The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-28
THE HEAVENLY VISION.
We Are All In Need of 1t
and Must Obey as
Paul Did.

The evening sermon at Lincoln
Square Baptist church yesterday was
delivered by Rev. ]. j. Miller, the first
pastor of the church. He took his text
from Acts xxvi;19: "Whereupon, O.,
King Agrippa, 1 was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision" and said in
part:
Saul of Tarsus seems not to have
known Christ in the flesh. He may
have been afar off at the time, or may
have been so held by his blind preju-
dtces as Ato avoid him, during our
Lords ministry on earth. We found
him as bitter enemy against Christ
and his disciples and showing the bit
ternesS of his heart by persecution.
This man was well endowed in mind by
God. He doubtless would have been
what the world calls great man. But
he was a self-centered man, and self
centered man can never be godly
man. Saul of Tarsus was not a man
mean in little things. He was wicked
in the plane above which people do
their little meannesses. He gave him
self to persecution that he might blot
out what he considered to be heresy.
But travelling along the road one day,
light brighter than the sun falls upon
him and strikes him dumb and he hears
a voice. He knew that it was not an
| ordinary thing. He knew that it came
from God. He seems to have hesitat-
ed as to the meaning, however, and
he raised the question The answer
| came, Il am Jesus whom thou perse-
| cutest," and he was no longer in doubt
and he must have said: This is the
messiah" Having the conviction, God
led him to yield and he passed from
Saul of Tarsus to Paul the apostle and
went forth to one of the most magnifi-
cent works ever given to man to do.
This was a miracle. There is a let
ting down of the doubt concerning
miracles and we are too far along the
pathway Of life to doubt them God
is the power over the laws of nature
and has made himself a slave to them
that they cannot be changed. Paul de-
scribes it. in the. words of the text: Il
was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision" You and 1 and every one has
need of the heavenly vision. 1t IS
great deep cry of today as well as of
days past. Man was made for it.
Neither is he right until he has it. To
men everywhere in our favored land,
to each one of us old enough to under
stand, the vision has come. Not the
clear, full heavenly vision, perhaps,
but to all of us has come the vista
ton. 1 have often thought of this and
1 have heard people say, IF 1 could
only have the same as that. If God
would only speak to me face to face, as
he spoke to Saul, [ would believe. But
l have had nothing of this"
This cannot be. If you are asking the
| question, 1 must assert you have had
| the vision, though you have seen moth
ling of this. The vision that came to
| Saul was not in the light or in the
voice. They were only the draperies
about the vision. The vision was in the
words: II am Jesus of Nazareth whom
| thou persecutest." If you ask why
then you are not Christian, 1 should
| answer because you have not yet said
with Paul: II was not disobedient to
the heavenly vision"
There was some reason for Gods
! dealing with Saul this way. The thing
he sought to do was simply to bring
| before him the thought, 81 am Jesus"
But God has sent the vision to you in
another way and you have not needed
it. OF what use is lighthouse if the
mariner refuses to take warning by
it, or of what value is the sun if you
| shut yourself in a cave? There is no
hope or help for the soul who will not
obey; who rejects the invitation of God.