The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-04-05

world to the sanity OF a certain r1cn
young man, murderer, who is in an
insane asylum instead of a prison.
BY this test we know him to be in
sane. He has always done as he
pleased. 1t is not too harsh state
ment for parents and teachers to hear
that if children are permitted to do
as they please their feet are turned
on the broad way that leads to in
sanity.
The Unbrotherly Brother.
If we cannot call Esau a hero or
a fit heir. still less can we call his
brother Jacob. He offered food to his
twin only if Esau would give in ex-
change for 1t his birthright- Jacob
was the cold-bIooded sort who traffic
in necessity. He is near of kin to all
who grind the faces of the poor, who
derive excessive profits from insani-
tary tenements, who rent their houses
at exorbitant profits to the uses of
vice, who underpay their employees
without caring for the consequences to
bodies or souls. Jacob was a choice
sample of the man who ever looks out
for number one. Let it be said une-
quivocally that the person who seeks
only his own advantage comes as near
to a human likeness of Satan as can
be created or imagined.
The old commentators used to find
various ingenious excuses for Jacob.
We are less prone to do so nowadays.
We let him stand, hideous in the
clear light of the teachings of the New
Testament. The Jacob regime for hui
mainly is ended or ending. We are
living today more nearly by the higher
law of brotherhood. Legislation and
publicity are forcing the Jacobs out of
business by imposing the new stand
ards, by the law of brotherhood, which
is opening the eyes of the church and
the world. The Jacobs are having a
n er1 5nnnO1a nf
is found to be small consolation for a
Jacob reputation The inaugural adj
dress of the new president of the Uni
ted States was as a blistering brand
upon the forehead of all who would
do business Jacobwise with their help
less brethren.
Cheating a Blind Man.
Isaac was a doddering weakling
whose deathbed thoughts were of veni-
son. 1t is easy to see where Esau got
his inheritance of gluttony. There is
that is noble about this death
bed scene. Even in the tragic hour
which should be sublime, when the de-
parting father bestows his blessing and
the headship of the family, there is only
favoritism, cunning, appetite and
agreed. Isaac bargained with Esau
that in return for a mess of venison he
would bestow the family benediction.
The cunning Rebekah overheard.
Isaac might plot but he was only a
child in guilt as compared with her. |
So she schemed with her favorite Jacob
that she would prepare a mutton stew
disguised to taste as venison, and she |
had an ingenious way to meet every |
one of the more careful Jacobs objec- |
tons to his impersonating Esau in the |
presence of the blind father. The plot
went through. Jacob took advantage of
the fathers blindness, feebleness and !
fulfilled complacency, and secured the (
blessing that belonged to Esau.
A cheat, a liar, a thief-such in the |
sisterhood of sin was Jacob. We gasp /
1t the spectacle. Our contempt gropeS
7ainly for adequate words with which !
20 delineate this sordid scene. The I'M
'ilial son and the unfatherly sire and
he disloyal mother all combine in a
ableau that is sad and sinful indeed.
What is the upshot of it all? Simply
hat with such material as this,
Jehovah was obliged to carry out His
1lans for humanity There is a ray
If hope for the worst of US In the clear
ruth that God is able to take such
Itock as this and make it over into
Oavid's royal line. From Jacob,
when the grace of God had got hold of
lin, there descended even such one
is Joseph. There is comfort in the
bought that in the plans of God use
nay still be made of the weak, blunder-
ng and sinful Isaacs and Jacobs.
Some lives, like some lights, are set
'eacons. These are warning lights on
he coasts of character that we have
tudied today.