The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1907-02-28


brilliance of the wit and the logic of
the philosopher" So with Paurs writ
ings. He was not only an orator and
an organizer and an ecclesiastical
statesman, but powerful and con-
vincing writer. His epistles will be
read by intelligent men for all time.
These powers he held as trust for
God, and he seems to say: II must
preach. / must be preacher of Jesus
Christ on account of my special gifts.
Woe is unto me if preach not the Cos
pei"
There Are Not Many PauIs.
We'll" you say, IF Paul had all
these characteristics / do 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 1 am not
Paul l am not John Mitchell Ma
son nor q Jean Baptiste Massillon.
am as dumb as a sphinx whenever /
stand upon my feet before an audi
ence." Perhaps you are right, my
friend, but
II you cannot speak like angels,
If 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 a
singing evangelist, like Philip Phillips
or Ira D. Sankey or P. P. Bliss. Per
haps you can pray it, as did your low
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 a 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 1 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,
cannot ask Of us to do any more. He
has a right to ask of us to consecrate
as much as that There is a story told
that many years ago 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 field
where 1 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
will show one which will suit your
purposes Just as we'll" So he led the
troops on about quarter of 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 win
do. But the field we passed had bet
ter grain than this. Why did you bring
us to this fieldf" 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 he
let them rob him Of his own field of
ripened grain. But beautiful as that
sacrifice was I 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 1t work for
thee. Here is my foot, let it run its
messages for thee All that have is
thine" That is another way of in
.terpreting the Pauline words, ''Woe is
unto me if / preach not the gospel"
Wanted I'd Undo His Wrong Acts.
There is just one more thought, and
then / am done. 1 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
miracles as shams and trickeries. He
may have clapped his hands in joy
when he heard of Christ's trial and
crucifxion. After the crucifxion he
gave up some time to prosecuting the
followers of the lowly Nazarene. oh
l think l hear him say after his con-
version, ''if l can only live long enough
to undo some of the awful results OF
those prosecutions Oh, If 1 can only
live long enough to go into those cities
where l have derided him! My Lord
and my Christ wilt thou not let me
live long enough to testify for theeT
Woe, woe, woe, woe, is unto me II l
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
l preach not the gospel?' After years
spent in sitting the gospel invitation,
when at last you come to kneel at the
cross, cannot you cry out as did Paul:
Lord, receive me, the chief of sinners.
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