The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1916-06-17
Pleasant Fields
of Holy Writ
COPYRIGHT, DAVID w. CLARK.

save LOT MY daily range
Among the pleasant fields Of holy writ.
might despair. -IennySon.
Motto for this week: The Bible is the
Word of God with all of the peculiaritieS of
man and all the authority of God. Profess
sor Murphy.
Second Quarter. Lesson XII. Acts XVI.
1884. June Is, 1916.
The Philippian Tailor.
Spiritualism is no matter of re-
cent date. 1t can be traced to the
remotest antiquity in some form or
other. st. Paul had hardly pressed
his foot on the continent of Europe
before he encountered it. AS he went
down the street OF fn1l1ppl with his
little company of evangelists to the
preaching place on the river bank,
he was followed by young woman
who kept calling in rhythmic strain
These men are the servants OF the
most high god who show us the way
of salvation" The authorized YER
sion says she was possessed with a
spirit of divination or as in the mar
ginal reading, "a spirit of Python"
The Pythian oracle at Delphi was
greatest of all and last to lose its
hold upon belief. AS it was inconve-
nient and expensive to go in person
to the seat of the oracle, there were
numerous cheap limitations of the
original abroad. This young woman
was one of them. She was gilt
edge investment, yielding large divi-
dends to the syndicate that owned
her. She was to all intents and pur-
poses a spiritualistic medium. Thru
her bereaved people thought they
communicated with their departed
friends, and she was consulted in
matters of business and love. The
Pithoness had, of course, heard of
that the burden of it was saliva
tion." So she followed the apostles
daily with her eerie chant. The keen
mind of st. Paul instantly discerned
his dilemma. He could not receive
patronage for his gospel from such a
source without degrading it. Yet he
could not silence the Pythoness with
out freeing her from the spell she
was under. In that case the''trust"
that owned her would be bankrupt
and correspondence angry at the
apostle. His conclusion was inStan-
taneous. No suggestion of policy
had any weight with him. Turning
to the unfortunate girl, he said to
the demon that possessed her, 81
command thee in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her." Instant
ly she was restored to a normal life.
She regained that greatest of all
possessions, self-pOSseSSion. Her cpl
leptic arrangement, on which others
had traded, was cured. The moment
her proprietors saw that the hope of
their gains was gone, there burst up
on the head of the apostle a cyclone
of wrath. The Roman law allowed
the aocuser to act as the arresting
officer. So they seized Paul and ST.
las and with no gentle hand dragged
them into presence of the magis-
trate. For an instant they them
selves were in dilemma as to how
to frame an accusation. If st. Paul
had stolen pig it would have been
easy, but how could they charge him
with stealing a spirit. Property
right in a devil had no recognition in
law. But these men were not to be.
denied the sweets of revenge. To
trump a charge and back it with an
appeal to racial prejudice was easy.
They raised the cry, "They Jews"
I'VE Romans Tumult was the
scandal of Roman province which
every governor sought to avoid
Sight of blood might appease the
mob. st. Paul and his companion
were stripped and scourged. A mo-
ment after this disgraceful scene the
apostles found themselves thrust in
to dungeon and their feet fast in
the stocks. The tempter must have
been near to whisper Fine opening
this for your gospel. Your vision at
Troas must have been an Illusion"
What reply does the apostle make?
Listen. On the still air of midnight
rises a sound never heard before in
that prison. It's walls had often
echoed to foul curse or ribald song
or sigh of captive. But never before
to sound like this. 'At midnight
Paul and Silas prayed and sang prai-
ses and the prisoners heard them"
Immediate and glorious was the an
swer to the apostles prayer. Most
earthquakes are destructive. This
one was not. Prison doors were
opened and prisoners chains fell off.
That was all. In the midst of it st.
Paul's alert ear detected another
sound. Steel whipped from it's scab-
bard, as the officer was on the point
of taking his own life, which would
be the forfeit if the prisoners had
escaped as he supposed they had. st.
Paul's magnanimity is superb. He
cries, do myself no harm. We are.
all here" Such an unearthly spirit
put the finishing stroke to the keep
er's conviction as he cried, What
must l do to be saved?" ST. Paul
epitomizes the whole gospel when he
answers, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ" There at the prison foun-
tain is a double washing by the light
of f1aring torches. The rough hand
of the jailor made gentle by grace
battles the bloody welts upon the
apostles back, while from the same
fountain he gives the jailor the out
ward and visible sign of the inward
and spiritual grace he had already
received.
The Teachers Lantern.
No wonder that one of the strong
est of churches sprang from a scene
like this. st. Paul's patient endur-
ance of ignominy and violence could
not be. forgotten. Miraculous deliv-
erance, conversion of jailor, official
visit of pratetors to liberate those
whom they had unjustly condemned
all put the gospel in light favorable
to its acceptance. Joy was a char
acteristic of the church at Philippi.
and to this church st. Paul later
poured out his soul in the most Joy
Gus of all his epistles. St. Paul in
prison turns attention to present-day
treatment of prisoners. Oriental
prisons are still unspeakably foul
and plague-stricken, but in view of
boasted Occidental superiority pris-
ons of Europe and America are not
better Woods Hut
says the only way to improve
them is to dynamite them. They are
fatally wrong both in construction
and management. The prisoners
heard the apostles There is subtle