News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-02-28
TIE |. S. S. LESSON.
INTERNATIONAL LES CON FOR
MARCH g.

Lesson Text: Jesus the Messiah.
Mark viii, 27-3S and tx, +
Golden Text: Mark viii, 81
Commentar, on the Lesson.
| Eetween this lesson and the last one we
| have the record OF the death of John the
Baptist, the feeding of the multitudes on two
| different occasions, the walking on the sea,
the great faith of the Syrophenician women
and the healing of her daughter, the healing
of a deaf and dumb man, the healing of q
! blind man, the healing of multitudes in the
| cities and villages by simply touching Him,
and His expos ton of the hollowness of the
| Phar. sees religion. Thus He kept going about
dong good, ciung to by the poor and the
distressed, hated by the religious leaders OF
the people because their superficial and
hypocrtical relig on could not stand before
| His sincere ana complete manifestation of
the life which they lrofessed but did not
| possess.
| q. Whom do men say that | ana" He
| had come into the town of Casarea Philippi,
not Ca sarea on the Mediterranean where
| Peter first preached the gospel to Cornelius,
| the Gent lie centurion, and where Philip the
evangelist and his four daughters lived (Acts
| K, ;xxi..e), Lut the extreme north of Canaan
| and the mCS5 nOrtEerly ONT of Christ's
| journeys. Luke tx, Is, says that He was alone
with His disciples ind that He was praying.
| Matthew xvi, Is, says that His question was:
Nv hom do men say that |, the Son of Man,
| ans" Not that He cared what men said of
| Him, nor did he need to ask them but for
their sakCs He asked the question that He
might awaken and interest them, draw forth
| Peters confession, and make known to them
the truths of our lesson.
%, - Peter answereth and said unto
Him, Thou art the Christi After drawing
IRON them the opinions of others. He then
o.nt dly and personally puts the question:
But whom say We that ans" You may
know Him as Jesus who saves and keeps you,
as Lord whom you delight to acknow edge
| as your possessor and proprietor, but do you
| know HIM as the Christ, the coming King Of
| Israel and of the whole earth!
| 20. He charged them that they should tell
no man of Him. Matt xvi, 20, says to tell no
man that He was Jesus the Christ. He never
| forbade them to say that He was Jesus the
| Saviour, but now that the rulers of the peo-
| pie lad fully determined to kill Him MATT
xii, l4) He forbids them to make Him known
as the Christ.
81 He began to teach them that the Son
of Man must suffer" At His first cleansing
of the temple IL had foretod His death and
! resurrection John IL, ~ 2D, and later, when
they asked a sign He spoke of Jonah as a
type of his death and resurrection Matt xii,
~, 400 but this is His first particular and fun
anne uncement of this great event which He
again repeats on two other occasions Gx-, 81 :;
x. %:
Him" saying, BE it far from Thee, Lord !;
tn S shall not be unto Thee Matt. xvi, ~,
or, as in the margin, PITY 1hYself, Lord. :"
This was the natural man speaking, and the
tendency of the natural man, even in the
Christian, is to pity hi nself and seek his own
ease, and against this self indulgence we
must Christians earnestly contend, ever
yielding our bodies a living sacrifice
IS He rebuked eter, saying, Get thee be-
l. s,,1 So 4 -
a sweet saviour of Col III his grand cen
fesSion of JESUS as the Christ, and now from
the same modth comes the things of men
with Satan urging on; ''out of the same
mouth proceedeth bless ng and cursing'
CJas. iii, l0). 1t was never so wi b Jesus;
out Of HIS mouth proceeded only gracious
words, and such as the Father told Him to
say John xii, 40.
"a. Nv hosoever will come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross and fol-
low Me-" 1t is most precious truth that the
invitation TO come is to who's oever wilr'
facts K, 43; Rom. K, lib; Rev. XIII Ia;
and him that cometh shall in no wise be cast
out John vi, 80; but it is also true that no
one can truly come, unless they are prepared
to deny sef and bear the cross after Jesus
and this daily luke tx, ~.
35. "For who'oever will save his life shall
lose it." That is, whosoever CHOOSES this
present life with its Joys, in preference to the
mario y way of separat ON from this pres Mt
evil world unto Christ, shall find in the end
r,s = st Wa
v lille he who chooses Christ and fellowship
with Him as his portion here, prepared to re-
nounce with the whole heart, the world the
esh an the devil, will find that while he
may not have had great success in this
world and, perhaps, been sore.y tried, yet he
has had obs own peace AMI joy in his soul
and shall inherit everlasting life.
ST. For what shall it profit man. if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own
soul" Let a man choose the present il he
thinks best; let him accumulate millions; let
h IN try all the riches of p,eaSure and fame
and WORLDLY power let HIM, if he is able. 60
into 1t as largely as Solomon did tEccl. i'll,
and let him enjoy it all for hundred years.
What then! They may put his body in
gorgeous funeral. and lay it i'll a marble
tomb. but where is he: His torment has be-
gun and it shall never end.
81 What shall man give in exchange
for his life!' If he loses it by, refusing to let
Jesus save him 1t IS gone forever; the great
gulf is fixed and they cannot pass from one
place to the other. The life of every in
dividual has three stages, that por-
ton which is spent here in the mortal body,
that between death and resurrection,
and that E fter the resurrection. If the first
stage is yielded to Jesus. then between death
and resurrection the spirit is with Christ in
Paradise, and at the resurrection of the just
the soul and body are wanted to be with and
like Christ forever; but if the first stage is
misSpent and withheld from Jesus then is
the future of that soul dark and awful
80. ''Of him shall the Son of Man be
ashamed" The Christ will return IN power
and great glory Matt XVI. 81; Col. ill, a 9,
bringing His saints with Him. He shall come
in flaming fire yielding vengeance on them
that know not God and obey not the Gospel
I'll Th., l., 40, and not only so, but when He
comes to the air for His people many of them
shall be ashamed if He finds them mixed up
with the world and worldly things instead of
separate therefrom, and watching for Him
Il. John IL, ~. He wants a separate AMI
hoy people to witness faithfully for Him in
this dark and sinful world, willing to ac-
knowledge Him in business, and at home,
and in all our intercourse with our fellow
men, and nothing short of a whnle-hearted
devotion to Him will bring His approval in
that day
TX, /. ''Some of them that stand here shall
not taste of death, till they have seen the
kingdom of God come with power And
after SIX days He fulfilled this word to three
of them when on the mount of trans
fguratjon they We're eye witnesses of
HIS majesty. III. Peter L., l6.l They saw
Jesus TRANSPORTED Elijah representing
those who shall be caught up without dying,
Moses representing the dead and risen saints,
aud themselves in mortal bolies Thus shall
it be when He returns to restore all things of
which the prophets have spoken, to establish
His kingdom on this earth AMI reign with
His saints over it.-LeSion Helper.
TWO MONSTER Russian guns have
been seat to Sci ,topol FOR the pur-
Jose of being laced in the new iron
clad Sinope, and although some of the
details must be inaccurate, the official