Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-02-06

4
Thoughts worthy Of Calm Renec-
tion-Hslf an Hours Study Of the
scriptures-Time Well Spent.
\ Lesson for Feb. o.
Golden Text.--Why call ye me, Lord,
Lord, and do not the things which say
Luke g; 40.
The sermon on the mount is the subject
Of this lesson, which hi found In Luke
u: 41-49. '''In all thy getting, get wis,
DOM" And here surely is wis
dom. "Lord, to whom shall we 60? thou
hast the words of eternal life." Treas
hre up these words of Christ, they are
heavy with wealth, they are freighted
with blessing. o men of the world,
"wherefor do We spend money for that
which is not bread, and your labor fol
that which satisfieth not?. We have
heard of a company of sailors who, cast
upon a certain island, discovered that II
had mines containing gold and silver, and
forthwith fell to digging and delving
They spent the whole of the precious
springtime seeking madly for wealth,
when they should have been planting seed
corn for grain. When the harvest time
came they had gold but no bread, and they
miserably died. Are men of this world
less foolish? "Seek We the Lord while he
may be found, call We upon him while he
is near?" M ~
Lesson Hints.
"Corn6eld chapter we have called this,
for convenience, because it begins with
the account of Christ and the disciples
going through the cornfelds and rubbing
out the grain between their hands as they
went. There is corn in this field for you
If you will take it, only we must thresh II
for ourselves. handkerchief wheat
tastes the best.
'Why beholdest thou the moteY' not
catching glimpse of it, but looking mt it
intently, l. e., criticism. Be careful how
you use your eyes, Judge not that We be
not judged" The example of the Phari-
see probably suggests this admonition.
The word perceive" means to take
account of. 1t suggests humble copsid-
GRAFTON. "He that Is without sin among
you, let him first cast a stone" Christ
uses here in the mote and the beam q
strong figure of speech. To think oneself
able to prescribe as an oculist for others
when your own eye is wholly incapacitat-
ed, has, as it were, stick of timber, in
it, seems utterly foolish. There is just
a touch of ridicule here and some humor.
Our Lord is here speaking to his disci-
pies, taking the Pharisee for his text. He
is solicitous that the spirit of Pharisee-
ism be kept out of the church. To that
end he uses on this occasion forceful
SMILES, three in all, viz: the beam
nd tho 10 hn Wiz
and the house on the rock and on the
sand. This may give us our division for
the full study of the lesson.
Illustrations.
The Sermon on the Mount, if rightly OBJ
served, the Man of the mount kept close
in the midst, would settle all disputes.
There is zone Mediator" and but one.
One for all the world and for all earth's
differences and disaffections. His name
is Christ. Arbitration is good, but media
ton is better. Arbitration has to do
with things, mediation with persons; ar
bitration quiets disputes, mediation umtes
disputants. The strike is not going to
settle our industrial troubles. 1t is at the
best but method of protest and in it's
ordinary form nothing better than mode
of retaliation. Reprisals suggest repris-
ais; they do not make for peace. Neither
does counter-organization help the matter
much. 1t is but a menace for temporary
restraint. We can expect no happiness in
the family circle while members Of the
family hold cooked pistols at each others
heads. The man of peace must intervene
and bring warning factors into one, max
ing them to see their interests identical.
The beam of selfishness must be cast out
of the eye both of labor and capital, and
each be made to look upon the things Of
another. Mutual concession and consid-
eratin is the solvent of all social difficult
ties. He is the zone Mediator" who
said, for the staying of all strife foreign
and domestic, Whatsoever We would that
men should do to you, do We even so to
them" Christ is the Man of love. As
such he comes to bring new principle in
to the world, and by that sign to conquer.
This morning for our before-breakfast
reading we pressed our way through the
second epistle of st. John. 1t made no
impression upon us, save of something
and fervently written. 1t had
been passed that way several times be-
fore. This will not do, we said, and we
went back to read more thoughtfully.
Then the richness of the word began to
reveal itself. 1t Is an epistle not simply
of ''truth," though that seems to be the
principal word, but Of love. 1t links the
two, and makes them as it were, to catch
step together. John Is writing to q
of believers that seem to have
been great for the truth, but are not
speaking or holding that truth in love. The
two must go together, he says, and he
hath not "the doctrine of Christ,
which is love, hath not God" (the truth.
Let the Jew observe. Let us all be adj
and so keep the Heavenly Fa-
Their in the midst by holding the Christ in
the heart.
The hatefulest thing in this universe is
selfishness. The deadliest thing is self
ishness. ITO be carnally-minded Ito
mind the things of self is DEATH" and
since shat which is born of the flesh is
fiesh," just to go on in the ways of flesh
and self, ''looking out" as they say, "for
number one" Is a process of moral suicide,
and it means death. Get up out of this,
unto Christ's high thinking. Get up into
Stand fast therefore in the liberty
Christ has made us free" All,
brother, the air is better up here. Let us
stay. . 49, =.
Next Lesson-"The Great Helper
Luke z: PIG.
Never without Help.
We are never without help. We have