The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-03
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
BY w. T. ELLIS


clean speech; all who put to innocent
lips the cup of strong drink; all who
IN any way guide the steps of begin
ners into the way of the transgressor.
Better thousand fold for such an
one to have a milestone tied around
his neck, and be cast into the depths
of the sea-
A good man gone bad is the worst
man; Manasseh made the Jews worse
than the heather whom the Lord had
destroyed for their badness. Perhaps
this is the law of extremes or by
whatever name it is called, its out
work has been witnessed by every
body The occasional drinker hen
intoxicated is far worse than the
regular topper; for scurrilousness, the
renegade member of the Sunday school
may be worse than the graduate of
the slums. They who fall from high
places, fall farthest. Every good per-
son needs to tremble lest he should be
tempted and fall, knowing that if he
does fall he will fall far.
How God Gets Even.
OF all the follies of foolish man the
worst is to believe that he can outwit
God. That is one thing which Jeho-
yah can never permit, for it would
overthrow His throne of Godhood. If
God is God, He must reign He cannot
be defied, or denied. or defeated. His
laws must prevail, His will must be
done. That is why he is strongest
who plants his life on the eternal
principles, which have thei- springs
inEhe nature of the Infinite. Justice
is sure, because God reisns.
ManaSSeh Who was brought to
terms when he would give no heed to
warhing-ah, the pitiful folly of the
wrong doors who are bind to their
own end!-for God cleaned up Judah
with the brocm of Assyris Many a
patient saint in Jerusalem cried aloud
n a oh ND hny
longv before the wrongs O. his time
were righted. just as many men have
worn out their heart n bitterness,
while the financial and political evils
doom, thrive prosperously The mills
of God grind slowly, but they never
cease to grind. Whoever offends
against God or His laws must one day
meet the inevitable hour G. reckon
ing.
A Lesson Hardly Learned.
Affections had to be visited upon
Manasseh before he would turn to the
Lord. Most men will not look up I'M
til God has thrown them PROSTATE,
on their backs, says the Ram
Horn" yet God may be counted upon
to persist until He has taught us that
He is God. The secret of many hard
experiences in life is this: the Lord
is trying to make us understand His
Godship.
/
| in affliction the heart of man turns
to his Creator. When disease or dis
aster clutches these mysterious bodies
| of ours, we instinctively cry aloud to
| their Maker as their only Member. In
extremity the soul always looks up.
| And God hears. That is the won
derful thing about God. HE is kind
to the unthankful and to the evil. -
Even Manasseh, the unspeakable, the
seducer of nation, was heard and
4 Co. Iii -r...tc-
for none CT US dare ask for justice;
| he got the infinite mercy that resides
only with the Omnipotent. Nobody
but God would have heard and for
given him. It was characteristic of
the God of his fathers. The one who
made covenant with Abraham, HE
heard Manasseh's supplication, and
brought him again to Jerusalem, into
his kingdom So the story signifi-
cantly closes. Then Manasseh knew
that Jehovah, He was God"
Unfriendly to Ones Self.
Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young
Peoples Societies--Christian En-
deaver, Etc.-For August s.: How
! 14:21; Ps. 1:16.
The rule of the world is to ''look
out for number one" Nothing could
be more antagonistic than this to the
| teachings of Christ. His greatest doc
trine, the underlying principle of all
His words and deeds. was that of
self-sacrifice, looking out for number
/ two. Therefore He has given us the
plain message that to save our lives
we must sacrifice them.
There is no help for it; the law is
! eternal and ever-operative: If a man
/ loves his life he shall lose it. Selfish
ness is death The converse of the
/ proverb that 1.-THE liberal soul shall be
made fat is equally true: The selfish
soul shall be made thin. When unset
fishness ends, death begins. The self
conferred person has within him the
germ of decay.
Call the roll of the mighty men of
God. Look closely into the life of
each hero as he responds. Without
exception you will find that these
great ones like the elders about the
thru much tribulation. Are we will
ing to follow in their train?
Sin never satisfies. All of its pleas
remorse, to eat out the heart and TO
make the soul hate itself. There is no
contentment in sin. Those who live
/ in wickedneSS must go from sin unto
sin, seeking a delight that is never
found until life's direction is changed
and the foot of the blood stained cross
is reached.
! Life's sweets are tasted not by him
who gets, but by him who gives.
Even Christ pleased not himself,
and yet the fullest, truest and best life
1 ever lived on earth was the life of
Christ. And if we would know the
secret, humanity speaking, of the
power and permanence of that peer
| less career, we must read under every
act of the Saviour, from Nazareth to
! Calvary, the words "Self-surrender."
We cannot possibly like Christ until
we are willing to the uttermost de-
3 gree to give up our own lives and
/ wills.
To make self-indulgence life's aim
is to reach the brute level.