The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-30

oner: The Voyage" Acts 27:1-26.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
Everybody faces trouble some time
It may be only a little troupe, Du. II
Il seems big, the problem is the same
The stronger the person the greater
and more numerous his troubles. Out
ward serenity of life, and freedom
from soul-turmoil, are goals Wnlch all
who would live nobly must resign.
The tempests of truth are better than
the ease of error. Whoever follows
the knightly Christ must share the
turmoil and tumult of which ne was
and is, the centre. An exciting exper-
fence of the apostle, Paul prlngs the
Sunday schools face to face with the
question of how to behave in trouble.
A man is bigger than mountain;
q soul Is greater than storm. AS we
read this dramatic narrative OF Faul
experience in a fierce northeaster, we
note that it is he, and not the ripping
roaring. resistless winds; or the
whelming waves, that commands our
attention. The mariner is of more in
terest than the tempest. The strug-
giles of human spirit are more ab-
eorbing than all the fury of the ele-
ments' This great Mediterranean
hurricane seems to have as its center
the mild-mannered little Jew, with
eyes like Goals of fire, who had like
wise been the center of many stormy
human scenes.
May a Man Turn Sour?
1t is not the troubles that come to
US that count, but the way we meet
them. For the first office of tribula-
ton is to serve as trials-testings-
character. Into the human junk heap
of useless tools must go the man who
whimpers and lies down at the first
approach of hardship, wailing contin-
ually thereafter his grievance into the
ears of all who can be made to hear
1t. There is no more sensible test or
Paul's real size than the fact that he
never whined or complained about his
troubles. He had enough, surely; but
he did not turn sour. He kept his
faith in men, and in God. The victim
OF piled-up inJustices, he remained
throughout Suave and smiling gen
tleI1an. He was GOOD company even
for his jailers. Note h1w cordial is
his relationship with Captain julius,
on this eventful voyage. incidentally,
It secured for Paul the special consid
Grafton which diGnified courtesy usual
ly wins.
The actual events of the voyage are
best told in the words of Luke. After
his address before FestIs and Agrip-
pa. Paul was sent towards Rome, at
tho first opportunity. One ship car
ried the prisoner an| his military es-
cert over familiar seas, from Caesarea
to port in Asia Minor called Myra.
hCJG LlGy To WHAT was
then esteemed a large ship a grain
vessel from Egypt, bourd for Rome.
In This they made slow journey
against head winds until they reached
the Island of Crete, which newspaper
readers recognize as the present. scene
OF international compile stions. They
worked their way gradually around
the island to the port of Fair Ravens
This was poor harbor, and the ships
captain did not want to winter there,
although Paul warned him that to
leave would be destruction; so in the
face OF dangerous storms, as October
is the month Of the terrible north
casters. the ship tried to make
Phoenix, another port on the same is
land of Crete. IN order to lie up for
the winter This effort failed, and TIE
throwing over of the cargo, casting
with great ropes, all failed TO avert
shipwreck.
All Winds Are Good Winds.
whichever way the wind doth blow
Some heart is glad to have it so.
Then blow it east or blow it west.
Whatever wind doth blow is best"
Paul was not of those who find fault
with the weather; he recognized 1t as
Gods weather, on the same errand and
serving the same Master as himself It
Is comforting assurance that the "Rul-
er of wind and wave" uses both men and
the natural elements to work out his
purposes. The very heart of faith is to
believe that whatever God sends Is good.
His Winds never thwart his will. He had
decreed that his minister Paul should
go to Rome; to accomplish that end he
would, II necessary, unleash all the
winds that he holds in his fist. Well
could Paul be at peace, for he knew that
ehere was not water enough in the rest
less Middle Sea to drown the man whom
the Lord needed at Rome.
Few experiences call for mora faith
than storm at sea. The landsman can
not understand the seeming omuipotence
or the waters. and the utter helplessness
of mortal power, in a great tempest I
nave sailed this same tempestuous Med
1terranean, in a vessel not much larger
than Paurs; and I have been nigh to
death in a still Trailer craft in the
treacherous Yellow Sea. and / can test
3fy that the might of man is impotence
when the sea lifts up it's head.
Jesus slept in storm at sea; and the
same untroubled heart seems to have
been in PauPs breast. The contrast be-
tween his course and that of Jonah in
these same waters Is worth recalling
the wind blew. Faith is not faith which
disappears when trouble draws near.
Some persons think they have reason to
rebel against God whenever his mysteri-
GUS providences touch them, as in the
death of a loved one. Genuine faith,
=
me. yet will I trust him.
Too Much Cargo.
Caught by the sailors old enemy, the
Northeaster (Which the translators con-
ceal under the Greek name "Eurocly-
dom or "Euroquilo') the vessel was al
lowed to drive. Undergirding the ship
with cables, to strengthen the imperiled
hull, while under the lee of a little
island, they took in sail, and cast off
once more, to escape the treacherous
sands of Syrtis. Now it became neces-
saTy to begin to throw overheard the
needless furniture of the ship-using dis
elimination at first. but afterward Civ
ing to the waves what they had at first
thought necessary to keep. Even the
cargo had to go by the board, in this
blind driving over sunless, starless
sea, with, of course. no mariners COM
pass to direct the helm.
The lesson is one for life as we'll as for
seamanship. Many human craft are in
peril in today's stress because they are