The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-16

T" that to this day h maker Of
rarahles is the Wisest OF teachers,
f %1en as we read Of the one who ex-
nnl}nded his new philosophy amid the
waving flowers OF dalllee- "ltnoul d
,arabIa spake he not unto them.'
bal literature has the simple strength
&c directness of actual life. The
naerrr-craftsman of the Old Tesla
mant canon whose figure Of the vine
ard is this weeks Sunday school les
SON knew the Owe Of a familiar and
homelv incident, crowded with a di-
for Isaiah to employ h vineyard
metaDhor, for he spoke in a land Of
,inezl3rds, some of the ancient wine
rrasces Of which, cut in the solid
rock. persist to this day. Fol- the
modern city man to use that same
metaphor, when he is surrounded by
= wonderful symbolism of present-day
rfvfIiZatfon. is not natural or effective.
Each ages appliances should be made
the vehicle Of each ages truth.
The Unproductive Class.
The fault Of the vineyard about
which the prophet sang was that it did
not produce properly. OutWardly, it
was a very fair vineyard. The fruit
which it bore, though, was not the
fruit which the husbandman a a
right to expect. In a word, it failed
III IDdl III ST 1Cdu Vi q 1
8 plant or a civilization-to bring forth
results commensurate with its pow
ers and opportunity. After all consid-
e~rationS have been weighed, that is the
final Judgment; did 0 bear fruit?
Excuses Will not serye; fruit must be
shown.
A short time ago I met a titled and
wealthy Britisher who, like SO many
Of the upper classes of that country
was railing against the Democratic, or
as he called it, the sOcialistic trend
Of his land. The usurpation Of priv
tlege and authority by the masses
made him furious. He, an absentee
nobleman, fatty avOwed the old doc
trine OF the divine right Of the up
per classes to rule the lower. No me-
dieval king could state the proposition
more flatly. Nevertheless, he himself
belonged to the non-productive class:
his claim was to an inherent privilege
regardless Of his deserts. He looked
upon the whole earth as a big game
preserve, for the exercise Of his sport
ing proclivities; and he regarded the
great mass of his neighbOrS and ten
ants as designed by a wise Providence
to maintain him in idleness and lux
Cry.
That man III would not like to
be called an ~anachrOnism. though he
is, and his twin brother, the man who
$1,000 49, las 4 vi LII ooppoI L
him, are modern types of the ancient
Jewish nation. They are making no
adequate return to the world for the
privilege Of existence. They are not
wells or springs Or living streams. but
only stagnant cisterms, or Dead Seas,
Nhlch take in and never give out.
An Heir of the Ages.
All the piled-up wisdom of the East
had been inherited by Israel. It was
NOT ont Of h ~ ;rx f1@+ h-o Ioa~
came to Canaan but from the ad-
Hanced civilization Of the great Baby
3onlan city Of Or Of the Chaldees,
with its mass Of literature, it's codified
laws and its science and commerce.
we know that the Jews were in touch
with the highly organized, though
1dolatrous, life of Mesopotamia. The
warnings as we'll as the benefits OF
THIS heather civilization were theirs
1hey also had their own unique ex-
perlence-the discipline in Egypt, the
"anderings in the Wilderness, the les
sons Of nation-building, the specia
revelations from Jehovah and the pc
cuIlar protection and guidance of His
providence. No nation before had
ever been the recipient of such espec,
,al bounty and consideration. They
mad been trained for a peculiar mis-
oA-an had failed.
ny doeS not IKE TO Sluuy the ldll'
OfeS of history, though the pursuit i:
profitable. Nations. i men, have
missed their opportunities. The most
conspicuous instance, of course, is tn
nation of Israel. The Holy Roman
empire a a glorious chance-ant
neglected it. Spain was once a fore
most christian power, now it Is
negligible factor among nations. TIL
federated Christian nations of tn
'rusaoes held the Holy Lane and ia
more Of the Near East than is com
monty supposed, for a hundred years
and fell back before the infidel onl.
because Of their own petty j~ealousies
rlNalrles and personal ambitions Ha'
II not been for this the whole of ives
tern Asia and eastern Europe woul'
probably be Christian today ant
me menace Of Pan-Islam would no
be troubling the leaders Of the We
rs a specter. Great Britain Is ap
ldrentlN nnu ;r hnr rriSic. mo nrav