Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-12-14
PAUL'S CONVERSION.
bR. TALMAeE FINDS LESSONS IN THE
PERsEcuToR's EXPERIENCE.

Oroer 20 hlse Again. 20 Go through the
Valley Of sHumiIiation Before Preach
ing.
!. BIRMINGHAM. Ala. Dec. 10 = Rev. Dr.
Talmage, who lectured in this city yester-
day, having spoken during the week at
Nashville, Memphis and other cities,
preached here this forenoon to large audi
ence under the auspices of the Baptist
church. The subject was, "Unhorsed, )" and
the text chosen was Acts tx, 3-5: "And as
he journeyed he came near Damascus, and
suddenly there shined round about him q
light from heaven, and he fell to the earth
and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou mel And he
said, Who art thou, Lordf And the Lord
said, am Jesus whom thou persecutest."
The Damascus Of Bible times still stands,
with population of 135000. 1t was a gay
city of white and glistening architecture,
its minarets and crescents and domes play
ing with the light of the morning sun; en-
powered in groves Of olive and citron and
orange and pomegranate; famous river
plunging it's brightness into the scene; a
city by the ancients styled "a pearl sur
rounded by emeralds."
A group of horsemen are advancing upon
that city. Let the Christians of the place
hide, for that cavalcade coming over the
hills is made up of prosecutors, their leader
small and unattractive in some respects, as
leaders sometimes are insignificant in pee
son-witness the Duke of Wellington and
DR.. 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 1876 miles. He urges on his steed,
for those Christians must be captured and
silenced, and that religion 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 snorting
away. You know that dumb animals at
the sight of an eclipse or an earthquake, or
anything like supernatural appearance,
sometimes become very uncomfortable. A
new sun had been kindled in the heavens,
putting out the glare Of the ordinary SUM-
Christ, with the glories of heaven wrapped
about him, looked out from cloud, and
the splendor was insufferable, and no Won
der the horses sprang and the equestrians
dropped.
Dust covered and bruised, Saul attempts
to get up, shading his eyes with his hands
from the severe luster of the heavens, but
unsuccessfully, for he is struck stone blind
she cries out, "Who art thou, Lord?" And
Jesus answered him: II am the one you
have been chasing. He that whips and
scourges those Damascene Christians whips
and scourges me. 1t is not their back that
is bleeding-it is mine. 1t is not their heart
hot sa = sa 7
whom thou persecutest."
HE FELL TO RISE AGAIN.
From that wild, exciting and overwhelm-
ing scene there rises up the greatest preach
erofall the ages-Paul, in whose behalf pris-
ons were rocked down, before whom sol
diers turned pale, into whose hand Medi-
terranean sea captains put control Of their
shipwrecking craft, and whose epistles are
the avant courier of resurrection day.
/ learn from this scene that aworldly fall
sometimes precedes a spiritual uplifting.
A man does not get much sympathy by
falling off horse. People say he ought
not to have got into the saddle if he could
not ride. Those of US who were brought
up in the country remember well how the
workmen laughed when, on our way back
from the brook, we suddenly lost our ride.
When in a grand review general toppled
from the stirrups, it became national mer-
riment.
Here is Paul on horseback-ap proud man,
riding on with government documents in
his pocket, a graduate Of a most famous
school, in which the celebrated DIR. Cana.
iel had been professor, perhaps having al
ready 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 I know from mis- tempera-
ment that his horse was ahead of the other
horses But without time to think Of what
posture he should take, or without consid.
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 it has been
in all ages, and SO it is now.
You will never be worth much for God
and the church until you lose your fortune
or have your reputation upset, or in some
way, somehow, are thrown and huEiliated
You must go down before you go up Jo
seph 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 o.
Christendom by falling fiat on his face on
the road to Damascus.
Men who have been always prospered
may be efficient servants of the world, but
will be of no advantage to Christ. You
may ride majestically seated on your char.
ger, 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 hon.
ors have on their diploma the seal of a
lions muddy paw, or the plash of an an.
CRY wave, or the drop of stray tear, or the
brown scorch of prosecuting fire. In 999
cases out of 1000 there is no moral or spir.
itual elevation until there has been thor.
ough worldly upsetting.
BRAVE MEN FOR CHRIST.
Again, learn from the subject that the
religion of Christ is not pusillanimous
thing People in this dav try to make us
believe that Christianity is something for
men of small caliber, for women with nc
capacity to reason, for children in the infant
class under 6 years of age, but not for stal.
wart 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 metaphysician; he was an all con
quering orator; he was apoet Of the highest
type He had a nature that could swamp
the leading men of his own day, and hurled
against the sanhedrin he made it tremble.
He learned all he could get in the school
of his native village; then he had gone to a
higher school, and there mastered the
Greek and the Hebrew and perfected him.
self in bellies lettres, until in after years he
astonished the Cretans, and the Corin-
thians, and the Athenians, by quotations
from their own authors. / have never
fnnnd ANYTHING in CARLYLE or Goethe OF
Mr.. J. P Biaize, an extensive rea
estate dealer In Des Moines, Iowa, mar
rowly escaped one of the severest at