The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-19
International
Sunday School. Lesson
BY W. T. ELLIS.

For May 81 is 1.-THE Cripple or Lys-
| ira Acts CHI. ii.
Garlands and Stones for Preachers.
If you can meet with triumph and
And treat those two imposters just
the same,
If neither foes nor loving friends can
hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none
I When one adventures greatly in life
| he learns to be superior to circurn-
stances. Buffetings and bouquets
both come to be part of the days
work of nlasterful men, The cup
which life presses to the lips of the
great holds alternate drafts of bitter
and of sweet. They who attain the
highest plane of spirit are as little
| perturbed by cries of Cruelty HIM"
.'Crucify HIM. by the rabble's
shouts of "Hosannai Hosanna!" Palm
branches and scourges, garlands and
stones, are equally unable to swerve
from its purpose triumphant life.
In the great story which is today's
Sunday school lesson, we find Paul
and Barnabas acclaimed as gods come
down from heaven, and then they are
| by the same crowd mobbed and stoned
| and left for dead. The adventures of
these first missionaries make our
| commonplace and conventional and
| drum.
A Railway and Some Refugees.
It took a riot to move Paul and
Barnabas from Pisidian Antioch to
their next preaching place, which was
the ancient city of Iconiun1-a city
| that disputes with Damascus the claim
| to being the oldest in the world. The
| few Americans and Europeans who
have Travelled in Asia Minor know
Iconium, or Konia as it is called today,
as a central railway point, and as the
place where is to be found the 1arg-
est and best hotel in Turkey, outside
| of Constantincple. When registered
at this hotel, a few lines above my sig
nature was that of Sir William Ram
| sey, the famous archaeologist and au-
thority upon the life and travels of st.
I Paul, who makes Konia his headquar-
| tiers when in Asia Minor. Here, too,
| is DR.. Dodd's noble American hospital,
which is just now vainly trying to save
| the lives of more than score of thou
sands of Armenian refugees, who are
encamped outside the city. Today, as
in the time of Paul, Konia is a place
where men suffer for their faith in
| Christ.
All of the marks of a successful
mission attach to the apostles work
in Iconium. First of all they made
converts, and then they made enemies.
| Paul would have thought that the dew
| il was having everything his own way
if his preaching had been viewed with
| indifference or complacency. If Paul
| and Rarnabas had not made more of
a connection in a Goddess community,
than some modern churches, they
would have spent the night in confess
| sion and contrition and prayer. When
| opposition arose they were not dis
eourased, but spoke freely and worked
| tirelessiy. being given many signs and
narvels to attest their ministry.
Christianity became the issue above
all other issues IN the great heather
| city of Iconium. The success of these
missionaries from Antioch was so
great that both Genti1es and Jews and
the Roman politicians combined for
an attack upon the Christian leaders
| Hatred, like politics, makes strange
| Jews ceased from opposition to each
| other to make common cause against
| Paul and Barnabas. The arguments
| they used were those of force, stoning
missionaries accepted their expulsion
| from the city of Iconium as a "calr'
to Lystra, where they continued to tell
the Good News.
Scared by Success.
The sort of preaching that does
things always attracts attention.
Among PauPs hearers one day was a
man who had been a cripple from
birth, a well known town character,
beSgar on one of the principal high
! ways 11lIn Pdu1 nedleQ with a word.
The restored cripple, leaping and
/ shouting, told his tale to the city.
The crowd, always eager for some
| novelty, were caught by this wonder
ana they began to shout, THE gods
have assumed human form and they
have come down to u.s." Here was a
| sensation indeed--something to slim
| ulate the jaded interests of these city
jewellers. Calling Barnabas ''Zeus'' or
| Jupiter" and Paul "Hermes'' or
Mercury" they swiftly organized a
religious demonstration. The priest of
Zeus. eager to get all the credit pos
/ sible for his temple, brought bullocks
| and garlands to the gate to offer sac
| rifice to these men whom they ac-
| claimed as gods.
Not many can resist adulation. The
EXTREMIST compliments are accepted
by most of us as our due. It is diff
cult for a public speaker to think that
the tlattering words with which he is
| introduced do not represent the judi
cial appraisal of his real worth. But
these old missionaries were of a diff