religion, wonld have closed the eam of his audience to any messa.ge which he might deliver, and might have put him in aome personal danger. In his apeech he heartily recognizes the worahipping instinot ; be sees the dissatisfaction with all existing forms of worship which indicates an aching and yearning of aoul to know the full truth of God. To the unrest which the atrangely inscribed altar revealed, he made his appeal. He does not attempt to break down their confidence in Zens, Athene, or their com- panion divinities. He appeals to the want which no mere deification of human attri- but.es _or powers of nature could possibly satisfy. St. Paul admits a real worship in pai:ramsm. He admits that the incompleteness and imperfectness of the worship ~ollowed_ from their ignorance. He attempts to guide the worshipping faculty aright, by mstructrng their understandings, and by declaring positive truths of Divine revelation. II. THE APOSTLE PLAINLY MARKS THE ERBOBS OF THE ATHENIANS. He does not hesitate to say, "ignorantly worship," even to those who prided themselves on t-heir learning. He aocepts their own confession that they did not know the God to whom they raised their altar. They were wrong in their oherished conceptions of God, and wrong in the worship they offered to him. They lowered the very idea of God, by likening him to mere man-made images of gold and silver. They offered things to one who, being a Father, cared for hearts, and for things only as they carried messages of love and trust. The sacrifices of the true God are a " broken and a contrite heart," and they who "worship the Father must worship him in spirit and in truth." Three conceptions of God are essential as the foundations of true doctrine and true worship. 1. Bis unity. "There is no God but God." 2. His spirituality. "God is a Spirit." 3. Bis righteoomess. He has been ca.lled, and the name has in it good suggestion, " The Eternal who makes for -righteousness." • III. THE .APOSTLE DECLABEB THE TRUTH WRICH THE ATHENIANS MISSED. " Him declare I unto you." We may briefly summarize his presentation of the gospel revelation, as adapted to the Athenians. 1. He announces God to be a personal Being; no mere force, like the sunlight or the evening breeze. No mere quality or irirtue, such as they deified., raising altars to fame, to modesty, to energy, to persuasion, and to pity. God is living. He is one. He is the Source of all life, all breath, all being. You cannot imprison God in a statue, even though you may mould it of priceless gold. You cannot enshrine God in a temple, however gorgeous it may be. 2. '!'hen St. Paul explains God's seeming indifference to men through the long ages. It waa a mystery, but only the mystery of patient, forbearing love, which waited until the children put all their souls into the cry for him. 3. And, finally, he tells them that the waiting- time is quite past, and the great Father has come to the children now, asking their trust and their love. And the Father's. nearness is to be ~prehended through the human manifestation of bis Son. "He preached unto them Jesus."-R. T. Vera. 28, 29.-Gotl', offspring. "For we are, also his offspring." The source whence St. Paul derived this quotation is given in the Exegetical portion of this Com- mentary. It may be well to point out how such a classical quotation would secure the sustained attention of bis audience. Dean Plumptre suggestively remarks, "The method of St. Paul's teaching is one from which modern preachers might well learn a lesson. He does not begin by telling men that they have thought too highly of themselves, that they are vile worms, creatures of the dust, children of the devil. The fault which he finds in them is that they have taken too low an estimate of their position. '!'hey too had forgotten that they were God's offspring, and had counted themselves, even as the unbelieving Jews had done (eh. xiii. 46), 'unworthy of eternal life.'" The truth set before us in the text is that of the fatherly relation of God to all men, and the answering child-relation of all men to God. L THE FACT BEEN DT ITB UNIVERSALITY. It is co=only assumed that St. Paul meant no more tha.n to remind hie audience that there was only one Creator, and that all men were made in bis image. But he must have further designed (1) to reveal God to them; (2) to give them the best of name11 for him; (3) and to awaken in the~ the sense of bis universal cl.a.uns to love and trust. :. II. THE II.ELATIONS OF BoN AND FAT.DEB THUS INVOLVED. These cannot be made by Christ ; they belong to WI, and are the very conditions of out being. 1. Christ dOilB ~ na t.o recognize the relation. 2. He does restore it a.s a broken relatiou. .& cu. xvm. 1-28.] THE ACTS OF THE APOS'l'LES. 87
He docs show tho glory of the relation in his own human life. 4. He does help us, by hie gmco and Spirit, to meet and fulfil the claims of the relation. "Because we aro sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts." III. THE ARGUMENT FOR THE BPIRITUALITY OF GOD THUS INDICAT!l:D, Work out nnd illustmte: 1. '£hat a thing can never be superior to its maker. If God made us, ho must be better than we are, and we are manifestly better than speechless statues. 2. Man, the son, is a spiritual being; then God, the Father, must be spiritual too. IV. THE OLA.UlB OF Goo ON :MEN THUS ENFORCED. Fatherhood means authority. What God commands we must heed. lie commands two things. 1. That we should repent. 2. That we should receive his gift of eternal life in Christ, " God bath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,"-R. T.