revealed to them -by the "Father which is in heaven" (Mt. 16.17). Second: "O Father, Thou hast hid these things from the worldly-wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes (open minded)" (Mt. 11:25). These are LIFE QUESTIONS. On the right is salvation, on the left damnation. Here is the touchstone of character. What one sees in Jesus decides the attitude of His mind toward God. "If ye believe not that I am He ye shall die in your sins" (Jn. 8:24); "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and be- lieve in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Ro. 10:9). See Jn. 17:3; I Jn. 2.22; I Cor. 12:3. I say, Thou art my Lord and my God. Whom do you say that He is? Mt. 22:42. II. THE CROSS. 1. It was now evident that they would kill Him. So "He began to teach that the Son of Man must suffer." Peter said, "This shall not be to Thee." It was a great blunder. He meant well. When will men learn that well meant is not necessarily well done? Jesus said "Get thee behind Me, Satan." He saw the fiend looking over Peter's shoulder. He was posing as a friend as through the serpent before he had done to Eve (Gen. 3.) The opinions of crit- ics of God's words and ways are worth- less. Some mean well (Ac. 26:9) who would amend the Truth of God, but they are doing the devil's work. It was the told temptation (Mt. 4:8-11) to take the crown and pass the cross, but such get the curse, and miss the crown. From Cain to "Christian Science" the flesh hates the cross (I Co. 1.18, 23). Peter would have been in hell today if Christ had yielded to him. The foun- dations would have given way, for Jesus was "slain from the foundation of the earth" (Rv. 13:8)." Before the moun- tains wese brought forth," • Mount Cal- vary stood. The Cross is the end of creation. The Son of Man MUST suffer." - 3. Crucial contrasts. (1) Christ's cross is all that the Christians cross is, but the Christian's cross is not all that Christ's cross is. Christ's cross is at- • one-ment with God for sin; our cross is atone-ment with Christ in suffering. Christ's cross is the sign of acceptance with God; our cross is the sign of re- jection by a. persecuting world. Christ's cross was essentially different from ours Godward, but toward the world it was the same. God laid the cross on Jesus (Isa. 53:10-, and the world laid it on Him too (Jn. 19:16, 17). The world lays it on the Christian,
God does not. 1 (3) It is wrong to call our pains, sickness, loses, our cross- They are mostly due to our own im- prudence the world has the same; nor are they borne usually 'without mur- mur. If they come upon us conscien- ciously viewed as Satanic inflictions be- cause we are Christ's they are crosses. It was so with Job (1:6, 7). Only saints have crosses; and that only for saintliness. (4) Needless privations, penances, ascetic practices, etc., are not crosses. We are to take our cross, not to make it (Col. 2:23). The cross i? the world's response to Christian con- fession and conduct. Most professorss have no cross because they do not cross, the world, or the flesh, or-the devil. IV. DENTING SELF. Denying self is more than self denial- Self denial is often practiced to gratify self. To deny self is to refuse the crown, the kingdom, the favor, and' benefits, of the world to escape the cross. It is to refuse to recant our faith or be recreant to our duty to turn the world's frown into a smile, and it's curse into approval. Did you ever deny yourself and take up your cross? V. THE CROWN. 1. The crown follows the cross, does not precede it. That is the meaning of the transfiguration (v. 9:1-. When Jesus foreshadowed the cross, then the Father foreshadowed the glory. Jesus announced the cross; the Father imme- diately announced the crown. Where men said "Crucify Him"; Heaven said "My Beloved Son." Peter who depre- cated the cross, said "It is good to be here" in the glory. He knew better after, when he said, "Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffer- ings," "When the Chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall deceive a crown of glory" (I Pt. 4:13; 5:4). 2. Of profit and loss. "For what shall it profit if a man gain the whole world and lose his own life (R. V.)?' That is if he refuses the cross for t he present crown? If he lives for, self and loses self? What would it profit a man for a bribe of a million dollars to cut: his own throat? That is the gist of it; only the life is the life everlasting; and the loss is of what he might have been and had, had he escaped the death that never dies. THE TRANSFIGURATION; FORE-
GLEAMS OF GLORY Lesson VIII. Nov. 24. Mark 9:2-13.
I. THE CONNECTION. 1. Each account (Mt. 7:1-13; Mk.
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