Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-02
FRI NpSHIPS.
,fhe international Sunday School Les
son for September is "PauPs
Third Missionary journey
FareweIls. Acts 20: 2-38.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

Heart ties are strongest The "Old
Home Week. which is coming SO
widely into vogue, gathers within it's
influence the busiest men of the time,
who find it possible to lay aside null
titudes of engrossing cares in order
to renew the sentimental associations
of the fundamental, personal, human
relationships. There is no more ap-
pealing touch in the story Of the trav-
els of the great apostle Paul than the
narrative of how, when ending his
third missionary trip, he could not re-
sist the opportunity to meet again
with his friends at Ephesus and to
bid them farewell. The episode Is
quite like what may be seen by a
traveller upon almost any through
train, for occasionally, at certain sta
fions, friends and kindreds will come
10 greet travellers, if only for few
minutes. Like a glimpse of the old
home through a train window was
Paul's touch with Ephesus as he in.
terrupted his journey at Miletus.
Despite his cosmopolitanism and
Craftsmanship and philosophy and
vast administrative cares. this man
Paul had time and aptitude for max
ing friends He was more than a lead
er and worker; he was comrade and
counsellor. A flood of light is thrown
upon his character by the fact that
when he started back to Jerusalem on
this third missionary journey he was
accompanied as far as Asia by seven
friends At Miletus the leaders of the
Ephesus church came down to greet
him. The occasion was not merely a
formal recognition of the passing by
of the foremost ecclesiastical official
of the Christian community. 1t WAS
Paul, the fatherly friend, who drew
them.
The Personal Ties.
A boy would rather go to circus
than see a friend: his grandfather
would rather meet with an old friend
than see al the circuses that ever
came to town. AS we grow older the
personal ties become more precious.
Youth is interested in things; age is
interested people. In early life we
do not perceive the supreme value of
the associations that we form and of
the friends that we make. This is a
lesson that is taught only by time. A
wise old man knows that friend is
khe best fortune. All the wonders of
The great cities through which he tray
eled meant less to Paul than the
glimpse OF a familiar face and the
Sound of loved voice.
One of the by-products of service is
fellowship. The person who goes into
Christian work does not reckon with
this factor at first, but as the years
pass he finds that in the community
OF a common labor for common Lord
he has been drawn close to company
of kindred spirits who, he discovers,
are his best friends. Thus he grad
ually perceives the profound truth that
one of the greatest rewards of Chris
tian service is Christian fellowship.
Not only has he been a laborer to-
gether with God, but he has also learn.
ed the privilege and delight of being
laborer together with Gods other
fellow-workers
Dean Bosworth, of Oberlin college,
has said that there are four things
which bind men most closely together:
the first is common hope the second
is common work, the third is deliv-
erance from a common peril, and the
fourth is loyalty to common friend.
On this quadrilateral Christians find
themselves united in community of
interest that constitutes the strongest
bond in the world. The great combi-
nation of politics and Of business and
self-exploitatlon all have in them the
elements of disintegration; but the
tie that binds Christians together
grows stronger with the passage of
years. In our own day there is dis
cernibie tendency to stress the sa-
credness and value of the Christian
fellowship. The various brotherhoods
In the churches are asking themselves
the question: Why should not our
Christian fellowship mean more to us,
In all practical ways than the Fellow
ship in secret or fraternal organiza.
ton. or than any of those accidental
ties of propinauity, politics, or bust
ness? When the sense of her unity
once possesses the Christian church
she will move with irresistible impact
upon those social evils which thus fal
have presented an almost mistaken
front to the world.
The Korean Escort.
The Oriental custom. which is mar