Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-08-05
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON VI, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL sERlES, AUGUST g.

Comments by VIM. II. Fisher-Subdect:
The New Heat. Ezekiel SO: - 3d--
Golden Text; A New Heart Also WIN
Give You. EzeiEsl Sc; 20.
Peloubet says In order to make this
lesson most effective one needs to have
a clear vision OF the course OF history
in the times in which Ezekiel pruphe-
sled; how he tiled to stem the tide
OF evil till nOthiIg more could be done.
Judah met her DOOM Then the cir
eumstances charge. The Jews are In
exile, learning their hard lesson, ana
the prophet shows them upon what
conditions they have been restored.
Nothing can save them except y new
heart and a new life.
This is the setting forth OF q truth
every individual aud every nation
needs to learn and obey to-day"
Ezekiel saw tie Jewish gradually
decline because OF d decline Of their
religion" and s'geIt the bitterness OF
the course that Judah was taking.
In connection with the tracing OF the
downward course OF the people, Prof.
Ballantine says Down through one
step after another we 60 like men who
must explore a sewer, and who, as they
proceed. sink up 30 their noses In filth.
1t is dreadful 10 sead. but the result is
such an expression OF the odiousness
of apostasy from God as is without
parallel in literature.
BY his vision u Cherubim Chariot,
Ezekiel exalted God before the people,
and gave "a fresh conception or the
divine majesty" Prof. Ballantine says
OF this that "1'h ere is fire in all Its
forms, the spleador of the rainbows
and the rush of the storm wind, and
wheels like whir1winds, and The roar
of the cataract.
BY his denounc,ng their sins, Ezekiel
tried to persuadc the people TO right
eousness. Pelouoet says He held up
mirror before them that they might
see themselves LII all their sinful de-
formity. and loathe themselves and re-
pent." But they hearkened not.
In the previous verses, the Lord,
through Ezekiel, tells the people OF how
they profaned his holy name, but de-
clares that He VIII have pity, not for
the sake Of the house of Israel, but for
His holy names sake and He would
take them from the heather, and bring
them into their Own land. II is at this
point that our lesson starts, and the
Lord says:
26. "a new hea It also will give you,
and a new spirit will | put within you;
and will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and / will give you a
heart of flesh.'
The new heart comes by saving faith
in the blood of the Paschal Lamb.
From the heart comes all the issues
of life. so with the new heart comes
a new spirit and q new life; "old things
pass away, and all things become new.
This is the experience which comes
to all who scripturally believe" on
| the Son of God. All do not always re-
| ceiye the same d ,monstration of pow
er: some do NOT feel nor express
| themselves like others, but salvation
regeneration-alwa comes through q
| living faith in tho Son of God.
81. And / will put my spirit within
Won. and cause you TO walk in my stat
utes. and We shall keep my judgments,
and do them"
| Every converted person receives the
| Spirit; this is the power which enables
| them to walk in ahe ways of the Lord,
| leads them away from error and into
| all truth, but all do not know, from
| personal experience OF the fulness or
| the Spirit'-this IS known as the great
| Pentecostal gift. and was not only for
| the 100 in the upper room, when the
| day of Pentecost was fully come. but
| "for all who are afar off, and to-day
| will fill and thrill the souls of those
who meet the divine requirement.
| 30. 81 will also save you from all
your uncleanlinesses; and / will call
| for the corn, and will increase II, and
| lay no famine u3on you.
n. T. l.. 4 - -. f,NI fpuf
dom from sin, thon temporal blessings.
| We are to be saved from and not
| Sin" our uncIeaLnesses. To have the
| Lord for our God means that eve shall
| dwell in the goodly land" in temporal
| affairs as we'll as spiritual.
| 80. "And / will multiply the fruit OF
| the tree, and the increase of the field,
| that We shall receive no more reproach
of famine among the heathen.'
| The Israelites suffered from famine
because Of their SINS; with the removal
of sin would disappear the famine, and
| so the heather would no longer re-
| proach them for the seeming neglect
| of their God to provide them with the
necessities Of lifeA
81. Then shalt We remember your
own evil Ways, and your doings that
were not good, and shall loathe your
selves in your own sight for your in
| quities and for your denominations"
Prof. Green truly says: 1T is when
| the child OF God takes his station by
the cross, and sees the price which has
been paid for his pardon, and comes
to some apprehension of the amazing
| love OF which he is the subject, that
he learns to abhcr himself, and to re-
nent in dust and ashes ;"
SO. Then the heather that are left
round about you bhall know that the
Lord build the ruined places, and plant
that that was desclate; | the Lord have
spoken it, and | lsill do it.
The heather wete to know-be con-
yinced-by the evidences of the work
of the Lord in bailding up the wsste