Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-07-11
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
MENTS FOR JULY IA BY THE
REV. Z. w. HENDERSON.

Subject: The Ten COMMANDMENTS
Duties Toward God, Elk. 2O:1.
11-Golden Text: Deut. 6:5-
Memory Verses, iii.
This lesson and its successor deal
! with the ten commandments. OF all
Old Testament writings these are
perhaps the best known. There are
no words in all the Old Testament
more important than these. They
should be written large upon the
walls of every building in the land.
Especially large and lasting upon the
walls of the public buildings. They
should be the guide for the guidance
Of the life of humanity In so far as
they meet the moral necessities of
the times For the ten command
ments are eternal. They are not
only the word of God but the testi-
mony of the ripest and best human
experience of the ages. They are
valuable because they are Gods law,
because they are simple, because they
have been found efficient In the past
and particularly applicable and
necessary in our ov.. day and age.
The first commandment Is to be
found in verses 1-3. 1t Is call OF
God to undivided loyalty. There
cannot be right relationship between
man and God unless man stands
ready to yield fealty to God to the
exclusion of every other fact and
force in life. Originally and specific
ally it was a call to the undivided
loyalty of the Israelite to the one
true Jehovah as opposed to the null
titude of deities that infested the &C.
clesiastical and theological world OF
that age. But in its wider signif-
canoe it Is a call to the service of the
one true God over against the seduc-
lions of the pleasures and the sins
and the engrOssing cares Of the life
temporal. For many man makes
money a God, or position. or power,
or intellect, or pleasure.
The second command Ia included
in verses 4-6. Given in the midst OF
an idolatrous age this command was
especially appropriate. For idolatry
had destroyed the finer spiritual fac
ulties of the nations that practiced 1t,
lowered their conceptions Of the ma
jesty and spirituality Of Jehovah and
debased their religious life. The
principle underlying this command is
valid to-day There is great danger
in any attempt to portray the invisi-
Bile and omnipotent Cod In the very
nature of the case 1t Is an impOssi-
bility adequately to convey, however
skillful we may be. any really COM
prehensive idea of the glory and per-
sonality of God. For God Is divine.
Humanity and the works of human
ity are finite and partial. And any
attempt to convey to the mind and
heart and soul, by means of purely
finite and temporal agencies, true
conception of the infinite and eternal
is hopeless and quite dangerous. Its
hopelessness Is inherent In its very
impossibility Its danger lies in the
human proneness to elevate the visi-
bic to place of prime Importance.
The third commandment is in
verse Z. And it is n good command.
1t is as timely to-day as 1t was when
God Numbered 1t into the souls of
Israel. The language of the times is
in many ways a gross violation of this
command. The vocabulary OF the
streets is SO positively indecent that
one cannot walk the thoroughfares
of any village or city In this land
ties shocked. The amount of goddess
talk that is prevalent in this country
is positively awful. And 1t is not
only unrighteOus to use the name OF
God in vain, but 1t is also unmanly,
indecent and disgusting Every
small boy and growing youth should
early learn this truth IL none other
that had language is simply con-
- 10 fol IN N
to talk the language of civilized and
decent men. The idea that 1t is man.
ly and an evidence of maturity to
curse and swear and be generally
profane Is totally erroneous. A mans
culture and refinement are shown not
by the amount of bad language that
he uses, but by the amount he doesn't
use. There Is no excuse for bad lam
guage. 1t is simply dirty habit.
The fourth commandment may be
read in verses Gil. 1t is a plea and
demand for the dedication Of one
seventh of ones time to the particu-
lar purpose of religious and physical
refreshment The writer personally
has no preference for any particular
day as a rest day. For he conceives
that the important thing to-day Is to
so remedy conditions In this country
that men shall be able to have one
day a week for spiritual and physical
refreshment. He Is perfectly willing
to allow individual liberty OF prefer
ence and conscience full sway when
it comes to the consideration of what
day in the week shall be used as the
rest day. He is, however, puritani-
cally narrow on the proposition that
we must so adjust present industrial
conditions in America that men may
be able, one and all, to secure one
day week for the special culture OF
their souls and the best refreshment
of their bodies.
The fourth commandment contains
another ADMIRATION that might we'll
be pondered by some OF tho lazy loaf
ers Of young men who waste their
time hanging around hotel and sa-
loon corners instead of doing some-
thing for the betterment of the world
and themselves. 1t says six days
shalt thou labor" And no man is
really entitled to any consideration
at the hands of society unless he has
in some fashion measured up to this
command. No man really appre-
ciates the rest day who has not lab
ored over against 1t. And no man
has any business to live on society
without rendering some sort or re-
turn for the living.
SWANS DEFEAT A FOX.