The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-12
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
For July II Is Reading Gods Word.
Acts S:26-39; Ps. 18TH.
Truth That Tests the Times.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS

Truth That Tests the Times.
Over in Britain a visitor is i'm
pressed by the remarkable emphasis
that is laid upon the leadership of
President wilson. 1t is not in the
United States, but among our allies.
that one finds the clearest recognition
Of the place that this modest civilian
and ex-school teacher has made for
himself as the interpreter and voice
of civilizations highest conceptions
and convictions. He has rendered
articulate for all the allied nations the
profoun3e1t sentiments that animate
them in this gigantic struggle. All the
world around, in benighted Russia and
far Caucasia, Woodrow Wilson is a
name known and trusted and honored.
Whence comes this power and wis
dom? No school of professional
diplomacy trained this, man. He is
not witnessing the Towering of any
deep-Sown plans for wQrld-dominion
No combination of warriors or states
men has put him into his unique
position at the forefront of mankind.
Wherein, then, is the explanation?
i The answer is at hand. President
Wilson is a Scripture-saturated son
| of the manse. His ideals are those
of the Bible. His spirit is that of
| simple Chris .anity. He has dared
| international relations, The origin
/ of the new standards of statecraft. and
| of the essential aims of the allied
| nations in this war, is nothing less
| than the Bible.
Upon this point, Of the peculiar
place of the Bible. President Wilson
has put himself clearly and repeatedly
on record One may find his words
| hanging upon the walls of Young
Mems Christian association huts all
over France. Consider the pertinency
| of this quotation, from him: Il am
sorry for the men who do not read
| the Bible every day. I wonder why
they deprive themselves of the
strength and of the pleasure. 1t is
one of the mostssingular books in thu
world. for every time you open it
some old text that you have read a
score of times suddenly beams with a
| new meaning. There is no other book
| that I know of. of which this is true:
| there is no other book that yields its
meaning so personally, that seems to
/ fit itself so intimately to the very
| spirit that is seeking its guidance"
| Behind Wars Wheels.
! The world war colors our entire
! thinking. We see everything in Ella
| ton to this all-transforming struggle.
| When we seek to look dispassionately
upon the conflict itself, and to discern
| it's real causes anad issues, we behold
| that it has become a war for ideals
| that have come into the world with
| the New Testament. The common
thinking Of civilization has become SO
saturated with the teachings of Jesus
| that men deem His standards of right
| eou.ness and mercy and brotherhood
and good will supr -mely worth fight
ing for.
This growing book has a growing
power in our time. The explosion in
| Europe has blown up or shaken down
many conventional standards. But il
| has left the Bible in a new place of IN
fluence. Not merely is it true that
the publication and circulation of BIZ
bles has been vastly increased: some
of this is due to the zeal of home
| churches which have not yet felt the
real impact of the var, and some of it
is owing to a genuinely heightened e.
sire to read the Book. In a more gen.
| eral sense. the Bible has come TO its
own. The standards now accepted are
tho: Eiost clearly taught in the Scrip
lures.
Before the war. certain material
phil ophies claimed the right to SUI
persede the old volume. Where are
they now? The Christening experience
or these four years is driving human
hearts away from fads and .nnova-
tons and self-indulging theories to
the simplicities of the Book which has
given us what is best in our civiliza-
ton. Self-sa crifice. service of others,
high conceptions of conduct for men
and for nations. the sanctity of truth,
4 mercy to the weak. a lavish offering
up OF life upon the cross of a holy
cause-whence come such ideals as
those except from the Book of books ?