The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-12-27
j REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Unhorsed.''

TEXT: "I9sd as he jorTneyed ke rGn,e ned,
Damascus, o,ll saddea!y there ShiHe1 To'tn1
about min, 2ight from, hcaren, dnd ne Jen
TO the earth aud heGrJ rotce Saying arato
him. Saul, Saul. acby pe'secutest thou ne
An6 he said, Who art taou. Lore: Ana me
Lord said, I d'n Jesus rhons mon perse-
cutest."--Ac.s tx, 3-5.
The Damascus of Bible times still stands.
with a population of $4,000. 1t was gay
city of white and glisteninc architecture, its
minarets and crescents and domes playing
with the light OF the morning sun; embow-
cred in groves OF olive and citron and orange
and pomegranate: famous river plung1ne
its brightness into the scene; city by the
ancents styled "a pearl surrounded by en-
eraIds."
A group CT horsemeu are advancing upon
that city Let the Christians OF the place
hide. for that cavalcade coming over the
hills is made up of ersecutors ; their leader
small and rnattractive 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 ne rides Is
Iathered with the foam of long and quick
travel of 1S5 miles. He urges on his steed,
for those Christians must be captured anu
silenced, and that religion OF the cross must
be annihiiated.
Suddenly the horses shy off and plunge IN
til the riders are precipitated. Freed from
the riders. the horses bound snorting away.
You know that dumb animals. at the sight
of an eclipse, or an earthquake, or anything
like q supernatural appearance. sometimes
become very uncomfortable. Anew 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 ort from a cloud. and the splendor
was insuiferable, and no wonder the horses
sprang aud 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 unsucess.
fully, tor he is struck stone blind as he cries
out, .'Who art thou, Lord?" and Jesus an.
swered him; "I am the one you have been
chasing. He that whips and scourges those
Damascene Christians whips and scourges
Me. 1t is not their back that is bleeding !; 1t
Is Mine. I. is not their heart that is break
ing: it is Mine. am Jesus whom thou per-
secutest.'
Fromthat wild, exciting and overwhelm.
ing scene there rises up the greatest
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 sh:pwrecking craft. and whose epistles
are the arant courier of resurrection day.
learn from this scene that worldly fall
sometimes precedes spiritual uplifting.
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 up In the
country remember we'll how the workmen
laughed when. cn our way back from the
brook, we suddenly lost our ride. When in
grand review @ general toppled from the
stirrups, it became n National merriment.
Here is Paul on horsback-a proud man,
riding ca with Government documents in his
pocket. u graduate OF most famous school,
In which the celebrated DR.. Gamaliel had
been n professor, perhaps having already at
tained two of the throe titles OF the school
rab. the first rabbi, the second, and on the
way to -abbak. the third and highest title.
I know from his temperament that his horse
was ahead OF the other horses. But without
time 10 think OF what posture he should
take, OF without consideration for his dig.
nifty. he is tumbled into the dust. And yet
that was the best ride Paul ever took. Out
of that violent fall he arose into the apostle
ship. SO it has been in all ages, and 80 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 so down before you go 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
bronzsi lions that adorned the Babylonlsh
throne if he had not first walked among the
real lions OF the cave. And Paul marshals
all the generations Of Christendom BY fall
ing fla: oa his face on the road to. Damascus.
Men vho 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 stirrup. but you will never be
worth anything spiritually until you fall OIL.
They wno graduate from the school OF Christ
with the highest honors have on their diplo-
ma the seal Of a lions muddy paw, or the
plasn o; an angry wave. o, the drop of
stray :ea-. or the brown scorch Of a perse.
cutting fire. In 900 cases out Of 1000 there Is
no NOR ii or spiritual elevation until there
has besn thorough worldly upsetting.
4 Again. learn from the subject that the
religion OF Christ is not pusi!lanimous
thins. People in this day try TO make US be
Ieve that Christianity Is something for men
o. small caliber, for women with no capacity
to reason, for children in the infant class
under six years Of age, but not for stalwart
men. Look at this man Of the text Do you
not think that the religion that could cap
ture such a man as that must have some
power in it? He was logician he was
.metaphysician he was an all conquering
orator he was a poet OF the highest type.
He had nature that could swamp the lead.
ing men Of his own day. and hurled against
the sanhedrin he made 1t tremble.
He learned all that he could get in the
school os his native village then he had
gone to higher school and there mastered
the Creek and the Hebrew and perfected
himself in bellies lettres, until in after years
he asto onished the Cretans, and the Corinth-
ians, and the Athenians by quotations from
their own authors. have never found any
thing in Carlyle or Gosth or Herbert Spencer
that could compare in strength or beauty
with Paul's epistles. do not think there is
anything in the writings OF Sir William Ham,
ilton that shows such mental discipline as
you find in Paul's argument about justifica-
tion and the resurrection. have not found
anything in Milton finer in the way Of imag-
ination than can find in Paul'S illustrations
drawn from the amphitheater.
Thera was nothingin Robert Emmet plead
ing for his life, or in Edmund Burke ar
raigning Warren Hastings in Westminster
Hall that compared with the scene in tho
courtroom when. before robed officials, Paul
bowed and began his speech, saying, 81
think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I
shall answer for myself this day" repeat
that religion that can capture man like
that must have some power in it. 1t is time
you stopped talking as though oil the brain
Of the world were opposed to Christianity.
Where Paul leads, we can afford to follow.
am glad to know that Christ has in the
different ages OF the world had in His disci-
pleship Mozart and a Handel in music,
Raphael and Reynolds in painting, IN An
gelo and a Canova in sculpture, 4 Rush ana
q Harvey in medicine. a Grotius anda Wash
ingtoi in craftsmanship Blackstone, q
Marshall and Kent in law. Aud the time