The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1923-10-25

SUNDAY, OCTOBER %.
| MISSIONARY TEACHING OF
THE PROPHETS
Isa. 60:1-3; Jonah 4:10, II; Micah 4:
! Is; Zeph. SO.
Nations shall come to thy light and
kings to the brightness of thy
rising.-Isa. 60:3.
FOUR VOICES
Jehovah is a speaking God. From
the day when He walked in the cool
of the day in the Garden until the
/ Word was spoken thru cross and res
direction until this present hour the
speech of God has been the hope of
the world. Deafness to it has been
the cause of all the tragedies of the
ages. Here are four men who are
listening and who gave their under
standing of what they heard perma-
nent form and abiding usefulness.
They stretch across many centuries
but the thing that God said yester-
day today does not annul. Applica-
lions may alter but Gods purpose
runs true regardless of the person
thru whom it may be expressed.
Isaiah was the courtier of Jeru-
salem, a statesman, poet, a speaker
with few with whom to compare him.
He knew his world and its currents
as we'll as a pilot knows the channel
and he was sure Of God. At Versailles
he would have sat at the head of the
table among the big -Four" and
would have saved the situation could
he have had voice in deciding it.
Micah was younger than he by a
quarter CT century perhaps, a citi-
zen Of a small town, a farmer plain Of
speech and talking out of the pinch
Of poverty with a bitterness that the
other never used. Naturally it was
the village that should have saved
/ the world for its Redeemer would be
born there and the little town of
Bethlehem would be the most honored
spot on earth. Zephaniah was from
the royal line tho in all probability he
was reared far from the palace. Ma
nassau had redeemed the city with the
blood of the prophetic party and his
son had been no better except that
his rule was brief. Josiah, a child,
was king, but the shadows were lift
ing and jeremiah and this plain,
blunt man were facing the prepara-
tions for the reforms that the king
carried thru on reaching his majority.
Jonah seems to fit the days after the
exile when the restored nation was
losing its vantage in its hate for all
those who had oppressed it. His was
the fierce patriotism that would leave
his land and foregoe his position and
his God rather than servein any fash
ion those who might injure her. Mar
row, intense, intolerant, passionatcly
patriotic, he is as great a contrast as
can be presented to some other mem
bers of the prophetic party. Yet the
voice that speaks thru each of these
and across these many years bears
the same missionary message to the
world. For that lies at the heart of
God and will still be His word a
thousand years hence.
IF WE HAVE LIGHT
Isaiah was perfectly certain that it
was their possession. what was the
greatest thing | saw in the East ?"
asked a keen minded traveller trusted
at Washington. ut was that every
where men of my race walked at the
head of the procession. Even its mix
ture with the dregs of Chinese society
lifted its possessor into a position of
power and influence" Doubtless he
would decry any attempt to save the
world by eugenics only but he had
no question that the Anglo-Saxor
held light that could guide the steps
of the world. And in that most will
agree-t they are AnglO-SaXOnS
Isaiah would have objected but he felt
the same sense of having something
that would give light to all the worlc
outside in the darkness. And he was
sure of its effect for Gentiles, ever
their kings, should come under the
impulse of its shining. Israel helc
the light for the whole earth and she
did. And the world was so constitu.
ted that it would press toward the
light if it once caught glimpse of it
And the urge of all its prophetic wore
was that if they had the light they
ough to let it shine into the darkness
Of that old world until the whole was
radiant. God had given it to then
not merely for their own seeing but
that they might show others its