Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-30
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

sst tose lAelr nsads In crowd. Inc
Witlessness of mobs is as apparent as
their lawlessness. 1t is seldom in
deed that mob does righteously.
The old proverb writer shrewdly dag
nosed human nature when he babe
the reader to follow a multitude TO
do evil" Multitudes are prone TO
evil. The mob is unsafe because 1t
lacks balance, self-restraint and judg-
ment. The cry upon which the Apos.
tie Paul was mobbed as he went up
to Jerusalem temple, after his three
missionary journeys. was actually a
mistaken one. But then 1t is not I'M
common in this western world for the
wrong men to be lynched. Paul was
accused OF profaning the temple.
whereas he had really done no such
thing.
The worst foe of Justice and civili-
cation is the mob spirit, 1t is return
to unrestrained barbarism. A current
magazine article points out Britain's
great glory by contrasting legal pro
cedure on the two sides of the Cana
dian border. Wherever British law
runs, there goes respect for orderly
legal processes Private vendetta
So important to our times is this truth
OF the sanctity OF the law that it needs
to be taught in Sunday schools as Of
more worth than many pious remarks
| that suggest themselves in connection
with this lesson. If the next genera
ton is to rise above the lawlessness
which has characterized the present
one, they must learn how and why in
the Sunday schools and public schools
of today
Rome to the Rescue.
Paul was in the hands of a mob
bent on killing him We can almost
hear the tumult of that turbaned rab-
BILE. The roar which is the voice CT
all mobs in action so that whoever has
heard it once can never mistake it
again. rose above the city's normal
sounds. Occasionally there was the
shrill shrek of some high-voiced and
excited man. Frenzied individuals
capered as in delirinm about the edges
OF the crowd. Men pulled one another
away in order to get a chance al the
helpless prisoner. The latter, quickly
borne TO the ground, was jumped on
and kicked and beaten in a fury Of
wild unreasoE. Judgment, dignity
and manliness had been thrown to- the
winds.
| Suddenly into the midst of this wild
scene came on the double quick the
Roman guard. Rome stood for law.
Her soldiers were the embodiment Of
iorderly procedure. Before them the
/ frenzied Jews scattered The sun
posed criminal. although half dead,
En-,
| surely. reasoned his rescuers, he must
| he some monstrous one, 50 to excite
the city. The commander of the sol
oilers attempted an Investigation ON
| the snot. but mob cannot give rea-
son for its existence. So TO the bar
racks he proceeded with his prisoner.
When Knowledge Counts.
| Here Paui's cultivation as a man
of the world came TO his help. What
ever extra accomplishment person
may acquire. be it the finger speech
of the deaf and dumb. bit of Fren I'll
| or of pidgin English. or knowledge OF
how TO make a bed or campfire II
I to shoot a gun or to tie a knot. comes
| in with opportunc usefulness on some
occasion No knowledge is ever lost
The cultivated man has this advan
tage over the ignorant, that he is
armed at so many more points witt
skill and knowledge
When his prisoner. after wiping tbs
blood from his lips, quietly spoke il
polished Greek the colonel stood
amazed This was the speech of 4:
man Of breeding, spoken as by one
who was used to the way Of best so
ciety. Thus it came about that cos
mopoitan Paul was given an oppoy
tunity to address the multitude-~hicl
meant more to him than all the inci
dents of the preceding riots. He Wa
willing 70 be mobbed IL thereby ii
might have opportunity to preach.
A Speech to Mob.
Dignifed. despite his hedraggle'
raiment and his bleeding face. Pan
stood on the stairwaY and confronte,
the multitude that had so lately sough
his life A moment before he ha,
spoken to the Roman soldier in Greek
q Now he talks in the tongue of tn
i temple, and the fact that he spok
4 Hebrew gave him q hearing VIVA
would you say in ike case? WouI
it not be natural that Paul should at
y tempt to justify himself or to prov
MS own lltiOCeuCe. he dlQ Hotlllil
of the sort. Instead he told his ow,
/ story. for personal experience is tn
! supremely interesting utterance c
4 everybody. 1t is a common savin
h that every mans experience woul
4 make at least one book. Nothing
of such absorbing interest as real lif.
a Paul spoke with worldly wisdom whe
he began to tell his own life stor,
q Moreover, no man can ever preac
4 above his own experience. He ma
try to, but the only utterance whic
will find Judgment in his hearer
hearts will be that which has com
out of his own life.
a So the dramatic biography of til
A great apostle poured forth torrentiall
q from his eloquent lips. The multitud
n heard him in silence until he came I
a the point where he declared that Jesu
N had appointed him as an ambassadC
n to the Gentiles. Then religious pref
Il dice famed forth afresh There is II
81 reason in bigotry. When their secta
81 ian zeal was effected the Jews woul
q hear no more of Paul's message. Il
q stead, they drowned his voice in til