Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-10-21
THE APPEAL TO CAESAR.
The international Sunday School Les
son for October "a Ia "pauI Pris-
oner Before Festus and Agrippa."
Acts rs: 6-26: 80.
(By William 7. Ellis.)

(By William I. Ellis.)
man regnant in manhood though
chained to a jailer, and standing for
his highest rights in the face of kings
that is the spectacle which some
twenty-five million Sunday school
members are called upon to consider
this week. The adventurous hero,
Paul, whose stirring career has been
the theme of study for weeks, Is once
more brought forth from his Caesarea
prison in order to appear before anoth-
er ruler; and upon this occasion lie
delivers one of his most celebrated or
atoms The incident links itself very
closely to the life of today.
Governor Felix, the CRATER, had lett
Paul in prison. as a sop to the eccle-
siastical party in Jerusalem. He was
the sort of public man who could not
do direct, disinterested deed; his
very nature had become such that ne
could not help playing politics. An
other trucking politician, Festus, was
sent to represent Rome in the control
of this turbulent Jewish province. He
went early to Jerusalem to make
himself solid" with the leaders of the
Pharisees there, who promptly tried
to prevail on him to send his noted
prisoner down to Jerusalem for trial
meaning all the while to carry out the
long-deferred plot of assasslnatlng
Paul en- route. The malignant enmlty
of the Jews toward the apostate mern-
Der of their high court seemed to nave
no bounds Yet it never turned Paul
against his nation; Walpole's cynical
remark, 81 should love my countrymen
| if it were not for my countrymen, mas
no parallel in his utterance. His mug
unanimous spirit is typified by the
| words, "My hearts desire and prayer
| to God for Israel is that they might
| be saved" Such sentiments as this
give us the true measurement of this
giant in chains.
81 Appeal to the Emperor"
| The humblest Roman citizen could
appeal from the decision of any judge
to the emperor himself When the sy-
cophantic Festus suggested, to carry
favor with the Jews, that Paul con-
sent to the improper procedure OF
/ standing trial In Jerusalem, the great
saint blazed forth in words of manli-
ness that thrill the reader
mo, | am standing at the emperor's
lar, the place where l ought to be
Z ed. I have not wronged the Jews,
as YOU yourself can see clearly enough.
| If, however, l have done wrong, and
have committed any offense deserving
death, do not ask to escape it; but
lif there is nothing in the accusations
of these people, no one has power to
| give me up to them. l appeal to the
emperor"
The die was cast; all the machina-
! tions of enemies were thwarted; to
Rome Paul must now go, conveyed
over the safest route by all the power
of Caesar. What strange way to full
fill his eager expectation to meet with
| the Christians at Rome! Some per
sons, with more of the protoplasm n
their composition than is proper for
man in this stage of hic development
cannot understand why mel should be
stood up for their rights. The. Goa
ception of rights are of things to be
surrendered They seem to believe
| that the place for Christians is under
foot. Paul knew better. He saw clear.
lily that there are times when to stand
for rights is to stand for God. Truth
and Justice must be defended at every
cost: man is man In COOLEST guise
when he is championing truth In the
face Of leagued wrong.
A Trial as Function.
Court rooms crowded with men ano
women, representative of wealth anc
leisure are no new spectacle. WheT
King Herod Agrippa II came to con
graduate the new governor of Judei
fresh trial of Paul was held for his
| i,,ta
ant with social lustre. In the center
of the sumptuous court room-the
very one in which his rotten father
had fallen dead while being acclaimed
eod-the incestuous Agrippa ant
beautiful. absolute sister-wife were
seated upon royal thrones. Cleaning
cohorts Of Roman soldiers IN ful
dress uniform lined the walls. The
nobility of the whole region, both Ro
man and Jewish, crowded the magnlfi
cent hail. eager to be seen as cour
tiers and to see for themselves thu
fascinating. Infamous Bernice and he
I husband renegade Jews both), ant
, the famous prisoner, Paul, once
, member of the Sanhedrin, now tn
= chief apostle of the Christian Way. |
: was sumptuous setting for Paul
Y sermon; and he was Sldu W pFedc'
/ the gospel to any company of people
e though he had seldom confronte'
r more sodden sin than at this mos
. elaborate judicial-social function.
'There stands Massachusetts,!
r cried Daniel Webster, on memorial!
e occasion when called upon to defen
his state. "There stands my life!
n cried Paul in his defense. He was /
V the happy condition of man who ca
appeal to his past in justification TO
4 his present. He needed no other a
n gument than his own life story, an
that he told with an eloquence tha
9 held his hearers enrapt. He made
very plain, especially to Agrippa, tn
Jew, that it was not for any persona
:" misdemeanor he was on trial, but fc
n great hope, for the ideal of patric
i and of a prophet.
n A Vision and Its Servant.
There is a clinging charm and
n rare majesty which have made them
l. familiar quotation in literature, abol
:. : the words, 81 was not disobedient u