Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-07-24

Mary, both unaffrighted men OF Cox
In the presence Of worldly power. l
there be any shred of shrinking o.
cowardice in the heart of preache
Of the gospel, 1t Is woe for him ant
woe for his message.
The very first quality Of every mar
who Is Gods prophet is that he shall
speak In the fear of God, which drives
out all fear of man.
This picture Is one to muse upon
Before Pharaoh in his royal state
await the shepherd from indian anc
his brother. Ia it some small per
sonal favor that is sought? Is 1t par
don for the crime that made Moses ar
exile? Is 1t reinstatement in the royal
favor? Is 1t an Office, or some other
relatively petty perquisite? The kins
is blase from hearing many such re-
quests. He Is prepared for a petition
OF this sort from these Hebrews.
But bark! Wat wonder is this?
Without grovelling. without preface
without apology, these children Of an
accursed race are demanding-yes
demanding is the word-in the terms
that royalty uses to royalty, Let my
people CO." > .w
The thing Is preposterous. Such
audacity deserves the rod. Pharaoh,
scarcely able to believe his ears,
spluttered and fumed. Then he resolv,
ed upon fiendishly indicative ans
yer. He felt confident of the weakness
of these ambassadors on behalf of his
slaves, and confident of his own royal
power. He held the rod and could
punish at his pleasure.
His answer was that Of privilege
through all the ages: II have the
power; the people be cursed" He
would break" any who dared inter
fere with him.. The incident except
for It's trappings, is almost contem-
poraneous, In the insolent fashion with
which power answers justice with a
Royal Might and Peoples Right.
The tale is not new. It was old In
Pharaoh's day. 1t was repeated in
Pilates judgment hall. 1t was enact
ed again at .Runnymede. Boston and
Philadelphia saw it in revolutionary
guise. The past twelve months has
witnessed something like it in politics.
West Virginia's experience with it
has lately come to light. The incred-
ible intolerance of vested might which
Genies the rights of the people, is one
of the oldest episodes of history, and
one of the stupidest. Do the working
people strike? Lot them be answered
by still further cut in wages, or by
shutting down of the factories or by
the importation of armed guards or as
is sometimes unquestionably the case,
does labor, drunk with the sight of
power" demand Of capital more than
is equitable? Both make the cardinal
mistake of answering reason with
might. Pharaoh, and ten thousand
other Pharaohs since have tried to
apply the logic Of force to social,
political and moral questions. If any
man of the Pharaoh type, whether it
be In his own home, in a factory, in
politics., or anywhere else reads these
lines, let him beware of the Pharaoh
fate.
Perhaps as Gamaliel later suggested,
he is fighting against the eternal God
who has had the habit, throughout
history, of Identifying himself with
the despised and the weak of earth.
Lost causes have shown curious
way of winning in the long run.
Temporal power, which at the mo-
r,ent seems invincible. has times be-
yond counting written its essential
weakness Unanimously on history's