The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-08


thing is wrong with the
church This old record holds mes
sage of optimism that is better ground
ed than all the "cheer-up! eXhortd
tions that are made into wall mottoes
nowadays. It strikes straight down 10
the roots of enduring confidence and
hopefulness.
Our old friend Elisha is the central
figure in the story. He was patriot, as
well as prophet, and he used his SUI
pernatural insight to warn the kIns
of Israel of all the proposed inVasions
by the king of Syria. 'ForWarned Is
forearned." and so the enemy found
all his best-laid plans thwarted NO
scheme that he could contrlVe IN the
sanctity of his harem remained hid
den from his foes.
OF course he suspected a traitor
That is an evil which oriental kings
always have to reckon with. a com
mittee is lust now finishing the exam
ination of the thirty thousand reports
of his spies. which were found in the
palace of Abdul Hamid at the time OF
his dethrouement This sort of thing
gets on the nerves of even the stout.
est monarch To fear the presence OF
a traitor in the very closest circle, and
yet to be unable to identify him, leads
to suspicion of even the nearest and
dearest. And nothing poisons the
mind like suspicion.
Truths Invisible Allies.
Like a man who thinks he sees a
ghost, and tries to fight with it, the
king of Syria felt that he was pltted
against some mysterious and intan-
gibIe foe. The whole thing was mex
plicable, until he learned of Elisha
the prophet and his mysterious gift.
The contest thus was between the
boosted might of Syria on one hand,
and the prophet of God on the other.
Unwittingly, the king found himself
fighting against the Lord of hosts The
cody have allies of whom the might
est may well beware. A man needs al
ways to be careful lest he be drawn
into an unjust cause, WHERE the pray
ers of the godly will be fighting
against him.
This is the great doctrine upon
which to build a noble life, that truth
has invisible allies, in heaven above
and on earth beneath, which war in
behalf of all the servants of truth.
The limitless powers of the Lord of
the universe are pledged tC the sup
port of all who support the truth.
Thus it is that "the truth is mighty,
and will prevail" The important thing
in life's struggles is not to try to be
on the winning side, but to seek to
be on the side of truth. to which vic
tory ultimately belongs. We are safe
In the statement that no person ever
Sacrificed income. or friends, or hon
or. or peace. for the sake of truth, |
without himself or his being the gamer
Thereby. Always and Immediately the
Individual himself profits in soul, i'll
not in estate.
All this may seem like airy fool
ishness to the practical" man. who
can never see farther than the length
of his bank account, but others there
be- and their name is legion, who can
testify to this as one of the proved
realities of life. The others may re-
Epectfully be reminded that there may
be a world outside the one they know, |
even as the horses and chariots which |
surrounded Elisha were not at first
visible to his servant
King Against Prophet. :
When the monarch of Syria heard
that it was the prophet Elisha who
made known his most secret plans to
the king of Israel, he sent a small army
to take him, and bring him captive
to Syria. Probably he was so dense
concerning spiritual things that he
supposed that he could enlist the
prophets powers on his own side, once
he got possession of him.
1t was the old. old method, of try
ing to answer truth with a blow Since
the beginning of time until the present
day, the various kinds of kings have
been going up against prophets with
chariots and horses and a very great
host. Probably the same folly will be
Repeated to the end of time. The tenn
pcrai tries to crush the spiritual, for is
not the temporal apparently mighty,
and the spiritual apparently feeble ?
But when the spiritual has been really
spiritual. and when it has of a verify
been truths cause, then the issue has
never been doubtful.
''For Right is Right, since God is God,
And Right the day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sim
Nations, as instance Russia, still try
to fight against truth with bayonets.
Soldiers have hunted defenders of the
truth into the wilderness, as in Scot
land. Cody folk, like the Quakers
have been made to feel the scourge of
the civil law. But all in vain. Truths
failure would be the abdication of
Cod. 1t is still in vain that the kings
armies go up against the prophets of
truth.
The Scared Servant.
The servant of Elisha awoke early
20 behold Dothan surrounded by the
Syrian host. In a panic, he ran to his
master-note that he did not run
how shall we dol" 1t was a scared and
tinid associate that Elisha had that
day. Pity the man who, in a crisis
has fearsome counselors,-a partner
to whom profits mean more than
honor; a friend who would rather do
the polite thing than the true thing:
q wife who is more concerned about an
assured income for the family than for
her husbands honor or spiritual integ-
rity. May God give to every person
who is in the throes of the immemorial
turmoil, of the strife of truth with ap-
parent advantage. at least one friend
who will counsel him to follow his
gleam."
To his alarmed servant Elisha
enumerated the platform of all re-
formers, the motto which should be
this week craven indelibly upon the
hearts of the youth of the Sunday
school. 'sThey that are with us are
more than they that are with them"
That is the truth to remember when
tempted to forsake our mothers God
because some wickedness or folly
seems the more popular. When the
whisper comes. as it does come to al
most every young person, that religion