And so it wne at the present time. Every day he was carried by some kind hands and lo.id nt the Beautiful gate of the temple, in the hope that those who passed to and fro ~ the house of God would look with pity upon his _misery and minister to his wants. '.l~ey must have b~en se.d and dreary hours passed ID expectancy and frequent disap- porntment; _wo.tchmg the countenances of the passers-by; overlooked by some, turned away from with proud contempt by otherA; sharply refused by this well-dressed but hard- hearted Sadducee, Bnd occasionally receiving a mite or a farthin" from that ostentation& P~arisee; doub~ful whether h~ would, carry home enough to supply his daily meal and his necessar~ raiment, On this occasion he saw two men a?out to go into the temple. Pe~haps their aspect awakened the hope that there were kmd, loving Hearts beneath their humble garb. Or, maybe, he merely uttered the usual monotonous prayer like that of the ltal~an beggars, "Dat? qualque cosa per l'am_or_ di Dio." Anyhow, we may be sure that his utmost hopes did not go beyond rece1v10g some small coin at their hands. But when, in answer to the words from Peter's lips, "Look on us," he had looked up and probably stretched out his hands to receive the expected alms, instead thereof he heard the words, "In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." And in an instant he was whole. No longer a cripple, no longer chained down to his bed, no longer a prisoner, he sprang to his feet, he walked, he leapt, he danced for very joy, and, singing praise as he went, he entered the holy courts. Here there was an instance of God doing unto men exceeding abundantly above all that they ask or think. Here we have a type of the exceeding riches of God's grace, resulting in unlooked-for mercies to the children of men. Let us take note of it, and frame our estimate of God's character accordingly. Nothing more elevates the tone of a man's religion than a worthy conception of God's goodness. It stimulates his love, it kindles his adoration, it raises his hopes, it intensifies all his spiritual emotions. Low concep- tions of God's nature beget a low standard of love and service. There is nothing like a true view of the infinity of the love of God, and of the unsearchable riches of his grace in Jesus Christ, to lash all the sluggish emotions of the heart into a holy and healthy enthusiasm. "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it," is another mode of expressing the same blessed truth ; and "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift," i11 the language of those whose experience coincides with the revelation which God has given of himself in his holy Word.
Vere. 12-26.-The two judgments. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart " (1 Sam. xvi. 7). "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke xvi. 15). " The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner " (Luke xx. 17). The above passages, with many oLhers, call our particular attention to the frequent contrariety between the judgment of men and the judgment of God. The section before us gives two striking examples of this con- trariety. I. '.l'he first is the contrariety between the judgment of the men of Israel as to tha cause of the healing of the lame man, and the truth as declared by the apostles. The men of Israel thought that Peter and John had healed him by their own power or holiness. Their blind, carnal mind could not see beyond what lay just before them. They mistook the instrument for the cause. They could not see the power of Jesus Christ in heaven workin•g through the hands of his servants on earth. And this is a type of a widely extended human error or false judgment. In the judgment of carnai. men, however sharp their intellectual sight may be, everything is material, and tha visible matter has no invisible spirit behind it. Famines, pestilences, ea~thquakes, are in their view natural phenomona with which the hand of God has nothrn~ to do. SuccesB or defeat in war, prosperity or adversity to the individual or the nat1?n, are owing exclusively to the wisdom and prowess of men, not to the blessrng or chastening of God. And it is even so in the Church. They see o~ly t~e ou~ward visible signs, and they ignore the inward spirit!-161. grace. Holy baptism 1s ~ sign, a. ceremony, a rite. It has, maybe, a certain s1gruficance! a ~ertaJn admomtory or teaching power in their eyes, but they ignore the active, qwckenmg energy of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament. The bread and wine in the Lord's Supper are emblems, 11:,mbols, tokens, bµt ~<I.Y apprehend not the body and blood of Jesus Christ "which J.OTtl. B 98 THE ACTS OF THE APOS'l'LES. [ OH, Ill, 1-26.