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Show The Danger of A Relapse Text. Exodus 32.6. "LAnd they rose up early on the morrow, and offered of-fered burnt offerings, and'brought I peace offerings; and the people .. ! sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." i 1). The text comes out of the ex- perience of a great people. One that has learned for itself a great lesson. A lesBon unique and of great value. It was a critical time fraught with great possibilities tor good or for evil. A race of slaves had been led to a place of larger freedom. It was necessary to change the leadership for a short time and with this the evil came in. It is not my purpose to stress -leadership, but to point "out the danger of a relapse . . . - 2. We have Just achieved a larger j freedom for ourselves as for others. We have just passed through a period of excitement and of strenuous labor. We have fought, labored," and saved J from the strenuousness of the times j our souls as well as our bodies have j a tendency to become rigid, and it is .i but natural that relaxation should be sought. But relaxation may be had without a relapse. Again, white bread and plenty of sugar may be had, which is a great relief, but weare. still re-; quested to save. Not that bread will win the war, but that it will feed the ! hungry. Great multitudes must be ' hungry, very hungry indeed," now j shall we waste while they are in want,') Now that command has become a re- j quest shall we make the same mistake which is made very clear by today's lesson? The people had gotten away from Egypt and their slavery, but while the restraining influence of their great leader was withdrawn they j lapsed to the plane of mere animal worship. .They said as for this man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has A great victory has Just been achiev-1 ed not simply a race or a single nation set free, but the whole world has l been taken a step forward for the j greater good of humanity. .For us who above all have been surrounded ?by a gracious providence even from our beginning as a nation to felapse I from all serious purpose ' through (these next few months and possibly I years would be disastrous to say the least. - It is but reasonable that what we have given of blood and treasure for the accomplishment of our noble purpose pur-pose that we shall go on giving In a larger measure than we have ever been known to give before, but are there no worthy objects for our devo-; devo-; tions. If the Red Cross is not more . graciously supported In it, peace time activities, after the war than before one thing will be quite apparent, a lapse for the worse will have taken place and our lesson will not have been well learned. What I have sa'd of the tiled Cross applies to all other worthy objects. Let us make more money, save more money and still give more money. Not losing our high ideals and lapsing to the plane of sensious animal worship which conceives con-ceives the whole circle of life to obtain ob-tain on the mere physical plane, -of setting down to eat and to drink only to rise- up and play, leaving out God as well as all serious purpose In life. There cannot always be the game leadership before our eyes, but the record of recent exprtences will stand imperishable as long as the annals of history continue then in spite of all questions of immediate leadership let there be no backward steps taken at this time. The world still hea vast stretches i or undeveloped resources, a vast j promise land of social endeavor, and until there are no starving children . anywhere, such will continue to be the case. A glimpse of the day f Jehovah glimmers yonder in the to-morrowa to-morrowa of human welfare because bthe time honored Ideal of the broth-ierhood broth-ierhood of manUsjjearer today. than ever before. -i 3. Nothing unreasonable has been asked even In the days of conflict. Nothing burdensome or unworthy Is now bing asked, A well balanced life should have some time for work, i for play, for worship. It is true as well that life cannot be well balanced while all serious purpose Is lacking. Prayer 'U.ord, for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray, Keep me, my God, from stain of gin just for today. Help me to labor earnestly and duly pray; Let me be kind in word and ' deed, Father today." Respectfully submitted by T. J. TRAM EL, iPastor The IMngham Community Church. uecome 01 mm; mereiore mane tnou us a golden calf to worship. It is easily noted that the worship of calves, golden or other kinds, is not very elevating anywhere or at any j age of the world's progress. It was a distinct relapse for the worse for these people). They had, hem surrsptnded by a, gracious prcv'.-dence prcv'.-dence in their late experiences in Egypt and in their travel to this place. To relax' was their privilege, i but to relapse from following the most merciful Father was their shame. j It may have been just as well for them to hove continued to make real sacrifices as they did, but the mistake was in the choice of objects for which they sacrificed their golden keepsakes. keep-sakes. Sacrifice enobles or impoverishes impover-ishes the devotee according toHhe purpose pur-pose and object for which it is made. To Illustrate the point: No one questions ques-tions the devotioif and heroic sacrifice sacri-fice of our late enemies. It is equally apparent as to the object of that devotion de-votion as wel las its degrading influence influ-ence upon the lives of the devotees. The worship of mere power Is us disintegrating dis-integrating as the worship of the golden calf. |