The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-03

omnipresent spirit was moving upon
theshearts of two men whose lives had
never before impigned.
The miracle is as common as life.
Why is it that one spark of love lights
the heart of any two persons whose
lives have been lived in different
spheres? Why is it that men with the
same purpose, working far apart, are
difficult for q reverent spirit to escape
the conviction that God is managing
his own world. /
The preparation of Peter was in
teresting. All unwittingly he had been
made ready for new experience. He
was lodging with a tanner, a man
whose trade made him an outcast in
Jewish eyes. Many of Peters
prejudices had been severely jolted:
Subsequently he could see, as most OF
US can see, how inexplicable past ex-
periences have led up to great
present
The Sheet and the Beasts.
Fastidious Peters vision was of a
sheet let down from Heaven contain
ing all manner of living creatures,
UPON which he was hidden to dine. AS
correct Jew, he revolted, because he
had never touched food that was
ceremonially unclean. The average
American cannot quite appreciate
that the same conditions exist today.
1 thought of Simon Peter when one
day, in the holy city of Benares In
India, a Hindu merchant waved me
frantically away from his food bazaar
lest my profaning hands should touch
and contaminate the ceremonially
clean food that was his merchandise.
Peter was reminded that man made
laws shrivel into insignificance when
God speaks. A distinguished southern
sionary, and as his companion he had
, a negro Christian. In this country,
they both sedulously observed the
social usages that obtain in their
community in the relations between
white men and negroes. But in
Africa, in the face of common peril
and common need and common mis-
sion, they forgot that there ever was
such a thing as color line, and they
| became brother men. serving the one
master for the welfare of the race.
Henry Van Dyke pointedly has said:
| men are many, humanity is one" In
the higher realms of life and service
we never hear the phrase. so COM
"Only a Chinaman," "only Niger,
| ''only dago."
The Vision That Makes Duty.
| After the visions of Cornelius and Pc
| ter, both received an Interpretation of
the significance of their strange. exper-
calling them forth not only to an i'm
mediate service, but to the leading of
pioneer faith into a great, new terri
tory of life. Along the way first trod
| by Peter and Cornelius. myriads have
since followed to the Cross in whose
blessed light all colors of humanity are
as one.
What if Peter or Cornelius had been
disobedient to the Heavenly vision!
There is nothing so sacred in this world
as the spiritual sense which comes to
men. Whenever God speaks through
the voice of duty the one supreme con-
Germ of the heart should be to hear
. and to take quick answer. Concerning
all such messages it may be said, as
God said of the men at Peters gate:
| Get thou down and go with them.
nothing doubling, for I have sent them. B"
Professor H. L. Koopman has express
ed the thought beautifully:
When I am dead,
May this with truth be said.
On the rude stone that marks my lowly
head.
That, spite of doubt and indecision.
In spite of weakness, lameness, blind
| ness
Hearts trickery and fate's unkindness,
Neglect of friends and scorn of foes,
Stark poverty and all it's woes,
The body's ills that cloud the mind
And the bold spirit bind,
Still through my earthly course went,
Not disobedient
Unto the Heavenly Vision"
Stored Up Wisdom for the Wise.
Terse Comments Upon the Christian
Endeavor Topic for April 4. Life
Lessons for Me From the Book of
| Proverbs" Prov. 8: LII
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
| Proverbs are the small coins of truth s
| currency. They are in form to be pos
sessed and used by the common people.
They are useful for the daily needs of
life; and much comfort and strength
and safety may be purchased by them.
| The authorship of a wise saying mat
tiers little; even as it is of no import
ance to know the names of the work.
men who minted a coin.
| Because human nature is essentially
the same throughout all the ages and in
all lands the proverbs which embody
a philosophy of conduct are every
where and always valuable.
The stored-up wisdom of the wise is
only useful to him who has the wis
dom to make right use of it.
1t is easier to make a proverb than to
cultivate virtue.
| The Book of Proverbs is not a mysti-
cal, nor yet a distinctively spiritual
production. 1t is rather a compendium
of the crystallized experience of
ShreWd men who lived In u,orla &c