The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-06-05

3OcpdrLIucHI ScCIcldTleS are dS lOuOWS.t nome
department. Mrs; Pierce Denison. Normal de-
partment Prof. E. w. Fellows. Denison. House
to house. Mrs. Harper, Dow City. Primary. Mrs.
Denison. Missionary, Miss Sadie Neeley. Manila.
June 9-The Passover. Exous, 12.
21:3O.
When one stands before the great
works of man which have passed down
from the long distant past. there can
not help but come feeling of awe.
There is a certainty that the men who
devised and built these did inhabit
the earth. Such must be the sensa-
ton when beholding the great Egyp-
tian pyramids. monuments to the
activities of a people living centuries
before the Greeks and Romans $500
years prior to the birth of Christ.
The same can be said on viewing. the
great wall of China. which spans
wide valleys, climbs steep mountains,
and this for hundreds Of miles. The
presence of the pyramids. the wall
still to be seen. does much to show
that such people as the Egyptians did
exist. and that the natives Of China
did try to keep out the Tartar
hordes with the protecting barrier of
The wall. What is true in the phys
ical world. holds good in the religious
and spiritual. We find to-day a
groupe of people called the Jews year
ly celebrating an event, which they
claim has been the custom of their
ancestors for $500 years. This fact
can but impress the thoughtful mind
that at some time there was an origin
for this event which was Of such impor-
lance to cause the people to feel it
incumbent upon them to. require that
the observance be kept up forever.
Our lesson of this date tells why
the Jews to this day celebrate and
hold in sacred remembrance an event
called in the bible 1.-The Passover. 1t
will be remembered that the Isreal-
ties were held in slavery by the Egg
ptians. and that Moses became the
spokesman before Pharaoh. asking
that those in bondage be set at liber-
ty and allowed to leave the country.
This Pharaoh had refused to do. al
though the land had been visited by
nine most terrible calamities. on the
command of Moses. such as rivers
turning to blood. the cattle dying of
disease. grasshoppers eating up the
crops. lice and frogs becoming a bur-
den. At last Moses told the Egyptian
ruler that unless he let the Isrealites
go, that calamity Of death to the
first born of each family would be
visited. The threat of this tenth
plague did not move Pharaoh and SO
the promised fearful judgment came
on the land.
The Isrealites were told how they
were to escape the plague. They
were to dress themselves as if for a
quick leave taking from Egypt. to
prepare unleaven bread. kill lamb
without blemish and sprinkle some of
the blood on the two side posts and
the upper door post of the houses
wherein they were to eat. They were
to eat IF the bread and the meat. fol-
lowing out many details. The blood
on the door posts was sign that a
believer in the Infinite Jehovah had
his home there. and death did not
come to it as to the homes of the
Egyptians who were to be punished
for their wrong in keeping the Isreal-
ties in captivity. God through Moses
told the Jews to observe each year
this Passover. and to tell their child
rem the meaning of the dav.
The deliverance did not come be-
cause the angel Of death needed to see
the blood on the sides of the door.
but an evidence of faith in God''
show by the family. That night the
Isrealites were save through faith. =
If any Jew had net the faith in the
word of God as communicated by
Moses. to kill his lamb and sprinkle
the blood. the first born of the family
would have been slain on the eventful
night. Later he was told to look at q
serpent raised by Moses on a,pole ane
this would preserve from death wher