The Holt County sentinel. (Oregon, Mo.) 1883-1980, 1911-05-12
EALAH'S CALL
TO SERVICE

Lesson rExr-Isaiah g. Memory
GOLDEN TEXT heard IN. voIc. Of
the Lore. saying. Whom shall send. and
an ]: send me"-Isa- 60
| T1ME-The year when King Cz,ish
died. which was tRescherD .. G. as. %
CHsstinGs, d. c. 10
| PLACE The Temple In Jerusalem.
| kiNoS-fn Israel. Msnahem; In A..
syrta. Asshur dam III.
This 10 . home missionary lesson.
We are asked 10 read Isaiah -. What
home missionsry thoughts are to be
found there Those glowing sentences
are In many particulars faithful pic
lures Of our wealthy modern nations.
There are the unexampled movement
Of immigration. the aping Of evil Gus.
/ toms from other lands. the vast wealth,
the mammon.aorship the pride. The
social wrongs and expressions. tho
iDiss0v ernment. the devotion TO fash.
Ion and luxury. and In II ell q nucleus
Of nobility that will bring about the
utmost triumph OF sodlinessi There
IL az great need that We should work
Tor our country NJ that Isaiah should
work for his. and. though We are 20
much inferior TO Isaiah. yet God calls
us In essentially the same way to The
same great service.
The literary qualities most conspic-
nous In Isaiah II the wealth and bril-.
liancy OF his Imagination. No other
Old Testament writer has the same
x,f Not, a al
.cripiion. There II no other Hebrew
suthor who furnishes the reader with
90 many quotablc sentences. One can
imagine the people Of Jerusalem stop
ping one another on the street. to tell
and hear the latest from the prophet.
I'his. Of course. WAS precisely what he
desired and intended. Isaiah was .
sense Of the word. This In evident
from his vivid. quaint description OF
the strange manufactured idols and
images Of worship. from his curious
and vivid picture Of female luxury and
fashion In his day
The events Of bis time may bs
summed up In two momentouS occur.
"
the Assyrisns upon the small states ~
Syria and Palestine. paraiyxinG their
national consciousness. and with this
alss their national religions. judah
WAS not destroyed like Saa,sris, but
lis independence VIA lost. and II vas
the prophets chief political task to
enable his country to adjust itself 10
lA A. al
issiah's maxim WAS no politics" lie
strongly dissusded Ahsz from enisn.
Cling himself with Assyria, but when
his advice WAS disregsrded and Judah
become subject Ia Assyria no resist.
I'd With equal strenuOusnsss sll o..
tenipts TO throw on the Assyrisn
woke.
The second occurrence was the fall
nf Samaria. by which the mission Of
united Israel became the heritage Of
Judah alone, During all these troub-
lOns times Isaiah was the leading
statesmen Of his country.
Isaiah WAS fllsd with fear OF
vision because Il WAS . vision Of God,
and the Hebrews believed that no one
could zee God and live. Isaiah loved
God, and instinctively he prepared to
Join his voice TO the sersphs' chant,
but ere the harmony could pass his
lips he caught his breath and was
dumb. A horrible sense Of uncless.
moss seized him.
One Of the bright ssrspha. glowing
- With Gre. and With winss like the
iighining Aash," took Y hot stone With
tonga from the altar and touched Iss.
iah's lips With II In token Of purihcs,
tios. The hot stone 10 . stsns kept
In all ancient Oriental households ~
means Of applying hest 10 household
purposes.
Why does Jehovah seek . man to
20 on his errsnds. when he has the
winged Sersphs! Because mon can
reach men better than angels can.
Only once did God choose . completely
sinless preacher, Always. but that
once. God has chosen sinful men: aud,
not seldom. the most sinful Of men he
could get to speak to their fellow.men
auick to offer himself a. the mssen.
ger because he felt himself, with his
sin removed, both ht and able for
service. and wanted TO show his graf.
itnde for what had been done for
him.
How does this marvellous chapter sp
ply to our nation and TO home mis-.
sions? II contains . message Of doom
and = message Of hope and promise
Which shall It be for our nation! The
former, II Christians are Needless Of
the great work before them. to evan.
gelixe the masses Of our fellow.coun.
trymen that do net know Christ. The
latter. II home missions are earnestly
promoted. In the spirit and power Of
our Lord.
One Of the chief problems Of homo
missions 10 the large number Of for.
eign immigrants. When the United
states IL prosperous more than . mil.
lion Of these come TO our shores every
year. and about three.fourths of them
eAmaiu