Acts 4:35

And laid them down, &c.— Orobio the Jew, in his conference with Limborch, has meanly insinuated, that it was no small advantage to poor fishermen to be treasurers of so considerable a bank; and some of our late infidels have hence in a more indecent manner taken occasion to asperse the apostles of our Lord, as if their conduct was influenced byworldly motives, and temporal views; and as if they greatly advanced their circumstances in life by turning apostles. But their whole character,—their upright, generous, and disinterested behaviour, their readiness to sacrifice their lives for the sake of truth and the welfare of mankind, shew that they were far above falsifying such a trust as this, for the sake of a little money. Accordingly, they very willingly transferred the management of this affair to other hands, ch. Acts 6:2, &c. But we ought to take the whole history together; and then, besides the honourable testimony given to them bySt. Luke in this verse, namely, that they distributed unto every man, of that charity, according as he had need; we must further consider, that God continued to them the power of working numerous, astonishing, and beneficent miracles; and that he enabled one of them to strike two of the members of the church dead upon the spot, for treachery and dissimulation, with respect to this very charity. And can we suppose that God would continue to shew such peculiar regard to men, who would embezzle part of a public charity, or make a bad use of any part of it? It must raise in every honest mind a just indignation to see such ungenerous reflections thrown out against the apostles of our blessed Lord, who patiently endured poverty and reproach, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, bonds, scourgings, and imprisonments, and, after all, a violentdeath, to promote truth and righteousness on the earth. One can hardly help suspecting, that they themselves are men of extraordinarily bad hearts, who are so ready to charge others upon all occasions with dishonest designs and corrupt views; and it seems to intimate, what some men would have done upon the like occasion. Where is the infidel to be found, who ever gave such proofs of his honesty as the apostles, of our Lord have done! Men of that stamp, we know, have generally chosen to fall in with the established religion, and not to suffer any thing for their particular sentiments, how contrary soever to those of professed Christians around them.