The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-09
The Sunday School Lesson And Young Peoples Topie--rhe International sunday School Lesson is On
 This Great Mystery.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

| RA WAAAkAM ELLhSs
 l It used to be the fashion to try to
 explain everything about christianitA,. :. The wisest men have got over that,
 since they find themselves living in a
 maze of simple phenomena that are in- | applicable. The physical scientist has
 to say. T don't know" as often as
 the theologian. He grayely admits that he does not know what life Is: nor matter or air or light or eiectrici- | ty. He says man has a mind and a brain, but he cannot tell you what the
 Q body, admits the scientist; but he gives up. or guesses wildly. when ask ed to define the spirit.
 If man is Q mystery, how much more
 so God! Here the Sunday Schools of the world are brought face to face with the fmpenetrable mystery Of the Holy Spirit; the most inexplicable and supernatural truth in all the realm of religion. What may be said in answer | to eager. puzxiing questions upon this profound mystery? Assuredly not the cheap and easy answers of minimizing emotionalists who glibly profess to
 have mastered the secrets of the God
 head. Moving softly and reverently,
 and admitting all the way that our |
 theme altogether infinite. we may at
 least grasp some of the elementary considerations involved in any study
 of this miracle of the descent of the
 Holy Spirit upon the infant Christian
 Church at Pentecost. Always. too, 1t
 ia to be borne fin mind thats some things
 which may not be explained may yet
 bc experienced. The Holy Spirit may not be defined intellectually. but he
 ha aYnnFfnnnfa1fV
 The Orphaned Band.
 When the little company of orphaned disciples stood gazing up toward the cloud which had received their Mas ter 1t verify seemed as If the end of all things had come. The whole vast scheme of things had tottered and fal- len. All their hopes had come to of blundering Galileans. untutored provincials. It was. humanly speak ing, impossible for them to carry on the work Of Jesus. So there had to be Somebody to take the place of the ascended Leader. The situation abso- luteiy required this Somebody must come to be at the head of the new Church.
 That Somebody. the case required, had to be everything that Jesus had been This was 8 seemingly impossible con- dition. The basis of the disciples faith was that no other man existed or ever had existed. like unto their Lord. Yet his successor must be his Alter Ego. And such a One had been promised by Jesus; in phrases not yet clear to his friends. There was to come a new leader who would be the Other Self of Jesus standing in his stead and filling all his offices.
 One last instruction had been laid upon the bereaved and mystified band; they were to wait for that Somebody's arrival. More important than the tell ing of their story, or the organization of the Church. was the necessity fof waiting for this Coming One. Evi' dently in the mind of Jesus. the ad- vent of this Somebody whose coming Justified his going. was All-important. And the event proved that Pentecost was the birthday of the Church.
 Oneness And Waves.
 That Somebody's arrival was specta cular, mysterious, mighty. The friends of Jesus had been waiting. ac- cording to instructions. in one mind and one place. Now that the world Is beginning to get a glimmering of a conception of the power of ether waves, and thought-waves, and spiritual forces the power of concert ed. common prayer may seem less con trary to nature. Enough to recall that 1t was when the disciples "were all with one accord in one place" that the wonder occurred.
 As from the impalpable air. there came a rushing torrent of sound. like a mighty wind. Scared. and wonder Ing, the disciples had scarcely time to realize this Force which filled all the | room to tenseness. when still stranger sign appeared; for distributed above the head of each appeared a duivering tongue of flame. That uu- precedented symbol was followed by | an equally strange experience. Thrill | ed and filled to ecstasy by this new | Power. the humble Galileans found | their tongues loosed in new speech. and | they spoke with. other languages than their own.
 We thumb the books in vain for any | precedent to this The phenomenon is | a veritable miracle. That | day marked the advent of new Some body to reign over tho hearts of men, and to loose powers hitherto unsus- pected He Is the only explanation of phenomena equally wonder full. Some commentators try to ex- plain away these strange events at ]