The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-04-01
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON I, SECOND QUARTER. INTER-
NATIONS. sEHiES. APRIL 8.


Text, Luke XIV. documentary by tho
Rev. ID. M. Stearns.
When we are having but one lesson in
each chapter, IL seems n pity TO pass a
chapter by, but as the Resurrection Is tho
greatest topic In Scripture, including all
others, we feel led to choose the Easter les
son. III any prefer chapter xiii-fail not to
notice the corruption suggested by the
heaven, and the hypocrisy which shall In
due time find its home where there Is
weeping and gnashing of teeth. Before
the door Is shut let all enter who will by
truly receiving Him I'm whom alone Is sal
walton.
l. "They came unto the sepulcher,
bringing the spices which they had pre-
pared" In Mark XVII /, we find that it
was two of the Marys and Salome who did
this. Verse 10 of our lesson mentions
some Others Their service was truly low
ing one, but il was not work of faith,
and therefore in measure fruitless, for
without faith 1t Is impossible TO please
Him" (Heb. xi, 81. The order In i Thess
4, 3 is "Work of faith, labor of love, pa
thence of hope If we keep Gods order
in our service, all will be we'll
2. "And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulcher." Mark xvi, g.
says that they talked among themselves as
To who should roll away the stone from
the sepulcher; for Mark XIV, 49, AZ, says
that they saw the burial of His body and
the stone rolled unto the door of the sepul-
cher. The apparent or real difficulties will
vanish rs we move on in love to Him con-
strained by His love to us. These women
were ready TO minister ut His death, but
they had also ministered to Him in His
life Mark XIV, 40, AZ.
3. "And they entered in and found not
the body of the Lord Jesus" They were
looking for wrong thing in wrong
place through lack of knowledge because
of lack of faith. They were as unsuccess-
full as were the people who looked for the
body Of Enoch or the 90 men who looked
three days for the body of Elijah (IIeb. XII
8; III Kings, ii, ~. There will be some
more unsuccessful searchers some of these
days when all the dead in Christ shall
have left their graves and the living saints
shall have been caught up with them to
meet the Lord in the air Il Cor XIV, 23, 81
52; Thess. iv, 1919.
f. "Behold two men stood by them in
shining garments" From the story of
the angels who came with the Lord to
visit Abraham Gen. xviii, 2, 20; xix, ~
all the way through the Scriptures they
are always spoken of as men and never as
women. / only mention this to show how
unscriptural are our pictures of angels
Heb. /, II, IL very comforting concerning
the ministry of angels, and Ps. CHI, 60
81, is very inspiring, making us long to
be like them in service and in obedience.
5. "Why seek We the living among the
dead?" For 1.-THE living" the margin says
"Him that liveth." The previous verse
says they were much perplexed, and now
we read that they were afraid and bowed
down TO the earth Unbelief always pro-
duces these things, while joy and peace
come by believing (Rom. XIV, 13). Our
departed friends who have died in Christ
are alive and well, although their bodies
rest in the grave. They are with Christ, "
"present with the Lord, and it is very
weak faith or no faith that clings to the
tomb as If they were there.
9. "He is not here, but is risen; remem-
Der how He spake unto you when He was
yet in Galilee The words of the Lord
are very plain words, easily understood IL
simply believed, for Through faith we
understand" (Heb. XII, 81. AS to both law
and prophecy being very plain, see Deut.
xvii, g; Hab. ii, g Now we cannot re-
not received them, If we have not laid
them up in our hearts.
z. "The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be cruel
fed and the third day rise again" He had
said just these words to them over and
over again (AIath. xvi, 81; xvii, 90; Xxx
19), and He had meant just what He said
and it had all come to pass exactly as He
had said, so that their whole difficulty was
that they had failed TO take Him at His
word
s. and they remembered His words. I"
So we, in the morning of His coming
again, will remember His words and see
everything fulfilled exactly as it is writ
ten. We would therefore do well TO re-
member them now and hold them fast and
be ever saying for our own encouragement
and for the encouragement of others, BE
of good cheer, for 1 believe God that it
shall be even as it was told me-"
g. "And returned from the sepulcher and
told all these things unto the eleven and
to all the rest" Read Math. xviii, 5-S, for
further details Of the angels message to
the women. You will see that they depart
ed quickly with fear and great joy and did
run to bring His disciples word To run
errands for Jesus, bringing glad tidings
of His resurrection and coming glory, is
good cure for sorrow. 1t was as they thus
went that Jesus met them and suffered
them to hold Him by the feet and worship
Him. He meets those who rejoice and
work righteousness.
10. at was Mary Magdalene and joan
ma, !" etc. 1t would seem that Mary Mag
dalene got somehow and for time sepa-
rated from the other women (she will ex-
plain 1t all to us when we soc herr and
that the Lord appeared to her the very first
and spoke TO her, but would not allow her
TO touch Him, for He had not then ascend
ed TO His Father In His resurrection body
John Xxx, Is, 10, but before He met the
other women whom He allowed TO touch
Him He must have assembled and returned.
The movements of the redeemed and glori-
fed bodies may be as quick as lightning
(Ezek. 1, 14).
IL. "And their words seemed TO them as
idle tales, and they believed them not"
When Paul at Rome faithfully expounded
the Scriptures, some believed and some be-
lieved not (Aots xviii, 2S, 24). They were
natural men to whom Paul preached the
gospel, and, as always, some received 1t
and eo,na did not Rnt those I'm orr leeaon