The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 72

which history brings to light. The greatest and moat elgnal fulfilment of the prophecy was in the resurrection of Christ. IV. THE FAOTB, TOGETHER WlTB TlllC PROPHECY, COMBINE IN ONB ARGUMENT FOB TBB RESURRECTION. The facts were, that the risen Jesus had been seen by many. That now, after an interval from his departure, there had been a remarkable effusion of spiritual power. With these must be connected the fact that he had spoken of the coming of the Holy Ghost, the "promise of the Father." Putting the whole of the facts together, the conclusion was : Jesus, the despised and crucified, had boen exalted to sovereign dignity, &nd in reference to Israel especially to the Messiahship; to be anointed Prophet, Priest, and King over his people for ever. The coincidence of extreme opposites is to be observed throughout the scheme of the gospel. It is illustrated, above all, in the humility and glorification, the weakness and power, the human contempt, and the Divine honour associated with the person of Jesus.-J. Vers. 37-47.-E_ffects of th~ Divine power upon the heart. I. COMPUNCTION. Fear is awakened by every drawing neor of God to man. And with fear is closely connected the sense of sin. Stated from the other side, the truth is: behind the power of God lies his koliness, which is as a consuming fire. The deepest seat of fear is not in our physical but in our moral instincts. Thus the fear awakened by the revelation of the All-holy is itself a witness to the fa.et that conscience is the central unity of our being. Our very self seems threatened when confronted with a Being who judges evil, and is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. II. INSTINCTIVE DESIRE FOB ACTION. "What shall we do?" Let us not take the words in the grossest sense of personal fear, and mere desire to escape from some imminent outward danger. Why should we? Brave as lions in the ordinary sense, there are men who cannot endure the face of their God. The Object before which all must quail is the Spirit revealed in the inmost moral convictions. All religion is a striving after inner unity, reconciliation between self and God. And the will is deeply concerned in this. It is a good sign when men ask, amidst the psins of a wounded conscience-What must I do 1 It implies the feeling of freedom; the fact that they have power and will left. III. THE WAY OF SALVATION. As indicated in the words of Peter. 1. .A change of mind. Repentance. To see its full meaning we should look to the Greek. It is µ.ercl.vaur.: it is a change of thought from the bad to good, the erroneous to the true, or the less true to the more true. Repentance is not mere feeling; it has not the uncertainty of moods and sentiments. lt is not a simple change in the weather of the soul It is a distinct alteration of the focus of the intelligence; it carries with it a movement of the will; in short, it is a revolution in the very ground of the man's being. 2. The expression of the change of mind. By baptism-a pure and simple rite, signifi- cant to every eye and imagination of washing, of cleansing, of recovered purity, for rntellicrence, feeling, and conduct. The acts of the spirit are not complete until they have been clothed in outward form. We hardly know ourselves to be changed, and certainly others cannot know that we are changed, without the language of the act. Sacraments are thus needed both for the believer himself and for the society; they have a subjective and an objective value. 3. The promises of the new life. The man who comes out of paganism or ritualiBm is baptized into Christ, i.e. into a spiritual reli!!ion which offers promises as well as enjoins duties. (1) Remission of sins. Deliverance in its highest and most absolute form. The deliverance which was Israel's age-long dream passes out of its lower, sensuous, typical form of national freedom and independence into the spiritual form of personal freedom and indepen- dence of the dark necessity, the fate or bondage of sin. It is the discovery that freedom is in this deepest sense a reality which makes Christ's doctrine a great moving force in the world. Men grasp at the shadows of freedom, or the mere skirts of freedom, until this ite true shape is revealed. (2) The gift of tM Holy Ghost. Closely connected with the foregoing; for moral power goes hand in hand with moral freedom. Only in freedom from the oppression of sin can the soul become the organ of the Holy Spirit. The wide extent of this promise. To the chosen people-to their posterity, and to an undefined multitude of the heathen whom God shall call unto hiin. The univcnality of the gOl!p81 blessings here appears in germ, although from the lip■ (JU, II, 1-47.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 67