Pr i ef Thoughts
For Busy Teachers.
International Sunday School Lessons By J. H. Sammis Comment "Pith and Pivot" By T. C. Horton.
LESSON FOR JANUARY 1, 1910.
are also by popular, choice, 1 Sam. 11:15, 2 Sam. 2:4, 5:3, I Kings 1:39, 40, 12:1. III. Descent of the King. Ch. 11:43. It was from David the Hero, through Solomon the Wise. He inherited, how- ever, neither the valor of the one, nor the sagacity of the other. Pedigree counts on the cattle market. But per- sonality and moral free agency are more than heredity. The noblest of at- tributes they often occasion the ig- noblest of creatures. The loyal David begat the regicide Absalom; the Wise Solomon the fool Behoboam. This makes chaos in the registers. Charac- ter is not an inheritance, it is an achievement and a conquest. It takes as good a man to wear as to win a crown; to retain as to gain a fortune. A n an may be born with a gold spoon in his mouth and live to eat porridge with a wooden one. Bed blood, not blue blood " t e l l s ." You. can't make the kingdom on your infant baptism, nor win this world or the next on the qualities or fame of your forebears. But One Father begets sons in His own likeness, and even they work out their own salvation, Phi. 2:12. IV. The Description of the Kingdom. Behoboam fell heir to an empire. His fame filled the world. It commerced from Britain to India; from the Nile to. the Euphrates. Its wealth was pro- digious. Its capital " b e a u t i f ul for sit- uation, the joy of the whole e a r t h ," a city of palaces, with a temple "exceed- ing magnifieal," the shrine of the sym-
Election Day in Israel. I. The Divine Design for Israel. The key was, " Y e are my witnesses," Isa. 43:10. Obedience would have produced phenomenal prosperity. All nations would have said, "Come ye let us go up to mountain of Jehovah. . . . He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His p a t h s ," Isa. .2:3. The ">Qjieen of Sheba saw the wonders and weiVt up to learn " t h e name of the L o r d ," 1 Kings 5. The federate king- dom was strangely short lived. In em- bryo under Saul, it was born and reared under David; matured under Solomon and began tys decline. The doom of Bclshazar befell his suceesssor, " P e r e s , " thy kingdom is divided, Dan. 5:28. The Church's call is, " Y e shall be witnesses?" Acts . 1:8. Obedience would have brought 'the millennium. But she, too, was divided, and her testi- mony marred. As with Tudah revivals have affected the Protestant section, but the world's belief waits on " t h a t they all may be o n e ," Jno. 17:20, 21. But no effective unity can be found around the calves of Bethel and Dan. The only bond is the Old Jerusalem Gospel. II. The Day of Election. Israel came to Shechem, famous in early history, to make Behoboam king. They should have gone to Jerusalem had they a whole heart to make him king, 1 Sam. 5:1. God elected and elects kings, Ex. 3:16, 1 Sam. 9:17, Rom. 13:1. But kings
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter