Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-10-03
C-,a(rr,aGe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmate. d. u.

! Los Angeles, Cal, Sept. 2o-In this
| sermon the preacher shows that there
| are crises in every life which. like a
| revelation of the unseen. teach lessons
| that should never be ignored or forgot
ten. The text is II Corinthians xii, 3,
Il knew such a man (whcthcr in the
body or out of the body | cannot tell;
| God knowctm."
A friend of minc was some time ago
reading that fascinating book Of Fran
ces Ilodgson Burnett entitled "The
One / Knew Best of AL" and for a
long time he did not know that the
heroine Of the book and the author
were one He followed the little girl
| step by step as she grew up until this
fact suddenly dawncd' upon him.
"Why," be said Mrs. Burnett is
writing the history of her own life"
Tho same fact is true about the auto
! biographies Of Charles Dickens and
Thomas Hughes and Lord Byron aud
Thomas De Quincy. When YOU read
"David Copperfcld' YOU are reading.
with an added touch of romance. the
! autobiography of Charles Dickens.
When you read tom Browns School
Dors" ,.ou oro ro,lir, rhor,,,
Itunhee, oorlv ITO o+ puuhv v.bon
,or rcod "Cbildo Iror,I1" vo,, ,ro
ro,,linr . malfor,nod and distorted his.
tory of the life of Lord Rvron Whom
Won reod the "Confessions Of nm onirm
/ ra,or, vo,, ora rooIi,o or tbn cbon,.
bor of horrors in which De Ouinc.v
liyed for many wears Those authors
NAV not have sajd in nlain words that
the characters of their autobioeranhias
wore rcipcarnatlous of themselves hut
thcv vrro inst MS the nrominent man
and women of social ord politjcal Eng.
land Of the Victorian era moved
throurh thc naons of Disroclrs novels
mosounrodinr rnder fictitiors MINES
poul was writing thc chan,or of nv
text in tbe third ncrson There had
hcen many criticisms made against thn
ercot onnstlc hocorse thoupb II. had
never seen Jesus. he assumed a,1bori-
ty rs u teacher of Christianity
IF Won ,yaninr pnul's WRITINGS care.
fully yov will find ,bat ho u,os the
ncrsoual prono,m 81" far more than
any other insnired WRITER i'm either the
New Testament O" the OId. Ills enc
mics claimed that he WAS q blatant
conceded boaster SO in order to dis
arm, any uuinst criticisms he Describes
one of thc most ,nportaut cXupriences
of his life REFERRING TO if in the third
ucrson rIc said. II knew n man IN
christ above fourteen wears ago
(whethor in tho body c3rnot .el M.
whether out Of the body | cannot tell.
God Enoweth: such an one caught no
TO the third heaven" Then p,ul roes
on and frlls how This man. t,lis third
person, who was himself. had the most
marvellous manifestation of Gods DOW
err and love. All the time the Corln-
thians are reading this account me-
thinks we can hear them say. "Do ION
suppose Paul is abiding to himself?
DO YOU suppose Paul himself has been
in paradise" Indeed | have often
thought that by putting this divine
manifestation in the third person Paul
made it even more powerful than If he
nau directly spoken OF 1t IS having oc-
cured to Himself.
Now, Il has always been 4 debatablc
question among Bible students what
this glorious revelation which came 10
Paul really was. 1t was evidently one
OF the important moments II NOT the
supreme moment Of Iaul'S life Why,
so overwhelming was it that Paul
could not tell whether he was IN the
flesh or ont OF the flesh when his spir-
itual exaltation occurred. lie could
not tell whether his spirit was confined
in It's tenement OF clay or whether his
soul for little while left his body and
took its flight into the unknown world
as our sous will depart when thp
breath stops and the pulsc ceases to
beat and the phvsiclan pron,uncos us
dead. Though MANY commentators
may try t. tell MS what this Pauline
revelation was. am not going TO fry
to explain it. do not thlnl; paul
wanted us to know what if was
t.. p.
Pan, 1,os no. ,e',o
hoard f. t,i, ,,.o,,ia.r',, '.,,,
. man o,n,it,od g. ,,.,,. ;',
lirc ar o,,,,l,o,. ~ 'N
t,tn - dooorare .iIo,,on ,,
,,iou. GO ,I - :.