I. CONSIDER HIS PERSONAL DEPORTMENT. "Ye are witnesses, and God, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe." He touches on the twofold relationship of the Christian life toward God and toward man, for he had always exercised himself" to have a conscience void of offence toward man and God," and strove "to give no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed" (Acts 26:16; 2 Corinthians 6:3). He had striven to walk circumspectly in a world prone to suspect sinister ends even in the best of men. The apostle's walk was on high, even as his calling was high.

II. CONSIDER HIS OFFICIAL DEPORTMENT. It was manifest in his method of dealing with his converts, and in the end which he kept steadily in view in all his ministry.

1. His method of dealing with his converts. "As ye know how we exhorted and comforted, and testified to each one of you as a father doth his children."

(1) Mark the varieties in his mode of dealing with his converts.

(a) He exhorted them, for their position of persecution and temptation demanded that he "should give them much exhortation (Acts 20:2).

(b) He comforted them, m the presence of many disquieting circumstances in their condition.

(c) He testified to them, exhibiting gospel truth with all urgency.

(2) Mark the affectionate spirit of his dealing with them: "As a father doth his children;" for he combined a father's unwearying love with his power of direction and authority.

(3) Mark the individualizing interest in their welfare: "Each one of you." Whether they were rich or poor, few or many, he passed by none of them. They all had a place in his heart.

2. The aim of all his affectionate and individualizing interest in their welfare. "That you would walk worthy of God, who calleth you into his kingdom and glory." The duty here enjoined, "Walk worthy of God." This implies

(1) conformity to his revealed will;

(2) adornment of the gospel by a holy walk;

(3) supreme regard to the obligations involved in the high calling of God - these being necessitated by

(a) the nature of the call, which is not external, but spiritual;

(b) by the consideration of him who calls us;

(c) by the holy ends of the call;

(d) by the consideration of their high destiny:

for they are called to "his own kingdom and glory." This kingdom is that which is established in the mediation of Christ, into which we enter by the gate of regeneration, and which reaches its full and final development in the second coming of Christ. The glory is that which he impresses upon his people here, and which receives its full manifestation hereafter. - T.C.

I. THIS BOLDNESS MANIFESTED IN THE EARNEST DECLARATION OF THE TRUTH. "We are bold in our God," etc.

1. Bold in their conception of the Divine origin and vast scope of the gospel, and its adaptation to the wants of man, they were not less hold in its faithful proclamation. Their deep conviction of the supreme authority of the truth gave them unusual courage. We see the same spirit in Paul, when his fearless words roused the ire of Festus, shook the conscience of the thoughtless Felix, or swayed the heart of Agrippa. We see it in Elijah as he rebuked the sins of the wicked Ahab or threw the baffled priests of Baal into maddening hysteria — himself the while unmoved and confident. We see it conspicuously in Him whose burning words assailed every wrong, and who denounced the leaders of a corrupt Church as "serpents!" "generation of vipers!"

2. "With much contention" — amid much conflict and danger. This kind of preaching provoked opposition, and involved them in great inward struggles. The faithful messenger of God fears not the most violent assault from without: but the thought of the fatal issues to those who obstinately reject and fight against the gospel fills him with agonizing concern.

II. THIS BOLDNESS NO SUFFERING COULD DAUNT. "Even after that we had suffered before," etc. They had come fresh from a city where they had been cruelly outraged. But their sufferings only deepened their love for the gospel, and inflamed the passion to make it known. A German professor has lately made experiments with chalcedony, and other quartzose minerals, and he has demonstrated that when such stones are ground on large and rapidly revolving wheels, they exhibit a brilliant phosphorescent glow throughout their entire mass. So is it with the resolute worker. The more he is ground under the strong wheel of suffering and persecution, the more intensely will his character glow.

III. THIS BOLDNESS WAS DIVINELY INSPIRED. "In our God." It was not presumption or bravado; but tire calm, grand heroism of a profound faith in God. The prophet Jeremiah, in a moment of despondency, decided to "speak no more in the name of the Lord;" but when he could say, "The Lord is with me as a mighty terrible One," his courage returned, and he obeyed implicitly the Divine mandate — "Thou shalt go," etc. Similarly commissioned, Paul once exclaimed, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Endowed with the like spirit Luther uttered his noble protest at the Diet of Worms — "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me!" Lessons:

1. Boldness is indispensable in attacking the evils of the age — not in the mass, but in detail.

2. Boldness acquired only by studious and prayerful familiarity with God and His message.

(G. Barlow.)