The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-12

serehgth; but this is NOT so II >
eeiehsln OF the law is the strength
civilization. Not with
out reason does the British poet IF
empire cry to his ~far-huno foIlou.
c~Ountrymen: ioiio"
Keep ye the Law; be swift in an
obedience;
Dl.Ie the road and bridge the ford.
Make We sure to each his own.
ne reap where he hath sown;
oS the peace among our peoples LET
men know we serve the Lord ,,
\ Get-Together Meeting.
many cities in the Southern and
Western parts Of the United States
nave entered upon a regular cam
palgn or advertising and
1hey nave adopted slogans and en-
Diems, and assiduOusly WOO increac.a
prosperity. The first step in every
such campaign is to get the people
together, and to make them feel their
CIVIC solidarity. No committee Of
business men can boom a city success
fully, unless there be present the
genuinely unified community con
Ezra had never studied
but he knew human nature. which IS
the same thing, SO his first step, in
the great religious and law-obseryinp
revival which he projected for Jeru-
salem, was to get all the people to
sether IL ore piece. He wanted t.,vn
to become conscious of themselves to
see one another, and to feel the thrill
Of the elbow touch Of which old
soldiers talk. Into the broad place be-
tore the water gate the whole assem-
bly, of the people gathered. Wise is
the church which holds reunions and
Soc1aiS, not for money-making pur-
poses, but solely to promote the self
realization Of the organization.
The churches which expect to have
crowds of worshippers merely by the
fact OF opening their doors, ma take
q lesson from EZra's procedure. He
was Ezra. the great leader, and all
the people had special reason to give
heed to his words. but he y
and planned for his rally as thor
oughly as the laymen max ready for
d Men and Religion campaign. 1t
was not a One-man meeting; Ezra
had with him a corps Of assistants,
l~udiciously placed. He was after re-
suits, and not after a reputation for
pared one. an anticipated one, and an
enthuslastlc one, for the 'get-to-
gether' spirit had hold of the people.
And Gave the Sense"
A man was speaking upon the pos
of Mesopotamia's cotton
ooL IS toOh IOI granted that
his hearers We're more familiar with
geography than was the case, so he
was not surprised when a friend said
TO him, "A man was telling me about
your speech upon the possibilities of
cotton IN China The speaker had
not been careful to make his hearers
understand, which is as truly the
speakers responsibility as it is the
listeners. Most persons listen to the
Bible without expecting to under
stand it as they understand the news
Their knowledge of Mesopo-
taHlia is as hazy as their knowledge
of the Hittites, or the lands Of Paul's
Journeys. A Sunday school teacher
exhibited with pride a map Of
Bible lands showing Ur of the Chal-
deeS as down in the land of Edom
was not very much embarrassed when
the mistake was pointed out. The
assumption is hat all that pertains
to the Bible is somewhat vague and
One does not expect to
comprehend the Bible as he does a
book Of travels Or a history or a
novel.
That state of min was given a
severe jolt by Ezra, who in this great
B~ible-reading assembly had the law
read so that the record runs, And
they read in the book OF the law dis !
tinctly, and they gave the sense, SO
they understood the reading
other book is read SO unintelligent-
~ as the Scriptures. Philips Ques-
ton to the Ethiopian eunuch might
we'll be repeated to many a Christian
at his private deVotiOnS. understand
est thou what thou readest?'
Often the Bible is treated as a sort
of charm or incarnation, to be read
because there is virtue IN 1t, but not
because it is understood. Some folk,
following this good-luck method,
their Bibles at randoH for their
daily reading, trusting to be guided
thereby, though it IS nsuaily the
bookbinder. and not the Spirit. who
determines The pages at which the
volume will open most easily. me
only Bible reading that is worth the
time spent upon it is Bible eadin
which gives the reader the sense OF
what he has rea Otherwise, n
might as we'll read last years almanac
or q volume of cuneiform inscrip-
c~oc,r IEl,o Mazda q Rif.