  THE RAINBOW. FIRST READING.
THE sin that came into the world when Eve listened to the tempter had grown as men multiplied and made each other worse. The wicked people had been drowned in the Flood, and Noah, his sons and their wives, had alone been saved in the Ark. After a whole year of being shut up there, watching the earth, first drowned and then coming out of the water, they had just come out on the fresh green earth, with all the animals saved with them, when God spoke to them. Then God made a promise to Noah. It was that no flood of water shall ever drown all the world again, but spring, summer, autumn, and winter, day and night, will go on to the end of the world, when it shall be burnt up by fire, not drowned by water. That Noah, and all of his after him, might feel sure that God in His mercy will go on preserving us, and giving us days and nights, seed-time and harvest, He gave us something to look at as a sign of His promise. He so ordered the rays of light, that when they shine upon drops of water in the air they cause beautiful colors, making part of a circle, so as to form a bow. So when the NOAH AND HIS FAMILY LEAVING THE ARK.—Gen. 8:18, 19. NOAH'S SACRIFICE AFTER THE FLOOD.—Gen. 8:20. There is a rainbow round about the Throne of God in Heaven; and the lovely rainbows that we see when the sun shines out, and the showers drift away, are to put us in mind that we are safe under His care, in right of His promise to Noah and his three sons, of whom the whole earth was peopled. We are the children of his son Japhet, and all that was then said to him belongs to us also. We should recollect it, and put our trust in Him, and be thankful when we see the beautiful soft arch that the Hands of the Almighty have bended, looking out of the midst of the dark watery clouds. QUESTIONS.
SECOND READING.
WHEN Noah's grandchildren and great-grandchildren came to be more and more, and the world was being filled with people again, they still were not all good, and the longer time went on the worse they grew. At last God called to a very good man, whose name was Abram, and told him that if he would come away from his home to a land God would show him, then God would bless him and lead him, and by-and-by give the land to his children, and that their children after them should be more in number than the It was strange to hear all this about Abram's children, for he was growing old, and he and his wife Sarai had no children at all. But he believed in God. He knew that God is Almighty, and can do whatever He will; so he only did just as God told him, and went away from his home, where God told him. He was obliged to take all his cattle with him—quantities of cows, and goats, and sheep, and camels; and he had many servants to drive them. ABRAM SEES THE PROMISED LAND.—Gen. 12:3-7. When they came to a piece of grass and a fresh spring of water, there they would stop. They had no houses—only tents, which were great curtains woven of goat's hair and fastened up with poles, so that they could be set up or taken down, and carried about. All his life Abram lived in a tent, instead of staying at home in a city, and being at his ease. By-and-by he came to a beautiful country. There were high hills rising up, and green valleys between, full of grass for the sheep and cattle; and the wide sea spread out far away towards the sunset, all blue and glorious. God told him to look at the land, for that was the place which his children should have for their own; but in the meantime Abram had not one bit of it, and was a stranger there; and he had no child either. MELCHIZEDEK BLESSING ABRAM.—Gen. 14:18, 19, 20. But still he was quite sure that God spoke truth; and that somehow, though he did not know how, it would come about that his children should have the land, and that in One all the nations of the earth should be blessed. That was faith. QUESTIONS.
THIRD READING.
TWO men were travelling together. They were an uncle and nephew. The uncle's name was Abram, the nephew's was Lot. They had come from home, because God had told Abram to come away from his own home to the land that God would give his children. Abram believed, and did as God bade him; and Lot, the son of his dead brother, went with him. They did not go alone. Each of them had great flocks of cows, and sheep, and camels, and goats, and numbers of servants to take care of them. They would fix their tents, made of camels' hair, in any place where they saw a spring of water and good green grass for their cattle; and there they would stay till all the grass was eaten up, and then take up their tents and move to another place. PARTING OF ABRAM AND LOT. Just now they had got to a bare stony place, where the sun shone hotly, and there was not much green; but Abram had built up an altar with the great stones, and prayed there. Abram and Lot loved one another, and were at peace; but when their servants drove out their flocks to get food and water there were apt to be quarrels. If Abram's men found a green grassy valley, they would not let Lot's cattle into it; and if Lot's came to a well, they would not let Abram's flocks drink; and so on. They were always quarrelling and making complaints to their masters. At last Abram saw that they would make Lot quarrel with him. So he said it would be wiser to part; Lot should go one way and he another—any way there should be no strife. And he even told Lot to choose which way he would go. So Lot looked, and saw to the East a pleasant green valley, with fields of corn and mea ABRAHAM ENTERTAINS THREE ANGELS.—Gen. 18:10. QUESTIONS.
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