The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-15
The First Quarter, Lesson XII; Acts
viii, 1880; March 10, 1909.
The Ethiopian Converted.


We may never know how the dusky
brew faith. The Jews were already scat
tered far and wide. especially in the cap
ftaIs and cofnmerciaI centers of the world
Then, as now, they were money-ienders.
Prehaps 1t was in his capacity as treas
urer of the Abyssnian Empire he came
in contact with some frst-century Roths-
child. who was intent upon doing good
as well as getting high premium on
his money. Over the bonds and consuls
Nthe Hebrew may have peered into the
Ethiopian's heart. and. discovering its
noble traits, coveted them for God He
may have paved the way to conversion
ny unfolding, the miraculous history of
Israel. in which no intelligent person
fails to be Interested. and of whose truth
few, if any candid mir.ds fan TO be con-
or ehs a4otives OF the unknown pros
eiyter may have been mixed. or even
wholly bad He may bave been one who
deserved Jesus .scathing rebuke. BIT
whatever the incentive of the sectarist
may have been. the proseiyte wassa nota
BILE, accession to the Hebrew Church
He showed the gerluineness of his con-
version by the long journey, which he
took at his first opportunity to the seat
OF his new-found faith. 1t was some
5000 miles to Jerusalem and back. Yet
this happy convert to whom tradition
gives the name Of Judich. hesitated not
at the toll and expense. AS his chariot
rolled along the banks of the Nile, I'M
der the tapering shadow of obelisk and
pyramid, and by temple and treasure
city. no doubt he thought If he did not
exclaim: This is that Egypt where God
did those wonders for his people, and
for which he delivered them with an out
stretched armp
certify of his interest was the length of
time he tarried In Jerusalem. He had
gone up to the Feast of Pentecost. but
We md him staying on through the mar
Al ,f..r1
OF samaria--not, however, that he was
concerned in these events, even II he was
aware of them.
Still a stronger evidence: He purchased
n copy of the Hebrew Scriptures; and 1t
cost him small fortune. no doubt. 1t
was to be no comfortable ornament in
his Nubian palace either 1t was for use
Indeed, he could not wait until he reached
home but, in his jolting chariot on that
rough Judean road, he was reading, not
seifshly to himself either, but out loud,
SO that his charoteer and, whole calval-
rade might have the advantage
There goes the Bible-reading. Ethiopian
But now another person breaks in upon
the scene. How strange-unreasonabie
In fact--the providences of God often ap-
pear. The revival. in. Samaria was at its
height. Its genuineness had been con-
hrmed by the apostles in the bestowal OF
miraculous gifts 1t seemed as II no one
could shepherd the converts 80 well as
the evangelist who had first brought them
away; and that, too. not to another pop
ulous city, but to a desert way.
In this incident it Is as II the curtain
were lifted. and we could see the hand of
God shaping events according to his will,
The paths of these two fnen-the devout
and inquiring nobleman and the holy
evangelst-are made to converge. They
come into actual conjunction at the pre-
rise moment when the nobleman's eye is
OH the passage which. more than any
other. contains the gist of the Gospel.
And the Spirit said to Philip: Go near
and join thyself TO this chariot" The
man who, the day before had given in
: slant obedience to the unaccountahe com
mand of the Spirit, and had exchanged
the stirring scenes and opportunities Of
a great awakening for solitary post on
a road through a desert. did not hesitate
row. though he could plainly see that
the traveller was a prince and a for
eigner.
There was witticism play on words.
In Philips address tn the Ethiopian,
which is lost in the translation. He said:
DO you know what you know The
wit of Philip was the edge of the wedge