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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1907.
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
What the Church Folk Are Thinking About and Doing—Religious News From Everywhere
1 Sevsn Sentence Ssrmons I
1 L
Only be yo gentle-hearted;
Beauty rich and wisdom rare,
From a gentle aplrlt parted.
For aa a shin without a rudder la toflaal
to nnd fro with the waves, so the man that
la negll
a Keni]
Then, If at teat the airy *trflctnrefall.
Dissolve, and vanish, take thyself no
shame—
They fall, and they alone, who bare not
,,lr, ’ r, ' D - —T. B. Aldrich.
For friendship la not ours to lock away
In stilling cheats, for fear of thievish
hands;
It is a generous sun-warmth, that expands
The soul it flows through, turning night to
(lay;
Light given to os to give abroad again,
TIM none lu unblessed darkness snail re
main.
—Lucy Larcorn.
The years of God are full and satisfyingi
each soul aha 11 have Its turn; It la ilia good
pleasure to give us the kingdom. There Is
so much room; there are such thronging
rwwalbillUea; there Is such endless hope.—
Mrs. A. D. T. Whltuey.
I thank Thee, at the time of rest.
For strength that held the long day
through;
triumph of principles.- lt°V Emerson.'
UNTO THE LEAST
Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young
People’s Societies For June 9, "How
to Help Those Younger Than We
Are," Matt. 18:1-6.
Innocence and childhood are aaered. Tho
sower who casts in the seed, tho parent or
teacher casting In tho fruitful word, are
accomplishing a pontifical act and ought to
perform It with religious nwe, with prayers
and gravity, for they are laboring la the
kingdom of Ood.—Amiel.
Christ would seek the lost, but he must
do It now on our feet; ho would still min
ister. but ho must do It with our hands; he
would still warn and comfort and encourage
"Dream not of noblo service else where
wrought;
The simple duty that awaits thy hand
Is God's voice uttering a divine command;
Life a common deeds build all that saints
have thought"
O lead me, I/ml, that I may lead
The wandering and the wavering feet;
O lead me. Lord, that I may feed
Thy hungering ones with uianna sweet.
0 strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the Hock and strong in Thee,
1 may stretch out n loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea.
—Frances U. llavergal.
To lie a strong hand In the dark to an
other iu the time of need, to be n cup of
strength to a human soul In u crista of
weakness. Is to know the glory of life.—
Where poverty In pain must lie, .
Where little children suffering cry.
Hid us haste forth as culled by Thee,
And lu Thy poor Thyself to see.
—Krnlly Vernon Clark.
O Master, let me walk with Thee
In lowly paths of servlet* free;
Teach me Thy secret, help me bear
The strain of toll, the fret of care.
»•••• iiih »»» »rr.
—Washington Gladden.
A Iwy was there, with a few barley
cakes and small fishes, which Ida foresight
bud brought for hla ever-recurring condi
tion. Ho gave them up-I do not know
why, except that he wns a boy-nnd In tho
I/»rd a hands they became a feast ami
more. It is true still; the l»oy holds the
loaves. By his wealth nnd hla consent the
world Is to he fed.—Alexander. McKensle.
"Out of the very life of each
Must come the power to heal or teach.
That which helps thee bus power again,
lo help tho souls of other men.'"
To sacrifice, to share;
To give, eveu as He gave;
ror others' wants to care;
* Do not be discouraged If you ran not
talk religion, but look to It thnt It Is the
strong current of your life; that It guides
you, and through yon, your children. If
this lie so, the fruit you bcanmuy lie small,
but It shall be perfect and sweet of Its
kind and steadily year by year the harvest
will increase."
•Strong Christophers there are that dally
•tern, with others' burdens, life's exhausting
Ihssl; who, serving well the human brother-
hood, unknowing, bear the very Christ with
love SSr V in lend me Into the brother*
linen! May I not call Thee Father and
yot not lie n brother. Became Thoo art
Father, lilt mo Into the aplrlt ot lov
ing kinship.-JuwetL
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S TOPIC
A NATION BORN IN A NIGHT
The International Sunday School Leason For June 9 Is, “The Passover,”
Ex. 12: 21-30—The Golden Text Is, “When I See the Blood I Will Pass
Over You,” Ex- 12: 13,
Sy WILLIAM "T. ELLIS.
A close study ot the history of our
own times reveals strange world tides,
which And their explanation -in—God.
There are manifest moving* of hhman
life and contemporary events which be.
token to the discerning observer the
presence of that Spirit whose hand first
shaped the spheres, and has ever sinco
guided the currents of history. This Is
the deeper meaning of tho day's news:
It is consciousness of this tremendous
fact which sobers and makes reverent
many men who have been called upon
to play an Important part In the world's
work.
That Is the present-day application
of the great Old Testament story of
the Passover: Jehovah is in the event.
The awesome wonders of that still-
celebrated night which witnessed the
birth of a new nation, were merely evi
dences that then, as ever,
“Standoth God within the shadow.
Keeping watch above His own."
As Bunsen says, “It Is admitted that
the Exodus is not only historical, but
the true beginning of history for man
kind." The nation which then so dra
matically emerged from slavery has
hod the longest distinct existence of all
the peoples that have ever lived upon
earth, and even to this hour their per
sistence in undiminished Identity is a
witness to the providence of the God
of Abraham and Moses. Remove Je
hovah as a factor, and who oan explain
the Jew?
A Hard Apprenticeship.
More than four hundred years had
elapsed between the day that Jacob and
hla train left the famine-scourged fields
of Canaan for the granaries of Egypt
and the day when God spoke to Pha
raoh through Moses, saying, "Let my
people go." In those years tho shep
herd clan of Jacob had become a great
host, numbering. It is estimated, some
two million souls. Their strength had
been regarded as a menace by the
Egyptians, who had subjected them to
onerous slavery and cruel oppression.
In the furnace of affliction they were
welded into oneness, awaiting God's
hour of deliverance.
There are no meaningless blank
spaces in life or history. The provi
dence in all these years of bitter deso
lation Is now plain. When he had pre
pared .Israel, and hod prepared a man
for the hour, God moved for His peo
ple's deliverance. The divine clock
map-seem long In striking, but it al
ways strikes. Like many a mortal at
this present moment, groaning beneath
a fortune which hardly can be borne,
Israel cried in travail and discourage
ment, "How long? O, lord! How long?"
But the dawn was surely drawing nigh,
even though the night was at Its black-
of the sacred Nile river Into blood,
probably at the very moment that
Pharaoh was worshiping the stream.
Heedless of this, there followed the
loathsome, noisome ploguo of frogs,
atlll worse, as all who have dwelt
intimately with the Orient can attest,
was the maddening visitation of lice.
Then followed such a plague of flics as
caused more suffering at the siege of
Lucknow than the guns of the muti
neers. Still unteachable, Pharaoh had
to witness, as the fifth sign, the death
of the cattle of his people, who de
pended upon these beasts in their
farming; all the while the Hebrews
escaping- the plague. An outbreak
of bolls came next, followed by a de
stroying storm of hall.
Still repudiating the pledges which
suffering exacted from him, the stony
hearted ruler had to see a devouring
storm of locusts arise in the east and
swoop down upon his smitten land,
devouring the last vestige of green life
which the hall had left. Then came the
thick and palpable darkness which kept
every Egyptian cowering In a place of
shelter for, three days. I inm writing
A Stubborn King’s Hard Lesson.
Kings are usually dlfllctjlt pupils, as
some of the old-world nations are find
ing today. Pharaoh would not listen
to the plea of Moses, the divine am
bassador, that the overworked Hebrews
should be permitted to go off for a pe
riod to worship their Deity; he who
will not heed God's pie Slings and
warnings must be made to feel His
Judgments. There Is no escaping God,
who is incarnate and Inevitable Justice.
Great aggregations of material wealth
have In these latter days thought them
selves above the law, and Immune from
those obligations which society lays
upon individuals; but they have re
cently been brought to book. In a
manner not dissimilar from the experi
ence of Pharaoh. The Inevilableness
of God should be accepted aa a basal
principle by whoever seeks a life, of
peace. No one ran evade him or defy
him or Ignore him. The plagues of
Egypt are but incidents in a long train
ot-hiatorlcal events which signify that
God le bound to bave His way In the
world.
The ten plagues which God sent upon
Egypt were natural events supernatn-
rally administered. Each of them had
at some time or other. In a lesaer meas
ure, been felt by the Egyptians; so they
were fully aware of the dreadfulnesa of
these visitations, which came and went
ot the bidding of Jehovah's messenger.
Moses, by the way, was the first man
In the Scriptural history to bear a
commission to others, and the first to
work miracles; for miracles the plagues
undoubtedly were, although each had
Us natural analogy.
Two Kings In Combat.
First came the turning ot the water
these lines while sailing the Red sea,
and only yesterday we were Informed
at Aden that the great ocean liner
Macedonia had been kept at anchor
outside of Sues for more than a day
because of the darkness ot one ot the
sand storms' such as. In extreme de
gree. constituted the ninth plague.
The Last Stage of the Duel.
Strong words followed, when Moses
once more faced Pharaoh. The obdu
rate potentate haughtily cried, defying
the ambassador and his Sovereign,
"Get thee from me, take heed to thy
self, see my face no more; for in that
day thou seest my face thou shall die."
With equal spirit, and dark ominous
ness, Moses replied, "Thou host spoken
well; I will see thy face again no more.”
Then followed the crushing blow
which broke Pharaoh's proud spirit and
accomplished the deliverance of the
Hebrews. This time there was no dis
play of the rod..no tragic Invocation of
high heaven's aid, no Instrumentality
to Impress the people, no awesome
warning. Silently and unseen by any
mortal, the final blow was delivered In
this audacious duel between a proud
earthly monarch and the Almighty King
of kings. In all the mystery of unex
pectedness and midnight darkness, by
no visible sword, the first-born of oil
Egypt perished.
Pharaoh had doomed all the male In
fants of Israel to perish; now his own
son (the Pharaoh of the oppression was
succeeded on the throne by his widow,
according to some authorities), and the
first-born of every family, down to that
of the slave foiling at the mill: yes,
down to the first-born of every beast,
was suddenly smitten with death. Ter
rible Indeed was the measure, but noth
ing less could bring Pharaoh to his
knees and accomplish the deliverance
of the chosen people. And God must be
God, at any cost; they who will not fol
low His shepherd staff must he driven
by His kingly sceptre.
A Sign of Escape.
Here we find the beginning of an In
stitution which has been kept ever
since, wherever the children of Abra
ham have dwelt. It was the divine de
A protest by Anglo-American Roman Cath-
allca has keen filed at Rome regarding the
refusal of the nope to namo more cardinals
from their ranks.
A new catechism for use In Bcottlsh
schools, prepared by a conference of men
representing every le/cnnod church In Scot-
land. Is about to be pnblished.
It. W. Perks, a British layman, is on hit
way to this country to promote the organ-
A number of schools for girls In China
hero already l>een established under the
sanction nnd regulations of the Imperial
government, and are . In active operation,
many of them being taught by Japanese
women.
A committeo to aid In the establishing
and assisting of churches for tho coinmunl-
Sics of English-speaking people In foreign
cities has been appointed by the foreign
mission boards of the Bolted States and
Canada.
The cessation of stato funds for the
Protestant churches of France, caused by
the separation of church and state, have
entailed a yearly loss of 1300,000 to' theao
A movement for a dally reading of the
Bible by Sundny school teachers nnd schol
ar! was started twenty-live years ago by
Charles Waters, of London. There ore at
prevent COO.OOO members of this associa
tion enrolled, nnd a testimonial eras pre
sented to Its founder on the twenty-drill
anniversary of the society.
During tho sessions of the World’s Stu
dent Conference In Toklo, recently held In
that city, a series of meetings were organ
ised for the thousands ot Chinese students
there. At the first of these meetings one
hundred end sixty-eight students egpressed
a desire to become Christians, and at simi
lar meetings for Japanese students a like
response was made by hundreds of young
men.
sign to pass over his own people In this
dread visitation; therefore, he appoint
ed the sign of the blood and the sac
rificial feast, crowded with the signifi
cance of a fuller, greater Passover and
its Lamb yet to come, and this memo
rial continues to this day, a historic
practice more eloquent then the monu
ments. A keen writer (Leslie) two
centuries ago found In the Passover
institution four marks which are never
lacking from any event of proved his
toricity: “Visibility, publicity, memo
rial observance and contemporaneous
ness of Institution.”
More impressive than any comment
Is the moving narrative itself, as found
in Exodus:
"Then Moses called for alt the elders
of Israel, and said unto them. Draw
out and take you lambs according to
your families, and kill the passover.
And ye shall take a bunch of hlssoi*
and dip It in the blood that Is In the
basin, and strlks the lintel and the
two side-posts with the blood that Is
in the basin; and none of you shall go
out of the door of his house until the
morning. For Jehovah will pass through
to smite the Egyptians; and when Hs
seeth the blood upon the lintel, end on
the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass
over the door, and will not suffer the
destroyer to come in unto your houses
to smite you. And ye shall observe
this thing foe an ordinance to thee
and to thy sons for ever. And it
shaH come to pass, when ye are come
to th« land which Jehovah will give
you, according as He hath promised,
that ye shall keep this service. And
It shall come to pass, when your chil
dren shall say unto you. Wbat mean
ye by this service? that ye shall say.
It Is the sacrifice of Jehovah's passover,
who passed over the houses of the chll.
dren of Israel in Egypt, when He smote
the Egyptians and delivered, our houses.
"And the people bowed the head and
worshiped. And the children of Israel
went and did so; os Jehovah had com
manded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
And It came to pass at midnight, that
Jehovah smote all the first-born In the
land of Egypt, from the first-born of
Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto
the fliht-born of the captive that was
In the dungeon, and all the first-born of
cattle. And Pharaoh rose up In the
night, he and all his servants, and all
the Egyptians; and there was a great
cry In Egypt, for there was not a
house where there was not one dead."
The Meaning of the Miracle.
The underlying message of tho Pass-
over for the present times is ex
pressed In many ways even today,
namely, that God has put a difference
between Hie own people and those
who know Him not. Any traveler
among nations knows this to be so.
He sees Christian peoples ruling the
world. He finds a difference between
the white man and the yellow or the
brown or the black that Is funda
mentally a difference of moral charac
ter. God cares for His own, with a pe
culiar, personal and paternal care. The
faith ot the little child, that God Is
interested in its affairs and knows it
by name and Is concerned for'its wel
fare, is the greatest truth of the high
est religion revealed to man. What
God said In the Passover He is still
saying by revelation and by provi
dence: "Casting all your care upon
Him. for He coreth for you."
The paschal lamb was to be eaten
by families; the godly household Is tho
integer of the kingdom of heaven. Je
hovah never lets pass an opportunity
of emphasising the sacredness ot the
family; the person who neglect* his
own family for church gatherings has
an altogether distorted idea of religion.
The very will of -God is behind the
modern emphasis that is being laid
n-on tho sanctity of the home.
Every people, like every individual
heart, has Its anniversaries. It Is not
good to forget these, for they come
laden with messages from the past
which the present needs. And the great
message of the Passover, which Is per
petuated In the Lord’s Supper, is thnt
in the sign of the blood is salvation.
“Christ, our Passover,” who was sacri
ficed for us. Is the only warrant we
have for claiming the divine favor and
protection. “Without the shedding of
blood there is no remission of sin." In
the shed blood of the whole world's
sufficient Paschal Lamb there Is safe
ty, liberty and life In fullness.