Part 3

Those strangers told him the place was to be destroyed, with all that were in it, because it was so wicked! Though the fields looked so quiet, the walls so strong, and the sun had gone down as usual, all would be ruined in a few hours' time! Then the strangers took hold of him, and his wife and daughters, and led them almost by force away from their home in the dawn of morning, bidding them escape for their lives to the mountain, and not look back. They were frightened, and begged not to have to go so far as the wild mountain. Might they not go to the little city near at hand? And their wish was granted.

Just as the sun had risen they entered the little city for which they had begged; and as soon as they were safe the four towns, that had seemed so strong and firm, were all burning with fire and brimstone; and all the sinners who had mocked at warning were soon lying dead under God's awful anger! Four alone had been led out of the city by the strangers, but even of these only three came into the city of refuge. The wife did not heed the warning not to linger nor look back, the deadly storm overtook her, and she remained rooted to the spot--a pillar of salt!

The names of those cities were Sodom and Gomorrah, and the one good man who was saved by the mercy of God was named Lot. And now a strange gloomy lake called the Dead Sea covers that valley with its heavy waters, and the bare rocky hills, crusted with salt, show that the curse of God is on the place.

Let us try to carry home one thought from this terrible history. This world will one day be burnt up like those cities, and its looking safe and prosperous now does not make it safe. But God sends messengers to lead us out of it. If we attend to them, and follow their advice, we shall through all our lives be getting out of danger, and going on to a safe home in heaven; but if we care only for pleasant things here, it is like looking back, and our souls will perish with what they love. That is why our Saviour bade us "Remember Lot's wife." We should remember her when we are tempted to think it hard to give up anything pleasant, because we are told that it is wrong, and may put us in danger of God's anger.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the name of the place I told you of to-day? 2. What was the name of the man? 3. What kind of place was Sodom? 4. Who was the only good man there? 5. Who came to Lot? 6. What did he do for the strangers? 7. What did the strangers tell Lot? 8. Why was Lot to come out of Sodom? 9. Why was Sodom to be destroyed? 10. Where did Lot go? 11. Who looked back? 12. What became of her? 13. What did God do to Sodom? 14. What sort of a place is it now? 15. What will be burnt up some day? 16. If we are not good, what will become of us? 17. But what have we to teach us to be good? 18. And how must we try to come out, like Lot?

SECOND READING.

"Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me."--_Genesis 22:12._

BY-AND-BY Abraham had a son--one only son, whose name was Isaac. All the promises God had made were to be for Isaac's children after him: and Abraham loved God, and hoped all the more.

But then God called Abraham to do a strange and terrible thing. He was to go and take his dear son Isaac to the top of a hill, and there to offer him up to God as if he had been a calf or a lamb. Of course, in general, to do such a thing would be shockingly wicked; but Abraham knew that when God commanded a thing, it must be right to do as he was bidden, however dreadful it was to him.

So they set out together. Abraham took the knife, and a vessel with fire in it and Isaac carried the wood with which the sacrifice was to be burnt. On the way Isaac said, "My father, behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham answered, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

Isaac soon knew he was to be the lamb, for his father put the wood in order, and bound his limbs, and took the knife. And Isaac did not complain or struggle. He was ready, like his father, to do the will of God. But just as Abraham had the knife ready to slay his son, an angel called to him out of Heaven: "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me."

Then Abraham unbound his son, and was glad as if Isaac had really risen from the dead. And he saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; so he took that, and offered it up instead of Isaac. Thus God really provided a lamb for a burnt offering.

And He blessed Abraham more and more, and promised again that his children should have the land, and that in his Seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. That Seed was our blessed LORD JESUS CHRIST, who, you know, was really given by His Heavenly Father to die, and then came back from the dead, that all people might be saved by Him.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the name of Abraham's son? 2. What had God promised Abraham? 3. What had Abraham done at God's command? 4. What was he now to do? 5. Whom did he obey? 6. Where was he to go? 7. Who went with him? 8. What did Isaac ask? 9. What did Abraham answer? 10. Who seemed likely to be the Lamb? 11. What was Abraham just going to do? 12. Who called him? 13. What did the angel tell him? 14. Why was God pleased with him? 15. What blessing did God give him? 16. Who was to be saved?

THIRD READING.

"I am a stranger and a sojourner with you."--_Genesis 23:4._

ABRAHAM and his wife Sarah had lived together many years; but at last Sarah died, and Abraham wanted to bury her. You know in all the country he had not one morsel of ground of his own; he was a stranger there, but he knew it would all belong to his children by-and-by. But he wanted to make sure of the one bit where his wife should lie. So he went to the prince to whom Hebron belonged, and begged to buy a field with trees in it, and a rock where there was a deep cave that was called Machpelah.

The prince said he would give it; but Abraham could not feel sure that it would be always safe till he had bought it. So he weighed out the price. It was not in little bits of money like ours, but lumps of silver all the same weight, and each with a mark stamped on it--four hundred of them. Then the cave was given to Abraham, and he had his good true wife Sarah buried there, rolled in linen with spices. He was buried there afterwards himself, and so was his son Isaac, and Isaac's son after him, in the cave of Machpelah.

That cave has been kept sacred ever since. There is a building over it now, and no stranger is allowed to go into it; but deep down there is a golden grating, and far within lie these holy men and women of old. Their bodies are waiting to rise again at the Last Day, and then I hope we shall see them and know them.

QUESTIONS.

1. Who was Abraham's wife? 2. Where did Sarah die? 3. What did Abraham want to do? 4. Had he any ground? 5. So what was he obliged to do? 6. Of whom did he buy the place? 7. What was it called? 8. What is a cave? 9. What did he pay? 10. What was Abraham's money? 11. Who were buried there afterwards? 12. How is the place marked now? 13. When will Sarah's body leave the grave in the cave of Machpelah? 14. What do you say you believe in? (In the eleventh Article of the Creed.) 15. What is Resurrection?

Fifth Sunday.

_JACOB'S JOURNEY AND DREAM._

FIRST READING.

"Bless me, even me also, O my father."--_Genesis 27:34._

GOD had called Abraham from his home, and promised to give his children the land of Canaan, and that in his Seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. This was renewing to Abraham the great promise of the Seed of the woman that had been made to Eve; and Abraham believed, and was glad. But though his children were to have the land, none of it was his; and he went up and down in it a stranger, living in his tent, without house or home, only trusting in faith to God's promise to his children. His son Isaac lived like him, with no home, but looking on in faith to what God promised.

Isaac had two sons; and as Esau was the eldest, he had the first right to these promises. But Esau did not care enough about them; he did not seem to get anything by them, and he liked what he could get at once better than what was a long way off. He had no faith.

One day he came home half dead with hunger, and saw his brother Jacob making soup over the fire. He said he would give all these rights for a meal of the soup; for if he died of hunger, what good would his birth-right do him? So for a mess of pottage he sold his right to the land of Canaan, and to be the forefather of our Saviour.

A time was to come when he would be sorry for what he had done. His father was old and blind, and thought he was going to die; so he bade Esau, whom he loved the best, bring home some meat and make a solemn feast--which was the way then of giving a blessing. Esau went, and in time brought home the meat to his father; but when he came in, Isaac cried out, and trembled! His brother Jacob had come in his stead, and Isaac had taken him for Esau, and given to him the blessing that gave the right to the promised land, and to all God's promises!

Then Esau cried out with an exceeding bitter cry, and asked if his father had but one blessing! Isaac was grieved for him, and blest him with all his heart; but there was no changing back, no taking away what Jacob had won and Esau had lost.

Esau did not know what he was doing when he took the pottage at once, rather than wait patiently for the glorious inheritance that was to come. This was the reason that he was allowed to be so cruelly disappointed. This is a warning to us. We have the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven promised to us; but we are tempted not to care about it when we want something here in this world, whether play, or dress, or anything that seems a great deal to us now.

But if we trifle away our right to these great promises that God made us at our baptism, there will come a time of bitter grief, when it is too late. And when we are dead, it will be too late to change! Therefore, now while we are alive, we must have faith, and show it by taking care that the things we like here on earth do not make us lose the better things in heaven.

QUESTIONS.

1. What were the names of Isaac's two sons? 2. What had God promised Isaac? 3. Which son had the first right to the promise? 4. But which cared about it most? 5. What did Esau want? 6. So what did he give up for the sake of the soup? 7. Could he get it back again? 8. What are you an heir of? 9. How could we lose the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven? 10. Shall we be able to change after we are dead? 11. Then what must we care about most? 12. Why could not Esau get his father's blessing? 13. What did he like better than waiting for what he could not see? 14. Can we see heaven? 15. But when we get there, will it not be better than anything we can see here?

SECOND READING.

"This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."--_Genesis 28:17._

YOU know that Isaac, Abraham's son, had two sons, whose names were Esau and Jacob. Now Jacob had grieved Esau by gaining God's great promise, for which Esau was so angry with him, that he had to go out away from his father's home, all alone. But Jacob knew he was not alone, for God was with him. He went on till night came. Then he was in a dismal stony place, with no house or shelter near--only big stones, and here and there a thistle.

He said his prayers, and then he lay down, with a stone for his pillow and the sky over him. But in the night he saw a wonder. There was a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down, and the Lord Himself stood at the top of the ladder. And He told Jacob that He was going to give his children all the land he saw--North, South, East, and West; and that He would take care of him, and be with him wherever he went, and in time bring him safe home.

Jacob woke, and found it was a dream, but he knew it was true, and that God had really spoken to him; and though he was glad he was afraid, and he said, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." And that he might always know the place, he put one of the great stones upright, and he took some of the sweet olive oil he had brought to eat on his journey, and poured it on the stone, as the only thing he could do to show honor to God.

Then he made a solemn holy vow, that if God would take care of him on his way, and give him food to eat and clothes to wear, he would make a gift to God all his life of the tenth part of all he had. Good people like to do like Jacob, and give God their tenth. And if we only had our eyes opened to see, like his, we should see God's angels coming up and down with blessings for us, for we go to the house of God and gate of heaven whenever we go to church. Let us recollect how awful Jacob felt it to be so near to God.

QUESTIONS.

1. Who was Jacob? 2. Who was Isaac? 3. Who was Esau? 4. Why was Jacob obliged to go away? 5. What was the promise? 6. What kind of place had he to sleep in? 7. What was his pillow? 8. But what did he see? 9. Who went up and down? 10. Who stood at the top? 11. What did God promise him? 12. What did Jacob say of the place? 13. How did he mark it? 14. What did he pour on the stone? 15. What vow did he make? 16. What are the houses of God? 17. Who comes up and down to us? 18. What do the angels bring us? 19. How much did Jacob promise to give God? 20. What does God do for us?

THIRD READING.

"As a prince hast thou prevailed."--_Genesis 32:28._

IT was a long journey that Jacob had had to take, but God took care of him, and brought him safe to the home where his mother had come from. He lived there, and took care of his uncle's sheep and cattle, till he had earned a great many for his own; and he had married there, and had a great many sons. But after a time God commanded him to go home to the land of Canaan. He was afraid, because he thought his brother Esau might still be angry with him; but, in spite of his fear, he did as God bade him.

When he came near the river Jordan, which flows on the East side of the land of Canaan, he prayed to God to guard him, and once more God let him see the angels who were going with him to protect him. He was glad, but he was still very careful. He chose out a present of cows, and goats, and camels, and sheep, for Esau, and sent it on to meet him; and then he sent on the other cattle he wanted to keep for himself; then his children; and last of all, in the safest place, his dear young son Joseph.

Esau came to meet him, but not in anger. The two brothers met, and fell on one another's neck and kissed one another, and were friends. So God had kept His promise to take care of Jacob; and Jacob kept his promise, for he set up an altar at Bethel, where he had seen the angels before, and praised and blessed God.

QUESTIONS.

1. Who was Jacob? 2. Why had he left home? 3. With whom did he go to live? 4. What did he earn there? 5. Why did he go back? 6. Why was he afraid? 7. What comforted him? 8. Of whom do God's angels take care? 9. What did he give Esau? 10. How did he put his family in order? 11. Who went last? 12. How did Esau meet him? 13. What was the quarrel between them? 14. But was Esau angry? 15. How did Jacob show he was thankful?

Sixth Sunday.

_JOSEPH IN EGYPT._

FIRST READING.

"His brethren envied him."--_Genesis 37:11._

I TOLD you how Jacob went away from home, and how God promised to take care of him. He did take care of him: He led him to his uncle, and with him Jacob lived many years, and then came back with flocks of sheep and goats, camels and cows. And he had twelve sons. The best one of them was named Joseph. Jacob loved him very much, and gave him a striped dress of many colors, such as the son who is to be the heir wears in those countries. But his brothers hated and envied him, and were all the time finding fault with him.

One day, when Joseph was seventeen years old, ten of the brothers were out with their sheep, and Jacob desired Joseph to go and see what they were about. He would not tell his father how unkind they were to him, but he went; and as they saw him coming some of them were so wicked as to say that they would kill him, and never let him go home. Reuben, who was the eldest brother, tried to hinder them; but when he saw he could not stop them, he said the best way would be, not to kill him, but to let him down into a dry well just by.

There they meant to let him starve to death; and they let him down without any pity for him. Reuben meant to come by-and-by and take Joseph out of the pit and save him; but there was another brother, named Judah, who did not want to have him killed, and who saw a great party of men, with camels and asses laden with goods, going on a journey. He knew they were merchants, going to sell and buy in Egypt, and he advised the other brothers to persuade them to buy Joseph; for in those days men and women used to be bought and sold, and were called slaves.

So Joseph was drawn up out of the pit; and when the merchants saw what a fine young man he was, they paid the price for him and carried him off, away from his father and all he had ever known or cared for before. The cruel brothers kept his colored dress; and they killed a kid and stained it in the blood, and then carried it to their father, telling him they had found it. Jacob thought some wild beast had met Joseph and killed and eaten him, and he mourned and wept. His sons pretended to comfort him; but not one of them would tell him that Joseph was not dead.

QUESTIONS.

1. Whose son was Jacob? 2. How many sons had Jacob? 3. What did he set them to do? 4. Which did he love best? 5. What did he give Joseph? 6. Where did he send Joseph? 7. What did the brothers want to do? 8. Who wished to save him? 9. So what did Reuben persuade them to do? 10. What did Reuben mean to do? 11. But who came by? 12. What did the brothers do with Joseph? 13. Who persuaded them to sell him? 14. What are people called who are bought and sold? 15. What was done with his coat? 16. What did Jacob think?

SECOND READING.

"The Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand."--_Genesis 39:3._

SO we see Joseph a slave. A slave is a servant who belongs to his master, as his cows and horses do; he gets no wages, and cannot go away, but is bought and sold like cattle.

Think of poor Joseph. He was used to live as the son of a great rich prince, wearing a dress of many bright colors, with many servants, and no one to obey but his kind fond father; and living in a beautiful land, all hill and valley, where he used to feed his father's flocks. But now he was a slave in a strange land, with people speaking a language he did not know, and no one to care for him or say a good word to him, shut up in a house in a town, far away from his dear hills.

Still he had one comfort, and the best of all--God was with him. He could still pray to God, and do his duty. And he did his work well, for God helped him, and everything he did was made to prosper in his hand. Then he was trusted. His master knew that he always took care of everything, as if it was his own, and left all to him, quite sure that it would be safe.

But his wicked mistress made up a story that he had behaved ill, and he was put in prison for what he had not done. This sounds hard, but it was God's own way of bringing good to pass, and making Joseph come at last to honor. Very soon he was loved and trusted in his prison; and all he did the Lord made it to prosper.

Think about this. Try when you have anything to do--a lesson or a bit of work--to ask God to make it prosper. Then if you try your best He will help, and it will be sure to turn out well.

Then try to deserve to be trusted. That is a great thing. If you always recollect that God sees you, you will do the same when no one is with you as if all the world were watching; and that is the way to be true and just in all your dealings. If you are only good when you are looked at, you are not like Joseph, but are only doing service outwardly. You must try to live that your parents may

"Out of sight Know all is right, One law for darkness and for light."

QUESTIONS.

1. Whose son was Joseph? 2. How many sons had Joseph? 3. What had they done to him? 4. Why had Joseph's brothers sold him? 5. What is a slave? 6. How did Joseph behave as a slave? 7. Who comforted him? 8. How did he take care of his master's things? 9. Who made up a story against him? 10. What was done to him? 11. But who was with him still? 12. Did he always stay in prison? 13. And what did people think of him, wherever he was? 14. What is the way to be like Joseph? 15. If you are trusted to carry a message, how should you do it? 16. Who always sees you? 17. Then, even if no one is by, how should you behave?

THIRD READING.

"Do not interpretations belong to God?"--_Gen. 40:8._

THE young son of Jacob, Joseph, had, you know, been sold by his cruel brothers, and made a slave of; and then a wicked falsehood was told about him, and he was put into prison. But wherever Joseph was he tried to do his duty, and so God blessed him; and the keeper of the prison soon found out how different he was from the others, and let him help. I suppose he helped to carry them their food and wait upon them; and he often could say a few kind good words to them.

One day two grand people came in as prisoners. One was the chief of all the bakers, who made bread for king Pharaoh; and the other was the chief of all his cup-bearers, who carried him his wine. Some wrong thing had happened, and they were both suspected of having had something to do with it, so they had been sent to prison.

WANTED TO KNOW THE DREAMS' MEANING.

One morning Joseph saw them both looking more sad than usual; and when he asked what was the matter, they said each had a dream, and they wanted to know what it meant; for the Egyptians used to think a great deal of dreams, and there were men among them who pretended to explain them. Most dreams have no meaning, but these had, and God put it into Joseph's heart to understand them.

The cup-bearer had dreamt that he saw a vine, and that it had three bunches of grapes, and that he was squeezing the juice into the king's cup as he used to do. Joseph said this meant that in three days the cup-bearer should really hand Pharaoh the cup again; and Joseph begged that when he was free, he would tell the king about himself, and get him set free.