The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-11-16
GODS
MESSENGERS
By REV. STEPHEN PAULSON

Textile maketh the winds his mes
'engers; his ministers a flaming fre.-Ps.
04:4.
And Jacob went on his way and the
messengers Of God met him.-Gen. 32:1.
There are two supreme realities in
the universe-God and man. From
time to time messages are exchanged
between them and that Is religion.
When man speaks to God it is prayer
and worship. When God speaks to
man it is guidance and inspiration.
What God did once for prophets and
apostles, He does for merchants and
husbandmen.
Not that Gods messengers always
speak with human voices. He speaks
through mans inner consciousness,
through memory, through some Incl
dent or occurrence in your life. To
David God spoke by the sad and stern
prophet. To Solomon He spoke
through fear; to Peter through a
simple meal spread on the shore of
the lake. And so every day Gods
messengers stand at the door Of your
soul, bringing encouragement or
warning, or overtures of love
The voice of conscience in mans
soul is the voice of God. What a won
derful picture of the a%ccusatory power
Of conscience is drawn in Shakes.
peare's tragedy of Macbeth. After &C.
complishing his purpose on Duncan
Macbeth goes into his wife's room and
locks the door. 1t is midnight and the
stars are shining brightly, and 1t Is
so still that they can hear each others
heart beat. But Macbeth hears foot
steps approaching the door, and a
voice which says: sleep no more;
Macbeth hath murdered Sleep" Like
Jacob the guilty king had met Gods
messengers, and evermore he was to
hear in the night the football of the
unseen pursuer. that Nemesis which
was upon his track. Oh, it is a long
and thrilling journey that nan makes
through life, and every day the mes
sengers Of God meet him, and some
times he needs their message, but
often he takes his own way and al
ders off into the desert.
The life drama of which this meet
ing with the divine messengers Is a
part, has to do with the education Of
He had deceived his aged and
blind father, robbed his brother, and
now fleeing from his wrath. He Is
in the desert and is overcome by re-
morse, and he fears that armed men
may oyertake him and bring him back
10 punishment. In that day he prayed
night might come and hide him.
When night fell he was alone with
nature and God. The stars above him
seemed to pierce into his soul like
accusing eyes. He knelt and prayed
and then he fell into a troubled slum-
Der. And it seemed to him that a
bright star heightened into a long
beam of light that reached to the
earth, and the beam of light broad
ened into a stair up which the angels
Of God took his prayer and penitence.
and down which they brought encour
agement and mercy. And hope began
to stir in his heart that God might
his sins, and that in Gods mer-
cy he might redeem the future.
How human and real is this chapter
in the story of a mans soul. 1t might
be a page torn out Of our W biog.
The epoch of divine messen-
gers is not gone. There is nc, life SO
isolated, no talent so small, but that
God has for it his message and pur-
pose. In the river that flows to the
sea, the individual drop loses its iden-
tity, but in the great river of human
ity that flows to eternity, there Is no
loss of Individual identity. Each soul
is as it were a separate star divided
by millions of miles from its neighbor.
Jacob went on his way and the
messengers Of God met him." 1t is
own story. Do not look for some
great manifestation when God speaks
to you. When God made Himself
known to Elijah a great earthquake
shook the foundations of the noun
tains, but God vas not in the earth
quake; and a fire come which bis
tered the rocks, but God was not in
the fire; and a windstorm came which
uprooted the trees, and God was not
in the storm; and there came a still,
small voice, and God was in that still
small voice.
So the messengers of God come to
you in the still small voice Of daily
experience. Memory bears In her
arms the sheaves of the yesterday,
and 1t Is to you a messenger of God.
Alone in the desert, Jacob remem
bered his past life with all its sordid
meanness. The faces Of his aged par
ents and of his wronged brother came
IN before him. Some mems sins 60
before them into judgment and some
march like caravans under the guild.
ance of memory.
What an illustrated volume is the
hook of memory. In this very mo.
ment you may open it upon your lap.
There is the old house where you
were born, and here are the faces OF
your playmates. Now you walk old
caths. and now you look upon the
aces of friends separated from you
" many years. What magic is here!
Vet what sacred ministry.
In the desert Jacob feared the con
-~oouoncac of his misdeedS. and fear