LECTURE III.

ACTS v. 38, 39.

And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

SUPPOSING, then, that actuated by some unaccountable motive, and aiming at some inconceivable object, the apostles had deliberately determined on the scheme of converting the world to Christianity; let us inquire whether their conduct, immediately subsequent to the first public avowal of their purpose, was consistent either with discretion or the furtherance of their design, if they calculated and depended for their ultimate success on human means alone. All their passions are brought into subordination to this great and absorbing purpose; they no longer mistrust each other's timidity, or are endangered by mu

tual jealousy; the great scheme of doctrine is distinctly laid down, and the whole body are solemnly pledged to devote even their lives to the advancement of their cause. Where, then, and in what manner, is it likely that the plan would be commenced by prudent men with well-calculated probabilities of success; or if the result of rash enthusiasm, where would that rashness have been most fatal to their design? Apparently in the heart of that city where the people would be most exasperated at the revival of the sect which they had supposed to have perished with its Founder; where there would be the greatest disinclination to believe, and the greatest solicitude to confutea; where the counter-proofs were in the power of their adversaries; where all the people, high and low, had been committed in the transaction, and to whom the preaching Christ not merely abased their

2 Καὶ πρὸς τούτοις πάλιν, ἵνα μὴ λεγωσί τινες, ὅτι τοὺς γνωρίμους ἀφέντες, παρὰ τοῖς ξένοις ἦλθον κομπάσαι, τούτου χάριν παρ' αὐτοῖς πεφονευκόσι παρέχουσι τὰ τεκμήρια τῆς ἀναστά σεως, παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐσταυρωκόσι, τοῖς θάψασιν, ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει, ἐν ᾗ τὸ πρᾶγμα τὸ παράνομον ἐτολμήθη, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν επιστομισθῆναι ἅπαντας. Chrys. in Act.

national pride, but reproached them with most odious national cruelty. Such, however, is the scene selected for the publication of the new religion. Had a certain time been permitted to elapse; had the multitudes of Jews from all parts of the world, who were assembled in the metropolis on occasion of the course of festivals which commenced about the passover and terminated at pentecost, been allowed to disperse; had the excitement in the popular feeling been left to subside, and the malice of their enemies been lulled to sleep by security; had the rumour of the resurrection gradually crept abroad in Nazareth or the villages of Galilee, till the public mind was in some degree prepared; had the first appeal been made to the inhabitants of those parts in which our Lord had chiefly wrought his miracles-had all these cautious preliminaries been observed, the apostles might apparently have betrayed

b Lightfoot is of opinion that the prevalent belief in the immediate advent of the Messiah had attracted a more than ordinary number of worshippers to the metropolis. Compare Skelton, Deism Revealed, Dialogue V. Jenkyn I. 378.

some consciousness of mistrust in their supernatural commission, and consequently some suspicion attached to their proceedings. Yet even in Jerusalem, on a day of public festival, thronged as it was with Jews from all quarters, Peter, with the other apostles, stands forth, announces the commencement of the last days, and thus winds up a long discourse, in which he degrades the pride of the whole nation, David himself, far below that Being whom all the city had so recently seen hurried helpless and unresisting, buffeted and spit upon, to undergo the fate of a criminal at the place of public execution: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

C

Expone de judicio Dei in urbem Hierosolymitanam, totamque remp. Judaicam. Nam diem pro judicio poni alibi jam monuimus. Quum ergo tunc apud Judæos omnia ad ruinam inclinarent, nemoque ipsorum id negare posset, argumentum sane illud ex verbis prophetæ desumtum, tantam in animis ipsorum vim habebat, ut veritatem illius facile agnoscerent, victasque illi manus darent. Schoetgen, Horæ Heb. in loco. Compare Benson, First Preaching of Christianity, vol. I. p. 80.

d Acts ii. 36.