The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-10-02
tRY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)

Of his own community is pretty likely
to be told to stick to the simple Cos
pei" has always been social Gospel,
and Gospel of Justice, Whetner
preached by Paul, Peter, Jesus, John
the Baptist or the old Hebrew proph-
cts.
friend Elijah again confronting
wicked King Ahab, with Queen .Jeze-
bel in the background, making ms
chief This time the incident is one
of social Justice, when a common man
was wronged by the mighty king
and had Gods doom pronounced up
on him for it, The timeliness OF the
message leads us to remark that II
the preacher of religion Will only SICK
to the Bible he can find the most per
tinent truth for our own times. This
Book is a book of God, and so book
of justice and righteousness. There
is no shelter behind it for the rich and
powerful defrauder of the people.
A Woman's Plot and Crime.
few words suffice to tell the story
itself. Like the most modern OF land
owners, King Ahab coveted an ao-
Joining field This belonged to Ma
both and was his family inheritance.
BY the law of Moses he was not per-
mitted to let it go out of his famlIy:
So he refused to sell, and the peeyed
king threw himself down on his ivory
who has been denied sweetmeats.
Jezebel the heather wife who
ruined Ahab's career, took matters
in her own hand, and conspired with
officials to arrest and condemn Ma
both on the charges of treason and
sacrilege Thus after the most APP
proved of modern high-handed meth
DDS, big business wiped out the
small competitor who would not sell
out. and Ahab got his field. But he
for a q Ii
jah with a clean-cut word as to what
the Ultimate Judge had to say about
that sort of thing. There is no cure
for the ills of the social and CONNER
cial order like the fear of Cod
An Old Picture of Human Nature.
This page out of the court life of
more than twenty-five centuries ago
reads like the secret memoirs of court
life. 1t is vivid and revealing. We
see behind the curtain, and find the
Great King Ahab just as covetous and
just petty and just as sulky as a
pampered palace figure today. Human
nature is human nature, and kings
and queens of old did not differ great
1y from men and women in our own
land and time. The man sulkily &C
cepting a decision which he knew to
be just, and the woman Inscriptions
ly encompasSing the end sought by
her husband through foul means
might be a contemporary portrait
The rights of the case are clear.
There is such thing as the sacred
holds civilization together. All peo-
pies and courts have regarded it.
Formerly, property rights were
deemed superior to human rights.
Happily, We see more clearly now;
the supreme social struggle of the
past one hundred years has been to
establish the supremacy of human
rights Some archaic minds have
not yet learned the relative value of
the two, although the Bible teaching
is clear
One danger. in our new social
mood, is that we shall despise prop
erty rights. These have a sanctity
that the dema gOgue does not often
see. One high purpose of govern
ment is to protect people in the pos
session of their just property rights,
while at the same time conserving the
welfare of the community.
When the King SuIked.
Elijah and Naboth are the only
two creditable figm es in this story.
Ahab acted like a spoiled boy, and
not like a king. He sulked in his
palace, and made all about him mis-
cradle by his selfishness. The pic
ture of this royal crybaby on an ivory
couch is not a pretty one. AS for
Jezebel. she played the tigress part
A woman without a code will go to
even greater lengths than a man. Her
plot, in which the grating officials
had a part, was the same sort of mis-
use of the courts OF justice as we
sometimes see today. The life of Ma
both was sworn away in the same
fashion as was the life of Jesus and
on the same charges.
The cOVetousness of Ahab, the
ruthlessness of Jezebel, the cowardIy
completely of custodians of justice, all
conspired to create a condition that
provoked the wrath of the Most High
himself.
Frederick the Great and the Miller.
I we'll remember the cid mill that
stands by the palace of Frederick the
Great at Potsdam, and the story con-
nected with it, which Carlyle tells:
Annoyed by this inconvenience to
to inquire the price for which the
mill would be sold by the owner.
For no price was the reply OF
the sturdy Prussian; and, in a mo-
ment of anger, Frederick gave orders
that the mill should be pulled down.
The king may do this said the
miller, quietly folding his arms, but
there are laws in Prussia; and forth
with he commenced proceedings
against the monarch, the result OF
which was that the court sentenced
Frederick to rebuild the mill, and to
pay besides a large sum of money as
compensation for the injury he had
done.
1.-The king was mortified, but had
the magnanimity to say, addressing
himself to his courtiers, I am glad to
find that just laws and upright judges
exist in my kingdom
Enter the Prophet.
BY the wicked plot of JezebeI, Ahah
secured the coveted vineyard. But
when he entered Il, and began to plan
the improvements he would make, he
was startled by the stern figure OF the
Prophet Elijah.
Involuntary there broke from his
lips the cry: Hast thou found me- o
mine enemy?"
That phrase classified both men