The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1889-04-19
THE TWO COMMANDMENTS.
LESSON III, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 21.

LESSON III, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 21.
Text of the Lesson, Mark XII, 2s-34-Con.
nit Verses 80. 31-Golden Text, Rom.
xiii, documentary by tho Rev. d. NJ.
Stcarns.
Compiled from Lesson 1 Helper Quarterly by per,
phia-l
lessons in the last week Of our Saviour's life on
earth and only two or three days before His
crucifixion- Ho is speaking His last words to
them, and every word is weightier than they
imagined, and Of more Importance than even
wo have yet seen.
% "And ono of the scribes came, and
having heard them reasoning together, nnd
perceiving that He had answered them well,
asked Him, Which is tho first commandment
Of ala" From Matt. xii, "a, IS, we learn
that this scribe was q lawyer and Pharisee,
and that he came tempting Him. That any
man or company of men should think that
they could entangle Jesus In His talk, or
catch Him in His words, and to that end
feign themselves just men Ndatt xii, Is;
Mark XII, 13; Luke Xxx, 20), seems to us very
foolish indeed; but We must remember that
they did not know Jesus ond were blinded be-
cause of their unbelief What seems more
strange is, that even now In our day there is
just tho same spirit that was manifest in
these unbelieving questione1s. Any one who
has much to do with teaching Bible classes
knows that there are everywhere men and
women who seem to delight in argument, and
in asking questions that have no profit in
them, and happy is that teacher who can re-
ply to each with ''Thus saith the Lord"
Not only the Scribes and Phnrisees, but also
the disciples, were often found reasoning
in their hearts Ozark II, 6, 8; viii, 1G, ~ In
stead of meekly sitting like Mary at Jesus
feet to hear and receive His word Nuke z,
80; jas. i, Ply.
90. Jesus answered him, Tho first Of oil
the commandments is, Hear, o Israel; tho
Lord our God is ono Lord" In this and tho
next verse Of our lesson Jesus quotes from
Deut vi, 4, s.; the word dwelt In Him richly
and BE had an answer for every ono from It.
When tempted by Satan He overcame him by
quoting from this book of tho law, and how
often we find Him saying sit is written" or
''Have ye never read In the sclipturcsi' It
is tho sword of tho Spirit with which we must
become familiar if VIC would be soldiers Of
Christ, and use it ssillfully both for our own
defense and for the overthrow of the enemy.
80. "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with oil thy heart, and with oil thy soul, and
with oil thy mind, and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandment" When God
spoke from the smoking, quaking, cloud COW
cred Mount Sinai, out of the midst Of the
fire, the words of the ten commandments, Of
which the Saviour here gives the sum, He
prefaced them with these words: II am the
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out
Of tho land of Egypt, out of the house Of
bondage" (Ex. Xxx, l, q, and more than eighty
| times this fact is mentioned in the law, the
! prophets and the psalms, either Us an evidence
| of His great love or as q reason why they
| should obey Him.
| 81 "And the second Is like, namely this,
| Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself:
there is mono other commandment greater
than these.' As love to God comprehends
tho first four of tho ten commandments, SO
love to man comprehcnds the other six; and
as our golden text says "Lovo is tho fulfilling
of tho law" In Cor. xiii, 13, the Spirit
through Paul says, t.Now abideth faith, hope,
lovc, these three; and the greatest of these
is love-" or paraphrased it reads:
| Faith, Hope and Love now dwell on earth,
And carth by them is blest;
| But Faith and Hope must yield to Love-
| or all the grGces best.
Eopo shall to full fruition rise,
And Faith be sight above;
| Theso ere the means but this the end,
| For saints forever love-
These very words, "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself," are another quotation
from tho law CT Moses, and are found in Lev.
xix, Is When we think of the full signifl
,e T..
~, long suffering, kind, free from envy, moi
Wanting itself, not puffed up nor behaving
unseerly, seeking not her own, not pro
voked (R. w, thinking no evil, etc, where
con We look for any illustration of 1t except
in Him who III our lesson has thus replied tc
this scribes 1t is as If He said to him, Ir
Moses you find the law, but in me you hnd
tho law fulfilled, for that law Is In my heart
and ca,no to fulfill all Righteousness; receive
me, poor, helpless sinner, and I will be tx
you tho end Of the law for righteousness; yea
will be your Righteousness. (Ps. Il, 8; Matt
iii, Is; Rom. x, 4; Cor. 1, 30.)
32 "And the scribe said unto Him, Well
Master, thou hast said tho truth; for there i
ono God; and thero is none other but He." Th,
scribe believed in one God and thus far &C
cepted tho truth, but he was blind to th,
fnct that tho Truth stood before him il
human fcria, God manifest in the flesh. H
knew that tho God of Israel once tabernacle
in q tent in the wilderness, and also at Gilga
and Shiloh in the Holy land, and afterward
; in Eo!onon's temple at Jerusalem; but he dit
net know that tie sarlc God had now com
cna had already tabernnclcd among then
more than thirty years in tho body prepares
: for Him Iohn i, Ii; Heb x, o.; and that
was lie that talked with him Oh if hi
eyes could only have been opened, whn
blessings eternal might have been bis, an,
all within his reach that moment.
33. "And to love Him with all tho heart
and with all the understanding, and with al
tho SOUL and with all tho strength, and t
love his neighbor as himself, is more tha
whole burnt offerings and sacrilces.'s Trul
this man seems cnlightened; ho not onl
knew the truth when he heard It, but b
seemed to understand it, and to know th
difference between outward, formal worshi
anil real heart service; no seemed to under
stand that no amount Of burnt Offering Q
secrifice would avail unless there was on til
part Of the ofarer spirit Of true obedienc
and grateful sense Of tho love of God.
81. "And when Jesus saw that he answere
discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art nc
far from the Kingdom of God" He kne,
the truth, he understood the truth, he spok
well Of the truth, but he did not receive th
truth He was very near entering in, just c
tho door, and tho door was open, but we d
not read that he entered i'll He was in
measure convicted, but not converted 10,
near ono may bo to tho Kingdom withor
entering In is made awfully clear in Heb v
-, R. ", where we arc told Of some wh