together, and had1 all things common;

45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and

breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

47 Praising GOD, and having favour3 with all the people. And the LORD added to the church daily such as should be saved.

PARALLEL PASSAGES. -1Ch. 4:32, 34. 2Is. 58:7. 2 Cor. 9:1, 9. 1 John 3:17. Luke 2:52. Rom. 14:18. 4Ch.5:14; 11;24.

alms-giving necessary. But the Jews of Palestine were relatively poor compared with those of the dis persion. We see this exemplified on later occasions, in the contributions which St. Paul more than once anxiously promoted. And in the very first days of the church, we find its wealthier members placing their entire possessions at the disposal of the apostles. Not that there was any abolition of the rights of property, as the words of St. Peter to Ananias very well show; but those who were rich gave up what God had given them, in the spirit of generous self-sacrifice and according to the true principle of Christian communism, which regards property as intrusted to the possessor, not for himself, but for the good of the whole community, to be distributed according to such methods as his charitable feeling and conscientious judgment may approve. The apostolic church was, in this respect, in a healthier condi⚫ tion than the church of modern days. Howson.

1

45. The proof of this disinterested spirit was afforded by the fact that when there was occasion they actually sold such of their possessions as were necessary for the comfort and relief of others. Parted, -divided, distributed. The words necessarily mean nothing more than what is often exemplified at present, except so far as this ancient liberality was modified by the more intimate relation which existed among Christians then. There is nothing said of a compulsory renunciation of all individual property, either as a divine institution or a voluntary self-denial. Such a renunciation is, indeed, at variance with facts recorded in the later history. Alexander.-Not "they possessed all things in common," but, "they held all things as common property," Lechler.

46. In the temple. This was the public place of worship; and the disciples were not disposed to leave the place where their fathers had so long worshipped God. This does not mean that they were constantly in the temple, but only at the customary hours of prayer,—at nine o'clock in the morning and at three in the afternoon. And breaking bread. (See note, verse 42.) From house to house. The common interpretation is that they did it in their various houses, now in this and now in that, as might be convenient. If it refers to their ordinary meals, then it means that they partook in common of what they possessed. And the expression in this verse, "did eat their meat," seems to imply that this refers to their common meals and not to the Lord's Supper. Did eat their meat. Did partake of their food. The word "meat" with us is applied to flesh. In the Bible and in old English authors it is applied to provision of any kind. With gladness. With rejoicing. This is one of the effects of religion. It is far from gloom; it diffuses joy over the mind; and it bestows additional joy in the participation of even our ordinary pleasures. Singleness of heart. This means with a sincere and pure heart. They were satisfied and thankful. They were not perplexed or anxious, nor were they solicitous for the luxurious living, or aspiring after the vain objects of the men of the world. Barnes.

47. The first words, praising God, close the description of their spiritual state and mode of life. The phrase is obviously intended to describe their whole life as a life of praise to God. The effect produced by all this upon others had before been represented as religious awe. But this might have seemed to imply that the popular feeling towards the new society was one of distance, if not of aversion: it is therefore added that they had favor with the people. Alexander. -By the expression such as should be saved (or such as are saved), we are to understand those who, convinced of their former errors, do heartily repent them and gladly receive the Word and embrace the terms propounded in the gospel. They, and they only, who are saved from their sins on earth can ever attain to the salvation of their souls in heaven. Beveridge.-Added daily. When we read that in the days of the apostles "the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed," we are constrained to look farther and to see how they did it. We inquire for the secret of their success. It may be said that if the Holy Spirit were poured out as wonderfully upon our churches as upon the church at Jerusalem, we should see the phenomena of Pentecost and the scenes of Samaria and Antioch repeated again. Suppose we reverse this, and say that If we live and pray and labor as Peter and his fellow Christians did, we should have as plentiful outpourings of the Holy Ghost. Of the divine side of those early successes we will say nothing. Of the human side what do we discover? We see a prodigious amount of personal labor. The Book of the Acts is not a chronicle of conventions, or conferences, or counsels, or even of churches as such. It is the story

of individual life and labor. Throughout the book runs this golden thread of personal consecra tion to Christ's cause. In our time there is no small amount of eloquent nonsense uttered about "reaching the masses." It is a glittering generality which finds no warrant in God's wise book. Human beings sin as individuals, suffer as individuals, and must be saved as individuals. Christ did not die for the "masses"; he died for men. Each person must be reached, -one at a time. Satan's policy is to tempt people and ruin them, one by one. When churches are revived it is by individual hearts getting aroused and at work. T. L. Cuyler.

Thus far the infant church had enjoyed the favor both of God and man. But this state of things was not designed to last. Opposition and even persecution were essential to the execution of the divine purpose, not only as a means of moral discipline, but also as a means of outward growth. The new religion was not to be a national or a local one, but catholic and ecumenical. In order to attain to this end, it must be spread; and in order to be spread, it must be scattered; and in order to be scattered, it must undergo strong pressure from within and from without. The history now presents to us the series of providential causes by which these effects were brought about. The subject of the next two chapters is the first attack upon the church, occasioned by a signal miracle and apostolical discourse. Chapter III relates to the occasion, Chapter IV to the attack itself. Out of the multitude of miracles performed by the apostles after Pentecost, Luke singles one, not merely on account of its intrinsic magnitude and great publicity, but chiefly on account of its connection with the progress of events and the condition of the infant church, as having furnished the occasion of a new apostolical discourse and of the first hostile movement from without. Alexander.

1. Peter and John. The union of believers is here exemplified in the intimate and continued association of these two apostles. We are here reminded of the circumstance that Jesus sent forth his disciples two and two. Gerok.— They did not precisely correspond to each other in nature and charac ter. But as one diamond polishes another, so each of these precious stones may have aided in imparting an additional value to the other. Rieger.-Into the temple. The apostles and other believers at Jerusalem had not yet withdrawn from the Jewish worship (see also 21 : 23 sq.), and it is probable that most of them continued to adhere to the services of the temple until the destruction of the temple abolished them. But the spirit with which they performed these services was no longer the Jewish spirit. Instead of regarding their compliance with the ordinances of the law as an act of merit, they recognized Christ as "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." They viewed the sacrifices which continued to be offered, not as having any efficacy to procure the remission of sin, or as typical of an atonement still to be made, but as realized already in the death of Christ, and hence as mementoes, as often as they beheld them or participated in them, of the "one sacrifice for sins" effected "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." As in the case of circumcision, so undoubtedly the Jewish Christians relinquished the other rights of Judaism only by degrees. They were brought fully to this, in part by obtaining a clearer insight into the relation of the ancient economy to the new, and in part by the occurrence of national circumstances which hastened the result. From the Jewish synagogues, on the contrary, they must have separated at once, as soon as their distinctive views became known. It was impossible to avow the Christian faith and remain connected with those communities. Hackett. - At the hour of prayer. Literally, at the (that) hour of prayer, which was the ninth. There were three hours of prayer (the third, sixth, and ninth hours), and this was the one which was last. As the natural day was divided among the Jews into twelve hours of irregular length, from sunrise to sunset, the ninth hour was about three o'clock in the afternoon, which was the time of the

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2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate1 of

the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple:

PARALLEL PASSAGE.

1John 9:8.

evening sacrifice. The third hour, or nine o'clock in the morning, was the time of the morning sacrifice. The early Christians seem to have had stated times in the day, but they are not mentioned. At the close of the second century these hours were in use, and were very probably the stated times from the begin. ning. Jacobus. — A child's rebuke. On a certain occasion when a minister was speaking of the neglect of family duties, of reading the Scriptures, and of family prayer, a little girl, who listened attentively, and perceived that the preacher was describing a neglect that she had herself noticed at home, whis. pered to her mother, "Ma, is the minister talking to you?" To the mother this simple question was more powerful than the sermon. She was immediately brought under deep convictions of sin, which resulted in her hopeful conversion to God. Boyd.

2. Lame man. If the man's 'calamity had been the result of casualty or disease, it might have seemed more easily cured; but it was known to every one that this man had been lame from the womb —that he never had walked. The mere fact that he was constantly "carried" to the station at the gate shows that he could not in the least degree walk or stand. It was a case past the help of staves or crutches; for the man's limbs lay as dead underneath him. Besides, he was taken "daily" to the most conspicuous of the temple gates, and having been there day after day for years, he must have been one of the persons best known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this tended further to magnify the miracle, when he, whose person and condition were so familiarly known, appeared one afternoon at the hour of public prayer in the temple, "walking and leaping, and praising God." Gate Beautiful. There were many gates to the temple. Those in the extent of the outer wall were surrounded by gate. houses thirty cubits high, and therefore rising five cubits beyond, the wall itself, which was twenty-five cubits high. The breadth of these gate-houses was half the height; and the entrance itself was twenty cubits high and ten broad. These outer gates were of timber, plated with brass, and led into the spacious court called the Court of the Gentiles. No particular sanctity was attached to this court, and hence Gentiles were freely admitted, mendicants were allowed to beg, and dealers to buy and sell. A person was not considered properly to enter "the temple," in the more definite sense, until he had passed this court and entered into the interior enclosure. This also had a wall, with gate-houses and gates, covered, not with brass but with gold and silver, and leading into the Court of the Women, which (notwithstanding its name) was the common place for worshippers, both men and women. Beyond this, and above it-for it was over an ascending site, crowned by the Holy House-lay the Court of the Priests, wherein the sacred services were celebrated. The gate across the Court of the Gentiles and leading into the Court of the Women, being the front and therefore the most distinguished of the entrances into what was properly regarded as the temple, was considered the most splendid of all the gates. The other gates in this enclosure were of wood plated with gold and silver; the posts and lintels, as we apprehend, of silver, and the valves of gold; but this gate was wholly of "Corinthian brass, more precious than gold." So says Josephus; and as it was doubtless of the best kind of Corinthian brass, other ancient writers support his testimony to its extreme costliness. "This Corinthian brass" was of several varieties of different values: one which took a golden hue from the quantity of gold; one of paler hue from the predominance of silver: one wherein the component metals, gold, silver, copper, and tin, were combined in equal proportions. The use of this metal was probably rare in a country which did not tolerate statuary, and hence this gate would attract, from the unusualness, special attention and admiration. And we are at liberty to suppose that the gate really most beautiful was the one distinguished as the Beautiful Gate. The object of stationing beggars, especially maimed beggars, at the gate of the temple, was evidently in the calculation that the feelings of those who were pro. ceeding to, or had been engaged in, an act of solemn worship, would be more strongly inclined to charity and benevolence than at ordinary times. It is in the same calculation that at the present day he gates of the great continental churches, as well as the approaches to Mohammedan mosques, are thronged with beggars at the hours of prayer. We know also that the Pharisees and others in those days bestowed much alms in the most public places that their ostentatious charity might "be seen of men"; and the perception of this weakness in a class of people so wealthy had doubtless considerable influence in causing the beggars of Jerusalem to resort in large numbers to places so public, and through which the Pharisees were so continually passing as the gates of the temple, these people being more constant than others in their attendance at the sacred courts. Kitto. - The lame man is an image of our natural inability. We must be carried as long as our feet are without strength. But he who lays us at the most beautiful gate of the temple, which is called Jesus Christ, has indeed carried us to the gate of life and of the power of God. Gossner.

3. An alms. An alms has been regarded by certain hypercritics as a solecism or blunder. The final letter is not here the sign of the plural number, but one of the consonants of the Greek word (elëēmosunē), of which the English is a mere corruption, like palsy of paralysis. Alexander.

4. Fastening his eyes. Looking intently. This term is used by Luke twelve times, and by no other New Testament writer, except by Paul twice. He looked on the man thus in order to excite his attention and to raise his expectation. Look on us. It would show that these apostles claimed to have some special power, and that the cure which they would work was of their deliberate purpose, not by accident or artifice, in which latter case they would rather have said, "Look away from us." Calvin also suggests that the apostle wished, before proceeding, to be certain of the purpose and intent of God, and hence that this preparatory look was by the motion of the Holy Spirit. Observe: How much more anxious are men by nature for the healing of their bodies than of their souls; and how much more ready to ask an alms of their fellow-men than to ask the proffered salvation of God. Jacobus.

5. Fixed his mind upon them. The man's eager expectation looked through his countenance, - something in the way of alms. We have no evidence that he recognized Peter and John as the disciples of Christ, and expected that they would heal his infirmity. Their address to him in the next verse precludes that supposition. Hackett. -O that every poor cripple from the fall would give heed and expect to receive what Jesus has to give! Jacobus.

6. Silver and gold, etc. We have each of us something which we can impart to render another life happier and more complete; and this something we are bound to ascertain and to communicate. We may say, as did the apostle Peter to his crippled suppliant, "Silver and gold have I none," but we must add, as he did, "Such as I have, give I thee." This word of Peter makes the motto of a truly beneficent life and rounds out the full ideal of social duty. Our responsibility does not extend to what we have not. No matter how large and sovereign the need which appeals to our charity, our response covers the whole breadth of our obligation when we can say, with willing heart and ready hand, "Such as I have give I thee." It is not whether we have ten talents or one that determines the plaudit of the Judge at the last. The right and diligent use of the smallest and humblest trusts will, as surely as the same use of the largest, secure in that day the "Well done, good and faithful servant!" A case of physical infirmity and want appeals to you. If you have "gold," you may give that. If you have "silver," and not gold, bestow that. If you must say, with Peter, "Silver and gold have I none," still there remains to be drawn upon "such as you have." You may furnish a garment whose newest gloss is gone; you may offer a plate of food; you may at least give a kind look and speak a word of sympathy. The tender accents of your voice may be worth more to the sufferer than another man's shining eagles. One comes to you for counsel in his perplexity. You have neither learning nor eloquence, perhaps. You cannot bring him for his disturbing question the decisions of philosophy, set forth in rounded pe. riods. Well, you can tell him a bit of your personal experience, if your feet have ever touched the track of his inquiry; or, you can, at least, while pleading intellectual poverty, show yourself rich in sympathy and brotherly kindness. A. L. Stone.-Well was it for the poor cripple that Peter had no money, and that this gift of healing - the greatest gift-was such as he had to give. So Jesus gives us not silver and gold in the gospel. But let us not despond, since what he has to give is "durable riches and righteousness," "the unspeakable gift." Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This was the name of contempt and reproach which his enemies had fastened upon him, and which went with him to his cross. The apostles mean now to say that it was in virtue of this hated, despised name and for the glorifying on it before men that this mighty work was to be done. The beggar had probably heard of this Jesus of Nazareth, and even if not, Peter proclaimed that this miracle is Christ's, and not theirs; and thus he preaches the Crucified One as the Risen Lord, as alive and active in his church and in the world. Rise up and walk. The cripple here had some faith in this "wonderful" name. Else why should he not have taken ft all in jest or derision, and replied that it could only be a tantalizing of his helpless condition. Observe: Peter does not here claim that this healing is by his own power, but this is what he has to bestow, in the name (as he avows) of Jesus Christ. This gift of working miracles in Christ's name was promised to them. (Mark 16: 17, 18.) Observe: Jesus Christ wrought miracles in his own name; the apostles

7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

8 And he leaping up1 stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him

PARALLEL PASSAGE. -1Is. 35: 6.

wrought them only in His name, and not in their own, and this they did only by faith in His name. — Jacobus.

7. And he took him. He took hold of his hand. To take hold of the hand in such a case was an offer of aid, an indication that Peter was sincere, and was an inducement to him to make an effort. This may be employed as a beautiful illustration of the manner of God when he commands men to repent and believe. He does not leave them alone; he extends help, and aids their efforts. If they tremble, and feel that they are weak and needy and helpless, his hand is stretched out and his power exerted to impart strength and grace. His feet and ankle bones. The fact that strength was immediately imparted, that the feet, long lame, were now made strong, was a full and clear proof of miraculous power. Barnes.

8. Leaping-walked. He followed his deliverers into the temple, "walking, and leaping, and praising God." He had never before set the sole of his foot upon the ground, -never before put one foot before another; but now he walks and leaps. Perhaps the phrase may be meant to denote that the man's first efforts at the unknown art of progression upon his feet was a peculiar movement, partly leap. ing and partly walking, as would, we imagine, have been natural under the circumstances. His first impulse would probably be to move both feet at once, and this would be "leaping"; but finding this was wrong, he would try to move his limbs alternately, and this was "walking." The leaping may, however, have been a spontaneous act expressive of his gladness, and calculated to satisfy himself, and to show others that he was perfectly healed. Kitto. -Into the temple. Its inner part beyond the gate where the lame man had been healed (see verse two). Hackett. -Health is better than silver and gold, but the health of the soul is better than that of the body. When God appears to refuse the objects we desire, he gives us others that are better. If God were inclined to bestow no better gifts for the promotion of our spiritual welfare than those we usually desire, we would never obtain his richest gifts. Starke. - Entered with them. The most honorable escort which a servant of Christ can obtain, both here below and on high, consists of those souls whom he has been enabled, by the grace of God, to rescue from destruction. Gerok.-Praising God. It is remarkable that he did not even express his grati tude to Peter and John. They had not pretended to restore him in their own name; and he would feel that man could not do it. It is remarkable that he praised God without being taught or entreated to do It. It was instinctive, the natural feeling of the heart. So a sinner, his first feelings when renewed, will be to ascribe the praise to God. While he may and will feel regard for the ministry by whose instrumentality he has received the blessing, yet his main expression of gratitude will be to God. And this he will do instinctively; he needs no prompter; he knows that no power of man is equal to the work of converting the soul, and will rejoice and give all the praise to the God of grace. Barnes.

9. All the people. This miracle was to affect not only the single individual restored. It was to have great effects upon beholders. So it is in the case of any true conversion. But more especially in well-known and conspicuous cases. - Saw him. This is here recorded to show that the miracle was not done in a corner. The multitude saw the miraculous cure. Jacobus. - Praising God. The Sun of Righteousness has been gradually drawing nearer and nearer, appearing larger and brighter as he approaches, and now he fills the whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory, in which I seem to doat like an insect in the beams of the sun, exulting, yet almost trembling, while I gaze on this excessive brightness, and wondering, with unutterable wonder, why God should deign thus to shine upon a sinful worm. A single heart and a single tongue seem altogether inadequate to my wants; I want a whole heart for every separate emotion, and a whole tongue to express that emotion." Payson.

10. And they knew. The material point here is the unquestioned identity of him who had experienced the cure. Had the miracle been wrought upon a stranger, its moral effect upon others would have been far less than it was when the people universally recognized him as the crippled beggar whom they were accustomed to see lying helpless in a certain spot, and that one of the most public and frequented in the city. Alexander. —And they knew, etc. In this they could not be deceived; they had seen him a long time, and now they saw the same man expressing his praise to God for complete