Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-09-25
(RY William T. Ellis)

(By William T. Ellis)
There is a reckoning yet to pay"
So cry the opposing nations in the |
great war Each looks forward to |
will sit in conclave and apportion |
out penalties and rewards Now |
blinded by the red rage of war, none |
of the warning peoples can see clearly !
or judge fairly; some day the newt
able just verdict of history will be
written.
AS with nations, so with human !
lives. For three months past the |
Sunday Schools have been studying
the majestic truth, so difficult to J
grasp, that the day of reckoning and |
of clear judgments is coming. Jesus
stressed this teaching of judgment
above all others during the closing
days of His ministry. His utterances
were those of a judge, and this pres |
ent Review Lesson is entitled by the |
International Lesson Committee,
Jesus. the Judge of Men"
Like all other truths with which
He dealt, Jesus made this one per-
sonal to the conduct of men and
women. He offered it as an argu
ment for repentance. why not
so in effect, ran His reasoning-"an
ticipate the inescapable judgment
day by amending your conduct now q?
Then it will be too late to change
your course: now is your opportun-
ity, revealed by the awful light
which streams from the Judgment
Seat"
After the War Is Over
The dispatches are filled with con-
| ficting stories concerning the armies
and their conduct. No one can be
certain of the full truth now. But
after the war is over, 1t will all be
revealed. Then the glory or shame
or both commingled-of the con-
| testants will stand clear for all mems
reading.
That truth also, lies in these les
sons on the judgment. However
much we may deceive ourselves or
| one another, in the present life, the
day of perfect revelation is coming;
! wherein for an endless eternity our
true nature will stand revealed, to
! bless or to ban us. There is moth
! ing hidden that shall not be revealed"
For time sin may seem to pros
| per; but in the end it is the one
sure failure of the universe. There
| is a way that seemeth right to
man, but the end thereof are the
ways of death" Life may not be
| Judged, from this philosophy, by an
uncompleted portion; we must see
the whole before we can pass ver-
| dict. That is why the light of the
judgment day is best for testing. 1t
is as absurd to measure life by
! short period of prosperity as 1t was
for the allies to exult over the re-
sistance of the forts of Liege as
though that were the last word in
the great war
When Pooh-Poohed Principles Prevail
One spectacular phase of the clos
ing days of earthly ministry of Jesus
was the way in which the crowd,
from the temple officials down to the
street rabble, thought they were
Judging this radical Rabbi from
Nazareth; whereas, as all the world
now knows, they were being judged
by him.
Similarly, principles long fiouted
eventually judge all men. For mil
leniums world peace was thought the
fad of fanatics, the dream of mystics
who heard angels singing in the
skies; now. the most materialistic
historian or philosopher would not
dream of writing down a scheme OF
government for the world which did
not postulate universal peace. Like
wise, equal rights for all men and
women, the abolition of slavery, the
triumph of temperance, the emanct-
patton of child labor-all these prtn-
cipIes were derided for long years aft
er their possibility came to be recog-
J nized.
In this our own day all men clearly
see that society is being Judged by
these advanced social conceptions
which are the ideals of Jesus. Poll
tics and business must stand or fall
according as they conform to these
standards.
Jesus and Social Unrest
Crowding still closer home to our
twentieth century, in this connection
is the tremendous truth that the
final utterances of Jesus were con-
cerned largely with what our own
day calls. comprehensively, "the So
cial problem" Questions of social
Justice, of employer and employed. of
charity, of q corrupted church, of
personal ambition in relation to group
fellowship. of loyalty to the State, and
of the manward side of godliness-all
these bulked big in the farewell ut
terances of Jesus.
Anybody who thinks that the So