Evening star., 1920-01-31
BY REV. HUGH #. STEVENSON.

>oi I'll. AUS, 20.
BY REV. HUGH II. STEVENSON.
Religious prejudice is difficult to
overcome. The ecclesia stical blind
ness that prevented the religious lead
ers from accepting the Master as Mes
sIaH kept them from believing the
teachings of the apostles even when
confirmed by demonstration of heal
| ing and the power of the Holy Spirit
10 transform men. When they were
| unable to check the progress of the
church through intimidat ton, which
| served to increase the apostles activi
ties and power. they commenced to
persecute the disciples While the
record is silent, no doubt this antag-
onism served to unite the forces that
from the commencement of the church
! in Jerusalem threatened it with divi-
sion. The diScord that arose between
the Palestinian Jews and those of the
Hellenised Jews concerning the treat
ment of the widows revealed a spirit
or jealousy that might not have been
overcome as easily if the persecution
that had commenced had not served
| to make both the native and foreign
born members understand clearly that
they were one.
When. a the suggestion of the apos-
| ties. who were sensitive to the COM
! concerning the neglect of their wild
| ows, division was made between
/ the spiritual and temporal affairs by
| the election of seven deacons. whose
! names indicate that they were Tor
| eign- born Jews, who had come under
! the influence of the Greek culture and
| developed a breadth of human SYM
| pathy through their contact with
Grecian and Roman civilization IL
is evident from Luke's record that
these Hebrews" eXerted an lniluehce
| among the disciples that was OUT OF
proportion to their numbers. Ihey
were the first to realize the world
| character of the gospel 1t was the
preaching of the program OF chrlst
! for the salvation of the world In the
Jews by Stephen. who had been eiec..
| ed a deacon by the church, tnao
| brought down upon the disciples tne
prosecutions that forced them 70 so
| everywhere preaching the gospel.
| when the fires of persecution forced
the members to leave Jerusalem. scat
tering the message everywhere,
| Phillip. who was one of the seven
chosen to wait on the tables. carried
the message of the gospel to the "a
rying out the program of Je-
sus as taught by stepnen'
The Samaritans were a mixed race.
| They were descendants OF the as
| syrians who settled in the land aIter
the exile and intermarried with the
natives. While more nearly Gentle
in race, they had partially adopte1u
| the religion of the Jews. They buiit
| a temple to Jehovah, practlced cir
cumcision. revered the Pentateuch ana
| observed the Passover. When IL was
| to their advantage they claimed TO De
Jews, but at other times denied their
| relationship. claiming that they were
iSidonians, CuthiteS or Assyrlans. Ohly
once have we record that Jesus
preached the gospel to them: AZ Al
! them. He made them the link be
tween the people of Judea and the
uttermost parts of the earth when he
gave His command about preaching
| the gospel to every creature:
| In all probability it was to Shechem
or modern Nabulous that Philip car
! ried the gospel. Samaria, the OLD
capital had recently been restored by
Herod the Great and was occupied
| largely by his soldiers. who upon De,
! ing discharged from his army. settled
there. lust as many soldiers have set
tied in Washington at the close OF
their military career. The attitude
! that the people of Samaria had given
Jesus was repeated when Philip came.
to. preach unto them. Men in all
| countries were getting tired of their
ancestral faith and welcomed re,
| ligion of authority. Philip succeeoed
because through the presence of the
| Holy Spirit he secured nearing
| through the cures that he performed.
His miracles won him hearing His
preaching won the hearts of the peo-
pie leading them to believe
The blood of the martyrs has always
| been the seed of the church. Perse-
cutions always increase the power of
| the followers of Christ. The influence
| of the persecution of John Huss is said
to be one of the sources of the Czecho-
slovaks' love for liberty that has fired
their spirits and helped them for over
| four hundred years to oppose the pow
er of Germany The result of st.
| loss to France of over 100000 HuSue-
| nots who were driven outside of the
I nation. but through an overwhelming
| Providence the disasters of France be-
came the source of the national and
religious liberties" first of England and
forced men of various faiths to America
served to lay the foundation of Amer
! ica's contribution of religious freedom
| and civil liberty to the world The loss
Of the missionaries in the Boxer revo-
| luton in China served to quicken the
| Christian faith in China.
When the news reached Jerusalem
[ of the development of spiritual power
| in Samaria the apostles. who amidst
great danger had tarried behind in Jer-
usalem, sent Peter and John on tour
! of inspection. They visited Samaria to
review the work performed among a
| hostile and alien people for the purpose
| of recognizing their relation to the
brotherhood at Jerusalem and offer such
| advice as they deemed advisable SO that
the work at Samaria should prove to be
| of value to all. Among the experiences
| of their visit was the dispute with Simon
! Magnus the ma gician. This skillful ma