Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-24

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death was there in the Kingdoms s
BODY. 1t Is the stern law of nature
ana or God that any powers unused
become lost. The greatest tragedies
OF our times are not those which find
thelr way into the newspapers; they
are the hidden tragedies of human
| spirits, as when man discovers that
he has by neglect lost his taste for
all the higher things, and for God.
! spiritual deadness is a calamity far
| oVershadowing the stoppage of
preath, the disappearance from the
BODY of the mysterious vital spark.
judah was not wholly dead, but
so nearly so that only extreme
measures could save the remnants.
| so God wiped her off His slate as q
nation. In His dire punishment Je-
hoVah was still dealing with the
Chosen People is with His sons. He
mad to do a parents hardest duty
! punish His own. To lift up. He had
ilrst to cast down. Nothing short
OF national destruction and exile
could teach the nation the sin and
| folly of idolatry. And, bitter as was
the lesson, the Jews learned it; after
the exile they never returned to this
sin which had cursed the people
from the days of the wilderness to
the fall of the royal dynasty. After
all, no price is too great to pay to
| learn the exceeding sinfulness of
| sin.
America, say many voices, has
been soft" She has lost her spiF-
| itual sensitiVenesS and ancient ideal
ism. Luxury and self-indulgence
have entered into her spirit like a
canker. Now comes the surgery of
war with its healing. We may lose
many precious lives, but we shall
surely find our souls.
Even in the act of blotting out
the national life for a time, we are
given rare indication of the long
patience and eager affection of God,
for Jehovah pictured as rising up
early and sending, because He had
compassion on His people, The for
bearance of God is one of the divin-
est signs of His Godship.
The Preachers High Place
Dignity and honor have attached
to the comings and goings of high
commissions of the allied nations on
these shores, because they are the
plenipotentiaries of their countries.
The man who comes with the Voice
of God on his lips, as the ambassa-
dor of the Most High, should ever be
accorded honor If His Master is to be
pleased. One of the remarkable in
dictments against Zedekiah is that
He humbled not himself for Jeho-
vas the prophet" That looks as if
the preacher is greater than the
king. So thought John Knox, when
he thundered before Queen Mary.
J day, who, unafraid of evil in high
| places, do not withhold the THUS
saith the Lord" that has been de-
| livered unto them.
This fearless facing of sin, in rul-
ers and in people, is one of the mark
cd 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, ug-
ly, about church and state and count
ing house and home. In the cause
of true reform the part of the seer
Is pre-eminently important; we can
get along without kings and presi-
dents 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 ten
dency, as In Judah of old, to mock
| the messenger of God, to despise Hia
! Word and to scoff at His prophets.
Every half-hedged youth about town,
with never an original thought in
his head, feels at perfect liberty to
SIT IN judgment upon religion and
the church and the ministry The
way the frivolous make light of
those things before which the pro-
foundest minds in history have bow
ed 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 reve-
lations in the social and commercial.
as we'll as in the political world.
whether the sense of honor among
men and women is dying out. There
is more than little evidence for the
| afilrmatiVe side. The man who would
break his business before he would
break his word or break faith with
the people, is not so conspicuous as
he once was-because he is more
common. The seriousness of the lack
OF high sense of honor is perceived
only by the honorable; this Book
winch Is mans best code of ethics
writes 1t down III black. Zedekiah's
preach of faith with Jehovah is
linked, as cardinal offense. with
his broken pledge to Nebuchadnez-
Ear. The specious reasoning NAV
have been that his covenant was
with an enemy; nevertheless. it was
a covenant, and even God despises
the man who can not be honorabIe
even with his foe. The officer who
| breaks his parole to a 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 ner-
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
suffering of the people.
"The End Thereof"
The end of it all, sins sure issue
was destruction. Nebuchednezzar
took Jerusalem, wrought terrible de-
struction upon 1t and its peonle
without regard to age, sex or sta.
ton, and made captive the fleeing
king. Before he put out ZedekIah's
eyes he made him witness the death
of his sons, tho last picture that
should remain on the brain of the
miserable monarch as he languished
to death in prison. The royal treas
uries and the temple furnishings
were carried with the captives 10
Babylon. Even the Ark of the Cove
nant disappears from his story at
this time.
The f1erceness and the duration of
this siege of Jerusalem and the com
pleteness of its destruction are pic-
tured only In few bold strokes bv
the Scriptures. Simplicity Character
ICES this book, which always sug-
gests more than it tells, thus becom-
ing the worlds greatest treasure
house of ideas. Pages and volumes
of description could be written