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SERMON,

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ACTS xx. 35.

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

THE second lesson for this morning's service has already brought to your remembrance the occasion on which these words were spoken by the Apostle Paul, and the relation which they bear to the context. You will have learnt from it that they form the conclusion of that memorable and affecting discourse which he delivered, on the shore of Miletus, to the elders of the Ephesian Church whom he had summoned to meet him there, after his return from his second visit to the regions of Macedonia and Achaia.

In the course of that visit, we find, from a comparison with other parts of Scripture, that he not only gave "much exhortation" unto the brethren, strengthening and confirming them in the faith, but received also from their hands a "contribution

for the poor saints which were at Jerusalem1: and having returned to Troas, and there made fresh proof of his ministry, and of the power conferred upon him, by his diligent preaching of the word on the first day of the week, and by his miraculous restoration of the slumbering Eutychus to life,he embarked at Assos; and was brought to Mitylene by certain disciples of Greece and Asia, who had been chosen by the Churches to be his associates in bearing their bounty to Jerusalem'. They thence sailed over against Chios and Samos until they reached Trogyllium, where they tarried, and the next day came to Miletus.

1 "But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." Rom. xv. 25, 26; compare also 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2; and 2 Cor. viii. 1, 2.

2" And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus, and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus." (Acts xx. 4.) If we refer to the first Epistle to the Corinthians, we shall find the Apostle proposing that fit persons should be appointed by them to be the ministers of their charitable aid: " And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem, and if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me." (1 Cor. xvi. 3, 4.) In the second Epistle, again, reference is expressly made to the same appointment: "And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches; and not that only, but who was also chosen of the Churches to travel with

The sacred historian, who relates all these circumstances with that accuracy and precision which so well became one who was himself the companion of the Apostle's journeyings and eye-witness of his labours, assures us further that "Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost."

He was not deterred, you observe, by any fear of the enraged multitude, which had on a former occasion disturbed the idolatrous city of Ephesus; neither was he unmindful of the consolation and support to be received from the faithful who dwelt there; but every feeling of his mind was now subordinate to one great end. He desired only to speed on the work entrusted to him, to proclaim the progress of it to the crowds that would soon be assembled at Jerusalem, and to distribute among those who were in need, the relief with which he and the brethren who had been "also chosen of the churches to travel with" him, were charged.

And yet, since it was in the city of Ephesus that the Apostle had formerly abode, for upwards of two years, going "into the synagogue, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God," since it was there that he had "separated

us with this grace, (or, as it is rendered in the marginal translation, gift,) which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind." (2 Cor. viii. 13-19.)

the disciples" from the rest of "the unbelieving multitude," and taught them "daily in the school of one Tyrannus," "so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" and, furthermore, since it was in that city that God had "wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul;" and in consequence of these marvellous manifestations of the Divine power, these glorious triumphs over the spirits of evil, the diseases of the sick had left them, and fear had fallen upon the exorcist Jews, and upon

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many of them which had used curious arts," and who brought their books together and burned them before men," although the price of them had been counted at fifty thousand pieces of silver;" since all these things (and the history of them is to be found in the chapter immediately preceding the present1) afford such a clear commentary upon the truth of the historian's words which conclude the relation of them, that, "so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed;" it was no marvel that, anxious as the Apostle was to hasten on his voyage, he should yet have sought a conference with the elders of that Church in which so many witnesses of the truth had been raised up. Accordingly we find him inviting them to meet him at Miletus, and speaking to them, in that touching exhortation which has been read in our ears this day, of their

1 Acts xix. 6-20.

privileges, their dangers, and their obligations. I know not any passage of Scripture which presents a more beautiful picture of all that can awaken the sympathies, or kindle into an holy flame the best affections of our nature. The faithful minister of Christ speaking to his brethren of their common faith and common hope,-speaking, not in the cold language of didactic argument, nor the vague extravagance of incoherent declamation, but with a tenderness which caused the heart to throb and the eyes to glisten with tears, and yet with a resolution as bold in exercise as it was true in faith,a resolution which nerved his soul with patience and courage for the conflict, and which taught him to feel and to declare that though bonds and afflictions awaited him in every city, yet none of these things moved him, neither counted he his life dear unto himself, so that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God; then, turning from his own duties and difficulties and dangers to their's-bidding them take heed unto themselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he had purchased with His own blood,-warning them of the troubles that were at hand, when, after his departing, grievous wolves should enter in, not sparing the flock, and men should arise of themselves speaking perverse things, to draw away