The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-24
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
Everybody is somehow a provincial
The standards which men Involuntary
apply to everything. in heaven above
and on earth be ath. are the stand
ards of their own time and place and
training. 1t is natural to try to meas
ure all things by our own little twelve
inch rule. Only the rare man who is
truly great man ever becomes a
cosmopolite, recognizing freely that
there are other peoples, other stand
. ards, other times. While not quite
putting 1t into words, the ordinary
person who gives thought at all to
the civilization of what is somewhat
snobbishly called the heather" world.
conceives of its being brought to the
standards of his own particular
church, to the use of his mother
tongue, and to the adoption of his
forms of dress.
This spirit made trouble in the early
church. The first Christians thought
of themselves as Jews, and of Christ's
message as being for Jews. But when
by persecution the infant church was
flung hither and thither into what the
Jews called barbarian" communities,
they had their eyes opened, even as
today travel broadens mems horizons.
Gradually, and after much intense OPP
position, the truth began to enter the
minds of the early church that the
gospel was for Gentle as well as for
Jew, and that the former could be as
true a disciple of Jesus as the latter.
While not saying so in church meet
ings. there are multitudes of earnest
Christians today who, in their heart
of hearts, question whether man
with a yellow face, and speaking a
tongue to them incomprehensible, can
be as true a type of Christian as the
white man. Much work remains to
be done with the home churches as
well as in foreign lands before there
can be a general leveling up to a
realization that Christ Jesus is the
Savious of all men. and that he recks
not OF tongue or color or race. Many
travellers have wished that the fervor
and fidelity and JOY of some Chris
tian communities newly out of pagan
ism, as the Korean converts, for in
stance. could be found as a general
characteristic of the all too complac-
ent churches at home.
Some Meaningful Names.
The arch-persecutor Saul, was prob
ably responsible more than any other
one man for driving the Christians
from Jerusalem in every direction. 1t
Is one of the dramatic contrasts of
history that he himself should later
follow them into these remote places
as minister of the once-despised Cos
pei. Now we find them in the present
lesson in Phoenicia, and Cyprus. and
AntiOCn, ana Cyrene.
The dispersion of the disciples to
these points meant the direct, vital
contact of their faith with the most
formidable aspects of entrenched pag-
anism. Tt was one thing for the teach
ings of Jesus to subsist as an aspect
of Judaism in the brooding religious
atmosphere of Jerusalem; quite differ
ent was its life in these active. hust-
ling, materialistic "heathen'' commun-
tiles. And here the disciples, who had
begun by speaking the Word to none
save only to Jews, found themselves
constrained to preach the Lord Jesus
unto the Greeks also. New conditions
had so broadened their minds that
they perceived the impossibility of re-
tanning their faith as a mere Jewish
sect
A New Label from the City.
The city is the final test of most
men and enterprises. Every boy or
man of parts. however celebrated To-
cally, feels himself bound to go up
against the city, where he knows his
onstrated. The new teachings of Jesus
were soon called upon to face this
test. In Antioch, amid new and
relatively hostile environment, the di-
ciples had to prove the workability
of their faith Could 1t endure the
cold Indifference of this vast munich
pality? Was it equal to impressing
these hurrying hordes of Greeks? The
challenge of the city, which is a pres
nt-day problem for religion, was thus
early a question for the followers of
Jesus
1t was his expedition to New York
City that marked the downfall of John
Alexander Dowie. In his own little
community on the shores of Lake
Michigan he could thrive in growing
power and honor. Face to face with
the metropolis of the continent he was
proved to be unequal to the big task
he had set himself, and the funda-
mental falsity to his pretensions was
uncovered. In Antioch. however, the
small community of exiles from Jeru-
salem made an entirely different i'm
preston. Antioch gave 1t a new label.
Having stood the test of the city the
friends of Jesus were henceforth to be
known by the name there received
Christians. Little could the most ina
ginative citizen of Antioch dream that
history when Antioch would be known
chiefly to civilization because "the di-
sciples were called Christians first in
Antioch"
Obviously, whether or not the name
was applied in derision, it arose from
the fact that the disciples suggested
Christ The center of their faith and
preaching and practice was the Cali
lean. When their neighbors saw them
they thought of Jesus. In the conduct
of these lowly believers the city of
Antioch read, as in living epistles, the
Gospel of the Crucified. 1t was what
the theologians call a Christo-centric
religion that the exiles lived in An
tioch: to them Christ was all in all.