The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1909-04-22
Copyright. Davis W. Cha
LESSON FOR SUNDAY
Second Quarter. Lesson w
April rs, 1909. Acts XII, 1880:
xii, 25.
The Gospel in Antioch.

Ane GOspel In Antioch.
What Peter, the vision-taught
apostle, did in miniature in Cesa-
rea, some obscure refugee disci-
pies did on grand scale in An
tloch. Peters work in the house
OF Cornelius furnished prece-
dent, it evolved a principle of in
calculable value; but there is no
evidence that it was attended
with Immediate or large acces-
slons of Gentiles in Cesarea;
whereas in Antioch, that Queen
of the East" the conquest was
great enough to make that CITY
the base of missionary expedi-
tlons reaching through Asia
Minor to Europe.
The Church at Jerusalem need
not be thought suspicious or en-
Ylous of the work at Antioch.
The very character of the am
bassador they chose precludes
such an ida. The Son of Con-
ISOLATION" could never become a
partisan and hostile critic. He
went rather to prevent than eff
feet a division between Jew and
Gentle within the Church; to re-
veal to them the mind of the
Spirit as shown in the Cornelian
incident.
| No more suitable commissioner
could be imagined. AS a Levite,
Barnabas would have the conf
dence of the Jewish-Christian
element, while as a Greek-speak-
ing Cyprian he would be equally
acceptable to the Gentiles. An
open-minded man, free from sec
tartan prejudice, full of the Holy
Ghost and faith in the possible
worldwide conquests of the gos-
pei, Luke's incisive description
of Barnabas's arrival reminds
one of Caesars epigram, Il came,
| saw, | conquered"
Christians seem to have a sixth
sense, by means of which they
can discern a genuine revival:
He saw the grace of God" No
| doubt he made his formal
and favorable report to the
Church at Jerusalem, and sent it
off by special delivery; then, with
a joyous and holy abandon, he
threw himself into the work, ad-
ding new converts, roofing and
grounding those already made.
In the midst of these stirring
scenes he remembers Saul in
seclusion just beyond the Taurus
Mountains. He might have said
Of him as Paul afterwards said of
another, He is profitable to me
for the ministry" So the very
disciple who first took Saul by
, the hand, and presented the ex-
prosecutor to the timorous Church
at Jerusalem, now brings him to
Antioch, and starts him upon his
, illustrious career. By a strange
coincidence Saul meets in the
Syrian capital the very disciples
his prosecutions had driven there,
and joins them in building up
that very way" against which
he breathed threatening.
Under the co-pastorate of
= Barnabas and Saul. the Church
had phenomenal prosperity. Their
preaching arrested the attention
! of even this Oriental Rome. u
J 1t produced a decided effect up,
I on it's motley population, whirl.
I ing in a perpetual festival Of
: vice, used alike to the philosoph.
ic novelties of Greece ans
n Eastern legerdemain. The
t Christliness of the converts may
have led some Greek wit to nick
J. name them Little Christs'
(Christians), an epithet that a
once became their noblest desig
nation. Under the faithful
"teaching"of the ministry, thu
,e converts, exposed to trials tn,
Id severity of which can scarcely b,
r. appreciated in our day, were KEEP
er from lapsing, and the Churcl
IN hourished in spite of an environ
h. ment the unfriendliest possible
This paragraph contains a love
ly example Of what may be call
ed Christian reciprocity. Jeru
salem had ministered to Antioc
in spiritual things, and now Je
rusalem reaps the tempors
things of Antioch. To the bretf
rem who, like Barnabas, had a
ready Impoverished themselves
meet the general want of tn
brotherhood, they sent a gene
Gus contribution to provide in al
vance against the impendin
famine. The characteristics {
this beneficence were its unive
salty (every man) and propo
70 tionateness according to ability
THE TEACHERS LANTHRN.
This is an inspiring page fc
- city Church Extension worker
How insignificant that humb
rs little goSpel-Shop in SignC