The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-30

The International Sunday School Les
son for October 1 Is 1.-THE Prophet
Ezekiel a Watchman." Ezekiel g.
(BY WILLIAM t. ELLIS.9
-1xPERIENCE enlarges under
standing. Many of the Bible
figures become clear only
M after we know Bible lands
- Acquaintance with dozens OF
walled Oriental cities, from
Jerusalem to Peking. has made the
figure of the watchman upon the Walls
a natural one The aerial scout Is the
substitute in modern warfare for the
ancient Watchman, pacing the walls OF
peering out from the towers above the
1a+es and at the corners of the wall
Riding south from Babylon across
the Mesopotamian desert, saw upon
the horizon strange towers, like unto
+he pfctures of the Tower Of Babel in
the old family Bible. What are those
things. Shamu ~ asked my servant.
ARAB. he look out all time for en-
ernv and he tell his friends Too much
had men come, all people go IN tower
and fight"
Then knew where the Psalmist got
his figure of Jehovah as a high tower;
for IN Arabia one finds himself still
living in Bible times. These towers.
built of mud brick, in the centre OF
everv Arab settlement, are places of
outlook. points of vision, and strong
holds of defense. Verify, My hlgh
tower is He.'
And we must conceive of old Ezekiel,
who was perfectly familiar with just
such structures as the reader my see
today. if he will adventure the desert,
as a Watchman, set to warn the scat
tered sheep of Judah against their
foes.
The Prophets Thankless Task.
Like his contemporary, jeremiah,
about whom we have been studying
Ezekiel had no easy work There is
no more thankless task than that of
the prcphet The greater the prophet,
the truer his insight, the less likely he
is to be favorably received Almost
uniformly has it been true that the
great seers have been rejected, and US
ually abused, by their own time.
Yet there is another side. Mrs.
Bianchi has limned the psalmist-
prophet in a few rich lines:
'Poor as a shepherd!
Only crook and sheep-dog
With him on the hillside in the hoar-
frost lying
Naught save his shepherds cloak for
worldly wealth beside,
Lent from his shoulders to still a
young lambs crying.
Rich as shepherd!
STEPPED in psaImist vision,
Richer than reigning kings or po-
tentates, by farl
Waiting the sign that makes the world
Loves Kingdom
Only his dog for wealth, and eyes
to see the start
Who would exchange EzekieIs
vision for the sordid blindness Of any
of the rich an1 peanut-souled cour-
tiers among his people? Here is g
great life truth: Better poverty and
persecution. with a clear eye to see
God, than all the pleasure that wealth
can buy at the cost of soul-vision.
The Days Demand.
Swift to present conditions runs this
lessons message concerning the need
fer true watchmen. From every side
comes the call for men whose eyes and
lips God has touched. The function of
the watchman is frequently relinquish-
ed by modern preachers. They would
rather be able to say clever and com
plimentary things at afternoon teas
than to declare great and terrible and !
timely truths from their pulpits. They
have no taste for the hard life of |
jeremiah or an Ezekiel Their motto |
Is BE popular, at any price Learn |
how to be a good mixer Teach men |
to count you a good fellow The ma |
jestic isolation of the old prophets is |
out of date now" So we have cour- |
tier-1ike Philadelphia preacher advis- |
ing the members of Coatesville's mob
of nurderers to enter into a conspiracy /
Of silence to defeat the ends of justice. |
That way lies popuIarity-with lynch |
ers.
That dreadful crime. and most of |
the others that are kin to it, has a |
relation, not very remote, to the fail |
ure of the church today to speak /
clear-cut message with respect to sin |
and the law. Our times are laW1ess, |
alike in the low stratum of the mob |
ana in the supposedly higher levels of |
politics and big busine Imper- /
ceptibly we have come to substitute .
sugar. where Christ meant salt; salt is (
biting but it preserves, whereas sugar /
is sweet but purifying. The loose no
tions of oriental pantheism, masquer-
aiding under the fashionable guise of
New Thought or kindred cults. are
pervading the church and destroying
the fibre of righteousness. Where is
the '"Thus saith the Lord in the face
OF this intellectual spiritual and moral
laxity?
The preachers job is a hard one, of
course. 1t is easy enough to write plain (
truths in newspaper Of wide circula
ton: but to speak the same truths to
congregation of your neighbors, with
whom you must live and from whom
you must draw your support, is quite
another matter When leading MEM
bers will be offended by plain truth
touching their darling sins, it takes
real prophet stuff to utter that truth.
But Ezekiel had to live with the Jews
who heard his message.
Putting It Up to the Church.
It is safer to preach about the
heather than to preach about tax
lodging, or bad temper, injustice TO
the Iaborer. or crooked politics. But
the sent man is like Ezekiel, commits
stoned first with a message to the
house of Israel Gods concern is first
Of all with Gods people. His way of
working, history shows, is to equip a
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