Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-21
The international Sunday School Les
son for September 20 Is a Temper
ance Lesson. Cor. 10: 1928.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
the no AS PLEASE" CROWD.

sponsibility is difficult for unframed
vision to discern. Children and lmma,
ture adults wonder why they cannot
do as they please. Il will do as
please" says the headstrong person;
yes, he may, il he lives alone on a
desert island. But once let a nelghoor
draw nigh and he can no longer please
himself. Relationships create respon-
sibilities. It is impossible to dwell III
human society without some sacrihce
of Individuality There must be mu-
tual concessions and adaptation
where men live together: One man S
rights must terminate where another
begin. Most of the talk that we hear
now concerning personal liberty is
needless of the basic principle. Per-
sonal liberty must ever be subordinate
to community welfare.
That truth is recognized in Patago-
mia and on the Congo, as we'll as IN the
most highly organized civilization IN
tie world. There Is even a higher law
than this. however. Social welfare ab-
Fogates many personal liberties, but
there Is loftier plane erected by the
apostle Paul In this lesson. Let no
man seek his own, but his neighbor's
good" Instead of looking out for num-
her one, he looks out for number two.
This means a tremendous stride away
from selfish individualism. When men
seek the welfare of their neighbors
above that of themselves, they are
creating something wondrously like
unto Utopia or the Kingdom of Heav-
en- Yet nothing less than this fulhils
the higher law Of Christ.
An Ancient Problem.
Over in China Christian converts
are very much concerned about the So
called worship of ancestors. they
want to worship their new-found Lord
and him alone, yet veneration for their
ancestors is deeply inwrought in
their consciousness. They can see
clearly that the issue is drawn be-
tween Buddhist and Taoist idols and
Christian worship: but the question OF
ancestors leads them into fog. Some
missionaries advocate that the ven
Grafton of ancestors be not regarded
as worship, but that it be accepted as
entirely propef(in a, Christian.
Somewhat similar to this present
Chinese perplexity was that which be-
set the Christians Of Corinth, to whom
Paul wrote this letter. We have to
put ourselves back very far from our
present Christian civilization to appre-
ciate their difficult position. These
Christians lived in heather commune
ties. The worship of idols was bound
up with all the social life and customs
of the time. The mat that was offered
for sale in the market place had in
most cases been presented to an idol.
This faint Of idolatry disturbed some
sensitive consciences. They did not
want to make even that much compro-
mise with heathendom. 1t seemed to
them, in their religious fastidiousness
that there should be laid down a code
of regulations to govern all these prac-
tees.
Man-Made Sins.
This type of man, who seeks a re-
iigion of rules and regulations, is
very common. We have it today. The
tendency to tag little man-made sins
Is a prevalent one. 1t has its root in
the same self-consciousness and weak.
ness Of conscience which appealed
from Corinth to Paul to make rul-
ing on the question of food that had
been offered to idols.
With his wide vision, Paul saw that
this would be burdensome, He even
went beyond the instructions of the
other apostles at Jerusalem. His lar
ger experiences and deeper discern
ment of Christ's teachings showed
him that it would be laying upon the
converts burdens to grievous to be
borne to require them to accept an in
tricate scheme of peccadilloes Other
religions have not escaped this snare.
Buddhism, for instance, is an elabor-
ate system of requirements which it
is impossible for any person to fulfill
and still retain the normal relation
ships of society. Paul did not believe
In that ascetis type of religion when
would withdraw men from their kind.
He did not want to see a class of
Christian Pharisees developed, like
unto those who had merited the scorn
of Jesus. Christianity is not code of
conduct; it is big, all-embracing
principle of life, which may be adapt
ed to any conditions
The Law of Liberty
Fearlessly and in the face of apos-
tolic instruction as we'll as of tradi-
ton, Paul enunciated the truth of
Christian liberty. For freedom did
Christ set men free. Their obligation
TO him alone and their liberty to serve
him in the ways that he would make
plain to them individually was SUI
preme. Alongside of this no other
mans scruples could stand for min
Ute. The principle of Christian liber-
ty is greater than any detail of prac-
tice. Upon this fundamental PROPOSE
ton Christian teachers should square
ly plant their feet. The modern ten
dency. happily growing weaker every
year, to regulate the Christians life
in matters of detailed practice by &C.
clesiastical prescription finds no war
rant in the New Testament One
mans computations may not bind an
other mans conscience Christ is not
honored by machine-made and marked
disciples. Liberty is essential to life.
II was a grave responsibility, how
ever, which Paul placed upon the
Christians of Corinth when he ac-
corded to them this unprecedented
measure of independence and liberty.