p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 6. (2/5/1902)

LESSON 6.—FEBRUARY 9.—THE SIN OF LYING.

Lesson Scripture, Acts 5:1-11, R. V.

1 “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 2 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 3 Whiles it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 4 And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost; and great fear came upon all that heard it. 5 And the young men arose and wrapped him round, and carried him out and buried him. 6 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 7 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much. And she said, Yea, for so much. 8 But Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out. 9 And she fell down immediately at his feet, and gave up the ghost; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her by her husband. 10 And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things.”

Golden Text.—“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor.” Eph. 4:25.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) What two disciples are mentioned in this lesson for the first time? What is the first thing said of them? Verse 1. (2) What did they do with the proceeds of the sale? Verse 2. Note 1. (3) What did Peter say to Ananias? What spiritual endowment did Peter here manifest? Verse 3. Note 2. (4) Was there any special requirement that Ananias should sell his property? or that he should even then give all the price? What had he conceived in his heart? Verse 4. Note 3. (5) What was the sudden effect of Peter’s words upon Ananias? What was the effect upon the people? Verse 5. Note 4. (6) What was then done with Ananias? Verse 6. Note 5. (7) Who came into the house some time later? Verse 7. (8) What did Peter say to Sapphira? What was her reply? Verse 8. (9) Then what charge did Peter bring against her? What sentence did he pronounce? Verse 9. Note 5. (10) When was the sentence executed? What was done with Sapphira? Verse 10. Note 6. (11) What effect did this have upon the church and people? Verse 11.

NOTES.

1. In the previous chapter we learn that the disciples were making great personal sacrifice for the benefit of the cause, and that “great grace was upon them all.” None of them lacked anything; for those who had land sold it, and laid the money before the apostles’ feet. So Ananias and Sapphira were ambitious to be thought as generous as the rest, and still keep something to have in case of emergency. The adversary had tried persecution as a check to the work, and now he sows tares. He had attacked the citadel from the outside, and now he sought to introduce hypocrisy on the inside.

2. Peter seems to have been endowed especially with the gift of discerning of spirits. He saw at once that Satan had actuated the minds of Ananias and Sapphira, just as he saw that the heart of Simon Magus was not right. Ch. 8:18-21. The “discerning of spirits” is one of the special gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12; but the apostle John enjoins us all to “try the spirits whether they are of God.” 1 John 4:1.

3. There was no special call for the brethren to sell their lands and donate the proceeds. It was wholly voluntary on their part, as they were actuated by the Holy Spirit. If Ananias and his wife were not disposed just then to make so great a sacrifice, if the amount they brought in had been freely given, and had been the measure of their faith, and had been given for just what it was, there would have been no sin in their retaining the remainder. There had been no demand for it. But they coveted honor, and sought to deceive the Holy Ghost in order to get credit for what they had not done. The sequel proved that such a course will not win. We may deceive man, but not the Spirit of God. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:13.

4. Summary punishment came upon Ananias for his presumption. This was not only a rebuke to Satan, but a striking object-lesson to the church. For a time it put an end to attempts to get into the church at Jerusalem on false pretenses. No unconverted man dared to join himself to them. See verse 13 of lesson chapter. So Satan again resorted to open persecution. See ch. 6:8 and onward. We are not to learn from this example that presumption is any the less offensive to God because not summarily punished. But men do act upon that principle; for the Word says, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Eccl. 8:11.

5. The falsehood had been deliberately planned between the man and his wife. Evidently they had overstepped the bound of mercy, and had placed themselves beyond hope, by becoming the medium of Satan for the introduction of rank deception into this first church of Christ under the new order. Peter had not pronounced sentence upon Ananias. The Lord smote him without any formal sentence; he had heard only his conviction. To make the lesson more impressive, however, and to show that the apostles were His spokesmen, the Spirit of the Lord put the sentence against Sapphira into the mouth of Peter.

6. The Young Men.—Canon Tristram says: “A society of young and able men was attached to each synagogue, who were called the servants of the synagogue, and were held in readiness to perform any menial duties about the place.”

LESSONS BY MAIL ON MEDICAL ELECTRICITY OR HOW TO USE THE BATTERY

By G. L. Abell

By Prof. G. L. Abell, Member of the Board of Directors of the Electro-Medical Society of San Francisco.

Learn how to use the battery and treat yourself. Many diseases are quickly cured by the proper application of electricity. The course embraces the treatment of every organ and part of the body. The lessons are written in plain language and are illustrated. Course, five dollars. Send for circular. Address.

PROF. G. L. ABELL School of Chemistry and Electro-Therapeutics 36 Geary St., San Francisco, Cal.

Eggs for Hatching

By C. H. Tyrrell

From BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS and BLACK LANGSHANS at reasonable prices :::

Illustrated circular of valuable information free

C. H. TYRRELL, Sioux Rapids, Iowa

Missionary Articles

By Editor

We have a series of seven missionary articles written by the men on the ground, and who are therefore familiar with the different features of the fields about which they write. These have already commenced in our columns, and will continue without interruption until they are closed. The following are some of the subjects treated:—

ARTICLE 1

SOME FACTS ABOUT BRAZIL

Description of Brazil; location and general features; climate, fruits, and flowers; facilities for traveling.

ARTICLE 2

THE PEOPLE OF BRAZIL

The religion of the country; feast and saints’ days; church buildings; harbor and city of Rio Janeiro.

ARTICLE 3

AGRICULTURE IN BRAZIL

Surface of the country; agricultural implements; products; Americans in Brazil.

ARTICLE 4

WORK TO BE DONE IN BRAZIL

Lotteries; need of religious literature and general Gospel work; opposition and persecution.

ARTICLE 5

The South American Continent to be evangelized; Indian tribes calling for schools and the Gospel; a missionary to the Indian tribes in Chili; calls from Uruguay, Argentina, Chili, and other countries.

ARTICLE 6

ANGLO-INDIANS IN INDIA

Neglect of religious education among Europeans in India; difference between Anglo-Indians and Eurasians; manner of living; conditions of life; an appeal for this field.

ARTICLE 7

THE JAPANESE FOX

An interesting Oriental superstition.

Those desiring extra sets of the seven papers containing the above series may secure them at the following rates:—


10 copies	-	-	$0 95
25 "	-	-	2 36
50 "	-	-	4 72
100 "	-	-	9 45

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Protected Crime.

A prominent San Francisco daily declares in bold type: “It may seem a startling statement to make in cold print, but it is nevertheless true, that any policeman who did his duty in San Francisco would be removed from the force inside of a week. The duty of a police officer is plain. It is incumbent upon him to arrest all violators of the law whose crimes are committed within his personal knowledge. But no policeman in San Francisco dare enforce any law until he has received instructions from his superior officer to do so.” With reference to disorderly houses it says: “It is an indisputable fact that all the most notorious places of this character are under the direct protection of the Police Department.” This is also said to be true of gambling resorts. If men of influence or those having a political pull are likely to be affected, the criminal is not punished. This daily does not condemn the policemen, but the policy which is pursued by those in authority. It demands that all laws shall be enforced against all the offenders all the time. But the things condemned are typical of to-day. We are nearing the end. Reform is superficial and transient. Relapses leave the patient worse than before.

The Boer War.

By Editor

It is declared just as we are closing our forms that there is a prospect of the close of the greatly prolonged and seemingly needless Boer war. It is a strange thing that the Boers would be so blinded to their own interests as to keep it up as long as they have; and we do not believe that this would have been done if those far from the seat of danger had not cheered them on in the hopeless struggle. A level-headed missionary on the ground, who we are sure is in no wise prejudiced either way, writes us in a private letter, not designed for publication, that many of the Boers are heartily sick of the war. Some, indeed, of those who have surrendered, have thrown their interests on the British side, and are acting as scouts and guides; and some are organized into companies fighting for British supremacy. Some of them feel that “Uncle Paul” has acted the part of a hypocrite in stirring them up to continue the war by his applications of Scripture having no reference to the Boers, and then in the crisis, leaving them with plenty of good gold sent on before. Many of the Boers seem utterly indifferent. Mention is made of one family as an illustration. The father is a prisoner of war in Ceylon, three of the sons are among the guerrilla bands fighting Britain, the mother is in one of the refugee camps with three or four children, while another son has surrendered, and with his sister gone to work for one of the missionary’s flock. Our correspondent says: “They seem to be less concerned about their situation than any people I have ever seen under similar circumstances. Very few families are in touch with each other by correspondence.” The Scripture chiefly used by Kruger is Ezekiel 39. We are sorry that the war ever came. We are not saying in this where the wrong lies, either on one or both sides, probably both. But we do believe that it would have ended long ago, to the betterment of both parties to the conflict, had it not been for the influence of spectators who were themselves in no danger.

Questions About the Unpardonable Sin

By Editor

There are many inquiries which come to this office over the unpardonable sin; in our editorial columns will be found help for those in doubt.

Sabbath-School Lessons

By Editor

Sabbath-school Lessons.—We publish two Sabbath-school lessons in this issue to enable our far Eastern readers to get the lesson in time for study. From now on we trust they will reach those who study in sufficient time. Next week we publish two Sunday-school lessons for the same-reason.

Shipwrecks and the Coming Peace

The last few months have been months of terror for the sea-faring men. Many a staunch ship has gone to wreck. Some have gone down, leaving, as yet ascertained, no survivor to tell the tale. The sin-sick earth is not only a great mausoleum, but an insatiate monster of prey when aroused by the demon who seeks to be its king. Sometime the Master will speak eternal peace to earth and sea; and He and His will enjoy it forever.

Civil Government and Religious Liberty

All that the Christian can ask of civil government is what the Lord has told him to pray for, namely, that he “may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” He does not ask for one single law to uphold any religious institution or dogma. What is revealed to him as truth is established by grace, through faith, in his own heart, and only so can it be established in the hearts of others. Heb. 13:9; Rom. 3:31. He knows that God can care for His own, while civil government has ever interfered to the peril of both Church and State.

Is It Sugar or Tobacco?

A gentleman, in the San Francisco Examiner, tells us how greatly he was benefited by giving up sugar. It is doubtless true, as he says, that too much sugar is eaten, that an unnatural appetite is formed for it. But the writer’s improvement was doubtless due to another cause, and he seems to half suspect this after all. He was a tobacco-user and coffee-drinker. In giving up his sugar he gave up also coffee and tobacco. He says: “Giving up coffee was the hardest trial, and, as coffee without sugar had no charms for me, it amounted to giving it up when I stopped using sugar in it. It is possibly for this reason that sugar does much of its harm.” But the harm is largely in the coffee rather than the sugar. And in his closing he urges us: “Stop eating sugar a few months. And mind you do not smoke.” After all, his article may have been a shrewd way of attacking coffee and tobacco. They are a hundred-fold worse than sugar.

Wireless Telegraphy

Wireless Telegraphy is among the wonderful discoveries of this generation, and Marconi is being worshiped as a demi-god. If men take to themselves this glory, Satan will use the discovery to their delusion and destruction. Thousands will believe in this who reject God. They will believe that hundreds of miles, over fog-enshrouded, storm-lashed waves, Marconi heard three faint ticks of his instrument uttering the letter “S” of the Morse code; but they will not believe that God can communicate with His children or they with Him. Nevertheless, through all the ages every soul who has known the great, kind Father has daily demonstrated the truth of wireless telegraphy. The great, stormy gulf of sin, wrapped in miasmatic fogs, has separated this old error-racked earth from the Continent of Heaven; but over rock and wave, through storm and fog, God sends to, and receives daily messages from, His children. No message goes astray. Every word is recorded. There is no wonder to the true, thinking Christian over the fact of the last nine-days’ wonder. He knows and is practising wireless telegraphy with the King of the Universe.

Instantaneous Photography

Instantaneous Photography is a really wonderful thing. It ought to help us better to understand how quickly and surely the objects men see and desire are photographed upon heart and memory. We do not at first see the print of the object photographed. It may remain for months in the dark chamber. If we look upon the plate, we could see nothing. And yet the image, the likeness, is there, and the proper processes produce it in startling outlines. So the object looked upon or thought upon with desire or pleasure, whether good or evil, may for the time be forgotten; yet it is photographed on mind and memory, and will long after come to mind with startling distinctness, sometimes to encourage, and sometimes with the leering face of a demon or the voice of a siren, to delude and destroy. The lesson is to guard the mind and heart at every entrance. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” “Keep the door of my lips.” “I have made a covenant with mine eyes.”

Egyptian Antiquities at the University of California

Among the recent additions to the museum of the University of California are some valuable antiquities from Egypt. One painted stone is wonderfully preserved, the color as fresh and decided as tho it were put on a week ago. Other finds are a gold necklace and carmelian heads, eight gravestones, one of which is mentioned above, ranging in date from the sixth to the eighteenth dynasties. One gravestone says that the deceased was “the favorite of his father, the first-born of his mother, the beloved of his brothers and sisters.” Among the other finds are a painted coffin, a bronze spear-head, still fastened to the original wooden shaft, six fine small alabaster vases, a beautiful alabaster head-rest, two wooden head-rests, a wooden chair, with part of the woven seat still preserved, a wooden mace, beautifully decorated with bits of straw to imitate gold and with designs in red and black, a gold necklace, a large and beautiful scarab, a number of pots and other small objects, and six gold ornaments, including models of lion and eye, two birds, and two beautifully wrought bees, all of which show that we moderns do not know everything.

Advertising

By Editor

Advertising.—Mr. Bryan tells us that “no advertising matter is accepted [for his paper, The Commoner] until investigation is made as to the responsibility of the advertiser, and subscribers are asked to notify me, if any advertiser attempts fraud and deception.” This is a good principle, tho rare in secular papers. From the columns of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES all known questionable advertisements are rigidly excluded, and many dollars’ worth of advertising is constantly being turned away, because questionable. With this department the editor has naught to do, save in the way of advice or suggestion. Yet we are sure that the one who has this in charge will do all in his power to exclude the advertising of all questionable things, or even good things from questionable parties. Notwithstanding this care, it has sometimes failed. We shall be glad to have our readers notify us of the failure of any advertiser to do as he has agreed. There has been one case of this, which we are investigating.

Full Consecration to God

It has been said that “the world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.” Of course the saying is not true, for the world has seen Jesus Christ; but it is said Mr. Moody once heard that saying, and silently resolved to test it. He said to himself, “I am a man, and it lies with the man himself whether he will or will not make that full consecration that will show what God can do with and for and through and in a disciple of Christ.” There are wonderful possibilities in the man who will let God work in him “both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

God Is Good; God Is Love

“God is good;” say it, sing it ever, and in His goodness you will be good. “God is love;” say it, sing it ever; and His love flowing into your life will make you both loving and lovely. By beholding we become changed into the same image.