The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1919-02-13

lnou Shalt love the Lord thy God with
! all thy heart, and with all thy soul and
with all thy strength. and with all thy
mind; and thy neighbor as myself.
Luke 1927.
U. S. WRIGHT.
CHECKING THE WHEELS.
AS the load climbs the hill and pauses
for moment to breathe the team the
driver thrusts billet of wood or a
stone behind the wheel to prevent the
wagon slipping backward. That has al
ways been Gods method. Just now we
are pausing in cur Temperance cam
paign but the wheels are resting against
the Amendment. The Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution are
familiar chocks upon progress hill. The
Magma Charta prevented English kings
from reversing the movement for popu-
lar government. The lesson gives an
other instance of the same thing when
into the written law fundamental moral
demands were placed that became for
all time the standard of conduct for Is
rael. A mass of slaves had moved out
of their servitude and had been given
the lessons of trust perpetuated in the
Passover, of provision symbolized in
pot of mama, of cooperation preserved
in judicial organization and were now
present at the Mount of God for an
other that should put moral founda-
tion under the nation that was to be.
These were the days of purely local
deities. Gods of particular lands. 1t
was an idea that persisted long in Israel
for David protested to Saul that he was
being driven out 80 that he must ego
serve other Gods" Elijah came to
Horeb for a special interview with
Jehovah and Moses having learned the
name Jehovah there was keeping tryst
with the God of Sinai and he led the
tribes thither. But a new thing had
happened in religious history jehovah
| had had compassion on their sufferings
and had chosen them because of their
need to be peculiarly His own. Others
might take the God of the place to
which they came but these had been
taken under special protection because
| of their weakness. Gratitude became
therefore duty and such a God had
the right because He was moral to
make moral demands upon them which
they acknowledged. Written upon stone,
the earliest material used in book max
| ing, they form the germ from which
all later religious development came.
The PREPARATION.
Not an Israelite except Moses and
Aaron had even seen a mountain. All
their days had been spent in the sunny
valley of the Nile but now they were
travelling thru rugged defiIes and had
come to the base of a mountain that
lifted its head more than a mile above
the plain where they fed their flocks
| and its top was crowned with vapor
while roaring winds, crashing thunders
and vivid lightnings added to the won
| der of the magnificent scenery. 1t was
fitting abode for Deity and their minds
were receptive for revelation. The
washing and purifying of themselves,
the prohibitions for man or beast to
even touch the mountain, added to
their expectancy and they heard God
speak out of the clouds that wrapped
the summit of the hill Whether we
would use the same words in describing
the event today does not alter the fact
that they were face to face with God
who spoke to them as they entered into
new religious experience. Cunsaulus
makes it the picture of mems own
march where his higher nature Journeys
toward liberty while his lower one NUT
tered discontentedly for Egypt. "Then
you rose to the vision of the 4 am that
| am'-God IN the history of the past
and future. You were led to SIAM.
Siani was wrapped in thunder cloud and
lit with flame as conscience always is.
| 0, it is great hour when the highest
faculty of ones soul gets the moral law,
Gods legislation which is the utter
ance of Gods plan, revealing Gods
nature" But whether 1T is individual
or not there are preparations that make
it easy to hear Gods voice, even SauPs
Damascus road experience was not I'M
connected with his past. Our task is
to put others as We put ourselves in the
condition of hearing; we don't go to a
boiler factory to listen to a concert.
The WORDS.
In Deut. another list varies slightly
from these given in the lesson. But as
the differences are in the explanation of
why the prohibition is made instead of
in the law itself probably only the lat
ter was contained in the tables and this
would make each five about the same
size in the writing. Beginning with
our thought of God they run thru our
words and our religions actions. Con-
corning our fellows the process is re-
versed. Relationship to both God and