Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-02-09

WORD or Coo tney uiu not pray ike
Paul: "Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do7 Lord, make me thy servant.
Lord. forgive my sins. Lord. help me
to save my fellow men," All, It Is i'm
portant to study the word OF God, but
II is just as important to pray that God
will send down his Spirit upon you and
make you like unto his dear Son. Have
you YOU sacred Arabian deserts or
your regular hours for pleading with
and talking TO God as well as your sa-
cred hours OF having God talk to you?
Can you think OF Paul out I'm that
desert unless he is praying? 1 cannot.
1 can no more think Of prayerless
Paul than / can of prayerless Christ.
While thinking OF this matter 1 had
strange dream In my study. thought
1t was again the year 3S A. ID. I was
again vending my way toward that lit
tie but in the Arabian desert which I
have already described.>/I was again
sitting by the side OF the dear Apostle
Paul. He was expounding the word OF
God to me. Then suddenly he stops
and says: 81 cannot go any further;
wait awhile: must tank to my friend"
Talk to your friend?" say. what
do you mean? do,not see any one
around. Talk to what friend?r "why,
talk to nay friend Jesus Christr' says
Paul. Then. without any affectation,
Paul drops on his knees and begins TO
task 20 Christ Just AS would fatk 20
N.Y. dear mother II she were alive by
my side
In my dream he did thus every little
while as studied with him that day.
And DO you know he prayed so often
that m my dreum-sI could feel that
cnS1st was just by our. side and not
dead Christ. as some of us think. That
night i went to sheep quite early, for
was much fatigued. But In the middle
or the night Twas awakened In that
humble hut I heard again the mighty
voice of Paul praying, praying. pray
ing. Oh. he seemed to be praying most
Of the time. Was 1t dream? Was not
Paul praying Paul? AS in my dream,
have you Pauline Arabian desert for
your sacred hour OF prayer?
Paul In the Desert.
But 1 believe there was still another
reason why Paul disappeared into the
Arabian desert and stayed there for
three long years. He wanted 10 study
the word OF God. He wanted to get his
heart mellowed and spirtuslized by
prayer. oh. yes; but, more than that.
he wanted to get the hearts OF the peo-
pie into the condition where they would
be willing to. trust him and believe In
his message. In other worsis, he want
ed his Arabia to be place where hs
could walk hand In hand with Christ.
He wanted 1T also 10 be the place OF
resting. where men and women would
learn TO believe that his profession of
Jesus Christ was sincere
Is II TO be wondered at that the
christian people were afraid of Paul?
What the 1nquisitor Titelmann was to
the Christians OF the Netherlands Saul
was TO the carly Christians. The mere
! mention OF his name struck them with
CONSERVATION. Mcthlnks we can hear
the poor Christians OF Damascus cry
Ing when they heard he was coming:
20 God, save us! o Christ. rescue
| u.s." No sooner did the vision appear
to the good Ananias, saying. paul Is
waiting for thee TO baptize him." than
the good Ananias answered, lord. /
bave heard by many OF this man. how
much evil he hath done to thy saints at
Jerusalem'-that is TO shy: Lord.
am afraid to trust him. He Is an en-
envy. He is the bitterest foe we have"
And so wherever we go we find uniyer-
sal distrust OF Paul Thus no sooner
was Paul converted than he was ready
10 take a back seat, IL might use n
homely expression. He seemed TO say,
Lord, let me obliterate myself, ut least
| for little while, for thine honor and
glory" Can you not find this interpre-
tation OF my text to he a reasonable
onef Yet how few OF us are ready to
enace ourselves for the glory OF Godi
Here. for Instance are men and wo-
men who have led n disreputable, i'm
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. az wilt go
back to my old companions in sin.
They ut least will treat me rs an
equal" Is that right? Is that fair?
IL n man does wrong has not the Chris
ttan world right. to be suspicious of
him until he, proves that by the grace
OF God he intends to do right? Here
10 a reformed drupkard or reformed
thief y Has ~ ms Sumo right, fc fhe !
respect OF the world in the first days
OF his repeutanoa as the man who has
been living near to God for three long
years down In the sands Of an Arabian
dssert7 No, no. my friends. Paul
could never have had his tremendous
influence as a gospel evangelist unless j
he had first been willing to efface him
self for Christ. Thus may You. be
willing TO 90 into Arabia for Jesus
after you have been for years a bla-
tant and an unrelenting despiser OF the
cross.
Needed Human Society.
But there is another fact to which 1
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-
Their went / up to Jerusalem to them
which We're apostles before me, but
went into Arabia and returned -ugain |
unto Damascus. Then, after three
Years. went up to Jerusalem to see I
Peter and abode with hima fifteen \
days" Cannot you see what this |
msansf why" Paul said to himself. |
before I go forth to preach the gos-
pei will 30 and see Peter. / will find |
out from him what Jesus himself said |
and learn all can Of that divine life" |
Paul was a'schoiar and Peter only an |
m N 2. Isya Ach \.