Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-10-05
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. d. ID.

are crises In every life which, like
revelation of the unseen, teach lessons
that should never be ignored or forgot
ION. The text Is II Corinthians XII, q,
81 knew such man whether in the
body or out of the body cannot tell;
God knOweth).'
friend of mine was some time ago
reading that fascinating book or trah-
ces Hodgson Burnett entitled line
One I Knew Best Of ALL" and for
long time he did not know that the
heroine of the book and the author
were one. He followed the little girl
step by step as she grew up until thiS
fact suddenly dawned upon MN.
"Wby."- he said, Mrs. Burnett Is
writing the history of her own life"
The same fact is true about the auto
biographies, Of Charles Dickens anu
Thomas Hughes and Lord Byron ana
Thomas De Quincy. When you reao
"David Copperheld' you are reading,
with an added touch Of romance, tue
autobiography of Charles Dickens.
When Won read "Tom Browns School
Davs" YOU are reading Thomas
Hughes early life at Rugby. When
YOU read "Childe Harold you are
reading q malformed and distorted MS
tory of the life Of Lord Byron. When
Won read the Confessions of an opium
! Eaterv Won are reading of the cham
her of horrors In which De Qulncey
lived for many years. These authors
NAV not have said in plain words tnat
tho characters of their autobiographles
vere reincarnations Of themselves, Dut
they were, just as the prominent lnen
and women of social and political Eng
land of the, Victorian era moved
I through the pages of Disraelfs novels
masouerading under fictitious names.
Paul was writing the chapter OF my
text in the third person. Ihere hau
heon many criticisms made against the
great apostle because, though ne hau
never seen Jesus. he assumed authori-
tv as n teacher of Christianity.
II Won examine Pau's writings care
, fullv YOU will find that he uses the
! personal pronoun "I' far more tnaf
anv other inspired writer in either the
Now Testament or the Old. His enc
. mics claimed that he was blatant
! .conceited boaster. So in order TO dis
t arm any unjust criticisms he describes
= ono of the most important experience
: of his life. referring to it In the thir'
s nerson. He said, Il knew man
!. Christ above fourteen years az
whether In the body l cannot tell Q
whether out of the body l cannot tel
God knoweth); such an one caught u
IN the third heaven" Then Paul goe
ON and tells how this man, this tnir
|. nerson. who was himself, had the mos
marvellous manifestation OF GODS pow
; or and love. All the time the Corh
> thiops are reading this account III
ar thinks we can hear them say: do yo
sunnose Paul Is alluding to himsell
DO YOU suppose Paul himself has Dee
in paradise?' Indeed l have oft'
". thought that by putting this dlyli
Y. manifestation in the third person IA
made II even more powerful than IL
v had directly spoken of it as having 9
4 Cured to himself.
h. Now. 1t has always been debatan
question among Bible students wn
tbis glorious revelation which came
Paul really was. 1t was evidently o
n, of the important moments If not [
supreme moment of PauFs ilfe' WI
so overwhelming was 1t that la
Is: couId not fell whether he was In
Aesh or out of the flesh when MS sp
itual exaltation occurred. lie col
\ not fell whether his spirit was confin
h. I'm its tenement of clay or whether
tn. soul for n little while left his body a
lst took its fight into the unknown wU
os our souls will depart Then
I'd. breath stops and the pulse ceases
beat and the physician pronounces
dead. Though many commentat
may try to tell us what this Paui
revelation was, am not going 10
Int. to explain 1t. | do not think 4
ION wanted us to know what it was.
The Presence Of God.
on Paul does not say what he saw
oS heard in this wonderful vision. Al
mo- man admitted to an audience Will
on. king or emperor is expected to mi
9TH. tain decorous silence about the IN
view so Paul says it was not law
by IN utter the words he heard in
ned third heaven. We can understand e
Tbere are some of our own exp
iof ences about which we shrink Il
ltns speaking. They are too solemn, TOO
cred for utterance. But what an Ell
orc they have had on our lives! 1t We
for be useless for an infidel to tell som
be us that there is no God; we X
there is. There have been times W
he has come so close to us tnat
- have been conscious of his prese
g. we have felt him near to us. l
- about these times, more common
,on we sometimes think, that W
ourt. sneak to you this morning.
Your first great moment OF spirl
BIT of ecstasy may have come to you
n NJ reaction from an almost miracu
sessie escape from death in early yout
itiffs' do not know what that escape
lliam Perhaps you were skating upon
,fants ice on the river and suddenly
''"''' came TOO near an air hole and In
on Of went. You can feel the horror OF
giaia. cold plunge now. You felt the
which len current gripping you as though 1t
wife n fiend with a million hands an
or as those hands were trying to drag
iidren under the Ice. You remember
sesnd- holding out your arms to save
ueA'h self and the ice breaking as you
ERIK Of TO lift yourself upon its smooth
'ie 'ie n face. Or perhaps the miraculous
ltitled zane from death came when you
,e,niiii ,eT + little boy were down by the OLD
ut de mill fishing. Your mother had 10
ybat altis Is den you to go into boat.
NJ tnio had hQQn ms