Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-07-13
CHRISTIAN EaDEAvoR.



Beginning July ~, 1910.
Topsc.-The Christian use OF letter writ
ng-Ps. xiv. /. John Il. i5-is. Edited By
Rev. Sherman a. Doyle. D. D.
Writing Is one of the most useful
and practical Of al the arts that have
been invented By man and for the use
Of man. Ii 10 also most interesting to
20 back into the early centuries and
study the earliest forms Of communi
cations BY man in writing, the earliest
alphabets and the materials upon
which writing was first done and the
progress made until we have reached
the highest point in this important and
useful art. The word alphabet comes
from the union Of the first two letters
Of the Greek alphabet, alpha" and
beta In all about 200 aiphabets are
known. fifty Of which are In actual
use. There are various kinds Of mate
rails upon which writing has been
done, but the chief ones upon which
writing has come down to US are
stone. clay. metal. papyrus- wood.
leather, wax tablets. parchment and
paper. / imagine that all writing start
ed with hleroglyphics upon stones.
such as the American Indians used on
stones and on trees. Egyptian script
began Oh stone. and the BabylonIans
first used clay tablets with cuneiform
writing. The writing was done In soft
clay tablets and then allowed to hard
en- in the sun or kiln baked Writing
on papyrus By the priests was done In
Egypt as well as writing on stone
Leather was used by the Jews. and
when II was extra fne-the hides Of
on both sides II was called parchment.
and this parchment was used for the
sacred writings and was rolled up In a
scroll. Eellum is a still finer kind Of
parchment For earliest practical uses
the Greeks and Romans used a wood
fine wax This was written upon By a
piece Of metal, wood or ivory The
opposite end was a palette and was
used 10 erase the wax or to make 1t
smooth Paper made Of vegetable fiber
or rags Is supposed to have been FIRST
invented by the Chinese In the ninth
century IT was introduced into Europe
by the Arabian and In the thirteenth
century 1t was used In France for deeds
and In the fifteenth for books Here
we see an incident Of Gods provi-
dence. The printing press vas discov-
cred. Printing by movable types was
invented by German about the mid
die of the fifteenth century. But ii
would have been useless had not paper
been invented and just introduced into
Europe. for no form Of material for
writing hitherto known could have
been used on printing press
Among the muititudincus uses Of let
ter writing TO Christians il has been in
valuable This fact IL practically dem
onsfrated In the use OF letter writing
by the apostles TO churches. TO iDdivid-
uals and the Christians OF the world
Moreover. Christ after His ascension In
dited to the Apostle John letters for
each one of seven churches Of Asia
Minor. John declares in his first epis-
tie that he is writing to three classes
Of readers. fathers. young men and the
children, covering the three general
periods Of life. childhood. youth and
manhood
{. To each one Of these he wrote par
tieular message. In our letter writing
as Christians we should have partic-
ular object In view, and there are
many especial occasions suitable for
Christian letter writing: nJ To comfort
the sick Many are umid and cannot
visit the sick. In many cases they can
not be seen. In either case a letter.
however brief, Of comfort and cheer
win be greatly appreciated. and any
one can take the time TO write such
letter. G, To comfort the bereayed
Much letter writing Of this kind Is
done by friends. but our correspond
ence Of this character could be extend
ed to the humble classes. who seldom
souls for Christ letter writing may be
made very useful A written word
may have great weight under the
blessing Of God when you cannot
speak to those in whom you are inter
ested. al An Invitation by letter invit-
ing non-churehgoers TO come TO church
or some church organization through
which they may be saved. Write at
least one letter a week to some one Of
these classes Of people and you will
soon be writing many more. seeing the
usefulness Of them and the Joy you
will experience in helping others.
BIBLE READINGS.
Job xix. 1921: Jer. xxi. 80: Eek. Ii.
$40. Luke K. 10. 20; Rom. /. 1-12: xvi,
IA; II Cor II. Is: Ill. 1-G: Kill. 2. 10;
II Thess. Ii. IS; iii. l4-1s: Phi. 1. %;
Pet. 1. 81. 22-25; III John
Testimony to Christian Endsavor.
DIR. Francis e. CLARK has had several
kind letters from former President
N,