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18. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

thee

19. Now this he spake, signifying by what

And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

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20. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Je'sus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at the supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

who

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seeing him saith to Je'sus, Lord, and what shall this

shall

3 John 13: 23, 25; 20: 2.

science): "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." (Again pɩaŵ, "love thee with passionate, eager love.")

JESUS (gladly confirming the commission, and uniting the first and second forms of it): "Feed my sheep.' (βόσκε τὰ πρόβατά μου; some of the best texts read προβάτια, “ little ," which still further unites the two commands.)

sheep,"

Students of Latin will be interested in the following translation of this dialogue, by G. Herbert Clarke, in The Independent :

THE LESSONS, FOR PETER AND FOR US. 1. Jesus places first the care of the young, the lambs of the flock. "An adult converted is a unit, a child is a multiplication table." Dr. Tyng used to say that if the choice lay between one child or two adults, he would always decide for the child. But we are never compelled to choose; the more we do for the children, in the home, school, Sunday school, and young people's society, the more we shall be doing also for the adults. The easiest way to a parent's heart is through the life of his child.

2. The thought of our Lord, as we know from his parable of the Good Shepherd, went far beyond the sheep of the flock to those that belonged there but had wandered away. No Christian or church that is not missionary is obedient to Christ's command, "Tend my sheep!'

3. "Lovest thou me?" "This question, faithfully put, is the absolute, and the only absolute test of Christian character. And the first and most essential evidence of Christian life, springing from love to the Saviour, is a strong desire to do good both to the bodies and souls of men." - Charles Mason, D.D. "Feed my sheep." IV. A Farewell Word of Prophecy. Vs. 18-25. "Sometimes the Master gives his people a vision of the future when he sends them forth to work."

22.

Je'sus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry 'till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

Then went this saying abroad

He

23. This saying therefore went forth among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Je'sus said not unto him, that he should not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

1 Matt. 16: 27, 28; 25: 31; 1 Cor. 4: 5; 11: 26; Rev. 2: 25; 3: 11; 22: 7, 20.

did he do that for Peter? By foretelling for him the glorious death of a martyr. The prophecy is a picture of Peter's strong, assertive action, going impulsively where he chose, just as a few minutes before he had girded himself and plunged through the shoal water to Jesus' feet. But in his old age he should stretch forth his hands in unwonted helplessness, perhaps to allow them to be fastened to the transverse beam of a cross; and the executioner should gird him, fastening him to the cross with cords; and he should be carried to death against his natural will, though glad thus to suffer for his Lord.

How must this prophecy have affected Peter ? 1. It must have humbled him, showing him that he, the denier, was to die the same death as his Lord. According to Origen, Peter was crucified with his head downwards, perhaps at Nero's order, to render the death more painful; but perhaps at his own request, because in his humility he would not occupy the exact position held by his Master. 2. It must have raised him from his depression, marking his complete restoration to discipleship. He was to be faithful, now, to the end.

ILLUSTRATIONS. Near Rome there is a little church called Domine, quo Vadis? associated with which is the story that Peter, during Nero's terrible persecutions, was persuaded to preserve his life, so necessary for the infant church, by fleeing from Rome. But as he had reached a point along the Appian Way a mile or two from the city gates, Peter saw a vision of the Saviour, thorn-crowned, dragging his cross toward Rome. The apostle exclaimed, "Domine, quo vadis?" "Lord, whither goest thou?" And our Lord, looking at him sadly and pityingly, answered, "I go to Rome to be crucified a second time." The vision then vanished, but Peter returned to the city, to suffer and die for Christ.

"There have been in all ages those who have had, like Peter, to complete the service of activity by the service of suffering. There comes into my mind a family who last year, in a Chinese Yamen, were girded and bound, and carried whither they would not. The father of the family, in the journey from the place of capture to the place of death, knowing that he was going to his grave, preached Christ at every halting-place, and he and his

From a Photograph.

Scene of St. Peter's Vision.

wife, and their little children stretched out their necks for the headsman's sword, without reluctance and without a tremor. Thank God for the present-day martyrs of a martyred Christ!" Alexander Maclaren, D.D.

How did Christ end his

prophecy? With the same command with which he had called his disciples, Follow me. Follow me in feeding the sheep. Follow me in a death on the cross. Also, literally, follow me at the present moment, for Christ turned and walked off down the shore, "evidently desiring to converse still more with him about his calling and his fate." - Weiss.

Who came after them, uninvited? John, who thought himself privileged to do so, because he was the disciple whom Jesus loved,

and who had been chosen as his sole confidant in the matter of Judas's treachery when he leaned on his breast at supper. Our Lord did not rebuke him for following.

But what was Peter's attitude toward John? It was probably in impatience, as if John were intruding without warrant, that he asked, Lord, and what shall this man do? Perhaps, however, the question arose only from a natural curiosity to know his friend's fate, now that he knew his own.

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How did Christ rebuke Peter? By the sharp question, "If I will that he tarry till I come (literally, while I am coming), what is that to thee?" The rebuke was twofold. It implied that Peter would better concern himself with asking what he should do than with thought about another's conducta lesson we all need to learn. And also, it implied that the quiet, meditative life of John, his "tarrying," was as acceptable to his Lord as Peter's life of turbulent activity ending in a martyr's death. They also serve who only stand and wait." - Milton. John evidently recorded this conversation mainly to correct the current statement that Christ had prophesied that he should never die. "In the Middle Ages there were many who believed that John was still alive. This belief is the occasion of the touching legend of St. John and the pilgrim, and is enshrined in the basreliefs of the frieze of the shrine of Edward the Confessor, in Westminster Abbey." Boardman. "At the destruction of Jerusalem begun that mighty series of events of which the Apocalypse is the prophetic record, and which is in the complex known as the 'COMING OF THE LORD,' ending, as it shall, with his glorious and personal advent. This the beloved apostle alone lived to see, according to ancient and undoubted tradition." - Alford.

ILLUSTRATION. "If the Lord wills this or that, it is no affair of ours. Picture the frightful consequences of the entrance of some great disturbing body into the planetary system; the universe itself would feel the shock. But what would this be, compared with the successful intrusion of man's will into the complicated arrangements of the will of God?” - Power, in "The 'I Wills' of Christ."

V. Farewell Words of Exhortation and Power. See Inductive Studies 2-5. OUR LORD'S EIGHTH APPEARANCE was the one the angels at the tomb had announced, on a mountain in Galilee, either Mt. Tabor or the Mountain of Beatitudes. Here Christ met the eleven apostles.

THE NINTH APPEARANCE, to more than five hundred at once, recorded by Paul about a quarter of a century later (1 Cor. 15: 6), may have been the same as the preceding. In that case, the doubters among the spectators, of whom Matthew speaks so frankly (Matt. 28: 17), were those who up to that time had had no other witness. Our Lord's farewell words on this occasion were full of solemnity and majesty. There are four commands:Go into all the world (Mark).

Make disciples of all nations (Matthew).

Preach

the gospel (Mark), all things I commanded (Matthew). Baptize-into the name of the Holy Trinity (Matthew). And in order to the carrying out of these four commands there were four exhortations and encouragements:Christ's authority-all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew).

Their own authority · over demons, diseases, hurtful things, strange tongues (Mark). The momentous issue salvation for believers, condemnation for those that rejected

their gospel (Mark).

Christ's presence-with them always, confirming their authority, directing their steps, giving efficiency to their words, comforting their hearts (Matthew).

THE TENTH APPEARANCE, to James alone, is mentioned by Paul (1 Cor. 15: 7), but nothing more is known about it.

THE ELEVENTH AND FINAL APPEARANCE (exclusive of the appearance to Paul on the Damascus road) was to the Eleven, "in Jerusalem and on the Mount of Olives. The apostles had returned to Jerusalem probably in accordance with a request of Jesus, and, being gathered together, Jesus met them. He seems to have been with them at meat, and to have shared in the refreshment which was provided (Acts 1: 4; 10: 41). Then he led them forth until they were over against Bethany, possibly that the dear friends who lived there might receive his farewell blessing." Professor Gilbert. "He wished to leave them in such a way that they should not think that he had simply vanished from them, and wait for his present reappearance. He gave them his blessing, with uplifted hands, and while they were looking at him, he was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight'. that cloud which symbolized the presence of God." — Geikie. Our Lord's final words were evidently, from the record in Luke and Acts, a repetition of the full and formal farewell he had spoken to the entire church on the mountain in Galilee. They renewed the command to go forth bearing witness to Christ, and they renewed

away from these two quarters ?

1. THE TREMENDOUS REALITY OF CHRIST'S LIFE. No answer to skepticism is so convincing as the simple, reverent study of the Gospels. "By every parallel of history the Galilean movement should have ended at the cross. Jesus should henceforth have been remembered only as a hero and a martyr. If his story was to take any hold upon popular imagination, it should have been as the story of one who had gloriously failed. On the contrary, the apostles preached a Jesus who had triumphantly succeeded. They never speak of him as dead, but as one alive for evermore. We may call this, if we will, a kind of sublime hallucination. But we have then to ask whether it is probable that the entire course of human history could have been altered by an hallucination. Can we possibly imagine a band of madmen able to subdue Europe to a faith in an insane delusion?"-William J. Dawson, D.D.

2. THE GLORIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRIST'S LIFE. itself would not contain the books that should be written," were recorded. Enough is recorded, however, fully to Gospel,

John declared that "the world if all Christ's deeds and words carry out the purpose of the

That ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing

ye may have life in his name.

Those two aims sum up Christ's purpose. He came (1) to manifest the Father to men; and (2) to impart divine life through that manifestation. No one can come to the Father except through Christ, and whoever goes to Christ will by no means be cast out (John 14: 6; 6: 37).

ILLUSTRATION. "There is such a thing as the mirage of the desert, which has mocked the dying traveler, and the history of religion affords fantastic notions which have been the craze of society for a day and have vanished away. No one with a serious face can make any comparison between these passing delusions and the faith of Christ. There is also the oasis where the grass is green and the palm trees stand erect in their beauty, and the reason thereof is the unfailing spring which rises from the heart of the earth and yields its living water to the traveler as he journeys across the desert from the land which he has left to the land which he has never seen. That spring is the Spirit of the living Christ, who was dead,' and is alive for evermore.""" Ian Maclaren."

3. OUR RESPONSIBILITY. "An eminent Scotch divine imagined this conversation to have taken place between Jesus and Gabriel after the ascension of our Lord from Mount Olivet. "You must have suffered greatly for those people down there,' he supposes the angel

to have said to the Master.

"Yes, Gabriel, a great deal more than any of my creatures can understand.'
"Do they all know about the great sacrifice you have made for them?'
"No, only a very few of them know about it

a few only in Judea and Galilee.' "What provision have you made for telling others the glad tidings?'

"I have asked those who do know about it to tell others whom they may meet,

and these again to pass the news on to others, and those to still another circle of hearers, and so on until the end of time.'

"But what if they should forget?' was the supposed solemn inquiry of the angelic questioner.

"I have no other plan.'"'— R. J. Miller, D.D.

LESSON XII.- June 21.

REVIEW.

READ 1 Corinthians 15: 1-20.

GOLDEN TEXT. - But these things are written that ye might believe that

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might

have life through his name. — John 20: 31.

In selecting the form of review to be used from among the following, the teacher should have in mind the age and ability of the class, and the lines of work that have been pursued during the quarter, and should choose the review that the scholars are best fitted to take up. It may be advantageous to combine two or more of the plans here suggested.

I. A QUESTION REVIEW.

For this form of review, give out to your scholars a set of general questions, each one of which, so far as possible, will require for its proper answer a glance over all the lessons. The questions may be duplicated and given to all, or they may be divided up among the scholars, for each to report upon only a few. Such questions as the following are suggested:

1. How, in our quarter's lessons, does Christ show his authority?

2. What proofs of supernatural power does Christ give in our quarter's lessons?

3. What tokens of Christ's humility appear in our quarter's lessons?

4. How, in the lessons of the quarter, is Christ's divinity made manifest? His humanity?

5. What features of Christ's character shine out most conspicuously during the closing months of his life on earth?

6. How do these lessons illustrate Christ's knowledge of men?

7. How do these lessons illustrate Christ's love for men?

8. What three sentences of our quarter's lessons are the most striking?

9. What sentence that we have studied seems to you most beautiful and helpful?

10. What event of the quarter's lessons brings Christ closest to you?

11. How does John's Gospel seem to you to differ from the other three?

12. What great truth stands out more clearly in your mind from the quarter's study?

13. Aside from Christ, what character whom we have studied this quarter do you most admire, and why?

14. What purpose for your life do you carry from this quarter's lessons?

II. THE DISCIPLES' REVIEW.

Ask the scholars to review the quarter's lessons with reference to the disciples - not the Twelve merely — who are named in them, each making out a list of all these disciples, stating for each the events in which he especially figured, and what he must have learned from them. These lists will be brought to the class and carefully compared. They will be like this:

This review centers about Christ, as a review of John's Gospel should. Ask the scholars to run over the lessons for the quarter, asking with regard to each, “What does it