respectful, so frank, so sufficient in every respect for the occasion, no sooner did he refer to his mission to the Gentiles in the 21st verse, than they broke out into a violent interruption. "And he said unto me, depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air." The word "Gentiles" fell from his lips like a spark upon the tinder of their bigotry. The odium theologicum raged so furiously within them that they could not listen to another word, or tolerate him for another moment. "Away with such a fellow from the earth; it is not fit that he should live." They would not allow him to utter another word in justification. To them all the charges brought against him were more than true. He was a monster to be swept from the face of the earth-"away with such a fellow from the earth." The old voice that filled Jerusalem on the day of Christ's crucifixion, comes out again in thunder. Their rage was ungovernable. "They cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air.” The act described here may be either that of tossing up their loose cloaks or outer garments, or that of violently shaking them without removal; not as a gesture of concurrence or applause in which sense agitation of the dress is sometimes mentioned in the classics, but as a spontaneous expres sion of intense and irrepressible excitement. Throwing dust into the air-not as it has sometimes been explained, that it might descend upon their own heads as a sign of mourningan idea probably connected with the false assumption that they rent their garments, whereas they only shook or tossed them. The act described is to be understood precisely like the one before it, as an outward symptom of internal rage resembling its expression in the lower animals, and said to be common in the East upon the part of whole crowds, when impatient or exasperated."*

* Alexander.

III. HERE WE HAVE OFFICERS OF LAW TOO WEAK TO BE GENEROUS OR BRAVE. "The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging, that he might know wherefore they cried so against him."

First: Fear of the people made the chief captain too timid to behave generously towards Paul. Why did the chief captain-the Roman tribune-command Paul to be brought into the castle, scourged, and bound? Not because he could have been in any way convinced of his guilt, but because he wished to conciliate the raging mob who cried out, "Away with such a fellow from the earth !" For fear of the Jewish mob this commander of the garrison examined him by scourging. According to the Roman law, Paul was scourged in order to extract from him a confession of guilt which no witnesses could prove. "Scourging was a species of judicial torture, intended like the similar but worse devices of the Inquisition, and some other civilized but barbarous tribunals, to supply the want of proof or information by extorting a confession or compelling a prisoner to accuse himself. From this use torture has acquired a euphemistic name; the application of the rack, the iron boot, the thumb screws, and a hundred other hellish cruelties, being known in history as putting men (or women) to the question. In comparison with these refinements, there was something merciful in the Roman practice of examining by scourges." This species of barbaric ferocity still lingers about Christendom. Second: Fear of the Roman power forced him to desist from his cruelties. While the indignities and cruelties were being inflicted upon him, Paul, with the heroism of a great man, said, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?" From the conversation that took place from verse 26-30, three things are observable. (a) Paul's self-command. Tortured and bleeding under the lash, he speaks without rage or even excitement-speaks to the bold Roman himself: 66 Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman?" (b) The apostle's civic superiority to the Roman

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HOMILETIC GLANCE AT THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

tribune. The one was a "free-born" citizen of Rome, the other was a citizen only by purchase. "With a great sum obtained I this freedom," said the captain. The right of Roman citizenship was conferred only on such foreigners as had rendered some signal service to the state. As the moral tone of the empire lowered, it became a purchasable commodity. This chief captain thus obtained his citizenship. "But I was born free," says Paul, as if he had said, “I am a greater Roman than thou." Paul was born in Tarsus, a city whose inhabitants were admitted to the rights of citizenship by Augustus. (c) The force of the Roman name. As soon as they heard that Paul was a Roman, the officer shrank with dread from the outrage he was committing, and the soldiers recoiled. "Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain, also, was afraid after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him."

This incident accords with Roman history. Cicero, against Verres, says, "Whoever he might be whom you were hurrying to the cross, were he even unknown to you, if he but said that he was a Roman citizen, he would necessarily obtain from you, the prætor, by the simplest mention of Rome, if not an escape, yet at least a delay of his punishment." And again, "It is a heinous sin to bind a Roman citizen; it is wickedness to beat him; it is next to parricide to kill him; and what shall I say to crucify him?”

REPOSE OF GREAT MINDS.

Really great minds seem to have cast off from their hearts the grave's earth, as well as dissipated the clouds which conceal the heaven from our view, and they thus disclose to themselves and to us a clear and blissful world of everlasting repose. The beauty of such minds appears simple and unagitated, extending, like the blue ether, over the world and time. And it is the repose produced by satisfaction and completion, not exhaustion from the fatigue of continuous endeavour, which gives an expression of serenity to their eyes, and imprints its quiet on their lips. RICHTER.

Homiletic Notes on the Epistle

of James.

(No. IV.)

SUBJECT: Soul-testing.

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."-Jas. i. 12.

I

N this verse we are reminded of two facts. They areI. THAT MAN HERE IS IN SOUL-TESTING CIRCUMSTANCES. All are beset with afflictions. To such men as James is addressing, such afflictions are not misfortunes, still less are they punishments. They are trials-tests. By them a man is tested in his own judgment, in the sight of men, and under the eye of God. First: There are those that test his faith. Much that happens forces him to ask with ever deepening earnestness, "Is there a spiritual world? Is there a future life? Is there any advantage in virtue?" &c. Secondly: There are those that test his love. How many things entice men to some one of the many forms of selfishness, e.g, pride, accumulation for self, misanthropy, &c. And are there not some things that tend to quench love to God? "Keep yourselves from idols."" Ponica cili dreid redeteim yidyim obera mynd mold SIL THAT MAN'S WELL-BEING CONSISTS IN STANDING THIS TEST. Whilst these tests are applied to all, he alone is the "blessed" man who sustainsmoμéve the trial. A weak and wicked man may suffer, but he does not endure. Endurance is well-being; for, of such as endures, the text teaches

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First: He has present blessedness. A heart free froni the wounds of remorse, a conscience not outraged by wrong-doing, can intercourse with the Holy One not interrupted by sin, a power of Christian usefulness not weakened by conscious guilt, a heart beating high with true hopes, all these consti{ tute the blessedness of the man who stands well all soultests. Secondly: He has future glory When he becomes

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approved as genuine, he shall receive a crown of life." The metaphor, "approved as genuine," orɩ dóкos yevóμevos, has reference to money which has been properly tried and refined, and so is "receivable." To men whose characters are thus tried, and who are thus accepted, there is honour. (a) The honour is certain, "promised." (B) The honour is lasting, crown of life." (y) The honour is God-given, "The Lord," &c. (8) The honour is given to those who are prepared for it, "those that love God." Only love to God can make a man

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truly endure temptations.

Only love to God can qualify a man for spiritual honour. That is the royalty, without which the crown would be but a bauble and a burden.

(No. V.)

SUBJECT: The Sources of Good and Evil.

"Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures."-Jas. i. 13—18.

Men have made mighty mistakes about the sources of good and of evil. Of these sources a metaphysical explanation has never yet been given-probably, never will be. But the text, in common with other Scripture, presents us with two distinct and sufficiently practical facts.

I. ALL GOOD IS FROM THE CREATOR.

This is shown here by James. 1. From the negative character of God. He is (a) non-temptable. For any being to be temptable, he must be able to conceive new thoughts, and also to cherish new emotions. In that temptation consists. Since God can never see evil in any other guise than He always has, and since He cannot feel towards it in any other