The Topeka state journal., 1913-07-19
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)

| Verses. III. In the Prophetical
Books" Hos. 14:1-9.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
! Some men have spoken for God.
That is a truth which nobody who be-
lieves in personal God will deny. The
Hebrew figure is that of men whose
lips have been touched by coal from
off the high altar of God. Their
tongues have been made sacred. They
have spoken the truth for the hour,
which abides for all time. These
prophets were, as DR.. Babcock once
said, mot foretellers. but eorthtellers."
Their function was to speak forth the
mind of God for the guidance of man.
They were men who were supremely
alive to spiritual things. SO enrapt of
God were they, that they were heed
less of earthly potentates. They told
the truth, regardless of it's effects upon
men. Nowadays these ancient Hebrew
seers, who had wonderful passion
for social justice, are furnishing the
message for the latest and fullest in
depreciation of Gods mind toward
men.
The only truth worth stating is that
which can be translated into life. A
zine had remarkable poem called
His Interleaved Bible" by Sarah N.
Cleghorn which is pertinent to this
topic:
Where the Prophets burning chal-
lenge lights and thrills the
sacred page,
, Lies mutely answering pledge. from
fiery youth to steadfast age:
'Tis the tiny faded flag that in his
early teens he wore
Marching to the Freedom Rally at the
crossroads store.
TN the Psalmist's tender idyl of the
pastures still and sweet,
Watered by the living stream where
sheep and gentle shepherd
Long ago and far away, he placed this
lock of silver hair,
Finding that his mothers Bible opened
always there.
by the verse Who is my neighbor p
unmolested long hath laid
This forgotten mortgage note, en-
Drowned with age and still
unpaid.
Here in Holy Writ it lay, while safely
throve, secure from harm,
young widow and her children, on a
mortgaged farm.
In the last and greatest chapter of
the vision of ST. John,
Where the Spirit and the Bride the
homing souls urge ever on,
Is a sprig of fadeless myrtle. plucked
with changeless heart and
On poignant April even, by his one
loves grave
The true prophet is at once a man
of the hour and of the long view. His
present teaching is of permanent ap-
plication. Thus the words spoken for
the ancient Jews, amid conditions ut
terly different from our. present life,
still express the fundamental truth for
today.
Times may change, but the soul of
man is essentially the same. That is
why the message of the true prophet
is of universal application.
The best commentary upon the su-
pernatural quality of the prophetical
books of the Old Testament is a visit
to Assyria and Babylonia. If anything
could more completely fulfill the pre-
dfct1ons of Isaiah than the state of
Babylon today this present traveller
ruins of the city of Nebuchadnezzar
by the Euphrates river, and on the
boat had been reading Isaiah's
prophecy Of the city given over to wild
beasts 13:20-22), and as I entered
the excavated palace of Nebuchadnez-
zar, himself, a jackal ran from before
me! Later on wall, I saw perched
an owl No modern traveller has writ
ten so vivid description of the pres
ent state of the kingdoms which op-
pressed the Children of Israel as may
be read in the Old Testament prophets. |
The message of a prophet should be
taken in its entirety: our habit of
reading and memorizing by isolated
verses often does violence to the whole
truth. But this topic calls for flavor /
ite verses" from the prophets, so oc- I
casiOn is taken to quote some that are
familiar.
They shall beat their swords into |
ploug ghshares, and their spears into prun- /
ing books; nations shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn |
war any more.-Isaiah "a.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon !
him, the spirit of wisdom and understand
ing. the spirit of counsel and might the
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of
the Lord--Isaiah liz.
The wolf, also shall, dwell with the
the kid.-Isaiah 11:6
Watchman, what of the night?-Isaiah |
21:11.
For precept must be upon precept pre-
cept upon precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here little and there a little
Isaiah S:1O.
bruised reed shall he not break and
the smoking flax shall he not quench.-
Isaiah 1878.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; and let
Remove one Cause
of q
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