The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1921-11-03
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON


Prepared Especially for The Republi-
can by DIR. U. S. Wright.
PAUL'S EXPERIENCES AT JERU-
SALEM.-Acts 21:1S-23:24.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6.
God is our refuge and strength, very
present help in trouble, therefore
will we not fear.-Psalm 46:1,
WITHIN AN ACE.
In spite of every warning and pro-
test of friends Paul marched on stead
lily toward Jerusalem. AS steadfastly
as had Jesus, he set his face thither-
ward. Like his Lord he carried that
city in his heart and all the holy men,
cries tugged at its strings too strong
ly to be resisted. Rightly or wrongly
he was there. Significantly enough
there is never an expressed regret
over the visit and if it had been
| wrongly taken he was never convinced
of the fact. But the Jerusalem that
had crucified Jesus, beheaded James,
imprisoned Peter and crowned hate
as the ruling passion of the faith. was
, not likely to welcome a great lover.
And the Christian body in the city
was sharer of much of this feeling
and its members still chung to the
reverence for all the Temple stood
for in the life of the Hebrew. As
consistently as they held to being the
real members of the original church
they held to the forms hallowed by
the years and believed that holy
memories were more sacred than pres
! ent-day life. Paul faced the most
bigoted city in the world in which
| Turkish soldiers have been forced to
| keep the peace among Christian pill
grims until England has inherited the
job. He stood in the presence of the
Christian authorities with his hands
laden with gifts and his mouth filled
with the enhancing story of the con-
! quests of their Lord in human lives
! samples of which accompanied the
| message. To see these world men
from all quarters of the East united
by passion for Jesus that opened
/ hearts and purses for all the worlds
needy stirred the conservatives into
sudden praise. But they passed to
ceremonialism Immediately and urged
observance of form in Difference to
the prejudices of the city. Paul was
there not to coerce but to WOO and
he Immediately consented. He had
shaved his head before and brought
the hair to be burned upon the great
I Altar-why should he hesitate now?
1t was not reputation of Christ,
but an acknowledgment of the pro-
prieties of place and he adopted it
and walked among the silent but sus-
picious crowds as comrade to every
seeker of the holy fire. And "almost"
he succeeded. He was within an ace
| of success even in the face of the
tremendous odds against his venture.
But there came the slip and hate lit
the fatal fire that burned the Temple
to the ground.
JUSTICE NEVER AS BLIND
AS HATE.
No mob ever yet held the scales of
Justice level. Prejudice and hate
leave the possessor as blind as an
eyeless fish. The cryer-out who
baked Paul's plan Supposed some
thing that never happened and of
which the Apostle was incapable.
There was no evidence nor the search
ing for it. A New York hotel clerk
was assailed by a guest with a de-
mand for a change of room. She had
been visiting the city to hear the
great Patti sing and had been annoyed
by "squealing amateur" in the next
room. 81 am very sorry" said the
suave clerk, "that you have been an
noyed by Madame Patti, who has that
ROOM" Justice was never as deaf as
that! A Baltimore teacher refused to
hear Booker Washington because he
was "black"-was the color in the
mind or in the argument? And the
crowd accepted it. That was the trag-
edy of Jerusalem, but it has been re-
peated thousand times since, and
Christian America has sometimes
been the location. They shut the
Temple doors lest pollution enter and
thes blood-lust be baked by Altar
asylum, but they shut out Paul's Lord
and the building could not survive the
shock. Nor will any human institu-
iInra L.