The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-26


Barnabas took we may follow by rail
to the city of Jerusalem The first
man in after Turkeys gates arc open
will write a story that viii have the
ears of the whole world.
It was not by rail, but aboard pa
tent donkeys, or else afoot, that Paul
and Barnabas made their way down
through Phoenicia and iSamaria,
preaching as they went. Catch that
point The great missionaries had
not been diverted from their main
work by the church controversy.
When doctrina1 or administrative dis
agreements hinder the work of the
Church, then God may pity u.s. The
denomination that turns aside from its
first work in order to debate and dis
scuss. has been sorely misled. Paul
and Barnabas were first of all and last
OF all preachers, and only incidentally
controversalists. A good plumbline to
apply to every man who thinks him.
self a contender for the faith is this:
Is he to be found in the forefront of
evangelism, and in the rescue missions,
and in the teaching work of the
Church
The men from Antioch were well
coined by the Church at Jerusalem.
The differences of opinion did not dis
turb their cordial relationships. And
those Jerusalem Christians were more
eager to hear of the Gospels triumphs
in Syria and in Asia Minor than they
were to talk about the controversy
that had brought Paul and Barnabas
to Jerusalem.
The Great Debate.
talked the other day with man
who had heard the famous Lincoln
that this privilege had been with him
a lifetime pride. Wise persons go far
to attend the great debates in con-
gress and parliament and ecclesias-
teal assemblies. 1t is pathetic when
these lofty discussions are marred by
petty partisanship and strife for polit-
ical advantage. I have heard strong
men struggling over great principles
at church meetings, and 1 thank God
that there are still mighty men TO
contend for the truth as they see it.
The last mention in the Inspired
History that we have of Peter occurs
in this discussion at the first Church
Council, when he stood up as the
champion of Christian liberty. Three
points he made. The first was that
the Spirit had borne witness to the
validity of the Gentle converts. This
was the argument that had prevailed
when he himself was answering to the
Church for his experience with the
house of Cornelius.
The second point was that the yoke
which Judaism was trying to lay on
the neck of the new Christians was
one which even their fathers had not
been able to bear. AS the golden
| text says, For freedom did Christ set
US free
Then the third point, and the climax
| I of Peters argument, was that the
cross of Christ alone is sufficient for
salvation. 1t is not rites, nor ordi-
nances, but Christ Himself who saves
| the believer.
The Law of Liberty.
In most meetings there is some
one man who makes the motion that
shows the way out James, the Lords
brother, was that sort of hard headed
practical man, as his epistle shows
He suggested the procedure which
was adopted; a letter of greeting to
the new Christians setting forth the
mind of the Church at Jerusalem. He
put the conviction of the whole
church, apostles, elders and laity, into
written form, freeing the Gentle
| Christians from the yoke of bondage
They were enjoined to abstain from
al connection with idolatrys and to
| span the immortality Of heathendom
and they were also bidden to abstain
from meat that had not been properly
killed To Jus this last point seems
Fbut a confusion of the lesser with the
greater, but We can understand how
it bulked large in the thinking of these
tJewish Christians, to whom the Levitt
zeal law was part of their daily life.
| Thus was issued the Magma Charta
of Christian liberty. Christianity is
not an enlarged Judaism it is a new
! life and a new liberty, applicable to
every nation and condition The
| Gospel is not a code, but a confes-
sion; not program, but a principle;
not laws, but a Life.