The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-21

The International Sunday School Les
son for September &c is a Temper
ance Lesson. / Cor. 1O:23-33.
By WILLIAM T, ELLIS.

The line liberty and re-
sponsibility is difficult for unframed
vision to discern. Children and i'm
mature adults wonder why they can
not do as they please. Il will do as
] please says the headstrong per-
son: yes, he may, # he lives alone
on a desert sland. But once let a
neighbor draw nigh and he can no
longer please himself. Relationships
create responsibilities. 1t is impossi-
BILE to dwell in human society with
out some sacrifice of individuality.
There must be mutual concessions
and adaptation where men live to-
gether. One mans rights must term
mate where another's begin. Most
of the talk that we hear now con-
corning personal liberty is needless
of this basic principle. Personal lib
ertv must ever oe subordinate to
community welfare.
That truth is recognized in Pata-
gonna and on the Congo, as we'll as
in the most highly organized civiliza-
ton in the world. There Is even a
higher law than this, however. Social
welfare abrogates many personal
liberties, but there is a loftier plane
erected by the apostle Paul in this
lesson. Let NO man seek his own,
but his neighbours good" Instead or
looking out for number one, he looks
out for number two. This means a
tremendous stride away from selfish
;n~diyidualism When men seek the
welfare Of their neighbors above that
of themselves, they are creating some
thing ~wondrously like unto Utopia or
the Kingdom Of Heaven. Yet noth-
ing less than this fulills the higher
law Of Christ.
An Ancient Problem.
Over in him Christian converts
are very much concerned about the
so-called worship OF ancestors. Iney
want to worship their new-found LORD
and him alone, yet veneratlon Tor
their ancestors is deeply inwrought in
their consciousness. They can see
clearly hat the issue is drawn be-
tween Buddhist and Taoist idols and
Christian worship; but the question
of ancestors leads them into 1og.
Some missionaries advocate that the
yeneration Of ancestors be not re-
earded as worship, but that 1t be &C
cented as entirely proper in a Chris
tan
Somewhat similar to this present
day Chinese perplexity was that which
beset he Christians Of Corinth, 70
whom Paul wrote this letter. We
hove to put ourselves back very far
from our present Christian clvlilza-
ton to appreciate their difficult POSI-
fi0n InGS0 r LAd& ASCo - 0~
on communities. h worship OF idos
was bound up with all the social life
and customs of their time. The meat
that was offered for sale in the mar
ket place had in most cases been hrst
presented to an idol. This faint or
idolatry disturbed some sensitive con-
sciences. they did not want to make
even that much compromise Win
heathendom. 1t seemed to them, IN
tbeir religious fastidiOusness, that
there should be laid down a code or
regulations to govern all these prac-
tees
Man-Made Sins.
This type of man, which seeks a
relieion Of rules and regulations. is
very We have it to-day.
The tendency to tag little man-made
sins is a prevalent one IL has us
root in the same self-conSclousneSs
ond weakness of conscience which ap-
pealed from Corinth to Paul to make
q ruling on the question or meat
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, ms
larger experiences and deeper discern
ment of Christ's teachings showed
him that if would be laying upon the
converts burdens too grievous 70 De
borne to require them to accept an
intricate scheme Of peccad1lloes. Otn-
er religions have not eScapeo tIiis
snare. Buddhism, for instance, is an
elaborate zystem of requirements
which it is impossible for any person
to fulfill and still retain the normal
relationships Of society. Paul dld not
believe in that ascetic type of relle1on
which would withdraw man from
their kind. He did not want to see a
class of Christian Pharisees develop
ed like unto those who had merlted
the scorn of Jesus. Christianity IS
not a code Of conduct: 1t is a Big
~all-embracing principle Of life, when
may be adapted to any conditions.
The Law of Liberty.