The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 397

J, A GRAND REOEPTION, 1. It is a reception given by Herod. He wields great power• he is conscious of it. It is no moral power. It is the result of no intellectual force, 'or no lofty character; of no social attractiveness; of no love to be kind, court~ous, helpful in smoothing the ruggedness and softenin" the hardness of daily life nnd work. He is on no sort of level whatsoever with thos~ whom he is pleased to allllw to swell hie vanity and feed the bad fires of his heart. 2. It is a reception given to a large number of those who were for the moment in the position, not of mere subjects, but of abject dependants on Herod. They had already felt his "high displeasure." Because of it they feared for their very bread. More ignorant than he, and driven by the supreme motives of desire of livelihood and 1lllsiness, they have already succumbed, bribing probably Herotl's chamberlain, and crouching in their approach to make representations to himself. Yes; they were driven by motive the pinch of which he bad never been likely to know. 3. It was a. reception which was to be a token of reconciliation; but a reconciliation founded on the entire yielding of the one part and the undisputed victory of the other, That victory wag certainly the victory of might, and with every probability the victory of might over right. There had been no genuine compromise, no giving and taking, no kindly considerate- ness fo!" aggrieved feeling and "wounded spirit." Therefore the grand reception was all to the honour and glory of one called Herod Agrippa the First. II. A GRAND SPEECH, Not one word of this speech is saved on the page of history. And that los8 we may without hesitation count gain. It spares pain to others, and spares something of distinctness of outline to the shame and disgrace attaching to Herod. The circumstances, however, suit nothing else than what shall profess and purport to be a grand speech. The "day" is fixed; there is nothing of an impromptu character about the occasion. The "royal apparel" is brought into requisition ; the eyes of many beholders shall flash in the reflection of gold and colour, to learn a vulgar wonder and to improve in the commonest covetousness. And the "throne n is set and mounted, None can doubt of what sort the "oration" that followed. It is magniloquence. It is condescendingness, It is self-glorification. It is (on approaching the subject which brought the embassy) sham magnanimity. And under cover of this is e. manifesto of take all or the utmost possible, give nothing or the least con- ceivable. The grandeur of the oration was the grandeur of hollow brass. How much grand speech differs from (1) simple, truthful speech; (2) speech the unmixed object of which is usefulness; (3) kindly and sympathetic speech; (4) speech of unaffected gracefulness and beauty I III. A. GRAND SHOUT, That shout entered into the ears of Herod like the very ministry of satisfaction itself-satisfaction in its most exi"ent de£ree, self-satisfaction. Supreme vanity must love a shout rather than articulate l;nguag; for obvious reasons. The vague looms larger, goes further, amplifies to the gift of the excited imagination, and cannot be held bound afterwards to jusLify itself. l3ut this shout found wortls a, well, and grand words they were indeed, if true, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men" (eh. xiv. 11) was a testimony, if mistaken in its form, yet true to some extent in its spirit. And if the present testimony have any such substance ol truth and of honesty in it, it shall be accepted according to that which it bath, and no/ condemned for that which it hath not. The words, too, of this shouting are grandly chosen; they are sententious; they are in a sense antithetic; they speak the perfection of commendation for human tongue, which the psalmist would tell us is "the glory" of man's frame. "It is the voice of a. god, and not of a. mar:. I" Herod had taken hi, seat, and "not angels' voices" could for his ears "have yielded sweeter music" than that shout and the recitative that rose out of it. The supreme point of a delicious intoxication of the conscience's very worst opiate had thr.t moment arrived. IV. A GRAND EXPOSURE, 1. Herod is proclaimed before men and angels and beforcJ all time, as much as though all time were there and then present, as a typical instance of the man who knows not that his" chief end is to glorify God." Either he know, it not, or he forgets it at an awful moment, or he defies it at the turning moment of hi11 tixistence. Long proving-time has been his-the decisive crucial moment bas come, And this-this, alas I-is its revelation. 2. Herod's "grand speech,'' of which not one word remains to us (and possibly enough few of its words were heard intelligently by a people who were w~ought up and highly excited), is pn.>claimell to  THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [ OH, llll, 1-25,