The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1919-02-20
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Especially Prepared For Readers OF
The Republican.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY %.

MUSES. TIhylHB lOE Israel. EAouuS.
32:1-34:9.
The supplication of a righteous man
availeth much in its working. James Sic
u. S. WRIGHT.
The PEOPLE OF THE IMPATIENT HEART.
Days robbed the mountains of some
of their majesty. The cloudy summit
was familiar and seemed to have swal-
lowed both their leader ane Joshua.
Dangers Iurked before them, grass fail
ed about them and guidance was not to
be had in any visible form. Cases null
tiplied and there was NO higher court to
which to appeal them. Discontinued
mutterings took. their way among the
men who were beginning to feel their
lostness in this strange region. Two
weeks passed and no word came from
the hills. Three weeks and four
brought fear that the that the fifth
week changed to certainty that Moses
was dead. ''No man could live without
food this long," was heard on all lips.
Some rallyIng point must be found and
the plea, constantly reinforced by
events and by numbers, was made for
some symbol of Deity that could be-
come the standard that, should guide
them across the unknown wastes.
"Give US something we can see; Moses
Is gone; the pillar of cloud is gone; we
must have leader" voiced their solu-
ton of the perplexing events. Aaron,
anxious for bis brother, temperized,
yielded and the calf was the result and
its attendant debauchery followed. 1t
was not strange request when we re-
member that no people had climbed
high enough to do without visible
representation OF their God and the per-
sistence of the idea thru the days when
prophet and kingdom had advanced far
from these primitive times shows how
strong hold 1t has on the race. In
deed, some who are not Catholics find
an aid in pictured forms today and the
Virgin Mary owes much of her sway to
the exaltation within the clouded sum-
NIT of her Son so that men felt they
needed a nearer intermediary to whom
to pray. IsraePs hearts were hungry
and they were too impatient to wait
Gods time. They faced their problem
and forced solution that seemed to
them wise but which opened the door to
positive wrong. Their faith was limit
ed and they could not stand the testing
of delay.
The PRIEST OF THE FEARFUL HEART.
Matheson calls Aaron the St. Peter
of the Old Testament and the thing
which each was compelled to master
was fear. Both fell at this point of
character. The people demanded some
visible symbol in Moses absence.
Aaron and Hur had been left In charge
of the camp and there is a tradition
that the request came first to Hur who
refused to listen to anything of the
kind. Maddened by opposition the
crowd slew him. Certain it is that he
disappeared from the record and Aaron
acts as the fear instead of faith con-
trolled him. He did not directly yield
but temporized by talking of the cost.
wen foot the BILL" wasi the thing
that surprised him but having yielded
so far he could not refuse to accept the
gold. Then he dallies lover the craving
eagerly watching the mountain side for
some sign of his brothers coming. FL
nally it was finished but he said, TO
morrow" hoping against hope for
Moses. Then came the orgy of sensu-
GUS teasting in which the people
"broke loose" from all restraint of
spiritual law. The mountain gave back
its dead and Aaron faced his ....brother
and put it on the furnace and the peo-
pie. Circumstances, business stan
dards, home affairs, school laxity,"
are few of the modern termsl THAT we,
use to explain our failures to- the sur-i
prised questioning that seeks an ex-
PLANTATION for our surrender to 1.-THE call
of the crowd. Certainly David was far
more heroic figure as he cried, Il have
sinned."
The PROPHET OF THE FLAMING HEART.
A mans power is measured by the
passion he controls. The quiet farmer
who suddenly flung himself upon a
tramp who, believing only a woman
present. had dared to take liberties
with his wife was revelation to his
two boys. dad loves mother that
much all the time only he doesn't have
to show it. " was the explanation one
gave. Washington at Monmouth re-
yealed the fires always burning under
meath the quiet face. Moses was a
cyclone of wrath as he rushed into the
midst of the camp. The stone tablets
that had been the treasurer of the hill
top were hurled from him SO that they
crashed into fragments. The golden
image was dragged from its pedestal
and thrown into the blazing sacrifica
fire. The metal freed now from the
wooden core was ground like grain in
the mill and scattered IN the snriror or