the records of the history of the human race. Whatever your science is, come and bend over this book; your science is here. Come and drink out of this fair fount of knowledge and wisdom, and you shall find yourselves made wise to salvation. Wise and foolish, babes and men, grey headed sires, youths and maidens, — I speak to you, I plead with you, I beg of you respect your Bibles and search them out, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Christ.
18. I have finished. Let us go home and practise what we have heard. I have heard of a woman, who, when she was asked what she remembered about the minister’s sermon, said, “I do not remember anything about it. It was about short weights and bad measures, and I did not remember anything but to go home and burn the bushel.” So if you will remember to go home and burn the bushel, if you will remember to go home and read your Bibles, I shall have said enough. And may God, in his infinite mercy, when you read your Bibles, pour into your soul, the illuminating rays of the Sun of Righteousness, by the agency of the ever adorable Spirit; then you will read to your profit and to your soul’s salvation.
19. We may say of THE BIBLE: —
God’s cabinet of revealed counsel ’tis!
Where weal and woe, are ordered so
That every man may know which shall be his;
Unless his own mistake, false application make.
It is the index to eternity.
He cannot miss of endless bliss,
That takes this chart to steer by,
Nor can he be mistaken, that speaks by this book.
It is the book of God. What if I should
Say, God of books, let him that looks
Angry at that expression, as too bold,
His thoughts in silence smother, until he find such another.
{a} Jove: A poetic equivalent of Jupiter, name of the highest deity of the ancient Romans. OED.
{b} Fates: In later Greek and Roman mythology, the three goddesses supposed to determine the course of human life. OED.
Paul’s First Prayer
No. 16-1:117. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, March 25, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At Exeter Hall, Strand.
For, behold, he prays. {Acts 9:11}
1. God has many methods of quenching persecution. He will not allow his church to be injured by its enemies, or overwhelmed by its foes; and he is not short of means for turning aside the way of the wicked, or of turning it upside down. In two ways he usually accomplishes his end: sometimes by the confusion of the persecutor, and at others in a more blessed manner, by his conversion. Sometimes he confuses and confounds his enemies; he makes the diviner mad; he lets the man who comes against him be utterly destroyed, allows him to drive on to his own destruction, and then at last turns around in triumphant derision upon the man who hoped to have said “Aha! aha!” to the church of God. But at other times, as in this case, he converts the persecutor. Thus, he transforms the foe into a friend; he makes the man who was a warrior against the gospel, a soldier for it. Out of darkness he brings forth light; out of the eater he gets honey; yes, out of stony hearts he raises up children to Abraham. Such was the case with Saul. A more furious bigot it is impossible to conceive. He had been bespattered with the blood of Stephen when they stoned him to death; so officious was he in his cruelty, that the men left their clothes in the charge of a young man named Saul. Living at Jerusalem, in the college of Gamaliel, he constantly came in contact with the disciples of the Man of Nazareth; he laughed at them, he reviled them as they passed along the street; he procured enactments against them, and put them to death; and now, as a crowning point, this werewolf, having tasted blood, becomes exceedingly mad, determines to go to Damascus, that he may glut himself with the gore of men and women; that he may bind the Christians, and bring them to Jerusalem, there to suffer what he considered to be a just punishment for their heresy, and departure from their ancient religion. But oh! how marvellous was the power of God! Jesus stops this man in his mad career; just as with his lance in rest he was dashing against Christ, Christ met him, unhorsed him, threw him on the ground, and questioned him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He then graciously removed his rebellious heart — gave him a new heart and a right spirit — turned his aim and object — led him to Damascus — laid him prostrate for three days and nights — spoke to him — made mystic sounds go murmuring through his ears — set his whole soul on fire; and when at last he rose up from that three day’s trance, and began to pray, then it was that Jesus from heaven descended, came in a vision to Ananias, and said, “Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prays.”
2. First, our text was an announcement: “Behold he prays.” Secondly, it was an argument: “For, behold, he prays.” Then, to conclude, we will try to make an application of our text to your hearts. Though application is the work of God alone, we will trust that he will be pleased to make that application while the word is preached this morning.
3. I. First, here was AN ANNOUNCEMENT: “Go enquire for Saul of Tarsus: for behold, he prays.” Without any preface, let me say that this was the announcement of a fact which was noticed in heaven, which was joyous to the angels, which was astonishing to Ananias, and which was a novelty to Saul himself.
4. It was the announcement of a fact which was noticed in heaven. Poor Saul had been led to cry for mercy, and the moment he began to pray God began to hear. Do you not notice, in reading the chapter, what attention God paid to Saul. He knew the street where he lived: “Go to the street that is called Straight.” He knew the house where he resided: “Inquire at the house of Judas.” He knew his name; it was Saul. He knew the place where he came from: “enquire for Saul of Tarsus.” And he knew that he had prayed. “Behold, he prays.” Oh! it is a glorious fact that prayers are noticed in heaven. The poor broken hearted sinner climbing up to his room, bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears. Lo! that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music, that tear has been caught by God and put into the lachrymatory of heaven, to be perpetually preserved. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be well understood by the Most High. He may only shed one hasty tear; but “prayer is the falling of a tear.” Tears are the diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah’s throne; for though prayers be
The simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
So are they likewise, the
Sublimest strains that reach
The majesty on high.
Let me expand on this thought a moment. Prayers are noticed in heaven. Oh! I know what is the case with many of you. You think, “If I turn to God, if I seek him, surely I am so inconsiderable a being, so guilty and vile, that it cannot be imagined he would take any notice of me.” My friends, harbour no such heathenish ideas. Our God is no God who sits in one perpetual dream; nor does he clothe himself in such thick darkness that he cannot see; he is not like Baal, who does not hear. True, he may not regard battles; he does not care for the pomp and pageantry of kings; he does not listen to the swell of martial music; he does not regard the triumph and pride of man; but wherever there is a heart swollen with sorrow, wherever there is an eye suffused with tears, wherever there is a lip quivering with agony, wherever there is a deep groan, or a penitential sigh, the ear of Jehovah is wide open; he marks it down in the registry of his memory; he puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of his book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up from it. Oh! poor sinner, of the blackest and vilest character, your prayers are heard, and even now God has said of you, “Behold he prays.” Where was it — in a barn? Where was it — in the closet? Was it at your bedside this morning, or in this hall? Are you now glancing your eye to heaven? Speak,