The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-30
ELOQUENT SERMON
 BY REV, MOONEY Speaks of Noble Life of the
 Apostle Paul. TEXT TAKEN FROM ACTS aThe Life of Paul Viewed from Any Angle Towers Toward Heaven,"
 He Said-Extracts from
 the Sermon.
TEXT TAKEN FROM ACTS

The Rev. U. D. Mooney delivered forcible sermon at the Second Presby- terian church on South Highlands yes terday morning, taking as his text Acts 26:19. "Whereupon, Oh King Agrippa, l Was Not Disobedlent to the Heavenly vision" He said in part:
 The words of the text were spoken by man on trial for his life. And yet in this crisis hour of his history Paul takes occasion to plead for his risen Saviour whom he served. Of all the lives made great by the power or the cross of Jesus Christ, there is none more wonderful and more majestic than that of the Apostle Paul. No matter from what angle of vision you view this life. 1t is one that towers toward Heaven. If was q wonderful life in the days be- fore his conversion.
 "He believed then that he had a mis- sion It was true that 1t was a wrong mission; oh so wrong-the persecution or men who differed from him, the staying of human beings because they. had an other creed and yet We see even here those elements of character which maoe him the great spiritual force which he afterwards became And that leads me to say right here that turning towards God and the life He requires doesn't re- aure a man to lose his identity that 1t doesn't change the peculiar traits of his disposition. or the special trend of his mind The qualities are simply trans- ferred from the service of self to the service of God. If you are enthusiastic before you are Christian, you reveal that same enthusiasm in the new life; if you are determined if you are ambitious, If you are impetuous. these things leave the service of the old and become part of the service of the new.
 The Vision.
 But we want to speak this morning on one phase of his life. and that Is his wonderful vision on the road to Damas- cus and the effect it had on his after life You are all familiar with the de- tails of the story. He had secured au- thority from the rulers of the Jews for just one purpose, and that was to obliter- ate from the face of the earth every
 
 Nazarene. He had now started on this journey, accompanied by the band of Roman warriors. We can imagine the company as they travel indfferently along the splendid roadway. We can see the polished armor gleaming in the sun light, we can listen to the various plans discussed for the persecution of the fol- lowers of Christ; when harkl there is blinding flash from the throne of the eternal, and a voice from God which clefts the very soul of Saul, saying, Saul Saul why persecutest thou me; 1t is hard for thee to kick against the bricks"
 Vision of Jesus Christ.
 The first element in this vision was that to Paul. It was a vision of Jesus Christ the only Saviour of his imperishable soul Paul had heretofore depended for acceptance with God upon form and cere- mony, and as thousands are doing today upon an outward morality. It had never dawned upon him that his life was all wrong; that his ambitions were all selfish He had never learned the truth of the fact, that to sit beside God in His heaven, a mans life must be radically changed
 Little did Paul think as he journeyed toward Damascus that 1t was the last stage in the old journey, the last climb in the old life, the last work In the serv- ice of Satan Little did he imagine that in a few moments he was to fight out the crisis of his life, and that after that he could never be just the same. Far less did he dream that this very crisis was to be brought about by the person whom he despised and abhorred, and whom he now thought sleeping in the tomb. This was the fact that made the vision so striking and dramatic; 1t was the vision of Jesus Christ against the dark background of a sinful life 1t was a vision of Jesus crucifed for his sin, and risen and living to make him holy.
 And after all this Is the vision that this old world needs most. This world, where there is so much sin, and so much suffering and hardship. and sorrow. and despair. We need the true vision of Jesus Christ the only Saviour of our souls and living. living, living to bring us back to God We need it more than the vision which education brings, more than the vision which culture. or aesthetics or morality brings These things only touch the life from the outside, they don't enter the heart which is sick. and longs for it's physician, who is God.
 Dear friend have you ever had this vision of Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of your soul, and living now to keep you saved, break into your life? This vision and your obedience to it's message is the only thing that can save you from eternal separation from God.
 Vision of Past Failures.
 How the heart of Paul must have been saddened as in the crystal light of that moment he looked back over his past life and had burned into his consciousness the vanity and emptiness of 1t all. Tt Is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.' What did that mean? It meant that all of