The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-03-26
Religious World
THE STORY THAT NEVER GROWS
Old.
The International Sunday school Les
>Dn for Marcel 81 is. Il Quarterly
RayieHx

10y N II4j4lAh L. Jl-i-i@-t
The captain of the ship that goes
down the Tisris River from Bosta
and through the Persian Gulf called
me from the cabin one day 70 watch
the wailings Of the Moslem pilgrims
returning to India from Kerbala and
Neshed Ali, their shrine cities in the
Mesopotan1ian desert. They were lis
enins to n Of their numDer read
the story Of the death or Hussian,
grandson of the Prophet, and the
leader whom Shah hoslenls held
in a veneration second only to that
Of Mohanmed himself. AS the read
ing went on, men ana women Nept
and walled. and sWayed 70 and ffo,
beating their breasts: by roans and
cries giving evidence Of deep S1lef
Over the tragedy enacted more than
fourteen hundred years ago. me
captain told me tina on every trip
he has the same experience with the
pilgrims. The story of the suffelings
Of their leader never loses its hold
upon them. Tha is IL draws
them upon his Ions. difficult and
perilous pilgrimage.
The same motive. the grip Of the
story of Christ upon the hearts OF
men and women, is what takes tens
Of thousands Of pilgrims to Jerusalem
every year. The narrative Of the life
and of the death Of Jesus has 4 pow
er unequalled in literature and his
tory. IT takcs hold of young and old.
AS the old song says,
Il love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem ~hunserinS and thirsting
TO hear it. like the rest
a little boy said to his father after
church one Sunday. Father, ! was
aWfulIy interested when MI. Brown
began to talk about the crucifiXion
Of Jesus. | could just seem TO see
it, and l listened to every word. and
understood it, until all Of q sudden
stopped telling the story, and be-
gan to PREACH
The first thirty-one years OF that
wonderful Story are reviewed in this
lesson. swiftly covering the studies
Of three months iii the life Of Christ.
The~ recurrence of these reviews are
like the experience of the traveller
who finds himsef upon 4 height
from which he can look over the en-
tire stretch Of country which he has
traversed, having seen it before only
in detail. From this height he gets
a sense of proportion and perspec-
tive impossible otherwise. AS the
Plain Of Esdraelon is not SO clear to
those who travel upon it as. 1t is to
those WHO view it from he South
ern end Of Mt. Carmel, and as the
Jordan Valley is leSs comprehensive
to the people in Jericho than 70 the
man IN Mt. Nebo, SO these studies in
the life Of Christ are best understood
when we take q survey OF a large
section of the biography at one
time.
The ond Child.
y Literary folk have been cleaning
every possible story about Dickens
this year. in order to get new angles
Of view for the study of the great
novelist. Every fresh Viewpoint OF
the life Of Christ is 40 he welcomed.
\ business man said the other day
that he had never really understood
the setting of the birth Of Christ,
until he read the story OF i travel
er's experience n Christmas night
in a Syrian khan. ON q Watch-fob.
amid half a dozen silver coins that
] got in the Holy Land, | have one
Roman coin. bearing the name and
image Of Caesar Augustus, and 7
prize it above all the others, because
it seems to smake Il little nearer and
more vivid the great event that Oc-
cured when Cesar Augustus was
or his throne.
Points of contact with the story
Of Christ are to he sought. Every
baby is one Snch. \ 9rlZLled ana
seemingly nnsentimental P~reSbyter-
ian cider said one day in prayer
meeting. 4 never realized the hui
IS of our Lord. and the mean
ing Of the Bethlehem story. until
ooned uDOn my own nrst-hofn
son. That son. now Il grown man,
hlushed at the a}lusion. but every
parent present sS~mpathized with the
fathers Viewpoint. The Christian
mother or father understands the
Babe Of Bethlehem in the light Of
the babe in his own rms
That is as God would have it: IIs
has tried to identify himself with
the commonest and deepest expert
enctS Of the race. Il seems as if all
the lesourcefulncSs OF on~lnipotence
had been exercised To enable God to
crowd closer to the lite Of the pee
pie. Ihe Son Who came hN way Of
The II has not only lifted up