Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-03-15
AS A LITTLE CHILD.
LESSON XII, FIRST QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, MARCH ~.

TERNA IONAL OehlEoi WAnSr1 ".
Text of the Lesson, Mark 4, 13-3S-Com-
nit Verses FL, 22-Golden Text, Mark
x, IA = Commentary by Rev. d. NJ. |
Stearns.
compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per
mission of IL S, Hoffman, publisher, Philade
phia.
SO. "And He came to Capernaum.n He
had shown them His power and glory on the
mount of TRANSPORTATION, thus assuring the
three who were with Him that though now
despised and rejected, He was not merely the
lowly man He appeared to be, but also the
true,Son of God as well as Son of Man, Israes
Messiah; and if they would be content to
bear the cross with Him now, they would in
due time share His glory. When they de-
scended from the mount, they found the man
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 dsci-
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, 2D. He then passed
through Gailee teaching the disciples
by the way and for the second time
plainly foretold His sufferiugs, death
and resurrection verses 30-32), but they I'M
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-
lievingly subject to His word. One result of
their unbelief was that instead of being in
fellowship and sympathy with Him as He
tN,,,- at-aIt 20 tka tbax-
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, 46.l
"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 las 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
building, or largest congregation, most sue
| cessful Sunday school, or in some way the
! praise of men rather than His approval
| Why cannot our aim be that of Paul that
Christ may be magnifed in our bodies,
whether by life or by death y making our
selves all things to all men that we MAY by
all means save some" Phils, 20; | Cor. tx,
22) To this end let us seek Him with the
whole heart, remembering that He searcheth
all hearts and UNDERSTANDABLE all the magma
tions of the thoughts Il Chron. xviii, o.
IS "If any man desire to be first, the
ha LAST of nd of
ALL" So again in Chap K, 1915 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 q ransom for many The
word of the Lord to Baruch through Jere-
miah was ''Seekest thou great things for thy,
sefi Seek them not" der. xiv, 81 And
the word of the Lord to us today does not
vary from that, for if the Lord Jesus sought
not His own glory while here in his humiia-
ton, surely no true follower of His should
seek honor or glory for its own sake in a
world that is at enmty with God. One
reason why the disciples were disputing as to
who should be the greatest, was their not I'M
derstanding the object OF Christ's first coming
TO suffer, the just for the unjust to be cut off
and have nothing lisa. lii. 5 Dan, tx, 26J and
one reason why there is SO much emula-
ton and strife among churches and Chris
tians now is because they do not see clearly
their position in this world and their relation
to it and to Christ, and have not enough Of
His spirit who was meek and lowly il heart
and BUNDLED Himself even unto death
&C. 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 that
the kingdom must be received as a little
child, for otherwise it could not be entered
and that to come to Him we must come in
entire helplessness and dependence, simply
believing His word; bringing nothing of our
own, but receiving all from Him as an un
merited gift.
81 "Whosoever shall receive one Of such
children in My name, receiveth Ne, and
whatsoever shall receive Me, receiveth moi
Me, but Him that sent Me-" Not many
workers for Christ think it SO great or impor
tant to work among the child en- 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 tc
support the church and have apparently
nothing but souls to be saved, as to reach tn,
more well to do people who can he of soms
ser ice to the church and help in so many
ways, nice families % with whom we cal
associate, you know, and who are really in
auential u people
80 1--WE forbade him, because he followetl
not u.s." What a wretched, God dishonorinl
firm this 1--WE, Us & Co" certainly is
and because this one who cast out devils il
Jesus name not of the company of thu
apostles, he must therefore stop his gooc
work if john knows anything about 1t; anC
he thinks -e does
49, Jesus said Forbid him not" BLESSED
Master Great Head of the church, we thanl
Thee that in reference to the little childre,
Thou didst say, Forbid them not" and il
reference to this worker outside the apostoi
company Thou didst say, FORBID him not
40 He that is not against us is on on
part" This word looked at in the light o
that previous word, He that is not with Nj
| IS against Me, and he that gathereth not wit
| Me scattereth abroad Matt. xii, 30, Gel
| ! taiI,l,. na,,nat La hald q teach that il a