Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-02-22
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
lesson In the international SERIES
for February 2S, 1eO2-The AR
rest of stephen.
THE LESSON TEXT.
fAcfS e-Z16O

Jerusalem greatly; and great company
Of the priests were obedient to the faith.
8. And Stephen, full OF faith and power,
did great wonders and miracles among the
people
gogue, which is called the syna-
gogue Of the Libertines, and Cyrenians.
and Alexandrians. and of them Of Cilicia
and OF Asia, disputing with Stephen
10. And they were not able to resist the
wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
u Then they suborned men, which said,
we have heard him speak blasphemouS
words against Moses, and against God.
the elders, and the scribes, and came upon
him. and caught him, and brought him TO
the council,
lS And set up false witnesses, which said,
This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous
words against this holy place, and the law:
Il. Foe we have heard him say. that this
Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place
ana shali change the customs which Moses
10. And all that sat in the council, looking
has1 as on MIN, saw his face as it had
GOLDEN TExT-Fear not them
which XIII the body, but are not able
to XIII the sOuI.-1fatt. 1Os2S.
Full of the Holy Spirit.'-To be full
of the Holy Spirit meant to be full of
faith, wisdom, grace and power. In
the lessons hitherto given we have been
impressed with the fact that upon be-
| ing baptized with the Holy Spirit the
disciples were energized with His
power. This lesson calls attention to
the higher truth that their characters
were affected by his indwelling. They
were wiser, better, more trustworthy,
more full Of grace
appointment of Deacons.-The diff
Guilty that arose in the church was
almost unavoidable, though, of course,
the apostles did not show any inten-
tional Partially. Jealousy between
different elements in a large body is
seldom escaped. The German Jews
were those whose homes were outside
of Palestine, and who spoke Greek or
some language other than Hebrew.
The Hebrews were those who lived in
Palestine and spoke the language of
that region. Many of the Hebrews
thought themselves little better than
those who had forsaken the Holy Land.
The reference to a "daily ministration"
shows that it was the custom to
distribute food or supplies of money
each day to those who were IN need
The account also suggests that the
| gifts were given chiefly to those who
had no other means of support, rather
than to able-bodied men and those who
/
suggestion how limited the commun-
ism of the church really was. The
apostles plan for avoiding the difficulty
was an excellent one, but they did not
impose it upon the church. The peo-
pie accepted the plan and then elected
the officers. The qualifications for the
| Office were that the men should have
a high reputation, should be wise and
| ha oil iTsf
dant measure. Neither business ca
pacity nor spiritual life was enough
| alone. The name deacon" is not APP
piled to these officers here or else
where, but the word is derived from
one used in verse 2, "to serve" and it
probably originated from the work of
these men. ALL seven names are Greek,
showing that it was the purpose of the
church to give the Grecians full OPP
portunity to look out for the widows
of their own class. The deacons were
set apart for their work by prayer and
the laying on of hands. They were thus
helped to feel the value of the work
they were called to do. There is no
distinct evidence that the apostles
touch was thought of as comforting
upon them any special grace.
The Arrest of Stephen.-The charac-
ter and spirituality of Stephen made
a great impression upon Luke, and, by
inference, upon the early Christians
from whom he got his information.
His grace and his~abundance of spirit
ual power are spoken of in verses 5, 8,
/ 10, and implied in verse Is. This MEM
DRY was no doubt heightened by tho
brave death of the first martyr, but it
cannot be an entirely imaginary halo
placed upon a man who was really or
| binary His call to Office stirred him
! to great zeal in teaching, and he also
| followed the apostles in working mir
acles. The chief work that fell to
him, as verse shows, was arguing
with Grecian Jews who had not &C
cepted Jesus as the Christ. His own
wisdom and the aid of the Holy Spirit
gave him the advantage in argument,
and his opponents, as defeated oppo-
nents are apt to do when they can, fell
| back on force. The arrest Of Stephen
was the result of q carefully worked
up conspiracy. First, men reused
hatred against him by twisting his Mt
| terances into bold blasphemy, then he
was seized and brought before fhe
Sanhedrin, who were waiting for him
when he was brought in. The wit
nesses were also ready to give testi-
mony that met the requirements of the
law, which was understood to de-
mand that the testimony should agree
perfectly. There had not been time to
arrange for such agreement when
Jesus was tried, but now everything
worked smoothly. Instead of being
angered by the accusations, Stephen
was so moved by the Spirit that his
very face glowed and shone with
heavenly light as he prepared to de-
fend himself against the unjust
charges.
III sruE IEcTRICAI. WnRIn