The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-05-16
The SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Notes on the Lesson for May
20-"Jesus in Geth-
semane." IT
From the Chicago Standard. !

oOn4ollC
From the Chicago Standard
The lesson for above date may be found in
the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, from
the thirty sixth to the forty-sixth verses.
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
ou yehere. There are times when we wish
to be alone, and yet not entirely alone. Christ
/ took q friendly trio part OF the way with him
into his solitude. We want human compan-
lonship within call, standing silently by while
/ we wait upon God At Wellesley they have
on the Sabbath that beautiful silent hour"
when each retires into the secrets of his own
thoughts for season. All, il is a sad thing
for the soul when II seeks no time of retiring
with God, when 1t ceases TO say to the world
and to human companionship, @Sit we here a
moment" If that was what Matthew Arnold
meant IN his rebuke of the new world, he was
right We all need our little talks with Jesus
by the way lt Is said that they missed Gill
bert Tennent after an impassoned DISCOURSE
and when they found him he was under the
trees on his face IN holy ecstasy of devo-
ton They looked for a General Washing
ton once, and found him making the copse
sacred with prayer. All real greatness puts
the earth behind, at times, IN communion with
heaven.
While Igo and pray yonder. He had just
been praying for His disciples. He must
needs now go and pray the Father for His
own souls strengthening. 1t was so at other
/
of His disciples, between the feeding of the
multitude and the sitting of the sea, just
prior TO his TRANSPORTATION, He was often
apart in communion with the Father. Christ
honors and ennobles prayer. In the light OF
His example we need no praYer-test If the
soul would be nerved for life's conflicts aud
fitted for life's duties, let il find its olive
shade Bene orGSSe est bene StuduisSe. Il con-
slider the prayers of Gods ministers and peo-
| ple," said the Duke Of Bedford, "as the best
walls around my house." Give time to prayer.
SorrOWfU and VeTy hedVy The latter word
/ is especially suggestive. @Sore troubled" the
New Version says. Array from home, seems
to be its genealogical meaning. He was ut
terly desolate, he was treading the wine-pre
alone. The Fathers face, for the time, under
sims dense beclouding seemed far away 1t
was the foretaste of that supreme sorrow on
the cross which found expression in the ago
nized words, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" 1t was the fulfillment Of
the seer's vision: "A Man Of Sorrows and &C
quainted with grief; and we hid, as it were,
our faces from him" All, was ever sorrow
and love. Sin forced it, love felt it As said
WATSON, of his own world-faring heart, like q
lost sprite from paradise:
Echoes Of heaven are in it's ear,
On high its angel star;
But o the dark and wild are near
And heaven and truth are far.
EVen unto death. There is sorrow that
touches on the throes Of death. Enduring
the agony Of that garden vigil, Christ antici-
pated the very pangs of dissolution The
stripes OF the court and the nails OF the
cross, the thorn-point and the spear-point
were all making their sharpness felt here.
1t is an experience that has come in lesser
degree to many mortals, the moment Of Gu
mulatlye pam and passion. To mothers sOr-
rowing over hayward sons and undutlfnl
daughters TO men who have passed through
the maelstrom of overwhelming and crushing
defeat or disaster, TO souls that have buried
away their earthly hopes and stay. They
have learned TO know death by sorrow, keen
anticipation. Grief has prevented the grave.
Yes, along with Golgotha must go the garden
in picturng to ourselves Savior's weight Of
woe for humanity's unburdening.
II IL be pOSsibie-nevertheleSS. We have
here the tive conditions OF right prayer Il
IL be possible" there is the submission OF the
intellect Nevertheless not as / will but as
thou wilt" there is the submission of the will.
Christ was not asking here TO be released
from the gracious ministry Of redemption,
which he had proposed from the foundation
of the world. Ii was simply his theanthropic
soul crying out under the heaviness of the
present burden and from amid its self-mpos-
Ell limitations. "Let this cup pass" Not
the cup of salvation for man, but the cup OF
bitter ordeal now being endured He has not
abandoned in spirit his mission. He is ODE
dient still, and showing even in the anguish
of the mement his meek "Reminiscences, hear
him saying; IF IL be possl ble" -"neUeTtheLeSs
ashou gih." After all, is not this "the model
prayer"
could ne not watchY The word is addressed
to Peter; Peter who little while before had
said Though all men should be offended be-
cause of thee, yet will L never be offended"
Caused TO stumble), and also Though l
should die with thee, yet will not deny thee. !"
The dizziness of stumbling, the weakness Of
denial were already drawing nigh. The word
is more literally Had ye not strength enough
TO watch one hour with me?" All, no, not
for one hour could Peter or any other of the
followers of Christ stand in his own strength.
Grace alone will Empower. The spirit may be
wiling but the spirit IS very weak.
Watch and pray. They are the Christians
twin guards. Prayer IS good, but along with
II goes watchfulness. When we pray SDeliver
us from evil, !" we preface, by the divine ex-
ample, the words, Lead Us not into tempta-
ton" The path of danger and of hazard Is
to be stunned except when duty calls clear
and plain along that way. No amount of
prayerfulness will atone for a prevailing lack
of vigilance Just now the Christian people
of the nation are losing their grip upon the
legitimate sources Of Christian influence. The
Sabbath is being disregarded, the school is
being secularized and given over TO mere intel
lectualism, the first cousin of rationalism, the
laws against drunkenness and impurity are
becoming more and more dead-letters Why
is it? Is 1t not possible that we have given
but one-sided regardfulness to our Sayior's
injunction? We have been praying in the
churches, but have we, as we should, been
matching abroadl
I'm teiH be done A note of victory. 1t
was not that the pain had passed. 1t was
rather that the spirit had prevailed over the
flesh and accepted of the ordeal The burden
still rested upon the soul, but new strength
had been impaired to bear it That means
victory. Paul had some nameless grief, a
thorn in the flesh. He triumphed over it
When? Not by seeing it removed but
by receiving new power to endure 1t
and to prevail over it @My grace
is sufficient for you" There are two
sentences which seem 10 US to set the grand
music of heaven most to sounding: Sod be
merciful to me- a sinner" and @Thy will be
done" For both put us in harmony with God,
and union with God means power and bless
edness. (which God pleaseth, said the saint
upon her sick bed. asked az to her hope of
health But said one, "If God should refer il
to you which would you choose?" @Truly, "
she answered, IF God should refer it to me,
would even refer it to him again"
Next lesson-~Peter's Denial Matt 26:
G9-75