The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-10-13
For October Is is 1.-The Appeal t
Caesar."-ActS IS.
quill" PIotters and Paul.


"PuII," PIotters and Paul.
Office-holding makes men timid- |
They must ever keep an eye on cleo /
ton day, or promotion day; and their
twistings and turnings to follow the
wind of popular favor seriously i'm
pair their backbones. The man
whose standard is the applause of the
crowd may become a prosperous poli-
tician; but he will never be a great
soul. 1t is better to be a prophet in
prison with an unfettered spirit than a
politician in office with a soul that
wears the clanking chains of COM
promise and cowardice.
This politician type is not new.
Governor Felix, the CRATER and de-
generate. whom we studied last week,
| filled the bill in all particulars. Be
| cause he was more of a politician than
a man, he left Paul, an innocent VIC
| tim, of conspiracy. in prison for tive
years. When his successor, Governor
Festus, took office. he, too. though
the superior of Felix by far, played
fast and loose with justice, in order
to conciliate the Hebrew vote. Now
both of them are remembered merely
because of their contact with their
| illustrious and ill-treated prisoner;
they shine only in the reflected light
| of the man who once stood before
them in chains. We recall Loweii's
Crisis"
| Careless seems the great Avenger; his
tory's pages but record
One DEATH grapple in the darkness "twixt
| old Systems AM the Word;
| Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne
Yet that sea tf l,. sways the future and
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping
watch above His own.
The Handicapped Men.
Difficulties are the stones out of
| which all of Gods houses are built"
says Faber. Paul had plenty of that
sort of building material. And he
used it. TWO years in a Caesarean
prison, after life of bitter hardships.
did not hinder his activity or growth.
He had time for thought, and for ma
turing his philosophy of the Gospel.
Day after day he held conferences
far and near. His prison-house be-
came a mightier center of influence
than the palace of Felix and Festus.
In this quiet prison time, he con-
ferred with DR.. Luke, his compan-
ion, over the great histories the latter
is a fragment. What Statesmanlike
schemes he formed for the extension
OF the message we can only surmise.
We think of the imprisonments of
. Bunyan and Luther and tn. effect
upon the world. Certainly he was not
worrying about himself and his own
hard lot Else that would have been
the end of Paul. Old age can not
stand self-centeredness and idleness
The men and women who grow old
beautifully and beautifully are the
ones who are alert and active about
matters outside of themselves.
A few days ago a wealthy woman
of refinement and leisure, a childiess
I widow, and a member of a famous
/ church in an eastern city, said. to a
Il ~ ~ cF1 ,.t H. f,f[
to carry on my church work this year
I am giving up everything. Myiitue
dog needs me now. He is growing old
and he is all / have" Is it surprising
!. that my friend, who was seeking q
temporary home for the child of a
missionary hero and martyr, could
3 scarcely be courteous to the woman
Y who was lavishing the closing years
OF her life upon dog? OF course il
was luxury and selfishness that ha6
Z enervated the spiritual fibre of thi.
) ment.
: Thank God that the Pauline spirit
which rises triumphant over diff.
, culties. is still alive in our midst
! Last spring a totally deaf boy was
! graduated third in a class of more
than a hundred boys from the Cen.
trail high school in Philadelphia, read.
,, ing an original Latin poem at the com.
j mencement. He was offered a $4,000
scholarship TO take him thru Harvard
= but he declined it, because he did no
= want to be dependent, 1 know a II
9 year-old girl who has been blind ant
g deaf since infancy: yet she has learned
v to talk. to read lips, to write on thu
= | typewriter. to sew and embroider
and she is dancing ray of cunshin,
= on the ayground-happier. cheerie
: and more content than millions o
: girls with no such handicap as 'acl
of eyes and ears. Then when w,
: think of the nyriads OF prisoners o
pain who, in the train of Paul, maxi
v their hardship turn out to the further
= ance of the Gospel. we are rebuket
. that in our freer. more favored lot, w
: do so little for our time and gu
- Lord.
- every Knock Is a Boost
Is In the speech of the street it i
t. said that Every knock is a boost
l. NOTED his propaganda. Every fresl
q act of enmity but riveted further at
a tention upon him. Each new plo
:, added to his power. The successiv
~ trials before courts high and low In
II creased his prestige and importance
> His personality was SO bound up wit
q his message. that by the very opposi
d ton Of his enemies the Gospe
n was preached.
= That the lesser officials of Rome
tho each was great enough in his wa
were interested in this celebrate
! prisoner we know. This was nc
enough: the power OF PauIs person
{ atty must be felt clear up to tn
{ throne of bloody Nero himself. Tn
y ISLANDERS upon the apostle were We
come. IL they gave his case hearin
in the worlds highest court
y So when the church is abused an
sneered at and misrepresented, let !
lg not count that fact as wholly evil
means that she is a vital factor In IN
,e thought of today Men do not sho'
e dead lions There is more hope of
a, prosecutor of religion. like Saul
1e Tarsus. than of man who ignores
When an institution or man is Oh
cussed. it or he is in a most hoper'
is nosition. The most promising sign
~ a complete victory for the temperan'
causa 10 that there is such deSpera