Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-01-02

Text Of the Lesson. Luke l. 5-Ig-Mem-
Ory Verse -. i0-GoIden Text, luke
T. 7e-commentary by the Rev. d. NJ
stearn-
>. There was LID the day. of Herod thy
king ot JuGasa certain priest named Zach
arias. " WE irg now to have six months in
the gospel by Luke, finding one lesson IN
each chapter. This chapter may be sum
married under the Introduction, Gabriels
visit to Zacharias and afterward to Mary,
Mary visit to Elizabeth and the birth Of
John The object Of the gospel j. to de-
clare the things which were most surely
believed (verse I'D concerning Jesus. The
king and priest mentioned in this first
verse turn our thoughts To Him who ~
the great Priest-King after the order of
Melchizedek (Gen. xiv, IS; Ps cx- Al.
What a contrast to Herod. but the great
antelope Of all true priests. For ourselves
see Rev. v, g. 10.
8. And they were both righteous be-
fore God, walking id all the command
ments and ordinances of the Lord blame
less They were united iii the Lord
mum. zxxyi, g. 2; Cor VIII, 30; ! Cor
vi, 14). AS to their standing before God.
Of Abraham's 5 righteousness (Gen. XIV, 6;
Rom. iv, -. All who are truly in Christ
are righteous in Him, and this perfect
standing before God ~ Interchangeable rom
1- A; III Cor NJ RAW Isa lxii l0).
II And they had no child, because that
Elizabeth was barren, and they both were
now wen stricken in years. When nature
fails, then the hand Of the Lord is made
more manifest, as in the case Of Sarah,
Rachel, Hannah and Manoah's wife. 1t is
written Of Abraham that he considered
not his own body, nor Sarah : body, but
only the promise Of God, --heing fully per
suaded that what He had promised He
was able also to perform fRom. iv, 19-
2l. When iii possibility ~ far AZ human
eyes can see Is taken away, then there il
opportunity for the Lord 10 magnify His
name that He may be glorifed.
s. He executed the priests Office before
God The two words before God" cover
about everything that concerns H. In
Christ we are righteous before God, and
a. t0 our daily life WV might take the word
to Abraham, Walk before me and bR thou
perfect OF sincere OK upright (Gen. xvii,
~. The priests Office is fully stated in II
Chron. xxx, IL, The Lord hath chosen
you to stand before Him to serve Him,
and that We should minister unto Him and
burn incense Christ became our High
Priest by tine things He suffered; we are
now IT'D training for future priesthood.
\. His Int wa t0 burn incense" In
r.. cIli, 2. we read, Let TIDY prayer ne
set forth before Thee as incense, and the
lifting upof my hands as the evening sacri-
fee And in Rev viii 3, 4, we read Of
incense offered with the prayers of saints.
The incense is suggestive of the merits of
Jesus Christ by which alone anything We
do can be accepted before God but bv
which the feeblest service in His Name ~
accepted
10. And the whole multitude Of the
people We're praying without at the time
Of incense. The time Of incense when
the people were praying without while
they waited for the priest to return to them
is suggestive Of this whole age during
which our High Priest has gone into the
presence uf Goa fpr us ana WE continue in
prayer, awaiting His reEnrn- He ever
livgth To make intcrcessiOn for u and says
to Us, Because live, ye shall live also
(John XIV, 19).
II. And there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord, standing on the right
side of the altar Of incense. " The angels
name was Gabriel, which means "God il
mighty He H. twice mentioned in Daniel
a. Gods messenger to him tDan- viii, l6;
il, 2ll He afterward came To Nazareth
with a message for Mary Cverses 26, 27D-
IT, "And when Zacharias saw him, he
was troubled and fear fell upon him. We
might conclude from Judges xiii, %, that
there was a superstition that the appear
ance Of an angel meant death, or perhaps
in the case Of Zacbarias it was the ordi-
nary fear of the supernatural a. when THE
disciples were afraid id the boat ur tile
women at the sepulcher MARX Vi, 49- 50i
xvi, 81. Mary does not seem ~ have been
troubled BY his visit. but rather by what
he at first said (verse 2g).
Is. But the angel said unto him, Fear
not, ZachaFias; for thy prayer is heard.
In verse 80 il Is 4 Fear not, Mary, and
from Gen. xv, \, to Rev. j, III. it might All
most be said t1 be d prolonged Fear not. m
All Gods thoughts t0 Hi people are
thoughts Of peace (Ier xxx, lid, and con
fdencc id Him will always give quietness
lisa. xxx, i5l John is one Of the seven in
Scripture who are mentioned by name be
fore their birth; the others being Ishmael
Isaac, solomon, Josiah, Cyrus and Jesus
Ii j. wonderful, but true, thar God chooses
d. before wv are born t.Ier. i, q; Eph !, ADJ
ia. And thou shalt have JOY ana glad
mes, ana many shall rejoice ut his birth.
Light IL sown f0r -he righteous and glad
ness for the upright III heart (Ps. xcyii
III, When Mordecai was exalted, the Jews
had light and gladness and JOY and honor
(Est viii, 16). When Jesus shall be ex-
alted as King Of Israel and King Of kings
and Lord of lords thc days of Israel
mourning shall be ended They shall Db
tain joy ana gladncss, ANA sorrow ana
signing shall hee away tIsa. lE 2li z1xN,
10). Ihe soul that now receives Jesus can
say, Thou hast put giadness in my heart
(Ps. iv, -.
10 "Hc shall be great in the sight Of
the Lord; he shall be filed with the Holy
Ghost This j. surely the summit for
any mortal man Jesus Himself said that
NO greater prophet WA even born uf woman
than John the Baptist To INV filled With
the Holy Spirit l. the bey wy ull true serv-
Ice, and to hear our Lord's We'll done
must be the highest reward. But let US
remember that John was not great in the
sight of all people and finally lost his life
for his faithfulne~s to God
rs. And many NJ THE children uf Israel
shall he turn to thc Lord their God. N He
that winneth souls iS wise and they thar
turn many to righteousness shall shine a.
the stars for ever and ever PROV XII 3D.;
Dan. xii, 81. The lives of believers are
either turning others 70 God or away from
God Ii filled with the spirit and desirous
of Gods approval in al things, we shall
turn people to God; if fun If wine or that
which l. symhnlized thereby, The joys of
this present world, we shall turn people
away from God.
IT And he shall g0 before Him in THE
spirit and power of Elias, to make ready
4 people prepared for the Lord The
Spirit through Malachi said that Elijah
would come TO do certain things before
the great and dreadful day Of the Lord
tAIal IN, 3D. but John said that he was
not Elijah tTohn |. alD, and aftcr John
We slain Jesus aid that Elijah would
truly first come tNIath. XVIII. It'd
Gossip.
How frequently is the honesty and
integrity Of man disposed uf by a smile
or shrug How many good and eener-
Gus actions have been shrunk into obi
WON by Cistrustful look or stamped
with the imputatiun Of proceeding from
bad motives, by mysterious md sea-
sonable whisper Look into companies
Of those whose gentle natures should
disarm them, we shall find DO better ac.
count. How often does the reputation a
hplnlece r,-ra4nro 1,1rx,7 II