The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-08-29
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
BIZ WILLIAM I. ELLIS.

For August 81 is a Temperance Les
| son.-Daniel 1890.
A Good Man Who Was a GOOD
i Fellow"
IF the good were only clever,
The woPfd Soud be- Better BETTE tSan ever
We thought it possibly could. Z
That things happen just as they should:
The. good are so harsh to the clever.
| The clever so rude to the good"
Sour, sombre saints are sinners in
| several senses; but in none more seri-
ously than that they are bad adver-
tisements of religion. 1t is refresh
| ing that a score OF million OF Sunday
! school members are this week to con-
slider the case of good-looking young
man who was good fellow as well
as q good man.
| Daniel advertised the success of
| high principles IN q kings palace;
land for centuries since he has been
| a force for self-restraint and personal
convictions among countless youth.
scruples in the highest society; and
instead of being a kill-joy he was a.
! social success. Everybody, from king
| to palace servant, like Daniel and his
| three companions; so that their char
acter and conduct reflected credit
upon their race and their faith.
Right on the surface of the Dan
| lei story lies this great truth, that
| goodness should be attractive and
not repellant. There are many per-
sons who honestly believe that to be
good means to be long-faced and to
look askance at the joy of life. They
think that piety is the same as
ipharisaisIn and puritanism; and that
good times are not for good people.
Their idea of a clergyman is a long
| jawed, funeral creature whose face
would scare babies and drive dogs
| around the corner with their tails be-
| tween their legs.
The joke is on those who hold this
mistaken idea; for the happiest people
| in the world, as well as the healthiest:
the ones who have the best times and
| the most friends, are the sincere
Christians who, in quietnesS and con-
| fidence, live their lives from a real
desire to please God.
Some there doubtless are who take
a morose view of this world; and who
consider that virtue consists of the
4 difficult art of foregoing pleasures
and of compelling others to do the
same. These Christians are of the
numerically small group whose reli-
gion is negative: it consists of
"donts." What a small fraction of
the entire Christian fellowship these
| sour salts actually arei Line them up
alongside of the radiant, peaceful,
|
found religion good for both their
| bodies and their souls, and their rela-
tive fewness and unimportance will be
discovered.
Captain OF His Soul.
This story is one of the familiar bits
of the literature of Christendom. DAN
lei and his three companions were
prisoners in personal attendance upon
King Nebuchadnezzar. AS part of the
royal encourage. they were expected
/, to look well and happy. To that end
they were permitted to eat the dainties
Of the kings table and to drink of his
wine. That food had doubtless been
offered to idols, and so could not be
eaten by cody Jew. However, these
young Hebrews were truly wise, and
they knew the secret of the training
table-simple food for physical fit
ness. "
They were not "grouches," and had
won the good will of the chief of the
eunuchs, who tolerantly permitted his
charges to make the ten-day expert
ment. All they asked was fair trial.
nit to tests. 1t asks no special privi-
leges. It can make good" in any
, honest competition. Daniel and his
. three friends were willing to stake
all upon the practicability OF their
principles. They were what we would
their theory worked. For. as runs the
/ account, AT the end of ten days their
countenances appeared fairer, and they
: were fatter in flesh, than all the
! youths that did eat of the kings
dainties.'' n that incident is wrapped
I up the essence of all dry legisla-
r ton the world around: given a fair
: chance, it works.
? Daniels principles of conduct were
: not put into moth balls when he
4 g. Co. Ill
} Jerusalem to the giddy city Of Babylon
( His religion would stand expectation
Y and transformation. His conviction:
would wash. For Daniel was of the
breed of man who is captain of his
2 own soul. who Is no mere chameleon
but an independent. self-directing
self-respecting volition. He dared tc
: be Daniel in a world where nearly
everybody else was trying to be only
! a reflection of NebucEadnezzar.
J Steadying Men and Driftcrs
E 1t used to be the fashion to cite tht
four Hebrew young men in Babylon
as examples of the benefits of tota
abstinence-altho they really doubt
less followed the universal wine-drink-
ing custom of their day. Their alb.
! stinence was merely from the rich ant
idolatry-tainted provender of thu
kings table. Daniel was far more
than a doer-without; he was q doer.
His contribution to our time is op
perfume and constructive. He was 4
purposer in his heart. That is, III
/ determined what was right for him
self. regardless OF the prevailinl
fashions So he dared to live his Owl
live. serenely, sweetly, strongly, in I
time that was turbulent and vacillat
ing.
There came to my mind in con
q nection with the Daniel story SOM
words spoken to me nearly two year
. ago, in the Winter Palace In Petro
grad, by the little grandmother o
l. the Russian Revolution" Madam
. Breshkovsky. as she looked me full il
the face with her great quiet eyes