The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 72

this unity; and in the last resort this uni_ty is not conceivable as "law" or "force" merely, bnt only as the living and t~o !ov1~g God. In his infinite majeHty, heaven is his throne, earth his footstool. He 1s m himself both Temple and Inhabitant. The voice of God bursts asunder the system of idolatry and superstition. The latter denies that God can bo found only in fixed places, by means of fixed rites and mediations. 'l'he true temple is everywhere; "The walls of the_ world are that." In the Church, where the gospel of hie Son is heard, and ab_o".'e all m the heart, where he indwells in the power of his Spirit, is the temple of the hvmg God. III. Goo REVEALED IN THE aovEnNMENT OF THE WORLD. As love. Needing nothing from men's hands; they incessantly feel the need of him. Life itself is sweet, and in that sweetness we have an instance of his love. There is a joy in breathing, moving about, looking, learning, experiencing man_ifold experiences in this" fai: world of God." And each and every pleasure, lower and higher, leads up to God and his love. The tie that binds us to our kind is an expression of the same love. Sympathy is possible, is actual between men of every colour and clime. The mechanism of thought and fcelina i; alike in all. All men suffer and rejoice from the same causes. The unity of the h~man race reflects the unity of God's mind in wisdom and in love. Men form one people, one race: this is the great thought the gospe}, throws upon the ~orld, and teaches us to say, in deeper senses than the heathen knew, I am a man ; nothmg human is for.:,ign to me." He has set bounds to man's habitations. All the effects of climate, of phys;cal confi!!lll'ation of the earth, distribution of land and water, so interesting to the student of i:an and his dwelling-place, are conditions fixed by the same wise and loving hand. God is in history. His thoughts alone are living, Athens was not for ever, nor Rome; but the Divine thought, whence proceeded the culture of Greece, the law and order of Rome, Jives on, and is revealed in chan~g forms from age to age. And towards the" far-off goal" of an infinite love, we donbt not, the whole of creation and of history moves. 'l'he end of all is the union of man with God. Though in one 3ense he "needeth not anything," in another he needs all-the whole love of his whole rational universe. The process of thought in the world is a process of" groping after" and of finding God. God wills that we should find him, but only as the result of our seeking. Therefore he "half reveals" and" half conceals" himself. He is far off, yet near; in each and all the spheres of our knowledge. Our being rests on bis; ours are borrowed lives (Isa. liv. 6; l Cor. viii. 6). "In the Father," says Cyprian, "we are, from him all life comes; in the Son, who lives, we have life; in the Spirit, who is the Breath of all flesh, we have our being." His offspring we are-by creation in his image, by redemption through his Son. This truth we know from Scripture, from the human heart, from life; and the effect of this knowledge may well be to produce holy humility, mixed with confidence and joy, IV. TRUE THEOLOGY AND WORSHIP. 1. The heathen draw a wrong inference from the true saying on men being the offspring rif God. If we are of Divine origin, they seemed to argue, then the gods are of human kind, and images of them may be made, On the contrary, Paul argues, those who are of Divine origin despise themselves if they render worship to any but the supreme Head and Lord. When we say that God is in affinity with man, we do not affirm that man can represent him in thought., much less in images of plastic art. 'l'he philosopher Xenophanes had said that if the animals had gods, they would imagine them in their own likeness-the god of the horse would be a horse, etc. The truth is that only our ideal or higher nature is the mirror of God. 2. In conscience we find his clearest reflex. And ignorance of hiru in this nearest sphere of kuowledge is not excusable, as St. Paul teaches in Rom. i. Men did not like to retain Go,\ iu their knowledge. At the same time, the conscience needs light from without. 'l'hrre are dark ages of the world, when men have comparatively little lih:ht, and which may be viewed as ages of God'ri forbearance, wherein he "overlooks" much that men d?, "not knowing what they do." 3. But Clwist is a Turning-point of history. Before b1m, the period of" ignorance;" with him and after him, the true light. Before him, forbearance; henceforward, the just judgmeut of the worl<l. The description of the person ll.nd functions of Christ. He is Man; a member of humanity, a partaker of hu1:1an flesh and blood, subject to death. As High Priest, he is one" touched with a fechug of our infirmities " And as Judge, he is qualified on the same grounds. It is a common feeling which requires that a man should bo judged by bis peers. K:aow•  74: THE AOTS OF THE .APOSTLES. [orr. xvn. 1-34:.