Church. How great it was will appear if we observe +that the weight of authority among critics and commentators sees here +an extension of the message of salvation to Greeks, that is, to pure +heathens, and not a mere preaching to Hellenists, that is, to Greek- +speaking Jews born outside Palestine. + +If that be correct, this was a great stride forward in the +development of the Church. It needed a vision to overcome the +scruples of Peter, and impel him to the bold innovation of preaching +to Cornelius and his household, and, as we know, his doing so gave +grave offence to some of his brethren in Jerusalem. But in the case +before us, some Cypriote and African Jews--men of no note in the +Church, whose very names have perished, with no official among them, +with no vision nor command to impel them, with no precedent to +encourage them, with nothing but the truth in their minds and the +impulses of Christ's love in their hearts--solve the problem of the +extension of Christ's message to the heathen, and, quite unconscious +of the greatness of their act, do the thing about the propriety of +which there had been such serious question in Jerusalem. + +This boldness becomes even more remarkable if we notice that the +incident of our text may have taken place before Peter's visit to +Cornelius. The verse before our text, 'They which were scattered +abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled, ... +preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only,' is almost a +_verbatim_ repetition of words in an earlier chapter, and evidently +suggests that the writer is returning to that point of time, in order +to take up another thread of his narrative contemporaneous with those +already pursued. If so, three distinct lines of expansion appear to +have started from the dispersion of the Jerusalem church in the +persecution--namely, Philip's mission to Samaria, Peter's to +Cornelius, and this work in Antioch. Whether prior in time or no, the +preaching in the latter city was plainly quite independent of the +other two. It is further noteworthy that this, the effort of a +handful of unnamed men, was the true 'leader'--the shoot that grew. +Philip's work, and Peter's so far as we know, were side branches, +which came to little; this led on to a church at Antioch, and so to +Paul's missionary work, and all that came of that. + +The incident naturally suggests some thoughts bearing on the general +subject of Christian work, which we now briefly present. + +I. Notice the spontaneous impulse which these men obeyed. + +Persecution drove the members of the Church apart, and, as a matter +of course, wherever they went they took their faith with them, and, +as a matter of course, spoke about it. The coals were scattered from +the hearth in Jerusalem by the armed heel of violence. That did not +put the fire out, but only spread it, for wherever they were flung +they kindled a blaze. These men had no special injunction 'to preach +the Lord Jesus.' They do not seem to have adopted this line of action +deliberately, or of set purpose. 'They believed, and therefore +spoke.' A spontaneous impulse, and nothing more, leads them on. They +find themselves rejoicing in a great Saviour-Friend. They see all +around them men who need Him, and that is enough. They obey the +promptings of the voice within, and lay the foundations of the first +Gentile Church. + +Such a spontaneous impulse is ever the natural result of our own +personal possession of Christ. In regard to worldly good the +instinct, except when overcome by higher motives, is to keep the +treasure to oneself. But even in the natural sphere there are +possessions which to have is to long to impart, such as truth and +knowledge. And in the spiritual sphere, it is emphatically the case +that real possession is always accompanied by a longing to impart. +The old prophet spoke a universal truth when he said: 'Thy word was +as a fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I +could not stay.' If we have found Christ for ourselves, we shall +undoubtedly wish to speak forth our knowledge of His love. +Convictions which are deep demand expression. Emotion which is strong +needs utterance. If our hearts have any fervour of love to Christ in +them, it will be as natural to tell it forth, as tears are to sorrow +or smiles to happiness. True, there is a reticence in profound +feeling, and sometimes the deepest love can only 'love and be +silent,' and there is a just suspicion of loud or vehement +protestations of Christian emotion, as of any emotion. But for all +that, it remains true that a heart warmed with the love of Christ +needs to express its love, and will give it forth, as certainly as +light must radiate from its centre, or heat from a fire. + +Then, true kindliness of heart creates the same impulse. We cannot +truly possess the treasure for ourselves without pity for those who +have it not. Surely there is no stranger contradiction than that +Christian men and women can be content to keep Christ as if He were +their special property, and have their spirits untouched into any +likeness of His divine pity for the multitudes who were as 'sheep +having no shepherd.' What kind of Christians must they be who think +of Christ as 'a Saviour for me,' and take no care to set Him forth as +'a Saviour for you'? What should we think of men in a shipwreck who +were content to get into the lifeboat, and let everybody else drown? +What should we think of people in a famine feasting sumptuously on +their private stores, whilst women were boiling their children for a +meal and men fighting with dogs for garbage on the dunghills? 'He +that withholdeth bread, the people shall curse him.' What of him who +withholds the Bread of Life, and all the while claims to be a +follower of the Christ, who gave His flesh for the life of the world? + +Further, loyalty to Christ creates the same impulse. If we are true +to our Lord, we shall feel that we cannot but speak up and out for +Him, and that all the more where His name is unloved and unhonoured. +He has left His good fame very much in our hands, and the very same +impulse which hurries words to our lips when we hear the name of an +absent friend calumniated should make us speak for Him. He is a +doubtfully loyal subject who, if he lives among rebels, is afraid to +show his colours. He is already a coward, and is on the way to be a +traitor. Our Master has made us His witnesses. He has placed in our +hands, as a sacred deposit, the honour of His name. He has entrusted +to us, as His selectest sign of confidence, the carrying out of the +purposes for which on earth His blood was shed, on which in heaven +His heart is set. How can we be loyal to Him if we are not forced by +a mighty constraint to respond to His great tokens of trust in us, +and if we know nothing of that spirit which said: 'Necessity is laid +upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!' I do not +say that a man cannot be a Christian unless he knows and obeys this +impulse. But, at least, we may safely say that he is a very weak and +imperfect Christian who does not. + +II. This incident suggests the universal obligation on all Christians +to make known Christ. + +These men were not officials. In these early days the Church had a +very loose organisation. But the fugitives in our narrative seem to +have had among them none even of the humble office-bearers of +primitive times. Neither had they any command or commission from +Jerusalem. No one there had given them authority, or, as would +appear, knew anything of their proceedings. Could there be a more +striking illustration of the great truth that whatever varieties of +function may be committed to various officers in the Church, the work +of telling Christ's love to men belongs to every one who has found it +for himself or herself? 'This honour have all the saints.' + +Whatever may be our differences of opinion as to Church order and +offices, they need not interfere with our firm grasp of this truth. +'Preaching Christ,' in the sense in which that expression is used in +the New Testament, implies no one special method of proclaiming the +glad tidings. A word written in a letter to a friend, a sentence +dropped in casual conversation, a lesson to a child on a mother's +lap, or any other way by which, to any listeners, the great story of +the Cross is told, is as truly--often more truly--preaching Christ as +the set discourse which has usurped the name. + +We profess to believe in the priesthood of all believers, we are +ready enough to assert it in opposition to sacerdotal assumptions. +Are we as ready to recognise it as laying a very real responsibility +upon us, and involving a very practical inference as to our own +conduct? We all have the power, therefore we all have the duty. For +what purpose did God give us the blessing of knowing Christ +ourselves? Not for our own well-being alone, but that through us the +blessing might be still further diffused. + + 'Heaven doth with us as men with torches do, + Not light them for themselves.' + +'God hath shined into our hearts' that we might give to others 'the +light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus +Christ.' Every Christian is solemnly bound to fulfil this divine +intention, and to take heed to the imperative command, 'Freely ye +have received, freely give.' + +III. Observe, further, the simple message which they proclaimed. + +'Preaching the Lord Jesus,' says the text--or more accurately +perhaps--'preaching Jesus as Lord.' The substance, then, of their +message was just this--proclamation of the person and dignity of +their Master, the story of the human life of the Man, the story of +the divine sacrifice and self-bestowment by which He had bought the +right of supreme rule over every heart; and the urging of His claims +on all who heard of His love. And this, their message, was but the +proclamation of their own personal experience. They had found Jesus +to be for themselves Lover and Lord, Friend and Saviour of their +souls, and the joy they had received they sought to share with these +Greeks, worshippers of gods and lords many. + +Surely anybody can deliver that message who has had that experience. +All have not the gifts which would fit for public speech, but all who +have 'tasted that the Lord is gracious' can somehow tell how gracious +He is. The first Christian sermon was very short, and it was very +efficacious, for it 'brought to Jesus' the whole congregation. Here +it is: 'He first findeth his brother Simon, and saith unto him, We +have found the Messias.' Surely we can all say that, if we have found +Him. Surely we shall all long to say it, if we are glad that we have +found Him, and if we love our brother. + +Notice, too, how simple the form as well as the substance of the +message. 'They _spake_.' It was no set address, no formal utterance, +but familiar, natural talk to ones and twos, as opportunity offered. +The form was so simple that we may say that there was none. What we +want is that Christian people should speak anyhow. What does the +shape of the cup matter? What does it matter whether it be gold or +clay? The main thing is that it shall bear the water of life to some +thirsty lip. All Christians have to preach, as the word is used here, +that is, to tell the good news. Their task is to carry a message--no +refinement of words is needed for that--arguments are not needed. +They have to tell it simply and faithfully, as one who only cares to +repeat what he has had given to him. They have to tell it +confidently, as having proved it true. They have to tell it +beseechingly, as loving the souls to whom they bring it. Surely we +can all do that, if we ourselves are living on Christ and have drunk +into His Spirit. Let His mighty salvation, experienced by yourselves, +be the substance of your message, and let the form of it be guided by +the old words, 'It shall be, when the Spirit of the Lord is come upon +thee, that thou shalt do as occasion shall serve thee.' + +IV. Notice, lastly, the mighty Helper who prospered their work. + +'The hand of the Lord was with them.' The very keynote of this Book +of the Acts is the work of the ascended Christ in and for His Church. +At every turning-point in the history, and throughout the whole +narratives, forms of speech like this occur, bearing witness to the +profound conviction of the writer that Christ's active energy was +with His servants, and Christ's Hand the origin of all their security +and of all their success. + +So this is a statement of a permanent and universal fact. We do not +labour alone; however feeble our hands, that mighty Hand is laid on +them to direct their movements and to lend strength to their +weakness. It is not our speech which will secure results, but His +presence with our words which will bring it about that even through +them a great number shall believe and turn to the Lord. There is our +encouragement when we are despondent. There is our rebuke when we are +self-confident. There is our stimulus when we are indolent. There is +our quietness when we are impatient. If ever we are tempted to think +our task heavy, let us not forget that He who set it helps us to do +it, and from His throne shares in all our toils, the Lord still, as +of old, working with us. If ever we feel that our strength is +nothing, and that we stand solitary against many foes, let us fall +back upon the peace-giving thought that one man against the world, +with Christ to help him, is always in the majority, and let us leave +issues of our work in His hands, whose hand will guard the seed sown +in weakness, whose smile will bless the springing thereof. + +How little any of us know what will become of our poor work, under +His fostering care! How little these men knew that they were laying +the foundations of the great change which was to transform the +Christian community from a Jewish sect into a world-embracing Church! +So is it ever. We know not what we do when simply and humbly we speak +His name. The far-reaching results escape our eyes. Then, sow the +seed, and He will 'give it a body as it pleaseth Him.' On earth we +may never know the fruits of our labours. They will be among the +surprises of heaven, where many a solitary worker shall exclaim with +wonder, as he looks on the hitherto unknown children whom God hath +given him, 'Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?' +Then, though our names may have perished from earthly memories, like +those of the simple fugitives of Cyprus and Cyrene, who 'were the +first that ever burst' into the night of heathendom with the torch of +the Gospel in their hands, they will be written in the Lamb's book of +life, and He will confess them in the presence of His Father in +heaven. + + + +THE EXHORTATION OF BARNABAS +[Footnote: Preached before the Congregational Union of England and +Wales.] + +'Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and +exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave +unto the Lord.'--ACTS xi. 23. + +The first purely heathen converts had been brought into the Church by +the nameless men of Cyprus and Cyrene, private persons with no office +or commission to preach, who, in simple obedience to the instincts of +a Christian heart, leaped the barrier which seemed impassable to the +Church in Jerusalem, and solved the problem over which Apostles were +hesitating. Barnabas is sent down to see into this surprising new +phenomenon, and his mission, though probably not hostile, was, at all +events, one of inquiry and doubt. But like a true man, he yielded to +facts, and widened his theory to suit them. He saw the tokens of +Christian life in these Gentile converts, and that compelled him to +admit that the Church was wider than some of his friends in Jerusalem +thought. A pregnant lesson for modern theorists who, on one ground or +another of doctrine or of orders, narrow the great conception of +Christ's Church! Can you see 'the grace of God' in the people? Then +they are in the Church, whatever becomes of your theories, and the +sooner you let them out so as to fit the facts, the better for you +and for them. + +Satisfied as to their true Christian character, Barnabas sets himself +to help them to grow. Now, remember how recently they had been +converted; how, from their Gentile origin, they can have had next to +no systematic instruction; how the taint of heathen morals, such as +were common in that luxurious, corrupt Antioch, must have clung to +them; how unformed must have been their loose Church organisation-- +and remembering all this, think of this one exhortation as summing up +all that Barnabas had to say to them. He does not say, Do this, or +Believe that, or Organise the other; but he says, Stick to Jesus +Christ the Lord. On this commandment hangs all the law; it is the one +all-inclusive summary of the duties of the Christian life. + +So, brethren and fathers, I venture to take these words now, as +containing large lessons for us all, appropriate at all times, and +especially in a sermon on such an occasion as the present. + +We may deal with the thoughts suggested by these words very simply, +just looking at the points as they lie--what Barnabas _saw_, what he +_felt_, what he _said_. + +I. What Barnabas saw. + +The grace of God here has very probably the specific meaning of the +miracle-working gift of the Holy Spirit. That is rendered probable by +the analogy of other instances recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, +such as Peter's experience at Caesarea, where all his hesitations and +reluctance were swept away when 'the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us +at the beginning, and they spake with tongues.' If so, what convinced +Barnabas that these uncircumcised Gentiles were Christians like +himself, may have been their similar possession of the visible and +audible effects of that gift of God. But the language does not compel +this interpretation; and the absence of all distinct reference to +these extraordinary powers as existing there, among the new converts +at Antioch, may be intended to mark a difference in the nature of the +evidence. At any rate, the possibly intentional generality of the +expression is significant and fairly points to an extension of the +spiritual gifts much beyond the limits of miraculous powers. There +are other ways by which the grace of God may be seen and heard, thank +God! than by speaking with tongues and working miracles; and the +first lesson of our text is that wherever that grace is made visible +by its appropriate manifestations, there we are to recognise a +brother. + +Augustine said, 'Where Christ is there is the Church,' and that is +true, but vague; for the question still remains, 'And where _is_ +Christ?' The only satisfying answer is, Christ is wherever Christlike +men manifest a life drawn from, and kindred with, His life. And so +the true form of the dictum for practical purposes comes to be: +'Where the grace of Christ is visible, there is the Church.' + +That great truth is sinned against and denied in many ways. Most +chiefly, perhaps, by the successors in modern garb of the more Jewish +portion of that Church at Jerusalem who sent Barnabas to Antioch. +They had no objection to Gentiles entering the Church, but they must +come in by the way of circumcision; they quite believed that it was +Christ who saved, and His grace which sanctified, but they thought +that His grace would only flow in a given channel; and so do their +modern representatives, who exalt sacraments, and consequently +priests, to the same place as the Judaizers in the early Church did +the rite of the old Covenant. Such teachers have much to say about +the notes of the Church, and have elaborated a complicated system of +identification by which you may know the genuine article, and unmask +impostors. The attempt is about as wise as to try to weave a network +fine enough to keep back a stream. The water will flow through the +closest meshes, and when Christ pours out the Spirit, He is apt to do +it in utter disregard of notes of the Church, and of channels of +sacramental grace. + +We Congregationalists, who have no orders, no sacraments, no +Apostolic succession; who in order not to break loose from Christ and +conscience have had to break loose from 'Catholic tradition,' and +have been driven to separation by the true schismatics, who have +insisted on another bond of Church unity than union to Christ, are +denied nowadays a place in His Church. + +The true answer to all that arrogant assumption and narrow pedantry +which confine the free flow of the water of life to the conduits of +sacraments and orders, and will only allow the wind that bloweth +where it listeth to make music in the pipes of their organs, is +simply the homely one which shivered a corresponding theory to atoms +in the fair open mind of Barnabas. + +The Spirit of Christ at work in men's hearts, making them pure and +gentle, simple and unworldly, refining their characters, elevating +their aims, toning their whole being into accord with the music of +His life, is the true proof that men are Christians, and that +communities of such men are Churches of His. Mysterious efficacy is +claimed for Christian ordinances. Well, the question is a fair one: +Is the type of Christian character produced within these sacred +limits, which we are hopelessly outside, conspicuously higher and +more manifestly Christlike than that nourished by no sacraments, and +grown not under glass, but in the unsheltered open? Has not God set +His seal on these communities to which we belong? With many faults +for which we have to be, and are, humble before Him, we can point to +the lineaments of the family likeness, and say, 'Are they Hebrews? so +are we. Are they Israelites? so are we. Are they the seed of Abraham? +so are we.' + +Once get that truth wrought into men's minds, that the true test of +Christianity is the visible presence of a grace in character which is +evidently God's, and whole mountains of prejudice and error melt +away. We are just as much in danger of narrowing the Church in +accordance with our narrowness as any 'sacramentarian' of them all. +We are tempted to think that no good thing can grow up under the +baleful shadow of that tree, a sacerdotal Christianity. We are +tempted to think that all the good people are Dissenters, just as +Churchmen are to think that nobody can be a Christian who prays +without a prayer-book. Our own type of denominational character--and +there is such a thing--comes to be accepted by us as the all but +exclusive ideal of a devout man; and we have not imagination enough +to conceive, nor charity enough to believe in, the goodness which +does not speak our dialect, nor see with our eyes. Dogmatical +narrowness has built as high walls as ceremonial Christianity has +reared round the fold of Christ, And the one deliverance for us all +from the transformed selfishness, which has so much to do with +shaping all these wretched narrow theories of the Church, is to do as +this man did--open our eyes with sympathetic eagerness to see God's +grace in many an unexpected place, and square our theories with His +dealings. + +It used to be an axiom that there was no life in the sea beyond a +certain limit of a few hundred feet. It was learnedly and +conclusively demonstrated that pressure and absence of light, and I +know not what beside, made life at greater depths impossible. It was +proved that in such conditions creatures could not live. And then, +when that was settled, the _Challenger_ put down her dredge five +miles, and brought up healthy and good-sized living things, with eyes +in their heads, from that enormous depth. So, then, the savant had to +ask, _How_ can there be life? instead of asserting that there cannot +be; and, no doubt, the answer will be forth coming some day. + +We have all been too much accustomed to set arbitrary limits to the +diffusion of the life of Christ among men. Let us rather rejoice when +we see forms of beauty, which bear the mark of His hand, drawn from +depths that we deemed waste, and thankfully confess that the bounds +of our expectation, and the framework of our institutions, do not +confine the breadth of His working, nor the sweep of His grace. + +II. What Barnabas felt. + +'He was glad.' It was a triumph of Christian principle to recognise +the grace of God under new forms, and in so strange a place. It was a +still greater triumph to hail it with rejoicing. One need not have +wondered if the acknowledgment of a fact, dead in the teeth of all +his prejudices, and seemingly destructive of some profound +convictions, had been somewhat grudging. Even a good, true man might +have been bewildered and reluctant to let go so much as was destroyed +by the admission--'Then hath God granted to the Gentiles also +repentance unto life,'--and might have been pardoned if he had not +been able to do more than acquiesce and hold his peace. We are +scarcely just to these early Jewish Christians when we wonder at +their hesitation on this matter, and are apt to forget the enormous +strength of the prejudices and sacred conviction which they had to +overcome. Hence the context seems to consider that the quick +recognition of Christian character on the part of Barnabas, and his +gladness at the discovery, need explanation, and so it adds, with +special reference to these, as it would seem, 'for he was a good man, +full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' as if nothing short of such +characteristics could have sufficiently emancipated him from the +narrowness that would have refused to discern the good, or the +bitterness that would have been offended at it. + +So, dear brethren, we may well test ourselves with this question: +Does the discovery of the working of the grace of God outside the +limits of our own Churches and communions excite a quick, spontaneous +emotion of gladness in _our_ hearts? It may upset some of our +theories; it may teach us that things which we thought very +important, 'distinctive principles' and the like, are not altogether +as precious as we thought them; it may require us to give up some +pleasant ideas of our superiority, and of the necessary conformity of +all good people to our type. Are we willing to let them all go, and +without a twinge of envy or a hanging back from prejudice, to welcome +the discovery that 'God fulfils Himself in many ways'? Have we +schooled ourselves to say honestly, 'Therein I do rejoice, yea, and +will rejoice'? + +There is much to overcome if we would know this Christlike gladness. +The good and the bad in us may both oppose it. The natural deeper +interest in the well-being of the Churches of our own faith and +order, the legitimate ties which unite us with these, our +conscientious convictions, our friendships, the _esprit de corps_ +born of fighting shoulder to shoulder, will, of course, make our +sympathies flow most quickly and deeply in denominational channels. +And then come in abundance of less worthy motives, some altogether +bad and some the exaggeration of what is good, and we get swallowed +up in our own individual work, or in that of our 'denomination,' and +have but a very tepid joy in anybody else's prosperity. + +In almost every town of England, your Churches, and those to which I +belong, with Presbyterians and Wesleyans, stand side by side. The +conditions of our work make some rivalry inevitable, and none of us, +I suppose, object to that. It helps to keep us all diligent: a sturdy +adherence to our several 'distinctive principles' and an occasional +hard blow in fair fight on their behalf we shall all insist upon. Our +brotherhood is all the more real for frank speech, and 'the animated +No!' is an essential in all intercourse which is not stagnant or +mawkish. There is much true fellowship and much good feeling among +all these. But we want far more of an honest rejoicing in each +other's success, a quicker and truer manly sympathy with each other's +work, a fuller consciousness of our solidarity in Christ, and a +clearer exhibition of it before the world. + +And on a wider view, as our eyes travel over the wide field of +Christendom, and our memories go back over the long ages of the story +of the Church, let gladness, and not wonder or reluctance, be the +temper with which we see the graces of Christian character lifting +their meek blossoms in corners strange to us, and breathing their +fragrance over the pastures of the wilderness. In many a cloister, in +many a hermit's cell, from amidst the smoke of incense, through the +dust of controversies, we should see, and be glad to see, faces +bright with the radiance caught from Christ. Let us set a jealous +watch over our hearts that self-absorption, or denominationalism, or +envy do not make the sight a pain instead of a joy; and let us +remember that the eye-salve which will purge our dim sight to behold +the grace of God in all its forms is that grace itself, which ever +recognises its own kindred, and lives in the gladness of charity, and +the joy of beholding a brother's good. If we are to have eyes to know +the grace of God when we see it, and a heart to rejoice when we know +it, we must get them as Barnabas got his, and be good men, because we +are full of the Holy Ghost, and full of the Holy Ghost because we are +full of faith. + +III. What Barnabas said. + +'He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave +unto the Lord.' The first thing that strikes one about this all- +sufficient directory for Christian life is the emphasis with which it +sets forth 'the Lord' as the one object to be grasped and held. The +sum of all objective Religion is Christ--the sum of all subjective +Religion is cleaving to Him. A living Person to be laid hold of, and +a personal relation to that Person, such is the conception of +Religion, whether considered as revelation or as inward life, which +underlies this exhortation. Whether we listen to His own words about +Himself, and mark the altogether unprecedented way in which He was +His own theme, and the unique decisiveness and plainness with which +He puts His own personality before us as the Incarnate Truth, the +pattern for all human conduct, the refuge and the rest for the world +of weary ones; or whether we give ear to the teaching of His +Apostles; from whatever point of view we approach Christianity, it +all resolves itself into the person of Jesus Christ. He is the +_Revelation_ of God; theology, properly so called, is but the +formulating of the facts which He gives us; and for the modern world +the alternative is, Christ the manifested God, or no God at all, +other than the shadow of a name. He is the perfect _Exemplar_ of +humanity! The law of life and the power to fulfil the law are both in +Him; and the superiority of Christian morality consists not in this +or that isolated precept, but in the embodiment of all goodness in +His life, and in the new motive which He supplies for keeping the +commandment. Wrenched away from Him, Christian morality has no being. +He is the sacrifice for the world, the salvation of which flows from +what He does, and not merely from what He taught or was. His +personality is the foundation of His work, and the gospel of +forgiveness and reconciliation is all contained in the name of Jesus. + +There is a constant tendency to separate the results of Christ's life +and death, whether considered as revelation, atonement, or ethics, +from Him, and unconsciously to make these the sum of our Religion, +and the object of our faith. Especially is this the case in times of +restless thought and eager canvassing of the very foundations of +religious belief, like the present. Therefore it is wholesome for us +all to be brought back to the pregnant simplicity of the thought +which underlies this text, and to mark how vividly these early +Christians apprehended a living Lord as the sum and substance of all +which they had to grasp. + +There is a whole world between the man to whom God's revelation +consists in certain doctrines given to us by Jesus Christ, and the +man to whom it consists in that Christ Himself. Grasping a living +person is not the same as accepting a proposition. True, the +propositions are about Him, and we do not know Him without them. But +equally true, we need to be reminded that _He_ is our Saviour and not +_they_, and that God has revealed Himself to us not in words and +sentences but in a life. + +For, alas! the doctrinal element has overborne the personal among all +Churches and all schools of thought, and in the necessary process of +formulating and systematising the riches which are in Jesus, we are +all apt to confound the creeds with the Christ, and so to manipulate +Christianity until, instead of being the revelation of a Person and a +gospel, it has become a system of divinity. Simple, devout souls have +to complain that they cannot find even a dead Christ, to say nothing +of a living one, for the theologians have 'taken away their Lord, and +they know not where they have laid Him.' + +It is, therefore, to be reckoned as a distinct gain that one result +of the course of more recent thought, both among friends and foes, +has been to make all men feel more than before, that all revelation +is contained in the living person of Jesus Christ. So did the Church +believe before creeds were. So it is coming to feel again, with a +consciousness enriched and defined by the whole body of doctrine, +which has flowed from Him during all the ages. That solemn, gracious +Figure rises day by day more clearly before men, whether they love +Him or no, as the vital centre of this great whole of doctrines, +laws, institutions, which we call Christianity. Round the story of +His life the final struggle is to be waged. The foe feels that, so +long as that remains, all other victories count for nothing. We feel +that if that goes, there is nothing to keep. The principles and the +precepts will perish alike, as the fair palace of the old legend, +that crumbled to dust when its builder died. But so long as He stands +before mankind as He is painted in the Gospel, it will endure. If all +else were annihilated, Churches, creeds and all, leave us these four +Gospels, and all else would be evolved again. The world knows now, +and the Church has always known, though it has not always been true +to the significance of the fact, that Jesus Christ is Christianity, +and that because He lives, it will live also. + +And consequently the sum of all personal religion is this simple act +described here as _cleaving to Him_. + +Need I do more than refer to the rich variety of symbols and forms of +expression under which that thought is put alike by the Master and by +His servants? Deepest of all are His own great words, of which our +text is but a feeble echo, 'Abide in Me, and I in you.' Fairest of +all is that lovely emblem of the vine, setting forth the sweet +mystery of our union with Him. Far as it is from the outmost pliant +tendril to the root, one life passes to the very extremities, and +every cluster swells and reddens and mellows because of its +mysterious flow. 'So also is Christ.' We remember how often the +invitation flowed from His lips, _Come_ unto Me; how He was wont to +beckon men away from self and the world with the great command, +_Follow_ Me; how He explained the secret of all true life to consist +in _eating_ Him. We may recall, too, the emphasis and perpetual +reiteration with which Paul speaks of being 'in Jesus' as the +condition of all blessedness, power, and righteousness; and the +emblems which he so often employs of the building bound into a whole +on the foundation from which it derives its stability, of the body +compacted and organised into a whole by the head from which it +derives its life. + +We begin to be Christians, as this context tells us, when we 'turn to +the Lord.' We continue to be Christians, as Barnabas reminded these +ignorant beginners, by 'cleaving to the Lord.' Seeing, then, that our +great task is to preserve that which we have as the very foundation +of our Christian life, clearly the truest method of so keeping it +will be the constant repetition of the act by which we got it at +first. In other words, faith joined us to Christ, and continuously +reiterated acts of faith keep us united to Him. So, if I may venture, +fathers and brethren, to cast my words into the form of exhortation, +even to such an audience as the present, I would earnestly say, Let +us cleave to Christ by continual renewal of our first faith in Him. + +The longest line may be conceived of as produced simply by the motion +of its initial point. So should our lives be, our progress not +consisting in leaving our early acts of faith behind us, but in +repeating them over and over again till the points coalesce in one +unbroken line which goes straight to the Throne and Heart of Jesus. +True, the repetition should be accompanied with fuller knowledge, +with calmer certitude, and should come from a heart ennobled and +encircled by a Christ-possessing past. As in some great symphony the +theme which was given out in low notes on one poor instrument recurs +over and over again, embroidered with varying harmonies, and +unfolding a richer music, till it swells into all the grandeur of the +triumphant close, so our lives should be bound into a unity, and in +their unity bound to Christ by the constant renewal of our early +faith, and the fathers should come round again to the place which +they occupied when as children they first knew Him that is 'from the +beginning' to the end one and the same. + +Such constant reiteration is needed, too, because yesterday's trust +has no more power to secure to-day's union than the shreds of cloth +and nails which hold last year's growth to the wall will fasten this +year's shoots. Each moment must be united to Christ by its own act of +faith, or it will be separated from Him. So living in the Lord we +shall be strong and wise, happy and holy. So dying in the Lord we +shall be of the dead who are blessed. So sleeping in Jesus we shall +at the last be found in Him at that day, and shall be raised up +together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ +Jesus. + +But more specially let us cleave to Christ by habitual contemplation. +There can be no real continuous closeness of intercourse with Him, +except by thought ever recurring to Him amidst all the tumult of our +busy days. I do not mean professional thinking or controversial +thinking, of which we ministers have more than enough. There is +another mood of mind in which to approach our Lord than these, a mood +sadly unfamiliar, I am afraid, in these days: when poor Mary has +hardly a chance of a reputation for 'usefulness' by the side of busy, +bustling Martha--that still contemplation of the truth which we +possess, not with the view of discovering its foundations, or +investigating its applications, or even of increasing our knowledge +of its contents, but of bringing our own souls more completely under +its influence, and saturating our being with its fragrance. The +Church has forgotten how to meditate. We are all so occupied arguing +and deducing and elaborating, that we have no time for retired, still +contemplation, and therefore lose the finest aroma of the truth we +profess to believe. Many of us are so busy thinking about +Christianity that we have lost our hold of Christ. Sure I am that +there are few things more needed by our modern religion than the old +exhortation, 'Come, My people, enter into thy chambers and shut thy +doors about thee.' Cleave to the Lord by habitual play of meditative +thought on the treasures hidden in His name, and waiting like gold in +the quartz, to be the prize of our patient sifting and close gaze. + +And when the great truths embodied in Him stand clear before us, then +let us remember that we have not done with them when we have _seen_ +them. Next must come into exercise the moral side of faith, the +voluntary act of trust, the casting ourselves on Him whom we behold, +the making our own of the blessings which He holds out to us. Flee to +Christ as to our strong habitation to which we may continually +resort. Hold tightly by Christ with a grasp which nothing can slacken +(that whitens your very knuckles as you clutch Him), lean on Christ +all your weight and all your burdens. Cleave to the Lord with full +purpose of heart. + +Let us cleave to the Lord by constant outgoings of our love to Him. +That is the bond which unites human spirits together in the only real +union, and Scripture teaches us to see in the sweetest, sacredest, +closest tie that men and women can know, a real, though faint, shadow +of the far deeper and truer union between Christ and us. The same +love which is the bond of perfectness between man and man, is the +bond between us and Christ. In no dreamy, semi-pantheistic fusion of +the believer with his Lord do we find the true conception of the +unity of Christ and His Church, but in a union which preserves the +individualities lest it should slay the love. Faith knits us to +Christ, and faith is the mother of love, which maintains the blessed +union. So let us not be ashamed of the _emotional_ side of our +religion, nor deem that we can cleave to Christ unless our hearts +twine their tendrils round Him, and our love pours its odorous +treasures on His sacred feet, not without weeping and embraces. Cold +natures may carp, but Love is justified of her children, and Christ +accepts the homage that has a heart in it. Cleaving to the Lord is +not merely love, but it is impossible without it. The order is Faith, +Love, Obedience--that threefold cord knits men to Christ, and Christ +to men. For the understanding, a continuous grasp of Him as the +object of thought. For the heart, a continuous outgoing to Him as the +object of our love. For the will, a continuous submission to Him as +the Lord of our obedience. For the whole nature, a continuous +cleaving to Him as the object of our faith and worship. + +Such is the true discipline of the Christian life. Such is the all- +sufficient command; as for the newest convert from heathenism, with +little knowledge and the taint of his old vices in his soul, so for +the saint fullest of wisdom and nearest the Light. + +It _is_ all-sufficient. If Barnabas had been like some of us, he +would have had a very different style of exhortation. He would have +said, 'This irregular work has been well done, but there are no +authorised teachers here, and no provision has been made for the due +administration of the sacraments of the Church. The very first thing +of all is to give these people the blessing of bishops and priests.' +Some of us would have said, 'Valuable work has been done, but these +good people are terribly ignorant. The best thing would be to get +ready as soon as possible some manual of Christian doctrine, and in +the meantime provide for their systematic instruction in at least the +elements of the faith.' Some of us would have said, 'No doubt they +have been converted, but we fear there has been too much of the +emotional in the preaching. The moral side of Christianity has not +been pressed home, and what they chiefly need is to be taught that it +is not feeling, but righteousness. Plain, practical instruction in +Christian duty is the one thing they want.' + +Barnabas knew better. He did not despise organisation, nor orthodoxy, +nor practical righteousness, but he knew that all three, and +everything else that any man needed for his perfecting would come, if +only the converts kept near to Christ, and that nothing else was of +any use if they did not. That same conviction should for us settle +the relative importance which we attach to these subordinate and +derivative things, and to the primary and primitive duty. Obedience +to it will secure them. They, without it, are not worth securing. + +We spend much pains and effort nowadays in perfecting our +organisations and consolidating our resources, and I have not a word +to say against that. But heavier machinery needs more power in the +engine, and that means greater capacity in your boilers and more fire +in your furnace. The more complete our organisation, the more do we +need a firm hold of Christ, or we shall be overweighted by it, shall +be in danger of burning incense to our own net, shall be tempted to +trust in drill rather than in courage, in mechanism rather than in +the life drawn from Christ. On the other hand, if we put as our first +care the preservation of the closeness of our union with Christ, that +life will shape a body for itself, and 'to every seed its own body.' + +True conceptions of Him, and a definite theology, are good and +needful. Let us cleave to Him with mind and heart, and we shall +receive all the knowledge we need, and be guided into the deep things +of God. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and +the basis of all theology is the personal possession of Him who is +'the wisdom of God' and 'the Light of the world.' Every one that +loveth is born of God and knoweth God. _Pectus facit Theologum_. + +Plain, straightforward morality and everyday righteousness are better +than all emotion and all dogmatism and all churchism, says the world, +and Christianity says much the same; but plain, straightforward +righteousness and everyday morality come most surely when a man is +keeping close to Christ. In a word, everything that can adorn the +character with beauty, and clothe the Church with glorious apparel, +whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, all that the world +or God calls virtue and crowns with praise, they are all in their +fulness in Him, and all are most surely derived from Him by keeping +fast hold of His hand, and preserving the channels clear through +which His manifold grace may flow into our souls. The same life is +strength in the arm, pliancy in the fingers, swiftness in the foot, +light in the eye, music on the lips; so the same grace is Protean in +its forms, and to His servants who trust Him Christ ever says, 'What +would ye that I should do unto you? Be it even as thou wilt.' The +same mysterious power lives in the swaying branch, and in the veined +leaf, and in the blushing clusters. With like wondrous +transformations of the one grace, the Lord pours Himself into our +spirits, filling all needs and fitting for all circumstances. +Therefore for us all, individuals and Churches, this remains the +prime command, 'With purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord.' Dear +brethren in the ministry, how sorely we need this exhortation! Our +very professional occupation with Christ and His truth is full of +danger for us; we are so accustomed to handle these sacred themes as +a means of instructing or impressing others that we get to regard +them as our weapons, even if we do not degrade them still further by +thinking of them as our stock-in-trade and means of oratorical +effect. We must keep very firm hold of Christ for ourselves by much +solitary communion, and so retranslating into the nutriment of our +own souls the message we bring to men, else when we have preached to +others we ourselves may he cast away. All the ordinary tendencies +which draw men from Him work on us, and a host of others peculiar to +ourselves, and all around us run strong currents of thought which +threaten to sweep many away. Let us tighten our grasp of Him in the +face of modern doubt; and take heed to ourselves that neither vanity, +nor worldliness, nor sloth; neither the gravitation earthward common +to all, nor the temptations proper to our office; neither unbelieving +voices without nor voices within, seduce us from His side. There only +is our peace, there our wisdom, there our power. + +Subtly and silently the separating forces are ever at work upon us, +and all unconsciously to ourselves our hold may relax, and the flow +of this grace into our spirits may cease, while yet we mechanically +keep up the round of outward service, nor even suspect that our +strength is departed from us. Many a stately elm that seems full of +vigorous life, for all its spreading boughs and clouds of dancing +leaves, is hollow at the heart, and when the storm comes goes down +with a crash, and men wonder, as they look at the ruin, how such a +mere shell of life with a core of corruption could stand so long. It +rotted within, and fell at last, because its roots did not go deep +down to the rich soil, where they would have found nourishment, but +ran along near the surface among gravel and stones. If we would stand +firm, be sound within, and bring forth much fruit, we must strike our +roots deep in Him who is the anchorage of our souls, and the +nourisher of all our being. + +Hearken, beloved brethren, in this great work of the ministry, not to +the exhortation of the servant, but to the solemn command of the +Master, 'Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit +of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye +abide in Me.' And let us, knowing our own weakness, take heed of the +self-confidence that answers, 'Though all should forsake Thee, yet +will not I,' and turn the vows which spring to our lips into the +lowly prayer, 'My soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken Thou me +according to Thy word.' Then, thinking rather of His cleaving to us +than of our cleaving to Him, let us resolutely take as the motto of +our lives the grand words: 'I follow after, if that I may lay hold of +that for which I am also laid hold of by Christ Jesus!' + + + +WHAT A GOOD MAN IS, AND HOW HE BECOMES SO + +'He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' +--ACTS xi, 24. + +'A good man.' How easily that title is often gained! There is, +perhaps, no clearer proof that men are bad than the sort of people +whom they consent to call good. + +It is a common observation that all words describing moral excellence +tend to deteriorate and to contract their meaning, just as bright +metal rusts by exposure, or coins become light and illegible by use. +So it comes to pass that any decently respectable man, especially if +he has an easy temper and a dash of frankness and good humour, is +christened with this title 'good.' The Bible, which is the verdict of +the Judge, is a great deal more chary in its use of the word. You +remember how Jesus Christ once rebuked a man for addressing Him so, +not that He repudiated the title, but that the giver had bestowed it +lightly and out of mere conventional politeness. The word is too +noble to be applied without very good reason. + +But here we have a picture of Barnabas hung in the gallery of +Scripture portraits, and this is the description of it in the +catalogue, 'He was a good man.' + +You observe that my text is in the nature of an analysis. It begins +at the outside, and works inwards. 'He was a good man.' Indeed;--how +came he to be so? He was 'full of the Holy Ghost.' Full of the Holy +Ghost, was he? How came he to be that? He was 'full of faith.' So the +writer digs down, as it were, till he gets to the bed-rock, on which +all the higher strata repose; and here is his account of the way in +which it is possible for human nature to win this resplendent title, +and to be adjudged of God as 'good,' 'full of the Holy Ghost and of +faith.' + +So these three steps in the exposition of the character and its +secret will afford a framework for what I have to say now. + +I. Note, then, first, the sort of man whom the Judge will call +'good.' + +Now, I suppose I need not spend much time in massing together, in +brief outline, the characteristics of Barnabas. He was a Levite, +belonging to the sacerdotal tribe, and perhaps having some slight +connection with the functions of the Temple ministry. He was not a +resident in the Holy Land, but a Hellenistic Jew, a native of Cyprus, +who had come into contact with heathenism in a way that had beaten +many a prejudice out of him. We first hear of him as taking a share +in the self-sacrificing burst of brotherly love, which, whether it +was wise or not, was noble. 'He, having land, sold it, and brought +the money, and laid it at the Apostles' feet.' And, as would appear +from a reference in one of Paul's letters, he had to support himself +afterwards by manual labour. + +Then the next thing that we hear of him is that, when the young man +who had been a persecuting Pharisee, and the rising hope of the anti- +Christian party, all at once came forward with some story of a vision +which he had seen on the road to Damascus, and when the older +Christians were suspicious of a trick to worm himself into their +secrets by a pretended conversion, Barnabas, with the generosity of +an unsuspicious nature, which often sees deeper into men than do +suspicious eyes, was the first to cast the aegis of his recognition +round him. In like manner, when Christianity took an entirely +spontaneous and, to the Church at Jerusalem, rather unwelcome new +development and expansion, when some unofficial believers, without +any authority from headquarters, took upon themselves to stride clean +across the wall of separation, and to speak of Jesus Christ to blank +heathens, and found, to the not altogether gratified surprise of the +Christians at Jerusalem, 'that on the Gentiles also was poured out +the gift of the Holy Ghost,' it was Barnabas who was sent down to +look into this surprising new phenomenon, and we read that 'when he +came and saw the grace of God, he was glad.' The reason why he +rejoiced over the manifestation of the grace of God in such a strange +form was because 'he was a good man,' and his goodness recognised +goodness in others and was glad at the work of the Lord. The new +condition of affairs sent him to look for Paul, and to put him to +work. Then we find him set apart to missionary service, and the +leader of the first missionary band, in which he was accompanied by +his friend Saul. He acquiesced frankly, and without a murmur, in the +superiority of the junior, and yielded up pre-eminence to him quite +willingly. The story of that missionary journey begins 'Barnabas and +Saul,' but very soon it comes to be 'Paul and Barnabas,' and it keeps +that order throughout. He was an older man than Paul, for when at +Lystra the people thought that the gods had come down in the likeness +of men; Barnabas was Jupiter, and Paul the quick-footed Mercury, +messenger of the gods. He was in the work before Paul was thought of, +and it must have taken a great deal of goodness to acquiesce in 'He +must increase and I must decrease.' Then came the quarrel between +them, the foolish fondness for his runaway nephew John Mark, whom he +insisted on retaining in a place for which he was conspicuously +unfitted. And so he lost his friend, the confidence of the Church, +and his work. He sulked away into Cyprus; he had his nephew, for whom +he had given up all these other things. A little fault may wreck a +life, and the whiter the character the blacker the smallest stain +upon it. + +We do not hear anything more of him. Apparently, from one casual +allusion, he continued to serve the Lord in evangelistic work, but +the sweet communion of the earlier days, and the confident friendship +with the Apostle, seem to have come to an end with that sharp +contention. So Barnabas drops out of the rank of Christian workers. +And yet 'he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' + +Now I have spent more time than I meant over this brief outline of +the sort of character here pointed at. Let me just gather into one or +two sentences what seem to me to be the lessons of it. The first is +this, that the tap-root of all goodness is reference to God and +obedience to Him. People tell us that morality is independent of +religion. I admit that many men are better than their creeds, and +many men are worse than their creeds; but I would also venture to +assert that morality is the garment of religion; the body of which +religion is the soul; the expression of religion in daily life. And +although I am not going to say that nothing which a man does without +reference to God has any comparative goodness in it, or that all the +acts which are thus void of reference to Him stand upon one level of +evil, I do venture to say that the noblest deed, which is not done in +conscious obedience to the will of God, lacks its supreme nobleness. +The loftiest perfection of conduct is obedience to God. And whatever +excellence of self-sacrifice, 'whatsoever things lovely and of good +report,' there may be, apart from the presence of this perfect +motive, those deeds are imperfect. They do not correspond either to +the whole obligations or to the whole possibilities of man, and, +therefore, they are beneath the level of the highest good. Good is +measured by reference to God. + +Then, further, let me remark that one broad feature which +characterises the truest goodness is the suppression of self. That is +only another way of saying the same thing as I have been saying. It +is illustrated for us all through this story of Barnabas. Whosoever +can say, 'I think not of myself, but of others; of the cause; of the +help I can give to men; and I lay not goods only, nor prejudices +only, nor the pride of position and the supremacy of place only at +the feet of God, but I lay down my whole self; and I desire that self +may be crucified, that God may live in me,'--he, and only he, has +reached the height of goodness. Goodness requires the suppression of +self. + +Further, note that the gentler traits of character are pre-eminent in +Christian goodness. There is nothing about this man heroic or +exceptional. His virtues are all of the meek and gracious sort--those +which we relegate sometimes to an inferior place in our estimates. +These things make but a poor show by the side of some of the tawdry +splendours of what the vulgar world calls virtues. It requires an +educated eye to see the harmony of the sober colouring of some great +painter. A child, a clown, a vulgar person--and there are such in all +ranks--will prefer flaring reds and blues and yellows heaped together +in staring contrast. A thrush or a blackbird is but a soberly clad +creature by the side of macaws and paroquets; but the one has a song +and the others have only a screech. The gentle virtues are the truly +Christian virtues--patience and meekness and long-suffering and +sympathy and readiness to efface oneself for the sake of God and of +men. + +So there is a bit of comfort for us commonplace, humdrum people, to +whom God has only given one or two talents, and who can never expect +to make a figure before men. We may be little violets below a stone, +if we cannot be flaunting hollyhocks and tiger lilies. We may have +the beauty of goodness in us after Christ's example, and that is +better than to be great. + +Barnabas was no genius. He was not even a genius in goodness; he did +not strike out anything original and out of the way. He seems to have +been a commonplace kind of man enough; but 'he was a good man.' And +the weakest and the humblest of us may hope to have the same thing +said of us, if we will. + +And then, note further, that true goodness, thank God! does not +exclude the possibility of falling and sinning. There is a black spot +in this man's history; and there are black spots in the histories of +all saints. Thank God! the Bible is, as some people would say, almost +brutally frank in telling us about the imperfections of the best. +Very often imperfections are the exaggerations of characteristic +goodnesses, and warn us to take care that we do not push, as Barnabas +did, our facility to the point of criminal complicity with +weaknesses; and that we do not indulge, instead of strenuously +rebuking when need is. Never let our gentleness fall away, like a +badly made jelly, into a trembling heap, and never let our strength +gather itself together into a repulsive attitude, but guard against +the exaggeration of virtue into vice. + +Remember that whilst there may be good men who sin, there is One +entire and flawless, in whom all types of excellence do meet, and who +alone of humanity can front the verdict of the world, and has fronted +it now for nineteen centuries, with the question upon His lips, which +none have dared to answer, 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin?' + +II. Secondly, notice the divine Helper who makes men good. + +Luke, if he be the writer of the Acts, goes on with his analysis. He +has done with the first fold, the outer garment, as it were; he +strips it off and shows us the next fold, 'full of the Holy Ghost.' + +A divine Helper, not merely a divine influence, but a divine Person, +who not only helps men from without, but so enters into a man as that +the man's whole nature is saturated with Him--that is strange +language. Mystical and unreal I dare say some of you may think it, +but let us consider whether some such divine Helper is not plainly +pointed as necessary, by the experience of every man that ever +honestly tried to make himself good. + +I have no doubt that I am speaking to many persons who, more or less +constantly and courageously and earnestly, have laboured at the task +of self-improvement and self-culture. I venture to think that, if +their standard of what they wish to attain is high, their confession +of what they have attained will be very low. Ah, brother! if we think +of what it is that we need to make us good--viz. the strengthening of +these weak wills of ours, which we cannot strengthen but to a very +limited degree by any tonics that we can apply, or any supports with +which we may bind them round; if we consider the resistance which +ourselves, our passions, our tastes, our habits, our occupations +offer, and the resistance which the world around us, friends, +companions, and all the aggregate, dread and formidable, of material +things present to our becoming, in any lofty and comprehensive sense +of the term, good men and women, I think we shall be ready to listen, +as to a true Gospel, to the message that says, 'You do not need to do +it by yourself.' You have got the wolf by the ears, perhaps, for a +moment, but there is tremendous strength in the brute, and your hands +and wrists will ache in holding him presently, and what will happen +then? You do not need to try it yourself. There is a divine Helper +standing at your sides and waiting to strengthen you, and that Helper +does not work from outside; He will pass within, and dwell in your +hearts and mould and strengthen your wills to what is good, and +suppress your inclinations to evil, and, by His inward presence, +teach 'your hands to war and your fingers to fight.' + +Surely, surely, the experience of the world from the beginning, +confirmed by the consciousness and conscience of every one of us, +tells us that of ourselves we are impotent, and that the good that is +within the reach of our unaided efforts is poor and fragmentary and +superficial indeed. + +The great promise of the Gospel is precisely this promise. We +terribly limit and misunderstand what we call the Gospel if we give +such exclusive predominance to one part of it, as some of us are +accustomed to do. Thank God I the first word that Jesus Christ says +to any soul is, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' But that first word has +a second that follows it, 'Arise! and walk!' and it is for the sake +of the second that the first is spoken. The gift of pardon, the +consciousness of acceptance, the fact of reconciliation with God, the +closing of the doors of the place of retribution, the quieting of the +stings of accusing conscience, all these are but meant to be +introductory to that which Jesus Christ Himself, in the Gospel of +John, emphatically calls more than once '_the_ gift of God,' which He +symbolised by 'living water,' which whosoever drank should never +thirst, and which whosoever possessed would give it forth in living +streams of holy life and noble deeds. The promise of the Gospel is +the promise of new life, derived from Christ and maintained in us by +the indwelling Spirit, which will come like fresh reinforcements to +an all but beaten army in some hard-fought field, which will stand +like a stay behind a man, to us almost blown over by the gusts of +temptation, which will strengthen what is weak, raise what is low, +illumine what is dark, and will make us who are evil good with a +goodness given by God through His Son. + +Surely there is nothing more congruous with that divine character +than that He who Himself is good, and good from Himself, should +rejoice in making us, His poor children, into His own likeness. +Surely He would not be good unless He delighted to make us good. +Surely it is something very like presumption in men to assert that +the direct communication of the Spirit of God with the spirits whom +God has made is an impossibility. Surely it is flying in the face of +Scripture teaching to deny that such communication is a promise. +Surely it is a flagrant contradiction of the depths of Christian +experience to falter in the belief that it is a very solid reality. + +'Full of the Holy Ghost,' as a vessel might be to its brim of golden +wine; Christian men and women! does that describe you? Full? A +dribbling drop or two in the bottom of the jar. Whose fault is it? +Why, with that rushing mighty wind to fill our sails if we like, +should we be lying in the sickly calms of the tropics, with the pitch +oozing out of the seams, and the idle canvas flapping against the +mast? Why, with those tongues of fire hovering over our heads, should +we be cowering over grey ashes in which there lives a little spark? +Why, with that great rushing tide of the river of the water of life, +should we be like the dry watercourses of the desert, with bleached +and white stones baking where the stream should be running? 'O! Thou +that art named the House of Israel, is the Spirit of the Lord +straitened? Are these His doings?' + +III. And so, lastly, we are shown how that divine Helper comes to +men. + +'Full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.' There is no goodness without +the impulse and indwelling of the divine Spirit, and there is no +divine Spirit to dwell in a man's heart without that man's trusting +in Jesus Christ. The condition of receiving the gift that makes us +good is simply and solely that we should put our trust in Jesus +Christ the Giver. That opens the door, and the divine Spirit enters. + +True! there are convincing operations which He effects upon the +world; but these are not in question here. These come prior to, and +independent of, faith. But the work of the Spirit of God, present +within us to heal and hallow us, has as condition our trust in Jesus +Christ, the Great Healer. If you open a chink, the water will come +in. If you trust in Jesus Christ, He will give you the new life of +His Spirit, which will make you free from the law of sin and death. +That divine Spirit 'which they that believe in Him should receive' +delights to enter into every heart where His presence is desired. +Faith is desire; and desires rooted in faith cannot be in vain. Faith +is expectation; and expectations based upon the divine promise can +never be disappointed. Faith is dependence, and dependence that +reckons upon God, and upon God's gift of His Spirit, will surely be +recompensed. + +The measure in which we possess the power that makes us good depends +altogether upon ourselves. 'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.' +You may have as much of God as you want, and as little as you will. +The measure of your faith will determine at once the measure of your +goodness, and of your possession of the Spirit that makes good. Just +as when the prophet miraculously increased the oil in the cruse, the +golden stream flowed as long as they brought vessels, and stayed when +there were no more, so as long as we open our hearts for the +reception, the gift will not be withheld, but God will not let it run +like water spilled upon the ground that cannot be gathered up. If we +will desire, if we will expect, if we will reckon on, if we will look +to, Jesus Christ, and, beside all this, if we will honestly use the +power that we possess, our capacity will grow, and the gift will +grow, and our holiness and purity will grow with it. + +Some of you have been trying more or less continuously, all your +lives, to mend your own characters and improve yourselves. Brethren, +there is a better way than that. A modern poet says-- + + 'Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, + These three alone lift life to sovereign power.' + +Taken by itself that is pure heathenism. Self cannot improve self. +Put self into God's keeping, and say, 'I cannot guard, keep, purge, +hallow mine own self. Lord, do Thou do it for me!' It is no use to +try to build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven. A ladder has +been let down on which we may pass upwards, and by which God's angels +of grace and beauty will come down to dwell in our hearts. If the +Judge is to say of each of us, 'He was a good man,' He must also be +able to say, 'He was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' + + + +A NICKNAME ACCEPTED + +'The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch' +--ACTS xi. 26. + +Nations and parties, both political and religious, very often call +themselves by one name, and are known to the outside world by +another. These outside names are generally given in contempt; and yet +they sometimes manage to hit the very centre of the characteristics +of the people on whom they are bestowed, and so by degrees get to be +adopted by them, and worn as an honour. + +So it has been with the name 'Christian.' It was given at the first +by the inhabitants of the Syrian city of Antioch, to a new sort of +people that had sprung up amongst them, and whom they could not quite +make out. They would not fit into any of their categories, and so +they had to invent a new name for them. It is never used in the New +Testament by Christians about themselves. It occurs here in this +text; it occurs in Agrippa's half-contemptuous exclamation: 'You seem +to think it is a very small matter to make me--me, a king!--a +Christian, one of those despised people!' And it occurs once more, +where the Apostle Peter is specifying the charges brought against +them: 'If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but +let him glorify God on this behalf (1 Peter iv. 16). That sounds like +the beginning of the process which has gone on ever since, by which +the nickname, flung by the sarcastic men of Antioch, has been turned +into the designation by which, all over the world, the followers of +Jesus Christ have been proud to call themselves. + +Now in this text there are the outside name by which the world calls +the followers of Jesus Christ, and one of the many interior names by +which the Church called itself. I have thought it might be profitable +now to put all the New Testament names for Christ's followers +together, and think about them. + +I. So, to begin with, we deal with this name given by the world to +the Church, which the Church has adopted. + +Observe the circumstances under which it was given. A handful of +large-hearted, brave men, anonymous fugitives belonging to the little +Church in Jerusalem, had come down to Antioch; and there, without +premeditation, without authority, almost without consciousness-- +certainly without knowing what a great thing they were doing--they +took, all at once, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, +a great step by preaching the Gospel to pure heathen Greeks; and so +began the process by which a small Jewish sect was transformed into a +world-wide church. The success of their work in Antioch, amongst the +pure heathen population, has for its crowning attestation this, that +it compelled the curiosity-hunting, pleasure-loving, sarcastic +Antiocheans to find out a new name for this new thing; to write out a +new label for the new bottles into which the new wine was being put. +Clearly the name shows that the Church was beginning to attract the +attention of outsiders. + +Clearly it shows, too, that there was a novel element in the Church. +The earlier disciples had been all Jews, and could be lumped together +along with their countrymen, and come under the same category. But +here was something that could not be called either Jew or Greek, +because it embraced both. The new name is the first witness to the +cosmopolitan character of the primitive Church. Then clearly, too, +the name indicates that in a certain dim, confused way, even these +superficial observers had got hold of the right notion of what it was +that _did_ bind these people together. They called them 'Christians' +--Christ's men, Christ's followers. But it was only a very dim +refraction of the truth that had got to them; they had no notion that +'Christ' was not a proper name, but the designation of an office; and +they had no notion that there was anything peculiar or strange in the +bond which united its adherents to Christ. Hence they called His +followers 'Christians,' just as they would have called Herod's +followers 'Herodians,' in the political world, or Aristotle's +followers 'Aristotelians' in the philosophical world. Still, in their +groping way, they bad put their finger on the fact that the one power +that held this heterogeneous mass together, the one bond that bound +up 'Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free' into one +vital unity, was a personal relation to a living Person. And so they +said--not understanding the whole significance of it, but having got +hold of the right end of the clue--they said, 'They are Christians!' +'Christ's people,' 'the followers of this Christ.' + +And their very blunder was a felicity. If they had called them +'Jesuits' that would have meant the followers of the mere man. They +did not know how much deeper they had gone when they said, not +followers of Jesus, but 'followers of Christ'; for it is not Jesus +the Man, but Jesus Christ, the Man with His office, that makes the +centre and the bond of the Christian Church. + +These, then, are the facts, and the fair inferences from them. A +plain lesson here lies on the surface. The Church--that is to say, +the men and women who make its members--should draw to itself the +notice of the outside world. I do not mean by advertising, and +ostentation, and sounding trumpets, and singularities, and +affectations. None of all these are needed. If you are live +Christians it will be plain enough to outsiders. It is a poor comment +on your consistency, if, being Christ's followers, you can go through +life unrecognised even by 'them that are without.' What shall we say +of leaven which does _not_ leaven, or of light which does _not_ +shine, or of salt which does _not_ repel corruption? It is a poor +affair if, being professed followers of Jesus Christ, you do not +impress the world with the thought that 'here is a man who does not +come under any of our categories, and who needs a new entry to +describe _him_.' The world ought to have the same impression about +you which Haman had about the Jews--'Their laws are diverse from all +people.' + +Christian professors, are the world's names for each other enough to +describe you by, or do you need another name to be coined for you in +order to express the manifest characteristics that you display? The +Church that does not _provoke_ the attention--I use the word in its +etymological, not its offensive sense--the Church that does not call +upon itself the attention and interest of outsiders, is not a Church +as Jesus Christ meant it to be, and it is not a Church that is worth +keeping alive; and the sooner it has decent burial the better for +itself and for the world! + +There is another thing here, viz.: this name suggests that the clear +impression made by our conduct and character, as well as by our +words, should be that we belong to Jesus Christ. The eye of an +outside observer may be unable to penetrate the secret of the deep +sweet tie uniting us to Jesus, but there should be no possibility of +the most superficial and hasty glance overlooking the fact that we +_are_ His. He should manifestly be the centre and the guide, the +impulse and the pattern, the strength and the reward, of our whole +lives. We are Christians. That should be plain for all folks to see, +whether we speak or be silent. Brethren, is it so with you? Does your +life need no commentary of your words in order that men should know +what is the hidden spring that moves all its wheels; what is the +inward spirit that co-ordinates all its motions into harmony and +beauty? Is it true that like 'the ointment of the right hand which +bewrayeth itself' your allegiance to Jesus Christ, and the +overmastering and supreme authority which He exercises upon you, and +upon your life, 'cannot be hid'? Do you think that, without your +words, if you, living in the way you do, were put down into the +middle of Pekin, as these handful of people were put down into the +middle of the heathen city of Antioch, the wits of the Chinese +metropolis would have to invent a name for you, as the clever men of +Antioch did for these people; and do you think that if they had to +invent a name, the name that would naturally come to their lips, +looking at you, would be 'Christians,' 'Christ's men'? If it would +not, there is something wrong. + +The last word that I say about this first part of my text is this. It +is a very sad thing, but it is one that is always occurring, that the +world's inadequate notions of what makes a follower of Jesus Christ +get accepted by the Church. Why was it that the name 'Christian' ran +all over Christendom in the course of a century and a half? I believe +very largely because it was a conveniently vague name; because it did +not describe the deepest and sacredest of the bonds that unite us to +Jesus Christ. Many a man is quite willing to say, 'I am a Christian,' +who would hesitate a long time before he said, 'I am a believer,' 'I +am a disciple.' The vagueness of the name, the fact that it erred by +defect in not touching the central, deepest relation between man and +Jesus Christ, made it very appropriate to the declining spirituality +and increasing formalism of the Christian Church in the post- +Apostolic age. It is a sad thing when the Church drops its standard +down to the world's notion of what It ought to be, and adopts the +world's name for itself and its converts. + +II. I turn now to set side by side with this vague, general, outside +name the more specific and _interior_ names--if I may so call them-- +by which Christ's followers at first knew themselves. + +The world said, 'You are Christ's men'; and the names which were +self-imposed and are now to be considered might be taken as being the +Church's explanation of what the world was fumbling at when it so +called them. There are four of them: of course, I can only just touch +on them. + +(_a_) The first is in this verse-'_disciples_.' The others are +_believers_, _saints_, _brethren_. These four are the Church's own +christening of itself; its explanation and expansion, its deepening +and heightening, of the vague name given by the world. + +As to the first, _disciples_, any concordance will show that the name +was employed almost exclusively during the time of Christ's life upon +earth. It is the only name for Christ's followers in the Gospels; it +occurs also, mingled with others, in the Acts of the Apostles, and it +never occurs thereafter. + +The name 'disciple,' then, carries us back to the historical +beginning of the whole matter, when Jesus was looked upon as a Rabbi +having followers called disciples; just as were John the Baptist and +his followers, Gamaliel and his school, or Socrates and his. It sets +forth Christ as being the Teacher, and His followers as being His +adherents, His scholars, who learned at His feet. + +Now that is always true. _We_ are Christ's scholars quite as much as +were the men who heard and saw with their eyes and handled with their +hands, of the Word of Life. Not by words only, but by gracious deeds +and fair, spotless life, He taught them and us and all men to the end +of time, our highest knowledge of God of whom He is the final +revelation, our best knowledge of what men should and shall be by His +perfect life in which is contained all morality, our only knowledge +of that future in that He has died and is risen and lives to help and +still to teach. He teaches us still by the record of His life, and by +the living influence of that Spirit whom He sends forth to guide us +into all truth. He is the Teacher, the only Teacher, the Teacher for +all men, the Teacher of all truth, the Teacher for evermore. He +speaks from Heaven. Let us give heed to His voice. + +But that Name is not enough to tell all that He is to us, or we to +Him, and so after He had passed from earth it unconsciously and +gradually dropped out of use by the disciples, as they felt a +deepened bond uniting them to Him who was not only their Teacher of +the Truth which was Himself, but was their Sacrifice and Advocate +with the Father. And for all who hold the, as I believe, essentially +imperfect conception of Jesus Christ as being mainly a Teacher, +either by word or by pattern; whether it be put into the old form or +into the modern form of regarding Him as the Ideal and Perfect Man, +it seems to me a fact well worthy of consideration, that the name of +disciple and the relation expressed by it were speedily felt by the +Christian Church to be inadequate as a representation of the bond +that knit them to Him. He is our Teacher, we His scholars. He is more +than that, and a more sacred bond unites us to Him. As our Master we +owe Him absolute submission. When He speaks, we have to accept His +dictum. What He says is truth, pure and entire. His utterance is the +last word upon any subject that He touches, it is the ultimate +appeal, and the Judge that ends the strife. We owe Him submission, an +open eye for all new truth, constant docility, as conscious of our +own imperfections, and a confident expectation that He will bless us +continuously with high and as yet unknown truths that come from His +inexhaustible stores of wisdom and knowledge. + +(_b_) Teacher and scholars move in a region which, though it be +important, is not the central one. And the word that was needed next +to express what the early Church felt Christ was to them, and they to +Him, lifts us into a higher atmosphere altogether,--'_believers_,' +they who are exercising not merely intellectual submission to the +dicta of the Teacher, but who are exercising living trust in the +person of the Redeemer. The belief which is faith is altogether a +higher thing than its first stage, which is the belief of the +understanding. There is in it the moral element of trust. We believe +a truth, we trust a Person; and the trust which we are to exercise in +Jesus Christ, and which knits us to Him, is our trust in Him, not in +any character that we may choose to ascribe to Him, but in the +character in which He is revealed in the New Testament--Redeemer, +Saviour, Manifest God; and therefore, the Infinite Friend and Helper +of our souls. + +That trust, my brethren, is the one bond that binds, men to God, and +the one thing that makes us Christ's men. Apart from it, we may be +very near Him, but we are not joined to Him. By it, and by it alone, +the union is completed, and His power and His grace flow into our +spirits. Are you, not merely a 'Christian,' in the world's notion, +being bound in some vague way to Jesus Christ, but are you a +Christian in the sense of trusting your soul's salvation to Him? + +(_c_) Then, still further, there is another name--'_saints_.' It has +suffered perhaps more at the hands both of the world and of the +Church than any other. It has been taken by the latter and restricted +to the dead, and further restricted to those who excel, according to +the fantastic, ascetic standard of mediaeval Christianity. It has +suffered from the world in that it has been used with a certain +bitter emphasis of resentment at the claim of superior purity +supposed to be implied in it, and so has come to mean on the world's +lips one who pretends to be better than other people and whose +actions contradict his claim. But the name belongs to all Christ's +followers. It makes no claim to special purity, for the central idea +of the word 'saint' is not purity. Holiness, which is the English for +the Latinised 'sanctity,' holiness which is attributed in the Old +Testament to God first, to men only secondarily, does not primarily +mean _purity_, but _separation_. God is holy, inasmuch as by that +whole majestic character of His, He is lifted above all bounds of +creatural limitations, as well as above man's sin. A sacrifice, the +Sabbath, a city, a priest's garment, a mitre--all these things are +'holy,' not when they are pure, but when they are devoted to Him. And +men are holy, not because they are clean, but because by free self- +surrender they have consecrated themselves to Him. + +Holiness is consecration, that is to say, holiness is giving myself +up to Him to do what He will with. 'I am holy' is not the declaration +of my estimate 'I am pure,' but the declaration of the fact 'I am +thine, O Lord.' So the New Testament idea of saint has in it these +elements--consecration, consecration resting on faith in Christ, and +consecration leading to separation from the world and its sin. And +that glad yielding of oneself to God, as wooed by His mercies, and +thereby drawn away from communion with our evil surroundings and from +submission to our evil selves, must be a part of the experience of +every true Christian. All His people are saints, not as being pure, +but as being given up to Him, in union with whom alone will the +cleansing powers flow into their lives and clothe them with 'the +righteousness of saints.' Have you thus consecrated yourself to God? + +(_d_) The last name is '_brethren_,'--a name which has been much +maltreated both by the insincerity of the Church, and by the sarcasm +of the world. It has been an unreal appellation which has meant +nothing and been meant to mean nothing, so that the world has said +that our 'brethren' signified a good deal less than their 'brothers.' +''Tis true, 'tis pity; pity 'tis, 'tis true.' + +But what I ask you to notice is that the main thing about that name +'brethren' is not the relation of the brethren to one another, but +their common relation to their Father. + +When we call ourselves as Christian people 'brethren,' we mean first +this: that we are the possessors of a supernatural life, which has +come from one Father, and which has set us in altogether new +relations to one another, and to the world round about us. Do you +believe that if you have any of that new life which comes through +faith in Jesus Christ, then you are the brethren of all those that +possess the same? + +As society becomes more complicated, as Christian people grow unlike +each other in education, in social position, in occupation, in their +general outlook into the world, it is more and more difficult to feel +what is nevertheless true: that any two Christian people, however +unlike each other, are nearer each other in the very roots of their +nature, than a Christian and a non-Christian, however like each +other. It is difficult to feel that, and it is getting more and more +difficult, but for all that it is a fact. + +And now I wish to ask you, Christian men and women, whether you feel +more at home with people who love Jesus Christ--as you say that you +love Him--or whether you like better to be with people who do not? + +There are some of you who choose your intimate associates, whom you +ask to your homes and introduce to your children as desirable +companions, with no reference at all to their religious character. +The duties of your position, of course, oblige each of you to be much +among people who do not share your faith, and it is cowardly and +wrong to shrink from the necessity. But for Christian people to make +choice of heart friends, or close intimates, among those who have no +sympathy with their professed belief about, and love to, Jesus +Christ, does not say much for the depth and reality of their +religion. A man is known by the company he keeps, and if your friends +are picked out for other reasons, and their religion is no part of +their attraction, it is not an unfair conclusion that there are other +things for which you care more than you do for faith in Jesus Christ +and love to Him. If you deeply feel the bond that knits you to +Christ, and really live near to Him, you will be near to your +brethren. You will feel that 'blood is thicker than water,' and +however like you may be to irreligious people in many things, you +will feel that the deepest bond of all knits you to the poorest, the +most ignorant, the most unlike you in social position; ay! and the +most unlike you in theological opinion, who love the Lord Jesus +Christ in sincerity. + +Now that is the sum of the whole matter. And my last word to you is +this: Do not you be contented with the world's vague notions of what +makes Christ's man. I do not ask you if you are Christians; plenty of +you would say: 'Oh yes! of course! Is not this a Christian country? +Was not I christened when I was a child? Are we not all members of +the Church of England by virtue of our birth? Yes! of course I am!' + +I do not ask you that; _I_ do not ask you anything; but I pray you to +ask yourselves these four questions: Am I Christ's scholar? Am I +believing on Him? Am I consecrated to Him? Am I the possessor of a +new life from Him? And never give yourselves rest until you can say +humbly and yet confidently, 'Yes! thank God, I am!' + + + +THE MARTYRDOM OF JAMES + +'Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword.' +--ACTS xii. 2. + +One might have expected more than a clause to be spared to tell the +death of a chief man and the first martyr amongst the Apostles. +James, as we know, was one of the group of the Apostles who were in +especially close connection with Jesus Christ. He is associated in +the Gospels with Peter and his brother John, and is always named +before John, as if he were the more important of the two, by reason +of age or of other circumstances unknown to us. But yet we know next +to nothing about him. In the Acts of the Apostles he is a mere lay +figure; his name is only mentioned in the catalogue at the beginning, +and here again in the brief notice of his death. The reticent and +merely incidental character of the notice of his martyrdom is +sufficiently remarkable. I think the lessons of the fact, and of the, +I was going to say, slight way in which the writer of this book +refers to it, may perhaps be most pointedly brought out if we take +four contrasts--James and Stephen, James and Peter, James and John, +James and James. Now, if we take these four I think we shall learn +something. + +I. First, then, James and Stephen. + +Look at the different scale on which the incidents of the deaths of +these two are told: the martyrdom of the one is beaten out over +chapters, the martyrdom of the other is crammed into a corner of a +sentence. And yet, of the two men, the one who is the less noticed +filled the larger place officially, and the other was only a simple +deacon and preacher of the Word. The fact that Stephen was the first +Christian to follow his Lord in martyrdom is not sufficient to +account for the extraordinary difference. The difference is to be +sought for in another direction altogether. The Bible cares so little +about the people whom it names because its true theme is the works of +God, and not of man; and the reason why the 'Acts of the Apostles' +kills off one of the chief Apostles in this fashion is simply that, +as the writer tells us, his theme is 'all that _Jesus_' continued 'to +do and to teach after He was taken up.' Since it is Christ who is the +true actor, it matters uncommonly little what becomes of James or of +the other ten. This book is _not_ the 'Acts of the Apostles,' but it +is the Acts of Jesus Christ. + +I might suggest, too, in like manner, that there is another contrast +which I have not included in my four, between the scale on which the +death of Jesus Christ is told by Luke, and that on which this death +is narrated. What is the reason why so disproportionate a space of +the Gospel is concerned with the last two days of our Lord's life on +earth? What is the reason why years are leaped over in silence and +moments are spread out in detail, but that the death of a man is only +a death, but the death of the Christ is the life of the world? It is +little needful that we should have poetical, emotional, picturesque +descriptions of martyrdoms and the like in a book which is altogether +devoted to tracking the footsteps of Christ in history; and which +regards men as nothing more than the successive instruments of His +purpose, and the depositories of His grace. + +Another lesson which we may draw from the reticence in the case of +the Apostle, and the expansiveness in the case of the protomartyr, is +that of a wise indifference to the utterly insignificant accident of +posthumous memory or oblivion of us and our deeds and sufferings. +James sleeps none the less sweetly in his grave, or, rather, wakes +none the less triumphantly in heaven, because his life and death are +both so scantily narrated. If we 'self-infold the large results' of +faithful service, we need not trouble ourselves about its record on +earth. + +But another lesson which may be learned from this cursory notice of +the Apostle's martyrdom is--how small a thing death really is! Looked +at from beside the Lord of life and death, which is the point of view +of the author of this narrative, 'great death' dwindles to a very +little thing. We need to revise our notions if we would understand +how trivial it really is. To us it frowns like a black cliff blocking +the upper end of our valley, but there is a path round its base, and +though the throat of the pass be narrow, it has room for us to get +through and up to the sunny uplands beyond. From a mountain top the +country below seems level plain, and what looked like an impassable +precipice has dwindled to be indistinguishable. The triviality of +death, to those who look upon it from the heights of eternity, is +well represented by these brief words which tell of the first breach +thereby in the circle of the Apostles. + +II. There is another contrast, James and Peter. + +Now this chapter tells of two things: the death of one of that pair +of friends; the miracle that was wrought for the deliverance of the +other from death. Why could not the parts have been exchanged, or why +could not the miraculous hand that was stretched out to save the one +fisherman of Bethsaida have been put forth to save the other? Why +should James be slain, and Peter miraculously delivered? A question +easily asked; a question not to be answered by us. We may say that +the one was more useful for the development of the Church than the +other. But we have all seen lives that, to our poor vision, seemed to +be all but indispensable, ruthlessly swept away, and lives that +seemed to be, and were, perfectly profitless, prolonged to extreme +old age. We may say that maturity of character, development of +Christian graces, made the man ready for glory. But we have all seen +some struck down when anything but ready; and others left for the +blessing of mankind many, many a day after they were far fitter for +heaven than thousands that, we hope, have gone there. + +So all these little explanations do not go down to the bottom of the +matter, and we are obliged just to leave the whole question in the +loving Hands that hold the keys of life and death for us all. Only we +may be sure of this, that James was as dear to Christ as Peter was, +and that there was no greater love shown in sending the angel that +delivered the one out of the 'hand of Herod and from all the +expectation of the people of the Jews,' than was shown in sending the +angel that stood behind the headsman and directed the stroke of the +fatal sword on the neck of the other. + +The one was as dear to the Christ as the other--ay, and the one was +as surely, and more blessedly, delivered 'from the mouth of the lion' +as the other was, though the one seemed to be dragged from his teeth, +and the other seemed to be crushed by his powerful jaws. James +escaped from Herod when Herod slew him but could not make him +unfaithful to his Master, and his deliverance was not less complete +than the deliverance of his friend. + +But let us remember, also, that if thus, to two equally beloved, +there were dealt out these two different fates, it must be because +that evil, which, as I said, is not so great as it looks, is also not +so bitter as it tastes, and there is no real evil, for the loving +heart, in the stroke that breaks its bands and knits it to Jesus +Christ. If we are Christians, the deepest desire of our souls is +fuller communion with our Lord. We realise that, in some stunted and +scanty measure, by life; but oh! is it not strange that we should +shrink from that change which will enable us to realise it fully and +eternally? The contrast of James and Peter may teach us the equal +love that presides over the life of the living and the death of the +dying. + +III. Another contrast is that of James and John. + +The close union, and subsequent separation by this martyrdom, of that +pair of brothers is striking and pathetic. They seem to have together +pursued their humble trade of fishermen in the little fishing village +of Bethsaida, apparently as working partners with their father +Zebedee. They were not divided by discipleship, as was the sad fate +of many a brother delivered by a brother to death. If we may attach +any weight to the suggestion that the expression in John's narrative, +'He first findeth _his own_ brother, Simon,' implies that 'the other +disciple' did the same by _his_ brother, James was brought to Jesus +by John, and new tenderness and strength thereby given to their +affection. They were closely associated in their Apostleship, and +were together the companions of Jesus in the chief incidents of His +life. They were afterwards united in the leadership of the Church. By +death they were separated very far: the one the first of all the +Apostles to 'become a prey to Satan's rage,' the other 'lingering out +his fellows all,' and 'dying in bloodless age,' living to be a +hundred years old or more, and looking back through all the long +parting to the brother who had joined with him in the wish that even +Messiah's Kingdom should not part them, and yet had been parted so +soon and parted so long. + +Ah! may we not learn the lesson that we should recognise the mercy +and wisdom of the ministry of Death the separator, and should tread +with patience the lonely road, do calmly the day's work, and tarry +till He comes, though those that stood beside us be gone? We may look +forward with the assurance that 'God keeps a niche in heaven to hide +our idols'; and 'albeit He breaks them to our face,' yet shall we +find them again, like Memnon's statue, vocal in the rising sunshine +of the heavens. + +The brothers, so closely knit, so soon parted, so long separated, +were at last reunited. Even to us here, with the chronology of earth +still ours, the few years between the early martyrdom of James and +the death of the centenarian John seem but a span. The lapse of the +centuries that have rolled away since then makes the difference of +the dates of the two deaths seem very small, even to us. What a mere +nothing it will have looked to them, joined together once more before +God! + +IV. Lastly, James and James. In his hot youth, when he deserved the +name of a son of thunder--so energetic, boisterous, I suppose, +destructive perhaps, he was--he and his brother, and their foolish +mother, whose name is kindly not told us, go to Christ and say, +'Grant that we may sit, the one on Thy right hand and the other on +Thy left, in Thy kingdom.' That was what he wished and hoped for, and +what he got was years of service, and a taste of persecution, and +finally the swish of the headsman's sword. + +And so our dreams get disappointed, and their disappointment is often +the road to their fulfilment, for Jesus Christ was answering James' +prayer, 'Grant that we may sit on Thy right hand in Thy kingdom,' +when He called him to Himself, by the brief and bloody passage of +martyrdom. James said, when he did not know what he meant, and the +vow was noble though it was ignorant, 'we can drink of the cup that +Thou drinkest.' And all honour to him! he stuck to his vow; and when +the cup was proffered to him he manfully, and like a Christian, took +it and drank it to the dregs; and, I suppose, went silently to his +grave. But the change between his ardent anticipations and his calm +resignation, and between his foolish dream and the stern reality, may +well teach us that, whether our wishes he fulfilled or disappointed, +they all need to be purified, and that the disappointment of them on +earth is often God's way of fulfilling them for us in higher fashion +than we dreamed or asked. + +So, brethren, let us leave for ourselves, and for all dear ones, that +question of living or dying, to His decision. Only let us be sure +that whether our lives be long like John's, or short like James', +'living or dying we are the Lord's.' And then, whatever be the length +of life or the manner of death, both will bring us the fulfilment of +our highest wishes, and will lead us to His side at whose right hand +all those shall sit who have loved Him here, and, though long parted, +shall be reunited in common enjoyment of the pleasures for evermore +which bloom unfading there. 'And so shall we ever be with the Lord.' + + + +PETER'S DELIVERANCE FROM PRISON + +'Peter therefore was kept in the prison: but prayer was made +earnestly of the Church unto God for him.'--ACTS xii. 5 (R.V.) + +The narrative of Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison is full +of little vivid touches which can only have come from himself. The +whole tone of it reminds us of the Gospel according to St. Mark, +which is in like manner stamped with peculiar minuteness and +abundance of detail. One remembers that at a late period in the life +of the Apostle Paul, Mark and Luke were together with him; and no +doubt in those days in Rome, Mark, who had been Peter's special +companion and is called by one of the old Christian writers his +'interpreter,' was busy in telling Luke the details about Peter which +appear in the first part of this Book of the Acts. + +The whole story seems to me to be full of instruction as well as of +picturesque detail; and I desire to bring out the various lessons +which appear to me to lie in it. + +I. The first of them is this: the strength of the helpless. + +Look at that eloquent 'but' in the verse that I have taken as a +starting-point: 'Peter therefore was kept in prison, _but_ prayer was +made earnestly of the Church unto God for him.' There is another +similarly eloquent 'but' at the end of the chapter: + +'Herod ... was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost, _but_ the Word +of God grew and multiplied.' Here you get, on the one hand, all the +pompous and elaborate preparations--'four quaternions of soldiers'-- +four times four is sixteen--sixteen soldiers, two chains, three gates +with guards at each of them, Herod's grim determination, the people's +malicious expectation of having an execution as a pleasant sensation +with which to wind up the Passover Feast. And what had the handful of +Christian people? Well, they had prayer; and they had Jesus Christ. +That was all, and that is more than enough. How ridiculous all the +preparation looks when you let the light of that great 'but' in upon +it! Prayer, earnest prayer, 'was made of the Church unto God for +him.' And evidently, from the place in which that fact is stated, it +is intended that we should say to ourselves that it was _because_ +prayer was made for him that what came to pass did come to pass. It +is not jerked out as an unconnected incident; it is set in a logical +sequence. 'Prayer was made earnestly of the Church unto God for him' +--and so when Herod would have brought him forth, behold, the angel +of the Lord came, and the light shined into the prison. It is the +same sequence of thought that occurs in that grand theophany in the +eighteenth Psalm, 'My cry entered into His ears; then the earth shook +and trembled'; and there came all the magnificence of the +thunderstorm and the earthquake and the divine manifestation; and +this was the purpose of it all--'He sent from above, He took me, He +drew me out of many waters.' The whole energy of the divine nature is +set in motion and comes swooping down from highest heaven to the +trembling earth. And of that fact the one end is one poor man's cry, +and the other end is his deliverance. The moving spring of the divine +manifestation was an individual's prayer; the aim of it was the +individual's deliverance. A little water is put into a hydraulic ram +at the right place, and the outcome is the lifting of tons. So the +helpless men who could only pray are stronger than Herod and his +quaternions and his chains and his gates. 'Prayer was made,' +therefore all that happened was brought to pass, and Peter was +delivered. + +Peter's companion, James, was killed off, as we read in a verse or +two before. Did not the Church pray for him? Surely they did. Why was +their prayer not answered, then? God has not any step-children. James +was as dear to God as Peter was. One prayer was answered; was the +other left unanswered? It was the divine purpose that Peter, being +prayed for, should be delivered; and we may reverently say that, if +there had not been the many in Mary's house praying, there would have +been no angel in Peter's cell. + +So here are revealed the strength of the weak, the armour of the +unarmed, the defence of the defenceless. If the Christian Church in +its times of persecution and affliction had kept itself to the one +weapon that is allowed it, it would have been more conspicuously +victorious. And if we, in our individual lives--where, indeed, we +have to do something else besides pray--would remember the lesson of +that eloquent 'but,' we should be less frequently brought to +perplexity and reduced to something bordering on despair. So my first +lesson is the strength of the weak. + +II. My next is the delay of deliverance. + +Peter had been in prison for some time before the Passover, and the +praying had been going on all the while, and there was no answer. Day +after day 'of the unleavened bread' and of the festival was slipping +away. The last night had come; 'and the same night' the light shone, +and the angel appeared. Why did Jesus Christ not hear the cry of +these poor suppliants sooner? For their sakes; for Peter's sake; for +our sakes; for His own sake. For the eventual intervention, at the +very last moment, and yet at a sufficiently early moment, tested +faith. And look how beautifully all bore the test. The Apostle who +was to be killed to-morrow is lying quietly sleeping in his cell. Not +a very comfortable pillow he had to lay his head upon, with a chain +on each arm and a legionary on each side of him. But he slept; and +whilst he was asleep Christ was awake, and the brethren were awake. +Their faith was tested, and it stood the test, and thereby was +strengthened. And Peter's patience and faith, being tested in like +manner and in like manner standing the test, were deepened and +confirmed. Depend upon it, he was a better man all his days, because +he had been brought close up to Death and looked it in the fleshless +eye-sockets, unwinking and unterrified. And I dare say if, long +after, he had been asked, 'Would you not have liked to have escaped +those two or three days of suspense, and to have been let go at an +earlier moment?' he would have said, 'Not for worlds! For I learned +in those days that my Lord's time is the best. I learned patience'--a +lesson which Peter especially needed--'and I learned trust.' + +Do you remember another incident, singularly parallel in essence, +though entirely unlike in circumstances, to this one? The two weeping +sisters at Bethany send their messenger across the Jordan, grudging +every moment that he takes to travel to the far-off spot where Jesus +is. The message sent is only this: 'He whom Thou lovest is sick.' +What an infinite trust in Christ's heart that form of the message +showed! They would not say 'Come!'; they would not ask Him to do +anything; they did not think that to do so was needful: they were +quite sure that what He would do would be right. + +And how was the message received? 'Jesus loved Martha and Mary and +Lazarus.' Well, did that not make Him hurry as fast as He could to +the bedside? No; it rooted Him to the spot. 'He abode, _therefore_'-- +because He loved them--'two days still in the same place where He +was,' to give him plenty of time to die, and the sisters plenty of +time to test their confidence in Him. Their confidence does not seem +to have altogether stood the test. 'Lord, if Thou hadst been here my +brother had not died.' 'And why wast Thou _not_ here?' is implied. +Christ's time was the best time. It was better to get a dead brother +back to their arms and to their house than that they should not have +lost him for those dreary four days. So delay tests faith, and makes +the deliverance, when it comes, not only the sweeter, but the more +conspicuously divine. So, brother, 'men ought always to pray, and not +to faint'--always to trust that 'the Lord will help them, and that +right early.' + +III. The next lesson that I would suggest is the leisureliness of the +deliverance. + +A prisoner escaping might be glad to make a bolt for it, dressed or +undressed, anyhow. But when the angel comes into the cell, and the +light shines, look how slowly and, as I say, leisurely, he goes about +it. 'Put on thy shoes.' He had taken them off, with his girdle and +his upper garment, that he might lie the less uncomfortably. 'Put on +thy shoes; lace them; make them all right. Never mind about these two +legionaries; they will not wake. Gird thyself; tighten thy girdle. +Put on thy garment. Do not be afraid. Do not be in a hurry; there is +plenty of time. Now, are you ready? Come!' It would have been quite +as easy for the angel to have whisked him out of the cell and put him +down at Mary's door; but that was not to be the way. Peter was led +past all the obstacles--'the first ward,' and the soldiers at it; +'the second ward,' and the soldiers at it; 'and the third gate that +leads into the city,' which was no doubt bolted and barred. There was +a leisurely procession through the prison. + +Why? Because Omnipotence is never in a hurry, and God, not only in +His judgments but in His mercies, very often works slowly, as becomes +His majesty. 'Ye shall not go out with haste; nor go by flight, for +the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel shall be your +rereward.' We are impatient, and hurry our work over; God works +slowly; for He works certainly. That is the law of the divine working +in all regions; and we have to regulate the pace of our eager +expectation so as to fall in with the slow, solemn march of the +divine purposes, both in regard to our individual salvation and the +providences that affect us individually, and in regard to the world's +deliverance from the world's evils. 'An inheritance may be gotten +hastily in the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be blessed.' +'He that believeth shall not make haste.' + +IV. We see here, too, the delivered prisoner left to act for himself +as soon as possible. + +As long as the angel was with Peter, he was dazed and amazed. He did +not know--and small blame to him--whether he was sleeping or waking; +but he gets through the gates, and out into the empty street, +glimmering in the morning twilight, and the angel disappears, and the +slumbering city is lying around him. When he is _left_ to himself, he +_comes_ to himself. He could not have passed the wards without a +miracle, but he can find his way to Mary's house without one. He +needed the angel to bring him as far as the gate and down into the +street, but he did not need him any longer. So the angel vanished +into the morning light, and then he felt himself, and steadied +himself, when responsibility came to him. That is the thing to sober +a man. So he stood in the middle of the unpeopled street, and 'he +considered the thing,' and found in his own wits sufficient guidance, +so that he did not miss the angel. He said to himself, 'I will go to +Mary's house.' Probably he did not know that there were any praying +there, but it was near, and it was, no doubt, convenient in other +respects that we do not know of. The economy of miraculous power is a +remarkable feature in Scriptural miracles. God never does anything +for us that we could do for ourselves. Not but that our doing for +ourselves is, in a deeper sense, His working on us and in us, but He +desires us to take the share that belongs to us in completing the +deliverance which must begin by supernatural intervention of a +Mightier than the angel, even the Lord of angels. + +And so this little picture of the angel leading Peter through the +prison, and then leaving him to his own common sense and courage as +soon as he came out into the street, is just a practical illustration +of the great text, 'Work out your own salvation with fear and +trembling, for it is God that worketh in you.' + + + +THE ANGEL'S TOUCH + +'And, behold, the angel of the Lord ... smote Peter.... +23. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him [Herod].' +--ACTS xii. 7, 23. + +The same heavenly agent performs the same action on Peter and on +Herod. To the one, his touch brings freedom and the dropping off of +his chains; to the other it brings gnawing agonies and a horrible +death. These twofold effects of one cause open out wide and solemn +thoughts, on which it is well to look. + +I. The one touch has a twofold effect. + +So it is always when God's angels come, or God Himself lays His hand +on men. Every manifestation of the divine power, every revelation of +the divine presence, all our lives' experiences, are charged with the +solemn possibility of bringing us one or other of two directly +opposite results. They all offer us an alternative, a solemn 'either +--or.' + +The Gospel too comes charged with that double possibility, and is the +intensest and most fateful example of the dual effect of all God's +messages and dealings. Just as the ark maimed Dagon and decimated the +Philistine cities and slew Uzzah, but brought blessing and prosperity +to the house of Obed-edom, just as the same pillar was light to +Israel all the night long, but cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, +so is Christ set 'for the fall of' some and 'for the rising of' +others amidst the 'many in Israel,' and His Gospel is either 'the +savour of life unto life or of death unto death,' but in both cases +is in itself 'unto God,' one and the same 'sweet savour in Christ.' + +II. These twofold effects are parts of one plan and purpose. + +Peter's liberation and Herod's death tended in the same direction--to +strengthen and conserve the infant Church, and thus to prepare the +way for the conquering march of the Gospel. And so it is in all God's +self-revelations and manifested energies, whatever may be their +effects. They come from one source and one motive, they are +fundamentally the operations of one changeless Agent, and, as they +are one in origin and character, so they are one in purpose. We are +not to separate them into distinct classes and ascribe them to +different elements in the divine nature, setting down this as the +work of Love and that as the outcome of Wrath, or regarding the acts +of deliverance as due to one part of that great whole and the acts of +destruction as due to another part of it. The angel was the same, and +his celestial fingers were moved by the same calm, celestial will +when he smote Peter into liberty and life, and Herod to death. + +God changes His ways, but not His heart. He changes His acts, but not +His purposes. Opposite methods conduce to one end, as winter storms +and June sunshine equally tend to the yellowed harvest. + +III. The character of the effects depends on the men who are touched. + +As is the man, so is the effect of the angel's touch. It could only +bring blessing to the one who was the friend of the angel's Lord, and +it could bring only death to the other, who was His enemy. It could +do nothing to the Apostle but cause his chains to drop from his +wrists, nor anything to the vainglorious king but bring loathsome +death. + +This, too, is a universal truth. It is we ourselves who settle what +God's words and acts will be to us. The trite proverb, 'One man's +meat is another man's poison,' is true in the highest regions. It is +eminently, blessedly or tragically true in our relation to the +Gospel, wherein all God's self-revelation reaches its climax, wherein +'the arm of the Lord' is put forth in its most blessed energy, +wherein is laid on each of us the touch, tender and more charged with +blessing than that of the angel who smote the calmly sleeping +Apostle. That Gospel may either be to us the means of freeing us from +our chains, and leading us out of our prison-house into sunshine and +security, or be the fatal occasion of condemnation and death. Which +it shall be depends on ourselves. Which shall I make it for myself? + + + +'SOBER CERTAINTY' + +'And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a +surety, that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath delivered me +out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the +people of the Jews.'--ACTS xii. 11. + +Where did Luke get his information of Peter's thoughts in that hour? +This verse sounds like first-hand knowledge. Not impossibly John Mark +may have been his informant, for we know that both were in Rome +together at a later period. In any case, it is clear that, through +whatever channels this piece of minute knowledge reached Luke, it +must have come originally from Peter himself. And what a touch of +naturalness and evident truth it is! No wonder that the Apostle was +half dazed as he came from his dungeon, through the prison corridors +and out into the street. To be wakened by an angel, and to have such +following experiences, would amaze most men. + +I. The bewilderment of the released captive. + +God's mercies often come suddenly, and with a rush and a completeness +that outrun our expectations and our power of immediate +comprehension. And sometimes He sends us sorrows in such battalions +and so overwhelming that we are dazed for the moment. A Psalmist +touched a deep experience when he sang, 'When the Lord turned again +the captivity of Zion, we were like unto them that dream.' + +The angel has to be gone before we are sure that he was really here. +The tumult of emotion in an experience needs to be calmed down before +we understand the experience. Reflection discovers more of heaven and +of God in the great moments of our lives than was visible to us while +we were living through them, + +There is one region in which this is especially true--that of the +religious life. There sometimes attend its beginnings in a soul a +certain excitement and perturbation which disable from calm realising +of the greatness of the change which has passed. And it is well when +that excitement is quieted down and succeeded by meditative +reflection on the treasures that have been poured into the lap, +almost as in the dark. No man understands what he has received when +he first receives Christ and Christ's gifts. It occupies a lifetime +to take possession of that which we possess from the first in Him, +and the oldest saint is as far from full possession of the +unspeakable and infinite 'gift of God,' as the babes in Christ are. + +But, looking more generally at this characteristic of not rightly +understanding the great epochs of our lives till they are past, we +may note that, while in part it is inevitable and natural, there is +an element of fault in it. If we lived in closer fellowship with God, +we should live in an atmosphere of continual calm, and nothing, +either sorrowful or joyful, would be able so to sweep us off our feet +that we should be bewildered by it. Astonishment would never so fill +our souls as that we could not rightly appraise events, nor should we +need any time, even in the thick of the most wonderful experiences, +to 'come to' ourselves and discern the angel. + +But if it be so that our lives disclose their meanings best, when we +look back on them, how much of the understanding of them, and the +drawing of all its sweetness out of each event in them, is entrusted +to memory! And how negligent of a great means of happiness and +strength we are, if we do not often muse on 'all the way by which God +the Lord has led us these many years in the wilderness'! It is +needful for Christian progress to 'forget the things that are +behind,' and not to let them limit our expectations nor prescribe our +methods, but it is quite as needful to remember our past, or rather +God's past with us, in order to confirm our grateful faith and +enlarge our boundless hope. + +II. The disappearance of the angel. + +Why did he leave Peter standing there, half dazed and with his +deliverance incomplete? He 'led him through one street' only, and +'straightway departed from him.' The Apostle delivered by miracle has +now to use his brains. One distinguishing characteristic of New +Testament miracles is their economy of miraculous power. Jesus raised +Lazarus, for He alone could do that, but other hands must 'loose him +and let him go,' He gave life to Jairus's little daughter, but He bid +others 'give her something to eat' God does nothing for us that we +can do for ourselves. That economy was valuable as a preservative of +the Apostles from the possible danger of expecting or relying on +miracles, and as stirring them to use their own energies. Reliance on +divine power should not lead us to neglect ordinary means. Alike in +the natural and in the spiritual life we have to do our part, and to +be sure that God will do His. + +III. The symbol here of a greater deliverance. + +Fancy may legitimately employ this story as setting forth for us +under a lovely image the facts of Christian death, if only we +acknowledge that such a use is entirely the work of fancy. But, +making that acknowledgment, may we not make the use? Is not Death, +too, God's messenger to souls that love Him, 'mighty and beauteous, +though his face be hid'? Would it not be more Christian-like, and +more congruous with our eternal hope, if we pictured him thus than by +the hideous emblems of our cemeteries and tombs? He comes to Christ's +servants, and his touch is gentle though his fingers are icy-cold. He +removes only the chains that bind us, and we ourselves are +emancipated by his touch. He leads us to 'the iron gate that leadeth +into the city,' and it opens to us 'of its own accord.' But he +disappears as soon as our happy feet have touched the pavement of +that street of the city which is 'pure gold, as transparent as +glass,' and in the midst of which flows the river of the crystal- +bright 'water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the +Lamb.' Then, when we see the Face as of the sun shining in his +strength, we shall come to ourselves, and 'know of a surety that the +Lord hath sent His angel and delivered' us from all our foes and ills +for evermore. + + + +RHODA + +'A damsel ... named Rhoda.'--ACTS xii 13. + +'Rhoda' means 'a rose,' and _this_ rose has kept its bloom for +eighteen hundred years, and is still sweet and fragrant! What a +lottery undying fame is! Men will give their lives to earn it; and +this servant-girl got it by one little act, and never knew that she +had it, and I suppose she does not know to-day that, everywhere +throughout the whole world where the Gospel is preached, 'this that +she hath done is spoken of as a memorial to her.' Is the love of fame +worthy of being called 'the last infirmity of noble minds'? Or is it +the delusion of ignoble ones? Why need we care whether anybody ever +hears of us after we are dead and buried, so long as God knows about +us? The 'damsel named Rhoda' was little the better for the +immortality which she had unconsciously won. + +Now there is a very singular resemblance between the details of this +incident and those of another case, when Peter was recognised in dim +light by his voice, and the Evangelist Luke, who is the author of the +Acts of the Apostles, seems to have had the resemblance between the +two scenes--that in the high priest's palace and that outside Mary's +door--in his mind, because he uses in this narrative a word which +occurs, in the whole of the New Testament, only here and in his +account of what took place on that earlier occasion. In both +instances a maid-servant recognises Peter by his voice, and in both +'she constantly affirms' that it was so. I do not think that there is +anything to be built upon the resemblance, but at all events I think +that the use of the same unusual word in the two cases, and nowhere +else, seems to suggest that Luke felt how strangely events sometimes +double themselves; and how the Apostle who is here all but a martyr +is re-enacting, with differences, something like the former scene, +when he was altogether a traitor. But, be that as it may, there are +some lessons which we may gather from this vivid picture of Rhoda and +her behaviour on the one side of the door, while Peter stood +hammering, in the morning twilight, on the other. + +I. We may notice in the relations of Rhoda to the assembled believers +a striking illustration of the new bond of union supplied by the +Gospel. + +Rhoda was a slave. The word rendered in our version 'damsel' means a +female slave. Her name, which is a Gentile name, and her servile +condition, make it probable that she was not a Jewess. If one might +venture to indulge in a guess, it is not at all unlikely that her +mistress, Mary, John Mark's mother, Barnabas' sister, a well-to-do +woman of Jerusalem, who had a house large enough to take in the +members of the Church in great numbers, and to keep up a considerable +establishment, had brought this slave-girl from the island of Cyprus. +At all events, she was a slave. In the time of our Lord, and long +after, these relations of slavery brought an element of suspicion, +fear, and jealous espionage into almost every Roman household, +because every master knew that he passed his days and nights among +men and women who wanted nothing better than to wreak their vengeance +upon him. A man's foes were eminently those of his own household. And +now here this child-slave, a Gentile, has been touched by the same +mighty love as her mistress; and Mary and Rhoda were kneeling +together in the prayer-meeting when Peter began to hammer at the +door. Neither woman thought now of the unnatural, unwholesome +relation which had formerly bound them. In God's good time, and by +the slow process of leavening society with Christian ideas, that +diabolical institution perished in Christian lands. Violent +reformation of immoralities is always a blunder. 'Raw haste' is +'half-sister to delay.' Settlers in forest lands have found that it +is endless work to grub up the trees, or even to fell them. 'Root and +branch' reform seldom answers. The true way is to girdle the tree by +taking off a ring of bark round the trunk, and letting nature do the +rest. Dead trees are easily dealt with; living ones blunt many axes +and tire many arms, and are alive after all. Thus the Gospel waged no +direct war with slavery, but laid down principles which, once they +are wrought into Christian consciousness, made its continuance +impossible. But, pending that consummation, the immediate action of +Christianity was to ameliorate the condition of the slave. The whole +aspect of the ugly thing was changed as soon as master and slave +together became the slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel has +the same sort of work to do to-day, and there are institutions in +full flourishing existence in this and every other civilised +community as entirely antagonistic to the spirit and principles of +Christianity as Roman slavery was. I, for my part, believe that the +one uniting bond and healing medicine for society is found in Jesus +Christ; and that in Him, and that the principles deducible from His +revelation by word and work, applied to all social evils, are their +cure, and their only cure. That slight, girlish figure standing at +the door of Mary, her slave and yet her sister in Christ, may be +taken as pointing symbolically the way by which the social and civic +evils of this day are to be healed, and the war of classes to cease. + +II. Note how we get here a very striking picture of the sacredness +and greatness of small common duties. + +Bhoda came out from the prayer-meeting to open the gate. It was her +business, as we say, 'to answer the door,' and so she left off +praying to go and do it. So doing, she was the means of delivering +the Apostle from the danger which still dogged him. It was of little +use to be praying on one side of the shut door when on the other he +was standing in the street, and the day was beginning to dawn; +Herod's men would be after him as soon as daylight disclosed his +escape. The one thing needful for him was to be taken in and +sheltered. So the praying group and the girl who stops praying when +she hears the knock, to which it was her business to attend, were +working in the same direction. It is not necessary to insist that no +heights or delights of devotion and secret communion are sufficient +excuses for neglecting or delaying the doing of the smallest and most +menial task which is our task. If your business is to keep the door, +you will not be leaving, but abiding in, the secret place of the Most +High, if you get up from your knees in the middle of your prayer, and +go down to open it. The smallest, commonest acts of daily life are +truer worship than is rapt and solitary communion or united prayer, +if the latter can only be secured by the neglect of the former. +Better to be in the lower parts of the house attending to the humble +duties of the slave than to be in the upper chamber, uniting with the +saints in supplication and leaving tasks unperformed. + +Let us remember how we may find here an illustration of another great +truth, that the smallest things, done in the course of the quiet +discharge of recognised duty, and being, therefore, truly worship of +God, have in them a certain quality of immortality, and may be +eternally commemorated. It was not only the lofty and unique +expression of devotion, which another woman gave when she broke the +alabaster box to anoint the feet of the Saviour which were to be +pierced with nails to-morrow, that has been held worthy of undying +remembrance. The name and act of a poor slave girl have been +commemorated by that Spirit who preserves nothing in vain, in order +that we should learn that things which we vulgarly call great, and +those which we insolently call small, are regarded by Him, not +according to their apparent magnitude, but according to their motive +and reference to Him. He says, 'I will never forget any of their +works'; and this little deed of Rhoda's, like the rose petals that +careful housekeepers in the country keep upon the sideboard in china +bowls to diffuse a fragance through the room, is given us to keep in +memory for ever, a witness of the sanctity of common life when filled +with acts of obedience to Him. + +III. The same figure of the 'damsel named Rhoda' may give us a +warning as to the possibility of forgetting very plain duties under +the pressure of very legitimate excitement. + +'She opened not the door for gladness,' but ran in and told them. And +if, whilst she was running in with her message, Herod's quaternions +of soldiers had come down the street, there would have been 'no small +stir' in the church as to 'what had become of Peter.' He would have +gone back to his prison sure enough. Her _first_ duty was to open the +door; her _second_ one was to go and tell the brethren, 'we have got +him safe inside'; but in the rush of joyous emotions she naively +forgot what her first business was, 'lost her head,' as we say, and +so went off to tell that he was outside, instead of letting him in. +Now joy and sorrow are equally apt to make us forget plain and +pressing duties, and we may learn from this little incident the old- +fashioned, but always necessary advice, to keep feeling well under +control, to use it as impulse, not as guide, and never to let +emotion, which should be down in the engine-room, come on deck and +take the helm. It is dangerous to obey feeling, unless its decrees +are countersigned by calm common sense illuminated by Scripture. +Sorrow is apt to obscure duty by its darkness, and joy to do so by +its dazzle. It is hard to see the road at midnight, or at midday when +the sun is in our eyes. Both need to be controlled. Duty remains the +same, whether my heart is beating like a sledge-hammer, or whether +'my bosom's lord sits lightly on its throne.' Whether I am sad or +glad, the door that God has given me to watch has to be opened and +shut by me. And whether I am a door-keeper in the house of the Lord, +like Rhoda in Mary's, or have an office that people think larger and +more important, the imperativeness of my duties is equally +independent of my momentary emotions and circumstances. Remember, +then, that duty remains while feeling fluctuates, and that, sorrowful +or joyful, we have still the same Lord to serve and the same crown to +win. + +IV. Lastly, we have here an instance of a very modest but positive +and fully-warranted trust in one's own experience in spite of +opposition. + +I need not speak about that extraordinary discussion which the +brethren got up in the upper room. They had been praying, as has +often been remarked, for Peter's deliverance, and now that he is +delivered they will not believe it. I am afraid that there is often a +dash of unbelief in immediate answers to our prayers mingling with +the prayers. And although the petitions in this case were intense and +fervent, as the original tells us, and had been kept up all night +long, and although their earnestness and worthiness are guaranteed by +the fact that they were answered, yet when the veritable Peter, in +flesh and blood, stood before the door, the suppliants first said to +the poor girl, 'Thou art mad,' and then, 'It is his angel! It cannot +be he.' Nobody seems to have thought of going to the door to see +whether it was he or not, but they went on arguing with Rhoda as to +whether she was right or wrong. The unbelief that alloys even golden +faith is taught us in this incident. + +Rhoda 'constantly affirmed that it was so,' like the other porteress +that had picked out Peter's voice amongst the men huddled round the +fire in the high priest's chamber. + +The lesson is--trust your own experience, whatever people may have to +say against it. If you have found that Jesus Christ can help you, and +has loved you, and that your sins have been forgiven, because you +have trusted in Him, do not let anybody laugh or talk you out of that +conviction. If you cannot argue, do like Rhoda, 'constantly affirm +that it is so.' That is the right answer, especially if you can say +to the antagonistic party, 'Have you been down to the door, then, to +see?' And if they have to say 'No!' then the right answer is, 'You go +and look as I did, and you will come back with the same belief which +I have.' + +So at last they open the door and there he stands. Peter's hammer, +hammer, hammer at the gate is wonderfully given in the story. It goes +on as a kind of running accompaniment through the talk between Rhoda +and the friends. It might have put a stop to the conversation, one +would have thought. But Another stands at the door knocking, still +more persistently, still more patiently. 'Behold! I stand at the door +and knock. If any man open the door I will come in.' + + + +PETER AFTER HIS ESCAPE + +'But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, +declared unto them how the Lord had brought him forth out of the +prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the +brethren, And he departed, and went into another place.' +--ACTS xii. 17. + +When the angel 'departed from him,' Peter had to fall back on his own +wits, and they served him well. He 'considered the thing,' and +resolved to make for the house of Mary. He does not seem to have +intended to remain there, so dangerously near Herod, but merely to +have told its inmates of his deliverance, and then to have hidden +himself somewhere, till the heat of the hunt after him was abated. +Apparently he did not go into the house at all, but talked to the +brethren, when they came trooping after Rhoda to open the gate. The +signs of haste in the latter part of the story, where Peter has to +think and act for himself, contrast strikingly with the majestic +leisureliness of the action of the angel, who gave his successive +commands to him to dress completely, as if careless of the sleeping +legionaries who might wake at any moment. There was need for haste, +for the night was wearing thin, and the streets of Jerusalem were no +safe promenade for a condemned prisoner, escaped from his guards. + +We do not deal here with the scene in Mary's house and at the gate. +We only note, in a word, the touch of nature in Rhoda's forgetting to +open 'for gladness,' and so leaving Peter in peril, if a detachment +of his guards had already been told off to chase him. Equally true to +nature, alas, is the incredulity of the praying 'many,' when the +answer to their prayers was sent to them. They had rather believe +that the poor girl was 'mad' or that, for all their praying, Peter +was dead, and this was his 'angel,' than that their intense prayer +had been so swiftly and completely answered. Is their behaviour not a +mirror in which we may see our own? + +Very like Peter, as well as very intelligible in the circumstances, +is it that he 'continued knocking,' Well he might, and evidently his +energetic fusillade of blows was heard even above the clatter of +eager tongues, discussing Rhoda's astonishing assertions. Some one, +at last, seems to have kept his head sufficiently to suggest that +perhaps, instead of disputing whether these were true or not, it +might be well to go to the door and see. So they all went in a body, +Rhoda being possibly afraid to go alone, and others afraid to stay +behind, and there they saw his veritable self. But we notice that +there is no sign of his being taken in and refreshed or cared for. He +waved an imperative hand, to quiet the buzz of talk, spoke two or +three brief words, and departed. + +I. Note Peter's account of his deliverance. + +We have often had occasion to remark that the very keynote of this +Book of Acts is the working of Christ from heaven, which to its +writer is as real and efficient as was His work on earth. Peter here +traces his deliverance to 'the Lord.' He does not stay to mention the +angel. His thoughts went beyond the instrument to the hand which +wielded it. Nor does he seem to have been at all astonished at his +deliverance. His moment of bewilderment, when he did not know whether +he was dreaming or awake, soon passed, and as soon as 'the sober +certainty of his waking bliss' settled on his mind, his deliverance +seemed to him perfectly natural. What else was it to be expected that +'the Lord' would do? Was it not just like Him? There was nothing to +be astonished at, there was everything to be thankful for. That is +how Christian hearts should receive the deliverances which the Lord +is still working for them. + +II. Note Peter's message to the brethren. + +James, the Lord's brother, was not an Apostle. That he should have +been named to receive the message indicates that already he held some +conspicuous position, perhaps some office, in the Church. It may also +imply that there were no Apostles in Jerusalem then. We note also +that the 'many' who were gathered in Mary's house can have been only +a small part of the whole. We here get a little glimpse into the +conditions of the life of a persecuted Church, which a sympathetic +imagination can dwell on till it is luminous. Such gatherings as +would attract notice had to be avoided, and what meetings were held +had to be in private houses and with shut doors, through which +entrance was not easy. Mary's 'door' had a 'gate' in it, and only +that smaller postern, which admitted but one at a time, was opened to +visitors, and that after scrutiny. But though assemblies were +restricted, communications were kept up, and by underground ways +information of events important to the community spread through its +members. The consciousness of brotherhood was all the stronger +because of the common danger, the universal peril had not made the +brethren selfish, but sympathetic. We may note, too, how great a +change had come since the time when the Christians were in favour +with all the people, and may reflect how fickle are the world's +smiles for Christ's servants. + +III. Note Peter's disappearance. + +All that is said of it is that he 'went into another place.' Probably +Luke did not know where he went. It would be prudent at the time to +conceal it, and the habit of concealment may have survived the need +for it. But two points suggest themselves in regard to the Apostle's +flight. There may be a better use for an Apostle than to kill him, +and Christ's boldest witnesses are sometimes bound to save themselves +by fleeing into another city. To hide oneself 'till the calamity be +overpast' may be rank cowardice or commendable prudence. All depends +on the circumstances of each case. Prudence is an element in courage, +and courage without it is fool-hardiness. There are outward dangers +from which it is Christian duty to run, and there are outward dangers +which it is Christian duty to face. There are inward temptations +which it is best to avoid, as there are others which have to be +fought to the death. Peter was as brave and braver when he went and +hid himself, than when he boasted, 'Though all should forsake Thee, +yet will not I!' A morbid eagerness for martyrdom wrought much harm +in the Church at a later time. The primitive Church was free from it. + +But we must not omit to note that here Peter is dropped out of the +history, and is scarcely heard of any more. We have a glimpse of him +in chapter xv., at the Council in Jerusalem, but, with that +exception, this is the last mention of him in Acts. How little this +Book cares for its heroes! Or rather how it has only one Hero, and +one Name which it celebrates, the name of that Lord to whom Peter +ascribed his deliverance, and of whom he himself declared that 'there +is none other Name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be +saved.' + + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + +THE ACTS + +_CHAP. XIII TO END_ + + + +CONTENTS + +TO THE REGIONS BEYOND (Acts xiii. 1-13) + +WHY SAUL BECAME PAUL (Acts xiii. 9) + +JOHN MARK (Acts xiii. 13) + +THE FIRST PREACHING IN ASIA MINOR (Acts xiii. 26-39) + +LUTHER--A STONE ON THE CAIRN (Acts xiii. 36, 37) + +REJECTERS AND RECEIVERS (Acts xiii. 44-52; xiv. 1-7) + +UNWORTHY OF LIFE (Acts xiii. 46) + +'FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST' (Acts xiii. 52) + +DEIFIED AND STONED (Acts xiv. 11-22) + +DREAM AND REALITY (Acts xiv. 11) + +'THE DOOR OF FAITH' (Acts xiv. 27) + +THE BREAKING OUT OF DISCORD (Acts xv. 1-6) + +THE CHARTER OF GENTILE LIBERTY (Acts xv. 12-29) + +A GOOD MAN'S FAULTS (Acts xv. 37, 38) + +HOW TO SECURE A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE (Acts xvi. 10, 11) + +PAUL AT PHILIPPI (Acts xvi. 13, R.V.) + +THE RIOT AT PHILIPPI (Acts xvi. 19-34) + +THE GREAT QUESTION AND THE PLAIN ANSWER (Acts xvi. 30, 31) + +THESSALONICA AND BEREA (Acts xvii. 1-12) + +PAUL AT ATHENS (Acts xvii. 22-34) + +THE MAN WHO IS JUDGE (Acts xvii. 31) + +PAUL AT CORINTH (Acts xviii. 1-11) + +'CONSTRAINED BY THE WORD' (Acts xviii. 5) + +GALLIO (Acts xviii. 14, 15) + +TWO FRUITFUL YEARS (Acts xix. 1-12) + +WOULD-BE EXORCISTS (Acts xix. 15) + +THE FIGHT WITH WILD BEASTS AT EPHESUS (Acts xix. 21-34) + +PARTING COUNSELS (Acts xx. 22-85) + +A FULFILLED ASPIRATION (Acts xx. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 7) + +PARTING WORDS (Acts xx. 32) + +THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING (Acts xx. 35) + +DRAWING NEARER TO THE STORM (Acts xxi. 1-15) + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST (Acts xxi. 8) + +AN OLD DISCIPLE (Acts xxi. 16) + +PAUL IN THE TEMPLE (Acts xxi. 27-39) + +PAUL ON HIS OWN CONVERSION (Acts xxii. 6-16) + +ROME PROTECTS PAUL (Acts xxii. 17-30) + +CHRIST'S WITNESSES (Acts xxiii. 11) + +A PLOT DETECTED (Acts xxiii. 12-22) + +A LOYAL TRIBUTE (Acts xxiv. 2, 3) + +PAUL BEFORE FELIX (Acts xxiv. 10-25) + +FELIX BEFORE PAUL (Acts xxiv. 25) + +CHRIST'S REMONSTRANCES (Acts xxvi. 14) + +FAITH IN CHRIST (Acts xxvi. 18) + +'BEFORE GOVERNORS AND KINGS' (Acts xxvi. 19-32) + +'THE HEAVENLY VISION' (Acts xxvi. 19) + +'ME A CHRISTIAN!' (Acts xxvi. 28) + +TEMPEST AND TRUST (Acts xxvii 13-26) + +A SHORT CONFESSION OF FAITH (Acts xxvii. 23) + +A TOTAL WRECK, ALL HANDS SAVED (Acts xxvii. 30-44) + +AFTER THE WRECK (Acts xxviii. 1-16) + +THE LAST GLIMPSE OF PAUL (Acts xxviii. 17-31) + +PAUL IN ROME (Acts xxviii. 30, 31) + + + +TO THE REGIONS BEYOND + +'Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain +prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called +Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought +up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2. As they ministered to +the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas +and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3. And when +they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they +sent them away. A. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, +departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5. +And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in +the synagogues of the Jews; and they had also John to their +minister. 6. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, +they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name +was Bar-jesus: 7. Which was with the deputy of the country, +Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, +and desired to hear the word of God. 8. But Elymas the sorcerer +(for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to +turn away the deputy from the faith. 9. Then Saul, (who also is +called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, +10. And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child +of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not +cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11. And now, behold, +the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not +seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a +mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him +by the hand. 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, +believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 13. Now +when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga +in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to +Jerusalem.'--ACTS xiii. 1-13. + +We stand in this passage at the beginning of a great step forward. +Philip and Peter had each played a part in the gradual expansion of +the church beyond the limits of Judaism; but it was from the church +at Antioch that the messengers went forth who completed the process. +Both its locality and its composition made that natural. + +I. The solemn designation of the missionaries is the first point in +the narrative. The church at Antioch was not left without signs of +Christ's grace and presence. It had its band of 'prophets and +teachers.' As might be expected, four of the five named are +Hellenists,--that is, Jews born in Gentile lands, and speaking +Gentile languages. Barnabas was a Cypriote, Simeon's byname of Niger +('Black') was probably given because of his dark complexion, which +was probably caused by his birth in warmer lands. He may have been a +North African, as Lucius of Cyrene was. Saul was from Tarsus, and +only Manaen remains to represent the pure Palestinian Jew. His had +been a strange course, from being foster-brother of the Herod who +killed John to becoming a teacher in the church at Antioch. Barnabas +was the leader of the little group, and the younger Pharisee from +Tarsus, who had all along been Barnabas's _protege_, brought up the +rear. + +The order observed in the list is a little window which shows a great +deal. The first and last names all the world knows; the other three +are never heard of again. Immortality falls on the two, oblivion +swallows up the three. But it matters little whether our names are +sounded in men's ears, if they are in the Lamb's book of life. + +These five brethren were waiting on the Lord by fasting and prayer. +Apparently they had reason to expect some divine communication, for +which they were thus preparing themselves. Light will come to those +who thus seek it. They were commanded to set apart two of their +number for 'the work whereunto I have called them.' That work is not +specified, and yet the two, like carrier pigeons on being let loose, +make straight for their line of flight, and know exactly whither they +are to go. + +If we strictly interpret Luke's words ('I _have_ called them'), a +previous intimation from the Spirit had revealed to them the sphere +of their work. In that case, the _separation_ was only the +recognition by the brethren of the divine appointment. The inward +call must come first, and no ecclesiastical designation can do more +than confirm that. But the solemn designation by the Church +identifies those who remain behind with the work of those who go +forth; it throws responsibility for sympathy and support on the +former, and it ministers strength and the sense of companionship to +the latter, besides checking that tendency to isolation which +accompanies earnestness. To go forth on even Christian service, +unrecognised by the brethren, is not good for even a Paul. + +But although Luke speaks of the Church sending them away, he takes +care immediately to add that it was the Holy Ghost who 'sent them +forth.' Ramsay suggests that 'sent them away' is not the meaning of +the phrase in verse 3, but that it should be rendered 'gave them +leave to depart.' In any case, a clear distinction is drawn between +the action of the Church and that of the Spirit, which constituted +Paul's real commission as an Apostle. He himself says that he was an +Apostle, 'not from men, neither through man.' + +II. The events in the first stage of the journey are next summarily +presented. Note the local colouring in 'went _down_ to Seleucia,' the +seaport of Antioch, at the mouth of the river. The missionaries were +naturally led to begin at Cyprus, as Barnabas's birthplace, and that +of some of the founders of the church at Antioch. + +So, for the first time, the Gospel went to sea, the precursor of so +many voyages. It was an 'epoch-making moment' when that ship dropped +down with the tide and put out to sea. Salamis was the nearest port +on the south-eastern coast of Cyprus, and there they landed,-- +Barnabas, no doubt, familiar with all he saw; Saul probably a +stranger to it all. Their plan of action was that to which Paul +adhered in all his after work,--to carry the Gospel to the Jew first, +a proceeding for which the manner of worship in the synagogues gave +facilities. No doubt, many such were scattered through Cyprus, and +Barnabas would be well known in most. + +They thus traversed the island from east to west. It is noteworthy +that only now is John Mark's name brought in as their attendant. He +had come with them from Antioch, but Luke will not mention him, when +he is telling of the sending forth of the other two, because Mark was +not sent by the Spirit, but only chosen by his uncle, and his +subsequent defection did not affect the completeness of their +embassy. His entirely subordinate place is made obvious by the point +at which he appears. + +Nothing of moment happened on the tour till Paphos was reached. That +was the capital, the residence of the pro-consul, and the seat of the +foul worship of Venus. There the first antagonist was met. It is not +Sergius Paulus, pro-consul though he was, who is the central figure +of interest to Luke, but the sorcerer who was attached to his train. +His character is drawn in Luke's description, and in Paul's fiery +exclamation. Each has three clauses, which fall 'like the beats of a +hammer.' 'Sorcerer, false prophet, Jew,' make a climax of wickedness. +That a Jew should descend to dabble in the black art of magic, and +play tricks on the credulity of ignorant people by his knowledge of +some simple secrets of chemistry; that he should pretend to prophetic +gifts which in his heart he knew to be fraud, and should be recreant +to his ancestral faith, proved him to deserve the penetrating +sentence which Paul passed on him. He was a trickster, and knew that +he was: his inspiration came from an evil source; he had come to hate +righteousness of every sort. + +Paul was not flinging bitter words at random, or yielding to passion, +but was laying the black heart bare to the man's own eyes, that the +seeing himself as God saw him might startle him into penitence. 'The +corruption of the best is the worst.' The bitterest enemies of God's +ways are those who have cast aside their early faith. A Jew who had +stooped to be a juggler was indeed causing God's 'name to be +blasphemed among the Gentiles.' + +He and Paul each recognised in the other his most formidable foe. +Elymas instinctively felt that the pro-consul must be kept from +listening to the teaching of these two fellow-countrymen, and 'sought +to _pervert_ him from the faith,' therein _perverting_ (the same word +is used in both cases) 'the right ways of the Lord'; that is, +opposing the divine purpose. He was a specimen of a class who +attained influence in that epoch of unrest, when the more cultivated +and nobler part of Roman society had lost faith in the old gods, and +was turning wistfully and with widespread expectation to the +mysterious East for enlightenment. + +So, like a ship which plunges into the storm as soon as it clears the +pier-head, the missionaries felt the first dash of the spray and +blast of the wind directly they began their work. Since this was +their first encounter with a foe which they would often have to meet, +the duel assumes importance, and we understand not only the fulness +of the narrative, but the miracle which assured Paul and Barnabas of +Christ's help, and was meant to diffuse its encouragement along the +line of their future work. For Elymas it was chastisement, which +might lead him to cease to pervert the ways of the Lord, and himself +begin to walk in them. Perhaps, after a season, he did see 'the +better Sun.' + +Saul's part in the incident is noteworthy. We observe the vivid +touch, he 'fastened his eyes on him.' There must have been something +very piercing in the fixed gaze of these flashing eyes. But Luke +takes pains to prevent our thinking that Paul spoke from his own +insight or was moved by human passion. He was 'filled with the Holy +Ghost,' and, as His organ, poured out the scorching words that +revealed the cowering apostate to himself, and announced the merciful +punishment that was to fall. We need to be very sure that we are +similarly filled before venturing to imitate the Apostle's tone. + +III. The shifting of the scene to the mainland presents some +noteworthy points. It is singular that there is no preaching +mentioned as having been attempted in Perga, or anywhere along the +coast, but that the two evangelists seem to have gone at once across +the great mountain range of Taurus to Antioch of Pisidia. + +A striking suggestion is made by Ramsay to the effect that the reason +was a sudden attack of the malarial fever which is endemic in the +low-lying coast plains, and for which the natural remedy is to get up +among the mountains. If so, the journey to Antioch of Pisidia may not +have been in the programme to which John Mark had agreed, and his +return to Jerusalem may have been due to this departure from the +original intention. Be that as it may, he stands for us as a beacon, +warning against hasty entrance on great undertakings of which we have +not counted the cost, no less than against cowardly flight from work, +as soon as it begins to involve more danger or discomfort than we had +reckoned on. + +John Mark was willing to go a-missionarying as long as he was in +Cyprus, where he was somebody and much at home, by his relationship +to Barnabas; but when Perga and the climb over Taurus into strange +lands came to be called for, his zeal and courage oozed out at his +finger-ends, and he skulked back to his mother's house at Jerusalem. +No wonder that Paul 'thought not good to take with them him who +withdrew from them.' But even such faint hearts as Mark's may take +courage from the fact that he nobly retrieved his youthful error, and +won back Paul's confidence, and proved himself 'profitable to him for +the ministry.' + + + +WHY SAUL BECAME PAUL + +'Saul (who also is called Paul)' ...--ACTS xiii. 9 + +Hitherto the Apostle has been known by the former of these names, +henceforward he is known exclusively by the latter. Hitherto he has +been second to his friend Barnabas, henceforward he is first. In an +earlier verse of the chapter we read that 'Barnabas and Saul' were +separated for their missionary work, and again, that it was 'Barnabas +and Saul' for whom the governor of Cyprus sent, to hear the word of +the Lord. But in a subsequent verse of the chapter we read that 'Paul +and his company loosed from Paphos.' + +The change in the order of the names is significant, and the change +in the names not less so. Why was it that at this period the Apostle +took up this new designation? I think that the coincidence between +his name and that of the governor of Cyprus, who believed at his +preaching, Sergius Paulus, is too remarkable to be accidental. And +though, no doubt, it was the custom for the Jews of that day, +especially for those of them who lived in Gentile lands, to have, for +convenience' sake, two names, one Jewish and one Gentile--one for use +amongst their brethren, and one for use amongst the heathen--still we +have no distinct intimation that the Apostle bore a Gentile name +before this moment. And the fact that the name which he bears now is +the same as that of his first convert, seems to me to point the +explanation. + +I take it, then, that the assumption of the name of Paul instead of +the name of Saul occurred at this point, stood in some relation to +his missionary work, and was intended in some sense as a memorial of +his first victory in the preaching of the Gospel. + +I think that there are lessons to be derived from the substitution of +one of these names for the other which may well occupy us for a few +moments. + +I. First of all, then, the new name expresses a new nature. + +Jesus Christ gave the Apostle whom He called to Himself in the early +days, a new name, in order to prophesy the change which, by the +discipline of sorrow and the communication of the grace of God, +should pass over Simon Barjona, making him into a Peter, a 'Man of +Rock.' With characteristic independence, Saul chooses for himself a +new name, which shall express the change that he feels has passed +over his inmost being. True, he does not assume it at his conversion, +but that is no reason why we should not believe that he assumes it +because he is beginning to understand what it is that has happened to +him at his conversion. + +The fact that he changes his name as soon as he throws himself into +public and active life, is but gathering into one picturesque symbol +his great principle; 'If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new +creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.' + +So, dear brethren, we may, from this incident before us, gather this +one great lesson, that the central heart of Christianity is the +possession of a new life, communicated to us through faith in that +Son of God, Who is the Lord of the Spirit. Wheresoever there is a +true faith, there is a new nature. Opinions may play upon the surface +of a man's soul, like moonbeams on the silver sea, without raising +its temperature one degree or sending a single beam into its dark +caverns. And that is the sort of Christianity that satisfies a great +many of you--a Christianity of opinion, a Christianity of surface +creed, a Christianity which at the best slightly modifies some of our +outward actions, but leaves the whole inner man unchanged. + +Paul's Christianity meant a radical change in his whole nature. He +went out of Jerusalem a persecutor, he came into Damascus a +Christian. He rode out of Jerusalem hating, loathing, despising Jesus +Christ; he groped his way into Damascus, broken, bruised, clinging +contrite to His feet, and clasping His Cross as his only hope. He +went out proud, self-reliant, pluming himself upon his many +prerogatives, his blue blood, his pure descent, his Rabbinical +knowledge, his Pharisaical training, his external religious +earnestness, his rigid morality; he rode into Damascus blind in the +eyes, but seeing in the soul, and discerning that all these things +were, as he says in his strong, vehement way, 'but dung' in +comparison with his winning Christ. + +And his theory of conversion, which he preaches in all his Epistles, +is but the generalisation of his own personal experience, which +suddenly, and in a moment, smote his old self to shivers, and raised +up a new life, with new tastes, views, tendencies, aspirations, with +new allegiance to a new King. Such changes, so sudden, so +revolutionary, cannot be expected often to take place amongst people +who, like us, have been listening to Christian teaching all our +lives. But unless there be this infusion of a new life into men's +spirits which shall make them love and long and aspire after new +things that once they did not care for, I know not why we should +speak of them as being Christians at all. The transition is described +by Paul as 'passing from death unto life.' That cannot be a surface +thing. A change which needs a new name must be a profound change. Has +our Christianity revolutionised our nature in any such fashion? It is +easy to be a Christian after the superficial fashion which passes +muster with so many of us. A verbal acknowledgment of belief in +truths which we never think about, a purely external performance of +acts of worship, a subscription or two winged by no sympathy, and a +fairly respectable life beneath the cloak of which all evil may +burrow undetected--make the Christianity of thousands. Paul's +Christianity transformed him; does yours transform you? If it does +not, are you quite sure that it _is_ Christianity at all? + +II. Then, again, we may take this change of name as being expressive +of a life's work. + +_Paul_ is a Roman name. He strips himself of his Jewish connections +and relationships. His fellow-countrymen who lived amongst the +Gentiles were, as I said at the beginning of these remarks, in the +habit of doing the same thing; but they carried _both_ their names; +their Jewish for use amongst their own people, their Gentile one for +use amongst Gentiles. Paul seems to have altogether disused his old +name of Saul. It was almost equivalent to seceding from Judaism. It +is like the acts of the renegades whom one sometimes hears of, who +are found by travellers, dressed in turban and flowing robes, and +bearing some Turkish name, or like some English sailor, lost to home +and kindred, who deserts his ship in an island of the Pacific, and +drops his English name for a barbarous title, in token that he has +given up his faith and his nationality. + +So Paul, contemplating for his life's work preaching amongst the +Gentiles, determines at the beginning, 'I lay down all of which I +used to be proud. If my Jewish descent and privileges stand in my way +I cast them aside. "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of +Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as +touching the law, a Pharisee,"--all these I wrap together in one +bundle, and toss them behind me that I may be the better able to help +some to whom they would have hindered my access.' A man with a heart +will throw off his silken robes that his arm may be bared to rescue, +and his feet free to run to succour. + +So we may, from the change of the Apostle's name, gather this lesson, +never out of date, that the only way to help people is to go down to +their level. If you want to bless men, you must identify yourself +with them. It is no use standing on an eminence above them, and +patronisingly talking down to them. You cannot scold, or hector, or +lecture men into the possession and acceptance of religious truth if +you take a position of superiority. As our Master has taught us, if +we want to make blind beggars see we must take the blind beggars by +the hand. + +The spirit which led the Apostle to change the name of Saul, with its +memories of the royal dignity which, in the person of its great +wearer, had honoured his tribe, for a Roman name is the same which he +formally announces as a deliberately adopted law of his life. 'To +them that are without law I became as without law ... that I might +gain them that are without law ... I am made all things to all men, +that I might by all means save some.' + +It is the very inmost principle of the Gospel. The principle that +influenced the servant in this comparatively little matter, is the +principle that influenced the Master in the mightiest of all events. +'He who was in the form of God, and thought not equality with God a +thing to be eagerly snatched at, made Himself of no reputation, and +was found in fashion as a man and in form as a servant, and became +obedient unto death.' 'For as much as the children were partakers of +flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part of the same'; and the +mystery of incarnation came to pass, because when the Divine would +help men, the only way by which the Infinite love could reach its end +was that the Divine should become man; identifying Himself with those +whom He would help, and stooping to the level of the humanity that He +would lift. + +And as it is the very essence and heart of Christ's work, so, my +brother, it is the condition of all work that benefits our fellows. +It applies all round. We must stoop if we would raise. We must put +away gifts, culture, everything that distinguishes us, and come to +the level of the men that we seek to help. Sympathy is the parent of +all wise counsel, because it is the parent of all true understanding +of our brethren's wants. Sympathy is the only thing to which people +will listen, sympathy is the only disposition correspondent to the +message that we Christians are entrusted with. For a Christian man to +carry the Gospel of Infinite condescension to his fellows in a spirit +other than that of the Master and the Gospel which he speaks, is an +anomaly and a contradiction. + +And, therefore, let us all remember that a vast deal of so-called +Christian work falls utterly dead and profitless, for no other reason +than this, that the doers have forgotten that they must come to the +level of the men whom they would help, before they can expect to +bless them. + +You remember the old story of the heroic missionary whose heart +burned to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst captives, and as +there was no other way of reaching them, let himself be sold for a +slave, and put out his hands to have the manacles fastened upon them. +It is the law for all Christian service; become like men if you will +help them,--'To the weak as weak, all things to all men, that we +might by all means save some.' + +And, my brother, there was no obligation on Paul's part to do +Christian work which does not lie on you. + +III. Further, this change of name is a memorial of victory. + +The name is that of Paul's first convert. He takes it, as I suppose, +because it seemed to him such a blessed thing that at the very moment +when he began to sow, God helped him to reap. He had gone out to his +work, no doubt, with much trembling, with weakness and fear. And lo! +here, at once, the fields were white already to the harvest, + +Great conquerors have been named from their victories; Africanus, +Germanicus, Nelson of the Nile, Napier of Magdala, and the like. Paul +names himself from the first victory that God gives him to win; and +so, as it were, carries ever on his breast a memorial of the wonder +that through him it had been given to preach, and that not without +success, amongst the Gentiles 'the unsearchable riches of Christ.' + +That is to say, this man thought of it as his highest honour, and the +thing best worthy to be remembered about his life, that God had +helped him to help his brethren to know the common Master. Is that +your idea of the best thing about a life? What would you, a +professing Christian, like to have for an epitaph on your grave? 'He +was rich; he made a big business in Manchester'; 'He was famous, he +wrote books'; 'He was happy and fortunate'; or, 'He turned many to +righteousness'? This man flung away his literary tastes, his home +joys, and his personal ambition, and chose as that for which he would +live, and by which he would fain be remembered, that he should bring +dark hearts to the light in which he and they together walked. + +His name, in its commemoration of his first success, would act as a +stimulus to service and to hope. No doubt the Apostle, like the rest +of us, had his times of indolence and languor, and his times of +despondency when he seemed to have laboured in vain, and spent his +strength for nought. He had but to say 'Paul' to find the antidote to +both the one and the other, and in the remembrance of the past to +find a stimulus for service for the future, and a stimulus for hope +for the time to come. His first convert was to him the first drop +that predicts the shower, the first primrose that prophesies the +wealth of yellow blossoms and downy green leaves that will fill the +woods in a day or two. The first convert 'bears in his hand a glass +which showeth many more.' Look at the workmen in the streets trying +to get up a piece of the roadway. How difficult it is to lever out +the first paving stone from the compacted mass! But when once it has +been withdrawn, the rest is comparatively easy. We can understand +Paul's triumph and joy over the first stone which he had worked out +of the strongly cemented wall and barrier of heathenism; and his +conviction that having thus made a breach, if it were but wide enough +to let the end of his lever in, the fall of the whole was only a +question of time. I suppose that if the old alchemists had turned but +one grain of base metal into gold they might have turned tons, if +only they had had the retorts and the appliances with which to do it. +And so, what has brought one man's soul into harmony with God, and +given one man the true life, can do the same for all men. In the +first fruits we may see the fields whitening to the harvest. Let us +rejoice then, in any little work that God helps us to do, and be sure +that if so great be the joy of the first fruits, great beyond speech +will be the joy of the ingathering. + +IV. And now last of all, this change of name is an index of the +spirit of a life's work. + +'Paul' means 'little'; 'Saul' means 'desired.' He abandons the name +that prophesied of favour and honour, to adopt a name that bears upon +its very front a profession of humility. His very name is the +condensation into a word of his abiding conviction: 'I am less than +the least of all saints.' Perhaps even there may he an allusion to +his low stature, which may be pointed at in the sarcasm of his +enemies that his letters were strong, though his bodily presence was +'weak.' If he was, as Renan calls him, 'an ugly little Jew,' the name +has a double appropriateness. + +But, at all events, it is an expression of the spirit in which he +sought to do his work. The more lofty the consciousness of his +vocation the more lowly will a true man's estimate of himself be. The +higher my thought of what God has given me grace to do, the more +shall I feel weighed down by the consciousness of my unfitness to do +it. And the more grateful my remembrance of what He has enabled me to +do, the more shall I wonder that I have been enabled, and the more +profoundly shall I feel that it is not my strength but His that has +won the victories. + +So, dear brethren, for all hope, for all success in our work, for all +growth in Christian grace and character, this disposition of lowly +self-abasement and recognised unworthiness and infirmity is +absolutely indispensable. The mountain-tops that lift themselves to +the stars are barren, and few springs find their rise there. It is in +the lowly valleys that the flowers grow and the rivers run. And it is +they who are humble and lowly in heart to whom God gives strength to +serve Him, and the joy of accepted service. + +I beseech you, then, learn your true life's task. Learn how to do it +by identifying yourselves with the humbler brethren whom you would +help. Learn the spirit in which it must be done; the spirit of lowly +self-abasement. And oh! above all, learn this, that unless you have +the new life, the life of God in your hearts, you have no life at +all. + +Have you, my brother, that faith by which we receive into our spirits +Christ's own Spirit, to be our life? If you have, then you are a new +creature, with a new name, perhaps but dimly visible and faintly +audible, amidst the imperfections of earth, but sure to shine out on +the pages of the Lamb's Book of Life; and to be read 'with tumults of +acclaim' before the angels of Heaven. 'I will give him a white stone, +and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he +that receiveth it.' + + + +JOHN MARK + +'... John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.' +--ACTS xiii. 13. + +The few brief notices of John Mark in Scripture are sufficient to +give us an outline of his life, and some inkling of his character. He +was the son of a well-to-do Christian woman in Jerusalem, whose house +appears to have been the resort of the brethren as early as the +period of Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison. As the cousin +of Barnabas he was naturally selected to be the attendant and secular +factotum of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. For +some reason, faint-heartedness, lack of interest, levity of +disposition, or whatever it may have been, he very quickly abandoned +that office and returned to his home. His kindly-natured and +indulgent relative sought to reinstate him in his former position on +the second journey of Paul and himself. Paul's kinder severity +refused to comply with the wish of his colleague Barnabas, and so +they part, and Barnabas and Mark sail away to Cyprus, and drop out of +the Acts of the Apostles. We hear no more about him until near the +end of the Apostle Paul's life, when the Epistles to the Colossians +and Philemon show him as again the companion of Paul in his +captivity. He seems to have left him in Rome, to have gone to Asia +Minor for a space, to have returned to the Apostle during his last +imprisonment and immediately prior to his death, and then to have +attached himself to the Apostle Peter, and under his direction and +instruction to have written his Gospel. + +Now these are the bones of his story; can we put flesh and blood upon +them: and can we get any lessons out of them? I think we may; at any +rate I am going to try. + +I. Consider then, first, his--what shall I call it? well, if I may +use the word which Paul himself designates it by, in its correct +signification, we may call it his--apostasy. + +It was not a departure from Christ, but it was a departure from very +plain duty. And if you will notice the point of time at which Mark +threw up the work that was laid upon him, you will see the reason for +his doing so. The first place to which the bold evangelists went was +Cyprus. Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, which was perhaps the reason +for selecting it as the place in which to begin the mission. For the +same reason, because it was the native place of his relative, it +would be very easy work for John Mark as long as they stopped in +Cyprus, among his friends, with people that knew him, and with whom +no doubt he was familiar. But as soon as they crossed the strait that +separated the island from the mainland, and set foot upon the soil of +Asia Minor, so soon he turned tail; like some recruit that goes into +battle, full of fervour, but as soon as the bullets begin to 'ping' +makes the best of his way to the rear. He was quite ready for +missionary work as long as it was easy work; quite ready to do it as +long as he was moving upon known ground and there was no great call +upon his heroism, or his self-sacrifice; he does not wait to test the +difficulties, but is frightened by the imagination of them, does not +throw himself into the work and see how he gets on with it, but +before he has gone a mile into the land, or made any real experience +of the perils and hardships, has had quite enough of it, and goes +away back to his mother in Jerusalem. + +Yes, and we find exactly the same thing in all kinds of strenuous +life. Many begin to run, but one after another, as 'lap' after 'lap' +of the racecourse is got over, has had enough of it, and drops on one +side; a hundred started, and at the end the field is reduced to three +or four. All you men that have grey hairs on your heads can remember +many of your companions that set out in the course with you, 'did run +well' for a little while: what has become of them? This thing +hindered one, the other thing hindered another; the swiftly formed +resolution died down as fast as it blazed up; and there are perhaps +some three or four that, 'by patient continuance in well-doing,' have +been tolerably faithful to their juvenile ideal; and to use the +homely word of the homely Abraham Lincoln, kept 'pegging away' at +what they knew to be the task that was laid upon them. + +This is very 'threadbare' morality, very very familiar and old- +fashioned teaching; but I am accustomed to believe that no teaching +is threadbare until it is practised; and that however well-worn the +platitudes may be, you and I want them once again unless we have +obeyed them, and done all which they enjoin. And so in regard to +every career which has in it anything of honour and of effort, let +John Mark teach us the lesson not swiftly to begin and +inconsiderately to venture upon a course, but once begun to let +nothing discourage, 'nor bate one jot of heart or hope, but still +bear up and steer right onward.' + +And still further and more solemnly still, how like this story is to +the experience of hundreds and thousands of young Christians! Any man +who has held such an office as I hold, for as many years as I have +filled it, will have his memory full--and, may I say, his eyes not +empty--of men and women who began like this man, earnest, fervid, +full of zeal, and who, like him, have slackened in their work; who +were Sunday-school teachers, workers amongst the poor, I know not +what, when they were young men and women, and who now are idle and +unprofitable servants. + +Some of you, dear brethren, need the word of exhortation and earnest +beseeching to contrast the sluggishness, the indolence of your +present, with the brightness and the fervour of your past. And I +beseech you, do not let your Christian life be like that snow that is +on the ground about us to-day--when it first lights upon the earth, +radiant and white, but day by day gets more covered with a veil of +sooty blackness until it becomes dark and foul. + +Many of us have to acknowledge that the fervour of early days has +died down into coldness. The river that leapt from its source +rejoicing, and bickered amongst the hills in such swift and musical +descent, creeps sluggish and almost stagnant amongst the flats of +later life, or has been lost and swallowed up altogether in the +thirsty and encroaching sands of a barren worldliness. Oh! my +friends, let us all ponder this lesson, and see to it that no +repetition of the apostasy of this man darken our Christian lives and +sadden our Christian conscience. + +II. And now let me ask you to look next, in the development of this +little piece of biography, to Mark's eclipse. + +Paul and Barnabas differed about how to treat the renegade. Which of +them was right? Would it have been better to have put him back in his +old post, and given him another chance, and said nothing about the +failure; or was it better to do what the sterner wisdom of Paul did, +and declare that a man who had once so forgotten himself and +abandoned his work was not the man to put in the same place again? +Barnabas' highest quality, as far as we know, was a certain kind of +broad generosity and rejoicing to discern good in all men. He was a +'son of consolation'; the gentle kindness of his natural disposition, +added to the ties of relationship, influenced him in his wish +regarding his cousin Mark. He made a mistake. It would have been the +cruellest thing that could have been done to his relative to have put +him back again without acknowledgment, without repentance, without +his riding quarantine for a bit, and holding his tongue for a while. +He would not then have known his fault as he ought to have known it, +and so there would never have been the chance of his conquering it. + +The Church manifestly sympathised with Paul, and thought that he took +the right view; for the contrast is very significant between the +unsympathising silence which the narrative records as attending the +departure of Barnabas and Mark--'Barnabas took Mark, and sailed away +to Cyprus'--and the emphasis with which it tells us that the other +partner in the dispute, Paul, 'took Silas and departed, being +recommended by the brethren to the grace of God.' + +The people at Antioch had no doubt who was right, and I think they +were right in so deciding. So let us learn that God treats His +renegades as Paul treated Mark, and not as Barnabas would have +treated him, He is ready, even infinitely ready, to forgive and to +restore, but desires to see the consciousness of the sin first, and +desires, before large tasks are re-committed to hands that once have +dropped them, to have some kind of evidence that the hands have grown +stronger and the heart purified from its cowardice and its +selfishness. Forgiveness does not mean impunity. The infinite mercy +of God is not mere weak indulgence which so deals with a man's +failures and sins as to convey the impression that these are of no +moment whatsoever. And Paul's severity which said: 'No, such work is +not fit for such hands until the heart has been "broken and healed,"' +is of a piece with God's severity which is love. 'Thou wast a God +that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their +inventions.' Let us learn the difference between a weak charity which +loves too foolishly, and therefore too selfishly, to let a man +inherit the fruit of his doings, and the large mercy which knows how +to take the bitterness out of the chastisement, and yet knows how to +chastise. + +And still further, this which I have called Mark's eclipse may teach +us another lesson, viz., that the punishment for shirking work is to +be denied work, just as the converse is true, that in God's +administration of the world and of His Church, the reward for +faithful work is to get more to do, and the filling a narrower sphere +is the sure way to have a wider sphere to fill. So if a man abandons +plain duties, then he will get no work to do. And that is why so many +Christian men and women are idle in this world; and stand in the +market-place, saying, with a certain degree of truth, 'No man hath +hired us.' No; because so often in the past tasks have been presented +to you, forced upon you, almost pressed into your unwilling hands, +that you have refused to take; and you are not going to get any more. +You have been asked to work,--I speak now to professing Christians-- +duties have been pressed upon you, fields of service have opened +plainly before you, and you have not had the heart to go into them. +And so you stand idle all the day now, and the work goes to other +people that will do it. Thus God honours them, and passes you by. + +Mark sails away to Cyprus, he does not go back to Jerusalem; he and +Barnabas try to get up some little schismatic sort of mission of +their own. Nothing comes of it; nothing ought to have come of it. He +drops out of the story; he has no share in the joyful conflicts and +sacrifices and successes of the Apostle. When he heard how Paul, by +God's help, was flaming like a meteor from East to West, do you not +think he wished that he had not been such a coward? When the Lord was +opening doors, and he saw how the work was prospering in the hands of +ancient companions, and Silas filled the place that he might have +filled, if he had been faithful to God, do you not think the bitter +thought occupied his mind, of how he had flung away what never could +come back to him now? The punishment of indolence is absolute +idleness. + +So, my friends, let us learn this lesson, that the largest reward +that God can give to him that has been faithful in a few things, is +to give him many things to be faithful over. Beware, all of you +professing Christians, lest to you should come the fate of the +slothful servant with his one burled talent, to whom the punishment +of burying it unused was to lose it altogether; according to that +solemn word which was fulfilled in the temporal sphere in this story +on which I am commenting: 'To him that hath shall be given, and from +him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away.' + +III. Again consider the process of recovery. + +Concerning it we read nothing indeed in Scripture; but concerning it +we know enough to be able at least to determine what its outline must +have been. The silent and obscure years of compulsory inactivity had +their fruit, no doubt. There is only one road, with well-marked +stages, by which a backsliding or apostate Christian can return to +his Master. And that road has three halting-places upon it, through +which the heart must pass if it have wandered from its early faith, +and falsified its first professions. The first of them is the +consciousness of the fall, the second is the resort to the Master for +forgiveness; and the last is the deepened consecration to Him. + +The patriarch Abraham, in a momentary lapse from faith to sense, +thought himself compelled to leave the land to which God had sent +him, because a famine threatened; and when he came back from Egypt, +as the narrative tells us with deep significance, he went to the +'place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning; to the altar +which lie had reared at the first.' Yes, my friends, we must begin +over again, tread all the old path, enter by the old wicket-gate, +once more take the place of the penitent, once more make acquaintance +with the pardoning Christ, once more devote ourselves in renewed +consecration to His service. No man that wanders into the wilderness +but comes back by the King's highway, if he comes back at all. + +IV. And so lastly, notice the reinstatement of the penitent renegade. + +If you turn at your leisure to the remaining notices of John Mark in +Scripture, you will find, in two of Paul's Epistles of the captivity, +viz., those to the Colossians and Philemon, references to him; and +these references are of a very interesting and beautiful nature. Paul +says that in Rome Mark was one of the four born Jews who had been a +cordial and a comfort to him in his imprisonment. He commends him, in +the view of a probable journey, to the loving reception of the church +at Colosse, as if they knew something derogatory to his character, +the impression of which the Apostle desired to remove. He sends to +Philemon the greetings of the repentant renegade in strange +juxtaposition with the greetings of two other men, one who was an +apostate at the end of his career instead of at the beginning, and of +whom we do not read that he ever came back, and one who all his life +long is the type of a faithful friend and companion, 'Mark, Demas, +Luke' are bracketed as greeting Philemon; the first a runaway that +came back, the second a fugitive who, so far as we know, never +returned, and the last the faithful friend throughout. + +And then in Paul's final Epistle, and in almost the last words of it, +we read his request to Timothy. 'Take Mark, and bring him with thee, +for he is profitable to me for the ministry.' The first notice of him +was: 'They had John to their minister'; the last word about him is: +'he is profitable for the ministry.' The Greek words in the original +are not identical, but their meaning is substantially the same. So +notwithstanding the failure, notwithstanding the wise refusal of Paul +years before to have anything more to do with him, he is now +reinstated in his old office, and the aged Apostle, before he dies, +would like to have the comfort of his presence once more at his side. +Is not the lesson out of that, this eternal Gospel that even early +failures, recognised and repented of, may make a man better fitted +for the tasks from which once he fled? Just as they tell us--I do not +know whether it is true or not, it will do for an illustration--just +as they tell us that a broken bone renewed is stronger at the point +of fracture than it ever was before, so the very sin that we commit, +when once we know it for a sin, and have brought it to Christ for +forgiveness, may minister to our future efficiency and strength. The +Israelites fought twice upon one battlefield. On the first occasion +they were shamefully defeated; on the second, on the same ground, and +against the same enemies, they victoriously emerged from the +conflict, and reared the stone which said, 'Ebenezer!' 'Hitherto the +Lord hath helped us.' + +And so the temptations which have been sorest may be overcome, the +sins into which we most naturally fall we may put our foot upon; the +past is no specimen of what the future may be. The page that is yet +to be written need have none of the blots of the page that we have +turned over shining through it. Sin which we have learned to know for +sin and to hate, teaches us humility, dependence, shows us where our +weak places are. Sin which is forgiven knits us to Christ with deeper +and more fervid love, and results in a larger consecration. Think of +the two ends of this man's life--flying like a frightened hare from +the very first suspicion of danger or of difficulty, sulking in his +solitude, apart from all the joyful stir of consecration and of +service; and at last made an evangelist to proclaim to the whole +world the story of the Gospel of the Servant. God works with broken +reeds, and through them breathes His sweetest music. + +So, dear brethren, 'Take with you words, and return unto the Lord; +say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously,' and +the answer will surely be:--'I will heal their backsliding; I will +love them freely; I will be as the dew unto Israel.' + + + +THE FIRST PREACHING IN ASIA MINOR + +'Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and +whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this +salvation sent. 27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their +rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the +prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled +them in condemning Him. 28. And though they found no cause of +death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. +29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they +took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. 30. But +God raised Him from the dead: 31. And He was seen many days of +them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are +His witnesses unto the people. 32. And we declare unto you glad +tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, +33. God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that +He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the +second psalm. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. 34. +And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no +more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, I will give +you the sure mercies of David. 35. Wherefore He saith also in +another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see +corruption. 36. For David, after he had served his own generation +by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, +and saw corruption: 37. But He, whom God raised again, saw no +corruption. 38. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, +that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of +sins: 39. And by Him all that believe are justified from all +things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of +Moses.'--ACTS xiii. 26-39. + +The extended report of Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of +Pisidia marks it, in accordance with Luke's method, as the first of a +series. It was so because, though the composition of the audience was +identical with that of those in the synagogues of Cyprus, this was +the beginning of the special work of the tour, the preaching in the +cities of Asia Minor. The part of the address contained in the +passage falls into three sections,--the condensed narrative of the +Gospel facts (vs. 26-31), the proof that the resurrection was +prophesied (vs. 32-37), and the pungent personal application (v. 38 +to end). + +I. The substance of the narrative coincides, as it could not but do, +with Peter's sermons, but yet with differences, partly due to the +different audience, partly to Paul's idiosyncrasy. After the +preceding historical _resume_, he girds himself to his proper work of +proclaiming the Gospel, and he marks the transition in verse 26 by +reiterating his introductory words. + +His audience comprised the two familiar classes of Jews and Gentile +proselytes, and he seeks to win the ears of both. His heart goes out +in his address to them all as 'brethren,' and in his classing himself +and Barnabas among them as receivers of the message which he has to +proclaim. What skill, if it were not something much more sacred, even +humility and warm love, lies in that 'to _us_ is the word of this +salvation sent'! He will not stand above them as if he had any other +possession of his message than they might have. He, too, has received +it, and what he is about to say is not his word, but God's message to +them and him. That is the way to preach. + +Notice, too, how skilfully he introduces the narrative of the +rejection of Jesus as the reason why the message has now come to them +his hearers away in Antioch. It is 'sent forth' 'to us,' Asiatic +Jews, _for_ the people in the sacred city would not have it. Paul +does not prick his hearers' consciences, as Peter did, by charging +home the guilt of the rejection of Jesus on them. They had no share +in that initial crime. There is a faint purpose of dissociating +himself and his hearers from the people of Jerusalem, to whom the +Dispersion were accustomed to look up, in the designation, 'they that +dwell in Jerusalem, and _their_ rulers.' Thus far the Antioch Jews +had had hands clean from that crime; they had now to choose whether +they would mix themselves up with it. + +We may further note that Paul says nothing about Christ's life of +gentle goodness, His miracles or teaching, but concentrates attention +on His death and resurrection. From the beginning of his ministry +these were the main elements of his 'Gospel' (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4). The +full significance of that death is not declared here. Probably it was +reserved for subsequent instruction. But it and the Resurrection, +which interpreted it, are set in the forefront, as they should always +be. The main point insisted on is that the men of Jerusalem were +fulfilling prophecy in slaying Jesus. With tragic deafness, they knew +not the voices of the prophets, clear and unanimous as they were, +though they heard them every Sabbath of their lives, and yet they +fulfilled them. A prophet's words had just been read in the +synagogue; Paul's words might set some hearer asking whether a veil +had been over his heart while his ears had heard the sound of the +word. + +The Resurrection is established by the only evidence for a historical +fact, the testimony of competent eyewitnesses. Their competence is +established by their familiar companionship with Jesus during His +whole career; their opportunities for testing the reality of the +fact, by the 'many days' of His appearances. + +Paul does not put forward his own testimony to the Resurrection, +though we know, from 1 Corinthians xv. 8, that he regarded Christ's +appearance to him as being equally valid evidence with that afforded +by the other appearances; but he distinguishes between the work of +the Apostles, as 'witnesses unto the people'--that is, the Jews of +Palestine--and that of Barnabas and himself. They had to bear the +message to the regions beyond. The Apostles and he had the same work, +but different spheres. + +II. The second part turns with more personal address to his hearers. +Its purport is not so much to preach the Resurrection, which could +only be proved by testimony, as to establish the fact that it was the +fulfilment of the promises to the fathers. Note how the idea of +fulfilled prophecy runs in Paul's head. The Jews had _fulfilled_ it +by their crime; God _fulfilled_ it by the Resurrection. This +reiteration of a key-word is a mark of Paul's style in his Epistles, +and its appearance here attests the accuracy of the report of his +speech. + +The second Psalm, from which Paul's first quotation is made, is +prophetic of Christ, inasmuch as it represents in vivid lyrical +language the vain rebellion of earthly rulers against Messiah, and +Jehovah's establishing Him and His kingdom by a steadfast decree. +Peter quoted its picture of the rebels, as fulfilled in the coalition +of Herod, Pilate, and the Jewish rulers against Christ. The Messianic +reference of the Psalm, then, was already seen; and we may not be +going too far if we assume that Jesus Himself had included it among +things written in the Psalms 'concerning Himself,' which He had +explained to the disciples after the Resurrection. It depicts Jehovah +speaking to Messiah, _after_ the futile attempts of the rebels: 'This +day have I begotten Thee.' That day is a definite point in time. The +Resurrection was a birth from the dead; so Paul, in Colossians i. 18, +calls Jesus 'the first begotten from the dead.' Romans i. 4,'declared +to be the Son of God ... by the resurrection from the dead,' is the +best commentary on Paul's words here. + +The second and third quotations must apparently be combined, for the +second does not specifically refer to resurrection, but it promises +to 'you,' that is to those who obey the call to partake in the +Messianic blessings, a share in the 'sure' and enduring 'mercies of +David'; and the third quotation shows that not 'to see corruption' +was one of these 'mercies.' That implies that the speaker in the +Psalm was, in Paul's view, David, and that his words were his +believing answer to a divine promise. But David was dead. Had the +'sure mercy' proved, then, a broken reed? Not so: for Jesus, who is +Messiah, and is God's 'Holy One' in a deeper sense than David was, +has not seen corruption. The Psalmist's hopes are fulfilled in Him, +and through Him, in all who will 'eat' that their 'souls may live,' + +III. But Paul's yearning for his brethren's salvation is not content +with proclaiming the fact of Christ's resurrection, nor with pointing +to it as fulfilling prophecy; he gathers all up into a loving, urgent +offer of salvation for every believing soul, and solemn warning to +despisers. Here the whole man flames out. Here the characteristic +evangelical teaching, which is sometimes ticketed as 'Pauline' by way +of stigma, is heard. Already had he grasped the great antithesis +between Law and Gospel. Already his great word 'justified' has taken +its place in his terminology. The essence of the Epistles to Romans +and Galatians is here. Justification is the being pronounced and +treated as not guilty. Law cannot justify. 'In Him' we are justified. +Observe that this is an advance on the previous statement that +'through Him' we receive remission of sins. + +'In Him' points, thought but incidentally and slightly, to the great +truth of incorporation with Jesus, of which Paul had afterwards so +much to write. The justifying in Christ is complete and absolute. And +the sole sufficient condition of receiving it is faith. But the +greater the glory of the light the darker the shadow which it casts. +The broad offer of complete salvation has ever to be accompanied with +the plain warning of the dread issue of rejecting it. Just because it +is so free and full, and to be had on such terms, the warning has to +be rung into deaf ears, 'Beware _therefore_!' Hope and fear are +legitimately appealed to by the Christian evangelist. They are like +the two wings which may lift the soul to soar to its safe shelter in +the Rock of Ages. + + + +LUTHER--A STONE ON THE CAIRN + +'For David, after he had served his own generation by the +will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, +and saw corruption: 37. But He, whom God raised again, saw +no corruption.'--ACTS xiii. 36, 37. + +I take these words as a motto rather than as a text. You will have +anticipated the use which I purpose to make of them in connection +with the Luther Commemoration. They set before us, in clear sharp +contrast, the distinction between the limited, transient work of the +servants and the unbounded, eternal influence of the Master. The +former are servants, and that but for a time; they do their work, +they are laid in the grave, and as their bodies resolve into their +elements, so their influence, their teaching, the institutions which +they may have founded, disintegrate and decay. He lives. His relation +to the world is not as theirs; He is 'not for an age, but for all +time.' Death is not the end of His work. His Cross is the eternal +foundation of the world's hope. His life is the ultimate, perfect +revelation of the divine Nature which can never be surpassed, or +fathomed, or antiquated. Therefore the last thought, in all +commemorations of departed teachers and guides, should be of Him who +gave them all the force that they had; and the final word should be: +'They were not suffered to continue by reason of death, this Man +continueth ever.' + +In the same spirit then as the words of my text, and taking them as +giving me little more than a starting-point and a framework, I draw +from them some thoughts appropriate to the occasion. + +I. First, we have to think about the limited and transient work of +this great servant of God. + +The miner's son, who was born in that little Saxon village four +hundred years ago, presents at first sight a character singularly +unlike the traditional type of mediaeval Church fathers and saints. +Their ascetic habits, and the repressive system under which they were +trained, withdraw them from our sympathy; but this sturdy peasant, +with his full-blooded humanity, unmistakably a man, and a man all +round, is a new type, and looks strangely out of place amongst +doctors and mediaeval saints. + +His character, though not complex, is many-sided and in some respects +contradictory. The face and figure that look out upon us from the +best portraits of Luther tell us a great deal about the man. Strong, +massive, not at all elegant; he stands there, firm and resolute, on +his own legs, grasping a _Bible_ in a muscular hand. There is plenty +of animalism--a source of power as well as of weakness--in the thick +neck; an iron will in the square chin; eloquence on the full, loose +lips; a mystic, dreamy tenderness and sadness in the steadfast eyes-- +altogether a true king and a leader of men! + +The first things that strike one in the character are the iron will +that would not waver, the indomitable courage that knew no fear, the +splendid audacity that, single-handed, sprang into the arena for a +contest to the death with Pope, Emperors, superstitions, and devils; +the insight that saw the things that were 'hid from the wise and +prudent,' and the answering sincerity that would not hide what he +saw, nor say that he saw what he did not. + +But there was a great deal more than that in the man. He was no mere +brave revolutionary, he was a cultured scholar, abreast of all the +learning of his age, capable of logic-chopping and scholastic +disputation on occasion, and but too often the victim of his own +over-subtle refinements. He was a poet, with a poet's dreaminess and +waywardness, fierce alternations of light and shade, sorrow and joy. +All living things whispered and spoke to him, and he walked in +communion with them all. Little children gathered round his feet, and +he had a big heart of love for all the weary and the sorrowful. + +Everybody knows how he could write and speak. He made the German +language, as we may say, lifting it up from a dialect of boors to +become the rich, flexible, cultured speech that it is. And his Bible, +his single-handed work, is one of the colossal achievements of man; +like Stonehenge or the Pyramids. 'His words were half-battles,' 'they +were living creatures that had hands and feet'; his speech, direct, +strong, homely, ready to borrow words from the kitchen or the gutter, +is unmatched for popular eloquence and impression. There was music in +the man. His flute solaced his lonely hours in his home at +Wittemberg; and the Marseillaise of the Reformation, as that grand +hymn of his has been called, came, words and music, from his heart. +There was humour in him, coarse horseplay often; an honest, hearty, +broad laugh frequently, like that of a Norse god. There were coarse +tastes in him, tastes of the peasant folk from whom he came, which +clung to him through life, and kept him in sympathy with the common +people, and intelligible to them. And withal there was a +constitutional melancholy, aggravated by his weary toils, perilous +fightings, and fierce throes, which led him down often into the deep +mire where there was no standing; and which sighs through all his +life. The penitential Psalms and Paul's wail: 'O wretched man that I +am,' perhaps never woke more plaintive echo in any human heart than +they did in Martin Luther's. + +Faults he had, gross and plain as the heroic mould in which he was +cast. He was vehement and fierce often; he was coarse and violent +often. He saw what he did see so clearly, that he was slow to believe +that there was anything that he did not see. He was oblivious of +counterbalancing considerations, and given to exaggerated, +incautious, unguarded statements of precious truths. He too often +aspired to be a driver rather than a leader of men; and his strength +of will became obstinacy and tyranny. It was too often true that he +had dethroned the pope of Rome to set up a pope at Wittemberg. And +foul personalities came from his lips, according to the bad +controversial fashion of his day, which permitted a licence to +scholars that we now forbid to fishwives. + +All that has to be admitted; and when it is all admitted, what then? +This is a fastidious generation; Erasmus is its heroic type a great +deal more than Luther--I mean among the cultivated classes of our +day--and that very largely because in Erasmus there is no quick +sensibility to religious emotion as there is in Luther, and no +inconvenient fervour. The faults are there--coarse, plain, palpable-- +and perhaps more than enough has been made of them. Let us remember, +as to his violence, that he was following the fashion of the day; +that he was fighting for his life; that when a man is at death-grips +with a tiger he may be pardoned if he strikes without considering +whether he is going to spoil the skin or not; and that on the whole +you cannot throttle snakes in a graceful attitude. Men fought then +with bludgeons; they fight now with dainty polished daggers, dipped +in cold, colourless poison of sarcasm. Perhaps there was less malice +in the rougher old way than in the new. + +The faults are there, and nobody who is not a fool would think of +painting that homely Saxon peasant-monk's face without the warts and +the wrinkles. But it is quite as unhistorical, and a great deal more +wicked, to paint nothing but the warts and wrinkles; to rake all the +faults together and make the most of them; and present them in answer +to the question: 'What sort of a man was Martin Luther?' + +As to the work that he did, like the work of all of us, it had its +limitations, and it will have its end. The impulse that he +communicated, like all impulses that are given from men, will wear +out its force. New questions will arise of which the dead leaders +never dreamed, and in which they can give no counsel. The perspective +of theological thought will alter, the centre of interest will +change, a new dialect will begin to be spoken. So it comes to pass +that all religious teachers and thinkers are left behind, and that +their words are preserved and read rather for their antiquarian and +historical interest than because of any impulse or direction for the +present which may linger in them; and if they founded institutions, +these too, in their time, will crumble and disappear. + +But I do not mean to say that the truths which Luther rescued from +the dust of centuries, and impressed upon the conscience of Teutonic +Europe, are getting antiquated. I only mean that his connection with +them and his way of putting them, had its limitations and will have +its end: 'This man, having served his own generation by the will of +God, was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption.' + +What _were_ the truths, what was his contribution to the illumination +of Europe, and to the Church? Three great principles--which perhaps +closer analysis might reduce to one; but which for popular use, on +such an occasion as the present, had better be kept apart--will state +his service to the world. + +There were three men in the past who, as it seems to me, reach out +their hands to one another across the centuries--Paul, St. Augustine, +and Martin Luther, The three very like each other, all three of them +joining the same subtle speculative power with the same capacity of +religious fervour, and of flaming up at the contemplation of divine +truth; all of them gifted with the same exuberant, and to fastidious +eyes, incorrect eloquence; all three trained in a school of religious +thought of which each respectively was destined to be the antagonist +and all but the destroyer. + +The young Pharisee, on the road to Damascus, blinded, bewildered, +with all that vision flaming upon him, sees in its light his past, +which he thought had been so pure, and holy, and God-serving, and +amazedly discovers that it had been all a sin and a crime, and a +persecution of the divine One. Beaten from every refuge, and lying +there, he cries: 'What wouldst Thou have me to do, Lord?' + +The young Manichean and profligate in the fourth century, and the +young monk in his convent in the fifteenth, passed through a similar +experience;--different in form, identical in substance--with that of +Paul the persecutor. And so Paul's Gospel, which was the description +and explanation, the rationale, of his own experience, became their +Gospel; and when Paul said: 'Not by works of righteousness which our +own hands have done, but by His mercy He saved us' (Titus iii. 5), +the great voice from the North African shore, in the midst of the +agonies of barbarian invasions and a falling Rome, said 'Amen. Man +lives by faith,' and the voice from the Wittemberg convent, a +thousand years after, amidst the unspeakable corruption of that +phosphorescent and decaying Renaissance, answered across the +centuries, 'It is true!' 'Herein is the righteousness of God revealed +from faith to faith.' Luther's word to the world was Augustine's word +to the world; and Luther and Augustine were the echoes of Saul of +Tarsus--and Paul learned his theology on the Damascus road, when the +voice bade him go and proclaim 'forgiveness of sins, and inheritance +among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me' (Acts xxvi. +18). That is Luther's first claim on our gratitude, that he took this +truth from the shelves where it had reposed, dust-covered, through +centuries, that he lifted this truth from the bier where it had lain, +smothered with sacerdotal garments, and called with a loud voice, 'I +say unto thee, arise!' and that now the commonplace of Christianity +is this: All men are sinful men, justice condemns us all, our only +hope is God's infinite mercy, that mercy comes to us all in Jesus +Christ that died for us, and he that gets that into his heart by +simple faith, he is forgiven, pure, and he is an heir of Heaven. + +There are other aspects of Christian truth which Luther failed to +apprehend. The Gospel is, of course, not merely a way of +reconciliation and forgiveness. He pushed his teaching of the +uselessness of good works as a means of salvation too far. He said +rash and exaggerated things in his vehement way about the 'justifying +power' of faith alone. Doubtless his language was often overstrained, +and his thoughts one-sided, in regard to subjects that need very +delicate handling and careful definition. But after all this is +admitted, it remains true that his strong arm tossed aside the +barriers and rubbish that had been piled across the way by which +prodigals could go home to their Father, and made plain once more the +endless mercy of God, and the power of humble faith. He was right +when he declared that whatever heights and depths there may be in +God's great revelation, and however needful it is for a complete +apprehension of the truth as it is in Jesus that these should find +their place in the creed of Christendom, still the firmness with +which that initial truth of man's sinfulness and his forgiveness and +acceptance through simple faith in Christ is held, and the clear +earnestness with which it is proclaimed, are the test of a standing +or a falling Church. + +And then closely connected with this central principle, and yet +susceptible of being stated separately, are the other two; of neither +of which do I think it necessary to say more than a word. Following +on that great discovery--for it was a discovery--by the monk in his +convent, of justification by faith, there comes the other principle +of the entire sweeping away of all priesthood, and the direct access +to God of every individual Christian soul. There are no more external +rites to be done by a designated and separate class. There is one +sacrificing Priest, and one only, and that is Jesus Christ, who has +sacrificed Himself for us all, and there are no other priests, except +in the sense in which every Christian man is a priest and minister of +the most high God. And no man comes between me and my Father; and no +man has power to do anything for me which brings me any grace, except +in so far as mine own heart opens for the reception, and mine own +faith lays hold of the grace given. + +Luther did not carry that principle so far as some of us modern +Nonconformists carry it. He left illogical fragments of +sacramentarian and sacerdotal theories in his creed and in his +Church. But, for all that, we owe mainly to him the clear utterance +of that thought, the warm breath of which has thawed the ice chains +which held Europe in barren bondage. Notwithstanding the present +portentous revival of sacerdotalism, and the strange turning again of +portions of society to these beggarly elements of the past, I believe +that the figments of a sacrificing priesthood and sacramental +efficacy will never again permanently darken the sky in this land, +the home of the men who speak the tongue of Milton, and owe much of +their religious and political freedom to the reformation of Luther. + +And the third point, which is closely connected with these other two, +is this, the declaration that every illuminated Christian soul has a +right and is bound to study God's Word without the Church at his +elbow to teach him what to think about it. It was Luther's great +achievement that, whatever else he did, he put the Bible into the +hands of the common people. In that department and region, his work +perhaps bears more distinctly the traces of limitation and +imperfection than anywhere else, for he knew nothing--how could he?-- +of the difficult questions of this day in regard to the composition +and authority of Scripture, nor had he thought out his own system or +done full justice to his own principle. + +He could be as inquisitorial and as dogmatic as any Dominican of them +all. He believed in force; he was as ready as all his fellows were to +invoke the aid of the temporal power. The idea of the Church, as +helped and sustained--which means fettered, and weakened, and +paralysed--by the civic government, bewitched him as it did his +fellows. We needed to wait for George Fox, and Roger Williams, and +more modern names still, before we understood fully what was involved +in the rejection of priesthood, and the claim that God's Word should +speak directly to each Christian soul. But for all that, we largely +owe to Luther the creed that looks in simple faith to Christ, a +Church without a priest, in which every man is a priest of the Most +High,--the only true democracy that the world will ever see--and a +Church in which the open Bible and the indwelling Spirit are the +guides of every humble soul within its pale. These are his claims on +our gratitude. + +Luther's work had its limitations and its imperfections, as I have +been saying to you. It will become less and less conspicuous as the +ages go on. It cannot be otherwise. That is the law of the world. As +a whole green forest of the carboniferous era is represented now in +the rocks by a thin seam of coal, no thicker than a sheet of paper, +so the stormy lives and the large works of the men that have gone +before, are compressed into a mere film and line, in the great cliff +that slowly rises above the sea of time and is called the history of +the world. + +II. Be it so; be it so! Let us turn to the other thought of our text, +the perpetual work of the abiding Lord. + +'He whom God raised up saw no corruption.' It is a fact that there +are thousands of men and women in the world to-day who have a feeling +about that nineteen-centuries-dead Galilean carpenter's son that they +have about no one else. All the great names of antiquity are but +ghosts and shadows, and all the names in the Church and in the world, +of men whom we have not seen, are dim and ineffectual to us. They may +evoke our admiration, our reverence, and our wonder, but none of them +can touch our hearts. But here is this unique, anomalous fact that +men and women by the thousand love Jesus Christ, the dead One, the +unseen One, far away back there in the ages, and feel that there is +no mist of oblivion between them and Him. + +That is because He does for you and me what none of these other men +can do. Luther preached about the Cross; Christ _died_ on it. 'Was +Paul crucified for you?' there is the secret of His undying hold upon +the world. The further secret lies in this, that He is not a past +force but a present one. He is no exhausted power but a power mighty +to-day; working in us, around us, on us, and for us--a living Christ. +'This Man whom God raised up from the dead saw no corruption,' the +others move away from us like figures in a fog, dim as they pass into +the mists, having a blurred half-spectral outline for a moment, and +then gone. + +Christ's death has a present and a perpetual power. He has 'offered +one sacrifice for sins for ever'; and no time can diminish the +efficacy of His Cross, nor our need of it, nor the full tide of +blessings which flow from it to the believing soul. Therefore do men +cling to Him today as if it was but yesterday that He had died for +them. When all other names carved on the world's records have become +unreadable, like forgotten inscriptions on decaying grave-stones, His +shall endure for ever, deep graven on the fleshly tables of the +heart. His revelation of God is the highest truth. Till the end of +time men will turn to His life for their clearest knowledge and +happiest certainty of their Father in heaven. There is nothing +limited or local in His character or works. In His meek beauty and +gentle perfectness, He stands so high above us all that, to-day, the +inspiration of His example and the lessons of His conduct touch us as +much as if He had lived in this generation, and will always shine +before men as their best and most blessed law of conduct. Christ will +not be antiquated till He is outgrown, and it will be some time +before that happens. + +But Christ's power is not only the abiding influence of His earthly +life and death. He is not a past force, but a present one. He is +putting forth fresh energies to-day, working in and for and by all +who love Him. We believe in a living Christ. + +Therefore the final thought, in all our grateful commemoration of +dead helpers and guides, should be of the undying Lord. He sent +whatsoever power was in them. He is with His Church to-day, still +giving to men the gifts needful for their times. Aaron may die on +Hor, and Moses be laid in his unknown grave on Pisgah, but the Angel +of the Covenant, who is the true Leader, abides in the pillar of +cloud and fire, Israel's guide in the march, and covering shelter in +repose. That is our consolation in our personal losses when our dear +ones are 'not suffered to continue by reason of death.' He who gave +them all their sweetness is with us still, and has all the sweetness +which He lent them for a time. So if we have Christ with us we cannot +be desolate. Looking on all the men, who in their turn have helped +forward His cause a little way, we should let their departure teach +us His presence, their limitations His all-sufficiency, their death +His life. + +Luther was once found, at a moment of peril and fear, when he had +need to grasp unseen strength, sitting in an abstracted mood, tracing +on the table with his finger the words '_Vivit_! _vivit_!'--'He +lives! He lives!' It is our hope for ourselves, and for God's truth, +and for mankind. Men come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers speak +and work for a season and then fall silent and impotent. He abides. +They die, but He lives. They are lights kindled, and therefore sooner +or later quenched, but He is the true light from which they draw all +their brightness, and He shines for evermore. Other men are left +behind and, as the world glides forward, are wrapped in ever- +thickening folds of oblivion, through which they shine feebly for a +little while, like lamps in a fog, and then are muffled in +invisibility. We honour other names, and the coming generations will +forget them, but 'His name shall endure for ever, His name shall +continue as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him; all +nations shall call Him blessed.' + + + +JEWISH REJECTERS AND GENTILE RECEIVERS + +'And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to +hear the word of God. 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, +they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which +were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. 46. Then Paul +and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word +of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it +from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, +we turn to the Gentiles. 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us, +saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou +shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. 48. And +when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the +word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life +believed. 49. And the word of the Lord was published throughout +all the region. 50. But the Jews stirred up the devout and +honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised +persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of +their coasts. 51. But they shook off the dust of their feet +against them, and came unto Iconium. 52. And the disciples were +filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. + +'And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together +into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great +multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. 2. +But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their +minds evil affected against the brethren. 3. Long time therefore +abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto +the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done +by their hands. 4. But the multitude of the city was divided: and +part held with the Jews, and part with the Apostles. 5. And when +there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the +Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone +them, 6. They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, +cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: +7. And there they preached the Gospel.'--ACTS xiii. 44-52; +xiv. 1-7. + +In general outline, the course of events in the two great cities of +Asia Minor, with which the present passage is concerned, was the +same. It was only too faithful a forecast of what was to be Paul's +experience everywhere. The stages are: preaching in the synagogue, +rejection there, appeal to the Gentiles, reception by them, a little +nucleus of believers formed; disturbances fomented by the Jews, who +swallow their hatred of Gentiles by reason of their greater hatred of +the Apostles, and will riot with heathens, though they will not pray +nor eat with them; and finally the Apostles' departure to carry the +gospel farther afield. This being the outline, we have mainly to +consider any special features diversifying it in each case. + +Their experience in Antioch was important, because it forced Paul and +Barnabas to put into plain words, making very clear to themselves as +well as to their hearers, the law of their future conduct. It is +always a step in advance when circumstances oblige us to formularise +our method of action. Words have a wonderful power in clearing up our +own vision. Paul and Barnabas had known all along that they were sent +to the Gentiles; but a conviction in the mind is one thing, and the +same conviction driven in on us by facts is quite another. The +discipline of Antioch crystallised floating intentions into a clear +statement, which henceforth became the rule of Paul's conduct. Well +for us if we have open eyes to discern the meaning of difficulties, +and promptitude and decision to fix and speak out plainly the course +which they prescribe! + +The miserable motives of the Jews' antagonism are forcibly stated in +vs. 44, 45. They did not 'contradict and blaspheme,' because they had +taken a week to think over the preaching and had seen its falseness, +but simply because, dog-in-the-manger like, they could not bear that +'the whole city' should be welcome to share the message. No doubt +there was a crowd of 'Gentile dogs' thronging the approach to the +synagogue; and one can almost see the scowling faces and hear the +rustle of the robes drawn closer to avoid pollution. Who were these +wandering strangers that they should gather such a crowd? And what +had the uncircumcised rabble of Antioch to do with 'the promises made +to the fathers'? It is not the only time that religious men have +taken offence at crowds gathering to hear God's word. Let us take +care that we do not repeat the sin. There are always some who-- + + 'Taking God's word under wise protection, + Correct its tendency to diffusiveness.' + +It needed some courage to front the wild excitement of such a mob, +with calm, strong words likely to increase the rage. + +'Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.' This is not to be regarded as +announcing a general course of action, but simply as applying to the +actual rejecters in Antioch. The necessity that the word should first +be spoken to the Jews continued to be recognised, in each new sphere +of work, by the Apostle; but wherever, as here, men turned from the +message, the messengers turned from them without further waste of +time. Paul put into words here the law for his whole career. The fit +punishment of rejection is the withdrawal of the offer. There is +something pathetic in the persistence with which, in place after +place, Paul goes through the same sequence, his heart yearning over +his brethren according to the flesh, and hoping on, after all +repulses. It was far more than natural patriotism; it was an offshoot +of Christ's own patient love. + +Note also the divine command. Paul bases his action on a prophecy as +to the Messiah. But the relation on which prophecy insists between +the personal servant of Jehovah and the collective Israel, is such +that the great office of being the Light of the world devolves from +Him on it and the true Israel is to be a light to the Gentiles. These +very Jews in Antioch, lashing themselves into fury because Gentiles +were to be offered a share in Israel's blessings, ought to have been +discharging this glorious function. Their failure showed that they +were no parts of the real Israel. No doubt the two missionaries left +the synagogue as they spoke, and, as the door swung behind them, it +shut hope out and unbelief in. The air was fresh outside, and eager +hearts welcomed the word. Very beautifully is the gladness of the +Gentile hearers set in contrast with the temper of the Jews. It is +strange news to heathen hearts that there is a God who loves them, +and a divine Christ who has died for them. The experience of many a +missionary follows Paul's here. + +'As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.' The din of many +a theological battle has raged round these words, the writer of which +would have probably needed a good deal of instruction before he could +have been made to understand what the fighting was about. But it is +to be noted that there is evidently intended a contrast between the +envious Jews and the gladly receptive Gentiles, which is made more +obvious by the repetition of the words 'eternal life.' It would seem +much more relevant and accordant with the context to understand the +word rendered 'ordained' as meaning 'adapted' or 'fitted,' than to +find in it a reference to divine foreordination. Such a meaning is +legitimate, and strongly suggested by the context. The reference then +would be to the 'frame of mind of the heathen, and not to the decrees +of God.' + +The only points needing notice in the further developments at Antioch +are the agents employed by the Jews, the conduct of the Apostles, and +the sweet little picture of the converts. As to the former, piously +inclined women in a heathen city would be strongly attracted by +Judaism and easily lend themselves to the impressions of their +teachers. We know that many women of rank were at that period +powerfully affected in this manner; and if a Rabbi could move a +Gentile of influence through whispers to the Gentile's wife, he would +not be slow to do it. The ease with which the Jews stirred up tumults +everywhere against the Apostle indicates their possession of great +influence; and their willingness to be hand in glove with heathen for +so laudable an object as crushing one of their own people who had +become a heretic, measures the venom of their hate and the depth of +their unscrupulousness. + +The Apostles had not to fear violence, as their enemies were content +with turning them out of Antioch and its neighbourhood; but they +obeyed Christ's command, shaking off the dust against them, in token +of renouncing all connection. The significant act is a trace of early +knowledge of Christ's words, long before the date of our Gospels. + +While the preachers had to leave the little flock in the midst of +wolves, there was peace in the fold. Like the Ethiopian courtier when +deprived of Philip, the new believers at Antioch found that the +withdrawal of the earthly brought the heavenly Guide. 'They were +filled with joy.' What! left ignorant, lonely, ringed about with +enemies, how could they be glad? Because they were filled 'with the +Holy Ghost.' Surely joy in such circumstances was no less +supernatural a token of His presence than rushing wind or parting +flames or lips opened to speak with tongues. God makes us lonely that +He may Himself be our Companion. + +It was a long journey to the great city of Iconium. According to some +geographers, the way led over savage mountains; but the two brethren +tramped along, with an unseen Third between them, and that Presence +made the road light. They had little to cheer them in their +prospects, if they looked with the eye of sense; but they were in +good heart, and the remembrance of Antioch did not embitter or +discourage them. Straight to the synagogue, as before, they went. It +was their best introduction to the new field. There, if we take the +plain words of Acts xiv. 1, they found a new thing, 'Greeks,' +heathens pure and simple, not Hellenists or Greek-speaking Jews, nor +even proselytes, in the synagogue. This has seemed so singular that +efforts have been made to impose another sense on the words, or to +suppose that the notice of Greeks, as well as Jews, believing is +loosely appended to the statement of the preaching in the synagogue, +omitting notice of wider evangelising. But it is better to accept +than to correct our narrative, as we know nothing of the +circumstances that may have led to this presence of Greeks in the +synagogue. Some modern setters of the Bible writers right would be +all the better for remembering occasionally that improbable things +have a strange knack of happening. + +The usual results followed the preaching of the Gospel. The Jews were +again the mischief-makers, and, with the astuteness of their race, +pushed the Gentiles to the front, and this time tried a new piece of +annoyance. 'The brethren' bore the brunt of the attack; that is, the +converts, not Paul and Barnabas. It was a cunning move to drop +suspicions into the minds of influential townsmen, and so to harass, +not the two strangers, but their adherents. The calculation was that +that would stop the progress of the heresy by making its adherents +uncomfortable, and would also wound the teachers through their +disciples. + +But one small element had been left out of the calculation--the sort +of men these teachers were; and another factor which had not hitherto +appeared came into play, and upset the whole scheme. Paul and +Barnabas knew when to retreat and when to stand their ground. This +time they stood; and the opposition launched at their friends was the +reason why they did so. 'Long time _therefore_ abode they.' If their +own safety had been in question, they might have fled; but they could +not leave the men whose acceptance of their message had brought them +into straits. But behind the two bold speakers stood 'the Lord,' +Christ Himself, the true Worker. Men who live in Him are made bold by +their communion with Him, and He witnesses for those who witness for +Him. + +Note the designation of the Gospel as 'the word of His grace.' It has +for its great theme the condescending, giving love of Jesus. Its +subject is grace; its origin is grace; its gift is grace. Observe, +too, that the same connection between boldness of speech and signs +and wonders is found in Acts iv. 29, 30. Courageous speech for Christ +is ever attended by tokens of His power, and the accompanying tokens +of His power make the speech more courageous. + +The normal course of events was pursued. Faithful preaching provoked +hostility, which led to the alliance of discordant elements, fused +for a moment by a common hatred--alas! that enmity to God's truth +should be often a more potent bond of union than love!--and then to a +wise withdrawal from danger. Sometimes it is needful to fling away +life for Jesus; but if it can be preserved without shirking duty, it +is better to flee than to die. An unnecessary martyr is a suicide. +The Christian readiness to be offered has nothing in common with +fanatical carelessness of life, and still less with the morbid +longing for martyrdom which disfigures some of the most pathetic +pages of the Church's history. Paul living to preach in the regions +beyond was more useful than Paul dead in a street riot in Iconium. A +heroic prudence should ever accompany a trustful daring, and both are +best learned in communion with Jesus. + + + +UNWORTHY OF LIFE + +'... Seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of +everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.'--ACTS xiii. 46. + +So ended the first attempt on Paul's great missionary journey to +preach to the Jews. It is described at great length and the sermon +given in full because it is the first. A wonderful sermon it was; +touching all keys of feeling, now pleading almost with tears, now +flashing with indignation, now calmly dealing with Scripture +prophecies, now glowing as it tells the story of Christ's death for +men. It melted some of the hearers, but the most were wrought up to +furious passion--and with characteristic vehemence, like their +ancestors and their descendants through long dreary generations, fell +to 'contradicting and blaspheming.' We can see the scene in the +synagogue, the eager faces, the vehement gestures, the hubbub of +tongues, the bitter words that stormed round the two in the midst, +Barnabas like Jupiter, grave, majestic, and venerable; Paul like +Mercury, agile, mobile, swift of speech. They bore the brunt of the +fury till they saw it to be hopeless to try to calm it, and then +departed with these remarkable words. + +They are even more striking if we notice that 'judge' here may be +used in its full legal sense. It is not merely equivalent to +_consider_, for these Jews by no means thought themselves unworthy of +eternal life, but it means, 'ye adjudge and pass sentence on +yourselves to be.' Their rejection of the message was a self- +pronounced sentence. It proved them to be, and made them, 'unworthy +of eternal life.' There are two or three very striking thoughts to be +gathered from these words which I would dwell on now. + +I. What constitutes worthiness and unworthiness. + +There are two meanings to the word 'worthy'--deserving or fit. They +run into each other and yet they may be kept quite apart. For +instance you may say of a man that 'he is worthy' to be something or +other, for which he is obviously qualified, not thinking at all +whether he deserves it or not. + +Now in the first of these senses--we are all unworthy of eternal +life. That is just to state in other words the tragic truth of +universal sinfulness. The natural outcome and issue of the course +which all men follow is death. But yet there are men who are fit for +and capable of eternal life. Who they are and what fitness is can +only be ascertained when we rightly understand what eternal life is. +It is not merely future blessedness or a synonym for a vulgar heaven. +That is the common notion of its meaning. Men think of that future as +a blessed state to which God can admit anybody if He will, and, as He +is good, will admit pretty nearly everybody. But eternal life is a +present possession as well as a future one, and passing by its deeper +aspects, it includes-- + +Deliverance from evil habits and desires. + +Purity, and love of all good and fair things. + +Communion with God. + +As well as forgiveness and removal of punishment. + +What then are the qualifications making a man worthy of, in the sense +of fit for, such a state? + +(_a_) To know oneself to be unworthy. + +He who judges himself to be worthy is unworthy. He who knows himself +to be unworthy is worthy. + +The first requisite is consciousness of sin, leading to repentance. + +(_b_) To abandon striving to make oneself worthy. + +By ourselves we never can do so. Many of us think that we must do our +best, and then God will do the rest. + +There must be the entire cessation of all attempt to work out by our +own efforts characters that would entitle us to eternal life. + +(_c_) To be willing to accept life on God's terms. + +As a mere gift. + +(_d_) To desire it. + +God cannot give it to any one who does not want it. He cannot force +His gifts on us. + +This then is the worthiness. + +II. How we pass sentence on ourselves as unworthy. + +It is quite clear that 'judge' here does not mean consider, for a +sense of unworthiness is not the reason which keeps men away from the +Gospel. Rather, as we have seen, a proud belief in our worthiness +keeps very many away. But 'judge' here means 'adjudicate' or +'pronounce sentence on,' and worthy means fit, qualified. + +Consider then-- + +(_a_) That our attitude to the Gospel is a revelation of our deepest +selves. + +The Gospel is a 'discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.' It +judges us here and now, and by their attitude to it 'the thoughts of +many hearts shall be revealed.' + +(_b_) That our rejection of it plainly shows that we have not the +qualifications for eternal life. + +No doubt some men are kept from accepting Christ by intellectual +doubts and difficulties, but even these would alter their whole +attitude to Him if they had a profound consciousness of sin, and a +desire for deliverance from it. + +But with regard to the great bulk of its hearers, no doubt the +hindrance is chiefly moral. Many causes may combine to produce the +absence of qualification. The excuses in the parable'--farm, oxen, +wife'--all amount to engrossment with this present world, and such +absorption in the things seen and temporal deadens desire. So the +Gospel preached excites no longings, and a man hears the offer of +salvation without one motion of his heart towards it, and thus +proclaims himself 'unworthy of eternal life.' + +But the great disqualification is the absence of all consciousness of +sin. This is the very deepest reason which keeps men away from +Christ. + +How solemn a thing the preaching and hearing of this word is! + +How possible for you to make yourselves fit! + +How simple the qualification! We have but to know ourselves sinners +and to trust Jesus and then we 'shall be counted worthy to obtain +that world and the resurrection from the dead.' Then we shall be +'worthy to escape and to stand before the Son of Man.' Then shall we +be 'worthy of this calling,' and the Judge himself shall say: 'They +shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.' + + + +'FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST' + +'And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy +Ghost.'--Acts xiii. 52. + +That joy was as strange as a garden full of flowers would be in +bitter winter weather. For everything in the circumstances of these +disciples tended to make them sad. They had been but just won from +heathenism, and they were raw, ignorant, unfit to stand alone. Paul +and Barnabas, their only guides, had been hunted out of Antioch by a +mob, and it would have been no wonder if these disciples had felt as +if they had been taken on to the ice and then left, when they most +needed a hand to steady them. Luke emphasises the contrast between +what might have been expected, and what was actually the case, by +that eloquent 'and' at the beginning of our verse, which links +together the departure of the Apostles and the joy of the disciples. +But the next words explain the paradox. These new converts, left in a +great heathen city, with no helpers, no guides, to work out as best +they might a faith of which they had but newly received the barest +rudiments, were 'full of joy' because they were 'full of the Holy +Ghost.' + +Now that latter phrase, so striking here, is characteristic of this +book of the Acts, and especially of its earlier chapters, which are +all, as it were, throbbing with wonder at the new gift which +Pentecost had brought. Let me for a moment, in the briefest possible +fashion, try to recall to you the instances of its occurrence, for +they are very significant and very important. + +You remember how at Pentecost 'all' the disciples were 'filled with +the Holy Ghost.' Then when the first persecution broke over the +Church, Peter before the Council is 'filled with the Holy Spirit,' +and therefore he beards them, and 'speaks with all boldness.' When he +goes back to the Church and tells them of the threatening cloud that +was hanging over them, they too are filled with the Holy Spirit, and +therefore rise buoyantly upon the tossing wave, as a ship might do +when it passes the bar and meets the heaving sea. Then again the +Apostles lay down the qualifications for election to the so-called +office of deacon as being that the men should be 'full of the Holy +Ghost and wisdom'; and in accordance therewith, we read of the first +of the seven, Stephen, that he was 'full of faith and of the Holy +Ghost,' and therefore 'full of grace and power.' When he stood before +the Council he was 'full of the Holy Ghost,' and therefore looked up +into heaven and saw it opened, and the Christ standing ready to help +him. In like manner we read of Barnabas that he 'was a good man, full +of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' And finally we read in our text that +these new converts, left alone in Antioch of Pisidia, were 'full of +joy and of the Holy Ghost.' + +Now these are the principal instances, and my purpose now is rather +to deal with the whole of these instances of the occurrence of this +remarkable expression than with the one which I have selected as a +text, because I think that they teach us great truths bearing very +closely on the strength and joyfulness of the Christian life which +are far too much neglected, obscured, and forgotten by us to-day. + +I wish then to point you, first, to the solemn thought that is here, +as to what should be-- + +I. The experience of every Christian, + +Note the two things, the universality and the abundance of this +divine gift. I have often had occasion to say to you, and so I merely +repeat it again in the briefest fashion, that we do not grasp the +central blessedness of the Christian faith unless, beyond forgiveness +and acceptance, beyond the mere putting away of the dread of +punishment either here or hereafter, we see that the gift of God in +Jesus Christ is the communication to every believing soul of that +divine life which is bestowed by the Spirit of Christ granted to +every believing heart. But I would have you notice how the +universality of the gift is unmistakably taught us by the instances +which I have briefly gathered together in my previous remarks. It was +no official class on which, on the day of Pentecost, the tongues of +fire fluttered down. It was to the whole Church that courage to front +the persecutor was imparted. When in Samaria the preaching of Philip +brought about the result of the communication of the Holy Spirit, it +was to all the believers that it was granted, and when, in the Roman +barracks at Caesarea, Cornelius and his companion listened to Peter, +it was upon them all that that Divine Spirit descended. + +I suppose I need not remind you of how, if we pass beyond this book +of the Acts into the Epistles of Paul, his affirmations do most +emphatically insist upon the fact that 'we are all made to drink into +one Spirit'; and so convinced is he of the universality of the +possession of that divine life by every Christian, that he does not +hesitate to say that 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is +none of His,' and to clear away all possibility of misunderstanding +the depth and wonderfulness of the gift, he further adds in another +place, 'Know ye not that the Spirit is in you, except ye be +reprobates?' Similarly another of the New Testament writers declares, +in the broadest terms, that 'this spake he of the Holy Spirit, +which'--Apostles? no; office-bearers? no; ordained men? no; +distinguished and leading men? No--'_they that believe on Him_ should +receive.' Christianity is the true democracy, because it declares +that upon all, handmaidens and servants, young men and old men, there +comes the divine gift. The world thinks of a divine inspiration in a +more or less superficial fashion, as touching only the lofty summits, +the great thinkers and teachers and artists and mighty men of light +and leading of the race. The Old Testament regarded prophets and +kings, and those who were designated to important offices, as the +possessors of the Divine Spirit. But Christianity has seen the sun +rising so high in the heavens that the humblest floweret, in the +deepest valley, basks in its beams and opens to its light. 'We have +_all_ been made to drink into the one Spirit.' + +Let me remind you too of how, from the usage of this book, as well as +from the rest of the New Testament teaching, there rises the other +thought of the abundance of the gift. 'Full of the Holy Spirit'--the +cup is brimming with generous wine. Not that that fulness is such as +to make inconsistencies impossible, as, alas, the best of us know. +The highest condition for us is laid down in the sad words which yet +have triumph in their sadness--'The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, +and the Spirit against the flesh.' But whilst the fulness is not such +as to exclude the need of conflict, it is such as to bring the +certainty of victory. + +Again if we turn to the instances to which I have already referred, +we shall find that they fall into two classes, which are +distinguished in the original by a slight variation in the form of +the words employed. Some instances refer to a habitual possession of +an abundant spiritual life moulding the character constantly, as in +the cases of Stephen and Barnabas. Others refer rather to occasional +and special influxes of special power on account of special +circumstances, and drawn forth by special exigencies, as when there +poured into Peter's heart the Divine Spirit that made him bold before +the Council; or as when the dying martyr's spirit was flooded with a +new clearness of vision that pierced the heavens and beheld the +Christ. So then there may be and ought to be, in each of us, a +fulness of the Spirit, up to the edge of our capacity, and yet of +such a kind as that it may be reinforced and increased when special +needs arise. + +Not only so, but that which fills me to-day should not fill me to- +morrow, because, as in earthly love, so in heavenly, no man can tell +to what this thing shall grow. The more of fruition the more there +will be of expansion, and the more of expansion the more of desire, +and the more of desire the more of capacity, and the more of capacity +the more of possession. So, brethren, the man who receives a spark of +the divine life, through his most rudimentary and tremulous faith, if +he is a faithful steward of the gift that is given to him, will find +that it grows and grows, and that there is no limit to its growth, +and that in its limitless growth there lies the surest prophecy of an +eternal growth in the heavens. + +A universal gift, that is to say, a gift to each of us if we are +Christians, an abundant gift that fills the whole nature of a man, +according to the measure of his present power to receive--that is the +ideal, that is what God means, that is what these first believers +had. It did not make them perfect, it did not save them from faults +or from errors, but it was real, it was influential, it was moulding +their characters, it was progressive. And that is the ideal for all +Christians. Is it our actual? We are meant to be full of the Holy +Ghost. Ah! how many of us have never realised that there is such a +thing as being thus possessed with a divine life, partly because we +do not understand that such a fulness will not be distinguishable +from our own self, except by bettering of the works of self, and +partly because of other reasons which I shall have to touch upon +presently! Brethren, we may, every one of us, be filled with the +Spirit. Let each of us ask, 'Am I? and if I am not, why this +emptiness in the presence of such abundance?' + +And now let me ask you to look, in the second place, at what we +gather from these instances as to-- + +II. The results of that universal, abundant life. + +Do not let us run away with the idea that the New Testament, or any +part of it, regards miracles and tongues and the like as being the +normal and chiefest gifts of that Divine Spirit. People read this +book of the Acts of the Apostles and, averse from the supernatural, +exaggerate the extent to which the primitive gift of the Holy Spirit +was manifested by signs and wonders, tongues of fire, and so on. We +have only to look at the instances to which I have already referred +to see that far more lofty and far more conspicuous than any such +external and transient manifestations, which yet have their place, +are the permanent and inward results, moulding character, and making +men. And Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians goes as far in the +way of setting the moral and spiritual effects of the divine +influence above the merely miraculous and external ones, as the most +advanced opponent of the supernatural could desire. + +Let us look, and it can only be briefly, at the various results which +are presented in the instances to which I have referred. The most +general expression for all, which is the result of the Divine Spirit +dwelling in a man, is that it makes him good. Look at one of the +instances to which we have referred. 'Barnabas was a good man'--was +he? How came he to be so? Because he was 'full of the Holy Ghost.' +And how came he to be 'full of the Holy Ghost'? Because he was 'full +of faith.' Get the divine life into you, and that will make you good; +and, brethren, nothing else will. It is like the bottom heat in a +green-house, which makes all the plants that are there, whatever +their orders, grow and blossom and be healthy and strong. Therein is +the difference between Christian morality and the world's ethics. +They may not differ much, they do in some respects, in their ideal of +what constitutes goodness, but they differ in this, that the one +says, 'Be good, be good, be good!' but, like the Pharisees of old, +puts out not a finger to help a man to bear the burdens that it lays +upon him. The other says, 'Be good,' but it also says, 'take this and +it will make you good.' And so the one is Gospel and the other is +talk, the one is a word of good tidings, and the other is a beautiful +speculation, or a crushing commandment that brings death rather than +life. 'If there had been a law given which could have given life, +verily righteousness had been by the law.' But since the clearest +laying down of duty brings us no nearer to the performance of duty, +we need and, thank God! we have, a gift bestowed which invests with +power. He in whom the 'Spirit of Holiness' dwells, and he alone, will +be holy. The result of the life of God in the heart is a life +growingly like God's, manifested in the world. + +Then again let me remind you of how, from another of our instances, +there comes another thought. The result of this majestic, +supernatural, universal, abundant, divine life is practical sagacity +in the commonest affairs of life. 'Look ye out from among you seven +men, full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom.' What to do? To meet +wisely the claims of suspicious and jealous poverty, and to +distribute fairly a little money. That was all. And are you going to +invoke such a lofty gift as this, to do nothing grander than that? +Yes. Gravitation holds planets in their orbits, and keeps grains of +dust in their places. And one result of the inspiration of the +Almighty, which is granted to Christian people, is that they will be +wise for the little affairs of life. But Stephen was also 'full of +grace and power,' two things that do not often go together--grace, +gentleness, loveliness, graciousness, on the one side, and strength +on the other, which divorced, make wild work of character, and which +united, make men like God. So if we desire our lives to be full of +sweetness and light and beauty, the best way is to get the life of +Christ into them; and if we desire our lives not to be made placid +and effeminate by our cult of graciousness and gracefulness, but to +have their beauty stiffened and strengthened by manly energy, then +the best way is to get the life of the 'strong Son of God, immortal +love,' into our lives. + +The same Stephen, 'full of the Holy Ghost,' looked up into heaven and +saw the Christ. So one result of that abundant life, if we have it, +will be that even though as with him, when he saw the heavens opened, +there may be some smoke-darkened roof above our heads, we can look +through all the shows of this vain world, and our purged eyes can +behold the Christ. Again the disciples in our text 'were full of +joy,' because 'they were full of the Holy Spirit,' and we, if we have +that abundant life within us, shall not be dependent for our gladness +on the outer world, but like explorers in the Arctic regions, even if +we have to build a hut of snow, shall be warm within it when the +thermometer is far below zero; and there will be light there when the +long midnight is spread around the dwelling. So, dear friends, let us +understand what is the main thing for a Christian to endeavour +after,--not so much the cultivation of special graces as the +deepening of the life of Christ in the spirit. + +We gather from some of these instances-- + +III. The way by which we may be thus filled. + +We read that Stephen was 'full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,' and +that Barnabas was 'full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' and it is +quite clear from the respective contexts that, though the order in +which these fulnesses are placed is different in the two clauses, +their relation to each other is the same. Faith is the condition of +possessing the Spirit. And what do we mean in this connection by +faith? I mean, first, a belief in the truth of the possible abiding +of the divine Spirit in our spirits, a truth which the superficial +Christianity of this generation sorely needs to have forced upon its +consciousness far more than it has it. I mean aspiration and desire +after; I mean confident expectation of. Your wish measures your +possession. You have as much of God as you desire. If you have no +more, it is because you do not desire any more. The Christian people +of to-day, many of whom are so empty of God, are in a very tragic +sense, 'full,' because they have as much as they can take in. If you +bring a tiny cup, and do not much care whether anything pours into it +or not, you will get it filled, but you might have had a gallon +vessel filled if you had chosen to bring it. Of course there are +other conditions too. We have to use the life that is given us. We +have to see that we do not quench it by sin, which drives the dove of +God from a man's heart. But the great truth is that if I open the +door of my heart by faith, Christ will come in, in His Spirit. If I +take away the blinds the light will shine into the chamber. If I lift +the sluice the water will pour in to drive my mill. If I deepen the +channels, more of the water of life can flow into them, and the +deeper I make them the fuller they will be. + +Brethren, we have wasted much time and effort in trying to mend our +characters. Let us try to get that into them which will mend them. +And let us remember that, if we are full of faith, we shall be full +of the Holy Spirit, and therefore full of wisdom, full of grace and +power, full of goodness, full of joy, whatever our circumstances. And +when death comes, though it may be in some cruel form, we shall be +able to look up and see the opened heavens and the welcoming Christ. + + + +DEIFIED AND STONED + +'And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their +voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down +to us in the likeness of men. 12. And they called Barnabas, +Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. +13. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, +brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done +sacrifice with the people. 14. Which when the apostles, Barnabas +and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the +people, crying out. 15. And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? +We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you +that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, +which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that +are therein: 16. Who in times past suffered all nations to walk +in their own ways. 17. Nevertheless he left not himself without +witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and +fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. 18. +And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that +they had not done sacrifice unto them. 19. And there came thither +certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, +and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he +had been dead. 20. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about +him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he +departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. And when they had preached +the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again +to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch. 22. Confirming the souls +of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, +and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom +of God.'--ACTS xiv. 11-22. + +The scene at Lystra offers a striking instance of the impossibility +of eliminating the miraculous element from this book. The cure of a +lame man is the starting-point of the whole story. Without it the +rest is motiveless and inexplicable. There can be no explosion +without a train and a fuse. The miracle, and the miracle only, +supplies these. We may choose between believing and disbelieving it, +but the rejection of the supernatural does not make this book easier +to accept, but utterly chaotic. + +I. We have, first, the burst of excited wonder which floods the crowd +with the conviction that the two Apostles are incarnations of +deities. It is difficult to grasp the indications of locality in the +story, but probably the miracle was wrought in some crowded place, +perhaps the forum. At all events, it was in full view of 'the +multitudes,' and they were mostly of the lower orders, as their +speaking in 'the speech of Lycaonia' suggests. + +This half-barbarous crowd had the ancient faith in the gods +unweakened, and the legends, which had become dim to pure Greek and +Roman, some of which had originated in their immediate neighbourhood, +still found full credence among them. A Jew's first thought on seeing +a miracle was, 'by the prince of the devils'; an average Greek's or +Roman's was 'sorcery'; these simple people's, like many barbarous +tribes to which white men have gone with the marvels of modern +science, was 'the gods have come down'; our modern superior person's, +on reading of one, is 'hallucination,' or 'a mistake of an excited +imagination.' Perhaps the cry of the multitudes at Lystra gets nearer +the heart of the thing than those others. For the miracle is a +witness of present divine power, and though the worker of it is not +an incarnation of divinity, 'God _is_ with him.' + +But that joyful conviction, which shot through the crowd, reveals how +deep lies the longing for the manifestation of divinity in the form +of humanity, and how natural it is to believe that, if there is a +divine being, he is sure to draw near to us poor men, and that in our +own likeness. Then is the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation but +one more of the many reachings out of the heart to paint a fair +picture of the fulfilment of its longings? Well, since it is the only +such that is alleged to have taken place in historic times, and the +only one that comes with any body of historic evidence, and the only +one that brings with it transforming power, and since to believe in a +God, and also to believe that He has never broken the awful silence, +nor done anything to fulfil a craving which He has set in men's +hearts, is absurd, it is reasonable to answer, No. 'The gods are come +down in the likeness of men' is a wistful confession of need, and a +dim hope of its supply. 'The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us' +is the supply. + +Barnabas was the older man, and his very silence suggested his +superior dignity. So he was taken for Jupiter (Zeus in the Greek), +and the younger man for his inferior, Mercury (Hermes in the Greek), +'the messenger of the gods.' Clearly the two missionaries did not +understand what the multitudes were shouting in their 'barbarous' +language, or they would have intervened. Perhaps they had left the +spot before the excitement rose to its height, for they knew nothing +of the preparations for the sacrifice till they '_heard_ of it, and +then they 'sprang forth,' which implies that they were within some +place, possibly their lodging. + +If we could be sure what 'gates' are meant in verse 13, the course of +events would be plainer. Were they those of the city, in which case +the priest and procession would be coming from the temple outside the +walls? or those of the temple itself? or those of the Apostles' +lodging? Opinions differ, and the material for deciding is lacking. +At all events, whether from sharing in the crowd's enthusiasm, or +with an eye to the reputation of his shrine, the priest hurriedly +procured oxen for a sacrifice, which one reading of the text +specifies as an 'additional' offering--that is, over and above the +statutory sacrifices. Is it a sign of haste that the 'garlands,' +which should have been twined round the oxen's horns, are mentioned +separately? If so, we get a lively picture of the exultant hurry of +the crowd. + +II. The Apostles are as deeply moved as the multitude is, but by what +different emotions! The horror of idolatry, which was their +inheritance from a hundred generations, flamed up at the thought of +themselves being made objects of worship. They had met many different +sorts of receptions on this journey, but never before anything like +this. Opposition and threats left them calm, but this stirred them to +the depths. 'Scoff at us, fight with us, maltreat us, and we will +endure; but do not make gods of us.' I do not know that their +'successors' have always felt exactly so. + +In verse 14 Barnabas is named first, contrary to the order prevailing +since Paphos, the reason being that the crowd thought him the +superior. The remonstrance ascribed to both, but no doubt spoken by +Paul, contains nothing that any earnest monotheist, Jew or Gentile +philosopher, might not have said. The purpose of it was not to preach +Christ, but to stop the sacrifice. It is simply a vehemently earnest +protest against idolatry, and a proclamation of one living God. The +comparison with the speech in Athens is interesting, as showing +Paul's exquisite felicity in adapting his style to his audience. +There is nothing to the peasants of Lycaonia about poets, no +argumentation about the degradation of the idea of divinity by taking +images as its likeness, no wide view of the course of history, no +glimpse of the mystic thought that all creatures live and move in +Him. All that might suit the delicate ears of Athenians, but would +have been wasted in Lystra amidst the tumultuous crowd. But we have +instead of these the fearless assertion, flung in the face of the +priest of Jupiter, that idols are 'vanities,' as Paul had learned +from Isaiah and Jeremiah; the plain declaration of the one God, +'living,' and not like these inanimate images; of His universal +creative power; and the earnest exhortation to turn to Him. + +In verse 16 Paul meets an objection which rises in his mind as likely +to be springing in his hearers: 'If there is such a God, why have we +never heard of Him till now?' That is quite in Paul's manner. The +answer is undeveloped, as compared with the Athenian address or with +Romans i. But there is couched in verse 16 a tacit contrast between +'the generations gone by' and the present, which is drawn out in the +speech on Mars Hill: 'but _now_ commandeth all men everywhere to +repent,' and also a contrast between the 'nations' left to walk in +their own ways, and Israel to whom revelation had been made. The +place and the temper of the listeners did not admit of enlarging on +such matters. + +But there was a plain fact, which was level to every peasant's +apprehension, and might strike home to the rustic crowd. God _had_ +left 'the nations to walk in their own ways,' and yet not altogether. +That thought is wrought out in Romans i., and the difference between +its development there and here is instructive. Beneficence is the +sign-manual of heaven. The orderly sequence of the seasons, the rain +from heaven, the seat of the gods from which the two Apostles were +thought to have come down, the yearly miracle of harvest, and the +gladness that it brings--all these are witnesses to a living Person +moving the processes of the universe towards a beneficent end for +man. + +In spite of all modern impugners, it still remains true that the +phenomena of 'nature,' their continuity, their co-operation, and +their beneficent issues, demand the recognition of a Person with a +loving purpose moving them all. '_Thou_ crownest the year with Thy +goodness; and _Thy_ paths drop fatness.' + +III. The malice of the Jews of Antioch is remarkable. Not content +with hounding the Apostles from that city, they came raging after +them to Lystra, where there does not appear to have been a synagogue, +since we hear only of their stirring up the 'multitudes.' The mantle +of Saul had fallen on them, and they were now 'persecuting' _him_ +'even unto strange cities.' + +No note is given of the time between the attempted sacrifice and the +accomplished stoning, but probably some space intervened. Persuading +the multitudes, however fickle they were, would take some time; and +indeed one ancient text of Acts has an expansion of the verse: 'They +persuaded the multitudes to depart from them [the Apostles], saying +that they spake nothing true, but lied in everything.' + +No doubt some time elapsed, but few emotions are more transient than +such impure religious excitement as the crowd had felt, and the ebb +is as great as the flood, and the oozy bottom laid bare is foul. +Popular favourites in other departments have to experience the same +fate--one day, 'roses, roses, all the way'; the next, rotten eggs and +curses. Other folks than the ignorant peasants at Lystra have had +devout emotion surging over them and leaving them dry. + +Who are 'they' who stoned Paul? Grammatically, the Jews, and probably +it was so. They hated him so much that they themselves began the +stoning; but no doubt the mob, which is always cruel, because it +needs strong excitement, lent willing hands. Did Paul remember +Stephen, as the stones came whizzing on him? It is an added touch of +brutality that they dragged the supposed corpse out of the city, with +no gentle hands, we may be sure. Perhaps it was flung down near the +very temple 'before the city,' where the priest that wanted to +sacrifice was on duty. + +The crowd, having wreaked their vengeance, melted away, but a handful +of brave disciples remained, standing round the bruised, unconscious +form, ready to lay it tenderly in some hastily dug grave. No previous +mention of disciples has been made. The narrative of Acts does not +profess to be complete, and the argument from its silence is +precarious. + +Luke shows no disposition to easy belief in miracles. He does not +know that Paul was dead; his medical skill familiarised him with +protracted states of unconsciousness; so all he vouches for is that +Paul lay as if dead on some rubbish heap 'without the camp,' and +that, with courage and persistence which were supernatural, whether +his reviving was so or not, the man thus sorely battered went back to +the city, and next day went on with his work, as if stoning was a +trifle not to be taken account of. + +The Apostles turned at Derbe, and coming back on their outward route, +reached Antioch, encouraging the new disciples, who had now to be +left truly like shepherdless sheep among wolves. They did not +encourage them by making light of the dangers waiting them, but they +plainly set before them the law of the Kingdom, which they had seen +exemplified in Paul, that we must suffer if we would reign with the +King. That 'we' in verse 22 is evidently quoted from Paul, and +touchingly shows how he pointed to his own stoning as what they too +must be prepared to suffer. It is a thought frequently recurring in +his letters. It remains true in all ages, though the manner of +suffering varies. + + + +DREAM AND REALITY + +'The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.' +--ACTS xiv. 11. + +This was the spontaneous instinctive utterance of simple villagers +when they saw a deed of power and kindness. Many an English traveller +and settler among rude people has been similarly honoured. And in +Lycaonia the Apostles were close upon places that were celebrated in +Greek mythology as having witnessed the very two gods, here spoken +of, wandering among the shepherds and entertained with modest +hospitality in their huts. + +The incident is a very striking and picturesque one. The shepherd +people standing round, the sudden flash of awe and yet of gladness +which ran through them, the tumultuous outcry, which, being in their +rude dialect, was unintelligible to the Apostles till it was +interpreted by the appearance of the priest of Jupiter with oxen and +garlands for offerings, the glimpse of the two Apostles--the older, +graver, venerable Barnabas, the younger, more active, ready-tongued +Paul, whom their imaginations converted into the Father of gods and +men, and the herald Mercury, who were already associated in local +legends; the priest, eager to gain credit for his temple 'before the +city,' the lowing oxen, and the vehement appeal of the Apostles, make +a picture which is more vividly presented in the simple narrative +than even in the cartoon of the great painter whom the narrative has +inspired. + +But we have not to deal with the picturesque element alone. The +narratives of Scripture are representative because they are so +penetrating and true. They go to the very heart of the men and things +which they describe: and hence the words and acts which they record +are found to contain the essential characteristics of whole classes +of men, and the portrait of an individual becomes that of a class. +This joyful outburst of the people of Lycaonia gives utterance to one +of the most striking and universal convictions of heathenism, and +stands in very close and intimate relations with that greatest of all +facts in the history of the world, the Incarnation of the Eternal +Word. That the gods come down in the likeness of men is the dream of +heathenism. 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,' is the +sober, waking truth which meets and vindicates and transcends that +cry. + +I. The heathen dream of incarnation. + +In all lands we find this belief in the appearance of the gods in +human form. It inspired the art and poetry of Greece. Rome believed +that gods had charged in front of their armies and given their laws. +The solemn, gloomy religion of Egypt, though it worshipped animal +forms, yet told of incarnate and suffering gods. The labyrinthine +mythologies of the East have their long-drawn stories of the avatars +of their gods floating many a rood on the weltering ocean of their +legends. Tibet cherishes each living sovereign as a real embodiment +of the divine. And the lowest tribes, in their degraded worship, have +not departed so far from the common type but that they too have some +faint echoes of the universal faith. + +Do these facts import anything at all to us? Are we to dismiss them +as simply the products of a stage which we have left far behind, and +to plume ourselves that we have passed out of the twilight? + +Even if we listen to what comparative mythology has to say, it still +remains to account for the tendency to shape legends of the earthly +appearance of the gods; and we shall have to admit that, while they +belong to an early stage of the world's progress, the feelings which +they express belong to all stages of it. + +Now I think we may note these thoughts as contained in this universal +belief: + +The consciousness of the need of divine help. + +The certainty of a fellowship between heaven and earth. + +The high ideal of the capacities and affinities of man. + +We may note further what were the general characteristics of these +incarnations. They were transient, they were 'docetic,' as they are +called--that is, they were merely apparent assumptions of human form +which brought the god into no nearer or truer kindred with humanity, +and they were, for the most part, for very self-regarding and often +most immoral ends, the god's personal gratification of very ungodlike +passions and lust, or his winning victories for his favourites, or +satisfying his anger by trampling on those who had incurred his very +human wrath. + +II. The divine answer which transcends the human dream. + +We have to insist that the truth of the Incarnation is the corner- +stone of Christianity. If that is struck out the whole fabric falls. +Without it there may be a Christ who is the loftiest and greatest of +men, but not the Christ who 'saves His people from their sins.' + +That being so, and Christianity having this feature in common with +all the religions of men, how are we to account for the resemblance? +Are we to listen to the rude solution which says, 'All lies alike'? +Are we to see in it nothing but the operation of like tendencies, or +rather illusions, of human thought--man's own shadow projected on an +illuminated mist? Are we to let the resemblance discredit the +Christian message? Or are we to say that all these others are +unconscious prophecies--man's half-instinctive expression of his deep +need and much misunderstood longing, and that the Christian +proclamation that Jesus is 'God manifest in the flesh' is the +trumpet-toned announcement of Heaven's answer to earth's cry? + +Fairly to face that question is to go far towards answering it. For +as soon as we begin to look steadily at the facts, we find that the +differences between all these other appearances and the Incarnation +are so great as to raise the presumption that their origins are +different. The 'gods' slipped on the appearance of humanity over +their garment of deity in appearance only, and that for a moment. +Jesus is 'bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,' and is not merely +'found in fashion as a man,' but is 'in all points like as we are.' +And that garb of manhood He wears for ever, and in His heavenly glory +is 'the Man Christ Jesus.' + +But _the_ difference between all these other appearances of gods and +the Incarnation lies in the acts to which they and it respectively +led, and the purposes for which they and it respectively took place. +A god who came down to suffer, a god who came to die, a god who came +to be the supreme example of all fair humanities, a god who came to +suffer and to die that men might have life and be victors over sin-- +where is he in all the religions of the world? And does not the fact +that Christianity alone sets before men such a God, such an +Incarnation, for such ends, make the assertion a reasonable one, that +the sources of the universal belief in gods who come down among men +and of the Christian proclamation that the Eternal Word became flesh +are not the same, but that these are men's half-understood cries, and +this is Heaven's answer? + + + +'THE DOOR OF FAITH' + +'And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, +they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had +opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.'--ACTS xiv. 27. + +There are many instances of the occurrence of this metaphor in the +New Testament, but none is exactly like this. We read, for example, +of 'a great door and effectual' being opened to Paul for the free +ministry of the word; and to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia, +'He that openeth and none shall shut' graciously says, 'I have set +before thee a door opened, which none can shut.' But here the door is +faith, that is to say faith is conceived of as the means of entrance +for the Gentiles into the Kingdom, which, till then, Jews had +supposed to be entered by hereditary rite. + +I. Faith is the means of our entrance into the Kingdom. + +The Jew thought that birth and the rite of circumcision were the +door, but the 'rehearsing' of the experiences of Paul and Barnabas on +their first missionary tour shattered that notion by the logic of +facts. Instead of that narrow postern another doorway had been broken +in the wall of the heavenly city, and it was wide enough to admit of +multitudes entering. Gentiles had plainly come in. How had they come +in? By believing in Jesus. Whatever became of previous exclusive +theories, there was a fact that had to be taken into account. It +distinctly proved that faith was 'the gate of the Lord into which,' +not the circumcised but the 'righteous,' who were righteous because +believing, 'should enter.' + +We must not forget the other use of the metaphor, by our Lord +Himself, in which. He declares that He is the Door. The two +representations are varying but entirely harmonious, for the one +refers to the objective fact of Christ's work as making it possible +that we should draw near to and dwell with God, and the other to our +subjective appropriation of that possibility, and making it a reality +in our own blessed experience. + +II. Faith is the means of God's entrance into our hearts. + +We possess the mysterious and awful power of shutting God out of +these hearts. And faith, which in one aspect is our means of entrance +into the Kingdom of God, is, in another, the means of God's entrance +into us. The Psalm, which invokes the divine presence in the Temple, +calls on the 'everlasting doors' to be 'lifted up,' and promises that +then 'the King of Glory will come in.' And the voice of the ascended +Christ, the King of Glory, knocking at the closed door, calls on us +with our own hands to open the door, and promises that He 'will come +in.' + +Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians 'that Christ may dwell in +your hearts through faith,' and there is no other way by which His +indwelling is possible. Faith is not constituted the condition of +that divine indwelling by any arbitrary appointment, as a sovereign +might determine that he would enter a city by a certain route, chosen +without any special reason from amongst many, but in the nature of +things it is necessary that trust, and love which follows trust, and +longing which follows love should be active in a soul if Christ is to +enter in and abide there. + +III. Faith is the means of the entrance of the Kingdom into us. + +If Christ comes in He comes with His pierced hands full of gifts. +Through our faith we receive all spiritual blessings. But we must +ever remember, what this metaphor most forcibly sets forth, that +faith is but the means of entrance. It has no worth in itself, but is +precious only because it admits the true wealth. The door is nothing. +It is only an opening. Faith is the pipe that brings the water, the +flinging wide the shutters that the light may flood the dark room, +the putting oneself into the path of the electric circuit. Salvation +is not arbitrarily connected with faith. It is not the reward of +faith but the possession of what comes through faith, and cannot come +in any other way. Our 'hearts' are 'purified by faith,' because faith +admits into our hearts the life, and instals as dominant in them the +powers, the motives, the Spirit, which purify. We are 'saved by +faith,' for faith brings into our spirits the Christ who saves His +people from their sins, when He abides in them and they abide in Him +through their faith. + + + +THE BREAKING OUT OF DISCORD + +'And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, +and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye +cannot be saved. 2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small +dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul +and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to +Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 3. +And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through +Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: +and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4. And when they +were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of +the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God +had done with them. 5. But there rose up certain of the sect of +the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to +circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. 6. +And the apostles and elders came together 'for to consider of +this matter.'--ACTS xv. 1-6. + +The question as to the conditions on which Gentiles could be received +into Christian communion had already been raised by the case of +Cornelius, but it became more acute after Paul's missionary journey. +The struggle between the narrower and broader views was bound to come +to a head. Traces of the cleft between Palestinian and Hellenist +believers had appeared as far back as the 'murmuring' about the +unfair neglect of the Hellenist widows in the distribution of relief, +and the whole drift of things since had been to widen the gap. + +Whether the 'certain men' had a mission to the Church in Antioch or +not, they had no mandate to lay down the law as they did. Luke +delicately suggests this by saying that they 'came down from Judaea,' +rather than from Jerusalem. We should be fair to these men, and +remember how much they had to say in defence of their position. They +did not question that Gentiles could be received into the Church, but +'kept on teaching' (as the word in the Greek implies) that the +divinely appointed ordinance of circumcision was the 'door' of +entrance. God had prescribed it, and through all the centuries since +Moses, all who came into the fold of Israel had gone in by that gate. +Where was the commandment to set it aside? Was not Paul teaching men +to climb up some other way, and so blasphemously abrogating a divine +law? + +No wonder that honest believers in Jesus as Messiah shrank with +horror from such a revolutionary procedure. The fact that they were +Palestinian Jews, who had never had their exclusiveness rubbed off, +as Hellenists like Paul and Barnabas had had, explains, and to some +extent excuses, their position. And yet their contention struck a +fatal blow at the faith, little as they meant it. Paul saw what they +did not see--that if anything else than faith was brought in as +necessary to knit men to Christ, and make them partakers of +salvation, faith was deposed from its place, and Christianity sank +back to be a religion of 'works.' Experience has proved that anything +whatever introduced as associated with faith ejects faith from its +place, and comes to be recognised as _the_ means of salvation. It +must be faith _or_ circumcision, it cannot be faith _and_ +circumcision. The lesson is needed to-day as much as in Antioch. The +controversy started then is a perennial one, and the Church of the +present needs Paul's exhortation, 'Stand fast therefore in the +liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled +again with the yoke of bondage.' + +The obvious course of appealing to Jerusalem was taken, and it is +noteworthy that in verse 2 the verb 'appointed' has no specified +subject. Plainly, however, it was the Church which acted, and so +natural did that seem to Luke that he felt it unnecessary to say so. +No doubt Paul concurred, but the suggestion is not said to have come +from him. He and Barnabas might have asserted their authority, and +declined to submit what they had done by the Spirit's guidance to the +decision of the Apostles, but they seek the things that make for +peace. + +No doubt the other side was represented in the deputation. Jerusalem +was the centre of unity, and remained so till its fall. The Apostles +and elders were the recognised leaders of the Church. Elders here +appear as holding a position of authority; the only previous mention +of them is in Acts xi. 30, where they receive the alms sent from +Antioch. It is significant that we do not hear of their first +appointment. The organisation of the Church took shape as exigencies +prescribed. + +The deputation left Antioch, escorted lovingly for a little way by +the Church, and, journeying by land, gladdened the groups of +believers in 'Phenicia and Samaria' with the news that the Gentiles +were turning to God. We note that they are not said to have spoken of +the thorny question in these countries, and that it is not said that +there was joy in Judaea. Perhaps the Christians in it were in +sympathy with the narrower view. + +The first step taken in Jerusalem was to call a meeting of the Church +to welcome the deputation. It is significant that the latter did not +broach the question in debate, but told the story of the success of +their mission. That was the best argument for receiving Gentile +converts without circumcision. God had received them; should not the +Church do so? Facts are stronger than theories. It was Peter's +argument in the case of Cornelius: they 'have received the Holy Ghost +as well as we,' 'who was I, that I could withstand God?' It is the +argument which shatters all analogous narrowing of the conditions of +Christian life. If men say, 'Except ye be' this or that 'ye cannot be +saved,' it is enough to point to the fruits of Christian character, +and say, 'These show that the souls which bring them forth _are_ +saved, and you must widen your conceptions of the possibilities to +include these actualities.' It is vain to say 'Ye cannot be' when +manifestly they are. + +But the logic of facts does not convince obstinate theorists, and so +the Judaising party persisted in their 'It is needful to circumcise +them.' None are so blind as those to whom religion is mainly a matter +of ritual. You may display the fairest graces of Christian character +before them, and you get no answer but the reiteration of 'It is +needful to circumcise you.' But on their own ground, in Jerusalem, +the spokesmen of that party enlarged their demands. In Antioch they +had insisted on circumcision, in Jerusalem they added the demand for +entire conformity to the Mosaic law. They were quite logical; their +principle demanded that extension of the requirement, and was thereby +condemned as utterly unworkable. Now that the whole battery was +unmasked the issue was clear--Is Christianity to be a Jewish sect or +the universal religion? Clear as it was, few in that assembly saw it. +But the parting of the ways had been reached. + + + +THE CHARTER OF GENTILE LIBERTY + +'Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas +and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among +the Gentiles by them. 13. And after they had held their peace, +James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14. +Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, +to take out of them a people for His name. 15. And to this agree +the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16. After this I will +return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is +fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will +set it up: 17. That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, +and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, +who doeth all these things. 18. Known unto God are all His works +from the beginning of the world. 19. Wherefore my sentence is, that +we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to +God: 20. But that we write unto them, that they abstain from +pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things +strangled, and from blood. 21. For Moses of old time hath in every +city them that preach Him, being read in the synagogues every +sabbath day. 22. Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the +whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch +with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, +chief men among the brethren: 23. And they wrote letters by them +after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send +greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and +Syria and Cilicia: 24. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain +which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting +your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to +whom we gave no such commandment: 25. It seemed good unto us, being +assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our +beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. Men that have hazarded their lives +for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27. We have sent therefore +Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. +28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon +you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29. That ye +abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from +things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep +yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.'--ACTS xv. 12-29. + +Much was at stake in the decision of this gathering of the Church. If +the Jewish party triumphed, Christianity sank to the level of a +Jewish sect. The question brought up for decision was difficult, and +there was much to be said for the view that the Mosaic law was +binding on Gentile converts. It must have been an uprooting of +deepest beliefs for a Jewish Christian to contemplate the abrogation +of that law, venerable by its divine origin, by its hoary antiquity, +by its national associations. We must not be hard upon men who clung +to it; but we should learn from their final complete drifting away +from Christianity how perilous is the position which insists on the +necessity to true discipleship of any outward observance. + +Our passage begins in the middle of the conference. Peter has, with +characteristic vehemence, dwelt upon the divine attestation of the +genuine equality of the uncircumcised converts with the Jewish, given +by their possession of the same divine Spirit, and has flung fiery +questions at the Judaisers, which silenced them. Then, after the +impressive hush following his eager words, Barnabas and Paul tell +their story once more, and clinch the nail driven by Peter by +asserting that God had already by 'signs and wonders' given His +sanction to the admission of Gentiles without circumcision. +Characteristically, in Jerusalem Barnabas is restored to his place +above Paul, and is named first as speaking first, and regarded by the +Jerusalem Church as the superior of the missionary pair. + +The next speaker is James, not an Apostle, but the bishop of the +Church in Jerusalem, of whom tradition tells that he was a zealous +adherent to the Mosaic law in his own person, and that his knees were +as hard as a camel's through continual prayer. It is singular that +this meeting should be so often called 'the Apostolic council,' when, +as a fact, only one Apostle said a word, and he not as an Apostle, +but as the chosen instrument to preach to the Gentiles. 'The elders,' +of whose existence we now hear for the first time in this wholly +incidental manner, were associated with the Apostles (ver. 6), and +the 'multitude' (ver. 12) is most naturally taken to be 'the whole +Church' (ver. 22). James represents the eldership, and as bishop in +Jerusalem and an eager observer of legal prescriptions, fittingly +speaks. His words practically determined the question. Like a wise +man, he begins with facts. His use of the intensely Jewish form of +the name Simeon is an interesting reminiscence of old days. So he had +been accustomed to call Peter when they were all young together, and +so he calls him still, though everybody else named him by his new +name. What God had done by him seems to James to settle the whole +question; for it was nothing else than to put the Gentile converts +without circumcision on an equality with the Jewish part of the +Church. + +Note the significant juxtaposition of the words 'Gentiles' and +'people'--the former the name for heathen, the latter the sacred +designation of the chosen nation. The great paradox which, through +Peter's preaching at Caesarea, had become a fact was that the 'people +of God' were made up of Gentiles as well as Jews--that His name was +equally imparted to both. If God had made Gentiles His people, had He +not thereby shown that the special observances of Israel were put +aside, and that, in particular, circumcision was no longer the +condition of entrance? The end of national distinction and the +opening of a new way of incorporation among the people of God were +clearly contained in the facts. How much Christian narrowness would +be blown to atoms if its advocates would do as James did, and let +God's facts teach them the width of God's purposes and the +comprehensiveness of Christ's Church! We do wisely when we square our +theories with facts; but many of us go to work in the opposite way, +and snip down facts to the dimension of our theories. + +James's next step is marked equally by calm wisdom and open- +mindedness. He looks to God's word, as interpreted by God's deeds, to +throw light in turn on the deeds and to confirm the interpretation of +these. Two things are to be noted in considering his quotation from +Amos--its bearing on the question in hand, and its divergence from +the existing Hebrew text. As to the former, there seems at first +sight nothing relevant to James's purpose in the quotation, which +simply declares that the Gentiles will seek the Lord when the fallen +tabernacle of David is rebuilt. That period of time has at least +begun, thinks James, in the work of Jesus, in whom the decayed +dominion of David is again in higher form established. The return of +the Gentiles does not merely synchronise with, but is the intended +issue of, Christ's reign. Lifted from the earth, He will draw all men +unto Him, and they shall 'seek the Lord,' and on them His name will +be called. + +Now the force of this quotation lies, as it seems, first in the fact +that Peter's experience at Caesarea is to be taken as an indication +of how God means the prophecy to be fulfilled, namely, without +circumcision; and secondly, in the _argumentum a silentio_, since the +prophet says nothing about ritual or the like, but declares that +moral and spiritual qualifications--on the one hand a true desire +after God, and on the other receiving the proclamation of His name +and calling themselves by it--are all that are needed to make +Gentiles God's people. Just because there is nothing in the prophecy +about observing Jewish ceremonies, and something about longing and +faith, James thinks that these are the essentials, and that the +others may be dropped by the Church, as God had dropped them in the +case of Cornelius, and as Amos had dropped them in his vision of the +future kingdom. God knew what He meant to do when He spoke through +the prophet, and what He has done has explained the words, as James +says in verse 18. + +The variation from the Hebrew text requires a word of comment. The +quotation is substantially from the Septuagint, with a slight +alteration. Probably James quoted the version familiar to many of his +hearers. It seems to have been made from a somewhat different Hebrew +text in verse 17, but the difference is very much slighter than an +English reader would suppose. Our text has 'Edom' where the +Septuagint has 'men'; but the Hebrew words without vowels are +identical but for the addition of one letter in the former. Our text +has 'inherit' where the Septuagint has 'seek after'; but there again +the difference in the two Hebrew words would be one letter only, so +that there may well have been a various reading as preserved in the +Septuagint and Acts. James adds to the Septuagint 'seek' the +evidently correct completion 'the Lord.' + +Now it is obvious that, even if we suppose his rendering of the whole +verse to be a paraphrase of the same Hebrew text as we have, it is a +correct representation of the meaning; for the 'inheriting of Edom' +is no mere external victory, and Edom is always in the Old Testament +the type of the godless man. The conquest of the Gentiles by the +restorer of David's tabernacle is really the seeking after the Lord, +and the calling of His name upon the Gentiles. + +The conclusion drawn by James is full of practical wisdom, and would +have saved the Church from many a sad page in its history, if its +spirit had been prevalent in later 'councils.' Note how the very +designation given to the Gentile converts in verse 19 carries +argumentative force. 'They turn to God from among the Gentiles'--if +they have done that, surely their new separation and new attachment +are enough, and make insistence on circumcision infinitely +ridiculous. They have the thing signified; what does it matter about +the sign, which is good for us Jews, but needless for them? If Church +rulers had always been as open-eyed as this bishop in Jerusalem, and +had been content if people were joined to God and parted from the +world, what torrents of blood, what frowning walls of division, what +scandals and partings of brethren would have been spared! + +The observances suggested are a portion of the precepts enjoined by +Judaism on proselytes. The two former were necessary to the Christian +life; the two latter were not, but were concessions to the Jewish +feelings of the stricter party. The conclusion may be called a +compromise, but it was one dictated by the desire for unity, and had +nothing unworthy in it. There should be giving and taking on both +sides. If the Jewish Christians made the, to them, immense concession +of waiving the necessity of circumcision, the Gentile section might +surely make the small one of abstinence from things strangled and +from blood. Similarities in diet would daily assimilate the lives of +the two parties, and would be a more visible and continuous token of +their oneness than the single act of circumcision. + +But what does the reason in verse 21 mean? Why should the reading of +Moses every Sabbath be a reason for these concessions? Various +answers are given: but the most natural is that the constant +promulgation of the law made respect for the feelings (even if +mistaken) of Jewish Christians advisable, and the course suggested +the most likely to win Jews who were not yet Christians. Both classes +would be flung farther apart if there were not some yielding. The +general principle involved is that one cannot be too tender with old +and deeply rooted convictions even if they be prejudices, and that +Christian charity, which is truest wisdom, will consent to +limitations of Christian liberty, if thereby any little one who +believes in Him shall be saved from being offended, or any unbeliever +from being repelled. + +The letter embodying James's wise suggestion needs little further +notice. We may observe that there was no imposing and authoritative +decision of the Ecclesia, but that the whole thing was threshed out +in free talk, and then the unanimous judgment of the community, +'Apostles, elders and the whole Church,' was embodied in the epistle. +Observe the accurate rendering of verse 25 (R.V.), 'having _come_ to +one accord,' which gives a lively picture of the process. Note too +that James's proposal of a letter was mended by the addition of a +deputation, consisting of an unknown 'Judas called Barsabas' (perhaps +a relative of 'Joseph called Barsabas,' the unsuccessful nominee for +Apostleship in chap. i.), and the well-known Silas or Silvanus, of +whom we hear so much in Paul's letters. That journey was the turning- +point in his life, and he henceforward, attracted by the mass and +magnetism of Paul's great personality, revolved round him, and +forsook Jerusalem. + +Probably James drew up the document, which has the same somewhat +unusual 'greeting' as his Epistle. The sharp reference to the +Judaising teachers would be difficult for their sympathisers to +swallow, but charity is not broken by plain repudiation of error and +its teachers. 'Subverting your souls' is a heavy charge. The word is +only here found in the New Testament, and means to unsettle, the +image in it being that of packing up baggage for removal. The +disavowal of these men is more complete if we follow the Revised +Version in reading (ver. 24) 'no commandment' instead of 'no such +commandment.' + +These unauthorised teachers 'went'; but, in strong contrast with +them, Judas and Silas are chosen out and sent. Another thrust at the +Judaising teachers is in the affectionate eulogy of Paul and Barnabas +as 'beloved,' whatever disparaging things had been said about them, +and as having 'hazarded their lives,' while these others had taken +very good care of themselves, and had only gone to disturb converts +whom Paul and Barnabas had won at the peril of their lives. + +The calm matter-of-course assertion that the decision which commended +itself to 'us' is the decision of 'the Holy Ghost' was warranted by +Christ's promises, and came from the consciousness that they had +observed the conditions which He had laid down. They had brought +their minds to bear upon the question, with the light of facts and of +Scripture, and had come to a unanimous conclusion. If they believed +their Lord's parting words, they could not doubt that His Spirit had +guided them. If we lived more fully in that Spirit, we should know +more of the same peaceful assurance, which is far removed from the +delusion of our own infallibility, and is the simple expression of +trust in the veracious promises of our Lord. + +The closing words of the letter are beautifully brotherly, sinking +authority, and putting in the foreground the advantage to the Gentile +converts of compliance with the injunctions. 'Ye shall do well,' +rightly and conformably with the requirements of brotherly love to +weaker brethren. And thus doing well, they will 'fare well,' and be +strong. That is not the way in which 'lords over God's heritage' are +accustomed to end their decrees. Brotherly affection, rather than +authority imposing its will, breathes here. Would that all succeeding +'Councils' had imitated this as well as 'it seemed good to the Holy +Ghost, and to us'! + + + +A GOOD MAN'S FAULTS + +'And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname +was Mark. 38. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, +who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to +the work.'--ACTS xv. 37, 38. + +Scripture narratives are remarkable for the frankness with which they +tell the faults of the best men. It has nothing in common with the +cynical spirit in historians, of which this age has seen eminent +examples, which fastens upon the weak places in the noblest natures, +like a wasp on bruises in the ripest fruit, and delights in showing +how all goodness is imperfect, that it may suggest that none is +genuine. Nor has it anything in common with that dreary melancholy +which also has its representatives among us, that sees everywhere +only failures and fragments of men, and has no hope of ever attaining +anything beyond the common average of excellence. But Scripture +frankly confesses that all its noblest characters have fallen short +of unstained purity, and with boldness of hope as great as its +frankness teaches the weakest to aspire, and the most sinful to +expect perfect likeness to a perfect Lord, It is a plane mirror, +giving back all images without distortion. + +We recall how emphatically and absolutely it eulogised Barnabas as 'a +good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith'--and now we have to +notice how this man, thus full of the seminal principle of all +goodness, derived into his soul by deep and constant communion +through faith, and showing in his life practical righteousness and +holiness, yet goes sadly astray, tarnishes his character, and mars +his whole future. + +The two specific faults recorded of him are his over-indulgence in +the case of Mark, and his want of firmness in opposition to the +Judaising teachers who came down to Antioch. They were neither of +them grave faults, but they were real. In the one he was too facile +in overlooking a defect which showed unfitness for the work, and +seems to have yielded to family affection and to have sacrificed the +efficiency of a mission to it. Not only was he wrong in proposing to +condone Mark's desertion, but he was still more wrong in his +reception of the opposition to his proposal. With the firmness which +weak characters so often display at the wrong time, he was resolved, +come what would, to have his own way. Temper rather than principle +made him obstinate where he should have been yielding, as it had made +him in Antioch yielding, where he should have been firm. Paul's +remonstrances have no effect. He will rather have his own way than +the companionship of his old friend, and so there come alienation and +separation. The Church at Antioch takes Paul's view--all the brethren +are unanimous in disapproval. But Barnabas will not move. He sets up +his own feeling in opposition to them all. The sympathy of his +brethren, the work of his life, the extension of Christ's kingdom, +are all tossed aside. His own foolish purpose is more to him in that +moment of irritation than all these. So he snaps the tie, abandons +his work, and goes away without a kindly word, without a blessing, +without the Church's prayers--but with his nephew for whom he had +given up all these. Paul sails away to do God's work, and the Church +'recommends him to the grace of God,' but Barnabas steals away home +to Cyprus, and his name is no more heard in the story of the planting +of the kingdom of Christ. + +One hopes that his work did not stop thus, but his recorded work +does, and in the band of friends who surrounded the great Apostle, +the name of his earliest friend appears no more. Other companions and +associates in labour take his place; he, as it appears, is gone for +ever. One reference (1 Cor. ix. 6) at a later date seems most +naturally to suggest that he still continued in the work of an +evangelist, and still practised the principle to which he and Paul +had adhered when together, of supporting himself by manual labour. +The tone of the reference implies that there were relations of mutual +respect. But the most we can believe is that probably the two men +still thought kindly of each other and honoured each other for their +work's sake, but found it better to labour apart, and not to seek to +renew the old companionship which had been so violently torn asunder. + +The other instance of weakness was in some respects of a still graver +kind. The cause of it was the old controversy about the obligations +of Jewish law on Gentile Christians. Paul, Peter, and Barnabas all +concurred in neglecting the restrictions imposed by Judaism, and in +living on terms of equality and association in eating and drinking +with the heathen converts at Antioch. A principle was involved, to +which Barnabas had bean the first to give in his adhesion, in the +frank recognition of the Antioch Church. But as soon as emissaries +from the other party came down, Peter and he abandoned their +association with Gentile converts, not changing their convictions but +suppressing the action to which their convictions should have led. +They pretended to be of the same mind with these narrow Jews from +Jerusalem. They insulted their brethren, they deserted Paul, they +belied their convictions, they imperilled the cause of Christian +liberty, they flew in the face of what Peter had said that God +Himself had showed him, they did their utmost to degrade Christianity +into a form of Judaism--all for the sake of keeping on good terms +with the narrow bigotry of these Judaising teachers. + +Now if we take these two facts together, and set them side by side +with the eulogy pronounced on Barnabas as 'a good man, full of the +Holy Ghost and of faith,' we have brought before us in a striking +form some important considerations. + +I. The imperfect goodness of good men. + +A good man does not mean a faultless man. Of course the power which +works on a believing soul is always tending to produce goodness and +only goodness. But its operation is not such that we are always +equally, uniformly, perfectly under its influence. Power in germ is +one thing, in actual operation another. There may be but a little +ragged patch of green in the garden, and yet it may be on its way to +become a flower-bed. A king may not have established dominion over +all his land. The actual operation of that transforming Spirit at any +given moment is limited, and we can withdraw ourselves from it. It +does not begin by leavening all our nature. + +So we have to note-- + +The root of goodness. + +The main direction of a life. + +The progressive character of goodness. + +The highest style of Christian life is a struggle. So we draw +practical inferences as to the conduct of life. + +This thought of imperfection does not diminish the criminality of +individual acts. + +It does not weaken aspiration and effort towards higher life. + +It does alleviate our doubts and fears when we find evil in +ourselves. + +II. The possible evil lurking in our best qualities. + +In Barnabas, his amiability and openness of nature, the very +characteristics that had made him strong, now make him weak and +wrong. + +How clearly then there is brought out here the danger that lurks even +in our good! I need not remind you how every virtue may be run to an +extreme and become a vice. Liberality is exaggerated into +prodigality; firmness, into obstinacy; mercy, into weakness; gravity, +into severity; tolerance, into feeble conviction; humility, into +abjectness. + +And these extremes are reached when these graces are developed at the +expense of the symmetry of the character. + +We are not simple but complex, and what we need to aim at is a +character, not an excrescence. Some people's goodness is like a wart +or a wen. Their virtues are cases of what medical technicality calls +hypertrophy. But our goodness should be like harmonious Indian +patterns, where all colours blend in a balanced whole. + +Such considerations enforce the necessity for rigid self-control. And +that in two directions. + +(_a_) Beware of your excellences, your strong points. + +(_b_) Cultivate sedulously the virtues to which you are not inclined. + +The special form of error into which Barnabas fell is worth notice. +It was over-indulgence, tolerance of evil in a person; feebleness of +grasp, a deficiency of boldness in carrying out his witness to a +disputed truth. In this day liberality, catholicity, are pushed so +far that there is danger of our losing the firmness of our grasp of +principles, and indulgence for faults goes so far that we are apt to +lose the habit of unsparing, though unangry, condemnation of unworthy +characters. This generation is like Barnabas; very quick in sympathy, +generous in action, ready to recognise goodness where-ever it is +beheld. But Barnabas may be a beacon, warning us of the possible +evils that dog these excellences like their shadows. + +III. The grave issues of small faults. + +Comparatively trivial as was Barnabas's error, it seems to have +wrecked his life, at least to have marred it for long years, and to +have broken his sweet companionship with Paul. I think we may go +further and say, that most good men are in more danger from trivial +faults than from great ones. No man reaches the superlative degree of +wickedness all at once. Few men spring from the height to the abyss, +they usually slip down. The erosive action of the sand of the desert +is said to be gradually cutting off the Sphinx's head. The small +faults are most numerous. We are least on our guard against them. +There is a microscopic weed that chokes canals. Snow-flakes make the +sky as dark as an eclipse does. White ants eat a carcase quicker than +a lion does. + +So we urge the necessity for bringing ordinary deeds and small +actions to be ruled and guided by God's Spirit. + +How the contemplation of the imperfection, which is the law of life, +should lead us to hope for that heaven where perfection is. + +How the contemplation of the limits of all human goodness should lead +us to exclusive faith in, and imitation of, the one perfect Lord. He +stands stainless among the stained. In Him alone is no sin, from Him +alone like goodness may be ours. + + + +HOW TO SECURE A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE + +'And after [Paul] had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured +to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had +called us for to preach the gospel unto them. 11. Therefore ... +we came with a straight course.'--ACTS xvi. 10, 11. + +This book of the Acts is careful to point out how each fresh step in +the extension of the Church's work was directed and commanded by +Jesus Christ Himself. Thus Philip was sent by specific injunction to +'join himself' to the chariot of the Ethiopian statesman. Thus Peter +on the house-top at Joppa, looking out over the waters of the western +sea, had the vision of the great sheet, knit at the four corners. And +thus Paul, in singularly similar circumstances, in the little seaport +of Troas, looking out over the narrower sea which there separates +Asia from Europe, had the vision of the man of Macedonia, with his +cry, 'Come over and help _us_!' The whole narrative before us bears +upon the one point, that Christ Himself directs the expansion of His +kingdom. And there never was a more fateful moment than that at which +the Gospel, in the person of the Apostle, crossed the sea, and +effected a lodgment in the progressive quarter of the world. + +Now what I wish to do is to note how Paul and his little company +behaved themselves when they had received Christ's commandment. For I +think there are lessons worth the gathering to be found there. There +was no doubt about the vision; the question was what it meant. So +note three stages. First, careful consideration, with one's own +common sense, of what God wants us to do--'Assuredly gathering that +the Lord had called us.' Then, let no grass grow under our feet-- +immediate obedience--'Straightway we endeavoured to go into +Macedonia.' And then, patient pondering and instantaneous submission +get the reward--'We came with a straight course.' He gave the winds +and the waves charge concerning them. Now there are three lessons for +us. Taken together, they are patterns of what ought to be in our +experience, and will be, if the conditions are complied with. + +I. First, Careful Consideration. + +Paul had no doubt that what he saw was a vision from Christ, and not +a mere dream of the night, born of the reverberation of waking +thoughts and anxieties, that took the shape of the plaintive cry of +the man of Macedonia. But then the next step was to be quite sure of +what the vision meant. And so, wisely, he does not make up his mind +himself, but calls in the three men who were with him. And what a +significant little group it was! There were Timothy, Silas, and Luke +--Silas, from Jerusalem; Timothy, half a Gentile; Luke, altogether a +Gentile; and Paul himself--and these four shook the world. They come +together, and they talk the matter over. The word of my text rendered +'assuredly gathering' is a picturesque one. It literally means +'laying things together.' They set various facts side by side, or as +we say in our colloquial idiom, 'They put this and that together,' +and so they came to understand what the vision meant. + +What had they to help them to understand it? Well, they had this +fact, that in all the former part of their journey they had been met +by hindrances; that their path had been hedged up here, there, and +everywhere. Paul set out from Antioch, meaning a quiet little tour of +visitation amongst the churches that had been already established. +Jesus Christ meant Philippi and Athens and Corinth and Ephesus, +before Paul got back again. So we read in an earlier portion of the +chapter that the Spirit of Jesus forbade them to speak the Word in +one region, and checked and hindered them when, baffled, they tried +to go to another. There then remained only one other road open to +them, and that led to the coast. Thus putting together their +hindrances and their stimuluses, they came to the conclusion that +unitedly the two said plainly, 'Go across the sea, and preach the +word there.' + +Now it is a very commonplace and homely piece of teaching to remind +you that time is not wasted in making quite sure of the meaning of +providences which seem to declare the will of God, before we begin to +act. But the commonest duties are very often neglected; and we +preachers, I think, would very often do more good by hammering at +commonplace themes than by bringing out original and fresh ones. And +so I venture to say a word about the immense importance to Christian +life and Christian service of this preliminary step--'assuredly +gathering that the Lord had called us.' What have we to do in order +to be quite sure of God's intention for us? + +Well, the first thing seems to me to make quite sure that we want to +know it, and that we do not want to force our intentions upon Him, +and then to plume ourselves upon being obedient to His call, when we +are only doing what we like. There is a vast deal of unconscious +insincerity in us all; and especially in regard to Christian work +there is an enormous amount of it. People will say, 'Oh, I have such +a strong impulse in a given direction, to do certain kinds of +Christian service, that I am quite sure that it is God's will.' How +are you sure? A strong impulse may be a temptation from the devil as +well as a call from God. And men who simply act on untested impulses, +even the most benevolent which spring directly from large Christian +principles, may be making deplorable mistakes. It is not enough to +have pure motives. It is useless to say, 'Such and such a course of +action is clearly the result of the truths of the Gospel.' That may +be all perfectly true, and yet the course may not be the course for +you. For there may be practical considerations, which do not come +into our view unless we carefully think about them, which forbid us +to take such a path. So remember that strong impulses are not guiding +lights; nor is it enough to vindicate our pursuing some mode of +Christian service that it is in accordance with the principles of the +Gospel. 'Circumstances alter cases' is a very homely old saying; but +if Christian people would only bring the common sense to bear upon +their religious life which they need to bring to bear upon their +business life, unless they are going into the _Gazette_, there would +be less waste work in the Christian Church than there is to-day. I do +not want less zeal; I want that the reins of the fiery steed shall be +kept well in hand. The difference between a fanatic, who is a fool, +and an enthusiast, who is a wise man, is that the one brings calm +reason to bear, and an open-eyed consideration of circumstances all +round; and the other sees but one thing at a time, and shuts his +eyes, like a bull in a field, and charges at that. So let us be sure, +to begin with, that we want to know what God wants us to do; and that +we are not palming our wishes upon Him, and calling them His +providences. + +Then there is another plain, practical consideration that comes out +of this story, and that is, Do not be above being taught by failures +and hindrances. You know the old proverb, 'It is waste time to flog a +dead horse.' There is not a little well-meant work flung away, +because it is expended on obviously hopeless efforts to revivify, +perhaps, some moribund thing or to continue, perhaps, in some old, +well-worn rut, instead of striking out into a new path. Paul was full +of enthusiasm for the evangelisation of Asia Minor, and he might have +said a great deal about the importance of going to Ephesus. He tried +to do it, but Christ said 'No.' and Paul did not knock his head +against the stone wall that lay between him and the accomplishment of +his purpose, but he gave it up and tried another tack. He next wished +to go up into Bithynia, and he might have said a great deal about the +needs of the people by the Euxine; but again down came the barrier, +and he had once more to learn the lesson, 'Not as thou wilt, but as I +will.' He was not above being taught by his failures. Some of us are; +and it is very difficult, and needs a great deal of Christian wisdom +and unselfishness, to distinguish between hindrances in the way of +work which are meant to evoke larger efforts, and hindrances which +are meant to say, 'Try another path, and do not waste time here any +longer.' + +But if we wish supremely to know God's will, He will help us to +distinguish between these two kinds of difficulties. Some one has +said, 'Difficulties are things to be overcome.' Yes, but not always. +They very often are, and we should thank God for them then; but they +sometimes are God's warnings to us to go by another road. So we need +discretion, and patience, and suspense of judgment to be brought to +bear upon all our purposes and plans. + +Then, of course, I need not remind you that the way to get light is +to seek it in the Book and in communion with Him whom the Book +reveals to us as the true Word of God: 'He that followeth Me shall +not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' So careful +consideration is a preliminary to all good Christian work. And, if +you can, talk to some Timothy and Silas and Luke about your course, +and do not be above taking a brother's advice. + +II. The next step is Immediate Submission. + +When they had assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them, +'immediately'--there is great virtue in that one word--'we +endeavoured to go into Macedonia.' Delayed obedience is the brother-- +and, if I may mingle metaphors, sometimes the father--of +disobedience. It sometimes means simple feebleness of conviction, +indolence, and a general lack of fervour. It means very often a +reluctance to do the duty that lies plainly before us. And, dear +brethren, as I have said about the former lesson, so I say about +this. The homely virtue, which we all know to be indispensable to +success in common daily life and commercial undertakings, is no less +indispensable to all vigour of Christian life and to all nobleness of +Christian service. We have no hours to waste; the time is short. In +the harvest-field, especially when it is getting near the end of the +week, and the Sunday is at hand, there are little leisure and little +tolerance of slow workers. And for us the fields are white, the +labourers are few, the Lord of the harvest is imperative, the sun is +hurrying to the west, and the sickles will have to be laid down +before long. So, '_immediately_ we endeavoured.' + +Delayed duty is present discomfort. As long as a man has a +conscience, so long will he be restless and uneasy until he has, as +the Quakers say, 'cleared himself of his burden,' and done what he +knows that he ought to do, and got done with it. Delayed obedience +means wasted possibilities of service, and so is ever to be avoided. +The more disagreeable anything is which is plainly a duty, the more +reason there is for doing it right away. 'I made haste, and delayed +not, but made haste to keep Thy commandments.' + +Did you ever count how many '_straightways_' there are in the first +chapter of Mark's Gospel? If you have not, will you do it when you go +home; and notice how they come in? In the story of Christ's opening +ministry every fresh incident is tacked on to the one before it, in +that chapter, by that same word 'straightway.' 'Straightway' He does +that; 'anon' He does this; 'immediately' He does the other thing. All +is one continuous stream of acts of service. The Gospel of Mark is +the Gospel of the servant, and it sets forth the pattern to which all +Christian service ought to be conformed. + +So if we take Jesus Christ for our Example, unhasting and unresting +in the work of the Lord, we shall let no moment pass burdened with +undischarged duty; and we shall find that all the moments are few +enough for the discharge of the duties incumbent upon us. + +III. So, lastly, careful consideration and unhesitating obedience +lead to a Straight Course. + +Well, it is not so always, but it is so generally. There is a +wonderful power in diligent doing of God's known will to smooth away +difficulties and avoid troubles. I do not, of course, mean that a man +who thus lives, patiently ascertaining and then promptly doing what +God would have him do, has any miraculous exemption from the ordinary +sorrows and trials of life. But sure I am that a very, very large +proportion of all the hindrances and disappointments, storms and +quicksands, calms which prevent progress and headwinds that beat in +our faces, are directly the products of our negligence in one or +other of these two respects, and that although by no means +absolutely, yet to an extent that we should not believe if we had not +the experience of it, the wish to do God's will and the doing of it +with our might when we know what it is have a talismanic power in +calming the seas and bringing us to the desired haven. + +But though this is not always absolutely true in regard of outward +things, it is, without exception or limitation, true in regard of the +inward life. For if my supreme will is to do God's will then nothing +which is His will, and comes to me because it is can be a hindrance +in my doing that. + +As an old proverb says, 'Travelling merchants can never be out of +their road.' And a Christian man whose path is simple obedience to +the will of God can never be turned from that path by whatever +hindrances may affect his outward life. So, in deepest truth, there +is always a calm voyage for the men whose eyes are open to discern, +and whose hands are swift to fulfil, the commandments of their Father +in heaven. For them all winds blow them to their port; for them 'all +things work together for good'; with them God's servants who hearken +to the voice of His commandments, and are His ministers to do His +pleasure, can never be other than in amity and alliance. He who is +God's servant is the world's master. 'All things are yours if ye are +Christ's.' + +So, brethren, careful study of providences and visions, of hindrances +and stimulus, careful setting of our lives side by side with the +Master's, and a swift delight in doing the will of the Lord, will +secure for us, in inmost truth, a prosperous voyage, till all storms +are hushed, 'and they are glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth +them to their desired haven.' + + + +PAUL AT PHILIPPI + +'And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate, by a +river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we +sat down, and spake unto the women which were come together.' +--ACTS xvi. 13 (R.V.). + +This is the first record of the preaching of the Gospel in Europe, +and probably the first instance of it. The fact that the vision of +the man of Macedonia was needed in order to draw the Apostle across +the straits into Macedonia, and the great length at which the +incidents at Philippi are recorded, make this probable. If so, we are +here standing, as it were, at the wellhead of a mighty river, and the +thin stream of water assumes importance when we remember the thousand +miles of its course, and the league-broad estuary in which it pours +itself into the ocean. Here is the beginning; the Europe of to-day is +what came out of it. There is no sign whatever that the Apostle was +conscious of an epoch in this transference of the sphere of his +operations, but we can scarcely help being conscious of such. + +And so, looking at the words of my text, and seeing here how +unobtrusively there stole into the progressive part of the world the +power which was to shatter and remould all its institutions, to guide +and inform the onward march of its peoples, to be the basis of their +liberties, and the starting-point of their literature, we can +scarcely avoid drawing lessons of importance. + +The first point which I would suggest, as picturesquely enforced for +us by this incident, is-- + +I. The apparent insignificance and real greatness of Christian work. + +There did not seem in the whole of that great city that morning a +more completely insignificant knot of people than the little weather- +beaten Jew, travel-stained, of weak bodily presence, and of +contemptible speech, with the handful of his attendants, who slipped +out in the early morning and wended their way to the quiet little +oratory, beneath the blue sky, by the side of the rushing stream, and +there talked informally and familiarly to the handful of women. The +great men of Philippi would have stared if any one had said to them, +'You will be forgotten, but two of these women will have their names +embalmed in the memory of the world for ever. Everybody will know +Euodia and Syntyche. Your city will be forgotten, although a battle +that settled the fate of the civilised world was fought outside your +gates. But that little Jew and the letter that he will write to that +handful of believers that are to be gathered by his preaching will +last for ever.' The mightiest thing done in Europe that morning was +when the Apostle sat down by the riverside, 'and spake to the women +which resorted thither.' + +The very same vulgar mistake as to what is great and as to what is +small is being repeated over and over again; and we are all tempted +to it by that which is worldly and vulgar in ourselves, to the +enormous detriment of the best part of our natures. So it is worth +while to stop for a moment and ask what is the criterion of greatness +in our deeds? I answer, three things--their motive, their sphere, +their consequences. What is done for God is always great. You take a +pebble and drop it into a brook, and immediately the dull colouring +upon it flashes up into beauty when the sunlight strikes through the +ripples, and the magnitude of the little stone is enlarged. If I may +make use of such a violent expression, drop your deeds into God, and +they will all be great, however small they are. Keep them apart from +Him, and they will be small, though all the drums of the world beat +in celebration, and all the vulgar people on the earth extol their +magnitude. This altar magnifies and sanctifies the giver and the +gift. The great things are the things that are done for God. + +A deed is great according to its sphere. What bears on and is +confined to material things is smaller than what affects the +understanding. The teacher is more than the man who promotes material +good. And on the very same principle, above both the one and the +other, is the doer of deeds which touch the diviner part of a man's +nature, his will, his conscience, his affections, his relations to +God. Thus the deeds that impinge upon these are the highest and the +greatest; and far above the scientific inventor, and far above the +mere teacher, as I believe, and as I hope you believe, stands the +humblest work of the poorest Christian who seeks to draw any other +soul into the light and liberty which he himself possesses. The +greatest thing in the world is charity, and the purest charity in the +world is that which helps a man to possess the basis and mother- +tincture of all love, the love towards God who has first loved us, in +the person and the work of His dear Son. + +That which being done has consequences that roll through souls, 'and +grow for ever and for ever,' is a greater work than the deed whose +issues are more short-lived. And so the man who speaks a word which +may deflect a soul into the paths which have no end until they are +swallowed up in the light of the God who 'is a Sun,' is a worker +whose work is truly great. Brethren, it concerns the nobleness of the +life of us Christian people far more closely than we sometimes +suppose, that we should purge our souls from the false estimate of +magnitudes which prevails so extensively in the world's judgment of +men and their doings. And though it is no worthy motive for a man to +seek to live so that he may do great things, it is a part of the +discipline of the Christian mind, as well as heart, that we should be +able to reduce the swollen bladders to their true flaccidity and +insignificance, and that we should understand that things done for +God, things done on men's souls, things done with consequences which +time will not exhaust, nor eternity put a period to, are, after all, +the great things of human life. + +Ah, there will be a wonderful reversal of judgments one day! Names +that now fill the trumpet of fame will fall silent. Pages that now +are read as if they were leaves of the 'Book of Life' will be +obliterated and unknown, and when all the flashing cressets in Vanity +Fair have smoked and stunk themselves out, 'They that be wise shall +shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to +righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.' The great things are +the Christian things, and there was no greater deed done that day, on +this round earth, than when that Jewish wayfarer, travel-stained and +insignificant, sat himself down in the place of prayer, and 'spake +unto the women which resorted thither.' Do not be over-cowed by the +loud talk of the world, but understand that Christian work is the +mightiest work that a man can do. + +Let us take from this incident a hint as to-- + +II. The law of growth in Christ's Kingdom. + +Here, as I have said, is the thin thread of water at the source. We +to-day are on the broad bosom of the expanded stream. Here is the +little beginning; the world that we see around us has come from this, +and there is a great deal more to be done yet before all the power +that was transported into Europe, on that Sabbath morning, has +wrought its legitimate effects. That is to say, 'the Kingdom of God +cometh not by observation.' Let me say a word, and only a word, based +on this incident, about the law of small beginnings and the law of +slow, inconspicuous development. + +We have here an instance of the law of small, silent beginnings. Let +us go back to the highest example of everything that is good; the +life of Jesus Christ. A cradle at Bethlehem, a carpenter's shop in +Nazareth, thirty years buried in a village, two or three years, at +most, going up and down quietly in a remote nook of the earth, and +then He passed away silently and the world did not know Him. 'He +shall not strive nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the +streets.' And as the Christ so His Church, and so His Gospel, and so +all good movements that begin from Him. Destructive preparations may +be noisy; they generally are. Constructive beginnings are silent and +small. If a thing is launched with a great beating of drums and +blowing of trumpets, you may be pretty sure there is very little in +it. Drums are hollow, or they would not make such a noise. Trumpets +only catch and give forth wind. They say--I know not whether it is +true--that the _Wellingtonia gigantea_, the greatest of forest trees, +has a smaller seed than any of its congeners. It may be so, at any +rate it does for an illustration. The germ-cell is always +microscopic. A little beginning is a prophecy of a great ending. + +In like manner there is another large principle suggested here which, +in these days of impatient haste and rushing to and fro, and +religious as well as secular advertising and standing at street +corners, we are very apt to forget, but which we need to remember, +and that is that the rate of growth is swift when the duration of +existence is short. A reed springs up in a night. How long does an +oak take before it gets too high for a sheep to crop at? The moth +lives its full life in a day. There is no creature that has helpless +infancy so long as a man. We have the slow work of mining; the +dynamite will be put into the hole one day, and the spark applied-- +and then? So 'an inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, +but the end thereof shall not be blessed.' + +Let us apply that to our own personal life and work, and to the +growth of Christianity in the world, and let us not be staggered +because either are so slow. 'The Lord is not slack concerning His +promises, as some men count slackness. One day is with the Lord as a +thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.' How long will that +day be of which a thousand years are but as the morning twilight? +Brethren, you have need of patience. You Christian workers, and I +hope I am speaking to a great many such now; how long does it take +before we can say that we are making any impression at all on the +vast masses of evil and sin that are round about us? God waited, +nobody knows how many millenniums and more than millenniums, before +He had the world ready for man. He waited for more years than we can +tell before He had the world ready for the Incarnation. His march is +very slow because it is ever onwards. Let us be thankful if we forge +ahead the least little bit; and let us not be impatient for swift +results which are the fool's paradise, and which the man who knows +that he is working towards God's own end can well afford to do +without. + +And now, lastly, let me ask you to notice, still further as drawn +from this incident-- + +III. The simplicity of the forces to which God entrusts the growth of +His Kingdom. + +It is almost ludicrous to think, if it were not pathetic and sublime, +of the disproportion between the end that was aimed at and the way +that was taken to reach it, which the text opens before us. 'We went +out to the riverside, and we spake unto the women which resorted +thither.' That was all. Think of Europe as it was at that time. There +was Greece over the hills, there was Rome ubiquitous and ready to +exchange its contemptuous toleration for active hostility. There was +the unknown barbarism of the vague lands beyond. Think of the +established idolatries which these men had to meet, around which had +gathered, by the superstitious awe of untold ages, everything that +was obstinate, everything that was menacing, everything that was +venerable. Think of the subtleties to which they had to oppose their +unlettered message. Think of the moral corruption that was eating +like an ulcer into the very heart of society. Did ever a Cortez on +the beach, with his ships in flames behind him, and a continent in +arms before, cast himself on a more desperate venture? And they +conquered! How? What were the small stones from the brook that slew +Goliath? Have we got them? Here they are, the message that they +spoke, the white heat of earnestness with which they spoke it, and +the divine Helper who backed them up. And we have this message. +Brethren, that old word, 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to +Himself,' is as much needed, as potent, as truly adapted to the +complicated civilisation of this generation, as surely reaching the +deepest wants of the human soul, as it was in the days when first the +message poured, like a red-hot lava flood, from the utterances of +Paul. Like lava it has gone cold to-day, and stiff in many places, +and all the heat is out of it. That is the fault of the speaker, +never of the message. It is as mighty as ever it was, and if the +Christian Church would keep more closely to it, and would realise +more fully that the Cross does not need to be propped up so much as +to be proclaimed, I think we should see that it is so. That sword has +not lost its temper, and modern modes of warfare have not antiquated +it. As David said to the high priests at Nob, when he was told that +Goliath's sword was hid behind the ephod, 'Give me that. There is +none like it.' It was not miracles, it was the Gospel that was +preached, which was 'the power of God unto salvation.' + +And that message was preached with earnestness. There is one point in +which every successful servant of Jesus Christ who has done work for +Him, winning men to Him, has been like every other successful +servant, and there is only one point. Some of them have been wise +men, some of them have been foolish. Some of them have been clad with +many puerile notions and much rubbish of ceremonial and sacerdotal +theories. Some of them have been high Calvinists, some of them low +Arminians; some of them have been scholars, some of them could hardly +read. But they have all had this one thing: they believed with all +their hearts what they spake. They fulfilled the Horatian principle, +'If you wish me to weep, your own eyes must overflow'--and if you +wish me to believe, you must speak, not 'with bated breath and +whispering humbleness,' but as if you yourself believed it, and were +dead set on getting other people to believe it, too. + +And then the third thing that Paul had we have, and that is the +presence of the Christ. Note what it says in the context about one +convert who was made that morning, Lydia, 'whose heart the Lord +opened.' Now I am not going to deduce Calvinism or any other 'ism' +from these words, but I pray you to note that there is emerging on +the surface here what runs all through this book of Acts, and +animates the whole of it, viz., that Jesus Christ Himself is working, +doing all the work that is done through His servants. Wherever there +are men aflame with that with which every Christian man and woman +should be aflame, the consciousness of the preciousness of their +Master, and their own responsibility for the spreading of His Name, +there, depend upon it, will be the Christ to aid them. The picture +with which one of the Evangelists closes his Gospel will be repeated: +'They went everywhere preaching the word, the Lord working with them, +and confirming the word with signs following.' + +Dear brethren, the vision of the man of Macedonia which drew Paul +across the water from Troas to Philippi speaks to us. 'Come over and +help us,' comes from many voices. And if we, in however humble and +obscure, and as the foolish purblind world calls it, 'small,' way, +yield to the invitation, and try to do what in us lies, then we shall +find that, like Paul by the riverside in that oratory, we are +building better than we know, and planting a little seed, the +springing whereof God will bless. 'Thou sowest not that which shall +be, but bare grain ... and God giveth it a body as it hath pleased +Him.' + + + +THE RIOT AT PHILIPPI + +'And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, +they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace +unto the rulers, 20. And brought them to the magistrates, saying, +These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21. And +teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to +observe, being Romans. 22. And the multitude rose up together +against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and +commanded to beat them. 23. And when they had laid many stripes +upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to +keep them safely: 24. Who, having received such a charge, thrust +them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the +stocks. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang +praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26. And suddenly +there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the +prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, +and every one's bands were loosed. 27. And the keeper of the +prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors +open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, +supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28. But Paul cried +with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all +here. 29. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came +trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30. And brought +them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31. And +they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be +saved, and thy house. 32. And they spake unto him the word of the +Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33. And he took them the +same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was +baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34. And when he had +brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and +rejoiced, believing In God with all his house.'--ACTS xvi. 19-34. + +This incident gives us the Apostle's first experience of purely +Gentile opposition. The whole scene has a different stamp from that +of former antagonisms, and reminds us that we have passed into +Europe. The accusers and the grounds of accusation are new. Formerly +Jews had led the attack; now Gentiles do so. Crimes against religion +were charged before; now crimes against law and order. Hence the +narrative is more extended, in accordance with the prevailing habit +of the book, to dilate on the first of a series and to summarise +subsequent members of it. We may note the unfounded charge and unjust +sentence; the joyful confessors and the answer to their trust; the +great light that shone on the jailer's darkness. + +I. This was a rough beginning of the work undertaken at the call of +Christ. Less courageous and faithful men might have thought, 'Were we +right in "assuredly gathering" that His hand pointed us hither, since +this is the reception we find?' But though the wind meets us as soon +as we clear the harbour, the salt spray dashing in our faces is no +sign that we should not have left shelter. A difficult beginning +often means a prosperous course; and hardships are not tokens of +having made a mistake. + +The root of the first antagonism to the Gospel in Europe was purely +mercenary. The pythoness's masters had no horror of Paul's doctrines. +They were animated by no zeal for Apollo. They only saw a source of +profit drying up. Infinitely more respectable was Jewish opposition, +which was, at all events, the perverted working of noble sentiments. +Zeal for religion, even when the zeal is impure and the notions of +religion imperfect, is higher than mere anger at pecuniary loss. How +much of the opposition since and to-day comes from the same mean +source! Lust and appetite organise profitable trades, in which 'the +money has no smell,' however foul the cesspool from which it has been +brought. And when Christian people set themselves against these +abominations, capital takes the command of the mob of drink-sellers +and consumers, or of those from haunts of fleshly sin, and shrieks +about interfering with honest industry, and seeking to enforce sour- +faced Puritanism on society. The Church may be very sure that it is +failing in some part of its duty, if there is no class of those who +fatten on providing for sin howling at its heels, because it is +interfering with the hope of their gains. + +The charge against the little group took no heed of the real +character of their message. It artfully put prominent their +nationality. These early anti-Semitic agitators knew the value of a +good solid prejudice, and of a nickname. 'Jews'--that was enough. The +rioters were 'Romans'--of a sort, no doubt, but it was poor pride for +a Macedonian to plume himself on having lost his nationality. The +great crime laid to Paul's charge was--troubling the city. So it +always is. Whether it be George Fox, or John Wesley, or the Salvation +Army, the disorderly elements of every community attack the preachers +of the Gospel in the name of order, and break the peace in their +eagerness to have it kept. There was no 'trouble' in Philippi, but +the uproar which they themselves were making. The quiet praying-place +by the riverside, and the silencing of the maiden's shout in the +streets, were not exactly the signs of disturbers of civic +tranquillity. + +The accuracy of the charge may be measured by the ignorance of the +accusers that Paul and his friends were in any way different from the +run of Jews. No doubt they were supposed to be teaching Jewish +practices, which were supposed to be inconsistent with Roman +citizenship. But if the magistrates had said, 'What customs?' the +charge would have collapsed. Thank God, the Gospel has a witness to +bear against many 'customs'; but it does not begin by attacking even +these, much less by prescribing illegalities. Its errand was and is +to the individual first. It sets the inner man right with God, and +then the new life works itself out, and will war against evils which +the old life deemed good; but the conception of Christianity as a +code regulating actions is superficial, whether it is held by friends +or foes. + +There is always a mob ready to follow any leader, especially if there +is the prospect of hurting somebody. The lovers of tranquillity +showed how they loved it by dragging Paul and Silas into the forum, +and bellowing untrue charges against them. The mob seconded them; +'they rose up together [with the slave-owners] against Paul and +Silas.' The magistrates, knowing the ticklish material that they had +to deal with, and seeing only a couple of Jews from nobody knew +where, did not think it worth while to inquire or remonstrate. They +were either cowed or indifferent; and so, to show how zealous they +and the mob were for Roman law, they drove a coach-and-six clean +through it, and without the show of investigation, scourged and threw +into prison the silent Apostles. It was a specimen of what has +happened too often since. How many saints have been martyred to keep +popular feeling in good tune! And how many politicians will strain +conscience to-day, because they are afraid of what Luke here +unpolitely calls 'the multitude,' or as we might render it, 'the +mob,' but which we now fit with a much more respectful appellation! + +The jailer, on his part, in the true spirit of small officials, was +ready to better his instructions. It is dangerous to give vague +directions to such people. When the judge has ordered unlawful +scourging, the turnkey is not likely to interpret the requirement of +safe keeping too leniently. One would not look for much human +kindness in a Philippian jail. So it was natural that the deepest, +darkest, most foul-smelling den should he chosen for the two, and +that they should he thrust, bleeding backs and all, into the stocks, +to sleep if they could. + +II. These birds could sing in a darkened cage. The jailer's treatment +of them after his conversion shows what he had neglected to do at +first. They had no food; their bloody backs were unsponged; they were +thrust into a filthy hole, and put in a posture of torture. No wonder +that they could not sleep! But what hindered sleep would, with most +men, have sorely dimmed trust and checked praise. Not so with them. +God gave them 'songs in the night.' We can hear the strains through +all the centuries, and they bid us be cheerful and trustful, whatever +befalls. Surely Christian faith never is more noble than when it +triumphs over circumstances, and brings praises from lips which, if +sense had its way, would wail and groan. 'This is the victory that +overcometh the world.' The true anaesthetic is trust in God. No +wonder that the baser sort of prisoners--and base enough they +probably were--'were listening to them,' for such sounds had never +been heard there before. In how many a prison have they been heard +since! + +We are not told that the Apostles prayed for deliverance. Such +deliverance had not been always granted. Peter indeed had been set +free, but Stephen and James had been martyred, and these two heroes +had no ground to expect a miracle to free them. But thankful trust is +always an appeal to God. And it is always answered, whether by +deliverance from or support in trial. + +This time deliverance came. The tremor of the earth was the token of +God's answer. It does not seem likely that an earthquake could loosen +fetters in a jail full of prisoners, but more probably the opening of +the doors and the falling off of the chains were due to a separate +act of divine power, the earthquake being but the audible token +thereof. At all events, here again, the first of a series has +distinguishing features, and may stand as type of all its successors. +God will never leave trusting hearts to the fury of enemies. He +sometimes will stretch out a hand and set them free, He sometimes +will leave them to bear the utmost that the world can do, but He will +always hear their cry and save them. Paul had learned the lesson +which Philippi was meant to teach, when he said, though anticipating +a speedy death by martyrdom, 'The Lord will deliver me from every +evil work, and will save me into His heavenly Kingdom.' + +III. The jailer behaves as such a man in his position would do. He +apparently slept in a place that commanded a view of the doors; and +he lay dressed, with his sword beside him, in case of riot or +attempted escape. His first impulse on awaking is to look at the +gates. They are open; then some of his charge have broken them. His +immediate thought of suicide not only shows the savage severity of +punishment which he knew would fall on him, but tells a dreary tale +of the desperate sense of the worthlessness of life and blank +ignorance of anything beyond which then infected the Roman world. +Suicide, the refuge of cowards or of pessimists, sometimes becomes +epidemic. Faith must have died and hope vanished before a man can +say, 'I will take the leap into the dark.' + +Paul's words freed the man from one fear, but woke a less selfish and +profounder awe. What did all this succession of strange things mean? +Here are doors open; how came that? Here are prisoners with the +possibility of escape refusing it; how came that? Here is one of his +victims tenderly careful of his life and peacefulness, and taking the +upper hand of him; how came that? A nameless awe begins to creep over +him; and when he gets lights, and sees the two whom he had made fast +in the stocks standing there free, and yet not caring to go forth, +his rough nature is broken down. He recognises his superiors. He +remembers the pythoness's testimony, that they told 'the way of +salvation.' + +His question seems 'psychologically impossible' to critics, who have +probably never asked it themselves. Wonderful results follow from the +judicious use of that imposing word 'psychologically'; but while we +are not to suppose that this man knew all that 'salvation' meant, +there is no improbability in his asking such a question, if due +regard is paid to the whole preceding events, beginning with the +maiden's words, and including the impression of Paul's personality +and the mysterious freeing of the prisoners. + +His dread was the natural fear that springs when a man is brought +face to face with God; and his question, vague and ignorant as it +was, is the cry of the dim consciousness that lies dormant in all +men--the consciousness of needing deliverance and healing. It erred +in supposing that he had to 'do' anything; but it was absolutely +right in supposing that he needed salvation, and that Paul could tell +him how to get it. How many of us, knowing far more than he, have +never asked the same wise question, or have never gone to Paul for an +answer? It is a question which we should all ask; for we all need +salvation, which is deliverance from danger and healing for soul- +sickness. + +Paul's answer is blessedly short and clear. Its brevity and decisive +plainness are the glory of the Gospel. It crystallises into a short +sentence the essential directory for all men. + +See how little it takes to secure salvation. But see how much it +takes; for the hardest thing of all is to be content to accept it as +a gift, 'without money and without price.' Many people have listened +to sermons all their lives, and still have no clear understanding of +the way of salvation. Alas that so often the divine simplicity and +brevity of Paul's answer are darkened by a multitude of irrelevant +words and explanations which explain nothing! + +The passage ends with the blessing which we may all receive. Of +course the career begun then had to be continued by repeated acts of +faith, and by growing knowledge and obedience. The incipient +salvation is very incomplete, but very real. There is no reason to +doubt that, for some characters, the only way of becoming Christians +is to become so by one dead-lift of resolution. Some things are best +done slowly; some things best quickly. One swift blow makes a cleaner +fracture than filing or sawing. The light comes into some lives like +sunshine in northern latitudes, with long dawn and slowly growing +brightness; but in some the sun leaps into the sky in a moment, as in +the tropics. What matter how long it takes to rise, if it does rise, +and climb to the zenith? + + + +THE GREAT QUESTION AND THE PLAIN ANSWER + +'He brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? +31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou +shall be saved.'--ACTS xvi. 30, 31. + +The keeper of a Macedonian jail was not likely to be a very nervous +or susceptible person. And so the extraordinary state of agitation +and panic into which this rough jailer was cast needs some kind of +explanation. There had been, as you will all remember, an earthquake +of a strange kind, for it not only opened the prison doors, but shook +the prisoner's chains off. The doors being opened, there was on the +part of the jailer, who probably ought not to have been asleep, a +very natural fear that his charge had escaped. + +So he was ready, with that sad willingness for suicide which marked +his age, to cast himself on his sword, when Paul encouraged him. + +That fear then was past; what was he afraid of now? He knew the +prisoners were all safe; why should he have come pale and trembling? +Perhaps we shall find an answer to the question in another one. Why +should he have gone to Paul and Silas, his two prisoners, for an +anodyne to his fears? + +The answer to that may possibly be found in remembering that for many +days before this a singular thing had happened. Up and down the +streets of Philippi a woman possessed with 'a spirit of divination' +had gone at the heels of these two men, proclaiming in such a way as +to disturb them: 'These are the servants of the Most High God, which +show unto us the way of salvation.' It was a new word and a new idea +in Philippi or in Macedonia. This jailer had got it into his mind +that these two men had in their hands a good which he only dimly +understood. The panic caused by the earthquake deepened into a +consciousness of some supernatural atmosphere about him, and stirred +in his rude nature unwonted aspirations and terrors other than he had +known, which cast him at Paul's feet with this strange question. + +Now do you think that the jailer's question was a piece of foolish +superstition? I daresay some of you do, or some of you may suppose +too that it was one very unnecessary for him or anybody to ask. So I +wish now, in a very few words, to deal with these three points--the +question that we should all ask, the answer that we may all take, the +blessing that we may all have. + +I. The question that we should all ask. + +I know that it is very unfashionable nowadays to talk about +'salvation' as man's need. The word has come to be so worn and +commonplace and technical that many men turn away from it; but for +all that, let me try to stir up the consciousness of the deep +necessity that it expresses. + +What is it to be saved? Two things; to be healed and to be safe. In +both aspects the expression is employed over and over again in +Scripture. It means either restoration from sickness or deliverance +from peril. I venture to press upon every one of my hearers these two +considerations--we all need healing from sickness; we all need safety +from peril. + +Dear brethren, most of you are entire strangers to me; I daresay many +of you never heard my voice before, and probably may never hear it +again. But yet, because 'we have all of us one human heart,' a +brother-man comes to you as possessing with you one common +experience, and ventures to say on the strength of his knowledge of +himself, if on no other ground, 'We have all sinned and come short of +the glory of God.' + +Mind, I am not speaking about vices. I have no doubt you are a +perfectly respectable man, in all the ordinary relations of life. I +am not speaking about crimes. I daresay there may be a man or two +here that has been in a dock in his day. Possibly. It does not matter +whether there is or not. But I am not speaking about either vices or +crimes; I am speaking about how we stand in reference to God. And I +pray you to bring yourselves--for no one can do it for you, and no +words of mine can do anything but stimulate you to the act--face to +face with the absolute and dazzlingly pure righteousness of your +Father in Heaven, and to feel the contrast between your life and what +you know He desires you to be. Be honest with yourselves in asking +and answering the question whether or not _you_ have this sickness of +sin, its paralysis in regard to good or its fevered inclination to +evil. If salvation means being healed of a disease, we all have the +disease; and whether we wish it or no, we want the healing. + +And what of the other meaning of the word? Salvation means being +safe. Are you safe? Am I safe? Is anybody safe standing in front of +that awful law that rules the whole universe, 'Whatsoever a man +soweth, that shall he also reap'? I am not going to talk about any of +the moot points which this generation has such a delight in +discussing, as to the nature, the duration, the purpose, or the like, +of future retribution. All that I am concerned in now is that all +men, deep down in the bottom of their consciousness--and you and I +amongst the rest--know that there _is_ such a thing as retribution +here; and if there be a life beyond the grave at all, necessarily in +an infinitely intenser fashion there. Somewhere and somehow, men will +have to lie on the beds that they have made; to drink as they have +brewed. If sin means separation from God, and separation from God +means, as it assuredly does, death, then I ask you--and there is no +need for any exaggerated words about it--Are we not in danger? And if +salvation be a state of deliverance from sickness, and a state of +deliverance from peril, do we not need it? + +Ah, brethren, I venture to say that we need it more than anything +else. You will not misunderstand me as expressing the slightest +depreciation of other remedies that are being extensively offered now +for the various evils under which society and individuals groan. I +heartily sympathise with them all, and would do my part to help them +forward; but I cannot but feel that whilst culture of the intellect, +of the taste, of the sense of beauty, of the refining agencies +generally, is very valuable; and whilst moral and social and +economical and political changes will all do something, and some of +them a great deal, to diminish the sum of human misery, you have to +go deeper down than these reach. It is not culture that we want most; +it is salvation. Brethren, you and I are wrong in our relation to +God, and that means death and--if you do not shrink from the vulgar +old word--damnation. We are wrong in our relation to God, and that +has to be set right before we are fundamentally and thoroughly right. +That is to say, salvation is our deepest need. + +Then how does it come that men go on, as so many of my friends here +now have gone on, all their days paying no attention to that need? Is +there any folly, amidst all the irrationalities of that irrational +creature man, to be matched with the folly of steadily refusing to +look forward and settle for ourselves the prime element in our +condition--viz., our relation to God? Strange is it not--that power +that we have of refusing to look at the barometer when it is going +down, of turning away from unwholesome subjects just because we know +them to be so unwelcome and threatening, and of buying a moment's +exemption from discomfort at the price of a life's ruin? + +Do you remember that old story of the way in which the prisoners in +the time of the French Revolution used to behave? The tumbrils came +every morning and carried off a file of them to the guillotine, and +the rest of them had a ghastly make-believe of carrying on the old +frivolities of the life of the _salons_ and of society. And it lasted +for an hour or two, but the tumbril came next morning all the same, +and the guillotine stood there gaping in the _Place_. And so it is +useless, although it is so frequently done by so many of us, to try +to shut out facts instead of facing them. A man is never so wise as +when he says to himself, 'Let me fairly know the whole truth of my +relation to the unseen world in so far as it can be known here, and +if that is wrong, let me set about rectifying it if it be possible.' +'What will ye do in the end?' is the wisest question that a man can +ask himself, when the end is as certain as it is with us, and as +unsatisfactory as I am afraid it threatens to be with some of us if +we continue as we are. + +Have I not a right to appeal to the half-sleeping and half-waking +consciousness that endorses my words in some hearts as I speak? O +brethren, you would be far wiser men if you did like this jailer in +the Macedonian prison, came and gave yourselves no rest till you have +this question cleared up, 'What must I do to be saved?' + +There was an old Rabbi who used to preach to his disciples, 'Repent +the day before you die.' And when they said to him, 'Rabbi, we do not +know what day we are going to die.' 'Then,' said he, 'repent to-day.' +And so I say to you, 'Settle about the end before the end comes, and +as you do not know when it may come, settle about it now.' + +II. That brings me to the next point here, viz., the blessed, clear +answer that we may all take. + +Paul and Silas were not non-plussed by this question, nor did they +reply to it in the fashion in which many men would have answered it. +Take a specimen of other answers. If anybody were so far left to +himself as to go with this question to some of our modern wise men +and teachers, they would say, 'Saved? My good fellow, there is +nothing to be saved from. Get rid of delusions, and clear your mind +of cant and superstition.' Or they would say, 'Saved? Well, if you +have gone wrong, do the best you can in the time to come.' Or if you +went to some of our friends they would say, 'Come and be baptized, +and receive the grace of regeneration in holy baptism; and then come +to the sacraments, and be faithful and loyal members of the Church +which has Apostolic succession in it.' And some would say, 'Set +yourselves to work and toil and labour.' And some would say, 'Don't +trouble yourselves about such whims. A short life and a merry one; +make the best of it, and jump the life to come.' Neither cold +morality, nor godless philosophy, nor wild dissipation, nor narrow +ecclesiasticism prompted Paul's answer. He said, 'Believe on the Lord +Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' + +What did that poor heathen man know about the Lord Jesus Christ? Next +to nothing. How could he believe upon Him if he knew so little about +Him? Well, you hear in the context that this summary answer to the +question was the beginning, and not the end, of a conversation, which +conversation, no doubt, consisted largely in extending and explaining +the brief formulary with which it had commenced. But it is a grand +thing that we can put the all-essential truth into half a dozen +simple words, and then expound and explain them as may be necessary. +And I come to you now, dear brethren, with nothing newer or more +wonderful, or more out of the ordinary way than the old threadbare +message which men have been preaching for nineteen hundred years, and +have not exhausted, and which some of you have heard for a lifetime, +and have never practised, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.' + +Now I am not going to weary you with mere dissertations upon the +significance of these words. But let me single out two points about +them, which perhaps though they may be perfectly familiar to you, may +come to you with fresh force from my lips now. + +Mark, first, whom it is that we are to believe on. '_The Lord_,' that +is the divine Name; '_Jesus_,' that is the name of a Man; '_Christ_,' +that is the name of an office. And if you put them all together, they +come to this, that He on whom we sinful men may put our sole trust +and hope for our healing and our safety, is the Son of God, who came +down upon earth to live our life and to die our death that He might +bear on Himself our sins, and fulfil all which ancient prophecy and +symbol had proclaimed as needful, and therefore certain to be done, +for men. It is not a starved half-Saviour whose name is only Jesus, +and neither Lord nor Christ, faith in whom will save you. You must +grasp the whole revelation of His nature and His power if from Him +there is to flow the life that you need. + +And note what it is that we are to exercise towards Jesus Christ. To +'believe on Him' is a very different thing from _believing Him_. You +may accept all that I have been saying about who and what He is, and +be as far away from the faith that saves a soul as if you had never +hoard His name. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to lean the +whole weight of yourselves upon Him. What do you do when you trust a +man who promises you any small gift or advantage? What do you do when +dear ones say, 'Rest on my love'? You simply trust them. And the very +same exercise of heart and mind which is the blessed cement that +holds human society together, and the power that sheds peace and +grace over friendships and love, is the power which, directed to +Jesus Christ, brings all His saving might into exercise in our lives. +Brethren, trust Him, trust Him as Lord, trust Him as Jesus, trust Him +as Christ. Learn your sickness, learn your danger; and be sure of +your Healer and rejoice in your security. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' + +III. Lastly, consider the blessing we may all receive. This jailer +about whom we have been speaking was a heathen when the sun set and a +Christian when it rose. On the one day he was groping in darkness, a +worshipper of idols, without hope in the future, and ready in +desperation to plunge himself into the darkness beyond, when he +thought his prisoners had fled. In an hour or two 'he rejoiced, +believing in God with all his house.' + +A sudden conversion, you say, and sudden conversions are always +suspicious. I am not so sure about that; they may be, or they may not +be, according to circumstances. I know very well that it is not +fashionable now to preach the possibility or the probability of men +turning all at once from darkness to light, and that people shrug +their shoulders at the old theory of sudden conversions. I think, so +much the worse. There are a great many things in this world that have +to be done suddenly if they are ever to be done at all. And I, for my +part, would have far more hope for a man who, in one leap, sprung +from the depth of the degradation of that coarse jailer into the +light and joy of the Christian life, than for a man who tried to get +to it by slow steps. You have to do everything in this world worth +doing by a sudden resolution, however long the preparation may have +been which led up to the resolution. The act of resolving is always +the act of an instant. And when men are plunged in darkness and +profligacy, as are, perhaps, some of my hearers now, there is far +more chance of their casting off their evil by a sudden jerk than of +their unwinding the snake by slow degrees from their arms. There is +no reason whatever why the soundest and solidest and most lasting +transformation of character should not begin in a moment's resolve. + +And there is an immense danger that with some of you, if that change +does not begin in a moment's resolve now, you will be further away +from it than ever you were. I have no doubt there are many of you +who, at any time for years past, have known that you ought to be +Christians, and who, at any time for years past, have been saying to +yourselves: 'Well, I will think about it, and I am tending towards +it, but I cannot quite make the plunge.' Why not; and why not now? +You can if you will; you ought; you will be a better and happier man +if you do. You will be saved from your sickness and safe from your +danger. + +The outcast jailer changed nationalities in a moment. You who have +dwelt in the suburbs of Christ's Kingdom all your lives--why cannot +you go inside the gate as quickly? For many of us the gradual +'growing up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord' has been the +appointed way. For some of us I verily believe the sudden change is +the best. Some of us have a sunrise as in the tropics, where the one +moment is grey and cold, and next moment the seas are lit with the +glory. Others of us have a sunrise as at the poles, where a long +slowly-growing light precedes the rising, and the rising itself is +scarce observable. But it matters little as to how we get to Christ, +if we are there, and it matters little whether a man's faith grows up +in a moment, or is the slow product of years. If only it be rooted in +Christ it will bear fruit unto life eternal. + +And so, dear brethren, I come to you with my last question, this man +rejoiced, believing in the Lord; why should not you; and why should +not you now? 'Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the +earth.' A look is a swift act, but if it be the beginning of a +lifelong gaze, it will be the beginning of salvation and of a glory +longer than life. + + + +THESSALONICA AND BEREA + +'Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they +came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2. And +Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath- +days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3. Opening and +alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again +from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is +Christ. 4. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and +Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the +chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews which believed not, moved +with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, +and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and +assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the +people, 6. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and +certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that +have turned the world upside down are come hither also; 7. Whom +Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of +Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. 8. And they +troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard +these things. 9. And when they had taken security of Jason, and +of the other, they let them go. 10. And the brethren immediately +sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither +went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11. These were more noble +than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with +all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether +those things were so. 12. Therefore many of them believed; also +of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.' +--ACTS xvii. 1-12. + +'Shamefully entreated at Philippi,' Paul tells the Thessalonians, he +'waxed bold in our God to' preach to them. His experience in the +former city might well have daunted a feebler faith, but opposition +affected Paul as little as a passing hailstorm dints a rock. To +change the field was common sense; to abandon the work would have +been sin. But Paul's brave persistence was not due to his own +courage; he drew it from God. Because he lived in communion with Him, +his courage 'waxed' as dangers gathered. He knew that he was doing a +daring thing, but he knew who was his helper. So he went steadily on, +whatever might front him. His temper of mind and the source of it are +wonderfully revealed in his simple words. + +The transference to Thessalonica illustrates another principle of his +action; namely, his preference of great centres of population as +fields of work. He passes through two less important places to +establish himself in the great city. It is wise to fly at the head. +Conquer the cities, and the villages will fall of themselves. That +was the policy which carried Christianity through the empire like a +prairie fire. Would that later missions had adhered to it! + +The methods adopted in Thessalonica were the usual ones. Luke bids us +notice that Paul took the same course of action in each place: +namely, to go to the synagogue first, when there was one, and there +to prove that Jesus was the Christ. The three Macedonian towns +already mentioned seem not to have had synagogues. Probably there +were comparatively few Jews in them, and these were ecclesiastically +dependent on Thessalonica. We can fancy the growing excitement in the +synagogue, as for three successive Sabbaths the stranger urged his +proofs of the two all-important but most unwelcome assertions, that +their own scriptures foretold a suffering Messiah,--a side of +Messianic prophecy which was ignored or passionately denied--and that +Jesus was that Messiah. Many a vehement protest would be shrieked +out, with flashing eyes and abundant gesticulation, as he 'opened' +the sense of Scripture, and 'quoted passages'--for that is the +meaning here of the word rendered 'alleging.' He gives us a glimpse +of the hot discussions when he says that he preached 'in much +conflict'(1 Thess. ii. 2). + +With whatever differences in manner of presentation, the true message +of the Christian teacher is still the message that woke such +opposition in the synagogue of Thessalonica,--the bold proclamation +of the personal Christ, His death and resurrection. And with whatever +differences, the instrument of conviction is still the Scriptures, +'the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.' The more closely +we keep ourselves to that message and that weapon the better. + +The effects of the faithful preaching of the gospel are as uniform as +the method. It does one of two things to its hearers--either it melts +their hearts and leads them to faith, or it stirs them to more +violent enmity. It is either a stone of stumbling or a sure corner- +stone. We either build on or fall over it, and at last are crushed by +it. The converts included Jews and proselytes in larger numbers, as +may be gathered from the distinction drawn by 'some'--referring to +the former, and 'a great multitude'--referring to the latter. Besides +these there were a good many ladies of rank and refinement, as was +also the case presently at Beroea. Probably these, too, were +proselytes. + +The prominence of women among the converts, as soon as the gospel is +brought into Europe, is interesting and prophetic. The fact of the +social position of these ladies may suggest that the upper classes +were freer from superstition than the lower, and may point a not +favourable contrast with present social conditions, which do not +result in a similar accession of women of 'honourable estate' to the +Church. + +Opposition follows as uniform a course as the preaching. The broad +outlines are the same in each case, while the local colouring varies. +If we compare Paul's narrative in I Thessalonians, which throbs with +emotion, and, as it were, pants with the stress of the conflict, with +Luke's calm account here, we see not only how Paul felt, but why the +Jews got up a riot. Luke says that they 'became jealous.' Paul +expands that into 'they are contrary to all men; forbidding us to +speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved.' Then it was not so +much dislike to the preaching of Jesus as Messiah as it was rage that +their Jewish prerogative was infringed, and the children's bread +offered to the dogs, that stung them to violent opposition. Israel +had been chosen, that it might be God's witness, and diffuse the +treasure it possessed through all the world. It had become, not the +dispenser, but the would-be monopolist, of its gift. Have there been +no Christian communities in later days animated by the same spirit? + +There were plenty of loafers in the market-place ready for any +mischief, and by no means particular about the pretext for a riot. +Anything that would give an opportunity for hurting somebody, and for +loot, would attract them as corruption does flesh-flies. So the +Jewish ringleaders easily got a crowd together. To tell their real +reasons would scarcely have done, but to say that there was a house +to be attacked, and some foreigners to be dragged out, was enough for +the present. Jason's house was probably Paul's temporary home, where, +as he tells us in 1 Thessalonians ii. 9, he had worked at his trade, +that he might not be burdensome to any. Possibly he and Silas had +been warned of the approach of the rioters and had got away +elsewhere. At all events, the nest was empty, but the crowd must have +its victims, and so, failing Paul, they laid hold of Jason. His +offence was a very shadowy one. But since his day there have been +many martyrs, whose only crime was 'harbouring' Christians, or +heretics, or recusant priests, or Covenanters. If a bull cannot gore +a man, it will toss his cloak. + +The charge against Jason is that he receives the Apostle and his +party, and constructively favours their designs. The charge against +them is that they are revolutionists, rebels against the Emperor, and +partisans of a rival. Now we may note three things about the charge. +First, it comes with a very distinct taint of insincerity from Jews, +who were, to say the least, not remarkable for loyalty or peaceful +obedience. The Gracchi are complaining of sedition! A Jew zealous for +Caeesar is an anomaly, which might excite the suspicions of the least +suspicious ruler. The charge of breaking the peace comes with +remarkable appropriateness from the leaders of a riot. They were the +troublers of the city, not Paul, peacefully preaching in the +synagogue. The wolf scolds the lamb for fouling the river. + +Again, the charges are a violent distortion of the truth. Possibly +the Jewish ringleaders believed what they said, but more probably +they consciously twisted Paul's teachings, because they knew that no +other charges would excite so much hostility or be so damning as +those which they made. The mere suggestion of treason was often +fatal. The wild exaggeration that the Christians had 'turned the +whole civilised world upside down' betrays passionate hatred and +alarm, if it was genuine, or crafty determination to rouse the mob, +if it was consciously trumped up. But whether the charges were +believed or not by those who made them, here were Jews disclaiming +their nation's dearest hope, and, like the yelling crowd at the +Crucifixion, declaring they had no king but Caesar. The degradation +of Israel was completed by these fanatical upholders of its +prerogatives. + +But, again, the charges were true in a far other sense than their +bringers meant. For Christianity is revolutionary, and its very aim +is to turn the world upside down, since the wrong side is uppermost +at present, and Jesus, not Caesar, or any king or emperor or czar, is +the true Lord and ruler of men. But the revolution which He makes is +the revolution of individuals, turning them from darkness to light; +for He moulds single souls first and society afterwards. Violence is +always a mistake, and the only way to change evil customs is to +change men's natures, and then the customs drop away of themselves. +The true rule begins with the sway of hearts; then wills are +submissive, and conduct is the expression of inward delight in a law +which is sweet because the lawgiver is dear. + +Missing Paul, the mob fell on Jason and the brethren. They were +'bound over to keep the peace.' Evidently the rulers had little fear +of these alleged desperate revolutionaries, and did as little as they +dared, without incurring the reproach of being tepid in their +loyalty. + +Probably the removal of Paul and his travelling companions from the +neighbourhood was included in the terms to which Jason had to submit. +Their hurried departure does not seem to have been caused by a +renewal of disturbances. At all events, their Beroean experience +repeated that of Philippi and of Thessalonica, with one great and +welcome difference. The Beroean Jews did exactly what their +compatriots elsewhere would not do--they looked into the subject with +their own eyes, and tested Paul's assertions by Scripture. +'Therefore,' says Luke, with grand confidence in the impregnable +foundations of the faith, 'many of them believed.' True nobility of +soul consists in willingness to receive the Word, combined with +diligent testing of it. Christ asks for no blind adhesion. The true +Christian teacher wishes for no renunciation, on the part of his +hearers, of their own judgments. 'Open your mouth and shut your eyes, +and swallow what I give you,' is not the language of Christianity, +though it has sometimes been the demand of its professed +missionaries, and not the teacher only, but the taught also, have +been but too ready to exercise blind credulity instead of intelligent +examination and clear-eyed faith. If professing Christians to-day +were better acquainted with the Scriptures, and more in the habit of +bringing every new doctrine to them as its touchstone, there would be +less currency of errors and firmer grip of truth. + + + +PAUL AT ATHENS + +'Then Paul stood In the midst of Mars-hill, and said, Ye men of +Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. +23. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an +altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God. Whom therefore +ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24. God, that made +the world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of +heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25. +Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed any +thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; +26. And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on +all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before +appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27. That they +should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and +find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: 28. For in +Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of +your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. 29. +Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to +think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, +graven by art and man's device. 30. And the times of this +ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where +to repent: 31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which He +will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath +ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that +He hath raised Him from the dead. 32. And when they heard of the +resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will +hear thee again of this matter. 33. So Paul departed from among +them. 34. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among +the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named +Damaris, and others with them.'--ACTS xvii. 22-34. + +'I am become all things to all men,' said Paul, and his address at +Athens strikingly exemplifies that principle of his action. Contrast +it with his speech in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch, which +appeals entirely to the Old Testament, and is saturated with Jewish +ideas, or with the remonstrance to the rude Lycaonian peasants (Acts +xiv. 15, etc.), which, while handling some of the same thoughts as at +Athens, does so in a remarkably different manner. There he appealed +to God's gifts of 'rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons,' the +things most close to his hearers' experience; here, speaking to +educated 'philosophers,' he quotes Greek poetry, and sets forth a +reasoned declaration of the nature of the Godhead and the relations +of a philosophy of history and an argument against idolatry. The +glories of Greek art were around him; the statues of Pallas Athene +and many more fair creations looked down on the little Jew who dared +to proclaim their nullity as representations of the Godhead. + +Paul's flexibility of mind and power of adapting himself to every +circumstance were never more strikingly shown than in that great +address to the quick-witted Athenians. It falls into three parts: the +conciliatory prelude (vers. 22, 23); the declaration of the Unknown +God (vers. 24-29); and the proclamation of the God-ordained Man +(vers. 30, 31). + +I. We have, first, the conciliatory prelude. It is always a mistake +for the apostle of a new truth to begin by running a tilt at old +errors. It is common sense to seek to find some point in the present +beliefs of his hearers to which his message may attach itself. An +orator who flatters for the sake of securing favour for himself is +despicable; a missionary who recognises the truth which lies under +the system which he seeks to overthrow, is wise. + +It is incredible that Paul should have begun his speech to so +critical an audience by charging them with excessive superstition, as +the Authorised Version makes him do. Nor does the modified +translation of the Revised Version seem to be precisely what is +meant. Paul is not blaming the Athenians, but recording a fact which +he had noticed, and from which he desired to start. Ramsay's +translation gives the truer notion of his meaning--'more than others +respectful of what is divine.' 'Superstition' necessarily conveys a +sense of blame, but the word in the original does not. + +We can see Paul as a stranger wandering through the city, and noting +with keen eyes every token of the all-pervading idolatry. He does not +tell his hearers that his spirit burned within him when he saw the +city full of idols; but he smothers all that, and speaks only of the +inscription which he had noticed on one, probably obscure and +forgotten, altar: 'To the Unknown God.' Scholars have given +themselves a great deal of trouble to show from other authors that +there were such altars. But Paul is as good an 'authority' as these, +and we may take his word that he did see such an inscription. Whether +it had the full significance which he reads into it or not, it +crystallised in an express avowal that sense of Something behind and +above the 'gods many' of Greek religion, which found expression in +the words of their noblest thinkers and poets, and lay like a +nightmare on them. + +To charge an Athenian audience, proud of their knowledge, with +ignorance, was a hazardous and audacious undertaking; to make them +charge themselves was more than an oratorical device. It appealed to +the deepest consciousness even of the popular mind. Even with this +prelude, the claims of this wandering Jew to pose as the instructor +of Epicureans and Stoics, and to possess a knowledge of the Divine +which they lacked, were daring. But how calmly and confidently Paul +makes them, and with what easy and conciliatory adoption of their own +terminology, if we adopt the reading of verse 23 in Revised Version +('What ye worship ... this,' etc.), which puts forward the abstract +conception of divinity rather than the personal God. + +The spirit in which Paul approached his difficult audience teaches +all Christian missionaries and controversialists a needed and +neglected lesson. We should accentuate points of resemblance rather +than of difference, to begin with. We should not run a tilt against +even errors, and so provoke to their defence, but rather find in +creeds and practices an ignorant groping after, and so a door of +entrance for, the truth which we seek to recommend. + +II. The declaration of the Unknown God has been prepared for, and now +follows, and with it is bound up a polemic against idolatry. +Conciliation is not to be carried so far as to hide the antagonism +between the truth and error. We may give non-Christian systems of +religion credit for all the good in them, but we are not to blink +their contrariety to the true religion. Conciliation and controversy +are both needful; and he is the best Christian teacher who has +mastered the secret of the due proportion between them. + +Every word of Paul's proclamation strikes full and square at some +counter belief of his hearers. He begins with creation, which he +declares to have been the act of one personal God, and neither of a +multitude of deities, as some of his hearers held, nor of an +impersonal blind power, as others believed, nor the result of chance, +nor eternal, as others maintained. He boldly proclaims there, below +the shadow of the Parthenon, that there is but one God,--the +universal Lord, because the universal Creator. Many consequences from +that fact, no doubt, crowded into Paul's mind; but he swiftly turns +to its bearing on the pomp of temples which were the glory of Athens, +and the multitude of sacrifices which he had beheld on their altars. +The true conception of God as the Creator and Lord of all things cuts +up by the roots the pagan notions of temples as dwelling-places of a +god and of sacrifices as ministering to his needs. With one crushing +blow Paul pulverises the fair fanes around him, and declares that +sacrifice, as practised there, contradicted the plain truth as to +God's nature. To suppose that man can give anything to Him, or that +He needs anything, is absurd. All heathen worship reverses the parts +of God and man, and loses sight of the fact that He is the giver +continually and of everything. Life in its origination, the +continuance thereof (breath), and all which enriches it, are from +Him. Then true worship will not be giving to, but thankfully +accepting from and using for, Him, His manifold gifts. + +So Paul declares the one God as Creator and Sustainer of all. He goes +on to sketch in broad outline what we may call a philosophy of +history. The declaration of the unity of mankind was a wholly strange +message to proud Athenians, who believed themselves to be a race +apart, not only from the 'barbarians,' whom all Greeks regarded as +made of other clay than they, but from the rest of the Greek world. +It flatly contradicted one of their most cherished prerogatives. Not +only does Paul claim one origin for all men, but he regards all +nations as equally cared for by the one God. His hearers believed +that each people had its own patron deities, and that the wars of +nations were the wars of their gods, who won for them territory, and +presided over their national fortunes. To all that way of thinking +the Apostle opposes the conception, which naturally follows from his +fundamental declaration of the one Creator, of His providential +guidance of all nations in regard to their place in the world and the +epochs of their history. + +But he rises still higher when he declares the divine purpose in all +the tangled web of history--the variety of conditions of nations, +their rise and fall, their glory and decay, their planting in their +lands and their rooting out,--to be to lead all men to 'seek God.' +That is the deepest meaning of history. The whole course of human +affairs is God's drawing men to Himself. Not only in Judea, nor only +by special revelation, but by the gifts bestowed, and the schooling +brought to bear on every nation, He would stir men up to seek for +Him. + +But that great purpose has not been realised. There is a tragic 'if +haply' inevitable; and men may refuse to yield to the impulses +towards God. They are the more likely to do so, inasmuch as to find +Him they must 'feel after Him,' and that is hard. The tendrils of a +plant turn to the far-off light, but men's spirits do not thus grope +after God. Something has come in the way which frustrates the divine +purpose, and makes men blind and unwilling to seek Him. + +Paul docs not at once draw the two plain inferences, that there must +be something more than the nations have had, if they are to find God, +even His seeking them in some new fashion; and that the power which +neutralises God's design in creation and providence is sin. He has a +word to say about both these, but for the moment he contents himself +with pointing to the fact, attested by his hearers' consciousness, +and by many a saying of thinkers and poets, that the failure to find +God does not arise from His hiding Himself in some remote obscurity. +Men are plunged, as it were, in the ocean of God, encompassed by Him +as an atmosphere, and--highest thought of all, and not strange to +Greek thought of the nobler sort--kindred with Him as both drawing +life from Him and being in His image. Whence, then, but from their +own fault, could men have failed to find God? If He is 'unknown,' it +is not because He has shrouded Himself in darkness, but because they +do not love the light. One swift glance at the folly of idolatry, as +demonstrated by this thought of man's being the offspring of God, +leads naturally to the properly Christian conclusion of the address. + +III. It is probable that this part of it was prematurely ended by the +mockery of some and the impatience of others, who had had enough of +Paul and his talk, and who, when they said, 'We will hear thee +again,' meant, 'We will not hear you now.' But, even in the compass +permitted him, he gives much of his message. + +We can but briefly note the course of thought. He comes back to his +former word 'ignorance,' bitter pill as it was for the Athenian +cultured class to swallow. He has shown them how their religion +ignores or contradicts the true conceptions of God and man. But he no +sooner brings the charge than he proclaims God's forbearance. And he +no sooner proclaims God's forbearance than he rises to the full +height of his mission as God's ambassador, and speaks in +authoritative tones, as bearing His 'commands.' + +Now the hint in the previous part is made more plain. The demand for +repentance implies sin. Then the 'ignorance' was not inevitable or +innocent. There was an element of guilt in men's not feeling after +God, and sin is universal, for 'all men everywhere' are summoned to +repent. Philosophers and artists, and cultivated triflers, and +sincere worshippers of Pallas and Zeus, and all 'barbarian' people, +are alike here. That would grate on Athenian pride, as it grates now +on ours. The reason for repentance would be as strange to the hearers +as the command was--a universal judgment, of which the principle was +to be rigid righteousness, and the Judge, not Minos or Rhadamanthus, +but 'a Man' ordained for that function. + +What raving nonsense that would appear to men who had largely lost +the belief in a life beyond the grave! The universal Judge a man! No +wonder that the quick Athenian sense of the ridiculous began to rise +against this Jew fanatic, bringing his dreams among cultured people +like them! And the proof which he alleged as evidence to all men that +it is so, would sound even more ridiculous than the assertion meant +to be proved. 'A man has been raised from the dead; and this +anonymous Man, whom nobody ever heard of before, and who is no doubt +one of the speaker's countrymen, is to judge us, Stoics, Epicureans, +polished people, and we are to be herded to His bar in company with +Boeotians and barbarians! The man is mad.' + +So the assembly broke up in inextinguishable laughter, and Paul +silently 'departed from among them,' having never named the name of +Jesus to them. He never more earnestly tried to adapt his teaching to +his audience; he never was more unsuccessful in his attempt by all +means to gain some. Was it a remembrance of that scene in Athens that +made him write to the Corinthians that his message was 'to the Greeks +foolishness'? + + + +THE MAN WHO IS JUDGE + +'...He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He +hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in +that He hath raised Him from the dead.'--ACTS xvii. 31. + +I. The Resurrection of Jesus gives assurance of judgment. + +(_a_) Christ's Resurrection is the pledge of ours. + +The belief in a future life, as entertained by Paul's hearers on Mars +Hill, was shadowy and dashed with much unbelief. Disembodied spirits +wandered ghostlike and spectral in a shadowy underworld. + +The belief in the Resurrection of Jesus converts the Greek +peradventure into a fact. It gives that belief solidity and makes it +easier to grasp firmly. Unless the thought of a future life is +completed by the belief that it is a corporeal life, it will never +have definiteness and reality enough to sustain itself as a +counterpoise to the weight of things seen. + +(_b_) Resurrection implies judgment. + +A future bodily life affirms individual identity as persisting beyond +the accident of death, and can only be conceived of as a state in +which the earthly life is fully developed in its individual results. +The dead, who are raised, are raised that they may 'receive the +things done in the body, according to that they have done, whether it +be good or bad.' Historically, the two thoughts have always gone +together; and as has been the clearness with which a resurrection has +been held as certain, so has been the force with which the +anticipation of judgment to come has impinged on conscience. + +Jesus is, even in this respect, our Example, for the glory to which +He was raised and in which He reigns now is the issue of His earthly +life; and in His Resurrection and Ascension we have the historical +fact which certifies to all men that a life of self-sacrifice here +will assuredly flower into a life of glory there, 'Ours the Cross, +the grave, the skies.' + +II. The Resurrection of Jesus gives the assurance that He is Judge. + +The bare fact that He is risen does not carry that assurance; we have +to take into account that He has risen. + +After such a life. + +His Resurrection was God's setting the seal of His approval and +acceptance on Christ's work; His endorsement of Christ's claims to +special relations with Him; His affirmation of Christ's sinlessness. +Jesus had declared that He did always the things that pleased the +Father; had claimed to be the pure and perfect realisation of the +divine ideal of manhood; had presented Himself as the legitimate +object of utter devotion and of religious trust, love, and obedience, +and as the only way to God. Men said that He was a blasphemer; God +said, and said most emphatically, by raising Him from the dead: 'This +is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' + +With such a sequel. + +'Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more,' and that fact +sets Him apart from others who, according to Scripture, have been +raised. His resurrection is, if we may use such a figure, a point; +His Ascension and Session at the right hand of God are the line into +which the point is prolonged. And from both the point and the line +come the assurance that He is the Judge. + +III. The risen Jesus is Judge because He is Man. + +That seems a paradox. It is a commonplace that we are incompetent to +judge another, for human eyes cannot read the secrets of a human +heart, and we can only surmise, not know, each other's motives, which +are the all-important part of our deeds. But when we rightly +understand Christ's human nature, we understand how fitted He is to +be our Judge, and how blessed it is to think of Him as such. Paul +tells the Athenians with deep significance that He who is to be their +and the world's Judge is 'the Man.' He sums up human nature in +Himself, He is the ideal and the real Man. + +And further, Paul tells his hearers that God judges 'through' Him, +and does so 'in righteousness.' He is fitted to be our Judge, because +He perfectly and completely bears our nature, knows by experience all +its weaknesses and windings, as from the inside, so to speak, and is +'wondrous kind' with the kindness which 'fellow-feeling' enkindles. +He knows us with the knowledge of a God; He knows us with the +sympathy of a brother. + +The Man who has died for all men thereby becomes the Judge of all. +Even in this life, Jesus and His Cross judge us. Our disposition +towards Him is the test of our whole character. By their attitude to +Him, the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. 'What think ye of +Christ?' is the question, the answer to which determines our fate, +because it reveals our inmost selves and their capacities for +receiving blessing or harm from God and His mercy. Jesus Himself has +taught us that 'in that day' the condition of entrance into the +Kingdom is 'doing the will of My Father which is in heaven.' He has +also taught us that 'this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him +whom He hath sent.' Faith in Jesus as our Saviour is the root from +which will grow the good tree which will bring forth good fruit, +bearing which our love will be 'made perfect, that we may have +boldness before Him in the day of judgment.' + + + +PAUL AT CORINTH + +'After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to +Corinth; 2. And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, +lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that +Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came +unto them. 3. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with +them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers. +4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded +the Jews and the Greeks. 5. And when Silas and Timotheus were +come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and +testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. 6. And when they +opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and +said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: +from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. 7. And he departed +thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one +that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. 8. +And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the +Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing +believed, and were baptized. 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in +the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy +peace: 10. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to +hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. 11. And he +continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God +among them.'--ACTS xviii. 1-11. + +Solitude is a hard trial for sensitive natures, and tends to weaken +their power of work. Paul was entirely alone in Athens, and appears +to have cut his stay there short, since his two companions, who were +to have joined him in that city, did not do so till after he had been +some time in Corinth. His long stay there has several well-marked +stages, which yield valuable lessons. + +I. First, we note the solitary Apostle, seeking friends, toiling for +bread, and withal preaching Christ. Corinth was a centre of commerce, +of wealth, and of moral corruption. The celebrated local worship of +Aphrodite fed the corruption as well as the wealth. The Apostle met +there with a new phase of Greek life, no less formidable in +antagonism to the Gospel than the culture of Athens. He tells us that +he entered on his work in Corinth 'in weakness, and in fear, and in +much trembling,' but also that he did not try to attract by +adaptation of his words to the prevailing tastes either of Greek or +Jew, but preached 'Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,' knowing that, +while that appeared to go right in the teeth of the demands of both, +it really met their wants. This ministry was begun, in his usual +fashion, very unobtrusively and quietly. His first care was to find a +home; his second, to provide his daily bread; and then he was free to +take the Sabbath for Christian work in the synagogue. + +We cannot tell whether he had had any previous acquaintance with +Aquila and his wife, nor indeed is it certain that they had +previously been Christians. Paul's reason for living with them was +simply the convenience of getting work at his trade, and it seems +probable that, if they had been disciples, that fact would have been +named as part of his reason. Pontus lay to the north of Cilicia, and +though widely separated from it, was near enough to make a kind of +bond as of fellow-countrymen, which would be the stronger because +they had the same craft at their finger-ends. + +It was the wholesome practice for every Rabbi to learn some trade. If +all graduates had to do the same now there would be fewer educated +idlers, who are dangerous to society and burdens to themselves and +their friends. What a curl of contempt would have lifted the lips of +the rich men of Corinth if they had been told that the greatest man +in their city was that little Jew tent-maker, and that in this +unostentatious fashion he had begun to preach truths which would be +like a charge of dynamite to all their social and religious order! +True zeal can be patiently silent. + +Sewing rough goat's-hair cloth into tents may be as truly serving +Christ as preaching His name. All manner of work that contributes to +the same end is the same in worth and in recompense. Perhaps the +wholesomest form of Christian ministry is that after the Apostolic +pattern, when the teacher can say, as Paul did to the people of +Corinth, 'When I was present with you and was in want, I was not a +burden on any man.' If not in letter, at any rate in spirit, his +example must be followed. If the preacher would win souls he must be +free from any taint of suspicion as to money. + +II. The second stage in Paul's Corinthian residence is the increased +activity when his friends, Silas and Timothy, came from Beroea. We +learn from Philippians iv. 15, and 2 Corinthians xi. 9, that they +brought gifts from the Church at Philippi; and from 1 Thessalonians +iii. 6, that they brought something still more gladdening namely, +good accounts of the steadfastness of the Thessalonian converts. The +money would make it less necessary to spend most of the week in +manual labour; the glad tidings of the Thessalonians' 'faith and +love' did bring fresh life, and the presence of his helpers would +cheer him. So a period of enlarged activity followed their coming. + +The reading of verse 5, 'Paul was constrained by the word,' brings +out strikingly the Christian impulse which makes speech of the Gospel +a necessity. The force of that impulse may vary, as it did with Paul; +but if we have any deep possession of the grace of God for ourselves, +we shall, like him, feel it pressing us for utterance, as soon as the +need of providing daily bread becomes less stringent and our hearts +are gladdened by Christian communion. It augurs ill for a man's hold +of the word if the word does not hold him. He who never felt that he +was weary of forbearing, and that the word was like a fire, if it was +'shut up in his bones,' has need to ask himself if he has any belief +in the Gospel. The craving to impart ever accompanies real +possession. + +The Apostle's solemn symbolism, announcing his cessation of efforts +among the Jews, has of course reference only to Corinth, for we find +him in his subsequent ministry adhering to his method, 'to the Jew +first.' It is a great part of Christian wisdom in evangelical work to +recognise the right time to give up efforts which have been +fruitless. Much strength is wasted, and many hearts depressed, by +obstinate continuance in such methods or on such fields as have cost +much effort and yielded no fruit. We often call it faith, when it is +only pride, which prevents the acknowledgment of failure. Better to +learn the lessons taught by Providence, and to try a new 'claim,' +than to keep on digging and washing when we only find sand and mud. +God teaches us by failures as well as by successes. Let us not be too +conceited to learn the lesson or to confess defeat, and shift our +ground accordingly. + +It is a solemn thing to say 'I am clean.' We need to have been very +diligent, very loving, very prayerful to God, and very persuasive in +pleading with men, before we dare to roll all the blame of their +condemnation on themselves. But we have no right to say, 'Henceforth +I go to' others, until we can say that we have done all that man--or, +at any rate, that we--can do to avert the doom. + +Paul did not go so far away but that any whose hearts God had touched +could easily find him. It was with a lingering eye to his countrymen +that he took up his abode in the house of 'one that feared God,' that +is, a proselyte; and that he settled down next door to the synagogue. +What a glimpse of yearning love which cannot bear to give Israel up +as hopeless, that simple detail gives us! And may we not say that the +yearning of the servant is caught from the example of the Master? +'How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?' Does not Christ, in His long- +suffering love, linger in like manner round each closed heart? and if +He withdraws a little way, does He not do so rather to stimulate +search after Him, and tarry near enough to be found by every seeking +heart? + +Paul's purpose in his solemn warning to the Jews of Corinth was +partly accomplished. The ruler of the synagogue 'believed in the Lord +with all his house.' Thus men are sometimes brought to decision for +Christ by the apparently impending possibility of His Gospel leaving +them to themselves. 'Blessings brighten as they take their flight.' +Severity sometimes effects what forbearance fails to achieve. If the +train is on the point of starting, the hesitating passenger will +swiftly make up his mind and rush for a seat. It is permissible to +press for immediate decision on the ground that the time is short, +and that soon these things 'will be hid from the eyes.' + +We learn from 1 Corinthians i. 14, that Paul deviated from his usual +practice, and himself baptized Crispus. We may be very sure that his +doing so arose from no unworthy subserviency to an important convert, +but indicated how deeply grateful he was to the Lord for giving him, +as a seal to a ministry which had seemed barren, so encouraging a +token. The opposition and blasphemy of many are outweighed, to a true +evangelist, by the conversion of one; and while all souls are in one +aspect equally valuable, they are unequal in the influence which they +may exert on others. So it was with Crispus, for 'many of the +Corinthians hearing' of such a signal fact as the conversion of the +chief of the synagogue, likewise 'believed.' We may distinguish in +our estimate of the value of converts, without being untrue to the +great principle that all men are equally precious in Christ's eyes. + +III. The next stage is the vision to Paul and his consequent +protracted residence in Corinth. God does not waste visions, nor bid +men put away fears which are not haunting them. This vision enables +us to conceive Paul's state of mind when it came to him. He was for +some reason cast down. He had not been so when things looked much +more hopeless. But though now he had his friends and many converts, +some mood of sadness crept over him. Men like him are often swayed by +impulses rising within, and quite apart from outward circumstances. +Possibly he had reason to apprehend that his very success had +sharpened hostility, and to anticipate danger to life. The contents +of the vision make this not improbable. + +But the mere calming of fear, worthy object as it is, is by no means +the main part of the message of the vision. 'Speak, and hold not thy +peace,' is its central word. Fear which makes a Christian dumb is +always cowardly, and always exaggerated. Speech which comes from +trembling lips may be very powerful, and there is no better remedy +for terror than work for Christ. If we screw ourselves up to do what +we fear to do, the dread vanishes, as a bather recovers himself as +soon as his head has once been under water. + +Why was Paul not to be afraid? It is easy to say, 'Fear not,' but +unless the exhortation is accompanied with some good reason shown, it +is wasted breath. Paul got a truth put into his heart which ends all +fear--'For I am with thee.' Surely that is enough to exorcise all +demons of cowardice or despondency, and it is the assurance that all +Christ's servants may lay up in their hearts, for use at all moments +and in all moods. His presence, in no metaphor, but in deepest inmost +reality, is theirs, and whether their fears come from without or +within, His presence is more than enough to make them brave and +strong. + +Paul needed a vision, for Paul had never seen Christ 'after the +flesh,' nor heard His parting promise. We do not need it, for we have +the unalterable word, which He left with all His disciples when He +ascended, and which remains true to the ends of the world and till +the world ends. + +The consequence of Christ's presence is not exemption from attacks, +but preservation in them. Men may 'set on' Paul, but they cannot +'hurt' him. The promise was literally fulfilled when the would-be +accusers were contemptuously sent away by Gallio, the embodiment of +Roman even-handedness and despising of the deepest things. It is +fulfilled no less truly to-day; for no hurt can come to us if Christ +is with us, and whatever does come is not hurt. + +'I have much people in this city.' Jesus saw what Paul did not, the +souls yet to be won for Him. That loving Eye gladly beholds His own +sheep, though they may be yet in danger of the wolves, and far from +the Shepherd. 'Them also He must bring'; and His servants are wise +if, in all their labours, they cherish the courage that comes from +the consciousness of His presence, and the unquenchable hope, which +sees in the most degraded and alienated those whom the Good Shepherd +will yet find in the wilderness and bear back to the fold. Such a +hope will quicken them for all service, and such a vision will +embolden them in all peril. + + + +'CONSTRAINED BY THE WORD' + +'And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was +pressed in the spirit, and testified.'--ACTS xviii. 5. + +The Revised Version, in concurrence with most recent authorities, +reads, instead of 'pressed in the spirit,' 'constrained by the word.' +One of these alterations depends on a diversity of reading, the other +on a difference of translation. The one introduces a significant +difference of meaning; the other is rather a change of expression. +The word rendered here 'pressed,' and by the Revised Version +'constrained,' is employed in its literal use in 'Master, the +multitude throng Thee and _press_ Thee,' and in its metaphorical +application in 'The love of Christ _constraineth us_.' There is not +much difference between 'constrained' and 'pressed,' but there is a +large difference between 'in the spirit' and 'by the word.' 'Pressed +in the spirit' simply describes a state of feeling or mind; +'constrained by the word' declares the force which brought about that +condition of pressure or constraint. What then does 'constrained by +the word' refer to? It indicates that Paul's message had a grip of +him, and held him hard, and forced him to deliver it. + +One more preliminary remark is that our text evidently brings this +state of mind of the Apostle, and the coming of his two friends Silas +and Timothy, into relation as cause and effect. He had been alone in +Corinth. His work of late had not been encouraging. He had been +comparatively silent there, and had spent most of his time in tent- +making. But when his two friends came a cloud was lifted off his +spirit, and he sprang back again, as it were, to his old form and to +his old work. + +Now if we take that point of view with regard to the passage before +us, I think we shall find that it yields valuable lessons, some of +which I wish to try to enforce now. + +I. Let me ask you to look with me at the downcast Apostle. + +'Downcast,' you say; 'is not that an unworthy word to use about a +minister of Jesus Christ inspired as Paul was?' By no means. We shall +very much mistake both the nature of inspiration and the character of +this inspired Apostle, if we do not recognise that he was a man of +many moods and tremulously susceptible to external influences. Such +music would never have come from him if his soul had not been like an +Aeolian harp, hung in a tree and vibrating in response to every +breeze. And so we need not hesitate to speak of the Apostle's mood, +as revealed to us in the passage before us, as being downcast. + +Now notice that in the verses preceding my text his conduct is +extremely abnormal and unlike his usual procedure. He goes into +Corinth, and he does next to nothing in evangelistic work. He repairs +to the synagogue once a week, and talks to the Jews there. But that +is all. The notice of his reasoning in the synagogue is quite +subordinate to the notice that he was occupied in finding a lodging +with another pauper Jew and stranger in the great city, and that +these two poor men went into a kind of partnership, and tried to earn +a living by hard work. Such procedure makes a singular contrast to +Paul's usual methods in a strange city. + +Now the reason for that slackening of impulse and comparative +cessation of activity is not far to seek. The first Epistle to +Thessalonica was written immediately after these two brethren +rejoined Paul. And how does the Apostle describe in that letter his +feelings before they came? He speaks of 'all our distress and +affliction.' He tells that he was tortured by anxiety as to how the +new converts in Thessalonica were getting on, and could not forbear +to try to find out whether they were still standing steadfast. Again +in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, you will find that there, +looking back to this period, he describes his feelings in similar +fashion and says: 'I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in +much trembling.' And if you look forward a verse or two in our +chapter you will see that a vision came to Paul, which presupposes +that some touch of fear, and some temptation to silence, were busy in +his heart. For God shapes His communications according to our need, +and would not have said, 'Do not be afraid, and hold not thy peace, +but speak,' unless there had been a danger both of Paul's being +frightened and of his being dumb. + +And what thus brought a cloud over his sky? A little exercise of +historical imagination will very sufficiently answer that. A few +weeks before, in obedience, as he believed, to a direct divine +command, Paul had made a plunge, and ventured upon an altogether new +phase of work. He had crossed into Europe, and from the moment that +he landed at the harbour of Philippi, up to the time when he took +refuge in some quiet little room in Corinth, he had had nothing but +trouble and danger and disappointment. The prison at Philippi, the +riots that hounded him out of Thessalonica, the stealthy, hurried +escape from Beroea, the almost entire failure of his first attempt to +preach the Gospel to Greeks in Athens, his loneliness, and the +strangeness of his surroundings in the luxurious, wicked, wealthy +Greek city of Corinth--all these things weighed on him, and there is +no wonder that his spirits went down, and he felt that now he must +lie fallow for a time and rest, and pull himself together again. + +So here we have, in this great champion of the faith, in this strong +runner of the Christian race, in this chief of men, an example of the +fluctuation of mood, the variation in the way in which we look at our +duties and our obligations and our difficulties, the slackening of +the impulse which dominates our lives, that are too familiar to us +all. It brings Paul nearer us to feel that he, too, knew these ups +and downs. The force that drove this meteor through the darkness +varied, as the force that impels us varies to our consciousness. It +is the prerogative of God to be immutable; men have their moods and +their fluctuations. Kindled lights flicker; the sun burns steadily. +An Elijah to-day beards Ahab and Jezebel and all their priests, and +to-morrow hides his head in his hands, and says, 'Take me away, I am +not better than my fathers.' There will be ups and down in the +Christian vigour of our lives, as well as in all other regions, so +long as men dwell in this material body and are surrounded by their +present circumstances. + +Brethren, it is no small part of Christian wisdom and prudence to +recognise this fact, both in order that it may prevent us from +becoming unduly doubtful of ourselves when the ebb tide sets in on +our souls, and also in order that we may lay to heart this other +truth, that because these moods and changes of aspect and of vigour +_will_ come to us, therefore the law of life must be effort, and the +duty of every Christian man be to minimise, in so far as possible, +the fluctuations which, in some degree, are inevitable. No human hand +has ever drawn an absolutely straight line. That is the ideal of the +mathematician, but all ours are crooked. But we may indefinitely +diminish the magnitude of the curves. No two atoms are so close +together as that there is no film between them. No human life has +ever been an absolutely continuous, unbroken series of equally holy +and devoted thoughts and acts, but we may diminish the intervals +between kindred states, and may make our lives so far uniform as that +to a bystander they shall look like the bright circle, which a brand +whirled round in the air makes the impression of, on the eye that +beholds. We shall have times of brightness and of less brilliancy, of +vigour and of consequent reaction and exhaustion. But Christianity +has, for one of its objects, to help us to master our moods, and to +bring us nearer and nearer, by continual growth, to the steadfast, +immovable attitude of those whose faith is ever the same. + +Do not forget the plain lesson which comes from the incident before +us--viz., that the wisest thing that a man can do, when he feels that +the wheels of his religious being are driving heavily, is to set +himself doggedly to the plain, homely work of daily life. Paul did +not sit and bemoan himself because he felt this slackening of +impulse, but he went away to Aquila, and said, 'Let us set to work +and make camel's-hair cloth and tents.' Be thankful for your homely, +prosaic, secular, daily task. You do not know from how many sickly +fancies it saves you, and how many breaches in the continuity of your +Christian feeling it may bridge over. It takes you away from thinking +about yourselves, and sometimes you cannot think about anything less +profitably. So stick to your work; and if ever you feel, as Paul did, +'cast down,' be sure that the workshop, the office, the desk, the +kitchen will prevent you from being 'destroyed,' if you give +yourselves to the plain duties which no moods alter, but which can +alter a great many moods. + +II. And now note the 'constraining word.' + +I have already said that the return of the two, who had been sent to +see how things were going with the recent converts in the infant +Churches, brought the Apostle good tidings, and so lifted off a great +load of anxiety from his heart. No wonder! He had left raw recruits +under fire, with no captain, and he might well doubt whether they +would keep their ranks. But they did. So the pressure was lifted off, +and the pressure being lifted off, spontaneously the old impulse +gripped him once more; like a spring which leaps back to its ancient +curve when some alien force is taken from it. It must have been a +very deep and a very habitual impulse, which thus instantly +reasserted itself the moment that the pressure of anxiety was taken +out of the way. + +The word constrained him. What to do? To declare it. Paul's example +brings up two thoughts--that that impulse may vary at times, +according to the pressure of circumstances, and may even be held in +abeyance for a while; and that if a man is honestly and really a +Christian, as soon as the incumbent pressure is taken away, he will +feel, 'Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the +Gospel.' For though Paul's sphere of work was different from ours, +his obligation to work and his impulse to work were such as are, or +should be, common to all Christians. The impulse to utter the word +that we believe and live by seems to me to be, in its very nature, +inseparable from earnest Christian faith. All emotion demands +expression; and if a man has never felt that he must let his +Christian faith have vent, it is a very bad sign. As certainly as +fermentation or effervescence demands outgush, so certainly does +emotion demand expression. We all know that. The same impulse that +makes a mother bend over her babe with unmeaning words and tokens +that seem to unsympathetic onlookers foolish, ought to influence all +Christians to speak the Name they love. All conviction demands +expression. There may be truths which have so little bearing upon +human life that he who perceives them feels little obligation to say +anything about them. But these are the exceptions; and the more +weighty and the more closely affecting human interests anything that +we have learned to believe as truth is, the more do we feel in our +hearts that, in making us its believers, it has made us its apostles. +Christ's saying, 'What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the +housetops,' expresses a universal truth which is realised in many +regions, and ought to be most emphatically realised in the Christian. +For surely of all the truths that men can catch a glimpse of, or +grapple to their hearts, or store in their understandings, there are +none which bring with them such tremendous consequences, and +therefore are of so solemn import to proclaim to all the children of +men, as the truth, which we profess we have received, of personal +salvation through Jesus Christ. + +If there never had been a single commandment to that effect, I know +not how the Christian Church or the Christian individual could have +abstained from declaring the great and sweet Name to which it and he +owe so much. I do not care to present this matter as a commandment, +nor to speak now of obligation or responsibility. The _impulse_ is +what I would fix your attention upon. It is inseparable from the +Christian life. It may vary in force, as we see in the incident +before us. It will vary in grip, according as other circumstances and +duties insist upon being attended to. The form in which it is yielded +to will vary indefinitely in individuals. But if they are Christian +people it is always there. + +Well then, what about the masses of so-called Christians who feel +nothing of any such constraining force? And what about the many who +feel enough of it to make them also feel that they are wrong in not +yielding to it, but not enough to make their conduct be influenced by +it? Brethren, I venture to believe that the measure in which this +impulse to speak the word and use direct efforts for somebody's +conversion is felt by Christians, is a very fair test of the depth of +their own religion. If a vessel is half empty it will not run over. +If it is full to the brim, the sparkling treasure will fall on all +sides. A weak plant may never push its green leaves above the ground, +but a strong one will rise into the light. A spark may be smothered +in a heap of brushwood, but a steady flame will burn its way out. If +this word has not a grip of you, impelling you to its utterance, I +would have you not to be too sure that you have a grip of it. + +III. Lastly, we have here the witness to the word. + +'He was constrained by the word, _testifying_.' Now I do not know +whether it is imposing too much meaning upon a non-significant +difference of expression, if I ask you to note the difference between +that phrase and the one which describes his previous activity: 'He +_reasoned_ in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade' the +Jews and the Greeks, but when the old impulse came back in new force, +_reasoning_ was far too cold a method, and Paul took to _testifying_. +Whether that be so or no, mark that the witness of one's own personal +conviction and experience is the strongest weapon that a Christian +can use. I do not despise the place of reasoning, but arguments do +not often change opinions; they never change hearts. Logic and +controversial discoursing may 'prepare the way of the Lord,' but it +is 'in the wilderness.' But when a man calls aloud, 'Come and hear +all ye, and I will declare what God hath done for my soul'; or when +he tells his brother, 'We have found the Messias'; or when he sticks +to 'One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see,' it is +difficult for any one to resist, and impossible for any one to +answer, that way of testifying, + +It is a way that we can all adopt if we will. Christian men and women +can all say such things. I do not forget that there are indirect ways +of spreading the Gospel. Some of you think that you do enough when +you give your money and your interest in order to diffuse it. You can +buy a substitute in the militia, but you cannot buy a substitute in +Christ's service. You have each some congregation to which you can +speak, if it is no larger than Paul's--namely, two people, Aquila and +Priscilla. What talks they would have in their lodging, as they +plaited the wisps of black hair into rough cloth, and stitched the +strips into tents! Aquila was not a Christian when Paul picked him +up, but he became one very soon; and it was the preaching in the +workshop, amidst the dust, that made him one. If we long to speak +about Christ we shall find plenty of people to speak to. 'Ye are my +witnesses, saith the Lord.' + +Now, dear friends, I have only one word more. I have no doubt there +are some among us who have been saying, 'This sermon does not apply +to me at all.' Does it not? If it does not, what does that mean? It +means that you have not the first requisite for spreading the word-- +viz. personal faith in the word. It means that you have put away, or +at least neglected to take in, the word and the Saviour of whom it +speaks, into your own lives. But it does _not_ mean that you have got +rid of the word thereby. It will not in that case lay the grip of +which I have been speaking upon you, but it will not let you go. It +will lay on you a far more solemn and awful clutch, and like a jailer +with his hand on the culprit's shoulder, will 'constrain' you into +the presence of the Judge. You can make it a savour of life unto +life, or of death unto death. And though you do not grasp it, it +grasps and holds you. 'The word that I speak unto him, the same shall +judge him at the last day.' + + + +GALLIO + +'And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto +the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong: or wicked lewdness, O ye +Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: 15. But if it be +a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; +for I will be no judge of such matters.'--ACTS xviii. 14, 15. + +There is something very touching in the immortality of fame which +comes to the men who for a moment pass across the Gospel story, like +shooting stars kindled for an instant as they enter our atmosphere. +How little Gallio dreamed that he would live for ever in men's mouths +by reason of this one judicial dictum! He was Seneca's brother, and +was possibly leavened by his philosophy and indisposed to severity. +He has been unjustly condemned. There are some striking lessons from +the story. + +I. The remarkable anticipation of the true doctrine as to the +functions of civil magistrates. + +Gallio draws a clear distinction between conduct and opinion, and +excepts the whole of the latter region from his sway. It is the first +case in which the civil authorities refused to take cognisance of a +charge against a man on account of his opinions. Nineteen hundred +years have not brought all tribunals up to that point yet. Gallio +indeed was influenced mainly by philosophic contempt for the +trivialities of what he thought a superstition. We are influenced by +our recognition of the sanctity of individual conviction, and still +more by reverence for truth and by the belief that it should depend +only on its own power for progress and on itself for the defeat of +its enemies. + +II. The tragic mistake about the nature of the Gospel which men make. + +There is something very pathetic in the erroneous estimates made by +those persons mentioned in Acts who some once or twice come in +contact with the preachers of Christ. How little they recognise what +was before them! Their responsibility is in better hands than ours. +But in Gallio there is a trace of tendencies always in operation. + +We see in him the practical man's contempt for mere ideas. The man of +affairs, be he statesman or worker, is always apt to think that +things are more than thoughts. Gallio, proconsul in Corinth, and his +brother official, Pilate, in Jerusalem, both believed in powers that +they could see. The question of the one, for an answer to which he +did not wait, was not the inquiry of a searcher after truth, but the +exclamation of a sceptic who thought all the contradictory answers +that rang through the world to be demonstrations that the question +had no answer. The impatient refusal of the other to have any concern +in settling 'such matters' was steeped in the same characteristically +Roman spirit of impatient distrust and suspicion of mere ideas. He +believed in Roman force and authority, and thought that such harmless +visionaries as Paul and his company might be allowed to go their own +way, and he did not know that they carried with them a solvent and +constructive power before which the solid-seeming structure of the +Empire was destined to crumble, as surely as thick-ribbed ice before +the sirocco. + +And how many of us believe in wealth and material progress, and +regard the region of truth as very shadowy and remote! This is a +danger besetting us all. The true forces that sway the world are +ideas. + +We see in Gallio supercilious indifference to mere 'theological +subtleties.' To him Paul's preaching and the Jews' passionate denials +of it seemed only a squabble about 'words and names.' Probably he had +gathered his impression from Paul's eager accusers, who would charge +him with giving the name of 'Christ' to Jesus. + +Gallio's attitude was partly Stoical contempt for all superstitions, +partly, perhaps, an eclectic belief that all these warring religions +were really saying the same thing and differed only in words and +names; and partly sheer indifference to the whole subject. Thus +Christianity appears to many in this day. + +What is it in reality? Not words but power: a Name, indeed, but a +Name which is life. Alas for us, who by our jangling have given +colour to this misconception! + +We see in Gallio the mistake that the Gospel has little relation to +conduct. Gallio drew a broad distinction between conduct and opinion, +and there he was right. But he imagined that this opinion had nothing +to do with conduct, and how wrong he was there we need not elaborate. + +The Gospel is the mightiest power for shaping conduct. + +III. The ignorant levity with which men pass the crisis of their +lives. + +How little Gallio knew of what a possibility was opened out before +him! Angels were hovering unseen. We seldom recognise the fateful +moments of our lives till they are past. + +The offer of salvation in Christ is ever a crisis. It may never be +repeated. Was Gallio ever again brought into contact with Paul or +Paul's Lord? We know not. He passes out of sight, the search-light is +turned in another direction, and we lose him in the darkness. The +extent of his criminality is in better hands than ours, though we +cannot but let our thoughts go forward to the time when he, like us +all, will stand at the judgment bar of Jesus, no longer a judge but +judged. Let us hope that before he passed hence, he learned how full +of spirit and of life the message was, which he once took for a mere +squabble about 'words and names,' and thought too trivial to occupy +his court. And let us remember that the Jesus, whom we are sometimes +tempted to judge as of little importance to us, will one day judge +us, and that His judgment will settle our fate for evermore. + + + +TWO FRUITFUL YEARS + +'And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul +having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and +finding certain disciples. 2. He said unto them, Have ye received +the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have +not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3. And he +said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, +Unto John's baptism. 4. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with +the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they +should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on +Christ Jesus. 5. When they heard this, they were baptized in the +name of the Lord Jesus. 6. And when Paul had laid his hands upon +them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, +and prophesied. 7. And all the men were about twelve. 8. And he +went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three +months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the +kingdom of God. 9. But when divers were hardened, and believed +not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed +from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the +school of one Tyrannus. 10. And this continued by the space of +two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of +the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11. And God wrought special +miracles by the hands of Paul: 12. So that from his body were +brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases +departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.' +--ACTS xix. 1-12. + +This passage finds Paul in Ephesus. In the meantime he had paid that +city a hasty visit on his way back from Greece, had left his friends, +Aquila and Priscilla, in it, and had gone on to Jerusalem, thence +returning to Antioch, and visiting the churches in Asia Minor which +he had planted on his former journeys. From the inland and higher +districts he has come down to the coast, and established himself in +the great city of Ephesus, where the labours of Aquila, and perhaps +others, had gathered a small band of disciples. Two points are +especially made prominent in this passage--the incorporation of +John's disciples with the Church, and the eminent success of Paul's +preaching in Ephesus. + +The first of these is a very remarkable and, in some respects, +puzzling incident. It is tempting to bring it into connection with +the immediately preceding narrative as to Apollos. The same stage of +spiritual development is presented in these twelve men and in that +eloquent Alexandrian. They and he were alike in knowing only of +John's baptism; but if they had been Apollos' pupils, they would most +probably have been led by him into the fuller light which he received +through Priscilla and Aquila. More probably, therefore, they had been +John's disciples, independently of Apollos. Their being recognised as +'disciples' is singular, when we consider their very small knowledge +of Christian truth; and their not having been previously instructed +in its rudiments, if they were associating with the Church, is not +less so. But improbable things do happen, and part of the reason for +an event being recorded is often its improbability. Luke seems to +have been struck by the singular similarity between Apollos and these +men, and to have told the story, not only because of its importance +but because of its peculiarity. + +The first point to note is the fact that these men were disciples. +Paul speaks of their having 'believed,' and they were evidently +associated with the Church. But the connection must have been loose, +for they had not received baptism. Probably there was a fringe of +partial converts hanging round each church, and Paul, knowing nothing +of the men beyond the fact that he found them along with the others, +accepted them as 'disciples.' But there must have been some reason +for doubt, or his question would not have been asked. They 'believed' +in so far as John had taught the coming of Messiah. But they did not +know that Jesus was the Messiah whose coming John had taught. + +Paul's question is, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you +believed?' Obviously he missed the marks of the Spirit in them, +whether we are to suppose that these were miraculous powers or moral +and religious elevation. Now this question suggests that the +possession of the Holy Spirit is the normal condition of all +believers; and that truth cannot be too plainly stated or urgently +pressed to-day. He is 'the Spirit, which they that believe on Him' +shall 'receive.' The outer methods of His bestowment vary: sometimes +He is given after baptism, and sometimes, as to Cornelius, before it; +sometimes by laying on of Apostolic hands, sometimes without it. But +one thing constantly precedes, namely, faith; and one thing +constantly follows faith, namely, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Modern +Christianity does not grasp that truth as firmly or make it as +prominent as it ought. + +The question suggests, though indirectly, that the signs of the +Spirit's presence are sadly absent in many professing Christians. +Paul asked it in wonder. If he came into modern churches, he would +have to ask it once more. Possibly he looked for the visible tokens +in powers of miracle-working and the like. But these were temporary +accidents, and the permanent manifestations are holiness, +consciousness of sonship, God-directed longings, religious +illumination, victory over the flesh. These things should be obvious +in disciples. They will be, if the Spirit is not quenched. Unless +they are, what sign of being Christians do we present? + +The answer startles. They had not heard whether the Holy Ghost had +been _given_; for that is the true meaning of their reply. John had +foretold the coming of One who should baptize with the fire of that +divine Spirit. His disciples, therefore, could not be ignorant of the +existence thereof; but they had never heard whether their Master's +prophecy had been fulfilled. What a glimpse that gives us of the +small publicity attained by the story of Jesus! + +Paul's second question betrays even more astonishment than did his +first. He had taken for granted that, as disciples, the men had been +baptized; and his question implies that a pre-requisite of Christian +baptism was the teaching which they said that they had not had, and +that a consequence of it was the gift of the Spirit, which he saw +that they did not possess. Of course Paul's teaching is but +summarised here. Its gist was that Jesus was the Messiah whom John +had heralded, that John had himself taught that his mission was +preliminary, and that therefore his true disciples must advance to +faith in Christ. + +The teaching was welcomed, for these men were not of the sort who saw +in Jesus a rival to John, as others of his disciples did. They became +'disciples indeed,' and then followed baptism, apparently not +administered by Paul, and imposition of Paul's hands. The Holy Spirit +then came on them, as on the disciples on Pentecost, and 'they spoke +with tongues and prophesied.' It was a repetition of that day, as a +testimony that the gifts were not limited by time or place, but were +the permanent possession of believers, as truly in heathen Ephesus as +in Jerusalem; and we miss the meaning of the event unless we add, as +truly in Britain to-day as in any past. The fire lit on Pentecost has +not died down into grey ashes. If we 'believe,' it will burn on our +heads and, better, in our spirits. + +Much ingenuity has been expended in finding profound meanings in the +number of 'twelve' here. The Apostles and their supernatural gifts, +the patriarchs as founders of Israel, have been thought of as +explaining the number, as if these men were founders of a new Israel, +or Apostolate. But all that is trifling with the story, which gives +no hint that the men were of any special importance, and it omits the +fact that they were '_about_ twelve,' not precisely that number. Luke +simply wishes us to learn that there was a group of them, but how +many he does not exactly know. More important is it to notice that +this is the last reference to John or his disciples in the New +Testament. The narrator rejoices to point out that some at least of +these were led onwards into full faith. + +The other part of the section presents mainly the familiar features +of Apostolic ministration, the first appeal to the synagogue, the +rejection of the message by it, and then the withdrawal of Paul and +the Jewish disciples. The chief characteristics of the narrative are +Paul's protracted stay in Ephesus, the establishment of a centre of +public evangelising in the lecture hall of a Gentile teacher, the +unhindered preaching of the Gospel, and the special miracles +accompanying it. The importance of Ephesus as the eye and heart of +proconsular Asia explains the lengthened stay. 'A great door and +effectual,' said Paul, 'is opened unto me'; and he was not the man to +refrain from pushing in at it because 'there are many adversaries.' +Rather opposition was part of his reason for persistence, as it +should always he. + +There comes a point in the most patient labour, however, when it is +best no longer to 'cast pearls' before those who 'trample them under +foot,' and Paul set an example of wise withdrawal as well as of brave +pertinacity, in leaving the synagogue when his remaining there only +hardened disobedient hearts. Note that word _disobedient_. It teaches +that the moral element in unbelief is resistance of the will. The two +words are not synonyms, though they apply to the same state of mind. +Rather the one lays bare the root of the other and declares its +guilt. Unbelief comes from disobedience, and therefore is fit subject +for punishment. Again observe that expression for Christianity, 'the +Way,' which occurs several times in the Acts. The Gospel points the +path for us to tread. It is not a body of truth merely, but it is a +guide for practice. Discipleship is manifested in conduct. This +Gospel points the way through the wilderness to Zion and to rest. It +is '_the_ Way,' the only path, 'the Way everlasting.' + +It was a bold step to gather the disciples in 'the school of +Tyrannus.' He was probably a Greek professor of rhetoric or lecturer +on philosophy, and Paul may have hired his hall, to the horror, no +doubt, of the Rabbis. It was a complete breaking with the synagogue +and a bold appeal to the heathen public. Ephesus must have been +better governed than Philippi and Lystra, and the Jewish element must +have been relatively weaker, to allow of Paul's going on preaching +with so much publicity for two years. + +Note the flexibility of his methods, his willingness to use even a +heathen teacher's school for his work, and the continuous energy of +the man. Not on Sabbath days only, but daily, he was at his post. The +multitudes of visitors from all parts to the great city supplied a +constant stream of listeners, for Ephesus was a centre for the whole +country. We may learn from Paul to concentrate work in important +centres, not to be squeamish about where we stand to preach the +Gospel, and not to be afraid of making ourselves conspicuous. Paul's +message hallows the school of Tyrannus; and the school of Tyrannus, +where men have been accustomed to go for widely different teaching, +is a good place for Paul to give forth his message in. + +The 'special miracles' which were wrought are very remarkable, and +unlike the usual type of miracles. It does not appear that Paul +himself sent the 'handkerchiefs and aprons,' which conveyed healing +virtue, but that he simply permitted their use. The converts had +faith to believe that such miracles would be wrought, and God +honoured the faith. But note how carefully the narrative puts Paul's +part in its right place. God 'wrought'; Paul was only the channel. If +the eager people, who carried away the garments, had superstitiously +fancied that there was virtue in Paul, and had not looked beyond him +to God, it is implied that no miracles would have been wrought. But +still the cast of these healings is anomalous, and only paralleled by +the similar instances in Peter's case. + +The principle laid down by Peter (ch. iii. 12) is to be kept in view +in the study of all the miracles in the Acts. It is Jesus Christ who +works, and not His servants who heal by their 'own power or +holiness.' Jesus can heal with or without material channels, but +sometimes chooses to employ such vehicles as these, just as on earth +He chose to anoint blind eyes with clay, and to send the man to wash +it off at the pool. Sense-bound faith is not rejected, but is helped +according to its need, that it may be strengthened and elevated. + + + +WOULD-BE EXORCISTS + +'...Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?' +--ACTS xix. 15. + +These exorcists had no personal union with Jesus. To them He was only +'Jesus whom Paul preached.' They spoke His name tentatively, as an +experiment, and imitatively. To command 'in the name of Jesus' was an +appeal to Jesus to glorify His name and exert His power, and so when +the speaker had no real faith in the name or the power, there was no +answer, because there was really no appeal. + +I. The only power which can cast out the evil spirits is the name of +Jesus. + +That is a commonplace of Christian belief. But it is often held in a +dangerously narrow way and leads to most unwise pitting of the Gospel +against other modes of bettering and elevating men, instead of +recognising them as allies. Earnest Christian workers are tempted to +forget Jesus' own word: 'He that is not against us is for us.' There +is no need to disparage other agencies because we believe that it is +the Gospel which is 'the power of God unto salvation.' Many of the +popular philanthropic movements of the day, many of its curbing and +enlightening forces, many of its revolutionary social ideas, are +really in their essence and historically in their origin, profoundly +Christian, and are the application of the principles inherent in 'the +Name' to the evils of society. No doubt many of their eager apostles +are non-Christian or even anti-Christian, but though some of them +have tried violently to pluck up the plant by the root from the soil +in which it first flowered, much of that soil still adheres to it, +and it will not live long if torn from its native 'habitat.' + +It is not narrowness or hostility to non-Christian efforts to cast +out the demons from humanity, but only the declaration of a truth +which is taught by the consideration of what is the difference +between all other such efforts and Christianity, and is confirmed by +experience, if we maintain that, whatever good results may follow +from these other influences, it is the powers lodged in the Name of +Jesus, and these alone which can, radically and completely, conquer +and eject the demons from a single soul, and emancipate society from +their tyranny. + +For consider that the Gospel which proclaims Jesus as the Saviour is +the only thing which deals with the deepest fact in our natures, the +fact of sin; gives a personal Deliverer from its power; communicates +a new life of which the very essence is righteousness, and which +brings with it new motives, new impulses, and new powers. + +Contrast with this the inadequate diagnosis of the disease and the +consequent imperfection of the remedy which other physicians of the +world's sickness present. Most of them only aim at repressing outward +acts. None of them touch more than a part of the whole dreadful +circumference of the dark orb of evil. Law restrains actions. Ethics +proclaims principles which it has no power to realise. It shows men a +shining height, but leaves them lame and grovelling in the mire. +Education casts out the demon of ignorance, and makes the demons whom +it does not cast out more polite and perilous. It brings its own +evils in its train. Every kind of crop has weeds which spring with +it. The social and political changes, which are eagerly preached now, +will do much; but one thing, which is the all-important thing, they +will not do, they will not change the nature of the individuals who +make up the community. And till that nature is changed any form of +society will produce its own growth of evils. A Christless democracy +will be as bad as, if not worse than, a Christless monarchy or +aristocracy. If the bricks remain the same, it does not much matter +into what shape you build them. + +These would-be exorcists but irritated the demons by their vain +attempts at ejecting them, and it is sometimes the case that efforts +to cure social diseases only result in exacerbating them. If one hole +in a Dutch dyke is stopped up, more pressure is thrown on another +weak point and a leak will soon appear there. There is but one Name +that casts a spell over all the ills that flesh is heir to. There is +but one Saviour of society--Jesus who saves from sin through His +death, and by participation in His life delivers men from that life +of self which is the parent of all the evils from which society +vainly strives to be delivered by any power but His. + +II. That Name must be spoken by believing men if it is to put forth +its full power. + +These exorcists had no faith. All that they knew of Jesus was that He +was the one 'whom Paul preached.' Even the name of Jesus is spoiled +and is powerless on the lips of one who repeats it, parrot-like, +because he has seen its power when it came flame-like from the fiery +lips of some man of earnest convictions. + +In all regions, and especially in the matter of art or literature, +imitators are poor creatures, and men are quick to detect the +difference between the original and the copy. The copyists generally +imitate the weak points, and seldom get nearer than the imitation of +external and trivial peculiarities. It is more feasible to reproduce +the 'contortions of the Sibyl' than to catch her 'inspiration.' + +This absence or feebleness of personal faith is the explanation of +much failure in so-called Christian work. No doubt there may be other +causes for the want of success, but after all allowance is made for +these, it still remains true that the chief reason why the Gospel +message is often proclaimed without casting out demons is that it is +proclaimed with faltering faith, tentatively and without assured +confidence in its power, or imitatively, with but little, if any, +inward experience of the magic of its spell. The demons have ears +quick to discriminate between Paul's fiery accents and the cold +repetition of them. Incomparably the most powerful agency which any +man can employ in producing conviction in others is the utterance of +his own intense conviction. 'If you wish me to weep, your own tears +must flow,' said the Roman poet. Other factors may powerfully aid the +exorcising power of the word spoken by faith, and no wise man will +disparage these, but they are powerless without faith and it is +powerful without them. + +Consider the effect of that personal faith on the speaker--in +bringing all his force to bear on his words; in endowing him for a +time with many of the subsidiary qualities which make our words +winged and weighty; in lifting to a height of self-oblivion, which +itself is magnetic. + +Consider its effect on the hearers--how it bows hearts as trees are +bent before a rushing wind. + +Consider its effect in bringing into action God's own power. Of the +man, all aflame with Christian convictions and speaking them with the +confidence and urgency which become them and him, it may truly be +said, 'It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that +speaketh in you.' + +Here then we have laid bare the secret of success and a cause of +failure, in Christian enterprise. Here we see, as in a concrete +example, the truth exemplified, which all who long for the +emancipation of demon-ridden humanity would be wise to lay to heart, +and thereby to be saved from much eager travelling on a road that +leads nowhither, and much futile expenditure of effort and sympathy, +and many disappointments. It is as true to-day as it was long ago in +Ephesus, that the evil spirits 'feel the Infant's hand from far +Judea's land,' and are forced to confess, 'Jesus we know and Paul we +know'; but to other would-be exorcists their answer is, 'Who are ye?' +'When a strong man armed keepeth his house, his goods are in peace.' +There is but 'One stronger than he who can come upon him, and having +overcome him, can take from him all his armour wherein he trusted and +divide the spoils,' and that is the Christ, at whose name, faithfully +spoken, 'the devils fear and fly.' + + + +THE FIGHT WITH WILD BEASTS AT EPHESUS + +'After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when +he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, +saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. 22. So he +sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, +Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a +season. 23. And the same time there arose no small stir about +that way. 24. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, +which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto +the craftsmen; 25. Whom he called together with the workmen of +like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we +have our wealth. 26. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at +Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded +and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which +are made with hands: 27. So that not only this our craft is in +danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great +goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be +destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. 28. And when +they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, +saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 29. And the whole city +was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and +Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they +rushed with one accord into the theatre. 30. And when Paul would +have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. +31. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, +sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself +into the theatre. 32. Some therefore cried one thing, and some +another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew +not wherefore they were come together. 33. And they drew +Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And +Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence +unto the people. 34. But when they knew that he was a Jew, all +with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is +Diana of the Ephesians.'--ACTS xix. 21-34. + +Paul's long residence in Ephesus indicates the importance of the +position. The great wealthy city was the best possible centre for +evangelising all the province of Asia, and that was to a large extent +effected during the Apostle's stay there. But he had a wider scheme +in his mind. His settled policy was always to fly at the head, as it +were. The most populous cities were his favourite fields, and already +his thoughts were travelling towards the civilised world's capital, +the centre of empire--Rome. A blow struck there would echo through +the world. Paul had his plan, and God had His, and Paul's was not +realised in the fashion he had meant, but it was realised in +substance. He did not expect to enter Rome as a prisoner. God shaped +the ends which Paul had only rough-hewn. + +The programme in verses 21 and 22 was modified by circumstances, as +some people would say; Paul would have said, by God. The riot +hastened his departure from Ephesus. He did go to Jerusalem, and he +did see Rome, but the chain of events that drew him there seemed to +him, at first sight, the thwarting, rather than the fulfilment, of +his long-cherished hope. Well it is for us to carry all our schemes +to God, and to leave them in His hands. + +The account of the riot is singularly vivid and lifelike. It reveals +a new phase of antagonism to the Gospel, a kind of trades-union +demonstration, quite unlike anything that has met us in the Acts. It +gives a glimpse into the civic life of a great city, and shows +demagogues and mob to be the same in Ephesus as in England. It has +many points of interest for the commentator or scholar, and lessons +for all. Luke tells the story with a certain dash of covert irony. + +We have, first, the protest of the shrine-makers' guild or trades- +union, got up by the skilful manipulation of Demetrius. He was +evidently an important man in the trade, probably well-to-do. As his +speech shows, he knew exactly how to hit the average mind. The small +shrines which he and his fellow-craftsmen made were of various +materials, from humble pottery to silver, and were intended for +'votaries to dedicate in the temple,' and represented the goddess +Artemis sitting in a niche with her lions beside her. Making these +was a flourishing industry, and must have employed a large number of +men and much capital. Trade was beginning to be slack, and sales were +falling off. No doubt there is exaggeration in Demetrius's rhetoric, +but the meeting of the craft would not have been held unless a +perceptible effect had been produced by Paul's preaching. Probably +Demetrius and the rest were more frightened than hurt; but men are +very quick to take alarm when their pockets are threatened. + +The speech is a perfect example of how self-interest masquerades in +the garb of pure concern for lofty objects, and yet betrays itself. +The danger to 'our craft' comes first, and the danger to the +'magnificence' of the goddess second; but the precedence given to the +trade is salved over by a 'not only,' which tries to make the +religious motive the chief. No doubt Demetrius was a devout +worshipper of Artemis, and thought himself influenced by high motives +in stirring up the craft. It is natural to be devout or moral or +patriotic when it pays to be so. One would not expect a shrine-maker +to be easily accessible to the conviction that 'they be no gods which +are made with hands.' + +Such admixture of zeal for some great cause, with a shrewd eye to +profit, is very common, and may deceive us if we are not always +watchful. Jehu bragged about his 'zeal for the Lord' when it urged +him to secure himself on the throne by murder; and he may have been +quite honest in thinking that the impulse was pure, when it was +really mingled. How many foremost men in public life everywhere pose +as pure patriots, consumed with zeal for national progress, +righteousness, etc., when all the while they are chiefly concerned +about some private bit of log-rolling of their own! How often in +churches there are men professing to be eager for the glory of God, +who are, perhaps half-unconsciously, using it as a stalking-horse, +behind which they may shoot game for their own larder! A drop of +quicksilver oxidises and dims as soon as exposed to the air. The +purest motives get a scum on them quickly unless we constantly keep +them clear by communion with God. + +Demetrius may teach us another lesson. His opposition to Paul was +based on the plain fact that, if Paul's teaching prevailed, no more +shrines would be wanted. That was a new ground of opposition to the +Gospel, resembled only by the motive for the action of the owners of +the slave girl at Philippi; but it is a perennial source of +antagonism to it. In our cities especially there are many trades +which would be wiped out if Christ's laws of life were universally +adopted. So all the purveyors of commodities and pleasures which the +Gospel forbids a Christian man to use are arrayed against it. We have +to make up our minds to face and fight them. A liquor-seller, for +instance, is not likely to look complacently on a religion which +would bring his 'trade into disrepute'; and there are other +occupations which would be gone if Christ were King, and which +therefore, by the instinct of self-preservation, are set against the +Gospel, unless, so to speak, its teeth are drawn. + +According to one reading, the shouts of the craftsmen which told that +Demetrius had touched them in the tenderest part, their pockets, was +an invocation, 'Great Diana!' not a profession of faith; and we have +a more lively picture of an excited crowd if we adopt the alteration. +It is easy to get a mob to yell out a watchword, whether religious or +political; and the less they understand it, the louder are they +likely to roar. In Athanasius' days the rabble of Constantinople made +the city ring with cries, degrading the subtlest questions as to the +Trinity, and examples of the same sort have not been wanting nearer +home. It is criminal to bring such incompetent judges into religious +or political or social questions, it is cowardly to be influenced by +them. 'The voice of the people' is not always 'the voice of God.' It +is better to 'be in the right with two or three' than to swell the +howl of Diana's worshippers, + +II. A various reading of verse 28 gives an additional particular, +which is of course implied in the received text, but makes the +narrative more complete and vivid if inserted. It adds that the +craftsmen rushed 'into the street,' and there raised their wild cry, +which naturally 'filled' the city with confusion. So the howling mob, +growing larger and more excited every minute, swept through Ephesus, +and made for the theatre, the common place of assembly. + +On their road they seem to have come across two of Paul's companions, +whom they dragged with them. What they meant to do with the two they +had probably not asked themselves. A mob has no plans, and its most +savage acts are unpremeditated. Passion let loose is almost sure to +end in bloodshed, and the lives of Gaius and Aristarchus hung by a +thread. A gust of fury storming over the mob, and a hundred hands +might have torn them to atoms, and no man have thought himself their +murderer. + +What a noble contrast to the raging crowd the silent submission, no +doubt accompanied by trustful looks to Heaven and unspoken prayers, +presents! And how grandly Paul comes out! He had not been found, +probably had not been sought for, by the rioters, whose rage was too +blind to search for him, but his brave soul could not bear to leave +his friends in peril and not plant himself by their sides. So he 'was +minded to enter in unto the people,' well knowing that there he had +to face more ferocious 'wild beasts' than if a cageful of lions had +been loosed on him. Faith in God and fellowship with Christ lift a +soul above fear of death. The noblest kind of courage is not that +born of flesh or temperament, or of the madness of battle, but that +which springs from calm trust in and absolute surrender to Christ. + +Not only did the disciples restrain Paul as feeling that if the +shepherd were smitten the sheep would be scattered, but interested +friends started up in an unlikely quarter. The 'chief of Asia' or +Asiarchs, who sent to dissuade him, 'were the heads of the imperial +political-religious organisation of the province, in the worship of +"Rome and the emperors"; and their friendly attitude is a proof both +that the spirit of the imperial policy was not as yet hostile to the +new teaching, and that the educated classes did not share the +hostility of the superstitious vulgar' (Ramsay, _St. Paul the +Traveller_, p. 281). It is probable that, in that time of crumbling +faith and religious unrest, the people who knew most about the inside +of the established worship believed in it least, and in their hearts +agreed with Paul that 'they be no gods which are made with hands.' + +So we have in these verses the central picture of calm Christian +faith and patient courage, contrasted on the one hand with the +ferocity and excitement of heathen fanatical devotees, and on the +other with the prudent regard to their own safety of the Asiarchs, +who had no such faith in Diana as to lead them to joining the +rioters, nor such faith in Paul's message as to lead them to oppose +the tumult, or to stand by his side, but contented themselves with +_sending_ to warn him. Who can doubt that the courage of the +Christians is infinitely nobler than the fury of the mob or the +cowardice of the Asiarchs, kindly as they were? If they were his +friends, why did they not do something to shield him? 'A plague on +such backing!' + +III. The scene in the theatre, to which Luke returns in verse 32, is +described with a touch of scorn for the crowd, who mostly knew not +what had brought them together. One section of it kept +characteristically cool and sharp-eyed for their own advantage. A +number of Jews had mingled in it, probably intending to fan the flame +against the Christians, if they could do it safely. As in so many +other cases in Acts, common hatred brought Jew and Gentile together, +each pocketing for the time his disgust with the other. The Jews saw +their opportunity. Half a dozen cool heads, who know what they want, +can often sway a mob as they will. Alexander, whom they 'put +forward,' was no doubt going to make a speech disclaiming for the +Jews settled in Ephesus any connection with the obnoxious Paul. We +may be very sure that his 'defence' was of the former, not of the +latter. + +But the rioters were in no mood to listen to fine distinctions among +the members of a race which they hated so heartily. Paul was a Jew, +and this man was a Jew; that was enough. So the roar went up again to +Great Diana, and for two long hours the crowd surged and shouted +themselves hoarse, Gaius and Aristarchus standing silent all the +while and expecting every moment to be their last. The scene reminds +one of Baal's priests shrieking to him on Carmel. It is but too true +a representation of the wild orgies which stand for worship in all +heathen religions. It is but too lively an example of what must +always happen when excited crowds are ignorantly stirred by appeals +to prejudice or self-interest. + +The more democratic the form of government under which we live, the +more needful is it to distinguish the voice of the people from the +voice of the mob, and to beware of exciting, or being governed by, +clamour however loud and long. + + + +PARTING COUNSELS + +'And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not +knowing the things that shall befall me there: 23. Save that the +Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and +afflictions abide me. 24. But none of these things move me, +neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish +my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of +the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 25. +And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone +preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 26. +Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the +blood of all men. 27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you +all the counsel of God. 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, +and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you +overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased +with His own blood. 29. For I know this, that after my departing +shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. +30. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse +things, to draw away disciples after them. 31. Therefore watch, +and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to +warn every one night and day with tears. 32. And now, brethren, I +commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able +to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them +which are sanctified. 33. I have coveted no man's silver, or +gold, or apparel. 34. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands +have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with +me. 35. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye +ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord +Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' +--ACTS xx. 22-35. + +This parting address to the Ephesian elders is perfect in simplicity, +pathos, and dignity. Love without weakness and fervent yet restrained +self-devotion throb in every line. It is personal without egotism, +and soars without effort. It is 'Pauline' through and through, and if +Luke or some unknown second-century Christian made it, the world has +lost the name of a great genius. In reading it, we have to remember +the Apostle's long stay in Ephesus, and his firm conviction that he +was parting for ever from those over whom he had so long watched, and +so long loved, as well as guided. Parting words should be tender and +solemn, and these are both in the highest degree. + +The prominence given to personal references is very marked and +equally natural. The whole address down to verse 27 inclusive is of +that nature, and the same theme recurs in verse 31, is caught up +again in verse 33, and continues thence to the end. That abundance of +allusions to himself is characteristic of the Apostle, even in his +letters; much more is it to be looked for in such an outpouring of +his heart to trusted friends, seen for the last time. Few religious +teachers have ever talked so much of themselves as Paul did, and yet +been as free as he is from taint of display or self-absorption. + +The personal references in verses 22 to 27 turn on two points--his +heroic attitude in prospect of trials and possible martyrdom, and his +solemn washing his hands of all responsibility for 'the blood' of +those to whom he had declared all the counsel of God. He looks back, +and his conscience witnesses that he has discharged his ministry; he +looks forward, and is ready for all that may confront him in still +discharging it, even to the bloody end. + +Nothing tries a man's mettle more than impending evil which is +equally certain and undefined. Add that the moment of the sword's +falling is unknown, and you have a combination which might shake the +firmest nerves. Such a combination fronted Paul now. He told the +elders, what we do not otherwise know, that at every halting-place +since setting his face towards Jerusalem he had been met by the same +prophetic warnings of 'bonds and afflictions' waiting for him. The +warnings were vague, and so the more impressive. Fear has a vivid +imagination, and anticipates the worst. + +Paul was not afraid, but he would not have been human if he had not +recognised the short distance for him between a prison and a +scaffold. But the prospect did not turn him a hairsbreadth from his +course. True, he was 'bound in the spirit,' which may suggest that he +was not so much going joyfully as impelled by a constraint felt to be +irresistible. But whatever his feelings, his will was iron, and he +went calmly forward on the road, though he knew that behind some turn +of it lay in wait, like beasts of prey, dangers of unknown kinds. + +And what nerved him thus to front death itself without a quiver? The +supreme determination to do what Jesus had given him to do. He knew +that his Lord had set him a task, and the one thing needful was to +accomplish that. We have no such obstacles in our course as Paul had +in his, but the same spirit must mark us if we are to do our work. +Consciousness of a mission, fixed determination to carry it out, and +consequent contempt of hindrances, belong to all noble lives, and +especially to true Christian ones. Perils and hardships and possible +evils should have no more power to divert us from the path which +Christ marks for us than storms or tossing of the ship have to +deflect the needle from pointing north. + +It is easy to talk heroically when no foes are in sight; but Paul was +looking dangers in the eyes, and felt their breath on his cheeks when +he spoke. His longing was to 'fulfil his course.' 'With joy' is a +weakening addition. It was not 'joy,' but the discharge of duty, +which seemed to him infinitely desirable. What was aspiration at +Miletus became fact when, in his last Epistle, he wrote, 'I have +finished my course.' + +In verses 25 to 27 the Apostle looks back as well as forward. His +anticipation that he was parting for ever from the Ephesian elders +was probably mistaken, but it naturally leads him to think of the +long ministry among them which was now, as he believed, closed. And +his retrospect was very different from what most of us, who are +teachers, feel that ours must be. It is a solemn thought that if we +let either cowardice or love of ease and the good opinion of men hold +us back from speaking out all that we know of God's truth, our hands +are reddened with the blood of souls. + +We are all apt to get into grooves of favourite thoughts, and to +teach but part of the whole Gospel. If we do not seek to widen our +minds to take in, and our utterances to give forth, all the will of +God as seen by us, our limitations and repetitions will repel some +from the truth, who might have been won by a completer presentation +of it, and their blood will be required at our hands. None of us can +reach to the apprehension, in its full extent and due proportion of +its parts, of that great gospel; but we may at least seek to come +nearer the ideal completeness of a teacher, and try to remember that +we are 'pure from the blood of all men,' only when we have not +'shrunk from declaring all God's counsel.' We are not required to +know it completely, but we are required not to shrink from declaring +it as far as we know it. + +Paul's purpose in this retrospect was not only to vindicate himself, +but to suggest to the elders their duty. Therefore he passes +immediately to exhortation to them, and a forecast of the future of +the Ephesian Church. 'Take heed to yourselves.' The care of one's own +soul comes first. He will be of little use to the Church whose own +personal religion is not kept warm and deep. All preachers and +teachers and men who influence their fellows need to lay to heart +this exhortation, especially in these days when calls to outward +service are so multiplied. The neglect of it undermines all real +usefulness, and is a worm gnawing at the roots of the vines. + +We note also the condensed weightiness of the following exhortation, +in which solemn reasons are suggested for obeying it. The divine +appointment to office, the inclusion of the 'bishops' in the flock, +the divine ownership of the flock, and the cost of its purchase, are +all focussed on the one point, 'Take heed to all the flock.' Of +course a comparison with verse 17 shows that _elder_ and _bishop_ +were two designations for one officer; but the question of the +primitive organisation of church offices, important as it is, is less +important than the great thoughts as to the relation of the Church to +God, and as to the dear price at which men have been won to be truly +His. + +We note the reading in the Revised Version of v.28 (margin), 'the +flock of the Lord,' but do not discuss it. The chief thought of the +verse is that the Church is God's flock, and that the death of Jesus +has bought it for His, and that negligent under-shepherds are +therefore guilty of grievous sin. + +The Apostle had premonitions of the future for the Church as well as +for himself, and the horizons were dark in both outlooks. He foresaw +evils from two quarters, for 'wolves' would come from without, and +perverse teachers would arise within, drawing the disciples after +them and away from the Lord. The simile of wolves may be an echo of +Christ's warning in Matthew vii 15. How sadly Paul's anticipations +were fulfilled the Epistle to the Church in Ephesus (Revelation ii.) +shows too clearly. Unslumbering alertness, as of a sentry in front of +the enemy, is needed if the slinking onset of the wolf is to be +beaten back. Paul points to his own example, and that in no +vainglorious spirit, but to stimulate and also to show how +watchfulness is to be carried out. It must be unceasing, patient, +tenderly solicitous, and grieving over the falls of others as over +personal calamities. If there were more such 'shepherds,' there would +be fewer stray sheep. + +Anxious forebodings and earnest exhortations naturally end in turning +to God and invoking His protecting care. The Apostle's heart runs +over in his last words (vs. 32-35). He falls back for himself, in the +prospect of having to cease his care of the Church, on the thought +that a better Guide will not leave it, and he would comfort the +elders as well as himself by the remembrance of God's power to keep +them. So Jacob, dying, said, 'I die, but God shall be with you.' So +Moses, dying, said, 'The Lord hath said unto me, thou shalt not go +over this Jordan. The Lord thy God, He will go before thee.' Not even +Paul is indispensable. The under-shepherds die, _the_ Shepherd lives, +and watches against wolves and dangers. Paul had laid the foundation, +and the edifice would not stand unfinished, like some half-reared +palace begun by a now dead king. The growth of the Church and of its +individual members is sure. It is wrought by God. + +His instrument is 'the word of His grace.' Therefore if we would +grow, we must use that word. Christian progress is no more possible, +if the word of God is not our food, than is an infant's growth if it +refuses milk. That building up or growth or advance (for all three +metaphors are used, and mean the same thing) has but one natural end, +the entrance of each redeemed soul into its own allotment in the true +land of promise, the inheritance of those who are sanctified. If we +faithfully use that word which tells of and brings God's grace, that +we may grow thereby, He will bring us at last to dwell among those +who here have growingly been made saints. He is able to do these +things. It is for us to yield to His power, and to observe the +conditions on which it will work on us. + +Even at the close Paul cannot refrain from personal references. He +points to his example of absolute disinterestedness, and with a +dramatic gesture holds out 'these hands' to show how they are +hardened by work. Such a warning against doing God's work for money +would not have been his last word, at a time when all hearts were +strung up to the highest pitch, unless the danger had been very real. +And it is very real to-day. If once the suspicion of being influenced +by greed of gain attaches to a Christian worker, his power ebbs away, +and his words lose weight and impetus. + +It is that danger which Paul is thinking of when he tells the elders +that by 'labouring' they 'ought to support the weak'; for by _weak_ +he means not the poor, but those imperfect disciples who might be +repelled or made to stumble by the sight of greed in an elder. +Shepherds who obviously cared more for wool than for the sheep have +done as much harm as 'grievous wolves.' + +Paul quotes an else unrecorded saying of Christ's which, like a +sovereign's seal, confirms the subject's words. It gathers into a +sentence the very essence of Christian morality. It reveals the +inmost secret of the blessedness of the giving God. It is foolishness +and paradox to the self-centred life of nature. It is blessedly true +in the experience of all who, having received the 'unspeakable gift,' +have thereby been enfranchised into the loftier life in which self is +dead, and to which it is delight, kindred with God's own blessedness, +to impart. + + + +A FULFILLED ASPIRATION + +'So that I might finish my course....'--ACTS xx. 24. + +'I have finished my course....'--2 TIM. iv. 7. + +I do not suppose that Paul in prison, and within sight of martyrdom, +remembered his words at Ephesus. But the fact that what was +aspiration whilst he was in the very thick of his difficulties came +to be calm retrospect at the close is to me very beautiful and +significant. 'So that I may finish my course,' said he wistfully; +whilst before him there lay dangers clearly discerned and others that +had all the more power over the imagination because they were but +dimly discerned--'Not knowing the things that shall befall me there,' +said he, but knowing this, that 'bonds and afflictions abide me.' +When a man knows exactly what he has to be afraid of he can face it. +When he knows a little corner of it, and also knows that there is a +great stretch behind that is unknown, that is a state of things that +tries his mettle. Many a man will march up to a battery without a +tremor who would not face a hole where a snake lay. And so Paul's +ignorance, as well as Paul's knowledge, made it very hard for him to +say 'None of these things move me' if only 'I might finish my +course.' + +Now there are in these two passages, thus put together, three points +that I touch for a moment. These are, What Paul thought that life +chiefly was; what Paul aimed at; and what Paul won thereby. + +I. What he thought that life chiefly was. + +'That I may finish my course.' Now 'course,' in our modern English, +is far too feeble a word to express the Apostle's idea here. It has +come to mean with us a quiet sequence or a succession of actions +which, taken together, complete a career; but in its original force +the English word 'course,' and still more the Greek, of which it is a +translation, contain a great deal more than that. If we were to read +'race,' we should get nearer to at least one side of the Apostle's +thought. This was the image under which life presented itself to him, +as it does to every man that does anything in the world worth doing, +whether he be Christian or not--as being not a place for enjoyment, +for selfish pursuits, making money, building family, satisfying love, +seeking pleasure, or the like; but mainly as being an appointed field +for a succession of efforts, all in one direction, and leading +progressively to an end. In that image of life as a race, threadbare +as it is, there are several grave considerations involved, which it +will contribute to the nobleness of our own lives to keep steadily in +view. + +To begin with, the metaphor regards life as a track or path marked +out and to be kept to by us. Paul thought of his life as a +racecourse, traced for him by God, and from which it would be +perilous and rebellious to diverge. The consciousness of definite +duties loomed larger than anything else before him. His first waking +thought was, 'What is God's will for me to-day? What stage of the +course have I to pass over to-day?' Each moment brought to him an +appointed task which at all hazards he must do. And this elevating, +humbling, and bracing ever-present sense of responsibility, not +merely to circumstances, but to God, is an indispensable part of any +life worth the living, and of any on which a man will ever dare to +look back. + +'My course.' O brethren! if we carried with us, always present, that +solemn, severe sense of all-pervading duty and of obligation laid +upon us to pursue faithfully the path that is appointed us, there +would be less waste, less selfishness, less to regret, and less that +weakens and defiles, in the lives of us all. And blessed be His name! +however trivial be our tasks, however narrow our spheres, however +secular and commonplace our businesses or trades, we may write upon +them, as on all sorts of lives, except weak and selfish ones, this +inscription, 'Holiness to the Lord.' + +The broad arrow stamped on Crown property gives a certain dignity to +whatever bears it, and whatever small duty has the name of God +written across it is thereby ennobled. If our days are to be full- +fraught with the serenity and purity which it is possible for them to +attain, and if we ourselves are to put forth all our powers and make +the most of ourselves, we must cultivate the continual sense that +life is a course--a series of definite duties marked out for us by +God. + +Again, the image suggests the strenuous efforts needed for discharge +of our appointed tasks. The Apostle, like all men of imaginative and +sensitive nature, was accustomed to speak in metaphors, which +expressed his fervid convictions more adequately than more abstract +expressions would have done. That vigorous figure of a 'course' +speaks more strongly of the stress of continual effort than many +words. It speaks of the straining muscles, and the intense +concentration, and the forward-flung body of the runner in the arena. +Paul says in effect, 'I, for my part, live at high pressure. I get +the most that I can out of myself. I do the very best that is in me.' +And that is a pattern for us. + +There is nothing to be done unless we are contented to live on the +stretch. Easygoing lives are always contemptible lives. A man who +never does anything except what he can do easily never comes to do +anything greater than what he began with, and never does anything +worth doing at all. Effort is the law of life in all departments, as +we all of us know and practise in regard to our daily business. But +what a strange thing it is that we seem to think that our Christian +characters can be formed and perfected upon other conditions, and in +other fashions, than those by which men make their daily bread or +their worldly fortunes! + +The direction which effort takes is different in these two regions. +The necessity for concentration and vigorous putting into operation +of every faculty is far more imperative in the Christian course than +in any other form of life. + +I believe most earnestly that we grow Christlike, not by effort only, +but by faith. But I believe that there is no faith without effort, +and that the growth which comes from faith will not be appropriated +and made ours without it. And so I preach, without in the least +degree feeling that it impinges upon the great central truth that we +are cleansed and perfected by the power of God working upon us, the +sister truth that we must 'work out our own salvation with fear and +trembling.' + +Brethren, unless we are prepared for the dust and heat of the race, +we had better not start upon the course. Christian men have an +appointed task, and to do it will take all the effort that they can +put forth, and will assuredly demand continuous concentration and the +summoning of every faculty to its utmost energy. + +Still further, there is another idea that lies in the emblem, and +that is that the appointed task which thus demands the whole man in +vigorous exercise ought in fact to be, and in its nature is, +progressive. Is the Christianity of the average church member and +professing Christian a continuous advance? Is to-day better than +yesterday? Are former attainments continually being left behind? Does +it not seem the bitterest irony to talk about the usual life of a +Christian as a course? Did you ever see a squad of raw recruits being +drilled in the barrack-yard? The first thing the sergeants do is to +teach them the 'goose-step,' which consists in lifting up one foot +and then the other, _ad infinitum_, and yet always keeping on the +same bit of ground. That is the kind of 'course' which hosts of so- +called Christians content themselves with running--a vast deal of +apparent exercise and no advance. They are just at the same spot at +which they stood five, ten, or twenty years ago; not a bit wiser, +more like Christ, less like the devil and the world; having gained no +more mastery over their characteristic evils; falling into precisely +the same faults of temper and conduct as they used to do in the far- +away past. By what right can _they_ talk of running the Christian +race? Progress is essential to real Christian life. + +II. Turn now to another thought here, and consider what Paul aimed +at. + +It is a very easy thing for a man to say, 'I take the discharge of my +duty, given to me by Jesus Christ, as my great purpose in life,' when +there is nothing in the way to prevent him from carrying out that +purpose. But it is a very different thing when, as was the case with +Paul, there lie before him the certainties of affliction and bonds, +and the possibilities which very soon consolidated themselves into +certainties, of a bloody death and that swiftly. To say _then_, +without a quickened pulse or a tremor in the eyelid, or a quiver in +the voice, or a falter in the resolution, to say then, 'none of these +things move me, if only I may do what I was set to do'--that is to be +in Christ indeed; and that is the only thing worth living for. + +Look how beautifully we see in operation in these heartfelt and few +words of the Apostle the power that there is in an absolute devotion +to God-enjoined duty, to give a man 'a solemn scorn of ills,' and to +lift him high above everything that would bar or hinder his path. Is +it not bracing to see any one actuated by such motives as these? And +why should they not be motives for us all? The one thing worth our +making our aim in life is to accomplish our course. + +Now notice that the word in the original here, 'finish,' does not +merely mean 'end,' which would be a very poor thing. Time will do +that for us all. It will end our course. But an ended course may yet +be an unfinished course. And the meaning that the Apostle attaches to +the word in both of our texts is not merely to scramble through +anyhow, so as to get to the last of it; but to complete, accomplish +the course, or, to put away the metaphor, to do all that it was meant +by God that he should do. + +Now some very early transcriber of the Acts of the Apostles mistook +the Apostle's meaning, and thought that he only said that he desired +to end his career; and so, with the best intentions in the world, he +inserted, probably on the margin, what he thought was a necessary +addition--that unfortunate 'with joy,' which appears in our +Authorised Version, but has no place in the true text. If we put it +in we necessarily limit the meaning of the word 'finish' to that low, +superficial sense which I have already dismissed. If we leave it out +we get a far nobler thought. Paul was not thinking about the joy at +the end. What he wanted was to do his work, all of it, right through +to the very last. He knew there would be joy, but he does not speak +about it. What he wanted, as all faithful men do, was to do the work, +and let the joy take care of itself. + +And so for all of us, the true anaesthetic or 'painkiller' is that +all-dominant sense of obligation and duty which lays hold upon us, +and grips us, and makes us, not exactly indifferent to, but very +partially conscious of, the sorrows or the hindrances or the pains +that may come in our way. You cannot stop an express train by +stretching a rope across the line, nor stay the flow of a river with +a barrier of straw. And if a man has once yielded himself fully to +that great conception of God's will driving him on through life, and +prescribing his path for him, it is neither in sorrow nor in joy to +arrest his course. They may roll all the golden apples out of the +garden of the Hesperides in his path, and he will not stop to pick +one of them up; or Satan may block it with his fiercest flames, and +the man will go into them, saying, 'When I pass through the fires He +will be with me.' + +III. Lastly, what Paul won thereby. + +'That I _may_ finish my course ... I _have_ finished my course'; in +the same lofty meaning, not merely _ended_, though that was true, but +'completed, accomplished, perfected.' + +Now some hyper-sensitive people have thought that it was very strange +that the Apostle, who was always preaching the imperfection of all +human obedience and service, should, at the end of his life, indulge +in such a piece of what they fancy was self-complacent retrospect as +to say 'I have kept the faith; I have fought a good fight; I have +finished my course.' But it was by no means complacent self- +righteousness. Of course he did not mean that he looked back upon a +career free from faults and flecks and stains. No. There is only one +pair of human lips that ever could say, in the full significance of +the word, 'It is finished! ... I have completed the work which Thou +gavest Me to do.' Jesus Christ's retrospect of a stainless career, +without defect or discordance at any point from the divine ideal, is +not repeated in any of His servants' experiences. But, on the other +hand, if a man in the middle of his difficulties and his conflict +pulls himself habitually together and says to himself, 'Nothing shall +move me, so that I may complete this bit of my course,' depend upon +it, his effort, his believing effort, will not be in vain; and at the +last he will be able to look back on a career which, though stained +with many imperfections, and marred with many failures, yet on the +whole has realised the divine purpose, though not with absolute +completeness, at least sufficiently to enable the faithful servant to +feel that all his struggle has not been in vain. + +Brethren, no one else can. And oh! how different the two 'courses' of +the godly man and the worldling look, in their relative importance, +when seen from this side, as we are advancing towards them, and from +the other as we look back upon them! Pleasures, escape from pains, +ease, comfort, popularity, quiet lives--all these things seem very +attractive; and God's will often seems very hard and very repulsive, +when we are advancing towards some unwelcome duty. But when we get +beyond it and look back, the two careers have changed their +characters; and all the joys that could be bought at the price of the +smallest neglected duty or the smallest perpetrated sin, dwindle and +dwindle and dwindle, and the light is out of them, and they show for +what they are--nothings, gilded nothings, painted emptinesses, lies +varnished over. And on the other hand, to do right, to discharge the +smallest duty, to recognise God's will, and with faithful effort to +seek to do it in dependence upon Him, that towers and towers and +towers, and there seems to be, as there really is, nothing else worth +living for. + +So let us live with the continual remembrance in our minds that all +which we do has to be passed in review by us once more, from another +standpoint, and with another illumination falling upon it. And be +sure of this, that the one thing worth looking back upon, and +possible to be looked back upon with peace and quietness, is the +humble, faithful, continual discharge of our appointed tasks for the +dear Lord's sake. If you and I, whilst work and troubles last, do +truly say, 'None of these things move me, so that I _might_ finish my +course,' we too, with all our weaknesses, may be able to say at the +last, 'Thanks be to God! I _have_ finished my course.' + + + +PARTING WORDS +[Footnote: Preached prior to a long absence in Australia.] + +'And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His +grace....'--ACTS xx. 32. + +I may be pardoned if my remarks now should assume somewhat of a more +personal character than is my wont. I desire to speak mainly to my +own friends, the members of my own congregation; and other friends +who have come to give me a parting 'Godspeed' will forgive me if my +observations have a more special bearing on those with whom I am more +immediately connected. + +The Apostle whose words I have taken for my text was leaving, as he +supposed, for the last time, the representatives of the Church in +Ephesus, to whom he had been painting in very sombre colours the +dangers of the future and his own forebodings and warnings. +Exhortations, prophecies of evil, expressions of anxious solicitude, +motions of Christian affection, all culminate in this parting +utterance. High above them all rises the thought of the present God, +and of the mighty word which in itself, in the absence of all human +teachers, had power to 'build them up, and to give them an +inheritance amongst them that are sanctified.' + +If we think of that Church in Ephesus, this brave confidence of the +Apostle's becomes yet more remarkable. They were set in the midst of +a focus of heathen superstition, from which they themselves had only +recently been rescued. Their knowledge was little, they had no +Apostolic teacher to be present with them; they were left alone there +to battle with the evils of that corrupt society in which they dwelt. +And yet Paul leaves them--'sheep in the midst of wolves,' with a very +imperfect Christianity, with no Bible, with no teachers--in the sure +confidence that no harm will come to them, because God is with them, +and the 'word of His grace' is enough. + +And that is the feeling, dear brethren, with which I now look you in +the face for the last time for a little while. I desire that you and +I should together share the conviction that each of us is safe +because God and the 'word of His grace' will go and remain with us. + +I. So then, first of all, let me point you to the one source of +security and enlightenment for the Church and for the individual. + +We are not to separate between God and the 'word of His grace,' but +rather to suppose that the way by which the Apostle conceived of God +as working for the blessing and the guardianship of that little +community in Ephesus was mainly, though not exclusively, through that +which he here designates 'the word of His grace.' We are not to +forget the ever-abiding presence of the indwelling Spirit who guards +and keeps the life of the individual and of the community. But what +is in the Apostle's mind here is the objective revelation, the actual +spoken word (not yet written) which had its origin in God's +condescending love, and had for its contents, mainly, the setting +forth of that love. Or to put it into other words, the revelation of +the grace of God in Jesus Christ, with all the great truths that +cluster round and are evolved from it, is the all-sufficient source +of enlightenment and security for individuals and for Churches. And +whosoever will rightly use and faithfully keep that great word, no +evil shall befall him, nor shall he ever make shipwreck of the faith. +It is 'able to build you up,' says Paul. In God's Gospel, in the +truth concerning Jesus Christ the divine Redeemer, in the principles +that flow from that Cross and Passion, and that risen life and that +ascension to God, there is all that men need, all that they want for +life, all that they want for godliness. The basis of their creed, the +sufficient guide for their conduct, the formative powers that will +shape into beauty and nobleness their characters, all lie in the germ +in this message, 'God was in Christ reconciling the world unto +Himself.' Whoever keeps that in mind and memory, ruminates upon it +till it becomes the nourishment of his soul, meditates on it till the +precepts and the promises and the principles that are enwrapped in it +unfold themselves before Him, needs none other guide for life, none +other solace in sorrow, none other anchor of hope, none other stay in +trial and in death. 'I commend you to God and the word of His grace,' +which is a storehouse full of all that we need for life and for +godliness. Whoever has it is like a landowner who has a quarry on his +estate, from which at will he can dig stones to build his house. If +you truly possess and faithfully adhere to this Gospel, you have +enough. + +Remember that these believers to whom Paul thus spoke had no New +Testament, and most of them, I dare say, could not read the Old. +There were no written Gospels in existence. The greater part of the +New Testament was not written; what was written was in the shape of +two or three letters that belonged to Churches in another part of the +world altogether. It was to the spoken word that he commended them. +How much more securely may we trust one another to that permanent +record of the divine revelation which we have here in the pages of +Scripture! + +As for the individual, so for the Church, that written word is the +guarantee for its purity and immortality. Christianity is the only +religion that has ever passed through periods of decadence and +purified itself again. They used to say that Thames water was the +best to put on shipboard because, after it became putrid, it cleared +itself and became sweet again. I do not know anything about whether +that is true or not, but I know that it is true about Christianity. +Over and over again it has rotted, and over and over again it has +cleared itself, and it has always been by the one process. Men have +gone back to the word and laid hold again of it in its simple +omnipotence, and so a decadent Christianity has sprung up again into +purity and power. The word of God, the principles of the revelation +contained in Christ and recorded for ever in this New Testament, are +the guarantee of the Church's immortality and of the Church's purity. +This man and that man may fall away, provinces may be lost from the +empire for a while, standards of rebellion and heresy may be lifted, +but 'the foundation of God standeth sure,' and whoever will hark back +again and dig down through the rubbish of human buildings to the +living Rock will build secure and dwell at peace. If all our churches +were pulverised to-morrow, and every formal creed of Christendom were +torn in pieces, and all the institutions of the Church were +annihilated--if there was a New Testament left they would all be +built up again. 'I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace.' + +II. Secondly, notice the possible benefit of the silencing of the +_human_ voice. + +Paul puts together his absence and the power of the word. 'Now I know +that you will see my face no more'--'I commend you to God.' That is +to say, it is often a good thing that the voice of man may be hushed +in order that the sweeter and deeper music of the word of God, +sounding from no human lips, may reach our hearts. Of course I am not +going to depreciate preachers and books and religious literature and +the thought and the acts of good and wise men who have been +interpreters of God's meaning and will to their brethren, but the +human ministration of the divine word, like every other help to +knowing God, may become a hindrance instead of a help; and in all +such helps there is a tendency, unless there be continual jealous +watchfulness on the part of those who minister them, and on the part +of those who use them, to assert themselves instead of leading to +God, and to become not mirrors in which we may behold God, but +obscuring _media_ which come between us and Him. This danger belongs +to the great ordinance and office of the Christian ministry, large as +its blessings are, just as it belongs to all other offices which are +appointed for the purpose of bringing men to God. We may make them +ladders or we may make them barriers; we may climb by them or we may +remain in them. We may look at the colours on the painted glass until +we do not see or think of the light which strikes through the +colours. + +So it is often a good thing that a human voice which speaks the +divine word, should be silenced; just as it is often a good thing +that other helps and props should be taken away. No man ever leans +all his weight upon God's arm until every other crutch on which he +used to lean has been knocked from him. + +And therefore, dear brethren, applying these plain things to +ourselves, may I not say that it may and should be the result of my +temporary absence from you that some of you should be driven to a +more first-hand acquaintance with God and with His word? I, like all +Christian ministers, have of course my favourite ways of looking at +truth, limitations of temperament, and idiosyncrasies of various +sorts, which colour the representations that I make of God's great +word. All the river cannot run through any pipe; and what does run is +sure to taste somewhat of the soil through which it runs. And for +some of you, after thirty years of hearing my way of putting things-- +and I have long since told you all that I have got to say--it will be +a good thing to have some one else to speak to you, who will come +with other aspects of that great Truth, and look at it from other +angles and reflect other hues of its perfect whiteness. So partly +because of these limitations of mine, partly because you have grown +so accustomed to my voice that the things that I say do not produce +half as much effect on many of you as if I were saying them to +somebody else, or somebody else were saying them to you, and partly +because the affection, born of so many years of united worship, for +which in many respects I am your debtor, may lead you to look at the +vessel rather than the treasure, do you not think it may be a means +of blessing and help to this congregation that I should step aside +for a little while and some one else should stand here, and you +should be driven to make acquaintance with 'God and the word of His +grace' a little more for yourselves? What does it matter though you +do not have nay sermons? You have your Bibles and you have God's +Spirit. And if my silence shall lead any of you to prize and to use +_these_ more than you have done, then my silence will have done a +great deal more than my speech. Ministers are like doctors, the test +of their success is that they are not needed any more. And when we +can say, 'They can stand without us, and they do not need us,' that +is the crown of our ministry. + +III. Thirdly, notice the best expression of Christian solicitude and +affection. + +'I commend you,' says Paul, 'to God, and to the word of His grace.' +If we may venture upon a very literal translation of the word, it is, +'I lay you down beside God.' That is beautiful, is it not? Here had +Paul been carrying the Ephesian Church on his back for a long time +now. He had many cares about them, many forebodings as to their +future, knowing very well that after his departure grievous wolves +were going to enter in. He says, 'I cannot carry the load any longer; +here I lay it down at the Throne, beneath those pure Eyes, and that +gentle and strong Hand.' For to commend them to God is in fact a +prayer casting the care which Paul could no longer exercise, upon +Him. + +And that is the highest expression of, as it is the only soothing +for, manly Christian solicitude and affection. Of course you and I, +looking forward to these six months of absence, have all of us our +anxieties about what may be the issue. I may feel afraid lest there +should be flagging here, lest good work should be done a little more +languidly, lest there should be a beggarly account of empty pews many +a time, lest the bonds of Christian union here should be loosened, +and when I come back I may find it hard work to reknit them. All +these thoughts must be in the mind of a true man who has put most of +his life, and as much of himself as during that period he could +command, into his work. What then? 'I commend you to God.' You may +have your thoughts and anxieties as well as I have mine. Dear +brethren, let us make an end of solicitude and turn it into petition +and bring one another to God, and leave one another there. + +This 'commending,' as it is the highest expression of Christian +solicitude, so it is the highest and most natural expression of +Christian affection. I am not going to do what is so easy to do-- +bring tears at such a moment. I do not purpose to speak of the depth, +the sacredness of the bond that unites a great many of us together. I +think we can take that for granted without saying any more about it. +But, dear brethren, I do want to pledge you and myself to this, that +our solicitude and our affection should find voice in prayer, and +that when we are parted we may be united, because the eyes of both +are turned to the one Throne. There is a reality in prayer. Do you +pray for me, as I will for you, when we are far apart. And as the +vapour that rises from the southern seas where I go may fall in +moisture, refreshing these northern lands, so what rises on one side +of the world from believing hearts in loving prayers may fall upon +the other in the rain of a divine blessing. 'I commend you to God, +and the word of His grace.' + +IV. Lastly, notice the parting counsels involved in the commendation. + +If it be true that God and His Word are the source of all security +and enlightenment, and are so, apart altogether from human agencies, +then to commend these brethren to God was exhortation as well as +prayer, and implied pointing them to the one source of security that +they might cling to that source. I am going to give no advices about +little matters of church order and congregational prosperity. These +will all come right, if the two main exhortations that are involved +in this text are laid to heart; and if they are not laid to heart, +then I do not care one rush about the smaller things, of full pews +and prosperous subscription lists and Christian work. These are +secondary, and they will be consequent if you take these two advices +that are couched in my text:-- + +(_a_) 'Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart,' as the limpet +does to the rock. Cling to Jesus Christ, the revelation of God's +grace. And how do we cling to Him? What is the cement of souls? Love +and trust; and whoever exercises these in reference to Jesus Christ +is built into Him, and belongs to Him, and has a vital unity knitting +him with that Lord. Cleave to Christ, brother, by faith and love, by +communion and prayer, and by practical conformity of life. For +remember that the union which is effected by faith can be broken by +sin, and that there will be no reality in our union to Jesus unless +it is manifested and perpetuated by righteousness of conduct and +character. Two smoothly-ground pieces of glass pressed together will +adhere. If there be a speck of sand, microscopic in dimensions, +between the two, they will fall apart; and if you let tiny grains of +sin come between you and your Master, it is delusion to speak of +being knit to Him by faith and love. Keep near Jesus Christ and you +will be safe. + +(_b_) Cleave to 'the word of His grace.' Try to understand its +teachings better; study your Bibles with more earnestness; believe +more fully than you have ever done that in that great Gospel there +lie every truth that we need and guidance in all circumstances. Bring +the principles of Christianity into your daily life; walk by the +light of them; and live in the radiance of a present God. And then +all these other matters which I have spoken of, which are important, +highly important but secondary, will come right. + +Many of you, dear brethren, have listened to my voice for long years, +and have not done the one thing for which I preach--viz. set your +faith, as sinful men, on the great atoning Sacrifice and Incarnate +Lord. I beseech you let my last word go deeper than its predecessors, +and yield yourselves to God in Christ, bringing all your weakness and +all your sin to Him, and trusting yourselves wholly and utterly to +His sacrifice and life. + +'I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,' and beseech you +'that, whether I come to see you or else be absent, I may hear of +your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind +striving together for the faith of the Gospel.' + + + +THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING + +'...It is more blessed to give than to receive.'--ACTS xx. 35. + +How 'many other things Jesus did' and said 'which are not written in +this book'! Here is one precious unrecorded word, which was floating +down to the ocean of oblivion when Paul drew it to shore and so +enriched the world. There is, however, a saying recorded, which is +essentially parallel in content though differing in garb, 'The Son of +Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' It is tempting +to think that the text gives a glimpse into the deep fountains of the +pure blessedness of Jesus Himself, and was a transcript of His own +human experience. It helps us to understand how the Man of Sorrows +could give as a legacy to His followers 'My joy,' and could speak of +it as abiding and full. + +I. The reasons on which this saying rests. + +It is based not only on the fact that the act of giving has in it a +sense of power and of superiority, and that the act of receiving may +have a painful consciousness of obligation, though a cynic might +endorse it on that ground, but on a truth far deeper than these, that +there is a pure and godlike joy in making others blessed. + +The foundation on which the axiom rests is that giving is the result +of love and self-sacrifice. Whenever they are not found, the giving +is not the giving which 'blesses him that gives.' If you give with +some _arriere pensee_ of what you will get by it, or for the sake of +putting some one under obligation, or indifferently as a matter of +compulsion or routine, if with your alms there be contempt to which +pity is ever near akin, then these are not examples of the giving on +which Christ pronounced His benediction. But where the heart is full +of deep, real love, and where that love expresses itself by a +cheerful act of self-sacrifice, then there is felt a glow of calm +blessedness far above the base and greedy joys of self-centred souls +who delight only in keeping their possessions, or in using them for +themselves. It comes not merely from contemplating the relief or +happiness in others of which our gifts may have been the source, but +from the working in our own hearts of these two godlike emotions. To +be delivered from making myself my great object, and to be delivered +from the undue value set upon having and keeping our possessions, are +the twin factors of true blessedness. It is heaven on earth to love +and to give oneself away. + +Then again, the highest joy and noblest use of all our possessions is +found in imparting them. + +True as to this world's goods. + +The old epitaph is profoundly true, which puts into the dead lips the +declaration: 'What I kept I lost. What I gave I kept.' Better to +learn that and act on it while living! + +True as to truth, and knowledge. + +True as to the Gospel of the grace of God. + +II. The great example in God of the blessedness of giving. + +God gives--gives only--gives always--and He in giving has joy, +blessedness. He would not be 'the ever-blessed God' unless He were +'the giving God.' Creation we are perhaps scarcely warranted in +affirming to be a necessity to the divine nature, and we run on +perilous heights of speculation when we speak of it as contributing +to His blessedness; but this at least we may say, that He, in the +deep words of the Psalmist, 'delights in mercy.' Before creation was +realised in time, the divine Idea of it was eternal, inseparable from +His being, and therefore from everlasting He 'rejoiced in the +habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of +men.' + +The light and glory thus thrown on His relation to us. + +He gives. He does not exact until He has given. He gives what He +requires. The requirement is made in love and is itself a 'grace +given,' for it permits to God's creatures, in their relation to Him, +some feeble portion and shadow of the blessedness which He possesses, +by permitting them to bring offerings to His throne, and so to have +the joy of giving to Him what He has given to them. 'All things come +of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.' Then how this thought +puts an end to all manner of slavish notions about God's commands and +demands, and about worship, and about merits, or winning heaven by +our own works. + +Notice that the same emotions which we have found to make the +blessedness of giving are those which come into play in the act of +receiving spiritual blessings. We receive the Gospel by faith, which +assuredly has in it love and self-sacrifice. + +Having thus the great Example of all giving in heaven, and the shadow +and reflex of that example in our relations to Him on earth, we are +thereby fitted for the exemplification of it in our relation to men. +To give, not to get, is to be our work, to love, to sacrifice +ourselves. + +This axiom should regulate Christians' relation to the world, and to +each other, in every way. It should shape the Christian use of money. +It should shape our use of all which we have. + + + +DRAWING NEARER TO THE STORM + +'And it came to pass, that, after we were gotten from them, and +had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the +day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara: 2. And +finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and +set forth. 3. Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on +the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for +there the ship was to unlade her burden. 4. And finding +disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through +the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5. And when we +had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and +they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we +were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and +prayed. 6. And when we had taken our leave one of another, we +took ship; and they returned home again. 7. And when we had +finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted +the brethren, and abode with them one day. 8. And the next day we +that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and +we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one +of the seven; and abode with him. 9. And the same man had four +daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 10. And as we tarried +there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, +named Agabus. 11. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's +girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith +the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that +owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the +Gentiles. 12. And when we heard these things, both we, and they +of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13. Then +Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for +I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for +the name of the Lord Jesus. 14. And when he would not be +persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. 15. +And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to +Jerusalem.'--ACTS xxi. 1-15. + +Paul's heroic persistency in disregarding the warnings of 'bonds and +afflictions' which were pealed into his ears in every city, is the +main point of interest in this section. But the vivid narrative +abounds with details which fill it with life and colour. We may +gather it all round three points--the voyage, Tyre, and Caesarea. + +I. The log of the voyage, as given in verses 1-3, shows the leisurely +way of navigation in those days and in that sea. Obviously the +coaster tied up or anchored in port at night. Running down the coast +from Miletus, they stayed overnight, first at the small island of +Coos, then stretched across the next day to Rhodes, and on the third +struck back to the mainland at Patara, from which, according to one +reading, they ran along the coast a little further east to Myra, the +usual port of departure for Syria. Ramsay explains that the prevalent +favourable wind for a vessel bound for Syria blows steadily in early +morning, and dies down towards nightfall, so that there would have +been no use in keeping at sea after sundown. + +At Patara (or Myra) Paul and his party had to tranship, for their +vessel was probably of small tonnage, and only fit to run along the +coast. In either port they would have no difficulty in finding some +merchantman to take them across to Syria. Accordingly they shifted +into one bound for Tyre, and apparently ready to sail. The second +part of their voyage took them right out to sea, and their course lay +to the west, and then to the south of Cyprus, which Luke mentions as +if to remind us of Paul's visit there when he was beginning his +missionary work. How much had passed since that day at Paphos (which +they might have sighted from the deck)! He had left Paphos with +Barnabas and John Mark--where were they? He had sailed away from +Cyprus to carry the Gospel among Gentiles; he sails past it, +accompanied by a group of these whom he had won for Christ. There he +had begun his career; now the omens indicated that possibly its end +was near. Many a thought would be in his mind as he looked out over +the blue waters and saw the glittering roofs and groves of Paphos. + +Tyre was the first port of call, and there the cargo was to be +landed. The travellers had to wait till that was done, and probably +another one shipped. The seven days' stay is best understood as due +to that cause; for we find that Paul re-embarked in the same ship, +and went in her as far as Ptolemais, at all events, perhaps to +Caesarea. + +We note that no brethren are mentioned as having been met at any of +the ports of call, and no evangelistic work as having been done in +them. The party were simple passengers, who had to shape their +movements to suit the convenience of the master of the vessel, and +were only in port at night, and off again next morning early. No +doubt the leisure at sea was as restorative to them as it often is to +jaded workers now. + +II. Tyre was a busy seaport then, and in its large population the few +disciples would make but little show. They had to be sought out +before they were 'found.' One can feel how eagerly the travellers +would search, and how thankfully they would find themselves again +among congenial souls. Since Miletus they had had no Christian +communion, and the sailors in such a ship as theirs would not be +exactly kindred spirits. So that week in Tyre would be a blessed +break in the voyage. We hear nothing of visiting the synagogue, nor +of preaching to the non-Christian population, nor of instruction to +the little Church. + +The whole interest of the stay at Tyre is, for Luke, centred on the +fact that here too the same message which had met Paul everywhere was +repeated to him. It was 'through the Spirit.' Then was Paul flying in +the face of divine prohibitions when he held on his way in spite of +all that could be said? Certainly not. We have to bring common sense +to bear on the interpretation of the words in verse 4, and must +suppose that what came from 'the Spirit' was the prediction of +persecutions waiting Paul, and that the exhortation to avoid these by +keeping clear of Jerusalem was the voice of human affection only. +Such a blending of clear insight and of mistaken deductions from it +is no strange experience. + +No word is said as to the effect of the Tyrian Christians' +dissuasion. It had none. Luke mentions it in order to show how +continuous was the repetition of the same note, and his silence as to +the manner of its reception is eloquent. The parting scene at Tyre is +like, and yet very unlike, that at Miletus. In both the Christians +accompany Paul to the beach, in both they kneel down and pray. It +would scarcely have been a Christian parting without that. In both +loving farewells are said, and perhaps waved when words could no +longer be heard. But at Tyre, where there were no bonds of old +comradeship nor of affection to a spiritual father, there was none of +the yearning, clinging love that could not bear to part, none of the +hanging on Paul's neck, none of the deep sorrow of final separation. +The delicate shades of difference in two scenes so similar tell of +the hand of an eye-witness. The touch that 'all' the Tyrian +Christians went down to the beach, and took their wives and children +with them, suggests that they can have been but a small community, +and so confirms the hint given by the use of the word 'found' in +verse 4. + +III. The vessel ran down the coast to Ptolemais where one day's stop +was made, probably to land and ship cargo, if, as is possible, the +further journey to Caesarea was by sea. But it may have been by land; +the narrative is silent on that point. At Ptolemais, as at Tyre, +there was a little company of disciples, the brevity of the stay with +whom, contrasted with the long halt in Caesarea, rather favours the +supposition that the ship's convenience ruled the Apostle's movements +till he reached the latter place. There he found a haven of rest, +and, surrounded by loving friends, no wonder that the burdened +Apostle lingered there before plunging into the storm of which he had +had so many warnings. + +The eager haste of the earlier part of the journey, contrasted with +the delay in Caesarea at the threshold of his goal, is explained by +supposing that at the beginning Paul's one wish had been to get to +Jerusalem in time for the Feast, and that at Caesarea he found that, +thanks to his earlier haste and his good passages, he had a margin to +spare. He did not wish to get to the Holy City much before the Feast. + +Two things only are told as occurring in Caesarea--the intercourse +with Philip and the renewed warnings about going to Jerusalem. +Apparently Philip had been in Caesarea ever since we last heard of +him (chap. viii.). He had brought his family there, and settled down +in the headquarters of Roman government. He had been used by Christ +to carry the Gospel to men outside the Covenant, and for a time it +seemed as if he was to be the messenger to the Gentiles; but that +mission soon ended, and the honour and toil fell to another. But +neither did Philip envy Paul, nor did Paul avoid Philip. The Master +has the right to settle what each slave has to do, and whether He +sets him to high or low office, it matters not. + +Philip might have been contemptuous and jealous of the younger man, +who had been nobody when he was chosen as one of the Seven, but had +so far outrun him now. But no paltry personal feeling marred the +Christian intercourse of the two, and we can imagine how much each +had to tell the other, with perhaps Cornelius for a third in company, +during the considerably extended stay in Caesarea. No doubt Luke too +made good use of the opportunity of increasing his knowledge of the +first days, and probably derived much of the material for the first +chapters of Acts from Philip, either then or at his subsequent longer +residence in the same city. + +We have heard of the prophet Agabus before (chap, xi. 28). Why he is +introduced here, as if a stranger, we cannot tell, and it is useless +to guess, and absurd to sniff suspicion of genuineness in the +peculiarity. His prophecy is more definite than any that preceded it. +That is God's way. He makes things clearer as we go on, and warnings +more emphatic as danger approaches. The source of the 'afflictions' +was now for the first time declared, and the shape which they would +take. Jews would deliver Paul to Gentiles, as they had delivered +Paul's Master. + +But there the curtain falls. What would the Gentiles do with him? +That remained unrevealed. Half the tragedy was shown, and then +darkness covered the rest. That was more trying to nerves and courage +than full disclosure to the very end would have been. Imagination had +just enough to work on, and was stimulated to shape out all sorts of +horrors. Similarly incomplete and testing to faith are the glimpses +of the future which we get in our own lives. We see but a little way +ahead, and then the road takes a sharp turn, and we fancy dreadful +shapes hiding round the corner. + +Paul's courage was unmoved both by Agabus's incomplete prophecy and +by the tearful implorings of his companions and of the Caesarean +Christians. His pathetic words to them are misunderstood if we take +'break my heart' in the modern sense of that phrase, for it really +means 'to melt away my resolution,' and shows that Paul felt that the +passionate grief of his brethren was beginning to do what no fear for +himself could do--shake even his steadfast purpose. No more lovely +blending of melting tenderness and iron determination has ever been +put into words than that cry of his, followed by the great utterance +which proclaimed his readiness to bear all things, even death itself, +for 'the name of the Lord Jesus.' What kindled and fed that noble +flame of self-devotion? The love of Jesus Christ, built on the sense +that He had redeemed the soul of His servant, and had thereby bought +him for His own. + +If we feel that we have been 'bought with a price,' we too, in our +small spheres, shall be filled with that ennobling passion of devoted +love which will not count life dear if He calls us to give it up. Let +us learn from Paul how to blend the utmost gentleness and tender +responsiveness to all love with fixed determination to glorify the +Name. A strong will and a loving heart make a marvellously beautiful +combination, and should both abide in every Christian. + + + +PHILIP THE EVANGELIST + +'... We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which +was one of the seven; and abode with him.'--ACTS xxi. 8. + +The life of this Philip, as recorded, is a very remarkable one. It is +divided into two unequal halves: one full of conspicuous service, one +passed in absolute obscurity. Like the moon in its second quarter, +part of the disc is shining silver and the rest is invisible. Let us +put together the notices of him. + +He bears a name which makes it probable that he was not a Palestinian +Jew, but one of the many who, of Jewish descent, had lived in Gentile +lands and contracted Gentile habits and associations. We first hear +of him as one of the Seven who were chosen by the Church, at the +suggestion of the Apostles, in order to meet the grumbling of that +section of the Church, who were called 'Hellenists,' about their +people being neglected in the distribution of alms. He stands in that +list next to Stephen, who was obviously the leader. Then after +Stephen's persecution, he flies from Jerusalem, like the rest of the +Church, and comes down to Samaria and preaches there. He did that +because circumstances drove him; he had become one of the Seven +because his brethren appointed him, but his next step was in +obedience to a specific command of Christ. He went and preached the +Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch, and then he was borne away from the +new convert, and after the Spirit had put him down at Ashdod he had +to tramp all the way up the Palestinian coast, left to the guidance +of his own wits, until he came to Caesarea. There he remained for +twenty years; and we do not hear a word about him in all that time. +But at last Paul and his companions, hurrying to keep the Feast at +Jerusalem, found that they had a little time to spare when they +reached Caesarea, and so they came to 'the house of Philip the +evangelist,' whom we last heard of twenty years before, and spent +'many days' with him. That is the final glimpse that we have of +Philip. + +Now let us try to gather two or three plain lessons, especially those +which depend on that remarkable contrast between the first and the +second periods of this man's life. There is, first, a brief space of +brilliant service, and then there are long years of obscure toil. + +I. The brief space of brilliant service. + +The Church was in a state of agitation, and there was murmuring going +on because, as I have already said, a section of it thought that +their poor were unfairly dealt with by the native-born Jews in the +Church. And so the Apostles said: 'What is the use of your squabbling +thus? Pick out any seven that you like, of the class that considers +itself aggrieved, and we will put the distribution of these +eleemosynary grants into their hands. That will surely stop your +mouths. Do you choose whom you please, and we will confirm your +choice.' So the Church selected seven brethren, all apparently +belonging to the 'Grecians' or Greek-speaking Jews, as the Apostles +had directed that they should be, and one of them, not a Jew by +birth, but a 'proselyte of Antioch.' These men's partialities would +all be in favour of the class to which they belonged, and to secure +fair play for which they were elected by it. + +Now these seven are never called 'deacons' in the New Testament, +though it is supposed that they were the first holders of that +office. It is instructive to note how their office came into +existence. It was created by the Apostles, simply as the handiest way +of getting over a difficulty. Is that the notion of Church +organisation that prevails among some of our brethren who believe +that organisation is everything, and that unless a Church has the +three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, it is not worth +calling a Church at all? The plain fact is that the Church at the +beginning had no organisation. What organisation it had grew up as +circumstances required. The only two laws which governed organisation +were, first, 'One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are +brethren'; and second, 'When the Spirit of the Lord is come upon +thee, thou shalt do as occasion shall serve thee.' Thus these seven +were appointed to deal with a temporary difficulty and to distribute +alms when necessary; and their office dropped when it was no longer +required, as was probably the case when, very soon after, the +Jerusalem Church was scattered. Then, by degrees, came elders and +deacons. People fancy that there is but one rigid, unalterable type +of Church organisation, when the reality is that it is fluent and +flexible, and that the primitive Church never was meant to be the +pattern according to which, in detail, and specifically, other +Churches in different circumstances should be constituted. There are +great principles which no organisation must break, but if these be +kept, the form is a matter of convenience. + +That is the first lesson that I take out of this story. Although it +has not much to do with Philip himself, still it is worth saying in +these days when a particular organisation of the Church is supposed +to be essential to Christian fellowship, and we Nonconformists, who +have not the 'orders' that some of our brethren seem to think +indispensable, are by a considerable school unchurched, because we +are without them. But the primitive Church also was without them. + +Still further and more important for us, in these brief years of +brilliant service I note the spontaneous impulse which sets a +Christian man to do Christian work. It was his brethren that picked +out Philip, and said, 'Now go and distribute alms,' but his brethren +had nothing to do with his next step. He was driven by circumstances +out of Jerusalem, and he found himself in Samaria, and perhaps he +remembered how Jesus Christ had said, on the day when He went up into +Heaven, 'Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem _and in +Samaria_, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.' But whether he +remembered that or not, he was here in Samaria, amongst the ancestral +enemies of his nation. Nobody told him to preach when he went to +Samaria. He had no commission from the Apostles to do so. He did not +hold any office in the Church, except that which, according to the +Apostles' intention in establishing it, ought to have stopped his +mouth from preaching. For they said, when they appointed these seven, +'Let _them_ serve tables, and we will give ourselves to the ministry +of the word.' But Jesus Christ has a way of upsetting men's +restrictions as to the functions of His servants. And so Philip, +without a commission, and with many prejudices to stop his mouth, was +the first to break through the limitations which confined the message +of salvation to the Jews. Because he found himself in Samaria, and +they needed Christ there, he did not wait for Peter and James and +John to lay their hands upon his head, and say, 'Now you are entitled +to speak about Him'; he did not wait for any appointment, but yielded +to his own heart, a heart that was full of Jesus Christ, and _must_ +speak about Him; find he proclaimed the Gospel in that city. + +So he has the noble distinction of being the very first Christian man +who put a bold foot across the boundary of Judaism, and showed a +light to men that were in darkness beyond. Remember he did it as a +simple private Christian; uncalled, uncommissioned, unordained by +anybody; and he did it because he could not help it, and he never +thought to himself, 'I am doing a daring, new thing.' It seemed the +most natural thing in the world that he should preach in Samaria. So +it would be to us, if we were Christians with the depth of faith and +of personal experience which this man had. + +There is another lesson that I take from these first busy years of +Philip's service. Christ provides wider spheres for men who have been +faithful in narrower ones. It was because he had 'won his spurs,' if +I may so say, in Samaria, and proved the stuff he was made of, that +the angel of the Lord came and said to Philip, 'Go down on the road +to Gaza, which is desert. Do not ask now what you are to do when you +get there. Go!' So with his sealed orders be went. No doubt he +thought to himself, 'Strange that I should be taken from this +prosperous work in Samaria, and sent to a desert road, where there is +not a single human being!' But he went; and when he struck the point +of junction of the road from Samaria with that from Jerusalem, looked +about to discover what he had been sent there for. The only thing in +sight was one chariot, and he said to himself, 'Ah, that is it,' and +he drew near to the chariot, and heard the occupant reading aloud +Isaiah's great prophecy. The Ethiopian chamberlain was probably not +very familiar with the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which +he seems to have been using and, as poor readers often do, helped his +comprehension by speaking the words he sees on the page. Philip knew +at once that here was the object of his mission, and so 'joined +himself to the chariot,' and set himself to his work. + +So Christ chooses His agents for further work from those who, out of +their own spontaneous love of Him, have done what lay at their hands. +'To him that hath shall be given.' If you are ambitious of a wider +sphere, be sure that you fill your narrow one. It will widen quite +fast enough for your capacities. + +II. Now let me say a word about the long years of obscurity. + +Philip went down to Caesarea, and, as I said, he drops out of the +story for twenty years. I wonder why it was that when Jesus Christ +desired that Cornelius, who lived in Caesarea, should hear the +gospel, He did not direct him to Philip, who also was in Caesarea, +but bid him send all the way to Joppa to bring Peter thence? I wonder +why it was that when Barnabas at Antioch turned his face northwards +to seek for young Saul at Tarsus, he never dreamed of turning +southwards to call out Philip from Caesarea? I wonder how it came to +pass that this man, who at one time looked as if he was going to be +the leader in the extension of the Church to the Gentiles, and who, +as a matter of fact, was the first, not only in Samaria but on the +desert road, to press beyond the narrow bounds of Judaism, was passed +over in the further stages by Jesus, and why his brethren passed him +over, and left him there all these years in Caesarea, whilst there +was so much going on that was the continuation and development of the +very movement that he had begun. We do not know why, and it is +useless to try to speculate, but we may learn lessons from the fact. + +Here is a beautiful instance of the contented acceptance of a lot +very much less conspicuous, very much less brilliant, than the early +beginnings had seemed to promise. I suppose that there are very few +of us but have had, back in the far-away past, moments when we seemed +to have opening out before us great prospects of service which have +never been realised; and the remembrance of the brief moments of +dawning splendour is very apt to make the rest of the life look grey +and dull, and common things flat, and to make us sour. We look back +and we think, 'Ah, the gates were opened for me then, but how they +have slammed to since! It is hard for me to go on in this lowly +condition, and this eclipsed state into which I have been brought, +without feeling how different it might have been if those early days +had only continued.' Well, for Philip it was enough that Jesus Christ +sent him to the eunuch and did not send him to Cornelius. He took the +position that his Master put him in and worked away therein. + +And there is a further lesson for us, who, for the most part, have to +lead obscure lives. For there was in Philip not only a contented +acceptance of an obscure life, but there was a diligent doing of +obscure work. Did you notice that one significant little word in the +clause that I have taken for my text: 'We entered into the house of +Philip _the evangelist_, which was one of the seven'? Luke does not +forget Philip's former office, but he dwells rather on what his other +office was, twenty years afterwards. He was 'an evangelist' now, +although the evangelistic work was being done in a very quiet corner, +and nobody was paying much attention to it. Time was when he had a +great statesman to listen to his words. Time was when a whole city +was moved by his teaching. Time was when it looked as if he was going +to do the work that Paul did. But all these visions were shattered, +and he was left to toil for twenty long years in that obscure corner, +and not a soul knew anything about his work except the people to whom +it was directed and the four unmarried girls at home whom his example +had helped to bring to Jesus Christ, and who were 'prophetesses.' At +the end of the twenty years he is 'Philip the evangelist.' + +_There_ is patient perseverance at unrecompensed, unrecorded, and +unnoticed work. 'Great' and 'small' have nothing to do with the work +of Christian people. It does not matter who knows our work or who +does not know it, the thing is that _He_ knows it. Now the most of us +have to do absolutely unnoticed Christian service. Those of us who +are in positions like mine have a little more notoriety--and it is no +blessing--and a year or two after a man's voice ceases to sound from +a pulpit he is forgotten. What does it matter? 'Surely I will never +forget any of their works.' And in these advertising days, when +publicity seems to be the great good that people in so many cases +seek after, and no one is contented to do his little bit of work +unless he gets reported in the columns of the newspapers, we may all +take example from the behaviour of Philip, and remember the man who +began so brilliantly, and for twenty years was hidden, and was 'the +evangelist' all the time. + +III. Now, there is one last lesson that I would draw, and that is the +ultimate recognition of the work and the joyful meeting of the +workers. + +I think it is very beautiful to see that when Paul entered Philip's +house he came into a congenial atmosphere; and although he had been +hurrying, out of breath as it were, all the way from Corinth to get +to Jerusalem in time for the Feast, he slowed off at once; partly, no +doubt, because he found that he was in time, and partly, no doubt, +that he felt the congeniality of the society that he met. + +So there was no envy in Philip's heart of the younger brother that +had so outrun him. He was quite content to share the fate of +pioneers, and rejoiced in the junior who had entered into his labour. +'One soweth and another reapeth'; he was prepared for that, and +rejoiced to hear about what the Lord had done by his brother, though +once he had thought it might have been done by him. How they would +talk! How much there would be to tell! How glad the old man would be +at the younger man's success! + +And there was one sitting by who did not say very much, but had his +ears wide open, and his name was Luke. In Philip's long, confidential +conversations he no doubt got some of the materials, which have been +preserved for us in this book, for his account of the early days of +the Church in Jerusalem. + +So Philip, after all, was not working in so obscure a corner as he +thought. The whole world knows about him. He had been working behind +a curtain all the while, and he never knew that 'the beloved +physician,' who was listening so eagerly to all he had to tell about +the early days, was going to twitch down the curtain and let the +whole world see the work that he thought he was doing, all unknown +and soon to be forgotten. + +And that is what will happen to us all. The curtain will be twitched +down, and when it is, it will be good for us if we have the same +record to show that this man had--namely, toil for the Master, +indifferent to whether men see or do not see; patient labour for Him, +coming out of a heart purged of all envy and jealousy of those who +have been called to larger and more conspicuous service. + +May we not take these many days of quiet converse in Philip's house, +when the pioneer and the perfecter of the work talked together, as +being a kind of prophetic symbol of the time when all who had a share +in the one great and then completed work will have a share in its +joy? No matter whether they have dug the foundations or laid the +early courses or set the top stone and the shining battlements that +crown the structure, they have all their share in the building and +their portion in the gladness of the completed edifice, 'that he that +soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.' + + + +AN OLD DISCIPLE + +'... One Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should +lodge.'--ACTS xxi. 16. + +There is something that stimulates the imagination in these mere +shadows of men that we meet in the New Testament story. What a +strange fate that is to be made immortal by a line in this book-- +immortal and yet so unknown! We do not hear another word about this +host of Paul's, but his name will be familiar to men's ears till the +world's end. This figure is drawn in the slightest possible outline, +with a couple of hasty strokes of the pencil. But if we take even +these few bare words and look at them, feeling that there is a man +like ourselves sketched in them, I think we can get a real picture +out of them, and that even this dim form crowded into the background +of the Apostolic story may have a word or two to say to us. + +His name and his birthplace show that he belonged to the same class +as Paul, that is, he was a Hellenist, or a Jew by descent, but born +on Gentile soil, and speaking Greek. He came from Cyprus, the native +island of Barnabas, who may have been a friend of his. He was an 'old +disciple,' which does not mean simply that he was advanced in life, +but that he was 'a disciple from the beginning,' one of the original +group of believers. If we interpret the word strictly, we must +suppose him to have been one of the rapidly diminishing nucleus, who +thirty years or more ago had seen Christ in the flesh, and been drawn +to Him by His own words. Evidently the mention of the early date of +his conversion suggests that the number of his contemporaries was +becoming few, and that there were a certain honour and distinction +conceded by the second generation of the Church to the survivors of +the primitive band. Then, of course, as one of the earliest +believers, he must, by this time, have been advanced in life. A +Cypriote by birth, he had emigrated to, and resided in a village on +the road to Jerusalem; and must have had means and heart to exercise +a liberal hospitality there. Though a Hellenist like Paul he does not +seem to have known the Apostle before, for the most probable +rendering of the context is that the disciples from Caesarea, who +were travelling with the Apostle from that place to Jerusalem, +'brought us to Mnason,' implying that this was their first +introduction to each other. But though probably unacquainted with the +great teacher of the Gentiles--whose ways were looked on with much +doubt by many of the Palestinian Christians--the old man, relic of +the original disciples as he was, had full sympathy with Paul, and +opened his house and his heart to receive him. His adhesion to the +Apostle would no doubt carry weight with 'the many thousands of Jews +which believed, and were all zealous of the law,' and was as +honourable to him as it was helpful to Paul. + +Now if we put all this together, does not the shadowy figure begin to +become more substantial? and does it not preach to us some lessons +that we may well take to heart? + +I. The first thing which this old disciple says to us out of the +misty distance is: Hold fast to your early faith, and to the Christ +whom you have known. + +Many a year had passed since the days when perhaps the beauty of the +Master's own character and the sweetness of His own words had drawn +this man to Him. How much had come and gone since then--Calvary and +the Resurrection, Olivet and the Pentecost! His own life and mind had +changed from buoyant youth to sober old age. His whole feelings and +outlook on the world were different. His old friends had mostly gone. +James indeed was still there, and Peter and John remained until this +present, but most had fallen on sleep. A new generation was rising +round about him, and new thoughts and ways were at work. But one +thing remained for him what it had been in the old days, and that was +Christ. 'One generation cometh and another goeth, but the "Christ" +abideth for ever.' + + 'We all are changed by still degrees; + All but the basis of the soul,' + +and the 'basis of the soul,' in the truest sense, is that one God- +laid foundation on which whosoever buildeth shall never be +confounded, nor ever need to change with changing time. Are we +building there? and do we find that life, as it advances, but +tightens our hold on Jesus Christ, who is our hope? + +There is no fairer nor happier experience than that of the old man +who has around him the old loves, the old confidences, and some +measure of the old joys. But who can secure that blessed unity in his +life if he depend on the love and help of even the dearest, or on the +light of any creature for his sunshine? There is but one way of +making all our days one, because one love, one hope, one joy, one aim +binds them all together, and that is by taking the abiding Christ for +ours, and abiding in Him all our days. Holding fast by the early +convictions does not mean stiffening in them. There is plenty of room +for advancement in Christ. No doubt Mnason, when he was first a +disciple, knew but very little of the meaning and worth of his Master +and His work, compared with what he had learned in all these years. +And our true progress consists, not in growing away from Jesus but in +growing up into Him, not in passing through and leaving behind our +first convictions of Him as Saviour, but in having these verified by +the experience of years, deepened and cleared, unfolded and ordered +into a larger, though still incomplete, whole. We may make our whole +lives helpful to that advancement and blessed shall we be if the +early faith is the faith that brightens till the end, and brightens +the end. How beautiful it is to see a man, below whose feet time is +crumbling away, holding firmly by the Lord whom he has loved and +served all his days, and finding that the pillar of cloud, which +guided him while he lived, begins to glow in its heart of fire as the +shadows fall, and is a pillar of light to guide him when he comes to +die! Dear friends, whether you be near the starting or near the prize +of your Christian course, 'cast not away your confidence, which hath +great recompense of reward.' See to it that the 'knowledge of the +Father,' which is the 'little children's' possession, passes through +the strength of youth, and the 'victory over the world' into the calm +knowledge of Him 'that is from the beginning,' wherein the fathers +find their earliest convictions deepened and perfected, 'Grow in +grace and in the knowledge' of Him, whom to know ever so imperfectly +is eternal life, whom to know a little better is the true progress +for men, whom to know more and more fully is the growth and gladness +and glory of the heavens. Look at this shadowy figure that looks out +on us here, and listen to his far-off voice 'exhorting us all that +with purpose of heart we should cleave unto the Lord.' + +II. But there is another and, as some might think, opposite lesson to +be gathered from this outline sketch, namely, The welcome which we +should be ready to give to new thoughts and ways. + +It is evidently meant that we should note Mnason's position in the +Church as significant in regard to his hospitable reception of the +Apostle. We can fancy how the little knot of 'original disciples' +would be apt to value themselves on their position, especially as +time went on, and their ranks were thinned. They would be tempted to +suppose that they must needs understand the Master's meaning a great +deal better than those who had never known Christ after the flesh; +and no doubt they would be inclined to share in the suspicion with +which the thorough-going Jewish party in the Church regarded this +Paul, who had never seen the Lord. It would have been very natural +for this good old man to have said, 'I do not like these new-fangled +ways. There was nothing of this sort in my younger days. Is it not +likely that we, who were at the beginning of the Gospel, should +understand the Gospel and the Church's work without this new man +coming to set us right? I am too old to go in with these changes.' +All the more honourable is it that he should have been ready with an +open house to shelter the great champion of the Gentile Churches; +and, as we may reasonably believe, with an open heart to welcome his +teaching. Depend on it, it was not every 'old disciple' that would +have done as much. + +Now does not this flexibility of mind and openness of nature to +welcome new ways of work, when united with the persistent constancy +in his old creed, make an admirable combination? It is one rare +enough at any age, but especially in elderly men. We are always +disposed to rend apart what ought never to be separated, the +inflexible adherence to a fixed centre of belief, and the freest +ranging around the whole changing circumference. The man of strong +convictions is apt to grip every trifle of practice and every +unimportant bit of his creed with the same tenacity with which he +holds its vital heart, and to take obstinacy for firmness, and dogged +self-will for faithfulness to truth. The man who welcomes new light, +and reaches forward to greet new ways, is apt to delight in having +much fluid that ought to be fixed, and to value himself on a +'liberality' which simply means that he has no central truth and no +rooted convictions. And as men grow older they stiffen more and more, +and have to leave the new work for new hands, and the new thoughts +for new brains. That is all in the order of nature, but so much the +finer is it when we do see old Christian men who join to their firm +grip of the old Gospel the power of welcoming, and at least bidding +God-speed to, new thoughts and new workers and new ways of work. + +The union of these two characteristics should be consciously aimed at +by us all. Hold unchanging, with a grasp that nothing can relax, by +Christ our life and our all; but with that tenacity of mind, try to +cultivate flexibility too. Love the old, but be ready to welcome the +new. Do not invest your own or other people's habits of thought or +forms of work with the same sanctity which belongs to the central +truths of our salvation; do not let the willingness to entertain new +light lead you to tolerate any changes there. It is hard to blend the +two virtues together, but they are meant to be complements, not +opposites, to each other. The fluttering leaves and bending branches +need a firm stem and deep roots. The firm stem looks noblest in its +unmoved strength when it is contrasted with a cloud of light foliage +dancing in the wind. Try to imitate the persistency and the open mind +of that 'old disciple' who was so ready to welcome and entertain the +Apostle of the Gentile Churches. + +III. But there is still another lesson which, I think, this portrait +may suggest, and that is, the beauty that may dwell in an obscure +life. + +There is nothing to be said about this old man but that he was a +disciple. He had done no great thing for his Lord. No teacher or +preacher was he. No eloquence or genius was in him. No great heroic +deed or piece of saintly endurance is to be recorded of him, but only +this, that he had loved and followed Christ all his days. And is not +that record enough? It is his blessed fate to live for ever in the +world's memory, with only that one word attached to his name--a +disciple. + +The world may remember very little about us a year after we are gone. +No thought, no deed may be connected with our names but in some +narrow circle of loving hearts. There may be no place for us in any +record written with a man's pen. But what does that matter, if our +names, dear friends, are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, with +this for sole epitaph, 'a disciple'? That single phrase is the +noblest summary of a life. A thinker? a hero? a great man? a +millionaire? No, a 'disciple.' That says all. May it be your epitaph +and mine! + +What Mnason could do he did. It was not his vocation to go into the +'regions beyond,' like Paul; to guide the Church, like James; to put +his remembrances of his Master in a book, like Matthew; to die for +Jesus, like Stephen. But he could open his house for Paul and his +company, and so take his share in their work. 'He that receiveth a +prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.' +He that with understanding and sympathy welcomes and sustains the +prophet, shows thereby that he stands on the same spiritual level, +and has the makings of a prophet in him, though he want the +intellectual force and may never open his lips to speak the burden of +the Lord. Therefore he shall be one in reward as he is in spirit. The +old law in Israel is the law for the warfare of Christ's soldiers. +'As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be +that abideth by the stuff: they shall part alike.' The men in the +rear who guard the camp and keep the communications open, may deserve +honours, and crosses, and prize-money as much as their comrades who +led the charge that cut through the enemy's line and scattered their +ranks. It does not matter, so far as the real spiritual worth of the +act is concerned, what we do, but only why we do it. All deeds are +the same which are done from the same motive and with the same +devotion; and He who judges, not by our outward actions but by the +springs from which they come, will at last bracket together as equals +many who were widely separated here in the form of their service and +the apparent magnitude of their work. + +'She hath done what she could.' Her power determined the measure and +the manner of her work. One precious thing she had, and only one, and +she broke her one rich possession that she might pour the fragrant +oil over His feet. Therefore her useless deed of utter love and +uncalculating self-sacrifice was crowned by praise from His lips +whose praise is our highest honour, and the world is still 'filled +with the odour of the ointment.' + +So this old disciple's hospitality is strangely immortal, and the +record of it reminds us that the smallest service done for Jesus is +remembered and treasured by Him. Men have spent their lives to win a +line in the world's chronicles which are written on sand, and have +broken their hearts because they failed; and this passing act of one +obscure Christian, in sheltering a little company of travel-stained +wayfarers, has made his name a possession for ever. 'Seekest thou +great things for thyself? seek them not'; but let us fill our little +corners, doing our unnoticed work for love of our Lord, careless +about man's remembrance or praise, because sure of Christ's, whose +praise is the only fame, whose remembrance is the highest reward. +'God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.' + + + +PAUL IN THE TEMPLE + +'And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were +of Asia when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the +people, and laid hands on him. 28. Crying out, Men of Israel, +help: This is the man, that teacheth all men everywhere against +the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought +Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. +29. (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an +Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the +temple.) 30. And all the city was moved, and the people ran +together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: +and forthwith the doors were shut. 31. And as they went about to +kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that +all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32. Who immediately took +soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they +saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of +Paul. 33. Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and +commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he +was, and what he had done. 34. And some cried one thing, some +another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the +certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into +the castle. 35. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, +that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the +people. 36. For the multitude of the people followed after, +crying, Away with him. 37. And as Paul was to be led into the +castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? +Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? 38. Art not thou that +Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest +out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? +39. But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city +in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, +suffer me to speak unto the people.'--ACTS xxi. 27-39. + +The stronger a man's faith, the greater will and should be his +disposition to conciliate. Paul may seem to have stretched +consideration for weak brethren to its utmost, when he consented to +the proposal of the Jerusalem elders to join in performing the vow of +a Nazarite, and to appear in the Temple for that purpose. But he was +quite consistent in so doing; for it was not Jewish ceremonial to +which he objected, but the insisting on it as necessary. For himself, +he lived as a Jew, except in his freedom of intercourse with +Gentiles. No doubt he knew that the death-warrant of Jewish +ceremonial had been signed, but he could leave it to time to carry +out the sentence. The one thing which he was resolved should not be +was its imposition on Gentile Christians. Their road to Jesus was not +through Temple or synagogue. As for Jewish Christians, let them keep +to the ritual if they chose. The conciliatory plan recommended by the +elders, though perfectly consistent with Paul's views and successful +with the Jewish Christians, roused non-Christian Jews as might have +been expected. + +This incident brings out very strikingly the part played by each of +the two factors in carrying out God's purposes for Paul. They are +unconscious instruments, and co-operation is the last thing dreamed +of on either side; but Jew and Roman together work out a design of +which they had not a glimpse. + +I. Note the charge against Paul. The 'Jews from Asia' knew him by +sight, as they had seen him in Ephesus and elsewhere; and possibly +some of them had been fellow-passengers with him from Miletus. No +wonder that they construed his presence in the Temple into an insult +to it. If Luther or John Knox had appeared in St. Peter's, he would +not have been thought to have come as a worshipper. Paul's teaching +may very naturally have created the impression in hot-tempered +partisans, who could not draw distinctions, that he was the enemy of +Temple and sacrifice. + +It has always been the vice of religious controversy to treat +inferences from heretical teaching, which appear plain to the +critics, as if they were articles of the heretic's belief. These +Jewish zealots practised a very common method when they fathered on +Paul all which they supposed to be involved in his position. Their +charges against him are partly flat lies, partly conclusions drawn +from misapprehension of his position, partly exaggeration, and partly +hasty assumptions. He had never said a word which could be construed +as 'against the people.' He had indeed preached that the law was not +for Gentiles, and was not the perfect revelation which brought +salvation, and he had pointed to Jesus as in Himself realising all +that the Temple shadowed; but such teaching was not 'against' either, +but rather for both, as setting both in their true relation to the +whole process of revelation. He had not brought 'Greeks' into the +Temple, not even the one Greek whom malice multiplied into many. When +passion is roused, exaggerations and assumptions soon become definite +assertions. The charges are a complete object-lesson in the baser +arts of religious (!) partisans; and they have been but too +faithfully reproduced in all ages. Did Paul remember how he had been +'consenting' to the death of Stephen on the very same charges? How +far he has travelled since that day! + +II. Note the immediately kindled flame of popular bigotry. The always +inflammable population of Jerusalem was more than usually excitable +at the times of the Feasts, when it was largely increased by zealous +worshippers from a distance. Noble teaching would have left the mob +as stolid as it found them; but an appeal to the narrow prejudices +which they thought were religion was a spark in gunpowder, and an +explosion was immediate. It is always easier to rouse men to fight +for their 'religion' than to live by it. Jehu was proud of what he +calls his 'zeal for the Lord,' which was really only ferocity with a +mask on. The yelling crowd did not stop to have the charges proved. +That they were made was enough. In Scotland people used to talk of +'Jeddart justice,' which consisted in hanging a man first, and trying +him leisurely afterwards. It was usually substantially just when +applied to moss-troopers, but does not do so well when administered +to Apostles. + +Notice the carefulness to save the Temple from pollution, which is +shown by the furious crowds dragging Paul outside before they kill +him. They were not afraid to commit murder, but they were horror- +struck at the thought of a breach of ceremonial etiquette. Of course! +for when religion is conceived of as mainly a matter of outward +observances, sin is reduced to a breach of these. We are all tempted +to shift the centre of gravity in our religion, and to make too much +of ritual etiquette. Kill Paul if you will, but get him outside the +sacred precincts first. The priests shut the doors to make sure that +there should be no profanation, and stopped inside the Temple, well +pleased that murder should go on at its threshold. They had better +have rescued the victim. Time was when the altar was a sanctuary for +the criminal who could grasp its horns, but now its ministers wink at +bloodshed with secret approval. Paul could easily have been killed in +the crowd, and no responsibility for his death have clung to any +single hand. No doubt that was the cowardly calculation which they +made, and they were well on the way to carry it out when the other +factor comes into operation. + +III. Note the source of deliverance. The Roman garrison was posted in +the fortress of Antonia, which commanded the Temple from a higher +level at the north-west angle of the enclosure. Tidings 'came _up_' +to the officer in command, Claudius Lysias by name (Acts xxiii. 26), +that all Jerusalem was in confusion. With disciplined promptitude he +turned out a detachment and 'ran down upon them.' The contrast +between the quiet power of the legionaries and the noisy feebleness +of the mob is striking. The best qualities of Roman sway are seen in +this tribune's unhesitating action, before which the excited mob +cowers in fright. They 'left beating of Paul,' as knowing that a +heavier hand would fall on them for rioting. With swift decision +Lysias acts first and talks afterwards, securing the man who was +plainly the centre of disturbance, and then having got him fast with +two chains on him, inquiring who he was, and what he had been doing. + +Then the crowd breaks loose again in noisy and contradictory +explanations, all at the top of their voices, and each drowning the +other. Clearly the bulk of them could not answer either of Lysias' +questions, though they could all bellow 'Away with him!' till their +throats were sore. It is a perfect picture of a mob, which is always +ferocious and volubly explanatory in proportion to its ignorance. One +man kept his head in the hubbub, and that was Lysias, who determined +to hold his prisoner till he did know something about him. So he +ordered him to be taken up into the castle; and as the crowd saw +their prey escaping they made one last fierce rush, and almost swept +away the soldiers, who had to pick Paul up and carry him. Once on the +stairs leading to the castle they were clear of the crowd, which +could only send a roar of baffled rage after them, and to this the +stolid legionaries were as deaf as were their own helmets. + +The part here played by the Roman authority is that which it performs +throughout the Acts. It shields infant Christianity from Jewish +assailants, like the wolf which, according to legend, suckled +Romulus. The good and the bad features of Roman rule were both +valuable for that purpose. Its contempt for ideas, and above all for +speculative differences in a religion which it regarded as a hurtful +superstition, its unsympathetic incapacity for understanding its +subject nations, its military discipline, its justice, which though +often tainted was yet better than the partisan violence which it +coerced, all helped to make it the defender of the first Christians. +Strange that Rome should shelter and Jerusalem persecute! + +Mark, too, how blindly men fulfil God's purposes. The two bitter +antagonists, Jew and Roman, seem to themselves to be working in +direct opposition; but God is using them both to carry out His +design. Paul has to be got to Rome, and these two forces are combined +by a wisdom beyond their ken, to carry him thither. Two cogged wheels +turning in opposite directions fit into each other, and grind out a +resultant motion, different from either of theirs. These soldiers and +that mob were like pawns on a chessboard, ignorant of the intentions +of the hand which moves them. + +IV. Note the calm courage of Paul. He too had kept his head, and +though bruised and hustled, and having but a minute or two beforehand +looked death in the face, he is ready to seize the opportunity to +speak a word for his Master. Observe the quiet courtesy of his +address, and his calm remembrance of the tribune's right to prevent +his speaking. There is nothing more striking in Paul's character than +his self-command and composure in all circumstances. This ship could +rise to any wave, and ride in any storm. It was not by virtue of +happy temperament but of a fixed faith that his heart and mind were +kept in perfect peace. It is not easy to disturb a man who counts not +his life dear if only he may complete his course. So these two men +front each other, and it is hard to tell which has the quieter pulse +and the steadier hand. The same sources of tranquil self-control and +calm superiority to fortune which stood Paul in such good stead are +open to us. If God is our rock and our high tower we shall not be +moved. + +The tribune had for some unknown reason settled in his mind that the +Apostle was a well-known 'Egyptian,' who had headed a band of +'Sicarii' or 'dagger-men,' of whose bloody doings Josephus tells us. +How the Jews should have been trying to murder such a man Lysias does +not seem to have considered. But when he heard the courteous, +respectful Greek speech of the Apostle he saw at once that he had got +no uncultured ruffian to deal with, and in answer to Paul's request +and explanation gave him leave to speak. That has been thought an +improbability. But strong men recognise each other, and the brave +Roman was struck with something in the tone and bearing of the brave +Jew which made him instinctively sure that no harm would come of the +permission. There ought to be that in the demeanour of a Christian +which is as a testimonial of character for him, and sways observers +to favourable constructions. + + + +PAUL ON HIS OWN CONVERSION + +'And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh +unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great +light round about me. 7. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a +voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why perseoutest thou Me? 8. And I +answered, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said unto me, I am Jesus of +Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 9. And they that were with me saw +indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of +Him that spake to me. 10. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the +Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it +shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to +do. 11. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, +being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into +Damascus. 12. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, +having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13. Came +unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy +sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14. And he said, +The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know +His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of +His mouth. 15. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what +thou hast seen and heard. 16. And now why tarriest thou? arise, +and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of +the Lord.'--ACTS xxii. 6-16. + +We follow Paul's example when we put Jesus' appearance to him from +heaven in a line with His appearances to the disciples on earth. +'Last of all, He appeared to me also.' But it does not follow that +the appearances are all of the same kind, or that Paul thought that +they were. They were all equally real, equally 'objective,' equally +valid proofs of Jesus' risen life. On two critical occasions Paul +told the story of Jesus' appearance as his best 'Apologia.' 'I saw +and heard Him, and that revolutionised my life, and made me what I +am.' The two accounts are varied, as the hearers were, but the +differences are easily reconciled, and the broad facts are the same +in both versions, and in Luke's rendering in chapter ix. + +A favourite theory in some quarters is that Paul's conversion was not +sudden, but that misgivings had been working in him ever since +Stephen's death. Surely that view is clean against facts. Persecuting +its adherents to the death is a strange result of dawning belief in +'this way.' Paul may be supposed to have known his state of mind as +well as a critic nineteen centuries off does, and he had no doubt +that he set out from Jerusalem a bitter hater of the convicted +impostor Jesus, and stumbled into Damascus a convinced disciple +because he had seen and heard Him. That is his account of the matter, +which would not have been meddled with if the meddlers had not taken +offence at 'the supernatural element.' We note the emphasis which +Paul puts on the suddenness of the appearance, implying that the +light burst all in a moment. A little bit of personal reminiscence +comes up in his specifying the time as 'about noon,' the brightest +hour. He remembers how the light outblazed even the blinding +brilliance of a Syrian noontide. He insists too on the fact that his +senses were addressed, both eye and ear. He saw the glory of that +light, and heard the voice. He does not say here that he saw Jesus, +but that he did so is clear from Ananias' words, 'to see the +Righteous One' (ver. 14), and from I Corinthians xv. 8. Further, he +makes it very emphatic that the vision was certified as no morbid +fancy of his own, but yet was marked as meant for him only, by the +double fact that his companions did share in it, but only in part. +They did see the light, but not 'the Righteous One'; they did hear +the sound of the voice, but not so as to know what it said. The +difference between merely hearing a noise and discerning the sense of +the words is probably marked by the construction in the Greek, and is +certainly to be understood. + +The blaze struck all the company to the ground (Acts xxvi. 14). Prone +on the earth, and probably with closed eyes, their leader heard his +own name twice sounded, with appeal, authority, and love in the +tones. The startling question which followed not only pierced +conscience, and called for a reasonable vindication of his action, +but flashed a new light on it as being persecution which struck at +this unknown heavenly speaker. So the first thought in Saul's mind is +not about himself or his doings but about the identity of that +Speaker. Awe, if not actual worship, is expressed in addressing Him +as Lord. Wonder, with perhaps some foreboding of what the answer +would be, is audible in the question, 'Who art Thou?' Who can imagine +the shock of the answer to Saul's mind? Then the man whom he had +thought of as a vile apostate, justly crucified and not risen as his +dupes dreamed, lived in heaven, knew him, Saul, and all that he had +been doing, was 'apparelled in celestial light,' and yet in heavenly +glory was so closely identified with these poor people whom he had +been hunting to death that to strike them was to hurt Him! A +bombshell had burst, shattering the foundation of his fortifications. +A deluge had swept away the ground on which he had stood. His whole +life was revolutionised. Its most solid elements were dissolved into +vapour, and what he had thought misty nonsense was now the solid +thing. To find a 'why' for his persecuting was impossible, unless he +had said (what in effect he did say), 'I did it ignorantly.' When a +man has a glimpse of Jesus exalted to heaven, and is summoned by Him +to give a reason for his life of alienation, that life looks very +different from what it did, when seen by dimmer light. Clothes are +passable by candle-light that look very shabby in sunshine. When +Jesus comes to us, His first work is to set us to judge our past, and +no man can muster up respectable answers to His question, 'Why?' for +all sin is unreasonable, and nothing but obedience to Him can +vindicate itself in His sight. + +Saul threw down his arms at once. His characteristic impetuosity and +eagerness to carry out his convictions impelled him to a surrender as +complete as his opposition. The test of true belief in the ascended +Jesus is to submit the will to Him, to be chiefly desirous of knowing +His will, and ready to do it. 'Who art Thou, Lord?' should be +followed by 'What shall I do, Lord?' + +Blind Saul, led by the hand into the city which he had expected to +enter so differently, saw better than ever before. 'The glory of that +light' blinds us to things seen, but makes us able to see afar off +the only realities, the things unseen. Speaking to Jews, as here, +Paul described Ananias as a devout adherent of the law, in order to +conciliate them and to suggest his great principle that a Christian +was not an apostate but a complete Jew. To Agrippa he drops all +reference to Ananias as irrelevant, and throws together the words on +the road and the commission received through Ananias as equally +Christ's voice. Here he lays stress on his agency in restoring sight, +and on his message as including two points--that it was 'the God of +our fathers' who had 'appointed' the vision, and that the purpose of +the vision was to make Saul a witness to all men. The bearing of this +on the conciliatory aim of the discourse is plain. We note also the +precedence given in the statement of the particulars of the vision to +'knowing his will'--that was the end for which the light and the +voice were given. Observe too how the twofold evidence of sense is +signalised, both in the reference to seeing the Righteous One and to +hearing His voice and in the commission to witness what Saul had seen +and heard. The personal knowledge of Jesus, however attained, +constitutes the qualification and the obligation to be His witness. +And the convincing testimony is when we can say, as we all can say if +we are Christ's, 'That which we have heard, that which we have seen +with our eyes, that ... declare we unto you.' + + + +ROME PROTECTS PAUL + +'And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, +even while I prayed in the Temple, I was in a trance; 18. And saw +Him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of +Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me. +19. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in +every synagogue them that believed on Thee: 20. And when the +blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and +consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew +him. 21. And He said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far +hence unto the Gentiles. 22. And they gave him audience unto this +word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a +fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. 23. +And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust +into the air, 24. The chief captain commanded him to be brought +into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by +scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against +him. 25. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the +centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man +that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 26. When the centurion heard +that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what +thou doest: for this man is a Roman. 27. Then the chief captain +came, and said, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28. And +the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this +freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29. Then straightway +they departed from him which should have examined him: and the +chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, +and because he had bound him. 30. On the morrow, because he would +have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he +loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and +all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him +before them.'--ACTS xxii. 17-30. + +The threatened storm soon burst on Paul in Jerusalem. On the third +day after his arrival he began the ceremonial recommended by the +elders to prove his adherence to the law. Before the seven days +during which it lasted were over the riot broke out, and he was saved +from death only by the military tribune hurrying down to the Temple +and dragging him from the mob. + +The tribune's only care was to stamp out a riot, and whether the +victim was 'that Egyptian' or not, to prevent his being murdered. He +knew nothing, and cared as little, about the grounds of the tumult, +but he was not going to let a crowd of turbulent Jews take the law +into their own hands, and flout the majesty of Roman justice. So he +lets the nearly murdered man say his say and keeps the mob off him. +It was a strange scene--below, the howling zealots; above, on the +stairs, the Christian apologists guarded from his countrymen by a +detachment of legionaries; and the assembly presided over by a Roman +tribune. + +It is very characteristic of Paul that he thought that his own +conversion was the best argument that he could use with his fellow- +Israelites. So he tells his story, and this section strikes into his +speech at the point where he is coming to very thin ice indeed, and +is about to vindicate his work among the Gentiles by declaring that +it was done in obedience to a command from heaven. We need not +discuss the date of the trance, whether it was in his first visit to +Jerusalem after his conversion or, as Ramsay strongly argues, is to +be put at the visit mentioned in Acts xi. 30 and xii. 25. + +We note the delicate, conciliatory skill with which he brings out +that his conversion had not made him less a devout worshipper in the +Temple, by specifying it as the scene of the trance, and prayer as +his occupation then. The mention of the Temple also invested the +vision with sanctity. + +Very noticeable too is the avoidance of the name of Jesus, which +would have stirred passion in the crowd. We may also observe that the +first words of our Lord, as given by Paul, did not tell him whither +he was to go, but simply bade him leave Jerusalem. The full +announcement of the mission to the Gentiles was delayed both by Jesus +to Paul and by Paul to his brethren. He was to 'get quickly out of +Jerusalem'; that was tragic enough. He was to give up working for his +own people, whom he loved so well. And the reason was their rooted +incredulity and their hatred of him. Other preachers might do +something with them, but Paul could not. 'They will not receive +testimony of _thee_.' + +But the Apostle's heart clung to his nation, and not even his Lord's +command was accepted without remonstrance. His patriotism led him to +the verge of disobedience, and encouraged him to put in his 'But, +Lord,' with boldness that was all but presumption. He ventures to +suggest a reason why the Jews _would_, as he thinks, receive his +testimony. They knew what he had been, and they must bethink +themselves that there must be something real and mighty in the power +which had turned his whole way of thinking and living right round, +and made him love all that he had hated, and count all that he had +prized 'but dung.' The remonstrance is like Moses', like Jeremiah's, +like that of many a Christian set to work that goes against the +grain, and called to relinquish what he would fain do, and do what he +would rather leave undone. + +But Jesus does not take His servants' remonstrances amiss, if only +they will make them frankly to Him, and not keep muttering them under +their breath to themselves. Let us say all that is in our hearts. He +will listen, and clear away hesitations, and show us our path, and +make us willing to walk in it. Jesus did not discuss the matter with +Paul, but reiterated the command, and made it more pointed and clear; +and then Paul stopped objecting and yielded his will, as we should +do. 'When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of +the Lord be done.' The Apostle had kept from the obnoxious word as +long as he could, but it had to come, and he tells the enraged +listeners at last, without circumlocution, that he is the Apostle of +the Gentiles, that Jesus has made him so against his will, and that +therefore he must do the work appointed him, though his heart-strings +crack with seeming to be cold to Israel. + +The burst of fury, expressed in gestures which anybody who has ever +seen two Easterns quarrelling can understand, looks fitter for a +madhouse than an audience of men in their senses. They yelled and +tore their garments (and their beards, no doubt), and clutched +handfuls of dust and tossed it in the air, like Shimei cursing David. +What a picture of frenzied hate! And what was it all for? Because +Gentiles were to be allowed to share in Israel's privileges. And what +were the privileges which they thus jealously monopolised? The favour +and protection of the God who, as their own prophets had taught them, +was the God of the whole earth, and revealed Him to Israel that +Israel might reveal Him to the world. + +The less they entered into the true possession of their heritage, the +more savagely they resented sharing it with the nations. The more +their prerogative became a mere outward thing, the more they snarled +at any one who proposed to participate in it. To seek to keep +religious blessings to one's self is a conclusive proof that they are +not really possessed. If we have them we shall long to impart them. +Formal religionists always dislike missionary enterprise. + +The tribune no doubt had been standing silently watching, in his +strong, contemptuous Roman way, the paroxysm of rage sweeping over +his troublesome charge. Of course he did not understand a word that +the culprit had been saying, and could not make out what had produced +the outburst. He felt that there was something here that he had not +fathomed, and that he must get to the bottom of. It was useless to +lay hold of any of these shrieking maniacs and try to get a +reasonable word out of them. So he determined to see what he could +make of the orator, who had already astonished him by traces of +superior education, and was evidently no mere vulgar firebrand or +sedition-monger. He might have tried gentler means of extracting the +truth than scourging, but that process of 'examination,' as it is +flatteringly called, was common, and has not been antiquated for so +many centuries that we need wonder at this Roman officer using it. + +Paul submitted, and was already tied up to some whipping-post, in an +attitude which would expose his back to the lash, when he quietly +dropped, to the inferior officer detailed to superintend the +flogging, the question which fell like a bombshell. Possibly the +Apostle had not known what the soldiers were ordered to do with him +till he was tied up. We cannot tell why he did not plead his +citizenship sooner. But we may remember that at Philippi he did not +plead it at all till after the scourging. Why he delayed so long in +the present instance, and why he at last spoke the magic words, 'I am +a Roman citizen,' we cannot say. But we may gather the two lessons +that Christ's servants are often wise in submitting silently to +wrongs, and that they are within their rights in availing themselves +of legal defences against illegal treatment. Whether silence or +protest is the more expedient must be determined in each case by +conscience, guided by the sought-for guidance of the enlightening +Spirit. The determining consideration should be, Which course will +best glorify my Master? + +The information brought the tribune in haste to the place where the +Apostle was still tied up. The tables were turned indeed. His brief +answer, 'Yea,' was accepted at once, for to claim the sacred name of +Roman falsely would have been too dangerous, and no doubt Paul's +bearing impressed the tribune with a conviction of his truthfulness. +A hint of contempt and doubt lies in his remark that he had paid +dearly for the franchise, which remark implies, 'Where did a poor man +like you get the money then?' A shameful trade in selling citizens' +rights was carried on in the degraded days of the Empire by +underlings at court, and no doubt the tribune had procured his +citizenship in that way. Paul's answer explains that he was born +free, and so was above his questioner. + +That discovery put an end to all thought of scourging. Paul was at +once liberated, and the tribune, terrified that he might be reported, +seeks to repair his error and changes his tactics, retaining Paul for +safety in the castle, and summoning the Sanhedrim, to try to find out +more of this strange affair through them. The great council of the +nation had sunk low indeed when it had to obey the call of a Roman +soldier. + +Thus once more, as so continually in the Acts, Rome is friendly to +the Christian teachers and saves them from Jewish fury. To point out +that early protection and benevolent sufferance is one purpose of the +whole book. The days of Roman persecution had not yet come. The +Empire was favourable to Christianity, not only because its officials +were too proud to take interest in petty squabbles between two sects +of Jews about their absurd superstitions, but reasons of political +wisdom combined with supercilious indifference to bring about this +attitude. + +The strong hand of Rome, too, if it crushed national independence, +also suppressed violence, kept men from flying at each other's +throats, spread peace over wide lands, and made the journeyings of +Paul and the planting of the early Christian Churches possible. It +was a God-appointed, though an imperfect, and in some aspects, +mischievous unity, and prepared the way for that higher form of unity +realised in the Church which finally shattered the coarser Empire +which had at first sheltered it. The Caesars were doing God's work +when they were following their own lust of empire. They were yoked to +Christ's chariot, though unwitting and unwilling. To them, as truly +as to Cyrus, might the divine voice have said, 'I girded thee, though +thou hast not known Me.' + + + +CHRIST'S WITNESSES + +'And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of +good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, +so must thou bear witness also at Rome.'--ACTS xxiii. 11. + +It had long been Paul's ambition to 'preach the Gospel to you that +are at Rome also.' His settled policy, as shown by this Book of the +Acts, was to fly at the head, to attack the great centres of +population. We trace him from Antioch to Philippi, Thessalonica, +Athens, Corinth, Ephesus; and of course Rome was the goal, where a +blow struck at the heart might reverberate through the empire. So he +had planned for it, and prayed about it, and thought about it, and +spoken about it. But his wish was accomplished, as our prayers and +purposes so often are, in a manner very strange to him. A popular +riot in Jerusalem, a half-friendly arrest by the contemptuous +impartiality of a Roman officer, a final rejection by the Sanhedrim, +a prison in Caesarea, an appeal to Caesar, a weary voyage, a +shipwreck: this was the chain of circumstances which fulfilled his +desire, and brought him to the imperial city. + +My text comes at the crisis of his fate. He has just been rejected by +his people, and for the moment is in safety in the castle under the +charge of the Roman garrison. One can fancy how, as he lay there in +the barrack that night, he felt that he had come to a turning-point; +and the thoughts were busy in his mind, 'Is this for life or for +death? Am I to do any more work for Christ, or am I silenced for +ever?'--'And the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul!' +The divine message assured him that he should live; it testified of +Christ's approbation of his past, and promised him that, in +recompense for that past, he should have wider work to do. So he +passed to the unknown future quietly; and went on his way with the +Master by his side. + +Now, dear friends, it seems to me that in these great words there lie +lessons applying to all Christian people as truly, though in +different fashion, as they did to the Apostle, and having an especial +bearing on that great enterprise of Christian missions, with which I +would connect them in this sermon. I desire, then, to draw out the +lessons which seem to me to lie under the surface of this great +promise. + +I. To live ought to be, for a Christian, to witness. + +The promise in form is a promise of continued testimony-bearing; in +its substance, one might say, it is a promise of continued life. Paul +is cheered, not by being told that the wrath of the enemy will launch +itself at his head in vain, and that he will bear a charmed life +through it all, but by being told that there is work for him to do +yet. That is the shape in which the promise of life is held out to +him. So it always ought to be; a Christian man's life ought to be one +continuous witnessing for that Lord Christ who stood by the Apostle +in the castle at Jerusalem. + +Let me just urge this upon you for a few moments. It seems to me that +to raise up witnesses for Himself is, in one aspect, the very purpose +of all Christ's work. You and I, dear brethren, if we have any living +hold of that Lord, have received Him into our hearts, not only in +order that for ourselves we may rejoice in Him, but in order that, +for ourselves rejoicing in Him, we may 'show forth the virtues of Him +who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.' There +is no creature so great as that he is not regarded as a means to a +further end; and there is no creature so small but that he has the +right to claim happiness and blessing from the Hand that made him. +Jesus Christ has drawn us to Himself, that we may know the sweetness +of His presence, the cleansing of His blood, the stirring and impulse +of His indwelling life in us for our own joy and our own completion, +but also that we may be His witnesses and weapons, according to that +great word: 'This people have I formed for Myself. They shall shew +forth My praise.' + +God has 'shined into our hearts in order that we may give,' +reflecting the beams that fall upon them, 'the light of the knowledge +of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.' Brother and +sister, if you have the Christian life in your souls, one purpose of +your possessing it is that you may bear witness for Him. + +Again, such witness-bearing is the result of all true, deep, +Christian life. All life longs to manifest itself in action. Every +conviction that a man has seeks for utterance; especially so do the +beliefs that go deepest and touch the moral and spiritual nature and +relationships of a man. He that perceives them is thereby impelled to +desire to utter them. There can be no real, deep possession of that +great truth of the Gospel which we profess to be the foundation of +our personal lives, unless we have felt the impulse to spread the +name and to declare the sweetness of the Lord. The very same impulse +that makes the loving heart carve the beloved name on the smooth rind +of the tree makes it sweet to one who is in real touch and living +fellowship with Jesus Christ to speak about Him. O brother! _there_ +is a very sharp test for us. I know that there are hundreds of +professing Christians--decent, respectable sort of people, with a +tepid, average amount of Christian faith and principle in them--who +never felt that overmastering desire, 'I _must_ let this thing out +through my lips.' Why? Why do they not feel it? Because their own +possession of Christ is so superficial and partial. Jeremiah's +experience will be repeated where there is vigorous Christian life: +'Thy word shut up in my bones was like a fire'--that burned itself +through all the mass that was laid upon it, and ate its way +victoriously into the light--'and I was weary with forbearing, and I +could not stay.' Christian men and women, do you know anything of +that o'er-mastering impulse? If you do not, look to the depth and +reality of your Christian profession. + +Again, this witnessing is the condition of all strong life. If you +keep nipping the buds off a plant you will kill it. If you never say +a word to a human soul about your Christianity, your Christianity +will tend to evaporate. Action confirms and strengthens convictions; +speech deepens conviction; and although it is possible for any one-- +and some of us ministers are in great danger of making the +possibility a reality--to talk away his religion, for one of us who +loses it by speaking too much about it, there are twenty that damage +it by speaking too little. Shut it up, and it will be like some wild +creature put into a cellar, fast locked and unventilated; when you +open the door it will be dead. Shut it up, as so many of our average +Christian professors and members of our congregations and churches +do, and when you come to take it out, it will be like some volatile +perfume that has been put into a vial and locked away in a drawer and +forgotten; there will be nothing left but an empty bottle, and a +rotten cork. Speak your faith if you would have your faith +strengthened. Muzzle it, and you go a long way to kill it. You are +witnesses, and you cannot blink the obligation nor shirk the duties +without damaging that in yourselves to which you are to witness. + +Further, this task of witnessing for Christ can be done by all kinds +of life. I do not need to dwell upon the distinction between the two +great methods which open themselves out before every one of us. They +do so; for direct work in speaking the name of Jesus Christ is +possible for every Christian, whoever he or she is, however weak, +ignorant, uninfluential, with howsoever narrow a circle. There is +always somebody that God means to be the audience of His servant +whenever that servant speaks of Christ. Do you not know that there +are people in this world, as wives, children, parents, friends of +different sorts, who would listen to you more readily than they would +listen to any one else speaking about Jesus Christ? Friend, have you +utilised these relationships in the interests of that great Name, and +in the highest interests of the persons that sustain them to you, and +of yourselves who sustain these to them? + +And then there is indirect work that we can all do in various ways, I +do not mean only by giving money, though of course that is important, +but I mean all the manifold ways in which Christian people can show +their sympathy with, and their interest in, the various forms in +which adventurous, chivalrous, enterprising Christian benevolence +expresses itself. It was an old law in Israel that 'as his part was +that went down into the battle, so should his part be that tarried by +the stuff.' When victory was won and the spoil came to be shared, the +men who had stopped behind and looked after the base of operations +and kept open the communications received the same portion as the man +that, in the front rank of the battle, had rushed upon the spears of +the Amalekites. Why? Because from the same motive they had been co- +operant to the same great end. The Master has taken up that very +thought, and has applied it in relation to the indirect work of His +people, when He says, 'He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a +prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.' The motive is the same; +therefore the essential character of the act is the same; therefore +the recompense is identical. You can witness for Christ directly, if +you can say--and you can all say if you like--'We have found the +Messias,' and you can witness for Christ by casting yourselves +earnestly into sympathy with and, so far as possible, help to the +work that your brethren are doing. Dear friends, I beseech you to +remember that we are all of us, if we are His followers, bound in our +humble measure and degree, and with a reverent apprehension of the +gulf between us and Him, still to take up His words and say, 'To this +end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I +might bear witness to the truth.' + +II. There is a second thought that I would suggest from these words, +and that is that secular events are ordered with a view to this +witnessing. + +Take the case before us. Here are two independent and hostile powers; +on the one hand the bigoted Jewish Sanhedrim, hating the Roman yoke; +and on the other hand the haughty and cruel pressure of that yoke on +a recalcitrant and reluctant people: and these two internecine +enemies are working on their own lines, each very willing to thwart +the other, Mechanicians talk of the 'composition of forces,' by which +two pressures acting at right angles to each other on a given object, +impart to it a diagonal motion. The Sanhedrim on the one side, +representing Judaism, and the captain of the castle on the other, +representing the Roman power, work into each other's hands, although +neither of them knows it; and work out the fulfilment of a purpose +that is hidden from them both. + +No doubt it would be a miserably inadequate account of things to say +that the Roman Empire came into existence for the sake of propagating +Christianity. No doubt it is always dangerous to account for any +phenomenon by the ends which, to our apprehension, it serves. But at +the same time the study of the purposes which a given thing, being in +existence, serves, and the study of the forces which brought it into +existence, ought to be combined, and when combined, they present a +double reason for adoring that great Providence which 'makes the +wrath of men to praise' it, and uses for moral and spiritual ends the +creatures that exist, the events that emerge, and even the godless +doings of godless men. + +So here we have a standing example of the way in which, like silk- +worms that are spinning threads for a web that they have no notion +of, the deeds of men that think not so are yet grasped and twined +together by Jesus Christ, the Lord of providence, so as to bring +about the realisation of His great purposes. And that is always so, +more or less clearly. + +For instance, if we wish to understand our own lives, do not let us +dwell upon the superficialities of joy or sorrow, gain or loss, but +let us get down to the depth, and see that all these externals have +two great purposes in view--first, that we may be made like our Lord, +as the Scripture itself says, 'That we may be partakers of His +holiness,' and then that we may bear our testimony to His grace and +love. Oh, if we would only look at life from that point of view, we +should be brought to a stand less often at what we choose to call the +mysteries of providence! Not enjoyment, not sorrow, but our +perfecting in godliness and of the increase of our power and +opportunities to bear witness to Him, are the intention of all that +befalls us. + +I need not speak about how this same principle must be applied, by +every man who believes in a divine providence, to the wider events of +the world's history, I need not dwell upon that, nor will your time +allow me to do it, but one word I should like to say, and that is +that surely the two facts that we, as Christians, possess, as we +believe, the pure faith, and that we, as Englishmen, are members of a +community whose influence is world-wide, do not come together for +nothing, or only that some of you might make fortunes out of the East +Indian and China trade, but in order that all we English Christians +might feel that, our speaking as we do the language which is +destined, as it would appear, to run round the whole world, and our +having, as we have, the faith which we believe brings salvation to +every man of every race and tongue who accepts it, and our having +this responsible necessary contact with the heathen races, lay upon +us English Christians obligations the pressure and solemnity of which +we have yet failed to appreciate. + +Paul was immortal till his work was done. 'Be of good cheer, Paul; +thou must bear witness at Rome.' And so, for ourselves and for the +Gospel that we profess, the same divine Providence which orders +events so that His servants may have the opportunities of witnessing +to it, will take care that it shall not perish--notwithstanding all +the premature jubilation of anti-Christian literature and thought in +this day--until it has done its work. We need have no fear for +ourselves, for though our blind eyes often fail to see, and our +bleeding hearts often fail to accept, the conviction that there are +no unfinished lives for His servants, yet we may be sure that He will +watch over each of His children till they have finished the work that +He gives them to do. And we may be sure, in regard to His great +Gospel, that nothing can sink the ship that carries Christ and His +fortunes. 'Be of good cheer ... thou hast borne witness ... thou must +bear witness.' + +III. Lastly, we have here another principle--namely that faithful +witnessing is rewarded by further witnessing. + +'Thou hast ... in Jerusalem,' the little city perched upon its crag; +'Thou must ... in Rome,' the great capital seated on its seven hills. +The reward for work is more work. Jesus Christ did not say to the +Apostle, though he was 'wearied with that which came upon him daily, +the care of all the churches,' 'Thou hast borne witness, and now come +apart and rest'; but He said to him, 'Thou hast filled the smaller +sphere; for recompense I put thee into a larger.' + +That is the law for life and everywhere, the tools to the hand that +can use them. The man that can do a thing gets it to do in too large +a measure, as he sometimes thinks; but he gets it, and it is all +right that he should. 'To him that hath shall be given.' And it is +the law for heaven. 'Thou hast borne witness down on the little dark +earth; come up higher and witness for Me here, amid the blaze.' + +It is the law for this Christian work of ours. If you have shone +faithfully in your 'little corner,' as the child's hymn says, you +will be taken out and set upon the lamp-stand, that you 'may give +light to all that are in the house.' And it is the law for this great +enterprise of Christian missions, as we all know. We are overwhelmed +with our success. Doors are opening around us on every side. There is +no limit to the work that English Churches can do, except their +inclination to do it. But the opportunities open to us require a far +deeper consecration and a far closer dwelling beside our Master than +we have ever realised. We are half asleep yet; we do not know our +resources in men, in money, in activity, in prayer. + +Surely there can be no sadder sign of decadence and no surer +precursor of extinction than to fall beneath the demands of our day; +to have doors opening at which we are too lazy or selfish to go in; +to be so sound asleep that we never hear the man of Macedonia when he +stands by us and cries, 'Come over and help us!' We are members of a +Church that God has appointed to be His witnesses to the ends of the +earth. We are citizens of a nation whose influence is ubiquitous and +felt in every land. By both characters, God summons us to tasks which +will tax all our resources worthily to do. We inherit a work from our +fathers which God has shown that He owns by giving us these golden +opportunities. He summons us: 'Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy +stakes. Come out of Jerusalem; come into Rome.' Shall we respond? God +give us grace to fill the sphere in which He has set us, till He +lifts us to the wider one, where the faithfulness of the steward is +exchanged for the authority of the ruler, and the toil of the servant +for the joy of the Lord! + + + +A PLOT DETECTED + +'And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and +bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither +eat nor drink till they bad killed Paul. 13. And they were more +than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14. And they came to +the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves +under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain +Paul. 15. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief +captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as though ye +would inquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or +ever he come near, are ready to kill him. 16. And when Paul's +sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered +into the castle, and told Paul. 17. Then Paul called one of the +centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the +chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. 18. So he +took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul +the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this +young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. 19. +Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him +aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell +me? 20. And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that +thou wouldest bring down Paul to-morrow into the council, as +though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly. 21. But +do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of +them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an +oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed +him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee. 22. +So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged +him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to +me.'--ACTS xxiii. 12-22. + +'The wicked plotteth against the just.... The Lord will laugh at +him.' The Psalmist's experience and his faith were both repeated in +Paul's case. His speech before the Council had set Pharisees and +Sadducees squabbling, and the former had swallowed his Christianity +for the sake of his being 'a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee.' +Probably, therefore, the hatchers of this plot were Sadducees, who +hated Pharisees even more than they did Christians. The Apostle +himself was afterwards not quite sure that his skilful throwing of +the apple of discord between the two parties was right (Acts xxiv. +21), and apparently it was the direct occasion of the conspiracy. A +Christian man's defence of himself and his faith gains nothing by +clever tactics. It is very doubtful whether what Paul spoke 'in that +hour' was taught him by the Spirit. + +'The corruption of the best is the worst.' There is a close and +strange alliance between formal religion and murderous hatred and +vulpine craft, as the history of ecclesiastical persecution shows; +and though we have done with fire and faggot now, the same evil +passions and tempers do still in modified form lie very near to a +Christianity which has lost its inward union with Jesus and lives on +surface adherence to forms. In that sense too 'the letter killeth.' +We lift up our hands in horror at these fierce fanatics, 'ready to +kill' Paul, because he believed in resurrection, angel, and spirit. +We need to guard ourselves lest something of their temper should be +in us. There is a devilish ingenuity about the details of the plot, +and a truly Oriental mixture of murderous passion and calculating +craft. The serpent's wisdom and his poison fangs are both apparent. +The forty conspirators must have been 'ready,' not only to kill Paul, +but to die in the attempt, for the distance from the castle to the +council-chamber was short, and the detachment of legionaries +escorting the prisoner would have to be reckoned with. + +The pretext of desiring to inquire more fully into Paul's opinions +derived speciousness from his ambiguous declaration, which had set +the Council by the ears and had stopped his examination. Luke does +not tell us what the Council said to the conspirators, but we learn +from what Paul's nephew says in verse 20 that it 'agreed to ask thee +to bring down Paul.' So once more the tail drove on the head, and the +Council became the tool of fierce zealots. No doubt most of its +members would have shrunk from themselves killing Paul, but they did +not shrink from having a hand in his death. They were most religious +and respectable men, and probably soothed their consciences with +thinking that, after all, the responsibility was on the shoulders of +the forty conspirators. How men can cheat themselves for a while as +to the criminality of indirectly contributing to criminal acts, and +how rudely the thin veil will be twitched aside one day! + +II. The abrupt introduction of Paul's nephew into the story piques +curiosity, but we cannot say more about him than is told us here. We +do not know whether he was moved by being a fellow-believer in Jesus, +or simply by kindred and natural affection. Possibly he was, as his +uncle had been, a student under some distinguished Rabbi. At all +events, he must have had access to official circles to have come on +the track of the plot, which would, of course, be covered up as much +as possible. The rendering in the margin of the Revised Version gives +a possible explanation of his knowledge of it by suggesting that he +had 'come in upon them'; that is, upon the Council in their +deliberations. But probably the rendering preferred in the text is +preferable, and we are left to conjecture his source of information, +as almost everything else about him. But it is more profitable to +note how God works out His purposes and delivers His servants by +'natural' means, which yet are as truly divine working as was the +sending of the angel to smite off Peter's chains, or the earthquake +at Philippi. + +This lad was probably not an inhabitant of Jerusalem, and that he +should have been there then, and come into possession of the +carefully guarded secret, was more than a fortunate coincidence. It +was divinely ordered, and God's finger is as evident in the +concatenation of co-operating natural events as in any 'miracle.' To +co-ordinate these so that they concur to bring about the fulfilment +of His will may be a less conspicuous, but is not a less veritable, +token of a sovereign Will at work in the world than any miracle is. +And in this case how wonderfully separate factors, who think +themselves quite independent, are all handled like pawns on a +chessboard by Him who 'makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and +girds Himself with the remainder thereof!' Little did the fiery +zealots who were eager to plunge their daggers into Paul's heart, or +the lad who hastened to tell him the secret he had discovered, or the +Roman officer who equally hastened to get rid of his troublesome +prisoner, dream that they were all partners in bringing about one +God-determined result--the fulfilment of the promise that had calmed +Paul in the preceding night: 'So must thou bear witness also at +Rome.' + +III. Paul had been quieted after his exciting day by the vision which +brought that promise, and this new peril did not break his peace. +With characteristic clear-sightedness he saw the right thing to do in +the circumstances, and with characteristic promptitude he did it at +once. Luke wastes no words in telling of the Apostle's emotions when +this formidable danger was sprung on him, and the very reticence +deepens the impression of Paul's equanimity and practical wisdom. A +man who had had such a vision last night might well possess his soul +in patience, even though such a plot was laid bare this morning; and +each servant of Jesus may be as well assured, as was Paul the +prisoner, that the Lord shall 'keep him from all evil,' and that if +his life is 'witness' it will not end till his witness is complete. +Our faith should work in us calmness of spirit, clearness of +perception of the right thing to do, swift seizing of opportunities. +Paul trusted Jesus' word that he should be safe, whatever dangers +threatened, but that trust stimulated his own efforts to provide for +his safety. + +IV. The behaviour of the captain is noteworthy, as showing that he +had been impressed by Paul's personal magnetism, and that he had in +him a strain of courtesy and kindliness. He takes the lad by the hand +to encourage him, and he leads him aside that he may speak freely, +and thereby shows that he trusted him. No doubt the youth would be +somewhat flustered at being brought into the formidable presence and +by the weight of his tidings, and the great man's gentleness would be +a cordial. A superior's condescension is a wonderful lip-opener. We +all have some people who look up to us, and to whom small +kindlinesses from us are precious. We do not 'render to all their +dues,' unless we give gracious courtesy to those beneath, as well as +'honour' to those above, us. But the captain could clothe himself too +with official reserve and keep up the dignity of his office. He +preserved an impenetrable silence as to his intentions, and simply +sealed the young man's lips from tattling about the plot or the +interview with him. Promptly he acted, without waiting for the +Council's application to him. At once he prepared to despatch Paul to +Caesarea, glad enough, no doubt, to wash his hands of so troublesome +a charge. Thus he too was a cog in the wheel, an instrument to fulfil +the promise made in vision, God's servant though he knew it not. + + + +A LOYAL TRIBUTE +[Footnote: Preached on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queen +Victoria.] + +'...Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very +worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, 3. We +accept it always ... with all thankfulness.'--ACTS xxiv. 2-3. + +These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the +worst of the many bad Roman governors of Syria. The speaker knew that +he was lying, the listeners knew that the eulogium was undeserved; +and among all the crowd of bystanders there was perhaps not a man who +did not hate the governor, and would not have been glad to see him +lying dead with a dagger in his breast. + +But both the fawning Tertullus and the oppressor Felix knew in their +heart of hearts that the words described what a governor ought to be. +And though they are touched with the servility which is not loyalty, +and embrace a conception of the royal function attributing far more +to the personal influence of a monarch than our State permits, still +we may venture to take them as the starting-point for two or three +considerations suggested to us, by the celebrations of the past week. + +I almost feel that I owe an apology for turning to that subject, for +everything that can be said about it has been said far better than I +can say it. But still, partly because my silence might be +misunderstood, and partly because an opportunity is thereby afforded +for looking from a Christian point of view at one or two subjects +that do not ordinarily come within the scope of one's ministry, I +venture to choose such a text now. + +I. The first thing that I would take it as suggesting is the grateful +acknowledgment of personal worth. + +I suppose the world never saw a national rejoicing like that through +which we have passed. For the reigns that have been long enough to +admit of it have been few, and those in which intelligently and +sincerely a whole nation of freemen could participate have been fewer +still. But now all England has been one; whatever our divisions of +opinion, there have been no divisions here. Not only have the +bonfires flared from hill to hill in this little island of ours, but +all over the world, into every out of the way corner where our +widely-spread race has penetrated, the same sentiment has extended. +All have yielded to the common impulse, the rejoicing of a free +people in a good Queen. + +That common sentiment has embraced two things, the office and the +person. There was a pathetic contrast between these two when that +sad-hearted widow walked alone up the nave of Westminster Abbey, and +took her seat on the stone of destiny on which for a millennium kings +have been crowned. The contrast heightened both the reverence due to +the office and the sympathy due to the woman. The Sovereign is the +visible expression of national power, the incarnation of England, +living history, the outcome of all the past, the representative of +harmonised and blended freedom and law, a powerful social influence +from which much good might flow, a moderating and uniting power +amidst fierce partisan bitterness and hate, a check against rash +change. There is no nobler office upon earth. + +And when, as is the case in this long reign, that office has been +filled with some consciousness of its responsibilities, the +recognition of the fact is no flattery but simple duty. We cannot +attribute to the personal initiative of the Queen the great and +beneficent changes which have coincided with her reign. Thank God, no +monarch can make or mar England now. But this we can say, + + 'Her court was pure, her life serene.' + +A life touched with many gracious womanly charities, delighting in +simple country pleasures, not strange to the homes of the poor, quick +to sympathise with sorrow, especially the humblest, as many a weeping +widow at a pit mouth has thankfully felt; sternly repressive of some +forms of vice in high places, and, as we may believe, not ignorant of +the great Comforter nor disobedient to the King of kings,--for such a +royal life a nation may well be thankful. We outsiders do not know +how far personal influence from the throne has in any case restrained +or furthered national action, but if it be true, as is alleged, that +twice in her reign the Queen has kept England from the sin and folly +of war, once from a fratricidal conflict with the great new England +across the Atlantic, then we owe her much. If in later years that +life has somewhat shrunk into itself and sat silent, with Grief for a +companion, those who know a like desolation will understand, and even +the happy may honour an undying love and respect the seclusion of an +undying sorrow. So I say: 'Forasmuch as under thee we enjoy great +quietness, we accept it with all thankfulness.' + +II. My text may suggest for us a wider view of progress which, +although not initiated by the Queen, has coincided with her fifty +years' reign. + +In the Revised Version, instead of 'worthy deeds are done,' we read +'_evils are corrected_'; and that is the true rendering. The double +function which is here attributed falsely to an oppressive tyrant is +the ancient ideal of monarchy--first, that it shall repress disorders +and secure tranquillity within the borders and across the frontiers; +and second, that abuses and evils shall be corrected by the foresight +of the monarch. + +Now, in regard to both these functions we have learned that a nation +can do them a great deal better than a sovereign. And so when we +speak of progress during this fifty years' reign, we largely mean the +progress which England in its toiling millions and in its thinking +few has won for itself. Let me in very brief words try to touch upon +the salient points of that progress for which as members of the +nation it becomes us as Christian people to be thankful. Enough +hosannas have been sung already, and I need not add my poor voice to +them, about material progress and commercial prosperity and the +growth of manufacturing industry and inventions and all the rest of +it. I do not for a moment mean to depreciate these, but it is of more +importance that a telegraph should have something to say than that it +should be able to speak across the waters, and 'man doth not live by +bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of +God.' We who live in a great commercial community and know how solid +comfort and hope and gladness are all contingent, in millions of +humble homes, upon the manufacturing industry of these districts, +shall never be likely to underrate the enormous expansion in national +industry, and the consequent enormous increase in national wealth, +which belongs to this last half century. I need say nothing about +these. + +Let me remind you, and I can only do it in a sentence or two, of more +important changes in these fifty years. English manners and morals +have been bettered, much of savagery and coarseness has been got rid +of; low, cruel amusements have been abandoned. Thanks to the great +Total Abstinence movement very largely, the national conscience has +been stirred in regard to the great national sin of intoxication. A +national system of education has come into operation and is working +wonders in this land. Newspapers and books are cheapened; political +freedom has been extended and 'broadened slowly down,' as is safe, +'from precedent to precedent,' so that no party thinks now of +reversing any of the changes, howsoever fiercely they were contested +ere they were won. Religious thought has widened, the sects have come +nearer each other, men have passed from out of a hard doctrinal +Christianity, in which the person of Christ was buried beneath the +cobwebs of theology, into a far freer and a far more Christ-regarding +and Christ-centred faith. And if we are to adopt such a point of view +as the brave Apostle Paul took, the antagonism against religion, +which is a marked feature of our generation, and contrasts singularly +with the sleepy acquiescence of fifty years ago, is to be put down to +the credit side of the account. 'For,' he said, like a bold man +believing that he had an irrefragable truth in his hands, 'I will +tarry here, for a great door and an effectual is opened, and there +are many adversaries.' Wherever a whole nation is interested and +stirred about religious subjects, even though it may be in +contradiction and antagonism, God's truth can fight opposition far +better than it can contend with indifference. Then if we look upon +our churches, whilst there is amongst them all abounding worldliness +much to be deplored, there is also, thank God, springing up amongst +us a new consciousness of responsibility, which is not confined to +Christian people, for the condition of the poor and the degraded +around us; and everywhere we see good men and women trying to stretch +their hands across these awful gulfs in our social system which make +such a danger in our modern life, and to reclaim the outcasts of our +cities, the most hopeless of all the heathen on the face of the +earth. These things, on which I have touched with the lightest hand, +all taken together do make a picture for which we may be heartily +thankful. + +Only, brethren, let us remember that that sort of talk about +England's progress may very speedily become offensive self-conceit, +and a measuring of ourselves with ludicrous self-satisfaction against +all other nations. There is a bastard patriotism which has been very +loud-mouthed in these last days, of which wise men should beware. + +Further, such a contemplation of the elements of national progress, +which we owe to no monarch and to no legislature, but largely to the +indomitable pluck and energy of our people, to Anglo-Saxon +persistence not knowing when it is beaten, and to the patient +meditation of thoughtful minds and the self-denying efforts of good +philanthropical and religious people--such a contemplation, I say, +may come between us and the recognition of the highest source from +which it flows, and be corrupted into forgetfulness of God. 'Beware +lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and thy silver and thy gold +is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart +be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God... and thou say in +thine heart, My power, and the might of mine hand, hath gotten me +this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is He +that giveth thee power to get wealth.' + +And the last caution that I would put in here is, let us beware lest +the hosannas over national progress shall be turned into 'Rest and be +thankful,' or shall ever come in the way of the strenuous and +persistent reaching forth to the fair ideal that lies so far before +us. + +III. That leads me to the last point on which I would say a word, +viz., that my text with its reference to the correction of evils, as +one of the twin functions of the monarch, naturally suggests to us +the thought which should follow all recognition of progress in the +past--the consideration of what yet remains to be done. + +A great controversy has been going on, or at least a remarkable +difference of opinion has been expressed in recent months by two of +the greatest minds and clearest heads in England; one of our greatest +poets and one of our greatest statesmen. The one looking back over +sixty years sees but foiled aspirations and present devildom and +misery. The other looking back over the same period sees accomplished +dreams and the prophecy of further progress. It is not for me to +enter upon the strife between such authorities. Both are right. Much +has been achieved. 'There remaineth yet very much land to be +possessed.' Whatever have been the victories and the blessings of the +past, there are rotten places in our social state which, if not +cauterised and healed, will break out into widespread and virulent +sores. There are dangers in the near future which may well task the +skill of the bravest and the faith of the most trustful. There are +clouds on the horizon which may speedily turn jubilations into +lamentations, and the best security against these is that each of us +in his place, as a unit however insignificant in the great body +politic, should use our little influence on the side that makes for +righteousness, and see to it that we leave some small corner of this +England, which God has given us in charge, sweeter and holier because +of our lives. The ideal for you Christian men and women is the +organisation of society on Christian principles. Have we got to that +yet, or within sight of it, do you suppose? Look round you. Does +anybody believe that the present arrangements in connection with +unrestricted competition and the distribution of wealth coincide +accurately with the principles of the New Testament? Will anybody +tell me that the state of a hundred streets within a mile of this +spot is what it would be if the Christian men of this nation lived +the lives that they ought to live? Could there be such rottenness and +corruption if the 'salt' had not 'lost his savour'? Will anybody tell +me that the disgusting vice which our newspapers do not think +themselves degraded by printing in loathsome detail, and so bringing +the foulness of a common sewer on to every breakfast-table in the +kingdom, is in accordance with the organisation of society on +Christian principles? Intemperance, social impurity, wide, dreary +tracts of ignorance, degradation, bestiality, the awful condition of +the lowest layer in our great cities, crushed like some crumbling +bricks beneath the ponderous weight of the splendid superstructure, +the bitter partisan spirit of politics, where the followers of each +chief think themselves bound to believe that he is immaculate and +that the other side has no honour or truth belonging to it--these +things testify against English society, and make one almost despair +when one thinks that, after a thousand years and more of professing +Christianity, that is all that we can show for it. + +O brethren! we may be thankful for what has been accomplished, but +surely there had need also to be penitent recognition of failure and +defect. And I lay it on the consciences of all that listen to me now +to see to it that they do their parts as members of this body politic +of England. A great heritage has come down from our fathers; pass it +on bettered by your self-denial and your efforts. And remember that +the way to mend a kingdom is to begin by mending yourselves, and +letting Christ's kingdom come in your own hearts. Next we are bound +to try to further its coming in the hearts of others, and so to +promote its leavening society and national life. No Christian is +clear from the blood of men and the guilt of souls who does not, +according to opportunity and capacity, repair before his own door, +and seek to make some one know the unsearchable riches of the Gospel +of Christ. + +There is no finality for a Christian patriot until his country be +organised on Christian principles, and so from being merely a +'kingdom of the world' become 'a Kingdom of our God and of His +Christ.' To help forward that consummation, by however little, is the +noblest service that prince or peasant can render to his country. By +conformity to the will of God and not by material progress or +intellectual enlightenment is a state prosperous and strong. To keep +His statutes and judgments is 'your wisdom and understanding in the +sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, +Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' + + + +PAUL BEFORE FELIX + +'Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to +speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many +years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer +for myself: 11. Because that thou mayest understand, that there +are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to +worship. 12. And they neither found me in the temple disputing +with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the +synagogues, nor in the city: 13. Neither can they prove the +things whereof they now accuse me. 14. But this I confess unto +thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the +God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the +law and in the prophets: 15. And have hope toward God, which they +themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the +dead, both of the just and unjust. 16. And herein do I exercise +myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, +and toward men. 17. Now after many years I came to bring alms to +my nation, and offerings. 18. Whereupon certain Jews from Asia +found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with +tumult 19. Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, +if they had ought against me. 20. Or else let these same here +say, if they have found any evil-doing in me, while I stood +before the council, 21. Except it be for this one voice, that I +cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead +I am called in question by you this day. 22. And when Felix heard +these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he +deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come +down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. 23. And he +commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, +and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or +come unto him. 24. And after certain days, when Felix came with +his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and +heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25. And as he reasoned +of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix +trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a +convenient season, I will call for thee.'--ACTS xxiv. 10-25. + +Tertellus made three charges against Paul: first, that he incited to +rebellion; second, that he was a principal member of a 'sect'; third +(with a 'moreover,' as if an afterthought), that he had profaned the +Temple. It was more clever than honest to put the real cause of +Jewish hatred last, since it was a trifle in Roman eyes, and to put +first the only thing that Felix would think worth notice. A duller +man than he might have scented something suspicious in Jewish +officials being so anxious to suppress insurrection against Rome, and +probably he had his own thoughts about the good faith of the +accusers, though he said nothing. Paul takes up the three points in +order. Unsupported charges can only be met by emphatic denials. + +I. Paul's speech is the first part of the passage. Its dignified, +courteous beginning contrasts well with the accuser's dishonest +flattery. Paul will not lie, but he will respect authority, and will +conciliate when he can do so with truth. Felix had been 'judge' for +several years, probably about six. What sort of a judge he had been +Paul will not say. At any rate he had gained experience which might +help him in picking his way through Tertullus's rhetoric. + +The Apostle answers the first charge with a flat denial, with the +remark that as the whole affair was less than a fortnight old the +truth could easily be ascertained, and that the time was very short +for the Jews to have 'found' him such a dangerous conspirator, and +with the obviously unanswerable demand for proof to back up the +charge. In the absence of witnesses there was nothing more to be done +about number one of the accusations, and a just judge would have said +so and sent Tertullus and his clients about their business. + +The second charge Paul both denies and admits. He does belong to the +followers of Jesus of Nazareth. But that is not a 'sect'; it is 'the +Way.' It is not a divergence from the path in which the fathers have +walked, trodden only by some self-willed schismatics, but it is the +one God-appointed path of life, 'the old way,' the only road by which +a man can walk nobly and travel to the skies. Paul's whole doctrine +as to the relation of Judaism to Christianity is here in germ and in +a form adapted to Felix's comprehension. This so-called sect (ver. 14 +takes up Tertullus's word in ver. 5) is the true Judaism, and its +members are more truly 'Jews' than they who are such 'outwardly.' For +what has Paul cast away in becoming a Christian? Not the worship of +the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, not the law, not the +prophets, not the hope of a resurrection. + +He does not say that he practises all the things written in the law, +but that he 'believes' them. Then the law was revelation as well as +precept, and was to be embraced by faith before it could be obeyed in +practice; it was, as he says elsewhere, a 'schoolmaster to bring us +unto Christ.' Judaism is the bud; Christianity is the bright +consummate flower. Paul was not preaching his whole Gospel, but +defending himself from a specific charge; namely that, as being a +'Nazarene,' he had started off from the main line of Jewish religion. +He admits that he is a 'Nazarene,' and he assumes correctly that +Felix knew something about them, but he denies that he is a sectary, +and he assumes that the charge would be more truly made against those +who, accusing him, disbelieved in Christ. He hints that they did not +believe in either law or prophets, else they would have been +Nazarenes too. + +The practical results of his faith are stated. 'Herein'; that is in +the faith and hope just spoken of. He will not say that these make +him blameless towards God and men, but that such blamelessness is his +aim, which he pursues with earnest toil and self-control. A +Christianity which does not sovereignly sway life and brace its +professor up to the self-denial needful to secure a conscience void +of offence is not Paul's kind of Christianity. If we move in the +circle of the great Christian truths we shall gird ourselves to +subdue the flesh, and will covet more than aught else the peace of a +good conscience. But, like Paul, we shall be slow to say that we have +attained, yet not afraid to say that we strive towards, that ideal. + +The third charge is met by a plain statement of his real purpose in +coming to Jerusalem and frequenting the Temple. 'Profane the Temple! +Why, I came all the way from Greece on purpose to worship at the +Feast; and I did not come empty-handed either, for I brought alms for +my nation'--the contributions of the Gentiles to Jews--'and I was a +worshipper, discharging the ceremonial purifications.' They called +him a 'Nazarene'; he was in the Temple as a 'Nazarite.' Was it likely +that, being there on such an errand, he should have profaned it? + +He begins a sentence, which would probably have been an indignant +one, about the 'certain Jews from Asia,' the originators of the whole +trouble, but he checks himself with a fine sense of justice. He will +say nothing about absent men. And that brings him back to his strong +point, already urged, the absence of proof of the charges. Tertullus +and company had only hearsay. What had become of the people who said +they saw him in the Temple? No doubt they had thought discretion the +better part of valour, and were not anxious to face the Roman +procedure. + +The close of the speech carries the war into the enemy's quarters, +challenging the accusers to tell what they had themselves heard. They +_could_ be witnesses as to the scene at the Council, which Tertullus +had wisely said nothing about. Pungent sarcasm is in Paul's closing +words, especially if we remember that the high officials, like +Ananias the high-priest, were Sadducees. The Pharisees in the Council +had acquitted him when they heard his profession of faith in a +resurrection. That was his real crime, not treason against Rome or +profanation of the Temple. The present accusers might be eager for +his condemnation, but half of their own Sanhedrim had acquitted him. +'And these unworthy Jews, who have cast off the nation's hope and +believe in no resurrection, are accusing me of being an apostate! Who +is the sectary--I or they?' + +II. There was only one righteous course for Felix, namely, to +discharge the prisoner. But he yielded to the same temptation as had +mastered Pilate, and shrank from provoking influential classes by +doing the right thing. He was the less excusable, because his long +tenure of office had taught him something, at all events, of 'the +Way.' He had too many crimes to venture on raising enemies in his +government; he had too much lingering sense of justice to give up an +innocent man. So like all weak men in difficult positions he +temporised, and trusted to accident to make the right thing easier +for him. + +His plea for delay was conveniently indefinite. When was Lysias +coming? His letter said nothing about such an intention, and took for +granted that all the materials for a decision would be before Felix. +Lysias could tell no more. The excuse was transparent, but it served +to stave off a decision, and to-morrow would bring some other excuse. +Prompt carrying out of all plain duty is the only safety. The +indulgence given to Paul, in his light confinement, only showed how +clearly Felix knew himself to be doing wrong, but small alleviations +do not patch up a great injustice. + +III. One reading inserts in verse 24 the statement that Drusilla +wished to see Paul, and that Felix summoned him in order to gratify +her. Very probably she, as a Jewess, knew something of 'the Way,' and +with a love of anything odd and new, which such women cannot do +without, she wanted to see this curious man and hear him talk. It +might amuse her, and pass an hour, and be something to gossip about. + +She and Felix got more than they bargained for. Paul was not now the +prisoner, but the preacher; and his topics were not wanting in +directness and plainness. He 'reasoned of righteousness' to one of +the worst of unrighteous governors; of 'temperance' to the guilty +couple who, in calling themselves husband and wife, were showing +themselves given over to sinful passions; and of 'judgment to come' +to a man who, to quote the Roman historian, 'thought that he could +commit all evil with impunity.' + +Paul's strong hand shook even that obdurate soul, and roused one of +the two sleeping consciences. Drusilla may have been too frivolous to +be impressed, but Felix had so much good left that he could be +conscious of evil. Alas! he had so much evil that he suppressed the +good. His 'convenient season' was then; it never came again. For +though he communed with Paul often, he trembled only once. So he +passed into the darkness. + + + +FELIX BEFORE PAUL + +_A Sermon to the Young_ + +'And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment +to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; +when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.' +--ACTS xxiv. 25. + +Felix and his brother had been favourite slaves of the Emperor, and +so had won great power at court. At the date of this incident he had +been for some five or six years the procurator of the Roman province +of Judaea; and how he used his power the historian Tacitus tells us +in one of his bitter sentences, in which he says, 'He wielded his +kingly authority with the spirit of a slave, in all cruelty and +lust.' + +He had tempted from her husband, Drusilla, the daughter of that Herod +whose dreadful death is familiar to us all; and his court reeked with +blood and debauchery. He is here face to face with Paul for the +second time. On a former interview he had seen good reason to +conclude that the Roman Empire was not in much danger from this one +Jew whom his countrymen, with suspicious loyalty, were charging with +sedition; and so he had allowed him a very large margin of liberty. + +On this second occasion he had sent for him evidently not as a judge, +but partly with a view to try to get a bribe out of him, and partly +because he had some kind of languid interest, as most Romans then +had, in Oriental thought--some languid interest perhaps too in this +strange man. Or he and Drusilla were possibly longing for a new +sensation, and not indisposed to give a moment's glance at Paul with +his singular ideas. + +So they called for the Apostle, and the guilty couple found a judge +in their prisoner. Paul does not speak to them as a Greek +philosopher, anxious to please high personages, might have done, but +he goes straight at their sins: he reasons 'of righteousness' with +the unjust judge, 'of temperance' with the self-indulgent, sinful +pair, 'of the judgment to come' with these two who thought that they +could do anything they liked with impunity. Christianity has +sometimes to be exceedingly rude in reference to the sins of the +upper classes. + +As Paul went on, a strange fear began to creep about the heart of +Felix. It is the watershed of his life that he has come to, the +crisis of his fate. Everything depends on the next five minutes. Will +he yield? Will he resist? The tongue of the balance trembles and +hesitates for a moment, and then, but slowly, the wrong scale goes +down; 'Go thy way for this time.' Ah! if he had said, 'Come and help +me to get rid of this strange fear,' how different all might have +been! The metal was at the very point of melting. What shape would it +take? It ran into the wrong mould, and, as far as we know, it was +hardened there. 'It might have been once, and he missed it, lost it +for ever. No sign marked out that moment from the common uneventful +moments, though it saw the death of a soul.' + +Now, my dear young friends, I do not intend to say anything more to +you of this man and his character, but I wish to take this incident +and its lessons and urge them on your hearts and consciences. + +I. Let me say a word or two about the fact, of which this incident is +an example, and of which I am afraid the lives of many of you would +furnish other examples, that men lull awakened consciences to sleep +and excuse delay in deciding for Christ by half-honest promises to +attend to religion at some future time. + +'Go thy way for this time' is what Felix is really anxious about. His +one thought is to get rid of Paul and his disturbing message for the +present. But he does not wish to shut the door altogether. He gives a +sop to his conscience to stop its barking, and he probably deceives +himself as to the gravity of his present decision by the lightly +given promise and its well-guarded indefiniteness, 'When I have a +convenient season I will send for thee.' The thing he really means +is--Not now, at all events; the thing he hoodwinks himself with is-- +By and by. Now that is what I know that some of you are doing; and my +purpose and earnest prayer are to bring you now to the decision +which, by one vigorous act of your wills, will settle the question +for the future as to which God you are going to follow. + +So then I have just one or two things to say about this first part of +my subject. Let me remind you that however beautiful, however +gracious, however tender and full of love and mercy and good tidings +the message of God's love in Jesus Christ is, there is another side +to it, a side which is meant to rouse men's consciences and to awaken +men's fears. + +If you bring a man like the man in the story, Felix, or a very much +better man than he--any of you who hear me now--into contact with +these three thoughts, 'Righteousness, temperance, judgment to come,' +the effect of such a direct appeal to moral convictions will always +be more or less to awaken a sense of failure, insufficiency, defect, +sin, and to create a certain creeping dread that if I set myself +against the great law of God, that law of God will have a way of +crushing me. The fear is well founded, and not only does the +contemplation of God's _law_ excite it. God's gospel comes to us, and +just because it is a gospel, and is intended to lead you and me to +love and trust Jesus Christ, and give our whole hearts and souls to +Him--just because it is the best 'good news' that ever came into the +world, it begins often (not always, perhaps) by making a man feel +what a sinful man he is, and how he has gone against God's law, and +how there hang over him, by the very necessities of the case and the +constitution of the universe, consequences bitter and painful. Now I +believe that there are very few people who, like you, come +occasionally into contact with the preaching of the truth, who have +not had their moments when they felt--'Yes, it is all true--it is all +true. I _am_ bad, and I _have_ broken God's law, and there _is_ a +dark lookout before me!' I believe that most of us know what that +feeling is. + +And now my next step is--that the awakened conscience is just like +the sense of pain in the physical world, it has a work to do and a +mission to perform. It is meant to warn you off dangerous ground. +Thank God for pain! It keeps off death many a time. And in like +manner thank God for a swift conscience that speaks! It is meant to +ring an alarm-bell to us, to make us, as the Bible has it, 'flee for +refuge to the hope that is set before us.' My imploring question to +my young friends now is: 'Have you used that sense of evil and +wrongdoing, when it has been aroused in your consciences, to lead you +to Jesus Christ, or what have you done with it?' + +There are two persons in this Book of the Acts of the Apostles who +pass through the same stages of feeling up to a certain point, and +then they diverge. And the two men's outline history is the best +sermon that I can preach upon this point. Felix becoming afraid, +recoils, shuts himself up, puts away the message that disturbs him, +and settles himself back into his evil. The Philippian jailer +becoming afraid (the phrases in the original being almost identical), +like a sensible man tries to find out the reason of his fear and how +to get rid of it; and falls down at the Apostles' feet and says, +'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' + +The fear is not meant to last; it is of no use in itself. It is only +an impelling motive that leads us to look to the Saviour, and the man +that uses it so has used it rightly. Yet there rises in many a heart +that transparent self-deception of delay. 'They all with one consent +began to make excuse'; that is as true to-day as it was true then. My +experience tells me that it will be true in regard to a sad number of +you who will go away feeling that my poor word has gone a little way +into their hardened hide, but settling themselves back into their +carelessness, and forgetting all impressions that have been made. O +dear young friend, do not do that, I beseech you! Do not stifle the +wholesome alarm and cheat yourself with the notion of a little delay! + +II. And now I wish next to pass very swiftly in review before you +some of the reasons why we fall into this habit of self-deceiving, +indecision, and delay--'Go thy way' would be too sharp and +unmistakable if it were left alone, so it is fined off. 'I will not +commit myself beyond to-day,' 'for this time go thy way, and when I +have a convenient season I will call for thee.' + +What are the reasons for such an attitude as that? Let me enumerate +one or two of them as they strike me. First, there is the +instinctive, natural wish to get rid of a disagreeable subject--much +as a man, without knowing what he is doing, twitches his hand away +from the surgeon's lancet. So a great many of us do not like--and no +wonder that we do not like--these thoughts of the old Book about +'righteousness and temperance and judgment to come,' and make a +natural effort to turn our minds away from the contemplation of the +subject, because it is painful and unpleasant. Do you think it would +be a wise thing for a man, if he began to suspect that he was +insolvent, to refuse to look into his books or to take stock, and let +things drift, till there was not a halfpenny in the pound for +anybody? What do you suppose his creditors would call him? They would +not compliment him on either his honesty or his prudence, would they? +And is it not the part of a wise man, if he begins to see that +something is wrong, to get to the bottom of it and, as quickly as +possible, to set it right? And what do you call people who, +suspecting that there may be a great hole in the bottom of the ship, +never man the pumps or do any caulking, but say, 'Oh, she will very +likely keep afloat until we get into harbour'? + +Do you not think that it would be a wiser thing for you if, _because_ +the subject is disagreeable, you would force yourself to think about +it until it became agreeable to you? You can change it if you will, +and make it not at all a shadow or a cloud or a darkness over you. +And you can scarcely expect to claim the designation of wise and +prudent orderers of your lives until you do. Certainly it is not wise +to shuffle a thing out of sight because it is not pleasing to think +about. + +Then there is another reason. A number of our young people say, 'Go +thy way for this time,' because you have a notion that it is time +enough for you to begin to think about serious things and be +religious when you grow a bit older. And some of you even, I dare +say, have an idea that religion is all very well for people that are +turned sixty and are going down the hill, but that it is quite +unnecessary for you. Shakespeare puts a grim word into the mouth of +one of his characters, which sets the theory of many of us in its +true light, when, describing a dying man calling on God, he makes the +narrator say: 'I, to comfort him, bid him he should not think of God. +I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts +yet.' + +Some of my hearers practically live on that principle, and are +tempted to regard thoughts of God as in place only among medicine +bottles, or when the shadows of the grave begin to fall cold and damp +on our path. 'Young men will be young men,' 'We must sow our wild +oats,' 'You can't put old heads on young shoulders'--and such like +sayings, often practically mean that vice and godlessness belong to +youth, and virtue and religion to old age, just as flowers do to +spring and fruit to autumn. Let me beseech you not to be deceived by +such a notion; and to search your own thoughts and see whether it be +one of the reasons which leads you to say, 'Go thy way for this +time.' + +Then again some of us fall into this habit of putting off the +decision for Christ, not consciously, not by any distinct act of +saying, 'No, I will not,' but simply by letting the impressions made +on our hearts and consciences be crowded out of them by cares and +enjoyments and pleasures and duties of this world. If you had not so +much to study at College, you would have time to think about +religion. If you had not so many parties and balls to go to, you +would have time to nourish and foster these impressions. If you had +not your place to make in the warehouse, if you had not this, that, +and the other thing to do; if you had not love and pleasure and +ambition and advancement and mental culture to attend to, you would +have time for religion; but as soon as the seed is sown and the +sower's back is turned, hovering flocks of light-winged thoughts and +vanities pounce down upon it and carry it away, seed by seed. And if +some stray seed here and there remains and begins to sprout, the ill +weeds which grow apace spring up with ranker stems and choke it. 'The +cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts +of other things entering in, choke the word, and efface the +impression made upon your hearts. + +Here as I speak some serious thought is roused; by to-morrow at +midday it has all gone. You did not intend it to go, you did not set +yourself to banish it, you simply opened the door to the flocking in +of the whole crowd of the world's cares and occupations, and away +went the shy, solitary thought that, if it had been cared for and +tended, might have led you at last to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Do +not allow yourselves to be drifted, by the rushing current of earthly +cares, from the impressions that are made upon your consciences and +from the duty that you know you ought to do! + +And then some of you fall into this attitude of delay, and say to the +messenger of God's love, 'Go thy way for this time,' because you do +not like to give up something that you know is inconsistent with His +love and service. Felix would not part with Drusilla nor disgorge the +ill-gotten gains of his province. Felix therefore was obliged to put +away from him the thoughts that looked in that direction. I wonder if +there is any young man listening to me now who feels that if he lets +my words carry him where they seek to carry him, he will have to give +up 'fleshly lusts which war against the soul'? I wonder if there is +any young woman listening to me now who feels that if she lets my +words carry her where they would carry her, she will have to live a +different life from that which she has been living, to have more of a +high and a noble aim in it, to live for something else than pleasure? +I wonder if there are any of you who are saying, 'I cannot give up +that'? My dear young friend, 'If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out +and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life blind +than with both eyes to be cast into hell-fire.' + +Reasons for delay, then, are these: first, getting rid of an +unpleasant subject; second, thinking that there is time enough; +third, letting the world obliterate the impressions that have been +made; and fourth, shrinking from the surrender of something that you +know you will have to give up. + +III. And now let me very briefly, as my last point, put before you +one or two of the reasons which I would fain might be conclusive with +you for present decision to take Christ for your Saviour and your +Master. + +And I say, Do not delay, but _now_ choose Him for your Redeemer, your +Friend, your Helper, your Commander, your All; because delay is +really decision in the wrong way. Do not delay, but take Jesus Christ +as the Saviour of your sinful souls, and rest your hearts upon Him +to-night before you sleep; because there is no real reason for delay. +No season will be more convenient than the present season. Every time +is the right time to do the right thing, every time is the right time +to begin following Him. There is nothing to wait for. There is no +reason at all, except their own disinclination, why every man and +woman listening to me should not now grasp the Cross of Christ as +their only hope for forgiveness and acceptance, and yield themselves +to that Lord, to live in His service for ever. Let not this day pass +without your giving yourselves to Jesus Christ, because every time +that you have this message brought to you, and you refuse to accept +it, or delay to accept it, you make yourselves less capable of +receiving it another time. + +If you take a bit of phosphorus and put it upon a slip of wood and +ignite the phosphorus, bright as the blaze is, there drops from it a +white ash that coats the wood and makes it almost incombustible. And +so when the flaming conviction laid upon your hearts has burnt itself +out, it has coated the heart, and it will be very difficult to kindle +the light there again. Felix said, 'Go thy way, when I have a more +convenient season I will send for thee.' Yes, and he did send for +Paul, and he talked with him often--he repeated the conversation, but +we do not know that he repeated the trembling. He often communed with +Paul, but it was only once that he was alarmed. You are less likely +to be touched by the Gospel message for every time that you have +heard it and put it away. That is what makes my place here so +terribly responsible, and makes me feel that my words are so very +feeble in comparison with what they ought to be. I know that I may be +doing harm to men just because they listen and are not persuaded, and +so go away less and less likely to be touched. + +Ah, dear friends! you will perhaps never again have as deep +impressions as you have now; or at least they are not to be reckoned +upon as probable, for the tendency of all truth is to lose its power +by repetition, and the tendency of all emotion which is not acted +upon is to become fainter and fainter. And so I beseech you that now +you would cherish any faint impression that is being made upon your +hearts and consciences. Let it lead you to Christ; and take Him for +your Lord and Saviour now. + +I say to you: Do that now because delay robs you of large blessing. +You will never want Jesus Christ more than you do to-day. You need +Him in your early hours. Why should it be that a portion of your +lives should be left unfilled by that rich mercy? Why should you +postpone possessing the purest joy, the highest blessing, the +divinest strength? Why should you put off welcoming your best Friend +into your heart? Why should you? + +I say to you again, Take Christ for your Lord, because delay +inevitably lays up for you bitter memories and involves dreadful +losses. There are good Christian men and women, I have no doubt, in +this world now, who would give all they have, if they could blot out +of the tablets of their memories some past hours of their lives, +before they gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. I would have you +ignorant of such transgression. O young men and women! if you grow up +into middle life not Christians, then should you ever become so, you +will have habits to fight with, and remembrances that will smart and +sting; and some of you, perhaps, remembrances that will pollute, even +though you are conscious that you are forgiven. It is a better thing +not to know the depths of evil than to know them and to have been +raised from them. You will escape infinite sorrows by an early +cleaving to Christ your Lord. + +And last of all I say to you, give yourselves now to Jesus Christ, +because no to-morrow may be yours. Delay is gambling, very +irrationally, with a very uncertain thing--your life and your future +opportunities. 'You know not what shall be on the morrow.' + +For a generation I have preached in Manchester these annual sermons +to the young. Ah, how many of those that heard the early ones are +laid in their graves; and how many of them were laid in _early_ +graves; and how many of them said, as some of you are saying, 'When I +get older I will turn religious'! And they never got older. It is a +commonplace word that, but I leave it on your hearts. You have no +time to lose. + +Do not delay, because delay is decision in the wrong way; do not +delay, because there is no reason for delay; do not delay, because +delay robs you of a large blessing; do not delay, because delay lays +up for you, if ever you come back, bitter memories; do not delay, +because delay may end in death. And for all these reasons, come as a +sinful soul to Christ the Saviour; and ask Him to forgive you, and +follow in His footsteps, and do it now! 'To-day, if ye will hear His +voice, harden not your hearts.' + + + +CHRIST'S REMONSTRANCES + +'And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice +speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, +why perseoutest thou Me! it is hard for thee to kick against the +pricks.'--ACTS xxvi. 14. + +'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' No. +But God can change the skin, because He can change the nature. In +this story of the conversion of the Apostle Paul--the most important +thing that happened that day--we have an instance how brambles may +become vines; tares may become wheat; and a hater of Jesus Christ may +be changed in a moment into His lover and servant, and, if need be, +His martyr. + +Now the very same motives and powers which were brought to bear upon +the Apostle Paul by miracle are being brought to bear upon every one +of us; and my object now is just to trace the stages of the process +set forth here, and to ask some of you, if you, like Paul, have been +'obedient to the heavenly vision.' Stages, I call them, though they +were all crowded into a moment, for even the lightning has to pass +through the intervening space when it flashes from one side of the +heavens to another, and we may divide its path into periods. Time is +very elastic, as any of us whose lives have held great sorrows or +great joys or great resolutions well know. + +I. The first of these all but simultaneous and yet separable stages +was the revelation of Jesus Christ. + +Of course to the Apostle it was mediated by miracle; but real as he +believed that appearance of the risen Lord in the heavens to be, and +valid as he maintained that it was as the ground of his Apostleship, +he himself, in one of his letters, speaks of the whole incident as +being the revelation of God's Son in him. The revelation in heart and +mind was the main thing, of which the revelation to eye and ear were +but means. The means, in his case, are different from those in ours; +the end is the same. To Paul it came like the rush of a cataract that +the Christ whom he had thought of as lying in an unknown grave was +living in the heavens and ruling there. You and I, I suppose, do not +need to be convinced by miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; +but the bare fact that Jesus was living in the heavens would have had +little effect upon Saul, unless it had been accompanied with the +revelation of the startling fact that between him and Jesus Christ +there were close personal relations, so that he had to do with Jesus, +and Jesus with him. + +'Saul, Saul! why persecutest thou Me?' They used to think that they +could wake sleep-walkers by addressing them by name. Jesus Christ, by +speaking His name to the Apostle, wakes him out of his diseased +slumber, and brings him to wholesome consciousness. There are +stringency and solemnity of address in that double use of the name +'Saul, Saul!' + +What does such an address teach you and me? That Jesus Christ, the +living, reigning Lord of the universe, has perfect knowledge of each +of us, and that we each stand isolated before Him, as if all the +light of omniscience were focussed upon us. He knows our characters; +He knows all about us, and more than that, He directly addresses +Himself to each man and woman among us. + +We are far too apt to hide ourselves in the crowd, and let all the +messages of God's love, the warnings of His providences, as well as +the teachings and invitations and pleadings of His gospel, fly over +our heads as if they were meant vaguely for anybody. But they are all +intended for _thee_, as directly as if thou, and thou only, wert in +the world. I beseech you, lay this to heart, that although no audible +sounds may rend the silent heavens, nor any blaze may blind thine +eye, yet that as really, though not in the same outward fashion as +Saul, when they were all fallen to the earth, felt himself to be +singled out, and heard a voice 'speaking to _him_ in the Hebrew +tongue, saying, Saul, Saul!' _thou_ mayest hear a voice speaking to +thee in the English tongue, by thy name, and directly addressing its +gracious remonstrances and its loving offers to thy listening ear. I +want to sharpen the blunt 'whosoever' into the pointed 'thou.' And I +would fain plead with each of my friends hearing me now to believe +that the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for thee, and that Christ +speaks to _thee_. 'I have a message from God unto thee,' just as +Nathan said unto David. '_Thou_ art the man!' + +Do not lose yourselves in the crowd or hide yourselves from the +personal incidence of Christ's offer, but feel that you stand, as you +do indeed, alone the hearer of His voice, the possible recipient of +His saving mercy. + +II. Secondly, notice, as another stage in this process the discovery +of the true character of the past. + +'Why persecutest thou Me?' Now I am not going to be tempted from my +more direct purpose in this sermon to dwell even for a moment on the +beautiful, affecting, strengthening thought here, of the unity of +Jesus Christ with all the humble souls that love Him, so as that, +whatsoever any member suffers, the Head suffers with it. I must leave +that truth untouched. + +Saul was brought to look at all his past life as standing in +immediate connection with Jesus Christ. Of course he knew before the +vision that he had no love to Him whom he thought to be a Galilean +impostor, and that the madness with which he hated the servants was +only the glancing off of the arrow that he would fain have aimed at +the Master. But he did not know that Jesus Christ counted every blow +struck at one of His servants as being struck at Him. Above all he +did not know that the Christ whom he was persecuting was reigning in +the heavens. And so his whole past life stood before him in a new +aspect when it was brought into close connection with Christ, and +looked at as in relation to Him. + +The same process would yield very remarkable results if applied to +our lives. If I could only get you for one quiet ten minutes, to lay +all your past, as far as memory brought it to your minds, right +before that pure and loving Face, I should have done much. One +infallible way of judging of the rottenness or goodness of our +actions is that we should bring them where they will all be brought +one day, into the brightness of Christ's countenance. If you want to +find out the flaws in some thin, badly-woven piece of cloth, you hold +it up against the light, do you not? and then you see all the specks +and holes, and the irregular threads. Hold up your lives in like +fashion against the light, and I shall be surprised if you do not +find enough there to make you very much ashamed of yourselves. Were +you ever on the stage of a theatre in the daytime? Did you ever see +what miserable daubs the scenes look, and how seamy it all is when +the pitiless sunshine comes in? Let that great light pour on your +life, and be thankful if you find out what a daub it has been, whilst +yet colours and brushes and time are at your disposal, and you may +paint the future fairer than the past. + +Again, this revelation of Saul's past life disclosed its utter +unreasonableness. That one question, '_Why_ persecutest thou Me?' +pulverised the whole thing. It was like the wondering question so +unanswerable in the Psalm, 'Why do the heathen rage, and the people +imagine a vain thing?' If you take into account what you are, and +where you stand, you can find no reason, except utterly unreasonable +ones, for the lives that I fear some of us are living--lives of +godlessness and Christlessness. There is nothing in all the world a +tithe so stupid as sin. There is nothing so unreasonable, if there be +a God at all, and if we depend upon Him, and have duties to Him, as +the lives that some of you are living. You admit, most of you, that +there is such a God; you admit, most of you, that you do hang upon +Him; you admit, in theory, that you ought to love and serve Him. The +bulk of you call yourselves Christians. That is to say, you believe, +as a piece of historical fact, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, +came into this world and died for men. And, believing that, you turn +your back on Him, and neither love nor serve nor trust Him nor turn +away from your iniquity. Is there anything outside a lunatic asylum +more madlike than that? 'Why persecutest thou?' 'And he was +speechless,' for no answer was possible. Why neglectest thou? Why +forgettest thou? Why, admitting what thou dost, art thou not an out- +and-out Christian? If we think of all our obligations and relations, +and the facts of the universe, we come back to the old saying, 'The +fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,' and any man who, like +many of my hearers, fails to give his heart and life to Jesus Christ +will one day have to say, 'Behold, I have played the fool, and erred +exceedingly.' Wake up, my brother, to apply calm reason to your lives +while yet there is time, and face the question, Why dost thou stand +as thou dost to Jesus Christ? There is nothing sadder than the small +share that deliberate reason and intelligent choice have in the +ordering of most men's lives. You live by impulse, by habit, by +example, by constraint of the outward necessities of your position. +But I am sure that there are many amongst us now who have very +seldom, if ever, sat down and said, 'Now let me think, until I get to +the ultimate grounds of the course of life that I am pursuing.' You +can carry on the questions very gaily for a step or two, but then you +come to a dead pause. 'What do I do so-and-so for?' 'Because I like +it.' 'Why do I like it?' 'Because it meets my needs, or my desires, +or my tastes, or my intellect.' Why do you make the meeting of your +needs, or your desires, or your tastes, or your intellect your sole +object? Is there any answer to that? The Hindoos say that the world +rests upon an elephant, and the elephant rests upon a tortoise. What +does the tortoise rest on? Nothing! Then that is what the world and +the elephant rest on. And so, though you may go bravely through the +first stages of the examination, when you come to the last question +of all, you will find out that your whole scheme of life is built +upon a blunder; and the blunder is this, that anybody can be blessed +without God. + +Further, this disclosure of the true character of his life revealed +to Saul, as in a lightning flash, the ingratitude of it. + +'Why persecutest thou Me?' That was as much as to say, 'What have I +done to merit thy hate? What have I _not_ done to merit rather thy +love?' Paul did not know all that Jesus Christ had done for him. It +took him a lifetime to learn a little of it, and to tell his brethren +something of what he had learned. And he has been learning it ever +since that day when, outside the walls of Rome, they hacked off his +head. He has been learning more and more of what Jesus Christ has +done for him, and why he should not persecute Him but love Him. + +But the same appeal comes to each of us. What has Jesus Christ done +for thee, my friend, for me, for every soul of man? He has loved me +better than His own life. He has given Himself for me. He has +lingered beside me, seeking to draw me to Himself, and He still +lingers. And this, at the best, tremulous faith, this, at the +warmest, tepid love, this, at the completest, imperfect devotion and +service, are all that we bring to Him; and some of us do not bring +even these. Some of us have never known what it was to sacrifice one +inclination for the sake of Christ, nor to do one act for His dear +love's sake, nor to lean our weakness upon Him, nor to turn to Him +and say, 'I give Thee myself, that I may possess Thee.' 'Do ye thus +requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?' I have heard of +wounded soldiers striking with their bayonets at the ambulance men +who came to help them. That is like what some of you do to the Lord +who died for your healing, and comes as the Physician, with bandages +and with balm, to bind up the brokenhearted. 'Saul, Saul, why +persecutest thou Me?' + +III. Lastly, we have here a warning against self-inflicted wounds. + +That second clause of the remonstrance on the lips of Christ in my +text is, according to the true reading, not found in the account of +Paul's conversion in the ninth chapter of this book. My text is from +Paul's own story; and it is interesting to notice that he adds this +eminently pathetic and forcible appeal to the shorter account given +by the writer of the book. It had gone deep into his heart, and he +could not forget. + +The metaphor is a very plain one. The ox-goad was a formidable +weapon, some seven or eight feet in length, shod with an iron point, +and capable of being used as a spear, and of inflicting deadly wounds +at a pinch. Held in the firm hand of the ploughman, it presented a +sharp point to the rebellious animal under the yoke. If the ox had +readily yielded to the gentle prick, given, not in anger, but for +guidance, it had been well. But if it lashes out with its hoofs +against the point, what does it get but bleeding flanks? Paul had +been striking out instead of obeying, and he had won by it only +bloody hocks. + +There are two truths deducible from this saying, which may have been +a proverb in common use. One is the utter futility of lives that are +spent in opposing the divine will. There is a strong current running, +and if you try to go against it you will only be swept away by it. +Think of some little fishing coble coming across the bow of a great +ocean-going steamer. What will be the end of that? Think of a pony- +chaise jogging up the line, and an express train thundering down it. +What will be the end of that? Think of a man lifting himself up and +saying to God, 'I will _not_!' when God says, 'Do thou this!' or 'Be +thou this!' What will be the end of that? 'The world passeth away, +and the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for +ever.' 'It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks'--hard in +regard to breaches of common morality, as some of my friends sitting +quietly in these pews very well know. It is hard to indulge in +sensual sin. You cannot altogether dodge what people call the +'natural consequences'; but it was God who made Nature; and so I call +them God-inflicted penalties. It is hard to set yourselves against +Christianity. I am not going to speak of that at all now, only when +we think of the expectations of victory with which so many +antagonists of the Cross have gaily leaped into the arena, and of how +the foes have been forgotten and there stands the Cross still, we may +say of the whole crowd, beginning with the earliest, and coming down +to the latest brand-new theory that is going to explode Christianity +--'it is hard to kick against the pricks.' Your own limbs you may +wound; you will not do the goad much harm. + +But there is another side to the proverb of my text, and that is the +self-inflicted harm that comes from resisting the pricks of God's +rebukes and remonstrances, whether inflicted by conscience or by any +other means; including, I make bold to say, even such poor words as +these of mine. For if the first little prick of conscience, a warning +and a guide, be neglected, the next will go a great deal deeper. The +voice which, before you do the wrong thing, says to you, 'Do not do +it,' in tones of entreaty and remonstrance, speaks, after you have +done it, more severely and more bitterly. The Latin word _remorse_, +and the old English name for conscience, 'again-bite'--which latter +is a translation of the other--teach us the same lesson, that the +gnawing which comes after wrong done is far harder to bear than the +touch that should have kept us from the evil. The stings of marine +jelly-fish will burn for days after, if you wet them. And so all +wrong-doing, and all neglect of right-doing of every sort, carries +with it a subsequent pain, or else the wounded limb _mortifies_, and +that is worse. There is no pain then; it would be better if there +were. There is such a possibility as to have gone on so obstinately +kicking against the pricks and leaving the wounds so unheeded, as +that they mortify and feeling goes. A conscience 'seared with a hot +iron' is ten times more dreadful than a conscience that pains and +stings. + +So, dear brethren, let me beseech you to listen to the pitying +Christ, who says to us each, more in sorrow than in anger, 'It is +hard for thee to kick against the pricks.' It is no pleasure to Him +to hold the goad, nor that we should wound ourselves upon it. He has +another question to put to us, with another 'why,' 'Why should ye be +stricken any more? Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die, O house of +Israel?' + +There is another metaphor drawn from the employment of oxen which we +may set side by side with this of my text: 'Take My yoke upon you, +and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' The yoke accepted, the goad +is laid aside; and repose and healing from its wounds are granted to +us. Dear brethren, if you will listen to the Christ revealed in the +heavens, as knowing all about you, and remonstrating with you for +your unreasonableness and ingratitude, and setting before you the +miseries of rebellion and the suicide of sin, then you will have +healing for all your wounds, and your lives will neither be self- +tormenting, futile, nor unreasonable. The mercy of Jesus Christ +lavished upon you makes your yielding yourselves to Him your only +rational course. Anything else is folly beyond comparison and harm +and loss beyond count. + + + +FAITH IN CHRIST + +'...Faith that is in Me.'--ACTS xxvi. 18. + +It is commonly said, and so far as the fact is concerned, said truly, +that what are called the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity are +rather found in the Epistles than in the Gospels. If we wish the +clearest statements of the nature and person of Christ, we turn to +Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. If we wish the fullest dissertation +upon Christ's work as a sacrifice, we go to the Epistle to the +Hebrews. If we seek to prove that men are justified by faith, and not +by works, it is to the Epistles to Romans and Galatians that we +betake ourselves,--to the writings of the servant rather than the +words of the Master. Now this fuller development of Christian +doctrine contained in the teaching of the Apostles cannot be denied, +and need not be wondered at. The reasons for it I am not going to +enter upon at present; they are not far to seek. Christ came not to +_speak_ the Gospel, but _to be_ the Gospel. But then, this truth of a +fuller development is often over-strained, as if Christ 'spake +nothing concerning priesthood,' sacrifices, faith. He _did_ so speak +when on earth. It is often misused by being made the foundation of an +inference unfavourable to the authority of the Apostolic teaching, +when we are told, as we sometimes are, that not Paul but Jesus speaks +the words which we are to receive. + +Here we have Christ Himself speaking from the heavens to Paul at the +very beginning of the Apostle's course, and if any one asks us where +did Paul get the doctrines which he preached, the answer is, Here, on +the road to Damascus, when blind, bleeding, stunned, with all his +self-confidence driven out of him--with all that he had been crushed +into shivers--he saw his Lord, and heard Him speak. These words +spoken then are the germ of all Paul's Epistles, the keynote to which +all his writings are but the melody that follows, the mighty voice of +which all his teaching is but the prolonged echo. 'Delivering thee,' +says Christ to him, 'from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto +whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness +to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive +forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified +by faith that is in Me.' Now, I ask you, what of Paul's Gospel is not +here? Man's ruin, man's depravity and state of darkness, the power of +Satan, the sole redemptive work of Christ, justification by belief in +that, sanctification coming with justification, and glory and rest +and heaven at last--there they all are in the very first words that +sounded upon the quickened ear of the blinded man when he turned from +darkness to light. + +It would be foolish, of course, to try to exhaust such a passage as +this in a sermon. But notice, what a complete summary of Christian +truth there lies in that one last clause of the verse, 'Inheritance +among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.' Translate +that into distinct propositions, and they are these: Faith refers to +Christ; that is the first thing. Holiness depends on faith; that is +the next: '_sanctified_ by faith.' Heaven depends on holiness: that +is the last: '_inheritance_ among them which are sanctified by faith +that is in Me.' So there we have the whole gospel! + +To the one part of this comprehensive summary which is contained in +my text I desire to turn now, in hope of gathering from it some +truths as to that familiar word 'faith' which may be of use to us +all. The expression is so often on our lips that it has come to be +almost meaningless in many minds. These keywords of Scripture meet +the same fate as do coins that have been long in circulation. They +pass through so many fingers that the inscriptions get worn off them. +We can all talk about faith and forgiveness and justifying and +sanctifying, but how few of us have definite notions as to what these +words that come so easily from our lips mean! There is a vast deal of +cloudy haze in the minds of average church and chapel goers as to +what this wonder-working faith may really be. Perhaps we may then be +able to see large and needful truths gleaming in these weighty +syllables which Christ Jesus spoke from heaven to Paul, 'faith that +is in Me.' + +I. In the first place, then, the object of faith is Christ. + +'Faith that is in Me' is that which is directed towards Christ as its +object. Christianity is not merely a system of truths about God, nor +a code of morality deducible from these. In its character of a +revelation, it is the revelation of God in the person of His Son. +Christianity in the soul is not the belief of these truths about God, +still less the acceptance and practice of these pure ethics, but the +affiance and the confidence of the whole spirit fixed upon the +redeeming, revealing Christ, + +True, the object of our faith is Christ as made known to us in the +facts of His recorded life and the teaching of His Apostles. True, +our only means of knowing Him as of any other person whom we have +never seen, are the descriptions of Him, His character and work, +which are given. True, the empty name 'Christ' has to be filled with +the doctrinal and biographical statements of Scripture before the +Person on whom faith is to fix can be apprehended or beheld. True, it +is Christ as He is made known to us in the word of God, the Incarnate +Son, the perfect Man, the atoning Sacrifice, the risen Lord, the +ascended Intercessor in whom we have to trust. The characteristics +and attributes of Christ are known to us only by biographical +statements and by doctrinal propositions. These must be understood in +some measure and accepted, ere there can be faith in Him. Apart from +them, the image of Christ must stand a pale, colourless phantom +before the mind, and the faith which is directed towards such a +nebula will be an unintelligent emotion, as nebulous and impotent as +the vagueness towards which it turns. + +Thus far, then, the attempt which is sometimes made to establish a +Christianity without doctrines on the plea that the object of faith +is not a proposition, but a person, must be regarded as nugatory; for +how can the 'person' be an object of thought at all, but through the +despised 'propositions'? + +But while on the one hand it is true that Christ as revealed in these +doctrinal statements of Scripture, the divine human Saviour, is the +Object of faith, on the other hand it is to be remembered that it is +He, and not the statements about Him, who is the Object. + +Look at His own words. He does not merely say to us, 'Believe this, +that, and the other thing about Me; put your credence in this and the +other doctrine; accept this and the other promise; hope for this and +the other future thing.' All these come with but are not the central +act. He says, 'Believe: believe in Me! "_I_ am the Way, and the +Truth, and the Life": He that cometh to _Me_ shall never hunger, and +he that believeth in _Me_ shall never thirst.' Do we rightly +appreciate that? I think that if people firmly grasped this truth-- +that Christ is the Gospel, and that the Object of faith is not simply +the truths that are recorded here in the word, but He with regard to +whom these truths are recorded--it would clear away rolling wreaths +of fog and mist from their perceptions. The whole feeling and +attitude of a man's mind is different, according as he is trusting a +person, or according as he is believing something about a person. And +this, therefore, is the first broad truth that lies here. Faith has +reference not merely to a doctrine, not to a system; but deeper than +all these, to a living Lord--'faith that is _in Me_.' + +I cannot help observing, before I go on--though it may be somewhat of +a digression--what a strong inference with regard to the divinity of +Christ is deducible from this first thought that He is the Object to +whom faith has reference. If you look into the Old Testament, you +will find constantly, 'Trust ye in the Lord for ever'; 'Put thy trust +in Jehovah!' There, too, though under the form of the Law, there, +too, faith was the seed and germ of all religion. There, too, though +under the hard husk of apparently external obedience and ceremonial +sacrifices, the just lived by faith. Its object was the Jehovah of +that ancient covenant. Religion has always been the same in every +dispensation. At every time, that which made a man a devout man has +been identically the same thing. It has always been true that it has +been faith which has bound man to God, and given man hope. But when +we come to the New Testament, the centre is shifted, as it would +seem. What has become of the grand old words, 'Trust ye in the Lord +Jehovah'? Look! Christ stands there, and says, 'Believe upon Me'! +With calm, simple, profound dignity, He lays His hand upon all the +ancient and consecrated words, upon all the ancient and hallowed +emotions that used to set towards the unseen God between the +cherubim, throned above judgment and resting upon mercy; and He says, +'They are Mine--give them to Me! That ancient trust, I claim the +right to have it. That old obedience, it belongs to Me. I am He to +whom in all time the loving hearts of them that loved God, have set. +I am the Angel of the Covenant, in whom whoever trusteth shall never +be confounded.' And I ask you just to take that one simple fact, that +Christ thus steps, in the New Testament--in so far as the direction +of the religious emotions of faith and love are concerned--that +Christ steps into the place filled by the Jehovah of the Old; and ask +yourselves honestly what theory of Christ's nature and person and +work explains that fact, and saves Him from the charge of folly and +blasphemy? 'He that believeth upon Me shall never hunger.' Ah, my +brother! He was no mere _man_ who said that. He that spake from out +of the cloud to the Apostle on the road to Damascus, and said, +'Sanctified by faith that is in Me,' was no mere _man_. Christ was +our brother and a man, but He was the Son of God, the divine +Redeemer. The Object of faith is Christ; and as Object of faith He +must needs be divine. + +II. And now, secondly, closely connected with and springing from this +thought as to the true object of faith, arises the consideration as +to the nature and the essence of the act of faith itself. + +_Whom_ we are to trust in we have seen: what it is to _have_ faith +may be very briefly stated. If the Object of faith were certain +truths, the assent of the understanding would be enough. If the +Object of faith were unseen things, the confident persuasion of them +would be sufficient. If the Object of faith were promises of future +good, the hope rising to certainty of the possession of these would +be sufficient. But if the Object be more than truths, more than +unseen realities, more than promises; if the Object be a living +Person,--then there follows inevitably this, that faith is not merely +the assent of the understanding, that faith is not merely the +persuasion of the reality of unseen things, that faith is not merely +the confident expectation of future good; but that faith is the +personal relation of him who has it to the living Person its Object, +--the relation which is expressed not more clearly, perhaps a little +more forcibly to us, by substituting another word, and saying, Faith +is _trust_. + +And I think that there again, by laying hold of that simple +principle, Because Christ is the Object of Faith, therefore Faith +must be trust, we get bright and beautiful light upon the grandest +truths of the Gospel of God. If we will only take that as our +explanation, we have not indeed defined faith by substituting the +other word for it, but we have made it a little more clear to our +apprehensions, by using a non-theological word with which our daily +acts teach us to connect an intelligible meaning. If we will only +take that as our explanation, how simple, how grand, how familiar too +it sounds,--to _trust_ Him! It is the very same kind of feeling, +though different in degree, and glorified by the majesty and glory of +its Object, as that which we all know how to put forth in our +relations with one another. We trust each other. That is faith. We +have confidence in the love that has been around us, breathing +benedictions and bringing blessings ever since we were little +children. When the child looks up into the mother's face, the symbol +to it of all protection, or into the father's eye, the symbol to it +of all authority,--that emotion by which the little one hangs upon +the loving hand and trusts the loving heart that towers above it in +order to bend over it and scatter good, is the same as the one which, +glorified and made divine, rises strong and immortal in its power, +when fixed and fastened on Christ, and saves the soul. The Gospel +rests upon a mystery, but the practical part of it is no mystery. +When we come and preach to you, 'Trust in Christ and thou shalt be +saved,' we are not asking you to put into exercise some mysterious +power. We are only asking you to give to Him that which you give to +others, to transfer the old emotions, the blessed emotions, the +exercise of which makes gladness in life here below, to transfer them +to Him, and to rest safe in the Lord. Faith is trust. The living +Person as its Object rises before us there, in His majesty, in His +power, in His gentleness, and He says, 'I shall be contented if thou +wilt give to Me these emotions which thou dost fix now, to thy death +and loss, on the creatures of a day.' Faith is mighty, divine, the +gift of God; but Oh! it is the exercise of a familiar habit, only +fixed upon a divine and eternal Person. + +And if this be the very heart and kernel of the Christian doctrine of +faith--that it is simple personal trust in Jesus Christ; it is worthy +of notice, how all the subsidiary meanings and uses of the word flow +out of that, whilst it cannot be explained by any of them. People are +in the habit of setting up antitheses betwixt faith and reason, +betwixt faith and sight, betwixt faith and possession. They say, 'We +do not _know_, we must _believe_'; they say, 'We do not _see_, we +must have faith'; they say, 'We do not _possess_, we must trust.' Now +faith--the trust in Christ--the simple personal relation of +confidence in Him--_that_ lies beneath all these other meanings of +the word. For instance, faith is, in one sense, the opposite and +antithesis of sight; because Christ, unseen, having gone into the +unseen world, the confidence which is directed towards Him must needs +pass out beyond the region of sense, and fix upon the immortal +verities that are veiled by excess of light at God's right hand. +Faith is the opposite of sight; inasmuch as Christ, having given us +assurance of an unseen and everlasting world, we, trusting in Him, +believe what He says to us, and are persuaded and know that there are +things yonder which we have never seen with the eye nor handled with +the hand. Similarly, faith is the completion of reason; because, +trusting Christ, we believe what He says, and He has spoken to us +truths which we in ourselves are unable to discover, but which, when +revealed, we accept on the faith of His truthfulness, and because we +rely upon Him. Similarly, faith is contrasted with present +possession, because Christ has promised us future blessings and +future glories; and having confidence in the Person, we believe what +He says, and know that we shall possess them. But the root from which +spring the power of faith as the opposite of sight, the power of +faith as the telescope of reason, the power of faith as the +'confidence of things not possessed,' is the deeper thing--faith in +the Person, which leads us to believe Him whether He promises, +reveals, or commands, and to take His words as verity because He _is_ +'the Truth.' + +And then, again, if this, the personal trust in Christ as our living +Redeemer--if this be faith, then there come also, closely connected +with it, certain other emotions or feelings in the heart. For +instance, if I am trusting to Christ, there is inseparably linked +with it self-distrust. There are two sides to the emotion; where +there is reliance upon another, there must needs be non-reliance upon +self. Take an illustration. There is the tree: the trunk goes upward +from the little seed, rises into the light, gets the sunshine upon +it, and has leaves and fruit. That is the upward tendency of faith-- +trust in Christ. There is the root, down deep, buried, dark, unseen. +Both are springing, but springing in apposite directions, from the +one seed. That is, as it were, the negative side, the downward +tendency--self-distrust. The two things go together--the positive +reliance upon another, the negative distrust of myself. There must be +deep consciousness not only of my own impotence, but of my own +sinfulness. The heart must be emptied that the seed of faith may +grow; but the entrance in of faith is itself the means for the +emptying of the heart. The two things co-exist; we can divide them in +thought. We can wrangle and squabble, as divided sects hare done, +about which comes first, the fact being, that though you can part +them in thought, you cannot part them in experience, inasmuch as they +are but the obverse and the reverse, the two sides of the same coin. +Faith and repentance--faith and self-distrust--they are done in one +and the same indissoluble act. + +And again, faith, as thus conceived of, will obviously have for its +certain and immediate consequence, love. Nay, the two emotions will +be inseparable and practically co-existent. In thought we can +separate them. Logically, faith comes first, and love next, but in +life they will spring up together. The question of their order of +existence is an often-trod battle-ground of theology, all strewed +with the relics of former fights. But in the real history of the +growth of religious emotions in the soul, the interval which +separates them is impalpable, and in every act of trust, love is +present, and fundamental to every emotion of love to Christ is trust +in Christ. + +But without further reference to such matters, here is the broad +principle of our text. Trust in Christ, not mere assent to a +principle, personal dependence upon Him revealed as the 'Lamb of God +that taketh away the sin of the world,' an act of the will as well as +of the understanding, and essentially an act of the will and not of +the understanding--that is the thing by which a soul is saved. And +much of the mist and confusion about saving faith, and non-saving +faith, might be lifted and dispersed if we once fully apprehended and +firmly held by the divine simplicity of the truth, that faith is +trust in Jesus Christ. + +III. Once more: from this general definition there follows, in the +third place, an explanation of the power of faith. + +'We are justified,' says the Bible, 'by faith.' If a man believes, he +is saved. Why so? Not, as some people sometimes seem to fancy, as if +in faith itself there was any merit. There is a very strange and +subtle resurrection of the whole doctrine of works in reference to +this matter; and we often hear belief in the Gospel of Christ spoken +about as if _it_, the work of the man believing, was, in a certain +way and to some extent, that which God rewarded by giving him +salvation. What is that but the whole doctrine of works come up again +in a new form? What difference is there between what a man does with +his hands and what a man feels in his heart? If the one merit +salvation, or if the other merit salvation, equally we are shut up to +this,--Men get heaven by what they do; and it does not matter a bit +what they do it with, whether it be body or soul. When we say we are +saved by faith, we mean accurately, _through_ faith. It is God that +saves. It is Christ's life, Christ's blood, Christ's sacrifice, +Christ's intercession, that saves. Faith is simply the channel +through which there flows over into my emptiness the divine fulness; +or, to use the good old illustration, it is the hand which is held up +to receive the benefit which Christ lays in it. A living trust in +Jesus has power unto salvation, only because it is the means by which +'the power of God unto salvation' may come into my heart. On one side +is the great ocean of Christ's love, Christ's abundance, Christ's +merits, Christ's righteousness; or, rather, there is the great ocean +of Christ Himself, which includes them all; and on the other is the +empty vessel of my soul--and the little narrow pipe that has nothing +to do but to bring across the refreshing water, is the act of faith +in Him. There is no merit in the dead lead, no virtue in the mere +emotion. It is not faith that saves us; it is Christ that saves us, +and saves us through faith. + +And now, lastly, these principles likewise help us to understand +wherein consists the guilt and criminality of unbelief. People are +sometimes disposed to fancy that God has arbitrarily selected this +one thing, believing in Jesus Christ, as the means of salvation, and +do not distinctly see why and how non-belief is so desperate and +criminal a thing. I think that the principles that I have been trying +feebly to work out now, help us to see how faith is not arbitrarily +selected as the instrument and means of our salvation. There is no +other way of effecting it. God could not save us in any other way +than that, salvation being provided, the condition of receiving it +should be trust in His Son. + +And next they show where the guilt of unbelief lies. Faith is not +first and principally an act of the understanding; it is not the mere +assent to certain truths. I believe, for my part, that men are +responsible even for their intellectual processes, and for the +beliefs at which they arrive by the working of these; and I think it +is a very shallow philosophy that stands up and says--(it is almost +exploded now, and perhaps not needful even to mention it)--that men +are 'no more responsible for their belief than they are for the +colour of their hair.' Why, if faith were no more than an +intellectual process, it would still be true that they are +responsible for it; but the faith that saves a man, and unbelief that +ruins a man, are not processes of the understanding alone. It is the +will, the heart, the whole moral being, that is concerned. Why does +any one not trust Jesus Christ? For one reason only: because _he will +not_. Why has any one not faith in the Lamb of God? Because his whole +nature is turning away from that divine and loving Face, and is +setting itself in rebellion against it. Why does any one refuse to +believe? Because he has confidence in himself; because he has not a +sense of his sins; because he has not love in his heart to his Lord +and Saviour. Men are responsible for unbelief. Unbelief is criminal, +because it is a moral act--an act of the whole nature. Belief or +unbelief is the test of a man's whole spiritual condition, just +because it is the whole being, affections, will, conscience and all, +as well as the understanding, which are concerned in it. And +therefore Christ, who says, 'Sanctified by faith that is in Me,' says +likewise, 'He that believeth not, shall be condemned.' + +And now, brethren, take this one conviction into your hearts, that +what makes a man a Christian--what saves my soul and yours--what +brings the love of Christ into any life, and makes the sacrifice of +Christ a power to pardon and purify,--that that is not merely +believing this Book, not merely understanding the doctrines that are +there, but a far more profound act than that. It is the casting of +myself upon Himself, the bending of my willing heart to His loving +Spirit; the close contact, heart to heart, soul to soul, will to +will, of my emptiness with His fulness, of my sinfulness with His +righteousness, of my death with His life: that I may live by Him, be +sanctified by Him, be saved by Him, 'with an everlasting salvation.' +Faith is trust: Christ is the Objeet of faith. Faith is the condition +of salvation; and unbelief is your fault, your loss--the crime which +ruins men's souls! + + + +'BEFORE GOVERNORS AND KINGS' + +'Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the +heavenly vision: 20. But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and +at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judsea, and then +to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do +works meet for repentance. 21. For these causes the Jews caught +me in the temple, and went about to kill me. 22. Having therefore +obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both +to small and great, saying none other things than those which the +prophets and Moses did say should come; 23. That Christ should +suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the +dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. +24. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud +voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make +thee mad. 25. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but +speak forth the words of truth and soberness. 26. For the king +knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I +am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for +this thing was not done in a corner. 27. King Agrippa, believest +thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 28. Then Agrippa +said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 29. +And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all +that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I +am, except these bonds. 30. And when he had thus spoken, the king +rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with +them: 31. And when they were gone aside, they talked between +themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of +bonds. 32. Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have +been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.' +--ACTS xxvi. 19-32. + +Festus was no model of a righteous judge, but he had got hold of the +truth as to Paul, and saw that what he contemptuously called 'certain +questions of their own superstition,' and especially his assertion of +the Resurrection, were the real crimes of the Apostle in Jewish eyes. +But the fatal wish to curry favour warped his course, and led him to +propose a removal of the 'venue' to Jerusalem. Paul knew that to +return thither would seal his death-warrant, and was therefore driven +to appeal to Rome. + +That took the case out of Festus's jurisdiction. So that the hearing +before Agrippa was an entertainment, got up for the king's diversion, +when other amusements had been exhausted, rather than a regular +judicial proceeding. Paul was examined 'to make a Roman holiday.' +Festus's speech (chap. xxv. 24-27) tries to put on a colour of desire +to ascertain more clearly the charges, but that is a very thin +pretext. Agrippa had said that he would like 'to hear the man,' and +so the performance was got up 'by request.' Not a very sympathetic +audience fronted Paul that day. A king and his sister, a Roman +governor, and all the elite of Caesarean society, ready to take their +cue from the faces of these three, did not daunt Paul. The man who +had seen Jesus on the Damascus road could face 'small and great.' + +The portion of his address included in the passage touches +substantially the same points as did his previous 'apologies.' We may +note how strongly he puts the force that impelled him on his course, +and lays bare the secret of his life. 'I was not disobedient to the +heavenly vision'; then the possibility of disobedience was open after +he had heard Christ ask, 'Why persecutest thou Me?' and had received +commands from His mouth. Then, too, the essential character of the +charge against him was that, instead of kicking against the owner's +goad, he had bowed his neck to his yoke, and that his obstinate will +had melted. Then, too, the 'light above the brightness of the sun' +still shone round him, and his whole life was one long act of +obedience. + +We note also how he sums up his work in verse 20, representing his +mission to the Gentiles as but the last term in a continuous widening +of his field, from Damascus to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Judaea (a +phase of his activity not otherwise known to us, and for which, with +our present records, it is difficult to find a place), from Judaea to +the Gentiles. Step by step he had been led afield, and at each step +the 'heavenly vision' had shone before him. + +How superbly, too, Paul overleaps the distinction of Jew and Gentile, +which disappeared to him in the unity of the broad message, which was +the same to every man. Repentance, turning to God, works worthy of +repentance, are as needful for Jew as for Gentile, and as open to +Gentile as to Jew. What but universal can such a message be? To limit +it would be to mutilate it. + +We note, too, the calmness with which he lays his finger on the real +cause of Jewish hate, which Festus had already found out. He does not +condescend to rebut the charge of treason, which he had already +repelled, and which nobody in his audience believed. He is neither +afraid nor angry, as he quietly points to the deadly malice which had +no ground but his message. + +We further note the triumphant confidence in God and assurance of His +help in all the past, so that, like some strong tower after the most +crashing blows of the battering-ram, he still 'stands.' 'His steps +had wellnigh slipped,' when foe after foe stormed against him, but +'Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.' + +Finally, Paul gathers himself together, to leave as his last word the +mighty sentence in which he condenses his whole teaching, in its +aspect of witness-bearing, in its universal destination and identity +to the poorest and to loftily placed men and women, such as sat +languidly looking at him now, in its perfect concord with the earlier +revelation, and in its threefold contents, that it was the message of +the Christ who suffered, who rose from the dead, who was the Light of +the world. Surely the promise was fulfilled to him, and it was 'given +him in that hour what he should speak.' + +The rustle in the crowd was scarcely over, when the strong masterful +voice of the governor rasped out the coarse taunt, which, according +to one reading, was made coarser (and more lifelike) by repetition, +'Thou art mad, Paul; thou art mad.' So did a hard 'practical man' +think of that strain of lofty conviction, and of that story of the +appearance of the Christ. To be in earnest about wealth or power or +science or pleasure is not madness, so the world thinks; but to be in +earnest about religion, one's own soul, or other people's, is. Which +was the saner, Paul, who 'counted all things but dung that he might +win Christ,' or Festus, who counted keeping his governorship, and +making all that he could out of it, the one thing worth living for? +Who is the madman, he who looks up and sees Jesus, and bows before +Him for lifelong service, or he who looks up and says, 'I see nothing +up there; I keep my eyes on the main chance down here'? It would be a +saner and a happier world if there were more of us mad after Paul's +fashion. + +Paul's unruffled calm and dignity brushed aside the rude exclamation +with a simple affirmation that his words were true in themselves, and +spoken by one who had full command over his faculties; and then he +turned away from Festus, who understood nothing, to Agrippa, who, at +any rate, did understand a little. Indeed, Festus has to take the +second place throughout, and it may have been the ignoring of him +that nettled him. For all his courtesy to Agrippa, he knew that the +latter was but a vassal king, and may have chafed at Paul's +addressing him exclusively. + +The Apostle has finished his defence, and now he towers above the +petty dignitaries before him, and goes straight at the conscience of +the king. Festus had dismissed the Resurrection of 'one Jesus' as +unimportant: Paul asserted it, the Jews denied it. It was not worth +while to ask which was right. The man was dead, that was agreed. If +Paul said He was alive after death, that was only another proof of +madness, and a Roman governor had more weighty things to occupy him +than investigating such obscure and absurd trifles. But Agrippa, +though not himself a Jew, knew enough of the history of the last +twenty years to have heard about the Resurrection and the rise of the +Church. No doubt he would have been ready to admit his knowledge, but +Paul shows a disposition to come to closer quarters by his swift +thrust, 'Believest thou the prophets?' and the confident answer which +the questioner gives. + +What was the Apostle bringing these two things--the publicity given +to the facts of Christ's life, and the belief in the prophets-- +together for? Obviously, if Agrippa said Yes, then the next question +would be, 'Believest thou the Christ, whose life and death and +resurrection thou knowest, and who has fulfilled the prophets +thereby?' That would have been a hard question for the king to +answer. His conscience begins to be uncomfortable, and his dignity is +wounded by this extremely rude person, who ventures to talk to him as +if he were a mere common man. He has no better answer ready than a +sarcasm; not a very forcible one, betraying, however, his penetration +into, and his dislike of, and his embarrassment at, Paul's drift. His +ironical words are no confession of being 'almost persuaded,' but a +taunt. 'And do you really suppose that it is so easy a matter to turn +me--the great Me, a Herod, a king,' and he might have added, a +sensual bad man, 'into a Christian?' + +Paul met the sarcastic jest with deep earnestness, which must have +hushed the audience of sycophants ready to laugh with the king, and +evidently touched him and Festus. His whole soul ran over in yearning +desire for the salvation of them all. He took no notice of the gibe +in the word _Christian_, nor of the levity of Agrippa. He showed that +purest love fills his heart, that he has found the treasure which +enriches the poorest and adds blessedness to the highest. So peaceful +and blessed is he, a prisoner, that he can wish nothing better for +any than to be like him in his faith. He hints his willingness to +take any pains and undergo any troubles for such an end; and, with +almost a smile, he looks at his chains, and adds, 'except these +bonds.' + +Did Festus wince a little at the mention of these, which ought not to +have been on his wrists? At all events, the entertainment had taken +rather too serious a turn for the taste of any of the three,--Festus, +Agrippa, or Bernice. If this strange man was going to shake their +consciences in that fashion, it was high time to end what was, after +all, as far as the rendering of justice was concerned, something like +a farce. + +So with a rustle, and amid the obeisances of the courtiers, the three +rose, and, followed by the principal people, went through the form of +deliberation. There was only one conclusion to be come to. He was +perfectly innocent. So Agrippa solemnly pronounced, what had been +known before, that he had done nothing worthy of death or bonds, +though he had 'these bonds' on his arms; and salved the injustice of +keeping an innocent man in custody by throwing all the blame on Paul +himself for appealing to Csesar. But the person to blame was Festus, +who had forced Paul to appeal in order to save his life. + + + +'THE HEAVENLY VISION' + +'Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the +heavenly vision.' Acts xxvi. 19. + +This is Paul's account of the decisive moment in his life on which +all his own future, and a great deal of the future of Christianity +and of the world, hung. The gracious voice had spoken from heaven, +and now everything depended on the answer made in the heart of the +man lying there blind and amazed. Will he rise melted by love, and +softened into submission, or hardened by resistance to the call of +the exalted Lord? The somewhat singular expression which he employs +in the text, makes us spectators of the very process of his yielding. +For it might be rendered, with perhaps an advantage, 'I _became_ not +disobedient'; as if the 'disobedience' was the prior condition, from +which we see him in the very act of passing, by the melting of his +nature and the yielding of his will. Surely there have been few +decisions in the world's history big with larger destinies than that +which the captive described to Agrippa in the simple words: 'I became +not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.' + +I. Note, then, first, that this heavenly vision shines for us too. + +Paul throughout his whole career looked back to the miraculous +appearance of Jesus Christ in the heavens, as being equally availably +as valid ground for his Christian convictions as were the appearances +of the Lord in bodily form to the Eleven after His resurrection. And +I may venture to work the parallel in the inverse direction, and to +say to you that what we see and know of Jesus Christ is as valid a +ground for our convictions, and as true and powerful a call for our +obedience, as when the heaven was rent, and the glory above the +midday sun bathed the persecutor and his followers on the stony road +to Damascus. For the revelation that is made to the understanding and +the heart, to the spirit and the will, is the same whether it be +made, as it was to Paul, through a heavenly vision, or, as it was to +the other Apostles, through the facts of the life, death, +resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, which their senses certified to +them, or, as it is to us, by the record of the same facts, +permanently enshrined in Scripture. Paul's sight of Christ was for a +moment; we can see Him as often and as long as we will, by turning to +the pages of this Book. Paul's sight of Christ was accompanied with +but a partial apprehension of the great and far-reaching truths which +he was to learn and to teach, as embodied in the Lord whom he saw. To +see Him was the work of a moment, to 'know Him' was the effort of a +lifetime. We have the abiding results of the lifelong process lying +ready to our hands in Paul's own letters, and we have not only the +permanent record of Christ in the Gospels instead of the transient +vision in the heavens, and the unfolding of the meaning and bearings +of the historical facts, in the authoritative teaching of the +Epistles, but we have also, in the history of the Church founded on +these, in the manifest workings of a divine power for and through the +company of believers, as well as in the correspondence between the +facts and doctrines of Christianity and the wants of humanity, a +vision disclosed and authenticated as heavenly, more developed, +fuller of meaning and more blessed to the eyes which see it, than +that which was revealed to the persecutor as he reeled from his horse +on the way to the great city. + +Dear brethren, they who see Christ in the word, In the history of the +world, in the pleading of the preacher, in the course of the ages, +and who sometimes hear His voice in the warnings which He breathes +into their consciences, and in the illuminations which He flashes on +their understanding, need ask for no loftier, no more valid and +irrefragable manifestation of His gracious self. To each of us this +vision is granted. May I say, without seeming egotism to you it is +granted even through the dark and cloudy envelope of my poor words? + +II. The vision of Christ, howsoever perceived, comes demanding +obedience. + +The purpose for which Jesus Christ made Himself known to Paul was to +give him a charge which should influence his whole life. And the +manner in which the Lord, when He had appeared, prepared the way for +the charge was twofold. He revealed Himself in His radiant glory, in +His exalted being, in His sympathetic and mysterious unity with them +that loved Him and trusted Him, in His knowledge of the doings of the +persecutor; and He disclosed to Saul the inmost evil that lurked in +his own heart, and showed him to his bewilderment and confusion, how +the course that he thought to be righteousness and service was +blasphemy and sin. So, by the manifestation of Himself enthroned +omniscient, bound by the closest ties of identity and of sympathy +with all that love Him, and by the disclosure of the amazed gazer's +evil and sin, Jesus Christ opened the way for the charge which bore +in its very heart an assurance of pardon, and was itself a +manifestation of His love. + +In like manner all heavenly visions are meant to secure human +obedience. We have not done what God means us to do with any +knowledge of Him which He grants, unless we utilise it to drive the +wheels of life and carry it out into practice in our daily conduct. +Revelation is not meant to satisfy mere curiosity or the idle desire +to know. It shines above us like the stars, but, unlike them, it +shines to be the guide of our lives. And whatsoever glimpse of the +divine nature, or of Christ's love, nearness, and power, we have ever +caught, was meant to bow our wills in glad submission, and to animate +our hands for diligent service and to quicken our feet to run in the +way of His commandments. + +There is plenty of idle gazing, with more or less of belief, at the +heavenly vision. I beseech you to lay to heart this truth, that +Christ rends the heavens and shows us God, not that men may know, but +that men may, knowing, do; and all His visions are the bases of +commandments. So the question for us all is, What are we doing with +what we know of Jesus Christ? Nothing? Have we translated our +thoughts of Him into actions, and have we put all our actions under +the control of our thoughts of Him? It is not enough that a man +should say, 'Whereupon I _saw_ the vision,' or, 'Whereupon I was +_convinced_ of the vision,' or, 'Whereupon I _understood_ the +vision.' Sight, apprehension, theology, orthodoxy, they are all very +well, but the right result is, 'Whereupon I was _not disobedient_ to +the heavenly vision.' And unless your knowledge of Christ makes you +do, and keep from doing, a thousand things, it is only an idle +vision, which adds to your guilt. + +But notice, in this connection, the peculiarity of the obedience +which the vision requires. There is not a word, in this story of +Paul's conversion, about the thing which Paul himself always puts in +the foreground as the very hinge upon which conversion turns--viz. +faith. Not a word. The name is not here, but the thing is here, if +people will look. For the obedience which Paul says that he rendered +to the vision was not rendered with his hands. He got up to his feet +on the road there, 'not disobedient,' though he had not yet done +anything. This is to say, the man's will had melted. It had all gone +with a run, so to speak, and the inmost being of him was subdued. The +obedience was the submission of self to God, and not the more or less +diligent and continuous consequent external activity in the way of +God's commandments. + +Further, Paul's obedience is also an obedience based upon the vision +of Jesus Christ enthroned, living, bound by ties that thrill at the +slightest touch to all hearts that love Him, and making common cause +with them. + +And furthermore, it is an obedience based upon the shuddering +recognition of Paul's own unsuspected evil and foulness, how all the +life, that he had thought was being built up into a temple that God +would inhabit, was rottenness and falsehood. + +And it is an obedience, further, built upon the recognition of pity +and pardon in Christ, who, after His sharp denunciation of the sin, +looks down from Heaven with a smile of forgiveness upon His lips, and +says: 'But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I will send thee to make +known My name.' + +An obedience which is the inward yielding of the will, which is all +built upon the revelation of the living Christ, who was dead and is +alive for evermore, and close to all His followers; and is, further, +the thankful tribute of a heart that knows itself to be sinful, and +is certain that it is forgiven--what is that but the obedience which +is of faith? And thus, when I say that the heavenly vision demands +obedience, I do not mean that Christ shows Himself to you to set you +to work, but I mean that Christ shows Himself to you that you may +yield yourselves to Him, and in the act may receive power to do all +His sweet and sacred will. + +III. Thirdly, this obedience is in our own power to give or to +withhold. + +Paul, as I said in my introductory remarks, puts us here as +spectators of the very act of submission. He shows it to us in its +beginning--he shows us the state from which he came and that into +which he passed, and he tells us, 'I _became_--not disobedient.' In +his case it was a complete, swift, and permanent revolution, as if +some thick-ribbed ice should all at once melt into sweet water. But +whether swift or slow it was his own act, and after the Voice had +spoken it was possible that Paul should have resisted and risen from +the ground, not a servant, but a persecutor still. For God's grace +constrains no man, and there is always the possibility open that when +He calls we refuse, and that when He beseeches we say, 'I will not.' + +There is the mystery on which the subtlest intellects have tasked +their powers and blunted the edge of their keenness in all +generations; and it is not likely to be settled in five minutes of a +sermon of mine. But the practical point that I have to urge is simply +this: there are two mysteries, the one that men _can_, and the other +that men _do_, resist Christ's pleading voice. As to the former, we +cannot fathom it. But do not let any difficulty deaden to you the +clear voice of your own consciousness. If I cannot trust my sense +that I can do this thing or not do it, as I choose, there is nothing +that I can trust. Will is the power of determining which of two roads +I shall go, and, strange as it is, incapable of statement in any more +general terms than the reiteration of the fact; yet here stands the +fact, that God, the infinite Will, has given to men, whom He made in +His own image, this inexplicable and awful power of coinciding with +or opposing His purposes and His voice. + + 'Our wills are ours, we know not how; + Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.' + +For the other mystery is, that men _do_ consciously set themselves +against the will of God, and refuse the gifts which they know all the +while are for their good. It is of no use to say that sin is +ignorance. No; that is only a surface explanation. You and I know too +well that many a time when we have been as sure of what God wanted us +to do as if we had seen it written in flaming letters on the sky +there, we have gone and done the exact opposite. I know that there +are men and women who are convinced in their inmost souls that they +ought to be Christians, and that Jesus Christ is pleading with them +at the present hour, and yet in whose hearts there is no yielding to +what, they yet are certain, is the will and voice of Jesus Christ. + +IV. Lastly, this obedience may, in a moment, revolutionise a life. + +Paul rode from Jerusalem 'breathing out threatenings and slaughters.' +He fell from his warhorse, a persecutor of Christians, and a bitter +enemy of Jesus. A few moments pass. There was one moment in which the +crucial decision was made; and he staggered to his feet, loving all +that he had hated, and abandoning all in which he had trusted. His +own doctrine that 'if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old +things are passed away and all things are become new,' is but a +generalisation of what befell himself on the Damascus road. It is of +no use trying to say that there had been a warfare going on in this +man's mind long before, of which his complete capitulation was only +the final visible outcome. There is not a trace of anything of the +kind in the story. It is a pure hypothesis pressed into the service +of the anti-supernatural explanation of the fact. + +There are plenty of analogies of such sudden and entire revolution. +All reformation of a moral kind is best done quickly. It is a very +hopeless task, as every one knows, to tell a drunkard to break off +his habits gradually. There must be one moment in which he definitely +turns himself round and sets his face in the other direction. Some +things are best done with slow, continuous pressure; other things +need to be done with a wrench if they are to be done at all. + +There used to be far too much insistence upon one type of religious +experience, and all men that were to be recognised as Christians +were, by evangelical Nonconformists, required to be able to point to +the moment when, by some sudden change, they passed from darkness to +light. We have drifted away from that very far now, and there is need +for insisting, not upon the necessity, but upon the possibility, of +sudden conversions. However some may try to show that such +experiences cannot be, the experience of every earnest Christian +teacher can answer--well! whether they can be or not, they are. Jesus +Christ cured two men gradually, and all the others instantaneously. +No doubt, for young people who have been born amidst Christian +influences, and have grown up in Christian households, the usual way +of becoming Christians is that slowly and imperceptibly they shall +pass into the consciousness of communion with Jesus Christ. But for +people who have grown up irreligious and, perhaps, profligate and +sinful, the most probable way is a sudden stride out of the kingdom +of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. So I come to you all +with this message. No matter what your past, no matter how much of +your life may have ebbed away, no matter how deeply rooted and +obstinate may be your habits of evil, no matter how often you may +have tried to mend yourself and have failed, it is possible by one +swift act of surrender to break the chains and go free. In every +man's life there have been moments into which years have been +crowded, and which have put a wider gulf between his past and his +present self than many slow, languid hours can dig. A great sorrow, a +great joy, a great, newly discerned truth, a great resolve will make +'one day as a thousand years.' Men live through such moments and feel +that the past is swallowed up as by an earthquake. The highest +instance of thus making time elastic and crowding it with meaning is +when a man forms and keeps the swift resolve to yield himself to +Christ. It may be the work of a moment, but it makes a gulf between +past and future, like that which parted the time before and the time +after that in which 'God said, Let there be light: and there was +light.' If you have never yet bowed before the heavenly vision and +yielded yourself as conquered by the love which pardons, to be the +glad servant of the Lord Jesus who takes all His servants into +wondrous oneness with Himself, do it now. You can do it. Delay is +disobedience, and may be death. Do it now, and your whole life will +be changed. Peace and joy and power will come to you, and you, made a +new man, will move in a new world of new relations, duties, energies, +loves, gladnesses, helps, and hopes. If you take heed to prolong the +point into a line, and hour by hour to renew the surrender and the +cry, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' you will ever have the +vision of the Christ enthroned, pardoning, sympathising, and +commanding, which will fill your sky with glory, point the path of +your feet, and satisfy your gaze with His beauty, and your heart with +His all-sufficing and ever-present love. + + + +'ME A CHRISTIAN!' + +'Then Agrlppa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a +Christian.'--ACTS xxvi 28. + +This Agrippa was son of the other Herod of whom we hear in the Acts +as a persecutor. This one appears from other sources, to have had the +vices but not the force of character of his bad race. He was weak and +indolent, a mere hanger-on of Rome, to which he owed his kingdom, and +to which he stoutly stuck during all the tragedy of the fall of +Jerusalem. In position and in character (largely resulting from the +position) he was uncommonly like those semi-independent rajahs in +India, who are allowed to keep up a kind of shadow of authority on +condition of doing what Calcutta bids them. Of course frivolity and +debauchery become the business of such men. What sort of a man this +was may be sufficiently inferred from the fact that Bernice was his +sister. + +But he knew a good deal about the Jews, about their opinions, their +religion, and about what had been going on during the last half +century amongst them. Or grounds of policy he professed to accept the +Jewish faith--of which an edifying example is given in the fact that, +on one occasion, Bernice was prevented from accompanying him to Rome +because she was fulfilling a Nazarite vow in the Temple at Jerusalem! + +So the Apostle was fully warranted in appealing to Agrippa's +knowledge, not only of Judaism, but of the history of Jesus Christ, +and in his further assertion, 'I know that thou believest.' But the +home-thrust was too much for the king. His answer is given in the +words of our text. + +They are very familiar words, and they have been made the basis of a +great many sermons upon being all but persuaded to accept of Christ +as Saviour. But, edifying as such a use of them is, it can scarcely +be sustained by their actual meaning. Most commentators are agreed +that our Authorised Version does not represent either Agrippa's words +or his tone. He was not speaking in earnest. His words are sarcasm, +not a half melting into conviction, and the Revised Version gives +what may, on the whole, be accepted as being a truer representation +of their intention when it reads, 'With but little persuasion thou +wouldst fain make me a Christian.' + +He is half amused and half angry at the Apostle's presumption in +supposing that so easily or so quickly he was going to land his fish. +'It is a more difficult task than you fancy, Paul, to make a +Christian of a man like me.' That is the real meaning of his words, +and I think that, rightly understood, they yield lessons of no less +value than those that have been so often drawn from them as they +appear in our Authorised Version. So I wish to try and gather up and +urge upon you now these lessons:-- + +I. First, then, I see here an example of the danger of a superficial +familiarity with Christian truth. + +As I said, Agrippa knew, in a general way, a good deal not only about +the prophets and the Jewish religion, but of the outstanding facts of +the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul's assumption that he +knew would have been very quickly repudiated if it had not been based +upon fact. And the inference from his acceptance without +contradiction of the Apostle's statement is confirmed by his use of +the word 'Christian,' which had by no means come into general +employment when he spoke; and in itself indicates that he knew a good +deal about the people who were so named. Mark the contrast, for +instance, between him and the bluff Roman official at his side. To +Festus, Paul's talking about a dead man's having risen, and a risen +Jew becoming a light to all nations, was such utter nonsense that, +with characteristic Roman contempt for men with ideas, he breaks in, +with his rough, strident voice, 'Much learning has made thee mad.' +There was not much chance of that cause producing that effect on +Festus. But he was apparently utterly bewildered at this entirely +novel and unintelligible sort of talk. Agrippa, on the other hand, +knows all about the Resurrection; has heard that there was such a +thing, and has a general rough notion of what Paul believed as a +Christian. + +And was he any better for it? No; he was a great deal worse. It took +the edge off a good deal of his curiosity. It made him fancy that he +knew beforehand all that the Apostle had to say. It stood in the way +of his apprehending the truths which he thought that he understood. + +And although the world knows a great deal more about Jesus Christ and +the Gospel than he did, the very same thing is true about hundreds +and thousands of people who have all their lives long been brought +into contact with Christianity. Superficial knowledge is the worst +enemy of accurate knowledge, for the first condition of knowing a +thing is to know that we do not know it. And so there are a great +many of us who, having picked up since childhood vague and partially +inaccurate notions about Christ and His Gospel and what He has done, +are so satisfied on the strength of these that we know all about it, +that we listen to preaching about it with a very languid attention. +The ground in our minds is preoccupied with our own vague and +imperfect apprehensions. I believe that there is nothing that stands +more in the way of hundreds of people coming into real intelligent +contact with Gospel truth than the half knowledge that they have had +of it ever since they were children. You fancy that you know all that +I can tell you. Very probably you do. But have you ever taken a firm +hold of the plain central facts of Christianity--your own sinfulness +and helplessness, your need of a Saviour, the perfect work of Jesus +Christ who died on the Cross for you, and the power of simple faith +therein to join you to Him, and, if followed by consecration and +obedience, to make you partakers of His nature, and heirs of the +inheritance that is above? These are but the fundamentals, the +outlines of Gospel truth. But far too many of you see them, in such a +manner as you see the figures cast upon a screen when the lantern is +not rightly focussed, with a blurred outline, and the blurred outline +keeps you from seeing the sharp-cut truth as it is in Jesus. In all +regions of thought inaccurate knowledge is the worst foe to further +understanding, and eminently is this the case in religion. Brethren, +some of you are in that position. + +Then there is another way in which such knowledge as that of which +the king in our text is an example is a hindrance, and that is, that +it is knowledge which has no effect on character. What do hundreds of +us do with our knowledge of Christianity? Our minds seem built in +watertight compartments, and we keep the doors of them shut very +close, so that truths in the understanding have no influence on the +will. Many of you believe the Gospel intellectually, and it does not +make a hairsbreadth of difference to anything that you ever either +thought or wished or did. And because you so believe it, it is +utterly impossible that it should ever be of any use to you. +'Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.' +'Yes, believest the prophets, and Bernice sitting by thy side there-- +believest the prophets, and livest in utter bestial godlessness.' +What is the good of a knowledge of Christianity like that? And is it +not such knowledge of Christianity that blocks the way with some of +you for anything more real and more operative? There is nothing more +impotent than a firmly believed and utterly neglected truth. And that +is what the Christianity of some of you is when it is analysed. + +II. Now, secondly, notice how we have here the example of a proud man +indignantly recoiling from submission, + +There is a world of contempt in Agrippa's words, in the very putting +side by side of the two things. 'Me! _Me_,' with a very large capital +M--'Me a Christian?' He thinks of his dignity, poor creature. It was +not such a very tremendous dignity after all. He was a petty kinglet, +permitted by the grace of Rome to live and to pose as if he were the +real thing, and yet he struts and claps his wings and crows on his +little hillock as if it were a mountain. '_Me_ a Christian?' 'The +great Agrippa a _Christian_!' And he uses that word 'Christian' with +the intense contempt which coined it and adhered to it, until the men +to whom it was applied were wise enough to take it and bind it as a +crown of honour upon their head. The wits at Antioch first of all hit +upon the designation. They meant a very exquisite piece of sarcasm by +their nickname. These people were 'Christians,' just as some other +people were Herodians--Christ's men, the men of this impostor who +pretended to be a Messiah. That seemed such an intensely ludicrous +thing to the wise people in Antioch that they coined the name; and no +doubt thought they had done a very clever thing. It is only used in +the Bible in tike notice of its origin; here, with a very evident +connotation of contempt; and once more when Peter in his letter +refers to it as being the indictment on which certain disciples +suffered. So when Agrippa says, 'Me a Christian,' he puts all the +bitterness that he can into that last word. As if he said, 'Do you +really think that I--I--am going to bow myself down to be a follower +and adherent of that Christ of yours? The thing is too ridiculous! +With but little persuasion you would fain make me a Christian. But +you will find it a harder task than you fancy.' + +Now, my dear friends, the shape of this unwillingness is changed but +the fact of it remains. There are two or three features of what I +take to be the plain Gospel of Jesus Christ which grate very much +against all self-importance and self-complacency, and operate very +largely, though not always consciously, upon very many amongst us. I +just run them over, very briefly. + +The Gospel insists on dealing with everybody in the same fashion, and +on regarding all as standing on the same level. Many of us do not +like that. Translate Agrippa's scorn into words that fit ourselves: +'I am a well-to-do Manchester man. Am I to stand on the same level as +my office-boy?' Yes! the very same. 'I, a student, perhaps a teacher +of science, or a cultivated man, a scholar, a lawyer, a professional +man--am I to stand on the same level as people that scarcely know how +to read and write?' Yes, exactly. So, like the man in the Old +Testament, 'he turned and went away in a rage.' Many of us would like +that there should be a little private door for us in consideration of +our position or acquirements or respectability, or this, that, or the +other thing. At any rate we are not to be classed in the same +category with the poor and the ignorant and the sinful and the savage +all over the world. But we are so classed. Do not you and the men in +Patagonia breathe the same air? Are not your bodies subject to the +same laws? Have you not to be contented to be fed in the same +fashion, and to sleep and eat and drink in the same way? 'We have all +of us one human heart'; and 'there is no difference, for all have +sinned and come short of the glory of God.' The identities of +humanity, in all its examples, are deeper than the differences in +any. We have all the one Saviour and are to be saved in the same +fashion. That is a humbling thing for those of us who stand upon some +little elevation, real or fancied, but it is only the other side of +the great truth that God's love is world-wide, and that Christ's +Gospel is meant for humanity. Naaman, to whom I have already referred +in passing, wanted to be treated as a great man who happened to be a +leper; Elisha insisted on treating him as a leper who happened to be +a great man. And that makes all the difference. I remember seeing +somewhere that a great surgeon had said that the late Emperor of +Germany would have had a far better chance of being cured if he had +gone _incognito_ to the hospital for throat diseases. We all need the +same surgery, and we must be contented to take it in the same +fashion. So, some of us recoil from humbling equality with the lowest +and worst. + +Then again, another thing that sometimes makes people shrink back +from the Gospel is that it insists upon every one being saved solely +by dependence on Another. We would like to have a part in our +salvation, and many of us had rather do anything in the way of +sacrifice or suffering or penance than take this position: + + 'Nothing in my hand I bring, + Simply to Thy Cross I cling.' + +Corrupt forms of Christianity have taken an acute measure of the +worst parts of human nature, when they have taught men that they can +eke out Christ's work by their own, and have some kind of share in +their own salvation. Dear brethren, I have to bring to you another +Gospel than that, and to say, All is done for us, and all will be +done in us, and nothing has to be done by us. Some of you do not like +that. Just as a man drowning is almost sure to try to help himself, +and get his limbs inextricably twisted round his would-be rescuer and +drown them both, so men will not, without a struggle, consent to owe +everything to Jesus Christ, and to let Him draw them out of many +waters and set them on the safe shore. But unless we do so, we have +little share in His Gospel. + +And another thing stands in the way--namely, that the Gospel insists +upon absolute obedience to Jesus Christ. Agrippa fancied that it was +an utterly preposterous idea that he should lower his flag, and doff +his crown, and become the servant of a Jewish peasant. A great many +of us, though we have a higher idea of our Lord than his, do yet find +it quite as hard to submit our wills to His, and to accept the +condition of absolute obedience, utter resignation to Him, and entire +subjection to His commandment. We say, 'Let my own will have a little +bit of play in a corner.' Some of us find it very hard to believe +that we are to bring all our thinking upon religious and moral +subjects to Him, and to accept His word as conclusive, settling all +controversies. 'I, with my culture; am I to accept what Christ says +as the end of strife?' Yes, absolute submission is the plainest +condition of real Christianity. The very name tells us that. We are +Christians, _i.e._ Christ's men; and unless we are, we have no right +to the name. But some of us had rather be our own masters and enjoy +the miseries of independence and self-will, and so be the slaves of +our worse selves, than bow ourselves utterly before that dear Lord, +and so pass into the freedom of a service love-inspired, and by love +accepted, 'Thou wouldst fain persuade _me_ to be a _Christian_,' is +the recoil of a proud heart from submission. Brethren, let me beseech +you that it may not be yours. + +III. Again, we have here an example of instinctive shrinking from the +personal application of broad truths. + +Agrippa listened, half-amused and a good deal interested, to Paul as +long as he talked generalities and described his own experience. But +when he came to point the generalities and to drive them home to the +hearer's heart it was time to stop him. That question of the +Apostle's, keen and sudden as the flash of a dagger, went straight +home, and the king at once gathered himself together into an attitude +of resistance. Ah, that is what hundreds of people do! You will let +me preach as long as I like--only you will get a little weary +sometimes--you will let me preach generalities _ad libitum_. But when +I come to 'And thou?' then I am 'rude' and 'inquisitorial' and +'personal' and 'trespassing on a region where I have no business,' +and so on and so on. And so you shut up your heart if not your ears. + +And yet, brethren, what is the use of toothless generalities? What am +I here for if I am not here to take these broad, blunt truths and +sharpen them to a point, and try to get them in between the joints of +your armour? Can any man faithfully preach the Gospel who is always +flying over the heads of his hearers with universalities, and never +goes straight to their hearts with 'Thou--thou art the man!' +'Believest _thou_?' + +And so, dear friends, let me press that question upon you. Never mind +about other people. Suppose you and I were alone together and my +words were coming straight _to thee_. Would they not have more power +than they have now? They are so coming. Think away all these other +people, and this place, ay, and me too, and let the word of Christ, +which deals with no crowds but with single souls, come to you in its +individualising force: 'Believest _thou_?' You will have to answer +that question one day. Better to face it now and try to answer it +than to leave it all vague until you get yonder, where 'each one of +us shall give account of _himself_ to God. + +IV. Lastly, we have here an example of a soul close to the light, but +passing into the dark. + +Agrippa listens to Paul; Bernice listens; Festus listens. And what +comes of it? Only this, 'And when they were gone aside, they talked +between themselves, saying, This man hath done nothing worthy of +death or of bonds.' May I translate into a modern equivalent: And +when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, +'This man preached a very impressive sermon,' or, 'This man preached +a very wearisome sermon,' and there an end. + +Agrippa and Bernice went their wicked way, and Festus went his, and +none of them knew what a fateful moment they had passed through. Ah, +brethren! there are many such in our lives when we make decisions +that influence our whole future, and no sign shows that the moment is +any way different from millions of its undistinguished fellows. It is +eminently so in regard to our relation to Jesus Christ and His +Gospel. These three had been in the light; they were never so near it +again. Probably they never heard the Gospel preached any more, and +they went away, not knowing what they had done when they silenced +Paul and left him. Now you will probably hear plenty of sermons in +future. You may or you may not. But be sure of this, that if you go +away from this one, unmelted and unbelieving, you have not done a +trivial thing. You have added one more stone to the barrier that you +yourself build to shut you out from holiness and happiness, from hope +and heaven. It is not I that ask you the question, it is not Paul +that asks it, Jesus Christ Himself says to you, as He said to the +blind man, 'Dost thou believe on the Son of God?' or as He said to +the weeping sister of Lazarus, 'Believest thou this?' O dear friends, +do not answer like this arrogant bit of a king, but cry with tears, +'Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!' + + + +TEMPEST AND TRUST + +And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had +obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by +Crete. 14. But not long after there arose against it a +tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. 15. And when the ship was +caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. +16. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we +had much work to come by the boat: 17. Which when they had taken +up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest +they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were +driven. 18. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the +next day they lightened the ship; 19. And the third day we cast +out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. 20. And when +neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest +lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. +21. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of +them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not +have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. +22. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be +no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. 23. For +there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and +whom I serve, 24. Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought +before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail +with thee. 25. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe +God, that it shall be even as it was told me. 26. Howbeit we must +be cast upon a certain island.'--ACTS xxvii. 13-26. + +Luke's minute account of the shipwreck implies that he was not a Jew. +His interest in the sea and familiarity with sailors' terms are quite +unlike a persistent Jewish characteristic which still continues. We +have a Jew's description of a storm at sea in the Book of Jonah, +which is as evidently the work of a landsman as Luke's is of one who, +though not a sailor, was well up in maritime matters. His narrative +lays hold of the essential points, and is as accurate as it is vivid. +This section has two parts: the account of the storm, and the grand +example of calm trust and cheery encouragement given in Paul's words. + +I. The consultation between the captain of the vessel and the +centurion, at which Paul assisted, strikes us, with our modern +notions of a captain's despotic power on his own deck, and single +responsibility, as unnatural. But the centurion, as a military +officer, was superior to the captain of an Alexandrian corn-ship, and +Paul had already made his force of character so felt that it is not +wonderful that he took part in the discussion. Naturally the +centurion was guided by the professional rather than by the amateur +member of the council, and the decision was come to to push on as far +and fast as possible. + +The ship was lying in a port which gave scanty protection against the +winter weather, and it was clearly wise to reach a more secure +harbour if possible. So when a gentle southerly breeze sprang up, +which would enable them to make such a port, westward from their then +position, they made the attempt. For a time it looked as if they +would succeed, but they had a great headland jutting out in front +which they must get round, and their ability to do this was doubtful. +So they kept close in shore and weathered the point. But before they +had made their harbour the wind suddenly chopped round, as is +frequent of that coast, and the gentle southerly breeze turned into a +fierce squall from the north-east or thereabouts, sweeping down from +the Cretan mountains. That began their troubles. To make the port was +impossible. The unwieldy vessel could not 'face the wind,' and so +they had to run before it. It would carry them in a south-westerly +direction, and towards a small island, under the lee of which they +might hope for some shelter. Here they had a little breathing time, +and could make things rather more ship-shape than they had been able +to do when suddenly caught by the squall. Their boat had been towing +behind them, and had to be hoisted on deck somehow. + +A more important, and probably more difficult, task was to get strong +hawsers under the keel and round the sides, so as to help to hold the +timbers together. The third thing was the most important of all, and +has been misunderstood by commentators who knew more about Greek +lexicons than ships. The most likely explanation of 'lowering the +gear' (Rev. Ver.) is that it means 'leaving up just enough of sail to +keep the ship's head to the wind, and bringing down everything else +that could be got down' (Ramsay, _St. Paul_, p. 329). + +Note that Luke says 'we' about hauling in the boat, and 'they' about +the other tasks. He and the other passengers could lend a hand in the +former, but not in the latter, which required more skilled labour. +The reason for bringing down all needless top-hamper, and leaving up +a little sail, was to keep the vessel from driving on to the great +quicksands off the African coast, to which they would certainly have +been carried if the wind held. + +As soon as they had drifted out from the lee of the friendly little +island they were caught again in the storm. They were in danger of +going down. As they drifted they had their 'starboard' broadside to +the force of the wild sea, and it was a question how long the +vessel's sides would last before they were stove in by the hammering +of the waves, or how long she would be buoyant enough to ship seas +without foundering. The only chance was to lighten her, so first the +crew 'jettisoned' the cargo, and next day, as that did not give +relief enough,'they,' or, according to some authorities, 'we'--that +is passengers and all--threw everything possible overboard. + +That was the last attempt to save themselves, and after it there was +nothing to do but to wait the apparently inevitable hour when they +would all go down together. Idleness feeds despair, and despair +nourishes idleness. Food was scarce, cooking it was impossible, +appetite there was none. The doomed men spent the long idle days-- +which were scarcely day, so thick was the air with mist and foam and +tempest--crouching anywhere for shelter, wet, tired, hungry, and +hopeless. So they drifted 'for many days,' almost losing count of the +length of time they had been thus. It was a gloomy company, but there +was one man there in whom the lamp of hope burned when it had gone +out in all others. Sun and stars were hidden, but Paul saw a better +light, and his sky was clear and calm. + +II. A common danger makes short work of distinctions of rank. In such +a time some hitherto unnoticed man of prompt decision, resource, and +confidence, will take the command, whatever his position. Hope, as +well as timidity and fear, is infectious, and one cheery voice will +revive the drooping spirits of a multitude. Paul had already +established his personal ascendency in that motley company of Roman +soldiers, prisoners, sailors, and disciples. Now he stands forward +with calm confidence, and infuses new hope into them all. What a +miraculous change passes on externals when faith looks at them! The +circumstances were the same as they had been for many days. The wind +was howling and the waves pounding as before, the sky was black with +tempest, and no sign of help was in sight, but Paul spoke, and all +was changed, and a ray of sunshine fell on the wild waters that beat +on the doomed vessel. + +Three points are conspicuous in his strong tonic words. First, there +is the confident assurance of safety. A less noble nature would have +said more in vindication of the wisdom of his former advice. It is +very pleasant to small minds to say, 'Did I not tell you so? You see +how right I was.' But the Apostle did not care for petty triumphs of +that sort. A smaller man might have sulked because his advice had not +been taken, and have said to himself, 'They would not listen to me +before, I will hold my tongue now.' But the Apostle only refers to +his former counsel and its confirmation in order to induce acceptance +of his present words. + +It is easy to 'bid' men 'be of good cheer,' but futile unless some +reason for good cheer is given. Paul gave good reason. No man's life +was to be lost though the ship was to go. He had previously predicted +that life, as well as ship and lading, would be lost if they put to +sea. That opinion was the result of his own calculation of +probabilities, as he lets us understand by saying that he 'perceived' +it (ver. 10). Now he speaks with authority, not from his perception, +but from God's assurance. The bold words might well seem folly to the +despairing crew as they caught them amidst the roar of tempest and +looked at their battered hulk. So Paul goes at once to tell the +ground of his confidence--the assurance of the angel of God. + +What a contrast between the furious gale, the almost foundering ship, +the despair in the hearts of the sleeping company, and the bright +vision that came to Paul! Peter in prison, Paul in Caesarea and now +in the storm, see the angel form calm and radiant. God's messengers +are wont to come into the darkest of our hours and the wildest of our +tempests. + +Paul's designation of the heavenly messenger as 'an angel of the God +whose I am, whom also I serve,' recalls Jonah's confession of faith, +but far surpasses it, in the sense of belonging to God, and in the +ardour of submission and of active obedience, expressed in it. What +Paul said to the Corinthians (1 Cor. vi. 19) he realised for himself: +'Ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price.' To recognise +that we are God's, joyfully to yield ourselves to Him, and with all +the forces of our natures to serve Him, is to bring His angel to our +sides in every hour of tempest and peril, and to receive assurance +that nothing shall by any means harm us. To yield ourselves to be +God's is to make God ours. It was because Paul owned that he belonged +to God, and served Him, that the angel came to him, and he explains +the vision to his hearers by his relation to God. Anything was +possible rather than that his God should leave him unhelped at such +an hour of need. + +The angel's message must have included particulars unnoticed in +Luke's summary; as, for instance, the wreck on 'a certain island.' +But the two salient points in it are the certainty of Paul's own +preservation, that the divine purpose of his appearing before Caesar +might be fulfilled, and the escape of all the ship's company. As to +the former, we may learn how Paul's life, like every man's, is shaped +according to a divine plan, and how we are 'immortal till our work is +done,' and till God has done His work in and on and by us. As to the +latter point, we may gather from the word 'has _given_' the certainty +that Paul had been praying for the lives of all that sailed with him, +and may learn, not only that the prayers of God's servants are a real +element in determining God's dealings with men, but that a true +servant of God's will ever reach out his desires and widen his +prayers to embrace those with whom he is brought into contact, be +they heathens, persecutors, rough and careless, or fellow-believers. +If Christian people more faithfully discharged the duty of +intercession, they would more frequently receive in answer the lives +of 'all them that sail with' them over the stormy ocean of life. + +The third point in the Apostle's encouraging speech is the example of +his own faith, which is likewise an exhortation to the hearers to +exercise the same. If God speaks by His angel with such firm +promises, man's plain wisdom is to grasp the divine assurance with a +firm hand. We must build rock upon rock. 'I believe God,' that surely +is a credence demanded by common sense and warranted by the sanest +reason. If we do so believe, and take His word as the infallible +authority revealing present duty and future blessings, then, however +lowering the sky, and wild the water, and battered the vessel, and +empty of earthly succour the gloomy horizon, and heavy our hearts, we +shall 'be of good cheer,' and in due time the event will warrant our +faith in God and His promise, even though all around us seems to make +our faith folly and our hope a mockery. + + + +A SHORT CONFESSION OF FAITH + +'...There stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, +and whom I serve.'--ACTS xxvii. 23. + +I turn especially to those last words, 'Whose I am and whom I serve.' + +A great calamity, borne by a crowd of men in common, has a wonderful +power of dethroning officials and bringing the strong man to the +front. So it is extremely natural, though it has been thought to be +very unhistorical, that in this story of Paul's shipwreck he should +become guide, counsellor, inspirer, and a tower of strength; and that +centurions and captains and all the rest of those who held official +positions should shrink into the background. The natural force of his +character, the calmness and serenity that came from his faith--these +things made him the leader of the bewildered crowd. One can scarcely +help contrasting this shipwreck--the only one in the New Testament-- +with that in the Old Testament. Contrast Jonah with Paul, the guilty +stupor of the one, down 'in the sides of the ship' cowering before +the storm, with the calm behaviour and collected courage of the +other. + +The vision of which the Apostle speaks does not concern us here, but +in the words which I have read there are several noteworthy points. +They bring vividly before us the essence of true religion, the bold +confession which it prompts, and the calmness and security which it +ensures. Let us then look at them from these points of view. + +I. We note the clear setting forth of the essence of true religion. + +Remember that Paul is speaking to heathens; that his present purpose +is not to preach the Gospel, but to make his own position clear. So +he says 'the God'--never mind who _He_ is at present--'the God to +whom I belong '--that covers all the inward life--'and whom I serve' +--that covers all the outward. + +'Whose I am.' That expresses the universal truth that men belong to +God by virtue of their being the creatures of His hand. As the 100th +Psalm says, according to one, and that a probably correct reading, +'It is He that hath made us, and _we are His_.' But the Apostle is +going a good deal deeper than any such thoughts, which he, no doubt, +shared in common with the heathen men around him, when he declares +that, in a special fashion, God had claimed him for His, and he had +yielded to the claim. 'I am Thine,' is the deepest thought of this +man's mind and the deepest feeling of his heart. And that is +godliness in its purest form, the consciousness of belonging to God. +We must interpret this saying by others of the Apostle's, such as, +'Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify +God in your bodies and spirits which are His.' He traces God's +possession of him, not to that fact of creation (which establishes a +certain outward relationship, but nothing more), nor even to the +continuous facts of benefits showered upon his head, but to the one +transcendent act of the divine Love, which gave itself to us, and so +acquired us for itself. For we must recognise as the deepest of all +thoughts about the relations of spiritual beings, that, as in regard +to ourselves in our earthly affections, so in regard to our relations +with God, there is only one way by which a spirit can own a spirit, +whether it be a man on the one side and a woman on the other, or +whether it be God on the one side and a man on the other, and that +one way is by the sweetness of complete and reciprocal love. He who +gives himself to God gets God for himself. So when Paul said, 'Whose +I am,' he was thinking that he would never have belonged either to +God or to himself unless, first of all, God, in His own Son, had +given Himself to Paul. The divine ownership of us is only realised +when we are consciously His, because of the sacrifice of Jesus +Christ. + +Brethren, God does not count that a man belongs to Him simply because +He made him, if the man does not feel his dependence, his obligation, +and has not surrendered himself. He in the heavens loves you and me +too well to care for a formal and external ownership. He desires +hearts, and only they who have yielded themselves unto God, moved +thereto by the mercies of God, and especially by the encyclopaediacal +mercy which includes all the rest in its sweep, only they belong to +Him, in the estimate of the heavens. + +And if you and I are His, then that involves that we have deposed +from his throne the rebel Self, the ancient Anarch that disturbs and +ruins us. They who belong to God cease to live to themselves. There +are two centres for human life, and I believe there are only two--the +one is God, the other is my wretched self. And if we are swept, as it +were, out of the little orbit that we move in, when the latter is our +centre, and are drawn by the weight and mass of the great central sun +to become its satellites, then we move in a nobler orbit and receive +fuller and more blessed light and warmth. They who have themselves +for their centres are like comets, with a wide elliptical course, +which carries them away out into the cold abysses of darkness. They +who have God for their sun are like planets. The old fable is true of +these 'sons of the morning'--they make music as they roll and they +flash back His light. + +And then do not let us forget that this yielding of one's self to +Him, swayed by His love, and this surrendering of will and purpose +and affection and all that makes up our complex being, lead directly +to the true possession of Him and the true possession of ourselves. + +I have said that the only way by which spirit possesses spirit is by +love, and that it must needs be on both sides. So we get God for +ourselves when we give ourselves to God. There is a wonderful +alternation of giving and receiving between the loving God and his +beloved lovers; first the impartation of the divine to the human, +then the surrender of the human to the divine, and then the larger +gift of God to man, just as in some series of mirrors the light is +flashed back from the one to the other, in bewildering manifoldness +and shimmering of rays from either polished surface. God is ours when +we are God's. 'And this is the covenant that I will make with them +after these days, saith the Lord. I will be their God, and they shall +be My people.' + +And, in like manner, we never own ourselves until we have given +ourselves to God. Each of us is like some feudatory prince, dependent +upon an overlord. His subjects in his little territory rebel, and he +has no power to subdue the insurgents, but he can send a message to +the capital, and get the army of the king, who is his sovereign and +theirs, to come down and bring them back to order, and establish his +tottering throne. So if you desire to own yourself or to know the +sweetness that you may get out of your own nature and the exercise of +your powers, if you desire to be able to govern the realm within, put +yourself into God's hands and say, 'I am Thine; hold Thou me up, and +I shall be safe.' + +I need not say more than just a word about the other side of Paul's +confession of faith, 'Whom I serve.' He employs the word which means +the service of a worshipper, or even of a priest, and not that which +means the service of a slave. His purpose was to represent how, as +his whole inward nature bowed in submission to, and was under the +influence of, God to whom he belonged, so his whole outward life was +a life of devotion. He was serving Him there in the ship, amidst the +storm and the squalor and the terror. His calmness was service; his +confidence was service; the cheery words that he was speaking to +these people were service. And on his whole life he believed that +this was stamped, that he was devoted to God. So _there_ is the true +idea of a Christian life, that in all its aspects, attitudes, and +acts it is to be a manifestation, in visible form, of inward devotion +to, and ownership by, God. All our work may be worship, and we may +'pray without ceasing,' though no supplications come from our lips, +if our hearts are in touch with Him and through our daily life we +serve and honour Him. God's priests never are far away from their +altar, and never are without, somewhat to offer, as long as they have +the activities of daily duty and the difficulties of daily conflict +to bring to Him and spread before Him. + +II. So let me turn for a moment to some of the other aspects of these +words to which I have already referred, I find in them, next, the +bold confession which true religion requires. + +Shipboard is a place where people find out one another very quickly. +Character cannot well be hid there. And such circumstances as Paul +had been in for the last fortnight, tossing up and down in _Adria_, +with Death looking over the bulwarks of the crazy ship every moment, +were certain to have brought out the inmost secrets of character. +Paul durst not have said to these people 'the God whose I am and whom +I serve' if he had not known that he had been living day by day a +consistent and godly life amongst them. + +And so, I note, first of all, that this confession of individual and +personal relationship to God is incumbent on every Christian. We do +not need to be always brandishing it before people's faces. There is +very little fear of the average Christian of this day blundering on +that side. But we need, still less, to be always hiding it away. One +hears a great deal from certain quarters about a religion that does +not need to be vocal but shows what it is, without the necessity for +words. Blessed be God! there is such a religion, but you will +generally find that the people who have most of it are the people who +are least tongue-tied when opportunity arises; and that if they have +been witnessing for God in their quiet discharge of duty, with their +hands instead of their lips, they are quite as ready to witness with +their lips when it is fitting that they should do so. And surely, +surely, if a man belongs to God, and if his whole life is to be the +manifestation of the ownership that he recognises, that which +specially reveals him--viz., his own articulate speech--cannot be +left out of his methods of manifestation. + +I am afraid that there are a great many professing Christian people +nowadays who never, all their lives, have said to any one, 'The God +whose I am and whom I serve.' And I beseech you, dear brethren, +suffer this word of exhortation. To say so is a far more effectual, +or at least more powerful, means of appeal than any direct invitation +to share in the blessings. You may easily offend a man by saying to +him, 'Won't you be a Christian too?' But it is hard to offend if you +simply say that you are a Christian. The statement of personal +experience is more powerful by far than all argumentation or +eloquence or pleading appeals. We do more when we say, 'That which we +have tasted and felt and handled of the Word of Life, declare we unto +you,' than by any other means. + +Only remember that the avowal must be backed up by a life, as Paul's +was backed up on board that vessel. For unless it is so, the +profession does far more harm than good. There are always keen +critics round us, especially if we say that we are Christians. There +were keen critics on board that ship. Do you think that these Roman +soldiers, and the other prisoners, would not have smiled +contemptuously at Paul, if this had been the first time that they had +any reason to suppose that he was at all different from them? They +would have said, 'The God whose _you_ are and whom _you_ serve? Why, +you are just the same sort of man as if you worshipped Jupiter like +the rest of us!' And that is what the world has a right to say to +Christian people. The clearer our profession, the holier must be our +lives. + +III. Last of all, I find in these words the calmness and security +which true religion secures. + +The story, as I have already glanced at it in my introductory +remarks, brings out very wonderfully and very beautifully Paul's +promptitude, his calmness in danger, his absolute certainty of +safety, and his unselfish thoughtfulness about his companions in +peril. And all these things were the direct results of his entire +surrender to God, and of the consistency of his daily life. It needed +the angel in the vision to assure him that his life would be spared. +But whether the angel had ever come or not, and though death had been +close at his hand, the serenity and the peaceful assurance of safety +which come out so beautifully in the story would have been there all +the same. The man who can say 'I belong to God' does not need to +trouble himself about dangers. He will have to exercise his common +sense, as the Apostle shows us; he will have to use all the means +that are in his power for the accomplishment of ends that he knows to +be right and legitimate. But having done all that, he can say, 'I +belong to Him,' it is His business to look after His own property. He +is not going to hold His possessions with such a slack hand as that +they shall slip between His fingers, and be lost in the mire. 'Thou +wilt not lose the souls that are Thine in the grave, neither wilt +Thou suffer the man whom Thou lovest to see corruption.' God keeps +His treasures, and the surer we are that He is able to keep them unto +that day, the calmer we may be in all our trouble. + +And the safety that followed was also the direct result of the +relationship of mutual possession and love established between God +and the Apostle. We do not know to which of the two groups of the +shipwrecked Paul belonged; whether he could swim or whether he had to +hold on to some bit of floating wreckage or other, and so got 'safe +to land.' But whichever way it was, it was neither his swimming nor +the spar to which, perhaps, he clung, that landed him safe on shore. +It was the God to whom he belonged. Faith is the true lifebelt that +keeps us from being drowned in any stormy sea. And if you and I feel +that we are His, and live accordingly, we shall be calm amid all +change, serene when others are troubled, ready to be helpers of +others even when we ourselves are in distress. And when the crash +comes, and the ship goes to pieces: 'so it will come to pass that, +some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, they all come +safe to land,' and when the Owner counts His subjects and possessions +on the quiet shore, as the morning breaks, there will not be one who +has been lost in the surges, or whose name will be unanswered to when +the muster-roll of the crew is called. + + + +A TOTAL WRECK, ALL HANDS SAVED + +'And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they +had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they +would have cast anchors out of the foreship, 31. Paul said to the +centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye +cannot be saved. 32. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the +boat, and let her fall off. 33. And while the day was coming on, +Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the +fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having +taken nothing. 34. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat; for +this is for your health; for there shall not an hair fall from +the head of any of you. 35. And when he had thus spoken, he took +bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when +he had broken it, he began to eat. 36. Then were they all of good +cheer, and they also took some meat. 37. And we were in all in +the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. 38. And when +they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the +wheat into the sea. 39. And when it was day, they knew not the +land; but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the +which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the +ship. 40. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed +themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder-bands, and noised +up the main-sail to the wind, and made toward shore. 41. And +falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship +aground: and the fore part stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, +but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. +42. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest +any-of them should swim out, and escape. 43. But the centurion, +willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose: and commanded +that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the +sea, and get to land: 44. And the rest some on boards, and some +on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they +escaped all safe to land.'--ACTS xxvii 30-44. + +The Jews were not seafaring people. Their coast had no safe harbours, +and they seldom ventured on the Mediterranean. To find Paul in a ship +with its bow pointed westwards is significant. It tells of the +expansion of Judaism into a world-wide religion, and of the future +course of Christianity. The only Old Testament parallel is Jonah, and +the dissimilarities of the two incidents are as instructive as are +their resemblances. + +This minute narrative is evidently the work of one of the passengers +who knew a good deal about nautical matters. It reads like a log- +book. But as James Smith has well noted in his interesting monograph +on the chapter, the writer's descriptions, though accurate, are +unprofessional, thus confirming Luke's authorship. Where had the +'beloved physician' learned so much about the sea and ships? Did the +great galleys carry surgeons as now? At all events the story is one +of the most graphic accounts ever written. This narrative begins when +the doomed ship has cast anchor, with a rocky coast close under her +lee. The one question is, Will the four anchors hold? No wonder that +the passengers longed for daylight! + +The first point is the crew's dastardly trick to save themselves, +frustrated by Paul's insight and promptitude. The pretext for getting +into the boat was specious. Anchoring by the bow as well as by the +stern would help to keep the ship from driving ashore; and if once +the crew were in the boat and pulled as far as was necessary to lay +out the anchors, it would be easy, under cover of the darkness, to +make good their escape on shore and leave the landsmen on board to +shift for themselves. The boat must have been of considerable size to +hold the crew of so large a ship. It was already lying alongside, and +landsmen would not suspect what lay under the apparently brave +attempt to add to the vessel's security, but Paul did so. His +practical sagacity was as conspicuous a trait as his lofty +enthusiasm. Common sense need not be divorced from high aims or from +the intensest religious self-devotion. The idealist beat the +practical centurion in penetrating the sailors' scheme. + +That must have been a great nature which combined such different +characteristics as the Apostle shows. Unselfish devotion is often +wonderfully clear-sighted as to the workings of its opposite. The +Apostle's promptitude is as noticeable as his penetration. He wastes +no time in remonstrance with the cowards, who would have been over +the side and off in the dark while he talked, but goes straight to +the man in authority. Note, too, that he keeps his place as a +prisoner. It is not his business to suggest what is to be done. That +might have been resented as presumptuous; but he has a right to point +out the danger, and he leaves the centurion to settle how to meet it. +Significantly does he say 'ye,' not 'we.' He was perfectly certain +that he 'must be brought before Caesar'; and though he believed that +all on board would escape, he seems to regard his own safety as even +more certain than that of the others. + +The lesson often drawn from his words is rightly drawn. They imply +the necessity of men's action in order to carry out God's purpose. +The whole shipful are to be saved, but 'except these abide ... ye +cannot be saved,' The belief that God wills anything is a reason for +using all means to effect it, not for folding our hands and saying, +'God will do it, whether we do anything or not.' The line between +fatalism and Christian reliance on God's will is clearly drawn in +Paul's words. + +Note too the prompt, decisive action of the soldiers. They waste no +words, nor do they try to secure the sailors, but out with their +knives and cut the tow-rope, and away into the darkness drifts the +boat. It might have been better to have kept it, as affording a +chance of safety for all; but probably it was wisest to get rid of it +at once. Many times in every life it is necessary to sacrifice +possible advantages in order to secure a more necessary good. The +boat has to be let go if the passengers in the ship are to be saved. +Misused good things have sometimes to be given up in order to keep +people from temptation. + +The next point brings Paul again to the front. In the night he had +been the saviour of the whole shipload of people. Now as the twilight +is beginning, and the time for decisive action will soon be here with +the day, he becomes their encourager and counsellor. Again his saving +common sense is shown. He knew that the moment for intense struggle +was at hand, and so he prepares them for it by getting them to eat a +substantial breakfast. It was because of his faith that he did so. +His religion did not lead him to do as some people would have done-- +begin to talk to the soldiers about their souls--but he looked after +their bodies. Hungry, wet, sleepless, they were in no condition to +scramble through the surf, and the first thing to be done was to get +some food into them. Of course he does not mean that they had eaten +absolutely nothing for a fortnight, but only that they had had scanty +nourishment. But Paul's religion went harmoniously with his care for +men's bodies. He 'gave thanks to God in presence of them all'; and +who shall say that that prayer did not touch hearts more deeply than +religious talk would have done? Paul's calmness would be contagious; +and the root of it, in his belief in what his God had told him, would +be impressively manifested to all on board. Moods are infectious; so +'they were all of good cheer,' and no doubt things looked less black +after a hearty meal, + +A little point may be noticed here, namely, the naturalness of the +insertion of the numbers on board at this precise place in the +narrative. There would probably be a muster of all hands for the +meal, and in view of the approaching scramble, in order that, if they +got to shore, there might be certainty as to whether any were lost. +So here the numbers come in. They were still not without hope of +saving the ship, though Paul had told them it would be lost; and so +they jettison the cargo of wheat from Alexandria. By this time it is +broad day and something must be done. + +The next point is the attempt to beach the vessel. 'They knew not the +land,' that is, the part of the coast where they had been driven; but +they saw that, while for the most part it was iron-bound, there was a +shelving sandy bay at one point on to which it might be possible to +run her ashore. The Revised Version gives a much more accurate and +seaman-like account than the Authorised Version does. The anchors +were not taken on board, but to save time and trouble were 'left in +the sea,' the cables being simply cut. The 'rudder-bands'--that is, +the lashings which had secured the two paddle-like rudders, one on +either beam, which had been tied up to be out of the way when the +stern anchors were put out--are loosed, and the rudders drop into +place. The foresail (not 'mainsail,' as the Authorised Version has +it) is set to help to drive the ship ashore. It is all exactly what +we should expect to be done. + +But an unexpected difficulty met the attempt, which is explained by +the lie of the coast at St. Paul's Bay, Malta, as James Smith fully +describes in his book. A little island, separated from the mainland +by a channel of not more than one hundred yards in breadth, lies off +the north-east point of the bay, and to a beholder at the entrance to +the bay looks as if continuous with it. When the ship got farther in, +they would see the narrow channel, through which a strong current +sets and makes a considerable disturbance as it meets the run of the +water in the bay. A bank of mud has been formed at the point of +meeting. Thus not only the water shoals, but the force of the current +through the narrows would hinder the ship from getting past it to the +beach. The two things together made her ground, 'stem on' to the +bank; and then, of course, the heavy sea running into the bay, +instead of helping her to the shore, began to break up the stern +which was turned towards it. + +Common peril makes beasts of prey and their usual victims crouch +together. Benefits received touch generous hearts. But the +legionaries on board had no such sentiments. Paul's helpfulness was +forgotten. A still more ignoble exhibition of the instinct of self- +preservation than the sailors had shown dictated that cowardly, cruel +suggestion to kill the prisoners. Brutal indifference to human life, +and Rome's iron discipline holding terror over the legionaries' +heads, are vividly illustrated in the 'counsel,' So were Paul's +kindnesses requited! It is hard to melt rude natures even by +kindness; and if Paul had been looking for gratitude he would have +been disappointed, as we so often are. But if we do good to men +because we expect requital, even in thankfulness, we are not pure in +motive. 'Looking for nothing again' is the spirit enforced by God's +pattern and by experience. + +The centurion had throughout, like most of his fellows in Scripture, +been kindly disposed, and showed more regard for Paul than the rank +and file did. He displays the good side of militarism, while they +show its bad side; for he is collected, keeps his head in +extremities, knows his own mind, holds the reins in a firm hand, even +in that supreme moment, has a quick eye to see what must be done, and +decision to order it at once. It was prudent to send first those who +could swim; they could then help the others. The distance was short, +and as the bow was aground, there would be some shelter under the lee +of the vessel, and shoal water, where they could wade, would be +reached in a few minutes or moments. + +'And so it came to pass, that they all escaped safe to the land.' So +Paul had assured them they would. God needs no miracles in order to +sway human affairs. Everything here was perfectly 'natural,' and yet +His hand wrought through all, and the issue was His fulfilment of His +promises. If we rightly look at common things, we shall see God +working in them all, and believe that He can deliver us as truly +without miracles as ever He did any by miracles. Promptitude, +prudence, skill, and struggle with the waves, saved the whole two +hundred and seventy-six souls in that battered ship; yet it was God +who saved them all. Whether Paul was among the party that could swim, +or among the more helpless who had to cling to anything that would +float, he was held up by God's hand, and it was He who 'sent from +above, took him, and drew him out of many waters.' + + + +AFTER THE WRECK + +'And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was +called Melita. 2. And the barbarous people showed us no little +kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, +because of the present rain, and because of the cold. 3. And when +Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, +there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4. +And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, +they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, +whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not +to live. 5. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no +harm. 6. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or +fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great +while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and +said that he was a god. 7. In the same quarters were possessions +of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius: who +received us, and lodged us three days courteously. 8. And it came +to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever, and of a +bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his +hands on him, and healed him. 9. So when this was done, others +also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: +10. Who also honoured us with many honours: and when we departed, +they laded us with such things as were necessary. 11. And after +three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had +wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. 12. And +landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. 13. And from +thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one +day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli; 14. +Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them +seven days: and so we went toward Rome. 15. And from thence, when +the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii +Forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, +and took courage. 16. And when we came to Rome, the centurion +delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was +suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.' +--ACTS xxviii. 1-16. + +'They _all_ escaped safe to land,' says Luke with emphasis, pointing +to the verification of Paul's assurance that there should be no loss +of life. That two hundred and seventy-six men on a wreck should all +be saved was very improbable, but the angel had promised, and Paul +had believed that it should be 'even so as it had been spoken unto +him.' Therefore the improbable came to pass, and every man of the +ship's company stood safe on the shore. Faith which grasps God's +promise 'laughs at impossibilities' and brings them into the region +of facts. + +Wet, cold, weary, and anxious, the rescued men huddled together on +the shore in the early morning, and no doubt they were doubtful what +reception they would have from the islanders who had been attracted +to the beach. Their first question was, 'Where are we?' so completely +had they lost their reckoning. Some of the inhabitants could speak +Greek or Latin, and could tell them that they were on Melita, but the +most part of the crowd that came round them could only speak in a +tongue strange to Luke, and are therefore called by him 'barbarians,' +not as being uncivilised, but as not speaking Greek. But they could +speak the eloquent language of kindness and pity. They were heathens, +but they were men. They had not come down to the wreck for plunder, +as might have been feared, but to help the unfortunates who were +shivering on the beach in the downpour of rain, and chilled to the +bone by exposure. + +As always, Paul fills Luke's canvas; the other two hundred and +seventy-five were ciphers. Two incidents, in which the Apostle +appears as protected by God from danger, and as a fountain of healing +for others, are all that is told of the three months' stay in Malta. +Taken together, these cover the whole ground of the Christian's place +in the world; he is an object of divine care, he is a medium of +divine blessing. In the former one, we see in Paul's activity in +gathering his bundle of brushwood an example of how he took the +humblest duties on himself, and was not hindered either by the false +sense of dignity which keeps smaller men from doing small things, as +Chinese gentlemen pride themselves on long nails as a token that they +do no work, or by the helplessness in practical matters which is +sometimes natural to, and often affected by, men of genius, from +taking his share in common duties. + +The shipwreck took place in November probably, and the 'viper' had +curled itself up for its winter sleep, and had been lifted with the +twigs by Paul's hasty hand. Roused by the warmth, it darted at Paul's +hand before it could be withdrawn, and fixed its fangs. The sight of +it dangling there excited suspicions in the mind of the natives, who +would know that Paul was a prisoner, and so jumped to the conclusion +that he was a murderer pursued by the Goddess of Justice. These rude +islanders had consciences, which bore witness to a divine law of +retribution. + +However mistaken may be heathens' conceptions of what constitutes +right and wrong, they all know that it is wrong to do wrong, and the +dim anticipation of God-inflicted punishment is in their hearts. The +swift change of opinion about Paul is like, though it is the reverse +of, what the people of Lystra thought of him. _They_ first took him +for a god, and then for a criminal, worshipping him to-day and +stoning him to-morrow. This teaches us how unworthy the heathen +conception of a deity is, and how lightly the name was given. It may +teach us too how fickle and easily led popular judgments are, and how +they are ever prone to rush from one extreme to another, so that the +people's idol of one week is their abhorrence the next, and the +applause and execration are equally undeserved. These Maltese critics +did what many of us are doing with less excuse--arguing as to men's +merits from their calamities or successes. A good man may be stung by +a serpent in the act of doing a good thing; that does not prove him +to be a monster. He may be unhurt by what seems fatal; that does not +prove him to be a god or a saint. + +The other incident recorded as occurring in Malta brings out the +Christian's relation to others as a source of healing. An interesting +incidental proof of Luke's accuracy is found in the fact that +inscriptions discovered in Malta show that the official title of the +governor was 'First of the Melitaeans.' The word here rendered +'chief' is literally 'first.' Luke's precision is shown in another +direction in his diagnosis of the diseases of Publius's father, which +are described by technical medical terms. The healing seems to have +been unasked. Paul 'went in,' as if from a spontaneous wish to render +help. There is no record of any expectation or request from Publius. + +Christians are to be 'like the dew on the grass, which waiteth not +for man,' but falls unsought. The manner of the healing brings out +very clearly its divine source, and Paul's part as being simply that +of the channel for God's power. He prays, and then lays his hands on +the sick man. There are no words assuring him of healing. God is +invoked, and then His power flows through the hands of the suppliant. +So with all our work for men in bringing the better cure with which +we are entrusted, we are but channels of the blessing, pipes through +which the water of life is brought to thirsty lips. Therefore prayer +must precede and accompany all Christian efforts to communicate the +healing of the Gospel; and the most gifted are but, like Paul, +'ministers through whom' faith and salvation come. + +The argument from silence is precarious, but the entire omission of +notice of evangelistic work in Melita is noteworthy. Probably the +Apostle as a prisoner was not free to preach Christ in any public +manner. + +Ancient navigation was conducted in a leisurely fashion very strange +to us. Three months' delay in the island, rendered necessary by +wintry storms, would end about the early part of March, when the +season for safe sailing began. So the third ship which was used in +this voyage set sail. Luke notices its 'sign' as being that of the +Twin Brethren, the patrons of sailors, whose images were, no doubt, +displayed on the bow, just as to-day boats in that region often have +a Madonna nailed on the mast. Strange conjunction--Castor and Pollux +on the prow, and Paul on the deck! + +Puteoli, on the bay of Naples, was the landing-place, and there, +after long confinement with uncongenial companions, the three +Christians, Paul, Aristarchus, and Luke, found brethren. We can +understand the joy of such a meeting, and can almost hear the +narrative of perils which would be poured into sympathetic ears. +Observe that, according to what seems the true reading, verse 14 +says, 'We were consoled among them, remaining seven days.' The +centurion could scarcely delay his march to please the Christians at +Puteoli; and the thought that the Apostle, whose spirit had never +flagged while danger was near and effort was needed, felt some +tendency to collapse, and required cheering when the strain was off, +is as natural as it is pathetic. + +So the whole company set off on their march to Rome--about a hundred +and forty miles. The week's delay in Puteoli would give time for +apprising the church in Rome of the Apostle's coming, and two parties +came out to meet him, one travelling as far as Appii Forum, about +forty Roman miles from the city; the other as far as 'The Three +Taverns,' some ten miles nearer it. The simple notice of the meeting +is more touching than many words would have been. It brings out again +the Apostle's somewhat depressed state, partly due, no doubt, to +nervous tension during the long and hazardous voyage, and partly to +his consciousness that the decisive moment was very near. But when he +grasped the hands and looked into the faces of the Roman brethren, +whom he had so long hungered to see, and to whom he had poured out +his heart in his letter, he 'thanked God, and took courage.' The most +heroic need, and are helped by, the sympathy of the humble. Luther +was braced for the Diet of Worms by the knight who clapped him on the +back as he passed in and spoke a hearty word of cheer. + +There would be some old friends in the delegation of Roman +Christians, perhaps some of those who are named in Romans xvi., such +as Priscilla and Aquila, and the unnamed matron, Rufus's mother, whom +Paul there calls 'his mother and mine.' It would be an hour of love +and effusion, and the shadow of appearing before Caesar would not +sensibly dim the brightness. Paul saw God's hand in that glad +meeting, as we should do in all the sweetness of congenial +intercourse. It was not only because the welcomers were his friends +that he was glad, but because they were Christ's friends and +servants. The Apostle saw in them the evidence that the kingdom was +advancing even in the world's capital, and under the shadow of +Caesar's throne, and that gladdened him and made him forget personal +anxieties. We too should be willing to sink our own interests in the +joy of seeing the spread of Christ's kingdom. + +Paul turned thankfulness for the past and present into calm hope for +the future: 'He took courage.' There was much to discourage and to +excuse tremors and forebodings, but he had God and Christ with him, +and therefore he could front the uncertain future without flinching, +and leave all its possibilities in God's hands. Those who have such a +past as every Christian has should put fear far from them, and go +forth to meet any future with quiet hearts, and minds kept in perfect +peace because they are stayed on God. + + + +THE LAST GLIMPSE OF PAUL + +'And it came to pass, that, after three days, Paul called the +chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he +said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing +against the people or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered +prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans; 18. Who, +when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there +was no cause of death in me. 19. But when the Jews spake against +it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought +to accuse my nation of. 20. For this cause therefore have I +called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that +for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. 21. And they +said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea +concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or +spake any harm of thee. 22. But we desire to hear of thee what +thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that +everywhere it is spoken against. 23. And when they had appointed +him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he +expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them +concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the +prophets, from morning till evening. 24. And some believed the +things which were spoken, and some believed not. 25. And when +they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul +had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esias the +prophet unto our fathers, 26. Saying, Go unto this people, and +say. Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing +ye shall see, and not perceive: 27. For the heart of this people +is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their +eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and +hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should +be converted, and I should heal them. 28. Be it known therefore +unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, +and that they will hear it. 29. And when he had said these words, +the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. 30. +And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and +received all that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom +of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus +Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.' +--ACTS xxviii. 17-31. + +We have here our last certain glimpse of Paul. His ambition had long +been to preach in Rome, but he little knew how his desire was to be +fulfilled. We too are often surprised at the shape which God's +answers to our wishes take. Well for us if we take the unexpected or +painful events which accomplish some long-cherished purpose as +cheerfully and boldly as did Paul. We see him in this last glimpse as +the centre of three concentric widening circles. + +I. We have Paul and the leaders of the Roman synagogue. He was not +the man to let the grass grow under his feet. After such a voyage a +pause would have been natural for a less eager worker; but three days +were all that he allowed himself, and these would, no doubt, be +largely occupied by intercourse with the Roman Christians, and with +the multitude of little things to be looked after on entering on his +new lodging. Paul had gifts that we have not, he exemplified many +heroic virtues which we are not called on to repeat; but he had +eminently the prosaic virtue of diligence and persistence in work, +and the humblest life affords a sphere in which that indispensable +though homely excellence of his can be imitated. What a long holiday +some of us would think we had earned, if we had come through what +Paul had encountered since he left Caesarea! + +The summoning of the 'chief of the Jews' to him was a prudent +preparation for his trial rather than an evangelistic effort. It was +important to ascertain their feelings, and if possible to secure +their neutrality in regard to the approaching investigation. Hence +the Apostle seeks to put his case to them so as to show his true +adherence to the central principles of Judaism, insisting that he is +guiltless of revolt against either the nation or the law and +traditional observances; that he had been found innocent by the +Palestinian representatives of Roman authority; that his appeal to +Caesar, which would naturally seem hostile to the rulers in +Jerusalem, was not meant as an accusation of the nation to which he +felt himself to belong, and so was no sign of deficient patriotism, +but had been forced on him as his only means of saving his life. + +It was a difficult course which he had to steer, and he picked his +way between the shoals with marvellous address. But his explanation +of his position is not only a skilful piece of _apologia_, but it +embodies one of his strongest convictions, which it is worth our +while to grasp firmly; namely, that Christianity is the true +fulfilment and perfecting of the old revelation. His declaration +that, so far from his being a deserter from Israel, he was a prisoner +just because he was true to the Messianic hope which was Israel's +highest glory, was not a clever piece of special pleading meant for +the convincing of the Roman Jews, but was a principle which runs +through all his teaching. Christians were the true Jews. He was not a +recreant in confessing, but they were deserters in denying, the +fulfilment in Jesus of the hope which had shone before the generation +of 'the fathers.' The chain which bound him to the legionary who +'kept him,' and which he held forth as he spoke, was the witness that +he was still 'an Hebrew of the Hebrews.' + +The heads of the Roman synagogue went on the tack of non-committal, +as was quite natural. They were much too astute to accept at once an +_ex parte_ statement, and so took refuge in professing ignorance. +Probably they knew a good deal more than they owned. Their statement +has been called 'unhistorical,' and, oddly enough, has been used to +discredit Luke's narrative. It is a remarkable canon of criticism +that a reporter is responsible for the truthfulness of assertions +which he reports, and that, if he has occasion to report truthfully +an untruth, he is convicted of the untruth which he truthfully +reports. Luke is responsible for telling what these people found it +convenient to say; they are responsible for its veracity. But they +did not say quite as much as is sometimes supposed. As the Revised +Version shows, they simply said that they had not had any official +deputation or report about Paul, which is perfectly probable, as it +was extremely unlikely that any ship leaving after Paul's could have +reached Italy. They may have known a great deal about him, but they +had no information to act upon about his trial. Their reply is +plainly shaped so as to avoid expressing any definite opinion or +pledging themselves to any course of action till they do hear from +'home.' + +They are politely cautious, but they cannot help letting out some of +their bile in their reference to 'this sect.' Paul had said nothing +about it, and their allusion betrays a fuller knowledge of him and it +than it suited their plea for delay to own. Their wish to hear what +he thought sounded very innocent and impartial, but was scarcely the +voice of candid seekers after truth. They must have known of the +existence of the Roman Church, which included many Jews, and they +could scarcely be ignorant of the beliefs on which it was founded; +but they probably thought that they would hear enough from Paul in +the proposed conference to enable them to carry the synagogue with +them in doing all they could to procure his condemnation. He had +hoped to secure at least their neutrality; they seem to have been +preparing to join his enemies. The request for full exposition of a +prisoner's belief has often been but a trap to ensure his martyrdom. +But we have to 'be ready to give to every man a reason for the hope +that is in us,' even when the motive for asking it may be anything +but the sincere desire to learn. + +II. Therefore Paul was willing to lay his heart's belief open, +whatever doing so might bring. So the second circle forms round him, +and we have him preaching the Gospel to 'many' of the Jews. He could +not go to the synagogue, so much of the synagogue came to him. The +usual method was pursued by Paul in arguing from the old revelation, +but we may note the twofold manner of his preaching, 'testifying' and +'persuading,' the former addressed more to the understanding, and the +latter to the affections and will, and may learn how Christian +teachers should seek to blend both--to work their arguments, not in +frost, but in fire, and not to bully or scold or frighten men into +the Kingdom, but to draw them with cords of love. Persuasion without +a basis of solid reasoning is puerile and impotent; reasoning without +the warmth of persuasion is icy cold, and therefore nothing grows +from it. + +Note too the protracted labour 'from morning till evening.' One can +almost see the eager disputants spending the livelong day over the +rolls of the prophets, relays of Rabbis, perhaps, relieving one +another in the assault on the one opponent's position, and he holding +his ground through all the hours--a pattern for us teachers of all +degrees. + +The usual effects followed. The multitude was sifted by the Gospel, +as its hearers always are, some accepting and some rejecting. These +double effects ever follow it, and to one or other of these two +classes we each belong. The same fire melts wax and hardens clay; the +same light is joy to sound eyes and agony to diseased ones; the same +word is a savour of life unto life and a savour of death unto death; +the same Christ is set for the fall and for the rising of men, and is +to some the sure foundation on which they build secure, and to some +the stone on which, stumbling, they are broken, and which, falling on +them, grinds them to powder. + +Paul's solemn farewell takes up Isaiah's words, already used by +Jesus. It is his last recorded utterance to his brethren after the +flesh, weighty, and full of repressed yearning and sorrow. It is +heavy with prophecy, and marks an epoch in the sad, strange history +of that strange nation. Israel passes out of sight with that dread +sentence fastened to its breast, like criminals of old, on whose +front was fixed the record of their crimes and their condemnation. So +this tragic self-exclusion from hope and life is the end of all that +wondrous history of ages of divine revelation and patience, and of +man's rebellion. The Gospel passes to the Gentiles, and the Jew shuts +himself out. So it has been for nineteen centuries. Was not that +scene in Paul's lodging in Rome the end of an epoch and the +prediction of a sad future? + +III. Not less significant and epoch-making is the glimpse of Paul +which closes the Acts. We have the third concentric circle--Paul and +the multitudes who came to his house and heard the Gospel. We note +two points here. First, that his unhindered preaching in the very +heart of the world's capital for two whole years is, in one aspect, +the completion of the book. As Bengel tersely says, 'The victory of +the word of God, Paul at Rome. The apex of the Gospel, the end of +Acts.' + +But, second, as clearly, the ending is abrupt, and is not a +satisfying close. The lengthened account of the whole process of +Paul's imprisonments and hearings before the various Roman +authorities is most unintelligible if Luke intended to break off at +the very crucial point, and say nothing about the event to which he +had been leading up for so many chapters. There is much probability +in Ramsay's suggestion that Luke intended to write a third book, +containing the account of the trial and subsequent events, but was +prevented by causes unknown, perhaps by martyrdom. Be that as it may, +these two verses, with some information pieced out of the Epistles +written during the imprisonment, are all that we know of Paul's life +in Rome. From Philippians we learn that the Gospel spread by reason +of the earlier stages of his trial. From the other Epistles we can +collect some particulars of his companions, and of the oversight +which he kept up of the Churches. + +The picture here drawn lays hold, not on anything connected with his +trial, but on his evangelistic activity, and shows us how, +notwithstanding all hindrances, anxieties about his fate, weariness, +and past toils, the flame of evangelistic fervour burned undimmed in +'Paul the aged,' as the flame of mistaken zeal had burned in the +'young man named Saul,' and how the work which had filled so many +years of wandering and homelessness was carried on with all the old +joyfulness, confidence, and success, from the prisoner's lodging. In +such unexpected fashion did God fulfil the Apostle's desire to +'preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.' To preach the word +with all boldness is the duty of us Christians who have entered into +the heritage of fuller freedom than Paul's, and of whom it is truer +than of him that we can do it, 'no man forbidding' us. + + + +PAUL IN ROME + +And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and +received all that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom +of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus +Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.' +--ACTS xxviii. 30, 31. + +So ends this book. It stops rather than ends. Many reasons might be +suggested for closing here. Probably the simplest is the best, that +nothing more is said for nothing more had yet been done. Probably the +book was written during these two years. This abrupt close suggests +several noteworthy thoughts. + +I. The true theme of the book. + +How convenient if Luke had told us a little more! But Paul's history +is unfinished, like Peter's and John's. This book's treatment of all +the Apostles teaches, as we have often had to remark, that Christ and +His acts are its true subject. + +We are wise if we learn the lesson of keeping all human teachers, +even a Paul, in their inferior place, and if we say of each of them: +'He was not the Light, but came that he might bear witness of the +Light.' + +II. God's unexpected and unwelcome ways of fulfilling our desires, +and His purposes. + +It had long been Paul's dream to 'see Rome.' How little he knew the +steps by which his dream was to be fulfilled! He told the Ephesian +elders that he was going up to Jerusalem under compulsion of the +Spirit, and 'not knowing the things that should befall him there,' +except that he was certain of 'bonds and imprisonment.' He did not +know that these were God's way of bringing him to Rome. Jewish fury, +Roman statecraft and law-abidingness, two years of a prison, a stormy +voyage, a shipwreck, led him to his long-wished-for goal. God uses +even man's malice and opposition to the Gospel to advance the +progress of the Gospel. Men, like coral insects, build their little +bit, all unaware of the whole of which it is a part, but the reef +rises above the waves and ocean breaks against it in vain. + +So we may gather lessons of submission, of patient acceptance of +apparently adverse circumstances, and of quiet faith that He who +'makes stormy winds to fulfil His word and flaming fires His +ministers,' will bend to the carrying out of His designs all things, +be they seemingly friendly or hostile, and will realise our dreams, +if in accordance with His will, even through events which seem to +shatter them. Let us trust and be patient till we see the issues of +events. + +III. The world's mistaken estimate of greatness. + +Who was the greatest man in Rome at that hour? Not the Caesar but the +poor Jewish prisoner. How astonished both would have been if they had +been told the truth! The two kingdoms were, so to speak, set face to +face in these two, their representatives, and neither of them knew +his own relative importance. The Caesar was all unaware that, for all +his legions and his power, he was but 'a noise'; Paul was as +unconscious that he was incomparably the most powerful of the +influences that were then at work in the world. The haughty and +stolid eyes of Romans saw in him nothing but a prisoner, sent up from +a turbulent subject land on some obscure charge, a mere nobody. The +crowds in forum and amphitheatre would have laughed at any one who +had pointed to that humble 'hired house,' and said, 'There lodges a +man who bears a word that will shatter and remould the city, the +Empire, the world.' + +Let us have confidence in the greatness of the word, though the world +may be deaf to its music and blind to its power, and let us never +fear to ally ourselves with a cause which we know to be God's, +however it may be unpopular and made light of by the 'leaders of +opinion.' + +IV. The true relation between the Church and the State. + +'None forbidding him' marks a great step forward. Paul's unhindered +freedom of speech in Rome itself marks 'the victory of the word, the +apex of the Gospel.' The neutral attitude of the imperial power was, +indeed, broken by subsequent persecutions, but we may say that on the +whole Rome let Christianity alone. That is the best service that the +State can render to the Church. Anything more is help which encumbers +and is harmful to the true spiritual power of the Gospel. The real +requirement which it makes on the civil power is simply what the +Greek philosopher asked of the king who was proffering his good +offices, 'Stand out of the sunshine!' + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts +by Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +This file should be named exp0910.txt or exp0910.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, exp0911.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, exp0910a.txt + +Produced by Charles Franks, John Hagerson +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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