Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-08-06
The Book of Boldness
BY WILLIAM L. ELLIS

plans for them. Adalia, the port
assigned the Italians, is where Paul
and Barnabas landed and left.
We may take the much discussed
Bagdad railway to the scene of our
lesson; for Konia is the principal
station on the line in Anatolia, and
the junction point for all Smyrna.
Lystra and Derbe, our other two
lesson cities, are along the line to
the East. Derbe is amid the magni-
ficent scenery just before you come
to the Taurus mountains; 1t is al
most due north of Paul's home town
of Tarsus. If he had already evan
gelized the Cicilian Plain( which the
French have lately had to evacuate),
his carrying the good news to Derbe
would be like a generals ~effecting a
junction of the two fronts. For be
it remembered that this missionary
tour was no hasty trip. but a cam
paign covering three or four years.
The great apostle entertained none
of the easy and superficial concep-
tons of the missionary enterprise
which are sometimes prevalent.
Apothcosized-Then Mobbed
A theological professor told me,
the other day. of a Boston minister
who vas examining his face il his
study mirror when a visitor unex-
pectedly came upon him. The
clergyman was heard soliliquising,
Napoleon Bonaparte Jebb, you are
the handsomest mar in Boston!"
Insofar as he had any reputation
at all, that really was the reputation
this poplnjay preacher possessed.
OF course, no man who would care
SO much for his personal appearance
pnnI6 pupr MAN N hi,r .or;.,,.
to the world. In this lesson we
find Paul and Barnabas hailed as
gods, and it wrought them up to a
pitch of horror. They wanted no
honors for themselves. After their
popularity and then expulsion from
lconium, they had gone to Lystra,
where Timothy was doubtless one of
their converts; and there. too, they
had shared the Masters experience
of being acclaimed with hosannas
and then bounded with curses. Popu-
iar favor is a tickle mistress.
At Lystra, Paul had healed a lame
The miracle was sensational.
Before even the Christian missionar-
les knew it, the word had run
through the baZaars and baths that
Jupiter and Mercury had come to
earth in the person of Barnabas and
Paul. So the mob , led by their
priests, brought garlands and sacri-
fees to offer to the strangers.
Shocked, outraged and Inundated
that any glory should come to them
that belonged to God, the Apostles
sprang forth among the multitude,
Iending their clothes and protesting
against such an e~Xaltation and apo
theosis of themselves. Significantly,
though. these missionaries, whom
nothing could divert from their first
work, used the occasion as an oppor-
tunity for preaching Christ. So they
restrained the multitude.
Ere long the bitter Jewish enc
mics that were now continuously on
their trail stirred up the volatile
crowd against the missionaries. who
were stoned out of Lystra. Paul
was left for dead; indeed, the text
implies hat he arose by a miracle.
We may easily imagine the deep
sorrow and even panic, that filled
the group of disciples, including
young Timothy. who surrounded the
proctrate and bleeding figure. But
Pauls work was not yet done; and
the next day he was off to Derbe,
later ~retracing the route to Antioch
in Syria. where the church received
its enVCys with great rejoicings.