Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-11-15

ltest, to thee Will l give 1t and to
thy seed; and thy seed shall be as
the dust of the earth, and thou shalt
spread abroad to the west and to
the east, and to the north, and to the
south, and in thee and in thy seed
shall all the families of the earth
be blessed. And behold, 1 am with
thee. and will keep thee whitherso-
ever thou goest, and will bring thee
again into this land; for l will not
leave thee until l have done that
which have spoken to thee off,
On this experience of Jacob is
based Sarah f. Adams famous
hymn:
Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be
Nearer my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
There let the way appear,
Steps unto heaven;
All that Thou send'st to me
In mercy given:
Angels to beckon me
Nearer my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Then, with my waking thoughts
Bright with Thy praise,
oul VI NY sunny 6AAOAo
Bethel I'll raise;
So by my woes to be
Nearer my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
The Penitent'S Vow
AS the starving one dreams of
food, as the wanderer thinks of
home, as the prodigal recalls his
fathers house, as the sinner longs
for virtue, so Jacob, the schemer
saw in his dream that which was
to him most desirable. And the
dream tremendously influenced his
life. 1t brought him back sudden
self in the light of the presence of
Jehovah.
There is traffic between heaven
and earth. Mortal experiences have
an immortal outreach.. God is con-
cerned in the affairs of man. He
has his messengers climbing unseen
ladders between the spiritual realms.
What Jacob foresaw in a dream has
come to be the supreme reality of all
existence. God has drawn near to
us in the person of his own sent
Son, our Saviour. Through him we
may have closer, surer contact with
the eternal world than came to ia
cob at Bethel.
In these days of long casualty
lists, of confusion, suffering, per-
plexfty and war, we all need the re-
assurance that came to Jacob, that
God is not uninterested. He is not
a cold and distant Deity, standing
apart and remote, Indifferent in his
ineffable majesty. BY all of his om-
nipotent .resourcefulness, God Is
pressing himself and his comfort
and his inspiration upon a sore
hearted world.
He wants mankind to find him in
these days of darkness. If the war
should be the occasion of q great
spiritual awakening, of a turning to
the Father, and of a readjustment of
life to his purposes, it will have
been abundantly justified. No price
is too high to pay for the boon OF
finding God.
The spot where we have had an
unique spiritual experience is soul
shrine. Oriental-wise, Jacob mark
ed the scene of his dream with a
memorial stone. His pillow became
a pillar. That which had helped him
sleep became a means to awaken re-
membrance. That spot, like every
other where man meets his Maker,
became a house of God, a gate of
heaven.
A Made-Over World
This great experience did not
make a saint of Jacob. He had a
long way yet to go on that journey.
But 1t did change his direction. His
soul was searched. God became a
new factor in his life. He mad learn
ed to reckon with the infinite veri-
ties. 1t would need some hard liv-
ing, a further fright, and an ever
more intimate and personal expert
character completely.
Jacobs VOW, after his vision,
seems pitifully inadequate. He had
seen the heavens opened. He had
heard the voice of Jehovah. A vista
of benign providence had been
spread before him. Still, all that
he asked, was merely safety for this
Journey, and food and clothes. His
VOW, or bargain, was not on a lofty
plane, it had no spiritual implica-
tions. If God would take care of
him physically he would serve God,
and give him tenth of his income!
Nevertheless. Jacob was on the
way to a new character. In world
full of Jacobs, with self-seeking and
injustice and oppression rampant,
millions of persons are to-day Won
dering how we are going to assure
a new world order. The funda-
mental problem Is one affecting hu-
man nature. It is not enough to
break German armament, If Ger
man aims abide. The motives of
miIitarism and materialism are
more of a menace than is mere
might. We cannot create success
fully a league of altruistic nations.
II the parties thereof are the same
scheming sort as we used to know.
The Jacob problem is really the
world problem to-day. We have
to change human nature.
'It can't be DONE" says the man
of the world. All, but it has been
done, and it is being done, and 1t
will be done. on increasingly large
scaIe. But only the goodness and
Krace of God can do 1t. Except the
world first meet God, in a personal
transaction and relationship, it can
not meet the needs of a new day.
Converted men and women are the
only sure route to a transformed
human society.
General Foch recently said to an
American visitor: I'VE cannot main
tain the ideals of liberty and justice,
whether in war or in peace. without
faith in Christ, for He was the great