The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-17

me way n6Q many EONuS IOI Lu6lA
consciences- At Aleppo (now be-
coming, because of railway construc-
ton, the Chicago of Asia Minor), the
Israelites and their captors turned due
east, across the stony uplands of
Mesopotamia. That is a rough road
to travel this day, on horseback or
in stOut-springed arabas; to these
foot pilgrims, with their aged and
i'll and little children, it rnust have
been torturing. But they were only
prisoners, and entitled - scant con-
sideratiOn, getting such remnants of
poor food as the cruel soldiers chose
to give them. Soon they came in
sight of the mountains of Kurdistan,
where the soldiers redcubled their
watchfulness, lest there he an attack
from these fearless mountaineers, the
Carduchi, as they were then called.
Wells were infrequent and deep. and
the company suffered from lack Of
water. All the land was as different
from the ancient HittIte capital of
Carchemish, still a ruin for the pres
ent day travellers observation. At the
crossing, a slow, noisy process, as it
is today, they were in fear of attack
from the predatory Bedouin, then, as
now, the enemy of all organized So
ciety. In another week, if the roads
were not too muddy or the snow on
the ground, they were well past Har-
ran, where Abraham had dwelt, and
where Isaac had got his wife-the
very well of Rebeeca being pointed
out by the fathers-and in sight of the
Tigris river. Perhaps here the host
made a halt beneath tho big cliffs Of
the fortified city that is today called
Diarbekir. 1t may be that the inval-
ided and wounded soldiers, and the
inf1rm mong the Israelites, were here
put aboard the goatskin RATS which
were then, as they are now, the com
mon means of conveyance down the
Asshur or Ninevah, while the stronger
ones marched down thu river bank
over country that impressed them
more by it's difficulties than by it's
beauties. So at last they came to
their undesired haven, and the miser-
able and heartsick Jews were scat
tered in slavery throughout Assyria,
some being sent as far cas- as Media,
the present Persia. And there they
have remained since, a monument to
the folly of people that forsake the
long-suffering Jehovah.
A Nation That Followed the Fashion.
Why this awful calamity this WHIP
ing out of a nations existence? The
answer is more clearly written for us
in the case of Israel OF ole than it
is in the modern instances of Korea,
Poland and Finland, blotted out be-
fore the eyes of the present genera
ton. The Northern Kingdom of Is
rael had sinned away its day of grace.
The patient and forbeaTing Jehovah,
after warnings and entreaties, had
been flouted too far. If the universe
is not to be a realm of anarchy, the
Lord must be just as well as merci-
full. There will always be a place
for the policeman in society. Law
must have means of vindicating it
self. A God who was only merciful,
and not just, would be only the play
thing of mortals. God is always love,
but the rod is sometimes a better ex-
preston of love than is g. sweetmeat.
The Israelites had passed the stage
of reform; therefore their national ex-
istence was extinguished as candle is
snuffed out.
With poetic justice, the end came
through one of the powerful nations
that the foolish Jews lad tried to
emulate. The clearly recorded cause
for the downfall of the kingdom of
the fashion of the nations rather than
the will of Jehovah, who had called
the Children of Israel to be a peculiar
people. They wanted them to be diff
ferent from other people They could
not perceive, any more than can thou
sands of equally foolish persons today,
that it is better to live ones own life,
atty, than to conform 20 the conVen-
tional standards. There GRE many wo-
men who would be beloved and useful
omekeepers if they world stand true
to their lot in life, who have made
themselves into ridiculous limitations
of Society women. The first law Of
peace and success, for individuals and
for nations, is to be loyal to ones own
personality. There is no more alb
surd or despicabIe spectacle within
the seven seas than the American who
is an imitation EngIishInan. And no
= -,zxrFr- q
the national destiny of the United
States of America than those young
gent1ement in diplomatic service who
are trying their utmost to have the
nation conform to certain continental
usages and standards. Let us keep
true to our own type, and Obedient
to our heavenly vision. Failure to do
so wrecked Israel, and lnany another
nation since.
The most modern OF ofenses was
ancient Israefs ruin. It went mad
after the prevailing fashions. 1t would
rather be popular than right. The
factory girl who saves her scanty
wages and stfnts her body and her
brain, in order to buy a biz hat and
q hobble skirt, is no more absurd than
was old Israel Both were victims
Of the craze to conform to the days
the lower life. but individuality is the
law of the higher. Certain insects
take on the color of the vegetation
about them. even as petty souls
blend into their background; but per-
sons of force are able to Withstand
tendencies. The privilege Of being
peculiar in a noble sense, is one
of the highest rights of man. That
was the destiny which the Israelites
missed. They chose the little gods of
their neighbors rather than the Great
God of Abraham. The message Of
this national disaster, the carrying in
to captivity of Israel by Assaria, is
the message of being true 70 .of.e's
highest powers and possibilities
There is some Assyria that meuaces
every young person in the world; and
his danger is that he viii succumb
through fear of being thought spe-
culiar."
just for Every Day.
Terse Comments for June Is, Grace
IL