Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-13

Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, and he is on
| the broad Syrian desert. Damascus is yonder
before hiIn. Il is midday. ALI nature is
| still The sua is at the very top of the tir-
manent He is urging his way onward that
| tonight he may resi- amidst the plantations,
! the urcns..o.S, and the vineyards O1 DsIaas-
! Gus. ard with to.Tnorrow's coming he is. to
use the vivid expression OF the story. to
/ breathe out threatening and slaughter And
| suddenly the young man falls, as if stricken
| by an arrow or club-he falls ana lays IN
| the dust The joints of his loins, like the
| old Babylonish King, unloose, and his knees
srnite one against another He lies In the
| dust. and those who are with him in his reti-
nue are also PROSTATE on the ground. They
recover more speedily than he; he arises and
| finds that he is blind. And SO. with relaxed
| frame and staggering step, he is led by the
hands of his attendants to Damascus, and
| through three days and nights ne sits, as you
nav well believe, railing upon the very verge
| of madness.
T address men-all thoughtful men and
women especially-all men and women who
are troubled with the doubts of this time =;
| doubts suggested by our current education
| and our current literature doubts wnIch afe
broadcast aud deep-seated here in your Call
! fornia-I address you seriously, and ask what
| is the explanation Of this phenomens-sne
| fall of this youth IN the Syrian desert, aud
! all the strange consequences that ensued from
| this fall! There are three theories possible,
| and one or the other must be the explanation
| of this phenomena, and OF the wonderful
| change which took place il this man. Was
it a sunstroke and therefore ensuing disease
! a form of catalepsy or epilepsy, involving
! alteration and hallucinatl0n! was all or
| his after-life and the character which he
| showed through the subsequent thirty years
| the production of abnormal action! That Is
one theory Another: Was 1t mt OF IN
| posture: was he playing a part, chariatan,
| 2 ouaek? There are two. There is just one
| other possible. and think no man who adj
| dresses himself 30 this investigation can sum.
mon no another 1t was either imposture or
delusion, it was either quackcry OF self lmpo-
| sition. or it was what he says it was. he
| SAYS. at midday l saw in the way light
| from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
! sbi-,ing round about me and them which jour
neyed with me. And when we We're all
fallen to the earth l heard voice speaking
unto me- and saying IN the Hebrew tongue
| Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou NE l..
| IS hard for thee 60 kick against the pricks.
And I said WHO art thou, L0rd?' And
| he said: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But rise and stand upon thy feet; for nave
appeared unto thee for this purpose to make
thee a minister and witness botn OF THESE
things which thou hast seen, and OF those
thioes in the which will appear unto thee !;
delivering thee from the people, and from the
Gentiles unto whom now L send Ghee To open
their ewes, and to turn them from darkness to
LIGHT. and from the power OF Satan unto GOD,
tbat thev NAV receive forgiveness of siBs, aud
Inheritance among them which are sancti-
FED by faith that is in me- That Is bis ex-
PLANTATION of the phenomena, and L think 1t Is
matter which closely relates itself TO the
present and future well being of every man,
woman and child before Ire In this house to-
night a matter of supreme interest, to de-
termine which of these three theories gives us
an adequate solution of the phenomena, and
of the consequences of the phenomena. Three
DAYS after, the man whom ne mad seen IN She
vision came to him and laid his hands upon
his head. and in tender and sympathetic
tones said unto him s. Brother Saul, receive
4hv siyht :" and the scales fell from his eyes,
and he arose and received holy baptism in the
name of him whom he had prescribed and
condemned as Jewish peasant, as Galllean
impostor: he received holy baptism in the
name which he had obliged men and women
to blaspheme at Jerusalem in the name
which he had come to Damascus to compel
men and women to blaspheme again. And
such change as now takes place mat
proud. irascibe, naughty, self-conhdent.
1-NA@S'
becomes the most tender, gentle and patient !;
the most submissive long suffering, self'post-
poning man to be found in history. None OF
| his magnificent powers are paralyzed or VIII
ated. His power OF reasoning, his eloquence,
his energy. his devotion, his capacity of mind
il not diminished But his genius is in
creased, and the lofty tones OF his voice have
been sounding these 1,S00 years, and only
gather volume as the ages go on. There at
hon oil
the coasts of Judes, and then to the Gentiles
he goes ;.
| have spoken of his devotion to his people.
That sublime patriotism which characterized
him he never lost the love of his race he never
lost. his sensibility of the good opinion Of his
peonle he never lost; and yet, through the
thirty wears then ensuing, it is the case almost
always when he. comes into synagogue, when
he comes within a city, into any district or
region Of the Roman Empire. when his coun'
! trymen ind he is come they begin with dark
cred faces, and gnashing teeth, and flashing
owes. and clenched fists, to breathe out their
| curse against him" Recreant, apostate,
| troitor!" Five times, as he tells US, he re-
! ceived at the hands Of his Jewish countrymen
| forty stripes upon his uncovered back, and
| everv stripe drew blood-forty stripes save
one. In many and many city all through
| Asia Minor and upon the main land of Eu.
rope, they incite the populace against him.
| they stimulate the Roman MAGISTRATES against
| him. This man, yearning with ineffahle ten
| derness. hungering with unspeakable longing
| for the approval and the appreciation of his
| countrymen, is everywhere met by them with
darkened countenances and crashing teeth
.sVraitor, apostate, recreant! Ready to
murder him and feel as he had felt when
Stephen was put to deatE-that they were
| doing God Justice. Thirty years of such per-
| secation. Think of the steadfastness, the
constancy, the resolution think OF the I'M
| shaken frmness and magnificent devotion,
and tell me if any man here, however brave,
however lofty-if any man here holds himself
| competent to such q test as that? And here
| he came into the great courts of the holy
| temple itself and desired to do religious ser
| vice there. His countrymen, even In Gods
! holy house. rush upon him in the frenzy of
| their rage. and are about to commit murder
! even in the courts of Gods house, and he Is
only saved from their bloody hands by Ro
man guard, who rushes into the Enclosure of
the temple. For thirty years that is the kind
| of q reception he meets with at the hands OF
his countrymen that is the kind of treat
ment he receives at the hands of his country
meni Not only in Judea, but in Damascus,
where his conversion was first known, they
| lie in wait for him to put him to death. They
| guard the gates well, and he is let down over
| the wall and makes his escape. He is a
| scholar. he has all the fine sensibllities of a
| gentleman. he has all the exquisite apprecia-
| ton of culture there are no traces In the
whole record of biography or history which
betoken man of more perfect more sem
sitive and more exquisite organization than
this man. He was in some way poet, and
| an orator, and gentleman, with touch of
the woman and the child in his organization
| And now he comes in his many wanderings
! to Athens, that metropolis of the student,
| that capital of the scholar, to which every
| cultured man and woman has made pilgrim
! aee-that ancient seat of literature and art,
| the traces of which we now regard with I'M
covered head and reverential awe. Its every
| street and thoroughfare was dedicated by the
| beauties of architecture, of sculpture
| and of painting. It was there where
| Zeno walked and talked; it was there
| that Aristotle was wont to hold high dis
/ course with his students it was the home of
| Epicurus and Plato it was there that De-
| mosthenes aud all the great orators of old
stood and addressed the fierce Democracy.
He, greatest of them all, comes to Athens,
and you see him surrounded by these exquis-
itely moulded men of whom | have spoken.
whose business was to hear and tell some
| thing new and they see this diminutive
| Asiatic stranger, who does not speak faultless
Greek, and doubtless the imperfection in his
accent as in his idiom awakens their interest
the more They see this Asiatic stranger,
nevertheless, who gives token of his great
powers, and they would fain hear what he
has to say, for be seems to be setter forth OF
/ j.. 10 &c, IL ~, he