The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-20
THE sUNDAY-sCHooL LESSON.
Third Quarter; Noah Saved i'm the
Ark-Genesis viii. 1-22.

Third quarter: Noah Saved i'm tue
Ark-Genesis viii, 1-22.
In the Incompatible picture gallery OF the
Scriptures there is no canvas Ike that which
presents the ark and the food 1t is too bold and
tragic to be passed. 1t arrests and stirs the
most indolent mind. Once caught upon the sensi-
tive plate Of a childs memory it Will never fad"
Its unspeakable horror is merc.fully mitisated
by such gentle incidents as the door shut by
Gods own hand the dove with olive branch and
the rainbow spanning all. The Noachisn
deluge only precipitated the Inevitable. 1t was
act OF divine mercy as we'll as justice. In
the great conflict foretold in Eden between the
serpent seed and the seed OF God. the former
ascendant. The conditions were aggravated
by intermarriage. The sons Of God, the de-
scendants OF Seth, were lured by the siren
daughters of Cain, that they chose their
wives irrespective of the divine will All the
proverbial sin and sorrow of misallance fol-
lowed. The very physical hardhood OF the on
spring made their moral obliquity more deadly
Every conceivable lust rampant The seed
of God reduced to A paltry contingent 1t
was on the verge OF extinction The whole race
in fact. was committing suicide. 1t was de-
stroying itself. Earth would have soon been Ike
2 desolate island whose sanguinary population
had consumed itself through lust. murder and
cannibalism. The flood was great
mercy II shortened the irretrievable misery Of
the race then living II kept tie seed OF God
alive. 1t was object lesson the world mas
never forgotten. Gods election to saliva
ton is based upon the moral qualities of those
whom He chooses. There is striking illustration
OF this in the character of Noah. He found grace
in the eyes OF the Lord. not through caprice and
favortism. but because in wicked and adulter-
generation he shone like light and low
ngly held forth 20 a dying race the word which,
II received. would have proved life TO them. He
was just man and upright, and walked with
God He was fit to be the second Adam. the
progenitor of a and hopeful race. And TO
this end God spared him. Noah's faith
shines respondent upon the rayless rreligion Of
his day. He showed his faith by his stupendous
work. On dry land and far from the he
built his colossal ship. He preached righteous
to the gaping and gliding crowd which
curiosity brought from afar TO his shipyard He
was persistent He kept right building and
preaching for one hundred and twenty years
He built precisely according the model shown
him. He gathered in the supply of food for man
and beast requisite for his long voyage. He Sc
lected and admitted the beasts and fowl as God
directed. With seven souls, he entered his
strange prison. had its door shut TO behind him
by the invisible hand, and tarried in his weird
environment undaunted, though seven days
passed before the first raindrop battered upon
the roof. Sublime faith that The log
book of that unparalleled voyage is very brief
1t takes only twenty-seven verses to narrate the
novel and thrilling experience of 800 days Much
riches in little room Imagination must be
trusted to uncover them. AS Noah at
length emerged from the ark nexpressibly sad
and orphaned feeling must have affected his
generous heart Earth's desolaton, how utterl
In vain he listens for the sound of human foot
fall. Not footprint is left. He finds relief
in worship. He builds altar the dripping
itself. He had saved only a few specimens CT
clean animals; but he prepared offer OF
them. with the full assurance that God would
supply their places. and see that the species did
not become extinct When the fragrance OF that
whole burnt offering up before the Lord,
He knew that Noah intended it should signify
the complete devotion of himself his descendants
and the renewed earth to God. AS
plying Father. God sraciously responded to the
supplant patriarch allaying his fears with an
assurance that the cataclysm just passed should
never be repeated the bereficent regularity of
the seasons should know no interruption; human
| life should have safeguard. Cpd delegates His
judicial power TO to this end. The first
principle of human government is here irradiated
in the statute. Whose sheddeth mans blood,
! by man shall his blood be shed" The
Noachian covenant ready for its seal.
God took the very substance which had de-
, stroyed the earth and transmitted it into royal
! signet TO attest His promise never again 10
! whelm the There it stood in all the daz
| zling splenGor of its prismatic colors-an
I less bow bent toward heaven, the very vastness
of its sweep signifying the Wilderness of Co.'s
mercy" To all generations the neffable and
| assuring words which first fell upon Nosh's ears
have resounded. This is the token of the
enant."
| THE TEACHERS LANTERN
Rivet hdgety scholars this paragraph certainly
will; il is so scenic 1t fairly teaches itself The
natural method is to describe the condition of
| the race before the flood; the superlative wick
edness which made that wholesale destruction
an act of mercy we'll of Justice: how the
irretrievable misery of the human family. which
had doomed itself was cut short and chance
| given to begin under happier auspices.
Noah's upright character can be made
| to shine against the universal degeneracy of his
times. 1t proves can be good in spite OF one s
environment. boy can keep his lips unsuled
though the air around him is blue with pro-
| family He need not lie. cheat nor gamble
| though those with whom he is thrown in school
| shop store all do. II he keep upright he will
| prove Gods instrument Of good to his fellows
Implicit and persistent was Noah's obedi-
| ence. He showed his faith by his works He
never grew weary in we'll doing under circum-
| stances calculated 10 try him to the uttermost
So his name richly deserves TO be engraved on
| that tan obelisk, Hebrews XII reared to the
heroes OF faith. His very character and course
was in itself an Indictment and condemnation of
| the world before the food Heir to two
worlds Noah stepped out of the ark sole mon
arch and proprietor Of all he surveyed with the
natural eye, and beyond that the better Inherit
ance, even the heavenly. So God rewards-a
hundred-fold in this life and In the world Ia
come life everlasting. bone Of conten-
ton has ever been the question whether the
food was universal not The arguments pro
Cd Natural conclusion from language of Scrip
ture. 90 No evidence TO prove that the popua.
ton OF earth was confined to a limited locality
80 Impossibility Of piiing the Up in such
manner as TO cover the mountains (D No nee6
OF taking birds into the ark. If deIuge was onl,
local. Arguments contra: CD Universal delug,
unnecessary TO accomplish the end designed %
Ark could not have given room for every specie
line there is room for belief that damages