The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-10-04
THE CRISES IN LIFE.
Rev. Dr. Talmage Explains
Their significance.
How Christ Revealed Himself 70 ST.
paul-0ods Revelations In Our
Own Times TO Our Own
Souls.

fCon,riehi. ie01. by Louis Klopschl
los ANGELES. Cal. sept 2o.-ln this
sermon the preacher shows that ther'
are crises In every life which. hNo
revelation Of tho unseen, teach lessons
that should never be ignored or forgot
ten. The text is II Corinthians AL s.
80 knew such q man whether I'm the
body or out Of the body cannot te''
God knowetm.
A friend OF mine was some time ago
reading that fascinating book Of Fran
res Hodgson Burnett entitled "lhc
One Knew Rest OF An" and for
long time he did not know that the
heroine of the book and the author
were one. He followed the little tiIl
stem by step as she grew up until tiiS
sact suddenly dawned npon MN
"Why," he said, "Mrs. Burnett j.
writing tie history Of her own iile'
The same fact is true about the aulo
biographies Of Charles Dickens ana
Thomas Hughes and Lord Byron ana
Thomas De Quincy. When you rem"
David Copperfeld' you are reaoin-'
with an added touch Of romance the
aufoblography OF Charles Dickens
when You read "Tom Browns School
Davsp Won are reading Thomas
Hughes early life at Rugby. When
Won read "Chnde Harold" you arr
reading malformed and distorted his
tory of the life of Lord Byron. When
Won read the Confessions Of an Opium
Eater" you are reading Of tho cham
her Of horrors In which De Quincy
lived for many years. These authors
may not have said IN plain words that
the characters Of their autobioeraplies
were relncarnatlons o. themselves nul
they were iust as the prominent men
and women Of social and political Eng
land OF the Victorian era moved
through the pages Of Disraelis novels
nasqueradlng under fictitious names.
Paul was writing the chapter Of my
text IN the third person. There had
been many criticisms made against the
great apostle because, though he had
never seen Jesus. he assumed authori-
~ rs q teacher Of Christianity
II Won examine Paurs writings care
frllv YOU wifi find that he uses the
personal pronoun 'I' far more than
any other inspired writer I'm either the
New Testament or the Old. His enc
miles claimed that he was a blatant
conceited boaster. So IN order 20 dis
arm any unjust criticisms he describes
one OF the most important experiences
Of his life. referring to It i'm the third
person. lie said, Il knew a man IN
Christ above fourteen years ago
whether in the body l cannot tell or
whether out Of the body cannot tell;
God knoweth); such am one caught mp
10 the third heaven" Then Paul goes
on and tells how this man. this third
person. who was himself. had the most
marvellous manifestation of Gods pow
or and love. All the time the CORN
thians are reading this account me
thinks we can hear them say; do you
suppose Paul IS abiding to himselff
DO you suppose Paul himself has been
in paradlseY' Indeed 1 have often
thought that by putting this divine
manifestation ln the third person Paul
made It even more powerful than If he
had directly spoken Of It as having oc-
Cured TO himself.
Now, II has always been a dehatahle
question among Bible students what
this glorious revelation which came 70
Paul really was. II was evidently one
Of the important moments II not the
supreme moment Of Pauls life. Why
so Overwhelming was II that Paul
could not tell whether he was IN the
flesh or out Of the flesh when his spir-
iiual exaltation occurred. He could
not tell whether bis spirit was confined
IN It's tenement Of clay or whether his
soul for q little while left bis body and
took its flight into the unknown world.
as our souls VIII depart when the
breath stops and the pulse ceases to
beat and the physician pronounccs ms
dead. Though many commentators
may try TO tell us what this Pauline
revelation was, I IN not going TO try
10 explain IT, do not think Paul
wanted us 10 know what II was.
Paul does not say what he saw OF
heard IN this wonderful vision As
man admitted TO an audience with
king or emperor is expected 20 main
tcin a decorous silence about the inter
view. so Paul says II was not lawful
70 utter the words he heard On the
third heaven. We can understand that
There are some Of our own expert
ences about which we shrink from
speaking They are too solemn. too sa-
cred, for utter0nce. But what am effect
they have had on our lives, 10 would
be useless for an inhdel 10 tell some of
US that there is no God. we know
there Is. There have been times when
he has come SO close 10 us that we
have been conscious Of HIS presence.
we have felt him near TO u.s. IL is
about these times, more common than
we sometimes think, that I would
speak 10 you this morning.
Your first great moment Of spiritual
ecstasy may have come TO you as
reaction from an almost miraculous
escape from death IA early youth
do not know what that escape was.
Perhaps you were skating upon the
ice on the river ana suddenly You
came too near an afr hole and I'm YOU
went You can feel the horror Of that
cold plunge now. You felt the swift
current gripping You as though 1t was
heud with million hands and all
those hands were trying 20 drag YOU
under the Ice You remember well
holding out your arms % save your
self md the ice breaking as You tried
20 lift yourself upon its smooth sur
face. Or perhaps the miraculous os-
cape from death came when you as a
little HOY were down nv the old saw.