The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-12-29
BY WILLIAM E. GILROY, D. D

~ when We are looking toward
the past and reviewing the years
experiences there could be no bet
ter theme for study than the re-
view of the life of Paul.
If we can look back over our own
experiences in the light Of his ex
perience and can find some impulse
to improve our lives, we shall find
the best possible means of meeting
the new year. But the greatest ele-
ment in that is the positive inSpira-
ton that we may find in the cour-
age and determination with which
Paul viewed his past and ever
turned from it to look to the fu-
ture.
Paul had in his past life, as all
Of us have had in ours, some things
that he would greatly have wished
to alter. He had the consciousness
Of always having been sincere and
honest in his motives, but his heart
had not always been open to the
influences Of kindness and love,
and his very honesty and intensity
had made him a prosecutor.
Our Own Past
Probably most of us cannot look
upon the past with such a good
conscience. We know that In addi-
ton to our ignorance and our I'M
enlightenment there has been gross
folly and weakness, of which we
can be only ashamed. But might
We not very well adopt PauIs motto
Of progress? Forgetting the things
that are behind press toward the
mark of the prize of my high call
ing which is the God in Christ
Jesus"
1t is a very human story that we
are reviewing in the life of Paul.
His courage and his power of en-
durance mark him almost as a
superman, and his ultimate influ-
ence in history places him among
the most powerful men who have
lived. But the greatness of Paul
10 CSONAAbAA4AJ Vic 6ACdOAlCOO Va a
man. In every phase of his life it is
the human quality that is empha-
sized and magnified.
He was pre-eminently great be-
cause simple verities and virtues SO
supremely dominated his soul; and
if he had immense abilities, greater
than everything else in him was
this dominance of his life with
spiritual passion. He stands in his
tory as the example of what man
may be in whose character and
career love and graciousness have
been permitted to dominate in every
way.
Strength in Weakness
If there is one clear strong
teaching that comes from Paul's
life, it is the teaching that he re-
peatedly emphasized-that strength
may be made perfect in weakness
that God may take the weak things
of the world to confound the things
that are mighty, and that he may
use the things that are not to bring
70 naught the things that are.
No verse, perhaps, in all that Paul
wrote better expresses the full
sweep of his faith in the gospel as
power for human life than his
declaration that "if any man be in
| Christ he is a new creature; old
things have passed away; behold all
things have become new" Paul, w
are inclined to believe, would have
laid much emphasis upon the word
ANY"
The power of God was not in his
thought something that reached it;
greatest manifestation in those who
were of worldly greatness. He
thought of it rather as a great force
of which even ordinary men might
become the medium.
It was this faith in the gospel
that made Paul so democratic i'll
his outlook and in his religious
activities. He was as ready to
preach the gospel to the slave as
to the master, to the common SOL
der as to the centurion because
he believed that God was no re-
specter of persons, and that God
could choose the lowly for the &C
complishment of his highest ends.
Democracy
We live in an age that is IA
miliar with democratic conceptions.
Here in America, particularly, we
are wont to say that one man is as
good as another We are so familiar
with this democratic idea that we
are apt to forget that in the broad
reach of the worlds history it is
a very late idea and one that has
never had much expression either
in theory or in practice; or if it has
had rather definite expression in the
past, it has been in a very limited
way as a mere glimmering OF hope
that too often was Snuffed out by
darkness and the arbitrary power
of those who feared the light.
1t is all the more remarkable,
therefore, to find Paul 1900 years
ago affirming in the most definite
way that God is no respecter of per-
sons. 1t is a profound tribute to
Paul that we judge him almost en-
tirely by our modern standards, and
it is a revelation of his greatness
that in so many things he thorough
ly stands the test.