Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-22
PAUL OF TARSUS
IN TIGHT PLACE
Lesson Teaches How He Made
Himself Solid With His
Hearers
-{By William T. Ellis.)


The great adventurer and pioneer
Paul of Tarsus, was in a tight place.
The Roman garrison of Jerusalem
had rescued him from a mob that was
doing him to death. Thwarted for
the moment, the yelling rabble fol-
lowed him to the citadel. where he
secured permission from the captain
to address them. The present lesson
deals with the speecn and its conse-
quences.
This versatile scholar missionary
who spoke Latin and Greek and Ara
maic and Hebrew, faced a mob of
Hebrew zealots. So he addressed
them in the Hebrew tongue. He knew.
what some later preachers only i'm
perfectly understood, how to speak
to crowd in its own vernacular.
The bigness of the man is revealed
in his salutation, Brethren and ia
thers." That to the crowd that sought
his life, Not, Dogs and murderers!
Ingrates and liars!" no: it might have
been so once, but Paul had been to
school to Jesus: so, in tones of meas
ureless yearning and solicitude, he
cried, Brethren ana fathers" There
is magnanimity for you. In that
great heart there was no room for
petty grudges or for the spirit of re-
venge.
Then Paul went on to make him
self solid" with his hearers. He re-
minded them of his identity with
them in all essentials. He belonged
to their crowd. Most of them knew
him from the old days when he was
the Sanhedrin's willing tool. He re-
haqrSa6 CT
as Jew. and proceeded gradually
from his old reputation to his new,
in an effort to conciliate crowd NOV
ed by that bitter passion, the organiz-
atoms hatred of a man who has ceas-
ed to be regular"
The Speech That Was a Story
Here we come upon a striking
thing. The occasion was a critical
one. The audience was learned in the
law of Moses. The speaker was the
worlds greatest philosopher, a school
trained reasoner and debater. Yet
his speech was a story. Nothing else.
Paul on the steps of the citadel, talk
ing literally for dear life. abandoned
all the arts of oratory, and told his
own story.
That is to say. he became a wit
ness" rather than a pleader. He was
fulfilling the commission given him
by Jesus that he should become His
witness. From the story of his birth
in Tarsus, through his wonderful con-
version, and on to the hour of his
being sent by Jesus as an apostle to
the Gentles, he narrated his person.
al experience.
What? Do you mean to say that
the great Paul was merely giving his
testimony, like an old saint at the
mid-week prayer meeting, or like a
bashful Christian Endeavorer Ex-
actly so. In the great crises it is
witness-bearing that wins. It is more
important to testify for Christ than
TO preach about Him. That is why
eloquent sermons sometimes fail. and
stammering stories of what the Lord
has done for the speaker, win. one
need not be q speech-maker to be a
soul-winner. The greatest evangeI-
lstc campaign this continent has ever
seen Will sweep the land when Chris !
tians learn what the duty and toy and
power of witness-bearipg is. Let
the redeemed of the Lord say So"
Why do we not oftener hear the
story in the pulpit? Missionaries
over and over again tell the story of
Jesus. There is power in the IN
adorned tale of what Christ has done
Tor the race, even as there was mower
IN the story of what Christ had done
Tor Paul. After a fair consideration
or this lesson, nobody can disparage