THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS sages and explains them. It is a mas terly example of persuasive argument. It shows adroitness in the arrangement of its arguments, in its avoiding Jewish prejudice, and has a moving appeal and an immediate effect. It is the maiden effort of a Galilean fisherman without culture or training. It was extempor aneous. He who spoke an address of this sort must either be under superna tural influence or a supernatural per son. The speech transcends human power. It must have come from the Spirit of God. Christian eloquence is not a gift of nature but a work of grace. The best oratory requires piety as its back ground and basis. “ It is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.’’ Matt. 10:20. MONDAY, Jan. 5. Acts 2:37-41. • Three Thousand Won in a Day. When the law was given three thou sand men were slain, Ex. 32:28. When the Holy Spirit came three thousand were saved. A sermon should be judged by its results. It may be learned and eloquent but if nothing is brought to pass it is a failure. It may be de sultory and disconnected and spoken by a stammering tongue, nevertheless if it brings men to God, it is a success. It may de doubted if Peter’s Pente costal sermon was •ever surpassed or even equaled in results in the history of preaching. In 1741 Jonathan Ed wards preached a sermon at Enfield on the theme, “ Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Text, Deut. 32:35. “ Their foot shall slide in due time.” Five hundred were converted. A pos sible reason is that a company of pray ing people spent the previous night in prayer. It is prayer that gives to preaching its projectile power. TUESDAY, Jan. 6. Acts 2:1-13. The Accompaniments of Pentecost. We must discriminate between the
113 spiritual and the material, between the essential and the incidental. The main thing at Pentecost was the coming of the Holy Spirit. Everything else was subsidiary and non-essential. The wind, fire and tongues are by-products as well as all other external demon strations. We should not allow our selves to be side-tracked by dwelling unduly upon any one or on all together. A frame sets forth a picture and is not to be regarded apart from the picture. It is improper to attempt to identify the Holy Spirit by any particular or invariable demonstration. One can not deny the possibility of His presence even in the absence of all outward demonstration. Indeed demonstrations of any sort are easily counterfeited or manufactured. Satan tempts the be liever to accept the less for the greater. WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7. Acts 2:37-47. The After-effects of Pentecost. Three notable results followed the. coming of the Holy Spirit. They ac cepted new spiritual guides (the Apos tles’ doctrine, 2:42), they accepted new ordinances, and they had com munity of goods. To give up the title to property is not natural. There is no sin in honest possession. To the Jew temporal blessings were a token of Divine favor. Poverty was a mark of Divine displeasure. These people were willing to give up the outward evi dence of God’s favor because they now had an inward one. The Holy Spirit was in their hearts and they did not need the outward testimony of wealth. Communty of goods is neither anthori- tative nor permanent. There is later Apostolic instruction which admits a man’s right to his own. Acts 5:4. The followers of Christ are always bound to be benevolent but they are under no obligation to have a common purse.
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