The Topeka state journal., 1919-06-27


the Father above, if haply they may
find Him. Who shall say that the
God who spoke at Sinai does not also
speak to devout seekers at the neigh
boring mountains of Mecca?
Back to the Book.
Fer three months. the thirty mill
lion Sunday school members OF tha
world have been studying fundamen-
tai religious topics from the Bible.
They, too, have 5een followers of the
quest. Many have personally found
God in this time. He has become to
them "a living. bright reality" Who
soever goes with open mind AMI SEEK
ing heart to this Book of Books is
sure to meet God therein.
This, then, is the central thought
of the days lesson. Gods way is
shown by Gods word. In the back
of my Bible l find a clipping report
ing an address of President Wilson,
delivered at Denver in 1911. which
is more pertineAt to this review than
anything 1 could write. Nobody
dreamed, back n 1911, than in less
than ten years the speaker would be
the worlds outstanding figure; and
that his ideals would be reshaping
the entire social order.
What Mikes America Great.
I'VE do not judge progress by ma
terial standards. America is not
ahead of the other nations of the
world because she is rich. Nothing
makes America great except her
thoughts, except her ideals, except
her acceptance of those standards OF
Judgment which are written largely
upon these pages of revelation. Amer
lea has all along claimed the distincs
ton of setting this example to the civ
ilized world-that men were to think
of one another, that governments
were to be set up for the service of
the people, that men were to be
judged by these moral standards
which pay no regard to rank or birth
or conditions, but which assess every
man according to his single and in
dividual value. This is the meaning
| of this charter of the human soul
This is the standard by which men
and nations have more and more
come to be judged.
THAT is the reason that the Bible
has stood at the back of progress
That is the reason that reform has
come not from the top but from the
| bottom.
"A tree is not nourished by its
| bloom and by its fruit. 1t is nour-
| ished by its roots, which are down
deep in the common and hidden soil,
and every process of publication and
rectification comes from the bottom
mot from the top. 1t comes from
the masses of struggling human be-
| ings. 1t comes from the instructive
efforts of millions of human hearts
trying to beat their way up into ths
light and into the hope of the future.
Those are the sources of strength, and
1 pray God that these sources may
| never cease to be spiritualized by this
immortal subjections of these words
of inspiration of the Bible. II any
i statesman, sunk in practices which
~ -fwa a
book he will go to his prayers
abashed.
A Scholar Upon Literature.
do you not realize that there Is
a whole literature in the Bible. II
| is not one book, but a score OF books,
Do you realize what literature isl
Literature is a revelation OF the hu-
j man spirit and within the covers OF
this one book are prose and poetry,
| history and rhapsody, the sober nar-
4 ration of the ecstacy OF human ex-
n citement-things that ring in ones
ears like songs. These deep sources,
these wells of inspiration, must al
inspiration, must always be ouf
sources of refreshment and of re-
newal. Then no man can put un-
just power upon U.S. We shall live IN
that chartered liberty in which a man
sees the things unseen, in which he
in which there are no questions
mooted any longer of right and wrong.
Can you imagine a man who did
not believe these words. who did not
believe in the future life. standing up
and doing what has been the heart
and center of liberty always-stand-
ing up before the king himself and
saying, Sir, you have sinned ana
done wrong in the sight of God, and
I am his messenger of judgment to
H.
ton of Almighty God. You may
silence me, you may send me to my
reckoning with my Maker, but you
cannot silence or reverse the 1udg-
ment.' That is what a man feels
whose faith is rooted in the Bible.
!. The Book That Makes Men Brave.
THE man whose faith is rooted in
the Bible knows that reform cannot
be stayed, that the finger of God
which moves upon the face OF the
nation is against every man who plots
the nations downfall or the peoples
deceit; that these men are simply
cropping and staggering in their ignor-
ance TO a fearful day of. judgment;
and that whether one generation wit
nesses it or not, the glad day Of reve-
: lation and freedom will come in which
! men will sing by the host of the COM
ing OF the Lord in His glory.
"America was born a Christian ma
} ton, America was born to exemplify
J that devotion to the elements of
righteousness which are derived from
the revelations of Holy Scripture.
have a very simple thing to ask you.
ask of every man and woman in this
audience that from this night on they
! will realize that part of the destiny OF
America lies in their daily perusal of
! this great Book of revelations-that If
they would see America free and pure.
they will make their own spirits free
and pure by this baptism of the Holy
J Scripture"