Acts 17:10-15 And the brothers immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.… Nobility is a grand word, but does not always represent a noble thing. It is often applied to physical prowess and ancestral lineage; but the word in such applications is more or less degraded. There is a mental and moral nobility. The latter is the greatest of all; it is Godlike. The Bereans — I. RENDERED A CANDID ATTENTION TO NEW DOCTRINES. They did not allow prejudice to seal their ears and close their souls; they were prepared to listen. This conduct is — 1. Ever befitting. As there must always be to the highest finite intelligences universes of truth of which they know nothing, it becomes even a seraph to be docile. How much more man, who knows so little, and that little so imperfectly! 2. Very rare. Somehow or other men for the most part grow up with preconceptions that close the soul to all that does not blend with them. Their preformed ideas they treat as absolute truths, and recoil with a jealousy from all that is new. Nothing is more repugnant to these men than a teaching pulpit. II. GAVE A PROPER EXAMINATION TO NEW DOCTRINES. They were not mere passive listeners, receiving impressions which led to no effort, and which passed away in the hour. They examined — 1. Independently. They searched the Scriptures for themselves. They were not swayed by the authority of others, nor did they accept the statement of the apostles on their own credit. There is much talk about the right of private judgment; we want more of the duty. Men are blockheads in theology, and priest ridden in religion, because they search not the Scriptures for themselves. 2. Perseveringly, "daily." So vast the area and so deep the mines of Scripture, that you can know but little of it by a glance or two. Desultory, occasional and unsystematic efforts will be useless. You must be at it daily — walk some new field, scale some new mountain, penetrate some new depth daily. III. YIELDED TO THE EVIDENCE OF NEW DOCTRINES: "believed." They bowed to the force of evidence. It is childish to believe without evidence. It is wicked to resist evidence. It is noble to surrender to its force. Their faith was — 1. Intelligent. It came as the result of investigation. It was not a blind prejudice, a traditional idea; it was a living conviction. This is the faith that is wanted, the only faith of any worth. 2. General: "Many believed." Influential women and men not a few. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. |
    |