The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-10-05
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for October 8, 1893
Redemption in Christ Romans


3:19-26.
Especially Arranged from Peloubet's Notes.1
GOLDEN TEXT Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.-Rom. 3:24.
THE COURSE OF THoUGHT.-The subject is,
how men can be saved from sin. They cannot
be saved by the deeds Of tho law, for us mat.
ter of fact they have oil failed in obedience to
law. What have the Gentiles achieved under
the law OF conscience and of nature-these
Roman citizens whose glory is in their Roman
law? Behold, for answer, the awful picture In
1;2l-32. But the Jews, exalted IN privilege, with
their book of the law and their divine training,
looking down from this height upon the heather
have they become holy by the lawY No; for
they in their measure break the law of God
as do the Gentiles (chap..2). But is there no ad.
vantage in being jew then, and in possessing
the law OF God? Certainly (3D. But If men
sin in spite OF this law they are guilty before
God, and must be condemned by Him. They can
see their portrait in their own Scriptures
(3:9-Is), All are under sin. The whole world Is
guilty before God. BY the deeds Of the law can
no flesh be justified before God Is there nc
remedy then? no salvationf Yes: God has pro
vided q way in Jesus Christ, who manifests the
divine Righteousness, who has made atoncment
for sin through His blood; and by faith in Him
all who believe are justified, forgiven the past
and made holy in heart and life
LESSON NOTES.
The Need of Way of Salvation.
Ever since the fall of man God had
been working in two parallel lines for
his redemption-one with the Gentiles
through conscience and natural law,
the other with the Jews through di-
vine revelation and training.
First, the Gentiles The moral con-
dition of the Roman empire, amid the
glory of its military achievements that
made Rome the mistress of the world;
in the height of its intellectual SUI
premacy, producing works which have
aided the education of the world for
eighteen centuries, and are still a part
of the training of ever y educated per
son in Christendorl; under the power
of a law which is still the basis of civ
ilized legislation amid the triumphs
of wealth and luXury,-is portrayed in
the terrible indictment of chap. 1: 21-S2,
which the contemporary literature of
the day fully confirms, as do the start
ling revelations from the ruins of
Pompeii. DIR. Lyman Abbott says:
There are six indications of the moral
life of community, either of which is
significant; when they all agree in
their testimony, they afford nearly
infallible test of it's true character"
/. As to industry. 'All honorable
industry was dishonorable in Rome;"
one half the inhabitants were slaves,
wretchedly treated. The wages of a
day-laborer did not exceed twelve or
fifteen cents day.
2. AS to social habits. ''The accumu-
1of Of IN, IL. %
few, was as dangerous symptom of
demoralization as the poverty, the ig-
norance and the moral degradation of
the many" The excesses of lust can
only be suggested by saying that
they paralleled the eXcesses of cruelty;
and these surpass Imagination.
3. AS to the family divorce was as
free and as frequent as the most libidin-
Gus advocate of free-lust in our own age
could desire" Cicero repudiated his
wife because he was short of money
and wanted new dowry." "Prostitu-
tion became honorable" Chastity
had become perilous virtue
4. AS to the government. 1t was
military despotism. ''The evils of un-
limited power have had many tragical
illustrations in human history, but
none to compare with that afforded by
the eighty years covered by the reigns
of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero,
Vitellius and Domitian." The senate
was so abject, and the courts so corrupt,
that the people had in them no aid for
overthrowing the bitter despotism
that crushed them.
x AS IN a1uoat t;op ssS,,ob =, .rorax,,
ment did nothing for the education of
youth. Rome contained nothing ap-
proximating to public school sys-
tenn" 1.-THE ability to write well, if
not to read, was a badge rather of the
servile than the honorable class"
Education was confined to few per-
sons, and limited to few and super
fetal themes"
6. AS to religion. There was almost
no faith in the gods, though temples
were built with increasing splendor,
and established forms were scrupulous-
ly observed; yet the people laughed in
the theaters at the popular satires Of
the gods whom they worshiped in the
temples. Cicero and Caesar were both
high officers of religion, though both
disbelieved it. AS usual with the de-
cline of faith, came the rise Of super
stition and belief in all manner of por-
tents and auguries. Religion had no
practical bearing on the moral life ex-
cept to degrade it. Worship and vice
were not inconsistent" In many cases
worship ministered to vice.
Illustrations.-The traveller in the
oy.<1 nt,s .e 4
by gigantic apparition in the clouds
which are about him, until he discov-
ers that his every gesture is repeated
by the image which for the moment
aroused his superstitious awe. The
gods of Greece and Rome were but gi-
gantic reflections cast upon the clouds
by Greek and Roman life. The gods of
Homer and Virgil are not only feasting
gods, but registering, bacchanalian,
drunken gods. They are not only SEN