The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-03-01
Dr.. Breeder Proves An Able
|mitator Of The Great NJ. An|spm
DISCOURSE TURNS ON ATHEISM
ST. PAUL THE GREAT MIRACLE
OF CHRISTIANITY" BY REA-
SON OF HIS CONVERSION

great philosopher Anselm showing the
foolishness of the position of the athe-
list seem stronger to the people of Wal
la Walla than it did last night at the
close of the great seHmon by DR.. H. o.
Breeder at the Central Christian
church. When his stirring talk on
the conversion of the Apostle Paul
was completed, nearly every person
present would have been ready to sub
scribe to the claim of the medieval
churchman, that by saying that there
was not God a man proved himself
fool"
of Christianity" by the speaker and
his remarkable conversion and career
was held up as one of the best ex-
amples.
1--WE have great reverence for great
men. In war we study Alexander, Gaze
sar, Hannibal, Napoleon, Wellington,
Grant and Lee. In craftsmanship we
study Lycurgus, Scion, Perricles, Cato
and, coming down to modern times
we love to take a view of Gladstone.
of Bismarck, of Gambetta or of
Blaine. In OratOry, we extol Demos
themes, We reverence Cicero, we glory
in Sheridan and we admire Ingersol.
But of all great men Saul of Tarsus
was the very greatest man that ever
lived. He was silent, Thoughtful
man, his whole life given to a search
after wisdom and knowledge and his
soul kindled by a zeal, mistaken
though it may have at times been, to
do what he conceived to be the right.
He was great as a lOgician. His
letter to the Romans is the finest
piece of consecutive logic ever COM
mitted to paper, papyrus or parch-
ment by any thinker of any age. He
was great as an orator. Talk not to
ME of DemOsthenes and his sublime
flights of OratOry, or of CicerO's ora
ton on the crown. or of the word
painting of Sheridan. the greatest ora
tor that ever appeared to bless this
planet was the Apostle Paul. The ora
ton of this master before King
Agrippa must occupy the first place
in the world of oratOry
He was great also as a traveller;
greater than Vaudeville. greater than
Marco Polo: in fact, greater than any
traveller with the means at his dis
posal who has ever attempted to go
over our sin-blighted earth. He not
only knew Palestine, Asia Minor, and
other parts of Asia and Africa thor
Oughly, but was acquainted with Eu-
rope. He carried his marvellous per-
sOnality and greater powers amidst
the SaVageS of remote countries and
left his impress upon the islands of
the sea.
He was great as a writer. No writ
er of antiquity has ever written more
clearly. more profoundly or with
greater literary excellence than he.
He has a grand. a sublime personality
searching and far reaching in his in
teligence. and the cOncenSus of Opin
ion from the day of our Lord to the
present day among all men, is that he
was the peer of them all. He was
equipped in every way for the stu
pendous work that he took in hand
and outside of the Lord himself he has
given more people to heaven than any
other man in all history. His sayings
of any writer or thinker except the
great Savior himself.
He had the culture of the Greek,
the politics of the Roman and the re-
ligion of the Jew. Born in Tarsus,
at an early age he was sent to Jeru-
salem, where he studied under that
great doctor of laws, Gamaliel.
who occupied a position analogous to
that of president of a theological sem
mary of our day At 80 his education
was completed and he went into the
world the most profound scholar Of
ancient days. You who are staggered
by the colossal ability of Shakespeare
have you ever loked into the charac-
ter of this amazing man.
I'VE are first introduced to him in a
tragic manner, when the martyred
Stephen gives up the ghost and enters
the new world to receive his crown of
glory. 1t was at the feet of a young
man named Saul that the stoners and
abusers of that glorious man put their
cloaks so that they would have the
free use of their limbs in casting the
missiles at the doomed man. Again
We are introduced to him as a leader
of the men who are prosecuting the
Christians. Having received writs
from the Sanhedrin to bring them
bound to trial and to judgment, he
passed out of the Damascus gate and
through Samaria by Jacobs we'll so
as to overtake quickly the men who
We're preaching this new doctrine that
was destined to become a world pow
err In the frenzy of his zeal he ig-
nored the traditions of the house of
Judah and passed through a land with
whom the Jews had no dealings
I'm three weeks he had determined
to bring back the Christians. but it
was three years before he again pass
ed through that gate and then it was
as a humble, jealous follower of
Christ. willing to sacrifice all for the
truth that he had tried vainly to
stamp out. Going On the way to
Damascus a bright light above the
brightness of the sun arrested his
further progress and a voice said.
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me-"
Who art thou, Lord?' I am Jesus