The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-09-05
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
By WILLIAM I. ELLIS.
! For September Is THE Kingdom of
God."-Matt. 13:31-S3, 44-5O.
Better Than BolshevIsm.

For September Z Is The Kingdom of
God."-Matt. 13;31-S3. 44-50.
Better Than Bolshevism.
A sense of humor, a sense of fair
ness, and sense of patriotism would
save all the world from the blight Of
BolsheviSm.
For Bolshevism is unavoidable, over
any large area and over any long pc
Rod of time, because il is merely au-
tocracy turned bottomside up. 1t car
ries the seeds of its own destruction
as truly as does the aristocratic order
which IT seeks to supplant; because
its motive power is not love, but self
ishness. Despite all our stupidities
and blunders, the mass of US are folks
with enough common sense to Know
that we cannot run the machinery OF
life with hate for a motor.
Everybody with a real mead on his
shoulders is asking himself why and
what Bolshevism is, and. since it ap-
pears bad. how the world may escape
it. The old order of life seems to
have been rejected by large proper
ton of mankind as not a success, from
the standpoint today. Something diff
ferent is desired. Myriads are seek
ing a new deal for mankind. Their
cry is that of Tennyson:
"Ah, when shall all mems good
Re each mans rule. and universal peace
Lie like a shaft of light across the land,
And like lane OF beams athwart the sea,
Thru all the circle OF the golden year,"
Reviewing the Nations
In a peculiar sense. L am in the
midst of this world ferment. I have
been travelling thru the very center
Europe to the turbulent regions of the
Near East, which the western world
knows best as Bible lands. 1t is my
work to investigate changing condi.
lions. If dared be one-sided I could
confine myself to the glorious eman-
| cipation effected by the Wharf.-The new
passion for liberty amid the ancient
submerged and oppressed people.
which, If given free expression. is the
surest of guarantees against Bolshe-
vism; the new breaking down or OLD
| isolations and anita gonisns, so that toll
erance and community spirit have
come into vital existence; the enlan-
| cipation of woman. so swift and dra-
matte as to be incomprehensible; the
emergence of spirit of social re-
sponsibility in the orient, as expressed
by the native orphanages; ana the
! awakening to the need of education
for all people. It is a shining page
that is to be written of what benefit
cent wonders have been wrought by
! the upheavals of recent years.
On the other hand. II dared be a
pessimist I could write a heart-sick-
ening tale of the persistence OF the old
arrogance OF Imperialism and self
| REIMBURSEMENT on the part of nations
/ whom the war should have taught bet
| ter; of the unchastened spirits OF peo-
| pies who have suffered most in the
past five years; of the ruthlessness OF
| business allied to politics; of the op-
preston of weak peoples; of heart
less and deadly profiteering; OF amaz-
! ing disregard by. Christian nations OF
sacred pledges; of the persistence, IN
! short. of the state of mind that made
possible the world calamity.
Birth Pangs or Death Throes.
! Jeremiahs are plentiful in the Near
East nowadays; and frequently have
! listened to men: mostly British off
GERS, expounding a rather popular
| theory that civilization is about to re-
vert to barbarism; and that. as one
man expressed it, "In ten years the
world will be back where it was three
| hundred years ago.
This raised the basic question. Are
the pains which society is now suf-
fering birth-pangs or death-throes
Is what is good in process of dying
or is something. still better now be-
ing born? Is the twilight hour in
! which. we dwell the forerunner OF
| sunrise, or is 1t the aftermath of sun
set and the portal of the worlds dark
est night?
Faith and facts unite to convince
the care1ul, OnpanlCky observer Indl
"The best is yet to be.
| The last of life, for which the first was
made"
4 Something new and wonderful is COM
ing to pass which may be called by
many beautiful names, but the truest
of them is the kingdom of God. An
! all-wise, cver-ruling and beneficent
Being is working out his glorious pur-
| poses for man. The earth is under
going sort of divine housecleaning;
! and because we had accumulated sc
much rubbish (some of which we ig-
4 norantly esteemed to be priceless heir
looms), there is a deal of dust raised
and vast quantities of hoary posses
4 sions are being sent to the trash
heap. But when house cleaning is
/ over this will be a wonderful world
in which to live.
Getting the Big idea.
One who tries to keep his visior
clear to study the times in which he
moves is troubled by the prevalence
OF petty programs. and by the fail.
ure of so many persons to discern this
real bigness of the issue involved
| Every. social panacea that has evei
been evolved no matter how absurd
/ or lawless, Is now being brought
solemnly forward as a cure-all for the
present world disorder.
| Whereas. the real truth lies on the
surface. as we'll as at the heart of the
most complex phenomena-namely
that only the Kingdom of heaven idea