Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-06-25
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
For Sunday, June 10th.
BY DIR. MARION NH. HULL

with Them, and They Shall BE HIS
People" Rev. 21:3.
Has the church a social task?
What is the business of the church?
What did Jesus Christ, the great
Head of the church, commission the
church to do? What example did
on earth? These are vital questions;
they will help US to clear up our
thinking and living in these days of
much confusion about many things,
good, bad and Indifferent.
Before we try to answer them let
US give the world a "once over" let
us look about us to see what are the
conditions, and then what the
church's responsibility to them is.
The world is sick-in body, in mind,
sick physically and financially; sick
spiritually.
right at the start. In the United
Safes the average Length of life is
45 in men and 43 in women; while
in India it is 25 for. men and % for
Women-z0 years of productive life
wasted under a syetem that does not
know Christ. In non-Christian lands
more than so per cent of the babies
die before they are two years old;
while in the United States only 10
per cent of them are lost and in New
more than 100000 blind in China
and 100000 totally deaf. There are
100000 lepers in India who are roam
ing about spreading the dread dis
ease by contact.
Now these problems face solution.
The waste of life must be stopped;
the afflicted must be cared for; the
spread of contagion must cease.
shall the church do this task?
Education is one of the most up
- Tote I'D
States eleven out of twelve people
can read, but in the non-Christian
world only one out of twelve can.
Japan is an exception. Scarcely an
tlliterate person can be found there
under thirty years who IS OF Scnool
$50 languages has ever been reduced
to writing. Education is valuable.
1t makes us raise 200 pounds of cot
ton to the acre here, whereas in In
dia only 80 pounds is raised. The
teaching of child care, personal hi
giene, of domestic sanitation, ana
the preparation of food and OF car
pentry, sewing and deep blowing and
soil chemistry, all tend to lift the
burdens of the masses. The educa-
ton of women makes for better
mothers of the next generation.
Shall the church undertake the task
of the education of the world?
Then there is the problem of the
condition Of women. For two-thirds
of the race woman is regarded as a
slave and her body to be used at the
pleasure of her Iiege lord. From
nine to fourteen is the average age
for marriage. The demands of child
bearing are forced upon them before
they have barely left childhood. They
die at % on the average. Further
more, other conditions are compli-
eating the problem of women now;
for while in the United States wom-
an is being given more and more
freedom. her condition is worse in
nom Christian lands. Factories are
increasing and with them an increase
in women workers. In Shanghai 3O,-
600 girls come up every year to work
at 1c an hour, and instead of the
hall bedroom, they are herded pro-
miscuoussly with men.
Shall the church undertake the
task of freeing them?
future generation. There. are from
six to twelve million children in
America that are undernourlsneo.
Child labor, the problem OF litter
acv. the problem of recreation, the
problem of infant mortalltyIsnall
the church undertake these tasks!
And what. about the e., e io,S Iave
already been limited at. Is 1t the TASK
Of the church to teach thrift, TO
make life livable for the nundreos o.
millions of people upon whom the
economic pressure is so great as 10
be almost unbearable!
The Church's Task
Shall the church undertake 70
solve all Of these problems! 10
YOU agree with one who has SAID tnat
it is the church's task to assist con-
yerts to increased production by Vo-
cational and Industrial education. by
the promotion of cooperative effort
and by supplying the moral ldeals
and dynamics which are born OF the
Christian faith? Well, let us see.
We have examined recently the
four gospels, the Acts, and the prac-
tical parts Of the Pauline epstless
to discover what was the command
of Christ, and His example in the
face of these problems. We find nu-
examples of His healing, but
no example of His attacking the
problem of public health and SANTA
ton. Jesus healed because He had
compassion on the multitudes, but
primarily that He might turn them
to Him who alone was able to save
eternally. When He sent out the II
and later the 70, He commanded them
to heal, but had no word for them as