The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-01-13


Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and
light unto my path.-Psalm 49,:
los.
THE BOOK WE STUDY.
"Do you have a Bible in your
home?" asked the agent. Indeed l
have; l wouldn't think of living with
out one in the house. I'd expect it to
be struck by lightning" That is not
the ordinary reason for possessing a
copy, but it does reveal an attitude
all too common. The book becomes a
fetish that is as protective as the
horse shoe or the idol of the pagan.
Its contents are matter of inditfer
ence. Yet it is the content that is i'm
portant. For it represents the select
ed bit from a far higher literature
created by the Hebrews in their his
tory of some 1900 years. 1t is only
very small part of what they wrote,
much of which was as ephemeral as
some of our own "best sellers" that
will be unknown in few years. If
one studies English literature it is
not hard to list its great names and
books and confne them perhaps to a
three foot Shelf" as DR.. Eliot did
This is what we find in the Bible-the
winnowings of Hebrew literature so
that what we have is the fine grain
from the process Iffor no other reason
than that it is worth the attention of
any thoughtful reader. And like the
cuttings of any other literature its
contents are varied enough to main
tain interest. History, poetry, decla-
nation, stories, letters, biography,
personal Renaissance from old diaries
and pithy saying are all among its
treasures, as they are from any other
race collection. Chiefly they repre-
sent the record of adventurous souls
who dared advance beyond their fell
lows in their search for God For He
was the passion of the Hebrew and
among their rugged hills they thought
much and listened for His voice
among the siIences of their open
places until they heard things that the
bustling, hurying folk of the
thronged street never catch. 1t is this
uniqueness of revelation that arrests
ones thinking and challenges ones
living. And it is within its pages that
that one only character, Jesus Christ,
carries one into the presence of a
Father for the whole world. What
ever we may gain from a comparison
with the religious writings of others
not one of them holds a figure like
His. It is because an Incompatible
life lies at its heart that it is the in
comparable literature Of the religious
world.
THE BOOK WE TEACH.
Part Of our text is taken from Deu-
teronomy, the book that was voted the
constitution of the land. 1t consists
Of six Mosaic addresses proclaiming
love as Gods motive in His govern
ment and love Of the motive of ODE
dience to it. Its worth may be judged
from its seeming to have been a fav-
orite with Jesus. This was to become
the possession Of the heart until un-
der its thrilling compulsion God
should be throned in the life. Out of
such understanding of our relation
ship to our Lord comes the impelling
impulse Of the teacher. The truth con-
tanned in its pages are to be taught to
the children about u.s. Now the He
brew school was one of the home and
the parent was the school-master. The
injunction for teaching was finely fol-
lowed and the result appeared in the
religious consciousness of the people.
Conversation was the second method
and the bazaars and city gates offered
groups of adults among whom the
precepts were a basis of discussion
and a form of adult education in re-
ligion. Publicity by posting them on
door-posts and gateways gave still
another method for injecting them in
to the thinking of the people, 1t was
very complete system that was sup
plemented by the synagog schools
after the exile and by the Temple
University in the days of Jesus and
Saul. With US there has come a
change. The state is forbidden to
teach this body of literature and the
home has resigned its function in
favor Of the church school, so that we
are much less thorough than even the
Jew of today. 1t has placed the
Protestant bodies in the place of ut
most responsibility, for it was Sec
tartan rivalry among them that took
it out of the curriculum, and these
groups must provide a cue for the
conditions existing today. For a good
number of our youth, estimated as
high as twenty million, are uncon-
nected with any church school.
THE BOOK WE
misunderstood.
Some folks turn to the Bible for de-
nominational sanction, some for a