Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-04-05
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
THOUGHTS WORTHY or CALM
REFLECTION.
A Pleasant. Intsrssting. and Instructive
Lesson. and whsrs IL Nay h Found
A Learned and Conciss Review Of the
same.

Joseph: A new name In the record OF
the race, and q new beginning OF days.
Geikie, in his "Hours with the Bible,w
has we'll said: "The return OF Jacob to
Canaan was the first great step toward
the formation of q Hebrew people.
Hitherto there had been only individ-'
uals OF the race, but with the family Of
Jacob 1t branched into numerous heads
of the future tribes of Israel The
formal and solemn acceptance of the
traditional faith OF Abraham by these
at Bethel, determined henceforih the
history of Israel as identified with the
perpetuation and spread among man.
kind Of the great doctrine of the unity
of God and OF the high standard OF life
which was known as "the way OF Jeho-
YAH" And now in strange way this
people is to be carried down t. Egypt,
there to work out the divine behests.
Joseph Is, unwittingly, to be the John
the Baptist or forerunner of this great
movement. For five weeks now we will
deal with his wonderful life.
POINTS IN THE LESSON.
"And Jacob dwelt In the land where
in his father was stranger. The Ian
guage rewards closer study. Literally,
Jacob took his seat in the land where
his father tarried as sojourner. He
established himself in Canaan; he
made 1t his home. In other words, ia
cob dwelt as citizen where his father
dwelt as transient-a transient, at
least, In the estimation OF those around
about.
these are the generations of Jacob"
is a little obscure. One would naturally
expect to have the names of Jacob
sons follow. Instead we have the mar,
rative of their doings. And this is
really what is meant. Pool gives it,,
"the events or occurrences which hap
pened to Jacob and his issue" And he
instances the story of Noah at Gen. g.
Aaron at Numbers 3: 1. Moses here
terity to that of the chosen family.
The lexicon gives for rendition of the
word here translated generations,
family-history.
And Joseph brought unto his father
their evil reports" better, the evil re-
port of them (see Revision), or, even
more literally, the rumor OF their bad
ness. 1t was probably current in the
places which they frequented and
Joseph did not act the part OF a mere
tattler or tale-bearer, but rather of a.
of what was the common talk
among the people. Possibly, too, he
may have been dispatched with the
special errand to bring his father It'd
ings. The Douay says he accused his
brothers of "a most wicked crime"
The coat Of many colors" is vari-
ously translated. The lexicon gives,
as the most obvious meaning, coat of
extremities, /. e., a long garment reach
ing to the hands and feet 1t is the
identical phrase rendered at Sam.
ID: Is, "a garment of divers colors, and
is there alluded to as worn by lamar as
a sign OF her being young unmarried
daughter of the court. Manifestly it
indicated favor and esteem. The mar
gin of the Revision says, "a long gar
ment with sleeves"
They could not speak peaceably UNI
to him." is, literally, they were not
able to say peace (salaam) unto him..
Peace was the salutation of friends.
HINTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
We have in Joseph's life a powerful.
lesson of Gods providence. Joseph is
the man OF destiny. Who would have
thought that the casting of this deli
cate boy into pit would have worked
out such mighty results. But here
again mans extremity is Gods oppor-
tunity; or rather mans straits are
Gods enlargements. Look back over
your own lives. Has there not been
many Joseph experience there? Re-
count them.
1God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to. perform.
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides above the storm.
aBlind unbelief is sure to err
And scan his works in vain;
God Is his own interpreter.
And he will make it lain"
The lesson which the International
Committee have particularly chosen
to emphasize in this portion of Joseph's
life is that of conflict, the warning OF
opposite natures. Let us find here
then some suggestions as to how to
conduct ourself in this life so as to win
the best conquests. There is way OF
living which, while it necessarily
means conflict with the world, signifies
alliance with God and assured triumph
in the end-God's providence with the
Christian warrior. Peloubet sugges-
lively names the case of DIR. Parkhurst
in New York as a noteworthy instance
of the warfare that must arise when
private integrity takes its stand against
public iniquity. So always, as DIR. A.
J. Gordon intimates, the plumb line
throws all other lines into open dis
tortion. And yet IF God be for us,
who is he that is against us?"
Unity of sentiment and the spirit OF
mutual forbearance should be cultiva-
ted in order to avoid discord. There
is no better way to produce this than
to have 1t said, and truly, AOne is your
Master, even Christ, and all We are
brethren" or in other words, submit
ting yourselves one to another In the
fear Of God" This is understood to be
the motive Of the Boys Brigade, which
some have quite naturally supposed
might possibly engender the belliger-
emit spirit. On the contrary, a. we
ourselves know from some slight ex-
perience, the opposite is the result.
SAYS Mr.. Deming: I'VE give them
military drill not to set them to fight
ing, but to keep them from fighting"
Obedience to authority ought certain
ly to make for peace, and it does. The
trouble with Joseph and his brethren
was that they had "broken ranks" and
did not know how to keep STEP"
We, as Christians, are to fight, but It
is to fight the good fight of faith, which
means mainly to stand In Gods might
and having done ALTO stand" We
all need to learn this. Our neigh Dor.
pastor down the way was examining
the other dav one of the bahea In,