The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-19

ment that no i'll treatment had ever
aroused in them. Nobody ever heard
Paul and Barnabas lamenting or wall
ing when they were mobbed. But
when they were being deified they
cried, 'Sirs, Why are you doing all
this? We also are BIT men, with ma
ture kindred to your own; and we
bring you the Good News that YOU are
to turn from these unreal things, to
worship the everything God, the Crea-
tor of earth and sky and sea and
everything that is in them. In times
gone by He allowed all the nations 70
go their own way; and yet by His
beneficence He has not left His exis-
tence unattested-His beneficence.
mean, in sending you rain from Heay-
en- and fruitful seasons, satisfying your
hearts with food and joyfulness Even
with words like these they had diff
Guilty in preventing the thronging
crowd from offering sacrifices to
them.
t These men were in apostolic sue
cession to John the Baptist, who said
he must increase but 1 must de-
crease They were prophets. from
the same school. mot unto US, o Je l-
hovah, not unto us, but unto Thy
name give glory" This unprecedented
ovation to themselves they used mere
ly as an opportunity for preaching the
living God, whose humble servants
they were. 1t is a great man who can
| take praises for himself and turn them
into a pulpit for the preaching of
Christ, so that he himself is forgotten.
Deified, Then Mobbed.
Every man who has observed life
has remarked upon the 1ickleness of
| popular favor The world seems to
weave alternate crowns of laurel
and crowns of tkorns for its great.
| Hidden in obscurity and poverty in
many parts of the land today are
men and women whose names once
drew applause and figured in the front
pages of the newspapers. There is
no form of success more unstable and
unsatisfactory than the applause of
the crowd. The appetite for it has
ruined more men than have been in
| spired by it. The simple truth is that
anybody who is strong enough to lead
the multitude Alright, thus winning
| it's plaudits, is reasonably sure, if he
| remains strong. to incur the enHity
| of the multitudes by unpopular
views. If a man has no better meas
ure of success than the huzzas of the
crowd, then he is in a sorry way in
deed.
The heads of these missionaries
were not turned by the attempt at
apotheosis. They went right on
preaching the Gospel. Nor were they
surprised when, in a short time, the
same people who had tried to engar-
land them stoned Paul and dragged
| him out of the town, believing MIN
| to be dead. That was an experience
winch the MISSIONARIES COu1Q Sedlio
| better than they could the ovat1ons
| of the tickle multitude
| 1t is worth remembering that the
disciples of Paul collected around
him when he lay as dead. Those
were courageous saints in the days
when discipleship meant persecution.
The early Christians knew how 5 to
| die for their faith, and sthey knew
how to live for it, Ernest Crosby S
little poem is pertinent:
so he died for his faith. That is fine
| More than most ofius do.
But stay, can you add to that line
| That he lived for it, too?
at is easy to die. Men have died
| For a wish or a whin-
From bravado or passion or pride
| Was it harder for him? -srs
| ''But to live: every day to live out 70
| All the truth that he dreamt,
While hiss friends met his conduct
with doubt, g~
| And the world with contempt
WAS it thus that he plodde ahead,
I Never turning aside?
Then we'll talk of the life that he
led
Never mind how he died"
Men Who Could Not Be Downed.
One day Paul lay outside the gate
| of Lystra, apparently corpse, bruis-
ed, bleeding. soiled; the next day we
| find him on his way to Derbe and pro-
claiming the Good News there. His
hard times were not counted a reason
| for running away from his work.
Paul simply could not be discouraged.
| His only passion was for the preach
| ing of the Gospel. He had no time to
think of wounds or WEAKNESS. With
h hn WAS Ii
nothing that interferes with the eff
ficiency of a worker like beginning to
contemplate his own state of health or
| of mind.
After a season of successful preach
ing at Derbe, what did these magnifi-
cent adventures do but retrace their
steps to the very places where they
had been -mobbed, Lystra, Iconium
and Antioch. There is courage for
you. "A burnt child breads the fire.
but Paul never feared the place of
hardship.
ct count him great,
Who, by life heroic, conquers fate
That is a thrilling picture in the
gallery of Scripture which depicts
| Paul and Barnabas retracing their
steps openly through the cities where
they had narrowly escaped death.
| Making Fast the Work.
| At the siege of Ladysmith a man
was courtmartialed for being a dis
courager. Paul in this hard expert
! ence returned in order to strengthen
the disciples by encouraging them to
hold fast to the faith. One might
think it was he that needed the en-
coura cement. He laid down the prin-
ciple, 1T is through many Affections
| that we must make OAR way into the
| kingdom of God"
In every church in these centers of
persecution Paul and Barnabas held
meetings at which elders were elected,
and established the Church SO that
| the work would go on whether the
| apostles were present or absent Wise
with the wisdom of Holy Writ is that
| worker who establishes his work so
! that the work would go on whether
the apostles were present or absent.
Wise with the wisdom of Holy Writ