Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-11-18
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON AND
YOUNG PEOPLES MEETINGS
News of Interest to Church Goers By a
Writer Who is An Authority on Religious
Subjects. The International Lesson for
Next Sunday.

such adventures as Pauls, but he will
also find mans life and work.
Paul was forever in trouble. Like
most knight-errants of truth, he found
temDestuous career. But he escaped
multitude of petty and soul-dwarfing
worries. There was a joy in the tu-
multi which was better worth achiev-
ing than the serenity of becalmed
existence. The peace which dwells in
the heart of the storm is most COM
plete and precious
Even the great anxiety which came
upon Paul daily, care for all the
churches, was royal souls perquisite.
He had the world for his parish He
cared more for the kingdom than for
any congregation or denomination ~
though he was forever busy in some
one local field. He had what William
Penn called "a public mind" When a
mans anxieties are for his country
for the world, or for the kingdom Of
heaven. he has entered into the secret
of Christ Vain has been this course
of lessons if it has not helped some
persons to love the larger interests of
God. The broadened life is the days
need. All children should be taught to
study world maps. The Student Vol
unteer Convention in Rochester few
weeks hence, will do more for the few
thousand college students who will at
tend than any single course in their
regular studies: for it will give them
an imperial vision of the world and of
their life-work.
Transporting Experiences.
Some moments are worth more than
a whole lifetime. There are transport
ing experiences in the memory of all
| persons who have greatly lived which
bulk larger than all the rest of ex-
istence. Pity the poverty-stricken
which has none of these treasured
spirit when all else has become dull
and monotonous and scarcely worth
while. These glimpses Of heaven, as
they may truly be called, reveal the
potentialities and possibilities of the
human soul; glimpses, as it were, into
that life where all limitations of earth
are removed.
Everybody has his own conception
Of the third heaven. To one it Is the
hour when he first knew the bliss of re-
ciprocated love. To another, the hal
| lowed moment when he heard the call
to high and holy service. To another
the moment when he accepted the
offer of Jesus Christ and became his
pledged servant. To a mother it is the
moment when she held her first-born in
her arms. Concerning all these deep
ed, inner experiences it is not easy for
| fine spirits to speak. The heart hides
deepest what it holds dearest. So
Paurs allusion to this great exaltation
is vague, though ecstatic.
| Great experiences like this overtop
all the years of the calendar. They
constitute true riches. Here is an old
man wearing the Confederate gray,
and here another in Federal blue; yet
the Civil War was ended a generation
ago. True, but that epochal experience
still lives as the supreme and over
mastering event in the lives of all who
participated in it; even as Paul's en-
raptured and ineffable glimpse of par
adise tinged with roseate glow all his
subsequent career.
| Taking Pleasure in Pain.
The spirit Is tethered by short
rope to the body. We cannot abide in
the third heaven: we at least must
come down for meals! Raptures are
not continuous, but occasional. Paul
was given thorn in the flesh" to
keep him close to the earth and it's
needs and sufferings What this was
whether sore eyes, or malaria, or
what else-we know not; nor does it
matter If we knew the exact nature
of Pauls affliction we might consider
that particular form of suffering of
value above others.
Enough to know that the suffering
was sent by Satan, and that God per-
mitted and used it. 1t kept Paul hum
BILE, taught him lessons of unanswered
prayer, and helped his soul to grow.
Every adversely may minister to char
acter's highest welfare. Nothing is
too bad" that nurtures the spirit
life. Paul learned from his "thorn"
| that my strength is made perfect in
| Weakness 1t would have been seri-
Gus to have missed that lesson,
wouldn't it? Any "thorn in the flesh"
is a small price to pay for a compre-
hending fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Paul was great enough to see this;
and to rejoice in his suffering. Every
thing absolutely everything that
brings a man close to his Lord is a
reason for gladness.
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