Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-10-16
THE COST OF cowARDIcE.
Tho international Sunday School Les.
son For October 1s-"The Report
Of the Spies" Numbers 1878, ~.
1925,
(By william r.. Ellis.

When the devil sent forth his varied
army OF servants to do their worst to
the human race, the messenger from
whom he expected the most was called
fear.
And that black visitant has ever
since been one Of the most diligent
and successful Of his emissaries.
Cowardice. has conquered more lives
than has the sword. Sheer, Grass,
panic, fright, shameless and wide
eyed, Is only one phase Of the effects
of fear; INDIGESTION, timorous ex-
cess of prudence, and dread Of I'M
tried ways is the commoner nantes
tation Of fear by which individuals
and nations are often destroyed.
They who are afraid to 60 forward
are always with us, hindering the
noblest possibilities Of life, even in
our own land today, as well as In
the history Of the Hebrew emigrants
from Egypt.
Great teachings concerning pa
characterequipment Of youth, are
bound up in this tragedy OF old
Israel, halted on the very edge Of
the, promised land, to await the
report Of the twelve explorers or In
vestigators sent ahead Of the host,
The moral Of it all is the cost of
cowardice. The Jews took counsel
of their fears, instead Of needing the
brave words Of Caleb and Joshua;
and so they were kept in the wilder
ness for thirty-eight years longer,
until the crop Of towards had died
of, and people of somewhat better
stuff had been raised up.
Two Kinds Of Reporting.
Everything should be done on q
basis OF carefully ascertained facts.
That Is as true in war as In law, In
social service as In neighborhOod
conversation. Moses chose twelve
leading men, one from each tribe, to
go up into the promised land to
learn conditions, while the host,
which had been out from Egypt for
q year and half, waited amid the
sweet springs of Kadesh. Care was
exercised to secure reliable scouts.
Everything would depend upon their
word.
Out Of Canaan the twelve mission
aries brought two dramatically op-
posite reports. Ten said the land
could not be possessed; two said go
up and conquer it. And, as often, the
minority report was right. V.
With Eye Of Terror.
Cowardice is contagious. The
fearsome and faithless words OF the
terrified ten revealed the heart OF
the crowd as craven to the core.
They went all to pieces, and began
to rave and rail in madness OF
panic. They wanted to go back to
Egypt. Their standard was their
own miserable past, rather than Je.
hovals promised future. They were
not forward-looking people. They
lcnged for death; they cursed their
leaders; and, in short, they had q
first-class attack of hysteria. OF all
the pitiable sights on earth, the
angels never see anything worse than
men in the clutch of cowardice.
Can we wonder that even patient
God was ready to spew them out OF
his mouth?
The Heroes Speak.
Two of the twelve young men
sent out by Moses were armed with
confidence and courage. They had
been over the same ground AS the
other ten. They had seen the sons
of Anak, the walled cities. the
dangers Of the land, the Jebusites
and the Hittites and the Amorites
and the Canaanites. and all the
other affrights. But they had also
seen the grapes OF F.schol, the fruit
full fields, the pleasant valleys, and
ell the prospects Of prosperity. Also
they had carried with them the
sense OF God. They thought more
about his greatness than about their
own grasshopperishness.
So their ringing summons was,
LET us go UP at once and possess
it; for we are we'll able to overcome
lit" That is the way to talk. Such
was the spirit OF our fathers, who
cvercame the obstacles Of this
western wilderness. One OF the