I. Tm:i: REAL NATURE OF TIIIB UNANIMITY BO NOVEL. It is of a. moral sort. It is not of an intellectual sort, nor irn:lceu of any other possibly more open to view, but leRs deep and far-reaching than this. "They were of one heart and one soul." They fell ono, wished, hoped, purpo8ctl, and sought, a.s though, instead of being a " multitude," they were "a.ll one." II. THE BOUil0E 01.1' THIS UNANIMITY BO NOVEL. One thing, one thing only, accounts for it. It comes from spiritual causes, and is of spiritual birth. It answers to the work of deepest impressions o.nd influences made upon whatever was deepest found in certain men. It is true that certain some, who had "no depth" in them, and ha.d experienced no deep influences, seern,ecl caught by the contagion of it; but what they were really caught by was the contagion of the appearance of it. Long before the sun rose to its "scorching heat" they were "withered a.way." No entrancio~ Utopian doctrine captivated the "multitude." The Holy Spirit wrought deep in their heart. No calculations of the doctrines of human society, of science, of economy, showed the way to this unanimity, but only the uncalculatingness of" souls" moved by that same Holy Spirit. '!'he doctrinaire and the professed unbeliever may have their version to give of this unanimity, but to the believer in Scripture it is as important to note as it is impossible to disbelieve it, that this great phenomenon wa.s the fruit of a supernatural Being working in men's hearts. Of all lame philosophies of human life and human events, that iB the lamest that leaves out the theology of the simplest version of Christianity. III. THE VISIDLE EFFECTS OF THIS UNANIMITY WERE NOVEL. These visible effects were practical in their nature. They were such as both pervaded and penetrated- they dominated the life of those in whom they were shown forth. They consisted of good deeds. They were the good deeds of genuine "charity." They bespoke the extinction (at all events for the time) of selfishness, and they furnished a. literal example of the fulfilling of "the second great commandment," viz. the loving of one's neighbour as one's self. They were effects that showed no laboured attempt, nor even the consciousness of effort, and in these very features of them looked the more like "the fruits of the Spirit." Nor could they be confounded with mere detached and individual good deeds. They were systematic, and if they could be said to leave the giver poorer at all, they left him also poorer for all his life. He gave and gave all that he had to give in many instances, and therein notably differenced himself from the man who may work himself up or be worked up to the point of giving one lar~e subscription, but who has never yet risen to the occasion of giving-in one that largest and least-himself, first to "the Lord and then to his people." But this it is that was the attested outcome of the unanimity of these disciples, that they gave themselves to one another. And of this no account offers itself but one that carries with it the inevitable conclusion, that they had first given themselves to the Lord. However, it iB the thing patent with which we have here to do, and that was not the profession of a Divine, but the proof of a mutual, love. Pointing to this unusual "multitude," we may say-nay, all Bubsequent times have snid-" The works that they did bare witness of them." For the rich and those who had, by a voluntary levelling down, and by the simplest, most natural organization, put poverty, want, and their attendant evils to flight. Artificial distinction on the one hand, o.nd envy on the other, sank swil"t below the horizon. Wonderful transformation to be wrought only by the " Holy Spirit" I While it lasted it showed a dispensation by itself, unique, "elect, precious." While it lasted, it exhibited the people of God as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people," succes~fully showing forth "the praises of him" who had called them "out of darkness" into what certainly was "marvellous light." IV. EVERYTHING REMARKABLE IN THIS UNANIMITY WAS 80 FAR FORTH INTE:SSIFIED IN THE MULTITUDE 01' THOSE AMONGST WHOM IT WAS PROVED. 'l'he greater multitude of o.ny people must carry so much greater variety. Varieties of age and character, of position and of past life, must in this multitude hnve been strikingly represented. Dut all these, whatever they were, did "that one and the selfsame Spirit work" to a harmony and union unknown before. 'l'o think of the vast variety of opinion, ano. temper, and taste, aud feeling, all meekly, obediently, gladly, lowering their pride I 'l'bey sway themselves into a rest of peace that "the world knoweth not." Anc 148 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Lea 1v, 1-37,
worthy of observation indeed is this. It shuts the mouth of the taunt that Christianity is the religi0n of a clique, of the w<.>ak, of the few. It is the open augury of I\ religion that is to con'l'ince, to unite, Rnd to rule all; but its rule, the rule that is most binding of all rule-that of love,-B,