The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-13

What the Church Folks Are Thinking
About ana Doing. Religious NegUS
From EVeEyWhere.
SUNDAY scHooL LESSON AND Young PEOPLES TOPIC.


wise virgins should have given of their
oil to the foolish--W hich would have
made ten foolish virgins instead Of I'VE.
They have who can hold. It Is a nat
uraI law that man can properly use
only that which he has himself ac-
CURED. Like the dissipated fortunes
to be seen on every hand. the oil OF the
prudent would doubtless have been
wasted by the foolish who would have
trusted for luck and to the forethought
of others for still further replenish-
ing.
There is small kindness in keeping
a oerson from learning the lessons of
his own wrong-doings and mistakes.
The child who touches the FIRE needs
the burn. Only in the school of ex-
Nothing may be enjoyed without pay
ing Its price. AS the homely old pro-
verb has it, You cannot have both
the penny and the cake The fool
ish virgins had enjoyed immunity from
care and responsibility; but they could
not enjoy the wedding feast as well.
In high and worthy sense, 1t is true
that one must look out for himself.
God holds him responsible first Of all
for the cultivation Of his own powers.
His primary debt to the world IS life.
No mistaken idea of Sel1-effaC ent
must stand in the way of rounding out
a useful character. A simple-nninded
youth, apparently Wel-bred and pros
porous, one day asked permission to
stand in Philadelphia railroad sta
ton and open the door for the women
passengers. 1t was a mere quixotic no.
ton of politeness on his part. He
would have been better playing the
part of man and a gentleman had
he been busy about some necessary
task betting his qualifications. Self
culture. for the sake of others, is a
proper ambition He would be a fool
ish student who would give his books
to every idle, careless beggar who
might ask for them, without being at
all able to use them Alright
LIES Unexpectedness.
The lane of life is full of abrupt
turns. Nothing in it may be so surely
expected as the unexpected. He who
! assumes that his present lot will en-
dure to the end is either off in an eddy
! aside from the stream of life, or else
he is blind mariner Change IS in
evitabl As the parable has it, the
hour Of the great conings upon which
destiny hangs, is utterly unpredictable.
This is the point of the parable.
Jesus here, as repeatedly. en5oined
upon his followers the necessity for an
attitude of expectation, watchfulness,
readiness. He himself would come
again. When, no man, no, not even
the angels in heaven, could fOretell.
A countless host of devout and expect
ant Christians have been misled into
trying to read the signs of his coming.
! Whole sects based upon the assumption
that the Lord would return at a GER
tain time. have risen and passed away.
Others have sprung up in their places,
and flourish today. But this belief is
vain. The day and the hour of this
supreme event in history are past
mans finding out.
The principle underlying the warn
/ ing is this: He who Is ready for Christ
is ready for anything. Life cannot
surprise him who is watching FOR his
Lord. If he is prepared to meet his
Lord. he is prepared for every lesser
eventually His watching is also
working: and whatever befalls. he will
be found at the post of duty. Even
on merely rational basis we thus see
that the great expectation is a mighty
means of character building This is
the secret for the poise and serenity
Of ripe Christians. Mere circumstances
cannot harm them; they have their
hearts fixed on a great hope and a
great certainty. So they are ready for
| two worlds-and nobody is truly
ready to live in this world who is not
also ready to pass to the next.