The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1894-02-03
REALITY IN RELIGION.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Conversion of Paul.
a Worldly Fall sometimes the Forerunnel
of Spiritual Uplifting Hope
for All In the Unbound
ed Grace of God.

, | mlngnam, Ala., during his recent trl
south. The subject is ENDORSED" an
the text:
And as he journcyed he came near Damascus
, and suddenly there shined round about him
light from Heaven; and he fell to the eartl
and heard voice saying unto him: Saul Sau
| why persecutest thou me? And he said: VIII
art thou. Lordy And the Lord said: al
Jesus. whom thou persecutest. Acts, TX, s.
1 The Damascus of Bible times still
stands, with population of one hun
dred and thirty-five thousand. 1t wa
a gay city of white and glisterin,
architecture, its lninarets and ores
cents and domes playing with the ligh
OF the morning sun; empowered il
1 groves of olive, and citron, and orange
and pomegranate; a famous rive
plunging its brightness in the scene; i
city by the ancients styled a pear
surrounded by emeralds."
A group of horsemen are advancing
upon that city. Let the Christians O.
the place hide. for that cavalcade com
ing over the hills is made up of perse
cutors; their leader small and unat
tractive in some respects, as leaders
sometimes are insignificant in person
witness the duke of Wellington and
DIR. Archibald Alexander. But there
is something very intent in the eye OF
this man of the text, and the horse he
rides is lathered with the foam of a
long and quick travel of one hundred
and thirty-five miles. He urges on his
steed, for these Christians must be
captured and silenced, and that reli-
gion of the cross must be annihilated.
Suddenly the horses shy off, and
plunge until the riders are precipited.
Freed from the riders, the
horses bound snorting away. You
know that dumb animals, at the sight
OF an eclipse. or an earthquake, or any
thing like supernatural appearance,
sometimes become very uncomfortable.
A new sun had been kindled in the
heavens, putting out the glare of the
ordinary sun. Christ, with the glories
OF Heaven wrapped about Him, looked
out from cloud and the splendor was
insufferable, and no wonder the horses
sprang and the equestrians dropped.
Dust-covered and bruised, Saul at
tempts to get up, shading his eyes with
his hands from the severe luster of the
heavens, but unsuccessfully, for he is
struck stone blind as he cries out:
WHO art Thou, Lord?" and Jesus an
swcred him: II am the One you have
been chasing. He that whips and
scourges those Damascene Christians
whips me and scourges me. 1t is not
their back that is bleeding; it is mine.
1T is not their heart that is breaking:
1t is mine. l am Jesus whom thou
From that wild, exciting and over
scene there rises 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 put control of their ship
wrecked craft, and whose epistles are |
The avant courier of a resurrection
lay.
learn from this scene that a worldly
tall sometimes precedes spiritual up
lifting. A man does not get much
by falling of horse. Peo-
pie say he ought not to have got into
the saddle it he could not ride. Those
II us who were brought up in the
country remember well how the work.
men laughed when, on our way back
rom the brook, we suddenly lost cur
'ide. When in a grand review a gon-
raj toppled from the stirrups it be-
anne national merriment Here is
'aul on horse back-a proud man, rid
ng on with government documents in
lis pocket, a graduate in a most IA
nous school, in which the celebrated
)r. Gamaliel had been a professor.
erhaps having already attained two
4 the three titles of the school-Rab.
ne first; Rabbi. the second, and on his
ray to Rabbak, the third and highest
tile. know from his temperament !,
hat his horse was ahead of the other :
orses. But without time to think of
that posture he should take, or with I
ut considera ton for his dignity, he is |
1mpled into the dust. And vet that
'as the best ride Paul ever took. Out
that violent fall he arose into the
postleship So it has been in all ages, I
nd SO it is now. !
You will never be worth much for {
cd and the church until you lose your | 8
'rtune. or have your reputation up- Z
It, or in some way, somehow. are /
lrown and Inundated. You must 90 I
own before you go up. Joseph finds '
18th to the Egyptian court through I
t into which his brothers threw him. q
aniei would never have walked a
..kA Il L \ l