Connecticut western news., 1901-02-28

III courtroom wnen with extempora
neous speech he made the judiciai
bench tremble, when On Mars hill he
COMPOUNDED the Athenian critics. when
he preached amid the excitement of a
tumbling penitentiary, when In storm
at sea he took command of the ship,
the only one OH board cool headed.
With his inspired logic, and his cour-
age of utterance, and his power of IL
lustration, and his capacity to move
audiences, and his spirit of defiance,
there was no height of worldly power
he might not have gained.
What Hannibal was to an army.
what Draco was in making laws, what
Homer was to poetry, what Demos
themes was in power of persuasion,
what Socrates was to philosophy, what
Eschylus was to the drama, that Paul
might have been to all centuries. God
never before and never since made an
other human being like him. But with
all this capacity and opportunity of
achieving worldly renown he turns his
back on home and becomes an exile, on
bounteous tables and eats his hard
crust by the roadside, on the pleasure
yachts that sailed the Mediterranean
and embarked on a freightboat from
Alexandria, on scholars In Athens and
talks to fishermen. Instead of plaudits
of aroused and enthusiastic assem-
blages he addressed audiences that
talked back and asked insolent ques-
lions and broke up In riot; instead of
garlands flung at his feet they hurled
ha
was scourged, at each whipping 80
strokes, the fortieth stroke spared not
from mercy, but because 40 strokes
were the severest punishment the law
allowed, and they feared through count
ing wrong they might make 1t Al, and
so themselves be punished. Why, Paul
must have been SCARED all over, and
he only tells the plain truth without
any commentary when he declares, II
bear In my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus" 1t was as much as to say:
"See those long scars? There is where
| they whipped me. See you that ugly
indenture? There is where they stoned
me. See you that encircling scar on
my wrist? There Is where they hand
| cuffed me. See those curves around
my ankles? There Is where they made
| my feet fast in the stocks"
A Christian Army.
There are many who, like that apos
tolic martyr, have ON them the mark
| of the Lord Jesus. There is the great
army of foreign missionaries, some
times maligned by dissolute American,
| English and Scotch merchants, who at
| Hongkong and Calcutta and CONSTANT
| nople have had their wickedness re-
| proved by the pure home life of those
| missionaries. There Is the great army
| Of the ministers of the gospel, now in
| heaven, who on small salaries and
amid fatigues that slew them served
| their day and generation. There Is an
| other great army of private Christians
| who in Sabbath schools, and In tract
distribution, and In humanitarian and
eyangelistic efforts, have put their life
| in sacrifice on the affairs of God. There
is another army of Christian inyalids
| who lost their life in overwork for the
| church and the worlds redemption.
| People call their illness neuralgia or
nervous prostration or insomnia or par
esis or premature old age. / call their
| ailments scars, as my text calls them
scars. There may be scars on the mem
DRY, scars on the spirits, scars on the
| courage, scars on the soul as well as
scars on the body, and those invisible
to the human eye are as honorable as
| those visible.
All We who bear In your body the
marks Of the Lord Jesus, have you
thought what use those marks will be
In the heavenly world7 What source
Of glorious "Reminiscences! In that world
you will sit together and talk over
| earthly experiences. Where did you
| get that scarT saint will say to saint,
and there will come back story Of
4 hardship and struggle and persecution
and wounds and victory through the
| grace of the gospel. Another spirit
will say to listening spirit, Where did
| you get that hurt so plainly marked r
And the answer will be: "Oh, that was
one OF the worst hurts / ever had.
That was broken friendship. We
were In sweetest accord for years, to.
gether in Joy and sorrow. What one
thought the other thought. We were
I
interests parted, and our friendships
broke never to be renewed on earth.
But we have made 1t all up here, and
misunderstanding are gone, and we
are in the same heaven, on neighbor-
ing thrones, In neighboring castles, on
the banks of the same river"
Where did you get that mark p says
another spirit to listening spirit, and
the answer comes: THAT Is reminder
of a great bereavement, of a desolated
household, of deep grave, of all the
heartstrings at one stroke snapped al
together. But you see it Is no longer a
liberation, for the wound has been
healed, and my once bereft spirit Is
now in companionship with the one
from whom for awhile l was separat-
ed" "Where did you get that long.
deep SCARF says another immortal to
listening immortal, and the answer
comes: THAT was the awful fatigue of
a lifetime struggle in attempting, amid
adverse circumstances, to achieve a
livelihood. For 30 years 1 was tired
oh, so tired! But you see 1t Is healed
wound, for l have found rest at last
for body and soul, the complete rest,
the everlasting rest that heard of be-
fore l came here as the rest that re-
maineth for the people of God" Some
one In heaven will say to Martyr John
Rogers, Where did you get that scar
on your footT and the answer Will
come, "Oh, that was burn l suffered
when the flames of martyrdom were
kindled beneath me-" "Ignatius, what
is that mark on your cheekT "Oh,
that was made by the paw of the lion
to which was thrown by the order of
Trajan." Some one will say to Paul,
Great apostle, that must have been a
deep cut once-the mark which 1 see on
your neck" And Paul says, That was
made by the sword which struck me at
my beheadment OH the road to Ostia."
But we all have scars of some kind,
and those are some of the things we