The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-02-26
There Are Net MANY PsuIs

There Are Net Many PauIs.
We'll, you say, IF Paul had nj
these characteristics | Ito not wonder
that he should want to preach the
gospel. No wonder that every moment
that he WAS not presenting Christ to
some one he should feel that those
were wasted moments. But | am not
a Paul. | am not Il John Mitchell Ma
son nor Jean Baptiste Massillon. |
am as dumb rs Il sphinx whenever |
stand upon my feet before an audi
ence.' Perhaps you are right my
friend, but
i IL you cannot speak like angels,
| III you cannot preach like Paul.
| You can tell the love Of Jesus,
! You can say he died for ALL
Perhaps You can say this as con-
secrated nurse, like Florence Nightin-
gale. Perhaps YOU can sing it as il
singing evangelist, like Philip Phillips
OF Ira d. Sankey or +. 2. Bliss Per-
haps you can pray it. us did your lov
ing, gentle. Christ-like mother | do
not know what your talent may be,
whether it Is the tongue of a John
Summerfield or the pen of Clay
Trumbull. But one fact know-that
You have talent, and, like Paul. you
must consecrate all that talent to the
service of Jesus Christ "Woe is unto
me if | do not surrender al! 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 consecrata
as much as that There is story told
that many years ago n troop Of Ger
man cavalry was on the march The
captain halted at the home of an oil
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 aud led the
soldiers on for about Il 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. Il
will show one which will suit your
purposes just as we'll" SO he led the
troops on about a quarter of Il 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 lie
let them rob him Of his own field OF
ripened grain But beautiful as that
sacrifice was | can tell you of one still
more beautiful. 1t is the child of Col
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
terpreting 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 l am done. | believe that Paul
was intensely 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. He did not give his heart to God
in his youth. For years he opposed the
teachings Of Jesus. He ridiculed the |
as shams and trickeries. He |
when he heard of Christ's trial ant; |
After the crucifxion 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 |
to undo some of the awful results of |
those prosecutions! Oh, II | can only |
live long enough to go into those cities
where | 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 |
preach not the gospel After years
spent in sitting the gospel invitation,
when at last you come to kneei 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
Hence rs he said: There is muir
1erer in this audience. The Lord has
sent me to bring him to jesus viii
rou receive him." A man arose and
said: yes, l am murderer. | am
here for this message. | killed man
fifteen years ago" So today | am go