The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-29
International
SundaySchoolLesson
By WILLIAM Q. ELLIS.
For october / Is, 1.-The Birth OF John
The Baptist. Luke I.
History-And His Story.

For October Is, THE Birth Of John
| The Baptist."-Luke l.
History-And His Story.
From history to biography which
is the explanation of history-the
Sunday schools of the world now
| turn. For nine months OF this year
these many millions have been study
ing the decline. fail and partial re-
storation of Israel. With October they
begin a six months course of lessons
in the biography of our Lord, written
by DR.. Luke, holding to the central
theme, Jesus the Worlds Saviour"
We'll, the world of today needs
saving badly enough" is the first in
stinctive comment of the reader. Be-
fore the winter is over we may dis
cover the tremendous and vital per-
tinency of this life to our tangled,
terrified times.
This Greek Christian friend Of the
Apostle Paul, DR.. Lucas, or Luke,
''the beloved physician" with his rare
talent for biography, may have the
word for the overwhelmed Greeks of
today, and for all of us who are in
lvolved in their catastrophe. For what
has of late befallen in Turkey is not
an isolated event; if is inextricably
bound up with the entire European
political situation. and with the fu-
ture of the New World.
As by a sudden jolt, the reading
/
drawn back to Bible lands, as the
present center of the worlds tragic
stage Once again the daily news
paper is closely linked up to the in
spired Scripture. Out of the Old Book
we may gain light for the darkness
portrayed by the press. Anew we
| discern that even current history is
| but His Story
| What the F1apper Does Not Know.
To the multitude of modern girls
who do not read Sunday school les
sons-they seldom get deeper than
4page"-and to the male 'flappers,"
or cake-eaters" or lounge Iizards,p
as the picturesque slang of the day
! describes them; 1 would like to whis-
per first word of wisdom from DIR.
Luke, such as seems scarcely to have
entered their oveF-barhered heads:
Before all else. and after all else,
l1fe's real interests and pleasures and
rewards are wrapped up in being fit
parents of babies. The old-fashioned
girl. who was first of all a home
| maker, was really wiser than the most
sophisticated modern devotee of swift
| changing fashions. She knew no Jazz;
but she could sing nursery lullabies,
| She never danced cheek to cheek
with strange men; but she knew and
loved the velvety touch of a baby's
face against hers. InstinctiYeIy, there
was deep in her consciousness the CON
Viction that the wise God meant some
thing for her to learn when He re-
yealed Himself in a Babe and a home"
Like the prelude to a great drama.
the story of Jesus Christ begins with
tale of parenthood and infancy. Be-
fore the Babe of Bethlehem appears,
we find his way prepared by the birth
of another child, who is to be His
! herald and announcer and introdueer.
All the dignity and awe of special
revelation and of angel visitation in
vests the advent of this child of
| Zecharias and Elizabeth. To this day,
the fairest village in all Palestine IS
the reputed home of Eliza beth and
birthplace of John. I visited it after
the armistice with an American Red
Cross worker.
Sorrows of the ChiidIess.
| What modern editors call "the
human interest touch" was always on
the point of Dr. Luke's pen. As he
begins his matchless story Of the life
of Jesus, he first of all introduces us
to the family sorrow of a Jewish
priest, zeeharias and his wife. 1t was
a high honor to be member of the
priesthood, Fninistering in the temple;
and Zecharias and Elizabeth bore
respected name; and had the true love
of each other. But they were child
less. This was the cloud that dark
ened all their days. No son would
carry on the torch of their life after
them. Their name would end That
primary mission of normal existence,
the continuation of their line, as well
as all the joys of parentheod, were
denied them. In his deepest being,
every normal person feels that he and
| his blood after him should have B.
place in, what Kendall Banning has
sung as 1.-THE Phantom Caravan:
"out of the Dusk they troop, my SON.
from the uttermost pales OF the
by the Norns and their courses
As a caEaicade they ride them forth, in
q line from Alb to you;
i Your Drawn Is theirs and yeur->brain is
! theirs; you do as they bid you do,
The urge of a million sires and danes
! in the blood Of your pulses runs,
| As your own urge will sometimes surge
in the sons of your ehildren's sons
Their lives are spun as ths threads of Of
the woof Of your Wholel
Your hands are theirs and yeqr eyes are
theirs thd son and sGyy 9pr mold and your Self
The dreams they dreamed and the fights
| they fought and the prayers that
Shall be your dreams and shall be your
prayers; your fights are the fights
The lives they lived and the deaths they
/ died you shall live and die again;
| In you is the seed Of a million hopes OF
| a millions maids and men,
| God grant, my son, that you fight the
right fight and held to the faith.
| Ament'
The prayers he said in the sane
| tuary of the temple were less real to
the Priest ~Zecharias than the con-
slant cry of his soul, "Oh, God, a son!"
That was the plea that heaven
heard; for as he ministered the Angel
Gabriel appeared to him with the
promise that his supplication would
| be answered. Like every normal
foretidings OF a birth the message
carried the assurance. Thou shalt
have joy and gladness, and many
shall. rejoice at his BIRTH"
Back of All Statecraft.
We smile in pleasure as we behold
the pride and joy of young parents
/ in their wee ones. A glow of graft
| fication suffuses our hearts; for we
know that real wisdom and real hap