The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-03-19
IutcSt details the viicnesz ana

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There they Wee welcoming their guest.
with such wpris as these: come ait
see me in lily l,v',iuess. come aud So,
me in my domestic crimes. Come ant
see me an inhUman monster Come
and see my inner sinful life as it is
And into such evil environments Il.
these think the centurion of my tex
was indicted in Rome when he was :
very young man.
| think the boy came from Il pure.
refined home like that in which mos
of us were craded. 1t was also .
home which was not blessed with cithn
riches or poverty. The old home s1ca,
stood in the midst of vineyard. TIL
farm also had its green pastures fnl
the cattle and its fields for raising cor
and wheat The father had plenty OF
money Ia support the family. but he
had very little to SPARE Bus rs this
boy seemed to he especially bright
think the parents did everything il
their poweG to send him to one of the
| great universities ut Rome for an eiu
cation One night after the childre,
were in bed | think | hear the father
and the mother talking ''IIuShand,"
hear the wife say. we ought to make
| something out of our boy Julius be
| sides common farmer. OF all our
| children he seems to love his books
the best. Night after night he is pour
ing over Cicero's 'Phiiirpt@s AMI Gait
lines Araignment' He has read and
reread every line which the later poets;
like Virgil and Horace, have written.
| Why can we not send him IIp to one
of the Roman schools AMI have him
educated to be great orator and n
| statesman" We'll mother" | hear
the husband say. ''perhaps we can do
it. julius ought to he educated. Per
| haps we can cconomiZe Il little closer
at this end so that the boy can spend
orr money ut the other end for an efu
cation"
Thus | see the centurion, then a
very young man, enter one of the
great Roman schools. see him
caught there in the maelstrom of sin.
l see him. like the prodgal of Christ'S
parable become the victim OF all kinds
of evil associations. | see him. like
thousands and tens of thousands of
young students today. who come from
pure true. cOnsecrated Christian
homes in this country. enter the large
universities of some of our great cities
and then plunge headlong into all
! kinds of sinfulness. Then I see the
| fol 1r;I l. 4
evil excesses of all kinds. return to
| his old home and say: Here | am.
mother. Here | am with health gone
and character gone and noble spiritual
| ideals all gone. Here | am. You sent
me from the pure associations of my
sisters and my rural home Here ans
| a moral and spiritual degenerate
Starts Life Anew.
Again the scene changes believe
| this young man. disgraced and socially
ostracized at home. makes up his mind
| to start life anew in one of the distant
Roman provinces This has been the
| natural course for thousands of young
men Of ali centuries who have dis
graced themselves at home Then they
try to make n new start in new
world among strangers. You who have
been western miners in the old seven
ties know what mean There in those
western mining camps it was the well
! recognized law that no man should pry
into the history Of his neighbors.
When Sam Houston. the brilliant
young governor of Tennessee. married
to one of the famous beauties Of his
state, suddenly felt that he was dis
graced. whatldid he do: Though only
thirty three Years of age. he ut once
resigned the gubernatorial chair and
plunged into the wilderness of the far
west. There. In the wild, UNEMPLOYED
regions of Texas. he began life anew
When we read again of Sam Houston.
It is not as Sam Houston. the governor
Of Tennessee but of Sam Houston. the
president of the Texas republic. Thus.
as we imaginatiyely study the life Of
this Roman centurion. see him in dis
grace leaving his fathers home. Then
l see him next in the faroff province
Of Judaea. There, In the Roman camp
of Governor PLATE. ] hear him say:
''The gods helping me. will yet make
something good out Of my life Yes:
| have broken mothers heart and
made her hair white as the driven
snow and killed her with grief. but |
will yet make her, If she IS alive In
another world, proud of her hayward
son" This centurion of my text may
have come from one of the purest and
the most refined homes of all rural
Italy. Then, by the student life of
lecentious Rome, we see his moral and
spiritual life completely wrecked In
this far0ff Roman province Of Judaea
he Is earnestly and prayerfully trying
in the Roman army to make Il man out
of himself
Again the scene changes. 1t Is now
about the year so A. ID. This is the
time when all the Jewish world is per
picked and in doubt about a Nazarcnc
named Jesus We are now in the Ro
man barracks of Jerusalem This is
the officers quarters. Before us sits
the well Developed figure of an officer
about thirty eight years of age This
fS hn IF -hnr