The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 141

III. PnAYEK THE INSTRUMENT OF WEAKNESS AND OF STRENGTH, Of weaknes., for it implies dependence; and were our wiMhes convertible iuto facts, there would be n" prayer. Some form of helplessness o.lone brings men to their knees. Yet it iA ~;.~ expression of strength; for strength in weakness is the very secret and heart of moral energy 1md of Christian piety. 1. The aim of prayer. It is that the human spirit may be united with the Divine, whether in action or in suffering. Action lay before the suppliants now-action chiefly or wholly by utterance, which is ever the special action of the Christian witness. Boldness in that utterance-the very thing which had impressed the Sanhedrim in Peter and John-was the thing needed. The renewal of strength must come in prayer. God grants at one time only sufficient for that time. He does not allow the accumulation of capital. He lends that we may spend and come to him ngain. But boldness must rest upon the knowledge of facts. So closely does courage link with knowledge that the Greek philosopher even said they were identical. Without some evidence that God is on our side, we cannot have the heart to go on. Where, then, may we look for such evidence? The apostles sought it in the manifestation of Divine energy to cure. This was the significant symbol of his presence and of the intention of the gospel in those days. They were justified on the ground of err;perience, clear, repeated, and definite, in expecting this kind of encouragement. We, on the ground of our experience, are entitled to expect something; diil'erent, but equally in its way real. Divine energy to heal through ways and IDP..an~ not less Divine because natural, we are to seek and make an object of our :;:,rayer. 2. The answer to prayer. In this case it ea.me in a manner not to be mistaken-by an immediate impression on the senses and on the inward consciousness of all. The house trembled; their spirits vibrated to the inner touch of God; their tongues were loosed, and the sought-for fluency and confidence were given. How can we apply this to modern times? No sober Christian teacher dares to encourage the expectation of such "signs and wonders" now. They belong to a past mode of religious consciousness, a disused mode of revelation. For "God fulfils himself in many ways." How impor- tant to know in what direction to look for God-the point on our horizon where he may be expected to appear! Much, the greater part, must be left to individual experience. Let every worshipper seek for the Shechinah in his heart. And in general, let us teach that no special manifestation of God is to be expected out of the lines of clear intelligent experience. Experience is itself the ordinary and most precious revelation of God's will. .And the experience of every soul, devoutly read, contains past wonders, and prophesies their recurrence.-J. Vers. 32-37.-A glimpse of ideal social life, Of lHe, that is, in the idea of the God of love. Such glimpses are given doubtless to stimulate our faith and our a.spiraticn ; o.nd withdrawn because struggle, not perfect attainment, is the condition of actual lilc. I. SOCIAL UNITY. It rested on a common faith, a common ideal, a common sentiment. Union with God is the only basis of human social union. Here, from the depths of the epirit-lifo, this principle was for a brief space brought to light. What was then made visible fact is constantly the invisible fact and ground of the spiritual kingdom, II. 1TB EXPRESSION. The abolition of property. Property is the most tenacious of institutions, because it is the product and the insurance of the person, the individual, the self'obf each man. ,vcre the self-lire, whose instinct is centrifugal and separates us from the commonalty, suspended, in that moment property must cease. For then the centripetal instinct, or love, must exert its force unfettered. This was what took place under the high tide of the Spirit's life in Jerusalem. Men forgot the peculiar in them- selves, knew and felt only the universal. One heart, one soul; the ideal of heroes, patriots, philanthropists, was for a fleeting period realized. 'l'he magnet of the Name that reconciles drew all wills to itself. Necessarily there was an extraordinary access of power to individuals, for they drank of the very central source of all power; as wtt nre weak who think self-interestedly o.nd unsympathetically. And joy must accompanJ this entire emancipation of the spirit from the fetters of self. No~ could there be that sense of indigence which makes us ashamed and cramps our energies. All is for each, as each is for all. Self-sacrifice is the last test of lovo, its only infrangible proof. When tho pain of self-sacrifice ceases, there the triumph of love i~ complete. ..\.nd in  136 'l'IIE ACTS OF 'l'BE APOSTLES. [en. IV. 1-31