The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-01-23

SGOOSO w W 49, L
plicities ana fundamentals of religion.
Therein is illustrated the rallying cry
Of the victorious hosts OF Israel, "The
sword of the Lord and Of Gideon"
There is nothing that will bring
churches together like a common task
and a common slogan. Once let the
Christian forces OF q community get
to shouting the same battle-cry and
fighting the same enemy, and there
will be victories beyond the dreams of
a divided church.
Divisive forces were at work among
t.-ose old Jews. Tribal feeling was
strong, and jealousies were many. If
each contingent OF Gideon's three
hundred had gone into the melee
shouting his own shibboleth there
would have been no victory Nor can
Christianity go to conquest shouting,
Immersion! Predestination! Apos-
tolic succession! Second blessing!"
spell defeat. But when all voices cry
THE sword of the Lord" and then
rush into action, we may expect to see
the Midianites of evil-the united
forces of greed, graft, rum, and sell
Misunderstanding across the river to
the wilderness. A common passion
for the cause of God and Of man
Why the Game Was Lost.
Last fall 1 saw a football game
wherein little college ANONYMOUSLY
defeated great university. The rea-
son was that the small school had q
Gideon in charge of it's team. The
most interesting episode of the game
was the university's efforts to utilize
it's champion strong man, mighty
fellow. but no football layer. Sheer
mr. aynaofod I'm
work wonders. The attempt failed
utterly.
That illustrated one Of the Gideon
lessons. Mere mass and might are
net given the great victories. The
battle is not to the strong, nor the
this! All your bulk, all your men,
bers all your wealth of which you
b~ast all your social and political in
fluence, all your world-girdling TWEEN
tieth centur. organization. cannot
win this spiritual warfare. It is by
obedience to God. by being willing to
be little in His sight. it is by daring
m .ans. If He so directs, that the
Church is to conquer for her God.
Great Literature's Great Ones.
Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer meeting Topic of the Young
Peoples Societiee-Christian En-
deavor, etc.-for January 81
"Favorite Characters of the Bible
and WHIPS. 1O5:1-45.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
Our grandparents did not read as
many new books as we do. but they
mastered the greatest of Books more
thoroughly. They had fewer theories
about the Bible, but they were famil-
To itC ~, ooto he
personalities who move through the
pages Of this living Book were more
real to them than the men and women
whom the newspapers portrayed. A
fair and most interesting subject of
discussion has often been the respec-
tive merits Of the men and women OF
the Bible So diversified and real are
these immortal figures that each per-
son finds his own affinity among them.
knowledge of the great is a first
step toward greatness.
OF all the millions Of books that
have been made, only one is literally
worldwide in it's circulation. The
Bible has been put into the speech of
five hundred different peoples So
the stories and characters whom we
of the English tongue know and love
are also known and loved by people
books breed national heroes: the BIZ
BILE reveals universal personalities.
Possibly Pc : is the most popular
character in all the Bible. He is so
like the rest of u.s. is the common
comment upon him. Blundering.
boastful, stumbling. penitent, warm
hearted Pe+er-how many men and
women of like clay you have helped
on the road to saintliness!
On my desk, the moment, there
Ii 8 cuneiform tablet which is one
of quantity that obtained in
fourth year of Dungi, King of Ur.
Yet the name that rises instantly to
mind is not that of any of the kings
of great Ur. but of one man who
dared to leave that ancient land, with
its ripe civilization, turning his face
t. ward the wilderness, because he
heard the voice of Jehovah calling
him. Abraham is more famous than
the land I Ur. He is the Bibles su-
preme type of the come-outer, Of the
man who dared follow his CLEAN and
be true t. his highest call. Whose
ever would follow in Abraham's train
must experience giving up, a go
ing up and a taking up.
| or all the living, breathing women
who walk lifelike through the pages
OF Holy Writ. none. save blessed
Mother Mary herself, is so warmly
regarded by womankind as capable,
busy and troubled Martha. True, she
once let her engrossment in house
hold cares run away with her sense
OF relative values. but who does not !?
Martha blundered. in trying to ex-
press hospitality only by way of the
table instead Of by e gift Of her
personality; but she learned her les
son. we remember that 1t was to
the home made comfortable by her
that the lonely Christ delighted to
resort. and we cannot forget the rec
oro' Now Jesus loved Martha and
her sister,