The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 37

Vel'B. 16-25.-Jiliw trufhsftv,m Philippi. We lea.m- l. ri:HAT _&&ORED TRUTH 18 SOMETIMES FOUND ON IRREVERENT LIP!!, ( Ver. 17.) 1. Sometimes in mockery, as with this poor Philippian slave. She probably canght up the words she h_eard Paul use, and in the spirit of ribaldry uttered them again. So men have sometimes preached or sung in the spirit of mere raillery and indecent mirth. 2. Sometimes in insincerity ; when those who have no care to secure a livelihood by honourable means resort to religion as a source of income. It is melancholy to think of the thousands who have adopted the preacher's function as a worldly calling, on whose lips the sacred truths of the gospel would be as ill placed as on those of this damsel of PhilippL 3. Sometimes in inwnsiderate enthusiasm ; when they who are animated by a desire to do good, but allow themselves to act without due thought, use the most sacred terms with a freedom which is very near to flippancy. In all cases the irreverent ue of Divine names and heavenly truths is to be strongly if not sternly deprecated. IL THAT BELFIS!Th"ESS WILL NEVER WANT A GARMENT WITH wmOB TO BIDE ITS UGLINESS. (Vers. lti-21.) The masters of this poor woman, when they found that "the hope of their gains was gone," determined to rid themselves of men who were actually sacrificing their temporal interests to the cause of truth and of humanity! So they incited the mob, and brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, and played the part of indignant citizens, whose religious equanimity was being shamelessly disturbed (vers. 20, 21). They would not have ventured to show themselves as they were, in the nakedness and ugliness of utter selfishness ; so they borrowed the flag of patriotism to cover themselves withal. The worst of this kind of sophistry is that men in no great time deceive themselves, even if they do not deceive their neighbours, Sin soon im- poses on itself; it thinks itself benevolent and humane when it is mercenary and cruel. lIL THAT ERROR IGNORANTLY IMAGINES IT OAN EXTINGUISH TRUTH BY FOROE, The magistracy of Philippi, well sustained by the violence of the mob (ver. 22), caused truth, in the -person of its advocates, to be beaten and imprisoned. It doubtless imagined that there would be an end of this new and " pestilent" doctrine. But as the names of these prisoners were to be honoured long ages after those of their judges had been forgotten., so the truths which they proclaimed were to be preached and sung many centuries after those bonds were broken and those dungeon walls had crumbled. How vain the magi~trates' court, the scourge, the gaol, the scaffold, when it is the living truth of the Divine Redeemer of mankind which men are trying to stifle or to slay (PhiL i. 12-14). IV. TB.AT FAITHFUL SERVICE OF CHRIST IS SONGFUL EVERYWHERE, Songs in the sanctuary are as natural as they are common; that is to say, when we are worshipping that God who is owr God, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their devotees could not praise the " gods of the nations," because there was nothing in their character to call forth reverence, trust, gratitude, But the followers of Jesus Christ find in him everything for which to pay homage and to present thanksgiving. But it is not only in the act of Divine worship, but at all times, that "his praise is in our mouth.., Even in prison-in such a prison as that of Philippi, and after such lacerating blows e.s they had endured-Paul and Silas "sang praises unto God." They rejoiced that they were "counted worthy to suffer shame for hie Name" (eh. v. 41; see Matt. v. 10-12). And if the faithful servants of Christ could "lift up to God the voice of praise" in the <l ungeon, those who are engaged in his service now should carry about with them everywhere the spirit of sacred song. We should, we can, cherish the spirit of gratitude and holy joy in the home, in the place of business, in the social circle, in e-.ery sphere of our activity. For as there is no engagement in which we should not be honouring Christ, in which we should not be realizing his presence and enjoying a sense of his Divine favour, so is there none in which we may not find a sourec of sati,;faction, in which we may not find a. reason for holy song. V, THAT ABOUNDL'i:G CHRISTIAN LIFE OVERFLOWS TO THE BENEFIT OP ALL. •• And the prisoners heard them" (ver. 25). Not that Paul and Silas sang for their benefit, but tuat abounding happiness in suffering for ChriJlt overflowed and made itself felt by OIL XVI, 1-40,] THE A.O'1'9 OF TliE .APOSTLES.