The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-31
International
Sunday School Lesson
For January . is 1.-THE Ascending
Lord. Acts lila
The Height of the Hottest Hill.
BY w. T. ELLIS.

CnuTCn stand SIDE by SIDE on the Top
| of the Mount of Olives. Ever since
| Turkish censorship drew a thick cur
tain about events in Bible lands some
! persons have been wondering just
what has happened to one of them.
| There they stand. great and beautiful
| structures, both surmounted by high
| towers that are the most conspicuous
| objects in the vicinity of Jerusalem,
J being visible even from Mt NebO, on
| the other side of the Jordan. The sit
| uatlon is one of military Importance,
as well as of highest historical inter-
! est. Doubtless, the priests of the Rus
| sian church have been expelled from
Palestine, along with the other priests
| and monks and teachers belonging to
| the allied nations. Has the church it
| self been taken over by the Turkish
| army, as certain other churches have
| been? If so, what has become of the
| priceless treasures it used to hold, in
GLIDING Vereschagin's picture of the
AScenSion2 Little did anybody dream
| that the pistol shot of a mad Bosnian
| student would set the world Attire, and
] even reverberate around the crest of
the holy hill of olive trees, driving
/ forth from the Garden of Gethsemane
| the gentle F'ranciscanS who have so
| lovingly tended the flowers and the
gnarled and ancient olive trees.
War is a schoolmaster with a rod,
and he is teaching us geography les
sons Thus present-day military
events, and the dear story of the life
of the Prince of Peace unite to fix
the setting of the Sunday school les
son upon our minds The Mount of
Olives lies directly east of Jerusalem,
so that battery of rapid fire guns in
the tower of the Russian church could
command the city. Still, as of old, it
is a hill of olive trees Much of its
slope is now filled with religious edi-
ficeS, concentrating scenes in the
life of Christ. There is a strange adj
mixture of the buildings of the West
with the squalid streets and houses of
n MI
climb this rough ascent, for on this
hill one phase of Christianity ended
and another began: on the hillside is
the Garden of GethSemane and from
its crest Christ assembled into heaven
That is today'S Sunday school les
SON. Jesus went up from earth, and
His disciples remained behind to car
~ on His mission. Upon this handful
of unIettered peasants and fishermen,
who, however, had spent three years
in the school of Jesus presence, there
deVOlVed the tremendous task of con-
tinuing ChriSt'S work. Would they be
equal to the new responsibility We
are reminded of the stories from the
trenches, of sergeants and corporals
who suddenly find themselves in COM
mand of companies and regiments.
How we'll the Apostles acquitted them
selves we shall learn in the years
study of the early church which the
International Lesson Committee has
laid out for us.
Linking IOOaN WIN yesterday.
The new course of Sunday school |
lessons, reinforced by the daily cable
grams, should clear UP our thinking |
on Bible geography. The Book of |
Acts, which we arc to study, marches |
over the whole ancient Roman world. |
the war zone. Some are centers of 1
special military activity. AS we read |
the war news, we have in mind this |
greater Christian battle, which has |
n t1S lcn6 no iEtn of t,N1.a
world First, we see It beginning at !
Jerusalem, with group of Spirit-fired |
fishermen directing it, and 10, in less
than three centuries we see it sitting I
on the throne of the Caesars at Con- /
Stantinople, then, as now, a pivotal |
spot in world affairs.
Today is linked with yesterday by
this lesson on the Ascension 1t is a
story of mingled triumph and de-
preston; of victory and of suffering.
Tie departing Teacher and King COM
missioned His friends as witnesses-
martyrs is the Greek woodland
only one of the group died a natural
death. Martyrdom awaited them just
2 lew years ahead; and now, behold, /
after these nineteen centuries. we
find the Church offering the witness
ever before in all her blood stained
history The land of the Lord is still
the land of martyrdom; and within
the past six months nearly q million
Armenian Christians have followed
their crucified Lord in the supreme
act of testimony.
An Early Journalists Feat
A convert on the mission field once
naive1y remarked, Il like the Book of
Acts best, for 1t is so full of real peo-
pie. The rev Christians there have
their faults and standings, just like
US" As we begin years study in
this history of the early Church, we
ire struck by the singularly human
quality of its pages. Its characters are
real folks, who live and feel and act
like the mortals we know. 1t is a
vivid bit of literature, and the fact
that it breaks off in the middle of
-hings but adds to its power: for it !
was written down to date. The point
nas often been made that the Book of
Acts was left unfinished and is still
being continued.
We know the man who wrote this
larrative, and when he wrote it and | {
where and what were his sources of
physician was the author, and he
wrote about SO A. D., probably in /
Rome, and, it may well be, in the
7ery hired house where Paul was
rem the lips of the very men who [
igured lTNthe story: The book COW I
RS about%he same length OF time as
he Gospels, thirty-three years.
Journalism claims Luke He wrote s
he two most vivid books in the Bible, a
he Gospel that bears his name and ! L
his Book of Acts. He was not a
or n preacher, but a re-
porter, with a scientific passion for a
.ccuracy- He had no case to make: =
lie simply ''wrcte the thing as he saw r
t. Like q good journalist, he per- :
eived that there was no merit in
ullne SIS: the Christians who make f
Christianity seem embarrassing get no :,
Import from Luke. -
Some readers may smile when 1 re- r
mark that, like most newspaper men, y
luke was modest. He never once Z
mentions his own name Not one re- e
,orter or editor in a. hundred gets his
wn name into the paper. The world
Of self