The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-09
International
Sunday School Lesson
BY W. T. ELLIS.
The Harvest of a Life.


We have outgrown them But the
Bible, like the mercy of God, is fresh
every morning and new every evening
This is because the Bible goes down
deep, deep, deep into the vital princi-
pies of life. 1t teachings pertain to
all time. In every reform movement
the Bible exercises a corrective and
restraining influence because it con-
unually calls men back to funda-
mentalS. More than one Jealous tenn
perance advocate has wished that the
Bible were more explicit and detailed in
its treatment of the liquor evil, not
seeing that if it were, the Bible would
soon be as out of date as a last years
temperance pamphlet. The power of
the Book is that it establishes all its
teachings upon the bed rock of eternal
principles.
A declaration of interdependence is
the substance of the portion of Scrip
ture which has been designated a tenn
perance lesson for the Sunday schools.
The idea of mutual responsibility of
mans obligation to man pervadeS
Pauls letter to the Christians in Gala
tia This letter, it will be recalled,
was written to the Galatian churches
at Iconium. Derbe, Lystra and Anti
och, about which we have been study
ing The new Christians were Singu-
larry docile in matters of faith and
practice. They wanted to know how
to live in the way that would please
Jesus. So they were hungry for in
StrucIlOn from the Apostle VINO was
their father in the faith The present
passage is a series of somewhat de-
tached injunctions strung on the
thread of the obligations which Chris
tians have one to another, and to
God.
Finger Boards ON LIES Highway.
What Paul himself wrote is more
effective than any comments upon it,
and I quote the lesson passage:
Brethren, even if a man be over
taken in any trespass, ye who are
spiritual, restore such one in spirit
of gentleneSs; looking to thyself, lest
thou also be tempted. Bear We one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the
law of Christ. For if a man thinketh
himself to be something when he is
nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let
each man prove his own work, and
then shall he have his glorying in re-
gard of himself alone, and not of his
neighbor. For each man shall bear
his own burden.
But let him that is taught IN the
word communicate unto him that
teacheth in all good things. Be not
deceived; God is not Knocked; for
whatsoever a man Soweth, that shall
he also reap. For he that soweth unto
his own flesh shall of the flesh reap
| corruption; but he that soweth unto
| the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap
| eternal life. And let US not be weary
in well doing; for in due season we
shall reap, if we faint not. So then,
as we have opportunity, let us work
that which is good toward all men,
and especially toward them that are
of the household of the faith
When a Man Stumbles.
The badness of good people lies in
their consciousness 1t is hard for
them to make allowances for others
not so correct as themselves. Ian
Maclaran drew this type to perfec-
| inn in hi If Ill CO.
bell, who drove his own daughter
from his home in his hardness of self
| righteousness. To be so engroSSed in
ones own goodness that he is intoIer-
ant of anothers weakness is the very
essence of Pharisaism, and the one
sin against which Jesus contended
more than any other. The exceeding
sinfulness of this sin consists in its
power to harden the heart so that the
divine plant of love is starved to
death.
Big hearted Paul, who knew that
would be many to STUN BILE, babe the.
| brethren restore such one in a
spirit of meekness. Thus they would
save the offender and serve their own
souls This kind of ministry used to
he called the cure of souls and APP
| Piled to the pastorate. My friend Dr.
Robert Hume, at Ahmednager, India,
has his single out as Maker and
mender of men and boys in the name
| of the Lord Jesus" The program of
Christ contemplates the greatness of
soul among His disciples which can
be patient and forgiving.
The Book of Paradoxes.
Within a few words of each other
there are two contradictory injunc-
tons in this letter Bear We one an
others burdens. Every man
shall bear his own burden" Both are
true: obviously SO. The paradox stag
gers nobody; for each in its own
sphere is a binding law
Christians are commanded to fulfill
their gospel by the practice of other
ism, or unselfiShneSs. That is the
christian principle at the heart of our
religion. Life at it's best is vicarious
God has entangled us all in a mesh
OF human relationships, because in the
school of helpfulness we learn divine
discipleship. One of the magazines
recently had tragic picture of a
woman who was needed by nobody
there were no stockings for her to
mend, no little faces to wash no tears
for her to dry. no household tasks for
her to do And no burden of cares
can be equal to that saddest lot of all.
On the other hand, there are some
puroens that nobody can shift on to
another. We may as well accept them
and shoulder them All the highest
responsibilities are individual and in
eScapable. Here is a woman laid
aside with nervous prostration be
cause" so runs the explanation "she
had so many things to stand"-as if
standing things was not part of the
program of life. Every spirit with STAN
. MIA must expect rebuffs and disap-
pointments and anxieties and bereave-
ments: these are all in the days cares
How they shall be accepted is a mat
ter of ones own attitude They may
be borne as a crushing load, or they
may be accepted as a normal respon-
sibility. In all these ultimate things
the soul stands alone
Sowing in Soul Soil
The high point of this temperance
lesson is this principle of sowing and
reaping. Whatsoever a man soweth
that shall he also reap" That is