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at the time the promise was made, given by the sovereign grace of God to His friend Abram and to Abram’s descendants. It belongs to that peculiar people known as the Jews. There may be mandates taken by various governments ; various peoples may lay claim to the land; there may be statesmen who think to alter this promise of God’s ; but the fact remains that God gave it unconditionally to Abram and to his seed forever. At the present time, we do not see Ab ram’s seed in possession of the land, but it is theirs—theirs not by right of the force of arms, or by the guarantee of a re ceipted payment, but by the gift of God. When God settled the boundaries of the nations, He did so with this peculiar peo ple before Him. He placed Israel in the land, and He means to arrange it so that Israel will yet possess it in its entirety, The promise is later on enlarged to include a nation to inhabit the land, who shall reign forever with a king over it. The teacher should be familiar with the va rious passages which deal with this truth and should endeavor, to show the scholars that whatever changes may presently occur in the land of Palestine and among the Jew ish people, the time will surely come when the original promise will be fulfilled to the very letter, as are all other promises which God makes, and Israel shall come into pos session of her own land. She will not come into that possession through the favor of other nations, nor by the result of her own wisdom and subtle dealings with the nations, but by the providence of God operating on her behalf. She shall be brought from all the nations wherein she now is scattered, and settled upon her own land, which will then burst forth and be come as a garden of roses. Lesson Questions Vs. 5-9. How did prosperity affect Ab ram and Lot? Why should they not have quarrelled before “the Canaanite and the Perizzite” ? Should Abram have pursued some other course in dealing with his grasping nephew? Vs. 10-13. Why is it dangerous, to rely upon outward appearances? How might Lot have been sure of the right choice (Jas. 1 :5) ? What are some of the things that Lot lost? What three classes of peo ple are pictured in this lesson ? What effect did the wickedness of Sodom have upon Lot’s “righteous soul” ? Vs. 14, 15. In what way did the Lord compensate Abram for his loss? To what does the promise refer? Has it been ful filled as yet? Why is it a mistake to spir itualize this passage? Golden Text Illustration A noted Christian worker one time con fessed to the writer that nothing made him more heartily ashamed of himself than his jealousy of another brother’s success and his inability to thank God for it. This con fession reminded me of the story of Sco- pas and Simonides. Simonides, one of the most prolific of early Grecian poets, pass ed much of his time at the courts of princes. On one occasion, he was asked by Scopas, king of Thessaly, to prepare and recite a poem at a banquet, in which the king’s exploits would be fittingly celebrat ed. Simonides, to enrich his ode, intro duced some of the exploits of Castor and Pollux, which very much displeased the young king. He was incapable of pleasure in any one’s praise but his own, not even
willing to share it with the immortal sons of Jupiter. He begrudged every line that did not rehearse his own praise, and when Simonides approached to receive the prom ised reward, Scopas gave him but one half the sum, saying as he did so, “Here is payment for my part of the poem; Castor and Pollux will doubtless compensate you for theirs.” I wonder if this is not a more rare grace than we at first surmise it to be, this grace that enables one to note without jealousy the growing influence and power .of an other in the same sphere of service as one’s own. I have always thanked God for Jonathan, when he said to his friend Da vid, “Thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee.” He was glad to see David advanced. May the Holy Spirit help us to search ourselves just at this point; and let us not forget that the desire to be preferred rather than to be useful is the rock upon which many a soul has been wrecked.—W. E. B ied erw o lf . A Generous Uncle Genesis 13:5-11 Memory Verse : “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry” (Eccl. 7 :9). Approach-. Abram did find the new country in which he was to live, just as God had promised him, and he and Lot settled themselves and their families and their flocks and their herds in it. L e s s o n S t o r y : quarrelling, so he said to Lot, “There is plenty of land all about; it will be better for us to separate our flocks. You choose where you wish to live, and I will take what is left.”. This was generous of Ab ram, because he was the older man and could have made the first choice himself. And if Lot had been unselfish, he would have made Abram choose first. But Lot was thinking only of himself. He looked at the broad, rich valley, where there was plenty of water and plenty of grass. He looked up at the bare, dry hills. And he said, “I’ll move into the valley.” This left the hill country for Abram. Abram didn’t scold Lot for being selfish, although he must have felt sorry about it. He just stayed in the hills, and Lot moved into the valley. It was true that there was plenty of rich pasture land in the valley, but there were other things there, too. There were cities, and in the cities were wicked people. Lot became friendly with these wicked people. After a while he and his family became wicked, too, and God had to pun ish them. So Lot’s selfish choice didn’t turn out to be a wise choice after all. I wonder if he ever wished afterward that he had not been so selfish. Praise Him! O earth, put forth your bloom, Praise H im ! all things that have breath. Christ has risen from the tomb, Triumph’d over sin and death. « W o * All went well with them for a while, un til the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle began quarrelling with the herdsmen of Lot’s cat tle. T h e r e wasn’t enough room to pas ture both herds. Ab ram didn’t like this
The Believer’s Attitude Toward Christ 1. Walking with Him—revelation (Lk. 24:15). 2. Talking with Him—fellowship (Lk. 9:30). 3. Listening, to Ilim^instruction (Lk. 10:39). 4. Abiding with Him—joy and peace (John 1 :39). 5. Living with Him—oneness (John 1: 39). I 6. Waiting upon Him—power (Acts 4: 3L 7. Watching for Him—expectancy (Lk. 8:40). — W e sl e y a n M e t h o d ist . PA S S AGE S TO MEMOR I ZE Ts encourage the committing to memory of choice passages of Scripture two series of folders (four pages each) have been prepared under the direction of Helen Gould Shepard. These folders are envelope size and contain from thirty to forty verses, centering around one theme. The First Series contains the following titles: 1. The Ten Commandments, 2. The Lord is My Shepherd, 3. God’s Glory and Man’s Dignity, 4. Proph ecy of the Messiah’s Sufferings and Death, 5. A Saviour from Sin, 6. The Beatitudes. These are printed in Armenian, Bohemian, Italian, Greek, French, Yiddish, Latvian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Armeno -Turkish, Hungarian, Portuguese, Modern Russian, Finnish, Old Russian, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Ruthenian, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Siamese, and Va-Lwena, as well as English. The Second Series contains the following titles: 1. God Desires to Help Those with the Right Spirit, 2. A Prayer of Moses, 3. The Four Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven, 4. All Things Work Together, 5. God’s Word in the Heart. This series is published in English, Italian, Spanish, and Polish. We also have in English the following Special Leaflets: Old Testament Selections Passages to Memorize, series one Passages to Memorize, series two Duty to Warn How to Test Teachers Atheism is Folly (The latter is also published in Yiddish, Italian, and Spanish.) These leaflets are sold at one cent each or 75c per hundred. To secure wide circulation of these leaflets special consideration will be given to ac credited Christian workers. AMERICANTRACT SOCIETY 7 WEST (5th STREET. NEW YORK Finney on Masonry “The Character, Claims and Prac tical Workings of Freemasonry.** By Ex-President Charles G. Finney, of Oberlin College. President Finney was a “bright Mason,** but left the lodge when he became a Christian. This book has opened the eyes of# multitudes. 275 pages, cloth, $1.25; paper 75c. (Please do not send stamps.) National Christian Association 851 W. Madison Street Chicago, 111.
Study Your Bible By Correspondence 16 Systematic, Comprehensive Inexpensive Courses. Special rates for classes. Write for particulars. Correspondence School, Bible Institute of Los Angeles, 536 So. Hope St., Los Angeles, Calif.
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