The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-24
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.l


(BY WILLIAM T. ELLISJ
In a New York restaurant the other
day 1 saw a man reading intently a
village newspaper from the middle
west. He was Indifferent to the great
dailies of the metropolis that were ly-
ing about him. They were only New
York newspapers common to every
body; this was the paper from back
home However far a man may roam
and however great he may become, ne
never loses his romantic interest in
the place where he was brought up.
The Old Home Week idea of New Eng
land is a successful effort to capital
ize this sentiment The homing instinct
is one of the deepest in human nature:
The romantic love OF the scenes OF
childhood was experienced by Jesus,
who shared all the passions of man
kind. Nazareth, where he had been
brought up, meant more to him thar
the thriving city of Capernaum. Even
Jerusalem, the city of the king, had
not the place in His heart that was
held by this little village which nest
led in a cup-lixe valley of Galilee. From
his Capernaum successes Jesus return
ed to Nazareth, taking with Him,
doubtless, His disciples. There were
members of His family to be visited;
probably His mother was there; men
whom He had known since boyhood
were in almost every house.
AS the Carpenter walked down the
eye lighted up at the sight of many
familiar scenes. Yonder were oxen
blowing. in a yoke which He Himself
had made. The pillow itself had come
from His workshop. Here and there
We're houses that He had built in yon-
der limestone cave He often unused
through the hot summer noontide: eV-
cry foot of the village and its environs
was sacred in His memory. The spring
from which Mary had carried water
as a girl, and which still flows in
the center of Nazareth, had been to
Him as to all the other boys of tbs
village, a place of resort.
1t was for Him, as for every man,
q great hour when He went back home
for the first time after winning sue
cess abroad. Nothing is said in the
Scripture about the renewals of old
associations and the visits home, ano
the pallet, perhaps, in the corner OF
the old house where He had slept since
earliest memory. 1t was home-com-
ing, with all that the experience means
Z of romance and pleasure.
When the Preacher Goes Home.
One Sunday morning in the English
speaking church in Lucerne met more
American acquaintance than during
week in the rest of Switzerland. Per-
sons of principle adhere to those prin-
ciples wherever they may be, anu the
church-going kind of folk may be
found at church wherever they are.
When Jesus returned to Nazareth, He
did not give His Sabbath to holding
a levee. Instead, He went to the old
synagogue. the familiar building that
was associated with His earliest MEM
cries of religion. How proud Mary
must have been of Him that morning,
as she saw all eyes turned to Him
when He entered the village house of
worship
went back home'' said the preacher
the other day, But the home folks
would not nave y any other way
than that I should preach for them,
so 1 worked as hard as if had been
here Incomprehensible would be
the community that would not ask
one of its old boys who had beco ne
a preacher to enter it's pulpit. The
readers roll into the hands of Jesus
that morning in the Nazareth syna-
gogue, and when He unfurled the
scroll of Isaiah, which was handed to
Him by the clerk, it was found that
the days Indicated portion was more
appropriate than almost any other
passage in the Old Testament.
The Great Mission
For then came the self-revelation of
the Carpenter who had become a rab-
hi and who had returned home. The
thrill in His voice startled every hear
er as He read.
1.-THE spirit of the Lord is upon me,
good tidings to the poor;
He hath sent me proclaim release to
the captives.
And recovering of sight to the bird,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord"
The very manner of reading this
prepared the startled listener for the
supplementary remark with which
the Teacher opened His discourse as
He sat down to teach, after the Gus
tom of the time. To-day hath TINS
Scripture been fulfilled in your ears.
The message makes good reading
Observers of our times are perplexed
by the unwonted stir that has come
upon the world in this generation
Politics are in state of fluX: syndi-
calism has emerged as an ominous
movement in labor: economic condi-
tions are universally disturbed: I'm
rest is everywhere
Patent remedies are being pro-
claimed for these social conditions
from almost every corner. This is
the time to read again the prophecy
of Isaiah as accepted by Jesus. The
program for the hour is the program
laid down in that Nazareth syna-
gogue nearly two thousand years ago
BY the acceptance of the mission
which Jesus declared to to be His own
His disciples are to help Him solve
the worlds new problems Grea
changes are coming. It is for Chris
tians to see that those changes shall
come along the peaceful, construc
tive brotherly lines which Jesus Ia
down as fundamental.
The Rejection.
The crowd gasped at the assum p
zion of this returned Nazarene. No
body is slower to accent man thai
those who have known MIN Iongest
One day in the little town of West
minister Vermont, I went to the vii
49, oburob and asked to be show