The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 301

port iunat.e attention to the arguments on the other side; e.nd the end ls that the vessel of their faith breaks up e.nd e.t length goes down. II. 'l'BEm MORAL HABITS. Trained in godly homes, our youths e.nd maidens e.cquire habits of moral excellency ; they enter active life, honest, pure, sober, reverent, prudent, But they encounter those hurtful e.nd deadly influences which, e.fter e. while, if not at the first attack, lead them down to dishonesty, to impurity, to intemperance, to pro- fanity, tot.be pestilent he.bit of gambling. Usually they "make shipwreck of a good conscience," as the vessel is drawn upon the relentless rocks when it is caught in the strong current from which it cannot escRpe. Slowly, going further and further in the wrong direction, by every movement getting more e.t the mercy of the foe, the vessel drifts to destruction. III. SPIRITUAL LIFE. One of the sad spcct.'\cles which we have often to witness is the decline and disappearance oft-he spiritual life which was in the soul. By degrees- for this loss is commonly gradual-reverence becomes weaker, zeal decays, sacred joy grows dim a.nd dull, habits of devotion are relaxed, the regard for the will of Christ l,ecomes feebler and less effective, until life is really gone, and the soul has become a spiritual wreck. The shipwreck of the soul is : 1. lnexp1·essibly sad. By how much the spiritual is greater than the material and the destinies of a human soul larger and longer than the fortune of a piece of human handiwork, by so much is the wreck of a soul a. more pitiful thing than the loss of the noblest bark tha.t ever foundered on the ocean. 2. Not absolutely final. Sometimes, but very seldom, a sunken vessel is raised, and "ploughs the main " once more ; sometimes, but seldom, a soul that has lost faith, ,irtue, piety, is raised up from the deep, and sails again on its voyage, and attains its port. Let none presume; let none despair. 3. An evil that may always be averted. The mind tl1at is open to the truth which is before it, that keeps clear of the dangers of which it is warned, that uses the spiritual resources which the generous Lord has supplied, "ill not make shipwreck, but reach, unharmed and safe, the heavenly ha.rbour.-C. Vers.. 1-44.-Tlie voya,ge to Italy: an allegoi·y of tlie Ohristian's course. Bunyan wrote an immortal allegory of the Christian course as a. journey by land. It may be rewritten as a sea-voyage. L THE CHRISTIAN SETS OUT IN STRANGE COMPA?."Y, AND WITH OFTEN UNCONGENIAL SURROUNDINGS. Romans, Macedonians, prisoners, Alexandria.as, are Paul's fellow- voya.gers (vers. 1, 2, 4-8). No seclusion, no picked society nor refined retirement, can be or ought to be the usual lot of the Christian. We cannot go out of the world. Iu society, among all the diversities of human character, our education and trial must go on, our experience be gained.. The greater the variety of men, the more eliciting of our capabilities, the larger scope for doing good. II. THE ClmIBTIAN IS SURE TO MEET WITH FRIENDS. A friend and hospitality is to be found at most ports (ver. 3). And love begets love. Captain Julius, another of those fine Roman soldiers who cross the stage of the Christian story, is glad of an excuse to show the kindness of hls heart to his prisoner. Oh, let us believe in the human heart; if we speak to it in the tones of love, it will give back its sweet echo everywhere. Unexpected acts of friendship a.re revelations of God to us in lonely places and 118.d hours. "I funcied he was fied, .And after many a year, Glowed nnexhaUBted kindlineu Like daily sunrise there." III. CLoUDY l!XlEII. (Ve!'B 9-15.) Forebodings of danger are felt as the Christian goes on. Sunny life-seasons, the joys of calm friendship, must give place to dark skies tt.nd danger. The changing drama. of nature mirrors the story of the human soul. The Christian, taught by experience, becomes prophetic, like Paul. The centurion and the IllBllter of the ship may typify that blind obstinacy which will persevere with its designs in the teeth of nature's laws. Nothing fatal occurs without previous warnings, In the natural and in the moral world we OG'"Jtantly come upon effects without visible caUBNI, But the causes exist and arf;l in action. Hence the constant duty Q{ soQriety otr. x:tvtr. 1- H.] 'l'Hl~ ACTS 01'' 't.EIE APOS'rU8. 30!)