The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-12-20
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON XII, FOURTH QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, DEC. %.
Text the Lesson, Luke II, sac "a Christ
mas Lesson) - Memory Verses. Oil.
Goldca Text. Luke II. 1O-Commentary
by the Rev. ID. M. Stearns.

Goldea Text. Luke III. 1O-COmmentary
by the Rev. ID. M. stearns.
3. "And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding In the field keeping
watch over their 1ocks 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 sug-
gestive of Him who was born to be the
good and great and chief Shepherd.
8. "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. /, 14), having con-
slant access to heaven, listening to the
voice of God and doing His bidding (Math.
xviii. 10; Ps. 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
Il John ii, IL; lisa. Kill 25), and of the
perfect love of God to us Il John iv, 18),
we should always sing, 81 will trust and
not be afraid" lisa. xii, p.
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" 1 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 all whom you may reach.
The first one Is found in Gen. XIV, where
we read for the first time of righteousness
and of sacrifice as the ground Of all assur-
ance. Until we know Him as our right
eousness we have not received the good
tidings (Rom. x, A..
IL. "For 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 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, g, 2, be fulfilled in due time, bringing
salvation to all Israel and to all the world
This is He who was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but in due
time made manifest Il Pet. 1, 2O).
10. And this shall be sign unto you,
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swad-
ding clothes, lying in manager" In a
manager because there was no room for
them in the inn (verse y. See how poor
He became for us that we through His
poverty might be rich Oh Cor. viii, 81. We
may we'll therefore "let our turn Of mind
be free from the love of money; constant
with such things as we have; for Himself
hath said, 1 will in no wise fail thee,
neither will In any wise forsake thee. So
that with good courage we may say, The
Lord is my helper; will not fear' (Heb
xiii, g. 6, r. V. and margin).
13 And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host. I"
John describes the multitude which he
saw as ten thousand times ten thousand
and thousands of thousands (Rev. V, ~.
Think also of the host that cared for Elijah
Oh Kings vi, ~, and of the legions which
Jesus might have had for the asking.
God for us, includes all the powers at
His command. How can we fear9
IA Praising God and saying, Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace
good will toward men," See the song of
seraphim and cherubim in lisa. vi, g.; Rev.
iv, 8, there is no self praise, but "Holy
holy, holy Is the Lord. Worthy is the
Lamb, is the song of angels and redeemed
(Rev. iv, II; V, 9, 12). Let us be ever sing
ing 1t, 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).
10. Let us now go even unto Bethle-
hem. and see this thing which is come to
pass, which the Lord hath made known
unto u.s." Simply and delightfully."- they
believed God. They could say, "We have
known and believed q John iv, 16). The
Lord by the angels made them know, and
they simply received the message. 1t is
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, II have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them" John xvii, 81.
10. "And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph, and the babe ly-
ing in a Manager" They did we'll to go
quickly, for it is we'll to make haste to be-
ieve God; then there will be no occasion to
make haste from fear lisa. xviii, 16), but
quietly and restfully hasten on His bust
ness. They found as they had been told
duke xix, 32; xii, 13), and so shall we
always find; therefore we do well to say,
II believe God that 1t shall be even as 1t
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 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 are to be His witnesses into the
ends of the earth (Acts /, 81.
Is. "And all they that heard 1t won
dered at those things which were told them
by the shepherds. Wondering is not be-
lieving. There Is great deal of hearing
the good news which leads to nothing
more than wondering (see Luke iv, 22;
tx, 43; XII, 14), but the word preached does
not profit those who hear unless they be-
lieve it Heb. Nv, %. without faith it is
impossible to please God" Heb. XII 81,
which certainly implies that by faith we
can please Him. Let us then Have faith
in God" "Be not afraid, only believe"
10. "But Mary kept all these things and
pondered them In her heart" That Is the
thing to do, receive the word, keep 1t 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, tho sordV T,Eai 1EA nania1 baard