The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-01
The First Quarter; Lesson V: Acts
 iv:12. February 9, 1902.

The First Quarter; Lesson V: Acts
 iv:12. February 9, 1902.
 There is a subtle charm in all stories of moral courage: Leonidas gathering the Persian spears to his Spartan bosom at istering ter on crimean battieheid; Grace Darling launching her lifeboat in the boiling surf; Clara Barton. at seventy, mastyr mssceo 70 dyins for cSban liberty each stirs our blood. But not a whit less fascinating than any instance, ancient or for their lives before the sanhedrin. The~court is convened in its glittering marble hall within the temple. The au- semi-circie upon their crimson divans. Wealth. learning. power of a nation. are there enshrined: rulers elders, scribes: galaxy. On the tessellated floor before this brave array stand two Galilean fsh- ermen. Effort is to overawe and con. thus sa make them liable to a death pen-
 if is a moment of suspense. Mems souls The destiny of a new system seems to be deciding. But the most self-possessed persons in that dread court are the hum bie and friendless defendants.
 Peter breaks the silence. Consciously. or unconsciously, he Is addressing the nation itself through its constitutional representatives. For him the Sanhedrin is the ear as well as in the mouth o. the whole people. He is punctilious. in s good sense of the word, using the proper titles in his deferential introduc-
 The readiness of conscious innocence has fine illustration at this point It has nothing to fear. cause can not ulti- mately be lost. The seeming triumph Der Gods saints lasts but little while. The promise of Jesus that when his apostles should be delivered up to judgment it should be given them what to say, has here ifs first Iustrous fulfllment.
 Though Peter. the mouth of the apos- tles." Is scrupulously courteous in his in his expression, 'Jf we be examined of the good deed" It is as if he had said. fMen are~usuallv arraigned for crimes, but his court arraigns for oenefac-
 No doubt is left in the minds of the court. if any ever existed there, in whose upon the cripple. Again. as on Pentecost auc in the porch. the apostle appeals to Hebrew Scriptures. and uses it with con- summate skill.
 becomes the defendant, Such dauntless courage in friendleSs peasants, such wis., dom from unlettered laymen, such divine helpfulness as is manifested in the per- son of the healed cripple, who joins his benefactors in the august crescent of the sanhedrin. An! Is 1t not the renaissance with Jesus that they reproduced him in their very selves.
 AS eyer in instances like this. there Is a divided auditory The play of variant and numberless motives and feelings tends to set some for and others against the new cause. The schoolmen are of. tended that unlettered teachers should gain such a hearing. The orthodox care not whether a beneficent miracle has been wrought or not-only whether the work CTS conform to their views of doctrine and order. The Sadducees are violently angry that the doctrine of the resurrec- ton should be incidentally re-enforced by these miracle workers, in whose creed it stands conspicuously. The priests. on the other hand, are outraged that these men should presume to be teachers with out official authority So 1t goes. The truth.
 The name and person of Jesus is on this occs ssion, as so often subsequently,. a great divisor He separates. He is set for the rising and falling of many. Some become believers. others prosecutors. The hope of the worlds advance in truth and