The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-26
in THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.
What the Church Folks Are Thinking About and Doing
Religious News From Everywhere


there were crowded decades of faithful
service. One cannot live on a past ex-
perience. There are people arising in
prayer-meetings and talking about what
happened between them and the Lord
twenty years ago. There is no grip or
power in such testimony. 1t is what
happened today that counts. Present
relationships are the vital ones in re-
lig1on. Every Christian needs to be
on his guard to keep his personal spirit
ual life present experience.
A Fighting Mans Faith.
The man who, in the face OF bitter
and powerful misrepresentation and OPP
position, is doing more for the Ameri-
Judge L. F. Whitley, said to me one
day in Shanghai, Next to honesty, the
most important quality in life is cour-
age" 1t was voice of experience out
OF the thick of battle. And it Is a
word for the times-whether spoken by
old Caleb, of ancient days, or one of
his later types. Expediency has been
the dominant note of a great deal of
must yet be done before this can be
supplanted by truth. Many men will
have to be misunderstood and critics.
ed and antagonized before that brave
day can be fully brought in which puts
truth above everything else.
The life platform of Caleb might be
summed up in those words from the
Psalmist. which would make a splendid
wait for Jehovah. Be strong, and let
thy heart take courage. Yea, wait thou
for Jehovah" He was a man who
wholly followed Jehovah; and. of
course. Jehovah is bound to vindicate
all such.
Prof. Blake says of Caleb: THAT
beautiful creation of Millions, the
Seraph Abdiel, Faithful found among
the faithless, faithful only he,' is the
type and ideal of the class. Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego resisting the
enthusiasm of myriads and calmly de-
flying the fiery furnace; the Apostle
Paul clinging to his views of the law
and the gospel when even his brother
Peter began to WAIVER; Martin Luther,
with his foot on the Bible, confronting
the whole world: John Knox, defying
determined that the gospel should be
freely preached: Carey going out as a
missionary to India amid the derision
of the world-have all exemplifed the
Caleb spirit that must utter what is
in the heart"
A Goal Worth Winning.
eff only we strive to be pure and true,
To each of US there will come an hour
When the tree of life shall burst into
flower
And rain at our feet a glorious dover
OF something grander than ever we
knew"
Caleb thought that he was asking
asking for the precious thing. Hebron
is one of the golden names of the Old
Testament. True his highest reward
came in his own fearless spirit, for, as
says Lowell,
p" IT'S not the grapes of Canaan that
But the high faith that failed not by
the way
The prize which Caleb coveted and
won had more to commend it than
giants and walled cities. Hebron was
older than Abraham, and hallowed by
memories of the patriarchs. 1t was
there, under the trees of Mamre that
Abraham had dwelt. There Sarah had |
died and been buried in the cave of |
There Isaac and Jacob had |
sojourned. And there, after it's first |
conquest of Joshua and its final sub |
jugation by Caleb. the tribe of Judah |
found rallyfng place. It was at |
Hebron that David reigned for seven |
and a half years. Today, Hebron, still /
Inhabited, is regarded as one of the
oldest towns in the world.
Courage always wins the great prizes.
Life would be a finer, richer, nobler
possession for most of US if we only
faced it with more Of fearlessness and |
exalted fidelity. There may be hard
and dark spaces, to the near view but
the end is conquest and peace.
Significant News from China.
significant incident has arisen in
connection with the claim of some
Japanese Buddhist missionaries near
Foochow, China, that they be ac-
corded the same political rights that
he missionaries from Christian ma
ions enjoy. The claim has been de-
1ied by the Chinese government on
he ground that there is nothing in its
.reaty with Japan to warrant this |
Furthermore, the Chinese add they
10 not want foreigners to teach them
which has been one of
China's principal religions for hun
lreds of years.
The deputation from the American
BOARD which has been visiting China
'ecommends that intervention of any
ort on the part of missionaries in
Eases involving the relations of Chin
lse subjects to the courts or to their
government, should be altogether dis
continued" The report dwelt upon
he momentous events now in course
# progress in the empire and express
ID the opinion that China SHOULD
Command the special attention of the
Christian world today because of its
asst population, its developing re-
ources, its increasing Importance
Lmong the nations of the world, and I
because of the significance of the I
present moment in the moral, intel !
ectual and spiritual evolution OF Chi
la itself
SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS.
The only hope OF preserving what is