The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-05

INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Copyright, Davis W. Clark) sSs%s

it may have been idealized by a grateful memory 1t is hard to say.
 keffs profound words are worthy of all
 attention when he says: This bread of
 Heaven was the production and gift of the
 grace of God. which fills all nature with
 its powers and productions, and so applies
 them to the purposes of salvation as to create out of that which is natural some the ordinary productions of nature, both
 in quality and quantity, as far as the kingdom of nature is surpassed by the kingdom of grace and glory" The Teachers Lantern. The inutility and moral ugliness of the grumbling habit has it's historic illustra- ton In the wilderness fife of Israel. Fault-finding becomes an end in itself when persisted in. Nothing comes of it except an unlovely and unlovable dispo-
 sition. It is reckless in it's use of lam guage, so that 1t has passed to a proverb
 that. complainers io not weigh their words.
 There is a faultfinding, however which
 Is admirable. 1t has the noble quality of
 moral earnestness. It has a definite end
 in view. It seeks the correction of exist ing evils. With one hand it points to the high ideal; with the other, to the
 low reality. This is the faultfinding of the reformer. This was ono function of the prophets of Israel. It is the high calling of present-day reform. Moses was admirably equipped for the
 captaincy of the pilgrim nation in the wilderness. He had had forty years dis cpline in desert life. He knew, by per sonal experience, the emergencies and dangers, and how to avoid or extricate himself from them. He had suffered hun ger, thirst, and attacks of predatory Be- douin. Israel had not leader who could not be touched with feeling of his in- nrmities, for he had been in all points
 tested as Israel himself was being tested.
 Here is an interesting study in philos- ophy, an illustration of how words have
 their origin. These people found on the
 ground one morning globule of the CO., .agulated juice of the tarfa. They had
 neN CT seen it before, naturally they cried, In their language, Ma 1-hu?'' in our Ian
 guage, What is it?" and that is what
 1t was Gin name) always afterward for
 ..iis investigation of the strivings of the
 human mini to express itself in articulate sound. We have a homely illustration of It in the child's learning to talk,
 The Jewish tradition that pot of mama was kept in the ark is probably an error. They were directed to set the pot of mama lliterally) before, not in the ark. It was a manna-pot, a recep- tacle Of the kind the Israelites used. It is not necessary to suppose that it was filled with miraculously-preser mama The vessel itself stood for the contents. It was an obJect-lesson-a souvenir.
 Here is incidental evidence that the Sabbath was already in existence. Be- fore the Decalogue the Israelites are di- rected to gather a double portion of man. na on the sixth day, and not to gather divine disfavor. The fourth command ment is evidently not a new ordinance but the reiteration of a command already binding. The Sabbath is not only for man, but has been his from the beginning of time. It Is not Hebrew. It is humani From 0 natural standpoint 1t would be in- finite folly for labor to give up it's rest.
 The desert is camera. It photographs hn re a..lft tad countries and the names of civilized na- tions are in a perpetual state of change, but the desert and it's inhabitants are alike unchangeable. So we can know by what We see there today how Israel look ed in the wilderness, and what his expe- riences were.
 The Bible IS a microcosm. A little world is crowded between it's lids As in camera, enc sees In 1t all the familiar objects of natare. This is consequent up- on the nearness to natures heart with which the inspired writers lived. It .s one Of the beauties and literary charac- teristics of the Bible. This correspond ence between the natural and spiritual is 80 wonderful and helpful, that we can not but believe it designed. God intended that the natural should interpret to us the supernatural.
 Israei's supreme and inveterate error af- ter all was not only that he distrusted Gods providence as to his food, but that hesragarded that food itself as the chief thing he was to live for. But this is not the error of Israel. it is the error of hu- manity It was this Jesus confronted when he said, Say not what shall we eat?" And, again, Man shall not live by bread alone" Mere living is not the end of life.
 In this sense mama is the type of Jesus. He is the Bread of life, the Bread of Heaven. in that He shows us the true sustenance of life. He said. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me" Concord with God. being fin tune with the infinite that is the real support and obj9ct of life.