The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-01-29

GOLDEN TEAV-'The wages or sin 10
death. but the free gift OF God L. eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Rom. en-
r. v.
The first great fact recorded In the
book OF Genesis is that of Creation.
which may be divided into several les
ser facts. The second great fact Ia
that OF the Fall, which began with the
temptation and ended with the exclu-
sion from Paradise In this lesson we
some to the third great fact, the
Flood. the account Of which embraces
she flfth to the ninth chapters. Chap
ter five gives US Noah's genealogy:
six, the history Of the building Of the
ark: seven, the occupancy Of the ark;
eight Noah's departure from the ark.
and nine. Gods covenant with Noah
In this lesson sin nourishes like the
proverbial green bay tree. Every
imagination OF the thoughts Of mans
heart was only evil continually v. 8.
These thoughts were crystallized into
the lives OF men, for we read that
the eartn was filled with violence"
Viewing this awful development Of
sin. God was so deply grieved in his
from his plan and purpose thus far, to
a determination to destroy man ".
70. Noah, however, found grace ir
Gods sight, as we see from " 8, even
In the midst Of these adverse circum
stances. Environment is powerful but
not alipowerful. and 1t is never q
match for Gods grace. We must not
gather from this verse that Noah was
kaultless, but rather than he sought
10 conform his life to Gods will and
not to the standards OF those among
whom he dwelt Noah gave himself
70 a whole-hearted service to God
We are told that the foundation OF
Noah's acceptance before God was his
faith Heb. lit, like his great grand
father Enock, he had walked with
God" (5:22). Noah stood absolutely
alone and was thus thrown upon com.
partnership with God, compare v.
with John 1.3.
Given Due Warning.
God could no longer endure the
sins of men, their iniquity was full
therefore God determined to destroy
them. He did not, however cut them
OF, for we read that they had 12G
years announcement of the coming OF
the Hood ". 49,, time enough II
which to repent They also had &
faithful preacher to warn them dur
ing this time. 3 Peter 2:5. But theil
npostasy was complete and they
would have none Of Gods mercy mol
heed his warning, Prov. 29:1. Eoah'I
obedience as he built the ark was {
daily reminder of the impending
food
The ark was a hat-bottomed ches
$50 feet long, 75 feet broad and 4
feet deep, built of cyprus Gopher
wood and coated with pitch. Unde
the caves OF the roof was an opel
space for ventilation and its tire
decks were divided into conpart
ments.
As to the "eight souls" q Pete
s:2O) who entered the ark we nee
to remember that usually children an
servants are understood without me1
ton in such enumerations. We ar
not to infer that of all created animal
two Of each entered the ark. Tn
food certainly was not universal an
hence such q miracle was uncalle
for.
Eace Swept Away.
At last the food arrived at the e,
act moment prophesied. It's caus
seems to be twofold, subsistence {
the ground and a downpour of raj
The Euphrates valley where tn
event took place fills all the necessar
conditions. Subsistence would allo
an inundation from the sea. Such a
inundation took place in 1911 In tt
Yangtse valley and another In 19l
rendered more than ten million Peep
homeless; the water rising from so
so feet. All that the account d
mands, however, is that q CORFU
race was swept away and that &C
saved HIS righteous servant and b
household It is the privilege of g
cry believer In God to save his hous
hold. See Acts 1881. 2:a; !. Cor. I'll
The only way God could insure Il
purity OF the race was to destroy
revocably the impure.
Skeptics have read into the stol
of the food much. extraneous matte
Some have sought 10 prove IAaI o
cause nearly every race under the 81
has a flood tradition therefore Il
writer of Genesis is merely passir
on a 'Babylonian tradition" It is 4
more reasonable to believe that the
traditions are corrupted forms OF Il
true account found In the Bible
For the younger pupils get Il
story OF the food as told by Des
/ Hodges and tell connected story
what has already happened In the pa
lessons and tell them that the stol
VIII be continued next week Son
good live questions for class discu
sions would be: What does it mean
walk with God? OF the four-ign
rance indifference, consent or co
domination OF sin--which one mu
~.