Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-06-11
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON xl, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, JUNE 10.


The second epistles are all suggestive of
the last days, when the world shall have
corrupted the church, and contain special
Instructions TO Gods servants for times of
disorders, COMMISSIONS, formality, etc The
faithful witness is taught how to deal with
those who turn away from, " err con-
cerning' and resist" the truth, or twill
not endure sound doctrine" I'll Tim. 1, 10;
ii, Is; iii, 81 iv, 81.
l. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God, according to the promise
of life which is in Christ Jesus. He
loved to think of himself as one sent forth
by Jesus Christ and chosen for this honor
by the will of God Why God should choose
any of us is certainly a great wonder but
if we have truly received the Lord Jesus
Christ as our Saviour, resting wholly and
only on His finished work of atonement,
we need not fear to believe that we were
chosen in Him before the foundation of
the world (Eph. i, AZ that we should be
holy before Him, and that He might send
us forth in His name even as the Father
sent Him (John xvii, 10; Xxx, 2I. The
life that God gives is in Christ, and apart
from Him there is no life Il John V, 12).
2. "To Timothy, my dearly beloved son:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Fa-
ther and Christ Jesus our Lord. - In
Tim. i. ,, he calls him My own son in
the faith, - and in Phil ii, 20 (margin), he
wrote that he had no man so dear unto
him as Timothy We first read of him in
Acts xvi. /, as a disciple living at Lystra,
his mother Jcwoss, his father Greek.
And Paul on his second missionary tour
took him with him. 1t is by the grace or
undeserved favor of God through Jesus
Christ that we arc saved
3. IL thank God. whom serve from my
forcfathcrs with pure conscience, that with
out coasing | have remembrance of thee in
my prayers night and day. Before the
council he also said that he had lived in all
good conscience before God (Acts xiii, II,
OF as he puts it in Acts XVI, >, After the
most straitest sect of our religion | lived a
Pharisec. 80 He does not attempt to excuse
his great sins against Jesus Christ and His
redeemed, but says that he verify thought
that he ought to do these things (Acts
XVI, %.
4. Greatly desiring to see thee, being
mindful of thy tears, that l may be filled
with joy" Paul prayed much for those
whom God had given him, hut he would
pray, especially for such a one as his son
Timothy If Paul had the Philippian and
other believers in his heart (Phil. i, y and
prayed much for them, how much more
does our Lord Jesus carry, love and pray
for His redeemed ones. We are not told
the cause of Timothy's tears, but if Paul
was mindful of them how much more is
our Lord of ours. There is comfort to hui
man weakness in the thought that the joy
of such a one as Paul might be increased
by Timothy.
s. "Whcn 1 call to mind the unfeiTned
faith that is in thee" Not in him only,
but in both mother and grandmother; not
that faith is hereditary but children may
be so taught and trained that from CARL
est infancy they may be true believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are the
mothers and grandmothers who so train
the children. Unfeigned faith makes US
think of the "most surely believed" and
"know the certainty" of Luke i, /, 4.
g. Wherefore put thee in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God which is
in thee by the putting on of my hands.
He refers TO this also in Tim. iv, II. The
Spirit bestows gifts upon people severally
as He, the Spirit, will, and Gcd places the
members in the body as it hath pleased
him II Cor xii, II, 49,. He gives to every
man his work and something to work with,
and says, OCCUPY till come" MARK xiii,
"a; Luke xix, 13). Then at His coming
He will reward every man according to his
works
T. For God hath not given US the spirit
of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a
sound mind. Judging from the portion
of the epistle following, such as i, 5, -, Is;
ii, g. 10, IL; iii, 12 iv, ., IS, we would
infer that the fear referred to is IA fear of
what one might be called upon TO endure
] hue
out all fear Il John iv, 1S)
3-14. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been as
sured Of " Our Lord said Continue ye
in My love, IF We continue in My word,
then are ye My disciples indeed" (John XIV,
| 8; viii, BIZ like TO remember that Luke
said in the beginning of his gospel that
he wrote concerning the things which
were most surely believed that his
friend might know the certainty" of
these things duke j, l, y, and that Abra-
ham was fully persuaded that what God
had promised He was able to perform
| (Rom. iv, 20, 21).
10 "And that from child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
! TO make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. These
could be none other than what some de
spise as the Old Testament writings, in
which Paul tostiies there was wisdom I'M
to salvation and the way of faith in Christ
Jesus think the way of salvation, God 5
way, is now here in all the Bible more sim
ply set forth than in Gen. iii, p. The Lord
Himself provided the clothing by the shed
ding of blood, and Adam and Eve had only
to drop as useless their own works, the
fig leaf aprons, and accept Gods provision.
Blessed are the children who from their
youth are taught these things
Is. IAN Scripture is given by inspira-
ton of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for rcprOof, Tor correction, for instruction
in righteousness. While the Bible CON
tains the very words of God and some of
the very words OF the devil, as well as some
words of good and bad men, yet the whole
book, from beginning to end, was written
by the Spirit of God, He giving the men
whom he used the very words TO write, as
is plain from such texts as Elk. iv, 12; II
Sam. xiii 2; Jer i, 7, o; xxxvi, 2, 4, 8,
8; John xii. 40. The Spirit who wrote the
book - sAls vi the book, and its words are
spirit ara Ire (John vi, 63)