Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1912-04-11
SPECIAL EASTER
DAY SERVICES.
uN1GHTS TEMPLAR CELE-
pRATE-MARCH IN STATE.
Rev J. G. Handy Delivers a Schol-
arly Sermon.

An immense auuience BdIhelcu
at fine Methodist church Sunday
afternoon for special services in
Celebration of Easter. The Knights
Tcmplar order marched in grand
parade. headed by Mcmillan Band,
to the church, where DR.. j. G.
Handy delivered splendid ad-
dress on the subject, "The Per.
manent in Life. Miss Maude
Wallace presided at the organ
and had charge of the splendid
musical program rendered. The
music was pronounced the best
ever heard upon a like occasion
in the city.
Rev. Handy took for his text
this passage from Amos, 7:8,
. "And the Lord said unto me,
Amos, what seest thouH and ]
said, a plumbline."
Some of the thoughts the speak.
er presented were:
This Scripture takes us back
to the eighth century, B. c. Amos |
was a member Of the famous band
of eighth century prophets. The |
world has never produced anoth-
er group of men comparable to |
them in vigor of statement, in
range of thought and in ambition
for righteousness.
In the year 760 B. G. Jeroboam |
II is reigning in Israel, holding |
sway practically from the Nile to
the Euphrates. A great feast is
on at Bethel. Amos comes up |
from the south and standing by |
the great altar of sacrifice says
that he sees plumbline in the |
hand of God, dropped beside the
wall, Israel, indicating the OBJ.
lique condition of the wall. Forty 4
years from this time the Assyrian
army sweeps across the country
westward, and Israel is taken into |
captivity, known ever since as
the ten lost tribes of Israel.
The lesson here to learn on a
large scale is that the nation
whose God is not the Lord cannot
long continue in existence. AT
this time there was a great gulf
between the rich and the poor.
The former stretched themselves
upon ivory couches, ate the lambs
out of the flocks and the calves
from the stalls, and joined
Held to field. Israel was therefore
doomed.
Egypt enslaved many people,
and showed no disposition to lib.
crate and elevate them. Thus
she was doomed
Rome is an example to the same
end In her palmiest days she
was half slave, and her farms had
become great estates. She did not
1aII by the inrush of Vandals and
dothS from the north but rather
by internal moral decay.
The great lesson to learn is that
righteousness is the law of nation.
al perpetuity.
he idea contained in the above
Scripture is also capable of an in.
di'Idual Interpretation. From
l'S point of view the lesson to
Iearn IS that character is the re-
A''' OF building. In this process
'he personal equation is very
prominent. Every man is person.
any responsible for his character
ne puts the stamp of his own will
upon IT, While this is true every
,u"" appropriates something from
Ills fellow men, something from
S0clety Thus character is a very
complex product.
Moreover, every man who lives
,ong IN the world discovers that
"iS character is subject to the uni.
'crSaI law of development. There
was long process of develop.
"tht IN the nature of Socrates be-
ore he was able to say, "Know
.''Self," " as the end of life. The
,''ne was true for John Wesley
o'lore ne could stand upon his
,"'"er grave and say, "The
world is my parish. . The same
was true also for Luther before
ne was able to write his famous