The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-14
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL
 LESSON
second Quarter Lesson III

Luke viii l-17 April 15, 1906. Jesus' Power over Disease and Death.
 There lay Capernaum. protecting in- to the blue depths of Tiberias. it's basat-buiit house standing In relief against a deep-green background. it's quays fringed with shipping. What hum of art and trafial What greed of power, gain and pleasure! Religion? There was none. save that of phylac- teries and frtnges--an ecclesiasticism fast losing grip upon It's own. and failing in any considerable extent 10 command respect of foreigners. But in this night of irreligion. in this faith bursts in radiant bloom. In the garrison. c proverb of dissipation: in the commanders quarters. character ized by imperial hauteur, Is found q humane, humble, benevolent. believing soul, the moral beauty of whioh causes an ejaculation of surprise and admira- tion from Jesus's lips. The pious spirit of the centurion Is feeling after God, If haply he may find Him. He is ready to discard his own worn- out religion for q better faith. He overcomes that strongest of passion. the racial prejudice. He is ready to sit down with these hooknosed. oily skinned Jews. and scan their musty scrolls, if only there He may find the way of life. Increasing wealth has not made a niggard of him. He builds these serfs of his emperor a synago- gue, the chiseled marbles of which, lately uncovered, prove 1t one of the most beautiful and costly ever erected. Trained in the cruel school of war, yet he can not see his slave suffer without compunction. So far is he above the Roman spirit which esteems a slave a thing rather than 8 man. He
 tro AI n the character of Jesus. He is not of- tended at his humble origin. He makes no displeasing allusion to Nazareth. He believes the Masters power may have an extra-Israelitish display; can be exercised even upon heathen's drudge. Overwhelmed with & con seriousness of unworthiness, he pre- fers. his request by proxy. not In per son. Seeing the Master approach, he sends another deputation to Him in haste. Aware of the Hebrew ideaa of ceremonial pollution, he will not ex- pose the rabbi to such danger by ask ing him to enter Gentle home, espe- cially as there Is no need. Jesus, too. is an imperial commander. At His order disease VIII depart ana neaith will come. No wonder Jesus panegy- rixes such faith. He hastens to embalm it in his praise. He eulogizes 1t. con sidering its source, its degree. its en- vironment, it Is unmatched by any de- scendent of him who bore the name Of "Father of the Faithful" The scene changes from the city lifted to heaven in privilege to a hamlet never mem tioned before or afterward in Holy Writ. At sundown Jesus climbs the flinty path toward that rustic village in which death is celebrating an unu- sual victory. youth. manly and mo- ble. sole victory. A youth, manly and noble, sole support of widowed moth- CT, is being carried to his tomb. Lamen- tations in this instance are not per- functory. Furniture Is overturned in token of desolation. Rocky shelf in tomb is ready. Funeral directors invites stray travellers to join procession. Wom- en are In van because first in transgres sion" Piercing cries to accompani- ment of shrill file and changing cym- hal rise. A voice eulogizes the dead. In wicker bier. cnrried on shoulders of pall-bearers, lies the body wrapped in linen bands and the napkin covers it's face. Life and death meet fin that highway. Weep not" are Je- sus first words His next reveal His power to assuage grief. Young man. ariser All gruesome features are re- moved by the natural voice of the dead who is alive again.