Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 230, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1914 — Back to the Bible [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Back to the Bible

Application d the Scriptures to the World Today as Sees by eminent Mon inVarioss Walks el Lite

(Copyright, 19M. by Joseph B.'Bowlee) NEGLECTING PLAIN DUTY.' (By WARREN A. CANDLER. D. D„ LL. D., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.) “The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”—Horace Greeley. -

When the children' of Israel were near te Canaan, the tribes of Reuben

and Gad desired of Moses that they be allowed to have their portion of the promised land on the least side of the Jordan becaudS they were devoted to cattle raising and that region was “a land for cattle." The great lawgiver and leader, of the Hebrews conceived that their request was inspired by a desire to avoid the wars

of the conquest, which were to follow the crossing of the Jordan, and he charged them with that cowardly purpose. But they answered assuring him that such was not their motive, and pledging him that they would bear their part of the conflict “until tile, children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.” Then Moses acceded to their request, promising them the greatest blessings if they were faithful to their pledges, out adding, “Bat if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32": 23.) And their sin di<j find them out In the days of Deborah they refused to go to war against Sieera, And thereby made themselves a reproach before all Israel. Neglecting duty, they set an example of unfaithfulness which contributed io the failure of the chosen people to make a perfect conquest of Canaan, which finally led to the corruption of the nation by its heathen neighbors and its ultimate overthrow.

The Bin which finds men out most surely is the- Bln of neglecting plain duty. That leads to all other sins,'and draws after it the most painful consequences. Parents who neglect the right rearing of their children bear sorest penalties at last So Ell found it. When his sons Hophnl and Phlnehas did evil, he restrained them not, and his negligence resulted in-thelr grossest wickedness, the defeat of Israel, the capture of the ark of God by the Philistines, and the death of both the weak father and the wicked sons. Communities may neglect their duties to the outcast and forlorn people in'their midst, and for their sin suffer plagues and bring into their homes moral disorders worse than the breath of pestilence. '* Nations may incur disasters from neglecting their obligations to mankind,, and their sin will surely find them out. »«- f In the final judgment those on the left, who are bidden to depart under divine condemnation, bear the ground of their rejection in the words, “I was a stranger and ye took me not tn; naked and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison and ye visited me not** Their doom is determined by what they had neglected to do. Our sins of omission most surely find us out

astonishing fact was brought out that the Bible, in whole or in part has now been translated into 653 languages and dialects. The New Testament of Tyndale hi 1525, followed by the whole Bible in 1535, is reported as the one translation into English. There have been very many other translationd’lnto English, but this widely extended language counts just one in the list of 653. Half of these translations were made between the years 1456 and 1867, inclusive. The other half have been made since 1868. Evidently the most up-to-date book in the world is the Bible. A modern author who is translated into two or three languages is a marked man. But the Bible was translated into eight languages and dialects in 1907; into four in 1908; into six in 1909; into nine in 1910, and into seventeen in 1911. Has any other book in the world’s history been translated into a* many languages and dialects as was the Bible in 1911? . , , r In most of this translation, through the centuries, the scholarly missionaries have taken barbarous and uncouth languages, mere wandering voices, and have reduced them to written forms. The translation of the Bible has been the beginning of the history of. literature for most of the tribes and races of men. For educated men forever the Bible will be the greatest wonder in the world of books

FAMILY RELIGION. (By JOHN N. M’CORMICK. D. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.) "Every human care and human woe in tfie world has found its refuge in the Bible. Men have lived by it. suffered by it, died by it; a book fpr all thp world, a book for all time.”—-Rob-ert J. Burdette.

In the early days recorded in Bible history it was very largely true that

every man was a priest in his own house. The head of the family was its religious spokesman and interpreter. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are thus represented, and in after Mme, along with the development of public worship, the undelegated duty of family worship was still taught and practised. When we read, “All Judah stood before the Lord

with their little ones, their wives and their children,*' we think not only of the congregation as a whole at a time of general assembly, but of the family units, each composing a congregation in itself. So, nowadays, when we talk about the family pew in church we like to think of the family worship at home. Is ft possible that we~ are forgetting to say grace before meals, and think to return thanks only when the clergy are present? Are we neglecting the hallowed custom of family prayers? ;. Are we so busy that we no longer believe the old adage, “Meat and matins hinder no man’s journey?** St. Paul, writing to Philemon, addresses his letter to him and “to the church in thy house.** Do we still like to make our houses rallying points tor religious services? Would our friends think it queer if they, were invited to come around, not for dinner, nor for dancing, nor for bridge, but for an hour of preaqhihg or bf worship? * Certainly the Bible stands for family religion—for that kind of unashamed and domesticated religion which makes a prayer as much in place in the home as it Is in the church, and the worship of God in the house as real and. as regular as is Bis worship in the sanctuary. America would be a better and a happier land if every family would at least say the Lord’s Prayer together every day and read together a few verses from the Book of Books.