The Grenada sentinel., 1903-11-14

~ UR text is the testi-
= ! ] : !: ! : !; : !: !. !. !
n, IN mOny of Gods
fNl.L/ ~ Word against Is
!&SM< a a rael. and We ask:
Will not this in
4uhJSE&&h dictment stand
HSN SHkM4G with equal force
i.G45sdy N S.k against the people
~A\ MN<4 of to-day? 1t de-
IA \~ scribes the way
X sTM~ of the natural man.
7 = Is there less stub
@< bornness in the
human heart In
this twentieth century of the Christian
era than there was fourteen hundreo
years before it's dawn? Are the people
of to-day ruled less by their own de-
sires and purposes and ambitions than
were the Ieraelites of old? And an
other question we want to ask: is
8tubbornness any less sin to-day IL IL
less offensive to God than 1t was IN the
days when 1.-The anger of the Lord was
hot against Israeli" because of stub
bornness and when it cost Saul king
dom? Have the people of to-day bet
ter right to do as they want to than dld
the people of whom our text declares
'they ceased not from their own do
ings?" AS We read Gods warnings to
those people. as We follow their history
and see the evils and calamities into
which their stubbornness plunged them,
we climb up into the judges chair
with God and condemn them. and
then. having passed judgment on
case over three thousand years old, We
rush off into the present of our own do
ing and our own stubbornness. In the
centuries which have passed since this
self-willed. stubborn people dwelt in the
land of Palestine, has Gods attitude to-
wards the self-will and stubbornness of
the human heart changed? Samuel, the
prophet of God, told Saul that "stub
bornness was as iniquity and idolatry,"
and to-day is it less iniQuitous and less
dishonoring to God than it was then?
We have asked these questions that
they may set you to thinking. We want
to take some pages of history from Gods S
sacred Book and let them shed their
light upon the pathway of the present,
for '*these things were our examples"
and have been recorded by God for our
instruction and warning.
THE brief words comprising our
L text are wonderful index to the
conditions which prevailed in the na-
ton of Israel. 1t is not necessary that
the historian should enter into lengthy
details to understand exactly what the
people were doing. When We are told
that
doings. nor from their stubborn way
we know that every desire of the flesh
was indulged and every vanity and
imagination OF the heart was giyen
full rein and scope. The natural way
ward tendencies were not checked, and
step by step they plunged farther and
farther into sin. The natural tendency
of man is always downward. God
placed man in the earth pure and spot
less. Mans desire led to the act of
disobedience, and succeeding genera
tions ceased not from their own
dOings nor from their stubborn way
until the elimination came in the
food, and only one man was found
who would listen to God and yield
obedience to Him. But notwithstand-
tendency of man to seek his own way
and stubbornly resist God was not
cured, and the human race again
plunged downward until the judg-
ment thunders burst upon Babels
tower and man was scattered and his
tongue confused. Man ceased not
from his own doings nor from lis
stubborn way. Then came the call
of Abraham and the establishment of
q nation out of his loins, which was
to be peculiarly Gods people and to
do His will. In the wilderness Jour
ney they ceased not from their Cwn
dOings nor from their stubborn way"
and thousands were consumed by
pestilence and the sword. They cease
not from their own doings but re-
fuse to enter the promised land, and
wander other 40 years as penalty.
When finally they did take possession
of the promised land at the point of
their history where our text brings us.
we find that they ceased not from
their own doings nor from their stub
born way" The judgment of God
would fall, and under the stress of
the lash, temporary obedience would
; be yielded to God, but soon the nat
zural tendency downward would assert
itself, and again God would have to
write: They ceased not from their
! own doings nor from their stubborn
way" 1t was repeated failure under
the judges; it was failure and ruin and
destruction of the nation under the
kings. 'They ceased not from their
~ own doings nor from their stubborn
way" And the indictment written by
God against the Jewish nation is one
! which must be written against the
> whole race of mankind Natural de-
S sire leads away from God, and stub
! bornness of heart dulls the ear to
) Gods voice of warning and blinds the
8 ava fo the imnendino iudpmont