Evening star., 1939-04-29

Troas, the port of Troy, and have
shared, in a lesser degree. the scholar
Pauls interest in the scene of the
Homeric story.
have never read or heard any
mention of the fact that this mis-
sionary, Paul. had a good time on
his adventurous travels. He was not
going about as a sight-seer, but he
saw all the sights and enjoyed them
with cultivated mans appreciation.
When was starting out on my first
trip around the world, to investigate
foreign missions for a syndicate of
newspapers, DR.. Henry van Dyke
said to me, You will see, incidentally
to your work, more of the sights of
the world than those who travel
merely for sightseeing" That wise
word proved wonderfully true. So
Paul, in sursuit of his mission, came
into contact with all that led men to
travel for information and pleasure.
A Pioneering Principle.
Some ay-at-homes would call
Paul a restless man. He was. Ever
in his deepest heart burned the de-
sire to press on, to move out. to ex-
pand. to explore, to pioneer. The
Gospel was his ambition. burning
ceaselessly in his spirit. 1t even gov
erned his dreams at night.
This explains Pauls vision of the
man of Macedonia, crying Come
over into Macedonia and help U.S."
That figure was only figment of a
dream. There was no real man call
ing for help. Nobody in Macedonia
was asking for the Gospel. But they
needed it, and Paul understood their
need better than they did themselves.
The heather do not usually want
Christianity: but their needs are
deeper than their desires. What Paul
found, when he reached Europe, was
not a beckoning man, butt a little
company Of devout women praying
by the riverside.
Here we come to great principle,
exemplified in Paul's life. His was
an outreaching spirit. And that
same spirit always marks the church
at its best. BY its very genius, Chris
tianity is going" concern. Where
it is not missionary, it is moribund.
AS one said. at an early meeting
of the American Board, in answer
to the objection that America had
not sufficient religion to export. THE
peculiar nature of Christianity is
that the more you export abroad,
the more you have at home" Thirty
ing congregations are those which
are maintaining missions and Sum
day schools outside the confines of
their own parishes, and that are
sending their own members out into
definite Christian work. This is ur-
gently time to put Pauls Go" into
the churches.
First there must be the vision:
"Where there is no vision, the peo-
pie perish" Anointed eyes are a
primary Christian need. To glimpse
the highest, and then to follow it to
the farthest; that is the Pauline
program. Over and over again. in
reciting the story of his conversion,
he wrote: Il was not disobedient to
the heavenly vision"
When I am dead
May this with truth be said,
On the rude stone that marks my
lowly head,
That, spite of doubt and indecision,
In spite of weakness, lameness,
blindness,
Hearts treachery and fate's un-
kindness,
Neglect of friends and scorn of foes,
Stark poverty and all its woes,
The body's ills that cloud the mind
And the bold spirit bind
Still through my course I went,
Not disobedient
Unto the Heavenly Vision.
Harry Koopman.
The Sunday school lesson for April
30 is paul Crosses Into Europe