The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-08-19
WHEN THE LIMIT Is REACHED.
The International sunday school les
son for August "a is The Bread
from Heavcn."-Ex. 15:2s-16: 81
Nv WILLIAM II. ELLIS.

son 1OF .NuSuSt = H
from Hcavcn."-Ex. I5:27-1S: 80
BY WILLIAM II. ELLIS.
Today finds the message for tomor-
row in Yesterday. What has been IS
the guide for ma is to be. The CHER
function Of history is to serve as q
sign-board This western nation, set
ting out on untried ways, confronted
by many p~erplexities, may well go 10
school to the Hebrew nation at It's De-
einnines. more than three thousand
wears ago For there are great pa
triotic and social lessons bound up IN
that experience, even as there are au-
monitions for the individual HE.
1t was all q question OF the WISDOM
Of going forward in new and untried
WAYS. Is such q national experiment
wise: or is il not better to endure the
ills we know. thar to fly to those we
know not Of? Shall we adhere to the
old conditions. even though will, rath-
er than risk the h~ardships that are
involved in the attainment or the new!
Have we the courage to throw off old
Jokes and dare the untried ways!
Before they were a month out OF
Egypt the Jews were bewaillng their
folly in having left the certain COM
forts Of slavery.
Although they knew it not-any
more han we know It today-the
children of Israel were being tested.
Their fitness tor the blessings of lib
erty and self-government was being
probed. They thought they were
judging Moses and Jehovah. although
all the while they were being judged
themselves. Judgments judge the
Judgers. What a man says about an
other is often chiefly illuminating for
what il reveals about himself. A cir
cult chautauQua has been going
through a hundred communities this
ummer, and naturally. all the neigh
~-. 800 ynn~t~ r,Irvun~ On ~ A
the same time, the towns themselves
are being appraised by the chautau-
qua, although that side of the question
never seems to appeal to them. What
the Jews thought was the testing O
Moses. was really the proof Of them.
selves.
SOftened by Slavery.
Let us go gently here, and not pot
the walls Of our condemnation upoI
these w~himpering exiles. They wer
only a month out of slavery. Thei
condition had robbed them Of viril
manhood. The worst thing abou
slavery is that it gives people the soul
of slaves. Now the Jews would hav
TO pay the price of having had some
body else do their thinking and plan
ming and providing for them durin
the long generations under the laSl
This is the factor in the negro Ques
ton which is 200 often ignored.
Attempting to exchange dependent
for independence. slavery for freedom
the very depths of the souls of thes
Jews would be searched. Their lead'
had the problem of fitting them f
self sovereignty They were in II
condition Of the debased type of cit
zen who would sell his vote for a drir
of whiskey, IA dollar or a job {
course they were poor stuff, and :
scarcely marvel that even meek Mos
lost his temper over them. 10y
had them in the wilderness whe
they were to be kept in training +
forty long years, to get the Slav
spirit and the rest of Egypt out
their system; just as infected perso
are kept in quarantine for a pr
scribed period. The process was
times hard on the Jews, but it was f
their health. They were what
termed in athletics soft and III
needed to go into training.
The Grumblers.
From the ill-bred man who grow
regularly at his breakfast, to the m
who finds fault with the way the &c
is run. the land is full
grumblers. Most persons are disco
tented with their work and their |
Much OF the so-called unrest of c
land is this spirit of vague fault-fr
ing. 1t is a characteristic Of c
mall m~indedness.
AS we listen to the whimpering a
Wailing OF the Hebrews, We must be
In mind that they were an igno
lot. only one month removed fr
slavery. The ability to endure ha
ship calls for a certain quality Of
bility to which they had not yet
tained. They were not good travele
for all such know how to put up W
what comes. l once travelled throu
Turkey with an American college b
and We had many rather trying exp
fences in out-of-the-way place
down in the region Of the wanderi
of the Israelites, for instance-but
companion, though young. was ga,
He never murmured at cold or heat
hunger. He a this first elemeI
quality OF manhood.
These Israelites wanted Canaa
by the parior "a route. They res
bled the host of young men '
vague dreams of success who are
willing to pay the price of toll
~self-denial. The emancipated J
thought to reach their goal will