Notes on the International Lesson.
By J. W. SCOLES
THE SORROWFUL DEATH OF ELI.
IT is not always simply the direct transgressor who receives punishment for sin. As the whole body suffers because one member is affected, so it is sometimes in regard to sin among God's people. All are made to feel the effects of the wrong-doing of one or two individuals. Because of the trespass of Achan at Jericho, the whole army of Israel was discomfited a short time afterward at Ai. So with the case in this lesson. Not alone Eli's sons perished, but thousands of the children of Israel were slain, and Eli himself was also cut off with all his house. We cannot afford to excuse or in any way cover up sin, even though our own friends be the transgressors. By doing so, we reap the reward of their wrong-doing, because we become partakers with them. “BECAUSE sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Eccl. 8:11. We are sometimes led to think that because men are allowed to go on in their evil course, God does not see or care for it. This is not the case, however. There is a time for every evil to come into judgment before God, and when our sins fully ripen for the displeasure of the Almighty, his punishment will be in accordance with the iniquity of our transgression. THOSE who claim to be God's children, so far from being at liberty to sin, are the last of all people in the world, who should think of such a thing. If God hates sin in the sinner, it must be doubly distasteful to him to see those yield to wrong who have consecrated themselves to his service. It is for this reason that Christ has called us out of sin, that we may be free from it through his blood, and have no fellowship with it. “There is a line by us unseen,
That crosses every path,—
The hidden boundary between
God's patience and his wrath.” IT is possible for us to do despite unto the Spirit of grace. God is patient and long-suffering with sinners, but they may go so far that even his mercy will be withdrawn from them. Eli's sons, though repeatedly warned by the Lord of the evil of their course, continued to walk in ways of wickedness until it was too late for them to escape from the threatened punishment. Even Eli himself refused to hearken to the voice of God in reproof for his failure to restrain his sons in their iniquitous course, until the result of his negligence caused his own death. As it was in the past, so it may be with us if we fail to heed the admonitions of the Spirit of God to-day. If we continue in willful sin, there can surely be nothing for us to expect but a “fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Heb. 10:27. MANY parents are to-day shutting the gates of Heaven forever against their children by a failure to properly restrain them. In their blind and misguided affection for them, they are allowing them to form habits which will soon place the children entirely beyond the control of their parents. In the time of youth, while their minds are yet tender and susceptible to right influences, children should be so taught the virtue of obedience, both to their parents and to God, that their characters will reveal the blessed results of such instruction in after years. THE strength of the children of Israel lay not in the ark itself, as they vainly imagined, but in their obedience to the law of God, the ten commandments contained in that ark. So with us to-day; if we would have power with God, we must have a desire to do his whole will. The mere fact that we claim to be God's children will avail us nothing. The Jews justly claimed to be the children of Abraham, and therefore thought they were entitled to all the promises made to Abraham. But John the Baptist told them that God was not dependent on them, but was able, out of the stones of the earth, to raise up children to Abraham. The lesson for us to learn from this, and from Israel's defeat as well, is not to rely on past experience. Many instances have occurred of those who were raised up to do the work of the Lord, yet who failed to walk out in the light of his opening providences and were finally rejected of him. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Our only safety is in faithfully walking in the light of truth, in whatever pathway God may choose to lead us. His word should be the man of our counsel at all times. If we follow this, victory is ours. J. W. SCOLES.