The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 307

told unfavourably upon his health, and who ca.n havo been but scantily provided with the requisites for a long voyage. We direct attention to that power which St. Paul e\;dently possessed, of winning the confidence and the favour of those who ea.me into intimate contact with him; observing that- L POWER TO WIN OONFIDENOE m A NATURAL GIF'I'. It belongs to some persons in an unusual degree. Children at once recognize and respond to it. We are wont to say that the true teacher is the person who can gain the confidence of the children. From some persons we instinctively shrink, to others we are as instinctively drawn. It is a power that belongs to natural disposition and character ; it is a Divine endow- ment or gift, the talent entrusted to some. So far as it belongs to character we may notice its dependence on three elements. 1. Transpa,·ency. Some men make you feel their sincerity, honesty, integrity, guilelessness. They make you feel that you know them as they are, and that there is nothing bidden behind. 2. Firmness. Some men are changeable, undecided, and you cannot rely on them. Others ma.y be slower in forming their jndgments or expressing their decisions, but you know that you can trust them ; they stand fast by their promise ; they are as steady as a rock. 3. Sympathy. A mysterious attraction is in some persons as they seem to understand us and feel with us, and their brotherliness commands onr confidence. II. PowER TO WIN CONFIDENCE IS A DIVINE TRUST. It takes its place among the talents. It is our characteristic, a force for good which is entrusted to our use. It is ours as distinctly as may be the gifts of song, of eloquence, of art, of position, or of wealth. And this particular gift has even an unusual importance attaching to it, for, in in'<'iting the trust of men in us, and meeting that trust faithfully, we may be reveal- ing God to them and helping them to confidence in him. It is hard indeed for that man to have confidence in God who bas never been able to rely on any of his fellow- men. This Divine" trust" brings its burden of responsibility. In relation to it we ma.v be found faithful or unfaithful. III. PoWER TO wm CONFIDENCE re CAPABLE OF CULTURE. Not so much of direct as of indirect culture. As in other cases so in this, culture comes by use. To employ any talent, to exercise any gift, is to nourish it into strength ; but those powers which belong to character are cultured in the general moral culture, in the daily training of the spirit and ordering of the life. Occasion may be taken here to plead for the duty of "keeping the heart with all diligence, seeing that out of it are the issues of life." IV. PoWEB TO WIN CONl"IDENCE IB SANCTIFIED BY RELIGION. This St. Paul well illustrates; his faith in God, his devotion to men, bis renewed disposition, his sense of the living presence of Christ, the measure of his change into the very mind and image of Christ, all told directly on the purifying and perfecting of this his natural gift. Christian faith sanctifies character, especially bearing its force on those three features of transparency, 'irm.ness, and sympathy, on which we have seen the power to win confidence ma.inly depends. Impress that, from the Christian standpoint, a man will only use this power of drawing others to himself in order that he may draw them all to Jesus, and, in and through him, to God.-R. T. Ver. 10.-The mission of Divine 'IDQ,rnings. St. Paul was moved by God's Spirit to warn the sailors of theconsequences of proceeding on the voyage. No doubt the apostle h.aAi a large experience of the sea, and in part gave his personal opinion, but ~e must recognize that he had the gift of foresight, and this may very readily, on occasion,_ pass into the gift of prophecy. We note that it is an almost universal method of Div_ine dealing to warn before judgment falls. illustration may be found in Noah's• war0;mg before the flood, J ona.h 's warning to Nineveh, Daniel's to N ebucha.dnezza.r, the warmngs of Jebovab's prophets, and our Lord's warning addressed to the guilty people of Jeru- salem. We a.sk why these are given both to individuals and to nations, and what precise purposes do such warnings accomplish. L THEY MAY BE PREVENTIVE 011 CALAMITY. St. Paul's would have been if it _had been heeded. The warning of Jonah was, for the king and people of Nineveh did give heed to it. Explain that in the Divine rule of the world and men, no events need be regarded as absolutely and irrevocably settled. God's foreknowings and fore- ordainings are quite con.si.stent with the conditional character of all events as regarded OB. XX.VII, 1-44,] 'l'HE .AC'l'B OF THE .APOSTLES. 315