The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 298

"seeking our life to take it away;" it may not pass beyond the sneering word or tho curling lip, and yet it may introduce gre&t bitterness into tho cup of life. S, Humi- liation. Paul never seems to have forgotten the incident of his being let down in a basket (ver. 25). He felt the humiliation of it. Anything whioh wounda our self- respect makes a lasting, often a lifelong, scar on the soul. III. THE NEEDFUL. 1. Solitude. It is not stated in tho text, but we know from his letters that at this juncture (probably between vers. 19 and 20) Paul weut into Arabia (Gal. i. 17); there he spent much time alone with God; there he communed with his own spirit, "looking before and after; " there ho re-read and read anew the Scriptures which he imagined he understood before, but now found to be other and more than he had supposed. We urgently need this element of solitude. We are not enough alone; more of quiet meditation, of communion with the Father of spirits, of reverent contemplation, would calm, steady, purify, ennoble us. 2. Social activity. (Vers. 20, 22, 29.) Whether or not we "preach Christ," "confounding" and "dis- puting," we must come into contact, and sometimes into collision with men. We need to know how to do this wisely and rightly, at times showing the fearless spirit, at times the spirit of discretion, at times the spirit of conciliation, always the spirit of Christ. IV. THE ELEVATED. (Ver. 80.) This chapter simply tells us tbat the brethren brought Paul to Cresarea and sent him to Tarsus. But Paul himself elsewhere informs us (eh. xxii. 17, 18) that the Lord Jesus Christ manifested himself to him and desired him to leave Jerusalem. We do not look for such trances and visions now, but we do look, or should do so, for manifestations, indwellings, influences of the Divine Spirit of God, so that we ourselves and our whole human life may be guided and sanctified of God. Of such elements are all our lives woven. We must gratefully accept and so sanctify the pleasant, meekly and cheerfully endure the painful, wisely employ the necessary, and reverently avail onrselves of the elevated; thus will our lives be blessed of God, thus will they speak his praise and spread his truth, thus will they lead to his presence and glory.-C. Ver. 81.-.7'7ie opportunity and obUgation of the Ohurch. I. THAT A TIME OF TRANQUILLITY MAY BE AND SHOULD BE A PERIOD OF PROGRESS. " The Churches had rest, . . . and were edified, . . . were multiplied." The time of rest is too often one of inglorious repose, of unworthy indulgence, or even fatal luxury and corruption. But when the molesting hand of persecution is taken away, it is possible for the Chnrch to put forth all its strength-to enter on a path of unflagging activity, of holy enter- prise, and of gratifying enlargement. II. TH.AT THE CHUBCH SHOULD NEVER BE WITHOUT A SENTDIENT OF SACRED A WE, It should always be walking "in the fear of the Lord." Love, trust, joy in Christ, should be the element in which it lives; but it must never take leave cf its deepest reverence and awe. It must walk "in fear,'' (1) realizing the near presence of its observant Lord, the Lord of righteousness and purity (Rev. ii. 1); (2) remembe1-ing that it is held by him responsible for the extension of his kingdom, for the conversion of the world (2 Cor. v. 19); recollecting that, if it should lose its sanctity, there is no human porver by which it can hope to be restored (Matt. v. 13). ill Tru T THE CliuBCH REQUIRES TO BE CONTINUALLY SUSTAINED BY INFLtJENOES WHIOH ARI! DISTINCTIVELY DIVINE. " Multiplied by the exhortation [ comfort, ministry] of the Holy Spirit." No perfectness of machinery, no eloquence of human oratory, no promptings of e~ulati~n, no pressll;e of authori~y, ~~ earth-born influences of anr kind or number, will suffice to sustalll a Church m livlllg power. It must be multi- plied by the ministry of t?-e Holy Sp~t. ~t must secure th~ teachi~ w}iich is ani';llated by the Spirit of God; 1t must _be lu;~rung to the ~o~~e whic~ 18 communicated by the Spirit; it must have t?-e mdwelling of ~he Sp1nt m the ~1~ds and hearts. of its members; it must be looking to the ever-livIDg power of the Spmt to make all 1ta agencies and operations effectual IV. THAT THE CHURCH OF CBBIST SHOULD BE ADVANODfG AS A DIVINELY EBEOTED STRUOTUB.E. The Church "was edified," built up; it rose as a strncture rises-gradually and in due proportions. The Church of Christ should, in the increase which it makes, poueu the ch.a.racteri.stics of the best building-it should (1) attain to a stately size,  ,m, J][, 1-43.] THE AOTS OF THE APOSTLES.