The farmer and mechanic. [volume], June 25, 1912, Page 12, Image 12

About The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??

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12
THE FARMER AND MECHANIC
In The Religious World
1 HELEN KELLER. DEAF-I5LIND WONDER.
WO I' ED LIKE TO HE SOCIALIST ORATOil
i if m i
MONTHS IV
SCHOOL.
I
lie-
'I he International Sunday school
i.. i .Tunc : I- a (Juartcrl.v
irv.
, ilv VYILIJAM 'I'. KLMS.
Tic- .i I u of a poiitL-al campaign
th,t li t il i .tl-. 1(1'' l"-"'ic
)v. I ii"n Cm- great con-eris
government. It quickens interest
national lit'- and challenges all
old and ta U.-n-for-granted views.
. i. . - .i, : .w.- ..r
iok upon in' iM-d'. miu
campaign, and His -er-
Motint as the platform
he was forming, we find
months past the Sun
day schools of the world have been
discussing the issues which He put
forward. In this presentation of the
platform He laid down the laws that
should sovern HH kingdom, that
kingdom which is now conquering
dlU ' T S'Tinon on the Mount,
inaugural aduie.-s, was
( "1 p;; i auoxes. it I v.
oi.ier ana put ;;isi in:
had been esteemed as it
the Master's
.1 S U "t. e S-s !' . !1
r-.-d the d,i
things which
t and icast.
Il wiping the (. ommuti Order.
This marvelous dt-iiverance, up to
el of which tn" worid is but
climbing, turned upside down
epted notions or the time. I he
IS
' t
1
in
t h
If
J-
W e
ais
His
in!i on the
of the. party
that, for three
trie ie
I S i o w i
the aec
i Master pronounced as "b!essfd." mt
! the rich and the powerful and the
men of place and honor, but the poor,
I the meek, the persecuted. Jlis philos
I phy deelared that the enviable men
Were not tne conspicuous aim v.eaiiii
and highly placed. 1 Us teaching aim
ed directly to show that a man's life
consisted not in the abundance ' of
sesse(i,
solely by
but that
the stale
it
of
th-:? eaith, and which should be trie
supreme concern of the human mind.
Every thoughtful person is called
upon to face the utterances of this
greatest of teachers and leaders. Not
to know the Sermon on the Mount
in more discreditable than not to
know the Magna Charta, the writings
of Shakespeare, or the latest bit of
popular literature.
The Newness of an Old Issue.
Everything- tends to petrify. The
most sacred Institutions and usages
are in constant danger of deteriora
tion from their original significance;
the great phra.ses become cant; a man
calls his wife "dear," meaning no
more- thereby than if he called her
"Molly," though when first he breath
ed that word it was fraught with the
tenderest significance, most fully real
ized. A conspicuous instance of the
ossification of institutions is the Sab
bath Day. Jesus was brought face
to face with this, and lie found Him
self in the guise of a condemned Sab
bath breaker.
The trouble arose from the sub
stitution of regulations for spirit.
The beneficent rest day, which . Je
hovah had designed for man's high
est welfare, had become, hedged
about by ecclesiastical legislation,
until most of its original purpose had
been lost; it was a mere thing of
rules to be feared and obeyed. .Al
though the day was made for man,
Jesus found that He was called a
violator of the Sabbath when he
sought to help the suffering or to
feed the hungry. Therefore, with
His characteristic courage, He chal
lenged the old, outworn, traditional
views nd proclaimed the merciful
mission of this day which God had
sot apart for highest uses.
The question of the Sabbath is a
vital one in our time and civiliza
tion. Some of the same sort of ec
clesiastical rigidity menaces the day.
Even more is it threatened by a
heedless, materialistic, short-sighted,
selfish individualism, which would
make the Lord's Day like unto other
days- or at least only a holiday, In
stead of a holy day. The spirit and
teaching of Jesus on this moot point
should be the study of good citizens,
as well as of religious leaders.
Multiplying the Master.
Most of the vital personalities of
the world have their followers and
imitators. Great painters establish
schools; great scholars reproduce
themselves in pupils. Jesus was true
to the tradition of all history when
He undertook to multiply His per
sonality by a group of disciples. His
message to mankind must be carried
by more lips than His own. It was
not enough that He should mingle
with the crowd that thronged Him
and diffuse His ideas; He must have
in training a school of apostles.
Thus the twelve were chosen a com
pany of common men with opportun
ity to reveal the uncommon possi
bilities of the ordinary man. Diverse
types of character were represented
In those who went forth two by two
upon the highest mission ever vouch
safed to mortal. The significance of
the appointment of the twelve is
many sided, but first and foremost it
carries the teaching that even the
divine Son of God1 is dependent upon
human agency for the extension of
His kingdom in the world.
The New Teaching.
A current phrase in Japan is "dan
gerous doctrine." This euphemism
covers all the radical views, from
simple democracy to out-and-out an
archy, which are invading the old
order. They are thought to be dan
gerous because they have power to
upset existing conceptions and insti
tutions. Ideas are more powerful
than dynamite. When Jesus called
His friends to be the "salt of the
earth" and the "light of the world,"
He equipped them with new concep
tions of truth, and a gift for dis
cerning truth.
So long has the world been under
the spell of the teachings of Jesus
that their radical nature, even to
this day, is scarcely perceived. The
'; the things he
i was measured
!.his spirit.
So He bade men to love their
I enemies, to seek to give rather than
to receive, to turn the cheek in non
i resistance to the hand that smites,
j and to rejoice over persecution and
I hardship. Even more, He interpreted
'the law of Moses as meaning that
the real sin was less in the deed than
in the thought that prompted the
deed, and that a heart of hatred was
as criminal as an act of murder.
Simpleness, truthfulness, self-denial,
lowliness of heart, lavish spend
ing of love, forgiveness of enemies
these were the road to perfection
which is like unto the Divine per
fection, as pointed out by Christ.
That philosophy has stood the test
of the centuries, and now in our day
seems to be coming to a full accept
ance. When great teachers like Tol
stoi rise up and undertake to put
into actual practice the Sermon on
the Mount, they are not hailed as
madmen, but accepted as interpret
ers of the law of Jesus. This phil
osophy, uttered' on the slopes of Gali
lee two thousand years ago, is the
ruling philosophy of earth today.
Hard Knocks for Ecclesiastics.
All through this long address Jesus
scintillated brilliant and scorching
flashes of arraignment of the profes
sional religious leaders of His time.
Today we would call a man who so
spoke an "insurgent." Jesus hated
all shams, and he despised the ec
clesiastical .leaders who used their
religion as a cloak for self-seeking.
He bade all who would follow Him
to have a righteousness that exceeds
the righteousness of the scribes and
the Pharisees. Again and again He
heaped up His contempt upon the hy
pocritical pretenses of men who trust
ed to their pre-eminence and vaunting
virtue for their reward
It was common then and the same
notion persists in modified guise for
men who wanted to be counted re
ligious to do their alms in the sight
of all men, and to pray on the street
corner, and to take the chief places
in the synagogues. Their religion
was a religion of show. They de
spised the poor and the sinful. It
seemed as if the vocabulary of Jesus
was scarcely adequate to express His
loathing for this selfish, sinful carl
cature of the life of holiness which
His rather had prescribed for man
kind. He did not hesitate to point
to the public woman, whom the
HELEN K ELL EH.
pnanseo despised, as more worthy
man the self-righteous aristocrat
Standing Up for a Servant.
One other striking incident occurs
in the quarter's lesson, that of the
testimony of Jesus to John the Bap
tist. Men and Religion workers have
frequently pointed out the fearless
and outspoken loyalty of the cam
paign leader, Fred. B. Smith, to all
his associates. Let anybody criticise
one of the team man, and Smith
would be to the fore with an un
hesitating, unqualified endorsement
of that man. That is a Christlike
trait. Jesus never went back on a
friend.
After John the Baptist had de
creased and Chiist had increased, the
prophet in prison wondered whether
things were really coming out as he
had expected. He sent friends to in
quire. Then followed that superb
testimony to the brave prophet of the
wilderness, that "Among them that
are born of women there hath not
arisen a greater than John the Bap
tist." Jesus failed not one whit in
honoring the man who had gone be
fore Him.
The example is a good one for the
times. In our zeal for the new, and
in our. ardor in prosecution of modern
reforms and developments, let us not
forget the old. Every form of prog
ress today is the outworking of earlier
ideals and activities. Others have
labored and we are entering into their
labors. Our present privileges are
an inheritance from those who per
haps did not live to see thejr day.
What there is of good now is but
the summation of all that went be
fore. As we talk of the uniqueness
! of this day of social instinct, and
I ot the rapid spread of altruistic ideals,
let us not forget the brave souls who
j held Jo these ideals through doubt
; a dlfounemet. Above all, be it
: that what we know todav
;of a coming kingdom of man's ood
tn lory is'but tne fruition
of the tecieh.ngs given to the uncom-
Schenettady. X. Y.,June 22. Dr.
Lunn. the Socialist mayor of this city, ,
could not have taken a more, popular
step than when he appointed Helen
Keller, the deaf-blind wonder, to act
upon his newly created board of pub
lic welfare. The appointment has
aroused deep interest here. Miss
Keller's duties have already com
menced; she will take up a perma
nent residence here in the fall, with
her life-long teacher, companion and
friend, Mrs. John Macey,, wife of the
mayor's private secretary. They are
now residing at Wrentham, Mass., the
Macey home.
In April Mayor Lunn organized
his welfare board for the purpose of
considering questions not falling un
der the Jurisdiction of any regularly
constituted municipal department,
such as tenement conditions, play
grounds, etc. On May 1 John Macey,
a writer, accepted the appointment
left vacant by the resignation of his
private secretary. It was after Ma
cey assumed his duties that Mayor
Lunn, whose many socialistic inno
vations have made Schenectady an
experiment station -in municipal gorv
ernment, conceived the idea of asking
the blind and deaf woman to accept
a position on the board.
"Miss Keller's opinions would be
extremely valuable to the board,"
said Mayor Lunn recently. "The
board has to do mainly with the in
timate life of the people, and I think
Miss Keller is specially fitted, and, in
deed, should devote her life to just
this kind of work."
"Can Miss Keller hald converse
with a number of persons, such as
would be demanded of her as a mem-
oo was
tsV
ber of the welfare board
ed of Mr. Macey.
"Certainly. She was a member f
the Massachusetts state commission
for the blind for a year and a half.'
he said. "It wouldn't be necessary
for my wife to be present at all, if
somebodv would talk to her in th
sign language. Mrs. Macey has been
her teacher for twenty-five years, and
they have never been separated for
more than a week at the time. May
or Lunn himself would be speaking
to Miss Keller at the first meeting of
the board she attended, I'll be a dol
lar." "Certainly," put in the mavor. I
could learn the sign language. By
.love, now that I think of it, I believe
that l.will, anyway."
That Miss Keller is not yet satisfy. I
with her wonderful achievement,
but hopes to becomea public speaker
was told recently by Mr. Macey. If
experiments being made by ir.
Charles A. White, of the New England
conservatory of music, Boston, ar
QitnrAocf 111 1 i CO . x 1 1 f . .
ou c.-Bi u i, .iu.-.i jvcufi voice now
thin and hardly audible in a larg
room, will be cultivated so that shU
can deliver lectures from public plat
forms. . "Dr. White visits Miss Keller every
week," explained Mr. Macey, "and
when the conservatory' of music close
for the summer he will devote all hi
time to her. If this works out ail
rrght she will not have to stay in
Schenectady; she will go all about
delivering her lectures on socialism."
"Is she a Socialist too?"
"She certainly is. She's a bora
proselyter and is only happy when
winning converts."
prehending multitudes
thousand years ago.
by Jesus two
SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS.
Ponder, then dare. Von MoStke.
There is but one failure; that is
not to be tme to the best one knows.
Canon Farrar.
BOOZE MAKER PINCHED
AFTER LQNG HUNT
Arrest of
Craen
tectiou
Moonshiner Jack Smith, of
County. Followed- By !
of Another Old Offender.
Ah,
but a man's reach should exceed
his grasp.
Or wliat's a heaven for?
Browning.
The light that shines farthest
shines brightest at home. Missionary
Proverb.
The love of Christ is not an ab
sorbing but radiating love: the more
we love him. the more we shall most
certainly love others. F. n. Havergal.
Within the
kings
Whoe will
wings.
Be thou
are
realm of Thought
can bind the eagle's
of thee.
Anon.
I raised such men a.s had the fear
of (iod before them, as made some
conscience of what they did, and
from that day forward. I must say
to you they were never beaten." '
Oliver Cromwell.
FEE
SYSTEM IN
(OlM'V
HAKNirgrr
Dunn. June 21 Hn rnett county
has begun to agitate the fee system
for the county officers, and the move
ment seems to be gaining in favor It
isthought that this will be a question
before the county convention of the
Democratic party, which will be heia
on August 12th.
New Bern. June 21. After s- ver at
months of patient waiting. I.'nit.d
States Deputy Marshal Samuel lailv,
today succeeded in placing .!a- k
Smith, a notorious whiskey seller, un
der arrest on a warrant charging him
with retailing spirituous liquors with
out a government license. Smith's
nome is at vanceboro, and th
thorities have for some time
making every attempt to secure
ficient evidence to convict him.
was brought to New Bern and
nea Detore United States
sioner Charles B. Hill for a
ary hearing, but owing to
that several very important
could not be secured, the
continued until Monday
the defendant required
ior nis appearance.
Henry Lovick. another old r.rf.-r,-!-er,
was nabbed by the reVen;i- oi!i r-
on Wednesday and after the commis
sioner had found probable V;,,,,, u
was bound over to the next term f
Tederal court. In default of bond b-
was committed to jail. The rev-
officers are scouring this s-r-tior, f
woiaiurs ot tne law and
-oe aner tne oilendert; th
a. 1 1 -(
s u f -1
i
( a ( -
Com m i -pi
elirnir. -the
f p '
witness
case was
morning, and
to give b-c i
so h'
a r
tion is reputed
in th State.
to be one of th
i at .this
n-
a srm: sw.
Madge What
that your doctor
Marjoric 1 j-;
and nu gazi
in hi reception
rii.i
'.-it''.
up
by
epS
il.it'
cle-r i