The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 84

judgment hall, and the look vouob11&fed from the very cross after the terrible thrice denial, a.nd of ell the rest, were now a.ll upon him. And be ba.s made, at all eftntB, tbi.1 impression on us-the impreseion !Ml of a man of: 1. Native impetuosity of temperament. 2. lmperioUB moral judgments. 3. Liability to fearful lapse. 4. Unbounded enthusiasm &nd devotion to a. great and good Master. 6, And noto lastly, of a man with the eye of an eagle for the object dear to his heart, V. A 110DEL TE"ST11101;-y TO "THI: TRUTH As IT IS IN JESus." (Ven. 14-36). The character of a model Christian sermon may be jnatly claimed throughout for this addreBB of Peter io the multitude. The leading featnres of it are strongly marked. 1. It is one testimony to Christ; the subject ia V&riously approached, but it is om. Whatever the then rea,;on. ~ subject ia not lost sight of nor allowed to linger. Each approach to h, each conclusion from it, becomes more t.elling, till the pronounced assertion confronts the people, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God bath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 2. It is a 11ullllll&l'Y of indisputable historic facts. The incarnation and birth of Jesus are, therefore, not ad verted to, as perhaps too remote. They did not come directly within the range of facts patent to the hearers of Peter. "As ye yourselves know" was an &rgU.1I1ent Pet.er loved to use. He didn't beg reliance on his judgment, opinion, or assertion, but he challenged the knowledge of those to whom he spoke. 'l'he "Man of Nazareth, . . . the approved of God, . . . by miracles and signs and wonders . . . the delivered" (though here Peter does insert the transcendent state- ment of Divine" foreknowledge" and" counsel")," the taken, .. , crucified and slain, . . . the raised up" from death's kingdom and dominion, "the exalted by the right hand of God," and the corroboration of these statements of the Resurrection and Ascension from the prophecies of their own prized ora.cles,-these are the vital facts summarized now by Peter. 'l'he chain breaks nowhere, Pet.er is strong in his facts. 3. There was an unflinching style in the address. The indiscriminate people of Judma a.nd Jerusalem a.re before Peter, and barely seven weeks are passed since the Crucifixion, a.nd Peter brings tM gui1.t home in uncompromising language to· the heart and the hand of th011e whom he addresses; and also declares that the wonders of this day of Pent.ecost, of which the fickle multitude were no doubt the willing witnesses, are all the work of that" Ma.n of Nazareth" whom they had disbelieved, ill treated, crucified. Many men will bear to be told of their guilt, who won't stand the demonstration of their exceeding folly. But the hearers of Peter get both in his faithfulness and unflinchingness to his subject. "'l'his Jesus . . . hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." 4. There was intense earnestness in the address of Peter. This, no doubt, went naturally a long way to disarm what might otherwise have seemed the offensive character of the matter of his indictment, The instance is an interesting and a remarkable one of the very severest rebuke consisting with a kindliness only thinly veiled. And without a word of kindness ezprused, the impression and effect are probably gained by the manifest intense earnestness and strongest conviction of the speaker. These things, BO that they are not abused, are legitimately within the province of the Christian preacher. With this proviso it is given to him to dogmatize, only not in his own name; to rebuke in the most uncompromising manner,onlynot for any offence personal to himself merely; a.nd to wield the denunciations of the future and the Uilll",en, only not otherwise than u drawn, both for matter and for justifiable occasion. and just/,y drawn, from the warrant of revelation. VL A MODEL CO.bo"'FElll!IONAL OF TBE CHUBCH. (Vera. 37-40.) As wss to be expected, in no respect is the transition from Judaism to Christianity more worthy of interested study than u it ofi"er11 to view thu healthy young growth of Cbri11tian institutions, taking root amid the ruins of_ the old an~ corrupt traditions of the "Jews' .religion." Many a site that witn011118d long time crumbling decay, stones no two of which lay together, 111!.d the very sq ualidity of disorder, now witnessed the surprising signs of vigoroUB, deter- mined, ar.d beautiful life. It were well if it bad been possible to secure that these should not in their turn succumb, in lapse of time, to the affronts of human imperfection, and show again the pitiful !light of diviner growths within cumbered, choked, and finally killed, by fungus, excreacence, and merciless blight. Here, however, we have a fine example of the vitality of roused religiou11 life, its own cri011, and the methods of treatment with which it wu blessed to meet. Observe : 1. The central fact-conviction. The conscience on. n. 1-47.] THE A0TS OF THE APOSTLES. 79