The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1918-11-14
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Especially Prepared For Readers of
The Republican.

The Republican.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18th.
Jacobs Flight. Gen. 2S.lO-22. Read
entire chapter
He hath not dealt with US after our
sins,
Nor rewarded US after our iniquities.
Psalm 103:10.
U. S. WRIGHT.
The DREAM AND The MAN.
Ask grandmother if she has dream
book. Or search among the forg
Accommodations of the attic and you will
probably find little book that will in
terpret the stuff of dreams in. terms of
life. For dreams carried messages
from the unseen if we could but read
them. And they do. Go to Johns Hop
klns and see its million dollar Phipps'
Clinic where the patients dreams are
studied in order that his condition may
be fully understood. Dreams are built
from material already in the dreamer's
brain; only the arrangement is unregu-
lated by judgment but there is nothing
in the dream that has not been already
in some form in the life. Jacob had come
to that critical time of revealing, the
young man leaving home. All the
familiar things are behind, all the I'M
known fortunes of the world before.
Dream he will if at no other time and
the contents of it are the unfailing in
dex of the heart the youth carries. 1t
has been advisable for him to leave and
the first day had been over the familiar
paths and in contact with the herders
with whom he probably spent the night
as he had often done before. The Sec
ond night brought him to unfamiliar
ground tho pressed by the feet of Alb
raham. He knew no one ana sought no
comradeship Of strangers so avoided the
town and its questions. He ever was a
close-mouthed fellow and his own
thoughts should sit at his solitary camp
for he did not have the mood for talk
that night. There amid the giant hills
That trimmed his world he wrapped him
self in his cloak and lays down and
dreamed. He saw ladder leading from
where he was over the hill and beyond
into heaven, used Of angels and watch
cd of Jehovah who spoke to him with
the confirming promise for the bless
ing of Isaac. His heaven lay beyond
the highest hill he saw and answered to
the hope and ambition of youth. There
was way to reach it that began at his .
feet so that he was taking the right di
rectiOn. And God would be both guard
ard guide. Now no man can dream God
and Heaven and angels unless thew
have been in his mind before. Jacob in
speaking of this event admits that he
had been praying 1853 before he slept. |
The motive power of his life had been
religious however much he fell below
the Christian standard and his dream
confirms his choice as transmitter of .
the heritage of faith as fitting. 1t
would have been impossible for Esau to
have had such a dream. Jacob needed
a school while Esau needed a soul.
GOD AND THE DREAM.
This is the God of the clear-seeing
child and not of the philosopher. There
is fascination about this central Per-
son OF the picture that is compelling in
its interests. 1t reveals a God who
knew Jacob and the entire family bv
name 80 that He called Himself by
them, the God of Abraham and of Isaac.
This God made promises and kept them;
was deeply interested in the affairs of
Jacob and would become the guardian
of the traveller thru all the journey and
would effect his return to the land he
was leaving. 1t is the God of the clan
caring for member of it and not the
world God of Isaiah or the Father of
esus. When Jacob woke he feared as
well as rejoiced. To Abraham God had
been friend but to Isaac fear 81 :42) |
and doubtless this was the impression
that had been to Isaac's children.
Matheson finds the reason in the re-
buke which he found in the angels who
assembled only to descend to serve while
his pride had desired the priestly office
in the family because of its exaltation
only. Probably the feeling was induc-
ed by the sense of proclamation from
making sleeping place of the residence
of Deity and sacrilege was no small
crime. But the great thing In it all is
the intimate picture of a friendly God
that fills every line and is as high con-
ception as many reach today. And
Jacob had no bible; no prophet had
spoken, no Christ had been crucified, /
no church had proclaimed its evangel,
vet lacking all these with only the back
ground of heathenism and the dimness
of the night about him he climbed so
high and saw so much. He did much
with his little, so much that it shames
the little from our much.
The MAN AND THE DREAM.
No dream is of any value until it IS
translated into life. We make a mis-