The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-04-19
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
APRIL Fl.
lesson Text: "The Two Great Conn
mandments," EIark xii, 2s-s4-
Golden Text: Rom. kill,
aO-Commcntary.

Ixn,,,. ~ uIon. he is speaking His las
ti ah they imagined, and of more imporfanc,
% Sien ever we have yet seen. He continues tC
aouk ae;. uhto them in parallels because they
ea snT d ms asy 1na ssaEinS hex heaHd
EVER the parable of the Vineyard the
, mlcked husbandmen and the rejected Son OF
iast days lesson, He then further taught
ond ~ ny Ine parable OF the marriage supper
ana the wedding garment Matt. xii, 1-f4:
after which the several despisers of the grace
uL Ine Lord-thc worldly minded Herodian.
fae mfidel Sadducec and the self righteous,
I'm see-come tha forward i'll succession oppos-
ing the Saviour, but are each and all of them
put 10 silence. This lesson tells of the last of
tnese opposers and the Saviour's answer To
&; And one of the scribes came and hay
ing heard them reasoning together, and per
ceiVng That He had answered them we'll
asked Him, Which is the first commandment
tf OF aif From Matt. xii, "a, 35, wc learn
INA ond' I'M, inis scribe was lawyer and Pharisee,
ana that he came tempting Him. That any
nan nan OF company of men should think that
oney could cntanglc Jesus in His talk, or
faIch ilm in His words and to that end
HMeign themselves just men Matt. xii, Is;
fai;b, aTk XII l3; LI . XXX, 2O), seems to IT'S very
t0ollsh indeed; but we must remember that
tney did not know Jesus and were blinded be-
cause OF their uubelicf What seems more
;a1Se ;',rt is, that even now in our day there is
Just the samc spirit that was manifest in
'sSe unbeheving questioners
-. Jesus answered him: The first of all
- commandments is, Hear, o Israel; the
,lt a,olu "od is ono Lord" In this and tho
IcNG verso or g lcS""r Jesus quotes from
Del'l. VI, 4, 81 the word u,, !. =, Him richly
ara lic had answer for every one from it,
Nhen tempted by Satan He overcamc him by
quotlng from this bool; OF tho law. and how
often we find Him saying at is written y or
rave yc never read in the Scriptures" 1t
Is the sword of the Spirit with which we must
Occomc familiar if we would be soldiers of
.IdE, EIist, ana use 1t skillfully both for our own
s Tetefise and for the overthrow of the enemy.
mo words Hear, o Israel" are found foHr
Ilhes IN Deuteronomy " |; vi, 4; tx, Ex.
81; tWlcc III reference to obeying Gods laws
ana ana t"ice III reference to His presence with
thein The nations about them had gods
many ana lords many, but Israel was chosen
ana separated from ali other nations to be n
witness ,le to the truth of the ono only Living
ana true God, to whom they were to render n
cheerful and whole hearted obedience. He on
!i nis part promising to be their salvation and
their glory
~ And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
VIII VIII an my heart, and with all thy SOUL and
wv Mith an thy mind, and with all thy strength.
rms Is the first commandments" When God
spoke from the smoking, vS,rrnrng, c1outf COW
cred Mount Sinai, out of the midst Of tho
fire, tho words of the ten commandments, of
which the Saviour here give; tho sum, Hc
prefaccd them with these words: ~ am the
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out
OF tie land of Egypt, out of the house of
times this fact is mentioned in the law, the
prophets and the Psalms, either rs an evidence
of His great love or rs q reason why they
should obey Him. 1t was not till after Flo re
deemed them from Egypts bondage that He
gave them His commandments, nor did lie
ask them to love and serve Him until He had
proved His great love TO them Tic comes
TO us with the great gift of His Son Jesus
Christ, assuring us that He SO loved us as To
give His Only Begottcn Son for us; Jesus
Himself assures us of His love by giving Him.
self for us; and the Spirit through tho apostles
is over repeating the same great truth, and
not until we can say: I'VE have known and
believe tho love which God hath toward u.s."
can we also say: 1--WE love Him. and then
wc will be sure to add: because He first
loved us" q John iv., lG-l9D God made
man FOR Himself that He might lavish His
love upon us and that we might he for His
glory; not anything that lie has created, but
only Himself con satisfy oar souls which He
has made, and having given Himself for us
and to- in the person of His Son, it is surely
reasonable that we should give to Him in re-
turn the love of our whole heart, soul, mind
,, and strength.
81. "And the second is like namely, this:
Thou shalt love thy nciShbor rs thySelf;
there is none other commandment greater
than these" AS love to God comprchends
the first four of the ten commandments, so
love to man comprehends the other six; and
ing of tho law" These very words, ''Thou
shalt love thy ncighhor rs thysclf," arc an
other quotation from the law of Moses and
arc found in Lev xix, 1S. When VIC think
of the full significance of this love as defined
in Cor, xiii, ~, long suffering, kind, FREQ
from envy, not vaunting itself, not puifcl up
nor behaving unsccmly, seeking not her own,
not provoked Or. W, thinking no evil, etc,
where can we look for any illustration of it
except in Him who III our lesson has thus re-
piled to this scribe? 1t is as if He said to him,
in Moses you find tho law, but in Me you find
the law fulfilled: for that law is in my heart,
4
ne, poor helpless sinner, and VIII he TO
you the end of the law for Righteousness;
yea, will be your righteousness.
:2. "And the scribe said unto Him, Well,
Master, thou hast said the truth; for there IS
one God; and there is none other but He"
Tho scribe believed in one God and thus far
accepted the truth but he was blind to the
fact that the Truth stood before him in human
folm God manifest in the flesh. He knew
that the God of Israel once tabcrnaclcd III
tent i'm the wilderness, and also at Gilgal and
Shiloh in the Holy Land and atterward in
Solomon's temple at Jcrusalcm but he did
not know that the same God had now como
and had already tabcrnacled among them
more than thirty years i'm the body prepared
for Him (John l., n: Heb. X, 81; and that it
was He that talked with him.
33. "And to love Him with all the heart,
and with all the understanding, and with all
the soul, and with all the strength, and t."
love his ncighhor as himself, is more than
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" Truly
this man seems enlightened; he not only
knew the truth when hc heard it, hut he
seemed to understand it, and to know the diff
ference between outward, formal worship
and real heart service; he seemed 10 under
stand that no amount of burnt Offering or
sacrifice would avail unless there was ON the
part of the oifcrcr n spirit of true obedience
and q grateful sense of the love of God
n. "And when Jesus saw that he an
swercd dscrcctly, He said unto him: Thou
arc not far from the Kingdom of God" Tie
knew the truth, he understood the truth, he
spoke well of the truth, but he did not re-
yve the truth He was very near cntcrinI
just at the door, and the door was opcD
W, \wc do not read that he entered i'll. HC
was in u measure convicted but not con
Vcrtcd. How near one may hc to the King
dom without entering in is made awfuly
clear in Heb. vi, 10, II. ", where we are
told of some who were enlightened, tasted The
heavenly gift were made partakcrs of th'
Holy Ghost, tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the age To come, and yc
fell away. John X, 21-29: John H., ID
Phil. j., u, and other passages make it unmis
takably clear that the truly saved arc for
ever saved; but Heb. vi, 4-G; X, 26-29; ]
t1,,