The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-07-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Peter and John Before the Council-Acts
4;1-tS-July 81. 1892.

must DC sANCu.--AClS fsll. I
CENTRAL TRUTH.-Christ is the Saviour and
only Saviour Of men.
TIME,--June, A. d. So The same afternoon as
the last lesson, and the day following,
HELPS OVER HARD PLACES.-l Captain OF
the tcmple:" the head Of the band of Levite
sentinels who kept guard over the temple. 3.
"Eventde:" it was three O'Clock when the
lame man was healed IL must now have been
as late rs six. 6. "Annas:" He was the high
priest elected ard acknowledged by the people,
while Caiaphas was the legal high priest APP
pointed by the Romans. Z by what power"
they wished to accuse them of magic or sorcery,
which was punishable by death. Eek. G:lS) 10
Note the boldness Of Peter who short time be-
fore had denied his Master. II. '"rhis is the
stone" etc: quoted from Ps. 1924 II. SAL
vation:" from sin to holiness, TO Heaven.
"None other name" the name includes all that |
there is in Jesus, OF power divinity, humanity, |
Must be saved" why can we he saved only by |
Christ? a. He only brings Gods forgiveness. |
90 The promise is only through Him go He |
has the power Of the Spirit by which the heart |
is changed. az He is the sum of all goodness. |
To reject Him is TO reject goodness, and hence
be unsavcd b. "rhat they had been with
Jesus" they had seen them with Him, and rec
ognized the manner and the doctrine and the
same kind of good works. IT, 1--WE cannot deny
it," facts are the invincible argument for Chris
LESSON NOTES.
We have to-day most fascinating
story. The arrest, the imprisonment
and the subsequent trial of the apostles.
At their trial the man whom they had
healed was brave enough to stand with
them, and that was much to his credit.
The very presence of this man was a
great embarrassment to the council;
for they could not deny that a great
miracle had been wrought in his case,
since they all knew this man to be the
same as the one whom they had for
years seen at the gate of the temple. So
it put them into tight place to have
him standing before them and bearing
witness to the power of Peter. How
ever they were not willing to meet the
matter souarely. so they took council,
and made up their minds that they
would threaten the apostles and forbid
them to do any more such deeds in the
name of Jesus. This they did, and with
what result we will see in our next
lesson.
At the very first glance we see that
in the persons that come before us some
were for and some against Jesus. Count
up first those who were on the side OF
Jesus. There were Peter and John, and
their friend, the quondam lame man.
| These, so far as we are told, were the
only ones that were on the side of the
! Master in that council. But there were
MANY on His side who were outside that
| council chamber. For, as a result of
| that miracle, there were many that had
come to believe in Jesus. In the coun-
Gil chamber, however, there were many
more against Him than ther1 were on
his side. In the first place, see there
a familiar face in old Annas. This is the
same one as He before whom Jesus him.
self appeared on that fatal night. Then
there was another familiar face. that OF
Caiaphas, beside whom there was John
and Alexander, and many of the
relatives of the high priest. Then
there were the seventy who belonged to
the Sanhcdrim, SO that they far out
numbered the adherents of the Master
in that room. The truth was in a great
1 ".
day. Yet this in no way daunted these
plain fishermen, who knew that they
had the truth on their side, and that
they had done nothing worthy of stripes
or imprisonment. So they spoke up
boldly when they were asked by what
authority they had done this good deed.
And more than this. They dared preach
the truth to that very council that had
condemned their own Master to death,
and who they knew felt anything but
kindly towards them. This was grand.
Now look again at that assembled
throng. Some of them are glad, and
some arc sad. We might naturally ex-
pect that the men arrested would be
the sad ones. and those who had arrest
ed them would be the glad ones. But,
as matter of fact, it was just the
other way. The council was sad,
"grieved" at the power that these men
had; while they were full of Joy over
the good that they had been enabled to
do. This was not natural but it was
true. For these men had source of
JOY of which that council knew nothing.
Theirs was spiritual joy, which laid
fast hold on unseen truths. The men
really to be pitied were not the two ar
rested apostles, but the seventy who
had had them arrested.
Ever since that day the world has
been divided into two parts, those who
are on the Lords side, and those who
are against Him. We may not openly
have taken our stand against Him as
this council did, but he who is not on
His side is really opposed to Him. Now
if you had been at that trial, on which
side would you have liked to stand; on
that of Peter and John, or on that of
Annas and Caiaphas? This is serious
question, and one that you have in re-
atty already answered. For all who
are not on the side of Christ have ranged
themselves with those who, like the
. high priest and his father-in-law, are
against Him. 1t may require some
courage on your part to come out and
, let your decision be known, but see
what an example in this respect these
two ignorant fishermen set to us in these
. later days. All alone they dared to
stand against the power that could put
them to death, and yet they were in no
, way daunted. Not only SO, but they
were filled with joy, and smiled at the
privilege of standing up for their Mas
, ter. This was most inspiring ex-
! ample, and one which we should make
: haste to follow.
, PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
/. We must not be disappointed II we