The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 47

ll. THE ABl!OLUTE ERROR INVOLVED IN NOT SEEKING, OR NOT FOLLOWING, THE TRAOKB oF THE SPmrr. Ill. TJra OLEAB DIBECTION THE 8PmIT MAY BE RELIEI) ON TO <llVE TO A REALLY FERVENT LOVE, EARNEST PURPOSE, AND ACTUAL ZEAL, IV. THE CO~'FIDENCE THAT MAY BE msPIRED, AMID ALL THE WEAKNESS OF A llEBB HUMAN HEART, IN TIIE UNERRING AND UNFAILING ACHIEVEMENTS o~· THE SrmIT, V. THE "COMFORT OF TIIE 801,Y SPIRIT" FOR THOSE WHO SURRENDER TIIEII\ GOINGS A~'D THEMSELVES TO Rl8 LEADING. Devout musings, holy feelings, and right resolves will be as much and more to them thnn" vision" or dream? Nor would that comfort be le~st gratefully felt and acknowledged, when across the famed straits Paul heard an unusual voice, in the accents of an all too unusual prayer. At a moment's glance he sa1v why he had been prevented from halting, nor suffered to turn to tho right hand or to the left, that he might the rather now come direct to Europe, and there preach and plant the gospel And to aee the meaning of all was comfort and "joy of faith" for him.-B. Vera. 14, 15, 40.-The oo,y that looked like tM day of small th-ings, It may be said, indeed, that "the kingdom came not with observation" into Europe, To the silence, modesty, and unostentatiousness of its first steps, nothing seems wanting. The notoriety came, again, not from the studied purpose of its heralds, who did their bidding in so racific a manner, but from the vain attempt to crush them. Let us notice in some dct:iil wha.t we know from the present passage of Christianity'& very first rooting of itself in Europe. Observe- !. T.EE OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS EMBRACED BY THE APOSTLE, We must judge that there wa.s little or no choic.e open t.o him. We are glad even to take up the position that this, too, was of God. It may be worded, therefore, in this way, that the opportunity Paul used was that which Providence offered. With how many is it the case that opportunity is the very thing which is slighted, unheeded, altogether ignored I The oppol'tunities tha.t life offers, that our existing position offers, that God therein offers, are those that we despise, dreaming of others, which for that very reason, if for no other, may well be with- held! Let us honour, then, the God who sent and the servant who faithfully used this opportunity, by looking at it somewhat minutely. 1. Landed in Europe, some" certain days" seem to have counted for little a.t Philippi; the only record of them this: "We were in that city abiding certain days." 2. The sabbath day comes, and there is no tine building into which to enter to preach; there is no respectable synagogue-Judwa is far away now; there is no excited and eager crowd as at Antioch to be harangued, with all the skill of the inspired logician and the Heaven-born orator and the faithful gospel preacher. Dull will the hours of this sabbath pass compared with those of many other of late years fresh in the recollection of Paul 3. The day is nevertheless to be made use of and to be turned to account. And Paul and his companions resolve to join the humble prayer-meeting of a party of women, outside the city and by the 1iver-side. The occasion is unique, pretty nearly as much so as could be. It must be taken from the tenor of the narrative that there were few, if any, men there. But Paul and his companions neither seem to view themselves nor to be viewed as intrusive. And they sat down and in a most informal manner "spake to the women." It were the essence oi preaching sometimes rather to speak ; and to speak to s. few, and to speak appropriately to them and pointedly and unassumingly and kindly. This was the day, and this was the place, and these were the persons, and this was the manner of Paul and his friends, which made up the opportunity that looked so humble. II. T.EE FIRST SHOW OF RESULTS. There is one woman among the little group who is to become the first known Christian convert in Europe. And she came from Asia. By all appearance she was a proselyte, and knew and worshipped one God, according to her light and scanty opportunity, among a mere disunited remnant of Jewesses, if it were so l.u<i.eed. And shewa.s presumably a woman who did a good business, and had a "house,' to the hospitality of which she oould pre~singly invite the new-comers, and invite them to stay there, too, days together ( vers. 15, 18, 40). 1. Lydia is a woman not altogether ahut ofi'from light and knowledge. 2. She is a woman who owns to her own conscience and does "worshif, God.'' 3. She is one of no bigoted conservative prejudice, and she "listeW1" patient y, respectfully, to what the strangers said. 4. For all that, her h_eari OH, :I.TI, 1-40,] THE AOTS OF THE APOSTLES, 19