The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-25
International
SunddySchoolLesson
BIZ WILLIAM r. ELLIS.

/ Ok He GAlL1llOs L
For March 81 is THE Living Christi
(Easter Lesson).-Matt. 2S:1-10,
1920.
Conquering the Fear of Death.
A wholesale struggle with death
is being waged in China as these words
are being penned; there fifteen million
persons are at close grips with starya-
ton. 1t seems incongruouS to write
upon the joyous Easter theme when
the clamors of the MORALLY hungry
are to be heard in such an enormous
volume of woe. with the wailing of
women beside the uncoffined dead as
a minor undertone; when such decades
of suffering and hopelessness are he
ing crowded into few months. Yet
after all, it is when we draw near
est to death, where the dread secret
of existence hides, that we see in its
full magnitude and symmetry and
splendor the glorious hope of immor-
tally.
In the famine field even a careless
observer sees that they who are with
out God are without hope in the world.
Lacking this factor which lies at the
basis of all the thought of Christen-
dom, men become as beasts in their eff
forts to preserve within their breasts
the vital spark. Almost every hour
of a journey, thru China in the time OF
even a minor famine one encounters
some new story of the awful price that
people are paying in order to pre-
serve their existence. That they fill
their stomach with leaves and roots
is not to be wondered at; nor yet that
they push and scramble and fight for
a dole of their rice cruel at the relief
stations. Years ago saw an Amerf-
can rescue a little girl and an old, old
women who were being crushed in
this way; and 1 saw an old man and
woman who had thus been seriously
injured by the mob which crowded
for food.
It would be easy for me to fill this
column with stories of such selfishness
on the part of people who have no
sustaining faith or exalted Christian
principles in this life and who do not
feel any hope of life after death. All
are pertinent illustrations of the
Easter truth that the glorious hope of
a resurrection is one of the potent fac
tors in what we call civilized conduct.
Take this out of the consciousness of
Christendom and you lower society to
the level of China in famine.
The Best Life or the Beast Life.
Sane old Paul, who saw straight
and thoroly into a subject, knew this
when he said, in proving the nature of
the doctrine of the resurrection, IF
the dead are not raised, let US eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die" Without
this truth of the spirits Immortality
man exchanges the best life for the
beast life. If death ends all, then all
is not worth while. Again to quote
Paul, the person whose soul is not sus-
tanned by this dear hope of a life be-
yond the grave, is "of all men most
pitiable."
Why are thousands of men and
women thronging New York's Great
White Way" every night? They are
seeking life" Why is the famous
boardwalk of Atlantic City crowded
today? The promenaderS are after
life How explain the full steamers
that ply like ferries across the oceans?
Travellers are after life" For what
reason are American men driven by
the money madness that blights our
time? They hope to win @1ife.' How
may we explain the craze of many
kinds of persons to get their names
into the newspapers? They think that
that spells life" Look into the thea
tiers, the restaurants, and the hotels
of the great cities, and still you see
this wild pursuit of life" Today's
quest of all quests is this lust for
'1ife"
Pathetically many are on the wrong
trail. They are dazZled by false fires,
and in their blindness they affix the
label life" to much that savors of
death. The delusion and disappoint-
ment of the multitudes who have sac
rificed real values for sham is spec
ldCIe l1ldL SaOuenS all DenO1QlnS hearts.
The great mass of people who hold
to the Easter expectation may not be
blind to the truth that the doctrine
of the resurrection is constantly Sc
verely alta cked. With all respect for
the scholars who are troubled upon
this point, it must be borne in mind
that this attempt to discredit the
resurrection of Jesus is not, as they
fondly believe, advanced theology;
1T has been one of the favorite en-
deavors of Satan even since the Won,
der-stricken women beheld the empty
tomb in Josephs garden.
The Big Offer.
The unique character of Christianity
is that it really offers life. Other
faiths have varying rewards but
Christ's Gospel maintains the stupen-
dous claim that it has life to impart
right here and now. True, He offers
eternal life, lasting thru two worlds,
but that life begins in the present.
Because OF the Easter teaching that
old, old enemy of the race, the fear
of death. is driven out of the Chris
tian's thought. Again and again
Christians have taught the world what
it is to die unfearingly; ancient Rome
tumbled before that spectacle, and
China is today witnessing 1t in the con-
duct of the missionaries who are going
among the famine sufferers, distribut-
ing relief. For it is the Christians
privilege to master the fear of death
Because Jesus has risen from the dead.
and because he also expects one day to
rise, he can cry, 80 grave. where is
thy victory? o death, where is thy
sting?"
Christ comes to the empty echoing,
aching hearts of men and proffers His
great gift of 1ife-life rich and ever
richer. Christianity stands for a new
mind, new spirit, new animus. a
new genius: essentially, a new life
THE words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life
Conquerors and the Conqueror.
The high point of the present lesson,
as, indeed, of all Christian teaching, is
the victory of Christ over death. That