The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-08

John 1J-16-30-
I'm Hoe Signo Vinces."
The key to Christianity is cross
the event on Calvary the re-
ligion of Jesus is inexplicabl Take
that chapter out of his history and all
the others lose their significance and |
vitality The gospel of Christ is the |
story of a crucifixion- That simple |
message is the hammer which breaks |
down all the walls of opposition. Men |
may merely admire the philosophy /
of Jesus, but it is His broken heart
that breaks their stony hearts
he most characteristic phase of the !
life of Jesus in this sense of the cruci- |
which the Sunday schools |
study next Sunday. 1t is typical Of |
His whole career, for He was being |
crucified all thru His mission. and |
into the few terrible days when the !
upon the rough beams set up on the
place of skulP' was crowded, for
the world to see, the significance of ali
His thirty-three years.
The Road to Power.
a IL roads to helpfulness lead over a
rocky crest called in the Hebrew.
'Golgotha - Sacrifice must precede
service. The Scripture truly saws thar
Jesus must needs have suffered" only
so could He have become Saviour.
Sorrow is the one universally compre-
hended experience, the common LOT of
AAtoAihAAA~t- 1lo Tragedy ana SUFFERING
or the present war is doing more to
unite huma nifty than all the book;
upon polltlcal economy that have ever
been written. No man enters into the
depths o. human nature, except thru
his own broken heart. Only he who
IS H1ted ur on soma cross draws men
unto him. AS a quatrain suggestively
called Credentials puts it:
Il preach the Word. Why then that hiss
And why Gods message laughed to
Your cheek hath known no Judas kiss,
And your brow no crown of thorns"
1t was only shame that the rabble
saw in the dreadful spectacle upon
the central one of those three crosses;
had their eyes been open they would
have beheld sovereignty there. PLATE
might we'll say-though all compre-
hendlngly-''What 1 have written, I
nave written" concerning the inscrip-
ton, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the
King of the Jews For this supreme
act of sacrifice and service, this ulti-
mate pouring out of His soul unto
death. is the true sceptre of Christ's
kingliness. And this mark of the Lord
Jesus must be upon His church, if
she is to prevail over the world. Not
a cross on her steeple, but the cross
in her spirit, is the sign of church's
servlceableness. Times without num-
Der have L seen the British flag flying
on many seas and in many lands; but
only of late has it seemed that its all
dominating center is a blood-stained
cross. Nothing but the sacrifice of
which this is the symbol can bring
the sovereignty of the great human
ideals for which the var is being
waged.
A Tragedy's Saddest Side.
What was the keenest suffering of
the Man who hung suspended there in
agony until His heart broke? Not His
own pain; physical pain cannot crush
great soul. Not the shame of it;
He was above the power of mems
opinion Not the ending of his life
though life vas sweet to this young
man. as to every other. Not defeat,
for He knew that He was on the way
to victory great enough to satisfy
His all-embracing love.
The pang which fairly rent His
heart was that His people whom He
had lavishly served, and passionately
loved, could do such deed. Not for
Himself, but for the state of heart
that could make possible so foul an
act, and in the name of religion, did
He grieve- Therein, then, we see the
significance Of the cry, Father for
give them; they know not what they
do" He is truly Christ-like who
grieves less over wrong done to
| himself, than over the sin of the
| Wrongdoer Such was the magnani-
! nous spirit of the Crucified. Mans
sin was the Redeemers sorrow.
A Great Man Among Little Men.
Even crude souls catch the pathos
of the plight of Napoleon on the Is
| land of St Helena, when subjected to
the petty indignities and insults and
Sights of small-souled official The
| littleness Of His jailer was the worst
punishment of the great soldier with a
world-conquering spirit. PLATE, the
politician, the petty-fogging Pharisees,
J "a
ulace-these were the setting of the
| tragedy of Calvary. OF such as these
the great and sensitive Jesus was made
the sport. By the rough and ribald
soldiers His delicate flesh was beaten.
To the accompaniment of their jeers
and coarse laughter and taunts He
was driven forth beneath the heavy
load of the crossed timberS that fin
ally crushed Him to earth Truly. it
was the refinement of cruelty, the
very ingenuity of the pit. Wherever a
fine spirit is the victim of grosser
ones there is some understanding of
this experience of the Saviour.
When the cross, with its heavy bur-
den nail upon it, was finally dropped
into its socket. with a wrench that
must have racked every nerve fiber in
the sensitive body, a squad of soldiers
kept watch before it.. Utterly blind
to the significance of the worlds
supremest tragedy which was being
SAioSleu peAoAe eieII eyes, thSy gam
Dled over the spoils of the victim
They were witnesses of a scene that
| shook heaven and earth, and that
stopped all the worlds clocks, de-
stroyed it's old calendars, and gave a
new birth to time. Yet these men
gamb1ed away, with rude Jest and
| laughter. and quarrelsomeness. Sc
does the ruling passion of a life thrust
itself into the most sacred scenes. Who
does not know, even. when on his
knees in prayer. there intrudes into
his mind thoughts that engrossed hin
at other hours, and that are altogether
alien to the spirit of devotion?
Yet even these Roman soldiers, like
PLATE. and the priests. and the Phar-
lisees, and the people, were fulfilling
the divine prophecy. GODS viii VII
be done by us. or else in SPITE OF us