The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-21
International
Sunday School Lesson

For July 23 Is Paul at Corinth."-
Acts 17:1634-
A Good Man in Bad Place.
There has been many a laugh over
the idea of Billy Sundays going to
New York city. Gotham and godh-
ness seem contradictions in terms.
Evangelists shun San Francisco
Some preachers resent being sent by
their bishop to bad" towns They.
say they have no chance" there. All
of which may be Interestingly con-
sidered in the light of the fact that
| in wicked old Corinth, with repu-i
tation far worse than that OF New
York or San Francisco or Paris or
Cairo, the Apostle Paul spent year
and a half, and gathered together
great church, to which two OF the
most famous books in the New Testa-
ment were addressed. The sunday
school lessons of the next three weeks
will be taken from these letters.
| Obviously. the salt should go where
corruption threatens. Yeast belongs In
| the dough, and not on the shelf. Chris-
| tianity, according to its Founoer, Is
| for sinners, and not for saints II the
| Church has any mission at ALL sne
has a mission to the worst places AT
the very basis of this Corinthian lesson
lies the assumption that the Gospel
may not shrink from any task, now
| ever hard: and that the greater the
need the louder the call. The Church
| is not true to type if she does not go
up confidently against all the Corlntns
| of the twentieth century ana WIN them
| for her Master. Only students know
| nowadays what was common report
| two thousand years ago, that Corinth
stood for the very limit or leWoness
and vileness and all wickedness- TO-
day Corinth is associated, In the COM
mon mind, with Christianity. SUCH Is
the transformation wrought by one
| faithful missionary. The South Sea
Islands have had the same experience
| Once dreaded abodes of cann1 pansm'
today they are centers OF Cnrlstlan
| light and life. Whenever and wherever
| the Church has valiantly attacked the
citidels of evil, she has come OH VIC
torious The cross is mightier than
any Corinth.s
| Enter a Man and Wife.
| The Emperor Claudius had made
Rome too hot for the Jews, and they
had been scattered in exile. The ex-
perience seemed a bitter one. Among
| the victims of the edict of exile were
a high-minded tent-maker and his
wife, Aqui1a and Priscilla Tney
were driven from their established
work and their house in Rome, and
finally landed in Corinth. Fate
seemed cruel to them Still, wltn
the stout-hearted fortitude which
their prosecuted race has shown
in all ages, they took up life anew IN
|
Then. as now. workers at the same
craft formed a guild Aqu1ia ana
Priscilla belonged to the tent-makers
union. One day there came to them
another stranger bearing, as we
| should say now, a union card, a travel
ing tent-maker from TarSus, named
Paul They Hospitality welcomed him
to their home, the more that he was a
rabbi, learned in the Law of Moses,
Together the three of them tofled at
their trade, Paul the while talking on
the Nazareth Carpenter.
.aThis is the Gospel of Labor,
Ring it, ye bells of the kirk -
The Lord Of. love essSss
| Came down from above,
/ To dwell with the men who WORK
There is no fellowship like that of
a common task, a common cause
common Leader and common pur-
nose This insureS community of in
terests. Therefore farmers get to-
gether in oranges, financiers in clubs,
| workingmen in unions. 1t is diff
| cult for a stock-broker and carpen-
ter to think alike: they have not even
the same lingo. Therein lies the diff
Guilty of preserving the nation from
classism There must be some COM
mon. tie, some common allegiance,
u some common purpose, great enough
to. comprehend alksthese divisions and
to fuse them into oneness on the real
essentials of life. If man is a bank
er or brakeman before he is a pa
triot, then woe to the country.
One great obstacle to the success of
the Church, and one seldom dis
cussed in religious conferences, is the
fact that the average clergyman does
not speak the tent-maker's language
His speech is that of a class rather
than of the mass. The preacher is
trained as a bookman by bookmen
and if he brainy. book taught folk
enjoy him. AS for the great bulk OF
the people, who are toilers, he so lit
tie knows their life and language thai
he is not even aware of the gulf thai
separates him from them. Sincerely
and earnestly, he desires to be close t6
the workingman; but his years OF
apartness intervene.
The Personal Factor.
This casual contact, following exile
was the making of Aquila and Pris,
ella. 1t wrote their names among the
| inmortals. They became important
figures in New Testament history; for
of course, they were early converts OF
their workfellow, Paul, whose daily
life and skill gave full proof of his
religion. Destiny usually comes to US
in the form of personal relationships
Opportunity is ordinarily a man or g
woman. The friends we make make
us. Every fresh contact with a person
is a serious business. Had it not beer
Tor their association with Paul, AqEIIs
, and Priscilla would have gone into
oblivion with the other unknown Jews
. of Corinth.
!, The other side of the case is equal
ly significant. A cause grows by its
recruits. Just as it was great boul
for Christianity when Paul was con.
verified, SO it was, also a great houi
when Aquila and Priscilla accepted the
J cross. The hope and reward of ever.
| | teacher is that among the young live.
she shapes there may be a Paul, ar
Aquila, a Priscilla, a Moody, France.
Willard. The greatest growth possibh
to the church is by the addition Of
powerful and consecrated personal.
tiles.
Thu Tfr,,. t<, f.,,;t rSao-s.