, 1876-06-24
RELIGIOUS.
Why the Primitive Church
Was Organized.
Condition OF the World at the Tima
OF christ's Coming.
A Methodist Preacher on tho Doc.
trfne Of Eternal Punish.
n1Cilt,
sUNDA1r-sCIIOoL LESSON.

Tt}E PRIMITIVE CHURCH or CMRIsr.
Onr srhoo1s toslay review the carly history Of
The primitive Church Of Christ, from the day
Of Pcutceost to tho trial Of Stephen. We wisl.
| to glanre al tho condition Of tue unral world
which 'nadc the primitive Cimrcl, necessity.
The protnise "that thc tecl Of the woman
should cruslt the sarpcnta l.cul" waa In due time
1nltllesl, hut mi until 1000 years lad passed
AWAY, and ifnncnse tnultltu'1rs ot people had
lived and died. They all recognized tinl In one
or 1'lahy for'ns. All natsnns l,nl peculiar rcli.
glo'ls views, which they handed down to nos.
tcrtty.
Atlcngth re comc to those nations who wcrc
wiser and more tliyInly favored than the rest,
-the Greeks, the Rutnails, and the JeWs.-a,nl
to three cl;fcs-Attcn3, Kp11,c mud Jcrusatcm-
destined 10 play MI Important part fn executing
GM's purposes. Tis Trucks alnl l;uiuuns lad
many gmls. No city or town was without
prayers, without osaclcs, or without sarrs,,ces In
aoIIr furu. Their great IHGn were worshi,crs
ot the gA!H. tt'rratcs taught Its disciples to
o"y the Inward y"cc o! conscience. lie t.tcd per-
fcctly resigned To tile Will Of the Gs, anil with
firm hopcs Of future life. Plato had nnhte
views VI rclfgtol, lie WIS deeply Interested IN
spiritual thnge, alul made It the obIcc: Uf his
lfc t. Mrlurs tue grcRtrst sstgrce VI l,o1hcss,
ailti tD make thih li(u preparatory 10 purcr mud
higher ofc. liz Taught that nlrn ullallt to c,1j-
ttsate deep reiIgIuus tuDc, nnd hc ol,cticat to
tho a,W}s. Tie nrcck people tunsultc! their
oraclcs a.a' cn,icayorcd tu kccllrc tie fayur VI
thcir gNts. They 'npcd by prayers, ,,c,ances,
aud karrfrca tu appcasc their wrath. Thry
snuEht mid from their citIcs tu cl,cc!s d,s,:lsGs
mud sicttray their enemies. III thrir ciIoft. they
felt thu need of their g'xlF.
Even Pcrlclcs, the great statesman Ut Athens,
never spoke In luhlr irforc ,c l,at! l,rasc,, to
thu goa tllt llot 1. word unsuitable to tle a.
casion might pmt his lips. Our religious tc,rl.-
ers o1 the prctcnt Slay very Property fnlluw the
nnlc ezaip plr uf PefIcles, Win Actc,l In liarnu.
ny with tl'e Light lle la,l. Thus Athens, 50
wonderfully rieh ~ intellectual r'wer AMI ar,,
loyc1l Wisdom ano beauty, Thu works Of tllclr
artists, poets, arators, philosophers unll iIsio-
rinlss, are still studied and admired III all u,lr
schools and universities,
Rome hail some gnod rt1rrs, II Titus, n Tra-
Jan, u, Antoinus Plus, but was cursed hy
monster tyranta, guilty If savagu cruelty, e1-
sssslve rrodigalitics, anl deep Heentlousness.
thu s saSsf dSrf d vs osnE Eps t. stsi apa'
and religious stryngth. It ta11y ,,seded eolne
new vital PRINCIPLE, The. people had become
tlc1norallzctl. Their religion was nominal. In
the days of the republic K*loau sit'zcl's
Integrity ind obcIic,,rc ito law.
world. CiTil power was Its constant aim.
Everything mus bend to the State iIr.lgIon
and politics were united. AZ wra'tll from their
crn4uchts increased, luxury anu fenEuaItty
unginetitetl. The conquered were deeply i,li~
posersshcsl, a1M the roillurrors hAl the means
nf sx'rayaEa,,ec AMI ruin. History, rcpcats
!ttclf vvGn IN tho prescut century, uild ol tAe
Western sItle uf the Atlantic.
The expectations Of coming Messiah were
spreading Roman historians tell ua tlnt a say-
fmg quite current IN tile liu,nan Empire was,
TINT In The East, aud particularly III Ju.le:., j
new universal enpirt would sout lie founded,
In thy rich as'd beautiful faneuage Of Greece has
our Holy Book colnr down to Us. The Hebrews
oi Jerusalem dctptsct! the Greek language, bit
So thnt ultimately Rune gave the power and
Athe,.s tl,e la,lguase ty Which knowledge IF
tle Cht3at hild His cross was given IL mankind.
10 Abraham a.l'l hIs seed was revealed tue unly
trl1c aud living GuI. Judaism, therefore, IS
sentinlly differs from hentllcnsra. With the
Grccks religion was Mattcr Of fancy aud uf
beauty; with tho Romans II was uf i'oliry and
utility; but ,witn, the Jews It was a concern Of
the heart To kcerit 40, the jewish nation
were forbidden 10 layc any intercourse with the
heatl'e'! They were PLACES! under law, mid
%cre obliged to regard certain rites and ccre-
monies. dod vas through ILL., prophets, cur
were Ills peculiar people. They, naturaf- |
y enough, had exalted Views ot
tslc'nssiycs a,nl Of siIctr destiny: They uee,ned
tho Mosaic law and tlle teule worSlip u he
permanent, and tint the jc"s were intended to |
bu missionaries tn ali natons, al,tl ,at jehovah
lad communicated to them all the knowledge
Tic pusl1osed to give inullkind, and they only |
could ut W priests atnl teachers for ai u,u..
Al Alexandria weru (ircciai Jews, wIlo lost their
lure Of Jerusalem anh of the Hebrew langtiusr.
They employed nlcn to translate tlc Scriptures
lnto tireek, n.la ,'sctl it lnthcir synaEogirwur-
ship. Thcsr Gfecian Itws Ut this literary city thus
broke down the wall between l,cAti,el,lsEn anl
Judaism, ANIL lilic tho AthenlalIs, they were nl-
Ways seeking for something new. Even Pau! In
after times al tlt sa.sc trait oi character. liz
lug forwar.t to solne rays Ut heavenly light thut
b. saw III the dim future.
IN The reiEioas Of tho Greeks, Romans, and
Jews & ha3 lust their power; They did not have
tort il, death. They did not satisfy tho W yearl.
lilEs VI tlIc human }tart. The EtUlI.un religion
hut oilly thu name. judaism llaI brculnc self
righteous furna1isill The pcr!ud just bcfure
tlle coming Of Christ was remarkable for !ts H.
a'sclity, superstition, arl EEoss scnsuaIity. l.U-
man religion wus degraded Into tool TOR r,llt-
ral p'ltnscs a'ld fnrexAlti1.s desperate Wilkins
INTO The highest losit!ons III Church antbtato.
Now thy ii!nc for shc fulfilling uf n.any psopllc-
tics had fully come The ,mople If ltuino uni
Ia dependencies were sadly corrupt, and wcru
;rowtng WORSE un1 worse. a new principle uf
III was absolutely needed, 4 see9nd tlou,
The Kon!an Empire ttIll INCLUDED nearly thu
'nltrr civilized world. The Greek .nnsungr WIS
'la.ust u1.Iscrsally spoken. U,.lcr such e,rcuIn-
aliar rurSoh u rouse tl'u lnlsscs, whu
sere st' deeply sunk n sin. "A peculiar
'erson caulr. lle came with uo display. liz
rus t!mbls, warke.l mirarlcs, went about tloing
offerings thu highest type Ut virtue and p!esy.
10 proclaimed new why Vt saving lneh iroin
lIrr ktns. llc canlu nut tn deatroy thr law n,nl
E,,pnsts. but to iulill! thYn lle wistcd To dis
FErG ftl lrGp uarktbs. fIt told them lie WI. |