The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-14
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
BY Wv. L. ELLIS
BY w. t. ELLIS

For September Is is: 1.-The Fiery Fur
nace."-Daniel 8.
Three Heroes Who Would Not Strike
Their Flag.
At sunset one evening, few years
| ago. 1 stood upon the highest point
in the ruins of the palace of Ne
buchadnezzar in old Babylon, and
looked out over the desolate Mesopo-
tamian desert that once was the
proud capital of the whole world.
The soil is red within the city and
grey without; and that is almost the
only sign by which observer can
tell where the city began or ended.
The barrenness of this waste is so
/ complete that only the inspired i'm
picture it. For when the prophecies
were penned, these dead fields were
teeming with life.
Somewhere out on this plain there
once stood a golden image of a god,
| probably Marduke, whose ruined tenn
pie is yonder hillock. 1t rose ninety
! feet high, shimmering beneath the
rainless sky 1 tried to imagine this
now dreary stretch of desert as the
scene of an imperial function like
unto a British coronation. We fail to
get the setting of this story unless we
conceive of it in some such terms.
1t involved the apex of the career of
of the empire were drawn upon to
enhance it's magnificence. Oriental
love of pomp and pageantry actuated
| it. The sycophancy of an autocrat' S
court quickened hands and brains to
do honor to the king. All the varied
ofhclalS of a far-f1ung dominion, each
with his own full paraphernalia and
attendants of state adorned the occa-
sion.
Men Who Stood Alone.
So Unsuitable is the vanity Of an
oriental monarch, that Nebuchadnez-
Ear decreed a universal, simultaneous
| prostra ton in honor of the image
which he had set up, at a given signal
Ihe stopping of all the wheels of IN
dustry and traffic at a set hour in
memory of President Mckinley was
remarkable feat but it did not ap-
proah Babylonian proportions. That
was a free-will expression of ii sor-
rowing people; this was compulsory
action, at the behest of an absolute
autocrat, who wanted to look on i
vast sea of humanity billowing in
obelsance to him and his image. A
nation on its knees-the thought was
one to stir the pulses of Nebuchadnez-
Ear.
As a stab in his pride, spiteful
rumor quickly brought to his ears the
sinister news that three Jews, f9vor-
ties who stood high before him, had
failed to make the required obeisance
When others bent low, they stood up
right. The varying creeds of the
capital had subsequently bent the knee
to the kings favorite god. But these
stiff-necked Jews had endangered
their jobs and their lives by stand
ing rigid amid the multitude of prone
worshipers.
Keeping Flags Flying.
An uncouth saying declares a
Scriptural truth: God Almighty
hates a gutter" Stronger language
than that is used by the Old Tesla
ment to characterize disloyal ard un-
grateful persons, who go directly back
son deliberately flies flag. he
should stand by it. That is The great
thing in life. Dying is a small mat
ter as compared with deserving ones
post or principles. The three young
Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, may not have lone the
; polite" thing that day, but they die
the princely thing. The mob thai
bowed to the image is forgotten: it is
as lost as the image itself. But the
three young men are a heritage o!
heroism for the world.
That spirit of fearless independence
is rarer than we like to think A few
years ago the mad mob spirit burst
from its home in the lawless pit, and
seized upon the quiet church-goine
| d.
the bulk of the American population
had reverted to a condition of saw
, agery; and the foul and inexcusable
murder they committed remains as g
hideous blot upon the name of Penn
sylvania and America. 1t was only one
more instance of the witless, willess
crowd weakly worshiping before the
hours idol. Amid the four Thousand
who participated in, or assentingly
witnessed, the fiendish torture of q
wounded murderer. there was not &
single person with manhood enough
to say, Il serve law and order anC
justice; I will not bend the knee t.
mob rule and the violation of all tina
: civilization esteems sacred" If there
had been only one such man, Coates
ville's nobler citizenship might have
. rallied around him and declared, ''Thi:
man represents us and not these out
laws" Every day, in some degree
affords opportunity for the proving Of
real manhood, and for the flying o.
noble flags.
Shamu at Babylon.
Not the high and honorable onl,
are required to be true to theil
; high calling. 1 found myself wei.
coined at Babylon by the German ex-
cavators there solely because I wal
introduced by my servant, Shamu, oi
Bagdad- They did not know me, but
} him they knew; and when he, who
ndO lTaVeleQ with me thru nara weeks
vouched for me l was welcome. Fol
Shamu has a name for faithfulness
this is not the place to tell the story
, of how often he has faced death rath.
er than desert his employer. A wide
! region honors this humble servant oil
the highway, because in matters high
or low he is faithful to his trust
Nothing else in life counts like this
To have, like the three young He
brews, some convictions that can new
, err be abandoned, whatever the cost
is to have got hold of the secret o.
true manhood. What if all parent
, could be certain, as they send forth
their sons. that, befall what may
they will be incapable of dishonor
would it not give peace to many /;
loving heart that is now torn will
anxiety? There are many such yount
men: the last of them did not di.