Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-12-16
rHr. nErop,lEp TRANSFORMED.

THE DEFORMED ItiiNor OiNAlI0s
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
nut control of their slipwrecking craft,
and whose epistles are the avant courier
Of resurrection day.
I learn from this scene that a worldly
fall sometimes precedes a spiritual up
lifting. a man does not get much SYM
pathy by falling off 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 merriment.
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 tumoled
into the dust. And yet that was the best
ride Paul ever took. Out of that vio-
lent fall ne arose into the apostleship.
So it has been in all ages, and soft is now.
PURIFIED DY 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 go down be-
fore 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
bronzed lions t.at 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 fat 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 d ton's muddy paw,
or the plash of an angry wave, or the
drop of a stray tear, or the brown scorch
Of a prosecuting fire. In 500 cases cut
of 1000 there is no moral or spiritual
elevation until there ba; been thorough
worldly upsetting.
THE BRAVE CHRISTIANS.
Again, learn from the subject that
the religion of Christ is not a pusillan-
imous thing People in this day try to
make us believe that Christianity is some
thing for men of email caliber. for won1-
en- with no capacity to reason, for chill
dren in the infant class under,6 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
tr,re such a man as that must have some
power in it? He was -logician; he was
D metaphysician; he was an all conquer
ing orator; he was poet of the highest
type. He had anature that could swamp
the leading men of his own day, and