Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-01-15
TURKS RUTHLESSLY
DEVASTATING SYRIA
Present Day Conditions Equa
Ravages of Midianites Among
Israelites in Biblical Times
THE VOICES A MAN HEARS

| a
The International Sunday School Les
son For January IL Is. 1.-The Call of
Gideon."-Judges 6:1t-4O
(By William T. Ellis)
This mornings mail brought me
la letter that sounds like a para
phrase of the first part of This sixth
chapter of the Book of Judges. The
letter is from a friend in Syria, an
American. The present war has
| brought upon that land all the woes
| that the Afidianites inflicted upon
Israel Ruthless Turks have not only
robbed the people OF their harvests
and goods, in the name of their gov
ernment, but they have even carried
| off foreigners, British. French and
Russian. to the interior Poverty
and oppression are driving the peo-
pie frantic. Even my American
| friend faces want, and what is more
/ bitter, he is impotent to succor the
need that cries daily at his gate. The
Syrians who are able, despite the
present turbulence in their land, TO
follow the International Sunday
School Lessons. can read with an un-
| derstanding that is entirely impossible
to us in this favored land, such words
as these from the days lesson:
And the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel; aud because of INDIAN
/ the children of Israel made them the
dens which are in the mountains, and
| the caves, and the strongholds. And
| so 1t was, when Israel had sown, that
the Midianites came up. and the
Amalckites, and the children OF the
East: they came up against them;
and they encamped against them, and
destroyed the increase of the earth.
till thou come unto GAIA, and left no
Sustenance in Israel. neither sheep,
nor OK, nor ass. For they came up
with their cattle and their tents: they
came in as locusts for multitude; both
they and their camels were without
! number: and they came into the land
to destroy 1t. And Israel was brought
very low because of indian: and the
children of Israel cried unto Jeho-
vah."
The new sultan of Egypt is able
to recall the days, in which. indeed
he had 4 part when expressions like
these We're visited upon the long-suf-
fertng fellaheen. before the British
came int control of Egypt. At the
present moment the same hiding OF
selves and of animals and of food in
caves and wilderness is going on in
Palestine. where Turkish oppression
is making its last stand
Ere We pass TO a study of the as
signed theme, let us thank God that
we live in a land of peace and justice
where life and property are safe. and
where our worst ills seem bright
lalongside of the black lot of millions
perhaps quite as deserving as our
selves. Is not our very prosperity
Gods call to US to play the Gideon in
behalf of the worlds needy
\ Mans Highest Call
Among the Society of Friends the
most distinctive teaching is that oi
the Inner Voice and the Inner Light
and the belief is one held by all grea
servants of God. That God calls the
individual to special service in the
cTowning truth about man. OF all the
messages that so come. the highest i!
that which Gideon heard, as in the
seclusion OF the wine press h'
threshed the family grain-the cal
TO deliver ones own people. De
! borah had heard this voice: Joan o
: Arc heard 1t: so have thousand 9th
ers who have not counted their live!
i dear unto themselves IL they Nigh
be servants of their country.
Most oportunely Gideon's stor!
comes to-day before many millions o
/ youths, 10 remind them that the no
[ blest use of life is to employ il braVel!
I in melting the present problems o
: ones own land. Ii seems as If thi
4 summons We're never more widel'
) heard and answered than now. Al
) around the earth, patriots have beer
giving themselves to leadership il
this time of unrest. In China, India
: Egypt, Turkey, Russia and the coun
: tries of Europe flaming souls hav
. been calling upon their countrymel
, to seek a nobler national life.
!, Any young man who in these gree
a days elects to remain merely com
! | Portable and at ease, seeking onl,
pleasure and wealth for himself, is a
culpable as Gideon would have beel
: had he remained out of the storm ant
I.8. - IL. ~. To,
of Israel from the Midianites. Brit
ish papers and publicists are pourinl
forth scorn and contempt upon TIL
able-bodied young Britons who re
fuse to enlist in the service of thei
country, preferring football and mu
sic halls TO military service. TIL
first great truth to be written con
eerning Gideon is that, while abou
his daily task he heard the call to
J great duty of patriotism, and heede
lit.
The Old, Old Perplexity
Gideon's first inquiry was in m
D mind as l talked last night on a lat
train with a friend who is the execu
tive officer of charitable society. II
. had been attending q meeting wherein
q experts had fearlessly and thorough
+ discussed the problems of unemploy
( ment and poverty. The immensit
: of the problem, and its APPARENT hope
= leSSneSS, under present conditions
was so weighing upon his spirit tha
: he was crying, with Gideon, IF Je
I hovah is with us, why then has al
d this befaIlen u.s." Belgium and TIL
t other countries at war might we'll asl
y the same question.
0 Everywhere and always this ques
!, tion has perpleXed thinking people
1t is the problem of evil in Eder
: Why should the godIy suffer? Th
y Book of Job deals with it, the Psalms
: the prophets and the New Testamen
: recur to 1t. At least this much w
I may learn from the present story
n Goes does not want us to sit supine an
r effortless, like Moslems, in the pres
II ence of evils that oppress us. No
y resignation under the ills of life, bu
t heroic effort to master them. is Hi
y program. Gideon was not hidden b
y Jehovahs messenger, to be conten
/. with his lot: he was melted TO ris
= up and throw off the AIidianite yoke
II Equally, a just God never mean
II that His children should be crushe