The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-04
RY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)


Help" Numbers III 4-33.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
On two separate occasions yester-
day, men who are internationally
known as leaders in Christian work
told me of their mood of utter dis
couragement with church folk. one
has resigned his ecclesiastical position
and has his face turned toward the
world. The other put it graphlcally as,
touching some letters on his desk, ne
said I'm the light of this sort or at
titude on the part of Christian minis
tiers, what is the use? l said to a
group of associates this morning tnat
/ came at times to the point where 1
say. I give upi I'm through. Ana
then lave to take myself in mana
and hold myself to the work regard
less"
Now these men were Moses down
to date. They are not weaklings easily
frightened by obstacles. Millions OF
persons know them as leaders and
inspirers of men Yet the burden OIL
responsibility the lack of responsive
ness and the pettiness and sordidness
on the part of those for whom they
have poured out their lives, have caused
them to cry out in disbursement
even as did the leader of the emancl-
pated IsraeliteS.
The picture is a gloomy one, ana
we do not like to draw the curtain
from before it. We must, however,
face this fact about the helpers or
men, that often they grow weary and
feart-sick and hopeless, because, in
stead of cooperation and appreciation,
they receive only nagging and critic
ism From men who pioneer new
forms of Christian ministry, like those
whom I have quoted above, to the
Sunday school teacher who questions
the worth Wilderness of her work for
A. vo7A IE RnTT1
mon.
There Was a Man.
In the story of Moses we find
picture that is forever contemporary
eous. Everything is up to the man.
The leader explains all. This human
equation solves all problems. Kip
lfng's poem Things and the Man" calls
us back to the fundamental truth.
ooh, We who hold the written clew
To all save all unwritten things,
And half a league behind pursue
The accomplished fact which f1outs and
filings,
Look, to your knee your baby brings
The oldest tale since earth began,
The answer to your WORKINGS
Once on a time there was man.
He single-handed met and threw
Magicians, armies, ogres, kings;
He, lonely mid his doubling crew,
He fed the flame. he filed the springs,
He locked the ranks, he launched the
vain.
Straight at the grinning> teeth of things
Once on a time there was a man.
Thrones. powers. dominions block the
view
With episodes and underlings:
The meek historian deems them true,
Nor needs the song that Clio sings,
the simple central truth that stingS
The mob to boo, the priest to ban,
Things never yet created things,
once on time there was a man.
The Privileges of a Leader.
What a leader may expect of peo-
pie and what people may expect of
leader, are practical present questions
which this lesson brings to the fore.
The fellowship is not always a fol-
1Owship. The people do not go all the
way with their own chosen leaders
Perverse, unreasonable, easily af-
frighted and panic stricken, all this.
and more, the leader finds true of the
people to whom he has given his life.
Sometimes he will cry out that he
wants to die, even as did Moses He
can no longer bear his burden alone:
he would give up. 1t was all mis-
take to try to lead the thankIess mob
: away from the leeks and onions of
Egypt.
Poor, downhearted old Moses
thought that he was having a singu-
lar experience; that nobody had ever
experienced such burdens and ingrati-
tude as he. Really, he was but under
going the common experience of lead
ers. This solitary way of bitterness
is trodden by all the great ones. AS
Lowell's lines express it:
Count me Ger earth's chosen heroes
they were souls that stood alone
While the men they agonized for
hurled the contumeliouS stone,
Stood serene, and down the future
saw the golden beam incline
To the side of perfect justice, mas
tered by their faith divine,
BY one mans plain truth to manhood
and to Gods supreme design"
And that fate goes with the task.
There is thorn covered Calvary
for all saviors of men. Moses should
have known this, and been comforted
by the thought that he was in the
goodly fellowship of world redeemers
He was not alone, either. God was
with him, and so reminded Moses
After all, he was but Gods under
ling, and the responsibility was with
the head. The work was really Gods;
and if he appointed hardship to his
first lieutenant, that should matter lit
tie to a good soldier. To doubt Gods
purpose or ability would be disloyalty
"He who hath led will lead
All through the Wilderness:
He who hath fed will feed;
He who hath heard thy cry
Will never close his ear;
He who hath marked thy faintest sigh
Will not forget thy tear.
He loveth always, faileth never
So rest on him, today ,foreveri
Then trust him for today
AS thine unfailing Friend
And let him lead thee all the way,
Who loveth to the end
And let the morrow rest
In the beloved hand:
His good is better than our best,
And we shall understand
If, trusting him who faileth never
We rest on him. TO-DAY. foreverI,