characterized by many conversions. First, there came conviction of sin; then, inquiry; then, after Peter had given them direction, there came faith, repentance, and confession of Christ before men, and all these so rapidly that three thousand were converted ere the evening closed around them. Nor was this a mere temporary thing. They who thus gave themselves to Christ continued steadfast, and adorned their profession by a walk and conversation becoming the Gospel. "Will it last? Will it last?" That is the inquiry made by antagonists when they hear of a great revival and many conversions. Let them read the closing verses of this chapter, and they will see that wherever the Spirit is really operating, his work is permanent. The suddenness of a conversion is no discredit to it, else we should have to suspect such cases as that of the Apostle Paul, and Colonel Gardiner, and ten thousand others. But the way to send back those who profess to have been thus suddenly translated from darkness into light, is for other Christians to treat them to cold shoulder, and put them into quarantine, until it is seen whether or not they shall endure. Was that the manner in which Christ met us? It were better for us far to make a few mistakes in receiving such as are not quite genuine, than to injure some timid, seeking soul, and mar his usefulness for life. Therefore let us not look coldly and indifferently on when God is working in the midst of us; but let us rejoice that Christ is preached, and let us open our hearts to all who profess to be his disciples.

XIII.

THE LAME MAN HEALED.

ACTS iii.

W

HEN the bud begins to burst, and to expand into

the flower, it does not all at once slough off the external casing by which it had been bound. Gradually, as the leaves and petals unfold themselves, they bend back their former covering until at length it seems a mere excrescence, and of itself drops off like a withered thing.

Now, as the Christian Church was a development out of the Jewish, we find a similar process in its early history. It did not assume all at once a separate and independent existence. Its first members had their own meetings, indeed, in each other's houses and in upper rooms; but with these they combined a regular attendance upon the Temple services. They differed from other Jews in the fact that they believed in the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth, and were knit to each other in the bonds of a brotherhood which had its origin in a common experience of the great salvation; but they kept up also a strict observance of the Mosaic law. Very probably they had at this time no clear idea of the shape which their movement was finally to take; and perhaps the thought of separation from the Jewish Church had never entered into their minds. God was leading them by a way which they knew not; and, as we follow the steps of the apostle of the circumcision, we shall find that even he was prepared, little by little, for the acceptance of the truth.

that Christ by his work had abrogated the entire ritual of their nation, and introduced a system of worship which, because it was spiritual, was to be universal.

Luther was at work as a spiritual reformer long before he felt himself impelled to come out of the Church of Rome; and though the organization which Wesley formed tended inevitably to separation from the Church of England, that venerable evangelist, to the very end of his days, repudiated the very idea of leaving that communion. With such exam

ples before us, therefore, we can not be surprised that the first Christians continued to frequent the Temple of Jerusalem at the hour of prayer.

Prominent among them on all such occasions were Peter and John. Since the day on which Jesus had sent them to engage the upper room for the celebration of his last passover with his disciples, these two apostles seem to have been almost inseparable companions. They had been together in the high-priest's house; they had vied with each other who should be the first to reach the sepulchre; they had been close beside each other in the boat on the lake when the Lord beckoned to them from the shore; and it was Peter's eager interest in the welfare of his friend that drew upon him the reproof, "What is that to thee? follow thou me."

Brought up at first in the same town, and following there for years the same occupation as partners, they were already fast and familiar friends before Jesus called them; but now their relation to each other had been elevated, refined, and strengthened by their constant intercourse with each other, as fellow-disciples; and in the white-heat of the fiery trials of the crucifixion time their hearts had been fused together, so that they were of one mind and soul.

Theirs was emphatically a holy friendship, and it would be well if in our choice of companions we could secure such

reciprocity and counterbalance as Peter had in John, and John in Peter. They were in many things most unlike each other, but that made them only the more valuable to each other; since the defects of the one were supplemented by the excellencies of the other. The impulsiveness of Peter was checked by the caution of John; while occasionally, as at the sepulchre, the hesitation of John was put to flight before the bold decisiveness of Peter. They were to each other very much what Luther and Melanchthon were in a later age. John had the eagle eye; Peter had the ardent soul. John could thunder, too, on occasion, for the Lord called him and James, Boanerges; but his general demeanor was calm and still. Peter was active, impetuous, and frequently abrupt. John's character was the deeper and the more intense; Peter's the more energetic and demonstrative. John resembled a clear deep river, giving you the idea of peace, as it mirrors on its bosom the calm repose of the unclouded sky. Peter resembled a river churning on in full flood, broken now and then by a rocky fall, but giving you withal the idea of tremendous power as it sweeps every obstacle before it. John was intuitional and meditative; Peter was observational and practical. John was the Mary among the apostles; Peter was the Martha. They were both noble men. Their union would have made an almost faultless character; and next to that, for influence on the world around them, was their intimate and endearing friendship.

As these two companions were entering the Temple one. afternoon by the gate called Beautiful, they were accosted by a beggar who was privileged to have a seat there because he had been lame from his birth. Indeed, it would almost seem, from the force of the original word, that his friends were in the act of carrying him to his accustomed place at the very moment when the apostles were passing, and that he had only time to make application to them for help be

fore they should enter the sacred precinct. In response to his entreaty, Peter said, "Look on us ;" and he immediately raised to them an expectant eye, supposing that he was about to receive, as indeed he was, some very unusual and precious gift. But how must his hopes for a moment have sunk within him when he heard the words, "Silver and gold have I none!" I could almost fancy how at first he might be tempted to say, "That's a poor joke. You might surely find something better to do than to make fun of an impotent man like me." But when he heard the rest of the sen

tence, "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk," and when he saw the apostle advance to take him by the hand, his heart thrilled with a peculiar anticipation. He said within himself; This can not be a mockery, and, grasping the hand of Peter, he swung himself to his feet, and felt a strange, tingling life run prickling along his nerves as his limbs grew firm beneath him. Then, half walking and half leaping, like one yet unaccustomed to the exercise of locomotion, he went into the Temple to praise the Lord for his goodness.

Now, as it is said by objectors, with truth, that no miracles can be so easily counterfeited as cures, it may be well to set clearly before you the circumstances of this case, that you may be able to answer every gainsayer regarding it. The man on whom it was wrought was well known. He was over forty years of age, and for a long time, as seems to be implied in the words of the historian, he was regularly to be seen at the Temple gate. His disease was not a slight ailment of recent origin, but was brought with him into the world. His cure was performed not in secret, and before a chosen conclave of spectators, but in open day, and in a place as much frequented at the hour of evening prayer as Broadway is in the height of business. The case was inquired into at the time by those who were openly opposed