The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 171

e.nd Sapphire made a mistake which was simply ruinous. They overlooked the fact that the Holy Spirit of God was in close connection with his Church, and was acting through his servants. Thay forgot that when they were trying to deceive inspired men they were acting falsely in the face of the Divine Inspirer, so that when they imagined they were lying unto men they were really lying unto God (ver. 4). For this guilty oversight they paid the last penalty of death. Is not their sin too easily reproducible and t-00 often re-enacted? Too commonly men guiltily overlook the presence and , agency of the Divine Spirit. 1. A Church does so when it is resting in human e.nd earthly advantages for its prosperity; when the minister trusts to his eloquence, the people to those arts and influences which are from below and not from above; when both are forgetting that there is an almighty power which is within their reach and at the command of believing prayer. 2. The human soul does so when it disregards the influences which are at work upon and within it; when it treats lightly the pleadings of the pulpit, the warnings of friendship, the prickings of conscience, the convictions and impulses which call it to newness of life. Is not this to sin against the Holy Ghost, and is not the penalty of it spiritual, eternal death ?-C. Vera. 11-16.-.Elemen.ts of influence. Instead of the sin and death of Ananias and Sapphira proving disastrous to the infant Church, the melancholy event was followed by a period of ex~ra.ordinary success. There was a high tide of prosperity; the gospel showed itself a great power in the community (ver. 14). Here are some of the elements of that power. I. THE TERRIBLE. "Great fear came upon . . . as many as heard these things" (ver. 11). "By terrible things in righteouness" Goo. sometimes answers us and impresses us. The /earful has a work to do in inspiring awe and leading to conviction and conversion. fThere are awful truths in connection with the gospel (Matt. xxi. 44; xxiv. 51; xxv. 46, :etc.), as well as terrible facts happening in the providence of God, which do their work in the mind, solemnizing, subduing, preparing for thought, devotion, consecration. II. 'l'HE BE1'"'EFICENT. (Vers. 15, 16.) In apostolic times Christian beneficence iook the form of miraculons healing, and it was most efficacious in attracting and winning men. Now it takes other forms hardly less effective. The hospitals of the missionary in India and China, and the philanthropic institutions of England, initiated and sustained by Christian sympathy and self-sacrifice, are great elements of power, Christian kindness, taking a thonsand shapes, flowing in a thousand channels, is an untold, incalculable influence for good. III. THE SACRED. "The people magnified them" (ver. 13). To whomsoever this applied, whether to the apostles only or to the band of believing disciples, it is clear that a certain reverence was paid to those who bore about them such marks of close association with the Divine. To those who walk with God, who are men of prayer and of real devoutness of spirit as well as blamelessness of life, there will attach a certain sacredness which will canse them to be" magnified by the people," and their word will be with power. IV. THE SUCCESSFUL. It is clear, from the fifteenth and sixteenth verses, that the publicity gained by the "many signs and wonders" of one day brought together a still larger congregation of the sick and the expectant the following day. Success in Jerusalem begat 1mccess in "the cities round about." The moral and spiritual triumphs of the truth have been elements of influence of signal worth. What God has wrought in opening blind eyes of the mind and cleansing leprous souls has been the means of extending the healing and renewing power of Christ on every hand, What stronger argument have we than this-What Christ has done for such sad and sinful souls he can and will do for you ? V. THE SUPERNATURAL. "Signs and wonders" are not now wrought by the hand of the ministers of Christ. But the supernatural is with us still, thou~h the miracu- lous is gone. In connection with the preached W'ord, and in answer to believing prayer, the iron will is bent and the rocky heart is broken, the blind eyes are opened, and from the grave of sin dead souls come forth to newness of life.-O. Vers. 17-29.-Three things Divine. The success of the Christian cause had the Olt . •• 1-42.) TltE ACTS OF 'l'llll: APOSTLES. 1G7