The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-10-02
THE LESSON AND ITS APPLI-
CATION.

L. PaulS pfaCClcal WlSUOIn.
There are two ways of treating any mat
ter of principle. One is to ignore all
consideration of consequences and of
ways and means to secure it's success.
and to adhere rigidly to the perform
ance of the commands OF the principle
in an instructive and direct way The
other is to deal with it as practical
matter. requiring wise management and
nice adaptation of the means to ends,
the end being the success of the prin-
ciple.
Paul combined these two methods in
a singular degree. When he had secured
the favorable attitude of the apostles
toward his work with the Gentiles, he
found that he owed their work some
thing in return. They had endangered
their hold on their own people to help
him, He must now assist them. He
had no right to cast needless offense in
the face of his countrymen. He was
asked to perform an act of worship after
the manner of his ancient faith.
So in the speech from which our lesson
is taken. He began it by the use of the
Aramaic language in order to conciliate
the people, and he thereby secured their
attention. He rehearsed his education as
Jew, at the feet of one OF heir reverend
teachers. He announced his devotion to
the essential faith of the great body of
the Pharisees. When it became neces-
sary to treat of his conversion and ex-
plain his departure from his former
manner of life. he did so by speaking of
experiences dear to the heart of every
Pharisee, the revelation from heaven,
the Divine Voice. the miraculous heal.
ing and the trance. Up to this point he
had kept we'll within the favor of his
hearers; but he must speak of things
that will not approve, yes. which they
hate with the bitterest hatred. Yet he
did this with something of wise selection
of what may help his cause. He re-
minded them before the event that they
would not heed his testimony and
warned them that the divine Voice fore
told their rejection.
z. His devotion to his faith.
At this POINT his devotion showed itself.
He must declare his mission to the Gen
tiles. He had this in mind all the time,
and had been leading up to its full decla-
ration all the time. He may soften the
force Of the declaration by all just and
true appeals 10 Pharieaic beliefs; but he
must not abate one jot of the fidelity he
owed the truth of Gods universal grace.
When he went to worship in the temple
he did not thereby require those not
Jews to do the same. When he was de-
claring himself Jew he did not assert
that all other men must become Jews
also. And now when he must assert that
the fulfillment of the Hebrew faith re-
quired the blessing of all the families on
the earth, he met the occasion by bold
and explicit declaration of his mission.
He met the issue fairly and fully.
8. The way he met his dam
gers in this devotion shows the
same wise control over his circumstances
and his firm fidelity to his purpose. He
had come by narrow escape from the
people who would have taken his life;
but with the wounds still fresh upon
him, he remembered his mission, and
asked permission to speak to the people,
The prudent wording of this speech even
when he must have been suffering from
the beating he had received shows how