Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-04-19
Joseph Ruler I'm Egypt.

and Probably.
Joseph Ruler In Egypt.
The lesson for Sunday, April %, may
be found in Gen. Al: 3e-40.
INTRODUCTORY.
.Icseph aimed high? Was he not
right? He belonged high up in
Gods appointment, and he simply
1 sought his own. Our lesson to day Is
an encouragement to every young man
and woman to seek the best and to
realize to the largest the divine be-
hest in the life, Like Paul, press
forward. 1t is an occasion OF surprise
to some of us to read OF the steadiast
and sometimes painful persistence by
which certain great men have at
tanned the eminence which is theirs.
Few know, perhaps, that Gen. Grant
ever figured as waiting applicant at.
Washington. At the opening OF the
war he was keeping books in al lanyard
at 5000 q year. But he had the train
ing, he knew how to fight, and he be-
lieved he was needed. He kept on un-
til at last the War Department sent
him out West with Colonel's commits
sion, as it is said, to get rid of him.
But they did not get rid of him. That
commission was all he required. Fort
Donelson, Corinth. Vicksburg, the Will
derness, Appomattox! From strength
to strength" because 1t was in him
Gods man for the hour.
POINTS IN THE LESSON
Pharaoh was probably Aphobis, the
last of the shepherd-kings in Egypt.
He himself was of q foreign race
which came into the land of the Nile,
| like Joseph, from the East, and like
| onuin ppoannflxr nQInaA
premacy.
1t was now thirteen years since Jo-
seph had been carried away from the
pit into which his brothers had cruelty
cast him. Ten years a slave, three
years prisoner in dungeon; certain
| ly this was strange tutelage and tutor
age for ruler. But such sudden
changes are possible under despotic
reign; in this case, considering the
eternal fitness OF things, proyidenti al.
| And the clue to such sagacity Is well
spoken here: "Forasmuch as God hath
showed thee all this, there is none SO
discreet and wise as thou art" This
not simply because of his supernatural
insight into the realm Of dreams,
through which undoubtedly God often
spoke of old, but because of the large
prudence and discretion with which
Joseph viewed the emergency. He was
a man taught of God in the highest
school of instruction. The secret OF
the Lord is with them that fear him."
HINTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
The story of Joseph is one of the
most interesting If not altogether the
most entertaining in all the Old Tes-
lament. 1t is beautiful life to sketch,
and the lessons are so many and APP
parent that little need be said by way
of suggestion here. Each one win per-
haps choose for himself as to the salient
lessons to be inculcated. For our own
part, we prefer to let our illustra-
tive thought this week go in two par
ticular directions, one secular, il the
distinction may for convenience be
made, the other sacred. But both are
sacred, since God rules over all and is
in all, and both are, in the estimation
of the writer. at least, of unspeakable
moment and Importance.
Them that honor me l will honor"
1t pays to serve God, pays in this life
as we'll as in the life to come. The
Sabbath question is before the people
In a practical way. BY our uses of the
day of rest we are, as a nation and as
individuals, either honoring or .dishon-
oring God: and as we plant we shall
presently harvest. 1t shall be for our
/
we honor or dishonor God. Just now
in a certain city we are doing what we
can, by a concerted effort, to resist the
encroachment of the Sunday newspa-
pers, an evil that grows daily more
open and shameless. At first some
thought was entertained of quietness.
Now the peaceful morning hours are
startled with reiterant cries on all the
streets and by-ways, and even the or
derly procession or Sabbath worshipers,
all too small to-day, are importuned to
purchase as they wend their ways to
the house OF God. At first there seams
to have been an effort to introduce
some religious intelligence into the
paper That appears now to have been
almost wholly given over. The edit
ors of the Sunday press have bestrid-
den steed that is running away with
them, AM in the mad gallop they are
dropping and losing all the moral power
they once had and should have among
the peop @.
But now let us make amends, If pos
sib'e, by being practical in another d.
rection, i. e., as respects the work of
the kingdom. Whom does God honor
in the service? Those that honor
him. This does not mean faintness or
slackness. They we're talking about
du DltlOn III the ministry tne Otner
day, a company of pastors. Patience,
humility, was the burden of their plea.
Presently an old soldier of the cross,
sitting quietly by, was appealed to.
Il woald to God there was more am
bition, he said, "in the ministry, more
eagerness, energy, more seeking to
win souls and to glorify God" Verify
What did Christ. He "went about do
ing good" Ambition is from ambio,
to go about. Brethren, let us go about
1t; go about as II we meant it; go about
1t as Jesus did. o, for a high and holy
ambition, akin to Christ's.
Here before Us is the record of mine
years work" in the ministry. 1t is
really q memorial of the labors Of Rev..
l.. p. Hornberger, now gone to his re-
ward, known to many as one OF the
most devoted and efficient soul winners
OF recent years. DIR. w. M. Lawrence,
his successor in one of his pastorates
in the East, said in the hearing of the
writer, at one time, that his deceased
friend prayed earnestly that he might
every day point at least one soul to
Christ, and God heard him "in the d.
rection OF his prayer. o for new
direction of prayer, prayer and effort,
too. Note this quotation from the
book as to this beloved brother s meth