Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-01-24

|
the saloon-keeper and the "get-rich-
quick" schemer are all highway rob
bers, Tor they depend upon living off
| the benefits of your labor. In fact,
the world Is well supplied with men
| who produce nothing for the ben afit
| or msnkind, but play upon the .rail-
! tiles Of their fellows in order to OBJ
| tain money without giving any odC-
| quato return. 1t Is no justification
| OF their wickedness TO say that their
victims ought to have better sense
than TO allow themselves TO be
robbed I'm such ways. Those who lose
in the game may often be blamed
more than pitied, but tnat does net
| excuse tnose who make n living OF
OF other peoples folly. Because a
| man ia not bright enough 10 hold lis
own In Il trade does not make II
right for you to swindle him 70
cause some man has "more m5ney
than sense" does not justify you in
taxing his money without "A just re-
turn. Many men have attained
wealth by giving less than what they
received pay for, and all such AFRO
only n smoother kind Of Midianite
than those who harassed Israel Tor
seven years,
Principle vs.. Popularity,
Whatever we may gay Of the
shadows that fall over Gideon later
life, we must concede one thing that
is greatly t. his credit-he was n
sincere reformer for the sake OF
principle, rather than for The hope of
reward. lie had the courage Of gem
uinc reformcr, one who was ready to
follow explicitly the guidance Of Je-
hovah, one who was as anxious to
liberate his people from pagan super
stitution as he was to relieve them of
the oppression OF the invaders. Even
when urged to become king Of Israel
he refused for himself and his heirs,
declaring that they should only have
God to rule over them. There are a
few characters in history who have
proven thus unselfsh in their good
works. You can find few such in
every community. But whore there
are some disinterested patriots you
find a deplorable majority who are
patriotic for what there Is in it,
Many a man has endearod himself to
the people Of his section OF country
by his devotion to the welfare Of the
people, yet when entrusted with po-
sitions of honor and responsibility
have soon shown that their zeal was
greater for personal advantage than
for the good of their constituency.
Take even characters of national re-
pute who have risen to prominence
and power on the strength of their
leadership in movements for the ma
tional good, yet with most of them
the staying powers of their euthus-
iasm depended on their ability ia
command positions of profit and
power. We all pray for success in
our undertakings, yet human nature
is so constituted that too much sue
cess is oftener the cause of our down
fall than is failure. Not all of these
men Just mentioned were hypuCrites.
Many of them really believed they
had a mission to lift their fellow
citizens to a higher plane; yet their
heads were so turned with the glamor
Of popularity that they lost sight of
their original intent and fell to lin
ing their pockets instead. Some Of
them, like Solomon, may realize their
error at the eleventh hour and cry to
God for forgiveness; but the public
never fOrgives man who has once
deceived it and been found out only !
the grace of God, ruling in his heart
and dominating every detail of his
life, can make a man good public
servant at all times and under all
circumstances-but we don't often
often elect that kind of man to Of
flee.
The Finger of God.
One great lesson impressed upon us |
is that in all nations and in all ages |
the Lord can and will help those in !
sore trouble and need, and who look |
to Him for help when without Him |
no help can come, All of US can |
look back over our lives and recall |
times when, because Of our own
faithlessness or the infidelity of those |
we trusted, we have been plunged into
depths of despair from which there
was no hope of deliverance by human
agency. We can recall, too, how com
munion with God has restored our
faith and nerved us to renew the
struggle,of life; how He has raised up
friends to assist us when we thought |
we had no friends, and how He gave
US grace to rise superior to the mis-
takes Of the past and start life anew.
Perhaps the help has come from
sources and In ways quite different
from what we had hoped or prayed
for but il has come, and we are com
PEELED to acknowledge that the hand
Of the LORD has been our deliverance,
rather than any strength Of our own
Had the Israelites chosen Gideon for |
their captain, had they gone into bat
tie with $4,000 men and won a vic
tory over this unorganized horde Of
marauders from the desert, they |
would have said mime own hand !
hath saved me-" The lesson OF Gods 1
intervention would have been over
looked, they would have felt no need
of righteousness and reform, and
would have worshipped their heauhen
deities more devOtedly than before 1t
is often necessary for the Christian to
be brought up standing" TO cure his
conceit Too often we forget the au-
thor of all good, take our blessings
as q matter of course, regarding our
moral standing or our financial sue
cess as the creatures of our own
ability. Whenever we begin TO pride i|
ourselves on our accomplishments, to
look down patronizlngly on those less
fortunate, to take all tho credit to
ourselves and forget that without God II
we are poor indeed-then 1t is that
sorrow and trouble Is necessary for
our welfare, that we may learn that
in God alone is our strength and our
salvation The defeat OF INDIAN wasl
done in such a way that all Israel
could see that It was Gods work, that
Gideon and his three hundred men