Newspaper Page Text
June 26, 1912] THE I
easily. Why did he shame me before all those
people ?''
At lest he got up and went about his work.
When he went to feed the ox that night the ox
turned to him and said: "Why did you whip
r.i' today. You never whipped me before. Why
JiJ you call me 'wretch" and 'rascal'? You
nfver called me hard names before."
then the man said: "I will never treat you
badly again. I am sorry I whipped you and
eallt d you names. I will never do so any more.
Forgive me."
"Very well," said the ox. "Tomorrow I will
go into the village and draw the one hundred
carts for you. You have always been a kind
master until today. Tomorrow you shall gain
what you lost."
The next morning the owner fed the ox well,
and hung a garland of flowers about his neck.
When they went into the village bhe men laughed
at the man again.
They said: "Do you come to lose more
money 1''
"Today I will pay a forfeit of two thousand
pieces of silver if my ox is not strong enough
to pull one hundred carts," said the owner.
So again the carts were placed in a line, and
the ox was yoked to the first. A crowd came to
watch again. The owner said *'Good ox, show
how strong you are! You fine, fine creature!"
lie patted him, and at once the ox pulled
with all his strength. The carts moved on until
the last cart stood where the first had been.
Then the crowd shouted, and they paid back
the forfeit the man had lost, saying, "Your ox
is the strongest ox we ever saw."
-\na tne ox and the man went home happy.
?St. Nicholas.
CHRIST'S YOKE.
In a recent eloquent sermon, Dr. Joseph
Dunn Burrell dwelt upon the penalties and
wretchedness of sin. Often it cuts a man off
entirely from any friendship with his fellowmen.
If he is detected in a breach of the law.
lie is imprisoned and is thus branded for life.
If he has good relatives, he has the racking
consciousness that he is causing them pain,
perhaps heart-breaks. He is likely in any case
to suffer the supreme agonies of remorse, one
of the most poignant of earth's miseries.
The yoke of sin is surely the heaviest bur
den that a soul can bear. Christ came to offer
to us the yoke of his service?an easy yoke
and a light burden compared with that of sin.
The understanding soul will accept it instantly.
The dull soul, which does not appreciate
the difference between the two yokes may wait
longer?may even reject the light yoke for the
heavy one.
The load of sin rested on the shoulders of
hunyan's Pilgrim. He "did run with great
difficulty because of this load on his back."
At length he camo to a place somewhat ascending,"
says the quaint old chronicle, "and
upon that place stood a cross, and a little below,
in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in
??y dream, that just as Christian came up with
fhe cross, his burden loosed from off of his
shoulders and began to tumble, and so continued
to do till it came to the mouth of the
sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no
oiore.
"Then was Christian glad and lightsome,
"nd said with a merry heart, 'He hath given
We rest by his sorrow and life by his death.' "
' hus came to this true type of the Christian
,. C ? %
nu ages the consciousness of the slight
Wpight of Christ's yoke compared with that
?f sin.
"Tt is the beautiful work of Christianity,'*
RESBYTEEIS.N OF THE S
says Henry Drumraond', "everywhere to adjust
the burden of life to tbose who bear it,
and it to them. It has a perfectly miraculous
gift of healing. Did you ever stop to ask what
a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the
animal which wears it? It is just the opposite.
It is to make its burden light. Attached to
the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the
rwlrti.r LI- '
nuuiu uc xuiuierauie. ?orKeci oy means
of a yoke, it is light."
Christ sends us loss?loss of friends, of position,
of fortune. With this eomes humiliation?bitter
but wholesome. How else ean one,
proud-hearted and vain, as we usually are,
learn to be humble?
We disobey him?and then comes the sting
of punishment. It is hard to bear, but the true
Christian sees in it but the just penalty of wandering,
and thus he learns the cardinal virtue
of obedience. In many cases, our affection
awakens sympathy in others. Then love and
? ? > *
^.uuucsa warm uur nearts wnere before they
were cold. Thus we are taught the holy lessons
of brotherhood in which the great lesson
of God's Fatherhood is so fully involved. By
those methods the yoke of Christ leads us, since
it yokes us with him, to higher leyels of character
and of spirituality.
One of our poets has voiced the same idea
in another and very beautiful figure. Christ
not only turns the burden of sin into one that
is light, but he utterly alters the fabric of life.
The world sits at the feet of Christ,
Unknowing, blind and unconsoled;
t* -u-ii i? > tt. - - -
ai jcl sunn ioucn nis garment's fold,
And feel the heavenly Alchemist
Transform its very dust to gold.
?Christian Herald.
ENCOURAGING THE CHILD.
Mothers who are anxious about the manners
and behavior of their children have need to
guard against falling into the nagging habit.
Children naturully resent being continually
"corrected," and the outcome of the critical
method is apt to be the opposite of what is desired
or sought after. One mother recognizing
in what direction her constant reminders of
manners, standing straight, personal neatness,
deference to elders, etc., were tending, substituted
a course of encouragement and compliment
whenever there was a chance. The boy
was told what a straight, fine fellow he was
growing to be, how proud he had made his
mother by remembering some little courtesy,
etc., thereby stimulating his Dride in himsplf
the result being beyond what any amount of
nagging could produce. With the little brother
she profited by her first experience. Instead
of the struggle to implant truth and honesty
in his nature, and punishing him for every
lapse from straightforwardness, she always
speaks of his frankness and honor before him
with such confidence that he values the quality
of "squareness " Whenever she discovers a
weak point in the character of one of the children
she watches until she finds a chance to
praise that very trait, in a way that can be
sincere, until the child becomes so proud that
lie is truthful or neat or whatever may be the
quality she is anxious to instill in him, that he
eould not he otherwise. Equally valuable is
the spirit of mutual appreciation between parent
and child this course establishes.?Exchange.
Try to he happy in this present moment,
y #
and put not off being so to a time to come;
as though that time should he of another mahe
from this, which has already come, and is
sure.?Thomas Fuller.
tJ * xi (681) 5
MAIMONIDES' PRAYER FOR PHYSICIANS.
(Paper read before the West Virginia Medical
Society.)
BY WILLIAM W. GOLDEN, ELKINS.
Tlxe following prayer, composed by Moses
Maimonides in the twelfth century, deserves to
be more widely known, possibly used, among
physicians. While its conception of physiology
and pathology so beautifully expressed may be
somewhat antiquated, as a formula of true medical
philanthropy and professional ethics, it certainly
leaves no room for improvement even at
this late day of our much boasted civilization.
It should find a place on every physician's desk,
and, what is more important, a distinct recollection
of it should accompany him in his work
at the bedside and in the consultation room.
To those who arc reverentially inclined it should
prove a boon:
O God, Thou hast formed the body of man
with infinite goodness; Thou hast united in him
innumerable forces incessantly at work like so
many instruments, so as to preserve in its entirety
this beautiful house containing his immortal
soul, and these forces act with all the
order, concord and harmony imaginable. But
if weakness or violent passion should disturb
this harmony, these forces would act against one
another and the body return to the dust whence
it came. Thou sendest then to man Thy messengers,
the diseases, which announce the approach
of danger, and bid him prepare to overcome
them. The Eternal Providence has appointed
me to watch o'er the life and death of
Thy creatures. May the love of my art actuate
me at all times, may neither avarice, nor miserliness,
nor the thirst for glory, or a great reputation
engage my mind; for, enemies of truth
and philanthropy, they could easilv deceive me
and make me forgetfhl of my lofty aim of doing
good to Thy children. Endow me with strength
of heart and mind so that both may be always
ready to serve the rich and the poor, the good
and the wicked, friend and enemy, and that I
may never see in the patient anything else but
a fellow-creature in pain.
If physicians more learned than I wish to
guide and counsel me, inspire me with confidence
in obedience toward the recognition of them,
for the study of the science is great. It is not
given to one alone to see all that others- see.
May I be moderate in everything except in the
knowledge of this science; as far as it is concerned
may I be insatiable; grant me strength
and opportunity to always correct what I have
acquired, to always extend its domain; for
knowledge is immense and the spirit of man
can also extend indefinitely, to daily enrich
itself with new acquirements. Today he can
discover his errors of yesterday and tomorrow
he may obtain new light on what he thinks
himself sure of today.
O God, Thou hast appointed me to watch o'er
the life and death of Thy creatures; here am I,
ready for my vocation.
WHAT WE FIND.
We make our own skies very largely. Our
fears east their shadows without us, and the projection
of these shadows tinge the world for us
?our world. We find on this earth, in a measure,
whatever we bring the eyes to see. A joy
ous heart finds joy in any circumstances and
experiences. A gloomy heart finds no end of
gloom. A songful spirit hears music everywhere;;
but a life that has no music in itself
never hears a songful note; even amid the sweetest
and rishest harmonies.?Ex.
Reach up as far as you can, and God wdl
reach down all the rest of the way.?John H.
Vincent.