The Alaska citizen., 1916-03-13


 was thrown on the ash heap when the morning dawned. The Coliseum was built to seat S0,00O people and upwards of 1000 gladiators were slain in a single week to satisfy the bloodthirst of the people. It is estimated that each freeman pos ed with the utmost brutality. When the games did not occur frequent ly enough to satisfy the desire of the people the children and slaves received additional exposure to the hellish arts of the populace. At the feast the master offended by thrown into the lake, and when he 1 tried to swim to shore the guests pelted him with stones until he gave up and sank It was amidst l such conditions that Jesus began his career of pity and compassion i III. It was an age when imagi- nations were defiled, when wealth i had degenerated into robbery, and l luxury had ripened into rot. The ashes of Vesuyius, in the Provi- dence of God, has kept for our profit and betterment the customs 1 of the age of wiCkedness. We see | the houses as they were then in- | habited, the stores, the streets worn | in ruts by the wheels of chariots, | the places of amusement and rec We gaze upon the walls and the i ceilings. Art is there, but so is vice. Certain rooms are today | guarded and only those of mature years are permitted to enter. What wealth of beauty surrounded the city. Up the very sides of the mountain were gardens of surpas- 1 sing grandeur. where the rose | bloomed and the thorn grew. Not l far from the vineyards where red and purple grapes ripened, jetted little streams of steam that carried | the smell of sulphur. One day Goa covered it all up. and for fear men would not believe it in after years, preserved it for their searchings 1 In all the fury of Wickedness that would cover itself in art and beauty Jesus came walking down the paths Jf Palestine.
 ". Jesus began his career in the midst of anarchy, bitterness and despair. The rich had grown so rich and the poor had grown 1 so poor that only such conditions could prevail. When want and hun ger force the poor into a corner they turn and rend their rulers. Men and women and little children must not be left upon the arena of fife to staIVe. When they are given enough to eat and drink and some comforts of a home, peasants will the lap of luxury; they will en- dure almost any form of misgov- ernment. But the advent of Jesus was in the midst of extreme pov- erty. Follow Lazarus about the | streets; stop with him at the steps of the king; see him suffering from hunger for food and medicine, while kind dogs lick his sores; see, he waits at the door of plenty. only to be told he cannot have the crumbs that fall from the table
 Was not the French Revolution born of hunger and want? When the selfish prince shouted to the women who asked for bread, Eat grass, ye dogs!" hate leaped into their eyes and their thin, starving hands killed the prince, putting his head upon a pike. and stuffed grass into the mouth of the dead man. The whole country was ripe for revo- lution when Jesus came, and any great rebel might have led the people to murder and rapine. Spies were in the palace and in the hovel; i; poisoners were abroad in the light and the deadly assassin in the night. Orders went forth to dou- ble the guard in every city; to call the roll of slaves, and dlsarm them of their implements of toll at night
 Rulers dwelt on the cone of a col cano and no man knew what a day would bring forth. It was in such day that Jesus entered the world of confusion worse confounded to bring the era of peace, and say to every man, Come unto me, ye weary, and I will give you rest"
 V. This era was one of separa. tion between worship and life. For centuries the religions of the world had been largely gift offerings. Men broke every known law and brought lamb as sacrifice. This means of propitiating God was as common among the Greeks and Romans as it was defiled among the Hebrews
 If the soldier escaped death on the battlefield he carried his shield and laid it at the altar. If the sailo, was not wrecked he brought his clothes as an offering to Deity. When the Athenians had offered 1 1,.I yt1