The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-12-18
SABBATH SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
DECEMBER 22.
Lesson Text: s'The Birth Of Christ"
Luke H., S-2O-Golden Text:
Luke H., 10-Com-
mentary. ..-. .


mentary. ,-. ~
8. "And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch
over their fiocks by night" The love Of David
and Jonathan seen In our last lesson was
but faint type OF the love OF Him who In
this lesson Is seen as babe In Bethlehem.
These shepherds, and all the good shepherds
of the Bible. such as Abel. Moses, David and
Amos. are suggestive OF Him who was born
to be the good and great and chief Shepherd.
9. "And. 10, the angel Of the Lord came
upon them, and the glory Of the Lord shone
round about them, and they were. sore
afraid" These ministering spirits are ever
with US (Heb. l., 14). havins constant access
doing His bidding (Math. xviii, 10; Pc. GILL.
20). There are several causes Of fear, such
as sin, Ignorance and superstition, but sin Is
back OF all. With our sins forgiven and
assured of the same q Johnii.. II; Isa xiii. !.
25), and OF the perfect love Of God to us q
John w.. 1S), we should always sing. II will
trust and not be afraid" (Isa xii. q. la
10. "And the angel said unto them.
Fear not, for behold I bring you good
tidings OF great Joy, which shall be to all
people," would heartily urge upon every
believer a prayerful study OF all the rear
nots" Of the Bible, that thus great joy may
come to you personally and then through
YOU to all whom you may reach. The first
one is found In Gen. XIV, where we read Tor
the first time OF righteousness and OF sacri-
fee as the ground Of all assurance. Until
we know Him as our Righteousness we have
not received the good tidings (Rom. T.. D.
II. .sFor unto you Is born this day In the
CITY Of David Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord" Isaiah had written, Unto US
child is born. unto us a son Is given" Elsa.
tx, 81, and now after 700 years the prophecy
is literally fulfilled. SO surely and literally
shall the rest Of Isa. tx, 6. 2, be fulfilled In
due time. bringing salvation to all israel
foreordained before the. foundation OF the
world. but In due time made manifest q.
Pet. l., 2U. .,
I2. :.And this shall oe a sign unto you. Ye
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddiing
clothes, living in a manger.' In manger
because there WAS no room for them IN the
inn (verse y. See how poor he became TOR
us that we through His poverty might be
rich GI Cor viii., 81. We may well there
fore 'get our turn ofanind be free from the
love OF money: constant with such things as
we have; for Himself hath said, Will IN no
wise fail thee. neither will In any wise for
~
NAV saw. The Lord is my helper: will not
fear" (Heb. xiii. s. 6, r. V. and margin).
49, %And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host.
John describes the multitude which he saw
az ten thousand times ten thousand and
thousands OF thousands Grew. ", ~: Think
also of the host that cared for Elijah (ll
Kings vi, I'D, and Of the legions which Jesus
might have had for the asking. "God foi
us. includes all the powers at His COM
mand. How can we fear!
IA. ..Praising God aud saying. Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
Will toward men, See thesong Of seraphim
and cnerubin in lisa. vi, 8; Rev. w.. 8, there
is no self praise, but "Holy, holy. holy Is the
Lord" dWorthy Is the Lamb," is the song
of angels and redeemed (Rev. iv., II; ", 9,
12) Let us be ever singing It, while we
aI;ide 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 K. 36).
is. "Let us now SO even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing which Is come to pass.
which the Lord hath made known unto us. =
Simply and delightfully."- they believed God.
,They could say, 1--WE have known and be-
Iieyed" II JOHNNY. 16). The Lord by the
angels made them know, and they simply re-
ceived the message. It Is our privilege to
hel;ere all that God says and thus make glad
tbe heart OF our Lord. for he was surely glad
when he said to His Father. II have given
unto them the words which Thou gavest Me,
and they have received them" (John xviii,
l6. "And they came with haste and found
Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in q
maueer." They did well to go quickly, for
II is we'll to make haste to believe God: then
there will be no occasion to make haste from
fear lisa. xviii, 16), but quietly and rest
filly hasten on His business. They found rs
thew bad been told duke XIX. 81; xxtt.. 1S),
and go shall we always find; therefore we do
we'll TO say. 81 believe God that 1t shall be
even as it was told me" Acts xvii. 25).
II. "And when they had seen 1t they made
known abroad the saying which was told
them concerning this child We must hrst
see for ourselves and then i've TO make
Others know and see. Here Is the great mis-.
take of the vast majority OF Christians; they
seem content to see Him for themselves, but
have little ambition to make Him known
abroad, Notwithstanding His word that In
the power OF His Spirit we are to be His wit
nesses into the ends Of the earth (Acis l., 81:
18. nAnd all they that heard 1t wondered
atthose things which were told them by the
Shepherds" Wondering Is no: believing:
There is great deal OF hearing the 5000
news which leads to nothing more than Won
dering (see Luke iv.. %; tx. 43; XII, l4), but
the word preached Goes not profit those who
hear unless they believe it (Heb. w.: y
t.Without faith it is impossible to please
God" (Heb.. XII, g., which certainly implies
that by faith We eau please Him. Let Vi
then Have faith in God" "Be not afraid
only believe"
19. '"But Mary kept all these things and
Wondered them in her heart" That is the
thing to do, receive the word, keep it and
bring forth fruit with patience Iuke Will.
15), It Is written Of her, BLESSED IS snt
that believed; for there shall be perform
ance OF ,those things which were told hel
from the Lord" (Lukei. 45l. Daniel heard
many things which he could not understand,
but he kept them in his heart (Dan. vii''
20. sand the shepherds returned. glori-
fyine and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as It was told
unto them" When we believe, we become
filed with such Joy and peace that we can
not but speak the things which we have seen
and heard (Rom. xv., Is; Acts iv., y, and
when we would refrain 1t becomes like 1ire
in our bones, and we cannot forbear DER.
xx., 8, 81. Compare Luke v. rs. 26; viii, l6;
xiii, is; xviii, Is; xviii. 49, xiii. AZ. on
glorifying God. The summit OF life is to
know Him and to make Him known CJer.
ix., "a; II Cor. iv.. 1D. Lesson Helper.
CAVE DISCOVERED IN NEW JERSEY