Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-11-24
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON un. FouRTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATioNAl SERIES. NOV. 25.

l. i1-Commentary By the Rev. d. III.
stearns.
%. And the scrihcs which came down
from Jerusalem said, He hath BecIzcb;lb
and by the prince of devils casteth He out
DEVILS IL is probable hat the incidents
of Luke yii (tho healing OF the centurion 5
servant the raising OF the widows son
and the amounting of Jesus feet) came in
between last lesson and this. He is so for
getful of Himself and wholly given to
Hinistering to others that bis friends said
lie was beside Himself fversc 2l), and
the scribes said Hc had a devil See tho
privilege Of being misunderstood and mis-
represented.
%. And He called them unto Him and
said unto them in parallels, How can sa-
tan cast out satant" PARALLELS were for
those who by their unbciief preferred 10
remain without, and He taught thus that
they might not see nor understand nor lie
converted MARI iv, II, In. II we will
fully shut our eyes TO the light, we cannot
blame God for our not seeing. If we re-
fuse to give heed to His loving words, we
can only thank ourselves for the hardening
of our hearts lie would have it otherwise.
"a. And if kingdom be divided
against itself that kingdom cannot
stand" 1t would seem almost unncccs-
sary to say this. 1t is so self evident, but
for them it was necessary. They were 50
desperately blind and foolish through
their unhelicf and b.rlncss Of beart Not
one Of them would willingly work against
his own interests, yet by their remark
they think satan foolish enough to do so.
20. And if a house be divided against
itself that house cannot stand ;, Thcre
nre in the world those who bclono 10 tho
kingdom ana house Of God and those who
belong to the kingdom and houso of Sa.
tan. but the ono is nv its paturo rs oppos-
ed 70 the other as light Ia darkness. as
heaven to he'll. That light should con
tend with liobt or ,larkness witb fark-
ness Is moi in tho ncturc al tbings See
how simply Jesus snake. how very plain
He made it even ms He had long before
told His servants. Moses and Habakkuk.
ia do 1Deut. xvii. s. uab ii. ~
o8. And il satan rise m ngaInst him
self and be divided he cannot stand. hut
hnth nm ona y This vauld certainly be a
fine thing for the world that satan should
bavc an end and some day if shah come
fRey. XIX. 2 3. 10). but not by any rebel
lion in his eanap-ratbcr bv tho mighty
power of the light that shall finally pre-
vail over all darkness. The seed of the
woman shall breise the hcadof the serpent.
The God of pesce shall br,fise satan nnder
onr feet shortly fGen iii. Il. Rom xvi
ao)
81 "No man can enter into a strong
mans house and spoil his goods except he
will first Lind the strong man. ana then
he will spoil his house. All unbelieyers
are satan's house. whether religious or ir-
RELIGIOUS unbelievers (John viii, AN. lust
as iii true believers are the house of Christ
and Of God tucb. lii. 6: Eph. il. 1gl.
When Jesus shall have bound satan in tho
pit and aftcrward cast him into the Lake
of fire, then all he has over had control
over. air and earth and people who have
not willingly submitted to him. shall DO
forever delivered from his worse than
Egyptian boz .latsc.
2S. "Vcrily say unto Won. All sins shall
be forgiven unto tho sons of men and bias
phemies yhercwith soever they shall bias
pheme." What a Redeemer and a redemp-
ton God has made known TO usi What
precious blood it is than can cleanse from
all sin and blot out so as never to DO
found, even the precious blood Of Christ,
the lamb without blemish and without
spot q John i, E; Isa xiii, 20; Pet /, 19).
Then to know that under no circum-
stances shall any one who comes ever DO
cast out (John vi, 81. Halleluiahi What
Saviourl
20 but he that shall blaspheme
against the Holy Ghost hath never forgive.
ness, but is in danger of eternal damna-
| ton" 1t was by the Spirit of God that
He cast out demons (Math. xii. 2s) 1t is
the work of the Spirit to convince of sin
and righteousness and Judgment (John
xvi, 81 He it was who broodcd over tho
deep in the time Of the darkness of Gen. i,
., 8. He wrought in and through the
prophets. He spakc and wrought through
Jesus himself He makes known to us
the love of God and the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus
so. Because they said, He hath an I'M
clean spirit. F." As the Spirit is the one who
alone can open our eyes, to go against
Him is to cut ourselves off from all hope
of forgiveness. He has well been called
tho executive Of the Godhead, and we can
thus sec that, while Father and Son have
made all provision for our salvation, to re-
sist the Spirit is to continue in eternal sin.
81 Then came His brethren and His
mother, and standing without sent unto
Him, calling Him. In Mark vi, 3, we
have His brothers and His sisters men
toned and Himself referred to as the car
penter. That they wero His own brothers
and sisters, Mary's children, it seems TO
me is very clear from Ps Xix, g.
49, And the multitude sat about Him,
and they said unto Him, Behold, Thy
mother and Thy brethren without seek for
Thee" 1t is just possible that they spoke
sneeringly of His brethren rs being from
Nazareth, of which Nathaniel said, Can
any good thing come out of Nazareth"
John i, 46l We may be sure that Jesus
was not ashamed of His mother or of His
brethren any more than Joseph was
ashamed of his father aud his brethren
when he presented them to Pharaoh
49, And he answered them, saying,
D