Acts 16:6-12

Chapter 54

Prayer

Almighty God, for the Sabbath day we bless thee. It is quiet, solemn; always lifting itself towards the heaven whence it came. May our spirits be lifted up and see the Lord with the vision of their love. This is the day the Lord hath made; thy finger-prints are upon it; thy smile is its light, thy love its seal and warranty of peace. This is the day of resurrection; today we think of death despoiled, of opened graves, of life and immortality, incorruption and heavenly triumph. To-day all mean thought is out of place. In such a light as this our souls would put on their beauty, and with the holiness given by Christ would shine out with a radiance above the brightness of the sun. Show us that this is Christ's day, Gospel day, triumph day; time that might be envied of all other time. May we enter into the spirit of the golden day, and be ourselves full of light and grace and truth and love. Standing before God, near the Cross, by which alone we are saved, worshipping the Three-in-One, the One-in-Three, not to be understood, but to be loved with all the passion of the heart, sanctify the day again, and sanctify us to be worthy of its memories, and fill us with the Holy Spirit. May this house be unlike all others. May the speech we hear in this place have nothing in it of the accent of earth, or time or measurable things. May the music of the Spirit steal upon the listening soul, that we may be glad with sevenfold Sabbath the deepest peace of God himself. If we have brought with us any of the stain of the week, if we are travel-worn, if even upon our sandals or our staff there be signs of earth, take away such debasement and make our feet clean as our head and our heart are pure. Read thy book to us, Father of all thought and spirit; we cannot read it except as we read common books; come thou and read it, even thou who didst write the eternal page, and let our souls hear thy reading and they shall never be grief-stricken any more. Regard us as burden-bearers, travellers, hard workers, suffering many things every day, to whom life is often only a pain, sometimes a weight we cannot carry, and occasionally a very ecstasy of Christian joy. Command thy blessing to rest upon us in every relation which we sustain. May the house be happy, yea, quite a home, sacred because of thy triune presence. Send light into every window, wherever it may look. Keep thou every door of the house, and let no enemy enter therein, and no friend go away. Make our bed in our affliction, and when human voices grate and jar upon our wounded hearing speak with thine own voice, thine own tender speech. Let the husband work harder than ev. Let the wife be filled with a new gladness. Let the little child sing song upon song, as if its very life were music, and may all the household, from the eldest to the youngest, from the highest to the lowest, be as a gathered Church singing doxologies and receiving benedictions. Go out with us when we go to business hard, mocking, weary trade, full of lies and hypocrisy so often, sometimes nearly honest, rarely a thing that may be spoken of without shame. Help us to win what bread we want with an honest hand, and to eat it with the appetite of thankfulness, and enjoy it because it has passed through thy hands. Heal our sick ones; the poor child that is withering away, and to whom the parents tell lies of love every morning. The Lord give the physician wisdom and tenderness, that he may treat the case wisely and sympathetically. The Lord turn the mourning of the bereaved into the joy of the expectant; may they look across the little river which separates the spaces of thy universe, and see what is to be the Sabbath of immortality. Bless our friends every one, here and there, with us today, or not with us because of sickness, or travel, or divers arrangements of thine own providence. Bless the stranger within our gates. Look upon our friends from Madagascar who are worshipping with us. We thank thee for their Christian character and Christian steadfastness, and though they may not follow us in the unknown language of this prayer, behold their lifting up of heart, and let the turning of their eyes unto heaven be unto thee as a prayer. Prosper their good cause. In due time take them home again; and may England often be enabled to point to Madagascar as a miracle of the Cross of Christ. Regard all who are missionaries abroad men who have hazarded their lives for the Lord Jesus. Make every land their home, and in every man may they find a Christian brother. God save the Queen, the best of her race and line! Establish her throne, and make her life begin again to-morrow, and continue it long and happily. Disappoint all her enemies; prosper all her counsellors that are inspired of God, and bring to naught the machinations and selfishness of corrupt and miserable men.

The Lord be with us this holy day, and at night may we be filled with a strange wonder, a singular joy, a gladdening of heart which will make us think of heaven more than of earth. Amen.

Act 16:6-12

6. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia [although Paul travels in the same direction, these names are introverted in Acts 18:23 . Hence Galatia is the political, Phrygia an ethnographical term. The local name of this part of the region was Lycaonia (ch. 14); of the next, Pisidia (Antioch): the common people still spoke a Phrygian dialect ( Act 14:11 ). Paul called these people Galatians when he wrote to them from a distance, Galatia being their province], having been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia [Acts 2:9 , Acts 6:9 , and Acts 20:16 . The west coast of Asia Minor. At Antioch the road branched off leading to Ephesus and South-western Asia. Farther on another road branched off to Northwestern Asia (Mysia). All Asia being forbidden, Paul and Silas were for keeping on to Bithynia];

7. and when they were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus [Acts 20:6 , Rom 8:9 ] suffered them not;

8. And passing by [G. "along the side of"] Mysia, they came down to Troas.

9. And a vision [Acts 9:10 , Acts 10:3 , Acts 18:9 ; not a dream] appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing beseeching him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

10. And when he had seen the vision, straightway we [Luke joined Paul here at Troas, probably a circumstance of which Theophilus was well aware] sought to go forth into [looked out a vessel sailing for] Macedonia, concluding that God had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them [and so "help"].

11. Setting sail, therefore, from Troas, we made a straight course [ Act 21:1 ] to Samothrace [Acts 27:4 , Act 27:7 ], and the day following to Neapolis [then a Thracian town];

12. And from thence to Philippi, which [was their destination, as it] is a city of Macedonia, the first [in rank] of the district [Æmilius Paulus had divided Macedonia into four districts], a Roman colony; and we were in this city tarrying certain days.

The Supernatural Element In Labour

HERE is the direct action of the Holy Ghost. In early Christian times men spoke with reverent familiarity of the ministry of the Spirit. There is nothing roundabout in their speech. The Spirit is mentioned by name, his action is described, responsibility is charged upon him, his inspiration and direction are familiarly and continually invoked. The Apostles and early Christians realized that they were living in the age of the Holy Spirit. Why should there be any difficulty in believing that spirit may affect spirit? We believe that matter affects matter. Is there no higher law, or no higher application of the same law, or no religious use of actual affairs, or parabolic suggestions? Let a child understand me here, for the theme is great, and the charm of it upon my own mind has for years amounted to a fascination and a spell namely, this wondrous action of the Holy Ghost upon the individual mind. Here is a piece of metal lying quite at rest. I would ask the child who is following me to fix his eyes upon that metal. Is it stirring? "No." You are sure of that? "Perfectly sure." Now watch the action of my right hand. I will bring the piece of metal which I am holding nearer to the metal you are looking at as lying quite still. See! I think the metal that you said was lying quite still is now moving? "Yes." Am I touching it? "No." Are you touching it? "No." See how it trembles, palpitates it will presently leap up and be, as it were, part of the magnet I am holding over it. I am told that it is quite a matter of science to believe that; yet to believe that mind can affect mind, that spirit can touch spirit, is fanaticism! I have not so learned life. Shutting out all merely technical theologies, with their various definitions, it is easy for me, having seen the action of metal upon metal, to believe that there may be a kindred action of soul upon soul, mind upon mind, God upon man. There is a spiritual magnetism. Let all scientific and mechanical operations be so many ladders, whose foot is on the earth, whose head is in the clouds. "If men, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto their children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him?" Ask, and ye shall receive. Discoveries of material relations and operations are themselves a kind of outside Bible, which helps me to read the inner book inscribed by invisible fingers.

The action of the Spirit is as morally mysterious as it is personally direct. Why should the Holy Ghost forbid the Apostles to preach the word anywhere? That we cannot explain; but then you cannot explain yourself, your own nature, mind, thought, force, purpose. When you have settled the mysteries of selfhood, you may begin to consider the enigmas of Providence and grace. We are forbidden to do certain things. The things themselves are good, but the time is wrong, or the place is ill-chosen, or another opportunity is greater and ought to be absorbent It is not enough that your are in a good place, doing a good work; your object should be to live and move and have your being in the very Spirit of God, so that wherever he may point, your very heart may outrun your feet in attaining the appointed and sacred destination. The Holy Spirit is always to be consulted. Pray without ceasing; walk with God. Be so near him that a whisper will reach his heart. Be the friend of God; have no self; be sanctified wholly body, soul, and spirit. Be quick all over, answering instantaneously with eagerest love every commandment of the Divine will. Do not be your own idol. Have no judgment, preference, prejudice, that you cannot take up and cut in two with a double-edged knife, if God should so will it. "Not my will, but Thine, be done." I will work here or there, on this side the sea or yonder side both sides are thine. "Lead, kindly Light." Where that is the spirit, the life can never go wrong. Where life is bounded by programmes and outlines and purposes merely human, life will be a succession of mistakes and stinging disappointments. "O rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, and he will give thee thine heart's desire." The Apostles thus lived in the Holy Spirit; they walked in the very company of God; they knew no will but his; therefore their very breathing was a religion, their unuttered word was a conquest, and the lifting of their hand was a battle half won. It is, to our degenerate piety, quite difficult to believe that the early Apostles yea, the prophets ages before them could live so familiarly in the presence of the supernatural. They were not afraid when a door opened at midnight they expected it! When a white figure dawned upon the darkness of night they did not cringe and shiver in great fear, as if God had forsaken them they expected messages. We run to meet the letter-carrier now. In the olden time they seemed to expect letters, messages, from heaven to be brought by angels; yea, to be fetched by God! We cannot understand this; we muse about it, and find fault with it, and point out flaws in the crude philosophy which asserts it. Everything depends upon the level of your life. It is possible to live so high up in intellectual and spiritual companionship as to receive with grateful ease and friendly recognition appearances and communications which at one time would have afflicted us with the surprise of a miracle. We must ourselves be miracles; then every opening of Providence, how bright soever or startling, will be accepted as one of the assured blessings of daily life. Shall we so live? The stupendous rocks, ten thousand feet high, look infinite to the man who gazes at them from a low level. Could we be lifted up as on the wings of eagles, the rock so towering, so sublime, would be but a speck of dust in the dim distance! If we eat and drink until our very souls are buried within us, then the miracles of nature, the gracious surprises of the sky, will be lost upon us; there will be no apocalypse in the clouds and no special writing or message in the summer. But if we keep down the lower and exalt the higher, we shall come to know what is meant by Divine companionship, walking with God, having friendly intercourse with the Divine heart, and having only to ask that we may receive. To the blind, dumb, dead soul, to ask and receive is impossible; to the man almost in heaven it is the glad commonplace of a lofty experience.

What did Paul see, then, in his vision? It was quite a typical vision. He saw a man. Was that a common sight? Only to those who look upon it with a common eye. We do not always see one another; sometimes we see the man within the man the inner man with marks of God upon him; the fallen king, the uncrowned, dethroned prince, in one flash of the eye we saw him, and he went back into depths we cannot penetrate! We should pray that we may see one another as we really are. He who truly sees a man must ever be moved by the pathetic sight. We do not see one another whilst we are in the crowd, jostling in the great multitude, passing from side to side, doing the day's business, performing the day's jugglery. We do not see the man, but having once seen him under favouring lights, we must feel that man is a name high up in the register of life. Paul saw a man in earnest prayer, praying to a fellow-man. It was all, perhaps, the Macedonian suppliant could then do. We are allowed to pray at such altars as we can find. God does not say, "Build the altar seventy feet high and then begin to pray." If you fell down before the least flower, it would be altar enough. If you could bend before your mother's old arm-chair, it would be shrine enough. And by-and-by you will want a whole heaven for a church and altar because of the unutterableness of your ecstatic joy! Begin where you can. Paul saw a man in earnest, and a man seeking help. The man said, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." There are cowards that run away when poor, ill-used people call for "help." There are men, women, and children calling all over the land today for "help," and we put our fingers in our ears, and go home and say, "Behold, we knew it not," "If thou forbear to deliver him that is drawn unto death, and say, Behold, I knew it not, doth not he that knoweth the heart understand, and will not he make inquisition for blood?" Christianity is "help" or it is nothing active service, co-operation, sympathy, a common sacrifice for a common good. This is a typical instance. If the Church could have its eyes opened today, it would see every unevangelized country and every land in sore strait or difficulty typified in this Macedonian man. From every land "they call us to deliver their souls from error's chain." The Macedonian man represents a large population. Let us regard him as a man who has heard of Christianity, or who is dissatisfied with Pagan teaching, or who feels the pain of a great void which the firmament itself could not fill with all its wealth of light he cries for something more; that man is not far from the kingdom of God. Do not believe that Pagans who are struggling after virtue and calling for "Light, more light! Light, more light!" are far from the kingdom of heaven. "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also must I bring." "In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him." But that is a reason why those who believe they have the true light should hasten with it, that they may scatter the shadows and establish the day.

"And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured " Luke here joins the company. Up to this time the narrative has been written in the third person; it will now be written in the first. Luke himself has joined the missionary band, and he will speak of things which he personally saw. We hasten to say that the missionaries came "to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia," and a colonial or military station. There is a city plan of evangelization; the Apostles followed that plan. They did not hide themselves in obscure places; we find great names in their record. What is the justification of these metropolitan names? This and higher there is none "Beginning at Jerusalem." So we shall find in these missionary records Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Philippi, Athens, Ephesus, name upon name of local eminence and dignity, yet all the names put together are not equal to London! Give us London, and we have the key of the world. Converted London would seem to mean converted England; and converted England empress of nations! converted England! lady of the seas, majestic, all but omnipotent, with millions and hundreds of millions under her proud banner! converted England: it would be almost equal to a converted world! Far be it from any of us to say a word that would be even apparently contemptuous of villages and hamlets and rural spots; they all belong to the great house. London is not our city, speaking as residents in the capital; it is the Imperial city; "it belongs to every shepherd on the mountain-side, to every ploughman ripping up his fields for the seed, to every one on the sea; it is the Mother City the metropolis. Give us London Christianized London praying four millions of souls concurring in one appeal to Heaven, and surely there would dawn upon the whole world the day of jubilee and Christian festival.