The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 434

prophets we meet with a ~oet impor~ant ~dvance In the Divine relations, ~ore or lees constantly God dwells with and abides ID those prophets, and their relation to the Divine was the foreshadowing and preparation for the abidin" relations of the Holy Ghost with the believer and the Church. The" Wor~ _of the 101'.'d" came to the prophets, but besides this, there was an openness and sens1t1venees to Divine leadin"s which couid be thus expressed: "'l'he Spirit of the ~rd_ Go~ is _upon me." Other ~ints will come out upon II study of the nature of prophetic mspirat1on, and especially this one, as bearing on the point now befor~ us, that the H~ly ~host used the individuality of the prophet, and became only the hfc and force behmd 1t, and so prepared for the Christian times when, in this way, all the Lord'~ people are prop~ets. The progression of Divine truth is well illustrated in the history of the relations of the Spirit of God with men. II. THE FA0T AB REPRESENTED IN THE THEOCRACY. The very essence of the idea of the theocracy was the invisible presence and rule of God with men. God was with them-always with them. Yet they never saw him. Somehow he was in them. He knew all their concerns. He was appropriately affected by all their doings. He could be "grieved," "quenched," "resisted," and even "driven away." Present with them, he inspired and guided all the national life; he toned a.nd sanctified all the family and social life. The sublimest sentiment of Mosaism was that of the indwell- ing presence of Jehovah. Then, when the fulness of times came, the Jehovah-figure could pass aside, with its kingliness and mystery, giving place to the Father (holy Father, righteous Father); aml the sense of God's near presence and close though invisible relations could be realized in the conception of the abiding, indwelling Holy Ghost, who leads us into all truth and righteousness. Ill. THE FEELING AS REALIZED IN A MOVING AND GUIDING OF OUB JUDGMENT, WILL, AND RESOLVE. In seeking to avoid the merely sentimental, we must take heed that we miss or undervalue no truth. And Christian experience abundantly confirms the position that there is a most real sense in which open hearts feel the inward movings of the Holy Ghost, and may rely on the Divine inward guidance of jud,,,"lllent a.nd will. '1.'he Church, too, may plead that her experience confirms the testimony of the individual Christian. This subject should be so treated as to deal with men's practical difficulty-How can we know we have Divine guidance in our business and family affairs now? If God's Spirit dwells in us, we now have the actual inspiration and direction of onr jndgment, will, purpose, and decision.-R. T. Ver. 7.-S~kers after God, This passage introduces tons a Roman official, speaks of him in generally good terms as a " prudent man," but lets us know something of his secret feelings and his unrest of heart, by adding that he " desired to hear the Word of God." The way in which heathen religions prepared the way for the gospel is often pointed out, but we have not yet adequately apprehended the fact that a Divine work of preparation was carried on in many heathen souls ; such instances as this of Sergius Paulus being properly treated as prominent examples of a general fact. It is to the yearning of the heathen heart for the true God and the eternal life that St. Paul makes his appeals ; and in later missionary work remarkable instances have been met with of soul-seeking for God, before the missionaries brought the gospel light. We ought, indeed, to expect to find men everywhere seeking after God, seeing that" he hath made of one blood all nations to dwell upon the earth," and has never" left himself with• out a witness;" but a conception of the exclusiveness of the revelation in Christ has so occupied Christian thought that the noble conception of Christ's revelation as the ulti- mate issue and completion of all other revelations, Is only now gaining acceptance. Men have so strongly felt the antagonistic sidtis of the heathen religions that they have failed to ask whether earnest souls within utterly corrupt systems may not be .. Infants orying In the night: Infants orying for the light ; And with no language but a ory." Dean Plumptre gives an interesting inscription-the date of whloh is, however, uncertain, and may be of the second or third century after Christ-found at Galgoi, in Cyprus, which shows a yearning after something higher than the polytheism of Greece. '-32 THE AOTB OJ!' THE .APOSTLES, [OR. 1llL 1-52