The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-22


zone thing have been interested
in,'' writes a noble woman who is a
helpless invalid, sis theory (origina1
with myself, SO far as L know. that
many of the Psalms show that the
writer had. at some period a nervous
breakdown
Which is but another way of say
ing, what has been repeated ten thou
sand times, that the most contempor-
aneous book in the world, and the one
that best expresses the experience of
every individual and generation, is
the Bible. A thoughtful person can
get more light upon the worlds pres
ent perplexities from reviewing the
history of the Hebrew nation, as the
Sunday schools have studied II for the
past year, than from a careful reading
of the average newspaper. This Won
derful book is always a present lamp
for the travellers feet
A review is a long look backward.
| 1t is an opportunity to consider things
| in the large. Old-fashiened Sunday
| school teachers often try to confine
themselves TO verse-by-verse moral
lzings upon the assigned portion or
! Scripture. Thus they miss the larger
meanings of Holy writ. Here we have
| the whole of the Kingdoms of Judah
and Israel in reviews; and we, find
| that the story is fraught with deepest
Significance to our own dark day. The
review should stiffen the moral back
bone of everyone who truly studies 1t;
for as we read of the Hebrew people
we find the analogy of history press
ing close to our own land.
The Times Are Going Somewhere.
1t is easier to discern in the story
| of the Jews than in the perplexities
of today the paramount truth that
! the times are moving steadily toward
some definite goal. Even when af-
| fairs seem most muddled, they are
really getting somewhere. And no.
body is prepared to think intelligently
about his own or any other period
who does not believe that
Thru the ages one increasing purpose
And the thoughts of men are widenId with
the process of the suns" :
This year of our Lord, 1929, sorely
needs men and women who will see
life clearly and see it whole" Our
thinking must be in larger units. The
mind for the times is an international
mind. The/ best preparation for a
grasp OF the welter of any one of the
groups of current Old World prob
lems-say the Near East situation
is a. clear apprehension of what took
place around the Mediterranean in
the times of the Bible. The reader of
Wells Outline of History is in a mood
to realize that the life of a nation
has vast and moving Significance. A
clear look at old Israel will equip us
to see straight as we confront our
own difficult day.
Things are not happening in our
bewildering generation any more than
in the time of Israel. A Sovereign
Will is at work. Vast designs are
small part of the pattern, and usually
the reverse side, but it will in the
end be beautiful. The Master Work
man wants US to cooperate with him;
but either by our help or despite us,
His, purposes will be accomplished.
In the long run: Despite all its stray
| inss and standings, Israel did be-
come people weaned from pagan
ism and the worlds Interpreter of
the One God. While the Jews made
a mess of their nation, they neverthe-
less fulfilled their mission as the
Iormulators of a pure Monotheism.
Best, and Second Best.
This would be good time to play
a game of "supposing." Suppose, Is
| rael had been true to her first revel-
| alton, and had maintained the sim
pie democracy of the day of the
| judges, refusing to conform to the
general fashion of having a king over
| them; would the day of world democ-
racy have been fastened by centuries :?
| been a vain young fool listening to
/ the hard" advice of courtiers as
| shallow-brained as himself, would the
| united nation have succumbed to As
syria and Babylonia: or would it have
grown into imperial greatness?
Suppose the succession of Hebrew
kings had been brave enough and big
enough and loyal enough to keep the
| faith that made them a nation; instead
of wandering off into the sensuality of
| heathenism; would the Jews have won
their world to the worship of Jeh-
ovah?
| Suppose the prophets had been
heard and needed. and that the time
! had obeyed its highest truth, how
many centuries would have been
saved in the worlds religious devel-
opment? Who dares to estimate the
many-sided loss to the world of mems
failure to be true to their Hottest
perceptions?
| Suppose that even after the exile
the Jews had been united in loyalty
to a noble ideal of their nations mis-
| sion and faith; would the restoration
of the people to the Land of Prom
Use have had larger, sublimer results :?
| For tho a large group of the dis
persed came back from captivity. the
Jews never again really became a ma
ton. compromising the bulk of their
race.
Suppose, finally, that the Messiah
had been accepted by the Jews; what
would have been the probable effect
upon the character of the Children of
Abraham. and upon their place in his
tory since?
Bent on brotherhood.
| ''The one far-off. divine event.
| Toward which the whole creation moves
rs the acceptance everywhere of the
beautiful will of God and the estab-
Ilishment of a new era of human
brotherhood and happiness. Thru
the centuries of old Israels history
may be traced the presence and per-
sistence cfathis purpose; even as in all
the ages since. The Heavenly Fa-
Tiers principal concern with the hu-
man race is to shape it into the fam
lily likeness. He wants good will and
peace and justice and happiness more
than any reformer OF prophet. Only
the depth of His desire can account
for His exhaustiess patience with us.
| There is an increase of reckless talk
lnn0T1 rI1rra7r SOcial 0neSfinrS- and If