"justification," "sanctification," "election," "adoption," which the masses of Gospel hearers adopt as precious things, whilst they are utterly ignorant, and, therefore, unappreciative, of the divine realities they are intended to represent. Words in religion, when they are taken for things, kill inquiry, freedom, sensibility, earnestness, enthusiasm, moral manhood. It was said by Burke, "That no man comprehends less of the majesty of the English constitution than the Nisi-Prius lawyer, who is always dealing with the technicalities and precedents." As truly we may say, that no man understands less of the grand spirit of the Gospel than he who is constantly dealing with the verbalities of religion.

(2.) The theorist kills. The man who is preaching his own little system of theology, in the place of the free Gospel of God, is killing souls. The Jews formulated a theory of the Messiah. In their theory He was to appear in such a form, and He was to do such a work, and He was to reach such a destiny. Their theory, which was derived from the Scriptures, as men now derive their theology, killed them, He came, He did not answer to their theory; they held to their theory, rejected Him, and were damned. They were killed. Souls cannot feed upon our dogmas. There are those who hold four or "five points," which they call the doctrine of grace, and preach as the full Gospel of God. The teachers who do not ring those out in every discourse, they denounce as not preaching a full Gospel. Under the dogmas of these men souls are starved. The smallest seed you plant in your garden requires all the elements of nature to feed on, and grow to perfection. The gases of the soil, the flowing atmosphere, the gentle dews, the copious showers, the shadow of evening, and the rays of noon, all must minister to it ere it can reach perfection; and can souls live and grow on the few dogmas of an antiquated creed? Never. Souls must have the "unsearchable riches" of truth, if they are to reach maturation.

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Thirdly The Ritualist kills. He who exalts even the lawful rites of the Gospel, such as Baptism and the Lord's

Supper, to say nothing of unauthorised, and in some cases absurd, rites and observances, kills souls. The ceremonial Church has ever been a dead Church." Letter teaching" then, including the verbal, the theoretic, and the ritualistic, kills souls. It reduced the Jewish people to a "valley of dry bones." It entombed the soul of Europe during the centuries of Papal sway.

Secondly: The result of the spiritual ministry of Christianity. "It giveth life." "It is the Spirit," said Christ, "that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." He who in his teaching and in his life brings out most of the benign, hallowing, loving, soul-quickening, and soul-ennobling spirit of the Gospel, will be most successful, under God, in giving life to souls. His ministry will be like the breath of spring, quickening all its touches into life. Such a ministry was that of Peter's on the day of Pentecost. Words, theories, rites, to him were nothing. Divine facts and their spirit were the all in all of his discourse, and dead souls bounded into life as he spoke-their graves were opened, and those who slept arose and entered the holy city of truth.

Brothers, how are you dealing with Christianity? Are you living amidst its verbalism? Its literature is beautiful; but if you remain there it will kill you. Are you living amidst its theology? Its theology is sublime; but if you remain there it will kill you. Are you living amidst its ritualism? Its rites are few and simple; but if you remain in them they will kill you. "The flesh profiteth nothing, the spirit giveth life." "Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth nothing, but a new creature in Christ Jesus." How little of this soul-life we have in our congregations! Creedlife, sect-life, church-life we have, but this is not soul-lifethe life of holy love, of independent action, of earnest inquiry, of spiritual freedom and enthusiastic devotion to all that is Christ-like and divine. A "letter" ministry of Christianity is the death of souls.

Able expositions of the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, describing the manners, customs, and localities described by the inspired writers; also interpreting their words, and harmonizing their formal discrepancies, are, happily, not wanting amongst us. But the eduction of its WIDEST truths and highest suggestions is still a felt desideratum. To some attempt at the work we devote these pages. We gratefully avail ourselves of all exegetical helps within our reach; but to occupy our limited space with any lengthened archæological, geographical, or philological remarks, would be to miss our aim; which is not to make bare the mechanical process of the study of Scripture, but to reveal its spiritual results.

SUBJECT: Paul's Final Visit to Jerusalem. (Continued.)

"And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further, brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together; and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple; and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar: who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done. And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him. And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city

in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people."-Acts xxi. 27-39.

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AVING noticed the treatment Paul met with by the evangelical Christians at Jerusalem, we proceed to look at

II. HIS TREATMENT BY THE INTOLERANT JEWS. One might have hoped that Paul's effort to conciliate the Jews by complying with legal ceremonies, would have averted their hostility. But it was not so. Before the "seven days" he was spending in efforts at ceremonial conciliation, were ended, the hostility of the Jews from Asia, who now crowded the temple at the national festival, rose into violent action: “And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help." The narrative here given of their hostility, reveals two subjects.

First. The genius of religious intolerance. Three things come out in the conduct of these Jews which always characterize the spirit of religious intolerance. (1.) Cunning. This is indicated in the watchword they employed to rouse the populace" Men of Israel, help!" hereby naively intimating that Paul was an enemy to all Israel; that he was the opponent of every Jew, and that all should make a common cause in crushing him. Artifice has ever been the instrument of religious bigotry. Its miserable genius works by inuendo and insinuation. Another characteristic of religious intolerance is, (2.) Falsehood. It fabricates false allegations. “This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place." Now this was all a spiteful fiction. Did Paul "teach all men everywhere against the people?" It is true he often denounced their bigotry, and their exclusiveness, but never a word of his was spoken against their race, and their high distinctions. Did he ever disparage "the law?" Never. It is true he

often taught that its ceremonies were not binding upon Gentile disciples, nor of eternal obligation even upon the Jew. But he never defamed it, never spoke of it with contempt. In truth, he ever displayed a profound regard for it as a grand, old, and divine institution, the glory of the ancient world. Did he ever speak "against this place”—the temple itself? It is true that he taught that God dwelt not "in temples made with hands," but was to be worshipped everywhere. But never a word did he utter in dishonour of the temple. Did he ever bring "Greeks into the temple, and pollute the holy place"? This would have been a most criminal offence, and one punishable with death. For, although there was a court of the Gentiles within the precincts of the temple, into which Gentiles were allowed admission, their entrance into "the holy place," or court of the Israelites, was strongly prohibited. Inscriptions were written upon the pillars, prohibiting any but a Jew to cross the fatal threshold. Philo says it was certain death for any one who was not a Jew to set his foot within the inner courts of the temple. According to a speech which Josephus puts into the mouth of Titus, the Jews were suffered by the Romans themselves to kill even a Roman who guiltily entered this sacred place. But there was no evidence that the apostle ever took a Gentile within the sacred enclosure. The reason they had for the charge was a baseless supposition-"Trophimus," whom they supposed" that Paul had brought into the temple. They "supposed"-they did not know it-they, perhaps, saw Paul walking in the streets with him, and they rushed to the conjecture.

But whilst those charges are so utterly groundless, they bear testimony to three things concerning Paul. 1. His notoriety. "This is the man," implying that he is well known, and that none in the city requires any further particulars concerning him. This Paul has in a few short years rung his name into the ear of all Israel, and painted his image on the imagination. of the Jewish people. These charges bear witness to, (2.) His industry. They state that "he taught all men, everywhere."