which we have been looking at, whether in the Lord's own ministry, or in that of the apostle under the Holy Ghost, tells us that such a condition may soon need the confirming virtue which knowledge of the word imparts. Exercises of soul under the discovery of corruptions, under the accusings of Satan, or of the conscience, from the tendencies of nature, and from the wear and tear of Christian warfare, may set in; and such things will call for "the sword of the Spirit." The danger, I grant, may be feared, lest when the link between Christ and the soul, which Scripture forms, be strengthened, that which personal attraction has already formed should become less earnest. It is delightful to see affection, and joy, and fresh open-heartedness. It is admirable, specially in the eyes of some of us, who know too much of coldness, and narrowness, and formality. Still, knowledge of Scripture is divine provision for the rising exigencies of our onward journey, as for the quickening of the soul at the beginning; the Word being the seed of life, and the milk and meat of it, too. And, surely, our communion with Scripture is to feed, not to supersede, our communion with Himself. I grant that there is danger, as I said-danger lest the fervency and simplicity, which marked the "illumination," the first moment of the quickened soul, the day of "blessedness," the time when personal attraction should be owned by the heart, should be injured by the accession of knowledge. But, though this danger may well be feared (and if it prevail, the loss will be serious indeed), yet we find that neither the Lord Himself, nor His servants under the Spirit, were governed by it. The Lord added an opened understanding, and an interpreted Scripture to them who were already His by personal attraction; and the apostle taught, and taught carefully, those who had been in the joy of illumination, and in the power of their early blessedness. But I must look for a little at Acts xi. 19-30.

They that were scattered abroad at the persecution which arose about Stephen, went everywhere telling of the Lord Jesus. They were not as ordained or gifted ones; but, in the freshness of their recent quickening, they talked of the salvation they were enjoying. The

elder brethren, official and gifted, remained at home (chap. viii. 1).

The fruit of this service was very happy, but evidently very simple. We see this, as at Antioch, in this chapter, Acts xi.; and tidings of all this reaching Jerusalem, Barnabas is sent to see it-the very man for such service; for he was a man rather of grace than of gift-" a good man"—" a son of consolation," as he is called; and, coming to Antioch, and there seeing "the grace of God,” as we read, "he was glad."

Very simple, very lovely, and very easy to be understood, all this condition of things is. The work carried on by simple, fresh souls, was very attractive to a simple, gracious, saint. Barnabas joined himself with it at once; but he did this in a modest, temperate, way, which surely was the wisdom of the Spirit in him. He exhorted them: he did not teach them, as though he would add something to them, but he exhorted them, as desirous that they should rather hold fast what they already had. I can suppose that he instinctively felt and judged it would be hazardous to do more just at that moment, considering the condition of soul he had then found them in.

This is simple, and it is significant also; for it easily associates itself with much that is abroad at this moment; for Antioch is again, in this our day, before Jerusalem; and Jesus is again passing by; and though the path of His feet may still be in places of no repute with very many, as Galilee or Nazareth, or the road that lay be tween Jericho and Jerusalem, it is well for sinners to be in the highway, or on the road-side.

After

But the scene at Antioch does not yet close. awhile, Barnabas goes to seek Saul at Tarsus. Saul was a gifted vessel in the house of God. Barnabas, in the grace that distinguishes him, seems to know this and to own it; and, therefore, in due season, desires his presence and help among the new converts. When these converts reach a certain stage, or come to age, as we may say, he appears at once to think of Saul, his gifted brother, in connection with them; and accordingly seeks him out, and then brings him to Antioch, and there, assembling themselves together for that very purpose, for a whole

and there stood

up

year, they teach the young converts; and the good fruit of all this is quickly gathered, as we read:-" And in those days came prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch; one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit, that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples-every man according to his ability-determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Jerusalem, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas

and Saul."

This is all, again I say, not only simple and happy, but significant, having a voice for the ear of this present hour. The ministry of some unnamed, undistinguished, brethren had awakened many souls at Antioch: these souls then welcomed first the exhortations of Barnabas, and afterwards the teaching of Saul; and, at the last, and as the end or fruit of this husbandry-this ploughing, planting, and watering-they are ready with sympathy-living practical sympathy-to answer the need and sorrow of their brethren.

Antioch is thus before us, in this earliest notice that we get of her. The activity there is lively, full of freshness, and affection, and simplicity, yielding real genuine fruit; and there the disciples are first called "Christians."

This, as we have seen, is in chap. xi. In chap. xiii., we find it the seat of an energetic body of disciples, animated by a missionary spirit; and forth from it Paul and Barnabas, the companions of an earlier day, are sent by the Holy Ghost on the work of evangelizing. In chap. xiv., we find these brethren returned there, after their mission had been fulfilled; and in chap. xv., Paul a second time, now in company with Silas, going forth from it on fresh labours in the gospel.

Jerusalem, during all this, is rather laid aside, or in the shade, as we speak. She is seen, in chap. xv., as the place where certain disputed ecclesiastical questions had to be settled; but that is far, indeed, from giving her the glowing atmosphere of Antioch; and thus, the last are first, and the first last. The younger Antioch takes the lead of old Jerusalem; but while we say this, we will

VOL.XII. PT.II.

11

not forget Jerusalem as the earliest seat of the Church, honoured and endowed. The Spirit descended there: there the first disciples sold all they possessed, and lived together, the fairest sample of congregational beauty that ever flourished. There, too, we see a suffering Church: prisons and martyrdoms witness this; and there the Holy Ghost shook the place, as well as filled the place, of the

assembled saints.

But in time, Antioch rather than Jerusalem occupies the foreground of observation. We see the last firsta common thing from the beginning hitherto. Sarah got the start of Abraham, in Gen. xxi., though she was so much behind him in Gen. xviii.; and so young converts, like young Antioch, run earnestly along in paths of service, where old disciples are but walking leisurely. In patriarchal, apostolic, and present days, we may thus see the last as first. Be it so; may we older ones of Jerusalem say, "O! that jealousies were watched and mor tified! O! that we were not so tempted to judge of things and of persons in relation to ourselves, to the part or measure we take with them, or the interest we have in them!" How should we rejoice in the service and fruitfulness of others! Surely we are not to surrender anything we have of Him or from Him; but as surely we are to value other vessels of His house, and the treasure that is in them, and the use which the Master is pleased to put them to. Eliab will upbraid his younger brother, because he eyed him enviously; but we are to cherish the heart of David, who, if he but served, cared not whether it were among the sheep-folds or on the throne.

I would, however, add another word.

One is very conscious at times of a dread of interfering with the work of the Spirit with a soul, when that work appears to have a fresh character about it, and to have been somewhat immediately as from God Himself. It moves us in measure, like as the first work of the Lord Jesus moved the disciples at the well of Sychar: they felt that they could not intrude: there was a weight and influence in the place which His power and just been so blessedly occupying. It was the same again

grace

had

after He was risen on the shore of the sea of Galilee. There we read-"And none of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord."

One is, in like spirit with this, indisposed at times to meddle with the working of God with a soul, to direct it, or to attempt to give it anything of a new shape or character; and this reserve is healthful, I judge. But here, again, I would say, it is to have its measure: it is to be debated with, or it may restrain us too far. I see this in Acts xviii.

There, Aquila and his wife Priscilla had a fresh work of God under their eye in the person of Apollos-a work, I can assure myself, which had character in it, savouring of the direct, immediate, hand of God. It had fine qualities in it. That man of Alexandria, as a vessel of the divine Potter, was no common one. Apollos was eloquent, fervent in spirit, mighty in the scriptures, and earnest and diligent in testimony to the Lord. All this may well have attracted, and more than attracted, the older disciples. I can suppose that for a moment Aquila and Priscilla were silent in the presence of this new-formed vessel, as Moses for a time listened to Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp, and old Eli bowed before the word of the Lord in the mouth of the youthful servant of the Temple.

Still, however, Aquila and Priscilla did not, in fitting time, refuse to take Apollos and teach him the way of God more perfectly, as Barnabas and Saul did not, as we have seen, refuse to teach, as well as exhort, the young converts at Antioch.

I cannot but say, that these samples of the various wisdom of the Spirit in the saints and servants of the Lord I feel to be admirable. And I see a vividness now giving character to certain freshly-awakened souls, which I have no disposition to deprive of a certain kind of authority with me. I do not yield a jot of what I have learnt from the word; but I fear lest teaching, if not wise in season as well as in substance, should do mischief. And yet surely I know and own that teaching is the divine way of growth and fruitfulness, and may be deeply needful to meet the rising exigencies of these dear young converts.