Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-05
ABRA1I LEAVING HOME
Genesis 1918.
Golden text-Be thou a bless
ing.-Genesis 1872.
By REV. HUGH t. STEVENSON.


One Of the greatest events in Old
Testament history is the subject for
our consideration in the first lesson
OF the new course upon '"The Patri-
archs and Early Leaders of Israel"
that will be studied by the Sunday
school world during the next six
months. The course extends from
Gods call of Abram to the settle
ment in Canaan, which is one of the
most thrilling and romantic periods
in Jewish history. The quarters les
son will be found to group about four
men. A large portion of the Bible,
like the history of Christianity, con-
sists largely of the biography of
great personalities, whose lives have
nodded the annals of men in their
own and subsequent ages.
Abraham has been an outstanding
figure for the last 1000 years. He is
honored by the Jew, Mohammedan and
Christian. He is unique among men,
because he exhibited in his faith the
one thing which, as Denney has point
ed out, never changes in true religion
the attitude of the soul toward God;
and that right attitude of the soul to-
ward God, on which religion depends
for its very existence, is perfectly il
ustrated in Abraham, "who was the
first foreign missionary chosen and
commissioned as Gods messenger to
the nations
One of the marvels of the Scrip
lures is the fact that one can find in
the life of Abraham an international
conception that is the fountain of hui
man progress, prosperity and perma-
nent peace among the family of ma
lions. The influences which came into
history by Abraham's responding to
Gods call are those that have re-
suited in the ideals of democracy that
America and her allies are contend
ing for upon the battlefields of Eu-
rope, Asia and Africa today.
There are two sides to every crisis
in history, one, secular, belonging to
the past, the other, religious, reach
ing forward into the future. The
movements of Terah, Abraham's IA
Their, recorded in the preceding chap
ter, may have been due to the death
of his son Haran, and also to the per-
suaslon of Abraham, whom God had
called to be His friend by revelation
of His glory when the family was
living near Ur, the prosperous Chal-
dean capital city. It's ruins, found
$50 miles north of the mouth of the
Euphrates river, at the Persian gulf
testify not only to the fact that Ur
was once port on the Persian gulf
at tne mouth OF the EuphrateS, but
also to the system of religious worship
carried on in it's OLD temple, dedicated
to the worship of Sin. the moon god,
which was a system of nature worship
with an elaborate ritual that was full
of noble sentiment. Associate with its
lofty idea were rites of gross indul-
gences and impurity, which appear to
be the inevitable result of idolatry, &C
companied by human sacrifices, espe-
cially the offering of the first-born
son as a sacrifice for sin. When the
knowledge of God had almost passed
away there came to Abraham amidst
the pagan environment a call of God,
and he recognized the voice of Jehovah,
who was the one. true and only God.
1.-THE secret of the Lord is with them
that fear Him. and unto Abraham
there came after the death of his father
Terah the divine directions to depart
from the land, family and home and to
go into an unknown country that God
would show him. To obey would wrench
his heart. The first step in salvation
always calls for a breaking with the
Fast life of sin. The cost of obedience
to Gods call is heavy, but the conse-
quences are always beneficial. The COM
pensation of life of faith surpass the
cost of sacrifices required by the Lord.