The farmer and mechanic., 1911-10-03
SOME THINGS RELIGION DOES.
The International Sunday School Les
son FOR October s is THE Life
pixiuu Stream" Ezekiel Al: 112.

The International Sunday School Les
son For October is 1.-The Life
giving Stream" Ezekiel IL: 1-12.
tBy WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)
The person who has seen what the
old biographies used to call the great
American desert" and the one VINO
knows MeSopotamia or the Sahara,
can best understand the proHhet
EaekiePs figure of the water tnat
brought life Much of the so-calieo
desert Of the Wnst is now fruitful
farm land: water did it. Wherever
the Nile can be introduced INTO the
Sahara, luxuriant crops grow. Meso-
potamia is now being redeemed by
the reconstruction Of the ancient II
rigation system.
Old Ezekiel lived along one Of these
canals, "the river Chebar. be knew
that the unparalleled fertility OF
Babylonia which was then the most
productive and the M ost densely popu-
lated section Of the earth was ut
terly dependent upon the elaborate
system of canals which carried the
Eaters Of the Euphra-es and the T1gris
over all lower Mesopotamia- Which
ever way he turned his eyes he read
the lesson water Of life"
I know the region Ezekiel knew.
But now it is gray, arid waste, only
the camei-thorn managing to suoslst
upon it. 1 have travelled over these
Crcary and unproductive stretches,
where the lazy fatalism Of Islam has
allowed the dtdhes to be broken and
leyeled so that the water has gone,
and sterility has come.
A Lesson Writ in Soil.
The man of genius. such as Ezekiel
could not fail to apply this powerful
lesson, written in every square mile OF
the landscale. He, like a true artist.
took the near at hand objects to illus
trate an eternal truth All the exiled
Jews were as familiar as he with the
beneficent life-giving power of water
upon the soil Of Babylonia. Ezekiel
was now engaged in preparing them
to return to their native land, after
the seventy years Of captivity should
be over And by such parallels as
that of the valley Of dry bones, and
the widening stream Of water gush-
tng from l5enleath the temple, he
realization of what spiritual religion
the life-giving power Of God
might do for them. Except they
returned chastened and revived the
exile would nave been in vain.
The story of the lesson is of a vision
waters flowing eastward from beneath
the threshold Of the temple at Jeru-
salem. A thousand cubits from it's
source. the stream was ankle deep.
Another thousand cubits further on, it
was to the knees. Another thousand,
and it came to the loins Still an
other thousand cubits, land 1t was a
river that 1 could not pass through; +;
for the waters were risen, waters to
swim in, river that could not be
passed through"
With notable fidelity to the geogra-
phfcal details Of the land, he de-
scribes the descent of the water to
md 4h0 II "a
pictured such fertility as one finds
even today along the Jordan; who
ever has seen the Jericho gardens will
realize the vividness Of the prophets 8
portrayal. He ran his parable as close
to life as possible: truth belongs not
in the air, but on the earth, right
where men and women live.
Where Water Means Life.
In studying this parable my own
mind continually recurs to the basic
idea Of the life-givins power Of water
The truth is best illustrated by the
land Of Ezekiel. Who that has seen
the palm lined banks Of the 1igris at
Bagdad, the superlative dates OF Hillah
near old Babylon, the idyllic
luxuriance Of the foliage at the con-
f1uence of the Tigris and the Eu-
pirates (where tradition locates the
Garden of Eden). can ever forget this
paradisiacaI picture? The water I.
the life; the absence Of water is
death.
Why are human lives so often un-
productive and unlovely? Simply be-
cause they are far from the refreshing
and vitalizing and beautifying streams
Of Gods grace The truth is one to be
written plainly in this our day. We
are living in q time Of growing arti
fieiality: Of increased ostentation
Of the multiplication Of the ap.
pliances Of life: Of a widespread
sophistication and worldly wisdom
All this is apparent to anybody whS
knows his own generation. But oul
deep. deep need is to have our parch-
ed souls satisfied by the waters O.
the divine Spirit. The peace tina
flows as a river is the worlds su
creme hack. Even our women, i
seems, if one may judge by tn,