The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-03-14
AS A LITTLE CHILD.
LESSON N, FIRST QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL sEalEs, MARCH IL.

LESSON xl, FIRST QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL sERlEs. MARCH IL.
Text Of the Lesson, Mark Z. aS>se-Con-
init verses H. as--aoidsus Text, Mark
Z. A-connsntAry by Rev. u. N.
fConpned from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per,
mission of h 8 Hoffman. publisher. Philadel
pAiAJ- =
sss sAnd Hstcans tSeespernaan.. He
had shown them. ewsr,azA Glory on the
mount Of transff Hon, thu. aa1ring the
three who were With. Him that, though now
despised and rejettsd, He WIS not merely the
lowly man He appeared tosba, hnt slsoths
trueaSon of God Is well as Son pf Man, Israels,
Messiah; and If they would be content to
bear the cross with Him now, they would f1I
duo time share His glory When they del
scended from the mount, they found the mar
with the demon possessed son whom the other
disciples had tried in VAIN TO heal, and as
Jesus cast out the demon he told the disci-
pies that their failure was due to unbe-
lief, but at the same time added that .this
kind goeth not out but by prayer and fast
ing" Matt. xvii, 21). He then passed
through Galilee teaching tho disciples
by the way and for the second time
plainly foretold His sufferings, death
and resurrection tverses 30-39, but they un-
derstood not, for they had other thoughts in
their minds and looked for different re-
suit. How many Christians are even now in
the dark concerning things that are coming,
because they have other thoughts than Gods
In their minds, and are not simply and be-
Ievingly subject to His word. One result of
their unbelief was that instead of being in
fellowship and sympathy with Him as He
joulneyed to the cross, they were thinking
and talking Of their own individual inter.
ests and reasoning among themselves as to
who should be the greatest in the kingdom
which they thought was then close at hand.
luke tx, 49,
"a. "By the way they had disputed among
themselves who should be The greatest"
They had not TALKED SO He could hear, but He
had perceived the thought of their hearts
luke TX, AZ as we journey on in our church
and Sunday school work, and ordinary daily
life He is always perceiving the thoughts of
our hearts, and it is not true that instead of
seeing there whole hearted sympathy with
Him in His great aim to have the Gospel
preached to every creature, He often sees our
aim to be that we may have the finest church
Va iul SCoS iitOob SUE
cessful Sunday school, or in some way the
praise of men rather than His approval
Why cannot our aim be that of tPaul ''that
Christ may be magnifed iii our bodies,
whether by life or by death !" ''making our
selves all things to all men that we may by
all means save some.n PhiLs, 20, / Cor tx,
22.) To this end let US seek Him with the
whole heart, remembering that He searcheth
all hearts and understandeth all the imagna-
tions of the thoughts. q Chron. xviii, 81
35 'If any man desire to be first, the
same shall be last iof all and servant of
ALL" So again in Chap. x, 1916 where
He repeats the same teaching, adding
that He Himself as Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto but to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for many. The
word Of the Lord to Baruch through Jere-
miah was sSeekest thou great things for thy
selfs Seek them not" (Jer xiv, 81 And
the word of the Lord to us today does not
vary from that, for if tho Lord Jesus sought
not His own glory while here in his humilia-
| ton, surely no true follower of His should
seek honor or glory for its own sake in o
world that is at enmity with God One
reason why the disciples were disputing as te
/ who should be the greatest. was their not nm
derstanding the object of Christ's irst coming
to suffer, the just for the unjust, to be cut of
and have nothing Qsa- lii. 9; Dan, *, 28); and
one reason why there is SO much emula
tiop and strife among churches and Chris
tians now is because they do not see clearly
their position in this world and their relation
to 1t and to Christ, and have not enough o1
| His spirit who was meek and lowly in heart
and humbled Himself even unto death.
SO. "He took a child and set him in the
midst of them" In our last lesson, which
was much later than this in. point of time
| He took infants in His arms and taught thai
| the kingdom must be received as a little
| child, for otherwise it could not be entered
| and that to come to Him we must como In
| entire helplessness and dependence, simply
believing His word bringing nothing Of oul
own, but receiving all from Him as an un
| merited gift.
ST. "Whosoever shall receive one of sucf
| children in My name, receiveth Me, ano
whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth moi
| Me, but Him that sent Me- Not many
workers for Christ think it SO great or fmpor
tant to work among the children and gather
them in as to reach the older ones; and moi
many think it as great work to reach the
poor of this world who cannot do much t6
| support the church and have apparently
nothing but souls to be saved, as to reach th,
more well to do people who can be of some
service to the church and help in SO many
ways; nice families 70 with whom We car
associate, you know, and who are really in.
fluential 70 people.
49, 1--WE forbade him, because he followetl
not u.s." What wretched, God dishonorine
firm this ave, Us e. Co." certainly is
and because this one who cast out devils il
i Jesus name was not of the company of ths
apostles, he must therefore stop his goot
work if John knows anything about it; ant
he thinks he does.
49, "Jesus said, Forbid him not" Blessed
| Master, Great Head of the church, we thanh
| Thee that in reference to the little children
Thou didst say, FORBID them not" and II
reference to this worker outside the apostolic
company Thou didst say, "Forbid him not.
40 HE that is not against us is on oul
part.n This word looked at in the light d
that previous word, "He that is not with M
is against Me. and he that gathereth not Will
Me scattereth abroad" Matt. xii, 30, Ger
tainly cannot be held TO teach that if a mar
is not openly against Christ therefore he il
for Him The case in question was that of
man actually working and doing good in th'
Name of Christ, and Jesus says OF him, he i
not against US, even if he is not in our com
pany, therefore, forbid him not.
al. "Whosoever shall give you q cup o
water TO drink in My name, because ye be
long to Christ, verify | say unto you, he
shall not lose his reward" Eternal life is th
gift of God, and must be received as a help
less child receives what issgiven to 1t; saliva
tion Is in every case ito him that worketl
not, but believeth" Rom. iv, o. then bein,
/ saved, we are patiently, meekly and lovingl,
to work out in our daily life the salvation
which we have thus freely received, not re
lying upon, nor seeking the favor of men
but seeking with the whole heart the saliva
ton of souls, valuing the soul of a little child
or the poorest of earth's children, as much q
the soul OF the wealthiest of earth's grea
ones, and to this end ready to work with an,
who love the Lord Jesus, or at least put II
hindrancs before them, even though thei
| methods be different from ouFs.
A. whatsoever shall offend one of thes
. little ones o." Three times in the res
of this chapter He speaks of-the fire OF he'll a
the awful alternative if any are found wh
! persist in going against Him or. His Lttl
onss, who represent Him.