The Topeka state journal., 1913-07-19
RY WILLIAM T. ELLIs3

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CBY WILLIAM T. ELLIS0
The favorite figure In paintings and
in sculpture is that of Joan of Arc,
listening to the voices that called her
to deliver France Art has done Won
derfully well in portraying this spirit
ually sensitive being who had the first
qualification of a prophet. alertness to
her own time and its need.
Prosperity brings many disadvan-
tages. but none other so serious as the
grossness of soul which is deaf to the
deeper voices of life Sometimes it
seems as if the price many men in this
new world are paying for their rapid
and remarkable material success is
that their souls have grown callous to
the finer spiritual impressions. We re-
member how Darwin lamented that his
engrossment in science had destroyed
entirely his appreciation of poetry. A
friend tells of the tragic agony of Mr..
Huxley as, after discussing that mans
spiritual experience he passionately
declared that he would gladly have his
right arm cut off if he could but know
such experiences for himself
This man Moses, who is at present
the center of Sunday School interest,
had his life attuned to the deeper notes.
He was fine-fibred, sensitive spirit. To
him it meant more to be true to God
than to win high place among men and
to command the luxuries of wealth.
The Godward windows of his soul were
ever open. He had that fundamental
quality of great leadership, spiritual
sensitiveness.
An Apprenticeship in Greatness.
One of the not uncommon contra
dictions of history is this picture with
which our story opens. of Moses. the
adopted prince. the university bred
man, a favorite figure in the court of
the Pharaohs, herding sheep like
despised Semitic. From one viewpoint
no work could be more monotonous and
oeadening than this. Any boy can tend
sheep. On the other hand, to the great
soul no opportunity for self-examina-
tion, for philosophical reflection and for
kinship with nature is greater than this
one of living apart from people with
the gentle sheep. We recall another
who named himself THE Good Shep-
herd.
Moses had been a heady PERSONAL
fly, and 1t was steadying for him to
be in subjection to Jethro, his father
in-law. He learned the great lessons
of discipline in this school of subor-
dination and obedience. Every boy who
is taught this Sunday school lesson
should be given a clear view of Moses
with the sheep. The college boys who
last month left the halls of learning
to go under some yoke of drudgery
were but continuing their essential
education. Yokes are good for all who
would wear crowns. The newspapers
a few days ago reported the Prince
of Wales as out in camp with his fell
low students, undergoing hard marches
and captured in a sham battle, while
on duty as a scout. The wise British
way has thus established the route
to the throne through many forms of
routine service.
There is more to 1t than mere dis
cipIine. Great calls come to us while
we are about life's common ways.
Angels appear when we are engaged
in our everyday work, even as it was
with Moses. The best trysting place
with God is the scene or our 6alIy
labor. Most of us are seeking for hap
piness afar, when happiness is flow
er that blooms in home gardens, where
men and women toll in common ways
AS Henry Van Dyke says, In MS Ioll-
ing of Felix"
p'where the many toll together, there
am 1 among my own;
Where the tired workman sleepeth,
there am I with him alone.
.'I, the Peace that passeth knowledge,
dwell amid the daily strife;
/, the Bread of Heaven, am broken in
the sacrament of life.
Thou hast learned the open secret;
thou hast come to Me for rest;
With thy burden, in thy labour, thou
art Felix, doubly blest.
'Nevermore thou needest seek me; I
am with thee everywhere;
''talse the stone, and thou shalt find
me; cleave the wood, and 1 am
there"
Burning But Not Consumed.
Alertness to the life about US is the
mark of an acQuisitive mind A hun
dred travellers have followed the
route of the Exodus and seen nothing;
DR.. Franklin e. Hoskins goes, and
result Is a great book, From the Nile
to Nebo." crowded with new light upon
these old problems. 1t is not more
experiences that most of US need, but
better eyes. The ability to discern the
hidden significance in the character of
the people about us, to write in our
minds our own romances of the every
day life amid which we live, is the
same art that sees the miracle of the
burning bush- Says Mrs. Browning:
Earth's crammed with heaven, and
every common bush afire with
God;
But only he who sees takes off his
shoes;
The rest sit round II and pluck black
berries.
Forever the law runs that they who
seek find. There is a deep meaning
in the sentence, when Jehovah saw