The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-21
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
-lNE mans backbone and an
IRANl other mans lack of back
bone-the two linked by a
ii woman's vengeance-cause
ISI the tragedy which the
worlds Sunday schools study
this week. A king who was not a he
TO, a wilderness aScetfc VINO was
kingly hero, though in dungeon, and
an adulterous mother who scrupied
not to debauch her own daughter;
these were the persons of the drama
The story is. save for the charac-
ter of John the Baptist, as putr1d as
a modern society novel. King Herod,
degenerate member of corrupt ram
lily, deserving his own wife, had car
ried off in guilty love his own PROM
er's wife, who was his own niece. This
IIerodias bore with her to Herod s
incestuous palace her beautiful daugh
ter, Salome. Ambition, intrigue, lust
and cruelty made their home in these
marble halls of Macherus; while un-
derneath, in a rock dungeon, lay un-
cowed and regal, the grim and un-
compromising prophet from the desert,
John the Baptist, imprisoned because
he had dared to rebuke the shameless
sin of the profligate Herod.
A Murderer's Conscience.
We come to this incident by way of
the wonders wrought by Jesus in
Galilee. Herod heard of the works
of Jesus. and at once his guilty con-
science suggested that this man. OF
miracles could be none other than
John risen from the dead. The little
glimpse into the mind of this power
full ruler, as he sat on his throne,
panoplied in state and authority, Is re-
vealing 1t sets us to thinking about
the ghosts which haunt men. The
world may not suspect these; but the
remembered sins of youth, the crimes
cloaked vainly by the excuse they
all do the evil deeds contemplated
but not wrought into reality-these
are spectres that visit men and wom-
en-, to remind them of sure judg-
ment to come.
TO be coward is disadvantage,
of course; and Herod was this. He
was afraid of Jesus, afraid of He
rodias, afraid of his guests, afraid of
the people, afraid of himself. Many
were the sleepless nights when he
would have exchanged places with
the meanest of his innocent prisoners.
II a teacher could only paint the hor-
rors of remorse in true colors, young
Deople- would be warned to keep their
records clear. as the dying Cough
counseled. OF all the fates to be
dreaded, this one of being chained for
life, or mayhap for eternity, to an evil
conscience, is the worst.
A Prophet Facing a King.
The king was contemplate; his
prisoner was enviable. What a royal,
manly figure is that of the fearless
Nazarene as he-strode, clear eyed
and unaffrighted, across the marble
floors of the palace of Herod!
strangely out of place was the hairy
ascetic in his uncouth garb of cam
els hair amid the sumptuousness OF
the royal abode; but he nevertheless
dominated the scene. God send such
to our time. For the days need IS
for proph in clearest
tone, of the divine will 1t is hard to
for the rich
churches in the big cities: committees
scour two continents in vain. But 1t
is harder to find prophets, men OF
the spirit, who with deep, God-touched
vision see the requirements of our
day, and with unwavering trumpet
tones call the world back to its duty
There are such. beyond a doubt.
The line of John the BaptiSts, SaVon-
arolas. Luthers, Knoxes has not who'll
" failed. Else were our case nope
less In spite of this, the present gem
Grafton is menaced by lack of free
utterance" from the pulpit. What DR..
Eliot called the peril of the secret
influence" threatens society. We are
all becoming part of a corporation
conscience How can we speak out
against this rich political or business
offender when he is such a good fell
low personally, or when his wife's
family belong to our church, or when
we are both members of the same fra
ternal order or political organization?
such are some of the chains with
which the tyrant evil binds our mod
ern prophets.
Notwithstanding this, the John the
Baptist way in all its sublime heed
lessness and disregard of the practical
considerations involved, is the way for
the man of God. Otherwise we shall
never have a free pulpit, a free press,
and a free teachers chair. Courage
to stand for the truth is the supreme
capacity and achievement of mortal.
John the Baptist fulfills Lowelps de-
scription:
count me DER earth's chosen he
roes-they were souls that stood
while the men they agonized for
hurled the contumelious stone,
Stood serene. and down the future saw
the golden beam incline
To the side of perfect Justice, mas
tered by their faith divine,
BY one mans plain truth to manhood
and to Gods supreme design
A Woman's Hate
For a friend, give me a woman;
for an enemy a man. Woe unto him
who has a woman, or women. fight
ing against him. The hatred of a
woman is blind, unreasonable, cunning
cruel and patient Herod, who had
been hit hard by John, yet admired
while he feared him. But Herodias
rested not night or day until she
man who had exposed her shame and
sin. John had held UP to public gaze
in words of blighting condemnation,
this woman's perfidy. Her subtlety
discerned that so long as he lived her
hold upon Herod was in danger.
Therefore she conceived the dia-
bolical plot for his death, which re-
vealed in the worst light wofnan's
knowledge of mans nature, and her
cunning use of all tools in order to
accomplish a coveted vengeance.
That there are such women as Hero
dias and Salome in the world is a
fact which humanitys instructive
chivalry and self-respect is reluctant
to confess. Therefore thousands of
vollths go into the WAY which leads to