knowledge the starting-point of all
that he had to say, and, as he went on, showed how there was in his
message the answer to all his doubts and the solution of all his
difficulties.

And the gospel has still the same meaning for us. It has a message for
the man struggling with the battle of life, in the example of One who
has fought that fight before, who knows its every trial and sorrow, and
who has come gloriously through them all. It has a message for the
sinner, brooding anxiously over his guilty past, conscious only of his
own defilement and unworthiness in the sight of an all-holy God, as it
assures him of mercy and free forgiveness, of sin blotted out in the
blood of Christ. It has a message for the trembling believer,
compassed about with temptations and doubts, as it tells of One who can
still be "_touched with the feeling of our infirmities_," and who,
because "_He Himself hath suffered being tempted_," is "_able to
succour them that are tempted_." And it has a message for the mourner
sorrowing over the loss of near and dear ones, for it points to Him who
is "_the Resurrection and the Life_" of His people, and gives promise
of the "_Father's house_" with its many mansions, where He is preparing
a place for His children.

And yet great and glorious though that message is, where there are not
a hearing ear, an understanding heart, and a willing mind, even a St
Philip or a St Paul may preach in vain. But where, on the other hand,
these are present, then God may use even the humblest and feeblest of
His servants to speak some word, to utter some warning, which may be
worth to us more than all we have in the world besides. God grant that
it may be so with us, and that by the power of the Holy Ghost the word
preached may be welcomed, "not as the word of men, but, as it is in
truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe" (1
Thess. ii. 13).

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA

BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M.A., D.D.

One of the most striking features of the early Christian Church was
what we have come to know as Christian Communism, or as the historian
describes it in Acts iv, 32: "_And the multitude of them that believed
were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the
things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things
common_." It is a bright and a pleasing picture that is thus
presented. Nor is it difficult to understand how such a spirit should
arise among