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

of human nature Moses was an eX-
traordinary man and lived close to
God, yet he committed some very
grievous errors. David, we are told,
was man after Gods own heart,
yet the Sweet singer of Israel COM
mitted sins that in our day and time
would give him a life term in the
penitentiary Solomon was a man
of superlative wisdom, yet in his old
age he permitted the lure of sensual
pleasures to wean him away frorl
fidelity to Jehovah and resulted in
wrecking his kingdom. Likewise Gid
con, although strong in carrying out
the commands of God without regard
to the strength of opposition, became
later a cruel tyrant and u sensualist,
and though he died in peace, get
Abimlech, his illegitimate son by a
heather mother, set up pagan
throne in Shechem Although refus
ing the preferred crown of Israel
Gideon set up a private priestly sane
tuary in Ophrah that became a snare
to him and to the people and was
the means of Fastening their relapse
into idolatry. 1t will not do for us
to look for perfection in a popular
hero. There never was yet a crisis in
public life but what there was a
"man of the hour" raised up to meet
the emergency Such men have done
many great and noble things, but
there are few OF them that did not
ultimately disappoint their worship
pers by weakly yielding to tempta-
tions that success and power and
popularity placed in their path. The
career Of most any popular idol will
teach us the same thing-that our
heroes are made of common clay and
are just as liable to stumble In the
way as the humblest citizen. This is
true in war, in politics, in society
and even in the ministry. Let a man
become exceedingly popular and the
chances are his fall will be the more
disgraceful. Sin, like death, loves
shining mark, and the height to
which man has climbed only
makes his fall the moro disastrous
The man who is poor and unknown
may not be righteous man, but he
does not have to contend with the
overwhelming temptations that assail
the man of prominence. 1t is not i'm
possible for our popular heroes to
live a life of consistent righteous
ness, but there are few who stand
biiO hOSJ VI BACbtb nSoiNh VI pOPu-
larity.
The Predatory Instinct.
The children Of the east" had no
call to labor with their hands for
the necessaries OF life. They allowed
their Industrious neighbors to at
tend to that When their supplies
grew scarce they had only to call
upon these neighbors and sieze what
they wanted at the point of the
sword. They lived off the industry
of others. There are few places in
the world now where this manner
of living is still eXtant. The spread
of civilization and the growth of
centralized power has done mu,h TO
discourage the free and easy exist
ence of the nomad. Yet there are
among us in the present
day, although they do not ride cam
els nor levy their assessments with
the sword. The man who uses the
power of his money TO squeeze his
less fortunate neighbor is in this
class. The man who capitalizes some
Invention or undertaking and then
freezes out the man OF brains who
furnished the source of his profit, is
The man who takes ad-
vantage of the lusts, the passions
and the weaknesses of his fellows for
fis own profit is Mdlanite OF the
worst type. The man who holds the
wages of his employees down to near
the starvation point in order TO
swell his own dividends Is a mod