Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-12-19

mas Lesson Memory Verses. Gil.
Golden Text, Luxe II. 10 Commentary
by THE Rev d. Va. stearns.
8. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the fed keeping
watch over their focks by night" The
love Of David and Jonathan seen III our
last lesson was but faint type of the love
OF Him who in this lesson is seen as a babe
in Bethlehem These shepherds, and all
the good shepherds Of the Bible, such a.
Abel Moses, David and Amos, are sug-
gestiye OF Him who was born to be the
good and great and chief Shepherd
2 And lo, the angel Of the Lord came
upon rhens ana tile glory Of the Lord
shone round about them, and they were
sore afraid. These ministering spirits
are ever with a. (Heb. I, I'D, having con-
stant access to heaven, listening To the
voice Of God and doing His bidding (Math.
xviii. 10; Ps. eli, 20) There are several
causes Of fear, such al sin, ignorance and
superstition, but sin III back of aIl With
our sins forgiven and assured Of the same
q John ii, II; Isa. xiii, 25), and Of the
perfect love Of God To us III John iv, 1s),
we should always sing, will trust and
not BIZ afraid (Isa xii, 2j.
10. "And the angel said unto them.
Fear not, for behold bring you good It'd
ings Of great joy, which shall be to all
people / would heartily urge upon every
believer a prayerful study Of all the fear
nots' Of the Bible, that thus great joy
may come to you personally and then
through yOu tO ali whom YOU may reach
The first one is found in Gen. XIV, where
we read for the first time Of righteousness
and of sacrifice AZ the ground of All assur-
ance. Until we know Him ~ our right
eousness we have not received the good
tidings from X, A.
III " For unto you IN born this day in
the city Of David "a Saviour. which IL
Christ the Lord Isaiah lad written.
Unto US a child is born, unto Us a son is
given" elsa TX, 6), and now after ZOO
years the prophecy j. literally fulfilled 50
surely and literally shall the rest Of Isa.
X, o, z, be fulfilled in due time, bringing
salvation to all Israel and tu All the world
This i He who was foreordained before
the foundation Of the world but in due
time made manifest Il Pet. /, 20).
AZ. And this shall be "A sign unto you,
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swad-
ding clothes, lying id a manager. In
mangeF because there was no room for
them in the inn (Yerse I'd See how poor
He became for u that we through His
poverty might be rich I'll Cor viii, g) We
may well therefore let our turn of mind
be free from the love Of money; constant
with such things a. We have; for Himself
hath said, l Will in Do wise fail thee,
neither will ! in any wise forsake thee. So
that with good courage we may say, The
Lord l. thy helper; / viii not fear C4eb-
xiii 5, 8, R- NJ and margin)
13. And suddenly there was with the
angel multitude Of the heavenly host"
John describes the multitude which be
saw H. ten thousand times ten thousand
and thousands Of thousands (Rey. ', III.
Think also Of the host that cared for Elijah
XII Kings Nj, I'D, and of thc legions which
Jesus might have had fur the asking
God for US, " includes all the powers at
His command. How can we fearf
ia. Praising God and saying, Glory to
God in the highest, and Oh earth peace,
good will toward men. See the song OF
seraphim and cherubim in Isa vi 3; Rev
IN, 5, there i ND self praise, but Holy,
holy, holy j. the Lord Worthy il the
Lamb, = is the song Of angels and redeemed
(Rev. iv, Il; ', 9, 12). Let Us be ever sing
ing il, while we abide here in these mortal
bodies and hold ourselves wholly for His
pleasure, that through us He may proclaim
TO others that there is peace for them, too,
in Jesus Christ (Acts X, 36)
15. "Let us now go even unto Bethle-
hem. and see this thing which l. come to
pass, which the Lord hath made known
unto Us. " Simply and delightfully."- they
believed God. They could say, I'VE have
known and believed III John iv, l6). The
Lord by the angels made them know, and
they simply received the message 1t il
our privilege tO believe all that God says
and thus make glad the heart Of our Lord,
for He was surely glad when He said to
His Father have given unto them the
words which thou gayest inc, and they
have received them" John xvii, Sl-
16. And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph, and the babe ly-
ing in a mlnger" They did well to 20
quickly, for ID is well to make haste to be-
lieve God then there will he no occasion to
make haste from fear lisa. xviii, 16), but
quietly and restfully hasten Oh His bust
ness. They found as they had been told
duke xix 30; xii, 49,, and so shall we
always find; therefore we do well to say,
iii believe God that it shall be even as it
was told me- facts xvii, 25).
II. And when they had seen it they
made known abroad the saving which was
told them concerning this child" We
must first see for ourselves and then live
to make others know and see. Here is
the great mistake Of the vast majority of
Christians; they seem content to see Him
for themselves, but have little ambition to
make Him known abroad, notwithstand-
ing His word that in the power Of His
Spirit we arc to De His witnesses into the
ends Of The earth (Acts i, sD.
Is. And all they that heard it won
dered at those things which were told them
by the shepherds. Wondering is not be-
lieving. There L. a great deal Of hearing
the good news which leads to nothing
more than wondering (see Luke iv, %;
TX, 43; XII, 14l, but the word preached does
not profit those who hear unless they be-
licve it Heb IN, 2) Without faith it is
impossible to please God" (Heb. II, 81,
which certainly implies that BY faith we
can please Him. Let IT, then Have faith
in Sod Il BE not afraid, only believe"
10 but Mary kept all these things and
pondered them in her heart That is the
thing to du, receive the word keep it and
bring forth fruit with patience duke viii,
15). 1t is written Of her, Blessed is she
that believed; for there shall be perform
ance of those things which were told her
from the Lord lLukei, 45J. Daniel heard
many things which he could not under
stand, but he kept them in his heart dan.
vii, 2s).
20. And the shepherds returned, glori-
flying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it WAS
told unto them When We believe, we
become filled with such JOY and peace thar
we cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard from. xv, Is; Acts
iv, %, ami when we would refrain it be
comes Ike fire in cur bones, and We can
not forbear (Jer. XIX, 3, gl. Compare Luke
V, %, 20; vii, IS; xiii l3; xvii. IS; xviii,
43; xiii Az, On glorifving God. The sum
init N life il I'd know Him and I'd make
Him known (Jer. tx, "a; III Cor iv, 1I).
Christmnstide.
There's n little Old man with silvery hair
An long white beard at hics in the air,
With twinklin black eyes an rosy, red face.
An nnct "A wear M comes tD our place.