Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-04-14

out at sea the ships have left their !
traces in foam-then turning inland, |
have gone. down the hillside into the
still valley, sheltered from the winds,
and there the lonely plowman drove
the team across the heavy clods. All
is stilI-dull, if you please to call it
so-that is Isaac" AS another has
put it, "the salient feature of his life
is that 1t has no salient features" He
is a type of the commonplace people
of whom God has made SO many. How
thrilling it is to know that God is the
God of Isaac and of all like unto
him.
Isaac's life was no doubt a disap-
pointment to men. He came by
miraculous birth, yet proved to be just
an ordinary man. Many have hoped
to be the happy fathers of artists,
sculptors, musicians and scholars, but
their children have turned out to be
house painters, stone masons, and dry
goods clerks Still, it is well to have
entertained these hopes, for if our
children are no more remarkable than
they are, in spite of our ambitions,
what might they have been if we had
had no ambitions for them.
Isaac's life was directed by God.
This appears especially in the story
of his marriage, found in Gen. "a
f'The steps of good man are ordered
of the Lord" no matter how dull and
brown his life may be outwardly; an
ordinary" life, may still be an cor
! dered" life Horace Bushnell, in his
! great sermon on Every Mans Life
| a Plan of God" states his theme thus:
That God has a definite plan for
every human person, girding him
visibly or invisibIy for some exact
thing, which it will be the true sig
nificance and glory of his life to have
accomplished
In character Isaac was marked by
the passive virtues. We do not ap7
preciate patience. gentleness. meek
ness, and other quiet graces as much
as we should Sunf1owers and orchids
are more gorgeous, but who would do
away with pansies and violets!
Submission was marked element
in his makeup When Abraham would
offer lin as a sacrifice on Mount Mo
riah he made no resistance. though
the knife actually flashed over him.
What picture he was of our Lord
In his submission (Heb 10:5-D This
element appears again in 'saac's life
at Gerar. AS fast as ne would dig
wells at this place the Philistines
would contand for them, but instead
Of quarreling. Isaac would move on
and dig another well The outcome
of his meekness was that the Philis
tines came to him to make GOV.
enant, saying, FWe saw certainly that
the Lord was with thee" Even now
there is a sense in which the meek
inherit the earth
This quiet man was thoughtful. and
we see him going out to mediate ir
the fields at the eventide (Gen. 24:63)
Quiet people may know things better
than others and know them more
deeply This twentieth century, with
bloodshot eye and fevered pulse has
lost the art of meditation, but only
when truth saturates US does it real!
become a life power.
Isaac was affectionate, as manifest
ed in his relation to his mother ant
his wife (Gen 24:67). We need sucl
people in the world. We have oftel
noticed that plain mother, who ha
a great heart will be adored by sol
who shines in the world of science o
letters. How weary life would be
ell were brilliant and none with hear
predominant.
How surprising it is to find that thi
Guiet man was, nevertheless, sensu
Gus. Isaac loved Esau because b
: d't eat Of his venison" (Gen. 25: %
| 27:2A. We have, in this matter.
suggestion of one danger of the quie
: life. Alexander Wright says the great
, est glutton he ever knew neve
| crossed his own doorstep and his onl
walk was between his desk and tn
fining table. Temperance, or, as tn
. ! Revised Version renders, self-contro
is a grace much insisted on in tn
New Testament.
Isaac's commonplace life is notabl
because linked with Christ. He wa
an ancestor of Christ and also a typ
of him in that his birth was supel
natural and that, ''in figure he wa
offered up and also raised from tn
dead Our lives may be made signif
cant. in that they, too, may be linke
with Christ. Paul exhorts that eve
slaves shall do their work, not as unit
their earthly masters, but as Into tn
, Lord, for" says he, "ye serve tn
Lord Christ" Our commonest action
, can be done with the same motive a
cur highest deeds-"to be well pleas
J ing unto him" THE world passet
away and the lust thereof; but he tina
doeth the will of God abideth forever