The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-12-15


looked out from cloud, and the splen-
dor was insuiferable, and no wonder
the horses sprang and the equestrians
dropped.
Dust covered and bruised, Saul at
tempts to get up, shading his eyes with
his hands from the severe luster of the
heavens, but unsuccessfully, for he is
struck stone blind as he cries out, "Who
art thou, Lord?' and Jesus answered him:
81 am the one you have been chasing.
He that whips and scourges those Dam
ascene Christians whips and scourges
me. 1t is not their back that is bleeding;
it is mine. 1t is not their heart that is
breaking; it is mine. am Jesus whom
thou persecutest.
THE DEFoRMED TRANSFORMED.
From that wild, exciting and over
whelming scene there rises up the great
est preacher of all the ages-Paul-in
whose behalf prisons were rocked down,
before whom soldiers turned pale, into
whose hand Mediterranean sea captains
put control of their shipwrecking craft,
and whose epistles are the avant courier
of resurrection day.
learn from this scene that worldly
fall sometimes precedes a spiritual up
lifting. A man does not get much sym
pathy by falling oft a 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 remem-
Der well how the workmen laughed
when, on our way back from the brook,
we suddenly lost our ride. When in
grand review general toppled from the
stirrups, it became national merrhment.
Here is Paul on horseback-a proud
man, riding on with government docu-
ments in his pocket, a graduate of amost
famous school, in which the celebrated
DR.. Gamaliel had been professor, per-
haps having already 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 temperament that his
horse was ahead of the other horses.
But without time to think of what pos
ture 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 VIC
lent fall he arose into the apostleship.
So it has been in all ages, and soft is now.
PURIFIED BY SUFFERING.
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 Inundated. You must goodwin be-
fore you 90 up. Joseph finds his path to
the Egyptian court through the pit into
which his brothers threw him. Daniel
would never have walked among the
bronzed lions that adorned the Babylon
ish throne if he had not first walked
among 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 charger, rein in hand, foot in stir
rup, but you will never be worth any
thing spiritually until you fall off. They
| who graduate from the school of Christ
| with the highest honors have on their
| diploma the seal of lions muddy paw,
or the plash of an angry wave, or the
| drop of a stray tear, or the brown scorch
of prosecuting fire. In 500 cases out
! of 1000 there is no moral or spiritual
elevation until there has been thorough
worldly upsetting.
THE BRAVE CHRISTIANS.
Again, learn from the subject that
the religion Of Christ is not pusillan-
imc: 3 thing. People in this day try 70
make US believe that Christianity is some
thing for men of small caliber. for wom-
en- with no capacity to reason, for chill
dren in tho infant class under years
OF 2ge, bnt not for stalwart men. Look
at this man Of the text! Do you not
think that the religion that could cap
fure such man as that must have some
power in il? He was logician; he was
a lrttaphysician; he was an all conquer
ing orator; he was n poet of the highest
| type. He had a nature that could swamp
the leading mon of his own day, and
hurled against the sanhedrin he made
it tremhle.
He learned all that ke could get in the
school of his native village; then he had
gone TO higher school and there mas
tered the Greek and the Hebrew and
perfected himself in bellies lettres, until
in after years he astonished the Cretans,
! and the Corinthians, and the Athenians
by quotations from their own authors. /
have never fonud anything in Carlyle or
Goeth or Herbert Spencer that could
| commrein strength or beauty with Paul's
ep;dies Ido not think there is anything
in the writings Of Sir William Hamilton
that shows such mental discipline as you