The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-08


Acts 1854; S:3. 4; 26:4, 5. 9, 10.
A Man Who was Not Neutral.
! This is a tale of two men who be-
lieved tremendously the opposite sides
of the most vital issue of their day.
Neither was a neutral; in fact. the
Bible is a poor book in which to seek
support for neutrality. From its
| Curse We Meroz' (the community
who tried to play spectators when they
/ should have been in the thick of the
| fighting), to it's Laodiceans OF the Rev
citation, whom God said He would
spew out of His mouth, because they
were neither hot nor cold, the Scrip
ture is a book which extols men of
conviction. The drab and colorless
Christians, who cultivate only the pas
/ sive virtues, and who are afraid to
/ disagree with anybody, must get their
! faith from a different source from
that whence sprang the Stephens and
| SaulS and the Apostles, saints and
martyrs. Bible Christianity makes
rock characters and not jelly-souls.
Our story centers about Saul, whose
biography is to engage the attention
of the many millions of Sunday school
members for the next six months.
After a series of lessons upon THE
Social Teachings of the Bible" we now
have a course in the life of a man
one Of the rugged, red-blooded, stout
hearted, great-brained, high-souled
heroes of all history. a man who has
impressed the centuries more deeply
than any other person, except only his
Master.
We exult in the prospect of half a
year spent in company with Saul
From him the world may learn the
lesson of consecrated personality
which our time so sorely needs GOD
give US men!" is the cry of the hour
| fearless, clear-eyed, outspoken men,
who dare to be their best selves, amid
all the fog and clamor of a time that
seems bent upon effacing individuality
An End That Was Beginning.
Our hero emerged at a colorful
moment-the stoning of Stephen, the
first Christian martyr. Saul was
| leader of the mob that lynched the
brave disciple of Jesus, who died with
his eye upon his Lord, and with the
very words of his magnanimous
Master upon his lips. Stephens faith
evoked the fury of his foes, who
for him. Saul, as a wealthy and aris-
tocratic young Pharisee, did not ac
tually throw the deadly stones, but he
kept the coats of those who did.
| Saint Stephens end was Saint SauPs
beginning. Learned commentators
trious fellow Benjaminite, King Saul;
but that is trifling: he had three
names, anyway, after the fashion of a.
Roman citizen, and is best known by
the Roman name of Paul, which ap-
parently also described his diminutive
stature. Saul was the spiritual sue
cessor of Stephen. Heroism begets
heroism. The martyr did not die that
day: he only began his greater life,
personally in heaven, and representa-
J lively in the transformed character of
his bitter enemy from Tarsus, SO soon
/ to become Christianity's greatest
champion.
! . Our noble dead are not dead: the
youth who fell in France, for example,
came not to their end, but to their be-
ginning. Their 1torchs and task are to
be carried on by hands which at the
moment may seem blind to the mean
ing of their sacrifice. Every Stephen
is succeeded by Saul. All who die
gloriously accomplish more in their
death than in their life. The level of
a nation is fixed by it's heroes and
martyrs, not by its money-changers
and its self-seekers.
Too Discreet To Be Hero.
A modern novel eenters about a
young reformer, competent and self
conscious, who refused to rescue an
imperilled cripple from an approach
ing automohile because he felt that
his own life meant more to society
than the life of the beggar.
| His fiancee gave intellectual assent
to his reasoning and to his defense
| but she cast him off, because her in
stinct told her truly that the man had
failed in the essential quality which
makes manhood glorious. He had
been selfish when he should have been
sacrificial. He had spurned chance
tC risk his life, after the fashion OF
| the men whose names history has
written highest. In his self-engross-
ment he had failed to respond - the
instinct which tells every normal man
that the highest possible use of life is
to fling it out unca1eulatingly in the
service of need.
A dead hero Is mightier forever
than a live coward. The Stephens of
history are Immortality great: their
death gives ceaseless voice to the best
of their life. THE blood of the mar
tyrs is the seed of the church," and 1t
is an unacceptable call to the best pow
ers of the noblest survivors.
Fitted for tho Finest.
Somehow, this appearance of the
brilliant young Jew of Tarsus upon
the pages of history links up in our
thought with the multitude of grad
past month "sent out into the
world" The demagogue may dispar-
age training. and extol the merits of
the unskilled; >but thoughtful persons
know that the best work in the world
is done by those best prepared.
Saul was a product of both home
and school. He had mastered a
trade, like the other Jewish young
men of his day, but he had also re-
ceived the best preparation that his
world could give. Tarsus and Jeru-
salem had schooled him, and his
cosmopolitan experiences as a travelled
Roman citizen had polished him. He
did not enter upon his life work un-
fit or handicapped. He took to the
struggle personality, plus preparation.
He had been made ready, in the provi-
dence of God, for the finest work ever
done by mortal.
Is it not more than a coincidence
that just now, with countless prob
Elens facing US, like grinning sphinxes,
whichever way we turn, the inst.tu-