The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-01-13
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
What the Church Folk Are Thinking About and Doing.
Sunday School Lesson and Young Peoples Topics.

Sldit 1--we, mus SueSSlng the doing
Of the Word. rather thar the recit-
ing OF the formula
True to type, the quibbling lawyer
sought a technicality. He was really
more interested in 3ustifying himself
than IN learning the truth. He cared
more Tor his own reputation than for
any new knowledge. So he thought
to wriggle out Of the dilemma by the
evasive question, "Who is my neigh
bor" l know that style of person.;
SO does every reader. He thinks tina
to be able to discuss social questions
is equivalent to doing social srvice;
that criticism of the preacher is a
satisfactory substitute for church
work; that to be posted on current
issues absolves n from actual min
istry for mankind.
On the Road of Thieves.
That lawyers bubble brought forth
a revolutionary principle Of neigh
borliness. and a literary classic. For
Jesus made answer in the story of
the Good Samaritan, a deathless para
bic which has been a well Of knowl-
edge and inspiration from which
preachers and teachers beyond any
mans numbering ave been drawing
for nineteen centuries.
No other book has so many inter
nal evidences of genuineness as the
Bible. Thus, this little story tells
how the raveler went down" from
Jerusalem to Jericho. Those Of us
who ave been owe the road know
how he went down" a descent Of al
most a mile in a short journey Of
about twenty miles. Jericho lies in
the deepest depression of the earth's
surface, which is the valley OF the
Dead Sea.
That difficult road has been, by
n OF the strange persistences Sc
common in the Orient, a resort foI
thieves from time immemorial. Only
recently have the Turkish soldiers
made it reasonably safe, and forced
the line of outlawry to the Jordan
River. Every nearer of the. story, as
Jesus >told it, recognized the appro-
pirate setting OF the incident on thai
lonely and dangerous road; which
now, however, is safely travelled by
hundreds of pilgrims every year 4
stands on the reputed site OF thu
scene
Typically Oriental, too is the ca
gerness OF the priest and the Levitt
to avoid ~entangling themselves in th'
scrape. Don't mix up in III othe
mans trouble" is the selfish rul
there. In China they will let a maj
drown, rather than try to ucc hin
A rare Samaritan was the hero o
the parable, to take personal respon
sibility for the stranger in trouble
and put himself to inconvenience IN
expense. I met a young America
Jew at Jaffa once who look exact
this same sort Of care Of a poor oil
woman who mhe met at Alexandra
, He vas modern improvement On tn
, priest and the Levite.
: The parable points the truth tina
! life is won by deeds of kindness. T
5 have life, which is fullness of expert
ence, we must give of ourselves t
!: other lives. "A mans life consists G
J the number of things to which he
! alive" A wealthy Western bushes
> man boosted to me recently that h
| has never been a hundred miles frol
> his native city; and he has no inter
ests except his business OF maxim
{ money. Poor fellow! I pitied hi,
more than any beggar I saw On h
e city's streets. He cannot even Sc
why It Is. that his business is sliI
: ping away from him. he is loain
o money, and his soul Is like a shrivelle
pea Ht has missed life. Had h
been wise enough to give he wou'
have been able really to live. The MI
y hardly, -self-serying. seaf-engrosst
life misses even the little goals
n which it aims. The Zoe SaHnarita
d way is the way of wisdom, as we'll
Of h~elplessness. Altruism is a worl
e able philosophy.