Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-08-22
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VII, THIRD QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, AUG. %.

Text OF the Lesson, Joshua iii. 5-17-lIem-
ory Verse, II Golden Text, Isa. xiii,
Commentary by the Rev. D. NJ.
stearns.
s. "And Joshua said unto the people,
Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord
will Do wonders among you Moses died,
and his body was buried Joshua sue
eeeded him, and having led the people to
the river Jordan they are now about to
pass over into the heart of the land Of
promise but howg for it was harvest time,
and Jordan overiowcd his banks Crerse
15). When the Lord leads His people into
a difficulty, it IL that He may show His
power and be glori1ed i'll them The one
thing for the people is to sanctify them
selves, or put away every semblance Of
evil, as on the night when they came out
of Egypt they put away all leayen out of
their houses.
8. Take up the ark Of the covenant and
pass over before the people" The ark is
mentioned ten times It'd this chapter. 1T
was the symbol of His presence, and His
presence was everything. Instead of Jour
neying in the midst Of them, as ordinarily,
it now went ahead Of them and there was
to be about half a mile between it and
them, that they might know the way to
60, for they lad not passed this way
heretofore" (yerse Al We must take care
to follow Jesus closely and fully, for ii
may truly be said Of each day, 10 have
not passed this way heretofore
z. "That all Israel may know that as
was with Moses 50 ! viii be with thee "
Therefore He would magnify Joshua and
He did (chapter iv, 10, and Joshua, was
honOred because Of God with him. 1t was
God that was lnagniiicd, but Joshua was
the chosen earthen vessel The same thing
was seen in Gal. /, 16, "a, when in Paul
Christ was revealed, and God was glori-
fed. Paul's ambition was that Christ
should be magnitied il His body whether
by life or by death (Phil i, 2O).
8. Stand still in Jordan" The priests
bearing the ark were to step into the water
ere it would divide (verses l3. 15), not
as at the Red sea when tie waters divided
ere the people came close to them He
guides " often onu stnp 4. time. and We
must take one step c- Tee the next
one, and sometimes WI t step right
into the waters. "hti.,l chou passest
through the waters, y.Li Re with thee" "
8. Come hither and Ac1r the words of
the Lord your God. Ili1 is the great
and fundamental thing-to hear what God
has spoken. Whatever mouth or hand the
Lord may use, it il God Himself who
speaks and works. 1t was sO i'll Christ
(John xiv, 10Y; it was so III the prophets
Heb. j, /, 2; III Pet i, 2D; it viii be %
still in every vessel that is wholly His
(BIath. x, 20; Phil. ii, 49,
TO- "The living God is among you, and
He will without fail drive out from before
you the Canaanites, etc. All other ma
tions wurshipod idols the works Of mems
hands, but the peculiarity Of Israel was
that their Lord was the true God the liv-
ing God, the King Of eternity (Jer. \, 1O)-
The dividing of Jordan and every other
mighty work of God in Israel was that
Israel first and then all the people of the
earth might know the hand of the Lord,
that it is mighty, and fear the Lord God
forever (chaPter in, 2D
IL. Behold the ark of the covenant of
tho Lord Of all the earth passcth over be-
fore you into Jordan. I think this IL the
first time that in connection with the ark
the Lord is called the Lord Of all the
earth But He is frequently called by
this name as we 60 on in the book (Ps.
lxxvii 3 Isa. liv, >; Mic. iv, 13; Zech.
iv, IA; vi, 81. In Gen. xiv, -, %, He is
the Mo. High God, posscssor of heaven
and earth His purposes of grace are
worldwide, and they are worldwide i'd
connection with Israel, for see Isa. xvii,
6; Mum. xiv, 20, 2l
12 "Now, therefore, take you 12 men
out of the tribes Of Israel, out Of every
tribe man" The story Of these 12 men
is found in the first nine verses Of the
next chapter. Their commission was to
take each man a stone out Of the midst of
Jordan and set them up i'll the first resting
place id the land. This they did 1T Gil
gal, and Joshua also set up ~ stones in
the midst Of Jordan, where the feet Of the
priests stood Chapter iv, 0, 2O). The 70
under the waters of Jordan and the - at
Gilgal are very suggestive of our union
with Christ in death and resurrection. Old
things passed away; an things become
new QI Cor. N, I'D.
Is. tilt shall come to pass" This verse
gives the promise and assurance. The next
three give the fuliilment TO make the
promise as real as possible we must imag
inc ourselves on the margin of a rushing
river in the time Of d freshet and as we
gaze upon the mighty waters one among
us says that as soon as the feet Of certain
lntl- uulN LjlJlLltAtF Nlibll lDui4 Lllt Nd-
tiers the river will divide, the upper waters
piling UP in q heap and tile ret flowing
away, leaving the bed Of the river dry
Could you believe a word like that?
14-16. "And it came to pass What
God says is as good as done for the Lord
of Hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I
have thought, SO shall it come to pass and
as / have purposed, 50 shall it stand lisa
- WI. -an TsYs y-,-wf5 ~, rr.Fn-.
ence To nothing being tuo hard or wonder
full for the Lord Mt came to pass exactly
as the Lord said it would, and the people
passed over right against Jericho The
people of Jericho had heard how the Lord
had divided the Red sea for Israel (chapter
ii, 10) but now they saw for themselves
the mighty power Of the God Of Jacob
Yet Rahab and her house were the only
ones who pruiitcd by the lesson. Some peo-
bio talk about the laws of nature ~ III God
bound Himself always "a AZ subject to and
work only under control of these laws
But by what law viii a river cease to flow
and pile its waters up in heap and stay
so for times Instead of laws let US con
slider Him who controls and is superior to
all laws; wha does as He pleases in heav-
en-, earth and sea (1s cxxxv, Cd, and has
Z
Say Lord control me, too, for Thy glory
II. "Tho priests that bear the ark Of
the covenant Of the Lord stood firm on
dry ground in the midst of Jordan" They
did this until all were clean passed over,
and everything was finished that the Lord
had said (iv, 10, ID Even if they march
ed a hundred abreast there would be over
five miles nf them tx pass over, and even
though they hasted XIV, lUl il would take
many hours. Observe the words, Until
everything was finished, and compare the
double, Not one thing hath failed, " Of
chapter xiii, IA. Our High Priest will
finish all that concerns us, and not one
thing can fail Of all that He has spoken.
Jordan was twice divided after this III
Kings ii, 5, 14), and the Lord did for two
men, and for one man, what He had done
for nation. BE not afraid Only believe
Not many know how that talented
IrishmaD, Mr.. Bran Stoker, came to be
associated with the fortunes of Sir
Henry Irving. 1t was in this wise Sir
Henry, when on visit to Dublin, was
invited to q supper party. and during
the course Of the evening was induced
to recite in his thrilling way l'TThe
Dream Of Eugene Aranl. N One az his