The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 303

superiority nor the mere moral goodneea of his motives, but his consciol18ne88 of direct intercollI'l!e with God. God had "spoken unto him." I. TRUE FAITH O\'BBOOKETH TBB WORLD, 1. By bringing in the light of the better world-llo foreseeing the end, IDIIBSuring present circumst&nces, maintaining physical and moral strength. 2. By lifting up the individual life into the sphere of the Divine purposes. Paul felt that he was living for Christ, and, as an ambassador, must be pro- tected. 3. By cheering the heart with benevolence. " God bath granted thee all them that sail with thee." The sense of a philanthropic value in our own life ls won- derfully cheering. We a.re doing good: what does it signify where we are, and how we are placed? Those around us ml18t bless God for us. lL TBE VIC'l'OB.IOUS LIFE OF FAITH IS THB ONLY LD'E WORTH LIVING, 1, The shipwreck of worldly oonfidence. Human wisdom, physical force, politioal supremacy -all faiL Onr temptation in these days to trust in schemes of social remedy. Chris- tianity alone can say, " Be of good cheer." 2. The Christian in the presence of suffer- ing and death. Instances resembling Paul's. Mackenzie in the Pegasw. Thon comes the trial of confidence, and what we want is to say," I believe in God." 3. The ministry of the believer in a perishing, despairing world. Each one able to say to some and somewhere, "Be of good cheer.'' 4. The prophetic power of Christianity. Not idle dreaming, not fanatical predicting of events, but the certainty of the future brought to bear upon the present. One who can say, "I believe that so it shall be,'' and who can show by his fortitude and cheerfulness that he does believe it, will be a.s a light in the world's darkness. Such a narrative rebukes the folly of our modern necromancy and soothsaying, and incites us to be trne children of the day and of the light.-R. Veni. 20-25.-771e bad man's eztremity, God and th6 good man's opportwaity. The contents of this chapter are, in some respects, amongst the most striking and instructive for the deeper facts of human life and nature, in all the book. 1. The interplay of human action and of Divine providence, the harmony of human responsi- bility and Divine purpose, are forcibly illustrated more than once. 2. The moral superiority, the real strength, the solid ground to stand upon, which are the portion of the man with whom the truth of God dwells, in comparison of two hundred and fifty others, though he be the prisoner and they his masters, or at least their own, are most impre&liively exhibited and vindicated. Supposing that we read rightly, that there were as many as two hundred and seventy-six souls in that tossed boat, we may say that the length of this long chapter shows one man-him the chief prisoner-as the man whose heart fails him not, who revives the hearts of the others, when at all they are revived, and in whom, under God, the hope of all centres. The force of this contrast makes the ohapter one of sustained and unique interest, on the one hand, and, on the other, strews its path with suggestions of instruction. Though we read nothing positive respecting the state of mind of the personal companions and friends of Paul (the one of whom was the historian of the book, who for that very reason probably modestly &bstains from speaking of himself), there is no reason to doubt that they shared the strength and peace and confident faith of Paul himself. In this p~eeent passage we may notice these four things in chief. L THE FORCIBLE DEBCB.IPl'lON OF "lllA.N's EXTREMITY." 1, It involves outwardly, in one common condition, the bad and the good. 2. It is day without one sight of the sun, night without the radiance of one star; it is tempest of wind and wave without respite; it is the heart "without hope." 3. It is the strain of long continuance of the same. This scriptural description may be ta.ken to cover pretty well the subject, and brings any one sufficiently face to face with the question whether there be any higher, friendly power able, willing to interpose. IL 'fHE "PBOPKB llili" FOB THE HOUB. 1. He is the man" in chains." 2. He is the man to whom the Boman centurion cannot help showing some consideration (vers. 3, 11, 31, 32, 43), though he has the care of him for Ciesar's judgment-seat. 3. He is & man who knows what is due to himself, and, denying all traffic with the sP,irit of obeequioll8D.ess, holds hia own, and dares to say, "You see I was in the right '(vers. 10, 21). 4. Though he might well have stood off from the rest in the boat, and been excused for doing so eashly by them, yet he does not take this course, not play this pa.rt. He throws himself and lot in with thom and theirs. 6. He is the preacher of OU, IXV11, 1-44.] 1'!IE .A.O'£8 OF TilE APOSTLES. 311