Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-01-25
The SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ", FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. %.


DRY Verses, 11-13 - Golden Text, Gen.
tx. I3--Commentary by the Rev. ID. NJ. I
stearns.
s. And God spoke unto Noah and to his
sons with him. saying" We have passed
over probably 500 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 A bel. his brother. the most notable
of those recorded in chapter was Enoch,
the seventh from Adam dude ~, who
walked with God at least 800 years and was
then translated without tasting death The
descendants of Cain, who turned away
from God, gave their attention to building
cities, inventing musical instruments,
working in brass and iron and trying to
make this world II happy place without
God. The result of Gains way is seen in
chapter vi. ), and The only remedy was the
deluge, which came after long warning, de-
stroying all except Noah and those with
him in the ark.
o. and l. behold I establish my COW
cnant 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, IS. 1t concerns the whole earth.
Then we have some 400 years later the Gov
enant with Abram, Isaac and Jacob con-
corning the land of Canaan and the peo-
pie who should inherit it as n center of
blessing to the whole earth. These twoarc
unconditional About 400 years later we
have the conditional covenant at Horeb
Compare Deut V, 2, 3, and Gal. iii, II. Then
some 400 years after that we have the un-
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
faithfulncss of God-"Although my house
be not SO with God, yet He hath made with
me an everlasting covenant ordered in all
things and surc'' Oh Sam. xiii, ~
10. 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 20 ont of the ark to every beast of
the earth" The Lord is good to all and
His tender mercies are over all His works
ops. cXlv, o.. Even the sparrows of which
five are sold for two fart hings are cared for
!. by Him luke xii, g.. And the whole crea-
tion 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, 81 22j.
H. And ] will establish my covenant
with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off
! any more by the waters of flood: neither
shall there any more be flood to destroy
the earth" The next publication of the
! earth shall be by fire, after which there
shall be new earth filed with righteous
ness to abide forever GI Pet iii, G, !, 10, 49,.
! The earth will not he destroyed-that is,
! annihilated--but purified from all defile-
ment, loosed las the word 'dissolved' sig
ufies) 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, &c, ~.
IL And God said, This is the token of
the covenant which | make between Me
and you, aud every living creature that is
with you, for perpetual generations.' In
great mercy and loving kindness God con
descend- 10 give to man outward and visi-
bic signs of His faithfulneSs. The token
| to Abraham was circumcision; in the pass
over it was the blood upon the door: tc
Rahab it was the scarlet cord; to Gideon
the fire from the rock; to Ahaz it was the
virgin son Gen xvii, II; Tx. xii, Is; Joshua
ii, Il, IS; .Judg. vi, Il, 81; Isa. vii, ~. The
last. even Jesus Himself is to us the sign
that He will do all that He has said
-. Il do set My bow in the cloud, and il
shall he for ii token of a covenant between
Me and the earth" This is the first tim,
that we read of the rainbow, and it is only
spoken of in four places, here and in Eek
i, IS; Rev. ~, 3; y, /. Four in Scripture il
the perfect number concerning the earth
and in each of these four places the bow
speaks Of redeemed earth, In the othe
three places as well as in this it is seen il
connection with Him who is the only Re
dcemc".
II. And it shall come to pass, when
bring cloud over the earth. that the bow
shall he seen III the Clouds The cloud
would be more interesting to us if we II
membered that He brings them and tina
they are the dust of His feet lNah. l. -. II
led Israel by pillar which was a cloud b.
day and II fire by night, and which He ais
spread over the whole cucampmcnt as
covering ZEN. xiii, II, -; Ps cv, 80. y
: the TRANSPORTATION cloud overshadOwe
Him, when He assembled cloud receiNe
Him, and when He shall come again in Hi
glory bringing His saints with Him it vii
be in the clouds of heaven (Math xvii,
XVI, 64; Acts i, 81. Clouds sometime
teach that, though His way he not clear t
us, yet we are to trust Him implicitly
Is, And i will remember my covenant
which is between Me and you, and ever
living creature of all flesh, and the water
shall no more become food to destroy a
; flesh See also what He will remember j
: Lev XVI, -, 40 and Eek xvi, 60 Con
slider what we are to remember in Dru
vii, Is; viii, 2; | Chron. xvi, l., Feel. xii,
| Cor, u y, %, Take comfort also i
what lie will not remember lisa, Xiii, p
Heb Wit, -; y. IL. Notice that in th
Y margin OF lisa. Xii, 6, :, we are cal ed 9TH
"a ! ord rpp1ppl hrnucpSN and observe car