The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1918-08-22
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Especially Prepared For Readers of
The Republican.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25th.
Christian Testimony. Acts Is; Matt
10:27-33; James 1:26, OF.
Every one who shall confess me before
men, him shall the Son of man also
confess before the angels of
God. Luke 1913:
U. S. WRIGHT.
THE NEED OF TESTIMONY.
These are days in which the plan of
Jesus for witnessing people can be
easily understood. We are lined up
under the Flag as we have been at no
other time in our history and every
mans utterance is listened to that his
attitude toward it may be certainly
known Individual mob attempts to
enforce loyalty are to b. condemned,
tar and paint are not to b. applied by
irresponsible hands when Il world will
invoke the ordered processes of nation
al protection but we all want to know
where each man stands upon the vital
question of democracy. ! ne nation has
called for witnesses and there has been
cheering response. The Kingdom makes
precisely the same demand and while
the pagaentry of the one is absent the
need is the same. The church, which is
to the Kingdom what the government
is to the nation, cannot use its power
unless there is the outspoken testimony
to its worth. What would have been
the effect upon the world if even half
our people had been pro-German? Our
whole machinery of government would
have been rendered ineffective and sue
cessful intervention in behalf of hu-
mainly would have been impossible.
And the church, so long as a majority
of its adherents is careless about avOw-
ing enthusiastic loyalty to its Lord, is
as helpless as the United States would
have been under similar circumstances.
Jesus struck the fundamentally correct
principle when He insisted upon wit
Messing as the primary duty of His fol-
lowers. One can afford to accept His
leading even when the meaning is not
fully clear to ones own mind so keen
and clear and sound is His Judgment in
in every case where we are in position
to appraise it. But there is deeper
need in the individual life. Confronted
by the moral issues of the present con-
flict what must be the effect upon the
man who is passively content to be just
sufficiently loyal to escape interment?
He becomes an object of suspicion to
all and sinks into political decrepitude.
Refusal to be outspoken to the chal-
longing call of Christ leaves the same
impress upon the soul. Some churches
have other odors than that of sancity
and life without ventilation that
pours God S free air thru it becomes an
unholy thing. We must speak or perish.
THE THING TO WHICH WE WITNESS.
Jesus promised that the impact of the
witnessing life should be as wide as the
world, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samarla
and the uttermost parts of the earth.
There are no unopened doors before the
opened lips. They were to bear wit
ness to Jesus in His Lordship over all
life. They knew Jesus. Personal &C
quaintanceship was at the bottom of all
their witnessing And knowing Him
God became real and man took on new
proportions. They were explorers in a
new world finding not an island but
continent that stretched in limitless
prodigality beyond their farthest vision.
The elatIon of discoveries was theirs.
They held a certain relationship to
Jesus for He had called them friends. "
They were utterly loyal to Him; this
was the second thing in their witness.
Meeting person is never the end, we
relate ourselves in some fashion along
the lines of attraction or repulsion to
that person. And Jesus just now is
like the Flag in demanding the accept
ance of the full consequences of know
ledge. The third thing in their witness
was the demand that the ideals of
Jesus become controlling in their world.
If He were Lord of their lives He had
the right to be the Lord of all lives.
God as revealed in the acquaintance
ship is present fact In His world and
must be taken into account IN all its
life. Neither democracy nor religion
can remain an abstraction. They chal-
lenge the man and the mans world de-
manding allegiance.
THE PERIL OF WITNESSING.
Germany is beginning to register a
fear among her business men that is as
yet scarcely articulate but must be
fairly prevalent. What is to follow
the war when the great mass of man.
kind is asked to begin once more the
purchase of goods made in Germany"
They have witnessed to the splendor of
autocracy. They have financed its en-
deavors. They have furnished the men
~ its armies. They have built its
\ omarines. They have shouted over