The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-01-13
THE CLASSIC OF NEIGHBORLI-
NESS.
The International Sunday School Les
son for January Is is ''Ti,c Good
Samaritan."-Luke 1O:25.37.
(By William T. Ellis.

(By william T. Ellis.)
Petrifed phrases form a large part
Of common speech: everybody uses
the words good Samaritan" but few |
who do so understand their real point. !
A man Is not "a good Samaritan"
when he helps a member Of his own
lodge or church, or an old friend, or
a fellow tOwnsnan, or one OF his own
kinfolk. He is worthy Of praise when
he does this. but he is not in the
good Samaritan class. That title is
reserved for the Irish who held Ital- |
ians. for the Jews who are kind to
Russians, for the British who deal
tenderly with Germans, for the Cali
fornians who succor Japanese, for the
Texans who serve Mexicans, for the
Protestants who play brother to Ro-
man Catholics, for the white men
who minister to the negroes, and for
all others who give friendliness where
unfriendliness might be expected.
The whole point OF this story is
that an alien did a good deed to q
hereditary enemy who despised him.
1t was no mere kindness of man to
man. of friend to friend. The good
Samaritan stands as the type of those
who go outside their own crowd and
their W natural sympathies and
their own racial group to do a kind
ness to the needy. For 1.-The Jews
have no dealing with the Samari-
tans." The poorest Jew counted him
self better than the greatest Samari-
tan. The latter was of mixed heather
blood, but so was disdained and de-
spised. But when the Jewish w~ayfar
er fell among thieves on the Jericho
o his own nationals, the priest and
the Levite. both of whom should have
worn the spirit Of "noblesse oblige"
on their hearts, passed him by in
selfish And the foreign
err" the heather" Samaritan gave
instant, efficient and continuous help
to the man who was down.
Getting Bigger Ideas.
This is a good story for these times.
For ours is the century Of cosmopol-
itanism. We are learning the lesson
of world brotherhood. The basic hu-
man ties that underlie all national or
racial groupings are understood as
never before. We are shaping our
International relations and our Chris
tan civilization to that ideal. When
North mid China was starving a few
years ago, n the prosperous Chinese
themselves were Needless, it was the
people Of the United States and Cana
da who sent the relief which broke
the famine. So today this western
world is hearing the cry of starving
Albanians and Bulgarians. The earth
Is full Of the good Samaritan spirit
IN this year OF our Lord, 1914.
Indeed. so generally accepted i:
this principle Of everybody's duty te
help h suffering anywhere hat /
Is hard for us to catch the radica
note in the beautiful story that Jesu!
told. To- His hearers it was a re
markable tale, and almost incredible
That an outlawed Samaritan SHOULD
be merciful to a Jew. who. in strength
might ave scOffed or spit at him, wa
not easy to believe. The teaching o
the parable a. made such progress
among men that to us it Is the nat
ural and reasonable procedure tina
every human being in real need shoul'
receive succor. The plight OF tn
Jews In Russia. Of the blacks in pris
on. OF the slaves on the cocoa planta
tions, all evoke q swift answer fron
the heart of the Twentieth Century
Even farther yet has the Good Sa
marian idea, a. Jesus set 1t forth
made its way in the world. 'Toda
we perceive that suffering, destftutioI
or need Of any kind, has. a real clair
upon the race. War itself, cruel an
antiquated IS It is. recognizes tn
rights Of the wounded - OF tn
side: and Japan cared for the Russia,
wounded. An accepted principle c
this Christian age is that the wOrl
owes it's help to every mar who
down. The social service conceptio
rules civilization. The scorn whic
the gentle tale of Jesus heaps. upo
every man or woman today who re
fuses to be a helper of his fellows
The Pettyfogging Lawyer.
The immortal story was born {
the heckling OF Jesus by a-lawyt
The discussion had been of etern;
life-that is Of life which partak'
of the eternal qualities in its chara'
ter as we'll as in it's duration. Oby
ously, mere prolongation Of existent
is not enough to make heaven. Tn
lawyer wanted to be a son and inhe
itor of eternal life. He asked JEST
how.
a Socratic answer was returne
What say the Scriptures?- The lay
yer was q good one-Of course, II
law in which he was versed was Il
sacred law. and not the civil-ar
he made answer according to II
eternal principle: Love God and To-
your neighbor. That was easily a
swered. All, how simple is the sa
ing Of n creed! We are glib in reli
. ious afirmationS. This lawye
though had NOT sounded the dee