The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-16
International
SundaySchoolLesson
BY WILLIAM II. ELLIS.
For December II is, "PauPs La
Words-"-II Timothy z:6-1S.
Doomed, But Exuhant.

! a cnerlSneQ SlgnllCdnce. IN the IlSnI
! that streams from an open, waiting
grave the dying seem sometimes to see
life in its relative significance. So we
welcome this farewell utterance-it is
almost a triumphant shout-of the
! greatest hero that ever fought in the
ranks of Christ.
| Uncounted myriads of persons, of
all ages and conditions. in every part
of the world, will gather about this
fragment of personal letter from the
| doomed prisoner, Paul the Apostle, to
| his young friend, Timothy, who was
| carrying on the work at Ephesus.
Only three individuals so far as the
| record survives, ever got personal let
/ tiers from the great interpreter of the
| Gospel; they were Timothy, Titus and
| Philemon. The letters to the first two
who we're ministers, are the last re-
| corded writings of Paul.
| These ardent messages are shad-
| owed by prison walls, and by the grim
figure of the Roman executioner, who
| sentence of death. Nero at his worst
was on the throne. and soon to follow
| his Christian prisoner to the great ac-
counting-but in what different
spiritE The man in chains went to his
end like a king and conqueror; the
man on the throne met death likePa
| slave and coward.
| This was PauTs second Roman i'm
| prisonment: he had been freed from
his earlier, easier duress at the capital.
. and had made another missionary
| journey. But following the burning
| of Rome, Nero had charged the ca
| taStrOphe to the Christians. and ter
! rible prosecutions had followed. Nat
| urally. so eminent a teacher of the
| way as Paul could not escape, and
| this time his confinement was rigor-
GUS He is forsaken by all except
Luke. the feporter-physician- He is
! lonely, and yearns nor his younger
friends. Timothy and Mark He is
cold also and asks for his cloak; and
his Unsuitable mental hunger yearns
for his books. A pathetic picture is
| given US of the veteran warrior in a
| dungeon.
Having Lived-"Hurrah for Deathr'
Only in a few words does Paul re-
| veal his physical state; mostly his
letter rings like trumpet's Battle call.
/ He had greatly lived, and now he is
ready to die greatly. Nobody can
have a mean life and a noble death:
one is the fruit of the other. In the
spirit of the proverb which says, "a
man is responsible for his face at
fifty a person is likewise responsible
for the attitude with which he ap-
proaches the great dissolution. There
is more in this pean of Paul than q
moment of ecstacy; all the years thar
had gone found expression in it. No
amount of funeral oratory can make
| a bier eloquent, except as 1t speaks
forth a life. One of our modern poets,
Elsa Barker. has caught somewhat
the spirit of Paul
| when I am dead and sister to the dust
When no more avidly 1 drink the wine
| Of human love; when the pale Proserpine
Has covered me with peoples, and cold rust
IL 1H-r-H frTTu nd fha SIM h0
thrust
Ne underground to nourish the world
Men shall discover these old songs of
And say: This woman lived-as poets
| must.
This woman lived and wore life as a sword
To conquer wisdom; this dead woman
In the sealed Book of Love and under
The meanings. Then the sails of faith
And faring out for regions nnexplored,
Went singing down the River of the
Paul, whose rare biography is
wrapped up in his own phrase, II was
not disobedient unto the heavenly
vision" did not lose his vision at the
end. His dying vindicated his living.
He could still repeat his own words,
40 death, where is thy sting" No
stagger in uncertainty toward the ora
cles or the sooth-sayers. He asked
no adventurous aid from the spirits
of the departed. AS in life, so in death,
Jesus Christ was his full satisfaction.
To n Mothers Boy"
While we read the jubilant, trium-
plant death song of the greatest war
rior who ever carried the flag of God
on earth, we may not overlook the
frio to zzyT1O I'D
letter is a revelation of Timothy, as
| vel as of Paul. We would not need
to know more about the young
preacher than that he was the one to
HON Paul turned in his great hour.
The apostle WAS about to pass, but his
disciple remained. The work would
continue.
Don't give up the ship" cried the
dying captain; and "Row goes the
battle?' were the last words of a
great general. In that spirit, PauIs
! farewell letter is full of solicitude for
the church. His earlier fire shows no
| " hit of abatement as he gives Pastor
Timothy counsel upon matters of prac-
ticc and of principle. Ever and anon
there flashes forth solicitude for the
devotion Of this young friend: how
ca eerIy those who are leaving the
scene sean the fitness of the ones who
are to take their places, and carry on
Their work! The torch must be given
over to new hands: are they clean and
strong and steady? No Christians are
more concerned over the number and
character Of the candidates for tEF
| ministry than the veterans who are
almost thru.
This man Timothy stands in the
New Testament for the triumph OF
two wonen's faith. Paul bears wit
ness to the fact that Timothy derived
: his faith directly from his mother Eu-
| nice, and his grandmother, Lois. He
: was a product of a Christian home
The prayers of two cody women were
| answered in him. He has high place
in that long line of ministers of Christ
E who are the fruition of the consecra-
, ton of mother-love. To have raised
: such a son was surely the greatest OF
careers for a woman
GNIy Faith Holds Out!''