Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-09-04
By William d. Ellis

BY William T. Ellis
Visitors at Hampden Court, Eng
land, recall the famous evergreen
maze in the gardens there. The
stranger cannot find his way out. 1t
| is amusing to watch persons turning
| this way and that. and forever go
| ing over the same ground, and never
really getting anywhere. Outside of
/ the maze is a high platform on which
an official stands. When the visitors
tire of trying to find their own way
out of the maze, he shows them the
clear, short path out.
That is what most of us are look
ing for a sure clue out of life's per-
plexities. We want the master word
for the mysteries which beset us
Creeds and PHILOSOPHERS there are in
plenty but they only add to tht plain
mans confession. Who will show us
the sure route out of the maze?
Few questions are older than this,
or more natural to man. 1t was in
the mind of the scribe who, standing
in the background of the crowd
which surrounded Jesus in the( courts
of the Temple, on the last day of his
public teaching, noted that the Naza-
rene spoke with a wisdom above that
of the doctors of the law. So he car
ried to Jesus the races old religious
question, which was also his own. He
wanted to know mans first and high
est and clearest duty. What is the
! supreme obligation resting upon NOR
tai intelligence?
| A sincere seeker. he got a straight
answer. In contrast to the hypocrit-
| ical pettifoggers who had been try
| ing to ensnare Jesus, here was a man
troubled in his own spirit who want
| ed really to know. The maze of paths
and bypaths into which the Law had
been divided by the theologians per-
! picked him. Religion had become
matter of Journalism and ritual with
most of the Jews of his day. Perhaps,
through the scribe, this fresh, fearless
Teacher from the North could aid him.
a Straight Path Home
And he did.
WHO goes a step to Christ, through
doubtless dim,
Christ goes a mile, through blazing
light, to him"
To that anxious Jew in the Temple
courts, the Master laid down a sim
pie, understandable and workable
law of life. 1t was a religious re-
duced to it's ultimate simplicities. A
child could comprehend it; but all of
strong mans powers are needed to
fulfill it. The twofold answer of Je-
sus, setting forth the greatest COM
mapdments, is portable truth, to he
carried away as a permanent posses
sion, by every student of this lesson.
AS an introduction, though, Jesus
recited the magnificent first formula
of the Jewish faith, the Hebrew races
bequest to the world, concerning the
unity of the Deity. To us in the year
1914 this is a commonplace phrase,
almost meaningless. But in Christ's
day as in Abraham's, it was the most
radical of all religious beliefs. They,
be is remembered, were environed by
the countless gods of heathendom.
Polytheism was the popular faith.
There were almost as many gods as
people. The conception that there is
but one God and that he is supreme
over all, and therefore worthy of allie
glance, was the Jews religious gift to
mankind. We, who know the affir-
nations of science concerning the
unity of nature, find it easy to be-
lieve in the One over all: indeed, 1t is
difficult to believe otherwise. We have
to visualize for ourselves the Old Tes-
lament background before we can
rightly understand the emphasis which
Jesus, and all of the prophets who
went before him, laid on the oneness
of God. This truth must be postu-
lated before anything else that Christ
says can be understood.
The Twin Duties
| Four words compress the Masters
great definition of the supreme duty
of uortal: Love God: love man;
lookup; look around; reach up; lift
up. The house of life has heaven
waro windows and manward win
dows. The two oars that propel the
boat of character-either inadequate
without the other-are Love to God
and love to man.
The two are twins. One is incom
.tl, C11
hath Joined together, let no man put
asunder." The danger in our day is
goddess conception of brotherhood:
which will neither work nor last. In
the Masters time the danger was a
brotherless. conception of godliness.
which was disloyal both to God and
man. Each is an essential compile
ment of the other
There is nowadays no danger that
we shall make the mistake of the
old Jews, against which Jesus taught.
This is the day of brotherhood. On
all sides voices insstently cry that
social service is the one best form
of worship of God. The Good Samar-
itan has been modernized completely.
We have learned, at last, the second
commandment. This century will
not forget to show love to man; for
that principle is the touchstone of all
the thinking of our day.
Real and present and perilous,
though, is the danger of overlooking
the first of the two supreme obliga-
tions. Admiral Mahan some years
ago called attention, in a striking ad-
dress, to this tendency of our day, to
leave God out of our thinking, and to
go after a barren humanitarianism
/ It is profoundly and universally true
that without God with
out hope in the world; in other