The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-31


archy. The period has been one OF
the saddest of my life, for 1t is
heart-breaking thing to see an an
cient nation, with four hundred mil
lions of people, facing the greatest
crisis of it's history, the one that may
determine it's very existence as q
national entity, without single
thought on the part of anybody. so
far as is apparent, for the welfare
of the nation and the people. 1t is
I all self-interest gone to seed. Force
and leadership are totally lacking, not
a man having lifted his head above
the horizon, simply because the shep-
herd instinct is lacking among puallc
men. Official position is deemed by
everybody merely an opportunity for
| personal wealth and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
Politics and graft have run their full
| course, until there seems to be no con-
/ viction in high places, no sense of ma
| tiona1 responsibility, passion OF
| patriotism. China's shepherds have
failed here. On every hand l see pitt
able evidences of abject concern for
| personal safety and goods, but no
! where is there evidence of anybody's
/ agonizing for this great mass of peo-
! pie.
Evidence is not lacking that the
western nations are being shaken into
a new social solicitude by the world
war. If this holocaust results in the
| universal dominance of concern for
the welfare of all sorts and conditions
| of men, then it will have been worth
all its cost. Human betterment is
goal of God. However faithless
| human shepherds may be, Jehovah
| sleeplessly strives to bring to PASS
good for mankind, There is an Over-
Shepherd who cares for all The sheep.
! Slowly, turnout the ages. He has been
working out purposes of good for even
| the least of morta1s. So long as God
sits on His throne, the sheep will be
| looked after, and the faithiess- shep-
L. III
| message of the lesson: every person
in a shepherd post, be it parent or
"a president, or a preacher or a pro-
fessor, or publicist. will give an ac-
counting to Him who SO loves the
sheep, even the wandering and wicked
ones, that He gave His own Son to
be their Good Shepherd.
A Warning to Bad Sheep.
There are three great messages in
this stirring chapter of social justice,
and the second is a word to strong
and selfish sheep. The reader of this;
lesson cannot comfort himself by ex-
ulting in the criticisms of the preach
ers, or other shepherd. The wise old
prophet has word from the Lord
concerning those self-engrossed sheep
! which have no respect for the weaker
members of the flock. What host
of US are included within this denu1ci-
atom! AS culpable as the erring shep-
herds are the men and women whose
philosophy is that of the mailman
} Nietzsche, and whose working rule is
! Look out for number one" To for
| get number two is to repudiate Goo.
And as for you, my flock, thus
; saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, l
will judge between sheep and sheep.
f the rams and the he goats. Seemeth
: it a small thing to you to have fed
: tread down with your feet the resi-
f due of the pasture? and to have drunk
, of the clear waters. that you must foul
/ the residue with your feet? And as
! for my sheep, they eat that which We
+ Rave trodden down with your feet, and
chey drink that W hich We have fouled
with your feet.
= Therefore thus. saith the Lord
: Jehovah unto them: Behold j, even
, 1, will judge between the fat sheer
and the lean sheep. Because We thrust
with the side and shoulder, and push
all the diseased with your horns, till
We have scattered them abroad; there
: fore will 1 save my flock, and they
= shall no more be a prey; and l will
judge between sheep and sheep"
What is this but another way oil
saying that to have ones name on 4
t church roll is no assurance of the
: favor of God. Social injustice. self
seeking hard heartedness, inconsid-
2 erateness, greed, oppression, are dou-
bly, to be condemned when committed
= by one who himself bears the brand
marx OF the great Shepherd.
Palestine After the War.
+ We westerners, who wanta every
thing done overnight, while we wait
= are staggered by the long, long pa
thence of God. For twenty-five hun
t dred years he has waited for the full
: filment of some of his purposes, a.
t indicated in this remarkable chap
| ter. Now accomplishment seems al
most in sight. For the third of the
messages of Ezekiel, in this crowded
T lesson, is that one day Jehovah woul6
' recall His sheep, Israel. from theil
: wanderings, and establish them in
, peace and safety in the promised pas
ture of Canaan.
They shall be secure in their land
and they shall know that am Je.
hovah, when l have broken the bar.
of their yoke, and have delivered
, them out of the hand of those thai
made bondmen of them. And they
shall no more be prey to the nations
, neither shall the beasts of the earth
! devour them; but they shall dwell Sc
. curely, and none shall make then
! afraid. And 1 will raise up unto them
a plantation of renown, and they shal
: no more be consumed with famine in
t the land, neither bear the shame o.
: the nations any more. And they shall
l know that /. Jehovah their God, an
v with them. and that they, the house
, of Israel, are my people, saith the
t Lord Jehovah. And We my sheep, the
sheep of my pasture, are men, and
am your God, saith the Lord Jeho
a | YAH"
\ When we read the meagre dis
patches that occasionally seep out OF
: Palestine we think of these gloriou.
promises to the Chosen People. "They
r shall dwell securely" declared Eek
| iel; but now the hand of the Turk /,
n heavy upon the Jews in the Hol,
s Land, and all of them know sor.
: suffering. Famine has smitten man,
8 to death, and all are prosecuted anC
t harried- Nevertheless, we may sc,
: thru the veil of present darkness. Tn,
d future of the Land of Promise wa.