The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 89

operation, 11nd to e.ssign its term. It ie one among many of the rna.rke of Christianity that, once embodied, it begins its work there and then, and begins it never to p:i.use, never to cease, till it is all finished. The peculiar and, at the same time, riahtfol Influences of Christianity embodied in human society showed themselves promptly and decisively. Nothing artificial could help, nothing arbitrary could hinder, these. A11d if to the last possible moment they stole their march on the world silently, and to that Harne world insensibly, they no sooRer come into sight than they arc felt also, and unmistakably felt. The kingdom of God, that in some sense "cometh not with observntion," when once come, is ever making a mark, that calls to it all manner of obscr,ation. It is full to overflowing of i'nfluence on the individual heart, on the individual life, o.nd on human society. The intrinsic character of Christian principle and the possibilities that are in it, are simply and beautifully witnessed to in the very first of the fruits which it bore. I. IT WROUGHT AN UNUSUAL FEAR. It was an unusua.l fear, for more reasons than one. 1. The fear fell on all. If the "all" here mean the disciples and new converts only, yet the gain was great and the phenomenon noteworthy. But the great proba.bility is that the "every soul" does not mean to point to those who were now enrolled in the new community alone, but to the vast number outside, who saw and heard of the apostles' "signs and wonders" The city was still oftentimes because of this new portent in the very midst of it. The men of the city "talked often one with another." There was a temporary, general weaning from indifference, from frivolity, and from the zeal of mere earthly business. 2. The source of the fear was unusU.!ll. It was not that of Sinai. It was not that of wind and storm, earthquake or fire. The elements of nature were what they long had been. Just now, at all events, the sun was not "turned into darkness, nor the moon into blood." It was a fear that came on men, not because of any overwhelmed impression made on the senses, but upon the mind. 3. 'l'he character of the fear was unusual. For it was that of awe and reverence-one that awoke inquiry, and provoked irresistibly deeper thinking than those hearts had been generally familiar with. It more resembled the fear that ought to possess men in the presence of the facts, responsibilities, and heaven-born opportunities of human life. There is no evidence nor even room to suppose that it savoured of anguished fear, or slavish fear, or tumultuous apprehension. 'fhis is one of the grand legitimate etiects of Chri~tian impression and convict.ion on the heart of either converted or unconverted, that they reduce to soberness and to some due sense of the things that are, whether in heaven or on earth, of which we may have thought previously far too little. II. CnmsTIANITY BORE THE FRUIT OF A MOST UNUSUAL UNITY. The brotherhood of humanity now is exampled. And though for many a reason and from many a cause, better or worse, its duration was very brief, yet we may say, " It is enough.'' We ~ball know it n:::ain, "in like manner" as we now know it. These two things may be most permissibly said to the grief that mourns devoutly its short duration : (1) that in very t.uthit was not really so short as it seemed; and (2) that but a glimpse of it was of use, but a glimpse of it good to behold, but a flash of it such as to leave when it had gone, and such as has left, a glory on the Christian soul and on its gaze. III. IT DOllE THE FRUIT OF A MOST UNUSUAL CHARITY. .. To do good and lo communicate" was not an absolute novelty; to give, nnd to give kindly and ungrudg- ingly, was not an unheard-of thing; to feed the poor and give him garments, and to visit him, sick and in prison, was exalted moral philosophy, and godly practice too, in and from the days of Job. But the charity, and the sacrifice of the just rights of property, and the eg_uality of this large family, was, for the thoroughness and the scale of the01 and for the occasion-not one of shipwrecked distress on a desolate shore-something very new under the sun. 'l'his, again, in outside show and bulk, was of short duration, but perbe.ps not of so short stay as it seems sometimes. And this, too, we shall recognize again. • IV. CHRISTIAN PRINOIPLE NOW DORE A VERY UNUSUAL MANIFOLD FRUIT. Yes, not only manifold for quantity, but in kind. 'These, all these together, are found by the disciples; namely, gree.t happiness of heart, great happiness in association with one another (as though no" root of bitterness" sprang up), great happiness in worshipping God, and great popularity with all the people. They "'''"'" halcyon days indeed I Their peculiarity, as representing the infancy of the Church, irresistibly reminds us of  THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [oe. n. 1-47,