Milford chronicle., 1893-12-15

Valley Of Humiliation Before Preach
ing.
BIRMINGHAM. Ala. Dec 10. - Rev. DR.
Talmage, who lectured in this city yester
day, having spoken during the week Al
Nashville, Memphis and other cities
preached here this forenoon to a large audi
rnce under the auspices of the Baptist
shurch, The subject was, 'Unhorsed, " anC
the text chosen was Acts tx, 3-5: "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, WhOait thou, Lord? And the Lord
said, am Jesus whom thou persecutest." "
The Damascus of Bible times still stands
with a population of $4,000. 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; a famous river
plunging its brightness into the scene; q
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 per-
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 long and quick
travel of 135 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, OF an earthquake, or
anything like a supernatural appearance,
sometimes become very uncomfortable. A
new sun had been kindled in the heavens,
putting out the glare Of the ordinary sun.
Christ, with the glories of heaven wrapped
about him, looked out from a cloud, and
/ the splendor was insufferable, and no won
4 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
unsuceessfully, 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
I Bcourges those Damascene Christians whips
and scourges me. 1t is not their back that
is bleeding-it is mine. It is not their heart
that is breaking-it is mine. am Jesus
whom thou persecutest"
HE FELL TO RISE AGAIN.
From rtvflI awoitincr and 10 Inn
| ing scene there rises up the greatest preach
er of all 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 a resurrection day.
I learn from this scene that aworldly fall
sometimes pfecedes a spiritual uplifting.
IA 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
mp 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-
fiment.
Here is Paul on proud man,
riding on with government documents in
his pocket, a graduate of most famous
school, in which the celebrated DR.. CANA
liel had been professor, perhaps havingal-
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. l know from his 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
brose 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 humiliated,
You must 60 down before you 60 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 of
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 stirrRp, 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
5ion's muddy paw, or the plash of an an
CRY wave, or the drop of a stray tear or the
brown seorch of a prosecuting fire, In 800
cases out of ], 900 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