Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-03
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VI, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY 6.

Text of the Lesson, Cen. l, 14-2s--Mem-
DRY Verses, 24-26--GoIden Text, Prov.
Stearns.
| IA. And Joseph returned into Egypt,
he and his brethren and all that went up
with him to bury his father, after he had
buried his father" For II years did ia
cob enjoy Josephs presence and care in
Egypt chapter Xvii, 2s) and died at the
age of IA, having first blessed all his sons
and charged them to bury him beside Leah
in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham
and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, had already
| been laid. When Jacob was dying he,
! with confidence in the promises of God,
| blessed the SONS of Joseph and assured
Joseph that God would bring them all out
of Egypt (IIeb. xi, 81; Gen. Xviii, 21).
Is. And when Joseph's brethren saw
that their father was dead they said .Jo-
seph will peradventure hate us and will
certainly reqlite us all the evil which we
| did unto him. That looks like a very
mean estimate of their brother, who had
so freely and fully forgiven them and had
so abundantv cared for them for so many
| years. One cannot read chapter xiv, 1-15,
without seeing that ii was pure unbelief
and actually made Joseph liar. But it
is just the way that many Christians treat
| the Lord They cannot believe that He
! has nothing against them and that He will
never mention their sins, and SO they make
Him liar II John V, 10Y.
49, And they sent messenger unto
Joseph, saying, Thy father did command
before he died. saying. A messengers
only responsibility is to receive and deliver
his message correctly and promptly. Hag
gai was the Lords messenger with the
Lords message alag. i, 49,, and the mes
sage accomplished the work. It is pleas
IRE to be the Lord s messenger and is the
highest honor mortal can here enjoy
! But this messenger was in poor employ
and on very poor GRAND.
II. SO shall We say unto Joseph, For
give, pray thee now, the trespass of thy
! brethren and their sin D." This was no
new sin they were asking forgiveness for,
but the old wrong Of 81 years before which
had been fully forgiven for over II years
We have no record that Jacob ever told his
sons thus to appeal to Joseph If he did
he was as bnd as they Yet there are
Christians who, being assured of forgive
ness (Eph. i, Z, John ii, 12), are all the
time asking forgiveness for the same old
sins. No wonde" Joseph wept. 1t is enough
to make Jesus weep to be so unbelevingy
! regarded
Is. "And his brethren also went and
fell down before his face, and they said,
Behold we he thy servants " 1t was in
fear they came, begging for that which had
long ago been given them This is not the
kind of servant Jesus expects to find in
| those who have been made nigh by His
| precious blood (Eph i, l3). Not serving
to obtain forgiveness. but serving because
forgiven, is the right way. Serve the Lord
with gladnpss.
10. And Joseph said unto them Fear
not, for am in the place OF God?' 1t was
against God they had sinned, and from
Him first they should have sought forgive
ness David recognized this when he saG,
Against thee thee only, have sinned and
done this evil in thy sight (Ps. Ii, a. We
must seek forgiveness from God, for all
sin is against Him Il Cor. viii, l2), and
! then from those against whom we have
offended.
90. Put rs for You. We thought evil
against me, but God meant it unto good
to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save
much people alive In almost the very
same words had he spoken to them Of this
matter II years before. He reminds us of
Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today
and forever Heb. xiii, s., of Jehovah, who
says, 81 am the Lord, l change not' (Mal.
iii, 81.
81. "Now therefore fear ye not l will
nojIrish you and your little ones. And he
comforted them and spake kindly unto
them This is at least the fourth fear
not'3 in this story xiii, 23; XVI, 3; |, 49,.
The first in the Bible is in Gen. XIV, /, and
the last is Rev. i, Il. or ii, 10, but how
many heart comforting ones there are
throughout the book find constant COM
fort and siren 9Th in such as | Sam. xxi,
90; lisa. xii, 10, 10; Joel H. 81; Mark V,
So We are to comfort others with the
comfort wherewith we ourselves are com
forted of God III Cor. i, -; therefore
pass them on,
22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he
and his fathers house, and Joseph lived
an hundred and ten years" He was 80
when he first stood before Pharoah xii,
40, so that he had so years of prosperity
and honor in Egypt He would be about
So when his father died; therefore he lived
to make good his word to his brethren for
at least 80 years
23. "And Joseph saw Ephraim's chill
dren of the third generation. The children
also OF Machir, the son of Manasseh, were
brought up upon Joseph 8 knees" After
JOD aHllctlOn ne saw ms son sons, even
four generations dob xiii, 16). 1t is one
of the blessings Of the righteous to see
children's children and peace Herewith
ops cXxviii, g.,
"a. "And Joseph said unto his breth-
rem, | die, and God will surely visit you
and bring you out of this land unto the
land which H.sware to Abraham, to Isaac
and to Jacob" This was confidence in
God. BY faith Joseph, when he died, made
mention of the departing of the children
Of Israel and gave commandment concern
ing his bones Heb, ri, 22).
%. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely
visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones
from hence" So when Moses led Israel
out of Egypt he took the bones of Joseph,
and when their wanderngs all had ceased
they were buried in Shechem ZEN xiii 10;
Joshua xiv, 32) Joseph might have de-
Sts.a Il 10 "a