The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-23

thew, whose business required MIN
to be up to date in all things
To the boundless surprise of the tax
collector, the Master halted, addressed
him, and invited him to join the little
group of his disciples. What an event
for an unexpected hour. So it is with
life. We never know what God has in
waiting for us around the next cor
ner. One person who reads these
words may meet for the first time his
future wife before morning. Another
may hear Of the loss of a dear one.
This man will get promotion in
business, that one a discharge. Half
the zest of living is in it's unexpected
ness. And he who is ready for Christ,
is ready for everything.
A conventional citizen of Capernaum
would have advised Jesus that Mat
thew was beyond the pale. But God
does not Judge US by this worlds
a peculiar interest in the man upon
whom society turns it's back. So the
Master called Matthew. In getting
him what a boon lay in store for all
the world That unlikely, worldly
wise man of affairs became a steadfast
disciple, and the author of the first
Gospel There was a historian hidden
in Matthew. He had possibilities
the wonder that is being wrought over
and over again. The acceptance of
Christ means the beginning of a new
and unsuspected career.
For Matthew himself that apparent
surrender won immortality of name
and influence. He seemed to be giving
up prosperity to become the wander
ing disciple of new Teacher with an
uncertain future. Instead of the fail
ure which his practical friends pre-
dicted, he won such a success as comes
to only a few men in an age. If more
young men today could be made to see
the supreme gain of losing their lives
for the Kingdoms sake, we should hear
less about the dearth of Christian
leaders. Life lived by the Matthew
program is surest success.
Knowing the Big Crowd.
Most of US see only our own crowd.
We are not eosmopolites. The banker
talks with bankers; the preacher
takes his social times at the preach rS'
meetings; the workingmen meet only
workingmen. That way come class
lines Now for the weakling, who is
not sure of himself, and is afraid of
compromising his social position, it is
prudent to flock with birds of his own
feather. But for the big, real man,
the Jesus type of personality, it is i'm
portant to keep in touch with all kinds
of people. Wise was the word, ST am
a man, and nothing that is common to
man can be alien to me- Says the
late Sam Walter Foss in his familiar
lines:
Let me live in house by the side of
the road. where the race of men
go by;
The men that are good, and the men
that are bad, as good and as bad
as 1.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
nor hurl the cynic's ban:
Let me live in a house by the side of
the road, and be a friend to man.
The critics objected to the fact
that Jesus attended the feast which
Matthew gave-although he never
mentioned in his owa book that he
gave it. They did not like the COM
lar, conventional, orthodox, and to be-
long to their crowd. Here he was, |
actually sitting at meat with per-
fectly impossible" people. The idea
hcans and sinners! These little pup
pets of Mrs. Grundy did not realize |
how much bigger than any crowd |
OF helrs was the fellowship of Jesus. |
one OF the hardest of all lessons |
for the church to learn is the cath /
olicity of Christ's companionship. He
keeps company with many folk who |
would not be welcome in some
churches. He violates race preju- |
dice, social lines, and all the absurd |
and multitudinous distinctions of our
time. Especially does he love to |
share himself with the poor. the low
pernaum, he eats with sinners and the |
socially n0n-elect. AS The Chris |
tan Herald once said, the world |
draws many horizontal lines through |
these so-called distinctions between |
upper and middle and lower classes.
He draws only one line to divide |
men. and it is vertical On one side
are his friends, and on the other his
foes.
New doctrine indeed was this-no |
new patch on the old coat of Judaism, |
no new content for ancient religious !
W1ne-Skins. Within and without |
with a newness that was revolution
new. He preached a kingdom of
brotherhood, of service, of allegiance |
to God, and of personal salvation
Wherever that gospel has gone
whether to the painted savages of an
Gent Britain, or to the China of to-
day. it has made all things new. and |
spread a wonderful feast for whose
ever will sit at Christ's table. |;
Where Politics and Morals Mix.
Christian Endeavor Topic for March
"a, is THE Saloon and Its Allies" |
Hab. 2: Ill.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
Every time we face afresh the tenn
perance question in any of it's aspects, |
we need to remind ourselves to be |
temperate in our attitude. The easy |
way is the partisan way. To ta6e |
sides with the largest crowd requires |
less courage and convection than TO
think things through for ones self. A |
judicial attitude toward even the sa-
loon is not only more creditable, but |
also more effective than an unreasOn-
ing antagonism. The person who looks |
into the subject, from a sincere desire
to be fair, will surely come to the con
clusion that the saloon is an evil; and
his temperate opinion will weigh moro |