Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-05-26
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON TX, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY ~.
Text of the Lesson, a7ath. xiii. 24-33.
Memory verses, 81. 33 - Golden
Text, Math. xiIi, IS - Commentary
Prepared by the Rev. ID. NJ. stenrns.
lcopyr NJ, 100, ~ D. N. stearn.


lCopyrsht, 1900, by D. NJ stearns.l
"a Another parable put He forth I'M
to them, saying. Tho kingdom Of heaven
is hkened unto man which sowed good
seed ia his field" Ii may be well at the
beginning IF this lesson to call attention
to verse II. where our Lord said that 1t
was given to the disciples TO know the
mysteries Of the kingdom" and these
parallels all refer to these mysteries. !"
The kingdom Of God. or OF heaven. is not
a mystery, but something very plain
y revealed in the Scriptures. But that
the kingdom then at hand should be post
poned and not come till the Kings re-
turn, at the end of the age, that was a
mystery not before revealed. These sew
en- parallels describe the nature of events
during this interval. We saw in last les
son how the word of God will be treated
In this parable the field is the world, the
sower is the Son of Man, and the good
seed is not the word, but those who have
received the word and thus become chill
dren of the kingdom tyerses 81, 3Sl.
Is. but while men slept his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat
and went his way" The enemy is the
the wicked one verses IS. 39l. In the
parable of the ten virgins it is said that
they all slumbered and slept tMath. XIV,
81. Jonah, the servant of God. slept
while running away from the command
of God; Samson. the servant of God. slept
in the lap of DeIilah. Even on the Mount
of TRANSPORTATION Peter and those with
him were heavy with sleep Luke tx. 80
Sleep suggests Indifference TO things
about us. II we are indifferent to the
things of the kingdom, we sleep.
20. Gradually, but surely, the work is
done, whether for good or evil. First.
the blade; then the ear; after that the
full corn in the ear Mark iv, 2Sl. The
good or the evil does not fully appear
suddenly. Beware Of little foxes.
27-29. AN enemy hath done this" IL
is not as fully recognized as it should be
that there is an enemy of God and man
who is ever resisting God aud seeking 10
turn man from Him. His first recorded
utterances are IN the line of doubling the
word Of Gud and the love OF God Gen
Iii, /, II. He is liar and a murderer
iJohn viii. Al, Il dccciyer and a destroyer
and will yet gather his hosts against the
Son of God. seeking to overthrow Him
CRev. xix, 100 Ills end is the lake of
fire ,Rev. Ky, l0
30 LET both grow together until the
harvest" Verses 80 to 40 explain that
the harvest is the end OF the age tnot the
end of the world. as many think. for the
word "wofld" is properly age and that
at that time the angels shall gather oui
of the kingdom all that offend and do in
iquity and east them into a furnace OF
fire. and then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their
Father. If anything could be more plain
ly stated than that the righteous and the
wicked shall continue together IN this
world till the end of the age. let some
one tell how Where any one can find
authority for believing that the world
shall be all righteous before the end of
the age and the coming of our Lord
not know. He said on another oceasi
that as ii was in the days Of Noah and
the DAYS OF Lot so shall it be when
shall come ,I.uke xvii. 90 The parabl
speaks OF the wicked being gathered out
first. and some desire to know how this
can agree with the church being caught
away first 1t is all simplified by the
truth Of Ills coming 10 the air whore His
saints meet Him Il Thess. iv. HIS ana
then coming to the earth with all his
saints II Thess iii. 10; Zech. xiv, .; Jude
Ia. The age is to end with great judg
mcuts. which will Immediately precedt
His coming in glory tMath. xiv. u, -
20, 30 but before this great tribulatlon
He will take His own to Himself. where
with Him. they shall be safely hid in The
day Of tie Lords anger lisa. XXvi. ~
81: Zeph ii. 3; Rev. iii, lO).
81. 81 In this parable the present
phase Of the kingdom, the time OF the
mystery, is compared to the least OF
seeds. which. instead of becoming a great
herb, becomes n great tree. with the
birds of the air lodging in the branches
To understand this parable we must re-
.member the two preceding ana that thi
ace is not one Of outward encourage
.ment to the child Of God. Only a part "
Tho seed produces children OF God. anf
only part Of those bear fruit ano
among the children Of God the children
of the devil are many. Now we see u
great tree. with birds in the branches
Does this Indicate the church lourshinp
and many hocking to il, or is II on the
line of the other two parallels and &c
sight discnuraging? Ii seems 10 he al
one discourse. for in verses "a to 30 We
read that when He had spoken these
things He sent the multitude away anc
went into the house with His disciples
In the parable of the sower the birds. OF
fowls of the air, represented the devll
who catches away the seed. In TINS
parable the church. which is in Gods
sight little flock Luke xii. 81. has be-
come a great worldly thing and has re-
ceived into il many Judas and Demas
and Balaam.
SO. This parable of the leaven is gen
orally used to show that the gospel. Ike
leaven, is so working that the whole
lump. the world. will soon be eavened OF
made good. but this is a terrible perver
sion of Scripture. There is not one place
in the Bible where leaven signifies any
thing good. Ii was excluded from the
meat Offering Lev. ii. III. which typ.
fed our Lord in His pure and holy life
AT Passover time no ieaven was 10 b'
found in the house Of an lsraelite lex
xii. 10 Our Lord compared the evi
teaching of the Pharisees and the sad
dueees to leaven tMath. xvi. 6-l2l. See
also Cor. V, 6-S: Gal Y. q, o. In two