The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-06-24
TEMPERANCE
LESSON
Sunday School Lesson fer Jane 27, 1909
Specially Arranged t9r Tn4s Paper

/ 4hE---IT1paDly written early IN Ihe
4 1e4r of A D. %
/ PLACE.-The epistIe was written at
/ Corinth, during Paurs second visit the
Suggestion and Practical Thougt
Subject: Temperance Involved in
I he Law Of Love"
/ Notwithstanding wrote the Epis-
| tie to the Romans? 1t is one Of the
/ undoubted letters of Paul, the most
! Pauline of all the writings which bear
| Pauls name, fundamental among our
| materials for Pauline theology
Hastings Bible Dictionary.
| The All-InciUsive Debt OF Love.-Vs.
/ $40. How does Paul rank the duty of
/ loving? He places it before all other
/ duties He has been urging from.
I 10: y the scrupu,ous payment of all
/ debts, and repeats the command:
Owe no man any thing" OF course
/ this does not forbid borrowing but re-
/ quires the payment of all debts when
/ they are due. There is, however, one
! debt so vast that it never can be paid
in full: to love one another" Love
/ sums up the whole law and perfect
I love would make perfect man. 1t is
obvious that If we love our neighbor,
we shall not kill him, or steal from
1 him or bear false witness against
him, or cOvet his good things, or work
il. to our ueighbor in any other way.
The Temperance App.cation.-Et
would he hard to name an ill to a
neighbor' that is not fostered by in
| temperance We suffer more year by
year from intemperanca than from
war pestilence and famine combined
those three great scourges Of the hu.
man family. "-GiadstOne
A Warning from Approaching Death.
Us. II, y With what argument did
Paul urge the law Of loves That the
end OF the world was at hand the close
of the present order of things And
that" there is good reason for you to
do, namely. keep the law OF love, be-
cause you know the critical time" in
which you live. This is a reference to
the ParOusia, or second coming of
Christ, which Paul and the other apos-
ties seem to have believed to be close
| at hand
What conclusion did Paul draw from
the nearness of Christs coming? That
it was high time to awake out Of
sleep: for their salvation was nearer
than when they believe" (aorist tense.
came to believe. became Christians)
The words are as an alarm, or
morning watchbell, awakening a
Christian to his days work Arch
bishop Leighton
What are the temperance applicae
tons Of this thought? Intemperanf
dulls the physical sense, blears tIs--
eyes. renders the touch less sensitive,
the hearing less acute, the brain bss
active. 1t duIls the moral nature
Drinking men soon lose the nice sense
of right and wrong Conscience be
comes sluggish. The will becomes
fabby. Wake up! Wake up" let
every Christian cry to the intemper.
ate
Pure Life and How to Live tt
VS. 10, II. How does Paul sum up
these rules of life9 Let US walk
chat is, live) honestly as in the day,
when men can see us. The reference
is to the exteriors OF life, but Paul
was the last man to forget that out of
the heart are the issues OF life" He
is still speaking in parable, and to the
end Of the chapter he uses outer raj
ment as a symbol of inner character.
In order to live becomingly what
must we avoid? "Rioting (R V. rev
elling") and drunkenness, chambering
unlawful intercourse) and wanton-
ness, strife and enyying (R V. zeal.
ousy").
That is negative; positively, in or.
der to live becomingly what must we
do? Put on (as a garment, continu.
ing the metaphor the Lord Jesus
Christ and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof" Flesh
in the moral sense: the depraved ma
ture. Prot NJ R. Vincent We are
to plan for physical needs. but not for
sensual Qualifications.
What are the modern temperance
! applications of this rule of life? There
would be no saloons IL men put on
the Lord Jesus Christ" Who can
can imagine him as entering those
dens of iniquity, unless to rescue his
brothers from the snare? Every
saloon is provision for the flesh"
melting to all abominable passions
quarreling, profanity, brutality, muir.
ders. indecent speech, plots, licentious-
ness
Gov Hanly OF Indiana, writing in
The Christian Endeavor World of De-
cember 20, 1907, says: THAT alcohol.
ism shortens life. and that abstainers
have a distinctly greater longevity
than non-abstainers is convincingly
demonstrated by actuarial experience
The testimony Of certain English life
insurance companies, based upon
many years of experience, establishes
the fact that the longevity of abstain
ers is at least 25 per cent greater
than that of non-abstainers.. y
six per cent. of all accidents,
per cent. OF all suicides, 70 per cent.
of all crimes involving physical vic.
lence. and SO per cent OF all those in
which lust is the dominant factor can
be traced to the excessive use of in
toxicants. The lord chief Justice of
England recently declared that ii