El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-12-24

W.
the slums, and it thus aids the army
very materially in doing much good
work among this class. +
Yesterday tho army held open air
meetings mDrning, afternoon and
nighs.-Dallas News
TEE =ss;UNDAY4BG H0OL.
LESSON XIII, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATIONAL SERIES, DEC. &c.
Text OF the Lesson, John iv, 9-16-Mem-
f. DRY Verses. ell Golden Text, John
i'll, 16-Commentary by the Rev. d. M.
Stearns.
The lesson committee having given the
choice of this as Christmas lesson instead
of the quarterly review, doubtless the ma
jority will prefer this to the review, and as
the quarter has taken us over the last
stages of Paul's sojourn in the mortal body
and given us his oft repeated testimony
that he was ready to die for Christ it is not
aside from the main thought Of the review
to turn to Him who died for us all and
was born in Bethlehem that He might die
on Calvary, the just for the unjust.
9. "In this was manifested the love of
God toward us, because that God sent His
only begotten Son into the world that we
might live through Him. In chapter iii,
16, it is written, ''Hereby perceive we the
love of God, because He laid down His life
for us, and we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren" In Rom. v, 8, it is,
"God commendeth His love toward us in
that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for u.s. At the Christmas time, when all
are merry and send gifts to each other as
they talk and sing of Him who was born
in Bethlehem, do we stop to consider what
it cost Him to leave His home in glory and
become a helpless babe in Mary's arms or
what it cost His Father, God, to give Him
up to this humiliation unheard of before
in the history of all worlds as far as we
know?
10. "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the Precipitation for our sins.''
Oh, the depth of meaning in that phrase.
"propitiation for our sins!" See Him in
Gethsemane sweating, as 1t were, great
drops of blood. Hear Him on Calvary cry
out, "My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me2' and talk not of Livingstone
for Africa, or Lincoln for America, or a
mother for her child as an analogy or in
any way illustrating His sufferings for us.
It is next to blasphemy SO to do. His suf-
ferings for our sins as far exceeded all suf-
fering earth ever saw as heaven is higher
than earth and Gods thoughts higher than
ours. He who knew no sin was made sin
for US. The Lord laid upon Him the in
bruise Him. He was wounded for our
transgressions. Who can measure the sig
niflcance of such statements?
II. beloved, if God SO loved us, we
ought also to love one another" How
often we have read and heard God SO loved
u.s." and we are glad that He SO loved US
as to provide eternal redemption freely for
us even at such a cost. But what do we
know about loving one another and laying
down our lives for the brethren? Do we
not often know more about hating one an
other, at least disliking one another? I
speak of Christians SO called. And as to
loving the heathen in Africa or China or
| Japan or India or the islands of the sea or
| the poor Eskimos for Christ's sake-what
| do we know of it?
10. "No man hath seen God at any time.
| If we love one another, God dwelleth in
us, and His love is perfected in u.s. It is
| also written in John i, 10: ''No man hath
| seen God at any time. The only begotten
| Son which is in the bosom of the Father,
| He hath declared Him." We cannot know
| God except as we know Him in Christ.
| When Philip said to Him, Lord, show US
| the Father" He answered, "He that hath
| seen Me hath seen the Father God was
in Christ. We who have received Christ
and are saved by His precious blood are
saved in order that God may dwell in us
manifestly and be seen in our words and
works. There is nothing that manifests
God quite SO much as love-the love that
was seen in Christ and is SO fully described
| in I Cor. xiii. Let the children at this
Christmas time be taught that He who
dwelt in the little bah of Bethlehem will
dwell in them and manifest His love in
| them.
| 10. "Hereby know we that dwell in
Him and He in us because He hath given
| us of His Spirit The first fruit of the
| Spirit Is love (Gal. v, a2), and love seems
| to include all the rest, and love is the full
| filling of the law. Notice that as freely as
He gave His Son He also gives His Spirit,
| and If we are not filed with His Spirit 1t
| can only be because our hearts are not
| open to Him, and If our hearts are not
| open to Him it is because we have not be-
| held as we might and should His great
love to US in Christ; the love that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up
| for us all, and will with Him also freely
| give us all things.
IA. "And we have seen and do testify
| that the Father sent the Son to be the
| Saviour of the world AS the angel said
| to the shepherds at His birth, "Behold I
| bring you good tidings of great joy, which
Father did not send Him to be the Saviour
Of few, but of all who will come to Him.
| The time will come when all Israel shall
be ga we'd, and after that all nations, but in
this age the gospel is to be given to all the
| world, that all who will may believe, and
| thus His body be completed from out Of
all nations. He is therefore calling upon
| us who believe to show these things to all
the world as quickly as possible. What
are we doing about itY
Is. "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus
Is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him,
and he in God" According to John <,
8S, 80, the Jews understood the Son Of
God to be equal with God, and Jesus so
taught and said: Though ye believe not
Me, believe the works; that ye may know
and believe that the Father Is IN Me and I
in Him." To receive Jesus as God our
Saviour is life eternal, and makes us to be
His dwelling place. Our works should
plainly declare that God is in us, and this
ho0 Mt a.