THE NOBILITY OF THE BEREANS:

A Sermon,

BY THE REV. ROBERT EDEN, M.A. Minister of St. Mary's Parochial Chapel, Lambeth. ACTS, xvii. 11.

"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

IN following the footsteps of those early servants of Christ, by whose labours the Gospel was first planted, we not only have the records of the process by which Christianity was established in the world, but we meet with many statements of truth, capable of becoming of important use to ourselves, and to every member of the Church throughout her generations. And these truths have a peculiar force, as being warm with life. They are not the mere inculcation of principles, however just, nor of advice, however precious; but they have a vital energy, because they spring out of the transactions of actual life-they are the fruits of personal experience. This book of the Acts of the Apostles is full of interest in this point of view. We are brought into actual companionship with Paul, and Peter, and John, and the other apostles; and we not only go with them from one city and village to another, and see the course of conduct which they adopted in the execution of the commission given them by Christ, to "go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," but we hear the doctrine which they taught, with their own lips, to the people; nay, more than this, we have sometimes the very record of their private feelings, and an account of the impression made upon their own minds by the scenes in which they had been engaged, and by the characters of those to whom they had ministered. As we thus attend the steps of the first preachers of the Gospel, we are brought to feel how like itself is human nature at all times; and how the very same causes which lead now to the acceptance or refusal of God's message in Christ, operated in that early period of history to produce the same effects: the evil state of heart which now causes many to turn away from the holy commandment delivered unto them, was the root of the mischief then: the honest and good heart, which, having heard the word, keeps it, and brings forth fruit with patience, was then, as it is now, the source of spiritual fruitfulness.

According to the reception which their message met with, was, as might be expected, the treatment of those that carried it. Paul, in his journeyings, encountered various treatment from opposite characters, and in dif

ferent places. Some rejected it with contempt, as a cunningly devised fable, and cruelly persecuted its messengers as propagators of heresy and sedition; while others gladly received their word, and became the happy subjects of its saving influence. The history before us illustrates this. Paul and Silas had been preaching the Gospel at Thessalonica, a city of Macedonia. It appears that God had permitted their work there to go so far, that the foundations of a church were laid there; when he saw fit to bring upon them a persecution of the most fierce and threatening kind. "The Jews which believed not"-those upon whom the apostles could make no impression-moved with envy, collected together a number of worthless persons, and " set all the city in an uproar." When this storm arose, the apostles, taking it as an indication from God that they must, for the present, quit that place, withdrew, and were conducted by night unto Berea. In this place, though persecution had driven them into it, they found a successful field for their labours. The command of Christ to his disciples, "when they persecute you in one city, flee to another," though it secured the safety of their persons, and rescued them from dangerous violence, was intended to carry on the work of the Gospel: " flee to another," not there to hide, but there to preach the Gospel. We read accordingly, that, on arriving in Berea, Paul and Silas "went into the synagogue of the Jews," and made there their public appearance. Though the Jews at Thessalonica had been their spiteful enemies, and they had every reason to calculate upon the like treatment from those at Berea, yet neither a vindictive feeling for the wrongs they had suffered from the Jews at the last place, nor the dread of what might await them from those here, restrained them from carrying the message of salvation. They would stand up courageously in the synagogue at Berea; though this city also should contribute to establish that charter, by which "bonds and afflictions should every where await them." And God was pleased to honour the unswerving fidelity of his servants. Their word was attentively heard, and candidly examined; and the results were highly encouraging. Many were brought to the knowledge of the truth, whose believing acceptance of the Gospel is honourably recorded in the language of the text; "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

In this account of the conduct and conversion of the Bereans, we are struck, first, with

The willing permission they gave to the apostles to declare their errand. For we must remember how different were their circumstances from those in which we ever have been, or can possibly be found. They were Jews, who had never, until this moment when Paul and Silas entered their synagogue, heard of any other system than the law of Moses. We might therefore expect, from our knowledge of the nature of man, that every prejudice and principle of resistance would have been waked up at the mention of the name of Jesus of Nazareth, as him of whom "Moses in the law and the prophets did write." But they manifested a very different temper. They were men in whose minds the avenues of conviction lay open; they were willing to give a hearing to the arguments of reason, and to admit their force, and to subscribe to that which should hereafter approve itself to them as truth, even though it should be contrary to their former opinions, and should have to set itself up in their minds upon the ruins of some of their most dearly cherished prepossessions. Scarcely any sacrifice is so costly to flesh and blood to make, as that of long-established and deeply rooted prejudice. The heart will yield up almost any thing rather than the tenets it has adopted, if these have been built up by inveterate habit and dear association. But the Berean Jews were prepared to make even this surrender. They not only regarded the apostles as men of wisdom and piety. This they might have done without making any nearer approach to the Gospel; for you will constantly find those whose hearts are fast closed against the message of God, and who are incased within a triple breastplate of impenetrableness, yet giving that measure of attention to the things of religion which is extorted from them by the respectability (and in some cases the high esteem) of those who are appointed publicly to teach the things of God. You will find that the notes of musical eloquence to which the Gospel is sometimes set, obtain a measure of pardon for that which, without the melody, would be flatly condemned. It makes no part of their plan to be governed by what they hear a change in the spirit of their mind is never for a moment contemplated by them; nay, such an idea, if it found an entrance, would speedily be dismissed. But the Bereans rose far above this state. They had, indeed, the most respectful sentiments towards the apostles as wise and pious men; and, even on this ground, would treat them with urbanity and kindness; would make them to understand that they had come to men of a gentler spirit than those unbelieving Jews, who had lately driven them out of the

city of Thessalonica. But their respect was shewn to the commission of the apostles, not to their persons only. They were aware that these men professed to turn their fellowmen" from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Jesus." They gave themselves out to be "the servants of the most high God, which shew unto men the way of salvation;" and even if the Bereans were not yet sensible of their absolute need of a Saviour, they were, at all events, aware of the solemn import of the subject itself, and could not treat it with total neglect. When Paul and Silas, therefore, rose up in the synagogue, and declared that Jesus Christ was the subject of their ministry, and that they were sent forth to preach him as a deliverer from the wrath to come; that through this man-the man whom they could not conceal as having been crucified by men of that very nation of the Jews, not long before, at Jerusalem-that through him was preached unto them remission of sins; and that by him, by this crucified Jesus, the guilt of whose blood lay upon their heads, they might be justified, and could only be justified from those things, wherefrom they could not be justified by the law of Moses;"-startling and shocking as we may suppose the hint of such things might naturally have been to Jews, they yet gave a patient hearing to all that the apostles had to propound. We may imagine that Paul would begin his address by saying, These are sacred truths which I am about to teach; give me a fair hearing. We speak as to wise men: judge ye what we say. To those of you who obey our message are the savour of life unto life;" to you who refuse it we are equally "the savour of death unto death." By such solemn appeals to the consciences of the Jews assembled in this synagogue, they would, if by any means, secure that preliminary degree of respect which must be yielded before the truths with which they were charged could reach their hearts. They were interested to know more of that which was so grave a topic. They neither prejudged the cause, nor were moved with envy against the promoters of it, as the Jews at Thessalonica had been. They were free from that blind partiality, which would cause them doggedly to cling to first impressions, whatever they might chance to be: they were free from those darkening influences of passion, which would determine them to love darkness rather than light, not from any deficiency in the evidence, but because their own "deeds were evil." In this state of mind, so becoming the finite, whilst receiving the pro

66

we

fessed communications of the Infinite; so proper in the limited being man, whilst under the sound of that voice which announces itself as the voice of the all-wise God,-whilst cherishing such a frame of mind, God met the Berean Jews, and blessed them. He fulfilled his promise, "To him that hath shall be given:" he made good the assertion, that to the diligent cultivator of grace bestowed, "he giveth more grace:" he left them an example upon record, that while God resisteth the "proud" unbeliever, he "giveth grace unto the lowly."

Such were the Bereans in this first particular of their character-candid listeners to the errand of the apostles. We ask not whether you approve of their candour: it were impossible you should not. But, whether the Gospel of God, whether religion in general, has met at our hands the same treatment, this is a useful, and, probably, a necessary inquiry. For that it gets a fair hearing with the great majority of men, cannot be a question: it certainly does not. Look throughout the ranks of men in Christendom itself-in that territory where Christ is professedly known and received-and what shall we perceive? Alas! not men calmly and systematically listening while the Gospel is pleading its cause; not a race of patient listeners; but men contentedly resigning all the interest they can possibly possess in the truth of God, through indifference, or through prejudice, condemning it unheard. "Doth our law condemn any man unheard?" was the question of one who would not allow injustice at a human tribunal; and shall the Gospel of our salvation find worse treatment? The most careless among us, the most avowedly indifferent (for there are found some who do not care to confess how lightly they think of all such matters- these are your brave men, who will not incur the disgrace of being known to "cringe under apprehension of death and the devil"),—are bound to reply to thus much that we ask them. Is not the subject of the Gospel of supreme importance-at least, the subject? It speaks of "perishing, both in body and soul, in hell:" and is not the very sound, the bare possibility of such a condemnation, unutterably fearful? It speaks of "everlasting life;" and is not the bare prospect of such a gift unspeakably blessed? And if the record, that tells both of the one and the other, asserts that the one doom cannot be averted but by repentance towards God, is it a slight thing whether we come to repentance? That the other cannot be gained but by faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; may

it be left to chance whether we believe to the saving of the soul? With how many has the Gospel had no better fate, than those

unhappy persons find whose lot it is to wait upon some proud patron, or dilatory judge, who has promised to grant an audience, but has never yet done it, and still promises, and still postpones? We cannot hear God continually addressing us in his word, and crying with a loud voice, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear;" we cannot hear God continually sounding in our ears, not only the message of his Gospel, but the importance of it to ourselves, and incur no guilt, if we put it away from us. We cannot hear Christ's invitation to receive him into our souls, and banish the sound of it, without sinning against God. Religion involves our immortal happiness: it is, then, unquestionably a matter of supreme import; it deserves our paramount regard. Its ministers present themselves before you as "ambassadors for Christ;" against Christ, then, is the affront, when they receive not a serious and thorough hearing. Do we hear the word of God with submissive patience? do we ask of God, that that which we know not, he will teach us; that he will lead us into all truth? With sincere affection, do we desire to participate the saving power of his word? do we regularly embrace every opportunity, and improve every privilege? Do we feel and speak of his Gospel," not as the word of man, but as the word of God, which effectually worketh in them that believe?"

We are prepared now for a second particular in the conduct of the Bereans. As they allowed the apostles to declare their errand, so we find that they gave a glad reception to the message itself. An ingenuous spirit opens the fairest door to the entrance of truth. Bigotry pronounces sentence against it before a trial; and decides that it shall not have a trial, lest it should prove to be an overmatch. Candour opened their ears to what Paul and Silas had to urge; and, by that opening, conviction entered. They had been, from the first, willing to em brace the truth under any circumstances; and now that they had confessed its importance, they received it "with all readiness of mind." They will not subscribe to the articles of the faith, dismiss the apostles, and with them all farther concern in the subject: they are not only converts, but zealous converts. They have heard of a "deliverance from the wrath to come;" and they will forthwith flee for refuge to the hope set before them; they have heard of" life eternal," and they will immediately "lay hold" of it. Theirs was a contrast to the unbelieving part of the Thessalonians, who quarrelled with the word, and sought occasion against the preachers of it; they welcomed it to their hearts, as a man welcomes his friend, whom he is

heartily rejoiced once more to receive under his roof. They had decided that the things of which the apostles discoursed were unspeakably momentous; and therefore it was impossible for them to cavil. They perceived in the ministry of these men a wondrous simplicity and energy, which captivated them, and induced them to receive the word with avidity. They wish not to get rid of it, but they wish to retain it; and therefore they will admit Divine truth on its own evidence, and put a candid construction on every thing that is said in its favour. They were more honest than the Jews in Thessalonica; but walked in the same spirit, and in the same steps with the Gentiles there; of whom it is said, that they "received the word with joy of the Holy Ghost," and "turned to God from idols." These were, indeed, an exemplary race of primitive Christians. O that there were such a spirit among ourselves the spirit of gladness at the first hearing of the overtures of the Gospel!

Such were the earliest disciples, and as such they are described; "they that gladly received the word." A spirit this, differing altogether from that of Herod, who heard the word gladly, having a curiosity to know what kind of matters it treated about, but having no desire to enlarge his acquaintance with it, when he found that it laid the axe to the root of his sins; but a gladness, going the whole length of the Gospel itself, the glad receiving, as well as hearing of it. We shall resemble the Bereans in this "readiness of mind," when, becoming acquainted with God's word, and knowing all that it calls upon us to admit and to deny, we can still persist in our preference of it; glad that it is offered to our acceptance; glad if God has given us the grace to receive it, whatever consequences may follow our acceptance of it. Who amongst us desires to know whether we are inheritors of this Berean "readiness of mind" towards the Gospel of God? We are so, if we yield ourselves to the fair influence of truth; if we desire instruction; if we are not biassed by our peculiar associations, bound by the fetters of custom, deferring to the opinions of any men, however learned, who may lack the Spirit of Christ; if we are conscious that we are not the slaves of custom, not blinded by vulgar prejudice, not kept from embracing truth by the terrors of persecution. Is the Gospel new to any of us, through our own faulty neglect in time past? and does its novelty excite our fears, not knowing whither it may lead us? or, from the same cause (its newness), does its simple character excite our contempt? Then, in either case, we have not this "readiness of mind." We have it not, so long as it is ne

cessary that we be dragged up to it by the study of truth, expostulation, and reproof, instead of going out to meet and to embrace it. Such an entrance into our souls it demands; and only so entering, can it become personally profitable and saving; only as it is received" in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."

There is yet one more point of excellence in the conduct of the Bereans; they seriously examined the claims of the Gospel. We have seen that they were too rational to condemn it without a candid hearing; that, having heard it, they were interested in its message; and now we see them" searching the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, to shew that Jesus was the Christ. If he be indeed the Christ, then is he their king, and they must obey him: the point is most interesting to them, and they must examine it. To the law, therefore, and to the testimony they had instant recourse; they re-considered the passages to which Paul had referred them, examined their scope and bearing upon the whole argument, compared them with other parts of Scripture, sifted their precise meaning, and decided whether Paul's inferences from them were natural and fair; and so they came to a decision.

Brethren, the doctrine of Christ fears not a scrutiny. Let no man take it up because it is generally professed, or because it has a measure of popular favour; but, on the ground of personal conviction of its truth. Say not, "We are Christians, because all around us are so :" a religion so superficial will neither honour God nor benefit yourselves: but, on the other hand, say not, "We stand aloof from Christianity;" rather, like the Bereans, without prejudice or partiality, investigate the claims of the Gospel, "whether these things are so." But, take notice, that there is no encouragement given here to the licentiousness of scepticism, or what some would fain dignify with the name of rational religion. The appeal of the Bereans was to the tribunal of the "Scriptures." These, and not their reason in the feebleness of its fallen state, were the authority to which they would bow. They searched, it is true, before they gave their verdict; but the search was made, not in the shallow soil of human reason, but in the deep mines of the word of God. They teach a lesson, too, to those who, while they never presumed to doubt, are too indolent to search the Scriptures to establish their faith. It is the presence of such as these in our congregations which dispirits us in our ministrations: we seem continually to be "bringing strange things to your ears,"

because you are strangers to the daily searching of the Scriptures. We are always speaking "in an unknown tongue," because you are not conversant with that word of God from which we draw our reasonings and our phraseology. While things remain so, we cannot hope to make any way. And shall

we rest contentedly, while casting such a dishonour on God himself, as this neglect of his word implies? Shall God leave but one book to his Church's study, and shall it not be read? Shall we be told, even by God himself, the author and inditer of the Bible, that there is a rich treasure laid up in this mine; and shall we continue so beggarly in our knowledge, rather than expend some little pains by digging to reach it? The rust of our gold and silver, which are gotten with harder labour than is required to gain the treasures of heavenly wisdom, will it not rise up in judgment against many, and say, You could drudge for us, that are now turned to rust and decay; but could walk over the field of the word, where lay the incorruptible riches of Christ, and would lose it rather than your sloth. O where is to be found in what breast now lingers, the zeal of former saints to the word of God! Have they not counted it above rubies and precious stones? Have they not traversed sea and land to gain a sight of it; drained their purse, nay, even parted with their garments, to purchase a few leaves of it; and have been ready to part with the very blood out of their veins, rather than forego the treasure they had found in it? And is its worth so fallen, because it is procurable at so cheap a rate; because the copies of the book itself are poured forth into the world in cheap and teeming abundance? While we continue to speak to those who leave to us the whole task, and bestir not themselves to investigate and compare our statements with the word of God, we 66 speak it may be ten thousand voices, and none of them is without signification;" but we are 66 barbarians unto you, and we speak into the air." Do you desire that the word preached may profit you who hear it ? You must imitate the Bereans: it was in the synagogue, on the Sabbath-day, that they heard the word from the lips of the apostles; but they were " searching the Scriptures daily afterwards, whether those things were so." It is added, "therefore many of them believed." Employing the grace vouchsafed, they were blessed with a fresh communication of it; their diligent use of means was attended with a divine energy; and Christianity wrought within them its enlightening, transforming, and hallowing influence. They obeyed the command of God in searching his Scriptures; and he fulfilled

to them the promise, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God."

And now, after this review of the conduct of the Bereans, shall we hesitate to award to them the title given in our text, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica?" True nobility, then, is not the spurious expansiveness of infidelity, but the reverence of Scripture as the test of truth. Let us imitate their dignified conduct, replete as it is with instruction to all who hear the joyful sound of the grace of the Gospel-neglecting not the truth presented to us through apathy or rashness, but bringing it to the decision of the written word of God. We need not your countersignature of our credentials; we await not your verdict, whether that book whence we draw our reasonings be, or be not, the word of God; but, assuming the majesty of the Sciptures, we call on you to confront our assertions therewith, and to be found among the number of those "children of wisdom" who rise up to "justify" her. Let us imbibe their spirit, which was open, teachable, and free from censoriousness; searching, as they did, the lively oracles of God, to be made "wise unto salvation." This "noble spirit" is indispensable to "receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls." Let us emulate their example. How honourable to the Bereans to be handed down as "noble," upon the imperishable page of the word of God; so that wherever the Gospel is preached, their fame shall be spread! Who of us would not covet such an undying honour? There is not one amongst us who may not at least entitle himself to the same honour, if we "receive the word with all readiness of mind, and search the Scriptures daily." Upon the pages of Scripture we cannot be immortalised, as were the Bereans; but for all such there is an eternal record in the Lamb's book of life.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSION IN JERUSALEM.*

MY VERY DEAR SIR,

-

Jerusalem, January 10, 1839. Your very kind letter of August 15, 1838, is as precious, and was as welcome, as it is short. I am truly thankful for it. It is a Christian friends, and it is a rich solace to know it. blessed privilege to be remembered and prayed for by But perhaps you will think the delay of my acknowledgment of your kind lines not very consistent with this sentiment. It did not actually reach me till the 7th ult., and then just at the time when I was obliged to hurry through a long official communication to Mr. Cartwright, in order to secure its arrival at Beyroot in time for the steamer of that month. I could not

This interesting account of the Church of England mission in Jerusalem is comprised in a letter from the Rev. John Nicolayson to the Rev. E. Bickersteth, by whom it has been inserted in a provincial newspaper. The subject of the Hospital has already been brought before our readers, in our notice of Dr. M'Caul's very excellent sermon.