" Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified ; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied" (Acts 9:31).

Saul of Tarsus had made sad havoc in the assemblies, as we read in the first part of the chapter. Fiercely as a wolf, he had worried the flock of God in Palestine, "persecuting this way even unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women." " How much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem ! " says the hesitating Ananias when called upon to baptize repentant Saul, after his vision of Jesus on the way. " Many of the saints did I shut up in prison," he himself confesses; "and I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme." How much they had suffered at the hands of this fiery zealot who was "exceedingly mad against them !" But the exceedingly abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ had brought him to the feet of Him whom once he so violently persecuted in the persons of His suffering saints. But now, being saved, this " chosen vessel" as zealously preached the faith as he had once endeavored to destroy it. Persecution for the time being had ceased, and there was a lull in the storm; and the assemblies throughout that region were permitted to enjoy rest from their persecutors.

It must have been a very welcome change for the poor harried sheep of the flock. And they did not, as so often happened afterwards in the history of the Church, settle down in easy unconcern or self-indulgence, like a Sardis or a Laodicea, when exempt from molestation, but "were edified," we read. It is not God's will for His people that they should ever remain distracted in the fires of persecution. It is "good and acceptable " in the sight of God our Saviour that His people should enjoy "a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness" (i Tim. 2). It is in view of this largely that we are exhorted to " pray, intercede and give thanks . . . for kings and all that are in authority"-an exhortation too much forgotten among us in these days. For God takes no pleasure in the sufferings of His beloved children; and it is only for their highest spiritual good that He permits the storms of persecution to break against them.

For how many long and happy years have we His people in this highly favored land enjoyed exemption from the fires of persecution! It is not because men love the truth we prize, or only because it is contrary to civilization and a liberal government to engage in religious persecution. All this could be changed very soon if God did not in mercy to us exercise a restraining control, keeping in check the wrath of man and of Satan who would readily cast into prison or burn Christ's witnesses, as he did before. How long this exemption will continue no man can say. If the low spiritual condition of His Church require it, we may see yet a bursting forth of rage and violence against the witnesses for Christ even here in "free" America. May we then be thankful for present mercies and an open door for testimony, and do what in us lies to spread forth the precious gospel that saves and the truth that sets His people free.* *No doubt, the open Bible, in Protestant "Christian nations," has been of greater national blessing than is generally perceived or acknowledged-liberty of conscience, philanthropy, enlightenment, deliverance from superstition, from priestcraft, from tyranny, etc., etc., are fruits of a free circulation of the Bible. It sheds precious light even where the heart has not submitted itself to it. Casting away God's word, after its benefits are all around us, is the great guilt among Protestant nations who protest ne longer against error.-[Ed.*

The churches "were edified," it is said. By what means is not stated; but, no doubt, much as saints are edified today by suited ministry from among themselves, in the gathering of themselves for fellowship, with praise and thanksgivings for the peace they now enjoyed, for prayer and prophesyings to edification. One verse, Eph. 4:16, makes known the normal method of the church's edifying:"From whom (Christ the Head) the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted, by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." "Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church," is the encouragement given to those who ministered in the assembly at Corinth (i Cor. 14:12).

But we would call the reader's special attention to what follows:' 'And -walking in the fear of the Lord" not in easy unconcern in reference to God's governmental ways, as many are doing today. The fear of the Lord appears to be largely forgotten in this day of lawlessness and laxity. It sounds to many ears as savoring of law rather than grace. But it is a condition or attitude of soul approved and enjoined everywhere in Scripture." I fear God"confessed the saintly Joseph before his brethren (Gen. 42:18).It is recorded of Hananiah, in Nehemiah's day, that"he feared God above many" (Neh. 7:2). After the elapse of a thousand years, God speaks commendingly of "the fear wherewith Levi feared Him" (Mal. 2:5)."Able men, such as fear God," was to be the character of those who under Moses ruled and judged the people of Israel."Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly," is written of Ahab's timorous steward, who, in spite of his fear of his wicked master and his worse consort, feared God more, and contrived at the risk of his own life to hide and feed in a cave a hundred of His prophets. This most commendable state of soul ("the fear of the Lord") is mentioned very often in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, evidencing thus the place it has in the estimation and mind of Him who dictated every word written therein. It is " by the fear of the Lord" that "men depart from evil'' (Prov. 16:6).Twice it is said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psa. in:10; Prov. 9:10),One of the marks of the best man of his time was that he " feared God " (Job i:8). And it was predicted of the Messiah that there should rest upon Him " the spirit of the fear of the Lord," so making Him "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord " (Isa. 11:2, 3). And looking back to His agony in the garden the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews says, "He was heard in that He feared" (Heb. 5:7).And in this, as in all things else, He is the saint's example.

The following are some of the New Testament references which demand our serious consideration in connection with this subject:2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 5:21; Col. 3:22; Heb. 12:28; Rev. n:18. One of the characteristics of the Israelitish Remnant, of which God speaks so tenderly in Malachi 3:16, is that " they feared the Lord, and thought upon His name." And in the same book He asks upbraidingly to some unlike these," If I be a master, where is my fear ?" (Mal. i:6).

Well may we understand then, why it was noted of the churches at this time that they were " walking in the fear of the Lord." Would that this condition of soul were more in evidence in our midst today. See Gen. 31:42, 53.

Coupled with "walking in the fear of the Lord," it is added,"and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." We may learn from this that unless God's people walk as become saints they cannot count on that comfort being ministered to them which it is the Spirit's mission here to convey. Before His departure from this world our Lord spoke of the Holy Spirit as "another Comforter." His office is to guide and comfort the saints through a hostile world and the difficulties of the way. But if we walk after the flesh instead of the fear of the Lord this holy Spirit is grieved, and instead of ministering and comforting He will be compelled to reprove and convict as to our unfaithfulness and sin.

It is usually through human agency, the ministry of gifts or servants, that the Holy Spirit ministers to God's people. " He that prophesieth," the apostle writes, " speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" (i Cor. 14:3). "That all may learn, and all may be comforted" he says further down the chapter, referring to the ministry of the gifts in the assembly. (See ver. 31.) And speaking of his own and his companions' ministry, he says, "We exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children " (i Thess. 2:n). May those who minister today seek to be used of the Spirit to convey to the needy, the weak, and the suffering saints of God that comfort of which they stand in need; and on the other hand may those needing comfort make special efforts to attend the gatherings where this ministry is usually given.

Then there is another means by which the Spirit comforts. Romans 15:4 speaks of " the comfort of the Scriptures." If we cannot always attend the meetings (it sometimes is impossible for some), and so obtain the benefit of public ministry, we have at home, blessed be God, the Scriptures which are the source, the fountain head from which we may draw that comfort that revives our spirits.

May we then as times become more difficult, and days grow darker, and evils surge thick about us, walk, not as having lost heart and courage, oppressed with last day conditions, but "in the comfort of the Holy Ghost."

They " were multiplied," concludes the description. It was the result or consequence of their state and ways. Either the assemblies were multiplied (increased in number) or the number of the disciples was augmented. There is encouragement and joy to see the number of the faithful grow, to see "the increase of the body." Numbers, we know, are not all, nor yet the thing most to be desired. Nothing can equal devotion to Christ and faithful witnessing for the Church's absent Lord; but it does give joy and causes thankfulness to see souls saved and brought into the circle of testimony with "them that believe and know the truth." And it was the seeking Shepherd Himself who told the carping critics of His grace, that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."

It is surely nothing to the credit of a company of believers to see their numbers at a standstill, or worse, diminishing. And it should certainly cause us deepest exercise when we see some gatherings dying out, and the candlestick, to all appearance, removed. The Lord help us to lay these things to heart, and walk even as these disciples walked. C. Knapp.