Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul… And the multitude of them that believed, etc. The Bible not a book of politics or earthly legislation. Danger of misapplying its teaching, by forgetting that it does not dictate formal rules and creeds, but describes the working out of great principles. The social problem of human history - reconciliation of individual advancement with social and organic progress; failure of all merely human attempts; danger of men's experiments; despondency; revolution; selfishness of the higher classes; misery of the poor; necessity for change in the material condition of society; recognition of the primary law, the external facts coming forth from the internal life. I. The SPIRITUAL FACT set forth. "One heart and soul" in the multitude. 1. Cannot be produced by mechanical means. 2. Is the root of all true strength and prosperity in society. 3. Is the gift of the Holy Ghost. We should pray for it. The great spiritual revivals of history have brought about great moral and social changes. Reformation; revival of Wesleys and Whitefield, etc.; missionary spirit of the present century. II. The MORAL MIRACLE wrought. The universal self-denial. The confidence in a new state of things, though only at present at the threshold. The absorption of individuality in brotherhood. A new fact in Jerusalem; testimony to the power of Christ and his doctrine. III. The PRACTICAL TEACHING EMBODIED in the facts. 1. Depend upon spiritual forces, not on political expedients. 2. Let the multitude work out its own form of brotherhood, from the one heart and one soul; not trust to mere philosophical theorizing and dreams of enthusiasts. 3. Preach Christianity as the great uplifting and renewing power of the world; not revolutionary, not by wars and strifes, but by sanctification of the multitude of wills. 4. Hold up the gospel prophecy to the poor, not to excite in them envy of the rich, not to delude them with predictions of a speedy deliverance from necessary burdens, but to incite them to the prospect of a larger share in the progressive prosperity of mankind, and to co-operation in the work of uplifting their fellow-men. We should be of one heart and soul, rich and poor alike. - R. Parallel Verses KJV: And the multitude of them that believed 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 common. |
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