El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-12-31
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON I, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. 2.

LESSON I, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. 2.
Text Of the Lesson, Math. i'll, 7-17-Mem-
DRY Verses. 13-17-Golden Text, Math.
iii, 17-Conmentary by the Rev. d. M.
Stearns.
Let me at the beginning Of our study of
the gospel by Matthew, in which we are
to continue for six months, quote a few
pregnant sentences from "Studies In the
Gospels by Rev. Henry 6. Weston, D. D.:
"The Bible is history of the contest be-
tween Christ and satan for man and his
dwelling place; of redemption provided by
God proceeding from His love, with love
determining the method and the end. The
gospels are the history Of that part OF re-
demption which was wrought by the Lord
Jesus Christ in His earthly life, death,
burial and resurrection The point of view
of and the purpose in each gospel deter
mine in every case what shall be inserted
and omitted The Old Testament closes
with the Jewish nation looking for the
fulf1llment of the prophecies of a king who
shall reign in righteousness, under whom
the earth shall be filled with the glory of
the Lord. Matthew is the gospel Of the
Jewish king rejected, resulting in the re-
lection of the nation, until the church, His
body, shah be gathered out Of all nations.
In the Old Testament God is for His peo-
Pile; in the. gospels He is with His people;
in the Epistles He is in His people. These
three God for us, God with us, God in us,
are the method and the end of the Divine
dealing, holiness eternal in the heavens,
incarnate on earth, embodied in the
saints
~ vi ,ho hofh
warned you to flee from the wrath to
come" Chapter gives the genealogy Of
the King from Abraham to Joseph, the
husband of Mary, who was Of the royal
line through Solomon, son of David Luke
fiji gives the genealogy of Mary, who was
also Of the house of David, but through
! Nathan, the son of David. Math. i, 1, de-
clares that Jesus Christ is the inheritor
and fulfller Of all things promised to Da-
vid and Abraham
8. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance, or, as in the margin, IAN
swerable to amendment Of life" Pauls
preaching also was, Repent and turn to
God and do works meet for repentance"
(Acts XVI, 2O). The teaching of all Scrip
ture is that by nature we are away from
| God; God is calling us to come to Him,
even as He called Adam from his hiding
place in the garden, and has ever since
| been seeking lost sinners When we turn
| to Him, He receives us graciously, for
gives us freely and makes us His children
through Jesus blood Then He asks us
to walk worthy of our calling.
o. "And think not to say within your
' selves, "We have Abraham to our Father. -
| Even to our Lord Himself these people
| said proudly, 1--WE be Abraham S seed, " but
| He replied, eff We were Abraham's chill
dren, ye would do the works of Abraham, u
and then He told them very plainly, eye
are of your father, the devil" (John viii,
80, &c. AZ. 1t will not do for us to say, 81
am member of the church, have been
baptized, my people are all Christians,
do the best can, etc., as if any of these
| could save us. There must be true recep
ton of Jesus Christ as our own personal
| Saviour and a whole hearted reliance
upon His merits only.
10. every tree which bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast
into the fire" Both in the Old Testament
| and in the New the believer is compared
to a tree See Ps- i, g.; Jer. xvii, 8, and
| compare our Lord 8 words in Math Nv, 49,
EVERY plant which my Heavenly Father
| hath not planted shall be rooted up
| IL. HE shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire." John sought nc
honor for himself, but he loved to point te
the mightier than he, whose shoes he was
| not worthy to bear. We have not the
right spirit if we ever seek any glory fol
| ourselves. Repentance and the forgive
| ness Of sins are God 8 free gift and make
| us to be surely saved, but being saved we
| must be filled with the Spirit in order tx
serve Him and bear the fruit which will be
to His glory and make manifest that we
are His.
10. 'Whose fan is in His hand, and HI
! will thoroughly purge His floor and gather
| His wheat into the garner, but He will
fnr1ysr fhca hoff hob
May there not be some reference here te
| the fire of the last verse? Compare the
harvest time of chapter xiii, 4O-43. have
! heard people pray for the fire, and have
| wondered If they were even ready for the
Spirit.
10. "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee tt
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. >
Consider where He had been for the las
10 years since He said to His mother a,
Jerusalem, 81 must be about My Father.
business" He had certainly been abou,
that business, but how and whereP III
the humble home and carpenters shop OF
Nazareth, subject to Joseph and Mary
willing and obedient and waiting God.
time for public work. We need to lay thi.
to heart also.
a. but John forbade Him, saying,
have need to be baptized of Thee, an6
CONTEST Thou to me- So John was eve1
humble and ready to lay himself at Jesus
feet. When they told John little Later
that all men were following Jesus, he re
piled, II am not the Christ, but sent be
fore Him; the friend of the bridegroom re
joiceth greatly because of the bridegroom.
voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled
(John iii, 5000. Just voice; anything
or nothing If only Christ is magnifed.
10 And Jesus answering said unto
! him, Suffer it to be so now, for thrs it be
cometh us to fulfill all righteousness. - Thi.
was His conservation to His public work
life of constant and manifest death tt
self that He might glorify God, manifest
and declare His Name and fulfill all tina,
had been written of Himself in the law
the prophets and tho Psalms. AS His wit
nesses there is no other way for US thar
self renunciation
10. 10, the heavens were opened unto
Him, and He saw the Spirit Of God de
scending like a dove and lighting upon
Him" Heaven is always witnessing what
Is going on on the earth, and, though
there may be no outward manifestation a.
here, yet it is even so. 1 believe it firmly
nd h-xy< g., q a