The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-02-04

oil getting aside in secret and iSOpflfS-4
ticated counsels where thew discuss /
what is safe" to DO. 1t is an open !
scandal that some high ecclesiastical
! assemblies contain more politics and 1
scheming and trading and chicanery
| than MANY an aVOWedly political CON
vention. So ingrained has this thor
oughly worldly practice become that Z
many ecclesiastics seem unable to I
comprehend any other way of doing I
the Lords business They are en-
meshed in their own net of policy and /
prudence. Often they seek by subtitle
means to silence the Peters who dare
speak forth. for the pres..nt-day do
ings Of a God VINO is contemporaries
Gus because eternal
Worldly wisdom is what the church
needs least of all. An eminent lay
man of one of the great denominations
told me recently that the church
| ceived two hundI ed thousand a year
from one wealthy giver. This vast
sum seemed all important to the body. 4
| Yet it was the only board in the coun-
money for its work, and was obliged
to retrench sinfully. Other boards.
with more faith in the loyalty of
! Christian people, were making adj
1 vances in their work while this one
was going backward. Caution, rather
/ than courag e, marked its actions. Sim
/ pie trust and simple. fearlessress carry
the church farther than worldly
sophistication. Those two lone fish
| ermen, Peter and John, meant more
4 to the kingdom of God. and to the
welfare of the world, -han the emf
nent prelatical tribunal before which
/ they stood.
! The Book of Boldness.
a phrase which has become stere-
otyped. and has been heard in ten
thousand prayer meetings, occurs in
this incident: '"They took knowledge
of them that they had been with Je-
sus.' How often Christians have
prayed and hoped that this might be
true of themi
! This is another instance of vicious
misquotation, or, rather, of half quota
ton. Just as nowadays men are quot
ing the lines of Bulwer Lytton. THE
pen is mightier than the sword
whereas the author, wiser than his
readers, qualified that line, the whole
quotation being
Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword"
In ignoble times the sword is still
mightier than the pen. Similarly,
in our lesson, the whole truth is
When they behold the boldness of
Peter and John they took
| knowledge of them that they had been
with Jesus No weakened, tim
orous. time-serving Christians ever
make anybody think of Jesus Christ.
Only they who share His courage
honor His name y
The point set me to studying that
word "boldness" and its derivatives in
the Book of Acts L found that l had
stumbled upon a gold mine. The BIZ
Bile student is counselled to look up
the subject in some book or books
3 that will give the Greek original-say
''Young's Analytical Concordance or
an interlinear Greek and English New.
Tesla ment. For, not to go outside of
ftn ~ Aa%e- -aIf 7 1oe,-
than dozen illusions to the boldness
of Christians, and always in connec-
tion with witness bearing.
That word holiness means free
utterance." 1t is courage in testi-
mony. The bravest man is the one
who, like Peter, dares tell the highest
truth he knows, and without fear of
the face of man. AS we follow the
trail of the Greek word, .'parrhesia, =
or fboldnesS," we soon find it applied
to Paul also. and frequently used BIZ
him. Let me trace the word through
Lukes narrative, Which may be called
The Book of Boldness.''
On the Trail of a Word.
AS every art-lover. knows, there are
rare beauties in the miniatures of the
vatican collection. as well as in the
huge expanse of Michael Angeles
Last Judgment" So there is delight
and profit in detailed study of the
Bible, as well as in a contemplation of
its broader meanings and messages.
So we may find the single Greek word.
''parrhesia'' a source of illumination
and fortitude.
The word is first used in the Book
of Acts in the second chapter twenty
ninth verse, when Peter would speak
, freely of the patriarch David's wit
ness to Christ. Next it occurs in the
present lesson to characterize the fear
| less outspokenness of Peter and John.
The first recorded prayer of the
, Christian church (Acts 4:29) is a
prayer for boldnesS, or free utterance
in Witness bearing. In the same chap
ter (Acts AID we find the categorical
record of the answer to that prayer
For the fifth and sixth illusions to
'parrh esia'' we turn to Acts 9:27, %
where the story is told of the boldness
of Paufs preaching at Damascus
Again we find the same record (Acts
l 13:46) of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch
I in Pisidia; and (Acts 14:3) at Iconium
S the city where today many thousands
= of Armenians are suffering for the
!, same witness-beari Still another
/ representative of the Apostolic church
2 Apollos, showed the same traits al
i Ephesus (Acts 1920, and in the same
p heather city we find Paul preaching
for three months with boldness (Act.
g 1879. Before Festus also he spoke
with ''parrhesia." (Acts 26:26) and the
= last record we have of the great apos
u tie (Acts $3.50, and the last sentence
of the Book of Acts, pictures him a:
teaching the things concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness. ,
4 Such a study as this, of the place
4 that boldness had in the early church
t and still should have in the Christian.
= life, is more directly contributory t.
= character than any comments upon the
= particular points of Peters courage
1 For it is to the Bible that we must &c
f to find force as well as faith, courage
o as well as conviction.
EOrcefuI and Faithful.
/. ITerSe Comments the Uniform
! Prayer Meeting Topic of the Youna
. Peoples Standardization En-
I deavor, etc.-for February 6
: Christian Endeavor Fidelity anc
: Force. Matt. 25:31-46.