The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 244

the ground without" God's "notice," or in the fact that "all the hairs of our bead are numbered" of God. While, therefore, we may believe readily that Moses was" raised up" of Go_d, ". called of God," v:atched over and gr~ciously trained by the providence of God, this will none the less yield us the opportnmty of observing the illustrations of the born reformer which he affords, _and of ?oticing, for _important uses, how parallel they run to those of one whom we might hesitate to descnbe as in any similar sense at all events" raised" or II called of God." That we may, therefore the more clearly feel how little of the mere made and artificial there was in Moses, V:e may stop and note how the very brief sketch before us reveals some of the plain marks of the born reformer, whether for the better or the less good. l. A MOMENT ARRIVES, CHARGED WITH A STRONG IMPULSE TO FIND A NEW POINT 01' DEPARTURE FOR LIFE AND WHATEVER 18 ITS CHIEF MEANING. 1. The impulse comes. It "came into his heart." It comes, and it comes very much as matter o! feclin"-out of his heart as surely as into it. 2. It comes under some comparatively unprete~tious guise. Moses has a prompting to" visit his brethren the children of Israel." Out of sight is not out of mind with him, where it would have been so in a million of cases to one. He does not despise, forget, or ignore as much as possible poor re!ations. His heart is toward them, and perhaps at the time conscious of nothing else, he wiil " visit" them and throw in his lot with them, 3. The impulse is of uncommon strength. (1) It asked for the decision of a ·moral question, and "refusing to be called" what he was not (Heb. xi. 24); he quickly settled that. (2) It encountered the adopting of a lot of "affliction," aud a share of suffering, in place of pride, wealth, luxury, and power (Heb. xi. 25); and the choice was unhesita.•ngly made. (3) It asked force and per- spicuity of spiritual vision, and that far sight that can not merely see afar, but that will find "a hand to reach through time," to catch the "far-off interest of tears"- that genuine "recompense of reward" (Heb. xi. 26). (4) Lastly, it dares to face the wrath of a. foster father king, a despot, whose will, whose whim, whose passion, whose cruelty would not stop at anything that crossed his purposes; but "he feared not" (Heb. xi. 27), for" he endured as seeing" the King eternal, immortal, and "invisible." '£hese things all help to speak a reality and a strength in the impulse, which promise well to make the prophet master of the man, and which will fit the theory of a born reformer, while yet it is matter of theory. II. Two SUCCEEDING DAYS BEVEAL MoSEB-TIIE ONE IN THE CAPACITY OF A WRESTLER, AND VERY SUCCESSFUL ONE; THE OTHER CLOTHiliG HIMSELF IN THE AUTHORITY OF A JUDGE A.ND ARBITER ; li~ B0'rH OASES UNSOLICITED. His action on either day is spon- taneous. It was doubtless as great a surprise to the brother he would befriend as to his adversary for the time. Yet in either ca,e Moses steps into the various arena, as though to the manner born. 1. This stepping boldly into action is very noticeable. Eow wide often the gulf that separates thought, feeling, wish, conviction, and even resolution from action itself! 2. Much more significant is the stepping from Egypt's court and pa.lace e,nd lap of luxury into practical conflict of this kind. It meant something unusual, and something unworldly and of the right sort unusual. It was the kind of thing to hold men who didn't like it spell-bouud for at all events twenty-four hours. It provoked the question, "From whence bath this man" this authority and these mighty deeds (vers. 22, 28)? It meant a" new man" (Luther's hymn) on the spot. III. A GREAT MARK OF A BORN REFORMER APPEARS NOW IN MosES, m THE ABSENCE OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH HE BETRAYS. What he did, what he said, what he tried to work, all came to thought, heart, and hand, as things under existing circumstances the most natural in the world. He saw himself only in the light of au instrument in the hand of God, and took for granted that his brethren would see him and all else in the same light. Probably his eye did not look on himself at all at the ~ime ( pr~ba_bly at the time, even w}ijit "he supposed" about his_ brethren ~n~erstan~mg _his m1ss10n on their behalf, was an utterly unconscious supposmg. For 1t 1s the hist?nan afterwards whose language is here read, and it was probably when Mo~es first r~ce1ved a. check, and was taken aback by it, that his "supposing" precipitated itself. Circumstances, oppo- sition, persecution, do not fail soo11 to open the eyes of almost any reformer, spec1'.\lly of auy reformer in mattor mornl but it is of the born reformer to plunge prompt, kar- lcss, nothiug hesitating, in medias res. And Moses did just this. The pain and th~ ,imart and their useful lessvl)e were yet to eome.  THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [en. VIL 1-GC