SECTION IV.

CHAP. I. 15-20. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of the names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren, This scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called, in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein; and his bishopric let another take.

IN the course of the ten days which intervened between the ascension of Jesus and the day of Pentecost, we here read of Peter proposing to a large body of the disciples, who were met together for purposes connected with their future mission, the substitution of another member in the Apostolic band in the place of their former treacherous associate, Judas. Peter was probably the senior in age, and his own character, fervent in zeal and always first and foremost in his Master's work, concurred, no doubt, with the direction of the Holy Ghost, in assigning to him the lead on the present occasion. His address to the assembled

disciples is very striking, as well as appropriate; and one at once recognises how Peter recalled to his own mind those solemn words of Jesus, uttered probably in the same room, on the night preceding His crucifixion, in that most touching of all prayers, and in which, in reference to His disciples, He says, "Those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled;" and it is with the same awful truth that Peter here begins, "This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas."

It is a fearful thought that as God is not unfaithful to His promises, so neither is He unfaithful to His threatenings; and, as some one remarks, could we descend into the abodes of the lost, the cry and the confession from every inmate there would be, "The Scripture is fulfilled." And, alas! too, in the case of Judas, as in many another instance, we see that no outward privileges can avail without the hidden life of the soul. No mere station in the Church, however distinguished or favourable for the growth of grace, can supersede or set aside the want of grace in the heart. Judas had enjoyed every opportunity of personal communion with his Master for probably nearly three years, and yet no real change, no actual conversion of the heart to God, had ensued: the idol of covetous

ness still held its throne, and lured him on to eternal ruin. He had, indeed, been numbered with the disciples, and had obtained part of their ministry; yet, like too many of his own countrymen, who, though of Israel, yet were not Israel, so Judas, though an Apostle by name and office, yet had no part nor lot in the matter, for his heart was not right with God. It is a sad aggravation of condemnation to perish amid the means of grace, and, like that Israelitish lord in the gate of Samaria, to be set over the distribution of food to others, and yet be trampled under foot himself for his unbelief!

Peter here mentions circumstances connected with the death of Judas which are not detailed in the Gospel narrative, but which are in no way inconsistent with the account given by St. Matthew, the only evangelist who mentions the suicide of Judas. And I think that Peter here names these additional horrors to shew how literally and truly the Scripture was fulfilled in the traitor's case. He is quoting the 109th Psalm, and we there read, in the 18th verse, the curse denounced upon him, that it should "come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones," which evidently refers to the legal curse recorded in the book of Numbers, "The Lord make thee a curse among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy belly to swell and thy thigh to rot;" and so here we read, in literal fulfilment of the curse," he fell

C

headlong, and, bursting asunder in the midst, all his bowels gushed out."

Nor did this occur in any distant or secluded nook, unseen or unknown of any; it was known to every dweller in Jerusalem,-it must have been the common topic of conversation in connexion with the crucifixion of Jesus. Judas had been guide to the armed band that took Jesus; he was the hired traitor of the High Priest, and in their very presence and hearing the conscience-stricken man had flung back the blistering wages of his sin. And still more to perpetuate the memory of his death, these very priests, with infatuated blindness, purchase with the money a field for public burial, and affix to it a name in their own language that should stamp in indelible characters its bloodstained origin, and so once more become the unconscious instruments of the fulfilment of Scripture, in thus buying "the potter's field to bury strangers in."

Let me earnestly impress on you that we, too, may become unconscious, but still accurate fulfillers of Scripture. I do not say that you are pointed out so unerringly and distinctly as Judas or these priests and Pharisees were; but the Scripture has said, and that Scripture must be fulfilled in each one of us, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while it is a savour of life unto life to some, is a savour of death unto death to others, and that it is alike fulfilling its mission both

in them that are saved and in them that

perish.

SECTION V.

CHAP. I. 21-26. Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

PETER now proceeds to the more definite purpose of the day's meeting-the appointment of a successor to the apostleship of Judas, from which he by transgression had fallen; and he again refers to the same Scripture in the 109th Psalm for their direction and guidance in this matter. It is a good rule to look to God's own Word as our guide in all things, but even then we must sanctify our search, as Peter did here, by prayer. To pray that we may know the Lord's will, and may have grace and strength also to follow it when known,