The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-28
az WILLIAM Il. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS
Opportunities and possibilities mark
this lesson. Like much Of the present
day discussion of the worlds need. it
for the hour. The greatest glory of
these recent epochal days in the his
tory of the western world is the emer-
gence OF men who under old conditions
have been submerged. Within two or
three short years quite a galaxy of
men have attained national proper
tons on the basis OF sheer force and
ability, while whole host of machine
made leaders have dropped out of
sight The hope OF thoughtful patriots
in these latter days Is that the new
stress that IS being laid on individual
righteousness will effect increased
stability of personal character among
the people of the land generally For
II Is more man that we need We have
been driven sharply back upon the
old. old truth that only personality IS
the salvation for the times; that all of
the worlds needs are imbodied in It's
need for manhood
The striking events in public life
with all their homiletfc character. an
all their exhortation to return to the
first principles of morality and reA-
gion, will yet have failed to produce
their ultimate results If out or the
have not come more men of increased
might. ready to take up the burdens OF
the public veal Undoubtedly there is
apparent throughout the length ard
breadth of the continent a new sense
of individual sovereignty Men are
realizing their responsibility as citizens
as never before They are talking less
about the privileges of patriotism and
more about its duties The plain man
in the commonplace sphere Is lft1ng
up his head with a new consciousness
that he has a right to challenge the
acts and deeds of the mighuest public
servant. Surely these are good times
for manhood. While the statisticians
write the staggering figures of the new
IL a
the greatest asset of all, namely, the
sheer manhood which, in markedly IN
creasing degree, is the sovereign char
acteristic of the new world
4 Man Looming Large.
What has this to do with the pres
ent Sunday school lesson which is in
dicated as a review of the forty years
history of the life of Israel from the
Exodus to the death of Moses? Simply
that those forty years spell one grand
word of three Ietters-man- VINO
over peers into those dim, dull, gray
years finds, looming mountain high
above the ruck of tangled common.
placeneSs-a bove the binding glare OF
The desert sand-abOve the din of the
jangling voices of a many-minded
people, the clear, strong figure of
which the world has said, There was
& man The greatest contribution OF
those forty years was just Moses One
mans greatness redeemed the epoch
from littlenesS- As he led those Sup1ne
slaves out into new national ident-
lty and gave to the fOrmleSS mob
place forever brilliant among the ma
lions of the world, so he has con-
tributed to the imperishabIe annals of
history a portrait of a great man, one
of the worlds very greatest
Moses died without ever reaching
the land of promise. He labored and
others entered into his rest But in
all Canaan these was was no person
ality until Greater than Moses
came. equal to that of the man learn
cd in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
and equipped with the greater wisdom
that comes from communion with
Jehovah. who had shaped IsraePs
destiny and given her her law. Among
the few great figures who adorn the
rotunda of the magnificent library of
congress at Washington may be seen
the figure of Moses calm and ma
5estic seeming. even in the cold
bronze, as one who walked apart from
the common order of men, No better
review of this quarters Sunday school
studies can be made than a considera-
lion of the qualities which marked the
greatness of Moses.
\ Man Who Dared.
All the worlds sages have declared
that courage ranks among the first of
human virtues. Moses was from first to
last a man of appalling audacity. He
dared attempt the highest possible
destiny for himself. That takes cour-
age Most people are content to drift
along into any sort Of life or character
that happens to come to them with
the years. Only the rare man, so rare
Rs to be called great. resolutely
achieves for himself the character
which he. in his moments of clearest
perception. has deemed worth while
5'he courage that wins character must
rombat the inbred lfttleness of human
nature every day of life. Its enemies
are both without and within. Environ
ment tends to compress life. Moses
= q a
great man when in the court of
Pharaoh; he was a great man when,
on the lonely mountain side, he play
ed the part of a shepherd; he was
great man when. in majestic solitari-
hess, he led Israel through its forty
years Of wandering.
one shrinks from saying-lest 1t seem
TO be merely a conventiOnally pious re-
mark--that the secret of Moses courage
WAS his religion But we have abun-
dant record that naturally he was a
timid man. II left to himself he would
have spent his day in obscurity. His
greatness cannot be credited to natural
endowment. He became brave because
he met face to face with God. His cour-
age was not Unborn courage, but i'm
parted courage It took the fear not
OF Jehovah to stiffen his backbone
That is what religion does The fear
OF God removes the fear of man. The
sublime moral heroism of the world
has mostly been on the part of spirit
been consumed in the bright furnace of
faith. If Moses had not first met with
God. he would not have dared meet
with Pharaoh. There Is significance in
the fact that the heroes of recent de-
velopments in American life have been
for the most part Christian men.
The Man Who Can Wait.
The twentieth century is in such a
desperate hurry that its bridges are
buckling, it's big buildings collapsing
and its men being sent to sanitoria. A
modern person almost gasps when he
contemplates the forty years of retire
ment which Moses spent in the wilder