Genesis 15:18

In the same day God made. covenant with Abram.

The covenant was God's guarantee that the land should belong to Abraham's seed. It should extend from the "river of Egypt," or the eastern mouth of the Nile, to the "river Euphrates." These dimensions the kingdom of Israel reached under the reigns of David and Solomon. See 2 Chronicles 9:26.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

God's promises are sure, but he fulfills them in his own time, not in the times that we would choose.. faith that is powerless to control the life is not. living, saving faith.

A faith that trusts wholly in God and obeys his word in all things is "counted for righteousness.". living faith cannot but be. working faith, and hence cannot be separated from obedience, and therefore cannot be "alone.". "dead faith" may be alone. The plans of God are unchangeable. He had. plan when he brought Abraham from Ur, that never wavered during Abraham's time, nor until Christ came.

Human weakness is such that we need tokens or signs of the will of God. True men of God, like Abraham, Moses, Hezekiah, Zacharias, have always asked for signs. God gives baptism as. sign of pardoned sin. He who is not baptized has no sign.

THE. NIQUITY OF THE. MORITES.--We are taught, 1. That God foreknows the moral character of men; 2. In his providence he administers the affairs of nations on the principle of moral rectitude; 3. Nations are spared until their iniquity is full; 4. They are then cut off in retributive justice; 5. The Amorites were to be the chief nation extirpated, extirpated on account of. full cup of iniquity, when Israel returned. They did disappear from history after the time of Joshua.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

1. Draw the picture of an old couple, eighty years old, far away from friends and home, childless and lonely; children needed in home. 2. Point out the great hopes that had been kindled in. son.. nation. 3. All families to be blessed. No wonder he prays God for the fulfilment of his promise! 4. Ask the class if they have looked at the starry sky and tried to count the stars. Then bring out the promise. 5. Show that Abraham was. man of faith; how it was demonstrated. 6. Describe. covenant, show what it is, point out other covenants, that with Noah, the covenant of Christ with Abraham, the covenant of Sinai, show that every saved person must enter into covenant with God. 7. Describe the ratification of this covenant and what the various parts signified. 8. Show how God predicts the history of the "seed," and of Abraham himself, and how all was fulfilled. 9. Ask how it shall be known whether each member of the class "believes in God."