The Topeka state journal., 1916-12-29

years are printed IN red. ReO TOT eHl-
phasis and red for blood marks the |
year 1916. AS the annalists compile |
the records of the twelve months now |
passing they will crowd their columns |
with a diversity of unique and signifi- |
cant events, from the invention of
new engines of death on the battle |
field to the overthrow of ancient ma
tions. Time for ages to come will
date back to the period of which this
, year is a critical part.
Unheeded by all the general chron-
iclers, a factor of deep import in the
year that is gone is the twelve
months os the Sunday school spent
by more than a score of millions of
persons, here and abroad, in week
by-week study of the history of the
Apostolic Christian church.
Absurd" cries some critic, who
boasts that he will not believe any
thing he cannot see, even tho that
stupid creed would deny the existence
of his own soul; the idea of count
ing a Sunday school lesson among
the achievements of this epochal
year. That is nothing but arrant pro-
vincialism and sheer nonsense"
Not so fast, my skeptical friend. All
the world has learned afresh that LAS
a man thinketh in his heart, SO is he"
The ideals of people are today the de-
termining force in history. No real
statesman or scholar would consider
as negligible any influence that has
Deen operating fundamentally upon
the lives of twenty million intelligent
persons-especialy when that force
strikes directly at the deepest springs
of action. which are religious
Leaving it's implications and con-
sequences to the readers magination,
the simple fact is to be stated that this
year of study of the rise and growth of
the Christian church, with its sweep
over the then entire known world, has
peculiarly prepared the minds of
host of persons to consider the large
movements of history in our own
time. The historical sense has been
immeasurably quickened by the year
which the Sunday schools of the world
have spent in the Book of the Acts.
Great Events That Changed the World
This gift of seeing things in the
large is not common, altho 1t is the
first quality of the historian. Who
ever has it always reckons with reHg-
ious beliefs a shaping influence in
great events. So may fairly COM
pare the achievements of early Chris
| tianity, which has been the theme of
Sunday school study during 1916, with
certain other historical events of first
magnitude in human history.
There were, for example, the con-
| quests of Alexander, which unified
/ most of the known world, and carried
/ Grecian culture from the Atlantic to
| the Indian ocean, and to the banks of
| the Indus.
Long after came the rise of Moham-
| mechanism and it's irruption into Eu-
rope, with Transforming consequences
| that endure to the present day.
The Crusaders, in turn, carried the
/ west and the east. and effected a So
/ cial change in the world that was
| greater than their military achieve
| ments.
Then came a group of non-military
triumphs. the invention of printing,
| the discovery Of America, and the
/ Reformation, which wrought more
nightly than the conquests of Alex
| ander.
of the present war, as world
revolutionizing agency, it is too early
yet to speak with any degree of final
ity. We know already, tho, that in
many respects it is more far-reaching
than any of the epochal events named.
Overtopping all of these era-mak-
| ing factors, however, is the effect of
the rise of the Christian church, which
we have studied for year. The Cos
! pei of Christ has won mightier victor
| les than the sword of Alexander; has
acquired larger dominion than Islam
ever attempted; has made a spiritual
| reality of what the Crusaders attempt
! ed by temporal power; and has more
profoundly influenced life than the in
vention of printing, the discovery of
/ America and the Reformation, all of
which events were its fruits.
W men a New fOfCe I1OOSe.
Follow the tap root of all the trees
of blessing that grow in our time, and
see how many of them strike down
into the soil of the Christian religion
By taking up, one by one, our most
distinctive institutions, We may per-
ceive somewhat of the magnitude of
the achievements of Christ.
Contrast society today with the So
| ciety which lies in the background of
the Book of Acts. Then there was no
word against war, no voice upllfted
in opposition to slavery, no criticism
of polygamy. Force ruled the little
world that had the Mediterranean for
it's center. Everywhere heathendom,
with it's idolatry and shameful prac-
tees, was regnant and rotten
Something changed all that. A new
influence turned the old world upside
down. That influence was a new
4 truth, with men and women in it's
grip. A few plain persons were so fired
by the love and life and leading of
Jesus that they made all things sub
ordinate to the telling of His Story.
The new Power made their feet rest
less as it made their hearts glad. So
they went everywhere, as far as the
ancient imperial conquerors had gone
telling their Story. And that Story
changed the world, and is still chang
ing it into heavenliness.
The Prophets Part.
Greater than the man with a
sword, we have clearly seen in this
years study, is the man with a mes
sage. The man who serves men most
profoundly sees them as living spirits.
1 think it is Doctor Wilkinson, in his
Epic of ST. Paul. who writes:
loft when the Word is me to deliver
Lifts the illusion and the truth lies bare :;
Desert or throng. the city or the river,
Melts in a lucid Paradise of air.
"only like souls I see the folks Hereunder
Bond who should conquer, slaves who
should be kings
Hearing their one hope with an empty Won
der,
Sadly contented in show of things.
"Then with a rush the intoerable craving