Milford chronicle., 1893-12-22
afford to follow.
THE WORLDS TALENT FOR CHRIST

different ages OF the world nau IN MS ais
Eipleship a Mozart and IA Handel in music;
a Raphael and a Reynolds in painting; an
I Angelo and Canova in sculpture; 3 Rush
ana Harvey in medicine; Grotius and a
| Washington in craftsmanship; Black
stone, Marshall and a Kent in law, and
the time will come when the religion OF
Christ will conquer all the observatories
and universities, and philosophy will,
through her telescope, behold 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 skeptic stands before you and
talks of religion as though it were pusil-
/ luminous thing-instead of that take your
New Testament from your pocket and
show him the picture Of the Intellectual
giant Of all the ages prostrated on the road
to Damascus while his horse is ayia4 Wild
~ away, then ask your skeptic what it was
that frightened the one and threw the otherS
Oh, no, it is no weak gospel. 1t is glo-
riOus gospel. It is an all conquering gOs-
pei. 1t is an omnipotent gospel. It is tho
power of God and the wisdom Of God unto
salvation.
Again, learn from the text man can
not become Christian until he is unhorsed.
The trouble is, we want to ride into the
kingdom of God iust as the knight rode
into castle gate on palfrey, beautifully ca
parisoned. We want to come into the king
dom 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 ia the pride of our
soul. No, we will never get into heaven
that way. We must dismOunt.
There is no knight errantry in religion,
no fringed trappings Of repentance, but an
utter prostration before God, going down
in the dust, with the cry "Unclean, un-
cleanr'-a bewailing of the soul, like David
from the belly of hell-a going down in the
dust until Christ shall by his grace lift us
up as he lifted Paul. Oh, proud hearted
hearer, you must get off that horse. May a
light from the throne Of God brighter than
the sun throw youl Come down into the
dust and cry for pardon and life and heaven.
THE PERsEcUToR REDEEMED.
Again, l learn. from this scene Of the text
that the grace of God can overcome the per-
secutor 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 Christs disciples arrested. He was
not going as a sheriff goes, to arrest a man
against whom he had no spite, but Paul
was going down to arrest those people he
cause he was glad to arrest them. The
Bible says, "He breathed out slaughter.
He wanted them captured, and he wanted
them butchered. l hear the click and
clash and clatter of the hoofs Of the gal
loping steeds on the way to Damascus.
Oh, do you think that proud man on
horseback can ever become a Christian?
Yesl There is a voice from heaven like a
thunderclap uttering two words, the second
word the same as the FIRST, but uttered with
more emphasis, so that the proud eques-
trian may have no doubt as to who is
meant: saul! Saul" That man was saved,
and he was n nersecutOr. And so God can
by his grace ercome any prosecutor. The
days of sword and fire for Christians seem
to have gone by. The bayonets of Napoleon
l pried open the ''inquisition" and let the
rotting wretches out The ancient dun
geons around Rome are today mere curiosi-
ties for the travellers.
The Coliseum, where wild beasts used to
suck up the life of the martyrs while the
emperor watched and Lola Paulina sat
with emerald adornments worth G0000, 600
sesterces, clapping her hands as the Chris
tians died under the paw and the tooth Of
the lion-that Coliseum is a ruin now. The
scene Of the Smithfield fires is a hay mar
ket. The day Of fire and sword for Chris
tians seems to have gone by, but has the
day Of persecution ceasedg No. Are you
not caricatured for your religion? In pro-
portion as you try to serve God and be
faithful to him are you not sometimes mall
treated2
That woman finds it hard to be a Chris
tian, as her husband talks and jeers while
she is trying TO say her prayers or read the
Bible. That daughter finds it hard to be
Christian with the whole family arrayed
against her-father, mother, brother and
sister making her the target of ridicule.
That young man finds it hard to beaChris-
tian in the shop or factory or store when
his comrades jeer at him because he will
not go to the gambling hell or other places
of iniquity. Oh, no, the days Of persecution
have not ceased, and will not until the end
of the world. But, oh, you prosecuted ones,
is it not time that you began to pray for
your persecutorsy They are no prouder,
no fiercer, no more set in their way than
was this prosecutor Of the text. He fell.
They will fall if Christ from the heavens
grandly and gloriously look out on them.
God can by his grace make Renan be
lieve in the divinity Of Jesus and Tyndall
in the worth Of prayer. Robert Newton
stamped the ship deck in derisive indigna-
ton at Christianity only little while be-
fore he became Christian. "Out of my
house. said father to his daughter 'if
YOU will keep praying" Yet before many
months passed the father knelt at the same
altar with the child and the Lord Jesus
Christ is willing to look out from heaven
upon that derisiye opponent OF the Christian
religion and address him not in giittering
generalities, but, calling him by name:
"Johnl Georgel Henry-Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou?'
THE CHIEF OF SINNERS.
Again, l learn from this subject that
there is hope for the worst offenders. II
was particularly outrageous that Saul
should have gone to Damascus on that er-
rand. Jesus Christ had been dead only
three years, and the story of his kindness.
and his generosity, and his love filledall the
air. It was not an old story as it is now.
It was a new story. Jesus bad only three
summers ago been in these very places, ana
Saul every day in Jerusalem must have met
people who knew Christ, people with good
evesight whom Jesus had cured of blind
ness, people who We're dead and who had
been resurrected by the Saviour, and peo-
pie who could tell Paul all the particulars
of the crueifxion-iust how Jesus looked
in the last hour, just how the heavens
grew black 10 the face at the torture
He heard that recited every day by people
who were acquainted with all the circUm-
stances, and yet in the fresh memory of that
scene he goes to persecute Christ disciples,
impatient at the time it takes to feed the
horses at the inn, not pulling at the snafiie,
but riding with loose rein faster and faster
Oh, he was the chief Of sinnersl No out
break Of modesty when he said THAT. He
was a murderer. Hestood by when Stephen
died and helped in the execution of that
good man. When the rabble wanted to be