Evening star., 1923-09-01

Guizot has pointed out how Paul
i the Apostle carried civilization to
Europe. 1t is an appropriate lesson
for Labor Sunday. When the thought
of the world is focused upon the la
Dor problems of all lands we are to
study the career and character of the
great apostle to the gentiles, whose
missionary zeal planted the seeds of
modern civilization in Europe. Amer
lea recognized her debt to the cham
,, pion of liberty and civilization by
erecting statue to the great apostle
In the reading room of the Congress
sional Library. 1t was placed among
the worlds greatest men. We rec
ognized by this tribute his greatness
as Il missionary statesman church or
Sanlzer, thinker and theoIogian, and
because of our indebtedness, as a peo-
PIE, TO the influence and inspiration
lnat thls great spiritual leader has
exercised in the lives of men through
out the Christian centuries.
IN tracing the source of his great
ness we are brought face to face with
the treme ndous influence that his an
cestry' birthplace and citizenship
pidyed IN molding his career, fitting
MN for his work and making 1t Yos-
slble from a human standpoint for
faul TO leave his mark as master
builder of character, churches and
ciVlilzatlon upon men of his own and
all subsequent ages.
Paul was proud of his ancestry He
! giori"d i'll the fact that he was "a
member of the race of Israel and of
the tribe of Benjamin, 1t Hebrew
sprung from the Hebrews He tells
us that on the eighth day he was cir
cumScribed according to the require
ments of the law. He was consccrat-
! ed for the service Of God, so. from his
| earliest days, he looked forward to be-
coming rabbi. He was son of a
Pharisee: This meant that he was ed
ucated IN the fundamentals of the
Jewish faith. His parents would see
10 1t that he was trained to live as
they did. according to the strictest
| sect of their faith. His home training
was supplemented by instruction in
the House of the Book" as the ele-
mentary school of the synagogue was
called. Although his education was
distinctly religious, he probably was
Taught Hebrew, the language of the
old Testament. He learned the law
ny heart. He gave ii such passion
ATE devotion that he claimed. later in
! ilte, he had lived more Zealously than
most persons of his age for the ira
ditions of the fathers.
faul was born and reared in a
Gree k-speaking city of the Roman
4
birthplace, for he tells US that it was
! no mean city" Its location had en-
aDIed IarsuS to win place in com
merce. Greek culture and athletics
/ 1t had Roman shipyards. to which
came galleys, men-of-war and mer-
chantmen-a majority of which had
! been built of the timber from the near
| by forests-soldiers and men from
everywhere. In it's streets he learned
! Greek and Latin, which may have
been supplemented by courses in the
great university of the city The
! lnhuence of TarSus helped to fit him
/ 10 be the champion of Christianity
among the gentiles and the teacher
! or a civilization which has nodded
modern times and made US debtors
Dean Howson, without exhausting the
list, names thirty different references
J TO athletics in Pauls epistles. Jews
! mated these naked sports, because
! they counted them obscene.
Christians hated them. because they
thought them cruel" He caught. as
boy in Tarsus, the love of the
great games as. every American lad
! has caught the love of base ball.
! Twenty miles north of his native
! CITY were mountains that were in
! tested with robbers, whose brigand-
| age made them "a terror to the whole
! Cilician plain" Possibly this made
! the soldiers of Rome popular in Tar
! sus, and with Paul. whose references
! to the militia show his high re-
! gard for the Roman army. His
| reveal the influence of those early
! days when Paul learned the folly
! of their "Sophists," whom he despiseTi
although probably he picked up in
! his native city some of the many wise
sayings of the Greeks, which he used