Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-23
(By William T. Ellis)

son For january 2o Is, "Servfng
Jesus."-Luke S:1S; 9:57-62; 10:
SS-42
(By William T. Ellis)
The woman question" inescap-
ably is one of to-day's living issues.
Every thoughtful person is bound to
face II squarely, and to look into it
deeply. Whatever is merely super
fetal or incidental should be elimi-
mated. Thus the suffrage issue is
not ''the woman question" Even the
so-called feminist movement"
and finds other sphere for woman
than that of wife, mother. and
home maker, is not sufficiently in
elusive. Considered dispassionately,
the distinctive place. the distinctive
abilities, and distinctive mission of
women must enter into any study of
the woman question" This may
with the present Sunday School les
son. For here we find the attention
of millions of persons the world
around simultaneously concentrated
upon the New Testament stories
that are sufficiently eneral to
open up the whole woman ques-
ton" AS we walk with Mary of
Magdala, and Joanna and Susanna,
who followed Jesus and ministered
we sit in the shadow of the hospi-
table Bethlehem home, where the
tired teacher so loved to resort. we
may consider what light the Bible
sheds upon this modern perplexity.
\ Frank Word About Women
Whatever the future may hold,
whether woman is to rule by ballot
or by battle AK, or by ministry and
inspiration, there are certain truths
which may frankly be stated about
woman's place in the past.
Always her first field has been the
home and the children. She has been
potent in affecting the most inti-
mate and basic human conceptions.
Hers has been the shaping influence
upon life at it's springs. She has
made "home" sweet word. The
picture of the Bethany home where
Jesus delighted to visit is illumina-
tive.
Always women have been more
religious than men. At all times and
under all creeds they have been the
defenders of the faith and the at
tendants of the altar fires of spirit
( uality. This continues during to-day
both in the Christian Church and in
| pagan lands. IF man is an incur
Fable religious animal" then the fe-
male of the species is more religious
than the male. No symptom on the
days horizon is more alarming than
the modern increase in the number
of women who give religion no place
in their scheme of things, and who
undertake to get along without its
| restraints and its consultations.
Always woman has been an ideal
list. That the claims of Jesus should
be so swiftly and deeply understood
by women is significant. 1t is a rare
church indeed that is not attended
by more women than men. This also
is true of concerts, lectures, art ex-
hibitions, and the highert classes of
drama and all literary and ethical
occasions The idealism of woman is
apparent on every hand.
Always woman has been the
heartener of men. kipling makes
one of his characters say There
are just two kinds of women in the
world: those who put strength into
men and those who take it out of
them" The friendship of Martha and
Mary evidently meant much to
Jesus. This apparently indirect exer-
else of womans power may not sat
/ isfy some persons; but the armorer's
/ part in the battle is as real as that
of the warrior. Barrie's exquisite
/ sketch of Margaret Ogilvie" recites
/ how his mother declared that she
would be proud to be the mother of
/ Robert Louis Stevenson as for
! himself, Barrie vows that all he is or
/ has done he owes to his mother.
I The world can i'll afford to lose that
kind of woman.
The Real Emancipation
Here we come to a profound his
torical fact, Jesus Christ has been
the real Emancipator of womanhood.
In His discipleship she has gone to
| newnesS of honor, to newness of serv-
ice, and newness of character.
Through all the centuries, since one
little group of women were 'last
at the cross and first at the grave"
women have been the best friends
of Jesus, even as He has been the
best friend of womanhood.
A new sense of sisterly solidarity
has developed in Christianity. We
might call this noble sex con-
| sciousness. The passion of Christian
woman for the welfare of the women
of the world is not often discussed
in the newspapers, but it is the
broadstand and most beautiful phase
of the whole woman question"
Womans Ideal Man
In return for what He has done
for her, woman has lavished upon
Christ the intensity and fullness of
an unmeasured devotion. He has
filed her vision of an ideal man.
lis strength and tenderness, His
mastery and His ministry, have sat-
SIZED woman's loftiest aspirations.
The mothers who have raised their
sons by the Christ-standard, and
have fired the hearts of those sons
With the Christ-passion, have been
the greatest servants of the race Is
here anything that would better
serve these new times, than more of
this spirit in the days womanhood
The company of women who fol-
lowed Jesus, as we are told in this
lesson, were the fore-runners of an
innumerable host. 1t would exalt
the thinking, the living, or the
characters of multitude of us who
are talking losely about 1.-The woman
uestion" if we were to get a clear
vision of the type of womanhood
Who in home and church and Christ
ian women's organizations are mod
estly seeking to help the world in the
name of the Lord Jesus
HomeIessness of the Leader
Interjected into this lesson story
as if to accentuate the human needs
of Jesus on the comfort that was
brought Him by the sympathetic
women, are the three instances of the
men who wanted to follow Him. TIC
the first the Master replied "The
foxes have holes. the birds of the
heavens have nests; but the Son o1
Man hath not where to lay His head
The second wanted first to bury hi.
father. and the third to bid fare