The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1902-05-08

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THE LESSON TEXT.
(Acts ll:le-1n)
n New they Whleh wsfs seeetsrsd
abroad vpon the persecution that aress
about Stephen travslsc a. far ~ PhsAlee.
and Cyprus. and Antioch. Drsashtne tha
word to none 'hut unse the Jews enlSs = :.
70. Ana 4ssns. Of them we're nenaef cy-
prus- -snA,Cyrsns. which. vhen 49, vsee
come ~ Anf1ech. seAks unite the0eOeooae.
preaching Tie Lord Jssus. Sesr g
a. Aaas asthe. haAl of the Lord was visk
them: ana Aigfsat AnmAss' boaDsV41< ~
turned untostns Eon1-s I Z iis-ss ~ ~,
=. rAens udinss tsf thess tkinss -easns
unto - sses % ~ ehurch WAieA vAs =
JsrusAis1se aad tAsy 'ssns testh RnsaAbes,
that be should 20 a. far a. antioch ( s,St
=. Who. whsa He came. and haA eesA
them all. that with purpose Of heart they
would cisavs unto the Lord.
- For he was good man. and full Of the
Holy Ghost and Of faith: and much people
was added unto the Lord.
=. Then departed Barnabas TO Tarsus.
for to seek Saul: 81
%. And when he had found him. he
brought hm unto Antioch. And II came
to pass. that whole year they assembled
themselves with the church. and taught
much people. And the disciples were called
Christians nrst In Antioch. t..
q. And In these days came prophets from
Jerusalem unto Antioch.
8. And there stood UP one Of them named
Asabus. and signifed by the spirit that
there should be great dearth throughout
all the world: which came to pass In the
days Of Claudius Caesar.
y. Then the disciples, every man accord
ing to his ability. determined to send re-
Judea:
30. Which also they did, and sent It TO the
elders by the hands Of Barnabas and Saul.
GOLDEN TEXT.-And the hand Of
the Lord was with them, and = great
number believed, and turned unt0
the Lord.-Acts HI II.
OUTLINE OF sCRIPTURAL SECTION.
many conversions. Acts u:ls-A
oarhaoas anc Saui.............Acts ll:1-26.
Prophecy OF famine. Acts II l:27-30.
Time.-A. d. A and As.
Place.-Antioch, capital Of Syria.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Church Expansion.-It was impos-
sible to confine the church within Ju.
daistic lines. As we have seen, the
leaders were not ready to preach the
Gospel to the Gentiles. Even after Pc.
ter's experience at Caesarea with Cor.
nelius and his friends, the apostles and
evangelists did not push out among the
heather. The way was led. as our les
son shows. by disciples whose very
names are unknown
Many Conversions.-Proba the
refugees from the persecution in Jeru-
salem Travelled slowly. OF course many
found permanent homes much nearer
Jerusalem than Phoenicia, but per.
haps the greater number went either
to Tyre or to Antioch. Their habit
of speaking only to Jews was natural.
Perhaps news of Peters visit to Cor
nelius reached them before they be-
gan preaching to the Gentiles in An
tioch; perhaps they acted under the
direct impulse of the Holy Spirit. 1t is
noteworthy that these first pre- reachers
to the Gentiles had lived away from
the in" 'ences Of Jerusalem. What
ever the first impulse, their work was
sanctioned by the Holy Spirit, Tho
-..de it effective. The more effective
such work as this was, the more GER
tain was It to be questioned in Jeru-
salem. Yet the choice of BarnaDas
as the commissioner of the mother
church showed disposition to be fair.
He was probably the most influential
unofficial member OF the church in
jerusalem; he was a man Of great
generosity and liberality; he had dis
tinguished himself by large giving
(4:a6. 37) and by aiding Saul when
others looked askance at him (0:27).
The work met the test, and Barnabas
was so pleased and interested that he
did not return to Jerusalem at all ex-
cept perhaps to make report, but
joined the preachers in Antioch.
Barnabas and Saul.-Barnabas had
seen that Saul could not work effec-
lively in Jerusalem, but he saw here
an opportunity for him and SO went
after him. We have no record of what
Saul had been doing in Tarsus, nor do
we know how long he had been there,
but he was ready to work in Antioch.
The name Christian is of heather ori-
gin and was probably meant as With
cism. The word occurs only three
times in the New Testament, and al
ways in such connection as to show
that it was not then applied to them
selves by Christ's followers.
Prophecy of Famine.-Many dis
ciples from Jerusalem must have Wis
tied Antioch. The prophets are men
toned because the result of their pre-
diction was noteworthy. There was
no single famine "over all the world''
in the days of Claudius, but that en-
peror had an almost constant battle
with famine in different parts Of his
dominion, at one time himself suffer
ing from the difficulty of obtaining
food. The famines that especially af-
fected Jerusalem were in A. d. A or As,
and 49,.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
The Gospel is meant for all the
world, and therefore should be
preached to all men.