Milford chronicle., 1893-12-15
afford to follow.

I different ages of the world had IN his dis
cipleship a Mozart and a Handel in music
la Raphael and a Reynolds in painting; an
] Angelo and Canova in sculpture: a Rush
and Harvey in medicine; a Grotius and a
/ Washington in craftsmanship; a Black
stone, a Marshall and a Kent in law, and
/ the time will come when the religion oi
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
1 '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 80. wild
" away, then ask your skcptic what it was
that frightened the one and threw the other?
Oh, no, it is no weak gospel. It is a glo-
rious gospel It is an all conquering gos-
pei. Ii is an Omnipotent gospel. II is the
power of God and the wisdom Of God unto
salvation.
Again, learn from the text a man can
not become n Christian until he is unhOrsed
The trouble is, we want TO ride into the
kingdom of God just 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 Nokneeling down
at the altar, no sitting on anxious seats,
no crying over sin, no begging at the door
Of God s 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 dsmount.
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-
eleanr'-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 of that horse. Maya
light from the throne of God brighter than
the sun throw you'll Come down into the
dust and cry for pardon and life and heaven.
THE PROSECUTOR REDEEMED.
Again, learn from this scene Of the text
that the grace of God can overcome the per-
secutor. Christ and Paul We're 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 a sheriff goes, to arrest a man
against whom he had no spite, but Paul
was going down to arrest those people be
cause he was glad to arrest them. The
Bible says, He breathed out slaughter"
He wanted them captured, and he wanted
them butchered. / 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?
Yesi There is a voice from heaven like a
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 Saulp' That man was saved,
and he was a uersecutor. 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
/ pried open the 'inquisition" and let the
rotting wretches out. The ancient dun
geons around Rome are today mere euriosi-
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 6O,00O,0O0
sesterces, clapping her hands as the Chris
tians died under the paw and the tooth of
the liOn-that Coliseum is q 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 ceased? 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
treated?
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 be Chris
tian in the shop or factory or store when
his comrades jeer at him because he win |
not 90 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 prosecutors? They are no prouder, |
no fercer, no more set in their way than |
was this prosecutor Of the text. He fell |
They will fall if Christ from the heavens
2randly and gloriously look out on them.
God can by his grace make Renan be- |
ieve in the divinity of Jesus and a Tyndall |
in the worth of prayer. Robert Newton |
stamped the ships deck in derisive indigna-
lion at Christianity only little while be /
lore he became a Christian. "Out Of my |
house." said a 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 derisive opponent of the Christian 4
religion and address him not in glittering /
but, calling him by name:
John! Georgel Henry-Saul Saul, why /
lersecutest thOu?"
THE CHEF OF sINN"
Again, I learn from t4.- ---,sSt that /
here is hope for the worst offenders. 1t
vas particularly outrageous that Saul
,hould have gone to Damascus on that err
and. Jesus Christ had been dead only
hree years. and the story of his kindness,
md his generosity, and his lovefilled all the
,ir. 1t was not an old story as it is now.
t was a new story. Jesus had only three
ago been in these very places, and
Saul every day in Jerusalem must have met |
,eople who knew Christ, people with good
,yesiglt whom Jesus had cured of blind
less, people who were dead and who had
,een resurrected by the Saviour, and peo-
lie who could tell Paul all the particulars
# the crucifxion-just how Jesus looked
4 the last hour, just how the heavens
IL. 4
He heard that recited every day by people
Tho were acquainted with all the circum-
tanees, and yet in the fresh memory of that
800, .rr,r . - 4 fenf4,Iar