The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-18
SARAH THE PRINCESS.
Second of Rev. j. B. Sweets Series
of Sermons on "Women of
the Old Testament"

Rev. ]. b. Sweet, pastor of the Simp-
son Methodist Episcopal church.
preached the second sermon last even
ing to a large audience on THE Women
of the Old Testament" Much interest
is manifested in the series, and the
subject of the second discourse was
Sarah, the Princess" Rev. Sweet
| took his text from Genesis, 17:15, And
God said unto Abraham as for Sarai,
thy wife, thou shalt not call her name
Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be-"
He spoke, in part, as follows:
Count back an equal number of years
| from the beginning of the Christian era
as we count forward to the present and
| In far distant Chaldea a little company
are journeying with their faces towards
! the western horizon a strange company
on a strange journey. A man, his wife,
his nehew, household furnishings, serv.
| ants, flOcks and herds. "Now the Lord
had said to Abraham, get thee out of thy
| country and from thy kindred. and from
thy fathers house, into a land that l will
| shew thee. So Abraham departed
| as the Lord had spoken unto him, and
| they went forth to go into the land of
| Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they
came"
| Abram was - years of age. Sarah, his
vie, s.. Uncomplainingly tney journey
| together, no revilings each of the other
! because Of the length of the journey or
| the uncertainties which attended them.
! Sarai believed Gods call just as surely
| as Abram for was she not Abrams help
meet, and when in Canaan she felt as
| much assured of Divine leaders hip and di-
| reCtion as ever her husband had realized
| these things, for Abram was Just as hu-
| man as we are today; he was no bette r
| than Sarai, possessed of no greater faith,
more timid of his life and imperfections
| as much in evidence as ever revealed in
| the actions of his wife.
a famine compcls their removal from
| the place of their then soiournng. Egypt
| is their destination and Abram proposes
| to protect himself even though it be at
| the expense of the virtue Of Sarai. 1t is
| Abram who makes the proposition of de-
| Clared sistorhOod fer his wife, and when
! Pharaoh is informed of their presence
| and takes her for his harem, Abram bC -
licves that by that process he has saved
| his life God sends them back to Canaan
even as they went into Egypt.
| Now God had promised that Of this pair
| there should come forth a great nation.
| Promise after promise is made to them,
and their faith grGsps them in believing
ways. yet the fultilmcnt of said promise
tarries until it is as hoping against hope
| but again the promise is asserted when
| by natural conditions it appeared impos-
| sible of fulhllment. But God asserts its
possibility with emphasis and seals il
| true as he changes their names to even
mark His promise Abrdm becomes Abra-
ham and Sarai becomes Sarah.
Here God does not signal the man ia
he the recipient Of the blessing or to be
favored as the honored of the Almighty
| by change of name, for a change of name
meant something by the providence OF
| God. Witness Jacob who became Israel
and Saul who became Paul So God puts
| the woman Sarai by the side oi Abram
| and said. you are equal and equals. ~
The promise is Just as much Sarahs as
Abraham's, and honOrs forever mother
| hood in the promise made to her.
| As in the past Eve was asserted as the
| helpmeet of Adam and the mother of all
living, SO God moves over the thousand
years of human history without mention
ing women as history makers and then
signals this Sarah and puts her by the
side of the greatest man of his age, rs
he put Eve by the side of Adam, and
called Sarah the Mother of Nations
one has said, "The nations need moth
eTS." Our statement is mo more than
they need fathers i'm the true sense of the
term. The home is only successful when
there is the recognition of the truth that
! true fatherhOOd is Just as essential as
true motherhood and that the RESPONSE
hility for successful family life is depend.
ent upon the harmonious life and action
of father and mother. A combined re.
sponSibility. 1t was true with Abraham
and Sarah ii is true today
The conclusion was a call to the faith.
| ful observance of the commands of God
to belief in His promises, to faithful per.
| fOrmancc of duty, that as Sarah, the
princess. the woman, the mother, out
from her life of faith inherited the prom.
iscs so shall we attain unto promised
blessing by faith In God.