FIRST QUARTER, 1910. THE MINISTRY OF OUR LORD AS NARRATED IN THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. CHAPTERS I TO IX. JANUARY 2 TO MARCH 27, 1910. LESSON I. - January 2. JOHN THE FORERUNNER OF JESUS. - Matthew 3: 1-12. COMMIT vs. 2, 3. GOLDEN TEXT.-The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.-MATT. 3: 3. INDUCTIVE STUDY OF THE LESSON. No little light will be thrown upon John the Baptist's preparing the way for Christ, by placing it side by side with the preparation of the way for the return of the exiled Israelites from Babylon, in reference to which the words quoted in v. 3 were originally spoken. The exiles were subject to Babylon, the Jews to Rome. Both were exiles through sin and selfishness. The exiles longed to return to their country, their temple, their holy city. The Jews and the world needed to go to the kingdom of God and of righteousness, which is their true spiritual homeland. In both cases the one essential condition was repentance and a new life. In both cases prophets called and urged them to return. In both cases there were great difficulties in the way. In both cases, as soon as the people were ready, the way was opened before them; the difficulties could be overcome. THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS. The general subject of this year's lessons is the ministry of Christ, his work, his teachings, his methods, for changing this world into the kingdom of heaven, as described and reported by Matthew. How shall the teacher best teach this subject? For we have had the life of Christ several times within the last few years. 1. Keep in view the purpose of the Gospel. 2. Emphasize it from Matthew the business man's standpoint, while receiving all possible light from the other Gospels upon the picture. 3. See that each scholar has a blank book (such for instance as W. A. Wilde Co. has prepared for the purpose) in which he shall write out a brief résumé of each lesson, illustrated by penny pictures or cuts, maps, etc. from magazines, papers, quarterlies, and any other source, or drawings of his own. Το these he can add any illustrations or suggestions that interest him from the events of the day. 4. Sometimes the whole class unite in making one book, each in turn writing the summary of the lesson, and all contributing to the book whatever they can find. LEARN BY HEART. Vs. 1-3; Isa. 40: 3, 4. THE ROUND TABLE. RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION. John the Baptist; life and character. Comparison of the return of the exiles to the return In what ways did John prepare the way for Christ? OBJECT LESSONS. Picture or description of locusts. The oriental "fan" referred to here. Girdles. Sandals. HOME WORK. Make a model of an oriental "fan" out of cardboard. Find pictures illustrating scenes in this lesson. Read the lesson out loud, repeating certain verses with varying emphasis, as vs. 2 and II. Thus: PLAN OF THE LESSON. SUBJECT: Preparations for the Coming of the Kingdom of God. GENERAL PREPARATION. PREPARATION THROUGH JOHN THE I. PERSONAL PREPARATION OF THE Himself. His manner of living. II. PREPARING THE WAY BY HIS MES- His message. New motives. III. PREPARING THE WAY BY CONFIRM- By confession. By baptism. IV. PREPARING THE WAY BY THE MOTIVES FOR ENTERING THE KING. DOM OF HEAVEN (vs. 7-12). 1. Consciousness of sin. 2. Escape from the wrath to come. LESSONS IN THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICE. THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY. The Way of the Lord Prepared, by A. B. Leonard, D.D. (1907), applies the principles of 1900 years ago to our own day (Eaton & Mains). Burgess's Constructive Life of Christ (1908), in his chapter on the "Herald of the New Era," presents this era from the standpoint of teaching (Chicago University). Studies in Oriental Social Life, by H. C. Trumbull, "The Voice of the Forerunner," and "Primitive Ideas of the Way." On the moral condition of the world into which John and Jesus came, see Uhlhorn's Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, Prof. George P. Fisher's The Beginnings of Christianity, Farrar's story From Darkness to Dawn, scenes in the life of Nero, Ben Hur, Quo Vadis. On the scene of John's ministry, see George Adam Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 261, 312-317, and Thomson's Land and Book, I., 366. THE LESSON IN LITERATURE. Ben Hur and Quo Vadis give vivid pictures of the times. INTRODUCTION. "The At the beginning of the Gospel we stand in the dawning rays of a new era. religious atmosphere of Israel was surcharged with fervent desire and hope.' The nation was restless, and daily prayed for the Messiah, and deliverance from the galling bondage of the foreign military power of Rome. They were looking for the promised Deliverer, and the Messianic times so gloriously foretold by Isaiah. All the rays of hope shining from their Scriptures were focused upon this time, the conviction divinely begotten that the longlooked for kingdom of God was at hand. At the same time morals were very low. The religion of the Jewish leaders was formal and largely apart from the morals of daily life. Worldliness prevailed, and the hopes of the nation dwelt on the outward deliverance from the Roman yoke rather than on spiritual deliverance from the tyranny of sin; on times of outward prosperity rather than on the kingdom of righteousness, holiness, and heaven. They did not realize that the one necessary condition of their deliverance was "The Great Repentance." NOTE that this restless dissatisfaction with the evils of the times, made real and emphatic by the material evils which the sins of the people had produced, united with a vision of the ideal, and a faith in God's promises, has always been the preparation for every great religious reformation of individuals and of communities. These characterize the condition of to-day. ILLUSTRATION. Compare the mottoes said to be those of The Restless Club of New York: "Anywhere but where we are." "Nothing can be worse than this." "The best is good enough for me." THE HERALD OF THE KING. SUBJECT: Preparations for the Coming of the Kingdom of God whether in the individual soul or in the world made up of individuals. GENERAL PREPARATIONS. 1. The whole history of the world, and especially of the Jews, had been training men to receive and to understand the coming of the Son of God. It had been an evolution and development up toward the divine ideal revealed to men by God, always becoming clearer as men could understand it, but always far beyond anything they could have discovered for themselves. 2. Many prophecies converged upon this period. 3. It was a time of intellectual and spiritual awakening. Some of the greatest writers in the world stirred the minds of the people. There was a prevailing disbelief in existing religions, and spiritual unrest. The wise men from the East were an example. 4. There were many lands, but nearly all the world was subject to the one government at Rome; so that the preachers of the gospel could travel in safety, and be protected in their work. |