The Wingham Advance Times, 1928-07-19, Page 7•
Thursday; July
th, x928
WINGI A1VI AI VANCE,TIl1# S
The God of Abraham praise,
Who reigns 'enthroned above,
Ancient of everlasting days,
And God of love.
Jehovah! Great I AIVX '
By earth and heaven confessed,
.1 bow and bless the sacred name
For ever blest.
He keeps His own secure;
He guards them by His side;
:.Arrays in garments white and pure
His spotless Bride;
With streams of sacred bliss,
With groves of living joys,
With all the fruits of Paradise,
He still supplies.
Before the great Three -One
They all exulting stand,
..And tell the wonders He hath done
Through all their land;
The listening spheres attend
And swell the growing fame,
.And sings, in songs which never end,
The wondrous Name!
The God,who reigns on high,
The great Archangels sing,
;.And, Holy, holy, holy," cry,
"Almighty Kingl•
"Who Was, and Is, the same,
"And evermore shall be!
'Jehovah; Father! Great I Am!
"We worship Thee!"
Before the Saviour's face
The ransomed nations bow
.0'whelm'd at His Almighty grace,
For ever new:—
He shows His prints of love;
• They kindle to a flame,
..:And sound, through. all the worlds
above,
The slaughter'd Lamb!
The whole triumphant host
Give thanks to God on high;
"Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"
They, ever cry;
Hail! Abraham's God, and ,nine!
I join the heavenly lays;
All might might and majesty are Thine,
And endless praise!
a attractive, and; , on account of the.
short
lines occasionally uncouth; but
Like a stately pile of architecture, ;sev-
c
are and simple in design it strikes less
on the first view than after delibera-
tive examination when its proportions
become more graceful, its dimensions
expand, and the mind itself grows
greater :contettiplating it."
This is the deliberately expressed'
opinion of the poet James Montgorn-
ery, than whom no better judge of
the poetical and spiritual value of a
hymn' could well be imagined. Mont-
gomery it will be remembered gave
us some of our'very finest hymns, as
for instance, "Hail to the Lord's. An-
nointed,", "Prayer is the soul's . sin-
cere desire," "For ever with the
Lord," "Songs of praise the angels'
sang" and "Go to dark.Gethsemane."
The "unlettered man" to whom he,
refers as the author of our hymn was
Thomas Olivers in whom native gen-
ius took the place of a sound literary
or classiral education. Owing to the
death of both of his parents when he
was only four years old he had little
chance of learning any of the niceties
of, life •in -- _ boyhood! days, 'during
which he was made to feel his depen-
dence upon relatives who did not
want hire about, and passed him on
from one to another often and speedli
ly as possible.
The best they could do for hire was
to apprentice him to a cobbler, ; in
whose shop he learnt nothing, to 'en
rich his soul, and developed, into a
godless reprobate. Compelled to•leave
his native place,. Tregynon in Mont-
gomeryshire, Wales., he went on
tramp, picking up a'bit of shoemaking
or mending, as he travelled through
Shrewsbury, Wrexham ' and Bristol,
but usually in desperate circumstances
f inancially.
In Bristol he chanced to follow a.
crowd of careless fellows into.a chap-
el where the celebrated George
Whitefield was the preacher. The text
"Is not this a brand plucked out of
the fire?" arrested his attention and
"That noble ode `The God of Abra- the application of it brought the con
ham praise,' etc., though the essay of viction home to him that it had an
an unlettered man, claims especial especial reference to himself.
`honor. There is not in oitr language From thenceforward, hard though it,
a lyric of more majestic style, . more was at first, he lived a Christian life.
.elevated thought, or more glorious He went to one of VThitefield's prea-
imagery; its structure indeed is un- cher's expressing a wish' to join, his
followers, He, good lean, saw no rea-
son to believe that young Olive's
would ever be a credit to their sect
discouraged him, and he went on his
way alone, sp far as human help was
concerned, mending shoes, talking
about the gospel of salvation from sin
as he passed from town to town.
At Bradford -on Avon he determin-
ed to settle down at his trade and
joined the Wesleyans. Happily, John
Wesley' himself; carne to that place
and with customary intuition saw in
the poor shoemaker, zeal and ability
to talk convincingly.
TfiE SUNDAY N SCHOOL LESSON
LESSON IV—JUL.Y 212
"Saul's Early Ministry"—Acts 9: So;
ix. 19-30; x : 35; Galatians x: 15-i8
GOLDEN TEXT—Straightway in
the synagogue 'he ,proclaimed Jesus,
that He is the Son ` of God.—Acts 9:
THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING
Time.—Saul in Arabia,. A.D., 36-38.
Paul's escape from Damascus, A.D.,
38, followed by his visit to Jerusa
'lens. ` Paul in ' Cilicia and! Syria,
A.D. 38-4z. 'Patel called to Antioch,
A.D. 43. Famine relief taken to Je-
rusalem, A.D:, 45. Return of Saul to
Antioch, A.D. 4:6.
Place.—Damascus, Arabia, Jeru-
salem, Tarsus, Antioch of Syria.
Saul Preaching in Damascus.
And lie was certain days with the
disciples that' - were at Damascus.
"Certain days," when used else-
where in the Acts indicates plainly
a short time, so that it probably has
that significance here, After Ana-
nias, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, had restored Saul's vision,
Saul received baptism first, and af-
ter he had fulfilled that great duty
he broke his three -days fast, and
his weakened body recovered strength
which he immediately used for his
new 'Master.'
And straightway. Saul had many
excuses for procrastination which
he might have urged; but he was
not looking for excuses, he was
eagerly looking for opportunities,
and every one that, seeks opportuni-
ties for Christian work finds them
at once, and many of them. In the
synagogues. Christ constantly took
advantage of the synagogues prac-
tice of inviting distinguished and
able visitors to address the gathe--
ing and Saul throughout his life, in
all his extensive travels, began his
work in the synagogue if the place
where he was had a synagogue. He
proclaimed Jesus, that He is the
Son of God. The fact that in the
humble carpenter of the despised
''Nazareth their long -expected Mes-
siah had appeared as the fulfilment of
the. ancient prophecies was the most
marvellous and glorious news that
could come to the Jews—at least to
those of them that believed it!
Andall that heard him were
amazed. They had expected a fierce
denunciation of Jesus and His dis-
ciples; they now heard them exalt-
ed beyond. measure, and the famous
rabbi declaring that he himself was
a follower of Jesus. No wonder
they were amazed. And said, is not
this he that in Jerusalem made
havoc of them that called• on his
name? The men that had conte
with Saul to Damascus would spread
the news of his past activity as a
persecutor, even if it had not reach-
ed Damascus before. And he had
come hither for this intent, that he
might bring them bound before the
chief priests. Ananias knew of
Saul's errand (Acts 9:14), and prob-
ably by' this time allthe other Jews
in Damascus,
But Saul increased the more in
strength. No true Christian con-
vert will stand still, Progress growth
is the law of the new life which he
itas entered, And confounded the
Jews that dwelt at Damascus, prov-
ing that this is the Christ. Saul, the
learned rabbi, was doubtless more
familiar with the prophecies of the
Messiah than any other person in
Damascus.
And when many days were fulfilled.
These "many days" if the conjecture.
stated above is correct, included the:
years spent in Arabia. The Jews took
counsel together to kill him. At first
they were stunned, "confounded," by
the unexpectedness and vigor of
Saul's proclamation of Jesus as the
Son of God, and could not muster ar-
guments to withstand him,
But their plot became -known' to
Saul. Many of these Jews by this
time had relatives and friends Who
were Christians. It would be diffi-
cult to hide the plot from them, and,
they would at once warn Sattl. And
they watched the gates also day
and night that they might kill him,
They'dogged Satil's footsteps, seek-
ing alt opportunity to spr'ing ottt up-
on hint from some dark doorway, and
they kept up a systematic watch! at
the city gates, to slay him if he tried'
to leave the city.
13ttt his disciples ttlok'him by night
and lot Mtn ' down through the wall..
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"His disciples'." shows that on this
second visit to Damascus Saul had
remained long enough to win a num-
ber of followers to Christ, Lowering
him in a basket, "The basket here
mentioned is the same that is spoken
of (Matt, 15:37) at the feeding of
the four thousarin in the ,mountain
district west of the Sea of Galilee,
Saul In Jerusalem.
He assayed to join himself to the
disciples. No successful worker for
Christ is a solitary and independent
worker, Probably no one ever lived
who was better equipped in heart
and mind than Saul to carry on a
great religious work alone, but the way, and that he had spoken• to ardent Christian advocate, liad spoken
throughout his life he associated Him. This was the essential fact in for Christ in these same Greek -speak -
many other Christian workers 'clo'se-, Saul's life; everything else sprang ing synagogues, (Acts 6:8-14.)
And when the brethren knew it,
they brought him down to Caesarea.
It would be as difficult to keep such
a plot secret in Jerusalem as it had
been in Damascus, for the Christian
sure that Saul's friendliness was
not all .a trick to discover the 'Chris-
tians more thoroughly, so .' that he
might destroy them utterly?
But "13arnabas took him. "Barna-
bas"
Sarna -bas means "Son of Consolation"
the Lord. Bold preaching was claar-
acteristie of Saul throughout his
life, The truth, to ,bis mind, was,
mot SQrething to hide trader' a•
bushel, but to put on a lampstand,
that it alight give light to all the.
an appropriate name for thiskindly house, And he spake and disputed
and generous man.
His other name against the Grecian Jews, Saul though
t r
wasoseph, And brought him to a Hebrew, of the Hebrews, was a
J ,Greek -speaking
the apostles. We can hardly sup- Jew,and, , in his ev-
pose thatall twelve of the apostles
were in Jerusalem; Saul tells us
that he conversed only witth Peter
and with James the Lord's brother
(Gal. z:18, 19). And declared unto
them how he had seen the . Lord in
angelistic work, would naturally seek
first the synagogue of the Cicilian
Jews, those from his home province
of Asia Minor. 1314 they were seek,
in',g to kill hire Saul would remem-
ber how Stephen, the eloquent and
ly with himself, and the' list of his.
friends and co-workers in the New
Testament is excelled only by those
of Christ. And they, were all afraid.
of him, not believing that he was a
'disciple. ' Saul went to .Jerusalem
primarily, to see Peter (Gal. x:n3),
the leading apostle. The Jerusa,
lem disciples may ,have heard rum-
ors of Saul's 'doings in far-off. Dam-
ascus, but they were only the chance
words of travellers. Who could be
froze that. And how at Damascus
he had preached boldly in the name
of Jesus. This sounds as if Barna-
bas had personal knowledge of Saul's
work in Damascus,
And he was with. them going in population was as yet closely inter -
and going out at Jerusalem. "Going twined with the non-Christian. And
in and going out" is the Hebrew way .sent him forth to Tarsus. Saul
of saying that his association with
the Christians was intimate and con-
tinual
might have travelled northward by
land, for there was a well -used . road
along the coast, but "the fact that
Preaching boldly in the name of his friends brought Sad! crown to
Caesarea, the only city of southerrt
Palestine which had`:a good harbor'
indicates that he was to make t'he,
journey to Tarsus by water."
Saul At Work` xis Antioch
Arid he went forth to TalCstis'to
seek ;for Saul, I3;,rnabus had been
so successfui''in winning :souls to
Christ that he needed some one to
help` ,care for the new Christians, in-
struct them and guide then,
Arid when they ;found him, he
brought him unto Antioch. Very
likely Barnabas knew` that he, might'
be overshadowed by this, former.
rabbi and member of the Sanhedrin,
whose. history !tad been so.:striking
and who had such a story to tell;
but what cared he? And it came to
pass, that even for a whole year
they were gathered together with the
church, and taught much people. The
strange expression, "were gathered
together with the church,'' may mean
that the church work brought Barns'
bas and 'Saul together in one of thr,
most profitable Christian partnerships.
of all time; or it may mean that they
and the church members labored to-
gether in fruitful harmony. Both ex-
planations would be true.
The Empire
Opportunity in
Manufactured Goods
Of 38 groups of manufac-
tured goods Canada sells
the Empire to the total of
$178,000,000. It is to be
remembered that the Em-
pire imports from all
countries these goods to
the amount of$2,571,000,-
000. The British Empire
presents atremendous
opportunity for the devel-
opment of export on these
commodities.
OLL down the map of the world. Follow the British Empire
red through the continents and across tihe seas. There you
see beckoning markets for Canada—where fewer trade
restrictions intervene, where British tradition is appreciated, where
Canada is known. There we can sell. There we can also buy.
Canada is buying more. Empire goods than ever before—things we
cannot grow or make—raw materials for our factories. Since 1922
Canada's imports from Empire countries have increased 67 per cent.
Last year we bought Empire goods to the value of $250,000,000,
And what is Canada selling the Empire? Last year we shipped
$500,000,000 worth of our products to other British lands, an increase
of 44.3 per cent. in six years.
The various parts of the Empire, want more Canadian goods, A
demand exists among them for Canadian zxianufactures, or for the
products of Canadian lands or waters. But we must see that our
exports are maintained at a rigid standard, that they are packed as
consumers desire, and that our prices are right.
To encourage this growing. Empire trade,, eleven of Canada's twenty-
four Trade Commissioners abroad, are working in Empire centres.
They are familiar with the demands of the people among whom they
live. Their services and, the information they gather are at the
command of any Canadian producer or exporter. To get into touch
with Trade Commissioners, write the Commercial Intelligence
Service, Department of Trade and Commence, Ottawa.
When you buy Empire goods,you do a part in making possible
greater Canadian exports to these sister countries. Where we sell,
we must also buy.
THE DEPARTMENT OF
TRADE aNn COMMERCE
1+.C.T.0'
APA, Deputy Minister`
TAWA
Eton. JA.IVMS IVIA:LC0I.M, Minis or
y4