The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-12-13

l tulSs OF bearing HIS name ana being
His chosen. Wonder Of life. such a
the Eternal Of his reputation
Can We Stand Stern Law?
Some teachers Of this lesson will
have difficulties ahead of them be-
cause of the divine law, violated BY
Achan; that Jericho and it's people
should all perish in the CONQUEST;
Even more so will sentimentalists rail
over the punishment of Achan. He
was stoned TO death, extirpated, and
his line persisted with him. Now that
Is not the way some moderns would
believe. They think they can counsel
the Almighty. and teach mercy to the
All-merciful. The days mood Is to
cocdle the criminal. to call him more
sinned against than SHINING. and 20
blame his heredity and his environ
ment. We are in a mollycoddle age
in some respects, flabby in its thinking
and mushy iii its measures.
Therein we differ from God. We
make light OF moral obliQuity. Adult
terry we esteem merely spice for the
popular novels. or a Pullman car
| episode. Plain stealing is called high
finance" of practical politics" She-r
falsehood and dishonor are cloaked
under business is business"
We need more OF the harshness Of
the surgeons knife, which cuts out the
cancer to save the body. The exceed
ing sinfulness Of sin, and the com
plete and direct personal response
biiity Of every free moral agent. are
old doctrines which need new preach
ing. 1.-THE soul that sinneth it shall
die" cries out from this Achan story.
If our young men were heard oftener
to say, in the face of temptation. How
can I do this thing. and sin against
God?" our social outlook would be
of clean hands and pure hearts holds
more Of solution for the days per-
plexities than any sociological pro
gram. Put God on the throne, drive
the Achans from the camp. and hold
the Divine Law as pure and terrible.
as we'll as sweet and merciful. and
then our religious and social and ma
tional stability will be assured.
The Names Not Born to Die.
Terse Comments for December IA
Lessons from the Men and Women
of the Bible" Heb. 11:1-4O.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS)
Every Penusylvania soldier who was
in the battle of Gettysburg has his
name inscribed in bronze on the great
state monument on the battlefield.
Every person who lives in Holy Writ
has a deathless fame. Many of the
conQuerors O. empires are not SO well
known as humble men and women
who appear in the pages of this i'm
mortal volume. And every life there
in recorded has its message for us in
this day and time.
For back II the beginning we find
Abel standing as the exponent of
spiritual worship. He personifies
mans need OF God, and mans ap-
on the altar of heaven: and the in
cense of that offering has been fra
grant through the ages since.
Every life Of faith is a finger-board
to travellers on the worlds highway.
Very human are the Bible charac-
ters and therein vastly different from
the misty heroes of mythology. That
these men were bone of our bone,
ored friends of God heartens us to
hope that, despite our stumblings and
shortcomings, we may. be OF use in the
service of our Lord.
The great come-outer was abraham.
He dared give up for God. He sur
rendered all in obedience to a spiritual
vision. To him the unseen was more
real than the material. Because he
dared leave Ur of the Chaldees. and
fertile Haran. he became the father OF
the faithful. and the friend Of God. To
contemplate of Abraham Is to have
ones sense of spiritual values quicken
ed. Abraham is still leading souls from
the Ur OF material advantage to the
Canaan Of fellowship with the Father.
Some of us are like Isaac, only little
links between greater lives than our
selves. But 1t is a great thing to pass
on the faith from a great father, like
Abraham. to a great son like Jacob.
The days call fer leadership in Chris
tan service carries us back to thoughts
Of the Jewish Founding who became an
Egyptian aristocrat. and then gave up
all in order to serve his own people.
Moses stands for equipment. renuncia-
ton, obedience to call, and patient
service Of thoughtless people. To
choose leadership IL to choose to suf-
fer affiiction. It accepts ingratitude
and reviling-but 1t still moves on to-
ward better things.
Dan Crawford grips students with
his stories Of African lions. We all
like adventure and heroism. There are
few characters in history which NIL out
the portrait of a hero more fully than
Caleb. the stout-hearted spy in youth.
and the valiant conqueror in old age.
BE strong and Of good courage!" rings
from every line Of that biography.
Possibly in those feminist days the
story Of Hannah is out OF date. She
sought q son, and no other career.
And she bore her trouble to the ref
uge Of women through ages. the
house Of God. Like a million moth
Samuel became the expression Of her
responsibility. her great gift to God
and the nation. The tender solicit
tude Of this cody mother points to
every woman the divinest expression
Of woman's life.
The man who has the insight to
know his own work, and the courage
to resist all calls to turn aside from
n ia n modern Neherniah