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hand. But it cannot be fiction. The only rational explanation o f such an address under such circumstances is that we have here a record o f the deft utterances o f a Spirit-filled man. It was not in Peter, and it was not in any other man, to meet the emergency so skillfully as it is here met. Jesus o f Nazareth was a wonderful fulfillment o f this prophecy regarding the Messiah, which is found in the 118th Psalm. Jesus was a stone that was set at nought by those who claimed to be the builders, and beyond peradventure, God has made Him the head o f the corner. v. 12. "Neither is there salvation in any other (and in none other is there salva tion) : fo r there is none other name under heaven ( neither is there any other name under heaven), ( that is) given among men, whereby ( wherein) we must be saved.” Peter closed his brief but marvellous ad dress with a personal appeal. That ap peal, though short, is wonderfully full of fundamental truth. It sets forth the uni versal and imperative need o f salvation— “we must be saved.” It sets forth the fact that there is salvation in the name of Jesus. It sets forth the further fact that there is salvation in no other person and in no other name. v. 13. “Now when they saw ( beheld) the boldness of Peter and John, and (had) perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of' them, that they had been with JesusJ’ The council were in a dilemma. Peter and John refused to be intimidated. ,The council desired to pun ish Peter and John, but could not, for the people were glorifying God for what had been done (ch. 3:9, 10; vs. 16, 21). The council therefore had to content them selves with threats. Peter and John declared it was in the name o f Jesus that the deed had been done, and there the man stood right before their eyes and they could say nothing against it. They mar velled at the fearless frankness o f men who had never enjoyed the teaching o f the rabbinical schools and therefore would
naturally be over-awed in so august and learned an assembly as their own. Holy Ghost boldness in untutored men is always a perplexing thing to mere scholastics. Quite likely Peter’s sermon and bearing led ultimately to the conversion o f some o f his hearers (ch. 6 :7 ). They cast about for a solution o f the boldness o f Peterr and John, so unexpected under these cir cumstances, and finally hit upon the right, solution, viz., “they had been with Jesus.” That, is the solution o f many mysteries. Companionship with Jesus makes ordinary men extraordinary. v. 14. “And beholding (seeing) the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” There, right before their eyes, stood a living proof of the power o f Jesus’ name, and they were utterly silenced. Nothing so silences the opponent o f Christ and Christianity, as a living witness to the power o f His name, i. e., the one who is a witness in his own person—his own transformed self—it may be a lame man now walking, or it may be a drunken man transformed into a sober 'man by the power o f Jesus’ narpe, but the living illustration o f the tfansforming power o f Jesus’ name is the unanswerable .argument—“they can say nothing against it.” vs. 15, 16. “But when they had com manded them to go aside out of the coun cil, they conferred'among themselves, say ing, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable mirhile hath been done by (wrought through) them, is mani fest to all them (omit, them) that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” These Jewish rulers mere just like the average modern skeptic today, who," when he comes up against facts he cannot explain away, dodges the question. They asked, “What shall we do with these men?” They should have asked, “What shall we do to be saved ?” - Even they could not deny the fact o f the power o f Jesus’ name, but nev ertheless, they ,were unwilling to admit it. v. 17. “But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly (omit,
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