Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1904-10-06
NEW MAN FOR OLD WOnK

Cruel it may be, but a truth it is,
hat Il leader is scarcely fallen before
Ill thoughts are upon his successor
The other day the leading Baptist min
lister of New York city, died suddenly
while abroad. His body was not half
way across the ocean before the news
papers had printed the name and bio
sraphy of the man who will probably
be called to his pulpit. Heartlass, but
human. The king is dead. Long live
the king"
Great Elijah had gone to glory in
a panoply of fire: the foremost figure
IF his time was no more. What then =!
Elisha lived. God was not without a
leader of religion; he never is. His
work always goes on. Young Elisha
lated. cried out that in the passing OF
him whom he hailed as father. the very
chariotry of Israel had gone. But it
was not so bad as that. Elijah had
been the hope and defense of his ma
lions vital life, it is true. as every
strong man may be a host to his our
Try and TO the cause of God: but the
Lords forces had not all been trans
lated to heaven.
COMFORT IN A CRISIS.
God reigns. and the government at
Washington still lives!" We're the ring
ing words with which Garfield quieted
2 New York mob at h time of Presi-
dent Lincoln's assassination. God
reiens"--that is the comfort for every
crisis in the affairs of a nation or of an
Individual. Elijah may go to heaven,
but Jehovah still rules on earth. He
never stakes his Kingdoms stability
upon n one man. The death of a
great worker MAJ be the life of the
work. by calling forth new leaders. and
by inspiring others with a sense of re-
sponsihility.
The beholding company of the sons
of the prophets who witnessed Eli
jah's triumph would have settled down
to a period of mourning if they had
been given opportunity. Instead, their
thoughts We're turned to the future by
the fact of Elisha. The latter himself,
after rending his garment in the first
passion of bereavement, might have sat
Town to mourn beside the mantle of
he departed one: or he might have
reasured this object as a relic and as a
precious memento. to be kept sacredly
part. But he didn't; he tool it up
'traightway and put it to use. The oc-
aston called for present deeds, not for
II memories.
SUCCESSORS AND SUCCESS.
Elisha was a proof OF the success of
Ilijah's life, as truly as the latter's
riunlph on Mt. Carmel. In training
lis successor, Elijah had proved HIM
'elf a far-sighted workman, laboring in
tccord with the divine plan. The man
whose work fails when he dies has
,een something of a failure himself.
This problem of preparing others to
AXE our places is a pressing one in
very calling. l know of two great
BUSINESS houses that have recently
zone to the wall. simply because the
IONS We're not fit to wear the fathers
nantles.
Elisha showed himself worthy to be
Ilijah's successor by the power he dis
played when he mote the Jordon with
he old prophets cloak. No theological
'eminary's sheepskin and no bishops
lands were needed to prove him a
prophet. These alone never can avail
o make a minister. There must be
he power within the man himself. The
'avages had hold of a big idea when
hey chose the chiefs by tests of per-
'onal proves; it was a case OF the
survival of the fittest. carrying out the
original meaning of the word king,
The man who cam There are no
credentials for any Office equal to sheer
Utility TO fill it. Doubtless there were
nutterings that day among the other
IONS of the prophets who had been
onger in school than Elisha: the
passed always erumble. But Elisha
howed himself the prophetic successor
oy repeating the prophetic success.
THE TRAINING OF A LEADER.
A log with Mark Hopkins on one end
If it has been defined as a sufficient
'eat of learning. The colleges which
lave turned out the greatest men have
,een nos with the greatest men on
heir faculty. There is no schooling
ike association with great men. ELI
;ha's schoolroom had been the presence
IT Elijah. He had reverently and
-eachably walked with his master and
waited upon him. He had watched
him work and he had listened to his
words. Long before he fell heir to the
mantle which was the sign Of author
ty. he had imbibed the spirit Of the
older prophet.
The wonder is that we neglect this
,orm of education so much. With the
worlds best biographies at hand we
urn to the newspaper and the novel.
With noble men and women near us,
ne choose to associate most with peo-
pie as trifiing as ourselves. Instead of
keeping constant company with the
Man Divine, we lend u sensitive souls
20 whatever influence happens to be
nearest us, no matter how mean II may
De.
NEW MEN FOR NEW TIMES.
Wise are the Elishas Who become
disciples of the best lives they know;
and in hearty, loving servitude, LEND
themselves to developing their own
uves in h atmosphere of these nohler
ones. Thus 1t VAS that Elisha ac-
luired a great passion for service, as
was showing his request of his parting
master; and an ardent devotion to the
nation. and an ~unclouded faith in God
which transcribed ever his teachers;
together with a gentleness and a ten
der human sympathy which had been
lacking in his rugged predecessor.
Wfthal he kept his own individuality.
He took up the mantle and mission of
Elijah, in the spirit of the latter, and
by the same power, but he was a new
man for the old work. Reverent to the
last degree, he yet kept his face to
III future. 1t is a good thing for a
young person to remember his fathers
and the God of his fathers; but not to
h point of ancestral worship. Thus
China sits palsied today under the
dead hand.
The old work presents new phases
and for these new workers are alone
sufficient. The latter should have alb
sorbed the spirit and ideals and fidelity
OF those who have gone before; never
theless, they must know themselves tc
be living In a new day with new
duties. Israel needed Elisha in his
time more than it did Elijah. Pity the
old young men who live only in the
past. They are the milestone around
the neck of society. business. church
| and state. Our nation has mazda Oroo,