tion or the Worcl of Goel by Gentiles, e.nd their admission into the Church of God. His difficult for us, after the lapse or eighteen ce □ turies e.nd a half, during which this bas been tho rule of the kingdom of heaven, to realize the startling strangeness of such an event when first brought to the knowledge of the then Church of Christ. That a wall of partition, which seemed to be built upon iml!1ovable foundations, and which had defied every effort to break it down through a penod of between one and two thousand years, should suddenly fe.11 flat down at the blast of the gospel trumpet, like the walls of Jericho of old; that e. bidden purpose of God, which bad been veiled and concealed for so many ages, should suddenly flash out and stand clearly revealed to the eye.~ of mankind at two remote spots of the earth; must have struck with astonishment the minds of the Jews of that age. St. Paul himself, after many years of successful work as the Apostle of the Gentiles, cannot speak without_emotion and wonder of the great revolution in the religion of mankind. The admission of the Gentiles to be partakers of God's promise in Christ hy the gospel, and to be fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, was the great mystery which in other ages had not been made known to the sons of men, but was at length revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit. His heart swelled, and his utterance rose as he recited that "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellow- ship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which ~ purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. iii. 1-11). And certainly we ought not to allow familiarity with this dispensation of the Divine wisdom to breed in us any contempt or overlooking of its infinite importance. The destinies of the human race, in its varieties of intellect, and civilization, and creed, and morals, and social and political institutions, ought ever to be a matter of the deepest concern to us. We have the certain knowledge that the door of repentance and faith is thrown open to all mankind. We know that God is no respecter of persons, and we know that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. If the Word of God could win its way in a cohort of Italian soldiers quartered in an Oriental city; if much people, in the dissolute city of Antioch, overrun as it was with every kind of superstition and extravagance of vice and luxury and pleasure, listened to the teaching of Barnabas and Saul, and were added to the Lord; surely we ought not to be faint- hearted in communicating to the whole world, whether heathen, or Mohammedan, or Buddhist, the Word of truth which we have received of God. Oh for a simultaneous breathing of the Divine Spirit, which may quicken dead souls ii:1 every nation under heaven, and make Churches of Christ to spring up in vigour and beauty in all the dark places of tha MI'th, to the praise of the glory of God's grace in Jesus Christi
HOMILIZS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-18.-Rectification and enlargement. It was not to be expected that so great an innovation as that of free communion with a Gentile would pass unchallenged in Jerusalem. Nor did it escape the criticism and condemnation of the" apostles and brethren" there (vers. 1, 2). From the interesting and animated scene described in the text, we conclude- !. 'l'HAT GOOD MEN ARE OCOASIONALLY FOUND DOING THAT WIIIOH SEEMS IDGHLY CEN- SURABLE TO THE GODLY. We can hardly realize the intensity of the indignation which breathed and glowed in the accusing words, "'l'hou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them" (var. 3). Peter hnd done an net which was wholly i~regu- lar and positively unlawful. What did he mean hy it? We know that he had simply followed the instructions which he had received from Christ, and that he could not possibly have acted otherwise without downri~ht disobedience. How many times, in what various spheres, under what different conditions, have good men found themselves placed by their very faithfulness in a position of "contention" (ver. 2) with their brethren, either respecting (1) a point of doctrine (e.g. " the Reformation"), or (2) a matter of Church government (e.g. the way in which the Church should be oflicereJ, or 362 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [on. XI, 1-80,