The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1923-05-31
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

can Dy rev. U. .. wright, u. u.
SUNDAY, JUNE 3.
JEREMIAH, THE PROPHET OF
COURAGE.
Read the Book. 35:1-19.
Watch We, stand fast in the faith, quit
you like men, be strOng.-I Cor.
1913.
VILLAGE BOY AND CITY MAN
An hour of stiff walking carries one
from Jerusalem to the little village of
Anathoth. No pilgrims crowd there
as they do to Stratford or to Mount
Vernon, yet one of the greatest fig
ures of history was born there, walk
ed its crooked streets, played among
its children and sat open mouthed
with wonder as he listened to the
tales of Eli, of Abiathar, of Aaron,
until springing to his feet he cried,
They were my forefathers" And
the boy caught the thrill of his great
past and stepped in its history, long
ed to carry on the banners of yester-
day. Simply as the dawn of day God
called him. Just the blossoming spring
tree that told of Gods presence, but
every bloom was a word, and timidly
but determinedly he took up the task
that kept him in Jerusalem thru all
its painful years that brought it ut
ter ruin and left the land desolate
and the people eXiles. With his full
knowledge of affairs he had to appear
unpatriOtic in his urgency to obey
Babylon. With the fanatical passions
reused in defense of the city of the
Temple to peak of the possibility of
its overthrow carried the mass of the
people against him. If France eX
ecuted a man because he spread dis
enlargement in this twentieth CEN
tury how much fircer in that far-off
day burned the passion that jeremiah
faced during his entire ministry. Coop
er'S Spy was arrested many times,
was always under suspicion, yet it
was his patriotic devotion that was
aiding the Colonists in spite of sus-
piciOn. Write in the name of Jeremi-
ah and his credentials from Jehovah
We're as unsupported as those of Gen.
Washington carried by the Spy. But
the village boy faced the city storm
and stood strong thruout it all. His
successors live today.
There was another great section of
the people that turned against him
with bitterest scorn. He was of the
priestly line and had probably been
trained as such but he felt the hol-
lowness, of the forms and the divorce
of worship and conduct. They were
false leaders They made religion
ritual instead of a life. Because Of
such teaching the whole nation was
being imperiled and the prophet faced
the determined opposition Of his own
class. Utterly alone except for God
he made his tight for righteousness,
justice, brotherhood and national
honor. Carried into Egypt by the
fleeing exiles it is told that he was
killed there by the people he loved
and tried to serve.
THE MESSAGE AND IT'S MIGHT
jeremiah gives us religion of life
and spirit instead Of form. He swept
away the belief that God had to de-
fend the Temple and preserve the ma
ton to keep religion alive That
Christ went to Calvary and Stephen
to the stones because each proclaimed
the supremacy Of spirit and the pass
ing of the Temple, precisely the mes
sage that Jremiah brought, tells how
far beyond his day was his speech
and how bitter the opposition was
which he withstood. He brought in
dividual instead Of national religion
to light He made mans relation
personal so that he was a child Of God
first instead of bing first a Jew as a
necessary step to membership in the
family of the Father. In this he
forestalled Paul by six hundred years.
Then there came the utter collapse of
the Hebrew state and the deporta-
ton Of the citizens 20 the valley Of
the Euphrates. The destruction Of
the Temple and city left nothing but
ruins upon the sacred spot of Zion
The word Of jeremiah was fully vim
Dictated and in q thousand places
where Jew lifted his face and sought
an explanation Of the catastrophe
there was born a hope that glowed
brighter and brighter thru the inter
vening years that the faith in God
instead of in building and in a place
was after all the he>rt Of Jehovah's
religion. His sturdy stand for the de-
struction as inevitable and his equally
strong promise OF continuous life for
the religion of the Hebrew carried
the people thru that dire experience
that swept away entirely the teach
ings of the mass of priests and pro-
phets who had believed Jerusalem in
violable since it was essential to the
faith. More than any other single