The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-28
THREE MONTHS
WITH A HERO

WITH A HERO
international Sunday School Lesson
for March 29-Quarterly Review
Lesson.
The Sunday schools of the world
nave been keeping good company for
three months past. They have got
as close as possible to one of the big
gest and bravest characters in human
history. the Apostle Paul. He figures
IN every one of the quarters lessons
AS hefolsm begets heroes. there should
De an uncounted host of men and won-
en- boys and girls. who are stouter
OF heart Tor these inspiring studies
NOW that the course of lessons is in
terIupted to permit a review of the
ground covered, we may take broad
er survey of PauPs character and
work What We're the elements of his
power? Whence came this greatness?
Even superficial study shows as
MS predominant trait sublime
courage. From the first lesson of the
year, when we found him in Jail at
Phlllppi, to the exciting incident of
the riot at Ephesus. Paul stands out
as man Of holiness Mobbed at
Thessa1onica, confronting the arrogant
philosophy of Athens, withstanding
the Jews at Corinth, and the cause of
phenomenal riot at Ephesus. he prov
ed himself from first to last a man in
whose veins ran no drop of cowardly
blood. This virtue was needed first
OF all in one doing work such as
PauPs. which required him to go
against the older order A pioneer
may lack some of the nicer accom-
lishments of men in older society,
but he must have courage. The con-
quests of the church have ever been
accomplished through the bravery of
her members. The keyword of the
book of the Acts is 'boIdneSs," and it
has been the keyWord of missionary
character ever since, right down to
the days of Chalmers. of New Guinea
the latest missionary to be martyred
in the service of Christ. If we have
obtained no message of bravery from
these weeks of study, we have read
in vain.
A Man OF Force.
The American test Of ability to do
things was fully met by Paul. He
had amazing enterprise He was a
man of such native and endowed force
that he was ever planning new fields
of work, new cOnquests for the COS
pei, and new service for the Master to
whose cause his life was pledged. He
was unresting in his zeal for the king
dom and his constant endeaVor was
to push it's borders further and further
outward. The namby- pamby, milk
andwater stripe of religion gets small
encouragement from Paul. He was a
personality, a man of force, d center
of activity and often of strife. The
way he "sassed back" at those Philip
plan magistrates would have been i'm
possible to some of his successors.
He had little in common with that
state of mind which would reduce the
gospel of the strong Son of God to a
collection of negative platitudes. His
was not a weakling's religion Of
don't" but a strong mans gospel p
endeavor The men who today and
through all the church's history have
been doing Pauline work for God have
been men of force of character, who
were virile enough to be themselves
for the gospels sake.
A Man With Mission.
Froude speaks of the irresistible
ness of the man who is possessed by
the conviction that he is doing tho
Lords work. and that the Lord is on
his side. Paul was that sort of man.
He believed that his life was a mis-
sion. divinely appointed, and his con-
secration to this mission burned in
his veins as a compelling fire. The call
of God was more real to him, and more
important than ali the obstacles that
Jewish bigotry and malignity, heather
prejudice and Roman power could
place in his path. Nothing could turn
him aside. He knew that he was call
ed to preach the glorious gospel of the
Son of God. Therefore he was willing
to go anywhere, suffer anything. I'M
dertake any task, overcome any bar
rier. The love of Christ constraineth
me-" he cried; and, as always, the
whole world moved aside to make way
for the man with a mission, and mobs
and magistrates and governments. be-
came servants of his consuming pur-
pose.
A Man With Brains.
The tersest recipe for success ever
1 have seen, and the best is. BE born
with brains and use them There is a
tendency to overlook natural ability in
| Christian work. God gives man tall
ent, and by that gift declares that He
expects from him exceptional service.
His best WOrkmen have possessed large
native equipment. Paul was a brainy
man: so brainy that tens of thousands
of the worlds best scholars since have
burned the midnight oil in trying to
follow the reasoning and the reach Of
his words. The architects of the beau
tiful library of congress made no mis-
take in placing a statue of this phiios-
opher missionary among the wise men
whose likenesses look down upon the
7 readers gathered in the library. He
was a match for the Athenian philos.
Ophers, as we have seen, and his epiS-
ties are among the few immortal lit
erary possessions of the race Early
in life he misuSed his talents, but he
atoned for this later. Not everyone
can have Pauls brains, but everyone
may have Pauls zeal in employing his
powers to the full. There are too many
embryo LincOlns for the country's
good, kicking their heels against the
sides of boxes and kegs in corner
stores.
A Man of the People.
Nothing tests mans real great
ness more than the way he acts toward
| his fellow men. Maj. Pond tells of his
own and his fathers disillusionment
when first they met Charles Sumner,
who was one of their idols. 1t was in
| a railway train, and the elder Pond
went up to his hero with some greeting
of respect and admiration. Instead of
| acknowledging it, Sumner called the
| car porter and asked if he might not
| be kept from the annoyance of such
Interruptions! He it was who said he
chad no time for indiVidu3lS and in