Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1937-10-07, Page 7LESSON II. THE CHRISTIAN IN GOD'S KEEPING • (Psalm 121; Book of Jude) PRINTED TEXT—Jude 1-4, 17-25. GOLDEN TEXT—Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. --Jude 21. The Lesson In Its Setting ' Time—Inasmuch as the author of the 121st Psalm is not known, its date" cannot be determined. Jude wrote his epistle about 65 A.D. Place—We have no way of determ- ining where the 121st Psalm was written. Strange to say, we have no information of any kind that would tell us where the epistle of Jude was written. It may have been Jeru- salem; it may have been elsewhere. "A Song in Praise of God's Preser- vations," Psalm 121: This . beautiful psalm is the trustful expression of a heart rejoicing in its own safety un-• der the watchful eye of Him who is both the Maker of Heaven and earth and the Keeper of Israel. The Creator of the universe, the Keeper of the nation, is also the Keeper of the individual. Undoubtedly the characteristics of Jehovah revealed in the first two verses of this psalm are stated to set Jehovah in contrast with the dead gods of the heathen nations around them, who, on the one hand, did not make the heavens and the earth, and, on the other hand, were even acknowledged (at times) by their worshippers to fall asleep and thus to forget their subjects. A. God who has created the universe has power enough to easily keep and protect .individuals, no matter how threatening, or how powerful adverse circumstances or external antagon- isms might be. From physical dangers, the Psalm- ist rises to moral dangers, assuring those to whom he wrote that Jehovah the Creator, would actually keep his own from. all evil .contamination of soul. God's 1- omises This exquisite psalm is, as it were, a condensation and summary of simi- lar promises of God in the ages that had gone before, as, e.g., the words of God to Jacob the night he fell asleep at Bethel, after leaving his father's home in sorrow. `Behold I am with thee and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this ]and; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of". So, hundreds of years later, the Lord said to Moses— "Be- hold I send an angel before thee to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have pre- pared." "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James."— There are ex different then in the New Testa- ment who bear the naive of Jude or Judas. The, author .of this epistle of one chapter was a brother of James who wrote an epistle, and, conse- quently, a brother of the Lord Jesus himself (Matt. 13: 55; Mark 6: 3). To them that are called. That is, to those who have heard the call of the gospel message to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, and have hearkened to it. "Beloved in God the Father."— It is God's love which sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us, and then sent that message to us through his word and through his ministers:— those who are called of God truly are the beloved of God. "And kept for Jesus Christ."— The word here translated "kept" occurs five times in this single chapter—here, twice in v. 6, once in v. 13, where it is trans- lated "reserved," and a final time in v. 21. The word expresses watchful care and is suggestive of present pos- session. It is the same wort three times used by our Lord in his won- derful intercessory prayer in John 17. Jude is so confident of God's purpose to keep us that be links it insepar- ably with and makes it to be a very part of our calling, and the fact of our being loved by God. We are kept day by day from those things which would harm our souls. That which alone can come be- tween us and God is sin. It is God. alone who can deliver us :from the power of either of these, and from the weakness and wicked inclinations of our own flesh. "Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied."— This sentence is what might truly be called an in- vocation, so common in all of Paul's epistles. "Mercy" is the unmerited source. "Peace" and "love" are the blissful results, whether by love is meant the mutual love of the readers, or their love to God, or God's love to them, or all three. Trouble in the Church "Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men irept in privily, even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying, our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." — A terrible situation had arisen in the Christian Church at the time -Jude, was writing, which was probably about 35 years after the ascent of our Lord to glory, possibly A.D. 65, or 66. Certain men had stealthily come into the church, who allowed themselves to become members of the church, but who concealed both their heretical beliefs and their impure life from Other Christians, and were thus hyprocrites at the outset. They were false both in their beliefs and in their conduct. The two go together. These terrible conditions led Jude to urge his readers to earnestly contend for the very faith which these men were denying. "But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; That they said to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts."—St. Jude reminds his readers that the apostles had often said that mockers would come and then pro- ceed to quote an apostolic document in which this saying was recorded in a particular shape. "These are they who make separa- tions."— It was characteristic of the false teachers and mockers that they drew lines of demarcation which Christ had not drawn, between them- selves and others, or between differ- ent classes of believers. "Sensual, having not the Spirit."—That is, they were "men who lived only for the natural self — men who make the sensuous nature with its appetites and passions the law of their life." 3 BY HELEN WELSHIME'R e thank 'Thee, God, for shaded lamps at evening, For crusted loaves and firelight and the rain •Whose gypsy sons make music for our drearings, On dark blue nights, against a shining p,ane. For wide, green winds, and sun -bright fields of "summer, •Sea -light and dusk, and high, brave trees that bend "To spring back straight, and rainbows after showers, And homing paths with laughter at their end. We thank Thee, God, for seedtime and for harvt, ' For violets asleep in mossy banks, • The,hurt we masked with gaiety Undoubted,. Oh, most of all for bravery we give thankse Keep in God's Love "But ye, beloved, building up your- selves on your most holy faith." Probably these phrases, of which this is the first, forret as perfect an illus-. tration as can be found in all of the• New Testament of the words of the apostle Paul — "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." The way to build ourselves up on our' faith is by doing the things which ::,rude, now: admonishes. "Praying•3in,� the Holy Spirit." To pray in the Holy Spirit is to pray in accordance with the leading of the Holy Spirit who dwells in. us. Consequently, all prayers will be characterized by holi- ness and by spirituality. "Keep yourselves in the love of God."— It is not, "Keep God loving you." But we need to..keep in the conscious enjoyment of it. We keep ourselves in the love of God primarily by doing those things which please him. "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." —We are to continually look for our Lord to come back, at which time we know that mercy will prevail. At this time we shall come into the full apprehension of and the full realiza- tion of the eternal life, which, as a gift, was bestowed upon us when we accepted our Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. "And on some have mercy, who are in doubt. And some save, snatch- ing them out of the fire ; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."—As the Lorci has been merci- ful toward us, so should we be merci- ful toward others, and especially must this be observed as we deal with those who have come into the dark- ness of doubt, or have -fallen into some great sin. "Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling."— The concluding sentence of Jude's epistle is one of the richest,' if not the richest doxology to be found at the end of any, .of the New Testament writings. "And to set you before the presence of his 'glory without blemish."—The glory here referred to is, of course, Iheglory of God, the outshining of all of his divine attributes. "In exceed- ing 'joy." This probably refers to the joy; which is God's and the joy of the Lord:Jesus Christ in bringing to com- pletion their great task. "To the only God our Saviour, through. Jesus_ Christ wour. Lord,., be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now and for .evermore. Amen." It Movie Radio By VIRGINIA DALZ "The Prisoner of Zenda" threat- ens to become everybody's favorite picture. Girls love it because it is tenderly romantic, boys are crazy about it because it is a thrilling ad- venture story, and the old folks like the pomp and circumstance of the court scenes. Of course, the mere fact of Ronald Colman's presence is enough to bring crowds to the box offices. He 'plays a dual role and the only complaint is that Madeline Carroll does not play two parts too. She i5 probably the most utterly charming heroine of the year—any year. Hollywood • recently that xying out to —0— had a lot of surprises sent all the girls scur- buy presents. Miriam Hopkins up and el- oped with Anatol Litvak, the director and- Alice Faye and Tony M'.rtin rush- • ed off to 'Vilma, Ar- iz.; and got married. Religious differ- ences h'ad caused the breaking up of their engagement sever::: MYtitiain tines, she being ga>izlciiis Catholic, he Jewish. To make matters more complicated both had anti -marriage clauses in, their contracts with Twentieth Cen- tury -Fox. The studio has forgiven thein, but parents are said to be still ;pouting. Mr. Litvak, Miss Hopkins' new groom, has just finished directing ,Claudette Colbert in "Tonight's Our, Night," at Warner Brothers'. No one over there will ever forget him. In a scene that took place in a market he insisted on having real geese, 'turkeys and chickens. The hot sun got in its deadly work and players had great difficulty going D-3 through their scenes without bold- ing their noses. Finally the studio had to replace the poultry every few hours, but all attempts to use papier mache ones failed, Mr. Litvak de- tected imitations at once and re- fused to work until real ones were provided. —0— Claudette Colbert's good humor made a host of friends for her on the Warner lot and everyone is sorry that she was loaned to them for only one picture. One afternoon almost everyone's nerves were shat- tered by the many repetitions of a scene. While she was talking to Charles Boyer, a dog was supposed to come in carrying a shoe in its mouth. Over and over the scene was played, but the dog never came in at just the right moment. Finally Miss Colbert, serene and fresh as an April morning, suggested that the director let the dog play the scene with Boyer and she would come in on all fours carrying a shoe in her mouth! —0— Ever since James Cagney walked out of the Warner studio and went to work. for Grand National where he is as happy as he can be, there have been battles between the stu- dio and their players. Now Joan Blondell is on strike. She thinks she has been working toe hard and refuses to start on the new picture scheduled for her. Kay Francis is trying to break her contract . . says that she signed it only be- cause they promised to give her the leading role in "Tonight's Our Night." And after all, they gave the role to Claudette Colbert. —0— Bing Crosby's absence from his radio program still leaves a big gap in Thursday night's entertainment, but at last there is a new picture •>f his to be seen and heard while we wait for his return to the air waves, "Double 'or :,; 0Nothing" is pleas- ant and casual and amiable, just like all Crosby pictures. Three of the songs are real hits—"It's the Natural Thing to Do," "It's On— It's Off," and "The Moon Got Into My Eyes." Martha Bing Crosby Raye is there with lar+' :t'ren::ied buffonery, and Mary Carlisle makes the prettiest heroine be ever had. —0— ODDS AND ENDS— Ever since Nelson faddy joined Ida Lupine and Charlie McCarthy in that goofy spy travesty on the Sunday evening coffee hour radio and picture 'fans have been begging him to play in a motion picture comedy. ... Phillips Lord is sending out Christman pres- ents now, because he knows he will be too busy in December with his C,c;ng Dusters and "We, the People." Pe rent l el: ',Verney,' of the flit l"ora: e rti meet to:.ip1i- eated innards. ifour times a day the Nor nal °r s m gter!' Hasr .lgnY;nt Calls; • So Dansk Scientist Believes —1 New Method of Creating Can. cer k Mice Demonstrated. The creation of cancer in a new l way was announced this week by Al- bert Fischer, Danish scientist, whose skill in growing living tissues of flesh t .. in test tubes led the Danish Govern- ment to equip and present him with a' special laboratory. He transplanted a bit of healthy, normal, non -cancerous flesh of a mouse from one part of the animal's body to another. After two or more • "moving. days" f:f this sort, the nor- mal tissues turned into cancer in a number of eases. The now cancer was carcinoma, one of the two main divisions of these diseases. The experiments led Dr. Fischer to a now theory of cancer. That all the no:mai tissues of the body ocntain fr:ily developed malig- nant cells at all titres. How Cancer Starts Cancer appears when for same rea- son these malignant cells girt the up• - par hand. Dr. Fi:eher's experiments are announced in the American Jour- nol of Cancer. Dr. Fischer starts by pointing out that tho wild growth that makes can. cer is not confined to this disease. Normal cells of the body show it when repairing wounds. This is true even in old age. The diff' ,c+e between the repairs the body r u on a wound and cancer, is that tl:e rapid growth of now fl.:sh stops when the wound is healed. In cancer it does not stop, Gasoline From Clover Two young men named William Mahle and Harold Ohlgren, while en- gaged on research work at Macales- ter College, Eng., developed a secret process for manufacturing gasoline from ordinary field clover. Their gasoline would be far cheaper than that marketed at present, for over- head charges would be far less. There is no doubt whatever that their product has a commercial value, for already representatives from various governments have approach- ed them and offered to purchase the secret. Patriotic motives have com- pelled them to decline, and an Am- . ,•• -e; formed to exploit the new product. Tea was first introduced in Europe on a commercial scale during the lat- ter part of the 17th century. It has been used as a beverage in China ' since about 500 A.D. Before the de- velopment of tea cultivation in India, Ceylon, Japan and the East Indies Netherlands, China enjoyed a world monopoly. Today China supplies a very small percentage of Canada's tea requirements (0.6 in 1936). The duty' on China tea imported into Canada is 8 cents per pound, whereas Indian and' Ceylon teas enter the Dominion under the Empire preference rate of 4 cents per pound. Scales Opera Heights 1'., vu rloy i.an , 17 -year-old Chicago high school graduate, who has si gn- od a three-year contract with the Chicago Civic Opera Company. She will make her debut as a coloratura soprano in Itie'oletto in December. works ;'hie ;.; tur,d, gaming hours. b c:..c Wii:t a g:tr,,,.time Chub it would never teal the correct time,