The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-10
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

from Prison" Acts 12:1-19.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
1t is passing strange that in this
western world, which theoretically
cares most for ideals of human liberty,
there is so little interest displayed in
the Russian martyrs to liberty, who
are suffering unSpeakable persecution
because of their devotion to the very
principles which we now possess with
out dispute or question. Russia is
about the only spot on the map now
adays where men go to prison for their
intellectual beliefs. The heroismS of
history are a precious heritage of the
race. Seen through the golden glow
OF years such conduct as is now being
practiced in Russia is the material for
the inspiration of our own time. 1t
would not be amiss if this present
Sunday school lesson, upon the i'm
prisonment of the apostle Peter, were
linked up to the present-day fmprfs-
onments of men and women who. in
q so-called civilized land. are in our
own day suffering because they are
apostles of liberty and truth. This
lesson will have achieved its first pur-
pose If 1t makes vivid the truth that
there are still, as there always have
been, beliefs worth suffering for and
even dying for.
The Bible has put that iron into
the blood of the twentieth century.
It's characters have exhibited the
greatness and glory of enduring hard
ness for the truths sake. Jesus enun-
ciated the dogma that persecution
for righteousness sake is blessed,
and he illustrated his teach
ing in his life. His immediate
disciples, and multitudes since, have
followed up in his train. The marks
of the Lord Jesus through all the ages
have come to. be the marks of suf-
fering and persecution. In the pres
ent episode we find one of his fav
orite three friends beheaded. Another,
Simon Peter, is languishing in jail,
chained to a soldier on either side,
because a trucking. demagogfc politi-
clan wanted the Jewish vote.
Soft Times and Their Peril.
Great and shining as are many of
the characteristics of the present-day
Christian church, it can scarcely be
denied that the church was harder in
earlier days. The soil of the twentieth
century has seemed to be too soft and
rich for the cultivation of the sturdiest
of Christian virtues. Throughout OBJ
servers must have a concern for our
own time in this particular. Such a
multiplicity of pleasures and diver
sions and petty interests environ the
for a calm contemplation of the an
Client ideals which have ever made ex-
istence most glorious. Men and wo-
men are so engroSSed in the Whirl OF
that they cannot pause to consider the
great dreams which have ever uplifted
the individual spirit and the race. The
newspaper readers of today-for most
of us read newspapers instead of the
big bookS-Seldom sit down to medi-
which alone make life worth while.
Our times have enerVated the people.
All the while it abides as a truth
that the great goals still exist in all
Love is still love. duty is still duty,
honor is still honor. faith is still faith,
friendship is still friendship, patriot
ism is still patriotism. self-sacrifice for
human service is still as noble as ever
It was in the stored days of old. All
the magic words of romance retain
their power to transform existence.
The goals of the Golden Age still shine
in front of the present day. There
never was time more favorable for
chivalrous, romantic, and knightly
living than this time in which we live.
True, we give hero medals nowadays,
to everybody who may come under
the eye of the right observer; but a
race Of heroes are not made by the
distribution of hero medals. Only
the incubation of heroic ideals as the
basic truths of character can elevate
the race up to the plane of brave liv-
ing. Simon Peter, and all the host
of heroes of whom he was one. are
still better servants of the aims of
chfvalry than all our modern prize
package methods.
An Underground Religious Refuge.
Before this scene in the New Tesla
ment story opens, the church had
been at peace. Harried and hunted
for a time, it had been given respite,
and in this period of calm and sun
shine it still prospered and grew. But
there is a deeper strength and
growth possible to a spiritual organi-
ration than can come under favoring
conditions of ease. The tree which
stands alone in an open field. buffeted
by every wind, produces better quail
ity of lumber than the one which
crows in the woods. Opposition seems
essential to the development of certain
OF the highest traits of character.
THE fighting force of the early Church
was. tempted and her treasures of
character were purified in the fires of
bitter persecution. Once again, appar-
emily for no greater cause than a
cheap politicians petty ambitions. the
Church was called upon to undergo
another baptism of suffering. James
was slain by the sword. Peter was
apprehended after time, probably
because he had concealed himself up
on the death of his friend.
These early Christians were not
reck1ess. as anyone who has visited
the catacombs of Rome well knows
These underground cities. where the
HYMNS of the living echoed through
the vaults that contained the dead
are eloquent and romantic testimony
TO the precautions which the Chris
fians adopted to escape persecution
'They conforted themselves and one
another not only by their songs and
their counsels and prayers. but by the
inscriptions still to be read upon the
walls. Perhaps the commonest of al
the eataconb pictures is of the Shep-
herd caring for the feeble sheep. The
simple faith of these early disciples
was mistaken in the shepherdly over
sight Of Jesus. So, when necessary
they could go to death with smile
mon their faces and a song upon theil
lips
Peter was caught by his enemies
Night and day he was chained on botf
sides to soldiers. and other soldiers
guarded his prison cell. The Church