The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-08
For March 10 Is Jesus Restoring Life
and Health. Mark 5:z1-43.
A Word of Life for DAVIS of Death.


A Word of Life for Days of Death.
Soldiers graves marked with simple
crosses cover a considerable part of
earth's surface today; and their num-
Der will greatly increase before the
boon of peace which they were spent
| to purchase is secured. In Britain it
seems as if every family has its dead.
With a shock and a suddenness and
an overwhelming comprehensiveness
death has become a factor in the
whole worlds thinking. War means
death; all victories are won by the
sacrifice of precious life So the minds
of multitudes are turned with an i'm
mediate and personal interest in the
theme of death.
Some spirits cannot stand up under
this burden; they turn to spiritualism
and occultism and strange new cults.
1t is said that any religious charlatan
may secure a vogue nowadays by ap
pealing to the grief of those whose
sons have fallen in battle. How cheap
and inadequate all these expedients
seem alongside of the simple dignity
and reasonableness of the faith taught
by Jesus. His assurance of a life
transcending death is the Christians
eternal hope.
In the very character of Jesus
there is comfort for all who mourn.
walked so tenderly thru the days was
His knowledge of the aching hearts of
people. To him there was nothing
strange in the appeal of Jairus, the
distinguished citizen of Capernaum.
coming to him with an appeal for help
in deep personal grief.
Where Wealth and Power Fail
The traveller who takes boat from
Tlbe1iaS to the head of the Lake of
| Galilee finds himself amid the exca-
waited ruins of the old. synagogue at
Capernaum. If he has an magma
| ton at all, the few monks who pos
| sess the compound and the native
workers who dig and carry, are less
real to him than the figures who once
peopled this magnificently simple
| structure. AS he stands on the porch
and looks out over the glittering lake,
he realizes that on these same stones
the feet of Jesus and His disciples
and The Roman Centurion and. Jairus
trod. 1t was doubtless of this very
| synagogue that JairuS was one of the
| overseers, or rulers. From the van
tage point of these beautifully sculp-
tured pillars, we look back upon
Jairus the prosperous, influential,
| learned, clean-living, distinguished
| citizen of Capernaum- All that this
world can give man seemed to be
possessed of this leading pharisee.
| Prosperity, influence, learning and
| Righteousness cannot keep out sorrow
| from a home. There come to every
| family hours when all stand on a COM
mon plane of humanity and suffer the
| primal griefs of man. King and peas
ant feel the same kinds of sorrows
| and pains. The impotence of worldly
powers to ward off the really essential
| ills of life has appealed to every
| thoughtful man. Little did Jairus
care for his standing in Capernaum
at This hour. His daughter, apparent
! ly an only child, lay dangerously ill
| All that he had would he give in ex-
| change for her life
| 10 Neither son nor friend can Irvine
the tendri1s of love about a mans
! heart like a little daughter. She seems
| endowed with genius for affection
| Soft and sweet words of affection
| lisped into a fathers ear at the bed
time hour of cuddling condolences;
warm little arms clinging around his
neck; winSome attentions and acts of
devotion; and a hero worship of father
that lifts even a mere men to his
| height - such memories as these
burned in the brain of Jairus, and tore
| his spirit with sorrow.
That deep grief drove that proud
aristocrat to the feet of the new
| Teacher from Nazareth. Sorrow has
been the school wherein myriads have
| learned Christ. For sorrow and
| death are strong messengers, and men
will listen to them who have shut their
ears to all Others" The proud head of
| this pre-eminent citizen bent in suppl
cation before the Galilean carpenter,
his only hope.
| Some Unknown consequences.
Nobody can run a tape-line to the
, limit of his influence. Men who
write and speak are frequently find
ing evidences of their touch upon per-
sons in remote places. Probably the
| disciples of Jesus never suspected the
high circles to which the words of
| the Master had penetrated. and in
/ hi Oh az cd
| Probably Jairus, the distinguished,
| had more than once stood furtive1y on
| the edge of a crowd, listening to this
unconventional Rabbi. or had peered
thru 1atticed windows at Him as He
| walked and spoke. We know that,
/ like Nicodemus. he had become con-
! WINGED of the Messiahship of Jesus,
yet. like Nlcodemus, because of his
| worldly position, he had not avowed
| himself a disciple The power of
that the true life reaches farther than
| the one who lives it ever dreams
'sIf only we strive to be pure and true,
| To each of us will come an hour
| When the tree of life shall burst into
And rain at our feet glorious dover
| OF something grander than everwe knew
Jairus was never SO high as when
he bent low at the feet of Jesus.
| Greatness always knows how to hum
BILE itself The urgency of love and
need had made childlike Suppliant
of this synagogue official. He be-
! sought the Master with earnestness
and pleading to hasten and lay heal
ing hands upon his dying daughter
Jairus believed greatly. His faith,
like his love, was of a magnificent
quality AS we behold him, conven-
tiona1ity laid aside, pleading for help
! in his sorrow, our hearts throb in
| sympathy with him.
The Master Word of Faith.
| One of the jungle Stories deals
with the master word, and how
/ there was a master word that even
| won the service of HATH, the ele-
! plant, who was lord of the jungle
Surely it is not irreverent to say that