Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." The text taken in this connection, leads us to consider,

I. The character which those who received the gospel sustained before they received it.

II. Why they received it gladly.

III. Why they were immediately baptized.

I. Let us consider the character which those who received the gospel sustained before they received it. Peter addressed them as Jews, and calls them the "men of Israel, and the house of Israel." They had all lived in Jerusalem, or, at least, had been there and attended the Jewish festivals. The apostles were directed to preach the gospel at Jerusalem before they preached it anywhere else. They were now at Jerusalem, and Peter preached his first sermon there after the resurrection of Christ. His hearers, therefore, must have been Jews. This leads me to observe,

1. That before he preached to them, they were great sinners. They had the Bible in their own hands, and had heard Moses and the prophets read from Sabbath to Sabbath. They heard not only their own teachers, but John the Baptist, who was a gospel preacher, and called upon all who heard him to repent and believe in the promised Messiah. This we may safely conclude, because we are told that all Jerusalem and all Judea flocked to hear this extraordinary preacher. As soon as John deceased, Christ followed him, and preached with superior power and pungency. It is natural to suppose, that those who heard Peter had heard Jesus, who drew multitudes after him, by his persuasive and pointed preaching. And this seems to be confirmed by Peter's telling them that they had actually seen his miracles. "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." They knew that they had seen Christ and his astonishing signs and miracles, by which he demonstrated the truth and divinity of the doctrines which he taught. But notwithstanding all the light and truth which had been exhibited before their eyes, they had still remained stupid and impenitent unbelievers. They had

rejected the counsel of God against themselves, and their guilt had increased in proportion to the light and truth with which they had been favored. As light was poured into their minds, they waxed worse and worse. The oftener they saw the miracles of Christ, and heard the solemn truths he inculcated, the more they hated him. Their hatred rose to enmity, and their enmity to malignity. Twice they took up stones to stone him, and once they led him to the verge of a precipice with an intent to destroy him. After all these attempts failed, they charged him with blasphemy, by which they procured his condemnation and death. This Peter expressly told them they had done. "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." They saw his patience, meekness, and submission under their cruel hands. They heard his piercing cry on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" They heard his prayer for their forgiveness, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They saw him bow his head and give up the ghost. They saw the earth tremble, the sun withdraw its light, the graves open, and the dead arise. But nothing they saw or heard would soften their stony hearts. Were they not then sinners above all men? But though they had maintained their obstinacy under the preaching of John, and under the preaching of Christ, and under the tremendous scenes of his crucifixion, yet they could not resist the force of Peter's preaching. He told them that they had been fighting against God in crucifying his Son; that he had raised his Son from the dead, seated him at his own right hand, and given him power to destroy his enemies. He quoted and applied the words of David, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" This leads me to observe,

2. That under the preaching of Peter, his hearers became convinced of their sins, and of their perishing condition as sinners. This quotation of the apostle from the Psalms, and his application of it to Christ whom they had crucified, struck their hearts instantaneously like a flash of lightning. They recollected in a moment that when the high-priest asked Christ, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" that Jesus said, "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right

hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." They recollected that he had declared himself to be the Son of God; that he had confirmed his declaration by incontestable miracles; that he had taught the doctrine of the resurrection of the just and of the unjust; the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, and given a striking representation of the process of the general judgment. They were fully convinced, that he was both Lord and Christ; that he had power and authority to destroy both soul and body in hell; and that they justly deserved to suffer the weight of his wrath forever. This made them feel that they were in "the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity." They knew not what to do, nor which way to turn to escape the wrath to come. Peter then poured into their wounded minds the most pertinent and salutary instructions. "Then said he unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." They now judged and condemned themselves, and renounced their enmity to God and to Christ. They melted down into deep contrition and godly sorrow for sin. They loathed and abhorred themselves. They did what Peter required them to do. They sincerely repented. They felt like the humble publican, the returning prodigal, and the self-condemned malefactor whom they had seen expire on the cross. We have a right to believe they had such submissive, penitential, humiliating exercises of heart, because it is said, "They gladly received the word," and because without such views and feelings, they could not renounce their self-righteousness and self-dependence, and resign themselves up to the sovereign grace of God, through the mediation of Christ.

This leads us to consider,

II. Why they gladly received the gospel. And here I would observe,

way of obtain-' They felt that they had been

1. It was because they saw no other possible ing pardon and acceptance in the sight of God. God might justly cast them off forever, because his mortal enemies, having not only transgressed his commands, but imbrued their hands in the blood of his Son. They not only felt their desert of everlasting destruction from the hand of their holy and injured Saviour; but felt as though he must make them the monuments of his eternal wrath. They were, therefore, in great distress, and anxiously concerned to find relief from their painful apprehensions. This prepared them to

hear with joy the glad tidings of the gospel. Peter told them, that there was forgiveness with God and plenteous redemption; and that if they would only repent and believe in Him whom they had crucified and slain, they should receive remission of sin, however guilty and ill-deserving they had been. This gave them a ray of hope, that though their sins had abounded, the grace of God might much more abound in their salvation. They totally despaired of finding any other way of escaping deserved destruction. Though they had once relied on their own righteousness and external obedience to the law of Moses, yet now having seen the plague of their own hearts, and the justice of God in the penalty of the law, their guilt revived and their false hopes died. And in this view of their wretched condition, they were extremely glad to receive the gospel. They were willing to believe what they had so often disbelieved, that Christ was the way, the truth, and the life, and the only name given under heaven among men, whereby they could be saved. Such are the views and feelings of all penitent sinners. As soon as they love God, and become reconciled to his punitive justice, they see that they must perish, unless mere mercy prevent; and they see not how mercy can prevent, until the gospel is brought into view, which they are prepared to embrace with joy. It was in such a view of their perishing condition, that Peter's penitent hearers gladly received the word.

2. They gladly embraced the gospel which he preached, because they saw it to be perfectly suited to their case and afforded them just such relief as they wanted. They wanted pardon, and they wanted it in a way consistent with the honor of God, whom they had dishonored and injured. They saw that Christ by his death on the cross had done all that was necessary to be done to atone for their sins, to secure the glory of God his Father in pardoning and saving the most guilty, penitent, returning sinners. Peter in the course of his long and instructive sermon clearly opened to their view the nature, necessity, and design of Christ's death. He taught them that they had only been the instruments of fulfilling the divine purpose in the vicarious sufferings of Christ, who died the just for the unjust to atone for the sins of the world. He showed them how his death displayed the same justice of God, which he would have displayed, if he had treated all mankind as he treated the fallen angels. And consequently that he could be just in justifying and saving all who rely alone upon the atonement of Christ for pardoning mercy. And surely such a gospel was suited to give joy and gladness to those who were wil

ling to be saved, upon the most gracious, and yet the most humiliating terms. They could joyfully renounce their boasted distinction as Jews, give up their self-righteousness, self-justifying pleas, and cry with the publican, "God be merciful to us sinners," through him who had died for us. As penitents, they did not deserve to be pardoned for their repentance, but chose to be justified freely by grace through the redemption of Christ. They were glad not only to be pardoned, but to be pardoned in the way which Peter pointed out. They received his word with joy, because they regarded the glory of God more than merely their freedom from condemnation. Besides, 3. They received the gospel gladly, because it opened the door of mercy to all other penitent sinners, as well as to themselves. They then felt as all other penitents feel, a tender concern for all who appear to be in the road to ruin. It gave them great joy that day, and from day to day, that the glad tidings of the gospel were going to be proclaimed to a guilty and perishing world. Accordingly we are told in the words following the text, how they daily spent their time in prayer and praise for the spread and success of the gospel, which they had embraced. They saw themselves and all mankind in a new light. They beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They read and understood, and admired the types and predictions respecting Christ in the Old Testament, and saw how he had completely answered and fulfilled them. They could as clearly see and admire the predictions of the future enlargement and glory of the Messiah's kingdom on earth, and carry their views to the final consummation of the great work of redemption, and the eternal holiness and happiness of all that should finally reach the kingdom of glory. A gospel that brought so much good to them, and to millions of their poor, perishing fellow-men, and so much glory to God and to the divine Redeemer, could not fail to give them peace and joy in believing. They had just ground to rejoice in the good treasure and rich pearl they found in the gospel. Now, it is not difficult to see,

III. Why they were so ready to be baptized. This is expressly mentioned as something worthy of notice. "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." They had become new creatures; old things had passed away, and all things become new. They had come out of great darkness into great light. They were divinely illuminated, and were in the joyful exercise of holy affections. They had no grounds for doubts and fears about the sincerity of their love, repentance,