What Jesus Continues to Do and to Teach* By FREDERICK ALDEN The former treatise have I made, 0 Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach .—Acts 1 :1. T HE titles of the books of the J3ible are, of course, not contemporary with the date of the books themselves ; but are the later addition of scribes and copyists. In the title given to this book of the New Testament we have something of a misnomer. Only three or four of the Apostles are mentioned and the acts of many of them are scarcely mentioned. The introduction or preface of a book is often ignored by the reader, but it frequently throws a great light on the purpose and motive of the author. In the introduction or preface the author lays bare his heart and takes the reader into his confidence, and in skipping the preface, as so many do, we pass over the touchstone which would reveal the true metal of the tale. The book of the Acts of the Apostles has an introduction just as has that other work of Luke’s, the Gospel that bears his name.' Our text is part of this introduction. In it he follows the rule that so many writers of secular and sacred history follow and gives us a little glimpse into his mind and motive in writing the work. But more than that, we have in this introduction a glimpse of what Luke conceived this book to be, and we thus gain a truer idea of the book than that which the title (added by other hands and at a later date) gives us. This we gain not by direct statement but by a legitimate inference from the language used. Luke begins this book with a word to a man, Theophilus, for whose immediate benefit, or in consultation *A sermon preached in the Presbyterian Church, Montrose, Penn., Sunday, July 6, 1913. with whom, he evidently wrote. The Acts begins with a reference to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel was written, Luke says, “concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which he was received up.” The theme of the Gospel then was that which Jesus began to do and to teach. The inference is plain, that this sequel to the Gospel is to be concerning that which Jesus continued to do and to teach after that He was received up. Would not a more accurate title for this book be “The Acts of Jesus Christ, continued,” or “The Acts of the Risen and Ascended Christ?” Now out of this plain inference we may draw some suggestive thoughts not only concerning this part of the Scriptures, but concerning our life and work today 1. T he comparative place oe man and G od in the work of the K ingdom . The human worker is given as a rule a comparatively low place in the Acts. By that I do not mean that the heroic work of the first missionaries of the cross was belittled, or that anything that they did was made light of. We follow the footsteps of Paul, and his great task out in the broad Roman Empire is told in much detail. The daily life of some of the others of the leaders of that day are set forth vividly to us. But after all is said, the destiny and end of the human instruments that God was using in those days, are matters of entirely secondary importance in the movement of the history. It is the success or failure of the Gospel that is the important thing, the rise or the decline of the Kingdom.
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