Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-16
FOR c. E. AND SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS.
when A MANS son IS CONCERNED
Sunday School Lesson For February 49, Is
"Jesus Heals a Noblemans Son."-John 4:43-54
by WILLIAM II. ELLIS.

in trouble. Ihat does not acCOru
with our modern notions. If man
has wealth and position he has the
things most desirable, as most people
look upon life. There are no ills that
money cannot heal, according to the
popular view. To be rich and to
have a high social position is the su-
preme ambition of so many persons
that we may fairly call it the ruling
passion of the time.
OF those who do not consciously
aspire to be rich, an alarming pro-
portion are cynical and bitter to-
ward the wealthy. This undercur-
rent of hostility toward the prosper
Gus is one of the ominous signs of
| the times. The simple fact that the
| central figure in this old story was
| q nobleman is enough to rule him out
of the sympathy of an extreme group
of social agitators in our day Let one
whose own loyalty to the great mass
of people, who are poor in this
worlds good, has never been ques-
| toned, declare that the hero of this
| Bible story was a nobleman in all
meanings of that term; and his story
is told with unequivocal commenda-
| ton. He is one of the large number
of well-to-do and even distinguished
persons whom Jesus honored with
| His friendship when on earth. Those
persons who would wage a class war
get no encouragement from the
great Arbiter of the days social
| ideals. This lesson makes clear that
the line of division which Jesus
would run through society is vertical,
and not horizontal.
AS for the absurd notion-as per-
! nicious as it is absurd - that to be
rich is to escape trouble. this story
| should dissipate it entirely, and
make clear that essential happiness
or unhappiness is in no wise depen-
dent upon worldly state. For this
nobleman, who was one of King
Herods officials, was in trouble, the
worst sort of trouble. Loss of posi-
| ton and wealth he might face with
fortitude, for that would be merely a
misfortune in estate; instead, he was
| confronted with sorrow of the heart
and loss that would last as long as
| life itself. That was a real trouble.
The person who has his loved ones
| about him, in health and undimmed
affection and unsullied honor, knows
nothing of the sorrows that count.
| l have q friend, eminent in the COM
mercial world, and free at almost
any time to command one of the
most conspicuous business positions
in the land, whose real burden is the
loss of his only son. That is what
has put the deep lines into his face
and, incidentally, made saint OF
him.
Make no mistake about this: the
only place person can be really
seriously wounded is in the heart.
There still haunts my memory a
fragment of a conversation l was one
day forced to hear as l sat writing
in one of the reception rooms of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York. A
distinguished man, and his
elaborately dressed son-in-law, were
Il esiV,er f1Y ilxr Glr rn1 n n
unwise daughter and her foolish hus-
band. The weariness of heart-break
in the fathers voice was beyond the
power of all wealth to remove. A
parent puts all his happiness in the
keeping of his children.
DO you know that your soul is of
my soul such part,
That you seem to be fiber and core
of my heart?
None other can pain me as you, son,
can do;
None other can please me or praise
me as YOU
Remember the world will be quick
with its blame,
If shadow or stain ever darken your
name.
Like mother, like son. is a saying so
true
The world will judge largely of moth
er by you.
Be this then your task. if task It
shall be.
To force this proud world to do
homage to me.
Be sure it will say when its verdict
you've won,
She reaps as she sowed. This man
is her son."
4 The Helper of Sons
Life wears a different aspect when
seen across a baby''s cradle. To have
become a parent has changed many
a frivolous girl into a noble, God
fearing woman; and many a careless
man into a champion of the best
things, and a seeker after God. Be-
ing a parent makes 1t easy to say,
with new meaning and dependence
and sincerity, "Our Father" Even
the worldliest mother teaches her
to Sunday school. When the chill
dren come, we all feel our especial
need of God. There are problems
connected with sons and daughters
which cannot be solved apart from
the help of the Heavenly Father.
Most naturally, this Capernaum
nobleman did what myriads of ia
theirs since have done: when in trou-
BILE over his son. he turned to Jesus.
All, the prayers that storm Heaven,
night after night, in behalf of these
sons! The Heavenly Father and the
.
throb of the parent heart Surely,
no other errand to Heaven finds more
sympathetic attention than these pleas
for sons and daughters.
So long as Jesus was a mere sub
ject of countryside speculation, the
nobleman could discuss Him care
lessly and with detachment; but
when his son fell i'll, desperately ill,
then the mans interest became per-
sonal and intense. TO him Jesus was
no longer the subject of casual de-
bate in the baths and at dinner tables
but an only hope of deliverance. Re-
ligion became to him at once the
most personal thing on earth. In
Jesus he saw the one chance for his
sons life.
There Is n profound educational
J principle to which the experience OF
millions has borne witness, implied
in this phase of the lesson. 1t is that
fathers do most for their sons-most
in the way of everyday prudence, as
: we'll as on a higher plane = when
they put the boys into vital contact
with Christ. The surest way to avoid
the heart-breaks that come from chill
dren who go wrong is to make them
early friends of Christ. There are nc
wild oats for the Christian boy; the
wisest solution of the multiplied prob
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