Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-01-25
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.


1--WE IG0oONs
Reductions Of an EIsvating Charactsr-
Wholesome Food for Thought - study
ing the scriptural Lesson Intslliss.tiy
and Probably. 80
Gods Covenant with Noah.
The lesson for Sunday, January %,
may be found In Gen. y: S-l7.
INTRODUCTORY. -s
Come thou and all thy house into
the ark, said the Lord. 1t Is q close
call to us all to-day. To the teacher
with portion OF his class saved; to
the pastor with but remnant Of the
community which he serves in the gos-
pei at peace with God; to the parent
in the ark Of safety. o this lesson to-
day ought to be q Bochim, place Of
weeping for souls, and y place Of
wrestling with Gcd for their talvation
and for the outpouring OF his Spirit.
Such agony means presently bursting
clouds Of refreshing The entire
Baptist passionate of one OF our large
cities met for all-day prayer at one Of
the churches the other day. These
two cries voice the prayers OF all. 20,
for heart to serve my God, . heart
from sin set Free" and this: my peo-
pie, o my people! these sheep!" Then
they went back to their focks. Will
I, that anxious cry be answered?
POINTS IN THE LESSON.
'The heavens declare"-God's ma
ture-pulpit. ev-,.''
Noah was preacher OF righteous
ness: Noah is dead. But there stands
the boW-it breaches still.
Yes, think and thank. To the per-
versely impenitent there comes an
other overwhelming flood. To those
who seek the Lord there shall be no
more sea. Where sin abounded grace
did much more abound. God is good,
and God will keep his covenant for
ever.
But, mark you, it is covenant.
That requires two parties: God and
you. who are kept says Peter, by
the power of Gods part" Through
faith" my part. How can one who has
no trust in God, lifts no appealing cry
to God, expect his mercy? Where is
saving aside from the Blood?
What says the bow in the clouds?
Does it preach mercy? 1t breaches
Judgment, too. Like the cross, it tells
Gods hatred Of sin as we'll as his love
for sinners. When you see the rain
bow think OF the wrathful, all engulf-
ing food. Think and tremble.
Covenant in its original significance
means cutting, referring IT, the sever
ed portions of the sacrifice TWAS the
ancient custom for those who made
mutual covenant to pass between the
| nj nf hA loin nfTn
| elsewhere than at the rent in his side
at the parting. as 1t were, between
soul and body, that God typically made
covenant with us? God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten. "
And it was from the foundation OF the
world. Lift the crcss
| HINTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
| The lesson comes to many in the
midst of revival. With all of us it
ought to mean refreshing from on
| high, 1t ought to usher in an awaken
| ing. Il will remember my covenant, ?
says Jehovah God. There is the plain
word. Now the question to put is this:
Have you made yourself party to the
covenant of grace here minated? If
| not, what are your prospects, what is
your hope for the future? Make this
lesson very direct and personal one.
The Scandinavians looked at the
bow and thought they saw in it a
| bridge to join the earth and the skies.
| 1t is a bridge for those who keep his
covenant. TO the finally unbelieving it
shall CLEAN and broaden. brilliant
cleft now, into the great gulf fixed"
betwixt wretchedness and Joy.
The fact of the Flood. A moment as
to that. Geikie in his Hours with the
| Bible" instances six or seven different
and separate narratives of this far
away event and says: "The story of
the Deluge is universal tradition
/ am ong all branches of the human fam
lily, with the one exception, a. Ienor-
mant tells us; Of the black Their
primitive version may yet be found.
Each story is colored by local charac-
teristics and exaggerated according to
national idiosyncrasies. Here evident
ly in the simple Bible account we have
the original from which all of the o
legendary tales have sprung.
| Note some of these. The Mexicans
| tell of such flood and of a humming-
bird sent out from the surviving ship
to bring back a branch with leaves in
its beak. The Indians Of the north
speak CT great Deluge caused, they
| bdlus w buO lolt luS hlnu
of half-god, half-man, who escaped
their malice on a large raft, taking
with him all sorts OF animals. 1t was
a musk rat, however, that brought him
intimations of the subsistence of the
water. diving down and bringing up
mud from the earth under the wave.
Certain male-fowl had previously dived
and been lost. 1t is the red mans
local coloring Of the old Biblical mar
rative.
The Brahman tradition, on the other
hand, is of Vishnu dragging the ark
through the waters, ousing the great
sea serpent as rope. The Greeks had
Jupiter putting peace into the hearts
Of the animals, thronged in the held of
the vessel, and they had the water run
ming off at last into a great cleft made
for them. For centuries afterward the
ceremony of pouring water into cleft
was part of the heather temple wor-
ship, and itself a faint memorial OF
the Flood. The Nineveh tablets and
Berosus, the priest of Babylon about
geo B. c., give accounts of an ancient
Flood singularly like unto that found
| in the Scriptures. The Noah of Bero-
sus (Xisuthros) asking which way to
stem his strange craft was told to di-
rect his way toward the gods.