The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1905-02-23

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6ae6 ~ ~ had grown 70 manhood and
fslt ~ niooton * ood resting upon him
70 preach faith Ia and obedience to
Him. One after another he had seen
the patriarchs pass away, and more and
moro he had found the rising genera
tons turning from God and corrupting
their ways upon the earth. until. as We
have seen, Noah's rebukes are met by
unyielding stubbornness and violence.
And now as far as Noah knew there was
none of his own people or relatives who
stood with him or sympathized with him
in his struggle for Righteousness save
his father Lamech, and his aged grand
father, Methuselah, and his faithful
wife.
All this sad and terrible condition
passed before the mind of Noah when
God had ceased speaking, and yet His
words of judgment on sinful and I'M
repentant world fell like crushing bur-
den upon Noah's heart, and he ex-
claimed:
LET me plead yet little longer with
my people. 1t may be that they will yet
hear Thy message"
yea, yet a little longer shalt thou
be a testimony against the people of
the earth, that they may be wholly
without excuse" spake God. Make
thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt
thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch It
within and without with pitch. And
this is the fashion which thou shalt
make it Of"
Long and carefully did God instruct
Noah in the task appointed him. Min
utely did he point out each detail and
part Of the work, and then came the
vision Of the completed ark as it would
be when he had finished 1t, and with the
vision he awoke.
The music and shouts and songs Of the
reyelry broke on his ear, and as he
slowly arose and made his way home
ward he pondered deeply in his heart ali
that had come to pass, and found in his
wife and father and grandfather sympa-
thetic and interested listeners to his
wonderful story.
''God spoke of sons who are to be
sheltered with us in the ark. while as
yet no child has come to bless our
home" said Noah in conclusion.
A CLEAN of hope and JOY sprang into
the eyes of the wife, whose hungry
heart had been waiting all the years
for the coming of little ones, and she
exclaimed:
Surely. this shall be q sign unto
us of Gods presence and favor. and.
the promise OF new race and people"
The years rolled by. busy years for
Noah, as he labored In gathering ma.
terials for his great ship. and trying
years as he suffered under the ridi-
Guile and persecution OF his country
men.
Javan came around short time aft
er Noah had begun the task of gath
ering the materials for the ark. He
listened to the story. and Noah warned
him Of the coming judgment of God.
You needn't worry so much about
the judgment Of your so-called God, as
you need to worry over the judgment
Of some of those against whom you
are preaching so much" sneered Javan
as he turned to 60, and making Z
sinister motion towards the timbers.
Noah was preparing In the center Of
the grove Of gopher wood.
Once Noah found his timbers cut
in such away that. had they gone into
the ark undiscovered, they would have
endangered the structure as it rode on
the waves At another time he found
the planking bored full Of holes and
filled again with q substance that hid
the holes but would have soaked out
and admitted the water Javan's hand
was In 1t. as Noah knew, but the spirit
of God made Noah keen, TO detect ev-
cry attempt against the ark's safety.
But Javan was overheard to say one
day:
Flood or no flood. that thing will
never float!"
In the early years Of the building
the promise Of God Of sons was full
flled in the birth OF three boys, and
the glad parents named them Shem,
Ham and Japheth. Noah saw In their
coming the sign Of Gods favor and re-
joiced a. he labored.
So through the years the work pro-
gressed. The years heightened into
decades. and the decades piled up to-
wards the century mark. The tenth
decade had begun and the ark was
nearing completion. The great hulk
doomed up again the sky. From far
It could be seen and during all these
years multitudes had Hooked to see It,
and had heard Noah's warnings.
Father Lamech and Grandfather Mo
thuselah, who were still members OF
Noah's household, had helped in the
work Of building. The pitching OF the |
craft was almost completed. Another
day was drawing near its close and
Noah had gone home, while Lamech
fingered to put : few final touches |
upon some Of the inner work.
A stealthy tread in the gallery be-
low arrested his attention and hasten
Ing thither he saw in the gloom
crouching figure gathering chips and
to IRE the fnllamable struc-
lure, for with its pitch within and |
without 1t would have burned like tin
der.
Il was bnt the work Of second 10
knock the naming torch from the hand
of the Intruder and stamp out its flre,
md then the two men srappled in
deadly strife.