PHILIP AND THE

him that these words were spoken
of the “ Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world,” of the
Lord Jesus Christ who was slain
for us, and whose blood “ cleanseth
from all sin.”

The eunuch liked to hear Philip
talk ; and Philip was willing to an-
swer his questions, and explain his
difficulties. And God blessed what
Philip said, and the eunuch believed
in Jesus Christ, as the true Messiah,
the Saviour of sinners.

At last they came to some water.
Then the eunuch said to Philip,
“See, here is water; may I be bap-
tized?” For the eunuch wished to
obey the command of that Saviour
in whom he now believed. Philip
answered, “If thou believest with
ell thine heart, thou mayest.” ‘The
eunuch said, “I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God.” And no
doubt the confession came from his
heart, and not from his lips only ;
for this eunuch was a true believer,
and not a mere professor like Simon
the sorcerer.

Then the chariot was stopped ;
and they both went down into the
water, and Philip baptized the
eunuch. But as soon as they came
out of the water, the Spirit of the
Lord caught away Philip, in a
wonderful way which we cannot
understand, and brought him to a
place many miles off, where there
was more holy work for Philip to
do.

But what became of the eunuch
after Philip was gone? He went

 

 

EUNUCH. 501

to believe in Jesus Christ, who came
into the world to save sinners; and
he had a good hope that, when he
died, he should go to that Saviour,
and be with Him for ever. He and
| Philip never met again on earth,
but they have long ago met in Hea-
ven; and Philip knows now why
he was sent so far off to the desert,
and rejoices that he obeyed the
command.

And what may we learn from this
story? We may learn the duty and
blessing of searching the Scriptures,
and of seeking and praying to un-
derstand them. It was when the
eunuch was diligently studying
Isaiah the prophet, that Philip was
sent to “preach unto him Jesus.”
And Christ says to us, “ Search the
Scriptures, for in them ye think ye
have eternal life, and they testify of
Me.” Joha v. 39. But, like the
eunuch, we cannot always under-
stand what we read, without some
one to teach us. How thankful we
ought to be, then, for wise and holy
ministers of God’s word, who are
able and willing to explain it. But
we must remember, that the teach-
ing of man alone will do us no real
good. We should pray to be taught
of the Spirit. He is the best teach-
er; and we must ask Him “to take
of the things of Christ, and show
them unto us.” Then we shall
rightly understand the Scriptures,
not only with our heads, but with

| our hearts; and find them able to

make us “wise unto salvation,
through faith which is in Christ

on his way rejoicing. He had much | Jesus.” 2 Tim. iii. 15.

to make him rejoice. He had learnt