Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-24
NOW TIES HAVE
NO OLDINGF FORCE
Social Solidarity Comes Only
Through Real Fellowship in
Common Peril
WHEN STRONG MEN WEPT
International Sunday School
Lesson For August 81 Is
"Journeying to jerusalem"
WHEN r o MEN WEPT
(By William T. E1lis.)

One of the utilities of modern
society" is that it tries to bind peo-
pie together by ties which have no
holding force. Social solidarity
ONE through real fellowship in a
common task and a common suffering
and a common peril. There has never
been a secret society devised, for in
stance. that can hold men together
in real fraternity such as comrades
Of the Civil War know. These men
had their hearts knit together by the
hardships and dangers they shared.
and by the cause they served at the
risk of life.
ant n for u own times to recog-
nize. appears clearly in the present
Sunday School Lesson. which bears
the colorless title, "~Journeying To
Jerusalem" but might better be call
ed, THE Ties That Bind Christians"
Here we see a really sublime by
product of the work Paul and his as
sociates were doing, namely, the
creation of a bond of fellowship that
was stronger than any other tie. All
the riots and perils and buffetings
that the Apostle had undergone were
not worth mentioning alongside of
this new Brotherhood which had
been built up. Demetrius and his Sill
versmith's Guild had seemed impor-
tant: certainly they were noisy; but
it was an evanescent bubble along
side of the Goodly Fellowship that
the Christians were creating, a Eel
lowship destined to outlast the Ro-
man Empire itself.
The Man Who Attracts Men
Like the good historian that he
was. Luke does not hesitate to write
down the various charges that were
made, from time to time, against his
leader, Paul. The latter's influence
I~.,LN1~-- 800 Ill., 49, -v-ANs-- ---
Of the little personal and intimate
details of his chiefs Individuality
what he looked like. his manner of
speech and the nature of that thorn
in the flesh. All the criticisms of
Paul were refuted the way in
which he drew men to himself, and
by the sort of men who followed him.
In this. Paul was like Jesus. Some
foolish attempts have been made to
represent Christ as a weakling: the
sufficient answer is the sort Of rouph
and rugged and out-of-doors men
whom he won as his immaculate anu
intimate disciples. The Peters and
h ThomaSes do not travel in the
train of a mollycoddle.
Paul's following consisted of men
who had left all to serve him. There
was Silas-"the famous prison SOLO
ist," I suppose the billboards would
call him nowadays-and Timothy
ana Luxe, the beloved physician ana
peerless historian; and Sopater, of
Berea; and Aristarchus and Secun-
dus, of Thessalonica; and Gaius, of
Derbe, and Tychicus and Trophinous
of Asia. That Is a pretty good
personal cabinet for a mere tent
maker, with no offices to give and no
honors to bestow.
In passing, the implication needs
but to be mentioned hat a funda-
mental responsibility resting upon
every teacher and preacher is to make
disciples. Everybody who has a mes
sage from God and a sense of leader
ship should prepare others to carry
forward hat torch. 1t is worth while
to impart the best of life and person
atty to a chosen few, with a sacred
responsibility for transmitting it. I
know a minister who never was much
of a preacher; but he realized his OPP
portunity for leading young people
into the ministry and other public
service, so that now he is doing,