35. For 1whosoever will save his life shall lose it;

but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and gospel's, the same shall save it.

the

36. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole e world, and lose his own soul?

1 John 12:25.

II. Gain and Loss.-Vers. 35-38. 35. For. Giving a reason why it was right and good for him to give the command in the previous verse, and it was wise for them to obey. Whosoever will save his life; i.e., whosoever is determined to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever is willing to lose his life for my sake, and the gospel's, shall find it. In the original Greek, there is a difference between the first and second clause of this verse, as to the word will, which the English version does not preserve, but which the above translation may indicate to the English reader. All self-seeking is self-losing. Even in spiritual things, he who is perpetually studying how to secure joy and peace for himself loses it. A certain measure of self-forgetfulness is the condition of the highest success, even in Christian grace. - Abbott. His life. In the original this is the same word that is translated soul in vers. 36, 37 (see under ver. 36). It is much more than existence: life means one's self; all that makes life worth living, the character, the blessedness, which give life or the soul its value. So that the meaning is: Whosoever is determined to keep the pleasures and comforts of life, worldly blessings and rewards, as the great blessings of his life, at any cost, even of denying the Master, is sure to lose all that makes life worth living, the happiness and the character which are eternal.-P. Shall lose it. He shall lose everlasting ease, comfort, honor, and glory, because he refuses to part, for Christ's sake, with the ease, comfort, honor, and glory which it is in the power of the world to withhold. -Morison. The same principle applies to many things; for instance, the inordinate love of pleasure is equally fatal to happiness as to virtue. To the wise and virtuous, to those who use the pleasures of life only as a temporary relaxation, the hours of amusement bring real pleasure: to them the well of joy is ever full; while to those who linger by its side, its waters are soon dried and exhausted. I speak not now of those bitter waters which must mingle themselves with the well of unhallowed pleasure. I speak only of the simple and natural effect of unwise indulgence; that it renders the mind callous to enjoyment; and that, even though the "fountain were full of water," the feverish lip is incapable of satiating its thirst.—Alison. But whosoever shall lose his life. In the sphere of the present. For my sake, and the gospel's. It is only loss for the sake of Christ that has this promise. Multitudes of people lose their lives for gain, for pleasure, for fashion. Each of these has more martyrs than the cross ever required; but the loss was without compensation or hope. But whosoever loses for the love of Christ, for the sake of preaching and advancing the gospel, shall save it,—shall have a blessedness and glory which will a thousand times compensate for every loss. The loss was temporal, the gain is eternal; the loss was small, the gain infinite; the loss was of outward things, the gain is in the nature of the soul itself. - P.

36. What shall it profit a man? Some have said that this regarding of profit and Areward is only another form of selfishness. But selfishness is the seeking our own good at the expense or injury of others. To seek what is profitable is not selfishness, but wisdom. It is simply folly to throw away life, or pleasure, or wealth, for no good whatever. The wise man wants to know what good will come of it, to himself or others. Only a fool will have no regard to profit.-P. If he shall gain the whole world. All the pleasure, the wealth, the sources of enjoyment, the honors, the blessings, this world can give. But note this if. Very few that lose their souls gain the whole world, or but the smallest part thereof. Jeremy Taylor well suggests in his sermon, (1) that the greatest possessor of the world enjoys its best and noblest parts (food, light, prospects, harmonies of sound, books, thoughts) but in common with inferior persons. The poorest artisan of Rome, walking in Cesar's gardens, had the same pleasures as they ministered to their lord. (2) Suppose a man, lord of all the world, yet, since every thing is received, not according to its own greatness and worth, but according to the capacity of the receiver, it signifies very little as to our content or to the riches of our possession. Would he receive more, he must have new capacities created in him. (3) All the joys of the world summed up together are not enough to counterpoise the evil of one sharp disease, or to allay a sorrow. (4) Though possessing all the world, his powers are limited: he cannot make his son to be obedient, or drive away disease. A multitude of dishes does not make him have a good stomach. (5) With the possession of the world come sorrow, anxiety, satiety, troubles of every sort. Yet for the hope of this men lose their souls. His own soul. Soul here is the same

37. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his forfeit his life? soul? is when leik. Asrausim for)

1

For what 37

should a man give in exchange for his life? For who- 38 soever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adul

genera-terous and sinful generation,

38. Whosoever therefore 2 shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful tion, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

9: 1. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

9.

1 Matt. 10:33. Luke 9:26; 12: 2 Rom. 1: 16. 2 Tim. 1:8; 2: 12. 4 Matt. 24: 30; 25:31. Luke 22: 18.

the Son of man also shall be
cometh in the glory of his
ashamed of him, when he

Father with the holy angels.
And he said unto them, Verily I

I

say unto you, There be some here of them that stand by,

which shall in no wise taste of

death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.

word that is translated life in the previous verse. It does not mean soul, in distinction from the body, but life, understanding it in the higher sense, life here and hereafter. Alford. (See Revised Version.) Lose his own soul. The terms are chosen from the dialect of ordinary secular business. What will a man gain, on ordinary principles of value or exchange, if he gain the whole world, —i.e., all it can offer as an object of attraction or desire, the sum total of enjoyment, whether sensual, intellectual, or pecuniary, and lose (be made to lose, be injured, ruined, with respect to) his own soul, or the word before translated "life," but here denoting rather that which lives, enjoys, suffers? What are enjoyments if there is no one to enjoy them, if the man himself is lost, i.e., lost to happiness forever?-Alexander. (1) Every man has a soul of his own. (2) It is possible for the soul to be lost, and there is danger of it. (3) If the soul is lost, it is the sinner's own losing, and his blood is on his own head. (4) One soul is of more worth than all the world; so the winning of the world is often the losing of the soul. (5) The loss of the soul cannot be made up by the gain of the whole world. (6) If the soul be once lost, it is lost forever, and the loss can never be repaired or retrieved. — M. Henry.

37. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? What would a man not give? If he had the whole world, would he not willingly give it, provided he really knew, believed, or felt, that otherwise he would be utterly lost? The Saviour has gone forward in thought, and taken his standpoint in eternity. It is from that standpoint that he puts his question. It is implied that the time will come, in the experience of the persistently infatuated, when kingdom upon kingdom were they available - would be an insufficient exchange for the soul. - Morison. This bad bargain is ever made silently, half unconsciously, gradually. Few deliberately sell their souls; but whoever does wrong for any pleasure, drinks, dissipates, is dishonest, is worldly-minded, neglects religion, is selfish, and turns a deaf ear to the cry of the poor, really sells his soul. - P.

38. Whosoever therefore. What follows is a justification, as it were, of the preceding queries. Notwithstanding the appalling nature of some of the ideas suggested by them, it was right to propose them. Whosoever. It matters not what his position or condition in this world may be. Shall be ashamed of me and of my words. As many would be prone to be. The temptation to shame, in reference to the Saviour and the Saviour's sayings or doctrines, continues to the present day, and is pervading society to the core, even in countries called Christian. It is one of the severest temptations which young "converts" have to encounter. The anticipation of it is one of the mightiest motives to keep men away from conversion, and on the other side of Christian faith and fealty. This adulterous and sinful generation. Adulterous here, as in the Old Testament, means unfaithful to God. -Schaff. The wickedness of the people among whom the disciples lived, a people who would reproach and sneer, and hate those who set up to be better than they, would make it much harder to confess Christ among them. -P. Of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed. Because such were not worthy of their Master. At the day of judgment he must reveal the simple truth that these had not the spirit of their Lord, their deeds were not like his: they failed in faith and patience and love and duty, they do not belong in his company.-P. When he cometh in the glory of his Father. The day of judgment, when Christ shall be exalted above all principalities and powers, and all men shall be brought before him to be judged according to their deeds. Christ now seemed but a poor humble man; but he looks forward, and bids them look forward, to the time when all this shall be changed, and he shall take his place in his kingdom. III. The Triumph of Christ's Kingdom. - Chap. 9, ver. I. I. Some that stand here. As he said also in his great prophecy of Matt. 24 (see ver. 34). Shall not

し

MARK S: 34-38; 9: 1.

taste of death. Death is regarded as a bitter poison-potion, which all have, at one time or another, to taste. - Morison. Till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power; or, literally, in power, in the possession and manifestation of power. The kingdom of God, as developed on the earth, might appear to be a feeble little thing as it pre-existed during the period of our Lord's humiliation; but by and by it would assert for itself a might that would defy every species of criticism or opposition, and eventually shiver into atoms, or grind into powder, every existing institution of ungodliness.—Morison. The essential meaning is, that, before all then present should be dead, there would be some convincing proof that the Messiah's kingdom had been actually set up, as predicted by the prophets and by Christ himself. It has reference to a gradual or progressive change, the institution of Christ's kingdom in the hearts of men and in society at large, of which protracted process the two salient points are the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the destruction of Jerusalem more than a quarter of a century later; between which points, as those of its inception and consummation, lies the lingering death of the Mosaic dispensation, and the gradual erection of Messiah's kingdom. -Alexander. Three of them were immediately to see him transfigured; all but one were to be witnesses of his resurrection; one at least the beloved disciple - was to survive that capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple. — Farrar.

LIBRARY REFERENCES.

Sermons by Wesley, "The Important Question;" Saurin, "The Worth of a Soul; Jeremy Taylor, "The Foolish Exchange." Mark Hopkins's Sermons, “Self-Denial," ver. 24; "Life," ver. 25. Dr. Huntingdon's sermon on "The Cross a Burden or a Glory,” in Christian Believing and Living. On taking up the cross and following Christ, see The Cross-Bearer, with its twelve illustrations; The City of No Cross; the poem The Changed Cross; Bowes's Illustrative Gatherings, second series, p. 70, "Cross-bearing; "Biblical Treasury, vol. vii., § 1,383, "How a Cross ceases to be a Cross;" Gotthold's Emblems, p. 307, "The Christian without a Cross." On the exchange for the soul, see Gotthold's Emblems, pp. 238-240, "The Cipher," and "The Number before it," on the value of the world with and without religion; p. 166, "The Soul-Venders; " Bowes's Illustrative Gatherings, second series, p. 358, "A Soul for an Estate;" p. 450, "The Dying Words of Severus ; Spencer's Things New and Old, p. 453, §. 1,598, “The Value of the Soul;" Biblical Treasury, vol. ix., § 1,821, "A Life for a Flower; For My Sake and the Gospel's, see Edward Everett Hale's little book, In His Name.

ILLUSTRATIVE.

I. Bearing the cross. In The Cross-Bearer, a little book published by the American Tract Society, is a series of illustrations from French pictures, showing the right and the wrong ways of bearing the cross. One picture represents the disciple as sawing off a part of his cross. He would bear the cross, but the one Christ gave him is too heavy. Another is dragging his cross behind him with a cord, being ashamed of it. Another is worshipping his cross, crowning it with flowers, instead of bearing it; praising religion, but not practising it. At last one comes with his Master before him, bearing his cross, while the disciple walks in the Master's footsteps, and carries his cross exactly as his Master does. - P.

II. The exchange for the soul. The old rabbins, those poets of religion, report of Moses, that when the courtiers of Pharaoh were sporting with the child Moses, in the chamber of Pharoah's daughter, they presented to his choice an ingot of gold in one hand, and a coal of fire in the other; and that the child snatched at the coal, thrust it in his mouth, and so singed and parched his tongue that he stammered ever after. And certainly it is infinitely more childlike in us, for the glittering of the small glow-worms and the charcoal of worldly possessions, to swallow the flames of hell greedily in our choice. - Bishop Jeremy Taylor.

III. There was an advertisement, in one of the daily papers, to this effect: "Wanted, a nice cottage and grounds in exchange for a lot of choice liquors." Multitudes of drinking men have made such an exchange. Not only property, but happiness, home, the welfare of friends, character, prospects, every thing, have they exchanged for intoxicating liquors. So men sell their characters and clear conscience for money, for honors, for pleasures. They sell their souls for the world, and find that they have sold themselves for naught; as Esau for a mess of pottage, and Judas for thirty pieces of silver.

I.

PRACTICAL.

Ver. 34. Christ sets before those who would become his disciples the difficulties and trials, as well as the joys and prospects, of his service.

2.

3.

This is a sieve to sift out the false disciples, and a test of true disciples.

We are to renounce the world as master, but to use it as servant. Like fire, the world is a good servant, but a terrible master.

4.

The first lesson in Christ's school is self-denial. — Henry.

5. Every one has a cross to bear, and that which Christ gives to each is the best one for him.

6. But, like Christ's, our cross may become a glory, and lead to a crown.

7. Christ's cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore. It is such a burden as wings to a bird, or sails to a ship. - Rutherford.

8. Vers. 35-37. No man ever really gained any thing by doing wrong.

9. It is wonderful for how small a price men will exchange their souls.

IO.

II.

Ver. 38. Christ and his religion are in direct opposition to a wicked world.

As the world is in the majority, and sets the fashion, and scorns those who differ,

the disciple will be tempted to be ashamed of his life and principles.

12.

He can overcome this temptation by looking to that home and that time when his principles shall prevail.

13. The triumph of Christ and his kingdom is certain.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

This lesson brings out vividly the truth that THE WAY OF THE CROSS IS THE WAY TO HEAVEN. Christ, at the outset, shows men the trials as well as the joys of the way. (1) We learn what it is to take up the cross, ver. 34. (2) We learn The Reasons for taking up the Cross, for otherwise we make a most foolish exchange, the worst of all bargains, vers. 35-37. (3) Lest in this wicked world we should be tempted to be ashamed of Christ, he warns us against the consequences of such folly, ver. 38. And (4) he sustained and strengthened his disciples by a glimpse of his own future glory, and the certain and early triumph of his kingdom, ver. 38, chap. 9: 1.

LESSON X.-JUNE 4.

SK, 9:28

THE TRANSFIGURATION. — MARK 9:2-13.

GOLDEN TEXT.-And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. - MATT. 3:17.

TIME. Summer of A. D. 29; a week after the last lesson. That the transfiguration took place at night may be fairly inferred from Luke's statement (Luke 9: 37), that they came down "the next day." Observe, too, the sleepiness of the apostles; and that night was often our Lord's time for prayer.

PLACE.-Probably Mount Hermon, in the vicinity of Cesarea Philippi. The tradi tional site is Mount Tabor, south-west of the Sea of Galilee; but there are several reasons why Mount Hermon is the more probable place.

RULERS.-Tiberius Cesar, emperor of Rome. Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea (4th year); Herod Antipas, of Galilee (33d year); Herod Philip, of Iturea and the northwest regions, including Cesarea Philippi and Mount Hermon.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Matt. 17: 1-13. Luke 9: 28-36.

INTRODUCTION.

In the last two lessons Christ gave his disciples glimpses of his sufferings and death, and of the glory that was to follow. His death was only a few months in the future. The disciples needed to be prepared for it, so that their faith fail not in the hour of trial. So God gives to them a vision of the real nature and power and glory of the Lord they were following. Their belief in his divinity, in his greatness, in his being the Son of God, no longer depended on his word alone; but the truth was shown to the disciples in clear, unimpeachable manifestations. They believed before; now they knew.-P. If the preceding lesson insisted on "Christ's cross before Christ's crown," this one gives the sure evidence

1

2. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.

And after six days Jesus 2 taketh with him Peter, and

James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them:

of the crown to follow the cross.-Stock. But the primary purpose probably was to give to our Lord at this crisis consolation from his Father, who, by an attesting voice, ushered in the sufferings as he had done the successes. - -Schaff.

EXPLANATORY.

I. The Transfiguration. Vers. 2-8. 2. And after six days. Six days after the conversation recorded in our last lesson. Luke says, "about an eight days." About, not exactly. Luke's eight days include the fractional days at the beginning and end of the day of the conversation and the day of the transfiguration. Mark's six days are the six complete days intervening between them. Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John. The élite of the Master's elect; the triumvirs of the apostolate. They were sufficient in number to be adequate witnesses to the rest of the apostles, and to men in general. - Morison. The sons of thunder and the man of rock. - Farrar. The flower and crown of the apostolic band, Peter, who loved him so much; John, whom he loved so much; and James, who should first attest that death could as little as life separate from his love. The same three who should hereafter be witnesses of his humiliation in the agony of the garden, and who, therefore, were thus fitly fore-armed by that which they now beheld against what they should then behold. Trench's Studies in the Gospels. Leadeth them up. At

the evening hour. Farrar. Into a high mountain. That is, into some recess in some high mountain. The particular mountain referred to is not specified, and not known. Morison. There can be little doubt that Mount Hermon (Jebel es Sheikh) is intended, in spite of the persistent, but perfectly baseless, tradition which points to Tabor. For (1) Mount Hermon is easily within six days' reach of Cesarea Philippi, and (2) could alone be called a "lofty mountain" (being 10,000 feet high), or "the mountain," when the last scene had been at Cesarea. Further, (3) Tabor at that time in all probability was (Jos. B. 7. 1, 8, $7, Vit. 37), as from time immemorial it had been (Josh. 19:12), an inhabited and fortified place, wholly unsuited for a scene so solemn; and (4) was moreover in Galilee, which is excluded by Mark (9:30). "The mountain" is indeed the meaning of the name "Hermon," which, being already consecrated by Hebrew poetry (Ps. 133: 3, and under its old names of Sion and Sirion, or "breast-plate," Deut. 4: 48; 3:9; Cant. 4:8), was well suited for the transfiguration by its height, seclusion, and snowy splendor. - Cambridge Bible for Schools.