THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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bered Stephen (7 :5 8 ), and may he not have prayed as Stephen did?—Anno. "Bible. Do not th ink for a m inute you can depend upon the favor even of Christian people. You may get roses one day and ro tte n eggs the next.— Mc Neil. v. 20. Disciples stood round. T hat scene, no doubt, gave P aul th e love and devotion of th e young Timothy and his mother and grandm other (16 :1 , 2). On P au l’s next visit th is son whom he had begotten in the sore anguish of th a t hour was to become his devoted attend ant.— Meyer. H e rose up. Consider th e obstacles he had to w ithstand, and are we tu rn ed aside by trifling difficul ties?— E liot. He departed. T hat one left for dead should revive and go about as if nothing had befallen him must have been a still more strik ing evidence of th e m ighty power of God present w ith these teachers th an w hat th e peo ple had already seen.— Camb. Bible. Subject Illu stration . I t is said th a t Kossuth had an inim it able power of adaptation: a keen sense of th e fitness of things. So a d ro it was Ms oratory, th a t coming to a new coun try he would soon liESSON m aster its language, ILLUSTRATIONS had forensic argu- Wm. H. P ik e ments for th e bar, grace a n d poetry for women, statistics for merchants, and an assortm ent of local allusions for th e respective towns and villages in which he pleaded his cause. P au l’s was a g reater adaptation, because he had bu t one message and yet adapted it to all classes in all places. It is said of N athaniel H aw thorne th a t “He did not covet a quick and cheap success— stares and shouts and greasy caps tossed in the air: b u t he wished to be so spiritually g reat th a t only afte r he was gone, should th e world awake to a comprehension of his greatness. He wanted to win th e prize in th e night, as it were, and be off before anybody was up to congratulate him .” Like Paul, he w rought am id th e unpopular crowd. L et it be said only th a t a sp irit
commanding mein.— Chrysostom. Call ed P au l Mercurius. The god of elo quence and th e messenger and attend a n t of Ju p iter in th e heathen mythol ogy.— J. F. & B. v. 13. W ould have done sacrifice. Men are always seeking to give to God’s in strum en ts the worship and glory th a t belongs only to Him.— Pike. v. 14. R en t th e ir clothes. The ord inary Jew ish mode of expressing horror a t anything seen or heard (Ezra 9:3} Job 1 :20 ; 2 :12 ; Matt. 2 6 :65 ).—White- law. v. 15. W hy do ye th ese th ing s?' When people love us and express g ratitud e for service they have re ceived a t our hands, we are in danger of forgetting th a t honor belongs not to us b u t to Christ. Do we point g rate ful people to Him?— Maclaren. We are m en o f lik e passions. Do you, as a m inister of the Gospel, try to give men th e impression th a t you are in a class by yourself?— Sel. Seeking honor from men and having delight in th e applause of th e religious world is a deadly thing. How much th e re is of th is in the p resen t day.— Gaebelein. We preach u n to. Their message sets fo rth to men th e living God in th e place of dumb idols- — Camb. Bible. T u rn from these vanities. This was a trem endous proof of th e sincerity and tru th of these apos tles. W ith that, power th a t was given to them and manifested in such fashion before th e m ultitude, how easy it would have been to play th e role th e people wished to give them , b u t they refused w ith every m ark of repulsion.— Hal- deman. The'Hving God. To be struck w ith God’s power it is only necessary to open our eyes.— Burke. There is no worm of the earth , no spire of grass, no leaf wherein we see not th e footsteps of th e living God.— Hall. v. 17. Deft no t H im self w ithou t w it ness. Thus is declared the progressive revelation by which God has, from the beginning, enlightened th e m inds of men w ith regard to Himself. Prom e a rth ’s earliest days men have not been able to escape th e conclusion th a t th e God of n atu re is th e One w ith whom they per sonally have to do. The crown of all His w itness is in th e life and death of His Son. He who incarnates all th e wisdom and power of God is His un changing testimony to th e sons of men. —Holden. v. 19. Stoned P au l. As th e stones fell upon him, m ust he not have remem
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