The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-06-21
CHRIST'S MISSION CLOSED.

CHRISTS MISSION CLOSED.
LESSON XIII, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL SERIES. JUNE "a.
Golden Text, Matt. XVIII, lS-His Final
Teachings. Lessons I-v-His Final Suffer-
ings. Lessons yI-lx-- His Resurrection
and Final Comnanas. Lessons XXI.
fCondensed from Lesson HELPER OuarterIv. nv
permission of II. 3. Hoffman, Philadelphia. pub
lisher.l
The second quarter of the year is devoted
to the closing scenes, final lessons and conn
mands, death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ-events and teachings Sranscending in
Importance all other earthly events what
ever In the first quarter I'll calling of his
disciples and the preliminary work were I'M
folded; we now come to the distinctive doc
trines, the warnings and judgments, and
after them the shameful and painful death
which sealed the divine testimony, followed
by the visible proofs of life and immortality
brought to light, and the command to carry
the Gospel into the world
The first lesson is the parable of the mar
riage feast; how those first hidden rejected
the message; how q multitude of all sorts of
people were then called and accepted, and
how even one of them was found without a
wedding garment and rejected. The teach
ing is plain The Jews first received a reve-
lation and neglected it; Christ came and sent
his servants. the alsoetless 70 tell them all was
ready, and againlhey refused, covetousness
being the prevailing cause; then the apostles
went to the gentle world, and all sorts and
conditions of people accepted the call And
Of these some failed on the final test No
great learning is required to understand this
last, we see the formal professor daily,
showing that the true work Of grace is not
in his heart.
The second lesson Nesson XIV, April s. pre-
sents an abrupt, a startling break in Christ's
general tone He is no longer the gentle
friend; be is the great and terrible Judge,
pronouncing woe upon the blind guides, the
generation of vipers" 1t is a terrific in
dictment; but SO far as it was history it was
known to the indicted themselves to
be true, and so far as it was proph-
ecy, 1t was soon to be fulfilled. The
Jews were soon to fill up the measure of their
iniquities by fierce prosecutions, and within
the lives of many who heard Christ Jerusa-
lem was destroyed GO A d., after the most
frightful suffering by its people, and the
Jewish nation was utterly blotted out. The
essential point of the lesson is that God is a
just Judge, as well as Saviour and Friend.
Lesson XVI continues the warning with
an exhortation to watch, and then comes
the remarkable parable Of the ten virgins,
with the same lesson, and to a considerable
extent the same figures and simihtudes as in
Lesson XIV. The parable of the ten talents
continues the teaching as to our Lords
second coming, again emphasizing the ter
rible fact that even of the chosen servants
one did and many may prove slothful or
faithless. Indeed, this fact appears in al
most every teaching, and is at the last most
painfully confirmed by the treachery of
Judas. One point in this parable is quite
delicately putt the slothful servant, when
called to account at once began to find fault
with the conditions of the trust, and to
exaggerate the exacting disposition of his
lord, even charging him with cruelty and
avariciousness. How very naturali How
closely does it correspond with what we so
often hear from men who complain of tho
rigor of Bible doctrinei And the lords re-
ply is sufficient answer to all those who com
plain of this or that as 'hard doctrine" He
says in effect that the complaint is false but
| even if the servant believed it true, ''Thou
| oughtest so much the more have given thy
self to the business appointed thee to-"
The Judgment set forth in Lesson XIX
Matt. XIV, 31-46-has probably been more
thoroughly and heatedly discussed than any
other section of the New Testament 1t is
estimated that some hundreds of volumes
| have been written upon the single Greek
| word ''aionios"-"e "eternal"-and that the one
| question as TO whether the judgments are
| contemporary or successive has called forth
more than ten thousand pamphlets and pub
| lished sermons in Great Britain alone And
| it is indeed remarkable that with all this the
| doctrine held by the Christian churches has
| not greatly varied from Tertullian, in the
Second century, till now. On one point
| only does there appear marked change
and that not of practical Importance 1t
was long held that the Judgment was to be
one great event, when all human beings
would appear before the 'Great White
| Throne" but now many learned and pious
men hold that there are separate resurrec-
| tions and successive Judgments Belief in
either is not test of faith the reality is
awful enough, be it one event or many. The
Scriptures are open to all believers to study
| and decide for themselves; so the reader is
referred to Thess iv, 1918; II Thess. j,
ia; Cor Nv, 29-26; Rev TX, 5, and xix
entire; II Cor. v, 10, and parallel passages.
With the close of the prophecy on the Judg-
ment, change appears; that lesson most ap-
| propriately ends the comprehensive lessons:
| thereafter it would seem that Christ consid-
ers His mission as teacher at an end, and
sets the example of making final arrange
ments for death, indulging in last words and
scenes with His companions. In Lesson Xxx
the beautiful and simple ceremony of the
Lords Supper is instituted.
At the regular supper He announces the
approaching tragedy and thrills the hearts
of His disciples with the astounding state
ment, Zone Of you shall betray me-" Then
that curious episode occurs in which the Sa-
viour quietly intimates to the disciple near
Him as to who the traitor is, and ''immedi-
ately after the devil entered in Judas"
The time had now come when Jesus must
enter into experiences where His disciples
| could not accompany Him. On the Mount
of Olives He still more explicitly declares
His approaching death; but is plain that the
disciples did not yet understand His mission.
| They still entertained the idea Of Az
earthly kingdom, of deliverance from ths
rule of the Romans; they thought ''it had
been He which should have redeemed Israel"
Then followed His agony in Gethsemane, His
arrest and trial, the denial of Peter and the
long night of buffeting and derision, after
which He was led out to execution It was
on Friday about o'clock in the morning
when the sad procession reached Calvary,
and we may believe that the cruel act of nail
| ing His hands and feet to the cross was soon
| completed The cross was used by the Ro-
mans to infiict death on slaves who had at
tackled their masters, or criminalsor outlaws
who had long resisted the law; on those who
had murdered near relatives or committed
other peculiarly atrocious crimes; common
murderers or criminals generally received a
quicker and more merciful death. We may
conclude, therefore, that the two thieves
were the worst of their class, and this adds
somewhat to the force of the lesson conveyed
in the repentance of one. The resurrection
and final commission to tho disciples, but re-
Gently studied, close the quarter.
Italian counts have gone out Of fashion as
husbands of American girls, having been sup