The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 398

be one that has had_ for its sole object to lead up to this profane glorification of self, and has been guilty of forgetfulness to glorify God or e~n of denying glory to God. 3. The very shout of the people and the voioo that gave subsequent nrtlcu- laten888 to the shout are proclaimed to be really less their shout and their voice than those of Herod himself. Their throats and lips made the sound, but he found the 1,reat~ foX: it, and all else, as, e.g. the place, occasion, motive, or inducement. A finale ,)f this kmd had been premeditated, if not prearranged and actually organized and ~ot up._ (1) The people had a thousand pressing inducements or temptations to do as they did, and to lend their voices for a moment to a cry which their hearts very (lrobahly abhorred ; their temptations were as numerous as all the reasons for which they loved the "nourishment" of "their country." And they shall be undoubtedly judged for what they did, and judged with righteous judgment, when their time too is ripe. But they had not the opportunity of knowledge and the Bovereim ease and self-disposition which were at the command of Herod. (2) Herod is "'tenfold guilty; he is wrong himself without anything to account for it but th,3 worst cancerous craving of a wicked heart, and he leads a number of innocent "sheep" (2 Sam. x:x..iv. 17) into temptation, sin, danger. It is evident-nay, 'tis the one revelation involved in the exposi of this memorable moment-that the all-seeing eye, the all-just judgment, tLe casting vote of Heaven, the verdict that puts an end to all dispute, credits the major responsibility, the overwhelmingly preponderant responsibility for what bad taken place-to the account of Herod. 4. Position, power, splendour, wealth, an earthly throne, arbitrary governing, and all the rest of it, are proclaimed here at their true worth. They are shown up as the flimsy covering only of the real in a man, let that real be what it may. 'l'hey don't keep the weather out; they don't kee~ disease out ; they don't keep malignant and loathsome disease out ; they don t shield conscience, heart, or body ; they don't keep God out, no, not for a moment. But they do avail to do one thing-they suffice to throw out into amazing prominence the contrast between truth and falsehood, when God enters into judgment, and casts down those whom he never uplifted. and "removes the diadem and takes off the crown" (Ezek. xxi. 26), and rends in twain the gorgeous royal raiment, none of which bis hand had bestowed. Then even on earth is seen the manifest beginning of the "everlasting shame and contempt." 5. Last of all, it is here emphatically proclaimed that to omit to take right action and to omit to utter right speech may sometimes justly be exposed to bear all the same blame as to do and to speak the wrong. The npostles once and again, when offered Divine honours, exerted themselves ,with the utmost energy to refuse it, and gave their abhorrence of the idolatrous offering to be abundantly plain. This was the least that Herod should have done, and what he surely would have done if he had not already willingly "regarded iniquity in bis heart." So, when the people gave a great shout and said, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!" and Herod never protested a word, it is the same as if be had done nil the preparation, pulled the wires, and spoken the impious words himself; For God searcheth and trieth and knoweth " the thoughts and intents of the heart." And he will not be robbed of his own.-B. Ver. 5.-The power of united prayer. This subject is not here to be treated in its more general bearings, only so far as it finds illustration in the circumstances connected with the text, and in the sentence, "Prayer was made earnestly of the Church unto God for him ; " i.e. for imprisoned St. Peter. The persecution of the early Christians nrose from distinctly different causes; and the narrative associated with this text introduces a distinctly new kind of persecution. Previously the Sanhedrim, as the central authority among the Jews in all matt?rs ?f rel~giot)S doctrine and discipline, bad endeavoured to crush the young, and to their view m1sch1evous, sect._ ~ow ~erod, as the representative of the state, eudeavoured to destroy the party by a1mmg directly nt its leaders • and this he did for what we may call "diplomatic" reasons. It may be well to notic; that the Herod introduced here was Herod Agrippa I., son of Aristobulus, aud grandson of H(:rod the Great; and that the events occurred about A.D. 41. Accordiug to Josephus, A;;tlppa desired to be thought a devout Jew,_ and so would easily be excited to per1>0cute the Christian part.v, when he found that this would ensuro fur him the confidence of the leading Jews. With Herod's scheme for striking down  ea. xn. 1-25.] THE A.C11'8 OF THE APOSTLES. 395