The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-29


BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS
The historian of the future will
probably write down these present
years through which we are living as
the period in which the western con-
tinent became aware of the world He
may recall and quote BushnelfS SEN
tence, About this time l passed into
a period of ehensiveness- The
awakening of the Orient is not more
noteworthy than the awakening OF the
Occident to a cosmopolitan conscience.
Mems horizons are rapidly widening
today. They are thinking in more
liberal terms. The entire globe and
a vaster range of human interests are
comprehended within their conscious
ness.
In sympathy with this spirit the
Sunday schools of the world have for
the past quarter been studying the
long reaches of time. They have
harked back to the beginning of be-
ginnings to the inconceivable period
when all things that now are were
not. The hand of God has been seen
in the shaping of the universe and in
determining human history The first
quarters lessons in TINS year 1918
have included all of history prior to
and including the life of the Hebrew
patriarch Abraham. This survey has
been most general, in the nature OF
the case, yet it has given perspective
and background to our contemplation
of present life The person who sees
things from the standpoint of their
excited concerning the latest press dis
patch. He knows that this old world
has been a long time in business, ana
he can find an analogy in the past for
most things that engage the present
In the Beginning
Newspapers have of late been MAX
ing startling announcements (Which
the next day are explained as having
Scientific creation of life. Undoubt-
edly these are the days of revolution
airy discoveries; physical science Is
being made over; man is penetratlIlS
far into the thought of the Creator.
The office of man as the divine IN,
strument seems to grow more exalted
with each, passing decade
The reVerent Christian is serene
amid all these claims of upsettinS in
novations and discoveries, in the con-
seriousness that the first woros Oh
Scripture are unshaken; IN the pc
ginning God" After all, what more
need we know? 1t is sufficient for
faith to know that God, the eternal
and omnipotent, is before all else anu
the cause of all else. What were his
axact processes in the task of creatlon
we are perhaps not yet ready 10 per
ceive: certainly the world three thous-
and years ago could not TAKE us !
truth 1t is enough for us to know
maj .in the beginning God" was and
worked. W., mi
1.erse is not an accident. Blind chance
tlu no. 81 tbe seasons or the orders
of life We are not in the teil clutcn
of circumstances A SoVerslgfIH; 81 70 70
is ruling over the Worlu anu his Ia
vorite name is Father I
Old Truth for New Times.
EVERY day is a fresh beginning,
F,verv day is a world MADE new
The message that is written IN the
story of creation is equany tne G its
lesson for daily life GOD is at its
source and God is overruling IT. Each
dav is little life, and 1t should De
begun in Conscious relationship Win
Him. The majestic words OF the
Psain,ist illuminate the present re-
view:
Lord. thou hast zen our dwelling
place
In all generations ,.
Before the mountains were brought
forth,
Or ever thou hadst FORMED the earli
and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, !
thou art God
Thou turned man to destruction,
And sayest. Return, We children OF
men.
For a thousand years in thy sight
Are but as yesterday when it is past
And as a watch in the night
The message of creation is in the |
lessons golden text. Our fathers !
trusted in thee: they trusted in thee
and thou QluSI uellNeI lh6ill- NCO |
as the first fact in our present life Is |
the old truth for the new times
The Serpent in the Garden.
Heavens first thought of earth was |
a garden. Gods plans are paradise
plans. The most daring dream of the |
Psychologists does not rise to the lever
Of Gods great purposes. He plans bet |
ter than man expects. Not woe, but |
happiness, is the divine program for |
the race
Early in the story of mankind we |
come upon the ugly fact of sin as |
marring Gods beautiful design; the |
fact that is today upsetting so many |
of the calculations of the social re- !
formers. In the garden of paradise |
there was the serpent of sin Mans |
iniquity interfered with Gods plans |
and wrecked the garden. 1t never |
has been true and never can be true |
that sin and happiness could abide |
permanently together For sin is a |
serpent which wrecks every garden !
that it enters. The thing that ails |
the world today is not bad legisla- |
ton or bad economic system, or bad |
social order so much as it is that |
perverse quality in human nature |
which the theologians call sin. The |
sociologists and the evangelists find |
a common meeting place in warfare |
against the old serpent, Satan.
Getting Along With Folks.
All problems are at base problems |
of people. The difficulty of living to-
gether in harmonious and helpful hui
man relationships is cardinal diff
Guilty in life. 1t is as old as Cain |
and Abel, older than Noah and the |
people of the plains Abraham and |
Terah in Cr of the Chaldees found it !
SO. Even Abraham and his nephew |
Lot could not get along well together. !
The youngest school girl who has just |
awakened to the fact that some folks !
are uncongenial is but repeating the |