Again at the Bar
XXV.
Again at the Bar. enjoined them not to speak any more in that Name, and now they charge the panels with contempt of court. Peter and John, however, although they had disobeyed the order of the Sanhedrim, had not broken their own parole, for they had given no parole in the case; on the contrary, they had declared, in the face of the tribunal, that they would continue to preach in the name of Jesus.
The judges on this occasion are thinking, not of how they may discover the truth regarding the accused, but how they may provide for their own safety. “Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” It is not a question of truth and justice; these men do not seem capable of rising to such thoughts. They believed that the apostles were working up the multitude to demand vengeance upon the rulers for the murder of Jesus. It was a vulgar fear for their own skin that inspired these contemptible intriguers who sat on the bench of justice that day in Jerusalem.
“Ye mean to bring this man’s blood upon us!” And they trembled for their own base lives in presence of the excited populace. It is a sad scene for us who can look at leisure on it, and look beyond it. How near the kingdom they seem to be! — “this man’s blood upon us;” and yet they think of that blood only as vengeance; they have gotten no glimpse of its atoning power.” Who is blind, but my servant V* They who sit in Moses’ seat reject the Prophet whom Moses promised.
It is interesting to observe how shy the rulers are of introducing the name of Jesus. They say “this name” and “this man,” but they do not venture to pronounce his name. This stone which the builders rejected is dreadful to the rejecters. They seem already to labour under some dim conception that upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. On the other hand, in proportion as the rulers 3 avoid that name, the apostles cleave to it. To them it is a name above every name. In all these troubles they continually presented it as a shield over their heads. That name of the Lord is a strong tower; and these righteous men, in every danger, run into it.
Another concise and sublime word, spoken by Peter and! assented to by his companions — “We ought to obey God rather than men.” We who have all our days been familiar with it, do not perceive its grandeur. Are not all these who speak Galileans? Whence, then, hath this man this wisdom? He speaks as he is moved by the Holy Ghost. This courage is not earth-born. “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” The apostles had prayed specifically for courage to speak God’s Word: they had asked, and now they received.
How much the world owes to the word that Peter uttered before the Sanhedrim that day! It is the foundation of all the true liberty that exists in the world. On this rock — the word that the Holy Spirit spake by Peter’s lips — has the liberty of the Church been built, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
Nothing that rested on the world could resist and overcome the world. Here is a word let down from heaven, a word that liveth and abideth for ever. By leaning on this, j human liberty has been able to maintain a footing on the world during the dark centuries that are past; and that liberty wherewith the Son has made his people free, is waxing apace, as the dawn advances into day. Freedom of conscience — the subjection of a human spirit to God, and its emancipation therefore from all inferior control — is deposited here in the ground as a living seed. Thence it has sprung
Again at the Bar.
and spread; thence it will spring and spread until all superstition and tyranny shall be swept away.
The power — the paramount value of this heaven-sent principle — has never and nowhere been more clearly illustrated than in the history of our own country. It is the action of this principle in conflict with persecuting rulers that has made our land illustrious among the nations. Especially it is this aspect of Divine truth that has imparted to Scotland its peculiar historical character. Woe to the fatherland if a degenerate race should arise who should be ashamed of the conflicts in which our liberty was won! When it becomes fashionable to laud the chivalry of Claverhouse, and cast ridicule or bestow pity on the rudeness or fanaticism of his victims, the golden age of our country is gone. The suffering unto death for liberty of conscience ennobled the men of that day, and secured liberty for their descendants. We are like sons who have inherited the wealth that their fathers won: a humble, thankful spirit becomes us. We should maintain and improve our heritage.
Critics have noticed the structure of Peter’s brief defence as one of the finest specimens of pleading on record. It is a proof that the promise, “It shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak,” was amply fulfilled. It is clear and cogent; it is very short, but it is long enough. The speaker says all that is needful, and stops when he is done. In this short space he defends himself, confounds his adversaries, and commends Christ to the bystanders. The address assumes the form of a syllogism, which would not have been so remarkable in the lips of Paul, but which we are surprised; to find in the unpremeditated defence of the simple and impetuous fisherman. After announcing the general principle, j that wherever God claims obedience man’s claim must stand i in abeyance, he proceeds to show that this case comes under the rule. “The God of our fathers;” he takes care to trace all up to the God of Israel, whom the Sanhedrim acknowledged. Peter and John did not stand before the priests as aliens, guilty of subverting the Jewish faith or the Jewish commonwealth. He claims to be with themselves an Israelite, and interested as much as they in the inheritance of Israel. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew.” The point of the arrow is at their breast again. He will not spare them. In one sense he is in their power; but in another they are in his. They tremble in their seats under this home- thrust. “Ye slew;” for they compelled Pilate to pronounce sentence of death. Nor does the preacher spare them the aggravation — “and hanged on a tree.” They know the curse and shame associated with the cross. “Whom ye slew, him hath God exalted.” He pillories the priests as the enemies of God, the crucifiers of the Messiah.
But this bold, unsparing, personal piercing is not the dictate of anger or revenge. All that dross has been purged out of the witnesses by the baptism at Pentecost. The servants are about their Master’s business. They are feeling for an opening into the consciences of their judges, that they may introduce the gospel. They intimate that God hath exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour; a King to rule, and a Redeemer to forgive. They offer, through this Redeemer, repentance to Israel and remission of sins. The preachers have an eye both to the magistrates and the bystanders. They cherish no enmity against the persecutors. Their rule already is, all things to all men, in order that they may save some. The judges who oppressed them, and the populace who for the time favoured them, are all alike in the eyes of these witnesses. The business of the apostles is to win souls, and this precious gain is alike welcome from all quarters. To the judges on the bench; to the young advocates, such as Saul of Tarsus, who might be hanging about the precincts of the court; to the spectators; to the officers; to all alike the suffering witness proclaimed repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus. And who shall tell whether Saul, through Peter’s word, received an arrow in his heart, which would not out by all his intemperate zeal to crucify Christ in his members, and which at last brought the furious persecutor down to the dust before the gates of Damascus? The witnesses were careful to sow beside all waters, not knowing which of their words might fail, and which might bear fruit unto life eternal.