14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15. And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. 16. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. clean." When the Lord Jesus performed his cures, his words were, "I will: be thou “Rise, take up thy bed and walk." given thee." Not so his apostles. 66 Thy sins be for- in their own power or holiness. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. His name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong. It is an example for the ministers of Christ. If they have a just sense of their commission, they go forth in the same power, and for a like purpose. We know the purpose of the apostles. Peter shows it here. Ye denied the Holy One and the Just; ye killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. Thus he aims to convince them of their sin, and to turn their hearts towards him whom they had crucified. And such must be the object They also must la of all who come after them. bour to convince men of the sin of their nature and their habits, the real cause which crucified the Son of God; and to direct them to that same name for pardon of their sin and renewal of their nature. The wickedness of the Jews, was but the character of our original corruption. They denied the Holy One and the Just, and preferred a murderer. What is this, but the preference of our nature? To choose not light, but darkness, not good but evil, not God but Satan? : This it is easy to set forth. Still will the minister say, What are we, sinful like yourselves, that we should prove this to you? So prove it, that you may repent and be converted? Yet there is a way a way, that instead of lying in the dust, and cleaving to the earth, ye may rise up, and walk before God in righteousness and holiness; glorifying him in the sight of all by your obedience, and setting your affections on his heavenly kingdom. This name, the name of Christ, through faith in this name, may give you perfect soundness. For he is still the Prince of Life: "hath life in himself, and quickeneth whom he will." And those whom he will quicken, are those who come to him and believe in his name. LECTURE VIII. PETER CONTINUES HIS DISCOURSE TO THE PEOPLE.-A. D. 33. ACTS iii. 17-26. 17. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 18. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. In the former part of his discourse, Peter had astonished the people by a view of their enormous guilt. Ye have killed the Prince of Life. Two months have hardly elapsed, since ye cried out with one voice, "Crucify him, crucify him." Ye might have known him to be your King by the works which he did in the midst of you, as plainly as ye know it now by the power which he is exercising through our hands. Perhaps he saw them affected: certainly, he was acquainted with the nature of man's heart. Like Joseph, in former time, who excused his brethren, and said to them, "It was not you that sent me hither, but God;"1 so the apostle finds a palliation for the offence of the men of Israel. And now, 1 Genesis xiv. 8. brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. And the very sin, which ye ignorantly committed, has accomplished the prophecies of God, and fulfilled his predetermined plan. Thus soothing them, and preparing them as the dew prepares the soil for the seed after the plough has furrowed it, he proceeds in the same merciful strain. 19. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21. Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Thus the apostle presents those thoughts to their minds, which were most suited to influence them. He sets before them a time, "when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another." Then the "wicked, the unbelieving, the abominable," "shall be shut out for ever from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power." And there was a prophecy which might well alarm them, even in their own Moses in whom they trusted. He had foretold a prophet, whom the Lord should raise up to supersede himself, whom they should hear in all things: and every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. But this time of horror and destruction to the impenitent and unbelieving, should prove to the people of God a time of refreshing: a restitution of all things: a restitution or a restoration of what had been ruined by sin. Now, "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together." 2 Then it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption." Now the elect of God are often a despised and suffering people, who, "if in this life only they had hope," would have little encouragement to persevere. But "we look," as the same Peter says elsewhere, "we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord: when humble piety shall be exalted, when self-denying obedience shall be requited, when the original image which man has lost shall be completely restored. And what were that assembly to expect, which 2 Romans viii. 20. |