The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-14

istry-is this not the war Of the cross?
A spirit sublinely sacrificial per-
religion than the folk at home mag
inc. of formal piety there is very lit
tie; soldiers have a horror of paradtng
their religion, or of anything that may
seem like phartsaism. They often
cloak their deepest feelings beneath
testing speech. The ideals of the war
are not discussed in the camps and In
the trenches as much as they are
among the people at home. Soldiers
have reached the action stage. Yet
their purpose and spirit are branded
with the cross OF service and sacrifice.
the army wears the stigmata on its
hidden soul?
lover the Top for Others.
Startling in its indifference to con-
ventional forms and phraseology OF
religion the army has none the less
glimpsed the glory OF the cross spirit.
Men who go to death for reasons en-
tirely outside of themselves. and Tor
the sake of others who have no i'm
mediate personal claim upon them,
cannot be Indifferent to the example
and inspiration OF the Savior who
went over the top" Of Calvary Tor
the redemption of men. Much OF the
finest heroism of this war finds its
spring in the death of that other
young man. the Hero of the ages. who
gave up all, and suffered all. for the
sake of an ideal and of a service.
Reverently, many soldiers know in
their deepest hearts that they are fol-
lowing in His footsteps when they hing
their lives into this ministry of man
kind. Chaplains remark upon the
eagerness Of soldiers for t. Lords
Supper; men who have never partaken
of the sacred emblens in civil life
kneel reverently in Y. NJ. c. A. hut or
in barracks or in a dug-out to receive
the memorials Of the Crucified. What
is this but a craving for the fellow
ship of the Redeemed. who first gave
His body to be broken for the sake
of the world? The sense OF Fellow
ship in sacrifice is real. The soldier
servants of a cause that would have
been impossible had not Jesus taught
men how to die for an ideal and a
duty feel their kinship with. as well
as dependence upon.= the Christ who
became a sacrifice. With a new and
living and NEUROLOGICAL reality, the
cross has become central to this war
All the countless battlefield crosses
upward with their arms of faith tes-
tify to a fresh appreciation OF Christ
and Him crucified.
From Calvary to the Somme.
Horror-smitten by the awfulness
of this war. many persons are unable
| to look beyond the moment. with its
weight OF suffering and death. They
see no reason for it all. To such, 1t
is we'll to recall Calvary. It has been
nearly, two thousand years since
Christ died. the just for the unjust.
How many times during these long
centuries it has seemed as il His
supreme sacrifice was in vain! The
cross-principle seemed to triumph
with heart-breaking slowness. An
cient selfishness and sordidness and
smallness persisted. Twenty CEN
turtles is a long time to walt for the
| vindication Of an act and a principle.
But behold! In an unexpected day.
when materialism was rampant on
earth, and pride and ambition stalked
abroad in Wanting arrogance, there
sounded the call Of the cross-the
+ summons to lay down life for the
sake of Gods goals of Righteousness
and justice and mercy. A power call
| ing itself "superman,"t that sconed at
right and sneered at Jesus as weak
ling. flung it's iron gauntlet into the
| whole worlds arena. Would the ma
tions dare to respond Or would the
crushing of Belgium be permitted and
| the destruction Of Serbia, and the null
LITIGATION of all the slowly erected
sanctities of civilization be allowed to
go by default?
Then came the answer that proved
the reality of the cross primo. 1.
the life OF ChristianJ peoples. Great
nations flung themselves, in sublime
surrender of all the former prizes of
life, upon the cross of sacrifice. The
lesson of Calvary has not gone un-
| learned. Life laid down Is still the
highest conception of existence. To
offer up all for the sake Of others.
and of principles, is the act that links
1 hot AIo$ Col
vary to the Somme. Whoever would
see the outworking of the crucifixion
Of Jesus needs but to behold the
stream of dedicated soldiers pouring
| across the waters to France. These
young men who go forth to die are in
the train of the Hero of the cross.
By their labors and death they are
establishing the supremacy of the
cross principle in civilization. It is
a new world,~p1edged to vicarious-
ness, that is being created on the bat
| tlefields of France This reward is
worth all that it costs; even as God
deemed the salvation of mankind
worthy the sacrifice of His only Son.
The Gift From the Garden.
st find myself liking this cross best
OF all my treasures, and wearing it
| oftenest," said one, few days ago, to
whom I had once brought little
olive-wood cross that I had made in
Jerusalem, from a piece of wood OF
the ancient olive tree that still grows
in the Garden of Gethsemane, The
sentiment symbolizes TIE mood of our
world today. We are learning to prize
the cross of sacrifice, and to enter into
its deeper meanings. Uncounted pa
rents and wives and sweethearts have
come to a new spiritual height as they
have offered up their spirits upon the
wars cross. Theirs is the greatest sac
rifice: and by 1t they have come to
know the fellowship of the Crucified
Life at home il being sanctified by the
self-surrender of all who suffer be-
cause of what hey have given up for
this wars sacred cause. It seems. al
times, as if this Calvary experience OF
our countries may be their real saliva
ttion. To bear a cross, and even to be
crucified in spirit on the cross. is to
know life's redemption and life's Re
deemed.
Two great words of Scripture are
often found in many minds durina