The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-14

Nehemiah 15:15-22.
Saving Sabbath From Shock of War.
Civil tumult has often changed So
cial and even religious institutions.
the battlefield. There are vast con-
sequences to- civilization involved,
with which ali teachers of morals
and religion should primarily con-
Germ themselves. Religion herself
needs to be especially vigilant lest,
while devoting her most sacred ener-
gies to the protection, by means of
armed conflict, of the ideals which
are fundamental to civilization. she
lose certain heritages as precious as
those for which civilization is bat
Ting. These are grave days for all
who have a responsibility for the con-
servation and extension of the great
teachings of the gospel. Only the
most stupid and unobservant person
can fail to see that the moral and
social consequences of world war
are by no means clear and assured.
As it is now, so it was in the days
of Nehemiah In this pertinent old
story, which has been assigned for
study by the Sunday schools of the
world, we learn how life had grown
lax in old Jerusalem, under the stress
of conquest and civil disorganization.
"Out West" conditions,s as we knew
them a generation ago. prevailed.
The usages of the fathers had been
allowed to slip away. The Jews who
were dealing with the disturbed con-
ditions of the old city had been so
bent upon practical" questions that
they had permitted the institutions
for which Jerusalem peculiarly stood.
to lapse; while they borrowed freely
of the laxer customs of the surround
ing peoples. Amid an environmen
largely heather, the sons of pronaise
forget their inheritance
Especially shocked was Nehemiah
by the violations of the Mosaic laws
of the Sabbath. The foreigners in
the city were largely responsible for
this, just as immigration has so deep
ly colored our own civil life. But
Jews as we'll as heather were buying
and selling on the holy day, and
treating it like any other day of the
week. They had been too busy to
! take cognizance of the Sabbath of
their fathers. Like jewellers in for
eign lands, they had imperceptibly
slipped into the local disregard for
the day that had meant so much
! when they were back home. 1t is not
unknown for persons who were once
church workers, and Sunday school
teachers, to grow slack even in
church attendance when they move to
new community, where laxer stand
| ards prevail
A Strenuous Refor1ncr
Some of US would have felt self
complacent sense of superiority over
>
law, had we been in Nehemiah's po-
sition. Or else we should have gath
cred together a little company of the
stricter sort, like-minded folk, and
beWalled the deterioration of the
times. Not so Nehemiah He was
like an American. in that he ever
Turned keen, untroubied face
Home to the instant need of things
So Nehemiah spoke to the.right per-
sons in condemnation of the shocking
! laXity; then he shut the city gates
against the non Sabbath-keeping for
elgners; then he threatened persist
ent violators with the rigors of-the
law. But let US have the story itself,
as Nehemiah told it:
I'm those days saw I in Judah
some treading wine-presses on the
Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and
iading asses; as also wine grapes and
| figs, and all manner of burdens, which
they brought into Jerusalem on the
sabbath day: and 1 testified against
them in the day wherein they sold
victuals. There dweh men of Tyre
also therein, which brought fish. and
all manner of ware, which they sold
unto the children of Judah, and in
Jerusalep. Then l commended with
the mobiles of Judah. and said INTO
them, What evil thing is this We do,
and profane the Sabbath day? DID
not your fathers thus, and did not
our God bring all this EVIL upon us,
and upon this city? yet We bring
more wrath upon Israel by profaning
| the Sabbath. And 1t came to pass.
before the gates of Jerusalem began
! to be dark before the Sabbath, I com
manded that the gates be shut and
charged that they should not be OPEN
ed until after the Sabbath: and some
of my Servants set I at the gates, that
there should no burden be brought in
on the Sabbath day. So the mer-
chants and sellers of all kinds of ware
lodged without Jerusalem once or
twice. Then I testified against them,
| and said unto them, Why lodge We
about the wall? if We do so again, 1
viii lay hands on you. From that
time forth came they no more on the
sabbath. And I commanded the Lee
vltes that they should cleanse them
selves, and that they should come and
keep ths gates to sanctify the Sab
bath day.
Big Men for Hard Times.
! Something like the hard sense of
| Nehemiah is needed, in this time of
transformation, and observation of
| moral values, to save to civilization its
| Christian Sabbath With a sudden
ness for which most of US were not
prepared, our very life, as repre-
scented by our choicest young men. has
| been thrust into the midst of radical
conditions, and into contact with en-
vironment wholly different from those
! amid which they were reared. All
the old order is being challenged
There are no sanctities beyond the pale
of the question mark. In soldiers
life little is taken for granted, except
| military duty. The conventional world
of tens of thousands of young soldiers
| is falling about their ears. 1t is not
easy for them, in this crash of con-
ventionalities, to distinguish between
the essential and the non-essentiaI
Therefore the compulsion is strong
upon all who see clearly and think
ksanely to save the tested integrities,
| social and personal. Some lessons
| which the world has been long in
learning should not be forgotten in
this day when men go to war for
spiritual values. While we fight for