The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 71

worn customs. (4) H w!ll be an era _or deliverance, of salvation. Men_ will cry to Jehovah, of old the Dohverer, and will be heard and saved from their distresses. With these prophetic hints the apostle would explain the wondrous events of the day. Christin.nity begins with II new effusion or the Divine into the human, the strengthenin"' and illumination of the finite mind, the enlargement of its gifts of expression; a. pro~ found and general impression of the nearness of God, and the joy of a new-found freedom and ee.lvation.-J. Vere. 22-36.-Tlie connection of the CJhristian events. All history has an inner '.ogic and meaning, contained in the person and the love of God. 'l'he secret links of events may be in part traced by us. I. THE LIFE OF J ESUB. 1. His simple and homely humanity. " Jesus of Nazareth," a name of scorn to many, of unpretentious lowliness to a.II. 2. His gracious, divinely attested career. Though poor and despised of men, the favour of God was upon him. And the proof was in the energy which went forth from Jesus. Again we come upon the note of power. "Mighty works," or "powers," "wonders" which called attention to will introducing change, and "signs," or all-significant acts which pointed to an unusual meaning, attested that Jesus was the Organ of Divine power and will. 3. This career was public, led in the light or day. The evidence was not only of the highest quality, but of the most unquestioned universality: "as you all know." II. THE DESTINY OF JESUS TO DIE. To the superficial observer, or one knowing the facts only from the outside-a Jewish or Roman historian of the time-it might appear that Jesus perished as Judas the Gaulonite had done, the victim of the conflicts of the time. .Jewish and Roman interest and passion seemed to unite against him, and he perished, the Victim of hate and misconception. But this was but a small part of the truth. To one instructed in the Divine logic of history, the death of Jesus was no accident; it lay in the laws of the moral order, in the "definite counsel and fore- knowledge of God." Yet it was an act of wickedness to put him to death. Pos- sibly we cannot solve in thought the seeming contradiction of the foreknowledge of God and the freedom of man. Enough that we can recognize separately tile perfect truth of each. III. THE UPRAISING OF JESUS. God's hand released him from the grasp of death. Here, again, was the operation of necessary law. It was impossible that he should be mastered by death-he who is the very affirmation of life. The absolute life cannot live beneath its negative. And here, age.in, the past furnishes its hints to the solution of the truth of the present. Spiritual life is imperishable; he who possesses it has an immediate consciousness of immortality, and can find parables of the victory of life over death everywhere.-J. Vere. 25-28.-Tlie parable of the Resu"ection in David's psal1~. The apostle quotes one of the few utterances in the Old Testament which yield with any distinct- ness the hope of a life after the grave. But, speaking generally, the psalms, as the choicest expressions of the spiritual life of Israel, are "dark sayings" and "pa.rabies" of higher relations than those to which they immediately refer. In this psalm we find- I. THE IMMEDIATE BENSE OF THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING GoD. And this is a presence which, once enjoyed, carries with it the promise of its enjoyment for ever. God can never be less to me than he is at the moment of my highest spiritual joy in the possession of him. This sense of his presence gives perfect security. II. THE EFFECT IS GLADNESS AND TRIUIIIPHANT HOPE. The soul will not be left in the gloom of Hades, to live on a life but the cold and shadowy reflection of the bright life on earth. This cannot be believed and God's goodness be believed. This cannot be believed and the filial feeling retained. At last all arguments for the immortality of the soul fall back upon this deepest basis, the ineradicable conviction of the goodness of Qoo.. IU. THE WHOLE IB AN ARGUMENT FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTUllE. "Thou madest known . . . the ways of life; thou aha.Lt make me full of gladness." And the argument may he applied in a wider sense than that present to the mind of the psalmist. For i..a was a prophet; and all prophecy is a germ which unfolds into endless meanings ACTS, • J' 66 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [OR, ll. 1-47.