The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-09-05

This IL the day Of brotherhood. On
all sides voices insistently cry that
social service is the one best form OF
worship Of God. The Good Samaritan
has been modernized completely. We
have learned, at last. the second COM
mandment. This century will not FOR
get to show love to man: for tnat
principle is the tombstone of all the
thinking of our day.
Real and present and perilous.
though, is the danger of overlooking
the first Of the two supreme obl1ga-
tons. Admiral Mahan some years
ago called attention, in a striking ad-
dress. to this tendency of our day to
leave God out Of our thinking, and to
go after barren humanitarianism.
It is profoundly and universally true
that without God without hope
in the world: in other words. all our
social service, all our multiform BROTH
erism. must he vitalized by a passion
for God, IL it is to endure. and be
Of all commandments, then, Is Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart. and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind and with all thy
strength
One Effect of the War.
Every person who thinks is daily
wondering about the consequences of
this world war now raging. The awe
of 1t at the very outset turned Chris
tians of all names and forms to their
affairs in prayers. Now. through its
tears and horror. the world is to per-
ceive once more, with the quickened
spiritual perceptions of the broken
heart. that, after all and through all,
the abiding and most important real
ity is-God. This universal cataclysm
will drive the world to it's knees. In
all the fnnUna0 nf tho rrincr
nations the one word spoken often
est is God" He is today keeping a
strict session of the school wherein he
has been trying for centuries to teach
mankind to say Alright the two master
words-"God" and brother"
The startling novelty of the truth
which Jesus declared to be the first
commandment is in the word love-"
Always men have feared their gods,
and sought to please them. But Je-
hovah wants love as well as obedi-
ence. The. implication is rather stag
gering: the Lord of all cares for the
affection of the beings whom he has
created! What an exaltation for man!
And what revelation of the charac-
ter Of the Supreme Deity! AS friend
loves friend. as child loves parent with
a passion or outpOured affection, SO.
and no otherwise, should we love the
Father in heaven, taking delight in his
presence, and living to give him
pleasure.
A Fad or a Passion:
"Parlor socialists" who take up the
cry for social justice and for human
brotherhood as mere fad, as a diver
sion for lives overcome with ennui,
are the evaporation of the men and
women who with sacrifice are serving
the worlds great cause. This Christ
gospel of brotherhood is no mere
1ancy' the vogue of a day; not a pose
or a profession. but a passion and a
practice. 1t means all that Jesus de-
ciareo II to mean when he linked 1t
up with the supreme Obligation: a
true love for ones fellows. The truths
are 1nseparable: real love for God pos
tulates real love for man; and such
;ove Tor man is possible only by the
rove OF God. 1t is theocracy that
makes democracy possible. And love
Tor GOD who is Father of all races
makes possible the new order, love for
mankind around the whole world.
Aeign Hunts Pc 4, which Dr. Eliot
lately said is one of the three poems
wnlcn every one should know. is never
more pertinent than in the study Of the
, two great commandments:
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe in,
crease)
Awoke one night from deep dream Of
And saw within the moonlight in his
room,
Making 1t rich and like lily in bloom,
An anger writing in book Of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem
bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
wnat writest thou?' The vision raised
its head
And with look made of all sweet &C
cord,
| Answered. The names Of those who
love the Lord"
And is mine one?" said Abou. MAY.
not so,''
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more
low,
But cheerily still, and said, Il pray thee.
then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow
men,
The angel wrote and vanished. The next
night
1t came again with a great Weakening
light,
And showed the names whom love Of