The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-01-01
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
Especially Prepared for The RepubIi-
can by DIR. U. S. Wright.

the Lord shall be saved.-Acts 2:21.
THE PREPARATION.
A clock clangs the hour but there
have been sixty minutes of slow NOV
ing hands and wheels to bring that
clangor. And beyond the clock is the
hand of the winder, storing spring
with power for progression. Pente-
cost is the outstanding hour of birth
of the Christian church, but it was
only the time when hidden but NOV
ing forces stepped across the thresh-
| hold into visibility. All the centur
les in which God was making people
sensitive to the spiritual influences, all
the days of the ministry of Jesus in
which the Fathers eternal heartache
became manifest in time so that in the
stiffness enveloping Calvary men
caught the beating of His heart, all
the slow gathering of a company of
| believers and the making of body
into which as in that early garden God
might breath and it should become
living soul; all these went before the
day on which the church caught the
breath of God and stood erect ready
for its conquest of the new earth.
Christ had brought the little group
together on Olivet and, refusing to an
swer their dreams of earthly power,
|
left them with the sole command to
wait until in the city they should have
the fulfilling of His promise. During
these ten days they talked over the
events of the wonderful relationship
! that had come to them and added to
their company the other sons of Mary.
Who can judge the joy that flooded
that mothers heart as the last YES
tige of warning opinion vanished from
the circle that had grown up in the
Nazareth cottage? The desire of
Jesus and the feeling He held for
those men may be guaged by His ap-
pearing to James and through him to
the others. He could not go back to
the Fathers House until He had won
that family circle to belief in His
mission. Then Peter came to the front
in modifying the command of the Mas
ter. No direction had been given con-
corning the vacancy in the Apostleate,
filled later, many think, by Paul, but
the eager leader refused to wait and
proposed the election. There were
those who knew Jesus and had been
familiar with all the events of the
wonderful years so that there was no
| lack of candidates. Two were NOM
mated and then lots were cast to de-
termine the successful one. The Spirit
filed church never resorted to this
method. Prayer filled much of their
time and their spirits rose as the great
day of Pentecost approached Surely,
upon this day that commemorated
Gods wonderful gift of moral guild
ance in the history of the Hebrew
would be the fitting time for fuller
manifestation. Expectancy must have
been great as they gathered on that
early morning in the upper room filled
with so many moving memories of
their Lord
THE PRESENCE.
They were not to be disappointed
A surprising sound came to them.Not
wind, but the sound of it, and the
still air became vocal under the
steppings of God. They heard God
moving Looking in amazement at
each other no one saw his own crown,
but only knew that upon the rest
there was the flashing tongue that
spoke to the heart of it's possessor
of the Christ, new-crowned Lord of
the life within. This was no dim
lighted manifestation chamber, but
the open day in which all saw and all
| felt the Presence. Women as well as
men, Galilean fishermen, or Judean
Rabbi-for Nichodemus must have
been among them-joined in the de-
mocracy of the Spirit. Then came the
outward thrust into the street where
each, in the tongue Of warm hearted
fellowship, told the story of Gods gift
in Christ and through Christ so that
each understood it's message. They
were not sent first to the temple, but
to the street among the crowds gath
cred from all quarters of the empire
for this feast so that in the very in
ception of the church others rather
than ourselves was the earliest idea
Not for ones own satisfaction, but
for the saving of the throng did the
Spirit come. Whatever be our idea
of the accompaniment of the fact, for
words break down in carrying the
weight of attempted picturing, the
fact of the conscious Presence stands
secure, and this is the vital thing yes
terday, today and forever.
THE PROCLAMATION.
Peter came to the front as usual.