Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1910 — RELIGIOUS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RELIGIOUS

Alphabetical Bible Characters. A fine contest for a Sunday .school class, contributed by a reader, with whom it is original: A is for A——, a Jewish high priest. B is a prophet who owned a queer beast, C was a Persian, great king o’er that land, D was a prophetess, noble and grand. E went from Babylon to his country forlorn, F the tree that shall grow for the thorn. , G had much cattle, one of Jacob’s twelve sons, H King of Tyre, so the chronicle runs. I was bom when his mother was old, J was once entered by spies that were bold. K A terrible earthquake swallowed up K, L a physician whom ’twas wise to obey. M was a leader who thrice struck the rocks, N the proud king, who ate grass like an ox. O was a giant with bedstead immense, P earned his living by making of tents. Q came from Arabia with camels and wealth, R was the water where a leper found health. * 8 sang in prison, and the doors were, then cleft, T was the place where a cloak Was once left. U being married, was in the king’s way, V was modest, In court could not stay. W was pronounced on people that sin, X is not found the Bible within. T is the time when seldom we tire, Z was a city that escaped rain of fire.

Ira Gethwmanfc « Within the shadow of the olive trees Alone the Master went, All bowed with sorrow’s weight of human woe. So weary and bespent. The blood drops of His agony revealed His anguish-laden heart, A holy ministrant of Heaven came down A blest strength to impart. While near the watchers, heavy-heart-ed, slept, The Master prayed, alone, Bending beneath the Father’s righteous law His will In all to own. Forth from the olive trees the Master came With victory calmly strong. To meet that awful hiss of traitorous love, And base betrayal wrong. i In our Gethsemanes the Master cpmsS^ And there with us abides, Till forth we come, all purified through Him, He knows, He saves. He guides. —S. Jean Walker. Success. The statue of Abraham Lincoln, erected at his birthplace in Hodgenvllle, Ky., was cast In duplicate, and the replica was erected on the grounds of the University of Wisconsin. On its bronze base It was planned to Inscribe the following words, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.” Before casting these words in bronze, an efTort was made to learn when and where Lincoln had uttered them. The sentence had been printed on wall cards and illuminated postals, and scattered -far and wide in connection with the approach of the Lincoln centenary, but the published works of Lincoln were searched in vain. President Roosevelt was among those who searched for it, and without avail. But if the sentiment did not find a place upon the monument, it has probably made a place for itself among the sayings of Lincoln, and may be much more nearly authentic than many of the stories attributed to him. It will be printed and reprinted and memorized, and no amount of declaration that it eannot be found among the works of Lincoln will be likely to stop its onward course. Happily, there is nothing greatly to be deplored in this fact, so far as it relates to this particular quotation. Lincoln might have said it. Jt sounds like his crisp and homely utterance, direct and concise, and it was true of him. He was not altogether master of his fate, and might have failed in some of his great undertakings, even had he done his best Yet there is a sphere within which success becomes obligatory. We may not say, ’Do right, thought the heavens fall,” without considering whether, if what we do is to destroy the heavens, onr conduct can be right. There are times when duty must be determined in the light of its probable success; when a thing will be right If it can be done, but will be very wrong, and will work vast harm, If undertaken feebly and permitted to fail midway. It is lamentable, therefore, that good people sometimes Inaugurate movements which have no probable chance of success, and the failure of which wrecks the fortunes and faith of others; and yet some of these enterprises, religious and otherwise, would have been a great blessing, had they been made to succeed. No man measured this problem more accurately than the Apostle Paul. He thought of himself as having entered a race, and that to win. He described himself as a gladiator, and as one who wasted no blows in beating the air. “So run, that ye may ob-

tain!’ as his fine word, that rang with the imperative of success. There is a sphere wU&in which we can succeed. The bad habits against which we hgve been struggling feebly can be conquered. “In the bright lexicon of youth” the word “fail” is unworthy. " Ten thousand men have tried, with pathetic ineffectiveness, to overcome their faults. They could have succeeded. GcJ helps him who helps himself. This need not discourage the man who has tried and hitherto has not succeeded. He has not failed so long as he still is impelled to strive; and to the brave and persistent fighter for the conquest of his own soul God gises the certain victory.—Youth’s Companion. The Whole Heart. Love is exacting. It is not content with gifts and formal service. ‘ Because it is love, it demands the heart. The question that divides humanity into two classes is Christ’s “Lovest thou Me?” Because He Is the greatest of lovers He says, ‘Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” Christ demands the whole heart, the whole man. List to His words: “He that loveth son or daughter 'more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross and foUoweth after Me, is not worthy of Me.” Love cannot be satisfied with anything lees than love. The test of love to Christ is obedience to Him: “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.” “If a man love Me he will keep My words.” “He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings.”