The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-04-30
THE RULERS DAUGHTER.
International Sunday-School Lesson fol
May 4, 1890.


GOLDEN TEXT-Fear not; believe only, and
she shall be made whole.-Lule $50.
CENTRAL TRUTH - Jesus the victory over
death, both natural and spiritual.
TIME-Autumn, A. D. 2S Two or three days
after the last lesson.
PLACE-Capernaum. The houss Of Matthew
and the home CT Jairus. kFA
PARALLEL AccoUNTs-Matt. 9:1s, 10, 23-96;
Mark 3 81 "a, 35 49, ...-
INTERVENING HIsToRY-At the close Of the
eight parallels, Of which our last lesson was
one, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee with His
disciples in the evening, stilled tempest that
threatened them saved the demoniaco of Gadara
the next morning returned to Capernaum, and
went to feast given by Matthew, where He
was when Jairus came to Him.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs-41. 4 ruler Of the
synagogue: or church of the Jews. The syna-
gogue was ruled over by number of leading
men, chosen for that purpose. az. But as he
rent: Jesus Immediately arose from the feast,
and went, together with His disciples. 40.
Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master:
they thought Jesus could heal the sick, but not
raise the dead. Only one case of this kind had
occurred and that far OF in the little village Of
Main. 60 Bsiitpe only. and she shall BE- maGs
fchoie: Jairus had foundation for his faith in
what Jesus had done before.
JAIRUs FATrH-O 1t was strong faith, ex-
pecting Jesus to raise to life one almost dead
and beyond human help. CD 1t was an earnest
| faith. (3) 1t was benevolent faith, seeking
blessings for others. az 1t was an intelligent
faith, founded on knowledge of what Jesus
had already done. o. 1t was a tried and tested
faith, for no small faith would have impelled
leader Of the Jews to break through restraints
Of custom, prejudice and social ties, to go to
publicans house and ask favor Of one rejected
b,,x h. JnrY p1a,v, Lon a col
directed faith, for it was faith in Jesus, his only
hope. a 1t was faith joined with works, for it
led him to go to Jesus and pray with the utmost
earnestness. 81. Suftrsd no man 10 go in: to
the room where the sick girl was. Sare Ptr
and Jdmes and John. the three nearest disc.-
PIES to be witnesses Three times Jesus Sc
lected these three for special favors. 52. All
| ,gept and bewaued her: the room was full OF
friends and hired mourners making loud lamen-
tations with wild gestures in Oriental fashion.
She IS not dead, but sIGepeh: spoken figurative-
ly, because He was to bring her back to life as
one is awakened from sleep. SO. LaugheG hin,
10 sc0rn: they ridicued the idea that He did
not know death from sleep. This is reported
| to show that the girl was really dead. b. She
arose: and walked MARK. GiUs her meat:
| food: showing that she was fully restored from
disease as well as death. 30. Tell no m n: lest
| too many call for Him in the same way, AID
| leave no time fer teaching; or lest the crowd
should try to make Him temporal king, and
| thus injure the true spiritual kingdom, and
draw upon them the power Of Rome, as upon
rebels.
| BLESSINGS ACCORDING TO OUR FAITH-Q)
The greatest benefit of headings and earthly
helps from God is their effect upon the soul
and the spiritual life All Christ's miracles
are illustrations Of spiritual truths. GU 1t is
necessary, therefore, in comforting these earthly
| blessings that the soul recognize God as the
giver and be drawn toward Him in love and trust.
| Faith in Him Is thus the means by which the
| spiritual blessings are made to flow from the
temporal. ~ This union makes every earthly
gift of God doubly blessed. az BY insisting on
| faith as the condition OF receiving we are
pointed to the natural and necessary effect of
true faith. Faith is an essential to the great
est success. Credulity, superstition and IN,
| warranted expectations are often the ruin OF
men in worldly things, but true faith that leads
to courage, activity, undaunted perseverance
| and steady, calm mind, is one Of the essential
| conditions of the largest earthly life. And the
same principle applies to the spiritual world.
CoMMENTs-We have only three re-
corded instances where Jesus raised per-
sons from the dead, viz: the one in our
lesson, the widows son and Lazarus.
The widows son we have had. This,
therefore, is good opportunity for
drawing analogies between physical and
spiritual death. A far better Golden
Text than that chosen by the committee
would be: "And you hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins
(Eph. 2:D. This can, however, be woven
in with the Golden Text, since, by "be-
lieving," we who were dead are made
alive in Christ Jesus. The generic
statement of our theme, then, is: BY
nature all men are dead spiritually.
Adam died in the day he ate of the for
hidden fruit. His body lived after that,
but spiritually he died as soon as he
broke the Divine command. So every
man who sins is dead to all spiritual
things. He is just as dead to them as o
corpse is dead to temporal things. He
listens to spiritual truth and hears it
not; he sees spiritual things and per-
ceives them not. Talk to him about
the things pertaining to the kingdom,
and you might as we'll speak to a num-
my from Egypt. Like the bones in
Ezekiels vision which were very dry,
so is the natural man. Moreover, he is
so dead as to be unable to help himself.
The reformations which men practice
are no more like spiritual living than
were the corpses in Ezekiel's vision, be-
fore the breath came into them. like
living men. There is no breath in them.
BY nature man is powerless to feel, pow
erless to hear, powerless to do. Why?
Because he is dead.
We readily grant this in the case OF
open, vile and hardened sinners. But
how about your nice, moral, yet worldly
young lady Of society with cultivated
tastes? How about your exemplary man
of science, whose erudition has made his
name household word, but who rejects
the Bible? Are they dead also? AS.
suredly, for God says: There is no diff.
ference. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God" Rom. 1929
The sinfulness of these persons and
their spiritual deafness may not be as
apparent as in the case of open and hard
ened sinners, but it is none the less real
Rev. A. f. Schauffler.
| PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
1. Sorrow often leads to Jesus, and
brings acquaintance with Him and spir
itual blessings.
2.True faith leads US to 60 to Jesus,
using every possible means.
8. Some of our most helpful actions
are done by the wayside.
4. Christ's delay in answering our
prayers is in order to grant US greater
blessings.
5. According to our faith it shall be