The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 32

'l'he event fully justified his expectations. Not Luke, the beloved physician• not Silas the faithful brother and indefatigable evangelist; not Titus, his "own so~ after th; faith," w:ere greater helps and, comforts to hi~ than_ this yo~ng disciple from the rude community of Lystra. In him he had one hke-mm•ed with himself-always ready for work, o.lwnys see~i~g the things that ~re Jesus Christ•~; never ashamed of the gospel, ready to endure af81ctions as a good soldier of Jesus Chnst. The great day will reveal the value of 'l'imothy's service in the kingdom of God. The lessons for us to learn are : for the bishops of the Church, to give their utmost care to make choiM of fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of the Church; for the persons chosen, to throw their whole heart and soul into the work, that it may be well and worthily done; for the Church at large, to pray very earnestly that God would raise up faithful, wise, and earnest men to preach his gospel, to feed his flock, and so to build up his kingdom that the Churches may be" established in the faith, and increase in numbers daily." Vere. 6-15.-The call. The great difference between sacred and profane history is not so much that the events are different, or the human motives of the actors are different, or even that God's providence works differently, but that the secret sprin"s of the will of God, directing, controlling, and overruling, are in sacred history laid ba~e to view by that Holy Spirit of God who knows the things of God. In ordinary life the servant of God believes that his steps are ordered of God, and that the providence of God, which ordereth all things in heaven and earth, orders them for his good. But he is not preceded in his own goings out and in his comb,igs in by a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, as the journeyings of the chilrlren of Israel were. In like manner, when we read the history of the marvellous diffiasion of the everlasting gospel among the various nations of the earth, and mark how in one part of the globe the successful missionary has selected some particular country for his evangelizing labours, and has founded there Churches full of light and love, while other countries have either been untrodden by the foot of the evangelist, or have yielded no return to the labours of the preacher of glad tidings, we recognize the directing will of Almighty God, albeit, no visible sign or word indicated where the net was to be cast into the deep waste of waters, and no voice of the Holy Ghost erected a barrier of prohibition. If we ask for some reasons why this difference should exist-say in the case of St. Paul- it will not be difficult to find several satisfactory ones. 1. It was of great importance to establish in the Church with certainty the conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ was still carrying on from ii.is throne in heaven the work for which he left the bosom of the Father, and was incarnate, and suffered, and rose again. In the terrible odds under which a handful of simple, unlearned men had to contend a,,aainst all the powers, all the intellect, and all the vice, in the world, it was of infinito moment that the voice and the wisdom and the power of their exalted but unseen Lord should be manifested from time to time working with them and for them, and thus assuring them of the victo.y. Hence the rushing wind, and the tongues of fire, and the leaping cripple, and the down- stricken liars, and the heavenly visions, and the opening of tbe prison doon;, and the angelic miuistrations, and the blinded sorcerer, and all the other puttings forth of the power of Christ. Hence, too, the immediate orders of the Holy Ghost : " Separate me Barnabas and Saul; " " Preach not the Word in Asia ; " " Go not into Bithynia; " " Preach the gospel in Macedonia;" " Be not afraid ; hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall hurt thee in this city," But these tokens of Christ's close watch over his Church in the fulfilment of her mission were not for Paul and Barnabas only ; they were for the servants of Christ in all ages and in every place. They needed not to be repeated, They have established for ever the truth of the Lord's promise," Lo I I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 2. We have intimated above that the ordinary mode by which the purpose of God is manifested, that such or such a country should not be evangelized at such or such a time, is by the failure of the missionary's effort, It is a good discipline for the Lord's servants to work here and there without knowing where their labours will be blest, and where they will be fruitless; and to learn by such experiences how entirely ineffectual their best exer- tions are unless the Lord give the increase. But in the case of one li~e St._ Paul, whose lmn::.ense labours were to be crowded into a short space of time, this ordinary process may have seemed to the Divine wi8dom too slow, and withal too wasteful. 1~0 other .6.0TS-U. D 84 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [on. xvL 1-40.