The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-09-27
International SUNDAY School Lesson
Third Quarter. Lesson II
Sept. %, 1913.
Deiiverance and DisObedienCe: Review


fects, trying situations, unlocked
for deliverances, the lessons of this
quarter form a narrative unsur-
passed by the most thrilling fiction
ever written. ''Romola," or "Tale
of Two Cities,'' or Heart of Mid
Lothian" are not to be compared
to it. The scene shifts from the
rustic hills and dales of Canaan to
the Nile valley, with it's superb civil
lization and it's architecture char
acterized by reserved grandeur;
thence to Goshen, the land of YER
dure," the pleasant and goodly pas
turage; thence to the great TRAN
gle between the arms of the sea,
the Sinaitic peninsula, With its gran
ite cliffs and silent canyon. Moses
is easily the most towering person
ality of the Old Testament. We
find him first in his river-rocked
cradle on the mystic Nile. Then
undergoing his double tutelage, that
of the court in all Egypt's wisdom,
and of his mother in the pious an
mails of the patriarchs. Next flashes
out thai, signal instance Of S0lfu oh1in
Won which deliberately rejected the
treasures of Egypt for the afflic-
ton of Gods people. The prema-
ture effort at emancipation is fol-
lowed by the flight into indian,
whose awful solitudes were educa-
tive in themselves. Next we see
the lonely shepherd bowling before
that shaggy acacia, transmitted in
to a golden shrine. Next we see
him waving his woodworking rod
over Egypt and evoking plague aft
er plague to break the iron will of
the Pharaoh. We find him stand
ing on the west shore, opening with
his crook a path through the deep
for a myriad of manumitted serfs
who have just partaken of a new
ly- instituted and most significant
sacrament. We see the same tow
ering figure standing on the east
shore of the sea and with the same
rod converting what had been a
highway for the fugitives into a
grave for their pursuers. Now be-
gins Israel's march of mystery
through the wilderness. The COM
missariat problem becomes urgent
at once. Under the most favorable
conditions the provisioning of such
an emigrant host would have taxed
an expert quartermaster-general.
But the exigencies of the case make
it the most remarkable of history.
For the people in such an environ
ment not to have "murmured" would
have been unnatural. Fear is the
worst of epidemics AS usual I'M
der such conditions, the people ov-
errated their past advantages mad
moderated their past perils. The
melancholy stampede was real dis
grace. See the long-suffering pa
thence of God The last word of
the people is bread" Gods first
word is promise of dread from
heaven Now the emigrant ma
ton came to the Almighty's secret
audience-chamber, Mt. Sinai. Here
the setting of nature is appropriate
to the scene of superlative males
ty. Three million people stood and
looked upon the granite throne of
the Almighty. Nature was agitated.
The mount shook. Speech of man
breaks down in effort TO describe
the Theophany-that most august
sight of earth. If the Decalogue
had been given in Palestine,i it might
be inferred that it was intended for
the Jew, to whom Palestine belong
ed. Not there, but in the wilder
ness the law was given; and the
wilderness belonged to everybody.
Again, the cliff from which the
Decalogue was given belongs to the
most enduring strata. The Deca-
logue is even more enduring. Hea-
ven and earth may pass away, but
the Law never. Rugged though
the Decalogue is, it is still saturat-
ed with love. 1t is not arbitrary
commandment with pains and per-
sonalties, but rather a loving cove
nant between God and man. Spite
of all the mighty works the peoples
religious perceptions were indistinct.
They were very far short of the
idea of the spirituality of God.
They coveted visible palladium.
They required Aaron to make one.
This was the occasion to which