The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-03-22

| like Virgil and Horace, have written.
| Why can we not send him up to one
of the Roman schools and have him
educated to be a great orator and
statesman "Well, mother" l hear
the husband say, perhaps we can do
it. julius ought to be educated. Per
haps we can economize a little closer
at this end so that the boy can spend
our money at the other end for an edu-
cation"
Thus l see the centurion, then a
very young man, enter one of the
great Roman schools. I see him
caught there in the maelstrom Of sin.
see him, like the prodigal of Christ's
parable, become the victim of all kinds
of evil associations. l 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 l see the
young man, besotted with drink and
evil eXcesses of all kinds, return to
his old home and say: "Here 1 am,
mother Here 1 am with health gone
and character gone and noble spiritual
ideals all gone. Here I am. You sent
me from the pure associations of my
sisters and my rural home. Here am,
a moral and spiritual degenerate"
Starts Life Anew.
Again the scene changes. l 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 all centuries who have dis
graced themselves at home. Then they
try to make a new start in a new
world among strangers. You who have
been western miners in the old seven
ties know what I mean. There in those
western mining camps it was the we'll
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 what did he do? Though only
thirty-three years of age, he at once
resigned the gubernatorial chair and
plunged into the wilderness of the far
west. There, in the Wild uneXplored
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 imaginatively study the life of
this Roman centurion, see him in dis
grace leaving his fathers home. Then
I see him next in the faroff province
of Judaea. There, in the Roman camp
of Governor PLATE, / hear him say:
"The gods helping me, 1 will yet make
something good out of my life. Yes;
l 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 faroff Roman province of Judaea
he is earnestly and prayerfully trying
in the Roman army to make man out
of himself
Again the scene changes. 1t is now
about the year 80 A. D. This is the
time when all the Jewish world is per
picked and in doubt about a Nazarene
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
Is the former youth of whom we have
been speaking, now a broad shouldered
Roman centurion. He turns to one of
bis brother officers and asks: "Tiberius,
why are they making such a fuss about
this man Jesus? Who is he? Is he
thief or an insurrectionist? Has he
murdered anybody? Why does old
Caiaphas, the high priest, hate him so?
Tell me something about him." Then
think l see Tiberius turn and sharply
look about him. l begin to surmise
that this Tiberius is a Christian. Per
haps he was the Roman centurion who
was once stationed in Capernaum,
about whom Matthew wrote who had
a beloved servant dying from an ap-
parently incurable disease This serv-
ant Christ healed. You know the story.
Then | think / hear that Christian cen
turion tell julius, his brother officer,
all about this Jesus. Julius" says he,
"Christ never did any one any harm
All he does is to heal the sick and open
the eyes of the blind and brush away
the lepers' scales. Yes, Julius, his mis-
sion is to heal the broken bodies and
to cleanse us from all sin"
Captain Julius Ponders.
Methinks l can see Captain Julius
sitting there in the Roman barracks
His head is resting on his hand Then
l hear him say: oh, is Jesus all that?
Is his mission only to help the poor
and the sick and the suffering? Is his
mission TO cleanse sinful men from an
evil past? How my dear mother would
have loved him! How tame are the
penates-the household gods of my old
Roman home! Truly, father and moth
er to the best of their spiritual light
made our old homestead virtuous and
pure. But, oh, what would mother
have been able to do had she had this
Christ for her SaviourT' Then me
thinks l see the centurion anxiously
look into Tiberius' face and say: cap
tain Tiberius, do you believe that this
Jesus will forgive me, even me? Why,
my mother died of a broken heart on