The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-28

And that dismal cry rose slewly
And sank slowly through the air.
Full of spirits melancholy
And eternity's despair
And they heard the word it said
Pan is dead-Great Pan is dead
Pan, Pan, is dead.
"'Twas the hour when One in Sion
When His brow was chill with dying,
And His soul was faint with loss;
When His priestly blood dropped down
And His kingly eyes looked throneward-
Then Pan WAS dead.
by the love He stood alone in,
His sole Godhead rose complete,
And the false gods fell down moaning
All the false gods with cry
Rendered up their deity
Pan, Pan, was dead
Getting Down to Fundamentals.
When we talk with a really great
man about his life he will be found
discounting mere book learning anu
philosophy He was not taught by any
books how to conquer the world. He
is one of many who are sure that we
have unduly exalted mere education.
Our sophisticated day is in danger OF
making fetish of scholarship. The men
and women who fondly hope that TINS
old world is to be educated out or It's
wicked ways need but to visit Japan
or any other of the eastern countries
which have taken on education with
out the western faith. There we per-
ceive that heathendom becomes gross
er in the garb of twentieth century
culture when it has not changed
heart within it. The elemental lessons
learned during the recent months In
the red school house of war have done
more for human progress than specu-
latiye philosophy and physical science
have done within a century Along
a. 80
ence of broken hopes, we are driven to
the Cross conception of life.
What the world and the Church
need is just more of the Cross-"A
little more Cross and little less
creed" We are letting our thinking
dribble away into looseness and vac
uity. The Church needs to bark back
to the Cross of Calvary for new
grasp of her vital convictions. The
Church's life needs the sacrificial eie-
ment as truly as it does her philos-
ophy. In no captious spirit 1t may
be forcefuliy and sadly recorded that
the rich and powerful and prosperous
Church of today does not show the
print of the Nails q clearly as she
should. Religion is sleek and comfort
able. Even the ministry, which has
gone to it's might by the way of Cal
vary, is becoming one of the most as
sured of professions, SO that the call
of the sacrificial is being lost from 1t.
ChurcheS as a WnOiS DO NOT 10 tit
kind of work that is hard and heart
breaking and thankless, with its re-
ward only with the Father who seeth
IN secret We write whole books and
many magazine articles about our
leading laymen" When we turn
the pages we discover these are not
the men who have followed the blood
stained footprints of the Saviour, but
are merely tie rich in this worlds
goods To become a millionaire and
still go to church is the easiest way
of being enrolled as a leading lay
man" While the Cross is winning
great victories in the world of state
craft, may it come once more to its
own in the Church.
1.-THE Foolishness of Preaching
Here is the wonderful thing about
Christianity Its success has come by
telling the story of the Cross, and liv-
ing the life of the Cross Not by elo-
quence, not by leadership, not by
worldly power, but simply by holding
up the Crucified the church has won
her victories among men. This Paul
calls the foolishness of preaching;
but by it the world is to be saved.
Also he remarks 1T is the foolishness
of Cod" who is wiser than men. God
hath chosen the foolish things of the
world to confound the wise" Not ar
gument, but presentation is the Cos
pei way 1t is the broken heart of
Christ that breaks hearts. The uni
form testimony of the church through
the centuries is that Christ on the
Cross whenever faithfully held up
does draw men to Himself. In that
power she may dare all things. Sem
satfonal sermons on current topics
may draw the frivolous minded to
church, but the presentation of Christ
crucified wins lives.
So the passion of this wise preacher
Paul was simply Christ. He might
have out-argued on philosophical
grounds all the savants in these CEN
tiers of learning. Wherever he started
he ended at the Cross. For 1 am de-
termined not to know anything among
you, save Jesus Christ, and him cruci-
fled" What won old Corinth is the
only gospel that will win the modern
American city-a Saviour dying for
mans redemption, and calling His own
to a life of sacrificial service.
Putting Religion Into Patriotism.
Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young
Peoples Societies-Christiap En-
deavor. etc.-for July 80: How
Missions Are Blessing Our Nation
Luke 19:41-4S.
The migratory floods of civilization
sweep toward the west-even when,
paradoxically, the east turns eastward
to find the west. North America has
become the golden land of the dreams