The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-30
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
A NATIONS SECOND CHANCE.
The International Sunday School Les
son for June 4 is, "~Israel's Pcni-
tence and Gods Pardon" Hosea 4.
tBy WILLIAM T. ELL1S.)

into public service. Plunged into the
bitterness of sorrow himself, a man
becomes ~broadened and unnamed,
and quick to taxi thought for the
priefs Of others. Thus william Wal
lace. by the murder of his bride, &C
cording to the familiar story, was leo
to espouse the cause OF Scotland. so
the author Of this book, from which
many Of the familiar phrases Of liter
ature are taken, became a prophet
through the horrible disaster which
befell his own home life, probably
through the immoralities Of idolatry.
His wife proved false to him.; the
children about his table were not his
own children; and at length his wife
fell to the state of an open and
vowed public prostitute. Later. in
her inevitable misery and ~forsaken-
ness, her husband took her back to
himself; not as a wife, Of course. for
such a restoration would have been
impossible, but as a poor penitent
creature to be cared for SO long as
h should survive.
Thus came into being this inco-
herent prophecy OF Hosea. The early
chapters are a strange blending Of the
story Of Hosea's domestic calamity,
and the faithlessness Of Israel, the
bride Of God, to her Lord. The err
ing nation, which had gone after
strange gods, is addressed and de-
scribed under the figure OF a harlot.
The completeness of her decline from
her former glory, and her fall from
her blessed privileges, is set forth most
tragically by the man whose own
poignant grief feathered the arrows Of
his speech.
When Nations Go Astray.
The futility as we'll as the folly Of
sin is a lesson which man has been
slow to learn. ut is worse than a
crime: it is a blunder," is a famous
mot Of general application to sin.
That honesty is the best policy is
a low eason for being honest is true;
nevertheless, it is a valid reason.
"Virtue is it's own reward but 1t
also, eventually and in general,
brings other more tangible rewards
in it's train. Israel's detection to the
idolatrOus nations was a policy, as
wen as a sin against the Most High.
The prophet adverts again and
again to Egypt and Assyria, the two
great heather nations after the ways
Of which Israel lusted, and insists that
their favor is not comparable to that
OF In h ever-recurring
choice between the changing fashions
of earth and the changeless way Of
heaven, Israel was electing to do the
popular thing, rather than the right
thing. But most seekers after popu-
AAAiNy oAS LIN 81 (Co civ Ian -
ing Jews were pinning their conf
dence to a losing cause. The boasted
and boastful Memphis and Asshur. to
which Hosea alludes, are now ruins,
long forgotten, until the spade Of the
archaeologist turned them up: I nave
walked over both of them, and above
all their buried pillars and palaces
could be read. "Ichabod'-"the glory
has Departed"
This flaming Jew Of old, whose
words are today being conned by mil
lions. was thinking in national terms.
He was able, especially in the latter
part Of his prophecy, to rise above
what was personal and temporal IN
the situation, and deal with national
problems. The art of thinking mperi-
ally is one that the teachers Of today
should impart to all their pupils. 1t
is fair n reasonable exegesis to APP
ply this story to our own land and
time. In it's early days, and time Of
weakness, this nation was deeply and
publicly religious. Now, in the time
of our prosperity, we are tempted to
go after the idols of show and wealth
and material power, leaning upon As
syria and Egypt, as it were. So the
prophet message for the hour is a
back to our first love, and
to a childlike loyalty to Jehovah.
The greatest Of p~resent-day prophets
speaks it in his Song of the Eng
lish:'
'Fair is our lot-Oh goodly is our
heritage!
tHumble We, my people, and be fear
full in your mirtht)
For the Lord our O. Most High
He hath made the deep as dry,
He hath smote for us a pathway to
the ends of all the earth,
Hold We the Faith-the Faith our
Fathers sealed US;
Whoring not with viSions-oYerwise
and overstale.
Except ye pay the Lord
single heart and single sword,
OF your children in their bondage
shall He ask them treble-tale!