Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-04-15
The international Sunday School Les
son for April 10 is "The Conversion
of SAUL" Acts 9: 100.
A MAN MADE OVER.
BY WILLIAM t. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
A few weeks ago met on a west
bound train young Philadelphia ply
stefan of an old family and embodying
in himself the best traditions of cul-
ture, who was enroute to China to
serve as q medical missionary of the
University of Pennsylvania. He answer
ed the old criticism that only second
rate men are missionaries. The man
most suitable for the service of the
Kingdom of Heaven is the one posses
sing the most force, brains and edu-
cation.
That Is why the present notable les
son is familiar bit of Christian his
tory-it relates the extraordinary man
ner in which the assistant, the scholar
and the cosmopolite, Saul Of Tarsus,
became a soldier of Jesus Christ,
against whom he had been fighting. 1t
is a great day for two worlds when
powerful personality goes all the way
into the service of God. This event
on the highroad to Damascus is the
most important item of Christian his
tory after the resurrection of Christ.
Next to Jesus himself, this transform
ed prosecutor, Saul, has been the
mightiest figure in Christian history.
Making Ready for Big Work.
All the conditions that contribute to
the making of e forceful manhood are
aids to Christian character and serv-
ice. That is why the gentlemen-scholar
athlete, Dr. Grenfell, is so extraordi-
nary missionary. The peculiar train
ing of Saul, designed to make him a
singularly efficient man of the world
or Jewish theologian, admirably fit
ted him for his unique position in the
early, church.
No experience is ever wasted. This
brilliant young man had been brought
up in Tarsus, one of the three seats of
| learning Of his time, although his
scholastic education was acquired in
Jerusalem under the great Gamaliel.
He was a city man, used to the best
| society, the son of wealthy father
! and an inheritor of the later's Roman
citizenship. He had acquired a touch
of the Greek culture, but yet he had
| not lost his Jewish adherence of idol
airy, as he had seen it at Tarsus, a
| center of Baal worship. His native
city was famous for it's cloth, and
SAUL like all well-trained Hebrew boys
whatever their wealth, learned the
trade of tent-making, which later
stood him in good stead. So notable
were the abilities of this jealous young
student-whose age was about the
same as that of the Nazarene with
whom his life was to be identified
that he was early made a member of
the Sandhedrin, the highest official
body in Jewry.
Linked Up to Martyr.
Back of every life and work lie
other lives and works. All talk of
"self-made men" Is aside from the
mark, for no man makes himself: he
is the product and expression of other
lives than his own. Saul was linked
up to Stephen, the first martyr. Prob
ably his career as prosecutor, Off
cially commissioned to harry the
| Christians wherever he could find
them, dates back to that event. 1t
was at this scene that he first ap
peared to the historians eye: not
throwing stones, of course, for he was
a gentleman, and that was work for
the rabble, but standing to one side
lending countenance to the crime, and
4
mob His responsibility as a leader
and adviser was greater than that OF
any mere hurler Of deadly missiles
We are still very prone to blame mobs
for crimes, forgetting the responsible
ity of the men who have created the
conditions and impulses leading to the
crimes. Nevertheless, the same quail
ties of initiative and daring and fear
lessness which made Saul CHIEF
among the foes of Jesus, added value
to his discipleship when the later de
veloped his trained mind and sensitive
spirit to the service of Christ.
AS DR.. Martha Tarbell says, in hel
capital summary OF the character o.
Paul: "He was a born leader of men
His originality of thought made hin
a philosopher, his spiritual insight
made him theologian. New condi
tons and difficulties presented them
selves wherever he went, but he was
equal to any emergency, and whether
talking to few women by the river
side at Philippi, or to many philoso
piers on the Areopagus at Athens, he
could do all things through Him who
strengthened him. And yet this intel
lectual giant-organizer and admins
traitor, orator and theologian, prophet
and seer-was intensely human, ant
it is perhaps his humanness that has
endeared him most to countless null
titudes Of Christians. He had grea
visions and inspirations, but he LIVED
on human levels. We see him not
saint, but man, with human weak
nesses impulsive. unyielding at times
of quick and vehement temper, ant
we see this man in many ordinary sit
uations pressed on every side, yet no
Strengthened; preplexed, yet not untt
despair; pursued, yet not forsaken
smitten down, yet not destroyed. HI
represents human nature at it's best
the nature coward which all ma,
strive, for he could well say to the
Corinthians, Be we imitators of m,
even as am of Christ"
A Young Mans Career.
Much of the evil that troubles tn,
world is merely misdirected energy
This cannot be altered by prohibit