Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/89

Rh Away with thee and thy money too; we will have nothing to do with either. Get thee behind me, Satan." When we are tempted with money to do an evil thing, we should see what a perishing thing money is, and scorn to be biassed with it. It is the character of the upright man, that he shakes his hands from holding, from touching of bribes, Isa. 33. 15. Secondly, He warns him of his danger of utter destruction if he continued in this mind; "Thy money will perish, and thou wilt lose it, and all that thou canst purchase with it. As meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, (1 Cor. 6. 13.) so goods for money, and money for goods, but God shall destroy both it and them, they perish in the using; but that is not the worst of it, thou wilt perish with it, and it with thee; and it will be an aggravation of thy ruin, and a heavy loadupon thy perishing soul, that thou hadst money, which might have been made to turn to a good account, (Luke 16. 9.) which might have been laid at the apostles' feet, as a charity, and would have been accepted, but was thrust into their hands as a bribe, and was rejected. Son, remember this."

[2.] He shall come short of the spiritual blessings which he undervalued; (v. 21.) "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; thou hast nothing to do with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, thou dost not understand them, thou art excluded from them, hast put a bar in thine own door, thou canst not receive the Holy Ghost thyself, nor power to confer the Holy Ghost upon others, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God, if thou thinkest that Christianity is a trade to live by in this world, and therefore thou hast no part nor lot in the eternal life in the other world which the gospel offers." Note, First, There are many who profess the christian religion, and yet have no part nor lot in the matter; no part in Christ, (John 13. 8.) ''no lot in the heavenly Canaan. Secondly, They are those whose hearts are not right in the sight of God'', are not animated by a right spirit, nor guided by a right rule, nor directed to the right end.

(4.) He gives him good counsel, notwithstanding, v. 22. Though he was angry with him, yet he did not abandon him; and though he would have him see his case to be very bad, yet he would not have him think it desperate; yet now there is hope in Israel. Observe,

[1.] What it is that he advises him to; he must do his first works; First, He must repent; must see his error, and retract it; must change his mind and way; must be humbled and ashamed for what he has done; his repentance must be particular; "Repent of this, own thyself guilty in this, and be sorry for it." He must lay load upon himself for it, must not extenuate it, by calling it a mistake, or misguided zeal, but must aggravate it, by calling it wickedness, his wickedness, the fruit of his own corruption. Those that have said and done amiss, must, as far as they can, unsay it and undo it again by repentance. Secondly, He; must pray to God, must pray that God would give him repentance, and pardon upon repentance. Penitents must pray, which implies a desire toward God, and a confidence in Christ. Simon Magus, great a man as he thinks himself, shall not be courted into the apostles' communion, (how much soever some would think it a reputation to them,) upon any other terms than those upon which other sinners are admitted—repentance and prayer.

[2.] What encouragement he gives him to do this; if perhaps the thought of thy heart, this wicked thought of thine, may be forgiven thee. Note, First, There maybe a great deal of wickedness in the thought of the heart, its false notions, and corrupt affections, and wicked projects, which must be repented of, or we are undone. Secondly, The thought of the heart, though ever so wicked, shall be forgiven, upon our repentance, and not laid to our charge. When Peter here puts a perhaps upon it, the doubt is of the sincerity of his repentance, not of his pardon, if his repentance be sincere. If indeed the thought of thy heart may be forgiven, so it may be read. Or it intimates, that the greatness of his sin might justly make the pardon doubtful, though the promise of the gospel had put the matter out of doubt, in case he did truly repent; like that, (Lam. 3. 29.) If so be there may be hope.

[3.] Simon's request to them to pray for him, v. 24. He was startled and put into confusion by that which Peter said, finding that resented thus, which he thought would have been embraced with both arms; and he cries out, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me. Here was, First, Something well; that he was affected with the reproof given him, and terrified by the character given of him, enough to make the stoutest heart to tremble; and that being so, he begged the prayers of the apostles for him, wishing to have an interest in them, who, he believed, had a good interest in Heaven. Secondly, Something wanting; he begged of them to pray for him, but did not pray for himself, as he ought to have done; and, in desiring them to pray for him, his concern is more that the judgments he had made himself liable to might be prevented, than that his corruptions might be mortified, and his heart by divine grace, be made right in the sight of God: like Pharaoh, who would have Moses entreat the Lord for him, that he would take away this death only, not that he would take away this sin, this hardness of heart, Exod. 8. 8.—10. 17. Some think that Peter had denounced some particular judgments against him, as against Ananias and Sapphira, which, upon this submission of his, at the apostle's intercession, were prevented: or, from what is related, he might infer, that some token of God's wrath would fall upon him, which he thus dreaded and deprecated.

Lastly, Here is the return of the apostles to Jerusalem, when they had finished the business they came about; for as yet they were not to disperse: but though they came hither to do that work which was peculiar to them as apostles, yet, opportunity offering itself, they applied themselves to that which was common to all gospel-ministers. 1. There in the city of Samaria they were preachers, they testified the word of the Lord, solemnly attested the truth of the gospel, and confirmed what the other ministers preached: they did not pretend to bring them any thing new, though they were apostles, but bore their testimony to the word of the Lord as they had received it. 2. In their road home they were itinerant preachers; as they passed through many villages of the Samaritans they preached the gospel. Though the congregations there were nothing so considerable as in the cities, either for number or figure, yet their souls were as precious, and the apostles did not think it below them to preach the gospel to them. God has a regard to the inhabitants of his villages in Israel, (Judg. 5. 11.) and so should we.

26. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 27. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28. Was returning, and sitting in his chariot,