The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-07-19


great head of the church from whom the
cherubim arc formed, the revelation to us of
tne fother's love and eternal purpose: and
yet, though 1t thus talks of oil these glorious
,snings the fun significance Of it will not be
known till the temple Of God is opened in
Heaven, and there is seen in His temple tho
ARK OF His Covenant. Rev. XII, 1a.)
=: while the ark abode in Kirjath-joarim
IL was twenty years; and oil tho
house OF Israel lamented after the Lord"
We know from III Sam vi, 10, that the ark
was in tho house of Abinadab a very much
longer period than twenty years; but tho last
clause OF this verso may indicate that this
was the period that elapsed after the return
oi the ark before Israel was awakened from
her sin to gather together unto tho Lord.
'S,',"'Aax4XItYiriiV v9pr
prepare youi sl fsslsr g srisS iae4I le3 Egs!1Ee
Him only" This was the exhortation OF
Samuel to Israel as thoy lamented after the
Lord, and he assured them that IL they would
thus sincerely turn to God He would deliver
them out Of the hand Of the Philistines. So
Joshua pleaded with the people ere he was
taken from them Josh. xiv, 1899; and so
Moses had instructed thon Deut. Xxx, q 3,
lW. Let any believer determine that evory
idol shall go, that he will deny self, take up
his cross daily, and follow Jesus, and he shall
surely have victory over oil his enemies and
become great power for God.
4. Then the children of Israel did put
away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served tho
Lord only" Good desires and resolutions
arc no use unless carried out; tho prodigal
son might have persisted if he had only said:
81 will arise and CO." and hal not actually
arisen and gone; many Christians know that
they are far from enjoying fellowship with
God because of idols cherished in their
hearts, and they often resolve to put them
away and be whole hearted for Christ, but
thcre Is nothing accomplished until, like Is
rael in this verse, they actually ,lo it.
5. II will pray for you unto tho Lord" In
jas. ". l6, we are told that 'the effectual,
fervent prayer of righteous man avsileth
tercession saved Israel from destruction moro
than once. In Jer. xv., ], Moses and Samuel
are associated as men mighty i'm prayer. God
told Abimelech that Abraham would pray
for him and thus bring blessing to him and
tcrcosson for Sodom Gen xviii, 9O-Sg is a
memorable occasion. 1t is to be feared that
much prayer is simply saying words, but that
only is truo prayer which is asking from the
Heart, in the name of Jesus, for that which
Te really desire for His glory.
q. They gathered together, drew water,
poured it out before the Lord tasted on that
day and said there we have sinned against
the Lord" The pouring out of water sym
5olized their helpless and penitent condition;
they were as water split on the ground,
which cannot be gathered up again, III Sam.
xiv, ~; they had nothing to plead but their
guilt and their great need, and convinced of
this they turned with fasting unto the Lord.
z. "The Philistines heard" Let the people
of God come together In true humility to
seek Him and the enemies of God will be sure
to hear of it. 1t is surely true that ''Sntan
trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon
his knees, and If one praying saint makes
prayer must make him awfnlly afraid 81
that we do not wonder that the Philistines
gather against Israel when they hear that
Israel have gathered unto the Lord
The children of Israel were afraid of tho
Philistines." That was because of their sins
and wanderings from God. Had they been
right with God they would have had no moro
fear than David had of Goliath.
God for u.s." This was their prayer to sam
our God" and they have a right to say it
now since they have truly turned ~ Him,
'the Lord their God, !" for Ho says: 'CaIl
upon Me in the day of trouble; will deliver
thee and thou shalt glorify Me." Psalms l.,
9. "And Samuel took a sucking lamb and
offered burnt offering wholly unto tho
Lord, and Samuel cried unto tile Lord for
Israel, and the Lord heard him." The burnt
Offering typifies the sacrifice of the LORD
Jesus, W 10 is oil offerings in one, the only
sacrifice for sin; and reminds us that without
shedding of blood there is no remission and
that only I'm the name and by virtue Of the
merits OF Christ can we draw near or come to
God. Qieb. tx, %; Acts iv,, 12.) Samuel
did not approach God because he was holy or
trusting in his merits, but only as one who
believed God and came trusting in the sacri-
flee; thus trusting he came with confidence
in God and was heard.
against Israel; but the Lord thundered with
a great thunder = and discounted
them" Tho Philistines may have thought
that as they conquered even when the ark
was in the camp of Israel, SO they would con-
qucr now, but circumstances had changed
At that time Israel relied on the ark, and It
was simply battle between mon and mon,
but now Israel was relying upon God, and it
was conflict between tho Philistines and the
God of Israel, and consequently they could
Jehovah FPS. xxx, 8, 4; Job xxxvii., Is;
John xii %, 2;D and when He speaks in judg-
ment none can stand before Him, oil His enc
mics must fall.
1l-l2. "Ebenozer, hitherto hath the Lord
helped u.s." Israel pursued and snlote the
Philistines, for the Lord fought for them and
Samuel, to commemorate the victory and
strengthen Israers faith in the future, set up
this stone and called it Ebenczer, saying
Hitherto hath the Lord helped u.s." Tie
word Ebenezer is only found In these three
places CHAP. iv., l; ", !; vii, ~, the first
two referring to the victory of the Philis-
tines, but this ono to tho victory of Israel
when they truly repented and relied on Je-
hovah. How many places can we look back
to where the enemy conquered because we
were sinful and disobedient, and in how
many such places have we now set up an Eb.
enezer to mark tho fact that where oncs we
fell on account of sin, we now stand firm be-
cause we have repcnted, rely on the Lord and
servo Him onl Lesson Helper.
ENGLAND GROWING SOBER.
Rev. Il. E. Hak says I'm the Cosmo mopolitan:
Whether any of tie great moral wars which
have been set on foot by such men as Fathe,
Matthew, or the Washingtonians, or by the
red ribbon movement, or the women's union,
can show as great q result as this, it would
be hard to say. The reduction Of the amount
of liquor consumed I'm England in the last de
cade was, till 1887, SO considerable as to af.
feet visibly what Mr.. Gladstone called "the
drink revenue" The year 1882 brought ar
increase, but it was supposed that this wa.
due to the festivities In consequence of the
Queens jubilee--a sad enough issue to q
popular celebration. At the momens when
write these lines, we have not Mr.. Balfour'i
budget speech of 1885, and can not tell whether
the consumption Of liquor fell again after the
jubilee was over.
All this reduction is due to steady "teIhper
ance work" Of the old.fashion kind I'm Eng