The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1914-01-06
Old History with
NeW Meanings
God Guides the Lives of Men and of
Nations Into Steadily Better
ing Conditions.

Nations Into Steadily Better
ing Conditions.
William T. Ellis.
At this back-ward-looking time of
the year it is appropriate to look still
further back than the petty concerns
of our own past 12 months. Frankly,
most of us think in very small terms.
We are cellular, parochial, provincial.
! long look at history tends to eman-
cipate us from small fears. 1t helps
us to see things in their relative i'm
portance and to deliver us from the
thraldom of trifles.
A few days ago, in a dining car,
a new waiter asked the steward If
he should serve ice with bottle of
Vichy water. The French steward
went into paroxysm of. contempt:
Serve ice with Vichy? Why, every
body knows ha ice is never served
with Viohy." So he spluttered and
fumed, unwilling to let the subject
drop for an hour later. Did not the
guest pity him, for having as walters
such dolts ae> did mot know better
than to serve ice~with Vichy? One
guest did pity him, but not for the
reason he supposed. Millions OF bet
ter men than he, in every respect ex-
cept q knowledge of cookery and table
service, don't know, anything about
Vichy, and don'tcare. The stewards
trouble was the trivial one of soul
that has shriveled to the size of the
petty tools of his trade. He is an
example OF the person who is troubled
by forks and spoons and table gar
ments; and who need to think back
upon the great men who got along
without any Qfthese encumbrances of
our modern civilization. 1t would be
wholesome for all of us to remember
that greatness is no matter of petty
usages. Let us call the Bible patri-
archs to our aid to deliver us from the
blight of litteness of soul
MANKIND'sAONG JOURNEY.
How old is man? Three million
years." answered a recent magazine
article. Frankly, we do not know"
answers the wise scientists. Geology
and anthropology have given us
glimpses of the long, long journey the
human race has travelled; and our
school children talk learnedly about
the stone age and the bronze age not
knowing that these synchrUnized in
different papts~of the earth but all
we really do know, from credible his
tory, is that so long as we have been
able to read his contemporaneous re-
cords, man has had the same essential
needs and traits,
The history that is truest to type
is the Old Testament Here we see
the race developing, acquiring larger
relationships and wider horizons, and
being disciplined for the business OF
life and moral responsibility. There
are SOME changes which the centuries
do not make-and this truth may be
stressed without limit, since our day
with its amusing and amazing ego
tism, is inclined to believe that within
n decade or two IL has advanced" be-
yond the old landmarks. Thus, the
need of pure family life must con-
, tinue to the end of the race. We shall
never outgrow the necessity for moral
standards. The call for the exercise
OF sovereign will-power on the part
OF every person is abiding. Sin still
works as a permanent factor in hu-
man socity. Most Of all, God abides.
All these factors and forces we find in
the Old Testament history which we
have been studying, and a contempla-
tfon of them is involved in any reas-
enable consideration OF history.
THE GREATEST TRUTH OF ALL.
! One overshadowing truth, the old
est and greatest, yet also the newest
and most intimate, has been studied
during this years lessons. That is
the truth OF the existence and char
acter Of q Divine Being. No fact is
so cotemporary as the fact OF God.
I'm the beginning, God" so began
our lessons. AS the opened eyes of
John saw it, He is the First, and the
Last the Alpha and Omega, the gen
Grating Cause and the final Adjudi-
cation. This loftiest theme that ever
commanded human consideration is
the central truth OF the years study.
Man is related TO God by the very
mature OF both beings. The present
character of this relationship is more
important than the Mexican question
the state of business, the affairs of
tire holidays, and the problem of get
ting along with other people. If God
bulked larger in our thinking, the
things that disturb us in life would
bulk smaller.
AS it was in the beginning of the
first man, and as it will be at the
deathbed OF the last, God is the su.
preme question. Any mind that tries
TO get along without reclining upor
God is not doing justice even to its
bwn man-power. AS Mount HermoT
, dominates the landscapes of Palestine
so does this truth tower above all else
- i nthese lessons.
If we may shake ourselves lossC
I from the things near and small, anC
| take a fearless look at the task o
organizing human life along the bes
lines, we approximate somewhat tht
genius of this Old Testament history