Newspaper Page Text
The
Sunday=School
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR APRIL 17.
Subject: The Question of John the
Baptist, Matt. 11:1-19—Com
mit Verses 4, 5.
GOLDENTEXT.—“But the witness
which I have is greater than that of
John; for the works of which the
Father hath given Me to accomplish,
the very works that I do bear witness
of Me, that the Father hath sent Me.”
John 5:36, R. V.
TlME.—Midsummer, A. D. 28.
PLACE.—Capernaum.
EXPOSITION.—I. John's Doubt
Concerning Jesus, l-(i. John was in
prison in Macherus, but the news of
Jesus’ mighty deeds penetrates even
to his dungeon. John’s disciples have
access to him in his imprisonment,
and they tell him the strange reports
that fill the air (Luke 7:18). John
had had a divine revelation that Jesus
was the.baptizer with the Holy Spirit
and a clear, positive faith in Him as
the Lamb of God, and Son of God
(John 1:33, 29, 34). But John was
not perfect, he was human; and when
his active spirit was shut up in prison
doubts began to come, as they are so
likely to come to the man of intense
activity when he is obliged to sit still
and wait (cf. 1 Kings 19:3, 4). Many
find difficulty in reconciling John’s
present questioning with his former
dear faith; but those who know men,
even the mightiest men of God, and
especially those who know their own
hearts, with their moments of clear
vision and unquestioning faith, and
other moments of conflict and uncer
tainty, will find this story most nat
ural. Indeed it would never have
been fabricated in this way, but it
bears the evidence of its genuineness
on its face. John, in his doubt, did
the wisest thing any man can do in
his doubt: he went right to Jesus
Himself with it. He was not clear for
the time being that Jesus was “the
Coming One,” but he was clear that
Jesus’ testimony about Himself
should be accepted. Such a doubter
will not remain a doubter. If those
who to-day doubt that Jesus is the
Messiah and the Son of God would
only go right to Him and ask Him,
He would soon tell them. John’s
question was right to the point, “Art
Thou the Coming One?” (the one
whom all the prophets from Moses to
Malachi foretold was to come as the
fulfiller of God’s promises to and glo
rious plans for His people) or look
we for another? The thought very
likely had come to John, “If He is
the Coming One, why doss He delay
to manifest Himself as King and to
dethrone Herod and set me free?” At
the very hour John’s messengers ar
rived Jesus was giving ocular demon
stration that He was “the Coming
One” by curing diseases and plagues,
opening the eyes of the blind, and
casting out evil spirits (cf. Luke 8:
21). For an answer to John, He
simply points John’s two messengers
to what they see going on before their
very eyes and the glad testimonies
that they hear. “Go tell John the
things which ye do hear and see.”
Then follows a catalogue of divine
works accomplished before their eyes
or testified to in their astonished
ears. These were the very things
predicted of the Messiah (Is. 35:5, 6;
42:6, 7; 61:1-3). Jesus constantly
appealed to His miracles as proof
that He was Messiah and the Son of
God (John 5:36; 14:11; 15:24). In
the present instance the things John’s
disciples heard reached even to the
raising of the dead, for the son of
the widow of Nain had been recently
raised (cf. Luke 7:11-21) and quite
likely was among those about Jesus
on this day. Jesus added a gentle
word of reproof and warning for
John, “Blessed is he whosoever shall
find none occasion of stumbling in
Me.” This was a reference to Old
Testament prediction concerning the
Messiah (Is. 8:14, 15).
11. Jesus’ Testimony to John the
Baptist, 7-11. Jesus had sent to John
a word of cheer and a word of re
proof, but, when the messengers were
out of hearing, Jesus gave the multi
tudes a glowing testimony to John’s
worth and greatness. As he had been
shaken for a moment in his faith, it
might seem to them that he was a
“reed shaken with the wind,” but he
was not. Neither was he a man seek
ing his own glory and comfort, gor
geously apparalled and living deli
cately (cf. Luke 7:25). He was a
prophet, that is, a man directly com
missioned, sent and inspired of God,
•authoritatively declaring God’s mind
to men (cf. Luke I:7G and 2 6). But
he was more than that, he was him
self the subject of Old Testament pro
phecy, one of whom the great pro
phets of olden times had spoken
(Mai. 3:1; 4:5, 6; Is. 40:3; cf. Luke
1:15-17, 76; John 1:2, 3). He was
chosen from the whole human race to
be God's own messenger to go before
the face of God incarnate to prepare
the way before Him. John the Eap
tist filled one of the lofteist offices
ever filled by man. Amongst purely
human beings, there is none greater
than John the Baptist. And yet
Jesus, the Son of God, was so much
greater than John the Baptist, that
the latter was not worthy to wear His
shoes (ch. 3:11; John 1:27). Great
as John was as the forerunner of
Christ and preparing the way for the
kingdom, he was not yet in the king
dom, and the one who is “but little”
in the kingdom, but really in the
kingdom, is greater than even John.
We who to-day are in the kingdom,
see and hear things which prophets
desired to see and hear but did not
(Luke 10:23, 24). Things are now
dearly revealed to us which had been
hidden from the beginning of the
world (Eph. 3:8. 9; Col. 1:25-27: 1
Pet. 1:10-12). The one who in this
dispensation is actually in the king
dom enjoys privileges immeasurably
beyond what any before the kingdom
was established ever knew, and yet
the full establishment of that king
dom upon earth is still ahead of us.
Who can measure, or even imagine,
what its privileges shall be?
A SOUTERN BOOSTER.
"Southern Field,” Published By the Southern
Railway Company, Praises Dixie.
Aalanta, Ga—“ The South as a
Profitable Field for Stock Raising,”
is the theme of the April issue of the
Southern Field, the official organ of
the land and industrial departments
of the Southern railway, the Mobile
and Ohio, the Georgia, Southern aud
Florida, the Alabama Great Southern
and the Cincinnati New Orleans and
Texas Pacific railroads. Advance
proofs which have just come from the
press indicate that this issue, thou
sands of copies of which will be
placed in the hands of desirable set
tlers now living in the north and
west, will preach a great sermon on
the opportunities for profit in the
stock business in the sduth.
The leading article tells of the
great awakening of interest in this
industry in the south and the opening
of a mammoth packing hoqse in At
lanta is pointed out as an indication
that the movement for the south to
raise its food at home is now well
under way. Well written articles ful
ly illustrated, tell & the advantage
to be found in various parts of the
south and the northern or western
farmer is assured that by coming
south he cap procure cheaper land
with a climate giving practically
twice as much time for work in the
year and still persue the kind of ag
ricultural industry too which he is
accustomed, instead of having no al
ternative but to raise cotton.
Wiregrass Georgia and the section
along the line of the Augusta South
ern railroad come in for a consider
able share of attention, but no sec
tion of the south is neglected and
though the raising of live stock is
given chief attention all branches of
southern agriculture and industry are
touched upon.
This magazine, w'hich is published
under the direction of Land and In
dustrial Agent M. V. Richards, is a
great booster for the south and all
readers are assured that any one In
terested in the south will be given
the fullest information on applica
tion to the department’s headquarters
in Washington, where facts and fig
ures concerning any section e i the
south are to be had at a moment’s
notice and a permanent exposition
of the south’s resources is maintained
open to the investigation of any one.
Railway to Bar Women.
Pittsburg, Pa. —A report that the
Batlimore and Ohio railroad will in
the future bar the employment of
women stenographers, clerks and i
egraph operators was confirmed here.
No women now in the employ of the
railroad will be discharged because
of their sex, but none will be given
positions from now on.
LATE NEWS NOTES.
General.
Because his discharge from the
army shows that he was one of the
two men who captured Jefferson Da
vis in Savannah, Ga., forty-five years
ago, John Wolen, aged seventy, was
released from the Seattle, Wash., jail
on suspended sentence. Wolen was
convicted of “bootlegging.” His dis
charge shows that he served in
Company F, seventh Pennsylvania
calvary, during the war.
Governor Stubbs of Kansas in a
Chicago speech defended state-wide
prohibition as practical in his state.
He said that as a result people in
Kansas were now better clothed, bet
ter fed and have finer homes, that
they have bigger families and bigger
bank accounts. They had thus, in
his opinion, refuted the cry the abo
lition of the saloon would mean busi
ness stagnation.
An authority of Captain D. F. Osl
bon, one of the most active support
ers of Dr. Frederick A. Cook, it was
announced in New York city, that
about $175,000 had been guaranteed
toward a fund to help Dr.. Cook prove
his claim to discovery of the north
pole. A prominent western man. Cap
tain Osbon said, had pledged SIOO,OOO
of this sum. Captain Osbon said that
he was in correspondence with the ex
plorer and that he expected the doc
tor home by the latter part of the
present month.
Ricardo Martin, the tenor, who will
divide honors with. Caruso at Atlan
ta’s grand opera productions, May 2,
4, 6 and 7, is delighted at the pros
pect of coming to the south. Martin
is a Kentucky boy, and obtained his
first musical training in Nashville,
Tenn. He is American through and
through, and proud of the fact that
he is of the sunny south.
Washington.
A system of accounting to deter
mine the cost of work at all navy
yards was provided for by the house
by the adoption of an amendient to
the naval bill appropriating sso,ooo
for that work. The amendment stip
ulates that the system to be put into
effect shall be similar to that estab
lished at the Boston hery yard in
July, 1909.
Double harness is not necessarily
heavy; it depends on the proper
matching.
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOCUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV. WALDO ADAMS AMOS.
Theme: Giants.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Sunday evening,
fn the Church of the Atonement, the
Rev. Waldo Adams Amos, associate
rector of the Church of the Holy
Trinity, preached on “Giants.” The
text was from Genesis 6:4: "There
were giants in the earth in those
lays.” Mr. Amos said:
There is a story by William Allen
White, a charming, picturesque story
of a young Ohio farmer and his bride,
who gathered together all their sub
stance and fared forth into the great
West, seeking anew home and a
larger life in the land of the setting
sun. They acquire a farm in Kansas
and here they establish their little
homestead, and through long years of
toil and hardship they struggle on,
finding their joy and consolation in
those stalwart boys and girls that
Providence has sent to bless their
household. But through all these
years the memory of the old home in
the East never fades. When the day’s
work is done and they sit around the
great, crackling log fire, then the
farmer and his wife wander back in
fancy to those olden days and to that
fair State where they had lived long
years ago. The farmer’s face lights
up as he tells the hoys and girls of
the rich, luscious fruit that grew in
the orchard, of the myriad ears of
corn that were gathered from one
acre, and waxes eloquent as he tells
of the vast fields of waving grain;
and then of the house of his boyhood,
with its great, spacious rooms and its
far-reaching halls, with all its com
forts and luxuries. “Truly, ’twas a
wonderful country, that land w r here
we lived when we were young.” As
the years go on they prosper, and
when the boys and girls are full
grown, the farmer and his wife de
cide to go back and visit once again
the fair land of their youth. But, ah,
what a change time has wrought!
The old homestead seems small and
dingy and cramped. The vast orchard
of days gone by has become a wretch
ed dooryard and the fruit is poor and
tasteless. The fields of waving grain
have become a market garden, and
before a week has passed the farmer
and his wife hasten back to the great
West, where they can breathe full
and deep and free.
I tell this story because it illus
trates a common mental attitude.
There is an instinct in us humans
which prompts us to idealize the
past. We look back on the days gone
by, and our memory casts a halo
about them. We remember how, in
our boyhood years, the snow was
often ten feet deep and how it lay
upon the ground from November un
til late in March. We remember how
life in those days was replete with
interest, how it was rich and deep and
full, and when we hark back to those
halcyon days of our youth, how dull
and commonplace becomes the pres
ent day. The days of long ago be
come to our fancy a golden age.
There were giants in the earth in
those days.
This is a universal human tendency.
The person who first conceived the
Garden of Eden story was simply giv
ing expression to this human inclina
tion to idealize the past, to look back
to the dawn of human history and re
gard it as a golden age. Milton rep
resents Adam as sitting in a leafy
bower making pretty speeches to his
fair consort, whereas in reality the
first man was probably a shaggy sav
age, living in a den and giving ex
pression to his wishes by means of a
few elementary and inarticulate
grunts. The same common impulse
of humankind to weave a lalo about
the past prompts the writer of the
early chapters of Genesis to conclude
that there were giants in those days.
It is particularly in the field of
things religious, in the realm of
things spiritual, that we meet with
this tendency to idealize the past and
its logical accompaniment, the ten
dency to disparage the present. We
hear people talking about the good
old times and then they go on to be
wail the degeneracy of these days. I
heard an address recently in which
the speaker contrasted this benighted
age with the days of his youth. He
told of the waning influence of the
Sunday-school., of the secular school
which was every day becoming more
detached from things religious, of
church doctrines and the catechism,
which had been relegated to the limbo
of obscurity, and altogether things
were in a sorry plight. Our society
and our nation were drifting toward
the treacherous shoals of modernism
and unless we revived the spirit of
“ye olden time” we were doomed to
certain destruction. The speaker was
a fine, scholarly man and, so far as
he went, he read the signs of the
times aright, but he did not go far
enough. Church doctrines and cate
chisms have been relegated to the
limbo of obscurity, and that is where
most of them belong. The secular
school is ceasing to give any religious
instruction, and,'considering the great
diversity of religious views repre
sented by the pupils, that is as it
should be. But the trouble is that
the speaker who wa3 deploring the
decline of religion and the lack of
idealism in our day was incapable of
perceiving any religion or any idealism
save that which manifested itself in
the same old way to which he had al
ways been accustomed. If the giants
of to-day do not dress in exactly the
same way that giants used to dress
in the days of his youth, he is dis
posed to deny that they are giants.
If we believe in a living God, and if
we believe that His eternal purpose
cannot fail, then our faith is too su
preme for us to admit that the world
of to-day is less religious than the
world of our forefathers. Pure re
ligion and undefined Is this, to visit
the fatherless and the widows, to go
out into the world and cry aloud at
social injustice and oppression, to do
all in our to stamp out prosti
tution and the economic causes there
of, to work for the uplift and better
ment of humankind. Pure religion
and undefiled is an attitude of the
heart toward all God’s children here
on earth, and if the twin giants called
human .ove and human service dwell
in the midst of our society, I do not
personally feel disposed to lament the
demise of those grim, gaunt giants
named “doctrine” and "catechism.'’
The giant called “doctrine” has al
ways been a sort of serio-comic giant,
anyway. In a lecture the other even
ing I mentioned that the primary
cause of the split between the Greek
Church and the Latin Church was the
doctrine of the procession of the Holy
Spirit. The Greek Church contended
that the Holy Spirit proceeded only
from the Father, whereas, the Latins
maintained that the procession was
from the Father and the Son, and,
after quarreling about it f or several
hundred years, each church anath
ematized the other and lived unhap
pily ever after. This was one aspect
of the giant called “doctrine,” and
naturally the world has lost interest
in such a foolish giant. The thing to
do is to congratulate the world and
commend it for its growing wisdom,
instead of condemning it.
It is all right to weave a halo about
the past, to regard it as a golden age;
but, if our inclination to idealize the
past is going to make us blind to the
fine things of the present, then this
inclination is all wrong. It’s wicked.
It is all right to wax enthusistic over
the pictures of Tintoretto or Raphael,
but, if our admiration for them pre
vents our recognizing the merits of
present-day artists, then our admira
tion is all wrong. It is all right to
havp a creed coming down out of
the past, but, if .that creed obscures
our vision of the Christ in the world
at the present day, then that creed is
a m'atake. We have spent altogether
too much time in the world worship
ing the God of our fathers, and now
it’s time to worship the God of our
selves and the God of our sons. We
have spent altogether too mum time
talking about the miracles and the
spiritual experiences of remote ages
and remote lands, and now it’s time
to discard the notion that our dav is
bald and commonplace and to talk
about the mighty works and the spir
itual experiences of this year of grace.
We have spent too much time looking
for the Christ in the inspired epistles
of St. Peter, and now it’s time to look
for the Christ in the inspired writings
of our contemporaries.
Maybe there were giants in the
earth in those days, but, even if there
were, they are dead, and our concern
now is with the giants that are in
the earth in our day. And there are
giants in the earth in our day. It
has been my good fortune to be per
sonally acquainted with several of
them. When you just looked at them
casually their stature seemed like
that of other men, but when you
looked more closely, when you looked
with the eye of the spirit, you began
to realize that they towered up into
the heavens, you began to realize that
they were tall men, sun-crowned, liv
ing above the fog in public duty and
in private thinking. You began to
realize that the spirits of those men
could be contained in the compass of
no ordinary body, and you confessed
to yourself that here were giants in
the earth in our day.
And then in addition to these indi
vidual giants of to-day there are cor
porate giants, which are more com
monly called movements. One deals
with the prevention and cure of dis
ease, anoiher restricts the hours of
labor for working women, and yet
another protects the children of the
paor from exploitation and abuse.
There is a whole family of these
giants, and they are a religious fam
ily, religious in the deepest sense of
that noble word. They occupy the
quarters in our life that were former
ly tenanted by doctrines, catechifamis
and kindred giants. All these move*
ments that I mention, all these agen
cies working for the uplift and better
ment of the race, are so many mani
festations of the religion and idealism
of our day. Revere the good old
times, my friends, but revere also the
fine, splendid spirit of your own day.
Honor the religion of days gone by,
but honor also its fair offspring, the
religion of to-day.
There are giants in the earth in
our day and you have it in you to be
numbered among them. You may
be small of stature and slight of
frame, but in the realm of things spir
itual one is not accounted a giant be
cause of stature or physical strength.
If your heart beats strong and true
with a desire for the onward march
of righteousness, if from the very
depths of your being the cry goes
forth, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done;” if with all your heart, and
all your mind, and all your soul and
all your strength you love the Lord
your God and your neighbor as your
self, then God accounts you among
the giants of His kingdom; then you
are among the giants that are in the
earth in our day.
My friends, if in the deep and quiet
of your lives you listen closely, you
will hear a voice that bids you go
forth and take part in the giant move
ments for the uplift and betterment
of the world. You will hear a voice
that bids you go forth and be giants,
towering in spiritual stature far above
all self-seeking and petty individual
interests. Hearken with the ears of
your heart and you will hear a voice
that bids you go forth and prove by
the mighty stature of your life that
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LABOR WORLD.
A union of tbe wood, wire and met
al lathers w r as formed at Bakersfield,
Cal.
Charles H. Miller, a barW. was
chosen as united labor candidate for
Mayor at Seattle, Wash.
Organized labor in Denver. Col.,
united in a demand for the public
ownership of the water supply.
The National Pharmaceutical So
ciety is a union recently formed by
the drug clerks of New York City.
The Pennsylvania system during
the past year has paid 8786,395.15 in
pensions to 3465 retired employes.
International Union of Blacksmiths
decided to send orsranizers to Boston
to organize the craft in that vicinity.
There are 250,000 urorcanized
women workers in New York, and
onlv 15,000 women trade unionists.
A strike for higherwages was made
by 1100 negro employes of the Amer
ican Tobacco Company’s Louisville
plant.
Trainmen and conductors of the
Nickel Plate road negotiated with
General Manager A. W. Johnston for
a wage increase.
The number of national and inter
national unions of laboring people
has grown in nineteen years from
twenty to thirty-five.
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and
Butcher Workmen of North America
decided to hold their annual conven
tion in Louisville, Ky.
The San Francisco (Cal.) Labor
Council has declared in favor of a
hill, introduced in Congress to grant
to postofiice clerks the right to criti
cise the department and to present
grievances.
The Holland trade unions are or
ganizing those workers whose occupa
tion and numbers offer a field for
union action. The unions hav’ al
ready done much in the cities of Hol
land to raise wages.
THE NATIONAL GAME.
The Chicago Club has turned pitch
er Holm back to the Seattle Club, of
the Northwestern League.
The veteran George Van Tlaltren is
umpiring the White Sox practice
games on the Pacific Coast.
.Tack Ryan had his Jersey Citvs
training over in Jersey City, and he
got as good weather as teams in the
South.
“Now that we are going to get
Kling back T think the Cubs are a
cinch for the pennant,” says Cap
Chance.
It is rumored that, Fred Tenney, the
Giants' veteran first baseman, will
soon retire from the game to become
a baseball reporter.
Pitcher Summers has changed his
diet. lie will hereafter eschew meat
and endeavor to do his pitching on
vegetable food, eggs and fish.
Manager McGraw, of the New York
National Baseball Club, has traded
Herzog and Collins, fielders, to Bos
ton for Becker, the Hub’s heavy hit
ting fielder.
With Kling and Archer alternating
behind the hat for the Cubs opposing
managers do not foresee any wild
stampede of their base runners in the
stealing line.
Doc Gessler is one of the most thor
oughly left-handed men in baseball.
His right arm is as useless to him as
the left is to most persons who have
never gone in for athletics. He bats,
throws, eats and writes left-handed.
He is left-legged.
When it comes to knowledge of the
game there will not be an infielder in
the American League which can be
classed with that of the Washington
team. Unglaub, Schaefer, Mcßride
and Elberfeld are what is commonly
known as heady ball players.
Woman's Home Companion for April.
As spring around again, the
Woman’s Home Companion lifts its
own standard another degree with it
Easter issue.
“The Empty House,” a story in two
parts by Elizabeth Phelps, has its
,first enthralling instalment in this
number.
Never was the household so well
taken care of: Margaret Sangster.
Woods Hutchinson, M. D., Kate V
Saint-Maur, Doctor Jean Williams, all
give their best work. "May-Pole
Dancers,” “Wood-Block Printing,”
Perfume Garden,” "Happinese Chest,’
Miss Farmer’s Recipes, Evelyn Par
sons' Summer Embroideries, Music,
Art—these are just some of the con
tents of this surprising magazine. The
regular departments. Miss Gould’s big
Fashion Sheet and the pages devoted
to the Younger Reader, are all better
than ever.