Milford chronicle., 1906-02-09

Jel usAiem" is to say; Lord.
am afraid to trust him. He is an en-
emy. He is the bitterest foe We have
And so wherever we 60 we hnd uniyer
sal distrust Of Paul Thus no sooner
was Paul converted than he was ready
to take a back seat. if / might use q
homely expression. He seemed to say
Lord, let me obliterate myself, at least
for a little while, for thine honor and
glory" Can you not find this interpre-
ration Of my text TO be a reasonable
one? Yet how few of us are ready to
efface ourselves for the glory of God!
Here, for Instance. are men and wo-
men who have led disreputable. inn
moral life. Scandals have besmirched
their garments everywhere. They come
into the church. The church is sus-
picious of them. At once they become
angry. They say that the people are
not treating them right Il will go
back to my old companions in sin.
They at least will treat me as an
equal" Is that right? Is that fairf
If a man does wrong has not the Chris
tan world a right to be suspicious Of
him until he proves that by the grace
of God he intends to do right? Here
is a reformed drunkard or a reformed
thief. Has he the same right to the
respect e the world in the first days
Of his ~ ntance as the man who has
been living near to Coz for three long
years down in the sands of an Arabian
desert? No, no, my friends. Paul
could never have had his tremendous
influence as a gospel evangelist unless
he had first been willing to efface him
self for Christ Thus may you be
willing to go into Arabia for Jesus
after you have been for years a bla-
tant and an unrelenting desDiser Of the
cross.
But there is another fact to which l
want to call your attention. Even in
Arabia, with God and Christ, Paul felt
the need Of a human agency to help
him over the rough experiences Of the
Christian life What did he do? Let
me read TO you his very words; 'Nei-
ther went ] up to Jerusalem to them
which were apostles before me, but
went into Arabia and returned again
unto Damascus. Then, after three /
years. l went M to Jerusalem to see |
Peter and abode with him fifteen /
days" Cannot you see what this |
means? why" Paul said to himself, |
"before l go forth TO preach the gOs-
pei 1 will go and see Peter. l will find |
out from him what Jesus himself said
and learn all can of that divine life"
Paul was scholar and Peter only an
untaught fisherman. but Paul was will
ing to take the learners place. Cannot
you see how wise Paul was in his hui
mility?
Seven days pass by, a whole week,
and still Peter and Paul do not cease
their talking. Paul asks Peter to tell
lim all about Christ. Then methinks
can see Peter take Paul's arm and say:
Come, Paul l want to take you up
to Bethany to meet Mary and Martha
md Lazarus. Come, l want to show
7Ou the garden of Gethsemane, where
we all slept, and the palace where
lenied him. Come, and l will show you
where he died and where he was resur-
'ected and where he left us for the last
-ime" The days slipped into the first
week, then into the second, and the ff-
eenth day came and still they talked.
Then Paul said, "Well, Peter, l had
Jetter leave you now and go and work
or my Master. We both love him, Pc
er. You walked with him in the flesh.
saw him face to face at Damascus.
Nay God help me to testify Alright for
lim" As Paul went up to Jerusalem
o put himself under the influence Of
Peter, the great Christian apostle, are
-ou and l ready to put ourselves under
he care of the noble Christian men
nd women who are around US?
And now comes the practical aues-
ion, Where are the modern Arabian
eserts? In order to find one do we
ave to travel to Damascus, as Paul
id, and journey to the east? Nay.
We have our Arabian deserts in the
7estern hemisphere as well as in Asia,
4 our lives as Paul had in his life. l
liEk that one of our Arabias may be
ur sick beds. Hour after hour we may (
ave to lie in the invalid's room. Oh,
ow near to God we can then get!
hen another Arabia is when death
ONES to some of our dear ones.
Alone, aloneY' we say. "All, all
lOner We are not alone. We are in
he desert. Then another Arabia is
hen persecution or slander comes.
Iur best earthly friends may turn
gainst us, but God never turns if we
Ill upon his name. Another Arabia
lay be just after we have been living \
yer again the past. Even now we I
sem to see the dear faces of our de-
arted kindred come up. We seem to
gain see the day when we first conse- {
rated our lives to God at the church {
ltar \
My friend who described for me that c
ip over the desert told me also about I
lie wonderful mirages. He said they !
Ould be travelling along, when sud :
anly ahead of them would be seen a l
rock and falling waters and noun