The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-28

In the old days, when fasteners
regarded Bagdad as the goal of all
ljourneyings / once entered the city,
preceded by my servant, who cleared
1.-THE Instructions in the bazaars by cry
ling, "Bellak! Bellak!'-"Make way!
Make wayi" 1t was a surviving usage
of the ancient times when the great
| land every foreigner is deemed great
in the remote parts of Asia) had her
aids to go before them, and prepare
the way. That was the function which
John the Baptist fulfilled toward
Jesus: he was the "Forerunner." 81
| AS we contemplate today the tri-
UNI phal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem,
our first thought is a yearning for a
this new and troubled time. True,
many great voices are being lifted to
hail Him. Mr., Hoover told a group OF
leading men in New York that nothing
but the spirit and sovereignty of Jesus
could brin order out of the diseran-
ization and suffering of Europe. Roger
w. Babson, the business doctor" adj
vised his clients last year: I'VE must
| do business as Jesus would do business.
!. If the majority of all concerns in
one line of business could be brought
| to Jesus's way of thinking, it would
then be a simple matter to revo.u-
tionize the whole industry, with harm
to none and benefit to all. The ma
| jority of concerns and most of the in
dustries are already controlled by
church people. and If we treat our re-
ligion seriously we could at any time
put across such a plan."
Newspaper editorials, conference re-
ports, ecclesiastical deliveraHces, pub
lie addresses, are all echolng, with
strange unity and insistence, the call
fer Christ as leader of our menaced
day. Still there tarries the one clear
mn G.
which SO many of us eagerly await, to
prepare the way of the Lord. Except
Christ be hailed as our present Deliv-
erer there is no hope in sight, 1t may
be that instead of one voice there
should be many voices. arising in sun
day schools, churches. communities, to
introduce Jesus as the Saviour from
social suffering as well as from tnd1-
vidual sin. We must-simply must
make way for our King, to give Him
a chance to do His work for mankind:
New-Fashioned Crusading.
Openly in some places, and secretly
in others, there is raging today des-
perate struggle, on a vast scale, be-
tween the forces of radicalism and the
forces of reaction. Viewed in the
large, radicalism is winning; tho blind
ebscurantism refuses to read the signs
of the storm. 1t is as it was in Sevas-
tapel the night that Wrangel's army
WAS hOpelSSSly DIOhth IiCSiiS, liz
public places were crowded with mer-
ry-making Russians, who refused to
heed the danger which, within twenty
four hours, sent them scurrying off
to the ships as panicky refugees.
Whenever we discover definite
and Intelligent and sincerely religious
effort to meet the crisis of contem-
porary conditions our hearts leap with
expectation. News has crossed the
ocean of Christian crusade under
way in the city of Leeds. England.
There both AHglicans and Noneon-
formists have united to carry the mes
sage for the times to all the people.
With the slogan, Christ or chaos
they are going two by two into shops,
offices, factories and public places,
usually at the noon hour, to declare
in simple terms of today's speech, that
the only hope of solution of the
present tangle of things is the accept
anee of the sovereignty and saviour
hood of Jesus Christ.
1t cannot be too strongly or too
often repeated that, just as the eulti-
walton of class spirit leads only to
further chaos and wee. SO the accept
ance of the Christ spirit leads to good
happiness. All problems are solved
by the triumphal entry of Christ.
Trouble Before Triumph.
According to the sugar and sun
shine philosophy so popular among
many persons in our own time, the
beautiful era of the reign of happiness
and of God is to come in along a. lane
of flowers, with all the gentleness of
fragrant summer breezes. That is not
the way Christ came before. His tri-
umphal entry into Jerusalem was ac-
companied by a sensational struggle
for righteousness. 1t was just prior
to the cleansing of the temple, wherein
Jesus splintered a lance against the
armer eff the vested interests of His
was given to the Master. When Jesus
enters into a life or into society, dawn
right keeping of the law must follow
There can be no meney-changers In
the temple where Christ is.
At 0beramm ergau. ten years ago,
the Passion play made vivid to me
the close relation between the cleans
ing of the temple and the crucifixion
of Jesus by His foes. Business as well
as bigetry famed the flames of fanat-
icism At Calvary the temple traffick
ers fulfilled their threats to square ac
counts with this disturber of en-
trenched commerce. Even today
there are gain engrossed men who in
sst that Christ and His representa-
tives shall keep hands off business. no
matter how un-Christian are the
abuses attacked. When Jesus is truly
accepted as Lerd in the business
world, then the last citadel on earth
will have fallen to Him.
Everybody who sincerely wants
Christ to conquer should squarely
face the condition made clear at the
entry. He will not COM
promise with unrighteousness. All
temples must be eleansed when He
comes to His own. He will not ac-
cept any merely emotional or spec
tacular ovation; He wants domination
over life. Are some of us crying aloud
for Christianity to prevent chaos,
when all the while We have neither
purpose nor desire to change our own
lives SO that they may conform to the
will of Christ? Do we really only
want the help of religion as a pallia-
tive of disturbed conditions or to help
keep restless spirits eontented with
their lot? Sober thinking is in order
before we pray for the triumphal
entry of Jesus into eur troubled