The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-13
BY WILLIAM t. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
A man possessed by a single big
idea is far greater force than one
who holds to many petty notions A
great conception makes a life great
The person who has one dominant
purpose outstrips all others in LIES
race Believe something tremendous
ly'' is good advice for the young. There
Is a deep principle underlying the sim
pie fact that when Jehovah got Israel
face to face with himself, for the pur-
pose of laying down the supreme law,
he should put first the truth OF his
own existence and character.
In a hundred ways this busy world
of today is being made aware of the
truth that there is a God; and that he
is a God of justice, as we'll as of mercy.
There has been a tendency among
practical men to regard God rather
as a soft. uncaring spirit, not greatly
dissimilar from the bit of jelly which
certain scientists would substitute for
an infinite creator There are a great
many people who need to get straight
in their thinking upon the fundamen-
tai fact of Gods existence and person.
atty
grip upon this teaching concerning
God that SO many white men in the re-
mote parts of the earth are going back
upon their color and upon their in
herited civilization When a person
gets out of adjustment with this big
central truth. he quickly finds himself
askew with respect to the common
moralities. Keep central the truth
with respect to God, and one may ra-
date far in every direction. Every
year the legislatures and parliaments
of civilization are adding hundreds of
new laws to Society'S codes; but the
real need is not for more laws. but
for a clearer perception of mans OBJ
legation to the eternal, self-existent. all
wise, all-powerful and an-pervading
Creator, who is also Father of the hu-
man family and its supreme law-giver.
The Right of Priority.
No good officer coddIes his soldiers;
no able executive secures efficiency by
surrendering his own authority The
kings kingliness does not consist in
putting himself on the same political
level as his subjects. If there is a
Supreme Being, with a right to lay
down laws for mankind. then he must
be supreme indeed; and the first com
mandment is seen to be inevitable:
Thou shalt have no other gods be-
fore me-" If Jehovah be God he must
command the prerogatives of the soli-
tary, supreme Deity. No thinking
man would care to worship a god who
did less.
Nobody doubts this. Real infdelity is
rare The dangerous widespread and
subtle practical infidelity is this how
then disregards him Now a god be-
Heved, but disobeyed, may or may not
visit punishment hereafter, but he GER
tainly works moral disaster to the char
acter of the Individual. Hypocrisy is the
deadliest sin, for it atrophies the soul.
Better an honest, heaven defying atheist
than a processing Christian deliberately 4
living life at variance with the moral
law.
A wholesome revolt against this sort
of SHINING, especially in high places, is
sweeping over the world. The cry of
one analyst, Too many men are spirit
ual who are not moral is commanding
serious thought. Society increasingly
perceives the incongruity of such not
uncommon spectacles as one which
myself have witnessed: A famous
churchman's name cheered in an eccles-