THE LAME MAN HEALED.

for there is no other name under
Heaven given among men, by which
we can be saved.” Then the priests
and rulers wondered very much at
the boldness of Peter and John; for
they saw that they were ignorant
and unlearned men; and “they
took knowledge of them, that they
had been with Jesus.”

The priests and rulers wanted
very much to punish Peter and
John; but they could not at that
time; for the man who had been
healed was standing by, and all the
people saw him, and believed in the
miracle, and even the wicked priests
themselves could not deny it; so
they called the disciples again, and
commanded them not to speak at all,
nor teach, in the name of Jesus, and
then let them go.

And did the disciples promise to
obey the command? No; they
would make no such _ promise.
They said, “It is not right to at-
tend to you more than to God. We
must speak the things which we
have seen and heard.” Then their
enemies threatened to punish them
if they did so; but the disciples put
their trust in God, and asked Him
to give them strength to preach the

 

491

gospel withoutfear. And God heard
their prayer, and filled them with
holy boldness, and blessed their
words to very many of the people.

We should learn, from these
apostles, the duty of holy boldness
for the sake of Christ. We are
commanded in the Bible to be
subject to “the higher powers,”
and this command we must re-
member and obey. But then, it
may sometimes happen that earthly
rulers order things which are con-
trary to God’s word; just as those
priests and rulers did of whom we
have been reading; and just as, you
remember; king Darius did, when
he commanded the people not to
pray for thirty days. And what
would it be our duty to do then?
We must, as the apostles did, and
as Daniel did, obey God rather than
man. But when we do this, we
must do it in a spirit of love, and
gentleness, and humility; because
we wish to obey God, not because
we wish to resist the lawful au-
thority of man. And we must
never forget to love even our ene-
mies, to bless them that curse us,
and to pray for them who despite-
fully use us, and persecute us.