The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 219

I. Tnm Lonn DIMIIEU .APPEARS, What an honour I What a. kindness I What a. comfort I II. 'l'Hm Lonn HIMIIE1,J' "STAND& BY" PAUL, What a condescension I What a really brotherly helping I ~II. 'l'HE Lonn HIMSELF SPEAKS wonns OF ~JO0D OHEEn. What a. help for Paul, that vo!cel He had known differ?nt tones of vowe_ of Jesus, What a graciuus variety, this I What a close sug~est10n also of the faithful watching of the Lord over his faithful servant I He "had seen," he "had seen "the sorrowing, wearied, grieved spirit of Paul, and had come to stay his affliction by the direct exhortation, "Be of good cheer." IV. THE Lonn U'l'l'ERB A KmDLY SUGGESTION, BETOKENING KINDLY REMEMBRANCE OP' PAUL'S PAST WITNESS AT JERUSALEM, THOUGH IT WAS EVEN HE WHO BAD PEREMPTORILY OUT IT SHORT, AND HAD SAID, "DEPART I" V. THE Lono ASSURES HIM OF DISTINGmSHED FUTURE SERVICE FOR HIM. 1. This will put to flight all cares and anxieUes as to the re~ult of this trial, as to the fear of assassination, as to the uncertainty of his future career on earth. 2, It puts to flio-ht all self-reproaching fears as to whether," for his unworthiness," he was now to be ~t aside. No; he is still a vessel meet for the Master's use----a weapon, polished, and not to be cast aside or laid aside. VI. THE Lonn MAKES A VEBY SELECTION 011' WOBDS THAT CARRY COMFORT AND STRENGTH WITH THEM, "Thou must bear witness also at Rome." His Lord needs him and relies on him. And says he can depend on him who had done his work so well "in Jerusalem."-B. Ver.1.-Agoodconscience. Joubert says, "The trick of personifying words is a fatal source of mischief in theology." The personifying has been mischievously applied to the word "conscience," and we make it into a kind of separate being, by whom, apart from our own judgment and will, our conduct is regulated. Having in mind the descent of Minerva, in the form of an aged man, to accompany young Telemachus in the search for his father, we speak of " conscience '' as an inward Mentor. The philosophical questions that arise concerning the nature and testimony of conscience may be briefly referred to, especially these two: (1) Is conscience a separate and independent power? or (2) Is conscience our faculty of judgment exercised concerning our own actions? We approve of the second view, and regard it as "the secret judgment of the soul, which gives its approbation to actions that it thinks good,or reproaches itselfwith those which it believes to be evil." Here, in our text, St. Paul is not thinking of the absolute right and wrong, but of the ceremonial claims which rested on a pious Jew, and says that, in relation to the formal rules of his religion, he had a "good conscience," " a conscience void of offence," a sense of having always striven to be loyal and faithful. The word " good" is a general word, and we may understand St. Paul better if we try to see what it may be regarded as including. L AN ENLIGHTENED CONSCIENCE. For, apart from the bare distinction of the absolute right and absolute wrong, conscience must be dependent on knowledge. All its finer and more precise testimonies come out of its culture. Our advances in education and moral training involve the quickening and enlightening of the conscience. The advanced man finds it altogether a more subtle guard of his life and conduct. It becomes keenly sensitive to the "beautiful " and the "becoming," as well as to the "right." This is illustrated in the case of the apostle himself; at one time "he verily thought within himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth." With the letters in his hand authorizing the persecutions of the Damascene Christians, his unenlightened conscience made no testimony of his wrongness, and offered no reproaches. By-and-by, when the revelation of the Messiahship of Jesus came to his l!Dderstanding and heart, then conscience smote him, and he felt the exceeding shame of his past doings. It may be shown that all which cultures a man quickens and sensitizes conscience; but the greatest enlightener is the personal reception of Christ as our Saviour. Then we beo-in to see ourselves, and to make the true estimate of conduct, spirit, and life. If we are r~sponsible for making the best of our opportunities for self-culture, we may be said to be also responsible for the measure of enlightenment of our conscience. II. A OLEAB ooNBOIEN0E, By which qualifying term we may mean: 1. One that can 40T&-U. Q 226 THE ACTS OF THE .APOSTLES. [ OR. llIIJ. 1--36,