Milford chronicle., 1907-03-01
If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
N-ott CON eay ha died for all

gaze. IefudpS you Cdu SluB II as u
singing evangelist, like Philip Phillips
or Ira D. Sankey or p. z. Bliss. Per
haps you can pray 1t, as did your low
ing, gentle, Christ-like mother. I do
not know what your talent may be-
whether it is the tongue Of a JohL
Summerheld or the pen Of a Clay
Trumbull. 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 a right to ask of us to c0nsecrate
as much as that. There is a story told
that many years ago a 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 a field
where l 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 a 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
-.
purposes just as we'll" So he led the
troops on about a 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 viii |
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, 1.-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 as that /
sacrifice was l 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
for thee. All that have is
thine" That is another way Of in
the Pauline words, Woe is
unto me if l preach not the gospel"
Wanted to Undo His Wrong Acts.
There is just one more thought, and
then | am done. l believe that Paul
was intensely and agonizingly anxious
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
because of his years of wasted gospel
He was as some of us
Ire. He did not give his heart to God
n his youth For years he opposed the
teachings of Jesus. He ridiculed the
miracles as shams and trickeries. He
nay have clapped his hands in JOY
when he heard of Christ's trial and
After the crucifXiOn he
rave up some time to prosecuting the
ollowers Of the lowly Nazarene. oh" /
think | hear him say after his con-
-ersion, IF l can only live long enough
o undo some of the awful results of
hose prosecutions! Oh, if l can only 1
i've long enough to go into those cities I
where have derided him! My Lord
nd my Christ, wilt thou not let me
i've long enough to testify for thee?"
Woe, woe, woe, woe, is unto me if
reach not the gospel" Oh, my friends, !
o you wonder that Paul said he was I
he chief of sinners? Do you wonder .
hat in agony he cried out in his letter s
, the Corinthians, "WOe is unto me if I
preach not the gospelE" After years G
Dent in sitting the gospel invitation, $
rhen at last you come to kneel at the c
ross, cannot you cry out as did Paul: t
Lord, receive me, the chief of sinners. d
ord, Lord, give me an opportunity to t
ndo the wrong I have done thee. (
Voc, woe, is unto me If l preach not q
le gospel of Jesus Christ" 4
One night in an eastern city an ear f
est preacher was making his closing a
lea. He swept his hand over the au- a
ence as he said: There is a muir t
erer in this audience The Lord has y
mt me to bring him to Jesus. VIII
III receive him?" A man arose and
i'd: "Yes, l am a murderer! l am
IRE for this message. killed man
teen years ago" So today l am go
g to have my lesson come true. If
ere is a blasphemer among you the
ord has sent me to tell him that he
ay yet become a preacher of the gos-
j.
"Oh, no." says the blasphemer, 81 4
n not to be a minister of Jesus
lrist! Why, I have despised Christ. I
have prosecuted him. 1 have done y
I can to drive back his influence" S
IS, my friend, I know that you are Z
en- now disappearing Christ. But h
u are not going to do it any longer. N
~ are Saul, afterward to be known L
Paul. Your hair is gray. You are
er forty. But you are fighting 3,
ainst your better and your nobler
IT, Five years ago you talked with t
q i