Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-01-14
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
THOUGHTS WORTHY OF CALM
REFLECTION.
A Pleasant, Interesting, and Instruct.
i've Lesson, and Where 1t May Be
Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same.
Lesson for Jan. II.


you, and to your children, and to all that
are afar off."-Acts 2: 80.
A multitude converted is the subject OF
this lesson.-Acts 2: 32-47. The crowd
attracted by the uproar in the supper
room when the disciples began to speak In
many tongues was of course curious to
know the meaning of the demonstration,
The insnuation that the excited utter.
ances of the disciples were due to wine
gave Peter the opportunity that he de-
sired to preach to the multitude Christ,
under these highly favorable circum.
stances. His entire sermon, or rather the
outline of it, in verses 14-40, should be
included in the lesson. The fact that
the committee saw fit to begin at verse
81, in the middle of connected passage,
need cause no trouble If teacher and
pupils use their Bibles. But to attempt to
teach this lesson without including the
whole sermon is to court failure. There
fore we include brief analysis of the
sermon.
This Jesus" the phrase needs to be
explained by the preceding verses, which
see. The Jesus whom God raised up was
the same Jesus spoken of in the psalm,
and the same whom the Jews had put to
death.--"We all are witnesses" the
duty Of the twelve to bear witness to
the resurrection of Jesus is emphasized
in the Acts and Epistles. The resurrec.
ton was the central fact in their faith.
"He hath poured forth this" the gift of
the Spirit is here attibuted to the Son,
exalted to the right hand of God. In
John IA: &c, etc, the Father is repre-
scnted as sending the Spirit. There Is
here no contradiction, but simply different
sides of the truth.
For David ascended not:" the greatest
man of the nation was not preserved from
corruption, did not rise, did not ascend.
The psalm and other passages cannot
refer to him. They must refer to the one
of whom David wrote when he speaks OF
"my Lord" Both Lord and Christi"
in other words. king and Messiah, ruler
and sufferer, prince and Savior; the two
conceptions of the Messiah that appear
side by side in the prophets were united
in Jesus.-"Repent ye:" as we have
said before, the word translated repent"
means "change your minds" reform
your lives" 1t is not confined to sorrow
for sin but includes the turning away
from sin.-'Be baptized every one Of
vised version 'unto) the remission Of
SINS" the Importance of baptism is clear
ly shown in the Acts by the way in which
the command to be baptized is coupled
repeatedly with the command to believe.
-"And We shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost" this is the order henceforth
to be followed, says Peter: repentance
(that is, reformation, the human side Of
Al n. 4. a. ~
then baptism, and the gift of the Spirit.
Here Peter uses one of his strongest
arguments. the appeal to the chosen peo-
pie. They. of all men, should be ready
to accept the gracious offer Of salvation,
for their race was chosen for the high
honor of being the bearer of the gospel
to "all that are afar off"
"They have continued steadfastly in the
apostles doctrine and fellowship" the
pre-eniinence of the apostles, the defer
ence that was paid to their Interpretation
of truth and their church usages, up
pears plainly in the New Testament. At
tempts have been made to belittle this
authority, to deny that the apostles had
any better claim to determine the form
of Christian theology or of the constitu-
ton of the church than men of later
ages. But the special aid and inspiration
which was promised them, and of the pos
session of which they showed evidence,
is sufficient to answer these objections.
Tin breaking of bread" referring to
the Lords Supper, the observance Of
which had probably not yet become re-
stricted to any fixed time, such as once a
month. as with us.
Show how Peters sermon brought con-
viction to his hearers. He accused them
of having assisted, or at least sympa-
thized. in the murder of the one who was
the fulfilment of prophecies and the des-
tined Savior of Israel. The work of the
Spirit evidently was already begun,
though il had not taken up its abode in
these inquirers. They heard the plain,
unvarnished truth, and it humbled their
pride and brought them to the point of
surrender. This sermon was certainly
faithful preaching.
When the apostles were asked for the
way of escape, there was no hesitating
for an answer. There were just two
things to do, reform their lives as COM
msnded by Christ, and then show that
reformation to the world by being bap-
tized. 1t is noticeable that the nature Of
faith seems to have been but little de-
bated in the early church when inquirers
were being dealt with.
The work of the apostles was not ended
when they got converts into the church.
They had an immense service of instruc-
ton and guidance to perform. The thou
sands of converts of Pentecost and the
following days would probably have gone
back into Judaism IL they had been aban-
srau .oIi 10 foI -. ha ouI
left TO rule themselves and instruct them
selves. The duty of training young con-
verts is fully as important a part of tho
mission as that of bringing them
into the church in the first place. The
apostles and their followers preached,
taught and sought out the people. But II
was the Lord who added them to the
church. Multitudes can be converted to.
day just as well as ut Pentecost, but II
takes Spirit-filled men to accomplish the
work, and a united church to make per
its results.
Next Lesson-"The Lame Man Heal
ed."-Acts 3: 1-16.
Zone great source Of pleasing 9th
ers lies In our wish to please them,'
said father to his daughter, discours
Ing on the ''small, sweet courtesies OF
life" I'VE want to tell you a secret
The way to make yourself pleasant Ia
others Is to show them attention. The
whole world Is like the miller of Mans
field, who cared for nobody-no, moi
nobody cared for him. and
the whole world would do 90 II you give |
them the cause. Let the people ses |
that you care for them.-