The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-10-30
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE
LESSON CONSIDERED.

ing the Scftptufai Lessons ihtehiSohuy
and Probably.
The lesson for Sunday. Nov. 3. may be
found In Sam. is: LIP.
INTRODUCTORY.
This lesson Is one or warning. and the
thought naturally and properly Turns toward
those who were led astray Dy Absalom. who.
as the account significantly states. knew
net any thing. Beware OF the Absaloms OF
to-day! That Is a seasonable word spoken
by Rev. w. j. Dawson. OF England. IN his
recent volume OF sermons 10 young men:
Can do you n better service than warn
you against the peril OF evil companion
ship? DO we not all know men. gay. bril-
liant. fascinating, with natu al quality OF
leadership. whose work is TO corrupt the
purity and sap the faith Of those around
them2 l will tell you what is the common
curse OF all places where young men gather
together. whether in the school. the univer-
sity. the barracks. the club. or the office.
IL Is an inordinate worship OF merely intel
lectual force or the qualities OF personal
fascination. The character OF a man Is the
last thing you inquire about. You ask. Is
he witty2 Can he sing a good song? Is he
clever2 Can he tell good story You do
not ask. does he love GOD? Does he honor
purity and meet the great demands OF truth
End righteousness
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
Absalom prepared him chariots and
horses. Ostentation. 1t was the first step
In the course of rebellion. The "rake's
progress" begins with the lavish expend-
lture OF money on person and appetite.
Some young man in England. who fell heir
10 fortune and spent 1t all at races and
suppers with year or so. has written
book. in which he tells how he found vent
in so short time for such flood OF wealth.
The work has very properly been since
named The Autobiography OF a Fool"
When you see young man land what COM
munity is without its specimenO in those
years when, With selt-denial and self disci-
pine, he should be laying the foundation,
mental. physical and moral as well. for
future accumula,ions, OF whatever sort,
spending his substance, like the prodigal
III rlotous living, you can write the sequel
OF that career from the outset. He has
pitched his tents toward Sodom. All. what
a difference between the early manhood OF
David and that OF Absalom And what "A
difference in the issue Of their lives
See. thy matters are good and right There
sneaks the demagogue, whose name is le-
gion. lie Is quite a familiar parsonage to-
day. You see him on the street corner and
in the market place button hoing and pa
lavering on the platform. smiling and swell
ing and Grating, Hand shaking right and
eft, full OF honeyed words ready with quips
and compliments, he feels his way across
the heads and shoulders of the people whom
he is simply using to help him into some
fat office. See, thy matters are good and
right" Is the sly ante election suggestion.
Alter the ballots have been cast and the
seat secured, where alas, has gone all the
sympathy so warmly expressed before? 1t
has done its work and ceased TO be. In fact
1t never was. Beware of such politicians,
for revenue only" Your Slackbridges.
whom Dickens so we'll takes of. "Oh. my
friend. the down-trodden operatives Of
Coketown! Oh. my friends and fellow
countrymen. the slaves OF an iron-handed
and grinding despotism! Oh my friends
and fellow-sufferers. and fellow workmen,
and fellow-men." oh" indeed and that
is all there is of ii. Absalom was grooming
and grinding for himself much more than
for the people.
So Absalom stole the hearts OF the men Of
Israel The old truth telling Book calls
things by their right names. 1t brands the
kings son as thief. He hlched away what
did not belong TO him. No. he did not slip
into the royal chambers and with slight-of-
hand steal the crown jewels from his father
No and yes. With purpose no less knavish
and a duplicity and trickishness no less
criminal in the eyes of God he thought to
snatch away for himself the royal purple.
Larceny covers a multitude OF particulars.
perhaps not down in the law books. That
man who steals reputation, robS character
or position. takes away good name.
snatches for himselfth the influence or esteem
that belongs 10 anotEer-such an one take )
that which does not be long TO him and is as
much thief as the common foot pad Of the
Monday docket, or the culprit in the Jail
there who has been caught with kit OF
burglar tOOlS. ", IneTe Is LTlDuudl WneFe
every robbery, great and petty, shall be
brought TO light. Let us watch ourselves
and walk very circumspectly lest in our
ordinary social and neighborly relations we
be found wanting" in this regard. Per-
| haps we had better keep Paurs words 10
their old Christian application: Let hir.
that stole steal no more"
Let me 60 and pay my vow. Let a man
become fred with an unholy ambition, aid
no payment Is too great for him TO render
| for the boon he seeks. Absalom has al
ready committed essential robbery. Now
| he resorts to deceit and speaks an open
fasehood. He has become a thief and u
| liar in one. And see the wickedness of the
! lie itself. He has vowed VOW TO serve the
Lord, he saws, and when he goes, iorsooth,
TO fulfill his vow, 10. he has smitten the
Lords anointed. What a debased and per-
verted mind that must have been TO think
thus to mingle piety with impiety. meek
ness with malice
And they went in their simplicity. An
other and baser method OF deceit. Having
told IA falsehood unto his father and so Sc
cured leave oil absence, he now deceives
his chosen men 10y false invitation. and
taking them of into the wilderness drags
them down with himself. No man goes
wrong who does not take others with him
IN their simplicity. The saddest aspect
OF rebellion and treaso is the tact that SO
many OF the almost guiltless suffer with the
guilty. Hsrod's was not the only slaughter
his fellows astray reddens his hand I'm tn g
blood of the wtless and unthinking Every
doctrinal departure carries away multi
tude who 60 In their simplicity. and the re-
spons bility of those few who knowingly
turn the sheep out of the true path is not
slight. Alas for the unwilling two hundred.
who went out OF Jei usalem" simply be-
cause they were called" How great the
multitude to-day! We do well 10 pause to
consider who IL Is that calls.
And the conspiracy was strong. At last
IL has come to head. The plot is out: the
conspiracy Is openly declared. How quietly
and slowly II grew! Ii might perhaps have
been checked away back there at the outset
by word. but now the trickling rill has
become IA torrent, a deluge. and the dikes
are ali down. You have seen sheep leapin g
through "a gap in the hedge. First one.
then another. and another. and presently.
pell- NELL they are all seemingly in the air,
and almost the entire flock has broken
away. How like sheep. In this respect, do
we all go astray! Do you wender that pru-
dent. godly men sh ould watch the down
grade" tendencies so anxiously. should
view with such solicitude the somewhat
light and playful gambolings OF this and
that one back and forward at the border
line? II is rot the present evil that is
feared so much rs IL Is the conspiracy when
/ IL shall have possibly become strong. May
| our resort i'm church and Sunday school
| ~. navfd In tha hill rather than