44. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. and transforms them, even so it is with the leaven of the Gospel, graciously infecting the mass lying contiguously around it. 4. "Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole mass ? " "The leaven of the evangel gradually assimilated to itself the whole moral nature, choice, will, reason, imagination, conscience, habit; thus leavening the entire man, spirit, soul, and body. This is true of society at large; transfiguring the world's moralities, business, politics, opinions, customs, civilization." It has worked marvellously. The missionary work in foreign lands is a fine example. THIRD, ver. 44. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field. The hiding of treasure is necessary where there are no banks, where the country is frequently overrun by robbers, where no one can trust another to hold his treasures or to use them in business, and where the rulers are rapacious to obtain the wealth of their subjects. In the unsettled state of the country often the owners never returned, and all knowledge of the treasure was lost. The story of Captain Kidd is familiar to all. A Modern Example. On the 17th of February, 1906, the building of the girls' Seminary at Aintab, Turkey, was destroyed by fire. The next year, when excava One of the Coins (Dutch Guldens) Found at Aintab, Turkey, 1907. tions were being made for the foundations of a new building, to replace the one which had been burned, the workmen came upon a large iron pot, of European rather than Oriental design, filled with about twelve hundred silver coins. Over a thousand of these were about the size of a silver dollar, the remainder being of varying smaller sizes. And for joy thereof, because of the great value of the treasure, worth much more than all his possessions, selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. The Treasure is the infinite value to man of the kingdom of heaven. It includes all that makes the kingdom of heaven what it is. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, Neither have entered into the heart of man, The things which God hath prepared for them that love him. "And There are vast hidden treasures in the kingdom of heaven, beyond all "that we can ask or even think." "The unsearchable riches of Christ " (Eph. 3: 8). to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us " (Eph. 3: 19, 20). All the inventions of modern civilization, countless treasures, were hidden from almost every one a century ago. So even to those who know something of the kingdom of heaven there are vast realms of blessings still unseen. New experiences and deeper study reveal new preciousness in religion and in Christ, as the telescope and microscope reveal wonders in the world wholly unseen by the natural eyes. 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48. Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Science has not created a new world, but only revealed more treasures in the old world. Think what the lightning revealed to Franklin in 1752; and what marvels electricity is doing in the world to-day. FOURTH, VS. 45, 46. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls. Whatever one wants of good must be sought and paid for. They must be sought as the Wise Men of the East sought the promised King, leaving their home and following the guiding star over mountains and rivers, through perils of robbers, and perils in the wilderness, in weariness and painfulness. He that would possess the "hid treasure" of the "pearl of great price," must prize them above all other things; he must give up everything that is inconsistent with them, even as a man," says Trench, "would willingly fling down pebbles and mosses, which hitherto he had been gathering, and with which he had filled his hands, if pearls and precious stones were offered to him in their stead." 66 FIFTH, VS. 47-50. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind. The fisherman could not see through the waters which were good and which were bad. But when they were drawn ashore, they gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. Note that this separation is not to be made by man, but by the angels, who are the reapers who separate the tares from the wheat, the just from the unjust, at the end of the world, or of the age. These angels shall sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. So it will be as related in Matt. 25 and in the Book of Revelation, because the wicked refuse to do God's will and to keep his commandments. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. There are many other characterizations of the Kingdom of God, or of Heaven, in the New Testament. Jesus himself compares it (Mark 4: 26-28) to a seed growing secretly; sown in the ground and growing through the power of God, no man could tell how. He told his disciples that only as they became humble and teachable as a little child (Matt. 18: 2, 3) could they enter the Kingdom. And he also told them that the Kingdom came not with observation, but was within the soul of man (Luke 17:20, 21). Paul gives a great condition of being in the Kingdom, that every thought shall be in captivity to obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10: 3-5). IV. THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH. We are given an absolute assurance in the teaching of Christ and his apostles that the Kingdom of God will come on the earth as well as in heaven. It is the answer to the prayer "Thy Kingdom come, and Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." Here we must make a distinction in our study. Our next lesson is concerned with THE FUTURE Life in Heaven, the departure of Christians at death into some of the many mansions prepared for them by Jesus. This goes on from generation to generation, and has been going on for thousands of years. Therefore we leave the question of the individual life in heaven for discussion in the next lesson. The present lesson is concerned, First, with the growth and progress of the Kingdom of heaven on earth, its final, perfect, spiritual life; and Second, the perfect adaptation of the world to the spiritual life lived upon it. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21 : 3). The movement of God's people as described in the Bible, from the beginning to the end, is always toward the Golden Age. Not a dream of the past, not a looking backward, but a vision of the future, an ideal, a promise and assurance of better times to come. The Bible as a whole ends with a vision of heaven, and of the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of God. It must be so with such a leader as we have. We are fighting against principalities and powers of evil, but even in the darkest day we know that our cause shall triumph, our work shall be a success. There is a great deal of evil in the world yet, in the best of countries, in the best of people.__But it is evil fought against. It is good gaining the victory slowly but surely. Those who work wrongs and crimes cannot enter the kingdom. About twenty-five years ago (1895) Dr. E. E. Hale wrote a book entitled When Jesus Came to Boston. He represents Jesus as a Syrian stranger from over the sea arriving in Boston in search of his long-lost brother. He is taken in charge, and visits every place in the city whose work is to save lost men from sin and suffering. Inquiries are made at the Associated Charities, the Rescue Missions, the College Settlements, The Churches, the Sunday Schools, the day schools, the hospitals, the soup-kitchens, the kitchen-gardens, the Young Men's Christian Associations, the Young Women's Christian Associations, the Salvation Army, the evening schools, the children's Homes, the day-nurseries, the public libraries, the police-stations, the courthouses, the reformatories, the homes for the aged and the sick, and innumerable other places for the help of mankind. No one knew more about these things in Boston than did Dr. E. Ê. Hale, or had more to do with them. But the half cannot be told. Not one person in a thousand of those who go daily to any great city know one-tenth, hardly one-hundredth part, of the efforts made to help our fellow men. And since that book was written there has been a marvellous, almost miraculous progress in ways of making our country better, even beyond our brightest dreams. Just as fast and as far as man is filled with the spirit and life of " the new heaven," so fast will the physical world become transformed into a more perfect instrument for the use and work of the higher spiritual life. The century in which we are living is an illustration and proof of this double and parallel movement. The spirit of Christ which is spreading the Gospel all over the world, the spirit of love and service which is seeking to uplift and save and cure and comfort the bodies and souls of all who are in need, whether at the battle front, or at the rear, or at home, these could not accomplish their purpose so perfectly, so abundantly, without the wonderful development of the hitherto unknown powers of the physical world, beyond all the visions and dreams of men. Any one who reads the story of former centuries can see the great difference between the wars of the past and that of our day. It is not only in the fact of more powerful instruments of destruction; it is still more apparent in the progress of the fight against disease in the army, the larger proportion of the wounded who recover, the far greater care taken for the bodily comfort, and for the mental, moral and religious comfort, even for the enjoyment, of the soldiers who are fighting the battles, or who are resting at the rear for another turn at the front. Any one who looks back to the early years of the past century can understand what a vast change has come since then. The progress of modern home and foreign missions, the spread of the Gospel to the most of the nations and peoples of the world, has in this past century so far surpassed anything in the centuries before, that we may almost feel that everything has come since the opening of the nineteenth century. V. THE HOLY CITY OF GOD. There never before were so many signs of the coming of the City of God from heaven as there are to-day; never so many great movements toward it, so many combinations of influences, so many instrumentalities for aiding its coming, such great strides toward the time when the kingdoms of the earth shall become the Kingdom of Heaven. We can get glimpses of the day-star that heralds the morning, shining through the rifts in the storm-clouds of evil and sufferings. Read the poem beginning" Have we seen her, the New City," by M. O. B. Wilkinson in the Independent in 1912, quoted in Select Notes for 1918, page 195. A Warning. "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." (Rev. 21 : 27.) The Invitation. Rev. 22:17. "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." THE NEW CITY "Not in the wind-hushed isles and gardens Elysian, "Lo, a City, a City, behold in its centre Justice throned in light exceeding the sun; Nothing unclean or that maketh a lie shall enter "Only a nation of conquerors ever may win it; Its streets shall be filled with the shouting of children at play. "Age by age shall toil in the night, disdaining Peril and pain for hope of its distant gleam; Life by life shall the laborers pay in attaining The gray world's desperate dream. "Thus shall we build it, - the crown of His ended creations, Stone by stone of our hunger and faith and love A city of cities, a city of mighty nations, And God the ruler thereof." Anna Louise Strong, in the Pilgrim Magazine. "Let, then, the sons of the kingdom go forth and proclaim everywhere the approaching Basileia [kingdom] of God. Let them proclaim it in its kingly origin, its kingly purpose, its kingly nature, its kingly methods, its kingly terms, its kingly extent, its kingly issue. "Go forth then, O Church of the Kingly Testimony, and summon the nations to greet the advancing King." · Boardman. AMEN, EVEN SO, COME, LORD Jesus. LESSON XI (24). - September 14. THE FUTURE LIFE.- Matt. 25: 31-46; John 14:2, 3; 2 Cor. GOLDEN TEXT. of Christ. 5:10; 1 Pet. 1:3-5. PRINT Matt. 25:31-46. For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat 2 COR. 5: 10. Devotional Reading: Rev. 7:9-17. Additional Material for Teachers: John 6: 39-58; II: 25, 26; 1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 4: 14-5 10; Rev. 7:9-17. Primary Topic: THE HEAVENLY HOME. Lesson Material: John 14: 2, 3; Rev. 22: 1-5. Memory Verse: In my Father's house are many mansions. . I go to prepare a place for you. — John 14: 2. Junior Topic: LIFE AFTER DEATH. Lesson Material: Same as Primary. Memory Verses: John 13: 1-3. Intermediate Topic: LIFE HERE AND BEYOND. Senior and Adult Topic: BIBLICAL TEACHING ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE, THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS. The lesson can be introduced to the young people by the interesting story of "The Banished Kings," in Trench's Poems, which is an exquisite moral tale, representing a child as a king come suddenly to an unknown shore, with wealth, councillors, and servants almost without limit. The wise man tells him that at some unknown time he will be called away to islands out of sight, in the blue sea, and advises him to have a home built there, and send seeds and treasures there to await his coming. Royal towns were built, fountains played, flowers bloomed, orchards bore fruits. "To him sweet odors from that isle were blown And all the yearnings of his soul were there," and when the call came, he "To his isle a willing journey took, And found diviner pleasure in that shore Than all his proudest state had known before." Biology. Westcott's Gospel of the Resurrection. Arthur C. Benson's Until the Evening. Tennyson's Crossing the Bar," discussed by Dr. George A. Gordon. The Land of Pure Delight, by Dr. George A. Gordon. Lake's The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Professor Milligan's Resurrection of Our Lord. The School of Life, by Washington Gladden. Commentaries on 1 Cor. 15. Yale Divinity Quarterly, 1912, on "Immortality." Bibliotheca Sacra, Oct., 1916, on Recent Science and the Soul's Survival." The Drama of the Apocalypse, by Frederick Palmer. Countless INTRODUCTION. Every one knows that at some time he must die. millions have died, and we are no exception, whether we be old or young. The first thing, therefore, is to live a life that is worth living forever. Jesus Christ came from heaven that he might teach us to live such a life, and save us from our sins, and fit us to live with Him. For thousands of years the people living on the earth have died, but there is abundance of room in God's universe. Our earth is very small indeed compared with the millions of stars, 66 66 a hundred million of stars," some of which are at least 200,000,000,000,000 miles from the earth, so that there is abundance of room for all God's people, and his angels." — From Curiosities of the Sky, by G. P. Serviss, LL.B. FIRST: WE HAVE MANY PROMISES OF ETERNAL LIFE. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS is a proof and a promise of life beyond the grave. "Christ's resurrection is one of the best attested facts of history." Not only was He restored to life, but during 40 days He was repeatedly seen by those who knew and recognized Him; and once was seen by more than 500 at once. And none of His disciples had expected it. His ascension was a promise of eternal life. He did not live for a few years and then again die. He proved Himself an ever-living Saviour by the way in which He left the earth. Paul saw Him several years after His ascension, again proving His continued life. “LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, even unto the end of the world,' - said Jesus to His disciples after His resurrection (Matt. 28: 20). He has fulfilled this promise. His appearance to Paul (Acts 9) and to John (Rev. 1), proved this. He has accomplished what no human being, nor angel, could accomplish in building up the Christian religion through 19 centuries. |