Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 139, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1914 — Back to the Bible [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Back to the Bible

AppHcatien of the Scriptures to the World Today as Sera by Eminent Men in Various Walks o! Life

. ' (Copyright, 19M, by Joseph B. Bowles) GEOLOGICAL PREPARATION FOR THE MARVELOUS HISTORY OF PALESTINE. * , (By G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, LL. D„ F. G. 8. A., Geologist: Author of "The Ice Age in North America,” "Man and the Glacial Period," Etc.) - a v : .! ' '■ ", "My heart has always assured and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be a divine reality."— Daniel Webster. The mountain ridge of Judea rises rapidly from the Mediterranean sea to

a height of about 3,000 feet and then descends still more rapidly to the Dead sea, whose level is 1,300 feet" lower than 'that of the Mediterranean. The summits of this mountain ridge are covered with chalky deposits which readily absorb the water which falls upon them and gives it out in gushing springs where the chalk rests upon com-

pact strata. It is to these facts that the fertility of the region is largely due. But its further preparation for the important role which it has played in the religious history of the world 1b due to the geological movement which depressed the valley of the Jordan and Dead sea on the eastward, and the minor valley of Esdraelon which separates Galilee from Judea. The great “fault” or crack in the earth’s surface in which the Jordan valley lies was pronounced by Humboldt “the most remarkable geological feature anywhere to be found in the world.” As you go down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a descent of 4,000 feet, the chalky deposits found on the summit descend with you to the level of the Dead sea; but as you cross the valley ten or fifteen miles to the mountains cf Moab, the chalky deposits are not found upon that low level upon the east side, but the shore is formed by Nubian sandstone whose geological horizon is 4,000 feet lower than that of tye chalk, and the chalk reappears above it at that height to the east. Thus it is seen that on the west side of the Jordan valley the, rocks have slipped down 4,000 feet, thus forming a natural barrier to protect Jude* from the incursion of armies from the east, while the rapid rise from the Mediterranean equally protects it from the west. On the other hand the cross valley of Esdraelon, leading from Mount Carmel to the Jordan, is only 200 feet above the Mediterranean sea, affording a natural line of passage for the Egyptian and Assyrian armies that went out to attack each other, thus leaving Jerusalem at one side in a position of almost complete —safety; When Napoleon was at Acre he wa* asked why he did not capture Jerusalem. He replied: “Its capture would be of no military significance.” Thus the great geological movements in the early age of the world had prepared just such an isolated region as Judea was for the long development of sacred history. The majesty and the extent of these geologioal movements can be perceived only when one notes that the depressed valley of the Jordan and the Dead sea Is only a portion of a deep crevasse in the earth’s crpst which extends for thousands of miles; Indeed from the mouth of the Orontes river In Syria southward between the Lebanon and Anti Lebahon mountains, and past the Dead sea into the Gulf of Akkaba, and through the Red sea, ending only in the \ake regions of Central Africa. When one reads of the earthquakes which accompany slight changes of level throughout this region at the present time he is overwhelmed with the thought, of the earthquakes that must have accompanied the more rapid changes of level that'took place in the forming of this crevasse during early geological ages.

A BOOK OF PRACTICAL WISDOM. (By R. FULTON CUTTING. LL. D., Financier, Philanthropist and Civic Leader, New York City.) “The Bible has been the Magna Charta of the poor and of the oppressed.' Down to modern times no state has had a constitution in which the interests of the people art so largely*' taken into account as drawn up for Israel.”—Professor Huxley, agnostic scientist and philosopher. The positivenesß of the Bible’s philosophy makes a mighty appeal. It is on the positive Side alone tlfet man is open to inspiration. The negative finds no responsive j:hord to strike in ,his soul. To “overcome evil with good” is its method of conducting the battle of life and no other campaign can compete with it in the completeness and permanence with which this 1 policy accomplishes Its ends. The Bible’s advice 1b idealized common sense. The clergyman, the business man, the artisan, the laborer can all find in It a practical wisdom that,

' assimilated, will make them more sue. cessful in their respective fields of activity. It makes them all better producers, larger contributors to their own welfare and that of others. Obedience to its teaching means providence, temperance, industry—all the* elements of character that takes men out of the "bread line" and puts them in the class of the self-respecting and self-dependent * f While the Bible everywhere expresses its profound and intense sympathy with the poor, it never glorifies poverty as such nor presents it as the ideal of life. No writers have ever condemned in more burning language the conduct of the unjust rich than thoso whose words are recorded in its. pages, but it expresses its disapprobation also of the conduct of those who worani the unearned "loaves and fishes.” A sublime Justice runs’thrbugh its pages-' it knows no sorts or conditions of . men, discriminating only between those who obey or disobey its truths, but its Indignation is peculiarly poured! out upon those who, having received much, and of whom therefore “there Is much requited,” prove to be thankless and faithless stewards. —i . HOW CHRIST TAUGHT BY EXAMPLE.

(By His Eminence JAMES CARDINAL I GIBBONS.) - "The whole hope of human progress j - is suspended on the ever' growing In- ; fluence of the Bible."—William H. j Seward, Secretary, of State under Lis- i coin. Jesus taught by example before he taught by word. If, like the scribes!

and pharisees, he had restricted hisi mission to the preaching of the word, without illustrating that) word by his glorious example, he never would have wrought that; mighty moral revolution which has regenerated the world, nor would he be adored today by millions of disciples from the rising to the setting sun. When asked by the dis-

ciples of John the Baptist whether he was the true Messiah, he laid more stress on his deeds than on his preaching. “Go,” he said, “and relate to John what ye have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed —the poor have the gospel preached to them.” When we hear him saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," we are impressed with the sublimity of his teaching. But when we see him acting out his words: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; 1 but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head,” —oh, then we are made to feel the blessedness of voluntary poverty; we cherish ~and embrace our Teacher, who, when he was rich became poor for our sake. When we hear him say: “He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” we admire the virtue of humility. But when we see him at the. last supper laying aside his upper gar- , ments, girding himself with a towel, pouring water into a basin, and washing the feet of his disciples, then that virtue assumes for us special attractlons. ", When we hear him sajr; “Blessed are the merciful: for thdy shall obtain mercy,” we are delighted with his doctrine. But we are more profoundly moved when we witness his compassion for the hungering multitude in the desert, and his mercy shown to the erring Magdalen. When he says:l “If you will not forgive- men, neither* will your father forgive you,” he Is clothing an old commandment in new words. But when he prays from the cross for his executioners: “Fathef, forgive thgm, for they knew not what they do,” he gives a sublime lesson of forgiveness never before exhibited by sage or prophet