I. ITS HUMAN COMPOSITION. (Ver. 1.) Great names have been entered on the rolls of many Churches; but very few indeed, if any, could compare with the list which included the names of Barnabas and Saul, as well as that of a man (Manaen) who was the foster-brother of Herod Antipas. A Church is influential, not only according to the number of souls it can count in its communion, but according to the character of the men who are included in its ranks. A Church which can win and can train and send forth a most useful minister, or a most successful missionary, or a most powerful writer, may do a work which, in the balances of Heaven, weighs more than that of another which has five times its number on the lists. Nowhere more than here does quality, character, spiritual worth, tell in the estimate of truth and wisdom.

II. ITS DIVINE INDWELLING. The Church at Antioch had "prophets and teachers" (ver. 1). This statement implies that there were those amongst the brethren who received occasionally such Divine impulse that they spoke under the consciousness of his inspiration. And to them, or to one of them, the Spirit of God made known the Divine will that they should set apart two of their number for special work (ver. 2). Evidently this Church was one in which, as in a temple, the Holy Ghost dwelt. The fact of the indwelling of the Spirit is not, indeed, anything which is itself remarkable; for no Church of which this cannot be said is worthy of its name. But of "the Church that was at Antioch" this was strikingly and eminently true, if we may take this short passage of its history as of a piece with the rest.

III. ITS RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY. We know that Barnabas and Saul "taught much people" (Acts 11:26); the work of evangelization went on actively at, Antioch. We may gather from our text - "they ministered to the Lord, and fasted" - that the Church was diligent in its devotions; not only worshipping when it was convenient and agreeable to the flesh, but to the extent of self-denial: twice in two verses we read of the members fasting (vers. 2, 3). Fasting, for the sake of fasting or with a view of pleasing Christ, is not enjoined, and both the words of our Lord and the genius of his religion discourage rather than encourage it. But we shall undoubtedly do well to pursue our work and to maintain our worship - "ministering unto the Lord" - up to and within the line of self-control and even self-denial; not only not giving the reins to our bodily cravings, but checking these and restricting ourselves beyond that which is positively demanded, if by so doing we can worship God more spiritually or work more effectively for our fellows.

IV. ITS OBEDIENT ENTRANCE ON AN APPARENTLY HOPELESS ENTERPRISE. (Vers. 2, 3.) The Church was commanded by its Lord to send two of its members on the errand of converting the Gentiles, "and... they sent them away." It was not its part to "reason why," but to obey. Had it reckoned the likelihood of the case, dwelt on the difficulties in the way of success, measured the might and number of its adversaries, weighed the strength of two Jews against the learning, the prejudice, the military forces, the material interests, the social customs, the evil habits, the inwrought unrighteousness of a bitterly and even passionately hostile world, it would have hesitated, it would have refrained. But it did not measure these things. It heard the sovereign sound of its Divine Leader's voice, and it proceeded unquestioningly to obey. It "sent them away." And they went forth - those two men - unpracticed in the wiles of the world; poor; unarmed; unequipped with any forces which, on mere human lines, could avail anything; determined to preach a doctrine which would be received with the haughtiest contempt, which would clash with men's strongest interests and smite their most cherished sins; - they went forth, with the confidence of the Church behind them (ver. 3), with the hand of the Lord upon them, with the hope of his welcome and his reward before them. It was a splendid action of an illustrious Church, and the nearer we can approach it in our own times and in our own communities, the dearer shall we be to our Master and the greater service shall we render to our race. - C.

I. THE TRUE WEALTH OF A CHURCH. There were prophets and teachers at Antioch. Nothing is said about its wealth in money, only about its wealth in men. A religious community may possess splendid buildings, wealthy members; may command amply all the external appliances of worship and work; but unless it has men, it has not strength. Intelligence and enthusiasm, piety and genius, constitute the true forces of the Church. Without these, it is feeble with all its worldly resources; with these, it is mighty in poverty.

II. THE CONSECRATION OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.

1. It was preceded by prayer and fasting. The moderation of the body gives freedom and clearness to the judgment. There is nothing artificial in the true proceedings of spiritual man. The bodily and the spiritual life cannot be both affirmed at the same time. In denying the body we affirm the Spirit. In casting off the weights of sense we rise into the purer air.

2. It was accompanied by laying on of hands. "Order is Heaven's first law," and in the Church "let all things be done decently and in order." The act marks peculiar selection out of the mass of men, and for special and peculiar ends of work. From Antioch in its strength and spiritual prosperity went forth the first missionaries. This is an example. When we are full of thought we long to speak or otherwise give it to the world. When the fire burns within the soul the tongue cannot be mute. In like manner, a vigorous Church will be a missionary Church; the falling off of missionary interest is a symptom that we have less hold upon the truth or have lost the fullness of love from the heart. - J.

I. THE CHURCH APPEARS AS THE UNIT ECCLESIASTICAL. This is worth observing, if only for the honor thereby done the Church. But yet more for the suggestions that arise from it, as indicating that it is the point of departure condescendingly recognized by Heaven itself, by Christ and the Spirit - of duty, of work, of character, of privilege to men. Wherever the Church, it is the living center, where dwells the Spirit, around which warmest and most intelligent affection, devotion, and enthusiasm should gather, even beyond those owned to by David and the most pious of the Jews toward Jerusalem and Zion (Psalm 137:4-6). No metropolitan center of officialism, it purports to be and is ordained to be a living fountain head. This is the "rest of the Lord" (Psalm 132:8, 14). This is where his people find rest. This the spot from which the heralds of everlasting truth set out, and of which they say again and again, "All my springs are in thee" (Psalm 87:7).

II. EMPHATIC MENTION IS MADE OF FIVE MEN IN THE CHURCH. They are prophets and teachers.

1. Though every Christian man should be a spring of good to others and a true minister in the Church, the New Testament, far from dishonoring the idea of orders among those who compose it, here evidently enough countenances it.

2. The personnel of these five excites interest. Barnabas, who stands first, we know, and Saul, who stands last. Lucius is an African, and is mentioned again (Romans 16:21). The epithet attached to Symeon marks something interesting, though we cannot say certainly what. While a volume of interest underlies what is added to the name of Manaen! It is a signal ease, indeed, of "one being taken and the other left."

3. The holy engagements of these five men is emphasized. They are warming the fire; they are keeping warm the Church; they are prevailing in prayer with God; they are subduing the body and keeping it under subjection. How often might five men save and bless a Church, and call down richest blessing on it!

III. EMPHATIC HONOUR IS SET ON THESE FIVE MEN.

1. The Spirit "speaketh expressly" to them, in the midst of their prayer and fastings and devotion (Acts 10:3, 4, 10, 19, 30). It is possible that this occasion may have found the Church gathered together also, but it cannot be affirmed that it was so. Any way, there were more than "two or three gathered together in the Name" of Christ.

2. The Spirit speaks another "call" to them. The forces of the Church are growing. Two of the five are "called" to go far away to the Gentiles. The other three are "called" to "separate" the two designated for" the work." "Doubting nothing" and "without gainsaying," they do this. Still does the Spirit keep the choosing and the designating, and should be honored and glorified for doing so. And still does the Spirit delegate the outer and visible carrying out of his will to the ministers of the Church. Note:

(1) What a happy "separating" this compared with the many of which the Church, and, alas! the world, has heard, through all the succeeding centuries!

(2) The method of "separating" Barnabas and Saul. It is

(a) after fasting;

(b) by prayer; and

(c) with the accompanying sign of laying on of hands.

(3) The probable object and advantages of this service. If there seem any ceremony about it, it is not vain ceremony. It is full of meaning, and may be full of use and advantage.

(a) An object, high, holy, not self-serving, is very distinctly placed before those thus ordained.

(b) They are reminded that the eyes of witnesses are upon them.

(c) They are reminded that he who calls them to be "separated" will hear their call to him when perils abound, when flesh is weary, when the heart is sore and weary, when enemies press in, and when all things seem against them.

(d) They are taught that in this "one thing" they now do, their Master and their Judge, the one Being to whom they are responsible, is above, the great invisible but ever sympathizing One. How blessed and how useful have the memories of self-consecration often been in the subsequent periods of life! The heart has dwelt with them and been refreshed and enriched by them. And what added impression, stimulus, and sustained energy have often come to us in the memory of those, if only of earth, who once heard our vows and witnessed our consecration! But these have most possessed the heart and ruled it and governed it entirely, when to the rest has been added the unswerving conviction that the Spirit called, and that it was his call and nothing less than his, that we once heard and never could forget. - B.

I. THE DIVINE ALLOTMENT OF WORK AND WORKERS.

1. God has a work for each one of his creatures to do. This truth is illustrated in the infinite variety of things which God has made on the earth. Each minutest creature has his place, his work, and his fitness for doing it. As we ascend in the scale of being, the work becomes more complex; and it is difficult for us to realize that the same thing can be true of man, who is endowed with self-will and is free to choose his own way. Yet we do hold that, in the Divine omniscience and government, a work is appointed for every man, and that, for the doing of that precise work, each man is brought into being at a particular time and endowed with particular abilities. A perfect order on earth could be attained if each individual fitted precisely into the place and work to which he has been divinely assigned.

2. But God not only has a variety of forms of work, he has a perfect knowledge of the men who can best do it. Sometimes the Divine sovereignty is spoken of in a way that cannot honor God. It is assumed that he acts upon a bare exercise of will, and without the necessity for consideration. But the case of our text rather shows that the Divine selections are always made upon due estimate of the fitness of the individuals. Barnabas and Saul were evidently just the men to undertake this new mission to the Gentiles. It follows from this view of the Divine calls to work that it can never be a true humility that refuses a Divine call; Moses and Jeremiah were both in the wrong when they hesitated and shrank back from a duty which God laid upon them. We may be quite sure that we can do whatsoever God requires us to do.

3. And it may further be shown that God has the full right to call forth any one of his servants to serve him in any way that he may please. Moses must come from the deserts, Gideon from the winepress, David from the sheepfolds, Elisha from his ploughing, and John from his fishing, if the "Lord hath need of him."

II. THE HUMAN RECOGNITION OF THE DIVINE ALLOTMENT. It may be said - Is not the Divine allotment of workers and their work sufficient? and why should more than this be necessary? In reply, it may be pointed out that God deals with us as communities, and recognizes our mutual relations, and our influence one upon another. For the sake of the blessing which one man's call may be to many, he requires that it shall be publicly and openly recognized. In this way his claims, his presence, and his abiding relations to all work and workers may be freshly impressed upon the Church. Ordination and dedication services are fruitful in blessing to the Churches. It may be well to point out:

1. The value of forms, services, and devout ceremonials.

2. The most profitable and helpful forms such services may take, noting and explaining that, in the ordination of Barnabas and Saul, there was union in fasting and in prayer, with the solemn "laying on of hands."

3. The purposes that may be served by such public dedications -

(1) increased feeling of responsibility on the part of the persons dedicated;

(2) assured interest of the congregation in their work;

(3) impulse to others to devote themselves to Christian work. - R.T.

I. THE FIGURE AS SEEN IN THE OLD PROPHETS. Divine communications were made, in the earlier days of the world, to individuals upon due occasion, and oracular responses were made by the high priest, through Urim and Thummim. But in the times of the prophets we meet with a most important advance in the Divine relations. More or less constantly God dwells with and abides in those prophets, and their relation to the Divine was the foreshadowing and preparation for the abiding relations of the Holy Ghost with the believer and the Church. The "Word of the Lord" came to the prophets, but, besides this, there was an openness and sensitiveness to Divine leadings which could be thus expressed: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." Other points will come out upon a study of the nature of prophetic inspiration, and especially this one, as bearing on the point now before us, that the Holy Ghost used the individuality of the prophet, and became only the life and force behind it, and so prepared for the Christian times when, in this way, all the Lord's people are prophets. The progression of Divine truth is well illustrated in the history of the relations of the Spirit of God with men.

II. THE FACT AS REPRESENTED IN THE THEOCRACY. The very essence of the idea of the theocracy was the invisible presence and rule of God with men. God was with them - always with them. Yet they never saw him. Somehow he was in them. He knew all their concerns. He was appropriately affected by all their doings. He could be "grieved," "quenched," "resisted," and even "driven away." Present with them, he inspired and guided all the national life; he toned and sanctified all the family and social life. The sublimest sentiment of Mosaism was that of the indwelling presence of Jehovah. Then, when the fullness of times came, the Jehovah-figure could pass aside, with its kingliness and mystery, giving place to the Father (holy Father, righteous Father); and the sense of God's near presence and close though invisible relations could be realized in the conception of the abiding, indwelling Holy Ghost, who leads us into all truth and righteousness.

III. THE FEELING AS REALIZED IN A MOVING AND GUIDING OF OUR JUDGMENT, WILL, AND RESOLVE. In seeking to avoid the merely sentimental, we must take heed that we miss or undervalue no truth. And Christian experience abundantly confirms the position that there is a most real sense in which open hearts feel the inward movings of the Holy Ghost, and may rely on the Divine inward guidance of judgment and will. The Church, too, may plead that her experience confirms the testimony of the individual Christian. This subject should be so treated as to deal with men's practical difficulty - How can we know we have Divine guidance in our business and family affairs now? If God's Spirit dwells in us, we now have the actual inspiration and direction of our judgment, will, purpose, and decision. - R.T.

1. That good work for others comes home with a blessing before long. Some of the scattered Christians were men of Cyprus, "who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks" (Acts 11:20); and here are men from the Church which the Cypriots helped to form coming to evangelize Cyprus (ver. 4). "Give, and it shall be given unto you."

2. That the success of any great work is not to be measured by the fruit of the first endeavor. We read that "when they were at Salamis, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues" (ver. 5); but we do not read of any conversion, to the faith. It is fair to infer that their earliest attempt was, if not disappointing, far from a marked success; but they were not daunted thereby.

3. That it is well worth while for youthful aspiration to attend on mature and established piety. "They had also John to their minister" (ver. 5). Mark may have been little more than the courier of the apostles, but it was no mean service he was rendering the Church and the world if he did his duty thus.

4. That when religion is cast out superstition is sure to enter. Where God is unhonored the people will resort to the "sorcerer" (ver. 6), the soothsayer, the spiritualist, etc.

I. THAT MAN MAY DEPART SO FAR FROM RECTITUDE AS TO DELIBERATELY FALSIFY THE TRUTH OF GOD. (Vers. 5-8.) "Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" Here was a man who, for the purpose of retaining a lucrative position, was determinately opposing the truth. Many have been his predecessors and many his successors, who have not scrupled to "fight against God," to act in such a way that they have made what they knew to be right seem to be wrong, what they knew to be wholesome and helpful seem to be injurious; they have twisted round and perverted the right line of heavenly wisdom; they have not only "called good evil and evil good," but striven, for some base motive, to make it seem thus in the eyes of men, resolutely and wantonly deceiving them.

II. THAT THE TIME COMES FOR BURNING INDIGNATION AND STRONG INVECTIVE, "O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness!" (ver. 10). It is not often allowable for men to speak thus to one another. As a rule, we must follow the example of the archangel, and instead of "bringing a railing accusation, say, The Lord rebuke thee." But there are occasions when we do well to be angry, when we should rather sin by not being righteously angry than by even passionate indignation. When men are palpably ruining others in order to fill their own treasury, undoubtedly keeping others out of the kingdom in order to secure their own base objects, it is not only permissible but laudable to let our holy indignation boil over in scathing condemnation and rebuke.

III. THAT JUDGMENT HAS ITS PART TO PLAY IN THE DIVINE ECONOMY. (Ver. 11.) It was, of course, only in virtue of the inspiration under which he was acting (see ver. 1) that Paul pronounced this judgment on Elymas. It was a very unusual occurrence. Our Lord himself never, so far as we know, used his almighty power to punish a human being; with the exception of the banning of the fig tree, all his works were those of beneficence. Yet we need to remember that judgment is a part of his whole system. He does condemn and smite. The storm uproots the tree; the locusts lay bare the fruitful field; disease paralyzes the human form; death does its closing work; spiritual blindness darkens the mind and spiritual hardness encrusts the soul,-at his holy and awful bidding. The pleasant theories of the universe, which leave judgment out of the account, are fair enough to look at, but they are not true; they arc false to the facts of the case as these meet us in many forms and in every sphere of human life.

IV. THAT THE BEST HUMAN SURROUNDINGS WILL NOT ENSURE SPIRITUAL STEADFASTNESS. (Ver. 13.) We might have thought that the presence of such men as Barnabas and Saul would have ensured the stability of John Mark; but it did not. Though under the influence of one man whose unswerving devotedness to Christ has never been surpassed, he yielded to his inclination to return home rather than brave the hazards and endure the privations of missionary work in Asia Minor. Nothing will secure our spiritual steadfastness but the indwelling of Divine power. We must abide in Christ that he may abide in us by his Spirit. It is only when we are "strengthened with all might by his Spirit in the inner man," when we are "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might," that we are really safe and secure. "When I am weak, then am I strong." - C.

I. THE FALSE PROPHET. Bar-jesus may stand as the type of one class of foes with whom Christianity has to contend. He is described as a "mage" and a "false prophet." It appears that he gave himself the title of Elymas (to which word the modern Turkish ulema corresponds) - "wise man" par excellence. The essence of the magic calling is the pretension to override the laws of nature and providence in obedience to the wishes and fantasies and caprices of the individual. It would make imagination and feeling the test of truth and right, rather than the fixed truth and Word of God. The spirit of this false prophet is seen in his attaching himself to the proconsul, as the parasite attaches itself to the sound life, and in the endeavor to divert him from Christianity. Here is a test of the false spirit in the teacher. If we really love the truth and possess it, we have no desire to divert the course of argument from other minds. The more light and discussion, the better for the truth. Suspect the man who tries to silence another by clamor or prejudice the ear of the audience against him.

II. THE TRUE APOSTLE. Paul had been "sent by the Holy Spirit," and now he is filled by the "Holy Spirit." This gives him boldness and directness in dealing with the impostor.

1. There are times when denunciation may be used by the servant of Christ; for there are times when evil, stripped of its disguises, is manifest, and no terms can be held with it. And the denunciation of the apostle points to the secret root of evil in the false prophet's life, and which poisons all his teaching. There is craft, guile, the design to deceive Others for private ends. Then there is a certain lightness and recklessness of conduct connected with this, denoted by a peculiar Greek word (radiourgia). The false teacher will respect no truth and no sanctity which stands in the way of his objects and ends. Such a man may well be called a "child of the devil." The idea of the devil is that of an accuser or slanderer; and the false prophet will stick at no lies to serve his ends. He is the foe of all that is good, and must he; for the good and right, resting on the principle of truth, is deadly opposed to him, the living lie. He is the perverter of the Lord's straight ways. While the servants of God proclaim, in the words of the ancient prophet, the leveling of inequalities and the making of the crooked straight, the object of the deceiver is to twist the straight into crookedness, and bring back old chaos and disorder. Such are the arrows of denunciation launched at his head; such, in brief words, are the traits of the deceiver, drawn by the firm hand of the apostle.

2. The occasional revelation of Divine judgment against the ungodly. Such acts as that of Paul, in virtue of a Divine authority, in their occasional character, reveal a general principle of judgment. "The hand of the Lord is upon thee," not to strengthen and to illuminate, but to weaken and to deprive of light. The unused or misused sense decays. "From him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath." If we use not our intelligence in the cause of truth, we cannot expect to retain it in its clearness. And if our conscience is not guided by love, it will become darkened. And if the light within becomes darkness, how great is that darkness i At the same time, mercy mingles with judgment. It is for a season only, that the opportunity for reformation and repentance may be given, and blessed the suspensions of activities which we have misused, if, in the enforced silence and privation, we are led to reflection and back to God.

III. CONVERSION FOLLOWS THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRUTH. The fall of error means the establishment of a conviction in the mind. The overthrow of a lie delights the spirit, which is made for truth. Falsehood tempts and enthralls when it appeals to cur passions; let the falsehood be exposed, and spiritual emancipation follows. Fear and astonishment are often the means God employs to break up the fatal slumbers of the soul. They are like volcanic forces, which prepare for the working of the genial forces of nature. Every conversion implies in the subject of it the knowledge of the superiority of truth over falsehood, the presence of the soul at a moral victory. Truth in conquering us, sets us free. - J.

I. THE TENTATIVE CHARACTER of this first missionary journey, which embraced Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and so back through Attalia to Antioch. The Church at Antioch kept in view, and the report of the work brought back to it. This showed that the double aspect of the work was remembered - its bearing on the world and its bearing on the Church itself. All aggressive efforts should be thus held closely to the vital center of fellowship. Paul and his companions did not aim at preaching themselves, but Christ. So diffusion is strength, not weakness.

II. The faithful observance of the Lord's rule, TO THE JEW FIRST. Thus the mission of God's ancient people still recognized. The unity of truth. The continuity of grace. "Salvation is of the Jews."

III. THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF CYPRUS A TYPE OF THAT OF THE WORLD. Corrupt synagogues, side by side with heathen ignorance and superstition. Bar-jesus, or Elymas, between the Gentiles and Christ; false prophecy hiding the true. So in Europe during the Middle Ages. The infidelity which broke out in the French Revolution the natural product of a monstrous travesty of Christianity. Yet there is hope in "the men of understanding" to whom the gospel can appeal.

IV. MIRACULOUS MANIFESTATION brought in to break the spell of falsehood. Paul's first miracle. He wrought it when under the special influence of the Holy Ghost. No vindictive feeling in the apostle, but a simple obedience to the voice of the Spirit. The miracle was one of mercy, both as regards Sergius Paulus and the heathen population generally. Nothing would more open the way of the gospel. People that were accustomed to magic could be easily impressed by such a sign, especially as it fell on the sorcerer. May it not be that some such influences are to be watched against in modern society? Those in high station often listen to spiritualists, thinking to aid their own weakness by such means. Yet the wonders of the gospel far greater than all the deceits of false prophets. We may safely employ the feeling of astonishment, if only we sanctify it by the preaching of the Word. - R.

"Infants crying in the night;
Infants crying for the light;
And with no language but a cry." Dean Plumptre gives an interesting inscription - the date of which is, however, uncertain, and may be of the second or third century after Christ - found at Galgoi, in Cyprus, which shows a yearning after something higher than the polytheism of Greece. It reads thus: "Thou, the one God, the greatest, the most glorious Name, help us all, we beseech thee." The unrest and anxious inquiring of Sergius Paulus are farther indicated in the fact that he had come into the power of Elymas the sorcerer, who evidently persuaded him that he could settle all his doubts. The subject introduced by this incident may be considered under the following divisions: -

I. THE NATURAL DISPOSITION OF MAN TO SEEK FOR GOD. Remember St. Augustine's words, "Man is made for God, and can find no rest till he finds rest in him." Seeking God is necessary to the dependent creature, who must lean, and must find some one on whom he may perfectly lean. "A belief in some personal power, the arbiter of man's destiny, above and beyond himself, is a primary necessity of the human mind. Mankind can never dispense with this belief, however superfluous in certain cases and for a time it may seem to be to the individual" (Canon Farrar). Much has been made of the fact that some tribes of men have been found which had no name for God, and indeed no knowledge of him or concern to hear about him; but it may fairly be urged, from the utterly degraded condition of these tribes, that men have never lost their care for God until they have virtually lost their manhood. Degraded to be like the beasts, they cease to have uplooking eyes and yearning hearts. Humanity is knit in brotherhood by its great united cry for its Father.

II. THE THINGS THAT MAY TEMPORARILY SATISFY THE SEEKING. These take one of three forms; either:

1. The absorption of a man in purely material and selfish interests, which may overlay and crush down the soul's great needs; just as now the world and its business and pleasure so often silence the soul's cry in the Christian.

2. The teachings of a philosophy which attempts to put "thoughts" and" ideas" in the place of a living being.

3. So-called false religions, which give unworthy views of God, but, by ceremonial, seek to satisfy the religious instinct. Such religions offer, what man appears to need, a doctrine about God, and a cult or worship of him. It may be shown that, in subtle forms, men are enticed from their seekings, even in these Christian days, by one or other of these evil influences.

III. THE UNREST WHICH SOONER OR LATER RETURNS. For man can only find permanent rest in that which is true. The false has no "staying power." It may seem to fit at one time, but life advances, new needs arise, new thoughts stir within, and the false theory will no longer serve, - the man finds himself looking out again, as anxiously as in the early days, and with the feeling that life is passing and the time for the quest is brief, for the truth and God wherein are final rest. Sooner or later a man wakes up from his sleep of delusion, feels the darkness all about him, and puts out his hand, feeling after God, if haply he may find him. The unrest that surely comes to men within the world's care and pleasure, within skeptical philosophies, and within merely ceremonial religions, is our constant plea for the preaching of the gospel and the revelation to men of God, in Christ manifest.

IV. THE RESPONSE WHICH GOD SURELY MAKES WHEN A WHOLE SOUL IS TURNED To HIM. He waiteth to be gracious, stands at the door ready for the opening, really wants every man to be saved, in the mystery of his great Fatherhood has a real need of souls, desires their love, finds his own joy in their trust, and so is sure to respond when men turn and seek him. And finding God, and coming into personal relations with him, is the end of man's quest. Against God, and everything in life is hard and dark and wrong. Apart from God, and all life and relations lie bathed in the lurid glow of stormy passion and self-will. With God, and earth, life, duty, and fellowship catch the soft, sweet sunlight, and everything takes on its beauty and perfection. If we have God we have all; and we have all in God, in the God whom St. Paul preached, of whose glory Jesus the Man is the express and blessed image. - R.T.

I. THE GUILT HERE PUNISHED. It has been already in trenchant language denounced (vers. 9, 13), but deed is to follow word. The guilt had certain aggravations.

1. It is the guilt of a man averse himself to light and conviction.

2. It is the guilt of a man who was thus averse chiefly because he saw true light, would stop his dark ways and probably put an end "to his gains."

3. It is the guilt of a man who had loved it long, and long habituated himself to a career of deception of others and taking Heaven's Name in vain.

4. It is the guilt of one who, misled himself, sets himself to mislead others.

5. It is the guilt of one who would mislead another in matter of deepest, dearest, tenderest moment to him.

6.It is the guilt of one who will do this in those sensitive, critical moments when decision trembles in the balance, and his fellow man is looking to the light and inclining to it.

7. It is the guilt of a man who will lay himself out to crush with tenfold vigor the events of the conversion of one whose good character, position, and influence would count for much if he should turn to the light. So correspondingly great would be the forfeiture and destruction of good, the responsibility of which would lie at the door of the tempter.

II. THE PUNISHMENT ITSELF.

1. Elymas has pretended, probably for a long, long time, to work signs and wonders among a deluded people. He shall now in punishment, incurred by the filling up of the full measure of his iniquities, learn what a real sign and wonder and miracle are, in his own painful experience. How much had he taken out of others in money and in credulity. He shall be reminded of the past.

2. He tried to keep another in the dark and amid the groping and the wandering. He himself shall know the grievousness of darkness and the humiliation of groping and the bitter dissatisfaction of the wanderer.

3. He tried to take away from another the help of a good strong hand divinely proffered him. He shall know what it is to have to beg the leading of even a human hand himself.

4. Yet hope and "room for repentance" are not pronounced for ever closed for Elymas. And the punishment awarded him is less than the injury he had sought to inflict - less by far.

III. THE LEADING EFFECTS OF THE PUNISHMENT.

1. It removes the transgressor off the ground.

2. It effectually confounds his endeavors, and turns him into an impressive witness to that truth which he had resisted for himself and tried to take the comfort of from another.

3. It produces strong faith and admiring astonishment and grateful acceptance of "the truth as it is in Jesus," on the part of the deputy threatened in his highest interests.

4. It leaves a long warning, in the stricken blindness of Elymas, though it was but temporary, of the verdict that Christ passes on the heinousness of that sin which consists in attempting to blight the opening religious growth and knowledge of any.

5. In the temporary character of the blindness of Elymas, provision was secured for a certain resuscitation of the whole matter, in his own memory and in that of many others, whensoever he might regain vision.

6. An evident proof is given how God both rules and overrules, can convert and does convert, all the efforts of his opponents against him "to the furtherance of the gospel." For this was literally the issue of the conduct of one whom not the bitterness of a prejudiced tongue, but the sober truth of an inspired apostle, describes as "full of all subtilty and mischief, a child of the devil, an enemy of all righteousness, and an unceasing perverter of the right ways of the Lord." - B.

I. THE PROVIDENTIAL COURSE OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY.

1. There was the Divine selection of a people, not to be for themselves favorites of God, but to be his light and salvation to the ends of the earth.

2. There was the wondrous deliverance of this people out of the oppressor's hand - from the land of Egypt. On this memory of a surpassing Divine power joined with Divine goodness, the historic Consciousness of the nation was based.

3. There was the desert discipline: the giving of the Law, the enforcement of holiness - chastisement, purification, education in obedience.

4. The expulsion of the Canaanite tribes and the foundation of a settled system of government. This, too, wan a great epoch; and Israel could not refer to it without the consciousness of her high mission as a nation - called of God to supersede the weak, effete idolatrous nations of the land, and to diffuse holier manners, purer laws.

5. The epoch of the kings. The brilliant but erring Saul; the hero David and his glorious era. Every nation has some similar or analogous points in its history on which its memory rests; landmarks of its way; prophetic moments containing the future; sowing-times for future harvests; endeavors towards an ideal. Think of our own Magna Charta, our Civil War, our Revolution, our struggle for existence, our chastisements, and our triumphs. Israel's history is the mirror in which every nation may view its own, and trace the hand of the same world-guiding providence.

II. THE CONSUMMATION OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY. In Jesus the line of Israel's greatness was continued. He was of the seed of David according to the flesh. There was an echo of glorious memories in him He came to revive the kingdom of David and the ascendency of Israel, although in a far different way from that expected by his countrymen. The testimony of the Baptist was mighty in favor of Jesus. No prophet in these latter days had commanded greater reverence than John the Baptist, the great religious reformer, a preacher of repentance. Now he had distinctly waived his claims to be the Messiah, and had pointed to Jesus; had retired before him with the most lowly confession of inferiority. When we see a great man sincerely willing to take a second place in the presence of a new-comer, it is a witness of the greatest moment to the latter's superiority. The highest human elevation of character - such as John's - can only bend before the Divine. "To you, then," may Paul well say to the Jews, "and that not on the ground of my assertion, but the witness of the greatest man held in honor by you, the second Elijah, is this salvation sent, this good news delivered."

II. THE CONDUCT OF THE SANHEDRIM TO JESUS EXPLAINED. Paul is aware that he has a great prejudice in the minds of his hearers to overcome - the great "scandal of the cross."

1. The ignorance of the rulers. They did not understand the voices of the prophets, nor the meaning of the Scriptures constantly read in their synagogues. But their ignorance was little excuse for them. They ought to have known better. If we choose to look at facts in one light only - that of our wishes or prejudices - we suppress a part of the truth; and when this suppressed truth rises up from an unexpected quarter to confront us, the sense of self-condemnation cannot be overcome. The Sanhedrim saw in Jesus the embodiment of suppressed truth, and they hated him. It was like the uprising of a ghost long thought to have been laid.

2. What they could not meet with reason they tried to quell by violence. Jesus was tried, with the result of establishing his innocence. No crime, no fault, no disobedience to the Law, no rebellion against order, could be proved. Yet he was handed to the Roman governor, and his death was a judicial murder.

3. Thus prophecy was unconsciously fulfilled. A suffering Messiah had been foretold, and had now been revealed in a death of martyrdom. Behind the innocence of the sufferer and the guilt of his murderers a purpose of eternal wisdom and love had wrought and fulfilled itself. It is this insight into Divine thoughts which can alone relieve the dreadful tragedies of human passions and events. While in one point of view the death of Jesus is a scene of horror and of darkness, and the thought of it a scandal to the Jew and a folly to the Greek, in another it is a revelation of a Divine love which conquers hate and forgives even guilty ignorance, and converts a revelation of weakness into a revelation of wisdom and of power.

III. THE RESURRECTION. Without this crowning fact the rest had been incomplete. A suffering Messiah would have been a witness of the peoples' sin; a Messiah rising triumphant over death could alone bespeak the victory of Divine love over human hate and sin. Here, then, comes the core of the message. The apostles can never forget that they are "witnesses of the Resurrection." And this was good news - the fulfillment of a promise made to the fathers in olden time. The apostles found in psalms and prophecies of the past which referred in the first instance to events then passing and persons then living, an ideal or prophetic element. "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;" these words, perhaps referable in the first instance to Solomon, can only in the apostolic thought be properly satisfied in Christ. And so with the other citation. The promise to continue the Divine covenant in the line of the kings is fulfilled above all in Jesus. We must recollect that the kingdom of Judah and the national life as a whole was ideal; that is, it pointed to meanings not at any time within the visible field of experience. If we grasp this thought, it may help us to understand how the apostles viewed Scripture, and how they quoted it; not so much for its literal and primary as for its spiritual and prophetic meaning. The Holy One of God was not to see corruption. But David passed away and mixed with dust. It is, then, in David's "greater Son" that this prophecy must be fulfilled, of an incorruptible and immortal life.

IV. THE REMISSION OF SINS. Through this risen One the blessed boon is proclaimed. The life, the death, the resurrection, would be simply a grand Divine drama, an object of contemplation, a piece of magnificent poetry, were there no practical result like this flowing from it. But it means victory and release from sin. Surrender to the Divine ideal, affiance in the Anointed of God, means deliverance and peace, not to be obtained by laborious obedience to the moral or ceremonial Law. Faith is whole-hearted surrender to the Divine Object. It is not a mere act of intelligence, nor yielding of the affections, nor decision of the will; but the giving up one's self to Christ. It is this which brings the full blessing of Divine peace upon the heart, and nothing short of this can do so.

V. FINAL WARNING. How shall men escape if they reject so great salvation? Refuse love, and wrath only can be expected. Similarly does Stephen's speech end with a sharp note of warning. Our heart is stirred by contrasted motives. We move between two poles of emotion. To be drawn by love is to be repelled by fear. The one motive or the other may have the greater weight with different minds, or with the same mind in different moods. Let us thankfully recognize that, whether the gospel touches the chord of love or of fear, it aims at our salvation. "Save, Lord, by love or fear!" - J.

I. JOHN MARK separated and returned to Jerusalem. Probably a failure of spiritual Courage. Yet notice the change which afterwards occurred. He is, according to many, the evangelist; perhaps Jewish in feeling, and hence attaching himself more to Peter. Sign of the Jewish prejudice still at work, and the difficulties in store for the Church.

II. The PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATION of Paul for his entire devotion to the Gentiles.

1. There was no self-assertion in it. He simply followed the leading of events. We should watch the guidance of God in our work.

2. The attitude of the Jews of Antioch showed that the Word was brought to them in a respectful and reverent manner.

3. Glimpse into the synagogue life shows what an opportunity the Jews had among the heathen. The Law and the prophets still read. On that foundation -the gospel was placed. The Law was the schoolmaster to bring the nations to Christ, but the schooling was corrupt. - R.

I. ITS BASIS IN HISTORICAL FACT. (Vers. 17-22, 31.) It is a matter of history. That history commences with the call of Abraham and the redemption of Israel from the bondage of Egypt (ver. 17); it includes the life in the wilderness (ver. 18) and the early years in the land of promise (vers. 19, 20); it contains the choice of a monarchy (ver. 21) and the elevation of David (ver. 22). From beginning to end, the faith of Christ rests on the solid ground of established facts; it does not depend on dreams and visions, nor on logical deductions or intuitions of the human reason; it is built on well-attested facts; "That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you" (1 John 1:1-8). Not "cunningly devised fables," but facts of which truthful men were "eye-witnesses" (1 Peter 1:16), are the material on which Christian doctrine rests.

II. ITS CULMINATION IN A LIVING ONE. (Vers. 23-37.) "God raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus (ver. 28); One of supreme rank and majesty, whose shoes the great Baptist was "not worthy to loose" (ver. 25); One slain by his own people, but raised from the dead by the favor and the power of God (vers. 27-30); One whose immortality is the fulfillment of the Divine word (vers. 32-37). In Christianity everything gathers round, centers in, Jesus Christ himself. We are not compelled to subscribe to certain profound propositions, nor to conform to a number of minute requirements either in domestic or social life or devotional habit; we are desired to accept a once-crucified and now risen One - "a Savior, Jesus" - as the almighty Savior, living Lord, Divine Friend, he offers to be to us all.

III. ITS CARDINAL DOCTRINE. (Vers. 38, 39.) "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins;" "By him all that believe are justified," etc. There can be no real religious life without the conscious enjoyment of God's favor; and this cannot be attained until sin has been forgiven. The initial step into the kingdom of God is, therefore, the remission of sins, the justification of the sinner before God. This is the cardinal doctrine of the gospel of Christ; "This [he said] is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). There may come times when this doctrine will be neglected, but to it mankind will continually return; for it is the sense of sin and the consciousness of condemnation which stand between the soul of man and its heritage in God, and it is the forgiveness of sin and the justification of the sinner which open the gates of the kingdom of peace, of joy, of eternal life.

IV. ITS GLORIOUS COMPREHENSIVENESS. "Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience" (ver. 16; "Children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent" (ver. 26); "By him all that believe are justified" (ver. 39). Already the old and narrowing traditions had been broken; already the strong prejudices had melted away; already the hearts of men had been enlarged, and Gentiles and Jews were invited to believe and to be saved. As missionary work proceeded, and as more light from heaven broke in, the world-embracing thought of God became clearer and fuller to the minds of men.

V. THE URGENCY OF ITS CLAIM. (Vers. 40, 41.) A most sad succession of steps - despise - wonder - perish; but one that has been taken by thousands of the children of men. We cannot oppose ourselves to a "great salvation" without being bruised and broken by our folly (Matthew 21:44). The height of blessedness and dignity to which we rise if we accept a Divine Savior marks the depth of shame and woe to which we fall if we reject him. - C.

I. THE ONE DETERMINED OBJECT OF THIS "WORD OF EXHORTATION." (Vers. 38, 39.) It is to fix sole, undivided attention on the "Man" (ver. 38) Jesus, as the Obtainer of forgiveness of sins for men, though not himself necessarily the actual Forgiver, and as the Justifier of all men who believe in him, from the demands of responsibilities of which they would fain be free. This is the key-note of Paul's preaching, and we hear it distinctly sounded on this the first great occasion of his authoritative pronouncements. It marks the standpoint of his practical theology. And it is the burden of his apostolic mission. Nothing lies nearer his own heart, nothing is spoken more plainly on his lip, whether he converses with himself, a sinner, or would appeal to others, sinners. It is the core of the truth; it is the bone and marrow of the gospel itself. Therefore:

1. Paul preaches the "Man Christ Jesus."

2. Paul preaches him as the only One who obtains forgiveness (let him obtain it as he may) for the burdened sinner.

3. Paul preaches him as the living, all-efficient Justifier of men before God.

4. Paul preaches him as the "red" (John 15:1), after all the typical and figurative (ver. 39).

II. THE STRAIGHT, DIRECT ROAD ALONG WHICH PAUL TRAVELS TO HIS ONE DETERMINED OBJECT. There is no touch of "the Socratic argument" here. Paul takes, it is true, a little while to reach his grand point. But he goes by no covert approach towards it. He paves the way, and may be said to smooth the way, but it is all in full daylight. The brief yet effective historical survey which Paul takes of Israel may be compared, for object and matter and manner, with those of Peter (Acts 2.) and (though in less degree) of Stephen (Acts 7.). Without invidiousness it may be said, however, that Paul's brevity, pointedness, trenchancy in this address, could not be surpassed. He introduces Christ, from the moment of God's election of Abraham to "the raising up Jesus again" from a death and grave which had set not one stigma of corruption on him. And in a moment or two he has confronted his whole audience in that Antioch synagogue with two portraits like life and life-size - the one the portrait of their "own nation and people, the Jews," and the other the portrait of the crucified, "dead, and buried," but risen One. This introductory survey of Paul owns to the greatest fidelity to fact and fidelity to the conscience of those who listened. The evidences of promise sacred to every memory, of genealogy that in point of fact had been as undisputed as it was indisputable, of prophet of old, of that greatest "prophet born of women" (Luke 7:28) - John the Baptist, of modern time, and of "sacred psalm," are all marshaled. And at present the effect seemed likely to be irresistible. The "men of Israel, and they that feared God" from happy association with them, and "the Gentiles," or some chance representatives of them, seem to be, not indeed chained to the spot (ver. 42), not entranced, not bewitched, but deeply impressed and thoughtful without being embittered.

III. THE FAITHFUL WARNING AND POWERFUL REMONSTRANCE THAT CLOSED "THE WORD OF EXHORTATION." The word of trumpet-warning is Paul's own. He clenches it, albeit, with quotation from "the Scriptures," which should add the force that comes of sacred reverence's claim. "Repent!" cried John the Baptist. "Beware!" cries Paul, "lest you fail to repent;" as so many had failed to do since John the Baptist's cry. They heard the quotation, and often as they had heard it before and knew it so well, or it would have lost much of its significance and aptness on the lip of Paul, they had never thought of it in this light, they had never dreamt it could have foretold of them or be any description of them. Yet what a wonderful picture it had been of a nation, for at all events some three years, and of their sons and daughters some thirteen years more already! What a true picture of that "highly favored" nation! They had beheld and despised; they had wondered and had - perished, yes, already too many of them - perished. And that from no convulsion of nature, or collapse of heaven, or irremediable pestilence, or sword of conquering foe, but because, though they were given to behold things that kings and prophets and righteous men of their ancestors for centuries had desired in vain, they "despised" what they beheld. So must perish all who will "in no wise believe a work which" Heaven itself works in the very midst of them, and which is "declared" to them with the voice of power, of love, of patient importunity, but is "despised and rejected." - B.

I. The MAIN PURPOSE of it - to prove the Messiahship of Jesus, and therefore to proclaim the gate of life open. History of Divine grace pointing to clay of salvation. The course of thought in Paul's own mind, which led him to faith.

II. The MAIN STRENGTH of the argument - the facts of the Savior's death and. resurrection. Paul could speak with special emphasis, though prudently avoided bringing in at this point his own conversion.

III. The SPIRITUAL APPEAL twofold.

1. You need this salvation; for the Law of Moses will not justify you.

2. How can you escape if you neglect it? resist not the Holy Ghost.

IV. The MARKED EFFECT of sincerity and earnestness.

1. Inquiry. It is much to break through stolid indifference.

2. Devout attention led to faith. Many followed them; that is, declared themselves convinced. Fruit gathered even among the Jews. - R.

I. All grew out of CONSECRATED GROUND. No evolution explains such a man. The grace of God from a child. Converse with nature in his shepherd life (see Wordsworth's 'Excursion'). Forgetfulness of self. Patience. Courage and fortitude. But all led up to Divine anointing.

II. Fashioned by PROVIDENTIAL DEALINGS. Sufferings in the school of affliction. His discipline in conflict with Saul.

III. A MINGLED CHARACTER. Great faults beside great virtues. Tempted by luxury. Yet illustrating in his recovery that same grace which had raised him to the height. Goodness and severity of God. Our David is perfect. - R.

1. His characteristic attitude, standing up and beckoning with the hand (Acts 17:22; Acts 21:40; Acts 23:1; Acts 26:1).

2. His conciliatory introductions: he always strives first to be sure of a common platform with his audience.

3. His skill in dealing with the early histories; which served his purposes in two ways -

(1) by securing the attention of his Jewish audiences, which are to this day always pleased with reviews of the national history; and

(2) by bringing out the preparatory character of the earlier dispensation, and fitting his gospel message to it as a completion.

4. His firm handling of the facts connected with the mission of Jesus of Nazareth: his innocence; his death as a victim of ecclesiastical enmity; his resurrection.

5. His simple offer of pardon and life in the name of the glorified, living Savior. It is not conceivable that the gospel, in its very essence, can be more succinctly expressed than it has been by the Apostle Paul, in his missionary speeches (see especially here vers. 26, 32, 38, 39).

6. His force of passionate pleading and application of the truth to individuals, as shown in vers. 40, 41. It is to be noted that St. Paul always makes his appeal to both the intelligence and the heart, and the verses now before us for consideration show how he offered proofs of his statements which were well within the comprehension of his audience. A sentiment prevailed generally among the Jewish race concerning John the Baptist. St. Paul takes advantage of it, and shows how John gave his indirect and direct witness to the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth. It may be true that John's testimony to Jesus was of more value to a Jewish than to a Christian audience, but we question whether sufficient has ever yet been made of it as one of our best evidences to the truth of Christianity. Three things require careful study and efficient illustration.

I. JOHN'S PROPHET-CHARACTER. In fixing attention on John the Baptizer, men have lost sight of his more important relations as John the Prophet. "All men counted John as a prophet," the last of the line of men whom God was pleased to raise up, for a time, as the expounders to men of his will - the voices that spoke to men his message. It was the very essence of the prophet that he had a message from God to deliver, and a right to arrest men and compel them to listen to it. John's message was his mission, and his baptizing rite was but an accident or mode of expressing and sealing his message. We should ask - What did John say to men in the Name of God? not, What rite did John perform?

II. JOHN'S PREPARATORY WORK. This St. Paul dwells on. John never assumed that he had a message complete in itself, or that what he demanded was all, or even, the greatest thing, men needed. He was a herald, but his heralding assumed the close approach of the King. He was a mender of ways, but only to get ready for the royal progress. He demanded repentance, but only that men might be ready to receive the forgiveness and life which the King was coming to bestow. To stop with John is on the face of it absurd. There is no going on from John save to Christ.

III. JOHN'S DIRECT TESTIMONY. There should have been no need for this. And yet it forms a most valuable link, especially to Jews. John witnessed plainly that he had prepared the way for Jesus of Nazareth, that he was the Lamb of God to take away sins, and that God had given to him visible and audible testimony that Jesus was the expected Messiah and Savior. Accept John as prophet, we must accept Jesus as Messiah. - R.T.

I. THE PLAIN DUTY OF THE SERVANT OF CHRIST - THIS, TO "SERVE." This is a great word, a greater thing - to serve. Long time it was not so considered, till Jesus rose on the world, and, with ever-illustrious career of self-sacrifice, was among us as "he that served," and said it as well, "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." He who bare our sins, who carried our sorrows, who suffered our stripes, who murmured, not beneath our infirmities, who staunched so many a bleeding wound of humanity, nor refused to stoop to wash and to wipe its hot and dusty feet, - he grafted this heavenly shoot on the wild, selfish, unpromising stock of human nature. And it is the memory of him, his obedience and his service and his devotion, that again and again reproduces the like, the vital motive of the humblest service and gladdest obedience of each true inmate of his Church. If any man would know the real secret of real position in the Church of Christ, let him learn:

1. To serve.

2. To serve Christ.

3. To serve him faithfully and closely and continuingly.

This man will find his way to serve his fellow men and "generation" without fail - the poor, the humble, the untaught, the sinful, and those who already with himself wait on one Lord.

II. THE RULE ACCORDING TO WHICH OUR SERVING MUST BE ORDERED - "BY THE WILL OF GOD." If we do really serve our generation, there can be no doubt that we are in the path of duty, and accordingly in harmony with "the will of God." At the same time, it is too possible to spend a large amount of time, of energy, of property, thinking you do God service, when you are doing no such thing. The safer way is to begin by seeing to it that the work is according to the will of God. This should be the very first thing in work, greater or less (1 Corinthians 10:31). So sang the quaint George Herbert, whose earthly song merged so well in the heavenly song, these two centuries ago -

"Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for thee.

"All may of thee partake;
Nothing can be so mean
But with this tincture - for thy sake;
Will not grow bright and clean.

"A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room as for thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.

"This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told." It is most important to remember that very much in our serving depends on:

1. Our purpose to serve God's will. For God whose power to overrule is so often and so strikingly seen all-coextensive with his power to rule, often employs men to further his purposes, and to serve their generation, who never consecrated a single intelligent purpose or energy consciously to him. Far from such unconscious, ungrateful, even unwilling doers of his work should we be. The generation of such is indeed served, in one sense, according to God's will; but it is no thanks to them.

2. Our care to do the thing best approved as God's will. Right purpose and good intention have too often been the cover of a certain non-performance of the things that would be most true to the will of God. The will of God is to be consulted, not merely in the spring of our work, but carefully, humbly, all the way down the accomplishment of the purpose his grace may have originated in the heart.

III. THE HUMILITY WITH WHICH WE SHOULD SERVE. We are to serve "our own generation." A faithful memory of this will save:

1. Waste aspirations. Pride is often at the root of great desires, personal feeling the motive of great schemes, lack of humility the direct cause of idle disappointment.

2. Seeking the unattainable distant, instead of that which we may most certainly touch because it is close by us. The present time, the present place, the present task are the time, the sphere, the toil for the servant of Christ. Between dreams of the past and visions of the future, the priceless opportunity of practical duty has too often irrevocably slipped past.

3. Sighing for more strength, or more knowledge, or more wealth, instead of using at once our available strength, and improving soberly our given talents, one, two, or ten. There are many who wait for a showy-opportunity of serving Christ and his Church, with ears shut to one of the sweetest utterances that even he spoke, respecting the "cup of cold water;" and with eyes closed to the widow woman of the mite by the treasury, to whom the Lord did not close his eyes, and to whom he even called the attention of others.

4. An actual lessening of moral strength and diminishment of that enlarged opportunity which is the invariable sequel of faithfulness "in few things." The time is neither very slow in its coming nor at all doubtful when the shoulders of those who have been faithful in few things and in very little things bend beneath the weight of most honorable burdens of responsibilities. Not a few of those who once did on the humblest scale the work of their generation, and neither bargained for nor dreamt of posthumous fame, stand now in niches or aisles of the Church, and "dead, yet speak" with a voice to edify and to thrill generations to come. Of one such instance we know to a certainty, that of the woman who most spontaneously and at her own individual expense thought to serve her generation by richly anointing the body of her Lord so loved to the burying, and received the promise, now for two thousand years fulfilled, "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, there also shall this, that this woman hath done, be spoken of for a memorial of her."

IV. THE AMPLE ROOM TO SERVE - A GENERATION. Just now to serve only one's generation seemed little. But is it so? A generation. For what does the word stand?

1. For what an important length of time!

2. For what a multitude and variety of people!

3. For what a weight of solemn, thrilling interests in human affairs!

4. For what a trial of individual consistency and education of individual character! Only the infinite mind can read that volume through - the volume of one generation. Yes; there is no great distance to lend enchantment to the view, and no so picturesque vista, and no vague, flattering, indefinite scope; yet how full, how ample is the definite scope I "Blessed are those servants," who through a generation length, or from youth even to old age, are found in this sense, "expecting their Lord."

V. THE COMFORTING DESIGNATION GIVEN TO THE END OF SUCH A LIFE-SERVICE. "David fell on sleep." It is sweet language indeed. But how often we lose the sweetness of it! The servant of Christ need not call that death which bounds the days of earth and shuts the bodily eye to the light of an earthly sun. It is but night. Night, grateful night, bounds the day of life, speedily merging in that grandest morning, the morning of the resurrection. It is but sleep. Sleep in Jesus, equally deep, soft, restful, closes the eyes of his wearied servant, surely renews his youth, and soon wakes into life everlasting and the light that is in God's presence. Let us learn the name Jesus himself gave to death, and learn it to love it. Now we work, we watch, we pray - soon we shall sleep on and take our rest. And our awakening from it will be ineffable light and knowledge and love. - B.

I. WE MAY WITNESS FOR GOD IN IT. Every generation wants men and women who really believe in God, and make it plain to everybody that they do believe in him. In one form or in another, the belief in the living God is put in peril in each succeeding generation. Sometimes the unbelief is intellectual, and sometimes it is practical; but every generation produces its "fools" and its "wicked," who secretly or openly say, "There is no God." Then we may minister to our generation by a clear and constant witness to the living God; not as by our word only, but by the impression we make on men that we are actually living under the "great Taskmaster's eye;" by the signs we show that all our life is spent in his fear; and by the tone of all cur thought, relationship, and duty, which plainly indicates the abiding sense of his presence. Thus David served his generation, bringing the sense of God to men whenever he came into relations with them; and it is the honor of Mohammed that he laid this down as the very foundation of Islamism, "There is no God but God."

II. WE MAY SERVE OUR OWN GENERATION BY BEING OUR BEST POSSIBLE IN IT. For every generation needs, in all its spheres, such models and examples as may be to it a constant inspiration. And exactly what we all may do, wherever our lot is cast, is this - keep the moral standard up, and raise the moral standard higher. And this can only be done by lives, by examples, by personal character. What we are may be the leavening force of our generation in our sphere. But it would seem that, in this respect, David sadly failed. We cannot say that he served his generation by being the best possible in it. And yet, maybe, if we rightly knew his age, we might come to feel that he did Even taking into account his grievous fall, the main current of his life was, to his people, a high and inspiring example; a stream of influence that made for righteousness. And certainly we may find the perfect example of the "best" in David's greater Son.

III. WE MAY MINISTER TO OUR GENERATION BY MANFULLY RESISTING THE EVILS THAT MAY AFFLICT IT. For every generation has its conflicts, and wants its holy warriors, its brave soldiers, as well as its noble leaders. Evil is active in every age. The enemy of God and righteousness "goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." It is true that we best oppose to evil the solid, steadfast, quiet persistence of godly character; but we are not fully faithful to our God or our generation if we let any phase of social, political, or moral evil grow up in our midst unchallenged and unresisted. And in this our Lord has left us his holy example. There is a sublime force in his fearless denunciations of Pharisaic conceit and Sadducean laxity. He always called things by their right names, and sought, with wholesome reproofs and warnings, to purify a corrupt generation. And the man who faithfully serves his generation may be sure of this - his influence will never fade out, will never die. And God will show one day how he helped on his kingdom of righteousness and peace. - R.T.

I. The FREEDOM of the proclamation. Forgiveness, not purchased or wrought out, but simply announced.

II. The invitation to FAITH. Through this Man, whose Name can be published, whose authority we testify. Religion is not a self-constructed edifice of spiritual feelings to which the Name of Christ is attached to give it a Christian sanction; it is the fruit of faith, and faith is surrender to the authority of Christ.

III. Knowledge the root of RESPONSIBILITY. "Be it known unto you;" therefore as made known, take heed that you incur not the guilt of its rejection-. A very small amount of knowledge enough to point to the "Man Christ Jesus." But if the light be darkness, by neglect, perversity, prejudice, pride, how great that darkness! - R.

I. DISTINGUISH SINS FROM CEREMONIAL OFFENCES. Observe the distinction so carefully made in Hebrews 9:9, 13, 14, 23; and note:

1. Ceremonial offences are limited by human regulations; sins are indicated by Divine Law.

2. Ceremonial offences concern only such persons as come under the ceremonial rules; sins attach to all mankind, because related to God's moral law for all his creatures.

3. Treatment of ceremonial offences may illustrate, but can only illustrate, Divine methods of dealing with sin.

4. Sins, and not ceremonial offences, are dealt with by the Heaven-sent Savior. The heinousness, hatefulness, and evil influences of men's sins may be shown, and the greatness of a redemptive scheme that can meet all the mischief caused by sin, should be explained.

II. FORGIVENESS OF SINS IS MAN'S SUPREME WANT. Not man's only want, but the real root of all his wants, because other right relations can only follow on his right relations with God. Sin is, in essence, self-will, and finds expression in rebellious actions; therefore the way of the removal of sin must be repentance, which is the humbling of the self-will, and forgiveness, which removes the expressions and consequences of the self-wilt. It may be that man's sin was at first pressed home upon men by the apostles in its greatest manifestation - the rejection and crucifixion of the Son of God; but this supreme act of iniquity did but reveal the utter baseness, badness, and corruption of the human heart and life. On this point see the teachings of St. Paul in Romans 3:9-19.

III. SUCH FORGIVENESS IS ADMINISTERED BY THE RISEN CHRIST. Prospectively, he had power on earth to forgive sins, but in that he did but declare his right, and illustrate the power he now has to "give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins." Direct from the living Savior to the sinner's own soul must now come the message of Divine forgiveness. On the basis of his finished and accepted sacrifice, to our Lord Jesus Christ is now entrusted the power to grant absolution and remission of sins to all who "truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel." And the declaration to men of a full and free forgiveness, actually now ministered to them by the living Savior, as the beginning of his proposed work of delivering them from all sin's power and thraldom, is the very point of the message which we must bear to men. Not men's frailties only, nor men's mistakes, nor men's intellectual errors, nor men's hereditary tendencies, nor men's faults in the eye of "class" or "society;" but distinctly men's sins, men's wilfulnesses, and wickednesses, and defiances of God, and breakings of law, and crucifying of God's Son, - these, the infinite love has found out how to reach; and it speaks from the lips of the "once dead, but now risen, living, and glorified Christ," free, full forgiveness of all, even the blotting out for ever of scarlet and crimson stains. - R.T.

I. THAT IT IS A REAL MINISTERIAL GAIN TO EXCITE RELIGIOUS INQUIRY. (Vers. 42-44.) It was a considerable success to have called forth the interest of the Gentile audience, so that they begged to hear the same truths stated again (ver. 42). It was the beginning of "the grace of God" in their hearts (ver. 43); it resulted in the excitement of still more extensive inquiry, so that "the whole city" was agitated and solicitous (ver. 44). We may thank God for the commencement of religious life, for the sprouting of the seed, for the first signs of spiritual awakening; we need not hesitate to ascribe this to the hand of God on the heart of man.

II. THAT SUCH AWAKENING MUST BE FAITHFULLY FOLLOWED UP BY THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER. Paul and Barnabas "persuaded them to continue," etc. (ver. 43). We must not only plant, but water (1 Corinthians 3:6). We should watch for the first signs of religious earnestness, and promptly follow up what has been wrought by wise, earnest, devout encouragement.

III. THAT THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER SHOULD AVAIL HIMSELF OF EVERY PROVIDENTIAL OPENING. (Vers. 45-47.) The rejection of the gospel by the Jews might have led some half-hearted missionaries to abandon their work. But to those who were here at work it simply acted as an incentive to go forth into a wider field. They took the shutting of one gate to mean entrance through another; the blocking of one way to prove that the finger of God was pointing in another direction, where more ground was to be cultivated and larger harvests were to be reaped. So must we strive to gain good from apparent evil, and look on every adverse event as showing us what other and what better thing our Master would have us do.

IV. THAT GOD'S WORK WILL BE WROUGHT IN SPITE OF MAN'S ENMITY, AND EVEN BY MEANS OF IT. The violent and determined opposition of the Jews (ver. 45) led the apostles to a conclusion in favor of more extensive Christian labor earlier than they could otherwise have reached it. The language of Paul (ver. 46) indicates no little tension of feeling. The enemies of the truth urged onward the chariot of the kingdom, and it rolled forward at full speed. And the fervent words of the apostle met with a prompt and earnest response (ver. 48); the Gentiles "glorified God," and many of them yielded an intelligent, saving faith to the truths presented. So much of centrifugal force was there in the enmity of the Jews that the. gospel was carried far and wide, and "the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region" (ver. 49). A happy thing it is for us that often "vaulting ambition o'er leaps itself and comes down on the other side," that the wrath of man does occasionally and incidentally work the righteousness and grace of God, that the industry of evil builds up the walls it is seeking to undermine.

V. THAT MINISTERIAL SUCCESS IS CERTAIN TO BE DASHED WITH SOME DISAPPOINTMENT, and that the Christian teacher must mingle reproach with invitation (vers. 50, 51).

VI. THAT FAITHFUL WORK MAY FILL THE MINISTER OF CHRIST WITH HOLY JOY. (Ver. 52.) There is a gladness, an exultation, which may find a home in the teacher's heart which is not holy, and when it cannot be said that he is "filled with joy and the holy Ghost;" that is, when he is congratulating himself with a satisfaction that is selfish, earthly, unspiritual. But when his joy is pure, disinterested, Christian; when he rejoices because Christ is being honored and men are being raised and blessed, then is his heart happy with a joy with which the Holy Spirit is closely associated, and which "sanctifies and satisfies the soul." - C.

I. THE GATHERING OF THE MULTITUDE. There is always some reason for the gathering of the crowd. Its fancy is easily excited. It is attracted by the wonderful and the novel. Here it was no mere sensationalism; it was the desire to hear the Word of God which drew them together. At its heart the multitude loves truth. Well it may; for it craves salvation from misery, and knows that this is to be found in truth alone. Often is the multitude deceived in thought, and mistakes sound for sense; but not for long.

II. THE RISE OF JEWISH ENVY. The causes of which are not difficult to explain. The new-comer has laid hold upon the people and gained their ear. It is at last the multitude to whom the teacher and the ruler must appeal, and from whom he must derive his influence. Popularity invites jealousy and attracts hate from the unsuccessful. Rare indeed is the magnanimity shown by John the Baptist: "He must increase, but I must decrease." To be willing that monopoly of privileges should pass away and that all should equally share the light and the love of God, is the spirit of the gospel, which opposes Jewish exclusiveness and jealousy.

III. THE DESTINATION OF THE GOSPEL.

1. First to the Jews. Not for their own merits' sake, but because of the promises of God, who cannot deny himself, and, despite our unfaithfulness, remains faithful. But the blessings of the gospel are freely offered to free men. They may, therefore, be rejected. In the freedom of choice lies bound- less possibility of good and boundless responsibility for evil.

2. Those who reject it are self east away. "Ye cast away yourselves, and do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life." It is never that God thinks us unworthy of the best, but that we do not rise to seek it. Self-neglecting, as the great poet teaches, is a viler sin than self- love. We prefer our prejudices to the truth, our passions and pleasures to God's will, the material to the spiritual and ideal good; and thus turn against ourselves in acts that are suicidal. Men shut themselves out of heaven while they shut themselves in with narrowness and contempt of truth.

3. Opportunity passes to those who are ready for it The Gentiles in their sorrow and depression, needed comfort, and greeted the... good news of the love of God. The kingdom of God and the mission of the Messiah were for all who needed its blessings. The gospel is a light and a saving power in mankind. Those who are satisfied with their own state, outward or inward, will turn away from it; they cannot relish a message which implies the inward misery of those to whom it is addressed. But the sad and the sick hail it with joy, and find in it the power of God unto salvation. And the Word of God spreads over the whole land.

4. The influence of women in the diffusion of Christianity. Women can powerfully help or hinder the course of any movement in the world, especially any religious movement. Here certain feelings in their minds are appealed to, antagonistic to the gospel. It would be easy to misrepresent it. These proselyte women might say that they had learned to be religious without the gospel, and what could it do more for them? Or it might be represented that it subverted sound piety, whereas it really fulfils every noble ideal learned elsewhere. Among the proselytes to Judaism we see elsewhere that it received a warm welcome. The lesson from such incidents is the practical one - that we should test any new teaching for ourselves, not accept reports at second hand. The seeming new is often not true; the new and the true are ever the fulfillment of the old. - J.

I. THE OPENING SIGNS. The place is the synagogue, the place of the Jew. The service is on the sabbath, the service and the sabbath both of the Jew. The congregation is in the first place almost exclusively the congregation of the Jew and of those who had now some time been allied to him as proselytes. These had heard read the Law and the prophets, and had, in addition, heard thereupon exposition and exhortation, the freshest in style, from two of their own race. The service is over, and they leave, when

(1) in some form or another, by deputation or by the importunate acclamation of many together, the Gentiles beg that next sabbath they may be given to hear the same Word preached. It seems that their application was at all events not refused. But

(2) Paul and Barnabas turn not their back upon those who had been listening to them, nor give them any sign of the cold shoulder, but the contrary. They speak to them, and beg them to value and "to continue in the grace of God."

II. THE GREAT DISCLOSURE. The next sabbath day has come round. There is still a standing synagogue; there are still "Law and prophets and blest psalm;" there are still an ample number of Jews and of proselytes to make a congregation, and a good one. But the synagogue has come to look like an antiquated, useless, and quite disproportionate building. It is not equal to the needs of the day, nor anything like it.

1. "Almost the whole city is come together to hear the Word of God."

2. The second part of the great disclosure is that the Jews cannot take it with any equanimity even, that they are to be thus swamped by the outsiders. "Envy" rules them.

3. The third act in the disclosure is that they will try to resist the tide of a greater force than the ocean. They "speak against" what last sabbath they did not speak against. They commit themselves to speak against the word spoken by Paul, and they add contradiction and blasphemy.

4. And the fourth act in the disclosure is that Paul and Barnabas both close with them, no longer in argument - argument is waste when "contradiction and blasphemy" are begun - but in an authoritative and bold declaration of their own mission. The very hour has come to say that the privileges, long neglected and now refused, shall not waste nor be "drawn up again into heaven," but shall be fully, freely, publicly offered to all the world; "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (ver. 47).

III. THE DAY'S ISSUE. It is threefold.

1. The strangers and outsiders are filled with gladness and gratitude. They do not refuse to take the "leavings" of haughty and exclusive Jews. Nor do they think them, call them, or find them "crumbs from the Master's table." No; they see their day, their opportunity, their feast, and, hungry, sit down to it as a banquet indeed. They are "glad;" they glorify the Word of the Lord;" they "believe;" they are "filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." For they felt that that "day salvation had come to their house."

2. The disconcerted Jew, most disconcerted of all because he inwardly knew he had forfeited, of his own surrender, his chiefest blessing and distinction, will not let things lie. He will raise the "respectable," the "orthodox," part of the city, and even women of the devout and honorable, and chief men of the city, who "cared for none of these things" probably in their heart. And all these join to persecute the two men, Paul and Barnabas. And they expel them.

3. These two servants of Christ hear the echoes of a voice which perhaps they had not heard itself (Luke 10:11). And they hear the call of duty (Matthew 10:23) elsewhere, and do not forget that the time is precious, that daylight will soon have gone, and that it is theirs to "work while it is day." - B.

I. THE TEST OF SINCERITY applied to the professedly zealous. The city stirred by those who "followed not with them." The true zeal is that which is actuated by the true charity, which "rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in truth."

II. The best success is that which is obtained by simply FOLLOWING DIVINE DIRECTION. "It was necessary" to encounter the prejudice of the Jews, but the work of the world's evangelization was promoted by the causes which seemed to thwart it.

II. THOSE THAT EXALT THEMSELVES ARE ABASED. To thrust opportunity away is to judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life. The facts will be condemnation, without human accusation.

IV. THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE GOSPEL is its original charter of right to possession of all nations. The light was created before the sun, and the grace of God preceded the call of the Jews. The patriarchal religion testifies to the breadth of the message.

V. PERSECUTION is the last resort of defeated opponents of truth. When arguments fail, try abuse. The old priestly spirit at work, "urging on devout women."

VI. MOVEMENT is the law of life, If Antioch shuts its gates, Iconium opens a new sphere. The messengers must think first of the work - last of themselves. Ohne Hast, ohne Rast. - R.

I. MEN NEVER MORE EFFECTUALLY PRONOUNCE JUDGMENT ON THEMSELVES THAN WHEN THEY ARE PRONOUNCING JUDGMENT ON CHRIST. This is true in two leading cases.

1. If men are pronouncing judgment unfavorable to Christ - as, for instance, in supposed answer to such a question as his own, "What think ye of Christ?" - they are pronouncing nothing less than decisive condemnation of themselves.

2. If they are humbly and in the genuine spirit of trying to feel their way, giving out from time to time some testimony of their growing and growingly grateful appreciation of Christ and of his truth, they then are proving their own growth in likeness to him. They are unconsciously giving the measure of how far the "day dawns" with them, and how high the "day-star arises in their hearts," or even how far they have got on that path which is like "the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

II. MEN'S PUTTING FROM THEM THE WORD OF GOD AS NOW GIVEN IN CHRIST IS DOING NOTHING LESS THAN PUTTING FROM THEM THE PROSPECT OF EVERLASTING LIFE.

1. The dogmatic tone of the apostle is to be noted. This is not the personal prerogative of Paul or of any one else; it is the claimed, asserted, demanded right of Christianity. Christianity gives its account of it, and a good and competent account. If this be not so, Christianity must go. But if it be so, he must go who will not have its reign over him.

2. Momentous and awful as is the issue to which Paul leaves now the refusing Jews, he lays the whole responsibility of it upon them. They were "filled with envy," they" spake against the things which were spoken by Paul," they "contradicted and blasphemed," they "put from" them the "Word of God;" and Paul rules that theirs is the undivided folly of forfeiting "everlasting life," as though they seriously "judged themselves unworthy of it."

III. THE SIMPLEST FACTS OF SOME SORTS OF HUMAN CONDUCTS WHEN TRANSLATED INTO WORDS, SOUND LIKE THE PUREST, MOST UNDISGUISED SATIRE. Nothing could be further from the pride and presumption of a Jew, of the type of those who were now before Paul, than to think himself "unworthy of everlasting life," or indeed of any other thing whatsoever, either great or good, which could be had. Yet nothing could be truer than that his conduct amounted to that, ran a terrible risk of ending in it, and, unrepented, unaltered, could in fact end in nothing else. For it may be stated thus - that

(1) the message of Christ,

(2) the credentials of every kind of Christ, and

(3) the deep, incontestable, universal needs of the heart and life of man, are such that, whether a man be Jew or Gentile, so only he be made fairly acquainted with Jesus and "the Word of God" in him, he is "inexcusable" if he "put these away from" him. The thing, it might be supposed, could rationally (though then not rightly) explain the conduct except it were the profoundest humility of a publican of the publicans. But this, we know, would forget the prayer of the publican, though it might commemorate his deepest humiliation of self-reproach and sense of "unworthiness." Yet is this too sadly often found the case with men in matters of religion. Without humility, they pursue a line of conduct which only the extreme of self-reproach could rationally and temporarily account for. Other reason, indeed, in very truth there may be, must be - unutterable folly, blindest infatuation, amazing recklessness, and uncalculating force of passion and envy, and withal guilt's own chosen particular type of hardness; these or their like must at the last be found answerable. But when they are summoned for their last answer, this will be the irony of their situation, that, furthest removed of all from pure and modest and self-upbraiding humility, they counterfeited it, and, in the name of that counterfeit, "would not come to Jesus that they might have life" everlasting. An inspired apostle gave this unexpected interpretation of the state of things in the instance before us; how many more such, alas! will "the day reveal"? - B.

I. THE JOY OF TRUE DISCIPLES IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLES.

1. Joy of personal faith, which is promoted by discipline. If all went smoothly with us we should lose strength by the ease and self-indulgence which we should be apt to cherish.

2. Joy in the spread of the Gospel The world opposes, false religion opposes, but the truth makes way.

II. THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY GHOST IS THE CHURCH, independent of human guidance, Paul and Barnabas expelled, but the disciples taught and led by the Spirit. We must not glory in men. The great resource of the Church is fellowship. Even the spread of truth largely independent of particular agencies. The Word speaks for itself. The Spirit works often without apparent use of human instrumentality.

III. THE UPLIFTED HEART AND THE UPLIFTED TESTIMONY. Joy and the Holy Ghost. We should show the world that religious joy is above all other. Victories, if given, should be recounted. We should often meet together to tell of Divine wonders. The bold and joyful spirit especially needful, as the present day is full of growing unbelief and indifference. - R.