Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-04-07
FroHl tho New York Ohavrver.
INTERNATIONAL LESSONS.
.Serssd QHarcT.
BY Err y. =. ROGERS, ,. p.
APRIL 10.
Astoe|fs
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
Luxe Iu33T.

LUXE lb-at-st.
GoIprx Try,.-"Thou sl.t love thy ucishlor a.
thu .slL"-.Lsc. le:tS; MsEE Il ~.
Central Truth We are to love our
ncighbOrs as ourselves.
The parable of the good Samaritan,
which is the theme ot this lesson, is one
of the most striking anu instructive o!
the parallels of osir Lord. Its teaching
is the universal brotherhood Of man.
and ii embodies and illustrates this
important aud beautiful idea in most
practical form. We can scarcely tell
when or where it was spoken, out we
know that ii wss at some place or period
during our Lords last Journey to Jeru
salem, and occurred ia conversation
which he had with n lawyer, probably
man Of intelligence and candor. The
Jewish lawyer was u man whose busi.
nes5 was to expound the lrrsncn law.
which was COZ tanned in the writings OF
Moses, as well as the or5i or tradition.
ary law, which was derived from the
elders appoiated by him to ajd in the
government Of Israel Mum. II l6J.
These emhTaced great mass of civil,
moral aud religious rules and maxims,
which had very much to do with the
every day life ot the Jewish people, and
which gave occasion FOR great variety
of inquiries end discussion rs TO their
exact meanings and distinctions.
As Jesus Proiesscd to he teacher Of
the people, ii was quite natural, As in
this case, that men of the legal pgoies.
sion should bcauxious to test his kuowl.
edge and learn his opinions rs to the
laws OF Moses and his fitness to instruct
q. q 4 D.
without any malicious purpose or any
disingenuouss cayillinE spirit, tempted
him, that j., proposed to test his
knowl ledge and see it he could pro.
pound any doctrine or precept which
would be IN advance OF what he him.
self already knew. lie asked him.
"Master, what shall | do to inherit
eternal life p
Notice this was n very different ques.
ton AS the lawyer asked II, from that
which the trembling jailer at Philppi
asked Of Paul and Silas "What must
! do to be saved ?" II was no agoprzed
utterance of convicted sinner. II
was question of theory, purely intel |
lectual, implying nothing more than
curiosity to know what the exact teach
ing of Jesus was, rather than any felt
want of divine instruction as to how he
could personally secure the salvation of
his own sinful and condemned soul.
Jesus referred him to the law which
he was himself in the habit Of expound
ing, and asked him what il taught him.
HIS answer was direct and candid, and
showed that the lawyer fully under
stood what was the deepest significance
Of the teaching OF the decalogue, and
the spiritual, rather than the ceremon.
ial. nature of that code. He replied by |
quoting the two tex;s-one in Deut. |
d 3 5. and the other in Lev. 10: IS
which made obedience to the law to |
consist in love to God and love to our |
neighbor. But when Jesus told him /
that he had answered rightly. and that |
obedience TO these two great command. |
nents would ensure eternal life, the |
lawyer was not willing TO accept these
a. final, but wanted our Lord to explain |
what vas included in the term neighbor. |
Here the cavilIing, critical spirit of the
man showed itself, and he demanded /
an exact definition of the terms EN-.
ployed. He knew very we'll that the
word neighbor was understood by the |
Jews in a very restricted sense as mean.
ing merely one OF ones own family or |
nation, and not in the broad sense OF |
universal brotherhood, and be felt that |
his own position depended on the
breadth or Earrowness Of the definition, |
and 30 he asked, "Whois my neighbour"
To answer this question, our Lord re-
lated the parable which is the theme of |
the lesson. Without going through all |
the details of the story, Jesus shows
that in given case man had acted |
kind and neighborly part towards
stranger in distress, when two jews,
both ministers of religion, had refused |
10 do so, on the ground Of religious dit
ferenees. And he approved the con.
duct of the Samaritan, who showed the |
true, loving charity to the wounded
stranger, giving his time, his money and
his personal services for his relief, as a
fine illustration of the neighborly spirit
which is the only practical obedience to
the command Of the law, which teaches