The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-10-26
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
The International Sunday-SchooI Les
son for October 81 is Paul a Pris-
. oner: The Voyage Acts 27: 1-o6
By WILLIAM t. ELLIS.

il SENS big, the problem is the same
The stronge the person the greater
and more numerous his troubles. ONT
ward serenity Of life, and freedom
from SOu1-turmOil, are goals which 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 he was.
and is, the centre. An exciting expe-
rience of the apostle Paul brings the
Sunday-SchoolS face to face with the
question of how to behave in trou-
BILE.
A man is bigger than a mountain;
n soul is greater than a storm. AS
We read this dramatic narrative of
Paul'S experience in q fierce North
easter, we note that it is he, and not
the ripping, roaring, resistless winds;
or the whelming waves, that COM
mands our attention.. The mariner is
Of more interest than the tempest
The struggles of a human spirit are
more absorbing than all the fury of
the elements. This great Mediterra-
mean hurricane seems to have as its
centre the mild-mannered little Jew.
With Eyes like Goals of fire, who had
likeWis been the centre 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
the. For a first office of tribulation
is to serve as trials-testings-of char
acter. Into the human junk heap Of
useless tools must go the man who
Whimpers and lies down at the first
approach Of hardship, vailing con
tinually thereafter his grievances into
the ears Of all who can be made to
hear it. There is no more sensible
test of Pauls real size thar the fact
that he never whined or complained
about his troubles. He had enough,
suerly; but he did not turn sour. He
kept his faith in men, and in God.
The victim of piled-up injustices, he
remained throughout a and
ever for his jailers. Note
no. cordial is his relationship with
Captain julius, or his %eventful voy-
age. Incidentally, it secured for Paul
the special consideration which digni-
tied courtesy usually wins.
The actual vents of the Voyage are
best told in the words of Luke. At
ter his address before Festus and
Agrippa, Paul was sent towards
Rome, at the first opportunity. One
ship carried the prisoner and his mill
tary escort over familiar seas, from
Caesarea to a port in Asia Minor
called Myra. There they t~ranshipped
to what was Their esteemed a large
ship, a grain vessel from Egypt, bound
for Rome. IN this they made a slow
JoUII ItS ~ j 1ICdu NiiiNto III In
reached the Island of Crete, which
newspaper readers recognize as the
present scene aOf International COM
plications. They worked their way
gradually around the island co the
port of Fair Havens. This was a
poor harbor, and the ships captain
did not want to winter there, although
Paul warned him that to leave would
be distinctions; SO in the face of dam
gerous storms, as October is the
month of the terrible Northeasters,
the ship tried to make Phoenix, an
other uort on the same island of
Crete, in order to lie UP for the win
ter. This effort failed, and the throw
ing over of the cargo, casting out OF
anchors, and binding the hull with
great ropes, all failed to avert ship
wreck.
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 n find
fault with the weather: he recognized
it as Gods weather. on the same err
rand and serving the same Master as
himself. 1t is a comforting assur-
anCe that the Ruler OF wind ana
wave" uses bOth men II 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 this minister Paul should
go to Rome: to accomplish that END
he would, Unnecessary, unleash all the
winds that he holds in his fist. Well
could Paul be at peace, for he knew
that there was not water enough IN
the restless Middle Sea to drown the
man who the Lord needed at Rome.
Few experiences call for more faith
than a storm at sea. The landsman
cannot understand the SEEMING obnlpo-
tence Of the waters. and the utter
helplessness of mortal power, in a
great tempest. / have sailed tins
same temDestuou Mediterranean, IN
a vessel not much larger than PauIS