6. 1 But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7. 2 Be not deceived; 3 God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. unto own eternal life. 8. 5 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9. And let us not be well doing: for in due season we shall reap, weary in well-doing: 7 if we faint not. IO. 8 As we have therefore 9 do good toward unto all So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is unto men, and especially toward who habit that is more responsible for the troubles of these boys than the vile cigarette habit. No pure-minded, honest, manly, brave, gentle boy will smoke cigarettes.' 3. PROHIBITION, HOW IT HAS Worked in KANSAS, from the report of the Attorney General of the state. “Five hundred and sixteen thousand children in the public schools of Kansas never saw an open saloon in the State." "More than one-half of the county jails are empty." 66 Sixty-five of the one hundred and five counties of the State have no inmates in the State penal institutions." 66 Many counties have not had a jury to try a criminal case in ten years." "Eighty-seven counties have no insane." 66 66 66 'Fifty-four counties have no feeble-minded." Ninety-six counties have no inebriates." 'Twenty-nine counties have not a single inmate on their poor farms.” "Kansas is the second richest State in the Union; its average wealth per capita is $1,700." "Kansas has a death rate of seven and one-half per thousand - the lowest in the world." "Less than ten of the 786 newspapers in the State accept liquor advertisements." Is it, therefore, any wonder that though" Kansas is the driest dry State, prohibition sentiment is stronger than at any time in her history?"- From Otterbein Teacher, 1913. III. The Power of the Far-sighted Vision of Life, vs. 7-9. A ministerial friend of mine was very near-sighted in his boyhood. Till he was twelve years old he never saw a distant prospect or viewed a landscape. At that age his father gave him near-sighted spectacles, and for the first time he knew what a landscape was. It was like the creation of a new world, though that world had always been there, but unseen. Every wise person looks beyond the present to the results of what he is doing to-day. Near-sighted spiritual eyes are the ruin of many a young person. For God's eternal law is that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The whole life is a time of sowing, and he is a fool that does not look forward to the harvest, and see to it that he sows the kind of seed that will produce the harvest he desires. Be not deceived; God is not mocked. You cannot successfully defy his laws of the seed and the harvest. Each period of life is the sowing time for the harvest. And that harvest is the seed for the next period. The harvest is larger than the seed sown. Put in your balances the two kinds of sowing. In one scale place, (1) He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. Sowing to the flesh is making the appetites and passions, the selfish desires and aims supreme. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5: 19–21.) Every one of these is nourished and intensified by wine and strong drink. (2) In the other scale place, But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And here is the harvest that a temperate, total-abstinence, religious life will bring: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. WHICH SEEMS TO YOU BEST? WHICH WILL YOU CHOOSE? DECIDE TO-DAY. LESSON VII. November 15. JESUS AND PETER. - Mark 14: 27-31, 53, 54, 66-72. PRINT Mark 14:53, 54, 66–72. COMMIT vs. 71, 72. READ Matt. 26:69-75. GOLDEN TEXT.- Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.1 COR. 10:12. THE TEACHER can learn wisdom from a wise mother. "How many children are there in this reading club of yours?" "There have been ten so far, and two more are going to join next week." "And they are all ages? "From 6 to 12," said the Little Mother, counting on her fingers; "yes, Grace is the oldest and she is just 12." "How do you manage it, read one book to some and another to others?" "I am not Janus, dear; that would be impossible." "Do you mean to tell me that you can interest Grace in a book that Marian can understand?" "No, but I can interest Marian in a book that Grace can understand." He looked confused. LEARN BY HEART. 1 Peter 1:7; Luke 22: 61, 62. THE ROUND TABLE. The character of Peter before he came to Jesus. How all this affected his later life. PLAN OF THE LESSON. II. III. "I mean," explained the Little Mother, "that I select the book which appeals to the oldest child. The younger ones can glean IV. enough to hold their interest, but if I choose my book for the youngest the older ones would be restless before I had read a page. Don't your philosophers tell you that the world is tuned to the note struck by the greatest among you?" "No, it is the Little Mothers that tell us that." THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING. Time. -The denials were early Friday morning, April 7, A. d. 30. Place. - In the court of the Palace of the high priest Caiaphas, in Jerusalem. PETER IN THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST. THE SIFTING OF PETER, Mark 14:53,54, 66-72. THE RESTORATION OF Peter. THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY. Peter in the Firelight, by William Allen Knight (Pilgrim Press). The Cross Builders, by T. C. McClelland (Crowell). The Making of Simon Peter, by Southouse (Eaton and Mains). Gethsemane and After, by Rev. Cyrus Townsend Brady (Moffat, Yard & Co.). The Apostles as Everyday Men, by Robert Ellis Thompson (S. S. Times Co.). Bruce's Training of the Twelve (T. & T. Clark). Garvie's Studies in the Inner Life of Jesus (Armstrong). Vance's College of the Apostles (Revell). THE LESSON IN ART. THE LESSON IN LITERATURE. Longfellow's "The Sifting of Peter." The Denial of Peter, by Benj. West,* Mrs. Browning's Poems, the three sonnets, by Dieteich,* by Harrach,* by Teniers. "The Two Sayings," "The Look," "The Repentance of Peter. Carlo Dolci* (FlorMeaning of the Look." Ambrose's Hymn ence); by Murillo (Louvre). Peter, in Dürat the Cock Crowing. Mrs. Emily Judson's er's Peter and John; by Fra Bartolommeo* "Denial by Peter." Mary Moultrie's "Leg- (Rome). end of St. Peter." Our lesson to-day is a study of THE MAKING OF PETER and a study of the process and principles of his making, which illuminate THE METHODS AND CHARACTER OF JESUS. The story of the making of Peter is full of instruction for modern times. 6 I. Peter's First Acquaintance with Jesus, John 1:41, 42. "If a vote were taken as to the most popular apostle, Peter would get a majority. He flames with contradictions, and yet we seem to understand him best of all. He visits very often in a little house called Myself' which stands hard by the dusty highway of life. Without his enthusiasm, his candor, his blunders and new starts, the gospel stories would have been poorer." The Cross Builders. "Peter_remains even to-day the most fascinating of that band of men which surrounded our Lord in the days of his earthly pilgrimage." J. Campbell Morgan. He was impulsive, brave, self-confident, overflowing with energy and zeal, whole-souled, ready to act before he thought, generous-hearted, capable of a burning enthusiastic loyalty and love, a natural leader of men, a prosperous business man, owner of a house, and a boat for his business. At heart he was sincere and true. He was conscious of imperfection and sin, as shown by his saying to Jesus in view of a display of his power, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord: and by his coming with his companions from Galilee to Judea to hear John the Baptist, he shows that he repented and was a sincere seeker for the better life and the kingdom of heaven. "Probably the traditional view of Peter as a rough, uneducated peasant is a considerable exaggeration of one side of the truth. He had not the culture of Paul, but he could read and write, knew two languages, Aramaic, the common language of Palestine, and conversational Greek. He was a well-to-do business man, owning a house in Capernaum, and a boat on the Sea of Galilee. He had the traits — vigor, courage, resourcefulness which the life of a fisherman on the lake would necessarily develop in a healthy character.”. Hastings's Bib. Dict. Here was the raw material for the making of a great and good man out of Peter. And when his brother Andrew introduced him to Jesus, immediately Jesus recognized the possibilities in him, and took the best possible way of enabling Peter to be the man he might become. Peter's name at that time was "Simon," a common name belonging to all kinds of men. Jesus says to Peter, Thou art Simon. Thou shalt be called Cephas = Peter a stone, a rock. Thou shalt be a Rock-man. Simon was the soft stone like the building stone when it is first taken from certain quarries in Ohio, easily carved into any desirable form, but which soon becomes a hard rock fit for building cathedrals and libraries and homes. Then it has become Peter. This was a vision, a hope, a prophecy, an ideal for Peter. Beneath the shifting sands of impulse lay the solid rock of a possible character that nothing could move from its firm foundation. Jesus saw the true nature and possibilities of Peter. It was a name and a character he could win through many a hard experience, many a struggle, "tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt," long instruction and abiding with Jesus, many prayers "with strong crying and tears," and many a fall from which he rose stronger than before. "And God shall make divinely real And Peter's life says to us : "Whatever obstacles control, Thine hour will come; go on, true soul, II. Peter in the School of Christ. Peter came immediately under the influence of Jesus. There was much to be done. His incohesive qualities were to be unified into one beautiful whole; the separate and sometimes discordant notes of his character were to be formed into the exquisite harmonies of a Hallelujah chorus. "Three influences in particular were at work in securing this result. "1. His personal association with the Master. "2. The direct teaching which he received at His hands. "3. The share he was allowed to have in His work." For a year and a half Peter was a fellow-student with the other disciples of Jesus, witnessing his miracles of healing and help, watching his methods, imbibing his spirit, receiving his instructions; all these made more effective by being learned in the same school together with the other disciples. The greatest influence in this training was the wonderful personality of Jesus. Soul grows by contact with soul. The power of the teaching lies in the teacher behind the teaching, and the scholar finding "His being working in my own The ancient Persian monarchs acted on this principle when, according to Xenophon's Memorabilia, they selected for the training of their princes the four best men in their kingdom, the wisest man, the most just man, the most temperate, self-controlled man, and the bravest man, - men who could teach the virtues well because they had experienced them, men who could illustrate them by living examples. Peter's teacher was the wisest, most just, most self-governed, the most brave person the world has known. Then Peter was called to a higher grade, by his election to be one of the chosen twelve. He is always in that list, placed in the first group. Jesus seems to have had a special love for Peter and John who were so different, but each having the most perfect comprehension of Jesus and his work. Peter was the first to see that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God," which truth was revealed to him "not by flesh and blood but by my Father who is in heaven." Peter was one of three to see Jesus in his glory on the mount of transfiguration. He was brought very near to Jesus on other special occasions. His experience in the storm on the lake was a new lesson. So it was also at the Lord's supper. NOTICE that all through this period Peter made many mistakes and errors, but almost always they were faults in connection with virtues. NOTICE also the wise, loving gentleness of Jesus in His methods of curing Peter of his faults. He did not launch woes at him as He necessarily did at the hypocrites whom nothing but thunderbolts could move. The only seeming exception is when Peter rashly rebuked his Master for foretelling His death, and Jesus said to him "Get thee behind me, Satan," for Peter was unconsciously repeating Satan's temptation in the wilderness, which was revived by Peter's words. In every instance Jesus's reproofs of Peter were by a gentle question, or a look, or an action, or a warning. This beautiful and delicate mode of reproof, as of beloved friend to friend, was the most effective possible, and is well worth the attention of those ministers and teachers who try to make their church members better by scolding and denunciation. Thus we gain glimpses of Peter in the school of Christ, till we see him in the next higher and more difficult period of his schooling beginning on the day of the crucifixion. III. The Sifting of Peter. His Three Denials of His Master, Mark 14:53, 54, 66-72. THE SCENE now before us is still in the palace of Caiaphas, in the open court from which steps led up to the hall in which Jesus was being tried. THE TIME was very early on Friday morning, the day of the crucifixion. IN THE COURT were gathered people of various kinds, "officers of the military guard, who, having delivered over their prisoner, were awaiting further orders concerning him; "servants, Levites, and the hangers-on of the high priest's family lounging about.” In the court was a brazier of lighted charcoal, for it was chilly. 66 Peter and John had followed afar off the multitude accompanying the guards who were taking Jesus to the high priest's palace. 'John, who knew some of the officers, secured admission for himself and Peter; and he went into the judgment chamber, while Peter stayed outside within the shadow of a porch, from which the open windows of the second story could clearly be seen, and through them what went on in the council. The seductive flames of the brazier beckoned Peter from his solitary hiding-place to share the warmth which the group of coarse men and women were enjoying, while they told assembled there come 53. And they led Je'sus away to the high priest: and with him were together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. 54. And Pē'tĕr within, high priest; and he followed him afar off, even and warmed officers, warming into the palace of the himself court at the fire. in the light of the fire. 66. 2 And as Pē'ter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest; and seeing court, 67. And when she saw Pe'ter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with saith, Thou Je'sus of Naz'a-reth. I 68. But he denied, saying, I either know, nor understand what thou sayest: he went out into the porch; and the cock crew. And and 1 Matt. 26: 57; Luke 22: 54; John 18: 13. 2 Matt. 26: 58, 69; Luke 22: 55; John 18: 16. those who staid at home of the strange things which had happened in the olive garden." The Cross Builders. "On the ground floor, under this hall, were rooms for servants and for various domestic purposes. As in modern Eastern houses, there was probably in this house, in addition to the kitchen and other domestic rooms, a stable and accommodations for poultry, so that it is quite possible that the cock whose crowing brought such distress to the wretched Peter was not very far away from him.”- Prof. Albert L. Long, Constantinople, in S. S. Times. THE WARNING. A few hours before Jesus had put Peter on his guard, lest he be taken by surprise. Satan the concentrated essence of all the powers of evil — said Jesus to Peter, asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat (Luke), may toss and shake you up, by temptations, persecutions, dangers, and alarms, like wheat tossed into the wind by the winnowing fan; so that you shall fall away from the faith as the chaff and dust are blown away from the threshing floor. Satan desired to place Peter in such battle-fires of temptations that Peter should fall before them, and thus the man, who was in the front rank of the apostles, one of the mightiest forces for the building up of the kingdom of heaven, and for the overthrow of Satan's kingdom, should be a failure, a wreck, a traitor, like Judas with whom he had succeeded. But Jesus knew that the making of Peter required that he be tried and tested by fire before he could be fitted for his great work. And he said to Satan, "Thus far and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed;" and himself prayed for Peter that his faith fail not, and that he should come from the furnace like gold tried in the fire. He did not pray that Peter should escape the sifting of Satan, for the sifting was an essential part of his education. "God's sieve drives away the chaff, and saves the wheat. Satan's sieve saves the chaff, and drives away the wheat.” - Van Doren. "All the Father's chastenings are with a view to sift his children as wheat. the essence of the ways of God with men alike in providence and grace.” Christ and the Gospels. It is of - Dic. of All persons, all causes, all reforms, all business, all government, need the sifting of Satan, - the difficulties, the persecution, the uprisings, the criticisms, of which Satan and his servants are the instruments, but which the wise use as a means of growing purer, wiser, nearer the ideal. "Satan desires us, great and small, As wheat to sift us, and we all Not one, however rich or great, THE SIFTING OF PETER. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, on the court level, a story lower than the hall where the trial was being held. He was sitting with the officers and warming himself in the light of the fire, for it was chilly, Jerusalem being 2000 feet above the level of the sea. ONE OF THE MAIDS OF THE HIGH PRIEST (looking steadfastly on Peter): Thou also wast with the Nazarene, even Jesus. PETER. I neither know nor understand what thou sayest. Peter immediately left his exposed position in the firelight and went out into the porch near the outside door. |