Evening star., 1912-01-20

| "AoA6.J
l Kings, 1s:17-1s; John, 2:13-17.
| ~ F all the stirring stories penned
OP by man. inspired or uninspired
none Is more awful in its i'm
port, to men and nations, than the
story OF Elijah. the prophet patriot OF
Israel. And when you add to this the
record Of the only instance in which
the loving Christ used violence il
enforcing His commands, the busy
world may well forego it's headlong
haste to ask the questions WHAT
and "Why?"
| Israel. chosen of God to be His IA
vored nation and to bear the Christ
had so far fallen from her high es-
tate as to be riven in twain, her
northern kingdom ruled by the foul
daughter of Eth-Baal, king of the III
domains, whose name of Jezebel forms
the last calumny that may be heaped
upon a member Of her sex; Israel had
fallen low indeed. Her nominal king
puppet In the hand of Jezebel, his
wife, had lost the last faint semblance
Of the fervid patriotic devotion to Is
| raeis welfare and to Israers God,
| on which was predicated her hope of
! spiritual blessing and national pros
| perity.
| But God has never left any people
| without prophet. The sentence of
] irrevocable doom, which history has
so often seen pronounced against the
| offending nations of the past. has never
| fallen from the lips of God until those
| nations first had turned away from the
| fierce protest and appealing cry OF
those stern prophets whom that God
had sent to warn those nations of the
| coming doom.
/ xxyhn C,,;- r.
the final plea, and seal with His own
| blood Gods pact with men, His zeal
for national truth and righteousness
| for worship without worldliness, fol
| goodness without greed. led Him te
sternest measures Of reproof, against
| the desecration of the house OF God
the final citadel Of worth in any land
Elijah, fiery zealot of another age, has
! had his counterpart. in some faint meas
| ure with each succeeding epoch of this
worlds advance; but never in its his
! tory was there greater need of faithful
/ prophet than in this our day; and this
our land SO richly blest of Col. There il
the need OF great strong protest
| against the evils of the present day: evils
that sap the life of youth, that render
childhood open, more and more, to those
insidious forces which destroy the charm
and innocence of youth and mar the
music which alone can make the after
| life reSound with echoes sweet.
| No task is more thankless than the tasl
Of him who dares to enter protes
against the evils of his day. Those who
would enter patriotic protest against the
! sins and foibles of the time or summon
! men to take the side of right. at any
cost, must be prepared to wear full many
a scar. and often stand alone misunder
stood of the complacent throng, who will
rise up, generation hence, to praise the
prophets whom they would not heed. In
| this connection 1t is we'll to quote 'The
Philistine." in saying, when you get t.
heaven, God won't look you over fcl
medals. but for scars" Thus to the mer
I and women Of this day who dare to chal
lenge the right of evil to ride rough hod
! over the souls and sentiments of those
who love the cause of Righteousness
| must come to the realization that walk
| ing in the footsteps Of Elijah and Of Jesus
| calls for high courage and a dauntless
| will.
| In every age the heart Of youth grows
| hot against the evils seen on every hand
| and the desire is born to plunge headlone
/ into the strife. to throttle wrong wher-
J ever found. and. in hot indignation, usher
| in the reign of reason and of right. But
youth, maturity and age have this to
| learn: that Back of every blow. foi
virtue struck, there must be virtue, else
| the blow falls short" Only as we our
| selves burn with a love of country and OF
! right, whose fires are lit from the eternal
| tides of wrong, and build the walls OF
| truth and righteousness.
Who dares to tread the paths by
| prophets trod, who dares to fight wrong
measures and bad men, must first have
| in his heart the consciousness that God
and that he joins this age-long war, with
no base thought Of earthly gain, but only
in the hope that God and right may con-
quer in the end.