Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-15

old Jerusalem will remain, a world
center and a world power. She is q
capital of three faiths. Her spell
has called pilgrims and crusaders
from over land and sea. When she
| fell to the allied forces a thrill of
conviction permeated the world that
that event symbolized the complete
victory of the forces of righteous
ness.
-. Getting the Big Idea.
This city stands in Christendom
| for the Missionary Iuea. 1t was
here that Christ and his apostles
began their universal enterprise
Locally, they encountered as much
| criticism and bitterness as American
Zionists meet from the ultra -ortho-
doX resident Jews, whose faces are
| turned backward instead of for
ward. In Jerusalem Jesus lived and
taught and died to establish his
| worldwide kingdom. 1t was in a
room in this city, on a night darker
than these glorious nights that 1
have been enjoying, that he said to
Nicodemus, God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have ever
lasting life."
Life, new life, larger life, freer
life, such as these people in the
Holy Land are only beginning to
envisage in its political aspects, was
held forth as a human inheritance
by the Emancipator Saviour. That
is the big idea of Jerusalem and of
Jesus. He came to bring life, more
abundant life. Political programs
he neglected.; instead he impaired
new spirit to all programs, and
set into operation a principle that
was bound to make the world over
In the new. BY redeeming men, he
assured the redemption of society.
instead of unlovely waterskins
full of water, such as 1 daily watch
the carriers bear through the Jaffa
Gate, Jesus promised perennial
springs of water, flowing in ever
increasing fullness and freshness, to
all who would receive it of him.
rms power of Christ to impart life,
to the individual and to the world,
is the greatest present factor in a
troubled time. He alone stands sure
and sufficient, Offering to meet tbe
deepest needs of a restless human
ity.
The Vindication,
my Douy WHO cares TO do so may
travel about the world and behold
now the principle of Jesus has
worked out. The missionary enter
prlZe Whlch began at Jerusalem has
Slrdled the globe. A plain path has
been made from this city to the Mt
termost parts of the earth, In Thi-
bet, in the Sudan, in the Cauca-
sus, in mid-China and rural Japan.
the traveller may meet missionaries
who can say, IT carry a line out
from Jerusalem and 1t is a life
line"
Wherever these Jerusalem ennis
saries, the sent ones of Jesus. have
gone, there may be found men and
women and little children whose
lives have been made over by the
power of Jesus. The heathen have
become holy. The wicked have be-
come good. Liars have turned
truthful. The impure have become
clean. The cruel have become gem
tie. The selfish have become broth
early.
These are characteristic phe-
nomena. Converts of all climes and
colors display them. They are the
hallmark of Christ. And they are
the vindication of the Gospel of Je-
sus. What he did for his little
group of friends in this land of Ju-
dea and Galilee he has been doing
continuously and in increasing num-
bers for other friends in all parts
of the earth. The lovers of Jesus
take on his likeness.
Two Pictures.
The most romantic conuuests of
the ages have been the victories of
Christian missions. Sometimes there
has been a clear path of TRIUMPH,
such as Paul and Barnabus had at
Lystra, as our lesson tells. At other
times there has been implacable on
position. The real missionary is in
different to both: he knows how to
be exalted and how to be abased. His
only concern is that Christ be
preached.
Two Italian pictures come to mind
as l study the dramatic contrast of
the treatment of the missionaries at
I'ystra-their apotheosis and their
stonlng. When l was in Italy in
FEBRUARY one of the illustrated week.
ly papers printed on its cover an IL
Illuminated picture of President VIII
son as the modern Moses, coming
down from the Mount bearing the
new law for the world, his fourteen
points. 1t was eulogy TO the point
of grotesqueness. Last week I saw
another Italian picture, this time a
postcard, circulated since the Fiume
crisis. This represented President
Wilson as the devil in lowest hell.
condemned to dwell there forever by
the will of God, the will of the peo-
pie and the will of the king of Italy!
The President is familiar witt mis-
sionary history. and knows that the
crowds which to-day cry "Hosanna"
may tomorrow cry Cruelty him!'
The missionary-and that should
mean ever, Christian - knows that
he must learn 20 treat triumph and
disaster just the same. He is Gods
man whichever way the wind blows.
What happens to the missionary is
of little import, so long as the truth
is preached.
Every theme one touches nova
days seems to lead straight to the
pressing problem of our troubled
times. What message has this les
son for the worlds present unrest?
The supreme one. Social reconstruc-
tion waits upon spiritual transfor-
nation. Reformation by redemption
is the way out. Converted men and
women will solve the intricate and
ominous problems of this day: be-
cause they are full of good will to
men and are oath bound servants of
God who is at once incarnate JUS
tice and incarnate love.
Not since Jesus himself in the flesh
yearned over the city of Jerusalem,
and the world which it represents
has the call for the prosecution of
the Christian missionary enterprise