The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-09-17

Divine goodness goes even further
than divine law to find Us in the
mire of disobedience, 10 cleanse us
and llft US to a new hope, new
strength and n new start In the
path OF righteousness The lessons
OF this quarter teach us that God 2
law cannot be tritled with and yet
escape the consequences, Gods cho-
sen people even proved no exception
TO the rule when they grew careless
quote an able editor who was an
wlckedness around them We are
very largely creatures OF environ
ment and are prone to follow the
fashion. whether 10 be good or bad.
People are rcprovcd nowadays for
certain conduct because It is con-
trary to popular usage, rather than
because It is immoral, and much is
judged immoral only because It Is
unconventional. The verdict OF soc
clety Is more often adverse because,
as they say. the thing We do isn't
done In polite society, rather than
because there Ia anything funda-
mentally either good or evil I'm our
conduct. Conventions are relied
upon 10 safeguard the moral sense
OF the masses, rather than thus
saith the Lord" Perhaps We are
better OFF for having such guardian
ship, but Il Is not an unmiNed bless
Ing. We lose much of heartfelt piety
and well-mouved action In thus
passing the buck to mortal lead
inRs instead OF TO divine direction.
| Convention often Is powerful enough
20 restrain u3 from evil, but c0nvga-
tion again Is apt 10 tie our hands
when we would do better. We can
- AF "a IA % la n
according 10 man made standards IN
preference 20 the standards set up
by Jesus Christ. The Jews fell be-
cause they thought II well TO live
just Ike the heather around them.
when they had the sure word OF
God for guide.
A quarterly review has the dlsad-
vantage OF covering so much ground
that IT is difficult TO do justice TO
the lessons considered In a small
space like this department, and
rather than cut remarks short we
are tempted to repeat the exposition
written by DR.. o, L. Eaches in a
denom!nat!onal publication To
quote an able editor wha was an
expert in the use of shears, we find
the Doctors productions Just as good
as II we had written them ourselves,
so we feel no apology necessary for
appropriating them to this column.
Why a National Fails.
Gibbons Decline and Fan OF the
Roman Empire" is n classic work.
When Rome lost lts primitive valor,
its respect for virtue, and the worth
OF the family, when religion became
simply n ceremonial, when the peo-
pie were content II they had bread
and the circus, then OF necessity the
nation fell. Even Judah. founded
and guided by Jehovah. turned aside
TO idolatry, Ignoring a holy GOD and
following cruel and licentious deitles.
The temple itself was defiled by un-
clean worship. The priesthood lost
its sense of separatenoss and became
corrupt. A lofty sense of a national
morality and vision OF Gods king
dom on earth passed away, The
leaders ~ the people lacked states.
manship and the few wise kings
who came 10 the throne once in
while could not prevent tho down
ward course OF. the nation. The
wickedness Of a Manasseh was moro
powerful than the heroic poetry OF
an isaiah, The people at large lost
their feeling of fraternity. Injustice
in the administration OF law, cor
ruption in the government. oppres-