p. 10 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 6. (2/5/1902)

GOD’S MOTHER LOVE.

One never outgrows the need and the value of a mother’s love. The child in the man is the best part of the man, and it is the mother that meets his child nature, from the beginning to the close of life. When an honored and aged man needed sleep in the restless weeks of his closing life, he could be comforted to rest by one sitting by his bedside, and patting him to sleep, and singing lullabies to him, as his mother had patted and sung to him when a weak little child. The mother side of a father’s nature is the father’s best side. Even God, as our Father in heaven, recognizes this, and He assures us that there is a mother side to His love, which He knows we need. Therefore He says, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.”—Anon.

HINTS FOR DYSPEPTICS.

How to Aid Nature in the Cure of This Distressing Malady.

EAT slowly, masticating the food very thoroughly, even more if possible than is required in health, says Public Health Journal. The more time the food spends in the mouth, the less it will spend in the stomach. Avoid drinking at meals; at most take a few sips of warm drink at the close of the meal if the food is very dry in character.

In general, dyspeptic stomachs manage dry food better than that containing much fluid. Eat neither very hot nor cold food. The best temperature is about that of the body. Avoid exposure to cold after eating. Be careful to avoid excess in eating. Eat no more than the wants of the system require. Sometimes less than is really needed must be taken when digestion is very weak. Strength depends not on what is eaten, but on what is digested. Never take violent exercise of any sort, either mental or physical, either just before or just after a meal. Never eat more than three times a day, and make the last meal very light. For many dyspeptics two meals are better than more. Never eat a morsel of any sort between meals. Never eat when very tired, whether exhausted from mental or physical labor. Never eat when the mind is worried or the temper ruffled if possible to avoid doing so.

Eat only food that is easy of digestion, avoiding complicated and indigestible dishes and take but one to three kinds at a meal. Most persons will be benefited by the use of oatmeal, wheatmeal, cracked wheat, and other whole-grain preparations, tho many will find it necessary to avoid vegetables, especially when fruits are taken.—Anon.

Preparing for an Indian Summer

THE youngest among us are preparing an Indian summer of peace or laying the foundation for an unhappy old age. It is a long look ahead, but it is inevitable; unless we mellow and soften and ripen with years, unless we deepen the channel of the spiritual nature, unless we exercise a noble self-control and live for pure, high, generous aims, there can be no Indian summer for the soul. The aftermath is gathered from all that is gone before. . . . We think less than we should of the old men and women we are to be, if it is God’s purpose to let us go down the slope of life. Day by day we should seek to hive a little mellow sunshine for our Indian summer.—Christian Register.

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IT IS ENOUGH.

By John Wm. Stein

(An Evening Reflection.)

I HOARD no pelf for burglar's hands, I crave no proud estates, nor lands; My portion is in simpler fee Than lands and chattels here can be.

I have this life and that to come, The Lord is my eternal home; In Him I've all, with naught to grieve, That heart can wish, or mind conceive; It is enough, I sweetly sleep Where proud hearts wake to watch and weep.

My wealth no one can confiscate, Nor banish me from my estate; My treasure can not canker, rust, My mansion crumbles not to dust; My city can not be defiled, Its keeper can not be beguiled; My love and friendships last forever, My fondest ties death can not sever; Let false ambition worry, weep,— God “giveth His beloved sleep.”

Battle Creek, Mich. JOHN WM. STEIN.

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THE GREAT MISSIONARY.

By E. J. Burnham

JESUS is the pattern Missionary. He saw the human race lost and undone. Man had forfeited to our common foe the beautiful estate bestowed upon him in the beginning. He was cut off from the family of heaven, from the life of God, and from intercourse with God and angels. Jesus knew that under such circumstances human life would be beset with cares and sorrows, with suffering, strife, and woes innumerable, and that its end would be the blackness of hopeless despair, the inevitable and terrible punishment of sin.

When all was lost, Jesus undertook for man. He came to destroy sin, the root from which all human misery springs. He laid aside His high command in heaven, His equality with the Father, the glory and the joy that were His “before the world was.” He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” For “in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God.” He “was in all points tempted like as we are.” Well He knows what sin has wrought; for, tho “without sin,” He has felt its sting. And “in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.”

Divine love and pity constrained the Son of God. It was this love that sustained Him when He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Love faltered not when by contact with sin and its consequences His heart was pierced to its depths, nor when He had to meet the cruel venom of those who hated Him for the very beauty and excellence of His character.

It was love that sustained Him through weary days of toil and sleepless nights of prayer for those He came to save. He looked upon the multitudes that thronged Him; and “He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” And so it was that He “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom.” For He was the Great Teacher. Everywhere and on all occasions, both by precept and example, He taught the way of life, the principles of righteousness. He showed men how the principles that rule in the kingdom of God apply in the affairs of every-day life; and He taught that those who do not love and practise righteousness here, will have no place in that glorious, everlasting kingdom. He reproved sin; but the repenting sinner ever found forgiveness and welcome.

Jesus ministered to physical as well as to spiritual needs. With tender, watchful care He looked out for the comfort of those who sought Him. He fed the hungry, comforted the sorrowing, and healed “every sickness and every disease among the people.” They found in Him a compassionate, sympathizing Friend, and so may we. He knows what it is to be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”

Jesus lived as our Example as well as our Redeemer, our Teacher, and our Friend. As He was, “so are we in this world.” In His prayer for His disciples just before His death, He said: “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” And this is just as true to-day. We are His representatives to carry on His merciful work in the world, and to show in our lives His character and the power and excellence of His truth. He expects us to do the same works that He did, and manifest the same spirit, being moved by the same principle of unselfish love that ruled His earth-life. He calls upon us to “do good,” to “be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;” “to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God,” and especially to help those to “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

“Ask not to be excused, There’s earnest work to do; Stand ready to be used Where God may station you.”

E. J. BURNHAM

THE PEOPLE OF BRAZIL.

By W. H. Thurston

[From Mission Board Correspondence.]

Brazil is a polyglot country. It was settled, however, by the Portuguese, hence the prevailing language is Portuguese.

The Portuguese are a white race, but the native Brazilians, so called, are a dark race, having a mixture of Portuguese and Indian blood.

The Portuguese and the Brazilians all speak the same language, and are one people in Brazil. In fact, there is neither caste nor color-line in Brazil. They are all one people the country over, and the Germans, French, Negroes, Italians, English, Scandinavians, and Americans have intermarried. There is probably less of this intermarrying with other nationalities among the English and Americans; but even these are becoming somewhat mixed.

The people are very polite, genteel, and courteous. In traveling through the country, one is made welcome everywhere, and finds great opportunities for doing good. It is true the scribes and Pharisees often object to the missionary’s work, and sometimes violence is used; but the good work goes on.

The religion of the country is Catholic. The people are extremely religious, but have very little knowledge of Christianity. They have many feast-days, and saints’ days, and holidays, when they parade the streets in long processions, carrying images of wood and of plaster, the work of their own hands.

Tho the established religion is Catholic, the constitution guarantees equal rights to all religious societies; but, sad to say, it is not always granted by the people. Many are withdrawing from the Catholic faith, and claim to be Protestants; but still do not accept genuine Christianity.

There are numerous large, elegant churches, and a profound reverence is shown for these places. Men always remove their hats while passing a church, and never is a word spoken by the laity while inside the building. The finest churches are in the capital, Rio de Janeiro, and what is done there is law and gospel for all Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro has a population of about 600,000, and is situated on the south side of a beautiful bay, probably the finest harbor in the world. It is said to be ten miles wide and twenty miles long, and the entrance is only one mile wide. With ease the largest ships can enter, and lie in safety.

The first Portuguese explorers entered the bay in the month of January, and, taking it to be the mouth of a large river, named it Rio de Janeiro—River of January—and the city took its name from this. It is probably the gayest and grossest city in South America; but there are many good people in its borders, and an influence for good is being wielded by Christian societies laboring there. The Macedonian cry, “Come over and help us,” is still being heard from Brazil, and who will respond?

W. H. THURSTON.

THE VALUE OF A SONG.

By Edison Driver

THERE are times in human life when nothing else will take the place of a true Christian song. It has a power for good that few realize, even of those who are benefited thereby. But now and then it does happen that a man can tell us what to him has been the value of a single song, listen:—

A little orphan, called “Jim,” was known to the police of the poor section of New York as a youthful terror. If any boyish meanness had been committed, of course “Jim was at the head of it.” But finally he was converted to Christ. All the energy he had before used for evil was now turned into the channel of good, and from that time the story of “James Newsboy” is a remarkable one.

Late one night in a stale-beer saloon he caught a remark which meant to his well-versed ear that a man was tired of living. He followed the fellow, a poor, starved wreck of humanity, down to the wharf,

saw him sit down to think it over for the last time. “I must save that man,” he muttered; but what could he do? He was quick to act in times like this. Going away down the pier, he began to sing one of the most encouraging hymns he knew.

The words reached the heart of the poor man. A new hope sprang up in his mind; and by and by, when the voice ceased, he rose and went back to the city, and back to a better life. Years afterward he tells the story with tears in his eyes: “God bless the singers,” he says. “Nothing but the voice of that child could have reached me. I would have run from a Bible-worker, but I could not resist the sweetness of that song.” EDISON DRIVER.

O KING OF ALL THE AGES.

O King of all the ages! We praise Thee for our time, When every sign presages A future most sublime. We own with shame and sadness How little we have done; We celebrate with gladness The triumphs Thou hast won.

O King of all the ages, Help us Thy will to do: What most Thy heart engages, Be our great passion too; Then to Thy great commission We shall more faithful be: And Thou the full fruition Of all Thy travail see.

—Anon.

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

AT Patricksburg, Ind., Brother R. S. Donnell reports six converts to the truth after a series of meetings.

THE last quarterly-meeting of the two churches in Buffalo, N. Y., was made a union service, and two candidates were baptized by Brother A. O. Burrill.

IN connection with a recent general meeting at Severy, Kan., altho the attendance was small on account of inclement weather, eight persons were baptized.

THE Union Conference Record notes the baptism of eight persons at Ballarat, Victoria, by Brother G. B. Starr. Also the baptism of six candidates at Launceston, Tasmania.

THE Chicago headquarters of our medical missionary work has been changed to the corner of Thirty-third Place and Cottage Grove Avenue, and ample preparations have been made for all classes of medical and surgical work.

IN the District of Kawhia, N. Z., a mission house is being erected among the Maori people, from which center it is expected to reach the whole of this historic tribe. Dr. J. E. Caldwell has gone there to reside, and to conduct the work.

THE Dakota Worker says: “One of our colporters sold a man ‘The Coming King.’ He gave it to his daughter, who liked it so well that she took it to school; here it met with such favor that the teacher read from it for opening exercises.”

AS a result of labor by Brethren J. M. Ellis and J. E. Collins at Independence, Ind., seven persons have taken their stand on “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” They had the free use of a new Baptist church building for meetings, and have left a favorable impression.

DURING the past week the worker’s convention in San Francisco has been occupied with the medical missionary phase of our work. In addition to the physicians of this conference, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, Mich., and Dr. David Paulson, of Chicago, were in attendance. It is expected that this convention will develop a large number of foreign missionaries; in fact, this was one of the objects of the convention.

REPORTING to the Wisconsin Reporter concerning a recent visit to the church at Oneida (composed of Indian brethren and sisters), Brother T. B. Snow says: “Nearly all took part in the social meeting on the Sabbath. Many of the testimonies were well wet down with tears. The silence preserved in the house of God, even during the intermission, impressed me with the thought that many of our white brethren might learn a useful lesson of how to behave in the house of God from these sons of the forest.”

WRITING to the Reaper from Natal, South Africa, Brother G. W. Reaser gives the following information about the cost of living:

House rent averages about $5.50 per room, and it is hard for a family of four to get along with less than four or five rooms. The house in which we are living seemed to be as economical as any that we could secure in the city, and cost £6 10s per month, which amounts to $32.00 when reduced to U. S. money. We sub-let part of the house, however, which reduces the rent somewhat. The house has six living rooms, pantry, one closet under the stairway, and bath-room. The cheapest flour is about $2.25 per hundred; and about one dollar more for the best. Apples, small, 36 cents per dozen; potatoes, 5 to 6 cents per lb.; tomatoes, fresh, retail at 8 cents per lb., and are said to be cheap now; dry beans, peas, and lentils retail at 8 cents per lb.; canned tomatoes, at 30 cents per can; other canned fruits at 36 cents; the cheapest raisins sell at 18 cts. per lb.; all nuts retail at 24 cents per lb.; wood sells at 24 cts. per sackful, which makes a fair-sized arm-load; native coal, at 48 cts. per 90 lbs.; butter at 60 cts. per lb.; eggs at from 60 cts. to $1.20 per doz., according to the season of the year. Just now tropical fruits are high in price, but it is said they are cheap at certain seasons of the year. Furniture is about twice as expensive as in America, and in some lines even higher than that. The price charged for hauling one small load of trunks and boxes from the landing to our home is nearly $10.00. In erecting a dwelling house here, about $5.00 is required to accomplish as much as $1.00 in Washington and Oregon. City property is fabulously high in price, so it seems almost out of the question for our workers to own houses here.

At the recent session of the Southern Union Conference, officers were elected as follows: President, George I. Butler; vice-president, R. M. Kilgore; secretary, C. L. Kilgore; treasurer, Irving Keck. Of Brother Butler’s return to prominent official position in the cause he had served so long, Brother A. G. Daniells writes to the Review:—

“The many friends of Elder George I. Butler will be pleased to learn that he not only attended this conference, but that he took a very active part in all the proceedings. In many respects Brother Butler’s sojourn in Florida has been a great blessing to him. Perhaps he would not have remained there so long had it not been for his afflicted companion. While she lived, he felt it to be his duty, as well as esteeming it a blessed privilege, to remain with her, and tenderly minister to her needs. Now that she sleeps, his mind turns to the needs of a lost world, and he responds to the call from his Lord to take up again the duties of the public ministry. All who met at this conference rejoice that he comes forth from his retirement with good health, a clear mind, a tender heart, and a burning zeal.”

HOW TO GIVE.

A LITTLE boy eight years old opened his bank one day in the presence of his father, and counted his money as he arranged it in piles. There were fifteen cents in coppers, twenty-five cents in five-cent pieces, and one dollar in silver dimes.

“There,” exclaimed the boy, pushing aside fifteen pennies, “I’m goin’ to give those to the missionary society.”

“Ah,” said the father, “and what are you going to do with the silver?”

“Buy candy and peanuts for myself.”

The father looked steadily at the boy until the latter’s face flushed.

“What’s the matter, papa?” he asked.

“There’s nothing the matter with me,” was the quiet answer.

“But there is with me—that’s what you mean, I know. I’m a mean old pig—that’s what I am, but I won’t be any longer—so there!”

He put the pennies and nickels back in the bank, and doing up the silver dimes, he said,—

“I’ll give this pile to the missionaries, so I will,” and he did.

The lesson was one which many an older person would not have been as quick to learn or to heed.

“AS UNTO THE LORD.”

By Lizzie De Armond

[Mrs. Lizzie De Armond, in American Messenger.]

She was only a poor, plain, freckled woman, whose clothes were of the fashion her mother might have worn, yet day by day, as she busily plied her iron, many a humble neighbor would stop by her door to listen to the quaint old hymns she sang so vigorously.

“My good woman,” said Mrs. G——, who had called to engage her services, “how can you stand all day in this hot room, always ironing, and yet sing so cheerily?”

“Ah, my dear lady,” she replied, “the Lord has given me this work to do; so when I’m tired and out of sorts, I say to myself that verse about doing things heartily as unto the Lord, and try to think how I’d feel if I could see Him standing by my side, and He knew I had an unwilling heart for His tasks. Then I sing my brightest hymns, and while my iron smooths out the wrinkles in the clothes, I’m planning how to smooth out the rough places in my neighbors’ lives.”

“There’s poor Granny Jones, left alone all day. She’s crippled with rheumatics, and nearly blind, too. When I sing, it cheers her up a bit, and she feels as if some one cared for her.”

“Little Tommy Green in the room above me has a weakness in his back, and lies on his cot-bed from morning till night. His mother works in a factory, and doesn’t come home till dark. When he’s lonely, and sick with the pain, he pounds on the floor with a stick and I sing the hymns he likes best, and he lies quiet and hums them over to himself till he falls asleep. Then once in a while I slip up with a cup of water and bits of picture-papers that come wrapped round the clothes, and give him a pleasant word. Ah, ma’am, the Lord’s so good to me, I must try to help them that have few blessings.”

And this thankful woman lived in a little hot room, spending her whole life ironing and smoothing out wrinkles for others. What shall we render unto the Lord for all His mercies to us?

The Enrichment of Giving

By Washington Gladden

It is not by what you try to get out of the world that your life will be enriched; it is by what you give to the world.—Washington Gladden, D.D.

“THE FLIGHT OF TIME.”

By Mark Trafton

Flitting away, flitting away, Hour by hour, and day by day; Never a break in the running thread, Never a pause in the solemn tread; Onward, onward, day and night, Through joy’s bloom and sorrow’s blight; On through childhood, youth, and age, Over the bright and blotted page; Over ambition’s tinted cloud, Over despair’s funereal shroud; On through labor, on through rest, On when cheered and when depressed, Ever our life is flitting away, Hour by hour, and day by day. —Mark Trafton.

10 Princess Terrace, Balls Rd., Birkenhead, Eng

FROM AN OLD COLABORER.

Brother George R. Drew, a former Californian, who for many years has been a ship missionary in the great port of Liverpool, England, in a personal letter to the editor writes as follows:—

Will you thank those kind friends who sent the Signs and now I wish to trouble you in behalf of the ship work for the following periodicals which we much need: 8 copies Sentinel, 6 Youths' Instructor, 6 Pacific Health Journal. Will Scandinavian brethren send for the Scandinavian sailors 40 copies of the Sundhedbladet? I think that I have friends enough in California, let alone many other places, who will do this. Just now my mind rests upon Brother Jensen, who, when I was in California, was in the sheep business. If this should catch his eye, he will surely want a hand in this work. I am nearly 67 years of age, may the Lord still give us the strength we need to sow the precious seeds of truth. Yours in the blessed hope, George R. Drew.

10 Princess Terrace, Balls Rd., Birkenhead, Eng

We earnestly hope that this appeal of Bro. Drew's may be heeded, and that many will be glad to co-operate with him in this good work. Donations sent to the Signs addressed to the “Co-operation Corner” will be used for this work, and if it haps that more comes in than is needed in Liverpool, it will be used in similar work.

PERIODICALS WANTED.

LATE clean copies of all our publications for missionary work. Address, postpaid, Emma L. Runck, Alma Neb.

A LIKE request especially for religious-liberty literature, is made by Mrs. Annie Heathers, Sumas, Wash.

LATE clean copies of any of our denominational publications, for missionary work. Address, postpaid, E. J. Harvey, San Diego, Cal.

GOOD HEALTH, Life Boat, and large quantities of any of our periodicals. Address, postpaid, J. Reid, 1018 South O Street, Tacoma, Wash.

THE PACIFIC UNION CONFERENCE.

By W. T. Knox; J. J. Ireland

THE first annual meeting of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is called to assemble in the Seventh-day Adventist church at Portland, Oregon, on the 27th day of February, 1902, at the hour of ten A.M., for the purpose of selecting the officers that are to serve during the ensuing biennial term, and of transacting such other business as may properly come before the meeting.

Each local conference will be entitled to one delegate in the session of this Conference without regard to numbers, and an additional delegate for every three hundred church-members in the conference.

W. T. KNOX, President.

J. J. IRELAND, Secretary.

A WARNING.

Brother E. H. Rees, Box 614, Williamsport, Pa., sends us a warning, cautioning all our people, and others we suppose, against one L. Schmidt, a German of medium height, smooth face, slightly cross-eyed, of pleasing address, who passes as an S. D. A. missionary, selling Bibles, SIGNS, tracts, etc.; that he is using religion as a garb to cover wickedness; and that in every place he leaves a stench and reproach behind him. He was last seen in Harrisburg, Pa. State papers are requested to copy.

THE SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL SERIES

NOTE.—In the preparation of these lessons all Scripture references, and the pages of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” should be thoroughly studied first, then the questions. The questions are not the lessons. They are only for the purpose of finding out what we have observed while studying. More of the preciousness of these lessons will be obtained if the lesson is studied each day throughout the week. In the parables of Jesus there is salvation from sin for every type of sinner—from the Pharisee to the prodigal. The notes are wholly selected from such portions of “Christ’s Object Lessons” as apply to each lesson.

LESSON 7.—FEBRUARY 15.—THE TWO SONS.

Aid.—“Christ’s Object Lessons,” pp. 272-283.

Lesson Scripture, Matt. 21: 28-32, R.V.

28 “But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. 29 And he answered and said, I will not; but afterward he repented himself, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir; and went not. 31 Whether of the twain did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him.”

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

To whom was the parable of the two sons addressed?
Where was it spoken?
State the circumstances which led up to it.
What three persons are mentioned in the parable?
Whom do they represent?
What intimate relation is thus expressed?
What is the vineyard?
What request did the father make of his elder son?
Give his reply.
What did the son afterward do?
What was said to the second son?
How did he appear to receive the command?
What course did he then take?
What pointed question did Jesus immediately ask His hearers?
How does their reply show that they missed the real meaning of the parable?
With what words did Jesus force the lesson home?
What application has this parable for the church to-day?

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY.

What great examples of activity are set before the Christian? John 5: 17. Why is a mere profession of willingness to enter God’s work not sufficient? James 1: 22-25; Matt. 7: 21; Eph. 2: 10. How only can acceptable service be rendered? John 15: 5.
What is the great test of loyalty to God? John 14: 15. Who is the Christian’s example in obedience? John 15: 10; 4: 34; Ps. 40: 8.
Why did Jesus especially warn His disciples against following the example of the Pharisees? Matt. 23: 3. What alone gives value to one’s profession? James 2: 14-18.
When should the call to service be answered? Heb. 3: 15. How long is the field to be occupied? Luke 19: 13. What grave danger lies in delay? John 9: 4.

LESSON 8.—FEBRUARY 22.—PARABLE OF THE LORD’S VINEYARD.

Aid.—“Christ’s Object Lessons,” pp. 284-306.

Lesson Scripture, Matt. 21: 33-44, R.V.

33 “Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, which planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. 34 And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits. 35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them in like manner. 37 But afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. 39 And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes? 43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust.”

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

With what parable did Jesus continue His teaching in the temple?
Upon what was this lesson based?

Who is the householder mentioned in the parable?
By what were His people of Israel represented?
What returns from his vineyard had the householder a right to expect?
When the time of fruit drew near, what did he do?
How were these servants received?
When other servants were sent to the husbandmen, how were they also treated?
Last of all, whom did the householder send?
What did he say?
What treatment did the son receive?
When the narrative was finished, what question did Jesus ask His hearers?
With what words did they condemn themselves?
What solemn sentence did Jesus then pronounce upon them?
Who is the Stone brought to view in verse 42?
What were the priests and rulers even then doing?
Repeat the Saviour’s description of this Stone.
Show how this description contained an invitation of mercy to all who would yet escape the doom of the unfaithful husbandmen.
What lessons does the parable of the vineyard contain for the church to-day?

FOR FURTHER STUDY.

The planting of the vineyard; God’s purpose concerning it; its failure to fulfil that purpose; and the judgment pronounced upon it. Isa. 5: 1-7; 27: 3; Jer. 2: 21; Hosea 10: 1.
Israel’s treatment of the servants of God. Matt. 5: 12; Acts 7: 51, 52; Heb. 11: 32-38.
Their rejection of the Son. John 18: 38-40; 19: 4-12, 15-18.
The Stone rejected by the builders. Isa. 28: 16; 1 Cor. 3: 11; 1 Peter 2: 3-8.
Lessons for the church to-day:—

(a) The price paid for it. Acts 20: 28. (b) Its commission and high calling. Matt. 5: 14-16; 28: 19, 20; 1 Peter 2: 9, 10. (c) To bring forth fruit. John 15: 16. (d) Its danger when the coming of the Householder is near. Luke 21: 34; 2 Tim. 4: 3, 4.

Continue reading: LESSON 6.—FEBRUARY 9.—THE SIN OF LYING