The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-14
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
For February 6 is "The Ten Com
EXODUS 20:1-17.
When War indicated Right.
| New and Advanced thought and
isrns are rampant today, some of them
! being more concerned with the color
of the effiorescence of a persons soul
| than with his conduct as a citizen and
neighbor; more jealous that he should
have aesthetic emotions than that he
| should pay his grocer's bill. Contrari-
| wise, the old-fashioned Decalogue
! faces the hard facts of everyday
I world conditions and of human ma
| ture. The Commandments not only
lay down mans obligation to the Su
| preme Being, but they also take for
granted that people must live to-
| gether; that the hermit life is not nor
NAL; and that, since men and women
have got to live in the society of one
another, they must squarely confront
and deal with problems that arise out
| of these relationships.
In a word, these Commandments
! are not a prescription for preachers,
but program for plain people. They
assume that everybody should live his
own life at the best-and give his
neighbor a chance to do the same.
The law postulates personality; it
| never intended that one should efface
1
/ goody-goodiness which SIS sometimes
mistaken for virtue.
| man possessed by single big
! idea is a far greater force than one
who holds to many petty notions. A
| great conception makes a life great.
| The person who has one dominant
| purpose outstrips all others in Iife's
race. Believe something tremen-
dously'' is good advice for the young.
There is a deep principle underlying
| haf IUh lob !,
| got Israel face to face with himself,
! for the purpose of laying down the
| supreme law, he should put first the
truth of his own existence and char
acter.
In a hundred ways this busy world
of today is being made aware of the
| truth that there is a God; and that
He is a God of justice, as we'll as of
mercy. There has been a tendency
| among practical, men to regard cd
as a soft, uncaring spirit. not greatly
dissimilar from the bit of jelly which
| certain scientists would substitute for
an infinite Creator. BY the ordeal of
4 battle we have learned that the right
eouS law of God is more important
than the tranquility of prosperity or
even the very existence of individuals
and nations.
| When person gets out of adjust
| ment with this big cardinal truth he
| quickly finds himself askew with re-
Spect to the common moralities. Keep
| central the truth with respect to God.
and life may radiate farSin every di-
| rection. Every year the legislatures
and parliamentS of civilization are
ciety's codes; but the real need is not
| for laws, but for clearer perception
| of mans obligation to the eternal, self
existent, all-wise, a1l-powerful and all
| pervading Creator. who is also Father
of the human family and its supreme
| Lawgiver.
spiritual" But Not Moral.
No good officer coddles his soldiers;
no able executive secures efficiency by
| surrendering his owl authority If
| there be a Supreme Being, with a
| right to lay down laws for mankind,
then he must be supreme indeed; and
the first commandment is seen to be
inevitable: Thou shall have no other
gods before me- If Jehovah bs God.
He must command the prerogatives of
the solitary, supreme Deity. No think
ing man would care to worship a god
who did less.
Nobody doubts this. Real infide1ity
is rare. The dangerous. widespread
and subtle practical infidelity is this,
| however: 1t assentsto Gods godship,
and this disregards Him. Now a God
believed, but disobeyed, may or may
not visit punishment hereafter, but
He certainly works moral disaster to
the character of the individual.
Hypocrisy is the deadliest sin, for it
atrophies the soul. Better an honest,
acknowledging atheist than a profess
ing Christian deliberately living life
at variance with the moral law.
A wholesome revolt against this sort
Of shining, especially in high places, is
sweeping over the world. The cry of
one analyst, TOO many men are spir-
itual who are not moral is COM
manding serious thought. Society in
creasingly perceives the incongruity of
such not uncommon spectacles as one
which L myself have witnessed: A ia
nous churchman's name cheered in an
ecclesiastical gathering, but actually
Kissed by his own employees. The war
has aroused all mankind to the con-
viction that righteousness must come
first.
Because Jehovah is not a little god,
but the Great God deserving and de-
string direct worship and allegiance
and Jealous of aught that would come
between Him and the hearts of His
people, His finger wrote on the stony
tablet the second great Command
ment, Thou shalt not make upon
thee craven image, nor the likeness
of any form that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth /;
| thou shall not bow down myself unto
them nor serve them: for I the Lord
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquities of the fathers upon the chill
dren, upon the third and upon the
1ourth SeneratlOn OF them tnat nate
me; and showing mercy unto thou
sands of them that love me and keep
my commandments"
That is spoken like God sure of
himself and his rights, and one of
all-embracing vision and large pur-
poses. Whoever stoops to idolatry-
be it idolatry of the golden eagle, self,
or of some other petty object of wor-
ships bound to have reckoning
with the Almighty, who is beyond all
power of representation, and who will
share his throne with none.
Religious Profanity.
In the army there has been a great
deal of profanity; most of it thought
less and not Intentionally irreverent,