The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-19

ScnOOI teSSOn- 1t tells what priest
discovered when he got to delving
amid the accumulated rubbish of a
neglected temple; and some of the
social consequences of his find
A favorite theory of mine is that
on the sa me spot where Hilkiah made
his revolutionary find. which fairly
caused a religious and social revival
in old Judah, the scholars and scient-
lists of our own day are going to I'M
earth wonders that will awe the world
into new reverence. and startle it into
a fresh study of the Old Book.
Real riches are not locked up in
bank vaults. Beneath the Dome of
| the Rock in the Temple Area in
Jerusalem today, there run uneX-
| pIored subterranean paSsag eS, a per-
| feet labyrinth of them. For cen
turtles they have never seen the flash
of torch or heard the echoing foot of
man. These cham berS and channeis
in the limestone rock were out thou
days of the Hebrew temple. With
equal proba biiity, they were the hid
| ing place of religious treasures. Fire
and sword have done their worst to
hill of the Lord; but these mysteri
Gus underground ways remain I'M
| touched. guarded during recent cen
/ turtles by Moslem fanaticism; for the
followers of the prophet now occupy
| the site of the Jewish temple.
OAhC A1CCHCNSs
Is it fantastic to expect that, when
order and tranquility some day come
| to Jerusalem, the archa biologists who
are gathering there in increasing
numbers will be permitted to pene-
trate these hidden places and uncover
ancient Hebrew records and relics, and
perhaps even the ark OF the covenant
itself? Almost equally wonderful dis
coveries have already been made.
| Only yesterday I had e letter telling Of
y - n,-so 49,
Research at Jerusalem has uncovered
the site of the Old Testament town of
Gibeah, King SauPs home and head
quarters; and had brought to light
significant relics that have been hid
den for~many centuries.
AS one who has walked the uncov-
cred ways of Ninevah and Babylon and
Niffar and Asshur, where the spade of
the archaeologist has brought to light
whole libraries and monuments from
the remotest past, entirely transform
ing the worlds knowledge of history.
I have every expectation that still
other and more vital secrets remain
hidden, to be revealed in this Day of
Discovery. Gods clocks all strike in
tune and on time: and He who has
given mankind marvellous mastery
of the air, for speech and for travel;
and who has bound the nations to-
gether into oneness with blood-sea1ed
bonds. is not going to leave mans
parched and hungry spirit unsa tisfied
and pitiable. The greatest revelations
of our time-or we may call them
confirmations-are to come in the
realm of the spiritual life \ Because
hunger is, bread needs must be-: the
very greatness of the worlds soul
longing argues an imminent satisfac-
ton.
q It was a sorry plight into which the
Jewish people had fallen at the time
of our lesson. The spiritual condi-
tons of our own day scarcely offer a
parallel to it. The long and reaction
airy reign of King Manasseh had
brought the national and religious life
to a low ebb. The good work of Heze-
kiah had been largely undone. All. |
these recurring religious slumps which |
any graph of history reveals! Why
cannot people keep on the high level
which experience has shown to be the
home of happiness? Yet the line is |
ever undulating-reform and reaction: |
spirituality and sordidness; idealism |
and materialism; goodness and sin |
fulness. After Hezelxiah comes Ma |
nasseh but, thank God, after Manas- |
sch, comes Josiah, the boy king whose
heart was inclined to the ways of Je- |
hovah.
This young reformer was confronted |
by strangely familiar conditions. Re |
ligion had declined and idolatry and /
and social injustice reigned
supreme. We can never get back to |
those dreadful old days of Manasseh,
when the king slew people for a whin1,
and when children were offered alive
to MoIoch and the emblems of sex
alteration were set up in the very tenn
pie itself.
All good people are concerned over
the lowered moral tone of large sec
ton of our own life today; and over
the sex stuff in literature and in the
motion pictures. Not all of them
realize that this is characteristic
reversion from monotheism to pagan
ism. From the pure worship of Je-
hovah to the depravities of phallic
worship the renegade Jewish people
turned. Sensuality is still bound up
with false faiths today: / have been
at Benares in India, and at Yamada,
A turning to Jehovah is the one rem
edy for the sinful excuses of a moral
ly decadent generation.
Wanted: HiIkiahs.
No other form of exploration today
open to educated young manhood and
to wealth is comparable with that of
the archaeologist. Imagine the thrill
yes, and the adventure, too; for the
rowing Bedouin in Mesopotamia take
care that foreign eXcavatorS do not
suffer from ennuii-of being the first
man to dig into the mound of dirt, or
tell" that covers the ancient city OF
Ur of the Chaldees, whence Abraham
came. That opportunity is actually
open to an archaeologist. Especially
attractive are the fields for research
in Bible lands. now available for the
first time in centuries.
What a fascinating lure for modern
HIkiahst Confirmation of the word
Of God. and of His ways with His peo-
pie in the long ages. lies waiting pa |,
ientIy for the pioneering spade. Even
IS Hiikiah found the temple copy of
the law. ,oyerlaid by rubbish and
filth. so may fresh revelations of the !
~,,T Of 4 h1 70 T.,
scholarship today.
Here we confront a queer quirk in
human nature In realms of Assyrol-
0gy, for instance. a mau-fnay go as
TAR as he likes. and be called a
scholar. But il the same person pur- {
.lIes the enualIx ancient and far more .