The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-03
In The Religious World
What the Church Folks IRE Trims ing
AbOuf and Doing. Religious News
From Everywhere.
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON AND YOUNG PEOPLES TOPIC.

any other volume. except possibly the
Bible has ever before or since enjoyed
within the same space of time. IN
doubleday, the world is concerned
about the will of this. divine Man who
taught His doctrine and lived His life
close to the plain people, two thousand
years gao
While the Sermon on the Mount
may be called an abstract of Christs
/ teachings, yet 1t is to be remembered.
as James STALKER points out that the
center and soul of His preaching was
Himself. He contained within Himself
the new era He not only announced
it, but created It. The new character
which made men subjects of the king
dom and sharers Of its privileges was
to be got from him alone. Therefore
the practical issue of every address OF
Christ was the command to come to
Him, to learn Of Him, to follow Him.
Come unto me, all We that labor and
are heavy laden, was the keynote
the deepest and final word Of all HIS
discOurses!
Church and State.
The people who heard this new Rab-
bi with their ears, but failed to under
stand him with their hearts were
looking for the kingdom Of God on
earth. They were ambitious for tenn
poraI power and for material advan-
tages. They could not understand
Christ's conception OF a spiritual king
dom. In the Sermon on the Mount He
laid down the laws for the latter. They
were unable to grasp even a spiritual
religion. DR.. J. SparhaWk Jones has
pointed out that under Pharisaic in
fluences, Moses and the prophets had
been evacuated of the moral element
and spiritual content, and had hard
ened into a pedantic, punctiliOus per-
Torrance Of a round of legal observ-
ances and a ritual Righteousness
which pious drill constituted religion"
Yet the spiritual alone is permanent
" powerful A state church never re-
suits in a churchly state. When relig-
ion becomes officially endorsed 1t often
ceases to be privately practiced.
Church and state have within recent
months been divorced in France. and
the most far-sighted French church
man, as we'll as French patriots, be-
heVe that the result will be adVantag-
eOus to both church and state. The
sentiment for disestabltShment IN Eng
land, Wales and Scotland IS steadily
increasing; for the tablishe ed
churches are not keeping up in growth
with the free" churches. The only
religion for these times is that which
is a religion Of inherent spiritual
strength. The power OF the gospel re-
sides in its principles and not in official
patronage
A Study in Contrasts.
The Beatitudes are the great para
dox. They turn the accepted order
UPSIDE down. Inc DHTQ-fedQeQr
| practical - business man, whose words
were given a more respectful hearing
twelve months ago than today, SCOTS
at such impractical theories. If his
vision were a little keener-and recent
events are sharpening 1t in this par
tioular-he would perceive that all
other teachings. based as they are,
upon merely selfish or materfalistic
conceptions of life, are bound to go by
the board, while the sublime altruism
of Jesus Becomes more and more the
law by which human brotherhood ex-
lists
A deal of first century materialism
survives. The Sermon on the Mount
/ IS nos yet the accepted law of the race
I Ger trast the teachings of Jesus, as
found in this column, with the prac-
/ tees Of the day as recorded in other
columns of this issue of the aper. Lay
one alongside the other. Consider the
effect had the Beatitudes governed the
/ actions that make up the news. What
/ a difference there would be in the ap-
/ pearance of this paper were all men
seeking to earn the Masters blessed"
( And that blessed" happy" is a
! present announcement and reward.
/ They who fulfill the conditions laid
down in the Beatitudes are already
] blessed and approved. They have mer-
1 tied here and now the divine "Well
done" which is heavens choicest 1au-
rel. These great teachings do not wait
Tor ln5 dawn OF eUernltyS day, or Tor
the blowing Of Gabrie1s trumpet, fer
their fulhlmen True, they do reach
4 forwar3 into the better world: but they
are also in the present tense. High
est happiness is the right of all who
shape their lives by the law of the
Kingdom of Jesus. To all others it is
denied. The worlds way has been tried
for uncOunted centuries and it has
proved a failure. The Jesus way has
proved itself a success, as the peaceful
shining forces of his twentieth century
disciples attest. These are becoming
as he declared. the salt, the SAVIOR, the
savers Of society. The hope of the
world is in the unworldIy. The king.
dom of heaven is creating a heavenly
kingdom among men on earth, and i
is leading them into the kingdom OF
heaven eternal.