The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 185

that belic,cth on me, the works that I do shall h<1 do also; and greater workA than tliesc ~bnll he do: because I go unto my Father" (John xiv. 12).-D. Vel1'. 17-4.0.-A gmnd victory for the tl'uth along the whole line ; all the _post'ti'ons of //,e e11emy taken. The few hours tbnt were coYcrctl by this portion of the history must ba1·e been hours charged with confirmation of the faith for the apostles. It is not merely that they are again nttacketl and again get in the enri the victory, but t.hat every position is carried for them by some strong arm invisible. It is not nltogethcr the force of the truth, at least of the truth as spoken and spoken by them; still less is it their own force that gains this glorious and memornble day, although doubtless both of th<1se are involved in the day's achievements. Dut there was a "fighting from heaven" for them," and the stars in their courses fought against" their enemies. And as nothing so much daunts an enemy as the impression of this latter, so nothing can be conceived more reinforcing to the faith and courage of the army or the genera.I who have evidence of the former. \Vhile, then, the bold and faithful utterance of "all the words of this life" was now the loving care of the apostles, God's waichful providence und the living Spirit whom Christ sent made the "heaven that fonght for" them. '\Ve may view the present portion of the Church's history under this light. It is the history of a succession of incidents, every one of which shows the foe as the party signally discomfited. The apostles are still the rcpre~entatives of the Church. They sustain the brunt of any attack. And it is note- worthy that at present, so far as we read, no private member of the Church is exposed to any similar treatment. Notice, then- 1 THE INCIDENT OF A :NEW TRIAL OF THE EFFECTIVE:t.'ESS OF IMPRISOmmNT, The hi~h priest and those who were acting wit.h him bad not, it appears, learned the lesson which their former failure might well have taught them, It had been attended by circumstances and followed by a sequel which should have made a lasting impression on their memory. But memory's good offices were scorned, and wisdom's lessons set nt nought and lost. The experiment is to be tried again, whether certain facts to which the word of the apostles gives great notoriety, with certain comments upon them and explanations of them, can be hushed up, and a prison's doors be mightier than miracles. This very point was soon settled, and in the shape that should have carried conviction and reproof in eqnal proportions. It is to be remembered that the imprisonment policy stands condemned, not altogether necessarily in itself, but emphatically, in this case, because the facts to which the apostles gave the notoriety so unwelcome to the authorities were facts within the knowledge of those same, and because the whole action of the apostles had the abundant attestation of surpassing miracles. Mouths can be stopped by imprisonment, no doubt. And the method may, no doubt, be a legitimate method, even though there be allowed to be _prima facie a. likely moral danger attaching to it. That danger has shown itself so repeatedly and so malignantly-in matters of religion to the oppressing of the conscience, in matters of science to the clouding of the prospects of truth and the growth of knowledge. Dut the point of interest and at the same time the hopelessness of the present conflict turned on the fact that the method of imprisonment attempted to stop the mouth of God's Word and truth. The enemy was confounded signally. An" abundant door" of exit from the prison for the apostles made a more than ever "abundant door of entrance" for the truth, and it occasioned "great boldness" of utterance of "all the words of this life" in the temple of temples, and before the enemy was so much as awalrn. II. THE INCIDE:t."T OF A SECOND TRIAL OF ARRAIGNMENT l!EFOBE THE COUNCIL, 1, In this proceeding embarrassment awaited the council; they stumble upon the very thresholci The prisoners are duly sent for, but they are not to be found. 'l'he prison is there; the keepers are there; the doors were shut with all appearance of safety, and if they had been opened, there is not a sign of it nor of any violence that might have effected it; the keys are neither lost nor injured; and the locks are not disobedient to their own keys, as though they had been tampered with. Yet to what all this, when the prison itself pro,es as empty as ever place was? The officers return with tale and face, no doubt, equally blank; but blankest of all was the astonishment of those in authority under these new circumstances. 'fhat "they were in doubt concerning them" (sc. the apootles) was no unnatural, t10 unlikely account of the case in which "the high priest,  011. v. 1--12.] THE ACTS OF THE .APOSTLES. 181