The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-24
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
God is one of the divinest signs of H

BY Wv. T. ELLIS


God is one of the divinest signs of His
Godship.
The Preachers High Place.
Dignity and honor have attached to
the comings and goings of high COM
missions of the allied nations on these
shores. because they are the pleni-
pOtentiaries of their countries The
man who comes with the Voice or Go
on his lips, as the ambassador of the
Most High, should ever be accorded
honor if His Master is to be pleased
One of the remarkable indictments
aga inst Zedekiah is that He humble1
not himself for Jehovas the prophet
That looks as if the preacher is great
er than the king. So thought John
Knox when he Numbered before
Queen Mary So think the brave
prophets of today, who, unafraid OF
evil in high places, do not withhold
the Thus saith the Lord" that has
been delivered unto them.
This fearless facing of sin, in rulers
and in people is one of the marked
signs of the new patriotism of the
times. The state of mind of the best
citizens is one of utter honesty with
actual condition; they are willing to
hear and tell the truth, however ugly.
about church and state and counting
house and home In the cause OF true
, reform the part of the seer is pre-
eminently important; we can get
and governors better than we can get
along without genuine preachers of
the truth of God.
This word needs to be said in a day
when there is a pronounced tendency,
as in Judah of old, to mock the mes
senger of God. to despise His Word
| and to scott at His prophets. Every
| half-fledged youth about town, with
| never an original thought in his head.
feels at perfect liberty to sit in judg-
\ I,
and the ministry. The way the friv-
| olous make light of those things be-
| fore which the profoundest minds in
| history have bowed down reverently.
reminds one that the weak and foolish
Zedekiahs are not all dead yet. The
| person who lacks reverence, lacks the
first essential of greatness.
EssayiSts have seriously raised the
question in the light of recent revela-
lions in the social and commercial, as
well as in the political world, wheth-
er the sense of honor among men and
women is dying out. There is more
than a little evidence for the affirma-
/ tive side. Thes man who would break
! his business before he would break
| his word or break faith with the peo-
pie, is not SO conspicuous as he once
| was-because he is moro common.
The seriousness OF the lack of high
sense of honor is perceived only by the
| honorable; this Book which is mans
best code of ethics writes it down in
| black. Zedekiah's breach of faith
offense. with his broken pledge to
| Nebuchadnezzar. The spacious rea-
soning may have been that his cove
nant was with an enemy; neverthe-
less, it was a covenant, and even God
despiSes< the man who can not be hon.
| ora BILE even with his foe. The officer
who breaks his parole to 4. victor, is
as guilty of conduct unbecoming to an
officer and a gentleman as he who
! betrays his flag for the sake of his
own fortune. This high sense of per-
sonal honor and duty was lacking in
Saul, the first of the kings of the
Jews, and it was absent from the last;
in both cases to the shame and suf-
fering of the people.
"The End Thereof"
The end of it all, sins sure issue,
was destruction. Nebuchednezzar took
Jerusalem, wrought terrible destruc-
ton upon it and it's people, without
regard to age, sex or station. and
made captive the fleeing king. Be-
fore he put out Zedekiah's eyes he
made him witness the death of his
sons, the last picture that should re-
main on the brain of the miserable
monarch as he languished to death in
prison. The royal treasures and the
temple furnishings were carried with
the captives to Babylon. Even the
Ark of the Covenant disappears from
/ history at this time.
The fierceness and the duration of
this siege of Jerusalem and the COM
pleteness of it's destruction are pic
tured only in a few bold strokes by
the Scriptures Simplicity charac-
terizes this book, which always sug-
gests more than it tells, thus becom-
ing the worlds greatest treasure
house of ideas. Pages and volum es
of description could be written
have been written-upon the fall of
Jerusalem. But the bare narrative is
enough for the purpose of showing
that there is way that seemeth
right to man. but the end thereof are
the ways of DEATH
The wreck of Judah is the picture
of the wreck of a lost soul. 1t is hard
to believe that physical beauty, men
tai attractiveness and natural grace of
youth can change into loathsomeness
because there is associated with these
things no love of God. Yet Jerusalem,
a city wondrously beautified, became a
desolation, an establishment, a kissing
and a curse. Sin enticing in its be-
ginning always issues in responsiveness
and death. 1t contains in itself the
sure causes of decay. The wages of
sin is DEATH"
The Self Mastered Life.
Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young