The Topeka state journal., 1922-05-26
International
SundaySchoofLesson
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

For May 2s is. Jeremiah Speaks
Boldly for God.'-Jeremiah SO.
A Nations Crisis: A Mans Courage.
Shall we not heed the lesson taught Of
And by the Presents lips repeated still,
In our single manhood to be bold,
BILE win?"
Lowell thus summarized the lesson
of the lives of all great prophets, in
cluding jeremiah, with whom the
Sunday schools of the world are to
spend three weeks. One of the heroes
of history was this dauntless old mes
senger of righteousness; and timely
tonic to our own day.
Before we moralize about Jeremiah,
let us get hold of the facts of the
case. Facts take precedence of homi-
letics. Christianity needs a clearer
historical sense. The strength of re-
ligion is not in its sentimental con-
To teach the moral ofEa Sunday
School Lesson and to disregard its
facts is to put the. whole matter off
into the realm of unreality. Most per-
think of the historicity of Bible char
acters as they do of Julius Caesar and
Alexander the Great and xenophon
and Homer.
1t will even be news to many read
ers that there are parallel and con-
firmatory records of the main events
of Jeremiah's life and teaching in the
cuneiform tablets and monuments
that have within half a century been
dug up in Mesopotamia; and also in
the hierogIyphics of the Egyptian in
scriptions. This audacious patriot
ana prophet, jeremiah. who lived dur
ing the reign of five kings of Judah,
and saw the fall of Jerusalem, is as
historical a character as William
Shakespeare or John Milton.
a WfdC GIfu1nsse Mt the Past
AS usual patriots are bound to con-
slider our own land and her problems
in the light 0f world conditions. so
sensible students of this bit of Bible
jeremiah came on to the scene in a
troubled time. ASsyria, which ruled
the world, was tottering to a fall; and
he witnessed the destruction of Nine
vah and the rise of the Chaldean pow
er in Babylonia.
A few years before, to the west, the
city of Byzantium had been founded,
ever after to occupy central place in
world history, and today, under its
new name of Constantinople, still a
battling problem for the statesmen of
our time. To the Far East, the first
mikado of Japan, Jimmu Tenno, had
led the invading forces that conquered
the islands which have had con-
tinuous history until the present.
Draco. he of the stern laws, and
Solon, the father of modern law, were
citizens of Athens. and contemporaries
of jeremiah. Sappho sang in Greece
while jeremiah sang in Judah.
In the realm of world conquest the
great strife was on. Judah playing
minor part in it, between Egypt and
Babylonia. Good King Josiah lost his
life in the struggle. At Carchemish,
the Hittite capital-now a mound of
dirt on the eastern bank of the Eu-
phrates river, where Colonel T. E.
Lawrence was conducting excavations
for the British museum when his
country called him forth to the service
that made him leader of the Bedouins
and the most romantic figure of the
war-Africa and Asia clashed in the
great struggle for world dominion;
and Nebuchadrezzar defeated Pharaoh
Necho of Egypt; thus profoundly af-
fectinR Jeremiah'S message and Ju-
dah's life. From every side, ancient
world history sheds a flood of light
upon the Bible.
A Bold Man in a Great Time.
One clear difference between the
prophet and the politician-and the
distinction is quite as sharply marked
in 1922. A. D.. as it was in 622. B. c.
is that the former is able to discern
the signs of the times, whereas the
latter is unable to see beyond his own
near interests of votes and jobs and
personal popularity. Every great
prophet clashes with things as they
are. He finds himself in antagonism
to all the entrenched 'stand-patters"
of his day. Vested interests of every
sort-po1itical, commercial, social and
cclesiastical-hate a real prophet;
for he is a disturber of the existing
order. Change is the worst bogie that
ever confronts jellied minds.
With a political cyclone on the near
horizon, Unstable and backsliding
Judah was certain that whatever was
would continue to be. The promi- |
nent men. could not conceive of the
possibility of change. AS I read this
bit of Old Testament history L recall |
the early days of the revolution in
Russia, where, over and over again, |
representatives of the old order, in
Guiding some of the diplomats in for
eign embassies, said to me, 'ImposSi- |
bleI Impossible! Such changes cam
not bel These revolutionaries are
only black swinei" They were unwill- |
ing to believe that a new era could !
be possible aItho it had already ar
rived. That was exactly the attitude
of the Jerusalem priests and princes !
and mobiles and other reactionaries, as |!
they listened to the words of this /
clear-seeing and far-seeing lover of !
his country and servant of his God. /
Like all sensitive spirits. Jeremiah !
shrank from the divine call to service: |
ALAS, o LoRd Jehovah!
Behold, do not know how to speak;
For am only youth"
straightway came the answer-and
WOuAQ IIldI It might ring III tL9 ears OF !
all the young men ana women who /
have not learned. with Carey, to "Ex- i
pect great things from God: attempt
great things for God"
''Do not say, I am only a youth;
For to all to whom 1 she'll send thee, thou
shalt go,
And whatever I command thee, thou shalt
speak. Il
Be rot afraid Of them,
For'I am with thee to deliver thee
Therefore do thou grid up thy Ioins and
arise. /
Speak to them all that I command thee.
Do not be terrified before them, lest 1 ter
rify thee in their presence. /,
For behold, I myself make thee this day |,
fortified CITY.