Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1842-01-20
.nlorol ou0 3}GItoiolls.


II ever there was an II Mill, ely subject of con.
version to the Christian faith, it was Saul Of Tar
sus-- His education, his habits his prospects, bis
ardent and active zeal against Christians, his
powerful intellect, his pride. his very conscience,
all under the influence of wrong Impression.
dered his perseverance in Judaism morally
tain, and the idea of his change, in the eyes of
thinking men, perfectly chimerica Satan him
self seemed not less likely to becolae an apostle,
than this fierce aud intrepid jew Hts active
spirit, and implacable malignty, BREATHING out
reateningS and slaughter against the dis cipies of
The Lord, would, if permitted to take its course,
have 'made sh ,rt work with the dssenters'' from
the order established at Jerusalem would have
crushed the infant church and scarcely left
materials for one paragraph to the general histor
an. But the Lord Jesus had other views for his
church, and ether employment for the persecu-
tor In the height of his in the very act Of
executing the bloody commission of the high
priest when surrounded by armed men to en-
force ordcrs--at mid day-on the public road-near
aceebraled clty--a burst of glory from the face of
jesus Christ eclpses the brightness of the sun an
IN visible power smites him and all ofhis company
TO the earth; and voice. the authority of which
made HIM feel that his Creator was speaking, ad-
dresses to him those memorable words Saul,
Saul 1rhy perSecuteSt thou me = The high priest,
the SahheIrn, the nation whose hopes al centre
IN him his character, his commission, are forgot
Ten IN an instant. Men have no leisure for any
thing else, when they conscious that G4d is
speaking. IVho art thou Lord? exclaimed the
stonished and trembling prosecutor / an, Jesus
answers the heavenly voice, / am Jesus, ,chom
thou percWest. Lori, replies he, every DISPOSE ton
toreavll or tamper, being perfectly subdued, Lord,
,chat wiH thou hare me to do ? .drise and go into
the city, and ii shall be toll Mee uhat thou must do.
Gentle as Il lamb, the high-spirited and erociIus
Saul obeys the mandate. Smi,tenl blind by the
light which shone around him, he is led by the
hand into Damascus where he remained three days
,ciihoM Ii sht, and neither ate nor dranh Under
such tutelaae as no other man ever enjoyed, he
passes through the process of conviction and
neutrality-suspicious. the second brth-has
new heart put within hm-s instructed in the
mysteries of the kngdom--is furnished with all
81 IT'S and yraces-is taught the service which he
is to perform, and sulerings which he is to en-
dure and comes firth not q Wht behind the
chiefest apostles, and straighway breaches Christ
in the synagog ies Mut he is the Son Of Goi
Five and twenty years had he tried the service Of
Christ, VIXEN he pennod his epistIc to Timothy,
proving by turns, and sometimes all together, the
hoaors, the victories. the disappontmen:s, the
pains, sorrows, Of his apostIeship, Al this very
moment he was martyr to the truth, and suffer
ing unheari-of things for the word ofhis tcsti'ro-
ny. Yet he utters compliant his tone is firm
and cheerful: it is ,hevoice of salvation froa, the
belly ofbN. an not ashamed, says he, for
haotc in whom Ihare 5eiieyed, md an persuaded
that he is obie 10 heep t4ot ctich hare COMMITTEE
unto him. against Hat 2ay DR.. Mason,