Acts 9:19-20 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.… Sir James Young Simpson, Bart., M.D., is a name that will shine in the annals of Scotland, and as a star of the first magnitude among her numerous eminent men. The son of a poor baker in Bathgate, who had much ado to keep his head above water, he rose to receive the honour of a baronetcy from the Queen, "in recognition of his professional merits, especially the introduction of chloroform." His public life was always marked by outward consistency, and by an observance of the externals of religion, numbering among his friends some of the leading divines of Edinburgh, where he lived and laboured. But he was unacquainted with the power of religion until 1861, and the person who was most instrumental in the marked change which was wrought was an invalid lady, one of his patients, whose quiet words spoken, and whose letters of grateful Christian interest written to him, took hold of his heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In one of her letters she said, having written in the kindest possible way concerning him and his household: "What is to fill this heart to all eternity? When benevolence shall have run its course, when there shall be no sick to heal, no disease to cure: when all I have been engaged about comes to a dead stop, what is to fill this heart, and thought, and these powers of mind? Only the God-Man! If then, why not now?" In this way he was led to Christ, and soon began to undertake active and public Christian work. The grass was scarcely green on the grave of his long-afflicted son Jamie, when we find him giving a public address to medical students, speaking of himself as "one of the oldest sinners and one of the youngest believers in the room," and earnestly entreating them to open the doors of their heart and receive the Saviour. "In Christ," said he, "you will find a Saviour, a Companion, a Counsellor, a Friend, a Brother, who loves you with a love greater than human heart can conceive." (The Quiver.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.WEB: He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus. |
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