The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-03-01
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
What Church Folk Are think
ina About and Doing
rur WORK THAT WARRANTS ifah1
WORD.


hN 90
f;y WILLIAM II. ELLIS.
oro,r stories. q startling dec
I.ra+fon and q divine principle com
,risa This weeks Sunday school les
.or as set forth in the SlXteenlh
,-srea. from Matthew's Gospel. ne
stories are of deeds that show the
Great Teacher as the Great boef: HIS
actions yindicating His utteranceS'
h. sermon on the Mount being prac-
,ised on the plain. They are deeds
Of healing. 1iguring forth the divine
p~rinciDle OF the mission OF the Nlca-
ri0us Redeemer-"Himselt took our
infirmities and bare our ~sicknesSes
The proposition which startled the
hea rcrs of Jesus wen more than 1t
surprises lis concerned the entrance OIL
thu heather into the Kingdom ahead
ot the children Of Abraham and the
Promise.
While the thought Of more than
two myriad millions of people IS con-
cantrated on this particular passage
in the Book Of books there is some
tiauger that the miracles of healing
VIII ne interpreted to stress unduly
the importance OF health. That IS
a tendency OF the times. Good health
IS being apotheosized as the supreme
good. But it is not. The glory OF
humanity is that it can think great
thoughts and do great works despite
the hindrance Of physical infirmity.
No doubt we should rejoice to see
that the world is coming to see that
the body, which is the spirits only
tool. should be better cared for and
not SO shamefully misused. That is
wholesome. Non the less. the health
faddist needs to be reminded occa-
SlonallE that some of the lowest races
of mankind have been the healthiest;
and that mere hogily welfare is not
4 sufficient goal OF existence. Good
health is only a means to a worthier
end.
The Modern Lepcr's Plight.
Every few weeks the newspapers
announce that a certain ex-soldier OF
the United States is or is not a leper.
He has been driven from pillar to
post by the doctors and the author
tiles. Once he is pronounced free of
faint. again he is declared to be in
rurably contaminated. Public inter-
est in the mans ease does not sub
side, because the Western world is
possessed OF a deep, uniformd nor
ror of the loathsome disease of lep-
rosy. The healing of the leper by
Jesus appeals to the popular imagi-
nation.
Having seen scores and hundreds
OF lepers. in all stages OF the dread
nlaiadv, [ can understand why this
should be popularity accepted as the
best type Of sin. Well do I recall the
blazing day hen [ visited the leper
asylum at Alahabad; and one poor
fellow. whose hands had rotted off.
ieaFlng him only stumps of wrists,
came up and pleaded for a bed on
which TO sleep. He had been lying
on the ground and the white ants had
hitteu him; and he was unable to
brush them off. That same day | saw
a beautiful young Christian oma
VINO was making the most of her life
long exile by teaching the other wo-
men and children. Similarly, in JaDan
! had seen, in q Christian leper asy-
fuln-and there were no government
a5ytufns. guarantees or regulations
III japan Tor iepers until two or three
years a3o-a teacher who was spend
ing what was left of his DAYS in try
ing 70 kindle the lamp of learning
and OF faith in tie breasts of his fell
lows.
The News from MoIOkai.
All enlargement OF what Christian
~ IS doing today for lepers i'm MANY
parts OF the East is as near as We
can to duplicating the miracle
or Jesus. He claimed the faith-tilled
lerer. and sent him on his way re-
Joieing. That JOY is beyond our pow
er to appreciate.
me nearest approach to it in mod
erh experience occurred recently al
Lhe ieptr as5 tum OF the Island OF
Molohai. Hawaii. There the govern
ment physicians have been making
aft examination and they reported that
at least fifty Of the exiles were nm
TAINTED, and entitled to their liberty.
me dispatches merely intimated the
Soy o. the friends and families, and
I Ir . no nr>1 VA
YET unexanlined but it was reDOrted
that the men and women who had
suddenly come upon freedom were
fairly delirious with happiness. The
picture which the cables thus ont
lined. IKE the one drawn in Mat
thew Gospel, merely typifies the far
greater soy Of the person who has
t-en suddenly delivered from the
dom and doom Of sin
A Soldier Story.
biscouraging as the patient Peach
er often oun people, he Yet occa-
%<"iat;y mad q haartening eSper;aooo