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LESSON I.- January 7, 1917.

JESUS THE LIFE AND LIGHT OF MEN.

John 1: 1-18.

PRINT vs. 1-14. MEMORIZE vs. 11, 12.

GOLDEN TEXT.-In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. - JOHN

I: 4.

THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS.

Out of Delphi came the Oracle, "If the Athenians desire good citizens, let them put whatsoever is most beautiful into the ears of their sons."

So they put into their ears golden earrings. But Pericles, the Athenian statesman, told them that the Oracle meant jewels of thought set in words of gold.

There are no richer jewels of thought to put into the ears of our scholars, none set in purer gold than the Gospel of St. John. Much of that Gospel should be learned by heart.

These fourteen verses were the first Sunday School Lesson I ever learned by heart, when very small boy. And they have remained with me ever since. It is a great blessing

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THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY.
The Expositor's Greek Testament.
Cambridge Bible for Schools. American
Commentary (Bapt. Pub. Soc.). New
Century Bible. And many others named
in the Bibliography in the Introduction.
Sears' Heart of Christ. Hastings's

Carlo Dolci-Pitti Gallery.
St. John.

for any child to have the experience of
John Ruskin whose mother" so exercised III.
me in the Scriptures as to make every
word of them familiar to my ear in habit-
ual music yet in that familiarity rever-
enced, as transcending all thought, and
ordaining all conduct."

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LEARN BY HEART.

The whole lesson.

At least vs. 1-5, 9-14.

IV.

Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels. Lyman Abbott's Personality of God (35 cts. Crowell). Robert E. Speer's The Deity of Christ.

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PLAN OF THE
LESSON.

SUBJECT: Our
Glorious Saviour.

I. THE MARVELLOUS
PLAN OF GOD
FOR SAVING THE
WORLD.

II. THE SAVIOUR

WHO IS NOW
REDEEMING

THE WORLD IS DIVINE, Vs. 1-5.
THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
HERALDING THE SAVIOUR OF THE
WORLD, vs. 6-9.

THE WORD MADE FLESH, AND
DWELLING AMONG US, vs. 10-14.

THE LESSON IN LITERATURE. The Christ Face in Art, by J. Burns. Whittier's Poems, "Eternal Goodness," and " Our Master," illustrate the

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grace and truth of the Father revealed in | part of his life, and where the Fourth Jesus. Sir Francis Eastwood's Poem Gospel was written."

"St. John the Aged," a leaflet published by the Am. Tract Soc., New York. Edwin Arnold's Light of the World.

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I. THE MARVELLOUS DIVINE PLAN OF REDEMPTION. In teaching this lesson I would begin with a brief vision of the wonderful scheme of salvation for mankind, which runs through the Bible history from beginning to end, from the first promise to man in Genesis to the new heavens and the new earth, the completed redemption, described in the last chapters of Revelation. No man has conceived, no other religion has imagined, such a plan for saving mankind from sin and its brood of evils. It bears the marks of the wisdom and love of God.

Every time I think of it, it grows "in wonder, love, and praise."

From the earliest ages there lived among the men of the world, a small people or tribe called Sons of God who worshipped the true God; among whom were such men as Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. These were the beginnings of a people which God was training to be his people prepared to receive the Son of God, the Word, when the fitness of the times should come. The whole Old Testament is the record of this preparation and training.

National Progress. Abraham was the founder of this race. They became a nation and were planted in Palestine, the best place in the whole world for them and their training. David made them a strong, highly organized kingdom. The Divided Kingdom followed; then Judah alone, the Babylonian exile, then by the Return there arose two divisions of the Jews, the dwellers in Palestine and the exiles scattered among the heathen nations; each division had its own part to do in spreading the Gospel throughout the world when the time was ripe for the coming of Jesus.

The Training. God's peculiar people lived in frequent contact with idolatry, its

fascinations, immoralities, and forces of evil. He trained and disciplined them in every possible way.

By making them feel the evils of Egyptian slavery.

By wonderful miracles of deliverance, proving that God was with them.
By great and precious promises, and glorious visions, their ideal and goal.

By revelations from God, the ten commandments from Sinai, a scheme of morals for daily life, by religious observances and means of worship, sacrifices, the tabernacle and the Temple.

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Byinspired proph

ets and their teachings.

By written scriptures, literature, Psalms, Prophets, and their own history.

By rewarding obedience, and making the way of transgressors hard.

By the Exile, by means of which they learned to hate idolatry.

By the Return to their own home.

The Conquest of the World by Rome. Note how many things converged upon this period beginning with the completion of the conquest, and continuing through the century following, so that this period was by far the best time

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Ancient Manuscript of the New Testament. Title-page and Portrait of St. John.

in the whole history of the world for the coming of the Son of man, and the planting of his kingdom.

It was a time of universal peace. The temple of Janus, the god of war, was shut. Good roads extended throughout the empire.

The Greek language was spoken everywhere.

Temple of Janus on Coin of
Nero

with the legend, "Pace per
Terram Marique partâ
Janum clusit.' ("Peace
being acquired on land
and sea he closed Janus.")

The Roman government was strong and liberal, enforcing just laws.

There was a remarkable intellectual awakening, and schools, literature, and books were multiplied.

There was a general spiritual and religious unrest.

The Jews were scattered everywhere with schools, synagogues, the scriptures, and faith in one God.

There was a widespread expectation among the Jews that the promised Messiah's coming was at hand.

The Person who was to be the Saviour of mankind, and bring the kingdom of heaven to earth was the One who was best adapted to accomplish this purpose.

He was the Word of God, by whom God created the World.

He was thus able to speak with authority concerning God, and heaven, and eternal life.

He was made flesh; so that he was human as well as divine.

He had all human experiences and temptations, yet without sin.

He was a boy, like other boys, at home, at school, at Sunday school and church.

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In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. The same was in the beginning with God.

3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

He lived as a man,

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working at a trade, teaching, healing, heroic, so perfectly

that he could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

He made atonement for sin, by his death.

He rose from the dead, as a proof and example of our resurrection after death. He sent the Holy Spirit to us.

He, by these things, brought to bear upon mankind every possible motive and influence that can lead us to repent of our sins, and to become the children of God.

Now these statements are not theories, or visions, but facts. They are living realities to-day. What Jesus has done is seen in every Christian land, compared with the condition of the people in non-Christian lands.

II. THE SAVIOUR WHO IS NOW REDEEMING THE WORLD IS DIVINE. "There are no sublimer words in all language than the first words in John's prologue." — J. R. Miller.

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1. In the beginning was the Word. The word of a man is that by which he utters himself, makes his thought and feeling known, and by his word he issues commands, and gives effect to his will. By a man's word you could perfectly know him even though you were blind, and could never see him." Similarly, the Word of God is God's power, intelligence and will, in expression, in active exercise, going forth with creative energy, and communicating life from God, . . . God revealing himself, manifesting himself, communicating himself.". Marcus Dods in Expositor's Bible. Hence the Word was with God, as the act of the will, the expression of the thought

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and purpose, are always together and inseparable; as our word " says Dr. Dods, "is close to and utters our thought, capable of being used by no one besides, but by ourselves alone." Hence the Word was God. This illustration gives us a hint as to how two things may be distinct in some relations and yet may be one. Every person's soul, with its will, its memory, its intellect, its emotions, is an example of how things may be in a measure separate, and yet all be one. There is only one God, and this statement guards against the error which the phrase "with God" might suggest, that there is more than one. No one can more emphatically assert the absolute unity of God than both the Old and the New Testaments, and the whole Christian church.

2. The same was in the beginning with God, as must be true since he was God. In Col. 1: 15, 16 we are told that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature," the actions, the outward expressions necessarily being the result of the purpose.

3. All things were made by (Am. R., "through") him. Thus in Col. 1: 16. "For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers all things were created by him, and for him."

This is the First Requisite of the Saviour We Need. knowledge and all power to save.

1. He must be divine, with all

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2. He reveals to us the personality of God. God is not merely a bright essence increate," or a power not ourselves that makes for righteousness," but is a real perliving, with will, and heart, and feelings, and all the spiritual qualities that he gave to man, and how many more we do not know. It is because He is a personality that we can know and love and obey, and pray to Him.

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3. Jesus in his person, in his actions, in his words, in his character, which we see and know, is a continual revelation of God, and of the reality of God. We have never seen God. He is invisible. It is difficult to realize his presence. But Jesus makes God real to us, as the body and words and actions of our friend make us realize his invisible spirit, which we have never seen.

4. Such a Saviour, by attracting us to himself, always attracts us to God himself. If he were not identified with the divine, all the love and honor and devotion we give to him would lead us away from God and tend to idolatry. Now, the more we love Jesus, the more we love God.

4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended

it not.

5. The Son of God, our elder brother, reveals to us the Fatherhood of God, and makes us acquainted with his fatherly feelings, love, care, friendship, and training; a perpetual ideal for parents, and an ever-present means for children to become acquainted with God.

The Second Requisite is Life. V. 4. In him was life. “That power which creates life and maintains all else in existence was in the Word." He was the fountain of existence to all things, including every form and degree and kind of life, natural and spiritual. So Exp. Greek Test.

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"For as the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them [makes them alive] even so the Son quickeneth whom he will" (John 5:21-26; 6: 47-58). In the first chapters of Genesis the word create (whose meaning is interpreted by v. 3 of this chapter, "to cause to come into being ") is used only three times, (1) of matter, (2) of life, (3) of the soul of man; and at each of these points the efforts of men to produce these by the forces of nature have proved a complete failure. Life comes from life, and only from life, the life of God. The Century Dictionary defines life as "that state of an animal or a plant in which its organs are in actual performance of their functions, or are capable of performing their functions. Thus one's body may be alive, while the higher nature is dead, dead to all the best things God has given us, the life of the soul, the spirit. Spiritual life means more than mere existence, and Eternal Life means more than eternal existence. It is the kind of life for which the soul was created. It is the condition where every part of the soul fulfils the functions for which it was made in the image of God. Hence we need the new birth, which Christ taught to Nicodemus, the life of love, the life that is full of heavenly activities, the life that does not perish when the body dies, but which enables us to

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Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." — - Bailey.

The Third Essential is Light, 4, 5. And the life was the light of men as told in the story of creation, when the living Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters, the fluid material, the next word was, Let there be light. For not only was the first effect of life on matter to produce light, but the first condition of seeing the light is life. All the light in the universe cannot make dead things see. Dead minds cannot know, nor can dead souls see. The first need of the spiritual life, is to see.

Light is everything to us. All things are practically non-existent without light. Light set in motion by life is the source of life, of beauty, of manifested reality, of warmth, comfort, and joy, of health, and of power. Now, what light does for the natural world Jesus does for the world of man, for mind, soul, and spirit. He reveals God, and heaven, and truth; he shows the way; he cheers, comforts, vivifies, renews. 5. The light shineth in darkness. "The darkness" (Am. R.). The darkness of the physical universe, changing it into all the glories and blessedness inconceivable, which all living beings enjoy. Still more, the light shines in the darkness of sin and ignorance and error, the spiritual darkness of the world, without hope, without God, without heaven.

And the darkness comprehended (Am. R., “apprehended ") it not. Did not admit or receive the light so that the darkness would be removed; did not grasp or take possession of, as one would grasp a prize in the games. The world has never yet received all the light God has sent.

Another reading is given in the Am. R. margin, " the darkness overcame it not." The light was really victorious in the end. "From the very beginning light enters on its long struggle with darkness, changing chaos into a perfect world, and the

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