The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 69

with Rll thRt WRB eo pRinfnl in his sight, Rll the unimaginable iniquity of forty centuries of h1;1man ~in. Not! indeed, without ma"y proofs of his DilliM displeasure; not without mRmfestations of hts holy wrath. He sent sickness, sorrow, CRl11mlty, death,es marks of bis meaning in regard to sin, But for long ages of evil, in which men were every- where sinning direcay against him by their idolatries and their atheisms and their practical infidelities, and indMW:tly aeinst him by their sins against one another and the wr:mgs they did themselves, Gods chief attitude toward his rebellious eubjeots was that of Diuim magnanimity. 1. He did not punish them in proportion to their ill deserts. He " kept silence" (Ps. l. 21). He "dealt not with them after their sins," etc. (Ps. eiii. 10). 2. He did confer on them great and continuous loving-kindness through every age (eh. xiv. 16, 17). II. HIS A'I"l'rrUDE emm: THE COMING OP me SoN. He "now commandeth o.ll men everywhere to repent." The entrance of the "kingdom of God" was attended with the utterance of this strong imperative, " Repent" (Matt. iii. 2 ; iv. 17 ; Mark vi. 12). The last, solemn commission of the ascending Lord wa.s to sound this note of repent- ance " among all nations" (Luke x:xiv. 4 7). The apostle of the Gentiles, divinely taught, preached to Jew and Gentile "repentance toward God," etc. (eh. xx. 21). And wherever this gospel is preached unto men, there is announced the Divine mandate, " Repent." We know : 1. Its real significance. It is the turning of the heart, and therefore of the life, from sin and folly to God and to hie service. 2. Its breadth of appli«diofl.. It is coextensive with the race ; it reaches to the remotest land and to the most distant age ; none so pure of heart and life that they need not, none so base that they may not, none so old that they cannot repent. 3. The consequences of impeni- tence. They are (1) God's displeasure now, and (2) his final condemnation and punishment.-C. ' Ver. 31.-God revealed: 1,is J..oly purpose. We ask not only-Who or what is he? what is his character and spirit? what is his present attitude towards us? we ask also- W7iat is his purpose conceming w 1 That one infinite God, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," who holds our destiny in his sovereign hand,-is it his intention that the la.mp of bis lighting, the human spirit (Prov. xx. 27), shall go out utterly at death, or that that spirit shall shine in another sphere? And if so, what are to be the conditions of that life beyond the river? The reply is- L THAT GOD WILL CONTTh"'UE TO US OUB EXIIITEN'CE IN ANOTHER STATE, AND WILL JUDGE l1ll FOB OUB AOTIO~"B HERE. "He bath appointed a day in which he will judge the world." We do not suppose that time hereafter will be measured as it is now, and that the "day" of the other life will correspond with " a day" of our present experience. But the time will come in the future life when "we shall appear before the judgment- seat." God has •• appointed unto man once to die," and "after this the judgment." Clearly enough, in the thought and purpose of God, this life is only the commencement of our mstence, the probation period on which the long results of the eternal world depend. So far from this being "the be-all and end-all" of humanity, it is but the preface to the large volume that succeeds; it is but the river which runs down to and is lost in the sea. JL TJuT Goll'& .nJDGDNT OP US WILL BE ONE OP PERFECT BIGHTEOUBNEBS, "In righteousness." L There will be no trace of partiality, no smallest shade of favouritism; none will fare the better, none the worse, for class, or sex, or parentage, or nationality. 2. Regard will be had to all the particulars of human action. " God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing" (Eccles. xii. 14): all thoughts-the "work " of the understanding; all feelings-the " work" of the heart; all choices-the " work" of the will ; as well as all words-the " work" of the tongue ; and all deeds-the "work" of the hand. 3. Respect will be had to all that enhances or lessens responsibility; to all special privilege and opportunity on the one hand, and to all privation and disadvantage on the other. Ill. THAT GoD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD BY BIB SON, OUB SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, "By that Man," etc., even the Son of man, to whom all judgment is committed (John v. 22), who will have authority to execute judgment "becaus<J he is the Son of mo.n '' (John v. 27). Obrist will be our Judge. His special relationship to us eminently fits him for that BUpreme position. L Be ia the Lord of our nature. 2. He kc.owe our CR. XVU, 1-34,] 'I'HE AUTS OF THE APOSTLES. 71