The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-17

known to me is going thru the peri
cdical process of getting rid of its
minister; which is a rare opportunity
for the preacher to show both gump-
ton and grace Alas. tho, the young
man seems to be falling down under
the test, as completely as the ccngre-
cation. He appears to be only PRO
fessionar'. One of his pastoral tasks
was to visit, every week or SO, a lonely
old blind woman and read the Bible.
| to her But since the church row
started he has neglected this simple
bit of practical Christianity. To out
ward appearances, he was doing this
service because it was part of his job;
when things went wrong with the po-
sition, he simply skimped his work.
| That incident raises the whole issue
| of social service" and whether it is
to become a profession, for few, or
a spirit in the mass. If my clergyman
friend-whose wrongs at the hands of
a small-minded and mean spirited
congregation 1 quite understand and
resent-had Continued to visit the old
| blind woman, or had increased his at
tentions to her, then 1t would have
been apparent that his ministry was
real passion with him, and not a mere
profession. The clergyman who does
the works commanded by Christ only
because he is paid for doing them, OBJ
viously never was really called into
| this most sacred form of human serv-
ice. Perfunctory piety is as futile as
the turning of a ThiL etan's prayer
| wheel.
"HeIp Tighten the Load" Il
| The social order will be Christian
| lied only as Christians are socialized.
Except the sense of brother-obl
inspire the general fellowship of man
kind. it will be in vain for a few spe-
cialists to be engaged in social tasks.
| The tendency to deputize social re-
sponsibility to professional welfare
! workers is a sign of weakness in our
| common conscience Humanity's
wrongs will never be righted and hui
manity's burdens will never be lifted
| by any group of men and women how
! ever large, whose livelihood is in the
| task. Nothing short of an awakened
| complish the great ends which are in
Dictated in the Bible program.
The call to social service by all of
US has been effectively put in a bit of
Outlook" verse by Priscilla Leonard:
"Help tighten the loadi
| Humanity stumbles ahead on its road,
Urged on Ger the deserts, beset by the
Men bend under burdens of hunger and
| care,
And women must suffer and toll and de-
Yea, even the children, astray in the strife
Are bowed by the weight till they weary
Harky unto each soul that is hero, not
| slave,
How clear sounds the call to arise and be
Help tighten the load!
Help tighten the loadi
| With all of the strength that the heart can
| command,
with all Of the power of brain and Of hand,
With wills set to sacrifice, struggle and
| dare.
With love that seeks ever each burden to
With unflagging endeavor that stops not
The length of the journey, the cost of the
task,
Come sons of the kingdom! Come, chill
dren of God!
And along the dark path by the worlds
| Help tighten the loadi"
The Girl Graduates Career"
By humdrum, patient doing of the
fashioned tasks of brotherliness,
in the unprofessional spirit OF Jesus,
this worlds social orders is going to be
Christianized. Girl graduates who
think of social service as a career"
need to go back to their devout grand
mothers to get hold of the essential
truth that things are being changed
for the better by the humble individ-
ual practice of the Bible virtues. Let
us get firm hold of the conviction that
things are not going to be changed
overnight by a great speech or a great
book or a great law. Still less is the
, Kingdom of brotherhood to be brought
in by a few persons railing at the ex-
listing order of things, or by becoming
common scolds. Professional welfare
workers sometimes become a heavy
burden for ordinary folk to carry.
1t is easy to lose ones head, in this
day of unsettlement, with its new vo-
cabulary and new standards. So we
should hold steady in our thinking.
and remember such simple considera-
, tons as the relative importance of
professional reform with its sensa-
tions, and such unconditional, matter
of-fact Christian service as the teach.
: ing of boys and girls in the Sunday
school. There are nearly two million
Sunday school teachers in North
America, teaching something like
: eighteen million other persons and the
, net result of their unreported devotion
D far exceeds that of all social service
experts in the world, so far as affect.
ing the life of our time. I do moi
mean to disparage social service ever
i tho its devotees are inclined to take
themselves entirely too seriously: but
do urge that we keep first things
first, and not overlook the norma
o processes of the essential Christian
a program for bringing in the kingdom
Of heaven by way of the consecrate6
efforts of the friends and fellow labor.
r ers of Christ.
f Wherever an individual Christian 1:
j, walking the Way, there the social or
, der is being Christianized
Buttressed by a Book.
When the greatest Reformer of his
y tory set out upon His public mission
Il and @esus undoubtedly. was a Re
, former, as well as a Savior-He Sc
:, forth his platform of principles from
II the Book that has withstood the cen
: turies.s He linked the vision of TIL
# Old Testament with the reality of tn,
New. 1T is written takes on tn,
character of a solemn formula whel
uttered by Christ. He buttressed Hi
d positions by the Bible.