239 SERMON XII. THE APOSTLES' GROWTH IN GRACE AFTER PENTECOST. [Preached on Whit-Sunday.] ACTS v. 41, 42. "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. the temple, and in every house, to teach and preach Jesus Christ.' And daily in they ceased not THE book which we call the Acts of the Apostles, is the history of the building up of the christian church upon the foundation-stone laid for it by the death of its gracious Lord, as recorded in the the Gospels. It continues the record of the old contest between the children of the flesh and the children of the Spirit, which first broke out in the days of Cain and Abel, which runs through the whole Old Testament narrative, and which was at its height in the days of the Lord Jesus himself, when Satan, trembling for his kingdom, mustered all his allies against him. It is a history, therefore, of the verification of our Lord's prediction concerning his faithful followers, “In the world ye shall have tribulation ;"* and it shows what the zealous ministers of his word have to expect from such as "hate the light because their deeds are evil :" but, in God's mercy, it shows also what they may look for from their Master, and that "greater is He that is in them, than he which is in the world."† But that which chiefly distinguishes the Acts of the Apostles from the rest of the sacred volume, is this that it is the history of God's church after it was put expressly under the conduct and government of a new guide and guardian, who (though he was from the beginning concurrent in the work of man's redemption) was, nevertheless, not manifested under the Old Testament, nor yet during the abode of our Lord upon earth, as afterwards. The Holy Ghost, of course, is the great agent of whom I speak; and he was not given until after Jesus Christ was glorified by his resurrection and ascension into heaven. Promised he was; and on the day of Pentecost he came and, thenceforth, we are called upon to contemplate the marvellous changes which he made. The whole record is a glorious comment +1 John iv. 4. *John xvi. 38. upon the declaration of the Lord Jesus to his apostles, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And if we will compare, not only the success of the apostles' preaching with the success of our Lord's; but especially if we will contrast the characters of those individual men themselves, as appearing in their deportment after the day of Pentecost, with what they were before that day, we shall, from the comparison, very clearly see how vast a gift the gift of the Holy Ghost is; how needful to the Lord's people, and how all-sufficient for all their exigencies. The narrative contained in the latter part of the chapter from which the text is taken, will give me occasion to institute this comparison. I. By the hands of the apostles, many miracles had been wrought among the people. And, accordingly, though the rich and great for the most part stood aloof through fear of the Jewish rulers, "the people magnified them." "And believers were added to the Lord; multitudes, both of men and women." This greatly exasperated the high priest and his party, and they laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. "But the angel of the Lord" (for his angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth VOL. III. * John xvi. 7. R to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation *) "by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." That is nothing terrified by the menaces of your adversaries, go and deliver to the people, in the most public manner, that Gospel with which you are entrusted, and which infallibly brings life everlasting to all who believe it; and see that you keep nothing back, be it as offensive to those who have imprisoned you as it may. The apostles waited for no second bidding; but, "when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught." "The High Priest" in the mean time "came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought." But they met with a great surprise. "When the officers came, they found them not in the prison. They returned, therefore, and told, saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within." This was strange indeed, and mortifying and perplexing not a little. "When the High Priest, and the captains of the temple, and the chief priests, heard these things, they *Heb. i. 14. doubted of them whereunto this would grow." One would have thought, however much they might be disconcerted, the whole matter should have been past a doubt with them by this time. One would have thought, they should by this time have discovered that they were defeated, and have seen the necessity of ceasing at once from a hopeless contest against Almighty God. And so they would have done, had not their minds been blinded, as much as their hearts were hardened by their wickedness. It does not seem that, as Herod did afterwards on a similar occasion, they suspected the fidelity of their jailors. They supposed how the matter stood. They had had official cognizance in their own court of "a notable miracle"* wrought by the apostles a very little while before. They could not but have heard of the multitude of sick folk out of all the cities round about Jerusalem, who, through the name of Jesus, had been miraculously healed. And to any unbiassed mind, whereunto such a doctrine, so attested, would grow, must have been plain enough. Very evidently its divine Author's prophecy was fulfilling. The " grain of mustard seed"† was growing up into a great tree, in spite of them. Nevertheless, they were determined to fight on. In the midst of their amazement, intelligence came which set them + Matt. xiii. 31. *Acts iv. 16. |