The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-10-22

One great word is central to the
kingdom platform of Jesus; and that
word is such a matter of note that
most of US use it without thought of
its meaning. Nob1est words are like
Siiest to become shopworn. Like coins
which grow smooth with much hand
ling and lose their die-marks, SO that
they need to be returned to the mint
for fresh issues, the great words of
religion have suffered abrasion and
often, in consequence, lack clearness
and definiteness of significance.
We ask yourselves what tn recur-
ring familiar blessed of the Declara-
ton of Principles of Jesus really sig
nifies. when translated into everyday
English, and are rather puzzled to
make answer. We turn to the diction-
airy, and 10, a flood of light streams
upon this central work of our lesson
and our religion.
For "bless," at its deepest root
means to consecrate by the sprinkling
of blood. The altar aroma surrounds
this text of the teaching of the Master.
Let the person who cares less for the
Sermon on the Mount than for the
Farewell Discourse in the upper room
look at the red stream running thru
the fabric of the kingdom utterance
Like all the teaching of Jesus "bless-
ed drips blood. The blessed" are the
consecrated; the blood-sprinkled; the
ones whom, God has accepted as in
an act of worship. The lintels of
this doorway into the Kingdom are
blood-sprinkled. The blessed" there
fore are the recipients of heavenly
favor, the partakers of divine felicity
Thus,. like the Passover, there is an
air of completed transaction about
the Beautitudes. They are a divin af-
firmation of an accomplished HEcf- The
poor in spirit, the merciful, the meek.
the heart-hungry, etc, are already re-
Warded, for they are recipients of the
oenedlctfon pronounced by Jesus He
calls them happy, and God-favored.
They come under the sacrificiaI blood
Ihey do not need any other reward.
just to be approved by God is supreme
compensation. Whosoeyer order his
life by the law of the Lord is bless
ed he has won earth's supreme boon.
After the Bloody War.
We had all hoped that, as without
the shedding of blood there is no re-
mission of SIM" so the world war, with
ITS ten million young lives slain, might
nelp redeem humanity from the evils
that bliGhted society. Now we find
ourselves IN a condition of chaos with
problems more difficult than those
that accompanied the war. Perhaps
we are losing the peace because there
has been no spiritual shedding of blood
on the part of civilization since the
armlstlce: because with CHASTITY
promptness the nations turned to sell
fshness and greed and acquisition and
pleasure and revenge and vain glory:
the vicarious, sacrificial spirit that
accompanied the conflict has been
lacking. We have tried to reconstruct
the world without the conservation of
it's cornerstones.
All the while the truth stands clear
and luminous that the remade world
must have for its portal the ensan-
guined Blessed" of Jesus; and for its
cornerstone a ood-stained cross.
All of which is but another way of
saying that the program for our Sc
verely-shaken time needs to be the
program first spoken on a Galilean
hillside, overlooking the Shining wa
ters of the lake He loved, by Jesus,
our Teacher as we'll as our Saviour,
That ancient gathering on Kuyn Hat
tin signifies more to the disturbed ma
tions of the present time than all the
conferences of the supreme council,
the economic council. the League of
Nations council, the Industrial couA-
ell, or all the other bodies that are
nowadays sitting to consider the state
of the world. No other remedy that
has been adduced for present ills is
so workable and so efficacious as the
kingdom principles of Jesus. We
shall continue to go wrong until we
turn and go His way. along the path
stained red with sacrifice and selfless-
nesc.
A Dcliverance of Democracy.
Almost startling is fresh and OPEN
minded reading of these familiar
words from the standpoint of democ-
racy. In these days we apply the
touchstone of democracy to nearly
everything; and in SO doing we are
right. Our age has entered into
new and transforming conception of
the places and power and possibilities
Of daT rR-r-o to h. . hh
turmoil and agony of earth today is
but blind struggle and cropping after
the reality of democracy. No person
is really doing any serious thinking
who is not giving thought to democ-
rary.
In this mood we turn to the Politi-
cal Platform, which Is really Social
Platform of Jesus. and we are struck
first of all by the fact that it was
addressed to the common crowd. No
aristocratic senate, no proud plenipo-
tentiaries of power, no learned consti-
tutional convention, no council \ of
statesmen, sat with the Master when
He formulated the Declaration of
Principles of the new Kingdom that
is to rule the world. Instead, the radi-
cal and sensational words - flung
straight into the accepted order of
Things AS They Are-fell hot from
the lips of Jesus upon the wondering
and scarcely comprehending ears Of
an unwashed rabble of plain people
sitting on the raw dirt.
While bordering the significance of
the pregnant fact that dernocracy's
Magma Charta was given at first hand
to the common people, we come to a
realization that these words are of the
very sort for which the hurt and
heavy hearts of humanity hunger.
The accolade Blessed" is laid upon
the shoulder of the person who prac-
tees the virtues of everyday folks.
The Beatitudes were doubtless called
demagogic by the intellectuals of our
Lords day They offered no rewards
for the distinctive qualities of the high
and naughty: but they were crowd ed
with comfort for the average person.
Little wonder the. common people
heard him gladly" This was a new
style of preaching. red with vitality
and hope, brittle plain people
democracy, as a world ideal and
order. took form that day amid the