Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-12-11

=
catored for your religionY In proportior
asyou try to serve God and be faithfn'
10 MN, are you not sometimes NAL
treated2
mat woman finds it hard to be a Chris
tan as her husband talks and ieer,
while she is trying to say her prayers OF
read the Bible. That daughter finds il
nard to be a Christian with the whole
family arrayed against her - father
mother, brother and sister making he,
the target of ridicule. That young man
finds it hard to be a Christian in the
shop or factory or store when his com
rades Jeer at him because he will not &c
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 tc
pray for your persecutorsP They are nc
prouder, no fiercer, no more set in their
way than was this prosecutor of the text.
He fell. They will fall if Christ from
the heavens grandly and gloriously looks
out on them. God can by his grace
make Renan believe in the divinity Of
Jesus and Tyndall in the worth OF
prayer.
Robert Newton stamped the ships
deck in derisive indignation at Chris.
tianity only little while before he be.
came Christian. "Out of my house, "
said 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 Chris.
tian religion and address him, not in
glittering generalties, but calling him
by name: John! George! HenryI-
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou meT'
HOPE FOR THE WORST.
Again, learn from this subject that
there is hope for the worst offenders. 1t
was particularly outrageous that Saul
should have gone to Damascus on that
errand. Jesus Christ had been dead only
three years, and the story of his kindness,
and his generosity, and his love filled all
the air. 1t was not an old story, as it is
now. It was new story. Jesus had
only three summers ago been in these
very places, and Saul every day in Jeru-
salem must have met people who knew
Christ, people with good eyesight whom
Jesus had cured of blindness, people
who had been dead and who had been
resurrected by the Saviour, and people
who could tell Paul all the particulars Of
the crucifxion-just how Jesus looked in
the last hour, just how the heavens grew
black in the face at the torture.
He heard that recited every day by
people who were acquainted with all the
circumstances, and yet in thefresh mem
ory of that scene he goes to persecute
Christ's disciples, impatient at the time
it takes to feed the horses at the inn, not
pulling at the snaffle, but riding with
loose rein faster and faster. Oh, he was
the chief of sinnersl 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 Steph-
en- and wanted to take off their coats,
but did not dare to lay them down lest
they be stolen, Paul said, ''I'll take care
of the coats" and they put them down
at the feet of Paul, and he watched the
coats. and he watched the horrid man
Cling of glorious Stephen. Is it wonder
that when he fell from the horse he did
not break his neck-that his foot did not
catch somewhere in the trappings Of the
saddle, and he was not dragged and kicked
to death? He deserved to die miserably,
wretchedly and forever, Notwithstanding
all his metaphysics, and his eloquence,
and his logic.
THE CHIEF OF SINNERS.
He was the chief of sinners. He said
what was true when he said that. And
vet the grace of God saved him, and SO
it will you. If there is any man in this
bouse who thinks he is too bad to be
saved and says, 81 have wandered very
grievously from God; do not believe
there is any hope for me" | tell you the
story of this man in the text who was
hrought to Jesus Christ in spite OF his
sins and opposition. There may be some
here who are as stoutly opposed to Christ
as Paul was. There may be some here
who are captive of their sins as much 50
as the young man who said in regard 70
his dissipating habits: 81 will keep on
with them. know / am breaking my
mothers heart, and ! know am killing
myself, and l know that when l die
shall 20 to hell, but it is now too late TO
STOP"
The steed on which you ride may Dc
swifter and stronger and higher mettled
than that on which the Cilician perse'
cntor rode, but Christ can catch II py
tbs bride and hurl it back and huri II
down. There is mercy for you VINO say
Won are too bad to be saved. You say
Won have put off the matter SO long
Paul had neglected it a great while while
You say that the sin you have comm. t
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