The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1925-05-07
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially For The Repub.
Iican's Readers by Rev. L. S.
Wright, ID.
SUNDAY, MAY 10, 1925.
PHILIP AND THE ETHIOP-
IAN TREASURER.

the walls and now from His body in .
the death of Stephen. There was di-
vision, of course, for "devout men"
among the Jews carried his body to .
burial, but the Sadducean and Phari-
sale leaders were united in their OPP
position and determined that nothing |
should be left of the new party. Saul |
espoused their cause, tho a believer |
in Immortality, and with his eager, |
aggressive character there was swift !
action that packed the prison and !
sent some to execution, while others |
scurried to cover in hundred cities,
leaving Jerusalem to rot in its form
alism and its reactionary spirit until
it should be burned as refuse because
of its foulness. The Apostles re-
manned. Amazing thing The men
sent on Grants for their King stuck
tight in Jerusalem. Those meant by
name to be goers were stayers. And /
they escaped Saul's dragnet. They |
were so convinced that geography |
was the soul of religion that they re-
fused to move. They were so much .
in accord with the Jewish notion of .
the Importance of the place in the
plan of God and so dependent upon
the Temple for their worship of Him
that they were lost sight of in the |
crowd and seemed unaware that the
city was the beginning and not the
end of Christ's venture. Saul was
wiser than they for he leaped after
the scattered witnesses into other
places and showed the same strategy
that later made him chief among the
empire builders Of his Lord And the
apostolic work was done by the rank
and file Of Christians while these men
fingered. Strangely enough much of
the Kingdom advance has been made
in the same way. New England would
have never known the Puritan, Penn
sylvania the Quaker, nor Carolina the
Hugenot except for the out-thrust of
persecution. The church would have
known no conquest except that it was
banished and set free from the letters
of Jerusalem. Philip having lost his
job there went to Samaria and what
Judaism had never been able to ac-
complish the Christian did for racial,
social and religious differences disap-
peared in the passion for Jesus and
JOY filled the whole place.
THE PUSH OF SPIRIT
News of what was happening fill
tered into Jerusalem in some fashion
tho, fortunately, it brought no peril
for even Saul would have SHE'D away
from Samaria. But the Church was
concerned and Peter and John, new
comrades in love, came to share in
what was going on. They dared much
in caste but nothing in Christ. He
who had talked with a fallen woman
of Samara would not be hesitant
over meeting Samaritan men. They
found a strange situation, for while
Christ had been preached-and lived
in the person of the preacher-and
His name and souls and bodies had
been healed and a new reign of joy
inaugurated the record declares that
the Holy Spirit had fallen on none of
them. l take it that the outward
manifestations such as the speaking
with tongues was absent and it was
this that appeared in response to the
laying on of the Apostles hands and
that it was this visible evidence that
Simon wished to purchase for his own
hands He sought something that
would acrue to his personal prestige
rather than something that would
shadow it in Christ. Peter seems more
vehement and less effective than in
the case of Annanias. Was it because
this referred to an outer form and the
other to an inner life?
Philip had been set aside and the
need was no longer insistent for his
remaining. He had asked many ques-
tons about Jerusalem and no doubt
one report was upon the coming Of
the distinguished foreigner to the city
and the GOODNESS of his reception
there. And being cast out himself his
spirit warmed toward this other out
cast who would not be permitted to
walk the Temple Courts by the Jews
and had evidently not been received
by the Apostles remaining in the city
The Spirit Of Christ was whispering
to this lover of men that he might re-
pair the omission and he Immediately
started across country that he might
intercept the cavalcade. The Spirit is
ever encouraging new adventures ii
evangelism upon all who are oaedon
to His will.
THE PUSH OF DESIRE
Somewhere in that African ama:r,
this Court Treasurer had Come into
relat'.a with a Hebrew maclanIis
Ing 'e God as aa as his goods anc
hr- been .-. mt. acceptance Of bis
fal w-t Joyous auUe.aa