The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-09-28
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAP-
list. Luke l.
He shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, and shall drink no wine nor
strong drink.-Luke Ills.
THE BOOK.
For six months we shall study
"The most beautiful book ever writ
ten" 1t is the Gospel for universal
man containing as it does children
and the touch of home in both Judea
and Galilee; womanhood at work or
at worship or at homely visiting, all
with a snatch of song; manhood poor
and outcast, Gentle and Jew, edu-
Gated and ignorant, all under the
thrall of that Brother of US all, Jesus
the Helper, the Healer and the Hope
of the race. Its outline is very SIM
pie. The introduction to the ministry
of our Lord covers three chapters
that tell of His ancestry, all we know
of His early life in Nazareth and the
share of John the Baptist that was
crowned in the baptism of Jesus.
in Galilee, 9:51-19:27 that in Perea,
and 19:28-24:53 that in Jerusalem.
1t was born not only out of love for
his own Saviour but for man of his
affection who needed assurance in the
things in which he had been instruc.
ted so that we can catch faint trac-
the paper that holds the evidence
that would appeal to him. "Most
excellent" may be a Roman title but
it is far more truly the only fitting
word that could be used for the one
whom the lines were first penned.
No book can be fully understood
without knowing something of the
writer. Singularly enough the first
three Gospels are recovered men.
Matthew is the man of recovered
citizenship who out Of that new joy
of place in the state wrote of the
King and the Kingdom Mark, the man
of the recovered task, rejoiced in his
activities, could see more clearly
than any other the working Christ.
Luke was pretty certainly a slave by
birth who, to judge from the tone Of
his letter was set free by his master
rather than by purchase. Rejoicing
in his recovered manhood he saw the
Saviour giving liberty to all condi-
tons of men regardless of race or
class. DR.. D. A. Hayes regards him
as a slave boy in the household of
Theophilus who educated him for a
physician. When his owner became
a Christian he gave him his liberty
which he used in travel that brought
him the contact and affection of Gal
lilo, Seneca and other prominent men.
Becoming the friend and comrade of
Paul he gave his whole latter life to
the ministry that made him the ''be-
loved physician" as we'll as the au-
thor of the choice pages that we have
from his pen.
JOHNS ANCESTRY.
John came from no mean stock.
Far across the centuries stretched
the line from which he came and it
had given wonderful pair occupying
that home in the Judean hills. Re-
ligion and love were the twin angels
that stood guard at its threshold.
Gray hair crowned and haloed the
faces lined by the experiences of the
years and the shoulders were a bit
stopped under their weight. There
lay shadow within the eyes for dis
appointment of the high hope of
earlier days lived constantly in the
silent orderliness of a childless home.
But the defeat of prayer brought no
desertion of God or duty. Life might
not be according to the desire but it
should be lived to the full neverthe-
less. Regularly they took their way
to worship and Zachariah never
failed to be in his place of priestly
service. One wonderful day there
came that chance of an entire life
time for him to stand within the
Holy Place and PLACE the incense
upon the golden altar before the veil
Duty led him to that high hour and in
its exultation of a spirit that had
kept the way straight refusing to be
turned aside by disappointment there
came the brushing aside of that dis
appointment itself. Duty omitted
would have brought defeat to Zacha-
rias as it does to every other man or
woman. There is no other road in
which Gods angel waits for the
meeting.
Twenty thousand priests made it
possible for each in turn to have the