The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 74

it knows not its own true baRis. Decrees of Cresar must sometimes be resisted. 3. Of the populace. Mistaken ideas of their own interests, Deceivableness under the lnfluonce of demagogues or those w?o pander to their lowest feelings. 'l'he blessing was rejected. Jesus was a better Krng for the people than Cmsar. II. 'f1m MISSION OF THE GOSPEL IN THE WORLD. 1. To explain the Divine dealings with mankind, and reveal the purpose running through both the Jewish and Gentile histories. 2, To lift up the multitudes and deliver them from despotism and deception. a. To proclaim a new world in place of the old, the coming of the kingdom, which is not the exaltation of an imperial throne, but the reign of God on the earth, in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. To stir up in the hearts of men a desire for the better things. The world within us must be turned upside down before the true peace is built up.-R. Vers. 10-15.-BerlM. The different state of mind among the Jews. The unbelief and opposition of men overruled by God to the fulfilment of ?is purposes. The foot- steps of the apostolic messengers quickened. The sudden stnde of the message from Bercea to Athens-scarcely likely to have been taken by Paul without au impulse in the circumstances driving him forward. Yet, as so much depended on the one man's work, as no one else so fitted to lay the foundations of Christianity in Greece, he must be lifted above the level of his own thoughts and plans. The whole passage illustrates the union of providence and grace.-R. Ver. 12.-Prepa,rationfor tlie truth. "Therefore many of them believed." Contrast between the ignoble prejudice and the noble openness of mind. Responsibility for our faith. Knowledge and practice bound up together. I. THE TRUE PREPARATION FOR DIVINE BLESSINGS. 1. A state of mind. At liberty to think. Open to teaching. Desire for instruction. The two kinds of scepticism (skepsis), inquiry for truth, inquiry for reasons against faith. 2. A course of action and habit. Reading of the Scriptures daily, with a set purpose, devoutly, in connection with the preached Word, with an intention to follow their guidance. II. THE TRUE FAITH SETTLED ON ITS BROAD FOUNDATION. 1. As distinguished from mere individual self-assertion and ignoble pride. 2. As accepting the standard of revealed truth. 3. As apostolic, seeing that" those things were so," i.e. as Paul repre- sookld them. The Pauline faith was the only faith which linked together the Old Testament and the New. III. RESULTS FOLLOWING THE UBE OP lllEilfS. A lesson to both preachers and hearers.-R. Vers. 16-34.-PauZ at Athens. Consider- I. The connection of the whole with THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. The Greek mind evangelized. The function of Greek thought in the development of doctrine. The contrast between the gospel and philosophy. The step towards the conquest of the world. II. The illustration of THE APOSTOLIC METHOD. Adaptation of the truth to every class of mind. Difference of the preaching when the foundation of the Jewish Scriptures was for the time forsaken. Important difference of results, showing that there most be something intervening between idolatry and Christian faith, besides natural religion. 'l'he resurrection must stand on its true foundation, or it is mocked at. The spiritual truth is mere" babbling" to those who look upon it from the naturalistic point of view. III. The picture of HUMAN HELPLESSNESS presented. Intellectual restlessness of A.thens. 'fhe judgment of God overhanging the moral corruption. Times of ignorance. ldolatry,the more hideous in its decorations of artistic beauty. Worship of the human body. Social miseries of the Greek world. The one man among the multitude, type of the spiritual force which, though a grain of mustard seed in apparent magni- tude, was a germ of life in the midst of the universal decay and death. So in the decline and fall of the Roman empire. A great lesson on (1) the sufficiency and power of the gospel; (2) the responsibility of man.-R. Ver. 18.-The toorld', want wpplied. "He preachL-d unto then.i Jesus, and the  76 THE Aars OF THE APOSTLES. [on. nu. 1-34.