Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-03-06
BIBLE MORE MODERN
THAN LATEST NOVEL
Truths 1t Teache. Are Good For All
Time, For All Lands and
All Conditions
The International Sunday School Les
son For March s, Is "Watchfulness:
Temperance Lesson."-Luke IL:
36-48
(Rv yUiIl,ar m D,,,>

(By William T. Ellis)
RMS story Is Oriental from first
to last. The average person reads
this familiar New Testament passage
Tor the first time with bewilderment.
IT is all out of his range of expert
ence. He might as we'll be asked to
explain the symbols on an Oriental
rug.
What does he know about girded
IONS! He does not wear long skirts
that have to be tucked up into his
glrdle when he runs and does active
work. The men in the near east do
that very thing to-day, as have seen
countless times. Nor does the un-
travelled American know aught of
wedding professions and feasts, with
a portion brought home by the guest
10 his faithful servants. We ring
electric doorbells; in the east, one
hammers loud and long at the outer
gate, waiting for the movements of
sleepy watchman; that, too, I
know. The fear Of thieves, against
which the house is barricaded, has
scarcely counterpart in this west
ern world. And the unjust steward,
the Number One Boy of China,
who takes advantage of his Masters
absence to be high handed and op-
pressive-that, also. is true in the
east to-day.
There are more important teach
ings In the text than little lessons
IN Or1entalism. There is q present
meaning In all the teachings of
Jesus. His messages ara always ap-
piicable; truth is forever o-date.
That Is why the Bible is mora mod
ern than the novel which came off
the press yesterday. The inspired
book is true to all times. Its essen
tial teachings can be taken right
out and practiced on the next per-
son you meet.
The Attitude of Faithfulness
Canny old Ben Franklin said that
the eyes of the master accomplished
more than his hands. He meant that
the oversight of the employer is nee
essary to the efficiency of the work
man. AS ten thousand men can
testify, the average worker eases up
when "the boss" is not looking. 1t
is rare class that can be left out
OF the teachers sight. Most of us
need to be superintended.
Now Jesus bade His followers live
and work in an attitude of faithful
ness, which is vigilance. They were
to act as if the Master were near.
and hourly expected. To be ready
for Him at all times was the great
motive He implanted. This was the
sure preventive of unfaithfulness
and poor work. The inspection of
the Master was at hand.
Every thoughtful person has rec
ognized this principle. Some day we
shall not return to our desk, our
bench. our kitchen, our books: will
our days task be left completed =?
Tho housekeeper does not want her
neiglbor, suddenly summoned in the
morning, TO find the supper dishes
still unwashed. The bookkeeper
wishes to leave his books in such
condition that an expert accountant
will not have to be called in to un-
ravel them. There is no greater in
centive to good work every day,
right here and now, than this great
teaching of watchfulness.
A Plumb-line For Watchfulness
Some truths are mere distractions,
and wholly speculative. They have
nothing in particular to do with this
year Of our Lord, 1914. There is
none of that in the discourses of
Jesus. All that He taught is livable,
In New York or New Mexico. At the
base of His doctrines lies this spirit
of practicability; it works out into
real life. The Sermon on the
Mount helps servant to sweep un-
der the beds and in the corners. It
makes a builder as careful of the in
tegrity of his out of-sight construc-
ton as of his facade. The great
cathedrals are marvels of thorough
workmanship, because men wrought
in the spirit Of Thou God, seest
me-"
Paraphrased, this lesson on watch
fulness reads. Live your life with re-
spect to the great ideals. Take God
into our planning. Chart your course
In life by the eternal verities. DO
justly, love mercy, walk humbly'-
that is the program, if you are really
on the watch for the Lords coming
The Dominating Passion
There is something more than con-
scious caution to this quality of
watchfulness. 1t is a deep purpose,
a passion, soul-attitude. The New
Testament phrase, Looking unto
Jesus" embodies it. AS a mothers
thought present and absent, is
with her babe, SO the faithful disci-
ple's thought is of Christ. Just as
a devoted lover has his beloved ever
in mind. his whole day being tinged
with her personality, so the Chris
tian is dominated, in deed and mo-
tive, by the expectation of his Lord.
This looking -Christward attitude
deeply affects life. 1t makes one a
better person to live with. Sun
shinyness. courage, helpfulness, pa
tience-all qualities of grace go
along with watchfulness. For, very
clearly. if one is ready for Christ,
he is ready for anything. The life
lived in His fear has no lesser fears.
Just as revival of religion elevates
the whole social, and, commercial
q .nit
this expectation Of the Lord touches
inspiringly every phase of character.
The Makers of Social Ill
Biting and tenacious are the
words of the gentle teacher when
he arraigns the men who abuse their
post Of responsibility, and who for
get their obligations to the higher
Authority above them. They cease
to watch, and, to quote the lesson
text, they begin to beat the men
servants and the maid servants and
to eat and drink, and to be drunken:
the Lord of that servant shall come
in a day when he eXpecteth not and
and shall cut him asunder, and ap-
point his portion with the unfaith-
full"
To all perpetrators of social ill, to
all men who underpay their work
men, to all women who leave their
dressmaker's and grocers bills un-
paid, to all owners of foul tenements
and resorts of evil, to all makers of
dishonest and hurtful goods, this
stern message runs as solemn
warning from God. The fear of God
is to be the final correction Of all ills
that aff1ict our community. When
men do business as Gods under
stewards, whether they dig coal out
Of the earth or build huge sky
scrapers, they will work as those