1938
The war problem can be solved only by religious unity, Dr. Douglas Horton, minister of the United Church of Hyde Park. Ill., declared in an address at the Memorial Union Tuesday night. His talk was one of a series during the University of Wisconsin's Religious Emphasis week.
"If war comes tomorrow, it is because of what we do today," Dr. Horton said. "Shall we be the cause of the death of the next generation by war due to the activities that we conduct today? It is our duty to place religion on such a strong international scale that no nationalistic force can break down our loyalty to God to be replaced by a loyalty to a nation."
Three methods of preventing wars pointed out by Dr. Horton are:
1. Preparedness through huge military and naval expenditures.
2. Complete disarmament.
3. The establishment of an international religious community.
Racial discrimination against the Japanese, Dr. Horton said, has caused hatred between Japan and the United States.
"War that is international in scope," he declared, "cannot be solved by limiting ourselves to our national boundaries. We must seek the answer in the great world of Christian peoples."
The church must take a deeper interest in social issues of day, Atty. Frank W. McCulloch, Chicago, declared. Need for better recognition of the rights of unionists, and a Christian industrial democracy was cited.
"Our patriotism. like our religion, must not be beguiled by the Pied Piper flutings of our leaders," he said. "We must inquire into their motives and principles and make free use of the rights accorded us by our constitution."
Loyalty to the state, he declared, must not be placed above loyalty to a common cause and God.
—Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Feb. 23, 1938, p. 6.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Whitewash' Preachers to End Bad Scandals
1909
Methodist Conference Lets Several Chicago Pastors Off Easy to Get Rid of Them
ROCKFORD, Ill., Oct. 6. — The moral reformers of the Rock River conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church sat dumb under the lash of authority while the suppressionists of the inner council forced through their "whitewashing" program in the cases of alleged ministerial immorality.
But after all is done, the moral reformers have revolted against the Episcopal bludgeon and are denouncing the acts that were sanctioned by the silence on the floor of the conference. The cabineteers have been driven to cover and are shifting responsibility from one to another.
The series of conference acts which have roused the reformers to rebellion culminated in the vote by which John D. Leek, former pastor of the Western Avenue Church in Chicago, whose name was associated with that of Mrs. Mary A. Lavender, was permitted to withdraw from the ministry and from the membership of the church. In addition to that, Perley W. Powers, former pastor of the Olivet Church, Chicago, who was involved with Mrs. V. Book-Fenner, who committed suicide shortly after her arrest on the preacher's complaint, was permitted to withdraw honorably from the conference, to retain his ministry and membership and to have a "location" in the Jason Lee Memorial Church of Blackfoot, Idaho, where the preacher is now engaged in the real estate business.
The John E. Farmer case, which was the first immorality case to be disposed of, is also one of the series, and one that is causing loudest complaint. And on top of these came the programmed disposition of Mrs. Lavender's charges of maladministration against Doctor Crawford. Rev. D. M. Tompkins, pastor of the Rogers Park Church of Chicago and counsel for the Woodlawn Park Church, failed to present Mrs. Lavender's charges, and Doctor Crawford's name was called and passed without comment.
Methodist Conference Lets Several Chicago Pastors Off Easy to Get Rid of Them
ROCKFORD, Ill., Oct. 6. — The moral reformers of the Rock River conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church sat dumb under the lash of authority while the suppressionists of the inner council forced through their "whitewashing" program in the cases of alleged ministerial immorality.
But after all is done, the moral reformers have revolted against the Episcopal bludgeon and are denouncing the acts that were sanctioned by the silence on the floor of the conference. The cabineteers have been driven to cover and are shifting responsibility from one to another.
The series of conference acts which have roused the reformers to rebellion culminated in the vote by which John D. Leek, former pastor of the Western Avenue Church in Chicago, whose name was associated with that of Mrs. Mary A. Lavender, was permitted to withdraw from the ministry and from the membership of the church. In addition to that, Perley W. Powers, former pastor of the Olivet Church, Chicago, who was involved with Mrs. V. Book-Fenner, who committed suicide shortly after her arrest on the preacher's complaint, was permitted to withdraw honorably from the conference, to retain his ministry and membership and to have a "location" in the Jason Lee Memorial Church of Blackfoot, Idaho, where the preacher is now engaged in the real estate business.
The John E. Farmer case, which was the first immorality case to be disposed of, is also one of the series, and one that is causing loudest complaint. And on top of these came the programmed disposition of Mrs. Lavender's charges of maladministration against Doctor Crawford. Rev. D. M. Tompkins, pastor of the Rogers Park Church of Chicago and counsel for the Woodlawn Park Church, failed to present Mrs. Lavender's charges, and Doctor Crawford's name was called and passed without comment.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Rev. P. Marion Simms Has New Ten Commandments
Iowa, 1912
Vinton, Iowa, March 18 — Rev. P. Marion Simms, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Vinton, in his sermons the last two Sundays, gave the husbands and wives each a talk direct from the shoulder and without mincing of words. The sermons have caused no little comment throughout the town and like all "plain talks" have caused no little argument. On one Sunday he included the "Ten Commandments for Husbands" and on the other "Ten Commandments for Women," both of which are original and wholly representative of the two sermons.
Ten Commandments for Husbands
1. Thou shalt have no woman but thy wife and thou shalt not arrange for thy second marriage before the death of thy first wife.
2. Thou shalt not be a Sir Roger de Coverly to other men's wives and then conclude that because thou hast broken bronchos or excelled on the athletic field or in the gymnasium that thou canst manage thy wife in the same way.
3. Thou shalt not make of thy wife a household drudge, enslaved to the cook stove, mending bag, the vacuum cleaner and the babies sixteen hours a day while thou dost work but eight.
4. Thou shalt not smoke ten cent cigars and wear silk socks while thy wife wears her last year's hat with the wing moved to the other side and while thy sons wear hand-me-down-pants. And thou shalt not support the saloon-keepers's wife and children at the expense of thine own and compel thy wife to use an anesthetic to extract every penny she gets. And thou shalt not require thy wife to render an account for every penny thou dost grudgingly give to her, unless thou dost give her an account of thine own expenditures sworn to before at least two notary publics.
6. Thou shalt not forget that thy home ought to be the happiest spot on earth for thee; that thy truest friends are there; that they miss thee when thou art away, therefore, thou shalt not neglect thy home for the club, lodge, pool room or saloon or any other place of meeting whatsoever.
6. Thou shalt not have all thy religion in thy wife's name.
7. Thou shalt not farm out the religious training of thy children to the minister, the Sunday school teacher, or to anybody else, not even to thy wife. But thou shalt bear thine own burden in the matter and thou shalt live before them in such a way that they can follow safely. And thou shalt not relieve a fit of indigestion by kicking the cat or whipping the children.
8. Thou shalt not talk of thy family and domestic troubles to thy neighbor, to thy friend or partner, or to anybody's wife or to thy stenographer, to any member of thy club or lodge or to anybody else. Fight it out with thy wife alone, even if it takes all summer.
9. Thou shalt not have the jim-jams or even a headache every time thy wife asks thee to take her to a musical, to a concert, or to see some friends; for verily, verily, I say unto you that it is hard to be a grass widow all the time and with a husband in the house.
10. Thou shalt not forget that thy wife is not yet an angel and that thou wouldst be very lonely if she were; therefore, thou shalt make due allowance for the frailties of human nature. And thou shalt remember that she has as many rights as thou thyself.
Ten Commandments for Wives
1. Thou shalt have no other man but thy husband and when another would make love to thee remember that he is a fool or a knave.
2. Thou shalt not forget that the same winsome ways that made thy husband prefer thee to all other women are necessary to hold him. Verily, verily, I say unto you that rats are as valuable in married life as in courtship.
3. Thou shalt not expect thy husband in the beginning of his life to support thee on the same plane that thy father was able to reach after a long life of hard work and rigid economy. Therefore, thou shalt not fret thyself because thy neighbor's house is finer than thy own; neither shalt thou burden thy husband to enable thee to pose as a merchant's and milliner's model. Thou shalt be a help-meet and not simply a help-eat; for verily, verily, I say unto you that it is wicked to keep thy husband only about two steps ahead of the bill collector. Neither shalt thou wear abbreviated garments that make women look too short and men too long.
4. Thou shall not place any social circle, club, pleasurable organization or even the missionary society before thy home and thou shalt not conclude that an ideal family is a husband, a bull pup and a canary.
5. Thou shalt seek first to be a good homemaker, house-keeper and cook and then thou mayest add other accomplishments that do not interfere with thy chief business in life. Thou must not forget that an uncooked apple drove the first husband from paradise; that a poor mess of pottage differentiated a nation; that a fit of indigestion lost the battle of Leipsic; and that tea, mixed with improper ingredients cost England the American colonies and led to the founding of the American republic. And thou shalt not waste $5 worth of time hunting for a $10 dress at $9.78 on bargain day and compel thy husband to lunch down town on buttermilk and sinkers. Verily, verily, I say unto you that it is better to be a good cook than to be able to play chords on the piano, to serve pink teas, preside at whist orgies or to be queen of bargain finders.
6. Thou shall not gossip in the family or out of it about the neighborhood scandal; neither shalt thou allow the petty vexations of the family to disrupt the family harmony.
7. Thou shalt not complain that thou art "tied down" to thy home and to thy babies; for verily, verily, I say unto you that a woman who is unwilling to be "tied down" to such is not worthy to be married to any man. Thou shalt remember that no woman is "tied down" more to her chief business in life than is her husband. Thou shouldst also remember that even the Lord did not intend that a woman's married life should be one prolonged pleasure excursion in a rubber tired automobile on an asphalt road with magnolias blooming on either side.
8. Thou shalt not aspire to be a man to run the politics of the country to reform the world, to boss thy husband and then expect the courtesy, the love and devotion that is due an uncrowned queen. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that men admire most the woman of the clinging vine variety.
9. Thou shalt not serve punch to thy guests, nor put up prizes at whist parties, nor win them at thy neighbors, and then lecture thy husband and son on the evils of gambling.
10. Thou shalt not allow dust to gather on thy Bible nor shall thy attendance at the services of thy church depend on the emotions of a passing hour, the state of the weather or any other unimportant matter.
—Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, March 18, 1912, p. 12.
Note: Commandment 2 for women has "rats" as being valuable in married life as in courtship. I don't know what "rats" are in this context but that is what the article says.
Vinton, Iowa, March 18 — Rev. P. Marion Simms, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Vinton, in his sermons the last two Sundays, gave the husbands and wives each a talk direct from the shoulder and without mincing of words. The sermons have caused no little comment throughout the town and like all "plain talks" have caused no little argument. On one Sunday he included the "Ten Commandments for Husbands" and on the other "Ten Commandments for Women," both of which are original and wholly representative of the two sermons.
Ten Commandments for Husbands
1. Thou shalt have no woman but thy wife and thou shalt not arrange for thy second marriage before the death of thy first wife.
2. Thou shalt not be a Sir Roger de Coverly to other men's wives and then conclude that because thou hast broken bronchos or excelled on the athletic field or in the gymnasium that thou canst manage thy wife in the same way.
3. Thou shalt not make of thy wife a household drudge, enslaved to the cook stove, mending bag, the vacuum cleaner and the babies sixteen hours a day while thou dost work but eight.
4. Thou shalt not smoke ten cent cigars and wear silk socks while thy wife wears her last year's hat with the wing moved to the other side and while thy sons wear hand-me-down-pants. And thou shalt not support the saloon-keepers's wife and children at the expense of thine own and compel thy wife to use an anesthetic to extract every penny she gets. And thou shalt not require thy wife to render an account for every penny thou dost grudgingly give to her, unless thou dost give her an account of thine own expenditures sworn to before at least two notary publics.
6. Thou shalt not forget that thy home ought to be the happiest spot on earth for thee; that thy truest friends are there; that they miss thee when thou art away, therefore, thou shalt not neglect thy home for the club, lodge, pool room or saloon or any other place of meeting whatsoever.
6. Thou shalt not have all thy religion in thy wife's name.
7. Thou shalt not farm out the religious training of thy children to the minister, the Sunday school teacher, or to anybody else, not even to thy wife. But thou shalt bear thine own burden in the matter and thou shalt live before them in such a way that they can follow safely. And thou shalt not relieve a fit of indigestion by kicking the cat or whipping the children.
8. Thou shalt not talk of thy family and domestic troubles to thy neighbor, to thy friend or partner, or to anybody's wife or to thy stenographer, to any member of thy club or lodge or to anybody else. Fight it out with thy wife alone, even if it takes all summer.
9. Thou shalt not have the jim-jams or even a headache every time thy wife asks thee to take her to a musical, to a concert, or to see some friends; for verily, verily, I say unto you that it is hard to be a grass widow all the time and with a husband in the house.
10. Thou shalt not forget that thy wife is not yet an angel and that thou wouldst be very lonely if she were; therefore, thou shalt make due allowance for the frailties of human nature. And thou shalt remember that she has as many rights as thou thyself.
Ten Commandments for Wives
1. Thou shalt have no other man but thy husband and when another would make love to thee remember that he is a fool or a knave.
2. Thou shalt not forget that the same winsome ways that made thy husband prefer thee to all other women are necessary to hold him. Verily, verily, I say unto you that rats are as valuable in married life as in courtship.
3. Thou shalt not expect thy husband in the beginning of his life to support thee on the same plane that thy father was able to reach after a long life of hard work and rigid economy. Therefore, thou shalt not fret thyself because thy neighbor's house is finer than thy own; neither shalt thou burden thy husband to enable thee to pose as a merchant's and milliner's model. Thou shalt be a help-meet and not simply a help-eat; for verily, verily, I say unto you that it is wicked to keep thy husband only about two steps ahead of the bill collector. Neither shalt thou wear abbreviated garments that make women look too short and men too long.
4. Thou shall not place any social circle, club, pleasurable organization or even the missionary society before thy home and thou shalt not conclude that an ideal family is a husband, a bull pup and a canary.
5. Thou shalt seek first to be a good homemaker, house-keeper and cook and then thou mayest add other accomplishments that do not interfere with thy chief business in life. Thou must not forget that an uncooked apple drove the first husband from paradise; that a poor mess of pottage differentiated a nation; that a fit of indigestion lost the battle of Leipsic; and that tea, mixed with improper ingredients cost England the American colonies and led to the founding of the American republic. And thou shalt not waste $5 worth of time hunting for a $10 dress at $9.78 on bargain day and compel thy husband to lunch down town on buttermilk and sinkers. Verily, verily, I say unto you that it is better to be a good cook than to be able to play chords on the piano, to serve pink teas, preside at whist orgies or to be queen of bargain finders.
6. Thou shall not gossip in the family or out of it about the neighborhood scandal; neither shalt thou allow the petty vexations of the family to disrupt the family harmony.
7. Thou shalt not complain that thou art "tied down" to thy home and to thy babies; for verily, verily, I say unto you that a woman who is unwilling to be "tied down" to such is not worthy to be married to any man. Thou shalt remember that no woman is "tied down" more to her chief business in life than is her husband. Thou shouldst also remember that even the Lord did not intend that a woman's married life should be one prolonged pleasure excursion in a rubber tired automobile on an asphalt road with magnolias blooming on either side.
8. Thou shalt not aspire to be a man to run the politics of the country to reform the world, to boss thy husband and then expect the courtesy, the love and devotion that is due an uncrowned queen. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that men admire most the woman of the clinging vine variety.
9. Thou shalt not serve punch to thy guests, nor put up prizes at whist parties, nor win them at thy neighbors, and then lecture thy husband and son on the evils of gambling.
10. Thou shalt not allow dust to gather on thy Bible nor shall thy attendance at the services of thy church depend on the emotions of a passing hour, the state of the weather or any other unimportant matter.
—Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, March 18, 1912, p. 12.
Note: Commandment 2 for women has "rats" as being valuable in married life as in courtship. I don't know what "rats" are in this context but that is what the article says.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The Wicked Husbandmen (Mark 12:1-12)
1895
Sunday School Lesson
Golden Text — They will reverence my son. — Mark 12:6.
God has intrusted to each of us a blessed and fruitful vineyard, which we are to culture for Him. He has planted His new life in us. He has given us our life, our soul. He gives us each a portion of all those things He has committed to the church as a whole. He makes us fruitful by His Word and His Spirit. He gives us every means of grace by which to cultivate the vineyard. He gives us defenses. He is our watch-tower. He gives grace for every time of need. He furnishes the armor against temptation. The body is a vineyard that is intrusted to our care, to be well treated as an instrument for doing God's work. A good workman always takes good care of his tools. The mind is still more wonderful, and should be educated, trained, kept pure and bright, that it may bring forth fruit for the Master. The soil, the very self — the citadel, the dwelling place of the moral nature, the fountain of character — is a vineyard that should be kept with all diligence, "for out of it are the issues of life."
The fruits are gratitude, love, obedience, worship, consecration of time, talents and property toward God; and all the fruits of the Spirit toward men; intelligence, generosity, character, growth. Note that, as the cultivator of the vineyard was to enjoy the fruits it bore, and the more fruitful it was, the more industriously he cultivated it for the owner, the more abundant and delightful was his own reward; so it is with those to whom God has intrusted His spiritual vineyard; every fruit God requires is best for themselves.
Sending for the Fruits. — Every special call to love and serve God, every service at the church, every opportunity to do good, every providence of God, every season of revival, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath, the Bible, conscience — all are servants whom God sends to us for the fruits that are due Him.
The Fruits Refused. — The behavior of these husbandmen is only a picture of the way impenitent men still treat God's messengers of mercy — the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the influences of religion. What greater meanness in the universe than our rejection of God's messengers while we are actually enjoying the vineyard He gave us?
The unspeakable love of God to us is shown in the sending of His Son (John 3:16). He is the wisdom and power of God for salvation. God has done all that infinite love can do to save us. He comes often to our souls with special influences to lead us to accept Him. Everyone at some time comes to the valley of decision.
If we reject Christ for this world we are lost for this world. Those who reject Christ from their lives and plans, in order that they may keep possession of themselves, their pleasures and hopes, have taken the shortest and surest way to lose them. The righteous shall inherit the earth. If we refuse the source of righteousness we reject our earthly inheritance. How much more is this true of the future! Those who reject Christ cannot be saved. They refuse eternal life; they reject the very principles which make Heaven what it is. They repel the strongest influence that can lead them to a holy life. They throw away their last hope.
Though mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
Sunday School Lesson
Golden Text — They will reverence my son. — Mark 12:6.
God has intrusted to each of us a blessed and fruitful vineyard, which we are to culture for Him. He has planted His new life in us. He has given us our life, our soul. He gives us each a portion of all those things He has committed to the church as a whole. He makes us fruitful by His Word and His Spirit. He gives us every means of grace by which to cultivate the vineyard. He gives us defenses. He is our watch-tower. He gives grace for every time of need. He furnishes the armor against temptation. The body is a vineyard that is intrusted to our care, to be well treated as an instrument for doing God's work. A good workman always takes good care of his tools. The mind is still more wonderful, and should be educated, trained, kept pure and bright, that it may bring forth fruit for the Master. The soil, the very self — the citadel, the dwelling place of the moral nature, the fountain of character — is a vineyard that should be kept with all diligence, "for out of it are the issues of life."
The fruits are gratitude, love, obedience, worship, consecration of time, talents and property toward God; and all the fruits of the Spirit toward men; intelligence, generosity, character, growth. Note that, as the cultivator of the vineyard was to enjoy the fruits it bore, and the more fruitful it was, the more industriously he cultivated it for the owner, the more abundant and delightful was his own reward; so it is with those to whom God has intrusted His spiritual vineyard; every fruit God requires is best for themselves.
Sending for the Fruits. — Every special call to love and serve God, every service at the church, every opportunity to do good, every providence of God, every season of revival, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath, the Bible, conscience — all are servants whom God sends to us for the fruits that are due Him.
The Fruits Refused. — The behavior of these husbandmen is only a picture of the way impenitent men still treat God's messengers of mercy — the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the influences of religion. What greater meanness in the universe than our rejection of God's messengers while we are actually enjoying the vineyard He gave us?
The unspeakable love of God to us is shown in the sending of His Son (John 3:16). He is the wisdom and power of God for salvation. God has done all that infinite love can do to save us. He comes often to our souls with special influences to lead us to accept Him. Everyone at some time comes to the valley of decision.
If we reject Christ for this world we are lost for this world. Those who reject Christ from their lives and plans, in order that they may keep possession of themselves, their pleasures and hopes, have taken the shortest and surest way to lose them. The righteous shall inherit the earth. If we refuse the source of righteousness we reject our earthly inheritance. How much more is this true of the future! Those who reject Christ cannot be saved. They refuse eternal life; they reject the very principles which make Heaven what it is. They repel the strongest influence that can lead them to a holy life. They throw away their last hope.
Though mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Patriotism and Religion
1917
Draw a little circle around your personality and it will include your family; draw a larger circle and it will include your friends; a still larger circle takes in your fellow countrymen; the last and largest circle of all embraces all humanity.
As the circle enlarges the objects of our love increase in number and the intensity of our love naturally diminishes. We are not bound to all mankind as strongly or as tenderly as we are to our fellow countrymen. We are not bound to do for all our countrymen as much as we are bound to do for our neighbors next door or on the nest street or in the next township. Our highest human obligation is to those of our own household.
The supreme duty we owe to One, and One alone, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." — Christian Herald.
Draw a little circle around your personality and it will include your family; draw a larger circle and it will include your friends; a still larger circle takes in your fellow countrymen; the last and largest circle of all embraces all humanity.
As the circle enlarges the objects of our love increase in number and the intensity of our love naturally diminishes. We are not bound to all mankind as strongly or as tenderly as we are to our fellow countrymen. We are not bound to do for all our countrymen as much as we are bound to do for our neighbors next door or on the nest street or in the next township. Our highest human obligation is to those of our own household.
The supreme duty we owe to One, and One alone, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." — Christian Herald.
Military Men Stumped by Acts of Mennonites
1917
Associated Press Telegram
Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, Nov. 1. — Officers at Camp Sherman were further perplexed today when another delegation of Amish Mennonites joined the ranks of rebelling conscientious objectors and refused to obey orders.
Thirty of the fifty recently transferred to non-combatant service at the base hospital now are in open rebellion and there are prospects the strike will include the whole number of the religious sect. Efforts to give them some task at which they can not object have proved of no avail.
Although most are excellent judges of livestock, they refuse to do work about the remount station because it is part of the military camp. They were questioned as to what they would like to do and to find if there was something at which they could raise no objection but that did not solve the problem.
"What would you do if you saw that women were forced to walk about the hospital in mud?" was one of the questions put to them by an officer.
"Build walks," was the reply; so they were to start building walks about camp. But they rebelled, declaring that the walks would be used by soldiers. Anything a part of Camp Sherman or having to do in the slightest way with the men of Camp Sherman is disapproved and they have openly and successfully evaded all tasks. Guard house confinement was given up when it brought no results. Other punishment is of no avail. The men likewise have refused to permit their beards to be cut or to shave. It is contrary to one of their religious beliefs to shave. So far as officers here know, the thirty now on strike are the first to balk military rule in war times, and "get away with it" as officers frankly admit the Mennonites are doing.
Associated Press Telegram
Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, Nov. 1. — Officers at Camp Sherman were further perplexed today when another delegation of Amish Mennonites joined the ranks of rebelling conscientious objectors and refused to obey orders.
Thirty of the fifty recently transferred to non-combatant service at the base hospital now are in open rebellion and there are prospects the strike will include the whole number of the religious sect. Efforts to give them some task at which they can not object have proved of no avail.
Although most are excellent judges of livestock, they refuse to do work about the remount station because it is part of the military camp. They were questioned as to what they would like to do and to find if there was something at which they could raise no objection but that did not solve the problem.
"What would you do if you saw that women were forced to walk about the hospital in mud?" was one of the questions put to them by an officer.
"Build walks," was the reply; so they were to start building walks about camp. But they rebelled, declaring that the walks would be used by soldiers. Anything a part of Camp Sherman or having to do in the slightest way with the men of Camp Sherman is disapproved and they have openly and successfully evaded all tasks. Guard house confinement was given up when it brought no results. Other punishment is of no avail. The men likewise have refused to permit their beards to be cut or to shave. It is contrary to one of their religious beliefs to shave. So far as officers here know, the thirty now on strike are the first to balk military rule in war times, and "get away with it" as officers frankly admit the Mennonites are doing.
Odd Marriage Belief
1917
An unmarried man or woman of marriageable age is something that is rarely seen in the Fiji islands. The reason of this is not far to seek. The natives believe that if a person dies while in an unmarried state his or her soul is doomed to wander about through endless ages of eternity in an intermediate region between heaven and hades. At the end of each moon they are allowed to look into heaven, but are never permitted to enter.
Ancient Pillory
The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the pillory (Jeremiah 29:26), which appears to have been a common mode of punishment in his time. Ancient Hebrew prisons contained a special chamber for the pillory. This was termed "the house of the pillory" (2 Chronicles 16:10).
An unmarried man or woman of marriageable age is something that is rarely seen in the Fiji islands. The reason of this is not far to seek. The natives believe that if a person dies while in an unmarried state his or her soul is doomed to wander about through endless ages of eternity in an intermediate region between heaven and hades. At the end of each moon they are allowed to look into heaven, but are never permitted to enter.
Ancient Pillory
The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the pillory (Jeremiah 29:26), which appears to have been a common mode of punishment in his time. Ancient Hebrew prisons contained a special chamber for the pillory. This was termed "the house of the pillory" (2 Chronicles 16:10).
Discoveries in Palestine
1917
The discoveries which the British and Indian troops are making in Palestine of old churches and their sacred dust have reminded one of the soldiers of Sir Henry Layard's description of the excavators at Nimroud.
When the first of the enormous figures began to appear above the earth Arabs raced to him — "Hasten, O Bey, for they have found Nimroud himself. Wallah, it is wonderful; we have seen it with our eyes. There is no God but God!" And they hied them in terror to their tents. The Anzacs were filled with different emotions, for like all the forces their ranks were furnished with highly educated as well as men of the old type of privates.
Sayings
All men are born equal, but they mighty soon get over it.
No man is so fast that retribution won't sooner or later overtake him.
The discoveries which the British and Indian troops are making in Palestine of old churches and their sacred dust have reminded one of the soldiers of Sir Henry Layard's description of the excavators at Nimroud.
When the first of the enormous figures began to appear above the earth Arabs raced to him — "Hasten, O Bey, for they have found Nimroud himself. Wallah, it is wonderful; we have seen it with our eyes. There is no God but God!" And they hied them in terror to their tents. The Anzacs were filled with different emotions, for like all the forces their ranks were furnished with highly educated as well as men of the old type of privates.
Sayings
All men are born equal, but they mighty soon get over it.
No man is so fast that retribution won't sooner or later overtake him.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Rob a Minister Politely
1901
Unusual Courtesy Shown by Thieves in a Pittsburgh Pastor's Home
An interesting dialogue between a minister and a burglar occurred at 3 o'clock one morning recently, when the Rev. Dr. McClelland, pastor of the Bellefield Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, was awakened from his slumbers and went to the door to behold the muzzles of four pistols leveled at his head. The captain of the gang said: "You will die if you don't hold up your hands." Dr. McClelland relates his experience as follows:
"The fellow kept his pistols within a few inches of my head. He directed me to turn, open the door, and walk back to bed. My wife was sitting up in bed crying, but the trio followed me into the room. There was nothing for me to do but obey.
"'Have you any money?' the captain asked.
"'You will find $5.81 in an envelope on the dresser marked "Presbyterian hospital,'" I informed him. 'If you take that money you are pretty hard up.'
"'How did you come by it?' he questioned.
"'I am a clergyman,' I answered. "When he heard this he seemed to feel sorry and remarked: 'My dear sir," had I known this was a minister's home I would not have entered, but I suppose you can get some more money for the hospital.'
"Then he discovered my watch on the dresser, and asked me if it was of value. I informed him that it was a present. 'If that is so I guess we'll let you keep it,' the captain said. He ordered the searcher to let the watch remain where it was. The door of the children's room was open. Mrs. McClelland asked the burglars to keep out of there as the little girl was sick and nervous.
"'Just to oblige you, my dear madam,' the spokesman said. He kept his word, and the room was not disturbed.
"The chief then asked who occupied the front room. I told him my daughter. He wanted to know if she had any money or valuables. I said no. He also promised not to disturb her.
"I agreed to make no outcry when they left."
Unusual Courtesy Shown by Thieves in a Pittsburgh Pastor's Home
An interesting dialogue between a minister and a burglar occurred at 3 o'clock one morning recently, when the Rev. Dr. McClelland, pastor of the Bellefield Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, was awakened from his slumbers and went to the door to behold the muzzles of four pistols leveled at his head. The captain of the gang said: "You will die if you don't hold up your hands." Dr. McClelland relates his experience as follows:
"The fellow kept his pistols within a few inches of my head. He directed me to turn, open the door, and walk back to bed. My wife was sitting up in bed crying, but the trio followed me into the room. There was nothing for me to do but obey.
"'Have you any money?' the captain asked.
"'You will find $5.81 in an envelope on the dresser marked "Presbyterian hospital,'" I informed him. 'If you take that money you are pretty hard up.'
"'How did you come by it?' he questioned.
"'I am a clergyman,' I answered. "When he heard this he seemed to feel sorry and remarked: 'My dear sir," had I known this was a minister's home I would not have entered, but I suppose you can get some more money for the hospital.'
"Then he discovered my watch on the dresser, and asked me if it was of value. I informed him that it was a present. 'If that is so I guess we'll let you keep it,' the captain said. He ordered the searcher to let the watch remain where it was. The door of the children's room was open. Mrs. McClelland asked the burglars to keep out of there as the little girl was sick and nervous.
"'Just to oblige you, my dear madam,' the spokesman said. He kept his word, and the room was not disturbed.
"The chief then asked who occupied the front room. I told him my daughter. He wanted to know if she had any money or valuables. I said no. He also promised not to disturb her.
"I agreed to make no outcry when they left."
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Sadness of a King; Where is Peace and Joy?
1910
By Dr. Robert Hugh Morris
"The Sadness of a King" was the sermon theme of the Rev. Robert Hugh Morris, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Evanston. Dr. Morris spoke feelingly of the causes and the cure of sadness, and said that many men and women bear about with them the burden of a restless and disquieted spirit because they have not found the way to peace through Christ.
Dr. Morris took as his texts:
"The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." — 1 Samuel 16:14
"My tears have been my meat day and night." — Psalms 42:3
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why are thou disquieted within me?" — Psalms 42:5.
"The noble spirit of King David is disquieted within him," said Dr. Morris. "The weakening spirit of Saul is troubled. As the world calls goodness and badness, we may say here is a bad king and here is a good king, and both these kings are unhappy. Then here is the cry of Jesus: 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' Here is also the saying of Paul: 'I am the chief of sinners,' and his pathetic cry, 'Who shall deliver me from this bondage of death?'
"We are going to think this morning of sadness as we find it manifested in human life. We shall endeavor to think of it, not that we may be sadder, but in order that we may cured of our sadness. But let us frankly admit that sadness as such is not sinful, and that the whole sum and substance of religion is by no manner of means joyousness. This is said because we hear so much about the duty of being joyful and so much about the wickedness of being sorrowful.
"We seem to live in an optimistic age. Now optimism, if by that term we mean a cheerful view of life, is essentially Christian; but optimism, if by that term we mean that everything is all right just as it is, and could not be any better, is essentially pagan. This contrast, in terms is made after very careful consideration of the meaning of those terms.
Christian Optimism Defined
"A bright and hopeful outlook upon life is Christian because Christ taught us that God is our father and that He is taking care of His children. He said, you know, that God fed the sparrows and the ravens and clothed the lily and sent rain on the just and the unjust.
"But the other kind of optimism is pagan, because it means, in its ultimate analysis, essentially this, 'Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.'
"If serious minded hearers are disposed to question the truth of such a view, let him read from pages of ancient history the stories of orgies performed in Baal worship; of Saturnalia, Bacchic revels, feasts of Nero or celebrations in honor of Apollo in the Grove of Daphne at Antioch. In all these pagan celebrations you find the much lauded picnic view of life as its theory works out in practice.
What is the Purpose of Life?
"Now let's understand each other just here. If you believe that you were created and put into this world to have a good time you will not respond to a single thing in my sermon. But if you believe 'the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever,' you are in a position to follow and to accept what he said.
"It cannot be urged that there any virtue in being sad, or any sin in being happy and joyous. It all depends on why you are sad and why you are happy, and what is the motive that underlies your joy.
Laughter Not Sin
"The world no longer permits itself to he imposed upon with the idea that anything that gives pleasure is necessarily wrong, and anything that gives pain is ipso facto right or virtuous. To be concrete, it is no longer considered sin, even by the later day disciples of John Wesley for Christians to wear olden ornaments, for women to adorn themselves with beautiful garments and becoming bonnets. It is only when these things go to such an extreme that they become the ruling motive of life that we consider them wrongful or sinful.
"Christians for the most part no longer draw an imaginary line in front of every temple of Thespis and say, 'Hitherto shall thou come no further.' It is only when the representation on the stage within this temple is immoral or degrading, or inane and calculated to waste valuable time, that it becomes a sin in our eyes to enter the doors of those temples.
"It certainly is not considered a sin for us to laugh. Grouchy as was Thomas Carlyle, we none the less find him paraphrasing Shakespeare by saying: 'The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, but his whole life is already a treason and a stratagem.' Neither will the modern Christian permit some mournful friar, who digs his own grave in the solemn hour of midnight, singing doleful songs the while, to foist upon him the false doctrine that God is pleased when we are sorrowful.
"Nor will the flagellating brothers, with bare, bleeding shoulders, whipping themselves from pillar to post, ever make us believe any more that we honor God by dishonoring this frame which His Book has called His temple. Nevertheless, friends, there is essentially a great truth underlying this world of error, and that truth, it seems to me, may be summed up in this statement: The life of man, the soul of man, the immortal destiny of man, are too vast, too complicated too Godlike, to be made absolutely happy by the things that can be seen and handled and heard and tasted in this present world. 'Man's unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness. It is because there is an infinite in him which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite.'
"Of course, our subject really is 'the causes and the cure of sadness.' We shall speak very briefly of certain causes and indicate with similar brevity the cure of each kind.
Melancholia is a Disease
"The materialistic view. We may as well admit a large element of truth in the view of the materialist. If we change the word sadness to melancholy we have a clearer idea of what is meant here, for melancholia is a disease. No demonstration is needed, for your own experience has proven to you that, all other things being equal, life looks fairer when the sun shines than it does when the clouds lower.
"You and I are less prone to propound to ourselves and others the dialectical donkey's question, 'Is life worth living?' when all the functions of our body work well, when digestion is perfect and altogether we are free from the hamperings of headache or the racking of rheumatism.
"The cure for such melancholy, and a goodly part if it is undoubtedly due to these physical causes, is likewise physical. The disease being physical, certainly the remedy must touch the physical nature. The remedy required for a large part of our melancholy is a little more fresh air, a little more exercise, a little more Fletcherizing, and a little less highly seasoned food.
"But there is a kind of sadness found amongst us which is not due to such physical causes as we have just mentioned, but which is due rather to a feeling of uselessness, a feeling of failure. One may have set for himself the accomplishment of a certain end in life and failing of that
accomplishment, he may be thrown into a heavier or lighter state of sadness by feeling that he has failed.
"There would be manifold manifestations of this if we could read the heart lives of many of our most serious minded friends all about us in this present day. The trouble seems to be that we have set some impossible or some incorrect standard and have been unable to measure up to it, or else to keep up to it.
Walking Ice Plants Not Popular
"I know a clergyman who occasionally preaches very able, very helpful sermons, but on the principle that the clock cannot strike 12 every time it strikes, this clergyman does not preach his best in every sermon. If you meet him on Monday after he has delivered one of the sermons which he considers a failure you will feel, when you have gotten within fifty feet of him, that you are approaching an ice plant and an indigo factory combined into one.
"You find him in that state of mind spoken of by the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, who bemoaned that 'I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that, this also was a striving after wind. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it, and I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, Vanitas vaniotumomnia est vanitas."
"What is said of sermons is true of other lines of endeavor. You have not jarred the good old world out of her track, or changed her axis, or delayed her in her course, but the few mistakes you have made this past week, and so without completely underrating your labor you may none the less improve your life's happiness by considering it as a bit less necessary to the destiny of the world.
External Causes Produce Sadness
"Sadness is sometimes the result of a state of affairs that is objective, by which we mean, it is occasioned, it is brought about, by events external to our own minds and hearts, even absolutely beyond our control. The coming of sorrow through sickness and absence and death may be classed under this head. Shall I be blamed if, when my friend has gone from me, I am unable to show the world as smiling a face as I showed when that face was reflecting the sunlit life of him who walked at my side?
"For this specie of sadness, which is largely the result of external conditions, over which the many may in time come to have control, but which it has not yet conquered, one cannot so easily state a cure. Of course, it is even true that there are conditions which, as the world now goes, seem to be irremediable, at least for this life. Such perhaps were in the mind of the poet Edwin Markham when he spoke of 'immedicable woes.'
Infinite in Man Years for Eternity
"There is a specie of sadness, perhaps close akin of this last, but which also goes beyond it, and which cannot be explained in any one of the three preceding ways. It is due to man's infinite nature. Nothing absolutely satisfies him, because he is essentially unsatisfiable.
"The mere animal takes his fill of material comforts and seems to rest in perfect satisfaction, but with a man it is different.
"A great pathetic spirit was Lincoln, around whose very laughter there glitters a tear, whose smile is overspread with a nameless sadness, as some morning in May when sunshine and shower are strangely blended.
"Long ago St. Augustine felt this sorrow, this sadness, this melancholy of the orphan spirit of man, and long ago St. Augustine correctly stated the meaning: 'Thou, O God,' he says in his Confessions, 'Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless within us until they rest in Thee.'
"The singer of Israel a long while before Augustine had said. 'Thou hast made man a little lower than God,' and because he is made thus infinite, finite things will never quite satisfy. And as the old Bishop of Hippo has suggested, the cure for this specie of melancholy is to rest in God.
"O heart of man, restless like the surging sea which cannot be still; O heart of man, hungry like the hungry sea which cannot be satisfied, there is one stillness and one satisfaction for thee, and only one. It is that peace and that satisfaction which cometh only when thou hast quaffed the divine elixir, breathed the ambrosial air and feasted upon the heavenly fruits which all are in the presence of thy Creator and thy Father, the one all-giving and all-satisfying."
—Waterloo Reporter, Waterloo, Iowa, July 2, 1910, p. 2.
By Dr. Robert Hugh Morris
"The Sadness of a King" was the sermon theme of the Rev. Robert Hugh Morris, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Evanston. Dr. Morris spoke feelingly of the causes and the cure of sadness, and said that many men and women bear about with them the burden of a restless and disquieted spirit because they have not found the way to peace through Christ.
Dr. Morris took as his texts:
"The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." — 1 Samuel 16:14
"My tears have been my meat day and night." — Psalms 42:3
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why are thou disquieted within me?" — Psalms 42:5.
"The noble spirit of King David is disquieted within him," said Dr. Morris. "The weakening spirit of Saul is troubled. As the world calls goodness and badness, we may say here is a bad king and here is a good king, and both these kings are unhappy. Then here is the cry of Jesus: 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' Here is also the saying of Paul: 'I am the chief of sinners,' and his pathetic cry, 'Who shall deliver me from this bondage of death?'
"We are going to think this morning of sadness as we find it manifested in human life. We shall endeavor to think of it, not that we may be sadder, but in order that we may cured of our sadness. But let us frankly admit that sadness as such is not sinful, and that the whole sum and substance of religion is by no manner of means joyousness. This is said because we hear so much about the duty of being joyful and so much about the wickedness of being sorrowful.
"We seem to live in an optimistic age. Now optimism, if by that term we mean a cheerful view of life, is essentially Christian; but optimism, if by that term we mean that everything is all right just as it is, and could not be any better, is essentially pagan. This contrast, in terms is made after very careful consideration of the meaning of those terms.
Christian Optimism Defined
"A bright and hopeful outlook upon life is Christian because Christ taught us that God is our father and that He is taking care of His children. He said, you know, that God fed the sparrows and the ravens and clothed the lily and sent rain on the just and the unjust.
"But the other kind of optimism is pagan, because it means, in its ultimate analysis, essentially this, 'Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.'
"If serious minded hearers are disposed to question the truth of such a view, let him read from pages of ancient history the stories of orgies performed in Baal worship; of Saturnalia, Bacchic revels, feasts of Nero or celebrations in honor of Apollo in the Grove of Daphne at Antioch. In all these pagan celebrations you find the much lauded picnic view of life as its theory works out in practice.
What is the Purpose of Life?
"Now let's understand each other just here. If you believe that you were created and put into this world to have a good time you will not respond to a single thing in my sermon. But if you believe 'the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever,' you are in a position to follow and to accept what he said.
"It cannot be urged that there any virtue in being sad, or any sin in being happy and joyous. It all depends on why you are sad and why you are happy, and what is the motive that underlies your joy.
Laughter Not Sin
"The world no longer permits itself to he imposed upon with the idea that anything that gives pleasure is necessarily wrong, and anything that gives pain is ipso facto right or virtuous. To be concrete, it is no longer considered sin, even by the later day disciples of John Wesley for Christians to wear olden ornaments, for women to adorn themselves with beautiful garments and becoming bonnets. It is only when these things go to such an extreme that they become the ruling motive of life that we consider them wrongful or sinful.
"Christians for the most part no longer draw an imaginary line in front of every temple of Thespis and say, 'Hitherto shall thou come no further.' It is only when the representation on the stage within this temple is immoral or degrading, or inane and calculated to waste valuable time, that it becomes a sin in our eyes to enter the doors of those temples.
"It certainly is not considered a sin for us to laugh. Grouchy as was Thomas Carlyle, we none the less find him paraphrasing Shakespeare by saying: 'The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, but his whole life is already a treason and a stratagem.' Neither will the modern Christian permit some mournful friar, who digs his own grave in the solemn hour of midnight, singing doleful songs the while, to foist upon him the false doctrine that God is pleased when we are sorrowful.
"Nor will the flagellating brothers, with bare, bleeding shoulders, whipping themselves from pillar to post, ever make us believe any more that we honor God by dishonoring this frame which His Book has called His temple. Nevertheless, friends, there is essentially a great truth underlying this world of error, and that truth, it seems to me, may be summed up in this statement: The life of man, the soul of man, the immortal destiny of man, are too vast, too complicated too Godlike, to be made absolutely happy by the things that can be seen and handled and heard and tasted in this present world. 'Man's unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness. It is because there is an infinite in him which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite.'
"Of course, our subject really is 'the causes and the cure of sadness.' We shall speak very briefly of certain causes and indicate with similar brevity the cure of each kind.
Melancholia is a Disease
"The materialistic view. We may as well admit a large element of truth in the view of the materialist. If we change the word sadness to melancholy we have a clearer idea of what is meant here, for melancholia is a disease. No demonstration is needed, for your own experience has proven to you that, all other things being equal, life looks fairer when the sun shines than it does when the clouds lower.
"You and I are less prone to propound to ourselves and others the dialectical donkey's question, 'Is life worth living?' when all the functions of our body work well, when digestion is perfect and altogether we are free from the hamperings of headache or the racking of rheumatism.
"The cure for such melancholy, and a goodly part if it is undoubtedly due to these physical causes, is likewise physical. The disease being physical, certainly the remedy must touch the physical nature. The remedy required for a large part of our melancholy is a little more fresh air, a little more exercise, a little more Fletcherizing, and a little less highly seasoned food.
"But there is a kind of sadness found amongst us which is not due to such physical causes as we have just mentioned, but which is due rather to a feeling of uselessness, a feeling of failure. One may have set for himself the accomplishment of a certain end in life and failing of that
accomplishment, he may be thrown into a heavier or lighter state of sadness by feeling that he has failed.
"There would be manifold manifestations of this if we could read the heart lives of many of our most serious minded friends all about us in this present day. The trouble seems to be that we have set some impossible or some incorrect standard and have been unable to measure up to it, or else to keep up to it.
Walking Ice Plants Not Popular
"I know a clergyman who occasionally preaches very able, very helpful sermons, but on the principle that the clock cannot strike 12 every time it strikes, this clergyman does not preach his best in every sermon. If you meet him on Monday after he has delivered one of the sermons which he considers a failure you will feel, when you have gotten within fifty feet of him, that you are approaching an ice plant and an indigo factory combined into one.
"You find him in that state of mind spoken of by the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, who bemoaned that 'I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that, this also was a striving after wind. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it, and I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, Vanitas vaniotumomnia est vanitas."
"What is said of sermons is true of other lines of endeavor. You have not jarred the good old world out of her track, or changed her axis, or delayed her in her course, but the few mistakes you have made this past week, and so without completely underrating your labor you may none the less improve your life's happiness by considering it as a bit less necessary to the destiny of the world.
External Causes Produce Sadness
"Sadness is sometimes the result of a state of affairs that is objective, by which we mean, it is occasioned, it is brought about, by events external to our own minds and hearts, even absolutely beyond our control. The coming of sorrow through sickness and absence and death may be classed under this head. Shall I be blamed if, when my friend has gone from me, I am unable to show the world as smiling a face as I showed when that face was reflecting the sunlit life of him who walked at my side?
"For this specie of sadness, which is largely the result of external conditions, over which the many may in time come to have control, but which it has not yet conquered, one cannot so easily state a cure. Of course, it is even true that there are conditions which, as the world now goes, seem to be irremediable, at least for this life. Such perhaps were in the mind of the poet Edwin Markham when he spoke of 'immedicable woes.'
Infinite in Man Years for Eternity
"There is a specie of sadness, perhaps close akin of this last, but which also goes beyond it, and which cannot be explained in any one of the three preceding ways. It is due to man's infinite nature. Nothing absolutely satisfies him, because he is essentially unsatisfiable.
"The mere animal takes his fill of material comforts and seems to rest in perfect satisfaction, but with a man it is different.
"A great pathetic spirit was Lincoln, around whose very laughter there glitters a tear, whose smile is overspread with a nameless sadness, as some morning in May when sunshine and shower are strangely blended.
"Long ago St. Augustine felt this sorrow, this sadness, this melancholy of the orphan spirit of man, and long ago St. Augustine correctly stated the meaning: 'Thou, O God,' he says in his Confessions, 'Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless within us until they rest in Thee.'
"The singer of Israel a long while before Augustine had said. 'Thou hast made man a little lower than God,' and because he is made thus infinite, finite things will never quite satisfy. And as the old Bishop of Hippo has suggested, the cure for this specie of melancholy is to rest in God.
"O heart of man, restless like the surging sea which cannot be still; O heart of man, hungry like the hungry sea which cannot be satisfied, there is one stillness and one satisfaction for thee, and only one. It is that peace and that satisfaction which cometh only when thou hast quaffed the divine elixir, breathed the ambrosial air and feasted upon the heavenly fruits which all are in the presence of thy Creator and thy Father, the one all-giving and all-satisfying."
—Waterloo Reporter, Waterloo, Iowa, July 2, 1910, p. 2.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pebble Bears Likeness of Savior
1905
A limestone pebble, bearing a striking image of the face of Christ, which was picked up at Oberammergau in September, 1880, the day after the decennial performance of the "Passion Play", is the remarkable possession of Mrs. Eugenia Jones Bacon of Atlanta, Georgia.
The likeness can only be seen when the light falls upon the stone from a certain direction. The countenance is perfect in every detail as portrayed by the great masters, and the closed eyes with the pallid color of the stone give the face a sad expression. The nostrils are thin and across the brow are the deep furrows of worry and anguish.
Religious Services for Car Men
After an experience of several years in holding services for the benefit of the employees of the Philadelphia Trolley Company at two of the barns in West Philadelphia, a third car barn will he visited by the members of the Brotherhood or St. Andrew.
Arabian Missionary on a Visit
The Rev. Archibald Forder, the only Christian missionary in Arabia, is on a leave of absence in the United States.
A limestone pebble, bearing a striking image of the face of Christ, which was picked up at Oberammergau in September, 1880, the day after the decennial performance of the "Passion Play", is the remarkable possession of Mrs. Eugenia Jones Bacon of Atlanta, Georgia.
The likeness can only be seen when the light falls upon the stone from a certain direction. The countenance is perfect in every detail as portrayed by the great masters, and the closed eyes with the pallid color of the stone give the face a sad expression. The nostrils are thin and across the brow are the deep furrows of worry and anguish.
Religious Services for Car Men
After an experience of several years in holding services for the benefit of the employees of the Philadelphia Trolley Company at two of the barns in West Philadelphia, a third car barn will he visited by the members of the Brotherhood or St. Andrew.
Arabian Missionary on a Visit
The Rev. Archibald Forder, the only Christian missionary in Arabia, is on a leave of absence in the United States.
Pastor Stands by Saloonkeepers
1905
Rev. George M. Bock, pastor of a Lutheran church in Mahony City, Pa., has resigned from the Ministerial Association of that city because of some features connected with its war on saloons. The association opposed the granting of a license to a man whose saloon is opposite Mr. Bock's church. The clergyman declares that the man is "a good neighbor" and that his place is "clean, decent, quiet and respectable." Therefore the preacher can not endorse the fight that is being made. He adds: "I have been pastor of the church for the past twelve years and have always endeavored to mind my own business."
True Sayings Indeed
If a man is a coward he always claims to be conservative.
The truth is always the strongest argument. — Sophocles.
Instead of doing things today the wise man did them yesterday.
The boy who ate twenty-nine bananas to win a $1 prize probably needed the money.
Rev. George M. Bock, pastor of a Lutheran church in Mahony City, Pa., has resigned from the Ministerial Association of that city because of some features connected with its war on saloons. The association opposed the granting of a license to a man whose saloon is opposite Mr. Bock's church. The clergyman declares that the man is "a good neighbor" and that his place is "clean, decent, quiet and respectable." Therefore the preacher can not endorse the fight that is being made. He adds: "I have been pastor of the church for the past twelve years and have always endeavored to mind my own business."
True Sayings Indeed
If a man is a coward he always claims to be conservative.
The truth is always the strongest argument. — Sophocles.
Instead of doing things today the wise man did them yesterday.
The boy who ate twenty-nine bananas to win a $1 prize probably needed the money.
Believe in the Fates
1905
Modern Greeks as Superstitious as Their Forefathers
"Some of the superstitions of the old mythologic religion still prevail among the peasant classes in Greece," said Dr. George Horton. "Nor are the educated classes without such beliefs, such as that harm ensues from looking at the moon over the right shoulder, the belief in the three fates, the evil eye, the vampires and the nereids in general.
"Dressed in black and appearing as old women, the fates are supposed to come down from Olympus three days after the birth of a child, and to hold a meeting to determine its fate. Consequently, a table containing many dainties is set out for their invisible enjoyment. Especial care is taken lest the old ladies be enraged at not having enough good things to eat.
"No woman desires to be left alone after her child is born, believing that the ugly old women may become jealous and wreak some awful vengeance. Smut is therefore smeared on the faces of the youngsters so that this jealousy may not become excited.
"The young Athenian women frequently go to the ancient tombs near Athens, and, calling upon the fates, beg them to reveal the identity of their future husbands, singing: 'From the top of Olympus, where are the fates, where is my own fate?' " — Washington Post.
Modern Greeks as Superstitious as Their Forefathers
"Some of the superstitions of the old mythologic religion still prevail among the peasant classes in Greece," said Dr. George Horton. "Nor are the educated classes without such beliefs, such as that harm ensues from looking at the moon over the right shoulder, the belief in the three fates, the evil eye, the vampires and the nereids in general.
"Dressed in black and appearing as old women, the fates are supposed to come down from Olympus three days after the birth of a child, and to hold a meeting to determine its fate. Consequently, a table containing many dainties is set out for their invisible enjoyment. Especial care is taken lest the old ladies be enraged at not having enough good things to eat.
"No woman desires to be left alone after her child is born, believing that the ugly old women may become jealous and wreak some awful vengeance. Smut is therefore smeared on the faces of the youngsters so that this jealousy may not become excited.
"The young Athenian women frequently go to the ancient tombs near Athens, and, calling upon the fates, beg them to reveal the identity of their future husbands, singing: 'From the top of Olympus, where are the fates, where is my own fate?' " — Washington Post.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Dolls in Babylon's Ruins
1905
Children of Ancient Greece, Too, Were Amused With the Playthings
The first dolls of which there is any knowledge were found among the treasures unearthed from the ruins of Babylon. They are small figures in terra cotta and ivory, beautifully carved and must have been fascinating playthings for the little Assyrian children.
The little girls of Syria had mechanical dolls. The arms and legs were moved by pulling strings much after the fashion of jumping jacks.
The dolls the classic Greek children played with were made of wax and clay decorated with bright colors. One kind had movable limbs and its clothes were made to take off and put on. Every doll had a bed of its own. These dolls represented gods and heroes, but whatever they were made to represent, they were dressed with loving care by the little Greeks.
As these children married when they were very young they played with their dolls until just before the wedding day. Then they made a sacrifice of all their toys, dolls and clothes included. They dedicated them as a pious offering to some deity. If the little girl died before she was grown up her dolls were buried with her.
Thus it happens that the kind and fashion of dolls which comforted these ancient children is known. All the specimens which are kept with so great care behind glass doors in various museums were taken from some tiny tomb.
Children of Ancient Greece, Too, Were Amused With the Playthings
The first dolls of which there is any knowledge were found among the treasures unearthed from the ruins of Babylon. They are small figures in terra cotta and ivory, beautifully carved and must have been fascinating playthings for the little Assyrian children.
The little girls of Syria had mechanical dolls. The arms and legs were moved by pulling strings much after the fashion of jumping jacks.
The dolls the classic Greek children played with were made of wax and clay decorated with bright colors. One kind had movable limbs and its clothes were made to take off and put on. Every doll had a bed of its own. These dolls represented gods and heroes, but whatever they were made to represent, they were dressed with loving care by the little Greeks.
As these children married when they were very young they played with their dolls until just before the wedding day. Then they made a sacrifice of all their toys, dolls and clothes included. They dedicated them as a pious offering to some deity. If the little girl died before she was grown up her dolls were buried with her.
Thus it happens that the kind and fashion of dolls which comforted these ancient children is known. All the specimens which are kept with so great care behind glass doors in various museums were taken from some tiny tomb.
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