Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-25
OLD HISTORY WITH NEW MEAN.
INGS.
The International Sunday School les
son for December % is a Review of
the Years Iessons-Heb. 11:17-31.
BY William r. Ellis.


At this backward-looking time of
the year it is appropriate to look still
further back than the pretty concerns
of our own past twelve months.
Frankly, most of us think in very
small terms. We are cellular, paro-
chial, 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
The history that is the truest to
type is the Old Testament. Here we
see the race developing, acquiring lar
ger relationships 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 it's amusing and amazing egotism,
is inclined to believe that within a
decade or two it has "advanced' be-
yond the old landmarks. Thus, the
need of pure family life must continue
to the end Of the race. We shall never
outgrow the necessity for moral stand
ards. The call for the exercise Of
sovereign will-power on the part of
every person is abiding. Sin still
works as a permanent factor in human
society. Most of all, God abides. All
these factors and forces we find in the
Old Testament history which we have
been studying, and contemplation OF
them is involved in any reasonable
consideration of history.
The Greatest Truth of All.
One overshadowing truth. the oldest
and greatest yet also the newest and
most intimate, has been studied during
this years lessons. That is the truth
of the existence and character Of a
Divine Being No fact is so contemp-
orary as the fact of God. "In the be-
ginning. God" so began our lessons.
AS the opened eyes of John saw it. He
is the First, and the Last the Alpha
and Omega, the generating cause and
the final adjudication. This lOftiest
theme that ever commanded human
consideration is the central truth of
the years study. Man is related to
God by the very nature of both beings.
The present character of this relation
ship is more important than the Next
can question: the state of business, the
affairs of the holidays, and the problem
Of getting along with other people. If
God bulked larger in our thinking,
the things that disturbed us in life
would bulk smaller.
AS it was in the beginning of the
first man. and as it will be at the death
bed of the last, God is the supreme
question. Any mind that tries to get
along without reclining upon God is
not doing justice even to its own man
power. AS Mt. Hermon dominates the
landscape of Palestine, so does this
truth tower above all else in these les
sons.
Texas, For Instance.
If we shake ourselves loose from
the things near and small and take
a fearless look at the task of organic
ing human life along the best lines.
we approximate somewhat the genius
of this Old Testament history. Away
back there Gods task was to develop
a people qualified to lead the world
into it's highest life. AS we look over
the record it seems, to judge by our
little two-inch. standards, that the I'M
dertaking was full of slumps and blum
ders and imperfections.
But, be it remembered, states are