News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-11-22
SABBATH SCHOOL.
LESSON FOR
NOVEMBER 20.
Lesson Text: "The Covenant Re-
newed," Josh. xiv. 1923
Golden Text: josh, Xiv,
23-Commentary.

At the time of our lesson to-day Israel haC
| long enjoyed rest from all her enemies, rounC
about; Joshua was over an hundred year
| old and knew that he was soon to go thu
way of all the earth; SO he calls all lsrae
together at Shechem, rehearses to them thu
Lords dealings, and urges them to fear anC
serve him in sincerity and truth, saying
unto them: If it seem evil unto you to serve
the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will
serve; but as for me and my house. we will
serve the Lord" The people answered in the
words Immediately preceding our lesson
saying: We will serve the Lord, for He il
our God"
49, I'VE cannot serve the Lord" Joshua
would have them remember that it is no light
matter to serve the Lord; he had known
them ever since they let Egypt, he knew how
often they had made promises and broken
them, and he doubtless remembers the time
when they said ''all that the Lord hath said
viii we do and be obedent,n then he and
Moses assembled the mount and at the end of
forty days returned to find them dancing
and singing around golden calf, deliberately
breaking the commands they had so solemnly
promised to keep. lex. xiv, xxxii.) He
knew them and their sins all the forty years
that loses was leader and he Moses minister,
and he had now known them many years
under his own leadership, and he knew well
just how much their word was worth
He is an holy God; He is q Jealous God y
Not only was Joshua well ncq tinted with
he was also acquainted with the holiness and
jealousy of God, and he feared for the conse-
quences if Israel should again transgress.
They were chosen that they might be an
holy nation, peculiar treasure unto Him
above all people lex. xix, ), o.; and many
times were they exhorted in these words:
I'VE shall be holy, for l the Lord your God
am holy" LEV. XIX, 2; Xxx. Z, 20; xxi, 8,
etc. He would also have them to love Him
with all the heart and soul because of His
70 thnn1 and CN-An t1o%I II,
might show through them the wealth of His
love and power, thus winning other nations
tDeut vi, 5; vii, SO. Surely it was reason
able that in return for such love as He had
shown to them, they should give Him the
whole heart, and there is nothing strange in
the fact that He expected it,
20. IF ye forsaKe the Lord Often had
they done it and had been spared only by
the intercession of Moses, type of Christ: and
Joshua trembles Tor them, knowing that
The Lord their God is consuming fire.
sven a jealous God" Duet w., "a Sin must
be consumed, and if the sinner clings to his
sins he will be consumed also, but If willing
10 be cleanSed from sin and be holy unto the
Lord, then God will consume the sin and
save the sinner.
81. Nay, but we will serve the Lord. u
This is their choice; Joshua had most deci-
1edly taken his stand w., 15), and had made
it plain to them that God would have no half
work, and that they could not serve God and
worship idols, nor could they serve God in
their own strength; and now they have vol
UNFAIRLY taken their stand with him to serve
the Lord, and their conduct proves them to
nave been sincere, for "Israel served the
Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the DAYS
Of the elders that outlived Joshua w. 81
Judges H., y. The words of Joshua and the
words of the people in this their decision are
noble words, and while it is solemn step to
take it is far more solemn not to take it.
Let all who have not yet said in their hearts:
Il will serve the Lord" remember that they
are virtually saying: 81 will not serve the
Lord, or, in other words, they are choosing
Satan rather than Christ, this world rather
than the world to come, He'll rather than
Heaven.
q. witnesses against yourselves We
cannot serve the Lord without taking a
stand against self. The world, the flesh and
the devil are the enemies of God and His
people, and this trinity of evil is ever seeking
to ensnare the child of God.
-. Put away the strange gods, and in
cline your hearts unto the Lord God of Is
rael." 1t is heart work that the Lord re-
quires, and we need to be constantly re-
minded that while men look on the outward
appearance and udge by what they See the
Lord looketh on the heart; He searcheth all
hearts, and understandeth all the imagina-
tiOns of the thoughts: He is a God of knoyl-
edge, AMI by HIM actions are weighed.
"A. The Lord our God will we serve and
His voice will we obey.n If the nation had
talked this way and meant it when the spies
returned from their forty DAYS visit through
the land they would have saved themselves
thirty-elght years wandering in the wilder
ness, and the hundreds of thousands who fell
there might have entered the good land. Let
Christians to-day make the language of this
verse heartily their own, and they will find
days of heaven here on earth. Deut XII,
III, and be such witnesses unto the Lord that
many shall through them be won to Him
%. $50 Johua made covenant Liter
ally "cut n covenant'-for the verb here
translated made when not used in con-
nectlon with covenant, is translated cut
or cut Off" both uses of the word are found
in Jer. xxxiv, IS, ''the words of the cove.
nant which they had made before me when
they cut the calf in twain and passed between
the parts thereof and this carries us back
to the first use of the expression in the
Bible, in Gen. XIV, IS: When Abraham
divided the animals in the midst and watched
by the carcasses till the sun went down,
keeping the birds away, and then saw o
smokIng furnace and a burning lamp pass
between the pieces If we have made a cove
n mt with God by sacrifice FPS. !, 81 let us be
careful to keep diligently His statutes and
a.d ordinances, so that ere,He come in de-
vouring fire we may be safely gathered unto
Him; let no furnace trial dismay lis, nor bird
of prey light upon our sacrifices, but, with
our hearts fixed upon Jesus, let us walk in the
light, faithful unto Him.
90. MS SUOno SHall De "lJHeSS.
The stone reminds us of Jacobs pillars at
Bethel and Mizpah Gen. xviii, Is; xxxv.,
IA; XXI, 45, and also the twelve stones of
Moses lex. XIV, A. and of Joshua Josh. w.,
=, -; but whenever we read of a stone of
witness or memorial we must surely think of
Him who is often called a stone Shechem
tells us of Abrams first resting place and
altar in the land of Canaan Gen. xii, 4, Y
and the oak in Shechem reminds us that here
Jacob buried the strange gods of his
household Gen. xxxv., a.; what an appro-
pirate pace to put away their strange
gods and renew their covenant, a place made
sacred by such memories of Abram and
JACOB. That God recognizes inanimate ma
ture as a witness to our actions and words
seems evident from such words as these:
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth"
"The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the
beam out of the timber shall answer it, d The
Saviour's own testimony is: by thy words
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned" Matt. xii, 81.
Our only safety is a constant looking unto
Jesus AMI an implicit reliance on Him
Les on Hetpsr.