Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 661. The Sinner
Subjects in this Topic:
The Sinner
Felix reasoned with his better self that over against justice there were other considerations which were not without weight with him. There was the claim of policy and of greed. Hence he determined to use the Apostle as a tool. Greatly as he scorned the Jews, he knew how impolitic it would be to anger them by releasing their prisoner; and beyond all that there was the hope of the offer of a bribe, which he would not hesitate to accept.
Gold! gold! in all ages the curse of mankind,
Thy fetters are forged for the soul and the mind:
The limbs may be free as the wings of a bird,
And the mind be the slave of a look or a word.
To gain thee, men barter eternity's crown,
Yield honour, affection, and lasting renown.1 [Note: P. Benjamin.]
2. So far as we know, the impression made upon the mind of Felix passed wholly away. He remained two years in the palace of Cæsarea, and was then deposed. His downfall seemed to begin from that time. His inaction was his ruin. People are moved to tears in the rehearsal of a tragedy, then return to the world and live as if nothing had moved them. So the religious impression at this moment may pass as a dream.
If you take a bit of phosphorus and put it upon a slip of wood and ignite the phosphorus, bright as the blaze is, there drops from it a white ash that coats the wood and makes it almost incombustible. And so when the flaming conviction laid upon your hearts has burnt itself out, it has coated the heart, and it will be very difficult to kindle the light there again. Felix said, “Go thy way, when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee.” Yes, and he did send for Paul, and he talked with him often-he repeated the conversation, but we do not know that he repeated the trembling. He often communed with Paul, but it was only once that he was alarmed. You are less likely to be touched by the Gospel message for every time that you have heard it and put it away.2 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
Men have two short words by way of excusing themselves when they are warned to think of God. “Not now,” they say; “it will be soon enough by and by.” And God has two short words, too, to set against them, which He is making good each day that we live-who can tell how awfully? To man's “not yet,” God's answer is, “then, never.” To man's “soon enough,” He answers, “too late.”1 [Note: R. W. Church, Village Sermons, i. 241.]
Lord, what am I, that with unceasing care
Thou didst seek after me, that thou didst wait,
Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate,
And pass the gloomy nights of winter there?
O strange delusion!-that I did not greet
Thy blest approach, and O, to Heaven how lost,
If my ingratitude's unkindly frost
Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon thy feet.
How oft my guardian angel gently cried,
“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see
How he persists to knock and wait for thee!”
And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,
“To-morrow we will open,” I replied,
And when the morrow came I answered still, “To-morrow.”2 [Note: Longfellow.]