The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-31


How strong man. going the wrong
way, was violently stopped and set to
moving in the opposite direction, is
the lesson today. The man was
known by the city of his birth;
now that city is known by the man:
for where the records once spoke of
Saul of Tarsus they now speak of the
Tarsus of Saul. AS for the man him
self, he belongs to that select little
company who are fully described by
the mention of his name. There have
been many millions of Pauls in the
world, but only one of them is meant
when we simply say Paul"
Bigger than any news that gets into
the newspapers are the decisions made
by great men. The real turning points
of history are convictions formulated
in the silence by men of strength. 1t
may be years before the events that
sprang from the decision are known;
but the real crisis was when the choice
was made. Before ever the public
sees an engagement ring on a girls
finger she herself has known the reve-
lation of the love that it represents.
So Paul on Mars Hill, or before
Agrippa, when all the community was
set by the ears, was merely rejecting
the consequences of that great day on
the raod outside of Damascus, when
he ceased being Saul, the prosecutor of
Christians and became Paul, Christ's
apostle to the Gentiles-
The Men Who Are Going Somewhere.
Please observe that Saul was going
somewhere: he was not sitting on a
fence finding fault with the looks and
walk and equipment of other travellers.
The men and women who have not
even gumption enough to be bad are
the real problem of society. The virile
youngster-the dad boy'-who is al
ways getting into scrapes is really less
to be worried about than the colorleSS
lad whose goodness is merely lack of
force and courage. There is more
hope of an out-and-out prosecutor and
blasphemer than of the spineless.
| feckless, fearful fellow who is best
represented by a minus or zero sign.
1t is often the big sinners who make
the great saints
1t took a miracle to convert Saul of
Tarsus. But he was worth it. He was
stopped in mid-career by a binding
vision of the Lord, while on the way
to Damascus to harry the Christians.
Like the good workman that he al
ways was, whether serving God or
! Satan, Saul had made careful prepara-
ton for his task, carrying with him let
| tiers from the high priest at Jerusalem
| to the Damascus synagogues. Whatever
he did, he did it with all of his might.
1t was no second-rate character that
saw the light on the road of persecu-
! ton. Why is it, I wonder, that the
| churches do not deliberately go after
| the strong men who are not Chris
| tians? 1t does almost seem at times
as if present-day church work were
gagged to the level of the mediocre
| and the commonplace.
A lot of little men watn a special
miracle to persuade them to do right
but God does not drive tacks with a
| sledge-hammer. Paul was worth a
miracle. Looking back over what he
has meant to the world, we can see
how God could have afforded to empty
heaven of angels and archangels that
! day. in order to cause that brilliant
young man to fright about face -
| There was no bigger business on hand
in heaven that day than the CONVEX
sion of Saul. Every mother and every
teacher dreams of the day when one
of her boys will become a great man:
and that goal is an inspiration to
utmost and tireless effort. 1t may be
| that some woman who has the destiny
of a future Wesley or Luther or St
Francis or Phillips Brooks is reading
j these lines.
A Light That Outshone Noon
wealthy, aristocratic, self-assured
Saul rode on toward the oldest city in
the world, musing, perhaps, upon the
sacred associations or TINS beautiful
place. with its memories of Abraham
and Naaman and the proud Syrian
| kings whom the armies of Israel had
nut to naught. And ne felt himself
to be on the same service. His retinue
! rode respectfully in the rear. If there
was any one thing farther from the
young zealot's mind than another, il
was uncertainty about his course. He
was right, absolutely right, and all
who differed with him should suffer
even as that mad blasphemer StepheI
had suffered. His every breath was &
threat against these Christian dissen-
tiers.
Then something happened In a few
marvelIously clear sentences the story
is told by the most compact book il
the world;
And as he journeyed. he came
near Damascus: and suddenly there
shined round about him Il light from
heaven; and he fell to the earth, an6
heard a voice saying unto him. Saul
Saul, why persecutest thou me? AND
he said, Who art thou, Lord2 and