Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1894-01-06

while his nors, is fyirg wildly away. Then
ask your skepsic wha; ii was that frightened
the one and threw the other. On. no. e IS
no weak gospel. II is a glorious gospel. II
is an all eonqu-ring gospel. II Is an ona.-
/ potent gospel. I; i. the power of God AMI
The wisdom ri God unto salvation
Again. | lsaFn from the ter, : man cannot
b.conA a CHRISTIAN altii he is endorsed.
The trouble is. We want &c nde into the king
dom orGod jus: As the knight rode into castle
gate on p~alfrey. beautifully caparisoned. We
want TO come mot the kingdom o. God in fine
style. No kneeling down at the altar. no
sitting on anxious seats. no crying over
sin. no begging nj the door OF Gods mercy.
| Clear the road and ie, Us come in all pranc-
in in the pride OF our soul. No. We will
| never get into heaven that way.a We must
dismoanf,
There Is no knight errantry ID religion. nc
| fringed~ trarpings If repentance, hut an
| utter pTostration tefore God. a going down
| in the dust. with the cry. ..Unelean. un-
| clean "a hew siiing Of the soul. like David
| from the belly Of heli-a going down in the
| dust until Christ shall by His grace lift US up
as He lifted Paul. Oh. proud hearted
| hearer, YOU must get of that horse. May q
light from the throne of God brighter than
the sun throw you Come down into the
dust and cry for parton and lifa and heaven:
Again. J learn 'fom this scene Of the text
that the grace Of God can overcome the per-
secutof. Christ and Paul were boys at the
same time in different villages, and pauls
antipathy TO Chris. was increasing. He
hated everything about Christ. He was go
ing down then with writs in his pockets to
have Chr.sts disciples arrested. He was not
going as a sheriff goes to arrest 4 man against
whom he mad no spite, but Paul was going
down to arrest those people because he was
glad TO arrest them.
The Bible says, He breathei out slaugh-
ter He wanted them captured, and he
wanted them butchered. | hear the click,
and clash and CHATTER of the hoofs Of the gal
looping steeds on the way to Damascus. Oh,
do you think that proud man on horseback
can ever become d ChristianS Yes There
is a voice from heaven like q thunderchp
uttering two words, the second word the
same rs the first, but uttered with more en-
phasis. 90 that the proud equestrian may have
no doubt AS to whom Is meant :i''Saul Saul y
That man was saved, and he was a persecu-
tor, and SO God can, by His grace, overcome
any prosecutor.
The days Of sword and fire for Chri s,ians
seem to have gone by. The bayonets OF
Napoleon l. pried open the ''induisition"
and let the rotting wretches out. The
ancient dungeons around Rome are to-day
mere curiosities for the travellers. The
Coliseum. where wild beasts used to suck
up the life o the martyrs while the emperor
watched and Lola Paulina sat with emerald
adornments worth 60. DOC. 900 sesterces, clap
ing her hands as the Christians died under
the paw and the tooth OF the lion-that Col
lseun Is a ruin now. The scene Of the
Smithfield fires is a haymarket. The day of
fire and sword for Christians seems to have
gone by. But has the day OF persecution
ceased? No. Are you not caricatured for
Your religion? In proportion as you try TO
serve God and be faithful to Him. are YOU
not sometimes maltreated?
That woman finds it hard to BET Christian
L mr. 49, ~ III - ~: Il
trying to say her prayers Or read the Bible.
That daughter finds it hard to be n Christian
with the whole family arrayed against her
father, mother. brother and sister making
her the target of rldicule. That young man
finds it hard to be a Christian In the shop or
factory or store when his comrades jeer Mt
him because he will not go 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 to pray for your perse-
cutors? They are no prouder, no f1ercer. no
more set in their way b wa this perse-
cutor of the text. He fell. They will fall II
Christ from the heavens grandly and glori-
ously looks out on them. God can by His
grace make a Renan believe in the divinity oil
Jesus and a Tyndall in the worth of prayer.
Robert Newton stamped the ship's deck in
derisive indignation at Christianity only 2
lltAlc WlA1S DclO2o Ae U6C%All6 d OuIlbIldl,
"Out of my house." said a father to his
daughter, ''f you will keep praying" Yet
before many months passed the father knel,
at the same altar with the child. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is willing to look out from
heaven upon that derisive opponent of tn.
Christian religion and address him. not il
giittering generalities. but calling him b,
name: "John! George! Henry Saul
Saul, why persecatest thou Me-"
Again, l learn from this subject that thert
is hope for the worst offenders. 1t was par
%ticularly outrageous that Saul should have
gone to Damascus an that eTrand. Jesu,
Christ had been dead only three years, ant
the story Of his kindness and his generosity
and his love filed all the air. It was not al
old story, as it is now 1t was a new story
Jesus had only three summers ago been il
these very places, and Saul every day il
Jerusalem must have met people who knev
Christ. people with good eyesight whom
Jesus had cured Of blindness. people VIII,
had been dead and who had been resu1recte,
by the Savior, and the people who could tel
Paul all the particulars of the crucif1xion-
just how Jesus looked In the last hour, jus
, how the heavens gDew black in the face n
the torture.
He heard that recited every day by people
who were acquainted with all the clrcum
stances. and yet in the fresh memory Of tina
> scene he goes to prosecute Christ's disciples
| impatient ut the time it takes TO feed tn
h0A<t' - - AaHs nv iN ~ N"S SAsAAi
but riding with loose rein faster and faster
. Oh. he was the chief Of sinners No outbrea
OF modesty when he said that. He was
n murderer. He stood by when Stephen die
= and helped in the execution of hat goo
man.
When the rahble wanted to be unirnpede
, in their work of destroying Stephen an
wanted to take off their coats, but did nc
q dare to lay them down lest they be stoler
+ Paul said. "Ill take care of the coats" an
i they put them down at the feet OF Paul, An
i he watched the coats. and he watched tn
: horrid mangling Of glorious Stephen. Is
: a wonder that when he fell from the horse b
II did not break his neck-that his foot did nc
catch somewhere in the %trappings of til
= saddle. and he was not dragged and kicke
Y TO death? He deserved to die miserahl,
IS wretchedly and forever. Notwithstanding a
his metaphysics, and his eloquence, and h
x logic.
= He was the chief of sinners. He said VIII
4 IVES true when he said that. And va. til
= grace OF God saved him.. and go 1t viii yot
= Itthere Is any man in this house who thin
he is too bad TO be saved and says,s'I ha,
J. wsnde-ej E"ry ~grieyously from God I 4
= aot believe t1ere Is any hope for me-" re
n vet TIE story ~ this man in the ,ext vho W.