The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-09-03
THE TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD.
International Sunday-School Lesson foD
September @, 1891.


Especially Arranged from 8. s. Quarterly.1
LESSON TExr.-John 8: 81 Al.
GOLDEN TExT.-As many rs receives
Him, to them gave He power to become tho
sons Of God.-John :12.
CENTRAL TRUTH.-The true disciples of
Jesus abide in His Word and are made free ny
the truth.
TIME.-october 1s, A. D. Co. The next dsy
nfter our last lesson.
PLACE.-Jerusaem, in one Of the tcmpl0
courts.
CIRCUMsTANCEs.-Jesus returned to the tenn
pie the next day after our last lesson (S:2J,
where crowds still assembled, and taught first
in the court of the women, where the treasury
chests were placed $3.50, and afterwards in
one OF the porches around the court Of tho Gen
tiles. Here His words convinced many, and
they believed on Him To some OF these Ho
spoke the opening words Of tho lesson.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACES.-31. 'Dfscf-
ples:" learners, those who go to school to
Christ, taking Him for their teacher, and learn
Ing to be good like Him. SO. make you free:'r
from sin, from prejudice, from bai habits from
fear of punishment, free to do right. 3a
Never In bondage:' personally. They wero
never slaves, though subjects Of the Roman
government. 81. Servant slaves Of SIM BE-
cause sinful heart and sinful habits would not
let them do as they wished; as people are
sometimes slaves Of intemperance. They also
had to suffer against their wills. s.. 'Abideth
ever" Those who believe in Jesus remain for
ever in the kingdom Of God. Sinners though
they may profess to belong to His kingdom,
cannot remain in 1t. 81. "Seol to kill Me:'~
a :32 Az. 3S. "Ye have seen with your father:'s
Satan (v.44J. Shown by their acting like Sat-
an. Their words and actions wero the test
Everyone inhcrits from his spiritual parents
character, actions, tendencies and destiny. A.
"Ye cannot hear my wor1:" receive 1t so as to-
obey. Their characters were in opposition to
the truth; they hated It; and hence could not
receive 1t without q change Of character. A.
"A murderer from the beginning:' by tempt
ing the human race in Eden he brought death
into the world, and so all men die.
LESSON COMMENTS.
The Gospel of John is by far the most
spiritual Of all the Gospels, and for this
reason is harder for the teacher of the
average class to handle. This lesson,
for example, is highly spiritual, and
has little that will interest the restless
boy. All the more must the teacher
toll to make the lesson interesting, So
that that boy may see the practical ap-
plication of those spiritual principles
that the Master lays down. In this dis
course with the Pharisees, we pick out
one uttcrance of Christ, and press that
home. We in this land are never done
lauding the blessing of freedom, and
that, too, with good reason. Slavery
with all that it means is an awful thing.
1t has been one of the curses of the Dark
Continent, and to-day our deepest SYM
pathies arc aroused whenever the story
of Africa's woes is retold by some mis-
sionary or traveller. But to the popular
mind, slavery means one thing, and one
only. 1t refers to what we call human
slavery, which finds it's expression in
the owning by one man of another hu-
man being. But there is worse slav-.
cry than this.
Jesus in this lesson speaks about the
truth. Now, what we think of as ''the
truth refers to truth in speech. Words
are true, and words are false, and to
this distinction our scholars have be-
come SO accustomed that they rarely
think of "the truth" as anything else.
But "the truth is far wider thing in
it's range than the mere truthful use.
of language. 1t refers to all the rela-.
tions of life; so that we truly say
that while man tells the truth with
his lips, he may all the time be living a
lie. truth" applies to every depart-
ment of our life and action. 1t includes
thought feeling, word, deed, motive
in fact, every possible human expert
ence. Everything in this world is
either in accordance with truth, or op-
posed to it. This may be new idea to
many OF our scholars, but it is q good
one, and one with which they should
be made familiar.
We have been talking about slavery
and its evils, and about the truth. See
then what the Saviour says about the
relations of the two. All lib-rty comes
from obedience to the truth, and of
course all slavery comes from disobedi-
ence to the truth. There are more
kinds of slavery than that Of which we
have been speaking above. Disobedi-
ence to law brings slavery, and obedi-
ence to law brings liberty. Slavery is
what the great adversary wishes us to
fall into. Liberty is what God wants
to give us.
Look now carefully at this matter.
How does the inventor gain liberty and
power? BY learning what the laws Of
nature are, and then carefully obeying
them. Edison has gained much liberty,
even to talking to those who are hun
dreds Of miles away from him, by obey
ing the laws OF nature. A gentleman
in Boston years ago lost his hearing for
two weeks by disobcying one Of nature's
laws and exploding some nitro-giycerine
too near himself. The one was slave
of his mistake and the other the
freedman of his obedience. So with
men in every department Of life. One
is slave to lust, another to drink, an
other to love of power, another to
anger. another to the telling Of false
hood Oh, yes! there are many kinds
of slavery, and most Of them arc worse
than human slavery. And the only way.
of escape is through obedience to that
law of truth that God has laid down.
Rev. A. F. Schaufher, d. ID.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
1. We prove ourselves true disciples
by continuing to study and obey Christt
Word.
n A.