Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-16

harm than good. No international
ist' was Nehemiah, but a. passion
ate patriot, and God blessed him IN
lit
| Some Things That Have Passed
In the background of this roman
tic oriental story we see the Persian
monarch, a deSpot. All of Meme
miah's ambition was dependent hu-
manly speaking, upon the will or
king. 1 am writing this Lesson
while sailing down the Volgo, whose
waters flow to the shores of Nehe-
| miah's Persia, whittier L also am
bound; and all about me have been
seeing, for weeks past, the tokens
OF what one mans power could 90:
1t needed the fall of the cZar and OF
the Russian autocracy to make clear
what absolute power means. In
the church as in the state, one weak
mans word was supreme. Out OF
this grew the evils that now aftiict
Russia; but the present ferment is
more to be desired than the. appar-
ent smoothness of the old order.
Jerusalem, the city for which Ne
hemiah prayed, stood for the oppo-
site thing. 1t was the mother OF
Democracies. The first real democ-
racy was among the Jews. They
| the Land of Promise, if at all, by the
principle of democracy; that is, 10
| the votes of the people of Palestine
after the Jews have settled in the
Holy Land in sufficient numbers TO
give them control of the situation.
1t is unthinkable that the Syrians
who have lived on the land for
| thousands of years, should be dis
posse essed, against their will, even to
| M "a Thnra iG no
ArtaXerXes on earth today to accom-
plish by decree, as of old, the great
desire of the Jews, which burns IN
so many myriad breasts.
Soul-Photographs on Faces
| Sometimes l have wished to con-
! duct n womans column in great
| newspaper, for the one and singular
purpose of saying over and over
again to young women, by all the dl-
versity of forms that | could COM
mand, this fundamental truth, that
| the soul photographs itself upon the
| face. There is no cosmetic ike
| beautiful and unselfish thoughts. AS
a woman thinketh in her herat, so is
she on her face. If you are lovely
within, God will set His angels to
work at painting that loveliness IN
your eyes and on your lips ana
cheeks. This is an eternal law.
Would that all of us might learn 1t
| before it is too late.
By that law, Nehemiah's spirit
showed itself upon his features. II
you pray hard, your face will show
! it. If you are pretty and selfish and
suspicious and mean, that, too, Will
show upon your face, as plainly as
an automobile advertisement in a
newspaper. Life's dominant desires
cannot be hid. If had to have the
face of many a millionaire along
with his money, I would prefer to do
without the money. Nehemiahs So
licitude for Jerusalem was apparent
to the king upon his throne. There
by his prayer was answered.
Some of uSshave never wanted
any thing in the world so greatly as
| Nehemiah wanted the restoration of
Jerusalem. Such are to be pitied.
They have merely wanted good times,
and automobiles and summer trips
and the qualification of whims; and
so they have never really lived
When we want any great boon ear
nestly, then we think of it always in
prayer fashion. Millions of mothers
are thinking Godward thoughts OF
their sons today, and sweethearts
dream prayers of lovers, because of
the dangers of battle and camp. No
great soul can refrain from praying
in time of lofty desire. All our best
aspirations are ineXtricably bound
up with thoughts of God. AS we
see sad-faced Nehemiah standing
before the Persian monarch, we are
admonished to let all our trouble
be big ones, at least of Jerusalem
size. Souls are made great by the
size of their concerns. Love of
country, solicitude for the welfare
of others than self, sorrow and work
in behalf of the poor, burning zeal
or justice-these, and their like, are
the anXieties that eXalt while yet
they weigh down.
The Man Who Prayed in n Hurry
Two great passions flowed to-
gether to make up the solicitude that
wrote itself on the face of Nehe-
miah. One was filial piety. Jerusa-
lem was the city of his fathers and
of their graves. Our western world
does not fully apprehend the length
to which respect for parents goes in
the East. Perhaps the interchange
of ideals which this fluid time is
effecting may help us in this re-
spect. The other great desire of Ne
hemiah was patriotic. His love for
his native land, like that of our own
people at the present time. was an
overmastering passion. So possessed
was he by these ideals that the king
read them on his face, and inquired
| the reason for the unwonted sadness.
That was q critical moment for
| Nehemiah 1t is dangerous to at
tract the especial attention of des-
pots. Men who serve kings are eX-
pected to smile. So Nehemiah, we
are told prayed. This was not the
long, fine, formal prayer about which
we studied last week. 1t was an ejac-
ulatory prayer, such as perhaps a
teacher of grammar could not parse.
| 1t shot straight out of the heart to
! heaven. AS Moody used to say, it
went to heaven so fast that the devil
had no time to interfere with it. Pc
| ter prayed the same sort of prayer
| to Jesus when he was sinking in
| Galilee; there was no time for orn-
ate petitions then. Zaccheus prayed
! the same fashion. AS if such peti-
tons are particularly popular with
| God, because of their clear sincerity,
they are quickly answered. Bless
! ings continue as they originate, by
prayer. Perhaps that is what the
apostle meant by the injunction to be
! instant in prayer.
A Chance to Do the Hard Thing
There were courtiers not a few
about the Persian court who would
have saved Nehemiah the opportun-
| ity which came when the king asked
him what he desired. They wanted
jobs for themselves, and for their
wives relatives. But Nehemiah
sought only a hard thing for him
self, and great boon for his people.
He reminds us of the college-b bred
lads who are eager to go into the