Some join their hands To flee from God's all-seeing eye. But God no more will silence keep; The clattering rain The rivers roar, Till piteous cries No more are heard beneath the skies. At first, in flocks, Men climb the rocks; Nor fear to creep But waters flow Where'er they go, And wash them to the depths below. Behold just Noah safely ride Upon the mighty deep; While all who once God's word defied. Beneath the waters sleep. CHILD. Sudden as that tremendous day, The judgment hour shall come; Thousands shall then be swept away. And meet an awful doom, Let me not count these words a dream And still refuse to hear; However far the time may seem, When once the fire begins to burn, CHAPTER V. ABRAHAM, OR THE PROMISED LAND. Gen. xii. 1-9. NOAH's sons had many children, and they had many children, and at last there were a great many people in the world. Were these people good or bad? They were bad. They did one very wicked thing. They cut down trees, and made the wood into little images, like dolls; then stuck them up and kneeled down and prayed to the images and said, "These images are our gods; they made us, and they gave us food to eat." images were called idols. These Most of the people in the world worshipped idols, instead of the true God. Sometimes the idols were made of wood, sometimes of stone, or silver, or gold, How glad I am, my dear children, that your mothers did not teach you to pray to idols! When you first could speak, they told you about the true God, and taught you to pray to him. God looked down from heaven, and saw the people worshipping idols, and God was very angry." But he did not kill them all, because Jesus had said he would die for the sins of men.t Then God said, "I will choose one man, and teach him to love me, and to be my servant."‡ Now there was a man called Abraham. His father and his friends worshipped idols. God said to Abraham, "Leave your own home and your own friends and go to a country which I will show you, and I will bless you and take care of you. Abraham did not know where God would tell him to go, yet Abraham went because God told him to go. Abraham was obedient. Abraham had a wife, called Sarah, whom he lov ed very much. Sarah went with Abraham. Abraham took some sheep, and cows, and asses with him, and some servants, who drove them and fed them. But where could Abraham sleep at night? • The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. They are without excuse; because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.-Rom. i. 18, 20, 21. † I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles; that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.-Isa. xlix. 6. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now com. mandeth all men everywhere to repent.-Acts xvii. 30. Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot.-Isa. xli. 2. Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, &c. ; and they served other gods.-Josh xxiv. 2. Thou art the Lord, the God, who didst choose Abram.-Nehem IX. 7. (Abraham) went out not knowing whither he went.-Heb. xi. 8. There were very few houses to be seen; only fields and trees. Abraham slept in a tent. He made the tent with long sticks, and covered it over with skins of beasts. Abraham could move his tent from place to place; for he had to travel a great many miles over high hills and wide rivers. At last he came to a beautiful country, full of trees and flowers and grass and corn. This was the place that God chose Abraham should live in. This place was called Canaan. Abraham still lived in a tent. Sometimes he made a heap of stones, called an altar, and offered sacrifices of beasts to God. Abraham never wor shipped idols; but all the people in Canaan did. God often spoke to Abraham, and said, "I will bless you, and take care of you, and no one shall hurt you." God was pleased that Abraham had left his own home when he told him; and God called him his friend.* Dear children: I hope that you will be like Abraham, and that you will mind what God says in the Bible. God has not told you to leave your home; but he has told you to be good and gentle, to speak the truth, and to love him, and he has promised to take you to heaven. If you obey God, he will call you his friend.† How pleasant to be God's friend? (Abraham was called the friend of God.-James ii. 23. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.-John xv. 14. Blest was the choice that Abraham made, And left his kindred dear. What though he knew not where he went And when he saw the heathen round, Could he enough his love express The friend of God !—The angels fair Yet many a creature, made of clay, CHAPTER VI. ABRAHAM, OR THE PROMISED CHILD. ABRAHAM and Sarah lived in a tent in the land of Canaan. They had no little child. Abraham was a very old man, and Sarah was a very old woman. They were both much older than your grandfather and grandmother. Abraham was al Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.-John XV. 14. |