The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-10-13
Sunday, Oct. IA.

| 1t is my meultatloh oil Ii0
Psalm 1897. n,-.-
At the word of an angel Philip
the evangelist went down to the
llowlands skirting the Medlterran-
can where by personal work ne
won to Christ a visiting foreign,
er from far up in Africa. And
he did it by Handling Alright the
word of truth" as found in Isaiah.
THE EVANGELIST
Believe the Bible. Philip. one
of the deacons in the church at
Jerusalem, had entered upon
evangelistic work in the region
round about that city. While on
a very successful mission among
the Smaritans he received a call
to the south, perhaps a hundred
miles away on the desert road
from Jerusalem to GAIA. sudden
and mysterious as was the cali
bv the angel of the Lord. Philip
Instantly obeyed. He believed
God as Abraham did when called
out of Chaldea to Canaan.
| HE Z F1iOFlAIN ~.
Reading the Bible. Soon Philip
encountered an eminent Ethiop-
ian who was returning home from
visit to Jerusalem. He was
native of the rich region border
| ing on the banks Of the upper
Nile. He was a man OF great
authority under Candace, which
was the official name of the
queen of the country. In fact,
| he occupied a position in the
kingdom which today would cor
respond to the Secretary of the
Treasury or Chancellor of the
Exchequer. He was, therefore, a
man of great prominence, ability
and influence. 1t is creditable
to the Ethiopian that he made a
Journey to Jerusalem to worship.
| No doubt there were many Jews
| in his country. He was certainly
acquainted with the Hebrew Scrip
lures. having a copy of the Sep
tuagint verSion-the translation
made at Alexandria, and the YER
sion used by Christ and the
Apostles. On the return journey
from Jerusalem he was reading
the book of Isaiah relieving the
tedium of the trip and also sat-
isfying his thirst for the truth.
THE CONVERSION
Understanding the Bible. The
meeting of the evangelist and the
Ethiopian resulted in an eventful
interview. Said the Spirit unto
Philip: "Go near, and Join thy
self to this chariotw How inter-
esting and providential it was; the
reading of the roll, and the ear
nestness of the Ethiopian, the
prompting of Philip. Of course,
Philip quickly obeyed; he actual
ly ran to him." He heard the
Ethiopian reading the words Of
the prophet and said: "Under-
standest thou what thou read
est" How could the Ethiopian
understand without an interpre-
tier? Realizing that Philip could
help him, che besought Philip to
come up and sit with him." The
place of the reading was the 53rd
chapter of Isiah-those incom-
parable Messianic prophecies re-
frering to the sheep led to the
slaughter, the lamb dumb before
the shearers. the humiliation with
out show Of justice, the life taken
from the earth. To whom was
the prophet referring in all this?
The eunuch wished to know.
"And Philip opened his mouth,
and beginning from this Scrip
ture, preached unto him Jesus"
How earnestly the evangelist
must have shown the Ethiopian
how the words of Isaiah were
fulfilled in the atoning death of
! our Lord! And how the very
light out of heaven must have
filled and flooded the Ethiopian's
soul!
THE CONVERSION
Obeying the Bible. The in
struction and the appeal of Philip
to the Ethiopian were not in vain.
He surrendered his heart to the
new-found Messiah and desired
to follow him in baptism. GAS
they went on the way, they came
unto a certain water: and the
eunueh saith, Behold, here is
water; what doth hinder me to
be baptized?" To be sure of
genuine conversion. Philip said
eff thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest." Faith comes
before baptism. And the eunuch
thus made his profession of faith /:
81 believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God" 1t was enough.
Let the crystal and commanding
words of Scripture tell US exact
| ly what happened now. "And he
commanded the chariot to stand
still: and they both went down
into the water, both Philip and
the eunuch: and he baptized him.
And when they were come up out
of the water" the two men were
separated. Philip, under divine
impulse and seemingly in an
ecstatic frame of mind, was
Caught away" so that the Eth
opian saw him no more, our next
glimpse of him being at Azotus,
not MANY miles away. when he
proceeded until he came to Gaze
sara, his future home. And in
our last glimpse of the eunuch
we see him with new-fouud Joy
in his heart prsuing his way
homeward. ca - !
READ AND HEED THE, BIBLE
HCD Read it. Own a ffrst3class
copy of the Bible. = Have your
own copy. Keep it, not for looks,
but for use. Thumb it, mark it,
soil it and make, it your own.
Read it.
(2) Read 1t as Gods Word.
That was the attitude of the Eth
oman and ~ should ha our of;