Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1889-10-31
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE
LESSON CONSIDERED.

Reflections Of an Elevating Character
Wholesome Food for Thought = Study
ing the scriptural Lessons Intelligentiy
and Profitabiy.
The lesson for Sunday. Nov. 8. may be
found In 2 Sam. Is: 1-12.
INTRODUCTORY.
| This lesson Is one OF warning. and the
thought naturally and properly turns toward
those who were led astray by Absalom, who.
| as the account significantly states. knew
not 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 to young men:
| Can do you better service than warn
you against the peril OF evil companion
ship? DO we not all know men, gay. bril-
liant. fascinating. with natul al quality Of
purity and sap the faith Of those around
them2 / 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 tho Office.
1t Is an inordinate worship OF merely intel
| lectual force or the qualities OF personal
| fascination. The character OF man Is the
last thing you inquire about You ask, Is
clever? Can he tell good storyY You do
not ask. does he love God? Does he honor
purity and meet the great demands of truth
| end righteousness2"
| WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
Absalom prepared him chariots and
horses. Dissemination. It was the first step
in the course OF rebellion. The -rake's
progress" Begins with the lavish expend-
| 1ture OF money on person and appetite.
Some young man in England. who fell heir
to fortune and spent it all at races and
| suppers within year or 80. has written q
book. in which he tells how he found vent
in so short a time for such flood of wealth.
The work has very. properly been since
named The Autobiography OF Fool"
| When you see young man (and what COM
munity Is without its specimenD in those
| years when, With self denial and self disci-
pline. he should be laying the foundation,
| mental, physical. and moral as well, for
future accumulations. OF whatever sort,
spending his substance, like the prodigal.
in riotous living. you can write the sequel
rchad fna s isresrt fst fffoWard soanm wbat
a difference between the early manhood OF
David and that OF Absaloml And what a
difference in the issue OF their lives
See. thy matters are good and light There
speaks the demagogue, whose name Is le-
Rton. he Is quite a familiar parsonage to-
day. You see him on the street corner and
in the market place button ho holing and pa
lavering on the platform. smiling and swell
Ing and Grating. Misunderstanding right and
left, 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 e-election suggestion.
After the ballots have been cast and tie
seat secured, where alas, has gone all the
sympathy so warmly expressed before? 1t
has done its work and ceased to be. In fact,
II 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
Coketownl Oh. my friends and fellow
countrymen. the slaves OF an iron-handed
and grinding despotism! oh. my friends
and fellow-sufrerers and follow workmen.
is all there is OF II; Ahsalnm wac grnan n 8
and grinding for himself much more than
for the people.
| SO Absaom 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. Ho I'll he'd away what
did not belong to him. No. he did not slip
into the royal chambers and with slight o.
hand steal the crown jewels from his father.
No and yes. With purpose no loss knavish
and duplicity and trickishness no less
criminal in the eyes OF God he thought TO
snatch away for himself the royal purple.
Larceny covers 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 himself the influence or o. toe m
that belongs to anotEer-such an one tako
that which does not belong to him and is as
much a thief as the common loot pad Of the g
Monday docket. or the culprit in the Jail
there who has been caught with a kit o.
burglar tools. ., there is tribunal where
every robbery, great and petty. shall be
brought to light. Let us watch ourselves
and walk very eircumsDectly lest in our
ordinary social and neighborly relations we
be found wanting" in this regard. Per-
haps we had better keep Pauls words to
their old Christian application: Let hin
that stole steal no more.
Let me go and pay my VOW. Let a man
become fired 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
falsehood. He has become n thief and Il
liar in one. And see the wickedness OF the
lie itself. He has vowed a VOW TO serve the
Lord. he says, and when he goes. lorsooth.
to fulfill his vow, 10. he has smitten the
Lords anointed. What debased and D sr-
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 falsehood unto his father and so Sc
cured leave OF absence, he now deceives
his chosen men by O false invitation, and
taking them of into the wilderness drags
them down with himself. No man goes
wrong who does not take others with hfm
I'm their simplicity" The saddest aspect
OF rebellion and treason is the TACT that so
|
guilty. Herod's was not the only slaughter
oil the innocents. Every man who leads
his fellows astray reddens his hand In the
blood of the witless and unthinking. Every
doctrinal departure carries away multi
tude who go in their simplicity. and the re-
spons blity of those fow who knowingly
turn the sheep out of the true path is not
slight. Alas for the unwilling two hundred.
i who went out OF Jerusalem" simply be-
cause they were called" How great the
multitude to-day We do we'll to pause to
consider who It 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 10 grewl IL might perhaps h ave
been checked away back there at the outset
by a word. but now the trickling rill has
become torrent. deluge. and the dikes
are ali down. You have seen sheep leapin g
through gap in the hedge. First one.
then another. and another. and pre- sently.
pell-meil. 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 astrayl Do you wonder that pru-
dent godly men should 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
llno2 1t is not the present evil that is
feared so much as IL is the conspiracy when
it shall have possibly become strong. May
our resort in church and Sunday school
to-day be with David in the hill rather than
with Absalom In the woodi
| Next Lesson: -Davfd's Grtef Tor ADsa-
lom.' Sam. Is: 1888.
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