The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-07-01
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially For The Repub-
leans Readers by Rev. U. s.
Wright, ID.

ISRAEL ENSLAVED in
EGYPT.
Exodus 1:1-14.
Jehovah will not cast off his people
Psalm 94:14.
THE BOOK WE STUDY.
All the lessons of the quarter with
one exception are from Exodus, the
"out road" Leaving the family of
Jacob in Genesis, we sweep through
the vanished centuries before coming
to the multitude that greets US in
Goshen as we enter the new study. Its
first division tells the story of peo-
pie in bondage G-12); the second
gives the story of their deliverance
(13-19), and the third is the account
of their organization into a nation.
Twelve chapters chronicle the expert
ences of Egypt and twenty eight
those Of the wilderness. In the first
section there is the background of
Egyptian conditions and the coming
of Moses into the story, his forced de-
parture to the wilderness, his call and
his struggle against Pharaoh that cul-
inmates in the institution of the Pass
over and the night beginnings of the
march that has altered all the history
of the world. The second section re-
ports the spectacular deliverance of
the Red Sea, the events of the march,
including the giving of mama, the
victory of Rephidim and the organi-
cation of administrative groups. Ar
rived at the Mount of God, there is
the giving of the Ten Commandments
and the Book of the Covenant is
agreed to. Obedience to law is thus
made the foundation of the new state
and worship's ministry to its highest
expression follows in the setting up
of the Tabernacle. The whole book
breathes the presence of an interested
God directing in the affairs of men,
expressing His will in moral laws that
are part of His own life. On mans
side is the choice to follow the con-
ditions, the continued acceptance of
them in obedience and in the worship
that puts God at the center of all the
individuals or the nations activities.
There is quite another side to these
records that makes them wonderfully
vital in these days when economic
forces are being given as the basis
of all history. They may be taken
as the story of the first great strike
by organized labor in which Moses,
the walking delegate, organizes the
brick makers union, goes through the
matter of negotiations with the en-
ployer and finally walks out, faces the
police forces endeavoring to prevent
what had become a general strike
menacing the settled order and finally
sets up a workers government in the
wilderness. Russia, Great Britain and
the American Federation of Labor
can all be summoned as witnesses to
tives.
THE RULE OF FORCE.
Centuries of silence still too little
explored by the spade cover the per-
iod that follows Joseph's bringing of
the Israelites into Egypt. They in
creased in the fertile section of Go
shen but appear to have been I'M
assimilated mass in the midst of the
nations civilization, so that Egypt
had her Little Israel" just as New
York her Ghetto and Little Italy"
If they came into the land in the DAYS
of the so-called Shepherd Kings, who
were conquerors from the desert re-
gions to the East, and these were ul-
timately driven out by an armed re-
volt of the older stock, aided by Hit
tite sympathy, then the slavery is
easily understandable. These friends
OF the old oppressors were put in BAN
dage just as has happened in thous-
and other cases. Many of the first
settlers of our own land were inden-
tured servants or term slaves and
both England and America have
known how to Cypress racial aliens
Iihc Llle African Negro. we 0dO Cne
power, so we did it. Egypt had the
power andd applied it in the same
fashion to the children of Jacob. The
moral test Of force comes in the way
it is used when others are involved by
it. A father has force; how does he
apply it toward his children? To
take them from school and draw their
wages? An employer has it; what
use does he make of it? Are profits
to be the sole product of his factory?
A colonizing nation has it, how is it
applied in Porto Rico, in the Congo, in
Shanghai? God has it; how does He
use it? The whole story of this book
cries aloud Of His putting it at the
service of those who choose to follow
His rule in the life of the world. The
whole gospel record shouts of Gods
continuing Calvary of redemption.
THE RULE OF FEAR.
Israel's position had been based up
on faVOritiSr1-a very nonr FONDA