Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-12-23
SUNDAY SCh0OL.
\AALESscN ~
By BIT NENSOrDE

qualified form, but IL Is true that
history has It's plainly defined eras,
ana I'm the transition from one era to
another often similar events take
place that have led 10 the idea that
/ there was an actual recurrence. The
roason is because human nature at
/ the bottom has remained largely the
same thruout the ages since Adam,
and the same ideas often produce the
! same results as to the actions of
peoples and nations. The pendulum
swings. and in It's vibrations back
| and forth we think we see whore
/ mank.bd has advanced and retro
graded In repeating schedule. Yet
every forward swing of the pcndulum
has been II little greater than it's
! backward stroke and the result to
humanity has been collective gain
! for progress. enlightenment and god
! liness.
For three months we have been
| looking at the Jewish people thru
their experiences on the upgrade Be
fore that their record was "A contin-
ual downward movement. culminat-
ing in the destruction of Jerusalem
and the captivity of its people. Now
we find them helped and encouraged
and the good work begun by Zerub-
babel, Nehemiah and Ezra never
lost its power to keep their people
from falling back into their former
tendency to idolatry. They learned
"A severe lesson but had learned
it well. ana henceforth instead OF
being uufaithtul 4 Jehovah. their
fault lay in materiali2inc and formal
lzing the faith Of God until IL we'll
nigh lost It's spiritual significance.
And when this condition had ripened
until they. In their bigotry, were ca
pablc of rejecting and crucifying the
Messiah their integrity as "A nation
was utterly obiterated. Even to this
day, however the race bears wit
ness to the thoroness of the reforma-
tion accomplished by the severe or
deal of Babylon. ana the race that
has no home stands out in all ma
tons of earth as separate and dis
tinct people.
1t is hardly correct to say that God
visited punishment upon his people.
True, he permitted il to be done,
thru the agency OF pagan imperialists,
but the cause OF Judah's downfall
was not accounted for in this way.
I Before the captivity " nation had
become SO rotten intyH ally that it
had not the vigor To resist aggression
and made itself an easy prey. Thus,
i'bod had foretold them that such
/
not the Jewish people themselves
more directly responsible for the
downfall than all the hosts of the
eastern monarch who came against
thom. Had shey been invigorated
and encouraged by a consciousness
of their own integrity and consequent
favor of Jehovah, all the movers of
Babylon would have been ineffective
to conquer them. That Is a good
rule of history. even where you leave
out OF consideration the direct inter
Nention of deity. that a nation strong
| in righteousness is practically un-
conquerable, while a nation debauched
| by greed for material gain and en-
| joyment OF luxury becomes by It's
own nature a potential victim of the
| conqueror. God does not have to
| visit punishment upon his people for
their own disregard of his prutec-
ton makes them easy prey for con-
quest II may look like splitting
hairs but after all has been said.
when We put God away from us. we
are to blame if he fails to defend
us from our enemies.
Another thing. the experience OF
/ the. captivity not only made over the
people in the theological sense in that
they no longer were tempted to 20
after false gods but they became pos
SeSScd of great ideal and. cling
ing to that ideal. became people
stalwart in the faith. They had
great leaders and these leaders turned
| the minds Of the people into the
channel of reverence for ideals. For
i'm fact. without ideals there is no
religion, there is no moral sense
there Is no hope of spiritual or inter
lectua progress. That these ideals
"A faFs hoo e..
obedience only shows the perverSity
LOT human thot When these idealist
leaders died and We're forgotten. the
nation lapsed into "a materialistic
reverence for rtualism and forgot
the spiritual substance. From the
extreme of forgetting God before the
captivity. they went to the other eX-
remc and made religion an outside
show and law obedience "A burden.
And they fell again. for no nation
ever became great except thru loyal
~ to ideals and none ever remained
great when those ideals were dis
carded. Grass materialism never
made nation great and powerful
FOR any length OF time. tho many
were made rich but the subsistence
OF reverence 'or the ideal always
marked the beginning of dissolution
ana ruin. God has SO made man that
without hope and faith to hang
to he loses ambition and morals as
well, ana a moral decline is sure
premonition of political decline.
As individuals we can see the force
of this conclusion even more clear
ly than in national affairs. The man
whose highest ambition is to accumu-
late worldly possessions and the one
who Graves most the qualification of
the wants OF the flesh is digging for
himself the pit into which he shall
fall and II is not Just to blame God
with having punished him when dis
aster comes, Like the Jewish ma
tion. he has invited disaster and only
gets what is coming TO him Every |
one or us needs the love of God to |
keep MS from the ruin we have IN
VOWED upon ourselves by sin. and |
whenever we make up our minds TO |
20 II alone on our own strength and !
not ask God for anything, that mo- |
ment we are slated TO hit the bottom |
OF the chute. in a moral. physical and |
spiritual sense. Divine help Is alb |
sobusely essential to mankind. and |
whenever we serve notice upon God
that we don't want his help. then we
are due To meet the calamity we |
deserve