The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-09-28
LESSONS REVIEWED.
THIRD QUARTER OF THE INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES CLOSED.

THIRD QUARTER OF THE INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES CLOSED.
Lessor XIV. for Sept. so. issS-Topic.
tie Forty Years Wandering H. the
wilderness Of sinai -Goidcn Text John
l. Is.
The Second Quarter closed the mission OF
Christ with an exposition VI His great conf
mission to His disciples, to "Go and teach all
nations" an injunction which passed TO their
successors and rests upon the Christian world
today. The Third Quarters lessons relate to
Gods dealings with Israel and the settlement
of the chosen people in the Holy Land-the
action which prepared the scene and laid the
foundation for the establishment Of Christ's
earthly kingdom.
The lesson for July turns upon the
awfully sublime promise, as quoted in Heb
viii, 10: ~ will be to them God and they
shall be to me people," This Is, indeed, a
Golden Text" Then follows from Elk.
xxiy, LIZ the announcement and formal
ratification of Gods covenant with the chill
dren Of Israel, at the foot Of Mount Sinai
From Egypt to Sinai the people had been
taught Gods power; in the giving Of the law
they were shown His majesty as law giver;
they now received a glimpse of His character
in the dispensation Of grace. 1t was but q
glimpse. It was the first covenant" The
last was to be manifest in Jesus Christ. The
people accepted the first covenant; there was
universal confession of faith, and in the
erection of the twelve pillars and the sacrifice
offerings the covenant was ratified. Most
appropriately the ratification closed with an
awfully sublime visitation. Moses and Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders
Of Israel went up into the mountain and
there had vision of the "God of Israel, "
certain by a symbolic vision, show of kind
ness, unlike that Of terror at Sinai. This
done, their long probation begun, the train
of events to terminate in the incarnation of
Christ.
The second Sunday Of the quarter brings
US to the first great apostasy, only forty days
after the covenant. And in that apostasy
Aaron was a participant; he took their
golden ornaments and fashioned the golden
calf, and they danced around it with the
foolish notion that they were worshiping
their God. It was a result Of the force of
habit. For 400 years they had been slaves to
an idolatrous people, a 1eople who worshiped
the SACRED Bull, Apis;" and when Moses
was long absent the OLD idolatrous feeling re-
turned. Many generations passed before the
Hebrews were entirely purged of this idola-
trous faint. Again and again were they
scourged, again and again did God bring
them into bondage to their enemies; yet their
rulers again led them into idolatry, and
Jeroboam finally completed the division Of
their nation by setting up golden calf.
But the cure was thorough at the last Idol.
airy was SO thoroughly driven from the
Jewish mind that all the power of Rome
could not compel them to admit the images
of heather gods into their public places
Moses, at Gods command, no doubt, inflicted
on them terrible punishment.
In the third lesson Moses receives a re
markable assurance Of the renewal Of God'
favor and a promise Of His continued pres
ence. The next lesson gives pleasing illus
tration of the peoples willingness to serv'
God They give their choicest possessions a
free gifts for the tabernacle. OF this giving
the text of Elk. xxxv, 90 %, informs US thai
| Il was prompk willing, even enthusiastic
that II was abundant and according to eacl
ones ability. The last lesson for July Ex
Az A-AOy kAvCo UAA0 A44kkAA 0Axn&lSo11olb U0&
tabernacle and directions to the priests Jus,
q year had elapsed since the Israelites LEFT
Egypt, and their first anniversary was cele
brated by the setting up of the tabernacle
1t was their national day, their day of de
liverance, their religious festival and theil
day of prayer and remuneration. It was
not only all to them that the Fourth of July
is to us, but all that Thanksgiving, Christ
mas and New Years are and all that the
memorial days of various orders and dem
onstrations are to their members It was al
this, because in Israel government and re
| ligion were in one, patriotism and piety
flowed in the same channel, and Goo
was their King, Hence idolatry was moi
merely sin as with us-it was the deadlies1
treason, and like other forms Of treason was
most justly punished with death. In the
Holy of Holes was placed the "Ark Of the
Testimony" an oblong chest which held the
two tables of stone, pot Of mamma anG
Aaron's rod that budded. The cover was
overlaid with pure gold, and in the ends wert
the two wonderful cherubim with wings out
| spread towards each other over the Mercy
Seat, the top of the ark. The symbolic force
and beauty of all this is sublime. Over this
ark, over the Mercy Seat, rested the glory Of
the Lord here was His visible presence, as
far as He deigned to manifest Himself, and
here he communicated with the High Prizes,
who entered the Holy Of Holes once year
with the blood of atonement and the golden
censor. The Lord had before spoken out Of
the mount; henceforth He ''called unto
Moses and spake unto him out Of the Taber-
nacle of the congregation" Henceforth He
was to speak oftener as the God Of grace call.
ing to the Mercy Seat.
In the next lesson Hev. /, 10 we find the
directions for burnt offerings; and in the
next an exposition Of the symbol-the great
lesson that without the shedding of blood
is no remission" A sinful priest cannot
make atonement for sinful people; SO the
first atonement was for the high priest
himself. After the atonement, the insti.
tuition of the priesthood and the removal
of moral and ceremonial uncleanness, natur-
ally comes the Feast of Tabernacles, which
was studied in the lesson for August 10 LEV.
xiii, 3lA4) and having completed the eccle-
siastical organization, the narrative at
this point suddenly changes, and through
the book of Numbers is historical and
statistical. Four lessons are occupied
with accounts of the cowardly unbe-
lief of the people in the matter of the
spies, their awful sentence to death in the