The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-08-19
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
AN INTERESTING AND INsTRUC-
TIVE LESSON.
Reflections Of an Elevsting Charactsr--
Wholesome Food for Thought - Study
ing the scriptural Lesson InteliIgentIy
and Pro6tabIv.

| 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. 20 be assured, and gives
| US much OF heaven gov. Into many home.
during these days OF summer, has come the
| 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 rrecede, we
descry the Lord Jesus approaching his
| wave-tossed disciples They err out at
first In apprehension and dread. Then
! speaks the sweet, reassuring voice, ait Is i,
| be OF afraid.n TO hear IL In sickness,
| loss, bereavement @All things work to-
| gether for good to them that love God"
| 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 1t TO mean the pastures green
and waters still by which he feeds his own.
WHAT THE LESSON SAYS.
Ye 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
true apprehension. They saw the mira
! cles and yet they did not see them, l. e..
understand their sign language. We're
| filed 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, 1. O.,
| does not come to naught-Into everlast-
ing life Or into life eternal. The same
| food on earth and in heaven.-Give TO
you. Christ as self-gtving. -Him hath
| God the Father sealed. Literally, "This
| one hath the Father scaled, 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 Godn).
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.-Beleve on. A
! large idea. embracing acceptance, appro-
| priation and trust--Hath sept. Or simply
| sent. Aorist tense. From this verb comes
! the word apostle, one sent.
What sign showest thou then? Literally,
| What therefore, doest thou. as "A sign. See
| Revision. Thou, emphatic. - Believe
| thee. Not as our Lord directs In the verse
| before, @Dof1eve on.n-What dost thou
! work? Or, How dost thou work? AS II 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 Il something ten
| derby pathetic about the cry of that woman
| at the we'll when told of the ever spring
that thirst not, neither come hither to
| draw" She was so tired, so worn with the
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
And now he promises living bread, the food
| OF life eternal. "Master, eat" his disciples
cry. Jesus: II have meat to eat that ye
know not Of" Master, evermore give us
this meat. And such he gives. "Hath any
ms hppt1 aim. unl ~ fa hn
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" And here he says: "The Son of
man shalt give unto your Christ teaches
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 aud the work Is an everlasting
work. Indeed IL takes both earth and
heaven to "hnishn It.
Lord, evernore give us this bread II Is
the highest cry of the soul as well 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. "Evermoro 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,
active US this day our daily bread" The
bread Of yesterday, the Christ Of past ex-
perience, we say It reverently, is not
enough for to-day. We need to call upon
heaven for fresh supplies OF grace. New
mama, new manifestations OF Christs
presence and power. There Is bread for
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 1t is that
he "giveth life unto the world.-
Him that cometh unto me will In no
wise cast out Who are the st-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
won't TO his own place, self-choSen, self
furnished. Was Dives one? lie had Moses
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 he
turned his back on such riches, for he Lad
"great POSSESSIONS the cry that rings
through tho pit Of the lost Is one and the
same, awe are, by ourselves, cast out, we
put God from us, our own sins thrust Us
from heaven and heavens delights 1t Is
q truth of all scripture, corroborated by all
experience. Christ casts forth no man He
still speaks kind OF pathetic word, of
which there is no gsinsaying, "Ye will not
come unto me that ye might have life.n
:, VIII raise him up at the last day. Here
Is faiths rem )teSt confidence. Not yet has
this word been fulfilled, for not yet is the
last day. But already it Is put TO the test.
already IL Is, we may say, In process OF full
hllment. avery one which seeth the Son
and believeth on him"-these are the con-
ditionS And wherever there is eye
lifted I'm faith then name Is entered in
the Lambs book of life. and underneath
arc the words. ~ Will raise him up at the
last day" Oh, the millions that have Como
forth from tho carth-life in the confident
assurance OF this text An assurance IL is.
well founded. For it is "the Fathers Will.
and what is the Fathers Will Is the Sons
work. Two immutable things Has that
will, has that work ever failed? Neverl
Nor shall IL fail in that blessed CONSUME
nation toward which all else looks forward.
"That OF all which he hath given me
should lose nothing, but should raise IL up
again at the last day" Lord. I believe!
and the work Is commenced. In that faith
die. and yet l am not dead. Lord, finish
thy work!
NpNfsI ri AZ M no I'm