Vers. 20-23.-Hu,rnm pride and Divine retr,7iution. The main lesson which this incident conveys is the folly of human presumption. But there are side truths which the narrative suggests. 1. The interdependence of one nation on another: " Their country was nourished by the king's country" (ver. 20). One land has metals in abundance; another bas corn; another, cotton; another, timber, etc. It was clearly the intention of the Father of all that all peoples should live in close friendship and ccn- 11tant intercourse with one another. Yet the heathen idea was that the natural relation between neighbouring nations was war. The motto of Christianity is "Peace;" its spirit is that of brotherhood; its counsel and fruit are active interchange of services and resources. 2. The evil of autocracy : "Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon" (ver. 20). It may have been some slight affront he had received, and which he was determined to avenge. All responsibility rested with him, and the caprice or resentment of one single soul would have been sufficient to plunge the thousands of Tyre and Sidon-men, women, and children-into terror and distress. We may unite to thank God that the sword is being taken out of the hand of the autocrat. 3. The drawbacks to human greatness. Herod Agrippa was a man in a very fine position, and he was no doubt envied by thousands of his subjects; doubtless he often congratulated himself on the success of his subtlety. Yet be was (1) much at the mercy of venal counsellors,-probably rich presents had found their way into the treasury of Blastus before that chamberlain spoke honeyed words of peace in Herod's car (ver. 20); (2) the dupe of base flatterers (ver. 22),-be must either have been con- stantly engaged in weighing words and distinguishing the false from the sincere, or else he must have been continually deceived. But to read the lesson of the text we turn to-- 1. '.I.RE HEIGHT TO WHICH HUMAN PRESUMPI'ION WILL RISE. The scene which is briefly sketched in the text (vcr. 21) has been more fully described elsewhere (see Farrar's • Life of St. Paul,' ii pp. 315-317). It may seem incredible to those who move in humble spheres that a mortal man could ever be so inflated with a sense of his own greatness as to accept Divine honours when they were offered. History, however, fully proves that arrogance may rise even as high as this. "The spirit of self-exaggeration,"" the insolent e:mltation of himself," with which Channing charges Napoleon Bonaparte, is a spirit which has been exemplified in every age and nation in greater or less degree. 'l'he acquisition of h_onour does not satisfy but only inflames ambition, and from height to height it rises until, leaving far behind it merely unwarrantable hope, it reaches shameful arrogance and even, as here, a horrible impiety. IL THE DEPTH TO WHICH IT MUST FALL. It ends in shame and ruin. Sometimes, as here, in terrible torture. It is noticeable that some of the worst persecutors of their race ha rn come to a frightful end at death : witness, Herod the Great; this man, his grandson; Antiochus Epiphanes; Philip II. of Spain, etc. But where this is not the case, the end is dishonour. God "will not give his glory to another." Pride must perish, and great must be its fall. From its high pedestal it topples down. No angel- hand is needed to secure the overthrow; its foundations are certain to be' undermined, and the god who was at the summit lies, a broken and shattered idol, at the base. III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HEROD'S DEA.TH. It i;ays to those who wonder at the delays of providence and speak of- .. Truth for ever on the scaffold. Wrong for ever on the throne," Wait! God will reveal himself in righteousness. Go into the sanctuary (Ps. lxxiii. 17); look back on the page of history, and undersland their encl; and see what "tb.e end of the Lord" is. Wait a while, and the enthroned king, emobed in tissued silver, receiving the acclama.tions of the people, accepting their asaription,s of 0B, XII, 1-26,] THE AOT8 OF THE APOSTLES.
deity-behold I he lies writhing In awful agony; he paAses away; he is duet or the ground. And that deRpisetl seot! sm_itten, suffering, degraded-behold ! it rises to honour, to power, to influence; it will be enthroned on the intelliaence and con- soienoe of mankind, Herod Agrippa gave up the ghost, " but the W o~d of God grew and multiplied" (ver, 24).-0.