Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1916-01-05
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson il.-Sirst Quarter, For
Ian. 9, 1916.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Text of the Lesson, Acts ii, 1f3-Men-
DRY Verses, 3, 4-Golden Text, I Cor.
iii, 1S-commentary Prepared by
Rev. D. M. Stearns.

ory Verses, 3, 4-GoIden Text, Cor.
iii, 1S-commentary Prepared by
Rev. D. M. Stearns.
The event of this lesson, the coming
Of the Holy Spirit. was on the day of
Pentecost, or the fiftieth day after the
resurrection of Christ. 1t was fore
Swallowed. as was all else, in the law.
In Lev. xiii there is a record of the
feasts of the Lord oversees 4, AL in
which anointed eyes may see His
death and resurrection. the coming Of
the Spirit and His return In glory.
When He was here in the days of His
flesh these feaSts had become merely
feasts of the Jews with the Lord left
out, like much of the worship of today
which is only outward form without
reality
The passover typified the death of
Christ. our passover. The sheaf of
first fruits on the morrow after the
Sabbath clearly indicates His resurrec-
ton. Christ the first fruits. The other
first fruits fifty days after the former
suggests the lesson of today. the
of the church story. and the feast of
tabernacles points to His coming again
in glory and the conversion of all Is
rael. There is great profit in a special
study of all these. See how sin In
believers is typified by the heaven In
the second first fruits verse III. Re
turning to our lesson. from which we
wandered to Lev. xiii because of
the fiftieth day. note the expression
with one accord" which, If l have
counted correctly, is used In Acts
just eleven times, seven times In
good connection, as in chapters |. IA;
ii, l, 46. and four times Of the enemies
of the Lord, as In vii, 81. II but a few
believers could be heartily of one ac-
cord In the Lords service great things
might be accomplished. as when the
disciples continued in prayer and sup
plication, about 40 men and women
q. IA. 15).
promised comforter, the Holy Spirit.
came upon them and filed them all
verse 4: |. s; Luke xiv, 49,. There
was a sound as of a rushing, mighty
wind, and cloven tongues like as OF
fire sat upon each of them oversees 2.
81, both the wind and the fire being
symbols of the Holy Spirit Matt Iii.
IL; John ill., s; Eek. xxxvii. 8, 10l.
The Spirit on this occasion enabled
them to speak in the different Ian
guages of the people named In verses
OIL. but note carefully that they all
understood what the disciples said,
and they all talked Of the wonderful
works of God. Contrast this with the
SO called tongues movement of our
day, much of which consists of strange
sounds which no one on earth can I'M
derstand.
See also what the Spirit says by Paul
concerning the necessity of speaking
words easy to be understood and that
he would rather speak five words that
could be understood than ten thousand
that no one could understand Il Cor.
xiv, 8. 19}.
Note that the only epistle that makes
mention Of tongues is one in which
those to whom tbs epistle was written
were spoken of as babes and carnal
Il Cor. i'll, Ia. See also how love is
exalted above all else, the love that Is
kind and thinleth no evil Il Cor. kill,
and contrast such love as is there de-
scribed with the seeming lack Of love
which says that, II sick, we have no
faith. and II we do not speak in
tongues We are not Spirit filed. 1t
does seem to me that tongues which
do not glorify God by helping some one
to know Him better cannot be Of God.
however well intentioned and Jealous
the people may be- Our Lord said that
the Holy Spirit, whom He would send,
would enable them to bear witness
unto Him q. s., and the one only thing
for which believers are on earth Ia to
bear witness to the fact that Jesus
Christ is alive and that He is living
His life In us, that those who know
us may want to know Him because
they know Us and that We may help
to make Him and the glorious story of
His great salvation known to the ends
Of the earth.
We said In last lesson that the COM
Ing of the Spirit was in no sense the
coming again of this same Jesus" for
he said that the Spirit would be san
other comforter" John xiv. 16l. and
another" cannot mean 1.-The same"
He said that the Spirit would abide
with us. dwell in us. teach us all
things, bring His words to our remem-
brance. testify Of Him. guide us into
MI truth, show us things to come and
glorify Christ John xiv. 16. 20; XIV. Is;
xvi. Is. A..
These things the Spirit loves to do.
as well as to convince Of sin and of
and Of judgment John
xvi, 81.
Whatever is not along the lines of