The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-03-06
Philip and
the Ethiopian

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LESSON TExT.-Acts. s:2s-sS. Memory
verses 1891.
GOLDEN TExT.-Search the Scrip
lures: for in them We think We have eter-
nal life; and they are they which testify
Of me.-John 5:39.
TIME.-Summer Of A. d. &c or g. Soon
after the last lesson.
PLACE.-Where the road from Samaria
to GAIA crosses or joins the road from
Jerusalem to Gaxa in the uncultivated
region southwest of Jerusalem, toward
the old Philistine country.
Comment and suggestive Thought.
VS.. 81, 20. "A man of Ethiopia" A
general term. for the lands south Of
Egypt. But from the name OF Queen
Candace 1t was probably Meroe.
country which lay on the right bank OF
the Nile from its junction with the
Atbara, as far as Khartoum, and
thence to the east of the blue Nile to
the Abyssinian mountains. "Of great
authority" A man of power, Of wide
influence, prince.
". %. WAS returning" Guided by
Providence at exactly the right time.
Read" twas reading). "Esaias"
Greek form of Isaiah. He was reading
aloud as was the custom, SO that
Philip was able to hear 1t. 1t was q
pleasant and profitable custom on long
journeys.
Reading Aloud. The. great Jewish
teachers insisted, In many instances,
upon their scholars reading aloud"
Il speak to the experience, probably,
Of many, when / say that utterance
aloud is often very powerful aid to
mental retentiveness," says Joseph
Parker. 1t is more than this, reading
aloud helps us to understand the
meaning of the Word. For In order to
read well we must understand every
shade of the meaning, or we will mis-
interpret Gods Word. A monotonous,
sfng-song, woodeny, or artificial read
ing, such as we often hear, comes
very near to being a crime, for 1t de-
prives the Word of its natural mean
ing. and makes the hearers inatten.
tive. or repels them from the Word.
Those who wish to know the truth
take great pains and spare no ex-
pense to obtain it,
Young pebble often say that it is
hard to become interested in reading
the Scriptures. But If anyone reads
them in order to find out what to do,
and what to believe, he will, of neces-
sity, find deep interest in the study.
as one finds map interesting when
he is planning a journey. or chart
when he Is crossing the ocean.
God is no respecter of persons.
Twice Africans are brought to our mo-
tice-here. and when Simon the Cy-
renian helped Jesus 20 bear his Cross.
AS for the nationality of the ETH
opian," says Farrar, lit must be borne
in mind that even Moses himself had
once married an Ethiopian wife"
Mum. 12:D.
We can meet God and learn his will
in the desert places of life, as Moses
saw the burning bush. and Elijah
heard the voice of God in the lonely |
places of Horeb, and Paul spent three
years IN the deserts of Arabia.
1t is good to use every spare oppor.
tunity in studying and meditating on
the Word of God. What we do with
oui spare moments often determines
our characters even more than our
daily labors do.
The books we choose and are IA |
miliar with, like our chosen friends,
mold our characters and guide our
destiny.
". 29. "Then the Spirit said" The
Spirit speaks not only to our feelings. |
but to our judgment and conscience.
Whoever is perfectly willing to obey |
the voice of the Spirit will be guided |
Alright. Prejudices, unwillingness to |
obey. past training or failure of train
ing, in so far as we allow them to ex- |
ert an influence, win lead us astray; |
as iron near the compass on a ship !
viii defect the guiding magnetic |
needle. Join myself to this chariot"
An excellent illustration is found in |
Pilgrims Progress" where Christian
is wandering around in doubt, and |
Evangelist is directed to the
right way.
v. IS. Then Philip began
at the same Scripture" Which was
fulfilled in Jesus, and has been full
filed in no other. And preached"
announced the glad tidings of Jesus.
Philip showed the strange and mar
velous correspondence between the
MANY dissertations NJ the Messiah in
the prophets and the then well-known
life of Jesus Of Nazareth He placed
Jesus in his life, death. and character
beside the picture of the Messiah
which the prophets had painted, and /
all could see that the picture was
portrait OF Jesus. He could also ex-
plain how this humiliation and sacri-
ice were the means by which the glo-
RES of the Messiah and his kingdom