The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-02
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
l f FIRST things we're kept
- first, and relative values
were truly observed, the no
torious prize fight would get
only brief notice on the back
page Of the newspapers, ana
the Worlds Missionary conference at
Edinburg would have first page. oas-
play head; the billboards with their
ptrversions Of art would disappear anu
the old masters would be Kept on pup
lie display. When any man gets 70
thinlofng-be he rake, tnf1del or mater
inlist-he is sure TO come TO a con >
temptation of tine great themes OF re-
ligfon: for every nations creed rep
resents the highest thought or It's best
minds. Humanity simply cannot es-
cape thoughts OF religion. And IL we
fairly observed relative values We woulc
put into first place all that concerns
religion.
Jesus taught ethics, morals and reltg-
ion. He was different from others in
that ne had.a revealed religion to pre-
sent; and he also knew how to express
his MESSAGE in pictorial words that nve
forever. His PAINTINGS, in paraoohc
form. of the verities of the souls quest
after God are masterpieces OF Itera-
tlire Like some of the old paintings,
they seem as fresh and true TO-DAY as
~ nainted Yesterday. They speak as
truly to thus time as to the generation
in which they were uttered. without
l5arable spoke he nothing unto them'
runs the record: and these pictures are
like the old portraits which follow the
observer with their eyes all over the
10 ON. The figures from the Masters
brush look straight at one. like Nafh-
an. they seem TO say, Thou art the
man."
When the Little Becomes Great.
The five of the picture stories which
remain to be told from this chapter OF
Matthew all concern the Kingdom OF
heaven. That was the passion OF Jesus.
He was surprisingly Indifferent TO &c
clesiasticism and to churchly proce-
dt.re, and to nliscalled worldly Wis
DOM But he was afire with zeal TOT
fhe kingdom. Then, as now. the &C.
clesiastical party identified the tenn
moral church machinery with the SPIT
itual kingdom. We clutter up Gco
work with a lot of clackinE, clatterlng,
uutworn ard ant1quated machinery that
belongs in the junk-heap; all, lot
socth, because It once was useful TO
the kingdom. So we retain useless ana
competing forms and offices. and unht
officials, all because we nave not the
Christian courage and vision 10 sweep
out of tie way these inpediments 70
the Kingdoms real progress. There
is a host OF good people who are
more solicitous for some board-a WOOD
en- dead and immobile th1ng-tnan
thew are for the kingdom in it's vast
ness. We need to shift our emphasis
to where Christ puts it, and that was
on the lSirgdom Of heaven.
He saw that the biggest thing in the
universe-bigger than any Haley
comet or orderly planets the king
dom of heaven. If men were not SO
blind everybody would see this also.
Even though itsS3oca1 beginnings, so
to speak, be as fnstgElHcant as mus
tard tree. its future IS Inevitably great.
IT takes a person of vision to see the
potentially of a seed. asboy. an idea
ANYBODY can understand that there is
might and meaning to such monster
demonstration as the worlds sunday
school Convention in Washington six
weeks ago. Apparently only Jesus
caught the meaning of the little cluster
OF men who followed him but whom
the world was one day to follow. The
Syrian mustard seed has become a
great tree for the sheltering and feed
ing Of nations.
Recently, at a large neighborhood
dinner party, impromptu speeches
were called for. One man arose and
told of his own recent contact with the
Deace movement: another talked OF
world broth erhood and the Orients
ferment; a third spoke of the sweep
and meaning of the Sunday school
All the men present felt as II they
had added an inch to their manhood
by being lifted above the effervescence
and banalities of the ordinary after
dinner talks, The consciousness OF
having had their eyes opened to the
deeper realities of their time sweet
ened the flavor of the real wit and
hurnor and good fellowship that
nbounded about the board. A social
occasion is we'll utilized when it helps
people to discern the .''stgns OF the
times.''
The Suffering Parrot.
Contact creates conformity The
law of touch. Jesus said, by the story
of the, laaven. governs the growth OF
his kingdom. God-men in the, world
bring about a God-world. The king
dom comes as its subjects conform
aliens to their likeness. Sometimes
we hear absurd driveI about lives be-
ing little and common place because
indeed, they are not lived in the lime
light Of public attention. AS If Goo
had any better agencies for. extending
his sovereignty than his subjects whC
live Loyalty close to other men. Tht
closer Christianity gets to- the worlt
the quicker the world will becomt
Christian. ..... @,-.
A suffering man bought a parrot
guaranteed to be a good talker. HI
kept it for a few weeks and then h
don't want the b-b-bird 1t st=t-t
tuttersl" Contiguity. creates conform
ity Nearness begetS likeness. Saint,
persons favor neighborhood will
saintliness. God-afire men set tn
world ablaze. 1t is the heaven in tn
lump-in the lump, mind you, not III
on some shelf or hidden in closet
that leavens the whole. The hope o
the world is the church in its mids
The pervasive doctrine of Jesus per
neating all of society, is the one hop
of society's transformation
The reader of the news finds hi
nerves atingle as he contemplates wha
the gospel leaven has lately been do
ing in the world. For a millennium
past the land where Jesus told thes
stories has been in the grip of intol
Grant islam Now the heaven ha
spread and swollen, overturning tn
tyrannous throne OF the Sultan, an
giving religious liberty to all peopl
on this holy soil. So the Chosen PEG