Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-12
WHEN THE CHURCH
CROSSED RUBICON
Saul and Barnabas Made Great
Decision in Asia
Minor
by William II. Ellis

A.I
was crossed by Saul and Barnabas in
what is now troubled Asia Minor. They
settled forever the question of whether
Christianity was for the Jews or for
the whole world. That story is the
Sunday school lesson for to-day. Like
all the present SERIES it has it's setting
in the land to which the newspapers
are calling our attention afresh. trou-
bled, distracted, blood-stained Turkey.
In the region where the two first Chris
tan missionaries were the center of a
| flotous turmoil, the modern Christians
raI;e,eh rafe Deeh done to death by bigotry and
Inc pounds of the lesson are mark
eu Dy Two Antiochs. There We're six
teen OF these cities in the old Alex
andrian empire, named for his father
Antlochus by Seleucas Nikatur who
s mas sne remarkable record of having
rounaed nos thirty5seven cities, which he
Ihe greatest of all was Antioch in Sv-
Tla, the city where the disciples were
st nrst called Christian. 1t was from this
Piace that saul and Barnabas set out
Can GOdliness Thrive in a CITY.
me more we know about old An
tloch. with Its half million corrupt
that this city should be the center of
christian propaganda. and after the fall
OF Jerusalem the true center of the
christian Church. Let me quote from
one authority a picture of old Antioch.
which will give pause to those extreme
critics OF our modern cities who are
victories in our time:
In Antioch the Beautifur there was
TO pc found everything which Italian
| tai luxury could produce The ancient
! writers, however, are unanimous I'm
| describing the city as one of the foul
est and most depraved in the world
Cosmopolitan in disposition, the citi-
ems acted as II they were emancipated
| from every law, human or Divine. Lii
centiousness, superstition, quackery. in
decency. every fierce and base passion
We're displayed by the populace; their
| skill in coming scurrilous verses was
notorious, their sordid, tickle, turbu
lent, and insolent ways rendered the
name of Antioch a by-word for all
that was wicked Their brilliance
and energy, so praised by Cicero, were
balanced by an incurable levity and
shameless disregard for the first prin-
ciples of morality. SO infamous was
the grove of Daphne. five miles out
of the city, filled with shrines. to
Apollo, Venus. Isis etc, and crowded
with theaters, baths, taverns, and dane
ing saloons, that soldiers detected
the Imperial service. 'Paphnic morals
became a proverb. Juvenal could find
no more forcible way of describing the
pollutions of Rome than by saying,
1.-THE Orontes has flowed into the I'll
\ ber.' In this Vanity Fair the Jews
were resident in large numbers, yet
| tney eNefteu little OF no lnnuenGe On
the morals of the city"
What a soil to produce so fair a
! lilly as the missionary spirit or the
Christian Church! As matter OF
| for those early Christians TO be either
militant or moribund. Had they been
inactive and conventionaiiZed, thelr
faith would have been submerged IN
the mire of pollution amid which they
/ found themselves.
The only sure way to preserve in its
/ FntN n1
cumstances is to be outspoken and
active in it's PRONUNCIATION. The boy
who goes to school and tries to keep
secret the fact of his church mem
bership is likely to have a sorry time
of it, whereas the other who, from
the first, tries to do Christian work
among his schoolmates VIII find his
faith growing as he goes. The Chris
tian man in business can save his re-
ligion from contamination only as ne
tries to influence his business and ms ms
only way to keep ones religion is to
continually try to give 1t away: Had
the Antioch Church not been Nm misston- ,,;ss-
ing In serving the whole world II
saved itself. The philosophy of Jesus
is life principle that applies uniyerrII
sally: "He that loseth his life snalI
save it," What is spent survives. Inc
surest cure for a church or natlon
menaced by sel1shness and material
ism is a high conservation to a large
and unselhsh service.
When the Crowd stood Back
Those Antioch Christians had too
much sense and too much religion 70
feel that they needed to keep all thelr
strong members right in their midst
There is a lesson here for the churches
which retain on their roll members VINO
have moved away and ought TO De
active in some other church, Inc ca,I a,,I
and Barnabas to the wider work. In
fact, they held a solemn service to
set them apart for TINS MISSION ,,,.,
bear reviving. Why should not
church solemnly set apart its members
who have been called to any KIND OF
and a few of the other church officers.
why should we not solemnly set apart
and dedicate the social service worker,
the man who has given himself to the
boys work, the secretary of student
activities, the superintendent of girls
clubs, the rescue mission worker, the
leader in yGnng rpe Peoples aGt1gtSs togntSsr
and behind every one of its represen-
tatives who goes out In its name to do
larger service for the Kingdom. on
sionary Journey Saul and Barnabas
thought with a glow Of JOY: and with
a new accession OF strength, OF the
company of praying Christians back
in Antioch, whose representatives they
were,
A Travellers Tale
The wonderful incidental corrobo-
rations of the historical accuracy Of
the Books of Acts should not be over
looked. This volume will stand the
test of all the latest geographical re,
searches Like a good reporter, and
unlike many a traveller, Luke did not
make his narrative a dreary chron-
icle of mere places visited. His rec
ord is more than an itinerary, and yet
II does enable the readers to follow the
course of the travellers as they went
first from great Antioch in Syria down
to Selucia, where they took ship for the
island of Cyprus, where they worked
among the Jews.
who had up to this time been accom-
panied by John Mark, who there proved
uuitter-they landed on the coast of
Asia Minor and went into the other city