The Tupelo journal., 1902-09-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson In the international Series
for September ii, 1~0O2-Lov-
Ing and Obeying God.
THE LESSON TEXT.

mand thee this day, it is not hidden from
thee, neither is 1t far off.
IL. 1t isnotin Heaven, that thou shouldest
say, Who shall go up for US to Heaven, and
bring 1t unto US, that we may hear it. and
do it?
10. Neither is it beyond the sea, thai thou
snouldest say, Who shall go over the sea
Tor us, and bring it unto US, that We may
near it, and do it?
ii. But the word Is very nigh unto thee,
IN thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou
do it.
10. See, l nave set before thee this day
NE and good, and death and evil;
10. In that | thee this day to
love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways.
and to keep his commandments and his
statutes and his judgments, that thou may
est ilVe and multiply: and the Lord thy God
snail bless thee in the land whittier thou
goest to possess it.
IL. But If thine heart turn away, so that
thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn
them;
Is. d%enounce unto you this day, that We
shai surely perish, and that we shall not
PIoiohg your days upon the land whittier
lnou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
~. l call Heaven and earth to record this
Gay against you, that l nave set before you
NE and death. blessing and cursing: there
HoooC iiIG, lldl DOln llOu ana my
seed may live:
~; Ihat thou mayest love the Lord thy
Goa, an" that thou mayest obey His voice.
ana that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for
ne IS thy lie, and the Length OF thy days:
mat thou mayest dwell in the land which
tne Loru sWare unto thy fathers. to Abra-
nam, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
GOLDEN TEXT.-For this is the love
OF Cod that we keep his command
ments.-1 John 5.3.
OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
1ne blessings and curses. ..... Deut., xviii.
IsraePs obligation to od......D eut., xxx.
encouragement to repentance.....
LOGS commandment ........Deut., 30:11-14.
+ HutS .cc.............Deut.. &:l6-20.
of Moab.
OTE AND COMMENTS.
conditions of National Prosperity.
The Book of Deuteronomy is large
ly given to enforcing the truth that
prosperity is conditioned
upon serving God. Drawing near to
the end of life, Moses was anxious to
impress this truth upon the Israel
ties. Deuteronomy contains three ad-
in which he sought to con-
vince them that their highest we'll
being depended upon their being faith.
full to the God who had brought them
out of Egypt.
The Blessings and Curses.-A most
thing about the twentv-
eighth chapter of Deuteronomy is
the oriental exuberance of it's Ian
guage. Men of our time and race do
not go so much into details in treat
ing of blessing or curse. Success and
failure in all departments of life are
here connected with obedience and
dlsobedlence. In fact, to the Hebrew
mind all material prosperity was a
sign of Jehovah's favor, and material
reverses, of His displeasure.
Encouragement to Repentance
The two preceding chapters are in
the spirit of the law at it's harshest.
but the thirtieth chapter is full of the
spirit of the Gospel. AS in all Gods
dealings with men, penalty follows
sin without fail, so does pardon fol-
low penitence. Gods blessing once
lost is not necessarily lost forever,
but may be regained by ceasing to sin
and beginning to obey ". q. No con-
d dh IS t9a homeless for such a. re-
turn ". ~, and the restoration to IA
o will be perfect and complete ".
-. Gods help to faithful obedience
may be expected by those who desire
it ". 81, and full happiness will sure
ly follow Tvs. 7-10).
Gods Commandment. - The COM
~mandment referred to (see 1922; 10:
81 is devotion to Jehovah. The 'for"
at the beginning is not used to con-
meet this section with what goes just
before, but with the general thought
of the duty of obedience, which is in
volved in everything that has been
said. The word rendered 'hard"
means rather, too difficult 17:S). The
reasonableness and fairness of Gods
will as revealed to us by Christ, and
in the Ten Words of the older ~revela-
ton, cannot help appealing to the
thoughtful man. God does not lay
upon us burdens too heavy to be
borne, and His commands are given
for our good, not for His. All His
great laws He has in some way put
into our very hearts (30:14), SO that
we should be conscious of their right
ness if they had never been written
on the tables of stone.
Mans Duty.-The keynote of this
section is freedom of choice. The
choice is presented first in the terms
of it's consequences. Life and pros
perity follow the right choice, while
misfortune and death follow the
choice that is wrong. The choice of
good is the choice of obedience to
Jehovah ". 16). Its first step is love
for Jehovah, and that love will lead
to full obedience to Him. This sec
ton impresses again the fact that
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall
he also reap" With verse 10 begins
a final solemn appeal; an appeal as
solemn and as forceful to the present
generation as it was to that. Right
and wrong are before us and we must
choose. The great II ought" rises up
in every mans soul, a witness that
God is our life (v. 20) and that good
ness is really natural, not badness;
that the Fathers house and not the
miserable far country is really the
prodigals home.
What the Preacher Says.
Opposition often furnishes inspira-