Peter. He had been apprised of what took place, by special revelation, perhaps; or, it may be, the important faculty of 'discerning of spirits,' in the exercise of which those who had plenarily received the Holy Ghost, as the apostles had, were able to read the hearts and souls of others, sufficed for the occasion.

When, therefore, Ananias appeared with his money, and tendered it to the apostles as the produce of his estate generously and liberally offered by him for the wants of the church, he was confounded by the stern and solemn voice in which Peter addressed him: 'Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own; and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?-THOU HAST NOT LIED UNTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD.' At these words, which disclosed to himself the guilt and enormity of his conduct, and declared it in the presence of others; and, above all, when he was denounced as one who had lied unto God, the wretched man was overwhelmed, and, without uttering a word, fell to the ground-DEAD. This was the finger of God,-his finger, whether, as some suppose, by the instant and judicial immolation of the offender by supernatural means; or whether the death was accomplished through natural means—the smiting terrors of conscience, the shame, the horror, the exposure, at the moment when all seemed most secure, giving such a shock to the frame as might quite suffice to produce sudden death. It has often done so in the case of other men. Peter did not sentence him-did not denounce his death. But God undoubtedly designed that he should die, to warn the church of his abhorrence of hypocrisy; and whether He saw fit to inflict that death by natural or supernatural means is of small consequence.

This awful judgment made a deep and powerful impression upon those by whom it was witnessed, and indeed upon all who heard of it. When the first agitation had a little subsided, the young men of the congregation who were present, advanced to prepare the body for interment. They wound it up in the

usual burying clothes and bandages, which served instead of coffins among the Jews, as is still the case in eastern nations, to which coffins, as receptacles for the dead, are unknown. They then bore the body away, to deposit it in the cemetery beyond the city. All seems to have been done in an orderly and decent manner, though there must have been the absence of those circumstances which would ensue when a man died 'in his nest,' and among his relatives-the wailings, the train of mourners, and the like. The Jews usually buried their dead soon after death, as we have more than once seen; but this was quicker than usual-simply because it was desirable to remove the body, and there was an object in not taking it to his own home, even if those then present knew where that was.

As some little time had elapsed in the first instance,—for then the body had to be prepared for burial, and taken beyond the city, and as the grave had to be digged when the spot was reached, it was three hours after the death of Ananias before the young men returned from the burial. It was just as they reached the place, that another and a similar judgment upon the wife of Ananias supplied a fresh occasion for their painful services.

Sapphira had then entered, quite ignorant of all that had occurred, and prepared, no doubt, to receive her share of the consideration and approval which the Christian generosity of her husband must, she would suppose, have secured. But Peter knew or suspected her complicity in this shameful transaction, if, indeed, the crime had not been originally of her suggestion-tempting, like another Eve, her husband to the sin which ruined both.

Peter immediately spoke to her when she came in, asking her if the land had been sold for " so much,'-naming the sum which Ananias had brought as the entire produce of the sale. Thus was an opportunity graciously afforded her for repentance; and in many a guilty but more ingenuous heart, the very question of the apostle would have produced instant and tearful confession of the wrong that had been done. Such a moment for reflection as was given to her, has often by God's

grace saved a soul. But Sapphira's heart was hardened; and she made herself more guilty than her husband, by deliberately and emphatically confirming the fraud, in answer to a direct question from one of the pillars of the church, and in the presence of that assembly, composed of persons who had come out from the untoward generation of worldly men. Under the fixed eye of the apostle, which was looking into her soul, she blenched not to answer 'Yea, for so much,'-an assertion which must have given a thrill of dismay and horror to those then present, who had not long before witnessed the doom of her husband. Peter himself dealt with this atrocity even more severely than in the case of the husband. Then, he had declared the crime, but did not denounce the punishment. Now, he not only declares the offence, but judicially sentences the offender. 'How is it,' he said, with painful emotion, 'that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?' and then raising his voice, yet shrinking to name directly the doom he felt impelled to pronounce, he cried: 'Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door-AND SHALL CARRY THEE OUT.' Thus in one moment she received the dreadful information of her husband's end and of the instant approach of her own. Immediately she fell to the ground and died, as he had done; and the young men then coming in, took away the body, and buried her beside her husband.

This latter case being most manifestly the act and judgment of God, shows that both were so. It might be said, and could not be disproved, that Ananias died naturally, though suddenly, from the nervous shock his system had received. But this was not the case in the latter instance; for Sapphira's death, then and there, was distinctly declared by the apostle; and however possible that the shock might kill her also, the apostle could not have reckoned upon that as a certainty, and, from the hardihood the woman had evinced, the probabilities were rather against than for this result. The hand of God was visible here. It seemed good to Him, by this severity of judgment, to attest his hatred of worldliness and double-dyed hypocrisy; to confirm the authority of the apostles, for judg

ment no less than mercy; and to maintain the purity of the infant church, which would have been seriously endangered had such offences as these passed without most signal punish

ment.

The effect upon the church of these miracles of judgment was important and solemnizing. 'Great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.'—' And fear, rightly directed, is both proper and salutary to such a creature as man. The fear of God and the dread of sin, as displeasing to God, is the greatest blessing to the soul. This awful example would produce and cherish it. Great fear might well come upon all the disciples when they saw before their eyes the consequence of sin. This consequence we are ready to acknowledge; the difficulty is to feel a due conviction of the truth. We confess that the wages of sin is death. But "because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Here the sentence was executed speedily: here that judgment was witnessed, which it is part of our probation to believe to receive on faith. And the whole event may well incline us to pray with David: "Keep back thy servant, O Lord, from presumptuous sins: let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."'a

1

Some may think that the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira was unnecessarily, even cruelly severe. They mistake altogether the time and the circumstances who think so. It was a time of peculiar solemnity. God was Himself, with wondrous condescension, establishing Christianity, and evidencing its divine origin by direct and signal displays of His presence and power. To have permitted a fraud-a deliberate attempt at deception-to pass, under such circumstances, unnoticed and unpunished, would, humanly speaking, have been fatal. It was, as it were, a challenge thrown out to the God of truth. Meyer has stated the nature of 1 Eccles. viii. II.

2 Ps. xix. 13. Archbishop SUMNER'S Practical Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. 1838.

their crime with clearness and brevity: 'By the sale of their field, and the bringing in of the money, they in fact professed to give the whole price as a gift of brotherly love to the common stock; but their aim was to get for themselves the credit of holy love and zeal by one portion of the price, whereas they had selfishly kept back the other portion for themselves. They wished to serve two masters, but to appear to serve only One.' (Quoted by Alford on Acts v. 2.)

Forty-first Week-Second Day.

PETER'S SHADOW.-ACTS V. 12-26.

THERE is evidence that the death of Ananias and Sapphira attracted much public attention at Jerusalem, but it does not seem to have been formally inquired into by the authorities. In eastern cities many things pass without notice, which would not fail to be fully investigated in communities such as our own; and in this case, perhaps, sufficient inquiry had been made, or report rendered to the Jewish rulers, to satisfy them that it offered no ground of charge against the apostles, and that any official notice of its occurrence could only tend to exalt them in the opinion of the people. Indeed, we are told that, as it was, this event inspired the unconverted Jews with great reverence for the apostles; and that, while it deterred the worldly-minded or hypocritical pretenders to sanctity from joining the church, the strength and character of which could only have been injured by their presence, it by no means repelled the sincere and well-disposed, who were, indeed, attracted in large numbers by this new evidence of the divine authority with which the apostles acted, and by the power with which they preached the doctrines of the gospel. Moreover, while

they were authorized and enabled to show that to their hands was, in some measure, entrusted the sword of God's judgments upon hypocrites, the exercise of mercy and kindness was more congenial to their functions; for their miracles of healing were performed without stint: all who applied, all who were pre