Then

13. And

also

being
the miracles and signs which were done.

also: himself believed, Si'mon and when he was baptized, he continued with Phil'ip; and wondered, beholding signs and great a miracles wrought, he was amazed. 14. Now when the apostles which were at Je ru ́sa-lěm heard that Sa-mā'ri-a had received the word of God, they sent unto them Pē'ter and Jõhn : Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, 'that they might receive the Hō'ly Ghōst:

15. who,

16. (For 2 as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only 3 they were baptized in 4 the name of the Lord Jesus.) for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Je'sus. 17. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Hō'ly

5

ordaining.

"The tense points not to one great act, but to the continual succession of converts who were thus admitted." - Plumptre. Both men and women. "We think of the woman of Samaria of john 4: 7, and wonder whether she was one of them." Plumptre.

13. Then Simon himself believed also. He believed that Jesus was the Messiah. He knew all about the tricks of magic, and the character of magicians, and he knew that miracles wrought in the name of Jesus were real and divine. "Yet this faith of his was only historical and intellectual, without having as its result a change of the inner life; hence, he was soon afterwards capable of what is related in vs. 18, 19.” Meyer. "It was a belief about the facts and not a belief in him whom the facts made known, a belief in the power of the new faith, but not an acceptance of its holiness." Knowling. It was without heart, without giving up all to Jesus, without accepting him as his Saviour, guide, teacher, and Lord. He was baptized. Thus making a public profession of his faith. Perhaps he was self-deceived, and thought that he possessed the same faith as the others, and knew all about religion. And wondered. Showing the kind of belief he had.

THE DELEGATION FROM JERUSALEM. 14. The apostles . . . sent unto them Peter and John. Not as rulers, but as a friendly delegation of leading apostles who could be trusted. The early Christians were sufficiently conservative, but yet had open minds to the guidance of God's providence, though they were not so progressive as to neglect to study carefully the facts. The object of the delegation seems to have been to obtain a true report of the strange doings in Samaria, which, if true, must change the views of the Christian church. Were these true conversions? Should the Samaritan converts be received and welcomed in spite of the barriers between Jews and Samaritans, "who have no dealings" with one another (John 4: 9)? Besides this, Peter and John could give wise counsel to the new converts, and further instruction in the teachings of Jesus, and confer some spiritual gifts. 'John once," says Barnes, “would have called down destroying fire upon the Samaritans (Luke 9: 54). Now he gladly seeks to bring upon them the blessed baptism of fire from the Holy Ghost."

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THE PENTECOSTAL GIFT. The two apostles found that the conversions were real, but that the converts had received only a portion of the blessings of the gospel.

more to follow."

"There was

15. Prayed for them. The best spiritual gifts come through prayer. That they might receive the Holy Ghost. Not the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit who had already convicted them "of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment," and changed their hearts so that they were "born anew of the spirit "; but the larger special gifts of the spirit for greater devotion, for power in service as Jesus had promised (Acts 1: 8), and, in fuller degree, the "divine indwelling of the Spirit which makes the Christian the temple of God (Gal. 3: 2; Rom. 8: 15).”. Knowling.

17. Then laid they their hands on them, to express that the gift came from God through his apostles. It was a connecting link between the giver and the receiver. And they received the Holy Ghost, probably with the outward manifestations of Pentecost, and the inward grace which they represented. For it is plain from Simon's request that there must have been some "visible and audible phenomena, as was common in the apostolic age." "Simon would never have offered money for a power that produced effects which might as easily be produced in other ways, and which gave no clear indication of supernatural influence.” McGiffert.

The special reasons for this gift were much the same as on its first bestowal at Pente

cost. (1) It expressed clearly the inward grace and power, so that both those who received it, and all others, might realize the fact of the unseen gift, as the spark or the lightning reveals the presence of electricity. (2) The new church, under new circumstances, needed the power, and gifts and fresh life bestowed. (3) It proved to the Jewish disciples, and especially to the church at Jerusalem, that the Samaritan movement was from God, and approved by the Saviour and Master.

THE SAMARITAN BRIDGE FROM JEWS TO GENTILES. The greatest epoch in the early church, and one essential to the gospel, was to be the reception of the Gentile Christians without their first becoming Jews. A great gulf lay between them which it seemed impossible to bridge. All were willing enough that Gentiles should become Jewish Christians, but they did not see how to welcome them as Gentile Christians. How could they join in eating and in social life with those whose food was forbidden, with whom an intermarriage was against their law. Philip went as government vessels sometimes sail from port, with sealed orders, which are not opened till they are far out at sea. The great change could not be made suddenly, but only after due preparation.

"God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold;
We must not tear the close shut leaves apart;
Time will reveal their calyxes of gold."

Thus the reception of the Samaritans, who were half Jews (2 Kings 17: 24-29) and accepted the Mosaic books, but not the interpretations of the Elders, prepared the way for the wider opening of the door to the Gentiles.

SIMONY. TRYING TO BUY SPIRITUAL GIFTS WITH MONEY. Simon Magus offered to buy this power of the two apostles, just as magicians bought secrets of one another, an act which gave his name, simony, to the crime, not new in the world, but new in the church, of obtaining spiritual things, as "orders, benefices, or any position which entitles to the administration of spiritual gifts by money." This, like Ithuriel's spear in paradise, showed that he was no real Christian, and the apostles indignantly condemned him. He had "no part nor lot in this matter," but was still "in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity." His real heart was also manifested by his request that they should pray for him, not that he might be forgiven and cleansed from his sin, but merely that he might escape its consequences.

23. In the gall of bitterness. Either the gall-root, or the gall of vipers; the poison of vipers which the ancients supposed to lie in the gall. The addition, of bitterness, expresses the superlative degree, the intensity of the gall. He was still in malignant aggravated depravity. Rendall renders the phrase "Thou art as gall of bitterness," you are such an evil, a poison in the church, as gall-poison is in the body. And . iniquity. "Hemmed around by habits and principles of iniquity, as if bound fast by a fetter or bond, from which he cannot energetically even will to escape.' "" - Whedon. Rendall translates, "as a bond of iniquity," binding others in iniquity as with chains.

bond of

NOTE I. How little of the best things can be bought for money! Wisdom, spiritual power, poetic feeling, sound judgment, character, love, peace, forgiveness, communion with God, heaven, are as possible to the poorest man as to the richest. They can be received as far as we open our minds and hearts, but never bought. The best things of God are free to all men, as the most beautiful forms and lines are the most common.

"At the devil's booth are all things sold,
Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold;
For a cap and bells our lives we pay;

Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking,
'Tis heaven alone that is given away,
'Tis only God may be had for the asking."

NOTE II. The apostles reproved the richest and most powerful man in the church. The church was stronger without him than with him, so long as he was not a real Christian. NOTE III. Even in the first church we have met with three spurious disciples, Judas, Ananias, Simon Magus; and yet only three out of many thousands. About the proportion we notice in the modern church of those who have fallen into crime. Try to be John, no matter who is Judas," says Dr. Maltby D. Babcock.

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NOTE IV. Evil done in the name of religion does not make real religion any the less desirable. When Madame Roland stood upon the guillotine in what is now the Place de la Concorde in Paris, she looked at the statue of Liberty, which stood where now is the Egyptian Obelisk, and exclaimed, “Oh, Liberty, how many crimes have been committed in thy name!" Then the axe fell, and another crime was committed in the name of Liberty. But Liberty is just as sweet and precious, to be longed for and fought for, as if no crimes had been committed in her name.

LESSON XI. March 16.

THE ETHIOPIAN CONVERTED.

Study Verses 26-40. Read Isa. 53.

With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with - ROм. 10: 10.

the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

But an

26. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Phil'ip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Je-ru'sa-lěm unto Ga'za is desert.

which the same

I. An Example of Providential Guidance. Vs. 26, 27. Deacon Philip had done a good work in Samaria, and its success was so great that the Christians there could wisely be left to grow by themselves. Sometimes too much help is worse than none. An authority on education has just been objecting to parents helping their children too much in their school lessons, so that they not compelled to gain strength and development by overcoming their difficulties themselves. 26. And the (better, "an") angel of the Lord. Whether he appeared in some visible form, or by some inward communication, or by vision, is not revealed, and is a matter of small con

are

sequence. But in any case it was a real messenger bringing a real message from God. Spake unto Philip. The deacon, or evangelist, not the apostle. And go toward the south. "With his face to the south," from Samaria. This would lead him directly across the different roads from Jerusalem to Gaza and to Africa. Nestle and Wendt, with the margin of revision, read "at noon," the word for "south" and " noon I naturally being the same, the difference being in the preposition used. That goeth down from Jerusalem. Both because Jerusalem was on high land, and any road toward the coast must be a descending one, and also toward Jerusalem is always up, as in England it is always up to London and down from London, without any regard to relative position. Unto Gaza. A Philistine city. The scene of one of Samson's feats, and one of the oldest cities in the world. At present it contains about sixteen thousand inhabitants. Which is desert. That is, wild pasture lands, uncultivated, and thinly inhabited. Opinion is still divided as to whether the adjective "desert " belongs to the way or the city. If it refers to the way, it designates the southern route through Hebron. For, as Canon Tristram says, "The other two routes one by the sea-coast, the other across the central and richest part of Philistia - passed through a thickly peopled country. The southern road, which is the only one adapted for chariots, passed by the great arterial highway of Solomon, and afterwards of the Romans, through Hebron; and then turned to the southwest, entering, in a few hours after leaving Hebron, upon a wide pastoral plain, which extends, without interruption, to Gaza." This lonely region would be a natural one for the Ethiopian's reading aloud. "The angel said, 'Go to Gaza by the desert road.'" Canon Cook. On the other hand, Prof. George Adam Smith thinks it was Gaza which was desert, that is the old city of Gaza three miles from the sea, which had been devastated with fire and sword B. C. 96. A new city of Gaza had been built by the seashore. The road from Jerusalem to Africa passed through the old city which Josephus calls desert (Antiq. XIV., 5, 3) and so does Strabo.

an

a

27. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of E-thi-o'pi-a, eunuch of great authority under Căn'da-ce, queen of the E-thi-o'pi-ans, who had the charge of all her treasure, who and 2 had come to Je-ru'sa-lem for to worship;

was over

27. And he arose and went. Apparently under sealed orders, as so often in life, not knowing the object of his journey.

"I know not where I am going, but well do I know my Guide."

Where the two roads from Samaria and Jerusalem unite, or while he was walking along the road common to the two journeys, he met, by the ordering of Providence, a man of Ethiopia. Ethiopia was a vague term for the lands south of Egypt, "but in this case we are able to identify it with the ancient Ethiopic kingdom of Meroë by the name of its queen, Candace." "The kingdom of Meroë lay on the right bank of the Nile from its junction with the Atbara, as far as Khartoum, and thence to the east of the blue Nile to the Abyssinian Mountains."-Tristram. See Hastings' Bible Dictionary. An eunuch. A chamberlain or a servant of the bedchamber. The word "denoted the condition of a man who was chosen to watch over the women's apartment in great houses." - President Woolsey. Such persons, deprived of family ambition, were supposed "to be capable of peculiar devotion to the interests of their masters." 66 They were often very influential and superintended the education of young princes. The word is often used in a wide sense for such officials." Hastings' Bible Dictionary. Of great authority. δυνάστης, from δύναμαι, to be able, to have power; hence, a potentate, a man of power, a prince. Under Candace. Not the name of an individual, but of a dynasty, as Pharaoh in Egypt and Cæsar in Rome. Queen of the Ethiopians. The kingdom of Meroë was governed by queens in the time of Augustus, and, according to Eusebius, even to his time, three hundred years after Christ. Charge of all her treasure. (The Greek word for treasure is gaza.) He was at the head of the financial department of the kingdom, chancellor of the exchequer, secretary of the treasury. It is regarded as improbable that he was a Jew or a full Jewish proselyte, for Eunuchs were not permitted to join the congregation (Deut. 23: 1), but he may have been a proselyte of the gate," or one who in general adopted the worship of the Jews without becoming a Jew.

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NOTE 1. How God's providence guides us and compels all things to work together for our good, and for the progress of his cause.

LIBRARY. Dr. Bushnell's Sermons for the New Life," Every Man's Life a Plan of F. W. Robertson's Life and Letters, p. 13, giving the story of providence in his early life. Every life has such providences.

God."

Book of the Law.

The Pentateuch.

ILLUSTRATION. The "Charge of the Light Brigade."

"Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Only when God bids us go, we know that nobody "has blundered," but the orders are right and wise.

NOTE 2. Even in the deserts, the loneliest places, we can find something to do for God.

NOTE 3. All Philip's previous life, his acquaintance with the Scriptures, his thoughts, his experience, his reception of the Holy Spirit, his faithful work, were preparations for the work God now wanted him to do in sending the gospel to Africa.

NOTE 4. Note the progress of the gospel in breaking down barriers; first in the case of the Samaritans, and now of this African eunuch.

FIRST:

II. Seeking the Light through Religious Meet-
ings and the Scriptures. Vs. 27, 28.
THROUGH GREAT MEETINGS OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE.
Jews were scattered over nearly all the world, and doubt-