The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 217

me.y be me.de to one thing-the fair fa.me of truth. Nor do we think that anythina less than this ie the truth hero of Paul. If his utterance were the result of personal resentment simply, it certainly could not have had the remotest cha.nee of working well for him personally. If the utterance were the child of personal resentment exclusively, the suppression of it would have been the suppression of an actual and legitimate instinct. But there is no evidence of this, nor even looking this way. For (1) Paul's remonstrance is worded so as to exhibit the insult done to righteousness, not to him~elf. And (2) not only is there not a trace of temper, but there is abundant indication immedlately succeeding the.t Paul had himself under perfect control. 3. Paul expresses no wish for the punishment of Ananias, but be firmly declares the abundantly likely retribution of God. He certainly leaves his own case in the bands of him to whom "judgment belongeth." And his language is no bitter retort, invective, or imprecation. It is no sign of either humility or greatness to hide out of sight our own strong convictions or our strong faith in God's moral government, just because the instance in question may arise in our own history. Therefore, while on the one band the actual words employed by Paul receive unimpeachable justification from those of Jesus himself (Matt. xxiii. 27), the spirit he manifested does not expose itself to censure in comparison with even that of Jesus (John xviii. 22, 23), for the simple reason that it does not offer to come into comparison with it, the occasions havin 6 their material points of difference as well as of resemblance. The wonderful and divinest meekness of Jesus is indeed ever imitable, but it does not follow that every possible occasion of meekness is a right occasion for it. It may be that stern duty shall allow no option, and its more painful behest be the word of crushing rebuke (a.s here) rather than the tones of mercy and meekness. Ill. THE GREATNESS THAT WAITS, ,BEADY TO ADMIT THAT A THING DONE BY ONE'S SELF HIGHT HAVE BEEN BETTER LEFT UNDONE. There are many things that may aggravate or diminish the blame of error. Rare as they are, there are such things as genuine explanations of error, which leave no fault with the person who nevertheless has been the perpetr~tor of it. Possibly Paul may be justly credited with some blame in not knowing to whom he spoke before he spoke, just as the language which he nsed may possibly be liable to some censure. But, anyway, the occasion is a fit one to remind us of these things : 1. That it is one sign of a great disposition-other things being equal-to be open to acknowledge error. 2. That this is a much more effectual sign, when a.11 the circumstances of an occasion (as now) make the admission one of peculiar difficulty. 3. That worth is added to any such acknowledgment when, after a.11, the error is one in manner only, and emphatically not in matter, and when it lies in the accidents rather than in the merits of the subject. Though it were only such an error, Paul publicly admits it, and quotes chapter and verse, as it were, to his own disadvantage. 4. '!'hat this virtue is especially the growth of Christian teaching, Ohristian principles. The germ of this virtue so rare lies in the truth, the sincerity, the purity to which Christianity invites our supreme homage.-B. Ver. 6.-77ie hope of the living and the resurrection of the dead. "The hope and resurrection of the dead." The chapter in which these words are found offers a striking illustration of the irresistible force of providence, or of providence and the direct acts of the Spirit in co-operation. The day was dark for Paul, nor did there seem a glimmer of hope of any justice for him at the hands of the council before whom he stood. But words and wisdom were found either by him or for him. Those words of wisdom were the weighty words of the text. The mere utterance of them rent the council in twain ; soon compelled the chief captain t.o come again to the rescue, in place of shirking his duty, as by a side move he had wished to do; left an enraged populace no chance, as they thought, of disposing of Paul except by a murderous conspiracy; necessitate,l the removal of Paul by the governor under a sufficient military escort to another place and another court of trial, w[1ich in its turn led on directly to Paul's appeal to Cresar and arrival in the capital of the world. And weighty indeed were those words-words y,hich may be numbered as two; for they were weighted with the solemn meaning and mscrutable mystery of a whole world. 'l'hey touch all that is deepest in que~tions between God and mnn. They hold, in fact, the one quesLion that lies hidden down ill 11ome of its aspects in mystery unfathomably deep. Notice, thou- 22t THE ACTS OF THE .APOSTLES. [on. llIIL 1-38.