The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-05-08

guis Paulus. Embracing on a snip
Paul and his company" sailed in a
northwest direction, and landed In
the Roman Province of Pamphylia, in
Asia Minor, at place called Perga,
T.. Cestus river. The only thing thar
some seven miles above the mouth oi
occurred at Perga of which any record
is made, is that John Mark departed
from them, and returned to his home
at Jerusalem. Many reasons have
been suggested explaining this turning
T. leave the matter unexplained, u
pack, but as the Holy Spirit say fl
need not worry us. AS the sequel
shows, it greatly lowered Mark in the
r. lmation of the Apostle Paul. ~
had no thought when he decided 10
turn back that his action would stand
against him as long rs time shall last
Let US get the lesson that our own
acts, trivial though they may seem 10
be, and unrecorded, so far as men
write history, are no less enduring IN
influence and 10 less indicative ol
chacter than his.
The stay at Perga seems to have
been very brief; though some have
thought it long enough for Paul 10
have had a spell of malarial fever,
which induced him to seek & more
lsalubrious atmosphere, in a higher alti-
ltude. Crossing the Waurus mountains
they reached Antioch in Pisidia, about
one hundred miles north Of Perga. It
must be remembered thtat here were
sixteen cities named Antioch, In the
regions once governed by Antiochus
the Great, just as we have thirty Jr
forty Washingtons in the United
States)
Arrived at Antioch, the missionaries
went into the Jewish synagogue on
the Sabbath day to take part in the
worship. Then as now, there were
Jews in every city of Importance in
the lands bordering on the Great Sea.
They held themselves aloof from 9TH
ers, and seemed to have been always
to provide themselves with a house of
worship, which the Roman law allowed
them to maintain. After the scripture
reading, the visitors were courteously
asked to deliver any message they
had. Paul at once arose, and we have
his first recorded sermon. 1t was
largely historical, but with memorable
: logic, he led his hearers to Jesus
Christ as the Messiah, the Saviour of
sinners. Remission of sins was pos
= sible only through him, and justifica-
ton, which. the law could not give,
was freely offered to all who would
accept it. Then with solemn warn
ing against Indifference, he closes the
discourse.
1t was not barren of results for we
read that after the congregation had
requested the message be repeated on
the next Sabbath day, that both Jews
and proselytes followed Paul and Bar
nabas, and were urged by them to
continue in the grace OF God
The next Sabbath was memorable
day in Antioch of Pisidia. Nearly the
whole city turned out to hear the
= new preachers. 1t looked like the
I whole population were coming to
Christ at once. But when the Jews
who despised the Gentiles because
they would not accept the word ci
GOO. saw multtudes Of them coming
to hear it they We're filled with jeal
ousy. ana contradicted the things thai
| were spoken by Paul and biashemed. >
| Alas! that even today. devout me-
and women will sometimes throw
hinderance in the way of a successful
| meeting of another denomination.
Then Paul and Barnabas spake OIL
and said, it was necessary that tn,
word of God should be first spoken T.
! you. Seeing We thrust it from YOU
10 We turn to the Gentiles For s
hath the Lord commanded us" Wha
solemn indictment, what a momer
tous decision And upon what groun
| was the indictment based? Would t
- God that every ungenerate man an
- woman in all this land could haV
this truth burned into the heart, thG
every time you slight the offere
mercy of Christ, you Judge yourselv'
unworthy of eternal life"
A prophecy from Isaiah was quoted
support of their action. which, wh'
the Gentiles heard, they were gil
and glorified the word of Cod al
as many as were ordained to etern
life believed. And the word of G
was spread abroad throughout all t
region"
We are not told how long this sta