4.  For the credibility of this book we have, in general, the same arguments which apply to the gospel narratives, especially to the gospel of Luke.  Its author is evidently a sincere and earnest man, who goes straight forward with his narrative; and where he does not write as an eye-witness, he had, as we have seen, abundant means of ascertaining the truth concerning the facts which he records.  His narrative is, moreover, corroborated in a very special way, as will be shown hereafter—­No. 8, below—­by its many undesigned coincidences with the events alluded to in the epistle of Paul.  To admit the credibility of the gospel of Luke and to deny that of this work would be altogether inconsistent.  In truth, there is no ground for doubting the credibility of the Acts of the Apostles other than that which lies in the assumption that no record of miraculous events can be credible, and this is no ground at all.

To some modern writers the narrative of the gift of tongues on the day of Pentecost has seemed to present an insuperable difficulty.  Undoubtedly it is above our comprehension how a man should suddenly become possessed of the ability to speak in a language before unknown to him; but why should we doubt God’s power to bestow such a gift?  Can any one suppose for a moment that when our Saviour met with a person deaf and dumb from birth, he had, for the first time, a case beyond his healing power?  The gospel narrative plainly indicates the contrary.  Mark 7:32-37, upon which passage see Meyer and Alford.

The account of the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira, chap. 5:1-11, is not contrary to the spirit of the gospel.  They died by the immediate act of God.  His wisdom judged such an example of severity to be necessary in the beginning of the gospel, as a solemn warning against hypocrisy and falsehood in his service.  Though the gospel is a system of mercy, it takes, as all admit, a severe attitude towards those who reject it; why not, then, towards those who make a hypocritical profession of it?  As Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire from heaven at the beginning of the Mosaic economy, so the death of Ananias and his wife came early in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, as a testimony to all future ages of Christ’s abhorrence of hypocrisy, and consequently of the doom which hypocrites will receive from him at the last day.  Matt. 7:21-23.

The fact that Luke has omitted some events in the history of Paul, as, for example, his journey into Arabia, which occurred during the three years that intervened between his conversion and his first visit to Jerusalem, Acts 9:22-26 compared with Gal. 1:15-18, is no argument against the credibility of his narrative.  Difficulties that arise simply from a writer’s brevity must not be allowed to set aside satisfactory evidence of his competency and truthfulness.  The historical difficulties connected with Stephen’s address do not concern Luke’s credibility as a historian,