The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-09-16

and consecrates himself in the Church
Immediately finds that there are rules
for the game of Christian living that
he must know if he would be worthy
of his calling. Churchly laws they
are because that is as far as Israel
! had travelled, but they were, as is true
| of all laws of universal application
among the people of the pilgrimage.
They were meant to promote the best
type of community life and bring a
fuller understanding of God and His
| attitude toward the life of His world.
For unless the will of the Almighty
lies behind the laws of our following
then there is no moral sanction to
command obedience,
The first section contains the laws
Of the offerings. The burnt offering
entirely consumed spoke of the con-
secration of the life and the claim of
God. The meal offering was filled with
thanksgiving and with the goodness
of the Eternal. The peace offering
declared the possibility of access to
the Throne and of the friendliness of
its Occupant. Both the sin and the
trespass offering brought penitence
into view while revealing the mercy
of God and His justice that demanded
restitution to the neighbor who had
been wronged. -s~.~. -e~-..-
The second section pertains to the
leadership chosen in the priest. He
should be a separated soul who gave
himself wholly to the exercise of the
qualities necessary for leadership, who
should be reverent in his attitude to-
ward God and sacred things. The
carelessness of Nadab and Abihu that
resulted in death UNDERSIGNED both
this necessity and that of living ex-
emplary lives that took no stimulant
to muddle brains while serving God.
The third section makes provision
for the cleanness of the people in their
food. 1t does make a difference
whether man eats fit food or not and
buzzards are poor substitutes for tur-
key They must be clean in their
sickness and the modern isolation of
diseased is merely the enlargement
of 3,000-year-old regulations. Clean
habits and clean houses follow and
the section closes with the great day
of atonement in which the priest hav-
ing first of all made an offering for
his own sin presents the blood for the
cleansing of the nation and releases
the scapegoat to bear their sin into
the wilderness,
The fourth section is known as the
"Holiness" one from its emphasis up
on the holiness of God. There rings
through it continually like the stroke
of a bell the expression 81 am Jeho-
yah! Ye shall not defile yourselves!
l am Jehovah. Ye shall not steal; l
am Jehovah! Thou shalt not hate thy
brother; l am jehovah" Ye shall be
holy, for l am holy, presses the de-
mand for likeness to God, in the home,
in word and in work.
The book closes with the catalog of
feasts giving joy and prosperity as
the result of following the laws of Je-
hovah. Everywhere right relations
| with God are placed as the basis of
right living and their establishment
through worship is the means for pro
noting civilization.
THE RESULT OF OBEDIENCE.
The form law takes wsries with the
age in which it is made and with the
needs to be met. The general rule is
that the higher the civilization the
greater the number of laws to be fol-
lowed. This is due to the need of
regulating the ever increasing num-
Der of contacts that come with the
closer packing of people. The solitary
him in the heart of modern city and
the rules imposed thereby are Devil
dering in their complexity and num-
her. twenty-five years ago traffic cops
were unknown, and just now radio
regulation is being considered, the
League of Nations is in session and
China has become a vexing question
to the chancellories of the world. The
closer the contacts, the higher the
civilization, the more intimate become
the laws regulating all the relation
ships Child labor, school attendance,
licenses for physicians, splitting, and
a thousand more were never even
thought of in days gone BY Their
presence spells the advance we have
been making. To obey is to live. The
whole emphasis of these statutes of
Israel was upon the blessings of ODE
dience. Economic success, fruitful
ness of land, peace with other nations,
physical healthfulness, increasing pop
ulation and moral robustness were the
promised rewards, and these follow
today the keeping of this last much
criticised law prohibiting the use of
strong drink. 1t goes without say
ing that these results accompany So
berness more surely than they do
drunkenness and the nations pros