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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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fear to-appeal to them.—Sel. Of th is we can be sure from the excitement caused in the religious and political -world. The Pharisees said, “ The world is gone afte r H im ” (J n 12:19) and, “ These have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).—- Camb. Bible. v. 28. Almost thou persuadest. Or “ W ith bHt little more persuasion thou persuadest me to become.” —Alford. The word ‘ ‘almost ’’ is the saddest word in the English language.—Sawyer. There is no such thing as an “ alm ost” Christian.— Lewis. v. 29. A ltogether. There is a measure less distance between almost and, alto gether if one is try in g to jump aeross a chasm.—Sellers. Such as I am. Paul could have wished him nothing better. W hat was A g ripp a’s condition? He had no God (Eph. 2:12)', no life (1 J n 5:12), no peace (Rom. 3:17), no Christ (Rom. 8:9), no hope (2 P et. 2:12), no excuse (Rom. 1:20) and no escape (Heb. 2:3 ).:— Brooks. v. 30. The king rose up. When men cannot stand any more conviction they get up and go out.—Ross. v. 31. Nothing w orthy of death. Fes tus and Agrippa came to the same con clusions as had already three times been reached concerning Paul, first by the Pharisees (23:9), n ex t by Lysias (23:29) and lastly by Festus (25:25).—Horn. Com. v. 32. M ight have been. Contrast the liberty th a t m ight have, been P a u l’s and the salvation th a t m ight have been Agrip pa ’s.—Sel. 3m Subject Illustration.—Peto and Elstow, two men who had dared to speak out bravely as to H enry the E ig h th ’s misdeeds, were summoned before the k in g ’s council to receive a reprimand. Lord Essex told them they deserved to be sewn in a sack and thrown into the Thames. “ Threaten such things to rich and dainty folk, who have th eir hope in this w orld,” answered E l s t o w .gallantly, LESSON “ we fe a r them not; ILLUSTRATIONS w ith thanks to God, W . H . P ik e we know the way to heaven to be as ready by w ater as by land. ’’ Men of such metal m ight be broken, b u t they would not be bent. Paul could not be bent. He would preach the gospel even before the king. Bible Illustration.—Acts 3:17. T h e
l i f e a n d g l o r y ( R o i n . 8 : i 0 ; 2 T i m .
H o r n . A n a l y s i s . v. 24. Thou a rt Reside thyself. The only recourse of those who cannot prove C hristianity a fake is to call Christians “ cracked.” See 2 Cor. 5:13; Jn 10:20.— Sel. This is another instance of one who was unw illing to test the Gospel, calling the preacher a crank.—Garry. Who is the mad man? See Luke 24:25. I f Christians are crazy, th ey are a t least sure of one thing—heaven is to. be th e ir lunatic asy lum.—Clark. Much learning. The notion of a resurrection appeared as absurd to Festus as it had done to the A thenians (17:32) and caused him to think Paul really ina(l, a t the same tim e ascribing his insanity to his much learning which among the Jew s meant much theology (Jn 7:15; 2 Tim. 3:15).—Olshausen. v. 25. I am no t mad. Many a preacher would have been scared a t such ta lk and would have toned down his message.— Eliot. Most noble Festus. The apostle now answers w ith gentleness, n o t , as to the high priest.—Chrysostom. Words of tru th and soberness. Such should be the words of preachers still, and such they w ill be if they discourse upon P a u l’s theme, a crucified and risen Saviour, and if they speak w ith P a u l’s earnestness which all can im itate though all cannot equal. W h at, is w anted in preaching is not “ sound and fury signifying noth ing ,” bu t full hearted Gospel fervor. And if they seek P a u l’s aims—the glory of Christ and th e salvation of souls -jp none but words of tru th and soberness will ac complish these.—Stier. v. 26. I am persuaded. This was a fre quent phrase w ith Paul. He was per suaded th a t there was no obscurity as to the facts of th e Gospel. He was p er suaded th a t there would be no failure in the fulfillment of prophecy (Rom. 4:21). He was persuaded as to the security of the saints (Rom. 8:38). He was persuaded th a t there was no spiritual defilement as to the use of foods (Rom. 14:14). He was persuaded as to C h rist’s power to keep H is own (2. Tim. 1:12).—Kaylby. None of these things hidden. Agrippa knew per fectly th a t th e doctrines referred to, of a crucified and risen Christ, were not fancies, illusions and ravings of a mad man, bu t words of tru th and soberness because re lating to faets which had been done and events which had tak en place not in a corner bu t in the metropolis of Palestine and publicly.—Whitelaw . Not done in a corner. The Christian worker always has recourse to the faets and need not
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