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


Chosen King''-I Samuel 16:4-13.
Wanted: An Anointed Man.
Candidates for public office are now
under examination, analysis and dis
cuSsion, In larger view, thoughtful
persons are considering not merely
aspirants for high political place, but
also the kind of leaders the world
is to have in the years just ahead of
US. Never before was the question of
such profound concern. The sort of
men and women who are to guide the
destinies of the race in the next
twenty-five years is a matter of SUI
preme importance. Certainly they
will not be persons who are first of
all bent upon securing offices and
honors for themselves. Probably, like
young David of old, they will be CALI
ed to national leadership from posts
of humble service, wherein they have
been thinking the great thoughts and
living the noblest life.
Innumerable articles have been
written about the qualifications, read
and imputed, of candidates for Off
cial position, For real leadership
occupying a prominent position and
being a leader are usually, alas, two
supreme test. It is that which the
shepherd boy David met. The man
or woman of the hour must be
anointed of God. Not in any idle or
conventional or merely 'pious" sense
do 1 write this. The declaration
would be as necessary to be made
were 1 writing this article for one of
the magazines upon world condi-
tions as it is in this Sunday school
lesson. What we most require at
the present time in posts of response
bility and leadership is a sense of
having been called of God to the
position. How the hearts of the ma
jority of Americans would leap were
some presidential candidate of size
to appear declaring himself to be the
servant of Christ, and animated pri-
marily by desire to do only what
Christ would have him dol For all
who look deeply into our day know
that only in the spirit of Jesus are
these vexed national and interna-
tional questions to be met success
fully.
The Craftsmanship of Teachers.
Some teachers there have been who
have looked upon their calling as
somewhat patterned after the Samuel
office: they have undertaken to pre-
pare men for service of their genera
ton. Their own work they have seen
to be that of making young men ready
to do greater service than they them
selves could directly render. They
have carried the torch which set afire
the heart of youth. To incite youth
to noble ideals and patriotic loyalty
has been at once their opportunity
and their reward. They have been, in
a new sense, the kirg-makers of de-
mocracy. the builders of a sovereignty
of citizenship. Thus many teachers
have shown themselves to be real
statesmen. Any dullard can, by the
help of the books. lead children thru
conventional Rotations; only one
can make them ready in heart and
mind for the larger tasks of world
service.
So before we study David's part in
this Lesson, let US give a thought to
Samuel, the servant of God who was
so great that he could stoop to being
Gods mere messenger for the cheos-
ing and amounting of other men to the
thrones and to the power. Could old
Israel have had its Sauls and its
'Davids if it had not had a Prophet
Samuel so sensitive to the voice of
ready for the places that were higher
than the one he occupied himself.
Somehow, Samuel suggests thoughts
of all that noble company of women,
mothers. wives and teachers, who
have proved their greatness by help
ing make men fit for their highest
possibilities. If the present day has
problem of securing Davids, it also
has the antecedent problem of secur-
ing those who will train the Davids
for their thrones of service. There Is
more to this teacher and preacher
question than appears on the surface.
Given the prophet quality in those
who train our youth and there will
not fall us in our hour of supreme
need great men and women to save
the nation.
New Kings for Old.
Saul, king of Israel. had missed
his chance He had grown smaller as
n faz
inflated and pompeus, he had failed
in that humility which is ever a mark
of true soul greatness. God had
therefore marked him for the scrap
heap. as so many of the rulers of
earth have been marked in the past
cesser be feund2 OF late we have
seen that the overthrow of the old
does not necessarily mean the sue
cess of the new. China repudiated
her emperors, but under the republic
she has not yet won the successful
democracy. There are smaller ma
tions in the same plight. Getting
rid of the bad is only half the task
of reform; preparing the good is the
rest of it.
Before the war, in Europe, it was
the usage to seek among royal fam
lilies for any new ruler needed for a
disturbed country. The choice of the
German Prince WED for the head OF
Albania was notable instance of the
igneminious failure that could result
from this practice. OIL Israel had a
better way. The prophet of God look
ed for a man whom he could anoint
by divine direction. With the disebe-
dience of Saul. Samuel went forth in
quest of Gods chosen one. Let US
have story from the inspired record:
And Samuel did that which Je-
hovah spake, and came to Bethle-
he al Of 70 oft
came to meet him trembling, and
said, CONTEST thou peaoeably? And
he said, Peaceably; l am come to
sacrifice unto Jehovah: sanetify
yourselves. and come with me to
the sacrifice. And he sanctified
Jesse and his sons, and called them
to the sacrifice
And it came to pass, when they