The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-05-18
BY WILLIAM t. ELLIS.

anu ina new Lie. MdLl. -
26.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
The present ciamor and groanings
and upheaval of society were APPLY de-
scribed the other day as only grow
ing palms, Deeply understood AL
this clamor means that society Is
learning the lesson of religion set UP
By Christ. Each new generation
must be taught for itself the truth
that Christianity outruns all FORMS
and must be adapted to each new
generation. Religion is no less reIl-
gion in our time because it does mol
express itself in the speech and forms
of a century ago. The persistence OF
these forms which were approved ana
proper in their time would mark d
failure of religion today.
Except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scrloes an9
pharisees''-that is the startling wore
of the teacher. The scribes anG
pharisees had been good in their day,
but their goodness had degenerated
into petrified Journalism. That pr1ncl-
pie runs forever. In vain do snort
sighted adherents of the gooo old
days endeavor to impose upon the nv
ing present the forms of the deac
past. The Christian life is like the
mamma of the wilderness new every
day. There is a sense in which there
must be a fresh brand of religion for
eternal truth VIII be manifested II
contemporary forms and be none the
less the eternal truth for that
This is the way in which Jesus
came to fulfill the law-to fill it full
to make It run over.
The Bucket of Stale Water.
a homely story illustrates the ma |
ture of an ever present living expert |
ence of faith. At a revival meeting |
an enthusiastic man said, Twenty |
years ago L let my bucket down into |
the we'll of salvation and brought il /
up half full. Now I have let it down
again and it is trimming over-Hal-
leleuiahi"
a staid deacon did not approve of
this enthusiasm and implied refiec
ton upon the old, SO he arose and
said grimly, Twenty years ago 1 lei
my bucket down into the well of sal
walton and brought it up nearly full
and it amt ever been down since but
always just So" A waggishly inclined
attendant at the meeting arose anu
said, Il want to say that if this good
brothers bucket has been just So for |
20 years it's probably got wiggle tails
in it now"
The homey anecdote is fraught with
a great truth. The Christian life
must be eternally renewed. 1t canno
survive only on past experiences. The
reason reforms have been necessary in
the religious history of the race from
llIl6 10 time mas DeeH IIdI 0nElSCldI1G /
have failed to realize that the old
law and the old life were to be fresh
~ fulfilled from day to day.
When Religion ''Sets."
Clay and wax and other plastic
substances set if left alone. Merely
to assume some past experience or
conviction will eternally suffice is to
ignore this cardinal teaching of Jesus
that His friend must possess ali
eternally contemporaneous spiritual
life. The possession of a vital rel-
sion yesterday oblfgates us to the pos
session of more vital religion today.
More and more" is the rule of the
Christian life. Startling stories have
come out of the Men and Religion
movement to illustrate this truth I
Churches and individuals whose life
had become formal and perfunctory
We're aroused to a realiza ton of the |
vitality and even sinfulness of this
sort of religion. Officeholding Chris
tians are found in many cases to have
divorced religion from business so far
that they were actually party to the
gravest evils such holding stock
in criminal corporations, renting pro- |
perty for saloons and other evil pur-
poses, grossly underpaying their EN-
ployees, and otherwise violating the
clearest code of righteousness.
Proper Religious Extremes"
A nice, conventionally respectable
and innocuous brand of religion is o {
constant tendency of good people
Somehow, though, when we get to
reading such words as these of Jesus
we realize that this is not the sort of
good form" that the gospel is after.
1t goes beyond all outward appear
ance. AS Browning says:
Religions all or nothing; it's no mere
smile
O'contentment sigh of aspiration, sir
No quality of the inlier tempered
CLAW
Like its wilderness or it's likeness
rather stuff
O. the very stuff life of life, and self
OF SELF
If a mans business is not pene-
trated by his religion, neither his bust
ness nor his religion can pass unchaI-
lenged the judgment of holy writ. AS
DR.. J. A. Francis of Boston said in a
recent speech after telling the story
of a man who made profits of a hum
dred thousand dollars a year while his
employees received wages averagine
eff a man is drawing great dividends
from his business while his workmen
are not receiving a living wage, that
man must make answer to the judg-
ment bar of d just God In these
times of clean conscience, men cannot
take refuge for such dealing behind
legal rights The penetrating law of
Christ reaches them.
A Unique Test.
The very genius of Christianity is
in the statement of its founder
1.-The words that I speak unto YOU
they are spirit and they are life.
other faiths are satisfied with formal.