Acts 19

Five ways: God has exalted Christ, 1. In his titles. 2. In his office. 3. In his ascension. 4. In his session at God's right hand. 5. In constituting him Judge of the world. First title, 1. God has exalted Christ in his titles: 1. He is exalted to be a Lord (Acts 19:17). The nam…

By Scripture is understood the sacred book of God — it is given by divine inspiration; that is, the Scripture is not the contrivance of man's brain, but of a divine original. The image of Diana was had in veneration by the Ephesians, because they did suppose it fell from Jupiter…

The minister's work is to part between men and their sins; and this causes opposition. When Paul preached against Diana, all the city was in an uproar (Acts 19). This may stir up prayer for Christ's ministers, that they may be able to withstand the assaults of the enemy (2 Thess…

Unbelief hardens men's hearts against the Word. (Acts 19:9): Divers were hardened and believed not. Men hear many truths delivered concerning the preciousness of Christ, the beauty of holiness, the felicity of a glorified estate; but if through unbelief and atheism they question…

We are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, therefore either we must believe his Godhead, or renounce our baptism in his name. Methinks it were enough for such men, as have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost, or no (Acts 19:2), to deny his deity; but that any…

And was it any wonder that those who were in possession of three parts of the power, and a third part of the revenue of most nations in Europe, should look on this principle as the worst of devils, and so represent it, as to frighten above half the monarchs of these nations from…

2 If the persecutors do specially aim at the Minister's life, then with the consent of his flock, he may go apart for his own safety, for a time. So it was with Paul: when the Ephesians were in an uproar about their Diana, Paul in zeal would have entered in among them; but the D…

For the promise (of giving the holy Spirit) is to you, and to your children, (as Joel the Prophet foretold;) I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; and your old men shall dream dreams; and your young men shall see visions, and also…

In answering this objection, I conceive: first, there was a vast difference between faith and baptism; John preached before the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ: and the faith and baptism Christ commanded his disciples to preach after his resurrection (Luke 24:46, 47…

Yes, so sparing was the communication of the Holy Ghost under the Old Testament, compared with his effusion under the New, as that the Evangelist affirms, that the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39), that is, he was not yet given in that…

Hence the people were said to be Baptized to Moses, when they were initiated into his doctrines (1 Corinthians 10:1, 2). The Baptism of John was his doctrine (Acts 19:3). And the Baptism of Christ was the doctrine of Christ, wherewith he was to sprinkle many nations (Isaiah 52:1…

But the Apostle limits the suffering of the Hebrews to reproaches and afflictions; they had not yet resisted to blood. So at Ephesus they drew Gaius and Aristarchus into the theater, with an intention to destroy them (Acts 19:29). But yet neither does it necessarily follow, that…

(4) To mind them in an especial manner of the privileges they enjoyed under the Gospel, above what they had in their Judaism. For, whereas then they had not so much as heard that there was a Holy Ghost, that is, a blessed dispensation of him in spiritual gifts (Acts 19:2), now t…

In pursuit of his own purpose, and in answer to that prayer of our Lord Jesus, he will send his Word to find them out wherever they are, that so not one grain of his chosen Israel shall be lost or fall to the ground. So he appointed our Apostle to stay and preach at Corinth, not…

But it does not appear that more was pre-required of them, than what was necessary to a humble submitting to the ordinance, and to that new and reforming administration then on foot, which was betokened and sealed thereby. And he that shall consider the multitudes that were bapt…

This faith has one degree more than historical faith. Examples of it we have in Simon Magus (Acts 8:13), who is said to believe, because he held the doctrine of the apostle to be true; and withal professed the same: and in the devils also, who in some sort confessed, that Christ…

Reigning unbelief is in all natural men, who are not only guilty of unbelief, but described by the term unbelievers, as being persons never throughly gained to the obedience of the Gospel, or the acceptance of Christ, and life and peace in him. It bewrayeth itself, 1. By hardnes…

And the commandment of the Holy Spirit — confess one to another and pray one for another, James 5:17 — binds as well the priest to make confession unto us as any of us to the priest. And whereas it is said in Matthew 3 that many were baptized confessing their sins, and in Acts 1…

To their Priests and Levits, Cyprian does rightly liken our Pastors and Deacons, for however sundry things were done by the Priests and Levites, which were typical and Jewish onely; yet may we well parallell our Pastors with their Priests, in respect of a perpetuall Ecclesiastic…

Of Corinth the Lord says, I have much people in this city (Acts 18:10). Of Ephesus we find, that fear fell on all the Jews and Greeks which dwelt there, and many believed; yes, many of the Magicians themselves, whose books that were burned, amounted to fifty thousand pieces of s…

Their Idolatry was from themselves: it was hard to get them off from their idolatrous worship, for it was from themselves. Other people worshiped idolatrous images, as being deceived, either made to believe that they came from their gods; as that wise town-clerk of Ephesus, in h…

To prove by the Spirit, or spiritually the persons that are to be made Ministers or Bishops, is to have their names revealed to us. Stephen is said to speak [in non-Latin alphabet], Acts 6:10, and Paul purposed [in non-Latin alphabet], Acts 19:21, and we are said to serve God [i…

Theology as a complex of spiritual gifts — Extraordinary or ordinary gifts — Ordinary gifts peculiar to the ministry or common to all — Christ the bestower of all gifts (Psalm 68:19; Acts 2:33; Ephesians 4:8) — The Hebrew word signifies both to receive and to give — Christ the a…

James commands not such a confession. Daniel's, Ezra's, Peter's confession were some other thing (John 1:20; Acts 19:18; Hebrews 11:13; Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 4:2; Mark 3:6; Joshua 7:19; Daniel 9:4; Romans 10:10; 1 Timothy 6:13; Psalm 32:5; James 5:16; Leviticus 5:5; Leviticus 1…

When we undertake things above bodily strength, all will condemn us; so to undertake things, that we have no ability to perform, is unlawful. The sons of Sceva would take upon them to exorcise the Devil, and the man in whom the evil spirit was, leapt on them, and overcame them,…

Yet if a church shall err in the foundation openly and obstinately, it separates from Christ and ceases to be a church, and we may separate from it and may give judgment that it is no church. When the Jews resisted the preaching of Paul, and had nothing to say but to rail, Paul…

The first is, of which of his journeys must this be understood? (for he made five journeys to Jerusalem.) The first, from Arabia: the second, when he and Barnabas were sent by the church of the Gentiles to carry alms to Jerusalem: the third, when he went to the council at Jerusa…

Thirdly, v. 8. he says, he will abide at Ephesus till Pentecost, therefore he was not then at Philippi. Fourthly, that it was written before the tumult in Ephesus raised by Demetrius and his complices, and so consequently before his comming to Philippi▪ as also that it was sent…

By the visible gift of the Holy Ghost invested into his ministry and Apostleship. And finally by great signs and wonders confirmed in the same (Acts 9:3; Acts 19:6). By which things as the dignity and authority of the holy man is confirmed to us, so all men are taught with what…

O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? And men's rejecting Christ, and opposing Christianity, is laid to this principle; Acts 19:9. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude;

Joh. 16. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. And it is on this Design of God, that the Person of the Spirit may be singularly exalted in the Church, to whom they were so in the dark before that some none of the worst of them professed they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost…

But this Dispensation of the Holy Ghost whereof we now proceed to treat, is so peculiar to the New Testament, that the Evangelist speaking of it sayes, The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified, Joh. 7. 39. And they who were instructed in the Doctrine…

See Eph. 1. 17. Act. 19. 31. Rom. 5. 5.

Repentance in its more general abstracted nature, is only a sorrow for sin, and forsaking of it, which is a duty of natural religion; but evangelical repentance, or repentance for remission of sins, has more than this essential to it; a dependance of soul on the Mediator for del…

There be many persons employed in sinful Trades and Arts, meerly to furnish other mens lusts: they do not only sin in their Imployments; but their very Imployments are sinful: they trade for Hell, and are Factors for the Devil. Demetrius and the Crafts-men at Ephesus, got their…

Hosea 14:2, Verbum accipiendi dare significat cu[illegible]n accipiunt aliunde ut dent, say the Jewish Masters. And it was after his resurrection, that this accession was made to his kingdom, in such an eminent and visible manner as to be a testimony of his office (John 7:39), t…

To close this argument, I shall only manifest, that the Jews of old were convinced § 70 of the truth of the miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus, and therein a little discover the variety of those pretences, whereby they attempt to shield themselves from the natural consequence of…

Some go about business, and they know not why, they visit their friends, and they know not for what. That was justly called a confused assembly (Acts 19:32) when the most part knew not why they were come together. Though no man can know the end of his action, respecting the even…

And at Ephesus when the great tumult was about Diana, Paul would have thrust himselfe in among the people, but the Disciples seeing it would be dangerous unto him, kept him backe, and would not suffer him. Act. 19. 30. vers. 7.Aske, and it shall be given you: seeke, and ye shall…

3. There may be in that one visible Church, many more real converts in one part thereof, than in another; spices in beds are not in every place of the garden. 4. Though Christ has a singular care of, and respect for, his whole Church, and has a peculiar presence there where ever…

But the most remarkable pouring out of the Spirit in a particular city that we have any account of in the New Testament, seems to be that in the city of Ephesus, which was a very great city. Of this we have an account in Acts 19. There was also a very extraordinary ingathering o…

They had no notion of any other sort of repentance put into their heads, that they could suppose John called them to profess in Baptism, but this accompanied with Faith in the Lamb whom he called them to behold; for he preached no other to them. The people that John baptized, pr…

Christ, who had reared up a new form of providence, having chosen his own to life, must, as Mediator, take care of the coming of the elect into the world, and have a special eye over the ways of his own chosen, that Saul and others fall not into that unpardonable sin against the…

After the way which they call heresy (says St. Paul, Acts 24:14) so worship I the God of my Fathers. The sect of the Nazarenes, so Tertullus calls it in his opening of the indictment against Paul (Acts 24:5), it is called this way (Acts 9:2) and that way (Acts 19:9), as if it we…

The continuance of the Christian religion in the world to this day is a standing miracle for the conviction of its adversaries, and the confirmation of the faith of those that adhere to it. When we consider what a mighty force was raised by the powers of darkness against Christi…

Hence that practice of Baal's priests (1 Kings 18:26): they called on the name of Baal from morning till night; O Baal, hear us. They were repeating and crying again and again, O Baal; as if their clamor would awaken their god; from where Elijah's sarcasm, He sleeps, and must be…

There was not among the people of Rome, such a separation as to break up the Corporation, or to divide the Government, as is known from the story. The place of his own producing, Acts 19:9, proves indeed that then and there, there was a separation, but as the Author confesses in…

What I have offered in my Treatise, as evidence that Protestants are not guilty of the breach of this union, and that where any are, their crime is not Schisme but Apostacy, either as to profession or conversation, I leave to the judgment of all candid, sober, and ingenious Read…

In the primitive times sometimes the Christians were exposed to the hatred and fury of the people, Lapidibus nos invadit inimicum vulgus: at other times exposed to the injuries of laws, and persecutions carried on by authority against them. There was an uproar at Ephesus against…

There it grew into an open contest and quarrel. And then between the Christians and the Pagans, which was the occasion of that uproar at Ephesus (Acts 19). And after Religion had gotten ground, and the way of truth had prevailed in the world, then the difference lay between Chri…