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The Sunday School |
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN.
October 13, 1912. Mark 7:1-23.
Golden Text: "For the Kingdom of
God is not meat and drink; but righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost."?Romans 14:17.
iiv.iir. iMiiii ninijEi nciiinnus.
M.?-Mark 7:1-13. Clean and Unclean.
T.?Mark 7:14-23. Tilings that Defile.
W.?-Matthew 16:1-9. (Precepts that
Defile.
T.?Luke 11:14-26. Spirits that Defile.
F.?Acts 10:9-16. Things Not Common
or Unclean.
S.?Phil. 4:4-9. Thoughts that
Cleanse.
iS.?1 Peter 1:13123. Blood that
Cleanses.
SHORTER CATECHISM.
Q. 19. What is the misery of that
estate whereinto man fell?
A. All mankind by their fall lost
communion wun uoa, are unaer nis
wrath and curse, and so made liable to
all the miseries of this life, to death
itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
LESSON COMMENTS.
Connection: Immediately after Christ
and the disciples came to land at Capernaum,
after the night spent in the
former's praying and the latter's rowing,
and after the miracle of walking
on the sea, multitudes began to throng
them, as on the day before.
Pharisees and Scribes: Among the
multitudes were Pharisees and Scribes
who had come from Jerusalem to inquire
into the new teachings of which
thev had heard. Rnemies were united
as against Christ. The great majority
of the scribes were Sadducees in belief,
and so opposed to the Pharisees.
But they made common cause of their
opposition to Christ.
Finding Fault: They could find nothing
in Christ himself to make ground
of accusation against him. But directly,
in their keen watcfoing, they discovered
that some of his disciples were
not careful to observe certain Jewish
ceremonies upon which the Pharisees
laid great stress. Thereupon they turned
to him and laid upon him the responsibility.
"Wihy walk not thy disciples
according to the tradition of the
elders r
"Well Hath E sains Prophesied:** The
"Master urns famlHo*, ml'li tho Oni-ln.
tures. He constantly quoted them. He
applied them, too, most aptly. His
reasoning from them could never he
answered hv the Pharisees. The pretended
devotion of t?he latter to the
written law made them silent and helpless
when he drew this "sword of the
Snlrit." They never replied to the
arguments he made from the Bible.
They knew they could not. So It was
also In Christ's dealing wltih Satan in
the wilderness temptations. So will It
he with us in our conflict with Satan,
sin. and the world.
"Yon Hypocrite*:" Jesus oonld he at
times an severe as he was usually tender.
Nothing seemed to provoke him so
much as hypocrisy. Its pretence, Its
hollowness. The insincerity It showed
aroused him. He could hardly find
words strong enough to denounce it.
"This people honoreth me with their
Hps, but their heart Is far from me." i
' J
THE PRESBYTERIi
The worst form of hypocrisy is that of
pretending to worship God when tJhe
heart is not adorng him. It is usually
found in exact proportion to the mandevised
forms with which men appear
to approach God.
The Tradition of Men: The substitution
of man's inventions for the commandments
of God is the common sin
of those who are restive under God'S
control. i neir conscience aemanos
some kind of service, but they solace
themselves and try to compromise the
matter by rendering a service which is
of their own devising, or which men
before them have devised and handed
down. The newness or hoaTiness of a
tradition has nothing to do with its beIlevabiMty.
An old lie ought to be regarded
as just as bad a lie as a new
one. And yet many people think that
because a thing is old it is to be accepted
and followed. Old evils can perpetuate
themselves, but they can never
be old enough to beoome rights.
Rejecting God's Commandments: The
essence of the evil of following the traditions
of men is that it always implies
the rejection of God's commands. It is
a substitution of the human for the
uivme. iz is a we say," instead or a
"God says." God's laws are eternal.
They are based upon principles as eternal
as himself. There is no justification
for setting them aside, unless such
principles as righteousness, truth, holiness,
love, obedience, can be set aside.
And to attempt to substitute for them
the small, contemptiable devices of
ignorant, fallible humanity is to repudiate
God and set up man in his place.
No wonder Christ denounced it in such
unmeasured terms.
"Cor^m:" An instance in practical
form is cited by Christ, as showing the
iniquity of the setting aeide of God's
law and putting man's in its place. God
commands, "Honor thy father and thy
mother," hut the Pharisees had encouraged
children to look upon duty to parents
as a gratuity, not obligation, so
that the children may even reach the
point of doing nothing whatever for
fheir parents, of neglecting tJhem, of failing
to support or care for them. This
showed to what length the Pharisees'
teaching had gone.
Setting Aside God's Word: "Making
the Word of God of none effect through
vonr tradition." This Is the result of
exalting the traditions and devices of
men. It makes void the Word of -God.
This is even moTe vicious than simply
disobeying the direct commands of God.
His Word is his testimony. In what it
offers we have eternal life, and it is
that which testifies of God. Aught that
weaken it or that tends to displace it
as the hope and guide of our life, is
against the soul's interest as well as
against the glory of him who gave us
that Word.
Clean and Fnelean: The distinction
between the two was closely made by
Moses, and stood for much. In the way
of type, In the T^evltlcal system. It was
not a condemnation of the distinction
which our Saviour made, but of the
evils and Inconsistencies of the Pharisees
In connection with It. They made
the outward substitute for the Inward,
the ceremony a substitute for spirit and
truth. Their numerous ceremonial
"watfhlnsrs" throw much lteht. bv way of
contrast, upon the "wasrtilng" which
was the feature of John the Baot'st's
ministry. "Washings" or "baptisms."
the latter being a Greek word to express
the old time Jewish ceremonial of cleanfHne.
were all too familiar to the Jews.
John sought to teach a more correct
doctrine concerning them. While he did
this he d'd not change any mode hut
he dealt more largely with the spirit
rtf. the matter.
k N OF THE SOUTH
|Young People's Societies]
YOU CAN DO BETTER.
Topic for Sunday, October 18: You
Can Do Better.?2 Peter 3:8-18.
DAILY READINGS.
Monday: No stagnation. Hebrews
5:12-14; 6:1-3.
* 1 n-l.
x uvouiij xx. uvbicr pi ay ci. v_.ULUSbiaii?
1:9-15.
Wednesday: Why I can. Philippians
4:13.
Thursday: Preparing for great
things. Acts 1:6-8.
Fridays Lines of improvement. 2
Peter 1:2-8.
Satnrday: The things before. Phillppians
3:13-17.
Of course you can do better! And if
there is life in you you "will do better.
Progress is the normal state of all
genunle life. Things do not stand still.
There is no such thing as standing
still. If that which is alive is not advancing
it is going back.
T*he Bible command is very clear:
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Paul says, "Reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I pTess towards
the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus."
And again, "Know ye not that they
which run in a race run all, but one
reoeivftth fha nrlM?? mix. >!??*
V r-?- w i UU JC
obtain. I therefore bo run, not aa uncertainly."
And the witnesses inspire us. "Seeing
we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and let us run
with patience the race Uhat is set before
us."
The sight of him who holds the prize
for us will stir us to effort. "Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of
our faith; who for ^he joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising
the shame."
Improvement, betterment, growth, are
simply life asserting Itself, lit Is the
power of an eternal life that is within
the believer. Spiritual betterment,
therefore, should be even more marked
than temporal.
"Strong meat belongeth to them that
ere of full age, even those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. Therefore
let us go on to perfection, not laying
again the foundation of repentance
from dead works, and of faith toward
God."
Paul prayed for the Colossians, "That
ye ml^Jht walk worthy'of the Lord unto
all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge
of God; strengthened with all might, according
to his glorious power, unto all
patience and long suffering with Joyfulness."
The possibility of growing better and
doing better is found in the divine help
that is ofTered when we understand it.
"I can do all things through Christ
which strengthened!^ me.'* Christ is
both a model and a power. We shall be
strengthened with might, by his Spirit,
in fhe inner man.
Doing better day by day is but the
outcome of desire to be more and more
like Christ, to walk more and more in
his footsteps. He suffered for us, leaving
us an example. The goal of the
Christian life is complete likeness to
him. And that likeness Is to be the
glory of the heavenly state. We shall
see him then as he Is, and he like him.
Here Is a mathematical statement, an
example in addition, covering the theme:
"And besides all this, giving all dill(Continued
on page 17.)
J
[ October 2, 1912 j
| The Prayer Meeting [
THE GOSPEL INVITATION.
Matt. 11:28. Week of October 6.
Over and over again we read in. the
Scriptures the appeal to come to Christ.
These are usually addressed to the unsaved
though they are very precious to
believers and. encouraged by them, the
true worshiper comes boldly to t*he
throne of erace. We read, "if anv man
thirst let him come unto me and drink;"
,rLet him that is athirst come and whosoever
will let him take the wateT of life
freely." "Ye will not come to me that
ye might have life." "Him tihat cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out."
From these and similar passages we
learn that all are invited to come, that
none of those who come will be rejected,
that in coming they will receive the
gift of God which is eternal life, and it
is implied that witihout coming the
precious and priceless gift of life cannot
be received. It becomes important
therefore to know what it 1b to come.
The act finds many illustrations in
the case of those who come to our
Master during his ministry on earth.
The leprous, the blind, the deaf, the
destitute and distressed came to him'
asking healing, comfort and peace and
these received the blessings that they
sought.
Their act waB personal and positive;
they did not assume a neutral attitude.
They did not seek some other source of
help. They did not postpone hut sought
relief when they realized their need and
had opportunity. They went In person
to Jesus. They went that they might
receive his blessing and expecting to receive
It. They appealed directly to him
for the help that they craved. 'In doing
this they gave evidence that they realized
their need, that they could not
help themselves nor get relief from any
other source, and that Christ could and
was wllllne to he merciful to th<?m end
bless them.
If we apply tbe example of those who
came to Christ we find that In coming
we must realize that we need spiritual
help, the pardon of sin and deliverance
from its power; that our need is so
serious and radical that we cannot help
ourselves; that no fellow-being or human
institution can supply our want;
that Christ can do this and is willing;
that being the Son of God and Saviour
of sinners he can meet all the requirements
of out helpless souls.
Coming means putting our trust in
the unseen, but ever present Saviour,
with the desire and expectation that we
will be received and pardoned by him
and endowed with his sanctifying grace.
Those who have come before must continue
their coming that tihey may have
their spiritual strength renewed, strengthened
with might be his Spirit in the
inner man.
It is aimalline that ma.nv are tin
willing to come. They find excuses for
staying away. They crowd the thought
of duty and of their destitution out of
mind. They cultivate engrossment with
temporal interests. They encourage and
cultivate skeptical beliefs. They strive
to silence the voice of conscience, and
turn their faces "away from truth and
Hffi oil tVl o fhow mow ? oon.
??'v, un n?M?t iu?*j a?v/iu vlic: w??
ditlons upon which they may receive the
greatest blessing that a rational soul
ever reoeived.
We are taught that the first and paramount
duty of the soul that wants salvation
is to come to Christ. Nothing
can take precedence of this or take its
place. Repentance, submission to God,
change of purpose, renunciation of sin,
obed'ence to law, worship and confession
of Christ are important and essential,
but coming to Christ includes al'.