The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-02-17
PAUL'S CONVERSION.
or TAtuAc: FINDS LESSONS nv The
PERsECuTOR'S EXPERIENCE.

BIRMINGHAM. Ala, Dec 10. - Rev. DIR.
Talmage, who lectured in this city yester-
day, having spoken during the week at
Nashville, Memphis and other cities,
preached here this forenoon to large audi
ence under the auspices of the Baptist
church. The subject was, endorsed, and
the text chosen was Acts tx, IS. And as
he iourneycd he came near Damascus and
suddenly there shined round about him
light from heaven, and he fell to the earth
aud heard voice saying unto him, saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he
said, Who art thou, LordY And the Lord
said, | am Jesus whom thou pcrsecutest."
The Damascus Of Bible times still stands,
with a population Of 1900 1t was a gay
city of white and glistenug architecture,
its minarets and crescents and domes play
ing with the light of the morning sun; EN-
powered in groves of olive and Citron and
orange and pomegranate; a famous river
punging its brightness into the scene; a
city by the anciouts styled "a pearl sur
rounded by emeralds"
A group of horsemen are advancing upon
that city. Let the Christians of the place
hide, for that cavalcade coming over the
hills is made up Of prosecutors, theirleader
small and unattraCtive in some respects rs
leaders sometimes are ln~lEulUCOnU IN per
sou--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 1856 miles. He urges on his steed
for those Christians must be captured and
silenced and that religion Of the cross
must be aunihilated.
Suddenly the horses shy OF and plunge
until the riders are precipitated. Freed
from the riders, the horses bound snorting
away You know that dumb animals at
the sight of an eclipse, or an earthquake, or
anything like a supernatural appearance,
sometimes become very uncomfortable. a
new sun had been kiudled in the heavens,
putting out the glare Of the ordinary sun.
Christ with the glores of heaven wrapped
about him, looked out from a cloud, and
the splendor was insulferable and no won
der the horses sprang and the equestrians
dropped.
Dust covered and bruised, Saul attempts
to get up, shading his eyes with his hands
from the severe luster of the heavens, but
uusuccessfully, for lie is struck stone blind
as he cries out, "WhO art thou, Lord?' And
Jesus answered him; IL am the one you
have been chasing. He that whips and
.courges those Damascene Christians whips
is bleeding-it is mine 1t is not their heart
that is breaking-it is mine. | am Jesus
whom thou persecuteSt."
He FELL TO RISE AGAIN.
From that wild, exciting aud Overwhelm
ing scene there rises up the greatest preach
erofall the ages-Paul,iu whose behalf pris
Gus were rocked down. before whom sol
ders turned pale into whose hand Medi
terraneau sea captains put control of thei
shipwreckiug craft, and whose epistles ar,
the avant courier of n resurrection day.
l learn from this scene that awOrldly fal
sometime. precedes spiritual uplifting
A man does not get much sympathy 10y
falling off horse People say he ough
not to have got into the saddle if he coulC
not ride. Those of us who were brough
up in the country remember well how tn,
workmen laughed when on our way baCl
from the brook, we suddenly lost our ride
When in grand review general topplet
from the stirrups, it became national mer
riment.
Here is Paul on horseback-a proud man
riding on with government documents il
his pocket, a graduate of a most famous
school, in which the celebrated DR. Cana
liel had been professor, perhaps having al
ready attained two of the three titles of thu
school-rab, the first rabbi, the second
and on his way to rabbak, the third anC
highest title. | know from his tempera
ment that his horse was ahead of the othe
horses. But without time to think of wha
posture he should take or without consid
GRAFTON for his dignity, he is tumbled int
the dust, and yet that was the best ride
Paul ever took. Out Of that violent fall he
arose into the apostleship. So it has been
in all ages, and so it is now.
You will never be worth much for God
- L. . L.. ia
or have your reputation upset, or in some
way, somehow, are thrown and Inundated,
You must go down before you go up. Jo-
seph finds his path to the Egyptian court
through the pit into which his brothers
threw him. Daniel would never have
walked amid the bronzed lions that adorned
the Babylonish throne if he had not first
walked amid 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 maiestically seated on your CHAR
ger, rein in hand, foot in stirrup, but you
will never be worth anything spiritually
until you fall of They who graduate from
the school of Christ with the highest hon
ors have on their diploma the seal of a
lions muddy paw, or the plash of an an
CRY wave, or the drop of a stray tear, or the
brown scorch of a prosecuting fire. In 900
cases out of 900 there is no moral or spir-
itual elevation until there has been a thor.
ough worldly upsetting.
BRAVE MEN FOR CHRIST,
Again, learn from the suhje that the
religion of Christ is not a pusillanimous
thing. People in this day try to make US
believe that Christianity is something FOL
men of small caliber, for women with NJ
capacity to reason, for children in the infan
class under years of age, but not for stal
wart men. Look at this man of the text
Do you not think that the religion tina
could capture such man as that mus
have some power in itY He was logician
he was a metaphysician; he was an all con
quering orator. he was poet of the highes
type. He had nature that could swami
the leading men of his own day, and hurled
against the sauhedrin he made it tremble.
He learned all he could get in TIC school
of his native village; then he had gone TO a
higher school, and there mastered the
Greek and the Hebrew and perfected him.
self in bellies lettres, until in after years he
astOnished the Cretans, and the CORN
thians, and the Athenians, by quotation,
from their own authors. | have nevei
found anything in Carlyle or Goethe OIL
Herbert Spencer that could compare in
strength or beauty with Paul's epistles
! do not think there is anything in the
writings of Sir William Hamilton that
shows such mental discipline as you find in
Paups argument about justification and
the resurrection. l have not found any
thing in MiltSp finer in the way Of imag-
nation than 7 can find in Paul's illustra-
tions drawn from the amphitheater
There was nothing in Robert Emmett
pleading for his life, or in Edmund Burke
arraigning Warren Hastings in Westmin-
ster hall, that compared with the scene in
the courtroom, when before robed officials
Paul bowed and began his speech, saying,