The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-18
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due to the discipie-creating power of
their testimony. Their Good News, ac-
cepted, turned men from necromancy
and from idoiatry. 1t hurt some big
business" but it helped men and wo-
men.
That is the great apologize for
Christianity. It's power to produce
saints is the supreme Christian evil
dence. There is no answering that ar
gument. One convert made over into
holiness of life confounds all the ra-
tionalisn OF a blind scholasticism.
Some of us see in the triumphs of
the cross on mission lands today a
new infusion of vitality and conf
exported gospel is returning, to save
those who sent it out.
Culture and Religion.
A big question Is modern Japan,
and in many other places besides, is
whether the educated man needs a
even granting the necessity for a. re-
ligion, should 1t be one which makes
SO much of sin and a. cross and a.
heart at peace? Paul faced that con-
liberal ideas were all the rage. so
that men, in their eagerness to show
intellectual and spiritual hospitality to
all beliefs, erected an altar ito the
harder to convert an educated man
than an untutored one; yet Athens
needed the gospel as sorely as Corinth
or Ephesus.
The suffieiency of Christ for all
classes was Pauls great platform He
had Good News for the siave-girI for
tune teller, for the rough Philippian
TALLER, and for the rabble; and it was
only the same Good News that won
crispus, the ruler OF the &c Sor 1daa
Areopagite. and Apoilos, the polished
Alexandrian orator,
A Hero's Reward.
Back of all adventure. back of all
controversy, back of all travel and
teaching and suffering, there looms in
Paul. The man overtops the word and
the deed In all these various expert
ences he was winning to himself the
allegiance of devoted friends, ana
treasures of affection. We do not have
to look long at him before we see
that this man lived a royal life. For
him existence was never tame or state
or profitless.
sweetest gatisfactions are to be found
in the pursuit OF great and sefless
goals Paul was at no point to be
pitied, but ever to be envied, for ne
was doing mans work nobiy-nay'
found life supremacy worth living be-
cause he merged his life and his la
bors into his Masters, crying, "For to
me to live is Christ"
Vanity Fair.
Terse Comments for September -
'Pilgrim's Progress Series TX.
Vanity Fair" Eccl. 1:12-1s; 2:1-11.
BY WILLIAM r. ELLIS.
+I,o jr1onariSha h1e nhraSeS
and names which Pilgrims Progress"
has given to the common speech In
this one of VANITY Fair now used
loosely to designate any scene of fash
ion and worldly display. Somewhat or
Bunyan's sinister meaning has depart
ed from the term. His Pilgrim saw
a Vanity Fair which was ruled utterly
by the evil one, and embodied tine
world. the flesh and the devil. IL was
at utter enmity with the two travel
ers, Christian and Faithful, and the
latter it put to death for his test1-
mony, after both had been imprison-
ed and sorely abused
Nowadays the church has moved
into Vanity Fair, or else Vanity Fair
has Joined the church. The line that
divides the two is sometimes hard to
distinguish.
Wise old John Bunyan! He was
true philosopher. His language and
even his theology may be archaic but
his knowledge of human nature is for
ever true. He preached no unreal. I'M
practical gospel; his characters, with
their descriptive names; seem more
truly flesh and blood than most that
are not meant merely to point |
moral. This tinker of Bedford under |
stood clearly that for mortals the
only route to heaven is by way of the |
earth. The way to the Celestial City |
lies through Vanity Fair. There is no |
escaping human life. The Christian is
obliged to live with people, all sorts
Of people. He must develop MS char-
acter, not in a hot-house of monas- |
ticisrn, but in the atmosphere of ev-
erv day, where contending winds |
blow, and bitter frosts follow scorch-
ing sunshine. All the variety of tastes
and influences that go to make up |
his complex world are brought to |
bear upon him. He must keep his |
goodness, if at all, in spite of con-
slant allurement to evil. Happy IS ne
If the din and c1amor and the glitter
and lights of Vanit1 Fair do not dis |
tract him from the seadfast pursuit |
Of a heavenly inheritance hereafter,
and a heavenly life now.
Vanity Fair is the world of seem
so; its motto is MAN looketh on the
A sensible test for pleasures is
this: Are they as pleasant in retros-
oect as they were in prospect? In
1ther words, have they satisfied? Does
familiarity with them not cause them
20 nall upon the taste? Spiritual joys
will stand this test. The delights of
he mind, the sweet experiences of the
aeart, grow greater with Continued
lse The Christian whose spiritual
life is a vital reality enjoys his re-
ant as every one who has dwelt in
Vanity Fair knows, the pleasures of