Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-06-18
THE COMM
PROBLEM.
The international Sunday School les
son for June ~, 10 "The Great Hs'
fusaI"-Mark 10:17.31.
BY William r. Ellis.
EvIEW OF SUM

~
The young man problem fronts the
world afresh every year at this seas
son. and lends an especial %appropria'
ateness to this Sunday school lesson.
| Even the dull of Imagination are stir,
| red as they see thousands of young
J men pouring forth from our colleges
| and the greater thousands that throng
our athletic fields and crowd our
streets. What multitudes OF them
there are! .
Each young mar Is a problem, and
has a problem. He faces the great
question of the choice OF all Ines
| pest. How may he make the most OF
himself? What is the great goal to
which he should strive? Thousands OF
commencement day speakers enunciate
programs and purposes for young men.
hIt Well With The Youns7
For most men there is a period Of
fdealism, when they are spiritually
sensitive. The fires of patriotism burn
brightly in their breasts. The call to
human service sounds loud and clear.
| The making of character concerns
them. Who sneers at the ideals OF
young manhood is himself a person not
to be trusted, but to be stunned. Long
fellow knew that 1.-THE thoughts of
youth are long, long thoughts"
It is a dark day for any age when
it's young men are no longer concern
ed about idealism. If they have ceased
to be heroes, ceased to covet some
high empires; ceased to aspire TO
love the fairest and to to be the brav.
est" ceased to be dreamers Of dreams
and builders of castles: then indeed,
will the nation have fallen on sorry
times. No sadder spectacle may De
found in our day than the sordid.
scheming, sophisticated youth, old and
world weary before they have had a
chance to be young. The country can
hope for little from this type of world
ly wise scoffers at ideals.
Bettering the Best.
In the pages Of three of the bio
graphies of Jesus there appears a noble
figure about whom art and literature
have woven their fancies. He was a
young man of wealth and of official
position. Clean, upright, spiritually
minded. he coveted earnestly the best
gifts. At the very sight Of him the
heart Of Jesus went out to him in love.
His question was, What shall l do
that I may inherit eternal life?"-the
Oldest. deepest, highest question that
has ever engaged the thought OF a
When testing him, Jesus asked II he
had kept the commandments. The
young man, without priggishness or
| P%harisaism, could declare that he had
done so. But still this was not enough.
His own spirit tod him that a mere
formal keeping of the law was not suf-
| 1cient satisfaction for a n immortal
soul.
What the young man needed was a
new state of mind. He was now self
centered. He needed to be brother
conferred. All his concern was for his
own welfare. Jesus wanted to o
him out Of this narrow conception OF
life, and teach him that nobody comes
to his best until he has come to self
surrender, and to a life Of service.
Therefore, he put to him the test;
Zone thing thou lackest; go, sell what
soever thou hast and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasures in heav-
en-; and come follow me-"
The Rich Mans Testing.
Not that Jesus wanted the mans
money; he asked him to give up the
money because he wanted the man.
He knew the young mans heart had
not room for two sovereignties. His
love of money was the outward EVIL
dence of his self centered life. The
law of the new kingdom is that what
ever stands between the disciple and