The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-09-23
WHAT THE CHURCH FOLK ARE
DOING AND THINKING ABOUT
Sunday ochool Lesson and Young Peoples Topics-The
Three Observation-Disclosures Has Be-
come a Master Passion.
(By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)

1913 man ever before at any time.
Modernity is become a master pas
sion. TO keep abreast with the latest
fashions in dress. novels, plays, slang
and amuSements seems to be the life
work Of thousands of men and wo-
men. In their eyes anything is utter
Is condemned by being called "out-
of-date" or behind the tines
In the face Of ali which is never
theless TO he written that the days
mood in this respect is one of shall
lowness, foolishness and danger.
Many a woman's future would be
saved if she could but be persuaded
10 give up the mad quest after the
vogue of the minute, and cultivate
The fashioned virtues of her
Grandmother. The callOw youths who
adorn our street corners and pool
rooms, versed in the very last word
Of smart speech and able to tell the
athletic news of the past hour, are
desperately i'm need of an accession
of the sort of hOmely, sober-minded
and Anticipated ideas of industry,
thrift. integrity and idealiSm which
william Penn and Benjamin Frank
lin and Andrew Jackson and Abra-
ham Lincoln have written into Amer
lean history.
In "A word this twentieth century
needs to bark back to fundamentals.
1t would make for a better social or
der and for nohler citizenship, II We
were all to discard for d time the
--latest issue" of our varied literature
and dig steadily in this ancient mine
Of old Testament literature which
tells the story of a nations begin
nings. and Of "A world leaders work
and training. These old teachings
have a more direct and potent appll-
cation to our own times than any
thing written within the present year.
The classes in sociology, in current
events, and in good citizenship, cOuld
do no better than to unite with the
sunday schools in studying the story
of Moses and the Exodus. Behind the
present times, and Vitaily Influencing
them. are principles and forces older
than our civilization. Let US look 70
the fundamentals.
The Big Three.
only the rare person is called to be
an explorer or "A pioneer. Most OF VI
are needed on the beaten paths aho
main highways of the world, where
the work Of the world is done. Inc
present tendency to stray OF from tht
well marked ways is anarchial, rathel
than exploratory. Restless minus
rather thar high and purpoSeiu
spirits. are the reason. A deal OF I'M
present unrest in the world mean
merely that people have slipped tneil
moorings, and are looking miner any
yon for something fixed to whlcn the.
NAV tie. SO we go back to the De
ginnings of the Hebrew nation for tn
three oldest and most important obi
cations OF life, which apply always
and everywhere. They should nell
many Of US moderns to THINK stralsh
ter. !.
All three principles are found i
the quarters Sunday school lessons
They are, mans loyalty to GOo q
first; his loyalty to his nation as SCI
und; and his loyalty to his family q
third. These three bid 10 tnei
all brave spirits are true. Their ou'
working has made the most shinln
passages. in history. And where pee
pie have failed in these supreme 10Y
alties. they have made a wreck OF iiI
The man or woman who. IN TN
year OF our Lord nineteen tnirteel
is not holding steady to these tnre
obligations. but is running franticall
after the fashions Of the hour, l
distorting his career into hoPele'
confusion. For first things must a
ways be first, else second or twei
tieth things will leap into the sadd
and drive the life to destruction.
In the Beginnings.
Whether the sense Of God is 1adi!
out Of our modern life or not IS Oh
hcult to say. Each observer o.
speaks from his own experience ar
observation. Certainly there are son
ominous signs on the horizon. III
state Of Church attendance Is alarn
ing. The restlessness of the mlnlst
argues at least a lack OF cerutuo
The secularization OF Sunday is syn
ptomatic. There is much to be sa
on the other side: an ardent conce'
for the great spiritual v~erities is ma
ifeSt among multitu6eS.
Here we may write clearly ana WI
mistaken conviction, that God is e
sential to man. We may get alo1
without airships or skyscrapers or a
tomobiles, or any Of the other acce
SORES of life which modern civillz
ton is piling upon us in such prof
sion, but we simply cannot do witho
God. He is mans Oldest and deepe
need. The spark Of the divine in t