The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-11
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON


who is my host and for what thou dost show me this courtesy today9' My new found friend answers simply: "I am Paul of Tarsus. I greet thee thus for the love of my Master, Jesus Christ" '"WhatP' I exelaim in great amazement. You are not Paul, otherwise known as Saul of Tarsus? You are not the man who was famed as the greatest and the most bitter and unrelenting persecutor of the Christians? You are not the man who was supposed to be converted on the Damascus road and then fled from Damascus and have been in hiding for the last two years?' "The same" says my host "I am the same Paul or the same Saul, once the chief of sinners, but now disciple of my martyred Lord"
 Then I say. But, Paul, why art thou here, out in this desert? You seem to be living here alone without a friend2 Why do you not go back to Jerusalem and take your position by the side of the other disciples of Christ and be there d leader for your Master?" "I cannot go yet, says Paul. q am fitting myself for future work by studying Gods word to find out what he wants me to do." Not fitted yet? Why, Paul, thou art one of the most learned men of al lthe east! Thou hast sat at the feet of the greatest teachers. Thou hast been the favorite pupil of Gamaliel, the most famous teacher of the east" True" says Paul. q am not unlearned in many things People say I am leader. But l have been studying art in the past for arts sake and eloquence for eloquences sake. All the greatest books of the past are mine, but to. be worldly wise is not to be spiritually wise. And so l have turned my back upon the world now for two years simply to read Gods word. I want the teachings of Cnrist in every sense to become part of my life Then the mighty Paul bends upon me his great soulful eyes, full of earnest beseech- ment, as he says, Would st thou have me conversant with the messages of men and not eonservant with what my Lord and Master Jesus Christ is and what he wants me to do2'
 Is Paul speaking to you today. o men and women? Years ago your mother wanted you to become a good musician She was urging you week in and week out to practice. 'Daughter,' she used to say, you must practice at least two hours a day or else you can never master the keys" Year in and year out you have consecrated two hours a day to studying the works of the great musi- clans How many minutes per day do you go off alone into your Arabia to study Gods word? One hundred and twenty minutes? Sixty minutes? One half hour? Ten minutes? Dou you take five minutes alone with God every day for reading a chapter out of his holy book? You have your library shelves filled with books. Scientific books, es- says books of travel, books of all sorts are there I go into your library and turn over the leaves haphazard. find that you have read most of these books. Have you systematically read Gods book as much as you have the books of human authors? Is your idea of an education great deal like that of the poor Irish woman whose husband was learning how to read? One day her pastor came to her and said: Well Mary, l under stand John Is learning how to read. Can he read the first chapter of Genesis yet?' 'Bless your heart, pastor" said Mary, "John is doing better than that He has got far beyond the Bible. Why, John now spends most of his time in reading the daily newspapers Isn't that splen- did?" An, my friends, 1t matters not how smart we are intellectually, we can never get so educated that we are beyond studying the word of God. Is there daily Arabia for you? If Paul, who once sat at the feet of Gamaliel, had to spend three years in the deserts sands to study Gods word, to find out who Christ was and what he wanted him to do, surely your time is not wasted when you are reading the Psalms or sitting at Christs feet when he breaches to you the sermon on the mount as he uttered it to the null titudes of old.
 But a mere knowledge of Gods word was not a sufficient equipment to have made Paul the highest type of a gospel evangelist. A man may know all about the Bible and yet not have one particle of spiritual power in his heart. He may study his Bible in exactly the same sense as I might study the mythology of the Greeks and the Romans or learn why Mecca and Medina and Jerusalem and Hebron are the four sacred cities of the Mohammedan and why Silva and Vishnu appear with Buddha at the shrine of India. Knowledge may be one of the greatest essentials for spiritual power but knowledge of the word of God does not always prove that the spirit of Christ has been translated into the desires of our own hearts.
 History of the Dark Ages.
 Take, for instance, the history of the dark ages. Did the knowledge which the Roman Catholic hierarchy had of the Bible make them true gospel evengel- ists? A short time go l was reading that most marvellous, fascinating history ever written by mortal pen, Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic" Tn the eighteen years of Torquemada's admins tration," he wrote, "l0,22O individuals were burned alive and 97,921 punished with infamy, confscation of property or perpetual Imprisonment, so that the total number of families destroyed in this one persecution amounted to 114 401." Did the knowledge of the word of God make Tor quemada a true evangelist of Jesus Christ? Has the knowledge of the Bible made some of your friends Christians and true disciples of your Divine Mas ter? Why, some of the meanest men you ever knew were members of the Christian church. They were not only church members but also teachers in the Sunday school, yet when you met them in a business way you intuitively