these truths we know not how far the Apostles went. To these,
perhaps, they did not at first rise. But whether they did so or no,
and although the facts that the hearers were thus eager to receive,
and treasured when they received, are the commonplaces of our Sunday-
schools, and quite uninteresting to many of us, the spirit which
marked these early converts is the spirit that must lie at the
foundation of progressive and healthy Christianity in us. The
consciousness of our own ignorance, of the great sweep of God's
revealed mind and will, the eager desire to fill up the gaps in the
circle, and to widen the diameter, of our knowledge, and the
consequent steadfastness and persistence of our continuance in the
teachings--far fuller and deeper and richer and nobler than were
heard in the upper room at Jerusalem by the first three thousand--
which, through the divine Spirit and the experience of the Church for
nineteen hundred years are available for us, ought to characterise us
all.

Now, dear friends, ask yourselves the question very earnestly, Does
this desire of fuller Christian knowledge at all mark my Christian
character, and does it practically influence my Christian conduct and
life? There are thousands of men and women in all our churches who
know no more about the rich revelation of God in Jesus Christ than
they did on that day long, long ago, when first they began to
apprehend that He was the Saviour of their souls. When I sometimes
get glimpses into the utter Biblical ignorance of educated members of
my own and of other congregations, I am appalled; I do not wonder how
we ministers do so little by our preaching, when the minds of the
people to whom we speak are so largely in such a chaotic state in
reference to Scriptural truth. I believe that there is an intolerance
of plain, sober, instructive Christian teaching from the pulpit,