The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-01-18

of HIS Fathers love. The compan-
,ionship which He enjoyed with His
Father He offered to all who would
follow Ham. And not once did He
make creed, ritual or church member
ship condition OF this fellowship.
Doubtless other teachers had taught
similar lessons. References to the
fatherhood of God are to be found
occasionally in the Hebrew scriptures,
occasionally in the Greek classics.
But Jesus Christ taught. as His con.
temporaries said, with authority"
HIS own life OF companionship with
the Father He inspired In His friends
and followers, and that inspiration.
transmitted from generation to gem
Grafton, has transformed the attitude
teaching has gone. This transforms
ton has not been confined to those
who have accepted the current defin-
ition Of the church concerning Him.
Professor Durant Drake in his vol
ume Of Problems Of Religion" quotes
that robust old atheist" Lucretius:
Who is there whose mind does not
shrink into itself with fear Of the
gods, whose limbs do not creep with
terror when the Rarched earth rocks
under the terrible blast OF the thund-
er blast OF the thunderbolt and the
roaring winds sweep across the heav-
ems ?" II one would know what Christ
means when He says, nave come
that they might have life. and that
they might have it more abundantly."
let him compare with this utterance
OF the ancient Greek atheist tbs foi-
lowing paragraph from published
prayer Of Theodore Parker, counted
in his day by the orthodox church
hereto of the heretics: 20 Father.
who adornest. the summer, and cheer
est the winter with Thy presence,
Thou art our Father and our mother.
that Thou feldest in Thine arms all
the worlds which Thou hast made.
and warmest with Thy mothers
breath each mote that peoples the
suns beams and blessest every wan
'defing, erring child OF man."
Jesus Christ has not substitutes q
new creed for an old creed. But He
has given q new experience for, an
old experience. He has expelled
from the breasts Of men the slaves
fear OF an <austere monarch and put
in its place q child's rcverencing love
for heavenly Father.
When Jesus Christ came, the pre-
vailing feeling OF man toward his
fellow man was one Of aversion. il
not of bitter hostility. Men had good
will toward the members OF their
own family; generally toward mem
bers Of their own clan or tribe; often
toward members Of. their nation; 0c-
casionally 1t extended toward all mem
bers of their own race. But all mem
beers of other races and other ma
tons they counted their natural
enemies.
Jesus Christ wa brother to al
mankind. He saw n every man, the
!s=.s.. ard the scc:est cs!lA e
His Father, and therefore . brother.
In His first recorded sermon in MAJ
areth He taught that God was the
Father OF the pagan no less than OF
the Jew, and His Jewish audience
mobDed Him for It. He compelled
from critics the reluctant admission
that the heretical and apostate Sam
aritan was neighbor. He saw in
pagan centurion more faith than He
had seen in orthodox Judaism. In
the city OF priests and pubiicans He
passed the priesthood by to dine with
the hated and despised tax-gatherer.
He did not merely teach pubhcans
and sinners, He sat at meat with
them-which to the purists OF His
day was intolerable. He taught by
His life more eloquently even than
by His words the unity of the human
race and the abolition Of all race and
creed and class distinctions.
Nineteen centuries have passed
since He died, and His own followers
have not yet overtaken Him. But
the spirit OF humanity in our age
and country-the spirit which has
abolished slavery, welcomed to our
land men Of smany races, nationali-
ties, and tongues, opened for all =
public school system, given to all q
share in the responsibilities OF gov
eminent, established for the poor,
the sick, and the. insane asylums and
hospitals, and is today 1ninistering
for the peoples OF other races and
religions and nationalities engaged
in tragic warfare-is the fruit OF
life OF humanity which He came to
give to the world, a life running far
beyond all the boundaries erected by
our creeds or rituals or church or
CARNATIONS. =
when Jesus Christ came, sorrow
and suffering were almost universal
~ regarded az evils 10 De eitner
evaded or vanquished. The cpl
ci1rean shut his eyes to the sorrows
of life and said: Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die. The
stoics said Let us fcae the facts:
life is long tragedy; there is moth
ing better than to grit our teeth and
bear it.
Jesus did nc. acc from sorrow.
He did not merely bravely endure 1t.
He came seeking to share the sor-
rows and bear the burden Of others.
He coveted the joy OF self-sacrifice.
He was animated himself and He
sought to animate others by great
purpose. He had vision of world
ruled by a spirit of justice, peace.