Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-03-24
FIRST GENERATION
OF THE CHURCH
These Three Decades Were
Most Plastic of Christian
Church
The International Sunday school Les
son for March 30 is .'Review-the
Great Multitude" Rev. 1911.
(By William I. Ellis.)

(By William I. Ellis.)
The long look is the cure for lit |
tie worries. The Apostle Peter de-
scribed as blind those who see only
that which is near. Small saints
grow in circumscribed churches, and
naturally fall to strife and unseen
illness. Give horizon and their petit
ness is cured. This is day to take
a comprehensive view OF all things. !
The war has brought TIL whole
earth within the average mans pros |
pective. Now is the time TO read
history rather than ephemeral fic-
ton, and to-day by appointment of
the Lesson Committee the millions
of members of the Sunday schools
must sweep the whole extent of the
first generation of the life of the
Christian Church. These quarterly
reviews deliver all students from the
blight of studying the great truths
of the Bible by the verse fragments.
The state of mind of many Chris
tians who have not got beyond the
Golden Text stage. is that they can
not see the woods for the trees" nor
the truth for the text.
Here we have a vista of the first
generation of the Christian Church.
The lessons studied cover a period
that extends to as far after the
Resurrection of Christ, as Calvary
was after Christmas, 1t is rather in
terestng TO measure these first
thirty odd years of the Church with
the thirty-three years of Christ. The
material for comparison is abundant.
These three decades were the plas-
tic period of the Christian Church.
Then 1t was taking shape Its ma
ture and form and manifestations
were being determined practically
for all time. The early Christians
were finding themselves, and discov-
ering how their new faith cut them
off from the old life and bound them
to the new fellowship. They would
find among themselves the men with
natural gifts for leadership. Organ
tunity and talents. The Importance
of these three months of study of
early church history is apparent
from the simple statement that all
present discussions of religious Or
ganization bark back to the forma-
tive period of the Apostolic Church.
The Led Leaders
7 have in mind two religious or
CARNATIONS that / have seen develop
from their beginning Both are ma
tional and interdenominational.
They began at approximately the
same time. One has circled the earth
and numbers millions of members.
The other has never amounted to
much even near the place of its
birth. Yet this second organization
seemed to have certain elements of
strength greater than the other. The
whole matter apparently has been
one of leadership. The first was
promoted by a man of vision who
quickly thought in large units, and
had the gift of enlisting other peo-
pie in the same service with himself.
The Importance of leadership can
scarcely be over estimated. We
know that the early Church had
great men for her leaders - men
made great not only by their task.
which is a phenomenon to all stu
dents of history. but also made great
by a special supernatural enduement.
These leaders of the Church were
led men The control of the Chris
tian community by the spirit of God,
Christ's other self, has been the out
standing fact of the Quarters Les
son. From the day of Pentecost un-
til the present moment the Christian
Church has had the direction and
control of the mysterious Third Per-
son of the Trinity. Without the help
of leadership beyond themselves the
ablest of Christian leaders are made
uuate for their task In things
spiritual service can be done only by
those who are spiritually guided.
An Unrecorded Company
That group at Jerusalem, which
within three centuries came TO be
the dominant force in th e world,
quickly extended beyond the original
circle of apostles and disciples whom
Jesus left behind him. The old cask
could not hold the new wine. Juda-
ism was not great enough to contain
the Christian community nor yet the
city of Jerusalem itself. Upon the
fellowship which was speedily num-
bered by thousands the Spirit came.
Commonly we think of the early
Church in terms of the Apostles; and
the most familiar designation of it
as the Apostolic Church. Really
though, the bulk of its members were
plain everyday people. just as is the
case to-day. 1t would be a serious
mistake to measure the churches of
Christ in America only by their best
known officials and leaders. The
strength of the church lies in the
strength of the generality of disci-
pies. The ways i'm which these early
Christians who seemed to have been
happy and holy and full of good
works ministered in the name of
Christ. We're not greater than the
ways in which most of us must min
lister to-day. These early Christians
might have prayed the prayer which
one of our American clergymen, who
IaNve lglar arnt or ht