The Penn's Grove record., 1893-12-15
REV. DR.. NJ
THE BE"r'iLYN DIviNE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT.-"Inhur7ed."

! TEXT: "AHd as he j~ournryed he rat,s ne1
Damascus. and suddenly there shiaef rom
about han a light from heaCen. and he f.
10 The earth aud heard a poice sauna INT
at.n, Saul, Saul, sohy perse67iest thou Ne
And he said. Who art thou. Lord? And III
Lord said, / am Jesus ,rbOm thou perse
~cutest."-Aets tx, 50.
The Damascus Of Bible times still stands
with a population of 1876, OOO. 1t was a "a,
city Of white and glistening architecture, Id
minarets and creseents and domes playlni
with the light OF the morning sun emboW
cred in groves of olive and c!tron and oran1,
and pomegranate a famous river %p,uppl1,
its brightness into the scene q city by tn,
a~nclents styled 81 pearl surrounded by EN-,
eralds."
group OF horssnan are aivancin, upon
that city. Let the Christians of the Mace
hide, for that cavalc tide coming over the
hills is made up OF prosecutors their leader
small and unattractive in some rnspec,s. AZ
leaders sometimes are Insignificant in per-
son-witness the Duke of Wellington AMI
Or. Archibald Alexander. Bat there is
something very intent in the eye of this
man OF tho text, and the horse he rides is
latherei with the foam of a long and Guick
travel of 13j miles. He urges on his Size |.
for those Christians must be captured an /
sileneed, AMI that religion Of the cross must
be annihilated.
Suddenly the horses shy or and plunge IN.
til the riders are precipitated. Freed from
the riders, the horses bound s~norting away.
You know that dumb animals, at the sight
of an eclipse, or an earthquake. or anvthipy
like a supernatural appearance. sometimes
become very uncomfortable. Anew sun had
been kindled in the heavens, putting out the
glare of the ordinary sun. Christ. with the
glorles of heaven wrapped about Him,
looked out from q cloud, and the spiendor
was insufferable, and no wonder the horses
sprans and the equestrlans dropped.
Dust covered and bruised. Saul attempis to
get up, shading his eyes with his hands from
the severe luster ofthe heavens, uat unsucess-
fully, for he is struck stone blind us he cries
out, ..Who art thou, Lord?" and Jesus an
swered him 81 am the one You have been
chasing. He ttht whips and srourges those
Damascene Christians whips and scourges
Me-. 1t is not their back that il bleeding it
is Mine. II is not their heart that is break
ing it is Mine. 1 am Jesus whom thou per-
secutest."
From that will, exciting and overwhelm-
ing scene Their, rises up the greatest
preacher of all the lGas-Paul-in whose
behalf prisons were rookie down, before
whom soldiers turned pale. into whose hand
Mediterranean sea captains PUG control of
their shipwrecking craft, and whose epistles
dEt INT uNdhl tOulltI " "a IGSllltCAlOl lily.
l learn from this scene that a worldly fail
sometimes precedes II spiritual uplifting. A
man does not get much sympathy by failing
eli q Horse. People say he ought not to have
got into the saddle it he could not ride.
Those OF Us VIM were brought up in tho
oouIttry remember well how the workmen
laughed when. on our way Jack from the
brook. We suddenly lost our ride. When in II
grand review a general toppled from the
stirrups. it became q National merriment.
Here is Paul on horsback "a proud man,
riding on with Government documents in his
pocket. n graduate of q most famous school,
in which the celebrated DR.. Gamaliel had
beel a professor, perhaps having already at
tanned two of the Titles of the school
rab, the first rabbi, the second, and on the
way to rabbak. the third and highest title.
1 know from his temperament that his horse
was ahead of the other horses. But without
time 10 think OF what posture he should
take. Or without consideration for his dig
nifty. 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 apostle
ship. So it has been in all agas. and so It Is
now.
Yol viii never be wocth ma n TO- God aad
the chns:h until sou lo., your fortune. or
have yoI5 + apatation uissst, or in some way,
somehu :. are thrown and Inundated. You
must & ) own before you go up. Joseph
finds his path TO the Egyptian court through
the pit into which his brother threw him..
DAME would never have walked among the
bronzed lions that adorned the Blbylonish
throne if he had not first walked among the
real lions of the cave. n Paul marshals
all tho generations of Christendom by fall
ing fiat on his face on the road to Damascus.
Men who have been always p~rospered may
be efficient servants of the world, but will he
of no advantage to Christ, You may rid
~ ofaGf{na1Ix rau4aI nt, ans nhaHyar rain In
hand, foot in stirrup. but you will never be
worth anything spiritually until you fall Oh.
They who graduate from the school OF Christ
with the highest honor5 have on their diplo-
ma 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 perse-
cutting fire. In 900 cases out OF 1000 there is
no moral or spiritual elevation until there
has been q thorough worldly upsettiny.
Again, l learn from the SUBJECT that the
religion OF Christ Is not u pusillantmous
thing. People in this day try to make III She
lieye thar Christianity Is something for men
OF small caiiber, tor women with no capacity
to reason, for children in the infant class
under six years Of age, but not for staiwart
men. Look at this man OF the text DO you
not think that tho religion that could cap
ture such a MAI as that must have some
power in it2 He was a logiciaa he was .
metaphysician he was al all c~onquerine
orator he was a poet OF the highest type.
He a nature that could swamp the lead
ing men of his own day. and hurled against
the sanhedrin he made 1t tremble.
He learned all that he could get in the
school OF his native village then he had
gone 10 a higher school and there mastered
the Greek and the Hebrew and perfected
himself in bellies l%ettres, until in after years
he astonished the Cretans, and the Corinth-
ANS, and the Athenians by quotations from
their WI authors. l have never ouud1 any
thing in Carlyle or Gosth or Herbert Spencer
mai could compare in strength or beauty
with Panf5 epistles. / do not think there is
anything in the writings OF Sir William Ham
lton that shows such mental discipline as
you find in Paurs argument about jUstifca-
ton n the resurrection. | have not found
anything in Milton finer in the way OF imaS-
NATION than can Ind in Pauls Illustrations
drawn from the a~mphitheater.
There was nothing in Robert Emmett plead
ing for his life, or in Edmund Burke ar
ratgning Warren Hastings in Westminster
Hail, that compared with the scene In the
when, before robed officials, Paul
bowed m began his speech. saying, Il
think myself happy. King Agrippa, becsusC l
snail answer for myself this day" Irepeat
mat a religion thar can capture a man like
that must have some power in it. 1t is time
you stopped talking as though all the brain
N, ~ nOiiu Wete OppoSeu 10 chiu9,nth's'
where Paul leads, we can afford TO follow,
am glad to know that Christ has in the
different ages OF tile world had In His disei-
pleship a Mozart and a Handel in music, a
haphael and a Reynolds in painting. an An
gelo and, q Canova in sculpture, a Rush AMI
= Harvey In medicine, r GrOtius anda WASH
lngton In craftsmanship Il Blackstone, q
and a Kent In law. Aud the time
Will come when the religion of Christ Will
conquer all the observatories and universe"
lies, and philosophy will through her teie-
scope behold the morning star OF Jesus, ana
in her laboratory see 'that all things work
together for good, =" and with her geological
discover the Crock Of Ages.
Oh, instead OF covering and shivering
when the skeptic stands before you ana
talks OF religion asthough 1t were a pusuiani-
nous ~thsng-instead of that take your New
Testament from your pocket and show ninl
The picture of the Intellectual giant OF all the
ages Frustrated on the road to Damascus
while his horse is flying wildly away. Then
ask your skeptic what 1t was that frightened
the one and threw the other. oh, no, it IS
no weak gospel. 1t is a glorious gospel. IL
IS an all ~conquering gospel. 1t is an omnI;
potent gospel. 1t Is the power OF Goa ana
the wisdom Of God unto salvation.
Again, l learn from the text a man cannot
become a Christian unfit he is endorsed.
Ihe trouble Is, we wani to ride into The king