14 JESUS AND THE LABOR QUESTION The International Sunday School Lesson For November 30 Is, "Jesus Teaches Peter True Greatness"—John 13:1-10 By WILLIAM T. ELLIS The international committee which selects the Sunday school lessons did I its work on the present series several years ago: yet here comes to-day's| lesson as opportunely as though plan- I ned last week. It lays a linger of! wisdom upon the sensitive center ot'j the labor question. Revealing the' existence in apostolic times oi a class I spirit such as blights our own day,! it shows Jesus as pointing the way ' out of this old,old perplexity. First for the lesson story itself,! as we have it in the \Veynioiith | Version: i "Now just before the Feast of the I Passover this iucident took place, j Jesus knew that the time had come[ for Him to leave this world and go, to the Father: and having loved Hisj own who were in the world, He ( loved them to the end. While sup-, per was proceeding, the Devil hav- ! ing by this time suggested to Judas' iscariot, the son of Simon, the thought of betraying Him, Jesus, i although He knew that the Father ( had put everything into His hands, and that He had come forth from! Hod and was now going to God, rose! from table, threw off His ouper gnr-j ments, and took a towel and tied it round Him. Then He poured water j into a basin, and proceeded to wash;' the feet of the disciples and to wipe', them with the towel which He had i put around Him. When He came toil Simon Peter, Peter objected. 1 < " Master,' he said, 'are you go- 1 : ins to wash my feet ." [1 " What I am doing." answered Je-, 1 sus, 'for the present you do riot J: know, but afterwards you shall i know.' ;, " 'Never, while the world lasts,'it said Peter, 'shall you wash my l'eet.';! " 'lf I do not wash you," replied !< o% Remodeling Sale ntrzzzzr m ~ m* r ' I trustee building! I ousan^ s worth of Just in.Time For the Holidays at Special Prices . rlj • Troup Bros., Main Office and Store It £1213$ 8 North Market Square—The Reason MK'B!^jiiK{j3; dj Owing to the recent purchase by us of the Trustee Building, which we now occupy, we have decided to I . P'MP'WSSwSHsI * do extensive remodeling to the building and therefore will place on sale at once our entire stock, con- I Mall X§ t BEs fisting o lgh Grade Pianos, Players and Talking Machines, as room must be made for the repairs to SP^|llgjlillf | X -is §^S|| best? 116 th lj 0r t" 1 ' ere ' s . y . our °PP° rtun ity to secure your choice of our present stock and j Every holiday season numbers of persons are disappointed because the musical gift didn't get selected in time. bl| 1 Machine* 0 m P° SBeßßl °n that is a source of so much pleasure as a real good Piano, Piano Player or Talking |||| f We offer during this sale various makes at terms so reasonable that there's no reason for delay. Don't forget that Ssi 1 Jm~" 1 > hanksgiving is and Christmas time is nearly upon us. So this is your most favorable opportunity. ou will have to obtain one of these splendid instruments on such ideal arrangements. _ TT _ . SPfTROUP"BROS.,B %SBrE4i OUR CLUB PLAN FREE —FREE —FREE l Pianos—Talking Machines !|^| m p | n this Thanksgiving. It's an offe/that makes Impossible for 6 Double Disc Records, 12 Selections, with each Machine. IHi 3Cll KllVAt*C ever y family, even those in the most moderate circumstances Something really worth considering. Remember a small first IRS lUUUUDUyeib ,hC P ' eaSUre of having a beautiful Talking Machine, payment down and balance in weekly or monthly installments gB if will be allowed in addition to Empire, Pathe, Stodart, Magnolia, Table- iPfF ! our special sale. nola, Humanola, Starr PIANOS —PLAYER PIANOS Come in and hear them demonstrated—especially the EM- oi.> * u i i . - — r ~~~ PIRE. It's wonderful. Plays all makes of Disc . Plent y wcU known mak to choose from. Both new and Records, one winding. Also a number of slightly used. Come in—that's the best way. See for yourself um^ tly Ed" d maC R" I h S ll SUCh d a s Vict ° rS ' Co 1" What WC reall y have in stock and make yo ur sele-* ? - "irly. I) lrfjl I § h 8. Jg|jJ FRIDAY EVENING, Jesus, 'you have no share with me.' I " 'Alnster,' sa'id Peter, 'wash not only my feet, but also my hands and I my head.' " 'Any one who has lately bath j ed,' said Jesus, 'does not need to ! wash more than his feet, hut is clean ■ all over. And you my disciples are j clean, and yet this is not true of all i of you.' j "For He knew who was betraying j Hint, and that was why lie said, ! " 'You are not all of you clean.' "So nfter He had washed their jfeet, put on His garments again, an-.t I returned to the table. He said to 1 j them, j "Do you understand what I have , done to you? You call me 'The Rah-, | bl" and 'The Master,' and rightly so, 1 t for such 1 ant. If 1 then, your Mns (ter and Rabbi, have washed your feet, it is also your duty to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example in order that you may do what I have done to you. In most solemn truth 1 tell you that a serv ant is not superior to his Master, nor is a messenger superior to him' who sent him.' " W ho \\ ill I>o Manual Work? Most of the conditions of to-day's; labor troubles were there present.! This group of fishermen friends of ! Jesus felt themselves superior to! manual labor of a menial sort. They had been quarreling among them-1 selves as to which was the greater, j and about their own rights and privi-l leges. That phase of the setting of the incident is told by Luke (22: ' 24-27. These plain men had he-1 come proud and self-centered. They were jealous for their personal anil I class rights. They had grown so.' selfish and "sensitive" that on one of them hud offered to fulfill the | hospitable office of pouring water oft the dusty feet of the others. No body, in sort, wanted to do a slave's I work. j Therefore Jesus did tt himself, i The carpenter had no trade scruples | about entering domestic service. He . was not above any task, however menial. Not his to insist upon his : "rights" and his superiority: he proved his greatness by stooping to the lowest labor. On all sides we hear it said that our need of needs is for everybody to work harder, and at the nearest task. The servant problem in homes is apparently only going to be solved by a return to the old-fashioned methods of women doing their own work. As a matter of everyday observa tion, too many of us are, like the apostles, standing on our dignity, and hiring work done by others which we should do ourselves. Half the recruits to the overcrowded classes of underpaid clerks are im pelled primarily by a desire to wear jwl.ite collars; or conversely, by an aversion to overalls and soiled I nands. One.day in France I was talking :with a group of young officers about !the country's ufter-the-war prob i lenis, especially as affecting immi gration and labor. Up spoke one man. "This war has taken the stig ma from manual labor. The men have dug countless miles of trench es. and liavo grown strong at it. They will not object to digging trenches at home, if properly paid. Hard work is healthful, and most of us would rather be busy out of doors than cooped up in offices." War taught youth the dignity of 'hard work. It made them servants un abashed. They learned that "Honor and shame from no condi tion arise: Act well thy part; there all the honor lies." The Rig Split Seen from the angle of the upper room, the present baneful division into "working class" and "capital istic class" Is not only wrong, but incredibly stupid. All of us who have any rights at all are workers I tttRRISBtrRO TELEGKJtPHT iin some guise or other; the real I idlers in this new western wot Id ; are so few as to bo negligible. The first test of a man's worth to the j world Is what he contributes to the j common well-being, by brain or brawn. The person who looks down j upon the manual laborers ts as bad : a citizen as the Bolshev ik who rails lat all others as "bourgeois." Both | are silly', and exerting a malign in | fluence out of ail proportion to their personal importance. Anybody who thinks or talks in terms of classes to-day is adding to the world's woe, I and intensifying its gravest present | problem. Would that a great leader (might arise to blazon upon the day's f horizon, in fullest significance, the j inspirited truth. "One is your Master, (even Christ, and all ye are breth ren." Neither leisure nor pleasure is alone worth living for. Work, real work, hard work, taxing work, is tlie human lot, our contribution to our world. Into ttie thinking of the oncoming generation there should be instilled a love for work, a pride in work, and a veritable passion l'or work. Among memorized poems be Henry van Dyke's: 1 "Let me tiut do my work from day ! to day, j In field or forest, at the desk or j loom. ; in roaring market-place, or tran quil room: | Let nie but tind it in my heart to | . *>', ' | | Wlien vagrant wishes beckon rue astray, j "This is my work; my blessing, I not my doom; Of all wlio live 1 am the one by whom This work can best lie done in my] own way.' Then shall 1 see it. not too greot i nor smalt To suit my spirit and arouse my I po vvers; ] Then shall I cheerfully greet the' laboring hours, [And cheerfully turn, when the long! shadows fall j j At eventide, to play and love and | I rest, I I' Because 1 know for me my work I I j is best." > The King Witli a Towel i| Only once in all his recorded • words did Jesus say, "I have given i! you an example." That was When I; he was doing a servant's work. In i his self-abasing service, tlie Master l bade his putfed-up friends do as he - did. He had, as it were, invested r himself with all his royal state— ) "-—Jesus, knowing tliat the Father s had given all things into His hands, , and that He came forth from God, t and goeth unto God"—before he r girded himself with a towel, emblem J of service. ? We are not left in any doubt as . to the signiticunee of any phase of -1 the incident, it was not a casual unpremeditated bit of gracious con s descension on the part of Jesus; but l'a deliberate, self-conscious evidence 3j of his attitude toward service and ) I humility. It was a deep rebuke to 5; the prideful twelve, and a lesson for •'his Church throughout all time, i j When we want to be Christlike, we • ] have to serve. "Ye call inc 'The si Rabbi' and 'The Master," and rightly iso, for such I am. if I then, your | Master and Rabbi, have washed your i feet, it is also your duty to wash ' one another's feet." ! If in every labor temple and every gathering place of toilers, there could le hung a picture of Jesus. 1 girded with a towel: and in every J board of trade and directors' room land employer's office a picture of ] Jesus as a carpenter, the message 'might sink home. That Figure is jthe test and the Judge of all of us. (Only in liis patient, tolerant, se'.f --j abnegating spirit can we meet our [ present emergency. Other teachers j may arraign us against one another; Jesus takes us all into his fellowship ion the plane of service, j Prideful wealth and arrogant labor iin search of leisure both need th > ■ i word that is truly the golden text j of this lesson: The Son of Man cume :'not to be ministered unto but to min ister." "Who follows In his train'" ;!That way ties the healing of the j world's wounds, the meeting of its j needs, the bridging ol" its chasms, the' (securing of its peace. i Suppose, instead of writing oU"-1 selves down, "John Doe, capitalist," we write, "John Doe. minister to men, in imitation of Jesus Christ." : Or, insteud of "Richard Roe, work- j man," we write, "Richard Roe. min ister to men, in imitation of Josr.Sj Christ." ilow long would our in-: dustriul crisis survive such a spirit'.' 1 The way out for to-day wast shown ! in the upper room in old Jerusalem, ; the night before Jesus died. To Cure 11 Cold In tine liny Take LAXATIVE UROMU yCI.NINE (Tablets.) It sioos the Cough and ! Headache and works off the Cold. 15. W. GROVE'S signature on each I •ywtJtgsaaagßto Army Clothing Ideal For Work Warm, Comfortable and Durable RAINCOATS CoUl-weather caps—just the tiling for railroading, teamsters, or anv other out-door work. OVERCOATS Blankets, Olive-drub riding breeches. W. C. Consylman and Co. 1117 North Third Street. NOVEMBER 28, i 919. Low 20th Century Spreaders Makes Good Wherever Used Hear What a Present User Has to Saij "Blpomsburg, Pa., August 4, 1919 International Harvester Company of America, Harrislwrg, Pa. (icntlcmen: 1 have used a 20th Century Manure Spreader for eight years with good re sults, not costing $5.00 for repairs and is good for that many more years. Yours truly, CEO. W. OMAN." Century Manure Spreaders Sold by Potts Manufacturing Company Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers