The Washington herald., 1922-05-14

| Lord. and to keep his command
ments. and his testimonies, and
mis- statutes. with all his heart.
and with all his soul. to perform
the words of the covenant which
are written in this book.
And he caused all that were
present in Jerusalem and Benja-
min to stand TO IT. And the in
habitants of Jerusalem did ac-
cording to the covenant of God. |
the God of their fathers.
He gathered together all the elders
of Judah and Jerusalem and then
he brought to the house of the
Lord all the inhabitants. the priests
and the people. Standing in his
place, he read to them ''all the
words of the book of the covenant
that was found in the house of the
Lord" and he made a covenant
before the Lord to walk after the
Lord and to keep his command
ments and his testImonIes and his
statutes with all his heart. and with
all his souP to perform the words
of the covenant that were written
in the book.
Bible Often Is Lost.
He not only made a promise for
himself, but he brought his people
into the covenant with him, and they
did according to the covenant of
God. the God of their fatherS."
Several of those who write upon the
IL. TD.A
found in this account Of the loss and
recovery of the Bible a suggestion as
to the numerous ways in which the
Word of God is lost now, for it goes
without saying that an individual. as
well as nation. may lose the Bible,
and lose 1t today as well as in the
past.
The reason Is not the same in all
cases; anything that is substituted for
the Bible will serve to Danish it from
the, thought. II one obeys the first
commandment, Thou shalt have no
other gods before me-" he VIII ue
anxious to keep in touch with Gods
will that he may obey it. II he wor-
ships any of the many false gods, he
will feel little interest in the Word
OF God. In fact, he will deliberately
avoid It because its language will
accuse him.
The False Gods of Today.
1t is hardly necessary to say that
there are as many false gods today
as there were in the days of the He
brew kings, or that temptation to
worship these gods is as strong today
as then.
We have the god of gold. wor-
Shinnah hu fhnon ri
above everything else; the god of
fashion, worshipped by those who
long for distinction in the social
world; the god of fame. before which
those PROSTATE themselves who set
their heart upon the distinctions that
can be won in any department of
activity.
We have the god OF ease, which
those worship who think only of food
and bodily comfort-who eat and eat
and eat. and sleep and sleep and sleep.
and then rise up to eat and eat and
eat again.
We have the god of intellect, wor-
shipped by those who, putting the
brain above the heart. ani reason
above faith. proudly follow the wan
derings of the mind instead of humbly
trusting the word of God.
We have the travel god. worshipped
by those who develop the wanderlust
and associate with rare and unusual
things until the little tasks that make
up everyday life pail upon them.
We have the god of chance, wor-
shipped by those who are bent on
getting something for nothing: the
god Of psssion. worshipped by those
who subordinate the mind and the
soul to the appetites Of the body: the
rum god, in whose worship Americans
used to spend more than on educa-
tion and religion combined; and. last
and most deceptive of all, the great
god self, of which all the other false
gods are but masks.
The Great God Self.
1t is self that obscures the Gre
ator-self that is puffed up with its
own Importance and seeks to make
the world subservient to It: self
that could not live an hour, II it
had to give its attention to its own
vital organs. One would die of ex-
haustion II he had to swing the
pendulum of the heart or pump the
bellows Of the lungs or direct the
digestive organs in their unceasing
work.
But the Heavenly Father has pro-
vided that man can live without
conscious effort in order that man
may devote his thoughts to Gods
work and to the welfare of his fell
ows. And yet many give to their
Maker no thought at all and are in
different to His revealed word.
Josiah $500 years ago recognized
the value of Gods word and led the
people to the making of a covenant
for the worship of Jehovah. TIE
entered into these covenants with
all his heart and with all his soul"
II Josiah and his people so highly
prized the Pentateuch. what should
De our estimate of the Bible as we
have 1.-THE Old Testament en-
iarged and New Testament added?
What the Bible Gives Us.
! venture to say that the Bible
has done more to determine the civ
ilization of today than all other
books combined.
tertained by the civilized world: IL
1t gives the conception of God en-
gives us an :nfallible guide-a lamp
unto our feet and a light unto our
path.
1t gives us the only authentic ac
count of Christ. whose life on earth
began with a virgin birth and end
ed in a resurrection-the greatest
fact of hist ory and the growing
figure of all time.
The world never needed the Bible
more than now; IT needs a personal
God. near enough to hear prayer
and willing to answer; it needs an
inspired Word OF God: it needs the
F.,1