Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1890-04-10
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE
LESSON CONsDERED.

ing the scriptural Lessons Inteliigently
and Probably.
The lesson for Sunday. April IS. may bs
found in Luke q: Ills.
INTRODUCTORY.
THIS incident. as related, is peculiar u
one important purpose. served for US by the
iour-fold cord OF the ospel narrative. Wha
one evangelist omits another tells. occa-
sionaly all uniting In reporting from diff.
ferent standpoints the same circumstance
or discourse. II Is interesting also to n ots
how natu al Ii is that this miracle should
dnd a narrator in the beloved physician
Each man spoke freely OF the things which
impressed him most; all together they
spoke the things the Spirit would have i'm
pressed.
WHAT THE LESSON SAYS.
Touched. This is the word used OF com
promising contact (apto) In Col 2: 2l;
Cor. z: /; 1 John 5: 6.-The bier. Orig
inally. casket or urn.-They that bare
him. The him is not in the Greek. Liter
Stood still Ono word; stood. |. 0.
came to stand.-Young man. The
suddenness OF this direct address to the
dead. most startling In the narrative, as
given.-I say unto thee. In the Greeh
the thee comes first. emphatic. Arise
word or Christ.
And he that was dead sat up. The Greel
Is even moe expressive: And sat up the
dead. The latter word is the term for dead
body or corpse nekro9 began to speal
or to talk daleo). What were his frs
words? mere writer OF legends would
have told us.-Delivered. Tho word IL
gave. strikingly suggestive one here.
There came fear on ALL Literally. fear
seized all.-Glorified God. Praised God.
1t IS from this word (doxaZo) that our fa-
miliar doxology comes.-A great prophet
These were the signs which marked the
career of the great prophets Elijah and
Elisha. Kings II: 70; 2 Kings A. 3d.
Visited his people. In visible and tangible
power. See Luke 1: 6S. The verb means.
literally. to look upon. or. more idiomatic-
fhis rumor. Or report. The Greek word
Is uogos). This was the first miracle o.
the kind. |. e.. the dead raised to life. II
Christ's career on earth.-Throughou al
Judea. Where perhaps it produced the
greatest sensation. the region. II
spread also through other parts.
And the disciples OF John. Here Is case
OF bad paragraphing; this verse more prop
erly beginning the next circumstance mar
rated. him. Told him.-Al
those things. Not this one Incident. mere
ly. but as suggested in v. ~ below. all the
wonder-works recently performed.
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
Behold: there was a dead man carried
out. An Interrupted funeral. AS some one
has suggested. Christ while on earth broke
up every funeral he met. Going into that
city OF Main. over eighteen hundred years
ago. he stood right across the path OF bro
ken hearted grief and changed mourning
into Joy. giving the garments OF praise for
the spirit OF heaviness. Christ does not
give us back the dead bodies OF our dear
ones to-day. but he stays US on the way to
the tomb to teach us the same sweet lesso
which he taught then. although not now
with the physical demonstration. He
whispers to us OF larger life beyond. he
brings for US life and immortality to light
and as we listen, literally, death is swal.
lowe up OF lifo. q. bereaved one. why did
you not see Jesus at the gate? Lo, ne Is
there now. on the way to the graves oil our
dead.
The Lord saw her. 1t is need that catches
the Savior's eye. The pro ocession may
have been very fine one. the decorations
and furnishings very tasteful in the eyes ol
the multitude who journeyed with him.
One thing shone out for him with the dis
tinctness Of a gem or a star In the MIDST
1t was the woman's grief Be sure. po or
sorrowing one, tho eye OF the Master Will
not has not passed by you. There are in the
company. it may be in the congregation. In
the corner OF some GLASS in the Sunday
school room. his compassionate eye finds
you. And IL you would only look up, look
up in faith. you would see him standing
right over against you and saying with low
Ing accent, What is It, child2 What wouldsi
thou OF me?" Will you answer
Weep not. Tears seemed to deeply touch
our Lord. His sensitive heart here seems
10 give a great throb OF pain at sight OF the
woman's distress and he appears instinct
lively. almost involuntary. to exclalm. DC
not weepl"--for such Is the force OF the
original. The tears OF Gods children are
not unnoted. IL the heart OF an earthly
parent is moved by the tear stained face o.
his offspring what must be the tender and
compassionate heart Of him whose name Ii
Love? Our tears are In his bottle; he pities
us with a sympathy that is ineffably deer
and strong. That sympathy. rightly appre.
hended. should assuage our own grief ane
lift us above repining.
cannot always trace the way
Where thou, Almighty One, dost move,
But can alway always say
That God is love.
He touched the bier. That touch was
slight. but It stayed four pair OF feet II
was the touch of omnipotence; there was
unfathomed promise in IL. The bear err
looked up, saw a rabbi coming. See, he IL
not Withdrawing like the rest OF his clat
from fear OF corruption or ceremonial un-
ceanness out OF the way. Why there. he
has touched the bier-set II down." Christe
religion. mark you. is the only religion that
touches the bier. Other masters star
back In alarm or with hiding OF face. or fat
tn behind with the -nirvana" of virtual
despair upon their Aps. Christ's mission
Is directly to the sick. the down. fallen
yea. to the dead. He but touched the tomb
Itself In Joseph's garden and IL became q
portal OF paradise.
Young man. say unto thee. And will he
speak thus to the dead? Our ordinary
English translation falls far short of the
graphic power Of the Greek IN the nara
tive. Up to this point II Is thing. lifeless.
insensate, that Is borne upon the bier. AZ
the opening OF the lesson IL is not so much
"a dead man" as dead body that is being
carried out. At verse IA it Is not they that
bare him that stood still but simply the
bearers. The man was nothing. dead. gono.
And In verse Is 1t Is not "he that was dead
tn at sat up. but. point blank. the corpse. O
marvellous transformation Christ speaks
and there Is a response from beneath the
shroud of death. What has been treated
before as n dead thing he looks upon as a
living soul He stops and speaks to IL.
Speak to us and ours. o Lord. and the dead
shall livel
And he delivered him 10 his mother.
Twice given. Once Mt his birth now here
again from life out OF death. o the Joy ol
the hourl There Is transport like unto
IL, the unspeakable JOY that fills the pa
rental heart when the child OF our tender
est care received with giadness as from
the Lord is pressed again into the arms oi
our love as born again from death into
lie. Have you known that delight parentl
Have you helped toward that JOY. son OF
dau xhter2 II 20 be born but once is to die
twice and to be born twice Is to die bui
once. and that TO enter into larger life
why not answer the voice that speaks3
Next Lesson: forgiveness and Love.
nh IN Y. G-EO