D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L IN THE N EW T E S T A M E N T
S T U D I E S
FOR INDIVIDUAL MEDITATION
AND FAMILY WORSHIP
By R. A . TORREY I
oners was discreetly silent about the escape from prison. He dared not ask how they got out, neither did he ask as on a former occasion, in what name the miracles were wrought. He did not wish to get again such an overwhelming answer as he received before (ch. 4:7-12). But the high priest’s shrewd avoidance o f anything that might give the apostles any chance to bring in the name o f Jesus did not accomplish the desired end. Peter found a way to testify for Jesus and His resurrection. The one point the high priest made was that they had commanded them that they “should not teach in this name.” To his mind the fact that they had commanded it ought to set tle it without further discussion. It is a very common thing for men to try to set-, tie questions, not on their own merits, but on appeal to authority, an appeal to the authority o f the Pope, or o f .the catechism, or o f the “latest scholarship.” The “latest scholarship” is the most arrogant and most unaccredited Pope o f the whole crowd. The high priest said that in spite o f the prohi bition o f the ecclesiastical court they had filled Jerusalem with their doctrine. This statement o f the high priest was probably true, and it was very much to their credit, though not so intended. Men aré much needed today who will follow their steps and fill Chicago, and New York, and Bos ton, and London and all cities and all other places with the doctrine o f a risen and Divine Saviour.
Wednesday, November i. Acts 5:21-25.
God had bidden the Apostles whom he had delivered from prison to “go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words o f this life.” The ^obedience of the apostles to God’s commands was very prompt. Day break’ found them in the temple. It is to be feared that there are some o f us who if we were shut up in prison for preaching Jesus would ever afterward keep still if we once got out of prison. While they were teaching in the- temple their enemies, all oblivious that their prey had escaped out “o f the snare o f the fowler” were gathering the council together and planning to stop their mouths. But these enemies were soon thrown into consternation by the report o f their officers that the Apostles had somehow estaped out o f the securely locked prison and through the guards standing at the doors. They turned to one another asking, “where- unto will this grow?” It would have been a good time for them to have repented] but they were too stiff-necked a generation for that and they plunged on in their defiance o f God to their eternal ruin. All o f God’s enemies are bound to be thrown into a per plexity and consternation like theirs sooner or later (Isa. 57:20, 21). To add to their dismay, one came in and -declared to them that the men they had put in prison were 'in the temple boldly standing up and teach ing the people. Thursday, November 2. Acts 5:26-28. The rage o f the enemies o f the disciples was tempered by fear and they brought them “without violence.” They began to fear that they themselves might suffer. The high priest in his examination o f the pris
Friday, November 5. Acts 5:29-32.
Peter’s answer was brief and very much to the point, “W e must obey God rather than men.” A h ! would that that were the motto o f all preachers, and all laymen, too. O f course, we ought to be obedient to all
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