The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-04-18
THE TWO COMMANDMENTS
LESSON III, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 81.

LESSON III, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 2t.
Text of the Lesson, Mark x;i, :s-s4-Com-
xiii, 1o-Commentary by the Rev. d. NJ.
Stearns.
mission Of II. S. Hoffman, publisher, Philadel-
phia.l
Let us bear in mind that we are in these
lessons in the last week of our Saviour's life on
earth and only two or three days before His
cruci61ion- He is speaking His last words to
them, and every word is weightier than they
imagined, and of more Importance than even
we have yet seen.
2S sand one of the scribes came, and
having heard them reasoning together, and
perceiving that He had answered them well,
asked Him, Which is the first commandment
of allz" From Matt. xxii 81, 35, we learn
that this scribe was 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 (Matt. xxi, Is;
Mark xii, 13; Luke Xxx, 20, seems to Us very
foolish indeed; but we must remember that
they did not know Jesus and were blinded be-
cause of their unbelief. What seems more
strange Is, that even now in our day there is
just the same spirit that was manifest in
these unbelieving questioners. 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 I"
Not only the Scribes and Pharisees, but also
the disciples, were often found reasoning
in their hearts Mark ii, 6, s; viii, l6, ~ IN
stead of meekly sitting Like Mary at Jesus
feet to hear and receive His word Q4ukc x,
80; Jas |, 2D.
20. Jesus answered him, The first of all
the commandments is, Hear, o Israel; the
Lord our God is one Lord" In this and the
next verse of our lesson Jesus quotes from
Deut vi, 4, 5; the word dwelt in Him richly
and He had an answer for every one from it.
When tempted by Satan He overcame him by
quoting from this book of tho law, and how
often we find Him saying 'It is written" or
Have ye never read in the scripturesgn 1t
is the sword of the Spirit with which we must
become familiar if we would be soldiers of
Christ, and use it skillfully both for our own
defense and for the overthrow of the enemy
80. "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength
This is the first commandment When God
spoke from the smoking, qualling, 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 the land Of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage" Ex. Xxx, / q, and more than eighty
times this fact is mentioned in the law, the
prophets and the psalrns, either as an evidence
of His great love or as a reason why they
should obey Him.
81 "And the second is like, namely this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself:
there is none other commandment greater
than these" As love to God comprehends
the first four Of the ten commandments, so
love to man comprehends the other six; and
as our golden text says "Love is the fulfilling
of the law" In l Cor. xiii, 49, the Spirit
| through Paul says "Now abideth faith, hope,
| love, these three; and the greatest of these
| is love-" or paraphrased it reads:
Faith Hope and Love now dwell on earth
And earth by them is best;
But Faith and Hope must yield to Love-
or oil the graces best.
| Hope shall to full fruition rise,
And Faith be sight above;
| These are the means, but this the end
! For saints forever love.
| These very words, "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself," are another quotation
| from the law of Moses, and are found in Lev.
| xix, 18. When we think of the full signifi-
cameo of this love as defined in Cor xiii
| ~, long suffering, kind, free from envy, not
vaunting itself, not puffed up no:- behaving
unseemly, seeking not her own, not pro-
voked R W, thinking no evil, etc, where
can we look for any illustration of it except
in Him who in our lesson has thus replied tC
this scribei 1t is as if He said to him, In
Moses you find the law, but in me you find
the law fulfilled, for that law is in my heart
and I came to fulfill all righteousness; receive
me, poor, helpless sinner, and / will be to
you the end Of the law for Righteousness; yea
| will be your Righteousness. Ps. xl, s.; Matt
| iii, Is; Rom. X, 4; Cor. /, 30)
32. "And the scribe said unto Him, Well
Master, thou hast said the truth; for there is
| one God; and there is mono other but Hen The
scribe believed in one God and thus far ac
cepted the truth, but he was blind to the
fact that the Truth stood before him In
human form, God manifest in the flesh. Ht
knew that tho God of Israel once tabernacled
| in tent In the wilderness and also at Gilga
and Shiloh in the Holy land and afterward.
in Solomon's temple at Jerusalem; but he die
not know that the same God had now come
and had already tabernacled among then
more than thirty years In the body prepared
for Him John /, IA; Heb K, 81 and that Il
was He that talked with him. Oh IL hi,
eyes could only have been opened, what
blessings eternal might have been his, and
all within his reach that moment.
49, "And to love Him with all the heart
and with all the understanding, and with al
the soul, and with all the strength, and tc
lovo his neighbor as himself, is moro thar
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" Truly
this man seems enlightened he rot only
knew tho truth when so heard It, but ht
seemed to understand it, and to know tht
difference between outward, formal worship
and real heart service; he seemed to under
stand that no amount of burnt offering OF
sacrifice would avail unless there was on tht
part of the ofrerer q spirit of true obedience
and q grateful sense Of the love OF Cod
81. Gard when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art NO
far from tho Kingdom of God" He knew
the truth, he understood tho truth, he SPOKE
well Of the truth, but he did not receive th,
truth. He was very near entering in, just at
tho door, and the door was open, but we DC
| not read that he entered in. He was In Q
measure convicted, but not converted. How
near ono may be TO the Kingdom without
entering in Is made awfully clear in Heb. vi
&C, r. v, where wo arc told of some whc
were enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift
were made partakers Of tho Holy Ghost
tasted the good word Of God, and the powers
of tho age to come, and yet fell away. John
K, 27-20; John Ii, 10; Phil |, 6, and Other
passages make 1t unmistakably clear that the
truly saved are forever saved; but Heb. vi
&C; K, 26-29; III Pet. ii, 20-22, tell Us how
much ono may know and enjoy, and yet be
lost; how very near one may be and yet moi
enter in. Tho Lord Jesus Christ is ths only
Saviour, and the only saved ones are those
who are ruly in Him
GIRL AND GOLD.