Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-08-21
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
AN INTERESTING ANDINsTRUc-
TIVE LESSON. /,

Reflections of an E1evating Character
Wholesome Food for Thought = Study.
and Probably.
The lesson for Sunday, Aug. 23, may be
found in John 6: 26-4O.
INTRODUCTORY.
This is lesson linking two worlds to-,
gether. Christ's presence, as bread of life,
makes the heaven of our hopes the heaven
of the hereafter, to be assured and giveS
us much of heaven now. Into many a home,
during these days Of summer, has come tho
| angel of DEATH Has this scripture been so
real and meaningful as to make life to be
swallowed up of death? Across the stormy
sea, in the verses that just precede, we
descry the Lord Jesus approaching his
wave-tossed disciples. They cry out at
first in apprehension and dread. Then
speaks the sweet. reassuring voice, alt is I,
be Lot afraid" o to hear it in Sickness,
loss, bereavement! GAIL things work to-
gether for good to them that love God.n
There comes visitation to US, as the
children of God. out of whose depths there
speaks not the voice Of Jesus. Christ, who
could turn water into wine and stone to
bread, can take any experience of the soul
and make it to mean the pastures green
and waters still by which he feeds his own.
| WHAT THE LESSON SAYS.
1e seek me. To search for. They had
just come to the other side of the sea, look
ing for him.-Ye saw the miracles WITH
u true apprehension. They saw the mira
Giles and yet they did not see them, e..
understand their sign language.-Were
| filled A strong word, gorged, satisfied.
| So much of the flesh is there in our best
| seeking.
| Labor not. 1t is better to render this as
in the verses which follow, work. The word
means to be occupied with.-Meat. Food.
Or anything to be eaten.-Perishes. Or
is brought to naught.-Endureth, i. O.,
does not come to naught.-Into everlast-
ing life Or into life eternal The same
food on earth and in heaven.-Give to
God the Father sealed. literally, .This
one hath the Father sealed, God,n as il
with the name Of God. Christ bears the
mark and stamp Of God. The same word is
| used OF Gods people in Rev. vii. ("sealed
the servants of our God").
Work the works Same word as labor In
v. 27.-Of God. And so have Gods re-
ward for doing Gods work.
The work Of God. The source and center
Of all service in faith.-Believe on. A
priation and trust.-Hath sent. Or simply
| sent. Aorist tense. From this verb comes
the word apostle, one sent.
What sign showest thou then2 Literally,
What, therefore, uoest thou. as sign. See
Revision. Thou, emphatic. - Believe
thee. Not, as our Lord directs in the verse
before, abelieve on.n-What dost thou
work2 Or, How dost thou work? AS If to
say, allow do you conduct yourself to prove
this divine seal of which you speak?"
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
That meat which endureth Such meat
my soul Graves. There Is something ten
derly pathetic about the cry of that woman
at the we'll when told Of the ever spring.
ing fountain. 9Sir, give me this water
that thirst not, neither come hither to
an
recurrent thirst, to which she must daily
minister with her weary marches across the
hot sands. Our Lord would give to her
living water, the water Of everlasting life.
Of life eternal "Master, eat, " his disciples
cry. Jesus: 81 have meat to eat that We
know not off, Master, evermore give us
this meat. And such he gives. sHath any
man brought him aught to eat?" is the
query. No, this Is meat purchased at no
market-place on earth. "My meat is to do
the will Of him that sent me and to finish
} his work.n And here he says: 1.-THE Son Of
3 man shalt give unto you" Christ teache:
, us that God has will and work in us.
When we yield to that will our souls are
daily fed, when we bend to that work there
is ceaseless strength within. And why
does that meat endure? Because the will
continues and the work is an everlasting
work. Indeed it takes both earth and
heaven to "finishn it.
Lord, evermore give US this bread. 1t is
the highest cry Of the soul as we'll as the
humblest. Here speaks the spirit within,
the spirit that teaches us to say. in child
accents, "Abba, Father" 1t asks and keeps
on asking. 3Evermore given Is its cry.
"For the bread of God is he which cometh
down from heaven" He comes and keeps
on coming. In this sense, too, we call,
"Give US this day our daily bread" The
bread of yesterday, the Christ Of past ex-
perience, we say it reverently, is not
| | rr1,f ar "a oil
heaven for fresh supplies of grace. New
mama, new manifestations of Christ's
presence and power. There is bread fo1
adversely and bread for prosperity, bread
for the sunlight and bread for the night
seasons bread for Jerusalem's happy hill
tops and for Babylon's gloomy banks.
Christ comes anew to US in all our expert
ences. He is living bread. Thus it is that
he "giveth life unto the world.n
Him that cometh unto me will in no
wise cast out. Who are the cast-aways OF
earth? Assemble, if you can, in thought,
the souls cast out into outer darkness. Who
put them there? What was the force that
} thrust them away? Is Judas one? He
went to his own place. self chosen, self
. furnished. Was Dives one? He had Hoses
and the prophets whom he would not hear
whose counsel he himself cast away. Was
the young man whom Jesus loved one:
He was entreated to come nigh, but 1t
turned his back on such riches, for he Lad
through the pit Of the lost is one and the
same, ave are, by ourselves, cast out VIC
put God from u.s. our own sins thrust u
from heaven and heavens delights 1t is
a truth of all scripture corroborated by ali
experience Christ casts forth no man. He
still speaks kind Of pathetic word, OF
, which there is no gainsaying, eye will not
| come unto me that ye might have life"
, - 1 will raise him up at the last day. Here
is faiths remotest confidence Not yet has
this word been fulfilled for not yet is the
last day. But already it is put to the test
already it is, we may say, in process of full
fillment. "Every one which seeth the Sor
and believeth on him"-these are the CON
) ditions And wherever there is an eye
lifted in faith then u name is entered il
, the Lambs book of life, and underneath
are the words, II will raise him up at the
last day." Oh, the millions that have gone
forth from the earth-life in the confiden
assurance Of this text! An assurance it is
we'll founded. For it is "the Fathers will,
and what is the Fathers will is the Son.
: work. Two immutable things Has tina
), will, has that work ever failed? Never
Nor shall it fail in that blessed consum
nation toward which all else looks forward
9That Of all which he hath given me
should lose nothing, but should raise it vi
- N~1H