The Oakes times., 1909-03-25
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Lesson xIII.-First Quarter, For
March %, 1909.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES
Text Of the Lesson, Prov. xiii, 1886.
Memory Verses, 90, 30-Golden Text,
Prov. xiii, documentary Pre-
pared by Rev. o. NJ. Stearns.

copyright 1909. by American Press Association
1t would seem from the frequent use
Of this portion and lisa. and xviii
that there are but few passages which
touch the sin of drunkenness. would
respectfully suggest to the teachers
that they might with profit use or
bring into these favorite selections of
the committee such portions as Gen.
tx, 20-27: Lev. x, Ill; Mum. vi, l-S:
Judg. xiii, Jer. XXXv, Hab. II, Cor.
vi, $50; Eph. v. l4-27. and others with
their contexts. Even these eight por-
tions would cover two years lessons
If the committee should ever have
their attention called to them and feel
led to adopt them. But | am finding
no fault with repetition of the same
passage. for l was taught Mt normal
school, over forty years ago, the ne
cessity of iteration and reiteration"
to impress truth upon the mind. lisa.
xviii, 13, teaches us that it must ever
be 'precept upon precept, line upon
line" We have three times in the
Scriptures the story Of King Heze-
kiah and of the conversion Of Saul
and of Tarsus and how tremendous
the Importance Of our Lords seven
fold "He that hath an ear let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches"
In connection with the "woe" of our
lesson, what about the six woes Of lisa.
v, the eight woes of Matt. xiii and
the three woes of Rev. will, 13; *, -?
All the woes of earth are as nothing
compared with the woes Of eternal
torment, and as read the woes of
Rev. tx and note verses 20, 81, learn
therefrom that God il so unwilling
in those two woes give men a taste
of hell on earth. that they may per-
chance repent and escape the tor
ment Of the lost in hell. See Job xxxiii,
20, 80. The more often read the
description of the drunkard in verses
20, 80, of our lesson the more clearly
see there as the sinners substitute
Him in whom alone Is salvation, a
man Of sorrows and acquainted with
grief, with whom the rulers contend
ed and against whom they babbled,
whose wounds were all without cause
on His part and whose eyes must have
been red with weeping after the strong
crying and tears of Gethsemane. He
was made sin for us; in our stead He
suffered. bearing our sins in His own
body, and apart from His atonement
there is no deliverance from the
wrath to come nor from the power of
sin in this life for any sinner. wheth-
er he be drunkard, profane, gambler,
moral church member or any other
kind of sinner
The 'look not" Of verse 81 sends us
to the "Look unto Me and be We saved"
of lisa. xiv. %, and the "Behold the
Lamb Of Godr' of John 1, %. If we
are to be saved from looking in a
wrong direction 1t must be by looking
steadfastly in right direction. and
that is the thought In the looking
unto" of Heb. Kill 2. 1t is such a
steadfast beholding Of one person that
all else is lost sight Of. AS the eye
effecteth the heart and the heart is
prone to follow the eyes (Lam. iii. 81;
Job XXI, y. it is easy to see how
necessary 1t is to look In right direc-
ton. Ps. xvii, 4, is such helpful
word in this connection, Zone thing
I have desired Of the Lord; that will
I seek after, that may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my
life, to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in His temple" See
also II Cor iii. 1s, "Beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, we are
changed into the same image from
glory to glory as by the Spirit of the
Lord" Tell the poor sinner Of the
love of God. the love that came from
heaven to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Geth-
semane and Golgotha for us all that
we might not perish, and if such love
does not break the hardest heart moth
ing else will. Such love known and be-
| lieved leads one to say from the
heart. "Thy love is better than wine"
"We will remember thy love more
than wine' (Song l. 2, ~. Anything
but the love Of God presented to the
sinner will only illustrate the truths
Of the last two verses of our lesson
and show the utter Indifference of the
dead soul to whatever may come and
the incorrigible nature of the carnal
mind which is enmity against God.
The case may look as hopeless as the
dead and corrupting body Of Lazarus
or the dry bones in the valley of vi
sion or the hard heart of a blasphem-
ing Saul Of Tarsus. but see in each
of these how easily God wrought.
AS workers with God we must cease
from our own wisdom prov. xiii. a
and let Him who is the wisdom Of
God do 1t all. we know nothing and
can do nothing except as the Spirit of
God shall teach us and work in us.
Farther back In our lesson chapter
Oversees 20. 2D we read Of the sure
poverty of the drunkard and glutton
and are warned against winebibbers
and riotous eaters Of flesh, and here
again by contrast we think Of the
durable riches and righteousness of
Him who said. Except we eat the
flesh of the Son Of Man and drink His
blood We have no life in you" prov
wifi. 1S; John vi, SO. 54). When the
last hour or moment III these mortal
bodies comes to those who know and
are in the love of God the next step is
with Christ in paradise. but to the
unsaved sinner it will be rs our Lord
taught in Luke xvi % %
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