Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-26
REVIEW OF THE QUARTER.
LESSON XII, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL SERIES, JUNE 90.

bling BlOck''-ChriEt's claw Of Love"
and the Mosaic Law-Human Nature
Could Not Conceive of Such Law.
The quarter now closing opens with the
first clear announcement of the essential prin-
ciple of Christ's gospel and continues with al
ternate miracle and teaching to the closing
lesson on the fatherhood of God The pupil
who would be rooted and grounded in the
Christian faith should at the very start face
the fact that the sermon on the mount is
utterly at war with what we call human ma
ture-that it Is in every sense of the word,
truly stumbling block. 1t is idle to discuss
whether human nature, SO called, is really
worthy Of the name, or whether 1t Is simply
fallen and debased nature. The fact every
student Of our holy faith must face at the
start, and the point he must be prepared to
defend, is that the natural man is there fatty
forbidden to follow the dictates Of his nature.
"Love your enemies. Pray FOR them which
despitefully use you. Give to every man
that asketh of thee Judge not and We shall
not be judged Be We merciful, as your
Father also is merciful." Human nature
never prompted these sentiments, and human
wisdom never uttered them. The unques-
toned fact that millions of human beings
have In a poor, feeble way even approx
mated towards an obedience to them, Is In it.
self proof Of their divinity which no argu-
ment can overthrow. That unnumbered
Christians prosecuted to the death have spent
their last breath In prayers for their perse-
cutors; that men and women of whom the
world was not worthy have suffered every In
dignity which human malice could invent, and
yet ''reviled not again"-this is the unan-
swerable and truly sublime proof of Christ's
divinity And this proof, be it noted, can
not be cited for any other faith, and Is not
denied by the most skeptical historian.
The stumbling block is seen when one in
quires how far the maxims should be carried
in every day life, and the devout student
should not seek to evade or deny it. 1t is ad-
mittedly among the most difficult portions of
Scripture. Moses announced the law accord
ing to righteousness; Christ announced it ac-
cording to love; the message of Christ was
the perfect flower ON that of which the law
of Moses was but the STEM In Moses it was
a law ito be lived up to-" in Christ 1t was an
indwelling spirit ito be worked out" The
law came by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. With this as the basis
principle the student may readily compre-
bend the following exegesis by Rev. George
f. Pentecost:
"lf we accept the precepts as binding
statutes, it must be seen that In literal sense
they are impracticable; If we say they are
not to be carried out literally, then we are In
danger Of making void the commandments
of Christ. 1t seems to me that we must not
SO much regard them as statutes, but as con-
tanning the fundamental principles of the
law of love, to be held in mind and heart in
all our dealings with men and to be applied
in every case to the last extent of possibility
Put the Christ spirit into all you do, and show
in all your intercourse with men that you are
not acting from personal and selfish motives,
but as the children of your heavenly Father y
In the second lesson we study the affecting
narrative of the widow of Main and the rails
ing of her son from the dead. We are told
that the effect on the bystanders was great
and especially that they remembered the
Scriptures-that Is, they recognized the ful-
1llment of prophecy concerning the Messiah
The lesson on Christ's power to forgive sins
therefore follows most appropriately; and
the lesson Is emphasized by the character of
the woman whose sins were forgiven. The
modern Photographer" or satirist might find
material for humor in the quiet but most ef
fective way in which Simon, the host, Is con-
trasted with the repentant woman There is
a miracle involved in the quick recognition Of
what was passing in the mind of Simon.
The parable of the sower follows-a practi
cal exposition of the effect of preaching and
the operations of the spirit; and then, pur-
suant to the alternating plan of the series of
lessons, comes a narration of the healing Of
the rulers daughter After short but most
explicit address on the power of faith fol-
lows the miracle of feeding the multitude,
and then there is sudden and most surpris-
ing change in the daily mode of life Of Jesus.
This change is inaugurated by the trans
flguration. At this point the careful student
begins to perceive the plan on which Christ
developed His earthly mission First the ma
tivity and ordinary life of Jewish child,
then the first manifestation of divine wis
dom, then manhood and observance of the
law, and after that the calling of His disci-
Piles, the development Of doctrine and mani
festation of power, after which came the
TRANSPORTATION and preparing for the last
scenes
Thereafter his disciples were to be instruct
ed more and more in the practical details Of
their coming work and the truly awful judg-
ments they were to announce. The seventy
were sent out, the disciples were taught how
to pray and model given, reasons for prayer
were set forth in language which carries con-
viction and an answer specifically promised
to the prayer of faith. Here again, as In the
sermon on the mount, arises a difficulty
which the devout student should neither evade
nor deny. Nothing is ever gained and much
may be lost by seeking to cover up or evade
the difficulties of scriptural Interpretation
1t Is our duty to study them reverently, to
call to our aid all other passages bearing on
the subject, to give modest expression to such
light as we may attain to, and in case we still
''see through glass darkly" to frankly ad-
NIT our ignorance and hope for future en-
lightenment The Bible is not like novel OF
a newspaper, to be read once fully understood
and then laid aside. 1t is to be read daily and
diligently through life, with the perfect con-
hdence that new light will come with each
reading.
The parable of the rich fool and the con-
GLIDING lesson on trust in God amplify pre-
vious lessons and most appropriately bring
believers to the practical exhortation, Fear
not, little flockn The coming quarters lessons
will show each addition raising the disciples
to successfully higher conceptions Of the
Christian life.
RIVER DAWN.