Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-27
WARS LESSON And BIBLES
The international Sunday School Lesson For De-
cember 2o Is Faiths Victories
Hebrew IL 1872
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS

Back of new times are hidden old
s..es. There is always a reason.
: ADsterday explains to-day; and to-
a.ay determines the destiny OF to-
- >rrow. Flowers grow only on stems
and roots: and fruit is borne by
:rees that grew long before they
reduced. While the whole world
wonders over universal liberation ana
idealism, it is not wise to forget the
forces which produced them. Heroes
who died in France are only por-
ton of the army of liberty; in whose
ranks the angels see many men ana
women who died long ago, without
ever witnessing the sunrise of free
dom. All prophets and dreamers
all teachers and warriors and mar
tyr spirits. who lived and died for
the sake of huIIan rights and well
fare are co-sharers with the hosts
who fought the final war to save the
world. 1t is inspiring TO remember
the long line of those who, animated
by the lofty spirit of Whittier, could
cry,
What matter, I or they?
Mine or another's day
So the right word be said.
And life the sweeter made.
Ring bells, in distant steeples
The joy of unborn people.
Sound, trumpets, far-off blown,
Your triumph is my own.
Since today stands on yesterdays
shoulders, we do we'll to look back,
at the close of this year, and of this
series of International Lessons, to
consider of what sort were they
10
glory they have bequeather 20 us,
though we do not always recognize
whence it came. Nor are we in
of our days best boUns far enough
back. The worlds onward march,.
until within the past half century,.
has been SLOW With patience and
tolisomeness we have progressed,
holding all the while to the most
precious gifts of our forebears We
today are travelling by the torch
lighted by Abraham and the other
patriarchs and prophets of the long,
long ago.
EVcrTbody's First Gift TO His Day
Looking backward, to the near
and distant past, we perceive that all
who have greatly served their own
day, and the generations and CEN
turies to follow, have been persons
who dared to live their own lives.
They were themselves first of all.
TO them it was given to discern that
Gods supreme gift to mortal is a
personality. Yesterday | watched
the Fifth Avenue throngs; and truly
the sight is a stirring one. One de-
pressing impression, however, is the
uniformity of it all-uniformity of
dress, uniformity of vehicles, uni
formity of usages. 1t looks as if,
civilized man is bent upon effacing
all the lines and points of his indi-
viduality. Conformity seems to be
Society's ideal; non-conformity is
the hero's.
Everybody's first debt to his day
is a life-his own best and most
characteristic life, as free and inde-
pendent and courageous as the life
of Abraham. Before a man can give
any other gift to the world he must
give it his own personality; and that
personality developed to its highest
potentialities. The men who change
the world are the ones whom the
world cannot change. They have u
sense of the sanctity of their own
spirits. In their souls they have
heard the divine whisper. They
know themselves TO be after the
image of God, and not after any of
His mere creators.
This outstanding truth from our
studies in the ancient Jewish patri-
archs is one of contemporaneous-
ness. 1t makes life and faith real
in the here and now. They walked
with a living God Their faith was
in One who was present and near.
We have to follow them in this ap-
prehension of a religion that was
vital and of their own time. To be
men of the living day we must be
men of the living Lord. One of our