El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-05-14
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.

| IHE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VII, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY is.
| Text of the Lesson, Math. xiv, 42-51.
Memory Verses, ALAG - Golden Text,
Math. xiv, 42-Commentary by the Rev.
ID. NJ. stearns.
copyright, 1898. by D. M. Stearns.]
AZ. watch, therefore, for ye know not
what hour your Lord doth come" The
| title of this lesson is 'Watchfulness, and
| if we consider the special topic Of this
| whole chapter and the next one, 1.-The
| Second Coming of Our Lord, >" there is no
| event for which we would more eagerly
| watch if we loved it as we should, and we
would surely love it If we understood 1T.
| The lesson committee suggest that 1t may
| be used as temperance lesson, and II we
understand the word Temperance" in its
| Scriptural significance of the whole mat
| ter of self control there is no truth that
tends more to denial of self and complete
| self Remuneration than that of the immi-
hence of the return of our Lord. Having
! uttered His last public " ord to the hypo-
| critical Pharisses and having announced
| the desolation of Jerusalem, Jesus and
| did so His disciples tried to draw His at
| tention to the buildings and the stones,
| and the adornings, but He surprised them
| by telling them that the whole thing
| would be thrown down. This led to
| question privately asked Him by four of
| the disciples MARK Kill, 81, and the ques-
| ton led to this DISCOURSE in which He re-
| fers to the approaching destruction OF
Jerusalem, but chiefly to events connected
| with His coming again at the end Of this
| age.
49, "But know this-that if the good
man of the house had known in what
| watch the thief would come he would
| have watched and would not have suffered
| his house to be broken up" On former
| occasion our Lord used the same words
| duke xii, 39), but in connection with
| watching for His return from the we'd
| ding. In this sermon and in the gospels
! of Matthew, Mark and Luke we must re-
member that the commission was to Is
rael, and the messengers were forbidden
| to go to the gentiles, and while there are
| lessonsf or US all in all the Bible we must
not attempt to apply some things which
are specially for Israel to the church, or
| vice versa Truth for the church concern
| ing the second coming of Christ is found
| chiefly in the epistles Notice specially
| that the coming as a thief does not or
| should not apply to the church q Thess.
v, 4, 81, for she is loving His appearing
! and looking eagerly for Him and constant
| ly saying, Come Lord Jesus (Rev. xxi,
| 2O)
A. "Therefore be We also ready, for in
| such an hour as We think not the Son Of
| Man cometh' Now, to be ready and
| watchful is a word for every believer at all
| times. Having received Christ and be-
come clothed with His righteousness, we
| are ever ready for His presence, for moth
i inc more necessary To fit us enter
| heaven than His merits only. But we are
| expected to be ever ready for any manner
| of service and watchful to see His way and
| hear His words Oh Sam. XIV, is; Chron.
xviii, FL; Nah. Ii, l Hi.b. ii, -. This
| is not, however, the special thought of
these words, for the coming of the Son of
Man, as 1 understand it, is always His
| coming with His saints in power and
glory for the special benefit of Israel and
the overthrow of her enemies 1t is never
| death nor Pentecost nor the destruction
of Jerusalem Elsa. Xvi, 8, Is; Zech. xiv,
| 4, 81.
IS. "Who then is a faithful and wise
| servant whom his Lord hath made ruler
over his household to give them meat in
| due season." Here is something child
of God can always lay to heart. Two things
required of us are that we prove faithful
and WISE
40. blessed is that servant whom his
| Lord when He cometh shall find SO doing"
| One of His accusations of the Pharisees
was, "They say and do not (chapter
| xiii, 81, and His warning in chapter vii,
81, is, "Not every one that saith, but he
| that doeth." He was never idle or indO
| lent, and it is impossible that those in
whom He has full control can be either
| the one or the other.
AZ. verify 1 say unto you that He
shall make him ruler over all His goods
1 A. al -
| chapter both the one who gained five and
the one who gained two received the COM
mendation: "Well done, good and faithful
| servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few
| things I will make thee ruler over many
| things Enter thou into the joy of thy
| Lord" What can it all mean but that
| the faithful servants will have places in
His kingdom according to their faithful
| ness? Saved by grace, but rewarded ao-
| cording to works (Rev. xxi, 49,.
48. but and if that evil servant shall
say in his heart, My lord delayeth his
| coming" Whether all that talk that way
are evil servants or not we cannot say,
| God knows, but we do know that there
| are many who bear His name, at least out
wardly, who not only say it in their
| hearts, but are very bold to say it with
their lips, and even after the fashion of II
| Pet. Iii, g. 4.
40. And shall begin to smite his fell
l
| low servants, and to eat and drink with
| the drunken" There are many Christians
both in the pulpit and in the pews who
seem to take special pleasure in the smit-
| ing of others, at least with their tongues,
unmindful of the word, "The servant of
the Lord must not strive" and of that
other, Judge nothing before the time"
| and "An things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even SO to
| them" Il Cor. iv, 8; II Tim. ii, "a; Math.
vii, 12). AS to eating and drinking with
| the drunken, the Lord sees those who bear
His name doing even this also, and open
| ly without shame and in a very literal
| sense. 1t is still true that many walk
whose god is their belly, who mind earth
| ly things (Phil. iii, Is, 19). Whether there
are many who weep over them or not, the
Lord knows If you are clear of the guilt
of the literal fulfillment, remember that
there are many seemingly lawful things,
AS study, business, innocent amusement,
| r xUbi in IN