The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-26

INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Copyright, Davis ". Clark.) ,~ea wAs

boyish consciousness. Next we go down to
 the bank of the most sacred river In the
 world-the Jordan-the scene of Jesus i baptism.
 The Forty-day Mountain is the place marked by an ancient tradition as the scene of Jesus's temptation The plaee Is singularly in harmony with his expe- riences. It is a painless desert dusky with horrid shades" The denuded rocks and reddcned soil scorched by a burning sun. and "the sulphurous sea stretching like & shroud over the accursed cities-ali this land of death mute and motionless as the grave-formed . fitting scene" Macherus was the impregnable fort ress- palace overlooking the Jordan Val ley. where Herod Antipas kept his court, and gave the banquet to his officers, at which Herodias baited her hook with her daughters modesty, and went angling in tho pool of drunken revelry. Here John the Baptist was martyred.
 The Sea of Galilee is an insignificant little pond. seven by fourteen miles, but when one considers the events which transpired there, it rises to be easily the most sacred and important sheet of wa ter on the globe. For example, in this series of lessons 1t is at Gallles that the miraculous draught of fishes Is taken; the disciples are called: the storm is eaimed; and the five thousand are fed. On the shore of this lake stood Caper- naum (City of Nahun) one of nine cit- ies, the sites of which have all been de- fined. This was the city lifted to heaven by Jesus's residence there. The glitter ing fragments of the centurion-given marble synagogue. with the conventional twisted foliage ornamentatton greet the eye of the modern traveller. and remind him of the doom which Jesus pronounced on account of the spiritual obtuseness of It's population. In passing there is an il- Iustration of how Jesus sought places where the people were massed. Practi- ealiy Ills entire public ministry was in Galilee. Josephus may exaggerate when he says that there were two hundred and fifty cities there of fifteen thousand each; but recent exploration shows that the ter- ritory was so thlckiy built over at that date as to make it practically contin- uous village.
 Child Study and Sunday School
 Methods.
 When Correggio overlaid the dome of Parma with the frescoes which make It's common plaster more precious than gold, for every figure of prophet or apostle he gave us number of happy. cherub-iike children. Unconsciously, perhaps, he was copying the Bible. A child's face peers out of almost every page. We see the boy fshmael faintinR near the angel. pointed fountain, Joseph in his irldescent coat, Mosas in his wave-Focked cradle, Samuel answering Gods call in the mys- tic shade of the tabernacle. vwv boys raised, to iife-one by Elijah. the other by Elisha: the children singing '.Tfosan- ma" on Jesus's approach: the fad with five barley loaves and two fishes; Jesus healing a boy and the daughter of the woman of Tyre. and raising the daughter of Jairus; placing a child in the midst of the disciples. The series closes with the most significant of ala child in Jesus's arms. We may well marvel at this prom thence of childhood in the Bible. They are far from being overlooked. Promises and commands are given to children; re- wards are offered. More miracles are worked upon children than upon any oth- CT one class of persons. We may well ask, "Why this prominenceT It can not be accidental. It must be designed If we find the child in the Bible. the nat uraI inference Is that the Bible is for the child. Putting children in possession of their heritage in the Bble is the legitl= mate and supreme function of the Sun- day School--a function which 1t is per- forming more intelligently and success fully than ever since It's first institution. All workers in this department of the Church ought to know their calling, the importance and dignity of 1t. They should appreciate the honor and seek to make full proof of their ministry. This they arc undoubtedly doing as never be- fore.