^' 
 
 7^-i: 
 
 V. I 
 
APOSTOLIC LIFE, 
 
 AS REVEALED IN THE ACTS OF 
 THE APOSTLES. 
 
 V^BY 
 
 JOSEPH PARKER, D.D., 
 
 Minister of the City Temple, Holborn Viaduct, London, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " ECCE DEUS," "tHE PARACLETE," " THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST," " THESE 
 SAYINGS OF MINE," "SERVANT OF ALL," "THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF," ETC. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 FROM THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST TO THE 
 WITHDRAWAL OF PETER. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS, Publishers, 
 
 lo AND 12 Dey Street. 
 
 1883. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C 
 
I INSCRIBE THIS VOLUME 
 
 TO 
 
 MATTHEW MOWSON PROCTOR, Esq. 
 
 TO WHOM 
 
 MY MINISTRY OWES SO MUCH OF ITS 
 BEST INFLUENCE. 
 
.\ 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 L Acts L 1-9. The Beginning of Apostolicity 2 
 
 The Writer of the Records— The Gospel cannot be Hid— 
 Theology Immeasurable — Be Charitable— Giving Command- 
 ments — Christ's Life continued — Same Words, but not Same 
 Meanings — Grieving the Spirit. 
 
 II, Acts i. 1-9. The Beginning of Apostolicity. {^Continued.) 13 
 Farewell Interviews — Christ taken up — Life Determines 
 Death— Influence of First Impressions — The Gift of Power— 
 The Holy Ghost lost — No little-minded Christians — Growing 
 in Grace. 
 
 III. Acts L 10-14. The Upward Look 22 
 
 Natural Attitudes — Anonymous Influences — Education by 
 Questioning — Looking Upward — The same Jesus — The Spirit 
 of Obedience — Mechanism broken up— Pray without ceasing. 
 
 IV. Acts i. 1 5-26. The Premature Election 32 
 
 Completing the Apostolate — Doing Something — Self-excom- 
 munication — Arminian and Calvinist — Apostolical Qualification 
 — Unanimous Decisions. 
 
 V. Acts ii. 1-21. The Outpouring of the Spirit 41 
 
 Opportunities — The Feast of Pentecost — With one Accord — 
 The Divine Gift — How great Promises are fulfilled — ^The Gift 
 of Fire. 
 
 VI. Acts ii. 21. The Outpouring of the Spirit. {Continued.) 52 
 Unity in Diversity — Receiving the Holy Ghost — The Need of 
 Union with Christ— No Mechanical Enthusiasm — Enlarged 
 Conceptions of Things — No Individuality lost. 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 PACH 
 
 VII. Acts ii. 22-36. The Effect of Pentecost upon Peter. . 6i 
 Peter's Transfiguration — The personal Effect of Inspira- 
 tion — Fulfilment of Prophecy — Peter's Inspiration — An 
 Evangelical Speech— Everything is in the Bible — Inspiration 
 unlimited. 
 
 VIII. Acts ii. 37-47. The Effects of Gospel Preaching... 70 
 The Double Action of the Spirit — A Sermon full of Script- 
 ure—The Preacher must be inspired — The Gospel and the 
 Heart — Healthy Excitement— Common Prayer and Com- 
 mon Praise — Larger Meanings needed. 
 
 IX. Acts iii. 1-11. The Lame Man Healed 80 
 
 Quiet Worship— Duty not lessened — Inspiration not lost — 
 Apostolic Practice— The True Riches — The Strongest Vindi- 
 cation. 
 
 X. Acts iii. 12-26. A Greater Miracle 83 
 
 The Miracle of Exposition — The True Primacy — Peter's 
 powerful Appeal — The Call to Repentance — Vital Blessing. 
 
 XI. Acts iv. 1-30. Teaching and Persecution 98 
 
 The Logic of Events— Before the Judges— The full Title 
 of Christ— The Appeal to Right. 
 
 XII. Acts iv. 31-37 ; v. 1-11. Communism and its Violation. 109 
 A Mission to the Church — The Need of Reality— Deceiv- 
 ers of the Lord. 
 
 XIII. Acts V. 12-42. Apostolic Audacity ii3 
 
 Old-fashioned Religion — Respectable Churchism — True 
 Preaching. 
 
 XIV. Acts vi. 1-8. The Election of Deacons 128 
 
 The Power of Prayer — Nothing Secular in the Church — 
 The Power of Union. 
 
 XV. Acts vi. 9-15. The Trial OF Stephen 137 
 
 Twofold Character — The Danger of Controversy — The 
 Silent Vindication — Miracles possible now. 
 
 XVI. Acts vii. 1-53. The Defence of Stephen 146 
 
 Unconscious Influence — Spiritual History — The Rhetorical 
 Model. 
 
 XVII. Acts vii. 1-53. The Defence of Stephen. {Continued.^ 157 
 The Fact of Personal Election — The Mysteries of Provi- 
 dence — Ancient and Modern Providence. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Acts vii. 54-60. The Double Effect of Truth 164 
 
 Contrary Effects— Light Killing and Blessing— Uncon- 
 scious Intellectual Vanity — Varieties of Preaching. 
 
 Acts vii. 54-60. {Continued.) The Defence of Stephen. 172 
 
 Popular Misjudgments— Self-inspiration Suspected— 
 Spiritual Vision— Stephen's long Life. 
 
 Acts viii, 1-8. Three Great Figures in the Church. iSo 
 
 The Dogmatism of Truth— Two new Graves— In a 
 great Succession. 
 
 Acts viii. 9-13. Simon the Sorcerer 18S 
 
 Samaria a Type— Diseased, Possessed, Deluded— The 
 Required Medium. 
 
 Acts viii. 14-25, The Deputation to Samaria 195 
 
 Change of Experience— True Apostolic Influence— How 
 little Money can do. 
 
 Acts viii. 14-25. The Deputation to Samaria. {Con- 
 
 timied.) 203 
 
 Apostolic Temptations — What the Ministry should be— 
 The Inspiration of Prayer. 
 
 Acts viii. 26-40. The Ethiopian Convert— A Typical 
 
 Man 210 
 
 Honest Inquiry— Prepared Hearers— Exultant Faith. 
 Acts ix. 1-22. The Conversion of Saui :.. 218 
 
 Conversion of Saul— The Master Miracle— Retribution. 
 Acts ix. 1-22. {Continued.') Saul Self-contrasted. . 234 
 
 The Work of Conversion — The Source of True 
 Strength— Blinding Spiritual Vision. 
 
 Acts ix. 32-43. Summarized Service 241 
 
 Obscure Workers — Subordinate Work for Christ — 
 Power of Prayer. 
 
 Acts X. The Conversion of the Gentiles 249 
 
 Dramatic Chapters — One Simon a Tanner — The Invisi- 
 ble Self. 
 
 Acts xi. 1-18. Enlargement of Ideas 259 
 
 The Keyword of Christianity— Sectatianism Irreligious 
 — Enlargement in two D.rections. 
 
i CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXX. Acts xi. 19-30. Cleaving unto The Lord 266 
 
 Typical Conversions— The Helpfulness of Encour- 
 agement — Called Christians. 
 
 XXXI. Acts xii. 1-11. Peter Delivered 275 
 
 The All-disposing Power — A pitched battle— Coming 
 to Himself. 
 
 XXXn. Acts xii. 12-25. Peter's Final Appearance 283 
 
 Consideration— Providence a daily Surprise— Read 
 the Chapter through. 
 
 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 XXXIII. Personality and Manifestation of the Holy 
 
 Spirit 291 
 
 Gift of the Spirit — Appearances Misleading — Portraits 
 of Christ. 
 
 XXXIV. The Historic Movement Towards Spirituality.. 299 
 
 Development — Spiritual Culmination — Rational As- 
 sent. 
 
 XXXV. The Holy Spirit as the Interpreter of Scripture. 306 
 Scripture Compared with Scripture — The Interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture — The Spirit of the Whole — Self-prepa- 
 ration of Preachers — The Interpreter to be prayed for. 
 
 XXXVI. The Ministry of the Comforter 318 
 
 An Important Question — Christ Spiritually Glorified 
 — The Miracle of Light — Guiding into Truth — Adven- 
 turous Minds — Inspiration of Memory. 
 
 XXXVII. The CoNvicTivE Work of the Holy Spirit 330 
 
 Conviction of Sin — The Subtlety of Falsehood— The 
 innermost Heart — The moral Basis — Degrees of Sin — 
 Spiritual Analysis — Universal Conviction. 
 
 XXXVIII. Regeneration 345 
 
 The Human Will in Regeneration — The Mystery of 
 Atonement — The Fundamental Change — True Insight. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS study of Apostolic Life is intended as a sequel 
 to the author's Inner Life of Christ, as revealed in 
 the Gospel of Matthew. 
 
 A wonderful record, truly, is the narrative of the Acts 
 of the Apostles. Here, all is movement, progress, con- 
 troversy, and spiritual conquest ; the church rears its 
 marvellous form amidst the tumults of the world's most 
 exciting history ; and names rise almost visibly out of 
 social obscurity into the noblest fame known to human 
 society. The book may be compared very variously, but 
 not the least pertinently to a battle-field, in which the 
 contest lies between a feebleness socially contemptible, 
 and a strength socially imperial and invincible. How the 
 battle proceeds, the book itself must tell. This is the 
 book which modern church-builders should specially and 
 profoundly study, if they would work in harmony with the 
 purpose of Him who is the sure and only Corner-stone. 
 By such study they will come back to the truth that the 
 Christian Church is not a man-built castle, grand with the 
 petty vanity of mortal ambition, and resonant with the 
 discord of rival successes, but a house not made with hands, 
 a temple set up in quietness, but so set up that it can never 
 be thrown down. Men may build their showy ecclesiasti- 
 cisms and boast loudly of statistical position, and in the 
 very act of apparent worship may profane the sanctuary of 
 God. That the church must have a visible representation 
 no student of the Acts of the Apostles can deny ; neither 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 can it be denied, that visibleness, however broad and 
 lustrous, cannot represent the whole secret — the inner and 
 infinite life — of Christ's blood-bought and inspired church. 
 That church must always be the mystery of human associa- 
 tion, and the truest seal of human brotherhood. The 
 church is, in my view, much larger than many persons 
 seem to suppose. In this respect, as in all others, God's 
 thought is higher than ours, so high that no wordy argu- 
 ment can persuade the minds that doubt it, yet so certain 
 that the issue, with all its glory, must be left to the Provi- 
 dence which we conceal by the name of Time. 
 
 I cannot be too thankful that in working out my ministry 
 I was led to undertake this sacred study, for here I have 
 found all the excitement of historic action combined with 
 all the solemn revelation of spiritual doctrine, and have thus 
 been enabled to awaken and gratify the attention of many 
 who could not have been reached by one or other of these 
 characteristics alone. The popular mind is not strongly 
 disposed towards doctrinal study, and is perhaps less so 
 to-day than ever, hence the supreme advantage of intro- 
 ducing it in connexion with the development of a history 
 often rising into the sublimest passion in its heroism and 
 sacrifice. Whilst thus endeavoring to awaken interest in 
 Christian docrine, I have made no attempt to find a formal 
 theology in apostolic preaching. No such theology is 
 there to be found. The supposed finding of it aiiywhere 
 has been the heaviest Cross which the Risen Christ has 
 had to carry, and the greatest hindrance to the extension 
 of His reign. Theology is as indefinable as Z//r. It admits 
 of multitudinous expression, and like Inspiration itself 
 must take the colour of the individual soul that receives it. 
 As Theology deals with the Infinite it cannot admit of 
 complete and final statement in ^vords. There is always a 
 nameless quantity beyond. An infinite theology should 
 create an \r\^mtc charity, yet probably there is less charity 
 in theology than in any other subject of human thought, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 a fact which involves the greatest contradiction possible 
 in human action. It appears to me, with increasing dis- 
 tinctness, that the only radical cure for this mischief is a 
 close study of Apostolic methods and a zealous return to 
 their practice. The Apostles preached Jesus and the 
 Resurrection. What need have we to preach more ? What 
 more, indeed, is it possible for any man to preach ? Close- 
 ly considered, all that is noblest in prophecy, all that is 
 deepest in history, all that is purest in morals, is involved 
 in the topic — jESUS AND THE Resurrection ! By these 
 facts themselves, and not by any interpretation of them are 
 the souls of men to be saved. We are bewildered by in- 
 terpretations. The reason is that interpretations return 
 upon themselves, and by a kind of self-consciousness are 
 always seeking to amend and refine their own expression. 
 The sophism Avhich underlies all this formal and standard 
 theology is — Surely it is possible to say in zvords what we 
 believe in thought. No ! Not where the subject thought 
 about is itself infinite. We can o^^r suggestions ; we can 
 point out beginnings ; we can compare one aspect of human 
 consciousness with another ; but beyond this we cannot 
 move, because as no arm can reach the horizon, so no word 
 can embrace and symbolize the immeasurable circum- 
 ference of Truth. Are we to be left then, so to say, at 
 the mercy of ' ' suggestions' ' and ' ' beginnings"? Certainly 
 not. " Jesus and the Resurrection" are not suggestions, 
 they are Facts, and on those facts the church stands as 
 upon a foundation of imperishable rock. Of course, there 
 are minds so constituted as to find themselves unable to 
 resist such inquiries, as What do you believe about Jesus ? 
 What do you believe about the Resurrection ? Such in- 
 quiries are supposed to lead to an enlightened theology and 
 an intelligent faith. Let us take care lest an " intelligent 
 faith" become the worst type of self-trustful rationalism, 
 by drawing the whole emphasis into the word " intelligent" 
 and depleting the word " faith" of its grace and force. To 
 be saved by intelligent faith, is to be saved by zvorks. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Why should not intelligence stop at ^^ facts, and faith 
 go forward, as it alone can go, into mysterious and in- 
 spiring communion with God ? JESUS is a greater term 
 than zxKy definition of Jesus ; so with Resurrection, so with 
 Atonement, so with Faith, so with every word that points 
 towards the secret of God. When this truth is recognized 
 there will be a great coming together of Christian thinkers, 
 and a general lowering of standards which human hands 
 have impiously erected. 
 
 A writer, now deceased, held in the highest reputation 
 by all sections of the Evangelical Church, said to me, 
 *' How do you account for it that whilst the age is insisting 
 upon the greatest definiteness and precision in science, it 
 is becoming more and more indefinite in theology?" I 
 did not feel the difficulty of the question then, nor do I 
 feel it now. The two things are not to be compared. The 
 universe is measurable, — its Creator is immeasurable : that 
 is the reason of the supposed indcfiniteness of theological 
 thought and expression. I say j-?//'/'(7j'r^ indcfiniteness, for 
 it may not be real. It is the indcfiniteness of amazement, 
 not the indcfiniteness of doubt. The thing thought about 
 IS so much larger than was at first suspected, that words 
 are felt to be unequal to the task of definition. The man 
 who receives a legacy of ten pounds without doubt or mis- 
 giving, might hesitate to believe that a million pounds had 
 been bequeathed to him. The magnificence of the bequest 
 almost paralyzes his faith. What wonder ? Is it not also 
 the same with divine things? Divine revelation may be 
 the measure of human indcfiniteness, and that indcfinite- 
 ness may bring with it the greatest of all prayers — " Lord 
 increase our FAITH,"— that is to say, "Thy revelation 
 is so much larger than our capacity, it shines upon us 
 like heaven above heaven, radiant with glory unimagined, 
 rising to intolerablencss of burning splendour, that we 
 can bear it only in proportion to the enlargement of our 
 faith : Lord, we believe, help Thou our unbelief : Lord, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 increase our faith!" It is no mean gift that is offered. 
 It is INCARNATION, God with us : RESURREC- 
 TION, Life abounding over death: ATONEMENT, 
 Forgiveness made possible : INSPIRATION, Material 
 words turned to spiritual uses : IMMORTALITY, The 
 completion of the divine purpose ! Let us now turn to 
 the Acts of the Apostles, and see whether it be not so. 
 
 JOSEPH PARKER. 
 
 The City Temple, 
 Nov. \st, 1882. 
 
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 1. In the title the Greek MSS. present considerable variations, as for 
 example—" Acts of the Apostles ;" " Acts of all the Apostles ;" " Acts 
 of the Holy Apostles ;" sometimes the author's name is given, in one in- 
 stance thus — " Written by the Holy and Illustrious Luke, Apostle and 
 Evangelist." Chrysostom called it "The Book, the Demonstration of 
 the Resurrection." 
 
 2. The book is in no sense a history of the Apostles as a body. The 
 names of the eleven occur but once. They are mentioned collectively 
 eight times. St. John appears in three instances only. 
 
 3. The history begins at Jerusalem and ends at Rome. At the begin- 
 ning the Church was but a Jewish sect, numbering 120 persons ; it ends 
 by breaking down every barrier, and including every nation. 
 
 4. The writing of the book may be referred to the 70th or 80th year of 
 the first Christian century. 
 
 5. In the book there are seven parts ; — 
 
 (a) Pentecost, with the events preceding it Ch. i., ii. 
 
 (b) The acts in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, 
 
 and in Samaria, among the Circum- 
 cised " iii. — ix., xii. 
 
 (c) The acts in Caesarea, and the admission 
 
 of the Gentiles " x., xi. 
 
 ((/) The first journey of Barnabas and Saul 
 
 among the Gentiles . . . . " xiii., xiv. 
 
 (f) The deputation sent, and the council of 
 
 Jerusalem as to the Jews and Gentiles 
 
 being on the same footing ..." xv. 
 
 (/) The second journey of Paul . . " xvi. — xix. 
 
 (g) The third journey as far as to Rome . " xix. — xxviii. 
 
APOSTOLIC LIFE; 
 
 AS DELINEATED IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thou hast great charges against us, and we have no 
 answer to the accusation which thou dost make. We are rebels and hard 
 of heart. Though thou hast left our Zion desolate, and burned our cities 
 with fire, the spirit of unbelief is still triumphant within us. Behold it is 
 not in thy thunder and lightning to touch this inner mischief : thou canst 
 not bring us to thyself by punishment : hell saith "It is not in me to 
 save." Therefore hast thou come to us by another and better way, even 
 by the way of redeeming love, by the sacred way of the cross, and of the 
 blood of Jesus Christ, thy Son, and of all the ministry which is embodied 
 in his sweet name. 
 
 Thou dost love the world ; the world is baptized with tears from 
 heaven, thine heart doth go out after the world, and thou dost yearn to 
 find it. It is thy world, thou dost not cast it off because of its sins, thou 
 dost the rather draw nearer to it with some fonder love. There is joy in 
 the presence of thine angels over a repentant world more than over all 
 the firmament of the unfallen stars. Thou dost cause all wrath to praise 
 thee, and out of sin, as out of a root, wilt thou bring some good that we 
 cannot now foretell. God is all in all — to thy power there is no limit, thy 
 mercy endureth for ever, thy compassions are newer than the morning, 
 softer and brighter than the dew. Thy mercies fail not, and the night is 
 written all over with the stars of thy promises. Thou art a great God ana 
 righteous and in thee is no love of sin — thou dost hate it with a perfect 
 hatred, and yet toward the sinner thou dost come out of thy pavilion of 
 eternity with all utterances of love and proofs of mercy, and thy cry is 
 towards the children of men. 
 
 Give us understanding of these things, we humbly pray thee, that we 
 may thus be led up to the mystery of the cross. In the cross thou hast 
 given thy last and highest proof of love. Last of all thou didst send thy 
 Son : thou hast none other now to send, all other messengers are dumb 
 
ACTS I. I- 
 
 after the utterance of the eloquence of his love. May we know that the 
 cross was set up for sin, not for our sin only, but for the sin of the whole 
 world, and therefore is as manifold in its mystery as is the sin of all the 
 ages. We rejoice that the way to the cross is open ; thou hast set back 
 the gate, thou hast written thy welcomes upon the cross itself, and thou 
 wilt forgive all who pray for pardon. For that sweet word we bless 
 thee : it conquers death, it fills up the void of the grave, it brings the 
 light about us when sevenfold night would distress us with its darkness. 
 Open thou the gate of heaven daily, and say unto each of us, " Thy sins, 
 which are many, are all forgiven thee." This forgiveness we have in 
 Christ, and through Christ and for Christ's sake alone, and because he 
 ever liveth to make intercession for us, we shall be saved to the utter- 
 most. 
 
 Thou knowest our heart's complaint, the distress of our life is not hid- 
 den from thee, the sighing of pur spirit is heard in heaven : have mercy 
 upon us, O God, yea, have mercy upon us, so that where sin aboundeth, 
 grace may much more abound, where accusation doth pierce the heart, 
 there may be a great healing and a perfect comforting of grace. Let thy 
 truth shine upon the understanding, let thy love speak daily to the heart, 
 let all the comforting of thy blessed angels be ministered unto us mile by 
 mile of life's dreary walk, and at the last may we find the beginning, 
 may death be but another phase of life, and as we sink below the horizon 
 of time, may it be to rise upon the infinite horizon of eternity. 
 
 Speak comfortably unto us, for we are but bruised reeds ; thunder not 
 against us with thy great power or thou wilt utterly take us away ; urge 
 not against us thy strength, for we are so weak, but comfort us, lure us, 
 draw us to thyself, with the cords of love and with the bands of a man, 
 and may we, thus treated as feeble creatures and sinners divested of 
 strength, find our rest in the heart of God. 
 
 Bless the friends who are now at home in this church —bless the stran- 
 ger within our gates, regard the mocking man and subdue him into rever- 
 ence, disabuse the prejudiced mind and bring it into holy attention to the 
 spirit of the sanctuary. Release those who are burdened and heavy laden 
 because of tormenting recollections and oppressive accusations. Grant 
 unto us all the spirit of faith, the desire to see more deeply into thy truth, 
 and whilst we are waiting may we know this to be none other than one of 
 the days of the Son of man upon the earth, bright with heaven's own light, 
 glad with music falling from the upper spheres, to make us know the 
 meaning and the mystery of perfect joy. Amen, 
 
 Acts i. 1-9. 
 
 1. The former treatise \}^oyoq, word or discourse] have I made, O The- 
 ophilus [Luke i. 3] of all that Jesus began both to do and teach [Luke 
 xxiv. 19]. 
 
 2. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the 
 
THE BEGINNING OF APOSTOLICITY. 3 
 
 Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had 
 chosen : 
 
 3. To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion [literally, 
 after he had suffered] by many infallible [there is no word in the Greek 
 answering to infallible] proofs, being seen of them forty days [the only 
 passage which gives the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension] 
 and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God [the whole 
 Christian dispensation] ; 
 
 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 ? [More 
 literally. Art thou restoring ?] 
 
 7. And he said unto them, It is not for you [your part] to know the 
 times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power [ap- 
 pomted by his own authority]. 
 
 8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
 you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me [the key-note of the whole book] 
 both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter- 
 most 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 [a circumstance not 
 recorded by Matthew or John]. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OP APOSTOLICITY. 
 
 IT is supposed that the man who wrote this record of the Acts 
 of the Apostles was the author of the third gospel — Luke. 
 It would appear as if the gospel and this record also were made 
 rather as private memoranda than written as public documents. 
 This would seem to be addressed to one man for his particular 
 instruction in Christian doctrine and movement. It is but another 
 proof that this is God's way of making himself known to the chil- 
 dren of men. He speaks to individual!;. He does not address 
 the great seething throng, but he calls a man aside and puts the 
 mystery of the divine purpose into that man's heart, and from an 
 individual centre there goes out a glowing warmth, that fills the 
 whole earth with its gracious ardour. God made Adam, God 
 called Abram, God selected 3fary to be the virgin-mother ; all 
 through and through history God has called out the particular 
 
ACTS I. 1-9. 
 
 individual, the one person, and has started his kingdom oftentimes 
 Irom very small and insignificant beginnings. 
 
 But great letters cannot be kept private : where there is anything 
 in a letter it burns its way out. There are some letters that niusl 
 be published, though they were never meant lor publication. 
 They exercise a secret and wonderful power over the receiver, and 
 he says the whole world must be taken into this confidence, lor 
 though I have received the communication as addressed to myselt 
 alone, it is so good that to keep it back from others would amount 
 to practical felony. 
 
 We cannot hide gospels permanently. What is in a letter deter- 
 mines that letter's fortune : what is in a book and not what is 
 said about a book, determines the book's late in the long run. 
 Though it may be a hundred years, yet it will come up and assert 
 its proper place in literature and command its proper degree ol the 
 world's attention. Luke wrote a long account of Christ's ministry 
 to Theophilus, and the whole world has Luke's narrative in its hand 
 to-day ! So Luke undertook further to write the Acts of the 
 Apostles to this same man (beloved of God, and loving God as 
 his name implies), and to-day the Acts of the Apostles is a docu- 
 ment read in every school-house, perused by all students of church 
 history, and in the Acts of the Apostles are the beginnings and the 
 fundamentals of some of the most extraordinary and influential 
 commonwealths that have ever claimed the attention and the 
 homage of the human intellect and the Christian heart. 
 
 With a hand so skilful as not to require the touch of mechanical 
 education, Luke divides the great life into two expressive and all- 
 inclusive portions. He says he has written of all that Jesus began 
 both to DO and teach. Jesus Christ's life is divided into action 
 and doctrine, miracles and truth, marvellous signs and more mar- 
 vellous revelations. All Christian life admits of precisely the same 
 division. If we do, but fail to teach, we shall oftentimes be but 
 barren and unanswerable puzzles to those who look on. If we 
 teach, and fail to do, we may bring upon ourselves the just imputa- 
 tion of being theorists and fanatics, at the best devotional senti- 
 mentalists who live in sighing and aspiration and wordy doctrine, 
 but have no bone, sinew or force wherewith to encounter all the 
 challenges of this earthly existence. 
 
 And yet Jesus Christ only began. God always begins. There 
 
THEOLOGY IMMEASURABLE. 5 
 
 can be no ending in anything that God does. Though it may 
 appear to end in itself, yet itself is related to some other and 
 broader self, and so the continuity rolls on, in ever-augmenting 
 accretion and proportion, so that all God's creations are but begin- 
 nings. There are no conclusions in truth ; there may be resting- 
 places, a peculiar and practical punctuation of statement, so that 
 we may take time to turn" into beneficent action that which has 
 been stated in revealing terms — but the Book is never closed, 
 God's hand never wrote the word finis : though the Bible be, in 
 point of paper and print, a measurable quantity, it opens a revela- 
 tion that recedes from us as the horizon recedes from the hands 
 that would grasp it. 
 
 So then life becomes a new thing from this standpoint. Men 
 talk about formulating Christian truth : from my point of view 
 you might as well attempt to formulate the light, or to formulate 
 the atmosphere. You cannot formulate, with an adequacy, or 
 any approach to exhaustiveness, quantities that are mfinite. There 
 are those who tell us that we have organized geology, organized 
 botany, organized astronomy, therefore why not have organized 
 theology P The answer is simple, sufficient and final, because 
 geology, botany, astronomy, though great and dazzling terms in 
 many of their phases and applications, represent finite and there- 
 fore measiirable <\\xz.n\\\\Q.<s,, whereas, theology represents infinite and 
 therefore immeasurable realities. We may have fifty sciences of 
 theology : we can have but one science of botany, geology, or 
 astronomy : it will in every instance grow up into a perfect state- 
 ment, because all the facts are ascertainable, and all the results are 
 stateable in words — but we have a Roman Catholic theology, and 
 a Protestant theology, and Protestant theology is divided into a 
 hundred sub-theologies, showing us that men have been attempt- 
 ing the impossible, and showing us too, thank God, that we are not 
 saved by any theory of truth, but by the truth itself, not by any 
 theory of atonement only, but by the mystery of the cross, realis- 
 able onlv by the penitent and believing heart. 
 
 We can begin a theology. In beginning a theology we shall do 
 well, provided that we never mistake beginnings for endings. To 
 have to deal with infinite quantities should challenge our noblest 
 intellectual ambition, and yet should chasten us with the severest 
 moral discipline. We are permitted to suggest, to read together. 
 
ACTS I. I- 
 
 to meet for common study and fellowship in divine inquiry, and 
 whilst we are communing with one another and with the common 
 Spirit of truth, our hearts will burn within us, and we shall know 
 that we have reached the truth by the degree of sacred ardour 
 which glows in our thankful hearts. As to verbal slakmetils, we 
 may never agree : one man wants one set of words, and another 
 man says the words must all be enlarged, elevated, and glorified ; 
 such poor syllables as these will never do. The man who talks 
 so is perfectly right ; words have not yet overtaken thoughts ; the 
 action of the t7iind is infinitely in advance of the action or the 
 power of the longue. We knozv always more than we can tell : 
 when we have uttered the completest sentence which it is in our 
 power to formulate and express, we know that back in the mind 
 and the heart are things we have not put into that sentence, 
 because no medium of communication is exquisite enough, in its 
 function and power, to express what we want to say in exhaustion 
 of the meaning which makes our hearts glow. 
 
 So then we may well be charitable one with another. If Jesus 
 only began both to do and to teach, we can only do the same, and 
 according to the measure of inspiration he may grant. I enlarge 
 this word begajt in this sentence into more than its merely 
 mechanical meaning : perchance by somewhat of an accommoda- 
 tion I may seize the suggestion of this wondrous word, and if I 
 happen to draw some of you from stubborn conclusions, so as to 
 give you to see they are only feeble beginnings, though I may have 
 impoverished you on the one hand, I ought to have stimulated 
 you on the other. No man has the whole truth. The Book itself 
 is not a full grown garden, it is a seed-house, a storehouse of 
 roots. We have to plant the root, sow the seed, and look upon 
 the wondrous issue of fruitfulness and beauty. " If I speak with 
 the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, it prof- 
 iteth me nothing." 
 
 We are all beginners. The old grey-haired student lifts up his 
 wrinkled brow from the glowing page and says, " I have hardly 
 begun it." Who then are we, fifty years his juniors, who should 
 start up and say, "We have reached the goal, there is nothing 
 beyond, we have put out our staff and struck the final granite ?" 
 Let us "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
 Chribt. " Let us not count ourselves to have attained, or to be 
 
GIVING COMMANDMENTS. 
 
 already perfect, but let us press forward towards the mark for the 
 prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and ever say, 
 humbly, lovingly, and hopefully, "God hath yet more light and 
 truth to bring forth from his holy word." 
 
 Notice here that though Jesus Christ both began to do and to 
 teach, he made his beginnings have all the force attd urgency of 
 complete endings. He gave commandments unto the apostles whom 
 he had chosen : he did not offer mere suggestions — never did 
 Jesus Christ say, ' ' I offer these instructions for your considera- 
 tion : you can adopt or reject them according to your own finding 
 on further inquiry. Jesus Christ was never less than roj'a/, never 
 did the Son of Man speak ambiguously or incompletely ; he 
 spoke finally, royally, commandingly. "A new commandment 
 give I unto you. " "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I 
 command you." He commanded the apostles. The Lord can- 
 not merely suggest ; Paul will come with his pathetic suggestions, 
 begging the Lord's pardon if he be wrong in making them — but in 
 Christ's speech there are no parentheses, they shoot right out of 
 mind and heart and mouth with the completeness and finality of 
 positive injunctions. 
 
 We are then the slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are none 
 other than the Lord's captives and therefore the Lord's freemen. 
 We do not make the commandments, we obey them- — -we are not as 
 those who walk under the loose rule of mere license, we are men 
 who are bound to a centre, kept within the limits of a specific 
 moral gravitation, and we have come to know this mystery, that 
 there is no liberty without law, that life without law is chaos, that 
 life with law, loyally accepted and obediently realised, becomes a 
 continual stewardship, a holy sacrifice, an everlasting beginning, 
 passing on to increasing satisfactions, as the capacity of the soul 
 enlarges. 
 
 With the skill of a scribe well instructed, Luke puts into his 
 third verse a whole library of Christian evidence, so that Theoph- 
 ilus his correspondent may be under no mistake as to what is 
 called amongst us, the missing link. In the third verse Luke 
 says, "Jesus Christ showed himself alive after his passion, to his 
 apostles, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, 
 and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." 
 In Luke's mind there was no doubt about the Resurrection : Luke 
 
8 ACTS I. 1-9. 
 
 was not a man -who had a paid cause to subserve ; Luke was 
 not entrusted with a brief for the purpose of defending a case 
 about which he had some latent doubt or difficulty. Luke 
 behaves himself like a frank-hearted and honest man who has a 
 very simple statement to make, and who makes it on the authority 
 of his own observation, consciousness and experience. 
 
 The ring of honesty is in that third verse. Beautifully does it 
 bring in the subject of our Lord's speech to the apostles, " speak- 
 ing," says Luke, " of the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
 God." Jesus Christ had but one subject. You never had to ask 
 what Jesus Christ was preaching about : he was not a preacher 
 with a million texts or a million subjects : he was a preacher with 
 one theme, one utterance, but like the one sky, an eternal variety. 
 We have been accustomed through our studies of the gospel 
 according to Matthew, to the expression, " the kingdom of God." 
 We ourselves could have supplied that ending to this verse of the 
 record. Jesus Christ never talked about anything less than a hi7ig- 
 dom, a kingdom that rose above all other empires and masteries 
 and enclosed and included them in its infinite sovereignty. 
 
 What Jesus Christ said to the disciples or apostles in those fare- 
 well days we must learn from the apostles themselves. Let us 
 understand that apostolic life is but a coniinualion of the Lord's 
 own life. If the apostles are faithful men, their word will be 
 Christ's word : he promised to tell them more ; said he upon one 
 memorable occasion, " I have many things to say to you, but ye 
 cannot bear them now." He carried the burden till they were 
 old enough and strong enough to take it up. He always has some 
 larger burden to transfer to us, but he will never transfer it till our 
 strength be equal to the occasion. Apostolic life will show us 
 more of Christ's meaning than could be conveyed within the limits 
 of the four gospels. This gives you a new standard by which to 
 value the apostolic writings. Let us not suppose that apostolic 
 writings are mere individual speculaliotts, or personal comments 
 ui)on a great mystery. Apostolic literature is as much a revelation 
 as is the evangelic biography of the Lord himself. 
 
 When the disciples or apostles were assembled together, they 
 came to Jesus and said, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore 
 again the kingdom to Israel T' They never could get away from 
 their little " kingdom" any more than Christ could detach himself 
 
SAME WORDS BUT NOT SAME MEANINGS. 9 
 
 from his great royalty. They were all thinking about ' ' king- 
 doms, ' ' but the kingdom of the one was a little vanishing splen- 
 dour, the kingdom of the other was the whole universe and 
 purpose of God. So we often find ourselves talking Christian 
 language without the full Christian meaning. Sometimes, indeed, 
 the terms we use are identical with the terms Jesus Christ used, 
 and yet, though the terms are identical, the meanitigs are separated 
 by the diameter of infinity. Jesus Christ said "bread" — we 
 also said " bread," but we did not mean what he meant by that 
 suggestive word. Jesus Christ said " kingdom," and we said 
 "kingdom" — in the letter we were identical, but our kingdom, 
 like ourselves, was a little thing, marked by extreme frailty, liable 
 at any moment to be blown out like a light in a strong wind. 
 When* he said " kingdom" he laid the foundations of it in eternity 
 and lifted up its towers and pinnacles into all the breadth and 
 security of Heaven. 
 
 Do let us understand that the same words have not always the same 
 meanitigs, and further, do let us know that the larger meaning is 
 always the right one. A narrow meaning has always been 
 attempted to be forced upon Christ's words, but the meaning has 
 burst the vessel and would not be contained in such unworthy, 
 because such inadequate, limits. Herein is the function of the 
 religious imagination, always to be seeing the broader spaces, the 
 farther lights, the grander possibilities — always to be scourging 
 language, because it is not equal to the expression of the sublimest 
 thought and feeling. 
 
 Yet Jesus Christ chided the apostles very gently. He told them 
 in his very promise that they were as yet incomplete men. He 
 said, " Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come 
 upon you." They were unbaptised in J(7«/ ,• the symbolic water had 
 done its initial work, but they stood there without the sacred fire, 
 the inspiring afflatus, the presence of Heaven in the heart. May 
 it not be so with some of us .? We have been the subjects of but 
 one baptism : we are within the Christian circle nominally, and it 
 may be intellectually, but have we received power from on high 
 because we have received the Holy Ghost } What is the Holy 
 Ghost } To that inquiry there is no answer but in the deepest 
 feeling and the sublimest consciousness of the heart. Know that 
 you have the Holy Ghost, not by your narrowness or dogmatism 
 
ACTS I. 1-9. 
 
 or pertinacity or selfishness, but by your glowing love, your redeem- 
 ing hopefulness, your continual charily, your indestructible patience. 
 Into what baptism have we been baptised ? We have not 
 received the Holy Ghost if we are conducting a narrow ministry, 
 Jesus Christ said so much when he added, " Ye shall be witnesses 
 both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the 
 uttermost parts of the earth." No power but the Holy Ghost 
 could take a man through those regions. The man who has been 
 baptized with water only will choose his own parish and sphere of 
 labour and circle of operation, but the man in whom is the burn- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost will say with Wesley, " My parish is the 
 world," and will be constrained by the love of Christ to go out 
 everywhere. The ministry that is called by the name of Christ 
 will be a dwindling quantity in the world's education, except in 
 proportion as it is inspired by God the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Have we not grieved the Spirit, have we not in some instances 
 even quenched the Spirit, is there not now ruling in our hearts the 
 dark spirit oi/ear instead of the bright and joyous spirit of adop- 
 tion and of hope ? You will know whether you are inspired or 
 not by the vashiess 0/ your labours. If we are waiting until we be 
 properly equipped and duly sent out, then know that we have 
 been baptized with ice. If we go out with the haste of men who 
 say, " The world is on fire, and the conflagration must be extin- 
 guished," perhaps that grand notion of the soul may have been 
 divinely started. 
 
 We now pass from the visible ministry of Christ to the invisible 
 ministry of the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ spake his last words to 
 the apostles, and a cloud received him out of their sight. Nothing 
 more — only out of sight. Not out of hearing, not out of sympathy, 
 not out of the region of direct and ever helpful ministry — only out 
 of sight. We are not out of his sight. We want sometimes to see 
 him, but he says to us, " Because ye have seen me, ye have 
 believed : blessed are they which have not seen and yet have 
 believed." "Whom having not seen, we love. " We shall one 
 day see him as he is. He is out of our sight : we are not out of 
 his memory! 
 
II. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, as men run into a fortress for safety, so would we run 
 into thine house, that we may find rest and peace and full security. We 
 have said, Surely the sanctuary will cover us, and the pavilion of God 
 will afford us safety upon the earth. Thou wilt not disappoint us, in 
 thine house shall we find fulness of bread, and great gladness shall be the 
 portion of the hearts that put their trust in thee. Thou wilt do more and 
 more for us, according to the sharpness of our pain and the keenness and 
 urgency of our want. Thou dost call upon us for larger prayers, because 
 our supplications have not yet touched the mfinite possibilities of thy 
 replies. Thou givestmore grace, thou dost astonish by larger revelations 
 of shining light. We cannot measure the height of thy heaven, it rises as 
 we approach it : the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain 
 thee, and yet in answer to our prayer thou wilt open the windows of 
 heaven and pour out a blessing upon us, until we have not room enough 
 to receive it. Encourage us by all that is tenderest in thine oath, and in 
 thy promise, to come to thee in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour, that 
 we may ask large blessings at thine hand. We have not because we ask 
 not : we are not straitened in God, we are straitened in ourselves. We 
 come therefore to pray for such self-enlargement as shall enable us to pray 
 more boldly and importunately, so that through Jesus Christ the Sacrifice 
 and the Priest, we may receive all that our heart needs for its comfort and 
 sanctification. 
 
 We have come to praise thee, we have brought with us the trumpet of 
 thankfulness, and the soul of gratitude glows within us, and words are 
 too few and too feeble to express all the emotion of our love. Who but 
 thyself has kept our reasoning power in all its fulness and power of work- 
 ing — what hand but thine own has spread our table in the wilderness and 
 filled our cup to overflow, and into what heart but thine could have 
 entered such thoughts of daily redemption, continual pardon and inces- 
 sant hopefulness ? This is the Lord's doing • we will magnify thy name, 
 we will lift up our heart and voice in loud psalm, and praise thee because 
 of thy tender love. 
 
 We do not live in ourselves, we live in God, and in God we move and 
 have our being. Hence our prayer to thee, our daily cry, our perpetual 
 hope, and the assurance which makes our hearts glad, that we shall one 
 day be free from all bondage and enter into the joy of spiritual liberty. 
 We have great hopes in our heart : we are not without large store of 
 
12 PR A YER. 
 
 promise, and sometimes the promise takes fire and burns upward toward 
 thyself in glowing and daring aspiration, so that our prayer becomes a 
 violence, thundering upon the gates of thy kingdom as if we would take 
 the kingdom of heaven by storm. Is not this Christ's encouragement to 
 our heart — has he not asked us to seek and knock and pursue our prayer 
 to its utmost bound and desire ? We take our stand upon his word, his 
 oath is the secret of our inspiration and of the gravity and vastness of our 
 prayer. 
 
 We would have thy Spirit daily in us, a light that is never a burden, an 
 atmosphere that never wearies the heart. We would have his light, his 
 warmth, his comfort and his love, we would be led by him into all truth 
 as into great landscapes rich with harvests, as into infinite palaces stored 
 with all treasure, as into the night when all its stars are ablaze, and the 
 whole sky is aiive with planetary fire. 
 
 Lead us into all truth. To this end, destroy all prejudice, all miscon- 
 ception, all false ideas, all sectarian notions . emancipate the soul and 
 lead it into all the width and glory of thy liberty. We meet at the Cross 
 — where there is hope for the sinning soul. The cross was set up for 
 sinners : but for sin, the cross has no meaning : it is thy great answer to 
 our great shame. Pardon us every one. Let the joy of forgiveness enter 
 into every heart like a singing angel newly sent from the glad heavens. 
 May we all feel that thy forgiving word has been spoken and has taken 
 effect in our guilty hearts. 
 
 Help us to do our day's work with both hands, willingly and earnestly, 
 and with all the joyful hopefulness of those who work for a good Master. 
 May we be covetous of the light, may we fear lest one moment should 
 fail us — so when the whole day is gone, may every moment bear witness 
 to our fidelity. Help us to be gentle to one another, noble-minded, char- 
 itable, all-hopeful, all-forgiving. Show us that we are not judges but sin- 
 ners, that we have fellowship one with another in the common infirmities 
 of the race, and should bear, in Christ's name and for Christ's sake, one 
 another's burdens. 
 
 We pray for one another, and whilst we pray do thou answer, and by 
 a strange burning in the heart may we know that thy reply has found its 
 way to our spirits. Comfort us wherein we need cheer, send unexpected 
 light through gloom that is a trouble, come to us in the night season and 
 speak hopefully of the coming day. In the seed time, tell us that that 
 which we sow, cannot quicken except it die ; interpret all mysteries to us 
 lest they turn into temptations and sorrows, give us thy truth so far as we 
 may be able to bear it, and spare us from all weight that would distress 
 and exhaust our little strength. Love us all the day, gather us to thyself 
 all the night, make our houses homes, our dwelling-places the chief attrac- 
 tion of our heart. 
 
 We bless thee for the house, for all its sanctities and memories and 
 holy uses : help us so to live at home that men shall expect us there and 
 miss us when our place is vacant. If any have singular sorrow for which 
 
FAREWELL INTERVIEWS. 13 
 
 there is no speech that may be uttered in public, the Lord send comfort, 
 tender messages to those who bear the smart, they that too may be healed 
 in secret. Upon whom great shocks of surprise have fallen because of 
 sorrow uncalculated, and pains that have been unimagined, let thy bless- 
 ing come, a healing solace, a new. tender, and complete comfort. 
 The Lord hear us, for Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF APOSTOLIOITY. 
 Acts i. 1-9. 
 
 {Continuation.') 
 HO could have told beforehand that Jesus Christ would be 
 
 w 
 
 the first to go } It did not enter our imagination that 
 he would leave us behind, and that he himself would pass away 
 from all the anxiety and distress of Christian service. Our con- 
 ception would rather have been that he would be the very last to 
 go : he would remain until the last little lamb had been safely 
 enfolded : he would keep down within the sphere of earth and 
 time until the very last weary pilgrim entered into heavenly rest. 
 Instead of this, he himself was the first to leave ! Not only so, 
 he told his disciples that by leaving first, he was actually consider- 
 ing their advantage and promoting their usefulness ! " It is 
 expedient for you that I go away. I do not go away for mere 
 personal convenience ; in going away I am not consulting my own 
 ease or comfort : now, as heretofore, and always, I am considering 
 what is best ioxyou. To remain with you would appear to be the 
 loving course, but it would be in appearance only and not in 
 reality. One day you will see clearly as I see now, that it is 
 expedient for you that 1 go away. 
 
 Being about to go, the last interview between himself and the 
 apostles took place. Last interviews are notably pathetic. The 
 words that would be common on any other occasion acquire a new 
 and significant accent amid the darkening shadows of a farewell 
 interview. Litde things that would not be noticed under ordinary 
 circumstances, start up into unusual prominence and effect when 
 we know that the interview will speedily close, and that all earthly 
 and temporal fellowship will be at an end. We should always 
 listen as if in a last interview. ' ' What 1 say unto one, I say unto 
 all — watch. ' ' We should never allow our mind to drop into inat- 
 tentiveness, as if we should have plenty of opportunities for the 
 
ACTS I. 1-9. 
 
 purpose of hearing what now slips our ear. Every day should be 
 the world's last day to us in this matter of spiritual attention. 
 Every interview should be the final one with regard to the opera- 
 tion of the spirit of charity in hearing what each other has to say. 
 We lose so much through inattentiveness ; we do not listen in the 
 open common road as we listen in the death-chamber, when every 
 whisper is as a revelation and every sign as an indication carrying 
 with it special claims upon the attention of our love. We lose by 
 unwatchfulness. 
 
 Jesus Christ is about to go — how will he go ? I delight to pause 
 after asking this question, that I may think out for myself all 
 possible replies to it. How will he go .-* He cannot be allowed 
 to die : that would be a fatal disappointment to the attention which 
 he has strained by every miracle and to the expectation he has 
 excited by every accent of his eloquence. Dogs die : this Man 
 must not die, or if he die he will contradict by one pitiful com- 
 monplace, all that was phenomenal and impressive in his life. 
 Haw will he go .? Luke tells us that he was " taken up." In 
 other places we learn that he "ascended." He entered within 
 the action of another gravitation, and instead of being bound to 
 the earth by some centripetal force, he was lifted up as by a 
 mightier law into his own place, and throned in the heavens as 
 the Priest of creation. It is enough : the mind is satisfied by the 
 grand action ; nothing of discontent is left to trouble the imagi- 
 nation. Were I reading this upon s. poet' s page, I would applaud 
 the poet for one of the finest conceptions that ever ennobled and 
 glorified human fancy. He would have treated his hero well. 
 With an infinite subtlety of power he would have answered all the 
 demands of imagination in its most exacting mood. 
 
 Jesus Christ then " ascended," and in doing so, he but repeated 
 in one final act all the miracles which had made his previous 
 ministry illustrious. The act of ascension does not separate itself 
 from any point on the long line of the life and ministry of Jesus 
 Christ. The ascension became so natural that we paid but little 
 heed to it in its merely phenomenal aspect. We were not startled 
 when we saw him begin to move upward : our education had all 
 been tending in that direction ; from the very beginning he had 
 been ascending, so that when he took the final movement, it was 
 but completing that which he had been continuing for years. 
 
LIFE DETERMINES DEATH. 15 
 
 Our life should be an ascent I We should not be to-day where 
 we were ten years ago. Not that we are to ascend by sharp steeps 
 that attract the attention of mankind with somewhat of abruptness : 
 there are ascents so gradual that they do not seem to be ascents at 
 all, measured within any small compass of space or time. Yet 
 looked at as from the beginning to the end, we see that the gradi- 
 ent has evermore lifted itself up by imperceptibleness of degree 
 until the very next thing to do is to step into heaven ! It is pos- 
 sible so to live that dying shall be but going home : thank God it 
 is possible so to pray and live and serve as that dying shall be 
 languishing into life. There shall be no violent contrast between 
 the life and the death, between now and hereafter, between 
 spiritual experience upon earth, and spiritual experience in heaven. 
 It shall be one and the same, and in its realization we shall enter 
 into the mystery of divine fellowship. We are in our life prepar- 
 ing the manner of our death. Your death-day need not come 
 upon you as a surprise such as shocks faith and distresses imagina- 
 tion or falsifies by heavy contradictions all that was most sacred 
 and pathetic in hope. The judgment day, too, can be so antici- 
 pated 2i% to become as one of the natural days of the common week ! 
 If we close our eyes and shut out wisdom at every entrance and 
 betake ourselves to earthly occupations only, then all the comings 
 of God — for he comes in thousands of ways — will be surprises that 
 will shock and distress us. 
 
 You may know how you will die by knowing how you really 
 live. If your life is a life of faith in the Son of God, a heroic, 
 patient, gentle, pure, .noble life, marked by, at all events, the 
 desire to be Christ-like, then you shall " ascend." All that drops 
 away from you will be the flesh and the bones, that have been a 
 distress to you for many a day. Your Self your liberated spirit, 
 shall ' ' ascend. ' ' Whoever saw fire going downward } It is in 
 fire to go up, to seek the parent sun out of which it came ! We 
 too, living, moving, and ever having our being in God shall not 
 die as the dogs die, but rise to our fount and origin. We shall in 
 very deed " rise with Christ." 
 
 If the final interview was pathetic to Christ, it was also pathetic 
 to the disciples. They had their question to ask as certainly as he 
 had his commandments to give. So they came to him with this old 
 question, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom 
 
i6 ACTS I. I- 
 
 to Israel?" Mark how after his resurrection, he had become 
 " Lord," and the restorer of kingdoms. Everything rests upon 
 the resurrection of Christ : *' if Christ be not risen from the dead, 
 then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain," The 
 great fabric of Christian faith stands upon one rock, the resurrection 
 of Christ. No matter what he did, or what he taught, or what he 
 appeared to be : if it was in the power of men to kill him in the 
 flesh, and to bury him and keep him in the grave, all his protesta- 
 tions were lies, and all his promises were vanity. Hence, Luke 
 insists that Jesus Christ " showed himself alive after his passion by 
 many infallible proofs : " hence, all the succeeding apostolic 
 writers insist that Jesus Christ " rose again from the dead," and 
 hence all the great appeals which are made to our faith and our 
 hope rest themselves upon the one rock of the resurrection. But 
 the inquiry that was put to Christ in this instance was put to a 
 man who had risen again, and the inquiry was this — " Lord, wilt 
 thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" There 
 are times in history when everything seems to depend upon one 
 man ; there are crises which sum themselves up in the judgment 
 of one thitiker : we look to him, he carries the keys, he speaks the 
 final word, and from him we expect the policy which alone can 
 ennoble and save the life. 
 
 We learn from this inquiry how long-lingering, how all but 
 ineradicable, is the influence 0/ first impressions. The disciples had 
 got it into their minds very early in their Christian thinking that 
 this Man Christ Jesus had come to liberate the Jews from. their 
 servitude and oppression, and to give them back their lost king- 
 dom. That was probably the vqxj first idea they had about Jesus 
 Christ and his purpose, and they never could get rid of it. What 
 is so long-lived as prejudice P What is so difficult to get away from 
 as the first impression we form of one another, of any policy, pur- 
 pose, thought, or action ? How difficult for the mind to forget 
 a first name, how all but impossible to substitute the new address 
 for the old, how difficult for the hand in January to write the new 
 year — the fingers seem to conspire to write again the familiar date. 
 What we know by this common illustration, we may also know to 
 be true of all higher intellectual and spiritual meditations and 
 engagements. Therefore take care what impression you make 
 upon the young mind about the Christian Sabbath, the Christian 
 
THE GIFT OF POWER. 17 
 
 Book, the Christian Church, and the Christian idea in all its bear- 
 ings. Who can wonder that some men hardly can open the Bible 
 with sympathy or hopefulness, because they remember that in 
 early days it was the task-book. Are there not those who quite 
 dread the idea of going to church, because that action is associated 
 in their mind with early impressions of gloom and dreariness and 
 heaviness not to be borne ? Was not the church in early days a 
 dark place, and was not the minister a man gifted only with the 
 one faculty of wearying those who paid attention to him ; and was 
 not the whole Sabbath a trouble and a burden ? Had it been 
 associated with light, music, gladness, joy, the memory of those 
 early engagements would have gone right through all the whole 
 compass of the life, and at the last the pilgrim would have said, 
 " Open unto me the gates of righteousness : I will enter into them 
 and will be glad." 
 
 The answer of Jesus Christ seems to be very keen and discourag- 
 ing in its tone of chiding. Said he, "It is not for you to 
 know the time or the seasons which the Father hath put in his 
 own power," The words may be read in a tone of rebuke, but 
 they were not spoken in that tone. You cannot report a iojte — 
 hence it is possible to express the very words the speaker said and 
 yet entirely to misreprescttt him ! Feaiiires can be photographed, 
 but life will not submit to have itself taken by any artist, animate 
 or inanimate. Jesus Christ spoke those words in a tone that was 
 insirtidwe, and he immediately followed those words of apparent 
 rebuke with utterances of the largest and tenderest encouragement. 
 The poet speaks of " soft rebukes in blessings ending" — if there 
 was any rebuke at all in those words, it was indeed a soft chiding, 
 but there was no mistake about the compass and the emphasis of 
 i\\Q blessing. The eighth verse says : " But ye shall receive power, 
 after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. ' ' There is no gift 
 equal to the gift of power. You may answer a man's question 
 immediately, but unless you give him power you do but give him 
 a meal for the passing hunger which will certainly return. When 
 a man in distress comes to you, if instead of answering his imme- 
 diate necessity, you could give him power to answer his ozv?i, you 
 would bestow upon him the most precious of all treasures. 
 
 The gift of Christ to the church is a gift of POWER — not in/el- 
 lectual power only, though that is not withheld : Jesus Christ has 
 
i8 ACTS I. 1-9. 
 
 illumined our reason and sharpened every faculty of the mind, 
 and blessed the church with penetrating insight — but that is not 
 the power referred to in this instance. Nor did he give merely 
 social power to his church — the power that is usually associated 
 with the idea of kingdom, rule, and empire, and authority. What 
 power then did he give ? The power of holiness — ' ' after that the 
 Holy Ghost is come upon you." Know yourselves to be power- 
 ful by the measure of your holiness, and contrariwise know your- 
 selves to be weak, though your mind covers the whole register of 
 intellectual possibility, if the supreme desire of the soul burn not 
 with the ardour of God's own purity. 
 
 We have lost the Holy Ghost. We betake ourselves now to church 
 questions and not to soul inquiries. The problem of to-day is a 
 problem of ecclesiasticism, it is not a problem of redeemijig and 
 evangelizing the world. We are building structures, arranging 
 mechanics, adapting means to ends, comparing ourselves with 
 ourselves, instead of being carried away with the whirlwind of 
 divine inspiration, and displaying what the world would call 
 supreme madness in consecration and devotion of heart. Into what 
 baptism have we been baptized } Where is the Holy Ghost .' 
 Where is the Ghost at all — the Spirit, the Invisible, the Impalpable 
 truth, the infinite Energy, the Force that has no shapijig, because 
 of its vastness, and no 7tanie because of its multitudinousness .-' A 
 grand church, a learned church, a rich church — these may be but 
 contradictions in terms, but a holy church, an inspired church, a 
 devoted church, a church with one heart, one aim, one speech of 
 love — why, she would go forth " fair as the moon, clear as the 
 sun, and terrible as an army with banners." The world can 
 answer our argument, so at least as to confuse the listener, but it 
 can have no reply to an unimpeachable purity. 
 
 The power which Jesus Christ gave to his disciples was a power 
 that was to be used. When he puts the staff into my hand, he 
 means me to walk with it ; when he gives me opportunities, he 
 means me to use them ; when he entrusts me with the custody 
 of time, it is that I may so use it as at last to secure his approval. 
 So this power was to be used gradually — " Ye shall be witnesses 
 unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and 
 unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Do not begin at the end : 
 grow, little by little, often mayhap by imperceptible degrees, but 
 
NO LITTLE-MINDED CHRISTIANS. 19 
 
 see to it that your motion is constant. It is constancy that sur- 
 prises the world by its conquests. . It is not some great brilliant 
 dashing triumph that strikes consternation into the breasts of 
 beholders, it is that subtle, quiet, imperceptible growth, that pro- 
 ceeds night and day, until a culmination is reached that surprises 
 not by its violence but by its completeness and by the tenderness 
 of its working. 
 
 The power was to be used enlargingly, from Jerusalem to Judea, 
 to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth, until there was no 
 more ground to be covered, — until, the men came back again to 
 their own footprints ! You go to the west : go on, farther and 
 farther still, and presently you will find yourselves in the east 
 again ! God's universe is a gathering of circles : the stars are 
 not in straight lines, there are no straight lines in God' s universe ! 
 He moves himself in circles, iwie is a great cycle ; the arch of the 
 sky is the type and symbol of all things unseen. 
 
 This is our Christian mission, and nothing so enlarges and 
 emboldens the mind as sympathy with Christ. There can be no 
 little-minded Christians, or if there are, they are Christians in the 
 very earliest stage of their learning, and therefore hardly to be dis- 
 tinguished as such. The Christian man cannot be a small- 
 minded man : he brings within his view the whole horizon of 
 space, and every throbbing pulse of time. Find a sectarian and 
 you find no Christian ; pick out a man who says the kingdom of 
 heaven ends here and does not go over there, and he is a man who 
 has stolen his position in the sanctuary ; he does not hold it by 
 right of divine gift or election. 
 
 All Christians are great men, great souls, great minds ; all who 
 are crucified with Christ see all men drawn to the cross. Chris- 
 tianity never bends the head downward towards little and dwindling 
 spaces : it always says, " The world, the whole world, for Christ. 
 Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 
 If men would have their minds enlarged, ennobled, emboldened, 
 inspired, they can only enjoy such mental enlargements and 
 quickening by direct sympathy and fellowship with him who is the 
 head of all things, who fills all things, who ascended that he might 
 rule by a longer line and by a more comprehensive mastery. 
 
 Have we so learned Christ .? Are we little, crippled, sect-loving 
 — are we bigoted, narrow in soul, lame in sympathy, prejudiced 
 
ACTS I. 
 
 against other people ? " If I speak with the tongues of men and 
 of angels, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. ' ' Know 
 that you are growing in grace when you are growing in charity. 
 Know that you are right, when you are right in heart. A right 
 head coupled with a wrong heart is capable of doing infinite mis- 
 chief. When the heart is right, when the purpose is pure, when 
 the love is simple and clear, it will keep the rest of the man in 
 proper mood and gesture, and will direct him, not always with 
 mechanical exactness, yet evermore with the most beneficent 
 impulse, to a most beneficent end. 
 
 Jesus Christ's last word was about himself. " Ye shall be wit- 
 nesses unto ME. ' ' What sublime audacity ! What magnificent 
 confidence ! "Ye shall be witnesses unto me, — not to one another 
 • — ye shall be witnesses unto vie, and I will sustain you in bearing 
 testimony, I will send the Comforter, I will give you power, I will 
 not leave you comfortless." The church has OJie subject, one 
 King, one Lord, one thing to say — that one thing is — Jesus Christ 
 came into the world to save sinners, and went, out of the world to 
 pray for his church and sustain his servants in all the stress of life 
 and in all the anxiety of service. 
 
III. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thou dost call us together that thou mayest bless us, 
 and not that thou mayest pour upon us the wrath of thy judgment. 
 When thou dost call men it is to a great wedding feast, yea, to gladness 
 and ecstasy. When we obey thy call and come together to thine house, 
 we find that thy banner over us is love, and that thy welcome is broader 
 than our necessity. Thou art always working for those who have sinned 
 against thee : thy mercy endureth for ever, thy love is a great sea that 
 cannot be dried up : thy mercy and thy power combine to make one great 
 sky, overarching the earth that has left thee in rude rebellion. 
 
 We have come to sing of thy mercy rather than of thy judgment : thy 
 mercy is the angel of our life, it is the light of our eyes, it is our one con- 
 tinual comfort. We turn away from our sin and see thy mercy more 
 brightly because of our guilt. What have we not seen of the Lord's com- 
 passion, how tender his heart, how continuous his love. We say with 
 the house of Aaron and with all the houses of ancient time and of modern 
 days, his mercy endureth for ever. Because thy compassions fail not, we 
 are here this day, standing in the Sabbatic light and looking up with ex- 
 pectancy that shall not be disappointed, into the shining heavens. Do 
 not all things come from above, are not all the gifts of God poured down 
 upon us as from a summer sky ? Continue thy goodness to us. Lord of 
 the heavens, God of the earth and Father of all souls. 
 
 We bless thee that we can thus speak to thee in our mother tongue, 
 with all the fulness and plainness of love, because of the revelation made 
 concerning thee by Jesus Christ thy Son. We know thee because we 
 know him, we love him because he first loved us, and to love him is to 
 love God. For all his wondrous life we bless thee : without it our life 
 would be a life in the night-time, all darkness and mystery. For his 
 atoning death we adore thee, magnifying thy wisdom and thy grace be- 
 cause of this infinite answer to our transgression. We need the cross 
 every day : some days we need the cross to save us from the pit that 
 opens at our very feet : may we run to the cross, hide ourselves in the 
 sanctuary of its sacrifice, abide within the circle of its glowing mystery, 
 and there await the communications of heaven addressed to the soul by 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Thou hast given us a handful of days which we call our life, our breath 
 is in our nostrils, and we live to die— but in Christ we die to live, he is 
 
22 ACTS I. 10-14. 
 
 our live and our immortality, and because we are in him, rooted and 
 grounded in his purpose of grace and mercy, we shall not be cast away. 
 
 Thou wilt continue to redeem us daily, until the whole work of Christ 
 is completed in our life and we are beautiful with his beauty. Herein is 
 our confidence, without this we have no rock to stand upon, but with this 
 we are lifted up above all condemnation, and are set in the sanctuary that 
 cannot be violated. Daily come to us with all thy needed love, contin- 
 ually stand by us, that our weakness may become our strength : and that 
 out of the night of our sin we may see the stars of thy love and promise. 
 
 Every heart has its own tale to tell thee, of wonder, distress, loss, gain, 
 joy and gladness. Hear thou the voices of individuals as well as the cry 
 of our common delight, and our multitudinous supplication. Come to us 
 according to our individual requirement ; where there is great gloom 
 bring thou back the light that has long fled. Where there is the shining 
 of a great light all round about the life, speak thou the word that shall 
 stay the soul against the time of darkness and storm. Where there is a 
 burning desire to serve thee with both hands, with an entire heart and an 
 unbroken will, this is the work of God the Holy Ghost, and thou wilt 
 surely continue it unto the end : if thou wilt not quench the smoking flax, 
 thou wilt not put out the burning light. Where there is indifference or 
 hesitation, an unloving reluctance, a painful and godless wonder, the 
 Lord come with the olden baptism, tne one baptism of fire, the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost, burn up wood and hay and stubble, and all refuse and 
 alloys, and call the soul to the youthfulness of immortal love, and to the 
 consecration of a homage unimpaired. 
 
 We commend unto thee the poor, the sad, the lonely, the stranger, the 
 wanderer, the prodigal, our friends upon the sea, our loved ones in other 
 lands, those who are appointed to die, the new born, the bride and the 
 bridegroom, the rrian in business, in anxiety, in success. We commend 
 unto thee all patient sufferers, all who are undergoing silent distresses, 
 the penitent, the contrite, and the broken-hearted — oh, thou whose great 
 blue heaven surrounds us all, come nearer to us still with the circle of thy 
 love as it is revealed and glorified in God the Son. Amen. 
 
 Chap. i. 10-14. 
 
 10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, 
 behold, two men stood [were standing] by them in white apparel ; 
 
 11. Which also said. Ye men of Galilee [all the Apostles had come out 
 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 [Zech. 
 xiv. 4] as ye have seen him go into heaven [Dan. vii. 13]. 
 
 12. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet 
 [where his agony took place], which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's 
 journey [six fivlongs]. 
 
 13. And when they were come in [from the open country], they went 
 
NATURAL ATTITUDES. 23 
 
 up into an upper room, where abode [where there were abiding] both 
 Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Barthol- 
 omew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes 
 [called also Simon the Canaanite], and Judas the brother oi James. 
 
 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, 
 with the women [Luke is the only Evangelist who names them], and 
 Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren [the last known fact in 
 her life, and the last mention of the brethren]. 
 
 THE UPWARD LOOK. 
 
 THE action of the disciples was undoubtedly natural. There 
 are some attitudes for which we cannot account and for 
 which we think we need not account, because they express the 
 uppermost emotion of the soul. Who knows how long the disci- 
 ples would have looked upward steadfastly into heaven .? Many 
 of us now look up in that direction simply because we have seen 
 our loved one ascend towards the fount of day. We think we are 
 the better for looking, and so we are. No man surely can be 
 worse for looking upward. This is God's old medicament for 
 w^ounded hearts and bruised lives. Said he to ancient Israel, 
 " Lift up thine- eyes, and behold," and then he called attention 
 to all the hosts of Heaven, and asked in effect, if that shining host 
 had no meaning in it — whether it did not symbolise and attest, in 
 the most emphatic and gracious way, the power and wisdom of 
 One unseen. 
 
 We cannot allow the best part of our life to be taken up without 
 looking in the direction which it took in its flight. No man, 
 clothed in what apparel he may be, can chidingly refer to our atti- 
 tude. The heart will tell its own tale : under some circumstances 
 the heart will have its own way ; it is useless to tell the heart that 
 no good can come of this or of that — the heart finds good in unex- 
 pected places, and draws honey from flowers that have not been 
 suspected as bearing honey, by any naturalist or herbalist. There 
 are times when the heart must be left to itself, to find comfort 
 where it can, to throw itself into such attitudes and postures as are 
 inspired and dictated by supreme and uncontrollable feelings. 
 Why should we hasten from the grave, why should we turn away 
 from it as if we longed to see it no more ? There is a time when 
 sorrow becomes sweetness — such is the mystery and such the 
 
24 ACTS I. 10-14, 
 
 graciousness of life, that loss turns itself into a source of gain, and 
 men Can say, without contradiction in reality, though not without 
 contradiction in mere krms — " When I am weak, then am I 
 strong. ' ' 
 
 We think, when we look after the captive that perhaps we may 
 see the Captor. Surely that explains all ; by what threadlets is he 
 lifted up ? by what secret mechanism, by what subtle attraction, 
 by what spiritual affinity — what is this magnetism that draws him 
 upward to a larger place ? So we are kept on the alert, expecting 
 that one day we will see the hand that steals the objects of our love 
 and homage. How wonderfully that hand conceals itself ! it is 
 beside us and we see it not, it spreads our table and leaves no 
 finger marks that the rude eyes of the flesh can see, it makes our 
 bed in our affliction and yet there is no sign of anything super- 
 human. Yet what a wondrousy^i?//);^ of the supernatural there is, 
 and feeling is beyond language, taking up all words and using 
 them so far as they can go, and then ascending above them, and 
 leaving them behind like the dust of the feet. 
 
 While the disciples looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went 
 up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel. Who were 
 those men .? There are so many anonymous influences in life — 
 there has always been a Man in this Holy Book, that would not 
 give up his name — he would be called Prophet, Angel, Messenger, 
 even Voice, but the secret of his name he would not disclose. 
 Now he gleamed like lightning, now he moved like a figure 
 through the darkening air, a figure, yet without definite shape, a 
 figure that was going to be a shape, and suddenly fell back from 
 the form and troubled us with an outline for which we had no 
 measure. 
 
 The ]\Ian is still in our life, he is the great Presence in our life, 
 did we but know it well. We try so to vulgarise ourselves as to 
 shut out the supernatural, yet ever and anon it breaks through all 
 our arrangements, and troubles us like a sharp pain. But if 
 willingly received, received with welcomes and expectations, he 
 troubles us indeed, but with a gTQ3.t gladness. Sometimes there is 
 pain even in Joy, sometimes there is agony in love, sometimes our 
 delight rises into speechless rapture. Do not give yourselves up 
 to atheistic loneliness ; expect this Presence, always clothed in 
 
EDUCATION BY QUESTIONING. 25 
 
 white apparel. Why this whiteness ? Why this scorn of colour ? 
 Why this infinite and ineffable simplicity ? What are these 
 arrayed in white robes, and whence came they ? The young 
 angel in the tomb was clothed in white ; the men that spake to 
 Jesus on the mountain were clothed with white, with raiment so 
 white that no fuller on earth could touch by imitation the dazzling 
 snow. It is 7iot scorn of colour, for white is all colours in one ; 
 white is the emblem of light ; the emblem of purity, the symbol 
 of Divinity. Who were they — were they Moses and Elias ? Had 
 they been hovering about ever since they had been on the moun- 
 tain, when they spoke of the decessus he should accomplish at 
 Jerusalem ? Such questions may have no answers which we can 
 supply, yet the very putling of a great question may itself be a relig- 
 ious exercise. Let us understand this matter of interrogation ; it 
 is not needful to have an answer always ; a question may be so 
 put as to be its own best reply. When we are therefore charged 
 not to be wise above what is written, and not to ask questions, we 
 must accept the exhortation within given limits. If we insist upon 
 answers in words, then is our question asking a temptation and a 
 snare ; but if we ask great speculative questions so as to stir the 
 soul's wonder and evoke the soul's prayer, to heighten the sky, 
 and widen the horizon, and then say, " What we know not now 
 we shall know hereafter," speculation becomes one of the highest 
 exercises of the religious life. Encourage that kind of specula- 
 tion, only see that it does not hurry you into impatience, and into 
 that aggravated state of soul which expects replies in words. 
 Always would I have some great question standing in front of me, 
 luring me onward and so continuing my education. At the same 
 time, in proportion as the question is great, poignant and urgent, 
 would I pray to be enabled to ask it in the spirit that expects no 
 verbal reply. 
 
 What said the two men clothed in white apparel ? "Ye men 
 of Galilee" — that term, once a term of reproach, now becomes, 
 through their utterance of it, the beginning of one of the highest 
 social honours. Names that have been spat upon by the world's 
 contempt and scorn shall be lifted up into symbols of glory and 
 honour. The speaker glorifies the words he uses : in one man's 
 mouth the word that would be the sign of vulgarity becomes in 
 
26 ACTS I. 10-14. 
 
 another man's mouth an instrument of refinement and education. 
 The speaker should be above his language, and the speaker's sin- 
 cerity should be as a furnace that purifies all that is cast into it and 
 preserves the hidden gold. 
 
 Thus addressed, the speech continued — " Why stand ye gazing 
 up into heaven V It was not a rebuke ; it was a call from enfee- 
 bling reverie, but it was not a rebuke of the attitude which was then 
 most rationally and naturally assumed. But our attitudes do 
 puzzle the angels and the white-clad ones that come from heaven 
 to look into our ways of doing things. We are continual per- 
 plexities to our celestial and other-world visitants. When the p(5or 
 sorrow-laden women went to the grave, the young man clothed in 
 white raiment said, ' ' Why seek ye the living among the dead .'"' ' 
 So, when the disciples are looking up steadfastly towards heaven, 
 the voices combine to say, " Why stand ye gazing up into 
 heaven ?' ' 
 
 This why has stirred us from the very beginning of human his- 
 iory. Collect from the Bible all the questions that begin with the 
 word Why, and you will be surprised at their number and their 
 variety. Sometimes God says, " Why will you be stricken any 
 more.?" Often and often he says, " Why \\\\\ ye die.?" Again 
 and again, with remonstrance of wisdom, he says, " PF/zy spend 
 money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which 
 satisfieth not .?" How we do perplex the better world ! the angels 
 will not allow us to look downward, nor will they allow us to look 
 upward too long in either case. The angel at the tomb did not 
 drive away the women : having asked them why they sought the 
 living among the d3ad, and having told them that Christ was not 
 there, the angel said, ' ' Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ' ' 
 Gentle word ! sympathetic speech for angels to make to broken- 
 hearted ones ; — the)'' catch us in the right mood, they know exactly 
 what to say. He was an angel, or how could he have said, 
 "Come see the place where the Lord lay .?" He was a man- 
 angel, a human-heart angel, who knew that looking at an empty 
 place might sometimes be equal to going to God's church. 
 
 Why look at the empty chair P Why look at the little dresses 
 that never more can be worn by the one for whom they were 
 made ? Why visit the scenes that have been made heroic by 
 noble valour and sacred endurance ? Why climb the pulpit of 
 
THIS SAME JESUS. 27 
 
 the famous preacher ? Why look into the rooms once inhabited 
 by great historical personages ? What is the meaning of all this ? 
 The angel says to us, ' ' Why do you spend your time so ? Be- 
 think ye. Yet, now that you are here, come, see the place, and 
 out of emptiness get fulness. Because the grave is empty let your 
 heart be filled with sacred delight." 
 
 The women were thus taught not to look too long into the empty 
 grave, and the men were taught not to look too long into the 
 vacant space that was between them and the heavens. What were 
 they then to do .? In both cases to take the muldle line. Men 
 must live on averages. You cannot be living at the extreme point 
 of melancholy, or the extreme point of ecstasy : you must come 
 to the middle line and work along the so-called commonplaces of 
 history. Life is not a dazzling romance ; life is not one continual 
 funeral ; nor is it one continual wedding-feast ; life is made up of 
 ordinary duties, average occupation, faithful, diligent continuance 
 in the vocation wherewith we are called, and we have to establish 
 our life in patience and in well-doing, rather than to glorify it by 
 ecstasies which perish because of their very violence. 
 
 Is contemplation then forbidden in the church ? No. Reverie 
 is ; monastic seclusion is ; idolatry of place is forbidden, and irra- 
 tional expectation is interdicted, but the soul must have its times 
 of looking into graves and looking into skies and looking very 
 widely about itself, for in such looking is the beginning of 
 strength. If you go to the grave to aggravate your atheism you 
 will find no angel there. If you look up into the heavens and 
 think that life is to be a daily evaporation and sighing, then are 
 you misspending your opportunities, and letting the whole sphere 
 of service fall into decay and ruin. 
 
 But to be turned away from the grave ! — yes, but the women 
 were not turned away from the tomb, they were invited to look 
 into it. And the men were not turned away from the heavens, 
 they were enriched with a gTea.t promise — " this same Jesus which 
 is taken up from you into heaven shall come in like manner as ye 
 have seen him go into heaven." Pause long at the words " This 
 same Jesus. ' ' Our fear has been that we should one day see some 
 ot^er Christ. I with you, want to see the Christ of Bethlehem and 
 Nazareth, and Galilee, and Jerusalem, and Gethsemane, and the 
 Cross, and Olivet. We have read of him as being " the same 
 
ACTS I. 10-14. 
 
 yesterday, to-day and for ever. ' ' We often wish that we could 
 have seen him in his humiliation. In some way God will preserve 
 the identity of Christ, and we shall see that same Jesus that came 
 to save the world. Who wants to see the glorified Christ alone .? 
 so transfigured and so to say so deified that his own original disci- 
 ples would not know him .'' There must be the reality of identity ; 
 we must so see him as to be able to say at once, without indica- 
 tion from any other quarter, ' ' That is Christ and none other — 
 
 In his feet and hands are wound prints, 
 And his side." 
 
 He must so show himself that we can have no questioning one 
 with the other as to his identity, but by common, universal assent 
 we must be enabled to say, " This is he of whom Moses and the 
 prophets did write : this is the Babe of Bethlehem, the Man 
 mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, the 
 crucified Victim, the prevailing Priest." So women turned away 
 after having been invited to see the grave, and men turned away 
 with the promise that this same Jesus should come in like manner, 
 were in no rude and violent manner turned away, but each was 
 comforted with special sympathy. 
 
 How obedient the men were to the heavenly vision. There are 
 times when we are just little children in the hands of God, without 
 question-asking or murmuring or complaining. The men returned 
 to Jerusalem, they were wrought up into a mood of docility, self- 
 renunciation, and utter, simple waiting upon God. We know 
 that we are growing in grace, when we know that we are growing 
 in the spirit of obedience. They would go or stand, or look or 
 return as they were bidden. We have lost that sweet simplicity ; 
 we have now become cunning in argument, learned in controversy, 
 skilful in the suggestion of difficulties, and the simplicity of child- 
 like obedience has been lost from our heart. Would that we 
 could open God's book and read it straight off without any ques- 
 tioning or unbelief ! Would that we could take the psalms and 
 read them as if they belonged to us. How much richer we would 
 be, and quieter, and stronger. 
 
 To ivhat did the men return ? When they were come in they 
 went up into an upper room. In ancient Madrid the rule was 
 that, except there* was a special stipulation to the contrar)', the 
 
MECHANISM BROKEN UP. 29 
 
 upper rooms of all houses belonged to the ki7ig. Ideally the 
 notion is full of beauty. However humble your house, if it had 
 been built under the common law of Spain, the upper chambers 
 were royal possessions. Is there any chamber in our house that 
 belongs to the King } Do we keep a chair which He will turn 
 into a Throne by sitting in it 1 Do we keep one crust which he 
 may turn into a feast by breaking it } Have we one vessel filled 
 v;ith water which he will fill with wine by smiling upon it ? Is 
 there anything in all the house that is peculiarly and inalienably 
 the King's .? We might make the whole house his : so all-claim- 
 ing is his love that he would take it, and what he takes he returns 
 — as his kind earth does ; the kind, yet voracious earth takes our 
 handful of seed, but returns it in golden harvest. 
 
 So the men gathered in that upper room — and their names are 
 given, not in the old order, but with some confusion of consecu- 
 tiveness. What of that ? It was a grand thing to break up 
 mechanism at the very first ; to read the list either backward or 
 forward, or beginning at the middle and going either way — for are 
 we not all called to a common brotherhood in Christ, and are not 
 the last first and the first last, and is not the middle name the most 
 glorious of all .? And what is the difference between us when we 
 are judged and valued by the redeeming grace of God } Presently 
 the disciples will try to make a little order in the Church, and they 
 will be punished for it. We have but to turn over the page, and 
 the disciples before the Pentecost will make wise fools of them- 
 selves. We love to ??iechanise, to build little sand houses, which 
 the first wave will swash down and mingle with the common shore. 
 It is better that we should have the order of spontaneity, and that 
 any man should be able to write the list blindfold, and to put the 
 names down as they occur to him. Who cares where his name is, 
 provided it be iti the list P Is my name here .? I ask not where, 
 but here, on the record, in the Lamb's Book of Life .? I ask not 
 whether on the first page or the last — is it in the book .? If so, it 
 is enough. 
 
 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication 
 — all life running up into one grand cry unto God. You cannot 
 pray to order : you may appoint your times for prayer and 
 
30 ACTS I. 10-14. 
 
 endeavour to keep those times, but sometimes we in breaking our 
 appointment with God best keep it. We cannot always pray as 
 we can pray sometimes. There are days of prayer ; harvests of 
 prayer ; hours that we could spend, and count them all too short, 
 in the eloquence of loving communion with God. At other times 
 we are speechless in his presence, the heart is dumb, there is no 
 cry in the spirit, and what we have to learn is this, that our speech- 
 lessness is oftentimes more eloquent than our speech. 
 
 And the women were there, all named together — not only the 
 women, but the Woman — and Mary, the mother of Jesus — one 
 last little line to herself. We hear nothing more about her that is 
 authentic : legend and tradition have their foolish tales to tell 
 about her, but this is the end, so far as the Scriptures are con- 
 cerned — " And Mary, the mother of Jesus." Do not complicate 
 that simplicity, add nothing to that completeness. She was there, 
 not ofificially, not presidentially — she was there as one of the 
 women whose eyes were as the pools of Heshbon. 
 
 There was the little society, doing nothing but praying — and 
 when a church does nothing but pray it begins to do the mightiest 
 of all works. I do not say uttering prayerful words and sentences, 
 but PRAYING— when it prays with the heart, with the violence 
 of love, yet with the patience of confidence, when it gives itself in 
 unbroken stress towards the heavens, then no angel ever says, 
 * ' Why speak ye thus steadfastly up to heaven .''' ' The looking was 
 turned aside, but not the praying, the looking after the vanished 
 figure, but not the praying to the presiding Intercessor. We may 
 look too long after that which we think our eyes can descry, but 
 when it comes to speaking heavenward, sending the sotil skyward, 
 bidding the heart go on its own messages and knock at heaven's 
 door, then no men clothed in white apparel say, " Why speak ye 
 so long .'" but all heaven says, every angel says, the church of 
 the first-born in heaven says, — " PRAY without ceasing." 
 
IV. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we know thee as the Searcher of hearts, and we trem- 
 ble before thee. Thou dost search Jerusalem as with a candle ; the light 
 of thine eyes falls upon the inmost parts of the heart, and there is nothing 
 hidden from thy vision. The darkness and the light are both alike unto 
 thee, the wings of the morning cannot carry us away beyond thy looking, 
 there is no height in heaven, there is no depth in hell wherein is conceal- 
 ment from the eyes that fill the universe. Wherewithal then can we come 
 before thee, wherein is our standing, and on what ground do we now 
 appear ? Thou hast nourished and brought up children, but they have 
 rebelled against thee ; no child of thine on all this earth but has lifted up 
 an arm of rebellion against the heavens : there is none righteous, no, not 
 one. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to 
 his own way, — wherein then do we appear before thee but in him who is 
 our brother and Priest and Saviour, Jesus Christ the Son of God ? Wor- 
 thy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive the homage of all creation, 
 loudest and sweetest of all, the hymn of redeemed men, who, having 
 known the darkness and the torment of sin, have been brought into a 
 marvellous light and into an unspeakable joy. We come before thee to 
 speak of Christ, to bless thee for the Son of Man, to worship him as thy 
 Son, our Priest and our one Sacrifice, who answers every question, 
 soothes us by his grace, gives us infinite comfort by his promises, and 
 who has pledged himself, as with the oath of his blood, to complete what 
 he has begun, and to present us faultless before thee. 
 
 How long, O Lord, how long before we are brought into a state of 
 obedience unto thee ? We are proud and self-willed, we are ignorant of 
 all that is deep and lasting, we seize things that flit by us, and imagine 
 that they express eternity. We come before thee as those who are foolish 
 of heart and void of understanding, and we ask thee to pity us and for- 
 give us with all the infinite tenderness of thy love. Thou dost show us 
 thyself in wondrous ways ; oh, that we had eyes to see thee in all the 
 story of the day, in all the march of the seasons, in all the displays of thy 
 providence. Thou dost crush the bad man, and overthrow that which is 
 corrupt, and upon righteousness and virtue dost thou set the crown of 
 thine approbation. If for a small moment thou dost forsake men, it is 
 that with everlasting mercies thou mayest gather them. 
 
 Take thine own way with us — thy will be done. We cannot follow all 
 thy will, nor do we know the secret of thy movement, but we know Christ 
 
ACTS I. 15-26. 
 
 thy Son, and he has revealed the Father. Work in the dark or in the 
 light, as thou wilt, only when thou hast tried us, bring us forth as gold. 
 Preside over the furnace, watch all the burning, when the last dross falls 
 away, when in our purified soul thou dost see the shining of thine image, 
 cool the furnace and present us to thyself. We would be thine : bad in 
 our inmost heart, sullied in all the emotion and passion of our soul, 
 crushed by burdens of our own creation — still we would be thine. We 
 are ashamed of the devil, we are ashamed of ourselves, we find no confi- 
 dence and rejoicing but in the light and the truth of the Deity : Lord, 
 may our better conquer our worse self, set up thy kingdom in our heart, 
 that great, glad, radiant kingdom which is called the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Help us up the road when it is very steep, draw nearer to us as the 
 wind becomes colder, when we are affrighted by presences in the dark, 
 and by voices mingling with the storm. Jet thy comforting toward us be 
 multiplied and recall our courage in God. 
 
 We pray for those who are not here : for the bad one who would not 
 come, for the sick one who could not come, for the far away one who 
 wants to come, for all who are included within the circle of thy love. 
 Have pity upon the suffering, those who are dying do thou make to live 
 by thy presence and thy soothing : where the house is very lonely and 
 the shadow has the deeper gloom to the eye that reads it aright than any 
 other shadow they ever saw in the house before — where the heart is very 
 sore, where old companionships are about to be broken up, where life- 
 long unions are about to be sundered, where the wedding vow is about to 
 be taken up and to pass on to other meanings, where the child is sick, 
 where the shadow of the coffin rests upon the cradle, and where there is 
 gloom or sorrow or weariness of any kind — O, thou who didst make every 
 star of the night and every flower of the summer day, thou who didst in- 
 carnate thyself in Jesus Christ, let thy grace be multiplied, and let thy 
 comfort mightily prevail over all our distress. Amen. 
 
 Acts i. 15-26. 
 
 15. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and 
 said, (the number of names [probably a synonym for persons] together 
 were about an hundred and twenty) [of whom one-tenth were apostles]. 
 
 16. Men and brethren [Demosthenes said, Ye men of Athens !], this 
 Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the 
 mouth of David [the beginning of the new method of interpretation] 
 spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. 
 
 17. For he was numbered with us [he had been numbered], and had 
 obtained part of this ministry [portion or inheritance]. 
 
 18. Now this man purchased [got possession of. In old English pur- 
 chase often meant acquired] a field with the reward of iniquity [a Petrine 
 phrase, see 2 Peter ii. 13, 15] ; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in 
 the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 
 
COMPLETING THE APOSTOLATE. zz 
 
 ig. And it was [became] known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem ; in- 
 somuch as that field is called in their proper tongue [in their own dialect] 
 Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. 
 
 20. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be deso- 
 late, and let no man dwell therein : and his bishoprick [the general term 
 office is preferable] let another take. 
 
 21. Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time 
 that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us [representing the whole 
 life and conduct]. 
 
 22. Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he 
 was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of 
 his resurrection. 
 
 23. And they appointed two, Joseph [nothing further is known of himi 
 called Barsabas [son of the oath or wisdom], who was surnamed Justus, 
 and Matthias [given by Jehovah]. 
 
 24. And they prayed, and said, thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts 
 of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen. 
 
 25. That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which 
 Judas by transgression fell [away], that he might go to his own place. 
 
 26. And they gave forth their lots [not votes] ; and the lot fell upon 
 Matthias ; and he was numbered [the Greek word is not the same as in 
 V. 17] with the eleven apostles. 
 
 THE PREMATURE ELECTION. 
 
 "^ AND in those days." — There were ten days between the tak_ 
 ing up of the Lord Jesus and the festival of the outpouring 
 of the Spirit which is now known to us by the name of Whitsun- 
 tide. In those ten days Peter " stood up." It was a pity he did 
 so, for he had been distinctly told to sit down. But who can waii 
 ten days } Yet those periods of waiting are interposed in every 
 life, for the trial of patience and for the perfecting of faith. Where 
 is there a man who can sit down ten long days and do nothing 
 but waii P "They also serve who only stand and wait." 
 " Stand still and see the salvation of God." " Your strength is 
 to sit still." Mark how this is God's training of us in this matter 
 of sitting, waiting, ■ expecting, — training us to the eloquence of 
 silence and to the energy of standing still. Who can do it .? 
 
 Peter was pre-eminently the man who could not do it. Goaded 
 by impatience, he stood up and addressed the disciples. He was 
 always more or less of a talkative man, letting his energy flow out 
 in speech instead of embodying it in noble patience and heroic 
 
34 ACTS I. 15-26. 
 
 endurance. His energy evaporated. He will become a better man 
 by-and-by ; from Peter we shall yet hear some of the most solid 
 and noble deliverances ever pronounced by an inspired apostle. 
 He will burn as Paul never burned ; he will excel even John in 
 tenderness, yes, even in this opening speech, made before the time, 
 he begins to show that delicacy of touch which so often made him 
 conspicuous amid all the writers of apostolic letters. 
 
 It was to be feared that he would begin with a mistake, because 
 he ended with one. On the last occasion probably, or near it, on 
 which he saw the Lord, he said to Jesus, " Lord, what shall this 
 man— the disciple whom Jesus loved — do ?" A man who asks a 
 question of that kind will commit a mistake the next time he 
 speaks. Faults go in groups. Jesus rebuked him, saying, " If I 
 will," — that subtle lordliness of tone which always separated him 
 from all other speakers. — " If I will that he tarry till I come, 
 what IS that to thee .' Follow thou me." The next time we hear 
 of Peter in any conspicuous relation is in the instance before us, 
 when during the ten days of waiting he became impatient, and 
 stood up amid the disciples and made a speech about the vacancy 
 in the apostolate. 
 
 The fussy church must be doing something, if it is only mis- 
 chief ; the mechanical church cannot stand still ; church-mongers 
 are infinitely too busy ; they lack repose ; they consider that if 
 they are walking up and down very much, they are doi?ig some- 
 thing, they consider that if they be sitting quietly still, looking 
 with wonder-filled eyes to the great silent heavens in expectancy 
 and eager love, they are doing nothing. Peter will have a vote 
 taken, or a ballot ; he will complete the broken circle — he who 
 broke the circle most, he whose crime out-blackens Iscariot's, he 
 who said, " I know not what thou sayest, I know not the man," 
 he who with cursing and swearing denied that he knew Christ, — 
 was that not in reality selling his Lord without the silver ? He 
 stood up in the midst and began to organise the apostolate ! If 
 Judas had lived, who knows what Christ would have done to him } 
 Peter lived, and Christ had a secret interview with him, and in 
 that private conversation an amnesty was pronounced and Peter 
 was re-established. No man can expel you from the church. 
 Every expelled man expels himself. You can be put away from a 
 visible community. You cannot be put away from Christ's bosom. 
 
SELF-EXCOMMUNICATION. 35 
 
 Christ's family, Christ's church, but by your own hand. It is 
 this terrific power of suicide with which God has entrusted rational 
 life ! Chrysostom was wont to say, what we now quote as a 
 modern proverb, as if contemporaneous wit had suggested and 
 formulated the wisdom, " No man can hurt a man but himself." 
 Nothing that you can say against me will have the smallest effect 
 upon me or against me, if I be true in my inmost soul, unbroken 
 in homage, constant in devotion, perfect and incorruptible in sin- 
 cerity. Nothing that I can say against you will have the smallest 
 effect detrimental in the long run, if you be true in heart, and full 
 of integrity towards God. 
 
 Peter excluded himself from the church. So we read, " Go tell 
 
 my disciples and Peter." The first-born disinherited, the 
 
 great primogeniture broken up, the first last, the leader an exile ! 
 And Judas " by transgression fell" — he put /«mf^ outside the 
 church. It is not a Papacy that can unchurch me, it is not an 
 ecclesiastical confederation that can unchurch you. You have in 
 your own sclfiht power of life and death, so far as this particular 
 matter is concerned. God has made you your own trustee. You 
 can separate 3^ourself from Christ, you can turn away and walk no 
 more with him, you can commit suicide, but as for others, no man 
 can pluck you out of your Father's hand. Let us consider well, 
 therefore, how each soul is treating itself. 
 
 But Peter was forgiven. What was said at the secret interview, 
 who can tell .? When the hands touched one another again, one 
 of them was just the same it always was, a rough fisherman's hand 
 — but the other was not the same — the wound print made all the 
 difference ! But the grip was the same, the old, old grip, the 
 masonry of the union was the same, and the wound only increased 
 its tenderness. Poor soul, thou mayest be forgiven ! Black 
 Iscariot, all but damned, thou art not yet lost ; seek an interview 
 with the ill-treated Saviour, have it out between yourselves this 
 very day, tell him all the tale without a single reservation or self- 
 excuse, and ere you have got it all out, his forgiveness will be 
 down upon you like an infinite blessing ! He never allows the 
 prodigal io finish his speech. He sees from the first sentence what 
 the last is going to be, and punctuating the eloquence of peniten- 
 tial grief with his affectionate embrace, the sin is forgotten, as 
 impurity is consumed in fire. 
 
36 ACTS J. I $-26. 
 
 Peter begins where all wise teachers must begin, if they would 
 continue in efficiency, and conclude beneficently. He founds 
 what he has to say upon the Scriptures. This is the peculiarity of 
 Christian teaching : it founds itself upon the written word, it never 
 fears to rest itself upon that sacred testimony : even where there' 
 may be differences of inlerpr elation, it rests upon something deeper 
 than merely verbal exposition. Herein is that sublime possibility 
 of all Christian sections being substantially and integrally right. 
 The Arminian and the Calvinist, two ghosts that have often 
 affrighted the timid church — they are both right. The man who 
 believes in the humanity of Christ, and the man who believes in 
 the Deity of Christ are both right. How is this, then .? Simply 
 because the contradiction and the difference are to be found in 
 interpretation, but there is always something below anything that 
 can be written, and there is something higher than a tongue or a 
 prophecy, or an interpretation in w^ords ! It is the spirit that 
 unites, it is the letter that divides and kills. It is quite possible 
 for an heterodox man to have an orthodox spirit, and it is by his 
 spirit that he will be saved, and not by his letter. Do not tell me 
 what your creed is : but do tell me something of your k7nper, your 
 spirit, your supreme aspiration, your highest, broadest prayer — 
 what is the one desire of your heart .? There is nothing true that 
 is incompatible with love ; charity never faileth. As for our con- 
 ceptions, interpretations, and suggestions, they are but intermediate 
 or transient ; we are passing on through them to some further and 
 higher generalisation : on the road let us exchange views, approach 
 one another with a noble charity, and know that there is no one 
 man who holds in exclusive trust the totality of the Truth which is 
 indicated by the expression " the kingdom of God." 
 
 Grounding himself upon what is written in the Scriptures, and 
 only partially interpreting it, Peter proceeded to take a ballot for 
 an apostle to succeed the apostate Judas. But could Peter make 
 a mistake when he addressed the disciples at that time ? Who 
 asked him to rise and address the disciples at all ? In our last 
 study of this chapter, we read that the disciples were told to wait 
 for the baptism of power — " Ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
 Ghost not many days hence." They were waiting for that bap- 
 tism, and whilst they were waiting for it, Peter spoke. Peter was 
 
APOSTOLICAL QUALIFICATION. 
 
 not endued with the Holy Ghost in the Pentecostal sense when he 
 made this speech : we shall watch him grow ; when the Holy 
 Spirit does descend upon him and burn up all his folly, then we 
 shall see how noble a man was concealed under the exterior of 
 that rough and oft-mistaken fisherman. 
 
 The conditions of succession to the apostolate are very beautiful. 
 " Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the 
 time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning 
 from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken 
 up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his 
 resurrection." That is the law of the ministry to-day. " Lay 
 hands suddenly on no man." The men who must come to this 
 Christian ministry must be men who have " companied with us all 
 the time," men who have known the Lord Jesus Christ all the 
 time, men who were present at his birth in Bethlehem, and present 
 at His upgoing on Olivet — men who have been with him " all the 
 time," men to whom he is no stranger, who read his character, 
 peruse the mystery of his spirit, comprehend the beneficence of his 
 purpose, enter into sacred and inviolable unity with every emotion 
 that heaved his breast and that sanctified his life, men who " have 
 companied with him all the time." 
 
 You cannot make ministers, you cannot pick out exiles and 
 aliens and teach them this language of the kingdom of heaven, as 
 if they were natives of that celestial empire. They must be borii, 
 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
 but they must be born of God, and so born nothing can stand 
 against them. They will trample down difficulties with the scorn 
 of infinite strength, saying, " We can do all things through 
 Christ." This is the mischief against which we have to guard, 
 that 3-ou can buy ministers with money, that you can qualify apos- 
 tles by salary, that if you offer higher prices, you would get higher 
 genius ! It is a LIE ! This genius is not in the market, it is not 
 a commodity that can be exchanged and bartered, it has no 
 equivalent in kind, it is a fire that only one hand can light and 
 that no storm can put out. 
 
 Having elected two men for choice, the disciples prayed : they 
 left the case in the hands of God, but unfortunately they had first 
 taken it into their own. Never take your own case into your own 
 
38 ACTS I. 15-26. 
 
 hand : have nothing to do with it : I will not guide my own life. 
 Persons say "Be prudent" — if ever you can for a moment sit 
 yourself down, resolving to be prudenl, God has forsaken you ! 
 Persons say, " Beware of exaggeration, of over-colouring ; beware 
 of enterprises that are questionable or dangerous" — those persons 
 never did anything for the world ; they canjiot do anything for the 
 world : cold water never drove an engine, and a body without 
 wings never knew the danger, the mystery, the joy of flight. If 
 any man can resolve his life into a life of prudence he has taken 
 his life into his own hands, and God will turn his prudence into 
 confusion, and the question will again be asked ; " Where is the 
 wise.-* where is the prudent.? where is the scribe?" Seek an 
 inspired life. Say to kind heaven every day, " Not my will but 
 ihine be done. I want to build a tower, but not my will — thine 
 be done. I ask for great success, but if failure is better for me, 
 not my will but thine be done. Here is my short programme, re- 
 write it or burn it — not my will but thine be done." So the 
 apostles committed themselves in prayer to God for guidance in 
 this matter. So would I take every matter to God day by day, 
 and say, " It is of no consequence to my poor little life, but every- 
 thing is of infinite consequence to thy holy and glorious kingdom : 
 Let it be according to thy mind, loving One, and not according 
 to mine." 
 
 The disciples gave forth their lots. How pitiful. In a few 
 more days they will have had the Holy Ghost. Casting forth the 
 lots was an Old Testament plan, an initial arrangement, a small 
 introductory mechanism, adapted to the infantile state of the world. 
 There are men now, who would like to decide everything by lot : 
 it seems a short and easy method, but it is no method in the house 
 of God : we are now under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. If 
 you were to write all the creeds of Christendom and to put them 
 into an urn and to shake the urn after prayer, asking God that 
 the right creed might come out, I should not wonder but that 
 some creed would fall out of the urn that would shock the sense 
 of nine-tenths of Christendom. There is no such way of discover- 
 ing God's thought. That is not his scheme, and that is not the 
 scheme of our life : we do not decide things by lot, in our own 
 narrow sphere ; nor do we carry things unanimously ourselves. 
 Let me make that point as clear as I can : you, an individual 
 
UNANIMOUS DECISIONS. 39 
 
 man, do not always carry things u7ianimously : you often have to 
 decide your course by a viajority of yourself. Thus, these are 
 the voters that hve in you — Judgment, Self-interest, Immediate 
 Success, Curiosity, Speculation, Family Considerations, Health, 
 Time, and some twenty more voters all have a seat in the council 
 of your mind. Now those who are in favour of this course say, 
 " Aye," those who oppose this course say, " No," and then you, 
 that innermost You, that Self you have never seen, says, "The 
 ayes have it — or the noes, ' ' so that in reality you do not carry 
 your own personal decisions unanimously. Sometimes your judg- 
 ment does not vote at all, then the resolution is said to be carried 
 nem. ton., no one contradicting. Sometimes you carry your reso- 
 lutions unanimously, the whole man stands up and says : " Let it 
 be done ;" so various are the ways by Avhich we conduct the per- 
 sonal business and discharge the individual responsibilities of life. 
 When I have wished in critical hours to know what was right to 
 do, I have submitted myself to three tests. First, what has been 
 the deepest conviction of my own mind ; secondly, what has been 
 the concurrent voice of my most trusted counsellors ; and thirdly, 
 what has been the fair inference to be drawn from conspiring cir- 
 cumstances } With a" strong personal conviction, with a con- 
 firmatory judgment from my friends, with circumstances evidently 
 conspiring to point in a certain direction, I have said, " This is 
 none other than God's will : if it be not. Lord, stop me at once, 
 for he who does his own will is a fool, and he who does Thy will, 
 will be lifted up into Thy heavens. Not my will but Thine be 
 done." 
 
 In the case before us the lot fell upon Matthias, and you hear 
 no more about him. I do not want to be a balloted minister : I 
 do not want to be here because I had six votes, and another man 
 had only five : I want to stand in my ministry by right divine, by 
 qualifications incontestable, by credentials not written by men and 
 that cannot be expunged by men. That is the calling of the 
 whole church : do not imagine that Episcopalianism, Congrega- 
 tionalism, Presbyterianism, or Methodism will save you. We are 
 not saved by names, traditions, or legends, nor are we an influen- 
 tial church because we bear an illustrious name. Every day needs 
 its own inspiration, as every day requires its own bread. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, are we not all in one place, with one accord, and is 
 not our heart steady towards thee in love and in eager expectation ? 
 Have we not come together in the one all-uniting and all-reconciling name 
 of Jesus Christ thy Son ? Wilt thou then withhold the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, and allow us to abide in our own emptiness and poverty of mind 
 and heart — wilt thou not rather open the windows of heaven and pour out 
 a blessing until there be not room to receive it? Thy blessing is always 
 larger than our space, thou doest unto the children who pray unto thee 
 exceeding abundantly above all that they ask or think. Thy grace is an 
 eternal surprise, thy providence is a daily miracle. If thou dost not 
 astonish us by great interpositions which our eyes can see, it is because 
 of the daily appeal which thou dost make to our understanding and our 
 heart, by thy care and gentle patience. 
 
 Thou hast beset us behind and before and laid thine hand upon us : 
 thou knowest our downsitting and our uprising, our going out and our 
 coming in, and there is nothing in all our life on which thine eye doth not 
 rest with the anxiety of love. The very hairs of our head are all num- 
 bered ; thou dost notice the falling sparrow. Thou dost not neglect to 
 baptize any root that is in all thine earth, thy great impartial sun throws 
 its infinite splendour over all thy works which we behold. We will ex- 
 pect great things from thee, our hearts shall be warmed by a special 
 hope, our eyes shall look for the blessing as if they would bring it. Be- 
 hold this desire is of thine own creation, and this expectancy cometh forth 
 from the Lord of hosts, and thou wilt not forsake the work of thine hands, 
 thou wilt not inspire a prayer that thou mayest deny it. 
 
 Thou knowest with what psalms and loud thanksgivings we have come 
 into thine house. Every heart has brought its own tribu'e of love and 
 praise, no life before thee in all thy courts is dumb, but everywhere is the 
 sign of thy presence and thy life. Hear the thanksgiving of those in 
 whose houses thou hast set a great light, hear the blessing of those who 
 praise thee for life giving and for life sparing, and for afflictions survived 
 — the Lord send after such thanksgiving, answers of inspiration that shall 
 guard and guide, ennoble and bless, the praising life. 
 
 Thou knowest who have come with songs that have in them sugges- 
 tions of sorrow : they will sing though it be in the night time : whilst 
 they sing, the darkness lowers itself upon them, in the very midst of their 
 praising their hearts are stung with cruel memories, and in the very 
 
THE TEXT. 41 
 
 house of God, the enemy faces them as if even here they should find no 
 rest on the day thou hast made for thyself. The heart knoweth its own 
 bitterness, the life is aware of its own agony, weakness, poverty, and 
 helplessness. Are not these the conditions upon which thou dost visit us 
 in Christ Jesus— was it not when there was no arm to save, when there 
 was no eye to pity, that thine own eye and thine own arm brought salva- 
 tion ? Thou dost address thyself to our weakness ; it is because of our 
 nothingness that thou dost come unto us ; when we are weak then are we 
 strong ; emptied of ourselves and of every broken trust we have ever 
 recorded, thou dost come to us with the fulness of thy salvation, and with 
 the infinite sufficiency of thy grace. Therefore our hope is in God this 
 day : were we rich and increased in goods in our own deluded imagina- 
 tion thou wouldst not come to us, but because and though we are blind 
 and naked and miserable and have nothing, and because our tearful eyes 
 are lifted up unto the heavens, thou wilt come to us in Jesus Christ, the 
 ever-living Priest, the one Man whose prayer is ever acceptable. 
 
 We put ourselves into thine hands, thou didst make us and not we our- 
 selves, we know not what a day may bring forth : we are plagued by our 
 own ignorance, we are deceived by the pretensions of a strength that can 
 do nothing, we are misled by spiritual enemies on every hand, our con- 
 victions are trifled with, our best vows are laughed at, and our endeavors 
 after the better life are mocked by foes invisible. Yet amid all this ex- 
 perience of temptation and danger and distress, we know that the Lord 
 liveth, that he regardeth them that put their trust in him, and that he will 
 not leave them desolate in the time of his visitation. Lord, how long ? 
 Take our little life into thy keeping : its days are but a handful that a 
 child can number, yet is our life the beginning of thine own — we begin to 
 be immortal as thine own eternity. 
 
 Be with those whom we have left at home — those who are afraid of the 
 cold, such as are weak and in pain, and are ready to die. With those for 
 whom the physician can do no more, before whom he has let his hands 
 fall in helplessness, saying that his resources are at an end. Thy re- 
 sources have no end, thou dost begin at the point of our exhaustion, and 
 when we say there is nothing more, behold thou dost create gardens 
 round about our feet, and lead us forth into paradises unsuspected. Glad- 
 den thy desponding ones with new hope, give them that sureness and 
 constancy of faith in thyself, before which death dies away, or comes with 
 excuses, because we are sent for to the King's inner chamber. Amen. 
 
 Acts ii. 1-21. 
 
 1. And when the day of Pentecost [the second of the three great 
 Jewish feasts, the Passover being the first, and the third the Feast of 
 Tabernacles] was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place 
 [the upper room]. 
 
 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing 
 
42 ACTS IL I-2I. 
 
 mighty wind [lit., a mighty wind borne along], and it filled all the house 
 where they were sitting. 
 
 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire [a com- 
 parison, not a reality], and it sat upon each of them. 
 
 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak 
 with other tongues [languages they had not known before], as the Spirit 
 gave them utterance. 
 
 5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of 
 every nation under heaven [it was lo the Jew much to be desired that he 
 might die and be buried near the holy city]. 
 
 6. Now when this was noised [cried abroad], the multitude came to- 
 gether, 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 Galilseans ? 
 
 8. And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were 
 born ? [there was no jargon or incoherent speech]. 
 
 g. Parthians [from India to the Tigris], and Medes [east of Assyria], 
 and Elamites [in the districf known to the Greeks and Romans as Susi- 
 ana], and the dwellers in Mesopotamia [between the Euphrates and the 
 Tigris], and in Judaa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia. 
 
 10. Phrygia, and Pamphylia [all countries within Asia Minor], in 
 Egypt, and in the parts of Libya [anciently applied to the African conti- 
 nent], about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome [sojourners from Rome], 
 Jews and proselytes [persons who have come over]. 
 
 11. Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the 
 wonderful works of God [the majesty of God]. 
 
 12. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to an- 
 other, What meaneth this ? 
 
 13. [But] Others mocking said, These men are full of new [sweet] 
 wine. 
 
 14. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lilted up his voice, and 
 said unto them [spake forth unto them]. Ye men of Judaea, and all ye 
 that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken [the only 
 instance of the word in the New Testament] to my words : 
 
 15. For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third 
 hour of the day. [Wine was drunk by the Jews with flesh only, and flesh 
 was only eaten late in the day.] 
 
 16. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel [with per- 
 haps one exception the oldest prophetic book] ; 
 
 17. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour 
 out my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your daughters shall 
 prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall 
 dream dreams : 
 
 18. And on my Servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in 
 those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy : 
 
OPPORTUNITIES. 43 
 
 19. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth 
 beneath ; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke : 
 
 20. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, 
 before that great and notable day of the Lord come : 
 
 21. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of 
 the Lord [an expression which does not occur in the Gospels, though so 
 common in the Old Testament] shall be saved. 
 
 THE OUTPOURING OP THE SPIRIT. 
 
 MARK the very critical care of tlie divine Head of the 
 Church, in fixing special iiines for the communication of 
 special blessings. Here we have the largest possible opportunity 
 which God himself could have secured for the communication of 
 his supreme gift. Pentecost was a harvest festival : about that time 
 people could come with the least degree of danger, from vari- 
 ous outlying countries and districts. In the spring time the sea 
 was troubled violently, and in the winter almost impassable, but in 
 the quiet solemn harvest time everybody seemed to be more at 
 liberty than at any other period of the year, and the sea and the 
 land seemed rather to invite than to repel the traveller. So at the 
 very time when men were released from the greatest pressure of 
 business, and when the elements were most favourable to voyaging 
 and journeying, God came down in the great heaven-wind and 
 the great heaven-fire and owned and crowned the redeemed and 
 expectant church. 
 
 There are opportunities even in divine providence. The days 
 are not all alike to God. Not only has he chosen what we call 
 the first day or the seventh day, as a day of rest — if you read care- 
 fully the whole record of his providential dealings with the world, 
 you will find that he has chosen a hundred days. We in our nar- 
 row interpretation of things bind him down to one day, whereas 
 is there in reality a single day in our life that he has not a lien 
 upon.? He may not say, "I will claim most of every one of 
 those days, from the very beginning to the very end thereof : and 
 one day I will have all for myself," but does he not come in upon 
 birthdays, days of deliverance, times of surprise, days of unusual 
 sorrow, periods wlien anxiety sharpened itself into agony, and 
 when the whole life seemed to be one cruel and burning pain 1 
 Has he not come in upon our wedding days, and joyous days of 
 
ACTS II. I-2I. 
 
 every name and kind, saying in gentle whispers, " I have some 
 share in these?" Let your drinking be a sacrament, let your 
 eating be a religious festival, let all your bell-ringing and heart- 
 enjoyment have in them subtle suggestions of divinity and of re- 
 ligious sacrifice. 
 
 God is not the God of one day only ; he takes up the one day 
 and specially holds it before us, but only symbolically. What he 
 does with that day he wants to do with all the others, but his is an 
 educating and not a driving process ; it is little by little that he 
 moves, almost always imperceptibly, nevertheless most constantly 
 and surely. He will not rest until he has secured every whit of 
 us, judgment, imagination, conscience, will, and every element 
 that enters into manhood — and we shall be sanctified, body, soul 
 and spirit. 
 
 Not only did God seize the largest possible opportunity, but he 
 also availed himself of the largest meynorial feast \.t\o\\xv in Israel. 
 There was no feast like the Pentecost ; there were three great 
 things done at that time- — there was a remembrance of bondage. 
 This feast was fifty days after the leaving of Egypt, and was fixed 
 on account of the leaving of Egypt : it was a feast of deliverance 
 and triumph, and yet having in it, sobering it and chastening it 
 all the way through, memories of cruelties endured and of oppres- 
 sions survived. Thus whilst the heart was tender, while Egypt 
 seemed to be just behind Israel like a threatening spirit, and whilst 
 Israel was confident of its final escape from thraldom, just then, at 
 a critical point, visible to no eye but the eye of Omniscience, was 
 this special communication of divine grace made to the human 
 heart. 
 
 At the Pentecost all the sacrifices were offered. On other occa- 
 sions there might be partial sacrifices, but at the pentecostal season 
 the whole series of sacrifices was gone through, and one became 
 added to the whole, the offering of two wave-loaves, two loaves 
 made of fine flour and leavened, were taken up and waved, before 
 the Lord, in token that loneliness had given place to union, that 
 isolation had entered into companionship, that that which before 
 was without fermentation, inspiration, and movement, had now 
 begun to lift itself towards the heavens in wordless but most sig- 
 nificant aspiratioa and prayer. 
 
WITH ONE ACCORD. 
 
 45 
 
 At the Pentecost it was specially required that Israel should 
 remember Sinai and the giving of the law. Thus all through, 
 Israel was called upon to bear the memory of thunder and light- 
 ning and earthquake, and a great shaking of earth' s stablest things. 
 Will there be any other period in all the history of the earth yet to 
 come, dating from the giving of the law, when amid thunders and 
 great wind-storms and lightnings there shall be given some better 
 gift than the stern law, before which all men fell down as self- 
 accusing offenders ? Will the great voices, the solemn thunders, 
 the appalling fires, always be used for the giving of mere law ? 
 Or will they one day be turned as it were into a sanctuary from 
 the midst of which God shall breathe his spirit of peace and rest 
 and sanctification and love ? 
 
 On this occasion we have the largest possible tmion. For example, 
 here is the largest possible union of nationalities. There were 
 dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under 
 heaven. Jerusalem was never so full as then — there was therefore 
 a union in the introductory sense of mere nationality and associa- 
 tion. There was always the largest union of desire. Note the 
 word accord. The instruments were all in tune together : there 
 was but one feeling, one wish, one desire ; the assembly was with- 
 out mental distraction or moral discord ; quarrelling, clamour, 
 suspicion, jealousy, envy — these were all outside ; within the 
 gathered circle there was but one spirit, one expectation, one 
 hope, one growing wonder — the silence that precedes revelations. 
 
 Have we known the mystery of silence, or has there in our very 
 own quietness always been an undertone of trouble ? Know we 
 the restlessness of an eloquence so eloquent that it says nothing ? 
 Or are our ears filled with minor noises and are a hundred collo- 
 quies proceeding within us ? If so, it is not along that noisy 
 thoroughfare that God comes to the heart. God has promised 
 nothing to disunion : the man that creates disunion in the church 
 must instantly be put away : he is worse than an infidel, he is 
 worse than a drunkard, a liar, a thief. The man who utters one 
 jarring note in God's assembly is a thief in heaven ; he is not 
 stealing some property that was mine, 'tis his, 'tis trash — he is 
 stealing the very riches of the divine grace. 
 
 The Christians, then, were gathered with one accord : that is the 
 eternal term. They were also gathered in ouq place : that is the 
 
46 ACTS II. 1-21. 
 
 transient word. The place is nothing, the accord is ever}-thing. 
 At the time the place was of importance, but since that time place 
 is nothing. Neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, 
 because at both will men worship the Father ; but the accord, the 
 union, the trusting heart, the rhythmic fellowship — this is the 
 eternal quantity, and he who meddles with it is a violator within 
 the ver}'- shadow of the altar. Yet who thinks of this .? If a poor 
 moral cripple should be caught suddenly in some moral fault, then 
 is the imperfect and blind church enraged with him, but the man 
 who is speaking ungracious words, making unlovely statements 
 breathing a spirit of dissension in the church — who takes note of 
 him P Number me with the wildest drunkards that were ever lost 
 in the wild night, rather than with those men who with bated 
 breath even, can seek to mar the union, the sweet accord, of 
 Christ's redeemed church. I know of no gospel for such men. 
 It hath not entered into the infinite compassion of God to have 
 pity upon them. To all the rest of you I have gospels high as 
 heaven, wide as the horizon, but to the marplot in the church, to 
 the spirit of disunion, to the disciple of dissension, God has given 
 me no message except the message of anathema and excommuni- 
 cation. 
 
 Then we have the /he largest possible bestawmeni of the difine gift. 
 There is one word in the first verse which must not be omitted, 
 and that is the word all. By that word all you must not under- 
 stand the apostles only : the word ALL includes the apostles, the 
 disciples, the followers of Christ of every name and degree. This 
 suggestion is of the utmost practical importance : we are not to 
 sit aside and say we have no part or lot in this bestowment of the 
 Holy Ghost : we arc not to suppose that popes, prelates, 
 preachers, ministers, leaders, alone have this gift of the Holy 
 Spirit. This is a common gift, accept it, ask foi* it, claim it in 
 Christ's name. If men being evil know how to give good gifts 
 unto their children, how much more shall your heavenly Father 
 give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him } At this moment I 
 happen to occupy the level of what is called a minister, but on 
 that level I claim no more of God's Spirit and grace than the 
 humblest man in all the church may claim. Get rid of any idea 
 that would lead you to worship the priest : cleanse yourselves of 
 that defilement. We are all God's clergy. We are a royal priest- 
 
HOW GREAT PROMISES ARE FULFILLED. 47 
 
 hood, we have to maintain the priesthood of behevers : I am not 
 ordained by z. priest, I am ordained by ^priesthood. To this min- 
 istry I am not called by one man bearing any distinctive name of 
 official pre-eminence, but called, if truly called, by the consenting 
 voice of the priesthood of the church. 
 
 We must not imagine that a minister merely as such has greater 
 spiritual privileges than a mechanic. It must not be supposed 
 that because a man is entrusted with a high trusteeship, that there- 
 fore God has been partial to him. We are all in the priesthood, 
 we are equally priests before God, our priesthood has no standing 
 but in our holifiess. Not in our intellectual capacity, not in our 
 technical training, not in our official status, but in the sanctifica- 
 tion of the will and of the heart — the total sacrifice of the man to 
 the God. 
 
 As to the church all meeting in one place, do not believe in a 
 place-church. God's church is everywhere. Many of you belong 
 to God's church and may not know it. Poor outsider, you think 
 that the sect is the church : that is your fundamental sophism. 
 What is your heart, what is your heart's desire, what is the upper- 
 most wish of your mind, what is the sovereign purpose of your 
 life .-* If you can say it is to know God's will and do it, to find 
 out God unto perfection and serve him and be like him, then you 
 are in the church, whatever particular place you may occupy. 
 And you who were born but yesterday, are as much a priest as the 
 venerable teacher who is about to close the record and pass on to 
 his higher status, only that he has the advantage of you in time, it 
 may be also of opportunity, but speaking of the nature, essence 
 and substance of things, you also, new-born child in Christ's king- 
 dom, are a priest in Christ, unto God. 
 
 Jesus Christ made a great promise to his disciples when they 
 asked him whether at that time he would restore the kingdom 
 unto Israel. It is always interesting to observe how great promises 
 are fullfiled. The very greatness of the promise necessitates that 
 the fulfilment of it shall be upon a scale proportioned to itself. We 
 have often been amazed because we have wondered how Jesus 
 Christ would find equivalents of the great propositions which he 
 laid before the people. We were unable, for example, to conject- 
 ure how he would /cave the world ; we insisted that the Man who 
 
ACTS II. I-2I. 
 
 came into the world as no other man ever came should not be 
 allowed to leave the world in an ordinary way, should not be 
 allowed to lure us at the one end, and mock us by a common 
 place at the other ; we must see him go out. And when we were 
 told that he ascended, imagination said, "It is enough, it is in 
 infinite in grandeur, and it satisfies the mind in its highest 
 moments." 
 
 Now we have the question before us, how will he fulfil the prom- 
 ise which was given to his apostles, when he told them to wait 
 until they were endued with power from on high .? That would 
 be no commonplace realisation of that promise, nor was there 
 one. " And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a 
 rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were 
 sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of 
 fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the 
 Spirit gave them utterance." Again imagination says, "It is 
 enough, I knew not," my feeble fancy continued, " how that great 
 promise would be carried into effect, but hearing as I do of the 
 suddenness of the coming I remembered that the Lord will sud- 
 denly come to his temple, and remembering as I do, when poor 
 Elijah hid himself in an unbuilt chamber in the rock there went 
 by him fire, wind, earthquake, and then the still small voice, so I 
 see here the old ministry, the grand old agency of rushing mighty 
 wund, cloven tongues as of fire, sudden seizure of things, and mar- 
 vellous world-enclosing eloquence." God always takes care to 
 satisfy the imagination, to say the least of it, and often to confound 
 it. Specially does he take care to satisfy the tJioral nature, and to 
 call upon conscience to say " It is right." 
 
 We see from this revelation how helpless we are in the matter of 
 spiritual revivals. What did the apostles do towards this demon- 
 stration of divine power .? They did nothing but wait, pray, hope, 
 expect — what the world, so fond of action, would call nothing. 
 That is all we can do towards a right revival of religion and virtue. 
 Have nothing to do with those persons who organise revivals, 
 beware of those persons who lay traps for God, have nothing to do 
 with, any mechanised resurrection of spiritual life. Let us read the 
 word " suddenly," reverently, prayerfully, let us read it with secret 
 expectation that the Lord may at any moment come, the darkest 
 
THE GIFT OF FIRE. 49 
 
 hour of the night, or at cockcrow, or early in the morning, and 
 our business is only to wait and watch and lovingly listen as if we 
 might at any moment hear the first foot- beat on the far-away road. 
 
 We need to know the power of wailing. There are those who tell 
 us that we ought to be doing something practical, and they degrade 
 that word " practical " into a kind of mechanical exercise. Is he 
 doing nothing, who continues steadfast in prayer ? Is he doing 
 nothing, who speaks great words of wisdom and who calms the 
 heart in the midst of its searching trouble .^ Is he not a great 
 preacher and a great evangelist, who, by sympathy, love, tender- 
 ness, includes all men in his wrestling prayer and gives all men 
 who hear him to feel that every case has been lifted up in a light 
 where the king and the angels can well see it .? To be practical 
 is not to be demonstrative, to be building wood, hay, stone and 
 metal, it may be to give thought, to offer suggestion, to stimulate 
 the mind, to check the ambition, to elevate the purpose of life. 
 The disciples and apostles, previous to Pentecost, did everything 
 by doing nothing. 
 
 We see also how unmistakable fire is. Who can mistake fire .-* 
 The difference between one man and another is a difference of 
 heat. Heat, or fire, is the secret of all things. God is fire. It 
 is so in all things. The difference between one reader and another 
 is a difference of fire ; the difference between one musician and 
 another is that one man is all fire, and the other man all ice. 
 The difference between one preacher and another is a difference of 
 fire. Who can mistake the gift .'' Did not our hearts burn within 
 us while he opened unto us the Scriptures ? So with a true revi- 
 val : we shall find it manifesting and vindicating itself, not in an 
 accession of intellectual cleverness, but in that burning glowing 
 fervour which purifies whatever it touches, consuming the dross 
 and leaving the fine gold for the king's using. 
 
VI. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, may we not be as fools but as wise, having under- 
 standing of the meaning of things, and knowing what thou art doing in 
 all the days as they brighten and die. Thou art alway most surely fulfil- 
 ling thy Holy Word — may we be numbered amongst those who are in- 
 spired with a great expectation, and who are constantly looking for the 
 Lord's coming. Surely thou art alway coming, thou art nearer now than 
 ever before ; give us the insight which sees thee in the events of the day, 
 and so ennoble our religious faculty that we may be able to interpret unto 
 others the movements which appear to be common or degraded. Enable 
 us by thy presence in the soul, so to see what is transpiring, as to 
 acknowledge thine hand in it, and to be enabled to point out to others the 
 gracious rule of thy sovereignty. 
 
 Thou art expressing thyself to our vision and feeling and thought, in 
 every occurrence of the time. Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord 
 hath not done it — shall the devil have larger scope without the Lord hav- 
 ing given it to him — doth hell enlarge its borders without permission 
 from heaven ? The Lord reigneth ; there is but one God and his name is 
 great : in the hollow of his hand all things rest, in his heart is the centre 
 of all force. This faith thou hast taught us in Jesus Christ our Saviour 
 and Priest, through whom we have large access unto the throne, and 
 whose name gives the prevalence of power to the mean petitions which 
 our own hearts suggest. If thou dost so enable us to read the signs that 
 are passing around us, we shall be no more children tossed to and fro. 
 visited by sudden and irregular tumults, the prey and victim of all uproar 
 and accident, but in our inmost soul, as in a sanctuary hidden from the 
 touch and the gaze of others, we shall have thine own quietness, the peace 
 which maketh glad. Enable us to know that all we are and have cometh 
 down from the heavens shining with daily blessing and offering continual 
 hospitality. Thou dost lead us by ways that we do not know, yea in 
 paths from whose entrance we have shrunk ; thou hast found for us gar- 
 dens of flowers and springing wells and places of secure repose — so will 
 we no more interfere with thee, we will not meddle with God, we will 
 stand in Christ and say. Not our will but thine be done : it is the only 
 wise will and good, and in us there is no thought of excellence, we live 
 and move and have our being in God. God's will be done though it be 
 death to us, yea God's will be done though our chosen places be turned 
 upside down and the nest in which we have hidden ourselves be torn to 
 
THE PRAYER. 51 
 
 pieces. God's will be done : lead us on as thou wilt and how thou wilt, 
 only hide in us the sure and indestructible confidence that thou art under- 
 taking our life for us, and that in the end thou wilt show us the goodness 
 and glory of thy purpose. 
 
 We have come up to praise thee with unanimous song. Thou hast 
 been good to us with infinite grace, thou hast spared nothing from our lot 
 that would brighten and ennoble or sanctify it, and for this providence of 
 thine we now bow down ourselves before thee in grateful and delighted 
 homage. We have nothing that we have not received, what we have 
 received is enriched with thine own image and superscription, and if we 
 have given aught to thee, of thine own have we given thee, and the glory 
 shall be thine. 
 
 For all chastening and mellowing providences we bless thee, for every- 
 thing that teaches us the brevity of our life, for all helpfulness towards the 
 true enjoyment of thy providence we now laud and magnify thee in our 
 common psalm. Surely thou dost not waste the days upon us, all the 
 sunshine is not lost upon our mean life, thou dost purpose the growth of 
 our soul and its ultimate sanctification and complete purity. Towards 
 this end thou art working in divers ways. We humbly pray thee for 
 growing insight into the truth as it is in Jesus, for the spirit of sympathy 
 with the very heart of Christ, for the tenderness of soul which feels every 
 tear the Saviour shed, and that responds with penitence to the blood 
 which he shed in atonement for the world. Bind us to the Saviour of 
 souls, put both our hands and our whole heart upon the cross of Christ, 
 and bound to that sacred symbol of thy love, thj' law and righteousness, 
 may we live the rest of our time in the very spirit and under the very 
 blessing of Christ. 
 
 Wherein we have done wrong, thy pity will be greater than our sin. 
 We cannot go beyond thy grace in any extent of guilt. Where sin 
 abounds, grace doth much more abound, and as for the blackness of our 
 guilt, lo, it becomes as wool and as snow under the cleansing blood. 
 
 Thou knowest our life, it is in our breath, it is a vapour that cometh 
 for a little time and then vanisheth away. It is as a flying shadow, or a 
 hastening post, as a shuttle quickly moving from point to point We die 
 whilst we live, we breathe ourselves away, every pulse that beats leaves 
 but the number less. So teach us to number our days as to apply our 
 hearts unto wisdom. The year is dying, the year we once called new, 
 under the morning of which we breathed our salutations and loving 
 wishes to one another. Behold the golden vessel is being lifted up again 
 into the heavens whence it descended. Help us to know that our days 
 are a handful, that a child can name the sum thereof : whatsoever our 
 hand findeth to do may we do it with our might. 
 
 Pity all who need thy pity, save us one and all, look not upon us in the 
 light of thy righteousness, for who can stand when thou dost appear ? but 
 look upon us in Christ and through the cross, and from the altar of his 
 sacrifice, and hear us when we say, Thanks be unto God for his unspeak- 
 
52 ACTS 11. 21. 
 
 able gift. Deliver us from all embarrassment, show us what we ought to 
 do on the morrow, give us unexpected answers to surprising difficulties, 
 lead us over the road when we cannot see it, when it is too perilous to be 
 trodden by human feet, lift us up in thine arms and carry us clean over. 
 Let the old man forget his age in the inrush of new life and the inshining 
 of celestial hope, let the feeble forget his weakness by an instant access 
 of spiritual strength, and let the young be lifted up into a chastened and 
 joyous maturity because of the conscious presence of God. 
 
 Nurse our sick ones : they are too delicate for us to touch, our gentlest 
 embrace would but crush them in this very last feebleness — make their 
 bed in their affliction, for our rough hands cannot touch it, speak com- 
 fortably to them, for in our voice there is no music ; heal those whom the 
 physician has surrendered ; when all human aid has gone out of the door 
 dejected, helpless, confessed to be exhausted, go thou in and show us that 
 our ex .emity is the opportunity of God. Amen. 
 
 THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 
 Acts ii.-21. 
 
 (^Continued. 
 
 IT is in the prestmce of the Holy Ghost that we find the true union 
 of the church. There are diversities of operation, and must 
 always be such, but diversity of operation does not destroy, or in 
 any degree impair, the unity of the Spirit. There is one Spirit, 
 there is one faith, though there be many creeds, there is one 
 baptism, though there be many forms of it, there is one Lord, 
 though He shine in a thousand different Hghts. We have been 
 vainly looking for union in unforviity, and because of the lack of 
 uniformity we have oftentimes most ignorantly mourned the 
 absence of tinion. Consider how irrational is such mourning, and 
 how it is rebuked in the most practical terms by all that we know, 
 even of the lower life with which we are most familiar. Is the 
 human race one or many .? is there any difficulty in identifying a 
 man, whatever his colour, form, stature, language, or individuality 
 of expression .? — yet are there any two men exactly alike P Con- 
 sider how few are the elements which, so to speak, God had to 
 work upon in making men, and yet see the infinite variety which 
 he has wrought out of the few. Man has, say, some seven 
 features, forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, form or contour, 
 colour or coinplexion, so that they roughly sum up the man, yet 
 out of those seven notes what music of facial expression has God 
 
UNITY IN DIVERSITY. 53 
 
 wrought ! Out of the twelve hundred milHons of men now on 
 the face of the globe, who can find two absolutely alike and 
 identical? Yet, "God hath made of one blood all nations of 
 men :' ' the unity is not in the form, but in something below the 
 form, yea, in a something so subtle that it cannot be expressed in 
 image or in word, " One touch of nature makes the whole world 
 kin." 
 
 Do you therefore think of asking whether these two men can 
 really belong to the same human nature : namely, a man black 
 and a man white ; a man speaking an unknown tongue, and a 
 man speaking the language with which you are most familiar ; a 
 man with habits diametrically opposed to the habits' of other men ? 
 Does it ever occur to you to ask the irrational question, whether 
 these two belong to a common stock ? You do not doubt the 
 unity of the humaniiy, you cCmment upon diversities of tempera- 
 ment and peculiarities of habits, but you never think of striking 
 at the central and vital unity of the race. 
 
 It is so in the Christian church. The Christian church is split 
 up into a score of sects, but the church itself is one. When we 
 seize that idea in all its range and significance, we shall not be 
 seeking any mechanical unification of Christendom. Christians are 
 one, the world over. To those who look upon things from the 
 outside merely, it would seem impossible that the Arminian and 
 the Calvinist can both be readers of the same Bible, and worship- 
 pers of the same God. But their unity is not found in formality, 
 in credal expression, in propositional theology, in ecclesiastical 
 arrangement ; down in the centre of the heart, in a place untouched, 
 so to say, by human fingers, there lies the common organic nerve 
 that unites Christendom in its worship and in its hope. 
 
 It is a common complaint amongst persons who do not look 
 deeper than the surface, that Christians are much divided ; they 
 are only divided in outward expression, their division as compared 
 with their union is as a small drop in the bucket ; when the 
 CROSS is touched, the defence never comes from any one section 
 of the church, the whole church with unanimous love and loyalty 
 rushes to the vindication. 
 
 This has been exquisitely illustrated from another point of view 
 by Mr. Robertson of Brighton, who calls our attention to the 
 diversities which occur in the expression of sorrow, and also in the 
 
54 ACTS II. 21. 
 
 expression of worship and of loyalty. He reminds us of the East- 
 ern sufferer, who throws himself upon the ground, and lies there 
 prostrate, crying piteously and vehemently. The Western may be 
 silent and self-controlled, but suffering all the while in his very 
 heart a mortal agony. Is there therefore a difference in sorrow .' 
 The difference is not in the sorrow, but in the mayiifestaiion of the 
 sorrow. So the Oriental before his king falls flat on the ground, 
 and the Briton before his God only kneels. Is there, then, a 
 difference in the spirit of worship ? The meaning is the same, the 
 whole conception is the same, a conception of lowliness, self- 
 insufificiency, homage, dependence, loyalty. Who, therefore, 
 would argue anything from the superficial comments of men who 
 remark upon the diversities of the modes of worship which are 
 found throughout Christendom ? The Papist and the Protestant 
 have different forms ; those who follow symbolic worship, and 
 those who are devoted to simplicity simplified, are all meaning, in 
 proportion to their sincerity, the same thing. He therefore will, 
 in my judgment, mis-spend his time, and will throw away his 
 strength for naught, who seeks to mechanise the unity of the 
 church, and to have one form or one liturgy, singing out of one 
 hymn-book, breathing praise through the medium of the same 
 music, and he will be on the right road, and will have a prophet's 
 power, yea, about him shall be the shining of an angel, who tells 
 us that union is in the heart, in sympathy, in meaning, in the ulti- 
 mate /^/r/t^j-^ of the mind, which is to glorify God in a noble, holy 
 and beneficent life. 
 
 Have ive received the Holy Ghost ? The question does not 
 admit of hesitation as to its answer. No man can mistake the 
 summer sun when he sees it ; he will not come home with a half 
 tale of having seen some kind of light, but is not quite sure what 
 it is or whence it shone, whether it was a gas jet, or the shining 
 of an electric light, or a new star. The sun needs no introduc- 
 tion, has no signature but its own glor}', and needs take no oath 
 in proof of its identity. The shadows know it, and flee away ; 
 the flowers, and open their little hearts to its blessing ; all the hills 
 and valleys know it and quiver with a new joy. 
 
 We may have \\\Q.form, and not the spirit. The apostle speaks 
 of some who having the form of godliness deny the power thereof. 
 Herein it is that so many men get wrong in their comments upon 
 
THE NEED OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 55 
 
 Christianity. They say the great thing after all for a man to do is 
 to do good. That is correct. But what would you think of me if 
 I said the great thing after all is for a train to go, when the train 
 has not been attached to the engine ? You are perfectly right in 
 saying that the train is useless if it does not go, and if the train is 
 going it is all right. But you must bring within your argument 
 the fact that the engine could not go without the/r^, that the train 
 cannot go unless attached to the engine, that the engine and the 
 train move, vibrate, fly, under the power of light; the light that 
 was sealed up in the bins of the earth ten thousand ages ago, is 
 driving your great locomotives to-day ! When, therefore, you tell 
 me that a man must do good, a man must be kind and noble and 
 forgiving and excellent, and that is enough, you omit from your 
 statement the vital consideration that we can only do these things 
 as we are inspired by the indwelling Spirit of God. 
 
 I see before me at this moment certain cords suspended from 
 the roof of this building. * We are, I understand, about to attempt 
 the experiment of introducing for a brief period, the electric light 
 into this building. Is that the electric light which I see now .? 
 'Tis but a piece of dead cord ; I could burn it, and yet it is neces- 
 sary, yes, that must be allowed. What is wanted then is but to 
 comiect these cords with a motive power, near at hand or far away — 
 but until the connection is established these festoons I see before 
 me are but dead, useless things, without a spark of light which I 
 can make available. Connect the cords, set the engine going, let 
 it cause the necessary rotations to fly, and presently an arrange- 
 ment may be made by which from these cords we shall receive a 
 dazzling glory. They are nothing in themselves, and yet without 
 them, the engine might for a thousand ages, and we should get 
 no light. 
 
 It is even so with us in our very soul and heart and mind. We 
 are here, men educated, intelligent, well-appointed, and what is 
 it that we need but connectioti with the heavens, direct communica- 
 tion with the source of light and fire } " Come, Holy Ghost, our 
 hearts inspire." 
 
 Let us see by all these common illustrations, the meaning of 
 
 * This sermon was preached during the introduction of the electric 
 light into the City Temple. 
 
56 ACTS II. 21. 
 
 the grand spiritual truth, " Without me — Christ — ye can do 
 nothing." Except the cord be attached to the really energetic 
 centre it can do nothing. Except a branch abide in the vine it 
 cannot bear fruit. Such is the lesson of all symbolism : we have 
 detached ourselves from God, we have undertaken our own course 
 in life ; for a time we may go because of the original connection 
 which existed between God and ourselves, and which he may even 
 now in mercy be continuing unto us, in the hope of his infinite 
 love that the filial relation may be re-established. Happy are we 
 if we so interpret these outward symbols and suggestions, as to get 
 from them the solemn lesson that unless we are vitallv related to 
 Christ, we have no life abiding in us. 
 
 When the Holy Spirit is communicated to the church, we must 
 not imagine that we shall be other than ourselves, enlarged, 
 ennobled and developed. The Spirit will not merge our individ- 
 uality in a common monotony. Whatever your power is now, the 
 incoming of the Holy Ghost will niagnif\> and illuminate, so that 
 your identity will not be lost, but will be carried up to its highest 
 expression and significance. And more than that, not only will 
 there be development of that which is already ascertained and 
 known, but there will be a da'elopment of latent faculties, slumber- 
 ing powers, the existence of which has never been suspected by 
 our dearest friends. " If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new 
 creature, old things have passed away, and all things have become 
 new." Look for surprises m the church when the Holy Ghost 
 falls upon it : dumb men will speak, ineloquent men will attract 
 and fascinate by the sublimity of their new discourse, timid men 
 will put on the lion, and those who had hidden themselves away 
 in the obscurity of conscious feebleness will come out and offer 
 themselves at the Lord's altar to help in the Lord's service. 
 
 Do not let us have any attempts at mechanical cni\\MS\^?,m. Any 
 enthusiasm that is simulated, must die in the very act of expressing 
 itself. When the Holy Ghost falls upon an assembly, the assem- 
 bly loses mechanical self-control, but not spiritual self-direction. 
 It is not carried away by mere exhilaration, as if by " wine wherein 
 is excess," it knows the hour of the day, it knows the genesis and 
 the meaning of the process it has carried up to an enthusiasm 
 which confounds all outside dwellers, but which brings its own 
 explanation to the heart which it inflames. 
 
ENLARGED CONCEPTIONS OF THINGS. 57 
 
 So we await the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Holy Spirit, bap- 
 tize us as with fire ! Show me a true Christian who has not sur- 
 prised his friends, not only by natural expansion of acknowledged 
 power, but by many gifts and impulses, which had not been sus- 
 pected before. What patience, what long-suffering, what noble- 
 ness of charity, what instantaneousness of large interpretation of 
 misunderstood actions, what willingness to oblige and serve ! 
 How courteous, how simple, how chivalrous, how helpful alto- 
 gether ! The rough places have been made plain, high places 
 have been brought low, the valleys have been lifted up, for the 
 Lord hath come, and in his coming is reconciliation and ennoble- 
 ment, and we are at our best only when we are under his impira- 
 iion. 
 
 The resources of the church will be multiplied in proportion as 
 the church enjoys the presence and power of the Holy GhosL 
 How the old earth has continued to keep pace with all our civiliza- 
 tion and science — why should I not amend that sentence and say. 
 How the old, kind motherly earth has been keeping herself back, 
 as if she would be wooed and entreated and besought to tell the 
 secret of her heart and yield up the riches which she had hidden. 
 The electric light was, as to its possibilities, in Eden, as certainly 
 as it is in the metropolis of England to-day. The locomotive has 
 not created anything but a new combination and a new application 
 and use. The locomotive was lying beside the four rivers that 
 flowed through Paradise. Nothing has been added to the earth, 
 no shower has fallen in the night-time to give the earth new riches 
 and new susceptibilities : we have had to dig and search and wait, 
 and we have realized this great Scriptural injunction and exhorta- 
 tion, Seek, and ye shall find ; ask, and it shall be given unto you, 
 knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Whosoever asketh 
 receiveth, and whoso seeketh findeth, and the door is opened to 
 him who knocks upon it as if he meant to go in. 
 
 It is even so in the Bible. We have not begun yet the great 
 preaching. The church knows nothing yet about the possibilities 
 of revelation. No new Bible will be written, but new readers will 
 come. No man may add one word to what is written in the 
 sealed book, but the Lion of the tribe of Judah will open the book 
 and read it as it has never been read before. To a certain extent 
 we have learning enough, ability enough, industry enough : what 
 
58 ACTS II. 21. 
 
 we want is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. When that baptism 
 comes we shall not be asking for definitions, for definitions are the 
 exhaustion of terms. Genius cannot be dehned, Inspiration can- 
 not be defined, Love cannot be defined — we know them all, we 
 bow before them all, but we cannot put our homage into words, 
 or can'e in dead, cold stone, the beauty which we see and idolise 
 in the soul. Be not asking frivolous questions about divergent 
 and colliding creeds, fret not yourself because of those who make 
 creeds and create differences, but understand that the union of the 
 church, the power of the church, the life of the church, is in the 
 felt presence of God the Holy Ghost. 
 
 When he comes we shall be one and yet many, no individuality 
 will be lost ; Peter will still fiame, John will still burn, Paul will 
 still reason, James will still moralize, David will still sing. Our 
 identity will not be lost, but under the influence of a common 
 fire, warmed by a common love, every man shall bring forth fruit 
 according to his individuality, and as in the infinite diversity of 
 nature we discover one common and grand beauty, and as one 
 star differeth from another star in glory, yet every lamp was lighted 
 at the same fontal fire — so we shall rejoice in one another's gifts, 
 be thankful for the diversity of tongues and offices and ser\'ices in 
 the church, and shall not make this an occasion of separation. 
 Whilst we look we shall be astounded at the infinite possibilities 
 of human nature, at the infinite graciousness of the divine gift, and 
 out of these very diversities shall come the inspiration of a new 
 and ever-enlarging thankfulness. 
 
VII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, may Christ be born in our hearts to-day, the hope of 
 glory. We bless thee for all things that call his name to our memory, 
 and for all occasions that draw out our love towards him and his cross. 
 He is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world : before we 
 sinned, he died. Herein is the fulness of God, and herein the eternity of 
 his grace. Thou wast not surprised by sin, thou didst provide for ihe 
 wound ere it was inflicted. The cross is older than our crime : where 
 sin abounds grace doth much more abound, for sin is the creature of 
 time, but grace is the offspring of eternity. God is love : herein is love, 
 not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his Son to die for 
 us. We love him because he first loved us : our love is but a poor an- 
 swer to thine — thy love was first, or we never could have loved : thou 
 wilt bring to pass thy word ; thy promise shall stand in all the reality of 
 accomplishment ; the whole earth shall be filled with thy glory, and all the 
 darkness of sin shall be chased away. 
 
 This is thy decree : we read it until our hearts burn within us because 
 of thankfulness and love. The word which the Lord hath spoken shall 
 surely prevail : none can stand against thy sovereignty, thou Lord of 
 hosts. Cheer thy church by visions of the coming time, make her glad 
 with the high and sure animation that her Lord is hastening to her, and 
 that her prayer for the quickness of his coming shall be answered by his 
 sudden appearance. O, Lord, how long ? The thing that is promised is 
 true, but the time is long, yet is it long only to us who have so little time 
 to live in ; a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is 
 past, and as a watch in the night : a thousand years are as one day, and 
 one day is as a thousand years— thou hast no time. Inhabitant of Eternity ! 
 
 Save us, we beseech thee, from all the temptations which time suggests. 
 We rise and lie down and count the weary days : we number the slow 
 and monotonous weeks, and our hearts fail within us because the vision 
 does not brighten the sky. Draw us into the peace of thine own eternity ; 
 make us quiet with the serenity of thine own infinitude ; then shall we 
 cease to fret ourselves because of evildoers and to misunderstand the 
 wondrous ways of God. 
 
 We bless thee for all the blessings of the year. Thou hast brought us 
 down to its last Sabbath. Through all the year thou hast been mindful 
 of us, the morning has been bright with thy presence, the eventide has 
 spoken to us in its own star, and the night has been rich with the voices 
 and music of light. We desire to thank thee for having taken care of us 
 
6o 777^ PRAYER. 
 
 and of our houses, and for having blessed our business occupations, and 
 for having brought us together this day to thank thee in common psalm 
 and prayer for all thy wondrous works. Thou hast continued unto us 
 our reasoning faculties, our bodily strength, our social enjoyments, and 
 for all these and for all that they involve and imply, we would now bless 
 thee with unbroken and constant thankfulness. Thou hast redeemed our 
 soul from deadly fear, thou hast broken the chain that bound us to the 
 hard rock, thou hast caused us to escape the wheel which threatened to 
 crush our life. Behold thy goodness, how good, thy mercy, how merci- 
 ful, thy kindness, how loving. We would be worthy of thy ministry, but 
 in us there is no help ; we would live in answering love, according to all 
 the appeals made to us by thy gentle and gracious providence, but the 
 things we would we do not, and the things we would not, those we do. 
 The Lord have pity upon us, and magnify his mercy according to our 
 weakness. 
 
 We present ourselves before thee in Christ, blessing thee for all thy 
 care, patience, love and mercy, and now we would ask thee to preserve 
 us during the few days that remain, that we may use our time in all 
 diligence and love as men animated by a high expectation, and made 
 steady by a sure hope. We would grow in grace, we would be no longer 
 tossed to and fro by various winds of doctrine, we would stand in the 
 sanctuary of thy grace, and rest ourselves in the sure word of prophecy, 
 and fill ourselves with the contented love of those who know that the 
 Lord reigneth. We give one another to thee : every heart offers its little 
 self to thy keeping. How many battles there are to be fought, how many 
 wounds to be endured, how many harvests to be reaped, how many tears 
 to be shed, how many graves to be dug, we ask not : thy will be done. 
 Call us with thine own voice, and may our hearts hear it and our will 
 respond to it with all the eagerness of love. 
 
 The Lord be with those who are far away from us, of whom we think, 
 and those who think of us and with whom to-day we hold heart-fellow- 
 ship, whose excellences we recall and whose defects we forget. The 
 Lord make them merry with a godly mirth, glad with a saintly joy, and 
 may we all be moved by the indestructible expectation of meeting in the 
 city where there is no need of the sun, because of the shining of thy face. 
 The Lord make us glad, the Lord who loveth joy give gladness to the 
 hearts of his people, turn their afflictions into roots of strength and hope 
 and promise, and sanctify their tears so that through them they may see 
 afar. 
 
 God bless all the little children, those who are home from school, those 
 whose hearts are overflowing with young delight, because of all the 
 enjoyments and opportunities of the season. The Lord make them glad 
 from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, and fill their 
 very dreams with young delight, and carry them all through the line of 
 growth even unto old age, and may the last wine be better than the first. 
 Amen. 
 
THE TEXT. 6i 
 
 Acts ii. 22-36. 
 
 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of Nazareth [only seven 
 weeks had elapsed since he died the death of a slave !], a man approved 
 [publicly demonstrated] of God among you by miracles and wonders and 
 signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also 
 know : 
 
 23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowl- 
 edge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands [a Hebrew formula 
 for " by means of "] have crucified and slain : 
 
 24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death [the 
 travail-pangs] : because it was not possible that he should beholden of it. 
 
 25. For David speaketh concerning him [in reference to him], I fore- 
 saw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand [an 
 image of the warrior who extends his shield over his comrade on his left 
 hand], that I should not be moved : 
 
 26. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad ; more- 
 over also my flesh shall rest in hope : 
 
 27. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [Hades, the unseen 
 world], neither wilt thou suffer [give] thine Holy One to see corruption. 
 
 28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life ; thou shalt make 
 me full of joy with thy countenance. 
 
 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch 
 David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto 
 this day [thus showing that he did not rise again]. 
 
 30. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with 
 an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he 
 would raise up Christ to sit on his throne ; 
 
 31. He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his 
 soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption [a pious error 
 therefore to embalm the body of Christ]. 
 
 32. This Jesus hath God raised up [from the dead], whereof we all are 
 witnesses. 
 
 33. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted [into heaven], 
 and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath 
 shed [poured] forth this, which ye now see and hear. 
 
 34. For David is not ascended into the heavens : but he saith himself. 
 The Lord [Jehovah] said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand [a 
 common Eastern expression]. 
 
 35. Until I make thy foes thy footstool [an expression for complete 
 victory]. 
 
 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. 
 
62 ACTS II 22-36. 
 
 THE EFFECT OF PENTECOST UPON PETER. 
 
 THIS is a full length portrait of Peter himself. If we see 
 clearly the effect upon Peter, we shall have a true idea of 
 the effect of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the entire 
 church. God shows us things that are too great to be seen in their 
 completeness, in illustrative and easily-comprehended parts. 
 Those who carefully study Peter' s speech in answer to the mockers, 
 will see in the case of one man, the effect which would follow by 
 the loving acceptance of the inspiration of the Spirit on the part of 
 the whole church. Inspiration is followed by self-revelation ; a 
 man may thus reveal himself with perfect unconsciousness. Peter 
 is not an egotist in this case, but, so to say, the passive instrument 
 through which the Holy Ghost delivers new and gracious messages 
 to the church. Fi.x your minds therefore upon Peter in the first 
 instance. We know what he has been up to this time, ardent, 
 impulsive, unbalanced, enthusiastic, cowardly. Since we last saw 
 him, during the days of the bodily-present Christ, he has been the 
 subject of Pentecostal influence. We have therefore to look on 
 this picture and on this ; and upon the change discoverable 
 between the two pictures you may found your estimate of the value 
 of spiritual inspiration. 
 
 Notice his heroic eloquence. He is not only a speaker, he is a 
 burjiing speaker. It is not enough to speak — you may teach an 
 automaton to speak, you may so instruct a machine as to utter a 
 mimic cry. This man is not only speaking words, he is speaking 
 them with unction, \\\ih.Jire, with emphasis, never heard in his tone 
 before. A man does not read simply because he pronounces 
 words that are in the text that he is perusing ; a man does not give 
 out a psalm simply because he articulates without inaccuracy ever}' 
 individual word in the metre. There is something in the reading 
 which cannot be put into type, a halo, or say an atmosphere, or 
 say an aroma, or say an illustrative and far-reaching fire of the 
 soul. 
 
 It is even so with this speech of Peter. You have not the whole 
 speech in the words. You must be enabled, by a kind of semi- 
 inspiration of your own, to read between the lines, in order to get 
 hold of all the force and weight of this burning oration. We do 
 
7:^05: PERSONAL EFFECT OF INSPIRATION. 63 
 
 not gather all from the speaker that we gather when we take down 
 the mere words which he utters : there are palpitations which can- 
 not be reported, and tones which have no typal representation. 
 It was emphatically so in this great speech of the inspired fisher- 
 man. It carries everything before it like a fire marching through 
 dry stubble. Already therefore in the mere matter of eloquence, 
 we discover a wonderful change in the man who denied his Lord 
 with an oath. He was always an ardent man, but now he burns 
 as he says the elements themselves will one day " burn with fervent 
 heat." Who but himself could have put those two words 
 together .? They are part of his very self. Other men might have 
 said, " The elements will burn ;" they might even have gone so 
 far as to say " the elements will burn with heat," but it was Peter's 
 very self that said, "the elements shall burn with y^rr^w/ heat." 
 That fervent heat, in its own degree and with its own proper spirit- 
 ual limits, we find in this great deliverance. 
 
 It was not only eloquence, it was reasoning on fire. For notice 
 Peter's grasp of Biblical truth. Who had ever known Peter before 
 as a reader — who was aware until this moment that Peter ever 
 opened the sacred Book and perused it with a student's curiosity 
 and eagerness .? We had never thought of Peter as an expositor ; 
 an errand-runner, a zealous, not always well-balanced friend, a 
 crude thinker, an incoherent speaker, under these terms we may 
 have formed some conception of the apostolic fisherman, but cer- 
 tainly it never entered into our mind that he had been a reader, a 
 student, an inquirer into the deep decrees and hidden things of 
 the sanctuary — yet in a moment he opens the prophecy of Joel, 
 and reads it in the language and tone of his own day, and then he 
 searches into some of the richest psalms of David, and quotes from 
 them enough to establish the continuity and solidity of his great 
 argument. 
 
 Not only was he transformed into an orator, he was transformed 
 into a profound expositor of the divine purpose in the creation and 
 education of the church. He speaks like a philosopher. He 
 sees that the ages are not unrelated days, broken and incohesive 
 nights, but that the ages are ONE, as the day is one, from its 
 grey dawn to the time of the lighting of the evening star. This 
 always follows deep acquaintance with the mysteries of God 
 and high fellowship with the Spirit of the living One ; we 
 
64 ACTS 11. i2-2,(i. 
 
 are delivered from the vexation and torment of daily details, and 
 are set in the great currents and movements of the divine purpose, 
 and thereby do we acquire the balance which gives us rest and 
 serenity, which often glows into courageous joy. Think of Peter, 
 a fisherman, uniting these, and calling upon prophecy as its own 
 witness, and pointing out how life is a development, a growing 
 upward and onward, and outward, into new and harmonious 
 expressions. When the church is inspired, it will be eloquent : 
 when the church is inspired it will be biblically wise, it will be 
 able to read not the letter only, but to decipher the spirit, and to 
 read the letter so that it will quiver into music under the tone 
 refined in the sanctuary and made quick with the vitality of God. 
 
 Peter shows us how prophecy is fulfilled. The fulfilment of 
 prophecy is not something which God has been arduously trying 
 to do and has at last barely accomplished. The fulfilment of 
 prophecy is not a divine effort ; God is not a great giant trying to 
 carry some infinite globe up an infinite hill, and at last just suc- 
 ceeding in unloading the burden. The fulfilment of prophecy is 
 a 7iatural -pTOCtss, and it comes to express a natural end. Prophecy 
 is not to God a mere hope, it is a clear vision of what must be, and 
 of what he himself will bring to pass. You do not prophesy that 
 the child will become a man, you speak of his manhood as future, 
 but quite certain, you say what he will be, so strong, wise, chival- 
 rous, gentle, prudent, brave — and in so saying you are not express- 
 ing the result of an arduous effort on your part which you hope to 
 bring to a successful issue, but you are taking your stand by the 
 side of God when he created the typal Adam, and you say this is 
 God's purpose and Adam shall come to this estate. 
 
 We want the right way of reading the fulfilment of prophecy. 
 It is prophesied that the whole earth shall be filled with the knowl 
 edge of the Lord. It is not a mere hope, it is the sure outcome of 
 the divine way of doing things. Christ must, by a necessity which 
 cannot be explained, even by the necessity of righteousness and 
 light and truth, reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
 So we are not trusting to a vain promise ; prophecy is not a daring 
 expression of a fanatical hope, it is God's prevision of the future, 
 and God's note of hand that he will yet give his Son the heathen 
 for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a pos- 
 session, signed* in every ink in the universe, signed in heaven 
 
PETER'S INSPIRATION. 65 
 
 before the earth was formed, signed on Calvary with the blood-ink 
 of the Cross, We must rest in this assurance ; the word of the 
 Lord will prevail, not by means of education, eloquence, or 
 mechanical efforts on the part of the church, but the world will be 
 converted unto Christ because God has said it will be so, and 
 when his word has gone forth it cannot return to him void. 
 
 Not only was Peter eloquent and instructive — he startled the 
 church by becoming its most solid and convincing reasoner. What 
 a wonderful argument this is, to take no higher view of it in the 
 mean time. ' ' Ye men of Israel, ' ' said Peter, ' ' hear these words, 
 and mark how cunning the words are in the best sense of the term. 
 Observe where and how Peter begins his address, " Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, a Man," there is no appeal to theological bias or prejudice. 
 Had he begun by saying to such people, " Jesus of Nazareth, the 
 incarnate God," he would have lost his audience in his first sen- 
 tence. He was made into a master of assemblies, he began where 
 his hearers could begin, and he who begins otherwise than at the 
 point of sympathy, how eloquent soever, will lose the reins ere he 
 has time to put one sentence to another. Already therefore this 
 inspiration is beginning to tell in the mental force and astuteness 
 of this unlettered fisherman. He gives up the Deity of Christ, 
 does he .? He plainly calls Jesus Christ " a man approved of God 
 among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did 
 by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." But 
 does he conclude so } He begins by describing Christ as a !Man, 
 but the glittering point of his glorious climax is this — " Therefore 
 let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that 
 same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ." 
 
 Note the argumentative skill. Had Peter broken off his speech 
 in the first sentence, the coldest Socinian that ever wrote about 
 Christ could have endorsed his utterance, but Peter makes way 
 through Scriptural quotations and through inspired exposition, 
 until he concludes with this burning breath, " God hath made 
 that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both LORD and 
 CHRIST." 
 
 Notice, too, how Peter stands without equivocation upon the 
 historical fact of the resurrectioii. He was not talking to people 
 who lived a century after the reported rising again of Christ : he 
 was talking to men who knew perfectly well what had happened. 
 
66 ACTS IT. 22-36. 
 
 Does he put any gloss upon the matter — does he seek to make it 
 a parable, a typal instance, a quasi resurrection ? He talks with 
 the absolute frankness of a man who is relating_/at-/j-, which every 
 child in the assembly knew to be such, and he was in the presence 
 of men who could instantly have risen and contradicted the state- 
 ments which he made, had they been in a position to do so. 
 
 Does Peter separate Christ from the wonderful manifestation of 
 the Spirit which had been granted .? On the contrary, he connects 
 the Pentecost with the risen and glorified Son of God. This 
 enables him to use another " therefore." I refer to these " ihere- 
 fores' in this connection because we ary trying to show how 
 inspiredly argumentative the apostle had become. " 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." This is his last miracle, this is the 
 spiritualization of all the miracles, this is the marvel to which all 
 signs and wonders were leading up, this is the capital without 
 which the column would have been unfinished, this the revelation 
 of the purpose which moved his heart w-hen he came to save the 
 world and found his church. 
 
 It was also a great evangelical speech which Peter made. He 
 gave the house of Israel z.new chance. "Therefore let all the 
 house of Israel know assuredly, '' — it is as if Peter would say, 
 " Now you have the opportunity of escaping all the past and 
 beginning a new and glorious future." That is the continual 
 speech of Christianity. Every morning Christianity says, " You 
 can make to-day better than yesterday. Every morning is a new 
 chance, every new year is a new opportunity, every turn in the 
 affairs of men is a new gate opened upon some higher road." 
 Would that we had understanding of these things and could turn 
 our chances to high spiritual use ! 
 
 All these features will characterise a revived church. We shall 
 have heroic eloquence, profound insight into Scripture, strong 
 grasp of the meaning and purpose of prophecy, and we shall our- 
 .selves become unanswerably argumentative in all Christian doctrine 
 and truth when the Ploly Ghost is poured out upon us. 
 
 We have in Peter a standard whereby to measure ourselves. 
 When the Holy Ghost falls upon us we shall go to the Bible with 
 a new reading power, and we shall see wonders where before we 
 
EVERYTHING IS IN THE BIBLE. 67 
 
 saw nothing because of our spiritual blindness. There are por- 
 tions of the Bible with which we are nominally familiar, but what 
 do we know of its inner meanings, of the minor prophets, the 
 out-of-the-way histories, the deep things of God ? Under the 
 enlightenment of the Spirit we shall see that everything grand in 
 thought, thrilling in poetry, tragic in experience, noble in heroism, 
 is in the Bible. This is the Book out of which all other books are 
 made. All science is here, all history, all fiction, all philosophy, 
 all poetry, even the best titles of all books are in the Bible. There 
 is nothing in any literature whose root is not to be found in the 
 inspired volume. This is the Book out of which all other books 
 are made, as the earth is the quarry out of which all its palaces 
 have been dug, and as there are grander palaces in the rocks and 
 woods than have yet been built, so there are more glorious visions 
 in the Bible than we have yet beheld. 
 
 How slowly we realise that everything that is upon the earth 
 actually came out of the earth itself. Is the marble palace superb } 
 It was dug out of the earth. Is the city vast and noble, the glitter- 
 ing Jerusalem, imperial Rome, immeasurable Babylon and 
 Nineveh .? They were all dug out of the heart of mother earth. 
 Is the navy proud and strong .? It was all cut out of the forests 
 which fed themselves at the breast of mother earth. There is 
 nothing upon the earth which did not come out of the earth itself. 
 It is even so with this Bible. You have a thousand libraries, but 
 they all came out of God's Book, yes, the libraries, that were 
 founded, if any such there were ages before the Book was written, 
 came out of the Book. God is older than any book that can be 
 written : inspiration is the most ancient fact in all history, yea, it 
 antedates all history and makes all history possible. There are 
 those who want to run away from the Bible and set up other books, 
 as though they were independent and original. I will believe in 
 their independence and originality as soon as you show me one 
 block of polished marble that did not come out of the earth. 
 Prove to me that you stole it from some of the upper stars, then I 
 will believe in the independence and originality of the marble 
 block. My own deep conviction is that the time will come when 
 every other book will fling itself, so to say, in loyal homage at the 
 foot of God's book and say, " Whatever is good in me, I owe to 
 you." The earth grows no polished marble : the old earth will 
 
ACTS II. 22-36. 
 
 polish no blocks for you ; she will, so lo say, grmv them for you, 
 hold them in custody until you come for them with great iron keys 
 and open the recesses within which she preserves them. Polishing 
 you will have to do, squaring and measuring, all thisj'^w will have 
 to do, but the solid block itself came out of the heart of the earth. 
 So with all books that are good and true and wise and useful ; 
 they have their vital relation to God's book, in whatever language 
 written, in whatever country published, though in those languages 
 and in those countries the book we call God's has not yet been 
 known. 
 
 Why do men limit inspiration — why do men want to yet trace 
 any good thing to any source but God P If there is anything 
 good in Mohammedanism, I claim it for Christ : he was before all 
 things. If there is anything good in Brahminism, I claim it for 
 Christ. If there is anything good in the heart of the wildest savage 
 that this day tears his fellow-creatures in lands of barbarism, I 
 claim it for Christ. My Christ is more than a merely historical 
 figure, born on a certain day, and on a certain day crucified : the 
 Christ in whom I believe is always born, always crucified — the 
 same yesterday, to-day and for ever ; not a name upon a calendar, 
 but a Name that hides itself under the foundations of everything 
 solid, above everything brilliant, and round everything wide, and 
 that crowns with everlasting glory everything philanthropic and 
 noble. 
 
 As the earth owes nothing to any other world but her light, so 
 God has made men that we carry everything in us but our own 
 inspiration. He does not make us new men in the sense of losing 
 our old identity, he makes us new by his inspiration in the sense 
 of lifting us up to the full expression of his own holy purpose in 
 our original creation. We cannot inspire ourselves. The Holy 
 Ghost is the gift of God. We are made in the divine image and 
 likeness, we have wondrous faculties as the earth has wondrous 
 treasures^all these are the gift of God, all these we hold in 
 stewardship for God. But these will be in us so many weights and 
 burdens, curses rather than blessings, unless there fall upon us the 
 mighty Pentecostal Holy Spirit. Then shall we be our true selves, 
 eloquent, wise, argumentative, strong, evangelical, sympathetic, 
 new creatures in Christ Jesus, through whom the Holy Ghost has 
 been shed abroad in our hearts. 
 
VIII. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we stand in thy wisdom and are therefore not afraid. 
 In our hearts is the Spirit of thy grace, and great comfort have they that 
 yield themselves to its sway. We come with open hearts, with mouths 
 filled with prayer and minds aflame with sacred desire. We ask thee to 
 receive our psalm of adoration, to listen to our hymn of praise, and to 
 answer the request which is as a burden upon our souls. 
 
 How comfortable are thy words, how sweet is every promise of thine, 
 bright with the dew which makes heaven itself glad. May we now enter 
 into the meaning of thy word ; may it be sweeter to our taste than 
 honey, yea, than the honeycomb. Having tasted other words, may we 
 desire thine the more. This is the living word, no other word can live. 
 Help us, therefore, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. 
 " Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will still be praising 
 thee." One song shall follow another; one sacrifice shall prepare the 
 way for a nobler oblation still, and as the days come and go, we shall be 
 brought nearer heaven, through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Priest. 
 For him how can we bless thee in words sufficiently tender ; he is the 
 heart of God ; he is the only-begotten ; the beginning and the end. He 
 is all in all, the beginning of all beauty and music, all truth and wisdom, 
 all grace and hope. In him our souls live ; through him we pass from 
 the bonds of death into the glorious liberty of immortality. Reveal his 
 truth to us, we humbly pray thee ; more and more as we look up do thou 
 show us all thy stars ; as we wait patiently for God may our patience be 
 rewarded with great replies ; may our loving waiting hearts be enriched 
 with infinite grace. Take our life, we humbly pray thee, into thine own 
 keeping. Preserve us from all evil, establish thy kingdom in the very 
 centre of our life. When we lose thee may we cry like a child that is 
 lost. When thou art standing afar off, may we cease to eat and drink be- 
 cause of weariness of heart. We long for thee. We say, without words, 
 in many a trouble, yea, in helpless sighing, O Lord, how long ? Thou 
 art always coming, and thou art always coming quickly, yet because of 
 our littleness and impatience we do not measure thy coming by the right 
 standard. Forgive our very prayers ; cleanse our very holiness from the 
 corruption which degrades it. May our very waiting upon thee be not 
 reckoned as an aggravation of our sin. Look in upon houses that are 
 dull to-day, because familiar voices have ceased and familiar presences 
 have passed away. Thou knowest the meaning of all this, though we 
 
•JO ACTS II. 2,7-/^7. 
 
 cannot explain it. Thou dost tear the branch frona the tree ; thou dost 
 suddenly, as by a great storm, unroof the house of plenty and comfort 
 and peace, and lay it open to the great winds and rains and tempests ; 
 thou dost take away the delight of our eyes, and whilst we are looking 
 upon the flowers thou dost cut ihem down, that where they grow our 
 hearts may lie. This is thy way ; how little do we see— the thunder of 
 thy power who can understand ? Thou dost crush us like reeds that are 
 already bruised ; yea, thou dost lay upon us burdens which exhaust our 
 strength ; thou dost send night upon night of darkness upon our path of 
 life, until our eyes are weary with the weight. Yet thou art not far 
 away ; thou dost suddenly lift the gloom and shine upon us, and in the 
 smile of thy love we take heart again. We will not mourn, nor com- 
 plain, for in mourning there is no end, and in complaining there is no 
 satisfaction. Thy will be done ; thy will is good ; in it there is no bitter- 
 ness, in it there is no death. True and perfect and unchangeable love is 
 thine, therefore in Christ's name and through Christ's strength and by 
 the infinite sufficiency of Christ's grace would we now say, " Thy will be 
 done." Amen. 
 
 Acts ii. 37-47. 
 
 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart [stung 
 with remorse. The only instance of the word " pricked " in the New 
 Testament] 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 [the Hebrews express sin and 
 punishment by the same word, and also repentance and comfort\ 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 [crooked] generation, 
 
 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized : and the 
 same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. 
 
 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellow- 
 ship [Phil. i. 5] ; and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. 
 
 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 [the verbs throughout this description are in the imper- 
 fect tense, as expressing the constant recurrence of the act] their posses- 
 sions 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 \at home\ did eat their meat with 
 gladness and singleness [the only instance of the word in the New Testa- 
 ment] of heart. • 
 
THE DOUBLE ACTION OF THE SPIRIT. 71 
 
 47. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the 
 Lord added [the tense implies a continually recurring act] to the church 
 daily such as should be saved [them that were made safe]. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF GOSPEL PREACHING. 
 
 PETER having explained the events which happened on the 
 day of Pentecost, an immediate effect was produced upon the 
 people who heard him ; that effect is stated in these very graphic 
 words, " They were pricked in their hearts." So the Holy Ghost 
 was poured out upon them as he had been poured out upon the 
 assembly of the Church. We see here, therefore, the double action 
 of the Holy Spirit. He is poured out upon the Church to sanctify 
 and to confirm in the faith ; and he is poured out upon those who 
 are outside the Church that he may alarm and quicken and direct 
 to right conclusions. 
 
 We must remember that this was \h& first Christian Sermon that 
 had been preached. Jesus Christ was no longer present in the 
 body. Christian revelation, so far as the bodily presence of Christ 
 was concerned, had been completed, and his last word upon earth 
 had been spoken. Now we are curious to know how the truth 
 will make its way upon its aivn merits, apart from that singular 
 magnetic influence which attached to the bodily presence and the 
 audible voice of the divine Master. 
 
 Will the truth make its way by sheer force of its celestial beauty 
 and grace, and comfort, or will it perish under other voices than 
 Christ' s own .? So long as Christ was present, he could work 
 miracles. His soul could look out of his eyes upon the multi- 
 tude as the soul of no other man could look. Perhaps therefore 
 any progress which the kingdom of heaven had made amongst 
 men was owing entirely to the bodily presence and magnetic influ- 
 ence of the visible Christ. So we wait, we hear the discourse, and 
 when it is concluded we read,^ — that when the people heard this 
 they were pricked in their hearts. 
 
 Observe the peculiarity of that effect. Not, they were awed by 
 the eloquence ; not, they were excited in their imagination ; not, 
 they were gratified in their taste ; the result was infinitely deeper_ 
 and grander. " They were pierced in their hearts." An arrow 
 
72 ACTS II. y]-xi. 
 
 had fastened itself in the very centre of their Hfe. In their con- 
 science was inserted the sting of intolerable self-accusation. This 
 was the grand miracle. Truly we may say this was the beginning 
 of miracles of the higher, because the spiritual kind. Great effects 
 are produced by great causes. A reflection of this kind would, 
 however, have a very remote interest for us were it confined to an 
 ancient incident. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Peter preached 
 the only sermon that any Christian minister is ever at liberty to 
 preach. This discourse of Peter's is not nineteen centuries old. 
 It is the only discourse that any minister of Christ dare utter, if he 
 be faithful to his stewardship. This is the model sermon. This 
 the evangelical doctrine. No change must be made here or a cor- 
 responding change will be made in the effect which is produced. 
 Men may be more eloquent, men may be more literary, men may 
 be more technical and philosophical, they may use longer words 
 and more abstruse arguments, but the effect will be like other talk, 
 it will be pointless, and there will be no answer in the great human 
 heart, — no conscience will accuse, no eyes will be blinded with 
 tears, from no multitude of men will there be extorted the cry, 
 " What shall we do V 
 
 Let us look at this sermon and see how it is made up. It is 
 full of Scriptural allusions, and no sermon is worth listening to that 
 is not full of Bible. The reason why our preaching is so power- 
 less and pointless is that we do not impregnate it with the inspired 
 word itself. Peter did not make the sermon. He quoted David 
 and Joel, the Psalms and the prophets, and set these quotations 
 in their right relations to what had just happened in Jerusalem, 
 and whilst he was talking history he made history. Faithful to 
 God's word, God's Spirit was faithful to him, and herein was that 
 grand word eternally realised in all its beneficent tenderness — 
 " My word shall not return unto me void." Peter s word would 
 have returned void, but God's word is as a sower going forth to 
 sow, and in the eventide of his labour bringing back his sheaves 
 with joy. 
 
 This discourse of Peter's Avas :C\?,o/ull 0/ Christ. But for Christ 
 it never could have been delivered. From end to end it palpitates 
 with the Deity and glory of the Son of God. It is also full of 
 holy unction. It was not delivered as a schoolboy might deliver a 
 message. The 'great strong rough frame of the fisherman-preacher 
 
THE PREACHER MUST BE INSPIRED. -ji 
 
 trembled, yea quivered and vibrated under the feeling of the sacred 
 message which the tongue was delivering. The sermon is also 
 full of patriotic and spiritual tenderness, and all the while without 
 art or trick or mechanical skill, it led up to a vehement and 
 solemn demand. When that demand was thundered upon the 
 people they were " pricked in their heart," and they said, " What 
 shall we do?" They did not applaud the //^aw, they were con- 
 cerned about themselves; they were noi pleased, they w^xe. pierced ; 
 and they were wot gratified, they were convicted ; they sought for no 
 excuse ; they asked for no great pleader to state their case in 
 reply, they said with tears. What must we do ? 
 
 But even this great sermon of Peter's does not explain the full 
 result. The preacher must have had something to do with the 
 effect. He had just received the Holy Ghost. The cloven 
 tongue like as of fire still sat and burned upon him, and his whole 
 soul thrilled with newly-given inspiration. An inspired doctrine 
 demands an inspired nwiistry. The Book is inspired, but when 
 uninspired readers read it they kill the very fire of heaven when it 
 touches their reluctant tongues. What if w^e have an inspired 
 ■Bible but an uninspired Church P It is there that the holy influ- 
 ence is lost. Inspiration inspires. It is simply useless for us to 
 say that the Bible is inspired, if we who profess to believe it, do 
 not share its inspiration. When the Holy Ghost Is both in the 
 doctrine and in the people who profess it, the mountains of difficulty 
 shall be beaten with a new threshing instrument having teeth, and 
 will fly away like dust upon the mocking wind. 
 
 Are we inspired } Do we read the word with the soul, or 
 merely pronounce it with the lips .? If with the lips only, what 
 wonder if the people listen to the Bible with a very languid 
 curiosity and are not unwilling that the broken and soul-less read- 
 ing should cease .? 
 
 Nor have we read the full account yet of the production of this 
 mighty effect. The people themselves were in an anxious state of 
 mind : they were prepared for vital statement ; anything that was 
 beautiful in nature or in music would not have satisfied them. 
 They would have resented any discourse that bristled with merely 
 clever allusions or curious conceits of expression. They were a 
 prepared people. The fire fell upon prepared material, therefore 
 
74 ACTS II. 37-47. 
 
 the word of the Lord had free course and was glorified. How 
 can we preach to a people unprepared to hear ? The work is too 
 great for any man. A prepared pulpit should be balanced by a 
 prepared peui. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness : for they shall be filled." " Ho, every one that 
 thirsteth, come ye to the waters." To the unthirsty man the Bible 
 spring is without attraction as it rises and falls and plashes, 
 unheard and unheeded. But to the thirsty traveller, sun-smitten 
 and weary, how sweet, how tender, and delightful is the music of 
 running brooks and streams ! 
 
 A very solemn reflection occurs here. I feel no difficulty in 
 laying down the doctrine that where the heart is unaffected, Chris- 
 tian service is more mischievous than beneficial. Let us understand 
 and apply that doctrine so far as we may be able. "With the 
 heart man believeth unto righteousness." If in our service, we 
 touch everything but the heart, the service has done us more harm 
 than good. What if our notions be increased, if our motives be left 
 unbaptized with purifying fire .? What if we have received a thou- 
 sand new ideas into the intellect, if no angel has been received into 
 the home of the heart .? And what if we have been flattered and 
 cajoled and " daubed with untempered mortar," if the word has 
 not reached the very seat of the disease ? 
 
 Pray for a ministry that shall affect the heart. We must have 
 a heart-searching ministry. He who seeks after a comforting 
 ministry only, and a restful one that shall give him no disturbance, 
 actually treats himself maliciously, and wounds his own life. Let 
 us pray for a ministry that shall tell the truth, the whole truth, 
 and nothing but the truth, and leave the truth in the order of 
 divine providence to make its own way in the intelligence, the 
 affections, and the conscience of the world. 
 
 This great gospel revelation is an appeal to the heart ; if your 
 fancy has been titillated, or even your graver judgment satisfied, 
 if your heart be left unpricked, untroubled, and untorn, the word 
 has been in vain. Lay bare your hearts, say, in God's strength, 
 " Let me hear the exact truth, yea, if it tear me to pieces and 
 inflict upon me the severest cruelties, such piercing shall lead to a 
 great joy." The effect was grand in every aspect. Three thou- 
 sand souls were added in the city that day, unto them that were 
 being saved. Arid this will be the effect of Christian teaching 
 
HEALTHY EXCITEMENT. 75 
 
 everywhere under the right conditions. People will be added to 
 the Lord : the Lord's list will be enlarged every day, and there 
 will be joy in the presence of the angels of God, over sinners that 
 repent. Again and again we read that the people who heard the 
 Apostolic preaching, "cried out." We have lost that cry .• we 
 have succumbed to the cold and benumbing spirit of decorum. 
 
 I read of men being carried away, forced into exclamation, of 
 men, women and children coming together in common sorrow, 
 and singing together in common joy ; but to-day the Church may 
 possibly have lost much in losing a healthy excitement. Chris- 
 tianity is not a picture to be gazed upon and admired as an 
 instance of ancient skill. It is theyfri? of the Lord. It is the 
 sword of the Spirit. It is a cry that can awaken a cry. And 
 whilst it is perfectly true that there may be an irrational excitement 
 which ought to be subdued and controlled, it is also true that 
 there is a spiritual enthusiasm, a noble feeling, an absolute con- 
 secration withotit which the Church may be but a painted 
 sepulchre. 
 
 This gracious effect having taken place, we find that the people 
 continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, 
 in breaking of bread and in prayers. That effect is just as remark- 
 able as the other. The flock kept well together for fear of the 
 wolf. Were we ourselves in heathen lands as Christians we should 
 realize the joy of keeping closely logether. We should want very 
 often to see one another and to hear the voice of mutual instruc- 
 tion and encouragement. But living in a Christian land where 
 Christianity has become a luxury, or in some instances even an 
 annoyance, what wonder that we do not realize the primitive 
 enthusiasm, and enter with delight into the original fellowship and 
 union of the Church .? The people continued in the right teach- 
 ing. Until our teaching be right our life must be wrong. We 
 must ask for the pure bread, the pure water, the undefiled Bible, 
 and live on that ; out of such nutritious food there will come 
 proper results such as fellowship, sacramental communion, and 
 common prayer. Therein perhaps some mistake may have been 
 made. A man says, "I can pray by myself," that is perfectly 
 true, but you should realize that you are something more than 
 yourself ; you are part of a sum total. A man is not at liberty in 
 
76 ACTS II. 37-47. 
 
 the Christian sense of manhood to ddach himself from his race, 
 from' the common stock to which he belongs, and to live as if he 
 had no relation to the great breadth of humanity. 
 
 Herein is the advantage of common prayer and common praise. 
 ' ' Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. ' ' There is 
 inspiration in sympathy, there is encouragement in fellowship. 
 It does the soul good to see the hosts gathered together under the 
 royal banner stained with blood ; to see the great army marching 
 shoulder to shoulder under the blast of the great trumpet. Con- 
 tinue steadfastly to realize your relations to your fellow-Christians 
 and to the whole Church. " No man liveth unto himself " who 
 lives aright. We belong to one another ; the Lord's family is not 
 broken up into units only, it is constituted and consolidated into a 
 sacred and happy household. 
 
 Other effects followed ; they had all things common, " they 
 sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as 
 every man had need." This is the sternly logicaUov^-covcvo. of true 
 inspiration. But having regard to all the social conditions under 
 which we live this mechanical form of union is impracticable, as it 
 is understood from the reading of the mere letter. But having 
 lost this form, which broke down under the eyes of apostles them- 
 selves, we still reserve the spiritual outcome and meaning. My 
 contention is that to-day Christianity makes all things common, 
 and that Christian society as it is constituted in a Christian land is 
 the true e.xpression of the spirit Avhich formed itself otherwise in 
 primitive days. My strength is not my own, it belongs to the 
 weakest child that I may see groaning under oppression. If I 
 interfere in the case of an oppressed man, and if the oppressor 
 should say to me. What have you to do with this man — he is not 
 yours.? Christianity obliges me to say he is mine. If you see an 
 animal ill-used and ill-treated, though it be not yours in any 
 technical or legal sense of the term, you are called upon to inter- 
 fere by an earlier right, and by a diviner law. Whoever has 
 strength owns it for the benefit of those who have none. Why give 
 bread to that poor little child } the child is not yours. Yes, the 
 child is mine by virtue of its necessity. It would not be mine in 
 so tender a sense were it clothed in purple and fine linen, and 
 fared sumptuously every day, but by its weakness, by its poverty, 
 by its tears, by '\\S'homeless7i€ss, it is my child, and every man holds 
 
LARGER MEANINGS NEEDED. yj 
 
 his possession as a trust, for every other man who is in respectable 
 poverty. 
 
 So we must go to larger meanings, and no longer seek in little 
 narrow definitions the whole meaning of the Christian revelation. 
 This very thing, this high Christian socialism is now realized in 
 Christian society, and society owes more to Christ in this respect 
 than society is sometimes willing to admit. To me there is noth- 
 ing good that I cannot trace back to the heart of the Son of God. 
 Good thinking, true teaching, noble action, high motive, look 
 where I may, I find the only satisfactory explanation of all these 
 things in the priesthood, the doctrine, the life, the cross of the Son 
 of God. 
 
 Christianity is followed always by the same effects. Do not let 
 us give way to the mischievous suggestion that certain things hap- 
 pened in apostolic times which are impossible now. It is not so : 
 that is where the Church has lost her inspiration, her weight and 
 her spiritual philosophy. She is content to have a Christ two 
 thousand years old. The Church is to-day defending the Christ 
 of the first century instead of living the present Christ who is now 
 praying for her. The historical argument will never cease to have 
 its own proper value ; documentary evidence must always be valu- 
 able in the very highest courts of Christian tribunal : but what we, 
 the rank and file, have to do is this, to remember that Christ is 
 but a day old as well as a thousand years old. Born to-day^ as 
 well as twenty centuries since ; living to-day, as certainly as he lived 
 when he walked in Jewry and did miracles in Galilee. But we 
 have let him out of our grip ; we have allowed him to pass us 
 unnoticed. We are talking about ancient history instead of testi- 
 fying to present experience. Let me call you — I would I could do 
 so in trumpet tones, yea, with the boom and solemnity of thunder 
 itself — to the realization of this doctrine, that Christ is now living, 
 that his gospel is as mighty to-day as it ever was, that the human 
 heart is unchanged, that the disease of the heart needs the exact 
 remedy which is found in the gospel, and, if we faithfully and 
 lovingly preach and live what we know of inspired truth, the hearts 
 of men will own our call of God and our ministry by tongue and 
 pen, and life shall not fall without some noble recognition and 
 response. 
 
IX. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, our heart's desire is to climb thy hill and find audi- 
 ence with thee in the heavens. Is there not an appointed way ? Is not 
 Jesus Christ, thy Son, a living way to the Father ? We can enter only by 
 him ; other door there is none ; this is a wide open door, and we enter 
 into it with joy of heart. For every beam of light we bless thee ; for 
 every hope that makes us glad we give thee thanks. Thou knovvest how 
 much we are in the valley, and how often we pass through dark places. 
 Suddenly thou dost shoot down upon us rays of light ; they warm us and 
 give us a new comfort of the soul, so that we look upwards and are made 
 glad with heavenly pleasure. We have heard of thee by the hearing of 
 the ear, so that thy name is familiar unto us, but now would we know 
 thee by the love of the heart, by the tender sympathy of the quickened 
 soul, yea, we would enter into communion with the Father and with the 
 Son and with the Holy Ghost. How much we have to overcome that we 
 may do this thou knowest ; but thou dost beat even mountains to pieces, 
 and crush the rock before the feet of thy people ; and as for the rivers 
 and the seas which divide between us, thou dost utterly dry them up. 
 Therefore we bow before thee with a new song in our mouth, with a new 
 hope brightening our hearts, and for this we bless thee in the name of 
 Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Thou hast brought us together not to inflict 
 on us a disappointment. For this thou didst not cause the trumpet of 
 convocation to be sounded. Thou hast called us together into one family 
 and fellowship for the passing hour, that thou mayest reveal thyself to us 
 in some new and unexpected beauty. Let the beauty of the Lord our 
 God be upon us. Let there be a shining from heaven of a great light, 
 that shall chase every shadow away, and create a glory compared with 
 which there is none beside. For all the blessings of the week how can 
 we sing a song of gratitude sufficient ? Hast thou not made a way for 
 thyself in the darkness, and hast thou not turned the noon-day itself into 
 sevenfold brightness ? Thou hast withheld no good thing from us ; thou 
 hast given unto us blessings with both hands, and the windows of heaven 
 have been too small to enable thee to pour down upon us all the stores of 
 thy grace. 
 
 Yet we have received thy blessings oftentimes with neglect, sometimes 
 with utter forgetfulness, now and then almost with practical contempt. 
 We have not seen thine image and superscription upon thy daily gifts. 
 
THE TEXT. 79 
 
 Thou hast been paying tribute unto us, and we have not repaid thee with 
 our deep love. Yet wherein we have answered thee at all we bless thee 
 for the reply we have given thee, forasmuch as the answer was inspired 
 by thine own Spirit. If we have done anything aright, this also is the 
 Lord's doing. If our thoughts have lifted themselves up above all 
 clouds, and have fastened themselves with holy awe upon the subject of 
 thine eternity and thy grace, behold this is the greatest of thy miracles. 
 We are prone to search in the dust for our blessings ; we hew unto our- 
 selves cisterns, that we may drink at them and be sufficed, and behold, 
 they are broken cisterns that can hold no water. The river of God is full 
 of water. To that river we now repair ; may we find in it healing and 
 satisfaction, and see in it all the meaning of thine infinite grace. We are 
 poor, but our poverty is not a hindrance in thy sight, but an attraction. 
 Thou dost give to the poor and needy ; thou dost shelter the homeless ; 
 thou art the Friend of those who have no friend, the Refuge of the peni- 
 tent and the distressed, the Sanctuary of men who long to be free from 
 sin. Thou art training us by thine own way and Spirit, and we cannot 
 follow all the course of thy discipline, because we understand it not ; but 
 thy way is right ; thou wilt justify thy way to us, and when thou hast 
 tried us thou wilt bring us forth as gold. Let this assurance make our 
 hearts quiet every day ; may we rest in this holy doctrine, and be quieted 
 with thine own peace. The Lord visit us every one according to our per- 
 sonal need,' and where there is special praise for special blessing, the 
 Lord receive the hymn of love, and grant reply still larger than before. 
 Where there is mourning of heart because of loss, pain, bereavement, or 
 anticipation of distress, the Lord grant the healing grace of heaven. We 
 have heard of the balm that is in Gilead, and of the Physician that is 
 there, and we now hasten towards thee that we may be healed. Grant 
 unto us in all our life just what we need. If thou dost not answer our 
 prayers as we expect, do thou grant unto our hearts a peace that holds 
 within its depths all assurance of grace. The Lord's light come from the 
 whole heavens and make the place glorious. The Lord pity us, and take 
 away the cloud of fear ; the Lord himself rejoice in his people redeemed 
 with blood, and cause them to sing a new song of mercy and of judg- 
 ment. May this hour be the most glorious and memorable in the recol- 
 lection of the soul. Now we wait for thy reply ; we pray in the name of 
 the Saviour ; we go by the way of the Cross ; our prayers we offer to the 
 presiding Priest that he may magnify them and cleanse them, ennobling 
 all their meaning and purpose, and seeking for us the ansvver of thy 
 peace. Let our sins fall away from us like a garment, never more to be 
 taken up, and let thy grace possess itself of our hearts, and make them 
 glad with the very joy of heaven. Amen. 
 
8o ACTS III. i-ii. 
 
 Acts iii. 1-11. 
 
 1. Now Peter and John [it is to John that Peter turns for comfort after 
 his fall] 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 [«-e 
 may carry those we cannot hear\, whom they laid daily at the gate [so 
 massive that twenty men were required to open or shut it] of ihe temple 
 which is called Beautiful [named only here], 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 [a look which read character] 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 w^alk. 
 
 7. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up : and immedi- 
 ately his feet and ankle bones received strength [literally, " were con- 
 solidated "]. 
 
 8. And he leaping up [Isaiah xxxv. 6] 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 
 [outside the temple, on the eastern side], greatly wondering. 
 
 THE LAME MAN HEALED. 
 
 YOU will not see the whole beauty of this paragraph unless 
 you connect it with the chapter preceding. You remember 
 the infinite excitement of that chapter : it is the chapter which 
 tells us the marvellous history of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost 
 had been poured out upon the waiting Church, " Suddenly there 
 came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it 
 filled all the house" where the Church was sitting, " and there 
 appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon 
 each of them ; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utter- 
 ance." There had never been such a day in the Church before. 
 
QUIET WORSHIP. . 8i 
 
 The spirit of the day was a spirit of ecstasy ; men saw visions and 
 heard voices, and forraed such noble purposes as had never before 
 animated their breasts. It was a high day in the Church. The 
 silver trumpet had sounded ; the last shadow seemed to have fled 
 away ; and the family of God congregated there was filled with 
 ineffable delight ; so much so, indeed, that even the \t\m^ prop- 
 erly question fell quite out of sight. No man reckoned that any- 
 thing he had was his own ; all that believed were together like a 
 family, and had all things common ; they sold their possessions 
 and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need. 
 There was no suspicion of selfishness, for no life was bounded 
 merely by its own interests. Life was raised up to a higher level 
 than it had ever attained, and the people were praising God from 
 morning till night ; " they continued daily with one accord in the 
 temple, breaking bread from house to house, and eating their 
 meat with gladness and singleness of heart." Surely the millen- 
 nium had come ! 
 
 After this there will be no more common-place : anything that 
 can transpire after such a realization of the Divine presence will be 
 of the nature of common-place, and will be resented in high 
 temper as unworthy to follow such a manifestation ! Who would 
 willingly come out of the blue heavens, to walk again on the com- 
 mon earth } Who would voluntarily abandon angelic society, to 
 come down again to the common thoroughfares and pathways of 
 ordinary life .? You must enter into this excitement if you would 
 understand the opening words of the third chapter. Probably 
 there are no quieter words to be found anywhere than are these : 
 " Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the 
 hour of prayer." After the excitement of the second chapter, is 
 not this of the nature of an anti-climax .? What can come after 
 the thunder, and the whirlwind, and the mighty revelations of the 
 Divine presence 1 Two men — former partners in the fishing trade, 
 often together, the complement of one another as to many mental 
 and moral qualities— two men " went up together into the temple 
 at the hour of prayer. ' ' Then see that the ecstatic hours of life 
 ought to be succeeded by quiet worship, for that alone can sustain 
 the heart with true nourishment. Men cannot live in ecstasy ; 
 God grants unto his Church times of refreshing, hours of enthusi- 
 asm, days when the whole horizon opens like an infinite door into 
 
82 ACTS in. I -I I. 
 
 the upper places of the universe ; but after such peculiarly solemn 
 manifestations of power and grace, he expects us to go up into 
 the temple to pray, as he knows such visions make all other life 
 ordinary and common. Whatever luxuries you may enjoy occa- 
 sionally, you must have bread permanently ; we do not live on 
 luxuries, we live on bread. We cannot always live in the extra- 
 ordinary, for by the very fact of its being always extraordinary it 
 would cease to be other than usual. But were not the men 
 inspired ? Had not they seen great sights, and heard great voices, 
 and had they not actually received into their hearts the Holy 
 Ghost .'' To these inquiries an emphatic affirmation must be 
 returned. Yet, notwithstanding all these special circumstances, 
 the two men " went up together into the temple at the hour of 
 prayer." The clock was not altered ; the time-bill of heaven was 
 not changed : the great Pentecostal storm had rushed across the 
 heavens, and had left behind it showers of blessings. Still the 
 quiet clock ticked and travelled on to the time of the offering of 
 the evening sacrifice, and Peter and John were not so transported 
 by special ecstasies as to forget their daily and aistomary engage- 
 ments With God. Suspect any inspiration that makes you con- 
 temptuous of ordinary religious duly. If any men had reason to 
 suppose that they could dispense with ordinary worship, and 
 customary routine, Peter and John were such. They might have 
 said, ' ' We have outlived all this ; we are no longer mechanical 
 worshippers, we take no note of time now ; we have received the 
 Holy Ghost into our hearts, and for us all Sabbath days, and sac- 
 rificial hours, and sacred places, are abolished — we live the higher 
 life, we enjoy the ineffable consciousness." No such speech did 
 they make. 
 
 Inspiration never lessens duly ; true inspiration ennobles our 
 conception of what is due from us to the Divine Being. Any 
 supposed inspiration that has withdrawn men from the Temple 
 and poisoned them with the delusion that they could sufficiently 
 read the Bible at home, is an inspiration coming otherwhere than 
 from Heaven. You cannot read the Bible at home in any exhaus- 
 tive and final sense. You were not made to live at home always ; 
 you have in you instincts that can only be satisfied by great public 
 associations. There is in you that which finds its completion in 
 public fellows*hip. Christian communion, and general intercourse 
 
INSPIRATION NOT LOST. 83 
 
 of mind with mind upon the sublime topics of Heavenly truth. 
 It does a man good to "go up into the temple at the hour of 
 prayer, ' ' that he may pray ; it does every man good to be now and 
 then in a crowd : public assembly has an educational and social 
 influence upon the individual life. Standing alone, a man may 
 seem to be very great, very important, and very self-complete ; it 
 is when he enters into a crowd that he realises his humanity, his 
 littleness, and yet the very greatness that comes of that contraction 
 of individuaUty. " Forsake not the assembling of yourselves 
 together." Peter and John did not, for immediately after the day 
 of Pentecost, under the jo3'ous realization of the newly-given Spirit, 
 they went up into the Temple at the hour of prayer. Are we not 
 wrong in supposing \}a3X prayer can ever be of the nature of com- 
 mon-place } What is prayer .? Is it not communion with God ? 
 
 Our conception of prayer has fallen. Few men can pray all the 
 day. We pray sometimes through the prayers of others, and this 
 is the true interpretation of the priestly element in human nature. 
 Perhaps you cannot sing vocally, but you may sing sympathetically 
 with the great Vocalist. So sympathetic may you be, that though 
 you may find it impossible to express the sentiments which animate 
 your hearts and give a nobility to your aspirations, yet when you 
 hear those sentiments expressed by a gifted tongue they are made 
 your prayers of by your cordial Amen. We should never give way 
 to the blasphemous suggestion that prayer is or can be ordinary ; 
 there is nothing ordinary in any true prayer ; to pray is to redeem 
 any day from common-place. To have one quick, flashing view 
 of God makes common time sacred. If we pray mechanically or 
 by rote, or if prayer be the mere repetition of words which have 
 never passed through the heart, and been stained with its blood, 
 then I wonder not that men have become weary of prayer, and 
 should long for it to cease ; but when we truly realise the nature 
 and scope of prayer, and when the heart beats sympathetically 
 through the whole compass of communion with God, there can be 
 nothing common-place in prayer, even if it immediately succeed 
 the storms and shocks of Pentecost itself. But had the Apostles 
 lost their inspiration ? Verily, there was hardly time for any such 
 loss to have taken j)lace, for the narrative reads as if it were almost 
 one, without break, and without any punctuation that would 
 separate substantially the one part from the other. They had not 
 
84 ACTS III. i-ir. 
 
 lost their inspiration, as is evident by what they did. Look at the 
 case ! Here is a man lame from his mother's womb, who had 
 never walked to the Temple, but was always carried by friends — 
 carried there every day, and carried every day too to the most 
 attractive spot in all the surroundings of the temple. No man had 
 ever cured him ; we are not aware that any man had ever 
 attempted to heal him ; but Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, 
 with John, said, " Look on us !" That was the first time prob- 
 ably he had ever looked with all his soul. No such speech had 
 ever thrilled him before. Only if we had heard the accents with 
 which Peter said, " Look upon us," should we be able to under- 
 stand the ardent gaze of the expectant beggar. Verily, these men 
 then had not lost their inspiration, or they never would have taken 
 this course with the suppliant at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. 
 They could work this miracle. Let that be taken as a proof of the 
 continuance of their inspiration ; and yet we see that notwithstand- 
 ing the continuance of their inspiration they are going up like 
 ordinary humble worshippers to pray in the temple. 
 
 Young men, let me, as your friend and teacher, advise you to 
 beware of any inspiration that leads you away from apostolic prac- 
 tice. Your ambition may be easily excited, and you may not 
 require a very expert tempter of the human mind to say to you 
 that perhaps you may be a genius, a man of a particularly refined 
 and sensitive character. You need not submit to take upon you 
 the yoke of religious custom ; your place is the side of the purling 
 brook, yours to watch the meandering stream, yours to hold s:on- 
 verse with rising and setting suns. When such temptation seduces 
 you give it the lie. You have not the ardour of holy Peter, you 
 have not the mental crown and moral glow of the divine John, and 
 it will be better for you to follow in the way of apostolic practice 
 than to yield up your religious life at the bidding of an anonymous 
 tempter. The law would seem to be that every miracle should be 
 succeeded hy prayer, and every great effort of human life should 
 be followed by a religious exercise, every outgoing of the soul 
 should have its compensatory movement in silent communion with 
 God. After you have been striving arduously and valiantly in the 
 fight, plunge into the bath, so to say, of divine meditation and 
 heavenly communion, and therein leave your weakness and recover 
 your strength. This incidental conversation with the poor lame 
 
THE TRUE RICHES. 85 
 
 beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple gives us some particu- 
 lars about the Apostles themselves, and those particulars are the 
 more valuable because of the way in which they are introduced 
 into the narrative. It is perfectly evident that having all things 
 common had not enriched Peter and John. We wonder sometimes 
 as to the meaning of the apostolic communion, and here is a side- 
 light upon it of a very striking kind. The men who belonged to 
 the apostolic communion had neither silver nor gold. Apostolic 
 communion wag no priest's trick : it was no attempt to enrich the 
 apostolate at the expense of the Christian public. Here are two of 
 the most conspicuous of the apostolate saying, quite in an inciden- 
 tal manner as an explanatory basis of proposed action, "Silver 
 and gold have we none." 
 
 So much the better for them ! Woe unto the Apostle who 
 spends one half of his life in getting silver and gold, and the other 
 half in watching that they do not run away from him. ' ' Silver 
 and gold have I none ;" what had they, then } They had divine 
 energy, spiritual life, social sympathy, and hearts to bless those 
 who needed benediction and assistance. The poverty of the 
 Apostles was in material substance only ; and therefore it was no 
 poverty at all. He is the poor man who has nothing but TJioitey ; 
 there are no poorer men in all the range of civilization to-day than 
 those men who are overweighted wath property. He is rich who 
 has high ideals and noble sympathies, and who lives in the pres- 
 ence of God and in the service of truth. He cannot be alone ; 
 there is no solitude for the truly intellectual and spiritual nature. 
 Some men cannot understand silence ; if you are nor for ever talk- 
 ing to them, they suppose that you are dull ; if you do not walk 
 out hour after hour during the day, and talk the whole tmie, they 
 inquire considerately as to your spirits, and as to whether there is 
 not something in your temperament that tends toward melan- 
 choly. If men have not upon their faces an eternal grin they are 
 supposed to be unhappy. You have met with persons who say 
 they never walk out alone. I thank God I can never walk out in 
 company 1 Have your riches in your mind, in your heart, in 
 your thoughts, in your purposes, in your beneficent plans, and the 
 night will be as the day, and the day will be seven-fold in bright- 
 ness. Then you shall not know what it is to feel the chill and 
 pain of solitude. This action of the Apostles also shows how pos- 
 
86 ACTS III. I -I I, 
 
 sible it is to be giving less than others, and at the same time to be 
 giving more than they all. * ' Silver and gold have I none. ' ' 
 " Then he could give nothing," would be the swift and shallow 
 reasoning of those who read the surface only. " But such as I have 
 give I thee." That is the giving that does not impoverish ; the 
 more given the more left. It is the giving of the sim. 
 
 The sun has been giving his light ; he has shone for thousands 
 of years, and yet he is as luminous as when he first looked out 
 upon the darkness which he dispelled. Give mechanically, and 
 you will weary of the exercise ; but give spiritually, jind you will 
 increase your possessions by the very giving of your alms. I take 
 this incident as representing our own Christian life to-day in some 
 important aspects. Our Christian life has its Pentecost. There 
 are rare days in our consciousness ; there are times when we think 
 we are almost going into the celestial company ; there are hours 
 of transport, of high, tender realization, in which we know that 
 though we are separated from the heavenly host by time and space, 
 we yet can almost take hold of hands. And are there not days 
 upon which, when we open the Bible, the whole page gleams with 
 a new light, and when the very rustling of the leaves is as the 
 shaking of the tree of Life ? Have we not all said — 
 
 " My willing soul would stay in such a frame as this, 
 And sit and sing herself away to everlasting bliss" ? 
 
 But the practical lesson immediately succeeds. We are not to 
 live in such ecstasy ; we are to go into the ordinary routine, if you 
 so please, of worship. Herein many hearers are hard upon those 
 who preach ; the preacher is relied upon for the undue and con- 
 tinual excitement of the intellectual and spiritual nature. We for- 
 get that we do not live in excitement, but in the ordinary patient, 
 thankful enjoyment of customary service ; and our religious life, 
 like the life of the Apostles, has its work to do outside the Temple. 
 
 A man may pray none the less prayerfully because he has aided 
 some poor creature before he entered the sacred place. We should 
 have enjoyed the service many a time much more keenly if before 
 coming to it we had made some sorrowful heart glad. That is the 
 preparation for prayer. To have been with some lonely one ; to 
 have created an atmosphere of friendliness around the solitary 
 traveller ; to have lifted the burden of life for one short minute 
 
THE STRONGEST VINDICATION. 87 
 
 from a back too weak to bear it, would have been to have enjoyed 
 in the most profound and satisfactory sense the service of the house 
 of God. If you want to come up at the time of the offering of the 
 evening sacrifice with glowing, thankful hearts, ready to receive 
 any communication God may make to them, spend the interven- 
 ing hours in doing good to those who sit in solitary places. Visit 
 the poor and the friendless ; hear their dreary tales ; and when 
 you come to the house of God you will come, not in a spirit of 
 criticism, but in a spirit of sympathy, and from the first note to 
 the last there shall be a shining forth and revelation of the Divine 
 presence. Then, finally, the Christianity of this day, like the 
 Christianity of the Apostolic day, must prove its divinity by its 
 beneficence. " In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up 
 and walk." 
 
 Peter did not preach a sermon to the man. To the excited 
 multitude he expounded the Scriptures ; he quoted the Psalms 
 and the Prophets, and shewed what new interpretation God had 
 given to His word ; but when he came face to face with the man 
 lame from his mother's womb, unable to help himself, he preached 
 no sermon except as the mention of the name of Jesus Christ of 
 Nazareth is always a sermon, but bade the helpless man rise up 
 and walk. Here is the sphere in which Christian argument may 
 yet secure its highest triumph. Words can be answered by words, 
 phrases beget phrases, and the easy trick of recrimination is the 
 favorite amusement of mere controversialists ; but a Church seek- 
 ing out the lowly, helping the helpless, healing the sick, teaching 
 the ignorant, standing by the cause of righteousness, defying the 
 oppressor, and suffering and working for the right, is a Church 
 whose beneficence is its noblest attribute, and whose character is 
 the only vindication it requires. 
 
X. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we pray thee in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord to 
 work thy wonders in our hearts, and to make us signs and tokens unto 
 all the people. May the change in us be so great that all who have 
 known us aforetime may marvel at the mighty power of thy grace. 
 Enable us to live the heavenly life whilst we are yet upon earth ; to speak 
 thy Word ; to answer all the intimations of thy purpose ; and to respond 
 in one continual answer of obedience to all thy holy will. We rejoice 
 that we are thine in Christ. Thou hast caused us to undergo the vital 
 change which makes us sons of God. We are no more strangers and 
 foreigners ; nor are we wandering prodigals, aliens, outcast. We are the 
 children of the living God. We are part of the whole family in heaven 
 and o.i earth. And this is of the Lord's mercy, and not of our will. 
 Thou hast recovered us from our fall. We stand in thy house with the 
 light of heaven beaming upon our life because of thy goodness. We 
 therefore praise thee in our song ; we lift up our hearts joyously to bless 
 the Lord for all his benefits towards us ; and we take heart again, and 
 will pursue our way to the end, confiding solely in thy grace and strength. 
 Thou dost love us, every one. Thou hast sent thy Son to bless us. The 
 Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. We 
 therefore look unto him who is our salvation. We trust in his Cross ; we 
 look towards the mighty sacrifice which he rendered ; and, because of the 
 infiniteness of his love, we stand before thee this day, confident that thou 
 wilt not forsake us, and sure of thine eternal regard. 
 
 We come with many wants, and yet all our necessities are one. If 
 thou wilt grant us thy peace, then shall all our life be quiet. Our neces- 
 sities shall be supplied ; the sting of pain shall be taken out of our heart ; 
 and in our mouth there shall be a new and living song. Comfort us in 
 all the way of the wilderness. The miles are long ; the way is often 
 dreary ; all thy clouds sometimes gather over head, and look down upon 
 us with infinite threatening, and we know not which way to take in the 
 darkness. Speak comfortably to our hearts in such hours of gloom, and 
 save us from the weakness and the bondage of despair. Surely we see 
 thee all the day long. Thou dost shine in the morning dawn, and at 
 eventide the stars glitter because of thy nearness ; and between the rising 
 of the sun and the going down of the same, is not thy providence a con- 
 tinual miracle ? Thine hand is opened in bounteousness ; thine eyes 
 melt with pity ; the outgoing of thine heart towards us is a continual 
 
THE MIRACLE OF EXPOSITION. 
 
 redemption. We confess our sins, we mourn the hardness of our hearts. 
 " Sural)'," we have said, " our stubbornness is now subdued, and in ten- 
 derness and filial love we will walk before the Lord all the days of our 
 life." And behold, the enemy returns, the fire of hell is rekindled, and 
 all our hopes are cast down. But thou delightest to forgive. The ful- 
 ness of thy pardon is as the fulness of the sea. Thy mercy endureth for 
 ever. 
 
 We pray to be fed with the bread of life. Lord, evermore give us this 
 bread. So strengthen our minds by daily communications of truth, and 
 so uphold our hearts by continual supplies of grace, that our walk may be 
 steadfast before the Lord, that our spirit may show itself to be continually 
 waiting upon God. 
 
 We pray always for one another ; that the dumb may speak ; that the 
 deaf may hear ; that all who are carried from thy fold may return because 
 of recovered strength. Magnify thy grace in our experience ; so destroy 
 the power of the Enemy that we shall forget his existence, and so release 
 us from all anxiety, and from all secondary attachments, as to bind us in 
 constancy of love to the worship of thy name, and the study of thy word. 
 Lift the burden from the back that is too weak to bear it. Touch with 
 thine own fingers the tears which we dare not approach. Send into every 
 heart some angel to speak of Jesus and the Resurrection. And, when 
 the day shall close around us, and shall no longer be passing before us, 
 but shall become a memory of the heart, may the recollection of this 
 sacred dav abide with us, a continual peace, and a continual inspiration. 
 Amen. 
 
 Acts iii. 12-26. 
 
 12. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of 
 Israel, why marvel ye at this [man] ? 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 [servant : Isaiah xlii. i] Jesus : whom ye 
 delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was de- 
 termined [had decided] 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 [the same word is rendered Author in Heb. 
 xii. 2] of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead [better, raised once 
 for all] ; whereof we are witnesses. 
 
 16. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, 
 whom ve see and know : yea, the faith which is by him hath given him 
 this perfect soundness [completeness ; the only place in the New Testa- 
 ment in which the word occurs] in the presence of you all. 
 
 17. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did 
 your rulers. 
 
90 
 
 ACTS III. \2-26. 
 
 18. But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of 
 ail [all is omitted by the east MSS.] his prophets, that Christ should 
 suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 
 
 19. Repent [change your minds] ye therefore, and be converted [this 
 word " converted " occurs eleven times in the Acts], that your sins may 
 be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence 
 of the Lord. 
 
 20. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto 
 you. 
 
 21. Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution [the 
 only instance of the word] of all things, which God hath spoken by the 
 mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 
 
 22. For Moses truly [indeed] said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the 
 Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me ; him 
 shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 
 
 23. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that 
 prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 
 
 24. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, 
 as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 
 
 25. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God 
 made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all 
 the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 
 
 26. 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. 
 
 A GREATER MIRACLE. 
 
 THIS speech is a greater miracle than the cure of a lame 
 man, in connection with which it was spoken. The great 
 miracles are all wrought wMin. To heal a man with lame feet 
 and weak ankle bones is a very small thing compared to the utter- 
 ance of this eloquent and thrilling address. Compare Peter before 
 the Resurrection with the Peter of this speech, and tell me what 
 has happened. Surely a great cure has been wrought upon him. 
 Who would have known the man again— the ardent, impulsive, 
 often-blundering Peter of the pre-resurrection period .? Who could 
 have thought that ever he would have dawned into such glory, and 
 have broken forth into such fluent and noble eloquence .' Up to 
 this time all his sentences have been broken ; his speech has rather 
 been timid with the spirit of an enquirer ; we have never found in 
 him, except upon one occasion, the boldness of an inspired ex- 
 positor. But now he takes the case in hand with masterly com- 
 pleteness and case, .and fearing no man, because not speaking the 
 
THE TRUE PRIMACY. 91 
 
 words of man, he explains the position and vindicates it at every 
 point with subHme and telling effect. 
 
 Peter was no conjuror. In himself the miracle had first been 
 wrought, therefore, to work a second miracle upon the lame man 
 became a commonplace to apostolic power. You cannot work 
 miracles, because you yourselves are not miracles. We are but 
 mechanical reformers ; we approach the whole case from the out- 
 side, and with many a lame suggestion we attempt to mend the 
 world's sad condition. We must be greater ourselves than any 
 work which it is possible for ourselves to do. When we attain that 
 superiority over our own efforts, when Peter is a greater miracle 
 than Peter's cure, we shall see lame men leap up on every side, 
 and behold them walking, and hear their loud thrilling songs of 
 thankfulness because of recovered hope and newly-given strength. 
 
 In this speech Peter vindicated his apostolic primacy. You 
 might have asked questions concerning Peter' s superiority before, 
 but after this speech every objection must be hushed. Its grand- 
 eur is so superlative, its strength is so massive, its simplicity is so 
 frank, its mastery is so abounding, that when the grand voice 
 ceases all men feel that the first place belongs to Simon Peter. 
 Any primacy that is not based on merit must go down. For a 
 time you may bolster up a man, you may preach him up, you 
 may, in many ways, contribute to his transient primacy ; but any 
 superiority of position that is not based upon fundamental and 
 vital merit falls before the testing touch of circumstances, and be- 
 fore the impartial test of time. So let this Book of God stand or 
 fall. The priests cannot keep it up, though they be robed with 
 white garments and crowned, and have staves and mitres in their 
 hands. Parliaments and thrones cannot give the Bible its lasting 
 primacy over human thought and human actions. If the inspira- 
 tion be not in the Book itself you cannot communicate it ; and if 
 the inspiration really be in the Book itself you can never talk it 
 down. By force you may quiet it for a time ; but truth is eternal, 
 it returns. Men leave it, supposing it to be dead, but it rises and 
 reasserts its sovereignty. 
 
 Thus our position is a very independent one as regards the 
 Bible, and as regards all the miracles which the Bible records. I 
 do not receive the Bible because it is recommended to me by 
 official authority. The Bible commends itself to me. It affrights 
 
92 ACTS III. v. 
 
 me, it charms me ; it appalls me by the outflashing of sudden 
 light and unexpected glory, so that I run away from the dazzling 
 revelation. Then it seeks me when I am weary, and lonely, and 
 sad, and hopeless ; and when all life has gathered itself into the 
 image of a deep, grim grave. Then it talks to me as no other 
 book can talk. So, as Peter's primacy rests on Peter's sovereign 
 power of mind, and sovereign power of moral influence, so the 
 primacy of the Bible over all other books rests upon what the Bible 
 itself can do beyond all other books to give light and strength and 
 hope to human life. 
 
 The danger is that we be not just to such men as Peter. We 
 may take this speech as a mere matter of course. It is so that we 
 take too many speeches. We hear an eloquent man drop sen- 
 tence after sentence of singular beauty, and think that he does so 
 simply as a matter of course. In every such sentence there is a 
 drop of sacrificial blood. The sentences that move the world and 
 live through all time are heart-drops. The foolish hearer may 
 allow them to pass without recognition or appreciation, but those 
 who have spent long time in the sanctuary of thought, and have 
 often bowed themselves down at the altar with wonder, will recog- 
 nize in such speeches as Peter's the very grace and glory of Divine 
 truth. Consider what this man was ; how he had been brought 
 up ; how often he had stumbled and blundered ; how the inspired 
 writers never shrink from telling his mistakes and sins. Then see 
 him, in the presence and hearing it may have been of the most 
 learned men of his day, giving this exposition and no other. Do 
 not go beyond the four walls of the case itself, and upon this 
 speech you may risk your greatest and deepest commendation of 
 Peter as a thinker, as a saint, as an apostle, as an expositor of 
 heavenly mysteries. To such men the world owes all its higher 
 wealth. 
 
 True eloquence is forced out of men. This speech was not a 
 - prepared oration. It was not something which he took from his 
 secret place and read, as if the whole trick had been arranged — the 
 cure, and the wonder, and the eloquence. The sermon was as 
 extemporaneous as was the event itself. This eloquence came out 
 of the circumstances which had just transpired. The looking 
 people make the eloquent preacher. All the people fastened their 
 eyes upon Peter and John ; and, as the lame man had drawn out 
 
PETER'S POWERFUL APPEAL. 
 
 93 
 
 of Peter spiritual power by his magnetic look, so the people drew 
 out of Peter still higher power by their marvelling — their sceptical 
 yet gracious wonder. In reply to that wonder, see how Peter de- 
 clines any merely public primacy based on purely personal con- 
 siderations. Peter stood before the people, not in his personal 
 capacity, but in his representative capacity. Said he, ' ' This is not 
 our doing." " Whose doing is it.?" " It is the Lord's doing ; 
 and it is marvellous in our eyes." And, with the infinite cunning 
 of inspired wisdom, he magnified the occasion by attaching the mira- 
 cle to the omnipotence of a God about whose existence the/^w 
 had no doubt. Said he, " The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, 
 and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified Plis Son, 
 Jesus. ' ' The Apostles did not snatch at praise for themselves. 
 The original leaders of Christian thought and sentiment did not 
 leap upon pedestals which the people, in their idolatrous wonder 
 and love, set up as temptations in their way. They maintained 
 their royal supremacy, their all-dominating sovereignty, by operat- 
 ing in the presence of the people merely as the servants and instru- 
 ments of God. We must return to that allegiance to the Divine 
 name and throne. The books you have written were written by 
 the finger of God, in so far as they are true, and wise, and useful. 
 The lives you have lived you have lived by faith in the Son of God, 
 in so far as they have been true, beneficent, and honorable. You 
 must resent merely persona/ eulogium. Accept it as an encourage- 
 ment in the meantime ; lift the wondering eyes from yourself to 
 God, and you shall have added power every day. 
 
 Not only does Peter decline the implied eulogium of the won- 
 dering look, he takes upon himself to cut the people to pieces. 
 No great progress can be made in moral reform until our apostles 
 slay us. Flattery will do nothing for us — at most, will but mislead 
 or bewilder us. We want knife work ; we want to be pierced to 
 the heart, told our sins one by one, and brought to the bar of 
 judgment man by man, like so many hopeless and self-condemned 
 criminals. Hear his speech in proof of what I have said. Speak- 
 ing of Jesus Christ, he says, " Whom ye delivered up, and denied 
 him in the presence of Pilate. . . . But ye denied the Holy 
 One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you ; 
 and killed the Prince of Life." That man must succeed in his 
 ministry, or he must be killed 1 Such a speaker of such an ad- 
 
94 
 
 ACTS III. 12-26. 
 
 dress cannot occupy a middle position, A man who so assails his 
 contemporaries must have a good cause with which to sustain his 
 heart and renew his courage, or he will be borne down, and the 
 heel of the insulted public shall bruise his head. When did the 
 Apostles speak with bated breath and whispering humbleness } 
 When did they try to make the best of the case by appeasing the 
 spirit of the people, and by an endeavor to placate sensibilities 
 which had been strongly excited .? They never lowered the tone of 
 their impeachment, Christ's death was never less than a murder, 
 and the men who had taken part in the Crucifixion were never 
 treated as other than murderers. There is no euphemism here ; 
 there is no attempt here at the smoothing down of very harsh 
 asperities. On the contrary, we have here the bitter, stern, tragi- 
 cal, truth, and that truth has to be repeated day by day, and age 
 by age, until every man feels that he himself has been the mur- 
 derer of Christ. 
 
 So we come back to a truth with which this message has made 
 us familiar. We are not to put away the Crucifixion as an histori- 
 cal circumstance, nineteen or twenty centuries old. The Crucifix- 
 ion takes place every day, and every day we nail the Son of God 
 to the Cross, Realize this circumstance, let all its teaching sink 
 deeply into our hearts, and there will go up the old cry of contri- 
 tion and self-condemnation, and after it will come times of refresh- 
 ing from the presence of the Lord, 
 
 In the 17th verse the tone changes with wondrous skill. The 
 Gospel is not an impeachment only — it is an offer, Peter says, 
 " I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers ;" 
 and he introduces this new phase of the subject with a word which 
 united himself with the people — he called those who heard him by 
 the name of "brethren." "And now, brethren, I wot that 
 through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers," Is that a 
 novel suggestion on the part of Peter himself } Has he been 
 considering how to extricate these people from the awfulness of 
 their position .? Nothing of the kind. This 17th verse repeats the 
 very prayer of Christ Himself upon the Cross. When Jesus was 
 dying he said, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do." Peter, following along the same line of thought, says, " I 
 wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers," 
 
THE CALL TO REPENTANCE. 95 
 
 So he opens a great door of hope. The Church ought to be fertile 
 in its invention of opportunities for the worst men to return. 
 Sometimes the Church may suggest reflections which the self-con- 
 demned man dare not originate in his own heart. Drop a word 
 of hope wherever you can. Tell the very worst man that the door 
 of hope, if not wide open, is yet ajar, and that the very faintest 
 touch of his fingers will cause it to fall back to the very wall. 
 Learn from apostolic preaching the true range and power of apos- 
 tolic eloquence. Nothing could be sterner than his words, and 
 yet nothing could be more hopeful than the application of those 
 words. In reality, Peter said to those who were about him, " Be- 
 gin again. Leave your ignorance behind you. Now take a true 
 view of the case, and under this newly-dawning light fall down 
 before God and ask his pardon. " 
 
 Then comes the grand exhortation in which we find the key- 
 word of apostolic preaching, and the secret of apostolic success, 
 and that word is found at the beginning of the 1 9th verse, ' ' Re- 
 pent." That is a word which the Church has lost. If now and 
 again we use the word " repent," we use it as a common word, 
 and do not throw into it all the soul's urgency. It has worked 
 wonders in days of old. It is like the sword of which David said, 
 "Give me that; there is none like it." This word "repent" 
 goes to the root and to the reality of the case. Who has repented 1 
 I do not ask who has been alarmed by threatened consequences, 
 and who, in order to escape a penalty, denounced in emphatic 
 language, has professed a change of habit and of purpose. My 
 question is a deeper one. Who has felt heart-brokenness on ac- 
 count of sin .? real, genuine contrition on account of spiritual 
 offence against God } Have we not forgotten that old word ' ' re- 
 pent" in its original signification and uses. Has the Church be- 
 come too dainty in her tongue to use such words .-' The word 
 " repent" is a multitudinous word : it carries many other words 
 with it. It is a challenge, an accusation, a threatening, a hope, a 
 law, a gospel. Truly, this word is a polysyllable in its theologi- 
 cal suggestions, and therefore ought to be often opened out and 
 examined, and its infinite treasures ought to be well weighed and 
 estimated by the Christian thinker. 
 
96 ACTS III. 12-26. 
 
 There is another word in the 19th verse of as much importance 
 as the Word "repent;" that word is "therefore." You would 
 not suppose the word "therefore" was a very important one; 
 yet I hold it to be as important as any other word in the whole 
 text. It refers to the historical and logical argument upon which 
 Christianity is founded. " Therefore" is a logical term. " There- 
 fore" indicates the issue and effect of an argument. " Therefore" 
 is a word which is not given first, but last ; and it carries in itself 
 the meaning and the force of all that has preceded. Peter then, 
 having gone back to " the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of 
 Jacob, the God of our fathers," and having traced the histor}' of 
 the Crucifixion, and having explained the secret by which the lame 
 man had been healed — the secret of faith in the name of the Son 
 of God — and having pointed to the probable ignorance of those 
 who had crucified the Saviour, and having shown that all this 
 Christian idea was a fulfilment of words spoken by the mouth of 
 all God's prophets, he gathers himself up in this one supreme 
 effort, and, with the masterliness of an inspired preacher he says, 
 " Repent ye, therefore' — for no sentimental reasons, but on his- 
 torical grounds — on the ground of the ancient dealings of God 
 with his people, and because of the culmination of those dealings 
 in the recovery of the. man who is standing there, the living proof 
 of an undisputed miracle. 
 
 Then, after his wont, Peter's speech proceeds like a deep, broad 
 river — full of wisdom, full of thought, full of hope, full of sympa- 
 thy, and he ends with these warm words, " Unto you first God, 
 having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you." Apos- 
 tolic preaching was tender ; apostolic preaching touched the soul 
 of the hearer, the wound of the spirit, with a most delicate hand. 
 Apostolic preaching was religious preaching, spiritual preaching, 
 personal preaching, direct preaching, and it kept itself to this one 
 theme — the turning away men from their iniquities. And because 
 it did so it turned the world upside down. Preacher of the Living 
 God, come back from all intellectual vagaries, romances, and 
 dreamings, and stand to your one work of accusing men of sins, 
 accusing yourself first and most deeply, and then revealing the liv- 
 ing Son of God, who came with one purpose only, the purpose of 
 blessing men — not by giving them new ideas, not by giving them 
 stolen comfort, noLby tampering with their moral position, but by 
 
VITAL BLESSING. 97 
 
 " turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Blessing 
 and iniquity never can co-exist in the same heart. The iniquity 
 must go, then the blessing w^ill come. The wickedness must de- 
 part, and then angels will hasten into the soul from which it has 
 gone out. Leit us know, believe, and say from time to time with 
 frankest speech that no man can really be blessed who has not 
 been turned from his iniquities. Ye cannot drink the cup of God 
 and the cup of devils. 
 
XL 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we have come to the waters of life. In times that are 
 gone we hewed out unto ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that could 
 hold no water ; but now we have come to the life-stream. May we drink 
 thereof, and be glad with exceeding joy. Thou has made for us wells in 
 the wilderness, and springing fountains in the desert. The river of God 
 is full of water : may we now drink of that living stream that we may 
 never thirst again. Give unto us this water with thine own hand ; it will 
 be to us the more precious for thy touch. Send us not away with a great 
 fire of thirst in the heart ; but quench our desire, and satisfy our yearn- 
 ing, and give us to know how good a thing it is to wait upon the living 
 God. We bless thee that we need thee every day. Were we less we 
 could do without thee the better ; but being what we are we long for 
 thee. Our rest is in thy peace ; our security is in thine Almightiness ; 
 and our hope is in thy grace. Surely, if thou hast taught us to pray, 
 thcu wilt reply Dost thou make the eye without giving the light ? and 
 dost ihou form the ear without supplying the wondrous air which plays 
 upon it, and brings through it to the soul all tender messages and glori- 
 ous gospels ? So, thou hast not made the soul to pray without having 
 first provided the answer. Thy reply is older than our supplication. 
 The Lamb was slain before the sin was done. Was not Christ thy Son, 
 our Sacrifice and Priest, the Lamb, slain from before the foundation of 
 the world ! Is not the Gospel from eternity ? We go back to the eternal 
 counsel. We stand in the eternal decree. Thy grace is older than our 
 sin. Thy Almightiness is older than our infirmity. We come to thee, in 
 the house appointed, to-day, to seek great things in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God. We have come to seek of thee 
 pardon, many pardons, waves of forgiveness, great billows of pardoning 
 love ; that underneath their infinite fulness our sin may be lost, like a 
 stone in the unfathomable deep. Jesus Christ is risen to-day. This 
 morning, heaven's gate is wide open. We come to-day, though it be to 
 the outside only, and look in and say in the name of Christ, " God be 
 merciful unto us, sinners." Thou lovest sinners. Thou, Jesus, didst go 
 in to sinners, and eat with them. " This man receiveth sinners." 
 Herein is love, that Christ died for us whilst we were yet sinners. God 
 be merciful unto us, sinners. Feed us with the bread sent down from 
 heaven. Lord, evermore give us this bread. Satisfy our hunger as well 
 as our thirst. May -we obey thine injunction, inspired by thy love, to eat 
 
THE PR A YER. 
 
 99 
 
 and drink abundantly as the beloved of God. Lead us into all truth ; de- 
 liver us from all narrowness of thought and all bigotry of feeling, and set 
 us in the infinite spaces ; and give us to know the range and compass of 
 the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Fill us with Christian love. De- 
 stroy all self-trust and self-idolatry ; and give us to feel that every man is 
 thy child, and that the more he is lost the greater is the anxiety of thy 
 love concerning him. Deliver us from any feeling of contempt for any 
 living creature. May we take Christ's view of every soul ; and if we 
 have lost but one out of ten, but one out of a hundred, may we sweep the 
 house diligently until we find the tenth piece, and leave all that is secure 
 at home to find the hundredth sheep wandering among the barren rocks. 
 Send out the light of thy truth this day like a new flame of glory. May 
 the nations behold it, and wonder and adore. May the human mind be 
 arrested by a new revelation of the beauty that is in Christ. May thy 
 preachers pronounce his name with a new accent, though with the old 
 feeling of reverence, and awe, and love. May thy servants this day utter 
 the name and title of Jesus as they were never uttered before since the 
 days of the Pentecost. We love Jesus. He is more to us every day. 
 Every day we take to him gold, and frankincense, and myrrh ; now, may 
 we take to him our life and our life's life, and have nothing in us on 
 which his claiming hand doth not rest. Grant Sabbatic peace to every 
 soul. Still the tumult and the uproar of the world's busy week. Cleanse 
 the ear from all the vulgar noise of life's common thoroughfare, and fill 
 the hearing ear with the music of another world. Touch the wound no 
 hand of ours may approach. Whisper to the weak, and suffering, and 
 dying. Make the place of sorrow thy chosen sanctuary. Where the 
 darkness is very great do thou set thy largest star. Bless the child at 
 school, and may knowledge be turned into wisdom. Travel with the 
 traveller, and give him favoring winds, and open roads, and bring him to 
 his desired place. Speak to the soldier and the sailor of a higher bold- 
 ness and a diviner heroism than can be known in human relations. Speak 
 to the prisoner in his solitude, and may his very heart cry unto God for 
 the pardon of his sin. Put thine arms around us all, the everlasting 
 arms, and give us to feel their inviolable security. Amen. 
 
 Acts iv. 1-30. 
 
 1. And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of 
 the temple [the chief agents in our Lord's condemnation], and the Sad- 
 ducees [the higher members of the priesthood], came upon them, 
 
 2. Being grieved [expressive of intensity of trouble and vexation] that 
 they taught the people, and preached through \\\X.^x^X\.y, pyeached in Jesus\ 
 Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 
 
 3. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold [in custody] 
 unto the next day : for it was now eventide [6 p.m.]. 
 
 4. Hovvbeit many of them which heard the word believed ; and the 
 number of the men was about five thousand. 
 
loo ACTS IV. 1-30. 
 
 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 
 [the probable conveners of the meeting], 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 [the Sanhedrim sat in a 
 semicircle, the president being in the middle of the arc and the accused 
 standing in the centre], they asked [apparently in a tone of contempt]. 
 By what power, or by what name, have ye done this ? 
 
 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost [the tense implies a sudden 
 inspiration], 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 [the pronoun implies the presence of the man] is 
 made whole ; 
 
 ID. 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 [the Greek has the article — the 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 ihey were unlearned [unlettered] and ignorant [common] men, they 
 marvelled ; and they took knowledge [they began to recognize] of them, 
 that ihcy had been with Jesus. 
 
 14. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, 
 they could say nothing against it. 
 
 15. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, 
 they conferred among themselves, 
 
 16. Saying, What shall we do to these men ? for that indeed a notable 
 miracle [sign] hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell 
 in Jerusalem ; and we cannot deny it. 
 
 17. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly 
 threaten them [Gr. : let us threaten them with threats], that they speak 
 henceforth to no man in this name. 
 
 18. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all 
 [Gr. : absolutely not to utter] nor teach in the name of Jesus. 
 
 19. 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 ihcy had further threatened them, they let them go, find- 
 ing nothing how they might punish them, because of the people : for all 
 men glorified God for that which was done. 
 
THE LOGIC OF EVENTS. loi 
 
 22. For the man was above forty years old [precision characteristic of 
 Luke], on whom this miracle of healing was shewed. 
 
 23. And being let go, they went to their own company [their own peo- 
 ple] 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 [not Kyrios, but Despotes], 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 to- 
 gether against the Lord, and against his Christ. 
 
 27. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast 
 anointed, both Herod [Luke alone recorded Herod's share in the proceed- 
 ings connected with the crucifixion], and Pontius Pilate, with the Gen- 
 tiles, 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 ser- 
 vants, 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. 
 
 TEACHING AND PERSECUTION. 
 
 NOT only did Peter and John cure the lame man, which 
 would have been an incident hardly worth recording, they 
 proceeded to ' ' ieach the people, ' ' and to ' ' preach, through Jesus, 
 the resurrection of the dead." Herein was their greatest fault in 
 the eyes of the rulers of the Jews. Christianity is a leaching relig- 
 ion. Christianity seeks out the people, all the people, and speaks 
 the common popular tongue. The speech of Christianity is the 
 universal speech. It is just here that preachers may learn their 
 most useful lesson. Our danger is that we speak to classes of men 
 — the educated, the polite, the discerning. The Apostles never 
 spoke to any particular class of men exclusively. They taught the 
 people. We can never get back to that universal speech unless 
 those of you who are educated and highly refined will support us 
 in that missionary attempt. You must be content to be partially 
 neglected in so far as intellectual luxuries are concerned, and must 
 assist us in providing good wholesome bread for the common peo- 
 ple. That is your duty to-day. " Except a man deny himself he 
 cannot be Christ's disciple." Except a man can sit in his pew and 
 
ACTS IV. 1-30. 
 
 say, " I would rather hear the common speech, the great, broad, 
 universal speech, than any merely class address, ' ' he cannot be 
 Christ's disciple. 
 
 The Apostles then, we see, in the first instance, taught the peo- 
 ple ; they did not ask for any particular class of the people, did 
 not speak what may be termed an eclectic gospel to a chosen few. 
 Their words were so simple that they could pour them upon the 
 common winds, and let the breath of heaven carry those living 
 words everywhere. See that ye be not hinderers of this Gospel by 
 your love of luxuries. The Gospel is not a luxurj^ it is bread ; it 
 is water ; it is a common speech to every soul that lives. The 
 rulers of the Jews were grieved that they taught the people. That 
 is precisely the difference between Christianity and every other re- 
 ligion. Other religions say, " Keep the people in the dark." 
 Christianity says, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gos- 
 pel to every creature." Other religions draw a screen, as Pythag- 
 oras lectured from behind a curtain to his disciples ; and from 
 behind the screen they mutter their unintelligible incantations. 
 Christianity lifts its red banner, throws it out upon the willing 
 wind, and on it is written, " This thing was not done in a cor- 
 ner." By the compass of its mission ; by the universality of its 
 speech ; by its chivalry of philanthropy, I ask you to adjudge to 
 Christianity the palm above all the religions of the world. Other 
 religions are philosophies philosophies only ; Christianity is a gospel 
 as well. 
 
 A very marvellous thing occurs here, in a kind of parenthesis ; 
 Peter and John had been speaking to the people. The rulers of 
 the Jews were grieved by this popular movement ; and they laid 
 their hands on the Apostles and put them in prison until the next 
 day. " Howbeit" ! — God has his finger in this ! He comes 
 through very narrow spaces, and seizes very transient opportuni- 
 ties. A moment is to him as eternity. " Howbeit," — wait there 
 a while to get the full rush of this glorious announcement — 
 "many of them which heard the Word BELIEVED." Why 
 should not that be the case nono, so that whatever may happen to 
 the preacher within the next hour he may know, as he goes to his 
 account, that he has left behind him a harvest before the time ? 
 No man will put the preacher in prison to-day. But he may 
 sicken, he may die; he may lose his mental balance. In some way 
 
BEFORE THE JUDGES. 103 
 
 he may be disabled from the prosecution of his work, so that the 
 eventide shall not find him in his place. " Howbeit," the work 
 was done in the morning. Though the two Apostles were thrust 
 into the prison the number of Christians was increased. 
 
 Peter and John went out to go to the Temple. They did enter 
 the Temple ; but they spent the night in prison. The morning 
 came, and justice must be done. Let us be present at the inter- 
 view. There were two Apostles, but as for those who were arrayed 
 against them, we read of them as " rulers, and elders, and scribes ; 
 and Annas, the high priest ; and Caiaphas, and John, and Alex- 
 ander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest." 
 They will outface the two unlearned and ignorant men. It was 
 easy for the Apostles to ask a lame sufferer to look at them ; but 
 they dare not ask this council to look them in the face. The 
 Apostles were set " in the midst," and this question was hurled 
 at them, * ' By what power, or by what name, have ye done this V ' 
 Beware of that point of thought in which you turn your religion 
 into a piece of merely metaphysical inquiry. It is at that point that 
 Christianity is often defeated in her most beneficent purposes. 
 What did the learned men say } They wanted to go into ways 
 and means, and to analyze what we now call the modus operandi. 
 They wanted to turn this question into a metaphysical inquiry. 
 Instead of accepting the man, the healed man, the concrete, posi- 
 tive, indisputableyizc/, they wanted to lure the Apostles, and those 
 who followed them, into metaphysical quagmires and difficulties. 
 Preachers of the living Word, do not allow yourselves to answer 
 the " why" and the " how" of merely inquisitive minds. Have 
 the man himself with you, and let him be your argument. Chris- 
 tianity rests 0x1 facts, not upon opinions. If the Church of Christ, 
 in any part of the world, has not the Man with it, any amount of 
 mere philosophical theorizing and speculation will do harm rather 
 than good. Where is the man you have saved ? Produce him. 
 Where are the hungry you have fed, the ignorant you have in- 
 structed, the enslaved you have emancipated ? Produce them. 
 This is a fact, not a quibble. The question seems to be very 
 easy, and very rational, " By what power, or by what name, have 
 ye done this T' yet that question was a mischievous one. It was 
 a bait ; it was a mean decoy. The one true question was, 
 " Where is the healed man .? Let him walk before us. We have 
 
I04 ACTS IV. 1-30. 
 
 heard of him walking, and leaping, and entering into the Temple 
 with you ; let us see him do this now. ' ' That would have been a 
 fair challenge ; and having seen the once lame man walking, and 
 leaping, and entering into the Temple, they should have said, By 
 whatever means it is done the effect is certain, and the cause of 
 such an effect must itself be good. 
 
 Peter and John will surely stammer before this glittering assem- 
 bly ! The maid that taunted the rough-spoken Galilaean was too 
 much for Peter ; when he sees Annas, and Caiaphas, and John, 
 and Alexander, there will be no spirit left in him ! How does the 
 narrative read ? With one explanatory clause — " Then Peter, 
 filled with the Holy Ghost." That is a thousand Peters : Peter 
 multiplied by the very Deity. Peter ? — a straw blown away by the 
 mocking wind, by himself. But Peter " filled with the Holy 
 Ghost" was a man of war, a mighty captain, a soldier not to be 
 put down ; clothed with heavenly panoply, eloquent with heaven's 
 thunder, gracious with heaven's love. 
 
 Have we received the Holy Ghost ? The question is not, " Are 
 we well trained intellectually ?" " Have we read many books .?" 
 " Are we able to conduct very subtle arguments.?" The plain, 
 soul-piercing question is, " Have we received the HOLY 
 GHOST?" We shall know whether we have received the Spirit 
 by the _/fr^ that is in us. The Holy Ghost is fire. The difference 
 between one man and another is a difference of lire. The great 
 healers in the universe are fire and water ; if a man cannot be 
 healed by these he cannot be healed at all. We have received the 
 first baptism, we have (to use popular language) been " christ- 
 ened," Christ-named, christianized in the sense of having been 
 brought to the church, and had the initial water sprinkled upon 
 our smooth forehead ; but have we received the Holy Ghost ? 
 There is no mistaking him 1 No man can mistake the sunlight 
 for any meaner flame. That great noontide glory comes with a 
 compass and with a splendor that leave no doubt- as to its origin. 
 Peter having been challenged to give an account of the circum- 
 stance made the eloquent reply which you find within verses 9 to 
 12 inclusive. He never was more eloquent. Whenever Peter 
 spake suddctily, on great subjects, he spake the very heart of God. 
 He once took Christ Himself by surprise in this matter. " Whom 
 say ye that I am ?'' Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the 
 
THE FULL TITLE OF CHRIST. 105 
 
 Son of the living God. ' ' Challenged by the rulers of the Jews 
 upon the occasion now before us, he made an answer equal in 
 splendour to his earlier reply. How much he makes of Christ in 
 the loth verse ! We seem hardly to have heard the whole style 
 and title of Jesus before. We have them here. We have called 
 the Saviour "Jesus;" sometimes we have called him "Jesus 
 Christ," By some short indication of this kind we have made 
 reference to the Redeemer. But how seldom have we given Him 
 His full style and title ! Listen to Peter as he says — " Jesus Christ 
 of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, 
 even by him, ' ' There is no mistaking that address. The name, 
 the address, the traigedy, the resurrection, and the " even by 
 HIM," the last thrilling emphasis that crowded into itself the pas- 
 sion of the entire reference ! What Christ do you preach } We 
 have heard of the Christ of the painter — a figure tenderly coloured, 
 set in wondrous lights and shades. We have stood before it, and 
 sometimes we have thrilled in its presence, and felt the waters 
 stealing into our eyes. But that Christ never saved the soul, it is 
 only a creation of art. We have heard of the Christ of the poet, 
 Christ has been spoken of in flowing rhyme and stately blank 
 verse ; but that Christ never came from the intellect into the 
 depths of the heart, to save that heart in its deadliest remorse on 
 account of sin. We must go back to the apostolic Christ if we have 
 to realize apostolic conceptions and to win apostolic successes in 
 the ministry. I will read the full style and title again — ' 'Jesus" 
 — " Jesus Chrisl" — " Jesus Christ of Nazareth! ' — "Jesus Christ of 
 Nazareth, whom ye crucified," — " Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom 
 ye crucified, whovi God raised from the dead." They could not 
 say after that ' ' To what Christ does he refer ? Of what Jesus does 
 bespeak.?" — the name, the place, the crucifixion, the resurrec- 
 tion : all re-afl!irmed. There was no escape from that description. 
 Is it not possible for us to escape from many a Christ that is 7iaw 
 preached } The Christ we want is a Saviour : a man who knows 
 us, loves us, dies for us, rises again and intercedes for us, who came 
 out of eternity, who has passed into eternity, and whose one 
 thought is to SAVE THE WORLD ! 
 
 Peter might well have ended by the statement contained in the 
 loth verse, but Peter often found it difficult to conclude when 
 Christ was the theme. How can a river end except in the sea ? 
 
io6 ACTS IV. 1-30. 
 
 The little pool, the purling rill, soon sinks in the sand ; but the 
 river, — deep, broad, fluent — moves on through channelled rocks 
 and shady woods, on, on to the solemn sea ! Peter went onward. 
 Said he, " This is the stone which was set at nought by you 
 builders, which is become the head of the corner. " The place 
 trembled under the vibration of that living voice ! He might have 
 ended there ; but it was difficult, let us repeat, for Peter ever to 
 end when Christ was the theme. So he continued, " Neither is 
 there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under 
 heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Peter 
 could never fall again ! There are some speeches that are crises in 
 a man's history. Surely after such eloquence he could never fall 
 into the commonplace of ordinary speech. And he never did. 
 Tradition, truly or untruly, I care not which, brings Peter to 
 the cross that he may be crucified, head downwards. They did 
 not crucify Pekr ; they only crucified his Jlesh. When we are 
 " filhd with the Holy Ghost" we know not the puncture of iron 
 or the sting of fire. 
 
 The original question was not one of salvation, it was merely a 
 question of healing a lame man. But you never find the Apo.stles 
 confining themselves to the mere incident. Every miracle is only a 
 text ; every sign or token is only a starting-point. Let an Apostle 
 heal a man's ankle-bones, and from those ankle-bones he swings 
 clear off to Christ's world-saving Cross. Sometimes we find it 
 difficult to move from our Old Testament text to our New Testa- 
 ment gospel ; the Apostles never experienced such a difficulty. At 
 one step they passed over to the Cross and said, ' ' If we have given 
 you bread for the body, we meant it to be typical of the bread 
 which endureth unto everlasting life. If we have healed your 
 ankle-bones, we meant it to be symbolic of the greater healing of 
 your soul. If we have opened the eyes of the body, we meant it 
 but as an initial act realizing its fruition in the illumination of the 
 spirit and the whole inner man." See how grandly Peter stands 
 above the occasion ! He was not a mere healer of ankle-bones ; 
 he was, in the Almightiness of God, a healer of souls. Can I by 
 the same Almightiness he3.\ your souls.? Hear Christ's words, 
 " Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I 
 will give you rest. ' ' 
 
THE APPEAL TO RIGHT. 107 
 
 Now, it was the turn of the Sanhedrim to be shut up and put 
 •' in hold unto the next day," and every day after that ! When 
 they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they 
 had a provincial accent in their speech, and talked like two intelli- 
 gent fishermen only, " they marvelled." May every other Sanhe- 
 drim marvel about you young preachers just in the same way ! If 
 there is not a peculiarity in your speech, if there is not a disparity 
 between you and your speech, you can be accounted for : and 
 any man that can be accounted for will never influence his age. 
 He will make a splash in the pool ; but the bubbles will be seen 
 a moment, then will sink for ever. You never can make out the 
 secret of a Whitefield. You never can make out the secret power 
 of any man who makes a whole world hear him. If you could 
 accoimi for him you would be as great as he is. What then did 
 the wise and influential Jews do ? I can but smile when I hear 
 them muttering and whispering, " But that it spread no further 
 among the people let us straitly" (strictly and sharply) " threaten 
 them.'' You feel the difference of the climate, do you not.? the 
 difference of temperature between verses 11 and 12, and verses 16, 
 17, and 18 .? The apostles were THREATENED ! They must 
 not speak any more ! There must be an end of this nuisance. 
 Society is not to be disturbed by such propagandists. Peter, hav- 
 ing heard the threatening, said unto them, " Whether it be 
 RIGHT." .... That is the word that makes history! 
 "Whether it be RIGHT." That is the word that thrills the 
 ages ! Whether it be RIGHT in the sight of God to hearken 
 unto you more than unto God, judge ye } Ye are judges and 
 learned men. Judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things 
 which we have seen and heard." And the Apostles having 
 received this threatening, " went to their own company, and re- 
 ported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them." 
 What a talk they had ; How they reminded one another of the 
 occasion of the movement ! And when the company had heard it 
 all, " they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said 
 . . . . ' ' They too became eloquent, sublime in speech : they 
 quoted the second Psalm. " Why do the heathen rage, and the 
 people imagine a vain thing.'" And when they had prayed, the 
 place was shaken where they were assembled together ; and they 
 
io8 ACTS IV. 1-30. 
 
 were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Pentecost after Pentecost I 
 Poor Church ! Thou hast fallen upon empty times. They are 
 but mean challenges that are addressed to us now. If we could 
 be once more threatened with the prison and the stake, the rod of 
 iron and the keen double-edged weapon, some of us might be 
 heroes. At present we may be but common clay 1 
 
XII. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we have heard that power belongeth unto thee, and 
 we are afraid : we have also heard that mercy belongeth unto thee, and 
 we are no longer under the bondage of fear. We come to thy mercy in 
 Christ Jesus, and we have no dread, but an inspiring and indestructible 
 joy. We are all prodigals. We come to-day from a far country, and we 
 bring back nothing with us but hunger, and shame, and nakedness, and 
 self-reproach. God be merciful unto us, sinners. Thy Church was built 
 for sinners. We did not know thee until we sinned. Through our guilt 
 thou dost cause to come the brightest revelations of thyself. Thou shalt 
 yet make sin help heaven. Out of this root of poison thou wilt gather 
 wondrous fruits of health. We know not how this thy great miracle will 
 be wrought ; but we know thou wilt make the wrath of man to praise 
 thee ; and the remainder thou wilt hold at arm's length. The Lord 
 reigneth ; the God of Salvation holds the universe in his grasp. Thou 
 dost not delight in destruction, but in salvation : thy purpose is to abolish 
 death and make the universe glad with spiritual life. In this confidence 
 we always come near thee. Great waves of love rise in our hearts, and 
 would find expression in fitting words ; but they cannot. We are dumb 
 before thee. Our very speech is but a mockery of our want. Our hymn, 
 though it swell loudly and tremble with all pathos, cannot tell thee our 
 praise. Thou hast made no speech, nor song, for the higher emotions of 
 the soul ; but, when we come to the better land, and learn inspired speech 
 and larger music, we will bless thee fitly. 
 
 Take care of us whilst we are in the desert. There is no path here but 
 of thine own making. Keep us close to one another, lest we lose the 
 touch of sympathy and the voice of communion, and be lost amid the un- 
 measured sand. Lead us over the rocks when they are sharp and slip- 
 pery. Take us up awhile into thine own heart, and carry us until we 
 may be trusted to walk again. Leave us not, neither forsake us. We go 
 to the graves of the past, the green hillocks, the eloquent churchyards, 
 thine own acre, O God of the living, and by all the providence of history, 
 by all the gentle care of individuals and families which thou hast exer- 
 cised, we revive and strengthen and consolidate our faith in God. We 
 bless thee for all the love which makes our life rich. Thou dost live for 
 us. Thou didst so love the world as to give thy Son to die for it, and 
 cleanse it with his own blood. Thou dost give him every day to die for 
 us, and every day does he rise again, and all the while is his prayer heard 
 
ACTS IV. 31-37; V. I- 
 
 in heaven. Therefore do we stand in thy church lo-day redeemed by 
 his blood, and secured by thy grace. 
 
 As families we bless thee. All the dear little children clasp their hands 
 and look up, though they know not what to say ; their look is better than 
 their speech. And all the elder ones, to whom life is a vanishing dream, 
 muse, and wonder, and hope, and now and again thrill with an expectation 
 that cannot be uttered m words. And busy men thank God for the bread 
 that is in both hands. The afflicted look to thee ; and the sad in heart 
 have no helper but thyself ; and the lost turn round and look for the 
 light. The Lord send it to shine upon them, and may they be brought 
 home every one. 
 
 God save the Queen. Guard her person ; defend her throne ; prolong 
 her reign. We bless thee for her escape from danger ; for she has done 
 us good and not evil all the days of her life. The Lord crown her with 
 fine gold, and fill her diadem with jewels of his own finding. 
 
 Lord, regard all the little earth : to us so great : to thee but a handful 
 of dust. We have marked it out into continents and nations, and have 
 broken up its speech into many tongues ; but all the earth is thine, and 
 the fulness thereof ; and thou art Lord of the sea. Still keep the little 
 earth in its right place, and whilst it swings around the sun may its human 
 multitudes revolve around the sun of righteousness and catch from him 
 all life, and light, and joy. Amen. 
 
 Acts iv. 31-37. 
 
 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken [pointing to the 
 God of nature] where they were assembled together ; and they were all 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with bold- 
 ness. 
 
 32. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of 
 one soul [Jer. xxxii. 29] : neither said any of them [the Greek is em- 
 phatic, and 710 1 one 0/ them said] that aught of the things which he pos- 
 sessed was his own ; but they had all things common. 
 
 33. And with great power gave the apostles [there the Greek verb ^^ave 
 implies much more than the English word. It is constantly used for pay- 
 ing a debt, or rendering an account'] witness of the resurrection of the Lord 
 Jesus : and great grace was upon them all. 
 
 34. Neither was there any among them that lacked : for as many as were 
 possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the 
 things that were sold [we never hear that a similar fund was established 
 except at Jerusalem], 
 
 35. And laid them down at the apostles' feet [when gifts or offerings 
 are made to an eastern king or priest, they are not placed in his hands 
 but at his feet] : and distribution was made unto every man according as 
 he had need. 
 
 36. And Joses [Joseph], who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, 
 
THE TEXT. 
 
 (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation) a Levite [he may- 
 have held lands from his marriage], and of the country of Cyprus [in the 
 Eastern Mediterranean], 
 
 37. Having land [lit., 2.Jield'\ sold it, and brought the money, and laid 
 it at the apostles' feet. 
 
 Chap. V. 1-11. 
 
 1. But [much stress is not to be laid on the word But, for no contrast 
 is mtended] a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a 
 possession [the same word is used Matt. xix. 22], 
 
 2. And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it [an 
 aggravated offence], and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apos- 
 tles' feet. 
 
 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart [made 
 thee bold enough] to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the 
 price of the land ? 
 
 4. Whiles it remained, was it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was 
 It not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived [implying long and 
 deep deliberation] this thing in thine heart t thou hast not lied unto men, 
 but unto God. 
 
 5. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost : 
 and great fear came on all them that heard these things. 
 
 6. And the young [younger] men arose, wound him up, and carried 
 him out, and buried him [it was common to have graves ready before- 
 hand]. 
 
 7. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not 
 knowing what was done, came in. 
 
 8. And Peter answered [yet not an answer but a question] unto her. 
 Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much ? And she said. Yea, for 
 so much [and no more]. 
 
 9. Then Peter said unto her. How is it that ye have agreed together to 
 tempt the Spirit of the Lord ? behold, the feet of them which have buried 
 thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 
 
 ID. Then fell she down straightway at his feet [where the money prob- 
 ably lay], and yielded up the ghost [an expression used in one other place 
 only, Acts xii. 23] : and the young men came in, and found her dead, 
 and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 
 
 II. And great fear came upon all the church [assembly or congrega- 
 tion], and upon as many as heard these things. 
 
 COMMUNISM AND ITS VIOLATION. 
 
 WE have just seen what great excitement there was outside the 
 Church. A lame man had been healed, and Peter and 
 John had been shut up in prison, and had afterwards been threat- 
 
ACTS IV. 31-37; V. i-ir. 
 
 ened by the Sanhedrim. * ' And being let go, they went to their 
 own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders 
 had said unto them." The Christians, having heard the report, 
 " lifted up their voice to God with one accord," and praised him, 
 and gave themselves into his keeping, saying, " And now, Lord, 
 behold their threatenings ; and grant unto thy servants that with 
 all boldness they may speak thy word. By stretching forth thine 
 hand to heal ; and that signs and wonders may be done by the 
 name of thy holy child Jesus. ' ' There they left the case. They 
 passed no official resolution amongst themselves : they looked up 
 unto the hills whence their help came, and having looked upward, 
 and having spoken to God, they waited for an answer from heaven. 
 That answer came : ' ' 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." They did not offer it as a suggestion, they did not 
 submit it as 2i possible solution of great moral anxieties : they hurled 
 it across the heavens, they uttered it with thunder, they spake it 
 with the accent of the soul. We must go back to that cordial 
 eloquence. Preachers of the everlasting Gospel do not stand up to 
 make suggestions : they stand to deliver what they believe to be 
 God's testimony ; and in proportion to their faith in the Divine 
 testimony will be the clearness of their utterance, and the bold and 
 thrilling emphasis of their very voice. 
 
 A great practical issue immediately took effect. A new concep- 
 tion of property entered into the mind of the Church. Little 
 ownerships, and narrow boundaries of individual claims and 
 primacies, were done away. " No man said that aught he had 
 was his own ; they had all things in common." "As many as 
 were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the 
 price of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the 
 Apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man accord- 
 ing as he had need." Here then are two concurrent movements, 
 viz., a spiritual movement, and a social movement. The social 
 movement arose out of the spiritual ; if the cause go down, the 
 effect must go down along with it. The Church can only do 
 great social duties, and continue with constancy in great social 
 sacrifices, in proportion as its heart is continually inspired by the 
 Holy Ghost. The hand cannot go without the heart. The heart 
 
A MISSION TO THE CHURCH. 113 
 
 cannot be right without compelling the hand to do its holy and 
 ennobling bidding. It is in vain to attempt to keep up the out- 
 ward when the inward has given way. That is precisely what we 
 are in danger of doing now. We keep up churches, institutions, 
 organizations, machineries, after we have lost the Spirit Is there 
 anything more ghastly to the religious eye and the spiritual imag- 
 ination than a Church out of which GOD has gone .? The build- 
 ing stands there of undiminished magnitude, and undimmed 
 beauty of form and colour, and undiminished commodiousness ; 
 but GOD has gone. The Bible is read, and ml read. It is not 
 the Bible that the man mumbled, but a book which he has found 
 somewhere, out of which the Spirit has been driven. The very 
 self-same old hymns were sung that fifty years ago caused the 
 walls to vibrate as with conscious joy ; and though the music was 
 exact in technicality, and well performed as to mere lip service, 
 the old passion was not there, and the hymn rose to the ceiling, 
 bruised itself against the beams of the roof, and fell back, a service 
 unrecognized in heaven. This accounts for all the results of sta- 
 tistics as to attendance upon places of worship ; for all the " dilap- 
 idated husbandry" of the Church ; for all the boundless provision 
 of mere space, and accommodation, and machinery, without eHcit- 
 ing the sympathy and the consent of the great heart of man. We 
 have lost the Spirit ; or we have forgotten that there is diversity of 
 operation even under the same Spirit, and we have been trying to 
 maintain old economies without new inspiration. What has to 
 be done .? Not to mend the outside, but to fall to praying, and to 
 bring to bear upon heaven the violence of our impatient necessity, 
 and the sacred ambition of men, who have found by prolonged 
 and bitter experience that all answers worth having are to be had 
 from heaven only. What is now wanted is a mission to the Church. 
 It would be well for you if you would be good enough to let the 
 masses alone for a while ; the Church is now mad upon the 
 masses. Any proposition to go after the " masses" is hailed with 
 delight by those persons who do nothing but approve excellent 
 schemes and then leave them to themselves. The great soul I cry 
 for is a man who will preach to i\\Q preacher ; who will convert the 
 pulpit ; who will set fire to the Church, and bring back our con- 
 scious need of the Holy Ghost. We are orthodox, but we are not 
 Christian. Our notiotis are in. excellent repair, but out love is a 
 
114 ACTS IF. 31-37; V. i-ii. 
 
 dead angel in the cold heart. We are sound in doctrine, but we 
 are bitter in speech. We are clever in the arrangement and the re- 
 arrangement, and the repairing and the re-adaptation of machinery ; 
 but when we come to pray, it is as if a skeleton should open its 
 cold mouth and chatter with its lifeless teeth. 
 
 We come now upon a scene that contrasts with the marvellous 
 exhibition of feeling we looked upon in our last reading of this ex- 
 citing story. When persecution began to take effect upon the 
 Church we trembled — needlessly. The Church needs persecution. 
 Now we come upon real danger. External persecution brings to 
 our memory the heroic words of our heroic Captain, ' ' Fear not 
 them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can 
 do." Now we come inside the Church, and it is there and there 
 only, that any deadly mischief can be done I The Church ! Fire 
 cannot burn it, water cannot drown it, fiends cannot intercept it ; 
 but it has z« its own hand the power of suicide ! Annas and 
 Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all the kindred of the 
 high priest, cannot touch the Church. They can " threaten" it, 
 and they can denounce it ; they can for a time imprison it ; but 
 its life they cannot touch. Do not fear the issue of anti-Christian 
 literature, as if that could do the slightest injury to God's truth. 
 There is a secret fever amongst men as to the answering of the 
 latest attack which has been made upon the Christian doctrine. 
 We are not called upon to answer the last fool who has escaped 
 from the mortar in which he was brayed. That is not the work of 
 the Church : it is but an incidental service, and upon some occa- 
 sions it may be a most valuable and indispensable service ; but 
 there is another work to be done. Let the Church put on her 
 beautiful garments, and she will create a space for herself. Let 
 her be pure, noble, seen as the angel of mercy and help and hope, 
 that God meant her to be, and all other things will settle into their 
 right courses and eventuate in their proper issues. Ananias and 
 Sapphira can do more mischief in the Church than all the atheists 
 that ever declared the heavens to be an untenanted space ! That 
 is the truth that needs now to be understood ; and no other is, in 
 comparison with it, worthy of a moment's consideration. You 
 uttered an unkind speech about your brother : that did more mis- 
 chief than all the atheistic publications that have been poured from 
 the press of infidelity for a quarter of a century. You, a preacher, 
 
THE NEED OF REALITY. 115 
 
 a student, a member of the Church, a professor of Christianity, did 
 a mean trick : that had a deadher effect than all the denunciation 
 possible to the feeble eloquence of unbelief. The ' ' BUT ' ' with 
 which the fifth chapter opens is like a blow in the face. We were 
 reading so joyously, passing on with a step of triumph, and sud- 
 denly an invisible but tremendous fist felled us to the earth. We 
 gloried in the statement found in the fourth chapter, we smiled at 
 Annas, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, when they threatened 
 Peter and John : we felt the infiniteness of our strength, the over- 
 flow and redundance of power. Now that we come to this great, 
 black *' But" of the fifth chapter, there is no longer any laughter 
 in our voice ; nor does mirth write its signature upon our solemn 
 faces. This is death. Ananias and Sapphira endeavoured to keep 
 up a mechanical enthusiasm, and that is an impossibility in the 
 divine life. We must here have reality. Some people try to sing 
 in God's house ; but if you look at them they are not singing at 
 all, for their eyes, like fools' eyes, are wandering all over the con- 
 gregation. They bow in the attitude of prayer, but all the while 
 their eyes are upon vacant space, or upon the earth. 
 
 " . . . God abhors the sacrifice 
 Where not the heart is found." 
 
 In Other places you may have art, arrangement, adaptation of part 
 to part ; but in God's house the only acceptable order is reality. 
 You had better be at home than be here without being here. This 
 attendance at the altar may be the crowning sin of a guilty life. 
 To have touched the sacred Book with an irreverent hand, to have 
 looked as if you were interested, whilst all the time your heart was 
 a mile away, may be the blasphemy which outblackens every other 
 profanity ! Were we all here inspired, do you suppose that this 
 great city would not soon know the reality of our spiritual life .'* 
 Could a host of this number be one heart, one soul, loyal to the 
 Holy Ghost, and London never hear of it } But ours may be 
 but a mechanical attendance, a respectable arrangement, a repeti- 
 tion of an approved custom, and may not express the fire and the 
 enthusiasm of an inward and divine inspiration. Do not sign the 
 bond with your hand only, or you will certainly break it. This 
 bond, Christ's covenant, is to be signed with the ink of the heart. 
 " God will judge thee, thou whited sepulchre." You had better 
 
ii6 ACTS IV. 31-37; V. i-ii. 
 
 curse and swear, and steal the purse of the next man you may find 
 upon the high road, than be in God's Church under the preten- 
 sion that such attendance expresses the uppermost thought of the 
 heart, when in reahty it expresses but a purpose to promote on a 
 larger scale some selfish interest. Judgment must begin at the 
 house of God ! Annas, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, 
 heed not ; but watch Ananias and Sapphira ! 
 
 This is a beautiful revelation of the life of the early Church, in 
 so far as it shows us the entire voluntariness of every sacrifice and 
 every service rendered by the first Christians. The selling of 
 houses and lands was not a compulsory act. The property be- 
 longed to the individuals, they might claim it, they might part 
 with it, they might keep a portion of the proceeds of the sale : all 
 that was wanted from them was reality. This is the glory of all 
 Christian service, that it is voluntary, expressive of the will, and of 
 the vital love of the person rendering that service. This is the 
 charm of our work ; every man is here doing what he can do be- 
 cause he loves the engagement. Sunday morning is too slow in 
 its movement for the inspired heart, for that heart is saying all the 
 while, ' ' Would that the golden gates were opened, and that the 
 service were begun, and that we were already half-way up the hill 
 which is crowned by heaven." Nothing is done of constraint; 
 therefore labour is rest ; therefore giving is getting ; therefore 
 prayer is its own answer ; and therefore the Sabbath is the golden 
 crown of the week of toil. 
 
 What then was the guilt of this man Ananias } It was the guilt 
 of every age. Do not regard Ananias as a liar eighteen hundred 
 or nineteen hundred years old ; Ananias is the liar of to-day, and 
 he is present in every congregation, and probably will be present 
 until the end of time. Ananias represents those who say they 
 have done all they can do, when they know that their statement is a 
 lie. No man has done all he can do. Are we then all guilty before 
 God in that respect } Certainly not. If a man will honestly say 
 to God. " There are twelve hours in the day, and I cannot pro- 
 fess to give thee more than two of them," that man is an honest 
 man, and the two hours may be acceptable. But if a man shall 
 endeavour to represent his txvo hours as twelve he will die, he will 
 be killed, he will be buried, but not in " the sepulchres of the 
 kings." Whi(!h of us has done all he can? Not I. I could 
 
DECEIVERS OF THE LORD. 117 
 
 have done ten times more. I could have prayed more, preached 
 more, and suffered more. What they can say who have done 
 nothing but enjoy themselves I know not. They make me afraid. 
 I was told of persons who were supposed to be worth five-and- 
 twenty thousand pounds that at the Communion of the Lord's 
 Table never contribute a coin, but put in the communion card 
 alone. Is it possible } Thy money perish with thee. Keep it ; 
 keep it. Take it in the coffin with thee. Do insist upon having 
 it there. Make a pillow of it ; make a footstool of it ; make a 
 lining of it. Keep it, thou whited sepulchre ! Ananias lied 
 without speaking, and that is the worst form of falsehood. The 
 blundering speaker of a lie may be converted ; but the actor of a 
 lie can only be killed. 
 
 The discipltfte of the Church here sets in very strongly. Ananias 
 and Sapphira, his wife, probably thought that Christianity would 
 endure only for a little time. They meant to make the most of 
 it, and, in order to do that, they must undergo something like 
 the process of a sacrifice. They underwent it. "It is a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God." To bring my 
 piece, and lay it down as if it were all, can any atheist stab the 
 Christ of God so far in as that } To sit in the Church and drop 
 in the little square communion card as if there might be some- 
 thing behind it, when there is nothing — can any bloodless atheist 
 strike him between the eyes like that P O Church of the living 
 God ! conversion must begin within thee ; and then the fire will 
 burn, and throw out its happy influence upon the wide circumfer- 
 ence, and there shall be joy in the presence of the angels Oi God 
 over a prodigal Church, repentant and returned ! 
 
XIII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thou dost speak wonderful things unto the children of 
 men. Thy voice is like none other. The sound of thy voice is heard in 
 our heart like music from heaven, and it soothes and inspires, and warms 
 our life with a new glow. All thy words are wonderful, but who shall 
 tell the graciousness of thy promises, how sweet they are, how many in 
 number, strong as a great host, many as the drops of the dew of the 
 morning. And thou dost not withhold one of them from the hearts that 
 love thee. Men of old called thy promises exceeding great and precious, 
 and the men of to-day could repeat the word, for in our case thy prom- 
 ises have been greater than our imagination, and more precious than our 
 love. We lean upon thy promises, we run into them as into a sanctuary, 
 when the storm is very high. Hast thou not clothed us with salvation, 
 and made us rich with confidence, and driven away our fear by the shin- 
 ing of an inextinguishable hope? We are in thy house, standing in the 
 appointed place, and at the appointed time, and we come to thee in the 
 appointed way. Jesus Christ, the wounded One, the triumphant Saviour, 
 and we expect great things from heaven. Thou hast wrought in us a dis- 
 content with the prizes of time and the triumphs of earth, and by the very 
 discontent which thou hast inspired, will we expect great things from 
 Thyself. Open the windows of heaven, and astonish us by the outpour- 
 ing of thy blessing ! Let thy people be glad with a new joy, and thy 
 saints shout aloud for ecstasy of heart. Return, oh Holy Dove ! Re- 
 turn, sweet messenger of rest ! Thy Church is indifferent, neglectful, 
 reluctant to follow the heroic impulse ; dead, all the fire of enthusiasm 
 extinguished. Come, Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire. Thou art the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ! And are not we also the same, 
 but if left unto ourselves, do we not fall, and wither away ? Then indeed 
 is our strength dried up, and our power is as a dream that has vanished. 
 Come, Holy Spirit ! Wind from heaven, blow upon us! Spirit of the 
 living God, baptize our souls as with fire ! In the name of Jesus Christ, 
 who knew no fear do thou deliver our souls from the bondage of appre- 
 hension. We feared for thy truth, and we are ashamed, because we were 
 afraid. We feared for thy Church, forgetting that thy Church is in very 
 deed thine own , lest any man should hurt her, thou wilt keep her night 
 and day. We are not as were the Apostles in the early time. We are 
 cold and calculating. We are self-involved, and self-satisfied. We have 
 lost the sacred apdour ; and the wings that could fly in the open firma- 
 
THE TEXT. 
 
 119 
 
 ment have been bruised or torn away. Return, oh Holy Dove— return ! 
 Shew us what we are, what time is, what earth is, how few our days are, 
 how urgent is the King's business ; and may we hasten upon it, as those 
 whose only delight is in its discharge. Comfort us one and all this day 
 with reassured forgiveness. Say unto those who would serve thee, 
 " Though the just man fall seven times a day, yet shall he stand up at the 
 last." If any are cast down, tell them that they are not therefore de- 
 stroyed. Speak comfortably to every heart as thou only canst speak. 
 Where there is a great vacancy because the old companion is no more, 
 join the solitary thyself, and make the companionship divine. Where 
 there is great fear because the loved life is panting in its last weakness, 
 send healing from Gilead and balm from the chief of the vineyards. 
 Where there is any desire to serve thee with nobler strength, the Lord 
 double the power, and give the resolution confirmation in heaven. And 
 where the life is staggering because of the burden it has to bear, and the 
 poor brain reels in great wonder, and the heart long so valiant, nearly 
 gives up the unequal fight, oh God, be gracious with double tenderness. 
 To them that have no might do thou increase strength. Unite us all in 
 Christ, in the great Cross, in the infinite atonement for sin, in the pro- 
 found, the eternal reconciliation wrought out by the Priesthood of Christ. 
 May we walk the few remaining miles together, strengthening one an- 
 other, loving one another, forgiving one another, and at last, one by one, 
 may we be gathered to the general assembly and church of the first-born, 
 whose names are written in heaven, and from the heights of the heavenly 
 Jerusalem we shall see the way along which thou hast in mercy brought 
 us, and then shall our praises never cease. Amen. 
 
 Acts. V. 12-42. 
 
 12. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders 
 wrought among the people ; (and they were all with one accord in Solo- 
 mon's porch. 
 
 13. And [But] of the rest durst no man join himself to them : but 
 [Howbeit. There are two different conjunctions in the original] the peo- 
 ple magnified them. 
 
 14. And believers were the more added to the Lord [Better, Persons 
 believing in the Lord were added to his church] multitudes both of men 
 and women.) 
 
 15. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid 
 them on beds and couches [the warm climate making this possible], that 
 at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of 
 them. 
 
 16. There came also a multitude out of the cities [commonly used of 
 small places as well as large] round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick 
 folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits : and they were 
 healed every one. 
 
I20 ACTS V. 12-42. 
 
 17. Then [But] the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, 
 (which is the sect of the Sadducees) and were filled with indignation 
 [jealousy]. 
 
 18. And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common 
 prison. 
 
 19. But the [an] angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, 
 and brought them forth, and said, 
 
 20. Go [and], stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words 
 of this life [emphasising once more in the most natural manner the point 
 at issue between the Sadducees and the Apostles]. 
 
 21. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early [the 
 first sacrifice was offered at the very peep of day] in the morning, and 
 taught. But the high priest came [into the council chamber], and they 
 that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate 
 [the older men ; seventy-one in number] of the children of Israel, and 
 sent to the prison to have them brought. 
 
 22. But when the officers [the same word is rendered minister in Luke 
 iv. 20] 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 [not an adverb of iimi[ came one and told them, saying, Be- 
 hold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing [a prominent and un- 
 daunted position] 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 [to the judgment hall], 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 ? Better affirmatively. We straitly charged you] and, be- 
 hold, ye have filled Jerusalem [the testimony of enemies !] with your doc- 
 trine, and intend [wish] to bring this man's blood upon us. 
 
 29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said. We ought 
 [we must] 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 ; [the Crucifixion and 
 Resurrection] and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to 
 them that obey him. 
 
 33. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, [not compunc- 
 tion, but annoyanee] and took counsel to slay them. 
 
OLD-FASHIONED RELIGION. 
 
 34. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gama- 
 liel, [the teacher of Saul,] a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all 
 the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space ; 
 
 35. And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves 
 what ye intend to do as touching these men. 
 
 36. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be 
 somebody ; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined them- 
 selves : who was slain ; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, 
 and brought to nought. 
 
 37. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, 
 [seven years later than the enrolment mentioned, Luke ii. 2] and drew 
 away much people after him : he also perished ; and all, even as many as 
 obeyed him, were dispersed. 
 
 38. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them 
 alone : for if this council 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. 
 
 40. And to him they agreed : and when they had called the apostles, 
 and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the 
 name of Jesus, and let them go. 
 
 41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that 
 they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his [The] name. 
 
 42. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to 
 teach and preach Jesus Christ. 
 
 APOSTOLIC AUDACITY. 
 
 BY reading these verses through all at once, you get into their 
 svi^ing and rhythm. A keen, subtle music touches the 
 reader whose heart is interested in the graphic .story. Of what is 
 the history .? Of something quite dead and gone for ever .? 
 Would any man imagine from the controversies which now agitate 
 the Church M'ithin its own boundaries, that the Church of to-day 
 is the legitimate descendant of the Church of whose history these 
 verses form a part } It requires the greatest effort, not of faith, 
 but of imagination, to trace any connection between the Church 
 of to-day, as we represent it, and even as we know it, and the 
 Church of the heroic days. What is your ancestry } Why, if you 
 knew it, you are children of the storm ! It does not become you 
 as a Christian to talk about quietness, and enjoyment, and absence 
 of sensationalism. You are the children of the tempest, you were 
 rocked in the cradle of the deep 1 You have lost the accent of 
 your family. Men cannot tell whence we came, they cannot indi- 
 
ACTS V. 12-42. 
 
 cate our native country ; we speak the usual language in the usual 
 tone, we are afraid of anything that is eccentric and unusual, and 
 thus we have abandoned all that makes our ancestry' worthy of 
 recollection. We cannot get away from the fact that we represent 
 a faith which has been the most fighting faith of the earth. Chris- 
 tianity is a combative religion. What is the meaning, then, of 
 this whimper that I now hear about retiring to quiet places, leav- 
 ing all sensationalism, and adopting old-fashioned ways of doing 
 things ? My friends, bethink you, when you say the word old- 
 fashioned, what do you mean } Where do you draw the line ? 
 Mention the date and measure of your old-fashionedness ? There 
 are those who take to themselves the character and quality of being 
 old-fashioned people. Christians of the old-fashioned sort. I 
 would God they were ! They would be so good. They would 
 warm the place. Their nearness would send a glow of enthusi- 
 asm and sacred ardour to the heart. But alas ! their old-fash- 
 ionedness may only go back to an intermediate period. It may 
 be a kind of middle-age collapse. If you want the old-fashioned 
 sort, you must go back to the Evangelists and to the Apostles, and 
 read the document in the New Testament, which is specifically 
 called the Acts, and there you do see what old-fashioned Chris- 
 tianity really was. But it is in this case as it is in tracing a man's 
 ancestry. He goes back in his ancestry until he finds the most 
 important man in it, and there stops. But I ask about the an- 
 cestry of that most famous man himself. And so if we trace our 
 ancestry back, not stopping at points we like the best and are 
 proud of, we shall all come to Adam and Eve, and all fall in the 
 first apostasy. Let us then be true to the facts of history and go 
 really back to roots, and origins, and causes, and do not let us 
 call ourselves old-fashioned simply because we are slothful. By 
 every name that redeems and beautifies the earth, I protest against 
 an old-fashionedness that thinks of itself, and is never lost in the 
 generous absorption of apostolic self-oblivion. 
 
 Take a cutting out of any modern Church record, and put it 
 beside this cutting from one of the earliest Church writers ; then 
 look on the two pictures, and tell me how the latter can justify 
 even a family connection with the former. Verily there was not 
 much to induce the Apostles to go on with this work. Their pay- 
 ment was not large. The bribe did not amount to a temptation. 
 
RESPECTABLE CHURCHISM. 123 
 
 Scoffing, imprisoning, neglect, hunger, cold, nakedness, thirst, 
 abandonment. Yet they went forward with their work as if kings 
 were their hired servants, and as if the treasures of the earth were 
 bound to give them daily riches. How is this } What a fulfil- 
 ment of Christ's own word ! In speaking of the revelation which 
 Peter reported from heaven, Jesus said, ' ' On this rock I build my 
 Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The 
 gates of hell were not long in trying their strength upon that rock. 
 Yea, the very bolts of fire seemed to be let loose upon the rock, 
 as if they might melt it and cause it to flow away in fear and 
 weakness. Are we in the Apostolic succession ? Not so far ! No 
 man is in the Apostolic succession who is not in the Apostolic 
 spirit, and the Apostolic spirit was a spirit of self-denial, self-sup- 
 pression, courageous faith, valiant, soldier-like determination, to 
 speak the truth and to live it. We trim, we modify, we adapt. 
 Yes, that is what we are. Not Apostles, but adapters. I knew 
 there was a word somewhere in the language that would exactly 
 express our present spirit and service. We adapt the Gospel to the 
 age. We preach to the times. We do not stand back in those 
 eternal truths which belong to all ages, and whose musical thunder 
 should bring into reconciliation every antagonism and discord. 
 Yet we claim to be of the old-fashioned sort. The old-fashioned 
 ministers bore scars for medals ; they took honours in the school 
 of suffering ; they graduated in the dungeon and in the wilder- 
 ness, and their breath was like the fresh air that blows round a 
 mountain top. Do I speak to any young man who is about to 
 enter the ministry .? Any gentle, delicate, pale, frail creature who 
 is going to take up the Apostolic banner — at least, the silken end 
 of it ? It is hard work. You can make it easy if you please ; 
 but in so pleasing you offend God. Wherever this Gospel is 
 preached it must create antagonism. We have indeed, by a tacit 
 compact, villainous in its every syllable, agreed to shut up the un- 
 pleasant, and to confine the disagreeable, and to hold converse 
 only upon such topics and principles as soothe and comfort us, 
 and assure us of our personal safety. Why, Christianity began as 
 a fighting religion. When did it lay aside its first charter .? Chris- 
 tianity came as a fire, as a sword, as a voice of judgment. When 
 did it pass through a transformation which robbed it cf its com- 
 bativeness and made it as other faiths } When was this Samson 
 
124 ACTS V. 12-42. 
 
 shorn ? See to it in very deed, because if we are Christians we 
 must do deeds — at least bear such testimony as will bring upon us 
 the aversion and hatred of wicked men. Any man who insists 
 upon the disuse of ambiguity, and upon the use of straightforward 
 and simple terms, must expect to bring upon himself hatred in the 
 form of criticism, and must expect to be imprisoned within strong 
 walls. Would that the old heroic days could come back upon us 
 all ! Do you know to whom you are indebted for the quiet 
 enjoyment of Gospel privileges ? Name the land from which the 
 treasure came which you call your peace ? You are indebted for 
 your peace to the battles of olher ine7i. Because the Apostles 
 suffered, we enjoy. Because they went to prison, we are kept 
 out of it. But the fear is, the shameful fear, is that we imagine 
 that we are the creators of our own safety, and the originators of 
 our own security. That would indeed be the climax of injustice 
 and ingratitude. You are asked as young readers now and again 
 to read the history of your nation ; of the heroic days, of the 
 brave days of chivalry, and I join in the appeal ; but I add to it, 
 and elevate it, and glorify it, by telling you to go back to Apos- 
 tolic history, and to learn from those thrilling pages what it once 
 was to be a Christian. 
 
 We ought, then, to have great patience with all persons who are 
 starting up in any novel and eccentric way to endeavour to advance 
 the Kingdom of Christ. If we begin to frown upon them, we 
 repeat the iniquity which our Lord we know will condemn. We 
 live in freedom. Christianity is wanting if it does not try by all 
 means to save some. Christianity is still the religion of the Cross. 
 That sacred, grim emblem is never allowed to fall into desuetude ; 
 and even on the most dazzling State occasions it is known by the 
 agony of that symbol. Who dare appropriate the place in which 
 we are now assembled, and many like it, to extraordinary or un- 
 usual religious services ? Who dare fill such places as this with the 
 very refuse and offscouring of London ? If you came through 
 many of the streets of the Metropolis this morning you saw crowds 
 of persons who, probably, were never inside a Christian Sanctuary, 
 or if they were, it was in some little colonial institution down- 
 stairs, or in some back place of the city, but not in the citadel 
 that you call your Cathedral or your Temple, or your Tabernacle, 
 or your Conventicle. The moment Christianity became respect- 
 
TRUE PREACHING. 125 
 
 able it became one of a multitude. Christianity must never have 
 a second ; she must not even be at the top of a list ; she must be 
 the Ruler, the One ; and her uniqueness must be at once her 
 strength and her beauty. Never forget that you are the descend- 
 ants of men who ate up the fire that was to burii them, and digest- 
 ed it, and turned it into noble strength ; that drank up the seas 
 that were to have drowned them, and came through ever-thicken- 
 ing danger, gathering strength with exercise, and being made out 
 of common men, heroic and illustrious characters. 
 
 Here you find Christianity working according to its opportunity. 
 There were persons who brought sick folks in great numbers. 
 There were multitudes out of the streets round about bringing 
 with them those that were vexed with unclean spirits. Chris- 
 tianity does not examine into a man's motive with such severity as 
 to repel him from its bodily blessings. This is a law which, per- 
 haps, we have not sufficiently recognized. Jesus Christ knew and 
 said that the people came not for the sake of the doctrine, but for 
 the loaves and fishes ; but He did not, therefore, drive them 
 away. Many others came to be healed, or to have their friends 
 cured ; and they cared not what was the speculative or metaphysi- 
 cal doctrine taught so long as a cure was effected. Jesus Christ 
 healed all in the hope that he might save some. If you would 
 feed all the poor of London you might save a few. Expect the 
 sting of ingratitude, expect the discredit of imputed motives, ex- 
 pect that many whom you have helped will turn away from you in 
 the time of your own necessity ; but take not your inspiration 
 from man's ingratitude, but from Christ's redeeming love. If Vv*e 
 work for gratitude we will be ill paid, and we deserve to be. 
 Whoever works for any degree of applause deserves all the con- 
 tempt which may be inflicted upon him. Jesus Christ, let me 
 repeat, for in repeating it I repeat a Gospel, healed all, if haply 
 He might save some. 
 
 How do we account for the difference between Apostolic times, 
 and our own days ? Man is the same, truth is the same, the 
 enmity of the heart against Christ and righteousness is the same. 
 Christ is the same, the Holy Ghost is the same, and yet we are 
 living along dwindling lines, and we are fast sinking into spiritual 
 exhaustion. How is this } It is because we have lost the proper 
 vocation of Christianity. What is that proper vocation > To save 
 
126 ACTS V. 12-42. 
 
 men, not to please them ; not to flatter them, but to save them ; 
 and we have lost the proper vocation of the pulpit. The pulpit 
 has become now another branch of book- making. The sermon 
 has lost its individuality. It ought to be a thing that cannot be 
 printed. A sermon that can be printed is not a sermon. A ser- 
 mon is a speech, an expostulation, an entreaty, an exhortation, 
 having its quality made up of the very personal elements of the 
 man who delivers it — his accents, his quality of mind, his enlarged 
 sympathy and nobleness ; hence the true sermon is impregnated 
 with elements which cannot be caught, fastened down, and pre- 
 sented to the eye. The sermon is not addressed to the eye ; it is 
 a thunder that beats upon the ear. You are to blame, as I am, 
 along with all our contemporaries for the degradation of the ser- 
 mon. We talk now about sermons being polished, and finished, 
 and exquisite, with many a delicate little touch artistic. The 
 Lord send fire upon all such abortions and burn them up, till their 
 white ashes cannot any more be found ! Read Christ's words 
 and wonder at their power. Read many of the subjects of Apos- 
 tolic discourses and wonder at the results produced. Who can 
 find in Whitefield's sermons, Whitefield's power? The sermon is 
 not a book or a part of a book, it is not in the literary trade at all, 
 it is something that stands apart, alone, and the preacher who is 
 true to the vocation of the sermon will never lack a congregation. 
 He has no competitor. It is when he begins to read his sentences 
 and to measure them with sentences in books, that he becomes 
 one of a number. 
 
 When he is true to inspired doctrine, and to his vocation, when 
 he stands shoulder to shoulder with Paul and Peter, then he can- 
 not be compared, for he is not in the list of competitive wresders 
 and strugglers. But the Church must help the preacher. The 
 Church must say to him in so many words, " Yes, you stand faith- 
 fully to that conception of preaching, and rely upon our prayers 
 and sympathy, and trust and help." 
 
 As to the speech of Gamaliel, I accept it every word. Gamaliel 
 gives me the only conditions the Church ought ever to ask for. 
 To be left alone to carry our her own policy, and to realize the 
 results of her own conception and faith. As a Christian teacher I 
 have no right to ask to be heard at the expense of any other man. 
 Let Theudas speak, let Judas of Galilee speak, and when they are 
 
TRUE PREACHING. 127 
 
 done, let the Christian speaker make his appeal, and *' the God 
 that answereth by fire let Him be God." 
 
 Let Socrates conduct his dialogue, let Seneca read his moral 
 proverbs and sententious ethics ; let all Greek and Roman think- 
 ers unfold their theories and make good their positions ; let every 
 man have all the hearing which he demands, and when they are 
 all done, let us hear what Christ of Nazareth-has to say, and " the 
 God that answereth by fire let Him be God." Christianity is 
 nothing if not heroically fearless. 
 
XIV. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thy mercy meets us everywhere. It is not far to seek. 
 Thy mercy in Christ Jesus is round about us, we breathe it, we live under 
 its influence, without it %ve must surely die. We speak of thy great 
 mercy, and thy tender mercy. Thou dost fill us with amazement, be- 
 cause of the wondrousness of the meicy which covers all thy works. We 
 come by the way of mercy, the way of judgment we dare not tread. On 
 that road there are swords that slay us, and lions that devour, and wrath 
 that burns. We come by the way of the cross. We put our feet in the 
 footprints of Jesus Christ. We stand beside the Priest slain for us by his 
 own hand, and because of this blood we have hope that our sin may be 
 forgiven. We would that every night might see the destruction of the 
 day's transgression. We would not carry the guilt of to-day into the un- 
 sullied light of to-morrow. We would bury it by the cross of Christ in 
 the darkness of the night, never to be seen again. Thus do thou give us 
 assurance that our guilt shall not be piled up against us into infinite 
 aggravation, but shall be destroyed day by day, so that if we sleep the 
 unwaking sleep, we shall be found in heaven, forgiven souls. Come to 
 us in Christ Jesus, Thy Son, to-day, and make festival in our souls. May 
 we enter into the Lord's banqueting house, and enjoy the hospitality of 
 infinite love. May this be no common day in our experience. From the 
 dawn even until the eventide, and the shining of the night stars, may 
 there be joy in our hearts, singing as of angel voices, and lights that 
 shine from the upper places. We would enjoy the Christian Sabbath. 
 We would understand in our hearts the meaning of the resurrection of 
 our Lord, and having looked into the place where the Lord lay, we would 
 look up into the place where the Lord stands, and find in his intercession 
 the utterance of all our prayers. We bless thee for such desires. Thou 
 didst biing the heart out of the darkness, and gave it the joy of light. 
 Once we had no such feeling. We were content with our chains, and 
 found our miserable joy in our mean bondage. Now we have breathed 
 the higher air. Now we have had gleams of the higher light. Now we 
 begin to feel the enjoyment of a nobler fellowship, and our souls are in- 
 flamed with high and spiritual desire. Surely thou wilt open thy book 
 with thine own hands. It shall not be to us a book of letters only, but it 
 shall glow with divine presences and sacred influences, and out of the 
 living pages there shall come living gospels. God grant that so it may 
 surely be. 
 
THE TEXT. 129 
 
 Show us how little we are and frail, always walking upon the brink of 
 our own grave ; feeling even in the warm summer air the chill breath of 
 death. Show us that the flowers wither, even whilst they unfold. Give 
 us to feel that winter is at both ends of the spring, and is a continual 
 threatening of its life. So teach us to number our days that we may ap- 
 ply our hearts unto wisdom. Still lift up our lives above all mean fear- 
 fulness, and give us the inspiration of heroism, the noble and glorious 
 courage of men to whom the issues of a great battle are confided. May 
 we be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. May we know what it 
 is to enjoy the assurance of the Divine favour. Being no more tossed 
 about by every wind of doctrine, may we stand in the sanctuary of thy 
 truth, and fear not fire, or tempest, or famine, or sword. Lord God of 
 Elijah, of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the great and glorious company of 
 the Apostles, lift us, the children of modern days, up into very noble 
 manhood, and may the last estate of the world be better than the first. 
 
 Comfort us according to the sharpness of our pain. Our eyes are often 
 weary because of the burden of tears. Our sleep sometimes flees away 
 before the ever encroaching anxiety which devours the mind. We have 
 pain of body, sorrow of soul, darkness of outlook. Our property has 
 dwindled, our prosperity has been shaken to its foundation, or there is 
 sickness at home, the little one is ill, the oldest of our loved ones is say- 
 ing — farewell. The heart knoweth its own bitterness. We pray thee, 
 therefore, in Christ thy Son our Saviour, come to us with the comforts 
 that heal the heart, and make us glad because of recovered confidence. 
 
 To others thou hast given great joy. Every day sees a battle won. 
 Every night closes upon a fortune advanced. All the days are triumphs. 
 There is no aching of the head, no pain of the heart, no distress of the 
 imagination. Anxiety is a bitterness unknown, and fear has no place in 
 the life. The Lord sanctify such experience, and restrain those who 
 enjoy it, lest they fight against God. 
 
 Look over our little life, and repair it every day. The wind blows it 
 down, the fire burns it, the enemy undermines it. Poor little life ! So 
 small to begin with, so weak at its best ! Oh, pity it 1 Continue to 
 redeem it. Thou hast not spared the blood of thy Son to ransom it, and 
 therefore at the last it shall be found in thine own hand. Thou that 
 dwellest between the Cherubim shine forth ! Amen. 
 
 Acts vi. 1-8. 
 
 1. And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, 
 there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because 
 their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 
 
 2. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and 
 said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve 
 tables. 
 
 3. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest 
 
I30 ACTS VI. 1-8. 
 
 report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over 
 this business. 
 
 4. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry 
 of the word. 
 
 5. And the saying pleased the whole multitude : and they chose Ste- 
 phen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Procho- 
 rus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of 
 Antioch : 
 
 6. Whom they set before the apostles : and when they had prayed, 
 they laid their hands on them. 
 
 7. And the word of God increased ; and the number of the disciples 
 multiplied in Jerusalem greatly ; and a great company of the priests were 
 obedient to the faith. 
 
 8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and mira- 
 cles among the people. 
 
 THE ELECTION OF DEACONS. 
 
 THERE is nothing concealed in the action of the New Testa- 
 ment Church. Verily this whole thing was not done in a 
 corner. The case of Judas Iscariot is not covered up, nor made 
 the least of. It is not referred to furtively as if the writer would 
 gladly escape from the subject. Ananias and Sapphira are not 
 names withdrawn from the sacred record because of the lies which 
 they told. And the murmuring of the Grecians against the He- 
 brews is not passed over without reference. The whole life of the 
 Church is brought under the shining light, and everything is nar- 
 rated, with almost abruptness, as it is with certain minuteness of 
 detail. The Church is not a secret institution. The Church of 
 Christ was never meant to be a concealed force in society, or to 
 have its inner life and inner mechanism, upon which outsiders 
 were not allowed to gaze. Christianity abhors all official secrecy. 
 It is a religion which lives in the daylight. Its registers are not 
 hidden away in iron safes, its writing is written as with a pencil of 
 the sun. It is well known that in consequence of its frankness 
 the Bible has brought upon itself the opprobrium of those who are 
 accustomed to hide all undesirable and repulsive features of char- 
 acter or habits of life. Who would publish an expurgated edition 
 of the Bible ! We undertake to adapt our poets to modern tastes 
 and modern readers. There are transactions recorded in the 
 Bible, which, if taken out of their proper atmosphere and setting, 
 cause a sensation of revulsion in the heart, but taken in their 
 
THE POWER OF PRAYER. 131 
 
 places, read according to their surroundings, not torn out of their 
 natural atmosphere, and perused in a high and noble spirit, they 
 are as much part of the Bible as they are part of human life ; and 
 they have their high and noble uses in the Bible, which uses can 
 only be understood by those who read in the spirit, and who see 
 in death itself an element out of which life may be brought. It is 
 refreshing to belong to a Church that is so open and fearless, whose 
 judgments are not secret censures, and whose excommunications 
 are not vengeful anathemas, but the just expression of well -argued 
 conclusions. 
 
 How was this difficulty of the early Church adjusted } It might 
 have ended in a rupture. To-day it would surely terminate in 
 many instances with a secession. What was it that guided the 
 Church aright in this first misunderstanding and difficulty .? The 
 spirit of love ruled the mechanism of the Church, There can be 
 no permanent difficulties in any Church in which the spirit of love 
 is supreme. If a Church is only a religious debating society, then 
 we shall determine many issues merely by numbers, or merely by 
 accidental force of some kind or other. He who introduces the 
 spirit of debate into any community, incurs the very gravest respon- 
 sibility. We do not meet to argue, to controvert, to oppose one 
 theory to another, we meet to pray. But who can define that 
 great word pray ? We have narrowed it, and impoverished, and 
 mechanized it, until now it has become a species of routine. If 
 the Church could meet to pray, to bring a thousand hearts into 
 confluence, to dismiss every dividing force, and quality and 
 quantity, and with a thousand-fold voice to cry from the foot of 
 the Cross to the throne of Heaven, the devil of debate would be 
 burned in his native fire. It is most interesting to watch the rise 
 and culmination of this first difficulty in Church government. 
 The Apostles look well in this relation. What is their starting 
 point } They argue all the question out, from the standpoint of a 
 clear conception of apostolic work. Yoviv first conception will gen- 
 erally determine the whole course of your argument. Starting 
 with a noble conception, a man will naturally fall into the out- 
 working of a noble course, and will generally reach a useful, 
 because worthy and righteous, conclusion. What was the concep- 
 tion of the Apostles of their own work .? They magnified their 
 office. " We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the 
 
132 ACTS VI. I- 
 
 ministry of the Word." And the Apostles could pray! Just 
 lately, in this very story, we heard them pray, and the place where 
 they were assembled was shaken ! And the Apostles could also 
 preach. They divided their hearers into two classes, friends and 
 enemies. There was no languid opinion about Apostolic preach- 
 ing. The mere critic could not play his little game at pedantry 
 under the Apostolic sermon. It was one of two things in an 
 Apostolic sermon, repentance, surrender, crying to Heaven for 
 pardon, or gnashing of teeth, and malignant hatred, the very fire of 
 hell ! We have come to new definitions, and definitions of a most 
 unfortunate and disastrous kind. We pray quietly, easily, super- 
 ficially, mechanically, respectably ; without sensation, without 
 passion. We could almost write our prayers and read them, and 
 sleep over, them, and so could others. The suppliant is never 
 maddened by his own inspiration, so that he shall pray the sun 
 down and open his eyes in unexpected midnight. These regula- 
 tion hours have ruined us. These beginnings and endings have 
 played havoc with the inspiration of the Church. 
 
 The apostles conceiving their work to be of this high and 
 supreme kind, were rather anxious than otherwise to escape the 
 daily ministration of the tables. Up* to this time they had taken 
 part in the distribution of the public stock, and now they gladly 
 seized the opportunity of leaving this necessary routine to others 
 who were ready to undertake it, whilst they went forward to do the 
 large and inclusive work. This supreme conception of Apostolic 
 service, was itself ennobled by the trust which the Apostles reposed 
 in the people. Who were called together } The whole multitude. 
 The apostles " called the multitude of the disciples unto them." 
 He is the great apostle who has faith in the people. Christianity 
 is the people's religion pre-eminently. There are those in the 
 ministry of Christ who can testify that they owe all their comfort, 
 prosperity, and influence, to the trust which they reposed in the 
 people. The Apostles did not form a little company. They did 
 not select certain notables, or approved specimens, but having to 
 deal with a people's question, they consulted the people's instinct, 
 and therein they have set an example to all Christian associations. 
 Let it never be forgotten, that in this first difficulty of the Church 
 the Apostles did not undertake to settle this matter themselves, nor 
 did they call representatives of the Church, they called the ivJiole 
 
NOTHING SECULAR IN THE CHURCH. 133 
 
 muliilude, and left it to be adjusted and determined by the whole 
 Church. 
 
 Whilst this was the case at the outset, it was impossible that the 
 whole Church could constitute a committee of action, therefore 
 the apostles said, " Look ye out seven men," who shall really be 
 yourselves condensed. Such men as shall themselves be equal to 
 the whole multitude. Large-minded generous men, who can see 
 every aspect of a case, and deal with noble wisdom with the prac- 
 tical difficulties of life. The qualifications of the seven are plainly 
 stated. They were to be, " men of honest report, full of the Holy 
 Ghost and wisdom." There are no merely secular duties in the 
 Church. We have divided Church service into the temporalities 
 and the spiritualities. I am not aware that such a distinction was 
 acknowledged by the Apostles. But allowing that some things 
 might be called temporalities, even they were to be handled by 
 men, " full of the Holy Ghost." Church matters are not merely 
 matters of political system. There is nothing done in Christ's 
 Church, whether the opening of a door, the lighting of a lamp, or 
 the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, that is not to be done 
 under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. A door may be so 
 opened as to affront the Spirit of God ; a visitor may be so shown 
 to a seat as to manifest a truly Christian spirit on the part of the 
 indicator. There is no part of our work in any section that is not 
 holy unto the Lord. Art thou weary in well doing } Remember 
 thy weariness is an offence to God. If man engaged me to be in 
 the ministry I might sometimes be annoyed by it, and be tempted 
 to flee away from it, but when God ordains a man to the ministry, 
 and ordains him in the mountain somewhere, and ordains him at 
 the Cross of His own Son, he is not at liberty to take offence, he 
 does not live within the region where whims and prejudices ought 
 to take effect. He is God's servant, whether called by this name 
 or not, and he must take his orders from God .and to God must 
 submit his work. So, as I read Christian history ; I see that the 
 ministry is one. We are all the ministers of Christ ; the door- 
 keeper and the preacher are both in the same ministry, there are 
 no priests and outsiders. There is no outer circle and inner circle 
 in my conception of the Church. You have the gift of opening a 
 door, I may have the gift of expounding a passage, both the gifts 
 are from the same Giver. I have no doubt that the men chosen 
 
134 ACTS VI. 1-8. 
 
 in this text were better able to serve tables than the Apostles. 
 We have not all the same gifts. We must rid ourselves of the mis- 
 chievous sophism which teaches us that some kinds of service are 
 menial. There is no menial service in the Church, unless you 
 make it menial by an unworthy spirit. 
 
 I.ooked at as a piece of Church statesmanship, can you suggest 
 a single amendment to this policy ? Do not the Apostles vindicate 
 their Apostleship by their noble wisdom and their general strength 
 of mind, and by their practical sagacity ? It is not every man in 
 the Apostleship who could have settled a case so. The ancient 
 proverb tells us that " every fool will be meddling." The reason 
 why some ministers are uncomfortable and unsettled is that they 
 will meddle with things that they really cannot arrange. I have 
 confidence in the people. Impose a duty upon a friend, and show 
 by your manner of doing it that you mean him to reveal his best 
 quality. When this spirit seizes us all distribution of labour will 
 not be a division of front, but will rather show that the front is 
 more united because the labour is wisely divided. This instance 
 gives us a glance into the inner life of the early Church. There 
 was great success in those days. We long to have lived amid that 
 tumult of triumph. It is dull now. It is weary monotony to- 
 day. To have lived when the war-horses went out in thousands, 
 and their riders returned with infinite spoil ! Oh, they were brave 
 days of old ! There were giants on the earth in ancient times. 
 Men were converted in multitudes. There came against the 
 Church daily a great human flood. It is not so now. It is easy 
 to take the census of religious attendance to-day. The old grave 
 days of tumult and uproar, and rush, and sacred eagerness to be 
 first at the sanctuary, read like a species of religious romance. 
 Who is to blame ? Has God changed, or has man become weary ? 
 In the ancient Church you see an illustration of the possibility of 
 there being superiority without jealousy. There were the twelve 
 Apostles and the seven helpers, and the seven did not entertain 
 jealousy about the twelve, nor did the twelve make censorious 
 remarks about the seven. They divided their labour, and went to 
 work with both hands to serve the Master. Jealousy kills us all 
 to-day. We dare not speak to one man lest another man should 
 see the action. There are those who would gladly give something 
 to know if we shake hands more warmly with one man than with 
 
THE POWER OF UNION. ■ 135 
 
 another. How did this evil spirit get into the Church ? Mark, I 
 am not speaking about any particular Church, but about the whole 
 Church of Christ, the whole world over. Jealousy is as cruel as 
 the grave ; it can only be cast out by the Spirit of God. If a man 
 feel himself the very least under the influence of jealousy, he 
 ought at once to betake himself to fasting and prayer. You 
 know well enough whether there is any jealousy in your heart. If 
 there is, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that you kill it this 
 very day. Could I be jealous of the success of another minister, I 
 would be no minister of Christ myself. His success is mine. To 
 that spirit must we come. Tell me of any Church that is crowded 
 with eager thousands, that is the scene of daily triumphs in Christ, 
 and I am a member of that Church. Its triumphs are ours, we 
 are not divided householders ; we are one great family. 
 
 What was the effect upon the public .? When this matter was 
 settled, the result upon the public mind is given in these words, 
 in verse 7, ' ' The word of God increased ; and the number of the 
 disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly." It is equal to cause 
 and effect. A united Church means a world impressed by the 
 noble scene. The Church of Christ is not united to-day. There 
 are Christians of high and noble quality who are not, would not, 
 could not occupy a pulpit out of their own communion. The 
 law forbids them. High ecclesiastical authority interdicts them 
 and yet we are said to be all Christians. The noble purpose of 
 Christ is marred by certain geographical distinctions and ecclesias- 
 tical arrangements, in the making of which Providence had neither 
 part nor lot. The Church must be united before the world will 
 be redeemed. Hence Christ's great prayer, " May they all be 
 one, that the world may believe." We want the apostle now who 
 can bring men together, who can magnify points of union, who 
 can show that the Church, though divided on many minor points, 
 ought to realize its vital union, magnify and display it, and thus 
 Christ's soul would be satisfied. 
 
 The 8th verse deals exclusively with Stephen. We shall have 
 something to say about Stephen presently. They made him a 
 minister of tables, and he became the first martyr of his Master. 
 Stephen was developed by circumstances. Being put into this 
 office, he developed his true quality of mind and heart. There 
 are those who cannot be kept in obscurity, and who cannot be 
 
136 ACTS VI. 1-8. 
 
 limited to merely technical publicity. What if Stephen had been 
 the predestined successor of Iscariot ? What if this man had been 
 unintentionally neglected ? Who can tell ? Into these matters 
 we may not enter ; but whoever is full of faith and power will do 
 great miracles and wonders in every age, and if he escapes martyr- 
 dom it will be by some supreme miracle of God. 
 
XV. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, how good it is to draw unto thee in the name of Jesus 
 Christ the Priest. Our souls warm at the thought of thy love. Our 
 spirits are filled with noble desires when the door of thine house is 
 opened, and the way to thine altar made clear. We turn away from thee, 
 and for a moment may be glad with social joy ; we return unto the Lord, 
 and are made glad with the delight of heaven. We are here this day to 
 magnify thee as thou art revealed by thy Son— to call thee Father— to 
 hide our hearts in thy love — to ask thee for Christ's sake to forgive all 
 our sins. This is our sacred business with thee. This is our one con- 
 cern. We have come to hold communion with God, through Christ, by 
 the Holy Spirit, and we would that our communion might be simple, 
 deep, loving, long-continued, a hint and pledge of the fellowship of 
 heaven. We have come to thy house without worthiness of our own. 
 We have spoiled every day of the week. We have sent back every mo- 
 ment to thee, stained with some evil. We have not seen thee in all the 
 way of our life as we ought to have done. We have imagined thee to be 
 absent when thou wast really near at hand. We have broken the two 
 tables of the law. We have done despite to the Spirit of thy grace. We 
 have grieved the Spirit. There is no sin we have not attempted, and our 
 success is our ruin. Thou art revealed in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of 
 all men. He has disclosed thee to us as the God of pardon, and grace, 
 and tender love. Infinite in righteousness, yet boundless in mercy. 
 Stern as thine own law, yet tender with unutterable love. To thee we 
 want all to come ; and the least and feeblest standing back on the out- 
 skirts of the host would feel after thee by a spirit of reverent inquiry. 
 Oh ! that we knew the place where we might find thee ; our hearts desire 
 one look of thy glory. This we could not bear, but thou wilt surely 
 cause thy goodness to pass before us. Show us the unseen day. Teach 
 us that this light we now see is but the dim emblem of the further glory, 
 infinite in lustre, which makes the very burning and splendour of heaven. 
 Help us to see the unseen meaning of all things ; so that in time we may 
 see the going of eternity, so that above the clouds we may see the shin- 
 ing home of the good, and across the roaring flood may see the green 
 shores of the everlasting garden. 
 
 We come with our psalm of adoration, our hymn of praise, our anthem 
 of triumph, our chant of holy delight. Few and poor are the offerings 
 we bring, but we bring them by the way of the cross, and they are 
 
138 ACTS VI. 9-15. 
 
 enlarged into sacrifices and are made precious by the baptism of blood. 
 We remember all the way along which we have come, sometimes a weary 
 way, hot because of the scorching sun, cold because of the wintry wind, 
 often up hill, and then steeply down again, with turns sudden, and preci- 
 pices deep and threatening, so that we cannot tell whether we shall arrive 
 at home. Yet there we shall surely arrive, because we do not guide our 
 own way ; the reins are not in our hands ; the Lord is sovereign, and all 
 things work together for good to them that love him. Thou dost teach 
 us in many ways. Thou dost make us strangers and foreigners in our 
 own land. Thou takest away the friend that made the land our home. 
 Thou dost suddenly put out with a great flood the fire at which our friend- 
 ship warmed itself. The grave holds all that is precious of our social life. 
 So dost thou make the old man long for heaven. He does not know 
 those who touch him, nor is he known by them. His history is a sealed 
 book, and he longs to rejoin those who can go over the pages with him. 
 Thou hast given unto us a strange life, full of mystery, full of pain, 
 brightened with occasional lights, thrilling with occasional joys, and then 
 a great burden, an infinite blackness, a night without a star to break its 
 gloom. Lord, be pitiful and kind unto us all in Christ Jesus. Spare us 
 a little while that our repentance may be made complete, and our contri- 
 tion may shed its last tear of regret and pain over days mis-spent. 
 
 Undertake all our life for us, make us rich or poor, put us in chariots 
 of gold, or thrust us into the dark corner ; give us purple and fine linen, 
 and fare most sumptuous every day, or shut us out of the castle and make 
 us lie at the gate, hungry and weary, desolate and full of sorrow, as thou 
 wilt, but in all the process give us the sweet sense of thy nearness as 
 purifier of our life. The Lord made the great sky like shining wings 
 stretched over us in sign of infinite protection. In every wind that blows 
 may we now catch some odour of heaven. As the days come and go with 
 hastening rapidity, give us to feel that they do but bring the nearer and 
 the sooner the house of liberty and the land of summer. Amen. 
 
 Acts vi. 9-15. 
 
 9. Then [rather, Bnt\ there arose certain of the synagogue, which is 
 called the synagogue of the Libertines, \Jibertini, freedmen] and Cyreni- 
 ans, and Alexandrians, [Jews resident in Alexandria] and of them of 
 Cilicia [at the south-east corner of Asia Minor. Chief town. Tarsus] and 
 of Asia, disputing with Stephen. 
 
 10. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by 
 which he spake. 
 
 11. Then they suborned \?)\x\iorn— provide , but nearly always in a bad 
 sense] men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words 
 against Moses, and against God. 
 
 12. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and 
 came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, 
 
TWOFOLD CHARACTER. 139 
 
 13. And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ccaseth not to 
 speak blasphemous words against this holy place [the Temple was the 
 object of great admiration and pride] and the law : 
 
 14. For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall de- 
 stroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. 
 
 15. And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his 
 face as it had been the face of an angel. 
 
 THE TRIAL OF STEPHEN. 
 
 IN the 8th verse you will find the twofold and complete char- 
 acter of Stephen, The verse divides itself into two parts, and 
 so gives the two phases of Stephen' s great character. First of all, 
 he was " full of faith and power." That was his spiritual condi- 
 tion. His inner life was made up of these two elements. Instead 
 of "faith" read "grace," and then the representation will be 
 " Stephen, full of grace and power." Not c// power, so as lo be 
 stern, tyrannous, overwhelming, but also characterized by gracCy 
 tenderness, love, geniality, sympathy, gentleness. Not all gxdLce, 
 lest he should be mistaken as a mere sentimentalist, a man who 
 uttered beautiful words without deep meanings, and who contented 
 himself with exquisite expressions without seeking their realization 
 in the sterner qualities of character. Stephen was by so much a 
 complete man ; full of grace and full of power. Approach him 
 on the one side of his character, and you would suppose he was 
 " all tears ;" so soft was the touch of his hand, so gentle and ten- 
 der the glance of his eye, so winsome his smile, that you would 
 suppose it impossible for such a man ever to utter one sharp or 
 harsh word. Approach him on the other side of his nature, he 
 was stern, unbending, rigorous, insisting upon right and justice, 
 and utterly unaware of the sentiment or practice of concession. 
 Read again the second part of the 8th verse, and you find Stephen 
 " did great wonders and miracles among the people." That was 
 his outer life. Mark the beautiful correspondence between the 
 spiritual and the active. The one accounts for the other. With less 
 of a spiritual quality there would have been less of social demon- 
 stration and influence. The " wonder" was not a trick of the 
 hand ; it was an expression of the deep spiritual history of the soul's 
 life. The " miracle" was not painted on a board ; it flamed forth 
 from an inner and sacred fire. 
 
140 ACTS VI. 9-15. 
 
 This description of Stephen should be the description of the 
 Christian Church. Not a Une can be added to this picture. It 
 does not admit of an additional line of colour that can add to its 
 ineffable beauteousness. In this verse, then, we find a complete 
 delineation of the Christian tnan and of the Christian Church. 
 
 We do no wonders and miracles. Why ? Because we have so 
 little faith, or grace, and power. We have concerned ourselves in 
 looking at the wrong end of this business. We have been wanting 
 more "wonders" and more "miracles" instead of looking into 
 the inner condition of the heart in its most secret recesses. Make 
 the tree good, and the fruit will be good. Bestow the faith and 
 the power, and the wonders and the miracles will come by the 
 force of a happy and gracious sequence. They never come alone. 
 Things that look like wonders and miracles may come— the grim 
 irony — but not until we have the faith and the power will our 
 palsied right hand be plucked out of our breast to lift the Lord's 
 royal banner high in the thickening fight. 
 
 This becomes a question of serious import to us, whether we 
 have not been looking at this business at the wrong end, looking 
 about for effects, instead of inquiring into the causes ; touching 
 with regretful look, the cheek so pale, instead of feeding the fire 
 of the heart. This, then, is Stephen, the man who is for a little 
 while to figure so largely and nobly in our outlook. 
 
 Compare him with the men that assailed him. Thei'r character 
 is also divisible into two parts. First of all, they were controversial, 
 they " disputed " with Stephen. Controversy is not Christianity. 
 It is most difficult for any man to be both a debater and a Chris- 
 tian. The spirit of debate is opposed to the spirit of love. It 
 delights in victory. It gets itself up for occasions. It addresses 
 itself to technicalities, and to transient details. It is clever in the 
 trick of words. It seizes with eagerness upon an epithet misap- 
 plied. Debate is sometimes large, noble, magnanimous, inspired, 
 self-sacrificing, self-forgetting. So long as the Church was. in the 
 era of suffering she had no time for debate. Her controversies 
 were then fights for life. They were not fencings in words, small 
 duels, paper wars, column of abuse answering some other 
 column of abuse. The Christian life is always a controversy ; but 
 " we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, 
 against powers,. against the rulers of the darkness of this world." 
 
THE DANGER OF CONTROVERSY. 141 
 
 Let us all beware of the spirit of controversy, which delights in the 
 rearrangement of words and forgets that Christianity is a sacrifice, 
 a life of obedience, an offering up of the whole nature to the 
 Divine will, to be inspired and sanctified by God the Holy Ghost. 
 Being controversial, the enemies of Stephen were also, as if by 
 a necessary logic, unjust. Injustice and controversy are twins. 
 The enemies of Stephen "suborned" men — hired and primed 
 men to tell lies ; instructed men to utter false words ; bribed them 
 to commit spiritual suicide. This is the almost necessary direction 
 of all controversy. Controversy seems to make up its mind to 
 win. The aim of debate is not to secure truth, but to secure some 
 petty triumph, or to carry out to its melancholy end some rooted 
 prejudice, or some discreditable antipathy. This is my fear of 
 some collateral institutions which are formed in Christian 
 churches. I do not take special delight in the formation of men 
 into companies for the purpose of debating. There are limits 
 within which debate may be conducted to high intellectual advan- 
 tage ; but whoever enters upon a course of debate merely as such, 
 and merely for the purpose of striving in words, without having as 
 a supreme end and purpose the illumination of the subject with 
 a view to knowing, loving, accepting, and obeying the truth, puts 
 his spiritual life to a severe strain. The temptation is a strong 
 one. It is particularly strong in the time of youth. Who does 
 not love to hear the echoing applause which follows a smart reply, 
 a happy retort, an unexpected and felicitous criticism } There 
 may be no harm in such applause, within given limits ; but the 
 man who is the subject and occasion of it may be urged on to 
 further lengths in w^hich he will find nothing but danger and ulti- 
 mate discomfiture. The enemies of Christianity, as represented 
 by these men, were mere controversialists — trying to find flaws in 
 the statement and reasoning and conduct of the argument : they 
 were not inquirers after truth, pledged to find it, and bound to 
 obey its mandate. To hear men controvert and dispute about 
 Christian truth, one would suppose to be a sign of intense earnest- 
 ness and sincerity. You will always find behind intellectual 
 hostility to Christianity an explanatory moral condition. A man 
 who does not love the light will use any excuse for getting out of 
 it. Christianity disdains to accept any merely intellectual homage. 
 Christianity will not be called astute, well-contrived, admirably- 
 
142 ACTS VI. 9-15. 
 
 adapted, keen of insight, and potent in eloquence. Christianity 
 comes among men to save them, by first humbling them into 
 penitence, breaking them down with contrition, causing them to 
 burn with penitential shame, and then leading them to reverent 
 thought — only out of death can life come, and only by sacrifice is 
 exaltation. 
 
 Further looking into the case, you will observe the danger which 
 often accrues to truth from its supposed friends. You find men say- 
 ing, " We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against 
 Moses and against God." Imagine the irony of such men sup- 
 posing that they could distinguish between orthodoxy and hetero- 
 doxy ! This is one of the earliest instances in the Christian Church 
 of heresy-hunting. Once for all, let us lay it down as an impos- 
 sibility that bad men are judges of truth and falsehood. Men who 
 had accepted a bribe came up to defend orthodoxy ! We have 
 heard it said more than once that " such and such a man may not 
 be morally all that he ought to be, but he knows the truth when 
 he hears it." No ! No bad man knows the truth. No man with 
 a lie in his right hand can tell whether the sermon was good or 
 bad. These are the pains to which rectitude of opinion has been 
 subjected, that righteousness in doctrine should be judged by 
 unrighteousness in conduct. No man who keeps a false balance 
 can tell whether the doctrine was orthodox or heterodox — as no 
 blind man can tell whether the colour was ardent or subdued. 
 Some of you are probably hardly aware that in some cases bad 
 men go to churches for the purpose of discovering whether the 
 doctrine is orthodox ! This is an irony that would not be allowed 
 on common ground. No blind man will be appointed as a judge 
 of pictures in the Academy this year or any other year ; no deaf 
 man will be appointed to adjudge the merits of competitive 
 students in music. But a bad man goes to church, and ventures 
 upon an opinion as to the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of the preacher, 
 and says, with intolerable impertinence, that he himself may not 
 be what he ought to be, but he knows the truth when he hears it ! 
 I would say, shame be upon him— only that he has passed out of 
 the region of shame altogether, and is not worthy of the dignified 
 condemnation he would othenvise deserve. Who dares arise in 
 the Church of -Christ and say, this man is orthodox — that man is 
 
THE SILENT VINDICATION. 143 
 
 heterodox ? Who after drinking wine up to the point of dizziness, 
 and eating beyond the boundary of gluttony, and grasping with 
 both hands as iron avarice only can grasp— will dare to say where 
 orthodoxy begins and ends ? What is your life ? What is your 
 spirit ? What are your wonders and miracles ? And what is the 
 interior condition of heart which explains them ? These are the 
 questions that ought to be answered ; when men who listen to 
 doctrine and examine Christian argument are pure of heart, true, 
 and upright of mind, noble in spirit, catholic in sympathy — the 
 one man that will be dreaded more than another is the man who 
 imagines that he was fated by heaven to find out the heterodoxy 
 of other people. 
 
 They said, " We have heard him speak blasphemous words 
 against Moses and against God !" The men who had just put a 
 bribe into their pockets were horrified at the blasphemy of another 
 man ! Those who had done blasphemy were horrified at the man 
 who had only spoken it ! Search into narrow, envenomed, and 
 ignoble criticism in every age, and you will find that the men M'ho 
 speak most against blasphemy in doctrine are often the men who 
 could not live otherwise than by telling lies. 
 
 What was Stephen's condition at the time .? Hearing these lies 
 spoken about him, he will surely spring from his seat and indig- 
 nantly deny the impeachment ! Some men say they " cannot sit 
 still and hear false statements about themselves." If they were 
 greater men they would learn the art of patience. Great bodies 
 are calm. Stephen sat still, but his face gleamed like an angel. 
 Could you have seen the other faces — with the significant leer, the 
 harsh mouths, and the unresponsive features — you would have 
 known, without hearing the defence, who was right and who was 
 wrong. Would that we could look more and say less ! 
 
 If we could watch the accused and the accuser, we should very 
 rarely call upon the defendant for his case. I have heard a debate 
 in which, judging merely by the tone and facial expression, and 
 the graciousness oi manner of the speakers, I should have supposed 
 that the Christian was the Atheist and the Atheist the Christian. 
 The man who undertakes to advocate Christianity without the 
 Christian light, the Christian voice, the Christian expression, is a 
 man who has undertaken the cause at other bidding than God's. 
 
 The face of Stephen shone like the face of an angel. This is 
 
144 ACTS VI. 9-15. 
 
 typical of character. Whenever character is under the influence 
 of Christian inspiration it shiyies. *' Ye are the Hght of the world," 
 It is typical also of the resurrection, the last grand miracle that 
 shall be performed upon these common bodies. The face once 
 dull shall be lighted up with an inward light that shall transfigure 
 it into nobility and gracious expressiveness. "It doth not yet 
 appear what we shall be." Christianity never takes hold of any 
 man without making him a new creature, and without investing 
 him, I would say, with new beauty, nobility, and occasionally even 
 splendour of expression. Not beauty by the rules of art, but a 
 subtle, spiritual, mar\'ellous, argumentative beauty that carries 
 with it its own exposition and defence. But whether this can take 
 place in the body or not, it always takes place in the character, 
 and the character determines the man. 
 
 The modern uses of this incident I have not failed altogether to 
 indicate in the course of these remarks. But if you would hear 
 more about, its modern uses, let me tell you we can a// be full of 
 faith or grace, and we can all do miracles and wonders. 
 
 I cannot believe the ages are living backward. I never could 
 accept the suggestion that the world is getting less advanced, less 
 glorious, less competent, than men were three thousand or two 
 thousand years ago. Why, this would be an inversion that would 
 constitute the deadliest of all arguments against Christian inspira- 
 tion and Divine supremacy. We can all do miracles, wonders, 
 and mighty deeds. Perhaps some of us only needed the sugges- 
 tion, as the fuel in the cold grate only needs the spark to make it 
 glow and burn. We have been too content to sit down under the 
 impression that miracles and wonders and signs have all ceased, 
 and that the world is now living towards a dvvindling point instead 
 of expanding into wider development. What a wonder it would 
 be, for example, if some of us ever helped a fellow-creature under 
 any circumstances whatsoever ! That wonder is possible to you. 
 What a wonder it would be for some of us could we ever be met 
 in a good humour ! What an astonishing miracle to be really 
 good, magnanimous, sympathetic ! Not with a painted smile 
 upon the mocking face, but a laugh from the heart, diffusing itself 
 all over the gladdened and shining countenance ! What a " won- 
 der" it would be for some of us to ever give a sovereign to any 
 good cause upon earth 1 Wonders, miracles, signs I Why, the 
 
MIRACLES POSSIBLE NOW. 
 
 145 
 
 difficulty is to escape them ! What a wonder it would be if some 
 of us could be patient under suffering ! If they could honestly 
 say downstairs, " He suffers much, but he is nobly patient ; very 
 thankful ; and it is a means of grace to be near him !" 
 
 You thought the age of ' ' wonders' ' was passed, because the 
 merely introductory signs have disappeared ! The blossom is gone 
 that the fruit may come. And we of these latter times are called 
 to exhibit the wonder of a disciplined character, the marvel of a 
 sanctified temper, the glittering phenomenon of a truly obedient 
 sonship. 
 
 Who then will do wonders and miracles and signs in the name 
 of Christ ? What a wonder it would be for some of us \.o forgive. 
 It is hard for some of us to pardon. We pardon with reservations 
 and qualifications, and with long parentheses, and the liberty of 
 construing which we reserve to ourselves. Forgiveness with a 
 parenthesis is no forgiveness, but an aggravation of the original 
 obduracy. The bolder heroism which gives history new themes, 
 and makes the poet's lyre quiver into new music, it is not for us 
 in these days to realize. There is now no persecutor to ' ' drag 
 us into fame and chase us up to heaven. ' ' The fagot and the axe 
 are words faint as echoes in the immemorial past. But we can 
 toil with loving diligence ; we can suffer with uncomplaining 
 patience ; in the morning we can sow our seed, and in the evening 
 we can still be busy in the field ; we can stifle the hot word of 
 passion, and extend the warm hand of forgiveness ; to the blind 
 we can be as eyes, and to the dumb as a tongue of noble 
 eloquence ! A thousand acts of charity may glitter in our daily 
 life, like dew transfigured by the sun. In ways so modest, yet so 
 useful — so unknown on earth, and yet so prized in heaven — it is 
 possible for us to show that Jesus Christ is not merely a figure in 
 the horizon of the religious imagination, but the living power of 
 the renewed and adoring heart To such miracles let us rise. 
 
XVI. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we do not know thy way : it is in the sea, it is in the 
 great waters, it is in the midst of the firmament of heaven, and the clouds 
 are the dust of thy feet, and thine eye shineth like lightning from the east 
 even to the west. We have heard of thee, and our hearts have trembled 
 with fear. We have thought of thee, and our spirits have glowed with 
 love. Sometimes clouds and darkness are round about thee ; sometimes 
 the light is thy robe. We cannot tell what thou art, or what thou wilt be 
 to us at any moment, but this great prayer we can utter through Jesus 
 Christ our sacrifice : Give us thy Holy Spirit, and it shall be well with us. 
 Let thy grace dwell in our hearts, beautiful as a guiding cloud in the day- 
 time, radiant and warm as a flame of fire in the night season. If our 
 hearts are filled with thy grace, there shall be no room for the enemy. 
 Fill our hearts with thy truth, and our minds with thy light, as thy truth 
 and thy light are known in the Son of God, and in our soul there shall be 
 the seal of heaven. 
 
 We thank thee for thy book, so grand in doctrine, so wondrous in its 
 outlook, so tender in its benedictions, so beautiful in all its gospels. 
 May we know it, love it, reproduce it in our lives, and show that we are 
 men in whom is the indwelling and inspiring God. May our life be a 
 secret like thine own ; may men take knowledge of us that we have been 
 with Jesus and have learned of him. May we surprise them not by our 
 information, but by our wisdom. Behind and above all that we say, 
 may there be a mystery of light and of love, not to be solved by the com- 
 mon understanding. May we in Christ, thy Son, our Saviour, have bread 
 that the world knoweth not of, and of the fulness of grace may we eat and 
 drink abundantly day by day. Thou hast led us out of sin, and through 
 a long wilderness of education and discipline. Lead us into Canaan's 
 gardens, into the wider liberty, into the ampler spaces, and may our 
 souls enjoy all the comfort and hope of spiritual freedom. Give us un- 
 derstanding of thy word. Show us how thy book is full of seed ; show 
 us that nothing in thy book has come to fruition ; that we have in thy 
 book the great seed house. May we sow the seed in good and honest 
 hearts, and may it be watered with dew from heaven, warmed by the sun 
 of thy righteousness and love, and may it bring forth not only according 
 to its kind, but according to the kind of soil in which it is sown. Then 
 shall thy church be a beautiful garden, a wondrous landscape with all 
 
THE ANNOTATED TEXT. 147 
 
 beauteous growths adorning and enriching it, and heaven will smile to 
 see a world so blest. 
 
 Thou knowest us altogether, our sharpest pain, our dullest care, the 
 anxiety that gnaws the inmost heart, the joy that sings in the spring air 
 like a bird, the hope that lures us with heavenly persuasion on to some 
 nobler conquest and greater peace. According to our necessity and vari- 
 ous condition, do thou now command thy blessing to rest upon every 
 soul. We thank thee for all thy love ; it comes before the rising of the 
 sun, it remains through the shining of the stars, it is never withheld. We 
 live upon it ; without it we must needs die. Show us that though we are 
 here but for a little while thou art preparing us for great revelations and 
 supreme destinies ; and in view of the joy that has yet to be, may we for- 
 get our little sorrows, may our woes be lost in the sea of gladness which 
 thou hast prepared for us. 
 
 The Lord hold the light above his own book whilst we read it. The 
 Lord cause a light to shine out of the book whilst we peruse it. The 
 Lord turn over the pages with his own fingers. The Lord whisper to us 
 the meaning of the spirit whilst we read the letter. The Lord speak to 
 us from the cross of forgiveness, pardon, absolution, complete, entire, 
 final ; and to the release of forgiveness add the joy of sanctification. 
 Amen. 
 
 Acts vii. 1-53. 
 
 1. Then said the high priest, Are these things so ? 
 
 2. And he said, Men, [omit Meii\ brethren, and fathers, hearken ; The 
 God of glory [the term is applied to the Incarnate Word, John i. 14] ap- 
 peared unto our father [Stephen if even a proselyte might use this expres- 
 sion] Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, [his ancestral home was 
 called Ur of the Chaldees] before he dwelt [the Greek word implies a set- 
 tled residence] in Charran, 
 
 3. And said unto him. Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kin- 
 dred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. [The destination 
 of the emigrants was known before they started from Ur.] 
 
 4. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, [with Babylon for 
 its capital] and dwelt in Charran : and from thence, when his father was 
 dead, he removed [caused him to migrate] him into this land, wherein ye 
 now dwell. 
 
 5. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set 
 his foot on : yet he promised that he would give it to him for a posses- 
 sion, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 
 
 6. And God spake on this wise, [Gen. xv. 13, 14] That his seed should 
 sojourn in a strange land ; and that they should bring them into bond- 
 age, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 
 
 7. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said 
 God : and after that shall they come forth, [with great substance] and 
 
148 ACTS VII. I -S3. 
 
 serve me in this place, [these words are not in the promise given to 
 Abraham, but are taken from Exod. iii. 12.] 
 
 8. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision : [given the year be- 
 fore Isaac was born] and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him 
 the eighth day ; and Isaac begat Jacob ; and Jacob begat the twelve 
 patriarchs. 
 
 9. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, [the same word is used Acts 
 xvii. 5] sold Joseph into Egypt : but God was with him, [the argument 
 being that as God's presence is not circumscribed, neither should his wor- 
 ship be confined to place]. 
 
 10. And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour 
 and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt ; and he made him 
 governor over Egypt and all his house. 
 
 11. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt [the oldest 
 MSS. omit the land of "] and Chanaan, and great affliction : and our 
 fathers found no sustenance. 
 
 12. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out 
 our fathers first [before he himself went away from Canaan into Egypt]. 
 
 13. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren ; 
 and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. 
 
 14. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his 
 kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. 
 
 15. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, 
 
 16. And were carried over into Sychem, [Shechem] and laid in the 
 sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor 
 the father of Sychem. 
 
 17. But when [as] the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had 
 sworn [vouchsafed] to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 18. Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. 
 
 iq. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated 
 [" made them to cut a great many channels for the river, and set them to 
 build pyramids, forced them to learn all sorts of mechanical arts, and to 
 accustom themselves to hard M!oo\xx. "'^Josephus?^ our fathers, so that 
 they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live, 
 
 20. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nour- 
 ished up in his father's house three months : 
 
 21. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and 
 nourished him for her own son. 
 
 22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and 
 was mighty in words and in deeds. 
 
 23. And when he was full forty years old, [the verb in the original inti- 
 mates that the forty years were just being completed] it came into his 
 heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 
 
 24. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and 
 avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian : 
 
THE ANNOTATED TEXT. 149 
 
 25. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God 
 by his hand would deliver them : but they understood not. 
 
 26. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and 
 would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren ; why do 
 ye wrong one to another ? 
 
 27. But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who 
 made thee a ruler and a judge over us ? 
 
 28. Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? 
 
 29. Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of 
 Madian, [probably the peninsula on which Mount Sinai stands] where he 
 begat two sons [Gersham and Eliezer]. 
 
 30. And when forty years [making Moses eighty years old] were 
 expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel 
 of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 
 
 31. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight : and as he drew 
 near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, 
 
 32. Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the 
 God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst 
 not behold. 
 
 33. Then said the Lord to him. Put off thy shoes from thy feet : for 
 the place where thou standest is holy ground. 
 
 34. I have seen, I have seen [the Greek is an attempt to imitate an em- 
 phatic Hebrew construction, and is literally " having seen, I have seen"] 
 the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their 
 groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will 
 send thee into Egypt. 
 
 35. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler 
 and a judge ? the same did God send [the verb is in the perfect tense in 
 the original] to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which 
 appeared to him in the bush. 
 
 36. He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs 
 in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty 
 years. 
 
 37. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A 
 prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like 
 unto me ; him shall ye hear. 
 
 38. This is he, that was in the church [congregation] in the wilderness 
 ■with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our 
 fathers ; who received the lively oracles to give unto us : 
 
 39. To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, 
 and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 
 
 40. Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us : for as for this 
 Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is 
 become of him. 
 
 41. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the 
 idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 
 
I50 ACTS VII. 1-53. 
 
 42. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of 
 heaven ; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, 
 have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty 
 years in the wilderness ? 
 
 43. Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god 
 Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them : and I will carry you 
 away beyond Babylon. 
 
 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he 
 had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to 
 the fashion that he had seen, 
 
 45. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into 
 the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our 
 fathers, unto the days of David ; 
 
 46. Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for 
 the God of Jacob. 
 
 47. But Solomon built him an house. 
 
 48. Howbeit the most High dwelleth net in temples made with hands ; 
 as saith the prophet, 
 
 49. Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool : what house will 
 ye build me ? saith the Lord : or what is the place of my rest ? 
 
 50. Hath not my hand made all these things ? 
 
 51. Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always 
 resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so do ye. 
 
 52. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they 
 have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One ; of 
 whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers : 
 
 53. Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have 
 not kept it. 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF STEPHEN. 
 
 HOW does this speech happen to be here .? It is a long one. 
 Who put it down } It reads like a verbatim report ; who 
 reported it } It would be easy for the memory to carry a sentence 
 or two ; but who could record so long and so highly-informed a 
 speech as the one which is given in this chapter } There was a 
 young man listening to this speech with no friendly ear. His 
 name was Saul. It is supposed that afterward, when he became 
 Paul, he related this speech to Luke,, who wrote it in this form. 
 It is not a correct report. No man can report chain lightning. 
 You may catch a little here and there of such eloquence, but the 
 speech itself, in all the elements that lifted it up into historic 
 importance, jt was not in the power of memory to carry, or in the 
 
UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 151 
 
 power of recollection to reproduce. This is not Stephen' s speech, 
 and you must not therefore hold him responsible for it ; they did 
 not give Stephen an opportunity of revising his speech. He 
 spoke, and they hurried him on ; the punctuation did not undergo 
 the criticism of Stephen's eye. The speech itself is full of historic 
 blunders and contradictions. It is Saul's recollection of Stephen's 
 defence. It is little or nothing more. You have only to compare 
 the Old Testament statements with the statements which Stephen 
 is said to have made, and you will see at once discrepancy after 
 discrepancy, and in one or two cases you will see blank and palpa- 
 ble contradiction. This gives us another view of inspiration than 
 that which we have sometimes too narrowly held. The speech is 
 true, and yet not factual. What is said here is Biblical, but not 
 textual. There is no statement here made that is not spiritually 
 true, and yet there are few sentences in the elaborate apology that 
 may not be challenged on some technical ground. Some persons 
 imagine that they are inspired when they are only technical. They 
 forget that you may not have a single text in support of what you 
 are stating, and yet may have the whole Bible in defence of it. 
 The Bible is not a text, it is a tone ; it is not a piece of technical 
 evidence, it is an inspiration, a wind blowing where it listeth, to 
 carry with it everywhere life, and freshness, and liberty. 
 
 Looking at this speech therefore not as a verbatim report, but 
 as a resume given by an unfriendly hearer, but a most friendly 
 reporter, we may take it as giving the principal features in Stephen's 
 character. The man who reported this speech to Luke made it the 
 basis and the model of his own immortal apologies. Truly we 
 sometimes borrow from unacknowledged sources ; certainly we are 
 sometimes indebted to unknown influences for some of our best 
 inspirations. To think that a man whom they appointed with six 
 others to watch over the ministration of tables should have become 
 the first Christian martyr apologist, and should have given the 
 model for the greatest speeches ever delivered by man, namely, the 
 speeches of Paul himself when put upon his trial and defence, is 
 surely a very miracle of Providence ! How little Stephen knew 
 what he was doing. Who really knows the issue and full effect of 
 any action or speech ? Who can tell what little sentences are 
 quoted in the sick room, what suggestions are taken from the 
 speaker's lips and sent in letters to those far away and ill at ease ? 
 
[52 ACTS VII. 1-53. 
 
 Who can tell what echoes of spent eloquence follow the hearer 
 through his daily engagements, and cheer him in days of dejec- 
 tion ? Life is not marked off in so many inches and done with ; 
 it is full of reference, allusion, collateral and incidental bearing, 
 so that an act done is not self-complete, but may be the beginning 
 of endless other acts nobler than itself. Compare the great ora- 
 tions of Paul with the speech of Stephen, and you will be struck 
 with the manner in which the scholar reproduced the master, and 
 how Stephen transfused himself into Paul's very spirit, and was 
 under God the making of that sublime Aposde. 
 
 I think it is fair criticism to infer the man from the speech on 
 all occasions. It is sometimes proverbially said, " The voice is the 
 man." We may enlarge that common saying, and declare with 
 wisdom, I believe, that the speech is the character. Following 
 this suggestion, what kind of man was Stephen, judged by the 
 speech which is reported in this chapter .-■ Accused of blasphemy, 
 he is called upon for his defence. How does he reveal himself .-* 
 Surely we may in the first instance describe him as a man well 
 versed in the Scriptures. From beginning to end his speech is a 
 Scriptural one ; quotation follows quotation like shocks of thun- 
 der. There is very little of Stephen himself until he comes to the 
 application of his Scriptural references. Stephen was a man who 
 had read his Bible ; therein he separates himself from the most of 
 modern people. Personally I cannot call to mind a single person 
 who ever read the Bible and disbelieved it. It belongs peculiarly 
 to the Bible to get hold of its readers little by little ; subtly it gets 
 round about their souls, so that when they come to the amen of 
 the Apocalypse they find themselves spiritually, if not literally, on 
 their knees in homage to the Spirit of the Book. We all know 
 numerous persons who abuse the Bible who have never read it. 
 Such opposition is natural, and when lunacy becomes philosophy 
 it will be about the most rational course to pursue. Not that such 
 persons have not read parts of the Bible ; such parts they have 
 perused without understanding ; they misquote every passage 
 which they cite, and they make imperfect reference to every 
 Biblical proposition they undertake to dispute. They do not dis- 
 tinguish between verse and Bible, — fractions and whole numbers. 
 Who really knows the Bible by heart .-' It is the boast of some of 
 us that we can recite from end to end five plays of Shakespeare. 
 
SPIRITUAL HISTORY. 153 
 
 Who can recite the Book of Psalms ? You call upon your little 
 children to recite nonsense verses, and it is well enough that now 
 and then the little ones should do so. Which of your children 
 can recite a chapter of the Gospel according to John ? Where is 
 the man who can repeat word for word one of Paul's letters to the 
 Corinthians ? And would not some of us be posed if we were 
 called upon at a moment's notice to recite six verses of Paul's 
 letter to the Romans ? Only the men. who know the Bible should 
 quote it. Only those who are steeped in the Scriptures, saturated 
 through and through with Divine truth, should undertake to 
 express any opinion about it. This is the law in all other criti- 
 cism, and in common justice it ought to be the law in relation to 
 the Book which we believe to be the inspired revelation of God. 
 Is this not just .? Are we asking for anything in the Church which 
 would not be granted in the Polytechnic and the Lyceum .? To 
 undertake to discuss an author without knowing him, knowing 
 him within his very spirit and purpose, is to trifle with the 
 occasion, not to rise to its dignity and responsibility. When the 
 Church knows its Bible well, we may trust it anywhere. When 
 other voices arise to charm its ear, what piping voices they will bei 
 what pitiful moans and feeble notes, after the infinite thunder and 
 ineffable music of Moses and the Prophets, of the Psalms, and 
 Evangelists of Christ 1 
 
 Having this complete knowledge of Scripture, Stephen next 
 shows himself to have been a man who took a broad and practical 
 view of history. It is as difficult to find a man who has read his- 
 tory as to find a man who has read the Bible. History itself is a 
 term which needs definition. A man does not know history 
 because he can glibly repeat all the kings of England from the 
 Conquest until now — that is not history. We justly ask our 
 younger students to construct a party. Giving them this or that 
 Pope as president of the Council, we say, collect around him the 
 leading men of his day. It is interestng to watch how the table 
 is supplied with visitors, how every chair is filled up, and how the 
 symposium is completed with accuracy — but that is not history. 
 You will find that history is not a letter, and is not to be reported in 
 letters : it is a tone, an inspiration, a subtle, impalpable, all involv- 
 ing something — full of voices, full of music, vibrating, throbbing 
 with indefinable life and cnergv. You do not learn historv from the 
 
154 ACTS VII. 1-53. 
 
 books. From the books you learn the facts, but, in a sense which 
 might be defended at length if requisite, having ascertained the 
 facts, you must make history. The novelist is a better historian 
 than the mere annalist, because history is an atmosphere. It is 
 not only a panorama of passing incidents and anecdotes great and 
 small ; it is a spirit which only the wizard can evoke and express. 
 Stephen lived in history. His •vsas not a little rootless life that lay 
 on the surface, that the sun could smite with withering fire. 
 Stephen belonged to the past, and therefore to the present. 
 Stephen was a member of a great and noble household, he was a 
 link in a far-stretching chain, he was an element in a great com- 
 position. Why should we live the shallow life of men who have 
 no history behind them .? We are encompassed by a great cloud 
 of witnesses. Behind us, the undying dead ; beyond us, the 
 immortal livng. By what right do we dissociate ourselves from 
 currents, historic and providential .? We have no right to disen- 
 noble ourselves, and commit an act of dismembership which sepa- 
 rates us from the agony, the responsibility, and the destiny of the 
 race. In Christ we have all to be one. " The whole family in 
 heaven and on earth" was the language of Paul ; and that lan- 
 guage ought to be ours if we would realize what it is to be sons of 
 God, mighty in the Scriptures, and inspired by history. 
 
 Stephen was, in the third place, a man who was/hrad I'n/o acUon 
 by his deep convictions. That is a word which has somehow slipped 
 out of our vocabulary. Why should I say slipped out of our 
 vocabulary ? It has only done so because it has slipped out of our 
 life. Who now has any co7tviciions ? Life is now a game, a 
 series of expedients. It consists of a succession of experiments. 
 It is a speculation, a bet, a fool's wager, a leap in the dark. It 
 is not an embodied and sacrificial conviction. In the old, old 
 days, men used to live because they could not help it. In those 
 days they spoke because they believed. They had no necessity 
 to get up a speech, to prepare and arrange it in words that would 
 offend nobody, and would be recollected by no hearer. In old 
 Christian days men spoke as naturally and as necessarily as they 
 breathed. Without faith we cannot have eloquence ; words 
 innumerable, but not speech of the heart, sparks from the life, 
 flashes from the inward and living altar. It is not enough to have 
 information, k is not enough, my young brother, preparing for 
 
THE RHETORICAL MODEL. 155 
 
 the pulpit, to have an encyclopaedia of mere knowledge of letters 
 and of books ; you must have the believing and the understanding 
 heart, the resolute will, which can only come from the Holy 
 Ghost. If you believe Christianity, you will not need any ex- 
 hortation to speak it. Speech about Christianity, where it is known 
 and loved, is the best necessity of this life. The fire burns, the 
 heart muses, and the tongue speaks. If timidly, still clearly, and 
 if timidly, not with the timidity of cowardice, but with the self-re- 
 straint of modesty. It was not enough for Stephen ; hence in the 
 fifty-first verse you find that Stephen was a man whose inforviation 
 burned into religious earnestness. Having made his quotation he 
 turned round as preachers dare not turn round now. " Ye stiff- 
 necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist 
 the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." It 'was an 
 offensive speech. It was unpardonable then, and it would be un- 
 pardonable now. Why was it unpardonable } Because it was 
 truth made pointed. It was doctrine personalized, and that no 
 man will ever endure. No man goes to church to be spoken to. 
 There is not a man amongst us would be here to-day if he knew 
 that the preacher would personally rebuke his sins. The man 
 who would listen all day with delight to an eloquent malediction 
 upon the depravity of the whole world would leave the church if 
 you told him he was a drunkard or a thief. We live in generali- 
 ties. So preaching is now dying, or it is becoming a trick in elo- 
 quence, or it is offering a grand opportunity for saying nothing 
 about nothing. It used to turn the world upside down. It used 
 to be followed by blows, and stones, and fires, and racks. 
 
 Stephen shows us the model of the great speaker ; we need no 
 book of rhetoric beyond this great apology. Called upon, he ad- 
 dresses his auditors with courtesy as " Men, brethren, and 
 fathers." He begins calmly, with the serenity of conscious 
 power. He quotes from undisputed authority. Every step he 
 takes is a step in advance. There is not in all his narration one 
 circular movement. Having accumulated his facts and put them 
 in the most vivid manner, he suddenly, like the out-bursting of a 
 volcano, applies the subject, saying, " Ye stiff-necked and uncir- 
 cumcised in heart and ears, yc do always resist the Holy Ghost. 
 As your fathers did, so do ye." Are these the people he de- 
 scribed at the beginning of his speech t Then he called them. 
 
156 ACTS VII. 1-53. 
 
 " Men, brethren, and fathers." This is the law of argumentative 
 progress. Begin courteously, and beg the confidence and respect- 
 ful attention of your hearers. At the beginning, before they had 
 heard the statement, they are, ' ' Men, brethren, and fathers, ' ' but 
 your speech will be their responsibility. They will not be the 
 same at the end of the speech as they were at the beginning. So 
 the hearers who were ' ' Men, brethren, and fathers' ' in the exor- 
 dium, are "Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears" 
 in the peroration ! A preacher may begin as courteously as he 
 pleases, but having got out the truth, having showed what God is 
 and has done, and wants to be done, his conclusion should be a 
 judgment as well as a gospel. Is it possible for any man to-day 
 to be a Stephen .? Why not } The Bible is still here. Every one 
 of us can read it in the tongue in which he was born, and every 
 one of us may by the grace and gift of the Holy Ghost have a 
 calm and sovereign confidence in the truth. That is what is 
 wanted. Do not put your case tentatively, interrogatively, sug- 
 gestively. The Bible is either a revelation or it is an imposition. 
 It is either the truth or the aggravation of all falsehood. Range 
 yourselves upon the one side or the other, and, having the truth 
 of God, speak it. But how did Stephen know all about the case ? 
 Was he, as suggested, the second disciple who travelled on that 
 eventide from Jerusalem to Emmaus .? None can decide that 
 question. There is some inferential evidence in favor of the view. 
 For my part, I think it is most probably true. On that, however, 
 no definite and final opinion can be pronounced by any man. 
 But suppose that Stephen was the very disciple when the two 
 walked together and were sad, and as they went together Jesus 
 himself drew near, but their eyes were holden that they should not 
 know him. Having inquired into the circumstances of the case, 
 he said, " Oh, fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
 prophets have spoken," and, beginning at Moses and the proph- 
 ets, he expounded to them in all Scripture the things concerning 
 himself. What if Saul reported Stephen, and Stephen reported 
 Christ, and so the great Gospel goes on from man to man, from 
 tongue to tongue, till the last man hears it, and his heart bums 
 within him ! 
 
XVII. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 {Easter Sunday.^ 
 
 O Thou who hast thyself risen from the dead, raise us up also with 
 thyself that we may die no more. We bless thee for the word of resur- 
 rection, for the gospel of restoration, and for the hope that death itself 
 shall die and the whole creation be filled with joyous life. If we be risen 
 with Christ we will set our affections on things above. Help us in this 
 way to show how truly we have been buried with Christ, and how cer- 
 tainly we have been raised again with the Son of God. May we know 
 the fellowship of his sufferings and the power of his resurrection. Cruci' 
 fied with Christ, may we also rise with him. Having known his shame, 
 may we share his glory. Help us to overcome in the great battle of life, 
 that we may sit down with Christ upon his throne. 
 
 Thou dost bring the years round from day to day, with all their sacred 
 memories, with all their solemn inspirations, and with all their ennobling 
 and instructive lessons. May ours be the seeing eyes, the hearing ears, 
 and the hearts that do understand. Let nothing of thy providence be 
 wasted upon us. Let the whole ministry of thy grace operate constantly 
 in our hearts, subduing every evil passion, controlling every unholy 
 thought, and lifting our whole life up to the sublimity of the life of Christ. 
 We bless thee for all thy care. May we never forget thy benefits. Make 
 our memories quick to retain every gracious impression, and whilst our 
 memory remembers may our hope strengthen itself upon nourishment 
 from heaven, that it may live through all the night of life, and finally 
 enter into the joy of heaven's own morning. 
 
 Thou hast reminded us this day of the open grave of the Son of God. 
 He is not here. He is risen. We will not seek the living among the 
 dead. Our hearts will fly towards the heavens where the Christ of God 
 now pleads and prays, and we will breathe our prayer through His infinite 
 intercession, and because of his priesthood the answer to our desire shall 
 be worthy of thyself, thou giver of all good. Our hope is still in the 
 Cross ; our confidence is in the abandoned tomb. Because Christ died 
 we shall live, and because he rose again from the dead death shall have 
 no dominion over us. Having this hope in us, may we purify ourselves, 
 and set ourselves earnestly to all the high service of thy kingdom. May 
 we not be slothful ; may we rather be reckoned among those who redeem 
 the time, and who prevent the rising of the sun, and toil till the night has 
 
58 ACTS VII. I -S3. 
 
 fallen. Blessed is that servant who shall be found waiting and watching 
 and -serving when his Lord cometh. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. 
 Delay not thy coming. The earth is wearying for thee, and the whole 
 creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Come as 
 thou wilt, and when thou wilt, only make us ready to receive thee with 
 the eager love which should possess the hearts of men redeemed. 
 
 Comfort thy people. Speak a work of tender consolation to the heart 
 that is filled with trouble. To some, life is a river of tears, a long pain, 
 a dark and terrible disappointment, an agony which death alone can heal. 
 Surely thou knovvest such, and to-day, when the heavens are glad with a 
 new hymn, and the earth is young with a new spring, and a new hope, 
 thou wilt find them out in their hiding-places, and make them also glad. 
 
 Help us to hold on steadfastly during the few years that remain. May 
 there be no break in our constancy ; may our fidelity be without flaw or 
 hesitation ; may our life, redeemed with blood, spare not itself in the ser- 
 vice of thy truth ; and may our whole hope in Christ be made glad at last 
 •with the revelation and the enjoyment of his own heaven. Amen. 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF STEPHEN. 
 Acts vii. {continued^. 
 
 THE first use we made of this speech was to inquire into the 
 character of the speaker. I propose to recur now to this 
 great apology, and to use it in the second place for the purpose of 
 showing the method of Divine revelation and providence. Taking 
 this great speech as our guide, what is the method of God's revela- 
 tion to His creatures and the method of His providence over 
 them ? Let us see whether what is related here agrees with our 
 own observation and experience. It may be that we can re- 
 deliver Stephen's great speech ourselves. If we cannot find the 
 words of such eloquence, we can identify Stephen's words as a fit 
 expression of the sentiments which animate our own hearts. The 
 first point to which attention is now called is the verj' point which 
 came before us in our first study of the Acts of the Apostles. 
 Notice how God has from the beginning made himself known to 
 individuals. Stephen relates the great names of history. Some 
 names are as mountains on the landscape. We start our journeys 
 from them, we reckon our distances by them, we measure our 
 progress according to their height. God does not reveal Himself 
 to great crowds of men by some common revelation which ten 
 thousand men seize at one and the same moment. So Stephen 
 tells us that God appeared to Abram, to Joseph, to Moses, and to 
 
THE FACT OF PERSONAL ELECTION. 
 
 159 
 
 Solomon. This is the method of the Divine revelation all through 
 and through history. It is in some senses a perplexing method, 
 but we cannot deny it. We may reason about it, and fear it as 
 we fear a great dark cloud, but there it is ; and it is not there only 
 in theology, it is there in science, in politics, in commerce, in 
 literature, in family life, all through and through — the fact that 
 God speaks to the individual, and entrusts him with some great 
 gospel or spiritual mystery, or of scientific and commercial prog- 
 ress. Why make so much ado about religious election .-' Why 
 talk about election as if it were a distinctively and exclusively re- 
 ligious word .'' You find this principle of the selection of individ- 
 uals as evangelists, apostles, preachers, and pastors, in agriculture, 
 in astronomy, in statesmanship, in theology. If we could con- 
 ceive valid objections against any accidental application of this doc- 
 trine of personal election, we should still have to emcounter it 
 along the whole line of human history. How is it that one man 
 in the family has all the sense ? How is it that one of your boys 
 has all the adventure } How is it that one man is a poet and 
 another a mathematician ? How is it that one boy can never be 
 got to stay at home and his own brother can never be got to leave 
 home .? How is it that one man speaks out the word that ex- 
 presses the inarticulate thought of a generation, though all other 
 men would have been afraid to speak it, even if they had been 
 wise enough to discover it ? Stephen therefore recognizes this 
 great principle in the Divine revelation, that God speaks to individ- 
 uals, and clothes individuals with peculiar and most solemn re- 
 sponsibility. In all ages God has had His prophets, apostles, 
 evangelists, errand runners, men who have digged into the rocks 
 and soared into the stars, and plunged through tumultuous seas to 
 discover unknown lands. God has adopted the same method also 
 in the kingdom of heaven. He has made some apostles, some 
 prophets, some pastors and teachers, but the principle of individual 
 election and coronation has been the same. 
 
 In the second place Stephen recognizes the great fact that God 
 has constantly come along the line of surprise. Revelation has 
 never been a commonplace. Wherever God has revealed Himself 
 He has surprised the person on whom the revealing light has 
 fallen. The power of surprise is one of the greatest powers at the 
 disposal of any teacher. How to put the old as if it were the 
 
[6o ACTS VII. 1-53. 
 
 new ! How to set fire to common sense so that it shall bum up 
 into genius ? How to reveal to a man his bigger and better self ! 
 How has God proceeded according to the historical narration of 
 Stephen? To Abram he said, " Get thee out from thy country 
 and from thy kindred. ' ' We cannot conceive the shock of sur- 
 prise with which these words would be received. Travelling then 
 was not what travelling is now. Get thee out on foot, bind on 
 thy sandals, take thy staff, gather together thy family, and go out, 
 not knowing whither thou goest ! No man could receive a call 
 of that kind as a mere commonplace ! It must have gone thrill- 
 ingly through every fibre of the man's being. Called to leave 
 something positive for something promised — called to give up a 
 reality in the hope of realizing a dream ! Then pass on to the 
 case of Joseph. Stephen reminded his hearers that God gave 
 Joseph favor and wisdom. Joseph's life was a surprise — a greater 
 surprise to himself than to anybody that could look upon it 
 How was it that he always had the key of the gate .? Why did 
 men turn to him in the night-time, and ask him the way through 
 the valley of darkness and across the mountain of gloom } How 
 was it that he only could tell the King the meaning of the King's 
 dream } Then pass on to Moses. Stephen recognizes the same 
 principle of surprise, for he reminds his hearers that God appeared 
 unto Moses in a flaming bush — not that He baptized him with the 
 dew, not that he insensibly surrounded him with a new atmosphere, 
 and breathed upon him a benediction without words. Moses was 
 startled. The power of surprise was used by the Almighty to attract 
 .attention. So a bush flamed at the mountain base, and a voice said 
 to the wanderer, Stop ! Nothing but fire can stop some men ! 
 There are those to whom the dew is a gospel, there are others who 
 require the very fire that lights the eternal throne to stop them and 
 arouse their full attention. God knows what kind of book to give 
 you. The book that would suit you might be an offence to your 
 own mother. God knows what kind of ministr}' you need, so He 
 has set in His Church a thousand ministries, of dew, of tender- 
 ness, of lute-like music, of pathos and tears and infinite persuasive- 
 ness, and thunder and lightning, and fire and alarm ! It is not 
 for us to compare the one with the other, but to see in such a dis- 
 tribution of power God's purpose to touch every creature in the 
 whole world. • 
 
THE MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. i6i 
 
 In the third place, Stephen, looking over the whole range of 
 human history, shows how God has all the time been overruling 
 improbabilities and disasters. We should say that when God has 
 called a man to service, the road would be wide, clear of all ob- 
 structions, filled with sunshine, lined with flowers, that the man 
 leaning on God's arm will be accompanied by the singing of birds 
 and of angels. Nothing of the kind is true to fact. Stephen rec- 
 ognizes this in very distinct terms. He says that God spake in 
 this wise, that Abram's seed should sojourn in a strange land, and 
 that they should bring them into bondage, and evil entreat them 
 four hundred years ! In the face of such an arrangement can 
 there be an Almighty providence \ Yes. And Joseph was 
 selected, as we have seen, and yet he was sold into Egypt. " God- 
 forsaken" we should say, looking at the outside only. And 
 there were those, as we are reminded by Stephen, who evilly en- 
 treated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children to 
 the end they might not live. Yet the first word was supposed to 
 be a Divine direction ! Moses himself was " cast out. " Stephen 
 does not cover these things up or make less of them, or seek to 
 hasten away from them as from disagreeable circumstances in the 
 order of Divine Providence. Nay, he relates them, masses them 
 into great black groups, and says — Still the great thought went on 
 and on ! There is the majesty of the Divine Providence. Its 
 movement is not lost in pits, and caves, and wildernesses, and rivers, 
 and seas. The disasters are many, the sufferings are severe, the 
 disappointments are innumerable and unendurable ; still the 
 thought goes on. Judge nothing before the time. So is it with 
 our own life. To-day white-clothed apostles, mighty with God, 
 the uplifting of our hands a prevailing prayer — to-morrow like 
 the beasts that perish ! Living the forbidden life, eating stolen 
 bread, living the beggar's life, can we be the called of God ? 
 Can God be living in us and leading us onward to some great 
 destiny } Yes ! He will yet cause death itself to die. There 
 shall be joy in the presence of the angels of God over this lit- 
 tle sin-blighted earth, more than over ninety and nine of the 
 planets that never knew the tragedy of sin ! Do not say you 
 are forsaken of God because you have broken every command- 
 ment of the ten. The gift of God is not a question of good be- 
 haviour as from the outside, and as measurable by the letter ; it 
 
i62 ACTS 17/. 1-53. 
 
 is a question oi purpose, Ihoiighi, supreme intent ; and GOD alone 
 is judge ! 
 
 There is nothing in this review of history as conducted by 
 Stephen that ought to startle us as a novelty, or disturb us as an 
 improbability. God has revealed himself to individuals in the 
 making of the steam-engine, and the spinning jenny, and the tele- 
 graph, and the telephone, and a thousand other things. He did 
 not reveal these inventions or possible inventions to all together, 
 but to the singular man, to the solitary student, to the one brood- 
 ing mind. " The Holy Ghost hath overshadowed thee, therefore, 
 that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the gift 
 of God !" That is true of every miraculous conception, whether 
 it be of the Son of God or of the last invention of progressive civil- 
 ization. Do not, then, distrust the individual teacher. 
 
 There is a common sophism, which only requires to be stated 
 to refute itself, to the effect that it is very strange that God should 
 have kept back this or that truth until this or that man should 
 have arisen. There is nothing in all history less strange. It is 
 God's common method. Yet there are those to-day who will tell 
 you that it is very strange that God should have kept back his truth 
 for nineteen hundred years, and should have revealed it to this 
 latest of the teachers. It is a most fallacious sophism. We all 
 know better. It is God's plan to say to Abram, " Get thee out." 
 To call individual minds to his service, and to set the flame of the 
 new revelation on the altar of the indvidual understanding. Do 
 not fear to be surprised. Distrust commonplace rather than naveliy. 
 Astonishment would seem to be the key-word of the Divine Book. 
 Every page is a surprise. Every syllable flames with a new light. 
 The Lord sends us not a new book, but new readers of the book, 
 men whose tones are comments and whose expositions are revela- 
 tions. Do not succumb to misfortune. Our fathers were evil en- 
 treated, said Stephen ; for four hundred years they seemed to have 
 'no deliverer. Moses was cast out ; Joseph had been thrown into 
 prison ; disaster had marked the whole history of the Church. It 
 was still God' s Church, and you are God's child, his loved one 
 still, though you have been evil entreated, and have done evil, and 
 have left undone much that you ought to have done. God does 
 not elect and disentitle according to our paltry rules and techni- 
 calities. " The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 
 
ANCIENT AND MODERN PROVIDENCE. 163 
 
 Bruised, ragged, sin-stained, tearful, worn, we may yet arrive at 
 the city whose streets are gold and whose walls are jasper, for 
 God's grace is greater than man's sin. 
 
 Mark how exactly this whole history of Stephen's corresponds 
 with Christ' s method oi revelation and providence. We can trace 
 the whole of the old history in the new, and entirely fit piece to 
 piece, letter to letter, line to line. Did not Christ reveal himself 
 to individuals ? Did he not say to the Abram of his time, " Fol- 
 low me V Did he call ten thousand men with one loud call, or 
 did he go closely to one waiting fisherman and say to him, 
 "Come.?" A greater call than was addressed to Abraham! 
 Peter was summoned to a more honored and sublime destiny. 
 " Follow me ;" to weariness, to shame, to misunderstanding, to 
 reproach, to abandonment, to death, to heaven ! Did not Christ 
 also use the power of surprise? When was he ever received into 
 any town as an ordinary visitor .? Who did not know his voice 
 amongst a hundred others .? Who did not wait for him to speak, 
 and look, and act .? Who was not impatient with all the multi- 
 tude lest they should interrupt any sentence of this marvellous elo- 
 quence .? Did not Christ also take his Church through ifnprobabili- 
 lies, disasters, and dark places .-* Has not his Church been evil 
 entreated .-* Have not our Christian fathers been cast out ? Have 
 we not also our heroes, and sufferers, and martyrs, and crowned 
 ones ? I saw a great city, and one of the elders answered and 
 said unto me, These are they that came out of great tribulation, and 
 have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb. And, lastly, was not Christ always master of the occasion .? 
 Without a place whereon to lay his head, he was still the LORD. 
 Without a beast to ride upon, he still called himself the MASTER. 
 Washing his disciples' feet, he lifted himself up from his stoop to 
 name himself LORD and MASTER. We remember our disas- 
 ters, our slaveries, our punishments, our reproach, and our sor- 
 row ; still, notwithstanding all, the Church is the Lamb's Bride, 
 and he will marry her at the altar of the universe ! 
 
XVIII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thou hast made thy truth a savour of life unto life, or 
 of death unto death. Truly thy word is a fire to enlighten or a fire to 
 destroy. The stone which thou hast set forth in thy Gospel is a won- 
 drous stone. If men fall upon it they will be broken, but if it fall upon 
 men it will grind them to powder. May we know thy Gospel to be the 
 word of life. To us may there be no sound of death in all the utterance 
 of the truth. May our souls leap with joy on hearing the great Gospel 
 of thy Word. We bless thee that we have heard thy truth, that we love 
 its graciousness, and that we answer its music. Thy Word is truth. Thy 
 truth gladdens the heart ; thy truth overthrows the last enemy, and fills 
 the open grave with spring's brightest, sweetest flowers. May we this day 
 enter into thy truth with gladness, with sympathy, with gratitude ; and as 
 we study it in the sanctuary of God may light be increased. Open our 
 eyes until our whole life be filled with glory, and there be round about us 
 the very splendour of heaven. Thou dost grant unto thy people occa- 
 sional seasons of rapture. Sometimes thou dost permit us to look over 
 the boundary line and to see the better land. Now and again thou dost 
 cause us to hear singing which falls from above. We know it by its ten- 
 derness, and sweetness, and power to heal. May this day be a day of 
 vision and of much overhearing of heavenly melodies, and may our 
 hearts be lifted up with all the inspiration of blood-bought freedom, and 
 may we gather under the banner which floats from the Cross itself. 
 Wondrous Cross ! So mean, so grand ! Behold there we see, with our 
 heart's bright eyes, the dying Son of Gcd, the sacrifice for our sins, the 
 one Priest, the infinite Redeemer. We see him die and we see him rise 
 again, and we know that now he prays for us as he only can pray. Re- 
 ceive us, thou Great Intercessor. Speak in words of thine own the griefs 
 we cannot utter, and tell thy Father in words of thine own choosing the 
 keenness of our penitence. We await great answers. We have brought 
 with us the empty vessels of our heart, and mind, and strength, and eveiy 
 power we have, and we await the opening of the windows of heaven, and 
 the deluge that baptizes but never destroys. Our sin is great, but thy 
 grace is greater. It is to grace we come. It is to grace we direct our 
 hope. It is to thyself in thy love that we now hasten like prodigals whose 
 hearts are broken. Receive us every one. Make the old man young 
 again, and may the white hair be but like the white spring blossom, the 
 sign of a real summer. Make the young be sober, strong, enthusiastic. 
 
CONTRARY EFFECTS. 165 
 
 Recall into thy Church the angels we have banished, the angels of devo- 
 tion, passion, enthusiasm, self-sacrifice. Let thy Church to-day be as thy 
 Church of long ago, when she walked abroad in the earth, and men knew 
 her by the fire which glowed in her eyes, and by the graciousness of her 
 persuasive speech. Be with all good and honest men — with the mission- 
 ary here, the evangelist yonder, with the sower of heaven's own seed, 
 and may we one day see him coming back from the field burdened only 
 because the sheaves are so many. Amen. 
 
 Acts vii. 54-60. 
 
 54. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they 
 gnashed on him with their teeth. 
 
 55. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into 
 heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand 
 of God, 
 
 56. And said. Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man 
 standing on the right hand of God. 
 
 57. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and 
 ran upon him with one accord, 
 
 58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him : and the witnesses 
 laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 
 
 59. 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. 
 
 THE DOUBLE EFFECT OF TRUTH. 
 
 TRUTH would always seem to produce a double effect. Some 
 time ago we read that when the people heard Peter's 
 speech they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and 
 to the rest of the Apostles, ' ' Men and brethren, what shall we 
 do?" When the people heard Stephen deliver substantially the 
 same message they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him 
 with their teeth. This is the history of preaching. It is the his- 
 tory of preaching to-day. This wonderful divergence of feeling is 
 developed in every congregation where the truth as it is in Jesus is 
 proclaimed with faithfulness and power. The Gospel is either a 
 savour of life unto life or of death unto death, that is to say, it 
 either saves men or it kills them. No man is the same after a ser- 
 mon that he was before. It is a solemn thing to be in the sanc- 
 tuary at all, and no man can pass through the services of the sane- 
 
i66 ACTS VII. 54-60. 
 
 tuary, with any interest either on one side or on the other, and be 
 precisely the same at the end as he was at the beginning. In pro- 
 portion as this is not so the Gospel is not preached. We must 
 not confound the permanent with the accidental. If men can 
 hear sermons now, and be simply amused or pleased, gratified or 
 delighted, something has been left out in the statement made by 
 the preacher. He has concealed the Lord's sword, he has thrown 
 water upon the burning fire, he has delivered but a one-sided mes- 
 sage. " The word of the Lord is sharper than a two-edged sword ; 
 it pierceth to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow." 
 Where preaching has become child's play, and hearing a dreary 
 mind's pious entertainment, then the great features of apostolic 
 preaching have been lost. Have you come hungering and thirst- 
 ing after righteousness, earnestly desiring to see the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost, and to hold sweet and fervent commun- 
 ion with the Triune God .? Then you cannot be disappointed. 
 God will not allow disappointment to follow such aspirations. 
 He would deny himself if he could, for he has plainly said, *' Bless- 
 ed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they 
 shall be filled." The Lord is not a host who invites more guests 
 than his banqueting-table will accommodate. There is no short- 
 ness in the Father's house, there is bread enough and to spare. 
 If we bring the hunger, God will find the food. I do not say that 
 the food v,ill be in this portion or in that portion of the service, 
 but it will be somewhere — in Psalm, or hymn, or inspired lesson, 
 or e.xposition, or loving fervent prayer. Nay, if you cannot ex- 
 actly say where it is, if it be as diffused and yet as near as the 
 atmosphere, you will still feel that this is none other than the 
 house of God and the gate of heaven. The righteous man is 
 always satisfied. The good and honest heart never goes away com- 
 plaining. The effect of truth upon the candid mind is an effect 
 of perfect happiness. Judge the mind you brought to the sanc- 
 tuary by the result which accrues from its service. On the other 
 hand, let a man go to the house of God with a prejudiced mind, 
 and what is the effect of prayer, e.xposition, truth, upon him ? 
 You cannot get at him. He is behind a cloud ; he is ensheathed 
 within the armour of an impenetrable hostility. He has come de- 
 termined not to hear what he ought to hear. His purpose is 
 to find fault, to. gratify the discontent which he brought with 
 
LIGHT KILLING AND BLESSING. 167 
 
 him ; nay, it is even to prove his own prophecy, for he said that 
 such and such would be the result, and he is bound to confirm his 
 own word. Even Christ failed before the power of prejudice. 
 What wonder, then, if Stephen also failed to touch the soul that 
 had enclosed itself within the most aggravated prejudices which 
 could confine even a Jewish heart .? 
 
 This brings us face to face with the vital question, in what mind 
 have we come to God' s house ? For what purpose have we open- 
 ed His book } God says himself, to the froward he will show 
 himself froward, and to the upright he will show himself upright. 
 God will be to us as we are to him in these sacred things. This 
 was Jesus Christ's method of revelation to those who heard him. 
 When men came from curiosity, he never satisfied them. When 
 they reared a great wall of prejudice between him and them, he 
 never spoke over it, but turned away. He was a thousand Christs 
 to a thousand different men. " Blessed are the pure in heart for 
 they shall see God." " To this man will I look, to him that is of 
 a broken and contrite heart, and that trembleth at My word. ' ' 
 
 The truth therefore produces one of two effects. It saves or it 
 kills. It raises men from the dead, or it buries them in a grave 
 sevenfold deep. Verily, it is the great power of God. Is the 
 spring sun which is now shining upon us doing the same thing 
 throughout the forest and the garden to everything he finds there } 
 The other day I looked upon a tree that was full of blossom, and 
 under its wide-spreading branches I saw a huge limb of a tree 
 withering away. Was the sun that created the blossom causing 
 the tree branch to wither .? Yes ; that was even so. To the 
 living tree whose roots were struck into the earth the sun was giv- 
 ing life, but to the branch cut away, having nothing but itself to 
 live upon, the sun was pouring down arrows of destruction. The 
 great sun, so hospitably full of light, kind, friendly, was feeding, 
 like a mother-nurse, the living tree, and was killing with pitiless 
 fire the sundered branch. As is the double effect of light, so is 
 the double effect of truth. The question therefore comes back, 
 always. What are we in relation to the truth .? What is our 
 temper ? What is our spirit .? What is our supreme desire } If 
 we can prove that we have brought the hunger, and God has not 
 given the food, then we convict God of a false promise. Who 
 can do so } Nay, rather let God be true, and every man a liar. 
 
1 68 ACTS VII. 54-60. 
 
 But how difficult it is to find the reason in ourselves when the re- 
 sult is not satisfactory. How readily we blame circumstances, and 
 persons, and situations. Who ever puts the dart into his own 
 breast saying, I only am to blame for this unhappy effect ? Con- 
 sider the distance that lies between us and God. Not in majesty, 
 but in moral sympathy. We do not like to entertain God in our 
 hearts. The Almighty has to exercise the full powers of His om- 
 nipotence to bring us even into a hearing attitude. We do not 
 contribute towards the miracle. We do always resist the Holy 
 Ghost ; as our fathers did so do we. If we seek the Lord we shall 
 find him. If we come to the house of God for the truth we shall 
 see it. If we return with disappointment we must find the reason 
 in our own badness. Do I accuse men who do not accept Chris- 
 tian truth of insincerity } . Most certainly not. There may be 
 men listening to this discourse at this moment who have not ac- 
 cepted Christ as I have accepted him, and yet they may be per- 
 fectly sincere. No good is to be gained by bandying charges of in- 
 sincerity. That some are insincere is too plain. I am not talk- 
 ing of all who reject the Gospel, but of men who claim to be of 
 sincere purpose, earnestly wishing to be and to do what is right 
 Thus would I conciliate such persons ; there shall be no contro- 
 versy between me and them where they claim consistency of purpose 
 and intent. But even where there is sincerity there may be a sub- 
 tle action of what I may term intellectual vanity. Not always a 
 conscious vanity. Our life is not measured by our consciousness 
 alone and absolutely. We have a self within a self, and another 
 self deeper still. We are many selves. Oftentimes the mind is its 
 own surprise. Occasionally we feel in ourselves the beating or 
 throbbing of an influence we cannot name. Astronomers tell us 
 that there are pertubations here and there which signify that there 
 is a planet 3'et undiscovered in the neighborhood of these occa- 
 sional and singular agitations. The planet has not been seen ; it 
 has not been named ; its weight and measure are unknown, but 
 because of these perturbations, these eccentric movements, the ex- 
 istence of the planet is known to be a fact. Is it not so also with 
 us } For a time we go on equably, regularly, as if we had ascer- 
 tained our exact intellectual magnitude, and suddenly a new pas- 
 sion starts up in the soul. P^ire unfelt before pierces us like a 
 sting, and for a moment we are other than our usual selves. So 
 
UNCONSCIOUS INTELLECTUAL VANITY. 169 
 
 there may be a conscious or an unconscious intellectual vanity. 
 See what a man has to give up in accepting God's truth in the 
 Gospel ! He has to give up his own respectability. Who can do 
 it ? He has to surrender his own infallibility. He has to say to 
 his own reason many a time, " You are not sufficient for this 
 great service. Reason, divinely beautiful, divinely inspired, 
 divinely sanctified, great reason, strong and noble reason, there is 
 a region you cannot enter, and there is a fellowship of whose lan- 
 guage you do not know one word. Stand thou here whilst I go 
 up to worship yonder." A man has to surrender a good deal 
 before he falls into absolute sympathy with the will and mind of 
 Christ. He has, so to say, to take a sponge and rub out all his 
 own intellectual inferences and conclusions, and make blank 
 places of room which he thought was already filled with inspira- 
 tion. A man has to empty both hands and say, "In my hands 
 no price I bring." He has to cast out of his heart everything of 
 the nature of self-idolatry and self-satisfaction, and has to say in 
 effect, if not in terms — 
 
 " A guilty, weak, and helpless worm. 
 On Thy kind arms I fall." 
 
 A man therefore may be, from his own point of view, sincere, and 
 yet his mind may be narrowed, and perverted, and limited by an 
 unconscious intellectual vanity. There is also a great moral diffi- 
 culty. If some of you were to accept the Gospel this day you 
 could not go to business to-morrow. Christ is not a partner in 
 your firm. If you offered him a share for nothing he would de- 
 cline it. This truth would shut up so many places. Perhaps the 
 Stock Exchange would not be opened at all to-morrow if this 
 Gospel of Christ took right hold of the soul and made it a loving 
 slave. These things must be considered in estimating the double 
 effect of the truth. A man may be sincere, and he may not be 
 conscious of intellectual vanity, and yet he may have to consider 
 his family claims, his commercial position, his success in life. 
 He may say, " I will go through this thicket first, and then I will 
 pray." He may say, " I do not deny the inspiration of the Bible 
 or the claim of the Creator upon the soul, nor do I deny that 
 there is more truth in the universe than I have yet received into 
 my mind ; but if I begin to-day to accept Christ, and to act ac- 
 
[■JO ACTS VII. 54-60. 
 
 cording to his will, I could not live. My trade is a bad one ; it 
 makes people poor and miserable, and it misleads the unwary and 
 the ignorant ; it takes into its iron grip the savings of the indus- 
 trious ; it promises great interest and great rewards to those who 
 trust me, and I do not see how I can at present give it up. ' ' A 
 man under such circumstances is tempted to gnash upon every 
 Stephen with his teeth, to call him rude, offensive, personal, and 
 to cast him out and stone him. Do not suppose that stoning was 
 a Jewish method of treating enemies. Stoning is the method of 
 all countries and of all times. We stone men to-day. We make 
 the Bible so poor by trying to find how much of it was local and 
 temporary. As if we, the leaders of civilization in the nineteenth 
 century, never stoned anybody, when we are stoning men every 
 day ! We throw at them hard words, we write about them bitter 
 things. We endeavour to limit, if not to destroy, their best in- 
 fluence. By many a suggestion we seek to blunt the edge of 
 their keenest appeals for Christ. Do not, therefore, imagine that 
 stoning went out of fashion with the ancient Jews, and has never 
 been heard of since. 
 
 Now comes the question. What is the effect of truth upon us } 
 What are the sermons we like best .? It is curious to listen to the 
 notions of hearers upon that question. There are those who 
 praise the intellectual sermon. They like intellectual truth. 
 They are exceedingly pleased with recondite matter. They are 
 charmed to look into depths which they are never expected them- 
 selves to sound. That is useless, and worse than useless. It is 
 not preaching at all, if it be limited to the intellectual treatment 
 of spiritual truth. There are those who enjoy the poetical treat- 
 ment of truth. They like sweet litde touches of art, phrases bcau- 
 [ tifully cut, diamond phrases with facets throwing back all the glory 
 of the morning sun. That is useless if alone. The merely in- 
 tellectual will do you no good, the merely imaginative may but 
 lull you to undeserved rest. What then do we want .' We want 
 the intellectual, the imaginative, the argumentative, the doctrinal. 
 We want the preaching that will so apply itself to the lives of men 
 as to cause them to cry out, "What shall we do .^" Then we 
 want the great Gospel balm, the evangelical redemption, the Cross 
 of Christ, the Blood of the One Victim, the Sacrifice, all that goes 
 to make up God's heart-offer of pardon and ])cacc. So would I 
 
VARIETIES OF PREACHING. 171 
 
 receive into my confidence and love preachers of all kinds. No 
 one preacher is all preachers. You may regard that statement as 
 trite and paradoxical, but it is significantly true. You must hear 
 all if you would hear the complete one. Do not then stop any 
 man in his career of preaching. Though it be not mine, we are 
 fellow servants, brother prophets, men united in a holy associa- 
 tion, having one head, one truth, the one supplementing the 
 other, and both consenting to the mastership and sovereignty of 
 Christ. Do not imagine that the truth is being badly preached 
 because it is seriously opposed. We hear of those who think it 
 to be their duty to attend certain meetings and gatherings for the 
 purpose of forming their own opinion as to their propriety. It is 
 a shocking display of vanity. Who made them judges, and by 
 what standard do they judge } If the standard itself be wrong, 
 the whole judgment is useless and mischievous. Who made them 
 a judge in God' s sanctuary .? The only standard should be the 
 out-coming usefulness of the service. Show me men edified in 
 the faith, strongly built up in all holy doctrine and thinking, in- 
 creasingly obedient to every command of Christ, becoming gen- 
 tler in temper, nobler in spirit ; show me wicked men convicted, 
 show me self-interested men crying out for vengeance ; and I may 
 conclude that God's truth is being preached there with great vig- 
 our and great effect. But where there is a feeling of sleepiness, 
 of passive acc^uiescence, where hearing is an endurance rather than 
 an opposition ; where there is no opposition because there is no 
 excitement ; I fear that though much may have been said about 
 the Gospel, the Gospel itself has not been heard in the majesty of 
 its moral dignity, and in the tenderness of its redeeming appeal. 
 
XIX. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, this is thine house, and we are safe in it. Thou wilt 
 not suffer the very least of us to perish. There is no death in thine 
 house, thou Father of spirits. We come to thee with great expectation, 
 with the urgency of love and the shame and sorrow following upon per- 
 sonal sin. We stand by the Cross ; we feel its falling blood. We need 
 it all. Cleanse us, and we shall be made clean. Multiply thy grace 
 towards us until our sin is lost in its fulness. We have heard of thine 
 abounding grace. Men have spoken of it as they speak of overflowing 
 rivers and fountains of water covering and refreshing the land. To that 
 grace in Christ we now come. We all come. We press towards it. 
 There is no reluctance in our spirit, but a great constraint, to which we 
 yield with expectant and grateful delight. Liberate us from the bondage 
 of sin. Destroy the dominion of guilt. Let the grace of Christ gather 
 up into itself the sin of the whole world, and slay it for ever. We love 
 thine house : behold, it is not far from heaven. Into it the angels come 
 with sweet messages. Here there is no common tongue, no inferior 
 theme, but here the altar burns with heavenly fire, and the whole place is 
 radiant with light above the brightness of the sun. Wondrous light ! 
 Everywhere, yet not taking up any room ; falling upon the whole uni- 
 verse, but nowhere as a burden. We live in thy light ; without it we 
 needs must die. Let thy light find its way into our hearts, there to nour- 
 ish the roots of all good things, of all high purpose, all noble vows, and 
 all desires after God. Give us such lifting up of soul as shall cause us to 
 see the littleness of earth and the vanity of time, then give us such ideas 
 of duty and sacrifice as shall bring us down to the earth again to do its 
 meanest work as by appointment of heaven. May we not be amongst 
 the slothful servants. May ours be a life of religious industry, so let the 
 Master come when he may, in the morning twilight or in the twilight of 
 evening, or in the bright noon, we shall be ready to meet him. 
 
 Thou art taking away one and another and making the earth poor. 
 Thou dost remove the lamp of science, and silence the voice of eloquence. 
 Thou dost show us that no man is needful to thy purposes upon the 
 earth. Thou alone art God, we are but men. The Lord reigneth, and 
 on his throne there is room for none other. It is enough. It is eternal 
 Sabbath, it is infinite freedom. We are thy servants, and in thy service 
 is liberty. Spurn us not from thy feet, for we have been bought by the 
 Son of thy love, by the Christ of God, by the Priest of the Universe. 
 
POPULAR MISJUDGMENTS. 173 
 
 Kelp us to realize the littleness of our life, and the importance of immedi- 
 ate action. In thy Church may there be no death. May we all live lo 
 the very last. May there be no long dying, but working up to the last 
 moment, and then passing into thy peace. Be with those who this day 
 mourn their dead, to whom this is a Sabbath within a Sabbath, who have 
 a Church at home, because of the eloquent that speak not. May they 
 hear the eloquence of that speechlessness, and pray with a wider compass 
 and with a tenderer entreaty of love. Destroy death. Thou dost hate it. 
 It is not in thyself. It is not in thy heaven. There no fiower fades, no 
 worm eats the bud of the summer. Death is in us and in our world, and 
 it follows quickly the footprints of our sin. Oh, thou Victor over the 
 grave, thou raised Christ, Man of the resurrection, Conqueror of the 
 tomb, abolish death and give thy people to feel that dying is living, and 
 that farewell in our world is a salutation in a better. The Lord help us ; 
 the Lord go with us down the steep places, and help us over the rugged 
 crags and rocks that lie in the way. The Lord speak to the last black 
 river, and let it divide that his children may pass over as on dry land. 
 Amen. 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF STEPHEN. 
 Acts vii. 54-60 {continued). 
 
 LET us now turn to the fourth aspect of the great speech of 
 Stephen ; let us look at this defence as refuting some prac- 
 tical mistakes. We form notions of things, and we say such 
 notions stand to reason, and that being so rational they must of 
 necessity be right and wise, and therefore indisputable. It is very 
 strange to observe how our theories and preconceptions are upset 
 by facts. Given such a case as is represented in the seventh chap- 
 ter of the Acts, to find what the issue would be, and there would 
 be no difiiculty in outlining an issue of considerable pleasantness. 
 As a matter of fact, the issue on the one side at least upsets some 
 of the most mischievous sophisms which vitiate human reasoning. 
 For example, you would say without hesitation that character will 
 save a man from harm. You would maintain this doctrine with 
 some vehemence, it is so plausible. The very sound of the terms 
 is a kind of argument in its favor. With this good character there 
 will be a good passage through society. Character will be its own 
 introduction. Character will be its own defence. Where there is 
 nobleness of character there will be unanimity of blessing. That 
 would be so in certain conditions of society, but those conditions 
 are not present in our life. There are certain conditions in which 
 
174 ACTS VII. S4-6o. 
 
 holiness is an intolerable offence. It mars the bad harmony of 
 the occasion. It stops the flow of evil thinking and evil speaking : 
 it is a check that must be got rid of. Stephen was a man of 
 blameless character, wise, benign, kind to everybody, a servant of 
 the Church, devoted to his ecclesiastical business. Yet when he 
 was called upon to make his defence, and had made it, his char- 
 acter stood him in no good stead. He was treated as an offender. 
 The meanest criminal could not have received more malignant 
 treatment. What, then, comes of your theory that character is its 
 own defence ? A bad world cannot tolerate good men. If we 
 were better we should be the sooner got rid of. It is our gift of 
 compromise that keeps us going. It is our trick of playing the 
 double game that saves us from Stephen's fate. We are ambi- 
 dexters. We are as clever with one hand as we are wi(h the 
 other, and it is this faculty that may be preserving us from a simi- 
 lar catastrophe. 
 
 You would further say that truth needs only to be heard in 
 order to be recognized and accepted. Truth carries its own music. 
 The fragrance of truth is wafted upon every wind, and all passers- 
 by know the sacred odour. Only let a man stand up in his age 
 and speak the truth with a clear voice, with a keen accent, with a 
 burning earnestness, and men will recognize it, and will fall down 
 loyally before it and will assist in its coronation. That would be 
 the theory, what is the fact .? Show where truth has ever been 
 crowned so readily and harmoniously. Truth spoken to the true 
 will always be so received but truth spoken to the false invites a 
 conflict and challenges a contest of strength. It is not enough, 
 therefore, that you have the truth in order to make your way in 
 the world instantly and successfully. You have to consider the 
 conditions in which you speak the truth. If men were really in 
 earnest one sermon would convert the world. But men are not in 
 earnest. All parts of a man are not equally in earnest. There is 
 a possibility of a man being divided against himself in this matter. 
 Part of his nature votes one way, and part another, and therefore 
 truth must stand outside until the controversy can be in some de- 
 gree adjusted. 
 
 Then you would, in the third place, frankly say that regularly 
 constiliited authorities must be right. You smile at the suggestion 
 that one odd man. can have tlie truth, and seventy regularly train- 
 
SELF-INSPIRATION SUSPECTED. 175 
 
 ed and constitutionally appointed men do not know the reality of 
 the case in dispute. You would contend that it stands to reason 
 that it must be so. Do you mean to say that the court does not 
 understand the truth better than an anonymous blasphemer called 
 Stephen ? Anonymous so far as social influence and social stand- 
 ing are concerned. Consider the case. The Church must be 
 right ; the court must be infallible. We cannot allow ourselves 
 to be bewildered and befooled by eccentric reformers and by in- 
 dividual assailants. All history reverses such opinions and mis- 
 conceptions. The truth, it would seem, has always been with the 
 one man. It is when a man is alone that you get him in reality 
 and in the sum total of his being. The moment another man 
 joins him he is less than he was before. The moment a man en- 
 ters into a congregation he loses the most of himself. The sense 
 of individual responsibility is almost lost. Your friend is not the 
 same to you in a crowd as when he is face to face with you alone. 
 Then you have him in the totality of his powers, affections, sym- 
 pathies. So the Almighty seems to have elected the individual 
 man, and through him to have spoken to the crowd, the multi- 
 tude, or the race. It does seem singular that the regularly consti- 
 tuted authority should be wrong, and that the one man should 
 have God's message. But he has not God's message simply 
 because he happens to be one. He must not inspire himself. 
 No man is called upon to make a self-election. You are not great 
 because you are eccentric. You are not wise because you are 
 solitary. Do look at both sides, and indeed all sides of the case, 
 and gather wisdom from the widest inferences. But being called, 
 being inspired, having within you the assurance that what you 
 know is the truth, and being prepared to establish that assurance 
 by daily sacrifice, daily humiliation, and daily pain, go forward, 
 and at the last the vindication will come. 
 
 Another mistake which this great defence refutes is ikx^iX. personal 
 deliverance in trial is the only possible providence. Look upon the 
 case. Stephen is one ; the enemy is many. God is supposed to 
 be looking on. What did God do for Stephen .? Let us sit in 
 judgment upon this, and suppose a possible interposition of the 
 divine hand. Instantly we should say there is only one thing that 
 God can do, and that is to lift his servant right up above the 
 crowd, and place him securely beyond the reach of his infuriated 
 
176 ACTS VII. 54-60. 
 
 opponents. What a childish solution of the difficulty ! Why that 
 is the very idea that would occur to the simplest mind that could 
 look at the case. It is the first rush at a popular riddle. There is 
 nothing in that answer. If that were God's method of deliver- 
 ance, his method of prevention would balance it, therefore there 
 would never be any need of deliverance at all. Does the infinite 
 Father wait until his children are in this position, and then simply 
 extricate them from personal danger } If that could be his method 
 at one end, it would be balanced by a similar method at the 
 other ; and therefore, let us repeat, his children never could be in 
 any difficulty at all. There must be something better, something 
 grander than this. What it is I cannot tell until I have read the 
 revelation. But my whole nature says that simply to loose the 
 man and send him home from among the crowd would have been 
 a defence worthy only of a manufactured deity. What did God 
 do for Stephen under the painful circumstances of the case .? He 
 wrought upon the inner spirit and thought of His suffering one. 
 The miracle was wrought within. "Lord, la}'' not this sin to 
 their charge." Any miracle of merely personal deliverance set 
 side by side with that miracle of grace would be an anti-climax 
 and a pitiful commonplace. If Stephen had been delivered bod- 
 ily, and had then uttered this prayer, it would have been but a 
 mocking sentiment. It would have belonged to an effervescent 
 nature, that being unduly urged by a sense of selfish gratitude 
 wanted to play a magnanimous part in relation to parties who had 
 been defrauded of their prey. But wounded, worsted, over- 
 whelmed, without comfort, without hope, sure only of one thing, 
 and that thing death, he said, " Lord, lay not this sin to their 
 charge." It was amoral miracle; it was a spiritual conquest; 
 and any religion that will evoke such a spirit, in its believers, and 
 lead them under such circumstances to offer such prayers, needs 
 no vindication of its divinity. This is the eternal miracle of Chris- 
 tian faith. It enables men in the most distressing circumstances 
 of life to forgive animosity. Who can perform that miracle but 
 God ? Silence might have been a sullen acquiescence in an inex- 
 orable fate. But under such circumstances, to pray, to pray for 
 others, to pray for forgiveness, is a sublimity of faith we can never 
 know, because we can never live the martyr's life. But if in these 
 high, heroic heights we cannot so discover the sublimity of Chris- 
 
SPIRITUAL VISION. 177 
 
 tian faith and patience, there are lower levels open to us every day, 
 along which we may move with the grace of men who can suffer 
 and be strong, who can be stoned and yet pray for the forgiveness 
 of those who inflict injury upon us. If we could pray for forgive- 
 ness on account of others, and could really ourselves forgive, our 
 Christianity would be its own unanswerable and triumphant de- 
 fence. 
 
 Another mistake which is refuted by this issue is, that life is 
 limited by that which is open to the eyes of the body. It would have 
 been a poor case for Stephen but for the invisible. " If in this life 
 only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable. ' ' Moses 
 endured as seeing the invisible. The old pilgrims sandalled their 
 feet and grasped their staves with a braver confidence day by day, 
 because they "sought a country out of sight." Should we be the 
 sport of accident, feathers driven by the fickle wind, if we could 
 see heaven open } We should bear our losses as if they were in- 
 crease of riches if we could see the opening heavens. Stephen 
 said, " I see heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing on the 
 right hand of God. ' ' We see nothing now but flat surfaces badly 
 coloured, paint without blood, feature without fire. We have not 
 had the baptism of suffering which gives a man the inner vision 
 — heart-eyes, to whose penetration there is no night. Blessed are 
 the pure in heart, for they shall see God. I see — that is the cry of 
 Christian experience. I see the meaning. I see the further shore. 
 I see God's purpose. These sights come upon a man in sublime 
 tragedies, in last crises, in the hour and article of death. In great 
 dangers God shows us great sights. What did Elisha ask the Lord 
 to do in the case of the young man who saw the gathering hosts 
 surrounding his prophet master.? Elisha' s brief but comprehen- 
 sive desire was " Lord, open his eyes that he may see." That is 
 all we want. The enemy is near, I know it : but the friend is 
 nearer. God can come in where there seems to be no room. 
 Like his own light he fills all space, and yet leaves room for every 
 mountain, planet, and blade of grass. He fills all room, and 
 leaves all. The angels are nearer than we suppose. Things are 
 not most against us when they so seem to be. What we want is 
 vision, sight of the heart, inner eyes, and these are the gift of God. 
 
 " I see." Stephen's spiritual faith made him forget that he had 
 a body. Think of trusting his spirit to a God that had allowed 
 
178 ACTS VII. 54-60. 
 
 his body to be killed ! This is the sublimity of faith. Did 
 Stephen say, " God has taken no care of my body, and therefore 
 he will take no care of my spirit .?' ' That would be rough reason- 
 ing, a chain without links, an empty nothing. Stephen showed in 
 this crisis what the spirit can do. He showed what it is in the 
 power of the heart to accomplish. When the spirit is inspired, 
 ■when the heart is sanctified, when heaven is opened, when Christ 
 rises to receive the guest, there is no flesh, there is no pain, there 
 is no consciousness but in the presence of God, the absorption of 
 the heart in the infinite love. If you feel the body it is for want 
 of the thorough sanctification of the spirit. If the flesh is an en- 
 cumbrance to you it is because the spirit has not finished its edu- 
 cation. When the heart seizes God as an inheritance it fears not 
 them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they 
 can do. The supreme concern of man ought to be not as to the 
 fate of his body, but as to the destiny of his soul. What has hap- 
 pened to the Church } Nothing that was not foretold by Christ. 
 This whole tragedy had been foreseen and fore-described. Before 
 Christ sent out his messengers he told them exactly what would 
 befall them. He took care to reveal all the sorrow, he spared 
 nothing of the dark side of the picture. He said to the messen- 
 gers in effect, " They will hate you, persecute you, starve you, 
 bring you up before kings and judges, they will not hear half that 
 you have to say, they will spit upon you, they will tear away from 
 you every endearment of life, they will turn your day into night, 
 they will mingle poison in your drink, they will tear you bone 
 from bone, they will set fire to your quivering flesh, they will 
 thrust you down into a nameless and dishonoured grave — if they 
 can." The messengers went out not under summer skies, blue as 
 the morning of heaven, but they went out under a cloud of infinite 
 thunder, and they knew that at any moment that terrific cloud 
 might burst and they be overwhelmed in the storm. How have 
 you gone out from Christ.? To exchange opinions, to bandy 
 notions with men to compare your last intellectual drivellings one 
 with another? You have gone out to take a year's rest, during 
 which time you may revise your theological conclusions. You 
 will not be martyrs I You will come home without a spot upon 
 your garments that will betray hard travelling, and without a single 
 sign of anybody having ever been fluttered for one moment by 
 
f STEPHEN'S LONG LIFE. 179 
 
 your most innocuous presence. How have you gone out from 
 Christ ? To be his ministers, to speak the truth, to set fire to er- 
 ror, to beard the Hon in his den, to challenge the hosts of dark- 
 ness ? Then Christ's word will be realized in your case, for the 
 word of the Lord endureth for ever. 
 
 Stephen condensed a long life into a few days. But recently we 
 have seen he was appointed to his office, and now he lies bruised, 
 mangled, killed. Yet he had a long life. He may live again in 
 the young man at whose feet his clothes were laid down. That 
 young man may rave awhile, but in his raving he is only trying to 
 quiet his conscience. It will be needful for this man Saul to be 
 very violent for a time, in order to keep out of his ears appeals he 
 would rather not hear. He will try to find in madness a solace 
 for what he has done. It is a trick of our fallen nature. We do 
 the wrong thing, and then run away in order to lose in violence 
 the sense of what we have done. Stephen's resurrection in cer- 
 tain spiritual senses may take place in Saul. We do not know 
 who is hearing us, or who is watching us, or into whom we are 
 transfusing our spirit. We live in one another. God maketh the 
 wrath of man to praise him. What if by-and-bye we find Saul 
 modelling his own speeches upon the lines of Stephen's defence, 
 and longing to be stoned, that he may find in this suffering some 
 compensation for painful memories .? We cannot tell. Life is a 
 mystery, and time its explanation. 
 
XX. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thy hand is very strong. Make bare thine arm in the 
 midst of the nations, and show us that thou art still the King. Men for- 
 get themselves, and with much rioting of weakness they rebel against thy 
 will, but when thou dost arise in thy great strength the nations shall know 
 themselves to be but men. They are a wind that cometh for a little time 
 then vanisheth away. There is none abiding like thyself. Thou only 
 art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. All else is changing. Thou 
 hast said of thyself, " I am the Lord, I change not." May we hide our- 
 selves in thy unchangeableness, and know that our eternity is secured not 
 by ourselves, but by thy Almightiness. Lift us up this day from the 
 dust, and give us an outlook over the wider world. Deliver us from the 
 prison of darkness, and from the river of trouble, and lift us up into the 
 holy hills whence "we can see the morning glory, and where we can over- 
 hear the songs of the better land. This, our desire, we breathe at the 
 Tross. At the Cross we learn how to pray. Is not the Cross the open 
 door into heaven ? Without it we have no access to the Father. Lord, 
 help us to cling to the Cross with our whole strength, and niay the fire of 
 our life renew itself every day in sight of the Cross of Christ. Our life is 
 wasting away. Its days are becoming fewer. The most of them may 
 possibly be behind us. May we now be children of the day, walking in 
 the light, doing heartily thy will, the eyes of our understanding being 
 enlightened. And may our heart glow with a new expectation. We 
 humbly pray thee show us thy goodness in the future, as thou hast shown 
 it unto us in the past. Keep back ^nothing of thy mercy. One drop the 
 less, and we shall die of thirst. We need all thy help. We are so weak, 
 so poor, so empty of all goodness and strength, that we need God the 
 Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost to sustain and keep us in 
 the right path, and feed us with the bread of heaven. 
 
 We bring our Psalm into thine house, great, holy, noble Psalm. It is 
 meant to express our love. Thou wilt receive it in this meaning, and 
 send back still nobler music in reply. We put ourselves every day into 
 thy keeping. Rock the cradle, make the bed of the afflicted, deal out 
 bread to the hungry, and send a gospel to him that is in despair. Let the 
 heavens make the earth glad to-day. The heavens are older than the 
 earth. Let eternity send out its benediction so that time may be crowned 
 as with a blessing from God. Thou knowest what we need most. Do 
 not withhold it." For Christ's sake, give it to every man. When we 
 
THE TEXT. i8i 
 
 -Stumble, see that we fall not utterly, and when the darkness is thickest, 
 let the pressure of thy hand be tenderest. Make a way for us where there 
 is no path. Melt the stones that hinder our progress, and as for the 
 mountains that would keep us back, touch them with thy finger, and they 
 shall arise like smoke. Be a buckler to us in the day of battle. Give us 
 the sword, and the shield, and the helmet, and cover us in the day of 
 danger. 
 
 Make us like the One Perfect man. Yea, make us like the Sen o^God. 
 Is he not the brightness of thine image ? has he not revealed to us the 
 glory of thy person ? May we be, as he was, pure, true, full of loving, 
 meek, all-enduring self-sacrifice— marred more than any man, but victori- 
 ous even in sorrow. 
 
 The Lord hear our prayer for the little child, for the sick life, for the 
 weary traveller, for the absent one, for the wandering prodigal, for the 
 sinner who dare not look back lest he should see nothing but darkness, 
 and sword, and penalty. Send thou messages over the sea to our dear 
 ones in the far-away home who are wondering about us, and returning 
 our prayer with many supplications. Help us to live the few years that 
 may yet remain, nobly, wisely, and well. Work in us all the good pleas- 
 ure of thy will, and the work of faith with power. Strengthen our hold 
 upon things eternal. May we be right, so that whether the Lord come 
 now or then, at midnight, or at the crowing of the cock, or in the broad 
 noontide, we may all be more than ready. Amen. 
 
 Acts viii. 1-8. 
 
 1. And Saul was consenting (same Greek word in Luke xi. 48) 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 [foretold by 
 Christ ; Acts i. 8] throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria [the 
 teaching of the apostles must have been with great power to break through 
 the long-standing prejudices of their Jewish converts against the Samari- 
 tans] except the apostles. 
 
 2. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great 
 lamentation [implying beating on the breast] over him. 
 
 3. As for Saul, he made havoc [like the ravages of wild beasts ; Ps. 
 Ixxx. 13], of the church, entering into every house [making search every- 
 where], and haling men and women committed them to prison. 
 
 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preach- 
 ing the word [evangelizing the word]. 
 
 5. Then Philip [mentioned only in this chapter, and in chapter xxi. 8] 
 went down to the city of Samaria, and preached [proclaimed] Christ unto 
 them. 
 
 6. And the people [the multitudes] with one accord gave heed unto 
 those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which 
 he did. 
 
1 82 ACTS VIII. 1-8. 
 
 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. 
 
 THREE GREAT FIGURES IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 IN this part of the narrative the name of Saul occurs three times. 
 In the seventh chapter and fifty-eighth verse we read, " The 
 witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name 
 was Saul." In the first verse of the eighth chapter we read, 
 " And Saul was consenting unto his death." In the third verse of 
 the same chapter we read, ' ' As for Saul he made havoc of the 
 Church, entering into every house, and haling men and women 
 he committed them to prison." He was an apt scholar. He 
 made rapid progress in his bad learning. Observe how quick is 
 the development and how sure ! First of all, he watched the 
 clothes of the men who stoned Stephen ; then he expressed in 
 every feature of his face satisfaction and gladness on account of the 
 death of Stephen ; and in the third place, he took up the matter 
 earnestly himself with both hands, being no longer a negative 
 participator but an active worker. He struck the Church as it 
 had never been struck before ; he made havoc of the Christian* 
 society ; women were as men to him, and men as women ; and 
 having secured the keys of the prison, he crowded the dungeons 
 with Christian suppliants. The taste for blood is an acquired taste, 
 but " it grows by what it feeds on." This man Saul began as he 
 ended. There was nothing ambiguous about him. He was posi- 
 tive, well defined in purpose, resolute in will, invincible in deter- 
 mination. A tremendous foe, a glorious friend ! 
 
 We see from this part of the narrative what we have seen often 
 before — the power of the Christian religion to excite the worst pas- 
 \sions of men. It is a " savour of life unto life, or of death unto 
 death." It is like Saul himself ; for Saul was a true man whether 
 persecuting the Church or defending it. Christianity either kills 
 or saves. It is either the brightness of day, or the darkness of 
 night in a man's life. I am afraid we have become so familiar 
 with it externally as to cast by our own spirit and demeanour a 
 doubt upon this veritable proposition. Set it down as the most 
 melancholy of .facts that it has become possible for nominal Chris- 
 
THE DOGMATISM OF TRUTH. 183 
 
 tian believers to care nothing about thieir faith. They have de- 
 graded it, so that it now chaffers with infidels, doubters, and even 
 mockers. The faith that used to hold no parley with unbelievers 
 is now fagged with much walking on the common road begging, 
 asking leave to hold discussion, and apologizing for suggesting 
 its own revelation. The age has been seized with what is known 
 as a horror of dogmatism. But Christianity is nothing if it is not 
 dogmatic. It has no reason for its existence if it be not positive. 
 If it be one of many, saying, " You have heard the others, will 
 you be good enough to hear me?" it is not what it professes. 
 Poetry may hold parley with prose fiction, because they belong to 
 the same category. They are dreaming, guessing, shaping 
 thoughts into aptest forms. Daintily selecting dainty words for 
 dainty thinking. But arithmetic can hold no parley with poetry. 
 Arithmetic does not say, " If you will allow me, I may venture to 
 suggest that the multiplication of such and such numbers may 
 possibly result in such and such a total." Poetry admits of mal- 
 leability, it may be moulded and shaped into new forms ; but 
 arithmetic admits of no manipulation of that kind. It is com- 
 plete, final, positive, and unanswerable. Now, in proportion as 
 any religion is true, can it not stoop to the holding of conversa- 
 tion with anybody. It reveals, proclaims, announces, thunders. 
 It is not a suggestion — it is a revelation. It is not a puzzle, to 
 which a hundred answers may be given by wits keen at guessing ; 
 it is an oracle, and every syllable is rich with the gold of wisdom. 
 Clearly understand what is meant. The dogmatism of truth is one 
 thing, and the dogmatism of the imperfect teacher is another. The 
 dogmatism of the priest is to be resisted, if it be justified only by 
 official descent or official relation, but truth viust be dogmatic, that 
 is, positive, absolute without ambiguity. Clear in its own con- 
 .ception, clear in its positive demands, clear in its rewards and its 
 punishments. Can you wonder, then, that a religion — namely, 
 the Christian faith— which claimed to be the very voice and glory 
 of God, should have encountered this unpitying and most malig- 
 nant hostility } If it could have come crouchingly, or apologeti- 
 cally, and have said, "I think, I suggest, I hope," it might 
 have been heard at the world's convenience. But it came other- 
 wise. It came with angels' songs in the upper air, a miraculous 
 conception, a voice saying, " This is My beloved Son, hear ye 
 
1 84 ACTS VIII. i-f 
 
 Him." Being true, it could not have come otherwise, but so 
 coming- it raised the world into antagonism and deadly conflict. 
 So will every true life. We have no enemies because we have no 
 Gospel. We live in a humble and respectable obscurity, because 
 we say nothing. We pass along pretty easily, because we annoy 
 no man's prejudices, or naughtinesses, or indulgences. We dash 
 no man's gods to the ground ; we stamp on no man's idolatries ; 
 and so we have no martyrs. In olden times Christianity attacked 
 the most formidable citadels of thought, prejudcice, and error, 
 and brought upon itself the fist of angry retaliation. 
 
 In this part of the narrative we see that the success of the enemy 
 was turned into his deadliest failure. Read the fourth verse in 
 proof. " Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every- 
 where preaching the Word." They did not go everywhere with 
 shame burning on their cheek, nor did they go everywhere with a 
 leaden weight upon their once nimble tongues, nor did they go 
 everywhere whining and moaning and complaining that they were 
 doomed to a useless life. They were taught eloquence by perse- 1 
 cution. They were made Evangelists by suffering. That is the 
 true way of treating every kind of assault. When the pulpit is 
 assailed as being behind the age, let the pulpit preach better than 
 ever and more than ever, and let that be its triumphant reply. 
 When Christianity is assailed, publish it the more. Give it air, give 
 it liberty, give it a wider constituency. Evangelization is the best 
 reply to every form of assault. How do we treat our little and 
 very tepid persecutions say of an intellectual kind ? We retire to 
 consider the case. We ask for a year's leave of absence from the 
 pulpit, that we may revise our theological position. Do you won- 
 der that such a method of encountering intellectual opposition 
 should leave the field almost wholly in the hands of the enemy .^ 
 When will we learn Christ's method and the Apostles' method of 
 meeting such hostility t More hostility should be more preach- 
 ing ; more persecution should be more prayer. We have mis- 
 taken the method wholly. We have been wanting in resoluteness 
 and directness. Do not let us be driven away by mockery, or 
 silenced by flattery, or overweighted by prejudice, or deterred by 
 fear. Christianity has one answer to every assault, and that is 
 another statement of its claim, a louder and clearer utterance of 
 its heavenly authority! "They that were scattered abroail went 
 
TWO NEW GRAVES. 185 
 
 everywhere preaching the Word." The seed shaken out by the 
 wind was carried by the wind to other fields. It dropped into 
 open soil, and grew up a hundred-fold. 
 
 In this part of the narrative we see Christianity followed by its 
 proper result. You find that result stated in the eighth verse, 
 "And there was great joy in that city." Joy was a word that 
 was early associated with Christianity. Said the Angel, " I bring 
 you good tidings of greatybj'." Where is that singing, holy joy } 
 Not in the Church. We are gloomy, despairing, uncertain. We 
 have lost the music, we have retained the tears. The Church 
 ought to be a very fountain of joy, delight, triumph. Instead of 
 that the Church is a valley of tears. The Church looks upon 
 death and sighs. The Church is gifted in sighing. The Church 
 that used to have a voice like a band of music, that used to lift its 
 blood-red banner high in the air, and shake it with the defiance of 
 already attained and unchangeable victory. There ought to be 
 no death in the Church : Christ hath abolished death. And tears 
 should be but dew, to be exhaled in the sun and carried up to 
 enlarge and beautify the rainbow of promise. Why this sighing, 
 fainting, doubting } The revelling is now in the other house. 
 It used to be in our Father's House that there was music, and 
 dancing, and feasting, and great festival of joy. We have lost the 
 trumpet, and the cymbals, and the dances, and the holy merri- 
 ment, and now we are langishing like men who are simply wait- 
 ing the coming of the executioner. 
 
 Looking at the narrative from another point of view, we may say 
 that already there are iivo graves in the early Church. Since we 
 began this reading of the Acts of the Apostles, we have seen two 
 graves opened. In the one grave lie Ananias and Sapphira, in the 
 grave opened to-day there lies Stephen, over whom devout men 
 made great lamentation. Already the old story writes its record in 
 the documents of the Apostolic Church ! In one or other of these 
 graves we must be buried ! Which shall be our resting-place } 
 Over the first there was no lamentation, no tears were shed, no 
 hearts broke in pity and in grief. The occupants of that grave 
 were shot with the lightning of God ! Sad grave ! Pit deep, 
 black, hopeless ! The liars' retreat, the hypocrites' nameless hid- 
 ing-place I No loving one goes thither to lay a white flower on 
 the black sod. Will you be buried there? Lightning-struck, 
 
1 86 ACTS VIII. 1-8. 
 
 blasted from heaven with God's bolt of anger in your heart ; will 
 you be buried there? Then there is the good man's grave, which 
 is not a grave at all, it is so full of flowers, and so full of peace and 
 promise — those vows spoken by Christ Himself — will you be 
 buried there? The road to it is rough, but the rest is deep and 
 sweet, and the waking immortality ! Will you so live that you 
 will be much missed for good doing ? So that men shall say, 
 " Alack, the world is very poor to-day, for the noblest of hearts 
 beats no more?" Will you be missed in the haunts of poverty, 
 and by the bedside of suffering, and in the church of activity, and 
 in the school of education and discipline ? How shall we go ? 
 Buried without prayers, or buried in showering tears of regret, and 
 love, and thankfulness ? 
 
 Here is the persecuting Saul testing the sincerity of the Church. 
 We know what we are made of, when the fire of persecution tries 
 us ! You do not know your best friend until you have been in 
 trouble. For want of knowing this many men are to-day living 
 on a false reputation. Your friends are nice, amiable, pleasant, 
 fond of hand-shaking, and salutation, and courteous remark. 
 Always cordial, always siinny, always agreeable. Have you ever 
 needed them } Have you ever sent for them to come to you 
 through some bitter cold night-wind } If not, you do not yet 
 know them. They may be nobler than you suppose, they may be 
 meaner than your friendly dream. It is when we are in poverty, 
 and straits, and difficulties that we know our friends. The perse- 
 cution which Saul inflicted upon the Church tested the Church's 
 reality and sincerity, and it is under such circumstances, accord- 
 ing to their degree, that we ourselves are to know what we are 
 made of. 
 
 Here is the evangelist Philip extending the influence of the 
 Church. " Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and 
 preached Christ unto them." Not Philip the Apostle, but Philip 
 the deacon— V\vX\\, one of the seven. Stephen dead, Philip taking 
 his place — that is the military rule ! The next man, Fonvard / 
 " Who will be baptized for the dead .'" When Stephen was killed 
 the remainder of the seven did not take fright and run away in 
 cowardly terror, but Philip, the next man, took up the vacant 
 place, and preached Christ in Samaria. Who will take up the 
 places of the great men and the good men .-' Who will fill the 
 
IN A GREAT SUCCESSION. 187 
 
 vacant pulpits ? Who will undergo the so-called drudgery of the 
 Church ? Who will consent to be nothing in name that he may- 
 be everything in helpfulness ? Is the Church to be a broken line, 
 or a solid and invincible square ? 
 
 These three great figures are still in the Church — the dead 
 Stephen, the persecuting Saul, the evangelistic Philip. Our 
 Stephens are not dead. We see them no more in the flesh, but 
 they are mightier than ever since they have ascended to heaven, 
 having left behind them the inspiration of a noble example. 
 John Bunyan is more alive to-day than he was when he wrote the 
 Pilgrim' s Progress. John Wesley is more alive to-day than he 
 was when he began to preach the Word in England. Richard 
 Baxter is more alive to-day than when he wrote the Sairif s Ever- 
 lasiitig ResL Your child is not dead when the memory of the 
 dear little creature leads you to do some kindness to some other 
 child. Our fathers, heroic and noble, are not dead, when we are 
 able at their graves to relight torches and go on with our sacred 
 work. We cannot peruse a narrative of this kind without feeling 
 that we are in a great succession, and that we ought to be in pro- 
 portion great successors. 
 
XXI. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, come to our waiting hearts and give us the light and 
 the comfort which are alone in thy gift. We come in the name of Jesus 
 Christ. If we forget it, may our right hand forget its cunning, and our 
 tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth. It is the Name above every 
 name. It is " the Name to sinners dear." Write it upon our heart and 
 continually draw towards it all the passion of our love. Save us for 
 Christ's sake. Draw us away from all bondage into the infinite liberty 
 of thy dear Son. With him thou wilt also freely give us all things. Thou 
 delightest to give. Thou dost live to give. Every good gift and every 
 perfect gift cometh down from heaven. We have nothing that we have 
 not received, and upon everything that is in our lives is written thine own 
 name. Continue to give unto us according to the need of every day. 
 Refresh us with the dew of the morning. Find honey for us in the flowers 
 that open in the noonday sun. At eventide do thou spread our table, 
 and make our bed that we may rest. We would give ourselves to thee, 
 thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we are wise we 
 are foolish. When we are strong we are weak. When we would seek 
 our life we lose it. Lord, help us to understand these things, and to 
 throw ourselves with completest faith upon the Infinite Arm of thy Provi- 
 dence, and the Infinite heart of thy love. Few and evil, but a handful at 
 the most, are the days of our pilgrimage. May we know to what goal we 
 are moving, and with steadfast eye and continual progress, ever leaning 
 upon the strong for strength, may we move onward to our destiny in thy 
 providence. Thou dost rebuke us with many humiliations. Out of our 
 voice thou dost take the boastful tone. Thou dost smite us for our heal- 
 ing ; and that we may be solidly enriched thou dost first make us very 
 poor. When we are weak then truly we are divinely strong. Feed us 
 with the bread of life, which is Jesus Christ the Son of God. We would 
 eat his flesh, we would drink his blood, that we might have life abiding in 
 us. Show us the mystery of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of 
 thy dear Son. Help us to distrust ourselves. Enable us to give the lie 
 to our own senses, and to order them behind when they would attempt to 
 penetrate the mystery of God. Thou art constantly showing us that we 
 know nothing as it really is until our eyes are opened, and we do not hear 
 the wondrous, the subtle, and inefTable music until thou dost anoint and 
 inspire our ears. Sometimes we are ashamed of our wisdom. It is not 
 what it looks. It is -but a furbished lie. Our reckoning is one long line 
 
SAMARIA A TYPE. 189 
 
 of mistakes, and so busy are we in putting the figures together, and look- 
 ing as if we could handle them, that the humiliation thou dost inflict upon 
 us becomes intolerable. Lord, teach us how to pray. Lord, increase 
 our faith. Lord, take us from the alphabet of the senses into the deep 
 reading of the spirit. Lord, spare net thy light, thy light in Christ, but 
 let it drive every shadow away for ever. Bless the hearts that mourn 
 with a little release from their distress. Dry the tears, lest they blind the 
 eyes that are looking for thee. Put thine arms around all the little chil- 
 dren, that in thine arms they may find perpetual security. Number our 
 hairs when they are grey and white, that in old age men may know how 
 to find in Christ the beginning of youth. As for those who are in pros- 
 perity, and who have no pain in head, or heart, or limb, on whose whole 
 road the broad sunshine lies day by day — men who have pulled down the 
 altar and hidden thy Book away — the Lord send a serpent to bite them 
 and a great affliction, not for their destruction, but for their conversion. 
 Amen. 
 
 Acts viii. 9-13. 
 
 9. But there was a certain man called Simon, which beforetime in the 
 same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving cut 
 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 be- 
 witched 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. 
 
 SIMON THE SORCERER. 
 
 LOOK first of all at the condition in which Philip found the city 
 or the region of Samaria. You find there the condition of 
 the whole world represented in one pregnant sentence. Samaria 
 was (i) diseased, (2) possessed, and (3) deluded. These are the con- 
 ditions in which Christianity has always to fight its great battle. 
 Christianity never finds any town prepared to co-operate with it. 
 All the conquests of Christianity imply a long siege, stubborn 
 hostility, inveterate prejudice, and the victory of right over wrong. 
 We are none of us by nature prepared to give the Christian 
 
[go ACTS VIII. 9-13. 
 
 teacher a candid hearing. We " hate the fellow, for he never 
 prophesies good of us. " If he could prophesy good of us he 
 would have nothing to tell our soul that could do it vital and last- 
 ing good. The first thing a Christian teacher has to do is to tear 
 us, morally, to pieces ! There is nothing in his favour. The lit- 
 erary lecturer pays homage to his audience, but the preacher re- 
 bukes it, humbles it, pours upon it holy despite and contempt. 
 The early preachers did not trim, and balance, and smooth things. 
 They spoke thunderstorms, and the very lifting of their hand was 
 a battle half won. It was because they d\^ fundamental work that 
 they made progress so slow, but so sure. The world is no better 
 to-day than Samaria was when Philip went down. And these 
 three words, whole categories in themselves, include the moral 
 condition of the race. Diseased, — there is not a man in this 
 house who is thoroughly and completely well, nor in any house, 
 nor in all the world. If he suppose himself to be so, he is so 
 only for the moment ; he was ill yesterday, or will be to-morrow, 
 and presently the oldest oak will be lightning-struck and laid flat 
 down on the cold earth. The world is a great lazar-house. The 
 world is dying. You stand up in the mere mockery of strength ; 
 it is when we lie down that we assume the proper and final atti- 
 tude of the body. How ill we are, what aches and pains ! What 
 sharp shootings, what burnings in the head, what throbbings in 
 the heart ! 
 
 The world is not only diseased, it \s possessed. Possessed with 
 demons, possessed with unclean spirits, possessed with false ideas. 
 Why make a marvel or a mystery about demoniacal possession, 
 when we are all so possessed .? Why push this idea back some 
 twenty centuries or more, as if it were an ancient anecdote .? We 
 are all insane ! We are all devil-ridden. We had better give the 
 right names to our mental conditions, lest we be attaching the 
 wrong label and mistaking ourselves utterly. Out of Christ, out 
 of the Cross, self-centred, self- poised, self-seeking, we are mad ! 
 Of course we are as usual the victims of the vulgarer interpreta- 
 tion of words. We do not account persons mad who are not shut 
 up in confinement. Until we get a clearer conception of that 
 word we shall be reading in the dark, and the Bible will be to us 
 but a rock of stumbling and offence. Diseased, possessed— these 
 are the terms we must understand in their spiritual meaning. To 
 
DISEASED, POSSESSED, DELUDED. 191 
 
 these terms we must add a third, for Samaria was not only dis- 
 eased and possessed, Samaria was also deluded. She was bewitch- 
 ed. The sorcerer had flung his charms upon her mind, and she 
 was led as the sorcerer's will suggested or desired. Understand 
 that somebody has to lead the world. In Republicanism there is a 
 Sovereignty. In a mob there is a captaincy ; somebody must lead 
 the world. And the question is who, Christ or Barabbas ? 
 There is only one question worth discussing so far as the future is 
 concerned, and that is who is to rule, from whom is the future to 
 receive its law and inspiration and its best rewards .? To-day you 
 find men making churches for the future. You might as well 
 make clothes for the future : for ages unborn ! There are those 
 who are anxious to know which will be the Church of the future. 
 Personally I am not interested in the inquiry. It may be elab- 
 orately answered. The reply may be as magnificent as a cipher 
 would be if it were the size of the firmanent. Personally I do not 
 care. My question is, who is to be the man of the future, the 
 life, the Saver eign, the King of the future .? This Man, Christ, or 
 Barabbas .' As Christians we have no diificulty about the result. 
 We believe that Jesus of Nazareth, marred more than any man, 
 shall come up out of his weakness and humiliation, and sit upon 
 the throne of glory. We do not sing only, or say, we believe — 
 
 " Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
 Doth his successive journeys run. 
 His kingdom stretch from shore to shore 
 Till suns shall rise and set no more." 
 
 If this were a sentiment only we might despise it. It is "x faith 
 which lifts up the whole life along with it to a noble level, and 
 charges it with the function of a larger beneficence. It is not as if 
 we could depose Christ, and then all be upon a level. There re- 
 mains the historic certainty that some one man must lead. Who 
 shall that one man be } Simon or Christ } Superstition or faith } 
 Wrong or right } 
 
 As we are all diseased and all possessed, so we are all deluded. 
 And who can encounter a delusion .? None but God the Holy 
 Ghost. There are no fingers dainty enough to take hold of a de- 
 lusion and pull it out of the nest of the mind. This kind goeth 
 forth only by the ministry of the Holy Ghost. A delusion be- 
 
192 ACTS VIII. 9-13. 
 
 longs to the same class as -a. prejudice, and prejudice has no shape, 
 no form, no hiding-place, that we can penetrate. It can only be 
 dislodged by that which takes up all room, and yet leaves all space 
 at liberty — Light. Wondrous light ! Filling all things and bur- 
 dening none ! Occupying all space, yet not encroaching on the 
 little sphere of the meanest insect ! 
 
 It is marvellous what delusions the mind can acquire, and most 
 truly humbling is it to hear the deluded man's tale about his per- 
 sonal suffering — what he sees, what he hears, what he suspects, 
 what he thinks he knows. That man is yourself, is myself, in one 
 phase and aspect of our possible experience. Do not stand back 
 from him as if you had nothing to do with his humanity. When 
 he withers, you also wither. We are ' ' members one of another. ' ' 
 From the weak we may learn our weakness ; from the strong, the 
 imperial, we may learn how mighty we too may become. Again, 
 therefore, would I say, we are ' ' members one of another. ' ' 
 
 Superstition is not to be laughed at. I would rather laugh at 
 the merely arithmetical man who never had a dream in his life. 
 Were I disposed to mock, I would choose him as the butt of my 
 bitter taunt. Even you who supposedly have the clear head and 
 practical mind, without a single whim or fancy disturbing the 
 equal balance of your intellectual monotony, what Gospel there 
 can be iox you it hath not entered into my mind to conceive. 
 Show me a man who has dreams, fancies, visions of the night, 
 and who is following invisible leaders, and out of him there may 
 come a very apostle of the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 He has the making of a man in him. And yet I would not de- 
 spise the other man, simply because we do occasionally require to 
 eke out the structure with stones that have only a burden to carry 
 and with pillars that are covered by the painter's trick. Christian- 
 ity has to encounter all \}n^& false faiths of the world. There is a 
 strong man already in possession of the citadel, and he will not 
 easily give way. It is not an easy thing for the missionary to per- 
 suade the most barbarous of his hearers to throw away the piece of 
 wood or stone, which the barbarian hugs as his god. It is a long 
 way from the physical eye to the spiritual light ! The barbarian 
 likes a god that he can finger well. He knows then that he has a 
 g'od. To he told that God is Unseen and Invisible, " God is a 
 Spirit," " No man hath seen God at any time," " No man can 
 
THE REQUIRED MEDIUM. 193 
 
 see God and live," is a Gospel that requires U7ne to make its way 
 in the world — the world that wants to make the globe a factory and 
 human life a toil ! Christianity must continually startle its stu- 
 dents by showing them how very little there is in its Book that is 
 literal. You put the water into the firkin and it comes out wine ! 
 You peruse the letter, and it turns into a spirit ! There is the 
 difficulty to men who live an intellectually jaunty life, who touch 
 things with their fingers, count things up to ten, then add, multi- 
 ply, and subtract, and divide at pleasure, and who suppose that 
 they have in this way settled the whole case. I can ask the strong- 
 est-sighted man in the world to look at a piece of glass and tell me 
 if there is anything upon it. And his necessary answer must be, 
 if he limit his judgment by his sight, that the glass is absolutely 
 vacant. I can hand to him a magnifier, and say, " Look at the 
 glass now, for whatever is upon it that magnifier will increase one 
 hundred fold." He takes the glass, he looks at the object, and 
 he says, "I still adhere to my judgment and declare that this 
 piece of glass is absolutely void, there is literally nothing upon it." 
 I like his emphasis, because presently it will be turned into 
 contrition. I encourage him to be very emphatic, and when he 
 has reached the very limit of his emphasis, and almost taken his 
 stand upon his dignity, I bring the proper microscopic power to 
 bear upon the glass which he declared to be vacant and void, then 
 imagine his look I He sees that within the thousandth part of an 
 inch there is written the sublimest prayer ever offered to God ! 
 What was wanting.^ A medium. What was absent .? The neces- 
 sary help to the eye ! Yet there are those amongst us who say, 
 " Seeing is believing." Truly say I, but what is seeiftgp Where 
 does it begin, where does it end } And what do we know now 
 about sight, or light, or anything as it really is .? This being so 
 in the lower realms of thinking and inquiry, I am enabled to 
 move upward to the higher regions, and to belive that " God is a 
 Spirit. 
 
 It is very instructive to watch Philip's course in Samaria, 
 because first of all he look no notice of Simon. There are some per- 
 sons who think we ought to send missionaries to argue down the 
 infidels. Do not let us belong to that extremely foolish class of 
 persons. There is nothing to be argued down. Argument is the 
 weakest of all weapons. If occasion should naturally arise for the 
 
194 ACTS VIII. 9-13. 
 
 answering of some sophistical argument, avail yourselves of it, but 
 do not. imagine that Christianity has to go down to Samaria to 
 fight a pitched battle, face to face with Simon Magus. What then 
 did Philip do ? Philip preached CHRIST. Simon had been 
 preaching himself. Philip never mentioned himself, all the while 
 he talked only about Christ. Thus Philip did not argue down 
 Simon, he superseded him. The daylight does not argue with the 
 artificial light. The sun does not say, " Let us talk this matter 
 over, thou little, beautiful, artificial jet. Let us be candid with 
 one another, and polite to one another, and let us treat one 
 another as gentlemen talking on equal terms. Let us thus see 
 which of us ought to rule the earth." The sun does nothing but 
 SHINE ! What then ! Men then sneakingly put the gas out ! 
 " Let YOUR light so shine before men that they may see your 
 good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ' ' Life 
 is the unanswerable logic. Holiness is the invincible argument. 
 Charily, love, beneficence, chivalry, self-sacrifice, these form the 
 shining host that will chase all competitors away ! 
 
XXII. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, though we have multiplied words against thee, yet 
 hast thou made a flock of us, and thou art thyself our Shepherd. Jesus 
 Christ thy Son is the Good Shepherd who gave, and ever gives, his life 
 for the sheep. We were lost once, but we have returned unto the Shep- 
 herd and Bishop of our souls. Once we were in the wilderness and could 
 find no pasture, nor home, no sweet security, but now we are enfolded 
 upon the high mountains of Israel, and daily dost thou feed us and lead 
 us forth. When the sun is hot at noon, thou dost cause us to lie down in 
 the cool shade. Thou leadest us beside the still waters, so that we may 
 drink, without trouble or fear, of the living stream. And into rich past- 
 ures dost Ihou lead us, that we may not know the pain of hunger. What 
 shall we say unco thee ? There are no fit words for the utterance of our 
 heart's great love. Thou hast gone beyond all words, and left them be- 
 hind, unable to touch the majesty of thy tenderness and the glory of thy 
 power. 
 
 Thou wilt still permit us to speak what we feel. In Christ thou hast 
 made us new creatures. We would praise thee and magnify thee, and 
 hallow thy name, because of this thy new creation. Through thy Son, 
 our Saviour, we have received the Holy Ghost, the wondrous Spirit, the 
 Paraclete, the Abiding Comforter, the Leader into all truth ! May we 
 not fear as we enter in. As the firmament of thy truth heightens above 
 our heads, may we behold with astonishment and joy this display of thy 
 spiritual riches ; and as the horizon, which we thought the limit, goes 
 away in ever-widening circles, may we know that thy truth is greater 
 than our imaginings, and thy creation infinitely more than our thought. 
 Save us from all uncharitableness. Deliver us from the prison of little- 
 ness, and bigotry, and supposed finality. By thy Spirit show us that the 
 riches of Christ are unsearchable, without beginning, without ending, 
 without measure, infinite riches of light and wisdom, of grace, and truth. 
 Feed us with thy word. We have forgotten most of it ; have mercy upon 
 us ! We ought to have hoarded it, and guarded it with our whole 
 strength from worldly encroachment and corruption, yet have we forgot- 
 ten it ! We have allowed the noises of the world to interrupt the music 
 of heaven. God be merciful unto us in Christ the Atoning Saviour, be- 
 cause of this our great transgression. 
 
 Now come to us, as we need thee most. Some of us have brought 
 summer flowers to offer thee. Flowers of joy, and praise, and new de- 
 
196 ACTS VIII. 14-25. 
 
 light, and recovered hope. Lord, take them ever)' one in thy hand, and 
 they will never wither. Others have come with pained heads, and heavy 
 hearts, and darkened eyes. The light of hope has been blown out. The 
 staff of dependence has broken in the hand that leaned upon it. The 
 fair-looking garden was but a pit covered with fiowers. The Loid cheer 
 such with wine from heaven, and with bread which is angels' food. 
 Others know not why they are here. Some of them little children brought 
 by other hands. Some who do not know what the house is, or the day. 
 Lord, cause a new light to enter the mind of such, and make them glad. 
 The Lord speak a word in season to him that is weary. The Lord show 
 the strongest man that his strength is but the boast of a moment, and 
 show the weakest one that his weakness may be made the beginning of 
 eternal strength. Dry our tears when they flow like a river ; and when 
 our joy would lead us away from the trust that is the strength and the 
 glory of life, the Lord dash it with bitterness that we may be made to 
 think and pray. 
 
 And now shall this day be thine, thou King of saints, thou leader of 
 battles, thou man of war ? The morning is upon us now, and the night 
 will soon be here, and we would that thy banner might float over a con- 
 quered field. Ride forth in thy strength, thou whose chariots are twenty 
 thousand, and thousands of thousands. Make thy ministers a flame of 
 fire, and thy house a doorway into heaven, and let thy Gospel be heard 
 in all its ineffable sweetness ; and may all rivals flee away before the ad- 
 vancing light of thy glory, and leave thee King of kings and Lord of 
 lords, the only Potentate ! Amen. 
 
 Acts viii. 14-25. 
 
 14. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Sama- 
 ria had received the word of God [the whole sum and substance of the 
 Gospel] they sent unto them Peter and John : 
 
 15. Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they 
 might receive the Holy Ghost [not regeneration only, but the Pentecostal 
 gift] : 
 
 16. (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them : only they were bap- 
 tized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 
 
 17. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 i3. And when Simon saw [so visible and conspicuous was the change] 
 that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, 
 he offered them money \x()7\uaTa -riches], 
 
 19. Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, 
 he may receive the Holy Ghost. 
 
 20. Rut Peter said unto him, thy money perish with thee [be together 
 with thee for perdition], because thou hast thought [the Greek verb has a 
 transitive not a passive sense] that the gift of God may be purchased with 
 money. 
 
CHANGE OF EXPERIENCE. 197 
 
 21. Thou hast neither part nor lot [Col. i. 12] in this matter : for thy 
 heart is not right [2 Peter ii. 15] in the sight of God. 
 
 22. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps 
 [implying a latent doubt] the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee 
 [Peter himself neither condemns nor forgives]. 
 
 23. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the 
 bond of iniquity. 
 
 24. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that 
 none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. 
 
 25. And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the 
 Lord [implying a stay of some duration], returned to Jerusalem, and 
 preached the gospel [announced the glad tidings] in many villages of the 
 Samaritans. 
 
 THE DEPUTATION TO SAMARIA. 
 
 " TT /"HEN the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that 
 V V Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto 
 them Peter and John." This must have been a most instructive 
 experience to the Apostle John. There was a time when that 
 Apostle did not conceal his feelings respecting a village in 
 Samaria. Jesus Christ wished to enter into a village of the Samari- 
 tans and to remain there a little while. The villagers did not un- 
 derstand this desire ; they saw that his face was hardened in the 
 direction of Jerusalem, and because he looked so steadfastly 
 towards that city they did not receive him ; and when James and 
 John saw this they said, " Lord, wilt Thou not command fire to 
 come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did V 
 John could not brook the insult, he did not know what spirit he 
 was of. Little by little Jesus Christ brings us to understand his 
 purpose, and to enter into the meaning of his life ; and then the 
 John who would have prayed for destructive fire is himself sent 
 down to Samaria to invoke the falling of another flame that burns 
 but does not consume ! We cannot tell what we may yet do in 
 life. Amongst our old enmities we may yet find our sweetest 
 friendships. Do not seek to destroy any man, however much he 
 may reject you or misunderstand you. A time may come when 
 you can render him the service of prayer. The text is now easy 
 reading, but there was a day when it was a grand story. " When 
 the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had re- 
 ceived the Word of God " — that is nothing to us ; we read it as if 
 
ACTS VIII. 14-25. 
 
 it were a commonplace. In reality it is the dawning of a new 
 day, the winning of a great battle, the opening of a beneficent rev- 
 elation ; that day the Geniiks were admitted into the Kingdom of 
 Christ, openly and by a glad celebration. We lose so much by 
 forgetting the circumstances of the case which is before us. This is 
 a verse now read as if it had no atmosphere. What is it that we 
 lose in history .' It is the atmosphere that we lose. And what is it 
 that gives the novelist or the dramatist supremacy over the histo- 
 rian, or the dry, technical, and most learned annalist ? It is that 
 he creates, or recalls, the atmosphere, and thus his fictions become 
 the real facts. We are now, let us suppose, standing upon a 
 great stretch of land, and between us and another stretch of 
 country quite as large there rolls a broad, deep river. We cannot 
 cross it at this point. We travel by its edge mile by mile until we 
 come to a great stone bridge, and it is over that bridge that the 
 commerce between the two countries is continually maintained. 
 That bridge we find in the fourteenth verse of this chapter. The 
 bridge was built at Samaria, between old Judaism and despised 
 (lentilism, by which these noble Christian prophets and apostles 
 went from one side to the other, and thus Jerusalem became in 
 the apostles' eyes as the mother city of the world, when they heard 
 that the Gentiles had so received the music of the redeeming 
 Word. We do not care for this miracle now. The dreariest part 
 of every missionar}' meeting to many persons in the excited assem- 
 bly is the reading of the report — a reading which should bring all 
 the Church together in its noblest enthusiasm ; a reading under 
 which strong men should stand and never stir till the last syllable 
 had throbbed upon the hot air — then there should arise a shout as 
 of a conquering host — " Praise God, from whom all blessings 
 flow." Such is not our way now. Miracles have become com- 
 monplaces, and reports have succumbed to the rhetoric that never 
 suffered. 
 
 When this report was made in Jerusalem, the apostles sent 
 down Peter and John. Was Peter then really ' ' sent down V ' 
 So it would certainly appear from the text. We thought that 
 Peter would have sent down other men ! It is evident, however, 
 that that thought is misconceived. Peter himself was a messen- 
 ger. Yet how delicate the tribute to his undoubted primacy of 
 love and enthusiasm ! He it was who was selected to go down. 
 
TRUE APOSTOLIC INFLUENCE. 199 
 
 His name appears /rj/, and yet he was but a deputation! There is 
 nothing papal here. The Pope is not ' ' sent down, ' ' he sends down. 
 Peter and John were sent down into Samaria to make inquiry and 
 to do whatever might appear needful under the novel circum- 
 stances. Our greatest men should always be sent down to the vil- 
 lages under circumstances such as these related in the text. Our 
 very grandest preachers ought to be our missionaries. A mission- 
 ary is now, unhappily, a despised man. If I wanted to empty 
 this church I have only to announce that a " returned missionary" 
 would preach here. What a desolation he would make in the 
 earth ! The man who has suffered, who has not counted his life 
 dear to him that he might preach Christ, would be left to tell his 
 story to vacant air ! He might not tell it in dainty language, in 
 choice music of eloquence ; he might have no deftness of speech, 
 no cunning skill in the stringing of sentences, and in the utterance 
 of expressive accents ; he might have no genius of emphasis ; but 
 he has come to tell of battles being won, and if we were in Christ, 
 as very parts of his soul, we would not mind the manner of the 
 narrative ; we would be as soldiers whose noblest pride was 
 touched to hear that the Master's banner floated over all the earth 
 in sign of beneficent victory ! 
 
 When Peter and John were come down to Samaria what did they 
 do .^ This will reveal the right aspect of apostolic injltience and office. 
 Let us read the text in a way of our own, and then it will stand in 
 some such fashion as this, " Peter and John, when they were 
 come down, sat upon a great and high throne, and waved over the 
 astounded Gentiles a staff that was supposed to have singular 
 power in it, and the amazed and wonder-struck villagers of 
 Samaria fell back before such dazzling dignity and bewailed their 
 own unworthiness. " That would be poor Scripture! That 
 would be Scripture without inspiration from heaven. How does 
 the text really read ? It reads in this way : When they were 
 come down, they PRAYED for the villagers, that they might 
 receive the Holy Ghost. Pray for your friends ; do not affright 
 them. Pray for inquirers ; do not overpower them. Pray in 
 great religious crises, and thus magnify the event, and do not 
 lessen it. Say, this is an affair which must be lifted up into the 
 light of God's countenance, and God himself must order and rule 
 in such an instance. Do we PRAY now ? The question is not. 
 
ACTS VIII. 14-25. 
 
 do we use the terms of prayer, or fall into the attitude of supplica- 
 tion, but do we PRAY ? Do we ask as if we meant to have what 
 we ask ? The question is too solemn to be answered by any one 
 man in the name of others. For what did the Apostles pray } 
 That Samaria might receive the Holy Ghost. Then what had 
 Samaria already received ? Samaria had only received the first 
 baptism. Water will do you no good. It was meant to be a be- 
 ginning, not an end. Whether you have received drops of water, 
 drops of dew, upon your infantile brow, or whether you have been 
 plunged of men in the deep river, it matters not, if you have not 
 gone further. We have believed, but have we received the Holy 
 Ghost P As a matter of fact, we have not, in many instances as we 
 well know. People seem to imagine that when they have belia^ed, 
 the work is done. As well tell me that when you have put the fuel 
 into the grate the fire is lighted. We have believed, the fuel has 
 been received into our mind, we know the truth, what we want is 
 the burning spark ! Now, have we received the Holy Ghost } 
 There is no mistaking it. We have had occasion already to say 
 that no man can mistake fire. You may paint it, but you cannot 
 warm your hands at the flame on the canvas. Fire is like nothing 
 but itself. It separates man from man, yet unites man to man. It 
 burns up selfishness. It purifies, it glorifies. It is the secret of 
 the universe. They who truly worship fire are not far from the 
 Icingdom of God. What is that there is not in fire .' It is even 
 so with the Holy Ghost. It gives a man individuality. It de- 
 taches him from the common crowd and gives him a singularity of 
 his own. What if it be true that we do not know what is meant 
 by the words, the HOLY GHOST } We are reasoners, debaters, 
 metaphysicians, theologians, essayists, learned men — all these we 
 may be with the water still upon our faces ! When the Church 
 has received the Holy Ghost, the Church will be unlike every other 
 communitv. When the pulpit has been baptized by the Holy 
 Ghost, it will stand alone in the supremacy of its power. At pres- 
 ent it is not a Sinai, it is a reading-desk. It is the retreat of the 
 mumbler, it is the living of the essayist. The pulpit should be but 
 a pedestal from which a man cries with the shout of thunder, and 
 with the energy of the refreshing and purifying breath of heaven. 
 Lord baptize us with the Holy Ghost ! Our religion is at present 
 an argument ; our desire is that it may become a PASSION ! 
 
HOW LITTLE MONEY CAN DO. 
 
 Simon the Sorcerer, hearing that through laying on of the 
 Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was received, offered them 
 money. It is easy to abuse this man known as Simon, but he 
 acted a most natural and rational part. Consider his training, his 
 surroundings, his particular avocation, and the great influence he 
 had acquired, and then say if he did not take the very course open 
 to a keen and penetrating observer. He had lived all his life in 
 the market-place. He had always been behind the counter ; he 
 had never breathed a purer air ; he knew but one world, and one 
 language. When, therefore, he saw by laying on of the Apostles' 
 hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered the Apostles money, 
 saying, " Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay 
 hands he may receive the Holy Ghost." Simon saw only the 
 outside — which of us sees any further .? We ourselves think 
 because we have been to church we have been good, or that 
 because we have bowed at the name of Jesus, or sung a Christian 
 hymn, or heard a Christian discourse, that therefore we are Chris- 
 tians. That is precisely the reasoning of Simon. There has 
 grown up in some sections of the Christian Church a custom which 
 is known as Simony. The meaning is that this or that particular 
 spiritual function has been turned into a marketable commodity. 
 The custom derived its name from the name of the Sorcerer, and 
 from, the circumstance recorded in this text. He who would buy 
 a pulpit is guilty of what is called simony. He who would hold 
 his place in this Church or any other by virtue of having bought it 
 is guilty of simony. But the simony of the Christian Church is 
 not in the pulpit alone. We may buy or try to buy influence, 
 status, and authority in the Church by the use of money. Who 
 is there that does not imagine that everything can be bought .' 
 Yet how little in reality can we buy with money ! Can you buy 
 sound judgment .^ What is the price of it } Can you buy ivisdom .-* 
 Tell me the value of it in plain money. You can buy diamonds 
 for the finger — can you buy lightning for the eyes .-* You can buy 
 musical instruments — can you make your tongue so eloquent as to 
 be a tabernacle of thunder .? What can you buy ? Can you buy 
 poetic fire ? Can you buy perfect insight P Can you buy any 
 form of spiritual and enduring power ? Know ye that money has 
 but a little world to operate in, and that the highest gifts are not 
 to be purchased with gold. Seek wisdom, seek knowledge, seek 
 
ACTS VIII. 14-25. 
 
 instruction — the price of it is above rubies. If we could rightly 
 lay hold of this idea it ought to open great worlds of possibility to 
 us. God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and 
 strong in power. " He doeth as he will among the armies of 
 heaven and amongst the children of men." To the poorest man 
 he says, " Take this Gospel and preach it." A manger will do 
 for a cradle when there is m it the Saviour of the world. Do you 
 suppose that because you have little money you have little power, 
 little life, little responsibility .? What have you .? You may have 
 the power of prayer ! You may be able to put into words at 
 God's throne thoughts that burn in me, but for which I myself 
 have no speech. You may be able to ' ' speak a word in season 
 to him that is wear)'." You may have the gift of hope and the 
 faculty of music, and you may be able to lift the load from many 
 a burdened heart. Poorest man, do not despair ! You may be 
 rich in ideas, rich in sympathies, rich in suggesiion, and rich in all 
 the noblest treasures that can make men wealthy with indestructi- 
 ble possession. 
 
XXIII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, the earth is thine and the fulness thereof. Thine is 
 also the fulness of the sea. Thou lookest upon all things, and in them 
 thou dost behold a purpose all thine own. Thy day of explanation is 
 coming, and then will be the full shining of the light upon all the way 
 which we have taken ; and in that hour of thy shining glory we shall 
 truly know how good thou hast been, and how evil has been our life in 
 the light of thy holiness. Thou hast redeemed us with an infinite price. 
 We see what value thou dost place upon our souls by the ransom which 
 thou hast paid for their redemption. We are redeemed not with corrupti- 
 ble things as silver and gold, but with precious blood of the Son of God. 
 We are not our own ; we are bought with blood ; we are purchased with 
 life ; thou thyself in thy son didst die that we might live. For these holy 
 thoughts we bless thee. They lift the soul above the things of time, and 
 all the weariness of earth, and bring us into the calmness and peace of 
 thine own quietude. We rejoice in all spiritual impulse, and aspiration, 
 and sacred desire. We would not live in the earth, but would draw our 
 life from the sun. Enable us, therefore, to fix our whole affections upon 
 the Son of God, our one Redeemer and Saviour, and Priest, and in the 
 fixing of that love may we find the only steadfastness and security of our 
 life. Save us from all the weary, and all the exciting processes of self- 
 trust and self-idolatry, and lead us into the infinite rest of faith in thy 
 Fatherhood. We' would rest in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. We would abide in him as the branch abideth in the vine. We 
 have no life in ourselves. Our life is hidden with God in Christ. Enable 
 us, we humbly pray thee, to know this in all the breadth of its meaning 
 and in all the completeness of its comfort, that we be no more children 
 tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, without a home for the 
 heart, and without'a refuge for the wounded spirit. In thy house we ex- 
 pect to see thy light. There is a light above the brightness of the sun. 
 We would walk in that light, feeling all its warmth, and answering with 
 unspotted piety the challenge of its sacred glory. Reveal thyself to us in 
 the sanctuary. Thou hast a beauty which the world doth not and cannot 
 see ; the beauty of love, of grace, of tenderness. Thou canst walk with 
 men, and talk in whispers to their listening hearts. Thou canst cause 
 their trouble to arise like dew of the morning, to be fashioned into the 
 bow of new promise and hope in the blue heavens. Thou canst comfort 
 thy children with tenderest solaces. Have pity upon the broken heart, 
 
204 ACTS VIII. 14-25. 
 
 spare the reed that is already bruised, and send a Gospel this day to 
 hearts that are longing for it. As the mother would save the child, as 
 the father would bring back the wanderer, and sink the past in eternal 
 oblivion, wilt thou not much more call us every one to thy love and grace 
 in Christ Jesus, and make for our feet a new earth, and for our eyes a 
 new heaven. 
 
 We remember the absent. Those who are travelling upon the land or 
 sea, whose return we are expecting with thankfulness and joy. We can- 
 not forget the sick at home and in the hospital. Everywhere on the wide 
 earth is sickness to be found. We thank thee for all the care that is be- 
 stowed upon the sick and dying. We pray that thou thyself wilt be the 
 Physician of those who are in deepest suffering. Send messages of com- 
 fort to all homes of sickness, whether private or public, and let the heal- 
 ing power of the Gospel of Christ be felt in every suffering heart. 
 
 Thy word is truth, let us hear it as such. May we not listen to it as 
 other than the voice of God's eternity. Touch our ears that they may 
 hear the faintest whisper of thy love ; open our understanding that we 
 may understand the Scriptures ; and by the ministry of the Holy Ghost, 
 God the Spirit, prepare us to receive the truth with all humbleness and 
 meekness, and teachableness of mind. Dismiss the world from our 
 thought and time from our anxiety, and give us thy tender peace, thou 
 that dwellcst in the quietness of Eternity. Amen. 
 
 THE DEPUTATION TO SAMARIA. 
 
 {continued. ) 
 
 LET us now see what Simon the Sorcerer did when he saw 
 that through laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy 
 Ghost was given to the people. The expression now reads as a 
 very common one, yet there is hidden under it a very far-reaching 
 and most subtle and potent meaning. Simon offered the Apostle 
 money. There was probably no fixed sum in the mind of Simon. 
 If such a bestowal as that of the Spirit could be effected upon 
 him, money should not stand in the way. The text does not read 
 that Simon asked the price, or that Simon fixed the sum : Simon 
 was a great man in his own line, and a man who had been most 
 successful in business, and therefore he offered money, and not any 
 particular or defined sum of money. This was the hour of Apos- 
 iolic icmplation. They had no money. '^I'o the lame man at the 
 Beautiful Gate of the Temple, Peter had said, " Silver and gold 
 have I none." Money is always a powerful temptation to the 
 empty pocket. Where is the man in this congregation who can 
 say, No, to every form of temptation which money can assume .-* 
 
APOSTOLIC TEMPTATIONS. 
 
 205 
 
 " The love of money is the root of all evil." It is very easy for 
 us, when no temptation is troubling the ear, to say what we should 
 do under such and such circumstances ; but when the money is 
 actually in the hand of the tempter, and when in one moment 
 more it may be in our own possession, and when the thing asked 
 lor in exchange is itself a good thing, where is the man in the 
 Church who can return a denial with the emphasis of thunder, 
 and, so to say, with the accent of lightning ? We are not to sup- 
 pose that Jesus Christ's temptation was confined to Himself. He 
 was tempted symbolically for us as well as really tempted in him- 
 self. The way to the Kingdom always lies through the gate of the 
 wilderness. To enter heaven is to win a battle. We do not dream 
 ourselves into heaven. We do not fall asleep as in the darkness 
 of earth, and quietly and joyously open our eyes upon the summer 
 of heaven. The way to the upper places is a way through temp- 
 tation, suffering, discipline, and disappointment — a long way, so 
 crooked, so weary, with hardly a well upon the wayside to rest 
 upon and to drink at. That is the upward and most difficult 
 way ! When the Baptist had his great temptation, in a moment 
 of excitement, when he seemed to sum up in himself all prophecy 
 and noble speech of the ancient seers, the people came to him in 
 their most influential classes, and said, "Art THOU He that 
 should come V ' Do not read these words as if they contained 
 nothing. They were a temptation of the subtlest kind, addressed 
 not consciously, to vanity, to ambition, and to some of the lower 
 forms of patriotism. The principal seat upon the chariot was then 
 suggestively offered to John the Baptist ; he might have mounted, 
 and said, " Yes, come with me ; I am your deliverer and prince 1" 
 Every man has h's own temptations. Temptation is not always 
 explained or always explicable in words. There are battles in 
 secret. There is a Gethsemane in every noble life. Ministers will 
 prove themselves to have been anointed with the true and pure oil 
 of the upper sanctuary when they do not smooth over life as if it 
 were a kind of summer dream, but when they recognize trouble, 
 temptation, and inexplicable weakness, and lead the way by noble 
 sympathy, by the lure of a manly and noble example, and by the 
 power that is in spiritual contagion. The Church is always 
 tempted in this same way, namely, by the offer of money. We 
 must always reject the unholy patronage. Do I address a minister 
 
2o6 ACTS VIII. 14-25. 
 
 who preaches to the moneyed pew ? Your ministry will be blighted 
 with well-merited condemnation. Do I minister to a Church that 
 could accept secular patronage in order to preach a settled and 
 determined theology ? Such a Church would have sold its birth- 
 right for a contemptible price. Does any power say to the relig- 
 ion of the Nazarene, " I will patronize, and pay thee, and see thy 
 bill discharged all the way through .?" Every thorn in that crown 
 of thorns would answer with angry resentment an offer so detest- 
 able. Faith must spread its own daily board. Love must pay its 
 own way. If the Church, be it but two or three in number, has 
 not energy enough, love enough, to pay all that requires to be 
 paid, it is not a church, it is a speculative club. Do I speak to 
 some who represent very feeble communities 1 My friends, your 
 weakness is your strength. Do not ask any man to help you, un- 
 less his help be the inspiration of love — not a taxation, but the 
 outgoing of a noble spirit of obedience to the crucified and now 
 throned Christ. It is not necessary for you to be rich in order to 
 be a Church. There are, perhaps, only some five or six of you in 
 the little village ; what then ? As two of the disciples walked 
 together and held converse upon Christian themes, *' Jesus Him- 
 self drew near." And in this drawing near the Church was form- 
 ed. Where He is, the Church is. Do not therefore accept any 
 bribe or any challenge, or kneel before any temptation to be rich, 
 and great, and influential. Be you more zealous in prayer, more 
 intense in love and in enthusiasm ; in that line let your victories 
 lie 1 Never be bribed into silence. Never keep back the truth of 
 God, lest you should forfeit status or income. Again and again 
 have 1 said, and the conviction grows upon me that the saying is 
 true — // is not necessary for any man to LIVE, but it is necessary 
 for every man to be LOYAL to Christ' s truth. The lesson comes 
 to us from very ancient times. When the king came to meet 
 Abram, and offered him great hospitality and patronage, Abram 
 said, " No ; lest thou say, I have made Abram rich." The chief 
 power is spiritual, not financial. But the Church has wonderfully 
 fallen under the delusiveness of the fallacy which teaches that the 
 Church ought to be socially respectable. It would make the heart 
 cry its hottest tears to read the phrases that are now popular : Such 
 and such a man ministers to a " most respectable congregation." 
 Such and suoh a congregation " has hardly one poor person in it" 
 
WHAT THE MINISTRY SHOULD BE. 207 
 
 Other congregations are notable for the considerable number of 
 ' ' common people ' that degrade the pews. To such a plight has the 
 religion of Christ been brought by those who have been offered 
 money and have accepted the unholy bribe ! 
 
 How was it that the Apostles were enabled to escape the subtle 
 influence of this potent temptation ? The answer is given in the 
 narrative. The Apostles had a true conception of the spiritual election. 
 and function 0/ the Church. " Thy money," said Peter to the 
 sorcerer, '* perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the 
 gift of God may be purchased with money. ' ' The Church had 
 not then become a machine. Ordination was not then a thing to 
 be arranged. It was inspiration. It was the sudden seizing of the 
 mind, and its transformation into spiritual dignity and majesty. 
 We do not understand this now. Men are now ^''prepared" for 
 the ministry. Now we " educate' men for the pulpit. By all 
 means be educated, be instructed ; but educate the man, and the 
 citizen, and le: the pulpit alone. You do not educate the poet. 
 You educate the man ; and too much education we cannot have ; 
 there is no virtue in ignorance ; ignorance is always weakness ; 
 therefore would I uphold strenuously the education of the citizen, 
 the subject, the man, the individual, but let the pulpit receive the gift 
 of God. We are not to come to this work by arrangement of 
 man. The ministry ought not to be a class, or clique, or sect of 
 its own by any man's arrangements. It should be elect of God. 
 A minister should wear his credentials openly, and they should be 
 so written that none could dispute their authenticity. Educate 
 men for the ministry ! " Thy education perish witn thee, because 
 thou hast thought that the gift of God" could be purchased by 
 schooling. Get all the education you can ; be the best informed 
 man of your circle, so far as is possible ; encourage intellectual 
 ambition, and satisfy it even to satiety ; but inspiration makes a 
 minister ! And inspiration makes the Church. In such a sense as 
 we rarely realize is that word true. " Not by might, and not by 
 power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." When the Church 
 learns that lesson, the Church will have no need to cry out for 
 more ministers, for the Church will by such a feeling utter a pre- 
 vailing prayer to heaven that " labourers may be thrust into the 
 harvest." Are you, young man, considering whether you will 
 enter Christ's ministry or not? Then pray God you may never 
 
2o8 ACTS VIII. 14-15. 
 
 enter it ; for it is not a question for cotmdcra/ion. There are 
 those, shame on their grey hairs, who are telling us that if the 
 Church would offer more money to the young men of our " better 
 families," they might possibly give themselves to the ministry! 
 A malediction from heaven be upon such thoughts I Does Christ 
 want the members of our " better families" to be kind enough to 
 accept position as his ambassadors, and expositors, and friends ? 
 He was always despised and rejected of men. He will choose his 
 own ministers. He will see to it that the pulpit is never silent. 
 It may change its form of utterance, and its attitude towards the 
 whole necessity of civilized life ; but Christ will find His own min- 
 isters, and inspire them with his own spirit. 
 
 Peter spoke in his own characteristic tone when he said to 
 Simon the magician, " Thy money perish with thee, thou hast 
 neither part nor lot in this matter ; for thy heart is not right in the 
 sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray 
 God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." 
 Peter's speech was not a mere denunciation. If you merely de- 
 nounce men you discourage them. Learn here haw lo preach ! 
 You need nothing more on this part of your mission than this 
 speech to Simon Magus. Nothing is wanted in the emphasis with 
 which Peter speaks ; his moral dignity is positively sublime, and 
 yet, having uttered the word of malediction he shows that the true 
 object of the denunciation of wrong is to save the wrong-doer. 
 Here is the gospel in an unexpected place. After such a thunder- 
 storm who could have expected this voice of lute and harp .? Re- 
 pent ! Forgive ! It is weakness merely to abuse, or denounce, 
 or rebuke. Reproach acquires its dignity and its usefulness by 
 the tenderness which eventually flows out of it. Your reproof of 
 the age in which you live will derive nearly all its force from the 
 opening up of the way of possible forgiveness and restoration to 
 those whose wickedness you have denounced. Give up no man. 
 Do not spare his sin ; hold the fiercest light over it, but point the 
 wrong-doer himself to the possibility of forgiveness through repent- 
 ance and supplication. Hear this as a gospel, oh, wrong-doing 
 man ! About your wrong. doing we cannot have two opinions. 
 Upon the wickedness we would rain fire and brimstone from God 
 out of heaven, but you yourselves REPENT, " if perhaps the 
 thought of your heart may be forgiven." 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF PRAYER. 209 
 
 " While the lamp holds out to burn, 
 The vilest sinner may return." 
 
 Simon did not — nor could he be expected to do — seize the 
 spiritual idea which ruled the Apostle's thinking. His reply is 
 most natural, though often condemned. ' ' Then answered 
 Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these 
 things which ye have spoken come upon me." He asked for 
 Apostolic prayer, so far he was not wrong. He suggested the 
 Apostolic prayer ' ' that none of these things which ye have spoken 
 come upon me." There he failed to see the right meaning of 
 prayer. We must not go to God in supplication merely to escape 
 judgment, or wrath, or penalty, but to escape sin. Yet let a man 
 come through any ga/e that first opens, only let him COME ! We 
 cannot all be metaphysicians in this respect ; we cannot all be 
 theologically correct as to our way of approaching our Infinite 
 Father. If one man should come through hatred of sin, through 
 such a high spiritual nature that he feels the evil of sin and wishes 
 to escape it ; if another man of lower mould should say, " I fear 
 hell, I fear fire, I fear the worm that dieth not ; God have mercy 
 upon me." Let him also come. Every man must pray as he 
 can. You cannot send the heart to school to teach it how to pray. 
 It will pray from the point where the burden presses. How in- 
 stinctively the child lays its hand upon the place where the pain is ! 
 So my prayer to heaven will come out of that wound that bleeds 
 most copiously. Where the pain is, the prayer should be. If 
 the pain is spiritual because of the sinfulness of sin, I will pray 
 some lofty prayer ; and if I be troubled with the fear of eternal 
 night, God will not despise even the penitential cvf of fear and 
 dread. 
 
XXIV. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, how great is thy truth ! We cannot understand it all, 
 but in Jesus Christ, Thy Son, we see what we can lay hold of with our 
 mind and with our heart. Thou art revealed in thy Son, who is the 
 brightness of thy glory. We would, therefore, sit at his feet every day, 
 and listen with the attention of our love to all the music of his sacred 
 voice. Give us the hearing ear, and the understanding heart, and may 
 nothing of all the Gospel escape our reverent attention. We need it all. 
 We need thy Son in his body, soul, and spirit. Yea, verily, we need, be- 
 cause of our sinfulness, the blood of his very heart. We would behold 
 the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world ; with our love 
 would we behold him ; with our inmost desire would we lay hold of him ; 
 with all the pain of our sin would we cry unto him, that he may be our 
 Deliverer, our one Redeemer. We rejoice in the Cross of Christ. It 
 means to us the whole affection of God. We see in that Cross ail thy 
 love, thou Ever-loving One. Nowhere else do we see that love in all its 
 infinite tenderness. At the Cross we tarry ; by the Cross will we be 
 found when the sun ariseth ; and at the setting of the sun we will still be 
 there. In the Cross is pardon ; in the Cross is peace. God forbid that 
 we should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 We put ourselves into thy keeping ; we know not what is best for us, 
 nor do we know which way to take when the ways are many and mostly 
 distasteful. Save us from judging by appearances. Teach us our igno- 
 rance. May we begin at the point of self-distrust, and gradually move 
 onward by the guidance of the Holy Ghost to perfect faith in the Son of 
 God. We would live the faith-life : we would live, and move, and have 
 our being in the Spirit. We would be no longer content with the earth, 
 but would despise it, with an infinite scorn, as a final resting point. We 
 accept it as a beginning— a school, an opening into the eternal future. 
 Help us to use it as such ; enable us to use the world as not abusing it, 
 and to sit so lightly to all its attractions, that at thy bidding we may rise 
 with a good heart, and a glad hope, to go whithersoever thou dost lead. 
 Our life is thine. It is not ours. Our head and our heart are enlight- 
 ened and warmed by thy glory and by thy love. 
 
 Take care of us every one, we are so foolish, and so easily led away 
 from the light and the beauty of thy holiness. Never forsake us ; take 
 hold of both our hands, and surround us with fire that cannot be broken 
 through. Thoulcnowest all the circle of our life. The old pilgrims, who 
 
THE TEXT. 
 
 have but a mile or two at the most still to go until they reach the end — 
 their lives are behind them, they cannot do any mighty works because of 
 the feebleness of age, and the brevity of time. The Lord comfort such ; 
 the Lord himself send tender Gospels to hearts long-tired and greatly 
 enriched with Christian experience. Remember, too, the little ones, for 
 they are all thine. Baptize them with the dew of the morning, and bap- 
 i tize them with the fire of noon-tide ; when they come towards the evening 
 of life may their recollection be turned into a prophecy of still brighter 
 revelation. Be kind unto the sick, the weary, the long-ailing, whose 
 days are nights, and whose nights are a burden of darkness. The Lord 
 himself give patience to those who watch, and hope to those who suffer. 
 
 We commend the whole world to thee. It is but a little one, a mere 
 speck in thy firmament, but what tragedies has it not seen ! Thou dost 
 in little spaces reveal thine own infinitude. This is the miracle of God ; 
 this is the wonder of life ; this is the revelation of light. Save the world 
 in every land and every place, and by the mighty power of the Holy 
 Ghost work upon the nations until they shall all bow down before the up- 
 lifted Cross, and cry unto thy Son for the baptism of all-cleansing blood. 
 Amen. 
 
 Acts viii. 26-40. 
 
 26. 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 [one of the five chief cities of the Philistines], which is desert. 
 
 27. And he arose and went : and, behold, a man of Ethiopia [now 
 called Nubia and Abyssinia], an eunuch of great authority under Candace 
 [the usual name of Ethiopian queens] queen of the Ethiopians, who had 
 the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship 
 [as proselytes did as well as Jews]. 
 
 28. Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 
 [Probably a copy of the Greek translation.] 
 
 2g. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to his 
 chariot [doubtless followed by a numerous retinue]. 
 
 30. 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 L 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 shearers, 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. 
 
212 ACTS VI II. 26-40. 
 
 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 bap- 
 tized? 
 
 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. 
 [The whole of this verse is omitted in the oldest MSS ] 
 
 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 [i Kings xviii. 12], that the eunuch saw him no 
 more : and he went on his way rejoicing. 
 
 40. But Philip was found at Azotus [Asdod, another of the five cities] : 
 and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea 
 [the chief city in Palestine under the Roman rule]. 
 
 THE ETHIOPIAN CONVERT.— A TYPICAL 
 MAN. 
 
 HOW did Philip know what the Ethiopian traveller was read- 
 ing ? If we saw a chariot passing along our street, and a 
 man engaged in reading a book, we could not by any possibility 
 know what he was reading or what was his condition of mind. 
 How then did Philip know 1 Here we are reminded that it was 
 the habit of the Jews, and of other Eastern people, not only to 
 read, but to read aloud, and accompany their reading oftentimes 
 by vehement gesticulation. There is no difficulty therefore about 
 this matter of Philip knowing what the Ethiopian eunuch was read- 
 ing. The great Jewish teachers insisted in many instances upon 
 their scholars reading aloud : they would say, in effect, " If you 
 wish this word to abide in you, you must speak it aloud." And in 
 the Proverbs we have a sentiment to the effect that the words of 
 truth give life to them that utler them forth. We know something 
 about this experience in our own life. Some men could never 
 commit anything to memory if they could not speak the lesson 
 aloud. It is more easy for some minds to learn by the ear than 
 by the eye ; their minds require both the eye and the ear to co- 
 operate in the act of memory. I speak to the experience prob- 
 ably of many when I say that utterance aloud is often a very 
 jicnverful aid to mental retentiveness. 
 
 Let us look upon this Ethiopian as a typical man. This is not 
 an instance so many hundreds of years old : it falls easily within 
 our accustomed .method of viewing Biblical history. The Ethio- 
 
HONEST INQUIRY. 
 
 plan still lives amongst us. We have not overpassed him on the 
 earth. He is yet in his chariot, he is yet reading ancient Script- 
 ure, and he is yet waiting for the one man that can lead him on- 
 ward from morning twilight to noontide glory. Let us look at 
 this man as an enquii-er. He was in a btwildered state of mind. I 
 do not visit with rebuke the bewilderment of honest enquiry. In 
 the realm of spiritual revelation things are not superficial, easy of ar- 
 rangement, and trifling in issue. Who can wonder that a man in 
 reading the Old Testament should feel like a traveller making his 
 uneasy way through a land of cloud and shadow .? Do not be dis- 
 tressed because you are puzzled and bewildered by religious mys- 
 tery. The most advanced minds in the Church have had to pass 
 through precisely your experience. But the path of the just shin- 
 eth more and more unto the perfect day. Do not make idols of 
 your perplexities. Do not make a boast of your bewilderment. 
 You know that there is a subtle temptation in that direction — to 
 talk about your doubts and difficulties in a tone which suggests that 
 yours is so critical and so judicial a mind that it is not to be put 
 off with the easy solutions that have satisfied intellects of an infe- 
 rior order. Be honest in your bewilderment, and be simple and 
 true-hearted. The eunuch was not only bewildered : he was ieach- 
 able. He said, " I wonder what this means ; would that some 
 man could join me in this study and throw light upon this mys- 
 tery ; I feel lonely ; the voice of a teacher would now gladden me ; 
 I would that God would send some director to show me the mean- 
 ing of this and lead me into the light." Teachableness is one of 
 the first characteristics of honesty. There is no religious honesty 
 that is not adorned by the spirit of docility. If you are self-trust- 
 ful, if you walk by your own lights, if you contend, even silently 
 and passively, that it lies within the compass of your power to 
 find out everything for yourself, then you are not a scholar in the 
 school of Christ ; you are stubborn, you are dogmatical, and, as 
 such, you deprive yourself of all the gifts of Providence. Yet 
 how few people are teachable ! So many of us go to the Bible and 
 find proofs of what we already believe. Is this not solemnly true .-* 
 Whatever your form of Church government is, j'ou go to the 
 Bible and find a text to vindicate it. Whatever your particular 
 theology is, you open the Scripture with the express purpose of 
 finding in it a /ri?^ that you arc right. This is not the spirit of 
 
ACTS VIII. 26-40. 
 
 Christ. The true beUever goes with an unprejudiced mind, truly 
 humble, honestly desirous of knowing what is true. No matter 
 who lives or dies, who goes up or goes down, what is truth must 
 be, and ever is, the supreme enquiry of honest and teachable 
 spirits. The danger is that we become mere traditionalists. This 
 was the great blemish in Jewish education. Men believed what 
 was handed on to them from one generation to another, without 
 personal enquiry into the foundations and roots of the doctrines 
 they were required to accept. Do not call such acceptance by the 
 noble name of faith. You who accept doctrines in that fashion 
 are not students, or scholars, or enquirers : you are merely pass- 
 ive and indifferent custodians, uttering words which have in them 
 no rays of life, and no pith of pathos and reality. Would that we 
 could all come to the Bible afresh, divesting the mind of every- 
 thing we ever heard, and reading the Scriptures through from end 
 to end, turning over every page with the breath of this prayer — 
 " Spirit Divine, show me w'hat is truth." We might lose a good 
 deal of our present possession, but we should be enlarged with 
 other and better treasures. Every man would then have the Bible 
 dwelling richly in him, not as a series of separate and isolated 
 texts, but as a spirit, a genius, a revelation, a guardian angel. 
 
 Being bewildered and yet teachable, there can be no surprise 
 that as an enquirer the ennuch was, in the third place, obedient. 
 The Gospel does not ask us to set up our little notions against its 
 revelation. A revelation cannot afford to be argumentative upon 
 common terms. Any Gospel that comes to me with a quiver in 
 its voice, with a hesitancy or a reserve in its lone, vitiates its own 
 credentials, and steps down from the pedestal of commanding 
 authority. The eunuch, having heard the sermon preached to 
 him by Philip, obeyed. " Here is water, what hindereth me to be 
 baptized.?" He would have the whole thing completed at once. 
 So many persons are afraid that they are not fit, or they are not 
 prepared. They have heard the Gospel a quarter of a century or 
 more, but still they are wondering about themselves. Such 
 people are not humble, they are dishonest ; they are trifling with 
 themselves and with others ; they have not reached the point of 
 teachableness, but are still lingering with selfish delight in the land 
 of bewilderment. What hindereth him } No man should hmder 
 vou from coming to Christ. I fear sometimes that the luiulion 
 
PREPARED HEARERS. 215 
 
 of the modern Church is to get up hmdrances, to make fences, and 
 boundaries, and lines, over which men have to step, and hills over 
 which they have to climb. These are men-made hindrances. In 
 the Gospel I find but one word for all honest, teachable men, and 
 that one word is — Welcome/ Hindrances are man's inventions. 
 As to the /orm of baptism, please yourself. It is not a matter of 
 /orm ; it is a matter of meaning and spirit. Some believe in aduli 
 baptism, others believe in what is termed believers' baptism ; and I 
 believe in LIFE-baptism. So that wherever I find human life 
 in this blood-redeemed world, I would baptize it in the Triune 
 Name, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Bap- 
 tism is greater than 2Ci\j form of baptism. 
 
 For a moment or two, regard this treasurer of the Ethiopians 
 not only as an enquirer, but as a hearer, and then note his per- 
 sonal characteristics. First of all, as a hearer, he ^2^'^ prepared ; he 
 was already seriously perusing the mysterious volume. He had 
 not to be called from afar. Already he was in the sanctuary. 
 Where are prepared hearers nowadays .'' Where are those who 
 come to Church from the Bible itself ; full of the prophets, their 
 steps to the sanctuary beating time to the noble music of the 
 Psalms } What is the work of Philip nowadays 1 It is to per- 
 suade, to plead, to break through iron-bound attention and fix it 
 upon spiritual realities. Philip has now to deal with men who are 
 reading the journals of the day, the fiction of the hour, and the 
 exciting discussions of the passing time, and from any one of these 
 engagements to the Scriptures of God there may lie unnumbered 
 thousands of miles ! So we get so little in the Church. We do 
 not lift up our heads from the prophetic page and turn a glowing 
 face and an eager eye upon the Philip whom God has sent to teach 
 us. Our ear is full of the hum of the world. Our mind is dazed 
 by many cross lights ; our attention is teazed by a thousand appel- 
 lants. Could we have /r^/iar^^ /zmr^rj, as viqW ^■s prepared preach- 
 ers, then in five minutes a man might preach five hours, because 
 every word would be a revelation, and every tone a call to higher 
 life. A prepared pulpit fights against infinite odds when it has to 
 deal with an unprepared pav. 
 
 Not only was the Ethiopian a prepared hearer, he was a respon- 
 sive one. He answered Philip. His eye listened, his attitude lis- 
 tened, his breath listened. His head, his heart, his will, all 
 
2i6 ACTS VII I. 26-40, 
 
 listened. Who can now listen ? To hear is a divine accomplish- 
 ment. Who hears well .? To have a responsive hearer is to make 
 a good preacher. The pew makes the pulpit. It is possible to 
 waste supreme thought and utterance upon an indifferent hearer. 
 But let the hearer answer, and how high the dialogue, how noble 
 the exchange of thought, how possibly grand the issues of such 
 high converse ! Do not suppose that a man is not answering his 
 teacher simply because he is not audibly speaking to him. There 
 is a responsive attitude, there is an answering silence, there is an 
 applauding quietude, there is a look, which is better than thunders 
 of applause ! Let us study the eunuch's conduct in this matter, 
 and endeavour to reproduce it. He wzs prepared, he was respon- 
 sive ; what wonder if in the long run he became a new creature.'* 
 He helped Philip ; he preached by listening. 
 
 We might pass on now from looking at the eunuch as an en- 
 quirer, and as a hearer, to regard him for a moment as a convert. 
 As a convert he was an enlightened one. He had passed from the 
 prophetic to the evangelic, he had seen the Cross, he knew on 
 whom he had believed, and he pronounced his name with sublim- 
 est emphasis, " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." 
 Then Philip must have been preaching this doctrine. You know 
 the sermon by the hearer. Say ye, " It was a beautiful sermon, 
 an exquisite piece of reasoning, a model of persuasiveness?" 
 When you blaspheme after hearing it, and serve the devil with 
 double industry after having passed an hour in God's house, — that 
 is wrong, that is lying ! Show the solidity, the Scripturalness, the 
 power, the practical tendencies of the discourse by living it ! 
 Being an enlightened convert, ihe eunuch was a convert deeply 
 convinced in his ow.i mind. There are hereditary Christians, 
 nominal Christians, halting Christians, merely assenting, and non- 
 enquiring Christians. "And they because they have not much 
 deepness of earth soon wither away." There are also convinced 
 Christians, men who have fought battles in darkness and have 
 dragged the prey to the mountains of light. They are those who 
 have undergone all the pain, the happy pain, the joyous agony, of 
 seeking for truth in difficult places, and, proving it, have em- 
 braced it at the altar as if they had wedded the bride of their souls. 
 These will make martyrs if need be. These are the pillars of the 
 Church ; men n6t tossed to and fro, but abiding in a noble stead- 
 
EXULTANT FAITH. 217 
 
 fastness. In the use of this incident there is another point con- 
 nected with the eunuch's experience as a convert which we must 
 not overlook, — he was enlightened, he was convinced, and in the 
 third place he was exultant. " He went on his way rejoicing." 
 You have not seen Christ if you are not filled with joy. You 
 have seen him in a cloud ; you have seen a painted mask that 
 professes to represent him ; you have seen some ghastly travesty 
 of the beauty of Christ. Had you seen God's Son, the Saviour of 
 the world, every dreary note would have been taken out of your 
 voice ; you would have forgotten the threnody of your old winter, 
 and have begun to sing with the birds of summer. See the 
 eunuch, oblivious even of Philip's presence. He does not know 
 probably that Philip was gone. He was lifted up in sublime ec- 
 stasy and divine enthusiasm. He saw divine things, new heavens, 
 a new earth, bluer skies, greener lands, than he had ever seen 
 before, and in that transfiguration he saw Jesus only. Philip, 
 miraculously sent, was miraculously withdrawn, but there sat in 
 the chariot now " one like unto the Son of Man." It is thus 
 that intermediate preachers prepare the way for the incoming of 
 their Master. And so preacher after preacher says, as he sees the 
 radiant vision coming — " He must increase, but I must de- 
 crease. ' ' 
 
XXV. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, let our hunger be a cry unto heaven. We would hun- 
 ger and thirst after righteousness, for in so doing we shall be blest with 
 thine own fulness. Thou dost give unto all men liberally, and in thy 
 voice there is no upbraiding tone. Giant unto us now, in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Intercessor, grace upon grace. We 
 would have fulness of blessing, yea, we would be filled with all the ful- 
 ness of God. Our heart's desire is that we may be lifted up from the 
 dust into the clear light which shines in the upper places of thy kingdom. 
 We are tired of the earth. We feel that we are greater than our prison. 
 We would break the bars and fiee away to the place where the morning 
 rises, and where the mid-day shines in full glory. This impatience comes 
 of the ministry of thy grace. Once we were contented with the dust ; 
 once we needed but one little world ; once we had no eyes but those of 
 the body, and then we were satisfied with mean things. But we are new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus ; yea, we have been with Jesus, and have 
 learned of him. We remember what he said about our Father's house, 
 and the angels, and the sunlight hereafter, in which we are to conduct 
 our study and our services. We have entered into a glorious liberty. It 
 is not merely liberty enough, it is freedom upon freedom, world upon 
 world, yea, an infinite inheritance of liberty. Whilst we are here, may 
 we do thy will with all simplicity, obedience, and joyfulness of heart. 
 May we take nothing away from thy law, nor impair in any degree thy 
 righteousness. May we rather seek to do our utmost to make our calling 
 and election sure. Enable us to bear the petty troubles of the day, and 
 to take them as having some good meaning, if we could but find it. 
 May we know our own divinity as sons of God through the Cross of 
 Christ, and not allow ourselves to be fretted and chafed into spiritual 
 meanness by the trifles of a moment. In thy Son, our Saviour, give us 
 such a hold of other worlds as shall enable us to use the present without 
 abusing it. In the night time, and in the hour of darkness, show us 
 some of the other worlds in vision. Even in the quietness and silence of 
 the night, come into our imagination and reveal what our senses are 
 unable to comprehend. In the silence speak to us as thou only canst 
 whisper to the heart. Recall our best days ; the altar where our noblest 
 prayers were uttered do thou ever set before our eyes. Gather together 
 all our vows and oaths, and promises of better life, and enable us to 
 repeat them, every one, by the grace of Christ, and in his strength to 
 
THE TEXT. 219 
 
 renew our early devotion to his Kingdom. Pity us in all our weariness, 
 and littleness, and want of perception, and remember that we were born 
 yesterday, and that we are here but until to-morrow. Spare thine anger ; 
 loose not against us the bolts of thy wrath, but take us into thy great 
 compassion and sustain us daily by thy tender mercy. 
 
 For all the little joys that come to us on the road we bless thee. For 
 the sweet spring time and the summer flowers, and the singing birds, for 
 all the little surprises of love that make the day glad ; for friendly letters, 
 and loving messages, and graspings of the hand that mean trust and 
 grace ; for all encouragements that make us more hopeful in the time of 
 difficulty, we would bless thee and we would regard them as hints of 
 thine own inspiration and daily benediction. 
 
 We remember our loved ones who are not here. The father and 
 mother at home, near at hand, or far away. The traveller who has left 
 us, but in his leaving has also given promise of return. For all who are 
 in sorrow, trouble, and difficulty, we pray thy guidance and thy sanctify- 
 ing blessing. May the dying die without knowing it, because of the ful- 
 ness of the triumph of grace in their hearts. Strengthen us during the 
 few little days we have yet to live, and so cause the light of Christ to fall 
 upon us that we may see the true littleness of earth, and the magnitude 
 of the heaven to which we are hastening. Thus may we live in the 
 power of an endless life. And being rooted in Christ's eternity, we can- 
 not die. Amen. 
 
 Acts ix. 1-22. 
 
 1. 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 bound 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 med 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. 
 
220 ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias t 
 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, oi 
 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. 
 
 13. Then Ananias answered. Lord, I have heard by many of this man, 
 how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem : 
 
 14. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that 
 call on thy name. 
 
 15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way : for he is a chosen vessel 
 unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the chil- 
 dren of Israel : 
 
 16. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my 
 name's sake. 
 
 17. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house ; and put- 
 ting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that ap- 
 peared 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. 
 
 21. But' all that heard him were amazed, and said ; Is not this he that 
 destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither 
 for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests ? 
 
 22. But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews 
 which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. 
 
 The following exposition of Acts. ix. 1-22 is reprinted from 
 The Cambridge Bible for Schools, and is here given as one of the 
 clearest and most condensed with which I am acquainted : — 
 
 1. And [Rut] Saul, yet breathing out tltreateuittgs [threatening]. It is 
 better to translate the conjunction adversatively here, as the new subject 
 is not connected except with the first sentence of chap. viii. The verb in 
 this clause should be rendered "breathing," not "breathing out." 
 Threatening and slaughter was, as it were, the atmosphere in which Saul 
 was living. 
 
 and slaii^iihler agiiiiist the disciples of the Lord\ We are not told of any 
 Other death, but S*icphen's, in which Saul was a participator, but we can 
 
EXPOSITION. 221 
 
 gather from his o%vn words (Acts xxvi. lo) "when they were put to 
 death, I gave my voice [vote] against them," that the protomartyr was 
 not the only one who was killed in the time of this persecution. It has 
 been suggested that the zeal virhich Saul shewed at the time of Stephen's 
 death led to his election into the Sanhedrin, and so he took a judicial part 
 in the later stages of the persecution, and, it may be, from a desire to 
 justify the choice of those who had placed him in authority, he sought to 
 be appointed over the enquiry after the Christians in Damascus. We 
 gather from xxvi. lo, that before this inquisitorial journey he had been 
 armed with the authority of the chief priests in his search after the Chris- 
 tians in Jerusalem. 
 
 luent unto the high priest] who would most likely be the authority 
 through whom the power, which the Great Sanhedrin claimed to exercise, 
 in religious matters, over Jews in foreign cities, would be put in motion. 
 
 2. and desired of him letters] These are the papers which constituted 
 his " authority and commission' ' (xxvi. 12). From that passage we learn 
 that the issuing of these papers was the act of the whole body, for Paul 
 there says they were " from the chief priests." 
 
 to Damasctis] Of the history of this most ancient (Gen. xiv. 15) city in 
 the world, see the Dictionary of the Bible. It had from the earliest period 
 been mixed up with the history of the Jews, and great numbers of Jews 
 were living there at this time, as we can see from the subsequent notices 
 of their conduct in this chapter. We are told by Josephus {B. J. 11. 20. 2) 
 that ten thousand Jews were slaughtered in a massacre in Damascus in 
 Nero's time, and that the wives of the Damascenes were almost all of 
 them addicted to the Jewish religion. 
 
 to the synagogues] As at Jerusalem, so in Damascus the synagogues 
 were numerous, and occupied by different classes and nationalities. 
 Greek-Jews were sure to be found in so large a city. 
 
 that if he found any of this way] Better, " any that were of the 
 Way." The name " the Way" soon became a distinctive appellation of 
 the Christian religion. The fuller expression " the way of truth" is 
 found 2 Pet. ii. 2 ; and the brief term is common in the Acts. See xix. 
 g, 23, xxii. 4, xxiv. 14, 22. 
 
 ■whether... men or women] We can mark the fury with which Saul raged 
 against the Christians from this mention of the " women" as included 
 among those whom he committed or desired to commit to prison. Cp. 
 viii. 3 and xxii. 4. The women played a more conspicuous part among 
 the early Christians than they were allowed to do among the Jews. See 
 note on i. 14. 
 
 he might biing them bound unto ferusalem] That the whole authority 
 of the Great Sanhedrin might be employed for the extinction of the new 
 teaching. 
 
 3. And as he journeyed] There were two roads by which Saul could 
 make his journey, one the caravan road which led from Egypt to Damas- 
 cus, and kept near the coast line of the Holy Land till it struck eastward 
 
ACTS IX. I- 
 
 to cross the Jordan at the north of the Lake of Tiberias. To join this 
 road Saul must have at first turned westward to the sea. The other way- 
 led through Neapolis and crossed the Jordan south of the Sea of Tiberias, 
 and passing through Gadara went north-eastward to Damascus. We 
 have no means whereby to decide by which road Saul and his compan- 
 ions took their way. The caravan road was a distance of one hundred 
 and thirty-six miles, and occupied six days for the journey. 
 
 he came near Damascus'] The original is more full. Read, " it came 
 to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus." The party must have reached 
 the near neighbourhood of the city, for his companions (-'. 8) " led him 
 by the hand and brought him into Damascus" after the vision. 
 
 and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven] In xxii. 
 6 we are told that the time of day was " about noon" when the vision 
 was seen, and in xxvi. 13, Paul says that at " mid-day" the light was 
 "above the brightness of the sun." The mid-day glare of an Eastern 
 sun is of itself exceedingly bright, and the hour was chosen, we cannot 
 doubt, in order that " the glory" of this heaven-sent light should not be 
 confounded with any natural phenomenon. It was in the midst of this 
 glory that Christ was seen by Saul (i Cor. xv. 8), so that he can enumer- 
 ate himself among those who had beheld the Lord after His resurrection. 
 
 4. And he fell to the earth] Dazzled by the intense brightness. From 
 xxvi. 14 we find that not only Saul but his companions were struck down 
 by the light, though there was more in the vision which he beheld than 
 was made evident to them, and by reason of the greater glory which was 
 manifested to him, his natural sight was blinded. 
 
 and heard a voice] We cannot represent in English the different case 
 of the noun in this verse, and in 7. The Greek puts here the accusative 
 case and there the genitive, and thus indicates that there was a difference 
 m the nature of the hearing of Saul and of his com.panions. And Paul in 
 xxii. 9 marks the distinction in his own narration, for he says " They 
 heard not the voice (accusative) of him that spake to me." As this differ- 
 ence is made both in St. Luke's first account, and in the speech of St. 
 Paul at Jerusalem, it seems reasonable to accept the explanation which 
 has long ago been given of this grammatical variation, and to understand 
 that Saul heard an articulate sound, a voice which spake to him, while his 
 companions were only conscious of a sound from which they compre- 
 hended nothing. St. Paul then is precise when he says " they heard not 
 the voice" which I heard, and St. Luke is correct when in ;•. 7 he says 
 " they heard a sound." 
 
 saying unto him, Saul, Saul, -why persecutest thou me ?] It is very note- 
 worthy that in all the three accounts of the vision the Greek text of Saul's 
 name is a transliteration of the Hebrew, shewing that we have here a very 
 close adherence to the words of Jesus. The Lord spake in the language 
 of his people, and both the Evangelist and the Apostle have preserved for 
 us this remarkable feature of the heavenly address. The only other place 
 where the Hebrt>w form of Saul's name is retained is in the speech of 
 
EXPOSITION. 
 
 223 
 
 Ananias when (ix. 17) he comes to see the convert in his blindness. As 
 he also had received a communication from Jesus in connection with 
 Saul's conversion, we can understand how the same form of the name 
 would have been given to him. Moreover he was himself, to judge from 
 his name, a Hebrew, and therefore that form would be most natural on his 
 lips. Except in these cases St. Luke always employs the Greek form of 
 the word. 
 
 Christ speaks of himself as persecuted by Saul, because "in all the 
 affliction of his people he is afflicted " (Isa. Ixiii. g), and " whoso toucheth 
 them, toucheth the apple of his eye" (Zech. ii. 8). 
 
 6. And he said, Who art thoti, Lord?\ Saul is sensible of the Divine 
 nature of the vision, and shews this by his address. The appearance of 
 Christ, though in a glorified body, must have been like that which he 
 wore in his humanity, and since Saul does not recognize Jesus, we may 
 almost certainly conclude that he had not known him during his minis- 
 terial life. 
 
 And the Lord said~\ The best texts have only " And he," the verb 
 " said " being understood. 
 
 I am Jesus 70 horn thou perseciitest'] In xxii. 8 St. Paul gives the fuller 
 form of the sentence, " I am Jesus of Nazareth." By using this name, 
 the being whose Divine nature Saul has already acknowledged by calling 
 him " Lord," at once and for ever puts an end to Saul's persecuting rage, 
 for he is made to see, what his master Gamaliel had before suggested 
 (v. 39), that to persecute Jesus was to " fight against God." 
 
 it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6. And he trembling and 
 astonished said, Lord, what zuilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said 
 unto him'] These words have been inserted here in some MSS. for the 
 sake of making in this place a complete narrative by the combination and 
 adaptation of the additional particulars given in xxvi. 14 and xxii. 10. It 
 is easy to understand the desire which prompted such a combination. 
 The best MSS. omit the words here, giving them where they more natu- 
 rally find place, in the personal narratives of St. Paul himself. 
 
 6. Arise] The MSS. which omit the above words insert a conjunction 
 here. Read, But arise. Saul had continued prostrate as he had fallen 
 down at the first. 
 
 and go into the city'] A proof that the party of travellers had arrived 
 very nearly at Damascus. Tradition here, as in many other instances, 
 has fixed on a spot as the scene of this Divine vision. It is placed out- 
 side the eastern gate, and about a mile from the city. Such a situation 
 answers very well, but its fitness is the only ground for attaching any 
 weight to the tradition. 
 
 atid it shall be told thee what thou must do] In xxvi. t6-iS we have an 
 abstract given by the Apostle of the labours for which Christ designed 
 him, and the words in that passage are placed as a portion of the Divine 
 communication made before Saul entered Damascus, but as in that nar- 
 rative no mention is made of Ananias or his visit, we may conclude that 
 
224 ^CTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 we have instead a brief notice of the message which Ananias brought to 
 him, and that therein is contained a declaration of what Jesus in the vision 
 only spoke of as " what thou must do." 
 
 7. And the men which jotirneyed with him stood speechless] Cp. Dan. 
 X. 7, " I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw 
 not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them." 
 
 Saul was not only furnished with authority, but also with men who 
 were to carry out his intentions and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem. 
 Painters have represented the travellers as riding on horseback, but there 
 is no warrant for this in any form of the narrative. 
 
 stood here means " remained fixed," " did not move." They had been 
 stricken down as well as Saul (xxvi. 14). 
 
 hearing a [the] voice] On the variation of case here, and the probable 
 difference of meaning, see note on v. 4. 
 
 but seeing [beholding] no man] The verb is the same that is used by 
 Stephen (vii. 56). " Behold, I see the heavens opened." In their aston- 
 ishment, and guided by the sound, Saul's companions lifted up their faces 
 to the sky, but as with the words so with the appearance of Jesus ; it was 
 unseen by all but one, but to him was manifest enough to form a ground 
 of his confidence in his Apostolic mission : " Have I not seen Jesus 
 Christ our Lord ?" (i Cor. xi. i.) 
 
 8. and [but] luhen his eyes where opened, he sarc no man [nothing] The 
 vision had struck him blind. He opened his eyes, but their power had 
 been taken away. Thus his physical condition becomes a fit representa- 
 tion of the mental blindness which he afterwards (xxvi. 9) deplores : " I 
 verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the 
 name of Jesus of Nazareth." 
 
 but [and] they led him by the hand] His companions saw all things as 
 before, and were able to guide him who had started forth as the leader in 
 their mission of persecution. 
 
 9. And he tuas three days without sight] During this time we cannot 
 but think the illumination of his mind was being perfected by the Spirit. 
 He had been convinced by the vision that Jesus was risen from the dead 
 and ascended into heaven. But more than this was needed for the prep- 
 aration of this mighty missionary. He himself (Gal. i. 16) speaks of 
 God revealing His Son not only to but in him, and that his conferences 
 were not with flesh and blood, and we are told below (7-. 12) that the 
 coming of Ananias had been made known unto him by vision. To this 
 solemn time of darkness may also perhaps be referred those " visions and 
 revelations of the Lord " which the Apostle speaks of to the Corinthians 
 (2 Cor. xii. 1-4). While his bodily powers were for a time in suspense, 
 he may fitly describe himself as not knowing whether what he saw was 
 revealed to him " in the body or out of the body," and it was the spirit- 
 ual vision only which saw the third heaven and paradise, and the spirit 
 heard those " unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to 
 utter." 
 
EXPOSITION. 
 
 and neither did eat nor drinkX The mental anguish for a time over- 
 powered the natural craving for food. The newly called Apostle was con- 
 templating in all its enormity his sin in persecuting the Church of Christ, 
 and though there were times of comfort and refreshing before Ananias 
 came, yet the great thought which filled Saul's mind would be sorrow for 
 his late mad and misdirected zeal, and so the three days of blindness 
 formed a period of deep penitence. 
 
 10 — 22. Saul's sight restored. He preaches in Damascus. 
 
 10. And [Now] there 7vas a certain disciple at DaT?iascus tiamed Ananias'\ 
 Of this disciple we have no further mention in Holy Writ except in 
 chap. xxii. 12, where St. Paul describes him as " a devout man according 
 to the Law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt" at Damas- 
 cus. Whether he had become a Christian during the life of Jesus or was 
 among the Jewish converts on the day of Pentecost or at some subsequent 
 time, and had been forced to flee from Jerusalem by the persecution 
 which followed on the death of Stephen, we are not told, but we can 
 gather, from the words which he employs in expressing his reluctance to 
 visit Saul, that he had much and trustworthy communication still with the 
 Holy City, for he knows both of the havoc which the persecutor has 
 caused, and of the purpose of his mission to Damascus. On the name 
 Ananias see v. i, note. 
 
 and to him said the Lord in a vision"] As .Saul had been prepared for 
 the visit by a vision, so Ananias is by a vision instructed to go to him. 
 Dean Howson's x^mzxk.?, {Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. loi) on this 
 preparation and its similarity to the preparation of Peter and Cornelius 
 deserve to be dwelt on. " The simultaneous preparation of the hearts of 
 Ananias and Saul, and the simultaneous preparation of those of Peter and 
 Cornelius — the questioning and hesitation of Peter and the questioning 
 and hesitation of Ananias — the one doubting whether he might make 
 friendship with the Gentiles, the other doubting whether he might 
 approach the enemy of the Church— the unhesitating obedience of each 
 when the Divine will was made clearly known — the state of mind in 
 which both the Pharisee and the Centurion were found — each waiting to 
 see what the Lord would say unto them — this close analogy will not be 
 forgotten by those who reverently read the two consecutive chapters, in 
 which the baptism of Saul and the baptism of Cornelius are narrated in 
 the Acts of the Apostles." When so much criticism has been expended 
 to shew that the Acts is a work of fiction written at a late period to min- 
 imize certain differences supposed to exist between the teaching of St. 
 Paul and that of St. Peter, it is well to know that others have seen, in 
 these undoubted analogies proofs of the working of a God who is ever the 
 same, and who would have all men to be saved through JesUs Christ. 
 
 11, into the street which is called Straight] A long straight street still 
 runs through Damascus, and is probably (so persistent is every feature of 
 
226 ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 Oriental life) the same in which Ananias found Saul in the house of 
 Judas. 
 
 12. and hath seen in a vision'] The oldest MSS. omit "in a vision." 
 It could only have been in this wise that Saul had been informed, and the 
 words are merely a gloss. 
 
 13. 7 have heard l>y [from] many, etc.] These words seem to point to 
 a longer residence of Ananias in Damascus than he could have made if 
 he had only left Jerusalem after the death of Stephen ; and so do the 
 words (xxii. 12) which speak of his good report among all the Jews that 
 dwelt at Damascus. 
 
 how much evil he hath done to thy saints, etc.] The Christian converts 
 were probably called " saints," i.e., " holy persons," at a very early 
 period after the death of Christ because of the marvellous outpourings of 
 the Holy Spirit upon the first converts, cp. i Pet. i. 15. The word is of 
 frequent occurrence in the greetings of St. Paul's Epistles. 
 
 14. all that call on thy name] To call on Christ is the same as to be a 
 believer in Him. The expression is used as an apposition to *' saints" 
 in I Cor. i. 2, and thence we see what in the Pauline language was meant 
 by the word " saints." 
 
 15. he is a chosen vessel unto me] Literally, " a vessel of election." 
 This is a Hebrew form of expression, cp. Jer. xxii. 28, where King 
 Coniah is called " a vessel wherein is no pleasure." So Jer. li. 34, " He 
 hath made me [to be] an empty vessel," literally, " vessel of emptiness." 
 
 fa bear my name] i.e., this shall be the load or duty which I will lay 
 upon this my chosen instrument. 
 
 before the Gentiles] This was doubtless a revelation to Ananias, who 
 as a devout Jew would not yet have contemplated the inclusion of the 
 whole world in the Church of Christ. The Gentiles are placed first in the 
 enumeration, because among them specially was Saul's field of labour to 
 be. For the wide spirit in which the Apostle embraced his commission, 
 see Rom. i. 13, 14, etc. 
 
 and kings] As before Agrippa (xxvi. 1, 32) and at Rome, in conse- 
 quence of the appeal to be heard before Caesar. 
 
 IQ, for / will shew hitn how great [many] things he must suffer] Cp. 
 Paul's own words (xx. 23), " The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, 
 saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." The truth of this is borne 
 out by that long list of the Apostle's sufferings which he enumerates in his 
 letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. xi. 23-28) and the less detailed list in the 
 same Epistle (vi. 4-5). 
 
 17. Brother Saul] The Hebrew form of the name, see v. 4, note. 
 
 the Lord, even Jesus] Combining the name " Lord " used by Saul when 
 the vision appeared, with that " Jesus " which Christ, speaking from His 
 glory, uttered in answer to Saul's enquiry. Who art thou ? 
 
 that appeared unto thee in the wa\^ Thus was brought to Saul after his 
 three days' blindness a confirmation from without of the reality of what he 
 had seen on the road as he came. The words at the same time gave an 
 
EXPOSITION. 227 
 
 earnest that here was the teacher who would explain to him what he waJ 
 to do. 
 
 and be filled with the Holy Ghosf] On this occasion the Holy Ghost was 
 bestowed without the laying on of the hands of one of the twelve. 
 
 18. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales'\ The 
 word rendered " scales" is used as a technical term for a disease of the 
 eye by Hippocrates, and the verb derived from it is found (Tobit xi. 13) 
 used of the cure of a disease of similar character. "And the whiteness 
 pilled a7uayivom the corners of his eyes." This "whiteness" is rendered 
 in the margin (Tob. ii. 10) " white films/' and was clearly something like 
 the " scales" which caused Saul's blindness, and a process for the cure 
 thereof is called (iii. 17) " to j-(r«/<f away the whiteness of Tobit's eyes." 
 St. Paul (xxii. 11) ascribes his blindness to the glory of the heavenly 
 light, and it may have been some secretion, caused by the intensity of 
 that vision, which formed over them, and at his cure fell away. Some 
 have thought that his constant employment of an amanuensis, and the 
 mention of the large characters in which he wrote in his Epistle to the 
 Galatians (vi. 11), " Ye see in what large letters I have written to you," 
 are indications that the Apostle suffered permanently in his eyesight from 
 the heavenly vision. 
 
 and he received [recovered, and so in 17] sight forthwith] The oldest 
 MSS. omit the last word. 
 
 • and arose, and 7uas baptized] In the fuller account (xxii. 16) we learn 
 that the exhortation to be baptized was part of the message with which 
 Ananias was charged, and so was divinely commissioned to receive Saul 
 thus into the Christian Church. 
 
 19. and when he had received [taken] meat, etc.] Needed after his three 
 days' fast, but (says Calvin) " he refreshed not his body with meat until 
 his soul had received strength." 
 
 Then 7vas Saul certain days with the disciples which 'Mere at Damascus] 
 The word Saul is not found in the oldest MSS. Read " And he was, 
 etc." The expression rendered " certain days" is the same which in x. 
 48, XV. 36, xvi. 12, xxiv. 24, and xxv. 13 is used by St. Luke, and in all 
 cases the time indicated by them must have been brief. It was for this 
 amount of time that Peter tarried with Cornelius, the words are applied 
 to a short period spent by Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, to the time of 
 St Paul's stay at Philippi, to the short tune which Paul was detained at 
 Caesarea before his hearing by Felix, and to a like period between the 
 arrival of Festus and the visit which Agrippa made to salute him as the 
 new Governor. In most of these instances the time mtended must have 
 been very brief, and it is important to notice this here, because in v. 23 
 we shall find another expression which is translated " many days" and 
 seems designed by the writer to indicate a somewhat longer period. It 
 is clear, from the way in which " disciples" are here mentioned, that 
 there was a numerous body of Christians in Damascus at this early 
 
ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 period. Saul dwelt with them now not as an enemy but as a brother, by 
 which name Ananias had been directed to greet him. 
 
 20. And straightway he preached Christ [proclaimed Jesus] in the syna- 
 gogues, that he is the Son of Cod] The best MSS. read jfestis in this verse, 
 and this naturally is correct. The preaching which was to be to the Jews 
 a stumblingblock was that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, their long- 
 expected Messiah. 
 
 He went, as was Christ's custom also, into the synagogues as the most 
 likely places where to find an audience who would listen to his proclama- 
 tion. His letters to the synagogues {v. 2) were not delivered, but he 
 came as the herald of one of higher authority than the chief priests. For 
 St. Paul's constant practice of teaching in the Jewish synagogues, see 
 xiii. 5, xiv. I, xvii. i, 10, xviii. 4, iq, xix. 8. 
 
 21. But all that heard him were amazed] Saul's fame as a persecutor 
 of Christians was well known to the Jews of Damascus, and the authori- 
 ties of the synagogues may have been instructed beforehand to welcome 
 him as a zealous agent. If so their amazement is easy to understand. 
 It is clear from what follows in this verse that they knew of his mission 
 and the intention thereof, though Saul did not bring them his " commis- 
 sion and authority." We should gather also from the strong expression 
 "destroyed," used to describe Saul's career in Jerusalem, that the 
 slaughter of the Christians there had not been limited to the stoning or 
 Stephen. 
 
 22. But Saul increased the more in strength] i.e., he became more and 
 more energetic in his labours and the Holy Ghost gave him more power. 
 His fitness for the labour on which he was entering was very great. He 
 possessed all the Jewish learning of a zealous pupil of Gamaliel, and now 
 that he had seen Jesus in the glory of the Godhead, he could use his stores 
 of learning for the support of the new teaching in such wise as to com- 
 mend it to those Jews who were looking for the consolation of Israel. 
 But these would naturally be the smallest portion ot his hearers. The 
 rest of the Jews were confounded. They heard their Scripture applied 
 by a trained mind, and shewn to be applicable to the life of Jesus. They 
 could not at this time make an attack on Saul, for they were paralyzed by 
 what they heard, and it was only when some time had elapsed that they 
 resolved to continue in their rejection of Jesus and then, at a later time, 
 their persecution of Saul began. 
 
 proving that this is very [the] Christ], The word here rendered " prov- 
 ing" is used again in xvi. 10, and translated "assuredly gathering." 
 The idea conveyed by it is that of putting things side by side, and so 
 making a comparison and forming a conclusion. Thus Saul, well 
 equipped with a knowledge of the ancient Scriptures, set before his 
 hearers a description of the Messiah as he is there portrayed, and relating 
 the life history of Jesus, shewed them that in him the Scriptures of the 
 prophets had been.fulfilled. 
 
CONVERSION OF SAUL. 229 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF SAUL. 
 
 THE third verse of this chapter has in it a statement which is 
 in subtle harmony with all the necessities of the case. The 
 verse reads thus : — " And as he journeyed, he came near Damas- 
 cus : and suddenly there shined round about him a light from 
 heaven." We have heard opinions about what we term sudden 
 conversions. Some persons do not believe in them. They have 
 conceptions regarding conversion which are not confirmed in their 
 truthfulness by any sudden or violent change of mind and action. 
 But here is the very word that is objected to ! It is an Old Testa- 
 ment word. Suddenness was approved by the Lord of the Jewish 
 Church ; for He, Himself taught this prophet to say, " The Lord 
 shall SUDDENLY come to His temple." ]\Iark the harmony of that 
 particular feature of the incident, with the great purpose which was 
 wrought out by the grace of God. A slow, deliberate, intellectual 
 transformation would have been a moral violence under circum- 
 stances so peculiar. There are times when quietness itself is out 
 of place. There are occasions which require the thunder and the 
 lightning and all the instruments of surprise which are within the 
 resources of God. It is, therefore, quite in keeping with the key- 
 note of the story when we find that Saul was suddenly struck. It 
 is in such coincidences and harmonies that we find the broadest 
 and clearest proofs of Biblical inspiration. What could be more 
 harmonious in all its particulars and relations than the story of the 
 conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch .? A man quietly reading in 
 his chariot and filled with religious wonder as to the meaning of 
 the mysterious Word which challenged his attention, what more 
 seemly and beautiful, than that a teacher should sit beside him 
 and show the meaning of the sacred mysteries ? That was beauti- 
 ful, that was an instance of historical and moral proportion ; but 
 here is a man " yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter," a 
 word implying continuous and unsuspended action, yea, blast 
 upon blast of hottest fury — with such a man you cannot reason, 
 God therefore suddenly strikes him to the ground. In that action 
 is one of the subtlest proofs and illustrations of what is meant by 
 the inspiralion of the Bible. Not only in great broad features, 
 but in proportion, in colour, in the arrangement of the parts, in 
 the subtle and complete harmony of the whole, I find the pres- 
 
23P ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 ence of God, You need not direct my eye to constellations and 
 astronomic wonders, for when I consider the lilies, and behold 
 the fowls of the air, I see Divinity. Let us, therefore, admire 
 this Providence of arrangtmeyit, and this inspiration of incidenty as 
 well as fall down in religious wonder before the stupendous con- 
 version itself. Do not reprove the suddenness of the conversion 
 until you understand all the circumstances. That very sudden- 
 ness may itself be part of the occasion. 
 
 Now, look at the incident as showing Saul's relation to Judaism, 
 or, in other words, Saul's relation to his past life. Does Jesus 
 Christ condemn Judaism ? Certainly not. He Himself was a 
 Jew. " Salvation is of the Jews." Saul was not called upon to 
 renounce any one thing he believed as erroneous. Let us care- 
 fully weigh that remark, for all that is most sacred in ancient his- 
 tory seems to find its consummation in its few syllables. Jesus 
 Christ did not say, " Saul, you are religiously wrong, you are in- 
 tellectually mistaken, you are following a wrong course of life 
 which had bad beginnings." There is not a word of religious 
 chiding in all the speech. The only thing that was being done 
 was that Saul w^as hurting Himself. " Why kick against the 
 pricks } Why thrust thyself upon the sharp goads, to thy 
 wounding, and bleeding, and death V The persecutor only hurts 
 himself. The bad man digs a hell for himself alone. Jesus 
 Christ did not condemn the personal attitude of Saul. Saul was 
 an Old Testament man. The Old Testament is a book of stoning 
 and scourging — "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 
 The unfilial son must be stoned, the heretic must be stoned, the 
 blasphemer must be stoned. Saul was therefore keeping strictly 
 within historic lines and constitutional proprieties, when he said 
 in effect, "This novel heresy must be stamped out with force." 
 Christianity does not condemn Judaism. If any one were to ask 
 me, " What is the relation of Christianity to Judaism .''" I would 
 say, " You find that relation in the verj' form of the book which 
 we call the Bible." What have we in the Bible } Judaism and 
 Christianity, the Old Testament and the New. In the very form 
 and make-up of the book itself I have the best answer to the ques- 
 tion — " What does Christianity say about Judaism ?" Christian- 
 ity does not oppose Judaism, it supersedes it. Christianity takes up 
 
THE MASTER MIRACLE. 231 
 
 Judaism, realizes all its types and symbols and ceremonies. Juda- 
 ism is the dawn, Christianity is the full noontide. Christianity is 
 the purple autumn bringing to maturity and sweetness all the roots 
 and fruits of the Judaism which it followed and consummated. 
 There seems to be a good deal of mistake about this matter. The 
 Jew is simply a man who has not come on to the next point in 
 history. His beginning is right. Not a word have I to say 
 against any solitary ceremony of Judaism, kept within proper 
 time, and restrained within the relations appointed by God. Chris- 
 tianity continues, completes, and glorifies what Judaism began. 
 But for Judaism there could have been no Christianity. We are 
 debtors to the Jew, and the Jew is, in my opinion, historically and 
 typically the greatest man that lives. The Gentiles never converted 
 themselves. No heathen country ever originated its own Chris- 
 tianity. The Jew was sent to the Gentile. The m.ost stubborn 
 prejudices were turned into the most anxious sympathies, and this 
 is the crowning miracle of the grace of Christ. 
 
 In the conversion of Saul we see the greatest triumph which 
 Christianity has accomplished. This was the master-miracle. 
 Who is this man .? A Jew, of an ancient and honourable pedi- 
 gree ; a student, a scholar, a man of high and influential station. 
 Shrewder than Iscariot, more ardent than Peter — a very volcano 
 of a man. There lay within him capacity to do anything that 
 mortals ever did. When his teeth once took hold, they could 
 only be opened by an Almighty power. His hand once upon the 
 prey, the . prey was dead, unless the fingers be unloosed by 
 Almightiness. Jesus Christ himself directly undertakes his con- 
 version, and works thus his supreme spiritual miracle. When 
 Saul was converted there was more than one man changed. 
 There are those who say " count hands," as if one hand were 
 equal to another. There is a conversion of quality as well as a con- 
 version of quantity. Some conversions are to be weighed, and some 
 are to be merely numbered. Statistics cannot help you in this 
 matter. Let a Saul of Tarsus be converted, and you convert an 
 army terrible with banners ! He will not let the Church fall 
 asleep. He will not let the world allow him to travel through all 
 its plains and cities iiicog. Many of us will manage that little 
 task. We can go through the house, the place of business, the 
 market, and the exchange, and come out at the other end without 
 
232 ACTS IX. I- 
 
 anybody identifying us ! Saul of Tarsus will presently show us 
 how to go through the world. He will never pass without recog- 
 nition, and no town will he be in without setting up his holy 
 testimony. 
 
 The Lord uses a remarkable expression concerning this man in 
 the eleventh verse, " Behold he prayeth." Had he not been 
 praying all his life-time } In a certain sense he certainly had been 
 praying. Why then say now, ' ' Behold he prayeth ' ' } Old 
 words acquire new meanings. Language is not a fixed quantity, 
 and definition is something more than a technicality. Different 
 words have different meanings in different men, and the same 
 man attaches different meanings to words at different times of life. 
 You were once rich upon a time which you would now count pov- 
 erty. Once you were proud of a house which now you ignore. 
 So whilst saying prayers, reciting prayerful terms punctilious in 
 ritual, exemplary in all the outward observances of his Church, 
 Saul had yet in a Christian sense never prayed. Prayer is a Chris- 
 tian acquisition. Prayer is a battering ram which only a Christian 
 arm can work. When the Church prays, the Church wins. If 
 you could PRAY — not merely say your prayers — your trouble would 
 be forgotten in the glorious interview with heaven. Prayer is not 
 an attitude, a mere decency, a posture of the body, or an exercise 
 of the tongue, it is the supreme effort of Ihe heart to throw, in 
 friendly wrestling, the Almighty God. " Ye have not because 
 ye ask not, or because ye ask amiss. ' ' You are yourself often not 
 there when you pray, your soul is otherwhere. If you were pres- 
 ent in the fulness, intensity, completeness, and determination of 
 energy with Christ's Cross as the medium through which your 
 prayers went up to heaven, you would arise from your knees 
 more than conquerors. 
 
 Another remarkable expression we find in the sixteenth verse, 
 " I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's 
 sake." INIark the harmony of this arrangement also. God 
 knows what we are doing, and he pays to the uttermost. " Be 
 not deceived, God is not mocked ; whatsoever a man soweth that 
 shall he also reap." Adonibezek said, " As I have done, so God 
 hath requited me." Samuel said to Agag, "As thy sword liath 
 made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among 
 women." Saul was in this succession. " lie shall have judg- 
 
RETRIBUTION. 233 
 
 ment without mercy that showed no mercy," Saul was a student 
 in //W school of compensation. " Whoso shutteth his ears at the 
 cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard." 
 Be not deceived. Saul was now made to feel how exactly true 
 these terms were. " Saul made havoc of the Church" (Acts 
 viii. 3), Next, " Having stoned Paul, they drew him out of the 
 city, supposing him to be dead ' ' (Acts xiv. 9). ' ' Saul yet 
 breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of 
 the Lord" (Acts ix. i). Turn now to the twenty-third chapter : 
 " 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. " "I will show him what great things he 
 must suffer for my name's sake." I will test his conversion 
 (Gal. i. 13). " Beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God 
 and wasted it." Blow for blow, stroke for stroke ! "Of the Jews 
 five times received I forty stripes save one, twice was I beaten with 
 rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and 
 a day I have been in the deep. " "I will show him what great 
 things he must suffer for my name's sake." A man lays up what 
 he will one day have to meet face to face (Acts xxvi. 10). " Many 
 of the saints did I shut up in prison" (Acts xvi. 26). "And 
 when they had lain many stripes upon Paul they cast him into 
 prison. " "I will show him how great things he must suffer for 
 my name' s sake. ' ' Do not suppose you can escape God. He will 
 let us for a time suppose that we have escaped, but suddenly He 
 will strike us to the root with light, may it not be with lightning ! 
 And He will show us that life is not a series of unconnected acci- 
 dents, but a great and solemn stewardship leading up to judgment, 
 to penalty, or reward. 
 
XXVI. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, make for us, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 
 entrances into the upper places, where the light is brighter than it is down 
 here. We desire to mount as upon the wings of eagles. Thou hast 
 created ino our hearts a passion for better things. Our souls yearn for 
 loftier skies than those which now shelter us. Thou art always calling 
 us away to higher heights and more splendid scenes. In Christ Jesus we 
 know not the rest of mean contentment, but the peace of noble ambition. 
 We would therefore " press toward the mark for the prize of our high 
 calling in Christ Jesus." We have not attained, neither are we already 
 perfect, but knowing this and knowing the fulness of the grace that is in 
 Christ Jesus, we would run with patience the race that is set before us. 
 
 Thou dost continually surprise us with some new comfort and some 
 unexpected revelation. Thou dost keep the best wine ; thou dost not 
 give it unto us ; thou hast ever something more behind. Thou art from 
 everlasting to everlasting, and there is no searching of thine understand- 
 ing. We have heard that power belongeth unto thee ; unto thee also, O 
 Lord, belongeth mercy. In thy mercy alone can we live ; thy mercy as 
 revealed unto us in thy Son, Son of man. Son of God, God the Son. 
 Help us to see it in all its purity and fulness, and may it be applied to us 
 in the depth of our humiliation. Our help is in God. In no other can 
 help be found but in our infinite Redeemer. Comfort us every day with 
 his grace, and stablish us in his truth. Accept the thanks we bring thee 
 for all pity, and love, and care ; and if any before thee wish to offer 
 special thanksgiving for special mercies, the Lord hear the utterance of 
 thankfulness, and return continual blessing. 
 
 Be with those who have new prospects opening before them, and new 
 work on hand, hardly knowing how to do it. The Lord give wisdom to 
 those who desire to walk in the way of understanding, and grant unto 
 those who are looking on a confidence in what is coming, and tlie stead- 
 fastness that comes of faith in a living Providence. Deliver us from all 
 fear, and inspire us with that noble trust in thyself which gives us peace 
 even in the very sanctuary of the storm. 
 
 The Lord's blessing be upon this assembly. The Lord light the fire at 
 the altar, and send us light from the upper Sanctuary, Amen. 
 
THE WORK OF CONVERSION. 235 
 
 SAUL SELF-CONTRASTED. 
 Acts ix. 1-22. 
 
 WHAT wonderful co7itrasts there are in this narrative in refer- 
 ence to the character of Saul of Tarsus ! He is not the 
 same man throughout, and yet he is the same. The contrasts are 
 so sharp, and, indeed, so violent, as almost to make him into 
 another man altogether. For example, take the first of these con- 
 trasts, and you will find that Saul, who went out Xo persecute, re- 
 mained Xo pray. The first verse reads, " And Saul, yet breathing 
 out threatenings and slaughter I" and in the eleventh verse occurs 
 the remarkable expression, " Behold, he prayeth !" He breathed 
 hotly. The breath of his nostrils was a fierce blast that burned 
 the air. How changed in a little time ! for his face is turned up- 
 ward to heaven, and its very look is a pleading supplication. What 
 has occurred ? These effects must be accounted for. Have they 
 any counterpart in our own observation and experience .? Have 
 any of us passed from fierceness to gentleness, from drunkenness 
 to sobriety, from darkness to light, from blasphemy to worship .? 
 Then we understand what is meant by this most startling contrast. 
 There may be others who have advanced so quietly and gradually 
 as to find no such contrast in their own consciousness and experi- 
 ence ; but we must not judge the experience of the whole by the 
 experience of the part. This is precisely the work which Chris- 
 tianity undertakes to do. It undertakes to cool your breath, to 
 take the fire out of your blood, to subdue your rancour and your 
 malignity, and to clasp your hands in childlike plea and prayer at 
 your Father's feet. Such is the continual miracle of Christianity. 
 The religion of Jesus Christ would have nothing to do if this were 
 not to be accomplished. Jesus makes the lion lie down with the 
 lamb, and he causes the child to hold the fierce beast, and to put 
 its hand with impunity on the cockatrice den. Other miracles he 
 has ceased to perform, but this continual and infinite surprise is 
 the standing miracle and the standing testimony of Christ. 
 
 Take the second contrast, which is quite as remarkable. When 
 Saul was a Pharisee \\q persecuted ; when Saul became a Christian 
 we read in the twenty-second verse that he ^^ proved." How many 
 
236 ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 miles of the moral kind lie between the word " persecuted" and 
 the word ' ' proved ' ' ? Yet this is distinctly in the line of Chris- 
 tian purpose and heavenly intent. As a Pharisee he said, ' ' De- 
 stroy Christianity, by destroying Christians. Bind them ; put an 
 end to this pestilence. Do not stand it any longer. Open your 
 prison doors, and I will fill your dungeons, and we will bring this 
 new and mischievous heresy to a speedy termination. ' ' Such was his 
 first policy. Having seen Jesus, and felt his touch, and entered 
 into his Spirit, what does he say } Does he now say, ' ' The per- 
 secution must be turned in the other direction ; I have been per- 
 secuting the wrong parties ; now I find it is you Jews, Pharisees, 
 Sadducees, that must be manacled and fettered and put an end to. 
 I change my policy, and I persecute you, every man and w^oman 
 of you ".? Nothing of the kind. Observe this miracle, admire it, 
 and let it stand before you as an argument invincible and com- 
 plete. What is Saul's tone now 1 Standing with the scrolls open 
 before him, he reasons and mightily contends ; he becomes a 
 vehement and luminous speaker of Christian truth. He increases 
 the more in strength, proving that this is the Christ. Has all the 
 persecuting temper gone .? Yes, every whit of it. Why did he not 
 prove to the Christians, in his unconverted state, that they were 
 mistaken t When he was not a converted man, he never thought 
 of " proving" anything. He had a rough, short, and easy 
 method with heretics — stab them, burn them, drown them, bind 
 them in darkness, and let them die of hunger ! Now that he is a 
 converted man, he becomes a reasoner. He stands up with an 
 argument as his only weapon ; persuasion as his only iron ; en- 
 treaty and supplication as the only chains with which he would 
 bind his opponents. What has happened } Something vital 
 must have occurred. Is there not a counterpart of all this in our 
 own individual experience, and in civilized history } Do not men 
 always begin vulgarly, and end with refinement .? Is not the first 
 rough argument a thrust with cold iron, or a blow with clenched 
 fist ? Does not history teach us that such methods are utterly un- 
 availing in the extinction or the final arrest of erroneous teaching "> 
 Christianity is a moral plea, Christianity burns no man. Where- 
 in professing Christians have resorted to the block and the stake, 
 and to evil instruments, they have proved disloyal to their IMaster, 
 and they have forgotten the spirit of his cross. Christianity is a 
 
THE SOURCE OF TRUE STRENGTH. 237 
 
 plea, a persuasion, an appeal, an address to reason, conscience, 
 heart, and to everything that makes a man a Man. Christianity 
 uses no force, and asks for no force to be used on its behalf. 
 You cannot make men pray by force of arms. You cannot drive 
 your children to church, except in the narrowest and shallowest 
 sense of the term. You may convince men of their error, and 
 lead men to the sanctuary, and, through the confidence of their 
 reason and their higher sentiments, you may conduct them to 
 your own noblest conclusions. How far is it from persecuting to 
 praying ? From threatening and slaughter to proving p That 
 distance Christ took Saul, who only meant to go from Jerusalem 
 to Damascus, some hundred and thirty-six miles. Christ took 
 him a longer journey ; he swept him round the whole circle of 
 possibility. He made him accomplish the entire journey which lies 
 between persecution and prayer, slaughter and argument. It is 
 thus that Jesus Christ makes us do more than we intended to do. 
 He meets us on the way of our own choice, and graciously takes 
 us on a way of his own. 
 
 Look at the third contrast, which is as notable as the other two. 
 In the opening of the narrative Saul was a strong man, the strong- 
 est of the band ; the chief, without whose presence the band 
 would dissolve. His nostrils are dilated with anger : his eye 
 burns with a fire that expresses the supreme purpose of his heart. 
 Nothing stands between him and the accomplishment of his pur- 
 pose. The caravan road from Jerusalem to Damascus, supposing 
 that he took that road, required some six days to traverse it. Saul 
 knew not the lapse of time, so high-strung was his energy, and so 
 resolute his purpose. And in this same narrative, not further on 
 than the eighth verse, we read of the great persecutor that " they 
 led him by the hand." What has happened .? We thought he 
 would have gone into the city like a storm ; and he went in like a 
 blind beggar ! We thought he would have been met at the city 
 gate as the great destroyer of heresy ; and he was led by the hand 
 like a helpless cripple ! Woe unto the strength that is not heaven- 
 born I Such so-called power will wither away. • When we arc 
 weak then are we strong. Saul will one day teach us that very 
 doctrine. Really understood, Saul was a stronger man when he 
 was being led by the hand than when he breathed out threatenings 
 
238 ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. You are might- 
 ier when you pray than when you persecute. You are stronger 
 men when you prove your argument than Avhen }'ou seek to smite 
 your opponent. Something will come of this. Such violences 
 have high moral issues. 
 
 Saul led by the hand ; then why need we be ashamed of the 
 same process ? Saul began feebly ; why should we hesitate to 
 begin our Church service on a very small scale ? Saul led by the 
 hand ; then who will despise the day of small things ? Presently 
 he will increase in strength, the right strength, the power that has 
 deep roots ; not the power of transient fury, but the solid and 
 tranquil strength of complete repose. " Grow in grace, and in 
 the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" and remember that the 
 mightiest chief under Christ that ever led the Christian hosts was 
 conducted by friendly and compassionate men into the city which 
 he intended to devastate. 
 
 Turning to another aspect of the case, we see two or three most 
 beautiful and pathetic glimpses of Jesus Christ Himself. He as- 
 cended, yet he said, " I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
 the age." There we find him leaving, yet not leaving ; not visi- 
 ble, yet watchful ; looking upon Saul every day, and looking at 
 the same time upon his redeemed Church night and day, the 
 whole year round. Events are not happening without his 
 knowledge ; the story of all the ages is written in heaven. He 
 knows your persecuting purpose ; he understands well enough 
 what you are doing to interrupt the cause of truth and the prog- 
 ress of Christian knowledge. Jesus Christ knows all your antag- 
 onistic plans, thoughts, purposes, and devices. His eye is upon 
 you. As for you Christians, he knows your sufferings, your op- 
 positions, your daily contentions, your painful striving ; he knows 
 exactly through how much tribulation you are moving onward to 
 the kingdom. 
 
 Not only is he living and watchful, but, in the case of Saul 
 himself, Jesus Christ was covipassionate. Listen to the words 
 which he addressed to Saul : " It is hard for thee to kick against 
 the pricks." He pitied the poor ox that struck its limbs against 
 the sharp and piercing goads. There is nothing destructive in 
 this criticism. There is the spirit of Christ in this remark. Yea, 
 
BLINDING SPIRITUAL VISION. 239 
 
 this expostulation repeats the prayer of his dying breath, and 
 shows him to be " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." He 
 does not bind Saul with his own chain ; he throws upon him the 
 happy spell of victorious love. 
 
 Not only is he living, watchful, and compassionate, he is con- 
 sistcnt. He said to Ananias, " I will show him what great things 
 he must suffer for my name's sake. When Jesus called his disci- 
 ples to him, and ordained them to go out into the world, he laid 
 before them a black picture ; he kept back nothing of the dark- 
 ness. He told his disciples that they would be persecuted, drag- 
 ged up before the authorities and cruelly treated ; and now, when 
 he comes to add another to the number, he repeats the ordination 
 charge which he addressed to the first band. 
 
 All these things were seen in a vision. Say some of you, " We 
 have no visions now. Have we not ? How can we } We may 
 eat and drink all visions away. The glutton and the drunkard 
 can have nothing but nightmare. A materialistic age can only 
 have a materialistic religion. If men will satisfy every appetite, in- 
 dulge every desire to satiety, turn the day into night, and the 
 night into a long revel, they cannot wonder if the vision should 
 have departed from their life. We may grieve the Spirit, we may 
 quench the Spirit ; we may so eat, and drink, and live as to divest 
 the mind of its wings, and becloud the whole horizon of the fancy. 
 But is it true that the vision has ceased ? It may be so within a 
 narrow sense, but not in its true spiritual intent and thought. 
 Even now we speak about strong im.pressions, impulses we cannot 
 account for, movements, desires of the mind which lie beyond our 
 control. Even now we are startled by unexpected combinations 
 of events. Even now we have a mysterious side to life, as well as 
 an obvious and patent side. What if the religious mind should 
 see in such realities the continued Presence and the continued 
 Vision which gladdened the early Church ? If you would see the 
 spiritual, you must keep down the material. If you would have 
 visions, you must banish the basely substantial. If you would 
 have high dreamings and noble revelations, you must mortify the 
 flesh. 
 
240 ACTS IX. 1-22. 
 
 See from this conversion how true it is that Christianity does 
 not merely alter a man's intellectual views or modify a man's moral 
 prejudices. Christianity never makes a little alteration in a man's 
 thinking and action. Christianity makes new hearts, new creat- 
 ures, and not new plans and new habits only. Other reformers 
 may change a habit now and again, may modify a prejudice, at- 
 temper a purpose with some benign and gracious intent ; but this 
 Redeemer, who gave himself the Just for the unjust, who bought 
 with the blood of his own heart, does not make a little difference 
 in our intellectual attitude and our moral purpose. He wants us 
 to be born again. " If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new 
 creature ; old things have passed away, and all things have be- 
 come new. ' ' There drop from his eyes " as it were scales, ' ' and, 
 with a pure heart, he sees a pure God. 
 
XXVII. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we have come through rugged places that we might 
 enter into thy house. The week has been as a wilderness, and all its 
 days have been stony places, yet all the while we have been set in the 
 direction of God's house, and to-day we feel its holy peace. Give us rest 
 in thy house, thou God of saints. Here may we know the mystery of 
 completeness, which is the mystery of peace. Make us whole in Christ ; 
 complete in him ; wanting in nothing, so that we may stand before thee 
 perfect men in Christ Jesus. Thou knowest us altogether ; where we are 
 strong, and where we are weak, the door which the devil cannot open, 
 and the gate through which he comes with infinite familiarity. Our 
 prayer is that we may put on the whole armour of God. The helmet and 
 the shield, the sword and the girdle, the breast-plate and the sandals, so 
 that we may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to 
 stand. Thy purpose concerning us is our salvation, complete and ever- 
 lasting. May we be co-workers with thee, labourers together with God. 
 In our souls may thou find sweet consent to thy purposes and a ready 
 obedience to all thy will. We would that we might in Christ Jesus 
 receive our sight. We are blind and cannot see afar off by reason of our 
 sin. Our desire is that as it were scales might fall from our eyes that we 
 may see the beauty of holiness and the glory of thy kingdom. Charmed 
 and fascinated by this beauty we shall be blind to all other attractions, 
 and our life shall be absorbed in the worship of thy Cross and Crown, O 
 Christ of God ! We walk before thee because of thy grace. It is of thy 
 mercy that we are not consumed. We live in thy compassion. Without 
 thy mercy we cannot live. Thy tender mercies are over all thy works. 
 Behold, are they not the light and the beauty of everything ; yea, in thy 
 compassion the whole creation glistens as with the dew of the morning. 
 Reveal thyself to us every day ; in some new vision of glory, or with 
 some new hint of beauty. And thus draw us every one towards thyself 
 in an upward line, in the ascent of which our strength shall grow. 
 Beautiful is the life baptized of heaven. Sweet the service inspired by thy 
 love and comforted by thy grace. Lead us into the mystery of more 
 faithful homage, and in the rendering of our worship may we see heaven 
 opened. 
 
 Thou knowest what we would say if we could. Thou understandest 
 well that it is not in speech to tell the secret of the heart. We bless thee 
 for words, yet are we chafed by them. For through them we cannot tell 
 
J42 ACTS IX. 32-43. 
 
 what we want to say, and we are shocked by their rudeness when they 
 shape themselves in articulate prayers. Read the heart, search the 
 spirit. Hold thy candle over the deepest abysses of our nature, and hear 
 each when he says, " Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I 
 love thee." Regard us as pastor and people, heads of houses and 
 families, men engaged in merchandize and women in all the silent hero- 
 isms of the house, and the Lord send his blessing upon the whole com- 
 pany like an impartial rain. May every soul be blessed, may morn arise 
 upon every life, may the saddest see the returning angel of joy, and may 
 the weakest know that the Deliverer is near at hand. Be the physician 
 of every family, the visitor from heaven of every household, the comforter 
 of all disconsolateness, and speak a word in season to him that is weary. 
 Regard the land in which we live, and the lands from which we come. 
 Remember the whole earth, we beseech thee, in tender compassion and 
 love. Son of God, come forth I Prince of all princes, and Saviour of all 
 men, delay not, but come to the world for which thou didst die. Even so, 
 Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. 
 
 Acts ix. 32-43. 
 
 32. And it came to pass, as Peter [from this point to chapter xii. 18 the 
 narrative is occupied exclusively with the personal work of Peter] passed 
 throughout all quarters [may have included Galiiee], he came down also 
 to the saints which dwelt at Lydda [now Ludd]. 
 
 33. And there he found a certain man named ^'Eneas, which had kept 
 his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. 
 
 34. And Peter said unto him, .^neas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole : 
 arise, and make thy bed. [Do fur thvself what others have so long done 
 for thee.] And he arose immediately. 
 
 35. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron [a district rather than a 
 town] saw him, and turned to the Lord. 
 
 36. Now there was at Joppa [famous in Greek legends as the spot 
 where Andromeda had been bound when she was delivered by Perseus] 
 a Certain disciple [no distinction between male and female] named Tabi- 
 tha [the two names suggesting points of connection with both the Hebrew 
 and the Hellenistic section of the Church], which by interpretation is 
 called Dorcas : this woman was full of good works [a favorite formula 
 of Luke, meaning " given up to"] and alms deeds which she did. 
 
 37. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died : 
 whom when they had washed they laid her in an upper chamber. 
 
 38. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa [nine miles off], and 
 the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, 
 desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. 
 
 39. Then [and] Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, 
 they brought him into the upper chamber : and all the widows stood by 
 him weeping, and sTiewing the coats and garments [" the coats were the 
 
OBSCURE WORKERS. 243 
 
 close-fiiting tunics, worn next to the body, the garments the looser outer 
 cloaks that were worn over them"] which Dorcas made, while she was 
 with them. 
 / 40. But Peter put them all forth [Matt. ix. 23. 24], and kneeled down, 
 and prayed ; and turning him to the body said. Tabitha, arise. And 
 she opened her eyes : and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 
 
 41. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had 
 called the saints and widows, presented her alive. 
 
 42. And it was known throughout all Joppa ; and many believed in the 
 Lord. 
 
 43. And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one 
 Simon a tanner. 
 
 SUMMARIZED SERVICE. 
 
 HOW did there happen to be any saints at Lydda ? That 
 place has not come under our attention in our perusal of 
 these apostolic annals. There are saints in unexpected places. 
 Yet, perhaps, not so unexpected if we had read attentively the 
 portions which have already engaged our interest. In the last 
 verse of the preceding chapter we read, " But Philip was found at 
 Azotus ; and passing through he preached in all the cities till he 
 came to Caesarea." Lydda lay between Azotus and C^sarea, and 
 Philip no doubt had called there and preached the word and 
 founded a Christian Society. How summarily our work is occa- 
 sionally mentioned. We put a whole history into a single verse. 
 In one broken sentence we sum up a life-time ! There is a cruel 
 condensation which often does not give justice to those who are its 
 subjects. How easily and fluently we read, "But Philip was 
 found at Azotus ; and passing through he preached in all the cities 
 till he came to C^sarea. ' ' These are epitomes which God himself 
 must break up into detail. And thus in many a hurried phiase 
 we shall find ser\^ice and suffering, trial and triumph, which only 
 God can recognise. We hear it said of the minister that he 
 " called at the house and offered prayer." And probably the an- 
 nouncement is accompanied by the annotation that he was there 
 but a few minutes. By the clock it was but a handful of minutes 
 the man was there, but into those minutes he condensed the ex- 
 perience and the pathos of a li/e-time, and in that one brief prayer 
 he spared not the blood of his very heart. Beware of a ruthless 
 condensation. Suspect any epitome which counts but as small 
 
244 ACTS IX. 32-43. 
 
 dust the details which makes up the energetic semce and the pa- 
 tient suffering of the Christian toiler. 
 
 Peter found his way to the saints. By what magnetism .' Do 
 we not all find out our other selves in every city to which we go .? 
 When the surveyor would find out whether there are metallic strata 
 in the district which he surveys, he takes in his right hand the en- 
 closed magnet, and watching that magnet he sees as he carries it 
 over the surface of the ground how it dips, and says in the dip- 
 ping, " Here you will find what you are in quest of." He does 
 not need to rip up the sod, and to dig far down. The magnet 
 knows where the metal is, and instantly points to the secret place. 
 It is so in going through the city. One sentence will tell you 
 what company you are in. A look will warn you from that local- 
 ity, as from a plague-swept district. A tone will open up com- 
 munication with the soul, and a sigh may reveal the masonry of 
 the heart. Living constantly in Christian society we may become 
 unhappily too familiar with its advantages. Could we live for a 
 time with those who do not know Christ, who therefore do not 
 worship Christ, or honour him as the standard of morals and the 
 ultimate appeal, how we should love even the most imperfect 
 Christian we have ever known ! " He that is least in the king- 
 dom of God ' ' is greater than the greatest outside that sacred circle. 
 We pine for our own, we like to hear our own language ; there is 
 music in the familiar tongue. We fall with easy grace and 
 second naturalness into the ways of the company of M'hich we form 
 a part. Christian brotherhood is the salvation of society. Inside 
 your social constitutions you find the saving factor, the souls that 
 believe, the hearts that pray, the lives that live in sacrifice. It 
 would do some of us good in the very soul if we could be shut up 
 with Bedouins and savages for a few days. How we should then 
 yearn for the Old Church, the customary society, the most defec- 
 tive Christian we ever knew ! We have become dainty in our ap- 
 petites because we have lived upon luxuries up to the point of 
 satiety. 
 
 No names arc given in verse 32. There is something better than 
 a name. There is character. There you find no personal re- 
 nown, no individuality running up into a flashing pinnacle and 
 throwing its superior glory over the commonplace in the midst of 
 which it stands, but you find a high level of character, a solid 
 
SUBORDINATE WORK FOR CHRIST. 245 
 
 quantity of moral and spiritual being, and supreme and effective 
 reality. It is towards that estate we should constantly be moving, 
 to the great republic of common holiness. 
 
 When Peter was in I-ydda he found the man who is to be 
 found in every city. Locally called ^neas, but everywhere called 
 the sick man. Peter ' ' found a certain man named ^neas, which 
 had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. That 
 man is in every city and is never healed, except in the individual 
 instance. The genus remains unhealed — a continual appeal to 
 the Petrine spirit, the apostolic love, the redeemed compassion of 
 the Church. Whom we cannot heal we may at least carry to the 
 gate of the temple. We have read of the lame man who was car- 
 ried daily. These are the secondary services of life. We are not 
 all in the front rank of the ministry, it is not given to every one of 
 us to speak miracles, but to every one is given the sweet grace of 
 helpfulness in this matter of carrying those we cannot heal. 
 Because we cannot do the first and supreme class of work, it does 
 not follow that we are to sit idle all the day. You can bring to 
 .^neas the Christian friend, the Christian suppliant, the Christian 
 sympathizer. Aye, there is no grief but one that cannot be miti- 
 gated by Christian love. And even that surely may be in the dis- 
 tance touched with somewhat of redemptiveness, of solicitude and 
 pity, even insanity itself may have its bed made in its affliction. 
 We hear nothing of Peter's doings at Lydda except this miracle ; 
 but as Philip had done much at Lydda without any record having 
 been made of it, so Peter may have done much beside this mira- 
 cle. The miracle itself was a sermon. For "all that dwelt at 
 Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. 
 
 Now we come to another city. In Joppa there dwelt a woman 
 who "was full of good works and alms deeds which she did," 
 and she died! How was that .? There are some people whom we 
 almost wish would die, and die they will not ; nights of frost cannot 
 freeze them, rivers cannot drown them, they have a kind of earthly 
 immortality in their evil doing and in their pestilent mischief, and 
 others whom we want to live always wither and die. They die in 
 the act of giving bread to the hungry. Dorcas may have died 
 with her industrious needle in her fingers — the garment for the 
 poor child half done ! There seems to be such a waste of nobility 
 and service in this mysterious Providence. We may be wrong in 
 
246 ACTS JX. 32-43. 
 
 that outlook as we are in others. Why should not the good ship 
 land .? Why should we shed tears when the noble life-vessel 
 touches the shore .? Why not throw up our arms and exclaim, 
 " Hallelujah, glory be to God !" So foolish are we and igno- 
 rant. Yet not unnaturally so. Who cannot recall people whom 
 we wish to have with us every day .? Without whom the house is 
 no home, apart from whom life is only a daily tarrying for death. 
 It is so that God trains us, prunes us, and prepares us for the 
 wider revelation and the higher service. Peter was sent for. He 
 came the nine miles to see what could be done. How natural 
 was this. Who does not send for the strong brolher P To hear 
 that a strong man is not far away is to hear a kind of angel singing 
 in the skies again, saying, " Peace on earth and good will toward 
 men." There are times when the strong man is sent for, and 
 these are times of darkness, trouble, personal, and social despair. 
 But there is always a strong man to send for. Always some other 
 man is stronger than you are, and in Christ his strength belongs 
 to you. In that sense we must have " all things common," and 
 none must say that aught that he has belongs to himself alone. 
 It is in this spirit of Christian communism that we must keep 
 Society from putrefaction and souls from sudden despair. There 
 is a hint of the One who " sticketh closer than a brother." When 
 your house is very dark, send for Jesus. He can walk upon the 
 darkness as upon solid rocks. When your life gives way in sud- 
 den weakness, or in painful fear, send in double prayer for Jesus. 
 He can make " a dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are." But 
 you are not the people to wait for such crises in which to invite 
 the Lord's anointed to your house. Send for him today, when 
 the table is laden with flowers and every corner of the dwelling is 
 ablaze with His own sunlight. Beautiful was the scene in that 
 house at Joppa. " When he was come they brought him into the 
 upper chamber : and all the widows stood by him weeping, and 
 showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she 
 was with them." How did these widozvs come to be thus asso- 
 ciated ? Who took any interest in t/ict'r welfare .-* If you read 
 again the sixth chapter of this book you will find that special ar- 
 rangements were made for the ministration of the common stock 
 for the needy widows of the Hebrews and the Grecians, and you 
 
POWER OF PRAYER. 247 
 
 will find amongst the seven men appointed to administer that fund 
 the name of Philip. So this man lives in his works. At Lydda 
 he founded a Christian Society, at Joppa he organized the widows 
 into a society that should receive help from those who were able to 
 give it. Philip does not appear before us in name, but he leaves 
 behind him memorials of his wisdom and his beneficence. 
 
 How is it that we like the coats and the garments even better 
 when the seamstress is dead than we did when she was actually 
 making them ? That is a tender mystery in life. It is a fact 
 everywhere. The little child's little toy becomes infinitely pre- 
 cious when the tiny player can no longer handle it. And the two 
 little shoes are the most precious property in the house when the 
 little feet that wore them are set away in God's acre. Let us love 
 one another whilst we live ! Not a word do I say against the sen- 
 timent, which enlarges the actions of the dead, but I would speak 
 for a kind word on behalf of those who are sitting next you and 
 making your own house glad by their deft fingers and their loving 
 hearts. 
 
 Now we come to the first miracle of the kind to which apostolic 
 strength was summoned. Up to this time the Apostles had been 
 healing ankle-bones, healing the palsy and divers diseases, and 
 casting out unclean spirits, but now a mightier tyrant looks them 
 in the face. For the first time must the Apostles grapple without 
 the visible Christ with actual DEATH. We may well pause here 
 in the excitement of a great anxiety. Memory rushes upon the 
 heart like a gracious flood as we read these words, " but Peter 
 put them all forth." That was what Christ did ! There is the 
 true imitation of the Lord. Some battles may be fought in 
 public, others have to be fought in solitude, so ' ' Peter put them all 
 forth." " Thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and 
 when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in 
 secret, and thy Father which is in secret, shall reward thee openly." 
 So " Peter put them all forth," and kneeled down and prayed. 
 Have you ever prayed in the death chamber with none there but 
 the dead friend } How eloquent has been your dumbness, how 
 mighty a rhetoric slumber in your blinding tears ! When you 
 were weak then were you strong. " And," — oh, conjunctive that 
 makes one tremble — " turning to the body," now is the critical 
 
248 ACTS IX. 32-43. 
 
 moment, "said, Tabitha, arise." "And she opened her eyes, 
 and when she saw Peter she sat up." Let your miracles come 
 through your prayers. Let your prayers always end in the amen 
 of a miracle. What is the use of your solitude and your prayer, 
 your long, intense, mighty communion with God, if when you 
 turn round you cannot work some miracle of love ? 
 
XXVIII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thou hast shewn us great and marvellous things in 
 thy Word to-day. We have read a noble Psalm, and have heard of One 
 who shall come down like rain upon the mown grass and as showeis that 
 water the earth. We have heard of One coming who shall save the poor 
 and the needy, and be the helper of him that hath no friend. Our hearts 
 have risen to this sublime music, and our expectation has heightened as 
 we have looked for him in whom all nations shall be blessed. Behold, 
 he is amongst us, even now. We have seen the prints of the nails in his 
 hands, and we have thrust our hands into his side. We know now of 
 whom the Psalmist spake ; surely not of his own son, but of a greater 
 still, the Son of God, the Solomon of the Universe, the Wisdom Divine. 
 He said he would give us rest. He had the tongue of the learned that 
 could speak a word in season to him that was weary. He bore our sins 
 and carried them in his own body on the tree. He was wounded for our 
 transgressions. From his lips we heard the Beatitudes, than which there 
 are no tenderer words in all thy heaven. He gave himself for us, the 
 just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. We would run unto 
 him. We would outstretch our arms to him in token of waiting, and 
 needing, and loving. May we this day find him as we have never found 
 him before ; with some new beauty shining on his countenance, and some 
 new tone of music sounding and thrilling in his voice. We have come to 
 seek Jesus, assured that we shall find him. We love him because he first 
 loved us. We do not seek him, for he has himself come to seek and to 
 save the lost. We are lost. We have turned every one to his own way. 
 We have run greedily in paths forbidden, and have done the evil work 
 with both hands earnestly, but Jesus Christ has come after us. He will 
 find us, and the Universe for which he died shall live for him. We will 
 think of thy mercy till our hearts glow with fire that cannot consume 
 them. Thy compassions are new every morning. As for thy tears of 
 pity, they are more than the dews of the night. Thy heart goeth out after 
 us ; through all cloud, and mist, and darkness of gloom. Thou dost love 
 us and live for us, and continually send thine angels after us. What is 
 man that thou art mindful of him ? Is not his breath in his nostrils ? and 
 is he not blown away by the scornful wind? Doth he not live to die? 
 We bless thee for all Christian hope. We thank thee for the light within 
 the light, the glory hidden behind the dawn. Thou hast yet more light 
 to shed upon our life, and thou wilt give it beam by beam as our poor 
 
2SO ACTS X. 
 
 vision may be able to receive it. Oh, give us light ! Lord, spare not the 
 gift of light ! Lord, help us to walk in the light ! Enable us at all times 
 to be as the children of the day, and may thy glory burn in us and shine 
 forth from us upon all by whom we are encircled. 
 
 Thou knowest our heart's great hunger. The mystery of our spirit is 
 an open rei^elation to thine eyes. How poor we are, frail, and faint, and 
 naturally infirm. There is no strength in us. Help us, therefore, know- 
 ing our weakness, to abide in Christ, and to seek in him that which we 
 have not in ourselves. 
 
 We lovingly commend one another to thy blessing. Hear the strong 
 praying for the weak. Listen to those who form an altar of light, pray 
 for those who are wandering in great darkness. Hear the mother's 
 prayer for the castaway child. See the father's dumb entreaty written 
 upon every line of his face as he thinks of one for whom he dares no 
 longer pray. The Lord hear the praises of the glad, and the sighing of 
 those who are ill at ease. As for the little children, take them up in thine 
 arms, and one embrace of thine shall be the benediction of a life-time. 
 Dry the tears, no other hand can touch. Lead the blind by a way that 
 they know not, with great comforlings from heaven ; consolation upon 
 consolation, like wave upon wave ; cause us to forget our sorrows and 
 our daily grief. 
 
 Thy Kingdom come, O Christ ! Thy will be done on earth as it is 
 done in heaven, thou God and Father of us all ! Amen. 
 
 Acts X. 
 
 1. There was a certain man in Cresarea [the usual residence of the 
 Roman Procurator, and consequently garrisoned by Roman troops] called 
 Cornelius, a centurion [commanding the sixtieth part of a legion] 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 [to the Jews of Ca^sarea, as distinct from 
 the Gentiles], and prayed to God alway. 
 
 3. He saw in a vision evidently [the adverb here is most important] about 
 the ninth hour [when the evening sacrifice was offered in the temple] of 
 the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Corne- 
 lius. 
 
 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 [emphatically a sacrificial and liturgical word] before 
 God. 
 
 5. And now send men to Joppa [about thirty miles off], 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 th« angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he 
 
ANNOTATED TEXT. 251 
 
 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 [the house of the tanner was 
 an upper room] 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 [an ecstasy]. 
 
 11. And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto 
 him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners [bound by four 
 ends], 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 [a resistance characteristic of Peter 
 — Luke xvi. 32] ; for I have never eaten anything that is common [in the 
 sense of defiled] 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 [the mystic token of a complete ratification] : 
 and the vessel was received up again into heaven. 
 
 17. Now while Peter doubted [was much perplexed] in himself what 
 this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were 
 sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood 
 before the gate [porch]. 
 
 18. And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, 
 were lodged there. 
 
 19. [Now. The original has this conjunction.] 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. 
 
 21. Then [and] Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him 
 from Cornelius ; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek : what is the 
 cause wherefore ye are come ? [The last seven words are not in the 
 oldest Greek texts.] 
 
 20. And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that 
 feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was 
 warned from God [there is no Greek for " from God," but the verb is con- 
 stantly used of messages from above] by an holy angel to send for thee 
 into his house, and to hear words of thee. 
 
 23. Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow 
 Peter went away with them, and certain brethren [six in number] from 
 Joppa accompanied him. 
 
 24. And the morrow after they entered into Cccsarea. [Their road lay 
 
252 ACTS X. 
 
 all the way along the coast.] And Cornelius waited for them, and had 
 called together his kinsmen and near friends. 
 
 25. And as Peter was coming in [that is, before he entered], Cornelius 
 met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him [the extremest 
 form of eastern homage]. 
 
 26. But Peter took him up, saying. Stand up : I myself also am a man. 
 
 27. And as he talked with him [implying a conversation of some 
 length], he went in [so that the previous part of the interview had been 
 without], and found many that were come together. 
 
 28. And he said unto them. Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing 
 [from the standpoint of traditional pharisaism] for a man that is a Jew 
 to keep company [to join himself], or come unto one of another nation ; 
 but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or 
 unclean. 
 
 29. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was 
 sent for ; I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me ? 
 
 30. 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 [Rev. xv. 6]. 
 
 31. And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had 
 for 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 [those words are not in the 
 oldest manuscript]. 
 
 33. 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 [in this word there is implied the intention to obey\ all things 
 that are commanded thee of God. 
 
 34. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive [I 
 am fully convinced] that God is no respecter of persons : 
 
 35. But in every nation he that fearelh Him, and worketh righteous- 
 ness, is accepted with him [acceptable unto him]. 
 
 36. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching 
 peace [Isaiah lii. 7] 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 [where Christ's ministerial life com- 
 menced] 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 [a form of speech which has the force of emphatic addition] 
 are witfiesses 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 [gave 
 him to be manifest^ ; 
 
DRAMATIC CHAPTERS. 253 
 
 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 [He is not an invented Christ], 
 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. 
 
 45. And they of the circumcision [the six Jewish Christians mentioned, 
 xi. 12] which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, 
 because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 46. For they heard them spealc with tongues, and magnify God. Then 
 answered Peter, 
 
 47. Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which 
 have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? 
 
 48. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. 
 Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE GENTILES. 
 
 YOU have noticed no doubt how many dramatic chapters 
 there are in the sacred record. There are three that stand 
 out with special prominence, and to my mind, singular signifi- 
 cance. Take, for example, the first chapter of Genesis. What 
 movement, what continual and growing excitement ! How worlds 
 are made, and light is parted, and arrangements are completed as 
 if some stupendous event were about to transpire ! There is no 
 chapter in the Scriptures more intensely dramatic than the very 
 first chapter in the Bible. There is no rest in it. It is from end 
 to end all palpitation, movement, expectancy, and high color. 
 Something is going to happen ! The secret is revealed in these 
 words, and God said, " Let us make MAN." Thus one creation 
 prepares for another, and even necessitates another, because it 
 would without that other be incomplete and self-dissatisfied. 
 Take, again, the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. There 
 you have the same chapter repeated under more human and his- 
 toric conditions. The first chapter of Matthew is the first chapter 
 of Genesis turned into human history. There again you have 
 that movement, urgency, and great rapidity. Things are happen- 
 
254 ACTS X. 
 
 ing every moment. Surely we shall hear upon the door a hand, 
 the very knocking of which may imply that the KING is not far 
 off. The reading of the genealogical record vieatis something. 
 The secret is revealed in the statement that JESUS was born to 
 save His people from their sins. But notice how intensely dra- 
 malic both the chapters are, and how as you read both you feel 
 that you are being /r<^arf</ for something that is ahead, and if you 
 finished your reading one verse too soon you would feel as if the 
 chapter were a broken column or an incomplete anthem. The 
 heait would say, What is the rest i What more ? This cannot 
 be all. But when the Matt in the first chapter of Genesis stands 
 up, we say, " This is the explanation !" And when in the first 
 chapter of Matthew One is called EMMANUEL, heaven has 
 kissed earth in token of reconciliation and blessing yet to come. 
 The third chapter, which is in worthy succession, is the tenth 
 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. What movement, what 
 dreaming and visioning and singular combination of events ! 
 What novelty of thought, what audacity of progress ! What is the 
 meaning of it all ? Having read the first chapter of Genesis, I felt 
 that something was going to happen, and the first chapter of IMat- 
 thew, that a great event was going to be ushered into history ; and 
 now in the tenth chapter of the Acts I feel that all these visions 
 and trances must lead to something. What is it .? The secret is 
 revealed in these words — worthy to be written with a sunbeam on 
 heaven's most cloudless blue ! — " God is no respecter of persons, 
 but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteous- 
 ness is accepted of Him." In all the three dramatic chapters, 
 therefore, I find a result which explains the process and satisfies 
 the imagination. 
 
 What unconscious preparations are proceeding in life ! \\'e can- 
 not tell what we do. No occasion ends in itself as a separate and 
 independent event. We know not what a day may bring forth, 
 but to-morrow will certainly bring forth the seed of to-day. 
 " What I say unto one," said Christ, *' I say unto all, watch." 
 Always know that you are being prepared, for some Divine issue. 
 Your coming to church to-day may be the making of you ! The 
 introduction to a friend this morning may change every aspect of 
 your coming liistory ! The grave you dug but yesterday may be 
 the altar at which your first heart-prayer was uttered ! How won- 
 
ONE SIMON A TANNER. 
 
 255 
 
 drously Simon Peter was prepared for this marvellous outcoming 
 of Divine purpose. We read in the preceding chapter, in the very 
 last verse of it, that Simon Peter " tarried many days in Joppa 
 with one Simon a tanner." He has got so far on the road to the 
 Gentiles. A Jew of Peter's temper who could lodge with a tanner, 
 may to-morrow go to convert a Gentile. God fixes lodgings. 
 Here we cannot but recall what we have read in Jewish history 
 regarding the relation of the superior Jews to the occupation of a 
 tanner. Modern writers have related instances of a prejudice 
 which to the western mind must be simply preposterous. We 
 have not, however, to judge things from our own historical stand- 
 point, but from the civilization to which they specially belong. 
 Now, consider the relation of the superior Jews to the occupation 
 of a tanner. We are indebted to modern writers for our instances. 
 An ancient Rabbi said, " It is impossible that the world can do 
 without tanners, but woe unto that man who is a tanner." This 
 is the fact upon which your reasoning must be based. Not what 
 you think of the occupation of a tanner, but what the Javs 
 thought of it, and then remember that Simon Peter, primate of 
 the Apostles, the senior disciple, lodged with one Simon a tanner ! 
 The address is vaguely given — ' ' whose house is by the seaside. ' ' 
 The reason being that the Jews would not have tanneries in the 
 towns. Tanneries were a necessity — a hated and detested neces- 
 sity — but they must be kept as far out of the town as possible — in 
 the sea, if the imperious Jews could have had their way ! The 
 tanner was not allowed to have his place of business within fifty 
 cubits of a town. Pie was kept at a greater distance still if he 
 happened to pursue his trade at the west end of a town. If a man 
 married without telling bis bride that he was a tanner, she could 
 instantly demand release from the nuptial vow. The law which 
 provided that the childless widow was to marry the brother of a 
 deceased husband was actually set aside in the event of that 
 brother following the occupation of a tanner. You see then how 
 stubborn were the prejudices which the higher Jews entertained 
 against the occupation of tanning, and yet we read as if it involved 
 no extraordinary principle or secret, that Peter lodged or " tarried 
 many days with one Simon a tanner." It means everything, there 
 is a revolution in these words. There is nothing sublimcr in his- 
 tory than is implied in the very last verse of the ninth chapter, 
 
2S6 ACTS X. 
 
 " He tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner." 
 Tiiis makes a breach in the wall, a stone wall, iron-bound, but- 
 tressed with the traditions of generations ; this is a breach in the 
 wall that will widen until the whole falls, and man will everywhere 
 hail man as brother ! 
 
 The point to be observed in this particular study is, how uncon. 
 sciously men are being prepared for higher communications, wider 
 services, deeper suffering, nobler sympathy. God leads us on step 
 by step. He will send a stubborn Jew who had never eaten any- 
 thing common or unclean to lodge with one Simon a tanner. 
 Having got him so far on the road, He will send him to a Gentile 
 called Cornelius. The tanner is on the road towards the Centuri- 
 on ! We do not jump to conclusions in Divine Providence. We 
 go forward a step at a time, and we never know how far we have 
 advanced until we come to the last step, and find that it is but a 
 step. Measured from the starting point it is a line longer than 
 miles, but measured by the very last thing we did, it is only a step. 
 This is God' s way. This is how He trains you, dear young chil- 
 dren, for the last step which we now call death. Now in this 
 early morning of your young life you do not want to die. But 
 little by little, day by day, suffering by suffering, trial by trial, 
 loss by loss, a time will come when even you will say, " I have a 
 desire to depart." God deals thus gradually and gently with us. 
 Sometimes His providences seem to be abrupt and even violent, 
 but in reality they move along a gradation settled and adjusted by 
 the tenderest love. Things that are impossible to you to-day will 
 be the commonplaces of to-morrow. You do not speak to the 
 farthest-off man at once ; he could not hear you ; your voice 
 would be strained in the abortive effort to reach him at that great 
 social distance ; but you speak to the man who is next to you, and 
 then to the one following, and so a man at a time, you move on 
 until the distance is traversed and he who was once yizr ^has 
 been brought nigh! Upon this daily and inevitable process rests 
 your confidence that prejudice of the most stubborn kind shall be 
 broken down. Boundaries which separate man from man shall 
 be obliterated. Tradition shall go down before the advancing 
 tide of philanthropy, and one day — golden day — we shall know 
 that every land is home and every man is brother I 
 
 What mysterious combinations of e.\periences and events arc con- 
 
THE INVISIBLE SELF. 257 
 
 tinually taking place. Cornelius "saw in a vision evidently," 
 " an angel of God coming in to him." Peter fell into a trance 
 and heard a voice. That is our daily life. We cannot be shut 
 up within the four corners of a rude and vulgar materialism. God 
 has still over us the mysterious reign of dreams. We have before 
 had occasion to say that dreams enlarge our life. Why wonder if 
 dreams will co7m true, when dreams are true .'* You had the 
 dream. Why ask if it will come true ? You have forgotten the 
 purpose and mission of dreams. You should have spoken to the 
 angels, you should have said, " What is it, Lord .?" You should 
 even have contradicted the angel, and said, " Not so. Lord," and 
 then further conversation would have ensued. Instead of that you 
 continue to sleep, and in the morning ask if dreams come true I 
 You had your chance, and missed it. The night is full of crowds. 
 In the infinite galleries of the night the angels walk, visiting the 
 beloved of God, Dreams of your own causing are not the dreams 
 we are now speaking about. Physical nightmare is one thing, 
 spiritual vision and clairvoyance, the sight of the soul, is another. 
 But even apart from the ministry of the night, the secret coming, 
 and shining, and talking of the angels, we have in our day- 
 dreams events sufficiently spiritually mysterious to touch the senti- 
 ment that inspires the religious imagination. "How strange," 
 say we, " that it should have been so." " How remarkable that 
 our letters should have crossed." " Why at the very time I was 
 doing this you must have been coming to me. How singular !" 
 You may call it merely singular if you please, but that is an irre- 
 ligious way of talking about human history and divine issues. It 
 was not an accident. I want to cleanse my life of all mere acci- 
 dents, and to feel that my down-sitting and my up-rising, and my 
 out-going, my in-coming are matters of importance in heaven, — 
 that the very hairs of my head are all numbered ! Why do we 
 belittle our experience and deplete it of everything that could 
 give nobility, and enlargement, and apocalypse to our highest 
 nature ? Rather be it mine to say the vision was from heaven, and 
 an angel spake to me, than to vulgarize the universe and to find 
 in it nothing that I cannot mark with plain figures. 
 
 Here we have a higher laiv swallowing up a loivcr one, ' ' God 
 hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or un- 
 clean. " It requires GOD to show that to some men. This is 
 
>SS ACTS X. 
 
 nothing short of a Divine revelation — to see the man within the 
 creature. I see the figure, but there is something lehmd it ; I see 
 the poor clothing, the unkempt bod}' — there is something behitid / 
 I see the roughness, rudeness — there is something behind. A 
 MAN ! Said the murmuring multitude respecting Zacchseus, 
 " Christ hath gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 
 But Jesus called the sinner, " a son of Abraham." He saw the 
 figure within the figure, the ideal within the factual, the spiritual 
 within the material. Through the window of the eye he saw the 
 guest of the house, beautiful as a lost angel, worthful as a creation 
 of God ! Lord, open our eyes that we may see one another ! 
 
 Christianity has come to eat up and absorb all our little laws 
 and to set us under a nobler legislation. Said Christ, " Who is 
 my mother, and who are my brethren .?" And turning to His dis- 
 ciples, he said, "Whosoever doeth the will of my Father that is 
 in heaven, the same is my mother, and sister, and brother." We 
 are under the foolish notion that a man is a brother because we 
 Avere born of the same mother. Nothing of the kind. There 
 may be no greater stranger in the universe than the one born of 
 the same mother. They are brothers who are one in soul, one in 
 cofiviction, one in hope/ The others are but animals, a blood re- 
 lationship that may be dissolved because of moral considerations, 
 but no man can repudiate intellectual brotherhood, the masonry 
 of the soul, the joy that is felt in a common prayer and a com- 
 mon obedience. This lesson is not fitted for to-day. Only he 
 that hath ears to hear can hear it. At present it will have no 
 popularity — yea, it will only have partial acceptance ; yet I would 
 write it down, and commit it to the judgment of the future, that 
 brotherhood is spiritual not physical, and that the true relation- 
 ship is one of sympathy and of religious unity — a common feeling 
 of common loyalty to a common Lord. 
 
XXIX. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, our life is thine. When we die in the Lord surely we 
 return unto thee, and give thee that which is thine own. We bless thee 
 for life, notwithstanding its daily burden and its continual sorrow. Thou 
 hast wrought into the mystery of life a subtle joy which fills the heart 
 with an emotion which we would might abide there for ever. In the 
 midst of life we are in death, but death itself is swallowed up in victory. 
 In Christ Jesus we can say to Death, " where is thy sting? grave, where 
 is thy victory?" Jesus Christ hath abolished death, and in him. our 
 Priest and Saviour, we are more than conquerors. In death we have 
 found life. That which we sow is not quickened except it die. Help us 
 to seize this great truth with all the energy of love, and with all the emo- 
 tion of triumphant faith, that death may have no more dominion over us. 
 Thou art our God and Father : a sanctuary of defence, and a pavilion of 
 daily protection. Thou art unto us as a high rock, whose cooling shadow 
 refreshes us at high noon. We come to thee always through Jesus Christ 
 the righteous. He is our propitiation, our living answer to an accusmg 
 law. and our infinite defence against a righteous vengeance. 
 
 We commend to thee all to whom this is a day of mournful suffering. 
 We recall the images of our friends and make them live before the eye 
 of a loving memory. We hear their cheering voices ; we feel the contact 
 of their friendly hands, and we would now in spirit unite with them in 
 the higher song of the higher sanctuary. 
 
 " They sing the Lamb in hymns above. 
 And we in hymns below." 
 
 The subject is the same and unchangeable. When we see thee as thou 
 art we'll give thee nobler praise. Comfort those who remain. Recall to 
 their memory all thine exceeding great and precious promises. Show 
 them that the angel is at the grave awaiting their coming, and that his 
 presence there is a pledge of a resurrection to be accomplished by the 
 power of Christ. Recall all that is dearest, sweetest, tenderest in the 
 memory of our friends who have joined the upper band, and may we 
 vehemently desire to be united to the blood-bought host and sin no more. 
 As for those of us who remain, may we be doubly industrious. As the 
 ranks become thinner, may those who are left fight with redoubled 
 strength and watch with keener vigilance. Cause some who are young 
 and strong to come forward and take the places of those who have been 
 
26o ACTS XI. I -1 8. 
 
 called higher, that thus the army of Christ may suffer no loss, and its 
 leadership may be continually reinforced. We are here but for a 
 moment ; presently there will be a cry, " Behold the Bridegroom cometh ! 
 go ye out to meet him." May we be amongst those whose lamps will be 
 a flame, and who shall be ready in heart and hand to meet the only 
 One whose presence is heaven. We will see thee presently face to face, 
 and then will speak further with thee. To-day we must be content with 
 these few brief broken words, with references that are a pain to them- 
 selves because of their incompleteness. Yea, with sentences pained with 
 much agony because they cannot tell the secret which gives life to our 
 inmost hope. 
 
 We bless thee for friends returned from places far away. They come 
 with cheerful countenances, with loving eyes, and with new tones of trust 
 and love in their voices. So gather us altogether from across the seas, 
 and rivers, and wildernesses, and make of us at last in Christ Jesus, Thy 
 Son, one house from which no foot shall ever wander. Amen. 
 
 Acts xi. 1-18. 
 
 1. And the apostles and brethren that were in Judrea heard that the 
 Gentiles had also received the word of God. [The context implies that 
 the tidings travelled, while Peter remained at Caesarea, first probably to 
 Joppa and Lydda, and afterwards to Jerusalem.] 
 
 2. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the 
 circumcision contended [the tense implies continuous or repeated discus- 
 sion] with him, 
 
 3. Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised [men with a fore- 
 skin], and didst eat with them. 
 
 4. But Peter rehearsed [began and set forth] the matter from the begin- 
 ning, 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 ine go with them, nothing doubting. [The 
 
THE KEYWORD OF CHRISTIANITY. 261 
 
 Greek verb has a special force as being the same as thai for " contended " 
 in V. 2.] 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 [ch. i. 5], 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 [the Greek construction gives a 
 somewhat different meaning : If then God gave to the man equal gift as to 
 us, tipon their believing\\ what was I, that I could withstand God? [the 
 Greek gives a complex question. Who was I, able to withstand God ?] 
 
 18. When they heard these things, they held iheir peace, and glorified 
 God [the difference of tenses in the two Greek verbs implies that they 
 first held their peace, and then began a continuous utterance of praise], 
 saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. 
 
 ENLARGEMENT OF IDEAS. 
 
 •• A ND the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard 
 ir\. that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God." 
 This little common word " ALSO" is most pathetic. We find 
 pathos sometimes in little words and in strange connections. In 
 this instance it means more and more — further and further. The 
 light is brightening, and the lands that are afar off are enjoying its 
 glory. The word " ALSO" is, I say, but a common little word 
 in many connections, but in this particular connection it is the 
 creation of a new world, an annexation of new kingdoms and 
 provinces to the central empire of Emmanuel, The same word 
 occurs in the eighteenth verse, wherein the Jews said, glorifying 
 God, " Then hath God ALSO to the Gentiles granted repentance 
 unto life." The keyword of Christianity is ^w/ar^fw^w/ — enclos- 
 ure, continual extension of love and mercy, host upon host, army 
 upon army, till, the whole universe is one Church, and its voice 
 one song. Do not believe in any view of Christianity that excludes 
 anybody. Christianity came not to exclude men, but to include 
 
262 ACTS XI. 1-18. 
 
 them. Let that be a continual test when you are examining relig- 
 ious faiths, and religious propositions and plans. The theology 
 that would shut out from Christ's heart any human creature is a 
 bad theology — is a lie ! Election is not exclusive, but inclusive. 
 The ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans does not shut out 
 any man who would come to Christ : it tells the Jews, in startling 
 language, that God is greater than they are, and that in his great 
 love he is going to gather into one all the lands and peoples of the 
 earth. Take instances of the Divine election such as we can un- 
 derstand, and you will see how true is this doctrine in its higher 
 relation. God elects one day in the week ; does he thereby repro- 
 bate the remaining days .? Do the six poor cold exiled days gather 
 around the elected seventh, and say, " The way of the Lord is not 
 equal ; you have been chosen and we have been shut out ; God 
 has blessed and crowned jj'^w, and left us without benediction and 
 coronation.?" Nothing of the kind. Why does God elect the 
 otie day .? To get at the wliole six that are outside it. He does not 
 say, " Remember Monday to keep it holy ;" he says " Remem- 
 ber the Sabbath day to keep it holy ;" for no man can keep Sun- 
 day holy without keeping the whole six days holy also. You can- 
 not keep one day holy and make the other profane. Given a 
 Sabbath of the real kind, an open door into heaven, a highway 
 on which Ave meet the angels, a garden path through the very 
 paradise of God, and the whole week partakes of its nature — reflects 
 its love, vibrates with its music, and is glad with its joy. 
 
 Take the case of the human family. God made one man, but 
 he made that man that in him he might make all men. God 
 elected one family, that through one family he might bless all the 
 families of the earth. And this idea of his love has been per- 
 verted ; this wine of heaven has been turned into sourness ; the 
 very election that should have doubled the Gospel beauty, as the 
 river throws back the sky, has been turned into an occasion of 
 controversy and separation, and of mutual misunderstanding, and 
 devils have laughed at the divisions of Christendom. 
 
 Here we have the marvellous \>o\ver oi prejudice. " When Peter 
 was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision 
 contended with him." They had been trained in a certain view, 
 and they were faithful to that view ; so far of course they were not 
 to be blamed, for they believed that they alone had the truth, and 
 
SECTARIANISM IRRELIGIOUS. 263 
 
 so believing they contended valiantly for it. The power of pre- 
 judice is probably the greatest power under which human life 
 withers. The man against whom you have a prejudice can do no 
 good. If required to vindicate your unfriendly attitude by fair 
 and equitable argument, you would not have one word to say, but 
 that you do not like the man ; you are turned against him ; he 
 repels you in some way or other, reasonable or unreasonable, and 
 that prejudice will be more difficult to conquer and eradicate than 
 any number of reasons which you could advance in fair language. 
 Here was a sect that could lay its arms upon its breast, drink in 
 its own Christian satisfaction, and let all the world go down to the 
 devil without one moment's remorse. Any religion that is fully 
 comprehended, that will enable a man to do that is diabolical. 
 There are some people in Christian countries to-day who, imagin- 
 ing themselves to be the chosen favourites of heaven, can allow all 
 outsiders to go down to darkness without ever troubling them on 
 their descending way. But for the spirit of Christ, I could call 
 down fire from heaven upon such sectarians ! Yet it is possible — 
 yea, it is real— yea, more, it is the curse of Christian society. To 
 see what we have seen of narrow-minded, bloodless men, pale, 
 shrivelled, hunger-bitten, thinking that ihey had so attracted the 
 Divine notice as to become the favourites of a discriminating 
 Heaven, and that others had gone to live eternally with the devil 
 because of a Divine decree '! Personally I know of nothing in 
 Sodom, or in Gomorrah, so terrible as such a damnable self-com- 
 placency. " God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only 
 begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in him might not 
 perish, but have everlasting life." He is the propitiation for our 
 sins, and not for ours ONLY, but for the sins of the whole 
 world. " If I have to-day to elect my Gospel, I elect that, WHO- 
 SOEVER, EVERY CREATURE under heaven, a WORLD re- 
 deemed, and not a little company selected. Christianity destroys 
 all complacencies. Christianity tells the most self-complacent 
 man amongst us that the very poorest human creature that crawls 
 on the streets is his brother. Nowhere does the Christian Gospel 
 speak one contempluous word of any human creature. Never did 
 Christ say to anyone, " You are too bad." No ; as the sins piled 
 themselves one upon another, blackening the blue heavens with 
 their shadow, he said, "Thy sins, which are many, are all for- 
 
264 ACTS XL I -I I 
 
 given thee." How is it, then, that the human heart shuts out 
 this human rehgion — a rehgion that takes up the weak, that rep- 
 resents the dumb, that looks for what the bhnd have lost, and 
 turns away with haughty independence from every man that would 
 offer it the cruelty of his patronage ? Surely this is a mystery to 
 the angels ! 
 
 We think " they that were of the circumcision" is a sentence 
 which refers to people that lived many centuries ago. It is not ; 
 it is a sentence which includes men and women who are breathing 
 in this house at this moment, and who are to be found under 
 every ecclesiastical roof in the world. Every one of us has his 
 own "circumcision." Each says, "We must draw the line 
 somewhere." So say I. I would lay my line on GOD'S 
 LOVE I God did not make me a line-layer. He made me a 
 minister of his grace, and wherein any word of mine is less than 
 God's love, reject my unholy Gospel, for Gospel it is none — only 
 a word that would wither and blight the heart of man. Some 
 men's "circumcision" is the regularly-turned-out creed, num- 
 bered, partly written in capitals, partly in italics, itemed, and ar- 
 ranged, weighed out, defined, indexed, settled. If you believe 
 this creed you are good, if you doubt it you are infidels, if you re- 
 ject it you are atheists. Others have a notion that there is what 
 they term " a regular ministry." You would be surprised at the 
 fine lines that have been drawn amongst ministers. One man is 
 " only a missionary," nothing more 1 Another man is " only a 
 home missionary," nothing more ! Another man is only " a sort 
 of a home missionary," and others are " regular ministers," 
 properly made, clothed, decorated, and otherwise classified, so as 
 to have no ambiguity about their exact standing. Others have 
 been "educated" for the ministry. Sometimes they can look 
 contemptuously upon men who have not been "educated" for 
 the ministry. Educated to tell mankind that Christ came to the 
 world to save sinners, and that he tasted death for every man. I 
 would that we could escape this " circumcision," narrowness of 
 mere creed, and mere ministry, and merely ecclesiasticism, and 
 know that all men who bow at the altar of the Cross are the min- 
 isters of Christ. The Lord's fire consume all pricstism ! They 
 that are of the " circumcision" know exactly where the right 
 Church is. In their estimation j'(7k who now hear me are not a 
 
ENLARGEMENT IN TWO DIRECTIONS. 265 
 
 Church at all ! You are labouring under an amiable delusion if 
 you imagine that you are a Church ; and we on our side have 
 prejudices quite as narrow, and in some cases even more irra- 
 tional. ' ' Then hath God also' ' to every sect and name and party 
 and class granted of the glory of his light and the quietness of his 
 peace. Seize that idea and drop your angry controversies and 
 miserable wrangles over interpretations which there is no human 
 authority sufficiently infallible to determine. I do not know 
 whether to rejoice more over the fifteenth verse or over the eigh- 
 teenth. The fifteenth verse reads, " And as I began to speak the 
 Holy Ghost fell on them ;" that is enlargement. The eighteenth 
 verse reads, they " glorified God, saying. Then hath God also to 
 the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." The work of exten- 
 sion took place in two directions. The mind of the Church was 
 expanded. Not only did the Gentiles receive the rising light, but 
 the Church itself, on hearing that the morning glory had lifted it- 
 self above the lands that sat in darkness, became sensible of a 
 great outstretching of mind ; so the Gentiles sang their new 
 hymn, and the Church uplifted its anthem, and hymn and anthem 
 blended into one music-offering to heaven, and the Jew and the 
 Gentile knew that " the middle wall of partition" had for ever 
 fallen down ! 
 
XXX. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, this is thine house, and the spirit of it is thine. Surely 
 it is thine altogether. There is no unholy chamber in the Lord's great 
 sanctuary. Are not all things cleansed with blood that are in the house 
 of the Lord ? are they not without spot or wrinkle or any such thing ? 
 and are not we ourselves called upon by the Spirit of the house to put on 
 garments of righteousness, and clothing beautiful as thine own holiness ? 
 Is not this our calling in Christ Jesus the spotless One ? — the Lamb of 
 God, the sacrifice for the sins of the world, a sin-offering without sin, 
 an acceptable Propitiation ! Enable us, we humbly pray thee, to know 
 that thou art here looking upon us, and that the air also is full of angels 
 and the spirits of the loved who have gone up to the throne and to the 
 light. May we know that this is not common ground, but a chosen place, 
 a land cleansed and prepared, where the flame is, out of which the God 
 of Abraham and the Father of Jesus ever speaks to the sons of men. We 
 have come to see heaven opened and the Son of man standing at the right 
 hand of God. We would be no longer tossed about as those who have 
 no centre and standing place. We would know that the Lord reigneth, 
 that all things are in his kind and mighty hands, and that not a sparrow 
 falleth to the ground without the Father. All things are in the hollow of 
 thine hand. The opening of thine eyes is the sending forth of day and 
 summer over the whole firmament and over the whole land. So we have 
 rest. We have peace with God ; we have security in thy righteousness, 
 and hope because of thy mercy. Thou lovest thine own image and like- 
 ness. Thou dost see a reflection of thyself even in the ruin which we 
 have wrought. We therefore come, desiring to be reunited with God, 
 restored through Christ Jesus, the one Saviour, purified and comforted 
 by the Holy Spirit. We have brought our sins with us, but we need not 
 take them away. Thou wilt dissolve them as clouds that shall no more 
 darken our outlook. Thou dost send trouble upon us not to grieve but to 
 test us. Sanctify all bereavement, all sudden darkening of the household 
 joy, every opened grave, every shattered hope. Show us that in all these 
 things thou art working out a sovereign purpose of love. Help us to 
 hold fast the hand when we cannot see the face of God. The darkness 
 and the light are both alike unto thee. The night shineth as the day, and 
 all that we now know of light is but darkness compared with the glory 
 which shall be revealed. Thou wilt make the moon as the sun, and the 
 
ANNOTATED TEXT. 267 
 
 sun sevenfold in brightness, and the glory shall burn like the light of thy 
 throne. These are our expectations in Christ Jesus the Lord. Already 
 we have in him a wonderful inheritance. Our loved ones have not died 
 who have fallen asleep in his arms. They are still ours, and the more so 
 that they are his, and the whole family in heaven and on earth is named 
 in him who is the Son of man. Let our wants cry unto heaven, and let 
 thy mercy respond. We want more light, more purity and nobleness of 
 soul, more faith, more of thyself. Thou that dwellest between the 
 Cherubim, shine forth. Let there be no darkness in our souls ; may our 
 inward life be like a house filled with the light of God. Few and evil are 
 our days — at the most they are but a handful. The grave is always just 
 outside the window, and is part of our very dwelling-place. Show us 
 that in Christ Jesus, the Resurrection, there is no death, and that we 
 should see the garden, not the tomb. The Lord direct us all the remain- 
 ing days of our life. Give us good cheer by the way, when the heart is 
 made suddenly sad. Pluck the fruit that is on branches too high for us 
 to reach. Take us up awhile and give us rest when the way is long and 
 the flesh is weary, and at the last may we hear rather the salutation of the 
 angels than the farewells of the dying. Amen. 
 
 Acts xi. 19-30. 
 
 19. Now they which were scattered abroad [a new and important section 
 begins with these words] upon the persecution that arose about Stephen 
 [whose death was followed by a general outburst of fanaticism] travelled 
 as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch [the great Syrian capital], 
 preaching the word to none [to no one, — the Greek number is singular] 
 but unto the Jews only. 
 
 20. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene [Greek-speak- 
 ing Jews], which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Gre- 
 cians, preaching the Lord Jesus. 
 
 21. And the hand of the Lord was with them : and a great number 
 believed, and turned unto the Lord. 
 
 22. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which 
 was in Jerusalem : and they sent forth Barnabas [whose sympathies for 
 such work were shewn in his very name. Son of Consolation], that he 
 should go as far as Antioch. 
 
 23. Who when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and 
 exhorted them all [the tense implies continuous action], that with pur- 
 pose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 
 
 24. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith • 
 and much people [a great multitude] was added unto the Lord. 
 
 25. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul [probably 
 implying some intercourse with the Apostle, by letter or message, since 
 his departure from Jerusalem]. 
 
 26. And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And 
 
268 ACTS XI. 19-30. 
 
 it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the 
 church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called [got the 
 name of] Christians first in Antioch. 
 
 27. And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. 
 
 28. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by 
 the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world [the 
 Roman empire] : which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. 
 
 29. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability [as each 
 man prospered], determined to send relief [to send as a ministration] unto 
 the brethren which dwelt in Judaea : 
 
 30. Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Bar- 
 nabas and Saul. 
 
 CLEAVING UNTO THE LORD. 
 
 THE first part of this text is a condensation of the former part 
 of the chapter. To the infinite amazement of the early 
 preachers the Word of the Lord toolc effect upon others besides 
 Jews. It touched the heart of the Centurion, and it awakened the 
 faith of the Grecian in Antioch. In this way Christianity became 
 quite as much a revelation to \\\q Jews themselves as to the Gen- 
 tiles. It was a surprise of love. The Jews saw that Christianity 
 was not a local lamp, but a universal sun, and as its glory bright- 
 ened the distant hills and made the far-off valleys sing with new 
 joy, the preachers were glad ; they felt themselves at once invested 
 with a new responsibility, and stirred with a new hope. Some 
 such passion should fill our hearts when we see far-off men 
 touched by the power of Christ. The extension of Christ's king- 
 dom is the supreme joy of the loyal Church. To see another 
 province added to his empire is to partake in our little degree of 
 the travail of his soul, which brings him his one satisfaction. Here- 
 in we may see a proof and seal of the Divine origin of Christian- 
 ity. All other religions remain at home. Other religions are cold 
 theories or entertaining speculations or sentimental dreams. 
 They do not come out in the dark, nor do they brave the wilder- 
 ness, nor are they tempted across the sea. They pillow themselves 
 at home, and then fall into ignoble rest and useless dreaming. 
 Christianity never stops at one place as a final point. Having 
 showed its light, sounded its trumpet, offered its hospitality, it 
 says, " I must preach the Gospel to other lands also." Any re- 
 ligion that talks in that beneficent tone needs no cunning argu- 
 
TYPICAL CONVERSIONS. 269 
 
 ment of man to sustain and vindicate its divinity. Christianity is 
 an aggressive religion, Christianity is a fighting faith, Christianity 
 is a military theology. If its professors are non-militant, easy, 
 self-contained, self-complacent, they give the lie to their own 
 faith : they are baptized infidels. They do not know the spirit of 
 zeal which goes out to the whole earth and to the ends of the 
 world, seeking, calling, blessing, saving, giving itself away in con- 
 tinual and hopeful sacrifice. In proportion as we sit at home we 
 disown the spirit of the Christianity to which we owe our security. 
 In the universality of the Christian offer I see its Godhood. Lux- 
 uries are only here and there, but necessaries are everywhere. 
 Wines grow on these sunny hills, and in yonder sheltered valley, 
 they do not grow everywhere ; but show me the land where there 
 is no water ! Men need water, not wine. " The burning rays of 
 the ruby shine" in special places, but the light of the sun goeth 
 forth everywhere with impartial splendour and ungrudging bene- 
 diction. Some of God's gifts are special, local, and individual, 
 but these gifts are not necessary to salvation. Whatever is neces- 
 sary to the soul's redemption and unification with Christ is 
 spoken, or to be spoken, in every language and dialect of earth. 
 Universality is argument in such a case. 
 
 There are two lypical instances given in the narrative. Chris- 
 tianity touched the mind and heart of the centurion. Let him 
 represent Roman strength, sternness, law, force, dignity. Chris- 
 tianity touched the Grecian mind. Let that stand for refinement, 
 elegance, delicacy, philosophy, for the completing line of human 
 thought and service. There you have the whole circle. Chris- 
 tianity becomes Roman to the Roman, Grecian to the Grecian — a 
 great rock to the rocky man, a rainbow to the dreaming genius, a 
 summer light to the poet's fancy. Christianity speaks to even,' 
 man in the tongue wherein he was born. Christianity says. You 
 cannot learn my language at once, but I can speak yours. There- 
 fore, with the infinite stoop of Divine and tender grace it comes 
 down to the lowliest and obscurest of men and utters its gracious 
 Gospel. No other religion does this. Every other religion says, 
 " You must come to me ; I will not take one step towards you." 
 This religion, symbolized by the blessed Cross, comes out towards 
 every man to seek and to save. In such circumstances such be- 
 neficence is argument. 
 
270 ACTS XL 19-30. 
 
 What was the effect upon the Jewish Christian Church when 
 tidings of evangelized Gentiles came to its ears ? At once the 
 Christian Church in Jerusalem ' ' sent forth Barnabas, that he 
 should go as far as Antioch," and inquire concerning this last of 
 the miracles. \\' hen he came, what was the result ? He saw ihe 
 grace 0/ God. There is no inistaking it. It is like nothing else. 
 Imitations perish under scrutiny, but the real grace of God grows 
 upon examination. Into it there comes a keener glow and 
 ardour, around it there flashes a tender and more delicate beauty, 
 out of it there rises a holy aroma such as might be felt among the 
 hills of the heavenly paradise. He did not find a number of con- 
 troversialists, technical theologians, excellent and most skilful dis- 
 putants. He found men praying, with eager minds, with forgiving 
 souls, unconscious of earth, more on high than below. There 
 are no words for such a mystery. This Christian emotion must be 
 felt, for it cannot be expressed. When Barnabas saw the grace 
 of God he was GLAD. He did not think that his soul could be 
 any more joyful than it was, but it could 1 There is always a 
 higher wave ; beyond is the fuller billow. We have not yet ex- 
 hausted the possibilities of Christian enjoyment. Is the farmer 
 glad when he sees corn growing upon land on which it never grew 
 before ? Does he not come home with a new expression upon his 
 countenance, and when he speaks does he not speak in tones of 
 glad thankfulness, and does not ever}'body in the house feel that 
 something good has happened outside ? It is so the Christian feels 
 when he sees strange men turning to the faith. When looking 
 down the hills he sees whole armies moving up towards the all- 
 uniting and all-sanctifying Cross. He says this is prophecy ful- 
 filled. Is it not said that he who is our Christ shall have the 
 heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
 his possession .-' — and lo, they come ! In that hour of sacred rap- 
 ture he touches the very ecstasy of Christ himself. Are we glad 
 when we see men converted ? Do we not criticise the process of 
 their conversion ? Are we not given to too much suspicion of the 
 genuineness of the so called change of mind and heart .? Do 
 newly-converted men find a warm, cordial, comforting atmosphere 
 in the Church when they come in ? Let the Church take care 
 lest by a cold internal atmosphere it check and discourage beyond 
 recovery the march and victory of its own external attempts at 
 
THE HELPFULNESS OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 271 
 
 evangelization ! Barnabas took the right course ; he said, ' ' This 
 is the grace of God." He himself felt glad beyond all expres- 
 sion. Having made this recognition, and having sympathetically 
 entered into this experience, he said, " Now with full purpose of 
 heart you must cleave unto the Lord." Exhortation will do 
 more than suspicion. A word of encouragement is what young 
 beginners in the Christian race require. They are not to be filled 
 with fear and driven back by suggested doubt and difficulty ; but 
 Barnabas, the man of the musical voice, because of the musical 
 heart, should be found in every Church saying to the young 
 believers, " So far on you are right, but you are only putting on 
 the armour, not putting it off — only beginning the fight, not en- 
 joying the victory ; now with full purpose of heart, with one soul, 
 one thought, one heart, cleave unto the Lord, put your arms 
 around him, and know no other homage but the worship of his 
 name." That exhortation is in time in every age. You who 
 gave your heart to Christ not a week ago or a month since — perse- 
 vere. Cleave unto the Lord ; pray without ceasing ; watch day 
 and night. Look unto the hills whence cometh your help ; let 
 the word of Christ dwell in you richly. 
 
 Why did Barnabas take so much interest in these new converts ? 
 The answer is given in the twenty-fourth verse. It is the answer 
 to all such inquiry, " For he was a good man, and full of the 
 Holy Ghost and of faith. ' ' Good men see goodness in other 
 men. Evil be to him who evil thinks. From some persons you 
 never get a judgment which is not tinged with censoriousness or 
 bitterness, that is not marked by some flaw of half-heartedness or 
 partiality or unholy prejudice. Their hopes are only inverted 
 fears, and their shake of the hand is a genteel repulsion. The 
 good man comes to be made glad. You have a great work of 
 conviction to do in his mind before you can persuade him you are 
 not as good as he is. He comes to be pleased. He says, ' ' I 
 hear that there is a revival in your Church, that obdurate hearts are 
 laying down their weapons of rebellion. I have come to see this 
 great sight; the Lord's name be praised that I do hear of such 
 victories," Then with a charitable spirit, and benign and hopeful 
 heart, he looks upon all the work, and it must be very bad if he 
 do not see in it something to quicken his own faith, and deepen 
 his own grace, and heighten his own love to God. My brethren, 
 
272 ACTS XL 19-30. 
 
 the pulpit now must be apologetic, or it cannot live. I would 
 therefore venture to ask in the humblest of tones whether when 
 new converts come into the Church they will find in it good men 
 full of the Holy Ghost and of faith ? That they will find critics, 
 and controversialists, and hypocrites, I know, to some extent ; but 
 will they find men full of the Holy Ghost and of faith ? Thank 
 God to that inquiry I can return an emphatic affirmaiive. We owe 
 everything to the people who encourage us. You owe very little 
 to the man who merely finds fault with you. What was the con- 
 sequence of the presence of Barnabas amongst the new converts .? 
 So good was he, so gracious, so representative of heavenly influ- 
 ences and ministries, that " much people was added unto the 
 Lord. ' ' Barnabas did not go to Antioch for nothing — the work 
 grew upon him, and now he said, " Saul must come." And 
 when he had found him at Tarsus, he brought him to the Syrian 
 capital, and there for a whole year they assembled themselves with 
 the Church and taught much people. Thus are spheres found for 
 men, and thus have men sometimes to tarry at Tarsus till their 
 proper Antioch is found. But God will find it. He will one day 
 tell you that the time is come to break silence and to preach 
 Christ's Gospel to them that are nigh at hand or afar off. . 
 
 Now comes another picture. "In these days came prophets 
 from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them 
 named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be 
 great dearth throughout all the world." " Then the disciples, 
 every one according to his ability, determined to send relief unto 
 the brethren which dwelt in Judsea." I know no instance in 
 which the/>r(?<9/"so speedily followed the argument. We wondered 
 if the men at Antioch were really converted. We find in the 
 twenty-ninth verse this proof of their conversion, — " Then the dis- 
 ciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send re- 
 lief unto — the brethren which dwelt in Judaea." Unto whom? 
 " The brethren which dwelt in Judaea." Then their family rela- 
 tions had increased } Yes ; marvellously I They were not 
 " brethren" a few weeks ago. What has happened in the mean 
 time? The revelation of Christ m the mind and heart has hap- 
 pened 1 These men at Antioch have heard of the faith that is in 
 Jesus Christ ; they have received the Lord Jesus ; and instantly on 
 hearing that men who are partakers of the same faith are in pros- 
 
CALLED CHRISTIANS. 273 
 
 pect of necessity, they send to such men under the name of 
 "brethren," according to their ability. This is how Christian- 
 ity works. Here is the communism of the Church. We have 
 seen in these readings that the formal communism soon broke 
 down, but the spiritual covaxaxim^xa. must continue for ever. 
 Wherever there is Christian need, Christian brotherhood must be 
 acknowledged. If you have means, and see your Christian 
 brother in the remotest corner of the earth suffering want, and do 
 not send to him, your Christianity is vain. How have the men 
 in Antioch and the men in Judaea become brethren .? By the 
 Cross, What did that Cross do .? It broke down the middle wall 
 of partition. It made the human family one ! 
 
 These are the two pictures in the text — the picture of Barnabas 
 and the picture of the prophet Agabus. But there is one line 
 which I have reserved for the last, ' ' And the disciples were called 
 Christians first at Antioch." There is great diversity of opinion 
 as to why this name was given. Some say it was given by Saul 
 and Barnabas. Some say it was given in derision and scorn, as 
 men in our own land have been called Puritans, Methodists, 
 Wesleyans, and the like. I do not know whether the Christian 
 believers ever called themselves distinctly Christians. I believe the 
 word Christian occurs only about three limes in the New Testa- 
 ment. That is a remarkable circumstance. Believers were called 
 brethren, saints, disciples, but I am not aware of any instance in 
 which they distinctly and formally describe themselves as Chris- 
 tians. But however the name was given, it stands above all other 
 names to-day. It is the supreme glory of human designation. 
 Of no man is so much expected as of the man who is called Chris- 
 tian, The man who despises your faith expects from you on its 
 account such conduct as he expects from no other man. So he 
 answers himself. He puts the sword to his own life. After hav- 
 ing traduced your Lord, and disproved your documents, and cast 
 scorn and contempt on the whole circle of your theology, if you 
 do anything that calls down his displeasure he is the first and the 
 bitterest to accuse of treason to the faith you profess. I ask for 
 no higher intellectual and moral recognition of the purity of the 
 religion of Jesus Christ. From no atheist is so much expected as 
 from the weakest Christian. When you, a Christian, do anything 
 wrong, the mocker knows how to mock vou with the bitterest 
 
274 ACTS XL 19-30. 
 
 taunt and scorn. He charges you with hypocrisy, with degener- 
 acy, with unfaithfulness, whereas, if his own argument were really 
 believed by his own heart, he would congratulate you : he would 
 say, " Now, this is freedom from superstition ; now you have 
 freed yourself from the principles which are gathered up in the 
 hated name of Christ." The enemy always puts an end to his 
 own life. The more we allow him to do so the more leisure we 
 shall have for the affirmative declaration of Christian faith. 
 
 By Christians I understand Christ followers, Christ lovers, 
 Christ worshippers, Christ-ones. It is a thousand pities, in one 
 aggravation of distress, that such a name should have been de- 
 based, commercialized, and made the password to unworthy con- 
 fidence and honour. Were we what we ought to be in integrity, 
 in simplicity, and in equity of soul, there should be no nobler 
 designation known amongst men, and no other should be needed. 
 Roman Catholics, Protestants, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, 
 Presbyterians — what are they, and how have they come to have 
 any existence at all, and especially any honor as names .? Did 
 Christ ever use them } The one name that we ought to have is 
 Christian, meaning by that a man who takes Jesus Christ as his 
 Lord, Saviour, Priest, Pattern, Inspiration. Could we restore 
 that definition of the now perverted term, no name known under 
 heaven amongst men could be such a warranty of conduct and 
 such a seal of dignity. 
 
XXXI. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we know not what we read in thy book except thou 
 dost teach us its meaning by thy Spirit. We have heard the letter and 
 its music is in our ears, but we would hear the inner meaning of every 
 word spoken to the heart itself, then shall we, though on earth, be really 
 in heaven. Thy word is the same there as it is here, only we do not 
 read it well. We know not all its compass. We do not yield ourselves 
 with thankful delight to the sway and inspiration of its infinite music. 
 We are children of the world. We are travellers who have chosen the 
 night for our pilgrimage. We are not children of the day, flowers of 
 the noontide, lovers of glory cloudless and eternal. Thou can make us 
 such in Jesus Christ, thy Son. our Saviour, and by him alone. Deliver 
 us from this delight in darkness, and make us by the indwelling Holy 
 Ghost children of the morning, with eyes that delight to drink in the glory 
 of noontide. We know not the meaning of our life. We would crowd 
 immortality into mortality, and the miracle is beyond our little strength. 
 We would satisfy the infinite with the finite, and thus do we live foolishly 
 before God. Show us in Jesus Christ, thy Son, that we were meant to 
 lay hold of that which is unseen, and beyond, and immeasurable, and 
 Divine. Thus may we, as followers of the Lord, have our conversation 
 in heaven, and may we bear upon the whole life that we live proofs that 
 our citizenship is on high. We are weary oftentimes because our life is 
 frail. We break down in great unmanly tears because we cannot reach 
 the things that are too high for us. We are fretted and chafed by vexa- 
 tions to which we should pay no heed were we really living in the sanc- 
 tuary of thy peace. But the world is rough, and time is like a cold wind 
 blowing through our days and carrying them away, and the very earth 
 yields under our footstep and becomes a grave into which we fall. Such 
 is the mystery of this breathing. Sometimes we would we were but 
 beasts of the field, eating their grass, and dying at night. Thou hast 
 stirred us with marvellous inspiration, and caused angels to touch us in 
 the night season, and call us away into liberty and renewed service, and 
 all heaven seems to be busy about us. Why this movement of the soul ? 
 Why this joyous trouble ? Why this triumphant agony ? Surely thou 
 didst make us in thine own image and likeness, and we have lost our 
 glory. Thou art saving us by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou 
 hast sent him as the Good Shepherd to bring us home again. May he 
 find us every one, and take us home this day. Regard, %ve pray, all who 
 
276 ACTS XII. i-ii. 
 
 are now bent before thee at the sacred altar, and receive from each heart 
 its hymn of praise. Our houses are thine, and they are homes and sanc- 
 tuaries, because thy blessing rests upon the roof. The children all are 
 thine, and thou dost ask an account of them at every sun-set. And the 
 sick ones, who would come out if they could, who long to be here, are all 
 thy patients, thou Physician of men. And the prodigals, whose empty 
 chairs at the table trouble us, and whose unpressed pillows are witnesses 
 against them, are surely thine also. Thou wilt not forget them. They 
 make us pray. They compel us to be trustful and uplooking and piously 
 expectant ; but for them we might make life one foolish game, and the 
 days a succession of empty jests, but they drag us down and then lift us 
 up. Look upon thy servants who are in business, and %vho make too 
 much of it, who do not get hold of it aright, and to whom it is a tempta- 
 tion, a snare, and a long mockery. Show them how to lay hold of it with 
 their ten fingers, without one fibre of their hearts ever touching it. And 
 the Lord rule the Nations. Himself be on the throne, and let all lower 
 monarchs draw their breath from his sovereignty. Be with all thy ser- 
 vants to-day ; the minister in the pulpit, the teacher in his class, breaking 
 bread for the little ones, and teaching opening minds the truth of God 
 and Christ ; with the visitor to the sick, with the missionary to the out- 
 cast, and with all who in any wise shall endeavor to do good. And at 
 night when we sing our closing hymn amid the gathering darkness, may 
 we hear a voice, saying, " The Lord is a man of war, and the victory this 
 day is in his hands." Amen. 
 
 Acts xii. 1-11. 
 
 1. Now about that time Herod the king [the son of Aristobulus and 
 Bernice, grandson of Herod the Great] stretched forth his hands to vex 
 certain of the church. 
 
 2. And he killed James [Matt. xii. 23] the brother of John with the 
 sword. 
 
 3. And because he saw it pleased the Jews [the ruling policy of the 
 Herodian house], he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were 
 the days of unleavened bread) [about the end of March or the beginning 
 of April]. 
 
 4. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and 
 delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him ; intending after 
 Easter [after the Passover] to bring him forth to the people. 
 
 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison : but prayer was made without 
 ceasing of the church unto God for him. 
 
 6. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night 
 Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains : and 
 the keepers before the door kept the prison. 
 
 7. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light 
 shined in the prison [the chamber or dwelling] : and he smote Peter on 
 
THE ALL-DISPOSING POWER. 277 
 
 the side, and raised him up, saying. Arise up quickly. And his chains 
 fell off from his hands. 
 
 8. And ihe angel said unto him. Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. 
 And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, 
 and follow me. 
 
 g. And he went out, and followed him ; and wist not that it was true 
 which was done by the angel ; but thought he saw a vision. 
 
 ID. When they were past the first and the second ward [shewing that 
 Peter had been placed in the innermost dungeon], they came unto the iron 
 [a touch of precision characteristic of Luke] gate that leadeth unto the 
 city ; which opened to them of his own accord : and they went out, and 
 passed on through one street [the word implies narrowness] ; and forth- 
 with the angel departed from him. 
 
 II. 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. 
 
 PETER DELIVERED. 
 
 " "XT OW about that time" — we know that troubles never come 
 1 1 alone. We know well what the ' ' time' ' was which is 
 referred to, for it came under our notice in our last study. A 
 time of famine was prophesied. There was to be great dearth, 
 and great suffering was to be occasioned by that dearth of food. 
 Whilst the Church was put in charge of this prediction, and had 
 already begun to contribute towards the relief of the brethren, 
 " about THAT time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to 
 vex certain of the Church. ' ' Famine might kill them slowly ; he 
 would find a quicker way ! All ways of destruction are pleasant 
 to the destroyer's mind. Only let his opponents die, whether by 
 famine or by sword, and he is satisfied. What is the Mystery 
 above us which allows such things 1 How well it would have 
 been when Herod ' ' stretched forth his hand ' ' to have kept it 
 there so that he could never take it into his side again ! Such 
 would be our way many a time of dealing with antagonists and 
 enemies. God takes in more field ; his thought has a wider 
 compass, and he needs more time for the exemplification of his 
 purpose. 
 
 " He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." 
 This was not a Jewish method of killing people. If James had 
 been tried by the regular Jewish Court, and had been found 
 
278 ACTS XII. i-ii. 
 
 guilty, he would have been stoned to death. But what is crime 
 of the higher sort if it cannot be inventive ? What if a king can- 
 not overleap a hedge and take a short cut to the consummation of 
 his purpose ! Beheading is quicker than stoning ! Possibly the 
 law may be dishonoured by the use of the sword, or by the adop- 
 tion of eccentric and unusual methods, but the indignation of the 
 wicked cannot wait. It needs no further condemnation. Its im- 
 patience is the seal of its iniquity. Justice eternal, impartial, 
 divine, can wait. It never misses its aim ! Though hand join in 
 hand, the wicked cannot go unpunished. There is no counsel 
 against the Almighty ! Let the wicked man take what methods 
 he may, in every method which he adopts you will find the seal 
 of its infamy. Having performed this trick of cruelty, Herod saw 
 that " it pleased the Jews," and he proceeded further. That is 
 the natural history of wickedness ! It is self-impelling. It gath- 
 ers momentum as it goes. You cannot stop with one murder. 
 You get into the trick of it ; you acquire the bad skill, and your 
 fingers become nimble in the use of cruel weapons. Murder does 
 not look so ghastly when you have done it once. How many 
 people have you murdered .? You think of murder as blood-shed- 
 ding ; murder is heart-breaking ; life-blighting ; hope-destroying ! 
 How many people have you murdered .? How many are you 
 murdering to-day at home P " He proceeded further." The one 
 glass needs another (it says) to keep it company. Crimes do not 
 like solittide — they like companionship ; and so one crime leads to 
 another, and wickedness is self-multiplied. Remember the 
 words, " He proceeded further !" You do not find God's amaze- 
 ment in the completion of a thousand sins ; you find his astonish- 
 ment in \}i\Q first sin. If you can do otie sin, the whole life is lost. 
 We are not thieves because of a thousand thefts ; we are not liars 
 because of a thousand lies, or murderers because of a thousand 
 homicides ; we find our criminality in the opening sin. Therefore, 
 what I say unto one, I say unto all, " Watch !" 
 
 " Because he saw it pleased the Jews." There are those who 
 like to see you play the fool and the criminal, and will hurrah 
 you and acclaim you, and when the constable comes for you they 
 will flee away ! Why should you be killing other people to please 
 the onlookers ? What will lliey do for you in the critical hour >. 
 All the while Hergd thought he was king, and yet "because he 
 
A PITCHED BATTLE. 
 
 279 
 
 saw it pleased the Jews he proceeded further. ' ' King in name, 
 slave in reality ! What contradictions there are in social life, and 
 in official terms ! Sometimes the Judge has been the prisoner. 
 Sometimes the conqueror has been the loser. Sometimes, as in 
 this instance, the king in name, branch of a blasted tree whose 
 roots were warmed in hell, was slave. He lived upon the popular 
 pleasure. Whatever pleased the people he was willing to do. 
 Therein he tarnished his crown, and sold his kingdom, and lost 
 his soul ! 
 
 In the fifth verse there is a pitched battle. Read it : — " Peter 
 therefore was kept in prison " : there is one side of the fight ; after 
 the colon — " but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church 
 unto God for him." Now for the shock of arms ! Who wins? 
 It is the battle of history. It is a field on which the universe gazes 
 with conflicting feeling. Prayer always wins. You can only be of 
 a contrary opinion when you take in too little field. There is no 
 action of any importance that is bounded by a single day. It is 
 out of death that life comes. Even the darkness is thick sown 
 with the seed of light. Such prayer as we read of in the fifth verse 
 is irrepressible. The prayers you could keep down if you liked 
 will never be answered. Any prayer that could have been stifled 
 has not force enough to reach the heavens. How to treat irrepres- 
 sible prayers ! No answer has been given to that inquiry. The 
 controversies have waged round such prayer as might not have 
 been spoken — cold, lifeless, hopeless, pointless, prayerless prayer ; 
 a religious skeleton J I want to hear what men have to say about 
 the prayers I cannot help praying — that will come out of the soul 
 — and in daring fashion sound for themselves all the places of the 
 universe till they knock against the Heart that opens like the door 
 of home. If you are disputing about a prayer of words I would 
 join you in condemning it, but that is not the subject ; it is the 
 prayer you breathe in sigh, or troubled cry, or shout of violence, 
 when the dear life is being taken, when there is but one inch of 
 blue in the sky, and that is fast closing ; when the prodigal will 
 not come in ! Such praying does not admit of literal criticism. 
 It cannot be written down, it cannot be argued out of the life ; 
 when the skilful disputant has completed his incoherent appeal, 
 the heart untouched rushes in eager haste to seek or make a God I 
 
28o ACTS XII. i-ii. 
 
 The miracle is eternally true in all that is worth being true. Is 
 it not foolish on our part and most self-impoverishing to be direct- 
 ing faithless inquiry towards incidental points and omitting the 
 central and abiding quantity ? All the miracles are true. They 
 have counterparts in our own life, and therefore we have no doubt 
 about their truth. The points to which critical scepticism is 
 directed are really not parts of the miracle. They are but acces- 
 sories, illustrations, helps, or points enkindled to make the story 
 more graphic and memorable. I know of no miracle in all the 
 Bible that I have not personally lived, therefore it is useless for any 
 man who has not lived them to endeavour to persuade me that 
 they are not true. I have been exactly in the condition described 
 in this miracle, and so have you. Why dispute about the vessel 
 instead of eating the bread which it holds } What have we in this 
 miracle.-* First of all, we have last extremities. "The same 
 night, when Herod would have brought him forth, Peter was 
 sleeping between two soldiers." Have we not been in that very 
 same darkness, my brethren ? When we were to have been killed 
 the next day I Not when we were to be injured, or impoverished, 
 or torn to pieces seven years from date, but when the catastrophe 
 was to occur as soon as the next day dawned ? Have we not some- 
 times counted two or three things that were left, and said, ' ' Be- 
 yond these we have nothing V Have we not sometimes taken up 
 the pieces of the one loaf and said, "This is all V Have we not 
 sometimes gone out of the house, leaving wife and children behind, 
 with a great sob in the throat, feeling that if we did not succeed 
 this day we must give it all up } So far then you have no diffi- 
 culty about the miracle. In the next place we have appearances 
 dead against us. Thus — two soldiers, two chains, and the keepers 
 keeping the door before the prison ! Why these were compliments 
 to Peter ! The devil cannot avoid paying us compliments all the 
 time he is trying to destroy us. There is an involuntary homage 
 to the very Deity he mocks ! Why keep such a man, in such a 
 case, between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keep- 
 ers keeping the door before the prison ? Why all this arrange- 
 ment about a man like Peter.? Why all these temptations ad- 
 dressed to a man like one of us ? Why these deadly attacks, why 
 these continual repetitions, why these suggestions, and seductions, 
 and lures, and charms, and bribes, and why this waiting through 
 
COMING TO HIMSELF. 281 
 
 all the dreary night ? It is a reluctant but significant tribute to 
 the character whose destruction is contemplated. Have not ap- 
 pearances been dead against us ? No letters, no friends, no an- 
 swer to the last appeal, no more energy, no more hope, the last 
 staff snapped in two. So far the miracle is true. In the third 
 place we have unexpected deliverers. Have we no experience here P 
 Is it not always the unexpected man who delivers and cheers us } 
 " But a certain Samaritan came where he was," that is the whole 
 history of human deliverance in on graphic sentence. Have you 
 been unexpectedly delivered from accumulating and threatening 
 embarrassment ? Has not one of your own proverbists said, 
 " Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Hath not one of your 
 own poets said, " It is always darkest before the dawn ?" and shall 
 other men have their proverbs and their poems about unexpected 
 deliverance, and the Christian be silent in the Church when such 
 miracles are challenged .? All our life properly read is a chain of 
 unexpectedness. Deliverance shall arise from an unthought-of 
 quarter ! We cheer men, not because of a gracious sentiment only, 
 but because of a time-long history, solid as the rocks on which 
 your towns and towers are built. In the fourth place, we have 
 spiritual transport. Peter 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." 
 Have we no special hymns .? Has laughter not rushed into our 
 mouth suddenly like an unbidden but most welcome guest ? 
 Have we not sometimes taken down our harp from the willows 
 and struck it to some new tone of joy and gladness and hope ? 
 Peter did not understand this miracle at first. He thought he saw 
 a vision. He ' ' wist not that it was true' ' in the mere sense of a 
 fact, "which was done by the angel." "And when Peter w^as 
 come to himself he said" — that is the point we must wait for. 
 We are not "ourselves" just now. A thousand winds are breath- 
 ing in our head and through our life — stormy winds, musical 
 winds — and we cannot yet catch and determine the whole har- 
 mony. Our eyes are dazed by cross lights ; the light is coming 
 from every point, and we cannot see things in their right propor- 
 tion, distance, and colour. We are not "ourselves" just now, I 
 repeat. Do not let us imagine that we are now speaking yfwa/ 
 words or giving /««/ judgments. For my own part, in this great 
 
282 ACTS XII I -I I. 
 
 universe I see men as trees walking. Innumerable visions float 
 before my wondering eyes. The righteous are trodden down in 
 the streets, the man of integrity has not where to lay his head ; 
 the bad man has a plentiful table, and his fields are so rich that 
 his barns must be enlarged. The little child that has never said 
 "mother," is torn from its mother's arms ; graves a foot long, 
 and no more, are dug in the daisied earth. What is it ? When 
 we are COME TO OURSELVES we shall know and praise the 
 Lord, whose angels have been our ministering servants I 
 
XXXII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, is not our whole life a vision ? We have not yet had 
 time to consider the matter. We are still in the waking dream, and still 
 we see men as trees walking. We cannot tell what we look upon, when 
 we have had time to consider the matter we shall flee into the sanctuary, 
 and tell the tale of thy wondrous providence. We bless thee for visions. 
 These dreams make us greater, we should be poor without them, but with 
 them we are exceeding rich. We have seen, the future, our souls have 
 lived it ; how blue its skies, how green its gardens, how full of life its 
 sunny air ! Thou hast revealed these things unto us by thy Spirit, and 
 we are glad of the revelation, for it makes us strong when the immediate 
 tumult would make us weak. Thy Christ shall have the heathen for his 
 possession, the uttermost parts of the earth shall be his to reign over in 
 all the sweet kingliness of his grace. He has redeemed the world, the 
 signature of his blood is upon it, and he will claim his own ; not one 
 blade of grass shall be lost, not one hair of one head shall be forgotten 
 in the great audit of thy kingdom. Thy Cross, oh living Christ, shall save 
 the world, and the red drops of thy heart's blood shall follow the most 
 secret sin, and cleanse it for ever. The grave shall give up its dead. In 
 the new earth there shall be no tomb, in the new heavens there shall 
 gather no storm, in the new kingdom there shall be no farewell. This is 
 the revelation made to man in Christ thy Son, our Saviour, the Priest of 
 the universe. It will surely live and shine upon the eyes of men when 
 all their forecasts are forgotten. We love the Saviour with our hearts' 
 undivided love, and because v/e love him, we love all beautiful things, 
 and all things that may be redeemed. This great love fills us with many 
 fragments of love, so that we bless the little, and the feeble, and the out 
 of the way, with a force and grandeur of blessing otherwise impossible. 
 We would live in Christ until we become as beautiful as himself ; the last 
 wrinkle taken away, the last spot of evil removed, the last vanity 
 destroj'ed ; and the whole work finished by the touch of his own hands. 
 Help us to live in the inspiration of the hope that this shall yet be done. 
 Lifting us up from the dust where we have been sitting too long, take 
 away from us the rags of our vanity, and the whole clothing of our shame, 
 and upon us do thou set the beautiful garments of holiness. Bless us all 
 as meeting together in one place, for one purpose, and from thy blessing 
 let there be no excluded heart. Give the preacher power to speak great 
 
284 ACTS XII. 12-2 s. 
 
 words full of healing, melting with tenderness, inspired with more than 
 they themselves can utter. Give his words background and horizon, and 
 height and illumination from every point of life, and when they are 
 uttered may men feel stiired, comforted, uplifted, crowned from above. 
 Let the family be precious to thee. Do not break up the house. Yet 
 thou art always threatening to dissolve the family. Thou hast taken away 
 the head whose incoming was like the rising of the sun, and thou hast 
 taken away the mother whose smile brought back all hope and rest. Out 
 of the right hand thou hast taken the staff, and the left hand thou hast 
 smitten with numbness, and thou hast put thorns in the pillow and made 
 the night sevenfold in darkness, and yet wherein we have said, " It is 
 the Lord, let him do what seemeth best in his sight." Thou hast been to 
 us husband, and wife, and brother, and sister, and little child, all in all, 
 and thou hast lifted us up to a point whence we could see those who are 
 not lost but gone before. Thou wilt dry up the Jordan for us, and the 
 wilderness shall be carpeted with green sward, and the rocks shall be 
 beautiful as gardens lifted up in the sunlight. This is our hope in Christ, 
 this is our song in the night-time, this is the well at which we drink, this 
 is the rock in whose cooling shadow we sit down at noontide. Amen. 
 
 Acts xii. 12-25. 
 
 12. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of 
 Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark ; where many were 
 gathered together praying. 
 
 13. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to 
 hearken, named Rhoda. 
 
 14. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for 
 gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. 
 
 15. And they said unto her. Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed 
 that it was even so. Then said they. It is his angel. 
 
 16. But Peter continued knocking : and when they had opened the 
 door, and saw him, they were astonished. 
 
 17. But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, 
 declared unto them how the Lord had brought him 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. 
 
 18. Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the 
 soldiers, what was become of Peter. 
 
 19. And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he 
 examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. 
 And he went down from Judea to Cacsarea, and there abode. 
 
 20. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon : 
 but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the 
 king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace ; because their country was 
 nourished by the king's country. 
 
CONSIDERATION. 285 
 
 21. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his 
 throne, and made an oration unto them. 
 
 22. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and 
 not of a man. 
 
 23. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave 
 not God the glory : and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. 
 
 24. But the word of God grew and multiplied. 
 
 25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had 
 fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was 
 Mark. 
 
 PETER'S FINAL APPEARANCE. 
 
 THERE is a word in the twelfth verse which is the keyword 
 of a wise Hfe. If people would not speak until they had 
 carried out the meaning of that small word there would be much 
 silence, and there would be much wisdom. The word is " con- 
 sidered. ' ' What is it to consider } It is to put things together. 
 To modify one thing by another, to bring things into right rela- 
 tion, to set them back at the right distance, to view them in the 
 right colour, to weigh, to measure, to add up, and thus to form a 
 broad and solid conclusion. That is what yoti have never done 
 in your life probably. We leap at things. We have no interme- 
 diate process of thinking and relating one thing to another ; ours 
 is not a task of chain-making, it is often a leap in the dark. Life 
 will bear to be " considered " because life is full of mystery ; it is 
 always changing. The four seasons of the year sometimes all as- 
 semble together in one brief hour ; we are chilled and sweltered 
 in one transient moment ; shew your religiousness not by the 
 cleverness of an instantaneous conclusion but by the calm constdcr- 
 alion of things which are not what they seem. If you " consider" 
 life under the impression that it is a measurable quantity, that it 
 can all be seen at once, that it is a superficies and not a cube, 
 you will live the days of the foolish. Ever}'thing that happens in 
 life belongs to everything else. He who " considers" the matter, 
 loses the spirit of impatience and gathers into his soul the spirits 
 of rest and hope and music. Wise consideration may escape the 
 agony of transient enthusiasm but it enjoys the repose of con- 
 tinual peace. Your house is dark to-day, and in its darkness you 
 may easily stumble. Know you not that the angel has been there 
 and has touched your companion on the side, and said, " Come 
 
286 ACTS XII. 12-25. 
 
 away"? Presently you will see the matter more clearly. Con- 
 sider xi. Put things together ; rebuke the spirit of impetuosity 
 and distrust, and say, " The Lord reigneth, and because he is 
 Lord, nothing in his empire can be overlooked or lost." 
 
 A very human incident next occurs. When Peter " had con- 
 sidered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of 
 John, whose surname was Mark." Why did he not runaway.-* 
 Why did not thoughts of Herod darken his mind t He knew 
 that Herod was an evil branch of an evil tree, and that no Herod 
 ever did one noble deed. Why did he not flee away ? Peter was 
 faithful now ; he went back to church. In those days the church 
 was in the house ; a little church, but not therefore the less a 
 church, true in its life and in its constitution. Peter went back 
 to the old nest. Peter sought the old companionship. Peter 
 knew where his native language, the language of regeneration was 
 spoken, he knew where the vision could be related and in a meas- 
 ure understood. We never know how precious the Church is 
 until we have been among the heathen awhile. Six months spent 
 in Herod's jail, and then how inviting the church, the litde church 
 in the village, the ill-built church up the dark passage, where the 
 hymns are sung to broken tunes with broken voices ! How 
 sweet, how restful, how jubilant ! We should enjoy our churches 
 more if Herod had more to do with us. The best preparation for 
 simple bread is long-continued hunger. Peter went to the prayer- 
 meeting. 
 
 Yet a still more human incident now takes place. The people 
 disbelieved the answer to their own praj'er ! When Rhoda said, 
 ' ' Peter stands at the gate, ' ' they said, who were praying, ' ' thou 
 art mad !" Truly we are in the succession of that Church 1 Who 
 ever expects to have his prayers answered P Because we are so 
 vague about the prayer, heaven may be equally vague about the 
 reply. Who looks for answers, who keeps Rhoda on the watch 
 saying, " Look out whilst we look up and tell us when thou dost 
 see the answer coming?" A little more anxiety about \\\q reply 
 would give accent and fervour to our petitions and would move 
 the all-pitying Father to more definite communications. I am less 
 anxious that people should pray, than that they should look for 
 answers to their prayers. Is it right to knock at the door and 
 run away ? Tp ring heaven's bell and vanish in the darkness as if 
 
PROVIDENCE A DAILY SURPRISE. 287 
 
 ashamed of the ringing peal ? Let me, having opened my eyes 
 after communing with heaven, look about me tor the answer, and 
 shew that I expect it. When your child got better after your 
 prayer — you thought she might have got better without it. Did 
 you not 1 When you prayed for deliverance from a certain per- 
 plexity and the deliverance came, — you thought that perhaps it 
 would have come as a matter of course if you had waited longer. 
 That is the atheism which grieves God ! The blatant atheism that 
 denies, He takes no heed of, but the atheism that comes after /r^- 
 ing to Him and getting the answer, is seven-fold blasphemy ! 
 When the damsel affirmed that it was even Peter ; — the people 
 who had been praying said, " It is his angel, it cannot be him- 
 self." So we fritter away our religion into a barren sentiment ! 
 We will not let heaven speak plainly to us ; the mystification is on 
 our side not on God's ; He would oftentimes come straight to us 
 and talk in plain mother tongue to our hearts ; when He does we 
 say, " It was a dream, it was a visioji, it was an impression we 
 cannot account for," In reply to frank words from heaven we 
 return crooked words of unbelief. Let the language be equally 
 plain on bolh sides, and our converse with heaven shall be broader 
 and healthier. The people who believe in their own spirits easily 
 believe in spirits outside them. If you do not believe that you 
 yourself zvQ a spirit you cannot believe that there are other spirits 
 in the universe. A g^eat conversion must be made in your o\vn 
 soul. You must know what you are before you can tell what 
 GOD is. Let me familiarize my mind with the fact that I am a 
 spirit and not a body, a soul and not a figure, an eagle and not a 
 cage, then all things admit of an emotional and spiritual interpre- 
 tation ; but when I go down in the consciousness of my own spirit- 
 uality, it is impossible for me to believe, in that degree, in the 
 spirituality of others. But Peter continued knocking. He had 
 just passed through all the experience of the damsel and of the 
 Church, and experience makes us patient with other people. Peter 
 said by his knocking, " I know what they are thinking — it is im- 
 possible that I should be here — I have just passed through that 
 self-same mental confusion, and thought it was not an angel, I 
 thought it was a dream ; and they are now suffering from the very 
 confusion from which I have escaped, so I will knock on." 
 " And when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were 
 
ACTS XII. 12-25. 
 
 astonished. ' ' Providence is a daily surprise, God is never common- 
 place. If we only knew it, every breath is a miracle, every out-put- 
 ting of our limbs to walk, every uplifting of our hand or eye has 
 behind it the secret which arched the heavens and moves the stars. 
 Astonishment of the highest kind properly belongs to the religious 
 realm. Let us see to it that amazement does not exaggerate itself 
 into disbelief. Peter then made his speech, and the value of that 
 speech consisted in the fact that it was made, after consideration. 
 This is a sober-minded statement. The film had fallen from the 
 eyes, the strange air had blown away from the brain, the man had 
 come back again to himself, and knowing the value of words, the 
 shape of things, and the meaning of tones, he separately and 
 studiedly went over the whole tale and gave his charge to the 
 Church saying — " go shew these things unto James and unto the 
 brethren" — give them another gospel, add another leaf to their 
 testament, stir up their faith, light to a brighter blaze the shining 
 of their hope. 
 
 Now comes the sad line. " And he departed, and went into 
 another place." Peter disappears from the story ! " And he de- 
 parted." His dear name, glorious name will never come up 
 again. We shall hear of him incidentally in a controversy with 
 Paul, but so far as this narrative is concerned he is gone. We 
 cannot say " good-bye" to a man like Peter without remembering 
 his nobleness. I know we first think of his sin, but who is there 
 that has gone with him to the same depths of penitence and shed 
 the same rivers of coyitritionp Peter has comforted many of us by 
 his falling and rising again. He was always being called aside to 
 be cross-examined and reproved. Christ said the hardest things 
 to Peter he ever said to any of his followers. He called him once 
 — " Satan." Once he said to Peter, " Thou art an offence unto 
 me ;" once he ordered Peter behind, saying, " Get thee behind 
 me ;" but afterwards they had long talks, sweet, sweet converse. 
 Between them there passed the great act of forgiveness, and the 
 great confession of heart-love deep down beyond all other feeling, 
 and by-and-bye Peter will go to Jerusalem together with Paul, and 
 about the same time they will die a martyr's death. Think of his 
 nobleness, of his enthusiasm, of his kindness, of his grcat- 
 heartedncss, and in the recollection of his splendid qualities forget, 
 as Christ forgave, Jiis momentary wickedness. I am sorry he has 
 
READ THE CHAPTER THROUGH. 289 
 
 gone, the place was warm whilst he remained in it ; there was a 
 sense of freedom of speech in the church whilst Peter was to the 
 fore. He was not a logician, but he had a great royal heart. The 
 man we miss the most is not the logician, the scholar, the pedant, 
 but the man with the womanly heart, great nest in which we might 
 abide until we forgot our weariness and recovered our hope. 
 
 The soldiers knew nothing of the vision. Visions are near yet 
 far away. One member of the family sees heaven opened, and 
 the other calls his brother a fanatic. The light can go right past 
 you without your ever seeing it ; — you can sleep through a revela- 
 tion ! There are those who can listen to words that burn with 
 heaven's own fire, without knowing that any words uncommon 
 have been spoken. Lord give us the hearing ear and the under- 
 standing heart, — that quick hearing that hears a word long after it 
 has been uttered, its echo, re-echo, and far away soundings ! 
 Circumcise our ears that they may hear ! Anoint our eyes with 
 eye-salve that they may see ! 
 
 Contrast the opening of the chapter with its ending. In the 
 opening of the chapter " Herod the king stretched forth his hand 
 to vex certain of the Church," in the end of the chapter he is eaten 
 up of worms, literally, of lice, as was one of his forerunners. 
 They were a bad stock, and the worms were ill-fated that had to 
 live upon them ! Look at the end of a man. At the opening of 
 the chapter he said, " I have fleshed my sword, and now I will 
 kill Peter also," and at the end of the same chapter he is eaten up 
 of worms. He went down from Judea to Csesarea, where the life 
 was gayer, where the viands were better, where the wine was 
 keener to the taste, and clothed, as Josephus tells us, in a robe of 
 wrought silver which glittered and shone in the sun as he moved, 
 he sat down to make his speech. And the base sycophants said, 
 "it is the voice of a god, and not of a man. ' ' The people that 
 would have eaten him up if he had been in the falling line instead 
 of the ascending scale ; the servile mob said, " it is the voice of a 
 god," and Herod devoured the tribute and thought he deserved it, 
 and immediately the angel of the Lord, who has been very active 
 in this chapter, "smote him !" A tremendous and fatal blow ! 
 Look at the end of a man ; do not hear the atheist and blasphemer 
 to-day in fatness and prosperity, and abounding wealth : read the 
 chapter through and the chapter will conclude as this concludes. 
 
290 ACTS XII. 12-25. 
 
 — Herod eaten up of worms — " but the Word of God grew and 
 multiplied." ffercd dea.d, the ^oj/^/ advancing ! Herod eaten 
 up of worms, but Christ gathering the uttermost parts of the earth 
 into his heart and claiming the heathen for a possession ! Always 
 read the chapter through. Do not break off a man's life in the 
 middle and say, "see how vice prospers, see how virtue lan- 
 guishes !" I see Herod, I see him in Caesarea, I see him arrayed 
 in his dress of woven cloth of silver and I see his proud mien, but 
 1 will wait longer, this cannot be the end of it ! Every star pro- 
 tests against this as the conclusion, the very shape of God's crea- 
 tion says. That is not the full stop ; things are round, the universe 
 is a circle, — wait ! — We do wait — and in our waiting we find two 
 things ; the king never coming home again, the king delivered to 
 the meanest fate, and the word of God stretching out its mighty 
 pinions and flying abroad with glad tidings of great joy proclaiming 
 ANOTHER KING whose kingdom cannot fall ! 
 
THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 [This may be a proper point from which to look back upon the great 
 event which glorifies the Acts of the Apostles, namely, the outpouring 
 of the HOLY SPIRIT, and to connect that event with the Ministry 
 of Jesus Christ as well as with the development and sanctification of 
 his Church. On considering how to conduct this part of my task I 
 have decided to reprint the portion of my book entitled The Paraclete, 
 which specially deals with this sublime section of sacred history, and 
 I feel the less hesitation about this course as the book is out of print 
 and is frequently inquired for.] 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we draw near to thy Throne without fear or trembling, 
 because thou hast exhorted us to come boldly unto the throne of grace. 
 We come that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of 
 need. Our life is one crying want. We have nothing that we have not 
 received ; thou art the Giver of every good gift and every perfect gift. 
 We humbly desire, therefore, to thank thee for all the mercies we enjoy, 
 and all the grace which has strengthened and soothed our life ; for all the 
 hope which has inspired us in the dark and cloudy day ; and for the 
 manifold comforts which hath healed our diseases and consoled us when 
 the help of man was vain. We have come up from our households that 
 we may bless God in his own house. We have come to speak the piaises 
 of the Most High God, for thy mercy, O King of saints, endureth for 
 ever ! We have not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together, as 
 the manner of some is ; but with one accord are found in one place, and 
 we lift up our hearts with one consent. Each worshipper brings his own 
 tribute, each heart has its own song, each hand its own gift. Yet have 
 we common mercies, for which we can find common praises. We can all 
 unite in praising thee for the light of the heavens, the air on which we 
 live. Thou hast spread our table in the wilderness ; when we had no 
 bread, thou didst multiply the crumbs that were left ; when the cruse of 
 oil did fail, thou didst cause it to flow on ; when the staff broke in our 
 hands, thou didst give unto us thy rod and thy staff, and they comforted 
 
292 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 us ; when the road was hilly and stony and difficult, thou didst uphold us 
 with strength unfailing, thou didst bring us to the mountain top ; when 
 the wind was cold, thou didst shield us from its blast ; when the dark 
 night came suddenly down upon us, thou didst set thine eye in the dark- 
 ness, and behold it was bright as day beneath our feet ! What shall we 
 render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards us ? Some have come 
 from the toils of business, the anxieties of earthly life, and are hardly 
 able to emancipate themselves from recollections and apprehensions, from 
 fears and suggestions, which are unfavourable to worship, and which mar 
 the continuity of their contemplation and interfere with the stream of 
 their devotional love. Do thou grant them release from all worldly tor- 
 ments, from all earthly cares, and give thy people to feel the liberty of 
 heaven, the joy of the presence of God ! Some have returned to thy 
 house after long absence ; thou hast seen fit to lay them aside from the 
 busy crowd, to give them hours of pain, days of restlessness, and nights 
 of weariness. Now that they have returned to public worship, they 
 desire to speak of the goodness of God, his peace, his healing power, and 
 to be thankful for his sustaining grace. Lord hear the grateful psalm of 
 such, and abundantly sustain and comfort them, now that they have 
 formed resolutions of intenser devotion and more constant love. Most 
 of us have brought sorrow with us ; some little shadow or dark cloud, 
 some wearing grief, some tormenting, oppressive burden, — sorrows we 
 cannot tell, we dare not sigh, lest listeners should suspect the hidden 
 grief. We can only bow down ourselves belore God, praying that the 
 sorrows of our life may be sources of joy ; that out of our very grief we 
 may be able to extract honey which chall refresh the strength of our 
 souls. Do thou sanctify the discipline of life to us ; give us control over 
 events and circumstances, so far as to enable us to feel that thy shaping 
 hand is moving amid all the chaos of life, and that thou art working out 
 thine own wondrous order and beauty. It will be enough for us if we 
 know thou art near, and that thy throne absorbs all other powers. The 
 stranger is here, far away from home ; the young man is here, far from 
 early association and restraint of home love ; the wanderer is here, not 
 knowing why he was born, surrounded by difficulties, depressed, almost 
 despairing ; the unsuccessful man, who has knocked at a thousand doors, 
 and no kindly hand has opened one to him that he might have hospital- 
 ity ; the hypocrite, with well-set visor, with double-painted mask, well 
 fitted to his face, the man who can say words with his lips which were 
 never dictated by his heart ; the enquirer is here, tossed about by doubt 
 and difficulty, and perplexity, sincere in his heart, yet there is a heavy 
 mist upon all his thinking, and he is groping his way towards God, 
 towards life ; the little child is here — the summer bud, the June flower — 
 and even the parent's eye cannot foresee altogether the development and 
 destiny. Look upon us as we are before thee ! Lift up those that be 
 bowed down. Strike the visor from the false face. Soothe the sorrowing ; 
 dry the tears of grief. Give stimulus and strength to every man in whom 
 
GIFT OF THE SPIRIT 293 
 
 there is high aspiration, to every heart in which there is a noble purpose. 
 Enable us all, whether tottering on the brink of the grave, or looking out 
 from earliest life upon all the wonders of existence, to know that ihou 
 art our Father, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, and in God may we have 
 our being ! Have mercy upon us, thou loving One 1 Thou delightest to 
 forgive : we all need thy forgiveness. Help us from our heart of hearts to 
 confess our sin. May we show how truly we confess it by the intensity 
 of our hatred of it. When we own our guilt, may we tremble and be in 
 despair, until we see the Cross, the light of the advancing Saviour, the 
 Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. Wash us, and 
 we shall be clean. Let thy blessing now go from congregation to con- 
 gregation, from minister to minister, until all who are engaged in worship 
 feel the fire of devotion glowing in their hearts. May souls to-day be 
 reclaimed, be re-established be edified, be comforted. Thus at eventide 
 we shall be a Sabbath Day's journey nearer home ! Amen. 
 
 PERSONALITY AND MANIFESTATION OP 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 EVERYWHERE in the Bible the Holy Ghost is described as 
 a Person, and never as a mere influence separable from per- 
 sonality. Poetic license, indeed, allows natural objects, and even 
 objects of human contrivance, to be spoken of in a limited sense 
 as living creatures, as, for example, when personal pronouns of 
 masculine and feminine gender are used in speaking of the sun 
 and moon ; but this is wholly different from the varied and precise 
 expressions which are constantly employed by biblical writers in 
 referring, however fully or incidentally, to the ministry of the Holy 
 Ghost. According to the doctrine of those writers, the Holy Spirit 
 "teaches," "comforts," "reproves," "guides," and "sancti- 
 fies" mankind; he "leads into all truth;" he "testifies of 
 Christ;" he quickens the memory, so that all things taught by 
 Jesus Christ are brought to remembrance ; he " searches all 
 things, yea the deep things of God." It would certainly appear, 
 therefore, that so far as it is possible for language to escape indis- 
 tinctness when applied to purely spiritual subjects, such terms must 
 be taken as settling decisively the fact that the biblical writers 
 themselves did, rightly or wrongly, believe in the proper personal- 
 ity of the Holy Ghost ; and all the more so in the light of the 
 further fact, that precisely the same terms are applied to the Holy 
 Spirit as are applied to the Father, so that the personality of the 
 one stands or falls with the personality of the other. 
 
294 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 But how to escape the danger of bodily manifestation and at the 
 same time secure the consciousness and comfort of divine person- 
 ality ? How to have heaven without the risk and pain of earth ? 
 Such is the problem which awaits solution. Think of the danger 
 of any form of personality which is comprehensible by bodily vis- 
 ion. First of all, that vision is itself imperfect, and must there- 
 fore come to erroneous conclusions respecting the objects of its 
 observation. What two men ever saw exactly alike ? Vision is 
 affected by critical training, by taste, by skill in delicate compari- 
 son, also by physical and atmospherical conditions, so much so 
 that not only do no two men see alike, but the same man corrects 
 the observations of his own vision as he grows in judgment or 
 changes his point of observation. The eye takes note of figure, 
 attitude, colour, magnitude, so that whatever may be inward and 
 spiritual in humanity is necessarily approached in the first instance 
 through physical appearances; and appearances are proverbially 
 deceptive. Who can say with unquestioning certitude that he ever 
 saw anything as it really is ? The eye is probably the least relia- 
 ble of the senses, though amply sufficient for noting the rough 
 outlines and magnitudes of objects. But the hand is too quick for 
 the eye. The skilled conjuror will make a fool of any man who 
 insists that seeing is believing ; yet it is so, only that " seeing" is 
 something other than the ordinary use of the visual organs. See- 
 ing is believing, let us say, but what is seemg ? The young look 
 for beauty of form ; the mature look for beauty of character. In 
 early life we enquire for outward charms ; we say this is lovely, and 
 that is grand, our meaning simply being that in our estimation the 
 outline is perfect, the colour is exquisite, or the proportions are 
 noble. By-and-bye however, when we are disciplined and mel- 
 lowed, we know that there is no satisfaction but in moral excel- 
 lence alone, and, indeed, a reluctant distrust of all ephemeral 
 charms begins to affect our estimates of life. Out of this experi- 
 ence has come the homely proverb, *' Handsome is that handsome 
 does," a proverb full of almost painful meaning when traced to its 
 philosophy, — the outward and the formal having befooled or mis- 
 led us, and the neglected excellence (without form or comeliness) 
 having only slowly come to recognition and honour. We say of 
 some persons that the more they are known the more they arc 
 beloved, or we vary the expression by saying that such and such 
 
APPEARANCES MISLEADING. 295 
 
 persons will " bear knowing ;" and on the other hand we say of 
 certain persons that the more they are known the less do they 
 justify either confidence or esteem. In both cases the risks of 
 merely bodily or physical manifestation are illustrated ; thus : in 
 the former case there was perhaps something of ungainliness or 
 unattractiveness to be got over before the real quality of the char- 
 acter was ascertained ; very little perhaps, yet there it was, — a 
 frown, an occasional expression, apparent coldness or even pride, 
 want of ease and frankness, indisposition to speak, and uncon- 
 cealed objection to confide ; — in the latter case there were marked 
 personal advantages, a winning smile, frankness, geniality, beauty 
 of face, elegance of carriage, but further acquaintance with the life 
 dispelled the charm of mere appearances. Wise men know how 
 much better it is that the difficulty, if any, should present itself in 
 physical appearances rather than in moral features. Yet it is not 
 easy to begin the world successfully without physical attractions, 
 for the world is much given over to the lust of the eyes. The 
 plain man must stand aside until the gainly man has had his full 
 turn ; the gold ring first, the mean raiment last, everywhere, — 
 perhaps even in the house of God ! In Jesus Christ's own case 
 the most serious dangers arose from the physical and local aspect 
 of his life and ministry. His contemporaries could not get over 
 the appearances, and they had no lack of various expression of 
 disappointment and disgust. A few of their contemptuous utter- 
 ances will prove this : " Can any good thing come out of 
 Nazareth?" " Are not his sisters with us?" "Whence hath 
 this man this wisdom?" "Thou art not yet fifty years old." 
 "Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil." "Search and look, 
 for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." Clearly, then, the conten- 
 tion turned upon nativity, relationship, locality, — in a word, upon 
 all the accidents of merely bodily manifestation. The acknowl- 
 edged "wisdom" could not subdue the prejudice arising out of 
 "Nazareth," "Galilee," and " Samaritanism. " A great risk, 
 therefore, in a human point of view, was the incarnation of God- 
 head. Even to apostolic faith it presented itself as the great mys- 
 tery of godliness. 
 
 Why does this difficulty, in all its varying forms and degrees, 
 arise, in connection with every presence, and especially every liv- 
 ing presence that appeals to the eye ? Because of the limitation of 
 
296 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 such presence. When men can see what they suppose to be the 
 boundaries of a figure, they instinctively compare it with other 
 bodies ; its probable force can be calculated, its relative value can 
 be appraised, and the discrepancy between its capacity and its pur- 
 pose can be exaggerated or decried according to the bias of the 
 observer. The consequence is that before spiritual questions can 
 be approached, the temptation which is always presented by ap- 
 pearances must be encountered, and at that point spiritual inquiry 
 may be perverted or arrested. Where, as in the case of Jesus 
 Christ, the instrument is considered to be evidently weak, there is a 
 temptation to contemn and distrust it : and where to all human 
 appearance it is obviously equal to the task which has to be fulfill- 
 ed, there is a counter temptation to forget that after all it is but 
 an instrument. On account, therefore, of this limitation, bodily 
 presence is often detrimental to spiritual influence. We know, 
 for example, how perilous it often is to be admitted to familiar in- 
 tercourse with the men who have stimulated us by their thoughts 
 and thrown upon our intellectual life the spell of their genius. So 
 long as such men stand afar off, clothed with their spiritual 
 house, and working with their spiritual functions, we give them 
 homage ; but when they come near us they invite criticism upon 
 points which did not enter into their original mastery of our ad- 
 miration and confidence ; some weakness of the flesh, some con- 
 ceit of manner or feebleness of expression, or other more or less 
 trifling peculiarity, may impair their spiritual dominion and 
 cause us to regret that the god of our early love ever came down 
 from Olympian invisibility. 
 
 An argumentative difficulty may be here interposed. If no two 
 men can see alike, can any two men think alike .-' If a man has to 
 correct his own observation, has he not also to correct his own 
 thinking ? If so, is not mental incompetency as great an objec- 
 tion to spiritual personality as visual defect is to bodily manifesta- 
 tion } Imaginatively it is, but substantially it is not. Because 
 whilst physical vision cannot be perfected, and is at best but tem- 
 porary in its uses, spiritual faculties are not only susceptible of the 
 highest refinement, but are the only powers by which men can lay 
 hold upon immortality, — without them there can be no manhood. 
 Whilst, therefore, in the one case the difficulty is inherent, in the 
 other it is a continually decreasing quantity. We shall always, as 
 
PORTRAITS OF CHRIST. 297 
 
 a matter of happy necessity, have diversity and conflict of thinking, 
 yet the thinking powers are by this very opposition being trained 
 to the strength and precision out of which will come vital recon- 
 ciliation and harmony. 
 
 From the beginning the danger of a visible manifestation of the 
 Godhead w.as foreseen and guarded against : "Ye saw no manner 
 of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb 
 out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make 
 you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of 
 male or female. ' ' Man has always wanted to see God, and God 
 has always refused to be seen. So we have no image of God. 
 Mythological deities we have in galleries of marble cunningly cut, 
 but the God that made the heavens is nowhere to be found 
 amongst all the ambition and daring of the most audacious art. 
 And what have we even of the Man Christ Jesus in sculpture or 
 painting ? Much, yet nothing. Do any two heads of his corre- 
 spond .-• Does any head of his satisfy the observer, filling up all 
 his dreams and desires, and turning all his holy prayers into visi- 
 ble and enrapturing answers .? It would seem, indeed, as if one 
 or two Christs had actually been painted under the direct inspira- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost, and yet as if the hand of the painter had 
 failed the Inspirer himself. And as if the painter too had reeled 
 just as he was about to add the touch that would have shown 
 divinity. There is a better Christ in every broken heart than can 
 be found amongst the artistic treasures of men, — a Christ full of 
 sympathy, very pitiful and gracious, stooping with infinite con- 
 descension, and counting no service mean. Who would have 
 only a portrait of Christ when he can have in his heart the Son of 
 God himself ? 
 
 This is the point towards which we have been moving through- 
 out these collateral reflections. How needful soever to escape the 
 perils of bodily manifestation (a need whose importance cannot be 
 exaggerated), yet the comfort of d.\\mQ personality, as distinguished 
 from abstract infinitude, must be secured. In his highest aspira- 
 tions man requires, and indeed demands, distinct, individual com- 
 panionable life, — he must have pathos as well as augustness, or 
 he will be overpowered and discouraged ; his progress will be an 
 advancement into solitude, and loneliness will kill him. We have 
 now to find out, by an honest exposition of Scripture and a fair 
 
298 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 interpretation of human consciousness, how far this necessity is 
 provided for in the revelation of the Holy Ghost. That is pre- 
 cisely our work in this argument. Is the Holy Ghost a person .? 
 Is it true that he can be the Guest of the heart, the Teacher of the 
 understanding, the Revealer of Christ? Is the Holy Ghost a 
 Comforter, and as such will he come to the bruised and aching 
 heart with solaces not earthly but heavenly ? These inquiries are 
 of some consequence to men who already see the coming sunset, 
 having first felt the disappointment and bitterness of life. One 
 word may be a key to our reasoning, viz. , God is a Spirit, — so is 
 man. Man has a body, but he w a spirit. 
 
XXXIV. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we bless thee for Jesus Christ as a teacher sent from 
 heaven. His words are words of life and power ; they search the heart, 
 they try the reins, of the children of men ; they are sharper than a two- 
 edged sword. We rejoice that thou dost enable us to submit ourselves to 
 the searching criticism of Jesus Christ's word. We have been false to 
 ourselves ; we have concealed our true nature even from our own eyes ; 
 we have looked on the outside only ; we have forgotten our inner life, 
 the life of motive, of secret impulse, of purposes we dare not explain ; 
 we have looked only to our hand, when we ought to have examined the 
 very life of our heart. But Jesus Christ, thy Son, doth not spare us ; he 
 searcheth us as with a candle ; he kindleth upon us the flame of the Lord, 
 and in the light of that fire he searches and tries us, and sees if there be 
 any wicked way in us. We rejoice in the plainness and the vigour of his 
 speech. We thank thee that Jesus Christ layeth the axe at the root of 
 the tree ; we bless thee for his radical teaching, for his going to the roots 
 of all evil things, for his making the tree good that the fruit may be good, 
 for his purifying the fountain that the stream may be pure. May we 
 learn of Jesus Christ in these things, and seek to do thy will, not as man- 
 pleasers, not with eye-service, but with all the simplicity of love, with all 
 the strength of entire trust, honouring goodness for its own sake, and 
 loving truth because it is the speech of God ! Deliver us from all deceit- 
 fulness, all falsehood, all pretence, and enable us to serve thee in spirit 
 and in truth ; and out of a life based on godly sincerity, may there come 
 works of love, pity, charity, and beneficence which shall bless all with 
 whom we come in contact ! Have mercy upon us wherein we have 
 sinned. We have done the things we ought not to have done, we have 
 left undone the things that we ought to have done. We accuse ourselves. 
 
 If the surface has been right the motive has been wrong ; if our hand 
 has been clean our heart has been leprous. Do thou wash us in the blood 
 of Jesus Christ, shed for the sins of men, — the sacrificial blood which is 
 our propitiation, our plea, and our answer before God ! Let thine own 
 people glory in the truth, feel its power, acknowledge its sovereignty, 
 bless its giver. If there be before thee, or shall come within the influence 
 of our word to-night, any man who is hypocritical, who seeks to cover up 
 his real state from the eye of society and from the eye of his own con- 
 science, apply thy word to such as a flame of fire, finding its way into 
 the secret chambers of the soul and lighting up the darkest recesses of 
 
300 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 the life. Make us glad in the Lord 1 In the world we have mortification, 
 disappointment, tears, brolcen staves piercing our hands, much sorrow, 
 great difficulty. But in God's house, on God's day, gathered as we are 
 around God's book, surely thy children shall not plead in vain for the 
 gladness which comes of thy presence ! Amen. 
 
 THE HISTORIC MOVEMENT TOWARDS 
 SPIRITUALITY. 
 
 THE succession which is indicated by the words Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, is neither nominal nor accidental, it is a 
 philosophical progress and culmination. Any transposition of this 
 order would be felt to be irregular and impossible, — violent, un- 
 natural, and self-destructive. When we think ourselves back 
 towards the origin of things, we are conscious of the keenest dis- 
 satisfaction with all mere terms that get no farther than the appro- 
 bation of the strictly critical faculty ; we want something more ; 
 something for which we cannot hit the exact word, but for want 
 of which the heart often aches and cries. Then is suggested the 
 biblical word. Father, and with it comes at least a promise of satis- 
 faction ; it is fell to be the true starting-point, having difTiculties 
 of its own no doubt, but difficulties that may be overcome. The 
 Fatherhood is not emotional, but causative and sovereign pater- 
 nity. Logic can do but little towards its explanation ; the mind 
 must accept this idea of fatherhood as the mind accepts itself, a 
 mystery certainly, but not greater except in degree than the silent, 
 invisible, spiritual life that is in every man. But fatherhood is a 
 plural or inclusive term : immediately it suggests the idea of 
 childhood, and childhood is realized most conspicuously and im- 
 pressively in the sonship of Jesus Christ ; but sonship such as this, 
 involving manifestation or visible expression, is, as we have just 
 urged, beset with peculiar risks ; provided, therefore, that it go 
 barely far enough to establish itself as an indisputable fact in 
 human history, the sooner it is withdrawn from ocular criticism, 
 the less will the world be tantalised and distracted by the exercise 
 of its own imperfect physical senses. This manifestation and 
 withdrawment are exclusively characteristic of Jesus Christ. He 
 was here long enough to remove all doubt as to his personal iden- 
 tity, yet he withdrew himself immediately that he had secured for 
 his personality an unquestioned place in human history. Nothing 
 
DEVELOPMENT. 301 
 
 more was to be gained by his visible continuance on earth ; his 
 bodily mission had been wholly fulfilled, and therefore he " van- 
 ished out of the sight" of men. But what of the future of his 
 work ? Then, according to Christian teaching, was to come mani- 
 festation without visibility ; instead of bodily presence, there was 
 to be a new experience of life, spirituality, insight, sensibility, and 
 sympathy almost infallible in holy instinct. In one word, the 
 holy Matt was to be followed by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This idea of a philosophical rather than a merely arbitrary suc- 
 cession is strictly consistent with the fact that /he whole movement 0/ 
 history, in all that is vital and permanent, is a movement from the out- 
 ward and visible to the inward and spiritual : this we claim to be 
 true of all history, not merely of any particular section or bias, — it 
 is true of civilization in all its enduring elements. A brief indica- 
 tion of facts will make this clear. 
 
 1. The order of Creation, as detailed in the account given in 
 Genesis, is a movement towards the spiritual. The succession 
 runs thus : Light, firmament, dry land, seas, the fruit-tree yield- 
 ing fruit, sun, moon, and stars, the moving creature that hath life, 
 and fowl flying in the open firmament of heaven, cattle, creeping 
 thing, and beast of the earth ; if we pause here we shall be dis- 
 satisfied, because of a sense of incompleteness : there has, indeed, 
 been an onward movement, but expectation will be mortified if the 
 scene close at this point. We know the rest : " God said, Let us 
 make man in our image and in our likeness," — that was the 
 highest point of spirituality attainable within the first idea of crea- 
 tion ; yet it was but a promise. 
 
 2. The biblical order of human recovery (apart altogether from 
 any theological construction of it) is also a movement towards 
 spirituality. Beginning with the Levitical ritual, what could be 
 more objective, or more thoroughly penetrated with all the ele- 
 ments of the most violent tragedy .? Exaction follows exaction, as 
 if the uttermost farthing alone would mitigate the severity of the 
 inexorable demand. The sin-offering, the trespass-offering, the 
 burnt-offering, the peace-offering ; the baptisms, the incenses, and 
 the eternal flow of blood, represent the most sensuous and ex- 
 hausting system of mediation. Could aught be farther from the 
 point of spirituality ? Every day opening with fire and blood ; 
 every evening darkening around an altar specially consecrated for 
 
302 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 its quiet and solemn hours ; the Sabbath having its double sacri- 
 fice ; the new moon to have its sacrifice of bullocks and rams ; 
 until it was made plain that in God's estimate of sin, Lebanon it- 
 self was not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for 
 a burnt-offering. In moving forward to the Incarnation, we take 
 an immense step along the line whose final point is spirituality, 
 yet even there we are still distinctly upon the carnal line. How to 
 escape it } How to pass to the highest homage ? The answer is 
 as full of pathos as of truth : the final Representative of sensuous 
 worship must himself be the Revealer of spiritual life. Jesus 
 Christ did not pass away as a-figure complete in itself ; he ascended 
 that he might conduct his work from a higher level and by a more 
 energetic and universal agency. Henceforth we know not even 
 Jesus Christ "after the flesh," for the fleshly Christ has himself 
 placed mankind under the tuition of a spiritual monitor. 
 
 3. The order of written testimony, though in some respects ap- 
 parently accidental, moves in precisely the same direction. From 
 picture and symbol we pass to spiritual meanings ; through the 
 noise and fury of war we pass into the quietness and security of 
 moral civilization ; through the porch of miracles and mighty 
 signs and wonders we enter the holy place of truth and love ; from 
 the erratic and most startling course of Matthew's genealogical 
 table we pass into John's gospel, where the Word meets us with- 
 out one stain of earth upon its robe of light. The quality of 
 John's gospel requires the very place that has been assigned to it 
 in the New Testament. It is infinitely better that it should be 
 preceded by the synoptic gospels, in which the attention of the 
 world is boldly challenged by activity, spectacle, and a quickly- 
 moving scene of divers strange things, such as had never been seen 
 even in Israel. In the gospel by John, spiritual teaching, prom- 
 ise, devotion, comfort, and sanctification, are dominant, though 
 publicity and mighty deeds are certainly not wanting. John inter- 
 prets and completes his predecessors. He seems to say, " You 
 have heard what the evangelists have had to tell, and have seen the 
 wonderful things which they remember of their Master's ministry ; 
 now let me explain the deep meaning of the whole." Thus he 
 comes in his proper place. From Malachi to Matthew is but a 
 step ; but to get from Malachi to John, you have to cross the uni- 
 verse. John's gospel is waiting until the Church becomes mature 
 
SPIRITUAL CULMINATION. 303 
 
 enough to understand it. It waits without perturbation. Mean- 
 while there is no lack of interest in Matthew and Mark and Luke ; 
 yet they are but the genesis of which the fourth gospel is the apoc- 
 alypse. Matthew shows the fact ; John reveals the truth : Mat- 
 thew portrays on canvas ; John puts his word into the heart. 
 Only relatively so, of course ; for in Matthew there is a mystery 
 of godliness, as in John there is a panorama of activity. 
 
 4. The whole /aw is a movement towards spirituality. From 
 the minuteness of microscopic by-laws men have passed to a spirit- 
 ual sense of moral distinctions. Every moment of the Jew's time, 
 and every act of the Jew's life, was guarded by a regulation. 
 Amidst our spiritual light, such regulations could not be re-estab- 
 lished without awakening the keenest resentment. The great 
 tables of by-laws have been taken down, because the Spirit of 
 Order and of Truth has been given. What is true of law is 
 equally true of all institutionalism, — its progress is from a crude 
 outline towards completeness of purpose and critical accuracy of 
 statement, with a due reserve of defensive reply in the event of a 
 serious assault. The original scheme was probably very imper- 
 fect, open to hostility at every point, and inadequate to the occa- 
 sion to which it primarily addressed itself ; then came criticism 
 and reconsideration ; modification and readjustment came 
 quickly afterwards ; the very wording of the purpose was more 
 keenly set, with a view to unexpressed opposition or distrust ; in 
 short, the crude outline was wrought out into intellectual and 
 spiritual completeness and beauty ; so much so, that a compari- 
 son between the first prospectus and the last is like a comparison 
 between a rough pencil sketch and a fully coloured picture. And 
 this very word ' ' picture' ' suggests that even in the department of 
 art the law of progression towards spirituality prevails ; the best 
 pictures and statuary do all but live ; though standing out with 
 startling independence from all other earthly things, they seem to 
 have around them somewhat of the mystery of eternity, now 
 tender, now awful, connected by invisible threadlets with the In- 
 finite, and abounding inexhaustibly with suggestion to any ob- 
 server, whose eye is alight with true life. 
 
 Probably these illustrations of the doctrine that the whole move- 
 ment of history has gone persistently in the direction of spiritual- 
 ity, will be accepted or rejected according to the theological prej- 
 
304 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 udices of the reader ; but their practical value will be determined 
 by the fact ^■sX precisely the same movement takes place in the conscious- 
 ness and experience of every progressive life. Every man can test 
 this doctrine for himself, — the doctrine, namely, that the growth 
 of manhood is a growth towards spirituality. The child grows 
 towards contempt of its first toys ; the youth reviews the narrow 
 satisfactions of his childhood with pity ; the middle-aged man 
 smiles, half-sneeringly, as he recalls the conceits of his youth ; and 
 the hoary-haired thinker lives already amid the peace and joy of 
 invisible scenes, or if he go back, living in memory rather than in 
 expectation, it is so ideally as to divest his recollections of all that 
 was transient and unlovely. It is worth while to halt a moment 
 that we may see the bearing of this common fact upon the special 
 doctrine under examination. In approaching the mystery of the 
 Holy Ghost, we may be but approaching the highest expression of a 
 mystery which is continually ruling the whole economy of human 
 progress. Whatever we may believe about the personality of the 
 Holy Ghost, we cannot get away from the fact of spirituality in our 
 own consciousness. The spiritual world of the wise man increases 
 every day ; and, strangely enough, in point of coincidence, that 
 very increase becomes to him what the Holy Ghost becomes to the 
 Church, namely, a Comforter ; so much so, that the wise man is 
 never desolate, nor can any fool trouble the depths of his peace. 
 This is the first testament between man and God ; is it not meant 
 to introduce a higher covenant .? To the intellectual man, the 
 Christian appeal is this : You have a spiritual consciousiiess, to 
 which Jesus Christ would add a spiritual personality ; you have the 
 spirit of interpretation, add to it the spirit of sanctification ; you 
 have received the preliminary baptism, receive also the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 These suggestions point to the conclusion that the Holy Ghost 
 is the reasonable completion of theological revelation, and as such 
 his ministry is an impregnable proof of the reasonableness of 
 Christianity. In the person of Jesus Christ truth was outward, 
 visible, and most beautiful : in the person of the Holy Ghost truth 
 is inward, spiritual, all-transfiguring. By the very necessity of the 
 case the bodily Christ could be but a passing figure ; but by a 
 gracious mystery he caused himself to be succeeded by an eternal 
 
RATIONAL ASSENT. 305 
 
 Presence, " even the Spirit of Truth, which abideth for ever." It 
 is claimed, then, on behalf of Christianity, that there is a Holy 
 Ghost, and to this doctrine is invited not only the homage of the 
 heart, but the full assent of the most robust and dispassionate un- 
 derstanding. 
 
XXXV. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thy claim upon our worship is unceasing, for thy 
 mercy, like thy majesty, endureth for ever. Thou dost never withhold 
 thine hand from giving good gifts unto thy children. As thou hast made 
 them in thine own image and likeness, and hast implanted within them 
 desires which the world can never satisfy, so thou dost specially reveal 
 thyself unto them day by day, appeasing their hunger with bread from 
 heaven, and quenching their thirst with water out of the river of God. 
 Oftentimes have we said concerning thy Son, " We will not have this 
 man to reign over us." But when we have tasted the bitterness of sin, 
 and have been convinced of our own emptiness and helplessness, when 
 heart and flesh have failed, when by the ministry of thy Holy Spirit we 
 have come to understand somewhat of thine own holiness and mercy and 
 love, our hearts' desire has been that Jesus might sit upon the throne of 
 our love, and rule our whole life ; that he might be King of Kings, and 
 Lord of Lords, our Redeemer the Mighty One of Israel. We desire to 
 live unto the glory of God, to understand the meaning of the gift of life 
 with which we have been blessed. Thou hast entrusted us with solemn 
 responsibilities ; enable us to understand their meaning, to feel their press- 
 ure, and to respond with all our hearts to their demands. Let thy bless- 
 ing rest upon us whilst we are here this morning. May this house be 
 unto us as the gate of heaven ; may weary souls recover their strength 
 and tone. May desponding hearts be revived and comforted with the 
 consolation of God. May worldly minds be given to feel that there is a 
 world higher than the present ; that round about us is the great sea of 
 thine eternity ! May we be prepared for all the future, having our hearts 
 saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. We depend upon thy Holy 
 Spirit ; we will not look unto our own resources except as they present 
 themselves as the gifts of God. We will rely upon thy power : we will 
 cry mightily unto our God ! Thou wilt hear us ; thou wilt redeem our 
 souls from all fear ; thou wilt inspire us %vith immortal hope ; thou wilt 
 clothe us with adequate power. Cleanse our hearts by the precious blood 
 of the Lord Jesus. Show to us, more and more, the meaning of the 
 mystery of his dear Cross. May we find all that is deepest and truest in 
 our own life, symbolized in that Cross of Jesus. May it be the answer 
 to our sin, the remedy of our diseases, the one hope of our wondering 
 and anxious souls-! Amen. 
 
SCRIPTURE COMPARED WITH SCRIPTURE. 307 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE INTERPRETER 
 OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 PERHAPS there is no function assigned to the Holy Spirit 
 more important for us to understand than that by which he 
 assures to the church a profound and correct interpretation of 
 Scripture. According to the teaching of the apostle Peter (than 
 whom no man was more experimentally qualified to speak on the 
 subject, seeing that he had often been rebuked for his impetuous 
 treatment of divine utterances), " no prophecy of the Scripture is 
 of any private interpretation ;" and the reason which he gives for 
 this is philosophically satisfactory, viz., as the prophecy did not 
 come by the will of man it cannot be fully comprehended and ex- 
 plained by the intellectual power of man. In this case man was 
 an instrument in receiving and pronouncing the word, and he 
 must be an instrument also in the study and mastery of its mean- 
 ing. As holy men of God were moved by the Holy Ghost to 
 speak, so they must be moved by the Holy Ghost to feel and un- 
 derstand, the divine oracle. Yet above all other books the Bible 
 calls for exposition ; its very form sets at naught the laws of liter- 
 ary structure, whilst all its problems and questionings have about 
 them the solemn yet fascinating weirdness of an unknown origin 
 and purpose. Its preface is simply — " In the beginning God," 
 and its epilogue is a curse on the man who takes away aught of its 
 sacred store. Between these extremes, so appropriate yet so start- 
 ling, is found the apostolic caution not to enclose for selfish uses 
 any portion of the freehold meant for the whole world. The very 
 fact that a protest is entered against the narrowness and insuffi- 
 ciency of " private interpretation" should beget a deeper confidence 
 in the divinity and consequent pureness of the revelation. On 
 the other hand, what becomes of the right of private judgment ? 
 Can it be maintained without extorting from the holy word mis- 
 taken sanctions of personal crotchets or sectarian hobbies ? Are 
 unholy men to be turned promiscuously into the Book, and told 
 to get out of it such advantages as they may suppose themselves to 
 find ? Is it so, or otherwise ? This is a delicate inquiry, demand- 
 ing treatment that shall in its human aspect be austerely reverent. 
 It is evident that the inevitable and most serious perils attending 
 
3o8 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 " private interpretation" constitute an unanswerable argument 
 against it, as its exercise is commonly understood. Yes ; the 
 perils are inevitable as well as most serious, /or in the first instance 
 attention must of course be fixed on the letter, and the letter 
 brings up instantly some of the most vexatious difficulties arising 
 out of secondary interpretation, that is secondary in point of value 
 and importance. There is, if one may so put it, a battle of gram- 
 mars as well as a battle of doctrines, and by the very nature of the 
 case it is but a small minority of mankind that can take an en- 
 lightened and helpful part in such a controversy. Think of the 
 intellectual training that is needful, the self-control, the patience, 
 the thorough acquaintance with comparative philogy, and the in- 
 explicable sympathy which y^^/j the meaning it cannot see. But 
 turn untrained and spiritually incompetent men into a literature 
 of which in its original form they are wholly ignorant, and who 
 does not see that the results must be at once critically absurd and 
 spiritually calamitous ? Unfortunately the only man who does not 
 see this is the man whose pride is wounded by the suggestion that 
 there is some difference between a literal form and a spiritual 
 meaning, and the consequence of his humiliation is that he repeats 
 his errors with the greater emphasis, and proclaims that his most 
 sacred rights are threatened or denied. Then there is the certain 
 danger of fixing attention upon isolated passages, and so setting 
 up denominations and schools upon texts, which being torn from 
 the vital body of evidence, are perverted and exaggerated to the 
 point of impiety, — the worst sort of impiety, too, namely, the sort 
 which sets aside common sense and literary rectitude under the 
 pretence of superior sanctity and more humble faith. Is there a 
 single monstrosity in the religious world that does not defend it- 
 self by some stray line of scripture, which if compared with other 
 testimony, and read in the light of Jesus Christ's method of quota- 
 lion — " it is written again' — would assume another meaning, and 
 probably tend in an opposite direction ? Can we wonder that such 
 partial interpretation is forbidden in Scripture itself, and that the 
 Bible prays to be protected from the ravages of bigoted and igno- 
 rant men } That the Bible exposes itself to such ravages is ob- 
 viously in its favour, as suggesting that it is not cunningly fabricat- 
 ed and defended as a work of literary art, but that it comes upon 
 the world as a living and generous revelation of spiritual truth ad- 
 
THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 309 
 
 dressed to the attention of the whole human family throughout 
 all the ages of its progress, and so addressed (for there is a ques- 
 tion of manner as well as of matter) as to challenge the most care- 
 ful and unselfish thoughtfulness on the part of those who receive it. 
 Given a God to find out what degree and quality of revelation He 
 will grant, and no human mind would ever indicate such a book, 
 as to structure and method, as the Bible. What dramatic action, 
 rapidity of movement, brokenness of style, and apparent incohe- 
 rence of plan ! What little things are exaggerated, what obscure 
 names are preserved, what trivial incidents are magnified ! Stones 
 enough, but where is the altar } Life in profusion, but how does 
 it individualise itself into friendship, sympathy, and benediction } 
 In proportion to the life that is infused into any work would seem 
 to be its exposure to variety and keenness of criticism. Insipid 
 books soon find the way into oblivion, but books that have life 
 compel the world to read them even though the reading lead to 
 anger and hostility. A painted portrait offers more points of at- 
 tack than a photograph, though the subject be the same ; neces- 
 sarily so ; there is more life in the one than in the other ; the sun 
 is said to be a faithful painter, but that is not an unquestionable 
 statement, — the sun cannot get at the soul ; only soul can paint 
 soul, only life can delineate life ; man can see his shadow anywhere, 
 but where can he see himself ? As the portrait will excite more 
 criticism than the photograph, so the living man will, by a glance 
 or an attitude, a tone or a smile, elicit a thousand remarks which 
 the most brilliant painting could never have suggested. So much 
 for the subtle illimitableness of life ! Is it just to determine the 
 character of a man by a single feature of his personality, — a feat- 
 ure detached and viewed apart } We should then have one esti- 
 mate founded upon his stature, another upon his voice, a third 
 upon his mien, a fourth upon his face, and so on according to 
 : the fancy of each observer, and yet we should, amidst all this vari- 
 ety, have little or no idea of the man himself : we should still re- 
 quire an estimate which recognised the relation of the parts to the 
 whole, and distinguished the incidental from the vital and insepara- 
 ble. So in the work of Biblical interpretation, — there must be an 
 eye that can take in the whole landscape and a judgment which 
 can allow for distance, light, and colour. 
 
 How, then, to realise these conditions and to bring them to 
 
31 o THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 bear ? And especially how to do so as not to deprive any man 
 of his Bible by shaming him into the consciousness of utter in- 
 ability to read what he has hitherto prized as the plainest and 
 wisest of books. He will not, as he ought not, give up the Bible 
 easily ; and probably he will insist on the right of private judg- 
 ment, and in a moment of jealous anger may claim equality of 
 power with his teacher or friend. But such vehemence will be 
 misspent if directed against the present argument, inasmuch as it 
 has no felonious intent upon any man's Bible or upon the rights 
 of any man's conscience. The question is, How to make the 
 most of the Bible ; how to get at its proper spiritual meaning ; 
 and how to express its revelations in the daily behaviour of life ? 
 Is every man qualified to interpret and decide the purpose of the 
 Scriptures .'' From the point of view of this argument, interpreta- 
 tion is the result of spiritual preparedness, and spiritual prepared- 
 ness is the work of the Holy Ghost. A reader going to the Bible 
 in a self-sufBcient and self-dependent spirit will narrow and dis- 
 honour it by private interpretation, and probably bring from its 
 perusal nothing higher than a crotchet ; but going to it in another 
 spirit he may see it and know it as a revelation from heaven. 
 
 What, then, is .that other spirit } It is so specifically defined by 
 an apostle as to prevent all doubt of its meaning ; it is " the spirit 
 of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," and this spirit is 
 the direct gift of God ! He who is thus qualified can make no 
 vital mistakes in the interpretation of Scripture ; whilst he who has 
 every other qualification but this will never apprehend the genius 
 and purpose of the Bible. So, instead of taking the book from its 
 humblest reader, this argument would make it doubly his, and 
 enrich him with the most comforting promises throughout its 
 perusal. This qualification will give a man so just an estimate of 
 his own powers as will save him from meddling with things which 
 are too high for him, and will move him with so enlightened and 
 gracious a charity as will guard him from the self-exaggeration 
 which expresses itself in illiberal censure or contemptuous distrust. 
 Under the influence of a " sound mind" he will remember that 
 there are some things in the Bible which are not meant to be de- 
 tcrminately interpreted, and thus he will escape the vexation 
 which follows abortive efforts to explain and understand every 
 mystery; " the sp.irit of love" will dictate large and generous in- 
 
THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 311 
 
 terp relations of difficulties ; and " the spirit of power" will liber- 
 ate him from the bondage and hardness of the mere letter. It 
 may be worth while to vary the wording of so important a doctrine, 
 if haply we may set it in a clearer light. Given, then, a man who 
 approaches the Bible in a " spirit of power, of love, and of a sound 
 mind," and the following results will certainly attend his reading : 
 first of all, he will carefully distinguish between what is particular 
 and what is universal, because his whole manhood will be enlarged 
 and elevated according to the grandeur of the occasion ; in the 
 next place, he will be dispossessed of every desire to propagate 
 theories of his own, and so to strain and debase the Bible into 
 an ex-parte witness ; and in the third place, he will be so com- 
 pletely under the dominion of " the spirit of love" as to be saved 
 from the persistent and impious self-conceit which is the very main- 
 spring of ungenerous and demoralising zealotry. He will go to 
 the Bible in quest of God ; he will go to it in a spirit of self-con- 
 trol ; he will read it that he may find a Gospel, not that he may 
 confirm a creed. The right of private judgment will thus be held 
 in the interests of humanity, and the private reader will, in the 
 best sense, become a public interpreter. Under these conditions 
 let every man have the Bible for his own use, for he cannot forget 
 that it is the book of God and the charter of the world. 
 
 Undoubtedly each reader will have his favorite passages, — texts 
 to which he will turn in danger or sorrow with special expectation, 
 and promises which will seem to have been expressly written for 
 his personal use. This is natural and unavoidable ; it is even 
 useful and edifying, as showing the illimitableness, the variety, the 
 infinite adaptation and sufficiency of biblical doctrine and coun- 
 sel. It is thus that each reader reprints the Bible, and that each 
 life repronounces, with individual emphasis and unction, the right- 
 eous commandment and the tender promise. Still, this legitimate 
 privacy of enjoyment and sense of invincible security is happily 
 compatible with all that is claimed on behalf of the universality of 
 the Bible. It should be borne in mind that the divine promise of 
 satisfaction in all spiritual inquiries is independent of accidental, 
 technical, or arbitrary conditions, and is made to rest solely upon 
 the spiritual temper and purpose of the inquirer. In this respect 
 the Bible is wholly unlike all other books. Letters can be inter- 
 preted by letters ; but here is a book in the reading of which lit- 
 
312 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 erary instruments can give but secondar}' and imperfect help ; a 
 book which says — You must read me through your hearts if you 
 would see all the fulness of any meaning. A few proofs will show 
 the scope and quality of the whole evidence. " To this man will 
 I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that 
 trembleth at My word." "Thus saith the high and lofty One 
 that inhabitcth eternity, whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high 
 and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
 spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of 
 the contrite ones." " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is 
 the kingdom of heaven." Such conditions are in happy conso- 
 nance with the genius of any revelation meant for the use of the 
 whole world ; everything that is merely national, temporary, 
 casual, or adventitious is ignored, and a great human condition, 
 independent of place and time, is asked for by the merciful and 
 condescending God, — " the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; 
 a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise," — 
 the things of the spiritual kingdom are hidden from the wise and 
 prudent, and are revealed unto babes ; so it seemed good in the 
 Father s eyes. 
 
 We shall never be able to dispense with literal criticism in read- 
 ing and interpreting the holy oracles, simply because they are 
 made known to us through a literal medium ; but probably we 
 have yet to receive the profoundest commentary upon those ora- 
 cles, because we have yet to attain the spiritual purity and sensi- 
 tiveness necessary to their fullest apprehension. What is true of 
 the written commentary is true also of the oral exposition. 
 Preaching will undergo modifications which some of the ciders 
 would have deemed startling, and perhaps more than startling. 
 It will have to throw off everything narrow and technical, and to 
 speak the universal love in the universal language. It is not un- 
 kind to say that the pulpit, here and there at least, is marked by a 
 smart trickery infinitely out of place, and truly pitiable, in this 
 matter of biblical interpretation. Probably the inspired writers 
 would be shocked could they know how their utterances are 
 broken up into what are called " texts," and what hothouse forc- 
 ing there is in making a little text grow in one hour into a long 
 discourse. No doubt a good deal could be said about the botany 
 of a single blade. of grass, but the fiock is starving whilst the green 
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE WHOLE. 313 
 
 pastures are interdicted by the fluent but most unshepherdly botan- 
 ist. Text-beating is most irreligious work, and woefully thriftless 
 as to pastoral service. Clever, no doubt, — showing skill in word- 
 twisting and literary legerdemain, thus making vulgar people won- 
 der how the preacher can find so much in a vessel so small, — but 
 no more. An impious cleverness, leading away from interpreta- 
 tions profound, beneficent, wise, such as restore the soul and 
 magnify the excellence of truth, into critical nibbling, and into 
 rhetorical clamour where one cannot hear the little sense on ac- 
 count of the great noise. Spiritual interpretation is directed differ- 
 ently. It is not so much textual as biblical, — that is, pervaded by 
 the very life and purpose of truth, and in harmony with the whole 
 plan of the universe. Great expositors will be less anxious that 
 their hearers should listen to a discourse upon a particular sentence, 
 than that they should comprehend the meaning of a whole epistle. 
 Who thinks of giving out the epistle to the Galatians as his text, 
 or the Acts of the Apostles, or the Gospel by John } Would this 
 be inconvenient ? Probably so ; yet (and this is the point of the 
 suggestion) it is possible to go through the parts in the spirit of the 
 whole, as it is lamentably actual that the whole is often slurred as 
 if it were a chaos of unrelated parts. Will it be arbitrary to insist 
 that the part can be thoroughly understood only in the light of the 
 whole ? To hesitate to say so, is to save the feeling of preachers 
 who, through no irreverence or idleness, may have spent the most 
 of a public lifetime in seriously dishonoring the Bible in the very 
 act of preaching from many of its texts. 
 
 It may be asked. How far is an expositor of the Scriptures at lib- 
 erty to depend upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the pub- 
 lic interpretation of the word } No categorical answer ought to 
 be given to an inquiry like this, in which there is probably more 
 implied than is expressed ; still, the inquiry is of the first import- 
 ance as bearing upon ministerial responsibility and Christian edifi- 
 cation. We must recognise the difference between Interpretation 
 and Utterance. Interpretation may come slowly ; in some cases 
 it may be the reward of patient diligence, in others it may come 
 suddenly and startlingly. Interpretations are often given in the 
 course of silent, devout, expectant reading, and, from our point 
 of view, this would seem to be the natural application of the divine 
 method ; yet the Holy One of Israel must not be limited, nor His 
 
314 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 pleasure be questioned or thwarted by the obstinacy of man. To 
 go into the pulpit and stand there avowedly waiting for inspiration 
 to understand the word would seem to be but one remove (if in- 
 deed it be so much) from the most impious affectation ; that, 
 surely, would be to limit the Holy One of Israel under pretence 
 of magnifying his power. A written revelation implies by the 
 very terms that it may be considered and pondered in quietness ; 
 it is already in existence ; it is within reach ; it is by its very nat- 
 ure an appeal to devout regard' ; why wait for public circumstances 
 under which to inquire into its import } If, on the other hand, 
 the question relate to Utterance rather than to interpretation, the 
 reply may be fairly modified. Life itself is not the same thing 
 alike under private and public conditions ; it admits of expansion, 
 of electrical sympathy, of subtle combination with the living ele- 
 ments and influences around it, and under high excitement it will 
 surprise itself by the variety and intensity of its emotions. All this 
 may come without any suggestion of what is known as divine in- 
 spiration ; it is rather human inspiration, man quickening man as 
 iron sharpeneth iron. It may, however, have its counterpart and 
 complement in the direct action of the Holy Ghost upon the in- 
 tellectual and spiritual faculties ; and where that action supervenes 
 there will almost certainly be enlarged power of sympathy and ex- 
 pression. It cannot, other things being equal, be an offence to 
 the Holy Spirit to ask him for extemporaneous utterance that shall 
 reach the hearts of the congregation, — a very different thing, be it 
 observed, from literary expression, sentences meant for a book, 
 paragraphs measured and numbered for printing. There is an ut- 
 terance which belongs to the speaker and not to the writer, an 
 urgent, rapid, percussive, and living utterance, that cannot be 
 printed. In the very hour of duty such utterance shall be given 
 by the Holy Ghost to the faithful and honest servant. But ought 
 not a minister to prepare his sermon } There we come upon a 
 difTiculty, — the difficulty of scniionising, writing and speaking by the 
 hour-glass, and running the risk of artificialising the divincst life. 
 Preaching so soon becomes an art, a. craft, a profession. A ser- 
 mon is so measurable, so cold, so little, as commonly understood, 
 only a mouthful, a hollow word perhaps, an uncertain sound may 
 be. Yet what should it be .-' A stream of life, love, light, — the 
 vcr}' blood of the heart, the very divinity of life. To talk of 
 
SELF-PREPARATION OF PREACHERS. 315 
 
 " preparing" it, is to run a great risk of talking insanity, and yet, 
 as generally thought of, what can be easier than to ' ' prepare' ' a 
 sermon ! Will it be unduly bold on the part of a writer to give 
 counsel to — what ought to be the greatest of all men — the Chris- 
 tian preacher ? The advice would be, not that he should prepare 
 his sermon, but that he should prepare himself. His exegesis he 
 has of course prepared in secret ; he has meditated upon it in the 
 night-watches, and prevented the day by an eager desire to know i 
 still more perfectly ; he knows what things new and old he has in 
 the treasury, and as for his searching of the Scriptures, he has dug 
 in them as lor choice silver and stones of great price. So far the 
 preparation has been honest, full, even jealous less aught should 
 have failed in the minuteness of detail ; but as to verbal expres- 
 sion, what if he should have left it to the inspiration of the mo- 
 ment ? Were it a question of mere phraseology, there is no reason 
 why he might not have prepared it in secret ; but it is phraseology 
 with a difference : it is phraseology //wj", and what that//«-r is no 
 man can determine exhaustively. Perhaps it is most fitly express- 
 ed by the word life, — that word being a compound of such terms 
 as sympathy, rapport, adaptation, responsiveness. When the 
 preacher knows his subject, .and clearly apprehends the line upon 
 which his thought is to proceed, it may show a trustful and hum- 
 ble spirit on his part to depend upon the Holy Ghost for the gift 
 of suitable and efficient utterance. But may he not write, so to 
 speak, to the dictation of the Holy Ghost } He would be a bold 
 man who would answer such an inquiry in the negative ; yet he 
 might be reverent and wise in hesitating (considering the peculiar 
 vocation of the pulpit) to answer it in the affirmative. " But may 
 the preacher not stumble, blunder, or utterly fail } May he not 
 be disquieted and indeed disabled by the fear of man } How de- 
 plorable that it should be so !" Such a suggestion is certainly 
 not without foundation in natural reasons, yet the " deplorable- 
 ness" which is deprecated is not without mitigation when viewed 
 in a proper light. It is out of weakness that good men are made 
 strong ; it is by their falling that they learn lessons which are 
 denied to the proud and the strong ; it is by the very earthenness 
 of the vessel that the excellence of the power is often vindicated 
 and magnified, — so these human stammerings and down-breaks 
 may not be so deplorable as was supposed. "But to fail in the 
 
316 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 pulpit — to come to a standstill !" Painful no doubt, but not at all 
 necessary as a consequence of depending upon the Holy Ghost. 
 It is human fear, not human piety, that suggests the collapse and 
 shame. But what is failure P What is success P There may be 
 a misapprehension and a misapplication of terms in such a discus- 
 sion. " A preacher has read his discourse with unbroken fluency : 
 that is success ;" so it may be said, but the opinion may be un- 
 sound notwithstanding its positiveness. The fluent reader may 
 have failed. He may not have lingually stumbled, and yet he 
 may have spiritually broken down, and grieved the spirit of God. 
 His break-down was not towards earth but towards heaven, to man 
 he was a hero much applauded and flattered ; to God and the 
 angels, what if he was a coward and a hireling much pitied and 
 wept over! "Failure" is a word often wantonly used in the 
 church, greatly to the grief of honest workers and godly souls. 
 But supposing what is usually called " failure," under the condi- 
 tions demanded by this argument, who is it that has failed ? 
 Man ? God ? Having strict regard to the conditions insisted 
 upon in this contention, it was certainly not man that failed, and 
 therefore we must leave the blasphemy of the alternative answer to 
 those who can utter it. One thing only we must ask to be borne 
 in mind, namely, that there is a success which is failure, there is a 
 failure which is success. Given the kind and degree of depend- 
 ence upon the Spirit of God indicated above, and probably there 
 may be great changes in the form or mode of public ministration. 
 Sermons may be less artistic, language may be less ornate or 
 polished, appeals may be more abrupt and penetrating, methodical 
 propriety may be disorganised, the pulpit may cease to be a refrig- 
 erator : great changes of many sorts may take place, — amongst the 
 rest the Lord himself may come to his holy temple as in these 
 latter days he seldom comes, and the eloquent orator may be 
 silent before him. In the olden time the word came very brokenly, 
 but did it not come with wonderful power? Did not the " bab- 
 bler" arrest the attention of the world and force new themes upon 
 its reluctant consideration } We shall be told that times have 
 changed, and that the education and intelligence of the age must 
 be addressed. Herein, then, the disiinctiveticss of the preacher is 
 in danger of being lost, and instead of standing alone, in a noble 
 and awful solitude as to method and claim, he may become but 
 
THE INTERPRETER TO BE PRAYED FOR. 317 
 
 one of a crowd, — he may become weak as other men. The philo- 
 sophical lecturer, the academician, the travelling elocutionist, the 
 Christian preacher, each has his manuscript and each his private 
 art. Where is the ancient distinctiveness ? Where the voice of 
 the Lord, the background of eternity, the momentum of infini- 
 tude, all the old signals of a direct representation of the Invisible 
 and Everlasting } Preaching should never lose its disiinciiveness ; 
 it should stand apart ; all coalitions it should avoid as unholy 
 and unequal. When it tampers with the mean idolatries of the 
 common art, it goes astray from the Cross, and sells its power to 
 the enemy ; it does not adapt itself to the age, it allows the age to 
 take its crown and to despoil its power. But what if others imi- 
 tate the preacher, and rival him in his peculiar vocation .? Let 
 them try. Their imitation will be the highest compliment ; but 
 beyond imitation they can never go. The servant of the Lord 
 will for ever hold a secret entirely his own ; his method may easily 
 be borrowed, but his fire is hidden where thieves cannot break 
 through and steal. 
 
 As for this Interpreter of the book and Inspirer of the ministry, 
 he is to be had for asking. "If ye then, being evil, know how 
 to give good gifts unto your children ; how much more shall your 
 heavenly Father give the Holy spirit unto them that ask him.-'" 
 The very sublimity of simplicity ! "Ye have not because ye ask 
 not, or because ye ask amiss." Who can tell the result were 
 every man resolutely, with all love and zeal, to pray for a double 
 portion of the Spirit of God ? 
 
XXXVI. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Oh, Thou who art merciful and gracious, full of compassion and long- 
 suffering and tenderness, thou art kind to the unthankful and to the evil ! 
 We hasten to thee with our offering of praise, inasmuch as thou hast 
 crowned our life with loving kindness and tender mercy and made it 
 beautiful with continual love. We praise thee ; we magnify thee ; we 
 offer thee the whole strength of our heart. We hasten to thee as men 
 who have been mocked by the promises of the world, and who long to 
 find satisfaction in thy infinite and unspeakable peace. We have been 
 disappointed. The staff has been broken in our hand and pierced us. 
 We mistook the scorpion for an egg. We have hewn unto ourselves cis- 
 terns ; they are broken cisterns, which can hold no water. Foiled, smitten, 
 wounded, humiliated, and disgraced, we come into thy presence, knowing 
 that in God, as revealed in the person and doctrine of Jesus Christ and 
 made known unto us by the ministry of the Holy Ghost, we can find rest 
 which our souls could not find elsewhere. All our springs are in thee. 
 Thou givest us what we need. They who are in thy presence, who live 
 in thy light, and thy love, hunger no more, neither thirst any more, 
 neither are subjected to weariness or decay. We would live in God. We 
 would have our being in the Eternal. We would know nothing among 
 men but Jesus, and him crucified ; and by the mystery of pain and the 
 mystery of love, symbolised by Christ's Cross, we would endure the trials 
 of the world, and discharge the whole service of life. Meet us as sinners, 
 and pardon us ! " The blood of Jesus Christ, thy Son, cleanseth from 
 all sin." May we know its cleansing, healing power ! We have done 
 the things we ought not to have done ; we have withheld the testimony 
 which it became us to deliver ; we have often been timid and unfaithful ; 
 we have hesitated when we ought to have gone forward ; we have com- 
 promised where we ought to have died ; we have become self-seekers 
 where we ought to have sought the crown of martyrdom ; we have kept 
 an unjust balance and an untrue weight ; our measure has been false ; 
 our word has been untrue : our spirit has been worldly ; our very prayers 
 have been selfish. All this we say when we truly know ourselves, as we 
 are revealed to ourselves by the indwelling, all-disclosing Spirit. " God 
 be merciful unto us sinners," and cleanse us from all unrighteousness ! 
 Give us the hearing ear, and the understanding heart, the obedient will, 
 the ever-industrious hand in the service of Jesus Christ. When we have 
 done our best to serve our day and generation, and the time of reckoning 
 
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. 319 
 
 has come, may we find all our worth in the worthiness of the Lamb, and 
 be accounted fit to sit with him on his throne, because in our degree we 
 have shared the pain and shame of his crucifixion ! Amen. 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF THE COMFORTER. 
 
 THE teaching of Jesus Christ respecting the ministry of the 
 Holy Ghost is so pecuHar as to raise the inquiry, Where 
 was the Holy Ghost during the earthly ministry of the Son of 
 man ? Throughout the Old Testament there are the clearest testi- 
 monies as to his personal service in the ancient church, and yet 
 Jesus Christ speaks of the descent of the Spirit as a new and special 
 gift : for example — " I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
 another Comforter ;" " the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, 
 whom the Father will send in My name ;" " If I go not away, 
 the Comforter will not come unto you." All this is strange, 
 almost startling indeed, after reading the Old Testament. Where 
 was the Spirit that had moved on the face of the waters, that had 
 garnished the heavens, that had striven with antediluvian man, 
 that had been poured out upon Israel ? Was his ministry sus- 
 pended 1 It may be suggested that the fulness of the Spirit had 
 not been realised in the ancient church, which is undoubtedly 
 true ; yet though true it is insufficient to account for the treatment 
 of his descent as a new visitation and benediction of God. The 
 answer would seem rather to be, that the Holy Ghost was in Jesus 
 Christ himself, and could not be given to the church as a distinct- 
 ively Christian gift until the first period of the incarnation had been 
 consummated in the Ascension of the Son of man, — " If I go not 
 away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart I 
 will send him unto you." Jesus Christ was Himself the New 
 Testament : whatever happened aforetime was but preparative and 
 typical : from his coming the world was to date its regeneration 
 and the church was to reckon its birth, " In him dwelt all the 
 fulness of the godhead bodily ;" and when the influence of that 
 godhead was poured out upon the church, it came as if from the 
 very heart of Christ, and was impregnated with all the elements 
 which made up the mystery and beneficence of the Incarnation. 
 
 Jesus Christ gives a specific definition of the work of the Holy 
 Ghost. That his work admitted of definition is itself a significant 
 
320 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 circumstance ; and that the Son of Mary should have presumed to 
 define it is a marvellous instance of his spiritual dominion, if it be 
 not a covert yet daring blasphemy. At this point Jesus Christ 
 seems to pass from the theatre within which he had dazzled the 
 eyes of curiosity by the number and splendour of his miracles, 
 and to enter into the holy of holies, the secret place of the Most 
 High, and to seat himself there as the donor of spiritual riches. It 
 is a withdrawment (even if considered merely as a conception) 
 which invests the Man with peculiar awe. He says he will do 
 mightier works than ever ; he will touch the life, the will, the love, 
 of the world ; he will ascend above principalities and powers, and 
 subject all hosts and forces to spiritual control, invisible and 
 almighty. Daring, truly, was this Son of Mary I The very idea 
 of putting the spiritual above the material, and consequently of 
 preferring a thought to a mracle, is the sublimity which seems nar- 
 rowly to escape the charge of insanity. Let us now see with what 
 simplicity and decisiveness Jesus Christ defines and limits the 
 functions of the Holy Ghost : — 
 
 1. He shall not speak of himself. 
 
 2. He shall glorify Me. 
 
 3. He will guide you into all truth, 
 
 4. He will show you things to come. 
 
 Besides the work of comfort within the church, he has a great 
 work of co?ividion to do in the world at large : " When he is come, 
 he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg- 
 ment." It will be convenient to study primarily the function of 
 comfort which is assigned to the Holy Ghost, and then to discuss 
 the ministry of conviction which he is to conduct in the hearts of 
 all men. 
 
 I. '^ He shall not speak 0/ Himself." Why not ? Because he 
 would be speaking an unknown tongue. We cannot understand 
 the purely spiritual. Whatever we know of it must come through 
 mediums which lie nearer our own nature. The ministry of the 
 Holy Ghost, therefore, is limited only because we ourselves are 
 limited. The whole ministry of God is an accommodation to 
 human weakness. When he would teach Iruih he must needs set 
 it in the form of fad : when he would show himself, it must be 
 through the tabernacle of our own flesh ; when he would reveal 
 
CHRIST SPIRITUALLY GLORIFIED. 321 
 
 heaven, he must illustrate his meaning by the fragments of light 
 and beauty which are scattered on the higher side of our own in- 
 ferior world. Everywhere, could we but see it, he has set up a 
 ladder by which we may reach the skies. God would have talked 
 to us without any intervention, but we could not have known the 
 meaning of utterances which were not bounded and illustrated by 
 things lower than ourselves ; therefore hath he set his taberna- 
 cle in the sun, and made manifest his invisible kingdom and 
 power by the wonderful works of his hands. We must begin with 
 his hand, or we cannot know his heart. The doubting disciple 
 said of Jesus Christ, that only the print of the nails and the wound 
 of the spear could convince him of the identity of the Lord : and 
 at best are we not all, by the pitifulness of the great mercy of God, 
 allowed to begin with the divine hand instead of going at once into 
 the sanctuary of the divine heart } The Holy Ghost does not 
 speak of himself, because there must be a common ground upon 
 which he can invite the attention of mankind. Where or what is 
 that common ground .'' 
 
 2. '^ He shall glorify Me." The common ground is the work 
 of the man Christ Jesus. What is meant by glorifying Christ 
 Jesus .? We know what is meant by the sun glorifying the earth. 
 Let us familiarize ourselves with that process, as it most completely 
 represents the spiritual idea now under consideration. The sun 
 does not create the landscape. The mountain and the sea are just 
 as high and as wide in the grey cold dawn as at noonday. The 
 sun adds nothing to the acreage of the meadows or the stature of 
 the rocks. Yet how wonderful is the work of the sun ! Look 
 upon the earth in the pale dawn, and watch the ministry of the 
 sun from hour to hour. How the light strikes the hill, burnishes 
 the sea, flushes the trembling dew, and makes the blossoming 
 bush burn as if with the presence of God ! Everything was there 
 before, yet how transfigured by the ministry of light ! The com- 
 monest things are made almost beautiful by that benign service, 
 and as for the higher forms of culture it would seem as if one 
 more flash of sunshine would make them as the angels of God. 
 In this respect, what light is to the earth, the Holy Ghost is to 
 Jesus Christ. The Saviour is glorified by the Spirit. The work 
 of the Spirit is revelation, not creation. He does not make Christ, 
 
322 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 he explains him. The sun in doing all his wonderful work does 
 not speak of himself ; he will not, indeed, allow us to look at 
 him. If we turn our eyes upon him the rebuke is prompt and in- 
 tolerable : the language of that rebuke is — Look at the earth, not 
 at me ; see the opportunity for service and culture which is given 
 you ; do not intrude upon my tabernacle, but work within your 
 own sphere while it is called day. The Holy Ghost, in like 
 manner, does not speak of himself. He will not answer all our 
 inquiries respecting his personality. We cannot venture with im- 
 punity beyond a well-defined line. To the very last men will en- 
 quire, What is the Holy Ghost 1 Showing that all attempts at 
 exhaustive definition have ended in failure and disappointment. 
 Yet whilst he himself is the eternal secret, his work is open and 
 glorious. His text is Christ. From that theme he never strays. 
 To the individual consciousness he reveals the mystery of the 
 beauty of Christ. The Christian student sees a Christ which he 
 did not see twenty years ago, — the same, yet not the same ; larger, 
 grander, tenderer, every day ; a new music in His speech, an 
 ampler sufficiency in his grace ; a deeper humiliation in his 
 cradle ; a keener agony in his cross. This increasing revelation 
 is the work of the Holy Ghost, and is the fulfilment of Jesus 
 Christ's own promise. That the Son of Mary should have claimed 
 the Holy Ghost as his interpreter. Observe this as an incidental 
 contribution towards the completeness and harmony of the mystery 
 that is embodied in Christ Jesus. Regarded in this light it is very 
 wonderful. The beginning and the end are the same, — equal in 
 mystery, in condenscension, in solemn grandeur. Thus : " That 
 which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost," — this is the be- 
 ginning ; "He shall not speak of Himself, He shall glorify 
 Me ;" — this is the end : are the tones discordant.? The incania- 
 tion of the Son of God was the work of the Holy Ghost ; how 
 natural that the explanation of the Son of God should be the work 
 of the same minister ! As he was before the visible Christ, so he 
 was to be after him, and thus the whole mystery never passed from 
 his own control. 
 
 The life of the Son of man, as written in the gospels, needs to 
 be glorified ! He was despised and rejected of men, a man of 
 sorrows and acquainted with grief : he had not where to lay his 
 head : he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that 
 
THE MIRACLE OF LIGHT. 323 
 
 plucked off the hair : he made himself of no reputation ; he hum- 
 bled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the Cross : he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor : upon 
 all this chasm, so deep, so grim, we need a light above the bright- 
 ness of the sun. When that light comes, the root out of a dry- 
 ground will be as the flower of Jesse and the plant of renown, and 
 the face marred more than any man's will be fairest among 
 ten thousand and altogether lovely. Such is the wizardry of 
 light ! 
 
 This claim to be glorified by the Holy Ghost is without prece- 
 dent in human history. That is a fact which ought to have some 
 value attached to it. It is the kind of claim which could be tested 
 promptly and thoroughly by the consciousness of Christianised 
 mankind, and presumptively, on that very account, the kind of 
 claim which an impostor would have avoided. Besides, for such 
 a man, or for any man indeed, to have had such an idea is most 
 marvellous. Had he merely committed his case to the care of 
 time and the judgment of posterity, he would have taken the course 
 of ordinary sagacity ; but instead of the general appeal which is 
 commonly made to the arbitrament of God and good men, he ex- 
 pressly stated that the Holy Ghost would glorify his person and 
 complete his mediation on the earth. The work of the Holy 
 Ghost was to be infinitely more than a work of mere explanation : 
 it was to move forward to the very point of glory, even the glory 
 which the Son of Man had with his Father before the world 
 began. This statement came from the lips of Jesus Christ Him- 
 self, and therefore it leaves him a blasphemer without excuse if he 
 was merely a virtuous and courageous teacher. On the other 
 hand, taking our Lord's word as true, there is now going forward 
 in human thinking a spiritual process which is identified with no 
 other name than his own, and which will culminate in splendour 
 ineffable and eternal. The prayer of our Lord to be " glorified " 
 is peculiarly affecting : " I have glorified Thee . . . now, O 
 Father, glorify Thou Me;" — "glorify Thy Son," as if the full 
 bitterness of his humiliation had been realised, and he could defer 
 the resumption of his glory no longer. He distinctly speaks of it 
 as a resumption and not as an unknown experience: — "Glorify 
 Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee be- 
 
324 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 fore the world was." A fierce hunger seized his heart, a home- 
 yearning of which every child knows something. 
 
 Having spoken of the ministry of the Holy Ghost in relation to 
 himself, our Lord proceeds to speak of it in relation to his disci- 
 ples : — 
 
 3. " He will guide you into all truth." Not, " He will add to 
 the number of miracles which you have seen at My hands," but 
 " He will guide you into all truth :" "I am the Truth ; He 
 will glorify Me ; He will show you all my riches," Our Lord 
 himself did not guide his disciples into all truth, nor have men 
 even yet been so far guided ; they are travelling the upward road, 
 but the summits are still beyond. Truth is an infinite quantity. 
 At first it may seem to be compassable, but it recedes as it is ap- 
 proached ; yet it throws the warm rays of promise upon every 
 honest and loving pilgrim to its shrine. The highest grace of 
 manhood is the truth-loving spirit : it purifies like fire ; it throws a 
 strange and holy majesty upon life, yet makes men tender and 
 charitable. Our Lord's expression is comprehensive, — " into all 
 truth ;" not only into truth that is distinctively theological, but 
 into all truth, scientific, political, social, religious. Is truth not 
 larger than the formal church ? Is not the physicist under the 
 tuition of the Spirit as well as the theologian ? Our Lord does not 
 divide men into hostile tribes ; he does not open one department 
 of truth and refuse the key of others. His is a universal speech, 
 — he speaks of "truth" as indivisible and complete, and of the 
 spirit as the one Guide. It is not to be supposed that any one man 
 is to be guided into all truth. Some possessions are put into the 
 custody of the whole race. Paul did not claim to have known 
 truth in its entirety ; nor did Peter ; nor did James. No single 
 star holds all the light. No single flower is endowed with all the 
 beauty. What man is there who knows all things .' It is prover- 
 bial that the wisest men are the humblest, and that those who have 
 seen the fullest disclosures of truth are assured that the supreme 
 glory is yet concealed. Has not every honest student some por. 
 tion of truth that is in a sense his own .? Does not every eye see 
 at least a tint which no other vision has seen so clearly as itself ? 
 It is important to consider these questionings well, because they 
 point towards tl\e mutual trust and the mutual honour without 
 
GUIDING INTO TRUTH. 325 
 
 which society would be disorganized and debased. Men make up 
 Man, churches make up the Church, truths make up Truth, and it 
 is only by a complete combination of the parts that the majesty 
 and lustre of the whole can be secured. 
 
 It should be observed that in this connection the Holy Ghost is 
 designated by our Lord as " the Spirit of truth" {to Ilvev^a 
 rrfS aXrjdeia?), and as such he is to "guide into all truth" 
 {Ttaffav rrjv aX?}dsiav) those who are under his tuition. Ob- 
 serve the quantity — " all truth :" observe the method — " He 
 will guide." The quantity is unlimited ; the method assumes 
 consent and co-operation on the part of man. A reference to Old 
 Testament history will throw some light upon the scope of the 
 Spirit's ministry, and show how grave is the error which limits it 
 to thinking and service which are supposed to be purely theologi- 
 cal. It may indeed (and we believe it will) show that ' ' theology' ' 
 is actually the all-inclusive term, holding within its meaning all the 
 highest aspects and suggestions both of speculative and practical 
 science. The theologian is entitled to claim astronomy, geology, 
 botany, agriculture, and chemistry, as sections of theology. If 
 he trifle with this claim he will not only surrender his best weapon 
 as a controversialist, but mistake brethren and friends for rivals 
 and enemies. 
 
 Can anything be farther from theology, as popularly understood, 
 than stone-cutting or wood-carving ? Can any two spheres be 
 much more widely sundered than those of the preacher of the gos- 
 pel and the artificer in iron and brass ? Apparently not. But the 
 biblical testimony sets the inquiry at rest : "I have called Beza- 
 leel, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, 
 and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of 
 workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in 
 silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in 
 carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship" (Exod. 
 xxxi. 2-5). Bezaleel was an inspired theologian. More than 
 this, and apparently still farther away from the theological line : — 
 " I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and 
 that bringeth forth an instrument 4or his work." Then, inter- 
 mediately at least, may stand the agriculturist, of whose treatment 
 of the earth is said : — " This also cometh forth from the Lord of 
 hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." 
 
326 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 The rulers and soldiers of Israel were qualified for their work by 
 the Spirit of the Lord. "The Spirit of the Lord came upon 
 Othniel, and he judged Israel and went out to war." The minis- 
 tration of the Spirit is various : by it Moses was made wise, 
 Bezaleel was made skilful, and Samson was made strong. " All 
 these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every 
 man severally as he will" (i Cor. xii. ii). Wonderful is this in- 
 clusiveness of the Spirit's work. " Hie Spiritus Sanctus omnium 
 viventum anima, ita largitate sua se omnibus abundanter infundit, 
 ut habeant omnia rationabilia et irrationabilia secundum genus 
 suum ex eo quod sunt et quod in suo ordine suae naturae compe- 
 tentia agut." A thorough persuasion of this inclusiveness will 
 put an end to the needless hostility between what is distinctively 
 known as science on the one hand and theology on the other. All 
 things are theological primarily and ultimately, though certain in- 
 termediate points in their processes and relationships may seem to 
 be without the higher light. There is a common teacher — " the 
 Spirit of truth;" there is a common end — "all truth;" there 
 should be a common bond — mutual trust. 
 
 But what if the fact of the Spirit's ministry be denied on the one 
 hand .-* Denial proves nothing against the case as it is now put. 
 God works even where he is unknown. There are truths which 
 lie below our very consciousness. Men have denied not only the 
 work of God, but the very existence of God, yet their denial has 
 not destroyed the divine supremacy. " He maketh his sun to rise 
 on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on 
 the unjust." — and this not only in a material but in a spiritual 
 sense ; he has servants who have signed no covenant, and messen- 
 gers who do his errands in their own name. Nor does he blight 
 them for their ingratitude, or put them to open shame, — " He is 
 kind unto the unthankful and the evil," and not willing that any 
 should perish. The worshippers of intellect may not know 
 that they are worshippers of God under another name. Our 
 spirit may be not equal to our work : we may profane the 
 name of God in the very act of building a cathedral for his praise. 
 We may, then, venture to speak a word of caution to the men 
 who deny the ministry of the Holy Ghost, and in doing so to sug- 
 
ADVENTUROUS MINDS. 327 
 
 gest whether after all there may not be mysteries in their life which 
 they have not altogether explored and comprehended. They will 
 not ruthlessly resist the hand that would bring them into the inner 
 sanctuary on whose outer walls they have wrought so much exqui- 
 site and invaluable decoration. 
 
 Upon the church itself this promise of guidance into all truth 
 should exert a healthful influence, especially in the direction of 
 enlarging and refining its charity. The danger is that the church 
 should be content with a limited range of dogma and purpose 
 when it is invited to the mastery and enjoyment of a kingdom that 
 cannot be measured. The church should not be anxious about 
 uniformity of stature and countenance, when God has made it so 
 evident that he himself delights in variety and contrast. Men of 
 the most inquisitive and even sceptical mind should be encouraged 
 by the church to lead the van of inquiry, and subject every doc- 
 trine and every spirit to a cross-examination which to minds of an 
 opposite type may become wearisome and even vexatious. The 
 church should extend to its adventurous sons who go out to 
 shores far away and to lands unmapped and unclaimed, the most 
 ardent and loving recognition. Even when they return with hopes 
 unfulfilled and with banners torn by angry winds, proving the 
 abortiveness of their chivalry or the mistake of their method, they 
 should be hailed with a still tenderer love. The pain in their own 
 hearts is keen enough. In secrecy they have known the very bit- 
 terness of death. To such men the promise of being guided into 
 all truth becomes a personal torture. They yearn for its fulfil- 
 ment : they are straitened until it be accomplished. Other men 
 can wait, but their waiting is a grace rather than a virtue. En- 
 thusiasm is unknown by them. Temperamentally they know 
 nothing about time ; and there is no future to them because they 
 have no idea of the suspense and occasional anguish of expecta- 
 tion. Such men are sure to have a kind of advantage over those 
 who are made impatient by a great promise, because, having 
 themselves risked nothing, they may thoughtlessly indulge self- 
 felicitation at the expense of men whose shoe latchets they are not 
 worthy to unloose. Martyrdom thus comes without the tragic sur- 
 roundings which bring with them their own alleviation : it is in- 
 ward agony, often unconfessed, but terrible as the pains of hell. 
 
328 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Little enough is known about such martyrdoms, and perhaps the 
 less the better, because theirs is a suffering which would be ag- 
 gravated by the very touch of unsympathetic hands. 
 
 4 . " He will show you Ihmgs to come. ' ' The word translated 
 " He will show" is avayyeXei, he will announce to you ; the 
 word in the Vulgate is annunciahit. Such a promise would seem to 
 imply that secret communications about the future will be made 
 to the church ; yet this construction of the promise must be ad- 
 mitted with extreme caution, if admitted at all, because of the 
 dangerous uses to which it may be put. Men would in some 
 cases mistake prejudices and frenzies for inspiration, and in others 
 they would inflict needless trouble upon themselves and upon 
 society at large. Limited to the immediate hearers of our Lord, 
 of course the promise is exhausted and the results are to some ex- 
 tent recorded in apostolic history ; but it cannot be so limited 
 without impairing the worth of the promise by taking it away from 
 the category of assurances which are to enrich and stimulate the 
 church through all time. Merely to " show things to come" in 
 the sense of prevision is a blessing greater in appearance than in 
 reality ; but to prepare the mind for things to come — to show the 
 mind how to deal with new and perplexing circumstances — to give 
 the perception which sees God everywhere and the affection which 
 thankfully accepts his discipline — is an advantage which cannot be 
 expressed in human terms. Whatever the promised " announce- 
 ment" may include, it must involve this supernatural preparedness 
 of mind and heart, or it will merely excite and bewilder the 
 church. 
 
 That the Holy Spirit did " show things to come" in a pro- 
 phetic sense is proved by instances circumstantially reported in the 
 New Testament : for example, — " The Holy Ghost witnesseth in 
 every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me ;" " Agabus 
 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 ;" " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that 
 in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to 
 seducing spirits, and to doctrines of devils." In one case this is 
 purely personal ; in the other it is almost vague. Seeing, how- 
 
INSPIRATION OF MEMORY. 329 
 
 ever, that the Comforter is to abide with the church " for ever," 
 and seeing that as a matter of fact the church is not gifted with 
 prevision, we are thrown back upon the gracious and all-sufficient 
 assurance, that whatever may come, and with what violence soever 
 its coming may be attended, the church will be prepared to with- 
 stand every shock and surmount ever)' difficulty. Out of this as- 
 surance comes rest ; the future is no longer a trouble ; the 
 clouds that lie upon the remote horizon will be scattered by the 
 brightness of the image of God, 
 
 We have thus pointed out four aspects of the ministry of the 
 Holy Ghost, which may be described as universal. There is a 
 fifth aspect which belonged to the disciples alone, which is yet of 
 supreme consequence to ourselves : " He shall bring all things to 
 your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. ' ' There is 
 an inspiration of memory. Readers of the gospels must have been 
 surprised by the minuteness of recollection which is shown in their 
 pages. Conversations are reported ; little turns of dialogue which 
 seem to be merely artistic are not omitted ; records of occasions on 
 which the disciples were actually not. present, and of which they 
 could only have heard from the lips of the Lord himself, are pre- 
 sented with much particularity and vividness : how, then, was this 
 done, and especially done by men who certainly were not con- 
 spicuous for the kind of learning which is needful for the making 
 of literary statements } The explanation of this artless art, and this 
 tenacious memory, is in the promise of our Lord — " He shall 
 bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto 
 you : you shall live it all over again : the scene of which I have 
 been the centre shall be set before you in vivid detail, and you 
 shall be so taught how to gather up the fragments that nothing of 
 all its minuteness shall be lost." 
 
XXXVII. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, seeing that dark clouds and darkness are round about 
 thee, may we know of a surety, for our comfort and strengthening in all 
 good things, that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of thy 
 throne. Be thou thyself near to us, so that our weakness may itself 
 become a source of strength, and so that every stroke of thy rod may be 
 sanctified to the well-being of our souls. We would regard all human life 
 as a revelation of God. Work in us that quiet and saintly patience which 
 humbly waits for the solution of all mysteries and the removal of high 
 mountains which oppose our access to the perfect light of thy presence. 
 Be thou thyself the answer to every temptation that assails our heart. Be 
 the defence of our peculiar weaknesses, and when sorrows thicken round 
 us, do thou give new interpretations of thy love, that we may recover 
 our faith and praise thee with a louder, sweeter voice. We would walk 
 all our days hand in hand with Jesus Christ. We would put our feet in 
 his footprints. We would keep our eyes steadily fixed upon his cross. 
 There would we pray for the pardon of our sins, the sanctification of our 
 nature, and the perfect redemption of our whole life ! We gather round 
 the Cross to-day. We are bound by its great attraction ; and we take 
 hope that our sins may be forgiven, because the blood of Christ cleanseth 
 from all sin. Put within us thy Holy Spirit. Direct the way of our life 
 from time to time. May we be humble, courageous, hopeful, childlike, 
 patient with God and patiently waiting for God, lest by our impetuosity 
 we interrupt thy providences and divert the stream of thy love. We need 
 no other guide but thee. In God we find redemption, justification, holi- 
 ness, and all the blessings of a glorious destiny. Keep our hearts in this 
 faith, then shall our life be strong and pure. Amen. 
 
 THE CONVICTIVE WORK OF THE HOLY 
 GHOST. 
 
 THERE was a tone of sorrow in the voice of our Lord when 
 he said that the Spirit of truth ** will reprove the world of 
 sin because it believeth not on me." Our Lord knew that viewed 
 outwardly, as a question of station or numbers, his personal min- 
 istry upon the earth had been a failure, yet it was to be proved by 
 
CONVICTION OF SIN. 331 
 
 another, whom he himself would send, that the failure was due to 
 the very sublimity of his character. A character like his was not 
 to be compassed and honoured by the public mind in three short 
 years. With less grandeur he might have drawn around himself a 
 wider homage ; or with a grandeur undegraded by Nazarene asso- 
 ciations he might have carried that homage to the very point of 
 superstition, and so have wielded an influence the more command- 
 ing from its being spectral and mysterious. But to be just what 
 he was — divine yet human — the supreme anomaly and contradic- 
 tion in the whole range of history — proved the stumbling-block 
 and rock of offence against which his contemporaries bruised them- 
 selves by their obstinacy and unbelief. In withdrawing from the 
 world he sa-d that his case would be completed by the ministry of 
 the Holy Ghost, who would so operate upon the moral nature of 
 mankind as to establish a perfect righteousness and an incorrupti- 
 ble judgment, and in so doing would show the absolute need of 
 himself as Mediator and Saviour. This would seem to be the 
 purport of the words ' ' because they believe not on Me. ' ' The 
 world has never cared to own its need of the Son of man. He has 
 always been a stranger, viewed with suspicion and listened to with 
 reluctance. He came unto his own, and his own received him 
 not ; he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. 
 The world has never known exactly what to do with this stranger 
 in the house ; it has approached him, and recoiled from him ; it 
 has owned him, and discarded him, in a breath ; it has hailed him 
 as king, and crucified him with thieves ; he has been at once the 
 spell and the dread of all who have known him. He was aware 
 of this, and said in effect : — You will not come unto me ; you 
 are determined to go to the Father through some other way ; I 
 cannot remain longer in the body, but I will send the Spirit of 
 truth, and when he is come he will convince you of sin because ye 
 believe not on me. To this point we shall come again, after some 
 analysis and reasoning. 
 
 To convince the world of sin is much more than to convince the 
 world of crime. The world is satisfied with rough definitions, and 
 therefore it has unhappily used the words " crime" and " sin" as 
 equivalent and interchangeable terms. In the higher reasoning 
 
332 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 this is a fatal error. There may be sin where there is no crime, 
 but wherever there is crime there is sin to account for it. Society 
 is organized to defend itself against crime, yet every member of it is 
 guilty of sin. This has to be made clear by the Holy Ghost, and 
 has already in a measure been made clear to every one of us. 
 Thus : Society condemns murder ; so in his reasoning with us the 
 Holy Ghost begins with this admission, and proceeds to say — You 
 condemn murder, but this is merely a gross and vulgar morality, 
 little better, indeed, than selfishness stimulated by fear ; you must 
 find out how murder begins, — it begins in unholy anger; that 
 anger may never have spoken one word or shown one sign of im- 
 patience, yet by so much as you have given way to it in the secrecy 
 of your inmost heart you are guilty of murder in the sight of God ! 
 It required a Ghost to teach us that. We had no moral instru- 
 ment of our own fine enough and keen enough to make so delicate 
 a distinction ; we could only get so far as to make some difference 
 between murder and manslaughter, or between murder with ex- 
 tenuating, circumstances and murder without them. There society 
 paused, being unable to go further ; and precisely there the Spirit 
 began his work, taking the crime to pieces, tracing it back to its 
 origin, and finding that origin in a secret and perhaps long-hidden 
 excitement of the heart ; and having found it, the Spirit said — 
 This is the murder ; the outward deed was a social outrage, an 
 odious and revolting vulgarity ; this movement of hatred in the 
 heart, this unbridled passion, is the murder. " Whosoever hateth 
 his brother is a murderer." Thus we are brought to subtler 
 definitions than have hitherto satisfied our rude morality, and 
 the measure of our assent is the measure of our self-conviction. 
 Those of us who have walked up and down in society as blame- 
 less men suddenly find ourselves in the presence of a new law of 
 judgment, and are compelled to own that if murder is traceable 
 into the region of motive, feeling, latent or unconfessed abhor- 
 rence of a man, it is more than possible that we ourselves may be 
 murderers in the sight of God. To accept such a doctrine is to 
 invest life with a most solemn and tragic grandeur, and is to do 
 something further, which will appear as the analysis proceeds. 
 
 Society has made murder penal, but it has not been able to set 
 falsehood amongst the crimes which are to be punished by the 
 magistrate. By society itself falsehood is treated more spiritually 
 
THE SUBTLETY OF FALSEHOOD. 
 
 than murder ; so we come into a higher region of the operation 
 of the Holy Spirit. We ourselves make further admissions in this 
 case than we were prepared to make in the other. We own, for 
 example, that a man may act a lie as well as tell one : that he may 
 use words with two meanings : that he may guard himself and 
 mislead others by mental reservations. These are great admissions, 
 for more spiritual, it will be observed, than were made in the case 
 of murder. What more can the Holy Ghost himself do ? It is 
 not indeed needful that more be done if the object be merely to 
 secure self-conviction. Yet more is possible. The Holy Ghost 
 says that a form of words may be true, and yet it may express a 
 lie ! A conversation may be reported verbatim et literatim, yet, by 
 a mere change of tone, by the omission of a facial expression, by 
 a skilful variation of pause or emphasis, the report may be a false- 
 hood from beginning to end. Farther and deeper still a man 
 may be false to himself. He may actually have treated himself so 
 dishonestly as to have suspended or destroyed the very power by 
 which he knows right from wrong. His conscience is " seared as 
 with a hot iron," and human speech has lost all value and use as 
 a moral medium. Some men are spoken of as " given over to 
 believe a lie;" that is to say, the natural conscience itself, the 
 primary element of responsible life, is dispossessed of its proper 
 function, and belief has become an instrument of self-delusion. 
 Under such circumstances the man is something more than a liar, 
 he himself is actually a lie I When a man is guilty of lying there 
 may be some hope of his restoration because of certain counter- 
 balancing virtues on other sides of his character ; but when the 
 man himself \?, a living lie, the whole nature is in so false a condi- 
 tion as to leave no hope of penitence and recover}'. Under such 
 difTiculties who but the Spirit of God can undertake the work of 
 convincing the heart of sin .? There must be a process in a heart 
 so lost, which can only be typified by the most terrible displays of 
 power which take place in the material world, — eruption, and 
 earthquake, and lightnings like the glance of God. 
 
 But the process becomes still more spiritual. INIurder and false- 
 hood are at all events nominally condemned by every man who 
 has any sense of social decency ; but what of virtues which are 
 praised as the very security and crown of human society ? The 
 Spirit of God sccth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the out- 
 
334 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. The form 
 of godliness is to be distinguished from its power. An illustration 
 taken from every-day life will help us to see the meaning of this. 
 Take an act of almsgiving, and let it be outwardly the choicest 
 specimen of its class : the gift is large, most timely in its presenta- 
 tion, and most deservedly bestowed ; many a heart was made glad 
 by the donation, and many an anxiety was set at rest ; the gift 
 was given with such cordiality too : the tone of the giver was 
 cheerful, and gladdening to all who heard it ; altogether the char- 
 ity was marked by every desirable beauty. Beyond this point 
 society does not carry its judgment, — man looketh on the outward 
 appearance. Where man ends, the all-searching Spirit begins : 
 he holds the candle of the Lord over the secret places of the heart ; 
 he tries the motives of the soul by the fires of the supreme judg- 
 ment ; and having done so, he says in effect to the applauded 
 man, — " Your love went not with your gift ; had you been left 
 wholly to the motion of your own will you never would have given 
 it ; it was an oblation to your own vanity ; it was a bribe by which 
 you bought reputation and good standing amongst men ; it was 
 not given to the poor, it was given \.o yourself." This conviction 
 may be made so clear to a man, and brought to bear upon him 
 with such urgency, as to cause him the most painful suffering at 
 the very time when human applause is most general and vehement. 
 Here, then, is the point of departure from such cases as murder 
 and falsehood, the point of excellent appearance where the inform- 
 ing spirit is vicious and detestable. 
 
 We are now upon the line every point of which adds to our 
 knowledge of spiritual realides as distinguished from formal facts. 
 How near, for example, are we to the point which shows that 
 prayer itself may be a lie ! We turned from murder with disgust, 
 and from falsehood with a sense of shame, but what of the prayers 
 so much approved for every charm of expression and tone .? May 
 our religion be the chief of our immoralities ? You prayed in the 
 house of your friend, and made your prayer the medium of per- 
 sonal compliment to his supposed excellences and deserts ; you 
 praised the creature to the Creator, making mention of his virtues, 
 but not daring to hint at his sins ; with many a complimentary 
 reference you lingered upon the case of the master, but you dis- 
 missed the servants in one hurried and shallow sentence : would 
 
THE INNERMOST HEART. 335 
 
 you have so prayed for the man if he had not been listening to 
 you ? Answer that question distinctly. Would you have called 
 him God's " dear servant" if he had been a mile away ? Would 
 you have prayed at all if you could decorously have escaped the 
 duty ? Not only does the Holy Ghost ask these questions, he 
 compels you to answer them to your shame, nor does he cease his 
 piercing and destructive ministry until you own that you have 
 turned your religion into a crime and uttered blasphemy at the 
 very gate of heaven. So, the period of mere definition is passed, 
 and the time of direct and irresistible application has come. 
 
 More : even if we are unassailable at any of the great points now 
 indicated — crime, falsehood, selfishness, impious prayer — yet there 
 is another kingdom wherein the divine judgment is set up, the 
 kingdom of unuttered desire and thought. Every man has two 
 lives — the life of motive, and the life of behaviour, into the first of 
 which none can enter but the Spirit of spirits. " He knoweth our 
 thought afar off ;" before it is a complete thought, when it is too 
 dim an outline to have any relation to the uses of human speech, 
 and before it leaves the shadows of its inception, he declares its 
 quality and metes to it the judgment of righteousness. So solemn 
 is life, so perilous, so painful ! Through your heart there shot a 
 desire which scorched you, though no human eye will ever see the 
 blister which it left, and the very memory of that desire will make 
 you dumb whilst others sing ; it will sting you, humble you, and 
 make a coward of you all your days. Into your mind there came 
 what was only the hint of a thought, yet it struck you like a thunder- 
 bolt, so evil did it seem to be even in its incompleteness ! These 
 are the visitations which, when rightly understood, show a man 
 that there is something worse than crime, and make him impa- 
 tient with the deceitful comforters who would " heal his hurt 
 slightly." 
 
 Thus we come back to the point with which we started, viz., 
 " The Spirit of truth will convince the world of sin, — of sin 
 because they believe not on me." The Holy Ghost will so viv- 
 idly and thoroughly show the nature of sin, that those who 
 thought themselves the best examples of human society will be 
 afflicted with the keenest compunction because of what they know 
 themselves to be in the presence of God. It will no longer be a 
 question of comparison as between one class and another, or 
 
336 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 between one man and another ; the judgment will lie wholly 
 between man and God, and every heart will see itself as if it were 
 the only heart in all the universe. This personal consciousness is 
 to be so vivid and intense as to become painful ; a man will see 
 himself as he never saw himself before, and feel the burden of life 
 with a new and intolerable oppression. His moral sense will be 
 so purified and perfected that he will feel even an evil thought to 
 be an unpardonable sin ; and so humbled will he be by finding 
 that even his best deeds are tainted, and that his very prayers are 
 but a refinement of impiety, that all strength will go out of him 
 and all self-hope will expire. Can he in that moment of despair 
 turn to others for help ? No ; because they are in the agonies of 
 the same experience, groaning because of a common paralysis and 
 helplessness. The hour is too solemn to admit of trifling by com- 
 paring one degree of sin with another ; there is no question of 
 degrees ; whatever difference there may be in the mere accidents of 
 crime, under all surfaces there is the terrible fact that every heart 
 has broken away from the rule of the Divine King. What then ? 
 When the conviction is so keen and relentless, when every con- 
 cealing shadow is chased from the inmost life by the fierce light of 
 infinite purity, the heart will begin to know that in turning away 
 from Jesus Christ, that strange and tormenting middle quantity by 
 which it was so fretted in the days of its own haughtiness and self- 
 sufficiency, it turned from the Son of God, the only mediator of 
 the covenant of peace, and then the agony will be like the very 
 pains of hell. This is the convction of sin which the Spirit of 
 God is to work in hearts which have not believed in the Saviour 
 of the world. Jesus Christ cannot be understood until sin is un- 
 derstood. So long as sin is regarded from a merely social point 
 of view, the cross of Christ must appear to be an exaggeration, — 
 justice assuming a sensational attitude. Why do with blood a 
 work which could be done as well with water ? Why sacrifice a 
 man when the blood of a beast would answer every purpose ? 
 These inquiries are legitimate so long as sin is underrated or misun- 
 derstood, but the moment that sin is seen under the illumination 
 of infinite holiness, the cross of Christ alone is equal to the tragic 
 awe and appalling horror of the situation. The first clear view 
 which any man gets of the sinfulness of sin marks the crisis of his 
 life. From that time he elects his destiny. It is questionable 
 
THE MORAL BASIS. 337 
 
 whether there can be any repetition of that view, so intense, so 
 intolerable is the light. Jesus Christ, then, would seem to say in 
 the words now under discussion, something to this effect : — 
 ' ' You do not understand me now ; you think you can do without 
 a meditator between yourselves and God ; so little do you know 
 of sin as God knows it, that you suppose yourselves equal to every 
 occasion which can arise in working out all the dispensations of 
 divine righteousness ; so must it be for a little while, but not for 
 ever ; when -the Spirit of truth is come he will give you such views 
 of the sinfulness of sin, and show you so clearly the true condition 
 of your own hearts, that under his ministry you will cry out for 
 mediation and remember in the anguish of your pain that you 
 would not come unto me that you might have life." 
 
 In the light of this exposition we may see the way clear to some 
 practical conclusions. 
 
 I. All attempts to establish a satisfactory life on the basis of 
 what is commonly known as morality, must be given up. Moral- 
 ity has become one of the fine arts. It is an attitude, a fine 
 balancing of calculations, a tacit understanding with evil powers, 
 at best but an armed neutrality. The surface of society is not ill- 
 conditioned ; its politeness was never so polished ; its laws of giv- 
 ing and taking were never so admirably codified. This social 
 behaviour is only the fit expression of individual virtues which 
 conspicuously abound, and which are properly used as bonds of 
 intercourse in carrying on the business of daily life. But what if 
 morality be only an art, — the most cunning and profitable of 
 tricks.? What if the partitions which we call our "rights" be 
 saved from destruction merely because it pays better to repress the 
 fire of passion than to give it free course ? This is not said cyni- 
 cally, but rather with bitterness of sorrow. The Holy Ghost 
 teaches us that we cannot be right with one another until we are 
 right with God. He says we must be religious before we can be 
 profoundly and truly moral. By being religious the Holy Ghost 
 means that the human will must be under the control of the will 
 of God ; and it is precisely at this point that a great controversy 
 arises between the human and divine. By so much as a man sub- 
 tracts anything from the sovereignty of God's control, and trans- 
 fers it to himself, he assumes that it is possible to create a satisfac- 
 tory morality without divine help. The Holy Ghost says, " No ; 
 
338 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 you must be lorn again — you must come into thorough newness 
 of life, and not into a mere readjustment of habits and behaviour 
 — you must die unto yourself, that you may live unto God." 
 His work is thus fundamental. He will not attempt to do any- 
 thing that is merely on the outside ; he says that the very nature 
 of man must be born again, and that until regeneration takes 
 place, so-called " morality" is but a well-contrived device of self- 
 ishness. This is clearly a magnificent basis of life, supplying as 
 it does eternal guarantees of purity and nobleness. In the absence 
 of such a basis there can be no dependence upon the loudest pro- 
 fessions of confidence and friendship ; they must be taken for what 
 they are worth, as very pleasant to the outward ear, but as liable 
 to be blown away by the first cross wind which assails our popu- 
 larity. On the other hand, where the heart has been born again, 
 and as a consequence draws all the considerations which govern it 
 immediately from the will of God, there must be incorruptible 
 truth and invincible constancy. If we plead that when thrown 
 entirely on our own resources we can develop a very beautiful 
 life, the Holy Ghost says, " No ; your results are artificial ; they 
 express study and contrivance on your part ; they are rather a 
 group of negations which attest a more or less severe discipline, 
 they are not the natural outcome of a moral condition which can- 
 not be changed by outward circumstances ; you make clean the 
 outside of the cup and platter, but the inside is full of rottenness 
 and death," So the very morality which we boast may be, as 
 already said, the last aggravation of our wickedness. Recollect 
 how severe Jesus Christ was with the " righteous" men of his day ; 
 he never spared them ; he never had one approving word for 
 them ; when they gathered up their ceremonial skirts and ran away 
 from the path of the " sinner," he damned them with infinite con- 
 demnation as hypocrites, dcvourers, and whited sepulchres. This 
 ministry of his is continued by the Holy Ghost, — " He shall take 
 of mine, and shall show it unto you," — and the ministry thus 
 continued cannot cease until man throws down his artificial moral- 
 ity as a burden and a lie. 
 
 2. All hopes founded upon what are thought to be different de- 
 grees of sin must be abandoned. There are, of course, different 
 degrees of crimc,^ but the question does not turn upon crime at all. 
 
DEGREES OF SIN. 339 
 
 The murderer is undoubtedly a greater criminal than the pilferer ; 
 but the murderer is something more than a murderer, and the pil- 
 ferer than a pilferer. The murder and the theft are accidental 
 forms, nothing more. For all the purposes of criminal law it may 
 be sufficient to classify men according to the mere accidents of 
 their mischievous behaviour, so that punishment may be assigned 
 with some degree of proportion to the shock which public feeling 
 has sustained ; but another standard must be set up when the 
 offence is between man and God, " Would you send a murderer 
 and a speculative sceptic to the same hell?" it may be asked. 
 But stop ! It is not the murderer, accidentally as such, that is 
 sent to hell, nor the speculative sceptic, accidentally as such, that 
 is shut out of heaven. The question is one of death, not of dis- 
 ease ; of the heart, not of the hand. According to the teaching of 
 the Holy Ghost it may be (even considering the question as one 
 of degrees) that the heart through which has passed an unholy de- 
 sire may be m a worse condition than the heart whose momentary 
 passion has vented itself in murderous vengeance. There is an 
 iniquity which is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, a 
 secret enjoyment of sin ; and there are also moments in which is 
 revealed to the soul a horrible possibility of sin where such possi- 
 bility was least suspected, a revelation known only to the soul 
 because too dreadful to be put into words and communicated to a 
 stranger. The first time, in our sunny youth, we realised this 
 awful possibility, can it ever be forgotten ? It was only a shadow 
 that swept over the heart, not a thing for words at all, yet the very 
 memory of it chills us like the touch of death. Or it was a demand 
 of the heart made at a time of festivity, it came upon us without 
 warning, it made the heart bound as if it had been secretly touched 
 with fire, — in that moment we saw that our life is being daily 
 spent on the edge of an abyss. Left to ourselves as a community 
 of men, we can set up comparisons and contrasts, and actually 
 shudder at enormities which secure for themselves a bad emi- 
 nence ; but introduced into the presence of God, and searched by 
 the Holy Ghost, we feel that a look may be blasphemy and that 
 unkindness may be cruel as murder. The thing to be understood 
 is that sin is spiritual, and that it is to be judged spiritually, with- 
 out reference to the vulgarity or noise which may make it socially 
 noticeable. 
 
340 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 3. Under such realisation of sin the work of Jesus Christ is 
 seen in its true light. On this point some remarks have just been 
 offered, but we may recur to it as the chief point in the discus- 
 sion. Here it is emphatically true that " they that be whole need 
 not a physician, but they that are sick." The analogy will help 
 us to higher truths. A man who has never known the agony of 
 pain or the prostration of weakness may feel himself at liberty to 
 treat very lightly the claims of men who follow the profession of 
 medicine. From his own point of view he may feel himself en- 
 titled to sneer at such men, and may plead his personal robustness 
 as an argument against their pretensions. He may, if of a narrow 
 and obstinate nature, even go so far as to contend that other peo- 
 ple might all be strong as he is, and consequently to withdraw his 
 sympathy from them. But let that boastful and austere man 
 awake to the fact that in his own body there is a slowly developing 
 disease, painless in its early stages, but surely advancing upon his 
 very life ; let him come to the conviction that at any moment his 
 pulse may cease, and instantly his attitude towards the medical 
 profession may be totally changed. A new conviction has given 
 him a new feeling and compelled him towards a new policy. Ask 
 him the reason of the change, so complete and striking, which he 
 has undergone, and at once he will justify himself by his new 
 consciousness. Jesus Christ makes use of this very experience to 
 throw light upon his own ministry : "I am not come to call the 
 righteous, but sinners to repentance ;" " They that be whole need 
 not a physician, but they that are sick." Ever}'thing, therefore, 
 is made to depend upon conviction. Where there is no conviction 
 there will be no pressure of necessity. Where there is no thirst, 
 who cares for the fountain .? but in the desert, under an intoler- 
 able sun, who can calculate the value of a cup of cold water .'' 
 Jesus Christ awaits the demands of spiritual necessity. He knows 
 that the Holy Ghost will so torment the heart with a sense of sin 
 as to compel the sufferer to pray for mercy, and at that point of 
 anguish he will show himself to the Saviour of the world. Jesus 
 Christ cannot work in the absence of conviction. When the physi- 
 cian lays his finger upon the strong man's pulse, the strong man 
 smilingly anticipates an exclamation of surprise and congratula- 
 tion ; but when the pulse of the dying man is felt, it is amidst the 
 silence of anxiety, and fear. Tell the Pharisee that Jesus Christ died 
 
SPIRITUAL ANALYSIS. 341 
 
 for him, and the man is shocked ; but tell the sinner who knows 
 the torment of remorse that the Son of God died to save him, and 
 the statement becomes " the glorious gospel of the blessed God." 
 Through his remorse he sees what he never could have seen 
 through his philosophy. For years he may have vainly studied 
 the Cross as a controversialist, in a moment he saw all its meaning 
 when his heart was broken because of his sin. In the light of 
 these reflections we may see how far removed from the region of 
 mere controversy is such a doctrine as the atonement. It does 
 not express a controversial result, so how can it be reached by 
 controversial means .-' It came out of feeling — that is, out of the 
 tender pity and love of God — and cannot therefore be understood 
 but by the aid of feeling. The logician is out of his beat here. 
 The broken heart will see farther than the keenest intellect. It is 
 only for a moment now and then that any man really and truly 
 sees himself, and such moments are times, not of equable and 
 serene complacency, but of intense excitement and passion, — times 
 of madness which the world cannot understand : how, then, can 
 a being who can s^o. himself ovAy now and then, see Gc*/ always, 
 and explain in easy words the sorrow and the grace of the Eter- 
 nal .? No man could bear the strain of continual conviction of 
 sin. It kills him, that he may be made alive again by the Spirit, 
 and ever afterwards he speaks of it as a memory rather than as a 
 current experience. The agony upon the cross was soon past, 
 and it could come again no more. It is so with this conviclion 
 which reveals the cross : however long the preparation, it is but 
 momentary in the final pain, yet long enough to show sin, God, 
 and salvation. This being so, the atonement cannot be dealt with 
 in coolness and patience, like a problem which appeals but to one 
 set of faculties ; it must be seen at once, through the agony of 
 broken-heartedness, or it can never be seen at all. Though soon 
 seen it is never forgotten. It rules the life evermore. Fruits of 
 the Spirit will attest by noble confirmation the reality of the 
 Spirit's ministry. The anguish of the birth is forgotten so soon as 
 the man is born, but the man has to live under discipline and to 
 be the willing and grateful scholar of the Spirit to whom he owes 
 
 HIMSELF. 
 
 The conviction of sin is to be accompanied by the conviction of 
 righteousness and the conviction of judgment, — accompanied by, 
 
342 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT 
 
 rather than follcnved, for these great spiritual quickenings and 
 movements would often seem to involve many simultaneous ex- 
 periences which are only in appearance separated by intervals of 
 time. It may be taken that the convictive work of the Holy Spirit 
 is one great act, describable, however, by a threefold effect, and 
 that such work is initiated at once in all its complexity. Commen- 
 tators have not found it easy to give a clear and satisfactory ren- 
 dering of our Lord's words upon this subject, nor are we bold 
 enough to hope that we can simplify what they have found it so 
 difficult to explain. The meaning of the words would seem to be 
 substantially this : The world has its own notion of wrong-doing ; 
 the world has its own notion of propriety, or justice as between 
 man and man ; the world has its own notion of moral differences* 
 of right and wrong, of good and bad, — but when the Spirit is 
 come, he will seize upon all these notions, and with convincing 
 refutation will show them to be only names, to be superficial, shal- 
 low, altogether inadequate, fallacious, and misleading ; having 
 done this negative work, he will proceed to his affirmative mission, 
 and in doing so he will replace the word " wrong-doing" with the 
 word sin, the word " propriety" with the word righleousness, and 
 the word " differences" with the vfordi Judgment ; he will show the 
 spiritual essence and reality, of which the world has but a dim and 
 imperfect notion ; he will throw the world into discontentment 
 with all its own moral theories, and bring it to see that it has been 
 mistaking appearances for realities ; thus, negatively and posi- 
 tively, the Spirit will carry out a profound and vital work of spirit- 
 ual conviction. But the point which is to be specially observed is 
 that the convictive mission of the Holy Ghost is entirely identified 
 zvitk the name and ministry of Jesus Christ. The conviction, re- 
 garded simply as the result of spiritual argument, might have 
 been accomplished in the very first ages of human history ; it 
 must, therefore, be something more than an intellectual convic- 
 tion, and for its accomplishment it must have required every aid 
 that is implied in the gift of the Son of God as the minister of sal- 
 vation. Mark the statement and the reason : The Comforter will 
 convince the world of sin — because they believe not on Me ; the Com- 
 forter will convince the world of righteousness — because I go to the 
 Father ; the Comforter will convince the world of judgment — 
 because the prince of this world is judged (is cast out), for for this 
 
UNIVERSAL CONVICTION. 343 
 
 purpose was I manifested that I might destroy the works of the 
 devil. In the light of this connection the whole passage may be 
 treated in free paraphrase thus : When the Comforter is come he 
 will convincingly refute the world's theory of wrong- doing by 
 showing God's idea of sin as proved by the shedding of My blood, 
 which blood the world has trampled under foot and accounted an 
 unholy thing ; in future when men want to know what sin really 
 is (not merely in its accidental expression but in its essence) they 
 will see God's revelation and estimate of it in My cross. When 
 the Comforter is come he will convincingly refute the world's 
 theory of righteousness, which relates wholly to appearances, and 
 is more or less a successful adaptation of expedients, and this he 
 will do by taking up and continuing My work, which I now lay 
 down that I may go to My father. I have spoken the word, I 
 have also shown the example ; now a great spiritual process must 
 set in, and my outward and visible work must receive spiritual il- 
 lumination and exposition. When the Comforter is come he will 
 convincingly refute the world's theory of judgment, which is 
 founded upon the most obvious differences only, and has no refer- 
 ence to those deep spiritual elements and facts which underlie and 
 account for all human conduct ; he will show the meaning of my 
 temptation, the purport of my answers in the wilderness, and the 
 discriminations with which I startled the men of my day — such as 
 preferring the publican to the Pharisee, and the mites of the 
 widow to the gold of Dives : all this he will do, and then will be 
 seen that My work is not the broken column which it now appears 
 to be, not a failure, not a humiliating overthrow, but the begin- 
 ning of a kingdom fair as the sun and everlasting as the heavens. 
 
 This conviction is being wrought out by many instrumentalities ; 
 as, for example, by the wise exposition of the living Word ; by 
 loyal obedience to the statutes and ordinances of Jesus Christ ; by 
 holy and unblamable lives, whereby ungodly men are silently re- 
 buked and instructed ; by startling developments of spiritual 
 power, by which the people are now sobered by great fear and 
 anon made glad with sure and exultant hope ; by good coming 
 out of evil ; by sudden and terrible reproofs of powers haughty 
 and defiant in their self-sufficiency ; by the honour of methods 
 and plans thought to be feeble and useless ; — in all these ways, 
 and in others many and wonderful, a great work of spiritual con- 
 
344 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 viction is proceeding in society, and is showing itself in the higher 
 legislation and the keener discipline of mankind. 
 
 Such work is necessarily slow in its progress. Conviction is 
 probably the slowest of all work. By its very nature it is both 
 negative and positive ; that is to say, it has to penetrate error and 
 prejudice, and actually to destroy them, before it can begin its 
 constructive processes. This is the very force of the word 
 f"A£;/A'o?as employed by our Lord in this passage, — a word which 
 involves condemnation, remorse, penitence, and better-minded- 
 ness and health of soul. Work of this kind is not to be done in a 
 day, or if so done it may be as quickly overthrown. The king- 
 dom of heaven is in nowise to be hurried in its construction, and 
 inasmuch as it is the highest of all kingdoms it is the least sus- 
 ceptible of impatient influences. It resents them. For a time, 
 godly labour will seem to disappear in nothingness, and to leave 
 the labourer without reward or joy ; but aftenvards there will 
 come up signs and tokens which cannot be mistaken for aught but 
 the hire and honour of those who do well. Sin, righteousness, 
 and judgment, are not to be seen objectively, or the work would 
 be easy enough ; they must be revealed subjectively, in much 
 painfulness, self- accusation, and controversy of heart, for thus only 
 can they become part of our veiy consciousness, and live for ever 
 amidst the ruling memories of human life. Jesus Christ commits 
 his great work to the ages, and to the ministry of the Eternal 
 Spirit, assured that in the long run the world will trace its true 
 ideas of sin, righteousness, and judgment, to the Golgotha of his 
 sorrow and the Olivet of his ascension. " He that believeth shall 
 not make haste." " Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not 
 quickened except it die." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ex- 
 cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 
 alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." 
 
XXXVI 11. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, thou art our father and our mother ; thou art full of 
 wisdom and power and love towards us. In all thy daily ministry thou 
 comest to us with all the fulness of the Godhead ; thou placest all things 
 at our disposal ; thou dost not treat us with contempt or with indifference, 
 as if, being the creatures of a day, there was in us no germ or hope of 
 immortality. Thou dost surround us with the infinite sufficiency of bless- 
 ing and care ; thou dost watch us as if thou hadst none in the universe 
 besides us ; there is not one of us that is not dear to thy heart, and whom 
 thou wouldst not miss from thy great family. We pray thee to impress 
 us with the sense of thy continual presence. Teach us that thy presence 
 is not intended as a terror, but as the inspiration and hope of life. Sur- 
 round us as by fire that no enemy may come near us. Grant unto our 
 understanding the light of thy wisdom that we may see truth as a con- 
 tinual revelation of thyself, and cause our hearts to glow with divine love 
 towards thee as revealed in Jesus Christ. We bless thee for the Cross, 
 for the Sacrifice which it represents, for the love which it puts before us, 
 for all its deep spiritual meaning. We thank thee that in the Cross of 
 Christ, the Lamb of God, we find the only gate of Heaven. Meet us to- 
 day ; comfort our hearts ; solve all the difficult questions which perple-x 
 us in this life ; work in us saintly patience, tender trust in our living, 
 loving Father. Say to each of us the word of forgiveness, through the 
 blood of Jesus Christ our Saviour, which shall give us liberty and inspire 
 us with joy. Lord, hear us ! The Lord command his blessing to rest 
 upon us, and we shall be filled with the peace of God ! Amen. 
 
 REGENERATION. 
 
 ACCORDING to the gospel of St. John, our Lord taught the 
 doctrine of regeneration at an early period in his ministry. 
 It is remarkable, as illustrative of a point insisted upon at the be- 
 ginning of this essay, that this fact should have been noticed by 
 John alone, showing, as it does, the intensity of his spritual nat- 
 ure. The narrative given in the third chapter is evidently written 
 con amore, being as to its tone and purpose, quite in the vein of 
 John's own sympathies and aspirations. It is certainly made clear 
 that our Lord attached primary importance to the doctrine of the 
 
346 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 second birth, and that he identified it with the special function of 
 the Holy Spirit. What, then, is this new birth, — this being born 
 again, or born from above ? 
 
 Regeneration, as our Lord explained it, was evidently a novel 
 doctrine to Nicodemus. " How," said he, " can a man be born 
 when he is old ? Can he enter the second time into his mother's 
 womb and be born ?" Considerable light is thus thrown upon the 
 intellectual character of Nicodemus : he was a master without 
 mastery, a Horeb without a burning bush, — a fact of which our 
 Lord availed himself in an argumenium ad hominem, which must 
 have had a humiliating effect upon the ruler in Israel. When 
 physical facts are set forth as the types of spiritual realities, the 
 success of the figure depends upon the intellectual constitution of 
 the student. One mind reasons upward, another downward ; so 
 whilst one man seeks the theology of a flower, another is content 
 simply to know its botany. Nicodemus had only one idea of 
 birth, and with all the simplicity of ignorance he instantly applied 
 it to the kingdom of heaven. It would seem as if our Lord always 
 used what we (mistakenly) call common words in their primary 
 signification, and that consequently there was frequent confusion 
 between him and his hearers. For example : "I will give living 
 water," is an expression which was taken to mean water out of the 
 well ; " Beware of the leaven of Herod," was regarded as a ref- 
 erence to ordinary bread ; "Be born again," was considered as 
 limited to physical generation. What if our uses of these words 
 should be but secondary and relative, and if a reproof of their mis- 
 application should come from heaven .? Our sense of the term 
 "water" or "bread" may be but a convenient misuse of words 
 whose meaning points toward the most solemn necessities and 
 desires of life ; in that case we become the offenders by material- 
 ising and limiting words current as between the highest spiritual 
 experiences throughout the universe. We say that when our Lord 
 said "bread "in the instance just quoted, he wasspeaking figura- 
 tively ; why may not ci«r use of the word "bread" be figurative? 
 Who taught man language ? Is it inconceivable that God may have 
 lent man an eternal symbol by which to describe a temporary 
 necessity? So with the word "bom :" we limit it to one act, 
 whereas it may describe the progressive transitions by which men 
 
THE HUMAN WILL IN REGENERATION. 347 
 
 and angels pass "from glory to glory" in the highest heavens. It 
 is convenient in a case like this that a man so literal as Nicodemus 
 proved himself to be should lead the conversation, because he will 
 ask questions in their baldest form, which we shall all wish to have 
 answered, but which some of us may have too much pride or too 
 much caution to propound. A dull and candid man often lays 
 his superiors under considerable obligation without knowing it. 
 The presence of such a man in certain companies is invaluable. 
 
 A grave difficulty arises on the first reading of our Lord's doc- 
 trine, which may be thus generally expressed — "As a man had 
 no control over his first birth, so he can have no control over his 
 second ; the question of regeneration, therefore, is one with which 
 he need not concern himself, for it is entirely beyond his province : 
 if he is to be born again, he will be born again : if not, not : 
 and whether one way or the other, he himself is wholly without 
 will or responsibility." It has been attempted to support this 
 view of the case (more or less modified) by such quotations as 
 these : ' ' Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of 
 the will of man, but of God" (John i. 13). "Of his own will 
 begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of 
 first fruits of his creatures" (James i. 18), "Being born again, 
 not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, 
 which liveih and abideth for ever" (i Peter" i. 23). These words 
 would seem to destroy the action of the human will in regeneration, 
 and to leave man literally without choice or alternative. This would 
 be of small concern where the act of regeneration dots take place and 
 all its dignities and inheritances are secured, but it is another matter 
 where no such act transpires and no such enjoyments are realized. 
 What of the men who are not born again, and are consequently 
 excluded from the kingdom, of heaven.? Let us look at two 
 theories : — 
 
 1. Regeneration belongs wholly to the region of divine sov- 
 ereignty ; it leaves the will of man without choice, election, con- 
 currence, or movement of any kind ; in this matter man is simply 
 as clay in the hands of the potter ; whether born again or not he 
 is wholly without responsibility. And — 
 
 2. The act of regeneration transpires with the consent of the 
 human will, that will having first been moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 or had brought to bear upon it all the motives which are accessible 
 
348 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 to the most cogent and persuasive appeals, and the man having 
 affirmatively answered the inquiry, Dost thou believe on the Son 
 of God ? 
 
 Now are these theories as mutually hostile as they appear to be ? 
 Or are they identical in the sense of one being the doctrine and 
 the other its application ? Most decidedly, in our opinion, the 
 latter. We view the subject in this way : The idea of regeneration 
 is essentially and absolutely God's, without the slightest admixture 
 of human thought ; it never came — it never could have come — 
 within the range of man's intellectual province. Man could have 
 proposed reformation, satisfaction by penalty, repetition of life on 
 the basis of experience, but at some such point his inventiveness 
 would have ceased and determined : what, then, was to be done } 
 From the human side, nothing ; from the divine side, what ? The 
 question involves an agony. It can be answered only by a reve- 
 lation, for the soothsayer is dumb and the seer is blind. God 
 answers the inquiry ; he says, Ye must be born again. The very 
 phrase took the world by surprise. It was astounding. Nicode- 
 mus exclaimed in amazement when he heard it. How can these 
 things be } Let this surprise on the part of a ruler of Israel be 
 carefully observed, as showing that the most cultivated and trusted 
 minds had never risen to the discovery of such an idea as the 
 possibility of a second birth. When Nicodemus spoke, he spoke 
 not for himself alone ; he expressed the bewilderment and con- 
 fusion of the whole world. Now that we are familiar with the 
 phrase "born again," we may lose much of its proper force; 
 but put back the mind to the night on which it was first used, and 
 we shall understand something of the concussion by which Nic- 
 odemus was stunned. Coming thus suddenly upon the human 
 mind, without consultation with any human counsellor, the idea 
 of the second birth is so entirely God's that we are constrained to 
 say, " Of his Qwn will begat he us ; not by works of righteouness 
 which we have done, but according to his mercy hath he saved us, 
 by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost." No other words would do justice to the case, so com- 
 plete and absolute is the sovereignty which interposed the possi- 
 bility of regeneration between sin and death. So much for the 
 first theory. It is in its substance philosophically and theologically 
 sound. RegencFation is as exclusively a divine idea as is creation. 
 
THE MYSTERY OF ATONEMENT. 349 
 
 and not the less so that it adds the mystery of grace to the myster)' 
 of power. 
 
 But how is this proposition, so manifestly divine in its original- 
 ity and beneficence, to be brought to bear upon mankind ? First 
 of all it must, of course, be declared ; being declared as a fact, it 
 must in the next place be expounded as a doctrine ; but it sepa- 
 rates itself so immeasurably from all the tracks of finite thinking, that 
 the mind cannot lay hold of it, — it is like a star which lies beyond 
 the field of the telescope ; how then ? In the absence of a connect- 
 ing medium it will mock and trouble every aspiration and every 
 dream of human hope. Is there, then, such a connecting medium } 
 Our Lord says there is, and he proceeds to indicate it to Nicodemus. 
 He preaches redemption by the sacrifice of himself, as completing 
 all the typical processes with which Israel was familiar. Redemp- 
 tion was intelligible ; it seemed to carry with it the principle of 
 equivalents ; it did, indeed, touch the tragic element of human 
 life, yet it presented a great practical aspect which easily secured 
 attention and confidence. It is of the first consequence to observe 
 that our Lord connected regeneration inseparably with his own 
 priestly work ; apart from this it would, as in the case of Nico- 
 demus, have confounded all human thinking and troubled all hu- 
 man effort by a special and indefinable influence. Our Lord pro- 
 ceeded to the divine mystery along the line of the divine love. He 
 said in effect : You must begin with the known and find your way 
 to the unknown ; you must first study the work of the Son, and 
 then proceed to study the work of the Spirit ; if I have told you 
 earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you 
 heavenly things 1 But if you cannot at once realise the purpose of 
 my coming, you must go back to Moses, and study afresh the 
 spirit and method of his administration. He did something which 
 will help you to understand what I am about to do, "for as Moses 
 lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
 man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life," — in other words, should be born 
 again. The ground of primary inquiry is thus distinctly defined. 
 We cannot understand Christ until we understand Moses, nor can 
 we understand the Spirit until we understand Christ; "under- 
 stand," indeed, in no pedantic or exhaustive sense, but with that 
 tender love which is the best teacher of the intellect. Still, another 
 
350 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 link is wanting. How is man to lay hold upon the ministry of 
 Jesus Christ so as to secure its advantages and submit to its disci- 
 pline ? Our Lord himself is a mystery, how then can he be known ? 
 Undoubtedly he is a mystery, yet nearer to the nature of man than 
 any purely spiritual being can be. What does he himself say as to 
 the method of approach ? He never changes the condition upon 
 which the blessings of his redemption and fellowship are to be 
 secured — " whosoever bclieveth, ' ' he that believdh, " " be it unto thee 
 according to thy/aM." That this condition was emphatic and 
 unchangeable is shown throughout the whole ministry of the 
 apostles, whose exhortations may all be expressed in the words 
 of one of themselves — ''believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou shalt be saved." But is not faith itself the gift of God? 
 True : yet "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith " 
 (Rom. xii. 3) ; that is, he has given to every one of his respon- 
 sible creatures a germ, an initial power, call it what you please, 
 on the right use of which depends the destiny of the soul. Every 
 man has something with which to begin the world, — to begin 
 eternity ! 
 
 Our Lord did not attempt to explain the mystery of regenera- 
 tion : "The wind bloweth where it listeth, thou hearest the sound 
 thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth ; 
 so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Our Lord does not 
 mean to say that the wind is lawless, or that it blows according to 
 the whim of an arbitrary power ; he simply illustrates the limitation 
 of human knowledge in the physical world, and suggests that the 
 same limitation is as actual in a world much higher. Yet as 
 Nicodemus would not think of denying the existence of the wind 
 because he did not know its origin and could not trace its destina- 
 tion, so he must not deny the reality of the second birth simply 
 because he was baffled by its mystery. We ourselves are daily testi- 
 fying to the soundness of this very reasoning. Are we not the sub- 
 jects of many processes which may be described as births, and do 
 we not accept the results without pleading the mysteries as a ground 
 of unbelief and inaction ? Thus : is not the child born into the 
 man? How? Atwhat precise moment does the child disappear and 
 the man assert his status and dominion ? No man can answer the 
 question. Again : is not thought being continually born and reborn 
 in the mind ? Who can explain, beyond all mystery or doubt, the 
 
THE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE. 
 
 351 
 
 origin and succession of ideas ? How do thoughts combine, repel, 
 modify each other, or correct and enlarge themselves ? Who can 
 measure the eccentricity of the orbit through which the mind daily 
 passes ? Of such experiences it may be truly said, The wind blow- 
 eth where it listeth, thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not 
 tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth ; so are the movements 
 of thine own mind. In every man there seems to be another 
 master than the man himself, — a genius, an angel without a name, 
 with whom he often wrestles, but against whom he may not always 
 prevail. And again : Is there not a similar experience in the de- 
 velopment of the affections .? Love has never known its own secret. 
 Why not love all persons alike } By what law do hearts claim kin- 
 dred, and know one another afar off .-* What is the law of antag- 
 onism and recoil amongst persons marked largely by the same 
 general characteristics, and presumably equal to one another in 
 education and status ? How is it that a conversation in the highest 
 electric sympathy and confidence, can be thrown into disorder by 
 a person who is a non-conductor.? The wind bloweth where it 
 listeth, thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
 it cometh and whither it goeth ; so are the currents of thine own 
 sympathies and affections I 
 
 Regeneration must be its own witness. It is not to be discovered 
 by a spiritual chemistry known only to a few, but to be proved by 
 a life which the rudest observers cannot but distinguish by its virtue 
 and nobleness. The fruit of the Spirit is manifold, yet it is of one 
 quality and worth throughout : it is described by the Apostle Paul 
 with very remarkable minuteness — "The fruit of the Spirit is love, 
 joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance." Why use so many words.? Would not the one 
 word " goodness" have sufficed .? No. Because spiritual growth is 
 often in individual points rather than in the central substance of the 
 character, and it is helpful to have many lights by which to judge 
 of progress. Regeneration does not destroy the primary individ- 
 ualities of human nature : Peter is as ardent and Paul as courageous 
 after spiritual renewal as before, but each must be taught to add to 
 his original characteristics a culture which may seem to lie far 
 beyond his strength, — Peter must add self-control to his ardour, 
 and Paul must attemper his courage by long-suffering and gentle- 
 ness. Not so much by the development of his specialities as by a 
 
352 THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 movement toward new graces will the wise man determine his 
 personal regeneration. 
 
 In laying down the doctrine of the new birth, our Lord showed 
 how fundamental and complete was the change which human 
 nature must undergo as the condition of entrance into the king- 
 dom of heaven. He did not propose to effect merely what is 
 known as a social reformation. He had not to treat the question 
 of external decay but of spiritual death. This statement to Nic- 
 odemus is our Lord's doctrine of what is known as the fall of man ; 
 instead of saying in so many words that Adam fell, he stated the 
 fact in an infinitely more comprehensive and impressive form when 
 he said, "Ye must be born again." All hope of self- reformation 
 was destroyed, and man was sent back to God for new life on the 
 ground of being already dead in trespasses and in sins. Christian- 
 ity has no other than the same fundamental message to deliver to 
 every man. When its preachers speak any other language the 
 gospel falls below its mission, and misleads its hearers. Given a 
 humanity only partially dismembered and enfeebled, and Chris- 
 tianity is altogether in excess of the occasion ; but given a human- 
 ity "bom in sin and shapen in iniquity," then Christianity alone 
 can invest it with eternal life. Man may be staggered by the doc- 
 trine of personal and absolute depravity, in the early stages of 
 serious thinking ; it will probably appear to him to be a doctrine 
 of violence ; he will point to a grace here and there in his own 
 character which will practically contradict the fierce impeachment ; 
 but when he is "born again," and looks back upon his old self, 
 he will see in the doctrine a truth which has been but too feebly 
 stated. Some truths, like some objects in nature, are best seen by 
 contrasts. The doctrine of what is commonly known as "original 
 sin" is in some respects the hardest of all doctrines for unrenewed 
 man to receive ; it assails him so desperately ; it shuts up his 
 mouth when he would plead his cause ; it divests him of all status 
 in the sanctuary of God ; it will not grant him a single postulate 
 with which to start an argument in his own defence : what wonder, 
 then, if he be goaded to resentment, and retire within the security 
 of his own pride } When, after many an hour of agony, he yields 
 to the pleading of the Holy Ghost and becomes "a new creature 
 in Christ Jesus, " he will see himself by contrast, and confirm a 
 doctrine which once made him mad. 
 
TRUE INSIGHT. 353 
 
 Regeneration gives its subjects a new standpoint from which to 
 view all outward things, — in a more than poetical sense it gives 
 them new heavens and a new earth. We know how all outward 
 things vary in aspect and value according to the spiritual condition 
 through which we regard them. The world is shadowed or bright- 
 ened by our own heart rather than by anything in itself ; our joy 
 makes the cloudiest day glad, and our grief finds night in the sun- 
 niest sky. In that supreme moment when man is first conscious 
 of his regeneration, there is no miracle in all the life of Christ that 
 does not appear to him simple and easy, and the removal of 
 mountains by faith as a grain of mustard seed is only the sober ex- 
 pression of an ordinary truth. Such removal is startling to us in 
 our spiritual coldness and languor, — quite extravagant and absurd 
 indeed, — but the reason is in ourselves. In a moment of high 
 spiritual realisation St. Paul exclaimed, " I can do all things through 
 Christ which strengtheneth me." Exactly so. Let a man feel 
 that the case is not measurable by his own strength but by the 
 power of Christ, and he is at once delivered from the prison of so- 
 called impossibility ; he will know that all things are possible to 
 him that believeth, and gird himself to great occasions by offering 
 the all-inclusive prayer, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine un- 
 belief." Measuring ourselves by ourselves, miracles are incredible 
 because impossible : animated by " the power of an endless life," 
 miracles are to us but the large letters in the Bible of nature. If a 
 man be but a critic of the things that are about him, he will not see 
 them as they really are. He will defeat himself by his own clever- 
 ness. His self-consciousness will isolate and impoverish him. 
 But when a man is ' ' born again' ' he sees that what he calls the 
 universe is but a speck in a higher kingdom, and that what he 
 calls " the laws of nature" are but constabulary forces intended to 
 keep fools in their places and help honest men to do their work 
 in security. 
 
CONCLUDING PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, we bless thee for the Holy Spirit, and for the Sacred 
 Church which he has built out of the material he has miraculously 
 restored. Thou didst create the heavens and the earth, but he has created 
 a nobler universe. We are his workmanship in Christ Jesus, being 
 sought out by his grace, and fashioned into beauty by his power. Our 
 prayer Is that the work may be carried on to completion, and that not 
 one of us may be lost. Lord, answer this prayer of human love, and 
 make us strong in the confidence that it is infinitely less than thine own. 
 Holy Spirit, come with every rising of the sun ; breathe in every wind that 
 blows ; and set a glory and a defence around our whole life ; and thus 
 make us princes and mighty men in our day and generation. Reveal the 
 deep things of thy Book to us day by day, and teach our souls all the 
 meaning of thy statutes ; so shall we be strong, and so shall earth become 
 part of heaven, and life touch the mystery and the joy of immortality. 
 Spirit of the living God, reveal to us the mystery of mysteries, the Cross 
 of the Saviour of the world ! Holy Spirit, set up that Cross in our self- 
 trustful hearts, and on it slay our pride and vanity. We leave ourselves 
 in thy hands, knowing that thou art able to keep us from falling, and to 
 present us faultless before the throne. Amen. 
 
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