The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-14
by WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
E=lIKE priest, like people;
good leaders mean good fol-
lowers 1t is rare for ma
ton to do as Portugal has
lately done-get rid of an
incompetent king and sub
etitute a popular government me
more usual way is that of Greece; with
a king unequal to the national emer-
gencies, the people run hlther ana
thither, bleating piteously IKE MOCK
of sheep without shepherd NatohaI
leaders have a grave responsibility In
the UPS and down of the history OF
the Chosen People we see that gcoo
kings led the nation into righteous
ness, and lax and evil kings cor
fupted it,
Certain eternal principles run
through the record of the life Of the
Jews. That is one reason why MIL
lions of persons study the Old Testa-
ment history who know little or noth-
ing of the contemporary Greeks ana
Assyrians and Babylonians and Phoe-
nicians and Syrians. In the Ire OF
Judah and Israel we learn Coos ways
with nations in their collective ca
pacity. Broadly viewed, we see that
he was striving to make them a clean
and righteous people, and peoPis
freed from the faint of idolatry' anu
steadfast in the worship of JenoVan'
What was true of these ancient Klhs
doms, nearly three thousand years
ago, is true of the Christian nations
today.
A Good Sons Poor Parents
When Asa came to the throne or
Israel he had no moral inherltahce
to speak of. Apparently his fatheF,
Abijah, while calling on Jehovah
when sore pressed in war, walked IN
the sins of his father Rehoboam-
He left the land to his son filled with
the denominations of the nelghpor-
ing heather. Even Asa's mother
Maacah, was an idolater; and we
may pity the son who has not good
mother; he is worse off than the man
with foolish or wicked wife.
Real mettle is shown by the way
person deals with the natural con-
ditions that surround him. Man
right is greater than birth-right. One
may be born bad and become good,
else is our religion vain If children
may be doomed by parents, then
have we the nerveless and fatalistic
East. Happily, nobody is doomed to
walk in the way of anybody else
Every soul is free agent. the
Asas may break loose from the eX-
ample and traditions of theRehoboams
and Abijahs and Maacahs.
Asa even dared remove his mother
from her office as queen-mother. He
destroyed the idol she had built and
burnt it publicly. Loyalty to par
ents is one thing, but loyalty to
God is another. There are no ties so
sacred as those which bind the soul
to Jehovah. The choice must some
times still be made between those dear
in the flesh and allegiance to the Most
High. There is no peace or spirit
prosperity for the life that does not
put God first.
The Hurt of Bad NeighboFs.
person needs a knowledge of mus
&c in order to enjoy to the full fine
orchestra; one must know history in
ord er to get the full benefit of travel;
and to understand the story of the
life of the ancient Jews it is necessary
to rememer the conditions which sur
rounded them. They were sprung
from the loins of an idol maker.
Their earliest conception of Jehovah
Was that of a tribal or family god,
quite on the order of the other local
gods of the neighbors. They had been
schooled in idolatrous Egypt. The
peoples who dwelt near them all wor-
SHIPPED idols. They themselves had not
got a. good hold of the truth that there
is but one God, universal and supreme.
MoreoVer-and this is important to
bear in mind-the requirements of
their God were more rigid than those
to which their neighbors were subject
in the worship of idols. The stern
morality of monotheism did not sit
comfortably upon them. All sorts of
Jaxities and indulgences we're not only
permitted to the idolaters but were a
required part of their worship. Here
we impinge upon the huge and hid
'eous subject of immoralities associated
with idolatry. The Jews did not turn
so often and so readily to the worship
of trees and stones and high places
and images, because they cared for
these things in themselves but be-
cause their lower natures craved the
practices associated with them. I'm
morality was the fashion among the