All the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.
Solomon’s porch
The porch--or better, portico or cloister--was outside the temple, on the eastern side. It consisted in the Herodian Temple, of a double row of Corinthian columns, about thirty-seven feet high, and received its name as having been in part constructed, when the temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel, with the fragments of the older edifice. The people tried to persuade Herod Agrippa I. to pull it down and rebuild it, but he shrank from the risk and cost of such an undertaking (Jos., “Ant.” 20:9, § 7). It was, like the porticoes in all Greek cities, a favourite place of resort, especially as facing the morning sun in winter. (See John 10:23.) The memory of what bad then been the result of their Master’s teaching must have been fresh in the minds of the two disciples. Then the people had complained of being kept in suspense as to whether Jesus claimed to be the Christ, and, when He spoke of being One with the Father, had taken up stones to stone Him (John 10:31-33). Now they were to hear His name as Holy and Just, as “the Servant of Jehovah,” as the very Christ (Acts 3:13-14; Acts 3:18). (Dean Plumptre.)
Solomon’s porch--a hallowed spot for Peter
It must have been a spot filled with cherished memories for the apostle. Every Jew naturally venerated this cloister, because it was Solomon’s; just as men in the grandest modern cathedral still love to point out the smallest relic of the original structure out of which the modern building grew. At San Clemente, in Rome, the priests delight to show the primitive structure where they say St. Clement ministered about a.d. 100. At York the vergers will indicate far down in the crypt the fragments of the earliest Saxon church, which once stood where that splendid cathedral now rears its lofty arches. So, too, the Jews naturally cherished this limb of continuity between the ancient and the modern temples. But for St. Peter this Solomon’s porch must have had special memories over and above the patriotic ideas that were linked with it. He could not forget that the very last feast of the Dedication which the Master had seen on earth, He walked in this porch, and there, in His conversation with the Jews, claimed an equality with the Father which led them to make an attempt on His life. Here, then, it was that within twelve months the apostle Peter makes a similar claim on his Master’s behalf. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)
Misapprehensions removed
Here was a congregation worthy of an apostle; and Peter was ready for the occasion. The people were excited. They “ran together.” This made it possible to address them all at once. They were amazed, and were, therefore, in an inquiring mood. Peter--
I. Called his hearers to quiet thoughtfulness. He asked them the cause of their amazement. Did he pause after his questions to let the hearer’s mind balance itself? The miracle had aroused attention which must now be steadied, in order that judgment might be calmly exercised.
II. Corrected the supposition that the miracle had been done by human ability. Some supposed the cause was in their magical power or extraordinary godliness. But this was a superficial and God-dishonouring hypothesis, as is that which attributes the results of preaching to the preacher’s eloquence, logic, or “magnetism.” Peter corrected this, and we say that conviction, penitence, conversion, and the power to live holy is all of God’s grace.
III. Cleared a way for the truth. If false suppositions had not been removed the true view of the miracle would have been prevented; but by contradicting error Peter brought the minds of the hearers to need a true explanation. So long as astronomers believed the earth to be the centre of the solar system, many false suppositions had to be made, and many phenomena were misinterpreted. Ptolemaic error blocked out Copernican truth. But when the fundamental error had been overthrown the chariot of knowledge could proceed. See the magnificent results in the precision and fulness of modern astronomical science. Conclusion: Let us learn to remove error in order that the way of truth may be open. Let us do this for penitents whom some error may keep in bondage, for inquirers lest some false notion blind them. (A. Hudson.)
And when Peter saw it, he answered.--
A greater miracle
1. This speech is a greater miracle than the cure. The great miracles are all wrought within. Compare Peter before the resurrection with the Peter of this speech, and tell me what has happened. Surely a great cure has been wrought up,m him. You cannot work miracles, because you yourselves are not miracles. We approach the whole case from the outside, and with many lame suggestion we attempt to mend the world’s sad condition. We must be greater ourselves than any work which it is possible for ourselves to do.
2. In this speech Peter vindicated his apostolic primacy. You might have asked questions concerning Peter’s superiority before, but after this all men feel that the first place belongs to him. Any primacy that is not based on merit must go down. For time you may bolster up a man; but a superiority of position that is not based upon fundamental and vital merit falls before the testing touch of circumstances and time. So let this book of God stand or fall. The priests cannot keep it up. Parliaments and thrones cannot give the Bible its lasting primacy. If the inspiration he not in the book itself you cannot communicate it; and if the inspiration really be in the book itself you can never talk it down. By force you may quiet it for a time, but truth is eternal, it returns.
3. The danger is that we be not just to such men as Peter. We may take this speech as a mere matter of course. We hear an eloquent man drop sentence after sentence of singular beauty, and think that he does so simply as a matter of course. In every such sentence there is a drop of sacrificial blood. True eloquence is forced out of men. This speech was not a prepared oration which he took out and read; it was as extemporaneous as was the event itself. The looking people make the eloquent preacher. All the people fastened their eyes upon Peter and John; and, as the lame man had drawn out of Peter spiritual power by his magnetic look, so the people drew out of Peter still higher power by their marvelling.
4. In reply to that wonder Peter declines any primacy based on purely personal considerations. “This is not our doing. It is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes.” And, with inspired wisdom, he magnified the occasion by attaching the miracle to the omnipotence of a God about whose existence the Jew had no doubt. “The God of Abraham,” etc. The apostles did not snatch at praise for themselves. They maintained their royal supremacy by operating in the presence of the people merely as the servants and instruments of God. We must return to that allegiance to the Divine name and throne.
5. Not only does Peter decline the implied eulogium, he takes upon himself to cut the people to pieces. No great progress can be made in moral reform until our apostles slay us. Flattery will do nothing for us--at most, will but mislead or bewilder us. Hear his speech, “Whom ye delivered up,” etc. That man must succeed in his ministry, or he must be killed! Such a speaker of such an address cannot occupy a middle position. When did the apostles speak with bated breath and whispering humbleness? When did they try to make the best of the case by appeasing the spirit of the people, and by an endeavour to placate sensibilities which had been strongly excited? So we come back to a truth with which this message has made us familiar. We are not to put away the Crucifixion as an historical circumstance, nineteen centuries old. The Crucifixion takes place every day. Realise this circumstance, and there will go up the old cry, and after it will come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
6. In verse 17 the tone changes with wondrous skill. The gospel is not an impeachment only--it is an offer, and he introduces this new phase of the subject with a word which united himself with the people--“brethren.” This verse repeats the very prayer of Christ Himself upon the Cross. So he opens a great door of hope. The Church ought to be fertile in its invention of opportunities for the worst men to return. Tell the very worst man that the door of hope, if not wide open, is yet ajar, and that the very faintest touch of his fingers will cause it to fall back to the very wall.
7. Then comes the keyword of apostolic preaching, and the secret of apostolic success “repent” (verse 19). It is like the sword of which David said, “Give me that; there is none like it.” This word “repent” goes to the root and to the reality of the case. Who has repented? I do not ask who has been alarmed by threatened consequences, and who therefore has professed a change of habit and of purpose. My question is a deeper one. Who has felt heart-brokenness on account of sin, as a spiritual offence against God? Have we not forgotten that old word? Has the Church become too dainty to use it?
8. There is another word in verse 19 of as much importance--“therefore”--which refers to the historical and logical argument upon which Christianity is founded. Peter having gone back to “God of Abraham,” etc., and having traced the history of the Crucifixion, and having explained the secret by which the lame man had been healed, etc., gathers himself up in this one supreme effort, and says, “Repent ye, therefore”--for no sentimental reasons, but on the historical ground of the ancient dealings of God with His people, and because of the culmination of those dealings in the recovery of the man who is standing there.
9. Then Peter’s speech proceeds like a deep, broad river, and ends with “Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you.” Apostolic preaching was tender, but it kept itself to this one theme. And because it did so it turned the world upside down. Preacher, come back from all intellectual vagaries, romances, and dreamings, and stand to your one work of accusing men of sins, and then revealing the living Son of God, who came with the one purpose only of blessing men. Blessing and iniquity never can co-exist in the same heart. The iniquity must go, and the blessing will come. The wickedness must depart, and then angels will hasten into the soul from which it has gone out. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The miracle at the Beautiful gate as a text
It is a law of mind to look through its dominant sentiments, and to subordinate all outward things to its dominant purposes. The apostles were full of thoughts pertaining to Christ, and they looked at all events through this medium.
I. Peter traces the miracle to its true Author.
1. Negatively. He disclaims the authorship--a remarkable demonstration of his honesty. Had he taken the credit his social power would have been regnant at once, and would have had an immense following. And the people were willing to give it him.
2. Positively. He shows--
(1) That their God had wrought the miracle. “The God of Abraham.”
(2) That their God had wrought it in order to glorify His Son--not merely to restore the invalid--and to attest the Messiahship of Him whom they had put to death.
II. He connects the miracle with the name of Christ. He had unbounded faith in Jesus, and had therefore power to perform works that should demonstrate His Divine authority; and the effects produced on the bodies of men were only faint types of the results which faith in Christ will produce on souls. Jesus is here presented--
1. In the titles that belong to Him.
(1) “Holy One and Just.”
(2) “Prince of Life.”
2. In the history of their conduct.
(1) They delivered Him up.
(2) They denied Him, their Messiah, in the presence of a heathen scoffer.
(3) This was done in opposition to the tyrant’s wish.
(4) They preferred a murderer.
(5) They killed Him.
3. In His relation to God. God had--
(1) Glorified Him.
(2) Raised Him from the dead.
(3) Overruled their conduct towards Him.
Observe--
(a) It was the purpose of the Father that Christ should suffer as announced in prophecy (Psalms 22:1-31; Isaiah 53:3-10; Daniel 9:26).
(b) That the conduct of the Jews was made to subserve this purpose. So perfect is the control which the Monarch of the universe has over His creatures, that He makes the greatest rebels work out His grandest plans.
(c) The Jews were ignorant of what they were doing. This was said not to extenuate their guilt, but to convict them of their folly and impotence.
III. He develops the Christian plan of restitution (verses 19-26). Which--
1. Aims at a thorough spiritual reformation as a necessary condition. This includes--
(1) A change of heart. “Repent,” etc.
(2) Forgiveness of sins. “That your sins may be blotted out.”
(3) Invigoration of being. “When the times of refreshing shall come.”
2. Is ever under the direction of God. “From the presence of the Lord” “i.e., by His providence. Observe--
(1) That the invigorating influence of the scheme is from God. The times of refreshing are from His presence.
(2) That the chief Agent of this scheme is from God. “He shall send Jesus.”
(3) That the revelation of this scheme is from God. “Which God hath spoken,” etc.
3. Shall realise its end before the final advent of Christ. “Whom the heavens must receive,” etc. Christ is now in heaven, but His work proceeds on earth, and when His work is accomplished He will come again, and not before. Pre-millennialism is a delusion.
4. Is the grand burden of prophetic truth. Observe--
(1) The cases of prophetic reference to Christ.
(a) Moses (verse 22; cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19, LXX.).
(b) Samuel (verse 24). Moses and Samuel are the most distinguished names in Jewish history; but they are mentioned as samples.
(c) All the prophets. We may not be able to trace references to Christ in each, yet in the majority of the prophetic books there are notes of hope struck from the harp of future ages, flashes of light from that bright day which Abraham saw afar.
(2) The reason for these references (verse 25).
5. Was first to be presented to the Jews (verse 26). Christ was sent--
(1) To bless, not to curse. Justly might we have expected malediction.
(2) To bless with the greatest blessing. Iniquity is the greatest curse; to men from that is the greatest boon.
(3) To bless the greatest sinners first. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Peter’s sermon
How he denounces (verses 14, 15); how he comforts and grows gentle (verses 17, 18); how he pleads (verse 19); how he promises (verse 20); how he proves (verse 21). It makes one think another Joseph has come to the pulpit (Genesis 45:4-5). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Peter’s address
I. Jesus presented.
II. Sinners condemned.
III. Pardon proclaimed. (J. T. McCrory.)
Peter’s address
He--
I. Begins (verses 12-16) by disclaiming the miracle as his own and ascribing it to Christ.
II. Goes on (verses 13-16), to set before the people their sin.
III. Continues (verses 19, 21) by holding out a hope of mercy.
IV. Crowns all (verses 19, 21) by a summons to repentance and a changed life. (Monday Club.)
Peter’s address
I. The exordium is stamped with humility (verse 12).
II. The body is marked by fidelity (verses 13-18).
III. The application is redolent of mercy (verses 19-26). (J. Bennett, D. D.)
Peter’s speech
This was in thorough consonance with the miracle. The people were excited, the apostles were calm; the people clamoured in darkness, the apostles spoke from the serene elevation of cloudless height; the people were startled by a spectacle, the apostles were controlled by law. Was it not almost a mockery to ask the people why they marvelled? Are great works to be regarded without surprise? Are men to become familiar with the outstretched arm of God and to be calm? The power that can restore is one that can destroy; what if that dread power be preparing itself to strike? It would strike but once--its stroke would be death. Peter’s speech may be regarded as showing--
I. The false method of looking at human affairs--“As though by our own power,” etc.
1. The visible is not the final.
2. Second causes do not explain life. There is a false method of looking at the results of--
(1) Preaching.
(2) Business.
(3) Thinking.
The man who does not look beyond second causes lives in distraction--in chaos!
II. The true method of regarding extra, ordinary events--“God hath glorified His Son Jesus.” “Faith in His name hath made this man strong.” That is the sublime explanation of all recovery, progress, abiding strength and comfort. Forget God, and society in every phase and movement becomes a riddle without an answer; its happiness is but a lucky chance--its misery an unexpected cloud. Regard life as controlled and blessed by the mediation of Christ, then--
1. There is discipline in every event--design, meaning, however untoward and unmanageable the event.
2. A purpose of restoration runs through all human training. See how new, how beautiful, life would be, if after all its happy experiences we could say, “God hath glorified His Son Jesus”! Physical recovery; spiritual forgiveness; special interpositions; even death itself.
III. The Only Method Of Setting Man Right With God. “Repent ye therefore,” etc. The men who worked miracles spoke plain words about men’s souls. There is no ambiguity here. Are the old words “Repent,” “Be converted,” being allowed to slip out of Christian teaching, and are we now trifling with the character and destiny of men?
1. Every man must repent, because every man has sinned.
2. Every man must be converted, because every man is in a false moral condition.
IV. The sublime object of Christ’s incarnation--“To bless you,” etc.
1. Where iniquity is there is no blessing.
2. Physical restoration is the type of spiritual completeness.
Conclusion:
1. Two practical lessons arise out of the subject.
(1) It is not enough to wonder at the mighty works of God.
(2) God’s glory is even identified with the well being of man. “Restitution,” “Refreshing,” “Blessing.”
2. Peter’s appeal rested upon a solid Biblical basis; Moses, Samuel, and all the prophets. God’s message is the summing up of all the voices of holy history. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The threefold testimony of Peter concerning Christ
He is--
1. The substance of all miracles (verses 12, 17).
2. The Redeemer of all souls (verses 18-21).
3. The accomplisher of all prophecies (verses 22-26). (Lisco.)
Trite courage
If you see a man on the railway track before an approaching train, or if you see a child in the roadway in danger of being run over by a horse, you have no right to be silent and inactive. It is a sin not to speak out. If you see the first outbursting of flames in a neighbour’s house it would be criminal not to cry “Fire.” Truth cannot be kept to yourself without sin. Silence on popular forms of wrong doing is criminal silence. Silence concerning the duty of repentance and the possibilities of salvation in the presence of the impenitent and unsaved is not to be thought of by the true disciple of Jesus. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Why look ye so earnestly upon us as though by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk.--
“Show me the doctor”
A man, blind from his birth, a man of much intellectual vigour, and with many engaging social qualities, found a woman who, appreciating his worth, was willing to cast in her lot with him and become his wife. Several bright, beautiful children became theirs, who tenderly and equally loved both their parents. An eminent French surgeon, while in this country, called upon them, and, examining the blind man with much interest and care, said to him:--“Your blindness is wholly artificial; your eyes are naturally good, and if I could have operated upon them twenty years ago, I think I could have given you sight. It is barely possible that I can do it now, though it will cause you much pain.” “I can bear that,” was the reply, “so you but enable me to see.” The surgeon operated upon him, and was gradually successful. First there were faint glimmerings of light; then more distinct vision. The blind father was handed a rose; he had smelled one before, but had never seen one. Then he looked upon the face of his wife, who had been so true and faithful to him; and then his children were brought, whom he had so often fondled, and whose charming prattle had so frequently fallen upon his ears. He then exclaimed: “Oh, why have I seen all of these before inquiring for the man by whose skill I have been enabled to behold them! Show me the doctor.” And when he was pointed out to him, he embraced him with tears of gratitude and joy. So, when we reach heaven, and with unclouded eyes look upon its glories, we shall not be content with a view of these. No; we shall say, “Where is Christ--He to whom I am indebted for what heaven is? Show me Him, that with all my soul I may adore and praise Him through endless ages.”
Credit due to Christ
The engineer of an express train sees, just ahead, a switch wrongly turned, and knows that if he cannot stop the train it will go over the bank and be destroyed. The stoker jumps out, but the brave engineer resolves to share the fate of the engine. Speedily he reverses the action, and with all his strength rolls back the wheels, Just as the fatal point is reached, they cease to move, and the train is saved! What meanness would it be, when unharmed, they reach the town, for the stoker to say, “We were in great danger, but by my presence of mind I saved the train.” Yet what greater meanness is it for us to take the credit to ourselves when it belongs to Christ. God’s influences come upon you in mighty tides, and you have no right to claim for yourself the glory which belongs to Christ. (H. W. Beecher.)
Glory to be given to God
If I were a pupil of Titian, and he should design my picture and sketch it for me, and look over my work every day, and make suggestions, and then, when I had exhausted my skill, he should take the brush and give the finishing touches, bringing out a part here and there, and making the whole glow with beauty, and then I should hang it upon the wall, and call it mine, what meanness it would be! When life is the picture and Christ is the designer and master, what greater meanness is it to allow all the excellence to be attributed to ourselves. (H. W. Beecher.)
Glory due to Christ
That workman should do ill who having built a house with another man’s purse, should go about to set up his own arms upon the front thereof. In Justinian’s law it was decreed that no workman should set up his name within the body of that building which he made out of another man’s cost. Thus Christ sets us all at work, it is He that bids us to fast, and pray, and hear, and give alms, etc. But who is at the cost of all? whose are all these works? surely God’s. Man’s poverty is so great that he cannot reach a good thought, much less a good deed; all the materials are from God, the building is His, it is His purse that paid for it; give but therefore the glory and the honour thereof unto God, and take all the profit to thyself. (J. Spencer.)
The work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of men
1. The disposition of the crowd to make heroes of the apostles when they should have recognised in the miracle the power of God is an illustration of a common and not altogether mischievous instinct. When through foreign invasion or internal revolution the institutions of society are broken up, the blind submission which a whole nation sometimes yields to a popular chief, or the heir of an illustrious name, sometimes renders it possible to restore law and order. The intellectual supremacy of great men has also its uses; it preserves something like order in our intellectual life. It is the same with that conspicuous moral excellence which wins more reverential homage. The example of great saints has been a law to successive generations.
2. But there is hero-worship in the Bible. The Jews had their fighting men, poets, orators, statesmen, saints; but you find no disposition in the Old Testament to surround them with glory. The heroism of Wallace is commemorated in the national songs of Scotland, but there is no Psalm to celebrate the heroism of David. Nor does Jewish history exalt Moses as the history of Europe exalts Charlemagne, as the history of England exalts Alfred or Elizabeth. The genius of Isaiah does not receive the same kind of homage that we concede to the genius of Dante or of Shakespeare. There is the same absence of hero-worship in the New Testament. Luke never analyses the apostles’ power nor dwells upon their personal qualities. That they were in any way remarkable is never intentionally suggested. The saints of the Old Testament and the saints of the New are transparent; God shines through them.
3. That is the Christian law. Are men steadfast in righteousness, fervent in charity, temperate, fearless? Do not glorify them; glorify God who made them so good. Are they wise? Glorify God who is the Giver of wisdom. Have they wrought great deliverances for mankind? Why look ye on them as though by their own power or holiness they had wrought these deliverances? Joshua fought well; but when the men of later days look back upon his victories, they say--“We have heard with our ears, O God,” etc. And we find the greatest of the apostles saying, “I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase.” This address of St. Peter’s about the miracle is a vivid illustration of the spirit of both Testaments.
4. In recent times we have failed to maintain the traditional spirit of Judaism and of Christianity. We dwell on the goodness, temperament, and intellectual power of Peter, Paul, and John; and treat them as ordinary historians treat sovereigns like Elizabeth and Cromwell, statesmen like Burghley and Walpole and Chatham. We inquire what there was in the men that accounted for the success of their work. No doubt their character and endowments had a direct relation to their work. But the gifts were from God; their power was His. In the spiritual, as in the natural life, when the blind receive sight, Christ gives it; when the lame walk, it is Christ who makes them strong. “His name through faith in His name, hath made this man strong” is the explanation of all wonders.
5. Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Baxter, Wesley, and Whitefield, what were they all but ministers of God by whom England or Europe came to know and believe a truer gospel? They should be transparent to us as the Jewish prophets and heroes, and as the Christian apostles were. Their noble qualities may be honoured as God’s gifts; but still it was not their power or their holiness that first loosened and then broke the fetters by which the spiritual life of nations was bound; it was God who did it all. This holds true of all effective spiritual work in our own time. When men are prevailed upon to submit to Christ’s authority, their great decision is not to be attributed to the impassioned eloquence, the vigorous argument, the pathetic entreaty of the preacher, nor to his personal sanctity, nor to his fervent zeal, but to the direct appeal of the Spirit of God to the conscience and to the heart.
I. Everything short of the actual conversion of men to God we can accomplish without God’s help; but for that we are entirely dependent upon him.
1. Canvass the town for children and you can fill your Sunday schools. Make the teaching interesting, let the rooms be pleasant, have cheerful singing, let the teacher be kindly and earnest, and you can keep the children when you have them, and enable them to pass excellent examinations in Scripture, and you can soften their manners, refine their tastes and elevate their morals. And if you are satisfied with this there is no need to pray. But if you want the children to love and serve Christ, the Spirit of God must be with you, and must work directly on the inner thought and life of your scholars.
2. Build an attractive church, get a good organ and choir, let there be an educated and earnest and eloquent man in the pulpit, and you can get a crowd of people to hear him and he may produce a profound impression. But if men are to be moved to real penitence, and are to be inspired with real faith, the light and power of the Holy Spirit must reach individual hearts.
3. Many of us know what this means. For years we were familiar with truths which ought to have exerted irresistible control over us; we believed them; sometimes we felt their power. But we can remember when these very truths came to us as though we had never known them before. Perhaps we were listening to a sermon; but we had listened to sermons before, and to sermons not less impressive, and had listened unmoved; others heard the same sermon and it did not touch them. Perhaps we were reading a book; but we had read the book before, and it had never taught us what we now learnt, and others have read the same book and learnt nothing from it. What made the difference was a silent voice to which then, for the first time, we consented to listen. The Spirit of God came to us, and we suffered Him to lead us into the truth.
II. Our perverse reluctance to believe that all life and light come from God is inexplicable. We have to learn the same lesson over and over again in many forms; and we look back upon wasted years, and mourn that we had not learnt the open secret earlier which would have made all those years bright and noble and glorious success.
1. The lesson has to be learnt at the beginning of the religious life. We want the pardon of sin and that change which will render it possible for us to do the will of God. And we try for months, perhaps for years, to make our penitence for sin more agonising and our hunger and thirst for righteousness more keen, hoping that at last we shall have assurance and strength. It is all in vain; and then we discover what we knew from the first--that we can trust God to forgive, us, and to inspire us with the life and power of the Holy Ghost: we trust Him and we pass into a new world.
2. But the lesson has to be learnt over again. We are now liberated from distress about our past guilt, and we know that we are the sons of God; but we find that we are unequal to many duties, and are overcome by many temptations. We subject ourselves to discipline; we pray; we think upon the transcendent motives to righteousness. It is all in vain. And then, again, we discover what a child might have taught us, what we always knew, that evil passions are to be burnt down to their very roots by the fire of God; that we are to be strong for holy living in the strength of God: we trust in Him once more, and as long as we trust we are kept in perfect peace.
3. But we have not learnt the lesson even now. We engage in Christian work. We do our best, and hardly anything comes of it. Then once more we discover what we always knew; God and only God can bring right home to man the truth which is on our lips; we trust in Him, and then our work begins to prosper.
III. Entire dependence in God is the secret of ministerial power.
1. For the work of the Christian ministry it is necessary to secure men of intellectual power, and men who have received the most thorough intellectual training. There is an Antinomianism in relation to Christian work not less fatal and far more subtle than the Antinomianism of the Christian life. Men have argued that since they can do nothing for their own salvation without God, they will attempt nothing. They might as well say that they can get no harvest without the rain of heaven and the heat and light of the sun, and that therefore they will not plough nor sow. And men have argued, that since Christian work can never achieve its highest results apart from the direct appeal of the Spirit of God to the souls of men, that learning and eloquence are worthless, and that we should leave everything to God. What insanity there is in this!
2. But among ourselves there are not many who are likely to be infected with this heresy.
Our peril lies in the opposite direction.
1. We look back upon the great evangelists of the past, and think that if we could only have them with us again the most glorious days of the Church would return. If St. Bernard with his fiery passion, Luther with his audacity and immense moral force, Whitefield with his affectionate spirit and his charming eloquence, Wesley with his calm and resolute strength and his keen sagacity were here--then we might hope to see a great religious reformation in England. But what can we do? This self-distrust is only the specious cover of a want of faith in God. The illustrious preachers of former days are with us no longer; but the great Preacher of all is with us still--the only Preacher whose voice can raise the dead, whose power achieved all the triumphs which we connect with the famous and sacred names in the history of Christendom. Could these great saints come back again, it would not be to take the work from our hands because we are unequal to it, but to tell us that the same Spirit that was with them can still reach the hearts and consciences of men.
2. Even when we pray we sometimes forget that our trust should be in the Spirit of God. We ask that for the success of our work we may have a larger knowledge of the thought of God, a more fervent passion for the honour of Christ, a profounder solicitude for the rescue of men--wise and necessary prayers, but incomplete, fatally incomplete. For the prayers imply that if we ourselves had greater “power,” greater “holiness,” we should be successful. This was not what the apostles thought--“Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase.”
3. What is true of men is also true of ecclesiastical systems. It is not the perfection of its organisation that enables a Church to redeem men. There have been preachers in the Church of Rome, spite of its monstrous polity, who have done glorious work for mankind and for God. There is no “power,” no “holiness” in Presbyterianism, in Methodism, in Congregationalism, in Episcopacy, to work spiritual miracles. The chief merit of an ecclesiastical system lies in the measure in which it is transparent and lets the glory of Christ shine through.
4. The same test is to be applied to all theologies and all methods of spiritual discipline. Do they break down everything that comes between the soul and Him who is the fountain of mercy and of power?
(1) Tell me that my good works are necessary before Christ will forgive my sins, and you put months, and perhaps years, of painful moral struggle between me and Christ; tell me that He will forgive me at once, as soon as I come to Him, and Christ is already at my side at the very beginning of my new life. The doctrine of justification by works seems less likely to be true than the doctrine of justification by faith.
(2) Tell me that to make sure of the Divine forgiveness I must confess my sins to a priest, and there is danger lest the priest should come between me and Christ. Tell me that I can confess to Christ, and then, again, Christ is near to me while I am in the agony of my repentance. The doctrine which affirms that the priest has power to absolve seems less likely to be true than the doctrine which denies it.
(3) Tell me that the priest must consecrate the bread and the wine before the Church can have the real presence of Christ at the Lord’s Supper, and then the Church must wait till the priest has pronounced the words of mystery and power. Tell me that wherever two or three are gathered together at the table of Christ, Christ is among them, and then there is no delay, either in His access to us, or our access to Him. Those who maintain the theory of sacramentalism seem less likely to be in the right than those who reject it.
(4) But here, too, we must remember that the truest and simplest doctrine may be made a fetich, and may come between the soul and Christ. If you think that any doctrine is so true and so simple that by its own “power” or “holiness” it will regenerate and save men, you will be separated from Christ as completely by the soundest belief as other men are by the most corrupt.
IV. The truths which we have been considering should teach us to be of good heart about the work, which is Christ’s rather than ours. We are conscious--all of us--that we have little strength to do any noble service for God and for mankind. The consciousness deepens as we grow older. But neither our weakness nor our unworthiness is a reason for despondency. If we had to measure our own strength and earnestness against the difficulties of our work we might despair; but our confidence is in the strength and in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The results of our labour will transcend all that could be anticipated from the labour itself. This kindles our enthusiasm, and is a motive for strenuous exertion. If we are only perfectly loyal to Christ, even we may do very much for the rescue of men. The true minister of Christ does not stand alone; he is in alliance with Christ Himself; this is the secret of the minister’s power. But very much depends on the sympathy he receives from his Church. You remember the famous description of an orator. It was not his voice alone that spoke; his eyes, his face, his hands, his feet--they were all eloquent. And a Church is a living body. The minister is its voice; but, if he is to speak to any purpose, the voice must not come from a body struck with death, with fixed features, glassy eyes, and rigid limbs; there would be something ghastly in that. Eyes, hands, face, feet, must all have life and passion in them, and must all speak; they must share the sorrow and alarm with which the minister tells men of the infinite evil of sin, and the rapture with which he triumphs in the infinite love of God. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)