The Topeka state journal., 1922-12-22
International
SundaySchoolLesson,
By WILLIAM r. ELLIS.


Great News From the Near East.
Cablegrams and wireless messages
from and about the Near East have
been filled with gloom. The outlook
there is dark for the whole world.
The two great nations of North
America have scarcely awakened toi
the grave significance of it all; our
interest is chiefly confined to doles for
perennial victims of disaster and
atrocities. There is a greater mean
ing to postwar events in Bible Lands
than We have yet grasped. 1t was in
the Near East that the unity of the
allies was wrecked. 1t is there that
the world dominance of the allies is
challenged and threatened. 1t is there
also that another and worse world war
may arise. Near East and bible
Lands are practically interchangeable
terms; so for peculiar reasons Chris
tians should especially seek to follow
developments there.
One curious mistake all the press
correspondents in the Near East, and
commentators upon events there, seem
to be making. They assume that the
outcomeP1s in the hands of the allies,
and that if only they can get together,
especially Great Britain and France,
all may yet be we'll; for the will of the
Great Powers" will then be imposed
upon the Turks as it was before the
war. These writer's strangely overlook
the manifest fact that the last word,
Eastern conditions is not with Europe,
but with Asia. The Turk. the Arab,
the Syrian, the Kurd, the Russian, are
opposing the bulk of their popular op-
-parently-apd these are ominous
words-the day has passed when Eu-
rope spoke and Asia obeyed. 4
Great Powers and Greater.
z Because spiritual forces lie back of
the phenomenon it is here recorded
that the final word of authority in in
ternatfonal affairs seems either to have
passed or be manifestly passing from
European officialdom to popular
movements. What occurred recently
the reins of government overnight, is
taking place less dramatically in the
whole wide area of old world affairs. !
''Vox Populf' is speaking the last
is ''VoN Populi, Vox Del"
If the "Great Powers" who have de- |
cided the fate of the woSld politically |
for a century or-$nore, are I'D longer |
in control. what then? Simply this
and this is our clear Christmas affir- |
nation, and our good news from the |
Near East-a Greater Power than the |
Great Powers seems to have taken |
control. Because impenitent Euro
pean diplomacy has been recreant to |
righteousness, justice and brotherli-i
ness, the scepter has been removed |
FROM it's hand, even while we looked. |
has this year caused civilization to re-
peat, after the shepherds, Come, let |
us go now even unto Bethlehem
With all eyes concentrated upon the |
land of the Manger, the Lord has sud-
denly made clear the impotence of !
human might and human wisdom.
Even as the airplanes, by use of a !
new smoke device have been writing |
m messages On the sky, SO recent events |
have been inscribing upon the horizon |
in unmistR4xable letters, the message |
that there is positively no other way
left for world safety or peace or well
nouuced at Bethlehem. War has
failed; statecraft has failed; interna-
tional conferences have failed; jeal- |
ousy, fear, rivalry, intrigue and hate
ing to be tried except Gods way of !
good will and righteousness and the !!
sway of Christ.
Looking Into the Deeps.
Consider closely the conditions. |
That which is the weakness of the |
Great Powers in the present crisis
is the strength of the Greater Power. |
European governments are not sure |
that their people, and their soldiers |
in particlar, will follow them in |
decisions they may make concerning |
foreign affairs. Every European gov
ernment of Importance has its own |
unwritten tale of mutinies since the |
armistice that troubles the dreams I
just as Ine /
British public served notice upon the
cabinet, which it shortly afterward1
overthrow, that it would not support |
a war in the Near East, so also have
the other powers been likewise ad-
monished by popular expressions. In |
other words, the mind of the people /
everywhere is against war and mill
tarism and imperialism. And the |
mind of the masses is apparently to-
day beyond the control of govern
ments. That has been the weakness
of the plenipotentiaries who have sat
in council at Lausanne.
On the other hand, the strength of
what we may call the program of |
the Supreme Command lies in the
truth that Gods will is directed to
the reason and to the heart of the |.
people, as individuals. 1t IS by a
change of the minds of men that God
makes the world over. The Christ
mas wav is offered, not to foreign
offices, but to everyday men and wo-
men. Bishop Brooks caught this truth
in his deadless carol:
"Hov silently. how silently.
The wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters IN" /
The path to peace runs thru
human hearts. A new will in people
is the only way to a new world Hav-H
ing tarried, oh so foolishlyi to try L
every other possible way, we now
turn back to the one method which
holds promise of success, the plan
proposed in the coming of Christ
A new attitude on the part of men ]
and women, consequent Opon a new
of their wills and lives, will ,
put an end to war and bring in the II
promised day of brotherhood.
Ahead of the CabIegrams.
Energetic and wise correspon-
dents have been cabling many and |
curious diplomatic expedients for {
bringing peace to the Near East and
so to the world All have been
based upon the outworn methods of II
which have been re-
sponsible for the cataclysm that has