The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-18
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON

1 W. II
LESSON 4
| BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS. H
For October 20 is abraham Giving
Isaac to God"-Genesis 22:1-14.
Tho Call for Our Sons.
Secretary Daniels tells of recent
visit to the naval hospital in Brooklyn,
where he saw returned marine, with
one log off. A relative had said to
the lad, after hearing his enthusiastic
account of the battle, But it's too bad
you lost your leg"
Il did not lose my leg" responded
the marine; II gave it,"
That is the spirit which makes
great saints and great soldiers. 1t Is
the spirit which has wrought miracles
in our lands at war. Surrender and
sacrifice are the two wings by which
our people have risen to new attitudes
of life. We have entered upon the
heights of possibilities of the human
soul, because we have learned to give
up all the things we priced most, even
including our sons.
| This is the mood that makes the
present lesson of Abraham's gift OF
| his son, Isaac on the altar of sacrifice
an appropriate and timely one. 1t is
| the same mood that sends our SOL
diers thronging to the sacrament of
! communion in camp and at the front
I know of boys about to sail from an
embarkation camp who asked a Y. M.
i C. A. man, shortly before midnight, If
they could have a communion service
that night. A chaplain was awakened.
| rejoicing at the opportunity, and he
prepared the ''Y'' hut for the sacra-
| ment. By the time he was ready,
| there were hundreds of soldiers quiet
ly gathered to partake of the memoir
| ialS of the supreme sacrifice, and the
service was impressive beyond words.
BY three o'clock that morning, the
| France.
When the Son Left Camp.
In the same address wherein he re-
lated the incident Of the soldier in the
Brooklyn hospital, Secretary Daniels
told another story, which dealt with
what he. termed the most sacred and
impressive. experience of his own life.
He had gone to Quantico. the marines
training camp, the night before a de-
| tachment of five thousand men were
| to embark for France. Long before
daybreak the men were aroused, and
a large proportion of them assembled
for farewell communion service
sharing, as they went forth in the
train of Christ. to offer their bodies. in
life or in death, to help redeem the
world, the memorials of the Redeem
er's supreme sacrifice.
The head of the American navy
had no thought at that moment of his
position and authority as the COM
mander of half a million men. and OF
untold ships. All the pomp and state
and circumstance OF his high office
were out of his thought. As he knelt
there in the fellowship of the sacra-
ment Che did not tell this part OF
his experience in public: 1 know i,
from other sources) he was but a
humble Christian, saved by the grace
of Christ; and a heart-sore father
parting from his first-born son. Fol
among the marines leaving that day
for the other side was the oldest sor
of the secretary of the navy. who hao
a few weeks before won his promotion
from the rank of private.
All over the world today there are
fathers and mothers sharing the
Abraham experience of offering uH
their sons. There is no parent who
sees his boy go forth to France who
docs not. in his imagination, picture
him as slain. Our sons are surren
dersd for the supreme sacrifice. II
this hour of holy dedication we over.
look the reassuring statistics that b,
far the greater number of soldiers will
. return safe and strong and emanci
pated to new manhood
Our allied nations are today unit
ed in the fellowship of the suprem,
| renunciation- Love has given of it.
best, to the highest and hottest Cause
We read with mellowed hearts tn,
, | Abraham story: and we enter into
new appreciation of the divine mean
ing of the inspired words, God 81
loved - that he gave his onI!
|. Son. What a spiritual epoch tn,
, world is passing thru! God forbid tina
, we should busy ourselves with tn,
merely material aspects Of the war
, and miss it's nobler. truer meanings.
Loyal to the Limit.
War has broken the crusts tina
seemed to hold life down to lower lev
els. A Nebraska boy in France CLOSED
a letter home with the rha psody, "Oh
my people, my America, 1 never knew
1 would love you as 1 love you now
A myriad of young women will ties
tify that their letters from Franc
breath an intensity and 1oftiness o
; passionate affection such as their Low
erS had never expressed before leav
t ing home. Sons write as parents new
er understood before that they felt
Home and friendship and old associa
tons have gained new preciousnes
since the separations Of war.
| Sonship meant more to Abraham
than ever before. when he bore Isaa'
up to the place Of sacrifice-Isaac
the comely, sweet-spirited, handsome
young man, who had reached the ag'
of the boys who are now burdenins
the bosom of the sea. en- route t.
france "A new conception Oh nov
much our sons mean to US has com'
to the parents who have, unreluctant
ly and loyalty, given their boys to TIL
flag, and to the cause which we pro
= foundry believe is identical with God
, Cause on earth. 1t seems as if oul
! sons were first Amounted with tn,
sacramental oil of sanctity and of hol.
affection before we laid them on oul
: country's altar. Voices break as WI
. sing, week after week,
God save our splendid men,
Send them safe home again,