Some an Hundredfold
“Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.” — Acts xvii. 12.
THEY believed. The word is little; the thing is great is life from the dead. By this one step they passed from a state of condemnation to a state of peace with God.
Some an Hundredfold.
They escaped from a house built on the sand before it fell, and took refuge in the house that was built upon the rock. The moment before, they were without Christ, and therefore without hope in the world: the moment after, they were in Christ, and heirs of eternal life. The step they took that day separated them conclusively from all the wicked, and allied them for ever with the true and pure. Their life is hid now with Christ in God: none shall ever be able to pluck them from their Kedeemer’s hand.
If any should ask, How could interests so vast turn on a point so small? How could the act of a moment, — the secret quiver of the soul’s affection in transferring itself to the Saviour, — how could this mental act become the turning-point between woe and weal for eternity? All decisive turnings are made on points. It is on sharp points that great magnitudes can best be turned. He was born: he died. These are small points; and how vast the issues that move on them! People speak vaguely about the poles of the globe: these poles are mathematical points; yet how huge is the mass that spins round upon them from age to age!
Many believed. A swelling of spiritual life sometimes comes over a city or a country, as the tidal wave comes over the ocean, — lifted and led, in both cases, by a distant power in the heavens. Therefore many believed: the effects are distinctly traced to their immediate cause. The minds of the listeners inclined and opened to the word of life, and what they received lovingly they examined diligently. The symptoms that preceded and portended the revival were, a bent of mind toward the preached word, and a daily reverent searching of the Scriptures. When we see the same symptoms in any place, we may confidently expect a similar enlargement.
Interesting and instructive is the specific enumeration of classes that were on that occasion won to the Lord, “both of Greek women of good station and of men not a few.” Tour distinct characteristics of the persons who were converted at that time in Berea have been counted worthy of a place in the record, and should therefore be counted worthy of our special study.
1. Greeks were converted. There is no respect of persons with God; all are in his sight equally lost in sin, and all are alike precious when redeemed. Expressly in Christ’s kingdom there is neither Jew nor Greek. Yet circumstances may be such that the conversion of a Greek gives more joy to an apostle’s heart, and does more for the spread of the kingdom, than the conversion of a J ew. As a rule, the first converts in every city had hitherto been of the seed of Israel. But Paul and his companions, although they began their work in the synagogue, were aware that their mission was to the world; they rejoiced accordingly with a peculiar delight over the first-fruits of the Gentiles. These Greeks who believed in Berea were in themselves precisely as precious as the same number of Jews, and no more; but over and above the worth of individual souls, their conversion opened a door by which the gospel might enter a new and spacious field. This, to the weary labourers, was like the breaking forth of waters. The barrier at one spot had given way, and a gap was formed in the dike by which the tide might enter and inundate the land. To the apostles those successes were sweetest which seemed earnests and promises of more.
2. Both men and women. God made them in marvellous wisdom for each other; together they have gone away from him; it is a gladsome sight when they return in company.
It is sad when the sexes are separated by that partition
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which divides the kingdom of God from the world lying in wickedness — separated so that while the one stands safe within the narrow gate, the other is still groping blindfold against the blank wall on its outer side. The separation takes place on both sides. There is not favour to one and frown to another. As there is neither Jew nor Greek, so there is neither male nor female, for partiality to either, in the kingdom of Christ. Sometimes the husband or brother truly seeks and finds the kingdom of God and his righteousness, while the wife or sister seems content to abide by the stuff of this world as the soul’s portion. The cares of this life frequently become the specific means w7hereby the spiritual life is overlaid and smothered in the mothers and daughters of a house. On the other hand, sometimes the women of a family are devoted to Christ, while the men are too philosophic or too self-indulgent to be troubled with spiritual anxieties.
Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and mothers, come all, and come in company to Christ. Be heirs together of the grace of life — helps-meet in the rugged path — brothers and sisters in the whole family of God — entrants together into the joy of the Lord.
3. People of high standing, respectable people, were converted. And is there any peculiar ground for gladness there? Are the upper ten thousand more precious in God’s sight than the myriads who occupy a lower place? No; this word comes from heaven, and does not shape itself by the fashion of the world. But though poor and rich are equally precious, there are times and circumstances in which conversion in high places is more noted and more noteworthy than conversion in a low place. If for nothing else, the early disciples valued it as men value certain gems, on account of its rarity. The common people heard the Master gladly, but the rulers held aloof and boasted that they were not tinged with any trust in Jesus of Nazareth. On that very account there was great joy in the circle of the disciples when a magnate joined their band. Even the Lord longed to have some of them, and looked fondly on the young rich man who came running and kneeling and calling him Master.
Another reason why people of high station are warmly welcomed into the company of Christians is, that their influence is greater; and so, when their talents are consecrated to the Lord, a larger gain accrues to the kingdom. If you looked from aloft upon a dry and parched land you would be glad to see a well rising even on its lowest place; but you would be gladder if you saw a spring leaping from the ground on its loftiest ridges, for, from its position it could be employed to irrigate a larger portion of the land.
Great temptations beset the wealthy and noble; the cords that bind them to the world are very strong; a Jouder song of praise, therefore, bursts from the lips of the free when one of these is liberated. It is more glory to the Lord, and greater gain to his cause in the world.
4. Many were converted. The emphatic phrase is, “Not a few,” There is a strange appetite for more in a Christian’s heart. It continually cries “Give, give,” That cry is never silenced, that appetite never satiated, till the whole world is won. This feature of a Christian’s new nature is inherited from Christ. He opened his mouth wide for the food which he loved. When many came and followed him, he continued to invite the rest as eagerly. When his ministry was nearly finished he wept in agony over Jerusalem, because few of its teeming multitude would accept pardon and eternal life at his hand.
There is a species, of liberality in vogue at present which denounces indiscriminately all proselytism. It is quite true, we confess, that much impure zeal has been exhibited in the name of Christ. Woe to those, whatever name they assume, who compass sea and land to make a proselyte, and, when they have got him, steep him deeper in the same uncharitable fanaticism that gives energy to their own efforts. There is an evil proselytism, even as there is a spirit of darkness who assumes the robes of an angel of light. Every case must be judged on its own merits: it is irrational to denounce all proselytising indiscriminately. There will, and should, and must be a proselytising spirit in every true Christian. What do men mean by condemning it in the lump? Jesus Christ was a proselytiser, and all are like him whom he has inoculated with his love.