ON SOME OF THE

MAY, 1876.

SUBORDINATE CHARACTERS

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM BROCK.

V. ANANIAS OF DAMASCus.

Most readers of the CHURCH have, at one time or another, watched a little steam-tug busily towing some great sailing ship down stream or out of harbour into the deep broad sea. To the spectator's eye, the tug is almost extinguished by the giant hull that floats behind. She returns unnoticed into port, while, observed of all observers, the big ship spreads her white sails to the breeze, and, like some noble bird upon the wing, speeds her silent but majestic flight across the

waves.

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and the glorious work which he afterwards achieved, are among the household words of our Christian communities, and the fundamental evidences of our Christian faith. Every one is familiar with the start of that goodly vessel, with the Voyages it made, and the precious cargoes which it carried back. But there was a steam-tug in that case too. There was one man made by God the instrument of drawing Saul out, as a new creature in Christ Jesus, on his apostolic career. He appears at the crisis, does the work appointed him, then disappears, and we see him no more. What we know of him is to be gathered from the two parallel accounts given in the ninth and twenty-second chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.* The result is full of interest, and cannot be devoid of instruction.

"There was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias." Damascus! The name carries us away across the Eastern desert to that ancient city, seated between its rushing streams, and in its fair oasis of grove and garden. How a Christian Church had grown together there we know not; some of the scattered disciples may have fled thither after Stephen's death, and converts were doubtless added to them from among the native Jews, who formed a numerous and powerful synagogue. Thus far Jews and Christians seem to have lived on peaceable and even friendly terms, far removed from the heats and controversies of Jerusalem. Ananias himself was universally respected. He was known as a devout man according to the law," and "had a good report of all the Jews which dwelt" in Damascus. Such are the men whom our Lord loves to employ, men of unblemished character, "sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

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*Acts ix. 10-18; xxii, 12-16; the reader can refer to and compare the accounts.

VOL. XIX, N.S. V.

It does not follow that Ananias held any official position in the Church. Tradition indeed has made him its bishop, and gives him a history, crowned with a martyr's death; but it is all conjecture. We have quite as much right to consider him a private Christian, with no special gift of public speech or pastoral authority, but holding the warrant which belongs, as we conceive, to all disciples, to preach the gospel, to assure the anxious of forgiveness, and to baptise the believer. The kind of commission which was now to be confided to Ananias is only what may come to any one of us, and for which we should seek to be prepared. True, the Lord spoke to him "in a vision; " but He may speak with equal emphasis by the whisper of His Spirit, or the indication of His providence; and our attitude, like his, must be that of the girded loins and watchful eye-" Behold, I am here, Lord.”

There is an errand for Ananias, and it is now unfolded. A long street, straight as an arrow, used to run through the heart of Damascus from east to west, and the line of it, though much broken, can still be traced. In that "street called Straight" stood a certain house, belonging to a well-known citizen, "the house of Judas;" and in that house there lay a blind man, wanting help, which Ananias is to give. The man is expecting him, indeed; for he too has had a vision, and it was a vision of such a one coming in, and laying healing hands upon his darkened eyes. And mark the motive urged for going. "Behold, he prayeth;" that is the sight which attracts the eye of the Lord, and ought to kindle the zeal of the disciples. Are you beginning to pray? Do the feelings of your heart find vent in broken sighs and whispered words of supplication? The ear of Christ has caught the sound. It comes floating up to the high heavens, through all the thunder of the angels' adoration, and the ceaseless murmur of the universe, heard as surely as an infant's cry reaches its mother's ear amidst the bustle of the house. He turns at the call, and His eye is straightway bent on the city, the street, the house, the very room where you kneel in prayer. He sees you; and where the eye of Jesus rests, there His heart, His hands, His feet are swift to follow. He will stir up some Ananias to come with words of help to you.

The street called Straight, the house of Judas, so far all is plain; but the man in the house-what may his name be? His name fell like a thunderbolt; "inquire for one called Saul, of Tarsus." Only too familiar in Christian ears! Saul, the bigoted Pharisee, the furious persecutor, the blasphemer who taught others also to blaspheme! It was he who had stood prominent at Stephen's martyrdom, and who then, like a young tiger who had tasted blood, flew at the flock, and carried havoc, desolation, and death into the very heart of the Church. He had come to Damascus on the same brutal work, with authority to bind and imprison every Christian Jew. Shall Ananias put his head into the tiger's mouth? Shall he carry the pearl of the gospel and cast it down at the feet of its bitterest calumniator? "Lord, I have heard by many of this man," and I had rather not have anything to

do with him! How often has the same answer started to our lips at some distasteful call of duty. What is the use of exposing ourselves to insult and opposition? What but a miracle of grace will make such a man believe?

But these difficult errands are really our noblest opportunities. "Go thy way," Ananias; thou art to have part in a work with the fame of which the world shall ring! That persecutor is already turned from his fierce purposes; he has before him the destiny of a Christian apostle and martyr; he is to witness for the faith before kings, and in distant heathen lands, and to suffer to the very death for the name which he before blasphemed. "He is a chosen vessel unto me." To that devout disciple it is granted to take Saul of Tarsus by the hand, and introduce him into the Church, and send him forth upon his mission of self-sacrifice. May there be no such honours waiting for us? John Bunyan was first enlightened by the simple Christian talk of some poor women, spinning on the summer's evening at their cottage doors. Sir Hope Grant is said to have been brought out of utter indifference by overhearing a group of private soldiers at prayer. The mouse lets the lion loose. Only let us cultivate simplicity and faith, and yield to the call of duty, and to us too may fall some glorious trophy of divine grace; for the wolf, and the leopard, and the young lion shall lie down together in the kingdom of our Lord, "and a little child shall lead them."

Brave believer as he was, Ananias went his way, reached the house, and found the man. He seems like some skilful and friendly physician in his treatment of the difficult case. He shows us how to deal with the anxious and inquiring who may come under our eyes and seek aid at our hands.

The first thing that strikes us is the tenderness of the treatment. Here stands Ananias, face to face with Saul the persecutor. There lies the man whose hands have been imbrued in Christian blood, and in whose wily head schemes have been ripening for the extermination of the Church. He would have had Ananias himself in prison before now, if he had not been hindered. But it is all forgotten and forgiven by his visitor. Friendly hands are laid on those blind eyes, and a voice, full of pathos and pity, falls gently on the waiting ears. "Brother Saul!" It was the very salutation with which one Christian was wont to salute another. It breathed a spirit so different from the stiff and rigid Pharisaism of Judæa. It seemed to take in the poor fallen sinner to a family fireside, with its warmth and light. Ay, if we want to do men good, they must be our "brothers too. Never stand, like some old pillar-saint, on your high pedestal of virtue, and talk down to the people at your feet. Go and sit at their side; put your hands on them; make them feel at home with you; and even if you have to do with wicked men, speak to them as man to man, on the common footing of the love of God.

There is, moreover, a certain cheerful assurance in the tone which

116 ON THE SUBORDINATE CHARACTERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Ananias takes. He might have come to that chief of sinners robed in the blackness of darkness, and with stern words of condemnation on his lips. He comes with words of hope and with acts of blessing; "that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." He comes to tell him of the great mission on which he is to go, and the honour to be put upon him, as Christ's witness to the heathen world. The falling of the scales from Saul's eyes was but a symbol of the spiritual enlightenment which Ananias was permitted to bring to his benighted soul. Pardon and peace with God; mercy abounding over the darkest guilt, and melting the hardest heart; blessed service springing from the joy of such salvation, and graciously accepted: this is the message which he bears, even to such a one as Saul. May I bear it, in my turn? May I go to penitent men, and tell them of absolution and acceptance? What an errand we Christians have, and with what alacrity should it be done! Happy the surgeon who with delicate skill can give sight back to the blinded eye, and bid it look out once more on sky and earth, and springing flowers, and human faces. But higher and happier still the calling of the disciple, who may carry his Master's gospel to the bewildered heart, who sees the light of heaven rise out of its darkness, and sends forth a brother man rejoicing on his pilgrimage to the eternal sunshine of

heaven!

Nor will Ananias reckon his task complete because he has shown his sympathy and delivered his message of mercy. There is a practical wisdom and faithfulness in his ministry to Saul well worthy our own imitation. We preach the gospel to men, and then too often we let them go. We are so afraid of the taunt of proselytising that we half shrink even from speaking of baptism or Church membership to the objects of our Christian anxiety. The result is that there are so many converts who float from Church to Church, or who affect to be above all human fellowships of religion. It matters much to a young disciple that he be clearly told what to do next. It mattered much to Saul. And this answer comes now to his own eager inquiry, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" "Arise and be baptised," as a pledge of faith and a token of forgiveness; and then "join thyself to the disciples." Was it not a joyful day when Ananias stood and witnessed the good profession made by the former enemy of the faith, and when he entered the Christian assembly, leading by the hand that changed and humbled man? And have you found an anxious soul, and been the means of guiding it to Christ? That is good; but now complete your work. Bring your friend into the Church. Bring him among fellow-Christians, whose experience may instruct and edify him, and with whom he may find a spiritual home. Prevail on him to settle down as a member of some such brotherhood. Some indeed may accuse you of being animated by a sectarian or party bias. what they call your want of breadth. singleness of your aim, and honour it;

Others may despise you for But your Lord will see the and your brother will live to

bless you for not leaving him to wander in the wilderness, but bringing him within the camp, where the tribes of Israel are gathered, and the ark of the Lord abides.

A MOTHER'S FAITH.

At another time she found herself unable to pay the expenses of The black masses rolled nearer the children's schooling, and the and nearer, while the ominous repeated demands for money were rushing movement that precedes rendered more grievous by the a storm began to rock the sultry reproaches of her husband, who air, and the dreaded hail-stones charged her with attempting imfell with violence. Half-beside possibilities, and told her that her herself with anxiety about those self-will would involve them in fields lying at the eastern end of disgrace. She, however, professed