ledge, however ditferin~ among themselves in the fundamental principles or their sercral schemes, agree in the scornful rejection of "the testimony or Jesus Obrist." The Church meanwhile pursues her unwavering course, She holds in her hand the lamp of that truth which she did not invent, but which she received from God, That lamp sheds !orth its heavenly light, whether men receive it or whether thoy ■hut it out from tho1r hearts and walk on in darkness, For that truth the Church is ready now, as she ever was, to endure the scorn and hatred of mankind or to suffer imprison- ment ~nd d~th. Her office is to testify that Jesus is the Christ. By the grace of God she will contmue that testimony until the Lord comes, and her witness to the absont is swallowed up in her adoration of the present, in visible power and glory. Vers. 18-23.-The concise narrative. The grain of mustard seed becomes a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodge in its branches. Could we unfold all that is covered under these few words, whole volumes of surpassing interest might be evolved. The occasion and motives of Paul's vow; the first visit t.o the capital of Proconsular Asia, to be afterwards the scene of such great events; Pentecost at Jerusalem; the interview with James and the elders of Jerusalem; his thoughts in the metropolis of Christianity, in the stronghold of Judaism, about the aspects of the Church, and the relations of his Corinthians converts to the believing priests and Pharisees at Jerusalem; the execution of his vow, aud the state of his feeling towards the temple and its services; his return to Antioch, the metropolis of Gentile Christianity, the new Rome, as it were, of the Christian world ; his meeting with old disciples; his narratives of God's work in the new world of Europe, just conquered for the God of Israel; his possible meeting again with Barnabas there, and their tearful reconciliation, and the binding up of the old wound so painful to two good and loving hearts ; and then the long and wearisome journey, full of labour and peril, through Phrygia and Galatia ; the aspect of old friends and old enemies; the new conquests for Christ, the new triumphs of the gospel, perhaps fresh disappointments from tbe fickleness of the Gaulish character;- were all this told, and the skeleton verses before us filled in with all this life and action, what volumes we should have I But it has pleased God to seal up all these books, and hide them from our eyes. It is our part t.o be thankful for what we have, and to draw the lesson that the silence of Scripture is as surely ordered as its revelations are, and that we must read, not to satisfy our curiosity, but to edify our souls. Vers. 24-28.-The episode. 'l'he five verses which make up this section are unique in this respect, that the historian, leaving his hero engaged in unknown labours in Phrygia and Galatia, gives us in them a view of what was going on meanwhile at Ephesus. And a most curious narrative it is. It introduces to us one of the most remarkable men of his age, the Alexandrian Apollos, a Jew of great learning, great ability, and great eloquence; and relates his accession to the Church and to the ranks of the Christian ministry, under most s~uular circumstances. It further gives us a very striking instance of the devotion of Aquila and Priscilla to the work of Christ, and of their eminent services in the infant Church. Of the after career of Apollos we know next to nothing. We see him for a moment, like a blazing comet in the ecclesi- astical heavens, striking down opposition and unbelief with the onslaught of his fervid and logical eloquence ; we see the reflex of his great influence at Corinth, in the repeated mention of him in St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. i. 12; iii. 4-6; iv. 5), written from Ephesus; but the only evidence we have of his continuance in the work which he so brilliantly began, is to be found in St. Paul's brief order to Titus," Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothin~ be wanting unto them" (Titus iiL 13). Yet how manifold, in all probaoilitv, were the evangelic labours of Apollos in that interval I How many must have been convinced by him that Jesus is the Christ, and found eternal life in his Name I And if the conjec- ture of Luther, followed by many since, and recently supported at length by Dr. Farrar (' Early Days of Christianity,' vol. i. eh. xvil., xviii.), that he was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, be true, what a wide extension is given, in time and space, to the Christian influence of this man "mighty in the Scriptures;" an<l. yet for nearly eighteen centuries has all this labour of love, this precious fruit of devoted zeal and 11piri.tual power, beeP. iu:iknown to the Church of (}pd. Surely the ~eward of tile s11c- OU, llVill, 1-28,] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 97
cessful evangelist and paator ia not to be looked for in fame and worldly reputation, or the applause of men. And as s_urely every word spoken for Christ, and every labour 1 endured for the Masters sake, will not be forgotten, but will be found unto praise and honour and glory 11t the appearing of Jesus Christ. '£hen perhaps the last will be .first, and the first last.