round about." Why should a man who feels God is for him, be afraid? There is a brutal recklessness, and a swaggering bravado, which are sometimes confounded with courage, but they are foreign to moral heroism! All true courage is founded on trust in God. Another characteristic of his temper under this trial, is

Secondly: Prayerfulness. "

O my God.

Arise, O Lord, save me, God. . . . thy blessing is upon thy people.' "Observe (1.) the nature of his prayer. It was for himself and for others. He not only says, ". . . Save me," but also, thy blessing is upon thy people," which means, "May thy blessing be upon thy people." (2.) The argument of his prayer. He pleads what He has done. Thou hast smitten all my enemies," &c. He remembers all that the Almighty had done for him in days gone by. He refers to what he was. ". . . Salvation belongeth unto the Lord." David's whole soul seems to have gone out in this prayer, and in truth all true prayer is earnest. "As a painted fire," says a brilliant old writer, "is no fire, a dead man no man, so a cold prayer is no prayer. In a painted fire there is no heat, in a dead man there is no life; so in a cold prayer there is no omnipotency, no devotion, no blessing. Cold prayers are as arrows without heads, as swords without edges, as birds without wings. Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven. As a body without a soul, much wood without fire, a bullet in a gun without powder, so are words in prayer without fervency of spirit.'

Among the elegant forms of insect life, there is a little creature known to naturaliste, which can gather round it a sufficiency of atmospheric air—and, so clothed upon, it descends into the bottom of the pool, and you may see the little diver moving about dry and at his ease, protected by his crystal vesture, though the water all around and above be stagnant and bitter. Prayer is such a protector-a transparent vesture, the world sees it not-but a real defence, it keeps out the world. By means of it the believer can gather so much of heaven's atmosphere around him, and with it descend into the putrid depths of this contaminating world, that for a season no evil will touch him; and he knows where to ascend for a new supply. DR. JAMES HAMILTON.

A Homiletic Glance at the Acts of the Apostles.

Able expositions of the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, describing the manners, customs, and localities described by the inspired writers; also interpreting their words, and harmonizing their formal discrepancies, are, happily, not wanting amongst us. But the eduction of their WIDEST truths and highest suggestions is still a felt desideratum. To some attempt at the work we devote these pages. We gratefully avail ourselves of all exegetical helps within our reach; but to occupy our limited space with any lengthened archæological, geographical, or philological remarks, would be to miss our aim; which is not to make bare the mechanical process of the study of Scripture, but to reveal its spiritual results.

SUBJECT: Paul in Rome.*

"And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him."-Acts xxviii. 30, 31.

LSEWHERE† we have looked upon these verses as suggesting four things.

First: The essence of Christianity—“. . . things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ." These things, and nothing else, constitute Christianity.

Secondly: The trials of its disciples. Here is one of its most illustrious and faithful disciples a prisoner in Rome. The trials of useful men like Paul show that none, however good, are to expect exemption from sufferings in this life, and that the most useful ministers are not essential to Christ.

Thirdly: The mission of its Ministers.

The

... Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things," &c. grand work of the Gospel minister is not to dispense platitudes, or charm with rhetorics, but to teach, and to teach not politics, not science, not philosophy, but "things concerning Christ." Fourthly: The force of its influence. Its influence is seen in bracing up the soul of Paul with holy courage, for he speaks with all confidence" in Rome, in the midst of enemies. Its influence is seen also in the effects his ministry produced in *Continued from p. 86. + See HOMILIST, vol. iii. third series, p. 50.

66

VOL. XXII.

L

the imperial city. He tells us himself "... that the things that had happened to him had fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel, so that his bonds in Christ were manifested in all" the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by his bonds, were much more bold to speak the word without fear." (Philippians i. 12-14.)

In addition to the very many important considerations which we have noted down on the whole account of Paul in Rome, as contained in the verses 16-31, there are others suggested which are worthy of our notice in conclusion.

I. THE ERAS OF A WONDERFUL HISTORY. The wonderful history is the history of the Gospel. In looking at Paul in his "hired house" at Rome, we discover

First The close of one chapter in Church history. This chapter records his travels, triumphs, defeats, from Jerusalem to Rome, and from the metropolis of Judæa to the seat of universal empire. It began with Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, and now closes with Paul's ministry in Rome. What a marvellous history it is; it fills the whole of this book. The course of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, says Lange, is a painful course, full of shame and persecution—a heroic course full of the power of faith and love; a victorious course full of mighty acts and divine wonders; a blessed course full of salvation and grace for "the present and the future.”

Secondly: The beginning of a new chapter in Church history. From Rome the Gospel starts on a new course. The Church which Paul established at Rome has been bearing the Gospel through subsequent ages over various parts of the world. All Church history subsequent to the Acts of the Apostle begins at Rome. Paul in Rome, therefore, gives us the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the glorious history of the Gospel. We see in him there the virtual fulfilment of the promise and the plan with which the Acts of the Gospel begins. He shall be my witness both in Jerusalem and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, unto the uttermost part of the earth." Another thing suggested is

66

II. THE MIGHTINESS OF A CHRIST-INSPIRED MAN.

Who can

read the account how this prisoner entered Rome, how unremittingly he toiled there, how heroically he declared his message there, how mightily he influenced many of its inhabitants, and even some of Cæsar's household, without feeling that he was animated by a spirit not of earth, nor of any human school of religion or morals, but by the spirit of Him who gave his life a ransom to save the lost. It was the spirit of Christ in Paul that made him what he was. He felt this; he acknowledged this. 66 ". . . The love of Christ constraineth me." 66 live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me." By sin we have lost our manhood; we are mean, and selfish, and cowardly. The Spirit of Christ can alone give us the true heart of humanity.

...

I

III. THE MYSTERIOUS METHOD OF DIVINE WORKING. It was God's purpose, as announced to Paul, that he should bear the Gospel to Rome; but how was this purpose fulfilled? One might have thought that the Almighty Master would have guarded his messenger from such evils, made his path straight and sunny. One might have thought that the man chosen of Heaven to bear the Gospel to the very centre of worldly power, splendour, and influence, should go with an exultant heart and with something of princely grandeur. But not so. What persecutions, perils, privations, disappointments, defeats, had Paul to experience in the way; and then he has to enter the imperial city a poor shipwrecked prisoner. His position seemed even to him a marvel, for he speaks of himself as an ambassador in bonds." 66 God's ways are not our ways, nor his

thoughts our thoughts."

IV. THE FRAGMENTARY CHARACTER OF SACRED HISTORY. Here the curtain drops upon the unfinished life of Paul. We read no more of him after this. He disappears for ever. It is true that tradition and certain references in one or two of his epistles have led some to conclude that after this his first imprisonment in Rome, he was released, and returned to visit some of the churches which he had planted. It is very

probable, say Howson, that he went to Spain, and not improbable that he came to Brittany. The general impression is that he was beheaded at Rome in the last year of the reign of

Nero, when Peter was also crucified. All this, however, is at best conjecture, certainty ends with this verse. Curiosity craves for minute information concerning the closing scenes in the life of this wonderful man, but Scripture offers no gratification. Why this? Why is sacred history so fragmentary? There are, no doubt, good reasons. Fuller details are, indeed, unnecessary. Luke has given sufficient memoranda of this man's life to enable us to judge how sublimely he passed through the last scenes. The acts of a man's daily life, and not the details of his death-bed, are the best criteria of his soul-life. A fuller account, too, would, perhaps, have been inexpedient. God is as kind in concealing as He is in revealing. Were the Bible to give us a full account of all the men referred to, it would be a volume of unreadable dimensions, a volume that would pander much to idle curiosity in human nature.

NOTE: This closes our Homiletic sketches of this book; the readers who desire to have them in one volume are respectfully requested to correspond with the Editor.

Germs of Thought.

THE BYEWAYS OF THE BIBLE.-No. III.
SUBJECT: The Inheritance of Joshua.

"They gave him the city which he asked.”—Josh. xix. 50.

W

Analysis of Homily the Seven Hundred and Eighty-Third.

E have the greatest of all Joshua's conquests described in this verse. ". . . . He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." Many and many a city-cities of prodigious strength and renown-had Joshua taken in his time. This little city which he received as a gift was more glorious to him than them all. We shall see this, I think, if we consider, I. His lofty position; II. His advanced age; III. His great