The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-12-23
OLD HISTORY WITH NEW
MEANINGS.
The international Sunday School Les
son for December % Is a Review OF
the Years LcSSOns.-Hcb. 11:11.S1.
by William I. Ellis.)

bN William l.. ILilAS'v !
AT this backward-looking time Of
the year it is appropriate to look still
further back than the petty concerns
of our own past twelve months.
Frankly, most OF US think in very |
small terms. We are cellular, parO- ,
cbial. provincial. a long look at his
tory tends to emancipate us from
small fears. 1t helps us to see things
in their relative Importance and SO
delivers us from the thraldom OF
trifles.
A few days ago. in a dining car, a
new waiter asked the steward If he
should serve ice with a bottle Of Nichy
Water. The French steward went
into Il paroxysm of contempt. Serve
ice with Vichy? Why, everybody
knows that ice is never served with
Vichy." Sc he spluttered and fumed,
unwilling TO let the subject drop for
an hour later. Did not the guest pity
him for having as walters such dolts
rs did not know better than to serve
ice with Vichy? One guest did pity
him, but not for the reason he sup
posed. Millions of better men than
he, in every respect except a knoWl-
edge of cookery and table service,
don't know anything about Vichy, and
don't care. The stewards trouble was
the trivial one of "A soul that has
shrivelled to the size of the petty tools
of his trade. He is an example of the
person who is trouble by forks and
spoons and table garniture; and who
need to think back upO the great
men who got along without any Of
these enCumbranCes of our modern
civilization. 1t would be wholesome
for all Of us to remember hat great
ness is no matter Of petty usages. Let
us call the Bible patriarchS to our
aid to deliver us from the blight Of
littleness of soul.
Mankind's Long Journey.
How old is man? Three million
years" answered a recent magazine
article. Frankly we do not know,
answer the wise scientists. Geology
and anthropOlogy have given us
glnnpses Of the long. long journey the
human race has travelled; and our
school children talk learnedly about
the stone age and the bronze age not
knowing that these synchrOnised in
different parts Of the earth); but all
we really do know, from credible his
tory. is that so long as We have been
able TO read his contemporaneOuS rec
ords. man has had the same essential
needs and traits.
The history that is truest TO type is
the Old Testament. Here We see the
race developing, acquiring larger re-
iationships and wider horizons, and
being disciplined for the business Of
life and moral responsibility. There
are some changes which the centuries
do not make-and this truth may be
stressed without limit, since our day
with its amusing and amazing ego
tisn, is inclined to believe that within
a decade or two it has "advanced'' be.
ono the old landmarks. Thus, the
need OF pure family life must continue
10 the end of the race. We shall never
outsrow h necessity for mora
standards. The call for the exercis,
Of sovereign will-power on the par
of every person is abiding. Sin still
works as "a permanent factor in hu
man society. Most of all, God bid
All these factors and forces we find il
the Old estame history which W,
have been studying. and a contempla
ton of them is involved in any rea
sonab]e consideration of history.
VI Greatest Truth of All.
one overshadowing truth. the old
est and greatest, yet also the newes
and most intimate. has been studio
during the past years lessons. Ina
is the truth Of the existence an
character Of n Divine Being. Not
fact il so contemporary as the fact q
Gou. In the beginning, God" 5
began our lessons. As the opened eye
of John saw Il. Tie is the First an
the Last, the Alpha and Omega. tn
generating cause and the nal adju
dication. This ~loftiest theme tha
ever commanded human considers
tion is the central truth Of the year
study. Man is related to soc by til
very nature OF both beings. III
present character OF this RELATIONSHIP
Is more important TIM the Mexico
question. the state Of business. tt
affairs OF the holidays, and the prot
lem Of getting along with other pc,
pie. IL gold bulke0 large in o,
- h.
0s in life would bulk smaller.
As u was in the beginning Of IL
fist man, and as it will be at IL
deathbed OF the last, God is the &,
preme question. Any mind tina tri,
10 get along without reclining upc
God is not doing justice even to i
own m~an-power. AS Mi. Hernia
dominates the landscape OF Pale3tin
so does his truth tower above all ell
in these lessons.
Texas. for Instance.
II We may shake ourselves loo