News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-03-28
THE |. s. S. LESSON.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
MARCH 81
Lesson Text: The Quarterly Re
view. Golden Text: Acts
III, documentary.

Lesson Text; The Quarterly Re-
view. Golden Text: Acts
ii, documentary.
The lessons that we have studied have ex-
hibited both the authority of Christ and have
set forth the principles of His kingdom. They
have shown both what He is and what His
disciples must be- Let The review be con-
Quoted along these two lines.
THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST
l. His royal authority. Jesus cams as a
King. As such He was preceded by herald,
whose duty it was to prepare the way for
Him. When John the baptist declared him
self to be the voice of one crying in the will
derness, Make We ready the way of the Lord,
he spoke of himself as a herald, and pro.
claimed to the Jews that their expected King
was nigh. They thought that John the
Baptist himself was like the Messiah prophe
sled, so wonderfully endowed was he, but he
tried to give them soms conception of
the superiority of his King, by say
ing that he was not worthy to stoop
down and unloose the latchets of His sandals
He told them that whereas he baptized with
water the coming One would baptize
with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Compare
lively he was but as the humble messenger
who runs before the great King What was
meant by this superiority of Christ was
SHOWN at Ills DHGUSDi. linen the heavens
opened, the Spirit descended like a dove upon
the Saviour, and voice from out the helv-
ems was heard saying: This is my beloved
Son, in whom / am well Pleased" Then was
made manifest the fact that Jesus was the
Son of the King of Kings.
, His authority as teacher. That was
one of the first things which struck the
multitude with amazement. He did not in
struct after the usual manner He did not
teach like the scribes, who cited decisions and
precedents, and piled high their authorities,
to bolster their own statements. Jesus did
nothing of the kind. He spoke as if He Him.
self were the source and the fountain of truth.
He did not seek confirmation oven by Moses,
but laid down principles beyond those which
the ancient ]awgiver had ever uttered. His
Verify, verify, say unto YOU had the force
of u Thus saith tho Lori" He so taught
that even His own townSmen were compelled
to ask, whence then hath this man all these
things" They could not reconcile the wis
dom that appeared in all His speech with the
limited opportunities which He had had i'll
Nazareth. They discredited it because they
could not account for it. The very reason
which caused them to reject Him is the one
which now leads many to acknowledge Him
as Lord. His extraordinary power as a
teacher is manifest in the parab,eS which He
put forth.
s. HIS authority over demons And that,
again. was the cause of great wonder. No
one before had been able to exercise the evil
spirits which had taken possession of men.
Sometimes, as in the case of the demonac at
Gadara, it was dangerous to have anything
TO do with such unfortunates. But never one
came into the presence of Jesus whom He dill
not rescue He came that He might de-
stroy the works of the devil A word of
command and the evil spirits departed,
leaving their victims again in their right
minds. In witnessing His power over thom,
people were led to ask: "What is this" and
Immediately answered their own question by
saying: "a new teachingl with authority He
commandeth even the unc!ean spirits, and
they obey Him" And His ability to help those
whose spirits are unclean is shown even now.
/. His authority as healer. In what
striking ways was that made manifest! lie
took by the hand the fevered mother of
Peters wife, and straightway the fever left
her, and she arose and ministered unto Him
and His disciples. He laid His hand upon
a leper, who was ''E~ll of leprosy,' and
instantly he was cleansed. a timid woman
touched the hem of His garment, and forth
with she felt within herself that she was
made whole of her plague. He told a help
less paralytic to arise, and without delay he
arose and took up his bed, and went out
clarifying God A blind man Gale to Him ,
from tho wayside, and i'll turn he was called /
keforc Him, and when told to go his way
went seeing. Mark, it would seem, selected .
those cases which would especially exhibit /
the authority of Christ, for the instances
men tioned are not those of common ailments. .
They indeed are so extreme that they allow .
of no suggestion of worse cases which might
have batted Him. And then He had author
ity over his own authority. He could de-
uIIte it to others 1t was not something
which He alone could use. He gave power
TO the twelve to go forth and cast out demons,
heal the SICK and even raise the dead.
5. His authority to forgive Wien Jesus .
saw the poor paralytic, and noted the need
of the soul, SO much deeper than that of the I
body, he impulsively said: "Son, thy sins are
forgiven" His power to forgive sins
was Immediately inwardly questioned,
4 49, 7 III
right by commanding the helpless man to
rise up and walk. In this He indicated what
is the true value of miracles They were not
merely to remove Affections, but to show
Miracles are not now wrought because that
power is established. His authority to for
give is now being abundantly proven by the
higher miracles of changed lives.
THE PRINCIPLES OF CHRTsT's KINGDOM.
1t was not until long list OF miracles had
been performed, such as have been emu
merated, that Jesus turned to HIS disciples
asking them, first, for the opinions of men
concerning Himself, and then for their own.
When they had declared their faith in Him
as the Christ, the Son of the living God,
then He began to reveal to them that He
should die and rise again. An increasing
tenderness marks His teaching from this
time. He tells them not only what He is to
suirer. but what they must do and be.
]. Cross bearing. In making known to the
Twelve that lie should be offered up at Jeru-
salem, the Saviour taught them that His own
sacrifice was not the exception in His king
dom, but that in laying down His life He was
but acting according to principle which ap-
Piled to all who would follow Him
2. Child-likeness. The spirit of ambition
has no place in the kingdom of Christ 1t
defeats itself. Thoe who would be great in
it, in order that they may receive homage
from their fellows, fall to the lower place;
Not the grasping, masterful man is the ideal
which Jesus holds up for attainment, but the
receptive, trustful, humble mindel child.
1hCss who are childlike will find their hearts
turning toward the children, and in their
love for the children they still discover a new
love for Christ
J. Conservation. The incident of the com
ing of the young ruler to Jesus shows how
thorough should be the conservation of those
who desire to enter into the kingdom of God
The spirit of that which was demanded of
him is the same that which is re Iuired of
all. No one can consecrate himself to God
and keep back his property. To that as well
as to time strength. mind, and other posses
sions must be applied the principle that enc
Is not seltishly to think OF himself but of
Others. Like the Saviour Hims Eli, one should
be here not to be minstered unto but to
minister. -PiLgrim Teacher.