Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-02-02
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON v, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL Serbs, FED. q.

1. NOW, Ino IIOTu 00u Btllu unto
Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy fathers
house, unto land that will shew thee. I"
We have come down the stream of time
over 400 years since the last lesson. After
the deluge God began the race again with
Noah and his sons, but as before man left
to himself proves u failure. Noah is
drunken, Ham brings T. curse upon Ca
man, and iniquity consummates in an or
ganized union against God. Lest they be
scattered and to make them a name, they
will build II tower reaching to the skies
At the close of the nineteenth century
we find ourselves in an age of tower
building and man Worship but as the
Lord COMPOUNDED and scattered them in the
plain of Shinar, so again when all Shinar
associations shall have had their consum-
nation as in Xech. V, II; Rev. xvii and
xviii, the Lord will humble all the pride
of man, and He alone be exalted in that
day lisa. H. II ~. After the Babel judg-
ment it seems from Josh xiv, 2, that the
people fell greatly into idolatry, and from
such surroundings in the land of Mesopo-
tamia, the God of glory called out Abram
ACTS vii, y to make of him faithful wit
ness unto the truth. A study of Gen. XII
will show that Shem. Arphaxad, Salah,
Eber, Reu and Serug were all living when
Abram and Terah left Cr of the Chaldees,
but whether every one had become an
idolator or not is not clearly stated. The
new departure now is that instead of de-
stroyiug or scattering them He will take
out and separate one from them who will
walk with Him as Enoch did. 1t was a
mistake to take Terah along, for Abram
was only hindercd by him until he died at
Haran (Xi, 81, 30; Acts vii, 3, ~.
2. "And will make of thee great ma
ton, and will bless thee and make thy
name great and thou shalt be Il blessing"
The people of Shinar wanted to make
themselves II name xxi, A., but Jehovah
says to Abram that He will make him "A
name Those who today try the Shinar
plan will fail us they did, but those who,
like Abram, prefer to obey God will have
n name without seeking it. Abram was
to he blessed in order to be blessing, and
Israel is destined yet to he a blessing to
all nations CXech viii, 13). When we are
willing to be a blessing to others and for
getful of ourselves then we shall indeed
he blessed. But it must he the Lord IS 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 he
blessed" Here is the true idea of election
AS taught in Scripture-a choosing of one
or more to make them II blessing to others
and whosoever will may he elected, for
him that COmeth will in no wise he 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, "lIe that heareth
you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you
despiseth Me- duke Y, l6). We shall find
this covenant repeated four times after
this to Abran and once each to Isaac and
Jacob, making seven in all. The fullness
of it's meaning is yet to be seen.
4. $50 Abtam departed as the Lord had
spoken unto him, and Lot went with him,
and Abrlm was seventy and five years old
when he departed out of Iaran." lie went
out, not knowing whittier he went Heb.
xi, s.. He only knew that God knew and
that the end of it all would be city which
hath foundations whose builder and maker
is God Heb. ri, l0j, and with implicit con-
fdence in God he went on. He believed
the gospel, and all who believe today will
be blessed with him Gal. iii, 8, 81 and
made II blessing to others.
5. "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 Ilaran, and
they went forth to 20 into the land of Ca
naan, and into the land of Canaan they
came" Haran was but Il 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 hin
dered by the affections of those who will
| ,f II 81.
the promised land of whole hearted sur
render to God. Yet Jesus says, "He that
loveth father or mother, son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Math
X, 30.
g. land Abram passed through the land
into the place of Sichem, unto the plain
! Tor oak of Moreh. And the Canaante was
then in the land" To the neighborhood
of Ebal and Gerizim he came (see Deut. XII,
20, 30) full half way down through the
land, and he saw the land filed with PEG
pie, vet 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, 2D. If we
think more of the GUARANTEES than of God,
we will be discouraged, like the 0 spies
The only way is to see no man save Jesus
only (Math. xvii, 81.
I. land the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, Unto thy seed will | give this
land. And there builded he an altar unto
the Lord, who appeared unto him" We
read of no appearance ut lIaran and no
new communication, for Abram there had
not done as he had been told "To him
that knoweth 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
have and are consciously disobedient we
cannot expect any fresh revelation of God
to our souls, but to every obedient soul
there will be growth in grace and in the
knowledge Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ III Pet. iii, 49,
8. "And he removed from thence to a
mountain on the east Of Bethel and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west and
Hal on the east, and there he builded an
altar unto the Lord and called upon the
name of the Lord" He is II pilgrim and
IA stranger, just II sojourner (IIeb. XII, 81;
hence the tent is sufficient. Helives with
God and hence the altar. His whole life,
when in fellowship with God, might be
designated 1.-THE tent and altar"
8. "And Abram journeyed, going on