The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-11

he was rudy, and withal of a
beautiful countenance. and goodly
to look upon And Jehovah said,
Arise, anoint him; for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil.
and anointed him in the midst of
his brethren: and the Spirit of Je-
hovah came nightly upon David
from that day forward So Samuel
rose up, and went to Ramah."
A Wise Man to Bethlehem.
We are so familiar with the
Christmas tale of the visit of the Wise
Men to Bethlehem that we overlook
this earlier visit of wiser man to
the little town that was the birthplace
of David, as well as of David's Great
est Son. 1t was to the hillside village
of Bethlehem, which SO many allied
soldiers have seen since the war, that
the Prophet Samuel came with his
cruise Of amounting oil, having been di-
rected thither by the Lord. He knew
the place, and he knew the family;
further he did not know. God does
not usually give all His directions at
once. HIS servants move by sue
cession of sealed orders, which are
opened as they proceed.
A sensation was created in Bethle-
hem by Samuers appearance. The
approach of the man of God excited
emotions quite different from those
aroused by the visit of the present
day minister. The esteem in which
Samuel was held. the fear of the
word of Judgment which he bore,
the implied awe of Thus saith the
Lord" suggest lively thoughts about
| the commonplace level to which We
have relegated the minister of the
word in these modern times. Even
the crooked politicians and the evil
| living show no terror al the approach
i of the man who interprets the awful
ness of the divine law.
Samuers errand had to do with one
ia mily. that of Jesse, leading citi-
zen with eight. sons. He began it, as
should be begun, with a service Of
sacrifice, or, as we would say, with
fam ily worship. Do we send our sons
! off to school, or to the city to work, or
do we enter upon new enterprises
with a formal seeking of divine favor :?
| Precious to me is the memory of the
little service of dedication of our homes
when first it was established, by the
beautiful ministry of that famous
writer of devotional books, Rev. ]. r.
| Miller The rite lifted the little house
| above its character of mere build
ing of wood and made it that spir-
! itual creation which We call a Chris
| tan home.
| Size and Good Looks.
This is a time when, perhaps with
out understanding it, the world fol-
lows the Scripture text, Man looketh
|
there ever before such general at
tention paid to personal adornment?
The recklessness of the expenditure of
rich and poor for raiment and luxuries
| is one of the serious factors in the high
cost of living. The money that is spent
| in North America upon beauty doctors
and facial decorations would feed all
the starving children of Europe, Our
expenditure for furs would keep the
| hungry Arrnenians in food. The tailor
bill of Canada and the United States,
| beyond reasonable necessity, would pay
! the worlds missionary bills. Even
sincerely pious folk, like Samuel, judge
| by outward seeming. He thought the
! seven sons of Jesse who were so siza b e
were surely kingly; forgetting that
| Saul, the failure, stood head and Shout
| ders above his fellows.
| Our thought carries US far. Musing
upon the pregnant passage, Man
! looketh on the outward appearance,
| but the Lord looketh on the heart -
We recall the stress that of late has
been laid upon sheer magnitude and
amount and financial worth in Chris
tan enterprise, when all the while in
| our innermost hearts we know that tn.
| crying, desperate need of the hour is
| for deep spiritual changes in the ma
ture of the world and of the church
| We could get along well without a
aOiafS
that have engrossed the minds of our
| leaders If only we could have a few
million Christians agonizing in prayer
for the race and for themselves One
spiritually endued prophet would be
worth more to the church than all the
money she is likely to get from mil
lionaires within the next generation.
What Are the Real Values?
God is concerned chiefly with spirit
ual values. That truth, written upon
the surface of our Lesson, may be
| linked with the other truth that the
present needs of the world are spirit
ual in their nature, having to do with
hopes and aspirations and newly
awakened sensibilities of mankind. If
the clear spiritual verities of the BIZ
Bile, especially as they relate to allie
glance to God and his will, to the
brotherhood of man, and to justice
on earth. were being consistently and
clearly and generally stated, the va
carries of Bolshevism and reaction
would not now be SO fearful. 1.-The
Lord looketh upon the heart and i.
is in new hearts that the hope of the
world lies.
So it was not the big and handsome
older sons of Jesse that were to re-
ceive the royal amounting at the hand
of Samuel. but the rudy young poet
from the sheep herding, the boy
whom his family regarded as "only a
boy" and so did not call him in from
the field, where he had been impro-
vising songs on his shepherds reed
flute that later were to lift up the
hearts of uncounted millions to new
conceptions of God. What a dreamer
is thinking, apart from men, may be
of more consequence than what the
statesmen determine in solemn coun-
ell. Let us look well to the lads; they
are to wear the crowns of tomorrow.
Somewhere in Sunday school today. in
the most unexpected places, are the
boys and girls who will be the world
leaders of the next generation. There
is a sense in which the Sunday school
teacher may serve as Gods Samuel to