Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-08-03
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Tho Apostles Confidence In God--Acts q
to-3I-August Z, 1902.


CoLDrS rr:sr.-Thcy spaise tho word OF God
with boidncSs.--Acts i:3i.
CENTRAL TRUTH.-Thc Holy Spirit. gives
courage to speak and power TO do.
T1Mr--Junc. y. ID. 50. The same day rs the
last part OF TIE last lesson Tho day after the
healing Of Tho lalno man.
PLACE.-Jcrusalcrn. The hail OF the Sanhe-
driri, and the assembling place OF the disci-
pies
CIRcuNsrANcrs.-Ino our last lesson We left
Peter and John in trial before the Sanhedrim
After Peter had finished his address the apes
ties were sent out Of the room. while the coun-
ell consulted together AS 20 what they should
90 Not daring TO punish them for u good deed,
ana with tho people on their side. tho council rc
called the apostles and tried TO silence them by
threats.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs.-io. "Answereti:"
the command of the Sanhedrim. p. TO their
own company" OF Christians assembled in the
city, and probably praying for these imprisoned
disciples. III God, which hast made Heaven
etc: and therefore able TO grant their request
- who hast said" in the second Psalm
People imagine vain things" things they were
unable 20 do, and vain, useless, II they could do
them "a Jesus, whom Thou hast anointcd:"
1. G., made King and Messiah. which was dono
by amounting. -. whatsoever Thy coun.
sci determined" Tho Revised Version Ia
better: Ito do whatsoever Thy counsel
forcordainGd:" 10 come to pass. God had
ordained the end. but not tho means which mon
used God had indeed appointed that Christ
should die for all men. but He had not forcor-
dained or decrccd the means by which HIS
death was brought about No doubt the evil was
ovcrruled for the greatest possible good, but IL
| remained evil still, and they who did tho evil
were responsible for it," Examples OF this are
found in Old Testament history. Jacob tried to
fulhn Gods promise to him in Il wrong way
God had plenty of better ways, but Jacob did
not see them, and he suffered all his life for do
ing in wrong way what he had God promise
should be done. God will carry out his plans by
man good acts, II he will do good: but by hts
bad acts, IL he persist in being bad. - Grant
unto Thy servants" they did not ask freedom,
from persecution. but only strength to do their
duty and spread the Gospel. 81. 1.-The place was
shaken" as on the day OF Pentecost. when tho
Holy Spirit came down In power. 1t was tho
token tina; their prayer for help was answered.
LESSON NOTES.
The last words in last Sundays lesson
We're words of threatening on the part
of the council. Now if Peter and John
had not been brave for the right, they
| would have answered: VERY well, we
will do rs you say, and viii hereafter
say nothing about this Jesus of Naza-
reth." But that was not the kind of
| stuff that they were made of. So our
| lesson to-day finds them saying:
| Whether it be right in the sight of
God to hearken unto you, more than
unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but
speak the things that we have seen and
heard" This was brave talk and
| sounds like the call of the bugle to bat
| tie.
Now all this while, when the apostles
were before the council, their friends
outside were awaiting their return
And as soon as they were discharged
.i,,l 80
Then they told them all that had be-
fallen them, and what they had said
Then all ut once they went into kind
OF praise and prayer meeting. They
took all their troubles to their Heaven
ly Father, and praised Him for His
goodness to them, and prayed Him that
He would give them courage to speak
boldly in the name of Jesus in the future
At that the place in which they were
was shaken, and they were all filed
with the Holy Ghost. so that they were
able TO speak boldly in the name of
their Master.
See then, first, the boldness of thS
apostles They were what Mr. Moody
calls o and o. That means out and
out" There was no halfway work
with them. What they believed they
said, and that in the very presence of
their bittcrest enemies Call ont from
the class other instances of similar ac-
ton on the part of Gods servants.
Some Of these we had in our lessons in
jeremiah and Isaiah. The fact is. there
Is n long list of such men in the Old and
In the New Testament. Nathan, Elijah.
jeremiah, Daniel, all spoke boldly even
In the presence of kings who had the
power to harm them, and in some cases
the result of their boldness was that
they had to flee, or were arrested and
put in Jail. In later days we find the
Apostle Paul ia this same category. and
in still later times such men as John
Bunyan, and many whom the teacher
can name. The fact is, that men who
love wickedness are never afraid to
speak up boldly for what they love, and
if the truth is to make any hcadway in
this world the disciples of Jesus must
be as bold as the servants of Satan arc
But though they were so bold, they
yet knew that they needed Divine as
sistance. For the task that they had
ahead of them was no slight one. So
they prayed that God would give them
yet greater courage to speak boldly in
the name of Jesus. They were not sat.
isfied with their past attainments. but
desired yet greater power to work for
Him. And this in the face of the ever
present fact that by their very boldness
they would incur the cnmity of those
who had just threatened them
Now see the result: God answered
their prayer, and gave them such power
that they spal,c the Word with ali bold
ness. These very men who at one time
had all run away when their Master
was arrested in tho garden Of Gethscm.
anc, now stood like rocks against all
the power OF the Sanhedrim. though
they knew it might be ut the cost of
their lives The same result will be
again seen in the case OF every be-
lever to-day who asks God for
courage 20 do and say that which
is right.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
!. The test 81 true disciple is that he
obcys God rather than man.
.. The true Christian must sp,al, ont
what be experiences OF the gospel.
SAYINGS AND DOiNGS.
JoUN HArnTRToN says there were not
twenty ca1orists in the country when