The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-04-18

Salty Saints and Their Sayouf.
The International Sunday School Les
SON for April - Il The Cost OF
Discipleship."-L 1855.
BY WILLIAM 7. ELLIS.
sugar on mackerel. or salt in tea.
are mistakes which the palate re-
sents. Sugar and salt are not equiva-
lents, even though some few millions
Of Christians are trying to substitute
sweetness for satiness.
Christ never sent his disciples into
the world to be suger. They are not
meant to please palates, but to save
lives. And that is the business OF
ALT: It bites but 1t preserves.
Daring to be different-courage 10
be true to ones Christian personality
lis a sign Of saintliness. Believers
With tang to them. individualities
who care not a whistle about pleas
ing old Madame Grundy, but are IN
tensely eager to be acceptaoie TO
Jesus Christ. are tho real hope OF hu-
man society. Their business 10 to be
the salt of the earth. Whatever they
touch, they help.
Sak-Chr1stian saN-costs. 1t rep
resents the high price OF living the
highest life. Jesus did not make II
too easy for persons to follow him:
he insisted that they count the cost.
To become ~ salt for this decaytng
old earth IL more expensive than TAX
ing the highest degrees In frater-
nal order or finding the loftiest place
IN society. For it costs in life. in
service, in sacrifice. In hearts blood.
Only those persons become salty
saints who take up q cross. lift up a
- 80 an n
A Cold D0ucho for the Crowd.
Crowds were still lionizing Jesus.
He was the sensation Of the hour
over in noveltyloving Perea. He
was the vogue, and wherever he went
a multitude attended him. But Jesus
knew what was in man, and mover
suffered any illusions concerning pop
ular favor.
Therefore he feared not to be Tim
wholesome truth as we'll as that
which tickled ears. Turning to the
mob. on the occasion treated in this
lesson. he said. in effect: You fol-
low me now. But you cannot truly
be my disciples unless you put me
first in your lives. My claim must
take the precedence Of ALI family ties.
cal allegiance"
What . douche Of cold water for
these folk who wanted to be on the
popular" side. They were following
the line of least resistance. and be-
ing carried forward by the current.
Now thiss radical rabbi, not content
to let we'll enough alone, must insist
on supreme and peculiar claims. He
wants only those who will prefer Him
above all else: he will not be called
Master at all, unless he can be Mas
ter in ALL And that Is still true of
Jesus Christ. He will not be lord of
any life that will not let him be lord
of all life No divided allegiance will
content him. This calm assumption
of absolute and singular authority was
one of the most constant expressions
of his consciousness of his Messiah
ship. He would not accept the capt.
ulation of any life. except on terms
of unconditional surrender.
Scant comfort In this for the butter
f,y relisionists who want to fit from
flower to flower-today, orthodox
Christianity. tomorrow, theosophy,
next day Christian Science, New
Thought. Babism, or some other
pseudo-oriental cult. One cannot be
an eclectic disciple and a follower of
Jesus too. There Is a divine egotism
about Christ. His claims are unabasf1-
edly absolute. His place in Life Is
first-before the place of father, moth
er. wife. children. brothers or sisters.
Even life itself Is not to be considered
alongside Of loyalty to Jesus.
The Sign of the Cross.
Any student of history must be
place which the emblem of death and
degradation and sacrifice, the cross of
Christ. has held in human affairs for
nearly two thousand years. Hundreds
OF millions of people. scattered all
over the earth. offer 1t supreme al
legiance. 1t holds higher place and
authority than any national emblem.
OF old the Japanese Roman Catholic
converts died rather than trample on
the cross. Within our own memory
native converts in Korea ana China
have accepted Imprisonment and
death In preference to disloyalty to the
cross. The Turkish empire is red
with the blood of modern martyrs.
Tho passion for the cross, which has
been the comfort Of lonely and obscure
great armies, is q theme for song and
story.
AS laid down by Jesus, though, in
the present lesson, the cross was q
symbol of subsection. sacrifice and ser
vice. 1t meant willingness to under
60 suffering for the sake Of the Name
1t meant the acceptance Of shame. II
meant a burden Of ignominy to be
borne. AS the convict carries his owr
cross to the place OF execution, ever
as Jesus later did himself, SO his dis
cip1es were to bear before all men the
odium of being Christ's friends. Fol
long years after these words were
spoken. it was q cause of reproach tt
be q Christian.
count well this cost" said Christ
Ono of the most praiseworthy aspect.
Of the BILLY" Sunday evangelist,
campaigns il his insistence that con
verts shall pay the price in restitution
for past evil and in holy living for thu
future. He does not sweep men ant
women into the church on q flood o
emotion and hysteria- Jesus cited tn,
illustrations Of . man building . tow
er, or of = king going forth to battle
but first sitting down to estimate tn
cost. Look well to the meaning o
Aa~~gp1n~hfu. ~ C0QfQ life Tharo 4