The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1916-09-27
CRAWFORD CoUM EY . q II D A
3CAOOi ASSOCIATION

great Apostle Paul. The one Of toda!
will be Of much attraction to the Chill
dren, who delight in action, rather thai
in matters of instruction In morals
For the benefit Of any who may hav'
forgotten as to the events immed1atel!
leading up to the lesson of today w
will recall them briefly.
Paul after his conversion became I
most remarkable missionary for thu
cause Of Jesus, his new found Lord
He spent many years in going IRON
place to place in Asia Minor and cities
bordering on the Mediterranean sea
In course of time he returned to Jeruss
lem. having with him money for pool
Jews contributed by the christians o.
the churches founded by him; Pau
went into the temple at Jerusalem and
was there going through the usual re
ligious. ceremonies when his presence
was discovered by Jews coming from
places where he had been preaching
These Jews raised an Outcry and Pau
was dragged out of the temple, and was
only rescued from death by the arriv
al of Roman soldiers from the garri
son. .,..r
Paul made an address to the Jews
from the steps of the castle, recount
ing as to his life conversion, and his
call to preach the gospel of Jesus. His
hearers heard until he told of his mis-
sion to the Gentiles and then raised an
outcry of rage. It developing that
Paul was Roman he was well treated
in the castle. He had done nothing to
put him in prison in the eye Of the Ro
man law, and the Roman commander
was anxious to find out just why his
g, prisoner was so hated by the Jews. Ac
cordingly it was arranged that the
high court of the Jews called the San
hedrin should set as a court of trial
and Paul was taken there by Roman
soldiers. :.
Paul had faced all kinds Of people
before, in fact in the old days was q
member of the court which was to now
try him. He spoke for himself, begin
ming with the statement that he had
lived in all good conscience before God
until that day This enraged the chair
man OF theSE councfise caiied the Nigh
Priest, and contrary to Jewish law he
commanded that those standing near
Paul "smite him ON the mouth" Paul
knowing his rights turned on the Of.
Tending one saying God shall smite
thee, thou whlted wall, for sittest thou
to Judge me after the law and com.
mandest me to be smitten contrary TO
the law" Paul was right and the re-
buke was well deserved. or course
this did not put the council in very
good mood to try the case patiently and
Justly. Paul saw this ,point and so
made his defense accordingly. He
knew all too we'll of the sharp division
of belief among his judges to the ex.
istence of future life, life after
death, and reasoned that when he de-
clared himself on one side or the 9th
er as to this. it would bring to his aid
friends as we'll as make enemies.
Paul before this Jewish council made
a bold stroke by declaring with loud
voice, II am a Pharisee, the son Of a
Pharisee, of the hope of the resurrec-
ton Of the dead am called in ques-
ton Those of the council of like
faith at once came to his aid, declaring
they found no evil in him, while the
Sadducees who did not believe in a
resurrection, or angels or spirit, were
wild with rage. The council was thus
in great uproar and the Roman officer
seeing there was nothing to be gained
by the prisoner being longer there or.
dered the soldiers to bring him again
to the castle.
The nemies OF Paul were now en-.
ragged to the utmost. Some forty were
so intent on his death that they entered
into an agreement not to eat or drink
until they had killed him. They made
a plot to ask the Roman captain to
again take Paul before the Jewish
council and then overcome the guard
and kill the prisoner. Foolish men to
think of defying the Roman govern.
. ment, but the plan only shows how In.
sanely they hated Paul for turning
from the Jewish faith. g..
The record Of events now on is most
exciting and interesting. A boy now
comes forward as the center of inter.
est. He was a nephew of Paul. To his
ear came the plan to kill his uncle. and
he made haste to tell him about 1t.
Paul asked soldier to take the lad to
the chief captain, saying that the boy
had something to tell. The captain,
easy OF approach. took the boy "by the
hand" and going aside heard the news
of the plot to kill his prisoner. Ro-
to act. The center of the Roman gov.
eminent in Palestine then was a
.Caesarea, and the governor was Felix.
The officer at Jerusalem decided to
transfer his prisoner that very night
to Caesera, and let Felix preside at q
trial. So soldiers were detailed to so
take Paul away that night and this was
done. A letter was sent saying that
Paul had done nothing in the eye Of
the Roman law but the Jews seemed
to have serious charge. and they had
, been, directed to follow to Caesera and
present their grievances. So the plot
to kill was exposed and Paul was safe
again. s
Paul was like other men as to what
the future had in store for him, OF
course he felt that lie was doing Gods
work, and cared not what the conse-
auences might be. While in prison at
Jerusalem, however, he was strength
ened by vision in which it seemed as
If the Lord we're near him and said BE
of good cheer, for thou hast testified
of Me In Jerusalem, 50 must thou bear