The Republican., 1925-10-29
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially For The Repub-
lican's Readers by Rev. U. S.
Wright, ID.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1925.
THE FIGHT AGAINST
STRONG DRINK.
(World's Temperance Sunday
Ephesians 6:1-20.

(World's Temperance Sunday
Ephesians 6:1-20.
Be strong in the Lord, and in the
strength of his might.-Eph. 6:10.
THE AIR-PLANE PICTURE.
The National Geographic is famous
for its illustrations made from Origi-
nal photographs, and ther care many
/ taken from some soaring plane. At
/ ter walking thru the scenes depicted
there is a surprisingly new evalua-
ton of the parts visited as they are
/ seen in their relationships made Wis
ible only by the height. The same
thing is true of the institutions in
which we live. That is one reason
why an appraisal of something Amer
lean by a visitor from Europe or ia
pan is so refreshing and often so
startlingly illuminating to our cock
sureness. We know the Church. We
have been blessed by its ministry We
have been instructed by its teaching.
We have been enriched by its worship.
We have been enlarged by its activi-
ties, redeemed by its Lord and civiliz-
ed by its ideals. This letter, however,
is view from one of the highest
heights attained by any human soul
in the whole New Testament and the
Church of our love has an unfamiliar
lCok. This is the striking value of
the letter.
+ Paul had left Ephesus with the
standing Of his organization assured.
He had visited Macedonia, carried the
offerings to Jerusalem, been mobbed,
tried in Caesarea, shipwrecked on
Malta and was chained to a Roman
guard in Rome awaiting the trial that
released him for further activities.
The situation in Asia Minor indicated
the advent of materialism and the
over-emphasizing of the worth of GER
emonies and angel spiritu-
alism we call it-and he may have
had a letter from the region asking
his advice. Certainly he had visitors:
Tychicus, who carried the letters to
Asia; Epaphras from Colosse, and
Mark, who had now fully made his
peace with the Apostle, from all of
whom the fullest information would
be gathered. In reply we have the
letter to Colosse also to be read in
Laodicea in the same valley, and the
impersonal one to the Ephesians,
which was meant for all the churches
in the region. In the first, Christ is
lLXalted as the source of all things
belonging to the Church of which He
is the head. In the other, it is the
Church itself that holds the center of
the stage. 1t is the living Church ex-
istant in the plan Of God before the
worlds were made, continued thru the
measured beat of ages of men by the
power Of God, and coming to the con-
summation, after the last page Of
earth history has been written, in the
purpose of God that goes beyond the
horizon even as Paul standing on tip
toe on the highest mountain of hu-
man climbing. Eternity is often in
conflict with time, the centuries often
reverse the verdicts Of the hour and
the members of such abody will of
necessity find themselves at war with
some Of the temporary things hang
ing desperately to life. 1t is of the
inevitable state that the section given
to the lesson concerns itself.
THE BATTLERS.
The lines of struggle were not
drawn across the plains of earth, but
above the range of material things.
1t was the fight of spirit with spirit;
the wrestle of the Spirit of Jesus
with the spirit of darkness. Was Paul
wrong in peopling the upper reaches
with spirits? We have largely ruled
them out Of our thinking, but what
ever our conclusion there is thrill in
the picture comparable only with that
Of modern aerial warfare. Perhaps
Elisha's prayer is the most needed
thing today: Lord, open his eyes
that he may see" But it is terrif-
ically true that the real battle is be-
tween the spiritual forces. Realizing
that, sensing the field Of conflict inev-
liable between the Church as he had
envisaged it, fringing its form across
the ages and the opposition to its in
crease, he looked at the embodiment
Of Roman rule chained to his wrist
and found ready correspondence to
what his spirit saw happening in the
unseen reaches beyond his confning
walls. What did he do? He spiritu-
allied the weapons of the Roman into
aerial armor for soaring spirits, for
truth, righteousness, peace, faith, sal
yation, words OF the Spirit, prayer;
what are these but invisible but po-
tent weaponings for warfare imping-
ing upon the world but fought out
above it? 1t was no shadow fight