Christian Nation Vol. 18 1893 - Rparchives.org

June 28,1893.A FAMILT PAPEE,(&). His wonderful forbearance in preservation.' (c). His infinite mercy in redemption.9 God is the Father of all mankind, v. 28 ABible doctrine, Mal. 2:10, yet as the Atheniansdid not regard the Scriptures, Panl quoted fromthat to which they would give ready assent, viz:the writings of the poet Aratus. It is properto use that which will receive the quickest acceptance.Truth from any source is truth.While God is the Father of all men by creationand preservation, He is in a peculiar mannerthe Father of believers by regeneration aadadoption.His Conclusion.1 He shows that idolatry is unreasonable.V. 29. Idol gods cannot see, or hear, or do anything.He who formed man sees, hears, andknows. Ps. 94:9, 10. "If we, possessing suchintellectual and spiritual forces, are sprungfrom Him, we must conceive God as somethingother and higher than a mere metal or stoneimage. Human hands canuot create tha Creatorof this breathing, moving, living fabric ofof body and soul." J. G. Butler.2. He seta forth the duty of repentance, v. 30.God is long-suffering. He "winked at," rather"overlooked," (E. V.) the idolatry of theheathen world, practised in ignorance, and leftthe people to go on in their ways without sendiugHis prophets to instruct them, but we havenow come to a new order of things, now Godhas conimisaioned His servants to call all mento repentance. This repentance is defined inour church manual Ques. 87.The apostle enforces the duty of repentanceby the consideration of the coming judgment.V. 31. We note 11). The day of judgment is ap­III. God is cue Judge. He explained thatGod will come and judge the world and wepointed. It is unknown to us, Mark 13 : 32. (2). must be saved th ough Christ who died andThe Judge is appointed, Jno. 5 : 22. (3). 'The rose again. Here the andience broke up in anseal of the commission of Christ Jesus as Judge uproar, because they did not believe any onewas-His resurrection. (4). He is the Judge ofall men. Matt. 25 : 32, (5). His judgment is accordingto righteousness".Added Thoughts.1. Men still have too many gods, self, wealth,fame, power pleasure—all compete for thehearts of men.2. God is stU to many "the unknown God."3. God is near to man, yet man is far fromGod by reason of sin.4. All should constantly live under a sense ofGod's presence.5. Are all made of one blood and God is theFather of them all, all we are brethren.6. Eepentance is a duty binding on all men.7. Our aim should be, to be ever ready for thejudgment.Primary Lesson.By Grace Hamilton George.Who can findAthens on our map? Someone who has read the verses between the lastlesson and today's may point out the journeyfrom Philippi to Athens. Paul left his companionsalong the way and came on to Athensalone. The people here were highly cultured,their bodies were beautifu', their minds richlycultivated, their homes beautiful. Their citywas full of such buildings and statues as wehave never seen : jel; with all this there wasone most important thing which they did notmore beautiful than any of our churches.When Paul was walking along the street hesaw a shrine dedicated lo the unknown god.Ihese people were afraid ihat they might havemissed one, for they did not know how manythere were. So they erected this altar to theunknown god. Paul felt very sorry when hesaw what a mistake the peopk had made, andhe tried to tell them of the true God. In thesynagogue, in the market-place, wherever hehad a chance to speak : he finallyinterestedthe people and they asked him to come toMar's hill. This was a place of honor ; therewere temples and idols all about him. Paulpreached to them a sermon ; it is very plainto us but was all new to them. His text was :The unknown God, He said, " I am going tott 11 you about this God whom you do not know "1. God is the Ceeatok No, they did noteven know that. They thought things just cametogether without any one doing anj thing. Hetl nght them that he is a great God, and cam obe kept in a temple to be worshiped as theiridols wer?. That He made all men equal.They thought that their race was far above allother peoples, just as people used to think thowhite race tetiei than the negro ; just as somethink those who have beautiful homes and finehorses are better than their poorer playmates.II. God is oub Father. They knew nothingof love toward their gods. They fearedthem as though lhey were hard and cruel, takingpleasurd in making meu miserable. Hetold them we aro dependent" on God for everybreath, even the movement of our eyelids.could rise from the dead.There were three kin 's of people wholistonei to Paul that day on Mar's Hill :1. Fools. Those who mocked at the message.2. Cowards. Those who put the messageaway saying they would think about it again.3. The wise. Those who believed.These three classes are often in onr audiencestoday. To which class do you belong?PEAYEE MEETING TOPIC.By the Eev. T. H. Acheson.Prayermeeting topic for Wednesday, July12,1893 : Hope in God's Word. Passage : " Ihope in thy word." Pa. llw : 81.He will not be dishonest. He will not lie.Men may promise and never attempt, or neverintend, to fulfil their word. God is all wise.He does not teach us in his Word what weought not know ; will never promise what weshould not have. He is all powerful. He cankeep his word. An honest man may promiseand be unable to keep his engagement. Theomnipotent God can do as he says. God isunchangeable. He does not, cannot, repent." I am the Lord, I change not." Accordingly,we can have sure hope in the word of the allholy, all wise, all powerful, unchangeable Jehovah." Gcd is not a man, that he shouldlie ; neither the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? orhath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"Our hope in God's revelation depends alsoupon the nature, number, and variety of thepromises contained in it. As to their nature,they refer to our temporal and spiritual needs.They are plain. They are strong. They arecomprehensive. And how many there are of•them! How richly strewn our pathway is withthem 1 What clusters we can gather from thefield of revelation! God wasnot content tospeak but the once. Over and over again heutters his assurances, and speaks of oar needs,and his plans for us. He has spoken in differentages ; and by prophets, by his Son, by.the apostles. Moreover, how varied they are incharacter! They are general and particular.They relate to the body and the soul. Theycome to the individual and to the chuich ; tothe strong and the weak. They refer to differentblessings : pardon, life, peace, joy, strength,faith, growth. They relate to different troublesin life. They concern both earth and heaven.We are sinners ; have broken God's law ;are held for the cen alty ; are helpless to payit, that we may go free. God s Word implantswithin us some hope because it gives us thehistory of the cross. We are told of him whocame to give his life a ransom for many, tolay down his iife for the sheep. We are toldof the sutt'eritigs on Calvary, of the death oftiie Son of God ; that he died not for himself,fcr he was sinless ; but thafhe died for ethers.Moreover we are told that all who will accept,who will believe on him, will repent, and willpray, shall receive salvation. And because ofthis history of redempvion, God's Word givesus true and permanent hope.Further, our hope is ceepened by the historyof God's people inthe Bible. There is muchParallel Passages : Ps. 130 : 5. 119 : 105. history in God's Wurd. As we walk along the119 : 16. 119 : 42. 119 : 174. Dent. 6 : 6-9 Christian j jurney, we do not go on a pathwayProv. 3 : 1, 2. Is. 2: 3 Joshua 21 : 45. untrod len before, along away Mwbia zed. There23 : 14 1 Kings 8 : 56 Tit. 1 : 1, 2. Ndh. 1:- are the footprints of others who have gone8, 9. Heb. 1 : 1, 2. Ps. 19 : 8.ahead. There aro the marks on the trees.Suitable Psalms : 19 : 7 10. 130 : 5 8. Euoch walked with God, and God walked with"119 : 92-96. 119 :129 133. 119 : 49 52- 125:-Euoch.And we know it. Abraham's life1-5We can, and should, hope in God's Word-1. Because of the character of him whospeaks much to us. Abel, though dead, yetspeaketh. We know how God helped his peopleIsrael ; how he warned against sin, andchastened for it; how he promised them favor,and kept his promise, wben thev were faithful.We are told : "In all their affliction Le wisafflicted, and the angel of his presence savedthem : in his love and in his pity he redeemedtbem ; and he bore them, and carried them allthe dnys of old." Is. 63 : 9. " Whatsoeverthings were written aforetime were written for2. Because of the nature, number, and varietyof his promises.3. Because of the history of redemption recordedthere.know. Something which every one in this 4 Because of the history of God's peopleclass knows, aud it is better to know it than to herein containedhaveall the learning, wealth and beauty of the We ean trust in the word of God because ofGreeks. I will ask you and you may all answererin concert: " How many Gods are a man makes a statement, our tinst iu its truth­the nature ofhim who utlers this word. Whenour learning, that we through patience andcomfort of the scriptures might have hope."there?" "There is but one only, the living fulness depends somewhat ou th- ctiaraccr ofEom. 15 : 4. God tells us how he stood byand true God." How many do you suppose him who makes the statemen . Wben we arehis people Israel, how he supported Joseph,the Greeks thought there were? They worshippedthousands of gods. They made them of the promise dnpends on the truthfulnesspromised something, our impt- of the fulfilmentana Muses, and David, and Pdul, that we mightbe encouraged to hi pe, and hope on. Brothers,out of gold, silver, stone, anything. They of the man promising us. S our hope in God'sbisers,If-t us hoi e continually in this wondrousWord ot God. How full and rich it built beautiful temples to their houor—much word rests on God's chHinciet-. He is holy.is!