The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1904-09-16

LESSON XII, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, SEPT. 10.

by Rev. ID. VI. stenrns.
Copyright, 1904. by American Press Association
Seek ye Me. and We shall live; seek
the Lord, and We shall live; seek good
and not evil that ye may live. and so
the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be
with you. for thus saith the Lord unto
the house of Israel verses 4, q, Id.
This seems to be the central thought
of our lesson. 1t reminds us of Eli
jah's IF the Lord be God, follow Him"
Il Kings xviii, ID. and of Joshua's fare
well eXhortation. Choose you this day
whom we will serve" Josh. xiv, 15),
and of the words of Moses: Il have
set before you life and death; there
fore choose life Love the Lord, thy
God; obey His voice, cleave unto Him,
for He is thy life" Oeut. XXX, 10, 2O).
Whether ii be for Israel or the church
or the individual. there is no life apart
from Him who is life. who said, Il am
the life" (Johp ri. %; xiv, g.. Dead in
trespasses and sins, without God and
others (Eph. ii, l, ID. In the days of
Amos, as now, men would do anything
rather than receive freely from God
His gift of life. They would under
pretense of worship transgress at Beth
el and Gilgal and at Beersheba, and
their sacrifices of thanksgiving were
full of evil; therefore the Lord said,
Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with
leaven. for this liketh you" Gv, -, leav-
en- being significant Of evil everywhere
in the Bible, even in Matt. xiii, SO.
where our Lord in describing this pres
ent age, the mystery of the kingdom
that is, the condition of affairs while
the kingdom is rejected and postponed
told us that the woman (the church,
would thoroughly leaven or corrupt
her food. Never was the food given
to the church more corrupt than now,
when nearly every fundamental truth
is denied by many preachers and our
Lord Jesus Himself is not counted a
safe teacher, much less the Son of
God; so we know that the age is draw
ing TO a close and the time of lsraePs
restoration draweth near. The word of
the Lord through Amos and every other
prophet shall be fulfilled Il will plant
them upon their land. and they shall
no more be pulled up out of their land
which | have given them, saith the
Lord thy Cod amos tx, II, 15); Jer.
xxi, Il; Eek. XXXvii 81, 22).
l.. ,Nfr,, 10. faV
word and lay snare for him that re-
proveth in the gate and turn aside the
Just for a thing of naught. They say,
"Prophesy not unto us right things;
speak unto us smooth things. Proph-
esy deceits, cause the Holy One of Is
rael to cease from before u.s. Qsa xxx,
21; XXX, 10, IL They know not the
thoughts of the Lord; neither under
stand they His counsel (Alic. iv, 12J
They are full Of unrighteousness and
oppression, yet the Lord loved them
and pitied them and by His prophets
urged them TO turn TO Him that He
might have mercy upon them. He had
compassion on His people and on His
dwelling place and sent them His mes
sengers, but they Knocked the messen-
gers OF God and despised His words
and misused His prophets until the
wrath of the Lord arose against His
people till there was no remedy Oh
Chron. xxxvi, 10, 16)-that is, there
was no remedy or, as in the margin,
healing" in anything that they could
do Yet He cries, Deliver from going
down to the pit; l have found ran
som Job xxxiii, pa.
After He had visited upon their iniq-
uities amos iii, y and allowed them
to return to their land from the cap
tivity in Babylon He in due time sent
them the Ransom. the Deliverer, the
Lord, their Righteousness, the long
promised Messiah, but what is the rec
ord? HE was in the world, and the
world was made by Him. and the
world knew Him not He came unto
His own, and His own received Him
not" John l. 10, IL. Now, is there still
any hope for such a people, who be-
cause of such great sin and crying
"His blood be upon us and upon our
children" have been scattered a by
word and reproach among all ma
tons? We could not believe it If He
had not said il, but since He has said
that for His own Names sake He will
fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob mic. vii, 1920; Eek. xxXvi.
22) He will do it, and we must believe
it. 1.-THE gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. Oh. the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearcha-
bic are His judgments and His ways
past finding out!'' (Rom. xi, %. 33)
But those who are meek enough TO
believe what He has said by the proph-
cts shall know His ways and His pur-
poses which are sure to be performed,
for surely the Lord God will do moth
ing, but He revealeth His secret unto
His servants the prophets" amos iii,
q. The Spirit through Peter says that
prophecy is Alright i'm dark place UNI
TO which we do well to take heed in
our hearts QI Pet. l. 19). But there
are many teachers in our day who,
though wise i'm their own estimation,
are foolish i'm the Lords estimation
because they will not believe what the
L ord hoe cnoiyan ht- HE 4I,o