alise,
especially, three points here. We see in it the demonstration of the
life of Christ; an exhibition of the love of the living Christ; and a
marvellous proof of the power of that loving and living Lord.

I. First, then, take the experience of this Apostle as a demonstration
of the exalted life, and continuous energy in the world, of Jesus
Christ.

What was it that turned the brilliant young disciple of Gamaliel, the
rising hope of the Pharisaic party, the hammer of the heretics, into one
of themselves? The appearance of Jesus Christ. Paul rode out of
Jerusalem believing Him to be dead, and His Resurrection a lie. He
staggered into Damascus, blind but seeing, and knowing that Jesus
Christ lived and reigned. Now if you will let the man tell you himself
what he saw, or thought he saw, you will come to this, that it was a
visible, audible manifestation of a corporeal Christ. For it is
extremely noteworthy that the Apostle ranks the appearance to himself,
on the road to Damascus, as in the same class with the appearances to
the other apostles which he enumerates in the great chapter in the
Epistle to the Corinthians. He draws no distinction, as far as
evidential force goes, between the appearance to Simon and to the five
hundred brethren and to the others, and that which flashed upon him and
made a Christian of him. Other men that were with him saw the light. He
saw the Christ within the blaze. Other men heard a noise; he heard
audible and intelligible words in his own speech. This is _his_ account
of the phenomenon. What do _you_ think of his account?

There are but three possible answers! It was imposture; it was delusion;
it was truth. The theory of imposture is out of court. 'Do men gather
grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?' Such a life as followed is
altogether incongruous with the notion that the man who lived it was a
deceiver. A fanatic he may have been; self-deceived he may have been;
but transparently sincere he undeniably was. It is not given to
impostors to move the world, as Paul did and does.

Was it delusion? Well it is a strange kind of hallucination which has
such physical accompaniments and consequences as those in the story--not
wanting confirmation from witnesses--which has come to us.

'At midday, O king'--in no darkness; in no shut-up chamber, 'at midday,
O king--I heard . . . I saw . . .' 'The men that were with me' partly
shared in the vision. There was a lengthened conversation; two sens