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           Title: Lectures on the Acts of the Apostles.
      Creator(s): Dick, John (1764-1833)
     Print Basis: New York: Robert Carter & Brothers (1857)
          Rights: Public Domain
   CCEL Subjects: All; Bible
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LECTURES

    ON THE

                              ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

    BY THE LATE

JOHN DICK, D. D.

    PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY OF THE UNITED SECESSION CHURCH. GLASGOW

    AUTHOR OF "LECTURES ON THEOLOGY," ETC.

  SECOND EDITION.
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NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,

   No. 530 BROADWAY.
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   1857.
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PREFACE

   THE following Lectures were first published in two volumes, which
   appeared at different times. The original design of the Author, was to
   illustrate the principal events in the history of the Church, from the
   ascension of Christ to the meeting of the Council of Jerusalem. He was
   afterwards induced to extend the selection of passages to the end of
   the Book; and of these the chief subject is Paul, to whose labours and
   sufferings the narrative confines our attention. The Lectures have been
   revised, and are now presented to the Public in one volume.
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CONTENTS

     LECTURE I.

   THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, HIS LAST INTERVIEW WITH HIS DISCIPLES, AND
   HIS ASCENSION TO HEAVEN.
   7
    LECTURE II.

   THE DAY OF PENTECOST.
   20
    LECTURE III.

   THE FORMATION AND ORDER OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
   31
    LECTURE IV.

   THE LAME MAN CURED BY PETER AND JOHN.
   46
     LECTURE V.

   PETER AND JOHN EXAMINED BY THE COUNCIL.
   58
    LECTURE VI.

   ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA.
   72
    LECTURE VII.

   THE COUNSEL OF GAMALIEL.
   85
   LECTURE VIII.

   THE INSTITUTION OF DEACONS, AND THE HISTORY OF STEPHEN.
   98
    LECTURE IX.

   THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN.
   111
     LECTURE X.

   THE HISTORY OF SIMON MAGUS.
   123
    LECTURE XI.

   THE CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH.
   136
    LECTURE XII.

   THE CONVERSION OF PAUL.
   149
   LECTURE XIII.

   THE CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
   163
    LECTURE XIV.

   HEROD AND PETER.
   176
    LECTURE XV.

   PAUL AND BARNABAS IN LYSTRA.
   190
    LECTURE XVI.

   THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM.
   202
   LECTURE XVII.

   THE MISSION OF PAUL AND SILAS TO MACEDONIA.
   220
   LECTURE XVIII.

   THE CONVERSION OF THE JAILOR OF PHILIPPI.
   234
    LECTURE XIX.

   PAUL AND SILAS IN THESSALONICA AND BEREA.
   248
    LECTURE XX.

   PAUL IN ATHENS.
   261
    LECTURE XXI.

   PAUL IN CORINTH.
   276
   LECTURE XXII.

   PAUL IN EPHESUS.
   290
   LECTURE XXIII.

   THE UPROAR IN EPHESUS.
   304
   LECTURE XXIV.

   THE LAST INTERVIEW OF PAUL WITH THE ELDERS OF EPHESUS.
   319
    LECTURE XXV.

   PAUL IN JERUSALEM.
   335
   LECTURE XXVI.

   PAUL BEFORE THE COUNCIL.
   349
   LECTURE XXVII.

   PAUL BEFORE FELIX.
   363
   LECTURE XXVIII.

   PAUL BEFORE FESTUS AND AGRIPPA.
   377
   LECTURE XXIX.

   PAUL IN MALTA AND ROME.
   393
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                                 LECTURES, &c.
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                                   LECTURE I.

  THE PRESURRECTION OF CHRIST; HIS LAST INTERVIEW WITH HIS DISCIPLES; AND HIS
  ASCENSION TO HEAVEN.

  Acts i. 1-11.

   WE are prompted by curiosity to inquire into the origin of nations, to
   trace their progress from rudeness to refinement, and to mark the steps
   by which they rose to eminence in power, in wealth, and in knowledge.
   To these subjects the researches of profane history are directed; and
   while its pages communicate instruction and entertainment to every
   reader, they particularly engage the attention of the statesman, who
   derives from them a more extensive acquaintance with mankind, and is
   enabled to add to his experience the accumulated wisdom of ages.

   To a Christian the history of the Church must appear more worthy of
   notice than the revolutions of empire. A society, towards which
   Providence has, in all ages, exercised a particular care, presents an
   interesting object of inquiry; and must exhibit, in the detail of
   events, admirable proofs of the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God.
   Its history is the history of religion; of the accomplishment of a long
   series of prophecies; of the execution of a scheme, to which all the
   other parts of the divine administration are subservient.

   The early periods of the history of nations are generally enveloped in
   fable; and although the truth could be discovered through the veil
   which conceals it, would, for the most part, present little that is
   worthy to be known. The human race may be considered as then in a state
   of infancy. Their ideas are few and gross, their manners are barbarous,
   and their knowledge of arts is confined to some simple operations
   performed without elegance or skill. The history of the first age of
   the Christian Church is more instructive and engaging than that of any
   subsequent period. It is splendid, because it is miraculous; it is
   edifying, as it records many noble examples of faith, charity,
   patience, and zeal; it arrests the attention and touches the heart, by
   displaying the triumph of the gospel over the combined malice and
   wisdom of the world.

   As a record of the Acts, or proceedings of the Apostles, in collecting
   and modelling the Church, this book forms a valuable portion of
   Scripture. It contains information upon subjects of great importance;
   the miraculous manner in which those simple and unlettered men were
   qualified for their arduous work; the means by which the Church was
   founded, and rose to a holy temple in the Lord; the rapidity with which
   the gospel was propagated; the opposition which was made to it by Jews
   and Gentiles; and the causes to which its unexampled success should be
   ascribed. The narrative is written in a plain and artless manner; and
   our pleasure in perusing it suffers no abatement from the suspicion of
   misinformation, or partiality in the writer.

   The historian, as we learn from the introductory verses, was the same
   person who published the Gospel, which, from the earliest ages, has
   been uniformly attributed to Luke. He was alive during the events which
   he records, was an eye-witness of many of them, and inquired, we may
   believe, into the rest, with the same diligence which he used in
   compiling his Gospel. Although he was not one of the Apostles, yet he
   lived in habits of intimate correspondence with them; and the Church
   has, from. the beginning, received his writings as of equal authority
   with theirs.

   I propose to deliver a course of Lectures on some passages of this
   book, selecting such as relate the more remarkable events in the
   history of the primitive Church. Of those passages it is not my
   intention to give a minute explanation, but to illustrate the principal
   topics, and to deduce such instructions as they seem to suggest.
   Conformably to this plan, I shall at this time confine your attention
   to three points, to which the verses now read have a reference; the
   resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; his last interview
   with his disciples; and his ascension to heaven.

   I. The first point which claims our notice in this passage, is the
   resurrection of our Saviour, of which Luke makes mention in the third
   verse. "To whom also," that is, to the Apostles whom he had chosen, "he
   showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs,
   being seen of them forty days." The resurrection of Christ is an
   article of great importance in our religion, the foundation upon which
   its other doctrines rest, and by which the faith and hope of his
   followers are sustained. "If Christ be not risen," says Paul, "then is
   our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found
   false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God, that he
   raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise
   not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ
   be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they
   also which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Such evidence,
   as should leave no doubt in the cautious and inquisitive mind, was
   necessary to establish a fact upon which so much depended. Luke
   affirms, that Jesus showed himself alive to his disciples, "after his
   passion," that is, after his sufferings and death, by many "infallible
   proofs." The word signifies signs, tokens, or evidences, which were so
   numerous and decisive, that it was impossible for those who saw them to
   be mistaken. He refers to the frequent appearance of Christ, of which
   not less than eight are recorded by the Evangelists, besides many more
   which may have taken place during the forty days between his
   resurrection and ascension; and to the methods which he used to
   convince the disciples, by calling upon them "to handle him and see,
   that a spirit had not flesh and bones as he had," and by eating,
   drinking, and conversing with them in a familiar manner.

   It is vain to insinuate, that the Apostles might be imposed upon by the
   power of imagination, which the eagerness of their wishes and
   expectations had excited, and might thus fancy that they saw what had
   no real existence. It does not appear that they actually expected the
   resurrection of their Master; but, on the contrary, there is reason to
   think, that they had almost given over all hope of that event. When the
   women, who had been at the sepulchre, told them of it, their words
   seemed as "idle tales;" and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus may
   be supposed to have expressed the sentiments and feelings of their
   brethren, when they said, "We trusted that it had been he which should
   have redeemed Israel;" manifestly using the language of disappointment
   and despondency. In such a state of mind, there was no room for
   imagination to operate. It will be still more evident, that they were
   not under its influence, if we consider, that some of the appearances
   were made, not to a solitary individual, but to several of the
   disciples at once, in one instance to five hundred brethren, who could
   not all have been deluded at the same moment by a phantom of their own
   brain; that the appearances were not transient, but lasted for a
   considerable time, so that the spectators had full leisure to examine
   them; that some of them were sudden, or without warning, and others
   were the consequence of previous appointment; that they frequently took
   place, not in the night when the mind is more subject to illusion, but
   in the day when the disciples were composed, and all their senses were
   awake; and that the interviews were not distant and silent, but Jesus
   familiarly associated with the Apostles, and gave all the satisfaction
   which the most incredulous among them could demand. From these
   circumstances, there does not remain the slightest ground to suspect
   that the Apostles themselves were deceived; and the only question now
   to be determined is, whether they have deceived us.

   Infidels object, that the Apostles, who were interested persons were
   the only witnesses of the resurrection, and that Jesus did not show
   himself to the Sanhedrim and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as he ought
   to have done, that the reality of the event might be placed beyond
   dispute. They affirm, that on this account the whole narrative is
   suspicious. There is one important circumstance, which, perhaps, they
   willingly forget, that the enemies of Jesus were the first and
   immediate witnesses of the resurrection, that event having taken place,
   according to Matthew, in the presence of the Roman soldiers, not before
   the eyes of the disciples. Sufficient reasons have been assigned why he
   did not appear to the rulers and people of the Jews, which your time
   will not permit me fully to state. It may be remarked, that although
   this demand had been complied with, and our Lord had resorted after his
   resurrection to the temple, and walked in the streets of Jerusalem, it
   is by no means certain that the purpose which is pretended would have
   been gained. We have no ground to think, that the Jews, who would not
   believe the testimony of Moses and the Prophets, nor the evidence of
   our Saviour's miracles, would have believed, although they had seen him
   risen from the dead. But upon the supposition, that they had been
   convinced by this last and seemingly irresistible proof, the truth of
   his resurrection would have been as much perplexed as ever by the
   cavils of free-thinkers. We should have been told of the superstition
   and credulity of the Jews, and of their national pride, which disposed
   them fondly to embrace any story that seemed to realise their boasted
   hopes of the Messiah; and whereas now the testimony of the Apostles is
   corroborated by the trying and perilous circumstances in which they
   were placed, the whole would then have been represented as an
   imposture, concerted between them and their countrymen, and first
   promulgated where it was sure to be received, and no person had either
   inclination or power to detect it. I shall only farther observe, that
   if there be satisfactory proof that Christ did appear to the Apostles,
   we are bound to acquiesce in their solemn testimony; and that nothing
   can be more unreasonable than to demand more evidence than is
   sufficient, or to reject sufficient evidence, because it is not
   presented in that form which we prefer.

   After this general observation, I may appeal to every unprejudiced
   person, whether there is any thing in the narrative of this
   transaction, in its general complexion, or its particular parts, which
   gives countenance to the suspicion of imposture; or rather, whether it
   does not bear unequivocal marks of simplicity, candour, and the sacred
   love of truth. Let it be farther considered, that the testimony of the
   Apostles was given in public, and before the persons who were above all
   concerned to detect a falsehood, and possessed the means of detecting
   it; that it was consistent and uniform, there not being a single
   instance of retractation or variation among the witnesses; that no
   motive can be assigned for their conduct if it was false, as in that
   case they could not expect to be believed, and the only prospect before
   them was that of persecution and death in this world, without the hope
   of a recompense in the next; that they did not require men to give
   credit to their simple testimony, but appealed, in confirmation of it,
   to miracles wrought, as they affirmed, by the power of him who had been
   raised from the dead; and, finally, that this testimony was believed by
   thousands of Jews and Gentiles, although their prejudices against it
   were the strongest imaginable. I challenge all the infidels in the
   world to produce a single fact, in the whole compass of history,
   supported by more decisive evidence.

   I shall subjoin a remark upon the qualifications of the Apostles. What
   made those babblers so eloquent; those ignorant and illiterate men so
   profoundly skilled in the mysteries of redemption; those cowards so
   courageous, as to despise every danger, and maintain the truth amidst
   the most terrible sufferings? This change could not have. been effected
   by their Master, if he was still lying in the grave; and it is,
   therefore, a proof that he had risen from it, and performed the promise
   which we shall immediately proceed to consider.

   II. Our attention is next called to the interview, which took place
   between our Lord and his disciples prior to his ascension. It is
   mentioned in the sixth verse: "When they therefore were come together,
   they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again
   the kingdom to Israel." It seems to be the same meeting to which the
   historian refers in the fourth verse. "And being assembled together
   with them, he commanded them, that they should not depart from
   Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye
   have heard of me." We are informed, that during the forty days which he
   spent upon earth after his resurrection, he spoke to his disciples of
   "the things pertaining to the kingdom of God;" explaining to them, as
   far as they were able to bear it, the nature of that dispensation which
   he was about to introduce. But still the old leaven of Jewish
   prejudices, and carnal ideas of the Messiah's reign, fermented in their
   minds. Although they had beheld his poverty and humility, and had seen
   him put to death in the most ignominious manner, they had not abandoned
   the fond and flattering thought, that he would assume the character of
   a temporal monarch, and establish the dominion of the chosen people
   over the tributary nations. Such were the notions with respect to the
   purpose of his mission and the nature of his kingdom, which their
   countrymen had adopted from the magnificent language of prophecy,
   describing his spiritual power and glory by metaphors and similitudes
   borrowed from the wealth and grandeur of earthly potentates. To the
   remaining influence of these notions upon their minds, after all his
   instructions, we must attribute the question which the disciples put to
   him, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
   Israel?" Is the time now come, when thou wilt deliver thy people from
   the oppression of a foreign yoke, and give them the empire of the
   world?"

   To this question Jesus did not return a direct answer, but one which
   implied a reproof of that vain curiosity which had led them to propose
   it. "It is not for you to know the times, and the seasons, which the
   Father hath put in his own power." These words import, that the
   revolutions in the civil and religious state of the world were
   predetermined by God, as they are all brought to pass by his
   providence; that he only knows the order and series of events; and
   that, except in those instances in which he has revealed them to us in
   the word of prophecy, we should beware of attempting to discover his
   secrets, and to draw aside the veil which hangs over futurity. Let man
   remember the limited nature of his faculties, and the dependent
   condition of his mind. Let him be thankful for what he does know, and
   content to remain ignorant of what his Maker has been pleased to
   conceal.

   This answer, being a rebuke to their unhallowed curiosity, was
   calculated to discourage the Apostles. That they might not be dejected,
   and no disagreeable impression might be left upon their minds, our Lord
   subjoined a promise, well fitted to comfort them. "But ye shall receive
   power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be
   witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
   and unto the uttermost part of the earth." In the fourth verse, "he
   commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for
   the promise of the Father." What he teaches them, in both verses, to
   expect, is the Holy Ghost, in a more abundant measure of his influences
   than they had yet received, to qualify them for the duties of the
   Apostleship. They were appointed to be "witnesses" of Christ to the
   world; to bear public testimony to Jews and Gentiles, concerning his
   doctrine, his miracles, his death, and his resurrection. With this
   view, they had been admitted to attend him from the commencement of his
   ministry to the present moment; and had enjoyed frequent meetings, and
   intimate conversation with him, since his return from the grave. But
   now it was farther necessary, that they should be furnished with more
   profound knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom than they yet
   possessed, with higher capacity for reasoning, with a talent for public
   speaking, with the gift of tongues, with a power to work miracles for
   the confirmation of their testimony, with zeal, courage, meekness,
   prudence, and unwearied perseverance. Without these qualifications,
   they would have been unfit for the office which their Master had
   conferred upon them. This, then, is a promise of " power," of such
   vigour of mind, of such intellectual and spiritual endowments, as
   should fully prepare them for their various and difficult duties.

   The promise, for which they were commanded to wait, our Saviour called
   "the promise of the Father," to inform his disciples, that it is the
   Father who sends the Holy Ghost, to give effect to the death of his Son
   in the conversion and sanctification of sinners; but chiefly, because
   his faithfulness was pledged for the mission of the Spirit in many
   passages of the Old Testament, particularly in he following words,
   which were fulfilled on the day of Pentecost: "And it shall come to
   pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your
   sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
   dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants
   and upon the handmaids, in those days, will I pour out my Spirit."

   From the mention of the promise of the Spirit, Jesus takes occasion to
   point out to the disciples the difference between his own
   administration and that of his forerunner. "For John truly baptized
   with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
   hence." The Baptist, although greater than the Prophets, could only
   sprinkle his disciples with water, to signify their purification from
   the guilt and defilement of sin; but Jesus was able to communicate the
   Spirit himself in his regenerating influences, and miraculous gifts. To
   apply the means of salvation is the province of the ministers of
   religion; but the wisest and holiest of them can contribute nothing to
   their efficacy. The source of spiritual life and power is the invisible
   Head of the Church, "from whom all the body, by joints and hands,
   having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the
   increase of God." The blessings of grace are entrusted to his disposal;
   and she gives or withholds them at his pleasure.

   That our Saviour when he made this promise, claimed no power of which
   he was not possessed, the disciples were soon to be convinced by
   experience. They were commanded to wait at Jerusalem till the promise
   should be performed. Accordingly, we know that more than ten days did
   not elapse between this meeting and the day of Pentecost, when the Holy
   Ghost descended upon them.

   The interview now described took place immediately before his
   ascension; and the historian proceeds to relate the event.

   III. "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was
   taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." Jesus had now
   fulfilled all the designs of his mission. He had declared the counsels
   of God to mankind; he had offered himself upon the cross as a sacrifice
   for sin; and having triumphed over death, he had given his disciples
   sufficient opportunity to assure themselves of. the truth of the fact.
   "I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which
   thou gavest me to do." There was no reason therefore, why he should
   prolong his stay. It was necessary that the great High Priest of our
   profession, having made atonement for his people, should go into the
   most holy place, to present his blood and make intercession for them.
   It was necessary, that the Lord and King of the Church, having
   vanquished his enemies, after a hard and bloody conflict, should ascend
   his throne and receive the sceptre of universal dominion. He had
   forewarned the disciples of his departure, both before and after his
   death; and lest they should suppose, when they heard of his
   resurrection, that he meant to associate with them as formerly, he sent
   his message to them by Mary Magdalene: "I ascend unto my Father, and
   your Father, and to my God, and your God." Accordingly, "when he had
   spoken these things," given them all the instructions which they
   needed, or were able to bear, "he was taken up while they beheld, and a
   cloud received him out of their sight." It appears from these words,
   which represent him as passive in his ascension, that it was effected
   by the power of his Father, who had engaged to reward his humiliation,
   by exalting him to glory; that it was not sudden, but gradual, the
   disciples having full leisure to observe his ascent from the earth;
   and, lastly, that when he had risen to a certain height in the air, a
   cloud intervened, and concealed him from their sight. They had seen
   enough to qualify them to be witnesses of the fact.

   This event, however honourable to their Lord, and joyful to themselves,
   had they understood its design, could not fail to affect the disciples
   in a disagreeable manner, in the first moments of surprise, and while
   they were not acquainted with the important purposes to be served by
   the ascension. To his personal presence they had conceived a warm
   attachment, founded in esteem of his excellencies, and experience of
   his friendship. From his lips they had heard discourses replenished
   with wisdom and grace; and by his hand they had seen works of the most
   wonderful and beneficent nature performed. He had been their counsellor
   in difficulties, and their comforter in sorrow. To be deprived in a
   moment of his company; to be left alone in the midst of numerous and
   implacable enemies; to have the prospect of labours, and sufferings,
   and death, without their Master at their head, without their
   condescending and affectionate Saviour to advise and encourage them;
   these were circumstances sufficient to have discomposed the firmest
   mind, and which would have almost excused the Apostles, had they given
   way to lamentation and dejection. We are informed that they "looked
   steadfastly towards heaven, as he went up," continuing to gaze long
   after the cloud had concealed him. It was a look of astonishment and
   grief for the sudden loss of all that was dear to them; it was a look
   of eager desire to be again gratified with a sight of their Master.

   They did not, however, remain long in this uncomfortable state. "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 Jesus, which is
   taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have
   seen him go into heaven." There is no doubt that these men in
   appearance were angels; and the splendour of their dress was a sign by
   which they must have been immediately known to be heavenly messengers.
   They were a part of that illustrious retinue, which came from the
   celestial regions to attend our Lord in his ascension, and to heighten
   the glory of his triumph. Thousands, and ten thousands of angels
   accompanied him as he passed from earth to heaven, celebrating his
   praises. "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of
   angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou
   hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive." To the
   sorrowful disciples, the words of the angels were full of comfort. They
   seem to suggest a resemblance between the ascension of Jesus and his
   second appearance, and in this way have been frequently explained. But
   I rather think, that nothing more is intended than to assert, that as
   certainly as he had ascended to heaven, he would descend from it, at
   the time appointed by his Father; and that the Apostles should
   entertain no more doubt of the one event than of the other. Between the
   ascension and his coining at the end of the world, there is no great
   similarity of circumstances, unless we should choose to say, that as he
   departed in a cloud, so with clouds he will return, and that as he was
   now accompanied by angels, so the same glorious spirits will be his
   attendants and ministers, when he appears in the character of universal
   Judge.

   But the chief thing to which the angels called the attention of the
   disciples, and ours should be directed, is the certainty of his second
   coming; for this is an event, which, although an object of dreadful
   expectation to the unbelieving and impenitent, is fraught with hope and
   joy to those who love and obey the truth. The person who shall appear,
   will be "that same Jesus who was taken up into heaven," clothed with
   the same nature, sustaining the same relations to us, animated with the
   same love, and carrying on the same gracious design. Ten thousand
   tongues will hail him with accents of exultation and triumph. "Lo, this
   is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the
   Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad, and rejoice in his
   salvation." Then shall the disciples be again gathered to their Master,
   and the sheep to their Shepherd. Oh! how joyful the meeting, so long
   promised, so eagerly expected? It will be the day of the gladness of
   his heart, to behold around him those for whom he died upon the cross,
   and has ever since ministered in heaven: it will be a source of
   ineffable felicity to them, to see him whose glory was the subject of
   their contemplations in this world, to be taken under his immediate
   care, to be admitted to the most intimate fellowship with him, and to
   know that no event shall ever separate them again.

   Such was the comfortable prospect which the words of the angels gave to
   the disciples; and we need not wonder, that their fears and sorrows
   were dispelled, and that, as we are informed in another place, "they
   returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the
   temple, praising and blessing God."

   I conclude with the following reflections upon the passage.

   First, We follow no cunningly devised fable, when we receive the gospel
   as an authentic record of the character and doctrine of Jesus Christ.
   It is confirmed by "infallible proofs," by ample and luminous evidence,
   which is sufficient to convince every ingenuous mind, every man who
   examines it with a candid, dispassionate temper. You may be assured, my
   brethren, that it is not for want of evidence that the gospel is in any
   instance rejected. Difficulties, indeed, there may be, which are apt to
   perplex ill-informed and superficial observers; but the chief objection
   to it, an objection level to the comprehension of every depraved heart,
   is its holiness. "Men hate the light, because their deeds are evil."
   This will appear to be no false charge, if you consider, that there is
   scarcely any thing that infidels believe, for which they have half the
   evidence that can be produced in favour of the truth of Christianity.
   It is not, therefore, to reason that their unbelief should be
   attributed, but to some other cause; a corrupt taste, an impatience of
   restraint, a wish to live without any law to control them, or any fear
   to disturb them in their pleasure.

   In the second place, Christians may place unbounded confidence in their
   Redeemer, who having conquered their enemies, and triumphed over death
   and the grave, has ascended, in the most glorious manner, to heaven,
   where he sways the sceptre of universal government, and bearing his
   people, and all their interests upon his heart, makes continual
   intercession for them in the presence of his Father. Why should you be
   afraid to draw near to the throne of God, and to present your
   supplications? Is not the merit of omu great High Priest sufficient to
   counterbalance your demerit? And shall not the efficacy of his prayers
   ensure the acceptance and success of yours, notwithstanding the
   imperfection which adheres to your best duties? Why should you be
   discouraged by adverse dispensations of providence, by the power and
   threatenings of your adversaries, by the afflictions of the Church, by
   the uproar and confusion of the nations? Is not he who reigns the
   friend and patron of the righteous, under whose protection they are
   safe, and by whose almighty agency, and unerring wisdom, the
   perplexities and turmoils of the present scene shall issue in perfect
   order and eternal felicity?

   Lastly, The attention and the hope of Christians are now directed to
   the second appearance of their Saviour. The ancient Church looked for
   his coming in the flesh; we, according to his promise, look for his
   coming in glory. "Lift up your heads with joy, believers; for the day
   of your redemption draweth nigh." To them alone who are waiting for
   him, will he appear for salvation; but there is not an eye which shall
   not see him in the clouds, nor a knee which shall not bow before him.
   How alarming will be the sight, how mortifying the homage, to infidels
   and blasphemers of his gospel, to the enemies of his grace, to the
   despisers of his institutions, to the transgressors of his laws?
   Professed disciples of the Son of Man, are you prepared to go forth and
   meet him? To what class of mankind do you belong? to that which,
   standing on his right hand, shall be invited to enter into his kingdom?
   or to that which, being ranged on the left. shall be condemned to
   darkness and everlasting woe? Ask your consciences the important
   question; and that it may be satisfactorily answered, call in the
   assistance of the infallible word, by which we shall be finally judged.
   "Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." Happy are
   they who can say, with holy and earnest desire, "Even so, come Lord
   Jesus."
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LECTURE II.

  THE DAY OF PENTECOST.

  Chap. ii. 1-13.

   THE promise of the Holy Ghost, which our Saviour made to the disciples
   at his last interview with them, was well fitted to reconcile their
   minds to his departure, and to encourage them in the view of the
   various and difficult duties of the Apostolical office. There was but a
   short interval between his ascension and the performance of the
   promise; an event of great importance in the history of the Church, and
   of which the passage now read gives an account.

   The first point which requires our notice, is the time when "the
   promise of the Father," as it is termed, was performed. We are told in
   the first verse, that it was when "the day of Pentecost was fully
   come." --Pentecost is a Greek word signifying the fiftieth day, and is
   the name of that grand festival which the Israelites were commanded to
   celebrate fifty days after the passover, in commemoration of the giving
   of the law. God having delivered his people from Egypt, led them
   through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where they were conducted, by
   easy marches, to the spot which he had chosen for displaying the tokens
   of his Majesty. There he descended on the top of Sinai, a rugged and
   barren mountain; and from the midst of darkness and devouring fire,
   proclaimed his law with a voice which filled with terror the immense
   multitude assembled at its base. At the same time, he enjoined, by the
   ministry of Moses, that system of ordinances and statutes, which was
   the foundation of the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jews. That
   a law, published with such solemnity by God himself, should not pass
   away like the transient institutions of men, but should remain through
   all ages as a monument of the divine goodness to their nation, and as
   the rule of their worship and obedience, was an idea natural enough to
   men, who could not, as an Apostle observes, "steadfastly look to the
   end of it;" or were ignorant of its typical design. But it was destined
   to give place to a new and better dispensation. Aaron and his sons were
   to retire from the altar, when a priest of another order should appear,
   and by a more excellent sacrifice than that of rams and bullocks, make
   a true atonement for the sins of the people. That priest had now come,
   and by the oblation of himself, "had perfected for ever them that are
   sanctified." The veil had been rent from the top to the bottom; and the
   glory had departed from the temple of Jerusalem. A law was to go forth
   from Zion, by which the law from Sinai should be superseded; the
   pompous ritual of Moses was to be succeeded by a system of worship,
   simple and spiritual. It was with a design to signify this change, that
   Pentecost was chosen for the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the
   Apostles of Christ. On the anniversary of the promulgation of the
   ancient law, they were enabled to publish the good news of the reign of
   the Messiah, not to the inhabitants of Jerusalem alone, but, in their
   own language, "to men of every nation under heaven." And, surely, to
   every reflecting mind it is evident, that the interposition of God
   himself, in a miraculous manner, to qualify the Apostles, at this
   particular time, to preach a new religion, was an unequivocal
   declaration, that the old religion, having served its purpose, was to
   be no longer obligatory. Thus Pentecost was again rendered illustrious
   as the commencement of a new era. Besides the reason now given for the
   choice of this day, we may conceive Divine Wisdom to have pitched upon
   it, with a view to the opportunity which it afforded, of speedily
   conveying tidings of salvation to many distant parts of the earth, by
   means of the strangers who were assembled at the feast.

   Our attention is next called to the subjects of this miracle, or the
   persons upon whom the Holy Ghost descended. "They were all with one
   accord in one place." Some suppose, that the historian refers to the
   hundred and twenty disciples mentioned in the fifteenth verse of the
   preceding chapter, among whom there were several women; and they add,
   that if the women be included, the prophecy of Joel, afterwards quoted,
   was literally fulfilled. "Your sons and your daughters shall
   prophesy:--and on my servants, and on my handmaidens, I will pour out
   in those days of my Spirit." Others maintain, that the reference goes
   no farther back than the last verse of the first chapter, in which
   mention is made of Matthias and the eleven Apostles; and they consider
   the fourteenth verse of this chapter, which informs us that Peter stood
   up with the eleven. as supporting this opinion. It seems; indeed, to be
   more probable than the other, because it was not to all the disciples,
   but to the Apostles, that Christ made the promise which was now
   performed; and because the gift of tongues, being intended as a
   qualification for preaching the gospel, there is no ground to imagine
   that it was bestowed upon women, to whom that office was never assigned
   by any but some wild enthusiast.

   Let us now consider the account of the miracle. In the first place, we
   must take notice of the symbols, or external signs of it, which were
   two; the one addressed to the eye, and the other to the ear. We read,
   in the second verse, that "suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as
   of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
   sitting." It is remarkable, that in the two languages in which the
   Scriptures are written, as well as in some others, the word which
   signifies spirit, signifies also breath or wind. For the use of the
   same term to denote two ideas so distinct, different reasons may be
   assigned. Perhaps the men who spoke those languages in remote ages,
   were so gross and ignorant as to form no conception of an immaterial
   soul, or of any living principle in man besides the air which he
   breathes; or from the penury of language which compels us to apply
   words expressive of sensible objects to intellectual and spiritual
   things, they gave the same name to the soul, and to the breath or air,
   because it is by the air that human life is sustained. Be this as it
   may, we are authorised to consider air in motion as a sort of emblem of
   the Holy Spirit and his operations. When speaking on this subject to
   Nicodemus, our Lord used the following comparison. "The wind bloweth
   where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not
   tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is
   born of the Spirit." At a meeting with his disciples after his
   resurrection,:" he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the
   Holy Ghost." To the Apostles therefore, a wind from heaven was a
   significant sign; a sign which must have immediately suggested the idea
   of the spirit and his influences, and have led them to expect that now
   the promise of their Saviour should be performed.

   It may be thought, that a gentle breeze would have been a more proper
   emblem of the Holy Ghost than a loud and violent wind; that it would
   have accorded better with the purpose of his descent and with the mild
   and gracious nature of the new dispensation. But this fancy will be
   dismissed as soon as we reflect, that his coming was to be productive
   of the most astonishing effects, in endowing the minds of the Apostles
   with extraordinary powers, and in bearing down the opposition made to
   the truth, by ignorance and prejudice, by the wisdom of philosophers,
   and the policy of statesmen; and that nothing could more aptly
   represent the energy by which these effects should be produced, than "a
   rushing mighty wind." At the same time, the noise served to collect
   together the people to witness the miracle. It was confined to a
   particular spot, and filled the house in which the Apostles were
   assembled.

   The other sign which accompanied this miracle is described in the third
   verse. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire,
   and it sat upon each of them. When John announced the approach of the
   Messiah, he said to the people, "He shall baptize you with the Holy
   Ghost, and with fire;" by which we are not to understand some thing
   distinct from the Holy Ghost, but his influences, which are represented
   under the metaphor of fire, on account of the resemblance between the
   properties of the one and of the other. Fire, then, was an emblem
   equally significant as wind, which must have likewise recalled to the
   minds of the Apostles the promise of their Lord. The fire appeared in
   the form of tongues, cloven, or divided at top; and a flame of this
   figure rested upon the head of each of the Apostles. The shape of the
   flame was emblematical of the nature of the miracle, which consisted in
   enabling them to speak "with other tongues," or to speak languages
   which they had never learned; and the division of the flame pointed out
   the variety of those languages. But why, it may be asked, were the
   tongues of fire? To intimate, I answer, that in the languages which the
   Apostles were now enabled to speak, they should communicate to the
   world that heavenly doctrine, which, like fire, both illuminates and
   purifies; or rather to signify, that their tongues, touched as with a
   live-coal from the altar, should utter strains of glowing eloquence,
   not fashioned, it might be, according to the rules observed by the
   orators of Greece and Rome, but capable of producing far nobler
   effects; eloquence, which would terrify the boldest, and alarm the most
   careless sinner; which would humble the proud, comfort the dejected,
   inspire the timid with invincible courage, and, with an energy unknown
   to philosophy, kindle the living fire of devotion in the coldest and
   most unfeeling heart.

   After this account of the signs, we proceed to inquire into the nature,
   of the miracle. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
   began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
   The general effect is manifest, namely, the communication of the
   knowledge of languages, with which the Apostles were formerly
   unacquainted; but it does not appear, whether the same languages were
   imparted to them all, or to one was given the knowledge of some, and to
   another, the knowledge of others. The Holy Ghost could " divide to
   every one of them severally as he pleased;" but as they were all
   destined to preach to different nations, there can be no doubt that
   they were all furnished with a diversity of tongues.

   Language is composed of articulate sounds, which, when uttered by the
   mouth, or represented by characters or letters, signify certain ideas.
   The connexion between the sounds and the things which they signify is
   arbitrary, not founded in nature, but in convention; and, consequently,
   a sound can convey no information to the hearer till he have learned
   its meaning. Hence the acquisition of a foreign language requires close
   application and frequent practice. Much time must be spent, before a
   person can be acquainted with the signification of the great variety of
   sounds which are used in any country, and be able to understand them as
   soon as they are pronounced. It is still more difficult to attain the
   power of speaking a foreign language fluently and accurately; or to
   become so familiar with its words, as instantly to call them up, to
   express the ideas, which arise in the mind. What increases the
   difficulty is, that, in all languages, the same word has sometimes a
   variety of meanings, so that, if it be not skilfully used, it may
   suggest a sense very different from that which it was our intention to
   express; and that there is a mode peculiar to every language of
   combining and arranging its words, without observing which, a stranger
   shall speak unintelligibly to the natives. Those who have engaged in
   the study of languages can attest, that it is an arduous task, when one
   aims at a thorough acquaintance with them; and although, after much
   labour, some may be able to understand, with considerable ease, a book
   written in a foreign tongue, yet there is not one in twenty who is
   capable of carrying on conversation in it with facility. It may be
   added, that the sounds of a foreign language are, in some instances. so
   different from those to which we have been accustomed, that we feel
   ourselves at a loss to pronounce them; and that, unless we begin to
   learn in an early period of life, when our organs are flexible, we can
   hardly ever speak in such a manner as to please the ear of a native.

   These remarks are intended to show you the astonishing nature of the
   miracle which was performed on the day of Pentecost. The Apostles were
   illiterate men, who understood no language but that of their own
   country, and could speak it only according to the rude dialect of
   Galilee. They had never thought of learning the languages of
   foreigners; and it is probable, that even the names of some of the
   nations, mentioned in the following verses, had not reached their ears.
   Yet, in a moment were those men inspired with the knowledge of an
   immense number of words, which they had never heard before, and with
   the knowledge not only of the words, but of the connected ideas, and of
   the structure, the arrangement, and the peculiar phrases of the
   languages to which they belonged. At the same time, their organs were
   rendered capable of adapting themselves to sounds different from each
   other, as well as from those to which they had been familiarized from
   their infancy, Notwithstanding this diversity, there was not the
   smallest confusion in their minds, nor were they in danger of mixing
   the words of different languages together; but they spoke each as
   distinctly, as if they had been acquainted with it alone.

   It may be safely affirmed, that there is not a more remarkable miracle
   recorded in the New Testament. It will not, however, appear incredible
   to any person, who considers, on the one hand, that the cause was
   adequate to the effect, for it was produced by that Being who made the
   tongue of man, and was the original Author of language; and, on the
   other, that it was necessary to qualify the Apostles for executing
   their commission to preach the gospel to every creature. Without the
   gift of tongues their ministrations must have been confined to their
   own countrymen; for it is not probable, that at their time of life, and
   with their habits, they could have acquired, by ordinary means, a
   single foreign language so perfectly, as to be able to deliver a
   discourse in it upon the subject of religion. We have been informed, by
   the missionaries in Otaheite, that after a residence of several years
   among the natives, in a situation the most advantageous of all for
   learning a language, they have not yet. ventured to preach or pray
   publicly in the language of the country.

   In the following verses, the historian relates the impression which the
   miracle made upon the multitude. "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem,
   Jews, devout men; out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was
   noised 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, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus,
   and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya
   about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and
   Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of
   God." It is probable, that the sound of the "rushing mighty wind"
   alarmed the persons in the neighbourhood, and drew them to the place
   from which it proceeded; and the report having spread through the city,
   a great number of spectators was speedily assembled. The Apostles
   immediately began to exercise the gift of tongues, as they observed in
   the crowd strangers from very different parts of the earth. These had
   now come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, or, as the
   original term may import, had taken up their residence there, in the
   expectation, as some think, of the appearance of the Messiah. After the
   Babylonian captivity, many of the Jews remained in the countries in
   which they had sojourned during its continuance; and by subsequent
   revolutions they were dispersed over all the East, and through almost
   every province of the Roman empire. Hence, although they retained their
   religion and their peculiar manners, they unavoidably adopted the
   language of the natives. Together with the Jews of the dispersion,
   there were present also, on this occasion, several persons of heathen
   extraction, who, being convinced of the unity of God, and of the divine
   authority of the law of Moses, had received the seal of circumcision,
   and were incorporated with the peculiar people. These were the
   proselytes mentioned in the end of the tenth verse.

   How great must have been the astonishment of this mixed multitude, to
   hear themselves unexpectedly addressed in the languages of the
   countries from which they respectively came: The assembly was composed
   of strangers from at least fourteen different nations; and every man
   heard the Apostles speak in his own tongue. The speakers, they
   perceived, were Galileans, common men, from a part of the country
   reputed the most unpolished and illiterate. The sacred historian uses
   three words to describe the state of their minds. They were
   "confounded;" they were "amazed;" and they "marvelled." At first they
   were so affected by the extraordinary nature of the event, that they
   could only gaze with silent wonder; but afterwards they gave vent to
   their feelings in words; and they began to inquire into the meaning of
   the miracle. "They were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to
   another, What meaneth this?" It was manifest that the hand of God was
   in the event, and that there must be some end worthy of so unusual an
   interposition. What that end was, they were at a loss to conceive; but
   perhaps some suspicion, some confused apprehension of it arose in their
   minds. They heard the Apostles speaking "the wonderful works of God;"
   proclaiming the incarnation, the doctrine, the death, the resurrection,
   and the ascension of the Lord Jesus. Comparing this account with the
   miracle, of which they were now witnesses, they began to doubt, whether
   he might not be the Messiah, and this extraordinary scene might not be
   a preliminary step to the establishment of his kingdom. In this
   perplexity they were desirous to know the real design of the miracle.

   But a part of the audience did not discover so favourable a
   disposition. They attempted to turn the affair into ridicule, and
   imputed to intoxication what was manifestly the effect of supernatural
   influence. "Others mocking, said, These men are full of new wine." Some
   commentators suppose these mockers to have been inhabitants of
   Jerusalem, who understood no foreign language, and represent them as
   acting from ignorance rather than from malice. But the testimony of the
   strangers was sufficient to have convinced: such persons, that there
   was a real miracle in the case; and it might have been easily known,
   that the Apostles were sober, from the gravity of their appearance and
   gestures. The true reason of this calumnious charge is to be found in
   their opposition to Christ and his religion, which they heard his
   ministers proclaiming; for it appears from the ninth verse, that
   besides the languages of foreigners they spoke likewise that of Judea.
   As the Pharisees, when they saw the miracles of Jesus, malignantly
   ascribed them to the assistance of Satan; so these men sought to evade
   this proof of his resurrection and ascension, by pronouncing all that
   passed to be the effect of intemperance. The evidence in favour of the
   gospel may be sufficient to convince the understandings of some men,
   whose hatred to it is so great, that they will neither acknowledge its
   divine authority, nor abstain from impertinent cavils against it.
   Infidels sometimes tell us, that it is vain to appeal to the miracles
   of the New Testament, of which we have no knowledge but by questionable
   testimony; and that miracles should be wrought in every age, to give
   men an opportunity of seeing and examining them. But there is no reason
   to expect, that if this demand should be complied with, their hostility
   to our religion would cease. The infidels in the first ages of
   Christianity, are a specimen of the unbelievers of our times. With the
   most splendid proofs of divine interposition before their eyes, the
   former continued to contradict and blaspheme; and what ground have we
   to think that the latter would be more ready to yield? Their opposition
   proceeds, not from want of evidence, but from want of candour; a temper
   of mind upon which arguments and demonstration are thrown away. A mind
   full of prejudice, a heart attached to the world and its pleasures,
   will always find something to object to a religion which teaches the
   purest morality, and requires, from those who embrace it, the sacrifice
   of their corrupt propensities, and unhallowed gratifications.

   I shall close this discourse with the following reflections.

   Let us, sinners of the Gentiles, consider our interest in this
   miraculous dispensation, and the obligations which we are under to be
   thankful for it. It was preparatory to the accomplishment of the
   gracious designs of heaven towards the nations of the world; who were
   perishing without a vision, but to whom the salvation of God was now to
   be revealed. When the law was published from Sinai, it was delivered to
   the Israelites in their own language, because they were alone to enjoy
   the benefit of it; but the new law from Sion was promulgated in a
   diversity of languages, to signify that it was intended to be
   universal. "Every man was now to hear in his own tongue, the wonderful
   works of God." "Let us sing a new song to the Lord, because he hath
   done marvellous things. The Lord hath made known his salvation: his
   righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen."

   The event, recorded in this passage, leads us to reflect upon the means
   by which the Christian religion was established in the earth. "Not by
   might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The first
   missionaries were destitute of all natural qualifications for their
   arduous work; and the world was adverse to the reception of the faith.
   But the same Spirit, who endowed them with supernatural gifts, subdued,
   by his secret influence, the prejudices, and purified the hearts, of
   their hearers. The obstacle to the propagation of the gospel, arising
   from a diversity of languages, was removed when there rested upon each
   of the Apostles "cloven tongues, like as of fire;" but there remained
   other obstacles, of a moral nature, more formidable, which it was still
   less in the power of human means to surmount. Had the Holy Ghost
   operated only in a supernatural manner upon the minds of the Apostles,
   and by miraculous works, the new religion would not have made its way
   in the earth, opposed as it was by superstition, by philosophy, by the
   power of the state, and by all the corrupt passions of the soul. But
   the gospel was the ministration of the Spirit, in his graces as well as
   in his gifts, in his regeneration as well as in his miraculous virtue.
   Hence it was "mighty through God to pull down strong holds, and to
   bring every thought into captivity to Christ."

   Lastly, "If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every
   transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
   how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the
   first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them
   that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and
   wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost,
   according to his own will?" These words are full of alarm to open
   infidels and to secret unbelievers. To the former they announce the
   certainty, and the dreadful nature of the punishment which awaits them,
   if they persist in rejecting and vilifying a religion, stamped with
   such characters of truth. Your sneers and cavils cannot make that false
   which is true; and if the gospel is true, as we know it to be, and the
   best and most enlightened men, in all ages, have believed, think for a
   moment what will be your doom! If the gospel is true, so are its
   threatenings; and they are awful beyond conception. To the other class
   of persons, who are secret unbelievers, but call themselves disciples
   of Jesus, the words of the Apostle suggest matter of serious
   consideration. You profess to give credit to the gospel, but you do not
   cordially assent to its doctrines, nor embrace its promises, nor submit
   to its authority, nor cultivate that holiness of heart and life which
   it enjoins. Shall a salvation, in its nature so desirable, in the means
   of its accomplishment so wonderful, be safely despised? Shall the Son
   of God be rejected with impunity? Shall men trample upon his blood, and
   refuse the testimony of his Spirit, and yet run no hazard? Is it
   nothing to call the God of truth a liar? nothing to disregard the
   wonders of his grace and power? Of all sins, unbelief is the greatest;
   and persistence in it will terminate in unavoidable and irretrievable
   ruin. Be persuaded to reflect seriously upon your guilt and danger, and
   to seek from God the influences of his Holy Spirit, to enlighten your
   minds and regenerate your hearts, that receiving the Lord Jesus Christ,
   and "setting to your seal that God is true," you may now obtain an
   interest in the "great salvation," and may be admitted to the full
   enjoyment of it in the world to come.
     __________________________________________________________________

LECTURE III

  THE FORMATION AND ORDER OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.

  Chap. ii. 37-47.

   As the passage now read refers to the preceding part of the chapter, it
   is necessary to take a summary view of its contents. Our Lord having,
   according to his promise, poured out the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles,
   on the day of Pentecost, a mixed multitude of natives and strangers
   were collected, to whom they published, in their respective languages,
   "the wonderful works of God." Some were astonished, and eagerly
   inquired into the cause of that extraordinary event; while others, from
   malignity against Jesus and his religion, affirmed that the Apostles
   were intoxicated. To satisfy the inquiries of the one class, and to
   repel the accusation of the other, Peter rose with his brethren; and
   having first shown, by a reference to the national manners, that the
   supposition of drunkenness at so early an hour was destitute of all
   probability, he informed the audience, that the event which had now
   taken place was the fulfilment of a prophecy long since delivered by
   Joel. He then proceeded to the main purpose of his speech, to prove
   that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. With this view, having reminded
   them of the miracles performed by our Saviour during his public
   ministry, which were the seal of heaven affixed to his commission, he
   boldly charges his hearers with the atrocious crime of putting him to
   death; but affirms that God had restored him to life, and that it was
   not possible that death should have retained him under its dominion.
   This fact, which was the point at issue between the Jews, and the
   Apostles, he establishes by an argument, the validity of which they
   would hardly venture to dispute; by an appeal to a prophecy of David.
   After some reasoning, intended to convince them that the passage which
   he had cited could not be applied to the Prophet himself, he again
   asserts the resurrection of Christ; and he calls upon the house of
   Israel, who had been favoured with sensible evidence of his exaltation,
   to acknowledge "that God had made that same Jesus, whom they had
   crucified, both Lord and Christ." The effect produced by this discourse
   is worthy of notice.

   It awakened compunction, and an eager inquiry with respect to the
   course which it was necessary for them to pursue. "Now when they heard
   this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter, and to
   the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The
   sentence of death was reluctantly pronounced upon our Lord by the Roman
   governor, whose conscience attested the innocence of the prisoner at
   his bar, but who was prevailed upon, by the clamours and menaces of the
   multitude, to disregard its admonitions. The people, the dupes of their
   priests and rulers, had conceived the most violent prejudice against
   Christ as an impostor, and were persuaded that they discovered fervent
   zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of their holy religion, when
   they demanded his crucifixion. Some women followed him in the way to
   Calvary with tears and lamentations; but the deluded, infuriated crowd,
   beheld his cruel sufferings without pity. In how different a light did
   their conduct now appear to them, when the evidence of the Messiahship
   of Jesus flashed conviction on their minds! If ever confusion, remorse,
   and terror, rushed at once into the bosom of a sinner with irresistible
   force, it was at this moment, when the Jews learned, that the deceiver
   whom they had nailed to the cross, the blasphemer whose blood they had
   shed, was the Redeemer promised to the Church, the Son of the living
   God, the Lord of heaven and earth. What a crime had they committed! The
   annals of human guilt could not furnish another of equal atrocity. How
   dreadful was the punishment which they had reason to expect! Now they
   remembered their own imprecation, "His blood be on us, and on our
   children;" and they trembled lest its weight should press them down to
   the lowest hell. Alarmed and perplexed, tortured with a consciousness
   of guilt, and dreading the just vengeance of heaven, from which they
   knew not how to escape, they say to Peter and the rest of the Apostles,
   "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" They were anxious to hear from
   these ambassadors of Jesus, whether there was any hope of pardon for so
   great a crime, any means of protection from the wrath which was ready
   to overwhelm them.

   To this question, Peter, in the name of his brethren, returned the
   following answer. "Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the
   name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
   the gift of the Holy Ghost." One general remark must occur to every
   person who considers this answer, that the Jews are directed to Jesus
   himself for the remission of their sins. That blood only, which they
   had impiously shed, could wash them from guilt; and thus what is true
   in reference to sinners in general, was particularly illustrated in the
   case of those men, that "his blood speaketh better things than that of
   Abel," crying to God for the pardon, not for the punishment, of his
   enemies and murderers. The particular course which he directs them to
   take, is repentance and baptism. Repentance cannot here signify remorse
   and sorrow for sin, for these feelings were already working in their
   breasts. Nor does it mean the relinquishment of their sins, and the
   amendment of their lives, because, although reformation will be the
   undoubted result of contrition of heart, yet there was not time to
   carry good resolutions into effect prior to baptism, to which the
   repentance here enjoined was a previous step. The penitent Jews appear
   to have been immediately baptized. In the present case, therefore,
   repentance is equivalent to that complete change of views and
   dispositions which is implied in the cordial reception of the gospel,
   and consists in a perception of the excellencies of the character of
   Christ, an approbation of the plan of salvation by his righteousness,
   and a reliance upon his obedience and blood as the foundation of our
   acceptance and our hopes. Such sentiments and exercises of mind are
   very different from those, to which the hearers of Peter were
   accustomed, who had "gone about to establish their own righteousness;"
   and from those, which are familiar to a natural man, who sees no
   comeliness or beauty in, the Saviour for which he should be desired,
   and disdains "to submit to the righteousness of God." Yet, till this
   change, to which the heart is so adverse, and which can be effected
   only by supernatural power, be experienced, we have no interest in the
   redemption of Christ; for although God has "set him forth as a
   propitiation for sin," he becomes actually such to a sinner, only
   "through faith in his blood."

   With repentance, baptism in the name, or by the authority of Christ, is
   conjoined; and Peter required it from his hearers for the three
   following reasons: first, as a solemn and public declaration of the
   change of their views and dispositions, the baptism of Christ being,
   like that of John, a baptism of repentance; secondly, as a testimony of
   their subjection to Jesus, by whom this ordinance was appointed; and,
   lastly, as a sign and seal of the new covenant, by which the remission
   of sins is represented to all, and confirmed to those who belong to
   that covenant.

   To encourage his hearers to comply with this exhortation, he sub joined
   the following declaration or promise. "And ye shall receive the gift of
   the Holy Ghost." When in this book the Holy Ghost is said to be given,
   the meaning frequently is, that his extraordinary gifts were
   communicated. This is evident from the cases of those in Samaria who
   received the word, of Cornelius and his company, and of the disciples
   of John, who were baptized at Ephesus; and it is observable, that in
   two of those cases, the persons immediately began to speak with
   tongues. From these examples, as well as from the consideration, that
   the words were spoken just after the descent of the Spirit, we may
   conceive Peter to have assured the Jews, that they should participate
   of the miraculous gifts which had been conferred upon the Apostles.
   Yet, as we have no reason to think, notwithstanding the liberal
   distribution of such gifts in the primitive Church, that they were
   imparted to every person who believed; it seems proper to interpret the
   words as referring likewise to the sanctifying influences and comforts
   of the Spirit, and to consider the Apostle as holding out a promise of
   these to all, and of extraordinary endowments to such among them as God
   should be pleased to qualify, in this manner, for the manifestation and
   establishment of the truth.

   "For the promise," he adds, "is unto you, and to your children, and to
   all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
   Many commentators suppose, that he alludes to the promise which God
   made to Abraham, that "he would be a God unto him, and to his seed
   after him," with a design to convince the Jews, that by embracing the
   new religion, they should lose none of the privileges which they
   enjoyed under the old. The same promise was continued, and gave them
   and their children a right to baptism, the present seal of the
   covenant, as both had formerly received the seal of circumcision. If,
   however, we should rather understand the promise to be that of the Holy
   Ghost, which the connexion seems to suggest, the same argument may be
   deduced from it: for if the spirit is promised, not to believers alone,
   but to their seed, it follows that their seed are taken into the
   covenant of God, and, consequently, are entitled to that ordinance
   which represents our participation of its blessings. "Can any man
   forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received
   the Holy Ghost as well as we?" The Jews were plainly given to
   understand, that the new dispensation in which they were required to
   acquiesce, was of an enlarged and liberal nature. Its ample treasury of
   grace was opened to enrich them and their families; and it is farther
   suggested, that the Gentiles, although they were now "afar off," should
   be admitted to a share, when in his own time, "the Lord their God
   should call them."

   To this exhortation he added "many other words;" the purport of which
   was to excite them "to save themselves from that untoward generation."
   This character is descriptive of the perverseness with which the
   unbelieving Jews opposed all the methods of divine grace. Our Saviour
   had formerly illustrated their conduct by the capriciousness and
   pettishness of children. "Whereunto shall I liken this generation? It
   is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their
   fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we
   have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither
   eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man came
   eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a
   wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." They were offended at
   the austerity of the Baptist, and imputed it to the influence of an
   unsocial, melancholy demon; they were equally displeased with the more
   open and familiar manners of our Lord, and advanced against him a
   charge of intemperance and licentiousness. A more complete description
   of frowardness was never given than the following, in the first Epistle
   to the Thessalonians. "The Jews," says Paul, "both killed the Lord
   Jesus, and their own Prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please
   not God, and are contrary to all men." Whatever means were employed for
   their good, the effect was still the same, obstinate resistance or
   sullen contempt. Over this incorrigible race the judgments of heaven
   were impending. There was indeed, a season allowed for repentance,
   during which the gospel would be preached to them; but as soon as it
   should expire, unmingled vengeance would overwhelm the ungodly nation.
   Peter exhorts the awakened Jews to flee from the wrath to come. Joel
   had long ago foretold the terrors of the day of the Lord, and the
   salvation of those who should believe. "I will show wonders in the
   heavens, and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke. The
   sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the
   great and the terrible day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass, that
   whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in
   mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath
   said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."

   The success of Peter's sermon is pointed out in the next verse. "Then
   they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day
   there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Their
   "receiving his word gladly," signifies their believing and embracing,
   with joy and gratitude, the tidings of salvation through the crucified
   Jesus. Such is the reception, which the gospel will not fail to meet
   with from those, who are awakened to perceive and feel their need of
   its comforts. A philosopher, a speculatist, who looks upon it merely as
   a theory, may coolly sit down and discuss its evidence; but the bosom
   of a convinced and trembling sinner throbs with emotions of desire and
   transport, when he hears its gracious declarations; and he hastens to
   lay hold of the offered mercy with the same eagerness, with which a
   criminal, shuddering under the suspended axe of the executioner,
   accepts the unexpected pardon of his prince. Their obedience to the
   gospel whs manifested by submission to the ordinance of baptism, in
   which they at once expressed their faith in Christ, and recognised him
   as the Lord of their consciences.

   We may stop, for a few moments, to consider this transaction as a proof
   of the sincerity of those converts, of their full conviction of the
   truth of the gospel. To an acknowledgement of Christ and his religion,
   the prejudices of education, the example of their friends, the
   authority of their rulers, and the sacred institutions of Moses, as
   they were then explained, presented powerful obstacles. They could not
   become his disciples without the renunciation of early and favourite
   opinions, and without a sacrifice of principle; and there was every
   reason to expect, that they should incur the reproaches of their
   countrymen, as apostates, and experience other effects of their
   intolerant zeal. Yet these considerations did not deter them from
   assuming the badge of Christianity; from standing forth as the marked
   objects of the hatred and scorn of their brethren. And how shall we
   account for their conduct? It can be explained on no other principle
   than an irresistible conviction of the truth, a firm belief of the
   threatenings and promises of the Apostles, the exertion of that
   almighty energy upon their hearts, which "brings every thought into
   captivity to Christ." To these causes we attribute the conversion of
   those Jews; and we perceive to what extent they operated from the
   number of the converts. By the accession of three thousand persons, our
   Saviour was pleased to encourage the Apostles, at their outset; and to
   give a specimen of the rapid success which should afterwards attend the
   publication of the gospel.

   We have seen how the Christian Church was formed. We are next presented
   with a view of the conduct of its members, in reference to the
   doctrines and institutions of the gospel. "And they continued
   steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking
   of bread, and in prayers." Each of these particulars deserves to be
   distinctly considered.

   The first is their continuance in "the doctrine of the Apostles." It
   sometimes happens, that by an artful representation of an object, and a
   dexterous appeal to his passions, a person is induced to adopt an
   opinion which he formerly reprobated, and which, upon calm reflection,
   he will renounce. In the midst of a multitude, a man is hardly master
   of himself, and is often hurried away by a sympathetic feeling with
   those around him to form resolutions, which in his cool moments he may
   see reason to retract. There are instances, too, in which sentiments
   are embraced, in the hope that they shall be held without trouble or
   inconvenience, but are abandoned as soon as they are found to be
   incompatible with reputation and personal safety. The converted Jews
   had undergone a very sudden change of their views. At the same meeting,
   at which the pathetic address of Peter operated so strongly upon them,
   they solemnly declared themselves disciples of Jesus. Yet neither the
   reflections which they had afterwards leisure to make upon their
   conduct, nor the difficulties which they soon experienced to be
   inseparable from their new profession, created any regret at the step
   which they had taken. The gospel, the more they examined it, appeared
   the more worthy of all acceptation. Its evidence was strengthened every
   day by the miracles which were performed before their eyes; and from
   what passed in their own minds, they felt the same need of its comforts
   as ever, the same delightful calm, the same ineffable happiness,
   arising from the belief of its declarations and promises. They
   continued, therefore, steadfast in the doctrine of the Apostles, fully
   convinced of its truth, and assured by experience of its excellence.

   Luke mentions, in the second place, their steadfastness "in
   fellowship;" by which is meant the communion of saints in the exercise
   of evangelical love. The gospel is not a selfish religion. It requires,
   indeed, every man to take care of his own salvation, and shows it to be
   of such importance, as to be truly worthy of his care; but it teaches
   him, at the same time, to take an interest in the temporal and
   spiritual welfare of his Christian brethren. Upon the basis of
   brotherly love is reared a system of duties, from the cheerful and
   conscientious performance of which there results great benefit to the
   Church, and much honour to religion. By exhorting one another daily, by
   instructing, and reproving, and comforting, and assisting one another
   in all good things, Christians fulfil the law of Christ, and act as
   partakers of the same Spirit, and children of the same Father. In these
   labours of love the new converts were employed; for, in believing the
   gospel, they had imbibed that pure spirit of Benevolence, which is now
   so little known, but in those days made the Gentiles say, "Behold how
   the Christians love one another."

   Farther, they continued steadfastly in "the breaking of bread." This
   phrase does not necessarily mean the Lord's supper, as we shall
   afterwards see; but being introduced among the religious duties of the
   primitive Church, it seems, in the present case, to signify that
   institution, the whole being denominated from a part. Perhaps, the
   celebration of that solemn ordinance is particularly mentioned, because
   it was a public and explicit testimony of their attachment to the
   Saviour, a recognition of their baptismal engagements, an avowal that
   they gloried in the cross of Christ, which was a stumbling block to
   their unbelieving countrymen. It is evident that they frequently
   commemorated his death; but how often they were thus employed, it is
   impossible to ascertain from this passage. No man in his senses can
   suppose, that they observed the ordinance as often as they performed
   the duties of fellowship, and offered up either secret or social
   prayer. I can find nothing in the New Testament, from which any
   determinate rule for our conduct can be collected. The arguments for
   the weekly celebration of the sacred supper, founded on some incidental
   expressions, are too feeble to authorise the strong and peremptory
   conclusions which have been drawn from them. Evidence much more ample
   and decisive would be requisite to justify any religious party, in
   pronouncing this practice to be a mark of Apostolic purity, and
   erecting it into a standard, to which other Christians are bound to
   conform. [1]

   In the last place, we are informed that they continued steadfastly "in
   prayer." The gospel humbles man, by showing him his meanness and
   infirmity. It draws him off from presumptuous confidence in himself,
   and directs him to place his trust and hope in God. Prayer is therefore
   the natural exercise of a genuine Christian. It is the language of his
   necessities. It is the voice of his faith imploring relief from the
   all-sufficiency of his Maker. It is the mean of bringing almighty power
   to his aid; of deriving from the infinite stores of divine goodness the
   supply of his wants. Hence the prayer of a Christian is not an
   occasional exclamation in a moment of alarm, or the effervescence of
   transient desire; but is founded in a habitual disposition of mind, a
   permanent sense of weakness and dependence. It constitutes a part of
   his daily exercise, without which his spiritual life could no more be
   preserved than his natural life could be sustained without food. By
   continuing in prayer, the new converts discovered the ardour of their
   piety, and were enabled to persevere, amidst difficulties and dangers,
   in the profession of the truth, and in obedience to the institutions of
   Christ.

   I have given what appears to me to be the genuine sense of this
   passage; and in doing so have paid no regard to the opinion of some
   writers, that it is a description of the procedure of the first
   Christians in their religious assemblies. The opinion receives no
   countenance from the passage itself, would not occur to an impartial
   reader unacquainted with the theories of disputants, and is chiefly
   adopted with a view to establish a favourite point, that the Lord's
   supper was a stated part of the worship of the primitive Church. But if
   we take the liberty to explain the Scriptures as we please, there is no
   doubt that we may prove from them any fancy however extravagant.

   Let us now consider the love of the primitive Christians, as displayed
   in the liberality with which they supplied the necessities of their
   poor brethren. "And all that believed were together, and had all things
   common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all
   men, as every man had need." The expression, "all that believed were
   together," does not mean that they were assembled in one place, but
   that they were united in mind and affection, according to the sense
   which it bears in some other places of Scripture. "They had all things
   common." It has been supposed, that there was a real community of goods
   among the Christians of Jerusalem; or that every man, renouncing all
   right to his property, delivered it over to a public stock, to which
   all had an equal claim. It appears, however, from the story of Annanias
   and Sapphira, that the disciples were under no obligation, or were
   bound by no positive law, to dispose of their property for the benefit
   of the Church; and that after it was sold, they could retain the whole,
   or any part of the price, provided that they did not, like those
   unhappy persons, practice dissimulation and deceit: and it is farther
   evident from the passage before us, that although in many instances
   they laid down the price at the feet of the Apostles, entrusting them
   with the distribution, yet they sometimes reserved it in their own
   hands, and gave it to the indigent, according to their own ideas of
   their need. These considerations seem to prove, that there was not an
   actual community of goods in the primitive Church, but that, in
   consequence of the fervent charity which united the hearts and
   interests of the disciples, "no man," as Luke informs us in the fourth
   chapter, "said that ought of the things which he possessed was his
   own," or appropriated them solely to his own use, but readily parted
   with them for the supply of others. "They parted them to all men, as
   every man had need." All things were common, because they were at the
   service of every man who wanted them. On this ground, one of the
   Fathers said long after "Among us Christians all things are common,"
   although the practice of selling possessions, and distributing the
   price to the poor, was discontinued. There is no evidence, that the
   conduct of the Church of Jerusalem was followed by any other Church,
   even in the Apostolic age; but so far as it is an example of generous
   love, triumphing over the selfish affections, and exciting men to seek
   the welfare of others as well as their own, it is worthy to be imitated
   to the end of the world.

   The words, upon which I shall next make some observations, are
   contained in the forty-sixth verse, where we are told, that "they
   continued daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house,
   did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." Attempts
   have been made to prove, that "breaking bread" here signifies the
   celebration of the Lord's supper; and it has been inferred, that there
   was not only a weekly, but a daily observance of that solemn rite in
   the primitive Church. This, indeed, is sometimes the meaning of the
   phrase; but partaking of the Lord's supper is nowhere denoted by the
   familiar expression of "eating our meat." I am persuaded, that to a
   plain reader, who had no darling notion to support, it would never
   occur that any thing more was intended, than to inform us how the first
   Christians conducted themselves in their private intercourse. Prompted
   by brotherly love, they embraced opportunities of frequently meeting
   together at their common meals; and, on such occasions, they manifested
   the influence of the gospel, as well as in the more solemn services of
   religious worship. Joy and innocence presided at their frugal repasts.
   But it was joy different from that which wine inspires, flowing from an
   assurance of the favour of God, a sense of his love, which gives a
   relish to the homeliest fare, and the triumphant hope of immortality.
   "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry
   heart; for God now accepteth thy works." At those happy meetings, envy
   and jealousy did not rankle in the bosoms of the guests, nor were
   purposes of revenge concealed under the deceitful smile of friendship.
   All duplicity was banished, and their hearts, purified by divine grace,
   admitted no sentiments but those of honest, undissembled affection. At
   their tables they sealed their mutual love, and anticipated the pure
   felicity, which will circulate from breast to breast in the blessed
   company, who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

   I shall farther take notice only of the sentiments with which the
   rising Church was regarded by the Jews. It was at once the object of
   veneration and of esteem. It is said, in the forty-third verse, that "
   fear came upon every soul." With respect to external circumstances, the
   disciples were a despicable company, composed of persons, for the most
   part, in the lower classes of society, with some illiterate fishermen
   and publicans at their head. Yet there were such tokens of the presence
   and power of God in this assembly, that the spectators could not avoid
   being impressed with awe. The miracles performed by the Apostles
   astonished the beholders; and although they did not always produce
   conviction, made them afraid to treat the disciples with disrespect.
   "Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles." At the same time,
   the character of the first professors of the faith was so amiable,
   their manners were so pure, and their charity was so unbounded, that
   they conciliated the good-will of all around them. "They were in favour
   with the people." Their faith the people might not approve, but their
   virtues they could not refuse to commend. "He is a good man," said the
   heathens of a peaceable, beneficent neighbour, "but he is a Christian."
   The doctrines of our religion may seem mysterious and perplexed, and
   some of its precepts may be accounted severe; but when it is embodied,
   if I may speak so, in the conduct of its genuine friends; when it puts
   on the lovely aspect of meekness, gentleness, and goodness, the hearts
   of its enemies bear an unequivocal testimony in its favour, and
   sometimes their lips unwittingly pronounce its eulogium.

   Such were the sentiments with which the Jews beheld the primitive
   Christians; and the impression made upon their minds contributed,
   through the divine blessing, to bring many of them to the knowledge of
   the truth. The Church was a growing society. It received daily
   accessions. The power of God was exerted to carry into effect his
   purpose of grace with respect to such of the Jewish nation as he had
   chosen to eternal life. "The Lord added to the Church daily such as
   should be saved."

   I shall conclude with two or three reflections upon the passage.

   First, We have before us the pure and perfect model of a Christian
   Church. The primitive Church was composed of persons awakened and
   enlightened by the truth, who, having entered into its communion by
   baptism, continued regular and steadfast in the ordinances and
   commandments of Christ, and were united by sincere and ardent love. How
   dissimilar are those societies, the members of which are associated
   from the mere accident of local situation, or from caprice and
   prejudice, without knowledge, and without principle; societies made up
   of such loose and light materials, that a breath of novelty shall blow
   them asunder, and the most frivolous offence shall occasion their
   disunion; societies, which having no common purpose, no mutual bond of
   connexion, are a chaos of discordant elements, in which envy, jealousy,
   pride, selfishness, calumny, and evil surmisings, produce perpetual
   agitation and war? Alas! my brethren, we have all departed, more or
   less, from the Apostolical standard; and we are not likely to return to
   it, notwithstanding the schemes of improvement which the fertile
   invention of the present times is almost daily suggesting, till, as in
   former days, the Spirit be poured out from on high. Then "the
   wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and tile desert shall
   rejoice and blossom as the rose."

   In the second place, The mighty efficacy of the word of God is manifest
   in the sudden and complete conversion of the Jews. "Is not my word like
   as a fire? saith the Lord: and like a hammer, that breaketh the rock in
   pieces?" Let it not be supposed, that as the occasion was peculiar, the
   power exerted was unusual, and ought not to be looked for again. "The
   Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save." "The residue of the
   Spirit is with him;" and the same effects are still produced in the
   conversion of every sinner. Some of the prejudices which influenced the
   Jews may not be entertained by persons educated in a Christian country;
   but there are other prejudices equally effectual in blinding the mind,
   and fortifying the heart against conviction, which it is therefore as
   difficult to overcome. Did we consider how powerful is the dominion of
   pride, how firmly the interests of sin are established, and how
   fascinating is the influence of the world, we should be convinced, that
   the same energy is exerted in modern conversions, as in those which
   took place in the beginning of the gospel. Hence, in the most
   unpromising times, we may hope that the interests of religion shall be
   maintained; and we should never despair of the ultimate triumph of
   truth over error. The gospel is "mighty through God" to subdue all
   opposition. When "the Lord shall send the rod of his strength out of
   Zion, the people shall be willing in the day of his power."

   In the last place, We are presented with a powerful argument for the
   truth of the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. Let it only be
   admitted, that many of the Jews were converted to Christianity soon
   after its publication; and this is a fact which no man will venture to
   dispute. By what means, I ask, was their conversion effected? The
   Apostles, who addressed them were men of no learning, of no influence,
   and unskilled in the arts of sophistry and eloquence. And what did they
   require their hearers to believe? Did they not tell them, that the man
   whom they had crucified a few weeks before was the Son of God; that
   there was no way of salvation but by his blood; and that God had raised
   him from the grave, and exalted him to his right hand in heaven? These
   were not palatable truths. The Jews could not assent to them, without
   acknowledging themselves to be the vilest wretches upon earth, guilty
   beyond all other men, and deserving severer punishment; and without
   giving up their agreeable dreams, their soothing prospects of worldly
   grandeur. We cannot suppose, then, that they would receive those truths
   without evidence so strong, as to force conviction upon their minds.
   That they did receive them, we know; and we learn from this chapter on
   what grounds they were satisfied. The account is consistent and
   probable. Infidelity can give no other, which shall not be liable to
   unanswerable objections. Assuming, then, that the Holy Ghost was poured
   out upon the Apostles, and that they were enabled to speak with new
   tongues, and to work miracles before the eyes of their countrymen, we
   may demand, by whom the Spirit was sent. Was it not, as they affirmed,
   by Jesus of Nazareth, who had suffered as a malefactor without the
   gates of Jerusalem? And could he have sent him, if he had been still
   lying in the grave? Did it not hence appear, that he had triumphed over
   death, and was now proceeding to establish that kingdom which he had
   shed his blood to obtain? Christians, the Lord is risen indeed. "He
   hath ascended up on high, and led captivity captive." Infidels may
   cavil and blaspheme; but assured by evidence, from which they
   perversely turn away their eves, that he lives and reigns, we hail him
   Lord of all. "And he must reign, till all his enemies be put under his
   feet." "Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; but let them
   that love thee be as the sun, when he goeth forth in his might."
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   [1] Nothing more can be inferred from this passage, than that the
   Lord's supper was one of the evangelical institutions, which the
   disciples were steadfast in observing. The words of Christ, "As often
   as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup," mean only, "When ye eat and
   drink, ye show forth my death;" as if I should say to a friend, "As
   often as you come to this part of the country, I shall be happy to see
   you in my house;" I mean, when he comes, without any reference to the
   number of times. The chief argument for the weekly celebration of it is
   drawn from these words, "And upon the first day of the week, when the
   disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them; Acts
   xx. 7, from which it is manifest, say the advocates for this opinion,
   that the Lord's supper was a stated part of the worship of the Church,
   and that there is the same evidence for the weekly celebration of it as
   for the observance of the Christian Sabbath. Nay, so distinguished a
   place did this ordinance occupy in the regular service, that it is
   mentioned as the main purpose of the meeting. I acknowledge, that the
   words do imply that it was the main purpose; but for this very reason I
   conclude, that it was not the usual design of coming together; for I
   have yet to learn, that the Lord's supper is so much to be preferred to
   prayer, and praise, and the preaching of the word, as to be the
   principal cause of holding religious assemblies. Where does the
   Scripture say or insinuate any such thing. If there be any purpose for
   which in preference to others Christians should meet on the first day
   of the week, it is to hear the gospel, the great appointed mean of
   promoting the life of God in the soul. Scripture will bear me out in
   this assertion. When men begin to be zealous about any thing, they
   often become extravagant, and are not satisfied till they have put it
   out of its place, and exalted it above all other things. Since then it
   is agreed, that "to break bread" was the chief intention of the meeting
   at Troas, I conclude, that the intention was special, not common;
   because it cannot be proved from Scripture, or history, or the nature
   of the ordinance, that to eat the Lord's supper ever was, or ever ought
   to be, at all times, the principal reason for assembling on the
   Sabbath. The disciples at Troas probably embraced the opportunity of
   commemorating the death of Christ, while they enjoyed the presence and
   ministrations of Paul; and hence this ordinance is represented to have
   been, because it really was, the design of this meeting. From the words
   of Paul to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. xi. 17, 20, "You come together not
   for the better, but for the worse," compared with what he afterwards
   says, "When ye come together,--this is not to eat the Lord's supper,"
   it has been inferred, that always when they met, they observed this
   ordinance, because otherwise there would be no force in his argument,
   that their coming together was for the worse. This is very feeble
   reasoning. Join the two passages together, and the meaning obviously
   is, "When you come together, and eat in the riotous manner afterwards
   described, you come together for the worse." Nothing is asserted but
   the pernicious consequences of such assemblies; there is not a word
   about their frequency. I do not, at present, inquire what was the
   practice of the Church after the death of the Apostles, as I am
   examining only the arguments from Scripture.
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LECTURE IV.

  THE LAME MAN CURED BY PETER AND JOHN.

  Chap. iii. 1-16.

   THE Apostles were commissioned to promulgate a religion which,
   notwithstanding its intrinsic excellence, the world was ill disposed to
   receive. To the Jews, superstitiously attached to the ritual of Moses,
   and persuaded of its perpetuity, it appeared in the light of an impious
   heresy; a bold attempt to substitute the crude notions of an upstart
   teacher in the room of the oracles of heaven. On the part of the
   Gentiles, accustomed to pompous ceremonies, and the unrestrained
   license, in which the ancient systems of idolatry indulged their
   votaries, its pure doctrines, and simple institutions were calculated
   to excite sentiments of aversion and contempt. The prejudices, with
   which the gospel had to contend, were not likely to be removed by the
   character and qualifications of its first preachers. They were not men
   who could command respect by their talents and their rank. They were
   poor and illiterate; they had sat at the feet of no Jewish doctor, and
   frequented the school of no heathen philosopher. Coming from the lips
   of such men, the religion of Jesus must have presented itself under new
   disadvantages, in consequence of the awkward manner, and unpolished
   style, in which they may be conceived to have delivered it. Whence,
   then, did it succeed? What precautions were taken to prevent it from
   being rejected by universal consent? To the fishermen and publicans of
   Galilee, upon whom had devolved the important office of converting the
   world, Jesus communicated powers of an extraordinary kind, by which
   they were better qualified for their work than if they had possessed
   the treasures of human learning and eloquence. While, by the descent of
   the Holy Ghost, they were inspired with the knowledge of foreign
   languages, and could address every man in his own tongue upon the
   subject of their mission, they were enabled to perform such wonderful
   works as awakened the attention of the spectators, and were undoubted
   evidences of the divine authority of their doctrine. Incidental mention
   is made of their miracles towards the close of the preceding chapter.
   "Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles." In the passage now
   read, one is selected as a specimen; and as it was accompanied with
   several important circumstances, which throw light upon the general
   design of miracles, and the character of the Apostles, it deserves to
   be particularly considered.

   The occasion of performing this miracle was a visit paid by two of the
   Apostles, Peter and John, to the temple, for the purpose of devotion.
   "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple, at the hour of
   prayer, being the ninth hour." The Jews had stated hours of prayer, the
   third, the sixth, and the ninth, corresponding to nine in the morning,
   twelve at noon, and three in the afternoon, according to our division
   of the day. Two of those hours coincided with the appointed times of
   offering the daily sacrifices, when those pious Israelites, who resided
   in Jerusalem, resorted to the temple, that while the smoke ascended
   from the altar and the censers of the priests, they might present the
   nobler oblation of holy supplications and thanksgivings. The Apostles,
   in this instance, complied with the practice of their country, without
   any intention to bind Christians in succeeding ages, to fixed hours of
   religious worship, or to represent any particular place as rendering
   prayer more acceptable to God. Our Churches are quite different from
   the temple, which was a consecrated house, the chosen habitation of the
   God of Israel. it is probable, too, that they had another reason for
   going up to it at this time, namely, to embrace the opportunity of
   addressing the people, when a considerable number was assembled.

   The person, upon whom the miracle was performed, was afflicted with a
   lameness, incurable by any means which human skill could employ; for it
   did not proceed from an accidental dislocation of the joints, which
   might have been reduced, nor from temporary debility, which would have
   been gradually removed as he regained his strength, but from an
   original defect, or derangement of the parts. He was therefore a fit
   subject for displaying a supernatural power with which the Apostles
   were endowed by their Master, because, among those who were acquainted
   with the case, there could be no question, if a cure was performed,
   whether it had been effected by ordinary or miraculous means. There was
   no room for discussion with respect to what nature itself could do, or
   what surprising effects might be produced upon the bodily frame, by the
   force of imagination, by sudden and violent emotions of fear and joy,
   or by hope calling forth some latent energy, and dissipating, as by
   magic influence, the langour or infirmity which had long oppressed the
   patient. The interposition of heaven would be too evident to be
   obscured by plausible theories and sophistical cavils. Even if his
   lameness might have been cured in infancy, it had now acquired an
   inveteracy which the most perfect art should have laboured in vain to
   subdue. His situation was well known to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
   for being unable to work for his subsistence, and having no friends who
   could or would support him, he was carried daily to one of the gates of
   the temple, at which he lay imploring the compassion and charity of
   passengers. The place was well chosen, as it may be justly expected,
   that if our hearts shall ever be disposed to relieve the necessities of
   our brethren, it will be in those moments when they are awake to
   religious sentiments, and we are going to implore from our heavenly
   Father mercy to ourselves. "And a certain man, lame from his mother's
   womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple,
   which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the
   temple."

   It is not a matter of any importance to inquire upon what gate of the
   temple the epithet Beautiful was bestowed. It was probably a gate of
   which Josephus informs us, that it surpassed all the rest in the
   richness of its materials, and the splendour of its ornaments: and,
   from the purpose for which it was chosen by the lame man, it seems to
   have been the principal entrance. The mention of its name, however,
   suggests some observations which it may be useful to state, upon the
   marks of truth to be found in the record of the miracles of the gospel.
   When a story is told in general terms, without date, or place, or any
   circumstance which an inquirer might lay hold of to ascertain its
   reality, there is reason to suspect it to be a fiction, or at least,
   that the writer knows nothing about it but by vague and uncertain
   tradition. But when an event is related with a detail of particulars,
   with a specification of the time when, and the spot on which, it
   happened, and of the witnesses who were present, we are induced to
   believe that the narrator was fully assured of its truth and considered
   it as capable of bearing the strictest investigation. There is always
   some truth, it has been remarked, where there is considerable
   particularity. [2] If we apply this remark to the miracles recorded in
   the New Testament, we shall perceive a strong presumption at least of
   their credibility. The time when, and the persons upon whom, they were
   performed, are mentioned; the witnesses are described by their names,
   by their station, or by some other circumstance which sufficiently
   distinguishes them, and even the enemies of Jesus Christ and his
   religion are appealed to for the truth of the relation and all this was
   done, while the witnesses, whether friends or enemies, were alive.

   In the present case, Luke does not content himself with saying, that on
   a certain occasion, the Apostles, somewhere in Judea, cured a lame man;
   but he points out the individual by such marks as are equivalent to
   giving his name. He is represented as a sort of public person, having
   been often seen by those who frequented the temple; the gate at which
   he was wont to lie is specified; and thus an opportunity was given to
   every reader at that time to bring the narrative to the test. No reason
   can be conceived why Luke has inserted, in a history so concise, a
   circumstance apparently of so little importance, as his being laid at
   the gate of the temple called Beautiful, but, his knowledge that what
   he was writing was true, and his willingness to subject it to the most
   scrupulous examination. Impostors do not write in this manner. They
   dread inquiry, and use every precaution to elude it.

   The lame man begged alms from all the passengers, from the poor as well
   as from the rich; and perhaps he often found, that the former were more
   ready to give their mite than the latter to bestow their larger sums.
   The mitred priest might have passed him without notice, while the
   humble mechanic stopped to share with him the scanty earnings of his
   industry. There was nothing in the appearance of Peter and John to
   encourage him to expect much from them, for in their dress and manner
   they were evidently persons of the lowest rank; yet the cripple, as
   soon as he saw them, began the wonted tale of distress, entreating
   them, we may presume, to help him for the sake of the God whom they
   were about to adore. And as their attention was attracted by his
   piteous story, he hoped to see them draw forth from their little store
   something to relieve his necessities. His expectation was the more;
   excited by the words of the Apostles, requiring him to look upon them,
   which he construed as an intimation of their purpose to give alms;
   whereas their design was to fix his attention upon the, miracle which
   they intended to perform. "Who seeing Peter and John about to go into
   the temple, asked an alms. And Peter fastening his eyes upon him, with
   John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to
   receive something of them."

   But how must the poor man have been surprised and disappointed on
   hearing the following declaration from Peter? "Silver and gold have I
   none.1" "What," he might have said, "have you indeed no money? Why,
   then, did you excite my expectation? Might you not have passed on, as
   many others have done, without giving heed to my petition? Surely it is
   enough that misery is left to pine away in neglect; it is the
   wantonness of cruelty to pour into its cup the bitter ingredient of
   mockery." "No;" said Peter, "I have neither silver nor gold; but I have
   something better to give; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise
   up and walk." This was a new kind of alms, of which the cripple had no
   expectation. All the physicians in Judea could not have imparted vigour
   to his limbs; and how could he presume, that these plain, uneducated
   men, were possessed of superior skill! But it is not by their own skill
   that they accomplish the cure; the miracle is performed in the name of
   Jesus of Nazareth. "Who is he?" might the lame man have replied. "Is he
   not the same person. who was lately crucified without the gates of the
   city; over whose fall the priests and rulers exulted; and whose name is
   never mentioned but in terms of reproach and execration?" But he had
   not leisure to reason in this manner; for no sooner had Peter commanded
   him to rise, than "he took him by the right hand, and lift him up; and
   immediately his feet and ankle-bones received strength." Observe the
   simple yet authoritative manner in which the miracle is performed. No
   solemn preparations are made, no mystic ceremonies are used, which
   might work upon the imagination of the patient, and excite his
   reverence and admiration of the persons of the Apostles. By a few
   words, pronounced in a serious unaffected manner, the effect is
   produced. It is thus that divine power is exerted. It stands in no need
   of any artifice to set it off, of any ostentatious display to raise the
   wonder of the beholders. Its works are sufficient to awaken, by their
   own grandeur, the strongest emotions of astonishment and awe.

   "Silver and gold have I none." The apostles were poor when they
   connected themselves with Christ; and it was not in the hope of
   improving their circumstances that they became his disciples; for what
   could they expect from a Master who had not "where to lay his head?"
   They were, indeed, furnished with powers of an extraordinary nature,
   which, in the hands of persons of different views, would have been
   converted into means of accumulating wealth. Willingly, we may believe,
   would those have loaded them. with gifts, whom they rescued from the
   languor of sickness, and the agonies of pain; and those to whose arms
   they had brought back their beloved friends from the grave. But their
   Lord enjoined a disinterested exercise of their miraculous powers.
   "Freely ye have received, freely give." The missionaries resembled the
   Author of our religion, who wrought many miracles to relieve the
   distresses of others, and sometimes to supply their bodily necessities,
   but never exerted his power to provide for his own wants, except in a
   single instance, when Peter was sent to draw a fish out of the sea,
   with a piece of money in its mouth, to be applied to the payment of
   tribute. There were other opportunities of acquiring riches, which they
   might have improved, if these had possessed any charms in their eyes.
   The new converts of Christianity, under the influence of the most
   generous love to their brethren, sold their possessions, and laid the
   price at the feet of the Apostles, who thus became sole trustees of
   large sums of money. Their characters were free from suspicion; and
   such was the confidence placed in their integrity, that no disciple
   would have thought it necessary to demand an account of their
   management. Here, then, was an occasion, which private interest, had
   any regard to it lurked in their breasts, would not have neglected. And
   how often has avarice, carefully concealing itself under a cloak of
   religion and disinterested zeal, secretly stretched out its hand to
   appropriate that wealth which it affected to despise? "My vow of
   poverty," said a monk, "has brought me a revenue of a hundred thousand
   crowns." How great do the Apostles appear! how high do they rise in the
   estimation of every man who can appreciate moral worth, when they hold
   up hands which no bribe had touched, no unlawful gain had polluted!
   Dispensing the treasures of the Church under the control of no
   superintendent, and without the fear of a reckoning, they could say
   with a clear conscience, "Silver and gold have we none." Certainly,
   such men were sincere; it was from conviction that they preached the
   resurrection of Jesus; and if they be suspected of a design to deceive,
   there is an end to all confidence in human testimony.

   I cannot pass on to the sequel of the story, without calling your
   attention, for a few moments, to a heathen miracle, which has been
   confidently brought forth to confront the miracles of the gospel. [3]
   Let us compare it with the miracle now under consideration, that we may
   perceive on which side the strength of the evidence lies. It is related
   by a celebrated Roman historian, that when Vespasian was in Alexandria,
   a lame man applied to him for a cure, pretending that he had been
   directed to make the application by Serapis, one of the Gods of the
   Egyptians. The emperor at first treated the request with derision; but
   being urged by the earnest petitions of the man, and the flattery of
   his followers, he commanded some physicians to inquire into the case,
   who reported, that the lameness was such as might be removed by means
   of a due degree of force; and added, that if the attempt should not
   succeed, the laughter of the public would not be turned against him,
   but against the credulous sufferer. By these representations, Vespasian
   was induced to make a trial, and a cure immediately ensued. [4] But
   what is there in this silly story, which can be reasonably opposed to
   the miracle before us! The performer was a mighty prince, by the terror
   of whose power any exact inquiry into the transaction was prevented.
   The spectators were his friends and partisans, who were eager to have
   his title to the throne confirmed by the Gods, and a superstitious
   populace, disposed implicitly to believe whatever reflected honour upon
   their favourite Deity. The lameness itself was doubtful. It was
   confessed by competent judges to be curable by ordinary means; and
   there is reason to suspect that it was a mere pretence. The whole seems
   to have been an imposture, contrived and carried on for political
   purposes. Is it necessary to point out the difference of the miracle
   which we are now considering? As the subject of it had been a cripple
   from his birth, there could be no deception in the case. The persons
   who performed the miracle were poor unfriended men; and the cause,
   which it was meant to serve, was unpopular. It was performed at the
   gate of the temple, which was under the jurisdiction of the enemies of
   Christ; and the priests and rulers were interested, for the credit of
   their religion, and the vindication of their conduct in putting our
   Saviour to death, to detect the fraud, if any had been practised. Every
   circumstance renders the one miracle suspicious; and every circumstance
   demonstrates the truth of the other. No person, I will venture to say,
   would think of bringing the former into competition with the latter,
   except one who is so blinded by his malice against the gospel, as to be
   incapable of distinguishing the degrees of evidence, or is determined
   to contend against it in spite of his convictions.

   The following description is picturesque. "And he leaping up, stood,
   and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and
   leaping, and praising God." The sacred historian writes without art;
   but by following nature, and drawing from the life, he has finished a
   painting, in which the emotions of the soul, in a moment of sudden joy,
   are represented with truth. Some men, however, can admire nothing of
   this nature, unless they find it in a heathen or a profane author;
   their taste is partial as well as their judgment. We see the lame man
   trying his new powers. He stands, he leaps, he walks, he follows his
   benefactors into the temple, and mingles with the demonstrations of his
   joy the praises of God, by whose power he had been cured. He felt a
   pleasure in the use of his limbs, which he could not conceal. His
   gestures and motions were those of a man, whom unexpected happiness has
   almost rendered frantic. Thus the words of the Prophet were literally
   fulfilled. "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart."

   He was instantly recognised by the people in the temple. "And all the
   people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew that it was he
   who sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple: and they were
   filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him."
   They were not long in suspense with respect to the persons by whom this
   unquestionable miracle was performed; for the man "held Peter and
   John," with a design to point them out to the people, or, perhaps, in
   the present tumult of his mind, not well knowing what he did. A crowd
   was immediately collected, and gazed upon them with wonder and
   reverence, as men high in favour with heaven, who had rendered
   themselves worthy, by the piety of their lives, to be invested with
   extraordinary powers. This was a situation which would have been
   hazardous to most men, and from which few would have made their escape
   with safety. Admiration is apt to make us forget ourselves and our
   duty, and often stimulates vanity to advance the most arrogant
   pretensions and to act with extravagance. Almost upon every mind it
   exercises some degree of influence; but it operates, with peculiar
   force, upon those to whom it is new, whose condition in life seemed to
   preclude them from the hope of distinction, and who find themselves
   suddenly brought out of obscurity to be the objects of public notice
   and applause. This was exactly the temptation to which the apostles
   were exposed. Men, who had spent the former part of their lives in a
   humble station, and in manual labour, are looked upon as beings of a
   superior order; and the wondering populace are disposed to give them
   all the glory of the miracle. Had there been any latent spark of vanity
   in their bosoms, the breath of admiration would have kindled it into a
   flame. But they, who had already resisted the allurements of avarice,
   now triumph over the charms of ambition. Instead of appropriating the
   respect and homage of the multitude, they transfer them to their
   Master. "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?" He
   repels the supposition that they had performed this miracle by their
   own power, or had obtained power to perform it by their holiness. Their
   office was merely ministerial; and it was not in consideration of their
   personal merit, or with an intention to exalt them in the eyes of
   others, that authority had been delegated to them. Miraculous powers
   were not conferred for show, or as the reward of obedience; but solely
   for the purpose of verifying a divine commission, or attesting a
   revelation from heaven.

   The design of the present miracle is expressed by the Apostle himself.
   "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers
   hath glorified his Son Jesus: whom ye delivered up, and denied him in
   the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye
   denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted
   unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the
   dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his
   name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith
   which is by him, hath given him this perfect soundness, in the presence
   of you all." Jesus of Nazareth lately appeared among them, calling
   himself the Messiah, and the Son of God. His claims were not admitted
   by the Jewish nation. They were opposed with violence; and the contest
   issued in his death, under the imputed crimes of imposture and
   blasphemy. God had interposed to vindicate the character of Christ, and
   had reversed the sentence of his unjust and impious judges, by raising
   him from the dead. It was to prove the truth of this event, to attest
   it in such a manner, that those who had not seen it might have
   sufficient ground to believe it, that the power of working miracles was
   granted to the Apostles. They did not, therefore, perform them in their
   own name, nor by a simple invocation of the God of Israel, but in the
   name of Jesus; pointing him out as the Author of those wonderful works,
   the source of the power by which they were effected. It was in this way
   that the use of his limbs was restored to the lame man. Was it not an
   obvious inference from this view of the case, that Jesus of Nazareth
   was the very person whom he had announced himself to be, the expected
   Saviour of Israel? Had he been still in the state of the dead, he could
   have imparted no extraordinary powers to his disciples; nor would there
   have been more virtue in his name than in that of any other deceased
   malefactor. It being manifest, then, that he had triumphed over death,
   and was invested with sovereign authority, the house of Israel were
   bound to acknowledge him as the Messiah, and to embrace his religion.
   Thus the Apostles acted the part of faithful servants, concerned only
   for the glory of their Master, and willing to retire from view, that he
   alone might be contemplated and admired. "Look not earnestly on us; but
   consider Jesus, whom the God of your fathers hath glorified."

   But why does Peter, when addressing the Jews on the subject of this
   miracle, introduce the mention of their crime, mixing reproaches with
   his reasoning? This is not the manner of an artful deceiver. He would
   have soothed and flattered his audience, and by avoiding every
   offensive term, by using soft and palliating language, would have
   endeavoured to remove their prejudices, and to render them favourably
   disposed. What but a conviction of the truth, and firm confidence in
   the patronage of heaven, could have induced the Apostle to bring
   forward a subject so unwelcome and ungrateful to the feelings of his
   hearers? "Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, but ye delivered him
   up, and pursued him with unrelenting hostility, against the
   remonstrances of his judge: he was the Prince of Life, but ye killed
   him." It was not merely from zeal for his beloved Master, that this
   unseasonable and dangerous honesty, as politicians would have called
   it, proceeded, but from a concern for the best interests of his
   countrymen. They were chargeable with a crime of the most aggravated
   nature, of which their consciences did not at present accuse them,
   because they were unacquainted with the real character of him whom they
   had nailed to the cross. It was the wish of Peter to make them sensible
   of the atrocity of that action, to apprize them of the danger to which
   they were exposed, and, while they trembled at the thought of divine
   vengeance, to conduct them for safety to that blood which they had
   impiously shed. And what fitter opportunity could he have chosen for
   his purpose than the present, when they were astonished at the miracle
   wrought in the name of the crucified Jesus, which demonstrated, that,
   although men had rejected and condemned him, he was the object of the
   approbation of God? The hearts of the Jews were in a state susceptible
   of the feelings of remorse and fear. Now, their guilt could be held up
   to view, with the best prospect of alarming their consciences; and it
   might be hoped, that an exhortation to repentance would be tendered
   with effect. Accordingly, it appears that Peter did not speak to them
   in vain; for we are informed, in the next chapter, that " many of them
   which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five
   thousand."

   And now, my brethren, since the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has
   glorified his Son; since he has testified his approbation of him by
   many "infallible proofs," let us consider, that we are under an
   obligation to embrace his gospel with the full consent of our minds.
   Our persuasion of its truth should be in proportion to the evidence.
   Why were so many miracles performed, and for what reason were they
   recorded, but that they who saw them, and we who read the account,
   should believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
   That a man shall be savingly convinced of the truth of the gospel by
   external evidence, it would betray ignorance of the Scriptures to
   affirm; but that evidence is sufficient to produce a rational
   conviction of the divine origin of Christianity, to prove that the
   gospel is indeed the testimony of God, which ought to be believed, and
   to establish our faith against the suggestions of Satan, and the
   objections of his coadjutors among men. Let us pray, that the account
   of the evidence with which our religion was confirmed, may have its due
   effect upon our minds; and that what has been fully attested, we may be
   disposed to receive with an undoubting assent.

   Let us learn from the passage now explained, to join together prayers
   and alms, that both may come up as a memorial before God; to do good to
   our brethren with the means which we possess, distributing our worldly
   substance to relieve their necessities, or bestowing upon them our
   sympathy, attendance, consolations, and instructions, in imitation of
   the Apostles, who gave what they had; and, finally, to ascribe to Jesus
   Christ the glory of all our qualifications and good actions, never
   daring to arrogate to ourselves any portion of the praise, or to thrust
   ourselves forward as objects of notice and commendation, but
   endeavouring to fix our own attention, and that of others, upon his
   grace, which has "wrought all our works in us." Do we profess firmly to
   believe, and cordially to embrace the gospel? It is only by submitting
   to its institutions, by obeying its laws, by displaying its spirit in
   our temper and conduct, that we can prove our regard to it to be
   sincere. It will be evident that we have received the truth in love,
   when we imitate the noble examples which are set before us, and above
   all, that of our Redeemer; when we cultivate the dispositions which our
   religion requires; when devotion, humility, and charity, exert their
   united influence upon our hearts. Let us then go forth and practise in
   the world what we assemble to learn in the Church. In the present age,
   when the distinguishing truths of the gospel are boldly called in
   question, and its evidence is rejected by many as defective, let us
   come forward as its friends, not only by argumentation, which often
   fails to convince, because the heart is indisposed, but b