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THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
.IKItKMIAH CAST INTO PHISON.
June 11. 1922. Jer. 38:1-13.
The Chaldeans from Habylon had
come to Jerusalem and were beseig
ing It. In some way the king of
Judah secured the help of the king
of Egypt. When the Chaldeans found
that the Egyptians were coming they
raised the seige and left Jerusalem.
When the seige was over Jeremiah
started to leave Jerusalem to go to
the country. He was arrested and
put in prison on the charge of being
about to desert to the Chaldeans. Af
ter he had been there many days the
king sent for him. lie asked him if
he had any message from God. Ho
told him that God had said that the
Chaldeans would return and capture
the city.
Jeremiah asked of the king what
evil he had done and why he had
been put into prison. In response to
his pleading the king directed that
he should not be returned to the dun
geon, but should be kept in the prison
yard.
The king did not seem to resent
what Jeremiah had said, but the prin
ces did; when he further prophesied
the destruction of the city and urged
the people to flee from it. The
princes accused Jeremiah of disloyalty
and treason, and demanded of the
king that he be put to death.
This King Zedekiali was very much
like Pilate. When the people de
manded that Jesus should be put to
death, he said he found no cause of
death in Him, but he delivered Him
to them that they might crucify Him.
The king realized that Jeremiah was
only speaking as God had directed
him. But when the princes demand
ed that Jeremiah be put to death, he
said that he could not refuse any
thing that they asked him, and so
he turned Jeremiah over to them.
Two things are to bo noted here.
One is the weakness and vacillation
of the king. The other is that the
man who wants to do so finds that
when he has the opportunity of in
flicting evil, he is not quite as brave
about it as he thought he would be.
So instead of putting Jeremiah to
death they put him . back in prison,
but they put him into the dungeon.
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That was a deep cellar uftder the
prison, in which the worst criminals
were placed. No effort was ever made
to clean it out, and water seeped
into it. So it is not hard to imagine
the filth and mire into which Jere
miah was put. No doubt his enemies
thought he would (lie in a few days.
Among the officers of the king's
household was an Ethiopian. His skin
may have been black, but his heart
was all right. He went to the king
and told him of what had been done
to Jeremiah. The king told him to
take thirty men with him and to go
and take Jeremiah out of the dun
geon. Evidently the king thought
that there might be trouble in carry
ing out his order.
The Ethiopian in his kind-hearted
ness made all necessary preparation
to get Jeremiah out as comfortably
as possible. It is a great thing to
do even little things for the comfort
of others.
The king was too weak to take
care of and protect Jeremiah and to
heed his warnings. The princes were
too mean to receive God's message
from him, and so they tried to de
stroy him. It remained for a stran
ger to show him kindness.
PON'TS FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
TEACHER.
1. Don't ride hobbies.
2. Don't scold. A fassy teacher
kills the spirit of the class. Some
one has said, "Smile until 9 A. M.,
and the rest of the day will take care
of Itself."
3. Don't be unfaithful (a) in at
tendance, (b) to the class, (c) in
lesson preparation.
4. Don't use the Sunday school
quarterly in class teaching. Use your
Bible.
5. Don't preach a sermonette; do
some real teaching. It is not fair
to the preacher to try to do his work.
6. Don't do all the talking. Give
the other fellow a chance; you might
learn something. Talking is not teach
ing.
7. Don't ask puzzling questions.
8. Don't neglect the dull pupil.
9. Don't forget about the Workers'
Conference.
10. Don't have an elastic con
science. The teacher who succeeds
must have moral Integrity.
11. Don't be dogmatic. No teacher
can inspire discussion and investiga
tion whose answers are final. Re
spect the honest opinions of others.
12. Don't confine yourself to any
one method of teaching. A wise
teacher will vary his method. .
13. Don't expect your class to be
a group of empty buckets to be poured
full of knowledge. As Thomas Car
lyle has pertinently observed, "To sit
as a passive bucket and be pumped
into can, in the long run, be exhlll
rating to no creature, how eloquent
soever the flood of utterance that is
descending."
14. Don't talk about absent and
indifferent ones before those whc are
present.
15. Don't permit your life to "bear
false witness" against your teaching.
Selected.
ANCJIjETON, TEX.
During a recent District Christian
Endeavor Convention held in Angle
ton, eight were received Into the
Presbyterian church upon profession
of their faith, seven of them high
school pupils and the mother of one
of them. Six of the number were
baptized. The Intermediate Endea
vor Society of this church has been
doing splendid work, led by Mrs. W.
L. Merrln, wife of the pastor.
' I
lj YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES
TKAM WORK.
M., June 5. A common purpose helps. X Citron.
12:37-40.
T.t June C. Jesus' trains. Mark 0:7-13.
W., June 7. Humility helps. l'hfl. 1:27-30; 2:1-5.
T., June 8. Vainglory hinders. I.uke S):4t>-f>0. '
F., June 9. Selfishness hinders. Hag. 1:1-11.
S., June 10. Murmuring hinders. Aets 0:1-7.
S., June 11. Topic ? Team-Work: Helps and Hin
drances. Neh. 2:17-20; 3:28; 4:0.
How may ire work together with all moral ayeneiet in
our town T
How doe* selfishne ?* make team-work imfiosfil/le?
What ia the raluc of team-work"!
When a farmer wants to do some
heavy work, he does not work his
horses separately, but he hitches them
together in teams. But if these teams
really do the work intended, they
must work together. If each horse
pulls in an opposite direction, noth
ing will be accomplished, except to
become fatigued and irritated. When
they all pull together the work is
done with the least waste of strength.
A Common Purpose Helps, 1 Chron.
12:37-40: The men of war and all
the people had just one purpose, and
that was to make David king, so
there was no difficulty in doing so.
If the people of this country all had
perfect hearts and one purpose, they
could do anything that ought to be
done for the good of the country. In
the same way God's people can do
anything that is needed for the ad
vancement of His kingdom. The great
trouble is that some of God's team
slack up on the traces, others kick
out of the traces, and others pull in
the wrong direction.
" Jesus' Teams, Mark 6:7-13: Jesus
sent His disciples out in teams of
two. They had a great work to do,
and all could not go together, so He
divided His forces up. But He sent
two together. In almost everything
two working together can do more
than two working separately. It is
very well for each one as he starts
out to work to have a partner. Bach
will help the other.
Humility Help**, Phil. 1:27-30; 2:
1-5: Strife and vainglory will de
stroy team work. He who insists
upon having his own way is not a
good team worker. Give considera
tion to the ideas and plans of others.
No one of us has all knowledge. If
we will do good work with our team
mates, try to pull with them. When
ever they pull in the right direction,
even if they do not take just the
length of step that we think is the
best.
Vainglory Hinders, Luke 9:46-50:
The disciples were disputing as to
which should be the greatest or oc
cupy the chief place in the kingdom
of Christ. In order to be gfeat, and
in order to do great things, we 'must
be like a little child, willing to do
little things. John tried .to show
Jesus how loyal the disciples were to
Him by telling how they had insisted
that another should do just as they
did, but Jesus told him that they had
no right to require this. We have* no
right to claim that our way is better
than any other way, if the other way
is leading men to Christ as well as
ours is.
Helflxhnras Hinders, Hag. 1:1-11:
In the days of Haggal the temiAe of
God was lying waste. The people said
they were not able at that time to
repair it. But at that time they were
living in luxurious homes of their
own. So often it is said in these
days that this is not the time to do
certain things in advancing God's
kingdom. So far as money is con
cerned, God's people can easily do
anything that God calls upon them to
do. If we fail, it may be that the
drought and other things with which
Israel was threatened may come upon
us.
Murmuring Hinders, Acts 6:1-7:
Oftentimes there is murmuring and
complaining in the church and in the
society because things do not go ex
actly as the complainers think they
ought to go. Instead of complaining,
those Grecians ought to have gone to
the apostles and offered to help them
in their great and laborious work. It
will always be found that those who
complain most do least work.
Team Work: Hitlps and Hindrances,
Neh. 2:17-20; 3:28; 4:6: Nehemiah
found the wall of Jerusalem broken
down. He determined to rebuild it.
He had wonderful encouragements.
The hand of God was upon him to
bless him in the work. The people
strengthened their hands for the
work. They went at it in earnest.
Each man built over against his own
h-*use, where he would naturally feel
the greatest interest in the work, and
all the people had a mind to work.
If the leaders in God's work could
always have such ground for encour
agement, the hindrances would
amount to no more than did those,
which Sanballat and his allies tried
to throw in Jeremiah's way. They
made fun of him and misinterpreted
his motives, but he paid no attention
to what they said. Let us try to ig
nore the hindrances and use the helps
and press forward in God's work.
YOUNG PEOPLE'S RALLIES IN
ARKANSAS.
During the past two months a num
ber of Young People's Conferences
have been held over the Synod of
Arkansas In the interest of the Young
People's Work of the Church. Ad
dresses at the rallies held In Pres
cott, Little Rock and Fordyce have
been delivered by Rev. J. V. John
son, of Arkadelphia, Synodical chair
man; Rev. Charles Haddon Nabers,
pastor of the First church of Cam
den; Mrs. G. W. Shelter, Field Secre
tary of Sunday School Work in the
Synod; Miss Emma Archer, Field Sec
retary of the Arkansas Christian En
deavor Union, and various local pas
tors and leaders. These rallies have
been held for a three-fold purpose,
to urge life work decisions at the
close of the conferences, to improve
the work in the various districts, and
to boost the Ozark Assembly at Hardy
in June and the All-South Christian
Endeavor Convention at Hot Springs
in July. During the series of rallies
more than fifty of the Presbyterian
Young People of the State have con
secrated themselves to the Master to
be used in distinctive Christian call
ings.
AUSTIN DISTRICT CHRISTIAN EN
DEAVOR CONVENTION.
The convention of the Austin Dis
trict Christian Endeavor Union,
which met at Georgetown, Tex., April
28th-30th, was one of the most help
ful the writer ever attended. While
no decisions were recorded for full
time service, the whole spirit of the
convention was such that those who
attended felt that much good would
come of those three days of prayer
and study.
Among many other good features
of the program, the address of Rev.
A. H. Perpetuo on "Results of Mis
sions in Brazil," and that of Dr. T.
W. Currie, on "Christian Leadership
Training," stand out as being worthy
of special notice. Mr. Perpetuo, him
self a product of Brazilian missions,
dramatically depicted the experiences
of his own family when they came
in contact with the missionary and
accepted Christ. Dr. Currie forceful
ly presented the progressive steps of