pC'ning, end whicl1, whenever they do happen, do injury to the cnuse of Christ. ,ve may learn in this melancholy example how the love of money, or tho love of the pmise of men, or II grC'edy 11ppetite of applause, or an ungodly emulation of the f11me of other men! or the hab(t of think)ng of appe11rances more than of reality, and of putting on n rehg10us garb without taking care that our hearts are really moved and guided by the Holy Spirit of God, may, almost before we are aware of it, bo leading us into the paths of the hypocrite instead of into the way of the just. And in the fearful exposure and punishment of these first Christian hypocrites, wo may learn how certain it is thnt ~ooner or later every hidden thought and every secret of the heart will be brought to Jid1t.; and that none will be able to stand before the all-senrching eye of God but thoee who walk before God in godly sincerity, while they trust with n steadfast fnith in the merits of their almighty Saviour. Ilut anyhow we may be sure that this example of hypocrisy by the side of eminent holiness in the primitive Church, is thus set forth in its di8tinctness by the inspired historian, to be a touchstone by which to try future nctions, to be a type of an evil which would be found to exist in all subsequent ages, and to be a warning to the children of God to watch against the very first beginnings of declension from simplicity and sincerity in their relations to Almighty God. Vers. 12-42.-The advancing tide. The gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ crucified and risen a~ain had issued from Jerusalem at the bidding of the Lord. Would it ever stop 't would it ever cease to advance? would it ever meet with obstacles sufficiently strong to tum back its current and to arrest its progress? . When the flowing tide is hurrying towards the shore, some particular wave is checked by an opposing rock, and is shivered into spray before it can reach the shore. But wait a little and the rock is sunken beneath the waters, and the waves roll on unchecked to their goal. Sometimes a temporary lull seems to have fallen upon the languid waves, and three or four in succession do not reach the bounds which their predecessors had attained. But yet a moment and the tide advances in its unbroken strength, and never fails to fulfil its destined course. It is just so with the gospel of Christ. Its advance is sure.. Its strength is in the unchanging will of God. It has a courso to run; it will run it. It has an end to fulfil; it will fulfil it. Hindrances, obstacles, defiance, it will meet with from man in a thousand varying forms. The opposition of hard unbelief in those who boast that they have intellect and philosophy on their side; the opposition of adverse creeds seeking to supplant the true faith; the fierce perse- cutions of ungodly power hoping to stop by force the progress of a hated truth; the didsions and dissensions of Christians among themselves; the abounding of iniquity and the chilling of Christian love; the sudden rise of some heresy or apostasy;- these and such like hindrances may occasionally seem to check the onward flow of the waters of life, and at times to threaten its further advance. But, like the irresistible tide of the mighty ocean, God's purpose is pressing surely on; and by the time decreed by his eternal wisdom the whole" earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. xi 9). The chapter now before us gives a most striking view of this irresistible advance as well as of the obstacles opposed to it. One hundred and twenty men and a few poor, weak women are, as it were, the seed which the band of the Lord has sown in an uncongenial soil. Immediately around them was all the bigotry of Pharisaic Judaism, clinging with desperate and impassioned obstinacy 10 the traditions of their fathers, and ready to kill and be killed on behalf of the Law of Moses, on the one hand; and the hard, cold scepticism of the Saddncees on the other, denying with agnostic incredulity the existence of anything beyond the ken of their eyes or the grasp of their hands. In the wider circle of the outside world there was the iron heathenism of Rome. Imperial tyranny and Cresarean power ; military force and the despotism of the sword; sensuality of the deepest dye; idolatry of the most aagressive and all-engrossing kind; philosophies the most adverse to the cross of Christ, How and where could the gospel make its way? Would it not die in the upper room where it was bom? But what do we read? "There were added to the Church about three thousand souls ; n " Many believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand ; " " Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; " "The number of the disciples was multiplied;" and so on, marking the constant advance of the Church of God. .And yet all the while every effort was being Oil, V. 1-42.] THE ACTS OF TUE APOSTLES. 165
made to chec~ this nd vance. Thero were already "prisons oft." There wcro the ficrco threE1tenmg~ of thoso who had power to execute them; there were stripes inflicted; thero was the maJesty of the law and the authority of rulers a.rra.ycd a""ainst them. But it was all in v~in. 'l'he preachers co~ld not be silenced; the preachi~g could not be stopped; the m1rncles could not be hid; men's hearts would turn to Christ when they heard of his grace; multitudes would leave 'the side of the persecutors and joir. themselves to the persecuted. 'l'he tide would flow on. It rushed over the heads ol the opposing rocks. And then worldly wisdom came in with its prudent counsel, "Leav_e these men alone." _A;nd so .f~r a time the work ~f God went quietly on, gathermg strength and acqumng sohd1ty from day to day, m preparation for future nostility from the world without, nnd future hindrances from corruption within. But these first fortunes of Christianity have left to the Church in all ages a model of th!J conflicts that await her, and of the only method of obtaining victory. They show us that through opposition and contradiction, in sunshine and in storm, amidst encoura<Te- me~t~ and under depression, the servants ~f God have to persevere steadily in p~o- cla1mmg the grace of God and the resurrection of Jesus Chnst, have to go forward in an unswerving obedience to the commandment of Christ and an unfaltering confidence Jn his almighty power, and that success is sure. "On this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."