A Son of Consolation

“And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” — Acts iv. 36, 37.

ANOTHER outburst of generous love occurred in the form of selling their property and distributing the proceeds. This law and its limitation were noticed in connection with an earlier example. But now, besides the general intimation, two specific examples are submitted — a true and a false. Barnabas and Ananias are photographed in the Word, that all generations may learn, by specimen as well as by description, the difference between genuine and counterfeit charity.

The name of this good man was Joses, and the name Barnabas, by which he is now universally known, was attached to him by the apostles, in order to express the character which he displayed. This name was given to indicate a nature. They called him the Son of Consolation because he was a succourer of many, and a comforter of the downcast.

He was a Levite, and yet he possessed land. This is contrary to the old economical law in Israel; but probably at that period, on account of frequent and great political changes, it was found impossible to maintain the ancient constitution in its integrity.

Barnabas is indeed a good name when you learn what it means. Alas! how rife is its opposite — the Son of Complaint — of gloom. To such a man everything appears in its darkest colours. He looks at the earth and the sky through a yellow glass. He sees no green on the earth, and in the heavens

A Son of Consolation.

no blue. It is not so easy to remove the jaundiced glasses from the eyes of the mind as to take away the coloured medium which impeded your enjoyment of the landscape. Functional derangements of the body through disease sometimes also supervene to tinge still further the atmosphere through which the spirit looks.

Barnabas, we may be well assured, did not grudge his gifts. He was not grieved when a call for another contribution came. He was a great giver, and yet he was a cheerful giver. The Lord loved Barnabas.

I conclude that Barnabas had much comfort himself, for he had much to bestow on others. If we see streams flowing from the well’s brim to refresh the neighbourhood, we may be assured that the well itself is ML

The great contributions which he made did not embitter his spirit. The flow of bounty from that man’s hand acted as the flow of water from the drain on the ploughed field — it sweetened and made fertile the whole breadth of his life. It is the gorging up of the water for want of outlet that makes the land sour, and leaves it barren; and it is the habit of holding in all for self that spoils the pleasure and profit of life.

A Son of Consolation is a fine character. He who has consolation gives it; and he that gives it, has it. The more of it you have, the more you give; and the more you give to others, the more you retain for your own use. This is not one of the things that perish in the using. Like the bread in the hands of Jesus, it multiplies as it is given out. It increases by expending, and diminishes by hoarding. In the matter of comfort, or consolation, “there is that scattereth and yet increaseth; but he that withholdeth more than is meet, it tendeth to poverty.”

To possess consolation is to give it, and to give it is to no possess it. This circle, when it is set agoing, moves perpetually, like the sea giving out its waters to the sky, and the sky sending back the boon by the rain and the rivers to the sea again. Nor is the consoler cut short in his labours for lack of supply. As the trouble grows greater, the corresponding comfort increases. However deep the distress may be, he has a heaven above his head deeper than the abyss below, to fill it all with joy. His resources consist of “the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” and in that ocean he will never touch the ground.

Barnabas was a Levite; — but why take note of his pedigree, since all are one in Christ? There is a reason. In estimating character and giving each his due, there are two opposite extremes, into one or another of which human judgments, under the influence of various prejudice, continually tend to fall. Men err sometimes on this side, sometimes on that: the Word of God marches in the midst and holds the balance even. It throws out an arm to uphold him who is ready to stumble, now on the right side, now on the left.

The priests and their order, supported by the Pharisees, counted themselves righteous and despised others. Speaking for their reproof and instruction, the Lord, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, represented the priest and the Levite as self-pleasing and unloving — consulting their own ease, and refusing to help one who was ready to perish. This he did in order to show them that a sound creed and a scrupulous ritual could not compensate for the neglect of charity. He taught them that although they were of the family of Levi, and enrolled in the ranks of the hereditary priesthood, if they had not charity, their privileges profited them nothing — their profession was as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

But the Lord did not teach that all the Levites were hard-A Son of Consolation.

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hearted; for here, by the pen of the same historian, Luke, the hedge is planted on the other side of the path. There were then, and there are to-day, certain persons and classes who entertain strong prejudices against all ministers of religion. They seem to have persuaded themselves, or, at least, try to persuade themselves, that ministers as a rule are hypocrites. Accordingly, they delight to tell or to hear stories in which ministers of religion are represented in an odious or ridiculous light. This result is extremely natural: we have no reason to expect that it should be otherwise. The hypocrites, of course, deserve to be so treated; and the true cannot altogether escape, because their testimony really gives discomfort to people who do not yield to it. To put the witness in the wrong feels like putting themselves right, as the sight of a train running backwards on a near and parallel line of rails, beguiles you into the belief that your train is running forward.

Barnabas was a Levite — a religious teacher. The profane of his day would have been comforted if they had been able to quote the parable of the Samaritan to show that the

j Levites were all sneaking, selfish fellows. But the Lord comes in to protect the innocent. Barnabas was a Levite,

i but he was not cold and cruel. The opposite graces grew

, in his life, thick and fruitful like wheat in a harvest field.

: This passage is the counterpart of the parable — the hedge on the other side of the road.

He was of the country of Cyprus, an island in the

1 Mediterranean. Even at that date the J ews were dispersed;

j yet they endeavoured in their exile to maintain the distinci tion of tribes. In respect to his birthplace, he came out of

a bad nest. Cyprus was occupied by Greeks, and latterly had been subdued by the Bomans. But as it lay near the

eastern shore, its people partook of the Phoenician and Oriental character. They were heathen, and more. The worship that prevailed was abominable even among heathen systems. Their religion consisted in the consecration of vice. As a Jew, Barnabas in his youth must have been carefully kept apart from these profligate rites; but still he was brought up in an atmosphere of extreme and exceptional wickedness. Can any good thing come out of Cyprus? In the Master’s experience, the servants may obtain ground of hope. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. As the sun draws up pure water to the sky out of stagnant pools, cleansing it in the act of drawing it out; so the Lord by the beaming of his love can bring a bright witness to himself from amongst the most degraded population. Barnabas was of the country of Cyprus.

“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back a part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet,” etc. — Acts v. 1-10.

HO illustrate the remarkable development of brotherly

JL love which appeared among the first disciples, the historian adduces two characteristic specimens. The first is the case of Barnabas, the subject of our last exposition; the second is the case of Ananias, which invites our attention now.

The two cases sprang from the same movement, and equally illustrate the same principles; yet the two cases are not like each other. They are reciprocally opposites. But