St. Peter did not wait, for such signs in this object of the healing power. Two rel\Sons I!1ay help to explain the difference. St. Peter bad to show the faith which he and the other apostles hod in Christ. Signs of their faith were just then the important thing, rather than signs of the man's fa.itb. As our Lord acted directly, and not as an agent, be could give entire attention to the recipiency, or receptivity, of the objects of his power. And we may also say tha.t the miracle Wl\8 wrought rather for the people's iaku than for the man'e. It was a call to them to give heed to the apostles' witness; and therefore St. Peter was, properly, more concerned about the influence of the miracle on the people than even about the moral condition of the lame man. St. Peter acted on a sudden impulse of the Holy Ghost which dwelt in him, and it was fitting that be and tl::e rest of the disciples should keep themselves open to the Spirit's leadings, ready to follow and obey the inward inspirations and monitions. Compare Paul's response to Divine direction, in eh. x,·i. 6-10. We need, in these days, to recover our Jost faith in the presence and lead of God the Holy Ghost, and to win the attitude of watching for his gracious guidance. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." St. Peter's explanation of the miracle is that it was wrought in the" power of Christ's Name." This we endeavour to understand. I. CHRisT's NAME GATHERS UP BIS RIGHTS A.ND ATTRIBUTES. A name should be the expression of what a thing is, or what a man is. Nowadays names of persons are conventional and \l"ithout significance; they are fixed by accident or by sentiment. In olden times they held meanings, and were appropriate to individuals ; so a name was an explanation or revelation. In sympathy with this it is said that the redeemed are to have a "new name" on their foreheads. It will gather up into an expression their privilege and their joy as the fully redeemed. F. W. Robertson, in his sermon en • Jacob wrestling' (First Series, p. 41), says, "In the Hebrew history are discernible three periods distinctly marked, in which names and words bore very different characters. In the :first of these periods names meant truths, and words were the symbols of realities, The characteristics of the names given then were simplicity and sincerity. The second period begins about the time of the departure from Egypt, anrl it is characterized by unabated simplicity, with the addition of sublimer thought and feeling more intensely religious. The third period was at its zenith in the time of Christ-words had lost their meaning, and shared the hollow, unreal state of all things, Jacob lived in the first age, when men are sincere and truthful and earnest, and names exhibit character. To tell Jacob the Name of God was to reveal to him what God is and who." "The use of Name as the equivalent of power is very Jewish. It grew out of such passages as Ps. cvi. 8, 'He saved them for his Name's sake.' In the literature of the Jews great power was attributed to the Name of God, even when only inscribed, e.g. as it was said in tradition to have been on the rod of Moses." The Name of "Jesus of Nazareth n stands, therefore, for bis Messiahship, his missi(,'11,, hie ir,jinite worthiness, his accepted work, and his present power. Or, we may say, it stands for him, and sets him forth as the present Hedeemer, "able to heal and to save unto the uttermost." IL CHRIST'S NAME INVOLVES BIB SPIRITUAL PRESENCE, This would be a familiar association to the Jew. God was in the bush, but Moses only had his Name. God delivered Israel from Egypt, but Israel knew him present with them only in his Name. They worshipped a God whom they never saw, and only could "exalt by his great Name, Jah.'' And so Jesus Christ was gone out of the sphere of the senses. Really, however, present still, spiritually present, and working gracious and mighty works through faith in bis Name. This is all we have of Christ-his Name, And yet for us too it is the grasping of the spiritual reality of his presence. III. CRBIST's N.um CAli BEAL THE srcx. Because he is present ID the Name. 11 The Ne.me did not work as e. formula of incantation; it required, on the part both of the worker and receiver, faith in that which the Name represented-the manifestation of the Father through the Son." 'l'he most striking illustration of the apostle's faith in Christ's Name, i.e. Christ's actual presence and power to heal, is found in the recovery of lEneas (eh. ix. 34). St. Peter spoke u if he saw Christ there, saying, 11 lEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." IV. CHRLl!T's NAME cAli BEAL THE sm-srcx BOUL. For all outward and material healings are but illustrations of what Christ is now doing in moral BpMres, in our hearts OH, IU, 1-26,] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 117
and lives, if we will, by faith, open to him. And what is called faieh is simply this: eoul-opening to the living Saviour, who, in hie Divine power and grace can C0'7M in and heal, and cleanse, and save. "Behold, I stand e.t the door and knock," etc'. Appeal as to whether there has yet been this openness to Christ. Im oress that in all healing and saving work, man may be the agent, but the power lies in the Name' which gathers up for us a present living Saviour.-R. T. '