Teachings of Jesus
By
Henry G. Spaulding

LESSON I
SON AND BROTHER
Luke xv. 11-32

GOLDEN TEXT — Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have Is thine. -
Luke xv. 31.

THE MEANING

INTRODUCTORY. The story of the Prodigal Son belongs to that class of parables that teach the divine goodness and grace as the law of Christian living. Its central doctrine is the lofty truth that every man, even the meanest of mankind, is a son of God, and, as such, is not only dear to the Father, but should be treated as a brother by every other one of God's children.
Verse II. "Two sons." The younger son stands in general for every man who, having done wrong, truly repents; while the elder son represents those who in outward conduct are good, but in their hearts are proud and envious, and so have no brotherly love towards others. In the times of Jesus the " publicans " were like the younger son, the " Pharisees " like the elder.
Verse 12. " The portion of thy substance that falleth to me" Among the Jews, the younger son would inherit — that is, receive after his father's death — one third of his property, the other two thirds going to the first-born. No law compelled the father to divide his property while he was living; but this father, for what he thinks are good reasons, decides to grant his son's request.
Verse 15. " To feed swine." In the eyes of' a Jew, nothing could be more degrading than to be a swineherd. It teaches us how low a man falls who follows a course of wrong-doing.
Verse 16. " The husks that the swine did eat." These " husks" were the pods of the carob-tree. They are in shape like a bean-pod, have a sweetish taste, and though used chiefly
as food for swine, are sometimes eaten by very poor people. The meaning of this verse is, that though no man gave him even this poor sort of food, he did eat it, but it failed to sat-isfy his hunger. So when sin brings the soul to want, the food it offers is utterly unfit to satisfy our spiritual hunger.
Verse 19. "Make me as one of thy hired servants." With his willingness to be treated as if he were one of his father's laborers, the prodigal yet feels that in that father's house he will really be a son again. It is interesting to note that when he does confess to his father he says nothing about being a servant. How could he ? His father restored him at once to his full sonship; and in filial obedience as a son, and not in servile labor, he will prove the sincerity of his repentance.
Verse 22. The " best robe " is given him as a mark of distinction; the "ring" and the " shoes " as badges of a free man.
Verse 24. "Was dead" etc. As this remark was addressed to the servants, it can only mean was as good as dead; that is, the prodigal had left his home as absolutely as if he had died. That the servants so understood it is evident from ver. 27, where one of them says to the elder brother that the father had killed the fatted calf because he had received back his son "safe and sound."
Verse 30. " This thy son." More literally, this son of thine; an expression of contempt, implying that though the prodigal might be recognized by the father as his son, he was not going to call him brother.

THE TEACHING
1. IN these lessons we shall take up in their order those teachings of Jesus which refer to the duties (1) that we owe to others, (2) that we owe to ourselves, and (3) that we owe to God. The keynote to all the teachings of Jesus is his idea of man as SON and BROTHER. Every man, he taught, is a son of God, and is therefore a brother to every other son of the One Heavenly Father. The great aim and purpose of his life was to make this sonship of man to God a reality on earth. If this be brought about, then the kingdom of Father would indeed come, and His will be on earth as it is in heaven.
2. Let us see, now, how Jesus sets forth this double relation of the Son and the Brother. It most clearly and beautifully taught in the parable of the Prodigal Son, which is the sub-ject of the present lesson. Here we are made to see that the "kingdom of God" is a king-dom in which the King is a father, and all the subjects are brethren. The law, which every-where prevails in this kingdom, is the law that unites and governs a true family. This law is the Law of Love. All the duties which men to their fellow men are only different implications of this one law. As loyal subjects God's kingdom, " sons of one family," are bound to be just, merciful, forgiving, patient, kind, and helpful to their fellow-men.
3. The parable of the lost son is a plain, homely story of family life. Three characters appear in it, — the son, the father, the brother. We are told first of the sin and folly of the son, but we are at the same time made to feel tender pity for the poor wanderer. " His career is shown us in four successive scenes, in the first we see his self-will, in the second his folly, in the third his misery, and in the forth his repentance." His self-will appears is demanding his "portion of goods," in order that he may go his own way and no longer be a loving and helpful son in his father's house. His folly is depicted in very few words. Enough is told us to show that loss of the re-straints of home is soon followed by the loss of self-control and even of self-respect. That such folly should end in wretchedness and want was only the natural course of things. The downward path may be lined with flowers, but it leads to misery. The whole description shows the intimate connection between the sin of the prodigal and its punishment. " He who would not, as a son, be treated liberally by his father is compelled to be the bond slave of a foreign master; he who would not abide in his father's royal palace is sent to the fields among hinds; he who would not dwell among brethren and princes is obliged to be the servant and com-panion of brutes; he who would not eat at his father's bountiful table asks in his hunger for the husks of the swine." Then comes the last scene of the swiftly acted play. The wan-derer thinks of the home from which he has strayed, and resolves to turn back. At first it is only a feeling of hunger that brings him to his senses and suggests the comforts which he might have been enjoying. But he soon becomes truly repentant, and is ready to say from his sorrowing heart: " Father, I have sinned."
4. To understand the real nature of the prodigal's sin, we must look ahead a little way in the story. The poor starving wanderer is moved to rise and go to his father because he has at last come to himself. It was from him-self, that is, from his true and better self, that he had at first gone away. " Are there not, perhaps," asks Dr. Clarke, in the " Legend of Thomas Didymus," "two men in us who can go from each other and then return again? The true self in us, the Master meant to teach, is the good self; the knowledge of what is true; the love of what is right. This is the deepest self in all men. The outer self is the man's upper thought and willful action." St. Paul teaches the same idea when he says: " I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin." He finds one law in the inward man and another law in the outer man, and these are warring with one another. In this war between-our two selves we all have to take part, and we are like the prodigal in the story whenever we go away from our good selves and yield to the passions and desires of our lower selves. On the other hand, when we turn from our sins and come back to our true selves, we shall return, as the prodigal did, to our Father. Or we may put this the other way, and say: When we are drawn to God, when His Spirit moves us, we are drawn not to a far-off being who is outside of ourselves, but to the God who speaks to us within our hearts and our con-sciences, whose voice we hear in the call of our own higher nature. So intimate and so sacred, Jesus teaches us, is our sonship to the Heavenly Father.
5. The second of the three characters in the story is the father of the prodigal. How loving and how lovable he is made to appear! Can we not see it all, as in a picture? This father has never ceased looking for the return of his poor "lost " boy. One day, as he stands in the door of his house, he sees "afar off" a lone wan-derer. Something in the form and movement of the traveler brings up in the father's mind the never-forgotten image of the loved one. Instantly the full tide of his compassion flows forth and sweeps every other feeling before it. He runs and falls on the neck of his son, and again and again, with loving rapture, kisses him! And such an One as this is that Heavenly Father whose sons we are!
6. We may, perhaps, wish that the story had gone no further, and that nothing had been added to detract from the perfect beauty of the picture of the penitent prodigal. But a true painting of the facts of life required the added figure of the elder brother. He stands before us, in these closing verses of the parable, drawn by a master hand. See him returning home after a day of honest toil on his father's estate. Hear him ask the servants what mean the unusual sounds of music and dancing that greet his ears. Behold him, too, as in tones of virtuous in-dignation he says to his father: " Lo! these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends." Hear him yet further, as he contemptuously alludes to the high honor paid to a disobedient and worthless fellow who deserved a flogging rather than a feast!
7. Do any of us sympathize with this elder brother, and think that he had good reasons for complaining? We can do this only by forgetting what it is to be a Son and a Brother. Had not this man enjoyed the great blessing of being with his father, partaking of every joy of the home, and daily loaded with its benefits? Was it acting the part of a true son to refuse to enter into the happiness which the father felt at the restoration of his boy who had been "lost"? How, indeed, could he better show a filial spirit than by owning this penitent prodigal, and by making merry with the rest at the reconciliation feast? More than this. That prodigal is his brother. He has forsaken the evil ways in which he had strayed. He has come home. It is the brother's duty, no less than the father's, to give him a loving welcome, to forgive the past and help to make a better future.
8. This lesson of the last part of the parable may, after all, be the very one which most of us need to learn. Few of us have probably ever sinned as grievously as did the prodigal, and have not, therefore, needed the same for-giveness. But how often we have been un-loving and un-brotherly toward our frail and erring fellow men! How envious we have been whenever some unexpected blessing fell to their lot! How harshly and in what a cen-sorious spirit we have condemned them for sins that we ourselves have never been tempted to commit! How much more we must grow into our Father's image before we can dis-charge aright the simplest duties of mercy and kindness to those who are our brethren.

GOLDEN SAYINGS
The best name by which we can think of God is Father. It is a loving, deep, sweet, heart touching name. — MARTIN LUTHER.

The image of God is the pattern of your life, the standard of your duty. — PHILLIPS BROOKS.

Son and Brother.
I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.
WHITTIER.

Day and night, going out and coming in, say to yourselves, "I am with God, my Father, and God, my Father, is with me." — CHARLES KINGSLEY.

The universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, by nature endeared to each other. — EPICTETUS.

Infinite is the help man can yield to man. — CARLYLE.

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love. — ROMANS xii. 10.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER PUPILS.
1. Relate the first part of the parable. Verses 11-16.
2. What kinds of people are like this younger son? Note on ver. II.
3. How much was a younger son's "por-tion " among the Jews ? Note on ver. 12.
4. How did this son get his portion?
5. What did the Jews think of people who had to "feed swine”? Note on ver. 15.
6. Explain ver. 16.    Note.
7. Relate the second part of the parable. Verses 17-24.
8. What words of ver. 19 did the prodigal omit to say when he came to his father? See ver. 21.
9. Why did he not say them? Note on ver. 19.
10. What did the "robe," the "ring," and the " shoes " signify? Note on ver. 22.
11. What are we to understand by the words, " was dead and is alive again “?    Note on ver. 24.
12. Relate the third part of the parable. Verses 25-32.
13. In what kind of a tone did the elder brother say, "This son of thine “? Note on ver. 30.
14. What kinds of people are like this elder brother? Note on ver. n.
15. What do you think of his conduct?
16. What lesson is taught us in this last part of the parable?
17. What is the teaching of the first part of the parable?
18. How are we to understand the words, "he came to himself," in ver. 17?
19. What may we learn from this parable about the " kingdom of God " and the law of that kingdom?

QUESTIONS FOR OLDER PUPILS.
1. What is the keynote to all the teachings of Jesus?
2. What does the parable of the Prodigal Son teach us about the " kingdom of God " and the law of that kingdom?
3. Give, in your own words, the substance of this parable.
4. To which class of the parables of Jesus does this story belong, and what is its central teaching? Introductory note.
5. Whom in general and what two classes |of men in particular are typified by the " two pons"? Note on ver. IT.
6. Explain ver. 12.    Note.
7. Explain ver. 16.    Note.
8. In comparing ver. 19 with 21, what omis-sion do you note, and what does this omission signify?   Note on ver. 19.
9. Explain the phrase "was dead" etc., in ver. 24. Note.
10. In ver. 30, how does the elder brother show his contempt for the prodigal?
11. What are the four scenes that are shown us in the prodigal’s career?
12. What first prompted him to rise and go to his father?
13.What are the two selves referred to in
14. How does St. Paul speak of the double self in man?   
15. How is a penitent's return to God re-lated to his coming back to his true self?  
16. What is the character of the father of the prodigal as shown in verses 20-24?  
17. How is the elder brother made to ap-pear in verses 25-30?  
18. On what grounds is his conduct to be blamed?   
19. How may we apply to ourselves the les-son of this closing portion of the parable?

POINTS FOR  FURTHER  STUDY.
(One or more of these may be assigned to the older pupils for a brief written report.)
I. Show how the "publicans " were like the prodigal son.   
2. Show how the " Pharisees " were 'like the elder brother.    
3. Use of the word " Father" in the Old Testament.  
4. The truth of God’s Fatherhood as a distinctive Christian teaching.

LESSON II
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
Luke x. 25-37

GOLDEN TEXT—Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. — Luke x. 27

THE MEANING

Verse 25. "A certain lawyer" — that is, a Rabbi or teacher of the Jewish religion. As Jesus was also a teacher we have here a meeting between two Rabbis or Masters. "Tempted him," — that is, tested him by his question, tried to find out just what Jesus would say about this matter. " What shall I do" etc. The " lawyer's " question meant: What shall one do to be a saint? He asked how to get " eternal life," as people sometimes speak of " getting religion." He did not know that eternal life is not a re-ward of merit, but is the possession of those who live under the law of love. " He who loveth is born of God," and has the "eternal life "of God abiding in him.
Verse 27. These two " laws " are given in Deut. vi. 5 and Lev. xix. 18.
Verse 29. " Wishing to justify himself, " — that is, he wished to show that the matter was not quite so easily settled as the answer of Jesus seemed to imply. He wanted to know more of the mind of this Teacher of Nazareth concerning the great question of love to one's neighbor.
Verse 30. " Went down" The journey was literally down hill; but whoever went in any direction from Jerusalem, the capital city, was said to go down. " Jericho." One of the oldest cities of Palestine, a " city of palms," lying in a fertile plain and once very rich. Read about it in any Bible dictionary. See also Joshua iii. 14-16, Matt. xx. 29, and Mark x. 46. It was twenty-one miles from Jerusalem. " Fell among robbers." The ancient name of this dreary road among the Judean hills, the "Path of blood" shows how dangerous it had always been considered.
Verses 31, 32. "Priest. . . Levite." These men were coming down from the " Holy City," where they had been engaged in their religious duties at the Temple, offering the sacrifices, burning the incense, etc. The " Levites " were the assistants of the " Priests."
Verse 33. "Samaritan." Though the Sa-maritans lived in the very midst of the Jewish people, they hated and ill-treated the Jews; and, in their turn, the Jews hated them and would have no dealings with them. (John iv. 9.) In their professed religious belief the Sa-maritans were farther from the truth than the Priests and Levites. But goodness of heart is often met with where the creed or belief of the head is wrong. (Read Matt. vii. 21.)
Verse 34. " Oil and wine." In the East a common dressing for wounds was made of wine and oil, and travelers usually carried these articles for this purpose.
Verse 35. " Two fence," — that is, two de-narii, equal to thirty-four cents, a sum that was then two days' wages of a laborer.
Verse 36. " Was neighbor," — that is, showed himself a neighbor, became a neighbor by doing a neighborly deed. The "lawyer" asked (ver. 29), " Who is neighbor to me?” Jesus answers his question and more; for he shows him to whom he is a neighbor. The par-able teaches two great lessons. First, it shows us what it is to be a neighbor, — namely, to help promptly and thoroughly anyone whom we find in need. Secondly, it answers the question, Who is the neighbor? — namely, any one whom we can help, whoever he may be.

THE TEACHING

1. THE story is told of the famous Scotch minister, Samuel Rutherford, that once when he was catechizing his children and servants, a stranger knocked at the door of the manse and begged shelter for the night. The minister received him kindly, and asked him to take part in their religious exercises. In the course of the lesson the question came to the stranger, "How many commandments are there?” He answered, " Eleven." " Eleven? " ex-claimed the good parson. " I am surprised that a person of your age and appearance should not know better. What do you mean? " The stranger answered: " A new command-ment I give unto you, that ye love one another." John xiii. 34.)
2. Why did Jesus call this a new commandment? He refers the " lawyer who tempted " to the old law that said: " Thou shalt thy neighbor as thyself," and he added: ' This do and thou shalt live," — that is, shalt inherit " eternal life." The " new commandment" is that we are to love one another as members of one divine family. In such a family love is the
rule for all to follow, — a love that is to be shown toward every "neighbor," — every one with whorn we are brought into contact, " every one who is thrown across our path by the changes and chances of life." The newness of the commandment of Jesus is seen first in the supreme and controlling place which it gives to the force of human affections, " the enthusiasm for the good of others;" and secondly, in the il-lustration which the giver of the rule has fur-nished of its deep meaning and wide application. Jesus was himself the Good Samaritan before he told the Good Samaritan's story.
3. Look, now, at some of the details of the arable. The story is admirably constructed, like a perfect picture painted by a skilful ar-tist. " The place, the persons, and the moral all fit into each other." The place is a rugged pass between Jerusalem and Jericho. Over the narrow, rocky road priests would often journey, going from the " holy city " to Jericho, a " city of priests." Over the same rough road Samari-tans would also often go, travelling to Jerusalem or returning thence on errands of business. Two such priests and one such Samaritan are brought before us in the parable. The fourth character in the drama is an unknown man whom the thieves that frequent this " Bloody Way " have robbed of purse and clothes; and wounding him as he struggles to defend him-self, have heartlessly left him there to die. Observe, next, how true to life is the little word-picture of the three men who chanced to find the wounded traveler. Of one of them, a priest of the religion of Jehovah, the record simply is: " He came, he saw, and he passed by on the other side." Of the second, a Levite, one of those priests of the Temple to whom ministries of mercy specially belonged, it could only be said, " He came, he saw, he paused to look; and then, like the other, he passed the sufferer by."
4. Does such conduct seem unnatural, in-human? It would indeed today in any Chris-tian land be counted so should any one in selfish cruelty neglect to succor the physically dis-tressed, or fail to relieve those who are suffer-ing from bodily pain. Herein is shown the immense advance which charity has made since Christendom began to be. But stop a moment. Are there none today " who pass by need without giving pity time to rise in the bosom"? Is there nothing to justify the poet's sad refrain —
"Alas! for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the sun " ?
Let the wounded man in that Syrian moun-tain-pass stand for all sorts and conditions of human want, and are there not multitudes who still see, perhaps even pause to look, and yet pass by on the other side? There are wounds of the heart, griefs of the soul, of which we have ample knowledge, and yet fail to pour upon them the oil and wine of our helpful sympathy and our healing love. We come across our wounded " neighbors," not in the far-off dan-gerous places of human life, but in our common daily walks. We jostle them on the crowded thoroughfare. They dwell on our street; they go to our church; sometimes they sit at table with us beneath the same home-roof. Yet how often we pass them by! How many things we leave undone, the doing of which would have comforted sad souls and bound up bleeding hearts! When we refrain from speaking the soothing or the healing word, when we are so wrapped up in self that we neglect to notice the unhappiness we might remove, when our pride or our indolence keeps us from doing any act of kindness that is in our power to do, we are like the priest and the Levite, — as heartless, as unchristlike, as they.
5. See, now, in the action of the Good Samari-tan, the man who was merciful to him that fell among the thieves, an example of " the genius of, true love." No care for self comes between his pity and the sufferer's need. He is not think-ing, as we 'may imagine the priest and Levite to have thought: " How very common these rob-beries are getting to be ! One ought of course to help, yet we cannot be expected to look after every unfortunate traveler whom we chance to come upon. We need to be very careful, or these bold robbers will make us suffer." This Samaritan trader has too much real goodness of heart to stop to find excuses for not doing this nearest duty. So he sets about the task of mercy " with promptitude, thoroughness, self-denial, and unwearying patience; and also with tact, doing all things in their proper order and in the best and most considerate way, — first, stanching the wounds with wine and oil, then carrying the patient to an inn where he can stay till he recovers, and making himself answerable for all charges incurred during con-valescence." We are thus taught that true brotherly love is something deeper than senti-mental feeling, something stronger than a mere impulse of kindness. The Samaritan acts like one who is in the habit of doing deeds of mercy. Without fuss or parade, in a quiet, business-like way, he gives effective relief. His is
"... the thoughtful love
Through constant watching wise."

He treats this "neighbor" like a brother, and into his dealings with a suffering Jew, a man of another faith, one of a proud people who hated him, carries something of the loving thoughtfulness that marks the mutual service of members of the same family.
6. This beautiful teaching of the parable which Jesus told the Jewish lawyer gains a hundredfold when we read it in the light of his own example. See in how many ways this loving thoughtfulness and this thoughtful love are illustrated in the life of this Teacher, whose merciful kindnesses gave him the title of the Physician of souls. The only spiritual wounds he ever cauterizes with the invective of a righteous indignation are those of self-righteousness and Pharisaic pride,— wounds that a milder treat-ment never heals. Upon all other wounds of human souls he pours the wine and oil of sym-pathy and a loving tact. In Simon's house he accepts the gift of precious ointment which a poor, sinful, yet penitent woman pours upon his feet, and gently sends her away with the kind words : " Thy faith hath saved thee : go in peace; " while with an apt illustration from an improvised parable he holds before his aston-ished host a picture of Pharisaic hardness, and bidding him look first on this picture and then .on that, pours upon his wound truth's healing wine. Again, to the despised Zaccheus he gives the approving smile and the gracious word that shows him that lie has faith in him however the world may judge, and thus calls forth from beneath this injured character the healthy growth of the publican's better nature. And when in the peaceful house at Bethany Mary is blamed by her more active sister because she does less than her share of the work of the house, Jesus, in a tone of tenderness which can excite no jealousy, gives to Mary her meed of praise, while with equal tenderness he reproves the over-anxious spirit which Martha has displayed.

GOLDEN   SAYINGS
Love is the fulfilling of the  law. — ROM. i;i. 10.
Love is the piety of the affections. — THEO-DORE PARKER

Love took up the harp of Life and smote on
all the chords with might; note the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed
in music out of sight. TENNYSON.

Beloved let us love one another. — i JOHN iv. 7.

I am a man ; I count nothing human foreign to me. — TERENCE.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER PUPILS

1. Repeat the Golden Text.
2. In what Gospel are these words found?
3.    Who says them?
4.    How did he come to say them?
5.    What question had been asked of him before?    Ver. 25.
6.    In what other part of the Bible are the words of the Golden Text?   Note on ver. 27.
7.    Tell something of this meeting between Jesus and the " lawyer."    Note on ver. 25.
8.    What did Jesus say in ver. 28 ? 5 9.    What did the lawyer do next?     Ver. 29, Bd note.
10.    Where was Jerusalem?
11.    How far off was Jericho from Jerusalem?
12.   Why is it said that the man " went down to Jericho “?    Note on ver. 30.
13.   Tell something about Jericho, and the road over which this traveler went.    Same note.
14. What happened to the traveler?
15.   Who were the two men that first came along where the traveler lay ?
16.   Tell something about them and what they did. Verses 31, 32, note and § 3.
17.    Who was the third man that came along? Ver. 33.
18.    Tell something about him and tell what he did. Verses 33-35, and note on ver. 33.
19.    Why did he pour in "oil and wine”? Note on ver. 34.
20.    How much were " two pence “? Note on ver. 35. c
21.    Did Jesus answer by this story the ex-act question which the lawyer put to him in ver. 29? Note on ver. 36.
22.    What two great lessons does the para-ble teach? Same note.
23.    Tell the story given in § I.
24.    In what way do you think the com-mandment to " love one another " was new?
25.    Read § 6 and then tell one of the events in which Jesus is shown to have been like the " Good .Samaritan."
26. How can you " do likewise”? Read §4.

QUESTIONS FOR OLDER PUPILS

I.     Repeat the words of Jesus given in John xii. 34.
2.    Tell the story in § i.
3.    Show how the commandment to " love [ another " is new.    § 2.
4.    Tell the parable of the Good Samaritan as far as ver. 33.
5.    Describe the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, its length, character, etc. See notes.
6.    Tell something about Jericho.    Notes.
7.    How did it happen that the priest and the Levite were journeying that way?
8.    How do you think their conduct in passing by the wounded traveler would have been regarded by their countrymen generally?
9.    What excuses might they themselves have given for it? § 5.
10.    Tell the rest of the parable. Verses 33-37.
11.    Describe the position of Samaria.
12.    Tell something about the Samaritans and their relations with the Jews.
13.    How does the merciful act of this "Good Samaritan" illustrate the "genius of true love”? § 5.
14.    In Matthew, chapter 23, how does Jesus "cauterize the spiritual wounds " of self-righteousness and Pharisaism?
15.    How does he treat other spiritual wounds in Simon's house, — in the meeting with Zaccheus, — at the home in Bethany? § 6.
16.    Is the poet's complaint, " Alas! for the rarity of Christian charity under the sun," justified by the facts of our modern life ? § 4.
17.    When do we act in the spirit of the priest and Levite? § 4.
18.    What sort of a meeting was it at which this parable was told? Note on ver. 25.
19.    Describe the character of the " lawyer" and the purpose of his questions.
20.    Show the indirect way in which Jesus replied to the lawyer's second question.
21.    What are the two great lessons that this parable makes clear? Note on 36.
22.    Show how our " sins of omission " re-veal an unbrotherly spirit.
23. How may we, today, obey the com-mand, " go and do likewise “?

POINTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. Samaria and the Samaritans in the time of Christ.  
2. The " priest" as he appears in the Old Testament and in the New.  
3. Char-ity among the ancient Jews.  
4. Limits of the exercise of love towards our " neighbor."

LESSON III
THE GOLDEN RULE OF JUSTICE
Matt. vii. 7-12

GOLDEN  TEXT. — Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. — Matt. vii. 12

THE    MEANING

Verses 7,8.  "Ask"'etc.   This passage, from verse 7 to verse 12, seems not to be connected either with what goes before or with what fol-lows it, yet there is a real connection.   Jesus has been telling men what their duties to others are.   But in these verses he bids them look up that they may get strength to lift others up. The work is hard, but by prayer for the things that are "good," wisdom and courage will be gained.     "Seek . . . knock"—each   of   the three words  that mean to pray is stronger than the one before it.    We are, therefore, to be earnest and persevering in our prayers. We shall receive and find, and it shall be opened unto us, provided that we ask in faith and with a good conscience for the things that are right and that are " as God wills."   All these conditions are implied in true prayer, and it is to such prayer that Jesus refers.

Verses 9, 10. A "cake" or "roll" of bread looks as much like a stone as a fish looks like a snake. Fish and bread were the staple arti-cles of food with the peasants of Galilee.

Verse 11.    " Being evil" that is, in compari-son with God.    The fact that men do wrong is here recognized; but coupled with this is the emphatic statement that there is in man's nature an element of pure affection which will  not -suffer him to practise the gross deception that ;is  here  mentioned.    Men are too good, by nature, Jesus says, to do such a mean thing ; and their fatherhood, dimmed though it is by human imperfection, is yet "a fit parable of the Fatherhood of God."

Verse 12. This verse, which contains the Golden Rule, begins with a " therefore." Jesus has just taught these Galilean fisher-folk that God is infinitely more loving than any one of them, though no one of them, however con-scious of evil he might be, would be so heart-less as to give his child a stone for bread or a serpent for a fish. Therefore, he now adds, because you are the favored children of such a Father you ought to do for your brethren whatsoever things you would that they should do for you.
" The Law and the Prophets." This means not merely the Mosaic law in its literal com-mands, but that old law as its spirit was de-veloped and applied by the Hebrew prophets. The great central teaching of the higher prophets was that right conduct is vastly more important than formal worship. The " testi-monies" of righteousness they declared to be " the very joy of the heart," the inspiration of the life. In the light of their grand sayings, love to one's neighbor begins to take on the form of active goodness. It is "mercy and not sacrifice," helpfulness and not ceremonial.

THE   TEACHING

1.  THIS Golden  Rule of  Jesus has well been described as " the Christian form of the ethhical law, Be just."    But in what sense,  it will be asked, is this called a Christian rule,
since its substance is found in the sayings of other teachers besides Jesus ? To answer this question, let us look at some of these sayings. One of them comes to us from the Talmud (the book that contains the Hebrew laws, tra-ditions, and explanations), in a beautiful story that is told about Rabbi Hillel. "A certain heathen, who probably wished to throw ridi-cule upon the numerous religious institutions and practices of the Jews, had gone to Sham-mai, the head of the opposite school to Hillel's, and told him that he wished to become a Jew, and desired to receive instruction from him, but only on condition that the whole religious doctrine of the Jews should be imparted to him while he could stand upon one leg! Shammai chased him from his door indig-nantly. The heathen was well enough pleased by this result, and went on to Hillel, expecting to make fun of him in the same way. ' Good, my son I' answered the Rabbi gently, ' make ready and attend: What is hateful to thee do not to another. This is the whole law; all else is only its explanation.' "

2. This famous saying of the Jewish Rabbi differs from the teaching of Jesus in certain important respects. In the first place, it is a negative, not a positive, command, a prohibi-tion, not a precept. It tells us that we are to abstain from doing to others such things as we would dislike to have them do to us. This is plainly a different matter from putting ourselves, so far as we can, in another's place, Bad lavishing upon him the good that we ourselves desire. Besides, a man may be so much of an egotist, may feel so self-sufficient, as to make few claims upon others, and to be well satisfied if in general he is let alone. Such egotism, it is evident, would never be over-come by Hillel's prohibition. Only as a man recognizes the constraining and compelling force of brotherly love will he be in any large or noble way just towards his fellow men.

3. We may advance even beyond this. The Golden Rule sums up the whole duty of man to his fellow-men; but the commentary on the rule and the quickening power that nourishes obedience thereto, is the life of him who came to seek the lost, to go after the wanderer, to minister to others, even at the dear sacrifice of his own life, and whose blessed activities are epitomized in the brief saying: " Who went about doing good." Rightly understood and fully comprehended, this Rule of Justice which Jesus gave the world rises far above all similar sayings by heathen or " ethnic" teachers, such, for example, as that of the Greek Isocrates: " What stirs your anger when done to you by others, that do not to others;" or that of the Chinese sage, Confu-cius: " What you do not want done to your-self, do not to others.”
4. Let us now proceed to analyze a little this Golden Rule, as a practical rule of justice. When we are commanded to do unto others as-we would that they should do to us, it is assumed that we wish others to do to us that which it is right for us to receive. A child may wish to have from his father that which it is not best for him to have. In this case the child has a right to share his father's experience and wisdom, as well as his affection. Fourteen-year-old Jane Carter was told by her father that she might have her choice between a pony and another year's schooling. Jane chose the pony, but in giving it to her the father did not do justly. He did not put himself in her place; he only yielded his better judgment to her foolish wish. " A sensible father will con-sider how his children's wishes would be modi-fied and corrected if the children had a larger knowledge and a larger experience of human life."

5. Again: In trying to follow this precept of Jesus, we must rule out of the " whatsoever " everything that is morally wrong, everything, also, that would be harmful to society. No thief wants to be arrested or imprisoned, but this is no reason why we should not have a thief arrested. Unworthy persons who beg of us a recommendation of character wish us to do that which is sure to work injury to those who may be influenced by our careless and "good-natured" act. We do not really put ourselves in the place of another person unless we think of all the relations in which that person stands to the community of which he is a member.

6. The practical working of the Golden Rule is in the direction of the greatest possible amount of well-doing. It bids us to do, and not to leave undone, the things we would that others.should do to us. If it were generally obeyed, we should see people more careful about paying their bills as these bills become due, so as not to worry those whom they owe or cause them distress. We should also be kept from severe judgments and harsh censures of our fellow-men. And we should feel more keenly the obligation to be just before being generous; or rather, we should learn so to tem-per our generosity with justice that we should see how much nobler it is to be really and habitually just towards others than to indulge in those occasional spasms of generous action which often in the long run do more harm than good.

7. To illustrate: Suppose, scholars, a beg-gar were to come to your house with a piteous tale of poverty and distress. Moved by his appeals, you give him all the money you hap-pen to have in your pocket, thinking, no doubt, that you are doing an act that is merciful and kind. But you afterward learn that the beggar was an impostor; that he was neither poor nor suffering; and that by being generous to him in such a hasty and thoughtless way, you were actually encouraging bad men to impose . on kind people and to get their living by telling lies.

But now suppose a very different case. You are planning to give a little party to some of your schoolmates. "Are you not going to invite John Clark? " asks sister Grace. " No,”, you reply, " I don't see why I should ask John. He isn't in our set, you know, and I am sure some of the1 boys and girls I want to have wouldn't care to meet him." "But," urges the thoughtful Grace, "you ought to remember how kind John was to you when you were ill so long with the fever; how many times he came and read to you, and brought you pictures and flowers. Besides, John has but few social pleasures, and it would be kind in you to ask him to your party. You really owe this to your schoolmate; and were you to do for him what you would wish him to do for you if he were in your place, you would not only ask him to come, but you would do all in your power to make him enjoy himself with the rest." If this were said to you, would you not see that it is sometimes much harder to be truly just and kind than to give way to a momentary im-pulse of pity?

8. Finally, through the Golden Rule of Jesus there shines his teaching of the august great-ness of every human being. "We wrong men because we have not sufficient reverence for them." But man, as Jesus reveals him, in his sonship to the Heavenly Father, is worthy of our reverence and so of our constant and long-suffering Jove. In every wreck of humanity we yet behold the ideal man. No layers of sin are thick enough to wholly hide the image divine. No hatred, malice, or uncharitableness can altogether disarm our love. Soldiers of the cross, carrying the strong weapons of the Spirit, we can follow our leader and every-where overcome Evil with Good.

GOLDEN   SAYINGS.
" I expect," said Socrates, " to suffer a thou-sand ills; but no ill is so great as to do unjustly."

How much easier it is to be generous than just 1 Men are sometimes bountiful who are not honest. — JUNIUS

There is nothing that is so just as love.-BEECHER

Justice, though not so pleasant, should be always a prior duty to generosity. — ROWLAND HILL

Perfect justice is the fruit of a profound of the greatness and sanctity of human nature. — R. W. DALE.

The path of the just is as the shining light shineth more and more unto the perfect \ — PROVERBS iv. 18.

Some persons delight more to give presents than to pay debts. — SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

A just man does justice to every man and to every thing; and then he knows there is a debt of mercy and compassion due to the in-firmities of man's nature that is to be paid.— JEREMY TAYLOR.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER PUPILS

1.:   Repeat the Golden Rule.
2.   In what sermon of Jesus is it found?
3.  What is that sermon about? ANS. : The Kingdom of God.
4. Who is the king in this kingdom, and who are his subjects ? See § 2 in Lesson I.

5.    In verses 7-11 of this lesson is it about the king or his subjects that Jesus speaks?

6.    What is meant by asking things of this king, by seeking his blessings, and by knocking at his door?

7.    What is it to pray to God?

8.    How and for what must we pray if we want to get an answer to our prayers? The last part of the note on verses 7, 8.

9. What do we learn from verses 9 and 10 was the common food of the people to whom Jesus was talking?

10. What does Jesus say that a parent would not do to his child? Verses 9, 10.

11.   When he says that men, though they are "evil," will yet do good deeds, what does he teach about man's nature? Note on ver. II.

12. In this same verse what does he teach about God's nature?

13. Why does ver. 12 begin with a" there-fore”? Note.

14. What is meant by the "law and the prophets" in ver. 12? Note.

15. Tell the story that is given in § I.

16.  Tell something about the difference between what Hillel said and the Golden Rule that Jesus taught.

17.  How did Jesus illustrate the Golden Rule in his own life? § 3.

18.    Tell the story about Jane Carter.   § 4.

19.  Did her father really obey the Golden Rule? Why not?

20.    Tell the two " supposes " in § 7.

20.  What is a good rule about being just and being generous?

QUESTIONS FOR OLDER PUPILS

1. What is taught about prayer in verses 7,8?

2. Yet what kind of prayer are we taught Matt. xxi. 22 and in James i. 6 is answered? I John iii. 22 ?

3. What petition of the "Lord's Prayer" implied in all true prayer?

4.    What is the meaning of verses 9, 10?

5. What sort of a father would it be that uld deceive a child in the way here spoken of?

6. In ver. 11 is the depravity or the goodness of human nature taught?

7- What is the force of the " therefore " in ver. 12? Note.

8.What is meant by the "law and the prophets " in this verse? Note.

9. What may the Golden Rule be called? § i.

10. What saying of the Talmud resembles the Golden Rule ? "§ I.

11.    What is the Talmud?    § I.

12. Tell the story about Rabbi Hillel.   § i.

13.   How does the Golden Rule differ from the sayings of Hillel (§ 2), and of Isocrates and Confucius (§ 3) ?

14. How is the life of Jesus a commentary on this Rule,? ,.§.3.

15. Are we helped in our endeavors after holiness more by the teachings or by the life of Jesus?

16. Under what conditions are we to practice the Golden Rule? §§ 4, 5.

17. What happy results would follow if this rule were generally obeyed? § 6.

18. Show by the instances supposed in § 7 that it is sometimes harder to be just than to be generous.

19. What great truth concerning human nature is implied in the Golden Rule? § 8.

21. Show how faith in this truth would pre* vent men from wronging one another.

POINTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. Some of the necessary limitations of the Golden Rule.
2. The Golden Rule as a meas-ure of the rights and claims of others.
3. The Golden Rule in business.
4. The Golden Rule among nations. [Read chapters n, 12, 18, and 19 of the " Citizen and Neighbor," by Charles F. Dole.]

LESSON  IV
JUDGING  OTHERS

GOLDEN TEXT — Judge not, that ye be not judged. — MATT. vii. i.
MATTHEW vii. 1-6.   (Mark iv. 24 and Luke vi. 37, 38, are not strictly parallel passages. See note below on verse 2.)

THE   MEANING

Verse i. "Judge not." That is, do not set yourselves up as judges of other men's failings. Do not get into the habit of criticizing and blaming the conduct of others." Be not judged," that is, by Him who is the righteous Judge of all men. Compare chap. v. 7, and vi. 15.

Verse 2. "Measure." The Greek word is metron, from which comes metre. It means here so much as. "Mete" an old English word meaning to deal out. The saying in this verse is given in Mark iv. 24, where it is applied to teaching and hearing; and again in Luke vi. 37, where the general meaning is the same as in Matthew, — but the words, as there given, appear to have been used on a different occasion. A truth, like a lamp, may be turned so as to shine on different objects.

Verse 3. "Mote." Not a speck, but a splin-ter. A " beam" is a large piece of timber. The language is highly figurative — an example of hyperbole. A literal " beam " in the eye is an impossibility. The meaning is that he who censures others may have faults of his own that are as much greater as a beam of wood is larger than a shaving. The illustration of the mote and beam occurs in an old Jewish prov-erb; but Jesus makes a wholly different use of it in his teaching.

Verse 5. "Hypocrite" Literally an actor, one who plays a part. Many people in the time of Jesus merely acted religion. They "made believe " that they were religious. This large class of hypocrites, or pious pretenders, Jesus had in mind when he warned his disci-ples against the judging spirit. Read what he says about these people in Matt, xxiii. 25-28.

THE TEACHING

1. WHEN we are told not to judge others, it is not meant that we should never form or ex-press an opinion about their conduct. Men are known by their actions, as a tree is known by its fruits. They show what they are by what they do. If we formed no opinion about others we should not know whom to make our friends, or whom to avoid, or how to honor those to whom honor is due.

2. It is right, too, that we should praise a good deed and censure a bad one. Things should be called by their true names. A man who steals is a thief, whether he picks my pocket, or by becoming a bank defaulter takes from me the money I had put into his keeping.
That boy is a coward who is afraid of being laughed at for doing right, as much as is an-other boy, who is afraid to test his strength with his mates on the playground.

3. Among boys and girls at school, as well as in the larger world of men and women, there is a "public opinion " which greatly influences conduct. It is important that this public opin-ion should be a right opinion, and every one should help to make it such by commending what is good, and condemning what is evil. But here is a danger against which we need to be warned.

4. In forming and expressing opinions of the conduct and character of others, we are in
danger of acquiring the habit of fault-finding. Nothing is more common, but hardly anything more harmful, than setting one's self up as judge over everybody else, and getting into a way of blaming other people. The judging spirit is a spirit of evil and always mischief. It breeds conceit, and destroys generosity. It is a hard, unfriendly, unloving spirit. It hinders our own growth in character as much as it lessens the happiness of others.

5. We are seldom in the position to judge fitly. We estimate by appearances, but ap-es often mislead. The surface hides what is within, or we base our judgment on reports; yet there is nothing so untrustworthy |as rumor, — nothing so distorted as what "they say.” 'Then, too, our common judgments of others take no note of circumstances. We do not stop to think what we might have been and have done, had we been in another's place. Indeed, those who are quick to blame others rarely stop to consider anything. Having set themselves up as judges, they think they must have arc opinion about everybody and every-thing Yet how little they may actually know of like persons or the actions that they condemn. How unjust not to put into the op-posite scale the good qualities of those whom they censure! Above all, how contemptible to forget our own weaknesses and our proneness to do evil!

6. This habit of criticizing and censuring others is a common failing with young people. They judge thoughtlessly and with severity because experience has not yet taught them to be charitable. They also make the mistake of sampling conduct, —judging it by a single act, as we judge the quality of a whole piece of cloth by examining a small fragment. But human nature is not "all of one piece." There are flaws in the best characters, and good quali-ties in the worst. The base and the noble, the selfish and the generous are strangely mixed. All have their besetting faults. Yet when we stop to think of our own character, we see how unjust it would be for others to judge us by our faults alone. Equally unfair and ungenerous is it for us to take the faults of another as a sample of the whole man.

7. A good story, showing how wrong it is to judge another person when we do not know all the circumstances, is told in Miss Foster's " Watch-words for Little Soldiers." The pupils at a girls' school judge one of their number to be very "mean," because she gives nothing towards a Christmas present for the teacher. What the reason was why Ruth did not give, they neither knew nor took the trouble to in-quire. But Ruth had long been earning and saving, so that at Christmas time she might surprise with her gifts some poor children of her acquaintance. When the school had their Christmas party, Ruth, who went with the rest, felt sad, not only because she had been called mean, but also because she feared that her teacher, whom she loved, might misjudge her. The teacher, however, had learned by accident of the good and kind deed that Ruth had done, and openly praised her for it before the other girls, who had judged her so harshly and sg unjustly. " Be kind and charitable," she added, to enforce the lesson she would teach. " Wait till you know all. Take care lest you cause pain by your hasty words. We cannot tell the motives of others' actions, and for that reason our Master bade us 'judge not.' "

8. Another important truth that we may learn from the illustration of the " mote and the beam" is that our harsh judgments of others often veil a secret leaning to the very faults that we condemn. The splinter and the beam are pieces of the same wood " Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?” An English poet speaks of men who try to make up for indulging in sins they are inclined to, by condemning those "they have no mind to." But we oftener meet with those who try to cover up their own secret inclination to some vice by complaining loudly of others for practicing the same vice. " I have noticed," observes one writer, " that the sins to which men are specially sensitive in others, are precisely the sins to which they are themselves most inclined. It is the vain man" who is quickest to discover vanity in others. In the crowd, it is the man that pushes hardest who thinks that everybody is pushing him." In our civil war men whose hearts were full of the spirit of treason boasted loudly of their loyalty, and denounced other men as traitors. Among the ancient Romans the rebellious Gracchi complained against sedition, and the lax Clodius blamed the loose conduct of others. In a wholly different spirit John Newton the preacher said of a man whom he saw taken to the gallows: " There goes John Newton, but for the grace of God." Here we see a manly acknowledgment of hidden faults of temper which under great provocation might have prompted a deed of murder. If we are humbly conscious of our own weaknesses, we shall judge others with a charitable judgment, ex-tenuating no open sin, yet setting nothing down in malice. We shall be as chivalric as the Knights of the Round Table, who took the solemn vow —
" to speak no slander, No, nor listen to it."

 9. The punishment of the judging spirit is that he who indulges it will be judged. There is One who sees our inmost hearts, and knows us altogether. We cannot escape God's judg-ment. It is a divine law, that when in an un-charitable spirit and an unloving temper we harshly judge others, we expose ourselves to a just retribution. Only the merciful obtain the divine mercy; and if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Father forgive our trespasses. God will not judge in the same way that we judge others; but His judgment will be severe because it will be a righteous judgment.

10. To save ourselves from that judgment and to be cured of the evil habit of censorious-ness, we must know ourselves. A keen sense of our own failings will make us charitable towards others. Our great want is, not to " see ourselves as others see us," — unless, indeed, those " others " look at us with eyes of love and sympathy, — but what we most need is to know ourselves as we really are. Such self-knowledge comes from conscientious and pray-erful self-searching; and it would be well for us all, old and young, if we took more time than we do for thorough self-examination. Per-haps we should then find out that the faults which in others we blame as splinters are already beams in ourselves.

11. Finally, we may all give heed to these wise words of an English preacher : " Keep your hearts so full of the Spirit of God, of love, hope, faith, and kindred activity that you will be freed by necessity from the spirit of judg-ment and contempt. Keep no vacant cham-bers, empty of better things, for such evil spirits to flock to for their revels. This is the great salvation, — to pursue the Good so purely that Evil loses its interest for us."

GOLDEN   SAYINGS

Upbraid no man's weakness to him to dis-comfort him ; neither report it to disparage him, nor delight to remember it to lessen him, or to set thyself above him. — JEREMY TAYLOR.

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. — SHAKSPEARE, Hamlet, act i., scene 3.

Love is not provoked, taketh not account of evil, rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, bear-eth all things, bclieveth all things, hopeth all things. — ST. PAUL, i Cor. xiii. 5-7.

It is not good to speak evil of all whom we know bad ; it is worse to judge evil of any who may prove good. To speak ill upon knowledge shows a want of charity; to speak ill upon sus-picion shows a want of honesty. — WARWICK.

How different from Christ's merciful dis-cernment would have been our clear, sharp, consistent judgments on Peter's denial, on Nicodemus's fear, on Martha's household mind ! —J. H. THOM.

A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind. — SHENSTONE.

He who is most charitable in his judgment is generally the least unjust. — SOUTHEY.

God's measure is the heart of the offender, — a balance which varies with every one of us, a balance so delicate that a tear cast in the other side may make the weight of error kick the beam.— LOWEI.L.

QUESTIONS   FOR   YOUNGER   PUPILS
1. What are we told in ver. I not to do?  
2. Tell the story about Ruth and her school-mates.    § 7.

3. Who will judge us if we judge others? See note on ver. i.

4. What does Jesus say in Matt. v. 7 and vi. 15?
        .
5. What is meant in ver. 2 by " measure “?

6. What is it to "mete "? See note on ver. 2.

7. What is a " mote “?   See note on ver. 3.

8. What is a " beam “?  See note on ver. 3.

9.  Can anybody really have a " beam " in his eye?

10.   What do ver. 3 and 4 mean?

11. What does the word "hypocrite" mean? See note on ver. 5.

12.   What does Jesus say in Matt, xxiii. 25-28 about hypocrites ?

13. Give examples of people who judge others for the very things that they do them-selves. § 8.

14. Give some reasons why we should not judge others. § 5.

15. Tell the story of John Newton, the preacher. § 8.

17. Recite one of the Golden Sayings.

QUESTIONS   FOR  OLDER   PUPILS
1. Against what sin are we warned in ver. i and 2?

2. Explain the saying about the " measure " as it occurs in Mark iv. 24 and Luke vi. 37.

3. Show how it is necessary at times to pass judgment on the deeds of others. §§ I, 2, and

4.   What is the danger in doing this ?

5. Give some reasons why we cannot, as a rule, judge rightly. § 5.

6. Explain what “sampling” conduct means. § 6.

7. Why is the man who has corrected his own faults better fitted to " judge " these faults in another than one who has not " taken the beam from his own eye “?

8. Give the example of a wrong judgment which is related in § 7.

9. What kind of faults are men most apt to blame ? § 8.

10. How did John Newton "judge" the murderer ? § 8.

11. What is a good remedy for curing the "judging spirit"? § 10.

12. How is this spirit punished if we do not overcome it ? § 9.

13.   How may we " know ourselves " ?   § 10.

14. What is the connection between " self-righteousness " and a censorious spirit ?

15. What class of religionists in the time of Jesus were specially self-righteous ?

16.   What did Jesus often call these people ?

17. What do you think of the "judgment" which he pronounces upon them in Matt, xxiii.?

18.   Give one or more of the Golden Sayings.

19. In what way did Jesus pass judgment on Peter? On Judas? On Martha? On Nicodemus? _______

POINTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. St. Paul's teaching in I Cor. xiii. 5-7.

2. The "make-believe" religion of the Phari-sees. See Matthew, chapter xxiii.

3. The judgment Jesus passed upon Peter.

4. Self-righteous people, and why they cannot judge others fairly.

LESSON V
AGAINST ANGER AND CONTEMPT
Matt. v. 21, 22.

GOLDEN  TEXT.—Whosoever is angry with his brother is In danger of the
judgment. — MATT. v. 22

THE   MEANING
Verse 21. " Ye have heard." It seems probable that Jesus had in mind some par-ticular discourse on the " Law " which one of the Scribes of that time had just been giving to the people.

" By them of old time" The true reading is given in the Revised Version: to them, etc. The meaning is, "of old, that is, for centu-ries, the people have been taught,' Thou shalt not kill,' etc." The command is of course taken from the Decalogue, Exod. xx. 13; but the sentence that follows, " And whosoever," etc., is what the Scribes or Rabbis added to the command to show that a murderer was liable to an external penalty. "In danger of the judgment" — that is, is liable to be tried by the local Jewish court. See § 2.

Verse 22. " / say unto you." Jesus opposes to the narrow interpretation given by the Scribes an unfolding of the deeper meaning which the old command implied. What we are most to dread, he teaches, is not the out-ward punishment of a crime, but the inward penalties which are sure to follow all sin-ful affections. " Angry with his brother." This word " brother" points to what has al-ready been explained in Lesson I., that the leading idea of Jesus is the grand doctrine of human brotherhood. (Read I John iii. 15.) The anger referred to is unloving and hostile anger, the angry feeling that swells so soon to
deep and settled hatred. The expression, "without a cause" is omitted in the Revised Version because it is not found in the best manuscripts. It certainly is not needed, since all unbrotherly anger is " without a cause," — is as senseless as it is wicked. "Shall be in danger of the judgment." The " judgment," or local Jewish court, did not punish angry per-sons. The meaning plainly is, that the man who cherishes feelings of hostile anger is as bad in reality — in the sight of God who sees the heart — as is the man who is said by the Scribes to be in danger of punishment at the hands of the local court. " Raca" a word of ridicule, meaning "empty pate," or "fool." " The council," — that is, the Sanhedrin. See § 2. • The meaning here is that bad as angry feelings are in themselves, they are worse when they are expressed in cutting language and biting sarcasm. "Fool!" a word of con-tempt meaning " Wicked one!" or " Wretch! " a stronger word of opprobrium than " Raca," — a word of insult intended to rankle in the heart. "Hell-fire." In the Revised Version this reads, " hell of fire," but in the Marginal Note we find the correct expression, "Gehenna of fire." (See last sections of §§ 2 and 3.) It is important that this phrase, " Gehenna of fire," should be correctly understood. There is no real difficulty in getting at its meaning. Gehenna, literally the valley of the children of Hinnom, was a deep, narrow glen to the south of Jerusalem, where in ancient times the idolatrous Jews had sacrificed their chil-dren by fire to the god Moloch. At a later time King Josiah, to express his abhorrence of the old idolatry, defiled the place with dead bodies, so that to have one's body buried there was to suffer a most hateful indignity. (Read Jer. vii. 22, 23.) Thus the valley came to be in reality a place of horrors. Even the fire that was kindled in it to consume the filth and the bones gave it an added terror. To be slain, and then have one's body thrown into this reeking and smoking valley, would be a punishment deserved only by the vilest of criminals. This extreme penalty, therefore, Jesus refers to as the symbol of a kind of spiritual punishment, severer in intensity than the punishments which were symbolized by the executioner's sword and by stoning to death. Neither in this passage nor in any one of the four other instances in which Jesus uses the word " Gehenna " is any countenance given to the doctrine that unending punishment awaits sinners in the future world.

THE   TEACHING
IN this extract from the Sermon on the Mount we have a comparison of the new Law of mercy and the old Law of threatening. " The old demanded obedience in outward action; the new was to permeate the thoughts. The old contained the rule of conduct; the new, the secret of obedience. The command,' Thou shalt not murder,' was henceforth extended to angry words and feelings of hatred." The whole passage well illustrates the fundamental principle of the teaching of Jesus, which is that religion is an inner life, an affection of the heart, a disposition of the soul.

2. But in order to understand the full force of what Jesus said, we must try to put our-selves in the place of his hearers. " Ye have heard," he says to them ; or, more exactly, " Ye heard," as if he had reference not to the usual expositions of the Mosaic law by the Scribes in the synagogues, but to some recent talk on the subject by one of the Rabbis. Against all such narrow interpretations of the Law, Jesus now sets forth the true nature of moral conduct. To illustrate this he re-fers to facts that were familiar to all who heard him. They knew that a man charged with the crime of murder was in danger of the " judgment," — that is, he would be tried before the local court of twenty-three elders, and if found guilty would be put to death by the sword. They knew, too, what the " Coun-cil" or the Sanhedrin was, — the Supreme Court of their nation that held its sessions in some room within the Temple at Jerusalem.

This court of seventy-one justices had juris-diction over other capital offences besides murder, and could condemn a criminal to be punished, not by the quick process of the sword, but by the slow and cruel method of stoning to death. And these Jewish hearers who were listening to Jesus also knew that there was one place which was more dreaded than the executioner's block or the fatal volley of stones, — namely, the awful " Gehenna of fire," that great Valley of Hinnom below Jeru-salem, which had become " the common sink of all the filth and corruption in the city, where ghastly fires were kept burning to preserve it from absolute putrefaction."

3. Consider now what it was that Jesus said to this audience of Jews. He told them first that the man who cherishes unholy anger in his heart is as sinful as an actual murderer. If earthly courts could punish wicked feelings, then such a man would deserve a murderer's fate. But he goes on to say that there is an inward disposition of the heart which is worse than anger. This is the spirit of ridicule, —the anger which finds vent in cutting remarks and derisive speech. Rightly judged, such a spirit is more unbrotherly, more inhuman, than the passion which incites to murder. To a certain extent it partakes of the spirit of that passion. The man who is possessed by it becomes a hater of his fellow-men, and is fit for any out-ward act of wrong. Could human tribunals punish such sin, the guilty one should be brought before the highest court and sentenced to the severest and most painful penalty. There is, however, a lower depth of sinful affection than the feeling of anger or the spirit of ridi-cule. This is the spirit of contempt, the blackest and worst of all these inward disposi-tions. What punishment would this fearful guilt of scorn deserve if there were any human tribunal that could take cognizance of it ? There was but one kind of judicial sentence which Jesus could refer to that would make his Jewish hearers realize the exceeding sinfulness of this most hateful sin, — namely, " the casting forth of the unburied corpse amid the fires and worms of the polluted; Valley of Hinnom," the " Gehenna of fire."

4. There is, then, a gradation in these sin-ful affections which Jesus so vividly pictures, each exceeding in intensity the one that went before it. Into each of them, as Tholuck ob-serves, " there enters a degree of that passion which, under given circumstances, would result in the deed of murder." But while anger may be sinful, and while sarcastic speech at the ex-pense of another shows always an unbrotherly heart, contempt of one's brethren is the greatest of these sins. The emphasis of Jesus is laid upon the sins themselves and their intrinsic hatefulness, not upon any outward punishments. Indeed the punishments he mentions are air, so far as these sins are concerned, imaginary pen-alties. No one of his hearers could have sup-posed for a moment that the local Jewish court would actually punish anger, or the Sanhedrin pass sentence upon derisive speaking. Still less would they think of the man that was guilty of contempt as liable to have his body, after death, thrown into the smoking Vale of Hinnom. The reference to three grades of punishment was only a pictorial method of setting forth the true character of the three kinds of evil dispositions.

5. Nothing therefore could be a grosser misconception of what Jesus here taught, than to represent him as holding over the contempt-uous man the threat of " hell-fire." The " Gehenna of fire" of which he spoke was perfectly understood by every one who heard him as meaning, in its literal sense, the place where a criminal's dead body might be cast
in token of the excessive enormity of his crime. But the fire that burned there was a purifying fire, to prevent the corruption in the valley from rising in pestilential odors to destroy the " holy city." Used as a figure of speech it could symbolize, in this connection, only a spiritual punishment that would be one degree severer than the penalty which in the divine kingdom follows the sin of derision. It is no modern idea which we " read into " the teaching of Jesus in this passage, but the very essence of the teaching itself, that the real " hell," the true spiritual " Gehenna," is not a burning prison, but a sinful heart. " So long as we are evil and impure and unloving, so long where we are is hell," and there is no other.

6. History and the common experiences of our every-day life abound with examples of this unchristlike disposition of contempt. " Wher-ever the weak, the poor, the ignorant, the lowly, are alienated and wronged, there con-tempt is present and predominant." The contemptuous man is the Pharisee in morals, who thanks God that he is not as other men are; the bigot in religion who fancies himself the favorite of heaven, and looks down on his "deluded" fellow-men; the scorner in society who delights to expose the failings of others and to declaim against the hollowness of hu-man life. Among young people this hateful spirit of contempt is seen in those who show neither admiration nor reverence for what is above them, while towards their mates they are conceited and exclusive, unloving and hence unlovely.

7. Opposed to this sin of contempt is the whole tenor of the teaching of Christ and the constraining force of his Divine example. Fol-low him in his active ministry of love and see his tender care for all the victims of the unfeel-ing world's contempt! Hear from his gracious lips the heavenly truths of the dignity of hu-manity, the sonship of man to the Highest! And learn from him how to banish from the heart all hatred except the righteous " hate of hate;" all scorn but the holy " scorn of scorn."

GOLDEN    SAYINGS.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. — PROV. xvi. 32.

Blessed is the man that sitteth not in the fseat of the scornful. — PSALMS i   i.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. -i JOHN iii. 15.

Contempt of humanity is the most notable cause of wrong to humanity. — HENRY GILES.

Christ saw much in this world to weep over, and much to pray over; but he saw nothing in it to look upon with contempt. — E. H. CHAPIN.

Dowered with the hate of hate, the scora of scorn. — TENNYSON.

QUESTIONS   FOR   YOUNGER   PUPILS.
1. What was said to them "of old time"? Ver. 21.

2. What is the Sixth Commandment? Exod. xx. 13.

3.  What was it to be in danger of the judgment? Note on ver. 21 and § 2.

4.    What does Jesus say in ver. 22 ?

5.    What is it to be angry with our brother?

6.    What kind of anger is meant?

7. When is it right to be angry ? 

8. What did Jesus mean when he said the angry man was in danger of the judgment ?

 9.    Who does St. John say is as bad as a murderer?    i John iii. 15.

10. What does the word "Raca" mean? I Note on ver. 22.

11. What kind of a court was the "council," or Sanhedrin ? Note on ver. 22 and § 2.

12. Was the man who said " Raca " reallv in danger of being punished by the " council "?

13. What then did Jesus mean by saying so? Note on ver. 22 and § 3.

14. What did the word translated "fool" really mean? Note.

15. What kind of a spirit was shown by using such a word? § 3.

16. What kind of punishment did Jesus say this spirit of contempt deserved ? § 3.

17. Explain the words "Gehenna of fire." (Read carefully the last sections of §§ 2 and 3 and of the note on ver. 22.)

18. What is the only " hell " there is? (Read last part of § 5.)'

19. Give some examples of the "spirit of contempt." § 6.

19. Recite Psalms i. I.

QUESTIONS   FOR   OLDER   PUPILS.
1. What may we infer from the words, " ye \ heard," as to the occasion of this part of the  Sermon on the Mount? Note on ver. 21 and § i.

2.    What sentence had the Jewish Scribes [ added to the Sixth Commandment ?   Ver. 21.

3.    What did Jesus say about it?    Ver. 22.

4.    What is  the  significance  of  the word  " brother " in ver. 22 ?    Note.

5.    What did St. John say about hating  one's brother ?    I John iii. 15. !    

6.    Explain the words "Raca" and "fool." 1 Note.

7.   Explain the " judgment " and the " council."    Note and § ?..

8.  How may we define the sins indicated I by using the words " Raca " and " fool " ? § 3.

9. Which of these is the worse sin,  and  why ?

10.    What punishment did Jesus say the scorner was liable to?

11.    What was " Gehenna “?  Note and § 2.

12.    What did the added words, " of fire," mean?   Note and § 2.

13. What kind of spiritual punishment did the " Gehenna of fire," as here used, symbolize? §§ 3. 4, and 5.

14. Give examples of the evil spirit oj contempt. § 6.

15. What is the logical result of thinking meanly of human nature?

16. In this lesson, what contrast between the " old " and the " new " Law is illustrated ? I.

17. What great and fundamental principle of the teachings of Jesus is emphasized ? § i.

18. What is the meaning of the last of the Golden Sayings in this lesson?

POINTS FOR FURTHER STUDY.
1. The climax in the three sins of Anger, Derision, and Contempt.

2. The words trans-lated " hell " in the Bible.

3. Some account of the Valley of Hinnom.

4. Some account of the Sanhedrin.

LESSON VI
RECONCILIATION AND FORBEARANCE
Matt. v. 23, 24, and 38-42
GOLDEN TEXT — Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way 5 first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
— Matt. v. 24.
———•———
THE MEANING

Verse 23. " Therefore" The duty of seeking forgiveness is here laid down in close connec-tion with the teaching of Jesus about the sins of anger and contempt. (See Lesson V.) One who cherishes anger or feels contemptuously towards his brother is really wronging that brother as much as if he had openly done him harm. Let him, "therefore," regard it as his first and most pressing duty to be at one again with his brother man. " If thou bring thy gift" etc. The Jewish worshipper in the Temple brought his gift to the altar, that the priests might offer it upon the same. Oxen, sheep, and goats, turtledoves and pigeons, were ap-pointed as the " gifts " for sacrifice.

Verse 24.    "First be reconciled" etc.    The teaching plainly is, that to love our neighbor as we love ourselves is the most important partof true worship.   As the English poet sings : —
" He prayeth best who loveth best."
And Whittier tells us that the best " litanies " are —
" sweet offices Of love and gratitude; "

and that the heart must —

" The inward altars raise."

Verse 38. "An eye for an eye," etc. The old Jewish law, as it stands in Exod. xxi. 24, was addressed to the judges to guide them in fixing the amount of penalty that was in-curred by a person who had willfully injured another. Its object was to restrain revenge. In a rude stage of society it imposed a fearful penalty as a terror to wrong-doers. Besides, it made all offenders equal before the law. A man who was rich would not care very much if his punishment was only paying a fine. But the law made him liable to lose his own eye if, in his rage, he put out a poor man's eye.

Now this law the Scribes in the times of Jesus applied in a bad sense, as if it encouraged men to seek in a revengeful spirit an exact redress for every wrong that might be done to them. Against this interpretation of the ancient law, and against the whole spirit of retaliation, Jesus teaches that we are never to seek for redress as a matter of personal revenge. " Resist not evil." The true rendering is, resist not the evil person, that is, the wrong-doer. John xviii. 22, 23, shows that Jesus did not obey this precept literally. (Compare St. Paul's conduct, narrated in Acts xxiii. 3.)

Verse 39. "Right cheek." As most men strike with the right hand, the left cheek would be hit. But the " right" is always mentioned in order before the " left."

Verse 40. " Take tky coat," etc. The "coat" was the narrow tunic or under-garment made of cotton or linen, and worn next to the body. The " cloak " was the loose robe worn as an outer garment, and was much more costly than the " coat." The meaning is, that it is some-times better to yield( our rights than to insist on them. It is wiser to give up even more than is demanded than to keep up a continual wrangle and debate.

Verse 41. " Whosoever shall compel" etc. This refers to the right of the Roman mail-carrier to press any one into his service. Such employment would be peculiarly hateful to a Jew. But it is better always to be generously helpful than do a required service in a quar-relsome temper.

Verse 42. Only a generous and obliging spirit is here required of us. When we are asked to "give" or to "lend," we are not to turn away in an unbrotherly temper, but see what can be done, and how we may be able most wisely and effectively to help our neighbor.

THE TEACHING
1. THE duty of granting forgiveness will be considered in the next lesson. Here the duty of seeking forgiveness is placed before us. We are commanded to go to the brother whom we have injured, and be reconciled to him. How hard a thing this is for most men to do may be inferred from the proverb which we find in many languages: " The offender never par-dons," or, in another form, " Men always hate those whom they have hurt." When we have wronged any one, Pride quickly comes to the aid of Hate. We feel that because we did the act there was a provocation to justify it. Yet as " sons of one family," children of an All-loving Father, we must rid ourselves of such unkind feelings. , Malice is as wicked as mur-der. Anger and contempt are ungodly and in-human. Love and Duty urge the same line of conduct. We must be reconciled to our brother.

2. Still further to emphasize this duty, Jesus makes it an act of religion. In doing this he speaks in the spirit of the old Hebrew prophets. They, too, made morality an inseparable part of religion. " To obey is better than sacrifice." "I desired mercy and not sacrifice." " What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy?” Outward forms and ceremonies have their place, but the first place in all true worship must be assigned to the humble and contrite heart. If that be wanting, no costliest offering at the altar is of any value. And how can the heart be right before God if there be in it ill feelings towards one's brother-man ? " If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother," he says that which is false ; for he cannot love God so long as he cherishes any, even the least, hatred towards one of God's children.

3. See, now, how true to life is the picture which Jesus draws in order to set this great truth plainly forth. He is talking to Jews, and he takes his hearers in imagination to the great Temple at Jerusalem. A man has en-tered the Temple, bringing to the " Court of the Israelites " the lamb that he is to offer up in sacrifice. On the other side of the low railing, near the sacrificial " altar," stands the priest, waiting to receive the offering of the worshipper. Everything is ready for the solemn service. Everything? No. The lamb that is to be slain is ready, and the priest who is to slay it and present it on the altar is ready, too.. But one thing this worshipper has forgotten to prepare. He has neglected nothing that the mere ceremony requires, but he has omitted to look into his own heart to see whether that was right. By the sacrifice of the lamb he is to express his desire for God's forgiveness. But the divine forgiveness can be given only to those who forgive their fellow men. None but the merciful can obtain mercy. And now in this awful moment, just as the worshipper is on the point of asking for pardon from above, there rises within him the recollection of the brother whom he has injured and towards whom his hate is still aflame within his breast. Not from such unholy fires can the smoke of. a true sacrifice ascend ! Leave there, O sinful-man, the unoffered gift. God can wait for your worship. Go your way. Find your injured brother. Tell him you have wronged him, and. in doing so have wronged your own soul. Ask his forgiveness. Be reconciled to him. Make amends for what you have done. Be a true brother, that you may be a true son; and then — then, after you have restored the right rela-tions between your brother and yourself, go back to the altar, and in a loving, filial spirit offer your gift to the Father in heaven.

4. So much for Christ's teaching of the duty of reconciliation. Another duty, closely allied to this, is also taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, —the duty of forbearance, of cherish-ing a lenient and conciliatory spirit. The lan-guage in which this instruction is given us may very easily be misunderstood. For Jesus said, " Resist not him that is evil." Yet we all know that wicked men must be resisted and that evil must be put down. He also said, giving an in-stance of non-resistance, " Whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also '' But to do this literally would be to irritate an angry man to fury. We might also say that since in decent society men are not apt to strike one another on the cheek, to obey this command in a literal sense would not be so very hard. Either way, then, if we take these words literally, we shall be likely to miss their meaning; for Jesus certainly would have Us " wise as serpents " in our dealings with bad men. He told his first disciples when they were persecuted in one city to flee into another; to go away, that is, from evildoers, and not wait to let them do more harm. And just as certainly Jesus is here laying down some great principle of action that even we who are not likely to be struck on the right cheek should follow in our relations towards others.

5. This is the principle of forbearance. Its first command is: " As much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men." It implies a spirit of meekness, a willingness to waive one's own claims and preferences, a considerate and pa-tient dealing with the faults of others. " Never to feel personal resentment against those who recklessly misrepresent us, who slander us, who insult us ; and even when duty requires us to resist or to redress an injury, to be as free from the spirit of revenge as a judge on the bench when he sentences a thief to be imprisoned; to be righteously indignant at wrong-doing, but not to suffer the sense of the wrong done to ourselves to exaggerate the guilt of the wrong-doer, or to make us desire for our personal satisfaction that he should suffer for his offence;" — all this is included in the difficult virtue of forbearance.

6. But more than this is required of us. We are always and everywhere to strive to " overcome evil with good." See how we can do this in our every-day life. When harshly or insultingly spoken to, we can give " the soft answer that turneth away wrath." When our wishes are crossed, instead of being vexed, as if somebody were trying to spite us, we can bear the petty disappointment and cheerfully "make the best of it." When an injury is done to us, we can check our angry passions, keep back the impulse of revenge, and " stop and think " how we may make the wrongdoer our friend. We can conquer the pride, the hate, and the uncharitableness which make a great wrong out of a small one, and we can rise so far above all malice and spite that we shall always be ready to pity and forgive.

7. Forbearance is, indeed, only one applica-tion of the great law of loving our neighbor as ourselves. It is acting on the precept, " Make the best of one another," that is, make the most of what is good in others. It is a very easy thing to make the worst of others, — to fix our attention constantly on their faults, and so keep up strife, and hatred, and heart-burn-ings. The hard thing, but the grand thing, is to be so intent upon seeing the good there is in others, and so eager to help them to be good, that we can bear contradiction and slights and even injuries without being turned from our purpose. St. Paul gives us a beautiful descrip-tion of this exalted virtue where he tells us that charity, that is, love, " suffereth long and is kind, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil, . . . beareth all things, . . . endureth all things."

8. But he who taught his disciples to be kind and forbearing is himself the best example of what this virtue means. Who so meek, so patient, so long-suffering, as he? " When he was reviled he reviled not again, when he suf-fered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." If we have " the same mind that was also in Christ," if the spirit of Jesus is ours, we shall fully under-stand what he means us to do when he tells us not to resist the one who is doing evil, and bids us turn the other cheek to him that smites us. We shall then be brave and fearless against all forms of wrong, while we shall also be so self-forgetting, so filled with love, that our meekness and our forbearance will be among our strongest weapons in the long and hard fight that we must wage against the evil that is in the world.

GOLDEN SAYINGS

Nothing drives out darkness so much as light. —DEAN STANLEY.

The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear;  And something, every day they live, To pity and perhaps forgive. - COWPER.

Be not swift to take offence, —
Anger is a foe to sense, —
Let it pass! If for good you suffer ill,
Oh, be kind and gentle still, —
Let it pass !

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER PUPILS

1.  Repeat verses 23 and 24.

2. What " gifts " did the Jews bring to the altar? Note on ver. 23.

3.  Who offered the sacrifice?   Note.

4. Where was the altar of sacrifice? Note and § 3.

5. Tell again what Jesus commands the worshipper to do. Ver. 24.

6. Repeat I John iv. 20.

7. Repeat the line of the English poet given in the note on ver. 24.

8.    Tell in your own words the substance of §3.

9.    Repeat ver. 38.

10. In what part of the Old Testament are these words found? Note on ver. 38.

11. What did that old Jewish law mean? Note.

12.   But what had the Scribes made it mean?

13. What did Jesus teach about it? Ver. 39.

14.   Are not evildoers to be resisted?

15. What, then, did Jesus mean by his words in ver. 39? § 4. (Read this § 4 care-fully.)

16. What do we call the principle which Jesus here lays down? § 5.

17.    Explain ver. 40.    Note.

18.    Explain ver. 41.    Note.

19. Give examples of forbearance.   § 6

20. What does St. Paul say about " Love . . . suffering long," etc.? § 7.

21. What is said about the forbearance of Jesus ? § 8.

22.    What does ver. 42 mean?    Note.

22. Repeat the last verse in the Golden Sayings.

QUESTIONS FOR OLDER PUPILS

1. What duty is taught us in verses 23, 24? § I.

2. How is this teaching connected with the verses which precede? Note on ver. 23.

3. What land of a worshipper is addressed in the words: " If then thou art offering thy gift," etc?

4. What "gifts " were usually brought to the altar? Note.

5. Who offered these gifts?

6. Give some further account of the Jewish Temple worship. § 3.

7. What does Jesus here teach about the character of true and acceptable worship?

8. What did St. John say on this point? I John iv. 20.

9. Explain the Jewish law quoted in ver. 38. Note on ver. 38.

10. How had the Scribes perverted its weaning? Note.

11. Against the teaching of the Scribes, what principle did Jesus here lay down? § 5.

12. Did Jesus or his first apostles literally obey this precept of non-resistance? Note on ver. 39.

13. Show how a literal obedience to the precept about turning the "other cheek" to the smiter goes beyond, or falls short of, the obedience which Jesus demands. § 4.

14. How, then, may we render this obedi-ence? § 5.

15.    Illustrate this further by examples.   §6.

16.    Explain ver. 40.    Note.

17.    Explain ver. 41.    Note.

18. Show how Christian forbearance carries out the Golden Rule. § 7.

19. How does the life of Jesus illustrate this virtue?

20. What is meant by the precept in ver. 42? Note.

POINTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. The Temple at Jerusalem, its structure, appointments, etc.

2. The offering of sacri-fices as an act of worship.

3. The Quaker doctrine and practice of non-resistance.

4. Forbearance compatible with righteous resentment.

LESSON VII
FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES
Matt, xviii. 21-35.

GOLDEN TEXT — If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. — Matt. vi. 14

THE   MEANING
Verse 21. "Forgive" The Greek word means, literally, to let go from, — that is, to let a person off from a debt or an accusation. But the idea of forgiveness goes farther than this, and is well expressed by the English word for-give. When we forgive any one, we not only pardon the injury, but we also, in a spirit of love, give ourselves for the one who has injured us.

"Until seven times." In some of the schools of the Rabbis it was taught that a man might pardon an injury three times, but no more; Peter proposed to do a little better than this, and to draw the line at seven times. Perhaps he remembered that Jesus had told his disciples that their righteousness should "exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees." Or it may be that he took the number seven because it was a sacred number with the Jews.

Verse 22. "Seventy times seven." The best commentators say that this should be seventy times and seven. In either case the meaning is the same. We are to keep on forgiving, with-out stopping to count the number of times.

Verse 23. "Kingdom of heaven," — that is, God's kingdom, the kingdom for which we pray when we say, "Thy kingdom come;" the kingdom in which the king is the All-loving Father, and all the subjects are brethren. "Is like," — that is, in respect to this matter of not limiting forgiveness. "Take account of his ser-vants." In the Revised Version this is " make a reckoning with his servants," — that is, settle accounts with them.

Verse 24. "Ten thousand talents.'" A talent was a weight of money, not a fixed sum. Ten thousand Attic talents were equivalent to ten million dollars.

Verse 25. The practice of selling a man and all that belonged to him, for debt, was common among ancient nations.

Verse 26. "Worshipped,"1 —that is, humbly paid homage to him, as a slave prostrates himself before his master.

Verse 27. "Loosedhim" — that is, released him. He had been brought to the king under guard.

Verse 28. "The same servant" — emphatic, meaning that -very servant whose enormous debt had just been forgiven. "A hundred pence".  The coin here mentioned is the dena-rius, equivalent to seventeen cents. The whole sum, therefore, was but seventeen dollars. "Took him by the throat”. The old Roman law allowed a man to drag his debtor before the judge, holding him by the throat. "Pay me that thou owest."  The creditor does not men-tion the amount of the debt, but shows his hard-heartedness by using this gruff and haughty expression; — as if he had said, " I'll have you pay me all you owe."

Verse 31. "What was done,"— that is, what was going on. These fellow servants were " very sorry" to see such an exhibition of cruelty and ill will.

Verse 34. " Tormentors." These were the jailers who, besides keeping the man in prison, would also torture him to make him tell wheth-er he had any means of paying some part, at least, of his debt.

Verse 35. "So likewise," etc. Jesus nowhere teaches that God's ways are like the ways of sinful men. What he does teach is this: that there can be nothing in common between the spirit of an All-loving God and the spirit of an unmerciful, unsympathizing, and unforgiv-ing man. The divine forgiveness establishes a happy, childlike relation of the soul with God. But the unkind and unloving soul is outside of this happy relation, and must suffer the penalty that it brings upon itself. "From your hearts" — that is, in genuine love and sympathy, not grudgingly, as men sometimes offer forgiveness. Read again what was said in the note to ver. 21 about the mean-ing of the word for-give.

THE   TEACHING
I. THE best way to learn what forgiveness of injuries means is to look at some examples of this virtue. In the story of the Unmerciful Servant the king of a great country finds that the governor, or satrap, of one of the provinces has been dishonest in making returns of the royal revenues. Such dishonesty on an enor-mous scale we may read of in the histories of Greece and of the kingdom of Alexander the Great. For a crime of this magnitude — the stealing often millions of dollars — this under-ruler deserves the most severe punishment. But when his "lord" calls him into his pres-ence and demands a settlement, the satrap falls down before him, entreats him to have patience with him, and promises to do all that he can to make up the loss. On hearing this and seeing how penitent the satrap is, the king lets him off, — he forgives him. Not only does he grant the satrap's request, but, in his large and free compassion, he goes far beyond what was asked, he forgives the whole enormous debt. We are not told why this king showed such great mercy, and practiced a forgiveness that was almost without a limit. We must suppose that he had reasons for his action, although we are not informed what those reasons were. The purpose of Jesus in relating this part of the parable was to show how ready God is to forgive. His ways in forgiving rise above the common ways of men high as heaven rises above the earth. It was necessary, therefore, in order to illus-trate the divine mercy, to make the king in the story do that which ordinarily no human ruler would do.

2.Still, his act shows us very plainly what human forgiveness is. It is a twofold act. The king, who has received a great injury, by the loss of millions of dollars that belonged to him, suddenly ceases to be angry with the offender. He listens to his cry for patience, is willing to grant his request for time to pay the debt, and puts away from between the offender and himself all feelings of anger and resent-ment. But he goes farther even than this. He is so forgiving that he remits the punish-ment of the offence, and lets the satrap off from the whole debt. A better illustration of a free and full forgiveness of an injury could hardly be imagined.

3. Let us now suppose another case, of a more familiar sort. A servant has stolen some money from his master. Weighed down by the sense of his wrongdoing, he at length goes to his master, tells him all, says he is sorry, and asks to be forgiven. His master says to him: " What you tell me pains me more than words can express. I had fully trusted you and never thought for a moment that you could deceive me. Even now I feel that you must have been sorely tempted or you would never have done this deed. Your better nature was overcome. But in your better self I still have faith; and so from my heart I forgive you. You do not ask, and I cannot afford, to have no payment made of the money that you took. I will be patient with you and give you ample time to earn it. But of the wrong deed itself you shall never hear me speak. That deed I forgive and henceforth forget. I love you and I trust you. Go, and sin no more."

4. Another story may help those who study these lessons to understand still better what it is to forgive. A schoolteacher loaned to one of his pupils, whom we will call John, a valu-able pocketknife. John, who had borrowed the knife to finish cutting out a toy boat which he was making, had the misfortune to hit the blade against a nail and give it an ugly dent Instead, however, of taking the knife back and confessing to the teacher what had happened, he hid it away. As nothing was said to him about the borrowed article, he thought the teacher must have forgotten it. Yet day after day, when he passed the place where he had hidden the knife, he seemed to hear a voice saying to him: "Oh, John, take it back!" After a time this grew so unbearable that he took the knife and threw it into a swamp that lay just beyond the woods through which he passed on his way to school. But whenever his walk led him into the neighborhood of the swamp, he seemed to hear again the voice that said: "Oh, take it back, John! " One day the teacher spoke to the school on the duty of repentance. A single sentence from the teacher's lips sank deep down into John's heart: "It is never too late to repent." As he walked home he said to himself: "If it's never too late to repent, then I'll find the teacher's knife, and take it back to him, and tell him how sorry I am." So he did. When he had told all, he added, " And now, teacher, I hope you'll forgive me." "Forgive you, John? " replied the teacher. "Why, I forgave you long ago. I did not believe you would keep the knife, and I felt sure that if you had lost it you would sometime come and tell me of it. It was not the knife that I cared about; / cared for you, and I am only too happy to say that from my heart I forgive you. I do not believe you will ever do such a thing again." This story, which is true, shows us that the spirit of forgiveness is a spirit of tender-hearted love, that moves a man to give himself in sym-pathy for those who injure him, — a spirit of gentle patience that has " its perfect work."

5. Forgiveness has well been called a Chris-tian virtue. Jesus not only taught it, but con-tinually practiced it; and so powerful was his example in this respect that his first disciples, catching its inspiration, put away from their hearts all hatred and malice, and the thirst for revenge which prevailed in the world around them, and became tender-hearted and forgiv-ing. Read in the Book of Acts the beautiful story of Stephen forgiving the cruel Jews who stoned him to death. Read, too, the story of the "divine tragedy" on Calvary, and hear again the dying prayer of Jesus: "Father, for-give them, for they know not what they do." And do not forget that the great lesson of the gospel is that "no man can perfectly forgive another unless his will is one with God's." We must be true sons of the Heavenly Father in order to cherish a forgiving spirit towards our weak and erring brethren.

6. The last part of the parable of the Un-merciful Servant shows us that the sin that is not forgiven is the sin of unforgivingness. There is nothing arbitrary in the statement that God does not forgive the unforgiving. So long as a man has an unforgiving temper of mind, he can no more be forgiven than a man who has no eyes can see. It is as necessary, in order to be able to receive forgiveness as to be able to forgive, that we should have faith in human nature, sympathy with those who are weak and erring, and a loving patience towards those who do us any wrong. "The full for-giveness is when a man feels that God is forgiv-ing him; and this cannot be while he opposes himself to the very essence of God's will."

GOLDEN SAYINGS
To err is human; to forgive, divine. — POPE.

He is below himself that is not above an injury. — QUARLES.

When thou forgivest, the man who has pierced thy heart stands to thee in the relation of the sea-worm that perforates the shell of the mussel, which straightway closes the wound with a pearl. — RICHTER.

The more all men are regarded by us as our brothers, the more we shall feel their sins; and unless a man feels the sins of others he cannot forgive them. — E. A. ABBOTT.

God's forgiveness is to be the type of ours. " As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." There is no genuine forgiveness while any estrange-ment or coldness remains. — R. W. DALE.

Never is the human heart more in the image of God than when it pardons with a free and generous bounty; never does a man seem to tower up to the dignity and happiness of the Creator more than when he dispenses mercy and foregoes every remembrance of his wrongs. — HENRY GILES.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER PUPILS
1.   What question did Peter ask in ver. 21?
2.   Why did he say, " Until seven times “?
3.   How did Jesus reply in ver. 22?
4.   What did he mean by this answer?    See note on ver. 22.
5.   What does the word " forgive " mean? See note on ver. 21.
6.   What is the   "kingdom of heaven"? See note on ver. 23.
7.   In what way is it "like a certain king, etc.”?    See note on ver. 23.
8.   What kind of a servant is spoken of in ver. 24?   See § i.
9.   What was a "talent"?    See note on ver. 24.
10.   How many of our dollars were these "ten thousand talents " equal t?   Note.
11.   Relate what happened when this "servant “ was brought before the king.    Ver. 24-27.
12.   What did this very same servant after-ward do?    Ver. 28-30.
13.   How much of our money were the " ore hundred pence " equal to?  See note on ver. 28.
14.   How was this unforgiving servant pun-ished?   Ver. 34.
15.   How did Jesus apply the lesson of the story in ver. 35?    Note.
16.   Tell the story of the servant related in § 3.
17.   Tell the story of John related in § 4.
18.   How did Stephen forgive his mur-derers?    See Acts vii. 60.
19.   How did Jesus forgive those who cruci-fied him?    See Luke xxiii. 34.
20. Tell in your own words what it is to for-give an injury.

QUESTIONS FOR OLDER PUPILS
1. What was the occasion that led Jesus to relate this parable?
2. Why did Peter say, " Until seven times “? 
3. What kind of a mind does such a ques-tion indicate?
4. What is the meaning of the reply that Jesus made to Peter?
5. Explain the two meanings of the word forgive. See note on ver. 21.
6. What is the point of resemblance between the " kingdom of heaven " and the relation of the king to the servant in the parable?
7.  Describe the " servant " mentioned in ver. 24.
8.  Explain ver. 25.   Note.
9.  What did Jesus wish to teach by this part of the parable?
10. How does the king's conduct illustrate what human forgiveness is? See § 2.
11. What does the last part of the parable (ver. 28-30) teach?
12.   What is the teaching of ver. 35?    See 6.
13.   Why is forgiveness called a Christian virtue?   See § 5. I'.      
14.   Relate the story given in § 3.  
15.   Show how there can be true forgiveness even when there is no remission of punishment.
16. When the penalty is remitted, what is the chief significance of the remission?
17. Show how the teacher exercised forgive-ness in the instance given in § 4.
18. What other familiar parable of Jesus forcibly illustrates this giving of one's self in love and sympathy to an offender?
19. What besides love, and sympathy, and a spirit of sacrifice is necessary to make us forgiving? (Read again §§ 3,4.)
20. What limits, if any, should be set to forgiveness?
21. Is a just resentment against wrongdoing consistent with a forgiving spirit? (If the re-sentment is not personal, and so is unselfish, the feeling of pain that the sight of wrongdoing awakens will move us to do all we can to put it away from between another and ourselves.)

POINTS FOR FURTHER  STUDY
1. Explain Matt, xviii. 15-17.
2. Divine and human forgiveness compared.
3. The feelings that a Christian ought to cherish towards unrepentant offenders. 4. Give pre-cepts or illustrations of forgiveness from other sacred books than the Old and New Testa-ments.

1 Read  " The Christian Doctrine of the Forgiveness of Sin." By Rev. James Freeman Clarke, D. D.    Boston: American Unitarian Association.

LESSON VIII
"SONS OF PEACE" AND "SONS OF THUNDER"
Matt. v. 9 and Luke ix. 51-56.   
(Read also Luke x. 5, 6, and Mark iii. 17.)

GOLDEN TEXT — Blessed are  the  peace-makers, for  they shall be called,the children of God.— MATT. v. 9.

THE MEANING
Matt. v. 9. " Peace-makers" — that is, those who are lovers of peace, and who, therefore, not only live peaceably with others, but also help others to dwell together in peace. Read Luke ii. 14; Mark ix. 50; Rom. xii. 18.

" Children of God." Better as in the Revised Version, " Sons of God." As Jesus was called the Prince of Peace, so those who like him labor for the things that make for peace shall be called, that is, recognized and honored as, true sons of the Heavenly Father. In  Rom. xv. 33, 2 Cor. xiii. II, and other passages in the Epistles, God is spoken of as the " God of peace ;" and in the words of Phil. iv. 7, which are so often used as a Benediction, the " peace of God " is spoken of. To be at one with God and to live in peace with our fellow-men is to be in the best and truest sense happy or " blessed." To help others to gain this bless-ing is the most Ghostlike work we can do ; and in doing it, we show our sonship to " his Father and our Father, — his God and our God."

Luke ix. 51. " When the time u:as come." More exactly, was coming, or, as the Revised Version gives it, "When the days were well nigh come." "Received up" This can mean only his being taken up into heaven after the work given him to do should be finished.

Verse 52. " To make ready for him," — that is, make ready for his reception as the Messiah going up to Jerusalem. The Samaritans ex-pected that the Messiah would come to their holy temple on Mt. Gerizim, and were naturally unfriendly to the Messiah of the Jews. It would have been contrary to all the rules of Eastern hospitality for the Samaritans to have declined to give a party of travelers quarters for the night. The reason why they would not receive Jesus and his friends is clearly stated in the narrative. It was "because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem," (ver. 53.)

Verse 54. " James and John." In Mark iii. 14-1^, is recorded the appointment of the Twelve Apostles. One of these, Simon, Jesus surnamed Peter, or the Rock-man. "And James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James he surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of Thunder." The name denotes the stormy energy, fiery zeal, and intense devotion of the two brothers. "Even as Elias did" The Revised Version omits this sentence because it is a doubtful reading. But there is no doubt that the two disciples had Elias, that is, Elijah, in mind when they made their pro-posal. The account of what Elijah did is found in the first chapter of the Second Book of Kings.

Verse 55. "He turned and rebuked them." The words of this rebuke, " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of," and the added sen-tence in ver. 56, " For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them," are omitted in the Revised Version, as they do not occur in many of the ancient manuscripts. Yet the rebuke of the Master is so worthy of Jesus that it is easy to see how it may have got into the text.

THE   TEACHING
1. THE Beatitude given in Matt. v. 9 is one of the three among the eight Beatitudes that refer to the active virtues. In a world where strife abounds, — where " man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn," — the Christian is he who tries to live peaceably with all men. The peace-making spirit is com-mended. The temper that provokes a quarrel or keeps up strife is unchristian. On the other hand, he who loves " the things that make for peace " will endeavor to be in all his doings a true follower of the " Prince of Peace." It is also to be remembered that we can make and preserve peace among one another by indirect means as well as by efforts that are specially directed to that end.

2. We may promote peace indirectly by cul-tivating a spirit of charitable judgment. A very little matter, if it be inflammable, will kindle a great fire. Many a fiery dispute is caused because we carry about with us so much moral tinder in the shape of envy, malice, and uncharitableness. Another indirect way of furthering peace is by overcoming our self-conceit. The man who thinks too highly of himself is ever ready to justify his part in any quarrel. He will not even admit that he may not be wholly in the right, that there may be some measure of justice on the other side. But the man who has the grace of true hu-mility, who has learned through experience of his own weaknesses to think of himself soberly and with a modest judgment, will always be ready to " hear the other side," and to admit the possibility of his being in the wrong. Again: the man who habitually cherishes the spirit of forgiveness will be at peace with his fellow men. He will hate human sin so strongly that his endeavor will be in the direction of putting away the offences which have arisen rather than in that of adding a fresh offence by making or continuing a quarrel.

3. But we can often be active makers of peace. Schiller, the German poet, says, " Peace is rarely denied to the peaceful." If a man who is respected for his peaceable dis-position and known as one that never gets into a quarrel, endeavors, wisely and in a brotherly spirit, to keep others from quarrelling, or to reconcile those who are already at strife with one another, he rarely fails to accomplish his object. Those who get the worst of it by inter-posing in a quarrel are generally men whose own temper is known to be quarrelsome, or who are unwise and injudicious in the efforts that they make. Virgil, the Roman poet, gives us a beautiful word-picture in the first book of the AEneid, where he compares Neptune sooth-ing the angry billows of the sea to a "man of weight for worth and truth " calming an angry mob: —
" As when in tumults rise the ignoble crowd, Mad are their motions and their tongues are loud, And stones and brands in rattling volleys fly, And all the rustic arms that fury can supply; If then some grave and pious man appear, They hush their noise and lend a listening ear, — He soothes with sober words their angry mood, And quenches their innate desire of blood."
This "pagan" poet knew well that to be a successful peace-maker one must have a repu-tation for character and piety. Men who are engaged in a quarrel resent the interference of others who are themselves "men of strife."

4. Examples of this noble virtue of peace-making are sometimes found even among chil-dren. Miss Foster, in her " Watchwords for Little Soldiers," tells us of one girl whom she knew who was a blessed peacemaker as long as she lived. " She had several brothers who would often differ about something or other, and begin to talk loud and look angry. Then Nelly would come and try to make up between them. ' Oh, don't speak so loud, dear Johnny!' she would say. ' What do you want Sam to do? Can't I do it? I wouldn't quarrel about it.' Or, ' Never mind, Sammy; he did not mean to hurt you, I am sure. Come and let us have a good play." Or else she would laugh so merrily at what had happened that the others could not help laughing too instead of getting into a passion." Some boys and girls have the gentle spirit and loving tact to be, as it were, the cushions which the sharp corners of their playmates' tempers need to prevent hurtful contacts with each other. Thrice happy, indeed, are all such peace-makers, — happy in the possession of a peaceful spirit, happy, too, in the consciousness that they are making others happy, and happy besides in the thought that they are in some degree " imitators of God as beloved children."

5. Widely different from these " Sons of Peace " are the " Sons of Thunder." This last phrase is the name that Jesus gave to two of his apostles, James and John. It indicates the stormy force of their character, their fiery zeal, and their intense enthusiasm for the Master's cause. This vehement spirit broke out many times in the course of their disciple-ship. (See Luke ix. 49 and Mark x. 35-41.) Chastened by experience and purified of its baser elements by the teachings and example of Jesus, this fiery energy made James the first apostolic martyr and John the devoted apostle of love. But in the passage which we are studying in this lesson (Luke ix. 51-56) we see these two men eager to retaliate on the Samaritans their sectarian hatred of the Jews. Because the inhabitants of a village in Samaria refused to give lodging to Jesus and his dis-ciples, James and John proposed that the offending villagers should be destroyed by fire from heaven. " It was a strange proposal to come from men who had been for years dis-ciples of Jesus, and shows how slow the best are to learn the heavenly doctrine and practice of charity. How startling, again, to think of this same John, a year or two after the date of this savage suggestion, going down from Jerusalem and preaching the gospel of Jesus the crucified in ' many of the villages of the Samaritans,' — possibly in this very village which he desired to see destroyed! " (See the eighth chapter of Acts.)

6. These " Sons of Thunder " whose mur-derous suggestion Jesus rebuked have many followers still in the world. Like James and John, they " know not what manner of spirit they are of." They think they are only zealous for the right, when in reality " the flame of their zeal is mixed up with the bitter smoke of carnal passions, anger, pride, self-will." They have a sincere jealousy for the honor of some cause, some leader, some friend; but there is mingled with this the feeling of personal re-sentment or of party passion. In either case they are not followers of the Prince of Peace and Friend of sinners. He came to destroy these deep-seated enmities between man and man; to uproot the hateful prejudices which divide men. He was the great Reconciler and Peacemaker. Those whom his countrymen despised and hated, — " publicans and sinners," Samaritans and Gentiles, — he befriended. He showed men who were hostile to one another what was good in each, and bade them make the best of each other. He taught the grand and comprehensive truth that man, as a Son and Brother, must seek to imitate the Perfect Father and to treat all his fellow men as his brethren.

7. But it must not be forgotten that "Jesus, all gentle as he was, had his thunderbolts." Was there not a stormy energy in his indignant rebuke of the mercenary traders who were turning God's house into a "den of thieves"? Is anything rarer or nobler than his scorn of the Pharisees' scorn, his hate of their settled hates, his righteous anger at the spectacle of their pretentious piety allied to the grossest worldliness and the utter lack of brotherly love? Neither Jesus nor the disciple whom Jesus loved was the weak, sentimental, un-manly character that men so often associate with patience and gentleness. Theirs was the sweetness which goes with real strength and is in a measure derived from it. They were " patient by abundance, not by lack, of life; tolerant, forgiving, meek, not from superficial-ness but from the depth of insight and emotion." No one can love men who does not hate the sins which degrade men, and is not brave in his resistance to malignant wrong. The most powerful motive we can feel to become peace-makers is an intense conviction of the hateful-ness of all strife. As Phillips Brooks well says : "No man loves his brethren completely unless he loves the truth better than any brother; and no man desires generously for his brethren unless he desires the best things for the best part of them, and will willingly sacrifice the poorer things which belong to the poorer part of them to secure that loftier attainment." Only let us be sure that our zeal for " the truth " is like that of Jesus, unsoiled by personal ambitions, unstained by personal resentments.

8. The application of our lesson to our indi-vidual lives is very obvious.    We must remem-ber that under no circumstances can the wrath of man work the righteousness of God.    When we are told to " be angry and sin not," there is implied, no doubt, an anger which is not sin. But this anger only a good man may cherish, for it is an anger that has in it no ill-will, no self-indulgence, no personal resentment, no irritation even, or contempt, — an anger that strictly keeps the law not to render evil for evil. Such holy anger is the highest attainment of a j life of Christian endeavor. For the guidance of our common daily conduct, we need to cul-tivate the peace-making spirit, not only that we I may " as far as in us lieth " live peaceably with fill men, but also that we may do what we can to break down the miserable barriers of prejudice, hatred, and uncharitableness which separate man from his fellow-men. It is possible I for every one of us to be in this respect more ' Christ-like than we are at present. We can; conquer more of the selfishness that breeds Strife. We can try with a stronger faith and a more patient hope to overcome evil with the ' weapons of love and kindness. We can imbib