The farmer and mechanic., 1915-03-09
GIANT AT HIS GREATEST
HEIGHT.
The International Sunday School LES
.on for March IA Is, "Saul Gains
Ills kingdom."-I Sam ch.
(By William T. Ellis.)

(By William T. Ellis.)
every day the cables are bringing
fs, news from the Holy Land of the
military activities there. The best
.eyr maps of the most interesting
Gold of conflict today are found in
fbe backs of our Bibles. The day
hy-day tidings turn our thoughts back
to the earlier stories of the battles
over this same war-torn soil, and we
are freshly reminded, in the light of
the daily news, that cruelty and
laughter still are cOnCOmitants Of
war. as ever in the remotest past. The
uresent Sunday School Lesson is a
var story that gains new interest |
when read alongside Of the latest |
81 blegrams.
IT is a story of great outrage. a |
s~eat strategem, a great battle and |
a great hero. Like the recent dis !
r8tches from Suez and Sinai, it de-
bends upon an understanding OF the
local geography for an intelligent in
terest Most of the Children of Israel,
il will be remembered, lived between
the Mediterranean on the west and
me Jordan River on the east, in what
we now technically call Palestine.
Three tribes however, had been given
territory east OF the Jordan toward
Inc Arabian Desert, on the fertile
hehlands which are to this day the
best soil in the Holy Land. The
rceion has always been turbulent.
however and when I passed through
II the Turkish army was encamped
there, subduing an uprising of the
DruSes Here in the territory Of Cad
was the city of Jabesh-Gilead.
ltrocities Are Old-FashiOned.
Ever lowering on the edge of the
1sraelitish communities east Of the
Jordan were the Ammonites, great
and war-like people, Of whom we
learn from both the Old Testament
and from the Babylonian monuments.
AZ this time they had a powerful
ruler named Nahash, who had besieg-
ed Jabesh- -Gilead, and had forced it
to seek terms Of surrender. The
hunger wounds and disease Of the
besjeged were not greatly dlfterent
from what usually accompany sue
Ceesful siege.
The answer that was returned by
Nahash. when the Israelites sued for
peace, was truly oriental. displaying
that cruelty which usually camps
with armies. A blood lust seems tC
thrive in war. The fendish propose
Of Nahash was that he would spare
the city. provided every man would
come forward and have his right eye
put out This scheme would mean {
perpetual jibe at the IsraeliteS. II
man punishment, it was a Constan
hUmiNaton to the pride of the people
The tyrnany of it becomes create
when we consider the helplessness o
trc people. They were at the end
thoir fchting. They could do n
more The mercy Of their conqueror
was their only hope When the ulti
matum was received they asked 70
ton days respite, and this the con
oporors readily granted. for it merel
prolonged the sufferings of thel
victim. They were sure of their pre-!
and they could watch the agonize
02i'ing as n cruel boy enjoys tn
SruirminC of an impaled worm. Ca
You not hear the hysterical laments
tions of the weaklings over their in
pending fate and see the grim face
Of the strong who were determined
undergo the worst like men? TT
wailing of the women and the ne
Vous agony Of the waiting. remind !
Of the Belgians who wait for TT
sucCOr Of the world: and Of the b.
seged at Lucknow.
A Chance For A Hero.
The tale is almost contemp orar
When messengers came from Jabes
Cilead to Israel, the greater part
the people received the news Wi
weeping and with wrineing of hanC
They substituted sorrow for Servi(
Most Of us probably are to be c]as:
fed with the futile folk who sta
on n river bank and wave our han
foolishly while a man browns hefo
our eyes The record says "All t
people lifted up their voice,
went"
There was one man who spent
time in idle weeping. Occasions
veal heroes. When the great no
strikes, the man comes to his ov
Commonplace and beyond notice
tho day before their great deeds "
the man who rode on horseback
Tore the Johnstown food. warni
the people to flee TO the hills: and
girl who Staid by her telephone WI
me building was on fire; and
fisherman who rescued the shipwre'
ed in the storm. These opportunit
Cid not make heroes. they merely