The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-12-13


the week at Nashville Memphis and
other cities, preached here this forenoon
10 a large audience under the auspices
of the baptist church. The subject was,
endorsed" and the text chosen was
Acts tx. So: And as he journeyed he
came near Damascus. and suddenly
there shined round about him a light
from heaven, and he fell to the earth
and heard a voice saying unto him.
Saul. Saul. why persecutest thou me?
And he said who art thou. Lord? And
the Lord said. 1 am Jesus whom you
persecutest."
The Damascus OF bible times still
stands. with population of $4,000. 1t
was a gay city of white and glistening
architecture. its minaTets and crescents
and domes playing with the light OF the
morning sun; embOwered in groves Of
olive and citron and orange and pome-
granite; a famous river plunging its
brightness into the scene; a city by the
ancients styled "a pearl surrounded by
emeralds"
\ group of horsemen are advancing
upon that city Let the Christians Of
the place hide. for that cavalcade COM
ing over the hills is made up of
prosecutors, their leader small and un-
attractive in some respects. as leaders
sometimes are insignificant in person
witness the duke of Wellington and DIR.
Archibald Alexander But there is
something very intent in the eye Of this
man Of. the text, and the horse he rides
is lathered with the foam of a long
and quick travel Of 135 miles He urges
ii srr--.
be captured and silenced, and that re-
igiOn Of the cross must be annihilated.
Suddenly the horses shy off and plunge
until the riders are precipitated. Freed
from the riders. the horses bound snort
ing away. You know that dumb
animals at the sight Of an eclipse, or an
earthquake. or anything like a super
natural appearance, sometimes become
very uncOntrOllable. \ new sun had
been kindled in the heavens, putting out
the glare of the ordinary sun. Christ
with the glOTies of heaven wrapped
about him. looked from a cloud and the
splendor was insufferable, and no won
der the horses sprang and the equest-
rians dropped
Dust covered and bruised, Saul at
tempts to get up. shading his eyes with
his hands from the severe luster of the
heavens, but unSuccessfully, for he is
struck stone blind as he cries out, Who
art thou. LOrd?" And Jesus answered
him: Il am the one you have been
chasing. He that whips and scourges
those Damascene Christians whips ana
scourges me. 1t is not their back that il
bleeding-it is mine 1t is not their
heart that is brealSing-it is mine. / am
Jesus whom thou persecutest."
He Fell to Rise Agnfn.
From that wild exciting and over
whelming scene there rises up the great
est preacher of all the ages-Paul in
whose behalf prisons We're rocked down,
before whom soldiers turned pale. into
whose hand Mediterranean sea captains
put control OF their shipwrecking craft.
and whose epistIes are the avant courier
of resurrection day.
1 learn from this scene that a worldly
fall sometimes precedeS a spiritual up
lifting. A man does not get much SYM
pathy by falling of a horse. People say
he ought not to have got into the saddle
II he could not ride. Those Of us who
We're brought up in the country remem-
Der we'll how the wOrkmen laughed
when, on our way back from the brook
We suddenly lost our ride. When in a
grand review a general toppled from the
stirrups, it became national merri-
ment.
Here is Paul on horseback proud
man. riding on with government docu-
ments in his pocket d graduate Of a
most famous school, in which the cele-
brated DR.. Gamaliel had been a pro-
fessor. perhaps having already attained
two Of the three titles OF the school
rab. the first; rabbi. the second. and on
his way to rabbak the third and highest
title. l know from his temperament that
his horse was ahead of the other horses.
But without time TO think of what pos
L IL.
Grafton for his dignity, he is tumbled
into the dust and yet that was the best
ride Paul ever took. Out Of that violent
fall he arose into the apOstleship. So
il has been in all ages, and so il is now.
You will never be worth much for
God and the church until you lose your
fortune. or have your reputa ton upset.
or in some way, somehow, are thrown
and Inundated. You must go down be-
fore you go up Joseph finds his path
TO the Egyptian court through the pit
into which his brothers threw him.
Daniel would never have walked amid
the bronzed lions that adorned the
BabylOnish throne if he had not first
walked amid the real lions Of the cave.
And Paul marshals all the generations of
Christendom by falling fiat on his face
on the road to Damascus.
Men who have always prospered
may be efficient servants of the world.
but Will be OF no advantage TO Christ.
You may ride maJestically seated on
your charger, rein in hand, foot in
stirrup, but you will never be worth
anything spiritually until you fall off.
They who graduate from the school of
Christ with the highest honors have
on their diploma the seal of a lions
muddy paw, or the plash Of an angry
wave, or the drop Of a stray tear. or the
brown scorch Of a prosecuting fire. In
9e9 cases out OF 1000 there is no moral
or spiritual elevation until there has
been a thorough worldly upsetting.
Brave Men for Christ.
Again. 1 learn from the subject that
the religion of Christ is not a pusillani-
nous thing People in this day try to
make us believe that Christianity is
something for men of small caliber, for
women with no capacity to reason. for
children in the infant class under six
years Of age, but not for stalwart men.
Look at this man Of the text Do YOU
not think that the religion that could
capture such a man as that must have
some power in It? He was logician;
he was a metaphysician; he was an all
conquering orator; he was a poet of the
highest type. He had a nature that
could swamp the leading men of his
own day, and hurled against the san
hedrin he made IL tremble.
He learned all he could get In the
school Of his native village: then he had
gone to a higher school, and there mas
tered the Greek and the Hebrew and
perfected himself in bellies lettres. until
I'm after years ne astOnished the Cretans,
and the Corinthians. and the Athenians.
by quotations from their own aRhors.
] have never found anything i'm &rlvle
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