Acts viii. 23. I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
IT is no real disparagement to the Gospel of Christ, if some hypocrites be found among the professors of religion. This has been the case in every age of the Church, even when the temptations to hypocrisy were far less than they are at present. There was a Judas among the twelve Apostles, and a Simon Magus among the converts of Philip. Simon had appeared sincere in his professions of faith, and therefore Philip had baptized him. He had attached himself with admiration to Philip's ministry % and therefore the true Christians regarded him as a brother : but he soon discovered the hypocrisy of his heart, and shewed that notwithstanding his pretensions to conversion and grace, he was still, as much as ever, in a state of nature. Hence Peter addressed him in the words of the text. In discoursing on them we shall inquire,
I. What is the state here described ?
The various terms here used are not unfrequent in the Holy Scriptures b. They import,
1. A state of subjection to sin — [Nothing can so justly be termed "gall" as sin. It is indeed the bitterest gall, and the sorest bondage. Men may " roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongue, but they inva- riably find it gall in the stomach :" it may please them for a time, but at last " it will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder." Let those, whose conscience is at all awakened, testify respecting this. Whether we be penitent or not, if our sin have found us out, if will prove a bitter cup. Peter wept bitterly at the remembrance of his guilt ; and Judas, who was not a real penitent, could not even endure his own existence, when his conscience upbraided him with the act he had com- mitted. And a dreadful vassalage it is to be led captive by sin. No slave in the universe is so much an object of pity, as
a ver. 13.
b Dcut. xxix. 18. and xxxii. 32. Heb. xii. 15. Isai. lviii. 6.
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