The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 266

the spirit of the gospel, M the free energy of the holy God in men's souls, casts off in one word of the apostle these vile counterfeits, which ever obtain currency side by side with it in the world. The apostle whose word bas been in the very act of healing, "Silver and _gold have I none," exclaims, "Thy money perish with thee I" 2. A bosom sin will separate e. man from the kingdom of God. The kino-dom of God ls within_. It is e. spiritual st.ate and a spiritual system of motives. H:'has no part or lot in 1t who does not see that it aims at the fulfilment of our life by the subjugation of the lower motives and the instatement of the higher in the rightful empire of the ~ul. Simon's bee.rt , i u not "straight" before God. He was trying to juggle with him who searches the heart; to keep the lower pa~sions in full action, if possible, under the mask of piety. His is the type of perhaps the deadliest sin that Christianity bas occasioned in the world. As the shadow follows the sun, so does hypocrisy follow close on the heels of genuine piety. Insincerity is the sin of sins. What filth is in the bodily habit, that untruth is in the soul. The man is aware of his sin. It is no blindness of passion, but the deliberate admission of e.n habitue.l lie to the feelings and the thoughts. It is a poison or gall infusing its influence into the whole life of the mind. It is a bondage, and no liberty is possible under the tyranny of inward falsehood. Thus is the character of the impostor exposed by the pure light of the truth. He is seen to pretend a faith of which his heart knows nothing; he regards the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the means of base gain; and he knows no higher motive to repentance than slansh fear of punishment. The spirit of the gospel is illustrated in St. Peter by the strong contrast. It sternly points out me.n's sins e.nd tracks them to their source in the heart; chastises the sinner, but at the same time holds out the duty of repentance and the hope of forgiveness to the worst.-J. Vers. 26-40.-PMlip and the Ethiopian. This incident teaches us- L TB.AT MEN IN THE WAY OF DUTY lUY RECEIVE UNUSUAL GUIDA.NOE. The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, and gave him directions as to the course he should take in his missionary jonrney. How are we to understand the mode of this interference? We are told that rationalist expositors assume that the angel appeared to Philip in a dream ; for the word " Rise I " is spoken. But then it is replied that there is no mention of the night-time nor of a couch. And in ver. 26 there is no mention of a vision. Avoid rationalism, which is the attempt to exercise clear intelligence upon things best left in a sacred obscurity, or chiaro-oscuro. The point is not so much to understand bow the Divine intimation came, as to recognize the fact that it did come, Cases of sudden and irresistible impressions of the kind are not uncommon and are well e.ttested. But there are a thousand coincidences in life which we do not notice, and which may nevertheless be equally real evidences of a higher intelligence directing the human will, and "a good man's steps a.re ordered of the Lord, and he delighteth in his way." IL THERE IB NO BUCH THING AB CllillOE m LIFE. Two men meet on the road, the railway, in a foreign city, "casually," as tbey say; and something flows from the meeting which influences the after-life of one or both. In the present meeting, notice: L The stranger's nationality. He is from Ethiopia, from the south of Egypt. Some say of J ewieh extraction; for he was reading the great Jewish prophet; but perhaps it was not so. 2. Hia rank. He was a "potentate" in his land, the grand treasurer of the queen, Candace being the official title of the queens of Ethiopia, as Pharaoh was that of the kings of Egypt. 3. Hie religiolfB belief. Whether he was a "proselyte of the gate"' or no cannot be decided. But hlB errand was to Jerusalem, to pray. Therefore in his African home he had learned to know and to worship the God of Israel. It fooks like e. co.se of independent conviction, and therefore the more interesting ; some- w.bat like that of the Roman centurion in the Gospel. He was reading in all probability 1n a COP]' of the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Scriptures. This version had Deen diffused from Alexandria through Egypt, and was doubtless well known to all the educated class. Philip 'receives an intimation, no~ this time fi:o~ "an angel," but from "the Spiiit," to go and join himself to the char10t of the Eth1op1an, III. THE WoRD OF GOD .6. COMMON BOND OF INTEREST AND SYMPATHY, The teacher is led by Providence to the diticiple, who is found beforehand prepared to receive the teacher'■ inlltructino, and craving it. The teacher and the disciple have need of one Ull, Vlll, 1-40,] THE AO'l'S OF THE APOSTLES. 263