Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (14) And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. (15) But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, (16) Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. (17) But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. (18) And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. (19) But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. (20) For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. (21) So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. (22) For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed.
I pray the Reader never to lose sight of that most precious doctrine, that it was God the Spirit speaking in the Apostles, and by them: for without this steady eye to the Lord, we shall be apt to ascribe the boldness of the servants, to their own strength; and forget the source from whence they derived it. I admire the different apprehension of words in the world's dictionary, from that of grace. Those doctors of the law, it is said, perceived that those Apostles were unlearned and ignorant men. Yes! In relation to human sciences, and vain philosophy, falsely so called, Peter and John had received no education. But the Holy Ghost, in giving his testimony, concerning that wisdom which is from above, and which maketh wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus; speaks very differently. He saith, that the precious things of his inspired word, and which to carnal men are hard to be understood, it is the unlearned and unstable, (that is, in divine science), wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction, 2 Peter 3:16. And here was a striking proof of it! For while those great men stood confounded and ashamed, unable to say anything in their own justification; the poor Apostles silenced, and overawed them all! Reader! doth not the same doctrine, and from the same cause, operate in the present hour? The weapons of our warfare (said Paul), are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, 2 Corinthians 10:4. And how otherwise should it be, that we sometimes see weak things of the world confound the things which are mighty, and foolish things confound what the world esteems wise; were it not that God hath chosen such for his instruments, to make manifest, that the excellency is of God, and not of men. Oh! the blessedness when men, taught and influenced by God the Spirit, come forth in the Lord's name, sent by the Lord's ordination, and crowned with the Lord's blessing upon their labors! 1 Corinthians 1:27
Reader! it is sometimes profitable, to get behind the curtain of carnal men's council, not indeed to learn their works, but to see how dreadfully alarmed they are. And here the Holy Ghost hath given us a short, but full relation, what frequently passeth there. For be assured, the conference of those convicted minds, as here represented, is a true statement of what every day, more or less, passeth among the unawakened in the world. They could not deny the miracle as a matter of fact, neither disprove the greatness of it. And one might have thought, that with such a conviction before their eyes, they would have embraced the Apostles, and sought mercy from the Lord. Ah, No! the thing was impossible. Yea, so impossible, that God the Holy Ghost hath caused the reason to be recorded no less than seven times in his sacred word, Isaiah 6:9-10; Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; Acts 28:26; and Romans 9:8. And the same holds good forever. And the Lord, at the very beginning of his Scriptures, with the first dawn of revelation, writes down, as with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond, the unalterable cause: I will put enmity between thee and the woman: and between thy seed and her seed, Genesis 3:15; John 8:43-44; 1 John 3:8.