Whitzel, Frank R.

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THE TURNING-POINT.BY FRANK K. WHITZEI."And he closed the book, and he gave it againto the minister and sat down. And the eyes of allthem that were in the synagogue were fastened onhim."— Luke iv. 20.ALMOST every one of mature age can lo(jk back to some incident- that marked an epoch in his Hfe. In a few cases it may havebeen of great immediate importance, as some poignant grief or love,some desperate struggle or perhaps darksome tragedy ; but muchoftener, no doubt, the incident at the time seemed trivial, even in-significant. Subject-matter for such episodes is still plentiful enough,but the modern held is quite 1)ereft of one particidar class of themwhich, coidd we but see clearly into the lives of the ancients, wouldno question be foitnd exceedingly large, prol)ably the most numerousof all, that is to say, omens. Modern rationalism has stripped fromnattire many attributes in which men used fondly to believe, hasrobbed it of its terrors, its caprice, l)ut above all of its propheticfunction, meaning its ])Ower to apprise mankind in some indirectmanner of the important events which the futiu-e holds in store.But once upon a time omens were the meat and drink of allclasses. The ancients, throughout their waking moments were curi-ously on the lookout for a chance word, a misstep, a flash of light-ning, any circtimstance which might be construed as a warning ora promise. Their writings are strewn thickly with omens andprodigies ; even so sane a man as Ca'sar noted the jjortents thatheralded the battle of Pharsalus. The men of the day carried theirbelief so far that if they foimd it necessary to mention anythinguntoward, if it were but in a private letter, thev piouslv ejacu.lated."Avert the omen."A ntunber of alhisions to matters of this nature are to be foundin history and throw a curiotis sidelight upon the mental jirocessesof our ancestors. There was this same Caesar's famous stumbleTHE TURNING-POINT. 507when he landed on the shore of Africa to be^^in his Thapsus cam-paign. "Africa, I take thee!" exclaimed the quick-witted Roman,thus at a word turning evil presage into good, to the no small effecton the morale of his superstitious troops. At Brindisi, when MarcusCrassus was setting out on his ill-fated Parthian expedition, the"hot dog" or "crawfish" peddlers of the day were crying their waresin the evening streets. "Caiuicas, caiDicas." The hearers promptlynoted the identity of the sound with "Cai'c nc cas," or "Take care, donot vou go." and they previsioned the disastrous event of the war.It is dit^cult for us to-day to appreciate this firm and confidentbelief, but there is no question of the fact that omens were regardedand reverenced as direct revelations of deity, fully as valid to theancients as later on Holy Writ became to Christians. It is from thisstandpoint that exceptional significance attaches to an incident brieflyrecorded in the life of a young man of Galilee, the meaning of whichseems to have been almost altogether overlooked.Something like two thousand years ago, a youthful serious-minded carpenter named jesus heard the rumor that in a near-byregion a prophet had apj)eared who was exhorting his hearers in anew and eft'ective style. The young man. having himself studiedattentively the sacred books of his people, and having also readdeeply in the book of nature, felt that here perhaps was a chance tolearn something definite about the matters that were disturbing hisspirit. He laid aside his labor for a few days and betook himselfto hear the prophet.\\'hen he arri\ed at his destination he listened to a strange dis-course indeed. This world, announced the prophet, was about tobe destroyed. The Kingdom of Heaven was close at hand. It wouldbe established immediately after the destruction of the world, but itwould be open only to those who had previously forsworn their in-iquities and by prayer and repentance had prepared themselves foradmission. These, as a symbol of regeneration and abandonmentof the present world, were recjuired to pass through the ceremonyof baptism, a rite little known at the period. The prophet told hishearers that he himself was but the forerunner or announcer of thecoming events, and that another person, to him luiknown, was to bethe real guide into the promised haven. It is of course possible thatJohn did not entertain the latter idea at all but that it arose subse-quently among the followers of Jesus to justify his well-knownprevious connection, but it seems more likely that John really hadsome such notion.At all e\ents, the young carpenter was profoundlv impressed.508 THE OPEN COURT.The world as he saw it about him was so full of iniquity, his ownpeople, the chosen of God, were so oppressed both by the carelesscruelty of a conquering nation and by the formalism of their ownhierarchy that mere amendment seemed impracticable. Only a planinvolving destruction and a new creation could give promise of over-coming the power of Satan. Deeply religious in his nature, moved,too, by the prophet's enthusiasm and disregard of consequences,Jesus quickly announced himself a convert and submitted to baptismat the hands of John.Apparently he did not at once return to his home but lingeredfor some time listening attentively to the words of the prophet whoon his part had formed a liking for his youthful follower. Jesus,so far as we can conjecture, did not at this time look upon himselfas any different from the hundreds of other seekers after truth whosurrounded the master. But undoubtedly the question soon arosein his mind. Where do I personally fit into the scheme? What ismy part to be in the work of preparing mankind for the comingKingdom ? John needed no assistant in his present labor thoughhe had recognized the ability and enthusiasm of his new disciple,and the latter had not as yet conceived of initiating a separateevangel. His way was shrouded in darkness.This personal question was still unanswered when Jesus, feelingnothing was to be gained by a longer stay, withdrew from the com-pany of John and set out for his home in Nazareth to resume hisusual employment. The influence of the rugged prophet remainedwith him, however, and on his way homeward, possibly even afterhis arrival there he made some addresses to the people ; but in thesehe merely iterated the burden of John's message, "Repent, for theKingdom of Heaven is at hand."But we can easily surmise that the part of a follower could notlong satisfy the ardent and aspiring spirit of the young Nazarene.His journey and conversion were well known, and his public ad-dresses had marked him among the peasantry as a man of unusualability. No doubt there was much speculation as to what he woulddo next, for it seemed unlikely that he would be content to resumethe humdrum life of a carpenter after having been so powerfullymoved.It was while in this state of suspense, uncertain of his mission,groping for guidance, that an incident took place fraught with far-reaching results not only to Jesus himself but to all succeedinggenerations of mankind. But a preliminary word of explanationis necessary to make the incident comprehensible.THE TURXIX'G-POIXT. 509Each community of Jews kept in its synagogue a copy of thevarious books of their Scriptures. These were not books as weunderstand the term ; they were rolls of parchment attached at eachend to a rod. A reader held the two rods upright before his faceand about a foot apart, and after reading the page thus presentedto view, rolled up the manuscript on one rod as he unrolled theother until the next page was exposed. It was the regular practicefor the custodian of the books to bring them out each Sabbath dayin order that the elders and any others who felt so disposed mightread aloud from them to the assembled worshipers.As a devout Jew Jesus was of course present in the synagoguethe next Sabbath after his homecoming. The hour arrived whenaccording to custom the chief men read in turn from the holy books,and the custodian was Ijusy carrying them from one to another.Especial interest attached to Jesus, and all eyes were l)ent uponhim when his turn to read came.Xow. one of the commonest modes of divination since the worldbegan has been to open a book at random and apply the tirst passagethat meets the eye to the circumstances of the moment. And justat this juncture, to Jesus, troubled by his inner emotion and anxiousfor a word of guidance, such a proceeding would appeal withexceptional force. Nor, as he repeatedly proved in his after-life,did he lack that supreme courage extolled by the poet, he daredto put it to the touch to win or lose it all. Resolving to cast hisdoubts on the bosom of God and to seek counsel in the words which,divine wisdom should place before him. he took the roll of Scripturefrom the attendant, revolved the rods to insure a chance exposureand opened it in sight of the congregation.Lay it to chance if you will. Ascribe it to the personal directionof the Deity if you can. The fact remains that Jesus found his eyesresting upon a passage than which none more significant could befound in all the holy books of his people. It was a direct answerto the questions agitating his soul, an oracle of his nation's Godapplying personally to himself and pointing out clearly his officeand mission. He read from Isaiah Ixi. 1 :''The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lordhath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hathsent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to thecaptives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;"To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."Jesus was overwhelmed. Mechanically he handed the roll backto the attendant and sat down.510 THE OPEN COUR'l.Let us make an attempt to visualize the scene. Round aboutthe room sat the silent and absorbingly interested congregation.There were his family, his friends, his neighbors, in all stages ofsurprise at this apparently clear manifestation of divine will. Allsaw that the reader was moved to the heart by the pregnant andpertinent words which had just fallen from his lips. What wouldhe do? \\'ould he sit silent and let the moment pass, or would hepromptly accept the oracle as a Tiod-givcn command?As for Jesus himself, his mind must have reacted jjowerfuUyto the stimulus. The passage from Isaiah was calculated to resolveall his doubts as in a flash of light. It was the Ecce Homo ofPilate prefigured, the visible finger pointing directly to him and thevoice of God saying "Thou art the man." Xo doubt he envisionedall it meant should he accept, the unreasoning op])osition of hisfamily, the fickle adulation of the throng, the dangerous antagonismof authoritv, the comi^letc severance from all his worldly interests.But Jesus had been taught that man's highest duty was to obey thebehest of God when that l)ehest was plainly spoken. And he wasmade of such stuft as arc heroes and martyrs in all ages. He mustgo or.t to fight the liattle of faith, to hold aloft with God's aid thebanner of righteousness, to announce the catastro])hic ending of thepower of Satan, to preach the year of the Lord. S;lf must beignored, he was God's chosen agent. He could not refuse.He sat for a few moments while the portentous message shookhis soul ; then slowly he arose, and looking around on the waitingcongregation he announced his irrevocal)le decision."This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."It was the turning-|)oint in the life of Jesus. Xever again washe troubled by uncertainty as to his mission. Xever again did heshow perplexity or hesitation. Lie knew that God had selected himto preach the advent of the Kingdom, and he carried out his workwith utter singleness of purpose and disregard of personal conse-quences until it reached its conclusion—or was it its true commence-ment?—on the summit of Golgotha.X'^o doubt his estimate of himself and also his conception of hismission grew with the passing months, but his conviction of divineguidance became never firmer than in that instant when, obedient tothe Scriptural lot, he abandoned his former life, turned all his ener-gies in a new direction and consecrated his being to the work of re-demption. X'^ever could greater exaltation be his than that withwhich God illumined his soul upon that momentous morning in thesynagogue at Xazareth.

The Turning-Point.

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The Turning-Point.

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