Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-01-05
|l8 MILLION AT
ONE MANS FEET
Sunday Schools This Week
Begin Six Months Study
of Jesus Life

Eighteen million persons, In North
America alone, begin this week II six
months course of study In Johns
Biography of Jesus. This Is an edu-
cational project of immense proper
lions and Importance, and yet, be-
cause 1t Is not new, 1t eXcites little
remark. Doubtless. the Sunday
school Is moro potent force In shap-
Ing peoples ideals than all the
universities of the sland. With char
neterlstio acuteness of judgment.
President Wilson once wrote, THE
sunday school of to-day is the code
of morals of tomorrow"
One day 1 stood amid the ruins of
ancient Ephesus, In the very theater
Where Paul was mobbed, and con-
templated the many claims to distinc-
ton of that great city and It's glories.
First among these-despite the tu-
mutt about Diana of the Ephesians'
lis the fact that out of Ephesus came
four of the five books written by the
aged John, the best friend that Jesus
had on earth.
Just as, all unnoted by Broadway,
there are streams of light and beauty
and helpfulness going forth from
New York city to the remotest parts
of the earth, SO from this sensual
fpleasure-loving, materialistic and
decadent old city of Ephesus there
issued these inspired words concern
y
greatest person. The little company
of devout disciples, whom even the
corruption-laden air of great
heather capital could not enervate,
little dreamed, when they besought
their aged pastor and spiritual father
to write down lis personal memories
and Interpretation of Jesus Christ, that
the biography penned by John would
one day be studied in five hundred
languages, or all the tongues spoken
by mankind, and that it would become
the text of special study for millions
of persons in continents then un-
dreamed of.
Every book partakes of the char
acter of its author. Johns emblem,
in ancient ecclesiastical heraldry, is
the eagle, because of his soaring and
penetrating vision. He was the sort
of friend wLo understands. When
they companied together for three
years in Palestine, it was John who
walked closest to Jesus, and who
seemed to give Him the greatest COM
fort. He was comprehending COM
rade. Like all fine and sensitive
spirits, he had a high quality of
courage, and he was the most stead |
fast of the disciples at the Crucifix- |
don. Naturally, it was to John,
standing by the cross, that the dying |
Friend committed His mother, Mary, |
for protection and comfort. And it !
was this same seer of the eagle per- |
ception who peered farthest into the !
mysteries of the hereafter and wrote !
them down in the Book of the Revela-
tion. The Fourth Gospel differs~from
the three earlier Lives of Chffst in
that it is primarily a spiritual inter-
probation of tie divine nature of
Jesus.
A Great Book for the Times
Every writer's real reward is in the
influence of his words. Even these
lessons, which penetrate into all the |
remote and unexpected places which !
n daily newspaper reaches, have
brought me letters from prisoners in |
penitentiaries; from men and women !
in asylums for the insane; from re-
mote mountain cabins and prairie sod |
houses: from famous business men
and public officials from alert teach
ers and from modest housekeeping
mothers. If such is the outreach and |