The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-01-09
A Glimpse Of tlre Orient.


The picture is a familiar one to
every traveller in the East. Hundreds
of times. in Jerusalem, Bagdad, Con-
stantinople, Cairo, Damascus, and
many other places. I have. seen the
men thronging to the mosques at the
hour of prayer. The Moslems are
more diligent than either Christians or
Jews in their religious observances.
There is no select few go to church:
prayer is normal to the life of busi-
ness men and officials. as we'll as to
workmen and farmers. 1t was but a
few months ago, in Jerusalem. and on
the very site of the Temple where
Peter and John worshipped, that I
saw the men of the city turning aside
for prayer at the Dome of the Rock;
and 1, too, went with them to pray in
those cool and hallowed precincts.
At the gates of all the larger
churches and mosques of Bible lands
the beggars still stand, the crippled,
the aged, and the poor mothers. Aims
to the worsf1ippers is part of worship,
even tho the beggars be but profess
sional mendicants.
The lame man who accosted the
apostles expected only a, dole; he had
no knowledge of the birth in Jerusa-
lem Of a new faith, to which formal
ism meant nothing, and spiritual
reality meant all; a faith without a
routine or perfunctory fashions and
customs. He was as much startled
by what followed as some worshippers
in modern churches would be were
they suddenly to hear a sermon of
urgent, immediate, all-important, vital,
life claiming Christianity.
do not mean to be too hard on
| the churches. Everything in life tends
to formally. Most men kiss their
wives goodbye in the morning, not
because of the urge of affection felt
mt haaaa11 80 rlP hob
So also We "say our prayers and pro-
nounce grace before meat and go to
worship regularly. When our reli-
gious routine is broken by q new and
God We call it revival" Truly,
there was revival by the Beauti-
full Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem
that afternoon; and it was as sensa-
| tional as anything Whitefield ever
witnessed.
Giving What We Have Got
Some weeks ago I heard a group of
men at a restaurant table discussing
certain new church and recommend
ing it. There were so many automo-
| DlleS lined up outside and so many
| finely dressed people going in, that
! you would almost think you were at
the operai" exclaimed one, in a climax
of eulogy.
Peter and John would not be well
they
never had the equivalent of an auto
| mobile, or Of fine clothes or of a for
tune. or of social position. They would
have felt out Of place amid such lux
/ ury.
But they had something better than
most Naristocratic congregations pos
sess. And they gave the lame man
their substitute for the lacking silver
and gold; which was life. new life.
| abundant life. Little cared the beggar
for Peters poverty. as he leaped and
| rejoiced in newness of strength and
manhood He had been given a gift
| greater than gold.
| Nowadays we witness staggering do
nations OF money Tor philanthropic
purposes; a rich man is popularity sup
posed to die disgraced il he does not
bequeath large sums to charity. Yet
we pity the man whose friendliness
| toward his fellows consists only in
signing checks. Peter gave the beggar
his hand. and his heart. This is the
human touch that lifts benevolence
| out Of professionalism. No needy per-
son was ever pauperized by personal
helpfulness. Institutions have money
for the alienation of want: yet their