The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-08-15
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
For August II Is Christian Missions
Acts 1:S; 1880.
Rx WILLIAM 7. ELLIS.

For August II Is Christian Missions"
| Acts 1;S; 1880.
World Conquest, From Jerusalem
! Standpoint.
Cynics say. III you want to keep
your religion, stay away from Jeru-
i salem" The observation Is as untrue
as most cynicisms. To a superficial
view, there is much that Is repellent
| in the Professionalism and bigotry and
| superstition and strife which are out
[ standing characteristics of the formal
| religion to be found today in the holy
1 city. AT first glance, as one sees the
anemic Jews, with their long cloaks
and flat hats and ostentatious curls
| hanging down in front of their ears,
and the ubiquitous monks and priests
| of the warning Christian sects, from
| the frowsy Abyssinians to the stately
Augustinians, the feeling is that here
the husk of religion persists without
its vital kernel. There seems to be
more ecclesiasticism than spirituality
| in Jerusalem today.
Nevertheless, deep devotion also has
| its home here. These poor Jews, who
make an American smile at first, have
many OF them a real passion for their
God and their people. Most of the
I weekly wailing at the stones OF Solo,
mons Temple is as much matter of
| rite as the repetition of the creed in
| Christian churches; but more than
/ little of 1t from the heart, else I am
no reader of faces. Never, at reli-
gfous gathering in America. have I
seen manifest more spiritual hunger
and ardor and joy than was written
on the countenances of the marooned
Russian pilgrims when their church
was reopened.
Students and saints beyond number
| have been moved to their depths in this
city, hallowed by its associations with
prophets and with the Messiah him
| self. Yesterday, in the Mosque OF
| Omar, on the site of the Jewish Tenn
pie. felt myself in strange unity with
I the reverent Moslems who were there,
praying to the God OF Abraham and
/ David and Christ. Tides of feeling
sweep thru ones soul as he treads the
ways where once walked Jesus and
His disciples; and as he muses. in
Gethsemane or climbs the slope of the
Mount OF Olives.
Tho Place Of beginnings.
This old city. which within forty
years has become greater without its
walls than within, is a place of begin
nings. The currents of pilgrimage
\ which have swept back here thruout
the centuries all took their rise on this
spot From all the world has returned
a fulfilment of the departing word of
Jesus-He assembled from the very
mountain where. few nights ago, I
I
moonlight-"Ye shall be my witnesses,
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the utter
most part OF the earth" The spread
salem," has now encompassed the
| earth.
All about this land are ruins, some
| OF them older than the history of the
Children of Israel. What makes
Jerusalem different. a defer of time.
/ rfrrr,w- - -
sentimental center OF the world? Here
the Word was spoken, lived and vindi-
| Gated. Jerusalem is an undying me-
\ mortal to the Law and the Gospel.
London. Rome, Paris New York, have
no such hold upon the affection Of
humanity as the malodorous, messy
unsanitary, crowded and unlovely city
| of Jerusalem. Until the New Jerusa-
| lem which is celestial has been at
| tanned, old Jerusalem will remain. a
| Is 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 Righteousness.
Getting the Big idea.
This city stands in Christendom for
| the missionary idea. 1t was here that
/
universal enterprise. Locally, they en-
| countered as much criticism and Bit
| terneSS as American Zionists meet
from the ultra-orthodox resident Jews.
whose faces are turned backward in
stead of forward. 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 have
been enjoying. that he said to Nico-
6A Id h. hak
he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him shall not
perish, but have everlasting life"
Life, new life, larger life. freer life,
! such as these people in the Holy Land
are only beginning to envisage in its
human inheritance by the Emancipa-
tor Saviour. That is the big idea of
Jerusalem and of Jesus. He came to
bring life, more abundant life. Politi-
cal programs He neglected: instead
He impaired a new spirit to all pro-
grams, and set into operation a prin-
ciple that was bound to make the
world over in the new. By redeeming
men, He assured the redemption OF So
ciety.
Instead of unlovely waterskins full
of water, such as I daily watch the car
riers bear thru the Jaffa Gate, Jesus
promised perennial springs of water.
flowing in ever-increasing fullness and
! of Him. This power of Christ to i'm
part 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 the
deepest needs of a restless humanity.
The Vlndicatton.
Anybody who care to do so may
travel about the world and behold
how the principle of Jesus has work.
ed out. The missionary enterprise
which began at Jerusalem has girdled
the globe. A plain path has been
made from this city to the utermost
parts of the earth. In Thibet. in the
Sudan, in the Caucasus, in the mid
China and rural Japan, the traveller
may meet missionaries who can say,
II carry n line out from jerusalem
and II is u lifeline"
Wherever these Jerusalem ennis
saries, the sent ones of Jesus. have
gone, there may be found men and
I -k-ErA