The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-04-09
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE
LESSON COSsIDERED.

Wholes some Food for Thought = study
ing the Scriptural Lessons Intelligently
and Probably.
The lesson for Sunday. April IS. may be
found in Luxe Z: Ills.
INTRODUCTORY.
THIS incident. as related. Is peculiar te
Luke. anu we have here illustrated for uf
one important purpose. served Tor us by the
iour-foh cord OF the gospel narrative. VIVA
one evangelist omits another tells. occa-
sionally all uniting In reporting from dif-
ierent standpoinls the same circumstance
or discourse. IL is interesting also TO note
how natu. al IL Ia that this miracle shoulc
and narrator in the beloved PHI ysican
Each man smoke freely OF the things which
impressed him most; all together thes
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: Il;
Cor. z: /; | John 3: lS.-The bier. Orig
inaly. casket or urn.-They that bart
him. The him Is not in the Greek Liter
ally. Those bearing. or the pail bearers
stood still One word: stood. /. o.
came to stand. man. The
suddenness Of tnis direct address TO the
dead. most Startling In the narrative. as
given.--I say unto thee. In the Greek
the thee comes first. emphatic. Arise
See, In what follows. the effect OF that one
word or Christ.
And he that was dead sat up. The Greek
Il even mo Q expressive And sat up the
dead. The latter word is the Term for dead
body or corpse (nekros) .-Began to speal
or to talk Qaleo). What were his frs
words? A mere writer OF legends would
have told us.-Delivered. The word Ia
gave. strikinely suggestive one here.
There came a fear on all. Literally. n fear
seized all.-Glorhsd 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. l Kings II: p: Kings A: 3d.
Visited his people. In visible and tangible
power. See Luxe 1: 6S. The verb means.
literally. TO look upon. or. more idiomatic-
ally look In upon.
This rumor. Or report The Greek word
Is dogos). This was the first miracle OF
the kind. /. e.. the dead raised to life. In
| Christ's career on earth.-Throughout AN
! Judea. Where perhaps it produced the
greatest sensation. All the region IL
| spread also through other parts.
And the disciples OF John. Here Is a case
| of bad paragraphing; this verse more prop
erly beginning the next circumstances mar
| rated. Showed him. Told him.-Al
| w. but as suggested in " ~ below. all the
wonder-works recently performed.
| WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
Behold, there was 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 Tor
4 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 lesson
which he taught then, although not now
with the physical demonstration. He
| whispers to US OF larger lie beyond. he
brings for US lie and immortality TO light:
and "a We listen. literally. death Is swal :
lowe up of hfe. o, bereaved one. why did
you not see Jesus Mt the gate? Lo. ne IL
| there now, on the way to the graves OF our
dead.
The Lord saw her. 1t Is need that catches
| the Savior's eye. The procession may
| have been a very fine one. the decorations
| and furnishings very tasteful in the eyes oil
| the multitude who jourDeyed with him.
One thing shone out for him with the dis
| hnctness OF gem or star In the mldst
1t was the womans grief. Be sure. poor
| sorrowinG one. the eye OF the Master will
| not. has not passed by you. There are In the
| company. il may be in the congregation. in
| the corner OF some class in the sunday
| you. And 4 you would only look up. look
| up in faith, you would see him standing
| wight over against you and saying With low
| Ing accent, What is IL, child? What wouldst
| thou OF me?" Will you answer?
Weep not. Tears seemed to deeply touch
| our Lord. His sensitive heart here seems
| 10 give n great throb OF pain at sight OF tn
| woman's distress and he appears instinct
| lively, almost involuntary, to exclaim. De
| not weepl"-for such is the force OF the
| original. The tears OF Gods children are
| not unnoted. If the heart OF an earthly
parent Is moved by the tear stained face oil
| his offspring what must be the tender and
| compass donate heart of him whose name II
| Love? Our tears are in his bottle: he pities
us with a pathy that is ineffably deer
and strong. That sympathy. rightly appre-
| hended should assuage our own grief ans
| lift US above repining.
| cannot always trace the way
| Where thou, Almighty One, dost move,
| But can always, always say
| That God is love-
He touched the bier. That touch was
| slight. but IL stayed four pair OF feet II
| was the touch OF omni potence; there was
unfathomed promise in it The bear ers
| looked up, saw a rabbi coming. See, he IL
| not withdrawing like the rest OF his clat
| from tear OF corruption or ceremonial un-
1 cleanliness out of the wav. Why there. he
| has touched the bier-set II down." Christ's
| religion mark you. Is the only religion tn at
\ touches the bier. Other masters star
| back in alarm or with hiding Of face, or fall
IN behind with the "nirvana" OF virtual
| drspair upon their kps. Christ's mission
| Is directly to the sick. the down fallen
yea. TO the dead. He but touched the tomb
itself In Josephs garden and IL became q
| po tai OF pa adise.
1 Il
| sneak thus 70 the dead? Our ordinary
| English translation falls Jar short of the
| graphic power OF the Greek IN the nara
| tive. Up to this point ii is thing. lifeless.
| insensat'. that is borne upon the bier. Al
| the opening OF the lesson il is not so much
| "a dead man" as n dead tody that is being
| carried out. At verse IA 1t Ia not they that
| bare him that stood still but simply the
| bearers. The mau was no hing. dead. gone.
| And in verse Is it Is not "he that was dead
/ that sat up. but point blank. the corpse. O
! marvellous transformation Christ spe axis
| and there is response from beneath the
! shroud OF death. What has been treated
| before ne n dead thing he looks upon as n
| living soul He stops and sp 'aks to it
Sneak to US and ours. y Lord. and the dead
| shall livei
AMI he delivered him 10 his mother.
| Twice given. Once at his birth now here
again from life out OF death. O tn. iov OF
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 eia'ness "a from
| the Lord il pressed again into the arms OF
| our love "a born again from death into
| II o. Have you known that delight. PARENT
Have you h rlped toward that jov. son or
dau hter? II TO DO born but once Ia TO die
twice and to he born twice Is TO die but
one. aid that 10 enter into n larger lfe