Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ", FIRST QUARTER, iNTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. 90.

Text Of the Lesson. Gen. II. s-i7-Mem-
orv Verses, HIS Golden Text. Gen.
1s-Commentary by the Rev. d. M.
! stearns.
| "And God spoke unto Noah and to his
sons with him, saying" We have passed
| ,yer probably l 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 Abel, his brother, the most notable
| of those recorded in chapter v was Enoch.
| the seventh from Adam dude 14), 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 happy place without
| Cod The result of Gains way is seen in
chapter vi, 5, and the only remedy was the
deluge, which came after long warning, de-
stroying all except Noah and those with
| him in the ark.
9. 'And /, behold, establish my COW
| 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, is. 1t concerns the whole earth.
Then we have some 400 years later the COW
enant 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. v, 2, 3, and Gal. iii, II. Then
/ H.
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 Oh Sam. xiii, 81.
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 out of the ark to every beast of
| the Garth" The Lord is good to all, and
| His tender mercies are over all His works
| Fps 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, 81, 22).
| II. And l will establish my covenant
| with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off
any more by the waters of a 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 filled with righteous
ness to abide forever OH Pet. iii, G, Z, 10, 49,.
| The earth will not be destroyed-that is,
annihilated-but purified from all defile-
ment, loosed {as the word dissolved" sig
nifes) 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. 26. 90.
IL. "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 visi-
BILE signs of His faithfulness. The token
| to Abraham was circumcision; in the pass
over it was the blood upon the door; to
Itahab it was the scarlet cord; to Gideon
| the fire from the rock; to AhaZ it was the
virgins son Gen. xvii, II; Elk. xii 10; Joshua
ii, 10, Is; Judg. vi, II, 81; Isa. vii, 14). The
| last, even Jesus Himself. is to us the sign
that He will do all that He has said.
10. II do set My bow in the cloud, and it
shall be for 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, rs; Rev. iv, 3; X, l. Four in Scripture is
the perfect number concerning the earth,
and in each of these four places the bow
speaks of 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.
A. "And it shall come to pass, when
bring a 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 i, -. He
led Israel by pillar which was a cloud by
day and fire by night, and which He also
spread over the whole encampment as a
covering (Ex xiii, 81, %; Ps. CIV, 39). At
the TRANSPORTATION a cloud overshadowed
Him, when He assembled cloud received
Him. and when He shall come again in His
glory bringing His saints with Him it will
be in the clouds of heaven (Math. xvii, 5;
xvi, Ga; Acts j. 9) Clouds sometimes
teach that, though His way be not clear to
us, yet we are to trust Him implicitly
Is. And l will remember my covenant,
which is between Me and you, and every
living creature of all flesh, and the waters
shall no more become a flood to destroy all
flesh" See also what He will remember in
Lev. XVI, AZ, As. and Eek. xvi, 60. Con-
slider what we are to remember in Deut.
vii, IS; viii 9; l Chron. xvi, IL; Eccl. xii, 1;
Cor. XII, "A, 25. Take comfort also in
what He will not remember lisa. xiii, %;
Heb. viii, 10; X, ~. Notice that in the
margin of Isa xii, 6, Z, we are called ''the
Lords remembrances'' and observe care
fully what we are to remind them of. The
r. V. says we are to take no rest and give
Him no rest till He does this. He does
not need to be reminded, but He conde-
sends to let US do this, and loves to have
us plead His promises.
16. And the bow shall be in the cloud,
and will look upon it, that may remem-
Der the everlasting covenant between God
and every living creature Of all flesh that is
upon the earth" How many of us ever
think when we see rainbow in the clouds
that God is looking specially upon it and is
interested in it; that the cloud is His, and
the bow is His, and the covenant is His,