The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-22
a NEW WALK IN THE NEW NA4
The International Sunday School Les
son for june eth is a Temperance
Lesson. Romans Is: STA.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

A few weeks ago a New York col
lege graduate was carried Oft 10 al
insane asylum because he had be
come deranged by one of the new
Orienta1 cults that are invading Amer
lea in such profusiOn. The episode
was a reminder Of the variety and
angen of the n~eW-faShlOned re-
ligions which are claiming the interest
of the western world. Yet how few
OF them are really making any i'm
preston upon the great body of peo-
pie, The busy, everyday men and
women do not even guess the exist
ence of these sO-called mahatmaS, and
transcendentalists. and new cid
thought OrientalistS, whose pictures
que garb and ~nebulous, mystical
speech wins the attention of u few
idle and faded spirits.
1t is no slight matter to establish a
new religion. There never has been q
time when it has been easy to get q
hearing from the busy world for the
claims Of a different faith. The in
ertia of things as they are must al
ways be overcome. The triumphs Of
Christianity ave been tremendous.
and aruge hat this gospel must nave
offered a content of truth which man
kind needed and which appealed to
the human Judgment.
In this year 1908 it is rather diff
fcult to realize how fresh and differ
ent and radical were the teachings of
Jesus and the apostles which have
now been gathered into the New Tes-
lament canon. They We're far above
the old pagan PHILOSOPHERS, and ran
counter to many of the fundamental
doctrines of the latter. They super
seeded the LeVitical law of the He
brews and were a marked advance
upon the teachings of loses.
A Study of Contrasts.
The novels of Farrar, Kingsley and
SienckiwicZ show the sharp contrast
between the new life Of the Christians
and the old times into which it was
projected. The life OF the early
Church against a pagan background
is as a shaft of sunrise across the
nights darkness. The ~centiousnes
selfishness, and general immortality of
the world that environed the apostolic
Church makes us Shudder as we view
it from our present standpoint. The
times in which the gospel first showed
its power seem to nave exhibited the
same characteristics which we may
find in the n~OE-Chr.Stian lands today.
The reason cOntemporaneous Chris
tlanlty is not more conspicuous in the
wOrld-that is to say, the reason why
there is not a greater difference be-
tween Christians and non-Christians
in civilized landS-is that we see the
latter on a reflected Christian back
ground. The leaVen of Christianity
has Influenced the entire body of So
ciety. We do not see Christianity in
contrast with sheer paganism, but it's
own radiance has Illuminated it's sur
rOundings so that the light mierges
into lesser light. 1t is a real triumph
for Christianity that the contrast is
no greater. The indirect benefits of
the gospel must be accounted to it's
distinction that Paul presented as he
wrote from corrupt Corinth to the
church in the Roman capital at the
time Of Nero.
The Law of the Golden Age.
The fragment of PauPs letter which
is studied this week is an exhortation
to some of the characteristics which
differentiated the Christians from the
nOn-Christians. 1t will be noticed that
Paul confines himself largely to
stressing principles rather than rules.
The Jews were accustomed to a relig-
ion of definite prescriptions and pre-
Scr1pt1OnS. Now these old regulations
were being superseded by the domin-
ion of the love of Christ in the hearts
of his disciples. The law Of love had
been written as a gloss over the Mo-
sale tables.
Somewhat the same truth is illus
trated by the fact that in the United
States today the Prohibition party is
weaker than it was fifteen years ago.
yet the principles for which it stood
are stronger than ever. The lesser
has been swallowed UP in the greater.
The program has been outdistanced by
the progress of the principle. Paul
was exhOrting his friends to wake up
to their obligation to love. He said
that all Moses had taught was COM
pretended in the single word Tho
shalt love thy neighbor as myself"
The Christian may do much that
the ancient law said he might not do
out upon one point it is inexorable. he
nst rove. Now this new law of
e petter day cannot be a formal rite
love 80 o,a'on. 1t is an upspringine
WITHIN, All the lawyers in