The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-14

peculiar character. The Lord has
chastised His wandering children, and
they had become penitent. Here Is
how the lesson story runs:
"And Samuel spake unto all the
house of Israel saying, If We do re-
turn unto Jehovah with all your
heart, then put away the foreign
gods and the Ashtaroth from among
you, and direct your hearts unto
Jehovah, and serve Him only; and
of the Philistines. Then the chill
dren of Israel did put away the
Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and
served Jehovah only.
And Samuel said, Gather all
Israel to Mizpah, and 1 will pray
for you unto Jehovah: And they
gathered together to Mizpah, and
drew water, and poured it out be-
for Jehovah, and tasted on that day,
and said there, We have sinned
against Jehovah. And Samuel
judged the children of Israel in Miz-
pah. And when the Philistines
heard that the children of Israel
were gathered together to Mizpah,
the lords of the Philistines went up
against Israel. And when the chill
dren of Israel heard it. they were
afraid of the Philistines. And the
children of Israel said to Samuel,
Cease not to cry unto Jehovah our
of the hand of the Philistines. And
Samuel took a sucking lamb and
offered it for a whole burnt offering
unto Jehovah; and Samuel cried
unto Jehovah for Israel; and Je-
hovah answered him. And as Sam
uel was offering up the rnt-offer-
ing, the Philistines drew near to
battle against Israel; but Jehovah
Numbered with a great thunder on
tflst day upon the Philistines, and
discounted them; and they were
srnitted down before Israel. And the
men Of Israel went out of Mizpah,
and pursued the Philistines. and
smcte them, until they came under
Beth-car.
.erhen Samuel took a stone and
set it between Mizpah and Shen, and
called thu name of it Ebenezer say
ing. Hitherto hath Jehovah helped
u.s."
And in Our Own way.
These International Lessons are
more than history; they are a mes
sage for the present times: the light
of the Bible upon the life of today
Even a cursory reading of the present
Lesson story reveals it's peculiar APP
fairs. We. are in a state of reaction
from the war, and also in a state of
becoming There has been much
wandering after false gods. Real and
unique perils threaten us. This is our
greatest problem era. What can We
learn from this somewhat analogous
experience of old Israel?
Simple is the answer. Strange gods
must be put away, sins must be con-
fessed, and we must return unto our
God, who will abundantly pardon.
With prayer and sacrifice and wor-
ship, as did Israel at Mispah, we are
to prepare for restoration of the
divine favor, and victory over the foes
that alright our souls.
Roger Babson, the statisticians has
been saying of late, in public adj
dresses, that we have all the brains
and efficiency and material resources
needed to solve the present problems
which are arousing the people to dis
content; t'that what we need is re-
ligion,-a new sense of our obligation
to God, and a fresh reverence for His
will. The same note is echoing from
the secular press and from public
men. Our land will be safe only as
it is saved by the everything God. A
reverent erection of Ebenezers, stones
of memorial to the past goodness of
God, may prepare us for future
more dependent upon Him, and there
fore more comfortable to His right
eousness.
In an Atlantic Monthly poem Wen
dell Phillips Stafford uttered an in
vocation for the hour:
20 Thou whose equal purpose runs
In drops Of rain or streams of suns,
And with a soft eompulsion rolls
The green earth on her snowy poles;
o Thou who keepest in Thy ken
The times Of flowers, the dooms OF men,
Stretch out a mighty wing above
Be tender to the land we lovei
''If all the huddlers from the storm
Have found her hearthstone wide and
warm;
If she has made men free and glad,
Sharing, with all, the good she had,
If she has blown the very dust
From her bright balance to be just,
Oh, spread mighty wing above
Be tender to the land we love!
when in the dark eternal tower
The star-clock strikes her trial hour,
And for her help no more avail
Her sea blue shield, her mountain mail.
But sweeping wide, from gulf to lakes,
The battle Oh her forehead breaks,
Throw Thou thunderous wing above
Be lightning for the land we lover