The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-03-08


hopac to lose his prot fossionAl 3opporc.
tunitics. No man that tYaH ever put
TO death by swcrd or instrument Of
h. .S--ts.-e .:..... ..Scre cs = ...acty. ..h.:a
that man who has been wrung to
death by the demands Of official pos
ssitiori. The scars may not be. visible,
I for these are sears on the BRAIN
and scars on the nerve aud sears on
tho heart, but nevertheless arc they
IEgcarsS and God counts them and their
reward will bo abundant. III
In all lands thero are Veterans OF
war who may not have had their face
Ecraped with ono bullet or their foot
famed by one bursting shell and who
could not roll up their sleeve and
show You one mark suggestive Of
battle, yet carry with them weak
nesses got In exposures to disease
along malarlal swamps or from
many miles of marching, and ever
and anon thoy feel q twingo Of pain,
each recurrence Of which is sharper
or moro lasting, until after awhile
thoy will bo captured for the tomb
ky disorders whioh started 20 or sc
or 40 years before. And their scars
| diO ukl uuSCCA NY holiluA w ~|NS
those people arc as certainly tho vic-
Tins of war as though they had beon
blown zap in en undermined fortress
or thrust through with o cavalry
mans lance. What want to mako
out is that thore arc scars which
arc never counted except rs God
counts them, and + want to enlarge
your sympathies.
| There are many who can, in the came
sense that Paul uttered It, say: 81 bear
| in5my body the marks OF the Lord Je-
sus' ri nat is, for the sake OF Christ
and His cause they carry scars which
keep their indenture through all time
and oil eternity. Do you think that
Paul was accurate when he said that :?
II you have studied his career, you have
no doubt of It. In his youth he learned
how to fashion the hair OF the Cilician
goat into canvas, quiet trade, and
then went to college, the president Of
which was Gamaliel, an institution
which scholars say could not havo been
very thorough because Of what they
call Pauls imperfect command of
Greek syntax. But his history became
exciting on the road to Damascus
where he was unhorsed and blinded.
His conversion was "a convulsion.
Whether that fall from the horse may
have left mark upon him know not,
logged and imprisoned and maltreated
him until he had scars more than
enough to assure the truthfulness Of
his utterance: II bear in my body the
marks Of the Lord Jesus"
| All Of Paul's suffering was for
Christ's sake. He had intellectual
| powers which could hayo achieved for
him all worldly successes. You 500
| what he could do in courtroom when
with extemporancous Epecch he made
tha judicial bench tremble; when on
Mars hill he confounded the Athenian
critics;l & hen hepreached amid the OK.
,itcmeht Of tumbling penitcntiary;
when in q storm at sea he took com.
mand Of the ship, the only one on board
ool headed. With his inspired logic,
md his courage Of utterance, and his
power Of illustration, and his capacity
to move audiences, and his spirit Of de-
dance, there was no height Of worldly
power he might not have gained.
What Hannibal was to an army,
/ WlhG soIaCO W tS III laws, WnQL
Homer was to poetry, what Demos
themes was In b power Of persuasion,
what Socrates was to philosophy, what
j Aeschyl lhs vas to tho drama, that Paul
might have been5to all ll,centuries. j. God
never before and never since made an.
other human being like him. But with
i all his ca pacity and opportunity OF
i achieving worldly renown ho turns his
| back on homo and becomes an exile. on
bounteous tables and eata his hard
crust by tho roadside, on the pleasure
4 yachts that sailed the Moditerran GA
and embarked on freightboat from
Alexandria, on scholars III Athens and
talks to fishermen. Instead of plaudits
| of aroused and enthusiast as.
semblages he addressed audiences that
talked back and asked insolent ones.
tions and broke up In riot. Instead
Of garlands flung at his feet they hurled
stones upon his head. Five times he
was scourged at each whipping 30
strokes, the fortieth stroke spared not
from mercy, but because 40 strokes
were the severest punishment tho law
allowed, and they fearod, through
counting wrong, they might mako It
II and SO themselves bo punished.
Why, Paul must hnvo been Scared all
over, und no only tells tho plain truth
without any commentary when no de-
clares, II bear in my body the lnarks
Of the LORD Jesus" It was as much as
to say: "See those long scars? There
~ where they whipped me. See you
that ugly indenture. That is where
they, stoned me. Sec you that encir-
ling scar on my wrist? That is where
| they handcnffed me. See those ugly
curves around my ankles? There is
whore they made my feet fast in the
| stoolss." a
There are many who, like that apos-
tollo martyr, have on them the mark
Of the Lord Uesus. There Is the grea /
army of foreign missionaries, some
timea 1naligned by dissolute American, !,
English and Scotch merchants, VINO at
Hong Kong and Calcutta and Constan-
| tinople have had their wickedneas re-
proved by tho pure home life Of those
missionaries. There 10 the great army
Of tho ministers OF the Gospel, now IN
Heaven, who, on small salaries and
amid faugucs that slew them, served
their day and generation. There Is an
other great army Of private Christians
who. in Sabbath schools and in traot
distribution and in Humanitarian and
'evangelistio efforts have put their life
in sacrifice on the altprs OF God. There
is another army Of Christian invaders
yvho lost their life IN overwork for Ma