The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1923-04-12
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared especially for The Republi-
can by Rev. U. S. Wright, D. D.
SUNDAY, APRIL Is.

PEOPLE.-Gen. 81: $50: 26.
Honor thy father and thy mother,
that thy days may be long in the
land that the Lord thy God giveth
thee.-Ex. 20: u.
DADS BOY
Jacob returned from his exile with
a wealth of focks and herds that
made him a fit successor of rich
Abraham. He passed that unique ex-
perience at Jabbok that lifted him to
new spiritual levels. He begged his
brothers forgiveness and obtained
it. He swept his house clear of idola-
try and repaired the old altar at Be-
thel, the place of his vision. Rachel
bequeathed him a baby boy and left
him in loneliness. The ten strong sons
took all the burden of the focks from
his shoulders and he had time from
his persistent toll such as had never
been his in all the preceding days.
1t is not strange that Joseph, now in
his fateful early teens, child of his
favorite wife, should have become the
comrade of his fathers loneliness and
comparative idleness. What walks
they must have had together as Jacob
went the rounds of inspection of the
multiform affairs connected with the
movements of a tribe. Out in the
open or under the trees beside some
ripping stream there was many a
camp in the light of whose fire father
and son talked without interruption
and the eager boy, passionate hero
worshipper crowned with bays that
fathers brow. And what tales he
listened to of the experiences of the
four hundred mile flight thru strange
territory in the face of savage men
and snarling beasts. What wonder
full stories of the days at Haran with
the pitting of wits against the best
of them and winning at the game.
What wonderful vision of the init
macy of God was pressed into that
glowing brain as Bethel and Penuel
and Mehanaim were lived over again
together. Under the skin tents. upon
the backs of swift steeds, camping,
fishing, hunting, working and living
together these two were inseparable
through these teen years. And Jacob
never did better thing than when he
poured his best self into the life of
the boy and taught him to face diff
Guilty with patience, to work faithful
ly from the love of job well done
regardless of any other reward, to
grow conscious of the presence of
God.
He was not always wise. Favor
iteism can never be justified and the
preference for the youth was fairly
Haunted in the faces of the others.
This boy was to be the heir and he
was dolled out in special garments
that emphasized the distinction that
he held in his fathers affections.
I'll tell father on YOU" must have
often been on his lips and it would
naturally endear him to his brothers
particularly as he did pour into those
willingly listening ears every tale of
real or fancied wrong so that there
was constant pickering as a result.
And under the wings of fatherly pro-
lection he would recount his dreams
of superiority and while Joe" was as
real boy as ever lived Jacobs parti-
atty had made him prig and threat
ened to destroy the fine character he
had helped to build
THE VICTORY OF HONOR
Cold-blooded brutality never had
better exhibition than that given by
the brothers of Joseph as they stript
him of the hated coat, dropped him
not too gently into pit to die, and
sat down to eat some of the home
cooking that he had probably brought
with him for them Jacob who had
deceived his own father found
nemesis stalking his trail as his own
OOyS DLOuSHJ Jilc IedplUR from MS
own sowing for the torn and stained
coat left no doubt in his mind of the
death OF Joseph. But that youth of
II was being hurried along the cara
van route to the slave market of
Egypt where he was speedily sold to
a political leader Nh the new and
strange surroundings, dropped from
favoritism to the place Of the last
slave, lackey to all the earlier, he
faced difficulties with a smile and the
determination to make the best Of it.
Work held joy even if he were a
slave and he 50 die his tasks that he
was soon promoted and again and
again until he was confidential stew
ard with the run Of the home. Here
came his peril but that consciousness
of God instilled by Jacob held him
steady at the forks of the road one
branch of which led to oblivion, the
other to honor. Happy is that home
that has forestalled temptation by its
teaching and it's training so that in