The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-05-11

The Lord, saying Whom shall send. and
who viii go for us? Then said /. hero
Am J. send mc"-lsa GS
TIME-The year when Fins Uzziah
1led, which was tBcechor) B. q. 15j. or
CHasungs) B. C.. 7i9
PLACE-The Temple In Jerusalem.
KlNGs-In Israel Menahem In As
syria, Asshur-daun Ill
This Is a home-missionary lesson.
We are asked TO read Isaiah "a. What
home-missionary thoughts are to be
Iound there? Those glowing sentences
are In many particulars faithful pic
lures OF our wealthy modern nations.
\ There are the unexampled movement
Of immigration. the aplng OF evil Gus
toms from other lands, the vast wealth,
the mammon.worship the pride, Tho
social wrongs and expressions, the
misgovernment, the devotion TO fash
ion and luxury and In It all a nucleus
of nobility that viii bring about the
utmost triumph Of godllness There
Is as great need that we should work
for our Cuury as that Isaiah should
work for h.ss and though we are so
much inferior a. Isaiah. yet God calls
us I'm essentially lfa same way to thO
same great service
The literary qualities most conspic-
uous in Isaiah is the wealth and bril-
liancy Of his imagination 30 other
Old Testament writer has the sam0
power Of picturesque and graphic 10
scription. There is no other HebrcA
author who furnishes the reader with
80 many quotable sentences One can
Imagine the people of Jerusalem stop
ping one another on the street to tell
and hear the latest from the prophet
This, of course. was precisely what he
desired and Intended Isaiah was a
humOrist and satlrst IN the truest
sense Of the word. This is evident
from his vivid, quaint description ot
the strange manufactured idols and
images of worship, from bis curious
and vivid picture of female luxury and
fashion in his day.
The events Of his time may no
summed up in two momentous occur
rences. The first was the advance OF
the Assyrlans upon the small states OF
Syria and Palestine, paralyzng their
national consciousness, and with this
also their national religions Judah
was not destroyed like Samara. but
its independence was lost and IL was
the prophets chief political task to
enable his country TO adjust itself TO
the new conditions As politician
Isaiahs maxim was mo politics" IIo
strongly dissuaded Ahaz from ontan-
Cling himself with Assyria. but when
his advice was disregarded and Judah
become subject TO Assyria he resist.
ed with equal strenuousness all at
tempts to throw of the Assyrian
yoke.
The second occurrence was the fall
of Samaria by which the mission OF
united Israel became the heritage OF
Judah alone. During all these troub-
lous times Isaiah was the leading
statesmen Of his country.
Isaiah was filed with fear Of n
vision because II was vision of God.
and the Hebrews believed that no one
could see God and live Isaiah loved
God, and instinctiyely he prepared to
join his voice to the seraphs chant,
but ere the harmony could pass his
lips he caught his breath and was
dumb. A horrible sense OF unclean-
ness seized him.
one of the bright seraphs, glowing
as with fire, and with wings like the
lightning fash" took a hot stone with
tongs from the altar and touched Isa.
iah's lips with It in token of purihca-
ton The hot stone Is stone kept
in all ancient Oriental households as
a means Of applying heat to household
purposes.
Why does Jehovah seek man to
90 on his errands, when he has The
winged seraphs? Because men can
reach men better than angels can.
Only once did God choose a completely
sinless preacher. Always. but that
once, God has chosen sinful men, and,
not seldom the most sinful of men he
could get to speak to their lellowmen
about sin and salvation Isaiah was
quick to offer himself as the mesen-
ger, because he felt hims.,f, with his
sin removed, both Ht and able for
service. and wanted TO show his srat.
itude for what had been done foc
him.
How does this marvellous chauterap-
ply ~ our nation and To- home mis-
sions? 1t contains q message OF doom
and message Of hope and promise.
Which shall it be for our nation? The
former, If Christians are Needless OF
the great work before them. to evan.
gellze the masses OF our felow-coun.
trymen that do not know Christ The
latter, If home missions are earnestly
promoted, in the spirit and power OF
our Lord
one Of the chief problems Of homs
Is the large number Of Tor.
eign immigrants. When the United
States is prosperous more than nil.
lion of these come 20 our shores every
year, and abou, gtree fomths Of them
remain. The large m lority OF present
day immigrants come nom Italy. AIS.
tralia. Hungary and R"ssia. the Eu-
ropean lands that are .arthest removed
from ours In civilization. In propurtionto
their numbers, the foreigners in 10
United States furnish two and ouoh1lf
times as many criminals as the ra-
tives. Iliteracy among foreigne is
three times as great as amoGg tae
native whites, and p6uperism also Is