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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1903-09-18, Page 3supday School. INTERNATIONAL LESSON NO. XII. SEPTEMBER 20, 1903. Abstinence From Evil. -4 Pot. Dorementta.ry— T. The true Lite (vs. i., 2). 1. Florasm•ucii ,— Compare 3, IS. The apostle pointe us to Christ's suefferings a,s an exempts . Arm yourselves.—,With a resolution such as animated him to suffer all the evils to which you may be exposed in 'the body,, and ;particularly to suf- fer death if called lay Gpd to do so for your religion. For this wi11 be armor -proof against all of your en- ernes.—Benson. Re than Bath suf- ered, etc.—It is only ►by, o severe con flirt in which you must be armed With a. readiness to suffer with Christ that the plower of sin over you can be 'made to cease. Ars long as we are in the •flesh, we shall need to fight against sin ; but we shall con- tinue to conquer through Christ. 2. No longer should live.—Refer•- ring to the preceding ci,awse, "arm yourselves with the same mind that was in Christ, in order to Jive no longer in the flesh—to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." We cannot deliver ourselves •from the filth of sin; but ,when we are re- newed, taking on a likenese of Christ, then .we are armed against the lusts and defilements of the world. To the will of God.—This will be a. new life. The only true way to live is to live in harmony with the will of God. What he wu,lis is best and to the Christian is "good and accept- able." (Rom. 12, 2.) II. The oke life (v,s. 3, 4). May suf- fice—A .gentle way of .saying we ,have, ,spent too long a time in our sins. Of the Gentiles—he term Gentiles here means evil ones; in- temperate, wicked and wanton ; in- dulging in every sin forbidden by God and man. Excess of wine, etc.— lnitemperance was e curse in the apostle's day as well as in our our own. He utters against it condem- nation of no uncertain sound. Ev- ery person and especially every 'man ,of God should be outspoken; against Intemperance. Abominable idolatries —"In an age when sensuality was wrought into all formes of literature and art was blazoned shamelessly in the decorations of private douses and enshrined in the temples of the gods the contrast of a chaste and godly conversation in the Christian community witnessed for the saving and cleansing power of the gospel. 4. Think It .strange—It is strange ;bo a carnal man to see the child of God disdain the pleasures off sin ; he krow.s not the higher and purer purer pleasures that the Christian is called to.—Leighton. Excess of riot —Rather, "same sloi..gh, of debauch- ery." Speaking evil of you — The tricked and dissolute always have' a sneer for those who refuse, to share In their evil dotage 111. An account to bo rendered to God (ve. 5, 6). 5. Shall give account --Ile batch the day set ; and it shall shall surely come, though they think It far off. Ready to judge—See chap. I. 6. As tire aeration of the godly is fully arranged, so is the judgment of their cultminators, whether living or dead. 6. The gospel preached, also—They that formerly received the gospel received It upon these terms. And they' are now dead. All the pain of dy- ing ie over for them. If .they had not did to their sins by thie gospel they had died in them, and ,;o died eter- nally. It is therefore a wise preven- tion to have sin 'judged and put to dearth In us before we die. If we will not pant with sin, if we tile in it and with it we seal' perish forever ; but U h die firett, before us, then we live forever.: Butler. Live to God —A bitter fountain seeds forth bitter waters; a sweet fountain waters that are sweet. A soul living' in God will elbow that life by action. If the heart be right in the sight of Jeho- vah the outward man will reflect his image. eXV. Various exhortations (vs. 7-11). (l.. End .at hand—"This might have been saidat any point of the world's 'durationBe sober, and watch unto prayer --Sobriety is the friend of watohifulnese, and prayer of both. When the affections are kept quiet- ly under control and care hs taken that even in lawful thing they fol- low the world pant lightly; when nee- eslsary dattiee of this life are done faithfully, yet with a mond free and disengaged, then the maul can more easily turn to spiritual things and and be ready continually for divine meditation and prayer. 8. Above all things—Paul puts love at the head of the Christian graces, in his matchless chapter on; charity (I. Cor. 18). Peter likewise does the same. Paul goes so Earl as to say, " Love is the fulfilling of the law." Charity must bo as the crown, or tho outer garment. Cover...... Sins— It delights not in undue disclosing of brethren's failings, and dotht not expose them willingly to the eyes of others. 9-11. Hbsptitality—As would often be necessary toward tire sufrering Without grudging Not murmur - at the coot or trouble. The gift —Endowment of any kind, but es- pecially that conferred by the. Holy' Spirit — money, ability, influence, or whiatever God has given. Good stew- ards—Wtratevcr we have is to be ereinistered" to others as God may direct. We are his stewardst What we mall our own, came. from God; and belongs to God, and we should, as " good stowa,rde," use It to leis glory. P,RACT(CeL SURVEY. ( The ministry of suffering occupies a prominent place and perform% an essential and necessary part in th'e work of human redeniprtiorr andt,.sal vation•. In carrying forward to a srccessful completion' God's purposed and plane for the redemption of man there was necessarily metalled on the patriarchs and prophets the types Of ;the Jewish' dispensation and on the Son of God—tie antitype of the Christian, dispensation„ an ant told amount of ,suffering. The Pier- son wlrb would " Josue to do evil" and. "learn to do well" must pass through' an ordeal of suffering so intense as to be con a red, in the Scripture's to the experience and passion of Jesus Christ, wh'o was preeminently the "manof sorrows" and who ",suffered for sins,the fust for the urrnjust, that He might bring us to God." The term suffer, or its equivalent seaside out very conespfcuously in this "first epistle general of Peter," as it relates to Christ and flis followers. Three things are involved in man abstaining from evil: 1. The cruci- fixion of the selfish life. The princi- ple of evil, denominated "our old man" (Rom. vi. 6, Eple iv. 22, Cal. iii. 9), the flesh" (IGa1i vr. 24). This Lo the source from whence all evil proceeds (Matt. xvt 19); and ties is the personality that must suffer and sooner or Later die in order 'that the individual may abstain from evil (Matt. xvi. 25, Rom,. vi, 5, ;Gat. 11. 19, 20). G. The practice of self-de- nial. The principles of self-denial are capable of a broad and delep applica- tion as 'they stand related to (a) in- herent selfishness and Its ramifica- tions and relations when we take the initial. step in the Christian life (Mark viii. 34, 85, Luke xis, 26), and also In (b) the destruction of inherited depravity (John xii. 24, 25, Rom, xiii. 14, Col. Iii, 5). '(c) The bodily appe- tites and passions must be kept under due restraint, if we would abstain from evil. Paul remarks in regard to his own practice, "I buffet (Greek, bruise) my body, and bring it into bondage ; lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected" (I. Cor, ix. 27, R. Vi) 3. The being fully identi- fied with the Lord Jesus in antagon- ism to all evil and in earnestly and persistently laboring to promote ,the principles and purity of His kingdom In the earth. Jesus was aggressively good as well as quiescently good. He was the Lion of the tribe of Judah as well as the Laan,b of God. We must "abhor that which is evil" as well as "cleave to that which is good" (Rom. xii, 9). We find that "the doctors don't agree" in their construction of the two difficult points in the lesson found in verses one and six. We can only da the best we ca,n to construe them in accordance with the tenor of Scripture. We will give the opinion of twu divines on verse six widen seem to har,rmonize with the teach- ings of the Bible. "For. this purpose hath the Gospel been preached even to the d,e„ad (i .e., the Gentiles), that although they might be condemned, Indeed, by men In the flesh (tbeir per- secutors), yet they might live eter- nally by God in the spirit." "The word 'dead' here must be taken to mean those who are dead while they live. But even with this alteration, It is difficult to see clearly what the verse means. Now it is said that the construction of the Greek allows of the insertion of the word 'although'; just as in a passage' in Rom. vi. 17, which we never read without men- tally inserting the word 'although.' If that be so, the meaning is evident: "Fear to tills end was the Gospel preached, even to them who were dead in sins, that [although] they might be judged, condemned, perse- anted, put to death according to men In the nettle they might live ac,tord- Lng to God in the spirit.' Spiritual life is God'e end with es, let men do to us what thee may. And the spir- itual life Is often developed by means of what mein do to me. Every act of perisecution is to be followed 'by a deeper peape, aholier purity, a higher power." Jamgs Craig. Miss Agnes Miller, of Chicago, speaks to young women about dangers of the Menstrual Period — how they can avoid pain, suffering and remove the cause. "I suffered or six years with dys- menorrhea (pained periods), so much so that I dreaded every month, as I knew it meant three or four days of intense pain. The doctor said this was due to an inflamed condition of the uterine appendages caused by repeated and neglected colds and feet wetting. "If young girls only realized how dangerous it is to take cold at this critical time, much suffering would be spared them. • Thank God for Lydia L. Pinkham's Vegetable Com- pound, that was the only medicine which helped Inc any. Within three weeks after X started to take it, I noticed a merited improvement in my general health, and at the time of my neat monthly period the pain had diminished considerably. I kept up the treatment and was cured a month later. I am like another person since I am in perfect health"—Miss Aexers 1111.m R, 25 Potomac Ave., Chicago, Ill. —.115000 forfeft If original of Alton tetter prosing genuineness cannot be produced. The monthly sickness reflects the condition of woman's health. Fifty thousand letters frova womenrove that Lydia 10. Pinkhaml's Vegetable Compound regulates menstruation, and Makes those periods painless. SPECIALLY GROWN FOR 'JAPAN TEA DRINKERS 1 Ceylon GREEN Tea is Pure, Healthful earl Delicious. : It is sold only in sealed lead'pta,ckets, the same as the well-known "Salada" black teas. 25c and 40c perppund. TURKEY'S STRONG ARMY. An Organization That Can Turn Over 1,000,000 Men into the Field. At the time of writing, when the B;,lirnri pefiiesula, is virtually an armed Camp, and the despatch of Markle, troops, including many Ase eeic battalions, to gusted the fron- tierta, continues without cessation, the defensive and offeusive capabil- ities of the Ottoman Empire may fit- ly be ealield,er'ed. Luring the war with Graepe in 18,97 the Sultan mobil- ized 600,000 men without any greet effort ; but, while that campaign brought out the rapidity of mobiliza- tion and the devotion and endurance of the Turkish soldier, it also reveal- ed in high commands indectrsion and lethargy, and 10 organization not a few weak point,s. Since then new lams and sweeping reforms have been [gut into operation, with.the view to perfecting the organization accord- ing to the most approved German methods; while the Sultan has de - Waxed it his resolve to increa,,se the war footing of iris er'miees to a total of one and a half million,.. The organ- ization of the Turkieb. army only takes Mussnlnians into account. In ,spite of provisions to the contrary 1aa:i down in 1836, Cbristiaaos are still excluded from the Ottoman military eervice and are compelled to the pay- ment of a au,batitution tax. It Is only in the medic:el corp time non-Musesulmaf officers, usua,Ily Ar- nim:dans or Jewes, are found. Certain Miliesulmans, suo,b a,s nahtivee of Con- stantinople, the north of Albania, Arabia., and Tripoli ,are also exempt from military eervioe; while a targe number of tee Asiatic tribes, Kurds anti Arabs, representing a population of over a million and a half, escape regular recruiting either by legal ex- emption or from their own refusal to eu(bmit to it. ' C For Ottoman subjects military ser- vices is obligatory for twenty years, viz., tram the age of n0 to 40, and It is divided as follows : Six years with the Nizam, or active army ; eight years with tilt Relit, or reserve army; and six years with the Must tans, or Landstuurm. The ,service with the colors is ac"ording to regu- lation, three years tho remaining three years of actio service being spent in the Nizam reserve, but the former period le frequently extended. to four, five or even more years. The registration list of recruits shows that 120,000 men are liable to ser- vice each year, but ,as a matter of fact, only about 80,000 are incorpor- ated into the army. A few years back the Leakage was considerably more. The Nizam troops have a peace strength of 216,530 and; a. was strength of 374,3000, while in peace or war the number of guns is the came viz., 1,494. The Nizam com- prise 820 infantry .battalions, 200 squadrons, 255 horse field, howitzer and mountain batteries, 145 neige and fortress artillery companies, .36 com- panies of engineers, eight railway and five telegraph companies, 24 companies of military train troops and 63 companies of artificers and workmen. Whore are 874 battalions of Redif cavalry. In addition there aro distributed through the whole empire 136 battalions of gendarmerie and 200 squadrons of mounted egn- darmes. Since 1891 endeavors have been made to' utilize the more warlike of the Kurd tribes by farming them into' a special militia on the Cossack model. This militia, called the Ham - Idle, after the reigning Sultan, their organizer, comprises 266 squadrons. Every man furnisheas his own equip - went fund mount and is armed with a lance. So fax the Kamidie have only succeeded in earning for them- selves, an unenviable notoriety on account of their outrages in Armenia, and they form a dangerous element in the army at large. Laetly, there is—on paper at least —a large local reserve called the dlla.we. The latter are composed of men, principally! Asiatics, exempt hitherto from military! 'service, to- gether with the overflow of the an- nual contingent of Osmanli recruits. There are said to be 666 battalions of Laws, but In .peace tirne each battal- ion consists of a permanent cadre Of nine officers and twelve non -corn- miesioried officers. The Mustafiz have no organization of any kind except in time of war ; nevertheless they, are far from being a negligible quan- tity, ,tor two divisions were muster- ed wiltsease toward the end of the recent wear with Greece. The Nizaan 'etre splendid soldiers, their long term of service adding greatly; to their effectiveness, and the Redif ere almost their equals, In- deed, the portion most worthy of note In the Turkish organization, .s the Redif. These troops possess per- manent cadres, composed of all the officers necessarst for the mobiliza- tion of the units, and Turkish offi- cers consider it a distinction to be appointed to the Relit. Each of the seven military: districts Is divided in- to Sou rdiylslonal areas, these again being partitioned into subdivisions corresponding to the different units of the Redif, down to and including the company. The Captains reside in the Midst of their compkt,ny district, and attend to the training of the men, who aro called out u.euallyf Tor one month every' two years. At the present date the Ottoman Empire can mobilize nineteen army corps, twelve of which are Redif, while the total armed strength, ex- cluding the gendarmerie and the MustaSfz, is a,s 'follows : O.ificers ................... 19,000 320 battalions of Nizam in- fantry ............ ........ 22;4,000 374 battalions of Redif in- /entre 280,000 666 battalions ofIlawee in- fantry' ..„.. 660,000 200 regiments of Nizam and Redif eavalryj 25,000 225 batteries of horse, field mountain and howitzer ar- tillery ,. 28,000 145 companies of siege and fortress artillery, ... et29,000 Technical troops ... ..... 10,000 266 squadrons of Hamidie cavalry ...... ..-,. 35,000 Grand total ... ... ... .._...1,310,000 —From the St. James' Gazette. THE TUBERCLES on the skin of scrofulous people produce the hideous disease called lupus Weaver's Cerate will save the skin. Cleanse the blood with Weaver's Syrup. WHY INDIANS au LOVE THUNDER. 11 Among some tribes of Indians the thunder is held in great reverence; they sing songs to it, and have dances in its honor. As a reason for.doing this they(tell the following story Once upon a time threee young men woke on the war path from their homes, whan the youngest of them had the misfortune to break his leg. By Indian law it became the duty of the other two warriors to carry the youth safely to his home. So they made a rude, litter and carried him on it until they became tired. Finally they came to a range of mountains and, as the ;trail was steep and it was hard work to carry the youth any further, they laid the litter down and went to one side, where they held pouncii together. "Let us leave our wpunded wars- panion where he is,” said one. "It is too much work to carry him far- ther." "Agreed," said the other. "We will say that he way killed by the enemy and no one will ever be the wiser, for he will certainly die, if ore leave him. here." 4o the wicked men threw the youth into a deep cleft in the rocks and went on their way home to the vil- lage. When they had Dome there they reported that the boy had died from wounds received in a fight with the enemy. Great was the grief of the boy's widowed mother, who wept and groaned at the lose of her son. Bat the youth wee not dead. As he lay in the cleft In the rocks where the wicked warriors had thrown him, he saw, sitting It lit- tle way off, a strange looking okl main, who said to him, "Ah, my son, who,t bave your, friends done to you ?" "They have left me here ttr die," I r.uippose," replied the youth with crentnea's, for be was ashamed to allow that be was afraid. "Oh, you will not die if you will agree to do as I require," said the man, "I will make you well again, but in turn you must be my slave, and hunt for, me all the rest of your life." To this the youth agreed, as he saw no other. way out of his predica- ment ; and the old pian (who was not an old man at all, but a porcupine who had assumed the shape of an old man) cured him of the hurts and soon had hem hunting for him and bringing home the game he killed to the cleft in the rocks. "Whenever you kill anything which is too heavy for you to carry, call rue anti I will come and help you," said the old man. All winter the youth hunted for hie master. One day when the spring had tome the youth killed a big bear which wars too heavy for him to carry to the cleft in the rocks alone. "Now I will go and call the old man," he said. But, just as he was stooping down to feel of the bear and see how fet he was, he heard a murmur of voices behind him, and, turning In surprise. beheld three men, or figures in the al supe of men, who wore cloud -like garments with wings. "Who are you And what are you doing in this wilderness where no man ever corneae' cried the youth. Then they told hina that they were the Thunderers, whose mission it was to go about over the earth doing good, and destroying `)rings which harried. mankind. ,Yost now' they were after the old man who lived in the cleft in the recite, who was no old man at all, but a wicked por- cupine, as they would presently prove to him. 'Ann hack," they Cakl, "anti tell pyou to come and help, Wirth the bear." So the youth went and told the old man that be must come and help carry the bear home. But the old; man said he con bi not go out if there wasany sign of a cloud Tn the sky. The youth looked around and said that the sky was clear. So the old man came out and went with him to where the carcass of the big bear was lying. Then they it up the bear, the old man constantly urging the youth to make haste, and the meat was placed on the old man's shoulders as he directed, the youth all the time being greatly astonished at the strength he showed. Loaded with the bear meat the old man began to run toward the cleft in the rooks as fast as he could, but ' cloud began to 'gather rapidly 3n the sky and the thunder rumbled in the distance. The old man threw down his load and ran faster and faster, but the thunder rumbled nearer and nearer. Then the old man assumed his proper shape of a huge porcupine, and went scampering away, shooting his quills out behind him as he ran. But the thunder followed him with peal after peal until, finally, a bolt of lightning struck him and de- stroyed him. Then the three Thunderers appear- ed again and said to the youth : "Now that our work here is done we will carry you home to your mother, who has been grieving for you all the time." So they gave him a cloud suit with wings like their own, and the four swept away through tbe air to the Indian village where the youth's widowed mother dwelt. It was night when he found him- self in bis mother's confleld, and, going to the opening of the lodge, he drew back the curtain which cov- ered it and stood there in the moon- light. The widow started up and gazed at him with terror, but he' said: " Do not be frightened, mother ; it is no ghost, but your long -lost son, who has come back to take care of you." Then the widow wept tears of 'joy, while he told her all his adventures, and they lived happily ever ;after. And that is why the Indians dance and sing to the thunder. Linguistic Laziness. The laziest el all laziness, say's Herbert IW. Horwili in the Critic, is the practice of coining unnecessary! new- words. It might have been sup- posed, that, waren there is alreade in existence a word which exactl. ' denotes tbe idea to be expressed, it would be easier to fall back upon this word than to invent another. In fact, however, it often requires less effort to construct a linguistic mon- strosity, than to lied the term that has been consecrated be good usage. Take, for instance, such words as e rtenguishwent, revealment, with- drawment, devotement, denotement and startlement. it is not difficult to trace the mental process. The word, extinguish, was in the epeak- er',s mind. lie wanted a noun, and to stick -meat" on to the verb was an expedient nearer to band than the search for "extinction." Occasionally, the quick change is from the noun to the verb. When a. mann saes, "to ad- mintstra;te," we may; be sure. that he first thought of "adm'iniatration,'4 and that he was then in too great a burry to notice that the analogy; tests ouch pairs as celebrate and celebration, would mislead him. If one were making a collection of linguis- tic curios, one might add to it such exhibits as propellation, affirmance, client age, reminniscential, move- less, traditionary, ieisuristic, un - sympathy, and bishoply. In the mind of the offender there seems almost to be lurking akind of predatory! false etiology, which grabs at his expression and distorts them be- fore be can help himself. Is it too late to purify our speecbt from these mischievous tendencies, or must we be content to see a great language turned into shoddy? Cer- tainly the edfectivenese of English as an organ of thought is weakened byl the careless use off its vocabulary. The creation of redundant words really+ adds nothing to the resources or a tongue, and the overworking of some words, combined with, the un- derworking of others, means actual Impoverishment. Only a pedant world object to the gradual expansion of the dictionary by insane of the ad- option of new idiome and terms. When our ancient metaphors have • lost their edge, we may be par- doned if we turn even to colloquial - toms for pointed expressions to take their place. But there is no' pro - through confusion. --Chicago Post. The Charm of Automobile Touring Despite the retire. and disagree- able weather which has prevailed over a large section of the country; during the greater part of the past season, there has been a remarkable amount of touring accomplished, much at it under very adverse cir- cumstances, from which the sport should derive great benefit. The charm of automobiling lies loss in the sport itself than in the unusual contact with people and things, and. conversely,', the touring automobil- ist journeying leisurely; over country lriighways and byways, stopping wherever inclination may, declde.,(or circumstanoes compel), brings the charm al the now pastime and the advantages of the new vehicle most strikingly to the attention of the people with whom he comes in con- taet, and so does missionarye work of a, vette substantial nature. Motet eters the touring automobilist le us- ually it law-abiding indl^i'idual, who freeing within reasonable limits of speed, and so does nmch to counter - not the evil effect of the automobile scorcher,—A'. P. Burolrell in. Leslie's iWeekk s . t '.: ;