The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 368

or k<'eps back his clouds, ~e sends dearth as'" in the days of Claudius Cresar" (ver. 28), and then men _are constram<'d to remember that there is work being done in the soil and in th~ sky which they _cannot control, and in regard to which they must look up to God the <3:1ver of all, whose 1s the earth with its fulness, and ask of him, and plead with him, and, 1t may be, humble themselves before him. III. Hrs REGARD FOR oun INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL WELL•REmG. 1. Intellectual. God teaches ~s (Isa. xxviii.), but he leaves much to be discovered by our own mental labour. Agnculture provides a very wide and a very noble field for observation, experi- ment, contrivance; it tnsks and trains the mind. 2. llforal. We cannot secure our harvests without (1) industry, (2) combination, (3) patience (Jas. v. 7). The abundance, and indeed superabundance, of the earth's yield is such that (4) there is enough for the supply of those engaged in other pursuits; hence there is room for all kinds of labour beside that of agriculture-for the pursuit of art, and for the teaching of religious truth and training in the religious life. Those who have received the bread of eternal life from the lips of others can furnish, as Antioch now supplied Jerusalem, the bread of this temporal life t,o those to whom they are under spiritual obligation. The abun- dance which prevails in some districts-and famine is never universal-gives the opportunity of (5) showing practical kindness. On this occasion there was sufficient in Syria for its own need and for the distress in Judma, and the Christians of Antioch contributed to supply the wants of those at Jerusalem. We ~ould (1) receive God's temporal mercies with the gratitude which belongs to piety; (2) distribute of our abundance to those who have a claim on us, either on account of the spiritual favours they have conferred or in virtue of their special necessity.--C. 1ers. 1-18.-'I'he spirit of sect and the spirit of the gospel. I. SECTARIAN si:;srICIONS. In Judma are the head-quarters of this sectarian spirit. There it centres and rankles. The very tidings which fill the generous spirit with joy fill the sectarian with jealousy. They hear that the Gentiles have received the Word of God. Happy news I .Alas that any should regard them otherwise I But to the ideas of the sectarian any change is appalling which threatens to break down the fence and wall of the sect, and compel him t,o widen the extent of his fellowship. So the sectarians quarrel with Peter. Their charge is that he has visited the uncircumcised heathen and eaten with them. IL '11.lE TRUTH ELICITED BY OPPOSITION. God overrules all things for good, makes the wrath of man to praise him, brings the truth into clearer manifestation by the very meaus of resistance to it. Let us not be too severe on the sectarian, if he be honest in his opposition. Far more pernicious the hypocritical friend than the sincere and downright foe. Were every innovation tamely submitted to without inquiry, progress would not be so sound. It is by overcoming objectors that truth triumphs, not by silencing them. And again, facts are the best arguments. Once more Peter relates the vision at Joppa. 'l'o overcome others' objections, the best way is to show how our own objections have been overcome. The great point of opposition is the repugnance, inborn and strengthened by education, of the Jew to certain objects viewed by him as common or unclean. The great difficulty of overcoming the feeling lies in the fact that it is interwoven with all the best associations of the mind. The man, havin" learned the idea of holiness by means of a sharp physical distinction, fears that he shall lose the idea itself if that distinction be obliterated. No mere aruuments in words will avail. But Peter can exhibit the argument of facts. 'l'heir fitting into one another with an invincible Divine logic can neither be denied nor refuted. The coincidence of the revelation to the centurion and to Peter has been already dwelt upon in previous sections. The end is the falling of. the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at the very moment when the Jew and the Gentiles are brought together and Peter opens his mouth to speak. liL '.J.'HE TRUTH OF THE PRESENT LIGHTS 'OP THE PROPIIETIO DECLARATIONS 011' THE PABT, Words deep in mcanin" slumber in the mind until the revealing event takes place, Then they are suddenly quickened into life and start up in all their power. Peter remembers the word of iLe Lord on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is in C!mtratit :,, tha.t of John at the opening of the evangelical era, It surpasse<l that of on. a.1. 1-30.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 3ti5