Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-17

you not know that Ii is against the
law to teach Christianity. and that
] one who does so may lose his life?''
| Whereupon my friend informed the
rustic that those old laws had been
| abolished many years before and that
| in all Japan any man was free to
speak and write as he pleased upon
any religions
Then the Japanese confessed that
he belonged to a family which had
been Christian three hundred years
before and that the secret had been
handed down from father to son for
all these generations. and that he had
been secretly worshiping the God of
| the Christians. He had missed the
news of the emperor's proclamation.
long years before. and knew nothing
of the hundreds of hidden Christians,
like himself. who had come out into
open fellowship, one of the most ro-
mantle episodes in missionary history
Now he had suddenly learned the
truth, and the truth had made him
free. There is no real emancipation
except by the progress of truth. No
word of the Master has been oftener
or more brilliantly exemplifed than
this one. "Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free"
The Hope of Freedom
There is brighter side. Slaves may
be freed. This is the message that lies
hope for even the worst victims of
sin. whether that sin be drunkenness,
passion, avarice, or what not. This
is the uniqueness of the Christian gos-
pei: 1t offers power for liberty. Not
only does it set forth the benefit of
freedom, but it also tells men how
to be free. Recognizing the profound
truth that sin is slavery, it provides
Redeemer. IF the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, ye shall be free in
deed"
1t means much that the promise of
liberty comes from One who has au
thority to fulfill His word. Some of
the ancient Grecian cults, which de-
MED the reality of matter, and insisted
that mind is all, bade man believe
that he was happy when he was un-
happy, or that he was well when he
was i'll. but they had not the power
to fulfill their promises. 1t Is of no
avail to bid a sinner sin no more, un-
less he be given the force for the full
flment of that injunction. Now Gods
commands are Gods enablings." What
He bids us do He helps us do. There is
supernatural power impaired to the
weakest life that seeks to obey the
will of God. In other words, it is
by the Sons might, as well as by the
Sons right that we are free from
sin.
Right here Christianity wins or loses.
1t either delivers the race from the
old thraldoms, or else it does not in
which case it is the grandest delusion
of the ages. If the Gospel is not ade-
quate to meet all the needs of this new
day, II is not equal to any of them.
Conversely, if the Gospel can save one
sinner from his bondage and make
new man of him. it can do the same
for all the sinners on earth. And what
Christ has done in the making over
of life is proved in countless cases,
in all the ages. The latest drunkard
saved down in the rescue mission. and
the heathen Korean made over into
shining saint, are conclusive evidence
men free.
The Truth and the Facts
A third great principle is laid down
by Jesus in this lesson, and it under
lies the practical considerations of the
temperance question. This is the eter-
nal pre-eXistence of the Son with the
Father Before Abraham was I Am"
What has this got to do with the deliv-
erance from drink for the individual
and for society? Everything. In the
heart of the ageless Almighty resides
the love of Christ. If God forever is all
that Jesus showed Him to be, then the
Ineffable Deity has no greater business
on hand in all His universe than the
saving of men and women.
The greatest truth is not too large
shelter for the weakest and most
harried of spirits, fleeing for refuge.
That Jesus is and was with the Father
from before the foundation of the
world is a matter of supreme interest
to every one of us, for it assures us
that all the tenderness and patience
and forgiveness and loving helpful
ness which He showed in Judea and
Galilee are still employed for the last
man on earth.
This statement was drawn from
Jesus by the snobbishness of the Jews.
They were boasting that they had
Abraham for an ancestor. In that they
rested. Now it was a fact that they
were by blood descended from Abra-
ham. But greater than the mere fact
was the supreme truth that all who
have the spirit of Abraham are his
heirs. There are some descendants of
the Mayflower Pilgrims who have none
of the spirit of those great pioneers.
Whereas there are others, recent immi-
grants, who are true to the Mayfower
type. The best citizens of the country
are those most loyal to its laws and
genius; and the truest chillren of
Abraham are those who share the priv
ileges impaired by Christ. who was
before Abraham, and whose spirit was
that patriarchs equipment 1t is bet
ter to be son in truth, than a son in
fact.