The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-09-13
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)

dus 20:12-21
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS)
Inc days mood of rampant indi-
vidualism offers many incongruities.
men and women are talking of social
service by breaking social ties.
some would sever the ancient human
relationships in the vain desire for a
better human society. Not a few of
our advanced" sociologists are
apotheoslzing the instincts and i'm
pulses, They would grant everybody
tne liberty to do as he pleases. They
would bring in the perfect social Or
DER by restoring jungle conditions!
In the face of this tendency to SUBJ
seltute wishes for will, and to make
sovereign the unframed impulses and
instincts of human nature, we write
the command hundred from the
SINAI, Thou shalt not This is ar
resting and startling. 1t jerks soci-
ETY. up with suddenness in its mad
ana minimizing rush toward self-grati-
ncation For the only way this hu-
man order is going to hold together
Is Tor all of it's units to accept allegi-
ance TO a supreme law, and thus, in
cloentally, to one another.
Novel Cure for Present Ills.
Since anybody nowadays seems to
nave right to lift up his voice with
patent prescriptions for 49, social ills,
should like to offer the novel and
a study of the Ten Commandments,
The law according to Jehovah on the
Mount is better fitted to meet present
needs than the latest law according to
Prof. Erratic.
The Decalogue is the most up-to-
date of social announcements. 1t is
SUFFICIENT for these times; and it is
the only social program of which
this can be said. The injection of
the Ten Commandments into the body
mr. he DIV he
a health virus that would make for
instant recovery from some present
maladies.
The two tables of the law look in
two directions. The first four COM
mandments have reference to mans
relation to God. AS we studied last
week, these come first. The other
six, which have to do with funda-
mental human relationship, are our
study for today. We see that all mean
more to US than they ever meant to |
the Jews of old; for they expand with |
the progress of the time. They take |
their fullest significance from the con- |
tent and spirit put into them on anoth- !
er mount by Jesus. Let us get firmly |
in our minds the truth so that we |
may plant it in other minds, that the |
Ten Commandments are large enough |
to hold all the latest thought concern |
ing human obligations.
Back to the Family.
One grave peril in present social |
tendencies is that it plans to have the |
state do what properly belongs to the |
family. Men and women need the
burden and responsibility of children.
Children need the training which can
come only as they grow in love and
reverence for their own parents The
first commandment of the second
table of the law, Honor thy father |
and thy mother" is a most up-to-
date Injunction. 1t is a rare son who |
'fSir'' his father and |
daughter who waits on her mother |
rather than have her mother wait on |
her.
The frivolous and disrespectful at
titude, usually followed by disobe-
dience. which prevails toward par |
ents, is serious enough in its conse-
quences to need a commandment from |
heaven. Even if the powers of the |
State were enlarged to the uttermost, |
they would be incapable of overcom-
ing the fact of early lack of honor for
parents.
Into the very center of modern
cuts. Disregard of these old fealties
has already borne its fruit. There !
seem to be no grandmotherS today
The dear old ladies in caps. who used
in our homes, the counsellors of par
ents, the refuge of children, the
friends of neighbors; have gone the
way of the stage coach. Instead, we
ish women. who refuse to grow old.
and who insist upon a social career
for themselves that shall last clear up
to the graveyard.
II will not be dependent upon my
children in my old age is one of the
commonest expressions of men and
women today. 1t typifies the breaking
up of the old family idea. Surely We
shall react to that profoundly social
and philosophic word of wisdom, He
setteth the solitary in families"
Grandparents are indispensable social
adjuncts. Families need them. even
as they need grandchildren for their
own rejuvenation. Let us think back
to the old fundamentals
The New Weapons of Murder.
A knife, a club, an arrow. spear.
a stone-these weapons We're ancient
ly in mind as the instruments of muir
der. That there is still need for the
Sixth Commandment in this most ele
mental application is apparent when
we view the list of homicides in the
United States.
mandment. We now understand it to
read. Thou shalt not kill-by a
grade crossing, by an automobile, by
machinery, by food pres
ervatives, by long hours of labor, by
tenements. by improper
clothes" This one of the Ten Great
words most Strikingly reveals the
of which the Decalogue
is capable.
The Days Great Slump.
The egotistical and unsocial think
ing of the day appears nowhere more
slaringly than with respect to the
seventh commandment. Our divorce
courts, our purient current literal ure,
the advanced views" that are ex-
pounded before wCmen's clubs, show
the deep need for a new presenta-
ton of this divine comma ndment:
Thou shalt not commit adultery
70 he rrndorSfnnd n in
of Jesus, that this sin
NAV be committed with the magma