The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-17
nv wITJJAM r. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM t. ELLIS.
~=1 GAMING over the rail or a
steamer leaving CONSTANT
nople at sunset, one even
ing, 1 fell into talk with a
- turbaned black Indian, on
his way to Jerusalem and Mecca. "All
the people of the East are naturally
religious" he said, as we talked OF
Christianity and Northumberland,
and of America and Asia. He implied
that the West does not care for re-
ligion. I have been wondering. There
recur TO me. multitudinous evidences
that even in busy, material, dollar
chasing United States and Canada the
deepest, truest fact in the lives OF
millions is the lordship of Jesus Christ
My friend from Madras could scarcely
understand that, underlying the every
day acts and the secret, spiritual stir
ring and Iongings of myriads of men
and women, is a deep, vital devotion TO
the crucified and risen Redeemer.
Gather together the part that Chris
tianity has played in the civilization
of Europe and America-and caretul
student may say that Jesus is the
great fact that explains the difference
between the East and the West-ano
the part it is at present playing In the
supreme factor of the development or
the human race during the past TWO
thousand years, is the resurrection OF
Christ. He that was dead is now
alive, and the present dynamic force
in uncounted characters.
The Great Pilgrimage.
One of the wonderful sights of the
East is the annual pilgrimage to Nee
ca. Less tangible, but more real and
potent, is the spiritual pilgrimage OF
Christians everywhere to the cross
and empty tomb of Jesus. An 1nhnl-
tesimal proportion of this multitude
make their way to the Holy Land;
yet so numerous are they that the
tourist companies will testify that the
most powerful lure in all the world
of travel is this otherwise inconsld-
cradle strip of country where his feet
once trod. The travellers are among
the most enlightened people in the
world: not as the poor Moslems, I'M
able to read, and so miserable IN their
clothes and habits that when l said
to a Turkish railway conductor on the
road to Damascus, "You have a huge
load of pilgrims in the third class"
he shook his head and held his nose
in disgust. Without sharing his con-
tempt for these men of his own faith,
it is but just to recognize the evil
dence of the quality of persons who
seek to look upon the scenes which
Jesus knew. The great and the
learned have paid this tribute to
The reason is that he is today "a
living, bright reality to large part
of the world. Hosts of his disciples
schoolmen to the historicity of the
resurrection: for the best of all rea-
sons: they themselves have a per
sonal acquaintance with the risen
because he is their life. Modern
psychologists accept this as valid evil
dence. The present potency of jesus
is d proof of his triumph over the
forces of decay which ultimately
break the power of the strongest. The
great men of earth grow less great in
actual influence with the passage OF
the centuries: and Jesus multiplles his
power with the progress of time.
VitaIized Men.
The little company of friends who
had followed Jesus over the dusty
roads of Palestine, and beneath the
blazing Syrian sun, went to pieces
when he was crucified. They unques-
tionably thought that all was over
with his cause. Their own hopes per-
ished on the cross. Like an electric
current, the news of, the resurrection
brought by the women reJuvenated
their faith The utterly cast down be-
came of a sudden vitalized men. A
new life sprang into being in their
hearts. The defeated were transform
ed into world conquerors. Now the
symbol of their 'faiIure"-the cross
floats over more people than any 9TH
er sign or emblem.
That message of resurrection Is to-
day the faded old worlds only hope.
Christians - interpenetrate society
the latter becomes made over in the
new Henry DrummOnd clearly ex-
pressed this thought of the Christian S
mission in the words:
ITO move among the people on the
common street; to meet them in the
market place on equal terms; to live
among them not as saint or monk, bul
as brother-man with brother-man; tc
serve God not with form or ritual, but
in the free impulse of a soul; to bear
the burdens of society and relieve its
needs; to carry on the multitudinous
activities of the city-social, CONNER
cial, political, ph1lanthroplc-lr
Christ's spirit and for his ends; this /:
the religion of the Son of Man, and
the only meetness for heaven which
has much reality in it,"
The Surprised Women.
The persons who are always looking
for the worse instead of the better
have a lesson to learn from the resur'
rection morning. The women went t.
the garden expecting to find a sealed
tomb: instead, they discovered new
gospel In place of a sepulchre, the!
found a life. ''He is not here: he il
risen" That is the word for all whC
go to worship dead forms and relic:
and sacred places.
None of the tombs of mans making
can hold the Lord of life. He will no
be bound by any organization or Greco
or preconceived notion. The places
that once knew Him may know Hin
no more. He is out in the world O.
living men; beware lest in honoring
church or an ecclesiastical polity O.
history or rite, the living, presen
Christ be missed. The constant fresh
ness and contemporaneousnes o