The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-04-07
International
Sunday School Lesson
For April is "Aeneas and Dorcas.
Acts 9:32-43.

When Religion Changes Life.

LIE OIL the ldlSSl AdSAAiO1io
is a Christening theme to contemplate.
Our Wanted modernity is severely
jolted when we discover that our new
ideas are centuries and even millen-
NUNS old. Thus, this weeks Inter
national Sunday school lesson carries
us back to a facing of the fact that the
present-day vogue of social service
care for mems bodies and estate, as
wen as for their spirits-is as old as
the Christian church itself
Three distinct forms of social minis
try are the outstanding points in the
Interesting old stories of the cure of
Aeneas and the raising from the dead
of Dorcas. First, we have the healing
of the sick by the Apostle Peter. Sec
ond, we have the relief of the poor,
as represented by the work of Dorcas-
Third, we have the driving away of
sorrow by the resurrection of Dorcas
Already we have studied how the
Christian church of the first genera
ton had attained a state of social and
economical interdependence that was
without precedent in history. The
most ideal example of communism is
that of the early Christians, when no
man counted his possessions his own,
but devoted them to the brotherhood.
The widows and the poor We're all
cared for out of the common funds
Modern social service has a long way
to go before it can catch up to the
first crop of Christians.
Wherein the church has departed
from the practice of ministering to
all phases of human need she has de-
parted from the example and precept
of the Apostolic church and of the
great Head of the Church Himself. A
delicate and important point to be OBJ
served today, however, is that all the
new swelling of the tides of brother
] i-fr- oh oil NJ f he mi
labeled by merely sociological terms,
but should be understood as simple
Christianity, the love of Christ ex-
pressed through the hearts of His Dis
ciples. We must not let a goddess rad
steal the livery of the Christian
church. What we have of effective
social service today is merely a new
expression of simple Christian min
istry.
What About the Shut-Ins?
From the days of Eden until now
the problem of pain has vexed the
world. Why does God permit suffer-
ing? That is the oldest of the puzzles
that has taxed the human brain. We
are not ready to admit that all suffer-
ing is evil, any more than our intel-
| lectual integrity will permit is to call
it an illusion, a non-existent thing. The
world owes much to its invalids. Some
of the sweetest songs and most life
!
of pain. There are graees. indispensa-
! BILE to life in its fullness, which seem
to grow only in the dollhouse of suf-
| fering. The metropolitan newspapers
recently printed columns about a
| BROOKLYN woman who had been for
fifty years "shut-in,' and who had
ministered greatly to the world.
Lydia, or lid, where Aeneas lived,
is about twenty miles to the north
west of Jerusalem, on the road to the
seaport of Jaffa. which is ten miles
| further west. There was commun-
ity of Christians here, as also at Jaffa.
LYDIA was on one of the main high
ways up and down the land, and
Jesus Himself had passed through it.
Its Importance in history has been
| considerable, but now it takes on a
new interest.
For today LYDIA is the junction
point of the new railroad which the
Germans and Turks have built down
the center of Palestine to Beersheba.
| For twenty years it has been a station
on the familiar railway line running
into Jerusalem from Jaffa- Now the
rails between Jaffa and LYDIA have
been torn up, and used for the con-
struction of this new military rail-
way, which runs from Beersheba up
| to within a few miles of Nazareth,
where it connects with the Haifa-
Damascus line. Thus has been built
for the first time, railroad from Je-
rusalem TO Damascus. AS the modern
military men halt in their journey at
LYDIA, 1 wonder if they give thought
at all to the miracle there wrought by
Peter upon Aeneas?
1t was all so simple and unspectac-
ular that it takes only two sentences in
the inspired record to tell it:
''Peter said to him, 'Aeneas, Jesus
Christ healeth thee:: Arise, and make
thy own bed And straightway he
arose. And all that dwelt at LYDIA
and Sharon saw him; and they turned
to the Lord"
Who dares to attempt to portray
all that this meant to the man who
had been bed-ridden for eight years
Or who can describe what salvation
means to a human soul? Ten thou
sand hymns have attempted it, all in
adequately. 1t will need the new
song about the throne to express
fully the joy of the redeemed. This
miracle, or "sign" also did its work
in winning the neighbors to the Way
Sending for the Preacher.
A clergyman was calling upon some
friends, and apologized for his delay
in arriving by explaining that he had
been called across the city to a hos
pital death-bed. ''Why do people al
ways send for the minister when il
trouble % one present asked. To have
made full answer to the question
would have been to vindicate the
Christian ministry and its function il
the world, so my friend merely said
when death comes, people naturally
want a minister to comfort them L
is instructive
So it was that when bereavement
overlook the Christian community a
Jaffa, they did the most natural thing
in the world: they sent for Peter, WHIT
was only ten miles distant at LYDIA
: Apparently, they did not expect tt
have their dear one restored: they
, merely wanted to lean on the comfo--
, of the presence of the friend of Christ
In quite the same spirit, the frs
action of a family today. when deatl
f enters it's circle, is to telegraph fol
the near relatives. Severance of tie
makes those which survive seem tn,
more precious. The tender mood o
the mourners craved the companion
ship of those whom they loved.
Of course Peter made ha ste To IN