The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 267

another. The teacher has much to impart, the disciple much to receive; and each in a way changes his par~ ~ith the other,. for "!"e learn as we teach and teach in learning. The passage the Eth10p1an we.e readmg 1s one of the most significant of the Old Testament. It contains the picture of the Servant of Jehovah the Representative of Israel. It is the embodiment of Israel's spiritual ideal. Me;kness under injuries; lowly estate in the world and exposure to persecution; obscurity in the eyes of men; such are the traits of Israel's Hero, in the passage the Ethiopian is reading, Well may be ask, "Who is this unique figure portrayed by the prophet's pen ?-the prophet him- self or another?" Then Philip proceeds to unfold from this text the whole evangel, which centres in the person of JesllS, He is the Divine Figure, the living Embodiment of the prophet's meaning, the Fulfiller of Israel's long history. IV. CONVERSION PBODU0ED BY CONVIOTION. We may notice: 1. The preparati= for change i~ fe'1'6onal reJ!,ection, The seri~u~ mind, the attentive gaze fixed on th11 records of rehg1on, the desire to learn, the willingness to be taught, precede conversion in this case, and are the more attractive traits in one of high rank like the Ethiopian. We can only profit by the teacher when we have first used our own spiritual energy to the utmost. "To him that bath shall be given." 2. The prompt decision, New thought ever impels to new action, The light comes that we may use it. "What shall I do?" is the question of the conscience so soon as it is aroused and quickened by the light. The Ethiopian at once "decides for Christ "-the Christ he has learned to know through the study of the prophet and the preaching of the evangelist. And as Philip vanishes, a blessing is left on the heart of his disciple never to be effaced. The whole yields an important lesson on the value of opportunity, and how it shonld be seized both by teacher and by disciple. In interviews like these, like angels' visits, God is revealed, truth is sown in the heart, and in.fiuences are set at work which never ceaae.-J. Vere. 1-3.-771e enemy coming in like a flood. L THE PLOOD OF nnQUITY OALL!m FORTH BY THE OUTl'OUBING OF THE HOLY GHOST. 1. The corruption of the Jewish state. Instances in the C&Be of Saul of Tarsus, assenting to the des.Lb of Stephen. The organized persecution as an answer to the gospel The insincerity of those who pretended to accept Gamaliel's wise counsel. Their real cowardice in not venturing to lay hold of the apostles, 2. The persecution had now a leader in Saul. It was a more decided arraying of the priestly power against the new sect ; a. house-to-house visita- tion with assumed legal authority. This was to push forward the conflict between the two kingdoms as nothing else could. It was to give definite aim to the persecution, and so to prepare the way for the more decided lifting up of the standard against it by the Spirit of God in the conversion of Saul. II. TnE BREA.KING UP OF THE FmBT FORM OF CHURCH LIFE, PREP,A.RATORY TO A mGHER, WIDER, AND MORE AOTIVE, 1. Fellowship is very precious, but activity still more so. Loving one another should prepare us to love the world. The temporary expedient of Christian communism gave way before the world's violence; it was e. help to the realization of Church life, but not an a.biding rule of action. 2. Stephen's funeral and the Church's lamentation would deeply impress upon all dependence, not on individual instruments, but on the Spirit of God. How little it was thought that the chief persecutor would soon himself be the chief preacher! 3. Those scattered a.broad carried with them a. body of facts, both the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles so far, which helped them to dispense with the immediate superintendence of the apostles. So the New Testament would begin to be formed in that first persecution. The believers all over Judaia and Se.maria., speaking to one another and to their neighbours of the things that they themselves most surely believed. How little Saul's "laying waste" the Ohurch harmed it I Learn the lesson of confidence in the overruling Saviour. " He ma.keth the wrath of man to praise him."-R. Ver. 2.-771e grave beside the Okurch. "And devout men carried Stephen," eto. I. Death the EXALTATION of Christian character. Devout men carried him. Their hope was the rainbow on tho cloud of lamentation, The fellowship of Church life helps us to appreciate excellence. The greatest and best testimony when devout men feel the loss.  THE AOTS OF THE APOSTLES. l OH, Vlll. l-'11),