in the world to come" (Matt. xii. 32)? 3. It was e. redoubled witness. The second instance following so close on the :first e.nd in its eroact track made impressiveness itself yet more impressive, as the rapid redoubled peal of thunder st.rikes a tenfold terror into the heart. 4. The witness was timed with a precision that examples how closely the eye, the ear, the hand itself of the supreme Ruler of mankind mny bo alwaya upon the track of human individual life. That eye sees all nnd to tho time. That ear hears all an_d to the time. That hand is close upon all and to the moment of perpetration, nnd might stay the deC'd, or at once reward it or visit it with swift retribution. 'l'his is not_ what is gener!lllY and to practical purpose belie,cd. The absolute, physical proof of 1t would mamfestly take off all its strain from faith, and reduce to nothing the moral government of the world. It is enough if example be given, and it the veil now and then be drawn aside, or, as in this instance, suddenly rent to the revealing of that which is behind. IV. THE SPECIALTY OllSERVADLE IN TlIE TREATMENT OJ.I' THIS BIN. The gwift and conclusive visitation of this sin, with arraignment, punishment, and judgment all in o,::.e, "·as a method new for anything done as under the Spirit of Christ. During the personal ministry of Christ on earth nothing can be instanced to resemble it, except the withering of the fig tree, and that does not resemble it. Christ refused to call :fire from heaven or to permit a sword in the hand of a disciple. And when the unre- generate impetuosity of Peter did use the sword, Christ went so far as to undo what it had done. Forbearance and long-suffering were unfailing watchwords with Jesus. Let us observe that: I. One thing justifies this summary treatment, namely, that the agent in it is without doubt none other tha.n the Spirit of detection, of conviction, of unerring discernment, of perfect knowledge. Whether this sovereign Spirit, the Holy Spirit, led the wny rapidly through the instrumentality of Peter, or finally, without any use of even the lip of Peter himself, executed swift sentence, the entire respon- sibility rested with that same eternal Spirit. 2. One thing may with but little less hesitation be counted to explain the reason of this unusual "course of the Spirit," namely, t-he exact crisis at which the tender young society had arrived in certain rnoral aspects. The prompt and peremptory " course of the Spirit" on this occasion was not for any e:xternal defence of the body of the infant Church, but for the inner defence of it, of its very heart, of its self. In this swift visitation, whatever of kindness there was, that the communion of the true should not be poisoned by the presence of the false, and whatever of stern example there was to operate as an immediate counteractive and deterrent, alike the one and the other meant mercy and consideration toward an infant heart. 'l'he elements which went to make that heart just what it now was he.ve already been passed under review. We know full well that the Church was not permitted to depend long for its purity upon such witness ns this. Nevertheless, the memory of it and of the principle contained in it Las ever lived, lives still a powerful witness in itself, both for the Church and for the world. V. LASTLY, THE IMPBEBBION PRODUCED BY THE JUDGMENT OJ.I' THIS BIN, "Great fear came on ail them that heard these things" (ver. 5); "Great fear came upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard these things" (ver. 11). 1. 'l'he impression that was produced was one of a heHlthful sort. Many times as fear finds false occasion, this was an occasion most just. Human hearts need betimes such rousing. "Since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation of the world" {2 Pet. iii. 4), is the languid complaint of the life of far more than tho~e from whose lip it is heard. When God is •• strict to mark iniquity" now, men begm to fear, and they think, and they believe, for an hour at least, in the reality of moral distinctions. Pity anl shame it is that men do not understand and believe that there is a sense in which God assuredly is and will ever be "strict to mark iniquity," so that they should "fear l1efore him all the day." It is God's mercy which wakes fear betimes by methods such as that under consideration ; for that fear is helpful to remind, and to arrest attention, and t-0 suggest onward tbiuking. And it is not less God's mercy that he does not use such method very often. For it would make harder those who will be hard. And it would deprive the willing and obedient of tho opportunity (1) of test,fying what faith they have, and (2) of testing that faith, and (3) of getting greater &trength to it. 2. 'l.'he impression was one that wrought on on, IV. 1-37.] 'l'llE Ac·rs OF TITE APOSTLES.
saint and sinner, on tho Church and on" all that heard" of what had tran~pircd. The Divine judgment no doubt aimed at this twofold miniRtry, in one and the same providence, (1) '!'hough the " fear" were of the nature of a shock to the disci plcs that formed that cheerful and holy society, yet it tended in the directest manner possible to recover them from the greater shock of such a sight as thi.~, falsehood and hypocrisy and unreality triumphing, or even permitted to breathe amongst them. And (2) because the "fear" wa11 of the nature of a shock, it worked caution and the awe of reverence on the part of those who were outside the Church. These were very forcibly reminded that to be true disciples meant something more and deeper than in an hour's enthusiasm joining themselves to a happy company, whose very earnest- ness had it in it to enlist a natural sympathy. 'l'he sympathy that joins any man to the Church of Jesus Christ must be something different from a. natural sympathy. It must be an h1ward, deepest sympathy wrought by the Spirit.-B.