ECCENTRIC by J. O. C.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 31, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 34.

ECCENTRIC

By J. O. C.

WHEN Paul was before Festus, he was interrupted in his testimony on Christian lines with the charge, "Paul, thou art beside thyself." Paul was an "eccentric" in the eyes of his opposer.

But what is an eccentric? — It is a wheel which does not turn in the same circle with other wheels. Its motion is different from that of the regular set of wheels, because it describes a changing curve, unlike any ordinary line of a mathematician. It is therefore called an eccentric.

It was so with Paul. His center was to one side of himself. It was distinct from him, and also from the world's center.

Christianity having a peculiar center of its own, different from the moving circles of human policy, it is therefore an eccentricity. The center of Christianity is with God; and because of being hidden from worldly scrutiny, those who have the genuine article are, like the divine Saviour and His ardent follower Paul, said to be beside themselves. That is, they are accounted mad. Would that many more of the present time were truly in the same class! J. O. C.