Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-24
God atience With Israel
Sermon by
REy. FLOYD w. TONA<IyS.

REV. FLOYD w. TONz<Iss.
This passage OF Scripture offers a
sort OF introduction to the Book OF
Judges. The children of ls,acl had at
last entered the promised land. and
Joshua had settled them n their re-
spective districts; then he became old
ana died. and God Appointed Judah
to take his place. Probabl! the mean
ing is that the head man Sf the tribn
OF Judah was to be the leader. as. Of
course. judah. the son of jacob. had
Tong since died. But until God raised
UP the Judges. who were to rule the
people until a King WAS chosen. there
seems TO have been no real leader Of
the people, Hence 1t WAS that they fell
into all kinds of wickednesi and weak
ness. for they we're surrounded by
idolatrous nations and II vas cay for
them to be carried away H. the temp
tattons of tho world and tht flesh. And
then God spoke and warnqi them that
hoy must obey His law AM serve Him
If they would continue IN the land
which He had given them.
GOD GAVE HIS PEOPLE
MANY OPPORTUNITIES
The thing to be noted fist of all, Is
that God gave the people many op-
portunitiCs. Again and again they re-
ncllcd against Him and had done so
ever since leaving the Land of Egypt.
The long suffering Of Gol with the
world Is one of the mysteries which
human nature can never f,thom Men
arc very apt to blame God 'or inaction,
when really. IL lie should ret II would
mean destruction for them and for their
fellows. IT is contrary TO our com
mon nature for ua to let difficulties run
along while We STRIVE by quiet means
TO overcome them that We are too blind
TO understand the virtues or patience.
thny t,,uf al i,,
revolutionary methods rather than the
methods of nature. II tree liz crooked,
anC lis young enough TO be treated. We
do no. cut II down. but we place n
stick by its side to which we bind IT ,
SO hat rs IL grows IL may become
upright. But not equally pa
ticnt with youth who is crooked, nor
are we equally patient with men In
general when they uphold bad princi-
pies or fan into evil ways our Lord
SAYS that we must Let both grow to-
Iet.pr until the harvest" And as good
and evil Viii grow side by sid. for "a
whie, we must fight against the evil
and cultivate tho good SO that IL may
eventually outgrow the evil: never
,hcfss we must not pursue such ex-
rita'l. methods as to seek to weed out
the evil absolutely. regardless of re.
results
GOD ALWAYS WARNING,
TEACHING AND PLEADING
one Is well aware OF how easily this
lesson of patience may be abused. and
how some people Will lie back in mac
tivN and claim that II is best TO let
evil alone There Is no such Inactivity
in tie patience of God: He is always
warihK and teaching and pleading.
but lie does not destroy the whole
worll because the world has SO much
baditss In IT. So must hate the
evil and do all We can to eradicate ii.
and advance IN every way possible
The food. but wc must not go out with
Wild vchemence TO break everything in
sigh because the world is not immedi-
atcly what II ought to be. Notice once
.mor, how All those who came out OF
Tcyit had passed away. Joshua and
Gale, were the last. There were very
few. II any. therefore. who could re-
call. through personal experience, the
baths and struggles of the journey.
Nevertheless. they must have heard the
story and II should have been dear
TO item and warning TO them. The
histIy of their journeytngs and OF all
God: mercies toward them was In
divi6Ially handed down as n kind Of
their Cod had done for their fathers.
and th,re!n lay the assurance OF what
He would do for them. But. alas. they
seemed to disregard or forget this
traditin. Herein lies our lesson. II
Is not only what God has done for
me- hu II Is what He has done In
the hisory OF the world. and particu
larly IL my own immediate ancestral
history. which should move me. We
have n, right to forget the story OF
the pMt. God gives memory. not
merely for pastime. that We may
dream sway hours In thinking that
Memory is the only friend
Tat grief can call its own"
What has been is n guide for the fu-
ture. II we have suffered. we can quite
readily learn n lesson from the suf-
fcring. II we have rcjoiced. we can
quite easily gather the meaning OF the
JOY. II In pnst decades. evil has re-
suited rom wanton living. we have the
handwriting on the wall which We
would 20 we'll TO consider. II we can
say with David that Goodness and
mercy fave followed u.s." then we have
An assurance that the God of our
fathers Will be with us yet. And II
men would only learn. from the past.
how mnh suffering would be avoided.
and how real and dear would be our
progress
PATIENCE OF COD is
SHOWN IN HIS MESSAGE
Yet. olce more notice how the pa
thence of God is shown in His direct
message. We do not know whether
there were prophets In those days or
not, but there must have been some
good men who told the people that they
were wrong and preached to them con-
corning Gods law. God has had His
prophets since the world began est.
Luke LEO, and. naturally, He had his
prophets at this period before the
Judges came. God always has witnesses
who declare unto us His will. If we
are unwilling to listen then we prob
ably would not be persuaded II an angel
from heaven came. The true man lis
tens to Gsds messages no matter who
the messenger may be. Sometimes the
message comes through quite ordi-
nary SQUIRE; sometimes even through
those whom we count as beneath us. r
have received many n message through
a little child. and I remember one or
two tremendous messages coming
through poor, fallen creatures, who
said something that made me stop and
IL nh lIn,I nr1o f,1l To- lnf NO