The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-23

preme court of the words and exam
pie of Jesus. All critics and COM
mentators find themselves barking
back to the religious implications OF
the war. No other. great struggle has
been called the collapse of Chris
tianity." But now the kingship OF
Christ over all realms of life is tacltly
recognized. Every party to the war
appeals to God for vindication. In the
course of the strife whole nations are
finding their souls. The most popular
of the books upon the war, Mr.. Brit
ling Sees it Thru" ends with the sug-
gestion of an English father, writing
to German father both having losl
their boys in the war, that perhaps
their sons are leading them back 10
God.
When, during the scenes in His life
that we have been studying for three
months, Jesus set Himself up as SUI
preme arbiter of life, and declared
Himself to be not only light upon all
vexed questions, but also the life that
empowers one to follow the light, He
was met with incredulity and scorn
and opposition. 1t seemed blasphemy
to the Jewish leaders of His day. Now
behold how the centuries have fulfill
ed those majeStic assumptions! All
mankind acclaim Christ as the law
giver and the leader. He is the way of
new life for humanity. In the Su-
preme crisis of history, the appeal is
to Him. Every institution and cause
and man stand at His judgment bar.
Alter these weary centuries, we be-
hold the new Power that entered the
world at Bethlehem, coming fully TO
His own. All other lights are fading
and losing their lustre: He is shining
more and more unto the perfect day.
Sidney Lanier concludes his exquisite
piece of criticism of the worlds mas
tiers of thought-every one of whom
he finds inadequate-with this apos-
trophe to Jesus:
But Thee, but Thee. o sovereign Seer of
time,
But Thee. o poets Poet, 'Wisdom's Tongue,
But Thee, Q mans best Man, . loves best
o perfect life in perfect labor writ.
Of all mems Comrade, Servant, King or
What if or yet what mole, what flaw,
what lapse,
What rumor, tatt1ed by an enemy,
OF Inference loose what lack of grace
Even in fortunes grasp, or sleeps. or
Oh, what aniss may I forgive in Thee,
Jesus. good Paragon, thou Crystal Christ:
y Lofty Lies leadership.
Befuddled in a time of bewilder-
ment, and of strange moral and men
tai observation, we turn eagerly to
the peerless life of Jesus for light and
leadership. If Jesus has not the
words of life for nations and individ-
uals, who has? He declared Himself
the Way" let us try following Him.
a hasty scanning of certain of His
qualities and characteristics, as we
have studied them for quarter of a
year, should help us to follow a plain
path thru the jungle of a tangled time
Christs life was a mission. He
knew Himself a sent Man. He was
the Word" of the Father. In lesser
degree-we have His "As-so" for it
each disciple of Jesus may be IL
word of God, an expression of the
divine will to His time. For it is by
the Great Christs, and by the little
Christs, if that phrase may e permit
led, that God manifests Himself to the
world. This sense of the urge of life,
of it's sacredness, of its inner voice
the works of Him that sent me- is
what sets one apart in the very fellow
ship of Jesus Himself.
He had seeing eyes. How few are
the poetvisioned, who perceive the
glory in our common day! Landward
from New York City, and from At
lantic City, and looked upon daily by
hundreds of thousands of persons,
are great stretches of marshes. But
it was left for Sidney Lanier, with his
touched eye, to see in the SIMILAR
marshes about the little town of
Brunswick, Ga. the larger meaning
of life and eternity; and now THE
Marshes of Glynn" are known wher-
ever the English language runs. Jesus
saw into life's real meaning. Nothing
escaped Him, whether it was the
significance of a wayside flower or the
need of wayside beggar. Since life
is largely a matter of eyes or no
eyes, why should we not all seek that
vision which is not blind to beauty
and blessing in the commonplace of
every day?
Along with the seeing eye-note
this. all cynics and dilettantes-Jesus
had the gentle heart and the helping
hand Nobody is following Jesus who
moves among his race without COM
passion and ministry. There is no
day so empty that it does not give
opportunity for deeds done in the
Jesus spirit, and in His name. Little
does it avail to know, if the knowing
is not accompanied by doing If the
words of Jesus should be lost. but the
record of His life remain, we could
read His mind in the forms of His
ministry
Especially significant for this our
day is the truth that Jesus had clear,
simple convictions No complicated
and subtle sophistries entered into His
philosophy. How elemental were His
teachings, as compared with those of
Buddha and Zoroaster and Confuciusi
All of these convictions of Jesus were
related to life. Every one of them
could be practiced. Nowadays so
many of us have muddled minds, and
our beliefs seem all in a twilight zone
and no truth possesses us sufficiently
to command our life, that it is in
spiriting to come into the presence of
the Perfect Life, which knew some
things for a truth, and without hest
tation or fear went to the cross for
them. The man who has no belief for
which he is willing to die, has no be-
lief by which he can really live.
Above all else, this Jesus whom we
have been studying clearly saw the
unseen. Spiritual things y-ere more
real to Him than the Pharisees who
threatened Him, or the crowds who
mobbed Him, seeking gifts, or the
cross that doomed ever before His
eyes. His appeal was ever to the
Father whose presence was His