A Homiletic Glance at the Acts of the

Apostles.

Able expositions of the Acrs 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 archaeological, 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 at Casarea before Festus.

"But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. Now, when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended from Cæsarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest, and the chief of the Jews, informed him against Paul, and besought him, and desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him," &c., &c.-Acts xxiv. 27, xxv. 1-12.

HE greed and love of popularity of Felix had kept Paul

THE and one

a bound prisoner in Cæsarea for "two" long years, Hoping to receive money for his liberation, and at the same time to restore his waning popularity among the Jews, this corrupt judge kept an innocent man all this time in bondage. Time, which works decay in all mortal things, wears out the power of despots, and rots the rods of tyrants and the hands that hold them, at last struck this despot down. When Porcius Festus was sent as a successor to Felix by Nero, the principal inhabitants of Cæsarea went up to Rome to accuse Felix, and condign punishment would have befallen him had it not been for the intercession which his brother Pallas made on his behalf with Nero. Wretched man! He obtained neither gain nor popularity, the two things he sought, in keeping the apostle in chains. He sought to conciliate the Jews by injustice, but their enmity towards him grew to a strength that struggled for his ruin. The plans of wickedness are doomed to frustration; sooner or later they will float as miserable

HOMILETIC GLANCE AT THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

71

Festus comes into the

wrecks on the stream of destiny. place of Felix. From the scriptural narrative, as well as from Josephus, we infer that he was a better man and a more upright judge. His official life at Cæsarea seems to have been very short. He commenced office in the autumn of A.D. 60 and died in the summer of A.D. 62. The verses before us bring to our view the antecedent, the attendant, and the resultant circumstances connected with Paul's appearance before this Festus.

I. THE ANTECEDENT CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH PAUL'S APPEARANCE BEFORE FESTUS. Here we have to notice, first, the arrival of Festus and his visit to Jerusalem. "Now, when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended from Cæsarea to Jerusalem." After arriving, about the year A.D. 60, as we have said, in Cæsarea, the seat of the civil government, and continuing there "three days," he goes up to Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Jewish people. This prompt departure to the holy city arose, perhaps, not only from a curiosity to see a place so famous in the history of empires, but to study the spirit, institutions, and manners of a people with whose civil and political interests he would have, henceforth, much to do. Another circumstance connected with his appearance before Festus is

Secondly: The appeal of the Jews to Festus during his stay in Jerusalem concerning Paul. "Then the High Priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him, and desired favour against him that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him." Two things are manifest in these verses :-(1.) The national importance which the Sanhedrim attached to Paul. More than two years had passed away since they raised the mob of Jerusalem against him and since they followed him down to Cæsarea, and, with Tertullus, appeared against him before Felix. One might have thought that the changes which two years make in thought and feeling, and all human things, would not only have destroyed their interest in Paul, but

have almost effaced his very name from their memory. Had it been merely personal enmity they had towards him it would have undoubtedly been so; but it was the religious influence of this man, working wherever he had been, and working mightily in Jerusalem, before their eyes every day, that kept him before them as a terrible religious antagonistone who was sapping the very foundation of their religious system, prestige, and power. Their opposition is a tribute to Paul's mighty influence. Another thing manifest in these verses is-(2.) The miserable servility and hypocritical cunning of religious bigotry-"And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem." The original language conveys the idea that they made this request as a special favour. The arguments they employed are not given. No doubt they bowed before Festus as cringing, fawning sycophants, urging every consideration that the genius of bigotry could suggest that was likely to tell effectively upon the mind of the Roman. They did not say, of course, what is stated in the last clause of the verse, that they were "laying wait in the way to kill him." Oh, no! They pleaded, no doubt, for justice, not murder. The nefarious plan recorded in chapter xxiii. 15, appears now to have been under the direct patronage of the "High Priest and the chief of the Jews." Another circumstance connected with his appearance before Festus is

Thirdly The reply of Festus to the request of the Jews made to him at Jerusalem." "But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Cæsarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither. Let them, therefore," said he, "which among you are able go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him." Festus refuses. He does not say why he refuses Perhaps he had one of those sentiments which is always strong but indefinable, incapable of being thrown into any intelligible proposition, and which is ever the offspring and the organ of God in the human soul. Anyhow, had he not refused, in all human probability Paul would have been murdered. The

Divine promise that had been made to him, that he should visit Rome, would have been frustrated. (Chap. xxiii. 11.) But though he does not give the reason of his refusal he promises an early trial, for "he would depart shortly thither." And he requests all who had the power to go down with him to Cæsarea, and to bring their accusation against Paul, "if there be any wickedness in him." The word wickedness is not in the original: the phrase should have been, "if there be anything in him;" that is, if there be any wrong in him.

II. THE ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH PAUL'S APPEARANCE BEFORE FESTUS. "And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Cæsarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment-seat, commanded Paul to be brought." Instead of "ten days," the margin reads "not more than eight or ten days," and most critics regard this as the true text. Festus in this shows himself to be a man to his word and a man prompt and punctual in action. He had promised to be there shortly; there he is. The very day after his arrival at Cæsarea he is 'on the judgment-seat," and commands "Paul to be brought." Two circumstances are to be noticed here as Paul stands before the judgment-seat.

First: The charges of Paul's enemies and his denial of them. (1.) Their charges. "And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove." The expression "stood round about" indicates the eagerness with which they crowded around their long-lost victim. They felt a fiendish pleasure in having him as they thought once more within their reach. "They laid many and grievous complaints against Paul." What were they? Judging from the answer which Paul made, they were the old ones-heresy, sacrilege, and treason; crimes against the law of Moses, against the temple, and against the Emperor. But whatever they were, the historian says that they were such that they could "not prove." (2.) His denial of

these charges. "While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Cæsar, have I offended anything at all." The way which he met those same charges before Felix is recorded in chapter xxiv. 10-21. His manner of treating them now was perhaps substantially the same; hence the historian does not record his defence. The other circumstance to be noticed here as Paul stands before the judgment-seat is—

Secondly: The request of Festus to Paul, and his refusal. (1.) The request of Festus. "But Festus willing to do to the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?" So far, we have discovered nothing censurable in the conduct of this Festus, but here evil shows itself. Popularity appears here dearer to him than justice. He had seen enough to feel in his conscience that Paul was an innocent man, and that he ought in all justice to be acquitted forthwith, but, for the sake of getting a good name with the Jews, he proposes to Paul another trial, and another trial at Jerusalem. Pilate condemned Christ, "to do the Jews a pleasure." Felix kept Paul bound two years "to do the Jews a pleasure," and Festus, "to do the Jews a pleasure," was willing to deliver an innocent man up to the murderous hands of his malignant enemies. All that can be said in palliation of the request of Festus is, that he did not enforce it, he merely submitted it to the choice of Paul. (2.) The refusal of Paul. In his refusal there are three things worthy of notice. (a) His demand for political justice. "Then said Paul, I stand at Cæsar's judgment-seat where I ought to be judged." The tribunal of Festus was, in authority and name, the bar of the Roman Emperor, who went under the general designation of Caesar, from Julius Cæsar, the first of the dynasty. The apostle had committed no crime cognizable by the Jews, could hope for no justice from them, and was unwilling to hazard his life by returning into the midst of his bitter enemies." As a Roman citizen, he demanded Roman justice. In his refusal, we notice. (b) His consciousness of moral rectitude. "To the