The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-03-23
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
AN INTERESTING AND INsTRUC-
TIVE LESSON.
Reflections of an Elcvating Character
Wholesome Food for Thought = Study.
ing the scriptural lesson Intelllgentiy
and Prodtabjv.

The Blessings of the Gospel.
! The lesson for Sunday, March n, may
be found in Isaiah 40: Ito.
INTRODUCTORY.
Here the second Isaiah" is supposed
to begin, here with this word comfort. '
Well, then thank God for a second
Isaiah! We have seen him in the pulpit.
Not that he has looked, in any material
respects, different from our first Isaiah.
So far as we could see it was the same
man, only a new man, changed man.
The pastor, preaching along under some
thing of weight, has suddenly been
transferred, as it were, into an angel or
light. New Joy comes into his tones, new
hope beams in his eye; he mounts up
with wings as an eagle, and our spirits
have mounted with his. Under the in
SEPARATION OF Cod our first Isaiah has
become second Isaiah" Was it not
very much like this with that elder
prophet?
| WHAT THE LESSON SAYS.
! Comfort. First meaning to sigh, hence
TO compassionate, in a remoter sense
still, to comfort. Douay says, and with
some grounds, Be comforted. Your
God. Hebrew: the God of you, en-
phathic.
Comfortably. Literally and suggest
lively, to the heart.-Cry unto her, or
call. A stronger word than speak
| Warfare. From the verb to go forth, a
second meaning being to shine forth,
hence probably the reading in the Mar
gin, appointed time. The reference, in
either case, seems to be period OF dis
cipline or probation.-Accomp lished.
Literally, full according to the mar
ginal reading), of full moon."For-
given, or paid off, discharged.-Fo1.
Better, that, third item. 1t Is the
same word translated that twice before
in this verse. Why not here2-Double.
1 Or, twice as much; 1. e., sin pardoned
and grace bestowed.
| The voice of him that crieth. More
accurately, a volcs crying.
First, turn, 1. e., turn straight.-Make
Straight. Or, direct; no deviation.--
Highway. raised way, a thorough
fare.
Exalted, l. e., lifted up, or leveled nr,
As suggested in the Gospel Railway
exercise in our last.-Made low. Levs
eled down.-The crooked. First mean
ing, bullying, protuberant.--
Rather, smooth or even.-Rough
places. The lexicon suggests ridges.
Plain. Or, level. Usually applied
to valley. SO translated in the fol-
lowing chapter: Isa. Al: 10; CT. Josh.
IL: II.
The glory of the Lord. The bright
ness OF his appearing. Called by the
later Jews the Shekinah. Revealed.
Literally, uncovered. Christ the uncov-
ering the unbosOming of God.-To-
gether. A peculiar expression, mean
ing as one man, used elsewhere by
Isaiah at lisa. l 81 and 10: 8.-Hath
spoken it. Rather, hath spoken. So
also in the same verse. shall see, omit
it, |. e., shall see God in Christ, may we
say?
All flesh is grass. To be, probably
understood as solilOquy of the prophet,
a reason ventured for withholding the
message.
Because the spirit of the Lord. Or,
when the spirit. So rendered Ps. 8: 3
when 1 consider the heavens). The
mere breath of God Stays, what then
shall his voice do?
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
Comfort. Gods word; it is not man s.
1t is presumable that the prophet would
have gone on speaking grief, had not
the new voice rang in his soul, a voice
fresh from heaven: Comfort! comfort
for my people," Now, do not propose
to go to any man for comfort and con-
ISOLATION. / may confess my sins and
tell my griefs to the best Of men, and it
is only an added sigh that 1 receive.
Unless, indeed, he conduct me to God,
the God of my consolation, and there
am relieved. He it is that speaks to the
heart. Why not take everything to him?
He is the God of all comfort" and
: xvIn hax I'm aohl 10 30
comfort them which are in any trouble
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God"
Cry unto her. No, have not been
doing that. AS preacher, a Sunday
school teacher, Christian worker,
have been speaking, taking comfort
But as for crying it, L have been slow to
do that. 1t would disturb people, you
know. Men and women would stop and
say: What's the natter" Well,
would to God it might be sol 1t is high
time, by some means or other, a halt
were called in the downward march. 1t
was "a cry" there at Nineveh. And then
and there nothing less than a cry would
! give men peace. Doubtless Jonah made
! some disturbance in the street, so also
John at the riverside. 1t was discom-
fort at first, but it made for comfort,
eternal comfort What this old world
sadly needs to-day is a voice to "cry
unto her."
! The crooked shall be made straight.
Doubtless there is not little crooked
ness, in the sense borne here, among
Christian people. A crookedness that
: God proposes to make straight or smooth.
, The literal Hebrew is, that which bulges
or protrudes. We are reminded OF DR..
Herrick Johnson's exhortation from the
platform Of the Institute Of Second Lit
erature at Farwell Hall. Don't bulge,
he said. Then he went on trenchantly
to particularize. THE Petrine bulge,
for example, and 20, these prophetic
bulgers.' But, aside from excrescences
Of doctrine, there are protuberances,
sharp corners, pointed elbows of prac-
tice. These need to be raped down.
/ And then tn. re are pride, nd ambition,
and self-indulgence, lifting themselves
up, a very crooked array. We should be
! very much discouraged were IL not for
the truth taught here, that it is God
himself who, coming by his Spirit, makes
the crooked straight.
4 Il 81. ID