The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-22

BE With Thee: and Through the Riv-
ers. They Shall Not Overthrow Thee, -
Isaiah AZ: 2.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
If everybody had the world vision,
this would be an age of giants. The
biggest defect of most of us Is our lit
tleness. We are each so busy grubbing
IN our own wee patch of earth that we
Ignore a What is passing in the wider
Held OF human affairs. One substantial
and Immediate advantage which should
accrue from the present study, at one
sitting. of the history of the worlds old
est people in the making is that the
millions so engaged may learn to view
things in the large, and to look from
present effect back to past cause.
The narrow vision of those old Jews
prevented them from playing their part
IN their time so manfully and as wisely
as they should have done. Even so it
is today. Comparatively few people
know, or care, what is going on in the
world. The relation between the re-
Nuisance of Japan, with it's attendant
internal and international problems,
and the Kaleidoscope changes that a.e
TRANSPORTING. China, and the deep-f1ow
ing, sullen current of nationalism in
India, is scarcely regarded by the west
ern world. Yet it is portentious in the
latedness in the present temper of the
whole Orient mot forgetting the life
and-death struggle of poor oppressed
korea) which is deeply significant to
the lew AuO are ODSerNanI. Likewise
the situation in the far east cannot be
disassociated from the newly-shifting
alliance of Europe, or from the ire
mendous events that are in progress in
Russia.
In a word that person is failing to
live as largely and as effectively as
possible who goes through the days as
if the world were bounded by the Dor
derS of his own township or state. These
are great days; and greater days are in
the shaping. "A wonderful tomorrow is
being born Let us not be of those who
sleep while mighty events are transpir-
the history of the remote romantic
past of the Chosen People, is profitable
reading for today.
The Vision and the Event.
The present story commences with
vision. and ends with the creation of a
nation. That section of old IsraeTs his
tory which is comprehended within the
review of this quarters Sunday school
lessons began with a lonely fugitive
dreaming on a stone pillar, and seeing
angels ascending and descending a
stairway between earth and heaven. The
connection between the beginning and
ending of the quarters lessons is obvi-
Gus. The latter was contained within
the former; one was promise, the other
fulfilment.
With all his meannesses and limita-
lions Jacob had the God-given eye
which sees. The hymns call this the
eye of faith" Most of US regarded it
as something appertaining to pious folk |
and belonging exclusively to the realm |
Of theology and spiritual mysticism. |
Far from it, Politics need nothing else
SO surely as to the gift of vision, to lift i !
above the narrow conception of sordid,, |
personal advantage. into the realm of i
Notwithstanding public science. Bust |
ness is being given vision just now, by a |
surgical operation. he eye of faith" is |
one of the neeIs of the day; it discerns
that God is on the field when he is
most invisible" Most of us cannot see
the trend of the time for the near-at-
hand accident; we are sobusy watching
the waves that we fail to see the rising
of the tide.
Family Tics.
Even the duIIest reader of the history
that is written in Genesis must see that
the emphasis which is laid upon the
family is not without meaning When
Jehovah set out to do ,-e best in his
power for mankind he elected a family,
which he made the custodian of a spec
ial heritage and obligation. Up until
the departure from Egypt, the Bible
story, after the call of Abraham, is the
story of a family. he Bible is a domes-
tic book. 1t makes no provision for
society apart from the family; all it's
springs of beauty and blessing rise in
the home. Ina gination cannot conceive |
of means of emphasizing the Importance 7
and sacredness of the family over and
above those adopted by God The
Chosen People. and, centuries later, the
Chosen One were given to the world in
a family.
If anybody thinks he can do great
things for the race, apart from the homo
he has not read Alright this or any other
history. The standard of the home IS
the standard of the nation; no people
ever rise above or sink below the level
of their homes. The most enviable pos
session of this western continent is it's
type of home.
Every divorce scandal, every tale of
double life; every tragedy of erring
youth that appears in the days news,
cries aloud the need for homes of love,
honor and self-Sacrifice. In a crude
state of society the man guards his
home with sword or a gun; when the
need for this physical protection largely
passed, with the advance of civiliza-
ton, there passed also to a degree the
idea Of home-defense. Men overlooked
the truth that there are other dangers
than brute force that beset their
homes They became so immersed in
business that they were blind to the fact
that the corruption of politics, the de-
bauchery of society, and the material
Ism of the times are all insidious foes
Of the home. Against these every true
man is bound to safeguard his family;
30 that his duty to his home becomes
0ne with his duty to the state and his
1uty to social science.
In the unIovely criminal trial which
has been besmirching the pages of all
public prints for months past there ,
has been one bright chapter so
manifest that it can scarcely have
allied to impress the world. I allude |
o the strong family instinct which has
the indicted man. He is !
ortunate in belonging to a family