The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-08-19

startled by the storms that wrapped
the summit in mist shot thru with
flashes of flame and shaken by the
shattering thunders reecl1oing thru
the chasms like mighty trumpets. 1t
was their first experience of noun
tain. All their days had been spent
along the lush Nile in the Delta and
this storm-swept region, more than
mile above sea level, must have had
profound impression upon them. They
spent nearly year (Num. 10:1D I'M
der towering Sinai and perfected their
organization into the Church that
emerged from the experience. At its
very heart lay these Ten Words (Deca,
10; logos, word) or Commandments
that famed into their hearts as a
basis of living. 1t is not the only
code, nor is it the earliest, but no
other is more commanding in its
sweep and in its influence. They lie
at the foundation of all stable living
either of man or nation. They are
great fences along the highway or
around the productive areas of living.
They are boundaries beyond which is
barrenness and chaos. That they were
accepted in an agreement sealed with
blood marks long advance in relig-
ious thinking. 1t was the first cleo
ton of God in history. 1t was the
acceptance of mutual responsibilities
on the part of God and people.
There are ten statements, one for
each finger of the early learners, so
that they might the more, easily be
fixed in mind. The first section con-
Germs itself with relations to the God
of their CHOICE the second of their re-
lation to other men. The first one
places their God in the supreme place
in their thought and life. 1t did not
repudiate other gods for other fields,
but there was to be but one in theirs.
Familiar as we are with the pagan
world in which there are more gods
than men so that their rules is fear
full tragedy one can see what it must
have meant to have the limitation
given here. 1t did not follow that
there were not broken rails in the
fence as well as invasions of the field
but in great part the fence held and
within it grew the beautiful religion
that has its crown in Christ. And no
man can have a field growing rich
harvests unless God comes first and
all other divinities are kept outside.
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon"
is everlastingly true. Nor will the
field produce without God within it.
GodmOreness and Godlessness are
both beyond the fence.
FENCING THE FIELD AGAINST
MATERIALISM.
What is God like? That is a ques-
ton that still has many answers. All
sorts of images have been made as a
representation of Deity, and they are
always an inadequate thing Ideas
have been proclaimed so that human
PSA SciictAAtS iido OCCIi plOJSCItu lllLO
immensely, but it has failed. Man
can only give a magnifed sinner
place in the heavenlies and to wor-
ship even an enlarged image of ones
self is to cultivate the direst kind of
selfshness. For we grow like the be-
ing we worship and every false line
is accentuated and so is intensified
in the worshipper. Then there is the
tendency to make the image into
charm in which is localized the god.
Even the cross may become fetish.
Il have lost my God!' was the wall of
a loser Of crucifix. And to lose God
in the image is to lose everything.
This is the reason this fence is placed
squarely about the field of spiritual
life. God is a spirit and they who
worship Him must worship in spirit
and in truth. The peril of today is
the substitution of things for the
Spirit of God. To become immersed
in matter instead of spirit will de-
~stroy the finer elements of PERSONAL
ity. But within the fence the full
harvest of Godlikeness may be reaped
and man becomes Christly as he bows
before the God who was in Christ rec
onciling the world unto Himself.
BUILDING THE FENCE AGAINST
IRREVERENCE.
A man may be measured by the ex-
tent of holy ground in his life If it
is little be very sure that he also is
small. We are in a great world and
one may very well pause in awe be-
fore the glory of some life that is ra-
diant with it's self-giving. Those
boys who were upon the overturned
conoe in security enough for a space
at least, but found the crowding en-
dangering the live of all and slipped
quietly into the water that others
might be secure, causes one to pause
before the ordinary boy in perfect
amazement at his possibilities. For
greater love hath no man than this.
1t is that sense Of worth in the world