The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-08-05
ckaIs-r's AUTHORITY.
International sunday-schocl Lesson {
August o, 1891.

Ck2ISr'S AUTHORITY. v
sunday-School Lesson for
August 0, 1894.
Especially Arranged from 8. 8. Quarterly.l
LESSON TExT.-John 5;l7,S0
GOLDEN TEXT ALI power Is given unto Me m
Heaven aud in carth.-Matt. 2S:la
CENTRAL TRUTn.-Wo have . Saviour with
oil tho authority and power needful for our sa
walton.
TINE.-Probably at the Passover season,
March 20 to April 5, A. D. a.
PLAcE-Jerusalem. Tho pool OF Bethesda
was either the large pool near 6t. Stephens
gate, cast Of jerusalem or the fountain Of the
Virgin near the pool Of Sloan, south OF the
temple.
INTERVENING HIsToRY.-Jesus remained two
days at Sychar, then went on to Galilce, and
cured noblcman's son. OF the next three
months there is no record Then Jesus went TO
Jerusalem to the Passover and healed an inpo.
tent man ut tho pool Of Bethesda, which mira.
Gle occasioncd the discourse Of to.day's lesson.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs-7. Answered
them" for their complaints that He had cured
o man on the Sabbath. my Father workcth,"
etc. has rested from creation, but is working
for redemption. Jesus was doing the same
kind OF work. 10. 1.-THE Son:' the Messiah.
the Son of God come in the flesh. forming by
tho union the divine man Christ Jesus. 90.
Greater works than these:" miracles they
had seen-works Of saving men, Of giving spir.
itual life as at Pentecost 81. "Raiseth up tho
dead" both spiritual and physical. quick
eneth:" maketh alive % "Judgeth no man."
except through the Son. "All judgment unto
the Son:" who, as partaker Of human nature,
would be seen to sympathize with them as
dying for them, would be known to love them
with an everlasting love; as Divine, would
Judge perfectly. 25 1.-THE dead shall hear the
voice." this must refer to the spiritual resur
rection. It had one fulfllmcnt at Pentecost.
'Son of Gods" Divine Saviour, with all wis
dom and power. ever drawing upward "a.
''Son Of man." so as to sympathize with man,
be known by man, die as man to make atone.
ment % Hour is coming" this refers to the
physically dead 90. "Damnation:" condemna'
ton, as in v. "a.
LESSON COMMENTS.
When come to write lesson. al.
ways think that have class of boys in
front Of me, and say to myself: How
can I so teach this lesson that these
boys may get some good from it?" The
lesson to-day is hard one, for it has no
narrative in it, and the themes to which
it refers are not such as naturally in.
terest boys. All the more need then
for careful preparation, SO that some.
thing may be said that shall help them.
AS read these verses, recognize that
the Master is speaking of two very i'm
portant things, namely: physical life
and spiritual life. These are the pivots
on which, then, my teaching must turn.
When we are sick, what is it that we
most dread? Death. Yes; and the rea-
son that in case OF severe sickness we
call the doctor, is that we may escape
from death. The fact is that all men
everywhere have done all that lies III
their power to nullify the power of
death. All doctors, hospitals, medi-
cines, health resorts, bear witness to
the anxiety to escape from death. The
recent excitement over the "Koch"
remedy for consumption arose from the
fact that there were many thousands Of
sufferers all over the world, who
hoped by means of his remedies
to be healed of that disease which
was slowly doing them to death.
So Accordingly anxious were all these
sufferers to be benefited in this way,
that we arc told that for months ahead
all the sleeping cars that ran from the
Riviera, where many Of these persons
were trying to be healed, to Berlin,
were engaged. Yes, all mankind IS
anxious to escape from that dread
enemy, death. Eve sometimes hear that
dying is paying the debt of nature"
but that is not true. Death is the debt,
not of nature, but of sin. For, as we
shall soon see, if there were no sin,
there would have been no death.
Yes, in spite Of all these fierce ef-
forts to escape from death, no one will
succeed. For awhile we may stay its
progress, but in the end death always
wins the victory, and we must succumb.
New York is great city, and London a
larger, but there are larger cities than
either Of these, for outside of then both
lie the cities of the dead, and they grow
steadily. Millions, and thousands of
millions lie there, and the professions
to them never cease. And will it ever
be so? No. For the lesson tells us that
the time is coming when all that are in
their graves shall come forth. Christ
has power over death, and at the end
will show this power, and then not one
Of those who have been laid away will
remain in the grave. This is one of the
precious truths that we find the Master
proclaiming in this lesson. Not always
will death triumph! The great cities
Of the dead shall one day be broken up,
and life take the place of death.
But the death of the body is not all
that the blessed Master speaks of in
| these verses. He also speaks of the
death of the soul. Men are spiritual
" dead. For example, when
we see q man given over to sloth, so
that he makes no effort in any way to
better himself, we say that man is dead
to ambition. He is SO little swayed by
it, that he feels no motive power in
clining him to do anything to help him
self. So when q boy insists on telling
that which is untrue, and cannot be
taught to speak the truth, we say he is
dead to the truth. In the same way a
man may be dead to shame, or dead to
gratitude, or to friendship. BY this, we
mean that he has no appreciation Of
any of these things. They exist, but
not for him. Well in the same way a
man may be dead to spiritual things, so
that while they exist he has nothing
to do with them. In this condition the
Bible declares that the vast majority of
mankind is to-day. The golden rule
has no attraction for them, and they