Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-02-01
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON V, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, FEB. 4.

Text of the Lesson, Gen. xii, I-9-Mem-
DRY Verses, I-3 - Golden Text, Gen.
xii, documentary by the Rev. ID. NJ.
Stearns.
/. "Now, the Lord had said unto
Abram, Get thee out of thy country. and
from thy kindred and from thy fathers
house, unto a land that | will shew thee"
We have come down the stream of time
sver 400 years since the last lesson. After
he deluge God began the race again with
Noah and his sons. bitas before, man left
10 himself proves a failure. Noah is
drunken, Ham brings r. curse upon Ca
naan, and niquitv consummates in an
gained union against God. Lest they be
scattered and TO make them Il name. they
will build tower reaching to the skies.
At tho close of the nineteenth century
we find ourselves i'll an age of tower
building and man worship. but "a the
Lord COMPOUNDED and scattered them in tho
plain Of Shinar, so again when all Shinar
associations shall have had their consum-
nation as in Icch. V, II Rev. xvii and
xviii the Lord will humble all the pride
of man, and He alone De exalted in that
day lisa. ii. II, ~. After the Babel iudg-
ment it seems from Josh. NXiv, ,, that the
people fell greatly into idoatry, and from
such surroundings in the land of McsopO-
tamia, tn" God of glory called out Abram
(Acts vii, 2}tu make of him faithful wit
ness unto the truth. A study of Gen. ri
will show that Shcm, Arphayad. Salah,
Ebcr. Reu and Sclug were all living when
Abram and Terah left Ur of the Chaldecs,
but whether every one had become an
4, n, M iS f.lp Ct n pI Tho
now departure now is that instead of de-
stroying or scattering them lie will take
out and separate one from them who will
walk with Him as EnOch did 1t was
mistake 70 take Tcrah along. for Abram
was only hindercd by him until he died at
Uaran xxi, 81, 30; Acts vii, 3. A..
.. "And will make of thee a great ma
ton, and ! will bless thee and make thy
name great, and thou shalt be II blessing
The people of Shinar wanted to make
themselves II name xxi, ~, but Jehovah
says to Abram that He will make him
name. Those who today try the Shinar
plan will fail AZ they did, but those who,
like Abram, prefer to obey God will have
a name without seeking it. Abram was
to be blessed in order to be blessing. and
Israel is destined yet to be n blessing to
all nations (Zcch. viii, 13). When we are
willing to be a blessing to others and for
getful of ourselves, then we shall indeed
be blessed. But it must be the Lord $ do
ing from first to last, and He must have
the glory.
3. "And will bless them that bless
thee and curse him that curseth thee. and
in thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed" Here is the true idea of election
as taught in Scripture-d choosing of one
tp nl-.f t,, h,,.e
and whosoevcr will may be elected, for
him that comcth will in no wise be cast
out (John vi, 80. Who can possibly find
fault with this? See also how God takes
man into union with Himself 1t makes
us think of these words, "IIc that heareth
you heareth Me. and he that despiseth YOU
despseth Me- duke y, 49, We shall find
this covenant repeated four times after
this to Abram and once each to Isaac and
Jacob, making seven in all The fullncss
of its meaning is yet TO be seen.
A. $50 Abram departed as the Lord had
spoken unto him, and Lot went with him,
and Abram was seventy and five years old
when he departed out of Iaran." He went
out, not knowing whittier he went (lieb.
ri, s.. He only knew that God knew and
that the end of it all would be n city which
hath foundations whose builder and maker
is God Heb. Il, 10), and with implicit con-
lidence in God he went on. He believed
the gospel, and all who believe today will
be blessed with him Gal. iii, s, y and
made Il blessing to others.
8. And Abram took Sarah, his wife,
and Lot, his brothers son, and all their
substance that they had gathered and the
souls that they had gotten in Haran, and
they went forth to 90 into the land of Ca
inf no Of
came" Huran was but n partial obedi-
ence. This is now full obedience, which,
it is to be feared, the Lord gets from very
few of us. Many are content to be him
dered by the affections of those who will
go part of the way but not all the way to
the promised land of whole hearted sur
render to God. Yet Jesus says, He that
loveth father or mother, son or daughter
more than Meis not worthy of Me- (Math.
X, 80.
G.. "And Abram passed through the land
into the place of Sichem, unto the plain
cor oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was
then in the land" To the neighborhood
of Ebal and Gerzm he came (see Deut ri,
20, 30) full half way down through the
land, and he saw the land filled with pco-
pie, yet believed that God would give it to
him as He had said. He walked not by
sight, but by faith, and was fully persuad-
ed that what God had promised He was
able to perform Rom. iv, 20, Ply. If we
think more of the GUARANTEES than of God,
we will be discouraged, like the 10 spies.
The only way is to see no man save Jesus
only (Math. xviii s..
Z. "And the Lord appeared unto Abram
md said Unto thy seed will l give this
land. And there builded he an altar unto
the Lord, who appeared unto him" We
read of no appearance at IIaran and no
new communication, for Abram there had
not done as he had been told. "To him
that kpoweth to do good and doeth it not,
to him it is SIM (Jas. iv, ~. Therefore
If we are not living up to the light we
lave and are consciously disobedient we
cannot expect any fresh revelation of God
to our souls, but to every obedicnt soul
there will be growth in grace and in the
knowledge OF our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ III Pet iii, 1S).
s. "And he removed from thence to Il
mountain on the east OF Bethel and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west and