The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-03

The International Sunday School Les
SON for April is peter and
Cornelius" Acts 10: 1-4s.
BY WILLIAM I. ELLIS.
The race question in its acutest and
gravest form Is not to be found in the
southern states, or in San Francisco
or Vancouver; but the other side of
the world, where the Oriental and the
African come into contact with the
white man. Especially serious and
ominous is it in China, because the
European and American there have,
on the whole, insisted upon acting to-
ward the natives of the country as If
@e latter were inferior beings. The
entire anti-foreign sentiment in China
nay be traced to the simple lack of
Urotherliness in the conduct of the
white men in China. The case in
Britain's rule can scarcely be ques-
toned, but the Indian has been
irritated and made rebellious by the
refusal of many white men to treat
of the average "sahib" toward the ma
tive has exasperated the proud Indian
60 the point of open rebellion
Nor is the race question modern
Issue. 1t existed in the first Christian
century with an intensity equal to
anything known at the present time.
The Greeks and Romans looked upon
the whole outer world as "barbarians."
The Jew regarded all Gentiles con-
temptuously. They were beyond the
pale. The caste system, at which we
shudder in India, was just as strong
and bitter and unbrotherly on the part
of the Jews of old.
A LevelIlng Gospel.
Christianity undertook to draw just
one line of division between men, and
that not a horizontal line, but a
vertical. All other social and religious
systems had apportioned men into up
per classes, middle classes, and lower
classes. Christ drew q vertical line,
on one side of which were the good,
and on the other side the bad. Into
the intense class consciousness of the
day, and in spite of natural disposition
of Jewish Christians, the religion of
Jesus projected a conception of
brotherhood. 1t judged men only on
the basis of their attitude toward
Christ. AS the appeal to the Gentiles
later expressed it: There cannot be
Greek and Jew, circumcision and I'M
circumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bondman, and freeman; but Christ Is
all and in ALL"
Serious controversies agitated the
early church over this question. Paul
had to Withstand Peter to his face;
vision sorely tested on an equal foot
ing. Yet this was the triumph of the
early church. 1t abolished all social
lines. Rich and poor. slave and free
brothers in the one common Lord.
The Heathen's Vision.
On the outskirts of the Jewish faith
there dwelt a large company of men
and women who were not strictly
proselytes, yet who believed in the one
God. Among these was a certain
Roman military man, Captain Cor
nelius. He was not churchman in
full standing. But the record runs
that he was "devout man, and one
that feared God with all his house,
who gave much aims to the people,
and prayed to God always" Cor
nelius was an advanced type of the
men who are to be found in every ma
ton who reach out blind hands to the
father of us all. He Is an early
monition to Christians everywhere
that they should interpret most ltber-
ally all the groupings and strivings OF
the ancient faiths after a spiritual life
as an aspiration towards the true and
living God.
To Cornelius came a vision. bidding
him summon Simon Peter, who would
instruct him more fully in the things
of the spirit. The picture is worth
meditating upon. 1t was not mystic
nor seer nor holy man" to whom
the vision came, but to practical man
of affairs, q soldier. The power of
vision is not denied to any man in any
sphere. The sad truth Is that men
shut their eyes to visions which are
hurrying merchandizers who throng
New Yorlk's public ways take time for
a moments thought of the vast social,
political. and spiritual problems that
arc incarnated on every side of them!
It is by the man of vision that these
perpleXities are to be resolved. And
only as a powerful proportion of the
people are possessed of the gift of
vision to which they are obedient can
we hope for a solution of the teeming
problems of our time. Tennyson's
exhortation is still widely applicable:
o young Mariner,
Down to the haven,
Call your companions
Launch your vessel,
Crowd your canvas,
And. ERE it vanishes
Over the margin,
After it, follow 1t,
Follow The CLEAN.
Some Curious Condolences.
While Cornelius was being given his
vision in Caesarea, Peter was receiv-
ing another vision in Joppa. These
condolences of the spiritual and
physical world are profoundly sug-
gestive. They hush into reverence
every thoughtful mind. Only the Grass
and the ignorant disregard them or
fraaf them lightly Gods bells all