He finally got the son of promise, after long waiting, and rejoiced. But another trial was due. "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

Abraham, knowing nothing but to obey, took his son and started. Of course, it wouldn't do to tell his mother, Sarah, anything about it. Abraham went at it in a manner that indicates his determination to carry out God's orders literally; tied the beloved son to the altar, in case of resistance when he was going to apply the knife; and having already the knife in his hand ready to pierce the heart of his beloved son, the angel stopped him, saying: "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."

Abraham was sure that God would make good His promise respecting his descendants, and he thought that God could raise his son from the dead; "from whence also he received him in a figure." Heb. 11:17-19.

Confidential Intercourse. "And the Lord said: Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."

Yes, "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant." Ps. 25:14. Our God is the same now and forever; and as he revealed himself to his humble, faithful and obedient servants of old, so he does even now.

Now let us repeat: "And Noah did according UNTO ALL that the Lord commanded him." Therefore he saved himself and his whole family his sons and their wives. It was good to be of the household of Noah at that time, and to be a recipient of the grace and favors won by this faithful servant by his loyalty.

Abraham, the friend of God, the father of many nations, the father of believers especially, found in the Lord his shield and his exceeding great reward, prominent on earth as faithful and true, and prominent in heaven, having Lazarus in his bosom.

III.

Joseph, the Favorite.

Three characteristics in the career of Joseph make him especially lovely and great, giving brilliance and luster to his greatness. all through his life. These are:

1. His faith in God and obedience to His commands, yet only taught him as a tradition, handed down from his great grandfather, Abraham, for the written word of God was not yet available.

2. His grand resistance to temptation, his steadfastness.. "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God," were the words, the effective weapon, mightly in his pure hand to overcome and to rid himself of the insidious temptor. See Gen.

30:7-12. This steadfastness brought him into prison, but in this the enemy, satan, overreached himself, for instead of bringing shame and reproach to the fair name of Joseph, to make an outcast of him, the prison became a school, an academy, yes, even more, a university to him, affording time and opportunity for meditation and prayer, and becoming susceptible to the whispers of the Spirit and the guiding hand of God.

3. His treatment of his brothers. These brothers hated him, abused him, planned to kill him, and finally sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver for a slave, and yet Joseph had only kind words for his surprised and now humiliated brothers. Watch him; listen to him: "And Joseph said to his brethren: Come near me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said: I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

"Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

"For these two years hath the famine been in the land; and yet there is five years, in the which there shall neither be bearing nor harvest.

"And God sent me before you to preserve you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliv

erance.

"So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God; and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout the land of Egypt."

So Joseph to his surprised and excited brethren. Not a word of reproof or reproach for their cruelty, abuse and villainy. No, not a word.

"Not you but God sent me here before you to preserve life, and to preserve you a posterity, and to save your lives by a great deliverance," are his quieting, consoling and reassuring words. And then he embraced and kissed each one of them; all of them weeping the tears of reconciliation and love! What a grand imposing sight, this! A sight inciting the admiration of angels, shouting in heaven and consternation in hell.

How Christlike. Not only speaking consoling and reassuring words, even that more than his brothers deserved, but he nestles each one of them in fraternal embrace, the flame of love sparkles into the consoling kiss, and the emotions of the heart burst forth into a stream of tears.

"And after that his brethren talked with him." After what? No danger now. Joseph kissed open their mouths, as the father did his prodigal son on returning. Luk. 15. But what do you, my reader, think they would have to say now? What in all likelihood would be their first words?

Smarting of a seared conscience. All went well as long as their father Jacob lived; for he appeared unto them as an intercessor and a shield, knowing as they did that Joseph would not distress his father in any way. But after the death of their father,

what would he be most likely to do? Notice, how their sins, their wickedness in their youth haunted them. So they said to one another: "Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did onto him.

And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying: "Thy father did command before he died, saying:

"So shall ye say unto Joseph: Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father.

"And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

"And his brethren also went and fell down before his face. And they said: Behold, we be thy servants.

"And Joseph said unto them: Fear not; for am I in the place of God?"

Now, what would Joseph do? Dear reader, what would you do? What have you done, and what are you doing under similar circumstances? Remember, Joseph had no Bible as you have, much less a New Testament, as you have (Have you?), no Jesus Christ for his model, as you have.

Now, close attention. "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

ones.

"Now therefore fear not; I will nourish you and your little And he comforted them and spoke kindly unto them." Christianity. "But I say unto you: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that spitefully use you, and persecute you;

"That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

"For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? Da not even the publicans the same?"

We have now made acquaintance with three Biblical characters before any written word of God, any command or any precept in writing was available. Yet these three, with many others-Abel, Seth, Enoch, Eliezer, Abraham's faithful servant, and Isaac, less prominent in history-lived up to New Testament Gospel ideals. How much more, then, the confessing Christians of the new dispensation, the church of Christ with all the means of Grace, placed at their disposal?

"For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

"God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." Heb. 2:1-4.

"How shall we escape?" my Christian friends, is the salient question for us to consider. How do our lives and faithful service as ministers measure up to the law of God and the precepts and example of our confessed Master, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? God is long-suffering, but his threats to punish the disobedient are just as sure and relentless as are his promises to the faithful and obedient, or to the heartbroken penitent.

God's chastisement is upon us, the sword and famine are already doing its bidding in many lands, and pestilence may finish the job if we awake not and do fruit mete to repentance.

It should not concern us so much what the scourge is or what it is made of as the cause of having it let loose to commit bloodshed and to inflict such great measures of suffering.

We will now turn our attention to failures of great Biblical characters and notice the consequences.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Disastrous Failures.

Moses, the Lawgiver, Failed.

My attentive and considerate reader is surprised and shudders at the above heading.

Failure, linked to the great name of Moses, who has the credential that he was the faithful servant of the Lord-that must be an imposition, a misconception. Slowly, slowly, my brothers. The failure of Moses is the more deplorable because he failed at the close of so brilliant a career. And the loss to him consequent of his failure was inestimable, for by reason thereof, he missed the opportunity to enter the promised land, the object of his jour

ney.

We now turn to the Biblical narrative:

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying:

"Take thy rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and thy brother Aaron, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

"And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he had commanded him.

"And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them:

"Hear now, ye rebels; must I fetch water out of this rock? "And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and the beasts also."

And here Moses and Aaron failed. Here they both lost their wished for, longed for, prayed for, worked for, suffered for-opportunity, satisfaction, enjoyment to enter the Promised Land, the cherished hope of a lifetime.

So near; and yet-LOST! Why? Listen to the Lord; he will inform you. Listen and tremble. If such failures and dire consequence could befall a servant of God like unto Moses, what is to be said of our failures and resulting consequences?

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying:

"Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them."

Now, wherein did Moses and Aaron fail? Didn't they obey God's command? Yes, they did. No, they did not. YES, to the doing; NOT to the HOW of doing it. And here it is where we also fail. We have the semblance of doing but lack proper attention to details of the command, the heart and soul in it.

Here let us notice:

(1) The very simple command: "Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron, thy brother, and SPEAK UNTO THE ROCK before their eyes, and thou shalt