The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-05


who are big enough to meet the new
conditions with commanding strategy.
The church's case cries aloud for lead
ership with city sense, and with a
nation sense.
We suffer more from the smallness
of the saints than from the bigness of
the sinners. We are not thinking in
large enough terms; for where we
ers we find chiefly ecclesiastical poll
ticians, stepping softly about their own
concerns. Place-holders, place-seek-
ers and partisans are easier to find
than self effacing men of vision who
know the greatness of the hour and
the difficulties of the task. Only the
Barnabas spirit, which put aside all
preconceptfonS and all seff-interest,
that the occasion called for, will serve
us in this destiny-laden day
A Man for a Big City.
What Barnabas found in Antioch
sent him posting off to Tarsus for
Saul He knew his own limitations.
The great man is one who understands
how to use other men. Conditions in
Antioch called for the gifts peculiar to
Saul. So Barnabas got him, and they
had a great revival that lasted for a
upon the Christian church down to
this very hour.
IF Antioch had needed a Billy Sun
day, or a Graham Taylor. or a John
r. Mott, or a Charles Stelzle, Barna-
bas would have sought him out. He
had no preconceived notions that
made him try to thrust the new life
of the Antioch church into the iron
mold his his own prejudiceS. He want
ed to meet the city's spiritual needs.
If city-wide cottage prayer meetings
could do this, or a tabernacle eVange-
1istic campaign, or an industrial or So
cial crusade Barnabas would not have
hesitated. If Sunday night services in
a theater would draw men who would
not go to the synagogue, to the the
alter Saul and Barnabas would go. If
union service of CITY churches in the
auditorium would meet special need,
Barna baS would have provided it. If
a mastery publicity presentation in
the city press was the most useful me-
dunn for carrying the Message, we
may be sure that Barnabas would
have found the money for that. Did
it seem as if the people would be
more responsive to a great concerted
musical presentation of the Gospel
than anything else? Then Barnabas
would have called in the Charles M.
Alexander of his day. Whatever
would bring Christ nearest to the
thought and heart of the city was a
good move for Barnabas. Present
day innovations are often challenged,
present Christ to this city?'' but,
How will it affect my own congre-
cation %
Winning New Name
Some merry Roman jester one day
called these zealots, who were Great
ing such a Juror in Antioch, Chris
tians." Probably all the Young bloods
in the bath laughed over the we'll
coined word, and themselves later
used it in derision. The followers of
Christ had not so named themselves.
They called one another believers
oil Of
the way" The appellation Christ
ian" was first affixed in scorn, but
quickly welcomed by those who priz-
ed the precious Name which it en-
shrined. That word Christian is the
greatest word in the world. To be
Christian means more than to be rich
or to be great, or to be learned, or to
be powerful.
As small mirror reflects a large
landscape, so this designation. ap-
about the Antioch Church. They
were not called "Saulists'' or Bar
nabites," but christians" They had
kept Christ to the fore and themselves
in the background. That is the test
of preaching; does it make people talk
about the preacher or about his mes
sage?
Glowing, Growing, Going.
Three great events stand out in the
experience of the Antioch church.
name to the disciples of Christ. The
second was its bountiful gifts to the
church in Jerusalem, which had been
overthrown by famine Then, as
now, the Land of the Lord was calling
to the people of the Lord for succor in
dire need.
Most notable of all-and here, too,
the Antioch church's experience cor
responds to a present mood of Chris
tianity-those disciples sent out mis-
c n 10
was a mother church. 1t is a great
distinction for a congregation that
produces preachers and other congre-
cations There are such churches
with wonderful records. Many a
| church has sent out swarms that have
been more productive than the mother
hive itself.
Barnabas and Saul began in An
tioch the work which is going on to
the present hour. Their successors
may be found today on the borders of
Thibet, in the innermost jungles of
Africa, on the blood-stained uplands
of Armenia, amid the tumult in remote
China, upon the islands in the South
Seas The missionary character of the
Christian church was determined once
and for all in Antioch.
No church is apostolic that is not
speeding its ministers to the I'M
evangelical. When Christians are
glowing and growing they are sure to
be going The fulfilIment of the last
command of Jesus is the first condi-
ton of fullest church success.
The Best for the Best.
Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young
Peoples Societies-Christian En-
deavor, etc.-for May Z: 1.-THE
Conservation of Talents = Matt.
25:14-30.
We are commanded to do all our
work "as unto the Lord" Each duty
of life is to be fulfilled as if at His
direct command and for His imme
sacrifices offered on His altar, they
should be the best. The old Jews
would not sacrifice. except when they
had degenerated. a blemished lamb.
A great truth underlay this law 1t