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August 5, 1882,
=<te.:GOLDEN DAYS:s+=
556
+ INTERNATIONAL LESSON—FoR AUG. 13.%-
Mark 11: 2433. Gotpey Text, Mart. 6:12.
Subjects — Prayer and Forgiveness—Christ’s Authority.
BY REY. D. P. KIDDER, D.D.
The opening words of this lesson were
addressed to the disciples, probably at
or near the withered fig-tree. They
were a part of Christ’s instruction to
them respecting faith. °
The exercise of faith and the practice
of prayer have a close connectior. Be-
lievers in God are those who pray to
Him. But even among believers there
are right and wrong modes of prayer.
As needy and dependent beings, we all
have need to ask many things from God.
Ilence we ought to understand well
the elements and conditions of accept-
able prayer. In respect to these, our
Lord had often spoken to His disciples,
and He now adds some impressive
words, which may be summed up in the
two great precepts, believe and forgive.
BELIEVE,
We should not mock God with mere
words. We should not ask Him for
what we have not reason to think it con-
sistent for Him togive. Hence we should
govern our desires, and bring them
within the range of God's revealed will
concerning us.
God’s Word forbids the desire of sinful
and selfish objects. Our first effort,
therefore, should be to put away froin
our hearts all such desires, and to cher-
ish and express to God only such desires
as are in accordance with His will.
Within that limit—for all Scripture
teachings, when rightly understood,
must be harmonious with each other—
whatsoever things we desire must be
prayed for in confiding faith.
The idiom of the Greekin this pas-
sage, as rendered both in the old and
new versions, is not quite in harmony
with our modes of thought. The spirit
of Christ’s precept would be better ex-
pressed in words like these: * Whatso-
ever properthings ye desire, when ye
pray, believe that ye shall receive then
and ye shall have them.”
This harmonizes perfectly with Christ’s
words, as recorded in Matt. 9:29: “Ac.
cording to your faith be it unto you.”
This precept, theretore, is full of en-
couragement to sincere and earnest
prayer. Itis designed to guard equally
against presumption and weakness of
faith. ike other divine precepts, it
prompts us to ask largely, that our joy
may be full, and to ask contidently, tiat
we may not fail to receive.
The very essence of true prayer is an
unwavering trust in God’s promises,
and in His wisdom to fulfill them in the
way that is best for us and for our true
interests. Subject to this condition, the
answer to every prayer of faith is cer-
tain.
“It may not be my way,
tmay not be thy way,
And yetin His own way
- The Lord will provide.”
Assured of this, the true believer ac-
cepts as certain the fulfillment of his de-
sires, because his supreme desire is that
the will of God be done.
God’s promises are like certified bank
cheques. The latter, though not money,
represent money, and in business they
are receipted for as money. Thus, iu
thousands of cases, men in accepting
them acknowledze payments received,
while the actual payment of the money
on them is yet a thing of the future.
Not unlike this is the instance stated in
_the book of Daniel (9: 3, 23, 25), where,
in answer to his prayer for the rebuild-
ing of Jerusalem, the angel informs the
prophet that at the beginning of his sup-
Plications the commandment had gone
forth to restore and build Jerusalein.
So, when our prayers are offered in per-
fect submission to God’s will, and for re-
sults promised by Him, it is a proper
exercise of faith to believe that the an-
swers will certainly be forthcoming,
FORGIVE.
But we must bear in mind the import-
ance of praying ina right spirit toward
our fellow-men. We miust not cherish
feelings of resentment or vindictiveness
“If ye do not forgive, neither will your
Father which is in heaven forgive your
trespusses.”
By this we are to understand that no
person isin condition to pray aright
who is not kind-hearted and loving, even
toward his enemies, or those who treat
him ill. Well did Lord Herbert say,
“He that cannot forgive others breaks
the bridge over which he must pass
hiniself; for every man has need to be
forgiven.”
The lesson teaches what all right
minded persons feel in . themselves—
namely, that among the most prominent
and important objects of prayer is the
forgiveness of our own sins. That we
may be duly impressed with this great
fact, we need to think much of the
strictness of God's laws of truth and
The manner in which the chief priests,
the scribes and the elders, are spoken of
inthe above passage, Shows that these
three classes of Jews had now banded
themselves together in opposition to the
Great Teacher. After all they had seen
of His miracles and heard from His
public teaching, they could have had no
manner of doubt that He claimed to be
the true and promised Messiah. .
Having also felt the majesty of His
presence and moral power in the teinple,
to which for atime they had yielded in
silence, they must have \felt strongly
ealled upon to accept and honor Him in
His true character. But being unwilling
to do that, they sought to stitle their con-
sciences and regain their ascendancy
over the people bya continued and more
formal course of opposition.
Whether they had as yet determined
on the extreme measures to which they
‘soon after resorted, does not appear, At
this stage, they only claim to be seeking
tor information. The very form of their
question concedes that Jesus wielded an
extraordinary authority, and that only
in favor of the right; but it also aims at
representing Hiin as an intruder, over-
CHRIST CONFOUNDING THE CHIEV PRIESTS AND SCRIBES.
right, and to be very critical upon onr-
selves in .the mutter of transgressing
them, even in the slightest particulars.
Honest and frequent thought upon our
own tendencies to do wrong is well
adapted to make us charitable toward
others, as well as to impress us with the
need of asking to have our own tres-
asses forgiven. he connection be-
tween the spirit of true prayer and that
of forgiving charity toward others is
well set forth bya Scotch writer in these
words: .
can never find the humble, contrite
heart, which sues tor merey at the throne
of grace, without finding there also the
giveness of others, as from those who have
themselves partuken of the pardoning
grace of God,”
A German writer has also beautifully
expressed the happy influence upon our-
selves of the exercise of forgiveness:
“When thon forgivest, the man who
has pierced thy heart stands to thee in the
relation o e sea-worm that perforates
the shell of the muscle, and which closes
the wound witha pearl,”
CHRIST'S AUTIMORITY.
“And they come again to Jerusalem ; and
as He wus walking in the temple, there
come to Him the chief priests, and the
seribes, and the elders.—And say unto Him
By what authority doest Thou tliese things?
and who gave Thee this authority to di
these thinyst—And Jesus answered and
°
turning the established erder of things.
The indirect reply of our Lord accept-
ed the latter insinuation, and implied
that the actual order of things required
overturning, in order to be restored to
its original purity. Yetas He did not
propose to enter into a wordy contro-
versy, Le contented himself with asking
them a question, In so ing, IIe asso-
ciated Himself with that great reforiner,
John the Baptist, whom, by this refer-
ence, Ile acknowledged zs His forerun-
ner and herald.
So far as the priests and the Sanhedrin
were concerned, John had come irregu-
larly; and y od had wonderfully
owned his mission, and especially his
baptism of Jesus.
The burden of John’s preaching had
been the speedy coming of one greater
than himself—the long-looked-for and
divinely-promised Messiah. That Christ
eame in this very’ character, was apparent
in all His words and actions, and not
least in His fulfillment of prophesy, both
by His triumphal entry into Jerusalem
and Ilis cleansing of the temple. Of this,
the chief priests and scribes had put
themselves ina position to be the un-
willing witnesses,
» OBJECTORS PUZZLED,
“And they reasoned with themselves.
saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He
will say, Why then did $e not believe Wins
“ Butit we shall say, Of men; they fear.
ople: for all men counted Jobn,
hat he was a prophet indeed.
ed to secure a controversy, and were
brought to feel the mortification of their
false position. The whole force, there-
fore, of their concerted plan of question-
ing the authority of Christ was turned
back upon themselves in His
CLOSING ANSWER,
“And Jesus answering saith unto them,
Neither do I tell you by what authority I
do these things.”
Why should He? If the demonstra-
tion was not apparent in His acts, it
could not be made soin words. A good
painter does not need to underwrite the
objects he delineates, saying, this is the
horse, this the man, and this the tree or
the house.
So, Christ’s character and claims to be
the Son of God stood forth in the mire
cles He had wrought, and in the evi-
dences of divine powerand knowledge
which He had manifested. At proper
times, He had asserted His divine char-
acter and authority, and the people, in
great multitudes, had practically ac-
knowledged it, including even the buy-
ers and sellers and money-changers in
the temple, who had gone forth at His
word of rebuke.
Had the priests and scribes and elders
been candid, they would have done the
same. By not doing so, they practically
condemned themselves, and placed
themselves upon record as quibblers and
willful opponents, not only of truth, but
of Him who was the truth, the life and
the way.
From that day to this, the evidences of
Christ’s divine authority have been
growing clearer and stronger as tho
power of His truth and grace has be-
me more and more manifest to man-
kind. .
LESSON HYMN. .
Prayer makes the darkened clouds with-
draw,
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw,
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings every blessing from above,
Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;
Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright;
And Satan trembles when he sees,
The weakest saint upon his knees.
Were half the breath that’s vainly spent,
To heaven in supplication sent
eertul song would oftener be,
“ Wear what the Lord has done tor me.”
‘illiam Cowper.
“NO ROYAL ROAD.”
Euclid told Ptolemy that there was
“no royal road to geometry.’? No more
is there toany knowledge. Knowledge
isa kind of mine, where there are dia-
monds, but where you have to dig in
order to find them. In fact, there is no
royal road to anything that is worth hav-
ing. Ifathing may be had for the ask-
ing, generally it is hardly worth asking
for.
When T was a lad, the apples I climb-
ed for seemed the sweetest; and the
higher I had to go for them, the more
pleasant they seemed to the taste.
“The fruit that will fall without shaking
Is rather too mellow for me.”
I suppose working hard to get them
created an appetite. The “royal road”
to the apples would have been to have
had them handed by a waiter, in the
parlor, witha napkin and a fruit-knife.
know they wouldn’t have tasted half
so nice.
A great deal of the pleasure that comes
from anything consists in the anticipa
tion. We enjoy it before we get it, as it
v nd so to work hard for it
doubles and trebles the pleasure. .
Blessed are the boys who have to whit-
tle themselves out with their own jack-
knives; and the girls who have to clip
themselves into something with their
own shears. They make better men and
better women. Our best American
statesmen, and our best Ainerican wo-
men, are those who knew no ‘royal
road,’? but who made their own way.
And, in matters of religion, there is no
“royal road.” Ifa boyor girl thinks
that to he truthful and polite and respect-
ful and honest and_ gentle are royally
easy, he and she will make a mistake.
These things must be won, You have to
struggle for them. It is easier to be bad
than to be good, be good—manly,
womanly, young Christian gentlemen
and young Christian gentlewomen—
there is no royal road; every one has to
make his own road. The hoy who is too
lazy to shake his own apples, oughtn’t
ih for any real or fancied wrong on the part | S#id unto them, L will also ask of thee one And they answered and said unto Jesus, 4 is not
i 1 of others “But even though we have | toy yi aA Mo Tasha tttel | We cannot tel. "| willing to beat the eggs ought 10 50
B { been wronged, we must cherish the | ‘rhe p:ptism of John, was it from heaven, | ‘Thus, these objectors were practical y without any custard.—Young Church-
; ih, i J spirit of forgiveness, for or of men? answer me,” - snared in their own net. They had fail-
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