Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-01-26
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LEGION ", FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIOkkL Sth.EC, JAN. %.

TX, I3-Commentary by the Rev. ID. NJ.
Stearns.
s. And God spoke unto Noah and to his
sons with him, saying" We have passed
over probably 800 years since the last les
son, during which time the views of Cain
and Abel had full time to develop and bear
fruit. In the line of Seth, who took the
place of Abel, his brother, the most notable
of those recorded in chapter was Enoch,
the seventh from Adam dude l4), who
walked with God at least 300 years and was
then translated without tasting death. The
descendants of Cain, who turned away
from God, gave their attention to building
cities, inventng musical instruments,
working in brass and iron and trying to
make this world a happy place without
God. The result of Gains way is seen in
chapter vi, 3, and the only remedy was the
deluge, which came after long warning, de
stroying all except Noah and those with
him in the ark.
8. "And |, behold, establish my Gov
enant with you and with your seed after
you" This is the first covenant, so called
in the Scriptures and is first mentioned in
chapter vi, IL. 1t concerns the whole earth.
Then We have some 400 years later the Gov
snent with Abram, Isaac and Jacob con
corning the land Of Canaan and the peo-
pie who should inherit it as center Of
blessing to the whole earth. These twoare
unconditional About 400 years later we
have the conditional covenant at Horeb.
Compare Deut. Y, ., 3, and Gal iii, II. Then
some 400 years after that we have the I'M
conditional covenant with David concern
ing the throne and the kingdom. Happy
are all who can make the last words of
David their own and rest quietly in the
faithfulness of God-"Although my house
be not so with God, yet He hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all
things and sure I'll Sam. xiii, 81.
TO- And with every living creature that
is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle and
of every beast of the earth with you; from
all that 90 out Of the ark to every beast of
the earth" The Lord is good to all, and
His tender mercies are over all His works
(Ps cXlv, 81. Even the sparrows of which
five are sold for two farthings are cared for
by Him duke xii, O.. And the whole crea-
ton which still groaneth and travaileth in
pain because of sin shall yet be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God
(Rom. viii, 2l 22).
II. And | will establish my covenant
any more by the waters of food: neither
shall there any more be a food to destroy
the earth" The next publication of the
earth shall be by fire, after which there
shall be new earth filled with righteous
ness to abide forever Oh Pet. iii, 4, Z, 10, 49,.
The earth will not be destroyed-that is,
annihilated-but purified from all defle-
ment, loosed Cas the word dissolved" sig
nifies) from its bondage Of sin. And as it
was in the days of Noah so shall it be in
the days preceding that publication duke
xvii, 20, 20.
II And God said This is the token of
the covenant which | make between Me
and you, and every living creature that is
with you, for perpetual generations" In
great mercy and loving Kindness God CON
descends to give to man outward and WISH
bic signs of His faithfulness. The token
to Abraham was circumcision; in the pass
over it was the blood upon the door: to
Rahab it was the scarlet cord; to Gideon
the fire from the rock; to Ahaz it was the
virgin son Gen. xvii, II; En-. xii, 49, Joshua
ii, II, is; Judg vi, Il, q; Isa. vii, ~. The
last, even Jesus Himself, is to us the sign
that He will do all that lie has said.
10. 81 do set My bow in the cloud, and it
shall be for IA token of covenant between
Me and the earth" This is the first time
that we read of the rainbow, and it is only
spoken of in four places here and in Eek
i, Is; Rev. ~, 3; y, l. Four in Scripture is
the perfect number concerning the earth
and in each of these four places the bow
speaks of n redeemed earth In the other
three places as well as in this it is seen in
connection with Him who is the only Re
deemer.
IA. And it shall come to pass, when
bring cloud over the earth, that the bow
| shall be seen in the clouds" The clouds
would be more interesting to us if we re
membered that He brings them and that
they are the dust of His feet (Nah. j. -. He
led Israel by pillar which was cloud by
| day and a fire by night, and which He also
spread over the whole encampment as 6
covering (EX. xiii, 81, %; Ps. CIV, 39) Al
the TRANSPORTATION Il cloud overshadowet
Him, when He assembled a cloud received
Him, and when He shall come again in Hii
glory bringing His saints with Him it will
be in the clouds of heaven (Math. xvii, 5
XVI, GA; Acts /, 81. Clouds sometime.
teach that, though His way be not clear t.
us, yet we are to trust Him implicitly
10. And will remember my covenant
which is between Me and you, and every
shall no more become Il flood to destroy al
flesh" See also what He will remember il
Lev. XVI, AZ, 45, and Eek. xvi 90. Con
slider what we are to remember in Deut
vii, Is; viii, 2; Chron. xvi, II; Feel. xii, |
| Cor. Xi, "a, %. Take comfort also il
what He will not remember lisa. xiii, p
Heb. viii, II; X, ~. Notice that in tn,
margin of lisa. Xii, 6, Z, we are cal ed 9TH,
Lords remembrance" and observe care
fully what we are to remind them of. Tn
X. V. says we are to taie no rest and Civ,
Him no rest till He does this. He doe
not need to be reminded, but He condo
sends to let us do this, and loves to hav
us plead His promises.
IL. And the bow shall be in the cloud
and will look upon it, that may remem
Der the everlasting covenant between Coo
and every living creature of all flesh that i
upon the earth" How many of us eve
think when we see a rainbow in the cloud
that God is looking specially upon it and i
interested in il; that the cloud is His, ant
the bow is His, and the covenant is His
and when we are interested in that whicl
interests Him then we have fellowship witt
Him? When the clouds come in our lives
may we by faith see also the bow and re