The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1901-07-25
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson In the International Series
for July -, 1oO1-0od Calls
Abraham.
Prepared by II. c. Lenington.1
THE LESSON TEXT.

Genesis 12:1-S)
1, Now the Lord had said unto Abram.
Get thee out Of thy country, and from thy
fathers house, unto q land that l will
shew thee:
| .. And 1 will make of thee great ma
| tion, and will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.
| 3 And will bless them that bless thee.
| and curse him that curseth thee; and In
| thee shall all families Of the earth be
| blessed.
4 30 Abram departed, as the Lord had
| spoken unto him; and Lot went with him;
and Abram was seventy and fve years old
when he departed out Of Haran.
5. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and
Lot his brothers son, and all their SUBJ
| stance that they had gathered, and the
souls that they had gotten In Haran; and
| they went forth to go into the land Of
Canaan; and into the land Of Canaan they
| came.
g. And Abram passed through the land
unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain Of
Moreh. And the Canaanite was then In the
land.
| q And the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said Unto thy seed will I give this
| land; and there builded he an altar unto
the Lord, who appeared unto him.
g. And he removed from thence unto
mountain on the east Of Bethel, and
pitched his tent, having Bethel on the
west. and Hal on the east; and there he
builded an altar unto the Lord, and called
upon the name of the Lord.
9. And Abram journeyed. going on still
toward the south.
GOLDEN TExT.-l will bless thee,
and make thy name great, and thou
shalt be . blessing.-Gen. 12s2.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Two stories come up for considera-
ton in connection with this lesson,
and they are embraced in the eleventh
| aud <Xvo1f<h ,ba ptars ~ Gopas;, R.ad
the whole Of both chapters. The two
stories are:
The Confusion Of Tongues. es........Genesis II
The Call OF AOraham. m............. .Genests II
The Confusion Of Tongues. : The
food, according to Ussher's biblical
chronology occurred in the year 234S
B. C. The population at this time
again began to increase through the
families of Noah's three sons, and as
. the population increased new civili-
"a tion was gradually taking the place
of the old. Before the food there was
anarchy, after the food began the
reign of law. Not law as we under
stand it to-day. Patriarchal govern
ment came into being, that is the head
of each family or group of families be-
gan to exercise control over and COM
mand the obedience of his progeny and
servants in all the affairs that per-
tanned to social life. He became the
Judge in case of disputes, and exercised
generally the functions of ruler and
of judge. For 100 years these people
spoke one language. But they be.
came too numerous to live longer in
one community, so they separated
some going to the east, some to the
west, others to the north, and many
to the south. The immediate cause
} of this great migration lay in great
project which was on foot near the
present site of Babylon. Tie people
had begun to fear another flood. A
; tower that would reach to Heaven
seemed a plausible way of preventing
. any wholesale destruction of life
They had begun to forget the promise
|. of God. So God Himself took a part
in the work. and about that same tim<
it happened that the discovery wa,
Z made that they could no longer under
!. stand what one said to another. O.
; course it was impossible to go OF
4 with the great undertaking when gen
Z eral intercommunication was denied
. them, so gradually the work wa!
! dropped and the people separated. L
is said that to-day there are over 500
Languages spoken, and that sll arr
traceable back to less than 800 leading
{ languages. The confusion of tongues
. has always been going on and will con
3 tinue to 60 on as long as people vii
D continue to work at cross-purpose
with the plans of God. Contrast tn
a day of Pentecost with the day o.
i confusion of tongues. On the day o
{ Pentecost the disciples Of Jesus be
came brothers with all the world, AM
were understood by each hearer in hi
+ own tongue.
2 The Call of Abraham.-Genesis IL: Il
!. details the account of the call of Abra
d ham. This may be said to be the firs
great call recorded in the Bible.
2 reminds us of the call of Noses a lit
tie later, of the call Of Samuel, of tn
\ call of David, of Jeremiah ant
Isaiah. of Matthew and Sau
PauD. Every man receives a Di
. vine call. but these referred to hav
been especially notable in that the,
were OF Odt1OndI OF iuterDdtlOudl lIn
port. The call of Abraham meant tn
, beginning of a nation, and. through
. this nation In the person of Jesu
Christ, the salvation of the world
Abraham was a religious man, maj
of God. His heart was SO nearly righ
that God could say: 81 will bless then
4 that bless thee, and curse him tha
. curseth thee" He was a man SO pur
2 in heart that the Lord appeared unit
= him (Gen. 12:D. Or was the holy cit
of the Chaldeans. TWAS an idolatrou
\ city. worshiping many gods. II tn
truth were to be perpetuated anon
= men. the men who saw the truth woul
Z have to give it q better environment
. into which to grow. Abraham was
Il worshiper of the true God, he hear
4 the call to leave the city of idolatr,
: Because of his ready compliance it va
made possible that in him should q
z families of the earth be blessed.
wheat asa Chaa.
s Christ completes the command
! ments.
- The picture of Christ il develope