Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-02-01
NOAH AND THE DIVINE EUGENlcs.
The International Sunday School Les
son for February 2 Is 1.-THE Flood"
Gen. 6:9.22; 7:t1-2&
(By William T. Ellis.)

speech of cultivated people. This is
"eugenics," or the science of. being
well born, or of race betterment 1t
stands for the big idea that society
owes it to itself to improve the stock
of mankind There Is sound basis
for the principle, though it often
runs out in faddish and foolish mo-
tons. 1t is really no new idea; God
has been busy with the science Of
universal eugenics since the begin
ming of time. "'s~s
The story of Noah is but little
study in Gods school OF eugenics.
For the divine economy has ever had
regard to- the fitness of the race. In
his own way and in his own time GOD
has eliminated the unfit, and provided
for the dominance in life of the peo-
pies who come nearest to representing
his idea. All of human history is series
Of experiments in universal eugenlcs.
We may read the rise and fall OF ma
lions by the light of this Greek word;
since it Is clear that there has been
an overruling and omniscient provi'
dence that has lifted up nations that
were worthy to rule and put them
aside when they became unfit. That
process is still going on.
A Long Look at the Human Race.
A. distinguished British scientist
celebrated his eightieth birthday
few weeks ago by declaring that there
had been practically no Improvement
in the human race in seven thousand
years. OF course he was testing with
the facts 1t may be true-and 1t is
significant that it was a famous
evolutionist who uttered these pess1-
mistic words-that the human body
and brain and character are essen.
TALLY no more capable than they were
millenniums ago, but it is undeniable
| that new ideals have come to dom1-
nate humanity. The man who says
that the world is no better than in the
days when the many tciled as slaves
under the lash of the few in the val
leEs. # the Tigris and Euphrates, and
when life was cheap and the will OF
! the king was supreme, is ignorant OF
the steady growing idealism and hui
manit .rianism of the race. New con-
ceptions of human rights and human
liberty have become dominant; mans
Vision of Justice has broadened; mercy
lis better understood word; the con-
slant state Of war has given way to
reigr. of normally peaceful civilization.
This whole world in our own day is
comi4.g anew under the sway of the
idealism Of Jesus.
| The siftings of the centuries are
still continuing. We have seen, within
the lifetime of every reaCer of these
words, once powerful nations pass into
! positions of marked inferfority.
Where is Spain, that once ruled the
| world? What is left of the Turks
proud power? Who now sings the song
| of Persian imperialism In the very
regions of the Noah story the traveller
| finds the Arabs along the rivers
degenerate, diseased and disappearing
people The great problem OF E1l-
ropean politics today is problem OF
| the prominence Of Slavism or Ger
manism. The next few decades will
determine which is the more fit to
Gomi ate the map Of Europe. The
reverent student Of history Is we'll con-
tent to watch the process Of the years.
assured that they are the certain
winnowings Of the almighty, who, is
having his way with mankind, even as
when he precipitated the floods upon
the Mesopotamian valleys.
The Fact OF the FIoou.
There is no doubt about a great
food early in the history of the hui
man race. somewhere near its place
of beginning The Babylonian tablets
tell the story: Chinese literature
holds it; central Asia cherishes the
tradition; the North American In
dams who probably came from the
same region, bear a legend Of SINH
lar purport. The late President Har-
per sets forth the historicity Of the
deluge as follows: "...
1--WE may regard the deluge as a
historical fact preserved in multi
tude of forms, an actual and terrible
event which made so powerful an
impression upon the imaginations Of
the first parents of our species that
their descendants could never forget
it, This cataclysm took place near
the primitive cradle of mankind and
previous to the separation of the
races were to descend The deluge
was a fact; 1t was a part OF a great
plan: it's record as handed down to
us in the Hebrew scriptures is the
one clear, distinct account, and
when compared with the other &C.
counts bears on 1tS race inc luulca'
lions Of it's divine origin"
Little Ideas Of the World.
There is no need to believe that
the world that was submerged was
the world we now know. 1t is to be
remembered that the Genesis story
I was written in terms Of the know
ledge of the time, and that the world
was little world, which had not yet
penetrated to the east Of Asia or the
west Of Europe. Not all people now
living study geography or even know
that the world is round. Millions OF
adult Moslems today think that Con.
stantjnople is really the greatest
capital of the earth and that all peo-
pie are predominantly Moslem. The
Chinese used to call all other PEG.
pie foreign devils. They thought
, only in terms of their own neigh
! borhood. They we're provincials.
The area of the food was probably a
! restricted area, confined to the
cradle of the race in the Mesopota'
ulian Valley, and only those con.
cerned in the great tragedy assumed
! - a., iocr