OCR Text |
Show PATHFINDERS AS SEEN'! IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON ! (By Rev. G. F. Rassweiler ) Humanity stands on tho edge of a better state, waiting. Why do wo , tarry so long7 WG await the leader ship of the pathfinder of progress. We I are not all born pioneers The Dani el Boons and Kit Carsons must firs plunge on before us. cor moBt of a will tread the new paths of a new land Humanity is hesitant, and lacks Initiative We seem to be born to need a leader, and a few seem iv be born to lead We may talk of liberty, but In the end we use oui liberty to choose leaders, and commit much of our destiny to them. We may reserve to ourselves the right to follow fol-low or not to follow as we deem best, but even If we choose not to follov.-one follov.-one leader, we find that we are following fol-lowing another leader, a leader of protest. Who Shall Lead? W ho shall be our leader to better things' Our Sunday school lesson show ns In this incident oi the choosing of Joshua to lead the peopl of Israel into the Promised Land of a Better State This is not merely a piece out of auclent history, but Is a sort of a model for the choosing of leaders for all time. Let us soo. A Minister to the Past. Joshua, was minister to Moses, who In his own self had embodied the nation's na-tion's past He was their leader, their seer, their lawgiver, the archi tect of their nationality Joshua was in touch with It all. The future must Inherit the past Our progress forward for-ward must have behind it the nmmen rum oi yesteruay tiur ruture must build on that which Is best In our past history. Wc have too many prppoundcrs of fad social schemes, and ethical and religious cults that do not know history So many of their propositions have been tried out an ) long ago cast aside. They are but the castaways of the past redreised These leaders would take us back in tho circle of our old failures, rather than forward along the line of our successes. A Seer. He must be able to see the tracing of the finger of destiny, which inark3 out our future He must know what our Creator has planned for us, and realize that nothing but our own weakno?s can preent our attainment of it. This will make him Invincible, undaunted, strong and of a good courage. cour-age. Obstacles will be surmounted In the words of ('apolcon he will say. "The Alps7 There shall be no Alps Can't is a word in the dictionary oi fools" In the language of the sain' he will say. Cod s biddings are God's enabllngs let u; moip forward for-ward ' So the leaders of all time have been Idealists of one sort or an other They have seen a vision great possibilities, and have thereby been nerved to achievement We must be sure of our inheritance if we are not to be appalled by our difficulties. Loyal. He must be one who Is absolutely true to the law of dutv The law of Cod In conscience in nature, in expc rience, in revelation must be his law He must have learned obedience to i law higher than his own whims Hi must be one tried and proved in his own past life Not only In certain public matters, but in his own private pri-vate life, he must be a true subject of the law of righteousness. Only before the tramp of the soldiers ot dulv dn the .lorrians part, the Jen cho's fall and the Promised Land be come a possession Such a leader is Jesus, of whom Joshua Is but a type Jesus is the same name as Joshua. It means de llverer Because Christ learned obedience, obe-dience, Paul tells us. he has been given giv-en a name above every name He is the great leader of all time Only He will be able to lead us Into 0'ir best. His banner of the cross leads to endless victory. The Lesson Text. THE AUTHORIZED VERSION. 1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord It came to n -that the Lord spake unto Joshua th son of Nun. Moses minister. saiug i Moses my servant Is dead ; nov therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the lan 1 which 1 do give to thef, een to the children of Israel 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shnli tread upon that hav.- 1 p,i en unto you, as I said unto Mosos 4 From the wildoniOM and this Lab anan even unto the great river, the river Euphrates all the land of the Hittltes. and unto tho great sea to ward the going down of the sun. shall be vour coast 5" There Bhall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days or thy life ss 1 w with Moses, so 1 will be with thee, I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee 6 Re strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land, which ' sware unto their fathers to give them 7 Only be thou strong and very cour ageous that thou mayest obpervfl to do according to all the law, which Moses nn servant commanded thee turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that lhou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goost 8 This book of the lav. shall not depart de-part out of thv mouth; bui thou sbalt meditate therein day and night, thai thou mayes' observe to do according to all that Is written therein, for then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou Bhalt have good sue- 1Thhvp not 1 commanded thee.? Be strong and of a good courage; be no Ifrmid neither be thou dismayed "he Lord thy God is with thee whlth- ersoever thou goest . . . Golden Text Re strong and of good courage. Josh l 9. |