Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-07-04
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
THOUGHTS WORTHY OF CALM
REFLECTION.
A Pleasant, Interesting, end Instruct
i've Lesson, and Where It May BE
Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same.


Lesson for July 7.
Golden Text.-"Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul. and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind; and thy neighb0r as
thyself"-Luke 10: "a.
The Ten Commandments Is the subject
of this lesson, which is found in Exodus
20: lit. We turn back once more to the
Old Testament. Let 1t not be with re-
pinings. There Is but one author. We
have enjoyed the New Testament lessons
and the gracious glimpses of the life OF
our Lord on the earth. All the more,
therefore, will we take up with delight the
foreglmpses of the blessed life afforded
us, In the older record. For, after ALL the
Gospels in themselves are not total or
final advance upon prophecy. They mark
the beginning of an advance, but the full
ness of that prediction was to come with
the Acts and Pentecost, and in a large
measure the spiritual import of the Old
Testament is not yet fulfilled. Its pre-
cepts have to do with all the scheme of re-
demption and with ages yet to come Of
supernal divulgence. When we are turn
ing Old Testament papers, therefore, re-
member that we are handling not some
thing out of date and dead, but fresh and
instinct with life, the life of him who
liveth forevermore.
God spake all these words" 1t Is
Gods voice, not mans. Be careful how
you treat "these words" ''No other gods
before me-" Not simply "before me" but
"beside me-" ANY craven image" The
precept is plain. God wants no likeness
even of himself to come between him and
the worshipng soul. The apostasy Of
Rome is here fearfully apparent. "A
jealous God" The word Jealous means
literally to glow with energy or desire.
Gods glowing will and work is seen in
the words that follow. His jealousy is
for faith and fidelity.
"The name of the Lord thy God in
vain" The terrible disregard of this COM
mandment that we observe daily in the
conversation of the bar-room and the
street is enough to make one tremble.
Remember the Sabbath day." The word
means keep in mind; therefore in mind
and in nature before. Honor thy father
and thy mother" The Hebrew word
honor means weight; i. e., to attach weight
or Importance to. Wherever this law is
recognized there is prosperity and progress
in the domestic sphere. Its absence brings
decay. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not
steal" The remaining enactments are
put strongly and tersely. Six of these
commandments refer particularly to our
duties toward God, six to our duties to-
ward each other. All of them are essen
tial not simply to the ideal state, but for
the preservation of life. Wherever there
is a disregard of any one of these uni
versal precepts there Is leak or flaw
that means ultimate death.
Hints and illustrations.
We are dealing here with the child pc
riod of the race. This is to be borne in
mind in our Interpretation of Old Tesla
ment enactment. Israel was a child and
with line upon line and precept upon pre-
cept, with rule and regulation God was
teaching Ephraim how to go, taking them
by their arms" One ought also to remem-
Der from what this people had just emerg-
ed the darkness of Egypt. Yet there are
lessons, plain and paramount, for a So
called high state of development There
is kind of Egyptian darkness still about
us. The Pharaoh of this world has had
his hand upon us, and his world worship
has grown all too familiar to us. We need
n light swung down from the very gates
of glory to warn us of the danger we are
in, and we need voices from above telling
us plainly and pointedly of the evil ten
denotes of things to which in this world we
become somewhat accustomed.
These precepts are eternal; they will
live on. Men may resist them and dispute
them, but they cannot destroy them.
They are part Of the very constitution
Of things. Yea, does not Peter say that
by the like of these we ourselves are made
partakers of the divine nature? God is in
the world to stay. He cannot be voted
out or ruled out. Heaven and earth may
pass away, but not one jot or title of his
law. Be strong brother; be brave. Israel
was the God-tutored nation. Hers il was
to hear the voice from the heavens and
give it to the world. Hers to bring God
very intimately into the life that now is.
Finish all with the Golden Rule. 1t is
carried here in the midst, but the Lord
Jesus brought it out into fuller enuncia-
ton: "Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you," is our popular rendi-
ton. Have you tested it? And "Love
your enemies, have you tried this? 1t
is not mere bit of theory-it works well
in practice.
Next Lesson--"The Golden Calf."-Ex.
80: Is, 30-35.
Church Collections.
On a recent Sunday the Rev. Mr..