Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-03-17
MOMENTOUS TRIPLES.
REV. Or. TALMAcE breaches AN IN
TeREsTiNG SERMON IN MOBILE.

TERGS ling SEhmON IN MObile.
"Unappreciated Services" Taken as tho
Subject of the Text--Little Things OF
Great Misunderstanding Is Insignificant.
The Escape In Basket.
MOBILE, March 11.-Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage, D. D., who is now visiting the
south, selected as the subject of today's
sermon "Unappreciated Services, the
text being taken from II Corinthians xi,
SO, Through window, in basket. was
let down by the wall"
Damascus is q city of white and glis-
tening architecture sometimes called
''the eye of the east" sometimes called
"a pearl surrounded by emeralds, at enc
time distinguished for swords of the best
material, called Damascus blades. and
upholstery of richest fabric, called dam
asks.
A horseman of Tie name Of Paul. rid
ing toward this city, had been thrown
from the saddle. The horse had dropped
under a fash from the sky, which at the
same time was so bright it blinded the
rider for many days, and ] think so per-
manently injured his eyesight that this
defect of vision became the thorn in the
flesh he afterward speaks Of He started
for Damascus to butcher Christians, but
after that hard fail from his horse he
was changed man and preached Christ
in Damascus till the city was shaken to
its foundation.
CRY or THE MOB.
The mayor gives authority for his ar
rest, and the popular cry is. Kill him.
Kill himI' The city is surrounded by
high wall, and the gates are watched by
the police lest the Cilician preacher es-
cape. Many Of the houses are built on
the wall, and their balconies projected
clear over and lowered above the gar
dens outside. 1t was customary to
lower baskets out of these balconies
and pull up fruits and flowers from the
gardens. To this day visitors at the
monastery Of Mount Sinai are lifted and
let down in baskets.
Detectives prowled around from house
to house looking for Paul, but bis friends
hid him, now i'll one place, now in an
other He is no coward as 80 incidents
in his life demonstrate. But he feels his
work is not done yet, and SO he evades
assassination. SIS that preacher hereY
the foaming mob shout at one house
door. us that fanatic here" the police
shout at another house door. Sometimes
on the street incognito he passes through
a crowd of clinched fists, and sometimes
he secretes himself on the housetops. At
last the Infatuated populace get on sure
track of him.
They have positive evidence that he is
in the house Of one Of the Christians, the
balcony of whose home reaches over the
wall. Here he isl Here he isl" The vo-
ciferation and blasphemy and bowling
of the pursuers are at the front door.
They break in. Fetch out that gospel
izer and let MS hang his head on the city
gate Where is her" The emergency was
terrible. Providentially there was good
stout basket in the house. Paul's friends
fasten a rope to the basket. Paul steps
into it. The basket is lifted to the edge
of the balcony on the wall and then
while Paul holds on 10 the rope with both
hands his friends lower away, carefully
and cautiously, slowly, but surely, far
ther down and farther down, until the
basket strikes the earth and the apostle
steps ont, and afoot and alone starts on
that famous missionary tour, the story
ofwhich has astonished earth and heaven.
Appropriate entry in Paul's diary of trav-
els, Through window, in a basket, was
let down by the wall"
SLENDER THREADS.
Observe first on what slender tenure
great results hang. Theropemaker who
twisted that cord fastened to that lower
ing basket never knew how much would
depend on the strength of it. How if it
bad been broken, and the apostles life
had been dashed out? What would have
become Of the Christian church? All
that magnificent missionary work in
b. Pamphylia, Capadocia, Galatia, Mace
donia, would never have been accom-
plished. All his writings that make up
so indispensable and enchanting part
of the New Testament would never have
been written The story of resurrection
would never have been.so gloriously told
as he told it. That example of heroic
and triumphant endurance at Philippi,
in the Mediterranean euroclydon, under
| fiagellation and at his beheading would
not have kindled the courage of 10000
.martyrdoms. But the rope holding that
basket, how much depended ca i'll So
again and again great results have hung
on what seemed slender circumstances.
/ Did ever.ship Of many thousand tons
| crossing the sea have such important pas
senger as had once a boat Of leaves, from
taffrail to stern only three or four feet,
the vessel made waterproof by a coat of
bitumen and floating on the Nile with
/ the infant lawgiver of the Jews on board?
What if some crocodile should crunch it?
| What if some Of the cattle wading in
for drink should sink it? Vessels Of
war sometimes carry 40 guns locking
through the portfolios, ready to open bat
! tie. Bat that tiny craft on the Nile
seems to be armed with all the guns Of
thunder that bombarded Sinai at the
I lawgiving. On how fragile craft sailed
how much Of historical importance!
The parsonage at Epworth. England,
is on fire in the night, and the father
rushed through the hallway for the res
cue of his children. Seven children are
ont and safe on the ground, but one re-
mains in the consuming building. That
one wakes, and finding his bed ON fire
and the building crumbling. comes to
the window. and two peasants make
ladder Of their bodies, one peasant stand
ing on the shoulder of the other, and
Gown the human ladder the boy de-
I scends-John Wesley. If you would
know how much depended on that lad
der of peasants ask the millions of Meth
odists on both sides of the sea. Ask their
mission stations all round the world
Ask the hundreds of thousands already
assembled to join their founder, WHO