The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-03-28
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 'sUnappreciated Services"

L
soas I let doDn by the aoaH. II Corinthians
xi., SO.
Damascus Is city OF white and gltstenine
architecture sometimes called "the eye otthe
East" sometimes callei ~ pearl surround.
ed by eneralds." at ons time distinguished
for swords Of the best material, called Da.
mascus blades, and upholstery OF riches,
fabric, called damasks.
A horseman or the name of Paul. riding
toward this city, had heen thrown from the
saddle. The horse had dropped under q
fash from the sky, which at the same time
was so bright it blinded the rider for many
days. and think so permanently injured his
eyesight that this defect OF vision became the
thorn in the flesh he afterward speaks Of.
He started for Damascus to butcher Chris
tians, but after that hard fall from his horse
he was a changed man and preached Christ
In Damascus till the city was shaken to Its
foundation.
The mayor gives authority for his arrest.
and the popular cry is "Kill him Kill
him !' The city Is surrounded by high
wall, and the gates are watched by the police
lest the Cllician preacher escape. Many OF
the houses are built on the wall. and their
balconies projected clear over and hovered
above the gardens outside. It was customary
to lower baskets out Of these balconies and
pull up fruits aud flowers from the garden.
To this day visitors at the monastery OF
Mount Sinai are lifted and let down in bas.
kets.
Detectives prowled around from house to
house looking for Paul. but his friends hid
him, now in one place. now in another. he
Is no coward, as fifty incidents OF his life
demonstrate. But he feels his work is not
done yet, and 80 he evades assassination.
sis that preacher here?" the foaming mob
shout at one house door. "Is that fanatic
hereY" the police shout at another house
door. Sometimes on the street incognito he
passes through q crowd OF clenched fists, and
sometimes he seoretes himself on the house
tons. At last the infuriated people get on
sure track OF him.
They have positive evidence that he Is In
the house Of one of the Christians, the bal
cohy Of whose home reaches over the wall.
"Here he is Here he is!' The vocifera-
ton and blasphemy and bowling OF the pur-
suers are at the front door. They break In.
s!Fetch out that gospelizer and let us hang
his head on the city gate. Where Is he?"
The emergency was terrible. Provideptially
there was good stout basket in the house.
Paurs friends fasten rope to the besket.
Paul steps into 1t. Tie basket Is lifted to
the edge OF the balcony on the wall, and
then while Paul holds on to the rope with
both hands his friends lower away, carefully
and cautiously, slowly, but surely, farther
down and farther down, until the basket
strikes the earth and the apostle steps out.
and afoot and alone starts on that famous
missionary tour, the story OF which has as
tonished earth and heaven. Appropriate en-
try in Paul's diary of travels, Through q
window, in basket, was let down by the
wall"
Observe first on what slender tenure
~
twisted that cord fastened to that lowering
basket never knew how much would depend
ON the strength Of il. How II It had been
broken, and the apostles life had been dashed
out? What would have become OF the Chris.
tian church, All that magnificent mission
ary work In Pamphylia, Capadocis, Galatia,
Macedonia, would never have been accom-.
pIshed. All his writings that make up 80
Indispensable and enchanting part Of the
New Testament would never have been
written. The story OF resurrection would
never have been 80 gloriously told as he told
1t. That example OF heroic anc triumphant
endurance at PhilippI, in the Me lttepSanean
euroclydon, under fagellation and at his be-
heading would not have kindled the courage
of 10000 martyrdoms. But the rope holding
that basket, how much depended on It 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
and floating ON the Nile with the infant law
giver Of the Jews on board? What il some
crocodile should crunch III What II some
OF the cattle wading in for drink should
sink It? Vessels of war sometimes carry
forty guns looking through the portfolios,
ready to open battle. But that tiny craft on
che Nile seems to be armed with all the guns
Of thunder that bombsrded Sinai at the law
giving. On how fragile craft sailed how
much OF historical Importance.
The parsonage at Epworth, England, Is on
are in the night, and the father rushed
through the hallway for the rescue Of his
on the ground, but one remains In the con-
suming building. That one wakes, aud find
Ing his bed on fire and the building crumb-
ling, comes to the window, and two peasants
make ladder OF their bodies, one peasant
standing on the shoulder of the other. and
down the human ladder the boy descends-
John Wesley. If you would know how much
depended on that ladder Of peasants, ask the
millions Of Metho dists on both sides Of the
sea- Ask their mission stations all round
the world. Ask the hundreds Of thousands
already ascended to join their founder. who
would have persisted but for the living stair
of peasants shoulders.
An English ship stopped at Pitcairn island,
and right in the midst ofsurrounding OF canni-
balism and squalor the passengers discov-
cred q Christian colony OF churches and
schools and beautiful homes and highest
style of religion and civilization. For fifty
years no missionary and no Christian inf1u-
euce had landed there Why this oasis OF
light amid desert Of heathendom? Sixty
years before ship had met disaster, and one
OF the sailors, unable to save anything else,
went to his trunk and took out q Bible which
his mother had placed there and swan
ashore, the Bible held In his teeth.
The book was read on all sides until the
rough and vicious population were evangel-
lied, and g church was started, and an en-
hghtened commonwealth established, and the
worlds history has no more brilliant page
than that which tells of the transformation
OF nation by one book. It did not seem OF
much importance whether the sailor con-
tinued to hold the book in his teeth or let II
fall in the breakers, but upon what small cir
cumstance depended what mighty results
Practical inference-there are no insignia-
canoes in our lives. The minutest thing Is
part Of a magnitude. Infnity is made up oI
fnhnitesimsls great things an aggregation
Of small things. Bethlehem manger pulling
on q star In the eastern sky. One book in q
drenched sailors mouth the evangsiization
of multitude. One boat OF papyrus on the
Nile freighted with events for all ages. The
fate of Christendom In basket let down
from q window on the wall. What you do
do we'll II you make rope. make 1t tstrone
and true, for you know not how much may
depend ON your workmanship. If you tashlor
boat, let It be waterproof, for you know
not who may sail in It.
If sou put Bible in thetrunk OF your boy
as he goes IRON home, let it be heard in your
prayers. for 1t may have mission as far
reaching as the book which the sailor car