gather about Saul's devot.ed head. But the ~crvants of God bear a charmed lifo until their work is done. .Already the promise of the Saviour, that Saul must suffer m:iny thinas is being fulfilled. In trouble and the deliverance out of it God is made known to o~'spirita as our God and our Saviour,-J. Vere, 26-30.-Baurs visit to Jerusalem. I. SusPIOION AND COLDNESS El'l'COUNTERED. Saul finds no welcome at Jerusalem, no confidence, but distrust. It is hard to Jive down the records of pRst life. And never was the proud quondam Pharisee permitted to forget his lesson of humility, Well might this be the meaning of the "thorn in the flesh." Our impression of the man is that of a fierce and impetuous temper, the force of which, having been used for the devil, was now to be used in the service of Christ. The genuineness of his conversion, Calvin remarks, is shown by the fact that, having been himself a persecutor, he can now endure persecution with calmness. II. Co!IIFORT IN A FRIEND: Yet Saul had a most sensitive an~ loving heart, yearning for sympathy, grateful for krndness and love. How full of meanmg on another occa.sion his words, "God, who comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus" I Then the affectionate Barnabas takes him by the hand, and performs the offices of friendship on his behalf. The scene carries its teaching on the nature and offices of friendship. 1. The friend talces us by the hand in the hour of need. His loyalty and courage compensate us for the coldness of the world. Who so self-reliant as not to need a sponsor on occasions ? One draught of true human love will refresh us in the desert of others' coldness. .And doubtless, if we have been true to love, love will b.1 found for us at the hour of need. 2. He will say for us what we cannot say for our- selvea. Barnabas tells Saul's story when Saul himself is not believed. The ideas of the Paraclete, or Advocate, of the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, of the Witness on our behalf, a.re found a.gain in the highest Christian relations. Christ fulfils to the soul the highest ideal of friendship. Let the recollection of our dependence on ministry ever incline the heart to humility and correct the excess of self-reliance. Through Ba.ma.bas, Saul is received as a brother, and the old enmity and distrust is forgotten. To be obstinately set against old sinners, to refuse a kindly oblivion to the past, is to ignore the grace which delights to heal and to forgive. III. FRESH DANGERS, Following in the steps of Stephen. Saul disputed with the Hellenists. '!'here was a resurrection of the martyr's spirit in the martyr's murderer. Enmity is a.gain aroused; a.gain Saul's life is in danger; and a.gain, through friendly providence, the way of escape is opened. Thus through early combats, the Christian soldier's courage is tried and experience is gained for future struggles.-J,
Vers. 31-43.-Works of peace. It is a bright picture of happy and prosperous Church life that here opens. Peace "lay like a shaft of light athwart the land" of Judrea, Galilee, and Samaria.. The work of edification, ever silent and sure like the growth of the tall palm, went on. There was the spirit of reverence and the sense o! comfort and of joy in the presence of the Holy Spirit. That nation is happy whose life contributes few incidents that startle, changes that dismay, revolutious and wars that attract attention. Who can calculate the value of a day's sunshine to the earth? Who can tabulate the results of a. year's peaceful intercourse? Quiet Church life is not resultless ; and to obtain it demands and implies more of prayer and effort than that which is spasmodic and sensational. I. THE VISIT OF PETER TO LYllD'-, He finds there the paralytic .2Eneas. The bedridden sufferer may be viewed as a type of all prostration, physical and moral, which Christ comes to heal. "Jesus Christ is healing thee!" such is the a.biding word of the Christian apostle and minister, further reaching in its application to the inward than to the outward life. And if it be a fa.et that healing energy is ever flowing from Obrist, a moral hope and a moral energy is derivable from the fact. "Rise autl act for thyself" is the oommand which the Christian minister may give, founded on the fact that the energy is imparted to the will in trust on Divine power. "And straightwa.y he a.rose." The rise of any soul out of weakness into strength, out of self-despair into confidence and freedom, implies two things--(1) the Divine agency to heal; (2) the human will co-operating with the Divine. In the absence of either o\ these factors there is no transition from one state to another, Whenever such a con• SOO 'l'HE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [OH, IX, 1--(3,