The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-12-22

Again. / learn from this subject that
there is hope for the worst offenders.
1t was rticularly outrageous that
Saul should have gone to Damascus ON
that errand. Jesus Christ had only
been dead three years. and the story of
His kindness and His generosity and
! His love filed all the air 1t was not
an old story as it is now. IL was new
| story. Jesus had only three summers
ago been in these very places, and Saul
every dav iDeJerusalem must have met
people who knew Christ, people
with good eyesight whom Jesus
had cured of blindness. people who
were dead and who had been resur-
rected BY the Saviour. and people who
could tell Paul all the particu-
| lars of the crucifxion-just how
Jesus looked in the last hour-iust how
the heavens grew black in the face at
the torture He heard that recited
every day by people who were acquaint-
! ed with I'll the circumstances, and yet
| in the fresh memory of that scene he
goes to persecute Christ's disciples, inn
patient at the time it takes to feed the
horses at the inn. not pulling at the
snaffie. but riding with loose rein, faster
and faster. Oh. he was the chief of
sinners. No outbreak of modesty when
he said that He was a murderer. He
stood by when Stephen died and helped
| in the execution of that good man.
When the rabble wanted to be unim-
peded in their work of destroying
Stephen and wanted to take off their
coats but did not dare to lay them
down lest they be stolen, Paul said:
| "Ill take care of the coats" and
they pat them down at the feet of Paul
| and he watched the coats, and he
watched the horrid mangling of glorious
Stephen. Is it wonder that when he
/ fell from the horse he did not break
1 his neck-that his foot did not catch
somewhere in the trappings of the sad
die and he was not dragged and kicked
| to death? He deserved to die misera-
! bly,, wretchedlv and forever. notwith-
standing all his metaphysics aud his
eloquence and his logic. He was the
chief of sinners. He said what was
/ true when he said that. And yet the
/ grace of God saved him. and so it will
you If there is any man in this house
who thinks he is too bad to be saved.
and saws: Il have wandered very
/ grievously from God. do not believe
/ there is any hope for me- | tell y.Ju
| the story of this man in the text who
was brought to Jesus Christ in spite
of his sins and opposition There
NAV be some here who are as
stoutly opposed to Christ as Paul WAS
| There may be some here who are capt
i've of their sins as much SO as the young
man who said. in regard to his dissipat-
| ing habits. II will keep on with them
| know l am breaking my mothers
heart. and | know that when die
shall go to hell, but it is now too late
to stop"
The steed on which you ride ma : be
swifter. and stronger. and higher-Inet-
tied than that on which the Gill ian
prosecutor rode. but Christ can catch 1t
by the bride. and hurl it back and
| hurl it down. There is mercy foe you
who say you are too bad to be Sd ved.
You say you have put off the matter SO
| long. Paul had neglected it a great
while. You say that the sin you have
committed has been amidst the most
aggravating circumstances. ThaS was
so with Paul's. You say YOU have
exasperated Christ and coaxed your
own ruin So did Paul. And yet he
| sits to-day on one of the highest Of the
/ heavenly thrones: and there is mercy
| for you and good days for you, and
gladness for you. if you will only take
the same Christ which rst threw him
down and then raised him up. 1t
seems to me as if can see Paul to-day
rising up from the highway to Damas-
| Gus and brushing the sweat Of excite
ment from his brow. as he turns to us
and all the ages, saying: This is a
! faithful saying, and worth of all accep-
tation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. of whom | am
| chief"
Once more: / learn from this sub
| ject that there is a tremendous reality
in religion. II it had been a mere op-
teal delusion on the road to Damascus,
| was not Paul the man 10 find it out?
| IF it had been a sham aud pretens 3,
would he not have pricked the bubble?
| He was man of facts and arguments,
/ of the most gigantic intellectual ma
/ ture. and not a man of Authorizations.
/ And when see him fail from the sad
/ die blinded and overwhelmed, | say
/ there must have been something in it
And. my dear brother. you will find
that there is something in religion
somewhere. The only question is,
/ where?
There was a man who rode from
/ Stamford to London. ninety-fve miles
in five hours, on horseback Very
| swift There was woman OF New
market who rode on horseback thou
sand miles in thousand hours Very
swift But there are those here, ay, all
/ of Us. are speeding on at ten-fold that
velocity, at thousand-fold that rate,
toward eternity. May Almighty God.
! from the opening heavens. fash upon
your soul this hour the question OF
your eternal destiny, and oh that
Jesus would this hour overcome You
with his pardoning mercy, as he stands
I here with the pathos of q broken heart
and sobs into your ear: II have come
for thee. l come with My back raw
/ from the beating. l come with My
/ feet mangled with the nails l come
with Ny brow aching from the twisted
/ bramble. come with Ny heart burst
/ ing for your woes 1 can stand it no
I longer. am Jesus whom thou perse-
cutest-"
Velocity of the Earth's Rotation
Everybody knows that the earth
makes one complete revolution on its
axis once every twenty-four hours