Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-12-21

: strength or beauty with Paul's Epistles.
do not think there Is anything u the
writings of Sir William Hamilton thai
shows such mental discipline as you
/ lind in PaCls argument about iustif-
/ cation and the resurrection have
not found anythingin Milton finer in
the way Of Imagination than can
find in ST. paurs Illustrations
! drawn from the a:nphitheater.
| There was nothing in Robert Em:net
| pleading for his life. or in Edmund
7 Burke arr -.igning Warren Hastings in
! Westminster hall, that compared with
/ the scene in the court room. when be-
/ fore rObed officials Paul bowed and be-
! gan his speech, saying: Il think NV
self happy. King Agrippa, because I
/ snail answer for myself this day" | re-
| peat, that religion that can capture a
! man like that must have some power
| in it. 1t is time Won stopped talking
! as though all the brain OF the world
were opposed to Christianity. Where
| Paul leads. we can afford to fol-
! low. l am glad to know that
/ Christ has IN the different ages of the
world had in His discipleship Mozart
and = Handel in music: a Raphael and
Reynolds in painting; an Angelo and
a CanOva in sculpture: a Rush and a
Harvey in medicine: Grotius and a
Washington in statesnanship: a Black
stone, a Marshall and Kent in law:
and the time will come when the re-
ligion Of Christ will conquer all the OBJ
servatories and universities, and phi
losophy will through her telescope be-
hold the morning star of Jesus. and
in her laboratory see that all things
work together for good" and with
her geological hammer discover the
Rock Of Ages" Oh. instead of
covering and shivering when the sl1ep-
tic stands before YOU and talks religion
as though it were a puSillanlm0us thing
instead of that, take your Testament
from your pocket and show him 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 it was that frightened the one
and threw the other. Oh, no: it is 10
weak Gospel. 1t is a glorious Gospel
1t is an all-conquering Gospel. II is
an omnipOtent Gospel. It is the power
of God and the Widom Of God unto sal
walton.
Again, I learn from the text a man
can not become Christian until he is
endorsed. The trouble is, we want to
ride into the kingdom of God, just as
the knight rode into the castle gate on
palfrey, beautifully caparisoned. We
want to come into the kingdom of God
in fine style. No kneeling down at
the altar, no sitting on anxious seats"
no crying over sin; no begging
at the door of Gods mercy.
Clear the road, and let us come in all
prancing in the pride of our soul. No,
we will never get into Heaven that
way. We must dismount. There is
no l1night-errantry in religion, no
fr1nged trappings of repentance, but
an utter prostration before God. go
ing down in the dust with the cry:
"Unclean, unclean.''-a bewailing OF
the soul, like David from the belly of
hell-a going down in the dust, until
Christ by His grace lifts us up as He
lifted Paul Oh, proud-hearted hear,
er, you must get off that horse. May
a light from the throne of God bright
er than the sun throw you. Come
down into the dust and cry for pardon,
and life, and Heaven.
Again, l learn from this scene Of the
text that the grace of God can over
come the prosecutor. Christ and Paul
were boys at the same time in different
villages, and Paul's antipathy to Christ
was increasing. He hated everything
! about Christ. He was going down
then with writs in his pockets to have
| Christ's disciples arrested. He was not
| going as sheriff goes, to arrest Il man
against whom he had no spite, but
| Paul was going down to arrest those
| people because he was glad to arrest
| them. The Bible says: ''IIe breathed
out slaughter. He wanted them cap
tured. and he wanted them butchercd.
! / hear the click and clash and clatter
of the hoofs of the galloping steeds on
to Damascus. Oh. do you think that
| proud man on horseback can ever be
come a Christian? Yes, there is d
voice from Heaven like thunder-clap
uttering two words, the second the
same as the first, but uttered with
! more emphasis, SO that the proud
| equestrian may have no doubt as
| to who is meant: Saul! Sauln
| That man was saved. and he
was prosecutor; and so God can by II is
| grace overcome any prosecutor. The
days Of sword and fire for Christians
seem to have gone by. The bayoneters
! of Napoleon l. pried open the ''Inqui-
sition'' and let the rotting wretches
out The ancient dungeons around
Rome are to-day mere curiosities for
the travellers. The Coliseum, where
wild beasts used to suck up the life of
the martys while the emperor wa tched
| and Lola Paulina sat with emerald
! adornments worth sixty million SEES
! terces, clapping her hands as the Chris
tians died under the paw and the tooth
| of the ion-that Coliseum is a ruin now.
| The scene of the Smithfield fire is a
! hay market. The day of fire and
sword for Christians seems to have gone
| by; but has the day of persecution
ceased? No. Are you not caricatured
for your religion? In proportion as
you try to serve God and be faithful to
! Him, are you not sometimes NAL
| treated? That woman finds 1T hard to
! be Christian, as her husband talks
and jeers while she is trying to say her
prayers or read the Bible. That daugh-
| ter finds it hard to be a Christian
with the whole family ar
rayed against her-father, moth