VAG Le ty iy tj Men ad CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Alfred C,. Barnes Date Due PRINTED IN/U. >. a. (bay CAT.|NO. 23233 Cornell University Library BS2626 .A76 A T 1924 029 292 525 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE A SERIES OF LESSONS ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. THE 1 ( CHURCH IN THE HOUSE A SERIES OF Lessons on the Acts of the Aposties BY WILLIAM ARNOT Late Minister of the Free Cliurch in Edinburgh NEW YORK ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS 530 BROADWAY 1883 BA0Gb BS 2646 A716 PRINTED BY &. U. JENKINS, 223 WILLIAM ST., n Y. ST. JOHNLAND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, SUFFOLK CO., N. Y- / » Ae’. Fo te) (odie DB PREFATORY NOTE. As these expositions have been prepared, partly at least, with a view to their use in families on the evening of the Lord’s day, no process of criticism has been allowed to ap- pear, except such as may be understood and appreciated by any intelligent person who has received at once a common and a Scriptural education. No reference to sources or books has been given. Some questions have been passed over, though important and interesting in themselves, because Evangelical Christians have not yet attained unity of judgment regarding them. According to the example exhibited in the Scriptures, expositions of doctrine and exhortations for practice have been freely intermingled. The reader will not find in this volume a continuous and exhaustive critical examination of the Acts of the Apostles; but he has a right to expect a simple elucida- tion and enforcement of its lessons, as they bear on our own times and our own circumstances, W. A, II. III. Iv. VI. VIL. VIII. IX. XL XI. XHI. XIV. CONTENTS. THE GOSPEL AND THE ACTS ‘ . Acts i. 1. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS . e . Acts i. 2-7. WITNESSES . . ‘ ° . Acts i. 8. THE ASCENSION . . ° ° Luke xxiv. 50-52. WAITING AND PRAYING ° 6 « Acts i. g-14. THE SPIRIT AT PENTECOST ‘ ° Acts ii. 1-4. THE TONGUES OF FIRE . . * Acts ii. 4. THE SEED OF THE WORD IS SPREAD. Acts ii. 5-11. MISSIONS . ‘ . ‘ ‘ Acts ii. 12. AN APOSTLE PREACHES . . ‘ Acts ii. 14. RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH Acts ii. 37-40. CHRISTIAN FESTIVITY ‘ ‘ ‘ Acts ii. 46. AT ONCE GODLY AND POPULAR . . Acts ii. 47. THE USE OF MIRACLES . ‘ ‘ Acts til. 12, £3, PAGE 13 17 21 28 34 38 40 43 47 50 54 58 65 7O Vill XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXYV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIIL. XXXIV, Contents. WOUNDING TO HEAL . . . . . Acts iii. 14-26. THE FIRST PERSECUTION . . . . . Acts iv. 1-4. ADD TO YOUR FAITH, COURAGE a : 5 Acts iv. 7-13. EVERY CREATURE AFTER ITS KIND . . . Acts iv. 23. THE PRAYEk OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH . : Acts iv. 24-29. POWER TO BE WITNESSES . . . . Acts iv. 31-35. A SON OF CONSOLATION . . . . ‘ Acts iv. 36, 37. THE BEACON: ANANIAS . . . . . Acts v. I-10. AFTER JUDGMENT, REVIVAL . . . . Acts v. II-14. HOW THE SEED GREW . . . . . Acts v. 17-26. AGAIN AT THE BAR . . . . . Acts v. 27-29. EXALTED TO GIVE . ° . . . . Acts v. 30, 31. GAMALIEL . . . ° . . . Acts v. 33-42. THE DEACONS . . . . . . Acts vi. 1-6. TROUBLES BEARING BLESSED FRUITS . . . Acts vi. 7-15. STEPHEN'S TESTIMONY . . . . . Acts vii. STEPHEN'S DEATH . : 3 ; P ; Acts vii. 60. THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS THE IN- CREASE OF THE CHURCH Acts viii. 1-4. PHILIP PREACHING IN A SAMARITAN CITY Acts viii. 5. IRUIT— JOY f é . Acts viii. 6-8. PAGE 73 76 80 84 gl 98 102 105 109 114 119 123 127 132 139 144 148 152 XXXY, XXXVI, XXXVIL XXXVIIL XXXIX. XL. XLL XLII. XLII. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVI. XLVIUL XLIX. ie LI. LI. LUI. LIV. Contents. SENT TO THE DESERT : Acts vili. 26. A MAN OF ETHIOPIA : Acts viii. 27, 28. THE MEETING Fi . Acts vill. 29. THE SEED SOWN AND THE HARVEST REAPED Acts vill. 30-39. SAUL. 3 ; Acts ix, I-3. THE LORD’S WORD—CONSOLATION Acts ix. 4. THE LORD'S WORD—REPROOF Acts ix. 4. THE ENEMY SURRENDERS Acts ix. 5-14. THE VESSEL CHOSEN AND CHARGED . . Acts ix. 15. THE VESSEL EMPLOYED . Acts ix. 15. THE LORD REIGNETH 5 Acts ix. 15. : SAUL’S FIRST EXPERIENCES AS Acts ix. 22-31. DORCAS . . . . Acts ix. 36-42. A CHRISTIAN A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN THE GENTILES . Acts x. SAVED BY THE WORD 3 Acts xi, 14. THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE Acts xi. 14. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY . Acts xl. 19-21. THE GRACE THAT BARNABAS SAW Acts xi. 23. THE GLADNESS THAT BARNABAS EXPERIENCED Acts xi. 23. THE EXHORTATION THAT BARNABAS GAVE Acts xi. 23. PAGE 160 164 171 175 179 187 191 195 £99 203 208 214 219 222 227 231 235 239 LV. LVI. LVII. LVIIL. LIX. Lx. LXxI. LXIIL. LXIII. LXxIv. LXV. LXVI. LXVII. LXVIII. LXIXx. Lxx. LXXI. LXXxII. LXXIII. LXXIV. Contents. BARNABAS AND SAUL AT ANTIOCH , Acts xi. 24-30. HEROD VEXES THE CHURCH . . Acts xii. 1-8. ANTIOCH OCCUPIED FOR CHRIST . Acts xii. 20-25; xiii. I. THE FIRST FOREIGN MISSION.—CYPRUS Acts xiii. 2-12. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA MINOR . . Acts xiii. 13-52. ONCE WAS I STONED < a . Acts xiv. I-21. THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION . * Acts xiv. 22. THE MISSIONARIES RETURN TO ANTIOCH Acts xiv. 23-28. THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM ‘ ° Acts xv. THE GOSPEL INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE Acts xvi. 8-13. LYDIA. . . . . ° Acts xvi. 14, 15. THE PYTHONESS . . . . Acts xvi. 16-24. SONGS IN THE NIGHT . ° . Acts xvi. 25. THE JAILER . . . ° ° Acts xvi. 26-31. FAITH AND OBEDIENCE . . . Acts xvi. 31-40. ‘“My KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD” Acts xvii. I-9. BEREAN NOBILITY . ‘ , . Acts xvii. 10, II. SOME AN HUNDRED-FOLD . i - Acts xvii. 12. PAUL'S ARRIVAL AT ATHENS zi 3 Acts xvii. 14-16. A CITY GIVEN TO IDOLATRY i Acts xvii, 16. PAGE 243 247 255 260 266 291 294 298 302 306 310 316 320 324 LXXV. LXXVI. LXXVII. LXVIII. LXXIX. LXXX. LXXXxI. LXXXIl. LXXXIII, LXXXIV. LXXXV. LXXXVI. LXXXVII. LXXXVIII. LXXXIX. XC. XCI. XCII. XCIII. XCIV. Contents. THE PHILOSOPHERS . . . . . . Acts xvii. 17, 18. ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN . . . . Acts xvii. 22-31 SOME FELL ON THE WAYSIDE, SOME ON GOOD GROUND 6 Acts xvii. 32-34. THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD . . Acts xvill. I-9. THE MISSIONARY AND THE GOVERNOR . . Acts xviii. 9-17. PAUL AND APOLLOS . . . . . Acts xviii. 18-28, CONVINCING AND PERSUADING . . . . Acts xix. 8. THE STRONG MAN CAST OUT BY THE STRONGER . Acts xix. 9-17. THE TWO DIMENSIONS,—-BREADTH AND DEPTH Acts xix. 20. “ THE UPROAR IN EPHESUS . . . Acts xix. 21-41. A COMMUNION SABBATH AT TROAS o * . Acts xx. I-12. PAUL’S ADDRESS TO THE ELDERS OF EPHESUS Acts xx. 13-30. THE LARGER BLESSING, AND THE LESS. . Acts xx. 35. THE HIGH PRIEST INSULTING PAUL . . . Acts xxiii. I, 2. PAUL ANSWERING THE HIGH PRIEST . . . Acts xxiii, 3-II. COMPASSED WITH HIS FAVOR AS WITH A SHIELD Acts xxiii. 12-35. THE PARTIES AT THE BAR . . . Acts xxiv. 1-23. PAUL AND FELIX . ‘ : ‘ ‘ . Acts xxiv. 24, 25. CONVICTIONS RESISTED BEAR NO GOOD FRUIT Acts xxiv. 26, 27. THE NEW GOVERNOR Acts xxv. PAGE 327 336 342 345 350 354 359 363 368 372 377 381 388 393 397 401 405 409 413 XCV. XCVIL XCVIL, XCVIII. XCIX. cI. CIL. CIII. CIv. cv. Contents. THE GOSPEL FULFILS THE LAW . » Acts xxvi. 1-16. KNOWING THE TRUE, AND DOING THE Acts xxvi. 18. SOBERNESS . . . . . Acts xxvi. 25. THE UPPER CLASSES . . . Acts xxvi. 25. THE VOYAGE . . . . . Acts xxvii. I-25. IN THE STORM : : : . Acts xxvii. 24-37. ALL SAVED . . . . . Acts xxvii. 33-44; xxviii. I-10. THE MEETING : 5 . . Acts xxviii, 11-15. GRATITUDE AND FORTITUDE . . Acts xxviii. 15, 16. PAUL IN ROME . é . . Acts xxviii. 17-22. CLOSING GLIMPSES . - . . Acts xxvili. 23-31. RIGHT PAGE 418 422 426 430 434 439 443 447 THE CHURCH US) ELE HOUSE. @ Series of Lessons on the Acts of the Apostles. I. THE GOSPEL AND THE ACTS. “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Fesus began both to do and teach.’? —ACTS 1. 1. IN determining the relation which subsists between the evangelic histories and the Book of the Acts, it is not enough to observe that while the Gospels contain the history of the Master’s own ministry, this book records the labors of the apostles. Both alike narrate the work of the Lord: the Gospels, what he did in person when he was here; the Acts, what he did by the ministry of his chosen witnesses after he had ascended. This distinction is marked in the first verse. Luke intimates that in the former treatise he had recorded “all that Jesus degan both to do and teach”; implying that the history which he is now about to compose will be occupied with what Jesus contznued both to do and teach after he had sat down at the right hand of the Father. The distinction is not that the former treatise dealt with what Jesus did, and the latter with what was done by the apostles; the distinction is, that the former treatise told what Jesus did in the first place, and the latter what Jesus did in the second. The first part of Christ’s work has already in the Gospels been recorded; and now in another treatise the second part, or the continuation, of his work will be told. His min- istry, death, resurrection, and ascension constituted only the beginning or foundation of the Redeemer’s work. But after the foundation has been laid a lofty 14 The Church in the House. temple must be reared upon it; and the builder of this temple is Christ the Lord. When he ascended from the Mount of Olives, a way was opened from earth to heaven; but a multitude whom no man can number must be led by it into glory: and none can lead them but himself, the Captain of their salvation, the Bishop of their souls. This book, then, is the continuation of “the life of Jesus” by the evangelist Luke. Nor did the Lord’s work on earth cease at the date when this history closes. Hitherto the Son worketh, and will work till the end. He shall not cease from his work until the kingdoms of this world shall have all become his own. The working of Christ upon the earth does not cease when the inspired history of it ceases. The track of the Redeemer’s way is marked on this inspired chart only a stage or two into the desert, and there it breaks abruptly off; but the way of the Lord does not stop where this track of it comes to an end. Ina map of the city; you may see the road that leads to another city laid down for a little way beyond the wall, and then broken off abruptly in a field. The first stage is traced on the map to show that there is a road, and in what direction it goes; but the road does not terminate in that field a few yards beyond the city walls: the road leads all the way to the capital, and passengers throng it from end to end, from day to day. It is thus that the Book of the Acts marks our Lord's goings after his resurrection only a stage or two forward as a specimen to show us the character of his rule; but his goings continue with his people still, and will continue until the last of the ransomed shall enter rest. This latter treatise does not begin precisely where the former treatise ends. By design, and not by acci- dent, the two overlap each other. The resurrection and ascension of Christ constitute the last portion of the Gospel, and the first portion of the Acts. The same facts appear at the close of one book and at the outset of another. Thus, when a bridge of two arches spans a deep river, both arches lean on one pillar that rises in the middle of the flood. In the midst of the gulf that separated God and man, and in the midst too of the The Gospel and the Acts. 15 tide of time, stood Jesus: on him the old dispensation rests, and on him the new. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. From the solid shore of a past eternity sprang the covenant of grace; but it bent over and bent down seeking support in the middle of the ages. It cannot go over from eternity to eternity at asingle span. But here and among men there was nothing which could bear our side of the covenant, corresponding to God’s side of it, leaning on eternal righteousness before time began. There was nothing here but a fathomless deep of sin and misery. Man’s extremity was God’s oppor- tunity. Through this flood went the person and work of Christ, and became a foundation, in humanity, equal to and corresponding with the eternal righteousness which supported the arch at the other side. God with us stands up in the sea of humanity, as a pier in mid- stream. Divine justice found a resting-place on him. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Thus the purpose of mercy, like the bow of promise, spanned the space from eternity down to the fulness of time, when the Son of God took our nature, and wrought out a righteousness for us and in our stead. There stands the arch now, resting on the Father’s eternal purpose on the one side, and on the Son’s aton- ing death on the other. In the end of the Gospel his- tory we found the first hemisphere of the Divine dispen- sation, terminating in Christ crucified and ascended. That part of the redemption was finished when Mes- siah died. Now, at the beginning of the Acts, we find the second arch springing where the first was finished. This second part begins, as the first part ended, with the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord. Resting there, it rises into the heavens, and stretches away into the future. We lose sight of it, as we often lose sight of the rainbow, in mid-heavens; but we know assuredly that it will traverse all the intervening space, and lean secure on the continent of a coming eternity. From shore to shore the way of mercy reaches across the bottomless gulf of fallen humanity, the last side of the first circle and the first side of the second resting both on the representative Man, our Brother and Sub- stitute, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. 16 The Church in the House. Between the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and his ascension from the Mount of Olives intervened a pe- riod of nearly thirty-four years. This space which, ac- cording to the measurements of time is considerable, becomes a point when it is viewed from eternity; as vast worlds seem shining sparks when they lie deep in the infinitude. The life of Jesus in the world was the point of contact between the finite and the Infinite —the meeting-place between God and man. At that point God touched us, and we were not consumed; we touched him, and yet lived. When the Infinite and Eternal would make himself known to us, he needs must fix on a point in space—a moment in time. Somewhere on the surface of this inhabited world, and at some period in the course of the ages, the meeting must take place. In Judea, and about eighteen hundred and seventy years ago, the Word—who was with God, and was God—became flesh, and dwelt among us. Although, according to our mode of reckoning, the contact extended over a portion of space and a period of time, it will seem only a point, when angels look down on it, or saints look back. With the ascension from the Mount of Olives, Christ’s personal ministry on earth was closed. Here the eclipse went off, and the Sun of Righteousness shone forth again in the sight of the unfallen, free from the obscuration, partial and temporary, which he had undergone. When an eclipse comes on the sun, a strange gloom is spread over all the heavens, and the sun seems to have been robbed of his glory; but when you have waited a while, and marked the changing phases of the phenomenon, you observe that the sun is shaking off the cold shadow of our satellite that seemed to cover his disc. The last remnant of the darkness disappears, and the light of day emerges in all his former glory. One can well imagine that to angelic spirits, who imperfectly understood his attributes and his plans, the incarnation of the Son might seem like a solar eclipse. Some cold, dark, earthly orb comes in con- tact with their Lord, and his glory is to their view for the time obscured. Throughout those thirty-three years the angels may have been occupied inquiring in Final LIustructions. 17 curious wonder what had caused the unwonted dim- ness of their day; and they may have experienced a glad relief when the obscuration passed off, and He whom they worship resumed his throne. We, on our part, are permitted to draw near also and behold the great sight. The parting scene is de- picted in this history. The Son of God had grasped a fallen world that he might save it, and now he lets that world go again—no, he is not really letting it go; for he has taken hold of our nature and has borne it with him to his throne. He still holds fast this world; ever tight is the line of love that binds him to all his own. Keen and sensitive, as the nerves that unite head and members, are those lines through which his love thrills down into his people, and their hope goes up to fasten on the anchor, sure and steadfast, within the veil. II. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS. “Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chos- en: to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infal- lible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things per- taining to the kingdom of God. and, being assenibled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Ferusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. Lor Fohn truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to [s- vrael? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.’’—ACTS I. 2-7. IN this his second statement of the event, the inspired historian has been directed to express very precisely the kind of evidence by which the resurrection of Jesus was proved to the original witnesses, and through them to us. ‘To whom he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs; being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” As the faith of the whole Church depends absolutely on the resurrection of our Redeem- er, it pleased God to give ample evidence of the fact. 18 The Church in the House. But he gave no other evidence than that which appeals to the senses of men. There is no other possible way of proving a fact than by the evidences of the ‘senses. Even our Maker cannot give us other and better evi- dence of a fact, unless he should first change radically our nature. The evidence of Christ’s resurrection is complete. Faith is satisfied, and reason too. But ob- serve how this bears on the Romish dogma of transub- stantiation. The pillar on which that house stands is the assumption and assertion of the priests that the senses may deceive, and cannot implicitly be trusted. Themselves being witnesses, if this assertion falls, their whole doctrine falls with it. But the self-same as- sumption that sustains transubstantiation, would leave the resurrection of Christ unproved and incapable of proof. Either the evidence of the senses is valid proof of a fact, or it is not. If it is, transubstantiation is false; if it is not, the resurrection of Christ is not proved. The very same evidence in kind and degree which proves that Christ has risen, proves also that the bread and wine, after priestly consecration, remain bread and wine, and are not changed into the very body and blood of Christ. Thus the Roman apostasy cannot sustain its fundamental superstition, without at the same time and by the same means destroying the proof that the Redeemer has risen. Antichrist! But, alas! such superstition goeth not out by reasoning, how- ever clear. Those who drink the wine of Rome’s abom- inations, would not throw aside their falsehood, al- though one rose from the dead to tell them it was false. No Protestant should make light of Popery, as if it were out of date and effete. It is a power of dark- ness; but itisa power. It sees its own way and knows its own mind better than the statesmen who, without believing it, fawn upon it and flatter it, apparently from sheer fear of being counted illiberal in religion. The signs of the times bode trouble. Perhaps the present generation of Protestants may need to learn again the meaning of their own name. It is not flat- tering to the intellectual pride of the age, if the age had eyes to see it, that one of its great movements is towards a system which is at once an irrational super- stition and an unmitigated tyrrany. Final Instructions. 19 The last question which the disciples addressed to their Master immediately before he ascended out of their sight—‘‘ Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?”—has been perhaps too hastily represented as evidence of their great ignorance and great earthliness, up to the period of the Pentecost, notwithstanding their privilege of constant intercourse with the Lord. The question, I apprehend, sprang from a true spiritual desire, and from a sound though defective knowledge regarding Messiah’s kingdom. When you look up to the sky ona clear night, and fix your eye on two stars shining near each other with equal brightness, they seem to your sense equally dis- tant from the earth. But if one is a planet of our sys- tem, and the other a fixed star, the difference between their distances is very great—not indeed beyond the power of figures to express, but beyond the power of imagination clearly to conceive. The distance of the planet from the earth is only a small fraction of the distance of the star. Into the spiritual firmament these men of Galilee looked under the instruction of the Lord, but as yet they looked as children. They saw objects distinctly; but they could not judge correctly of relative distances and magnitudes. The two ob- jects were clearly set before them in the writings of the prophets and the words of Jesus,—these two, their own baptism with the Holy Ghost as with fire, and the restoration of the kingdom to Israel—the union of all nations under David’s sceptre in the New Jerusalem. The Master had now given them the distance of one of these objects: it was at hand—‘‘ Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” In the same prophecy of the Old Testament they had read of that baptism, and of the universal submission of the nations to the throne of David. They saw the two stars in the same direction, and they thought that they were in the same plane. Now they had obtained express intimation regarding one of these twin prom- ises, that its fulfilment was at hand. It was natural that they should expect that the same bright particu- lar star, which they had been accustomed to see shin- ing side by side with it in the pure expanse, would approach also at the same time. Hence their question, 20 The Church in the House. “Lord, wilt thou at this'time restore again the king- dom to Israel ?” Their conceptions, I think, were by this time much more elevated than they were at the beginning of their course. Their idea of the kingdom was now truer than when the sons of Zebedee sought by early application to secure places near the throne; and yet it may also be freely owned that their thoughts fell far short, not only of the reality, but even of the views which them- selves a few days afterwards obtained. The baptism by the Holy Spirit will come immedi- ately. Its time is known and declared; but the gather- ing of the nations under the sceptre of David’s Son, although fixed in the heavens and shining brightly thence, is still far away. Times and seasons, ages and epochs, intervene. By these, in indefinite measure and unexpressed number, its approach is indicated. The time of the end lies hid in the Father’s counsel. A wide expanse, by man immeasurable, lies between the baptism by fire of the first apostles for their min- istry, and the cry, ‘‘ The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” The business of these men is to strike in upon the work, and leave the issue to God. When shall the kingdom of Christ be complete?) Answer: What is that to thee? follow thou me. These ages and epochs are not only hidden in the Father’s purpose, they are also held in the Father’s hand. He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He will not fail in his purpose; he will not miss his mark. While it is right and proper for Christians in this age of the world to observe the signs of the times, and endeavor to gird up their loins and watch for the com- ing of the Lord, it is an evidence of shallowness, and cause of much evil speaking, when at every political event, supposed to be very great because very near the observer, they give forth a new calculation to fix the date when the dispensation will come to a close. Unbelievers are indeed ready to scoff at the simplest and purest profession of faithin God; but disciples should beware lest they give adversaries occasion to repeat their sneers. The prophecies of Scripture reveal the Witnesses. 21 coming event, and keep it before us like a star in the firmament; but they do not inform us how near it is. The Master, when the disciples asked him, besides refusing to give them the day and the date of his own final victory, told them why he withheld the in- formation. He withheld it for their sakes. His lan- guage is not, I shall not tell you the times and seasons; but, It is not for you that I should. We could not go so steadily in harness for present labor, if there were not blinders before our eyes, to conceal the plan of Provi- dence and the goings of God in the world. It would not be for us, but against us, if we were able to count on our fingers, from a prophetical text or two, how many years the world will last. Such knowledge would puff up, and therefore it is not given; it would lead us to talk and speculate, instead of doing with our might what our hand finds to do. It is not enough that we submit to leave the ages and epochs in the Father's hand, because we cannot wrench them out of it: we should be glad and grateful that he spares us such sights into the future as we should not be able to bear. It is the part of a dear child to read eagerly all that the Father reveals, and to trust implicitly wherever the Father indicates a design to conceal. “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find”—not prying or predicting, but —‘‘ watching.” ITI. WITNESSES. “ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me bothin Jerusalem, and in all Fudea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”’—Acts I. 8. THE chosen band, diminished now by the fall of Judas, are clustering affectionately yet reverently round the risen Lord, as they ascend together the slope of Olivet, looking their last look upon their Master, and eagerly drinking in his last words. They knew, for he had told them, that his departure was expedient ; but in their 22 The Church in the House. hearts they felt it sad. With a presentiment that the separation was at hand, they united all in one final ques- tion, ‘‘ Lord, wilt thouat this time restore again the king- dom to Israel?” Inthese circumstances a desire to pry into the future was natural; but in the estimate of the Master it was unwise. Accordingly, he firmly checks their disposition to speculate about the date of the Mil- lennium; but he does not leave them dangling idle for want ofan object, when the object which they endeavored to grasp was placed conclusively beyond their reach. In removing the speculative inquiry from their mental vis- ion, he placed a great practical work in their hands. This is the Lord’s method, and it manifests a Divine wisdom. As often as any of his disciples evinced an inclination to follow a curious speculation regarding other persons, he diverted the stream of their energies intosomechannelofpracticaldutyfor themselves. The normal example of this method is the reply to Peter's inquisitiveness regarding the rumored immortality of John: Questzon—'' And what shall this mando?” pendents, untruth and evil-speaking, expose the Chris- tian profession to scorn, and shear it of its power. The adversary goeth about, especially at unsuspected turns of the Christian life-course, seeking whom he may devour. The sphere of the witness-bearing, hitherto confined to Israel, is about to be enlarged. In the first instance, the twelve were not fit for a wider missionary field. They were called in, and were not yet ready to be sent out—that is, to be apostles. They must undergo a preparatory training at the feet of Jesus, and at length be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Then the embargo will be taken off: when they have served their appren- ticeship in a home-mission under the Master’s own eye, they will be intrusted with a commission to the ends of the earth. Assoonas they have obtained the crown- ing qualification in the gift of the Spirit, he will loose them and let them go. Forth, then, from Jerusalem the word of God will run through Judza and Samaria, nor halt in its progress till it strike the ends of the earth, In that age it spread fast and far; but it was soon afterwards arrested. For many ages it made little prog- ress. The Church became corrupt at its centre, and its extremities were paralyzed; the root lost its own life, and therefore the branches could not spread to overshadow the land. More has been done during the present century to spread the word of the kingdom, than for many ages before. For the immediate past the Christian community should thank God; and for the future, though the horizon which bounds the view seems greatly troubled, they should, notwithstanding, take courage. Whatever of comfort or reproof lay in that word for the earliest disciples, belongs also to ourselves. The clause in their commission, ‘* beginning at Jerusalem,” applies in its spirit to our mission-work. The charity that will convert the world, is a charity that begins at home—begins at home, but does not end there. If it do not begin at home, it will not convert the world. If it essay to reach the heathen by leaping over many ranks of unslain enemies to Christ in our own hearts, Witnesses. 27 and many ranks of unreproved blasphemers of his name on our own streets, it will never reach its distant mark among the heathen, or it will reach the mark with a force already spent, lacking power to penetrate the armor in which idolatry is encased. The Gospel in a true disciple is like a fire: it burns; it causes vivid joy; but it will not permit indolence. It must be out: but, like light and heat, it cannot reach the distant circumference without passing through the intermediate space, and kindling all that it touches on its way. The Colonies, the Continent of Africa, the peoples of India, and the Chinese, are the legitimate objects of missionary enterprise; but we cannot suc- ceed in melting these icy regions at a distance, if our own home remain frozen like the poles. The laws of nature forbid it. Unless our love be of such a kind as greatly to disturb a godless neighborhood at home, it will not set on fire a distant continent. We cannot overleap the vice and misery and irreligion of our own city, and pitch our missionaries with power by ship into India. Besides the more hidden spiritual law, there is an obvious material fact that will in these circumstances prevent success. Whilea great mass of our home com- munity remain unchristian, specimens of our popula- tion, cast up in foreign lands like drift-wood on the ocean shores, will counteract effectually the efforts of the missionaries. When settlers or seamen from this country, partakers of our name and our civilization, partakers too of our Christian profession, appear among the heathen, and act as the heathen do, the way of the Gospel is obstructed; the work stands still, or goes backward. A ship heaves in sight in a bay on the coast of Africa, where Christian missionaries have long la- bored among the rude natives. The ship hoists British colors, and the men speak our language, and claim kin- dred with the missionaries. Whenthey open the hatches of their ship, it is found that the cargo consists of rum for barter with the natives. It is found on trial that, besides the mischief which rum is fitted in its own nature to inflict on an uncivilized tribe, the article is so grossly adulterated that it produces a wide-spread sickness, and endangers life. The discovered cheat re- 28 The Church. in the House. acts, in the minds of simple savages, against the mis- sionaries and their message. It would be a great mistake to abstain from foreign work till the home field be completely brought under . culture: this counsel is sometimes given to missionaries by men who are not Christians at all. We must not fall into that trap. Some at home harden their hearts against the Gospel, and some abroad are predisposed to receive it. We must hasten to go out to the utter- most parts of the earth with our message; but we must let the men who are beside us feel the glow of our zeal as it passes by. The command of the Lord is still the rule for his people,—Beginning at Jerusalem, but not ending till we reach the uttermost part of the earth. These words, constituting the disciples his witnesses in the world, were his last words; for when he had spoken them he was taken up. This command, there- fore, every Christian should regard with especial ven- eration and tenderness. At his departure he left his Church in the world,—left it a legacy to the world, that it might in all times be a living epistle of himself. Promoted to such an honor, and charged with such a function, what manner of persons ought we to be? IV. THE ASCENSION. “ And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Ferusalem with great joy.”’—LUKE XXIV. 50-52. THE Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are the two books of one continuous history, by the same author. The first book contains the per- sonal ministry of our Lord; and the second gives sketches of the great mission work conducted by the apostles, un- der the ministry of the Spirit, after their Head had with- drawn from their view. The ascension of the Lord Je- sus is the point of contact between the two books; and, The Ascension. 29 as is natural in such cases, they overlap each other a little there. From the end of the Gospel we gather some features of the ascension which are not repeated in the Acts. There we learn in succession how the as- cending Lord regarded his disciples, and how the dis- ciples regarded the ascending Lord. I. How the Lord regarded his disciples when he was in the act of leaving them. Look unto Jesus at the moment of his departure. If we acquaint ourselves with him as he goes away, we shall be prepared to welcome him when he returns. As he has gone, so will he come again; with this differ- ence, that at his second coming every eye shall see him. t. The place: ‘‘ He led them out as far as to Beth- any.” It was the village on the further side of Olivet, where Lazarus and his sisters dwelt. The heart of the man Christ Jesus was not indifferent to the associations connected with the spot. There he had often rested when he was weary. There he had proclaimed and proved himself the Resurrection and the Life. Perhaps it was at Bethany that the eleven could best bear to let him go out of their sight. ‘‘He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” There hu- man love clothed itself with omnipotence, and recalleda brother from the grave. If the disciples, in their weak- ness, could anywhere endure to look the last time in this world on their Lord, it was on the spot where their friend Lazarus was loosed and let go. Places have power on human hearts. He who knows our frame acknowledges this principle, and uses it. Some spots of this dull Earth are consecrated by bright, blessed memories, which, when occasionally revived, refresh a weary soul. Do not be superstitiously subject to places; but, on the other hand, beware of despising them; for though they cannot save, they may serve. ‘All things are yours.” 2. The parting act: “He lifted up his hands, and blessed them.” Those hands were never lifted up to smite; those lips blessed, and cursed not. Let those who bear his name strive to follow his steps. Let our hands, our lips, be like his. Jesus is the revelation of God—is God revealed. Not by his words only, but 30 | The Church in the House. also by his life, he showed us the Father. Off that blessed life we may read while we run the legend,— “God is love.” Bear in mind that Christ is God’s visit to the world. From first to last that visit was love. His appearing was gentle as a summer’s dawn. He was born a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. Such was the step by which a holy God approached our world when it rebelled against him. Angels sang the advent as peace on earth and good-will to men. The key-note struck at his birth was maintained throughout his history; and you catch its cadence in his dying agony, when he prayed, ‘ Father, forgive them.” In the moment of his ascension you recog- nize still the Lamb of God: “ He lifted up his hands, and blessed them.” , In the last glimpse we get of Jesus, as he leaves the world, he appears lifting up his hands to bless. He disappears in the act of giving; Mary, on the con- trary, disappears from our view in the act of receiving. He, at his departure, as becomes the Saviour of sin- ners, gives to the needy out of his own fulness; she at her departure, as becomes a sinner saved, is opening her mouth wide, that she may receive from her Re- deemer’s grace. He lifts up his hands to bless; she bends her knees to pray (Acts i. 14). Even so; for there is but one Mediator between God and man. 3. His departure. He went to heaven as he came to earth—for his people’s good. ‘It is expedient for you that I go away.” We need an advocate with the Father; and we have one, Jesus Christ the righteous. We need an anchor of the soul while we are exposed on the stormy sea; and we have one, for our Forerun- ner has, on our account, gone before us within the veil. But though he went out of their sight, he did not go far from them. He has left the promise, ‘‘ Lo, I am with you alway.” Leaning on his arm, they look for his appearing. II. How the disciples regarded their ascending Lord. 1. “They worshipped him.” This is a great word. This is a great step in the path of those who followed Christ, and the print of it is full of meaning for us to- The Ascension. 31 day. It is worship: it is the homage of a human heart, which is due to God alone. ‘‘See thou do it not,” is the angel’s stern command, as soon asa man proposes by mistake to offer worship to any created being. Man is made for worshipping. This is shown by the two facts: that he has been made, and that he has been made so great. The beasts that perish have, like him, been formed by the Creator's hand; but they have not the faculties necessary for recognizing their Maker. We, as much as they, are the work of God's hand, but, unlike them, we possess intelligence to ob- serve and own the hand that made us. By the double fact that we are high enough to know God, and not high enough to be God, we are constrained to worship. Man is constitutionally a religious being. In his heart there lies a capacity for worship, and a tendency to exercise it. But while there is something allied to an instinct within us prompting to worship, a darkened mind and a defiled conscience continually turn the stream aside from its proper channel and pollute all its volume. It is human to worship; but no human being since the* Fall, when left to himself, worships aright. Error, which apart from Revelation and the minis- try of the Spirit is universal, parts practically into two, and flows in diverging channels. Worship is directed either to the true God, and in that case is dead; or to an idol, and in that case it can afford to have a species of life. Man finds it easy to offer ardent worship to a creature, but impossible, without the intervention of a Mediator, to give real worship to the living God. Hence idolatry is frequently earnest; while the worship of Jehovah, apart from the knowledge of him in Christ, is a form. The gulf was bridged for man by the incarnation of the Son of God. Here men worship a Man, and yet there is no idolatry. In Emmanuel a human heart may dissolve in Divine homage to a brother of our own flesh and blood, and yet not be defiled by spirit- ual unchasteness. Here man worships a Man, and yet preserves purity of spirit. Only in Christ can he find an object whom he can worship without fear, and yet worship without sin. God has bowed his heavens and ° 32 The Church in the House. come down. He has taken hold of our nature: we, when we feel his touch, awake and worship—worship him that touched us, and yet worship only God. 2. ‘They returned to Jerusalem.” This was a great point gained. The master did not miscalculate the strength of the love to himself which he had kindled in the breasts of those poor men. It was difficult for them to take the first step. It required the ministry of angels to tear them from the spot. ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” (Acts i. 11.) Ah, ye angels that excel in strength, something that ye know not of rivets these men to the spot. These ministering spirits asking the disci- ples why they stood gazing after the risen Lord, are like persons who never knew a mother’s joys or sor- rows expressing surprise to see a mother melting away with grief when her babe is dead. He took not on him the nature of angels; but in the own nature of these Galileans the Lord of Glory had kept them com- pany, and won their hearts and redeemed their souls. Therefore they stood and gazed toward heaven at the spot where he ascended. Their spiritual life hitherto had depended on the presence of the Lord, as an infant’s life depends di- rectly on its mother. They were children, and at that moment children weaned. The branches seemed brok- en from the tree, and they thought they must droop and die. But he who made them new creatures had so constituted their spiritual life that it could survive the weaning and grow stronger thereby. ‘Greater things than these shall ye do, because I go to my Father.” His departure was necessary for their devel- opment into the stature of perfect men. They were not disobedient to the heavenly vision. They did not, on the one hand, continue gazing from the mountain up to heaven, in a fervent but unpracti- cal devotion; neither, on the other hand, did they re- turn to Galilee to their farms and their fishings. They did not demand the return of their Lord, neither did they desert his cause when they were deprived of his presence. They returned to Jerusalem. This simple act, in their circumstances, proved two things: first, their firm conviction that the promised Spirit would The Ascension. 33 come; and second, their settled determination to ac- cept the task of converting the world. They came into the city to wait for the Spirit; but they waited for the Spirit in order that they might go forth in his power to win the nations to Christ. There was much in this act. When those poor and afflicted men went back to the city where their Master’s blood had been shed, it was at the risk of spilling also their own. If they had not been sustained by a super- human courage, Jerusalem would have been the last place to which they should have turned their steps. It was the power of their unseen Lord that nerved their hearts, as they made their way down the western slopes of the mountain and entered Jerusalem as the followers of Jesus the crucified Nazarene. 3. Theyreturned withgreatjoy. Whathavewehere? Great joy! How comes this? As well might you ex- pect a flame to burst from yonder altar after the piled wood has been soaked and the ditch round its base filled withwater. Buta fire from heaven, at Elijah’s cry, made the dripping fuel burn; and light from the love of God kindled these men’s hearts and made their faces shine in spite of the sea of troubles that surrounded them. They had witnessed the rage of the Jews against their Master, and they had been distinctly warned that a sim- ilar persecution would overtake those who should dare to witness to his name and cause. In Jerusalem no comfort awaited them. Among its multitudes they had no friends except a few timid men, who dared not face the danger; and a few faithful women, who were weeping themselves away in some obscure hiding-places. Jeru- salem contained the Roman governor and his soldiers; the Sanhedrim and the mob; the multitude that heaved and stormed like the sea, until its cruel appetite was appeased by the blood of Jesus. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, there was nothing in thee to make these men of Galilee glad when they returned from Bethany without their Lord. They are not permitted to enter rest with their Lord, but they are sent to work for him; and this made them glad. They worshipped him; and now they go from worship down to work: from the work they will, in due 34 The Church in the House. time, returnagaintoworship. Thus, between thesetwo, the pendulum of their life will vibrate, until its last hour strike; and then the laborer, at a bound, will enter his eternal rest. Thus, a Christian who lives up to his privilege leads a sort of charmed life. Nothing can come wrong. To departis to be wth Christ; toremainis to work for Christ: and both are joyful. V. WAITING AND PRAYING. “ And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; anda cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Fesus, which ts taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Serusalem a sabbath day’s journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and. Fames, and Fohn, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, Fames the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Fudas the brother of Fames. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.’’—ACTS 1. 9-14. ‘AND when he had spoken these things.” These words! They were the last and yet not the last. The last in the ministry of his visible presence; but he will continue to teach them still. His word liveth and abideth for ever. He will make good his promise, “Lo, Iam with you alway.” We linger on the last words: ‘(It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.” Himself knows them, and, knowing them, knows that it was not expedient to impart these deep things of God to men. But in the act of intimating that the date of the event must remain concealed, he clearly declares that the event itself is sure,—the establishment of the kingdom in Israel—the universal reign of the Son of David. The event is sure, and the date also is fixed; but the knowl- edge of the date cannot be revealed. For their sakes it is concealed; for manifestly the absolute declaration Watting ard Praying. 35 of the date would thwart and hinder the establishment of the kingdom. It would have closed the lips of sup- pliants, and paralyzed the hands of those who should be fellow-workers with God. When the Lord declines to declare the date of the expected consummation, he gives them another thing instead. He gives them what he counts better. Some- thing which they asked was not for them, and therefore it was withheld; something which they did not ask was Jor them, and therefore it was bestowed. It is thus that we treat our children day by day. He never gives his disciples a blank refusal. When he declines one thing, he bestows a better. That which he bestowed in this case was the combined promise and command of the eighth verse: ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons; but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me,” etc. Instead of permit- ting them to occupy their minds with an unknown future, he sends them into present work. Instead of telling them when the kingdom will come, he assigns to them the work of bringing in the-kingdom. It is by their witnessing that the nations will be made sub- ject to Christ. ‘* The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly;” but you must arise and con- tend; you must cast down the old serpent, and stamp upon his prostrate folds. “ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them.” Who- ever the messengers may have been, the message which they bear is clear: ‘‘This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” The interval must be occupied, not in pensive, fond upward gazing, but in hearty, earnest work. He will come again; but times and seasons which man cannot number will in- tervene. These are times of witnessing for all the dis- ciples of Christ. They must receive the Spirit; they must be witnesses for Christ; they must begin at Je- rusalem; they must reach the ends of the earth. After that shall the end be. The time seems long; and yet it is approaching quickly. That fixed star seems fixed indeed to our eyes; there it has stood in the deep of 36 The Church in the House. heaven, and glittered down on the upturned eyes of longing disciples these eighteen hundred years—the bright promise of his coming; but though it seems to stand still, it is moving; it is approaching. Be of good cheer, disciples, your Redemption is nearer than when those Galileans first left their nets to follow Jesus. The fixed star is not fixed—it is rushing through space to its goal, although its movements cannot be detected by our instruments. The kingdom is coming, although it is beyond the power of our calculus to predict the time of its arrival. Its sudden appearing will surprise and gladden the waiting Simeons and Annas cf that day. This Earth is a small body; it is like a grain of sand on the shore of Immensity—a Bethlehem-ephratah among the worlds which constitute God’s universe: yet the Earth is, and ever will be, the most valued of all his works, because into it has come and from it has as- cended the Divine Redeemer, in whom all things shall yet be gathered into one. Here he passed through his humiliation, and here will his glory be displayed. When the disciples reached the city, they betook themselves to a large upper room—some hall, either hired for the purpose or gratuitously placed at their disposal by some believer, such as Joseph of Arima- thea, who owned property and loved the Lord. From the beginning the Lord needed men of property, and from the beginning he provided them. To the poor the Gospel was preached; but at the same time the love of Christ constrained some of the rich to minister unto him of their substance whatever material means were necessary for the work. As they enter the upper room the names of all the Eleven are taken down and transmitted by the record to the latest generation. Peter is restored, and his backsliding healed; Thomas is confirmed, and believes, although he no longer sees. We have here what in modern phraseology would be termed the minutes and sederunt of the first missionary meeting. With the apostles other believers, men and women, assembled, until the company in the upper room numbered about a hundred and twenty. Here is the first assembly of the Christian Church Watting and Praying. 37 after the ascension of the Lord. This is the well’s eye near the summit of the mountain, and the tiny rill that trickled over its brim that day has grown into a mighty river now. Down through the generations the stream has flowed without ceasing; and at this day, although many things impede its progress, the Chris- tian Church is the greatest power in the world. How great the numbers that go up to the house of God to worship in the name of the one Mediator! From a very small mustard seed a mighty tree has grown. In that upper room were all the elements that go to constitute ‘‘the Church.” The first assembly was the germ of all that followed. United worship is a Divine ordinance. Not only is it in accordance with the revealed will of God, it is manifestly suited to the need and the capacity of men. It is true that the spiritual life depends primarily on the individual; but it is also true that for spiritual growth and health we are in- strumentally dependent on association with fellow- Christians. Our soul’s state is much affected, either for good or evil, by the company of our kind. A human being has a separate personal identity, and also social relations with his neighbors. Some of our actions are solitary, and terminate on ourselves, such as breathing, think- ing; others are necessarily social, and presuppose so- ciety, such as speaking, hearing, loving. If a man were entirely separated from his kind, he would no longer be what he is—would soon cease to be. Half of his faculties would lie dormant for want of exercise; and lying long dormant, they would die; and the death of one half of his faculties would soon take the life out of all the rest. Thus necessary is society for man. God has not neg- lected this feature of the human constitution in the structure of his covenant and the organization of the Church. Our individual relation to God is the first thing: Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?—/hou me. But when this first commandment of the Gospel has been enforced, the second, which is like unto it, is not neglected. None can save his brother: every one must enter into relation with God for himself; but every man both gets and gives in intercourse with society. Every 38 The Church in the House. disciple helps or hinders his fellow-disciple. In all earnest times they that fear the Lord speak often one to another; and the Lord hearkens and hears when any company, great or small, agree to seek him together. There was perseverance in the prayer of the primi- tive Church— they continued.” There was unity in those early prayer-meetings—they prayed ‘‘ with one accord.” The prayers were not soon broken off, and were not hindered by disagreements among the sup- pliants. They ascended straight to heaven in a pillar of pure incense, and descended soon in showers of bless- ing—a great refreshing from the presence of the Lord. VI. THE SPIRIT AT PENTECOST. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 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 Spirtt gave them utterance.’’—ACTS Il. 1-4. THE only event recorded in the interval of ten days between the ascension of Christ and the mission of the Holy Spirit is the election of an apostle in the room of Judas, which occupies the latter half of the first chap- ter. The disciples waited at Jerusalem for the promise, and the promise was in due time fulfilled —‘‘ When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” They waited for the Spirit as those who wait for the morning; as eager for its com- ing, and as sure that it will come at the set time. Al- though they were sure of the event, they did not relax in the use of the means to procure it. Persevering prayer and oneness of heart, were the forces by which they drew the blessing down. At the feast of the Passover, the lamb was slain; at the feast of Pentecost, the law was given. Coincident with the slaying of the lamb was the death of Christ; coincident with the giving of the law was the descent The Spirit at Pentecost. 39 of the Spirit. The long-continued, oft-repeated proph- ecy was at length fulfilled. Passovers and Pentecosts may now cease. Like the seed cast into the ground, they perish in the act of producing. As the sacrifice of Christ was the substantial fruit from the typical prom- ise of the Passover, so the descent of the Spirit was the real and effective giving of the law to men. On the first Pentecost the law was written on tables of stone; on the last Pentecost came the Spirit, whose office it is to write that law on the living tables of the heart. ‘Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind.” Not arushing mighty wind, but a sound that seemed like it. It pleased the Lord to manifest the descent of the Spirit by signs that ap- peal to the senses, that by the mouth of two witnesses the fact might be confirmed;—the sense of hearing, this sound; the sense of sight, the tongues of fire. The fire was like cloven tongues—that is, it was dis- tributed so that a tongue touched each, licking his head like a flame. The tongue was not of fire, but “like as of fire;” there was the brightness, but not the burning. The tongues indicated speech, and the fire promised that the words spoken to spread the Gos- pel would be burning words. At an earlier period the Pharisees, tempting him, asked a sign from heaven. He refused; he would not give a sign to satisfy the curiosity of unbelievers. But when his own disciples are sad, he gives them, without being asked for it, a sign from heaven to cheer them; to prove that he is there, and that all power is in his hands. When Joseph sent the royal chariots from Egypt to bring his famishing father into a land of plenty, the sight of the vehicles—with perhaps the royal arms emblazoned on their sides, according to the fashion of Egyptian art—restored Jacob’s fainting heart, convincing him that his son was alive, and pos- sessed of kingly power (Gen. xlv. 26-28). In some such manner this sign from heaven was fitted to con- firm in the trembling hearts of those primitive disciples the struggling conviction of their faith, that Jesus their elder brother lived, and reigned, and remembered them with all his wonted love. “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” 40 The Church in the House. Hitherto communications of the Spirit had been made in smaller measure, as foretastes of the promised bless- ing. Man, by the Fall, lost communion with God. He became flesh, not only in the sense of being human, but in the sense of being destitute of the Spirit, with- cut God in the world. Through the covenant by which Christ undertook redemption, glimpses of the Spirit were vouchsafed in the earlier times, so that the world was not left in complete darkness. The Spirit of God did strive with man in the evil days both before and after the Flood; but it was only when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us that the Spirit in fulness returned to the earth. Inthe second Adam the Spirit dwelt without measure. He had no sin, and when he became flesh the Spirit was restored to humanity. When he as- cended up on high he retained a connection with his disciples on earth through their faith; and by that thread the Divine Spirit thrilled down from the Head into the members. ‘They were filled with the Holy Ghost.” The vessels were prepared and gathered together. The long-cherished expectations and the long-continued prayers were all brought to a point when the day of Pentecost was fully come. To that point drawn, the Spirit came, and all the vessels were filled to overflow- ing. Then was the disaster of the Fall remedied. First- fruits the Church had previously obtained, but now came the full harvest. VII. THE TONGUES OF FIRE. “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”-—ACTS I. 4. ‘“THEY began to speak with other tongues;” that is, in other languages than their own; especially in the languages of the various nationalities enumerated below. The Tongues of Fire. 4I This is not a miraculous gift bestowed on the mission- aries, and to be used in their ministry so as to super- sede the use of ordinary means. There is no trace of such a gift in the Scriptures of a later date; and no trace of it in the subsequent history of the Church. It would have been unlike the way of the Lord—against the analogy of Providence. It was a sign graciously given on that day to confirm the faith of the disciples at the crisis of their need; not a convenience to render exertion unnecessary. In like manner, the Lord, in a crisis of his personal ministry, fed a famishing multi- tude with afew loaves. This was done for a sign, that they might believe. But he did not interfere with the ordinary course of Providence; he did not free men from the necessity of tilling and sowing the ground. ‘** As the Spirit gave them utterance.” Their hearts were filled with the great things of the kingdom, and they labored to pour them forth as glory to God. The Spirit given to them infused the thoughts, and framed the thoughts into words; so that the emotions and sentiments that filled the hearts of these Galilean fish- ermen were poured out in the tongues of Greece and Rome, of Persia and Africa. Thus the men, whether of the stock of Israel or proselytes from the Gentiles, who had from various countries come up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast, heard in their own languages the wonderful works of God—heard and believed—be- lieved and carried to their homes, and in their homes repeated; so that the Gospel spread in the first age farther and faster through the world than in the ordi- nary course of even apostolic ministry. These foreign worshippers at Jerusalem received “ bread to the eater,” and having lived on the word themselves, they carried it with them to their homes, as ‘‘seed to the sower:” and thence sprang a harvest, that waved like Lebanon, in Europe, in Africa, and in the East, during the life- time of the Eleven. The utterance given by the Spirit to the mission- aries was aptly symbolized by the tongues of fire. As water in baptism signifies the spiritual cleansing, so the fire, resting on the apostles’ heads, promised the living conquering energy with which they should preach the gospel and spread the kingdom. The speech that 42 The Church in the House. publishes the glad tidings should be a tongue of fire. He who speaks the gospel coldly has not himself felt its power. When the preacher’s heart is kindled, his words will burn. Enthusiasm, instead of being a blem- ish in a Christian, is his normal condition. ‘‘ Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” these two have been joined together by the Word of God, and they should never be put asunder in the practice of men. The gift of tongues—the ‘‘ utterance” imparted by the Spirit—was a direct means of establishing Christ’s kingdom, in that it supplied the apostles at the begin- ning of their work with a certificate of their call and their competence. It was evidence to all who heard that they were Divinely commissioned to make known the way of life. But besides its use as a sign to certify the calling of the preachers, it was in its own nature fitted, more than any other sign, directly to promote the cause. It both proved the doctrine true, and spread it far. The expression of the doctrine by Galilean preachers, in a language that foreigners understood, both induced the hearers to believe and enabled them to carry home what they had heard for the benefit of their own countrymen. Any other sign from heaven might have been equally effective to convince the on- lookers that the apostles had a Divine commission to make known God's will; but no other sign would have suited so well as an instrument to spread the Word of life rapidly among the nations—to sow the seed in the first spring over the wide field of the world. A question has been raised as to the precise import of the expression, ‘dwelling at Jerusalem,” whether it means Jews born and bred in foreign countries, who in old age returned to lay their bones in the sacred city, or Jews and proselytes whose homes were in the various countries enumerated, and who were sojourning tempo- rarilyat Jerusalem, that they might worshipat the feasts. There may have been specimens of both kinds; but the spirit of the narrative seems to imply that the majority belonged to the latter class, and the Ethiopian eunuch isan example. Having come so far, it is probable that he remained a considerable time in the city; and that he, and such as he, although only visitors, might cor- rectly be represented as ‘dwelling at Jerusalem.” The Seed of the Word ts spread. 43 The Lord lives and rules now and in this land, as really as then in Judea. He is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever. When a young person goes for a time to reside intown orcountry ata distance from home, and there hears the wonderful works of God—the work of redemption by the death of Christ—let him think, God has brought me to this place in order to speak this word to me; he means that I should receive it, and live; that, living by faith on his Son, I should return to my own home and tell what gréat things the Lord hath done for me. VIII. THE SEED OF THE WORD IS SPREAD. “ And there were dwelling at Ferusalem Fews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now whenthis was notsed abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, andin Fudaa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Kome, Fews and prose- lytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the won- derful works of God.’?—ACTS Il. 5-1le IN the cotton factories of Lancashire you may see a huge piece of machinery, fifty feet in length, and containing hundreds of spindles, moving slowly, steadily, across the floor from one side of the room to another; and then, without the touch of a human hand, turning and mov- ing as steadily and slowly back to the place from which it started. It is a great triumph of mechanical skill to insert within the machine a power by which, after it has moved a long way forward, it shall stop, and move as far backward. I think I see a similar contrivance in the Mosaic institutes. They were calculated and fitted to retain the word of God at Jerusalem till a certain time, and then to send the word forth from Jerusalem. The very same provision that confined the ordinances to Israel until Christ came, became the means of spreading them 44 The Church in the House. over the world at the appointed time—when the day of Pentecost was fully come. i All the people must come to one place with their sacrifices. Year by year they made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the Passover and the other appointed feasts. Even after some of the people had settled in foreign lands they still obeyed this law. | The Ethiopian treasurer travelledathousand miles for this purpose, and many others from east and west and south and north met him there. This institution seemed intended and fitted to confine all worship of the true God to one place for ever. It seemed to forbid the spread of true religion over the world, and yet it became the means of carry- ing the gospel forth from Jerusalem, and making it known to the nations. This law and practice brought devout Jews and pros- elytes from many lands to Jerusalem at the Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. Being on the spot when the Spirit was poured out, they heard each in his own tongue the gospel of grace, and carried the glad tid- ings home. Thus Christ was preached in many dis- tant countries very soon after his own ministry was closed. That word which the strangers heard at Je- rusalem they carried home as seed, and from that seed an early harvest sprung. In a still, hot, sultry day of autumn, as you walk through the fields, your attention is arrested by a tiny sound of brief intervals, as if it were an explosion in miniature. You stand still and listen. Now and then you hear a sharp shot, and a few seconds thereafter a shower of tiny balls falling on the ground or on the leaves of the larger plants. It is the bursting of seed- pods in the sun. The casket that contains the seed of some plants is composed of four or five long narrow staves, joined: together like cooper work, but without the hoops. The staves are glued together at the edges, and the vessel thus constructed is sufficiently strong to retain and protect the seed till it is ripe. But if the seeds were retained in the vessel after they are ripe, the purposes of Nature would be thwarted. Ac- cordingly at this stage there is a turning-point, and the action of the machinery is reversed. The very same qualities in the seed-vessels that hold fast the The Seed of the Word ts spread. 45 seed while it is green, jerk it to a distance and sow it broadcast after it is ripe. When the pods are dried in the sun the glutinous cement holds fast, the staves of the little barrel are bent, and when at last the burst- ing force overcomes the adhesion, they open with a spring that flings the seed to a distance, as if froma sower's hand. Thus the same mechanism that secures the confine- ment of the seed to one spot while it is green, provides that it shall be scattered to a distance when it is ripe; so that, next year, a larger space shall be covered by its growth. By this contrivance in Nature, although no human hand were near, a whole field would soon be sown by seed from a single plant. Thus the law in Israel that confined the sacrifices to one spot, and so brought Jews and proselytes from all the surrounding countries to Jerusalem at the Pen- tecost, threw the seed of the Word as by a spring out from Jerusalem into all the neighboring nations. These Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, were the seed-vessels, charged with pre- cious seed at Jerusalem, and then thrown back on the several countries whence they had come. In this way the gospel was in a single season brought to regions which otherwise it might not have reached in the course of a century. We know, in point of fact, from ancient history that the Christian Church sprang up in many widely separ- ated regions during the lifetime of the apostles, or very soon after their death. This fact finds its explanation in the gathering at Pentecost, and the gift of tongues. Take, for example, those nations that are first men- tioned in the list, and lie eastward from Palestine, in the heart of Asia. The Parthians and Medes and Elam- ites were contiguous and allied peoples. Elam cor- responds to Persia, and the two others were closely related to that ancient and celebrated kingdom. The Persians maintained an empire independent of Rome for several centuries after the commencement of the Christian era. In ancient times the Persians were fire- worshippers; and that portion of the race who, under the name of Parsees, are still found in Western India, adhere to the religion of their fathers. The sun is their 46 The Church in the House. chief god, but they worship fire wherever it occurs. Per- haps these Persians had emigrated eastward before their country was overrun by Mahomet. We may be assured that the proselytes from Persia would experience peculiar emotions when they saw the tongues of fire, and heard the gospel in their own lan- guage from the lips of Galileans. Here is fire that really sheds light on the darkness, and kindles life where death had reigned before. A Christian Church existed in Persia in the earliest centuries of our era. In the year 333 it endured a vio- lent persecution, in many respects similar to that which has raged against the Christians of Madagascar at va- rious periods in the present generation. At one time the principal bishop, with a hundred ministers of in- ferior rank, were put to death. The bishop, Simeon, when brought into the king’s presence for trial, refused to prostrate himself, as he had formerly done without scruple; giving as his reason that the act might have been misunderstood when he was called to witness re- garding his religion and his God. Ordered to worship the sun, he refused, saying that the sun was even less worthy of worship than the king, as it was not a living creature at all. He was sent back to prison for a day, that he might have time to reflect. Next day the prisoners were all brought out for execution. The bishop and two companions were kept to the last, in the hope that the sight of so many executions would soften them, and induce them to deny Christ. He re- mained firm. One of his friends having manifested symptoms of fear, an officer of the king’s household, named Phusek, a Christian, said to him, ‘‘ Fear not; shut your eyes but a moment, and you will open them on the light of Christ.” When this was reported to the king, he upbraided his servant Phusek; but that Chris- tian witness replied that he would gladly give away all the honors the king had bestowed, in exchange for the crown of martyrdom. His tongue was thereupon torn out, and he died in torture. In this persecution the common Christian people were for the most part permitted to escape, while the chiefs were sought out and put to death. It lasted, with greater or less violence, for a period of forty years. Missions. 47 Nothing could show more clearly. than these sad events the great extent to which Christianity had spread in those early ages. A great harvest sprang in many lands from the seed that the worshippers found at Jerusalem—a great flame of spiritual life was kindled in the far East by those fiery tongues of the Pentecost revival. IX. MISSIONS. ‘* And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying ome ¢o another, What meaneth this ??’—ACTS Il. 12. WHEN the noise was heard, the multitude came to- gether, and were confounded: they were poured to- gether, and lost all distinct thought and judgment. In this state of confusion and amazement, some mocked the speakers, attributing their language to drunken- ness; others, grave and solemnized, but uncertain, ut- tered to each other the question, ‘‘What meaneth this?” We have already endeavored to reach the meaning of the fact for that generation; but it will be profitable also to inquire what it means for our own. After the first ages, there came a period of feebleness and decay. The Church was extinguished in some countries, and corrupted in others. The vine that grew on the moun- tains of Judah, and threw its branches westward to the Mediterranean, and eastward to the Euphrates, was on all sides assailed and cut down. In the East it was destroyed; and in the West, although the branches re- mained in their place, they lost their life-sap, and withered. ; After a long period of midnight, the Reformation dawned. God granted a revival to the slumbering na- tions of Europe. Jesus seemed to stand, as once he stood at the grave of Lazaras, and call the dead to life. The dry bones of the valley started up, an ex- ceeding great army of living men. It would have been well if the men of the Refor- 48 The Church in the House. mation, when they shook off the yoke of Rome, had betaken themselves to this text, and considered the question, ‘‘ What meaneth this?” They missed one half of its meaning. They caught the Pentecost re- vival in as far as it meant the getting of spiritual life for themselves; but they missed it, in great measure, in as far as it meant the publishing of the glad tidings in all lands. They secured the Spirit, descending as fire to kindle love to Christ, in their own hearts; but they did not, in any large measure, receive the Spirit as tongues of fire, to spread the light through the dark places of the earth. They gladly accepted the-privi- leges of sons; but they did not with sufficient energy exert themselves as servants. They became Chris- tians, but not missionaries. Their circumstances, in- deed, as compared to ours, were adverse. They were involved in controversies, and crushed by persecuting wars. In our times a great reviving has again visited the Church of Christ. Disciples have in the present cen- tury again learned to know the meaning of the sign from heaven. We have enjoyed comparative peace, and we have at command much greater resources. More in the way of talent has been given to us, and, therefore, from us more in the way of work will be re- quired. The Church of this century has accepted this sign both as a baptism of fire for spiritual life in itself, and as a tongue of fire to tell in burning words the Redeemer’s love in heathen lands. ‘‘What meaneth this” for the present generation of believers? It meaneth pre-eminently Missions. The best paraphrase of the passage was given in the words of the Lord Jesus, when he said, ‘‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature.” One of the chief external hindrances to the spread of the gospel is the confusion of tongues. A strange language, which the missionary meets when he crosses a sea or a mountain-range, is like a wall that stops his progress, saying, ‘‘ Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.” The men of Galilee, at the Pentecost, were enabled to surmount that difficulty by a miracle of Di- vine power. They might have sung with David, ‘“ By my God assisting me, I overleap a wall.” The un- Missions. 49 learned Jews opened their lips to speak of Christ, and the str ngers from various countries instantly heard, each in his own language, the wonderful works of God. A missionary of our day might pine for such a privi- lege. Ifa Christian starting from Britain or America, and arriving in China, had nothing more to do than open his lips and preach the Word as if he were at home, the work would be easy. Yes, it would be easy; and, also, it would be easy to live, if, by a word of blessing uttered over it, a little bread should grow into rations for five thousand men. But this is not, in either sphere, the way of the Lord. It would not be difficult to prove that the miracle, which, occurring once, served a great and good purpose, would, if it be- came the ordinary rule, destroy all. Enough, that the will of the Lord is, that we should till and sow in or- der to obtain bread; that we should patiently learn strange tongues, in order that we may make known through them the redemption of Christ. We have greater things than these men of the Pen- tecost enjoyed. Weare better off than they. Greater numbers are converted every year by ordinary natural speech than ever were converted by the extraordinary gift of tongues. Inthe Great Exhibition at London, as far back as 1851, the Bible was shown in one hun- dred and fifty languages. Behold, a greater privilege than the gift of tongues, a greater than the Pentecost miracle, is here! This acquisition is permanent. The way once opened to one hundred and fifty different tribes remains open. These canals once, by much la- bor, excavated, remain to convey the living water to a thirsty land from generation to generation. The mir- acle of Pentecost did not last long: the flickering light of those fiery tongues was soon extinguished. The ex- traordinary gift was not itself a permanent substance, but a shadow that pointed to something better, and then passed away. These polyglot Bibles of the Lon- don Exhibition were the fulfilment of the Pentecostal prophecy. The sign from heaven only pointed out the direction in which our efforts should be made, and then withdrew. This sign then, for us, manifestly meaneth, that we should break forth on every side, and burst through or 50 The Church in the House. overleap the barrier of strange tongues, and all other barriers that stand in the way, and never rest until the kingdoms of this world shall have become the king- doms of our Lord and of his Christ. Our own tongue has, in the sovereign providence of God, been more highly favored than any other; and from them to whom much is given much shall be re- quired. This language is nowhere now desecrated by a state law to prohibit any human being from reading the Word of God. In this language there are more Bibles than in any other; and this is the language that is spreading faster and farther than any other over the world. The two nations that speak it, Great Britain and the United States, are the greatest mari- time powers; and together they hold sway over a fourth part of the earth, anda sixth part of men. Not only are these two nations already so far advanced, but they are advancing at a much greater ratio than other na- tions. God is giving the earth to those people who give his Word to mankind without restraint and with- out limit. That tongue which most freely circulates the Bible bids fair to become the paramount language ofthehumanrace. ‘‘Themthat honor me, I will honor.” Let the two nations which use in common this mother tongue be faithful to the Head and loving to each other, and their destiny, even in the near future, may be grand- er than any prophet has yet been able to conceive. This in regard to the tongue; but what of the fire? Would that it were already kindled by the Holy Spirit in the secret of believing hearts, wrapping first the Church and then the world in its flame. Xx, AN APOSTLE PREACHES. “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Fudea, and all ye that dwell at Ferusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.’’—ACTS I. 14. IN the life of the Lord himself, it was after the Spirit had descended upon him at his baptism that he broke forth into a positive, aggressive ministry. In this re- An Apostle preaches. 5I spect the Church, which is his body, follows the same rule. Before the mission of the Spirit at Pentecost the disciples remained at Jerusalem, and remained silent there. Upward to God there was much sighing and crying in the interval, but no word going outward to men. It was a time to receive, not a time to give: they waited for one great receiving, which should enable them to give out all their life afterward. There were, first, prayer with one accord; next, the gracious answer in the gift of the Spirit; and then the positive ministry began. Now the apostles have re- ceived power; and now they will become witnesses of Christ. Beginning at Jerusalem, they will not cease from their labors until all ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. The multitude who had gathered round the disci- ples, and had heard the wonderful works of God, were now divided into two portions,—the overawed inqui- rers, and the light-hearted mockers. Thus far and no farther can signs and wonders go. The work of con- version, in its completeness, is due to another power. Although the earthquake and the storm may prove effectual to shake the heedless out of their lethargy, the still small voice must come after these signs ere a human soul can be reached with renewing grace. The miracles of Pentecost avail to divide the multitude only into two classes; some were solemnized and amazed; others in the vanity of their hearts attempted to laugh down the whole matter as a drunken freak. But when the Word is preached with the power of the Spirit—the Word of God that goes like a sword through the joints and marrow—it will be found that the two classes grow into three. Besides the mock- ers, and the solemnized inquirers, the believers will emerge—those who receive the word with gladness and live by faith. Having now received the power, the apostles will immediately exercise it. They will seize the oppor- tunity of being witnesses for Christ. Peter, as usual, is spokesman. Prince, that is, “‘foremost,” of the apos- tles, he certainly is, in the sense that he is always ready to spring to his feet and to speak for himself and his brethren. 52 The Church in the House. Peter stood up. Possibly there were some private consultations between him and those who happened to be nearest as to who should first speak, and what line of argument the speaker should adopt. I could even conceive that John stood next the spokesman, and helped him with the quotations from Scripture as he went along. It would appear also (verse 14) that the whole college of apostles stood up while Peter spoke, that they might adopt his words as the testimony of all. He lifted up his voice, perhaps in a very loud tone, in order to reach the outskirts of the vast congregation. Here the preaching of a completed redemption be- gan. This is the first sermon. Since that time the preaching of Christ has exercised a great power on the world; and it must continue until, like the sun, the light of the Gospel shall compass the earth. In this first specimen of preaching peculiar honor is given to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The preacher plants his foot on the Prophets and the Psalms as ona sureandeverlasting foundation. Allis grounded on the inspired Word. Further, this earliest example of a sermon isin the maina narrative. The apostles considered themselves to be the witnesses of a fact to the world. They depended neither upon argument nor rhetoric: they told a story, and looked to God for the power. Atasubsequent period, even in apostolic times, it became necessary to intermingle doctrinal discussion with the narrative of facts; but at the outset it was testimony merely, and it continued to be testimony mainly to the last. Even now the essence of preaching is the statement of a fact. When the Evangelist Luke at the com- mencement of his second book takes a retrospective view of his earlier work, he calls it a record of ‘‘all that Jesus began both to do and teach.” The doing goes before the teaching, and lies under it to sustain, as the foundation sustains the superstructure. The teaching is secondary, and subordinate to the acting: the teaching is of use only in as far as it explains and applies the action. It is what Jesus did that saves; and preaching is valuable onlv in as far as it explains and enforces his saving work. An Apostle preaches. 53 Another feature of Peter's sermon is that it presents Christ as the fulfilment of Scripture. The disciple had learned this from his Master. When Jesus had read the text from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke iv. 16-22) he closed the book and gave it again to the attendant; and, presenting himself to the au- dience, he said, ‘‘ This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” It is only when we read them in the light of Christ risen that the Prophets and the Psalms can be understood. It is when the sun rises and shines on them that all the gems scattered over the ground and partly embedded in the earth begin to sparkle like stars in the sky. Towards the close of his discourse, Peter exhibits great skill and boldness in pressing home his doctrine to the hearts of his hearers. This is an outstanding characteristic of apostolic preaching: we must adopt this method if we would see the kingdom coming in our own day. If we draw weapons from the Lord’s great armory, and suspend them in the air, that spec- tators may see and admire their sheen and sharpness, and if we then cease, our labor is vain. These weapons are made for wounding; and he handles them uselessly and faithlessly who does not bring their points to bear on the enemies of the King that lurk in human hearts. In this case the preaching was successful: the sword went home. ‘ They were pricked in their hearts,” and the wounded sought the Healer. The apostles led the convicted to Christ. The words of Peter gener- ated a great thirst in many souls; the thirsty were led, on the instant, to the water of life. They gladly re- ceived his word, and the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls. 54 The Church in the House. XI. RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, pnd be baptized every one of you in the name of Fesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise 1s unto you, and to your chil- dren, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves frou this untoward generation.’’—ACTS II. 37-40. IN order to understand how they received the Word “Gladly,” we must remember that they had been “pricked in their hearts.” They had been wounded; and now the healing is grateful. The Word had wounded; and now the Word heals. A little religion is a painful thing; but more religion takes the pain away. The Word is both a hammer to break the rock in pieces, and a balm to heal the broken heart. Its first effect is to convince a sinner that he is lost; its next, to make the lost rejoice in his Saviour. It is of first-rate importance to keep these two func- tions of the Word distinct, and to keep the right one foremost. To preach a healing gospel where there is no wound on the conscience, is like pressing draughts of cold water on those who experience no thirst. I know of nothing sweeter than water to the thirsty; but I know of nothing more insipid than water to those who are already satisfied. The apostles after Pentecost were skilful preachers —they rightly divided the word of truth. If you ex- amine Peter's discourse, as far as it is recorded here, you will find that its specific and consistent aim is, in the first place, to produce in the audience a conviction of their own guilt. The immediate purpose for which he appeals to Scripture is to bring home to those Jews who stood before him the guilt of crucifying the Son of God. It was not with gladness that they received that word: it was with grief, shame, remorse. It was when the preacher saw that his first word had taken effect, that he delivered the second. He has succeeded in wounding; and at the cry of the suf- Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. 55 fering patient, he comes forward now to heal. The old stem has been cut off, and the tree is bleeding; he will turn now the knife that is in his hand, and with its other side insert the new graft, that there may be a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. You pour from your phial some burning drops upon a sore: their first effect is to increase the pain; but knowing the sovereign power of the remedy, you con- tinue to pour it on the ailing place, sparing not for the patient’s crying. At length the continued application of that which caused the pain, takes all the pain away. When the Word of God wounds a soul, continue to ply that soul with the Word, until the sword that wounded becomes the balm that heals. Then, in this second stage, the hearer will receive the Word gladly. Indeed, he who receives the Word will receive it gladly; for those who do not receive it gladly, will not long continue to receive it at all. These believers were immediately baptized. Of many interesting questions connected with this baptism, which might in proper time and place be profitably discussed, I shall here touch only one. It is clear from the narrative that re- generation was not the result of baptism, but baptism the result of regeneration. It was when they had re- ceived the Word with gladness, that they were bap- tized. The order of events is precisely that which the Master had enjoined (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20): ‘‘Go ye therefore, and— r. ‘Teach [make disciples of] all nations, 2. ‘‘Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 3. ‘Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” In this case, Peter and his companions, in striving to build up the Church, strove lawfully. They first laid themselves out to make disciples of the people. Then, when they perceived by the successive pain and glad- ness produced by the preaching that the multitude had become disciples, they baptized them; and lastly, it is clear, from the concluding verses of this chapter, that these newly-accepted members of the Church were suc- cessfully taught to observe all the commandments of 56 The Church in the House. the Lord, for their subsequent life abounded in faith and charity. But a dash of sadness is thrown into the midst of this happy scene; for ‘“‘fear came upon every soul.” But this points to the outer circle—to those that as yet believed not. The conversions—many, sudden, and complete—shone like a light in the darkness. The on- lookers were startled. Whentheysawso many entering ‘into life, they were smitten with a sudden fear lest them- selves should be left without and perish. From the apostle’s view-point, however, this fear which they observed in their neighbors was a hopeful symptom. The example of believers had begun to tell. It is a good sign, when those who have hitherto lived without Godinthe world begintobeuneasy. Especially is it a good sign when the sight of multitudes pressing through the strait gate into the kingdom, stirs in those whoarestill without, adread ofbeing left behind. When one or more are raised up from the miry pit, and get their feet set on a rock, and a new song on their lips, many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord (Ps. xl.) The Christian community, in the freshness ofa first faith, was suddenly thrown into society; and society was per- turbed and put about by the newand unwonted presence. If a new planet should be projected into our system, it would make the old worlds stagger in their paths. Bod- ies in contact reciprocally affect each other, especially in respect of temperature. Pour hot water into a cold vessel; the water contributes to heat the vessel, but the vessel also contributes to cool the water. If aconstant and strong stream of hot water is supplied, it will bring up the vessel to its own temperature. A process like this goes on continually between the Church and the world. Fervent disciples, especially in a time of first love, affect with somewhat of their own warmth the society into which they are poured; but society, on the other hand, clasping round the converts, affects them with its own coldness. The world, being the larger body, will soon cool, will soon freeze these few disciples’ hearts, unless they contrive to maintain constant contact with the Head, and continually draw from his fulness. A word here to those who live without Christ in the Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. 57 world. My friends, I confess that the Church in contact with youis more or less cold in spirit. Its faith and love are not lively. The visible Church in contact with so- ciety is not so bright and burning as to arrest and compel your regard. The disciples are not so manifestly like heaven as to send a thrill of terror through you, lest you should fail to join their company. If you remain care- less, I confess that we are much to blame. You have causetoblameChristians. Butifyou stumble over their coldness—stumble so as to fall—what comfort will it afford you that you could blame the Church for its luke- warmness? To blame them, even when they are blame- worthy, will not save you when you are lost. Lately in this city the father of a family had occa- sion to look over some workmen who were engaged in building a house for him. After the work was far ad- vanced, he found one of the men lighting his pipe among the dry, light, inflammable shavings which were strewn about in all directions. Addressing the workman, the owner said, ‘‘If my house is burned by these sparks, the blame will rest on you.” Pausing and thinking over what he had said, he added with a sigh, ‘‘ The blame will be yours, but the loss will be mine; for you cannot repay.” The thought sank into the proprietor’s heart; he saw the risk was too great: he went away and zzsured the house. Oh, my brother, go and do likewise. Yourselves— not the house, but the immortal inhabitant—your- selves are in instant danger of being lost. Let it be confessed there is not such ardent faith in the Church as to awaken a slumberer—the Church deserves blame; but the Zoss 7s yours. Goandinsure. Your soul's life is too much exposed; hide it in a place of safety; hide it ‘‘ with Christ in God.” 58 The Church in the House. XII. CHRISTIAN FESTIVITY. “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and break- ing bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and single- ness of heart.’’—ACTS 11. 46. WHEN you ascend from the centuries that succeeded the apostles’ days, into the upper stratum of history, in which the apostles themselves were actors, you seem to emerge from a stifled, airless cave, where all manner of fungous growths luxuriate, into the open field where fresh breezes play, and sunbeams glitter, and dew-besprinkled flowers shed their varied perfume on the air. In the Acts of the Apostles you find not only a purer religion, but more of common-sense and manliness, than in the history of the Fathers. We fall into a great mistake if, while we seek in the Scriptures and by prayer for direction in matters of faith, and the larger turning points of life, we leave smaller affairs, such as our feasts, our company, and recreations, to the arbitrament of chance, or the ex- ample of the world. “In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” ‘‘ Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” It is an unspeakable privilege to be permitted to run into our Redeemer’s presence with the minor anxieties of life, as well as with the great concerns of eternity. In this very thing lies the distinctive pecu- liarity of a child’s position, as distinguished from that of a stranger. Only on the great things may the stranger approach the king; but in everything the ap- peal of a child is welcome to the Father. ‘Casting all your care on him; for he careth for you.” Avoiding for the present the question regarding the dispensation of the Lord’s Supper, and the relation which it bore in primitive times to the common meals of the disciples, we shall endeavor to concentrate at- tention on the common meals themselves, and the manner in which Christians then enjoyed them. ‘They Christian Festivity. 59 did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” But a preliminary to this gladness in eating their own food, was a liberal contribution for the comfort of poorer brethren, according to the narrative immediately pre- ceding. Not indeed by a community of goods, for it was optional with each proprietor whether he should retain his property, and even when it was sold, the proceeds were distributed by himself according to his own judgment of the claimant’s need,—not by a com- munity of goods, but by a great and general generos- ity, the believers in Christ who possessed substance had satisfied the poor with bread. This is a necessary ingredient in the gladness with which a Christian en- joys the plenty that may have fallen to his lot. The Master reminded us, ‘‘The poor ye have always with you;” and he meant that the grace of liberality should not die out of our lives for want of exercise. But, sup- posing this duty accomplished, or rather this privilege enjoyed,—the larger of the two blessings, that of giv- ing to our brethren who are in need, the question remains, What is it to eat our common meals with gladness of heart, and how may that pleasure be fully and habitually obtained ? Although the Lord's Supper was more frequently administered, and in more close proximity to family meals than would be possible or suitable now that the Christian community has grown so great, it is evident that here in the latter clause it is not the religious or- dinance, but the common meal that is signalized as having been simple and joyful. Here the footsteps of the flock have been marked in history for us: by this way they went, when they met together to eat their daily bread. Some may think this is a matter on which exam- ples and instructions from the Christian Scriptures are not required: some may suppose that eating and drink- ing is the concern of man as such, and provided for in the laws of nature. But the Scriptures do claim the control of this matter, and lay down rules for its con- duct. We need Divine guidance even on this natural process. Even here we lack wisdom, and should ask it of the Father, who giveth to all men liberally. _ Providing, preparing, and partaking of food, is a 60 The Church in the House. very important work in the life of man. A very large proportion of our time and energy is necessarily devo- ted to it. The three allied questions, What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? are legitimate questions for humankind: they are not evil in themselves; they become evil only in their excess, and when they usurp the place of great- erinterests. It concerns us much to do in a right way and a right spirit those necessary acts which occupy a large proportion of our time and energy. They did eat. These ancient Christians were not hermits. They did not deny themselves their neces- sary food, or the company of their kind. In particular, they enjoyed their food more by enjoying it together. They acknowledged and fell in with that instinct of na- ture, which craves cheerful company and conversation at table. They did not denounce and desert convivial meetings. The sight of a friend’s face and the sound of his voice while we eat, are good gifts of God as well as the bread that sustains us, and should be received with thanksgiving. It is neither the aim nor the effect of true religion to thwart the affections and instincts of nature. Grace comes not to destroy these appetites, but to fulfil: it comes not to forbid their use, but to purify them from the abuses that sin has introduced. A convivial meeting is an object of dread, particularly to Christian parents in our land and day; but it is not in itself evil; in as far as it retains its etymological meaning, eating together, behold, it is very good. It is good in its origin, and it may be good again, when the various abominations that the god of this world has associated with it shall have been brushed away. In convivial meetings the earliest Christians did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, be- fore luxury corrupted them; and in convivial meetings Christians might yet enjoy the cheerful society in eat- ing and drinking, which conduces to health as well as to happiness, if all intemperance, and frivolity, and licentiousness, were banished from the board. One good reason for eating our bread with gladness is that we have bread to eat. An additional cause of joy may be found in the fact that a self-acting machinery has been set up in the constitution of our naturé, which Christian Festivity. 61 % reminds us when nourishment is needed, and compels us to take it at the proper time. If this had been left cependent on our memory and faithfulness, it would lave been grievously neglected. It is not necessary that we should painfully remember the necessity of sustenance for our bodies, and live in fear lest life should through neglect be lost. A watcher has been placed within our own being like the ambassador of another sovereign within our own capital, whose business it is to see the needful food administered at the needful time. That sentinel is faithful, and powerful: he never sleeps: and he lacks not compulsitor of pain to enforce his commands if we should be slow to obey. Hunger seems the twin brother of conscience; the orie watch- ing for the health of the body, the other for the well- being of the soul: both are gifts of God, and both invested with authority over us, for our own good. These grounds for gladness in eating our daily bread are common to all: but there are other reasons which belong to Christians assuch. Those who have obtained peace with God through Christ the Mediator, have not less, but more enjoyment in their food than other men. Instead of merely gathering their sustenance from the ground like cattle, they enjoy communion with the Father of their spirits every time they eat. To give thanks and ask the blessing by one voice at the social meal, constitutes the framework through which that communion in spirit seeks expression. It is the living gratitude in Christian hearts that has thrown out these seemly expressions; but the presence of the form does not necessarily prove that the substance continues to dwell within it. These articulate formulas of peity are like the shells which mollusks throw out: but the shell, when once it has been produced by the energy of life, may remain, symmetrical and beautiful, after the living creature has wasted all away. Do not despise the ex- ternal forms; but see that there be life within them. Let there be filial confidence in a giving God while you enjoy your food, and that emotion trembling in the heart will find or frame fit channels through which it may flow. Singleness of heart accompanied the gladness; and in point of fact, wanting that companion, the gladness 62 The Church in the House. itself would soon disappear. ‘‘ A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways;” and even in the matter of eating and drinking in the company of his friends, the shreds of pleasure that come and go, never consolidate into a substantial joy. In very many cases, the sim- plicity is destroyed and the true gladness consequently lost, by a huge, burdensome, irrational luxury. The cares of the meal are sometimes as heavy as the man- agement of a small estate. They distract and oppress the entertainer. Instead of singleness, doubleness of avery troublesome type is the occupant of his heart. One half of his mental vision squints aside to calculate the estimation in which the elaborate festival is held by the guests. Simplicity may be marred too by the cost of the entertainment in relation to the resources of the entertainer. With a few of the wealthiest cit- izens the shoe may perhaps never pinch at this spot; but with a great number of their imitators it becomes a real burden. Some approach to simplicity in the cost of entertainments might both replenish the coffers of charitable institutions, and facilitate the settlement of tradesmen’s bills. In relation to these matters our age and nation greatly need the old Apostolic injunction, ‘* Add to your faith courage.” In very many cases it is courage that is needed—courage to be singular, and strength to stem the stream. But where may we ex- pect to find the virtue that can dare to stand alone amongst men, unless in those who already have faith in God through the Lord Jesus Christ? A Christian, who may obtain the breath of the Spirit in his sail, should not helplessly glide down with the stream. Immoderately late hours do much to mar both the simplicity and the heart-gladness of social meals. That very lateness, I confess, constitutes an essential ele- ment in the kind of merriment which a vitiated appe- tite demands: but it is fatal to the calm, deep joyful- ness which corresponds with our: position as disciples of Christ, or even as the intelligent creatures of God. To turn night into day, and day into night, is not sim- plicity, and cannot promote real gladness. It is like the transactions within the walls of a lunatic asylum, where the opinion might prevail, that people should lie in bed while the sun shines, and be active with gas- Christian Festivity. 63 light during the night. What would you think of the gardener who should cover your green-house with thick matting till noon, and make up for the deficiency of light by burning lamps beside the flowers at midnight? You would dismiss the man as drunk or incapable. We should discharge Fashion from the management of our life, as we would discharge an inebriate from the care of our flowers or our horses. Treat yourselves as you treat your gardens. ‘Behold the lilies of the field, how they grow.” Young men and young women would be more like the lilies in freshness and beauty if they fol- lowed nature more closely: and they would gain as much in strength of mind, as in comeliness of person. I have not yet alluded to that which in our country and our day constitutes by far the greatest danger in connection with festivity,—the free use, often running over into the vile abuse, of highly concentrated intox- icants. There is ground for joy and thankfulness in the comparative freedom from excess which generally characterizes the entertainments of the more cultivated classes in the present day. A portion also of the hum- bler classes have emancipated themselves completely from the bondage of intemperance: but very large num- bers, ranging from the lowest to the highest as to so- cial position, are miserably enslaved. The numbers of this class, alas, are continually recruited from the ranks of the rising generation, through the influence of social customs, and the dangerous power ofthe stim- ulants in ordinary use. Efforts, zealous and protracted, to restrict the traffic on the one hand, and to persuade to personal abstinence on the other, have shown as yet only very limited results. An accumulation of sin and shame, of poverty and crime, proceeding from the in- temperate use of stimulants, lies on the nation and the Church most appalling in the aggregate, and heart- rending in the contemplation of its multiform details. Here is a subject eminently worthy of a Christian’s regard, especially at festive seasons, and in connection with social joyful assemblages. After all the efforts that benevolent men and public institutions have been able to put forth, an evil of fearful magnitude remains, —a work of incalculable difficulty still demands the help of all who fear God and regard man. How shall 64 The Church in the House. the disciples of Christ most effectually bring each his own influence to bear against this devastating vice? I shall not presume to supply an answer. The wisdom that shall answer this question seems not yet to have come to the Church: the Church must learn to feel deeply the lack of wisdom adequate to the crisis, and to ask the supply from God. But in the meantime, failing an answer, I should count the cause half won, if each brother and sister of the Christian family were led, in godly simplicity and without passion or preju- dice, to entertain the question. Questions are some- times most precious and practically effective, although the answer cannot yet be given. When Christians shall individually and collectively cease to regulate generally their lives, and particularly their entertainments, by the mere mandate of the world’s fashion, issuing like a Del- phic oracle, without a reason from an unknown God, and begin to mold their actions, great and small, by a glad, free, deliberate purpose, in a matrix constituted of the twin motives which bind heaven and earth to- gether,—serving the Lord that bought us, and saving our brother lost; then shall the lowest point have been reached and passed,—then shall Society, like the earth after Christmas, creep gradually out of its winter dark- ness, and creep forward toits perfect day. These two— my Redeemer’s servant, and my brother’s keeper—are the hedges on the right and left of a believer's path, between which, if they are kept up, he may walk through the wilderness, without fear of wandering from the way. It is a happy thing to have a purpose,—a purpose that is pure and lovely,—that you can present to your own conscience and to God, that you can prosecute in secret without meanness, or avow in public, if need be, without shame, running through your life and bring- ing all into harmony. And, so far from being inap- propriate if applied to the lesser and lighter enterprises of life, it is precisely in these that it contributes most to safety and satisfaction. Graver matters have a cer- tain weight in themselves that contributes to their so- lidity; the lighter leaves of life need more a sustaining thread running through the whole. I call on Christians in festive seasons, and in festive companies, not to sub- mit to the restraints of duty, but rather to enjoy freely At once Godly and Popular. 65 their privilege. It is not required, it is not permitted, that you should leave Christ at the door when you enter the Guest Chamber. If you leave him without when you goin to the feast, you need not expect to find him within, your Intercessor, when you enter your closet and shut the door, and pray to the Father in secret. Those who trust in Christ for the greatest things, have the right to lean on him for the least. Accept the food as the Father’s gift; accept the feast as an act of his bounty; accept the company of your kind, knit to your heart either by the bonds of nature or the bonds of grace; accept that gladness of heart which the Maker of men has connected with a social meal. It is a needful and a useful part of Christian witness-bearing in these days to exhibit meekly, but legibly, on our conduct generally, that, while the world and the things of the world are not permitted to be- come our masters, we are not prohibited from using them as servants; and in particular, that the ‘‘glad- ness,” which food eaten in congenial company imparts to a human heart, so far from being the exclusive prop- erty of the profane and careless, cannot possibly be in its integrity enjoyed by them, precisely because of their profanity and carelessness, but belongs, by the Father's gift and the children’s unsuspecting appropriation, to the whole family of God. XIII. AT ONCE GODLY AND POPULAR. ‘Praising God, and having favor with all the people, And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.’’—ACTS I. 47. “PRAISING God:” behold the natural history of the regeneration. Those who are bought with a price are constrained to glorify God. ‘In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” The thanksgiving is a con- stituent element of prayer. Ifthe prescription is made up without this ingredient, it is ineffectual: mere pre- 66 The Church in the House. scription however will never produce true thanksgiving: the gratitude which comes only through prompting is not gratitude. The real emotion is spontaneous, and could not be restrained. As soon as Israel get through the Red Sea, they cluster on the cliffs and make the desert ring with their jubilant psalm, ‘‘Sing unto the Lord; for he hath triumphed gloriously.” Who can for- bid a song, when persons or peoples are redeemed by the blood of Christ, and satisfied with bread from a heavenly Father’s hand, that their pent-up emotions may get vent? This is the kind of thanksgiving that breaks forth from loving hearts on earth and reaches the throne of heaven,—the thanks, not that you draw out, but that you could not keep in. ‘Having favor withallthe people.” In the first stage of their progress immediately after Pentecost, the Chris- tian converts were not persecuted. The people looked on, admiring, applauding. They saw a beauty in holi- ness, when holiness in those revival days had the dew of its youth upon it, and were betrayed for the moment into an admiration of a goodness which themselves had not attained. This phenomenon is eminently worthy of observation. On the surface lies a difficulty; but from beneath a precious lesson may be drawn. In the mat- ter of favor or enmity shown by the world, two opposite experiencesalternate inthe history ofthe Church. Prov- idential administration does not proceed uniformly on one method; the way of the Lord, rather, is to balance two opposites, so as to make them work together for good. When hope and holiness adorn the character of disciples, the world outside sometimes admire and ap- plaud, sometimes revileand persecute. Itisnot possible to construct a general rule by which it could be deter- mined beforehand in any given case whether the world will favor or frown on a company of true disciples. If there be a law that determines the sequences of these alternate courses, it lies beyond our reach. We might, indeed, conclude on general principles that neither the one nor the other would be permitted uniformly to pre- vail. If true godliness should always and in all places obtain the favor of the world, counterfeits would spring up in such strength and abundance as would suffice absolutely to smother and destroy the truth; and, on At once Godly and Popular. 67 the cther hand, if godliness should always, and in all places, bring down the world’s enmity, the spark of Divine truth in humanity might be quenched, and the gates of hell at last prevail to blot out Christ’s name from the earth. The Head on high holds the balance in his own hands. He permits as much of the wrath of man to break forth as suffices to praise himself by purg- ing his Church of its hypocrisy, and then he restrains the remainder thereof. Although we could not, in the first instance, have invented this method, we are able to perceive, when we see it exemplified in history, that it is the best. When a spark is imbedded in the flax and it begins to smoke, a blast permitted to burst upon it would blow it out; therefore, the blast is by Divine command re- strained. But after the fire has fairly caught, the blast will spread the flame, and, therefore, it is per- mitted to blow. The Lord will not permit the smok- ing flax to be quenched by a premature severity. He commands a calm till the fire take hold, and then per- mits a tempest to make the fire spread. In those first days after the Pentecost, the Christians were not per- secuted. Many were added to the Church, and the faith of the members was confirmed. When the spark had made some advancement in a calm, the storm that afterwards arose, did not blow it out, but blew it in. Both these principles may be seen alternately operat- ing in society at the present day. In some cases god- liness wins favor; in others it stirs enmity. All is in the Lord's hand; disciples may well pray with Agur that in this matter he would give them neither pov- erty nor riches:—neither too much of the world’s fa- vor, nor too little, lest grace should be choked under the weight of its embrace, or withered by the scorch- ing of its anger. If the rule were absolute, The more likeness to Christ, the more favor from the world, the faith of the Church, like corn sown in land too fat, would grow rank, cleave to the earth and bear nothing but chaff. If on the other hand the rule were absolute, The more likeness to Christ, the more persecution from the world, the faith of the Church, like corn sown ona mountain-top, would wither long before the harvest. 68 The Church in the House. We cannot in any case tell beforehand whether a true exhibition of the Christian character will concili- ate kindness or provoke enmity; as we cannot tell to- day whether the wind to-morrow will blow from the East or the West: but both the winds of heaven and the hearts of men are under law to God although we cannot detect the law or predict the result. ‘And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” Here again we have a thing with two sides: all real things have two sides. The Lord added them; and yet they added themselves. The Good Shepherd carried the stray sheep home on his shoulders; and yet the prodigal walked home on his own feet. The sheep and the prodigal in these twin parables certainly do not point to different persons, but to two sides of the same person. On one side, the upper, it is the Lord’s doing: on the other side, the lower, it is the man’s. In this verse we read the his- toric fact, ‘‘ The Lord added them:” and in the con- text we hear the Divine command, ‘‘ Save yourselves.” At one place the saved are ‘‘ whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord:” at another they are, ‘‘as many as the Lord our God shall call.” When I know myself to be like a withered leaf on the stream that flows to a sea of perdition, it is sweet to think that help is laid on One that is mighty, and to hope that when I am utterly helpless the Lord adds me to his Body, the Church,—to himself, the Church's Head. My comfort in temptation springs not from consciousness of my own strength to hold by him, but from knowledge of his strength to hold me. But woe to the man, who with no liking for the presence of the Lord or the company of his people—no willingness to crucify the flesh, and press through the narrow gate, dares to comfort himself in his coldness and worldli- ness with the thought, It is not in my power to make myself better, I must wait till the Lord put forth his strength. Nay, brother: the Lord is ready now to do it, if you were willing that it should be done. ‘“‘ Daily: ” every day some. There is no blank ‘in the birth registers of God's family. The Lamb’s Book of Life has a page for every day of time, and names in At once Godly and Popular. 69 every page. I suppose some of the pages are more crowded than others. At that first Pentecost, as at many seasons since, they came as doves to their win- dows, a great cloud coming at one time. At other periods they seem rather one here and one there, like the gleaning of grapes after the vintage. The Romish calendar is crowded with saints. They cannot find room in the circle of the seasons, for all whom the pope delighted to honor. But there are more real saints written in heaven than false ones in Romish heraldry. Daily, ever since men were multiplied on the earth, have the saved streamed through the strait gate into life, and now a multitude whom no man can number inhabit the mansions of the Father's house. He added the saved to the Church: added them in the act of saving, saved in the act of adding. He does not add a withered branch to the vine; ‘but in the act of inserting it, makes the withered branch live. When pure water is drawn from the salt sea, it is added to the clouds in heaven. In being drawn from the salt sea, these fresh drops are added to the white clouds of the sky. It is thus that the Lord adds the saved to the Church, winning them from a sea of wickedness, and leaving their bitterness behind. “‘Daily” some are added: every day some; but only while it is day this process goes on. The night cometh wherein no man can work,—not even the Son of Man, Son of God. He is now about his Father’s business: he is finishing the work given him to do. He works, works, works, in wrenching lost men from the devil, the world, and the flesh, and inserting them as living members of his own body for eternal life. ‘‘ To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” for the day is wearing away, the day of grace. The night com- eth, cometh;—how stealthily it is creeping on,—the night wherein not even this Great Worker can work any more. In the last, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, ‘“‘ If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” 70 The Church in the Ffouse. XIV. THE USE OF MIRACLES. “ And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abra- ham, and of Tsaac, and of Facob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified Ais Son Fesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.’’—ACTS Ul. 12, 13. THE healing of the lame beggar at the gate Beautiful, as narrated in verses I-II, needs no comment. There the picture stands, full bodied as in the stereoscope. Our business, like Peter’s, lies mainly, not with the fact, but with the use to which the fact was applied in the progress of Christ’s kingdom. These Galileans were not alone. The words of the Lord, ‘Lo, Iam with you,” were still sounding in their ears. The Master puts forth the power, and they yield themselves as his instruments. This is the footing on which the work proceeds. Here, in the ministry of the apostles, as also in his own, the Lord employs power to cleave a path for grace. When the moun- tains close in and block the way, a miracle will rend them, that the Word may burst the barriers and spread through the land. Those who refuse to believe in anything supernatural do not gain much at this point. They only shift the difficulty from one spot to another. The fact remains patent to the whole world and undeniable, that in the hands of these Jewish missionaries the religion of Christ, with its self-denying doctrines, made way against the culture of Greece and the might of Rome,—made way until it obtained supremacy. This fact, if it is not based on miracles, is itself a miracle greater than all. The effect of this cure upon the public was a great and general amazement. Now was Peter’s opportunity; and he improved it with promptitude and skill. The Master in calling him had promised to make him a fisher of men; and here the tact and energy of the fisher appear. He knew the favorable juncture. When Peter plied his trade on the lake of Galilee, he did The Use of Miracles. 71 not think it enough that he spread his net and drew it, in the approved fashion, so many times every day. His business was, not to spread his net in an unexceptionable manner—in the very manner that all the ablest fishermen in those parts had uniformly fol- lowed—his business was to catch fish; and toward that end he bent all the energy, not only of his stalwart arm, but also of his inventive mind. Peter would fish as his forefathers had fished, if their method seemed to him best; but he would fish as nobody had ever fished before, if he saw that by a new method he could obtain greater success. So, now that he has become a preacher of the gos- pel, Peter is not content with delivering, at the proper time, an evangelical sermon. He does not think of the sermon or the preacher. He thinks of men in their need, and of God’s grace in their offer now. He rushes in, and strikes home to win souls. He waits and watches till he sees the multitude moved and susceptible. As soon as he perceives some move- ment on the gathered waters, he follows quickly the angel’s steps, lest his opportunity should slip away. The commotion took the form of a reverential re- gard directed upon the apostles personally. The won- der that the people had witnessed drew their eyes to the immediate instruments. At that moment the apos- tles, taught by the Spirit, recognized accurately and promptly the precise place and use of mighty works in their ministry. Such works could not convert the people, but such works then held an important place among the means of conversion. The miracles broke up the hard ground, and these faithful watchers were ready to run in and cast the living seed into the open furrow. From this timely sowinga great harvest sprang. Peter, as usual, is spokesman. I think the modest and meditative John would not take a prominent pub- lic place when Peter was present. Whatever he may have contributed by private suggestion, he left public work to his more forward and more fiery colleague. Mark how skilfully the speaker begins. It is no longer the affectionate blunder, ‘“‘Far be this from thee, Lord;” it is no longer the cowardly falsehood, “T know not the man.” He has now obtained both 72 The Church in the House. wisdom and strength. By this time the Holy Ghost had come upon him, and he had “received power” to be a witness of Christ. He has courage to confess his Master now, and skill to arrange his argument aright. ° In presence of the healed cripple the people were overawed; and their veneration, after quivering awhile uncertain, like a ship’s compass in a broken sea, began to settle down steadily upon Peter and John as the authors of the miracle and the objects of praise. Ob- serving the current flowing in a devotion which would soon have developed itself into idolatry, Peter ran in, and seized it, and bent it aside from the servants that it might flow full upon the Lord. ‘And when Peter saw it, he answered and said unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had madethis manto walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus,” etc. The servants, when they saw worship springing up in human hearts, hastily re- tired, and presented Jesus alone to receive it. It is eminently instructive to compare and contrast with this the conduct of the Lord himself in similar circumstances. When he had read the prophecy in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke iv. 16-22), and all eyes were turned in eager expectation toward him, he did not intercept the stream, or divert it into another chan- nel. He accepted it in full. He closed the book and removed it; then he presented himself to the people as the fulfilment of the prophecy, and the expected Messiah. The absolute contrast between his method and that of the apostles in such a case is peculiarly val- uable, as showing incidentally the Divinity of Christ. In the meantime, Peter's fidelity affords a fine les- son both to preachers and hearers of the gospel in all times. Through the ministers, if possible, as earthen vessels, let the word of life come; but let the ministers present, and the people receive, only the Lord himself as the bread of life. It is said that when Leonardo da Vinci had finished his celebrated picture of the Last Supper, which still stands on the wall of a convent in the city of Milan, Wounding to Fleal. 73 he introduced a friend to inspect the work privately, and give his judgment regarding it. ‘‘ Exquisite!” ex- claimed his friend; ‘“‘that wine-cup seems to stand out from the table as solid glittering silver.” Thereupon the artist quietly took a brush and blotted out the cup, saying: ‘‘I meant that the figure of Christ should first and mainly attract the observer's eye, and whatever diverts attention from him must be blotted out.” Here is a devotion which, in a more enlightened age, we should do well to imitate. It is an aim of the ministry to get listless people aroused and interested. It isa great point gained when a multitude are gathered together round the preachers in Solomon’s porch, greatly wondering at the word or the work of the Lord. But woe to the preacher who lacks the wisdom or the will to lead the aroused and interested listeners at such a crisis direct to Christ. XV. WOUNDING TO HEAL. ‘But ye denied the Holy One and the Fust, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised Jrom the dead; whereof we are witnesses,’ etc.—ACTS Ill. 14-26. WHEN Peter observed that his audience was becoming tender, he hastened forward to them with the Word; but it is not in the first instance a word of comfort that he administers. His first effort is to wound. He brings a sharp accusation; he heaps coals of fire on their heads, when he sees these heads already begin- ning to droop. Not that the apostle takes pleasure in putting his countrymen to grief. He is glowing all over with love to these men of Israel, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Seeing them already quivering he deals another blow, in the hope that thereby he may break altogether the already yielding heart; for as soon as the cry, ‘‘ What must we do?” shall burst from broken hearts, the healing balm is ready. God 74 The Church in the House. “hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.” Pilate, the Roman, from a natural sense of justice, desired to save the innocent; but ye, the Israel to whom he came, denied him, and compelled the governor to put him to death. Never was a sharper sword pointed at naked breasts; and never did a mightier thrust send the weapon home to the marrow: “Ye killed the Prince of life.” But it is the Physician and not the enemy who is piercing here. He wounds in order that the distressed may seek the Healer. At verse 17th he changes his voice. He withdraws the weapon as soon as its work is done. As soon as the preacher sees that the dividing Word has taken effect, he begins to give consolation. I think it was Whitefield who, when his audience of coal- miners was so large that he could not read in the dis- tant faces the emotions of their hearts, perceived by cer- tain white streaks, like African tattoo, made by cours- ing tears on sable cheeks, that the Word had cut into the conscience. This was for him the turning-point. The strokes for wounding may now safely cease, and the healing work begin. Changing his voice, Peter the preacher begins to insinuate a tender consolation. He will present the truth on another side. He had said, ‘‘ Ye killed the Prince of life:” but now he informs them that it is of God that Christ should suffer the just for the unjust. There are two opposite ways in which the blood of Jesus may be upon men: ‘His blood be upon us, and upon our children!” exclaimed the Jewish leaders, when they had hemmed Pilate in, and extorted from him the sentence of death. Ah! that was not the blood of sprinkling for the pardon of sin. It was the blood of Christ upon them, but it did not cleanse. It was the blood of the curse, not the blood of blessing. At first, and for a specific purpose, Peter speaks of the blood of-Christ in that evil sense. He takes it and pours it on the murderers’ heads, a scorching flood. But when the work of conviction is done, he addresses himself to the work of saving; he takes that same blood in his other hand, and pours it out for blessing. The blood of Christ, although shed by them, is pre- Wounding to Heal. 75 sented now as the blood shed for them—is presented now not as their sin, but as their redemption from sin. It was a great transition; and it was suddenly made. But the same transition all the new-born make; and most of them make it quickly. It is like a leap from Christ crucified by you,:into Christ crucified for you. From trampling under-foot the blood of the covenant, they pass over to take shelter, like the Hebrews in Egypt, under the besprinkled lintel, safe from the an- gel of death, and ready to march out free towards the promised land. “Now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it”: and so he opens up to the convicted a door of hope. The drift of the discourse changes to tender- ness. So, when the frost has congealed the ground into rock, the sun and rain beating on it make it broken and contrite ground—a fitting soil for the seed of the kingdom. Then in verse 18th the preacher carefully engrafts his gospel upon the Scriptures of the Old Testament: ‘But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suf- fer, he hath so fulfilled.” The New Testament grows upon the Old, like branches in the root and stem. If you undermine Moses, Christ, as far as you are con- cerned, will fall. Chaos will return. Darkness will again be on the face of the deep, and no Spirit of God will move upon the waters. Those who eat out, by acid drops of criticism, the authority of the Old Testament, intending to hold fast by Christ and his gospel, are victims of a delusion. These blessed flowers and fruits cannot grow ona dead root. When I was young, I took pleasure in ornamenting the front of my father’s cottage with flowers. One par- ticular effort was eminently successful, and attracted the notice of every visitor. By budding, I inserted several fine kinds of roses on one common root. For two or three years the flowers of various hues, flourish- ing simultaneously on one stem, became a spectacle to the rural neighborhood. But, alas! the original stem, not chosen as suitable for the purpose, but adopted as it happened to be there, was not a hardy species. 76 The Church in the House. There came a night of severe frost. The plant that _ sustained my beautiful branches died, and all my beau- tiful branches died with it. Alas! for men in whose hearts the Divine authority of Moses and the prophets is withered by the frost of a hard, cold, earthly philos- ophy. Faith cannot grow upon Kant and Hegel, when God has departed from Moses and the Psalms ! That is not the first of Christ when the Babe is born in Bethlehem. Before the foundation of the world he took his people’s place in the eternal counsel. As soon as men needed a Saviour he appeared for salva- tion in the promise spoken at the gate of Eden. Christ interpenetrates the Scriptures of the Old Testament through and through. The Plant of Renown that ap- peared in man’s sight in the fulness of time, has a root that goes down to the beginning. If you cut away the word which holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, you cut through that root, and your own hope withers in your breast. XVI. THE FIRST PERSECUTION. “And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now euntide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”’—ACTS Iv. 1-4. THE persecution has begun. Peter’s discourse was rudely interrupted. The preacher was speaking very winsome words (iii. 26) when his mouth wasclosed. He was making Jesus—that new name—sound sweetly in the people’s ears. “He was making offer of redemption to Israel in the clearest words and in the most tender spirit; but, ‘‘as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them.” So it has happened from the beginning hitherto: persecutors are blind. In all lands and all generations they endeavor to extinguish the light, be- cause they love the darkness. The First Persecution. 77 The first persecution of Christ’s disciples exhibits, in its main characteristics, the type ofall that have followed. A corrupt and cruel priesthood, in possession of office, gave the word, and led the way; and they were never at a loss to find some ‘“‘captain of the temple’”—some person who nominally held a civil office, but might be employed as a willing tool. Whether the high priest at that time was personally a Sadducee is not certainly known; but it is evident, both here and in verse 17th, that the sect of the Sad- ducees supported the officials with all their influence. These men of the short creed were at that period either in or out of office. If they were in power, they wielded the machinery ofthe hierarchy to suppress the preaching; if they were not in power, so zealous were they in the work, that they entered into alliance with their rivals to make it quick and sure. Those who were at daggers drawn against each other, combined to put this doctrine and its preachers down. Herod and Pilate become friends in order that Christ may be again crucified in his members. Those who believe very little may be- come persecutorsas well as those who believe very much. Sadducees and Pharisees combined against the gospel of Christ. We obtain here a clear glimpse of the work which these apostles were engaged in when they were thus interrupted: ‘They taught the people, and preached through Jesus the rusurrection of the dead.” The infant Church was charged with grand lessons, and she did not keep them secret. From the first the apostles made it their businessto publish alltheyknew. The resurrection of the body, although rot first revealed, was illustrated and confirmed by the gospel. After the Lord had risen, it became so much clearer and surer that it seemed to be a new revelation. This doctrine they taught “‘in Jesus.” Accustomed as we are now to assume the resurrection without rea- soning, we cannot well conceive how great the fact of Christ’s resurrection seemed when it was thrown upon the world. After the darkness that had covered the nations, and the comparative dimness of the light that shone in the Old Testament record, it seemed in this respect a new world for humankind when Jesus first 78 The Church in the House. raised Lazarus and then himself from the grave. When the apostles desired to teach the doctrine, they presented the fact. These new teachers addressed their lessons to “the people.” The gospel, wherever it is preserved pure, exhibits a broad and hearty sympathy with the mass of the community. This was given by its author as a mark of his mission: ‘‘to the poor the gospel is preached.” It does not overlook ‘‘ the people;” it does not oppress or hoodwink them; it does not keep them in ignorance in order to make them docile to authority: it teaches them. It appeals to their understanding while it wins their hearts. ‘‘ The common people heard Him gladly;” and well they might then, well they may now. ‘If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed:” there is no other security for popular liberty. Wherever the Word of God is concealed, the people are oppressed. The gospel is not an eclectic, aristocratic system. There is no respect of persons with God. His word addresses itself to the common people, to enlighten, emancipate, and purify them; but it never flatters their prejudices, or palliates their sins. The apostles elevated the poor man by teaching him, in Jesus, his own immortality. They might well get the ears of the multitude when they had such a tale to tell. This doctrine raises the poor from the dust, and sets them among princes. These preachers were truly levellers; but they ‘levelled up.” They made all equal, not by materially bringing down the high, but by spiritually elevating the lowest to the place and name of God’s dear children. It grieved this heterogeneous band of Pharisees and Sadducees to observe that these grand lessons were taught to the multitude. It is sad in any case to be in such a state of mind as to grieve over a neighbor's good. But there was a measure of conscientiousness in these primitive persecutors. They thought they were doing God service. It is this vein of truth and reality running through it that has imparted to persecution its perseverance andits power. The most fearful crimes are perpetrated at the instigation of conscience, when it is dark and depraved. Conscience is not a safe guide for man if it be not enlightened and purified by the Word The First Persecution. 79 and Spirit of God. Not conscience, but the Scriptures spiritually understood and conscientiously applied, are the rule of human life. ‘They laid hands on them, and put them in hold.” Probably the act of arrestment was performed by ‘‘the captain of the temple,” on a hint from the high priest. Like their successors of Rome, they found it convenient to have a pliant magistrate at hand as their executor. The apostles did not on this occasion dispute the au- thority under which they suffered. These priests pos- sessed jurisdiction, but they did not judge righteous judgment. They imprisoned the apostles in the mean- time, and adjourned the case. ‘‘Howbeit, many of them which heard the word be- lieved.” Man proposes, but God disposes. The more that the adversaries attempted to extinguish the light, the more brightly it blazed. ‘‘The number of the men was about five thousand.” Probably at this time two thousand were added to the three thousand who were formerly admitted into the Church. The specific term “men” in this case may be used in the looser sense of persons; or it may be that no women were present. Already the Christians were a large family. The corn of wheat had fallen into the ground and died, there- fore it is not now left alone. .\ great harvest has quickly sprung. Christ exalted, sees here of the travail of his soul and is satisfied. The stream of the new-born has begun to pour into the house of many mansions. The stream has flowed from that day to this, without in- termission, as waters that fail not, and yet there is room. There is joy in heaven, not in the angels, but in their presence—that is, in Him whom they all adore —over ‘‘one sinner that repenteth;” and therefore a flood of five thousand joys that day filled the Redeemer's heart on high. The Shepherd who misses one sheep that strays will not fail to mark each prodigal that returns. Each entrant adds another articulate delight to him who bought them with his blood. The joy set before him—the joy made up of the aggregate of all the saved, as the ocean is composed of water-drops— was very great; and for the sake of it he endured the cross and despised the shame. These revival seasons, when they come in thou- 80 The Church in the House. sands, like doves to their windows, will be happy eras, marked as harvest-homes in heaven. The gate is open: many are pressing in. Come: whosoever will, let him come. There is pleasant company by the way, and an abundant entrance at the close. Reader, when He maketh up his many jewels, will you and I be there? ‘‘ Now is the accepted time: now is the day of salvation.” XVII. ADD TO YOUR FAITH, COURAGE. “And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he 1s made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Fesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before youwhole. This ts the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which zs become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, Sor there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and Fohn, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Fesus.’?—AcTS Iv. 7-13. THE key-note of the last stanza is still sounding in our ears: the number of the men—saved men—was about five thousand. These more crowded parts in the way of life are memorable in earth and heaven. The ex- panse of time when it is over will, in the Saviour’s eye, be like the expanse of heaven now in ours: the milky way, everywhere bright, exhibits at some places a glory that excelleth, where revolving worlds, like dust of gold, are more thickly strewn upon the blue. That day when the first stroke of persecution fell on the first preachers will be a bright day in the annals of the king- dom. The page allotted to it in the sealed book will be deeply laden. In the family register it is the birth- day of many sons. ‘On the morrow” the court sat, and the panels were called to the bar. The Sanhedrim seems at that time to have been packed by the relatives and partisans Add to your Faith, Courage. 81 of the high priest. The accused had nothing to expect from their judges; but they trusted in God, and pos- sessed their souls in patience. Referring to the cure of the cripple, the court demanded of the apostle in what kind of power and in what kind of name they had effected that miracle of healing. The Jewish leaders, during the life and ministry of Jesus, in order to explain his miracles, broached the theory that by aid of the devil he cast the devils out. It is probably an idea of this kind that suggests the question of the court. A third time Peter speaks, and a third time bears wit- ness for Christ with great fulness and boldness. These successive witness-bearings of Peter are all framed on one model, all strike the same note. In every one there is—Ist, A Scriptural argument, more or less full, iden- tifying Jesus with the Messiah of the prophets; 2nd, A plain, piercing charge, laying the guilt of crucifying Christ to the door of his audience and judges; and, 3rd, A tender and pressing offer of mercy, through the blood of Christ, to his murderers. Like his three confessions, Peter’s three denials also were all conceived in the same strain. With circum- stantial differences, they were substantially the same: “T know not the man; I know him not; I know not what thou sayest.” How like each other, too, were the Lord’s three questions addressed to Peter in order to complete his restoration? Thrice the question pierced the repent- ing disciple’s ear, ‘‘Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” and thrice the answer echoed from the repent- ing disciple’s burning heart, ‘‘ Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.” By the same spirit this apostle, strong now by faith, emits the threefold confession of his Lord. These were not the only occasions on which Peter bore testimony to Christ in the beginning of the gospel. Both he and his fellow-laborers did much that has not been recorded; but I think it is of the Lord that at the outset of his public ministry three successive con- fessions of Peter’s faith have been recorded in full. He had fallen more than any of the faithful eleven; and correspondingly fuller evidence is given that he had not fallen away—that through the intercession of the Lord his backsliding had been completely healed. 82 The Church in the House. After this period, although Peter appears as a per- former of miracles, an exhorter of believing Jews, and a messenger to a Gentile family, he does not come for- ward again in this history asa public preacher. He gives place first to Stephen, next to Philip, and ultimate- ly to Paul and his missionary associates. The most remarkable feature in the three successive examples of Peter’s preaching is the indictment, charged directly home upon the consciences of his hearers, that they were the crucifiers of Christ (Acts ii. 23; iii. 14, 15; iv. 10). He found that this sharp method was success- ful the first time, and therefore repeated it. It was thus that Nelson’s victories were won. When the en- emy’s ships were extended ina line before him, he formed his into a column, pierced their line with its point, and fought them from the other side. Finding this method successful, he always followed it. The boldness of Peter as a witness here is amply ac- counted for by the intimation that he was “‘full of the Holy Ghost.” The Master had fulfilled his promise, and the servant was thereby enabled to execute his task. Cause and effect are as clearly connected in this experience as in the processes of Nature. Wanting the Spirit, Peter was not able to bear witness for the Lord in the presence of a serving-maid; with the Spirit, Peter held his judges fascinated by the glance of his eye, while he pierced them with his word. This apostle experienced the truth of Paul’s paradox on both its sides: ‘‘ When Iam weak, then am I strong;” and when I am strong, then I am weak. Peter interprets the prophecy about the Stone re- jected by the builders as Jesus had interpreted it in his hearing (Matt. xxi.). He applied it directly to the Messiah whom the Jewish priests had slain; and added, ‘Neither is there salvation in any other.” There has been at various periods much foolish disputation on the question whether there be any salvation beyond the pale of the Pope’s Church. Away with all these pro- fane babblings! It is not out of this Church or out of that; it is, Out of Christ there is no salvation. This is the only limit that God has set: it is blasphemous as well as foolish to suggest any other. Behold the arraigned and accused man! He ar- Add to your Faith, Courage. 83 raigns and accuses his judges—convicts his judges. Nay, more, he stands at their bar and offers them mercy; he proclaims to them the free pardon of their sin through the blood of Jesus whom they crucified; he warns them with tenderness and calmness which must have struck terror into their hearts, that unless they accept mercy by this channel, no mercy will ever reach them. This Name, this manifestation of God, is given among men. It comes from heaven to earth. It comes to save, not to destroy; but it will not save those who reject it. By this Name we must be saved, or perish. The judges were amazed at the boldness of Peter and John. But as they wondered, some one recog- nized the two men as having been seen in company with Jesus; and this accounted for their courage. Com- panionship with Jesus makes a hero, the enemy being judge. But is there any need or room for heroism in our plain, prosaic days? Persecution for conscience’ sake has, indeed, in its grosser forms long ceased in our country. We have no opportunity of displaying precisely that form of courage which the Sanhedrim observed in Peter and John. But heroism is needed yet in the world. A Christian needs the boldness which is attained only through companionship with Jesus. Many fall miserably in life's battle for lack of cour- age—fall before ignoble foes. It were less discredit to show the white feather in presence of the prison and the scaffold; but our youth strike their colors to mean- er terrors. And yet, let me do justice to men of my own generation. The adversaries are, indeed, softer individually, but they are mightier in the mass. The sword, indeed, does not penetrate the flesh; the fire does not wrap itself round the living body; but the world’s course, like a river composed of many soft drops, rolls downward in a vast volume, and carries even strong swimmers away. When acts are weighed in the balance of the upper sanctuary, it may possibly appear that as much boldness is needed to stand in our day, and withstand, all our days, the constantly- sucking stream of vanity and earthliness, as it required at the beginning of the gospel to be faithful unto death against principalities and powers. But the conclusion 84 The Church tn the House. of the whole matter is, that near the Lord—consciously enjoying his favor and leaning on his love—near the Lord we shall be able to resist the greatest of our en- emies; far from him, we shall fall before the least. XVIII. EVERY CREATURE AFTER ITS KIND. “ And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.’’—ACTS Iv. 23. A SECRET, mysterious, reciprocal attraction drew Peter and John together, although the two men were by no means similar in character. They were companions in their visit to the empty sepulchre, and companions in the dangerous duty of preaching Christ in Jerusalem immediately after the Pentecost. Perhaps the differ- ence, or even the contrast between them in natural disposition, rendered them more suitable to each other for mutual help. Asa man’s strength and a woman’s gentleness bind two into one in married life, the robust impetuous Peter clung to the calm, self-possessed ten- derness of John; and John, in his weakness, was fain to lean on Peter’s strength. This noble pair of brothers, when their own love was warm, and the hatred of their enemies sharp, stood side by side in the courts of the temple and in the streets of the city, charging home upon the Jewish ru- lers and people with the terrible indictment, ‘‘ Ye have crucified the Lord;” ready, whenever the sword of the Spirit should pierce the conscience of the hearers, to run in and apply for healing the blood of atonement. Grieved that these two witnesses should teach the people, through the risen Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the Sanhedrim had arrested Peter and John at the close of their day’s labor, and shut them in prison for the night. How the two prisoners spent the night we are not informed. Perhaps they sang praises, like Paul and Silas at a later date; or perhaps they were not yet so Every Creature after its Kind. 85 far advanced. It may be they could not do more than secretly cast their burden on the Lord, without being able as yet to glory in tribulation. Next day the Council called the prisoners and ex- amined them. Having heard from Peter more of plain truth than was pleasant to their taste, they ordered the panels to be removed from the bar, and consulted privately regarding the case. The aim of the judges was not to arrive at the truth, but to crush the witnesses. There was not much debate, and their resolution was quickly taken. They recalled the prisoners, and straitly threatened them that they should speak thenceforth to no man in the name of Jesus. Lame and impotent conclusion ! They omitted the main element from their calculation. They knew not the fire that the love of Christ had kindled in the hearts of those two men. Suppose that some savages have seen a cannon charged and discharged. Suppose that when they saw it charged a second time, dreading the conse- quences, they should gather stones and clay, and therewith ram the cannon full to the muzzle, by way of shutting in the shot, and securing the safety of the neighborhood. They know not the power of gunpow- der when it is touched by a spark. This is the sort of blunder into which the Sanhedrim fell. They thought they could stifle the testimony of the apostles by ram- ming a threat of punishment down their throats. They knew not the power of faith in Christ, when it is kin- dled by a spark from heaven. Peter and John did not deceive their judges. With beautiful simplicity and sublime courage they answered, ‘‘Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” These Jew- ish rulers have committed a blunder. They have summoned the sea into their presence, and proclaimed to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further ! ‘‘We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” It is by no means a universal rule that every man is bound to proclaim all that he has seen and heard. Many things that we see and hear it is both our inclination and our duty to conceal. It is the pecu- liar nature of the message which these men have received 86 The Church in the House. that lays an obligation on them to make it known. The condition on which any one receives mercy in the cove- nant is that he should hasten to publish the glad tidings abroad. When a polished gem receives a sunbeam on its surface, it is under a natural necessity of spreading out the light in all directions; and so a human soul that receives the light of life from the face of Jesus is under law to let that light shine before men: ‘‘ Freely ye have received, freely give.” After another interdict against preaching Christ, the prisoners were dismissed from the bar. It is intimated that the Court would willingly have adopted a severer measure, but were restrained by a fear of the people. This is an illustrious specimen of special providence. When God has given out his decree, ‘‘Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,” he has suitable instruments always at hand to execute his will. The people, as such, would be a broken reed for any perse- cuted witness to lean upon. At the next turn of the tide it might become necessary that a military chief- should rescue an apostle from a mob that were ready to tear him limb from limb. This is the doing of the Lord. The shields of the earth are his: now with one and now with another he covers his servants’ heads in the day of battle. Accordingly, the two apostles were dismissed; ‘‘and being let go, they went to their own company.” Be- hold a particular fact occurring under the operation of agenerallaw. Like draws to like. When an evil deed was about to be done, the persecutors assembled and laid their heads together: when the Christian mission was about to issue from Jerusalem upon the world, the disciples of Christ congregated in an upper room for prayer. Birds of a feather flock together; and if one bird has been for a time imprisoned—separated from its companions—it is beautiful to see, when the cage is at length opened, how straight and quick is its course through the air to the place where it left its mates and expects to find them again. On this principle proceeds the pigeon-telegraph, which has been long known in the world, but never attained the magnitude of a great national institute till the necessities of the siege forced it to the front in Paris, Every Creature after its Kind. 87 The instincts of animals are like the laws ofinanimate matter—perfectintheirkind. Whenone lamb is caught and kept foratime separate from the fold, it submits only tosuperior force. Assoonasitregains liberty, it bounds across the plain, and never halts till, with beating heart and panting breath, it has pressed into the midst of the flock again. With equal exactness in an opposite direction, the sow that was washed returns to wallow with her fellows inthe mire. Thus suddenly and surely did a worldling, who had for a time been arrested by the discourses of Jesus, leap back into his element of filthy lucre. As soon as a pause in the sermon let him go, he went to his own. When the Lord had finished one of his les- sons in the midst of a promiscuous audience, one of the company cried out, ‘‘ Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.” The word of Him who spake as never man spake had fascinated even this man, and for a moment separated him from his chosen company and conversation. But the word that arrests attention does not always renew the heart. As soon as the voice of the preacher relaxed, and let go the momentarily entranced listener, he bounded back into hiselement. Herushed after his covetousness, as water flows down when some interrupting barrier has been removed. An example of the opposite tendency in a renewed heart is exhibited in the experience of the possessed man whom the Lord delivered at Gadara. Satan had bound him soul and body, and separated him from all good; but when the chain was broken by the Re- deemer’s word, the liberated man ran to his deliverer, and sat at his feet, clothed and in his right mind. Being let go, he too went to his own—to his own Saviour and his own fellow-disciples. It is good when the spring in the heart is sound, and a Christian, by a strong instinct of the new nature, as soon as he is freed from alien entanglements, bounds back into con- genial company and congenial employment. It is sometimes remarked, that when persons who at home maintained a Christian profession, have gone abroad—gone to a distant colony where ordinances were wanting, or to a Papal country where ordinances 88 The Church in. the House. were superstitious,—they have left their religion behind them, and abandoned themselves to godless pleasures or godless gains. In these cases, as the result proves, the religion was an external thing from the first. It was of the nature of a bondage. At home the cords of the general Christian profession of the country were sufficiently strong to keep the man away from the em- ployments and company that he secretly loved; but when these cords were broken by the simple fact of his removal from home, he was a free man, and like other creatures, animate and inanimate, when he was let go he went unto his own. Thus worthless, in the last resource, is the Christianity which acts as a re- straint to prevent a man from following his own incli- nations: beyond expression precious is the faith in Je- sus which takes the inclinations and changes them so that they instinctively seek the pure. This false re- ligion of bondsisthe direct contrary ofthe true. Christ’s work is a redemption; Christ isa Redeemer. He sets the captive free. ‘Ifthe Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” This glorious grace turns upside down the world which blindly counts religion so much re- straint, to which some men prudently submit, with a view to a larger return in a future life. The man who only submits to the restraints of religion, runs wild in all evil when these restraints are removed. ‘Create in mea clean heart, O God.” ‘Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” ‘TI will run in the way of thy commandments, when thou hast enlarged my heart.” : A young man has been accustomed from childhood to the order and sobriety of a Christian household. As the lines of restraint were laid on him while he was an infant, and have never been removed throughout his youth, he is not very vividly conscious that they are only external bands that confine him within the course of a well-favored morality. The time arrives at last when he must leave his father’s roof and be lost to view ina great metropolis, like a drop of rain when it falls into the lake. Now is the moment of danger to that youth; now, if ever, for him is the hour and the power of dark- ness. He feels himself alone as if he were in the heart of an American forest. If his religion has been only a Every Creature after tts Kind. 89 cord round his neck, like the bit and bridle with which a horse is held, he is now free from his religion. If his religion is a thing that can let him go, he will depart to his own: he will seek the company and occupation of the careless, it may be of the profane. Cords of this sort were fastened on Judas, and as long as they remained they confined his evil practices within very narrow limits; but when at last he was let go, what a fearfully sudden leap he made to his own —his own course, his own company, and his own place. Demas was brought and kept for a time under the mighty influence of Paul. But the hold which even such a natural leader took, could not always be main- tained. It gave way one day, and to the present world, his own chosen portion, gravitated Demas, as a stone sinks to the earth when you let it gointheair. The love of Paul could not hold him—Paul was not crucified for him. The love of God shown to men in the gift of his Son, a bond soft and silent, but omnipotent, like that which keeps the planets in their places, when once it is folded round you, cannot be wrenched away. But we may find many bright examples of the same principle on the opposite side. The new creature acts after its kind, as well as the old; when the chains of bondage are broken, the captive returns to his Fathers house. A youth who has already gotten a new heart and enjoys a blessed hope, has been sent as an apprentice into a great engineering establishment, where several hundred men are employed. His lot is cast in a corner of the huge workshop occupied by a group that have grown old and bold in profanity and licentiousness. In the first hour they discover that a saint is among them, and with a malignity altogether devilish, they gloat in anticipation over their prey. The ribaldry and blasphemy are increased: they do everything that in- genuity can suggest to rub off the youth's religion, and make him such as one of themselves. If his religion had been a conventional gilding on the surface, it would have been rubbed off in the first week; but as it was all steel, the more roughly it was rubbed the brighter it grew. The first day wore on towards evening: at six o’clock go The Church in the House. the bell, in a small tower over the gateway, was rung, and every man threw aside his tools and hastened away. The apprentice engineer, articled by an eternal cove- nant to Christ his Saviour, and thereafter indentured to a master engine-maker, was at length let go. Let go, he went to his own:—to the fields, the flowers, the birds, with which he had been wont to keep company at home; then to his food, which he enjoyed with the fresh relish of a laborer, and the fresher relish of a child of God constantly getting daily bread from a Father’s hand; then to the Bible, his own book, the gift of God to him: then to his own Saviour, in faith’s confiding prayer. A whole legion of devils, or wicked men, will not overcome this youth. The anchor of his soul is sure and steadfast within the veil. God will shield him at first, so that the fiery darts shall not hurt him, and after a little put a sword in his hand—the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; and this wea- pon he will wield aggressively, so as to subdue some of these enemies, and lead them captive unto Christ. Yet another lesson. The grave has a greedy ap- petite, and a firm grasp. It takes many, and keeps what it gets. Deep in the earth, and deeper in the sea, lie the bodies of those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. A strange place for Christ’s members to be in! But there they shall not always be. They must one day be let go; and when let go; they will return to their own—their own Redeemer, and their own rest. An atom of atmospheric air may have been imprisoned in some strong vessel at the bottom of the sea for ages. After thousands of years, that vessel at last gives way and breaks up. The atom of air, although it has been long an exile, has not forgotten its home, and will not miss its way. Whenever it is released, it rises in a sheer straight line through the thick heavy waters— rises a little air-bell, nor halts in its course, until, emerging from the sea with a gentle joyful bursting sound, it reaches its own,—the heaven, the home which it left many ages before. Be of good cheer, disciples of the Lord Jesus. Ye are of more value than many atoms of air. Doth God in nature care for the birds of the air and the flowers The Prayer of the Primitive Church. gI of the field, and the elements of matter; and how much more shall he clothe and house you, O ye of little faith. The grave must relax its grasp. Its stubborn nature has been already tamed into obedience. The Lord has risen, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. The way by which he went stands open, and through it all his members will return to him. Earth and sea must give up their dead, and the released prisoners will unerringly find their way home. According to the power and the constancy of Nature, which is the power and constancy of God, like will draw to like at last,—the living to the living, the living saved to the Living Saviour. XIX. THE PRAYER OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. “« And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the mouth of thy servant Da- vid hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered to- gether against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Fesus, whom thou hast anointed; both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, Jor to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.’’—ACTS 1V. 24-29. PETER and John, providentially delivered from the hands of the persecutors, plunged into a meeting of their fellow-disciples, and forthwith reported all that had happened. The company as soon as they heard of the danger that had threatened, and the deliverance that had been wrought, forthwith ‘‘lifted up their voice to God” and prayed. They were neither cast down nor uplifted. They did not propose to try this meth- od or that method of improving their circumstances. They proposed no plan. They lacked wisdom and strength, and in their need applied to God by prayer. Prayer is not the origin of a movement. It is the result of one that preceded. You stand on the mar- 92 The Church in the House. gin of a Highland lake, and hear a mysterious but dis- tinctly articulate sound coming from the dead wall of a gray, ruined castle that stands on a miniature island not far from the shore. The sound, however, was not generated in that ruin. It could not generate a voice. The words of a living man on the shore, wafted over the still water, struck the old silent keep, and its wall gave back the echo. If that living voice had not struck the wall, the wall would have remained dumb. Prayer—man’s cry to God—is the second of a series of vibrations. The voice of prayer, on earth, is an echo awakened in ruined, dumb humanity, by God’s sweet promise coming down from heaven. In general, prayer is the echo of a promise; in particular, we may discover the specific promise to which this prayer replies (Isa. xl. 26, 27). What a sublime position these suppliants occupy! They are admitted into the Divine counsel. ‘ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.” They knew that all these events were foreseen, and would be overruled for good. They were abletomarkin the Scrip- tures the precise spot they had reached in the scheme of Providence, as a shipmaster marks his latitude on his chart. In the quiet confidence of faith they. realize and confess that the combination of princes and peoples —of Jews and Gentiles—to put to death the holy child Jesus, only accomplished the gracious purpose of God. These principalities and powers of the world imagined that they were quenching the kingdom of Christ in its infancy; whereas they were the unconscious instruments of laying its foundations deep, and spreading its influ- ence through the world. Now, in verse 29th, comes the most important of all their requests. Petitions sent to Parliament are sometimes of considerable length. There may be a narrative of facts, long and intricate; there may be the citation of precedents; there may be arguments and .pleas; but it is common to pass over all these when the document is presented, and read only what is de- nominated ‘‘the prayer of the petition’—that is, the clause at the end which declares articulately what the petitioners want—what they wish to be done for them, or given to them. Verse 29th contains the prayer of The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 93 the petition. It expresses what the petitioners desire —what they would be at, if they had their will. It is most interesting and instructive to mark what they really crave. Not a word of vengeance upon their en- emies. In the recital they have clearly described the cruel injustice of their adversaries; but they do not fol- lowupthatrecital by arequest for punishment. Neither do they plead for immunity from danger for themselves. There is a recital of their danger; but not a petition for safety. The request is, not that they may be shielded from persecution, but that they may have grace to be faithful under it. ‘‘Grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.” It is a beautiful example of distrust of themselves and confidence in God combined. They feared lest the danger which threatened their persons should in- timidate them in their work. Their anxiety was lest their natural shrinking from suffering should tempt them to conceal the pungent parts of their testimony in order to shield themselves from persecution. They were jeal- ous over themselves with a godly jealousy. They were conscious that nature within them shrank instinctively from pain and shame. They knew that to proclaim the whole counsel of God would gall the men who had the power of life and deathin their hands. They feared, accordingly, lest they should be tempted to make the gospel more pleasant for the sake of peace. The application of this Scriptural example to our own circumstances is attended with some difficulty; and yet it may be made with certainty and success. It is difficult to clear our way here,’ but not impossible. The circumstances of our place and time seem to be so diverse from those of the first preachers, that no di- rect lesson from their experience can be transferred to ours. No persecutor dare raise a hand against a min- ister here and now, to prevent him from declaring the Gospel in all its fullness. We are free: and yet the pressure which tempts to timid unfaithfulness is only removed from one side and applied to another. The fear of man bringeth a snare; and ever since Peter said, ‘‘T know not the man,” the feet of even true witnesses have, in all generations, been often entangled miser- ably in its toils. But snares are not all of one shape 94 The Church in the House. or of one material—either the bodily snares of the fowler, or the snares set for the spirit by the wiles of the wicked one. They may be of iron or of silk. They may be varied indefinitely in matter, form, and position, ac- cording to the character of the victim, and the oppor- tunities of the ensnarer. A force that is diffused and soft, may exercise a greater pressure than one that is sharp and hard, as the atmosphere over a man’s body lies heavier on him than any other burden he ever bore. To threaten a witness for Christ with the prison or the scaffold is one way of turning him aside from faith- fulness; to set before him the favor of a polished but worldly circle is another. You may, if you please, pro- nounce that the man who should weakly yield to these soft seducements is a far less noble specimen of human- ity than those men who quailed before a scaffold, and held their peace to save their lives; although, even here, something might be said on the other side. But the distinction is of no practical importance. If the se- ductions of modern society do, in point of fact, deflect the compass of the witness as far aside as the ancient persecutions, the difference in the character of the in- strument makes nothing in the result. If two ships are lost at sea by the false pointing of their compasses, it will make no difference either as to the loss of property or the loss of life, that the compass of the one ship was prevented from pointing truly by a nail that fastened it to the deck, and the compass of the other ship secretly drawn aside by a mass of iron concealed in the hold. In both cases, and in both alike, the compass failed to declare the truth, and that faithlessness caused the loss of the ships. Thus an an- cient minister of the gospel who held back the truth for fear of the dungeon, and a modern minister who softens and disguises the truth because a gay, worldly, critical congregation listen to the Word, must stand side by side, repenting and pleading for the pardon of their unfaithfulness. On the other hand, an ancient minister who proclaimed the whole truth with a halter round his neck, and a modern minister who, fearing God and having no other fear, declares tue whole counsel of God to every class and every character, will stand together at the great account to hear the approving sentence, The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 95 “Well done, good and faithful servants: enter ye into the joy of your Lord.” The request is simple, specific, and full: ‘‘ Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word.” 1. That they may speak, and not be dumb. Speech is a chief gift of God, a chief prerogative of man. Where there is a living spring, it finds or makes a channel through which it may flow; and where there is a living soul, it finds or makes an avenue of egress. A soul can- not be imprisoned in a body of flesh, as a spring cannot be imprisoned among the mountains. Either life, ac- cording to its nature, must have a means of outflow. On the other hand, where there is no spring, no chan- nel is needed, and none is found. Among living crea- tures, accordingly, where there is not a soul, there is not speech; but in that one creature who was made in the image of God—into whom God breathed a living soul—there is speech, the open channel for its forth- going. Reverence human speech. It is the mark ofa being who has been made, and may be re-made, a child of God. Reverence human speech, for it is a divinely formed capacity for a divinely prescribed use. Dread false speech, proud speech, impure speech, profane speech,—for these are the bright weapons with which the King has accoutred us wielded against the King. High treason ! “That they may speak;” for why should they be silent who have tasted that the Lord is gracious? Let them tell to all who are willing to listen what the Lord hath done for their souls. Let the compressed love which glows in renewed hearts find utterance in spoken praise. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits! In another aspect it behoves all who hear to speak. Silence is sin, if your cry might prevent a neighbor from stumbling over a precipice. Silence is sin, if neighbors are treading the broad path that leadeth to destruction, and your word might lead their steps into the way of life. Silence is sin, if a believing brother is sliding back, while your loving reproof might become to him a healing balm. Silence is sin, if a believing brother is oppressed with doubts and fears, while your 96 The Church in the House. lips might pour the consolations of God into his weary heart. The prayer points mainly to a public ministry, and yet nothing is said about sermons—nothing said even about preaching: ‘‘Grant unto thy servants that they may speak.” Whether the address be long or short, whether the audience be many or few, whether the style be eloquent or stammering, the pith and marrow of the whole matter is, that one man, hoping in Christ and loving his neighbor, speaks to that neighbor about Christ’s redeeming love. All preaching may be re- duced to this. Out of this, as the germ, all true preaching springs. If its whole mass were by some chemical process reduced to its elements, this would be found the essential residuum remaining indestructi- ble after all ornaments and accessories had been melted away. I suppose Philip preached pretty fully to the anxious Ethiopian in the desert; but the Spirit in the Word performs that chemical analysis which we have imagined, and retains only that ultimate and inde- structible essence of the .discourse, which is small in bulk and easy of transmission—Philip ‘‘ preached unto him Fesus.” 2. The prayer of these primitive Christians is ‘‘ that they may speak ¢hy word.” The word of God supplies alike the authority and the material of preaching. The seed is the word: the sower need not scatter any other in his field. This alone is vital—this alone will grow. 3. Their ambition is to speak the word of God ‘“aith boldness.” Let no man assume too readily that he has attained this qualification of a witness. In this department, all is not gold that glitters. Beware of counterfeits in these payments, for a considerable quan- tity of base coin is in circulation. To rasp likea file on other people’s tender points, because you have no ten- der points of your own, is not the boldness for which these disciples prayed. In that species of courage some of the inferior creatures greatly excel us. An essential constituent of courage is tenderness. In feudal times, when military valor held the supreme place in universal opinion, the prevailing conception, although disfigured by some foolish and: grotesque fea- The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 97 tures, contained a basis of truth. Battle courage was held to be only one half of a knightly bearing; the other half consisted of a tenderness, in some cases al- most feminine. Tenderness is as essential to spiritual as to secular heroism. The boldness of speech which costs the speaker nothing is neither beautiful in itself nor successtul in its object. It is like a stroke on hol- low wood; instead of penetrating the beam, it rebounds in the face of the operator. Paul was a bold man, but he was not an unfeeling one. It was a bold word that he addressed to certain professors at Philippi, and he spoke it once and again— ‘Ye are enemies of the cross of Christ;” but he wept as he spoke. These tears did more to make a way for the reproving word into the joints and marrow of the cul- prits than all the sharpness of the reproof itself. Ob- serve a mechanic boring througha bar ofiron. He has a properly-formed instrument of steel. This he turns quickly round, under a strong pressure, upon the bar which he desires to perforate. But this is not enough. If only on the hard beam of iron a harder-point of steel were pressed and turned, they would set each other on fire. But the skilful operator quietly drops oil on the point of contact, while he plies his task. This anointing keeps the instrument from heating, and carriesit through. These tears of Paul served the same purpose for the Phil- ippian backsliders that the mechanic's oil-drops served for the iron beam. Human tenderness baptized by the Spirit poured on the point of contact, when the sharp sword of the Word is pressed against a brother's heart, prevents the pressure from begetting a burning heat, and carries the weapon home. To my mind there is hardly a more melancholy spec- tacle in this world than that of a man, orthodox in faith: but coarse in the natural grain, who rattles out his censures on all and sundry who differ from himself without an effort and without a pang; looking down,. meanwhile, with contempt on men of greater modesty as unfaithful to the truth. The stream of words that condemns a neighbor, without scalding the speaker's. own skin as it flows, is like the clack of a windmill set up to frighten birds—-as hard and as wearisome, and as: powerless. The greater the boldness any man ventures 98 The Church in the House. to exercise, the greater tenderness he needs to attain. The boldness which those primitive confessors asked and obtained was saturated with a sanctified human tenderness; and this was the secret of their power. 4. In their eagerness for effective work, they desire tospeak witha//boldness. Even courage may be partial and one-sided. This virtue vanishes whenever it begins to show respect of persons. That is not true courage which is severe to the poor but quails before the rich. As the water of a reservoir will be completely lost unless the circle of its lip be kept whole on all sides, all the dignity and power of boldness vanishes when it fails on one point. Perhaps the weakest point of all the circle for every man is himself. If courage is needed to speak the truth to a neighbor, it is still more needed in dealing with ourselves. A surgeon needs firmness. If he faint at the sight of blood, he has mistaken his profession. He needs a stout heart when he is called to operate on other men; but he is much more liable to flinch if he need to operate upon himself. Alas! we lack courage to press the sword of the Spirit home to the root of the ailment when it is seated in our own souls. Strike, and spare not for the patient’s crying. This old prayer isa word in season still: grant unto thy servants boldness. Nerve this arm to strike this blow. XX. POWER TO BE WITNESSES. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were as- sembled togethers and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that be- Leved were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things com- mon. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Fesus: and great grace was upon them all. 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, and laid them down at the apostle’s feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.’’— ACTS lV. 31-35. THESE feeble Christians in the upper room moved the Hand that moves the world. The place was shaken, Power to be Witnesses. 99 but not the people. The ground trembled, but they had found another resting-place. God is our refuge. ‘“When they had prayed, the place was shaken.” It is after, and in answer to the prayers of his people, that the Lord arises to shake the earth. Quick and strong vibrations have of late been felt in the political sphere. Some mighty thrones have fallen under the shock, especially the anomalous throne of Peter's pre- tended successor at Rome. The supports of the Pope’s temporal power in Austria and France were succes- sively undermined, and the kingdom that leant on them has accordingly fallen. Prayers have long been ascending to the Lord of hosts for the downfall of that great tyranny, and at last the sword that has often been stained with the blood of saints has been wrenched from the usurper’s hand. The shaking of the ground after the prayer of this persecuted company was a sign that their prayer had been heard. They had expressly acknowledged God as the maker of heaven and earth. In answer to this portion of their prayer, he gives them a token that al- mighty power is at hand for their protection. The commotions of our day are encouraging rather than otherwise to the disciples of Christ: ‘‘ He that believ- eth shall not make haste.” Hollow hypocrisies are shaken down, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain erect (Heb. xii. 27). But besides this symbol of power, a more specific answer was given to their request; for ‘‘ they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word with boldness.” They did not fear their enemies, but they distrusted themselves. They dreaded not dan- ger, but they dreaded lest danger should shake them from their steadfastness. Now they have obtained what they asked, and they are at ease—at ease as is the magnet of the compass on board ship in a surging sea—steady when all else is moving—fixed because loose—fixed to its pole in the distant heavens, and all its holds slackened from below. The steadiest thing on a shaking world is a disciple whose life is hid with Christ in God, and whose heart is loosened from its cleaving to the dust. His weight hangs on heaven, 100 The Church in the House. and the shaking of the earth under his feet does not imperil his position, or disturb his repose. The apostles stood forth as leaders. They were en- dued with great power; and yet all that was required of them was to be witnesses of a fact. Their power was exerted in giving ‘‘ witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” Christ had specially promised them power to be his witnesses, and now that promise was fulfilled. Peter has recovered from his weakness now. It is no more ‘J know not the man.” The main characteristic of their witnessing was not great eloquence, or great learning, but great power. When you travel by night through a mining district, you see mighty volumes of flame throbbing fitfully from the mouth of lofty furnaces, and illuminating for miles around the nocturnal sky. This phenomenon is the ordinary accompaniment of power, but it is not the power. You must approach the bottom of the furnace, and examine whether miniature streams of white hot lava are coursing forth in prepared channels along the smoking ground. This—this is power. The heat in the heart of the furnace is melting the ore, and the metal, separated from its dross, is flowing out pure. The great flickering flame is not by itself the proof of power. In like manner there is often a blaze issuing from a really effective ministry of the gospel, which attracts the gaze of a miscellaneous multitude; but there is also sometimes such flame flung up against the clouds where there is no melting heat below. We should not despise the conspicuous and dazzling ac- companiments, for they may be the sparks that nat- urally and necessarily rise from a melting heat; but neither should we trust in them, for they may be the pithless flash from blazing straw. God grant the great power in secret, with or without the visible demonstration. The power seems to have been a special gift be- stowed upon the apostles, but a suitable portion was imparted also to the whole company,—‘ great grace was upon them all.” ; but having met, they soon separated again, like the crossing lines of the letter p<, and probably never saw each other more in the body. The two lines on which they approached rose like rivers in far distant hills, and flowed on until they met at a point in the desert between Jerusalem and the border of Egypt. Trace the course of the Ethiopian treasurer. Late in the preceding, or early in the same year, while the mild winter of that region kept mornings and evenings cool, a commotion might have been observed in the principal street of the Abyssinian metropolis at the departure of a caravan for the north. It is the grand vizier of the queen, starting on a religious pilgrimage. The bystanders do not exactly know the reason of the journey, but one has heard a neighbor tell that the chief treasurer had been much taken up of late with stories told by travelling Jewish merchants, of a mighty prophet who had arisen in Judza. The treasurer, it was rumored, was going all the way to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, and seek the Messiah who was at that time expected to come. We lose sight of the Ethiopian grandee, alike on his toilsome journey by the bank of the Nile, and through the wilderness; we never get a glimpse of him among the crowds, native and foreign, who congregate in Je- rusalem to worship at the feast. Where he was and how employed during the events which signalized that Passover, we cannot tell; but we know that, after wait- ing long and inquiring much, he called his servants Sent to the Desert. 163 and ordered his waggon, and started on his journey homeward, while the longing of his soul that had brought him so far remained still unsatisfied. He was thirsty; he came to the place where the springs were opened; and yet he went away still athirst. There has not been such a revival meeting since on earth as that one which took place in Jerusalem while the Ethiopian was there; and yet he came away sorrowful. On that day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured on many, but not on him; at least so he thought and felt. After he has come so far, it is sad to see him returning with- out his errand. Yet it is written in the Scriptures, “Seek, and ye shall find.” Can the promise—can the Promiser be true? Yes; and this is a conspicuous ex- ample of his faithfulness. This Ethiopian, secretly taught of the Spirit, did not limit God to times and places. As he left Ethiopia and went to Jerusalem seeking, so he left Jerusalem and returned to Ethiopia still seeking. He departed from the temple; but he still communed with God. When the period of public worship had passed, he persevered in private searching the Scriptures. Mark the man well: he has not abandoned the search. The whole meaning of that sable chief, as he bends in silence over the parchment, seems to be, “T will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” It is true he has not obtained what he sought at Jerusa- lem, so as to be satisfied when he departs; but he has learned something at Jerusalem which is of use to him now. Although his want is not supplied, he knows better now what his want is. As the thirsty blindly gropes for water, he comes near the place where a fountain has been opened. An instinct is astir within him, as true as that which guides an infant to its mo- ther’s breast. He is feeling for the sufferings of Christ. Before he saw Philip, or obtained any help, the place of the Scripture which he read was this: ‘‘ He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.” All things are now ready. This man will be born there. In that desert place Ethiopia is stretching out her hands to God, and will not be left to stretch them out in vain. 164 The Church in the House. XXXVI. A MAN OF ETHIOPIA. ‘© And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Ferusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.”— ACTS VIII. 27, 28. PAUSE a little here and contemplate that interesting stranger, while Philip opens to him the word of life. He isa man of Ethiopia. In the main, it is the country which is now called Abyssinia. It lies on the eastern edge of the African continent, north of the equator, and bounded on the east by the southern portion of the Red Sea. It is a land of mountains and rivers. Its climate is warm and its soil fertile. It is of great ex- tent. In those days it was a powerful kingdom; and if its people were civilized, it might become powerful again. Some of the streams which constitute the Nile rise in Abyssinia. The inhabitants are very black. Although we can- not be certain of the nationality of the queen’s treas- urer, yet, in the absence of any information to the con- trary, we must assume that he was a man of Ethiopia by birth as well as by allegiance. In that carriage Philip sits beside a colored man, and leads him into the kingdom of God. The Word is not, Blessed are the fair in skin, but, Blessed are the pure in heart. The Ethiopian’s color cannot be changed, but his char- acter may. He may become a new creature in Christ. If he is born again, he will see the kingdom, and enter it too. It does not go by good looks. There is no respect of persons with God.