The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 299

'between us and the fruition of our hope ! From childhood to old age, disappointment embitten the cup of life, Mddens the spirit of m!\n. It is the little child thRt foils to receive it.s covet.ed toy; it is the boy thllt does not quite win the prize ; it is tho young man who nearly secures the post, but is overmatohed in the lists; it is the lovor who returns with • heavy heart; it is the mother who C!\nnot save the young life from an infant's grave; it is the statesman who is pasMed by that a favourite may have the port- folio ; it is the student, the traveller that does not make the discovery to which he seemed eo near ;-it is the seeking, striving, yearning human he!\rt that opens to receive and is bitterly disappointed. Of all the evils which fall upon and darken the pnth ot iife there is none more common, none more powerful, none more ill to bear, Beneath its blow, how many a baa.rt has bled to death I under its cruel weight, how many who live about us and whose path we cross are compelled to "go softly all their days" I Let us thank God that-- III. THERE IS A REFUGE EVEN FROM DISAPPOINTMENT. The sailors in our text had very little consolation when they could not "obtain their purpose." There was no other harbour for which to make. But when disappointment comes to the human soul in the atrife and conflict of life, there is always a resort to which the heart may flee, a haven Ill which to hide. It can always fall back on either (1) the sympathy and succour ot die unfailing Friend, or (2) the hope "which maketh not ashamed," "that sure and 9teadfast hope which entereth within the veil."-C. Vers. 23--25.-Divine oumership and human service, 1. Tim EXTENT OF THE DIVTh""E CJLAnL "Whose I am." God's claim upon our service is simply complete; it is ,mpossible to conceive of a tie stronger or more perfect. It rests on: I. His absolute ':IOvereignty over the universe. 2. His creation of our spirit; the fact thllt he called us out of nothingness into being, that he conferred on us our spiritual nature and our bodily life. 3. His preservation of us in being. 4. His provision for all our wauts, constant and generous. 5. His fatherly love prompting him to the bestowment of all ois gift.&, and greatly enhancing their value. 6. His redemption of us by Jesus Christ ois Son ; in this the last manifestntion of DiTine goodness, ratifying, multiplying his claim on us beyond e.11 measure. " We are not our own : we are bought with a price ; " "Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Cor. vi.19, 20; 1 Pet. i.18, 19). Rest- ing on such solid ground, God's claim on us is very great. He asks of us thllt we "yield ourselves unto him ; " that we o/Ter ourselves, all that we are and have, to himself and his service, that he may enlarge and elllpluy and bless us. This giving of ourselves unto God, this act of self-surrender by which" living or dying we are the Lord's" (Rom. xiv. 8), involves (1) the 611.bjection of our will to the will of God; (2) the opening of our heart to the love of Christ; (3) the purpose of our soul to spend our lives and powers in nis service. II. THE DIVINE OOMll'ID,"lOATION. God has been pleased to make some special com- munications to certain favoured individuals of our race. The Apostle Paul was one of these, and this shipwreck through which he passed was one of the occasions on which he sent his angel with a message from his own mind (text). But though the great majority of our race pass through life without such direct and special manifestation, we are all addressed by the Father and Saviour of our spirits. God speaks to us : 1. In his Word. 2. By his Son, who is ever saying to each human heart that hears his gospel, "Believe in me;" ".Abide in me;" "Follow me;"" Work in my vineyard.n 3. Dy his Holy Spirit, who comes with enlight.ening, quickening, renewing energy to the individual soul IIL THE REBPOliSE WE SHOULD BENDER. 1. Faitlt. "I believe God." God (1) gives us strong and sufficient evidence that it is he who is speaking ; and then (2) asks .ie to believe unquestioningly what he tells us. lie tells us many things of himself and of ourselves, and particularly of our direct relation to himself, which we could not tiave divined by our own imagination, which we cannot prove by our own reason, which we are not able to comprehend by our own perceptive powers; but it is reasonable and right that, having the strongest evidence that God is speaking to us, we should accept with creature humility and filial trust what we cannot fathom now, assured that, by believing his Word and acting on our belief, we shall rise to a.height where we shall HO what is now invisible and understand what is now_ beyond qs, Thie is only what ClB, XXVJJ, 1-44,] Tm: AG'l'S Ul~ THE APOSTLES. 3(;7