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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1897-2-25, Page 34'• CELESTIAL HELP An SYMPATHY, EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS A LION IN T1U WAY TO FIGHT. not mere is One sower. steady and Will- ing to most Clint in the Combat -Some or este if'ii+l Anita:tis That Are 1!►evaur- lu; ficin n aeni., Rev, Dr. Talmage preached this stirring discourse to a very large con- gregation from the twin texts: I. Cor, 15, 82: "I have fought with the beasts at Eph•.sus," and Hebrews 12, 1: "See- ing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." Crossing the Alps by the Mont Cenis Pass, or through the Mont Cenis Tun- nel, you are in a few hours set down at. Verona, Italy, and in a few min- utes begin examining one of the grand- est ruins in the world -the Amphi- theatre, The whole building sweeps around you in a circle. You stand in the arena where the combat was once fought, or the race Fun and, on all sides the seats rise, tier above tier, until you count forty elevations or galleries, asi shall see fit to call them, in which sat the senators, the kings, and the twenty-five thousand excited spectators. At the sides of the arena, and under the galleries, are the cages in which the lions and tigers are kept 'without food, until, frenzied with hunger and thirst, they are let out upon some poor victim, who with his sword and alone, is condemned to meet them. I think that Paul himself once stood in such a place, and that it was not only figuratively, but literally, that he had "fought with beasts at Eph- esus." The gala -day has come. From all the world the people are pouring into Verona. Men, women and children, orators sand senators, great men and small, thousands upon thousands come, until the first gallery Is full, and the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth - all the way up to the twentieth, all the way up to the thirtieth, all the way up to the fortieth. Every place is filled. Immensity of audience sweep- ing the great circle. Silence! The time for the contest has come. A Roman official leads forth the victim into the arena. Let him get his sword, with firm grip, into his right hand. The twenty-five thousand sit breathlessly watching. I bear the door at the side of the arena creak open. Out plunges the half-starved lion, his tongue athirst for blood, and, with a roar that brings all the galleries to their feet, he rushes against the sword of the combatant. Do you know how strong a stroke a man will strike when his life depends upon the first thrust of his blade? The THE EXETER TIMES shall call It, sits our King, one Jesus. !strikes me strangely is the mixing in On His head are many crowns I The ; companionship kr those, who on earth Roman Emperor got his by cold -blood -1 could not -agree. There is Albert ed conquests; but our King bath come Barnes and around him the Presbytery to His place by the broken hearts who tried him for heterodoxy I Yonder healed, and the tears wiped away, and i is Lyman Beecher, and the church the souls redeemed. The Roman Em- court that denounced hind Stranger peror sat, with folded arms, indifferent than all, there is John Calvin and as to whether the swordsman or the James Arminius t Who would have lion beat; but our King's sympathies thought that they would sit so loving - are all with us. Nay unheard-of con- , ly together? Tbere is George Wake - are all with us. Nay unheard-of con- 4'4 field and the ministers who would not descension. I lee Him come down I let him come into their pulpit because the gallery into the arena to help us ? they thought him a fanatic. There in the fight, shouting until all up and down His voice is heard: "Fear not, I will help thee ! I will strengthen thee by the right hand of My power I" • They gave to the men in the arena, in the olden times, food to thicken their blood, so that it would flow slow- ly, and that for a longer time the peo- ple ,might gloat over the scene. But our King has no pleasure in our wounds for we are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, blood of his blood. Once in the ancient amphitheatre a lion with one paw caught the com- batant's sword, and with the other paw caught his shield. The man took his knife from his girdle and slew the beast. The king, sitting in the gal- lery, said: " That was not fair ; the lion must be slain by a sword." Other lions were turned out and the poor victim fell. You cry, " Shame ! Shame i" at such meanness. But the king in this case is our brother, and He will see that we have fair play. He will forbid the rushing out of more lions than we can meet ; He will, not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able Thank God! The King is in the gallery! His ewes are on us. His heart is with us. His hand will deliver us. " Blessed are they who put their trust in Him," 1 look again, and see theangelic gal- lery, There they are; the angel that swung the sword at the gate of Eden, the same that Ezekiel saw upholding the throne of God, and from which I look away, for the splendor is insuf- ferable. Here are the guardian angels. That one watched a laatriaroh ; this one protected a child. That one has been pulling a soul out of temptation! All these are messengers of tight! Those drove the Spanish Armada on the rocks. This turned Sennacherib's liv- ing hosts into a heap of one hundred and eighty-five thousands corpses. Those, yonder, chanted the Christmas carol over Bethlehem, until the chant awake the shepherds. These, at crea- tion, stood. in the balcony of heaven. and serenaded the new-born world wrapped in swaddling clothes of light. And there, holier and mightier than all is Michael, the archangel. To com- mand an earthly host gives dignity ; but this one is leader of the twenty chariots of God, and of the ten thou- sand times ten thousand angels. I think God gives command to the arch- angel, and the archangel to the sera- phim, and the seraphim to the cheru- bim, until all the lower orders of hea- ven hear the command, and go forth on the high behest. Now, bring on your lions! Who can fear ? All the spectators in the ange- lic gallery aro our friends. "He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, least thou dash thy foot against a s tone. Thou shalt trod upon the lion and adder ; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under toot." Though the arena be crowded with temptations, Ove shall, with the angelic help, strike them down in the name of our God, and leap on their fallen carcasses! 0 bending throng of bright angelic faces, and swift wings, and lightning foot ! I hail you, to -day, from the; dust and struggle of the arena! I look again, and see the gallery of the prophets and apostles. Who are those mighty ones up yonder ? Hosea, and Jeremiah, and Daniel, and Isaiah, and Paul, and Peter, and John and Tames. There sits Noah, waiting for all the world to come into the ark ; and Moses, waiting till the last Red Sea shall divide ; and Jeremiah, wait- ing for the Jews to return; and John, of the Apocalypse, waiting for the swearing, of the angel that Time shall be no longer. Glorious spirits! Ye were howled at, ye were stoned, ye were spit upon! They have been in this fight themselves; and they are all with us. Daniel knows all about lions. Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus. In the ancient amphitheatre, the peo- ple got so excited that they would shout from the galleries to the men in the arena: "At it again!" "For- ward!" "One more stroke I" "Look out 1" "Fall back!" "Huzza ! Huzza!" So in that gallery, prophetic and apos- tolic, they cannot keep their peace. Daniel cries out; "Thy God will de- liver thee from the mouth of the lions I" David exclaims: "He will not suffer thy foot to ue moved !" Isaiah calls out: "Fear not I I am with thee! Be not dis- mayed I" Paul exclaims: "Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ !" That throng of prophets and apostles can- not( keep still. They make the welkin ring with shouting and hallelujahs. I look again and I see the gallery of the martyr's. Who is that? Hugh La- timer, sure enough! He would not ap- ologize for ,the truth preached; and so he died the night before swinging to the bed -post in perfect glee at the thought of emancipation. Who are that army of six thousand six hundred and sixty-six? They are the Theban Le- gion, who died for the faith. Here is a larger host in magnificent array -sight hundred and eighty-four thousand who perished for Christ in the perse- cutions of Diocletian. Yonder is a family group, Felicitas, of Rome, and her children. While they were dying for the faith she stood encouraging them. One son was whipped to death by thorns, another was flung from a rock; another was beheaded. At last the mother became a martyr. There they are together -a family group in heaven! Yonder is John Bradford, who said in the fire, "We shall have a merry supper with the Lord to -night!" Yonder is Henry Voes, who exclauned as he died, "If I had ten heads they should all fall off for Christ I" The great throng of the martyrs! They had hot lead poured down their throats; horses were fastened to their hands, and other horses to their feet, and thus they were pulled apart; they bad their tongues pulled out by red hot pincers ; they : were sewn up in the skins of animals and then thrown to the dogs; they were daubed with com- bustibles and set on fire. If all the martyrs' stakes that have been kindled could be set at proper distance-, they would make the midnight, all the world over bright as noonday 1 And now they sit yonder in the martyrs' gallery. For them the fires of persecu- tion have gone out. The swords are. sheathed and the mob hushed.' Now. they watch us with au all -observing sympathy. . They know all the pain, all the . hardship, all the anguish, all theinjustice, all the privation. They cannot keeptill They cry: "Courage? The fire will not consume. The floods cannot drown. ,' ,he lions cannot de- Couragl vourf Down there in the. Courage! wild bast, lame and bleeding, slinks back toward the side of the arena; then, rallying his wasting strength, he comes up with fiercer aye and more terrible roar than ever, only to be driven hack witha fatal wound, while the combatant comes in with stroke after stroke until the monster is dead at his feet, and the twenty-five thou- sand people clap their hands and utter a shout that maims the city tremble Sometimes the audience cure to see a race; sometimes to see gladiators fight each other, until the people, compas- sionate for the fallen, turn their thumbs down as an appeal that the vanquished be spared; and sometimes the combat was with wild beasts.. • To one of the Roman ameehitheatri- cal audiences of one hundred thou- sand people Paul refers when he says: "We are compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses." The direct reference in the last passage is made to a race; but elsewhere, having discussed that, I take now Paul's favorite idea. of tin Christian life as a combat. The fact is, that every Christian man has a lion to fight. Yours is a bad temper. The gates of the arena have been opened, and this tiger has come out to destroy your soul. It has lacer- ated you with many a wound. You have been thrown by it time and again, but in the strength of God you have arisen to drive it back. I verily believe you will conquer. I think that the temptation is getting weaker and Wreaker. You have given it so many wounds that the prospect is that it will die, and you shall be victor through Christ. Courage brother! Do not let the sands of the arena drink the blood of your soul! Your lion is the passion for strong drink. You may have Contended against it twenty years; lbut it is strong of body and thirsty of tongue. You have tried to fight it back with broken bottle or empty wine flask. Nay! that is not the weapon. With one horrible roar he will seize thee by the throat and rend thee limb from limb. Take this weapon, sharp and keen -reach up and get it from God's armory ; the sword of the spirit. With that thou niayst drive him back and conquer But why specify, when every man and woman has a lion to fight. If there be one here who has no beset- ting sin; let him speak out; for him have I offended. If you .have not fought the lion, it is because /you have let the lion eat you up, This very moment the contest goes on. The Tra- jan celebration, where ten thousand gladiators fought, and eleven thou- sand wild beasts were slain, was not so terrific a struggle as that which at this moment goes on in many a soul. The combat was for the life of the body, that is for the life of the soul. That was with wild beasts from the jungle, this is with the roaring of hell. Men think when they contend against an evil habit, that they have to fight it alone. No ! They stand in the center. of an immense circle of sympathy. Paul had been reciting the names of 'Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac,. Joseph, Gideon, and Barak, and then says: ' Being compassed about with so greaa cloud of witnesses." getthrough,you IgI will show. that you fight in -an arena, around which circle, in galleries, above each other, all the kindling eyes and- all the sympathetic hearts of the, ages; and at every victory gained there comes down the thundering applause of a great multitudethat no man can num- ber. "Being compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.' first elevationthe ancient On the ampitheatre, on the day of a celebra- tion sat Tiberius, or Augustus, or the reigning king, So in the great arena of spectators that watch vttr struggles, and in the first divine gallery: as I are the sweet singers Toplady, Mont- gomery. Charles 'Wesley, Isaac Watts and furs. Sigourney. if heaven had had no music before they went up, they would have started the singing. And there the band of missionaries; David Abeel talking of China redeem- ed; and Jahn Soudder, of India saved; and David Brainard, of the aborigines evangelized; and Miss Adoniram Jud- son, whose prayers for Burmah took heaven by violence! All the Christians are looking into the arena. Our strug- gle is nothing to theirs! Do we in Christ's cause suffer from the cola They walked Greenland's icy moun- tains. Do we suffer from the heat ? They sweltered in the tropics. Do we get fatigued? They fainted with none to care for them but cannibals. Are we persecuted? They were anathe- matized. And as they look from their gallery and see us falter in the pre- sence of the lions I seem to hear Isaac Watts addressing us in his old hymn, only a little changed: Must you be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize Or sailed through bloody seas. Toplady shouts in his old hymn: Your harps, ye trembling saints, Down from their willows take; Lend to the praise of love divine, Bid every string awake. While Charles Wesley, the Methodist, breaks forth in his favorite words, a little varied: A charge to keep you have, A God to glorify; A never -dying soul to save, And fit it for the sky: I look around and I sea the gallery of our departed. Many of those in the other galleries we have heard of; but these we knew. Oh! how familiar their faces! They sat at our tables and we walked to the house of God in com- pany. Have they forgotten us? Those fathers and mothers started us on the road of life. Are they careless as to what becomes of us? And those child - ran, do they look on with stolid in- difference as to whether we win or lose this battle for eternity? Nay; I see that child running its hand over your brow and saying, "Father, do not fret; "Mother, do not worry." They re- member the day they left us. They remember the agony of the last fare- well. Though years in heaven they know our faces. They remember our sorrows. They speak our name. They watch this fight for heaven. Nay, I see them rise up and lean over, and wave before us their recognition and encouragement. That gallery is not fun. They axe keeping places for us. After we have slain the lion, they expect the ging to call us, saying, "Come up higher!" Between the hot struggles in the arena Iwipe the sweat from my brow, and stand on tiptoe, reaching out my right hand to clasp theirs in rapturous hand -shaking while their voices came ringing down from the gaP ery, crying. "Be thou faithful until death and you shall have a crown I" My hearers! shall we die in the arena or rise to join our friends in the gal- lery ? Through ,Christ we may come off more than conquerors. A soldier, dying in the hospital, rose up in bed the last moment and cried, "Here! Here I" His attendants put him back on his pillow, and asked him why he shouted "Here!" "Oh! I heard the roll - call of heaven, and I was only an- swering to my name!" I wonder whe- ther, after this battle of life is over our names will be called in the mus- ter -roll of the pardoned and glorified, and, with the joy of heaven breaking upon our souls, we shall cry "Here I Here 1" arena. What, are they all looking ?. This night we answer back the:' salutation by they give•:and cry, 'Hail! S s and daughters of the fire I" anothek. els I look again, and I see gal- lery, that of eminent Christians. What THE SUNDAY SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON. FEB. 28. "The Disciples Dispersed." Acts 8.1-17. Golden Text. Acis 8.4. GENERAL STATEMRNT. It is a very interesting stage in the development of the Christian Church to which our attention is now called. For the first time since the death of our Lord all popular sentiment is turned against the Christians. The esteem in which their leaders were held for so long a time was doubtless largely due to their public devotion to the temple ritual servieei to the fast that whatever they might believe about Jesus of Nazareth, they were Israelites and Jews of the most intense sort. The opposition which now so suddenly burst out against them was due to the daring with which a foreign - born Jew who had become a Christian asserted that the temple service was as best only temporary and proclaimed a doctrine which was nearly or quite. as expansive as that of Paul, that in the sight. of God there was neither Jew nor Gentile, and that the use of the Mosaic ritual was to be a school- master to lead men to Christ. That in the midst of. the wild perseoution the apostles were themselves appar- ently permittedto remain at peace in Jerusalem, is, as we 'hint in our notes, indicative that there were already in the Church the beginning of that de- viation between the Judaic party and the broader party which we see so dis- tinctly noted throughout Paul's writ- ings. Philip, o hills, one of the, men chosen with Stephen to distribute the wealth of the little company to those who had need, was among those forced to leave Jerusalem. He went straight to the people who were held by the Jews in even greater detestation than were any Gentiles -the Sama-itans, whet hiss- ed and cursed and stoned:. the ' Jews who passed through their territory,' Philip preached the , simple gospel to them, and his word was attended by divine power, and 'many believe it up- on the Gospel. But that city had al- ready a wonder -worker, Simon, who had declared. that he was himself the great power of God, and yet now, strange to say, avows himself a hum - i i i• O 4 ,! a i 4 0 �lb �4 ai �► 4 i O . e' 4 • ^c1)Cx ^�• .x • . .,-.1" r i•r r r -cr-47A r:. " ryr •r -tr ,,� ,„,„,, t- �� . r •sr y ,.•tr v,„-trq ser ,,, nr, Ky,-i r .�•��.r �;�„ Vic„ .ae .. '. ^t' Cx.7 ...2 HE fiEls y IA ..ti.✓wc✓ rwi✓���5✓•.X.�%C+XruS ./i OPPORTUNITY I t CY 4.jIt t'rf•p J IM t 0i t 'VW e�r; Positivelythe Greatest Bargain Ever Offered I Ori , � ash Daily ome or Office tI t� VOL' V .fit`. scare,. And Especially to aid the Young Folks in their Stutles. The Encyclopm lc s,SUPERD �OLIJEMQ Over 5000 Pages magni- ficently illustrated. Cost over 5700,000 to produce- fi, - r--- A t)!ct'ionary and Encyclopzeedia Corn bleed. ictionary Published by Cassells 9 Compton', Limited* London, England. Which has boon over 15 years in preparation underthe editorial super• vision of OR. 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Newspaper Syndicate, 218 St James Street, Montreal. t e c 4rr�t 4Q$.�cr .4 4ac ca j4/* Y 1. c ;( ble believer on the Lord Jesus Christi Thecare with which he watched Philip, ) the suspicion that he had of some su- perior art on the part of the evange- list, and his subsequent offer of mon- ey for the baptism of the Holy Spirit have marked him as a notable char- acter in the history of the early Church. How sincere he was it is impossible for us to say. The rebuke which he re- ceived is one full of lesson to all of us. PRACTICAL NOTES. Verse 1. Saul. Probably at this time he was a member of he Sanhedrin. Consenting. Taking pleasure in; ap- proving of. At that time. Immediate- ly; on that very day. There was a great persecution. A sudden out- burst of antagonism, both legal and illegal. The church which was at Jer- usalem. The company ofebelievers in Jesus. We are not to thinkof an ela- borate organization such as each of the denominations now is. All scattered abroad. Read Acts 11. 19, 20. The Christians knew that the persecutions would come; their Lord had told them so, and now that it came they recog- nized in it an opportunity to spread the Gospel. The' regions of Judea and Samaria. Far away trona the mobs of Jerusalem. Except the apostles. The apostles did not yet stand -at Stephen's point of view, and for that reason, per- haps, escaped persecution; for no one. could Sind fault with them for neglect of the Mosaic ritual. It is probable, too, that the great veneration in which they were held by the common people made it inexpedient for the authorities to attack them. 2. Devout men. This phirase in the New Testament means men careful of their religious duties; not Christians, usually, but conscientious Jews. Taken in connection with the last three words of the last verse it shows, first (pro- bably), that not all Christians indors- ed ndors-ed' Stephen; and secondly, that not all Jews indorsed Stephen's murderers. Great lamentation. 'Iihoroughly char- acteristic of an oriental funeral; in this case especially useful as a notable. protest against the savage outburst' of he Jews. One interesting fact which we cannot fully explain is implied by the story of the gospels and the Acts. During our Lord's life the Pharisee:: seem to have been his chief antagonists. but it was the Sadducees that broughv. about his death, and the opposition to the apostles in the early days seems to have been almost exclusively from Sad- ducean sources. But now the Phari- sees have joined them again, and Saul, a Pharisee, become conspicuous in the attack. 3. Made, havoc. Laid waste. See Gal, 1. 13, and 1 Cor. 15. 9. Haling. An old word akin to "hauling." Committed them to prison. dead Acts 22, 4, 19; 26. 9-11. 4. Therefore, Because of the perse- cution. Preaching. "Proclaiming" in every way, by discussions in the syna- gogues and by personal appeals. In mast cases the preaching was to Jews. The word. The Gospel of Christ. 5. Philip. To be carefully distin- guished from Philip the apostle. His name appears second in the list of seven, Acts, 6. 5; and he is the only one of the "deacons" besides Ste- phen who is mentioned again in the Bible. Twenty years after he had won. for himself the beautiful title of "evangelist," Acts 21. 8. The city of Samaria. Probably, though not cer- tainly the capital city of the Samari- tans. • 6-8. The people with one accord gave heed. The contrast must have been. delicious to Philip, wno . had just es- ed s- ed -from the howling` mobs of cce�,Jere- ppmir- salem: Hearing and seeing the Doles. If a comma were placed after "hearing," it would bring out the sense better. See the Revised Version; they, heard the preaching, and saw the signs." Unclean spirits. Whether or notthedemoniacal possession of the New Testament has any exact parallel in modern life it would be rash tea t- in modern life it would be rash to at- tempt to say. There are diseases, the direct result of vice, which bear close resemblance in their symptoms given in the New Testament record. Palsies. Cases of toaralysis, which is more com- mon in the Bast than here. Great joy. On the part of everybody; those who had suffered in their own persons, those who had suffered from their human sympathy, and those whose hearts ex- ulted in the manifested power of Jesus. 9-11. A certain man called Simon. Therename men- ! are nine men of this t ianed in the New Testament. A bro- ther of Jesus, a disciple, a leper of l:ethanycalled",of a Pharisee, the father of Ju- das Iscariot, a tanner, one who is and one surnam- ed Peter who became the greatest of the apostles. The Simon here men- tioned, if we are to believe early church writers, was known throughout the world; he had "greatly astonished the sacred senate and people of the Ro- mans." Strange legends grew up about him, but of trusty history concerning him there is little or none. Used sor- cery. Like many of the religious tea- chers of the day. The Roman empire was full of sorcerers who did strange and seemingly impossible things, the doing of which was probably based up- on slight knowledge of physical laws unknown to the general. The "black art" owed less probably to familiar spirits than to the gift and subtilties of the wizards themselves. -Dr. Han- ford, Modern spiritualism is the near- est counterpart of ancient sorcery. Bewitched the people. Astonished them; charmed them. Giving out that himself was some great one. He pro- bably declared himself to be a personi- fication of the Great Power of . Ga ; that is, incarnated Omnipotence. From the least to the greatest. Low Classes and high, This man is the great power of God. This should read, 'This man is that power of God which is called Great." "Power" seems to he used here as Paulusedit,Rom. 8,88, and ljh. 1. 21, rie a celesial being. PTo him they they had regard. "They gave heed to him." Of long time. His repu- tation has outlasted years of criticism. Bewitched. Amazed, charmed. Sorter fes. Apparent miracles. 12., When they believed Philip. Re- cognizing thathe outdid the wonders of Simon, and 'that he coupled with his signs a message of sweet relief ' from moral woe. The kingdom of God. The dominance of divine purity. The name of Jesus Christ, A righteousness built upon the scary' of the Gospel. They were being baptized ; there was 'one long and steady' addition to the Church. 13. Simonhi im elf believed also. s Donbtless with sincerity, but not with depth. That Philip could outdo him, on his own field was evident. To Si- mon's low sense of spirituality Philip was simply a superior wonder -worker, so he, Simon, must now learn Philip's secret. If, as is possible, he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, his was such a belief as did not change the sordid nature of his heart. He was baptized. Philip doubtless believ- ed that Simon's Christianity was gen- nine. Superhuman discernment was not always given to the early preach- ers of Jesus, Wondered. The same word as is above rendered "bewitch- ed." 14. This verse presents interesting facts to the attentive student. 1. The apostles at Jerusalem felt that the work in Samaria was in their diocese, and that they were responsible for it -a hint that at this early day there was some recognized church organiza- tion. 2. The phrase, "they,sent unto them," shows that Peter was not pri- mate in the modern sense, bad no su- premacy upremacy there, but went and came as the majority of his brethren voted for him to do. 3. The fast friendship of the two leaders in the apostolic com- pany, in spite of differences in tem- pe..rament and views, is very interest- ing. 15. When they were come, They came to examine the work and see if God's hand were in it, to organize the church,and to bestow the divine gifts in their power. ' Come down. As Jeru- salem is on high ground people were said to "come down" to' almost every other part of the land. Prayed for them. They saw that the work of • . grace was genuine: They could not im- part the. Holy Spirit, but they could intercede for his endowment upon ethers. Receive the Holy Ghost. Some peculiar manifestation 'of the Spirit such as was given: on the day of Pente- cost. 16. Observe that this verse is inar- enthesis. He was fallen: The word "he" is nob in the original: 'Upon none of then; The Samaritans enjoyed the pardon of sins, doubtless, and the con- sciousness of acceptance, but their church had not get the su ernatural Power possessed by that in Jet usalem. Baptized in the name of the Lord jo- stle. With ter . hearts they had ex- ercised faith in :Christ as their, Saviour by baptism they had entered peblicly into his service.