Newspaper Page Text
8 (104)
m
| The Sunday School |
T1IE CALL OF ABRAM.
February 16, 1913. Gen. 12:1-9.
Golden Text: ril -will Mess thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be
a blessing."?Gen. 12:2.
HOME DAILY BIBLE HEADINGS.
M.?Gen. 12:1*9.
T.?Heb. 11:8-10, 13-16.
W.?Gen. 11:1-9.
Th.?Josh. 14:14-25.
P.?Isa. 6:1-18.
S.?Jer. 1:1-10.
S.?Matt. 10:1-15.
SHORTER CATECHISM.
Q. 37. What "benefits do believers receive
from Christ at death?
A. me souls or Deuevers are at meir
death made perfect in holiness, and do
Immediately pass Into glory; and their
bodies, being still united to Christ, do
rest In their graves till the resurrection.
LESSON OUTLINE.
The call and the promise, vs. 1-3, 7.
Abram's faith and obedience, vs. 4, 5.
His settlement In Canaan, vs. 6-9.
LESSON STUDY.
The Tiroo: Abram lived about 2000
years before Christ. The chronology
begins to be Eomewuai certain iu m?
day, for the Bible story is narrowing
down to a single line and historic personages
and times are coming into
view.
The Places: Ur of the Chaldees, on
the west bank of the River Euphrates,
identified to-day, very confidently, with
Mugheir, which is situated about 140
miles southeast of the site of ancient
Babylon. Haran was a district, about
GOO miles northwest of Ur, and a shorter
distance northeast of the centre of
Palestine. Shechem and Bethel were
places located, the first about the very
centre of Palestine, and the second not
lar norm ui mo ana ui hdiuoiuoui.
Abrum's Call: It was to separate
himself from his own people and his old
life. He had come out from the company
of ldolators, of whom his very
rather was one. The separation must
be complete. It was in obedience to the
direct command of God. It was no hasty
act on his part., but gradual in its first
stages. Nor was Abraim young. He
was seventy-five years old when he
moved from Haran, his first stopping
place, to the Promised Land.
fru- l Krolinmla CArnnant? W"h'?t In
commonly called by this name was not
bo much a covenant or compact between
Abram and God as it was a pledge, or
series of pledges and promises on the
part of God that should be realized in
A'bram and his posterity, Abram's
part was simple faith and implicit
obedience. The series of pledges were
as follows:
Tbe Founder of a Great Nation: (l)
MI "will make of thee a great nation."
Abram came out of Chaldea well ad*vanced
in years and childless, wrlth no
expectation of posterity. Within a few
hundred years his seed numbered millions
and wore among the leading nations
of the world. To-day, though unorganized
as a people, they are in every
part of the world and exert a power In
the life of civilised nations altogether
out of proportion to the numbers.
Blessed of (iod: (2) "And I will bless
thee." In basket and in store; In largeness
o? Influence and greatness of charactor;
In ability of administration; in
posterity; In the richer blessings off
grace. He was given "the righteousj
T-fl E PRESBYTERli
ness of the faith." "Faith was reckoned
to him for righteousness. He was "not
weak In the faith," but "strong in faith,
giving glory to God." Faith is a gift.
auu, ucxi 10 unrist, iu object, uod's best
gift to man. "Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity."
A Great Name: (3) "And make thy
name great." His name Is mentioned in
the Bible more than that of any other
man in all the long line of glory, In the
Old Testament. The Jews esteem him
as the founder of their race. To-day he
is adored or revered by Jews, Christians
and Mohammedans alike. A city,
one of the oldest in the world, still bears
his name "El Khalil," "The Friend,"
the common name over there of Hebron.
To no man ever born do more
people look up with pride as their father,
in actual lineage, Ah an to Abram.
A Medium of brace: (4) "And thou
shalt be a blessing." He should be a
source of blessing to others. He fbecame
"the fathe- of the faithful," the
father of all them that believe. "We
be Araham's seed" meant more than
mere lineage. It declared a spiritual relationship.
Abram's life was to be a
means of conveying blessing *to the
world In him a separation was made.
All other lines were to become the beneficiaries
of that which was given htm
ai-d his seed.
Treatment In Kind: (&) "And I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse
him that curseth thee." God bound him
sen r>y inese words to take as personal
to himself whatever treatment his servant
Abram should receive and to return
it in kind. If men despised and
injured and rejected him, God would
take it as hatred and rejection of himself.
If men should treat Abram kindly,
God would take it as friendship to
himself. God ldentlfled himself fully
with the man and made common cause
with him In everything. (He laid the
basis of the sympathy botween himself
and all who should accept the offer of
Abram's seed, the Lord Jesus Christ.
A Blessing to the World: (6) "And
in thee shall all families of the earth
be blessed." The universality of the
offer of redemption through Christ was
forshadowed and has been the fulfilment
of tb?s part of the covenant. The
scattering of the Jews throughout the
world has been the smallest Dart of this
promise. As the true oHve tree into
which the believing Qentiles have been
grafted, the descendants of Afbr&m have
been the old stock bearing the root
wherever the gospel has gone.
Abram's Separation: It was needful,
to break up old ties, to form new association
b, to signalize God's sovereign
right to appoint a chosen people, to prepare
tho channei through which grace
shonld flow. The principle of election
\s clear.v shown, both in God's right
and his ournos?\ and in thp
fact and value to man of such a plan.
Abram's Journeying^: He started
1 from Ur, in Chaldea. He stopped for
a few years In Harau, arc then, led of
God, moved on towaids Canaan. Here
he stopp-jd. first at Slchem, later known
as Shecnom, establishing himself at
that place or close to it, in the Plain
of Moreh. Here he was in the very heart
of the Lind occmilcd hv the de.Roenilnntn
of Ham through this youngest son,
Canaan, a fierce and Idolatrous people,
among whom he seemed able, by the
favor of God and his wise and pilous life
and character, to have mantalned himself
In singular quiet and peace. (His
wisdom made him friends and attached
these people to Mnu Moving further
southward, he next paused at Bethel,
and later passed on to the neisfclhofhood
of Hebron, where, after sluWter sojourns
elsewhere, he spent the larger
part of his life In Palestine. How long
he stopper at each place la not Ttnown.
IN OF THE SOUTH
Youne Peoole's SocietiesI
------ -r "
TEBPEBANCE BULLETINS.
Topic for Snnday, February 16: Bulletins
from tbe Temperance War. Rcfelatlon
13:1-8; 19:11, 12, 19, 20.
r DAILY READINGS.
Monday: Personal control. 1 Pet. 1:
1-11.
Tuesday: Christian deportment
Titus 2:1-8.
Wednesday: Woe on the foe. Heb. 2:
12-17.
Thursday: Weapons to use. 2 Cor. 10
3-7.
Friday: Organized temperance. J or.
36:5-10.
Saturday: The end?victory. 1 Dor.
16:22-23.
The battle has been going on in all
the ages. The evil nature ot man has
made the war possible. The greed of
man has kept it going.
It pays to run the saloon, else so manv
would not do It. But it does not pay the
patron. And sooner or later it does mot
pay the dealer.
Point out, if you oan, "happy saloonists'
families, sweet homes, promising
children, culture, refinement, their
neighbors' love, their community's good
will.
But after all, the safloons are only the
out-posts on the enemie's side. The
real citadel is the preverted * human
heart. The true temperance worker
should dire<Jt his attack there.
3fen will stand behind the bar as
long as there are men to wtand (before
the bar. The demand creates the supply
The aim of temperance guns must be at
the demand. When the traffic ceases to
pay it will end.
To be usccessful, the war has to (be
waved in a hlaher name thnn fha* nf
morality or Industrialism. Frofbahly one
reason that there have been such varying
results in the struggle is that it has
not been put upon the highest plane.
That higher name is Christ, whose
gospel alone is the power of Cod unto
salvation from specific sins as well as
from sin in general. To all who fight
evil in his name and for his honor he
gives the victory. <He has pledged himself
to do this.
As the root of the matter is in the
heart, the real work is to be done by
him who reaches the heart and changes
It The Divine Spirit Is the agent here
as in everything else where sin is to
be checked. True temperance is
wrought toy hint Only a divine agent
can handle the matter.
Regeneration alone can effect a perznament
change. A new nature must be
Implanted. The old love must be taken
away and another put In Ita place. The
reason why many have failed to make
good In that they have been ibeating the
branches rather than grafting new
stock.
Argument does little to correct evils
where desire holds to their practice.
The selfishness <yf drinking, Its <f!re
effects upon the mind and itlfe of the
drinker, upon his home, his family, his
children, amount to nothing to him as
an inducement to stop. 'He is in the
power of his enemy. He has surrendered
himself.
How far it is right to endeavor to control
the liquor traffic by the ballot is
sometimes a question. The community
he* its riiihts. Those rights are inter
fered with toy the traffic, which 1s the
enemy of order and the ally of vice and
crime. Has not every voter a rl?ht to
nee the ballot to protect himself and
his neighbors?
Xf the right-minded amongst us would
unite in the matter, they conld control.
[February 5, 1913
1 The Prayer Meeting
THE TWO DEBTORS.
Luke 7:41, 42. Week of February 9.
As on frequent occasions, so here, the
parable is used as a part of Che exceptional
tact of our Lord in dealing with
unbelief. He sat at meat in the home
of Simon, a Pharisee. This became
known to "a woman in the city who
was a sinner." She "brought an
nlalknaiA* K/\w # nln4mnni nn/1 cvt A /~k/4
aioiL?aavcJ-uuA ui uiuviuuub auu o^vw
at his feet behind him weeping and began
to wash his feet with tears and to
wipe them with the hairs of her head,
and kissed bis feet and anointed them
with the ointment." Simon assumed that
the Lord did not know the character
of this woman, else ihe would not have
received her worship. The Master makes
known in tbta paraible that he not onily
knew the character of the penitent woman,
but knew also Sltmon's self-righteous
and skeptical thoughts.
If he had directly condemned Simon
for his unreasonable pride and heart
less disdain for the poor penitent, Irritation
and estrangement would probably
have been the effect But as a wise
and patient teacher, he first secures the
man's attention by announcing that he
has something of special importance
to say and tben stating the case, appealed
to him for his opinion.
The creditor in the parable represents
God. The two debtors, one of iwhom
owes a sum ten times as large as the
debt of the other, represent sinners of
different degrees of guilt, but have no
capacity to pay their debt in any degree.
The cancelling of the debt of each represents
the freeness with which God forgives
penitent sinners. In the parable
both debtors are assumed to (be grateMvotnlfAufl
fntsrlvAnADo Whftn fhfl
fu.,?,
question is put to Simon. "Which of
them will love him most?" he answers,
"I suppose that 'he to 'whom he forgave
most," and our Lord approved the answer.
Thus pardoned sinners are supposed
to love their compassionate Lord
In proportion to their realization of the
enormity of their ofTence in disobeying
his law and rejecting his love.
It is not indicated here that Simon's
actual guilt was less than that of the
woman. It may have been greater. It
probably was, for our Lord was more
unsparing in his denunciation of selfrighteousness
and hypocracy than of
any other class of sins. PufbHcans and
harlots will enter into the kingdom before
false professors. The greater the
privileges that men enjoy and yet indulge
their complacency the greater is
their actual guilt and the more terrible
their condemnatibn. Pride and
hlindne8s to one's culpability delude the
soul into treating sin lightly and fancying
that its debt is ama.il.
On the other hand, true conviction,
which is the effect of Divine illluminaf
irvti Krin 00 fhn m In ri Itiin o iloan oonoo
tiv/u, ui iiigo buv uiutu iuvu a vixjcjj/ dcnot
of the real nature and degree of lta
guilt and prepares It for appealing for
Divine mercy, and when that mercy is
bestowed through the mediation of
Christ, love and gratitude are awaken- *
ed in proportion to the soul's contrition.
The degree of love that -we exercise is
not in proportion to actual guilt, but in
proportion to the soul's consciousness of
it "There is no difference, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of
God."
A broken and contrite heart is the
true qualification for perceiving the
preclousness of the gospel and the glory
of our Lord. Self-abasement, the renunciation
of sin and adoration to
Christ are the effects of a saving knowledge
of our relation to God's commandments
which are "holy and just and
good."
*