The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1901-12-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
international Sunday School Lesson
for December 20, 1901.
BY REV. FRANkLIE B. DWIGHT.
Quarterly Review.


Our lessons for the last two quar-
ters have been In the Old Testament.
We began six months ago with the
study OF those truths which are con-
nected with the Genesis or origin Of
man. We saw man created in God g
image, pure and holy, and yet entire
~ free. Then we saw sin enter the
world, when man of his own free will
chose the evil rather than the good,
chose disobedience rather than obedi-
ence, and so lost communion with mis-
Heavenly Father. But where sin
abounded grace did much more
abound. :" We heard the promise of
redemption coming Immediately after
the fall, and we have been studying
the history of that redemption in all
the lessons that have followed. For
even the awful picture Of the food as
the punishment of sin, which had
become great and universal wicked
ness, is relieved by the bow Of promise
granted to Noah and by the mercy Of
God shown to those who were in the
ark.
And now God seems to take another
method of preserving truth and right
eousness in the earth. It is granted
to one race in particular to have q
special revelation of the Divine will,
and this race is to be held accountable
for peculiar devotion to the service OF
the one true God, even as He shall
teach them by His prophets to love, to
worship and to serve Him.
The ancestor of this race is ABRA-
HAM, and with him begins the his
tory of the Covenant people. There
are various ways of studying or con-
Quoting reviews. We may take up the
lesson titles and golden texts. We
may study the books of the Bible as a
whole from which our lessons have
been taken, or we may select a few
passages for special study, grouping
the events and the teachings of other
passages about these in our thought.
But probably the best way at this
time will be to take the leading char
acters, and to make them the centers
of our study and thought. First there
comes $ the Father of the faithful, =
as Abraham is often called, because
he was the ancestor of the race to
whom the true faith was committed
in the old dispensation, and by his
own act of faith in going out of his
own country at Gods command and
casting himself wholly upon God, he
became the spiritual father of all
those who trust Gods promises and
seek to obey His will.
Then we come to ISAAC. Hesis the
least strong character of the three
great patriarchs. But his example of
filial obedience in going to the land
of his ancestors to get wife and his
sole union with that wife throughout
his life, in an age when polygamy
was widely practised, are features
of his character that should be re-
membered. His sacrifice on the altar
was rather Abraham S own sacrifice at
Gods command of that which he val
ued most, and if the whole account
is to be taken literally which some
devout writers have questioned, it
must be remembered that God could
not have intended the Staying OF the
lad, as the ram in the thicket plainly
teaches.
Next we come to JACOB, whose his
tory is too long to review. But we
can see him as supplanter, y OBJ
tanning by unfair means, both BIRTH
right and blessing from his older bro
ther Esau. We see him far from
homo, sleeping on the ground, while
the angels in his dream pass up and
down the ladder and bring him mes
sages from heaven. Truly Jacob is
drawing nearer to God now, and the
time comes when we see him at PenieI
wrestling with the Angel in PRAYER.
and we realize that it was given to
Old Testament.saints to grow In grace
In knowledge of the will of God. And
this Jacob has twelve sons, wuose
names are to be famous in all time.
for they are to be the heads of the
twelve tribes of Israel.
The youngest but one of these sons
is JOSEPH. With the life of Joseph
the lessons of the last quarter begin.
We see him at first as a shepherd lad
keeping his fathers sheep and in CON
slant intercourse with his half bro
theirs, who were rough ana coarse
men. Then we see him in the long
and brilliant coat his partial father SO
gave him. Then follow
Joseph's dreams, the envy of his bro
theirs, their selling him into Egypt
his position with Potiphar, his temp.
tation and the courage with which
he overcame it, the unjust accusation
made gainst him, his prison life and
the dreams of the butler and the baker
And then. after two years, a great
change takes place. Joseph is brought
out of prison to interpret Pharaoh,s
dream and so becomes chief ruler of