Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-02-28

Trunbull But one fact I know-that
you have n talent, and, like Paul. you
must consecrate all that talent to the
service of Jesus Christ. WOE is unto
me il I do not surrender all my tai
ents, body, mind and soul, for the
spreading Of the gospel"
Would that we all, like Paul, might
be willing to surrender every talent
that we have OF body. mind and soul,
to the service Of Jesus Christ! God
cannot ask of us to do any more He
has right to ask of us TO consecrate
as much as that There Is q story told
that many years ago troop of Ger
man cavalry was on the march. The
captain halted at the home Of an old
| Moravian. When the door was open
ed he said: Father, show me field
where can set my soldiers a-foraging.
We must have food" The old man
said: "All right. my friend. FOLLOW
me- SO he took his STAFF and led the
soldiers on for about a mile, and they
came to fine field Of barley. There
is just the field we want" said the
captain. Let us stop here" Have
patience" answered the old man. II
will show one which will suit your
purposes Just as we'll" So he led the
troops on about quarter of a league
farther until they reached another field
of barley. After the soldiers had gath
cred the grain the captain turned to
the old man and said: Father. this Will
do. But the field we passed had bet
ter grain than this. Why did you bring
us to this field?" Because" answered
the old man. the other field was not
mine and this is" Beautiful, Beau
/ tiful. The old Moravian did not want
the soldiers to rob his neighbors. so he
let them rob him of his own field of
ripened grain. But beautiful rs that
sacrifice was | can tell you of one still
more beautiful. 1t is the child of God
/ taking Jesus by the hand and leading
the Saviour to his fields and saying:
Here, Master. Here are my fields,
take them. Here is my voice, use it.
/ Here is my tongue. let It speak for
thee. Here is my hand, let it work for
| thee. Here is my foot let it run its
messages for thee. All that l have Is
| thine" That is another way Of in
teipreting the Pauline words. Woe is
unto me If | preach not the gospel"
Wanted to Undo His Wrong Acts.
There is just one more thought, and
then | am done. | believe that Paul
was intensol, and agonizingly anxious
! to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
because of his years of wasted gospel
! opportunities. He was as some of us
are. lie did not give his heart to God
/ IN his youth. For years he opposed the
/ teachings of Jesus He rdiculed the
miracles as shams and trickerles. He
may have capped his hands in JOY
when he heard OF Christ'S trial and
/ crucitxion. After the crucifiXion he
/ gave up some time to prosecuting the
! followers of the lowly Nazarene. Oh
/ think | hear him say after his con
version, IF / can only live long enough
4 TO undo some of the awful results of
/ those prosecutions. oh, if | can only
| live long enough to go into those cities
where l have derided him! My Lord
| and my Christ, wilt thou not let me
/ live long enough to testify for thee?"
WOE. woe. woe. woe, Is unto me If
preach not the gospel" oh. my friends
do you wonder that Paul said he was
the chief of sinners? DO you wonder
| that IN agony he cried out in his letter
| to the Corinthians. Woe is unto me If
I preach not the gospel:' After years
! spent in sitting the gospel invitation,
| when at last you come to kneel at the
cross, cannot you cry out as did Paul:
! Lord. receive me, the chief Of sinners
Lord, Lord, give me an opportunity to
undo the wrong | have done thee.
Woe, woe, is unto me If | preach not
| the gospel of Jesus Christi"
One night in an eastern city an ear
nest preacher was making his closing
plea. He swept his hand over the au-
| dience as he said: There is a muir
| derfr in this audience. The Lord has
sent me to bring him to Jesus. Will
! you receive him. A man arose and
! said: Yes, am murderer. am
here for this message. | killed man
! fifteen years ago SO today | am go
ing to have my lesson come true. If
! there is blasphemer among you the
| Lord has sent me to tell him that ne
may yet become a preacher of the Cos
pei.
| "Oh, no." says the basphemer 81
am not to be Il minister OF Jesus
Christ, Why, | have despised Christ
! have prosecuted him. | have done
! all | can to drive back his influence"
Yes. my friend. | know that you are
even now disappearing Christ. But
YOU are not going TO do it any longer
You are Saul. afterward to be known
as Paul. Your hair is gray. You are
over forty But You are fighting
against your better and your nobler
self. Five years ago you talked with
some Stephen. You We're COMPOUNDED
when he presented to you the facts OF
the gospel. You almost then gave your
heart to Christ, but you have been
| fighting. fighting, against that belief
| Ever since then you have been fighting
| back the call to go and work in Gods
vineyard. This is your Damascus road.
| This is the moment when you are
! standing face to face with Christ This
Is the supreme moment of your sur
render. Blinded Saul, you are to be-
come the missionary Paul. Go forth,
thou blasphemer. Go forth. | say, to
thy martyrdOm. Go forth TO thy per