The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-26


Than ali the iosts OF land and sea.
So let me render back again :.
This-millionth OF Thy gift- Amen-
Making Motives Mightier.
1t has taken a great motive, one
coincident with heavens law. to send
10 France more than a million and a
half of troops from the United States
and Canada, in 4 steadily growing
stream. Only the propulsion OF
purpose Of divine proportions coulo
create such armies, of such spirit.
as are now facing the forces of autoc-
racy in France today. Equal, or
greater, motives are necessary to bring
to pass In civil life the new conditions
that are essential. For the nome
land. as well as for the fighting forces.
the cry must be, 1T is the will OF
God" The supremacy of human OBJ
legation to obey our divine Lord must
grip all hearts in newness or present
reality. Gods right to rule, and mans
right to obey, should emerge fresh and
clear from this world of cataclysm.
Otherwise our case is hopeless. Elk
cept we erect sure standards for Socl-
ETY. that will lift all the people up to
a plane approximating the level of our
fighting men, we shall have suffered
social and religious defeat in. the war.
What avafls it to the world If we save
Belgium, but lower the standards of
chastity in Britain and America? NO
battlefield glory can be a compersa-
ton for the unrebuked rise Of the
profiteer and politicians in the home
lands. Should lawlessness be permit
ted to increase among our young peo-
Pile at home, our teaching of the law
to Germany would be a farce. Are we
to let our soldiers become cosmcpo-
lites, while we persist in our paro-
chialism or provinciaiism? Shall we
| indulge in an orgy of luxury and
nd-thriftery. while our boys over
there make the supreme sacrifice? Is
| it thinkable that munition and supply
| and ship and other war workers at
home shall decrease their industry and
efficiency. at the same time greatly in
creasing their wages, while our SOL
diers, by superhuman efforts, pay the
| last, full measure of devotion?" Are
| the personal ideals of our people be-
| coming nobler or baser, as result of
| the war?
Questions like these show how ur-
gent is the necessity for pressing home
the acceptance of standards that are
fixed. universal and eternal. In other
words, they reveal the importance of
letting God take His rigttful place as
| King and Lawgiver. A new passion
| for the right in our own lives must
come to US. This vivid sense of JUS
tice will not only intensity our con-
| domination for all "slackers'' and So
oial and political as well as CONNER
cial profiteers, but it will also set men
and women afire with eagerness to
| realize in their own lives the will of
God.
The Swede's Telephone.
As countless of our boys have
found themselves" in the discipline
of army life. so lives beyond number
| have learned that perfect freedom
comes by allegiance to the clear will
of God. Obedience is the path Of fe-
| licity- Everything else is right when
we are right with God. An Oregon
Swede is said to have given this quaint
testimony:
II have all my lifetime been an in
fidel, and the Lord had hard job to
save a poor old Swede man, but He
did save me, and put a little telephone
in my heart and the other ind in
hiven. Sometimes He say to me.
| Hello. Larsen and I say 'Hillo:' and
den He speak to me so schveet, and
den must be careful dat 1 don't cut
up no prank to break dat little wire
what brung de message, for 1 find we
can have good deal of fun wild God
II we behave ourself"
Doing the will is more important
than confessing the creed. by Jesus's
own declaration. AS an old writer
says, the Lords sheep are marked on
the ears and the feet: they hear His
voice and they follow Him. Christ
rebuked stingingly those who called
Him Lord, Lord" but did not the
things He commanded them.
War is throwing on to the scrap
heap great many institutions and
| usages. We who are jealous for the
church do not realize how much that
we have deemed sacred is to go the
way of old junk. UNCONVENTIONAL
peculiarities. churchly practices, minor
! organlzationS-the countless wheels
within wheels, to keep which turning
| engross IS so much of the power of
tcrIf
tie left for the real output of chan ed
lives-the-e are destined to pass. The
| church after the war will be a simpler
organization, with far less machinery,
fewer salaried officers, lower main
tenance cost, less unholy competition,
and only small degree of self-com-
placency- 1t will be a body of hum
bled and chastened disciples of Jesus,
| bent upon doing the VIII of God n
the welfare of man. The Christians of
tomorrow will have new zeal for the
| honor of the Lord, and for the fulfill
ment of His ministry.
Two quotations from an army chap
lain, the Rev. Godfrey Gordon, ap-
propriately close this lesson: IF the
| VIII of God is 1.-erely a matter of
opinion, no single individual can have
great conf lence that his own prayers
are mure worth while than the pray
e.s of some one else who is offering
them with precisely contrary intent.
| But for those who believe in Chris
tianity. tie will of God is no longer a
r after of mere guesswork, and it is
in no way dependent upon our inn
agininss The nature and character
of God has ben spread out before us.
In Christ. God is revealed as a per-
son with will of His own, a will that
is ascertainable-a will that is like
Christ's will. 1t does not matter that
hostile nations use to Him the same
words and apply to Him the same
titles Prayer. however worded, how
ever addressed, is not prayer in the
name of Christ unless it is a laying
of our wills in line With Gods will. as
that will has been revealed to us IN
Christ Believing in the justice of the
cause n which we fight, convinced
that its ium .oh is in accordance with
HIS will, the fact that others pray to
Hi, for its defeat will disturb us not