The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-02-22
THE SABBATH SCHO0E
INTERNATIONAL LESSON coMMEHTSE
FOR FEBRUARY rs. :.

FOR FEBRUARY 2s.rs -
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Iesssn Text: "Chrlst ss tho Fesst,~ Joh1,
VII. II, :s-37-Goldsn Text: Jobr.
VII, 3:-Commentsry ON tho DAxp
Lesson by ths Rev. d. NJ. stearns.
IL. "Nov about tho midst o: the fease
Jesus went up, into the temple and
! Thought" It was the feast of tobernaclee.
| and His brethfen who did not believe IN
| Him had ia a sort of sneerfng way advised
Him to 60 up't9 the feast. His reply wae:
my time has not yet come, so they want
without Him, but He went up later, and a
| BE taught the Jews wondered at Hi8
knowledge aud His teaching. as BE had
| not boon to their schools. His reply 70
then was. eMy doctrine is NOT Mine. but
| His that sent Ne" (yerse 16). He took no
credit for Hls words or works. He sought
No glory for Himself. 4.
-. "rhsn cried Jesus IN the temple ~
Hs taught, saying, Ye both know Ne, and
- know whence am, and I am not cone
whom 70 know not" They had said, No
t1owthis man whence he Is, but Whea.
Christ cometh no man knoweth whence He
q (verse ~. They knew that He was from
Nsssreth spd Of humble parentage. and
that was all they professed to know, but II
thSy had been honest they would hare
said, We know that Thou art q teacher
some from God (John Ill.,, q.
80. 'But know Him. for am from Hims
"As the Father ;knoweth Me, even -
know tina Father" CJohn L, 1S and
sgain, no man knoweth the Son but tho
TatheE neither knoweth any man this
Father savo tho Son and he to whomsoevcr;
the Son will reveal Him (Math. xi.. az. In
His prayer He said, 80 righteous Fathse,
tbs world hath not known Thee, but &
ts ssve Ls ,Enova Thee. and nd these these haye' 6nosai
80. "Then they sought to take Him, bue
no man laid hands on Him because His hour
was not get come" Many q time would
they have taken Him, but they could nox
touch Him till the appotated time. Whom
they did finally take Him, It was because
He allowed them to, and when BE died He
freely gave up His ltfe- He laid It down OF
Himself; they could not take 1t from HtN
John Z. 1S). {,
81. "And many OF the psople believed on
Him and said. When Chffst cometh will He
do more miracles than: these which this
man hath dones" While some believed and
some believed not and many who pro-
fessed to believe turned back and WALKED
no more with Him (chapter w., 66) he kept
steadily on bearing faithful testimony and
VI
that all whom the Father gave to Him
would come unto Him (chapter VI, SD and
that He would sec Of the travail Of His SIOUX
and be satisfied Elsa. ILL.,, 1I.
50. "The Pharisees heard that tho people &
murmured such things concerning Him,
and the Pharisees and the chief priests
sent officers to take Him." They mlght
Syria did his best to take Elisha, but iA
vain, or that Ahab did his best to find Kli-
jah, but also failed; that sennacherib would
have taken: Jerusalem. but could NOT.
When will the enemies OF God stop imaGin- (
ing vain things? Not till the antiohrist,
yet to be manifested, .H destroyed, and
satan SHUT up In the pit, Gnd even after thaS
is finally cast into the lake Of fire and tho
kingdom comes.
SO. "Then said Jesus unto them. Yet . 4
little while am, with you, and then 90
unto Him that sent Me-" The time was
short until He would give Himself up and
let them take Him and kill Him, but even
in death He would 20 to the Father, ana
after the resurrection He would IN His
glorifed body ascend to the Father; Boe
more than thirty years He had willingl1 !
sbsented Himself from His home In glory
bearing all manner OF humiliation and
scorn for our sakes. and soon BE was to.
become our sin Offering, bearing our stnG
In His own body on the cross.
81. eye shall seek Me and shall not fin6-
Ne, and where am thither ye cannot
come" In chapter will, 81, Hs says: II
60 MY way. and ye shall seek Ne and SHAH
come" In verse "a Of the same chapter
he says. "If ye believe not TINT I am Hs.
70 shall die in your SINS" Now is tho
time to seek Him, for 1. Is written, .tSeek
ye tho Lord while He may be found" and
all who truly seek surely find Elsa. w.. 6;
Jer. xxix., 13; Math. VII. 81, but II the stn- 7
ner will not yield to the seeking Saviour
for He is always seeking ever since He
then there Is q possibility Of the experiences
Of Prov. l., %: "Then shall they call upon
Ne, but will not answer. They shall seek
Ne early, but they shall not find Me-"
IS. :.nfhen said the Jews among them !.
selves, Whittier will BE 20 that. We shall
not find Him7 Will He go into the dis
persed among the gentlles and tsach he
gentiles2" II they believed Him to bepos-
sessed Of devil, as they said, they couA
them, but even II He should possibly beA
good man and 60 60 heaven surely they
would ind Him, for were they not all going
that way, at least in their own opinfonf
Anything more that q mere man they could
not see Him to be and so they understood
Him, not because they would not receive
Him. .
IS. "What manner OF saying is this that
he said, 'Ye shall seek Ne and shall not
find Me, and where am thither ye cannok
Gomez" It is not strange that these unbe-
levers could not understand His word, for
even the disciples are heard saving on the
night before His crucilIion: "What Is this
that He saith? A little while. We cannot
tell what he saith" (John xvi, 1O. :.
ST. "In the last day, that great day OF
the feast Jesus stood and cried, saying, IL
any man thirst, let him come unto Me ana
drink" Had they considered their own
Scriptures they might have thought OF isa.
w., /, or Jer. H., IS, or the rock that Moses.
smote, but they we're blinded. Their
hearts were hardened, their ears heavy
Elsa. w., 10y because they would not SEQ
nor hear nor believe (Acts xviii, 2-2T.
The fountain Of living water was now In
their midst. and yet they would not drink.
for they preferred their own cisterns. In
chapter we learn how to be born OF
water and the Spirit, In chapter we learn
that We may be wells OF water, but hero
we learn that we may be rivers OF wafer,
bringing health and life wherever we go
(Ezek Xviii, 81. Most saved people ara
content Just to be born again, few arc
willing to be we'll, but fewer still care to BE-
rivers. It is for US to say how much otthe
Word we are to have In US (Eph. ". lBs
Col. ILL.,, 16).-Lesson Helper. ... "-