The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-30

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A church without power to do the
works expected of religion: that Is the
picture presented in TO-DAY ounGay
school lesson 1t turns one ; nous ii ~,
to the similarly deso1ate pictures To
be seen all over the land The 1mpo-
tence of much formally ORGANIZED
Christianity is the saddeSt truth OF the
worlds religious horizon
There are congregations in all parts
of the land which have "a form OF
godIiness, but deny the power there
CoatesvilIe who boast of their religion
but which when put to the test of citi-
zenship or morality seem to have only
thin veneer of pioslty over rank
barbarism. The country's attention
has been called afresh to this little
PENNSYLVANIA city by the widely cir
cuIated story of New York poets
attempt to call Gainesville to its knees
on the first anniversary of the worst
1ynching America has ever seen he
found no shred of penitence in the
town made Infamous by a monstrous
crime. The state of mind at Coates
Vile continues the same as when the
ministers returned from their vaca-
lions and, instead of cOndemnlng the
Iynching issued public statements in
condemnation of the press which had
reported the Iynching.
In all this CoatesviIIe is not singu-
lar Throughout the land there are
communities whose self complacent
religion shows none of the normal /
proofs of fidelity. This whole subject
q
Germ. for it affects the very funda-
mentals of society. When religion /
does not do its work, then the state
suffers This present story of the |
group of disciples fmpotent in the face !
of a social need is most pertinent to |
our day.
After the Revival, What?
The settling of the incident is dra-
matte. Jesus and the three had been
on the mountain top; there they had
undergone the marvellous transhgura-
ton experience. With the ecstatic |
glow of that hour still suffusing their /
beings, they descended to the plain |
below. 1t was a rude awakening for |
them to find awaiting them the sick,
the needy, and the sordid mob with all
its httleneSses and ignO biities.
What a jolt that was for the exalted |
three disciples. Their heads were still
in the glory clouds; the voices of
Moses and Elijah, and the greater
Voice out of the cloud, were still ring
ing in their ears The TRANSPORTATION
vision OF the revealed Messiah was be-
fore their eyes. Then of a sudden they
were plunged into the thick OF Things
in the everyday world
Their experience is like that of a
man who goes from ardent revival
services to the scofnng associates and
petty details of his daily tasks in the
Vvork-a-day world. 1t is so easy to be
religious in the atmosphere OF a re-
viVal meeting. Nevertheless, the proof
of genuine religion is ability to live
and thrive and do the work proper
for a Christian in the atmosphere of
this present world. 1t is vain to try
at society in self righteous detach-
nent. The leaven belongs in the
lump. The proper sphere of goodness
is the world, to make it cody. The
TRANSPORTATION experience of Jesus
and John and James and Peter was to
demonstrate its power right down on
the loWlands amid tn unsym pathetic
crowd who had not seen the cloud or
heard the voice or beheld the trans
figured Christ.
\ Fathers Indictment.
Grim and dreadful is the suggestion
of the episode as the father led his
stricken boy to Jesus Himself. and
pointing to the disciples said, These
your disciples have failed. They could ;
not do the work which everybody sup {
poses characterizeS you and your dis
cipIes-" As chorus to the fathers |
indictment can be heard the open re-
jOicings of the scribes and scoffers. {
The healing power of Christ's Church
had failed in the eye of the multitude. ]
The father himself was in a sore :
plight His son. an epileptic called I
a lunatic in one version, was dread
fully afflicted. All other help had fall
ed, and he had been brought to Jesus. !
His own story is, Master. I brought
unto thee my son, which hath dumb
spirit: and wheresoever it taketh him,
it dasheth him down; and he foameJh. I
and grindeth his teeth, and pineth 1
away; and I spoke to thy disciples that
they should cast it out; and they were
not able"
Present-day parallels present them t
selves to our recollection. Here is a q
minister who preached for years to !
an eminent bank president who proved I
20 be an embezzler and rogue. What
kind of gospel had that man been hear
ing that he could go on complacently 7
through the years robbing the widow (
and the orphan2 Here is a Sunday
school teacher, one of whose boys is
now an indicted murderer Yonder goes i
a man wearing the elanking chain of 1
tlishonor and disgrace. at whom [
church had all the chance in the world. C
He says that it drove him away be C
cause of petty jeaIousies. I hesitate r
TO cite other instances of the sort (
known TO every reader. The theme is [
a dark one, and no man can speak q
with assurance and defniteness upon i
it How much responsibility for the :
boys and girls who go wrong belongs [
60 their parents and families and @
teachers and churches. VINO can say2 9
7 heard one of the district attorneys y
of a great city say, in private con- {
versation recently that nine-tenths of
the fallen women whose cases he had d
investigated blamed their departure
from virtue upon unhappy home life !
One shudders before the outrea chi1gs
and parallels of this ancient fathers
indictment of the disciples who failed I
To do the work that belonged TO their |
office.
What Is the Matter? Z
4 cynical Jest reports concerning a i
certain magnificent city church that f
passer-by said. They have everything 5
in that church except religion The 7
modern organizations of Christianity G
nave worldly wisdom; they buy the T