The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-04-29
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Genesis 5:28; 9:29.

i 40 set my DOW Ill the ctoUl, anu IL
shall be a token of a covenant be-
tween me and the earth.-Gen.9:13.
GOD AND THE STORM.
"Does God send the Storm" "Is
an earthquake or a cyclone evidence
of His presence" Certainly, is the
only possible answer to both ques-
tions. For if God is working in and
through natural forces at all He must
be in all of them, Part Of the athe-
ism that mars mans conception of the
Almighty is this finding Him abroad
in q tempest that RACES a town, but
not in the breeze ripping the grain
fields. To see Him in the dazzling
fash that fires house but not to see
Him in the sunshine that lights
world is to be both blind and cross
eyed, irrational and illogical. Storms
are only fraction Of our experience
and to have God of the storm only
is to rob the rest of our living of His
presence. Many more folks die daily
LHdil HSLG lOSI III GiIG llIctIlIC VI III lllC
Lusitania, but a thousand pulpits and
ten thousand papers shout the latter
as a visitation of God. That was the
lesson Elijah had to learn. He had
been seeking God in earthquake and
storm and fire only and needed to dis
cover Him in the sound of gentle
c+i11nncc SNo111I tbora hove haan
storms in Eden?" To be sure. There
was wind there, and the garden was
the earth, under earth conditions, and
wind is wind whether it blows 9 or
80 miles an hour and God is as much
concerned with one as with the other.
"But they are used to punish sinners"
Yes, and to send saints to glory.
"Wasn't it the sin of San Francisco
that made the earthquake inevitable 2"
Well, if it was there are other cities
that may look for an early shake-up.
The saint who builds his house over a
rock fault that biologists have warn
ed him against just because he likes
the location and is handy to his bust
ness, isn't going to find himself half
as well off when the rock slips as the
sinner who built elsewhere. Storms
that would engulf the world tear the
envelope of the sun into ribbons, and
there's not a person on its huge cir
cumference and the man in the moon
never feels a tornado or needs an UNI
brella. God sendeth His rain-gentle
showers or bursting clouds-upon the
just and the unjust, is the verdict of
Jesus, and His word should be final in
our thinking when attempting to con-
meet the evil of men with the coming
of a tempest.
THE MAN AND THE STORM.
That was a rude old world. It's
giants were its men of renown. Drawn
topped brain and force compelled ad-
miration. Its first example of spirit
ual endeavor was murdered and the
only other outstanding one, Enoch,
abandoned it for heaven by his own
choice. Noah was different, though
he walked with God as consistently as
his forebear. But he would not de-
sert his world He felt himself COM
missioned to subdue it's wickedness as
much as its physical Businesses. He
faced those big successful neighbors
of his with a challenge to reform, for
he was "a preacher of righteousness.
He was the early discoverer that we
live in a world of law, that causes in
evitably bring certain results. Run
your world by selfish force and the
deluge follows. 1t has taken many
centuries to bring any great accep-
lance Of such a message even after
1914. He is the earliest figure daring
to go partner with God in ordering
His world according to His rule. He
was not foreteller of doom, but a
setter forth of the way of life. He
who finds God working through great
moral laws speedily reaches the place
of knowledge that He works in the
same fashion in the physical world
Noah was the first scientist. His ark
was for the saving of his family and
not for the world. 1t was his pro-
vision for meeting the coming need of
his own folks. The same crowd that
derides old age pensions, flood insur-
ance, accident policies and other de-
vices of the sort would very likely
have joined company with the men
who laughed at Noah and his strange
proceeding. The world might be head
ed toward the inevitable and against
which every power would be set in
protest but in the midst of it he who
"provides not for his own household
hath denied the faith and is worse
than an unbeliver." This man faced
the storm and shared Gods way of
working toward the mastery of all
storms.
AFTER THE STORM.
A moral squirt will bring mechani-
cal inaccuracy. A rotten world will
never build storm proof ship-only
righteousness can do it. Noah built
with God and his work stood the test