Now, these four points which are signalised in this description may
well afford us material for consideration. They give us the ideal of
a Church's inner life, which in the divine order should precede, and
be the basis of, a Church's work in the world. But, while we speak of
an ideal for a Church, let us not forget that it is realised only by
the lives of individuals being conformed to it.

I. The first point, which is fundamental to all the others, is 'They
continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine.'

An earnest desire after fuller knowledge is the basis of all healthy
Christian life. We cannot realise, without a great effort, the
ignorance of these new converts. 'Parthians and Medes and Elamites,'
and Jews gathered from every corner of the Roman world, they had come
up to Jerusalem, and the bulk of them knew no more about Christ and
Christianity than what they picked up out of Peter's sermon on the
Day of Pentecost. But that was enough to change their hearts and
their wills and to lead them to a real faith. And though the
_contents_ of their faith were very incomplete, the _power_ of their
faith was very great. For there is no necessary connection between
the amount believed and the grasp with which it is held. Believing,
they were eager for more light to be poured on to their half-seeing
eyes. They had no Gospels, they had no written record, they had no
means of learning anything about the faith which they were now
professing except listening to one or other of the original Eleven,
with the addition of any of the other 'old disciples'--that is,
_early_ disciples--who might perchance have equal claims to be
listened to as 'witnesses from the beginning.' We shall very much
misunderstand the meaning of the words here, if we suppose that these
novices were dosed with theological instruction, or that 'the