The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 230

tog<•lhor in the land of the enemy and in the" great and terrible wilderness" and of whicli their descendants sang with such reverence and such rapture ;-by these'common sufferings and common mercies they were welded together as a nation they became rich in, those national memories w~ich are a people'.s strength, they bec;me a country for which, through many a succeedmg century, patnots would cheerfully risk all their hop~s and proud~y l~y down their lives. We learn these lessons. 1. Be prepared for comrng changes m circumstance. No man has a right to feel secure in anythin" but. in a wise and holy character, in that w~ich makes hin:1 ready for any event that° may happen. At any hour human prospenty may pass rnto adversity, joy into sorrow honour into shame; or at any hour straitness may be exchanged for abundance' lowliness for elevation, gloom for gladness. We all urgently need the fixed principles' the rest in God, the attachment to things eternal and Divine, the heritage in th; heavenly future, which will keep us calm in the most agitating vicissitudes of earthly fortune. 2. Trust God when things are at their worst. In the first days of E"yptian slavery, and still more in Potiphar's prison, things must have looked dark indee<l to Joseph. "But God was with him" (vers. 9, 10). It was a terrible time, too, for the children of Israel when the king "which knew not Joseph" dealt subtilly with and evil entreated them, slaying their young children at their birth (vers. 18, 19); bnt God. saw their affliction (vers. 34, 35; Exod. iii. 7), and was preparing to send the deliverer in due time. .And to the upright in any scene of disappointment and di9tress there will arise" light in the darkness" (Ps. cxii. 4). Trust and wait; the longest and severest. storm will pass, and the sun shine again on the waters of life. 3. Realize that God has large and long purposes in view. Jacob died far off from the promised land, but his bones were to rest there in due course, and there his children were to have a goodly heritage. It matters little what happens to us as individuals; enough if we are taking a humble share in working out his great and beneficent designs.-C. Vera. 20-39.-The Divine and the human. I. DIVINE INTERVENTION. The hand of God is sometimes visible though it is usually unseen. We see the Divine working in (1) the creation of such a mind as that of Moses; (2) the fashioning of such a frame as was his (ver. 20; Heb. xi. 23); (3) the deliverance of the child from the dangers of the river; (4) his being confided to the gnardianship and instruction of Pharaoh's daughter, where he would learn "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (ver. 22), and thus be prepared for future work. We can have no doubt as to the operation of Divine wisdom in such a case as this. May we not say-Ez uno disce omnes 1 May we not conclude that there is the handiwork of God in all our lives, if we could but discern it; that he is directing our course; and that, though it is evidently best for us that we should not see so much of Divine intervention as to be unwisely waiting for it or injuriously dependent on it, we may console ourselves with the belief that "we are not driftwood on the wave," but rather as noble ships which a heavenly hand is steering to the desired haven? II. HU14AN NOBLENESS. (Vera. 23-28; see Heb. xi. 24-26.) It was" in Moses' heart. to visit his brethren," and he took their cause in hand in a very practical and decisive way (ver. 24). He may have been mistaken in the method which he adopted, but that is of very small moment. The great thing is that it was in his heart to sympathize with and succour his brethren. The temptation to become naturalized as. an Egyptian must have been great indeed. High honours, great wealth, abundant. gratification of the lower instincts,-these prizes and pleasures, which are dear to men in general, were well within his reach. He deliberately chose to forego them all that he might play a nobler and braver part. Well has the event justified his choice. For as a rich and powerful Egyptian, he would have achieved nothing of any value to man- kind; he would long ago have been forgotten; but as it is, he has rendered a service to the human race second to none that lived before the Saviour, and has a name that will never die while the world has any place in its memory for its heroes and its martyrs. Not on the same splendid scale, bnt in thi;i same estimable spirit, can we emulate his nobility, preferring an honourable affliction to unholy pleasure, a sac~ed and us~ful life among the lowly to ungodly distinction among the great, the sernce of Christ any- ;where to the smiles and favours of the world. ' III. Dxvnra MANIFESTATION, (Vere. 3.~~, ;38,) G:od there revealed himself t.o • AOTS. • • Q  THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLE& [OIL VU. 1-60.