Evening star., 1925-07-18

| | thew, iV.10.
Ramsay includes the countries of
caonia in a general way with what
/ Luke calls the religion of Phrygia
and Galatia," which would include the
| territory covered by Paul and Barna-
bas in our lessons for last week and
| today. The letter to the Galatians
was written to the converts won for
! Christ upon the first missionary
| journey when the apostles, which title
| is given to both of the missionaries
| in this weeks study, covered the chief
cities of Antioch. Iconium, Lystra
and Derbe.
One can easily discover in this les
! son something of the missionary task,
! tact and tenaCity of purpose with
which Paul and Barnabas carried on
| their work during their first mission
! airy journey, that covered over 400
miles and required probably close on
! to two years. They did not seek to
cover the territory with the rapidity
/ of sightseers, but stayed long enough
! in every center to establish the work
| of Christ before moving on to other
! places. The apostles were dependent
themselves during the days that they
! pushed their work of preaching in the
| strategic centers, where they had
sought to plant the banner of the
cross, without the support of abun-
| dance of funds and the aid of steam
! ships, automobiles and railroads to
| help make their missionary work
comfortable and successful.
When, as a result of bitter persecu-
/ 4 To-, Il
| of Pisidia they turned to the luxu-
rious garden city of. Iconium. after
shaking off from their feet the dust
of the dry and sunburnt road in
| token of Gods judgment upon wilful
unbelievers." They adopted the same
methods of preaching Christ as at the
| neighboring city of Antioch, with
similar results. They found an open
ing for the presentation of the Lord
| Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles in
the synagogue until the town was di-
vided and they had to flee TO save
their lives. One can well understand
the Jewish opposition, for it is doubt
| full if in all history any class of
people have been called upon to give
up more upon becoming Christians
! than was required of the Jews of
that period. For them to accept the
gospel involved the admission that
Judaism had fulfilled its mission, and
It's institutions must now be placed
upon another basis, and they were
called upon to share their peculiar
privileges with all the world. The
fanaticism of the gentle converts was
| responsible for stirring up the an
| tagonism that forced the missionaries
to flee from Iconium into the new
regions of Lycaonia, filed with pagan
! darkness.
Ministry of Healing.
Paul recognized that the great cen
terS of heatheniSm presented a chal.
| lenge that must be answered by help
! ing them to solve their grave social
problems with the aid of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Paul faced for the
first time a primitive pagan popula'
ton. The old heather faith appeared
to have been passed down from gen.
Grafton to generation, free from the
influences of either Greeks or Romans
Lystra appears to have had no Syna'
gogue, so Paul preached in the market
place. Among the eager hearers OF
the preaching Of the apostle was a
cripple, whose helpless condition anG
evidence of faith attracted Paul, who
determined to heal him. The record
made by Luke, the beloved physician
of the first cure of a pagan proved
that the cripple was not a fake mendi
cant, but a genuine case. whose com
plete cure was proven by his leapine
up at once and continuing to walk il
compliance with Pauls command.
The cure of the cripple proved con
clusively to Paul that God was calling
him to preach the gospel to tht
heather. Its effect upon the pagaT
crowd was similar to the results oh
tanned by our missionaries in healing
the thousands of heather patients an
uually at our hospitals and dispense
ries. Medical work opens shut door.
for the entrance of the gospel. The
heather understands the benevolen
deed. 1t speaks TO them Of God as the
cure of the cripple did to the rude
and primitive people of Lystra. They
saw in 1t the power Of their local del
ties whom they believed had visited
their city. The sincerity Of the people
and the priests can be seen in the, way
that they prepared to honor the
apostles. as Jupiter and Mercury, by
appropriate religious. ceremonies anC
sacrifice They had inferred tha
Barnabas was the leading deity by hi!
/ attitude Of silence and that Paul Wa.