The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1901-11-01
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
international Sunday School Lesson
for November 3 1901.
GEN. L; 1921.
BY REV. FRANKLIN B. DWIGHT.

BOOK OF Inc origins, IOr tnab IL Wnd'
Genesis means 1t is striking to notice
the contrast Between its opening and
closing words. I'm the beginning God
created" sounds the triumphant note Of
the symphony which opened with the
calling into being of the heavens and
the earth and closed with the creation Of
man in Gods own image. But sin has
entered into the world and death by sin,
and the exultant note is lost in deep
minor key of sadness as we read OF
Joseph in the last words of our lesson,
HE was put In coffin in Egypt"
And yet, though sin has entered, God
has not left His world. This same
Joseph who died and was buried lived
a life which was strong in faith
and rich in promise. His history takes
up about one-fourth of this wonderful
Book of Genesis. There must be a
meaning in this Is it not to teach us
how God deals with the man who trusts
and obeys Him2 1t shows that even as
the promise of redemption, which came
Immediately after the Fall, began to be
fulfilled in the lives of those early heroes
of faith, Abel, Enoch and Moab, SO
Joseph also, whose life is nearer to u
and has more in it that we can enter in
to and understand, walked with Cod
in the midst of sin and temptation. His
life showed what the grace of God
could do for "a man in whom the spirit
of God is And this is one of the chief
purposes of scrip ure history. The Bible
is not mere book of marvels, intended
excite wonder and awe, like the works
on magic which false prophets of every
age have sought to force upon the credu-
lily of an unthinking world. 1t is a
plain book and appeals to the reason al
we'll as to the heart.
1t is true that the Bible reveals that
which is marvellous beyond all human
words to describe or all human imagi-
nation to think. Marvellous are Thy
works, 0 Lord, and that my soul know
eth right-wellr' exclaimed David; but
David, like Moses and Paul and all TIE
holy men of old who have left us, these
inspired records show us, that there
is nothing so wonderful and beautiful
and worthy of our study as Gods deal
ings with human soul, nothing SO mar
vellous as the work of Christ in redeem
ing the sinner and the work of the spirit
in applying that redemption to the en-
tire man until, body, soul and spirit, he
is brought back to God.
The Bible is book which gives us
the lives of real men and women who
went "toiling, rejoicing, suffering
through this same world in which we
live to-day, and it shows us how, if they
lived by faith in God, they grew in char
acter toward the Divine Ideal. Joseph's
life. given more fully than that of any
other patriarch, is a leading illustration
of this truth.
Since the last lesson a great change
has taken place. Joseph has sent for
his aged father and brought him and all
his household down to Egypt, where he
has settled them in tie land of Goshen,
part of the Egyptian territory lying
nearest to Canaan. And now, after
many years, period of which we have
almost no record. but which we may
well believe was filled by Joseph with an
active and useful life, having seen his
father pass away and having sent his
body for burial to the family cemetery
in Canaan, Joseph too draws near his
end. One beautiful glimpse is given in
our lesson of Joseph as an old man. We
read ". 23) that Joseph saw Ephraim' Is
children of the third generation; the
children also of Machir, the son OF
Manasseh, were brought up upon
Joseph's knees" We can see the old
great grandfather, still happy in his
home life and delighting to call the little
ones to his knee and tell them the story
of his early life. 1t is pleasing picture
of domestic joy. And SO he died and
was buried, and the special act of faith
which the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews records of him is, that he
made mention of the departing Of the
children of Israel and gave command
ment concerning his bones.' Hebrews
XII; 90. This is mentioned to show
that he believed Gods promise to his an
cestor Abraham, that the chosen people
should dwell in the land of Canaan.
With the life of Joseph we come into
the realm of secular history as we'll as
that which is purely Biblical. 1t is true
that some monuments have been formed
which give confrmatory evidence con-
corning Abraham and his time, but they
are few and fragmentary. In Joseph's
era we are on solid ground and the tab
let's of Egypt give won6e, Il confrma-
ton of the truth of Scripture h;-tory.
But our chief concern is with the
practical and spiritual truths.
Notice first, that it takes faith to com
prehend love. Sin cannot understand
righteousness, and the lower type OF
character finds 1t difficult to comprehend
the higher. Joseph's brothers feared
that after their fathers death Joseph
would deal harshly with them and they
evidently found 1t hard to understand
his goodness of heart. 1t is at the last
his character shines most brightly, and
noble spirit, or they would have perceived
the depth of his forgiving love. They
needed to become more like him in order
to understand him. And 30 you can no
know Christ until you seek to be lik'
Him. Even when you do seek to follow
Him, and when you see that you can no
do it alone and must accept His salvatiti
through repentance and faith, even thel
you will often fail to see all that He ha
to give you. You will doubt His infinit
love unless you seek constantly to b
more and more like Him. But whe
YOU draw near to Him and seek com
munion with Him you will find that FL