The great praise and universal gratitude which followed Barnabas, for this noble and self-denying act of pure generosity, was soon after the occasion of a most shameful piece of imposition, ending in an awful expression of divine vengeance. Led by the hope of cheaply winning the same praise and honor which Barnabas had acquired by his simple-minded liberality, a man named Ananias, with the knowledge and aid of his wife Sapphira, having sold a piece of land, brought only a part of the price to the apostles, and deposited it in the general charity-fund, alleging at the same time, that this was the whole amount obtained for the land. But Peter, having reason to believe that this was only a part of the price, immediately questioned Ananias sternly on this point, charging him directly with the crime of lying to God. He remarked to him that the land was certainly his own, and no one could question his right to do just as he pleased with that, or the money obtained for it; since he was under no obligation to give it away to the poor of the church. But since he had of his own accord attempted to get a reputation for generosity, by a base and avaricious act of falsehood, he had incurred the wrath of an insulted God. No sooner had Ananias heard this awful denunciation, than, struck with the vengeance he had brought on himself, he fell lifeless before them, and was carried out to the burial by the attendants. His wife soon after coming in, not having heard of what had happened, boldly maintained her husband’s assertion, and repeated the lie most distinctly to Peter. He then declared his knowledge of her guilt, and made known to her the fate of her husband, which she was doomed to share. The words had hardly left his lips, when they were confirmed by her instant death, and she was at once carried out and laid with her husband. The effect of these shocking events on the minds of the members of the church generally, was very salutary; exhibiting to them the awful consequences of such deliberate and hardened sin.