He commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty. It is evident that the prosecution of the apostle by the Jewish party had utterly broken down. No charge could be substantiated which made him amenable to punishment according to Roman law. If Felix had been a free man, and, as a judge, free of all other considerations than the doing of justice, he would have liberated St. Paul at once, declaring publicly his innocence. But Felix was not free. No man is really free who does not dare to do the right. And we can recognize a gracious overruling providence in St. Paul's being kept for a while longer under Roman protection. So great was the enmity against him of the Jewish party, that his life would have been in extreme peril if he had been liberated. Knowing that he was dealing unfairly by the prisoner, and impressed by his dignity of bearing, Felix compromised matters with himself, persuaded himself that he could secure Paul from the schemes of the Sanhedrim by keeping him prisoner; put off Paul's enemies by an excuse that he would confer with Lysias; and privately arranged for Paul to have a real, though not an apparent, liberty. Through all the ages some of the worst wrongs have been done in the name of compromise, which is too often the weak device of those who cannot "stand firm to the right."

I. FELIX BOUND.

1. By the weakness of his moral character.

2. By the desire to please an important section of those whom he had to govern.

3. By the consequences of his own wrong-doings, which it cost him all his effort to keep off as long as possible.

4. By the circumstances in which he found himself placed, and which he had no strength of will or purpose to master. The man of vice and self-indulgence enervates his will, and becomes the slave of his sin as truly as does the drunkard.

II. PAUL APPARENTLY BOUND. He had been tied by a chain to a Roman soldier day and night, according to the usual Roman custom, and if Felix relaxed this, still Paul was a prisoner in the barracks, and probably a soldier-guard waited on him constantly. If his friends were free to come to him, he was not free to go out to them. If we estimate his character aright, we shall feel that even the slightest form of bondage must have been most painful to him. His was a soul so noble than even the limitations of a frail body were to him an agony.

III. FELIX GETTING AS FREE AS POSSIBLE FROM HIS BONDS. Not free enough to say, honestly and. honorably, "This man is innocent of all crime against the state, and must be set at liberty at once." Only able to shake the fetters off enough to say, "Forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him," and only able to give this order in a private way to the centurion.

IV. PAUL REALLY FREE. However he might seem to be still set under outward limitations, nothing can imprison a man save his own wilful sin. Nobody can put any real fetters on any fellow-man. Each man who wears fetters puts them on himself; each man who dwells in a prison goes in himself, and himself bolts the door.

"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage." But "whosoever committeth sin becomes the slave of sin." So, whatever may have been the limitations of the apostle's circumstances, there was no bondage, for there was no conscience of sin. The freedom of Paul

(1) to commune with God,

(2) study the truth,

(3) to serve the Churches, maybe shown; and it may be pointed out how often the very limitations of a man's circumstances, through sickness or persecution, has found him the freedom for some great and noble service, as may be illustrated from Luther's work while in the Wartburg, and from John Bunyan's work while in Bedford jail. - R.T.

These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the worst of Roman governors. Both speaker and listener knew that he was lying; but both knew that the words described what a governor ought to be. They suggest —

I. THE GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PERSONAL WORTH. A life like that of Queen Victoria's, touched with many gracious womanly charities, not strange to the homes of the poor, quick to sympathise with sorrow, sternly repressive of vice in high places, and not ignorant of the great Comforter, nor disobedient to the King of kings — for such a royal life a nation may well be thankful; and if it be true that twice the Queen has kept England from the sin and folly of war, once from a fratricidal conflict with the great New England across the Atlantic, then we owe her much.

II. A WIDER VIEW OF PROGRESS WHICH HAS COINCIDED WITH HER REIGN. Let me touch upon the salient points of that progress for which, as members of the nation, it becomes us, as Christian people, to be thankful. English manners and morals have been bettered, much of savagery and coarseness has been got rid of; low, cruel amusements have been abandoned; the national conscience has been stirred in regard to the great national sin of intoxication; a national system of education has come into operation; newspapers and books are cheapened; political freedom has been extended and "broadened slowly down," as is safe, "from precedent to precedent"; religious thought has widened, the sects have come nearer each other. Then, if we look upon our Churches, whilst there is worldliness to be deplored, there is also springing up amongst us a new consciousness of responsibility for the condition of the poor and the degraded around us. Only let us remember —

1. That that sort of talk about England's progress may very speedily become offensive self-conceit, and a measuring of ourselves with ludicrous self-satisfaction against all other nations.

2. That such a contemplation of the elements of national progress may come between us and the recognition of the highest source from which it flows, and be corrupted into forgetfulness of God. "Beware lest when thou hast eaten and art full,...thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God," etc.

3. And beware lest the hosannas over national progress shall be turned into "rest and be thankful," or shall ever come in the way of the strenuous and persistent reaching forth to the fair ideal that lies so far before us.

III. WHAT YET REMAINS TO BE DONE. A remarkable difference of opinion has been expressed by two of the greatest minds and clearest heads in England; one of our greatest poets and one of our greatest statesmen. The one looking back over sixty years, sees but foiled aspirations and present devildom and misery. The other, looking back over the same period, sees accomplished dreams and the prophecy of further progress. It is not for me to enter upon the strife between such authorities. Both are right. Much has been achieved. "There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." Whatever have been the victories and the blessings of the past there are rotten places in our social state which if not cauterised and healed will break out into widespread and virulent sores. The ideal for you Christian men and women is the organisation of society on Christian principles. Have we got to that yet, or within sight of it? Does anybody believe that the present arrangements in connection with unrestricted competition, and the distribution of wealth, coincide accurately with the principles of the New Testament? Will anybody tell me that the state of a hundred streets within a mile of this chapel is what it would be if the Christian men of this nation lived the lives they ought to live? We may be thankful for what has been accomplished, but uppermost there had need to be penitent recognition of failure and defect. And I lay it on the consciences of all that listen to me to see to it that they do their parts as members of this body politic of England. A great heritage has come down from our fathers, pass it on bettered by your self-denial and your efforts. And remember, the way to mend a kingdom is to begin by mending yourselves and letting Christ's kingdom come into your own hearts.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Ananias, Drusilla, Felix, Festus, Paul, TertullusAsia, Caesarea, JerusalemAcquaintance, Attending, Captain, Care, Centurion, Charge, Commanded, Control, Custody, Direction, Forbid, Freedom, Friends, Guard, Hinder, Indulgence, Kept, Kindness, Liberty, Minister, Ministering, Needs, None, Order, Ordered, Ordering, Orders, Paul, Permit, Personal, Prevent, Prevented, Privileges, Serve, Showing, Treated, Visit, Yet1. Paul being accused by Tertullus the orator,
10. answers for his life and doctrine.
24. He preaches Christ to the governor and his wife.
26. The governor hopes for a bribe, but in vain.
27. Felix, succeeded by Festus, leaves Paul in prison.

Acts 24:23

     5250   centurion
     5330   guard

Acts 24:1-23

     5593   trial

Acts 24:22-26

     7757   preaching, effects

Acts 24:23-27

     5108   Paul, life of

Paul and Felix
ACTS xxiv. 25. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. This is a well-known text, on which many a sermon has been preached, and with good reason, for it is an important text. It tells us of a man who, like too many men in all times, trembled when he heard the truth about his wicked life, but did not therefore repent and mend; and a very serious lesson we may …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

Felix Before Paul
A Sermon to the Young 'And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.' --ACTS xxiv. 25. Felix and his brother had been favourite slaves of the Emperor, and so had won great power at court. At the date of this incident he had been for some five or six years the procurator of the Roman province of Judaea; and how he used his power the historian Tacitus tells us …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Paul Before Felix
'Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: 11. Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. 12. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: 13. Neither can they prove the things …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

A Loyal Tribute
[Footnote: Preached on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria.] '...Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, 3. We accept it always ... with all thankfulness.'--ACTS xxiv. 2-3. These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the worst of the many bad Roman governors of Syria. The speaker knew that he was lying, the listeners knew that the eulogium was undeserved; and among all the crowd of bystanders …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Resurrection of the Dead
There are very few Christians who believe the resurrection of the dead. You may be surprised to hear that, but I should not wonder if I discovered that you yourself have doubts on the subject. By the resurrection of the dead is meant something very different from the immortality of the soul: that, every Christian believes, and therein is only on a level with the heathen, who believes it too. The light of nature is sufficient to tell us that the soul is immortal, so that the infidel who doubts it …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

Paul's Sermon Before Felix
We might stay a little while and dilate on this thought, and show you how, in all ages, this has been the truth, that the power of the gospel has been eminently proved in its influence over men's hearts, proving the truth of that utterance of Paul, when he said, that neither tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, shall separate them from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ their Lord. But instead of so doing, I invite you to contemplate the text …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Saurin -- Paul Before Felix and Drusilla
Jacques Saurin, the famous French Protestant preacher of the seventeenth century, was born at Nismes in 1677. He studied at Geneva and was appointed to the Walloon Church in London in 1701. The scene of his great life work was, however, the Hague, where he settled in 1705. He has been compared with Bossuet, tho he never attained the graceful style and subtilty which characterize the "Eagle of Meaux." The story is told of the famous scholar Le Clerc that he long refused to hear Saurin preach, on the …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

The Awakened Sinner Urged to Immediate Consideration and Cautioned against Delay.
1. Sinners, when awakened, inclined to dismiss convictions for the present.--2. An immediate regard to religion urged.--3. From the excellence and pleasure of the thing itself.--4. From the uncertainty of that future time on which sinners presume, compared with the sad consequences of being cut off in sin.--5. From the immutability of God's present demands.--6. From the tendency which delay has to make a compliance with these demands more difficult than it is at present.--7. From. the danger of God's …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

The Epistles of the Captivity.
During his confinement in Rome, from a.d. 61 to 63, while waiting the issue of his trial on the charge of being "a mover of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5), the aged apostle composed four Epistles, to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, and Philippians. He thus turned the prison into a pulpit, sent inspiration and comfort to his distant congregations, and rendered a greater service to future ages than he could have …
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I

Of Presbyters who are Corrected by their Own Bishops. ...
Of presbyters who are corrected by their own bishops. Alypius the bishop, a legate of the province of Numidia, said: Nor should this be passed over; if by chance any presbyter when corrected by his bishop, inflamed by self-conceit or pride, has thought fit to offer sacrifices to God separately [from the authority of the bishop] or has believed it right to erect another altar, contrary to ecclesiastical faith and discipline, such should not get off with impunity. Valentine, of the primatial see …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

A Plot Detected
'And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they bad killed Paul. 13. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14. And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Witness of Our Own Spirit
"This is our rejoicing, the testimony of out conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." 2 Cor. 1:12 1. Such is the voice of every true believer in Christ, so long as he abides in faith and love. "He that followeth me," saith our Lord, "walketh not in darkness:" And while he hath the light, he rejoiceth therein. As he hath "received the Lord Jesus Christ," so he walketh in him; and while he walketh …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Parables Exemplified in the Early History of the Church.
"To Him shall prayer unceasing And daily vows ascend; His Kingdom still increasing, A Kingdom without end." We have seen that our Lord described in His Parables the general character and nature of "The Kingdom of Heaven." Consequently, if the Church established by the Apostles under the guidance of the Holy Ghost is "The Kingdom of Heaven," it will necessarily be found to agree with the description thus given. Let us therefore now consider how far the history of the Church, in the Acts of the Apostles …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

Christian Perfection
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." Phil. 3:12. 1. There is scarce any expression in Holy Writ which has given more offence than this. The word perfect is what many cannot bear. The very sound of it is an abomination to them. And whosoever preaches perfection (as the phrase is,) that is, asserts that it is attainable in this life, runs great hazard of being accounted by them worse than a heathen man or a publican. 2. And hence some have advised, wholly to lay aside …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. We come now, as was proposed, to observe, Thirdly,(474) That faith unfeigned is the only thing which gives the answer of a good conscience towards God. Conscience, in general, is nothing else but a practical knowledge of the rule a man should walk by, and of himself in reference to that rule. It is the laying down a man's state, and condition, and actions beside the rule of God's word, or the principles of nature's light. It is the chief piece …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Verbal Inspiration
Not only does the Bible claim to be a Divine revelation but it also asserts that its original manuscripts were written "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth" (I Cor. 2:13). The Bible nowhere claims to have been written by inspired men--as a matter of fact some of them were very defective characters--Balaam for example--but it insists that the words they uttered and recorded were God's words. Inspiration has not to do with the minds of the writers (for many …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible

Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and his Adherents, in this Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws. This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions. 2. Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be observed. 3. That the question may be more conveniently explained, nature of conscience must be defined. 4. Definition of conscience explained. Examples in illustration of the definition. 5. Paul's doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance to the Popish doctrine of the obligation …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Quirinius the Governor of Syria
WE come now to the last serious difficulty in Luke's account of the "First Enrollment". He says that it occurred while Quirinius was administering Syria. The famous administration of Syria by Quirinius lasted from about AD. 6 to 9; and during that time occurred the" Great Enrollment" and valuation of property in Palestine. [94] Obviously the incidents described by Luke are irreconcilable with that date. There was found near Tibur (Tivoli) in AD. 1764 a fragment of marble with part of an inscription, …
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay—Was Christ Born in Bethlehem?

Truth Hidden when not Sought After.
"They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."--2 Tim. iv. 4. From these words of the blessed Apostle, written shortly before he suffered martyrdom, we learn, that there is such a thing as religious truth, and therefore there is such a thing as religious error. We learn that religious truth is one--and therefore that all views of religion but one are wrong. And we learn, moreover, that so it was to be (for his words are a prophecy) that professed Christians, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Jerusalem to Rome
Acts 21:17-28:31 THIS JOURNEY Scripture, Acts 21:17-28:31 1. The speech before the Jewish mob in the temple (Acts 22:1-29) in which Paul tells the Jews how he was changed from a persecutor to a believer in Christ. He relates also the story of his conversion. 2. The speech before the Jewish council (Acts 22:30; 23:1-10) in which he creates confusion by raising the question of the resurrection. But the provocation was great for the high-priest had commanded that Paul be smitten …
Henry T. Sell—Bible Studies in the Life of Paul

From Antioch to the Destruction of Jerusalem.
Acts 13-28 and all the rest of the New Testament except the epistles of John and Revelation. The Changed Situation. We have now come to a turning point in the whole situation. The center of work has shifted from Jerusalem to Antioch, the capital of the Greek province of Syria, the residence of the Roman governor of the province. We change from the study of the struggles of Christianity in the Jewish world to those it made among heathen people. We no longer study many and various persons and their …
Josiah Blake Tidwell—The Bible Period by Period

Of Christian Liberty.
1. Connection of this chapter with the previous one on Justification. A true knowledge of Christian liberty useful and necessary. 1. It purifies the conscience. 2. It checks licentiousness. 3. It maintains the merits of Christ, the truth of the Gospel, and the peace of the soul. 2. This liberty consists of three parts. First, Believers renouncing the righteousness of the law, look only to Christ. Objection. Answer, distinguishing between Legal and Evangelical righteousness. 3. This first part clearly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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