Reflections on the great success of the apostles preaching. and having favour with should be saved. 525 V. greatest joy on the side of those that made the SECT. Acts on all sides with the sincerest sentiments of de- 11. 46. 47 Praising God, votion and friendship. Such was the effect the 47 all the people. And gospel had upon them, and in this manner they the Lord added to the went on, praising God for the riches of his grace church daily such as to them, and having in the general that favour and respect among all the people, which so amiable and benevolent a conduct would naturally secure, And the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom they had given up their names, added daily to the church considerable numbers of those happy souls who by this means were saved from the general destruction which was approaching, and from the future punishment to which they would otherwise have been transmitted by it. IMPROVEMENT. FAITHFUL are the wounds of a friend; and far more beautiful than a jewel of gold, or an ornament of fine gold, is a wise reprover on an obedient ear (Prov. xxvii. 6; xxv. 12.) Happy are they Ver. who feel such an holy compunction of soul as these penitents did! 37 Salvation is come to their house, and though they sow in tears they shall reap in joy. (Psal. cxxvi. 5.) What reason have we for thankfulness, that when we are crying out, What shall we do? the gospel gives us so ready an answer, and directs us to faith and repentance, as the sure way by which we may obtain the remission 38 of our sins, and at length rise to an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Let us rejoice, that the promise is to us, and to our 39 seed; and that the important blessings of it will run down from generation to generation. And let all the ardour of our souls be awakened to secure these blessings, and to be saved from that ruin 40 in which we shall otherwise be involved with the crooked and perverse generation among which we live. Glorious effect of this convincing and excellent discourse, when 41 three thousand were in one day added to the church! three thousand who not only expressed some present good impressions and resolutions, but continued stedfast in the religion they had embraced, and sacrificed all their worldly interests to it. How glorious an earnest of the future success of the gospel! How great an encou- 42 ragement to the apostles, in all the difficulties they were to encounter; and how convincing a proof to all ages of its truth! since all these proselytes were made upon the spot, where if it had been false, it is impossible it should have been believed by any one 3 U 2 rational 526 Peter and John go up to the temple SECT. rational inquirer, how mean soever his capacity, or how low soever his rank in life had been. V. Let us reflect with pleasure on the happy change produced in the character and state of these converts: Bitter as the first pangs of their convictions were, anguish soon yielded to delight: Pardon 46 of sin, and the hope of glory added a relish before unknown to the supports of nature, the accommodations of life, and the endearments of friendship. Whilst their hearts were opened in senti47 ments of gratitude to God, who had provided a laver for their crimson sins, which rendered them like wool and like snow; and to that Redeemer, who had saved them by that blood which they had 44 cruelly and impiously shed; they were also d lated in liberality and bounty; and they undoubtedly found a rich equivalent for all the 45 worldly possessions which they resigned, in that holy joy which sprang up in their souls, when the treasures of the gospel were open to them, and dealt out with so generous a hand. 47 So may the kingdom of Christ spread and flourish in the souls of men! So may that blessed time come, when through the operation of the same Spirit, (for that Spirit is for ever the same.) nations shall be born in a day. Let us not despair; the morning was glorious, and in the even tide it shall be light. (Zech. xiv. 7.) In the mean time, let us thankfully own whatever progress Christianity may be making amongst us, or others, though by slow degrees; and acknowledge, that it is the great Lord of the church who, by his secret but powerful influence adds unto its respective socicties such as shall be saved. May the additions every where be numerous, and may the great author of all good be more thankfully owned in them all. SECT. vi. SECT. VI. Peter and John, quickly after the feast of Pentecost, cure a man who had been lame from his birth, at the temple-gate, which occasions a great concourse of admiring spectators. Acts III. ACTS III. 1. NOW while the church was in the flourishing state described above, an extraordinary cir cumstance happened, which tended still more to III. 1. increase its numbers and reputation: For on a certain day, about that time, Peter and John Acts About that time.] Thus I would choose, with Grotius, to render the words 7 TO went ACTS III. 1. NOW Peter and John went up together into the temple, at the hour ale at the beginning of this chapter, as it does not seem to suit so well with the ori the ninth hour. SECT. V1. Acts hour of prayer, being went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, [being] the ninth hour, that is, about three o'clock in the afternoon; which was the usual time of day when great numbers attended the evening III. 1. sacrifice, and joined their prayers with those of the priest, who was burning incense before the Lord. (Compare Luke i. 10.) And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was caried, And a certain man, well known among them 2 that frequented the place, who had been lame whom they laid daily from his mother's womb, by a weakness in his at the gate of the tem- ancles, which rendered him incapable of walkple which is called ing, was carried thither by the help of others; of them that entered whom they daily brought and laid down at the Beautiful, to ask alms eastern gate of the temple, which is called the ginal, to take them to imply no more, than that Peter and John went up together to the temple. I see no reason to suppose with Dr. Lightfoot, that this happened the same day, on which the Spirit was miraculously poured out, or to conclude with others, that it was not till the next year, or at least several months after. The time is no where determined; but it appears most probable, that it was soon after the feast of Pentecost. Compare note c on Acts iv. 4. § 8. At the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.] It may suffice once for all to observe, that the Jews divided the time, from the rising to the setting of the sun, into twelve hours, which were consequently, at different times of the year, of unequal length, as the days were longer or shorter. When we say therefore, (as we often do in this work,) that the third hour was about nine in the morning, the ninth about three in the afternoon, &c. we are not to be understood to speak with the utmost exactness. The third hour was the middle space between sun-rising and noon, which, if the c Called the Beautiful gate.] This gate, d Silver 528 Peter miraculously cures a man lame from his birth. SECT. then to be displayed in the illustrious miracle to with John, said, Look vi. be wrought by his means: and turning there- on us. Acts fore to the poor man, and looking stedfastly upon to receive something of none: but such as 1 up and walk. of Jesus 7 And he took him by the right hand, and III. 5. him, he said, Look upon us. And accordingly 5 And he gave heed he fixed his eyes upon them, as expecting to receive unto them, expecting something from them for the relief of his neces- them. 6 sities. But Peter, under the divine impulse, 6 Then Peter said, intended him a far more important favour; Silver and gold have I and therefore said, As for silver and gold, I have have, give I thee: In none of either to impart to thee, were I ever the name so free to do it; but what I have in my power Christ of Nazareth, rise I willingly give thee; and thou shalt find it not less valuable: I say unto thee, therefore, in the great and prevailing name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and as a proof that he is indeed the 7 Messiah, rise up and walk. And Peter taking him by the right hand, encouraged him to do as lift him up; and imhe had said, and raised him up: And immediately mediately his feet and on his speaking this, and touching him, his feet ancle bones received and his ancle bones, which had before been dis- strength. abled, were in an extraordinary manner strengthened and reduced to their proper situation. 8 And leaping up from the place were he lay, he first stood in an erect posture, which he had stood, and walked, and never before been able to do, and then walked about with strength and steadiness, and entered with them into the court of the temple, there to offer his first fruits of thanksgiving; sometimes walking, and sometimes leaping for joy, and in a rapture of astonishment and thankfulness, praising God for so singular a mercy manifested to him. (Compare Isa. xxxv. 6.) 9 S And he leaping up, entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and prais ing God. 9 And all the peo 10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the And all the people who were there present, saw him thus walking in the court of the temple ple saw him walking and the cloyster adjacent to it, and heard him and praising God. praising God with this uncommon ecstasy of de10light: And they knew him perfectly well, that this was he who had sat so long at the Beautiful gate of the temple, to beg for alms of those that Beautiful gate of the entered in and came out: And they were filled temple; and they were with awful astonishment, and felt in themselves filled with wonder and Jikewise a kind of joyful ecstasy, something re- which had happened sembling his, at that miraculous event which had unto him. befallen him. d Silver and gold I have none.] This was after the estates were sold, (chap. ii. 45,) and plainly shews, how far the apostles were from enriching themselves by the treasures which passed through their hands, as Mr. Reynolds well observes in his Letters to a Deist, No. iii. p. 242. And amazement at that By his mentioning gold as well as silver, (which a beggar like this could not expect to receive) he probably meant to speak of himself as continuing still a poor man, and not merely to say, that he had no good about him. e Kept 11 And as the lame ed, held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's great. ly wondering. Reflections on the cure of the blind man. vi. 529 Acts And, upon this, while the lame man who was SECT. man which was heal thus wonderfully healed, full of the tenderest sentiments of gratitude, still kept his hold of Peter and John, and walked on between them, some- III. 11. times taking them by the hand, and sometimes embracing them as his great benefactors and. the means of his deliverance; all the people in the neighbouring parts, alarmed with so strange a story, ran together to them in great amazement, to the spacious and celebrated portico of the temple, which (for reasons elsewhere assigned) was called Solomon's portico. And Peter observing the great concourse of people, and finding that they were exceedingly affected with the miracle which had been wrought, took that opportunity of making a very instructive discourse to them, which will be recorded in the ensuing section. IMPROVEMENT. HAPPY are those souls, who are so formed for devotion, that Ver. the proper returning seasons of it, whether public or private, 1 are always welcome! Doubly delightful that friendship, which, like this of Peter and John, is endeared not only by taking sweet counsel together, but by going to the house of God in company! (Psal. Iv. 14.) If we desire this devotion should be acceptable, let us endeavour not only to lay aside all the malignant passions, and to lift up holy hands without wrath; (1 Tim. ii. 8.) but let us stretch out our hands in works of benevolence and kindness. To our piety let us 3, 4 add the most diffusive charity which our circumstances will permit ; and there are none, whose circumstances will forbid every exercise of it. As for those that have neither silver and gold, such as 6 they have let them give. These holy apostles, we see, had not enriched themselves by being intrusted with the distribution of those goods which were laid at their feet; but had approved themselves faithful stewards: The members of Christ were far dearer to them than any temporal interest of their own: and fatally, sure, would the church in all ages have been mistaken, if it had measured the worth of its pastors by their wealth. They bestowed nevertheless a much more 6 valuable e Kept his hold of Peter and John.] Perhaps fearing his lameness should return, if he lost sight of them, as Bcza and others have observed. f The portico called Solomon's.] The reason why it was so called, and what a sort of building it was, may be seen in note b |