Evening journal., 1903-03-17
DELAWARE NEEDS
OLD ROMAN LAW
Then, His Franchise Once
Sold, a Man Never Could
Get 1t Back Again
CHRISTIANS MUST PURIFY POLITICS

Says the Rev. William F. Lewis in a
Powerful Sermon Preached in Rod
ney Street Presbyterian Church on
Sunday Night.
The Rev. Frederick d. Lewis. pastor
Of Rodney Street Presbyterian Church,
preached an eloquent sermon on sun
day night during which he said It
would be a good thing IL Delaware had
such a law as the Romans had, that
once a man sold his franchise he could
never get it back Mr. Lewis took his
text from Second Timothy. iv: 13:
'The cloak which left at Troas. when
thou comest, bring it with thee, and
the books, but especially the parch-
ments."
St. Paul Is writing from the Manner
tine Prison, situated at the corner OF
the Forum In the city of Rome, to iiis
young friend and pupil, Timothy, in
Ephesus. He had been forced to leave
Troas because Of persecution, and he
had in his hurry left behind him his
cloak, his books and his parchments
He makes these requests OF Timothy.
that he would bring these three things
lalong with him when he came to
Rome. Winter was approaching and
he needed his cloak. The solitude of
his prison would be made less so by
the companionship of his booksand the
lparchments, which most students are
iagreed upon, We're the proofs Of his
Roman citizenship, would be especially
needful, since he had appealed as he
had the right so to do, to the Roman
Emperor. Now 1 take it that this is a
very important text. It concerns our
duties as Christians and as citizens.
The cloak is the care OF our body. The
books involve the training Of our mind.
and the parchments include our sacred
duties as citizens to the state.
do not think that Paul was a Chris
tian Scientist. He had too much sense
10 spend a winter in the Mamertine
without his cloak to keep his body
warm. He knew the true science OF
therapeutics. He had Luke the be-
loved physician, with him. He believed
in caring for the body He believed
that since Christ had redeemed the
body as well as the soul, II was nee
essary for him to take care OF that
body. He did not despise the medici-
nal properties of nature. else ne would
not have had Luke with him, "adminis-
tering to his needs" He believed he
had material body and he was not
going TO commit suicide by exposing
that body to the ills that flesh inherits
when he knew he hud material cloak
az Troas which would keep out disease
I'm great many of it's phases 1 feel
quite sure that no such unscientifc
mode of thought could ever appeal to
the Apostle Paul as Bostonian Eddy
ism. We should most certainly care
for the body; when we'll we should eat
food to sustain it, When i'll we should
certainly not despise the scientific min
istrations of a good physician, else we
do not follow the simple, plain, natter
of-fact example Of st. Paul. Bring
my cloak"
The apostle also suggests that it Is
a good thing to read good books. He
wanted those books which he had left
at Troas to stimulate his active, whole
some mind. To be sure he had been
educated at the University of Tarsus
and then at Jerusalem, at the feet OF
the greatest rabbi of the day, Gamaliel
But yet he had to study. 1 have no
doubt that chiefest among those
books were the law, and the prophets
- NAN UAA AHAaAlltMls IEInADH SOllt
OF the Greek classics, for he often used
to quote from them. The companions
ship of good books relieved the soli-
tude and brought infinite solace to tho
weary hours at Rome. No man can dc
,or say anything without study. Let us
get rid of such a notion The geniu.
OF taraday was fired by the volume.
which he read while serving as an ap.
premiership at an English bookseller
These books We're to enrich and tS
enlarge the mind of the apostle and t
stimulate, inlame and concentrate II.
activity. We do not in this day ant
generation study Gods Word enough
NO man can pray unless he prepare.
himself for it. The best way to pre-.
pare oneself for prayer is to meditat,
on Gods Word. The best way to ge
the language of prayer is by gettinl
. oneself saturated with the comforting
promises Of Holy Scripture Our ag,
is somewhat despiritualized. simpll
because we are as unskilled in tn,
Word as we are in Egyptian hero
glyphics, or in the deciphered monu
ments recently exhumed in Babylonia
Bring the Books"
But especially the parchments. Pau
says nothing further about his cloal
and books and parchments. Perhaps
as Meyer, the German commentato
suggests, ii may be idle conjecture, bu
/ think these parchments had some
thing to do with his Roman citizen
ship. He had appealed to Caesar as
free-born Roman citizen. They tell m
the Romans built good roads. The
certainly built better roads than the
de in Delaware, but, old pagans tha
they We're, they did some other goo
things. They never sold their citizen
! ship once they possessed it. Roma
=" citizenship exempted them frol
scourging and from imprisonmer
without trial. Roman citizenship CAV
them the right of appeal to the en-
peror.
once a Roman sold for greed or gal
his citizenship, he lost it. He becan
n pilloried alien to the empire worl
than any Ishmaelite. Perhaps
might be a good thing If we had suS
law in Delaware, that once a ms
sold his franchise he could never g