The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 432

tho froRhest In style, from two of their own ~ · The service i11 over, and they leave, when (1) in some form or another, by deputation or by the importunate acclamation of manv together, the Gentiles beg tho.t next sabbath they may be given to hear the same Word preached, It seems that t?eir application was e.t all events not refused. But (2) Pnul 11nd BarnabB11 turn not their be.ck upon those who had been listening to them, nor give them any sign of the cold s_houl?er, but the contrary. They speak to them, and beg them to value and "to contmue ID the grace of Go<l." II. THE GREAT DISCLOSURE. The next sabbath day bas come round. There is still a standing synagogue; there are still "Law and prophets and blest psalm;" there are atill an ample number Qf Jews and of proselytes to make a congreuation and a good one. But the synagogue bas come to look like an antiquated, use~ss, a~d quite dis- proportionate building. It is not equal to the needs of the day, nor anythin.,. like it. I." Almost the whole city is come together to hear the Word of God." 2. Th"'e second part of the great disclosure is that the Jews cannot take it with any equanimity even that they are to be thus swamped by the outsiders. "Envy" rules them. 3. Th~ third act in the disclosure is that they will try to resist the tide of a greater force than the ocean. They "speak a~ainst" what last aabbath they did not speak against. They commit themselves to speak against the word spoken by Paul, and they add contradiction and blasphemy. 4. And the fourth act in the disclosure is that Paul and Barnabas both close with them, no longer in argument-argument is waste when "contradiction and blasphemy" are begun-but in an authoritative and bol<i declara- tion of their own mission. The very hour has come to say that the privileges, long neglected and now refused, shall not waste nor be" drawn up again into heaven," but shall be fully, freely, publicly offered to all the world; "For the mouth of the Lord bath spoken it" (ver. 47). III. THE D.n's ISSUE. It is threefold. 1. The strangers and outsiders a.re filled with gladness and gratitude. They do not reruse to take the" leavings" of haughty and exclusive Jews. Nor do they think them, call them, or find them "crumbs from the Master's table." No; they see their day, their opportunity, their feast, and, hungry, sit down to it as a banquet indeed. They are "glad;" they glorify the Word of the Lord;" they" believe; " they are "filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." For they felt that that "day salvation had come to their house." 2. The disconcerted Jew, most disconcerted of all because he inwardly knew he had forfeited, of his own sur- render, his chiefest blessing and distinction, will not let things lie. He will raise the "respectable," the "orthodoz," part of the city, and even women of the devout and honourable, and chief men of the city, who "cared for none of these things" probably in their heart. And all these join to persecute the two men, Paul and Barnabas. And they expel them. 3. These two servants of Christ hear the echoes of a voice which perhaps they bad not heard itself (Luke x. 11). And they hear the call of duty (Matt. x. 23) elsewhere, and do not forget that the time is precious, that daylight will soon have gone, and that it is theirs to•• work while it is day."-B. Vere. 2, 3.-Human separation to Divine missions. The point to which attention may be directed is that the living Lord, presiding in his Church, selects the persons to <lo his work, but requires the Church to make outward and formal recognition of his selection. Christ calls to work. The Church separate, to work. Tb.is subject may be introduced by illustrations of the ways in which God was pleased to communicate bis will under the older dispensations, as e.g. by the vision and message of angels, by the mission of prophets, by inward impulses. We tnay recognize a steady advance towards the more spiritual wnys in which God communicates his will to the New Testament Church; sometimes directly inspiring the individual member; at other times revealing his will to some that, through them, it might be communicated to all. The indwelling Spirit is nuw the medium of Divine revelation to men. So indwelling, he becomes the constant inspiration of thought, feeling, judgment, and action. The Holy Ghost, conceived as the abiding Divine presence in the Church, said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." It has been ,auggested that the will of the Holy Ghost was known "through the lips of the fl'Ophete, speaking as by a sudden burst of simultaneous inspiration." I. Tu D1VDJ& .6.LM>'l'lmNT OF woBK AND WORKERS. 1. God has a work for each one  THE AOTS OF THE .APOSTLES. [en. :mi.1-62.