Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1909-07-07
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Lesson II.--Third Quarter, For
July II, 1909.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.


Acts xvi, 31-commentary Prepared
by Rev. D. M. Stearns.
copyright, 1909, by American Press Association
The scene Of this lesson is Phllippi.
The special places In the city are the
prayer meeting, the prison and the
home Of Lydia. The principal Incl
dents are the casting out of the evil
spirit, the cruel treatment and i'm
prisonment Of Paul and Silas and the
conversion of the jailer and his house
hold. And the great workers are, as
always, God and the devil. Thus the
story is in greater or less measure
duplicated every day until finally the
devil and all his followers shall be
sent to the place prepared for item
and the kingdom shall be the Lords,
"Yea, all kings shall fall down before
Him: all nations shall serve Him"
Cps. lxxii, 1D. In whatever part OF
the conflict we may find ourselves we
must at any cost stand wholly apart
from all that is Of the devil, for all
that is is either Of God or the devil,
no matter how it may look to our eyes.
AS the servants of God proceeded to
the place Of prayer young woman
met them who cried, 'These men are
the servants Of the Most High God,
who shew unto us the way Of saliva
ton" and this she did many days.
Now, this was the truth that she ut
tered, as were also the words Of the
evil spirit in Mark l., "a. Thou art
the holy one Of Cod" but Jesus would
have none Of that, and Paul would
have none of this, recognizing 1t to be
Of the devil, so in the name Of Jesus
he commanded the evil spirit to come
out Of her. Good words and good
works, as men judge. do not neces-
sarily indicate the spirit Of God as the
one who is speaking and working. No
one ever said more beautiful and Won
derful words than BALKAN, and yet he
is associated in Jude II with Cain and
Core, and we are taught to beware OF
such as he. Those who do not honor
Jesus as God are not Of God and
therefore must be of the evil one, and
vet many such are honored today as
if they were truly sent Of God, and to
talk against them would cause possibly
as great q tumult as did the casting
out of this demon at Philippi. Some
cav we must be broad minded and ac-
knowledge the good in all religions,
t1 In mr.
in other so called leaders we must be
as narrow as Paul and as Jesus Him.
self, who told the religious leaders OF
His day that they were of the devil.
When peoples gains are touched
they are apt to become suddenly In
dignant against unrighteousness as
viewed from their standpoint, as the
men in our lesson did and later those
Ephesus Chapter xix, 1920. Paul
nd Silas were therefore arrested,
many stripes laid upon them, and they
were cast into the inner prison and
their feet made fast In the stocks.
Where now was the "all power of
Him who sent them FORTH the power
over all the power of the enemyT
Matt. xviii IS; Luke X, 19). AS well |
ask the same concerning Joseph and |
Daniel and all others who have been
permitted to suffer for His sake Paul
knew that he was called to suffer for |
Christ's sake, and he assures us that |
1t is our privilege also (Acts TX, 16;
Phil. 1, 29). To glorify God Is every
thing, and, If we can do that best by |
suffering, then suffering is the way.
With aching bodies and feeling that |
they had been shamefully treated q |
Thess. ii, p, they prayed to God and
by His grace were able to sing praises
to Him so loudly that all the prisoners |
heard them. Like Jehoshaphats sing
ers, they praised the Lord before they
saw deliverance Oh Chron. Xxx, Fl, 90.
1t is well TO "bless the Lord at all
times and have His praise continually |
in our mouth" Cps. xXXiv. II. Not |
only were they heard throughout the
prison, but in heaven also, and sud
denly the prison was shaken by an
earthquake, all doors opened and
every ones bands loosed. Some one
has said that, although they had not
influence enough on earth to keep
them out Of jail or to get them out
they had power enough from heaven
to shake the prison to its very founda-
lions. The jailer also was shaken to
his very soul and would have killed
himself; but, finding his prisoners all
safe, he is convicted of sin and, falling
down before Paul and Silas. asked
what he must do to be saved. Gather
ing his household together, they had
the way of salvation set before them
by these messengers Of the Lord, and
that night he and all his confessed
Christ by baptism.
We may Judge from Paul's preach
ing. as recorded elsewhere. just what
he would tell them Of the condition Of
all men by nature, Of the grace Of
God in giving His Son to die for SIN
ners. the Just for the unjust; Of His
being made curse for us. Of His
resurrection, ascension and coming
again Doubtless Paul would say, at
was to Him we prayed down there in
the dungeon. His praises we sang. and
in heaven He heard us and did this
wonderful thing and kept you from
killing yourself that you might |
saved and after witnessing and suf-
fering here for awhile share with Him
Ills kingdom and glory" To believe
is to receive John /, 12), and there
and then this household received Jesus
as their Saviour. What Joy in heaven
as well as on earth. according to Luke
XIV, 7, 10. 1t was worth while to SUI
fer, to be snjustly and cruelty treated
and imprisoned, to bring this to pass.