Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-07-16

Stearns.
l. "Now, when they had passed through
AmphipQlis and Apollonia, they came to
Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of
The Jews See this company of men in
this world for God. They have no aim but
to honor Him. Their one thought is to
magnify the Lord Jesus Christ phil. i,
20), and to this end they are under the
control of the Holy Spirit, passing through
this town or that and stopping only where
He directs. Whether in prison or in Lydia's
house, on the road or in the synagogue,
their one business is to glorify God and
make Him known. Thcssaonica was about
100 miles southwest Of Philippi, so that it
must have been several days journey; but
as is usual in Scripture, the incidents of
the journey are omitted. They passed
through and came to.
2. And Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them, and three sabbath days rea-
soned with them out Of the Scriptures. "
ITO the jew first was ever Paul S princi-
pie in going after the people with the Cos
pei (Rom. j. 16), and who can tell what we
are losing by not continuing to act on this
principle, both with the gospel and with
gifts for missions? he had but one text
W
licvod was sufficient to furnish any one
thoroughly for every good work Oh Tim.
iii, Is, ~. He was not full of the opin-
ions of men; but, being the Lord 5 mcsscn-
ger, he carried the Lord message (Hag
i, 13).
B. "Oponing and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again
from the dead, and that this Jesus whom
l preach unto you is Christ" The Jew,
were looking for Messiah to sit on Da-
vid 5 throne and subdue their enemies and
make Israel, as in the days of solomon,
the first nation on earth. and in this ex-
pectation they were perfectly right, for
this was promised by the prophets and
will yet surely he fulfilled lisa tx, g, T;
Jer iii, Il, Is; Zech. xiv, is, 10 But it was
just as plainly forctold and foreshadowcd
that the Messiah would also suffer and
die and rise from thedcad before He would
thus reign us David's son on David :
throne (Gen iii, 10; Isa. Lii; Ps. xvi and
xxi. etcO
I. "And some of them believed and con-
sorted with Paul and Silas " multitude
of men and women, the verse goes on to
say. Just as in Gen. the Spirit moved,
| God spakc. and the work was done. so
here and so always His word will accom-
plish His pleasure and prosper in the thing
whereto He sends it lisa ", ID 1t is
! ours to be faithful messengers; it is Ills to
accomplish the work There is perfect rest
| In His work when we are willing that He
should do it all and as He pleuses, we be-
! ing in His hand for His pleasure.
5. but the Jews which believed not.
moved with envy, took unto them certain
lewd fellows" Then followed mob and IA
riot and an assault, for the devil was losing
some OF his property. and he was stirred
nightly. as at Philippi, to do somewhat
to resist the truth and the power of God,
and so for "A time the saints must suffer
with Christ. Fellowship with Him in suf-
fering is Il great privilege not APPRECIATED
by the saints us it should be Q1hil. i, 20;
iii, 10; Col i, 2D.
s. ''These that have turned the world
upside down are come hithcr also" Not
finding the apostles, they took Jason and
other brethren to the CITY rulers with these
and other accusations 1t was surely
quite "A commitment to say that these men
had power to turn the world upside down.
There ought to have been enough of the
supernatural III that to make them stop
and consider, but when men are blinded
by anger thev consider neither their words
nor their deeds The facts in the case are
that the world is in sense upside down
because of sin and Jesus whom these men
preached. is the only one who can set it
right side up (Ez xxi. Pr.
Z. These all do contrary to the DEGREES
of Caesar. saving that there is another
king, one Jesus" Caesar is the earthly,
under the God of this world-that is, the
devil Jesus is the heavenly. REPRESENTING
the only living and true God. God mani.
fest in the flesh and we must choose one
or the other. His OWL to whom He came
chose Caesar instead of Him (John xix,
12), and Caesar they have had from that
day to this. The world and the church,
the worldly person and the Christian. arc
as opposite us darkness and light and can
no more assinilate than water and oil.
but they sometimes try desperately hard
to mix up. See JAS. iv. /; John ii,
1917.
5. o. And they troubled the pcople and
the rulers of the city when thcv heard
these things. So. when Christ WIZ, born
King of the Jews. Herud andull Jerusalem