Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-05-10
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
AN INTERESTING AND INsTRuo-
TIVE LESSON.

(
| Rensctions Of an Elsvating Character.
F! wholesome Food for Thought study
Ing the scriptursi Lesson IntelligentIy
and Probably.
Israel In Egypt
The lesson for Sunday, May Is, may
| be found in Exod. i: la.
= INTRODUCTORY.
There Is one people amongst us who
are especially fitted, by reason OF hard
|, experience, to understand and appre-
ciate the lesson of Israel's bondage.
They are men and women who thirty
and forty years ago, in their child
hood, used to join with personal in
terest and real forelooking zest in
the plaintiff lay:
When Israel WAS In Egypt land
Let my people 90.
Oppressed SO hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Go down, Moses.
Way down to Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go ~
But there is not one OF US in this
body of flesh that does pot know
enough Of the bondage of sin and sa-
tan to enter with an ardent appre be u
| sion into the moral and spiritual in
| timations of "Isr ael and Egypt.
POINTS IN THE LESSON.
Every man and his household" or
| each man with his household The
| phrase refers forward to the catalogue
| of the sons, which follows, and explains
how eleven or twelve men could count
| up seventy souls;" also how in less
than five hundred years the children
| OF Israel grew to the number of 600,0
souls The seventy mentioned here in
| clude only the men Gen !6: the
women and the attendants were doubt
| less extra.
-For Joseph was In Egypt a'ready."
| Therefore he and his two sons are IN
| cluded in the company. who are said to
have come down with Jacob int Egypt.
These were, as Gen. 46: rs informs US,
| sixty six. Adding Jacob and Joseph
and his two sons, four in all. we have
| the full number seventy, kind oil sa-
e ed and suspicious mineral.
The land was filed with them,' l..
| e., in the land of Goshen, to which
| they had been assigned. They were a.
| people who kept Gods laws. and in the
| hall millennium of their bondage they
afforded the world spectacle of what
| God will do, in the mere physical
| plan, for those who serve him. Israel
was a little world in itself, a separate
! microcosm, whose legend read, in the
words of the first Psalm: He shall be
like a tree, planted by the rivers OF
waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in
his season, his leaf also shall not with
er, and whatsoever he doeth shall
| prosper"
"Now, these are the Names" A kind
of original dramatis personae. In the
Hebrew copy OF the Scriptures these
] first words two words in the text give
the name and title to the whole book.
Come, let us deal wisely with them"
j. e., discreetly, or shrewdly. 1t was
worldly prudence, sagacious so far as
earthly foresight goes. But God de-
stroys "the wi-dOm of the wise," and
brings the understanding OF the pru-
| dent" to naught. So also God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise, and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are
mighty, and base things of the world
and things which ale despised hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are,
not, to bring to naught things that are.
Hence, the more wisely the more I'M
wisely. the more weights the more
wings, and even mans cruel wrath was.
| man that walketh not in the cou nsels,
of the ungodly, 1. e., world ly wisdom /,
HINTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
"All things work together for good
to them that love Cod" Adversely as
we'll as prosperity, adversely often
more than prosperity. There must be
/ 81 o<t
thing to drive men as well as some-,
thing to draw men. In this lesson we
have shown to us the forces that pushed
the people out toward the land that
God had in keeping for them. 1t cuts
down deep into veins of Christian ex-
| perience. How often God has led us
| by this way. enlargement out of dis
/ trese The Lo.d reigneth. Trust his
grace. aEssr.... -. = =. .s:s.s--
Israel was a stronger people than
they. of Egypt, not simply in point OF
numbers. They were strong in thc
Lord and in the power of his might.
| That is a strength that never fails.
You can take it with you, as Israel did, ;,
even out into q wilderness country.
The sailors out on the sea in their OPEN
boat would gladly have exchanged
with their more fortunate comrades in
| the companion vessel twenty-thOu-
sand pound cask of gold for q small
cask Of bacon, but they were not abe.
Israel at the Red Sea proved her
strength and power over Egypt's boast
ed prowess and ability. 1t is better TO
put trust in the Lord than in horses or
princes. st.
This new king knew not Joseph. It.
was rather Joseph's God that he did
not know. He was dealing with peo-
pie who kept In their midst their
Heavenly Father. We see now, looking
back, what Pharaoh, from his stand
point, could not or at least, did not see,
God in their midst. Some traveller has
beautifully described how, as you de-
part from the little cities across the
water, you can see from far distance,
still, the cathedral standing forth; and
the farther you go away, up to a GER
tain limit, the more distinct the out
lines of the house OF God. Other
smaller objects all receding from view,
there, at last, stands out naught but
the spire pointing, like finger, toward
heaven.
Michael Angelo used to apply him
self to his task with q candle fastened
to his cap lest his own shadow should
fall upon his work and obscure it. Did
Il ~ h., x<~.l 4