LIBRARY 
 
 Theological Seminary 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 BS 2505 .B48 1864 
 Besser, W. F. 1816-1884. 
 St. Paul the apostle 
 
ST PAUL THE APOSTLE. 
 
edinburgh : 
 
 printed by ballantyne and compant, 
 
 Paul's work. 
 
ST PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 
 A BIBLICAL POBTRAIT 
 
 AND 
 
 A MIRROR OF THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD. 
 
 BY 
 
 W. F. ^B E S S E K, D. D. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 FREDERIC BULTMANN, 
 
 MISSIONARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTICE BY 
 
 REV. J. S. HOWSON, D.D. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 530 BROADWAY. 
 
 1864. 
 
INTRODUCTOET NOTICE. 
 
 During the last ten or twenty years a very remarkable 
 attention lias been given, in many countries, to the study 
 of the Life and Personal Character of St Paul. A largo 
 number of books might be mentioned, published during 
 this period, on the whole or on part of this subject, in 
 England and Germany, Holland and France. Among 
 these books, the small volume here presented to tlie 
 reader deserves to hold a conspicuous place. 
 
 My share in the publication of this translation has been 
 limited to making arrangements with the publisher, to 
 correcting the proof-sheets, and giving a more English 
 turn to some of the sentences which seemed to require 
 it. In discharging the last of these tasks, I have con- 
 fined myself within narrow bounds, and most scrupulously 
 avoided communicating the least shade of difference of 
 meaning to any single expression. Sometimes I have 
 fancied that the translator did not exhibit quite exactly 
 
VI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 the author's thought ; but in such cases I have not felt 
 myself at liberty (and, indeed, with my inadequate know- 
 ledge of German, it would have been presumptuous) to 
 make any changes in the sense. My difficulty was further 
 increased by the fact that I have had simply the pub- 
 lished edition of Dr Besser's " Paulus" before me, where- 
 as Mr Bultmann (as he says in his preface) executed his 
 translation within reach of notes prepared by the author for 
 a second edition : and in some cases I see that the variation is 
 considerable. These explanations will doubtless be thought 
 sufficient, if the whole book is found to wear, as regards 
 its phraseology, a German complexion, if some parts are 
 rather obscure, and others contain expressions and images 
 which seem strange to the English reader. When an author 
 writes somewhat quaintly in his own language, it is diffi- 
 cult to preserve this characteristic in a translation. 
 
 My own work and responsibility in this instance hav- 
 ing been so light, it seems hardly necessary to say more. 
 1 may just add, however, that in certain details I do not 
 agree with the author's views. Thus I think very great 
 objections lie against his opinion that the First Epistle to 
 Timothy and the Epistle to Titus were written during the 
 residence at Ephesus, described in the nineteenth chapter 
 of the Acts. All serious difficulties in regard to these 
 epistles vanish if we retain tlie old opinion, that the Apostle 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Vll 
 
 was liberated from the Eoman imprisonment recorded at 
 the end of that book. And Dr Besser himseK, in common 
 with a large number of the most recent writers, quite 
 accepts that well-supported view.* On the other hand, while 
 differing sometimes in circumstantial detail, it is a great 
 pleasure to me to express my hearty concurrence in the 
 general delineation here given of the Apostle's character. 
 Thus (to mention one point, which has not always been 
 very distinctly noticed in connexion with the sequence of 
 the events of St Paul's life) I see that Dr Besser has been 
 struck, as I was*|- before reading his book, with the pecu- 
 liarly elastic and joyous tone of the epistles written during 
 that very imprisonment, after a time of much depression, 
 suffering, and trial. 
 
 One other subject calls for a single remark. Mr Bult- 
 mann has thought it desirable to state that he does not 
 quite accord with Dr Besser's somewhat '' High- Church 
 views." It does not appear to me necessary to lay peculiar 
 stress on this point. It may be of service to some Eng- 
 
 * Some English Churchmen would not be satisfied with what is said 
 on Church Order in the last chapter : but the author virtually admits that 
 the germ of Episcopacy was planted in the missions of Timothy and Titus ; 
 and the argument hence derived is not touched by the fact that the words 
 "bishop" and "presbyter" are convertible in Acts xx, 17, 28, and Tit. i. 5, 7. 
 
 t I may take the liberty of referring here to p. 208 (second edition) of 
 the " Hulsean Lectures for 1862 : Five Lectures on the Character of St 
 Paul, by J. S. Howson, D.D." 
 
"Viii INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 lish readers to see how a German, who holds the doctrine 
 of Justification by Faith in the purest and strictest sense, 
 yet looks on Baptism as the entrance to great spiritual 
 blessings, believes that the Lord's Supper is a means of 
 grace of the utmost moment, and sets a high value on the 
 external unity of the Church. Our own Ecclesiastical 
 and Sacramental controversies have separated us from one 
 another ; and it may be well that those who have been so 
 divided should at last draw more closely together. Worse 
 dangers now surround us than any which are connected 
 with such disputes. As regards the Supernatural charac- 
 ter of Christianity, the Eedemption wrought for us by 
 Christ, and the reverence due to the Holy Scriptures, Dr 
 Besser will be found unfaltering. His " Paulus " is a 
 popular book as opposed to a mere theological treatise; 
 but it is evidently based on a careful, minute, and pro- 
 longed study of all that is said in the New Testament by 
 St Paul, and of St Paul ; and I believe it will be found 
 full of useful suggestions to those w^hose duty it is to 
 teach others, as well as eminently adapted to build up 
 unlearned believers " in their most holy faith." 
 
 J. S. H. 
 
 Liverpool, Feb. 2, 1864. 
 
TO 
 
 THE REV. IL VENN, B.D., 
 
 PKEBENIURY OF ST PAUL's, HON. SEC. OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 m '' 
 
 OF THE FIRST GREAT MISSIONARY 
 
 IS, 
 
 IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE MANY KINDNESSES 
 
 EXPERIENCED DURING A MISSIONARY SERVICE OF TWENTY-THREE YEARS 
 
 UNDER THE CPIURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 1?ESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " ExEMPLA TEAHUNT," — " Examples draw." To a nation so 
 fond as the Englisli of drawing by example, and so success- 
 ful in it, that their works of this description are admired 
 and copied by other nations, it is hoped that this '' Por- 
 trait," drawn by a fond hand, of tlie man to whom, under 
 God, we are all indebted for untold blessings, will not be 
 unacceptable. 
 
 How this first Apostle of the Gentiles — Saint Paul, 
 chosen for the work from his mother's womb — was called 
 and prepared for it by Divine grace, — how he laboured and 
 suffered, and was blessed in it through Divine grace, — in 
 short, how he lived and died a monu.ment of God's grace 
 in Christ Jesus, and how in the rich legacy of his word and 
 work he has bequeathed to the Church of all ages a fund 
 of inexhaustible blessings, — these are the main features of 
 this biographical sketch, drawn in vivid colours by the 
 author's masterly hand. 
 
 Among his " Biblical Portraits " that of Saint Paul is by 
 far the richest ; nor would he proceed to draw it, until — 
 in his deservedly popular " Bibelstunden,"* ("Bible Les- 
 
 * Animated by the author's encouragement to it, and having every 
 reason to hope that they will be as acceptable to the English, as they are 
 
xn PREFACE. 
 
 sons," all of which, before publication, he personally de- 
 livered to his flock,) — he liad gone through the Acts and 
 Eomans, in both which, to use (with him) an expression of 
 Gregory of Xazianzum, he found "what Paul saith of Paul." 
 "And now I am bold to say," he adds, '' that I come with 
 full hands; for they have been filled by the word of the 
 Spirit, who has drawn after life the picture of the wonder- 
 ful man, whom to draw after Him has been my delight." 
 
 It has appeared proper to the author, and rightly so, 
 first, to complete the historical picture of his hero, (Chapters 
 i.-vi.,) in order, in the last four Chapters, (vii.-x.,) to con- 
 centrate again all the sparks of light thus gathered, in " the 
 Man of Faith," and "of Hope," and" of Love;" and then, 
 finally, to sum up all in " the Man of the Church." If 
 any should think that the author's partiality for this man 
 of God has carried his praise and admiration of him beyond 
 proper bounds, let him remember Christ's word : "I am 
 glorified in them." It was in this light onty — under the 
 constant deep sense of glorifying the Eedeemer in the 
 redeemed — that the author could venture, and has ven- 
 tured, to dip his pen so deeply into praise, and to draw in 
 such glowing colours the picture of the man who has said 
 of himself, " By the grace of God I am what I am." 
 
 One remark, liowever, I dare not shrink from making 
 here. The author being one of those strict Lutherans who. 
 for conscience' sake, separated from the I^ational Church of 
 Prussia,* the reader will here and there meet with — no 
 
 fondly cherished by the German Bible-reader, I shall (D.V.) prepare an 
 edition of them for the English public. 
 
 * By a Eoyal Act of Uniformity, passed in 1830, the two Protestant 
 sections of the National Church-Lutheran and Reformed — were fused 
 
PREFACE. XUl 
 
 Tractariau, but — somewhat " High-Cliurcli views," though 
 " no higher," he declares, " than the Church herself, the 
 Bride of the Lamb." And as an " Evangelical" Churchman 
 myself, identified — through many years' service under it — 
 with the principles of the Church Missionary Society, I 
 feel no hesitation in assuring the " Evangelical" reader, that 
 he will not peruse these pages (nor any of Dr Besser's 
 works) without conceiving the highest regard for the 
 author, and, I may confidently add, without blessing him 
 for the many precious pearls and rich thoughts of whole- 
 some doctrine they contain. Indeed, I am acquainted 
 with no writer of my country better calculated fo redeem 
 the honour of our German theology, and take away much 
 of the prejudice so generally felt against it by the 
 " evangelical party" in England. For in no page of Dr 
 Besser's pen w^ill they ever find the least unsoundness in 
 doctrine, much less any taint of " rationalism ;" which, on 
 the contrary, at every fitting occasion, is crushingly handled 
 
 into one, tlienceforth called "The United {Unirte) Church of Prussia." 
 Upon the introduction of a modified Liturgy (Agetide) to suit both par- 
 ties, the author refused to acknowledge " its right," and declined accept- 
 ing a dispensation from its use under condition of making- that acknow- 
 ledgment. Being tlience removed from oflSce (in the " United" Church) 
 in 1847, (which he had held since 1841,) he ministered for some years to 
 a Nonconformist congregation at " Seefeld," whence he was called to act 
 as "Co-director of the Lutheran Missionary Society" at Leipzig, until, 
 in 1857, he accepted, at great sacrifice, the unanimous call of a poor 
 Lutheran cor:gregation at Waldenburg, in Silesia, of which he is still the 
 pastor. 
 
 In a recent translation of his " Gospel of St John," published by Messrs 
 T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, the translator, a Mrs Huxtable, has mistaken 
 the author for his cousin, " Eudolph " Besser, the well-known publisher of 
 Gotha; an en or which, at his request, I take this opportunity of correct- 
 ing. Dr Besser's name is " Wilhelm Friedrich." 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 by him with the weapons and in the spirit of his great 
 exemplar — Saint Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Hardly two years have elapsed since the appearance of 
 Dr Besser's "Paulus,"' (Leipzig, 1861,) and now another 
 edition is called for, with the notes prepared for which the 
 author has kindly furnished me for the present translation. 
 At his request, I have the pleasure of expressing his in- 
 debtedness to " The Life and Epistles of St Paul," by W. J. 
 Conybeare and J. S. Howson, (London, 1853.) Nor can I 
 forbear to join my own thanks, with those of the author, 
 to the Eev. Dr Howson, Principal of the Collegiate Insti- 
 tution, Liverpool, for his very kind exertions to secure a 
 publisher for this little work, which Dr Besser owns to be 
 the *' darling" among his "literary children." And, finally, 
 our joint prayer is, that many readers may be incited by 
 the perusal of these pages to become the followers of Paul, 
 even as he was of Christ. 
 
 F. BULTMANN. 
 
 Oldenbukg, Z^st Oct. 1863. 
 
CONTEiNTS. 
 
 I. THE CHOSEN VESSEL, 
 II. THE PHARISEE, 
 
 III. THE PERSECUTOR, 
 
 IV. THE WON OF THE LORD .JESUS, 
 V. THE LABOURER, . 
 
 VI. THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 VII. THE MAN OF FAITH, 
 
 VII L THE MAN OF HOPE, 
 IX. THE MAN OF LOVE, 
 X. THE MAN OF THE CHURCH,. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 33 
 
 U 
 
 71 
 
 98 
 
 124 
 
 152 
 
 184 
 
I. 
 
 THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 
 
 " God separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace." 
 —Gal. i. 15. 
 
 St Paul laboured more than all the aj^ostles, but also 
 wearied the Lord more with his sins, and is himself a 
 masterpiece of that divine grace, the exceeding riches 
 of which he preached and extolled more than any of 
 them. Yea, it is luliat he was in Christ which gives that 
 peculiar soul- winning attraction to his preaching of Christ. 
 Upon the shoulders of this Israelite of the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin, '' the beloved of the Lord," rests the loveliness of the 
 Lord, (Deut. xxxiii. 12,) viz., the Church gathered from 
 among the Gentiles and become "the Israel of God;" and 
 as in her the manifold wisdom of God is made known unto 
 principalities and powers in heavenly places, (Eph. iii. 10,) 
 so the manifold lustre of the grace of Christ is reflected in 
 the instrument He chose for effecting that blessed end. 
 St Paul does not stand by the side of the twelve apostles 
 as the thirteenth, but as the one to whom, though 
 last caUed, the mystery of the embodying of the Gentiles 
 into the Church of Christ — as ''iliQ Israel of God," (Gal. 
 vi. 16,) — was made known first, even before St Peter. And 
 when we read of St John seeing the names of the twelve 
 apostles of the Lamb engraven in the twelve foundations of 
 the new Jerusalem, (Eev. xxi. 14,) this twelve-fold splen- 
 dour, we might almost say, is reflected in the one great 
 
2 ST PAUL. 
 
 apostle of the Gentiles, wlio, by the very discharge of his 
 high commission — to bring the Gentiles to the obedience 
 of the faith — became, as it were, a saving angel also to his 
 own brethren after the flesh, by inciting them to emula- 
 tion, as the last means of restoring the remnant of that 
 fallen race to the true Israel of God, (Kom. ix. 27, xi. 
 o, 14.)* Could life-portraits be drawn of the apostles and 
 other eminent servants of God, St Paul's certainly would 
 be one of the richest, and would shine resplendent in a 
 picture gallery of biblical characters. Yea, and were we 
 to single out one of the many precious jewels shining in 
 the Eedeemer's crown, St Paul would be that jewel, for in 
 this " chosen vessel " the Holy Spirit has caused to shine 
 with special lustre the image of Christ, (2 Cor. iii. 18.) In 
 him we hear the opposite of " sounding brass," or " tinkling 
 cymbal," his whole character and life being the sweetest 
 melody to the theme of his apostolical teaching. 
 
 Let us now, with humble thankfulness to the Giver of aU 
 grace, contemplate the character of this " chosen vessel," 
 through whom Christ has bequeathed to His Church a rich 
 store of imperishable blessings, from which thousands in 
 all ages have drawn for their souls treasures of unspeak- 
 able worth ; which, however, will be appreciated by us 
 only in proportion as we desire to become followers of 
 him, '^as he was of Christ." 
 
 ''By God's grace I am what I am," says the apostle, 
 (1 Cor. XV. 10,) and therewith looks back from the height 
 of his apostolical career through all the wonderful ways 
 God had led him, down to the very " hole of the pit whence 
 he was digged." For what does he mean by God having 
 separated and called him by His grace ? Surely he would 
 \f not have us infer from it, that God had done so, because 
 
 * A further explanation of this — and especially the word " last " — the 
 reader may expect in the author's peculiar interpretation of Rom. xi. — Tr. 
 
THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 3 
 
 He foresaw what hereafter would become of him. No, 
 God's prescience is never an idle, always an effective know- 
 ledge. " Thou hast possessed my reins," prays David ; 
 " thou hast covered me in my mother's womb," (Ps. cxxxix. 
 13.) So with regard to this " chosen vessel " — the Israelite 
 Saul of Benjamin's tribe, — God from his mother's womb 
 effectively separated and called him unto that definite end 
 for which His grace was to fit him in time. His natural 
 endowments, his talents, his temperament, the tone and 
 disposition of his character, his frailty of body and strength 
 of soul, his very birthplace, society and education : all 
 these, and a thousand other things, were not foreknown 
 only by God — for " known unto Him are all His works," 
 — but His guiding hand so directed and disposed them all, 
 as best to magnify in and through this " chosen vessel " the 
 abundant riches of His mercy and grace in Christ. 
 
 Twice the apostle mentions his descent from the tribe 
 of Benjamin, (Eom. xi. 1 ; Phil. iii. 5.) Besides this we 
 find hardly any distinction by tribe mentioned in the 
 New Testament. With the exception of Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of Aaron, (Luke i. 4,) in whose son Levi found 
 his greatest representative, (Matt. xi. 11,) and above all 
 Mary, of the house of David, (Luke i. 27,) in whose son 
 Judah found his Shiloh, (Gen. xlix. 10; Eev. v. 5,) we only 
 find two persons mentioned by their tribe — Anna a pro- 
 phetess of the tribe of Aser, (Luke ii. 36,) and Barnabas 
 a Levite of Cyprus, (Acts iv. 36.) Not one even of the 
 twelve apostles is distinguished by his tribe. No doubt 
 Paul had studied the history of his own with special care 
 and interest, nor can we help tracing in it some significant 
 parallels to his own life. A Benoni (" son of sorrows ") 
 Saul also was, and became a Benjamin, ('' son of my right 
 hand,") on finding his heavenly Joseph, whom — like the 
 patriarch his brother — he met away from Israel, in a 
 
4 ST PAUL. 
 
 heathen land. The warlike propensity of this tribe, borne 
 from Jacob's blessing, (Gen. xlix. 27,) through the genera- 
 tions of Israel, was to find, as it were, its consummation in 
 him. For as Saul, the Benjamite of old, persecuted David 
 of Judah, (whose reign, nevertheless, he could not prevent,) 
 so this new Saul persecuted the son of David, till — the bow 
 of his native strength being broken — he swore allegiance to 
 " the Lion of the tribe of Juda," and henceforth fought 
 manfully under His banner, enduring hardness as a good 
 soldier " of Christ." 
 
 St Paul's family seems to have been scattered through 
 heathen lands : Macedonia, Greece and Eome, (cf Eom. xvi. 
 7, 11, 22.) He himself, we know, was a native of Tarsus in 
 Cilicia, and he inherited from his father the freedom of a 
 Roman citizen, (Acts xxi. 39, xxii. 28.) Yet not Rome, but 
 Jerusalem was the pride of his family. Where he calls to re- 
 membrance Timothy's blessing, as inherited from his pious 
 mother and grandmother, there he makes mention also of 
 his own devout forefathers, from w^hom he served God with 
 a pure conscience, (2 Tim. i. 3.) Thus we find young Saul 
 growing up in the bosom of a family, outwardly indeed the 
 citizens of heathen Rome, but inwardly clinging to the 
 land of their fathers, and doubtless the more eagerly long- 
 ing for the Hope of their nation, since she was doomed still 
 to dwell among the heathen, where she found no rest, (Lam. 
 i.3.) 
 
 Israel's King and Saviour had already appeared, when 
 young Saul was still learning of his parents to sigh with 
 the prophet: "Watchman, what of the night?" For to 
 Tarsus the fame of the great Prophet, in whom God had 
 visited His people, had most likely not reached ere young 
 Saul left it for Jerusalem ; where, however, he may have 
 already been living, probably in the house of his married 
 sister, (Acts xxiii. 16,) at the time when, amid loud 
 
THE CHOSEN VESSEL. O 
 
 hosannas, Zion's King entered that city, and when, but 
 a few days after, Zion's Saviour was led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter. Nor could he help hearing of what set'all Jeru- 
 salem in commotion, (Luke xxiv. 18;) but seeking, as then 
 he was, his own righteousness, and learning from his 
 teachers, the Pharisees, that " this man " was " a sinner,'' 
 he might scorn to run along with the multitude in order 
 to see Him. Some of his kinsmen — Andronicus and Junia 
 — we know '' were in Christ before " him, and so was the 
 wife of Simon (the cross-bearer) of Cyrene, the mother of 
 his friend Eufus, for she also became his mother in the 
 Lord, (Eom. xvi. 7, 13.) But Saul, separated from his 
 mother's w^omb, long resisted the drawings of divine grace, 
 scorning in pharisaic righteousness the very thought of a 
 crucified Saviour for sinners. And yet the Lord was 
 already preparing His chosen vessel in this proud youth 
 of Benjamin. 
 
 A religious sense — that tie of the human heart to God 
 — ^was ever strong in Saul, though as yet he was, in misbe- 
 lief, pursuing a phantom of his own creation. It was the 
 misconceived notion of Israel's return to righteousness, and 
 thence to merited glory and perpetual reign under the pro- 
 mised son of David, which formed the centre of all his 
 hopes and aims, so long as, in ignorance of God's righteous- 
 ness by faith in Christ, he went about to establish his own 
 by the works of the law. It has often been remarked, that 
 Saul possessed all the natural requisites for becoming what 
 the world calls a " great man." And true it is, by the 
 energy of his will, and the uncommon quickness of his 
 thought, he would have made an excellent commander ; or 
 a poet, by the depth and tenderness of his feeling ; or a 
 philosopher, by the acuteness of his subtle reasonings ; or 
 a statesman, by his discernment of men and his masterly 
 method of order. The same Lord who called unlearned 
 
6 ST PAUL. 
 
 fishermen and publicans to be apostles, (in accordance with 
 1 Cor. i. 26-29,) fitted this future apostle of the Gentiles with 
 a fulness of natural gifts rarely equalled, to make him, as it 
 were, a silver vessel for the golden contents of His grace. 
 
 One striking feature in his being separated from the 
 womb for God's service was the early and constant bent of 
 his life toward Jerusalem, his people's glory. Though as 
 yet he knew not the free Jerusalem which is above, yet his 
 Jewish patriotism would make him enter heart and soul 
 into Israel's sono- of Zion : " If I forget thee, Jerusalem ! 
 let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remem- 
 ber thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if 
 I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy," (Ps. cxxxvii.) 
 To establisli Israel's righteousness after the law, and with 
 his people to witness Jerusalem's prosperity, was all the 
 bent of his strong mind, of the granite-like constancy of his 
 character. There was no difficulty from which he would 
 shrink, no wall he w^ould not attempt to climb ; and foiled 
 ever so often, he would return to the struggle and labour 
 on. His tenderest feelings of sympathy — afterwards en- 
 nobled into love — were excited by the wretched degrada- 
 tion of his down-trodden nation. It was, as it were, the 
 time of Israel's widowhood ; and in his willing celibacy he 
 felt as though he were betrothed to her, and his life devoted 
 to her service. All the riches of his mind, — his rare talent 
 for making deductions and logically resolving a subject 
 into its parts, unfolding the rich meaning of a single word, 
 and studding, as it were, out of one germ, a whole meadow 
 with flowers, the ingenious, yea, fountain-like originality 
 wherewith thought after thought seems to issue forth from 
 one fundamental idea, around which all range themselves 
 in order, like the circumference of a circle around its centre, 
 his pointed wit, too, and his charming grace, — in fine, all 
 his talents and powers of mind centered in this one object : 
 
THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 7 
 
 Israel's restoration to her pristine glory, by a return to her 
 national righteousness after the law, as the condition laid 
 down in Moses and the Prophets, — in a word, to see all the 
 gracious thouglits of the God of his fathers realised con- 
 cerning His people. Nor were his energies, wrongly directed 
 as now they were, exerted in vain ; for they served to pre- 
 pare for his high office the future herald of Christ's right- 
 eousness. All the munition of legal learning which now 
 he brought into the field against Christ was hereafter to 
 be turned into a crushing weapon against pharisaic 
 Judaism. 
 
 From Acts xxii. o, we know that young Saul was brought 
 up and taught according to the "perfect manner of the 
 law " by one Gamaliel, a Pharisee, and doctor of the law, 
 held in reputation among all the people, and who is pre- 
 sented to us by St Luke, (Acts v. 34, &c.,) in the favour- 
 able light of shielding the apostles' lives by his equitable 
 advocacy in their behalf, thus shewing him to have been a 
 very different man from the worldly, persecuting Sadducees, 
 (ib. ver. 17,) from whose infidel tenets he would turn with 
 disgust, far as he himself might be from seeking the hope 
 of Israel in a crucified and risen Eedeemer. The wonders 
 wrought in Solomon's porch by the hands of the apostles, 
 (ib. ver. 12-16,) and Peter's bold defence and testimony of 
 Christ before the Council, (ib. ver. 29-32,) could not, indeed, 
 fail to bring the question home to his heart, wdiether this 
 work might not be of God, (ib. ver. 39 ;) but, like a true 
 Pharisee, he would look for the kingdom of God to come 
 " with observation," (Luke xvii. 20,) and therefore probably 
 expect, that if this Jesus whom Peter preached to be " a 
 Prince and a Saviour," were indeed the promised Messiah, 
 God would shew Him (as such) openly on Mount Sion, and 
 lay all the heathen prostrate at His feet. With what eager- 
 ness may young Saul have listened to this honourable Phari- 
 
8 ST PAUL. 
 
 see ! and how, sitting at his feet, would all his attention be 
 absorbed in his arguments, as he might seek to demon- 
 strate out of Moses and the Prophets the character of their 
 still-longed-for Messiah, sitting upon the throne of David, 
 awarding eternal life to His chosen people, the heathen and 
 uttermost parts of the earth His possession, Israel's laws 
 those of the world, and Jerusalem's temple a house of 
 prayer for all people ! How would Saul's youthful soul, 
 thirsting for the glory of Israel, revel in prospects like 
 these ! and how, under such transporting thoughts, would 
 his ire be stirred, when he heard one of the despised sect 
 of the I^azarene tear to pieces, by his spirited arguments, 
 all these carnal hopes of the Pharisees, who, unable to re- 
 sist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake, suborned 
 men, accusing him of " blasphemous words against Moses 
 and against God," (Acts vi. 10, 11.) Yet Saul was soon to 
 become heir to both the wusdom and spirit of this faithful 
 confessor ; and we have to look upon his meeting with St 
 Stephen as, under God's providence, one of the most power- 
 ful demonstrations of that grace which was already seek- 
 ing his soul, though he knew it not. 
 
 Gamaliel's teaching, however, of Jewish law and divinity, 
 was not the limit of Saul's education; he was trained, 
 moreover, from his youth in Grecian knowledge and wis- 
 dom. When yet a boy in his native town of Tarsus he had 
 already the opportunity of hearing those that were masters 
 in Hellenic art, rhetoric and philosophy. Strabo, in speaking 
 of the inhabitants of that famous city, says that they displayed 
 such zeal in philosophy and all branches of general science, 
 that they excelled those of all other towns, not even ex- 
 cepting Athens and Alexandria. Though designed for a 
 rabbi, Saul, according to Jewish custom, also learned a 
 handicraft — that of tent-maker, (Acts xviii. 3.) StiU he 
 found time for learned studies. As he read the Greek poets 
 
THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 9 
 
 and philosophers, (cf. Acts xvii. 28 ; Tit. i. 12,) and as he 
 followed the winding ways in which their heathen minds 
 sought after the unknown God, if haply they might feel 
 after and find Him ; — as he gained insight into the history 
 of their deep fall into spiritual and moral depravity, into 
 their outward splendour and inner wretchedness; — as he 
 was led to contemplate the goodness of God, both in His 
 judgments and preservation of them ; — as he made himself 
 master of the language then spoken by all the learned in 
 the whole world, and in which human genius has woven 
 its finest and richest garment, — Saul knew not to whose 
 service all this acquisition of knowdedge was destined to be 
 devoted ; that even this training also belonged to the separa- 
 tion from his mother's womb for the service of Christ among 
 the Gentiles — "For all things serve thee," (Ps. cxix. 91.) 
 The Holy Ghost, by whom " holy men of God are moved " 
 to speak and act, despises not to make use of all the powers ^• 
 of the human mind, after He has purified and consecrated 
 them. To the picture of the man who preached and 
 ''taught publicly, and from house to house," who was "in- 
 stant in season and out of season," who ''ceased not to 
 warn every one night and day with tears," and who, beside'^" 
 that which came upon him daily — "the care of all the 
 churches," yet ministered with his hands unto his own 
 necessities and those that were with him ; — to the picture 
 of that man, also, belongs this trait, that amid all his 
 labours he still continued to study and to read, even re- 
 questing Timothy, in the very last epistle he wrote — when ^ 
 already brought before Nero the second time — to bring 
 him "the books and parchments" which he had left at 
 Troas, (2 Tim. iv. 13.) 
 
 Yet, taught by grace, how little did this great man think 
 of himself! To the Corinthians he writes: "Of myself 
 I will not glory, but in mine infirmities," (2 Cor. xii. 5.) 
 
10 ST PAUL. 
 
 He knew that he had nothing which he had not received, 
 (1 Cor. iv. 7.) His greatest privileges by birth and advan- 
 tages by nature, all these he counted but " loss," yea, but 
 " dung " for the " excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
 Jesus " his Lord, (Phil. iii. 4, &c.) Not the strength he 
 had inherited from his mother's womb, but his very w^eak- 
 ness he looked upon as a preparatory grace of Him that 
 called him. And a twofold weakness tliis w^as. As an 
 adherent of the " straitest sect of Jews," (Acts xxvi. 5,) he 
 was made to experience, under the burden of the law, that 
 weakness of which he speaks, (Eom. v. 6,) " For when we 
 were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for us." 
 But of this weakness, which he was deeply to experience 
 under grace's training, we shall come to speak in the 
 next chapter — Saul " the Pharisee." Here we shall speak 
 of that "weakness" and those ''infirmities," of which he 
 says, " Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in them, 
 that the power of Christ may rest upon me," (2 Cor. xii. 9.) 
 What he means by the " thorn in the flesh," (v. 7,) which 
 he had to carry about with him, " the messenger of Satan " 
 to buffet him, (after the manner of Job,) he has wisely 
 withheld from us, not unlikely for this obvious reason, 
 that every Christian, suffering under whatsoever tempta- 
 tion, might have the benefit of applying to his own pecu- 
 liar case the ghostly comfort to be derived from this doleful 
 apostolic confession. Par from rejecting Luther's view of 
 the apostle alluding to some "great spiritual temptation," 
 yet we deem it more than likely that Satan, as his basis 
 for buffeting him, had recourse to some grievous bodily 
 affliction, — a view which seems clearly indicated by many 
 allusions we find in his Epistles. " Through infirmity of 
 the flesh" he preached the go.spel to the Galatians, 
 and he praises them for not having despised or taken 
 offence at his "temptation which was in the flesh," 
 
THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 11 
 
 (Gal. iv. 13, 14.) His proud opponents at Corinth, he 
 hears say of him : " His letters are weighty and power- 
 ful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speecli 
 contemptible," (2 Cor. x. 10; cf. v. 1: "who in pre- 
 sence am base among you.") Thus, it should seem, we 
 have to think of the apostle as in his person weak and 
 infirm; and as such Eaphael has also painted him. ''A 
 poor, lean, little man, like Master Philip," (Melancthon,) so 
 Luther thought of him ; and Mcophorus Callisti, an Orien- 
 tal Church historian of the fourteenth century, also calls 
 him " a short, stooping man." Nor is it improbable, that 
 his first acquaintance with Luke was as his ''beloved 
 physician ; " and Phoebe's succour and Mary's labour (Eom. 
 xvi. 2, 6) may likewise have been bestowed on his bodily 
 infirmities. But why does he glory in such his infirmities ? 
 Because he was thereby drawn to cast himself entirely 
 into the arms of his heavenly Lord. If we read the regis- 
 ter of his labours and sufferings, w^hich, in sorrow to be 
 compelled to such " foolish boasting," he details in 2 Cor. 
 xi. ; if we hear him relate to the elders of the Ephesian 
 church at Miletus in what manner he had been with them 
 at all seasons, (Acts xx. 17, &c. ;) if we follow his whole 
 course from Jerusalem to Eome, as St Luke has penned it, 
 and add to it the entire train of sacrifices his Epistles 
 develop, truly a gigantic strength would seem to have 
 been requisite for undergoing all that labour — all those 
 sufferings ! But, behold, his body was feeble ! " I can do 
 all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," (Phil, 
 iv. 13.) To make this precious truth the more deeply felt, 
 it was to this end that he inherited such weakness from his 
 mother's womb. By the power of Christ alone he would 
 allow himself to be borne, (2 Cor. iv. 10,) learning thus to 
 express the mystery of his strength : " When I am weak, 
 then am I strong," (2 Cor. xii. 10.) With this view even 
 
12 ST PAUL. 
 
 the frail body of this chosen vessel was formed ; and right 
 well was proved and exemplified in Paul what the blessed 
 Woltersdorf sings of his own experience : — 
 
 " And though it go through weakness e'er so sad, 
 
 I f oUoAV, at His call, my heavenly guide ; 
 The Avork which does but rest on Christ my head, 
 
 Despite my impotence, must sure abide. 
 When sick are both the body and the soul, 
 We see that Jesus only does the whole." 
 
 From the above-quoted taunt of his adversaries at Corinth, 
 "his speech is contemptible," it would appear that the 
 apostle had some defect in his tongue, which hindered him 
 from becoming what the world calls a '"good speaker;" 
 and, indeed, he himself says : " Though I be rude in speech, 
 [literally, a lay-speaker,] yet not in knowledge; but we 
 have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all 
 things," (2 Cor. xi. 6.) Strange I Paul no speaker. And 
 certainly Apollos better pleased the ticklish ears of the 
 Corinthians; and the Athenians, whose ears were still 
 more spoiled, called him a "babbler," (Acts xvii. 18,) 
 enough to shew that he had not the best natural organ of 
 speech. A strong, and often violent struggle with language 
 which he forces into the expression of divine thoughts, is 
 his idiom. Wliile " casting down imaginations, and eyevy 
 high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
 God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the 
 obedience of Christ," (2 Cor. x. 5,) he could not bring to 
 his aid the carnal weapons of a powerful organ, a modula- 
 tion of voice, or an imposing person. But what his all- 
 prevailing weapon was, he tells us in 1 Cor. ii. 4 ; it con- 
 sisted in " demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Not 
 any " excellency of speech or of wisdom," but solely the 
 things lie preached, the spirit in which he preached them, 
 and the fulness of life out of which he drew them : this 
 
THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 13 
 
 was what attracted men's hearts, and drew so many souls 
 to Christ. Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece, forced 
 his heavy tongue, by persevering efforts, into suppleness 
 and eloquence; but Paul, like Moses, ''of a slow tongue," 
 painted, in "contemptible speech," before all men's eyes. 
 Him who had ''no form nor comeliness," and yet was " fairer 
 than the children of men," and " full of grace in His lips." 
 TertuUus, the Eoman orator, (Acts xxiv. 1, &c.,) no doubt 
 surpassed Paul in rhetorical art, yet how undauntedly does 
 the apostle open his mouth before Jews and Gentiles, 
 high priests and kings, in his weakness leaning upon Him 
 who hath said, " I will give you a mouth and wisdom, 
 which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor 
 resist," (Luke xxi. 15.) 
 
 Thus strength and weakness both were made to serve 
 in making this " chosen vessel " of the Lord what through 
 grace he became. 
 
 " Though separated from his mother's womb, 
 
 And chose a vessel meet for heav'nly use, 
 Paul, that his nature might to grace succumb, 
 
 Was led through bitter ways man would not choose; 
 For first must die in him the man called Saul, 
 That grace supreme might live and reign in Paul." 
 
14 ST PAUL. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE PHAEISEE. 
 
 " I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came, 
 sin revived." — Rom. vii. 9, 
 
 Such a Pharisee as the man in Luke xviii. 11, satisfied in 
 his negative righteousness, Saul was not. No, he took 
 bitter pains in his Pharisaism, walking, as he w^as taught, 
 according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, 
 being zealous toward God, (Acts xxii. 3 ;) and he painfully 
 felt the rod of the legal driver, when, ignorant of God's 
 righteousness, he went about to establish his own, (Eom. 
 X. 3.) The star of his hope, the glorious splendour of Mes- 
 siah's reign, he could conceive only as rising over "a righteous 
 nation which keepeth the truth," or " the faith," (as Luther 
 has rendered Is. xxvi. 2.) To keep the faith was all Saul's 
 aim ; but he knew not what faith is, though we have learnt 
 it of Paul to be no human work nor virtue, but that organ 
 wrought in our heart through God's word and Spirit, by 
 means of which we apprehend and receive with childlike 
 trust and confidence, the riches of His grace in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. But to Saul the Pharisee it still was a 
 work, a legal virtue, the due respect and literal observance 
 of all God-appointed institutions and ordinances, circum- 
 cision, the passover, and the reading of the Law and the 
 Prophets on every Sabbath ; all which he kept strictly, and 
 walked^ in unblamably. " Prepare ye the way of the Lord ! " 
 This prophetic call to repentance would sound in Saul's 
 
THE PHARISEE. 15 
 
 ear as a spur to unremitting exertions; for not till his 
 nation should have returned to unblamable righteousness 
 could he think that Messiah would appear to deliver Israel 
 from all her enemies, and crown His chosen people with 
 glory and honour in His kingdom of righteousness. These 
 were the cravings of Saul's soul. 
 
 " Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blame- 
 less," (Phil. iii. 6,) this was his motto as a Pharisee. Be- 
 fore men he had succeeded in obtaining this blamelessness, 
 and to obtain it before God did not appear to him out of 
 the reach of his power. For how should God have given 
 laws to His people which they were not able to keep ? Eight- 
 eousness, then, must verily be obtainable by the deeds of 
 the law, which must give life, or else it were not ''holy 
 and just, and good." So Saul argued and thought. Had 
 he been a hypocritical, or even superficial Pharisee, the 
 coming to a compromise with the requirements of the law 
 might have caused him little difficulty. But he felt the 
 deadly point of the law in the tenth commandment, " Thou 
 shalt not covet," (Eom. vii. 7 ;) and the knowledge of its 
 spirituality discovered to him that he was " carnal, sold 
 under sin," (Rom. vii. 14.)* But did this discovery make 
 
 * Like that honest farmer (Michael was his name) who, on his death- 
 bed, called out to his son: "Jack, just reach down the Catechism from 
 yonder shelf, to see how my past life agrees with it. Please, read me the 
 commandments." " Thou shalt have none other gods but me. Thou 
 shalt not make to thyself any graven image," &c. " Oh, these two I have 
 always kept ; I have neither worshipped idols, like the heathen, nor bowed 
 down to images, like the Roman Catholics. Please, proceed to the third." 
 " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," &c. "Here 
 I am right also ; I never swore an oath except in a court of justice; pray, 
 pass to the next." " Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day," 
 "Oh, there I am not to blame either; I have always gone to church of a 
 Sunday, and never played at cards, nor made my servants work. Which 
 follows now?" " Honour thy father and thy mother." " Ay, as to that, 
 Jack, I may well bid you follow my example ; for when a boy I shewed 
 
16 ST PAUL. 
 
 Saul lose trust in his own power ? By no means; it incited 
 him only the more earnestly to set about establishing his 
 own righteousness. ''And I profited," he says, "in the 
 Jews' religion above many mine equals in mine own 
 nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions 
 of my fathers," (Gal. i. 14.) He knew only one way of 
 silencing his conscience, which accused him of the lust 
 stirred up in his members by the commandment ; and that 
 was, by keeping the commandment. Even that chiefest 
 of all : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might," 
 (Deut. vi. 5,) he despaired not to attain to it, and therefore 
 entered his resolute " No " to the death-threatening sen- 
 tence of the law. He knew nothing yet of the law " work- 
 ing death " in him, " that sin by the commandment might 
 become exceeding sinful," (Eom. vii. 13 ;) and, as dying unto 
 sin was still a strange doctrine to him, he was utterly un- 
 willing to die hy sin ; and therefore strove with all his 
 might to get the mastery over it, that he might live by 
 righteousness.' Stung by the commandment, sin would 
 take occasion daily to gnaw at the fair flower of his self- 
 righteousness, making it fade and droop ; but daily also 
 
 all honour and respect to my poor parents, God bless them ! What 's the 
 next ? " " Thou shalt do no murder." " Thank God, that 's not on my 
 conscience. I never slew a man, not even in lawful war. Go on." " Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery." " Of that I have kept clear also, and always 
 been faithful to your poor mother. Proceed." " Thou shalt not steal." 
 "1. never took aught did not belong to me. K'ext." "Thou shalt not 
 bear false witness against thy neigbour." " I never was summoned as wit- 
 ness, nor would I swear falsely against any person. Are there any more ? " 
 " Yes, one : Thou shalt not covet." Stop, Jack ! there, 1 must think a 
 little ; yes, I cannot say I have never coveted. Pray, look for poor mamma's 
 Bible on the subject." And here Jack found a reference from Exod. 
 XX. to Matt, v., by which the upright farmer was soon led to see that he 
 had broken the whole, and, becoming fully conscious of his exceeding sin- 
 fulness, he betook himself to that Christ whom Paul preached, and died 
 a penitent. — Tr. 
 
THE PHARISEE. 17 
 
 would he water it anew by self-imposed acts of a legal 
 martyrdom, and thus prolong its artificial existence. And 
 why was he so careful and zealous ? whom did he really 
 serve ? He indeed imagined that he was serving the God 
 of his fathers, while in fact he was committing sacrilege. 
 (Eom. ii. 22 ;) because all the while only feeding the pride 
 of that high and noble youth " of the stock of Israel, of 
 the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as 
 touching the law, a Pharisee," (Phil. iii. 5.) Saul 1 
 " thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst 
 thou not, There is no hope : thou hast found the life of 
 thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved,' (Isa. Ivii. 10.) 
 More sharply Paul could not have condemned his 
 Pharisaism, more severely he could not have proved his 
 own infatuated self-deception of this period, than by the 
 words we have chosen for the motto of this chapter, " I 
 was alive without the law once." And herewith he does 
 not mean the life of his childhood, when yet unconscious 
 of the law's .'' Thou shalt," and " Thou shalt not ; " when 
 lust had not yet appeared unto him as sin, and death not 
 been felt by him as the punishment of it. For he adds, 
 " and I died." But if this death had taken place on his 
 first awakening to a consciousness of the law, he could no 
 longer have "found the life of his own hand," and of his 
 Pharisaism there would have been an end. This was not 
 the case ; on the contrary, unwilling to the last to concede 
 the ''killing letter" a right over him, he continued his ut- 
 most efforts to ward off the death-thrusts of the law by 
 trying to turn its flaming testimony against sin into a 
 quenching engine against God's wrath. Thus, though in 
 truth panting under the burden of the law, he fancied him- 
 self to be " alive without the law ; " while, by his right- 
 eousness after the law, he constantly, but fruitlessly, 
 sought to secure this imaginary life against the consuming 
 
18 ST PAUL. 
 
 fire of that very law, the brightness of which no man can 
 bear to behold. Out of the wretchedness of this experience 
 he speaks, when he says, " But even unto this day, when 
 Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart," (2 Cor. iii. 15.) 
 Only from behind this vail, woven thick as scales out of 
 the illusions of man's free-will, can man bear to look upon 
 the law, and take it to be the strength of righteousness, 
 whilst in truth it is the strength of sin, (1 Cor. xv. 56.) 
 Let us rightly understand St Paul's humble confession, " 1 
 was alive without the law once." Saul the Pharisee's 
 error certainly was not that he took it over strictly with 
 God's holy commandments. God indeed takes it far more 
 strictly than the strictest Pharisee. On the contrary, his 
 grievous fault was, with a serious face, to play, as it were, 
 at hide-and-seek with the law. But it found him out in 
 every place. Ever nearer and nearer it went to his life ; 
 and the issue, alas ! of his unhappy marriage with it was 
 one fruit after another brought forth unto death, (Eom. vii. 
 5.) A legion of lusts, doubts, unbelief, murmurings, or 
 even enmity against the true God of the unflattering and 
 unswerving law; in fine, the entire host of sins lurking 
 in the flesh, revived and issued forth from their hiding- 
 places at law's call ; and thus sin by the commandment 
 became exceeding sinful, (Eom vii. 13.) His fancied life 
 " without the law," and the illusion of a righteousness 
 after the Pharisaic phantom of the law, it became daily 
 more difficult for him to maintain ; yea it was a life of 
 death nigh unto heU. And yet Saul the Pharisee would 
 rather prolong it by seeking, in hot conflict, to parry the 
 death-stroke of the law, than die under the cry of help- 
 less weakness, " God be merciful to me a sinner ! " 
 
 That this was pride, Saul would not then acknowledge, 
 being zealous, as he thought, not for his own honour, but 
 for that of the God of Israel ; and indignant, not so much 
 
THE PHARISEE. 19 
 
 against the reproach of human nature, as being too weak 
 to work God's righteousness, but rather the blasphemous 
 thought that the law was unable to effect it. The in- 
 ability of the former to be " subject to the law of God" 
 (Rom. viii. 7,) he would not own, for the very reason that 
 this admission would imply the other, that " the law was 
 weak through the flesh," (Rom. viii. 3 ;) which must have 
 shaken his faith in God altogether, for Him he knew not 
 yet, who, by His perfect obedience to the will of God, and 
 His atoning death for sinners, has brought in another 
 righteousness, even that of faith. An adulterer, therefore, 
 in the sense of Rom. vii. 3, Saul would have become, had 
 he escaped from under the yoke of righteousness by the 
 law, ere he knew of another, by faith in Christ Jesus. 
 Thus, then, he was a very different man from those who 
 boast of their freedom from the law without any '' obedi- 
 ence to the faith," or, in other words, who make void the 
 law, instead of establishing it through faith, (Rom. iii. 31.) 
 To his experience rather that word of Christ would 
 come home, " If any man will do His will, he shall know 
 of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak 
 of myself," (John vii. 17.) This will of God, Saul found 
 expressed in the law, to fulfil which he set to work all the 
 powers of his will, in order only to learn that he was a 
 lost and condemned sinner, needing a Saviour such as 
 Christ Jesus. Though, indeed, Paul himself would give 
 us the lie, were we to say that God had manifested His 
 Son to him in reward of his earnestness and sincerity, 
 (Rom ix. 16, xi. 6 :) yet — to agree with Paul — we shall be 
 correct in saying, that God's grace followed him in all the 
 ways of his infatuated blindness, till, by the repeated 
 chastisements of the law, as " our schoolmaster to bring us 
 unto Christ," (Gal. iii. 24,) he was so "wearied in the 
 greatness of his way," that it needed but " the heavenly 
 
20 ST PAUL. 
 
 voice," in order to throw himself at once and completely 
 into the arms of his merciful Saviour. He that was to 
 become a Paul, strong by grace of faith, had first to expe- 
 rience in Saul his utter inability to acquire a righteousness 
 by the deeds of the law. The Jews' advantage over the 
 Gentiles in their possessing the Eevelation, served to 
 sharpen the accusations of their conscience through the 
 broken law, in order that the true Israel, that is, the Church 
 of Christ — being raised on the wrecks of Judaism — might, 
 through grace, let the doctrine of righteousness by faith in 
 Christ shine resplendent through all lands, to the joy of 
 all true children of Abraham, (cf. Eom. iii. and iv., and 
 Gal. iii.) 
 
 Saul, the Pharisee, and Luther, the Austin friar, form a 
 pair. The sophists, at whose feet Luther sat and studied 
 his divinity, were very dexterous in the art of weaving 
 veils, not only for Moses and the prophets, but also for 
 Christ and His apostles, in order to conceal both the splen- 
 dour of the law and the comforting light of the gospel, and 
 thus to place in advantageous relief the bright shining qua- 
 lities of the natural man. But for all that, Luther came 
 under anguish of sin by the terrors of the law ; the lightning- 
 conductors fabricated by the " idle " scholastics to ward 
 off its strokes did not shield him. As Saul at Jerusalem 
 was intent on gaining merit by the diligent keeping of 
 the Jewish ordinances, or pacifying the accusations of his 
 conscience by legal acts of devotion and self-sacrifice, so 
 Luther, in the monastery at Erfurt. Therefore, after Christ 
 had sliined into both their hearts, Luther learnt so tho- 
 roughly to understand Paul, that, imawed by the opposition 
 of Eomish pharisees and scribes — strutting along against 
 him with proofs, wherewith he himself, as monk, had endea- 
 voured in vain to pacify his alarmed soul — he went on 
 boldly to exalt Christ's blood and righteousness as the 
 
THE PHARISEE. 21 
 
 only remedy and refuge for sinners. " If there was ever 
 any man," he could say, after the manner of Paul, (Acts 
 xxii. 3, &c. ; Phil. iii. 4-6,) '' who held in repute the Pope's 
 ordinances, and was zealous for the traditions of our 
 fathers, it was I, who have heartily defended and looked 
 upon them as holy relics, and upon their observance as 
 indeed necessary to salvation ; yea, to keep them inviolate 
 I have tormented my body with fasting, watching, prayer, 
 and other exercises, more than all who are now mine ene- 
 mies and persecutors ; for I thought in this wise to satisfy 
 the law, and shield my conscience from the rod of the 
 oppressor. Yet it availed me naught ; yea, the further I 
 proceeded in this way the more terrified I grew, so that I 
 had nigh despaired, had not Christ mercifully looked upon 
 me, and enlightened my heart by the light of His Gospel." 
 And when Paul "testified" to his countrymen "the 
 kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both 
 out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets," (Acts 
 xxviii. 23, &c.,) what else did he do but convince his blind 
 brethren that, though living under the law, they were, as 
 he himself had once been, " alive without the law;" that 
 with all their boast of the law, they mistook and denied 
 the power of it? Ever and anon, during his unwearied 
 apostolic labours, would his former life as Pharisee come 
 fresh to his memory. Made himself a true Israelite, who, 
 " through the law," had become " dead to the law," (Gal. 
 ii. 19,) he still, in his " kinsmen according to the flesh," 
 had to re-taste over and over again, to the very dregs, the 
 enmity of false Israelites, who, under the law, lived with- 
 out the law. But the Church has now, in the apostolic 
 teaching of this former Pharisee, to enjoy the fruit of that 
 seed which fell into such deeply-furrowed soil. The very 
 first sermon St Luke has recorded of him, (at Antioch in 
 Pisidia,) how beautifully clear is its evangelical tone ! 
 
22 ST PAUL. 
 
 " Be it known nnto you, therefore, men and brethren, that 
 through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of 
 sins : and by Him all that believe are justified from all 
 things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of 
 Moses," (Acts xiii. 38, 39 ;) and in the Eomans he sums 
 up the preaching of the faith in this short sentence, 
 " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
 one that believeth," (Eom. x. 4.) 
 
 Gamaliel, Saul's teacher, is celebrated to this day among 
 the Jews as the author of a terrible prayer of theirs against 
 Jesus of Nazareth. Who made Saul to differ ? The perse- 
 cutor of Jesus in His people knew no other cause of his 
 salvation than simply God's mercy in Christ. 
 
 " Saul would not die, but his whole soul was bent 
 To satisfy the law, and thereby live. 
 He scorn'd the thought that God's law should be meant 
 
 To kill, instead of righteousness to give ; 
 Yea, and the more he had its smart to feel, 
 The more he grew beyond his peers in zeal ." 
 
THE PEKSECUTOR. 23 
 
 III. 
 
 THE PEESECUTOR. 
 
 " I persecuted this way unto the death." — Acts xxii. 4, 
 
 " Ye have received the law by the disposition of angels, 
 and have not kept it ! " exclaimed Stephen before the 
 Council ; and they were cut to the heart, gnashing on him 
 with their teeth, (Acts vii. 53, 54.) How deeply the arrow 
 of this word penetrated into Saul's heart, we may gather 
 from the manner in which, about sixteen * years after, he 
 alludes to the same glorious manifestation of the law upon 
 Sinai, (Gal. iii. 19 ; cf. also Heb. ii. 2.) Stephen's whole 
 speech was of a nature to stir to the utmost the enmity 
 against Jesus and His followers in the heart of our pharisaic 
 zealot for God, for His law, and His people; for, while 
 ascribing to God's gracious choice and forbearing mercy 
 alone all the glory shining through Israel's history, Stephen, 
 with all the fire of a holy zeal for God, renewed the cutting 
 arraimment of God's servant of old as^ainst the rebellious 
 children of Israel, '' Understand, therefore, that the Lord 
 thy God givetli thee not this good land to possess it for 
 
 * This period is evidently too short. From Gal. i. 17, 18, and ii. 1, 
 more than seventeen years must have elapsed between Acts ix. and xv. 
 And supposing Paul's stay at Antioch (xv. 38) ever so short, and his epistle 
 written after his first visit to Galatia, (xvi. 6,) during his stay at Corinth, 
 (xviii. 11,) a period of very near tv^enty year's must lie between Stephen's 
 martyrdom and Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.— Tr. 
 
24 ST PAUL. 
 
 thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Ye 
 have been rebellious against God from the day that I knew 
 you/"' (Deut. ix. 6, 24; cf. Acts vii. 51.) The very privi- 
 leges of which the Jews were so proud, (Eom. ix. 4, 5) he 
 arrayed as witnesses against a disobedient and gainsaying 
 people : They are of Israel, but not of the faith of Abra- 
 ham; theirs is the adoption, but they deny and betray 
 to the heathen the mystery of it, as did their fathers; 
 theirs is the glory, and they profane and desecrate the 
 Temple of God ; the covenant, and of its ordinances, circum- 
 cision and the passover, they make a false trust for their 
 uncircumcised and unbelieving hearts ; the law, and they 
 have neither kept it, nor known and acknowledged, as its 
 fulfiUer, Him of whom Moses testified ; the service of God, 
 and instead of redeeming mercy, they rejoice in the sacri- 
 fices of their own hand; the promises, and they believe 
 them not ; theirs are the fathers, and verily they are the 
 children of those their fathers, who envied Joseph, and 
 sold him into Egypt, " but God was with him ; " finally, 
 from them came Christ, " who is over all, God blessed for 
 ever;'' and Stephen thus accuses them: ''Which of the 
 prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? And they have 
 slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just 
 One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and mur- 
 derers." 
 
 Saul lived heart and soul in the history of his nation. 
 He now saw the sanctuary of his holy devotion defamed 
 and condemned, and the whole fabric of his pharisaic 
 notions of national glory torn and shattered. Let no one 
 wonder, then, that Stephen's speech went like a sharp saw 
 through his very heart. While accusing the holy Phari- 
 sees, one and all, of injustice and the breach of the law, 
 Stephen had called Jesus the " Just One ; " and therewith 
 had struck wounds into Saul's conscience, to bind up wdiich, 
 
THE PERSECUTOR. 25 
 
 his tormented soul would labour day and night. To the 
 heart of this youthful zealot, before whose zeal people were 
 ■ already bowing, the conviction would come home witli 
 irresistible force : Either Stephen or I ; there can be no 
 compromise between us ; either Stephen has spoken the 
 truth, and then I am lost and undone, or I have been 
 rightly instructed in history and Holy Writ, and then this 
 Jesus of ISTazareth must have been a false prophet, and his 
 disciple is guilty of death. A last struggle this decision 
 would inevitably cost him ; but so strongly was the notion 
 of pharisaic sanctity engrained in his flesh, that with 
 prayerful imprecations in Jehova's name he would soon be 
 led to reject, as a fiendish temptation, every doubt as to 
 the correctness of the historical authorities represented by 
 the heads of his nation. Thus his rencontre with Stephen 
 would form an important turning point in Saul's life, and 
 serve to hasten to its last climax his inveterate zeal against 
 Jesus of Nazareth and His followers. From this time, then, 
 he was resolved to '' persecute this way unto the death." 
 To serve the God of his fathers was a life and death ques- 
 tion with him, and the one point at stake was. Who is that 
 God ? Is it He who in His Christ upon the cross has held 
 judgment over the sins of the world, "to declare His 
 righteousness," which no flesh, not even that of Israel, can 
 satisfy, but which requires the atoning sacrifice of Christ's 
 blood, in order to save by grace those who believe in Him ; 
 or is it He who will send His Christ to defy the lawless 
 heathen, and rescue from their oppression His chosen people, 
 keeping the law in righteousness, and to whom, in reward 
 for their obedience. He will give the world for a possession ? 
 Is it He who, upon the instigation of the Jews, has delivered 
 His Christ into the hands of the Gentiles to be scourged and 
 crucified by order of Pontius Pilate, before whom He de- 
 clared that His kingdom was not of this world, and thereby 
 
26 ST PAUL. 
 
 traced His people's way through it to be likewise one of 
 suffering and death ? or is it He who will send His Christ 
 to "judge the world with righteousness and the people with 
 His truth," (Ps. xcvi. 13,) but establish for His own the 
 kingdom of Israel in cloudless glory ? Finally, is it He 
 who has sent the Spirit of His Christ — now exalted to His 
 right hand in heaven — into the hearts of His people, that they 
 should serve Him, whose " kingdom is not meat and drink, 
 but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," 
 and that, living in hope of becoming "joint-heirs with 
 Christ," they should reckon the sufferings of this present 
 time as not worthy to be compared with the glory whicli 
 shall be revealed in them," (Kom. viii. 17, 18) ; or is it He 
 who will make His Christ appear to His chosen people in 
 visible and palpable glory, and so save all Israel at once 
 by transforming her present state of helpless servitude into 
 one of kingly rule and heavenly felicity, thus fulfilling the 
 prayer of our fathers, " Oh that the salvation of Israel were 
 come out of Zion 1 When the Lord bringeth back the 
 captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall 
 be glad," (Ps. xiv. 7.) In his zeal for the glory of the law, 
 Saul persecuted Him who bore the curse of the law ; in 
 his enthusiasm for the national honour of Israel, he per- 
 secuted '' the glory of Irael," (Luke ii. 32,) whom Pilate in 
 mockery styled " the King of the Jews ;" and in his carnal- 
 minded enmity to a life of faith he persecuted " the Author 
 and Finisher of our faith," whose " kingdom is not of this 
 world." 
 
 "But Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked sted- 
 fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus 
 standing on the right hand of God, and said. Behold I see 
 the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the 
 right hand of God :" while to the eyes of the Jews the 
 heavens were closed, whither Jesus had ascended, whose 
 
THE PERSECUTOR. 27 
 
 glory they knew not, (1 Cor. ii. 8.) And shutting their en- 
 raged ears, they " ran upon him Yv^ith one accord, and cast 
 him out of the city, and stoned him ; " and the witnesses 
 of his supposed blasphemy, whose office it was to cast the 
 first stone, prepared for their ''divine service," (Johnxvi. 2,) 
 by laying down their clothes at a young man's feet, who 
 was the very soul of this zealous deed — even our youthful 
 Saul '' the persecutor." * 
 
 " In all stones they throw at Stephen 
 Saul's soul rages, more than even 
 Theirs whose clothes lie at his feet. 
 While to die is sweet to Stephen, 
 For he sees in open heaven 
 Jesus whom his soul shall meet." 
 
 Adam de St Victor. 
 
 " Saul was consenting unto his death," writes St Luke 
 (Acts viii. 1,) and Paul, upon his being won by Christ, thus 
 expresses to the Lord Himself the feeling at his once un- 
 happy participation in this scene, " And when the blood 
 of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, 
 and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them 
 that slew him," (Acts xxii. 20.) Were some Jews, if not 
 most, short-sighted enough to imagine Stephen as possessed 
 of a different spirit from that of the rest of Christ's disciples, 
 Saul, with his penetrating eye, knew better than to think 
 that the grave of this one would close over the name of 
 the Nazarene, unless every one of " this way " could be de- 
 stroyed with him ; and therefore he owns long after, before 
 King Agrippa, '' I verily thought with myself that I ought 
 to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza- 
 
 * The celebrated Spanish painter Yicente Joannes has represented Saul 
 as walking at the martyr's side lost in profound meditation, in striking 
 contrast with the wild rabble. Fervent devotion is painted on his face, 
 and upon his brow falls apparently from far off a ray of light that beams 
 from Stephen's face (Acts vi. 15 ;) but which, with as much difficulty as 
 determination, he evidently forces himself to ward off. 
 
28 ST PAUL. 
 
 reth," (Acts xxvi. 9,) and the "ravening wolf" of the tribe 
 of Benjamin (Gen. xlix. 27,) deemed it a "profiting in the 
 Jews' religion " when he " persecuted the church of God 
 and wasted it/' (Gal. i. 13, 14.) And such was the influ- 
 ence which Saul — a man already even in his youth — 
 exercised over the minds of the people, who hitherto — from 
 the powerful, heavenly demonstrations in their behalf — 
 had evidently regarded the Apostles and their work with 
 reverential awe, if not with favour, (Acts ii. 47, iii. 9-11, 
 iv. 21, V. 13, 26,) that from Stephen's martyrdom he car- 
 ried them away to a general persecution, he himself their 
 leader, '' making havoc of the Church, entered into every 
 house, and haling men and women, committed them to 
 prison, and when they were put to death, he gave his 
 voice against them ; " yea and " oft in every synagogue " he 
 punished and " compelled them to blaspheme," thus becom- 
 ing a murderer of their souls also. ISTor did it satisfy his 
 blind zeal for the honour of God and His law to persecute and 
 destroy " this way " in Jerusalem only, but " being exceed- 
 ingly mad against them," he applied for warrants to the 
 chief priests — to whose Sadducean lukewarmness in the 
 cause, the fiery Saul might be now becoming rather irk- 
 some at Jerusalem — and went with them, destroying the 
 churches where he came, ''even unto strange cities," as far 
 as Damascus, whence from the '' scattered " flock of Christ 
 rays of light were already spreading abroad into heathen 
 countries, (Acts viii. 3, 4, ix. 1, 2, xxii. 4, 5, xxvi. 9-11.) 
 
 Not only in his defences made at Jerusalem, first before 
 the people, (from the stairs of the chief captain's castle, 
 Acts xxi. 37, 40,) and next before Festus and King Agrippa, 
 does the Apostle speak of his former benighted life, into 
 which the light of grace fell from heaven, but also in his 
 epistles he repeatedly calls to mind the remembrance of 
 his shame, which he had once accounted honour. How- 
 
THE PERSECUTOK. 29 
 
 ever much he had learnt to detest it now — having become 
 dead unto sin — yet the memory of his heinous guilt and 
 disgrace would ever revive, to serve him as a continual 
 cause for deep humiliation ; and divine grace would indeed 
 shine all the brighter upon the dark background of nature's 
 disgrace, to the eternal praise of God's mercy in Christ. 
 Where he most extols his office, and confesses what Christ 
 has wrought through him, he also bows lowest under an 
 overwhelming sense of the grace shewn unto him, and 
 writes, " I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet 
 to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of 
 God," (1 Cor. XV. 9 ; cf Eph. iii. 8.) An " untimely birth " 
 he calls himself, not only " as one born out of due time," 
 (1 Cor. XV. 8,) but also as being, by the skilful hand of 
 Jesus, the heavenly physician, withdrawn (" separated," if 
 not torn) from the bosom of false Judaism. The Gala- 
 tians — who, through some Judaisers that troubled them, 
 were led to look upon the Apostle's gospel of Christian 
 liberty as human — he reminds of his " conversation in time 
 past in the Jewish religion," from which neither himself 
 nor any man, but solely the grace of God, " by the reve- 
 lation of Jesus Christ," had delivered him, (Gal. i. 11, &c.) 
 Above all, to Timothy, his " own son in the faith," the 
 Apostle pours out his whole heart. Being deeply solicitous 
 that he should hold fast the form of sound words, '' which 
 he had heard of him, " in faith and love which is in Christ 
 Jesus," he draws for Timothy, in his own inimitable man- 
 ner, the picture of that man from whom he had learnt 
 Christ, and to whose ''trust the glorious Gospel of the 
 blessed God had been committed." " I thank Christ Jesus 
 our Lord," he writes, " who hath enabled me, for that he 
 counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry ; who 
 was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious ; 
 but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in un- 
 
30 ST PAUL. 
 
 belief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, 
 with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a 
 faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,"that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
 chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
 me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering 
 for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on 
 him to life everlasting," (1 Tim. i. 12-16.) 
 
 Stephen's dying prayer, " Lord, lay not this sin to their 
 charge," could be answered for Saul the persecutor, because 
 he was one of those for whom Christ prayed upon the 
 cross, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do." St Paul was far from entertaining the ungodly notion 
 that, because, as persecutor, he had, to the best of his con- 
 science, acted in accordance with his conviction, therefore 
 his ''zeal to God," though "not according to knowledge," 
 (Eom. X. 2,) had availed aught before Him in procuring his 
 favour and acceptance. No, rather his conscience, when 
 ''purified by faith," accused him of damnable sin, from 
 which Christ, of His own mere grace, had saved him. ' ' But I 
 obtained mercy," he says, " because, being ignorant, I did 
 it in unbelief." To this we firmly hold, while seeing in the 
 persecutor's zeal the spirit of the iron-hearted Jew and war- 
 like Benjamite, which, sanctified by grace, made him the 
 champion he became in the cause of Christ. Nearer, in- 
 deed, to the kingdom of God, was Saul tlie persecutor, than 
 is that lukewarm generation of worldlings, who, either from 
 drowsy indifference, or absorption in material interests, will 
 never be at the pains of troubling the Church of Christ. 
 In the burning zeal and thorough earnestness wherewith 
 Saul consumed himself, as he "was breathing out threaten- 
 ings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," (Acts 
 ix. 1 ;) in the manly firmness wherewith he concentrated 
 all upon this one thing, the extirpation of the followers of 
 
THE PEESECUTOE. 31 
 
 the Cross, as the arch-enemies to his arch-Judaism, there 
 were mightily though mistakenly (" in unbelief ") at work 
 those vigorous natural powers he bore along from his 
 mother's womb, which, turned by grace into their right 
 direction, (faith in Christ,) made him the unswerving sol- 
 dier and herald of the Cross. Luther, in his naive manner, 
 says, '' Now, when Saul took the matter so to heart, the 
 Lord Jesus had His thoughts about it, and said to Himself, 
 ' Wait a little, that man will turn out well ; for what he 
 does, he does in right earnest. The fervour he now shews in 
 a bad cause, I will still increase by my Spirit, and apply to 
 a good cause. He shall preach of me among the Gentiles, 
 which shall stir up the Jews, as they deserve, to become 
 quite mad and foolish, as he himself has hitherto been.' 
 Just as our Lord God uses me now against the Pope and 
 his band, for whom formerly I would have gone through 
 the fire, and now none fights more bitterly against them." 
 ISTot forgetting what once he was, Paul enters, with as 
 much meekness as firmness, upon his new path full of 
 thorns, where step by step, and on all sides, he is met by 
 the same pharisaic spirit of persecution he himself had 
 heretofore displayed. View him at Jerusalem under the 
 murderous blows of his blind countrymen, whose souls he 
 is seeking to win in tenderest and devoted love. Hear 
 him as, standing before an enraged multitude, (Acts xxi. 
 35, &c.,) he wins their silence by his meek address, (Acts 
 xxii. 1, &c.), " Men, brethren, and fathers," and then con- 
 tinues, " I was zealous towards God, as ye all are this day, \ 
 and I persecuted this way unto the death." This meek- 
 ness Paul learnt in the school of Christ's Spirit, who re- 
 minded him of his own past life, of abounding sin, and of 
 far more abounding grace. 
 
 Saul's zeal grew rage, and this to slaughter led ; 
 Nor would aught give content to his fierce soul 
 
32 ST PAUL. 
 
 But persecution to the very death, 
 
 Till of that way he had destroy' d the whole. 
 
 And this dread zeal was with religion pair'd : 
 
 For thus he thought to serve his people's God. 
 
 " In ignorance," as after he declared, 
 
 " And unbelief," he trod this fearful road. 
 
 But Satan should not triumph over Saul ; 
 
 For we shall witness next his heavenly call. 
 
THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 33 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE WON OF THE LOED JESUS, 
 
 " Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,"— Rom, v, 20, 
 
 Ambrose calls the conversion of Paul the most glorious 
 deed of Christ the King — next to the outpouring of the 
 Holy Spirit. Glorious, indeed, in its fruit — the gathering 
 of the Gentiles into the fold of Christ, through the gospel 
 of His grace preached by this child of grace ; and glorious 
 also in the sovereign power of Divine grace which wrought 
 it, and became the inexhaustible theme of praise in the 
 mouth of this won one of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 How great PauFs conversion and call was in the eyes 
 of St Luke, is clear from his thrice recounting its history 
 with evident delight : once in the thread of his own narra- 
 tive, where the patient sun, that has sent forth his first 
 rays of the evangelical day over the Jewish nation, begins 
 already to draw toward evening for that nation ; and twice 
 in the great Apostle's defence of the Gospel at Jerusalem, 
 where night is already fast closing in upon them, (Acts ix., 
 xxii., XX vi.) Let us take a connected review of this three- 
 fold account. 
 
 It was not, we may be sure, without heartfelt tlianks to 
 God for thus permitting him to do Him service, (John xvi, 
 2,) that Saul, furnished with commissions from the high 
 priest, entered upon the honourable mission of tlie Jewish 
 holy inquisition — to go abroad after Christ's disciples, hal- 
 
 c 
 
34 ST PAUL. 
 
 ing men and women, and bringing them bound unto Jeru- 
 lem. But, lo ! as lie sped on his way to Damascus, and 
 drew nigh to the city, suddenty, about noon, there shined 
 round about him a light from heaven, above the brightness 
 of the sun. It was even the Lord Jesus Christ, tlie same 
 whom Stephen saw in the opened heavens, standing on 
 God's right hand, who now appeared to Saul, (1 Cor. ix. 
 1, XV. 8,) dazzling his eyes wdtli the glorious light of His 
 countenance. They also that were with him saw indeed the 
 light, before wdiich the noontide sun grew pale, but they 
 saw no man ; they heard the sound of a voice, " but they 
 heard not," St Paul says, '' the voice of Him that spake to 
 me." " And when we were all fallen to the ground," he 
 continues, " I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying 
 in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 
 me ? " So, then, He whom Saul persecutes is throned in 
 heaven; and Stephen spoke the truth; Saul is the man 
 of death! and yet he lives; the glare of His heavenly 
 majesty hath darted upon, but not slain him. "Why per- 
 secutest thou me ? " In this appeal to Saul's heart, of 
 Him who is glorious and terrible, is blended the voice of 
 mercy. "What have I done unto thee, my people ? and 
 wherein have I w^earied thee ? testify against me," (Micah 
 vi. 3.) Crushed by the overwhelming sense of his extreme 
 guiltiness, Saul lay prostrate in the dust, yet upheld and 
 drawn, at the same time, by the arms of that long-suffering 
 mercy, which hereafter he knows so well to exhibit to his 
 unhappy brethren according to the flesli, (Eom. x. 21.) 
 The mystery of that grace which, without coercing, draws 
 with irresistible force— which wins and conquers by no 
 other weapons than those of tender intreaty and imploring 
 love — now began to dawn upon Saul's mind, as he ven- 
 tured to put the question, "Who art thou. Lord?" That 
 He who from heaven called him by name, and whose 
 
THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 35 
 
 glory he saw, was the Lord, the living God, he was sure 
 enough, and needed no further proof; but that it was He 
 whom he had been persecuting, this thought seized him 
 like a stroke of lightning, falling on him unawares, and 
 penetrating to his very inmost soul. Him whose name he 
 has cursed, and whom he has persecuted as a blasphemer, 
 he now beholds in heavenly glory, yea, and hears Him 
 pronounce His own name — " I am Jesus whom thoUper- 
 secutest," — that name above every name, (Phil. ii. 10,*) by 
 which He is worshipped and adored, both in heaven and 
 earth, as the Lord and Saviour of His believing people, 
 " who, crucified through weakness, liveth by the power of 
 God," (2 Cor. xiii. 4,) and out of His own mouth ("Why 
 persecutest thou me.?") he now learns that "great mystery " 
 of the oneness of " Christ and the Church," (Eph. v. 32 ;) 
 He the head, she the body, and believers on earth " mem- 
 bers in particular of the body of Christ," (1 Cor. xii. 27) — 
 a favourite subject henceforth of the Apostle's teaching 
 and devout adoration. How may the exalted Saviour have 
 looked upon this fruit "of the travail of His soul;" the 
 youth of His choice, whom He had " loved with an ever- 
 lasting love," and was now drawing to Himself " with the 
 cords of love ! " And Stephen, was he permitted, too, to 
 look down upon this " strong one " whom Jesus took for 
 His '' spoil " that day ? More than the angels of God must 
 he have rejoiced at this first-fruit of his martyrdom. But 
 Satan must have beheld with rage and gnashing of teeth 
 this victory of the Lord Jesus ; nor would he stand an idle 
 beholder of the scene, but summon to his aid the art of 
 hell, for in this one prey he would lose a thousand, yea, 
 countless legions in the lapse of time. And Jesus, on His 
 part, will not triumph over him by some enchantment, as 
 it were, of Saul, stronger than Satan's ; but says to His 
 won one, " It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." 
 
36 ST PAUL. 
 
 Hard, yet not impossible. This Saul has clearly learnt, 
 for he says, '* I was not disobedient to the heavenly voice ; " 
 which he might have been, had he not at once " brought 
 into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,'' 
 (2 Cor. X. 5,) and resisted the serpent's subtle beguilement 
 to ''corrupt his mind from the simplicity in Christ," (2 
 Cor. xi. 3.) Against the pricks of Divine wrath Saul had 
 hitherto kicked. Like as the ox kicks against the staff" of the 
 driver, so Saul had been kicking against the deadly pricks 
 of the law, which entered but the more deeply into his 
 flesh the more he endeavoured to satisfy Divine justice 
 by a self-acquired unblamable righteousness. But now the 
 grace of the Lord Jesus would make it too hard for him 
 any longer to continue this suicidal labour. The pricks of 
 the avenger are broken in the flesh of Christ crucified, who 
 in His own body upon the cross has " slain the enmity 
 thereby," (Eph. ii. 16.) So long as Saul persecuted Jesus 
 he wanted to redeem his own soul, which costs too much, 
 " so that he must let that alone for ever," (Ps. xlix. 8, 
 Prayer Book transl.) But now it came to a happy crisis, 
 a solution worth the whole world, (Matt. xvi. 26.) In the 
 death of Christ there now appeared to him the end of the 
 law warring against the sinner, and in His resurrection 
 the entering in of that righteousness which both satisfies 
 God and gives peace to the sinner that believeth in Christ, 
 (Eom. iii. 26, iv. 25, v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 17.) But ere Paul 
 could attain to the blessed experience of being " dead with 
 Christ, and buried with Him in baptism," Said had first to 
 taste that bitter dying described in Eom. vii. 9-11, "And I 
 died." Here, before the gates of Damascus — " smitten to ■ 
 the ground by the law," as Luther says — he felt its sharp- 
 pointed arrow fasten deep into his heart ; he was accursed, 
 and deserved to hang on that tree where Jesus his Saviour 
 hung for him. Will he still kick against the pricks, now 
 
THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 37 
 
 that he has beheld the law which ''worketh wrath" in the 
 light of overpowering grace ? No, it has become too hard 
 for him. Trembling and astonished, but withal still bent 
 upon penitential obedience, he cries out, "Lord, what wilt 
 thou have me to do ? " In this hour of anguish, " as the 
 terrors of God flashed through his soul," it would surely 
 have been the greatest relief to him, had the Lord exacted 
 of him a penitence and satisfaction ever so bitter and 
 severe. In none of these, however, but solely in the all- 
 availing sacrifice and satisfaction made by Jesus Christ 
 once for all upon the cross, could he find rest; and he has 
 found it. It was only by opening his sad heart to this 
 same Jesus, that he felt his own sins also were atoned for 
 and cancelled. With encouraging gentleness., the Lord then 
 bids him " rise and stand upon his feet;" but forthwith, to 
 test his obedience, He adds : " And go into the city, and 
 it shall be told thee what thou must do." In thus com- 
 missioning him to apply for instruction to the believers at 
 Damascus, those very people he had hitherto persecuted, 
 the Lord greatly honoured His Church, and vindicated to 
 her the high office and blessed privilege of dispensing to 
 sinners the means of His grace. In the Church only would 
 He be found of him with absolution to eternal peace.* 
 And with such docility did Saul enter into this Divine 
 order of grace, and so completely does Paul afterwards 
 identify Christ and the Church, that in his speech before 
 Agrippa he passes the mediating Ananias clean by, and 
 affirms to have heard of Jesus what Ananias told him in 
 His name.-j- 
 
 On rising from the ground, Saul perceived that he was 
 
 * Once for all, I here repeat — what impliedly I have averred in my pre- 
 fatory remark on the subject — that I do not concur in the author's High 
 Church views. — Tr. 
 
 t Great nicety linked with ingenuity.— Tr. 
 
38 ST PAUL. 
 
 blind. Hitlierto he had said, " I see," (John ix. 41 ;) now 
 he finds his spiritual blindness portrayed upon his bodily 
 eyes, which are blinded by the glory of the heavenly vision. 
 In this pitiable plight, yet resigned to Jesus's custody, he 
 is led by the hands of his astounded companions, and 
 brought into Damascus. The wolf is turned into a lamb. 
 "And he was three days without sight, and neither did 
 eat nor drink," — seeking and finding the more food for 
 his hungry soul in the Word of God and the teaching of 
 His Church ; yea, while his bodily eyes failed him, his 
 inner eyes would open to the voice of the prophets, giving 
 him answer to the Lord's question : " Saul, Saul, why 
 persecutest thou me?" and in the penitential psalms he 
 would find the fittest utterance for his unutterable woe. 
 " We know that the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal, sold 
 under sin," (Eom. vii. 14.) This knowledge of a contrite 
 sinner was now beaming upon him in the light of that 
 transcendent fact — that He who had hung upon the ac- 
 cursed tree \vas now exalted to heavenly glory and Divine 
 majesty. Now he had torn from his bleeding heart "what 
 things were gain" to him, (Phil. iii. 7;) and, dying, waited 
 for His help, who by His -word, " I am Jesus !" had already 
 breathed on him the Spirit of life. Saul spent three days 
 of anguish in the deep ere he ascended to the height. 
 '' Behold, he prayeth," said the Lord, by way of encourage- 
 ment to Ananias, who still dreaded the man of slaughter. 
 "Behold, he prayeth;" a precious word, as it proves to us 
 that the humble prayer of a contrite sinner goes direct to 
 the heart of Jesus in heaven, who enlists for the penitent 
 the sympathy of His believing children on earth, yea, and 
 the service of His swift-flying angels in heaven, (Dan. ix. 
 20-23.) The Lord answering Saul's prayer through the 
 mouth of a " disciple " and fellow-sinner does not contra- 
 dict Gal. i. 11, 12, where Paul declared that the Gospel he 
 
THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 39 
 
 preached he had neither received of man, nor been taught 
 it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For the sub- 
 stance of his preaching to others — viz., the Gospel of the 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ — was indeed communicated 
 to him by the revelation of that same Jesus who appeared 
 unto him from heaven ; but of his own pardon and accept- 
 ance by Him through the same grace he was to receive the 
 comforting assurance in no other v/ay than every other 
 sinner accepted by Christ — viz., through the ordinary means 
 of grace — the Word and Sacrament. Also that he might 
 receive again his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost 
 was Ananias sent to him from God. Yea, so highly did 
 the Lord honour His poor persecuted church at Damascus, 
 that He annoimced to Ananias, when yet they were trem- 
 bling at Saul's approach, the triumph of His grace over 
 this persecutor of Himself in His people ; and upon Ana- 
 nias still hesitating, alleging in child-like simplicity the 
 terror-stirring accounts they had heard of '' this man,'' the 
 Lord bids him " Go thy way ; for he is a chosen vessel 
 unto me, to" bear my name before the Gentiles and kings 
 and the children of Israel : For I will shew him how great 
 things he must suffer for my name's sake." Thus the Lord 
 not only laid the new convert in the arms of the Church, 
 but made over to her the "chosen vessel" also. 
 
 To extol Israel's glory in the sight of 'the heathen had 
 been Saul's inmost desire ; and because he had taken the 
 followers of Jesus to be the enemies to Israel's glory, 
 therefore he had persecuted them. But, won himself of 
 the Lord Jesus, out of the lost children of Israel, he was 
 now to bear His name, as the banner of salvation, before 
 the Gentiles and their kings ; and, by gathering them into 
 " the Israel of God," he was to provoke fallen Israel to 
 rise again, (Eom. xi. 11, &c.) That Christ's kingdom 
 should be one of suffering and death had been his great 
 
40 ST PAUL. 
 
 offence, because he could not reconcile the Cross with the 
 carnal thoughts of his Jewish prejudices. But now he 
 goes to " confirm tlie souls of the disciples, exhorting 
 them, that we must through much tribulation enter into 
 the kingdom of God," (Acts xiv. 22 ;) yea, and as their 
 ministering servant in Christ, himself goes to bear in his 
 own flesli, and that with joy, of " the afflictions of Christ," 
 which the church militant has to " fill up " — that mea- 
 sure of suffering meet for so great an apostle, (Col. i. 24.) 
 
 Ere Ananias entered the house of Judas in the street 
 called " Straight" at Damascus, and inquired for one called 
 Saul of Tarsus, the Lord had already shewn to praying 
 Saul in a vision this very man coming in and putting his 
 hand on him. Thus his humbly-yielding soul was fully 
 prepared for the visit, and longed for this messenger of his 
 Saviour. ''Brother Saul," said Ananias, on entering and 
 laying his hands on him, " the Lord, even Jesus that ap- 
 peared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent 
 me " (the good Shepherd hath found His sheep on the 
 way, beside a yawning precipice) " that thou mightest re- 
 ceive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost ;" with 
 the recovery of thy bodily sight to receive enlightened 
 eyes of the mind, that thou mayest know the blessed hope 
 of the won and called of Jesus Christ. Then Saul, " look- 
 ing up upon him," heard this true Israelite further declare 
 unto him, " The God of our fathers hath chosen thee " 
 with an everlasting calling in Christ, "that thou shouldest' 
 know His will " of salvation, carried into effect from Abra- 
 ham's call down to the raising up of the horn of salvation 
 in the house of his servant David, (Acts xiii. 16, &c. ;) and 
 see that " Just One," who by His knowledge shall justify 
 many, for He shall bear their iniquity, (Isa. liii. 11 ;) and 
 shouldest hear the voice of His mouth for a testimony 
 that Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God with 
 
THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 41 
 
 power, (Rom. i. 4.) " For thou slialt be His witness unto 
 all men of what thou hast seen and heard, and of those 
 things in the which He will appear unto thee." 
 
 Paul's apostolic witness is born out of Saul's inner his- 
 tory ; it is altogether that of his personal experience of the 
 grace of God in Christ Jesus his Lord. Bright, indeed, 
 over his apostolical career do the stars shine whereby the 
 Lord so wonderfully guided the footsteps of His chosen ser- 
 vant from Jerusalem even unto Eome, (Acts xxii. 17; Gal. 
 ii. 2 ; Acts xvi. 9, xviii. 9, 10, xxiii. 11, xxvii. 23, 24 ;) 
 but brightest of all shines that " star out of Jacob/' which 
 rose to him on his way to Damascus, illuminating the 
 path of his life throughout the marvellous sphere of his 
 labour of love, chastening his joys, and supporting him 
 under all afflictions ; for this star had shined into his very 
 heart, (2 Cor. iv. 6 ; Gal. i. 16.) With the testimony of 
 the Lord Jesus, who had w^on him, and was " revealed in 
 him," Paul went forth — being delivered from the People, 
 who in him thrust from them their last saving-angel, and 
 from all dangers among the Gentiles, unto whom the Lord 
 now sent him — '' to open their eyes, and to turn them 
 from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan 
 unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and 
 inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that 
 is in Christ Jesus," (Acts xxvi. 18.) To this "inherit- 
 ance " Saul himself was now being admitted. '' And now, 
 why tarriest thou?" said Ananias, (who saw him still 
 kneel in rapt amazement before the opened door of hea- 
 venly grace.) " Arise, and be baptized, and v\^ash away thy 
 sins, calling on the name of the Lord." " And imme- 
 diately," Luke writes, '' there fell from his eyes as it had 
 been scales ; and he received sight forthwith, and arose 
 and was baptized." With new eyes he now beheld the 
 aged messenger of the Lord Jesus. So he had never be- 
 
42 ST PAUL. 
 
 fore looked upon any of His disciples. Stephen's angel- 
 face would again rise up before his soul, and make him 
 exclaim, " 0, that I had known Thee sooner, fairest of the 
 sons of men ! " Now w^as Saul planted in the likeness of 
 Christ's death, being " buried mtli Him by baptism ; that, 
 like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of 
 the Father, even so he also should walk in newness of life," 
 (Rom. vi. 4 ;) and now, having received the spirit of adop- 
 tion, he could with a reconciled conscience cry, " Abba, 
 Father." There he stood now, the won of the Lord Jesus, 
 clad in the garments of His salvation, and covered with 
 the robe of righteousness, (Isa. Ixi. 10.) " And when he 
 had received meat, he w^as strengthened." With what 
 feelings may Saul have sat down and partaken of this his 
 first meal with Christ's disciples ! And if at the close of 
 it they ate the passover of the New Testament, his heart 
 would indeed be drawn to the True Passover — Christ slain 
 for sinners, — and his overflowing adoration might find 
 utterance in words like these : — 
 
 " Hasten now, my soul, to meet Him, 
 And with loring reverence greet Him, 
 AVho with words of life immortal 
 Now is knocking at thy portal ; 
 Haste to make for Him a way. 
 Cast thee at His feet and say : 
 Since, Lord, Tliou com'st to me, 
 I will never turn from Thee ! " 
 
 There fell as it had been scales from Saul's eyes imme- 
 diately as he received his sight. The " veil " was taken 
 away as soon as his soul turned to the Lord, (2 Cor. iii. 16.) 
 Now he understood Stephen's speech. God's plan of Is- 
 rael's and the world's redemption, as traced by this faith- 
 ful witness through the history of the Old Testament, now 
 stood in heavenly brightness before his unveiled eyes, all 
 
THE WON OF THE LOKD JESUS. 43 
 
 illuminated by that one light — Christ crucified and risen 
 again. 
 
 At the head of this picture of Paul's conversion we 
 have placed Eom. v. 20, "Where sin abounded, grace did 
 much more abound ;" and the way in which he was won to 
 Christ has shewn us that the mystery of Christ, (Eph. iii. 
 3, &c.,) which shines so bright through all his apostolical 
 preaching, was intrusted to him as the mystery of his self- 
 experienced grace in the forgiveness of his sins. His per- 
 son and his work are in harmonious oneness, illuminated 
 both by the same bright splendour of his heavenly calling. 
 Abounding sin and superabounding grace, — these two 
 poles of the Gospel of Christ, about which faith moves, — 
 as they form the main traits of his own Christian character, 
 so they constitute the main points of his apostolical teach- 
 ing. We shall take occasion to speak of this in another 
 chapter (Paul " the man of faith.") In the next we have 
 to accompany ''the labourer of the Lord" into the harvest 
 of the Gentiles, and the last gathering in of the remnant 
 among Israel. 
 
 *' To Jesus' love a stranger yet, 
 
 Saul sped along the road. 
 Intent to slay where'er he met 
 
 Christ's harmless flock abroad : 
 When, lo ! from heav'n he heard a call, 
 
 'Twas Jesus' voice, which said, 
 Why persecutest thou me, Saul ? 
 
 But rise ; for I have made 
 A chosen vessel thee, to bear 
 
 My name before the world ; 
 And I will shew thee how to share 
 
 The cross thou shalt unfold." 
 
44 ST PAUL. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE LABOUEER 
 
 " I laboured more abundantly than they all."— 1 Cor. xv. 10. 
 
 We are not writing the history of Paul's life ; yet we must 
 follow him on the way of his apostolical labour, in order 
 to collect the traits of that picture which the Holy Ghost 
 has presented to us in this man of God. " By the grace 
 of God I am wliat I am/' he says, in the same place, where 
 he boldly speaks, " I laboured more abundantly than they 
 all." In his apostolical labour his Christian character is 
 reflected ; and in this view let us consider the work he 
 accomplished. 
 
 To be found " in labours " the Apostle reckons among 
 those things in which the ministers of God approve them- 
 selves, (2 Cor. vi. 4, 5 ;) and a diligent labourer indeed he 
 was, " not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
 the Lord," (Eom. xii. 11 ;) yea, life itself he was ever 
 ready to sacrifice, and that joyfuUy, in the service of his 
 Heavenly Master, (Phil. ii. 17;) nor was there anything he 
 was more afraid of than " living unto himself," and thus 
 robbing God of His own property — both body and soul be- 
 longing unto Him, (Eom. xiv. 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; 2 
 Cor. V. 15.) And it was Christ's constraining love, (2 Cor. 
 V. 14,) this grand motive to all his actions, which in the 
 face of " bonds and afflictions " made him declare to the 
 elders of the Ephesian church, " None of these things 
 
THE LABOUREK. 45 
 
 move me, neither count 1 my life dear unto myself, so that 
 I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which 
 I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of 
 the grace of God," (Acts xx. 24.) 
 
 Yet " day rises none the sooner because we rise before 
 dawn." This Paul learned in the school of the Holy Ghost. 
 " In quietness and confidence shall be your strength," (Isa. 
 XXX. 15.) As the silent brook, which hides itself in a 
 glen, is only gathering strength to pour forth more vigor- 
 ously at large and swell to a mighty stream — so ran the 
 course of our great Apostle's life. While resting certain 
 days with the disciples at Damascus, he could not indeed 
 refrain from testifying at once what he had heard and 
 seen to the Jews in that city. Impelled by the ardour of 
 his first love, and the clear conviction of his new heart, he 
 straightway proved Christ in their synagogues, that He is 
 the Son of God, (Acts ix. 20.) " Immediately," he says, 
 (Gal. i. 16, 17,) " I conferred not with flesh and blood, nei- 
 ther went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles 
 before me," as if they had been more credible witnesses 
 than Ananias, or as if my heavenly call needed their rati- 
 fication. Still less did he think it his duty to the chief 
 priests whose commission he had held, or to Gamaliel, 
 his former teacher, that he should hear and weigh his and 
 their arguments. But, great as was his ardour, his testi- 
 mony had not the effect which — " coming fresh from the 
 forge," as Luther says — he expected. For though he " con- 
 founded the Jews," by proving that Jesus is the Christ, 
 they were no less offended at his new doctrine than amazed 
 at his sudden change. Then would come home to his 
 heart what Stephen had said of Moses : " For he supposed 
 his brethren would have understood him, how that God by 
 his hand would deliver them, but they understood not," 
 (Acts vii. 25.) Paul, like Moses, was first to serve his 
 
46 ST PAUL. 
 
 apprenticeship in the wilderness. For a three years' still- 
 ness the heavenly Master led His disciple into the deserts 
 of Arabia, (Gal. i. 17,) whither he was followed by no 
 Philip to interpret to him God's Word; but the Lord 
 Jesus Himself was his teacher, as he studied the Scriptures 
 and pondered over the kingdom of God ; and the glory in 
 which he had belield Him who was slain for sinners shed 
 its heavenly light over his meditations, illuminating the 
 pages of the prophets, and opening to his spiritual view 
 the progress of Christ's Church and kingdom on earth. If 
 the ''visions and revelations of the Lord," (2 Cor. xii. 1,) 
 which he kept above fourteen years to himself, (ib., ver. 2,) 
 fell within the period of these three years, then were not 
 only the three years' companionship of the disciples, but 
 also the forty days that the Lord shewed HimseK alive 
 unto them, amply compensated to him by his being ''caught 
 up into paradise, and hearing unspeakable words," (ib., ver. 
 4.) To make all flesh keep silence before Him, God has 
 raised up and fitted for their high calling the greatest of 
 His servants in retirement away from the world, — Moses in 
 Midian, Elijah at the brook Cherith, Paul in Arabia. Nor, 
 when he returned from this lengthened seclusion, had the 
 moment arrived yet for Paul to enter upon his apostoHcal 
 labour. Chosen and called as he was of Christ, yet would 
 he not proclaim himself, but waited in patient modesty 
 tiU, after proving before the first heathen congregation his 
 heaven-wrought fitness for the work, the Holy Ghost, by 
 the mouth of the Church, had confirmed the heavenly call 
 of his Master, (Acts xiii. 2 ;) for he would have no man 
 think of him above that which he saw him to be, or heard 
 of him, (2 Cor. xii. 6.) He loathed all " commending of 
 himselty well knowing that only he is approved " whom 
 the Lord commendeth," (2 Cor. x. 18.) From Arabia he 
 returned again unto Damascus, (Gal. i. 17,) where "the 
 
THE LABOURER. 47 
 
 Jews took counsel to kill him ; " and, assisted by the Ara- 
 bian governor's garrison, "watched the gates day and 
 night," desirous to apprehend him. '' But their lying in 
 wait being known of Saul," this "man in Christ," "caught 
 up to the third heaven," even ''into paradise," was yet 
 so sober, and so well prepared for the suffering state of 
 Christ's Church on earth, that he allowed the disciples to 
 take him by night, and let liim down by the wall in a bas- 
 ket, in order to escape the hands of his pursuers, (Acts ix. 
 23-25 ; 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33.) It is for the seeming weakness 
 of this basket-flight, that, at the close of that long regis- 
 ter of his sufferings detailed in the last-named chapter, 
 (2 Cor. xi.,) the Apostle adduces this circumstance as a 
 proof that " if he must needs glory, he will glory of the 
 things which concern his infirmity." Now he went up to 
 Jerusalem, which he had not seen again since his conversion. 
 As a persecutor he had left it, as a fugitive he re-entered it. 
 How might he feel as he set his feet within the gates of 
 that beloved city ! Yet differently from what his love 
 expected was he received by the Christian congregation. 
 There was no Ananias prepared by a heavenly vision to 
 meet him, and welcome his arrival; yea, rather, as "he 
 assayed to join himself to the disciples, they were all afraid 
 of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Bar- 
 nabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and de- 
 clared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, 
 and that He had spoken to him," (Acts ix. 26, 27.) 
 When a Pharisee, Saul had been distinguished as a man of 
 consequence among the people ; now Paul, when won by 
 Jesus, bore it meekly to have his character shielded by the 
 testimony of Barnabas. With Peter indeed he abode 
 fifteen days, but others of the apostles saw he none, save 
 James the Lord's brother, (Gal. i. 18, 19 ;) nor was it till 
 "fourteen years after," when he went up to Jerusalem "by 
 
48 ST PAUL. 
 
 revelation," (Gal. ii. 1, 2,) that he was formally recognised 
 as an apostle, and, together with Barnabas, " received the 
 right hands of fellowship," (ib., ver. 9 ;) '' that we should 
 go," he there adds, " unto the heathen, and they unto the 
 circumcision." Thus his heavenly commission was rati- 
 fied on earth. But what it cost him to give up his fa- 
 vourite wish — to become the herald of salvation to his own 
 brethren after the flesh — may be judged from the circum- 
 stance that the Lord again appeared unto him especially 
 for this purpose, in the Temple of Jerusalem, saying unto 
 him, "Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem ; 
 for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me;" 
 and, upon Paul's reference to his former conduct, as a well- 
 meant apology for their rejection of his testimony, the 
 Lord still more categorically repeated His charge : " De- 
 part, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," 
 (Acts xxii. 17-21.) 
 
 In Tarsus, his native city, Saul was still waiting his 
 Master's pleasure, as to whither He would have him go, 
 till Barnabas sought for him there, and finding him, 
 brought him to Antioch, (Acts xi. 25, 26.) Thus he did 
 not take his apostleship as a robbery. At Antioch they 
 laboured " a whole year" in the cjiurch that had been ga- 
 thered there by " men of Cyprus and Gyrene," whom " the 
 persecution that arose about Stephen " had scattered thi- 
 ther, and abroad into other heathen lands, (Acts xi.) Here, 
 under the deepest sense of God's goodness and severity to 
 bring salvation unto the Gentiles through the fall of the 
 Jews, (Eom. xi. 11,) the Apostle's call to labour among the 
 former virtually began. But immediately also an occasion 
 offered for his helping hand unto those of the circumcision. 
 A "great dearth" happening "in the days of Claudius 
 Csesar," the disciples of Antioch sent relief unto the breth- 
 ren which dwelt in Judea by the hands of Barnabas and 
 
THE LABOURER. 49 
 
 Saul, (ib.,) in proof of the close communion existing be- 
 tween the two churches, and to provoke to jealousy the 
 unbelieving Jews. The church at Jerusalem, indeed, was 
 scattered abroad more and more. Upon James's martyr- 
 dom and Peter's miraculous escape from prison, (Acts xii.,) 
 the latter also " departed, and went into another place," 
 (ib. ver. 17.) 
 
 jS'ow, when Barnabas and Saul w^ere deputed by the 
 church at Antioch, under direction of the Holy Ghost, to 
 the ministry of the Gospel among the Gentiles, (Acts 
 xiii. 1-3,) their course was guided partly by Barnabas's 
 attractions to his native country, Cyprus, (ib. ver. 4,) but 
 chiefly by Paul's apostolic maxim, to pfeach the Gospel 
 where Christ had not been named, lest he should build 
 upon another man's foundation, (Eom. xv. 20; 2 Cor. x. 
 16.) At Salamis, the capital of Cyprus, we see the true 
 Israelite meet in combat with false Judaism about the 
 Eoman deputy's soul ; and here, with Elymas the sorcerer, 
 Saul maintained his first open contest with ''the rulers 
 of the darkness of this world," (Eph. vi. 12.) In many 
 incidents of his life the Apostle seems sensible of personal 
 powers of darkness withstanding his labour of light and 
 love, w^ere it only a casual hindrance in the way of paying 
 a ministerial visit, (1 Thess. ii. 18.) While he knows 
 Christ, and is known of Him, he is not ignorant of Satan's 
 devices, (2 Cor. ii. 11.) Having rescued the deputy's soul 
 out of the net of Elymas, — that " sorcerer" and " child of 
 the devil," — St Luke, as if in honour of this first prize won 
 by him for Christ in the person of Sergius Paulus, changes 
 Saul's name into that of Paul, (Acts xiii. 9,) and gives him 
 precedence henceforth over Barnabas. It is not unlikely, 
 though, that already, on occasion of his baptism, the 
 Apostle, prompted by Christian humility, may have de- 
 sired this change in his name ; for Paul means " little," 
 
 D 
 
50 ST PAUL. 
 
 while Saul means " asked," " desired." His parents, per- 
 haps, had long prayed for him ; and, lo ! like the ill-asked 
 king of old, their son also became a persecutor of God's 
 beloved. But now, as Paul the little, or ''less than the 
 least," he would lay all Saul's greatness and gain at the 
 King of Israel's feet, and say with David, "Thou hast given 
 me the defence of thy salvation ; thy right hand also shall 
 hold me up, and thy loving correction shall make me 
 great," (Ps. xviii. 35.) 
 
 Pteaching next to Antioch in Pisidia, they " went into 
 the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down." From 
 first to last the Apostle of the Gentiles yields to the 
 Jews in their disj)ersion the place he assigns them in that 
 cardinal passage, '' To the Jew first," (Eom. i. 16.) The 
 sermon he now preaches in their synagogue is a striking 
 evidence of the deep impression Stephen's speech had 
 made on his mind, for his own is almost the exact coun- 
 terpart of it, (Acts xiii. 16-41.) He lit up the lamp of 
 Israel by tracing the prophetic word to its accomplishment 
 in Christ, whose inestimable value to their souls he 
 summed up in ver. 38, 39. The effect was considerable, 
 (ver. 42, 43.) But, lo ! on the very next Sabbath the Jews 
 were filled with envy against the Gentiles, (ver. 45.) Then, 
 upon their " contradicting and blaspheming," " Paul and 
 Barnabas waxed bold, and said. It was necessary that the 
 word of God should first have been spoken to you : but 
 seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy 
 of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles : for so hath 
 the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be 
 a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salva- 
 tion unto the ends of the earth," (ib. ver. 46, 47 ; Isa. xlix. 
 6.) Thus early had the Apostle to experience that his 
 labour of joy among the Gentiles — for " they glorified the 
 word of the Lord," which was published throughout all 
 
THE LABOURER. 51 
 
 the region — was to him likewise a labour of sorrow ; inas- 
 much as the Lord accomplished His judgment upon the 
 " despisers/' (ver. 41,) declared by His prophets, (Isa. 
 xxix. 14; Hab. i. 5,) through the preaching of Paul, who 
 trod in their footsteps. And if ever his hope had been 
 sanguine enough to expect that whole cities and provinces 
 would, u]3on his preaching of Christ, turn to the Lord, his 
 experience in Pisidia already would have taught him 
 otherwise. Yet '' as many," St Luke writes, (ver. 48,) " as 
 were ordained to eternal life believed." Only those who 
 by grace were led to believe in Christ accepted the call of 
 God's everlasting purpose of love in Him, and their names 
 were written in the book of life ; while the disobedient and 
 unbelieving, both among the Jews and Gentiles, — in hard- 
 ening their hearts against God's call, and so thrusting sal- 
 vation from them, — cannot escape the judicial vengeance 
 wherewith God will visit them that do despite unto the 
 Spirit of grace by rejecting His proffered mercy in the 
 blood of His Son, when and wherever He causes His gospel 
 to be preached. What the Apostle writes in the first 
 three cha^Dters of the Eomans he amply experienced in 
 the course of his apostolical labour. The preaching of 
 God's Word was no sham-fight with him, penetrated as he 
 was by the conviction, that whether it be to life or to 
 death, " God always causeth the heralds of His salvation 
 to triumph in Christ," (2 Cor. ii. 14, &c.) And that he 
 knew the import of the curse over a city which rejects the 
 message of peace, he shews by following Christ's command, 
 (Matt. X. 14,) in shaking off the dust of his feet against them 
 at Antioch who would rather allow themselves to be led 
 away by the false Jews to persecution than by the true 
 Israelite to the following of Jesus, (Acts xiii. 50, 51.) 
 
 Lamenting over the obdurate hardness and sad fate of his 
 nation, who were " filling up their sins alway," and draw- 
 
62 ST PAUL. 
 
 ing God's " wrath upon them to the uttermost/' by hin- 
 dering the Gentiles to be saved, (1 Thess. ii. 16,) Paul pro- 
 ceeded with Barnabas to Iconium, where, alas 1 they met 
 with still greater opposition. Here again they entered the 
 synagogue, and " so spake, that a great multitude both of 
 the Jews and also of the Greeks believed ; " and " the Lord 
 gave testimony unto the word of His grace by granting 
 signs and wonders to be done by their hands." But here 
 also *'the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles," and 
 when there was an assault made upon them by both, they 
 fled — not back, however, but forward into the Lycaonian 
 cities, preaching the same Gospel, which everywhere causes 
 so wholesome a stir, (Acts xiv. 1-7.) At Lystra we find the 
 Apostle growing like a palm under her lofty load. A mir- 
 acle, wrought after the manner of Peter's at the temple 
 gate, hurried away the populace to the enthusiastic excla- 
 mation, " The gods are come down to us in the likeness of 
 men;" and the crafty town-priest of Jupiter, seeing his 
 consequence at stake, quickly " brought oxen and garlands 
 unto the gate," to do them homage by a sacrifice. '' Chafed 
 at such dignity right sore," the two "mortal men," who of 
 themselves would be no better than the meanest of the 
 blind heathen, "ran in among the people," and Paul seized 
 upon their hearts with all the power of his soul-winning 
 love and heavenly wisdom. He feels himself standing on 
 a cross-way of time. The living God, who made heaven 
 and earth, hath in times past suffered all Gentile nations 
 to walk in their own ways ; yet of His being their God 
 also, (Eom. iii. 29,) He hath not left Himself without wit- 
 ness; and the Lycaonians, whose fruitful fields were the 
 granaries of Asia Minor, heard this day proclaimed before 
 their delighted ears the name of the true God, as their 
 heavenly Nourish er and the Filler of their " hearts with food 
 and gladness." ''And with these sayings scarce restrained 
 
THE LABOURER. 58 
 
 they the people, that they had not done sacrifice nnto 
 them." Nevertheless, here also they were not '' delivered 
 from unreasonable and wicked men : for all men have not 
 faith," (2 Thess. iii. 2 ;) and after a while Paul lay bruised 
 and smarting under the stones of the Jews, who came 
 thither from Antioch and Iconium to destroy the work of 
 God-5 and the Lycaonians had no further fancy for the 
 two ''mortal men," who, though healing their impotent 
 cripple, could not shield themselves from the stones of the 
 Jews. Howbeit, some of the new disciples — Timothy was 
 probably one of them, (Acts xvi. 1) — surmounted the 
 blow ; for not in Paul, but in Jesus they believed. And 
 as these stood round about Paul, '' supposing he had been 
 dead," this servant of the most high God, chafed at oxen and 
 garlands, but bearing stones patiently, rose up and re- 
 turned undaunted into the city, (Acts xiv. 8-20.) 
 
 Next day they came to Derbe, and having preached the 
 Gospel to that city also, and taught many, they retraced 
 their way, content for the present with the gospel breast- 
 work they had reared in the four cities, Antioch, Iconium, 
 Lystra, and Derbe, and "confirming," as they repassed 
 them, *'the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to con- 
 tinue in the faith, and that we" — i.e., all who with Paul live 
 a life of faith in Jesus — " must through much tribulation 
 enter into the kingdom of God." Far from being discou- 
 raged at the ill success of this first missionary tour, the 
 Apostle would anticipate with fondest hope a bright har- 
 vest from the many tender "blades" springing here and 
 there over all the ground they had trod. To consolidate 
 their work, and commit the newly-gathered disciples to 
 the care of the Lord, they ordained them elders in every 
 church, and returned by way of Perga and Attalia to 
 Antioch, "whence they had been recommended to the grace 
 of God for the work which they fulfilled;" and having 
 
54 ST PAUL. 
 
 gathered the Church together, they rehearsed all that God 
 had done with them, and how He had opened the door of 
 faith unto the Gentiles, (Acts xiv. 21-27.) Thus the Apostle 
 laid all honour humbly at the Lord's feet in His Church, — 
 the keeper of His counsel and dispenser of His grace by 
 the Holy Ghost, — forming, at the same time, a bond of 
 union between the mother Church and her newly-born 
 daughters. 
 
 A twofold danger, which now began to threaten the 
 young churches gathered from amongst JeAvs and Gentiles, 
 — by either the former narrowing the door of faith, or the 
 latter widening that of Christian life, — was averted by the 
 apostolical synod at Jerusalem, under the guidance of the 
 Holy Ghost. Being chosen wdth Barnabas to represent 
 the Antiochian church there, Paul, for the sake of peace, 
 willingly bore the appearance of dependence upon those 
 "who seemed to be pillars," (Gal. ii. 9,) a proof of self- 
 denial for Avhich the Lord strengthened him by a special 
 revelation, (ib. ver. 2.) But the viewing of Paul's char- 
 acter in the light of the Jerusalem synod, we reserve for 
 the closing chapter of this sketch. 
 
 Before setting out on his second missionary tour, Paul 
 parted from Barnabas. In their contention about Mark, 
 the old Saiil seems to have had his share. But the Lord 
 covered the fault of His faithful servant, and knew how to 
 convert it into good. In full independence he now entered 
 upon his high work, choosing Silas for his companion, one 
 of those deputed by the Jerusalem synod to Antioch, whose 
 blessed footsteps proved that Paul had chosen the right 
 man, (Acts xv. 36-40.) Besides him, he also chose Timothy, 
 whom he found at Lystra, grown, since his first visit, into 
 good report among the brethren there. In this youth, 
 whom he took to his heart wdth tender love, he won his 
 most faithful companion, whose unselfish mind resembled 
 
THE LABOURER. 55 
 
 his own in entire devotion to the work of the Lord, 
 (Phil. ii. 20.) A bosom friend he proved to him, such as 
 Paul Gerhard prayed for, when he sang, ''According to 
 thy will give me a friend, in whose fidelity my heart may 
 find repose." From the very first St Paul evinces a con- 
 fidence in his genuine faith, which is most creditable to 
 Timothy. While he would not circumcise Titus, because 
 of false brethren, (Gal. ii. 3, 4,) he circumcised Timothy in 
 forbearance with the weakness of the Jews, (Acts xvi. 3 ;) 
 and he felt able to do so, because he knew him to be so 
 freed by faith from subjection to ordinances, that without 
 danger to his Christ-betrothed soul, Timothy, for the sake 
 of others, could waive in this instance his liberty in Christ. 
 This virtue of acting under all circumstances as "the Lord's 
 freeman," (1 Cor. vii. 22,) was most prominent in Paul 
 himself, as hereafter we shall have occasion to see. A third 
 coadjutor in the Apostle's work, whom the Lord had 
 designed to become the interpreter of the history himself 
 henceforth witnessed, was St Luke the Evangelist, who, 
 without noticing his name, modestly intimates his com- 
 panionship of the Apostle by speaking, from Acts xvi. 10, 
 onward, in the first person.* Cf Acts xvi. 1-3. 
 
 The wings of the dove had waxed strong for a flight 
 abroad, and being " forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach 
 the word in Asia," St Paul pressed forward to the West. 
 Close before the door of Europe — at Troas — there appeared 
 to him an angel, in the form of /'a man of Macedonia," 
 whose cry for help gave expression to the mute misery of 
 the heathen there. Manned with such helpful hands, the 
 ship soon gained the Macedonian harbour, Neapolis, whence 
 at once they proceeded to the principal free city, Philippi, 
 
 * Except from the Apostle's departure from Philippi, (Acts xvi. 40,) to 
 his return to it, (Acts xx. 6,) a space of about half a dozen years, during 
 which time Luke seems to have remained in that city. — Tr. 
 
56 ST PAUL. 
 
 where Imperial Eome held her sway, and was now for the 
 first time* ominously met by the heralds of a mightier 
 kingdom, that of Christ. With Lydia, whose heart the 
 Lord opened, and with her household, the first Christian 
 church in Europe began. But ''the strong man armed," 
 seeing ''his palace" beset, and his peace disturbed, stirred 
 up the greedy masters of " a certain damsel possessed with 
 the spirit of divination," and they accused the apostles 
 before the magistrates, as troublers of their city and teach- 
 ers of anti-Roman customs ; whereupon they were beaten 
 and cast into prison. There, with "their feet made fast in 
 the stocks," Paul and Silas prayed and sang midnight 
 praises unto God, rejoicing in their tribulation for Christ's 
 sake. And the Lord gave His echo to their prayer in a 
 great earthquake shaking the foundations of the prison; 
 " and immediately all the doors w^ere opened, and every 
 one's bands were loosed." But the salvation of one soul — 
 that of the terror-stricken jailer — far outweighed, in Paul's 
 estimation, their own stocks and bands ; and a second 
 family was won that night to thfe faith of the Lord Jesus. 
 " Thou shalt be saved, and thy house," said the Apostle, not 
 sparing the health-giving water of the "fountain opened" 
 in Christ " for sin and for uncleanness," (Zech. xiii. 1.) 
 The manner of their release from prison shews us a trait 
 of that wisdom which Paul knew how to use for the benefit 
 of the Church of Christ. The magistrates, apprehensive of 
 having acted illegally in their imprisonment, now wished 
 to push them ofiT quietly. Against this Paul entered his 
 protest, and his appeal for justice to the privilege of a 
 Roman citizen {civis Romanus sum) brought the perplexed 
 city praetors themselves to the prison, beseeching the apos- 
 tles themselves to come out and leave the city. " ALL things 
 
 * At least in Europe. — Tr. 
 
THE LABOURER. 57 
 
 are yours," (1 Cor. iii. 22,) even citizensliips and privileges 
 in this world ; which in this instance served the cause of 
 the Church's temporal well-being at Philippi. Singing 
 praises in bands and the stocks, from whicli a miraculous 
 earthquake set them free, Paul was yet sober enough to 
 claim the rightful protection of legal authority ; and what 
 here he did is but the prelude of the practical comment 
 which his life, down to his appeal to Csesar, furnishes to 
 his own teaching of the blessings of civil authorities, as 
 "the powers ordained of God," (Eom. xiii. 1-6.) C£ Acts 
 xvi. 6, &c. 
 
 At Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia, ''a great 
 multitude of devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a 
 few, consorted with Paul and Silas;" not, however, without 
 again provoking the envy of the Jews, who here had their 
 principal synagogue; and by stirring up "certain lewd 
 fellows of the baser sort," who "set all the city in an 
 uproar," they caused the apostles to be sent away by night. 
 As those of Jerusalem had accused Jesus, so these accused 
 His servants, of opposition to Csesar. But He who gave 
 Pilate power that the Shepherd should be smitten instead of 
 the sheep, here inclined the rulers of the city to " let these 
 go." Thus Paul and Silas escaped from the house of Jason 
 unto Berea. But how does the Apostle leave his new-born 
 children at Thessalonica? Though not without anxiety, 
 for the tempter lay at their door, (1 Thess. iii. 5,) yet with 
 a gladness at their already proved patience in suffering, 
 which makes him exclaim, "Ye are our glory and joy," 
 (1 Thess. ii. 14-20.) Prom Acts xvii. 10, it would appear 
 that Paul left Timothy for a while at Thessalonica. At 
 Berea the Lord refreshed the soul of His hard-toiling 
 labourer ; for here the Jews " were more noble than those 
 at Thessalonica, in that they received the word with aU 
 readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily. 
 
58 ST PAUL. 
 
 whether those things were so." Yet not long was he to 
 enjoy this rare delight in his own people. Indeed, enjoying 
 — even in this noblest sense — was, throughout, less the 
 motto of his life than self-denying toil. The Jews from 
 Thessalonica came thither also, and stirred up the people 
 against the word "preached of Paul," who, much as it 
 went against his undaunted nature to flee, yet, since this 
 served to bring fruit unto the Lord, went "as it were to 
 the sea," and came to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy 
 (who had meanwhile come from Thessalonica) still at Berea. 
 Cf. Acts xvii. 1-15. 
 
 While waiting here for his companions, Paul passed 
 lonely through the world-famed city of wisdom, " the Altar 
 of the Greeks and their Guildhall, and of all Arts and 
 Sciences the Cradle." Not insensible to the Athenians' 
 taste for the beautiful, so profusely displayed in the sculp- 
 tured representations of their deities, yet his ''spirit was 
 stirred" in him when he saw the city wholly given to 
 idolatry. Poignant woe over the glittering wretchedness 
 of the ignorant and yet wisdom-proud Greeks, and holy 
 zeal against Idm, who had guided with seductive hand 
 their chisel in the masterpieces of human art, moved the 
 Apostle's soul. But that " the spirits of the prophets are 
 subject to the prophets," (1 Cor. xiv. 32,) he signally evinced 
 here. Unprovoked by the loose talk of the Epicureans 
 and the supercilious mockery of the Stoics, he allowed 
 himself to be led to the Areopagus; whence, surveying 
 the town with all its splendid symbols of idolatrous wor- 
 ship, he would grieve in his mind over " the truth of God 
 being changed into a lie, and the creature worshipped and 
 served more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever," 
 (Rom. i. 25.) He gladly bore to be looked upon by the 
 curious Athenians as " a setter forth of strange gods," and 
 with the quick eye of love, which made him '' all things to 
 
THE LABOURER. 59 
 
 all men," (1 Cor. ix. 22,) lie looked about him for a way of 
 access to the hearts of a people, to whom " Christ crucified" 
 was ''foolishness," (1 Cor. i. 23.) All excitement of feel- 
 ing he knew how to subject to his will in the Lord ; every 
 word is well weighed in the balance of love, and adapted 
 to the state of his hearers. He takes his starting point 
 from an inscription he had read on one of their altars : 
 ''To the unknown God." Fain to discover in this confes- 
 sion of their ignorance an unstilled sigh after truth, he 
 declares to them that God whom they ignorantly worship, 
 as the Lord of heaven and earth, who is throned in blissful 
 independence, — needeth nothing of men, but giveth them 
 all things, and so directeth all their ways, by demonstra- 
 tions both of His wrath and mercy, as to lead them to seek 
 Him, "if haply they might feel after Him and find Him" 
 to be their Creator and kind Preserver, — who, instead of 
 rejecting and destroying man's corrupt nature, has reserved 
 it to verify the saying of their poets, "we are His offspring," 
 but in a higher sense than theirs — viz., in the Christian 
 sentiments of those w^ho shall have found God, not in the 
 likeness of any phantom of the human imagination, but in 
 that one man whom He hath ordained to judge the world, 
 even in the man Christ Jesus. To Him the Apostle knows 
 finally how to direct the hearts of the Athenians, that now, 
 after God hath "winked at the time of their ignorance," 
 they may repent, in order to escape the already appointed 
 day of judgment; on which He whom God hath raised 
 from the dead, and whom Paul now preaches to them, " will 
 judge the world in righteousness." Thus the Apostle spake 
 at Athens, but the seed, alas 1 fell mostly on hard-trodden 
 ground " by the wayside." With mockery over the resur- 
 rection of the dead on the one side, and on the other with 
 civil promises to hear more of it another time, the irksome 
 preacher was got rid of — unmolested, but unsought. " Not 
 
60 ST PAUL. 
 
 many wise men," (1 Cor. i. 26 ;) howbeit a few " clave unto 
 him, and believed;" and Paul deemed not his strength 
 spent in vain, but rather as amply repaid, in the salvation 
 of a noted "Dionysius," a less noted "Damaris," "and 
 others with them." Cf. Acts xvii. 16-34. 
 
 Nevertheless, Paul quitted Athens in great heaviness. 
 We should certainly form a very untrue picture of this 
 holy labourer of Christ, were we to impute to him a stoical 
 equanimity. Hot ran the blood in his veins. He was 
 ardent both in his love and grief On his arrival at Corinth 
 from Athens he was ''in weakness, and in fear, and in 
 much trembling," (1 Cor. ii. 3.) His indifferent reception 
 at Athens augured but ill for him in voluptuous Corinth, 
 where Grecian philosophy vied with Koman greatness, 
 where lewdness, shameless and refined, abounded, with 
 mammon, luxury, and fashion. Here he entirely abstained 
 from meeting, as he had done at Athens, the " wise" Greeks 
 with the weapons of their own human wisdom ; but know- 
 ing '* the foolishness of God to be wiser than men," and 
 content to win but those whom God hath chosen, — the base 
 and despised of the world, (1 Cor. i. 25-29,) — he "deter- 
 mined not to know anything among them, save Jesus 
 Christ and Him crucified," (1 Cor. ii. 2.) Being received 
 by Aquila and Priscilla, Jewish exiles from Eome, he 
 wrought with them as tentmaker, only attending and rea- 
 soning with Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every 
 Sabbath. On the arrival, however, of Silas and Timothy 
 from Macedonia, "Paul w^as pressed in the spirit, and 
 testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ," having been 
 greatly refreshed by the news which Timothy — whom he 
 had sent back from Athens to Thessalonica — brought him 
 from the congregation there, (cf 1 Thess. iii.) ''For now," 
 he writes, (ver. 8,) in this very first of his apostolical epis- 
 tles, — bequeathing to the Church of all times his apostolical 
 
THE LABOURER. 61 
 
 labour, — now " we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." What 
 importance lie attaches to this branch of his apostolic 
 office, — the Epistles, — we see from his solemn admonition 
 at the close of this : " I charge you by the Lord that this 
 epistle be read unto all the holy brethren," (chap. v. 27, cf., 
 in the second epistle, written shortly after, chap. ii. 15.) 
 From the opposing and blaspheming Jews Paul turned, "free 
 from their blood," unto the Gentiles, and had the pleasure 
 to be followed by Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, 
 whom he baptized with his own hand, (1 Cor. i. 14,) into 
 the house of the God-fearing Gentile Justus, where the 
 rising Christian church assembled, to the ministry of 
 which Stephanas devoted himself, who, with his house, 
 became ''the first-fruits of Achaia," (1 Cor. xvi. 15.) 
 Apprehensive of his speedy expulsion from them, the 
 Apostle might naturally tremble for his little flock of saints 
 in a city intoxicated with worldly pleasures, when the Lord 
 strengthened him by a vision, shewing him "the measure" 
 of His rule, a measure to reach even unto Corinth, (2 Cor. 
 X. 13,) and bidding him to " speak, and not hold his peace; 
 for that no man should hurt him, and that He had much 
 people in this city." How, thereupon, he continued his 
 ministry, teaching the word of God among them, is seen 
 by a glance at his Epistles to the Corinthians. " I have 
 fed you with milk," he says, " and not with meat ; for 
 hitherto ye were not able to bear it," (1 Cor. iii. 2 ;) yet by 
 this milk of the Gospel they not only were saved, if they 
 believed in Christ dying for our sins and rising again 
 according to the Scriptures, (1 Cor. xv. 1-4,) but were 
 likewise " enriched in everything by Christ, in all utter- 
 ance and in all knowledge," (1 Cor. i. 5.) Not seeking his 
 own profit, but that of many, that they may be saved 
 (1 Cor. X. 33,) was the Apostle's rule of life, and the testi- 
 mony of his conscience everywhere, but " more abun- 
 
62 ST PAUL. 
 
 dantly/' lie says, " to you- ward/' (2 Cor. i. 12,) wto " are 
 in our hearts to live and die with you," (2 Cor. vii. 3.) 
 "I have espoused you to one husband," he declares in 
 another place, " that I may present you as a chaste virgin 
 to Christ," (2 Cor. xi. 2 ;) and, lo ! the Church of God at 
 Corinth became a focus for the saints in all Achaia, (2 Cor. 
 i. 1,) the seal of Paul's apostleship in the Lord, (1 Cor. 
 ix. 2,) "the epistle of Christ," written in his heart, not 
 with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, and known 
 and read of all men, (2 Cor. iii. 2, 3.) This epistle the 
 unbelieving Jews at Corinth could also read, either as a 
 bill of indictment against, or a " still small voice" for them. 
 But they sought to convert Gallic, the deputy of Achaia, 
 into a Pilate. However, Gallic would have nothing to do 
 with their ''question of words," and drove them from his 
 judgment-seat. Thus, under the protection of a heathen 
 magistrate, who — "caring for none of those things" — was 
 simply guided by a sense of legal right, Paul was enabled, 
 " as a wise master-builder," to lay the foundation, (1 Cor. 
 iii. 10)) and to plant what afterwards was to be watered by 
 Apollos, (ib. ver. 6,) whose peculiar talents for the work 
 the Apostle appreciates with unenvious satisfaction. Cf. 
 Acts xviii. 1-17. 
 
 Ere we follow the Apostle to Ephesus, we must view him 
 yet on leaving Corinth. As he embarked at Cenchrea, 
 " he shaved his head ; for he had a vow," (Acts xviii. 18.) 
 Thus "the Lord's freeman" would willingly put himself 
 under the restraint of a vow, till his work at Corinth should 
 be completed ; for till then he had doubtless vowed to the 
 Lord, that he would let his hair grow,* (Numb. vi. 5.) 
 
 * I have heard of a pious youth forcing himself to a lengthened seclu- 
 sion from the world by a vow, that he would not have his hair cut till he 
 should have studied through the whole Bible in the original; and it was 
 said he kept the vow,— Tr. 
 
THE LABOURER. 63 
 
 Behold this evangelical ISTazarite ! "What in Acts xxi. 24 
 he submitted to for the Jews' sake, he did of free choice at 
 Corinth, for his own and his work's sake. The symbol of 
 a man's honour (1 Cor. xi. 3-15) he laid at the Lord's feet, 
 to have this mark of a Nazarite always remind him of his 
 utter dependence on God's all-sufficient power to make him 
 an able minister of the New Testament, for his work here 
 at Corinth, (2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.) Thus the Apostle knew how 
 to breathe a spirit of life derived from Christ into the 
 "beggarly elements" of the law; not he served them, but 
 they him, unto Apostolic powder in Pauline weakness. 
 
 At Ephesus, the capital of Grecian Asia Minor, the 
 Apostle left Priscilla and Aquila, — no mean gift, for they 
 became his fellow-helpers in Christ Jesus," (Eom. xvi. 3,) — 
 while himself hasted thence to Jerusalem to convey to the 
 mother Church the salutations of her many children, as 
 the best Pentecostal offering for the ensuing feast. A beau- 
 tiful Christian realisation this of the prophetic signs given 
 on the day of Pentecost. For the ''house of prayer for all 
 people," (Isa.- Ivi. 7,) whose empty form remained yet but a 
 while on Mount Zion, was now growing up apace — a new 
 spiritual house — under the blessed hands of the apostolic 
 master-builder, (Acts xviii,, xix., &c.) 
 
 " If God will," was Paul's modest reply to the Jews at 
 Ephesus, who for once ''desired him to tarry," — "if God 
 will, I will return again unto you ;" and God willed it. At 
 Antioch, whither now for the last time he returned, he met 
 with Peter,* whom he openly blamed for dissembling with 
 the Jews, (Gal. ii. 11, &c., cf. vi. 1.) Travelling through 
 Galatia and Phrygia "in order," and "strengthening," as 
 he passed along, "all the disciples," who ever and anon 
 
 * This meeting, it would seem, from Barnabas being mentioned in 
 connexion with it, (Gal. ii. 13,) took place during a former stay of Paul and 
 Barnabas together at Antioch, (Acts xv. 35.) — Te. 
 
64 ST PAUL. 
 
 were troubled by legal Judaizers, the Apostle again reached 
 Ephesus, which was destined to become the golden link 
 between the churches of the East and West. Twelve Pen- 
 tecostal sheaves (Acts xix. 1-7) he was permitted here to 
 glean for the Holy Ghost ; and when constrained by divers 
 hardened and unbelieving Jews to leave their synagogue, 
 (" Behold your house is left unto you desolate/' Luke xiii. 
 35,) he preached the Gospel for two years in the learned 
 school of Tyrannus, whither both Jews and Greeks from 
 far and near resorted, (Eph. ii. 11, &c. ;) "so that all they 
 which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus," 
 and Ephesus became a mother church to those at Colosse, 
 Laodicea, and Hierapolis. Thus the Apostle had planted 
 twelve churches, when — standing upon the meridian of his 
 missionary career — he said, " I must also see Eome." 
 Ephesus was a mart for magic, and God, through the work 
 of His servant, and through the ''special miracles" He 
 wrought by his hands, held judgment over the gods of 
 Greece, causing many of the believers, who hitherto liad 
 " used curious arts," at once so thoroughly to purge their 
 dwellings of them, that they brought together their books 
 of sorcery, to the amoimt of " 50,000 pieces of silver," 
 (about £2000, at which they had bought them,) "and 
 burned them before all men." After what manner the 
 Apostle spent the "two years" among them, is shewn by 
 his valedictory address to their elders, (Acts xx. 18-35.) 
 Twice he reminds them of his tears in seeking to win every 
 one's soul. He indeed, says Chrysostom, "watered with 
 his tears the seed he sowed," and therefore also "he came 
 again with joy, and brought his sheaves with him." Man- 
 liness was a fundamental feature both in his natm^al and 
 sanctified character, (cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 13.) Therefore his 
 manly tears must have fallen hot into the souls he sought 
 to gain, (cf. Phil. iii. 18.) " Weeping goes before working. 
 
THE LABOURER. 65 
 
 and suffering before doing," says Luther, who in manliness 
 of mind was Paul's counterpart. And the indefatigable 
 labourer who wrung from his feeble body the exertions of 
 the ministerial workman under pain and temptation, who 
 ceased not from warning and teaching, both publicly and 
 from house to house, devoting to it even the night, as the 
 day grew too short for him; — this ''worker together with 
 God" would yet work also with his hands as tentmaker, and 
 thus eat his own bread in the sweat of his brow. " I have 
 shewed you all things," he could say, "how that so labouring 
 ye ought to support the weak ; and to remember the words 
 of the Lord Jesus, how He said. It is more blessed to give 
 than to receive." If the Apostle wrote his First Epistle to 
 Timothy upon a visitation-visit through Macedonia to 
 Corinth (2 Cor. xii. 14, xiii. 1, 2) about this time, (which 
 from 1 Tim. iii. 14, iv. 13, seems probable,) his pastoral 
 exhortations in that epistle would point to a special cause 
 for his tears. E'ot all the members of the Ephesian church 
 would content themselves witli his teaching ''that which 
 is good to the use of edifying," but some would still cleave 
 to "fables and genealogies," and in spiritual pride of heart 
 affect to know secrets, whereby faith would sicken and 
 love grow cold, (1 Tim. i. 4-7, iv. 7, vi. 20, 21.) Tliis 
 solicitude about the Ephesians he bore in his heart, toge- 
 ther with the far deeper grief about the Galatians, whose 
 "enemy" he had become, as their false teachers would 
 make them believe, and " of whom he travailed in birth 
 again," (Gal. iv. 18, 19,) while at Ephesus; for there he 
 (doubtless) wrote this Epistle, wherein, both against their 
 legal false teachers and the spurious work-mongers of all 
 times, he declares his heaven-revealed Gospel of Christ as 
 the one, beside which there is not another. And still a third 
 sorrow came upon him about this time. Already he had sent 
 away Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, to gather the 
 
66 ST PAUL. 
 
 collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 
 &c.,) when intelligence reached him from the Corinthian 
 church, which called for his first epistle to them. An 
 Easter epistle it has been appropriately called. In view of 
 that approaching feast, he exhorts them to purge out 
 the old leaven of malice, (1 Cor. v. 6-8,) reproving their 
 lukewarmness and disregard of wholesome church-disci- 
 pline, and further blaming them for overrating spiritual 
 gifts in their greedy eagerness for inflating knowledge. 
 Yet while his words at times run like rolling thunder over 
 the heads of the ungrateful Corinthians, how like a stream 
 runs through this very epistle his Christian love, and how 
 worthy of being served with the mysteries of God does he 
 count His church at Corinth! And all this, while at 
 Ephesns he had to fight with " beasts," (1 Cor. xv. 32,) at 
 Satan's instigation, who — bent on his destruction — caused 
 him to be treated " as the filth of the world, and the oif- 
 scouring of all things" (1 Cor. iv. 13,) because that " a great 
 door and effectual was opened nnto him at Epliesus," (1 Cor. 
 xvi. 8, 9.) Yet, unmindful of personal danger, he was only 
 solicitous to preserve from spiritual harm the imperilled 
 members of his scattered flocks. Daily pressed upon by 
 the care of all the churches, he exclaims : " Who is weak, 
 and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?" 
 (2 Cor. xi. 28, 29.) Eor the wellbeing of the church at 
 Crete likewise he cared in these troublous days, by his 
 Epistle to Titus, written probably about the same time. 
 In the tumnlt raised at Ephesus in defence of Diana and 
 her silversmiths, whose craft was in danger, the Lord 
 shielded His servant — as aforetime in Thessalonica — from 
 the rage of an excited populace, through the friendly 
 counsel of " certain of the chief of Asia," and according to 
 Eom. xvi. 4, also by Priscilla and Aquila risking their lives 
 for him ; but withal it was again the arm of legal, though 
 
THE LABOURER. 67 
 
 heathen authority, which here, as at Corinth, went to restrain 
 the evil-doers ; for although the town-clerk had to throw 
 his official shield over the Ephesians' "great goddess 
 Diana," yet he referred Demetrius and his fellow-crafts- 
 men to the open law, and warned the people against the 
 '' danger of being called in question for this day's uproar." 
 Thus graciously did the Lord answer the prayers of His 
 people, " for kings and all that are in authority," (1 Tim. 
 ii. 2,) and made their meek submission, according to the 
 Apostle's doctrine and example, (Tit. iii. 1, 2,) redound to 
 their own benefit and protection under persecution. (Cf. 
 Acts xix.) 
 
 Pentecost, till which time Paul desired to tarry at 
 Ephesus, (1 Cor. xvi. 8,) was fast approaching, and the 
 Church was again in peace. Like one raised from the 
 dead, he stood among his brethren, (2 Cor. i. 8-11.) Abun- 
 dantly comforted by the unlooked-for happy termination 
 of the uproar, he once more called unto him the disciples, 
 and embracing them, departed for Macedonia, (Acts xx. 1.) 
 He made his first halt at Troas, Avhere a door to preach the 
 Gospel was opened unto him of the Lord. But " I had no 
 rest in my spirit," he writes, "because I found not Titus 
 my brother," (2 Cor. ii. 12, 13.) What hurried him thus 
 restless from Troas's open door? He had sent Titus to 
 relieve Timothy at Corinth. How could he remain quiet 
 at Troas, while ruin was menacing his vineyard at Corinth ? 
 These sad apprehensions about them followed him to Mace- 
 donia ; " for, when we were come into Macedonia," he again 
 A\T?ites, "our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every 
 side : without were fightings, within were fears," (2 Cor. vii. 
 5.) In Macedonia, however, where the Churcli flourished in 
 fair spiritual beauty (2 Cor. viii.,*) he met Timothy with 
 good news from Corinth, which made him at once begin to 
 write to his beloved Corinthians a second time. Thereupon, 
 
68 ST PAUL. 
 
 shortly after, Titus also arrived, whose more recent glad 
 tidings about them made him abound in joy : " ye Corin- 
 thians, our mouth is enlarged," (2 Cor. vi. 11 ;) " God, that 
 comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the 
 coming of Titus," (2 Cor. vii. 6 ;) for he told Paul and 
 Timothy of the Corinthians' " earnest desire," of their 
 " mourning," and their " fervent mind" toward the Apostle, 
 whom they had grieved. Of all epistles, this paints the 
 Apostle most clearly before our eyes. " With many tears " 
 he had written his first letter, (2 Cor. ii. 4 ;) and in this 
 second one, too, the Corinthians could not fail to see the 
 traces of his moistened eyes. " I trust," says the faithful 
 shepherd — whom the Lord never permits to become an 
 hireling — "I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end, 
 as also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your 
 rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord 
 Jesus," (2 Cor. i. 13, 14.) His heart so thrills with emo- 
 tions in "longing" after them, ''for the exceeding grace of 
 God in them," and so exults in the glory of his apostolic 
 of&ce, which God enables him faithfully to discharge, that 
 he can hardly find utterance for the thoughts^ that rush in 
 upon his mind like flashes of lightning, and he strains 
 every nerve to give expression to the inexpressible love his 
 spirit breathes. 
 
 Having penetrated to Illyricum,* (Eom. xv. 19,) the 
 Apostle wintered three months in Greece, (Acts xx. 1-3,) 
 and Gains of Derbe became his host at Corinth, (Eom. xvi. 
 23.) This period is marked by a double labour of love, 
 answering to the twofold magnet by which he was drawn. 
 It was now that he completed the long-desired collection 
 for the poor saints at Jerusalem ; thereby forming a bond 
 of peaceful union between the mother and her daughter 
 churches, which might well have attracted the unbelieving 
 Jews to Zion's beauty, (cf. 2 Cor. viii. and ix., and Eom. xv. 
 
THE LABOURER. 69 
 
 25, &c. ;) and it was here lie wrote to the Eomans that 
 pearl of all his epistles, which evinces the Church of Christ 
 in that city to be indeed the fruit of his apostolic labour, 
 although he had not as yet reached it in person, (Eom. xv. 
 22, &c. ;) for it stamps his seal upon ''that form of doc- 
 trine," (Eom. vi. 17) which, not through ''another man's," 
 (Eom. XV. 20,) but his own labour, had been delivered to 
 them — viz., through those several evangelic messengers, 
 whose "beautiful" footsteps had preceded him thither with 
 the message of his apostolical preaching, (cf. Eom. xvi.) 
 "More boldly" (Eom. xv. 15) does his spirit soar in this 
 than any other of his epistles, testifying to the Church in 
 that capital of the world, that he is not ashamed of the 
 Gospel of Christ, inasmuch as " it is the power of God unto 
 salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and 
 also to the Greek," (Eom. i. 16.) There falls the hammer 
 of his heavenly dialectic power with crushing force upon 
 man's corruption, till all boasting is excluded, (Eom. iii. 27,) 
 and the blows of his forcible logic lay the creature and her 
 reason prostrate in the dust before God, (Eom. ix. 20.) 
 Most prominent in this epistle is the peculiar sequence of 
 his thoughts, forming — as an able judge expresses it — " a 
 strong tissue woven of sinews and muscles, a living string 
 of ramified tendons, like the rows of pillars and arches in a 
 Gothic cathedral, or like one of Handel's grand fugues." The 
 boldness with which he writes, and which at times excites 
 even his own humble gaze, we learn to understand, if we 
 bear in mind the historical standing-place from whence he 
 writes. Set at large out of narrow straits, led from depths 
 up to a lofty height, there stands the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles at Corinth, looking, as from the summit of a 
 mountain, back eastwards to Jerusalem, forward into the 
 west — to Eome, and beyond it into Spain. As far as to 
 lUyricum he has spread the Gospel-net, and built up the 
 
70 ST PAUL. 
 
 evangelical altar, -upon wliich the Gentiles, sanctified 
 through the Holy Ghost, are being offered unto God a sweet 
 savour of Christ. His prophetic eye already views the 
 church at Eonie as heiress to that of Jerusalem ; and, clad 
 in the bright armour of his strong knowledge, he brings to 
 bear all the experience of his heaven-taught wisdom on 
 the service of God in the Gospel of His Son, (Eom. i. 9,) 
 which is also " his gospel," (Eom. xvi. 25,) in order so to 
 strengthen and consolidate that Church — of Jew and 
 Gentile joined in One, — that she might become a pillar 
 of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. And 
 though her candlestick has been removed out of its place, 
 here, in Paul's epistle, it stands unshaken, and sheds 
 through the universe its inextinguishable light. Where 
 its doctrine reigns, there is Eome's and Jerusalem's legiti- 
 mate heiress. An Erasmus, with a shrug of his shoulder, 
 could utter the wanton word : " The abstruseness of the 
 Eoman epistle excels its utility ; " but Luther called it the 
 Lord's lantern, illuminating all the chambers of Holy 
 Writ. Thanks be to God for this truest bulwark of the 
 Gospel, this choicest flower of Paul's evangelical labour, 
 a very amaranth, unfading and immortal ! Amen. 
 
 " Strive, when thou art call'd of God, 
 When He draws thee by His grace, 
 Strive to cast away the load 
 That would clog thee in the race. 
 
 " Fight, though it may cost thy life ; 
 Storm the kingdom, but prevail ; 
 Let not Satan's fiercest strife, 
 Make thy heart to faint or quail. 
 
 " Wrestle, till through every vein, 
 Love and strength are glowing warm : 
 Paul's love could the world disdain, 
 Half-love will not bide the storm."* 
 
 * In these and other verses in the remaining chapters, I have mostly 
 followed the " Lyra Germanica." — Tr. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE PEISONEE OF JESUS CHEIST. 
 
 " Being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus 
 Christ." — Philem. 9. 
 
 Ere the Apostle was bound '' in bonds/' (Epb. vi. 20,) he 
 was bound in the spirit : — 
 
 " OLove! who thus hast bound me fast 
 Beneath that gentle yoke of Thine ; 
 Love, who hast conquer'd me at last, 
 And rapt away this heart of mine ; 
 Love ! I give myself to Thee, 
 Thine ever, only Thine to be." 
 
 Thus it sounded in Paul's soul ever since the day that he 
 became "the won of the Lord Jesus." To do nothing 
 against, but all for the truth, (2 Cor. xiii. 8;) to "suffer" — not 
 as an evil-doer, but for Christ's sake — " even unto bonds," 
 (2 Tim. ii. 9;) to be made a spectacle unto the world, and 
 to angels, and to men ; yea, and to become a fool, if it be 
 but for Christ's sake, (1 Cor. iv. 9, 10;) such was the mind 
 of " the prisoner of Jesus Christ," unto whom the world 
 was crucified by Christ, and he unto the world, (Gal. vi. 14.) 
 A true bondman of Christ he was, who bore in his body 
 the marks of the Lord Jesus, (Gal. vi. 17.) Thus not 
 spiritually only, but also bodily it pleased the Lord to call 
 His servant to the state of a bondman; and with what 
 patience, nay, even exultation, did the Apostle bear these 
 bonds of his, as an order of honour to him, and a glory to 
 Christ's Church, (Eph. iii. 13.) The remembrance of Peter's 
 
72 ST PAUL. 
 
 falling chains* (Acts xii. 7) is hardly so glorious and so 
 edifying as that of St Paul rejoicing in his chains, and 
 triumphing over all enemies, as shewn in his last five 
 Epistles, and the last eight chapters of the Acts. 
 
 Where the Apostle speaks to the Eomans of his purposed 
 journey to Jerusalem, there he also beseeches them to strive 
 together with him in their prayers to God for him, that 
 he may ' be delivered from them that do not believe in 
 Jud^a," and that his service may be accepted of the saints 
 at Jerusalem, (Eom. xv. 25-31.) A service of love truly 
 this journey was. Surrounded by the first-fruits of his 
 harvest among the Gentiles, seven in number, (Acts xx. 4,) 
 he embarked for Asia, bearing in his ministering hands 
 tokens of sympathy and love from his heathen converts to 
 those of the true Israel at Jerusalem. Wlien Jesus held 
 His royal entry into Jerusalem, there were certain Greeks 
 who desired to see Him, before whom and the still enthu- 
 siastic multitude the Lord spoke that inimitable word about 
 the corn of wdieat that must fall into the ground and die 
 ere it can bring forth fruit. ^N'ow this was accomplished, 
 and Paul brought the first-fruits of the Lord to Jerusalem. 
 "If any man serve me, let him follow me," continued 
 Christ, and His servant Paul followed Him on the w^ay of 
 self-devotion even unto death. His journey to Jerusalem 
 bears indeed some resemblance to that which the church 
 calls on us to remember on every Sunday before Lent : — 
 " Behold we go up to Jerusalem," (Luke xviii. 31.) He 
 that raised Lazarus is drawn by the cords of love to go as 
 a lamb to the slaughter; he that raised Eutychus by the 
 power of Christ, is drawn after Him by the powder of His 
 love. Well might Paul, over the eucharistic table at Troas, 
 continue his speech till midnight, (Acts xx. 7 ;) for they 
 
 * Celebrated by the Eoman Catholics on their so-called *• Lammas-day," 
 (1st of August.) 
 
THE PRISONEK OF JESUS CHRIST. 73 
 
 were parting words inspired by the Comforter, in view of 
 his way of suffering; and in his solitary walk '' afoot" from 
 Troas to Assos (ib. ver. 13) he still strengthened his soul 
 in God, while, like his heavenly Master, " he steadfastly 
 set his face to Jerusalem." "And now," he says to the 
 Ephesian elders at Miletus, "behold, I go bound in the 
 spirit unto Jerusalem, not knoAving the things that shall 
 befall me there : save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in 
 every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me/' 
 That he expected the eve of his labour drawing nigh, and 
 spoke in view of his approaching martyrdom, this we feel 
 through the whole of that valedictory address, at which we 
 have already before taken occasion to glance. Under the 
 cross-predicting witness of the Holy Ghost, he departs 
 hence, with only this object in view, to " finish his course 
 with joy, and to testify the Gospel of the grace of God," 
 if by any means — whether by word or deed, preaching or 
 suffering — he might provoke to emulation them which are 
 his flesh, and might save some of them, (Eom. xi. 14;) a 
 true Benjamite, he was stiU bent on " dividing the spoil 
 at night," (Gen. xlix. 29,) even in Jerusalem. By enjoin- 
 ing them to take heed to the flock, over which the Holy 
 Ghost had made them overseers, and to watch against the 
 ''grievous wolves," which after his departure would enter 
 in among them, " not sparing the flock," — Paul made his 
 testament with the elders of the Ephesian church. Yea, 
 and he told them openly, " Behold, I know that ye all, 
 among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, 
 shall see my face no more." This " I know" seems to 
 contradict a later "knowing" of the Apostle. ''Having 
 this confidence," he writes to the Philippians from Eome, 
 " I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for 
 your furtherance and joy of faith," (Phil. i. 25;) and in this 
 confidence he asks the Colossian Philemon (ver. 22) to pre- 
 
74 ST PAUL. 
 
 pare him a lodging. But what is contradictory to reason 
 is edifying to faith. The prayers and tears of his flocks 
 have snatched Paul from the jaws of death. The Lord, 
 who heareth prayer, added to his numbered days, as to 
 Hezekiah's aforetime, years still of fruit-working labour. 
 " I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto 
 you," writes the " prisoner in Christ Jesus" to Philemon. 
 The prayers of the Church formed a fiery wall about the 
 Apostle. His disconsolate children, who there at Miletus 
 all fen on Paul's neck and wept sore, were not to be kept 
 back by his word — that they should see his face no more 
 — from supplicating the Lord for his life; yea, it would 
 make them cry more fervently: — " Notwithstanding, dear 
 Jesus, we beseech Thee, save and preserve unto us our 
 Paul, Thy servant ! " It was to incite such prayers in the 
 Church, " for a sweet-smelling savour to God," that the 
 Holy Ghost witnessed of Paul's bonds in every city. (Cf. 
 Acts XX.) 
 
 In towns also which his foot had never trod, the Apostle 
 found disciples of Christ, whom he blessed; and they 
 blessed him, for whom he prayed, and they for him. Paul 
 may be bound unto death, but " the word of God is not 
 bound." It shall ride over all the high places of the earth; 
 it shall accomplish that which the Lord pleases, and shall 
 prosper in the thing whereto He sends it; yea, it shall run 
 and be glorified, till all the kingdoms of the earth shall 
 become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. At 
 Csesarea Paul entered the house of Philip, the brother 
 evangelist of blessed Stephen, who once had to flee from 
 Jerusalem before Saul's slaughter-breathing spirit, (Acts 
 viii.) Now his four virgin daughters prophesied to Paul 
 of the cross he was so willing to bear. They were joined 
 in this by that Agabus, whose former prophecy had girt 
 the younger Paul for a more joyous journey to Jerusalem, 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 75 
 
 (Acts xi. 28-30.) To this, his fifth and last, he is also to 
 gird him. " He took Paul's girdle, and bound his own 
 hands and feet, and said. Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So 
 shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this 
 girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gen- 
 tiles.'' Oft had the Apostle buckled on his girdle, and in 
 all his journeyings among the heathen (2 Cor. xi. 26) had 
 ever borne Jerusalem in his heart. Besides his love for 
 the poor believers there, it was at this time his inextin- 
 guishable love for the still poorer unbelievers, w^hich drew 
 him to Jerusalem. And yet at this very time they were 
 going to quench his thirst after their salvation with vinegar, 
 as they had done Christ's upon the cross. His great heavi- 
 ness and continual sorrow of heart, the desire of his heroic 
 love, wherewith he could wish to purchase his brethren's 
 salvation at the price of his own, (Eom. ix. 1-3,) all was to 
 remain unstilled. Yea, his most ardent affection, instead of 
 melting them, was only going the more to harden and to 
 steel the hearts of his infatuated nation against Jesus, their 
 Saviour. These, and not bodily bonds alone, were meant by 
 Agabus's girding. But " Paul the aged" allowed himself to 
 be girded and led, whither Saul the Benjamite would not. 
 
 " If by the light of heavenly grace 
 
 I may but know Thy will, 
 And see through doubts and fears Thy face. 
 
 My soul shall hold Thee still. 
 Though Thou deniest my heart's best wish, 
 
 I '11 not repine, Thy will be mine ! 
 
 I have no other will but Thine." 
 
 To such fervent aspirations the Lord would draw Paul's 
 soul, when about to pass through his severest trial, that of 
 witnessing Israel's downfall by rejecting her Saviour. Yet 
 to Jerusalem his steps were bent, and whatever ills might 
 betide, it was the Lord's way he went. When, therefore, 
 
76 ST PAUL. 
 
 his best friends, Timothy and Luke included, and doubt- 
 less Philip also, his kind host, who well knew Jerusalem 
 and Christ's cross too, — ^when all, anxious to have his life 
 spared for the Gentiles, besought him with tears not to 
 go up to Jerusalem, then, indeed, he stood there as one 
 that had counted the cost; and severe as might be the 
 struggle against the flesh, crying, " Spare thyself!" Christ 
 gave him the victory, and " Paul answered. What mean 
 ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready, not 
 to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name 
 of the Lord Jesus." Ay, whether at Jerusalem or Eome, 
 if it be but for the name of the Lord Jesus, all shall be 
 well. Thus Paul felt, and therefore the most importunate 
 solicitations of his well-meaning and best-beloved brethren 
 in Christ could not wring the cup from his hand. He 
 would pay his vows unto the Lord, (Ps. cxvi. 13-15;) and 
 his original commission ran : — " Bear my name before the 
 Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel," (Acts ix. 
 15.) When Luther was met before Worms by his beloved 
 Spalatin's message, entreating him not to venture into the 
 city, the Lord strengthened him to tread in Paul's foot- 
 steps. '' The Lord's will be done," said the brethren, and 
 they set out silently toward Jerusalem. They "ceased" 
 their importunities with Paul, but not with the Lord; and 
 His gracious will they obtained, to their unspeakable joy. 
 Soon, indeed, they were to see their beloved teacher, 
 " bound with two chains," in the hands of th.B Gentiles ; 
 but theirs were saving hands ; and what they desired for 
 the good of Christ's Church was done, not in spite, but by 
 means of the Apostle's bonds at Jerusalem. Eejoice, then, 
 ye that pray for Zion, and say " Amen " to Paul's doxology 
 — " Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above 
 all that we ask or think, according to the power that 
 worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST, 77 
 
 Jesus throughout all ages," (Eph. iii. 20.) Cf. Acts xxi. 
 1-15. 
 
 Accompanied by certain disciples of Csesarea, Paul en- 
 tered Jerusalem on tlie eve, probably, of Pentecost. In 
 order thus best to overcome the prejudices of the dissatis- 
 fied Jewish believers, he was with his party warily con- 
 ducted to the house of Mnason, an old disciple of Cyprus, 
 experienced in the way of the Lord. As he trod the 
 streets of that beloved city, it might sound in his heart, 
 " I will very gladly spend and be spent for you ; though 
 the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved," 
 (2 Cor. xii. 15.) On the following day Paul went to 
 James the Lord's brother, where he met all the elders, 
 and was well received by them. Four years had passed 
 since they last met, and he declared to them one by one 
 what, during this period, God had wrought among the 
 Gentiles by his ministry ; " and when they had heard 
 it, they glorified the Lord." These elders, and especially 
 James, — who remained in the darkened city after the other 
 apostles left it, — were lighting the troubled flock with the 
 lamp of life, and to their Christian fidelity the Apostle after- 
 wards bears the highest testimony, (Heb. xiii. 7-17.) It was 
 from respect to them, that he felt himself bound to yield 
 to their request, that he w^ould purify himself, and so satisfy 
 the thousands of prejudiced Jews, just then for the feast at 
 Jerusalem. If they saw with their own eyes that the 
 preacher of evangelical liberty, and of righteousness by 
 faith without works, could also observe the law, where it 
 might do good, would not they be constrained then to 
 open their hearts to this gracious guest visiting the Lord's 
 feast ? James and his elders hoped so ; and Paul, in the 
 love that '' hopeth aU things," would willingly become a 
 servant to his weaker brethren in all things lawful. It 
 was not uncommon among the Jews, that poor Nazarites 
 
78 ST PAUL. 
 
 had tlie temple-costs of their vows defrayed by their 
 wealthier brethren, who thus partook in their services. 
 In this manner Paul was "at charges" with four poor 
 Nazarites. In a more conciliating way he could not have 
 acted. Yet we hear nothing of the effect it produced. 
 But the false Jews, and foremost those of Asia, stirred up 
 the people, and laid hands on him, raising the same cry 
 ao-ainst him, in which aforetime he also had joined against 
 Stephen ; and he would have perished under their murder- 
 ous hands, had not the Eoman soldiers come with aU 
 speed to his rescue. No honest Israelite aided him. Thus 
 it was again the heathen authorities to whom he was 
 indebted for protection from the lynch-law of the rabble. 
 Bound with two chains, after Eoman custom, he was con- 
 veyed to the imperial barracks amid the cries of the mob : 
 — " Away with him ! " and up the stairs conducting to the 
 Antonian castle he had to be " borne of the soldiers for 
 the violence of the people." Thus strangely was the 
 saviour of the Gentiles saved by Gentile hands. Yet no 
 sooner did he stand again on his feet, and look down upon 
 the throngs gathered on the slope of the castle, than he 
 resolved to make the top of the stairs his pulpit, and 
 testify to his blind brethren of his happiness, even in 
 bonds, as the won of the Lord Jesus. The Eoman chief 
 took him for a notorious Egyptian bandit, who under pre- 
 tence of being a prophet, had recently fooled thousands of 
 misguided Jews into a revolt against the Eoman yoke. 
 But the prisoner's courteous request, in Greek, to be per- 
 mitted to address the people, astonished the Eoman, and 
 stiU more the civil yet dignified and manly bearing of the 
 iU-treated citizen of Tarsus. He therefore gave him licence 
 to speak. How reproving does this Claudius Lysias stand 
 in front of the raging Jews ! and how friendly and signifi- 
 cantly did the Lord from heaven beckon to his prisoner, 
 
THE PEISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 79 
 
 to mark and understand, in whose castle lie was secure I 
 (Cf. Acts xxi. 16-40.) 
 
 From this time forth, down to its goal, — his arrival at 
 Eome, — the history of the Lord's prisoner is one chain of 
 marvellons deliverances, wrought by explainable means, 
 yet wonderfully providential. That the word of God was 
 not bound, though he was, (2 Tim. ii. 9,) the Apostle now 
 proves in a series of bold defences of the Gospel, for which 
 his very bonds gave him the welcome occasion. Their 
 leading apologetic outlines are : — Jesus of Nazareth is the 
 Christ ; Paul, His apostle, is a true Israelite ; and the 
 despised sect of the Nazarene is the heir to the promises 
 of God's chosen people. In narrating to the people of 
 Jerusalem the history of his conversion from Pharisaic 
 darkness to the light of Divine grace in Christ Jesus, he 
 smartly knocks at the door of their consciences. He does 
 not spare himself the pain of circumstantially relating 
 what he has been, in order to draw his benighted brethren 
 to become what now he was through grace. With delicate 
 tact, enough to veil from the ear of the Eoman soldiers his 
 confessions, as unable to understand them, he spoke in 
 Hebrew. From the heart of the Hebrew his words 
 would best find their way to Hebrew hearts. But theirs 
 were hardened, " according as it is written," (Eom. xi. 8.) 
 A learned disquisition about the relation of their law to 
 the Gospel might have pleased them better. Paul's theo- 
 logy of facts was unbearable to them, they having before 
 determined : '' Away with him ! " Yet this worn and 
 insignificant-looking man, who " turned the world upside 
 down " by his preaching, knew how to exact silence from 
 them, and "they gave him audience unto that word," 
 wherewith he quoted his commission from Jesus : " De- 
 part, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles." This 
 excited their rage. Of the "beds of spices," planted in 
 
80 ST PAUL. 
 
 the garden of the Gentiles by our heavenly Solomon, to 
 provoke by theh^ loveliness his faithless " Shulamite," to 
 return from the wilderness, (Song of Solomon vi. 2-13, viii. 
 5;) — of the "broken off branches" of their own ''olive- 
 tree," making place for the "grafl&ng in among them" of 
 the " wild olive-tree," (Rom. xi.,) — they would hear no- 
 thing. They would have stoned him like Stephen, had 
 not the Eoman camp been his city of refuge. In the 
 **holy" camp of Israel, now turned into "La-ammi," 
 (Hos. i. 9,) this citizen of the true Israel was doomed 
 to die — in that of the Gentiles, the Roman citizen finds 
 protection under the ''powers that be." Caesar is re- 
 spected in his camp — the King of Israel despised in that 
 of His people. This tragical event in Paul's life, the 
 preludes to which we saw at Thessalonica and Corinth, 
 is completed here in Jerusalem; and however grating 
 to the Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, Paul, the 
 prisoner of Jesus Christ, is resigned to it. Yea, recog- 
 nising in it the Lord's protecting hand, and averse to all 
 straining after martyrdom, he stays the "thongs" and lash 
 of the inquisition, by his resolute appeal to the centurion, 
 (made more timely than aforetime at Philippi :) — " Is it law- 
 ful for you to scourge a Roman, and uncondemned ? " 
 Caesar's men understanding his polished Greek better than 
 the Jews their holy Hebrew, Lysias "straightway" had 
 his bands loosed, and commanded the chief priests and all 
 their council to appear before him " on the morrow." (Cf. 
 Acts xxii.) 
 
 There, then, stands the Apostle in their midst, a prisoner 
 indeed, but the prisoner of the Lord, only given into 
 Caesar's custody, who has to serve as " the minister of God 
 to him for good," by procuring him audience. With a 
 quick apprehension of his situation, unprovoked by their 
 treatment, and penetrated only with the desire to omit 
 
THE PEISONER OF JESUS CHEIST. 81 
 
 nothing that might tend to remove the veil from their 
 faces, Paul stood "earnestly beholding the council," and 
 ready for his defence. No one called on him, but the 
 frowning looks of the Pharisees spoke defiance to the 
 renegade; when thns he began: "Men and brethren, I 
 have lived in all good conscience before God nntil this 
 day." They had thought this former Pharisee must have 
 corrupted and subverted his conscience; but Paul knew 
 all he did to be the doing of the faith of Christ ; and 
 therefore, by the grace of God, he could rejoice in the 
 testimony of his conscience, (2 Cor. i. 12.) Now, only, 
 since Christ was born in him, did he serve the God of his 
 fathers with a pure conscience, (2 Tim. i. 3,) and had found 
 that which out of Christ he had sought in vain. Ananias, 
 the high priest, felt the sting of the accusation in Pauls 
 words, and commanded to ''smite him on the mouth." 
 Had this drawn from "the choleric" Paul a passionate 
 expression, he still would remain what he is, for a sinless 
 saint he is made only by over-pious bigotry. It being, 
 however, more than improbable, that, by his of&cial dress 
 and his seat of dignity, the Apostle should not have known 
 him to be the high priest, we deem his curse, " God shall 
 smite thee, thou whited wall," not an unwitting sin against 
 God's command, " Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy 
 people," (Exod. xxii. 28 ;) and his explanation, " I wist not, 
 brethren, that he was the high priest," not an apology for 
 such sin. It was the putrefaction of Ananias' ungodli- 
 ness, exlialed from beneath the whitewash of his legal 
 dignity, that made unknowable the bearer of the high- 
 priestly office. Paul looked upon Ananias as God looked 
 upon him, and recognised in him the transgressor of the 
 law, and not the judge after the law.* And, lo, Paul's 
 
 -"- It is witli the author's consent, that I express my dissent from his 
 view on this passage — which he has given more at large, and corroborated 
 
 F 
 
82 ST PAUL. 
 
 address of "brethren" struck upon tlie hearts of some of 
 the Pharisees, to whom the Sadducees " sitting in Moses' 
 seat " was obnoxious. The presence of mind and serpent- 
 wisdom, wherewith Paul knew how to take advantage of 
 the party-spirit in the council, puts us in mind of Luther's 
 word, "Where grace meets a man, by nature clever and 
 ingenious, it makes use of him for the benefit of others/' 
 Paul's sense not unfrequently draws admiration even from 
 worldly people ; but they do not think or understand, that 
 Christian Paul acts everywhere, and so here before the 
 council, with all good conscience, always uniting with the 
 serpent-wisdom the harmlessness of the dove, (Matt. x. 16.) 
 His is not the wily shrewdness of a crafty Jew. It was not 
 with the cunning of the lawyer, but the prudence of the 
 pastor, that with the wedge of his timely exclamation — 
 " Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, 
 of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in 
 question," — he split into two the hostile camp, which was 
 only kept together by their common enmity to the risen 
 Jesus; and sought to gain over to his faith the confessors 
 of the hope of Israel. This — the resurrection of the dead 
 — was an article in the Pharisee's confession of faith, 
 whicli Paul had not denied ; nay, rather, he had found the 
 kernel of the nut in " the First-Fruits" of the resurrection ; 
 in Him Israel's hope had become alive. The chief captain 
 would turn with a contemptuous smile from the disorderly 
 
 by quotations from Luther, in his comment on the Acts. I certainly think, 
 with the learned author, that the Apostle could not well mistake the high 
 priest; but I take his "I wist not," to mean ''I lost sight of," — "did not 
 bear in mind ; " an admission certainly implying a severe reflection ; for 
 had Ananias' bearing been in consonance with his office, Paul could not 
 have forgotten himself, i.e., lost sight of his being the high priest. A com- 
 parison with other passages justifies this sense of the Greek word; for 
 instance, Eph. vi. 8, and Col. iii. 24, in both which places, the English 
 "knowing" is quite tantamount to " bearing in mind." — Tr. 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 83 
 
 uproar in the holy Sanhedrim, and fearing for his prisoner, 
 ''lest he should have been pnlled in pieces of them," he 
 had him. brought into the castle, where, lying in darkness, 
 "the Lord stood by" His troubled and comfort-needing 
 servant, saying unto him, " Be of good cheer, Paul : for as 
 thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear 
 witness also at Eome." This, "thou must," he caught 
 hold of with firm faith, and yet trod the wondrous path 
 traced for him by God, so soberly and circumspectly, that 
 he did not think his young nephew too mean an angel to 
 disappoint those forty Jewish zealots who conspired against 
 his life. He evidently had won upon the Eoman captain 
 by his manly and collected bearing, and the whole charm 
 of his character. Yet, without some palpable official cause, 
 his personal favour and sympathy for the prisoner would 
 hardly have induced Claudius Lysias to risk his popularity 
 by summoning military force to his protection. It is, 
 indeed, an edifying spectacle this nightly transport from 
 Jerusalem to Csesarea. "Who Thee serves. Thou mighty 
 Lord, may bid defiance to the world !" Now Paul is in the 
 hands of governor Felix, a profligate, who, as Tacitus has 
 it, under the guise of cruelty concealed a servile soul. He 
 was to feel the weight of this singular prisoner's testimony, 
 and quail beneath it. (Cf. Acts xxiii.) 
 
 Against the accusations of the Jews, who came down to 
 Csesarea with a hired attorney, the "ringleader of the sect 
 of the Nazarenes," this "pestilent fellow," — as TertuUus is 
 pleased to designate him, — answers with singular appro- 
 priateness, and with the fearlessness of which he writes, 
 (Kom. xiii. 3,) "Wilt thou not be afraid of the power ? do 
 that which is good." Felix was not unacquainted with 
 the Christian way, though his own was the broad one. 
 Therefore the Apostle could expect him to understand, that 
 the Christians were only the legitimate Jews, which was the 
 
84 ST PAUL. 
 
 drift of Paul's defence before liim, wlio was bound by his 
 office to protect that nation in the exercise of their religion. 
 With all the composure and circumspection which the 
 case called for, he omitted not to make a thrust into this 
 new Pilate's conscience, by lighting on it with the testi- 
 mony of Israel's hope, the resurrection of the dead, " both 
 of the just and unjust." Unscrupulous as he Avas, yet 
 Felix so far conformed to the duty of his office, that he 
 would not deliver Paul to the Jewish court of justice, 
 but left the case in suspense, meanwhile extending to his 
 prisoner a mild treatment in Herod's court-house. To 
 indulge his amorous wife, Drusilla, " which was a Jewess," 
 with a piquant entertainment on the subject of her religion, 
 he had Paul summoned into their presence. But Paul 
 was no lover of soft raiment. Like John the Baptist, be- 
 fore Herod Antipas, he stood before Pelix, and reasoned 
 with him and his Herod's daughter, "of righteousness, 
 temperance, and judgment to come." Whereat the sensual 
 worldling " trembled," and stammered out a civil phrase, to 
 rid himself of the truth by dissembling compliment. By 
 degrees, however, he unlearned this trembling before the 
 bound preacher of the unbound word, and thinking, after 
 the maxim of a true worldling, that even this Nazarene's 
 uprightness mi^t have its price, he put up for two years 
 with his reasonings of temperance, in the hope that 
 " money ^ should have been given him of Paul, that he 
 might loose him." Thus, then, the labourer of the Lord 
 kept involuntary holiday for two years ; yet how the dew 
 of heaven descended on him in his lonely cell, we perceive 
 where he comes forth again in the power of God's strength. 
 (Cf Acts xxiv.) 
 
 Felix's successor, Porcius Festus, feels personally greatly 
 inclined ''to do the Jews a pleasure," by sacrificing Paul 
 to their bloodthirsty plans, but he must protect him. His 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 85 
 
 accusers now proceed to bring a cliarge of liigh treason 
 against him. But Paul, not unskilled in law and the 
 rights of a Eoman citizen, resists Festus' sinister proposal 
 to send him up for trial to Jerusalem, by appealing to 
 Caesar; hardly thinking at the time, that what his adver- 
 saries now forced him to, would become the very means 
 of fulfilling God's word to him, " Thou must bear witness 
 also at Eome." As yet, however, he had not done with 
 his witness before the unbelieving Jews in Judsea. Herod 
 Agrippa, the son of James' murderer, came down to 
 Caesarea to greet the new governor ; and before this last 
 king of his nation — in a brilliant assembly of polished 
 courtiers, the heads, no doubt, of the civil and military 
 departments at Caesarea, and all the elite of that city — 
 Paul was to close the series of his apostolic defences. (Cf. 
 Acts XXV.) 
 
 It is the masterpiece of holy eloquence wherewith the 
 Apostle meets King Agrippa. By his Judaism he seizes 
 this Herod's son, and forces him to bear witness to the 
 unquestionable fact, that conversion to the Lord Jesus is 
 no falling off from the God of Israel, but, contrariwise, the 
 only way for securing the hope of that twelve-tribed nation. 
 After, then, simply stating the ground of a Christian's 
 faith and hope, by narrating his own conversion, in which 
 here he gives prominence to his caU as Apostle to the 
 Gentiles, he proceeds to say — " Having, therefore, obtained 
 help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to 
 small and great, saying none other things than those which 
 the prophets and Moses did say should come : that Christ 
 should suffer, and that He should be the first that should 
 rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, 
 and to the Gentiles." Here he was interrupted by Festus 
 calling out aloud, " Paul, thou art beside thyself; much 
 learning doth make thee mad." The Eoman statesman 
 
86 ST PAUL. 
 
 felt sometliing strangely supernatural in Paul's speecli. 
 This prisoner lauds the crucified Jesus as the "light of the 
 Gentiles," and Agrippa listens to him with rapt attention. 
 That would never do, he thought, and deemed it high 
 time to interrupt the enthusiastic speaker. But how must 
 the reply of this madman fall on his astonished ear, when, 
 unoffended, and in complete self-possession — not even 
 omitting his ofiicial title, ''most noble" Festus — Paul 
 assures him that he speaks the " words of truth and sober- 
 ness," and appeals to "the king" that these were not 
 matters of fancy, but literal realities; not hidden things 
 done in a corner, but open historical facts. Nor had 
 Paul done with the king yet. A holy fencer, and "not as 
 one that beateth the air," he hits him in the most vul- 
 nerable place, in putting, like a flaming sword, the pointed 
 question to him — " King Agrippa, believest thou the pro- 
 phets?" Embarassing pause! "I know that thou be- 
 lievest," says Paul the prophet; and thus sinks the sword 
 of the Spirit into the heart of a man unable to resist the 
 conviction, that what the prophets have spoken must come 
 to pass. But one step more, and he had believed that it 
 had come to pass in Jesus of Nazareth. But this step 
 Bernice's incestuous brother was unwilling to take, and 
 forcing out an easy joke, he replied, "Almost thou per- 
 suadest me to be a Cliristian." But the skilled soldier of 
 Christ knew immediately how to turn to account the 
 beaten king's high-spoken word, by rejoining, in deep 
 earnest, " I would to God that not only thou, but also all 
 that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether 
 such as I am, except these bonds." These, surely, are not 
 the words of a mad enthusiast. His Christian joy Paul 
 would have all men to be partakers of; nor did he doubt 
 the Lord's power, who had overcome him, to overcome the 
 mightiest, and take the great for a spoil, while his Christian 
 
THE PEISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 87 
 
 cross he would bear, " as of tlie ability which God giveth," 
 without wishing it upon any other's shoulders. The smile 
 had died on the king's lips, and with hurried despatch he 
 drew to a close the business which had taken so unex- 
 pected a turn. He could not help admitting, that the 
 religion of Jesus was unforbidden in the Jewish land. 
 And it is singular enougli that, after all, the governor 
 should be compelled to what seemed to him so unreason- 
 able a thing, the sending a prisoner up to Eome, " and not 
 withal signifying the crimes laid against him." (Cf. Acts 
 xxvi.) 
 
 The history of his voyage to Italy turns up a new leaf 
 in Paul's life, which we shall find no less edifying to glance 
 over. His serene composure, and yet quick perception, 
 wherewith he knew how to master every situation, we 
 liave indeed had repeated occasion already to behold and 
 admire. But here we meet a mutinous crew tamed and 
 led by our captive Jew, who bears a hand himself in the 
 ship as smartly as if he had been a born seaman. Our 
 first look is fixed properly upon the hand of the Lord, who 
 gives as a prize to His servant those very men that carried 
 him captive to Eome; but it affords St Luke an evident 
 pleasu.re to paint in its minutest details the conduct of his 
 beloved Paul, through whom, as his instrument, the Lord 
 brings about what He pleases to the joy of His Church. 
 The Adramyttian ship from the harbour of Csesarea, and 
 the Alexandrian which sailed from Myra, bare the precious 
 freight, which was at length to still the longings of the 
 distant "isles," (Isa. xlii. 4, li. 5, Ix. 9.) Satan would 
 fain have made the deep, that calls him lord, to become 
 the grave of his stout adversary. But to " perils in the 
 sea " the Apostle was not unused, for thrice he liad suffered 
 shipwreck, a night and a day he had been in the deep, 
 (2 Cor. xi. 25.) Nowise doubting the Lord's safe guid- 
 
88 ST PAUL. 
 
 ance, who had ensured his life by His own words, yet Paul 
 knew that he was not on board as dead cargo, but as a 
 living Christian man; and no sooner did the approaching 
 tempest threaten to endanger their passage in the Medi- 
 terranean, than he stepped forward with his counsel, advis- 
 ing them to run in and winter at Crete, in a harbour called 
 ** The Fair Havens." " Nevertheless the centurion " of the 
 imperial life-guards at Csesarea, who had charge of Paul, 
 friendly as he was to him, "believed the master and the 
 owner of the ship," more than the " missionary." How- 
 ever, it went so badly with their discipline on board, that 
 neither master nor owner, who both wished to hasten with 
 corn to the Italian market, could gain their point, for "the 
 more part" preferred to run into another harbour of Crete, 
 which offered them a more agreeable sojourn for wintering. 
 This was confusion worse confounded. Meanwhile, the 
 wind called "Euroclydon" really arose, and no skill of the 
 most skilful could now do aught with the ship; so they 
 •"let her drive." Then Paul turned sailor, with both Luke 
 and Aristarchus his companions, and won favour with the 
 crew by " bearing a hand" in getting up the boat, under- 
 girding the ship, and lightening her by heaving her gear 
 overboard. Still all was in vain. Three sunless days and 
 still worse starless nights they were driven to and fro upon 
 the tempest-tossed waves; and "all hope that we should 
 be saved was then taken away," writes Luke. But then 
 was shewn what, under God, one man's word can accomplish. 
 Amid the despairing crowd, staring into their watery grave, 
 which is yawning before them, Paul steps forth, and having 
 reproved their wanton rejection of his counsel, he says, 
 " And now, I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there 
 shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the 
 ship." What! is Paul going to bear them all upon his 
 back, and swim with them to the unseen land ? No, but 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 89 
 
 upon his heart he has borne them. " For there stood by 
 me," he continues, " this night the angel of God, whose I 
 am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul : thou must 
 be brought before Cciesar ; and lo, God hath given thee all 
 them that sail with thee." He that can thus depict and 
 magnify the Lord's goodness will also draw Gentile hearts, 
 and find open ears, when he preaches Him to them. Paul 
 has turned " naval chaplain," and the crew have heard a 
 life-sermon. The whole had to acknowledge themselves 
 his prize, not even Julius the centurion excepted. "Where- 
 fore, sirs," he joyfully continues, "be of good cheer: for I 
 believe God, that it shall be even as He hath told me." 
 This is his sheet-anchor — faith, the rope which he throws 
 to the hopeless, that they may cling to it and be safe. 
 But one demand he has to make along with it. They must 
 relinquish all thoughts of saving the ship, and with their 
 bare lives must be stranded on an island. Will they do 
 it? Are they going into the "life-boat" of Paul's word, 
 and abandon the planks they are still treading? I^ot 
 immediately.. They sound first, and find it twenty fathoms, 
 and next fifteen. Then fearing lest they should run upon 
 rocks, they cast four anchors astern, and wish for the day. 
 Now the crew, under colour of casting anchors out of the 
 foreship also, stealthily let the boat down into the sea, in 
 order to make their escape in it at break of day. But 
 Paul, amid the night's confusion, perceived their design, 
 and called out to the centurion and soldiers, " Except these 
 abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." How differently 
 would the mythic muse equip and deck out her hero! 
 Paul looks upon the prize God hath given him, not as 
 machines, but men, who, with meek submission, have to 
 enter into God's will for their salvation, and to bestir them- 
 selves in that way which it shall please God to point out 
 for their rescue. Look, with what elastic buoyancy, and 
 
90 ST PAUL. 
 
 yet iron firmness, this hero of faith pnts his whole man in 
 motion; his every sense and reason he places as means at 
 God's disposal, to work His will. With all his perfect 
 self-surrender to God, he never loses self-possession; with 
 all his depth of tender feeling, there is no sentimentality; 
 with all the deep rest of a broken heart, there is no con- 
 fused mysticism; with all his affections set on the things 
 above — having " tasted the powers of the world to come" 
 —there is no want of sense for this life, nor any monkish 
 depreciation of it; with all the implicit obedience of the 
 bondman of Christ, he yet possesses the firmest energy of 
 Avill and thorough manliness. For a long time I could not 
 understand why Luke should have sketched the history of 
 this voyage with so lingering a pencil. In my comment 
 on this chapter, I have mainly endeavoured to shew what 
 position Paul's voyage to Italy occupies in the holy drama 
 of '' the Acts of the Apostles, or rather the history of the 
 deeds, through them, of the risen and exalted Saviour in 
 His primitive church." But in the epos also of Paul's life, 
 in the picture of his character, the history of this voyage 
 shines forth in the lustre of pruneval freshness. Can we 
 still wonder that Paul has won the Eoman Julius' heart ? 
 Upon his word he orders his soldiers to '' cut off the ropes 
 of the boat, and let her fall off." That was strong faith, 
 strengthened by Paul's own. Now every bridge of human 
 help is cut off, and the " life-boat " of Paul's word held 
 firm by the safety-rope of the Almighty's faithfulness — 
 their only refuge. As daylight came on, Paul yet once 
 more stepped forth among the crew, who looked despond- 
 ing after a fortnight's fast, and winningly beseeching them 
 to take courage, and "to take meat for their health," he 
 adds, '' for there shall not an hair faU from the head of any 
 of you." And lo, they hearken to his voice amid the 
 roaring sea, whose every surging biUow threatens to snap 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 91 
 
 the fragile cables, and dash the vessel to pieces on the 
 rocks. *' And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, 
 and gave thanks to God in presence of them all ; and when 
 he had broken it, he began to eat." In truth an heroic 
 meal ! and his fervent ''grace" in breaking the bread, won 
 upon all the two hundred and seventy-six souls, whom 
 God had given him : ''Then were they all of good cheer; 
 and they also took some meat." "And when they had 
 eaten enough, they forthwith cast the wheat into the sea," 
 took up the anchors, loosed the rudder-bands, hoised the 
 mainsail to the wind, and made toward the shore of an 
 unknown isle. Driven betwixt two seas wdiich met, they 
 soon ran aground with such force, that "the forepart of 
 the ship stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the 
 hinder part w^as broken with the violence of the waves." 
 Seeing some bent on their escape by jumping overboard, 
 "the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners." Their 
 duty, truly Eoman ! stood above their gratitude. But the 
 centurion, " willing to save Paul," — to the very last it is the 
 arm of a man, directed by God, that shields the Apostle's 
 life — "kept them from their purpose ; " and upon his military 
 command, "those that could swim" had to "cast them- 
 selves first into the sea," and get to land, in order to draw 
 those ashore that drifted after, on boards and broken pieces 
 of the ship. "And so," by straining every human nerve to 
 the last, "it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to 
 land." Thus the Almighty humbly hid His wondrous 
 help under cover of the human; and Paul has compre- 
 hended God's manner, which is not that of pointing a 
 pistol to a man's breast, with a peremptory, " Believe, or 
 die !" (Of. Acts xxvii.) 
 
 It was only after they had reached the island in safety 
 — which proved to be Malta — that the shipwrecked party 
 came to know their deliverer, as one of those who should 
 
92 ST PAUL. 
 
 have ''power to tread on serpents and scorpions." Him 
 who had shared all the hardships and necessities of the 
 ship — who had j)roved himself a naval hero, rather than a 
 churchman — they now saw how he laid hands on the sick 
 of the island, from the house of Publius the chief, to all 
 around that came unto him, and they were healed. After a 
 three months' stay, they departed again, highly honoured, for 
 Paul's sake, and richly furnished with provisions by the 
 hospitable islanders. Under the heathen sign of " Castor 
 and Pollux," the destroyer of heathenism — after spending 
 three days at Syracuse — they safely reached the harbour 
 of Puteoli, where, to their joy, they found "brethren," at 
 whose desire Paul — such was now the centurion's indul- 
 gence of his prisoner — was allowed to tarry seven days 
 mth them, and thereupon went on to Eome; whence 
 brethren met him, as far as Appii Porum, and the Three 
 Taverns; "whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and 
 took courage." The sorrow for Jerusalem and Zion's 
 people, which his heart had felt doubly on the voyage that 
 conveyed liim from them, had made him no way incapable 
 of acting as we have seen him do. Who of the ship's 
 company w^ould have thought that this heroic prisoner 
 was all the while, internally, bowed down under mental 
 sufferings ? Yet Luke, not only his " beloved physician," 
 (Col. iv. 14,) but also his trusty brother, discovers to us, 
 that it was only upon the grateful and encouraging sight 
 of the Eoman brethren, (Ptom. xv. 23, 24,) that the Apostle's 
 mournful sorrow was changed into joyful thanksgiving. 
 Their fall is the riches of the world, (Ptom. xi. 12 ;) this he 
 now saw with his eyes and took courage — ^to go on with 
 the graftmg in of " the wild olive-tree " among the broken 
 off "natural branches," in order that "the good olive-tree " 
 might bud again and flourish in many Gentile branches; 
 while those "broken off in unbelief" he commended to the 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 93 
 
 goodness of God, " who is able to graff tliem in again." 
 A prisoner, and yet triumphant, Paul enters Eonie. (Cf. 
 Acts xxviii. 1-15.) 
 
 Julius the centurion's favourable report to the captain 
 of the imperial guard, procured Paul the liberty of staying 
 where he pleased, with only a soldier for his guard. With 
 unshaken fidelity to his nation, and with inexhaustible 
 patience, also here at Eome, he addressed himself first to 
 his own brethren after tlie flesh, and sought to gain their 
 confidence. Compelled to claim Csesar's protection from his 
 Jewish persecutors, yet would he have naught to accuse 
 his nation of, rather declaring, " For the hope of Israel I 
 am bound with this chain." But, alas ! he found the Jews 
 the same at Eome as everywhere else, and with Isaiah's 
 woe he is forced to take leave of them. Having tried in 
 vain, ''from morning till evening," to ''persuade them 
 concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of 
 the prophets," he has recourse again to what is everywhere 
 his last resource with them, i.e., provoking them to jealousy 
 by the salvation of the Gentiles ; and concludes, "Be it 
 known, therefore, unto you, that the salvation of God is 
 sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." And 
 they have heard it. Two whole years Paul dwelt at Eome 
 in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto 
 him ; preaching in this capital of the world the kingdom 
 of God — in the residence of Caesar whom the world called 
 "Lord," (Acts xxv. 26,) the name of the Lord Jesus, in- 
 wardly with all confidence, outwardly without restraint ; 
 an ambassador of Christ, wearing the chain, not indeed of 
 an imperial order, but of an imperial prisoner — in token of 
 the suffering state of Christ's Church. But the Word of 
 God was not bound ; that sufficed him. (Cf. Acts xxviii. 
 16-31.) 
 
 That, upon the expiration of these two years, Paul's 
 
94 ST PAUL. 
 
 long-pending trial does not yet terminate in his execution, 
 some slight hints in the Acts, and more in his Epistles, 
 seem to indicate. The ancient Church, too — already, it 
 should seem, Clemens Eomanus, his own disciple — almost 
 uniformly thought, that the Apostle was permitted to ac- 
 complish his purposed journey into Spain, (Eom. xv. 24;) 
 and of a return to the East his Second Epistle to Timothy 
 shews evident traces. (Cf. 2 Tim. iv. 13,20, passages which can 
 hardly suit Paul's first journey from Corinth, via Jerusalem, 
 to Kome.) Whence this epistle — the Apostle's last legacy to 
 the Church — must have been, and, in fact, was written 
 during a second imprisonment of Paul at Eome, and in 
 view of his near martyrdom, (2 Tim. iv. 6-8,) which, accord- 
 ing to the unanimous testimony of the ancients, he suffered 
 by the sword under Nero. But for a sketch of him after 
 the Word of God, Luke has set us the limits. One glance, 
 however, we must still cast upon the letters which the 
 Apostle wrote during his two years' detention at Eome. 
 They are effusions of holy joy from the prisoner of the 
 Lord. That to the Ephesians, a circular epistle to the 
 churches in and about Ephesus, is a ''song of degrees," 
 set for the Church of Christ. In it he contemplates with 
 holy ecstasy God's marvel-building reared of living souls, 
 and growing together unto an holy temple in the Lord, as 
 the historical realisation of " the mystery of Christ." Hand 
 in hand with this goes that to the Colossians, which 
 breathes all the heavenly joy of a cross-honoured confessor. 
 With prominent lustre shines in it the word of Christ, as 
 the all-sufficient treasure of His Church. Most earnestly 
 does the Apostle exhort " the saints and faithful brethren 
 in Christ," in firm faith and pure doctrine to " hold the 
 Head, and to cling unwaveringly to Him, in whom dwell- 
 eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," bewaring of all 
 deceit and beguiling of their reward by any dreamy, self- 
 
THE PEISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 95 
 
 chosen, or affected spirituality. In liis Philippian epistle, 
 Paul's heart leaps for joy, and cannot be sad : a dozen 
 times and more the words ''joy" and "rejoice" occur in it. 
 The Philippian Church — this pearl of his first-love (remem- 
 ber Acts xvi.) — remained his jewel through life. He 
 cheerfully accepted their " ministering unto his necessities," 
 and they were also privileged to " communicate with his 
 affliction" even at Eome. "To abide in the flesh," and 
 continue with them for their ''furtherance and joy of 
 faith," struggled in him with the desire " to depart and be 
 with Christ," the sole gain of his life, and the fountain of 
 all his joy, whereout to drink righteousness and peace 
 l)ecame daily more precious to his soul. With "great joy" 
 also he writes to Philemon. All the grace and loveliness 
 of a manly soul breathes its rich perfume through this 
 little letter of " Paul the aged," who in his bonds plays 
 merrily on words, beseeching Philemon to place to his 
 account, as partner, aught Onesimus, once servant, now 
 a brother, might be indebted to their joint- firm of love. 
 Finally the " Hebrews" saluted by the " Gentile " churches. 
 ("They of Italy salute you," Heb. xiii. 24.) For though 
 we can hardly aUow Paul himself to be the author of this 
 epistle, (chap. ii. 3 ;) — the word of salvation " was confirmed 
 unto us by them that heard him," already forbids this ; — 
 yet that the Holy Ghost, as He was in Paul, inspired it, is 
 sure enough, and that Luke is the author commissioned 
 and counselled by the Apostle, w^e may deem very pro- 
 bable.* As the Apostle saw the day of ''judgment and 
 
 * In this view I cannot concur. Taking the Apostle to speak in the 
 name of the Hebrews, as undoubtedly he does in Heb. ii. 3, (cf. v. 1,) 
 every difficulty (which the author feels) of reconciling this passage Avith 
 Gal. i. 12, falls of course to the ground; and by "them that heard him" 
 are evidently meant their late teachers, principally James, the Lord's 
 brother, who had " spoken unto them the word of God," (Heb. xiii. 7.) 
 But we certainly have the strongest correlative evidence for Paul, and 
 
96 ST PAUL. 
 
 fiery indignation" impend over Jerusalem, (Heb. x. 25-27,) 
 his affectionate heart was stirred by love to his never for- 
 gotten Hebrew brethren, to strengthen their shaken confi- 
 dence by his testifying — but no, perhaps they would rather 
 hear it from another than himself — by one of his fellow- 
 helpers testifying to them of the immovable kingdom, 
 and its imperishable blessings, as theirs by inheritance; 
 and by magnifying to them the great High Priest of the 
 heavenly sanctuary, before whose glory the splendour of 
 Zion's superannuated tabernacle fades. 
 
 Through the whole way, in Avhich we have followed the 
 track of Paul's feet, we have seen fulfilled to himself the 
 prayer he offers up with bended knees for the Ephesians, 
 that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would grant them, 
 according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened 
 with might by His Spirit in the inner man, (Eph. iii. 16.) 
 In acting, in speaking and writing, in suffering and in 
 silent rest, all is of one cast throughout — he is as much 
 "every inch a Christian," as he is "every inch a man;" 
 the crown of his heroic character being the offering up of 
 himself to ''please Him who hath chosen him to be a 
 soldier," (2 Tim. ii. 4.) " Christ is aU and in all," (Col. iii. 11,) 
 was his symbolum. To live unto Christ in all things 
 was his glory, and to " present every man perfect in Christ 
 Jesus," the aim of all his life. Does the greatness of this 
 man oppress thee, instead of elevating thee ? Behold, '' by 
 the grace of God I am what I am;" and in exhorting his 
 beloved Philippians, ''Brethren, be followers together of 
 me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an 
 ensamx^le," (Phil. iii. 17;) he expects nothing of his brethren 
 that is beyond the power of the riches of God's grace 
 
 none other, being the author, in the two passages, Heb. x. 34, and xiii. 
 18, 19. They are, in fact, hardly short of conclusive proof, on which his 
 authorship may securely rest. — Tr. 
 
THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 97 
 
 working in them both to will and to do, (Phil. ii. 13.) It 
 shall be done, if we will but tread in the blessed footsteps 
 of Paul's faith. 
 
 " Wouldst thou inherit life with Christ on high ? 
 Then count the cost, and know, 
 That here on earth below 
 Thou needs must suffer with the Lord and die. 
 We reach the gain, to which all else is loss 
 But through the Cross." 
 
 r 
 
VII. 
 THE MAN OF FAITH. 
 
 " We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, T believed, 
 and therefore hare I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak." 
 —2 CoK. iv. 13. 
 
 A MAN Paul was, in the full sense of the word. To what 
 glory (2 Cor. iii. 18) fallen man, created after God's image, 
 may be renewed, is seen in Paul, as hardly in any other. 
 Is spiritual life ruled by the holy triumvirate of these three, 
 — faith, hope, charity? (1 Cor. xiii. 13.) Then Paul became 
 the man he was by the harmonious reign in him of these 
 three fundamental graces. An enemy to all half-hearted- 
 ness, ever thoroughly decided for what attracted his soul, 
 he apprehended Jesus hj faith the moment he was appre- 
 hended of Him by grace, and at once renounced all he had 
 counted gain after the flesh without Christ ; and then, in 
 pressing toward the mark for the prize of his high calling, 
 he forgets all that is behind, reaching forth in living hope 
 unto those things which are before, and has already his 
 '' conversation in heaven, from whence also we look for the 
 Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ; " and unto Him he lived 
 with that devoted love, wherein the Christian's future 
 heavenly likeness of Christ has its present beginning on 
 earth ; and he was a man also in love, heroically sacrificing 
 himself for the good of his brethren. — Faith, hope, love, 
 these three, in their threefold oneness, stood continually 
 before the eyes of his mind, (Eph. i. 15, 18 ; Phil. i. 9, &c. ; 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 99 
 
 Col. i. 4, 23 ; 1 Tliess. i. 3, v. 8 ; 2 Thess. i. 3 ; Tit. i. 1, 
 &c.; Heb. vi. 10, &c., x. 22-24) But to see the cliarm of 
 them in their combined loveliness, read the whole of his 
 Epistle to the Philippians. 
 
 We may doubtless reckon upon universal consent in 
 designating Paul as " the man of faith." But against the 
 merit some attach to him, when they extol his faith, Paul, 
 "the servant of Jesus Christ," protests with all his might. 
 They vainly imagine a Paul that will patronise their " lib- 
 erty of conscience," and the acting " in good faith " accord- 
 ing to their conviction ; and they absolutely will not see 
 that as regards the much-loved liberty, according to which 
 every one is to be saved '' after his own fashion," it haply 
 might be sought with heathen Gallio, but is utterly rejected 
 by the minister and confessor of Jesus Christ. He only 
 prizes — but that highly — man's liberation from the bond- 
 age of sin unto " obedience to the faith," (Acts vi. 7 ; Pom. 
 i. 5, xvi. 26 ;) and this obedience to the faith he prizes not 
 as a human virtue, but as the result of the gracious power of 
 God through '/ the gospel of Christ," (Eom. i. 16.) Faith, in 
 Paul's sense of it, is the Christ-betrothed soul's wedding- 
 ring, the preciousness of which lies not in the holding of 
 it, but in Him that is held by it — viz., in Jesus Christ. 
 ''But we have this treasure in earthen vessels," not in 
 mortal only, but also sinful, bodies, in which flesh and 
 spirit are at continual war, "that the excellency of the 
 power may be of God, and not of us," (2 Cor. iv. 7.) If 
 ever a Christian man could have been tempted to rejoice in 
 his devotion to Christ, as an heroic deed, which might avail 
 aught before God, and deserve His praise, it must have been 
 Paul ; but he allowed the truth of this word to illumine his 
 path. The promise therefore is of faith, that it might be 
 by grace ; to the end it might be sure, (Eom. iv. 16.) To 
 be saved of God by grace, not on account of faith, but 
 
100 ST PAUL. 
 
 througli faith, for Christ's sake, is his unvaried creed. We 
 admire the heroic strength of his faith, after the manner of 
 Abraham's, (Eom. iv. 18, &c.,) but nowise find in it any 
 meritorious cause of his salvation. Otherwise it had been 
 the man Paul who saved himself by virtue of his faith. 
 Let it rather rest thus : Paul's manliness in faith shews 
 itseK in his energetic passiveness to the active grace of 
 God in Christ — operating upon and in him. So then, " all 
 praise is ever God's, while ours is the joy." 
 
 We now resume the thread at the great turning-point of 
 Paul's life, where, in his conversion by the heavenly call, 
 which made him the won of the Lord Jesus, we beheld the 
 first unfolding of the productive seed of Divine grace, — an 
 unfolding which stands complete before us in the Apostle's 
 evangelical preaching. That Paul so preached and wrote, 
 as needs he must, to make his word apostolic, the norm and 
 rule of Christian doctrine, — thereunto he was inspired by 
 the Spirit of God ; and he was in solemn earnest, when he 
 said, " Which things also we speak, not in the words which 
 man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teach- 
 eth," (1 Cor. ii. 13.) Yet did he not speak like a tinkling 
 cymbal giving forth the sound made on it by another, but 
 like a living Christian, whose whole man — body, soul, and 
 spirit — is constantly under the operation of Divine grace 
 by the Spirit of faith. And thus, without prejudice to the 
 doctrine of Inspiration, we abide by this, that the Gospel 
 Paul preaches is the testimony of his own experience. He 
 has seen the crucified and risen Jesus, and He has been re- 
 vealed to him as the Christ, the Son of God. In Him, 
 through faith in His name, he has received — by the mouth 
 of Ananias, and under his baptizing hand — the forgiveness 
 of his sins, salvation, and life. Jesus Christ, therefore, is 
 the sum and substance both of his own faith and of the 
 faith which he preaches. Nothmg he determined to know 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 101 
 
 save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, (1 Cor. ii. 2,) true to 
 the maxim : " Preach one thing, and one thing only — the 
 wisdom of the Cross ! ''' When, therefore, he desires to 
 sum up shortly and well the faith he preaches, he does it 
 in this manner : " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
 the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 
 hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved," 
 (Eom. X. 9.) 
 
 The first knowledge Paul gained from this wisdom of the 
 cross was, that he felt himself a lost and condemned 
 sinner, who in no other way can possibly be saved than 
 simply in that of faith in Christ. For in the light that 
 issues from the Cross, — that is, from Him that hangs 
 upon it, who is both David's Son and Son of God, — 
 he beholds the enmity slain, even the law of command- 
 ments, and peace made through the blood of His cross, 
 (Eph. ii. 14-16 ; Col. i. 20.) The bitterest enmity of the 
 carnal mind against God, (Eom. viii. 7,) centred in that 
 of the Jews against His Christ. '' When Jesus therefore 
 had taken the vinegar. He said. It is finished," (John 
 xix. 31.) The sin of His people, the sin of mankind here 
 exhausted itself upon Him. He clean drank it out of the 
 sponge of vinegar by His saving thirst ; and God's wrath 
 against sinners, by reason of His holiness, is clean done 
 away, and peace made, through the reconciling blood of 
 Jesus Christ, (Eom. v. 9, 10 ; Col. i. 20-22 ;) who has felt 
 and borne to the utmost, even to the bitter point of being 
 forsaken of God, the curse of God's wrath upon sin ; thus 
 doing away — for all that believe in Him — the punishment 
 of sin by bearing it Himself. This is God's atoning mercy 
 through Christ, Paul's glory of faith in Christ, (Eom. v. 11 ; 
 2 Cor. V. 19-21.) Because he had been chief among the per- 
 secutors of Jesus, filling the vinegared sponge with the bit- 
 terness of his enmity, therefore he counted himself the chief 
 
102 ST PAUL. 
 
 of sinners ; but therefore also lie adored the exceeding love 
 of God in Christ, with the overpowering thankfulness of a 
 child of grace : " But God, who is rich in mercy, for His 
 great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were 
 dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ; (by 
 grace ye are saved ;) and hath raised us up together, and 
 made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus ; 
 that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding 
 riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us through 
 Christ Jesus. Tor by grace are ye saved through faith ; 
 and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God: not of 
 works, lest any man should boast," (Eph. ii. 4-9.) 
 
 '' Dead in sins," so the Apostle expresses man's con- 
 dition without Christ ; not sick only, but dead ; not par- 
 tially corrupt, but dead. His doctrine of man's corruption 
 through sin is that of a man who had thoroughly experi- 
 enced that through Adam's fall man's nature has become 
 so wholly corrupt, that " there is no health in us : " though 
 himself had never wallowed in the mire of sin, but rather 
 had from a child looked with detestation upon all heathen 
 abominations. But the nobler, according to human reason, 
 his moral aspirations had been, the more determinedly he 
 had exerted all the strength of his natural will to attain 
 unto the righteousness required by the law, — the more 
 penetrated he was now with the conviction, that " by the 
 works of the law no flesh shall be justified before God," 
 (Eom. iii. 20 ; Gal. ii. 16.) His own bitter experience, 
 which had abundantly proved what carnal Judaism, carried 
 to the utmost stretch, was able to effect, emboldened him 
 to the assertion, that by the law every mouth is stopped, 
 and all the world becomes guilty before God, (Eom. iii. 19.) 
 By manifesting the law to Israel, God lighted up the dying 
 embers of legal light still glimmering in the human heart, 
 (Eom. ii. 15,) and convinced all mankind that the law's 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 103 
 
 " Thou shalt," and " Thou shalt not/' are unable to help 
 man unto life by righteousness. For in the midst of Israel 
 sin abounded to the very killing of God's own Son, and it 
 was so to abound, (Eom. v. 20,) that a despairing Saul 
 might fall into the arms of still more abounding grace, and 
 hence preach to a guilty world the redemption we have in 
 Christ's blood. God's light having shined into his own 
 Pharisaic darkness, (2 Cor. iv. 6,) Paul's righteousness 
 by faith shines bright everywhere in the light of its an- 
 tithesis to that by the law. The benefit of this lies in its 
 pedagogic discipline, which he, the true Israelite, concedes 
 to all nations. Two fundamental tones betoken the voice 
 of this — if we may so say — Universal Apostle. The one 
 is — There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, as 
 regards their bondage under sin, (Eom. iii. 9,) in which all 
 have been dead, and are therefore all alike — Jews as 
 Gentiles — ''by nature the children of wrath," (Eph. ii. 
 1-3;) and the other is — There is no difference between 
 Jews and Gentiles in their obtaining God's grace, (Eom. x. 
 12 ;) for all that are partakers of Abraham's faith are the 
 children of promise, and are made righteous and heirs of 
 eternal life, solely through faith in Jesus Christ, (Eom. iv. 
 11; Gal. iii. 28.) As all the world is guilty before God, 
 so it is also reconciled unto Him ; for '' God was in Christ 
 reconciling the world unto Himself," (2 Cor. v. 19.) The 
 priestly-central position of Israel for all tribes on earth 
 had been the highest pride of youthful Saul ; but it was 
 only when the scales feU from his Pharisaic- eyes that 
 Paul understood Israel's glory : Christ, who is over all, 
 God blessed for ever, as concerning the flesh, cometh of 
 Israel, (Eom. ix. 5 ;) being found in fashion as a man. He 
 humbled Himself, and was made under the law, (Phil. ii. 
 8 ; Gal. iv. 4 ;) that the blessing of Abraham might come 
 on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, (Gal. iii. 14.) In- 
 
104 ST PAUL. 
 
 stead of law's partition-wall between Jew and Gentile, 
 which He broke down, He now reared Israel's enlarged 
 gospel-tent, lengthening her cords and strengthening her 
 stakes all over the earth, HimseK standing between God 
 and all mankind, the all-sufficient propitiation through 
 faith in His blood, (Eom. iii. 25.) Or " is he the God of 
 the Jews only ? " Paul asks his Hebrew brethren, " Is he 
 not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also," 
 (Eom. iii. 29.) Through One upon all — this is the 
 Apostle's spirited and cogent argument in the fifth of Eo- 
 mans. His faith was truly catholic : All-prevailing sin, 
 all-prevailing grace; all-reigning death, aU-reigning life; 
 all -crushing condemnation, aU- establishing justification. 
 This was the fountain whence he drew his strength. " I 
 believe, and therefore do I speak." He believed with all 
 his heart that Christ's word, "It is finished," dropped 
 peace on all mankind. As of one blood — Adam's — he 
 saw all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth ; 
 so through one blood — Christ's — he saw all mankind re- 
 conciled. Of the loss of all in Adam he was sure, but — 
 thanks be to God ! — as sure of the gain of aU in Christ, the 
 Chief and Leader of a new mankind. " For as in Adam aU 
 die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," (1 Cor. 
 XV. 22.) 
 
 All that are in Christ by faith. Paul must have robbed 
 the inmost sanctuary of his Christian heart, had he sup- 
 posed Faith to be a deed, or even the joint-deed, of man's 
 " free will." The man lying in the dust before the gates 
 of Damascus would have given him the He. To say that 
 God's grace draws that in man, which is akin to Him, and 
 that He rewards man's good-will in proportion to its yield- 
 ing to such drawing, is a fable told to whitewash nature. 
 Paul knows nothing of it ; but only of undeserved mercy 
 shewn to him, that is, of such mercy that has no ground 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 105 
 
 save in itself. We feel how he gives his own flesh a death- 
 blow every time that he strips man of all claim to self- 
 esteem and merit before God. By faith in Christ he 
 understood the history of man's redemption, from first to 
 last, to be one of supremely free grace. Sure as he was 
 that, while in unbelief, though of Israel, he was not heir 
 to Israel's promise ; so sure he was also that the promises 
 of God's word to the true Israel remained steadfast, in spite 
 of the whole mass of unbelief in Israel after the flesh. He 
 calls prophets and patriarchs to witness the ever and anon 
 manifested principle of salvation, according to which those 
 are saved in whose hearts the grace of the CaUer effects 
 the purpose of the Chooser to the obtaining of mercy by 
 receiving Faith. " I wilL have mercy on whom I will have 
 mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have 
 compassion." This word spoken to Moses is precious to 
 Paul ; for it shews Him who is " gracious and merciful " to 
 be Himself the sole cause of His grace and mercy, to the 
 exclusion of all and every merit of man's co-operation. 
 Yea, the Apostle boldly proceeds to the very sharpest point 
 of Scripture-proof: ''Therefore hath He mercy on whom 
 He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth;'* 
 and shews by the example of Pharaoh, that even the un- 
 believer's wicked will is powerless against God ; but being 
 hardened by resisting God's good- will, is brought to serve 
 the irresistible will of his Maker. How much more, then, 
 will God's gracious and merciful will save believers, inde- 
 pendent of all preventive doing on the part of man, yea, 
 unmixed with any self-acting of the human will ! " So 
 then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, 
 but of God that sheweth mercy." Fearless of man's reason- 
 ing : " "Why doth He yet find fault ; for who hath resisted 
 His will?" the Apostle reposes with all believers in 
 the bosom of the Triune-God's eternal '' love," " where- 
 
106 ST PAUL. 
 
 with," foreknowing, forechoosing, and foreordaining, '* He 
 hatli loved" Abraham's race in Abraham's seed, and 
 Adam's race in the second Adam, — the Son of man, — who 
 hath given Himself to become the Author of man's salva- 
 tion. In Him, — the Lord Jesus, — as in the open book of 
 life, Paul read his own and his brethren's names, (Phil. iv. 
 3,) written before the foundation of the world, (Eph. i. 4 ;) 
 and to be chosen in Him the Beloved, according to God's 
 eternal purpose of love — this was the firm rock of his faith, 
 which no deluge could shake, (Eom. viii. 28, &c.) But 
 could an objection like the following escape the thinking 
 Paul ? If salvation is not of him that willeth, nor of him 
 that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy, there can be 
 but these two alternatives : Either God will have mercy 
 on all, and work in their hearts faith to receive His grace ; 
 and then all men must finally be saved, by reason of His 
 irresistible will ; or God wiU have mercy only on some, on 
 others not; works therefore faith in some, and hardens 
 others in unbelief, according to the absolute will of His 
 choice ; and then Christ is not the Mediator and Eedeemer 
 of all ; and God is not all light and love, but there is dark- 
 ness and unlove in Him ? Surely Paul needed no one to 
 usher up such syllogisms to his mind, as he wrote Eom. ix. 
 But bold and fearless as he is in pondering over the re- 
 vealed ways and judgments of God, he is no less so in sub- 
 duing, yea, in crushing his own reason, where it seeks to 
 darken and unsettle Christ, — God in Christ, — as revealed 
 to us in His Word and work. Predestination to him is a 
 Divine mystery full of comfort and assurance to faith. But 
 both the system of the would-be wise, who desire to make 
 God the slave of His own decrees, and degrade man to a 
 machine in the world's great workshop, and the sinister 
 artfulness of the work-proud, who, by their "necessary 
 consequences " from it, seek to lead that apostolic doctrine 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 107 
 
 to an absurd result, Paul, the man of faith, crushes in 
 one blow, by saying, '' We bring into captivity every 
 thought to the obedience of Christ," (2 Cor. x. 5.) He can 
 bear not to know the solution of these mysteries ; in man 
 the ability not to will, with the inability to will ; and in 
 God the will that all men shall be saved, with the will 
 that "he that believeth not shall be damned." He can 
 rejoice and praise God, who in mercy hath fastened in 
 his life " a nail in a sure place," to which he knows him- 
 self securely fixed, according to God's eternal purpose of 
 his choice in Christ ; and he checks every forward thought 
 of a twofold, coeternal purpose in God foredetermining 
 the lot of each individual, either to the right hand or left. 
 Instead of speculating, he adores, (Eom. xi. 33-36.) 
 
 Paul knows the All-merciful to be the righteous Judge, 
 (2 Tim. iv. 8.) Drawn before His judgment-seat, and 
 witnessed against by His accusing law, he has heard the 
 sentence, " Thou art guilty of death ; " but he has also 
 seen the Surety, "who has blotted out the handwriting 
 against him, and nailed it to the cross," (Col. ii. 14.) With 
 him justification and the forgiveness of sin are essentially 
 one, (Rom. iv. 6-8,) and mercy's full reprieve is sure to 
 him, because it is the righteous Judge, who pronounces the 
 sentence of grace. " We are," he writes in that cardinal 
 passage of the Eomans, ''justified freely by His grace, 
 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God 
 hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His 
 blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of 
 sins that are past; to declare, I say, at this time His 
 righteousness ; that He might be just, and the justifier of 
 him which believeth in Jesus," (Rom. iii. 24-26.) " Sin 
 could not unrevenged remain. Its sentence had been long 
 declared, And executed it must one day be Here on this 
 wicked earth. What sin was, and what loner it had de- 
 
108 ST PAUL. 
 
 served, God would bear witness ; and in man's redemption 
 He broke His silence, shewing wrath severe." These lines 
 of Freylinghausen exactly hit Paul's meaning. That our 
 God is a consuming fire, (Heb. xii. 29,) was by no means 
 stripped off his creed, as an antiquated Jewish notion, but 
 was only rightly understood by him in the light of CJirist's 
 cross. Therefore he has nothing to do with the effeminate 
 or light-minded, who fancy themselves free from God's 
 wrath, and call the dreams of their imagination faith. The 
 rock, whereon his faith was founded, is Christ and His 
 blood ; and the righteousness by faith, wherein he boldly 
 appeared before God, is purely and entirely a gift of grace 
 (Eom. V. 17) purchased by Christ's obedience and satis- 
 faction. Here, in the matter of justification, he has learnt 
 what faith is — viz., the heart's mouth opened by Divine 
 grace to receive into it Jesus Christ, and all the treasures 
 of His merits purchased for us by His blood. Imputed, 
 and therefore complete, is the righteousness faith has in 
 Him, (Eom. iv. 3, &c. ; Phil. iii. 9.) Not unto us, but unto 
 Christ in our stead, hath God imputed our sins, (2 Cor. v. 
 19-21,) and hath condemned sin in the flesh of His own 
 Son, (Eom. viii. 3,) in order that both righteously and 
 graciously He might, by a gospel- declaration, impute us 
 Christ's righteousness. Luther's precious word "alone" 
 in Eom. iii. 28, though it does not stand there in Greek 
 letters, yet stands clear and bright in Paul's heart : By faith 
 alone. All works of the law, be they "preventing" or 
 " accompanying ; " yea, and all of the soul's renewed will, 
 be they " co-operating " or " following," — in short, all works 
 Paul will have utterly excluded from the gracious act of 
 the sinner's justification. The " gift of righteousness " is 
 to be by faith alone. Each and every addition of work to 
 faith is a poison to faith. Grace the giver, faith the re- 
 ceiver : this is Paul's mind and doctrine. Grace will reign 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 109 
 
 supreme, or not at all ; will be received by faith alone, or 
 remain at a distance. The light of the Sun of Grace is so 
 delicate, so pure and transparent, that it can bear no mix- 
 ture with the slightest glare of a strange fire ; yea, the re- 
 flection even of her own brightness ('' faith of itself gives 
 forth the shine,") she will not bear being mixed with her- 
 self, where the shadeless brightness and spotless purity is 
 concerned, in which the sinner is to stand righteous before 
 God, (Eom. xi. 6.) 
 
 " The prison we were sitting in, gnawing our hearts with 
 sorrow clean, is burst in twain, and we are free ! " (cf. Ps. 
 cxxiv. 7.) Such rejoicing of grace's freed children Paul 
 taught us, when by faith he had broken through the prison 
 of sin and the law into the open liberty of the Gospel. 
 Very aptly does the church, on "Lsetare" Sunday, read 
 the word : " So then, brethren, we are not children of the 
 bondwoman, but of the free," (Gal. iv. 31.) St Paul is in- 
 exhaustible in his praise of the liberty of the righteous by 
 faith, the substance of which he pronounces to be — free- 
 dom from the law. And a dearly-purchased freedom this 
 is. For to be freed from its durance by Divine right, we 
 had to get our divorce from it by death ; and this has been 
 accomplished in a twofold way : The husband to whom 
 we were bound, even the law, was killed when its condem- 
 natory sting was broken in the broken body of the flesh 
 of our blessed Saviour, and by reason of this we also, who 
 are of the faith of Jesus, have become dead unto the law, 
 to live unto another — viz., to Him who is raised from the 
 dead, (Rom. vii. 1, &c.; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.) "Through the 
 law I am dead to the law " — thus rejoices the living Paul, 
 (Gal. ii. 19.) As " crucified with Christ " he is dead 
 through the law, because the law's curse has been borne 
 and discharged by Him, who " hanged on a tree," (Gal. iii. 
 13;) and dead ^o the law, because its condemnation hav- 
 
110 ST PAUL. 
 
 ing been exhausted upon Christ, those who are baptized 
 into His death are thereby freed from the law, and live by- 
 faith in Christ, and unto Him, (Eom. vi. 3-11.) "The 
 law is not made for a righteous man," (1 Tim. i. 9.) But 
 Paul's liberty from ''the yoke of bondage," (Gal. v. 1,) is 
 not all told by saying that it is the freedom from law's 
 curse and constraint. It is both this ; for from its curse 
 we are redeemed by Christ's all-sufficient satisfaction for 
 us, and from its constraint we are delivered by Christ's 
 Spirit in us, w^ho frees our will, and causes us to " delight 
 in the law of God after the inward mai>." But it is more 
 still. We are freed also from " the law of commandments 
 contained in ordinances," (Eph. ii. 15.) Through its being 
 inscribed by the Spirit into the hearts of believers, they 
 obey God, not by constraint of the obligatory letter, but 
 by that of the spirit of liberty, (2 Cor. iii. 17,) as His chil- 
 dren, (Gal. iv. 5, 6.) In striking contrast with the " spirit 
 of bondage," Paul views the " Spirit of adoption," (Eom. 
 viii. 15.) Now we shall understand the holy wrath, 
 wherewith this manly Paul faces the false brethren, who 
 want to bring again under the yoke of bondage the free- 
 men of Jesus Christ, (Gal. ii. 4, 5.) The truth of the Gos- 
 pel remains with them only, who through faith ''stand 
 fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." 
 
 " What then ? shall we sin, because we are not under 
 the law, but under grace ? " (Eom. vi. 15.) Eight well 
 did Paul know this question. His old man — Saul the 
 Pharisee — must doubtless often have stoutly equipped 
 himself with it against the doctrine of the Nazarene. But 
 what Paul's graceful disciple, Augustine, thus expresses : 
 " Servitium Domini summa libertas," — the Lord's service 
 is the highest liberty, — is spoken after the very heart of 
 his great teacher. Emphatically the Apostle calls himself 
 the servant of Jesus Christ ; and the servants of righteous- 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. Ill 
 
 ness are those over whom sin can reign no more, because 
 they are not under the law, but under grace. The being 
 kept under the law, (Gal. iii. 23,) certainly leads to the 
 knowledge of sin, yea, and to the ever-increasing strength 
 of its hard-felt sway, but never to a breach with it and its 
 power. Terribly kill the law can, but never raise the 
 dead to life. It can pour into the heart of man neither 
 the love of good it commands, nor the hate to evil it en- 
 joins. But what the Law cannot do Grace can do. With 
 an indignant " God forbid ! " Paul scorns away the ques- 
 tion, "Shall we sin?" and shews to his brethren how 
 faith makes God's children to be the servants of righteous- 
 ness unto holiness. Right solidly he speaks in calling all 
 that are freed from the law of sin the bondsmen of right- 
 eousness. And as to faith alone he attributes the grace of 
 justification, so also with equal decidedness does he ascribe 
 to it the works of true righteousness in the spiritual life 
 of those that are justified by it. " Yea, we establish the 
 law," (Eom. iii. 31,) says the preacher of faith. It could 
 not establish itself, but it is established through faith — in 
 those that walk after the rule : " We will fear and love 
 God, that we may keep His commandments;" in the ser- 
 vants of righteousness — who experience Christ to be the 
 end of the law also in this sense, " that the righteousness 
 of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit," (Rom. viii. 4.) Paul's own life 
 is the best refutation of the foolish assertion, that his doc- 
 trine tends to Antinomianism. Behold ! what a life was that 
 of which he says : " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
 me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by 
 the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Him- 
 self for me," (Gal. ii. 20.) '' Brethren, be followers together 
 of me ; " thus he dared to exhort his Philippians, (Phil. iii. 
 17,) whom he wished to be " filled with the fruits of right- 
 
112 ST PAUL. 
 
 eousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and 
 praise of God," (PhiL i. 11.) 
 
 And whereby does grace accomplish the work, which in 
 Paul stands so prominently before our eyes? Whereby 
 did this Apostle of Jesus Christ bring to the congregation 
 of saints world-intoxicated Corinthians, Satan-bound Ephe- 
 sians, and frivolous Eomans ? As he had himself received 
 salvation, so he communicated it. Not all indeed are 
 apostles, therefore he refers no one to revelations direct 
 from heaven ; but all are sinners, like him, and redeemed 
 like him, and in the same way in which he himself became 
 partaker of Christ — viz., by the preaching of the Word and 
 administering of the Sacrament all shall be saved through 
 faith. " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word 
 of God," (Eom. x. 17.) The word of God is pervaded by 
 the Spirit of God, and filled with " the power of God unto 
 salvation ; " whether through oral preaching it first reach 
 the comprehending sense, or first seize by sacramental sign 
 the bodily senses — that the voice, this the kiss, so to speak, 
 of the Spirit. Everywhere the Apostle fastens the Chris- 
 tian's consolation of faith and vigour of life to the creating 
 and preserving word of God's Spirit, which both audibly 
 and visibly, in voice and sacrament, is dispensed in the 
 Church of Christ. Eeconciliation, word of reconciliation 
 and ministry of reconciliation, (2 Cor. v. 18, &c. ;) faith and 
 baptism, (Eph. iv. 5; Gal. iii. 26, 27;) washing of regene- 
 ration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, (Tit. iii. 5 ;) the 
 hearing of faith and receiving of the Spirit, (Gal. iii. 2 ;) all 
 these he joins intimately together, and in that beautiful 
 passage, where he makes the faith of righteousness speak 
 Moses' words, which in her mouth become evangelical, 
 he especially adores Christ's reachable nearness to faith, 
 as being present in the Word, (Eom. x. 6, &c.) God 
 the Holy Ghost he sees personally at work in sanctifying 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 113 
 
 believers, (2 Cor. iii. 17, 18,) and to His witness lie ascribes 
 the assurance of our adoption as God's children, (Rom. viii. 
 16.) But not from the store of his " Christian conscious- 
 ness," or such like subjectivities, did Paul take the witness 
 of the Holy Ghost, but from the Gospel spoken through the 
 ear into his heart, in the name of Jesus : '' Thy sins are for- 
 given thee." This absolution came to him, and comes to 
 all that are baptized into Christ's death (Eom. vi. 3, &c.) 
 through the service of the Church, to which the exalted 
 Christ in heaven has committed the means of grace, 
 and the office, by preaching and administering of the sacra- 
 ments, to communicate the Holy Ghost,* " who daily and 
 richly forgiveth mine and all believers' sins ; and, by this 
 very forgiveness, beareth witness with my spirit that I am 
 God's child and heir." Do I receive such witness by faith? 
 I am "sealed," (Eph. i. 13 ;) or, as Luther says, ''my ex- 
 perience agreeth with the preached word." Paul lived after 
 the order given by the Lord to him, — " Arise, and go into 
 the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do," 
 (Acts ix. 6,)-:— and has taught all men there to look for the 
 grace of Jesus Christ, where He has put the memorial of 
 His name ; as it is written, " How beautiful are the feet of 
 them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tid- 
 ings of good things," (Rom. x. 15.) 
 
 Paul's faith is grounded on God's Word : '' So then faith 
 Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," 
 (Rom. X. 17.) The Word of God which he had heard in the 
 Lord's voice from heaven, and through the witness of His 
 Church on earth, he found again in the voice and testimony 
 
 * I trust it will meet the author's sense, if we modify this expression by 
 saying-, " The Holy Ghost is pleased to communicate Himself (ordinarily) 
 through these means; " for so we find it ever where the apostles theimelves 
 were the dispensers of them, (Acts x. 4, xix. 6.) Only Christ could say, 
 " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and " Thy sins be forgiven thee.'' — Tk. 
 
 H 
 
114 ST PAUL. 
 
 of the same Spirit in Scripture ; and richly did his preach- 
 ing, as his hearing, come by the Word of God. Because he 
 knew and understood the Church of Christ to be the un- 
 veiled Israel, the Church's King and Head to be the pro- 
 mised son of David, and the crucified and risen Eedeemer 
 to be the real mercy-seat and true Paschal Lamb ; therefore 
 he could testify before Agrippa that he " witnessed to both 
 small and great, saying none other things than those which 
 the prophets and Moses did say should come," (Acts xxvi. 
 22.) " According to the Scriptures '' — herewith he seals his 
 delivery of the heaven-received Gospel, (1 Cor. xv. 3, &c.) 
 Who knows not that Paul, in searching the Scriptures, is 
 a very pearl-fisher, a true digger after hidden treasures ? 
 He found, and he has delivered to us, the key to all the 
 Scriptures. Luther draws attention to the fact, that in the 
 very Epistle (that to the Eomans) which is addressed to a 
 congregation gathered mainly from the Gentiles, the pro- 
 phetic word, from beginning to end, runs provingly parallel 
 to the apostolic : " Therefore it seemeth as if St Paul in this 
 epistle had wanted for once to compose a manual of the 
 whole Christian and evangelic doctrine, and an introduc- 
 tion into the whole Old Testament. Por doubtless he who 
 hath this epistle well in his heart, hath in it also the light 
 and power of the Old Testament." The theme and main 
 topic of this epistle he confirms with Habakkuk's prophecy, 
 ''The just shall live by faith," (Eev. i. 17,) from which he 
 unfolds all the Gospel's richest treasures. By Abraham's 
 example he illustrates the righteousness of faith as given 
 by imputation, (Eom. iv. ;) and the sacred window in the 
 evangelical edifice, through which we look into the mystery 
 of predestination, he frames round about with the prophetic 
 word, (Eom. ix.-xi.;) nor when treating of the ''new com- 
 mandment" of love does he think that he can do it better, 
 or speak of it more according to the Spirit, than by addu- 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 115 
 
 cing a prophetic word, (Eom. xii. 19, 20.) He puts Christ 
 before us, as our example in patience, by quoting a word 
 from the Psalms, (Ps. Ixix. 9 ; Eom. xv. 3,) and then adds, 
 (ver. 4,) "For whatsoever things were written aforetime 
 were written for our learning; that we, through patience and 
 comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Yea, truly 
 saturated with " comfort of the Scriptures" is his faith ; for 
 so he understood them — after the veil was taken from his 
 eyes — that their end and fulfilment is Jesus Christ. Does 
 he view in the light of Holy Writ God's judgments and way 
 of salvation, past, present, and future? (as in Acts xiii., and 
 1 Cor. X. ;) or gather God's accusations against sinners from 
 the law and its expounders, the prophets? (as in Eom. iii. ;) 
 or bind bundles of evangelical comfort out of several 
 prophetic passages together? (as in Eom. xi. 26, &c. ; and 1 
 Cor. XV. 54, 55 ; and especially 2 Cor. vi. 16-18.) Always 
 we see him regard Scripture with reverence, as a sacred 
 whole that cannot be broken, (John x. 35,) and seize it as 
 the sword of the Spirit, (Eph. vi. 17.) "And he doth so," 
 says Luther, " after the manner of his own rich spirit, by 
 smelting a number of passages in one heap, and moulding 
 a text from it, such as bears the sense of the whole Scrip- 
 ture." The " perpetual statute " * of every word that ever 
 proceeded from the mouth of God he found laid up in 
 store — that is to say, raised and promoted from prediction 
 to fulfilment, unclad of its earthly tabernacle, advanced to 
 heavenly substance, (Heb. viii. 5,) securely preserved in 
 Christ. Thus the Apostle of the Gentiles put them in pos- 
 session of Israel's advantage in possessing ''the oracles of 
 
 * A rather abstruse sentence this. I should think the author must mean 
 that the Apostle looked upon every word of God, though apparently hui ap- 
 plying to a gone-by or going-by time, as abiding the same for ever, while 
 undergoing the different phases from prediction to fulfilment, from shadow 
 to substance ; all being fulfilled and come to substance in Christ. — Te. 
 
116 ST PAUL. 
 
 God,"* (Rom. iii. 1, 2.) To the unbelieving Jews the Bible 
 has become a sealed book, (Acts xiii. 27.) In Christ it is 
 opened, and speaks in His Church. " God speaketh in His 
 sanctuary, thereof I am glad," (Ps. cviii. 7, Luther's transl.) 
 The Scripture " saith." And the disciples of the apostolic 
 word gladly sit down with Timothy at the feet of Moses 
 and the prophets, in order to test the truth of Paul's boast 
 of the Scriptures, " Continue thou in the things which thou 
 hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom 
 thou hast learned them ; and that from a child thou hast 
 known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee 
 wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit- 
 able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, 
 throughly furnished unto all good works," (2 Tim. iii. 
 
 14-17.) 
 
 But it is in the centre of his Epistle to the Eomans that 
 we see to perfection the picture of " the man of faith," in 
 his lament in the 7th and in his triumph in the 8th chap- 
 ter. Dead to sin, freed from the law, a servant to right- 
 eousness, devoted to God's service in newness of the Spirit, 
 made alive from the dead — does all this mean that the re- 
 newed Christian is sinless, no more carnal, but completely 
 spiritual, affected by the law no more than the angels that 
 do God's will in heaven, and touched by death no more 
 than the spirits of the just made perfect, who have done 
 with death and all below ? Ah ! did it mean this, and had 
 
 * As Jewish scribe already Saul had become familiar with the Hebrew 
 original of the Old Testament. Yet St Paul generally makes use of the 
 official Greek translation, (Septuagint^) because it suited the Gentiles, and 
 had recourse to the Hebrew text only where it was needful or useful. The 
 wisdom of a father, not the interest of a scholastic, guided the interpreter 
 of Scripture. 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 117 
 
 Paul deemed himself such a saint, then he were not the 
 man of faith he is, and his picture were frightful like a 
 spectre. But our evangelical Saint is comforting and edi- 
 fying to behold by his fellow-sinners and fellow-saints, to 
 whom there is no condemnation, because they are in Christ 
 Jesus by faith. 
 
 He that exhorts his brethren to follow him in the way 
 of holiness would not* have them ignorant that faith in the 
 forgiveness of sin was, and ever would be, his sole comfort, 
 not only in regard to his past life without Christ, but also 
 in his present with and in Him. He had put on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ; and being sanctified by the gracious act of 
 justification and regeneration, he was "led of the Spirit," 
 and no longer "under the law," (Gal. v. 18.) Having be- 
 come conformable and, as it were, akin to the law of the 
 Spirit, he now found in himself, what in his unregenerate 
 state he had never found, that he had a " delight in the law 
 of God after the inward man," and could now look upon it 
 with a clear, unevil eye. That ''the statutes of the Lord 
 are right " he had learnt from his youth, but that " they con- 
 vert the soul and rejoice the heart," (Ps. xix. 7, 8,) he only 
 learnt to know in Christ ; and therefore felt constrained to 
 defend the law, as holy, just, and good, against the miscon- 
 ception of his evangelical doctrine and teaching, as though 
 the law were the cause of man's corruption, which it only 
 brings to light. Yet he would have spoken untruth, if by 
 the expressions ''it slew me," " and I died," he had meant 
 to represent the deadly effects of the law, as once for all 
 completed in his past experience. Therewith he would 
 have shut himself out from the experience of all his breth- 
 ren, who, though become dead to both, still feel the law, as 
 stiU they feel sin, and cry " Woe 1" under it. But, on the 
 contrary, he says, " We know that the law is spiritual, but 
 I am carnal, sold under sin." For this ''but I" we will 
 
118 ST PAUL. 
 
 kiss Paul's hand. The same trials and temptations, against 
 which other Christian men lie in the field, — ''I 'gainst 
 myself in deadly combat lie/' — passed over tliis greatly 
 honoured servant of Christ. He whose faitli we desire to 
 follow strengthens our soul by the spiritual gift of his open 
 confession, that as renewed Christian the conflict between 
 flesh and spirit was still his daily experience. The smart 
 of the killing letter therefore was not obsolete, and the use 
 of the law, as working knowledge of sin, no antiquated 
 thing with him. The preacher of liberty from the law 
 never was, nor could be, an Antinomian, because he was 
 far from the anti- scriptural notion of having no more sin. 
 What in Gal. v. 17 he thus expresses, "The flesh lusteth 
 against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and 
 these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot 
 do the things that ye would," is the same confession he 
 makes in Eom. vii. Only by daily conflict did he pass to 
 daily victory ; and his sigh under the deep smart of sin and 
 death — " Oh, wretched man that I am 1 who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death ? " — was as much the expres- 
 sion of his present experience, as the triumph of faith by 
 which it is followed, " I thank God through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." To his great comfort he knew that it was the 
 Lord Jesus who would judge him, (1 Cor. iv. 3-5 ;) for even 
 where he might be unconscious of wrong, (" I know nothing 
 by myself,") he could not deem himself justified, because 
 he had to distrust the sentence of his own conscience, as 
 biased by the flesh. Yet not only for his '' secret faults " 
 did he need Christ's daily free forgiveness, but he declares, 
 " I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good 
 thing : for to will is present with me, but how to perform 
 that which I would I find not." Thus speaks the man to 
 whose holy life we look up with reverent marvel. He does 
 not say that once there dwelt no good thing in his flesh ; 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 119 
 
 nor does lie mean to say tliat, irrespective of renewing grace, 
 there dwelt no good in liim. He does not reserve the 
 thought, that now indeed he was doing something good be- 
 fore God, but that this had not groMai on the soil of his 
 old, but of his new inner man, and was therefore the work 
 of his lenewed nature by grace. 'No ; of his own concrete 
 " I " he speaks, who has to acknowledge the flesh as his 
 flesh, arid the whole inheritance from Adam as his inherit- 
 ance. Of this his sinful flesh, wherein neither ever dwelt, 
 nor now dwells, any good thing, he declares that it hinders 
 him — the renewed Christian — in the performance of the 
 good whieh he " would " do. So as with ardent desire he 
 sought to do it, so as it must be done to render man right- 
 eous befoie God, from pure delight in obedience, ever dis- 
 posed to do God's will, and yet never inclined to seek 
 himself ii so doing — in short, as Christ the Just One did 
 that whidi is good : so Paul never did any one out of 
 his many ^ood works. So soon as the slightest thought of 
 self-satis faction over any done work rose in his mind, 
 though dijguised to indiscernibleness by heartfelt thanks 
 to God foi his given strength, lo ! the commandment would 
 stand at tie door, and say, "Thou shalt not covet;" and 
 thus agair all was over with his life by the law. '' In great 
 things it lufficeth to will them," and most of all in that 
 which is tie greatest thing — viz., holiness. But Paul's cer- 
 tainly wai no feeble, impotent willing that which is good, 
 after ihe manner of "good resolves," which ever and anon 
 the Itw exacts even from unbelievers. No ; his life bears 
 othe] witness ! Yet the saint who saw the crown of right- 
 eousiess laid up for his martyred head falls low at the feet 
 of tie righteous Judge, and confesses that by the law giving 
 life )nly to its fulfillers he ought to be condemned to death, 
 butseizes upon the faithful saying, worthy of all accepta- 
 tioi, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, 
 
120 ST PAUL. 
 
 " of whom I am chief" — not was, but " a?7i," (1 Tim. i. 15.) 
 Paul submitted, though not without a groan, to the 
 wretched lot of a never-ceasing, but ever-harassing, war 
 against sin, which — as a robber and rebel against the new 
 man in Clirist — continued to dwell in his flesh. To break 
 the iron ''law " of contradiction between willing and doing 
 by keeping under his body, in which he certainly was no 
 weakling, (1 Cor. ix. 27,) or to purchase a truce vith sin 
 by any ''voluntary humility," this he never deemed the 
 work of a Christian man. The law of God which le loved, 
 and the law of sin which he hated — the echoing " Yes " of 
 the inner man to the law in his mind, and Sattn's other 
 law in his members, that brought him into captivity to the 
 law of sin — this feeling of unceasing discord within him 
 made him exclaim, " Oh, wretched man that I am ! who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " But he 
 went on with " cleansing himself from all lilthiiEss of the 
 flesh and spirit," with "bringing his body into stbjection," 
 with "crucifying the flesh with the afl'ections kid lusts," 
 with " yielding his members as instruments of pghteous- 
 ness unto God;'' in fine, with "perfecting holiiiess in the 
 fear of God," (2 Cor. vii. 1.) Moreover, he dsa^ experi- 
 enced that he needed such "going on," as one who had 
 not already attained, neither was already perfectj (Phil. iii. 
 12;) and that, because the "law" in his memWrs went 
 on with warring and bringing into captivity to pe hated 
 service of sin. "So then, with the mind I myself serve 
 the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of sin." ^here 
 the willing service of joy and liberty, here the compui^ory 
 service of a hated villanage. 
 
 But, imprisoned as yet he was in the body of this dtith, 
 Paul could sing of deliverance by faith : "I thank ti^od 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." In one breath he grimes 
 and joys ; but the Christian joy got the mastery over the 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 121 
 
 Christian sorrow, because the spirit triumphed over the 
 flesh. Being found by faith in Christ, and having pardon 
 and acceptance, life and righteousness, conferred by Him, 
 he knows himself free from condemnation, under which 
 unbelievers are held by the law of sin and death. By the 
 indwelling of the Spirit of Christ he knows himself con- 
 queror ; in His strength he can renounce the sensual law 
 in his flesh, and become heartily subject to the spiritual 
 law of God ; to his mortal body, also, he knows that resur- 
 rection and life are secured in Christ. Here, in Eom. viii., 
 he changes his mournful ''I" into a joyful "We" and 
 '' You." The Christian's woe of sin he has taken on him- 
 self; who dares to plead exemption? The Christian's 
 glory he awards to all his brethren in Christ. Finally, 
 after having described the work of the Holy Spirit in be- 
 lievers, and His first-fruits in their hearts, the Spirit's guid- 
 ance and witness, His adoption and glorious liberty. His 
 expectant hope and comfort under all sufferings of this 
 present time, ending in that song of triumph, the very 
 kernel of the Gospel-nut, " In all these things we are 
 more than conquerors;" he boldly throws the gauntlet of 
 faith at the feet of all powers in heaven and earth, as 
 impotent to separate him from Christ ; and with the fullest 
 assurance of final salvation, wherein he was kept to the 
 end, (2 Tim. i. 12,) he exclaims, " I am persuaded, that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
 us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." Because he believed, therefore he spoke. His 
 triumphant joy, and the ground of his " more than con- 
 queror's" assurance was Christ, and Christ alone. Upon 
 " God that cannot lie" he knew himself thrown for the 
 hope of eternal life, (Tit. i. 2.) " God is faithful" was his 
 
122 ST PAUL. 
 
 i motto for himself and his hrethren, with whom he was 
 called unto the fellowship of the Son of God, Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, (1 Cor. i. 9 ; 1 Thess. v. 24.) Because he lived 
 through grace by faith in Christ, and ever continued in 
 holy dread lest he should trespass against the operation of 
 the Spirit by applying fragments of His workmanship to 
 the building up again of a legal righteousness, (Gal. ii. 
 16-21 ;) therefore he could be so sure of his salvation, and 
 free of all doubt to be " without blame before God in love," 
 being "accepted in the Beloved," (Eph. i. 3-7.) Down- 
 wards and upwards led his Christian path : down into the 
 deep, where the penitential psalms — these songs, not of 
 the wicked, but of the pious — are experienced ; up to the 
 height, where the psalms of joy — the songs not of angels, 
 but of the just, living by faith — resound. Blessed be " the 
 man of faith," who strengthens his brethren, where he 
 mourns in the deep, where he joys in the height ! 
 
 " In my heart," says Luther, " reigns and shall reign this 
 one article alone : faith in my dear Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who of all my spiritual and godly thoughts, that ever day 
 or night I may have, is the one only beginning, middle, 
 and end. And yet I find, that of the breadth, and length, 
 and depth, and height of this unbounded, incomprehens- 
 ible, and infinite wisdom, I scarcely reach a very weak 
 and mean beginning, and can hardly bring to light a few 
 small crumbs out of this richest and all-precious mine of 
 gold." Therefore Scripture has given Hope as a com- 
 panion of Faith, stretching forth her eye to that which is 
 perfect and to come, (1 Cor. xiii. 10.) 
 
 ** Paul's rock of faith was Christ alone, 
 
 A trusty shield and weapon, 
 
 Who helps us from His heav'nly throne 
 
 'Gainst ev'ry ill may happen. 
 
 That old malicious foe 
 
 Intends us deadly woe, 
 
THE MAN OF FAITH. 123 
 
 Arm'd with the strength of hell. 
 And deepest craft as well ; 
 On earth is not his equal. 
 
 ' Of our own strength we nothing can. 
 
 Straight were we lost for ever ; 
 But for us fights the Son of man, 
 By God sent to deliver. 
 Ask ye who this may be ? 
 Christ Jesus named is He, 
 Of Sabaoth the Lord, 
 Sole God to be adored; 
 'Tis He must win the battle." 
 
VIII. 
 
 THE MAN OF HOPE. 
 
 "And for an helmet, the hope of salvation." — 1 Thess, v. 8. 
 
 Like a warrior decorated with his helmet, which shields 
 his head from the stroke of his adversary, so Paul stands 
 there clad in rich attire, and "rejoicing in hope of the 
 glory of God," (Eom. v. 2,) by which he is armed against 
 every *'no," wherewith Satan defies ''the armies of the 
 living God," and wherewith things visible and temporal 
 ever seek to oppose the Christian, or to withdraw him 
 from the promises of God. Luther used to call the hope 
 of faith "man's brave heart," and compares the indis- 
 soluble pair to the two cherubim upon the mercy-seat. 
 *' We are saved by hope," (Eom. viii. 24,) that is, by faith 
 in hope. Tlie salvation we have in Christ we can taste 
 and enjoy on earth only in hope. As in faith, so in hope, 
 Paul "warred a good warfare." Pdght fitly he is es- 
 cutcheoned with the sword. 
 
 As his preaching and life of faith, so his joy and rejoic- 
 ing in hope is the bright reflex of his heavenly call, a 
 green branch out of the root of experienced grace. Visibly 
 did the glory of " the second man, the Lord from heaven," 
 (1 Cor. XV. 47,) " shine round about him." But as on the 
 mount of Olives, when the Lord, " while they beheld," w^as 
 taken up to heaven, and received by a cloud out of their 
 sight, the disciples saw no other light henceforth than that 
 of His word, illuminated by the angel's message, (Acts 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 125 
 
 i. 9-11 ;) so did Paul, over his baptism in the house of 
 Judas at Damascus, see no other light than that of Christ's 
 word spoken to him by the mouth of Ananias. Thus he 
 was prepared to testify that Jesus Christ, sitting on God's 
 right hand, and ''hid in God," (Col. iii. 1-4,) manifests 
 Himself on earth to faith in His word and sacrament, that 
 Hope, with the eyes of Simeon, beholding his Saviour 
 through the babe's swaddling-clothes, might, through the 
 imveiled veils of the visible means of grace, stretch forth 
 her keen eye unto the heirship of eternal life, (Tit. iii. 7.) 
 As his blessed Saviour, "the Lord of glory," (1 Cor. ii. 8,) 
 had suffered Himself to be persecuted in His poor saints 
 by Saul, so Paul was prepared for a life of tribulation ; 
 but as his heavenly Master, "for the joy that was set 
 before Him, endured the cross," (Heb. xii. 2,) so Paul, in 
 hope's anticipation of future bliss with Christ, " reckoned 
 the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be 
 compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us," 
 (Eom. viii. 18.) On the other hand, his confession was, 
 " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all 
 men most miserable," (1 Cor. xv. 19.) Israel's King has 
 " endured the cross, and is exalted to His heavenly throne, 
 our great High Priest has completed the sacrifice of Him- 
 self," and has entered into His heavenly sanctuary ; Israel's 
 Prophet has " preached the kingdom of heaven," and now 
 makes Himself heard through His Spirit in the Church 
 of the Spirit. Hence Paul was constrained to bear witness 
 of Israel's hope of glory, as already fulfilled in CMst, and 
 which, on the day of His glorious appearing, will be ac- 
 complished also in His believing people ; while the fleshly, 
 exanimate Israel is stiU pursuing the phantom of her fore- 
 shadowed glory. (This is the sum and substance of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. *) " Crucified through weakness," 
 
 * See note, p. 95.— Tr. 
 
126 ST PAUL. 
 
 — viz., " in the likeness of sinful flesh," — Christ now ever 
 "liveth by the power of God," (2 Cor. xiii. 4.) Therefore 
 Paul set all things that "might have been gain" on 
 "knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection, and 
 the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable 
 unto His death ; if by any means he might attain unto the 
 resurrection of the dead," (Phil. iii. 10, 11.) "As sorrow- 
 ful " in the world and in the flesh, " yet always rejoicing," 
 (2 Cor. vi. 10,) because "rejoicing in hope;" this is the 
 Christian's calling and enviable lot, (Eom. xii. 12.) 
 
 "Jesus Christ is our hope," he writes to Timothy, (1 
 Tim. i. 1,) and before the Colossians he unfolds the heavenly 
 "riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;" 
 and then, gathering all its treasure into a golden nutshell, 
 he extols its incalculable value to them in these words : 
 "which [mystery] is Christ in you, the hope of glory," 
 (Col. i. 27.) Everywhere the Apostle manifests his glad- 
 some confidence that the Church of Christ, though hoping 
 for His glorious reappearing, yet enjoys through all time 
 His gracious presence on earth ; for He has said, " Lo, I 
 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
 Tlierefore he hopes for no future glory which is not pledged 
 and sealed to believers by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in 
 them. ''Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 
 (2 Cor. iii. 17.) Thus we are freed from the bondage of 
 corruption, while looking for the glorious liberty of the 
 children of God ; and having the " first-fruits of the Spirit," 
 we wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
 body, (Eom. viii. 21, 23,) a confession of hope both humble 
 and bold. No less than St John is Paul penetrated with 
 the idea of the present reality of eternal life to and in 
 Christ's believing people. The mind of them both is ex- 
 pressed in these words (of A. H. Francke :) — 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 127 
 
 " Farewell, what 's called day and year, 
 Eternity is round me here ; 
 Because I live in Jesus." 
 
 To express what a Christian man has and is in Christ, 
 St Paul is particularly fond of the words "riches/' "per- 
 fection," "fulness." Sevenfold in one sentence he pours 
 forth his praise of the all-sufficient and all-abounding 
 riches of God's grace, (2 Cor. ix. 8.) To be " filled with all 
 the fulness of God," is his prayer for the faithful in Christ 
 Jesus at Ephesus, (2 Cor. iii. 19.) To "present every man 
 perfect in Christ Jesus," thereunto he laboured, striving 
 according to His working, which worked in him mightily, 
 (Col. i. 28, 29.) But as humbly as St John confesses, 
 " Behold, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet 
 appear what we shall be," (1 John iii. 2,) does he feel 
 reconciled to the veiled state of expectant hope, wherein 
 the life and salvation of believers is yet hid ; although as 
 ardent in anticipation he already calls them "the first- 
 fruits of the Spirit." As the first sheaves of the harvest 
 in the holy land were offered to the Lord for a wave-offer- 
 ing in token that the entire harvest was due to Him as a 
 thank-offering ; so we, who are the Israel of the Gospel, 
 go on boldly waving the Spirit's first-fruits to and fro, to 
 all ends of the earth, and up to heaven, when we sing and 
 say, " Here all sins forgiven are." * He that by faith 
 enjoys and confesses this *' good of the land," (Isa. i. 19,) 
 — to wit, of the Christian Church, — possesses in this one 
 royal gift of the Spirit the entire inheritance of promise in 
 hope; and, putting under foot death and the grave, can 
 triumphantly exclaim, "My flesh too shall live again. 
 This life past, there is for me a life throughout eternity. 
 Amen." 
 
 Is Jesus Christ the hope of believers ? then all God's 
 * Lofty ! but dark to me.— Tr. 
 
128 ST PAUL. 
 
 promises in Him are Yea and Amen, — " unto the glory of 
 God by us," adds the Apostle, (2 Cor. i. 20.) " By us "— 
 viz., by the evangelical ministers and witnesses of Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God, (2 Cor. v. 19.) With the advent 
 of Christ and His accomplished work of redemption, and 
 His coming in the Spirit, preaching peace to far and nigh, 
 (Eph. ii. 17,) the last time of the history of salvation has 
 set in, which continues from the day of Pentecost to that 
 of the Lord's coming again in glory. " The ends of the 
 world are come" upon us, (1 Cor. x. 11.) In the last 
 epoch of days (wherewith the last period of time, and 
 heaven's kingdom on earth began) has God "spoken 
 unto us by His Son," (Heb. i. 2,) whom He sent forth, 
 when the fulness of the time was come, (Gal. iv. 4.) Thus 
 the Apostle views the historical progress of God's kingdom 
 in the world, and finds Israel's fundamental hope, that 
 Abraham '' should be the heir of the world," (Eom. iv. 13,) 
 unfolded by the prophetic word, and completely fulfilled 
 in Him who is of Abraham's seed — viz., in the One who 
 is the first-born among many brethren, (Eom. viii. 29 ; Gal. 
 iii. 29.) Living then, as he did, at dawn of the evangelical 
 day, Paul anticipated with joyous hope the approach of 
 noontide, at which the glory of the Son of man would 
 shine into, and illuminate, as by flashes of lightning, the 
 world's midnight darkness. He was glad when a year, and 
 again another, had passed of the Church's time of suffering, 
 which himself helped to shorten by the fiUing-up measure 
 of his own, (Col. i. 24.) Upon the nearly twenty years 
 which lay between his conversion and departure from Co- 
 rinth he looked back, not tired of his labour and sufferings, 
 but with growing joy of the now nearer approached salva- 
 tion, (Eom. xiii. 11.) We must not think that at one time 
 (1 Thess. iv. 15-17) he expected to live till the Lord's re- 
 turn, and that at another (2 Thess. ii.) he had relinquished 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 129 
 
 this hope. He ever felt the last day as so near that he did 
 not put it off to any measured distance, by reckoning years 
 and days which would have to elapse, or events which 
 would have to come to pass, before the end should come. 
 With joyous longing, mixed with holy dread, he was him- 
 self prepared for the Lord's coming ; and also strengthened 
 the expectations of the faithful in what they knew perfectly 
 well — " that the day of the Lord would so come as a thief in 
 the night," (1 Thess. v. 1, &c.) With a ''Maran-atha"— '^ the 
 Lord cometh " — he greets the lukewarm at Corinth, (1 Cor. 
 xvi. 22 ;) and woe to him who should have returned this 
 greeting with a confident " Not yet." A short while after his 
 First Epistle to the Thessalonians, where, " by the word of 
 the Lord," he gives expression to the blessed hope of the 
 dead, by saying that " we which are alive and remain unto 
 the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are 
 asleep" — (mark well, in this he speaks the mind of all 
 Christians that are ''at home in the body," now as well as 
 then, who, beside the graves of their loved ones "■ which are 
 asleep," have to take it for their comfort, until such ''we" 
 be ended in the last-born children of Christ's Church) — 
 shortly after this consolatory epistle, Paul wrote his second 
 to the Thessalonians. He had heard that certain spirituaKsts 
 had subtilised his doctrine of the Lord's advent, and of the 
 gathering of the faithful unto Him, into the saying that 
 " the day of Christ is already at hand," (2 Thess. ii. 2 ;) 
 similarly as afterwards Hymenseus and Philetus converted 
 his doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh into the frivol- 
 ous saying that " the resurrection is past already," (2 Tim. 
 ii. 18.) This (2 Thess. ii. 2) had terrified the young Chris- 
 tians at Thessalonica. Therefore the Apostle comforts them 
 with the assurance that their gathering together unto Christ 
 was but an earnest of the brightness of His coming ; that 
 then the days of their sufferings would be ended. But he 
 
 I 
 
130 ST PAUL. 
 
 reminds them also of what he had told them from the be- 
 mnnmir, that the fall of the unbelieviiify Jews was but the 
 prelude to the falling away in the midst of the Church, 
 which would come when " he who now letteth " and " will 
 let" (tlie authorities ordained by God) should be taken out 
 of the way, and he "who opposeth and exalteth himself 
 above all that is called God " — i.e., antichrist clad in worldly 
 power under spiritual show — should " sit in the temple of 
 God." This " man of sin," the " son of perdition," in whom, 
 as its head, the mystery of iniquity becomes concentrated, 
 will develop itself in opposition to the true Church, whose 
 head is Christ — hardly, therefore, in a single individual, 
 but in a succession of bearers of the antichristian spirit — 
 "whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His 
 mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His 
 coming," (2 Thess. ii. 1-8.) How then ? did the prophetic 
 certainty, that before the day of Christ's coming antichrist 
 must be revealed, hinder Paul from living in such nearness 
 of the last day, that, if it pleased God, he might greet its 
 appearance on this side the grave ? By no means. If so, 
 he would have recalled in the second what he had written 
 in the first epistle. Floating before his hopeful eyes he 
 beheld the call of all nations by the Gospel, (Eom. x. 18,) 
 himself cheerfully running his course as a Gospel minister, 
 " to fulfil the word of God," (Col. i. 25 ;) the net was filling 
 with fishes, and daily he saw the end draw nearer, the 
 preaching of the Gospel for a witness unto all nations, 
 (Matt. xxiv. 14 ; Col. i. 6, 23.) He dared not to measure 
 the days, neither those of the Lord's patience before the 
 day of His wrath, nor those of the Church's suffering before 
 that of her deliverance ; but of this he always was sure, 
 that the hope laid up for believers in heaven (Col. i. 5) suf- 
 fered no delay by unfulfilled prophecies, for either they 
 had received, or were constantly now receiving, their fulfil- 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 131 
 
 ment in the Gospel. Whether antichrist be revealed at 
 Jerusalem, or Eome, or Thessalonica, or any other place, he 
 certainly must be revealed ''in the temple of God," which 
 Paul was building up by the preaching of the Gospel. It 
 was not surely against far-off enemies, but very near pre- 
 sent ones, that he called his brethren to arms, putting on 
 the breastplate of faith, and for an helmet the hope of sal- 
 vation, (1 Thess. V. 8 ; Eph. vi. 10, &c.) 
 
 But must not the fall of the Jewish nation, and their 
 promised final salvation, defer the coming of the Lord in 
 His glory ? Those that make Paul wait for a general con- 
 version of the Jews, in a far distant time, do not in truth 
 comprehend his hope of the last day being near. But 
 Eomans xi. teaches the contrary, if otherwise we under- 
 stand, in some measure, the mystery of the hope of Israel 
 in connexion with the whole apostolic doctrine, and in the 
 light of the prophetic word.* It is in the Gospel Church of 
 Christ, the heiress to Israel's promise, that Paul sees the 
 broken-off branches of the olive-tree strike leaves again 
 and bear fruit. Those of Israel who are not Israel, because 
 forsaking their stem, "the root of Jesse" promised to 
 their fathers, (Isa. i. 1, 10,) they are not partakers of the 
 root and fatness of the good olive-tree — are broken 
 off. But, lo ! their faU. is the riches of the Gentiles ; theii- 
 casting a>vay the reconciling of the world. The graftng in 
 of the wild branches into the good olive tree — the rearing 
 and growth of the Gentile Church — is brought about more 
 speedily than the Apostle had thought, when stiU bent on 
 winning the Jews, in order to prepare them for becoming 
 the missionary nation of the world. N'evertheless, God has 
 
 * We can here find space only to some lines of the picture he has drawn 
 in that chapter. In my " Bible Lessons " on the Romans I have attempted 
 to elucidate more at large the meaning and bearing of that much-disputed 
 question. 
 
132 ST PAUL. 
 
 thoughts of mercy even over the broken-off branches. Was 
 not Paul himself one of them ? and has not God shewed in 
 him that He is indeed able to graff them in again ? Yea, 
 and in raising up this shoot of Benjamin to be a chosen 
 vessel of Christ, the King of Israel, has He not shewn that 
 " His gifts and calling are without repentance ? " For has 
 not this Israelite's calling brought " life from the dead " to 
 the world, which he visited with the word of reconciliation 
 when cast out from Jerusalem? Therefore, it well be- 
 seemed him to hope that the growth ^nd extension of the 
 good olive-tree, planted for the life of the world, would be 
 incalculably promoted by the re-acceptance and re-grafifing 
 into it of his own brethren. Though the fulfilment of this 
 hope remained far behind Paul's ardent wishes, yet did he 
 not therefore mistake the power of God, who, in face of the 
 unbelieving mass, continues His goodness to them that 
 abide not in unbelief; "they shall be graffed in ; for God 
 is able to graff them in again." But this He will do in the 
 order of His grace, which, through the faU of the Jews, the 
 outward historical people of Israel, has taken this turn, 
 that the fallen ones are to be provoked to jealousy by the 
 Gentiles being brought into the salvation of Israel. It is 
 not God's will that they should remain lying on the ground ; 
 therefore He follows them with wonders and signs of His 
 wrath, but a wrath in which He remembers mercy. Into 
 no tree of any other nationality shall the broken-off branches 
 from Israel's own be graffed ; but rather Moses' curse and 
 our Saviour's word, " This generation shall not pass away 
 tiU all be fulfilled," (Luke xxi. 32,) is to bear them distinct 
 from other nations through all generations to the end, in 
 order that their forlorn condition as broken-off branches 
 may constantly remind them of their faithlessness to " the 
 root of Jesse," '^ which shall stand for an ensign of the 
 people," and to which the Gentiles shall seek, (Isa. xi. 1 0.) 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 133 
 
 And so long as the graffing of Gentile branches into the olive- 
 tree of the Gospel Church lasts, so long also the graffing in 
 again of Jewish branches into their own olive-tree shall con- 
 tinue. This is Paul's hope. " Blindness in part is happened 
 to Israel.'' Among the whole mass hardened in unbelief 
 "there is a remnant according to the election of grace," 
 whose graffing in again will fill up the number of the saved, 
 and constitute the fulness of the won ones of Israel. 
 " Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," God will 
 not cease to call and draw the cast-off ''children of the 
 kingdom " by the voice of their national home, that He may 
 woo them back to His people, which He hath not cast off, 
 but hath kept all His promises with them in Christ Jesus, 
 the seed of Abraham. " And so," (Eom. xi. 26,) not other- 
 wise, — not as the Jews, proud of their fleshly descent fancy, 
 — " all Israel shall be saved ;" the fulness of the Gentiles, 
 together with that of the returned Jews ; the entire fulness 
 of the true Israel, all branches found in the olive-tree by 
 faith, as well the new graffed as the old ones graffed in 
 again. Such hope, grounded in the mystery of Christ and 
 His Church, Paul finds confirmed by the prophetic word : 
 *'As it is written, There shall come out of Sion the De- 
 liverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For 
 this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their 
 sins." From two prophetic passages, (Isa. lix. 20, xxviii. 
 9,) and two prophetic psalm words. (Ps. xiv. 7, ex. 2,) the 
 Apostle collects his Scripture proof, that out of the Gospel 
 Church, as Zion's legitimate daughter, the Deliverer comes, 
 arrayed with Gentile sons and daughters, whom He hath 
 washed and sanctified in His blood, to provoke them who 
 " by nature " are Israel, or Jacob, to vie with these in com- 
 ing to the marriage of their liege Lord ; and so aU Israel be 
 saved. God's '' new covenant " in Christ ''with the house 
 of Israel " is : "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember 
 
134 ST PAUL. 
 
 their sins no more," (Jer. xxxi. 31-34;) and the word 
 "Avhen" (Rom. xi. 27) — when I shall take away their sins 
 — does not certainly point to a far distant time, that shall 
 not begin *' until the fulness of the Gentiles be come 
 in :" but rather through the whole time of the New Cove- 
 nant the testament is in force, which was opened, when the 
 seed came, to whom the promise was made, (Gal. iii. 19 ;) 
 and so long, till the Deliverer be come to the last child of 
 the Gentiles, will He also continue to come to Israel after 
 the flesli, which hath wrested the testament of grace by 
 works, that He may '' turn away ungodliness from Jacob." 
 Did not Paul's own experience testify to the fulfilment of 
 this prophetic word ? Therefore his hope for Israel rested 
 on the ground that " the gifts and calling of God are with- 
 out repentance." Out of Zion, built up at Damascus, did 
 the Deliverer come to him, turning away from this son of 
 Jacob, of the tribe of Benjamin, the ungodliness which had 
 shut him out from Israel's glorious hope ; and being washed 
 from his sins by the blood of the everlasting covenant, he 
 staked his life on the admission of the Gentiles into the 
 tents of Zion ; yet not to bring them alone into Jerusalem's 
 prosperity, but also to see the crown of his hope bloom upon 
 the head of Zion's King and His chosen people, and so all 
 Israel be saved. The " lastlings " will be saved no other- 
 wise than the " firstlings." The mystery of the hope of 
 Israel is a mystery of grace and of faith, and like all mys- 
 teries of God *' without controversy great" in the Church. 
 As the progressive development of God's kingdom to 
 the end of time, so likewise the future glory of it presents 
 itself to Paul's hope, as resulting from the grace of which 
 aU believers have become partakers in Jesus Christ. 
 Those that have " the testimony of Christ confirmed " in 
 them "come behind in no gift," but "are enriched by 
 Him" in everything, while "waiting for the coming of 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 135 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ/' (1 Cor. i. 4-7.) Quite in Paul's 
 sense says Augustine, '' Ask no man for it, turn to tliine 
 own heart ; already art thou placed at God's right hand. 
 Do not mind thy glory being hidden; when the Lord 
 Cometh, thou shalt appear with Him in glory. The root 
 liveth, though the branch appear withered ; inwardly, in 
 the living marrow, is already the strength of the leaves 
 and fruit, but they wait for the summer." What in rever- 
 sion is given unto us in Christ Jesus, the Crucified and 
 Eisen again, " God hath revealed unto us by His Spirit," 
 (1 Cor. ii. 9, &c.,) that with enlightened eyes of our un- 
 derstanding we may know what is the hope of His calling, 
 and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the 
 saints, and what is tlie exceeding greatness of His power 
 to us- ward who believe. From the believer's " I am " 
 Christ's by faith, hope draws her " I shall he " glorified 
 with Him. The Christian, in whose heart God hath 
 shined, sees "the light of the glory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ," (2 Cor. iv. 6.) In Him we are '' sealed with 
 the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our 
 inheritance until the redemption of the purchased posses- 
 sion, unto the praise of His glory," (Eph. i. 13, 14.) '' Xow 
 we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face : now 
 I know in part ; but then shall I know, even as also I am 
 known," (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) The heavenly blessings, where- 
 with we are blessed in Christ, we cannot now see but 
 *' through a glass," conveying a reflection of them to us 
 clad in the form of ''human speech," (Eom. vi. 19.) 
 "Darklj^," (more literally, '*in enigmas,") we read of them 
 in God's Word, yet plainly enough, yea, in our present 
 state only thereby clear, that it speaks to us in pictures 
 and signs, wherewith the Holy Ghost represents the incar- 
 nation and humanity of the Son of God. When we shall 
 behold Him, the glorified Son of man, face to face, then 
 
136 ST PAUL. 
 
 shall cease the reflection of His grace and truth in human 
 speech ; which is like a cloud in sunshine, full of light on 
 the other side, yet throwing shade on us below. " Done 
 away" shall be "that which is in part," our present know- 
 ing in part, wherein we possess the truth only by bring- 
 ing into captivity our reason to the obedience of Christ, 
 whereby every enigma of apparent contradiction in Chris- 
 tian doctrine is solved, or rather submitted to by faith, 
 because it has with it the hope of one day beholding, as it 
 were, in a perfect panorama, the harmonious solution of 
 the whole. As we were known of God, when in Christ 
 He drew us to Himself, and received us into the blessed 
 fellowship of His love, so we shall also know Him with 
 the clear eyes of love, when, '' conformed to the image of 
 His Son," (Eom. viii. 29,) we shall stand at His right 
 hand. Here the Holy Ghost, through the word of faith, 
 begets and nourishes the new man, there only he comes to 
 perfection, " unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 of Christ," (Eph. iv. 13.) Eaith makes of children men 
 that are not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine ; 
 but hope points to a manhood compared to which Paul 
 himself was but a lisping child : " Wlien I was a child, I 
 spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a 
 child; but when I became a man, I put away childish 
 things," (1 Cor. xiii. 11.) Together with Christian know- 
 ledge the Christian will also reaches forth to perfection in 
 hope. Paul could do all things through Christ strengthen- 
 ing him, (Phil. iv. 13;) yet could he do so only in hot 
 warfare against the sin in his flesh, which lay encamped 
 between will and deed, and stamped its Adamite seal upon 
 all the thoughts, words, and works of his inner man. 
 Even there, where he shines forth in the perfect righteous- 
 ness of Christ by faith, (Phil. iii. 9,) he also expresses his 
 ardent longing after perfection in the blessed kingdom of 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 137 
 
 his risen Eedeemer, and then continues : " Not as though 
 I had abeady attained, either were already perfect ; but I 
 follow after, if that I may apprehend that, for which also 
 I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Yea, right brotherly 
 he takes his beloved Philippians by the hand, and, putting 
 himself with them in rank and file of the Christian race, 
 he says, "Brethren, I count not myseK to have appre- 
 hended : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things 
 which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things 
 which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of 
 the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," (Phil. iii. 12-14.) 
 "I shall win it, what's the wager?" was the holy 
 challenge of his faith to his hope. In the same way he 
 represents himself to the Corinthians as a holy racer, who 
 stakes all on winning the crown, (1 Cor. ix. 24-27.) Al- 
 together he is very fond of viewing his whole life as a great 
 spiritual warfare, (2 Cor. x. 2-5.) "Enduring hardness, 
 as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," he always lies in the 
 field straining every nerve to gain the prize, which is eter- 
 nal life, purchased by Christ's blood, given out of pure 
 grace to faith, and laid hold of for their honour, glory, and 
 immortality, by those who, by patient continuance in well- 
 doing, seek for such end of their hope, (Eom. ii. 7.) 
 " right the good fight of faith," he exhorts his Timothy, 
 " lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, 
 and hast professed a good profession before many wit- 
 nesses," (1 Tim. vi. 12.) Coupled with his unshaken cer- 
 tainty of salvation is the holy fear of a man in Christ, who 
 cannot earn, but may lose his salvation, and be finally " a 
 castaway," (1 Cor. ix. 27.) "Cast not away your con- 
 fidence," we hear him say to those whose hope, as an 
 Anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, (Heb. vi. 19,) 
 was in danger of being thrown away on earthly things. 
 To escape this danger, and keep it centred in Jesus, who 
 
138 ST PAUL. 
 
 ascended up to heaven, he thus encourages and exhorts 
 them : " Cast not away therefore your confidence, which 
 hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of 
 patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye 
 might receive the promise. For yet a little w^hile, and He 
 that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now, the 
 just shall live by faith : but if any man draw back, my 
 soul shall have no pleasure in him, saith the Lord. But 
 we are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of 
 them that believe to the saving of the soul," (Heb. x. 35- 
 39.) Christ certainly refreshes His faithful followers with 
 joy and peace already in this life, and we have seen Paul's 
 heart abound in Christian joy. Still, every blessing he 
 enjoyed in faith was only a foretaste to him of the heavenly 
 joy his ardent soul anticipated in hope : ''To me to live is 
 Christ, and to die is gain," he writes in that letter of joy 
 and love to the Philippians. "I am in a strait betwixt 
 two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, 
 which is far better," (Phil. i. 21, &c.) The longer he lived 
 in "this tabernacle," the more ardent became his desire 
 "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the 
 Lord," (2 Cor. v. 1-8.) To the Eomans, where he most 
 extols the treasure of a life by faith, he couches his last 
 wishes and blessings in these words : " Now, the God of 
 peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye 
 may abound in hope through the power of the Holy 
 Ghost," (Eom. xv. 13.) Not less firmly and constantly 
 than Peter, whom the Church of old has designated as 
 "the man of hope," does Paul keep his eye fixed on the 
 heavenly inheritance, and on that day in which, at the 
 glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, whom his soul loveth, 
 the believer will rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of 
 glory, (1 Pet. i. 3-9.) 
 
 " Plesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 139 
 
 (1 Cor. XV. 50,) and yet the heirs of the kingdom are men 
 having flesh and blood. Far from depreciating the body, 
 (Col. ii. 23,) which rather he designates as " the temple of 
 the Holy Ghost," (1 Cor. vi.l9,) Paul felt the more grievously 
 its fleshly and death-doomed condition, and therefor^ 
 groaned under its burden, (2 Cor. v. 4.) But he also com- 
 forted himself with the hope he had for his mortal body 
 in Christ's own, the Risen One, whom he had beheld in 
 heavenly glory. " For we are members of His body, of 
 His flesh, and of His bones," (Eph. v. 30,) he says of the 
 Church, which Christ, by His word and sacrament, sancti- 
 fieth, cleanseth, nourisheth, and cherisheth, "that it should 
 be holy and without blemish." He views the Spirit of 
 Christ in believers as an earnest also of the life of their 
 mortal bodies, (Rom. viii. 11,) and therefore waits for the 
 complete adoption, (ib. ver. 23,) when God shall recognise 
 as His dear children the brethren of " the first-born from 
 the dead," (Col. i. 18;) for ''the Saviour of the body," (Eph. 
 V. 23,) the Lord Jesus Christ, " shall change our vile body, 
 that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, 
 according to the working, whereby He is able to subdue 
 all things unto Himself," (Phil. iii. 21.) For redemption, 
 not from, but of the body Paul hopes. His arduous con- 
 flict in the mortal body did indeed extort from him the 
 doleful exclamation : "0 wretched man that I am ! who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " But in 
 the triumphant chapter that follows it the hope breaks 
 forth, that even this mortal body shall also be delivered from 
 the bondage of corruption. " The resurrection of the flesh" 
 was, indeed, an article of most solemn importance with the 
 Apostle. The naked "immortality of the soul" never 
 was any object of his hope. Though death he deemed 
 gain, because to die in the service of Christ, and for His 
 name, was joy and honour to him ; yet it was not to be 
 
140 ST PAUL. 
 
 '* unclotlied," but " clothed upon," that he longed for, 
 (2 Cor. V. 1, &c.) With confident hope he looked for- 
 ward to the dissolution of ''the earthly house of this 
 tabernacle ; " for of the " eternal house " — the future risen 
 body — he could say, "We have a building of God, an 
 house not made with hands," because this ''building" and 
 " house " is pledged to the believer in the body of his 
 risen Head and Saviour in heaven, to whom His members 
 will and must be joined. Yet the monster Death was an 
 object of horror to him; not that he dreaded its terrors, — 
 them he had conquered through faith in Christ's death 
 and victorious rising again, — but he shuddered at the last 
 enemy's ruthless onslaught on Christ's members, clad as 
 they are in their Saviour's righteousness and life. His 
 was that groaning over death to which Jesus was moved 
 on proceeding to Lazarus's grave, (John xi. 33-38.) It 
 was the mournful reflection of the grim tyrant's mur- 
 derous right over man created in God's image, and 
 redeemed through Christ's blood. Fain would he have 
 seen " the last enemy " robbed of his prey. " For in 
 this," he says, " we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed 
 upon with our house which is from heaven. For we that 
 are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened ; not for 
 that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mor- 
 tality might be swallowed up in life," — swallowed up as 
 the sun consumes the fog, — so that in the twinkling of an 
 eye this corruptible may be " changed into incorruptible, 
 and this mortal into immortality," (1 Cor. xv. 51, &c. ; 
 1 Thess. iv. 17.) Yet, if it must be so, Paul also is resigned 
 to pass, through bitter death, from his earthly pilgrimage 
 to his heavenly home with the Lord, where faith shall 
 cease, and hope be lost in sight. " For our light affliction, 
 which is but for a moment," was his challenge just before 
 (2 Cor. iv. 17, 18) to the murderer and destroyer, " worketh 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 141 
 
 for us " — by trying the Christian faith, and putting to test 
 his hope — "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory ; while we look not at the things which are seen, 
 hut at those which are not seen ; for the things which are 
 seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are 
 eternal." The eye of faith, called hope, will be rewarded 
 — in yonder blessed sight — with an eternal weight of glory, 
 for having "looked" at things which are not seen, which 
 is folly to sense and reason, (Heb. xi. 27.) And what 
 makes to us the invisible so incontestably sure, in a world 
 so strangely the opposite to all our hope ? "He that 
 wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath 
 given unto us the earnest of the Spirit," (2 Cor. v. 5.) 
 
 The celebrated chapter, wherein Paul most joyfully 
 confesses his hope of a glorious resurrection, (1 Cor. xv.,) 
 we have abeady adverted to ; but let us have the pleasure 
 of expatiating upon it more fully. By him also, as "the 
 least of the apostles," the risen Saviour hath been seen, 
 and though ''last of all," yet, by the grace of God, he 
 became the foremost in preaching His Gospel. "N'ow, if 
 Christ be preached, that He rose from the dead, how say 
 some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead ?" 
 Who will dare to tear asunder the Head and His members? 
 Those wiseacres who think it folly to believe in a resur- 
 rection of the dead, must also have the courage to deny 
 that Christ rose from the dead. But if Christ be not 
 risen, then all Christian faith is vain, and all evangelical 
 preaching is a worthless thing; then the apostles are "false 
 witnesses," sin is unatoned, " they also which are fallen 
 asleep in Christ are perished," being slain by unconquered 
 death, and those that have been deceived into devoting 
 their life to a dead Christ are worse off than those who 
 have adorned theirs with "elysian flowers," or dwelt in 
 "amaranthine bowers." "But now — blessed now/ — is 
 
142 ST PAUL. 
 
 Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 
 them that slept.'* In the word "first-fruits" lies the 
 Christian's anchor of hope. Paul loves, as we have seen 
 by a glance at Eomans v., to place Adam and Christ in 
 counter-position ; Adam the sad beginner of a mortal race, 
 Christ the triumphant restorer of a new and immortal race. 
 And as there he does it in praise of the universal grace of 
 life, which exults in the universal judgment over death, so 
 also here. The universal defeat of mankind in Adam he 
 sees reversed by the universal victory in Christ. The per- 
 verse talk of a "universal restoration" (apocatastasis,) fain 
 hoped for by some, has, like all erroneous doctrine, laid 
 the esfff of error into the nest of truth. Death's universal 
 reign by Adam's transgression has, indeed, been broken 
 and conquered for all by Christ's victory over it in rising 
 from the dead, and becoming " the first-fruits of them that 
 slept ; " but like " as in Adam all die," because, born of the 
 flesh, they are partakers of Adam's nature, " so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive," because, born of the Spirit, they 
 are made partakers of Christ's grace by faith. These only 
 Paul has here in view, while those who through their 
 unbelief are eliminated from man's redemption, have no 
 share in the blessed resurrection to eternal life described 
 in this chapter. They shall indeed " come forth" also, — 
 for " all that are in their graves shall hear His voice," — 
 but alas ! " unto the resurrection of damnation," and not 
 unto that of eternal bliss, (John v. 28, 29.) It was at this 
 that Pelix trembled. Christ our Head is risen, but in the 
 members no resurrection is yet visible. Nevertheless the 
 Apostle exhorts them that are baptized into Christ's death, 
 and walk in newness of life, to "reckon themselves to be dead 
 indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord," (Eom. vi. 11.) But it costs the total renunciation 
 of self and its natural perception, to reckon ourselves 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 143 
 
 as grown together in the likeness of Christ's resur- 
 rection. Therefore Paul bids the Christian to strengthen 
 his hope by ''looking" at the things which are "not 
 seen," unpuzzled by this sacred oxymoron; and teaches 
 us to apprehend that holy order, " Christ the first-fruits, 
 afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." No 
 sooner than on the glorious day of His coming again shall 
 the entire harvest follow their great First-fruit, in springing 
 up and blooming forth from their graves. Of a "first" 
 and " second " resurrection — that before and this on the 
 last day — Paul knows nothing; so w^e may take the "first 
 resurrection " (Ptev. xx. 5, G) to mean none other than that 
 which faith celebrates over the baptismal grave, (Col. ii. 12 ;) 
 and the thousand years' reign of the confessors of Christ, the 
 reign which Christ's Spirit is exercising through the Gospel 
 over all nations that do homage to Him. By " then cometh 
 the end," Paul does not mean the universal resurrection of 
 the just and unjust, as following that of " the thousand years' 
 reign ;" but he thus explains what he means by ''the end : " 
 "When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, 
 even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule, 
 and all authority and power." This surrender of the 
 finished reign of grace to God the Father will take place 
 when, to the very last of them, (Heb. ii. 14,) the Son of 
 His love shall have put all enemies under Plis feet; and 
 thus the prediction of the Son of Man in the eighth Psalm 
 (cf. Heb. i., ii.) be brought to its fulfilment in the restored 
 reign of mankind through their Eepresentative and "Captain 
 of their salvation." When Christ's word from the cross — 
 " It is finished!" — shall find its re-echo in, " All things are 
 put under His feet," all, with one single exception — viz., 
 Him who did put all things under Him ; then the end 
 shall have come, whereunto from the beginning the whole 
 history of salvation tended ; and " then shall the Son also 
 
144 ST PAUL. 
 
 Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under 
 Him, that God may be all in all." Until this glorious issue 
 Christ our King sways the sceptre of His power in heaven 
 and earth, as the Mediator between God and men, (1 Tim. 
 ii. 5,) in order to free mankind, held bound by Satan, sin, 
 and death, and through the "joyful tidings" of His accom- 
 plished redemption, to lead them back to communion with 
 God. Only when, through His of&ce of grace, God shall 
 have become again all in all, and every antagonistic power 
 shall have been cast out from His kingdom — only then it 
 is that the Son delivers it up to the Father. Yet in doing 
 so He does not give it out of His hand. " Whose kingdom 
 shall have no end," is the confession of His Church, and 
 rightly so. As before the foundation of the world the Son 
 was throned with the Father, equal God in honour and 
 might, so will Jesus Christ throughout eternity sit upon 
 the throne of His glory, to which He will exalt also all the 
 Father hath given Him ; and every tongue shall confess 
 that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the 
 Father, (Phil. ii. 11.) In Him all have now become sub- 
 ject to God the Father; the "First-fruit" of now glorified 
 mankind has drawn all after and to Him ; the eternal Son 
 of God, who is very man, rules from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting, as Head of His Church, reigning with Him, (2 Tim. 
 ii. 12,) and whose reign in Him will be in blessed subjec- 
 tion to God. Such is the goal of the Church ; and she is 
 sure of this glorious goal, because Christ is risen from 
 the dead. Death has become a derision to them who are 
 "baptized over the dead" — the bodies of the blessed 
 martyrs, (or thus : who have insured their dying bodies in 
 baptism unto life,) who do not count their lives dear unto 
 themselves, but live unto Him who died for them and rose 
 again ; who count themselves as sheep for the slaughter, 
 (Eom. viii. 36 ;) who bear about in their bodies the dying 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 145 
 
 of the Lord Jesus, (2 Cor. iv. 10 ;) yea, who die daily, that 
 they may gain for their joy and crown of rejoicing (1 Thess. 
 ii. 19, 20) those that are made alive by their preaching. 
 On whose side will ye be now, Corinthians ? on Paul's? 
 or of those who, denying our Christian hope, are only con- 
 sistent when they say, " Let us eat and drink, for to- 
 morrow we die ?" Whatever their talk may be of " God," 
 it can beguile no sober-minded Christian ; for to whom the 
 resurrection from the dead is naught, their God is naught. 
 With such men Paul will have nothing to do, while he 
 gladly answers the question of timid Christians, ''How 
 are the dead raised up ? and with what body do they come ? " 
 Behold the mystery of resurrection portrayed in the dying 
 and sprouting grain, of the rising body in the manifold • 
 riches of celestial and terrestrial bodies. Should the Al- 
 mighty be at a loss how to form the bodies of the raised? 
 Interpreting by the emblem of the grain, the Apostle says, 
 " So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in cor- 
 ruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dis- 
 honour, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is 
 raised in power ; in fine, it is sown a natural {i.e., in the 
 original — a psychical) body, it is raised a spiritual body." 
 Psychical is the body that is interred, because psyche — the 
 soul — pervading it, holds it together; and, according to 
 Scripture language, animals have this soul in common with 
 man, only that man's soul, since the fall, has become sin- 
 ful, and the souled body " natural " to man, and Liable to 
 death because of sin, (Piom. viii. 10;) but the spirit, which, 
 through the in,dwelling of the Holy Ghost, has become Hfe, 
 will finally pervade again both body and soul with His 
 power, as now the material body is pervaded by the soul. 
 As there is a psychical body, so there is also a spiritual 
 body, which exists, first-fruit-like, in Christ. From the 
 first Adam, as our earthly progenitor, we have the psychical 
 
146 ST PAUL. 
 
 body, whose living soul, through the spirit's fall from God, 
 has become fleshly, animal, mortal; the spiritual body we 
 receive from Christ, " the Lord from heaven," who — as the 
 "last Adam" — ''was made quickening Spirit through His 
 resurrection," and who now — sacramentally and spiritually 
 —engrafts His heavenly life into His people, (John vi. 54, 
 63,) in order to crown His work of love in them by raising, 
 at the last day, their " sown " psychical bodies to living 
 spiritual bodies. In anticipation already of this glorious 
 change, the Apostle says, " As we have borne the image 
 of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the hea- 
 venly ; " that is, with body and soul glorified, we shall be 
 " changed into the same image with Him from glory to glory, 
 even as by the Spirit of the Lord," (2 Cor. iii. 18.) There 
 indeed the Apostle will shine with resplendent glory, yet 
 by the splendour of the same light which shall give perfect 
 bliss also to the meanest of his co-redeemed brethren. 
 Flesh and blood, now corruptible, shaU then incorruptibly 
 belong to the spirits of the just made perfect ; after the 
 same manner as to the Son of God belong His flesh and 
 blood, which now are the Christian's meat and drink. How 
 constantly expectant Paul was of " the last trump," not 
 only when writing to the Thessalonians, (1 Thess. iv. 13, 
 &c.,) but also, when penning this chapter of hope, we see 
 from his repeating here as " a mystery" (ver. 51, &c.) what 
 there he communicated as "the word of the Lord :" "The 
 trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible, and we shall be changed " — viz., we whom the last 
 day meets alive in corruptible bodies. Thus he could say, 
 because the sound of the last trump was near to him in that 
 of the first — viz., the Gospel (John v. 25, 28 ;) while at the 
 same time he was prepared to die. " God hath both raised up 
 the Lord," he writes in this same Epistle (chap. vi. 14,) "and 
 will also raise up us by His own power," (cf. 2 Cor. iv. 14.) 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 147 
 
 Changed from corruptible into incorruptible all men must 
 be, whether it be by being raised, or "clothed upon;" for 
 without this change the ''joint-heirs with Christ" cannot in- 
 herit the kingdom with Him. But this they shall as surely 
 as, through Christ's victory over death and hell, they have 
 the first-fruits of His Spirit; and their complete victory 
 with Him shall finally accomplish the prophetic word, 
 which the Holy Spirit re-echoes in full gospel triumph 
 through Paul, " Death is swallowed up in victory ! " (Isa. 
 XXV. 8.) ''0 death, where is thy sting ? grave, where is 
 thy victory?" (Hos. xiii. 14.) 
 
 One thing yet remains to complete the picture of the 
 man of hope. In the Christian's earthly that shall be- 
 come heavenly, after the similitude of Christ's glorified 
 body, the Apostle finds a pledge of the whole creation be- 
 coming glorified. In that song of songs of his, (Eom. viii.,) 
 which we heard the man of faith sing, his hope also raises 
 her voice to the highest pitch. The mockers of our Chris- 
 tian hope, the persecutors of a flock whose Head is in 
 heaven, are walking the way of the children of Cain, and, 
 looking only on the things which are seen, regale them- 
 selves with the pleasures of this world, finding both their 
 honour and delight in them. There now comes Paul forth 
 with quite a new kind of joy, to the comfort of all his 
 companions in tribulation. The very creature, idolised by 
 the ungodly, and applied by them for the adorning {k6<=;- 
 fjLo^) of their cheerless wretchedness, the Apostle gives to 
 the poor Christian, who yet is the expectant heir of glory, 
 as a companion of his suffering and hope, by "drawing," 
 as Luther expresses it, " the holy cross through every 
 creature, and making heaven and earth, and all things 
 therein, suffer with us." But he also looks forward with 
 delight to the day of their redemption — the day when all 
 created beings, now our joint-prisoners in mortal body, 
 
148 ST PAUL. 
 
 shall also lay aside their menial garb, worn as by bondmen, 
 and be clad in festive holiday attire. 'Tor the earnest 
 expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of 
 the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to 
 vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath sub- 
 jected the same in hope ; because the creature itself also 
 shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that 
 the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together 
 until now," (Eom. viii. 19-22.) It is said by Jewish 
 Eabbis in praise of Saul's teacher, Gamaliel, that he was 
 not versed only in their holy writings and heathen litera- 
 ture, but that also he understood the language of creation. 
 Paul, however, was initiated into its mysterious import by 
 another teacher. We have heard him speak at Lystra 
 (Acts xiv. 15-17) and Athens (Acts xvii. 24, &c.) of the 
 rich blessings distributed with kindly hand by the benefi- 
 cent Creator and patient Preserver of all things ; and he 
 leaves the Gentiles without excuse if they perceive not 
 His power and goodness manifested in His creation, (Eom. 
 i. 19, 20.) From his native province, Cilicia, with all its 
 fruitful plains on the foot of ''Taurus," and its jessamine 
 and oleander shrubs on the banks of the " Cydnus," on- 
 ward to the charming regions of Campania, he has listened 
 to land and sea. The hills about Jerusalem and the 
 flower-studded brooks of the Holy Land, the cedars of 
 Lebanon and the majestic palm of Syria, the olive groves 
 of Attica and the evergreen pines of Corinth, the motley 
 group of isles in the Greek Archipelago and the sunny 
 splendour of their vine-covered hills — all the sublime 
 beauties and lovely grace of nature found in Paul an 
 attentive and fond observer. But he heard heaven and 
 earth tell of something else than do poets and natural 
 philosophers, when they listen to " the tales of the wood." 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 149 
 
 Yea, better than his honoured teacher Gamaliel could do 
 it, did the holy prophets lead him to view nature, after 
 their light had dawned on him in the person of Christ. 
 He now understood the 8th Psalm, because he knew man 
 as the fallen, but in Christ restored, lord " over the works 
 of God's hand." In the man made of earth, the creature 
 had her share in the honour of the Divine image. When 
 man's spirit was darkened by Satan's, and his psychical 
 body became a prey to death, the living light of creation 
 expired, the tie between the visible and invisible world 
 was rent, every creature was "made subject to vanity," 
 and yielded passively to the will of its Creator, though 
 groaning and travailing in pain under the bondage of 
 "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," 
 (Heb. ii. 14,) "the prince of the power of the air," (Eph. 
 ii. 2.) Its perishing condition the creature would not 
 bemoan, w^ere it still permitted to offer itself up for the 
 preservation and gladness of man, as he was in paradise, 
 created in God's image. But that, as companion in tri- 
 bulation with God's suffering children, it has to endure 
 violence and injustice from the ungrateful and wicked, 
 that it is ill-treated and tormented by "unjust stewards," 
 and the countless idolaters who pervert the truth of the 
 creature's hope into the lie of their hope in the creature ; 
 thereat "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
 pain until now." "Subject to vanity" Paul styles the 
 great tragedy of the creature's present woful existence. 
 Even the service which it gladly yields to man — to the 
 vineyard's grateful dresser and the flock's pious shepherd 
 (1 Cor. ix. 7) — is embittered, because it serves corruption : 
 '' Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats ; but God 
 shall destroy both it and them," (1 Cor. vi. ] 3.) That '' all 
 is to perish with the using " is the bitter by-taste of death 
 it has received from man's death. "In hope" was the 
 
150 ST PAUL. 
 
 sound in Paul's Christian ear when hearkening to the 
 plaintive melodies pervading all nature. The green trees 
 of the forest are sad that they have to serve idolaters, and 
 they stretch forth their tops in expectation of the days 
 when they shall " clap their hands " for joy over the glory 
 of God's children, (Isa. Iv. 12.) The sea reluctantly bears 
 ships with idolatrous signs devoted to Mammon's service, 
 and would fain foam forth her music to the last advent. 
 The whole earth pants under the load of the daily count- 
 less acts of injustice and violence committed on her sur- 
 face, and longs after her change into an "habitation of 
 righteousness." The sun feels impatient to shine down 
 from year to year upon the misdeeds of the wicked. Oh 
 that it might soon lose its shine, after the manner in which 
 it grew pale at Damascus before the heavenly brightness 
 of the Lord ! Yea, heaven and earth, both partakers in 
 Zion's captivity, tarry for their redemption, like the weary- 
 labourer for the approach of his holiday. But the glorious 
 end of their tarrying is pledged also in Christ, " the first- 
 born of every creature," (Col. i. 15.) As much as "the 
 second Man, the Lord from heaven," under whose feet God 
 hath put all things, is "worthy of higher honour" than 
 '' the first man, of the earth," so much more gloriously also 
 will the creature be adorned, when in the " regeneration" 
 (Matt. xix. 28) it shall stand forth a joyful participator in 
 the final redemption of God's children, in their glorious 
 freedom from Satan, sin, and death, itself freed also from 
 the yoke of corruptible bondage, no longer '' unwillingly," 
 but again willingly to serve, in new wise, its legitimate 
 lords. (Cf. Matt. xxvi. 29.) Then the plaintive sym- 
 phonies of creation's groans shall have an end, and be 
 swallowed up in the redeemed's endless hymns of "ho- 
 sannah" sung to God. Paul understood the speechless 
 aspirations of creation under the creature's groaning an- 
 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 161 
 
 guish, (''we know" is his expression,) for lie found them 
 re-echoed in God's children, who themselves also are made 
 to groan in their mortal bodies, for whose redemption they 
 are waiting : " And not only they, but ourselves also, 
 which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves 
 groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, 
 the redemption of the body." 
 
 Is there anything greater than the hope that Paul had 
 in Christ Jesus ? " And now abideth faith, hope, charity, 
 these three ; but the greatest of these is charity!' In the 
 light of the epiphany of glory, which in the followers of 
 Christ already manifests itself here on earth, and which 
 shall never cease, let us now view Paul in the next 
 chapter. « 
 
 " Zion hears the watchmen singing, 
 And all her heart for joy is springing; 
 She wakes, she rises from her gloom, 
 For her Lord comes down all-glorious. 
 Is strong in grace, in truth victorious ; 
 Her star is risen, her light is come ! 
 Ah, come, Thou blessed One, 
 God's own beloved Son. 
 Hallelujah ! 
 We follow, till the halls we see. 
 Where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee." 
 
IX. 
 THE MAN OF LOVE. 
 
 "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." — 1 Cor. xi. 1. 
 
 Love is life in others, life of Me in Thee. In Christ was 
 manifested bodily the love that dwells in God, and the 
 disciple whom Jesus loved drank it in at the breast of the 
 Son of man. Pectus facit theologum, 'tis the heart makes 
 the divine. St John the divine's sentence is, " Every one 
 that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that 
 loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love," (1 John iv. 
 7, 8.) That " the same anointing " teacheth the Christian 
 all things, (1 John ii. 27,) we may see also in Paul, made 
 by the grace of Christ's Spirit '' the man of love." Where 
 he extols love, it is at times as if one heard even St John 
 speak. And yet we find here also the man again who 
 once laboured and wearied himself under the law, but has 
 now, in Christ, learned to rejoice in the fulfilment of the 
 law. Having apprehended the righteousness by faith in 
 opposition to that by works, and Christian hope in oppo- 
 sition to that of carnal Judaism, and being thus forced 
 from the bondage of the law, he counts love to be " the 
 law of Christ," (Gal. vi. 2 ;) and in the very place where 
 he declares that to them that are without law, himself had 
 become as without law, he feels constrained to insert, 
 " Being not without law to God, but under the law of 
 Christ," (1 Cor. ix. 21.) All that rich admonition, wherein 
 he presents himself to his brethren as a free evangelical 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 153 
 
 Christian, whose love makes him the servant of all, he 
 closes with the sentence we have taken for the heading of 
 this chapter, " Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of 
 Christ." 
 
 In Christ Jesus his Lord he has met with '' truth " per- 
 sonified, (Eph. iv. 21,) the form of which he found in the 
 law, (Eom. ii. 20.) That Christ be formed in his "little 
 children," as in himself, thereunto he laboured like one 
 "travailing in birth," (Gal. iv. 19;) and this forming of 
 Christ in them is perfected in love. He stirs up the " love 
 of the Spirit " (Eom xv. 30) in the brethren that have the 
 " Spirit of Christ," and therefore are His, (Eom. viii. 9 ;) 
 the fellowship of the Spirit is shewn in likemindedness, 
 " having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind," 
 (Phil. ii. 1, 2.) To the young Christians at Thessalonica, 
 whom he cherished, "even as a nurse her children," (1 Thess. 
 ii. 7,) he found it not needful to write of "brotherly love," 
 themselves being "taught of God to love one another," 
 (1 Thess. iv. 9 ;) for where " faith groweth," there " charity 
 aboundeth," (2 Thess. i. 3.) To them who, according to the 
 riches of God's glory, are strengthened with might by His 
 Spirit in the inner man, it is given to have Christ- dwelling 
 in their hearts by faith, whereby they are "rooted and 
 grounded in love ; " that they may be able to comprehend 
 with all saints the all-abounding "love of Christ, which pass- 
 eth knowledge," that they may be filled with all the fulness of 
 God, (Eph. iii. 16, 19.) Knowledge without love is naught ; 
 but being " knit together in love," Christians will attain 
 " unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding," 
 and of the mystery of Christ, " in whom are hid aU the 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (CoL ii. 2, 3.) To 
 the " foolish Galatians," who, in their legalising, were 
 hewing out for themselves " broken cisterns, that can hold 
 no water," (Jer. ii. 13,) and whose love therefore was 
 
154 ST PAUL. 
 
 pining away, he exclaims, " Christ is become of no effect 
 unto you ; whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye 
 are fallen from grace. For we through .the Spirit wait for 
 the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ 
 neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; 
 but faith which worketh by love," (Gal. v. 4, 6.) Thus 
 also "we establish the law through faith," (Eom. iii. 31;) 
 because faith, having received Christ by grace, lives by 
 and in His love, which is "the fulfilling of the law." 
 What Moses' law is claim-wise, Christ's gospel is gift- wise, 
 viz., the impress of God's holy love ; and it is out of the 
 gospel ("by the mercies of God," Eom. xii. 1) that the 
 Apostle draws the courage to exhort his flocks, '* Be ye 
 therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in 
 love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself 
 for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sw^eet-smelling 
 savour," (Eph. v. 1, 2.) '' Put on therefore, as the elect 
 of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
 humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing 
 one another, and forgiving one another ; if any man have a 
 quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do 
 ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is 
 the bond of perfectness," (Col. iii. 12, 14.) In the admoni- 
 tory part of his Epistle to the Eomans love assumes her 
 highest height. Having attired the saints with the double 
 necklace of ''brotherly love" (the holy o-to/37?;, relation- 
 love) and " love to enemies," (chap, xii.,) and exhorted the 
 " heavenly citizens " by well-doing to prove themselves 
 good and conscientious subjects unto the powers that be, 
 he shews them how richly they possess everything need- 
 ful to prove before the Gentiles, by their honest walk 
 among them, " as in the day," that the gospel-day had in- 
 deed set in ; and, summing up all in one, he says, " Owe no 
 man anything, but to love one another ; for he that loveth 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 155 
 
 another hath fulfilled the law," (chap. xiii. 8.) Everywhere 
 does the '' debtor " both to the Greeks and Barbarians 
 (chap. i. 14) shew himself an example of that love, wherein 
 one owes himself to other. His whole life is one continued 
 payment of the debt of love to which the Lord Jesus 
 bound him, when He forgave him all his debt ; and 
 because love never ceases, we see in him what Augustine 
 says of love's paying and yet remaining in debt : " Love 
 giveth in paying debts, yet, after giving, always remaineth 
 'herself in debt. Time never will be that she is not 
 paying ; nor doth she ever lose, but rather multiplieth her- 
 self in giving." If it could be said of any man that (in this 
 sense) he paid all he owes, it was Paul, who ever continued 
 in the payment of love's unceasing debt, (Heb. xiii. 1 ;) for 
 the unanimous claim, the sum and substance of all com- 
 mandments, is. Thou shalt love. Quite at one with St Jolin, 
 Paul beholds the manifestation of the love of God in 
 brotherly love, (1 John iv. 21,) and gives to this the prize 
 of law's fulfilment, (Eom. xiii. 8.) How had he been so 
 blind aforetime, when fancying to himself that the law 
 could make of him a man of love ? But now, without its 
 aid and co-operation, the law found itself fulfilled in the 
 servant and follower of Jesus Christ. The complete ful- 
 filler of all righteousness required by the law is Christ for 
 us, and Christ's Spirit in us. Love, which is its fulfilling, 
 (Eom. xiii. 10,) is ever growing, therefore never perfect in us, 
 but is well-pleasing and acceptable unto God in Christ our 
 intercessor and advocate. 
 
 The apostolic declaration, that '' he that loveth another 
 hath fulfilled the law," has a twofold import. First, love 
 is that deed required by the law, in which all other deeds 
 required by it are contained and summed up. * " For this," 
 he immediately continues, "thou shalt not commit adultery, 
 thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear 
 
156 ST PAUL. 
 
 false witness, thou shalt not covet; and if there be any 
 other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this 
 saying, namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 
 Therein, then, consists the Christian's freedom from the 
 law, that neitlier is he driven to any work of the law, 
 through which he has still to become righteous before God, 
 nor is he bound to any but the "new commandment," 
 (John xiii. 34,) which he readily and gladly fulfils — and 
 wherein he accurately hits the eternal sense of all law's 
 commandments — by the spirit of love. Luther, according 
 to the sense given him of Paul's gospel, says, " Thus, then, 
 this commandment of love ' is a short commandment, and 
 yet a long one; it is but one, and yet many; none, and yet 
 all ; one, and short in itself, and soon understood, but long 
 and many in practice, for it comprehends and rules all; 
 it is no commandment in respect to works, for it names 
 none as its own in particular, and yet it contains all, be- 
 cause all are, and must be, its own. Thus the command- 
 ment of love annuls all others, and yet establishes them 
 all ; and that for this reason, and to this end, that we may 
 learn and know to keep and to esteem no commandment or 
 work other than is required and bidden by love." Where, 
 for instance, the Apostle charges husbands and wives with 
 their duty one toward another, what else does he but en- 
 large on the commandment of love ? "I think also that I 
 have the Spirit of God," he ventures to say, (1 Cor. vii. 40.) 
 But the Spirit of God is love. " Love worketh no ill to 
 his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 
 " Have love," saith Augustine, in one mind with Paul, 
 " and do what thou wilt." But more still. For Paul also 
 calls love the '' fulfilling," or filling up, of the law, because 
 it fills up its empty form with real substance ; so that the 
 manifold riches contained in each commandment are made 
 apparent. Works conformable to law, without love, are but 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 157 
 
 empty nutshells. Yea, works tlie most splendid, such as 
 bestowing all one's goods to feed the poor, and even acts of 
 martyrdom — the giving one's body to be burnt — Paul de- 
 clares to be without profit if they lack the moving prin- 
 ciple, which alone gives and can give them reality, and 
 heart, and soul — viz., love, (1 Cor. xiii. 3.) Out of the seed 
 of Christ's Spirit love grows into, and puts life into, every 
 form and kind of fruit, which God has delineated in His 
 commandments, all commandments of love ; and this is the 
 evangelical use of the law, as taught by Paul, that the 
 Christian in his walk of love be led by the light of God's 
 commandments, as by the reins of the spiritual law, by 
 which the law of the Spirit (or of Christ, or of faith) with 
 mild and yet lordly hand guides the children of the Spirit. 
 How finely does the Apostle understand how to draw forth 
 the sense of love from under the veil even of outward or- 
 dinances! " It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt 
 not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. 
 Does God take care for oxen? or saith He it altogether for 
 our sakes ?" (1 Cor. ix. 9, 10.) 
 
 What Christian heart can help being touched, when, on 
 Palm-Sunday, the Epistle is read of the humiliation and 
 exaltation of our blessed Saviour — an Epistle, the mys- 
 terious doctrine of which Paul introduces in these words, 
 " Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," 
 (Phil. ii. 5.) That mind of love he means, which will 
 prompt Christ's followers to " do nothing through strife or 
 vainglory, in lowliness of mind each esteeming other better 
 than himself, none looking on his own things, but every 
 man also on the things of others." Wherever he places 
 Christ's example before his own and his brethren's eyes, 
 he beholds love in the foreground, that love which divests 
 herself of her own, condescends to the lowly, and enriches 
 the poor. He will not command the Corinthians into well- 
 
158 ST PAUL. 
 
 doing to their poor brethren at Jerusalem ; but by a graphic 
 depicting of the abundant liberality of the churches in 
 Macedonia, he will prove the sincerity of their love ; and 
 then points them to Christ's example of love, as the funda- 
 mental motive to all ours : " Tor ye know the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your 
 sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might 
 be rich," (2 Cor. viii. 9.) And of the Eomans, for whose 
 faith he fervently thanks God, he demanded — "by the 
 mercies of God " — as their best sacrifice, that of their own 
 selves. " For even Christ,'' he says, "pleased not Himself;" 
 " wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received 
 us to the glory of God," (Eom. xv. 3, 7.) Paul's whole life 
 is perfumed with the sweet savour of self-sacrificing love. 
 We know in what high estimation he held evangelical 
 liberty, and how he burnt in holy zeal against those who 
 would rob others of this inestimable treasure. " Beware of 
 dogs," he could break forth asjainst them, " beware of evil 
 workers, beware of the concision ; for we are the circum- 
 cision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in 
 Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," (Phil, 
 iii. 2, 3.) But while in his heart "before God" faith 
 reigned supreme, (Rom. xiv. 22,) he yielded to love the 
 supremacy in relation to his neighbour. ''Though I be 
 free from all men, — for why is my liberty judged of another 
 man's conscience ? (1 Cor. x. 29,)— yet have I made my- 
 self servant unto all, that I might gain the more," (1 Cor. 
 ix. 19.) It would have been to him a bringing under the 
 power of something else than Christ, had he felt himself 
 hindered by anything from foregoing, and leaving undone 
 what he, to possess and to do, had the power. He was far 
 from thinking that he had received his gospel liberty, his 
 evangelical knowledge and strength of faith, in order to 
 please himself in them. Nay, with burning sympathy to 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 159 
 
 feel, as his own, the offences of the meanest among his 
 flock, (2 Cor. xi. 29 ;) with strong shoulders to bear the in- 
 firmities of the weak ; to sacrifice his power, rather than 
 by the use of it to shew his Christian liberty, where either 
 it might save many, or save offence to a single brother; to 
 turn aU to the best, and recognise the scrupulous and 
 narrow-minded as brethren also for whom Christ died, as 
 servants living unto the Lord, standing and falling to their 
 own Master, (Eom. xiv.,) — this was Paul's mind, and 
 therein he walked according to love. The Corinthians 
 had seen what he wrote in 1 Cor. viii.-x. ; the more boldly 
 then could he exhort them, " Let no man seek his own, 
 but every one another's wealth," (1 Cor. x. 24 ;) while the 
 Eomans could read Eom. xiv., under the testimony of many 
 witnesses that the Apostle had dra^vn his own portrait. 
 " Quod nos docemus, ille vivit," (what we teach, he lives,) 
 said Luther of Mcolas Hausmann, a Pauline follower of 
 Christ. 
 
 Gregory of j^azianzum read in Paul's Epistles what 
 Paul says himself of Paul. The breath of the Spirit of 
 revelation pervades the speech of the holy man of God ; 
 wherefore his words are no dead letters, but full of soul, 
 "having hands and feet," as Luther says, because they 
 bring the man Paul to our view as he verily lives and 
 moves in Christ. " For we write none other things unto 
 you than what (plainly told) ye read or acknowledge, and 
 I trust ye shall acknowledge to the end ; as also ye have 
 acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even 
 as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus," (2 Cor. 
 i. 13, 14.) It is in this view that we shall now proceed to 
 consider his masterly panegyric upon love ("charity") in 
 1 Cor. xiii.; and we shall find that, upon the " more excel- 
 lent way," which here he shews the Corinthians and us all, 
 himself has preceded his brethren as the follower of Christ. 
 
160 ST PAUL. 
 
 *' Though I speak with the tongues of men and of an- 
 gels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass 
 or a tinkling cymbal." Paul thanked God that he spoke 
 with tongues more than all the Corinthians, (1 Cor. xiv. 
 18 ;) but though it be in the speech of angels that behold 
 God's face, yet would he be like a clock or cymbal, that 
 gives forth its sound without either feeling or conscious- 
 ness, unless he be moved by the love which the Spirit of 
 God infuses into that of man. He was conscious, then, 
 that love to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 love to His people, love to all men, was the moving soul 
 of all his speaking with tongues. God was the witness of 
 his love, whom he served with his spirit in the Gospel of 
 His Son, (Eom. i. 9.) Therefore, though he could speak 
 with tongues more than they all, he strove most, and loved 
 best, to speak God's word so plainly " with the under- 
 standing," that the most unlearned who heard him might 
 say *' Amen" to it. '' In the church I had rather speak 
 five words with my understanding, than ten thousand 
 words in an unknown tongue," (1 Cor. xiv. 19.) He 
 gladly bore to have the "milk" of his apostolic teaching (1 
 Cor. iii. 2) less valued by the Corinthians, than the malm- 
 sey of their speaking in tongues ; but he bears down all 
 who think themselves prophets, or spiritual, by this crush- 
 ing sentence : — " The things that I write unto you are the 
 commandments of the Lord," (1 Cor. xiv. 37;) cutting 
 short those who will not acknowledge church precepts 
 and order as "the commandments of the Lord," by saying : 
 " But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant," (1 Cor. 
 V. 38.) But not only was the speaking with tongues 
 valueless in Paul's eye, unless the sounding instrument be 
 tuned by love; but he goes further : — "And though I have 
 the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
 knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 161 
 
 remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." 
 We know him, the man of prophecy, and of knowledge in 
 the mystery of Christ, the preacher of the Gospel; but 
 though his knowledge and prophecy were no more "in part," 
 but already ''perfect," after the manner of ''seeing face to 
 face," yet would he not be acknowledged by Christ, but be 
 " a cast-away," unless he preached the Gospel out of love 
 to Him and to souls, whom the preached Word is powerful 
 to win and save. It was, therefore, with a shepherd's care 
 and love, with the wisdom of a father and the tenderness 
 of a mother, yea, and the carefulness of a nurse, (1 Thess. 
 ii. 7,) that the Apostle of the Gentiles cared for the sheep 
 and lambs whom he had brought into the fold of Christ. 
 In "labour of love" (1 Thess. i. 3) we have seen the 
 "labourer together with God" (1 Cor. iii. 9) accomplish 
 his course from Corinth to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to 
 Eome. All his epistles draw forth the treasure of j)ro- 
 phecy and doctrine out of a heart filled with holy delight 
 in his flocks. Love taught him not to please himself in 
 writing to them, not to be led away by his own, though 
 spiritual, inclination, but to speak and write always and 
 everywhere to edification, without any unfaithful keeping 
 back of what was profitable unto them, (Acts xx. 20,) 
 whether it please or displease, (Gal. i. 10; 1 Thess. ii. 4, 
 5 ;) but also without any unchaste obtrusion of mysteries 
 unprofitable to godliness. "For whether we be beside 
 ourselves, it is to God ; or whether we be sober, it is for 
 your cause," he writes to the Corinthians, (2 Cor. v. 13,) to 
 whom his slanderers had probably whispered into the ear 
 that their dry and sober teacher, Paul, lacked that genial 
 flight of enthusiasm to be expected of an apostle. Casual 
 throughout, serving actual wants, and suited to individual 
 circumstances, are all his apostolic epistles, while inspired 
 by the Comforter and dictated by the love of Christ ; and 
 
162 ST PAUL. 
 
 exactly so they required all to be written, in order to 
 strike into heart and life — then, now, and at all times. 
 Without love, the preacher Paul had not only himself been 
 unblest, but without that love, which — taught by the 
 Spirit — gave him the measure and wording of wholesome 
 doctrine in all things, the Church of Christ would not 
 have had in him the man, who, as he came to the Eomans, 
 comes to us all "in the fulness of the blessing of the 
 Gospel of Christ," (Eom. xv. 29.) How intent he was not 
 to be a mere verbal preacher of the Gospel, but by his life 
 also to shew forth the self-sacrificing love of Christ, we are 
 made to feel by his equally bold and humble words : '' It 
 were better for me to die, than that any man should make 
 my glorying void. For though I preach the Gospel, I 
 have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; 
 yea, woe is u.nto me, if I preach not the Gospel!" So 
 effectually had the Lord called him to preach the Gospel, 
 that to shrink from it would have been mortal sin to him. 
 To a voluntary labourer's wages the " unprofitable ser- 
 vant" (Luke xvii. 10) laid no claim. "With him it indeed 
 was " life for life." And therefore he felt it his duty in 
 his own person to forego the reward, of which otherwise 
 the labourer in the Gospel is worthy, (Luke x. 7 ; 1 Thess. 
 V. 18,) and to preach the same "without charge," (1 Cor. 
 ix. 14-18.) But though he ''could remove mountains" by 
 faith, to which "nothing shall be impossible," (Matt. xvii. 
 20,) yet were he "nothing," unless his wonder-working 
 faith (1 Cor. xii. 9) be but the handmaid of love. An 
 apostle's signs truly were wrought among the Corinthians, 
 but before those of " wonders and mighty deeds " he puts 
 love's own sign, that of "patience," (2 Cor. xii. 12.) So, 
 like a true follower of his Master, he humbly refrained from 
 using his gift of working miracles, (1 Cor. xii. 10,) other- 
 wise than in love to others, not to his own pleasing. While 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 163 
 
 Publius' father and many others were healed by him on 
 the same island, (Acts xxviii. 8, 9,) he writes, in sad yet 
 humble resignation, to Timotliy : " But Trophimus have 
 I left at Miletum sick," (2 Tim. iv. 20.) He had been 
 afraid to rob this brother of the blessings of an ilhiess, to 
 please himself by his company, when restored to health. 
 That with him genuine and " full" deeds were only those 
 of love, we have seen in Eom. xiii. "And though I 
 bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give 
 my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth 
 me nothing." Therefore he wished to "seal" to the church 
 at Jerusalem the '' fruit" of the love of her daughter 
 churches by his testimony of its genuineness, (Eom. xv. 
 28,) — viz., that it was a "fruit of their righteousness," (2 
 Cor. ix. 10.) This may also throw light upon the perse- 
 cuted Apostle's flight from city to city. Love rendered 
 him as capable of escaping the crown of martyrdom, though 
 he had to be let '' through a window in a basket," (2 Cor. 
 xi. 33,) as it made him ready to sufier all things for the 
 Gospel's sake and its confessors. 
 
 And now (from ver. 4) Paul conducts us into a garden 
 of love, where bed upon bed stands furnished with hea- 
 venly plants. His own heart was such a garden of love. 
 " Into thy heart," says Gregory the Great, " must thou dip 
 the pen that shall write the truth legibly into others' 
 hearts." This did Paul. " Charity suffereth long and is 
 kind." Paul was no stranger to Adam's common legacy, 
 selfishness ; nay, his own was rather sharply developed in 
 a naturally harsh temper of choleric rashness. But, lo, 
 what hath grace made of him ! How lovely does the 
 double flower of long-suffering and kindness exhale her 
 sweet fragrance in this man of God ! The follower of Him 
 he has become, in whom Matthew sees Isaiah's word ful- 
 filled, (Isa. xlii. 2, 3.) "He shall not strive, nor cry; 
 
164 ST PAUL. 
 
 neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A 
 bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He 
 not quench," (Matt. xii. 19, 20.) In "beseeching" and 
 "praying" lay the power of this "ambassador for Christ/' 
 (2 Cor. V. 20.) It was '' by long-suffering and kindness, by 
 the Holy Ghost and love unfeigned," that this " soldier of 
 Christ " so successfully wielded the weapons of his war- 
 fare, (2 Cor. vi. 6.) Had he to rebuke ? he would rather 
 than "with a rod" do so "in love, and in the spirit of 
 meekness," (1 Cor. iv. 21.) Was he grieved over their 
 "divisions?" he would "beseech" them as "brethren," 
 (1 Cor. i. 10;) always, and first of all, thanking God on 
 their behalf for the grace of God given them by Jesus 
 Christ, (ib. ver. 4.) When speaking to children who de- 
 meaned themselves, as if they could sit in judgment over 
 their "weak," "despised," "persecuted," and everywhere 
 "buffeted" fathers, he could indeed give expression to his 
 emotion in words which must have been felt by them like 
 spears and lances, as in 1 Cor. iv. 8, &c. " Now ye are 
 fuU, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us ; 
 and I would to God ye did reign, [viz., as Christians shall 
 reign with Christ,] that we also might reign with you. 
 We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ, 
 [know how to adorn with wise words the foolish word of 
 the Cross :] we are weak, but ye are strong : ye are hon- 
 ourable, but we are despised." But what makes him write 
 so? It was the genuine earnestness of love. "I write 
 not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I 
 warn you." Might some, against whom he was " bold," 
 even think of him, as if he "walked according to th^ 
 flesh ? " (2 Cor. x. 2,) before God he was manifest in the 
 love of the Spirit. Full of tender forbearance, he opens his 
 Second Epistle to the Corinthians by relating to that con- 
 gregation, which had caused him so much grief, all his 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 165 
 
 sufferings, comforting himself by their prayers for him, 
 (2 Cor. i. 1 1.) " Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be a 
 kindness ; and let him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent 
 oil, which shall not break my head : for yet my prayer 
 also shall be in their calamities," (Ps. cxli. 5.) These 
 words of the man after God's heart found their counterpart 
 here, and were acted over again between Paul and the 
 Corinthians; for friendlier reproved than they were by 
 him could no one be. To their love he appeals, even he 
 whom they had deeply grieved by the want of it ; " having 
 confidence," he says, "in you all, that my joy is the joy of 
 you all," (2 Cor. ii. 3.) With what lovely tenderness does 
 he write : " If any " (he forbears to name the incestuous 
 person) " have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but 
 in part ; that I may not overcharge you all, [with him.] 
 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was 
 inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to 
 forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such an one 
 should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Where- 
 fore I beseech you, that ye would confirm your love toward 
 him," (2 Cor. ii. 5-8.) Yea, that he had to afflict his 
 beloved Corinthians by a punitive epistle, even them who 
 indeed should have made him glad, and in whom he ought 
 rather to have rejoiced, (2 Cor. ii. 2, 3,) this went so to his 
 heart, that he had already repented of it ; but now he re- 
 joiced and thanked God for it, seeing that, through His 
 grace, it had wrought in them a ''godly sorrow," so that 
 they might receive damage by him in nothing, (2 Cor. vii. 
 8, 9.) Where he draws the picture of an honest servant 
 of God, he exclaims : "0 ye Corinthians, our mouth is 
 open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not strait- 
 ened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 
 Now, for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my 
 children,) be ye also enlarged," (2 Cor. vi. 11-13.) Finally, 
 
166 ST PAUL. 
 
 after the whole earnestness and holy zeal of an apostle 
 had, like a heavy thunder-cloud, discharged itself over the 
 heads of the Corinthians, or rather their disturbers, there 
 breaks through the scattered clouds, like the sun in its 
 noontide brightness, all the kindness and gentleness of 
 love : " Finally, brethren, farewell, [literally, rejoice.] Be 
 perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace ; 
 and the God of love and peace shall be with you," (2 Cor. 
 xiii. 11.) Such was their apostle! a beseecher "by the 
 meekness and gentleness of Christ," (2 Cor. x. 1.) Truly 
 this Second Epistle to the Corinthians is itself a commen- 
 tary throughout on that passage, " We persuade men : but 
 are made manifest unto God," (2 Cor. v. 11.) "Without 
 dissimulation" indeed was the Apostle's love, and un- 
 mixed with any effeminacy ; decided his break with evil — 
 he abhorred it ; firm his love of good — he clave unto it, 
 (Rom. xii. 9.) Hardened sinners he "delivered unto 
 Satan," (1 Cor. v. 5 ; 1 Tim. i. 20 ;) yet bore them but the 
 more fervently upon his heart to the saving of their spirit, 
 (c£ 2 Cor. ii. 5-11,) and charged Timothy to do the same, 
 (2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.) ''0 foolish Galatians," he exclaims, 
 with energetic indignation, "who hath bewitched you, 
 that ye should not obey the truth?" (Gal. iii. 1.) Yet how 
 affectionately does he ''beseech" them not to be snared 
 into bondage again unto the "weak and beggarly ele- 
 ments." " Brethren," he says, " be as I am ; for I am as 
 ye are," (Gal. iv. 12.) And not to shame them before a 
 third person, he wrote to them, against his custom, with 
 his " own hand," a "large letter," literally, in large letters, 
 that they might not need a reader, thus seeking to please 
 them, (Gal. vi. 11.) The same desire is touchingly evidenced 
 by his postscript "token in every epistle" which he wrote 
 by dictation, (2 Thess. iii. 17.) Sometimes, as he takes up 
 the pen to write " the salutation by me Paul with mine 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 167 
 
 own hand," (1 Cor. xvi. 22,) lie is moved with indignation 
 when he thinks of the false brethren among those he 
 addresses, and adds, " If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha," ere he continues, 
 " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My 
 love be with you all in Christ Jesus." At other times he 
 will feel his hand cramped by the fetters which bind him 
 to the soldier who guards him, (Acts xxviii 16, 20,) and 
 adds to ''the salutation by the hand of me Paul," — ''Ee- 
 member my bonds," (Col. iv. 18.) But he always ends by 
 wishing them " grace," to which at times he adds a few 
 last words of affectionate remembrance, such as, " My love 
 be with you all in Christ Jesus."* In the kindliness of 
 his friendship he does not think it too mean to watch with 
 a mother's tender care over the health of his young son 
 Timothy : " Drink no longer water, but use a little wine 
 for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities," (1 
 Tim. V. 23.) With all his freedom in Christ to enjoin 
 Philemon that which is convenient, he will rather beseech 
 him for love's sake, (Philem. viii. 9.) The Philippians' 
 care and liberality he acknowledges in a manner that 
 makes one feel that he rejoices in the soul of the givers, 
 and accepts for their joy what they so gladly give, (Phil. 
 iv. 10, &c.) And now, one glance still upon that saluta- 
 tion chapter, Eom. xvi. It is fuU of gentle and affection- 
 ate love. First he commends Phcebe, the bearer of the 
 epistle, as his kind " succourer," to the love of the Eoman 
 church. Next he greets Priscilla and Aquila, and remem- 
 bers with fervent gratitude their services in the Lord to 
 all the churches of the Gentiles. In the remembrance of 
 his love lives Epsenetus beside Stephanas, as the ''first- 
 
 * Cf. the introduction to the instructive work " The Life and Epistles 
 of St Paul," by W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson. London. 1853, 
 Vol. L, p. xii. 
 
168 ST PAUL. 
 
 fruits of Achaia," (1 Cor. xvi. 5.) Mary's much labour 
 bestowed on him he cannot forget ; neither what Androni- 
 cus and Junia, his kinsmen and fellow-prisoners have been 
 to him before he was in Christ.* All are " his beloved," 
 yet only three of them he greets expressly with this epi- 
 thet, probably because they most needed his assurance of 
 it. Of Amplias, he says specially that he was worthy of his 
 love ''in the Lord." With ApeUes ''approved in Christ" 
 he joins them of Aristobulus' household, and with his kins- 
 man Herodion them of J^arcissus' household — with poor 
 domestics the free, who were one with them in the Lord. 
 Tryphena and Tryphosa, two female labourers, he greets 
 before ; but trusts to their modesty that they will gladly 
 join him in saying, that she hath " laboured much in the 
 Lord." And how tenderly does he express his love in 
 saluting " Eufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and 
 mine." Lastly, he salutes two pairs, each of five, with 
 evident pleasure in their communion, and lets them know 
 to their surprise that their names obscure in the world are 
 remembered and borne in his heart. " With an holy kiss " 
 he seals these thirty salutations. In this kindly manner 
 did the man upon whom came daily " the care of aU the 
 churches," (2 Cor. xi. 28,) which lay scattered over east 
 and west, bear the single souls of them mdividually upon 
 his heart, with love's affectionate remembrance. 
 
 " Charity envieth not." Might ApoUos be preferred to 
 him by the fastidious Corinthians ? Paul grudged him not 
 that gift of eloquence himself lacked, nor thought for a 
 moment of suspecting his fellow-servant in the Lord to 
 have had any share in the Corinthians' strife and divisions, 
 
 ♦ Here the author supposes Paul to have borne his kinsmen's prayers for 
 him, before he was in Christ, in grateful remembrance, and does not mean 
 to insinuate that they had been at all directly instrumental in his conversion, 
 which the peculiar and sudden manner of it forbids us to think, — Tr. 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 169 
 
 (cf. 1 Cor. iii. and iv. 6.) Yea, so far was he from any 
 feeling of jealousy, that he did all he could to prevail on 
 Apollos to return to Corinth, (1 Cor. xvi. 12.) When he 
 learnt at Eome that some were preaching Christ even of 
 envy and strife, "supposing" — i.e., wishing by their conten- 
 tion — " to add affliction to his bonds," and thus eventually 
 to see him shut oiit from all the honour of evangelical 
 preaching, he was so free from ignoble envy, that he could 
 write : " What then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether 
 in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein 
 do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice, (Phil. i. 15-18.) An 
 envious Paul, how absurd it sounds ! No, the man who 
 has transmitted to us the Lord's saying, "It is more 
 blessed to give than to receive," (Acts xx. 35,) and who so 
 richly tasted the blessedness of giving, could suffer no 
 " rottenness in his bones," (Pro v. xiv. 30.) 
 
 "Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth 
 not behave itself unseemly." This tricolor also belongs 
 to Paul's heraldry of love. A pert and saucy boy, (who, it 
 should seem, was as well acquainted with the rod — cf Heb» 
 xii. 9 — as poor little Martin,*) and a bold, forward youth Saul 
 doubtless was. A rash temper, haughty demeanour, and 
 obstinate, dogmatical spirit, we may, without fear of 
 slander, ascribe to his unsubdued and determined nature. \\ 
 And now, in how different a light does the character of ^ 
 "the man of love" stand before us, even in the smallest 
 matters ! Did the obstinacy of his old Adam once shew 
 itself in the sharp contention he had with Barnabas about 
 Mark? (Acts. xv. 37-39,) this only proves how tightly 
 otherwise he held his flesh in reins by the spirit. Most 
 lovely does this reining in, the moderation, or let me call 
 it the holy collectedness of the man of love, appear in his 
 character as shepherd tending the weak among his flock ; 
 
 * Luther. 
 
170 ST PAUL. 
 
 in which character he was best known to the Corinthians : 
 " Por though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, 
 yet have ye not many fathers ; for in Christ Jesus I have 
 begotten you through the Gospel. AVlierefore I beseech 
 you, be ye followers of me," (1 Cor. iv. 15, 16.) He had 
 the shepherd's heart and kindly care of a Jacob : " My 
 Lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks 
 and herds with young are with me ; and if men should 
 overdrive them one day, all the flock will die," (Gen. 
 xxxiii. 13.) The parable of the imperceptibly-growing 
 seed, (Mark iv. 26-29,) this the labourer in God's hus- 
 bandry had apprehended with the sense of love, and he 
 acted accordingly. The unfeigned humility of this high 
 Apostle is the best comment on the word ''charity vaunteth 
 not itself, is not puffed up." As oft as he addresses his 
 flocks — Christ's flocks — as " brethren," he includes himself 
 as their fellow-sinner, and partaker with them of the same 
 grace of Jesus Christ. When longing to impart to the 
 Eomans some spiritual gift to the end they may be estab- 
 lished, he at once adds : " That is, that I may be comforted 
 together with you by the mutual faith both of you and 
 me," (Eom. i. 11, 12 ;) yea, he almost apologises for his 
 boldness in ^vriting to them : " And I myself also am per- 
 suaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of good- 
 ness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one 
 another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more 
 boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, 
 because of the grace that is given to me of God," (Eom. xv. 
 14, 15.) Thus he entirely subjected his own gift of grace to 
 preach the Word under the grace of the Word itself, and set 
 himself the example to his brethren in walking after the rule, 
 that no man should think of himself more highly than he 
 ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath 
 dealt to every man the measure of faith, (Eom. xii. 3,) " Who 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 171 
 
 then is Paul ? " he asks, jealous for God's honour, " and 
 who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even 
 as the Lord gave to every man ? I have planted, Apollos 
 watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither 
 is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth ; 
 but God that giveth the increase," (1 Cor. iii. 5-7.) 
 '' Charity is not puffed up," might especially remind the 
 Corinthians, inflated with the conceit of their knowledge, 
 of what Paul had before said : " Knowledge puffeth up, 
 but charity ediiieth," (1 Cor. viii. 1.) Who possessed the 
 gift of know^ledge more then he ? But he would have the 
 weak and less-gifted brethren to be undespised, and every- 
 where he used the power Avhich the Lord had given him 
 " to edification, and not to destruction," (2 Cor. x. 8, xiii. 10.) 
 The third property of love also — its good grace and pro- 
 per tact, which leads it not to behave itself unseemly — is 
 finely stamped in Paul's character. Sober and honest, 
 just and true, gracious and edifying, pure and lovely is 
 the Christian walk in love to which he so often exhorts, 
 (Ptom. xii. 17, xiii. 13; Eph. iv. 29; Phil. iv. 8,) and 
 wherein he sets the example. A gracious and noble 
 demeanour is perhaps the most prominent feature in his 
 conduct towards all men. We may here be reminded of 
 the magistrates at Philippi — the chiefs of Asia at Ej)hesus 
 — the chief captain, Claudius Lysias — the two governors, 
 Felix and Festus — King Agrippa and Julius the Eoman 
 centurion, — all of whom were forced to admire the cour- 
 teous frankness, decorum and propriety of the ''prisoner" of 
 the Lord. Neither did his brotherly love behave itself un- 
 seemly. He was far from thinking that the intimacy and 
 close communion of brethren in Christ at all exempt them 
 from due attention to proper deportment, and all that 
 is becoming in the various relations of life. He warns 
 servants not to despise their "believing masters," under 
 
172 ST PAUL. 
 
 the pretence that " tliey are brethren," (1 Tim. vi. 2 ;) and 
 with the exhortation to " be kindly affectioned one to 
 another with brotherly love/' he couples that of " in honour 
 preferring one another," (Eom. xii. 10.) With his sense 
 of laudable Christian order he deemed it essential to have 
 a brother co-ordinated with him for the conveyance of 
 the churches' gift to Jerusalem. Well might he 
 have claimed their unconditional confidence, but he rather 
 chose the lowlier and more regardful way, as thereby 
 "avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this 
 abundance which is administered by us : providing for 
 honest things, [i.e., having regard to fair dealing,] not 
 only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of 
 men," (2 Cor. viii. 19-21.) 
 
 Charity " seeketh not her own," — not her pleasure, not 
 her reward, not her honour, not her liberty, yea, we dare 
 add, not her salvation ; for altoejether she does not seek her 
 own advantage, but that of others, — "love is life in 
 others." This heavenly flower — disinterestedness — is the 
 queen in the garden of love, and all others emit their sweet 
 odours perfumed by hers. Therefore we should have to 
 tell the life of Paul over again, as that of a man in Christ, 
 would we rightly estimate his disinterested, self-sacrificing 
 love. The Corinthians indeed, in reading these words, 
 " charity seeketh not her own," must have seen the man 
 of love stand bodily before their eyes, the man who could 
 write to them, — them who had, alas ! sought their own in re- 
 lation with him, their truest friend. " Eeceive us ; we have 
 wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have 
 defrauded no man" — here his affectionate heart checks, 
 and at once impels him to mitigate the gentle reproach im- 
 plied in this self-defence, by immediately adding : " I speak 
 not this to condemn you, for I have said before, that ye 
 are in our hearts" (he includes Timothy and Titus) ''to die 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 173 
 
 and live with you. Great is my boldness of speech toward 
 you, great is my glorying of you : I am filled with comfort, 
 I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation/* (2 Cor. vii. 2-4.) 
 And what was it that thus filled him with comfort, and 
 made him so exceeding joyful, even in all his tribulation ? 
 It was the Corinthians' godly sorrow, and their repentance 
 to salvation, (ib. ver. 9, 10.) For what else did he seek by 
 them but the salvation of their souls? '' I seek not yours, 
 but you," he says ; *' for the children ought not to lay up 
 for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I 
 will do more than that — ^very gladly spend and be sj)ent 
 for you ; though the more abundantly I love you, the less 
 I be loved." With cutting irony he gives them to under- 
 stand that in one thing only he had treated them " inferior 
 to other churches " — viz., in the letting them feel the dis- 
 interestedness of his love ; " forgive me this wrong." And 
 ' then, with that humour in which he is fond at times to 
 clothe his most solemn earnest, (Luther resembles him in 
 this,) he prevents their reply by saying, "But be it so, I 
 did not burden you ; nevertheless, being crafty, I caught 
 you with guile." Forthwith, however, he assumes his usual 
 seriousness, and adds, in deep earnest, "We speak before 
 God in Christ ; but we do all things, dearly beloved, for 
 your edifying," (2 Cor. xii. 13-19.) Neither there sought 
 Paul his own, where, by *' glorying" in the abundance of 
 his labours and sufferings, he seeks to wring from the Co- 
 rinthians the acknowledgment of his apostolical dignity ; 
 yea, hardly anywhere has he exercised greater self-denial 
 than when compelled, by those of whom he ought to have 
 been commended, to "become a fool in glorying," (2 Cor. 
 xii. 11.) Luther once drolly said, "I must be my own 
 cuckoo." How mortifying that to the selfish, vainglorious 
 Adam ! Or did Paul indeed seek his own in the greatest 
 glory of his life — to stake and forsake all for the work of 
 
174 ST PAUL. 
 
 Christ, to win souls for Him? Did he misuse the name of 
 Clirist for vainglory? "I trust that ye shall know that 
 we are not reprobates," (unapproved,) he writes to the Co- 
 rinthians, (2 Cor. xiii. 6,) and adds, ''Now I pray to God 
 that ye do no evil ; not that we sliould appear approved, 
 but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be 
 as reprobates," (without occasion to prove our approved- 
 ness by the exercise of apostolical discipline.) In the place 
 where he expresses his deep satisfaction at the Philippians 
 ''holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the 
 day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured 
 in vain" and assures them of his readiness to "be offered" 
 with joy "upon the sacrifice and service of their faith," — 
 there his mind is so purely bent upon the honour of Christ, 
 and the salvation of his brethren, that he commends 
 Timothy to them in these words : " For I have no man 
 like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For 
 all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's," 
 (Phil. ii. 16-21.) How he exhorted himself with that ex- 
 hortation, " Eejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep 
 with them that weep," (Eom. xii. 1 5,) has often been noted 
 in our sketch. "Who is weak, and I am not weak? who 
 is offended, and I burn not ?" (2 Cor. xi. 29.) Love taught 
 him to lose himself in others, and to suppress his sorrow 
 in participation of their welfare and joy. When at Rome 
 he heard of the Philippians' deep sympathy with Epaphro- 
 ditus, who had been " sick nigh unto death," he deemed it 
 " necessary " speedily to send him to them, " that, when 
 ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the 
 less sorrowful," (Phil. ii. 25-28.) Still stronger than we 
 have before heard him declare to the Corinthians his readi- 
 ness to be offered a sacrifice for their faith, he expresses 
 himself in Eom. ix. 3, a passage which can only be under- 
 stood by taking his love to be a reflection of Christ's own. 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 175 
 
 "I could wish/' he says, "that myself were accursed 
 from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
 flesh," If it were possible to be accursed from Christ with- 
 out being wicked, Paul could wish to forego the enjoyment 
 of Christ's blessed presence, and his peace and joy in Him, 
 for the sake of his unhappy brethren. Charity seeketh 
 not her own. 
 
 - '' Is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not 
 in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." Who — next after 
 Christ— ^was ever fed with gall as Paul was ? But that his 
 was a love not easily provoked is not shewn only by the 
 word just quoted, and "tlie truth" of which ''in Christ" 
 — as well knowing what therewith he was saying — he 
 called upon the Holy Ghost to witness, (Eom. ix. 1 ;) but 
 his whole walk, from the day of his conversion to his ar- 
 rival at Eome, as St Luke has spread it before us in " The 
 Acts," is one chain of unprovoked and indestructible love 
 to even his bitterest enemies, the unbelieving Jews. We 
 have edified ourselves by it, when considering Paul, " the 
 labourer," in his gleaning of the Jewish vineyard ; and no 
 less in Paul, " the prisoner of Jesus Christ," bound for the 
 hope of Israel. I have read of a Christian who had brought 
 his violent, choleric temper so completely into subjection 
 to the spirit of meekness, that at no affront would he move 
 a muscle of his face, but a gentle smile about his mouth 
 would indicate that he was occupied in burying himself 
 with Jesus. In Paul we see this heroism of love to a de- 
 gree which it might list angels to behold, to the praise of 
 Jesus Christ, whose follower he was. Not by unbelievino- 
 Jews and " false brethren " only, but also by ungrateful 
 children and unfaithful friends was his love put to the test ; 
 and Satan, doubtless, would often enough stir up the old 
 Adam to flatter the meek Apostle into a "thinking of 
 evil," a bearing in mind, if not resenting, of some expe- 
 
176 ST PAUL. 
 
 rienced injury. Moses, by the Holy Gliost, gives himself 
 this testimony : " Now the man Moses was very meek, 
 above all the men which were upon the face of the earth," 
 (Num. xii. 3.) In Paul's life are similar traces. In 
 highest objectivity he could write of himself: '' Ye are 
 witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and un- 
 blameably, we behaved ourselves among you that believe," 
 (1 Thess. ii. 10.) But as Moses broke the tables in "hot 
 waxed anger," and could both smite and intercede for his 
 people at the same time, (c£ Exod. xxxii. 19, &c.,) so Paul 
 also gave ''place unto wrath," (Eom. xii. 19,) be it by 
 imprecation over the wicked : " The Lord reward him 
 according to his works ;" or by deprecation, in behaK of 
 weak and cross-shy disciples : "I pray God that it may 
 not be laid to their charge," (2 Tim. iv. 14, 16.) A reflection 
 of Stephen s face, which once he saw as that of an angel, 
 now rested upon his own, softened by the love of Christ. It 
 had indeed been but human, had he felt a certain satis- 
 faction in the misfortunes of the perverse Jews ; but he 
 had drunk of Divine love, that rejoiceth not in iniquity, 
 (injustice and wrong,) even where this is meted out to the 
 wicked by instrmnents ordained for it. Therefore we find 
 him still at Eome, guarding himself against the suspicion, 
 as if he had aught to accuse his nation of, (Eom. xxviii. 
 19.) Alas ! she was accused enough ; and Paul, with a 
 true patriot's pang, already saw the Eoman eagles gather 
 to their vengeful repast. Paul's love was drawn from 
 that of Christ, who, " when He beheld the city, wept over 
 it," (Luke xix. 41.) '' But rejoiceth in the truth;" yea, at 
 the victory of truth the heart -of the man of love beats 
 with very joy. In the joy of a holy love to the Church, 
 we have seen him do his work and labour of love ; and 
 joy together with them in the truth, was the signature of 
 his Christian and apostolic Kfe. As St John "the elder" 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 177 
 
 had no greater joy than to find his children walk in truth, 
 (2 John iv.,) so likewise Paul, the founder and chief pastor 
 of many churches, and the ''helper" of their joy in all, 
 (2 Cor. i. 24.) His whole heart leaps with joy when he 
 beholds the grace and truth of the Gospel in the blessed 
 churches of his planting. " Therefore, my brethren, dearly 
 beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in 
 the Lord, my dearly beloved," (Phil. iv. 1.) "N'ow we 
 live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. Por what thanks can 
 we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith 
 we joy for your sakes before our God ?" (1 Thess. iii. 8, 9.) 
 Nearly all his letters he begins with gladsome thanks to 
 God ; yea, an unceasing thank-offering must have ascended 
 to heaven in the prayers and intercessions of this inde- 
 fatigable servant of Christ, — " I thank my God upon every 
 remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for 
 you all, making request with joy, for your fellowship in the 
 gospel from the first day until now," (Phil. i. 3-5.) His 
 patient love would care to see the least beginnings in 
 Christian life fostered in the " weak" and " feeble-minded," 
 yea, and the "unruly" also; in short, all the new and 
 weak converts he would have the brethren at Thessalo- 
 nica bear with patience, (1 Thess. v. 14.) Por wherever a 
 congregation was gathered in Christ around His gospel, 
 there he beheld "the rivers of water" flow, and trees both 
 great and small, planted by the side of them, grow up to 
 the praise of the Lord, bringing forth their fruit in their 
 season, (Ps. i. 3.) His highest joy, and the one which 
 nearest resembled that of the Good Shepherd hunself, we 
 see the loving pastor evince on the return of some stray 
 sheep to the fold. Pive times he expresses his joy over 
 the godly sorrowful in that precious chapter, 2 Cor. vii. 
 Like wave upon wave, it rushes along from his overflowing 
 heart in the fourth verse, — *' Great is my boldness of 
 
178 ST PAUL. 
 
 speech toward you, great is my glorying of you : I am 
 filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribu- 
 lation." With that love which " rejoiceth in the truth" did 
 he bear the individual souls of his numerous congregations 
 in his heart. '' I have you in my heart," he says to his be- 
 loved Philippians, (chap. i. 7 ;) and to the Corinthians in the 
 chapter just referred to, (ver. 3,) " Ye are m our hearts to 
 die and live with you." Every progress, every important 
 turning-point in his labours, he communicates to them, 
 while his love believes that his joy is theirs also ; as, on 
 the other hand, whatever happened to them, both in good 
 days and evil, found in hun always a ready echo, either of 
 inmost joy or heartfelt sympathy, — '' Whether one mem- 
 ber suffer, all the members suffer with it ; or one member 
 be honoured, all the members rejoice with it," (1 Cor. xii. 
 26.) Such is the Church of Christ, and such was Paul 
 her member — a true " Churchman," wdiose life was organic 
 with hers. But this will be the subject for another — the 
 last — chapter. 
 
 Now for love's fourfold triumph sung by Paul : — She 
 " beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, 
 endureth all things." Love is unconquerable. "Set me 
 as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm : for 
 love is strong as death," (Cant. viii. 6.) What shall quench 
 her flame ? Loads of trouble ? she beareth all things. 
 Distrust and suspicion? she believeth all things. The 
 headstrong and maliciously perverse ? she hopeth all things. 
 The enmity and persecution of the wicked ? she endureth 
 all things. Beloved reader, thou hast found in this sketch 
 many traits already of this fourfold conquerous love in 
 Paul's soul. Yet grudge not the pains of looking at the 
 man of love once more, as in the garden of love he 
 stands clad in the "arms" of these four flower-de-luces. 
 Had the Galatians exhausted his painstaking and pains- 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 179 
 
 bearing love ? Well miglit he, with '' the marks of the 
 Lord Jesus in his body/' demand of them henceforth to 
 trouble him no more. Yet, that he held them firm in 
 love's embrace, willing to cover with the mantle of love 
 all their follies and declensions, if they would but man 
 their souls to a return to Christ, they could plainly read 
 between the lines of even his sharpest reproof, — " I desire 
 to be present with you now, and to change my voice ; for 
 I stand in doubt of you," (Gal. iv. 20.) He longed to be 
 present, and to speak with them, like a mother, in tender 
 love, upbraiding her naughty children. In the last word 
 still of this epistle of sorrow, he unfolds his love that 
 beareth all things, and will not quit her hold of a single 
 soul, — " Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 with your spirit. Amen." Or did his faith in the Corin- 
 thians give way because there were heretics among them, 
 that had wxll-nigh succeeded in estranging from him and 
 Christ's Gospel this beloved flock, the seal of his apostle- 
 ship ? (1 Cor. ix. 1, &c.) " There must be heresies among 
 you," he writes, '' that they which are approved may be 
 made manifest among you," (1 Cor. xi. 19.) In both 
 epistles to them that inventive love, which seeks to turn 
 everything to the best, and therefore beareth and believeth 
 all things, shines through every page. With an ingenuity 
 and delicacy which only love inspires, he catches at every 
 chord of their heart, — " I speak as to wise men; judge ye 
 what I say," (1 Cor. x. 15 ; cf. xi. 2,) — in order to draw them 
 out of the entanglements of falsehood to integrity and up- 
 rightness ; and boldly he believes that the fire of the last 
 day, though it will consume every carnal superstructure 
 reared by them, yet shall spare the believers' own lives, 
 if built on Jesus Christ, the only foundation, (1 Cor. iii. 
 11-15.) His hope of them is steadfast, (2 Cor. i. 7,) and 
 he rejoices that he has confidence in them in all things. 
 
180 ST PAUL. 
 
 (2 Cor. vii. 16.) Or did the Jews mock his hope for them 
 away from his heart ? He indeed mourns with David that 
 their full table of grace is made a snare unto them " alway " 
 (Eom. xi. 9, 10 ;) yet he will not permit this to wrest from 
 him his heart's desire and prayer to God that they may be 
 saved, (Rom. x. 1.) And though " blindness in part hath 
 happened to Israel/' yet his love is bold enough to hope for 
 God's "mercy upon all/' (Rom. xi. 31, 32.) Or, lastly, did 
 he faint or grow impatient under the trials of unceasing 
 persecutions ; and the more, when even " all they in Asia 
 turned away" from him? (2 Tim. i. 15.) Nay, in face 
 of his martyrdom, he puts Timothy in mind of his " doc- 
 trine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, 
 patience," under all ''persecutions" and "afflictions," 
 which came unto him "at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra/' 
 adding, — "but what persecutions I endured, out of them all 
 the Lord delivered me," (2 Tim. iii. 10, 11.) And, finally, to 
 stir up the same hope and patient love in his beloved son, 
 that made him endure them, he charges him to " remem- 
 ber that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from 
 the dead, according to my gospel : wherein I suffer trouble 
 as an evil-doer, even unto bonds ; but the word of God is 
 not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's 
 sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in 
 Christ Jesus with eternal glory," (2 Tim. ii. 8-10.) 
 
 Nor could such love fail to beget love. Paul certainly 
 was also loved again of many. St Luke, who best under- 
 stood and loved him, remained faithful to him to the very 
 last, (2 Tim. iv. 11.) Witli unswerving devotion, too, did 
 Silas justify his confidence in him ; and with unflinching 
 fidelity and filial trust did Timothy and Titus remain at- 
 tached to him. Aquila and Priscilla, Jason, Aristarchus, 
 Epaphroditus, Clement, with many others his fellow-la- 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 181 
 
 bourers, "whose names " — like that of his Philippian '' true 
 yoke-feUow "—" are in the book of life," (Phil. iv. 3,) loved 
 him more than their own lives ; Epaphras, Tychicus, and 
 many others, also were his " fellow-servants in the Lord," 
 (cf. Col. iv. 7, &c.) In nearly all his epistles he speaks 
 with fond and grateful remembrance of brethren that love 
 him in the faith, (Tit. iii. 15.) " Comfort," ''refresh," " re- 
 joice," and '' fill with joy," are his fond expressions when 
 speaking of the love of his brethren. Therefore we find 
 him in all epistles, from first to last, filled with "great 
 desire to see the face " of those that loved him, (Phil. i. 8 ; 
 1 Thess. ii. 17; 2 Tim. i. 4, iv. 9.) Yea, the love of his 
 children in Christ was his continual feast, and a foretaste 
 of his heavenly joy. Think of his departure from Miletus! 
 The Ephesians' prayers and tears, the blessings and salu- 
 tations of peace of all his congregations, accompanied him 
 wherever he went. Their '' much " love well-nigh broke 
 his heart. Oh, he was suceptible of loA^e ! " As an angel of 
 God, even as Christ Jesus, ye received me," he recalls with 
 sad remembrance to the memory of the Galatians. '' Where 
 is then the blessedness ye spake of ? for I bear you record, 
 that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out 
 your eyes and have given them to me," (Gal. iv. 14, 15.) 
 But because to give is more blessed than to receive, he was 
 indeed more blessed in the love he felt than in that he in- 
 spired. 
 
 Together with his assurance of salvation by faith, and 
 the joy of his heirship in hope, Paul possessed the glory of 
 love, which goes forth unchanged unto eternal joys, because 
 she is heavenly life already on earth. " Charity never 
 faileth." When prophecies shall '' fail," through their final 
 accomplishment; when tongues shall "cease," in the har- 
 monious lan^uasre of all inhabitants of the Xew Jerusalem ; 
 
182 ST PAUL. 
 
 when knowledge which is in part shall " vanish away/' in 
 that which is perfect, — even then charity shall not fail; 
 she will be the light of joy in the eye of knowledge, the 
 sweetly moved heart in the voice of heavenly tongues. She 
 will then be manifested in her unchangeable Divine nature ; 
 freed from all stains of the flesh, and every haze of sin, she 
 will shine forth in spotless lustre and imperishable beauty. 
 He that sits on the throne of glory, Jesus Christ, is all love. 
 Irradiated by His, that of the redeemed will blaze in efful- 
 gent transparency ; our great Prototype's will be imaged in 
 theirs, and all rays centre in one luminous picture of love. 
 The " beloved of God " are loved with an eternal love, for 
 " their names are wTitten in the book of life," in the heart 
 of God and of the Lamb, the First-born among many 
 brethren, wdio unceasingly exercises in the heavenly sanc- 
 tuary the work of perfect brotherly love. There we shall 
 also meet our Paul, to love him for ever. The unity of the 
 Church there and here — this militant, that triumphant; of 
 those walking still by faith in hope, and those living in 
 visible glory — has its seal and pledge in the sj)irit of love, 
 which never faileth. ''And now abideth faith, hope, 
 charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity." 
 Augustine says in his " Soliloquies : " — " How should faith 
 still have place, where the things believed in are seen ? how 
 hope, where the things hoped for are possessed ? Love, 
 however, shall not only lose naught, but enter into her own 
 fulness ; for even in beholding yonder the only true and 
 real Beauty, she will remain what she is, and increase her 
 being ; yea, if she kept not unceasingly her eye open to the 
 highest delight, she could not remain in her most blessed 
 vision." " Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ," 
 is Paul's word to the Church, and to us all. So help us 
 God ! Amen. 
 
THE MAN OF LOVE. 183 
 
 Come, thou Spirit of pure Love, 
 Who dost forth from God proceed ; 
 Never from my heart remove, 
 Let me all thy impulse heed. 
 All that seeks self-profit first, 
 Eather than another's good — 
 Whether foe or link'd in blood — 
 Let me hold with Paul accurst ; 
 And my heart henceforward be 
 Only ruled, Love, by thee ! 
 
X. 
 
 THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 
 
 " That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the 
 house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pUlar and 
 ground of the truth." — 1 Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 It is remarkable that the false witnesses accusing Jesus 
 before the council brought forth just this accusation, — "We 
 have heard Him say, I will destroy this temple that is made 
 with hands, and within three days I will build another 
 made without hands," (Mark xiv. 58.) It shews us that the 
 holy enigma, written over the portal of Christ's public entry 
 upon His prophetic ofi&ce, (John ii. 19,) had stung the 
 carnal Jews to their very heart, and ever remained a thorn 
 in their eyes. His first confessing martyr, Stephen, saw 
 the same bitter. Temple-proud spirit of the Pharisees rise 
 against him, as he bore witness for the true " house of God" 
 — the Church of Christ. And here is the point where the 
 grace of Jesus Christ met Paul, to reveal before his unveiled 
 eyes the glorious character of Christ's Church, and to make 
 that man of him whose Christian excellence is summed up 
 in calling him " the man of the Church." No sooner had 
 he known Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Saviour, 
 than it was all over with his knowing any man — yea, were 
 it even the man Christ — after the flesh, (2 Cor. v. 16.) 
 Before the temple of the body of Christ he saw Zion's 
 temple of stone grow pale. Nevertheless, the Old Testa- 
 ment house of God, the honour of wliich Stephen had surely 
 left untouched, had become no lie with Paul, but, contrari- 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 185 
 
 wise, a reality in Christ. There "the shadow of good 
 things to come," which the coming Christ cast before Him 
 into Israel, the people of promise ; here the substance of 
 the "good things " themselves in Christ, (Col. ii. 17; Heb. 
 viii. 5, X. 1.) Therefore the New Testament Church was 
 to him the unveiled Israel, receiving into her bosom the 
 fulness of the Gentiles, (Eom. xi. 25, 26,) "the Israel of 
 God," (Gal. vi. 16,) the replenished or fully realised "con- 
 gregation of the Lord" — ^to wit, the New Testament 
 Ecclesia is synonymous with the Old Testament Bahal — 
 which has the Lord for her inheritance, and is again, on 
 her part, the Lord's inheritance. As such Paul constantly 
 views the Church of Christ, both in contrast with the car- 
 nal Israel, (1 Cor. x. 16-18,) and as the people of the Spirit, 
 come into the inheritance of the holy people of Israel, 
 (Eph. i. 10, 11.) " The ends of the world " (1 Cor. x. 11) 
 are come upon them that are of the faith of Israel ; and it 
 was by losing himself in these " ends " that the Apostle 
 found all his thoughts so richly redound to the praise of the 
 Triune God and His " unspeakable gift," (2 Cor. ix. 1 5.) 
 
 "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" It was from 
 this " me " that Paul took the key which opened to him 
 the " great mystery concerning Christ and the Church," 
 (Eph. V. 32.) In Christ dweUeth ''all fukiess," (Col. i. 
 19,) and what was by figure intrusted to the people of 
 Israel, among whom God dwelt, (2 Cor. vi. 16,) that is in 
 full grace and truth imparted to the Church of Christ, 
 " which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in 
 all," (Eph. i. 23.) All things in heaven and earth have 
 been created by Him and for Him, (Col. i. 16,) and He 
 filleth all things with the breath of His glorious power; and 
 therefore needeth indeed no one for the consummation of 
 His glory. But this is the mystery of His love, that He 
 receives the congregation of His believing people into a 
 
186 ST PAUL. 
 
 communion of good with Him, and makes them what He 
 is — He the fulness of God, they the fulness of Christ, (1 Cor. 
 iii. 23;) for so He is connected with them as the head with 
 its body. By Hii^ vicarious death and resurrection He 
 has become the head of His body, (Col. i. 18,) and from 
 Him, as the head, the whole body, by joints and bands 
 compacted and knit together into one, " increaseth with 
 the increase of God," (Col. ii. 19 ; Eph. iv. 16.) The union 
 of the sovereign Head with His subordinate members has 
 its visible reflex in the matrimonial union of husband and 
 wife, (Eph. V. 22, &c.) Yea, Paul joins head and members 
 so intimately together into one whole, that of the body of 
 the Church he says, " So also is Christ," (1 Cor. xii. 12,) — 
 after the manner as the holy prophets call Christ the King 
 of Israel, also simply *^ Israel,'' (cf Isa. xlix. 3,) — and as 
 what David sings, " I will give thanks unto Thee, Lord, 
 among the heathen, and sing praises unto Thy name," (Ps. 
 xviii. 49,) is fulfilled in the Church of the Gospel, (Eom. xv. 
 9; cf Acts xiii. 47.) 
 
 St Paul saw Jesus Christ in His heavenly glory. ^Vhere- 
 in then consists the union of the head in heaven and the 
 body on earth ? He became conscious of this mystery 
 when, at his baptism by Ananias, he was filled with the 
 Holy Ghost. "He -that is joined unto the Lord is one 
 spirit " with Him, as the wife is one flesh with her hus- 
 band. A temple of the Holy Ghost is the body of every 
 believer, (1 Cor. vi. 17, &c.,) and God's temple are all 
 believers together, because the Spirit of God dwelleth in 
 them, (1 Cor. iii. 16 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ;) they — all that are in 
 Christ Jesus — grow together unto an holy temple in the 
 Lord : in whom they are also builded together for an hab- 
 itation of God through the Spirit, (Eph. ii. 21-22.) Unity 
 of the Spirit is the unity of the members, both with their 
 Head and with one another, (Eph. iv. 3 ;) for the presence 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 187 
 
 of the Lord in His Church is the presence of the Spirit, (2 
 Cor. iii. 17.) But as Paul himself received not the Holy 
 Ghost without outward means, nor was otherwise kept by 
 Him with Christ in the one true faith, but in the Church, in 
 which the Spirit dwells and works ; so he also now teaches 
 that the Lord both effects and preserves the organic life of 
 the body with its head by means of "joints and bands," min- 
 istering nourishment to it. How thoroughly far ''the man 
 of faith " and of the Spirit was from all fanaticism we have 
 already seen, when viewing him in that character, (cf Chap. 
 VII.) Whereupon, then, does he ground the bridal dignity 
 of the Church ? Answer : " Christ loved the Church, and 
 gave Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse it 
 with the washing of water by the word, that He might 
 present it to Himself a glorious Church," (Eph. v. 25-27.) 
 But whereby is the body of Christ built ? By the Spirit 
 are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or 
 Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been all 
 made to drink into one Spirit, (1 Cor. xii. 13 ; cf. the Old 
 Test, figure of this in 1 Cor. x. 1-4.) In fine, he that re- 
 ceives the Spirit, receives Him " by the hearing of faith," 
 (Gal. iii. 2.) It is the gracious work of the Spirit, in the 
 audible word of preaching and the visible word of the sacra- 
 ment, which begets and nourishes the Church, affiances 
 her to Christ, and presents her to Him in bridal glory. 
 
 In his circular epistle to the congregations in Ephesus 
 and around it, Avherein Paul more especially unfolds the 
 mystery of the Church, at the building up and bodily ex- 
 hibition of which in the whole world he labours, we read 
 in the fourth chapter how " the edifying of the body of 
 Christ" is accomj)lished by Christ's Spirit through the 
 Word and Sacrament. He that ascended up far above aU 
 heavens, that He might fill all things with His divinely- 
 human glory, does by His grace make Himself palpably 
 
188 ST PAUL. 
 
 manifest in His Church on eartli by means of the word of 
 grace administered in His name by ministers of the Word. 
 "And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and 
 some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the 
 perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
 the edifying of the body of Christ." Who could have 
 borne richer testimony to these gifts which the risen and 
 ascended Saviour "gave unto men" than the Apostle Paul, 
 who was himself a right royal gift from the immediate 
 hand of royalty ? Yet, deeply penetrated as he was with 
 the peculiar costliness of the apostolic office intrusted to 
 him " for obedience to the faith among all nations," (Eom. 
 i. 5, xvi. 25, 26,) we, nevertheless, find him ever intent on 
 emphasising and giving prominence to the essential unity 
 of the "ministry of the New Testament," the "ministry of 
 the Spirit," (2 Cor. iii.,) and the " ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion," (2 Cor. V. 18.) Therefore, also, he loves best to speak 
 by "we" and "us,'' where he speaks of the office of "min- 
 isters " (under- workmen) " of Christ and stewards of the 
 mysteries of God," (1 Cor. iv. 1 ;) therefore, too, he associ- 
 ates his name in the introductory salutations of nearly all 
 epistles with some of his colleagues — not only Timothy 
 (often) and Silas (twice), but also his humble brother Sos- 
 thenes, (1 Cor. i. 1;) therefore he says, (2 Cor. v. 20,) 
 "we are ambassadors for Christ," and thus colleagues himr 
 self with all other " messengers," like Peter and John with 
 their elders, (1 Pet. v. 1 ; 2 and 3 John i.) " There are diver- 
 sities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences 
 of administrations, but the same Lord," (1 Cor. xii. 4, 5,) 
 Jesus Christ, who in the apostolic office, to which He has 
 called him, as well as the twelve, has planted the root to 
 all offices in the Church, whereby and wherein the Holy 
 Ghost works with His manifold gifts " to the edifying of 
 the body of Christ." As in the manifold branches of a 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 189 
 
 tree one and the same tree is exhibited, so in the various 
 ministerial offices one and the same ministry, ordained and 
 instituted by Christ for His Church, and therefore of 
 Divine mandate and right, though in its historical develop- 
 ment, after human right and ecclesiastical order, it is so, as 
 it is. In the passage already quoted (Eph. iv.) the Apostle 
 dissects the ministerial office into several distinct functions ; 
 for what he means to say is, that the " manifold gifts and 
 differences of administration of the one Lord " do not hm- 
 der but further the unity of the Church, ('' unto every one 
 of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of 
 Christ;") but forthwith he comprehends again apostles, 
 prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, as all set for 
 "the work of the ministry," whose every object and end is 
 the same, the ''perfecting of the saints," the "edifying of 
 the body of Christ." The parallel passage to this (1 Cor. 
 xii. 28) presents us the same blessed tree, as it shoots 
 forth from the apostolic root into its vari6us branches of 
 gifts and offices. " God hath get some in the Church, first, 
 apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that 
 miracles; then gifts of healings, helps, governments," (i.e., 
 working and administrative talents and operations,) " di- 
 versities of tongues." The apostles, and pre-eminently Paul, 
 stood there in the fulness of all gifts, wherewith the Holy 
 Ghost furnishes and adorns the Church, and we see them 
 executing the '' whole work of the ministry," for the which, 
 in their several capacities, prophets, evangelists, pastors, 
 teachers, and other office-bearers are appointed. Thus — 
 as being primarily ordained for ''the ministry of the 
 word," (Acts vi. 4,) called and gifted for the guidance of the 
 entire service done in and through the word of the Gospel 
 to the edifying of the Church — the apostles are, to borrow 
 a current phrase, the "princes of the Church;" and set as 
 princes indeed they are to the Church of all times, for 
 
190 ST PAUL. 
 
 tlieir word is the fountain of all evangelical preacliing ; and 
 by it shall be judged, not only the twelve tribes of Israel, 
 but we also, and all Gentiles. And this princely oJB&ce 
 and prerogative is theirs exclusively. ''Built upon the 
 foundation of the apostles and prophets," the whole build- 
 ing (of the Church) fitly framed together, rests upon Jesus 
 Christ as the " chief corner-stone," upon whom the apostles 
 were grounded first, (E]3h. ii. 20.) But their followers in 
 the ministry are all that are ordained to officiate in the 
 Church, provided it be the Apostolic Word which they 
 minister. The Lord continues the work He has begun, 
 and in the way He began it, when appointing the first- 
 fruits of His Church to be the first to minister in it, breath- 
 ing on them with the Spirit of His mouth, in order that, 
 by their word, filled with the Spirit, they might dispense 
 the Church's treasures, foremost of which stands the for- 
 giveness of sins to believers in Christ's name, while by the 
 same word they are retained to unbelievers for judgment ; 
 whereunto Christ came into the world, (John xx. 21-23, 
 ix. 39, xii. 47.) Therefore we have found Paul not only 
 active in the ministry of the word, but have also seen him 
 deem it part of his ofiice to " ordain them elders in every 
 church," (Acts xiv. 23,) of and to whom he says, '' The 
 Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of 
 God," (Acts XX. 28.) In his very first epistle he writes, — 
 "We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour 
 among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish 
 you ; and to esteem them very highly for their work's 
 sake," (1 Thess. v. 12, 13.) And that the Apostle looks 
 upon all elders (overseers, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) 
 as his colleagues, we may see from his farewell address at 
 Miletus, which is throughout an exhortation to the elders 
 at Ephesus to follow their fellow-elder Paul. 
 
 " Ministry " and " diaconate " mean " service; " and so, in 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 191 
 
 fact, does " liturgy." It is Paul's comfort, as well as boast, 
 that lie holds his ministry from the Lord Himself. A 
 "liturgus" of Jesus Christ he calls himself, commissioned 
 and empowered to dispense the Gospel, (Eom. xv. 16.) 
 Notwithstanding, he accepts the Lord's commission (1 
 Tim. i. 1) altogether in the sense of ministering love, and 
 desires his of&ce to be looked upon as a service w^liich 
 Christ, the great "Arch-deacon," (Jesus Christ was a 
 " minister of the circumcision," Eom. xv. 8,) renders to 
 the Church through His ministering servants, (1 Tim. iv. 
 6.) "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the 
 Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake," (2 
 Cor. iv. 5.) In love's service, he is devoted to his brethren 
 for Christ's sake, in order that He alone — through the 
 service done by commission under Him, and on His part — 
 might be the Lord of all — a Lord who is among His ser- 
 vants, " as he that serveth," (Luk# xxii. 27 ; John xiii. 16.) 
 A labourer together with God he is in God's husbandry, 
 (1 Cor. iii. 9,) who beseeches by him, (2 Cor. v. 20.) 
 "Wherefore he says, — ''Not for that we have dominion over 
 your faith, but are helpers of your joy," (2 Cor. i. 24 ;) for 
 God lords none by imperious rule into the joy of faith, 
 but courts men into it by the gentle intreaty of His w^ord 
 of grace; and they that receive it shall reign in God — 
 serving in liberty, themselves lorded by none, but led by 
 the Spirit of joy, nourished and increased in them by the 
 " helpers of their joy," and preserved to them, under God, 
 by them that "watch for their souls," (Heb. xiii. 17.) 
 " Who, then, is Paul, and who is ApoUos, but ministers 
 by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every 
 man ? " (1 Cor. iii. 6.) 
 
 The Lord has ordained the ministry to serve in the 
 Church, not to stand between Him and the Church. Tliey 
 (the ministers) do not float in the air, but are members and 
 
192 ST PAUL. 
 
 integral parts of tlie Church. No trace or thought of the 
 office-bearers in the Church holding a mediatorial position 
 between God and the Church can be found in Paul's 
 epistles, or any place of the New Testament. In the 
 three cardinal passages (Eom. xii. ; 1 Cor. xiii., and Eph. 
 iv.) where the Apostle treats of the different Church 
 offices for the edifying of the body of Christ, he speaks of 
 the gifts of the Lord, or the Spirit, as given to the Church, 
 as an organic whole, to make use of them by persons 
 whom she calls and sets apart to serve her with the re- 
 ceived gifts. And these are made effectual by the Lord's 
 command, and under His gracious operation, in the minis- 
 try, or "ministration of the Spirit," (2 Cor. iii. 8; Gal. iii. 
 5 ;) which, according to the necessities of the Church, is 
 unfolded in different offices. In so far " the work of the 
 ministry " in the Church emanates from her Head. But 
 the persons divinely designated by their gifts for the 
 ministry, and called unto it by the Church, are no " vicars 
 of Christ," no proxies, no substitutes or representatives 
 of the Head ; but among the members of Christ's body is 
 their place, those members whom God hath set severally, 
 according to His will, to care for and serve one another 
 in love. 
 
 For the Church is the body of Christ, in her capacity as 
 the congregation of believers who, through the Holy 
 Ghost, are gathered together under their Head, Christ; 
 and for that reason they are united among one another in 
 love, (Eph. iv. 16.) The Church is not constituted of a 
 number of individuals, who form themselves into an asso- 
 ciation for their spiritual benefit, and keep together so long 
 as it pleases them ; but the Church is a family, the family 
 of '' the household of God," (Eph. ii. 19,) all begotten by 
 His Spirit, and related by one blood of generation. " AH" 
 are " one in Christ Jesus," (Gal. iii. 28.) We have seen 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 193 
 
 in Paul " the man of faith," to whom especially was com- 
 municated the mystery of the incorporation of the Gentiles 
 into " the same body," (Eph. iii. 6 ;) the ''labourer together 
 with God," who devoted his whole life to carryiag into 
 effect, throughout the world, what Christ had shed His 
 precious blood for, — the oneness of Jew and Gentile, the 
 making "one new man" out of twain, (Eph. ii. 15,) the 
 consummation of the true Israel of God. We have seen — 
 to speak with Gregory of Nazianzum — " the herald of the 
 Gentiles, who is a captain of the Jews." As Christ is 
 both the substance of Paul's faith and sum-total of all his 
 preaching, so the " fulness of Christ " — the Church — is 
 the fulness of his evangelical doctrine. There is no trace 
 in his apostolical teaching that does not bear, more or less 
 directly, on the mystery of " Christ and the Church." 
 EeconciLiation and redemption, justification and life, pre- 
 sent liberty in the Spirit and future glory, all the articles of 
 Christian faith and hope, coincide and meet together in this 
 one, — the apostolic doctrine of the body whose Head is 
 Christ. Then only do we rightly understand the man of love 
 when we understand the love wherein he walked as one 
 which finds her object and consummation in the Church. 
 *' Edification " is every^vhere the end of the love he exer- 
 cises, and bids others to exercise, in the name of the Lord. 
 To unity in the Spirit, to oneness in confession, to peace 
 in life, he continually exhorts and stretches forward with 
 all his might. The kingdom of God is righteousness and 
 peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; but where this spiritual 
 kingdom is established by faith, it manifests itself in love, 
 which has regard to even such outward things as eating 
 and drinking, and walks after this rule ; " Let us therefore 
 follow after the things which make for peace, and things 
 wherewith one may edify another," (Eom. xiv. 1 7-19.) Here 
 is the place where we have to \dew Paul as deputy of 
 
 N 
 
194 ST PAUL. 
 
 the Antiocliian cliurch to the synod at Jerusalem, 
 (Acts XV.) 
 
 This journey of Paul to Jerusalem was one of love to 
 the Church; whereunto the Lord, as has been already 
 observed, strengthened him by a special revelation, (Gal. 
 ii. 2 ;) and indeed he needed such strengthening. For was 
 he not jeopardising his apostolical independence by taking 
 the appearance upon him as if he subjected his gospel- 
 preaching to the judgment of the first-called apostles? 
 Would it not be construed into a tacit admission of their 
 superiority to him ? (Gal. ii. 6.) Did he not furnish the 
 followers of '' Cephas," who deemed him and liis fellow- 
 Apostles of the Circumcision superior to the after-called 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, with weapons, by allowing him- 
 self to be ruled by their advice in any matter of Christian 
 doctrine, life, and order ? Surely, had Paul held himself 
 for wise, he had not gone up to Jerusalem, or had there 
 taken another position than we find he did. But Paul 
 was lighted on this church-journey by the word : " That 
 speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into Him in 
 aU things, which is the Head, even Christ," (Eph. iv. 15.) 
 An Antiochian church had just witnessed the accession of 
 four Gentile churches gathered by Paul and Barnabas, 
 and had rejoiced with them that the Lord had " opened 
 the door of faith unto the Gentiles," (Acts xiv. 27.) But 
 in the Mother-Church at Jerusalem and in Judaea this joy 
 over Paul's blessed draught was of a mixed character. 
 The Apostles themselves, and those like-minded with them, 
 would indeed be glad to find Peter's signally gracious 
 entrance into Cornelius' house so richly confirmed by 
 these " wonderful works of God." But not all were like- 
 minded with Peter, and John, and James, the Lord's 
 brother. Some Judaising Christians would hold their 
 leaven of legal Pharisaic pride concealed under the 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 195 
 
 cloak of Jewish patriotism and an attachment to Israel's 
 honoured rights and " customs," (Acts xxi. 21 ;) and there- 
 fore wished to see circumcision and the observance of the 
 law required of the Gentile Christians as necessary to 
 salvation besides their faith in Jesus Christ. The Church's 
 treasure, the truth of the Gospel, the only apostolic answer 
 to the question : " Is Jesus Christ enough for justification 
 and the forgiveness of sins to every man that believeth in 
 Him?" was here at stake. Thanks be to God! the holy 
 synod, " apostles and elders," which " came together for to 
 consider this matter," were unanimous in the confession, 
 to which the Holy Ghost gave utterance by Peter's mouth : 
 " We believe, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ we shall be saved, even as they" (of the Gentiles.) 
 Now Paul and Barnabas could relate to the " silent " 
 multitude that God, through them, had indeed wrought 
 among the Gentiles what Peter had said — viz., that He 
 had '' purified their hearts by faith ; " and James elucidated 
 and confirmed by the prophetic word the acceptance of 
 the Gentiles as the work of God. The three pillars, Peter, 
 James, and John, found Paul's gospel-edifice among the 
 heathen needful of no propping up by additional doctrines, 
 and gave Paul and Barnabas — over the one and only 
 Gospel—'' the right hands of feUowship," (Gal. ii. 6-9.) 
 They were unanimous in disowning and rejecting as 
 slanderous the sinister reports whereby false brethren 
 from Judsea had disturbed the church at Antioch; and 
 thus these peace-disturbers were happily foiled and beaten. 
 The holy synod, however, being gathered in the spirit of 
 truth and love, did more than merely acknowledge the 
 Christian liberty of the Gentile churches. They also 
 deemed it their duty to furnish them with helps for the 
 maintenance of a laudable Christian order of life. The 
 ordinances of the Jewish law, stiU observed by the Chris- 
 
196 . ST PAUL. 
 
 tians gathered from among the Jews, were not fitting 
 barriers of church order for the Gentile churches, inas- 
 much as they had not first to become Jews in order to 
 become Christians as fully as those. The synod, there- 
 fore, upon the advice of James, supplied them with certain 
 rules for the fixing of a wise discipline and fair Christian 
 order in the spirit of love, and resolved to write to them 
 "that they should abstain from pollutions of idols," 
 (especially from " things offered unto idols," 1 Cor. viii.,) " 
 "and from fornication," (all and every lawlessness in the 
 sexual relations of life, 1 Cor. vi. 18 ; Gal. v. 19 ; Eph. v- 
 3 ; Col. iii. 5 ; 1 Thess. iv. 3,) "and from things strangled, 
 and from blood," (Gen. ix. 4; Deut. xii. 23.) By this the 
 communal life of the young Gentile churches was hedged 
 in with a barrier of laudable caution against all impure 
 and obscene heathen practices ; while, by the last precept, 
 a tender regard also was shewn to their Jewish brethren. 
 " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us," it says in 
 the body of the synodal letter, "to lay upon you no 
 greater burden than these necessary things." What ! Did 
 not Paul protest against such a resolution ? Did he lend 
 himself to imposing upon churches of his gathering and 
 building up synodal precepts as enacted by the Holy 
 Ghost ; and that, too, such as had regard to mere externals — 
 to " meat" and drink?" And was he going to "subject" 
 them again to such ''ordinances?" (Col. ii. 20-22.) Yet 
 Luke has not omitted expressly to mention that Paul, upon 
 his next visitation-journey through the churches of Asia 
 Minor, delivered them the "decrees" for "to keep" that 
 were ordained of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem; 
 yea, and he adds, what now-a-days may sound strange and 
 even vexatious to some people, " and so were the churches 
 established in the faith, and increased in number daily," 
 (Acts xvi. 4, 5.) Thus, then, Paul must have deemed the 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 197 
 
 holy synod to have written aright : "It seemed good to the 
 Holy Ghost, and to ns ; " and he held thus of it because 
 he found in the synod's decree only an explanatory copy 
 of one and the same law of love, which Christ puts in the 
 hearts of His believing people, and which the Holy Ghost 
 establishes and keeps up in the Church. 
 
 Exactly so, as here at the synod in Jerusalem, we find 
 Paul minded every^vhere. With all diligence, as a good 
 ruler, (Eom. xii. 18,) he upheld the maintenance of unity 
 in the Church : " Endeavour to keep the unity of the 
 Spirit in the bond of peace," (Eph. iv. 3.) In this passage 
 the two things are paired together, which in the synodal 
 decree also go hand in hand : unity in the spirit of faith, 
 preserved by the Spirit of love in the bond of peace. 
 "There is one body and one Spirit," he continues, (Eph. v. 
 4-6), '' even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; 
 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of 
 all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." He 
 wants Christians to feel themselves as one integral and 
 indivisible body, even as the Spirit is one and indivisible, 
 who, through the Gospel, calls and gathers all in one hope 
 of the same calling. One Lord is the Lord of them all, 
 and therefore the faith of them all can be but one ; and 
 one baptism admits and makes them all His own. One 
 God and Father it is whom all His children in Christ caU 
 " Abba, Father ! " by the spirit of adoption. He is God 
 over them all as their Creator, through them all as their 
 Preserver, in them all as their Guide and Director. As 
 Paul thankfully appeals to the " true " God that his and 
 his fellow-labourers' preaching of the one Lord Jesus Christ 
 has not been ''yea and nay," (2 Cor. i. 18) — otherwise the 
 Church of the living God were not the " pillar and ground 
 of the truth," (1 Tim. iiL 15,) but a spurious comiter or 
 a weathercock — so we find him exhorting his congregations 
 
198 ST PAUL. 
 
 everywhere to be of one mind in Christ, (Eom. xv. 5, 6 ; 
 Phil. ii. 2.) He saw their concord in sound doctrine 
 abeady endangered, if they did not hold fast " the form of 
 sound words" delivered by the apostles, (2 Tim. 1, 13.) 
 '' Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that 
 there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly 
 joined together in the same mind and in the same judg- 
 ment,^' (1 Cor. i. 10.) But oneness in faith and unity in 
 doctrine have to be supported by their own offspring, 
 concord and love. With parental fondness the Apostle 
 paints before the Corinthians the many-membered body of 
 the Church, so manifoldly-gifted by the self-same Spirit, 
 (1 Cor. xii.), " For as the body is one, and hath many 
 members, and all the members of that one body, being 
 many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit 
 are we all baptized into one body, whether w^e be Jews or 
 Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been all 
 made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one 
 member, but many. If the foot shall say. Because I am not 
 the hand, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the 
 body ? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the 
 eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body ? 
 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? 
 If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling ? 
 But now hath God set the members every one of them in 
 the body, as it hath pleased Him." The congregation at 
 Corinth, and each individual congregation, is to consider 
 itself as such a body, the manifold members of which need 
 one anotlier, and therefore must care for one another. 
 Yet it is not Paul's meaning that, for instance, the congre- 
 gation at Corinth or that at Eome do each form one body 
 w^ithout any organic connexion between them. Bidding 
 grace and peace unto the church of God which is at 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 199 
 
 Corintli, he adds : *' To them that are sanctified in Christ 
 Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call 
 upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and 
 ours," (1 Cor. i. 2;) thus deeming every place his own 
 that holds any of them. Likewise he writes to the Eo- 
 mans : " As we have many members in one body, and all 
 members have not the same office : so we, being many, are 
 one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 
 Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is 
 given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according 
 to the proportion of faith ; or ministry, let us Avait on our 
 ministering ; or he that teacheth, on teaching," (Eom. xii. 
 4-7.) Yea, so studiously did the man who had upon him 
 " the care of all the churches " (2 Cor. xi. 28) foster the 
 spirit of true catholicity, that, in the Corinthians' " minis- 
 tration " to the saints at Jerusalem he recognises a distri- 
 bution '' unto all" (2 Cor. ix. 13.) Verily Paul was no 
 fanatic, nor a " Congregationalist," or " Independent." In 
 his "we, being many, are one body in Christ," he includes 
 all who belomr and hold themselves to the '' little flock " 
 gathered around the Gospel, and ranged under the banners 
 of Christ's Cross, whether at Eome, or Corinth, from Jeru- 
 salem even unto the ends of the earth. Well indeed he 
 knows that only true believers are " one body in Christ," 
 of whom He is the Head ; yet he knows nothing of a body 
 or church so spiritual and invisible that he might be un- 
 able to find or reach them with his apostolic exhortation. 
 Are there among those, of whom he says " we, being many, 
 are one body in Christ," some or many who do not believe 
 in their heart what they confess with their mouth, and do 
 not therefore cleave to the invisible Head, while, like 
 Judas, they move among the visible members of the body ? 
 Well, in them the spiritual and invisible Church is not 
 represented ; though they are in the Church or body, they 
 
200 ST PAUL. 
 
 are not of the Church or body of Christ ; they are the rub- 
 bish among the vessels of Christ — dead members among 
 the living — withered branches among the green. Nor does 
 the existence of such " vessels unto dishonour " subvert the 
 "pillar and ground of the truth;" for the foundation of 
 God standeth sure, having this seal : " The Lord knoweth 
 them that are His," yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, 
 (Num. xvi. 5 ;) and His own are to remain steadfast in the 
 doing of the word : " Let every one that nameth the name 
 of Christ depart from iniquity," (2 Tim. ii. 19-21.) For 
 where persons who call themselves Christians make them- 
 selves known by their works as un-Christians and Anti- 
 christians, neither will be checked by brotherly discipline, 
 there Paul commands : " Put away from among you that 
 wicked person," (1 Cor. v. 13.) But the melancholy fact, 
 of which he was fully aware, that in this life " there are (and 
 always will be) many false Christians and hypocrites, yea, 
 and open sinners too, among the true believers," did not by 
 any means determine him to fix the Christian Church, 
 which "properly is nothing but the congregation of aU 
 believers and saints," into the open air of a mere idea, 
 stripping her of her organic palpability, as subsisting in 
 the preached and confessed Christ, and to dream of an 
 invisible Church beside and out of the visible. " I say 
 to every man that is among you," he writes to the 
 Eoman Church, (Eom. xii. 3; cf. 1 Cor. xii. 27: "Now ye 
 are the body of Christ, and members in particular;") 
 and with that at Eome he comprehends into one all 
 churches of Christ in all places; for "so we," he says, 
 " being many, are one body in Christ." A glance into the 
 church-building and church-ruling activity of the Apostle 
 shews plainly enough that he meant the picture he has 
 drawn in 1 Cor. xii. of the body with many members, as 
 valid for the collection of all individual congregations. 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 201 
 
 From the very first (cf., for instance, Acts xvi. 3) we find 
 him employed to connect in the bond of peace the different 
 new congregations springing up here and there, and by 
 living joints to strengthen the tender bands of the several 
 individual congregations into one whole. The identical 
 name of ''church," which not only each congregation, 
 but even a small fraction of one, (Eom. xvi. 5 ; 1 Cor. 
 xvi. 9,) bears together with the collective whole — ecclesia 
 — already clearly points to this, that, according to apostolic 
 doctrine and practice, the Christians scattered sectionally 
 through the world constitute one organic whole, the 
 parts of which grow together, and stand in service- 
 rendering relation to one another. The heavenly organ- 
 ism of the Church consists in the union of many in 
 one Spirit and faith, wrought by the means of grace ; but 
 this inward union manifests itself in outward signs, and is 
 nourished and preserved by visible means. Paul desires 
 the saints' ''perfection," complete restoration — Kafartisis, 
 (2 Cor. xiii. 9;) and this he sees grow out of their close 
 union (1 Cor. i. 10) and organic edification, (Eph. iv. 12, 13,) 
 as one community or congregation of the Lord. Unto the 
 giving and receiving of "spiritual" and "carnal" things 
 (Eom. XV. 27) the several Christians and Christian congre- 
 gations are joined together in love ; for God is love, and 
 His Church is the visible embodiment of love, (cf 1 John 
 iv. 12.) It is God's will that the several members of the 
 body shall need one another, care for one another, and 
 allow themselves to be cared for one by the other ; therefore 
 He has manifoldly distributed the manifold gifts of the one 
 Spirit among the several members of the undivided, and 
 every division-resisting, body, and points them mutually 
 to each other's edification. Be it prophecy or ministry, 
 teaching or exhortation ; be it ruling and guiding, or the 
 dispensing of bodily benefits, such as care for the sick and 
 
202 ST PAUL. 
 
 poor, with all other exercises of mercy, (Eom. xii. 6-8) — every 
 gift of grace is given to each for the whole ; and Paul, the 
 "ruler," best shews how that gift (Kyhernesis, art of steer- 
 ing, 1 Cor. xii. 28) has to be made effective in serving the 
 whole body to edification, by discerning and awakening, 
 commissioning and installing, watching over and applying, 
 the manifold gifts to the general good of the Church, ac- 
 cording to circumstances of place and time. The common 
 gift of all Christians, Prayer — as if proceeding from the one 
 heart in the body — Paul stirs continually into hearty mo- 
 tion and vigorous exercise by his constant exhortations to 
 Intercession. As, to his great comfort, he knows himself 
 borne up by the prayers of the Church, (2 Cor. i. 11 ; Phil, 
 i. 19 ; Philemon 22,) and urgently commends himself to 
 them, (Rom. XV. 30; Eph. vi. 19; Col. iv. 3; 1 Thess. v. 
 15;) so he seeks to increase the union of all saints, here and' 
 there, by exhorting them to intercessions and thanksgiving 
 for each other, (Eph. vi. 18,) and for all men, (1 Tim. ii. 1.) 
 The singing of God's praise by all brethren, with one mind 
 and one mouth, (Rom. xv. 6,) was to him the holy bloom of 
 church-life, pregnant with much fruit, of which it has the 
 promise. The uniform Latin tongue kept up in the Romish 
 Church, although lapsed into the service of perversion, is 
 one of Claudius' " beacons at sea, to indicate that a richly- 
 laden vessel has suffered shipwreck there." In all respects 
 the "man of the Church" proved himself a faithful guardian 
 and diligent fosterer of the precious organic union and 
 communion whereto all Christians scattered over the whole 
 earth are called. An instance of his fond solicitude in 
 this direction we have seen in the collection he gathered 
 with such painstaking diligence, cementing thereby in one 
 bond of peaceful union the saints in Judsea and those of his 
 several Gentile conOTec^ations. 
 
 Our attention has already been drawn to that memorable 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. ZVo 
 
 passage in 1 Cor. xiv., (cf. p. 160,) wliere, of liis directions for 
 decent order in the church service, the Apostle says : " The 
 things that I write nnto you are the commandments of the 
 Lord," (1 Cor. xiv. 37.) By this we are not to understand 
 as though the several precepts he there gives were com- 
 municated to him by special revelation, (cf 1 Cor. vii. 
 12-25,) but rather as he himself explains his meaning to 
 this effect : " For God is not the author of confusion, but 
 of peace." As " all churches of the saints," so the one at 
 Corinth has to shew itself as a congregation of the God of 
 peace and order. " Let all things be done decently and in 
 order." In drawing into the sphere of his apostolical manage- 
 ment and control all such things as the manner of Divine 
 service and church discipline, (yea, and even customs, to 
 the very wearing of woman's hair,) matrimonial order, and 
 the administration of the poor-box — in short, all that is 
 comprehended under the term of ''church order" — "So 
 ordain I in all churches," (1 Cor. vii. 17;) "the rest will I 
 set in order when I come," (1 Cor. xi. 34) — and claiming 
 for these regulations the church's obedience, as one due to 
 the Lord, the Apostle is far from putting a yoke upon the 
 neck of the disciples, and of bringing the happily freed 
 Christian souls again from evangelical liberty under legal 
 restraints. He is plain, indeed, where church order and dis- 
 cipline is concerned, (1 Cor. v. 11,) and can boldly write 
 " I will therefore," both as regards matters of Christian duty 
 as well as Christian decency, (1 Tim. ii. 8, &c. ;) yea, and 
 " command " he can, " in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Clnist, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother 
 that walketh disorderly, and not after the traditions which 
 he received of us," (2 Thess. iii. 6 ;) and, " but if any man," 
 he can peremptorily say, " seem to be contentious, we have 
 no such custom, neither the churches of God," (1 Cor. xi. 
 16.) Yet what are all the orders according to which he 
 
204 ST PAUL. 
 
 desires the Christian Church to walk, but copies and pre- 
 cepts of edifying love, resulting from faith? They are en- 
 forced by no " staff of the driver," except it be that of Him 
 who "driveth"* God's children; and their love is not 
 ignorant of it, (cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 38,) but understands the 
 Spirit's voice. And because church precepts do but regulate 
 works of love, they are not immutable; for love alters her 
 works according to time and circumstances, place and per- 
 sons — "adapt yourselves to the time."-)* But Paul's sense 
 is caught as little as Luther' s,| if their names are made use 
 of for justifying an evangelical liberty which wants to be 
 free from, and independent of, that general order whereby 
 the one body is served and edified by all its constituent 
 parts. The " Congregational system," for instance, loses 
 sight of this important point in not viewing the Church as 
 one organic whole. That only can change which exists. As 
 the living human body constantly changes in its growth, 
 yet always remains the same human body, and never be- 
 comes a spectre ; exactly so does the changeableness of 
 church order not consist in this, that possibly there might 
 be no order at all, but in its changing according to its own 
 
 * Luther's forcible rendering of ayoa in Rom. viii. 1 4, 
 f Luther's translation of two different passages — Rom. xii. 11, and Eph. 
 V. 16. In the former he must have followed quite another reading (than 
 tS Kvpico 8ov\€vovT€s,) and in the latter have been swayed by the context; 
 for the English, here also, is decidedly the corrector rendering (of 
 ( ^ayopa^ofxai.) — Tr. 
 
 X Luther, for instance, in speaking of the Saxon-church-visitation-order, 
 says : " From which common order to deviate creates no good thoughts, 
 and eventually even disruption and devastation of the Church. AVe should 
 thank God that our churches are brought a little into uniform order ; and 
 God will not bless them who, without any need, only for their own ambi- 
 tion and pride, break in upon such order and unity. But may God be 
 our help and strength in the maintenance of a true faith and unfeigned 
 love ! Amen." Such like things, therefore, are really " old," and not " new 
 Lutheran." 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 205 
 
 inherent law : " Let all your things he done with charity," 
 (1 Cor. xvi. 14;) and again, " Edify one another/' (1 Thess. 
 V. 11.) 
 
 In conclusion, we shall take a view of the three (so- 
 called) " pastoral letters." They faithfully reflect the pic- 
 ture of Paul, as a clever pilot steering the vessel of Christ. 
 Pastoral letters we call the two Epistles to Timothy and the 
 one to Titus, hecause they are written to pastors, and mainly 
 treat of how they ought to be, and how they ought to execute 
 their office. They might, however, as properly he called 
 letters on church government ; for the church "ruler" writes 
 them to his two assistants, {" apostolical vicars " they have 
 been not unaptly called,) that they might know how to 
 "set in order" the things wanting, as he had appointed 
 them, (Tit. i. 5.) A '' superintendental instruction " they 
 contain, (for '' superintendents " of Ephesus and Crete 
 respectively Timothy and Titus have also been styled, by 
 our fathers,) inasmuch as the pastoral and other instruc- 
 tions therein given are meant to serve them as a norm for 
 the management of church aJBfairs, which, for instance, is 
 pointedly expressed in injunctions like these : '' Let no 
 widow be taken into the number under threescore years," 
 (1 Tim. V. 9), and " let the elders that rule well be counted 
 worthy of double honour; (ib. ver. 17.) Now, how were 
 Timothy and Titus to " behave themselves in the house of 
 God?" (1 Tim. iii. 15.) First, and chief, stands the care 
 in keeping incorrupt the only true doctrine, and watching 
 over it that it be so kept. Paul's Eirst Epistle to Timothy 
 at once begins by mentioning why he had left his ^' own 
 son in the faith" at Ephesus — viz., that he might '' charge 
 some that they teach no other doctrine." Strange doctrine, 
 or rather strange teaching, (heterodidaskaly,) he is not to 
 suffer. The spirit of error and heresy did not yet venture, 
 it would appear, to come out boldly with a denial of the 
 
206 . ST PAUL. 
 
 apostolic doctrine; but some, satiated with the plain Chris- 
 tian food, "gave heed to fables and endless genealogies," 
 and were " doting about questions and strifes of words." 
 Against these Paul binds upon Timothy's conscience the 
 two cardinal articles for Christian edification — faith and 
 love, — and calls to his mind " the glorious Gospel of the 
 blessed God," which was committed to his trust. " This 
 cliarge I commit unto thee, son Timothy," he most solemnly 
 writes him, and exhorts the watchman over the house of 
 God to "war a good warfare." Prominent among all his 
 injunctions regarding the Christian life in the Church 
 stands always the heeding of a sound faith and teaching, as 
 the chief charge of his office, (1 Tim. vi. 12-14 ;) and at the 
 close of this epistle he once more calls out to him : "0 
 Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, 
 avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of 
 science falsely so called, which some professing have erred 
 concerning the faith." His main charge upon Titus, like- 
 wise, is to ordain such elders and bishops *'in every city" 
 as, like "faithful stewards of God," shall uphold the word 
 of " sound doctrine," and contrariwise to " stop the mouth" 
 of those who "for filthy lucre's sake teach things which 
 they ought not," tickling the Cretans' lie-accustomed ears 
 with '^Jewish fables and commandments of men." As a 
 " pattern of good works " he ought always to shew himself, 
 but withal to watch over " uncorruptness in doctrine," 
 (Tit. ii. 7 ;) the sweetest kernel of which is contained in 
 the two Christmas epistles (Tit. ii. 11-14, and iii. 4-7) ; to 
 which severally the Apostle adds : " These things speak 
 and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man 
 despise thee ; " " This is a faithful saying, and these things 
 I will that thou affirm constantly." The Second Epistle to 
 Timothy contains Paul's last will and testament to his 
 " dearly beloved son.'* Once more " Paul the aged " lays 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 207 
 
 his blessing hand upon him, encouraging his sorrowful 
 disciple (2 Tim. i. 4) to " stir up the gift of God, which" (he 
 says) '' is in thee by the putting on of my hands," (ib. ver. 6 ;) 
 and here also his main exhortation is still, " Hold fast the 
 form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith 
 and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which 
 was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost w^hich 
 dwelleth in us," (ib. ver. 13, 14.) The more boldly and 
 shamelessly the Antichristian spirits are throwing off their 
 mask, bent on committing havoc in the ''house of God," 
 the more bravely and courageously Timothy is to put on 
 his strength in Christ, fully confiding in the Lord, who wiU 
 give him understanding rightly (without addition or omis- 
 sion) to divide the w^ord of truth, and to "purge himself" 
 from all seducers, who are growing worse and worse. " But 
 watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of 
 an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry," (2 Tim. iv. 
 5.) Grounded upon this passage in particular, some have 
 latterly thought the offlce of an " evangelist " to be virtu- 
 ally the same with the "episcopate;" so that Timothy, 
 even in his character as evangelist, had been " bishop " of 
 Ephesus, in the sense of ecclesiastical rule, which it can be 
 proved has been attached to that oflflcial title since the 
 second century.* Though this assumption goes too great 
 a length, ("evangelists" are all preachers of the Gospel 
 among the heathen ; for instance "Philip the evangelist," 
 Acts xxi. 8,) yet so much is quite plain, that Timothy the 
 " evangelist" was to fulfil {i.e., fully execute) his office, not 
 alone by preaching the Gospel, teaching and exhorting, (to 
 which, however, he certainly was to give continual attend- 
 ance, 1 Tim. iv. 13 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2 ; ) but also thereby, that 
 — as the apostle's legate — he exercised the same ruling 
 
 ♦ Thus Lechler: Die neutestamentliche Lehre vom heiligen Amte. — 
 P. 220, &c. 
 
208 ST PAUL. 
 
 and administrative functions which we see Paul himself 
 do : — To him, as well as Titus, was committed the care to 
 see that in their respective dioceses the preaching of the 
 Gospel be carried on by truly evangelical men, and that 
 their congregations be edified in a manner becoming the 
 Gospel of Christ. To this end they had to look out for and 
 choose well-qualified persons, to instruct, to examine, and 
 to ordain them for their several offices, by the laying on of 
 hands (1 Tim. iii. 1, &c., v. 9, &c., ver. 22 ; 2 Tim. ii. 2 ; Tit. 
 i. 5, &c.) Over the deacons and elders, (bishops,) both 
 them that preached and those doing other evangelical ser- 
 vice in the Church, they had the superintendence, to uphold 
 the respect of their office, and provide for their main- 
 tenance, (1 Tim. V. 17-18;) but also to watch over their 
 doctrine and conversation, to receive accusations against 
 them, yet guardedly and upon sufficient proof by witnesses, 
 and to administer reproof or other condign correction, 
 (jurisdiction;) but withal having the utmost care to "do 
 nothing by partiality," (1 Tim. v. 19-21,) and after the 
 rule : " Eebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; 
 and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as 
 mothers; the younger as sisters, with aU purity," (1 Tim. v. 
 1, 2.) Finally, the entire church order was put under their 
 supervision, both that of the manner of Divine service 
 (1 Tim. ii.) and the discipline of the congregations in doc- 
 trine and life, (1 Tim. vi. 1, &c.; Tit. ii. 1, &c., iii. 1, &c.) 
 To sum up all — the Apostle has drawn in these epistles 
 the functions of a careful " ruler," such as Luther speaks 
 of, on the words " he that ruleth, with diligence," (Kom. 
 xii. 8 :) " They are those who are to watch over aU offices 
 in the Church ; that the teachers wait on teaching, and be 
 not slothful, likewise the ministers on ministering, and be 
 not dilatory, but do rightly dispense the treasure ; punish 
 and excommunicate sinners, and have diligent care to see 
 
THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 209 
 
 all functions faithfully exercised. Such are the bishops' 
 functions ; wherefore also they are called bishops or over- 
 seers, and ' antistites/ as St Paul calls them here — i.e., pre- 
 lates and rulers." 
 
 Verba docent, exempla trahunt, words teach, examples 
 draw. If the Apostle has not taught us in express words 
 that the Church ought at all times, in care for her organic 
 edification, to call to the office of ruling overseers or ad- 
 ministrators such men as the Holy Ghost has furnished 
 with that gift, such at least must be our conviction, by 
 the example he has drawn for us in Timothy and Titus. 
 
 But, above all, let us hold firm to St Paul's divine word 
 and doctrine, that it may rule us as with the sceptre of the 
 Lord! TertuUian beheld in Paul "little Benjamin," who 
 rules where God is blest for* "the fountain of Israel," 
 (Ps. Ixviii. 26, 27.) Of such rule there will be no end '' so 
 long as the gathering around this fountain lasts." We 
 have ventured to extol the merits of this prince among 
 God's saints, not as if he needed " letters of commendation," 
 who in all believers' hearts has a living letter of honour 
 "known and read of all men," (2 Cor, iii. 1-3;) but be- 
 cause we are mindful of his exhortation : " Eemember them 
 which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you 
 the word of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end 
 of their conversation," (Heb. xiii. 7.) May this " portrait" 
 of Paul, and his example, draw us to the obedience of the 
 faith he once taught, is stiU teaching, and will teach to the 
 end ! Now and ever may the imperishable blessing rest 
 on the Church, whereof Chrysostom spoke fourteen cen- 
 turies back : " By his epistles Paul ever lives in every 
 man's mouth throughout the world. Through them have 
 been blessed not only the heathen congregations that were 
 
 * Luther's translation of the Hebrew (Septuagint : Ik Trrjyaiv) in Ps. Ixviii, 
 26 ; instead of the English correct rendering: "from the foundation." — Tb. 
 
 
 
210 ST PAUL. 
 
 gathered by him, but all believers down to this day ; yea 
 and will be blessed all saints still to be born till the com- 
 incr of the Lord." Amen. 
 
 o 
 
 Christ, champion of Thy Church, that war-worn host 
 Who bear Thy cross, haste, help, or we are lost ! 
 The schemes of those who long our blood have sought 
 Bring Thou to nought. 
 
 Do Thou Thyself for us Thy children fight, 
 Withstand the devil, quell his rage and might; 
 Whate'er assails Thy members left below 
 Do Thou o'erthrow. 
 
 Raise men like Paul, both in our Church and School ! 
 Fill all with grace whom Thou dost raise to rule ! 
 Faith, hope, and love, Christ, to every heart 
 Do Thou impart ! 
 
 So shall Thy goodness here be still adored, 
 Thou guardian of Thy " little flock," dear Lord, 
 And heaven and earth through all eternity 
 Shall worship Thee. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 
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 MEMORIALS OF THE REV. JOSEPH SORTAIN, 
 
 B.A., of Trinity College, Dublin. By his Widow. Post Svo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " In both taste and feeling the book is a most favourable specimen of reli- 
 gions biography." — Christian Remembrancer. 
 " This is a charming biography." — Record. 
 
 MEMORIALS OF SERGEANT WILLIAM MAR- 
 
 JOURAM, Royal Artillery. Edited by Sergeant William White. With 
 a Preface by the Author of " Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars." 
 Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth, 
 " These memoirs are very interesting. . . . It is edited by Sergeant White, 
 
 the Preface being written by Miss Marsh with her usual piety and good 
 
 feeling. " — Christian Observer. 
 
 EVENINGS WITH JOHN BUNYAN ; or, The Dream 
 
 Interpreted. By James Large. Crown Svo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " It abounds in most valuable matter, eminently calculateii to instruct and 
 to edify. It is replete with interesting facts and circumstances, all in point, 
 and appropriate citations from the Word of God, as well as from sacred 
 poetry." — British Standard. 
 
 THE BLACK SHIP ; and other Allegories and Parables. 
 
 By the Author of " Tales and Sketches of Christian Life," &c. 16mo, 
 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "Tliis is a curious collection of multifarious subjects, all of a character to 
 command attention and to repav it. Its airy, romantic character imparts a 
 charm which will be deeply felt by young people." — British Standard. 
 
 HELEN DUNDAS ; or. The Pastor's Wife. By Zaida. 
 
 With a Preface by tlie Author of "Haste to the Rescue." Crown Svo, 
 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "This is an exceedingly pretty, well-written tale. Its object, mucli 
 better achieved than that of many a more pretentious volume, is to exhibit 
 the pastor's wife as a true 'helpmeet' to her husband." — Dublin Christian 
 Examiner. 
 
THE GOSPEL ACCOEDING TO MARK EXPLAINED. 
 
 By Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D., Princeton. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 "The work is minute and full, but characterised by compression of matter 
 and conciseness of statement." — Wit7iess. 
 
 HOME LIGHT; or, The Life and Letters of Maria 
 
 Chowne, Wife of the Rev. William Marsh, D.D., of Beckenham. By her 
 
 Son, the Rev. W. Tilson Marsh, M.A. of Oriel College, and Incumbent of 
 
 St Leonard's-on-Sea. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 
 
 " Her letters are the best reflections of a cultivated mind and loving heart, 
 
 as well as of the genial piety which diffused its fragrant odour over all her 
 
 works. We heartily recommend it to the notice of our readers." — Record. 
 
 ST AUGUSTINE : A Biographical Memoir. By the Rev. 
 
 John Baillie, Author of "Memoir of Adelaide Newton," &c. Small 
 
 crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 
 ' ' Mr Baillie has been, we think, very successful in his selection of incidents, 
 in the dress in which he has exhibited them, and in the practical application 
 which he has made of them. The book is very pleasing, and very edifying." 
 — BHtish and Foreign Evangelical Review. 
 
 LIFE WORK ; or, The Link and the Rivet. By L. N. R., 
 
 Author of " The Book and its Story." Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 "Every minister's wife should have a copy of this book, as the best guide 
 she can have in doing good to the poor, and providmg for the improvement of 
 the neglected and the outcast." — Wesleyan Times. 
 
 HYMNS OF FAITH AND HOPE. By Horatius 
 
 BoNAR, D.D. Fcap. Svo, 1st and 2d Series, each 5s. cloth. Also, a 32mo 
 Edition of the first Series, Is. 6d. cloth. 
 " There is great sweetness both of sentiment and of versification in many 
 of these devotional hymns." — Evangelical Christendom. 
 
 " A volume of hymns which glow with poetry and piety combined. Many 
 of them have found their way to many circles, and are greatly appreciated." 
 — London Monthly Review. 
 
 THE LAND OF THE FORUM AND THE VATICAN ; 
 
 or. Thoughts and Sketches during an Easter Pilgrimage to Rome. By 
 
 Newman Hall, LL.B. Small crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 
 "This book will be read with much interest by all, and will amply repay 
 the time and trouble bestowed on it. The controversialist will find in it 
 much to startle and amaze his practised eye, and will, moreover, receive 
 hints not entirely useless in his special pursuits. We rise from its perusal 
 with pleasure and profit." — Witness. 
 
 THE VOICE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE IN MANY 
 
 LANDS AND AGES : Sketches of Hymns and Hymn-Writers. By the 
 
 Author of "Sketches of Christian Life," &c. Small crown Svo, 5s. cloth 
 
 antique. 
 
 "Hymnology is not an easy subject on which to write a popular book, yet 
 
 the author has made the attempt, and succeeded. Its plan is partly literary, 
 
 partly historical, and partly biographical. ... We can heartily recommend 
 
 this unpretending book to those who have an interest in its subject." — 
 
 Guardian. 
 
JAMES NISBET AND CO. 
 
 HYMNS OF THE CHURCH MILITANT. Compiled 
 
 by the Authors of "The Wide, Wide World," &c. ISmo, 6s. cloth antique. 
 
 " It contains about five hundred sacred songs, admirably chosen from the 
 writers of almost every age and country. As a gift book to a Christian friend 
 we can hardly imagine anything more appropriate than this." — Baptist 
 Magazine. 
 
 OUR HOMELESS POOR, AND WHAT WE CAN 
 
 DO TO HELP THEM. By the Author of "Helen Lindsay." Crown 
 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " Wlioever wants to know how the wanderers about London are now ac- 
 commodated with food and lodging for the night, ought at once to procure 
 this remarkably interesting and original book." — Banner of Ulster. 
 
 THE MISSING LINK ; or, Bible-Women in the Homes 
 
 of the London Poor. By L. N. R., Author of " The Book and its Story." 
 Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. Also, a Cheap Edition, Is. 6d. cloth limp. 
 
 "This book treats of the heathen of St Giles's instead of the heathen of 
 Madagascar and Makalolo, or it would receive a wider circulation, and create 
 a more vivid interest, than the travels even of an EUis and a Livingstone." — 
 Daily News. 
 
 HASTE TO THE RESCUE ; or, Work while it is Day. 
 
 By Mrs Charles Wightman. With a Preface by the Author of "English 
 Hearts and English Hands." Small crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. Also, a 
 Cheap Edition, Is. 6d. cloth limp. 
 
 "The matter of Mrs Wightman's publication is most interesting, and we 
 wish every clergyman's wife would carefully peruse it."— Church of England 
 Magazine. 
 
 ENGLISH HEARTS AND ENGLISH HANDS ; or, 
 
 The Railway and the Trenches. By the Author of " Memori:ils of Cap- 
 tain Hedley Vicars." Small Svo, 5s, cloth. Also, a Cheap Edition, 2s. 
 cloth limp. 
 
 "We recognise an honesty of purpose, a purity of heart, and a warmth of 
 human affection, combined with a religious faith, that are very beautiful." — 
 Tlraes. 
 
 THE TITLES OF JEHOVAH : A Series of Lectures 
 
 Preached in Portman Chapel, Baker Street, during Lent 1858 ; to which 
 are added. Six Lectures on the Christian Race, Preached during Lent 
 1857. By the Rev. J. W. Reeve, M.A. Small crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 
 
 "We have seldom met with sermons that approach more nearly to our 
 ideal of apostolic preaching than these. There is no question as to the au- 
 thor's foundation or superstructure." — Record. 
 
 THE THREE WAKINGS, with Hymns and Songs. By 
 
 the Author of "Tlie Voice of Christian Life in Song," "Tales and Sketches 
 of Christian Life," &c. &c. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " All of these poems mark an author of considerable ability, while many of 
 them are full of great beauty and feeling. Indeed, taken as a whole, the 
 volume will bear comparison with the works of those who have ac<iuired 
 high reputation in the world of poetic literature."— ,S'< James's Chronicle. 
 
10 A SELECTION FEOM THE CATALOGUE OP 
 
 SERMONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB. By the late 
 
 Rev. Geokge Wagner, Incumbent of St Stephen's Church, Brighton. 
 
 Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 " There is no attempt at subtle logic, or rhetorical eloquence, or learned 
 criticism ; but there is what is better than either — a plain and forcible exhi- 
 bition of scripti-U-al truth brought home to human hciu-ts." — Evangelical Chris- 
 tendom. 
 
 THE BOOK OF PSALMS; With an Exposition, Evan- 
 
 gelical, Typical, and Prophetical, of the Christian Dispensation. By W. 
 Wilson, b.D., Vicar of Holy Rood, Southampton, and Canon of Win- 
 chester. Two vols. 8vo, 16s. cloth. 
 " These volumes contain a vast fund of experimental and instructive truth, 
 and will well repay a diUgeut perusal." — Church of England Magazine. 
 
 EVENTIDE : A Devotional Diary for the Close of Day. 
 
 By Mary Ann Kelty, Author of "Visiting my Relatioris," "The Real 
 
 and the Beau Ideal," &c. Ciown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 "There are in this volume three hundred and sixty-five readings on texts 
 of Script>n-e, each occupying a page. The remarks are sensible as well as 
 pious." — Cltrical Journal. 
 
 QUARLES' EMBLEMS. With entirely New lUustra- 
 
 tions, drawn by Charles Bennett, and Allegorical Borders, &c., by W. 
 
 Harry Rogers. Crown 4to, handsomely bound, 15s. ; morocco, 31s. 6d. 
 "Each artist has done his task well — the borders, which are Mr Rogers' 
 share, are in almost all cases exquisitely fine and fanciful, and admirably 
 drawn. " — A thenceum. 
 
 EXPOSITIONS OF THE CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 By Richard Henry Smith, Jud. Illustrated by Photographs, printed by 
 Messrs Negretti & Zambra. Svo, 8s. 6d. cloth elegant. 
 " The handsome book now before us, containing a photograph of each of 
 the cartoons, with Mr Smith's very thouglitful and tasteful comments upon 
 them, will serve to perpetuate and to improve tiie salutary as well as gratify- 
 ing impressions which a view of those- grand paintings must create." — Uaili/ 
 News. 
 
 THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD IN CHRIST 
 
 JESUS OUR LORD. Being the Fourth Series of Lectures Preached at 
 the Request of the Edinburgh Association for Promoting the Study of 
 Piophtcy. By the Rev. James Kelly, M.A., Author of "The Apocalypse 
 Interpreted in the Light of the Day of the Lord," &c. New Edition. 
 Crown Svo, 4s. cloth. 
 " It is one of the freshest, richest, and most thoughtful volumes on pro- 
 phecy which we have ever read." — Journal of Prophecy. 
 
 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH IN THE BOOK OF 
 
 PSALMS. By the Eev. Andrew A. Bonar, Author of "Memoirs of 
 M'Cheyne," " Commentary on Leviticus," &c. Demy Svo, 10s. 6d. cloth. 
 " Tliere is a soundness in the work, because the writer admits a historical 
 and literal meaning, as adapted for general usefulness, while he responds to 
 the voice of the churches in all ages by admitting that the Holy Spirit in- 
 tended to teach all ages by the Psalms. The work is a discreet, pious, and 
 learned production, far above many similar attempts to illustrate these de- 
 vout compositions." — Clerical Journal. 
 
JAMES NISBET AND CO. 11 
 
 A MEMOIR OF THE LATE ROBERT NESBIT, 
 
 Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, Bombay. By the Rev. J. 
 
 Murray Mitchell. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth. 
 "The memoir of such a man as Robert Nesbit must be valuable to the 
 Church, and we are glad that the task of publishing his remains was under- 
 taken by a kindred spirit." — Record. 
 
 MEMOIR AND LETTERS OF THE LATE THOMAS 
 
 SEDDON, Artist. Edited by his Brother. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " A deeply interesting but melancholy memorial of a noble-hearted young 
 painter, who had singularly distinguished himself. . . . His letters, espe- 
 cially those to Ids wife, are very charming, full of freshness, and of a hope 
 not destined to be realised." — Literary Gazette. 
 
 THE STRUGGLES OF A YOUNG ARTIST : Being 
 
 a Memoir of David C. Gibson. By a Brother Artist. Small crown 8vo, 
 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 " The artist's biographer has done justice to his memory, as, with a pain- 
 ter's sympathy with his pursuits, he has combined a Christian brother's 
 interest in his spiritual welfare and growth in grace. The book is most ac- 
 ceptable and useful." — Scottish Guardian. 
 
 A PRACTICAL AND EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY 
 
 ON THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. By the Rev. William Graham, D.D., 
 
 LL.D., Author of "The Spirit of Love," "The Jordan and the Rhine," 
 
 &c. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "The Commentary is more readable than works of the same nature. It is 
 
 a good but little volume. It is one of those works, neither very large nor 
 
 very small, that readers interested in this class of literature wiU probably 
 
 secure." — Tait's Edinburgh Magazine. 
 
 SERMONS ON THE PARABLES OF SCRIPTURE, 
 
 Addressed to a Village Congregation. By the Rev. Arthur Roberts, 
 M.A., Rec-tor of Woodrising, Author of "Village Sermons," &c. Crown 
 Svo, 5s. cloth. 
 "An excellent volume of sound, practical instruction, well adapted for 
 family reading." — British and Foreign Evangelical Review. 
 
 THE BROAD ROAD AND NARROW WAY : A Brief 
 
 Memoir of Eliza Ann Harris. By the Author of "The Female Jesuit." 
 
 Fcap Svo, 2s. cloth. 
 "We would recommend every mother to place a copy in the hands of her 
 daughter, as bearing the strongest testimony to the reality of religion, and 
 afifording a lovely example of its subduing, elevating, and sanctifying power 
 over heart and life." — Evangelical Magazine. 
 
 PATIENCE IN TRIBULATION : A Memorial Sketch 
 
 of Jessie With a Recommendatory Note by the Rev. Francis 
 
 Gillies, A.M., Minister of Free St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh. Crown 
 Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 "This is a mother's memorial of the religious experience of a much afflicted 
 daughter, called to her rest when a little over twenty years of age. An in- 
 troductory note by the Rev. Francis Gillies, of Edinburgh, the pastor of the 
 family, corroborates the impression of high-toned piety which we derive from 
 this parental narrative." — Record. 
 
12 A SELECTION FROM THE CATALOGUE OF 
 
 SEED FOR SPRING TIME. Letters to My Little 
 
 Ones concerning their Father in Heaven. By the Rev. W. Landels, 
 Author of " Woman's Sphere and Work." 16mo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 " Tliis handsome little book is designed to present the elements of theoloi^y 
 
 in a shape that will make them intelligible and interesting to children." — 
 
 English Presbyterian Messenger. 
 
 SUNSETS ON THE HEBREW MOUNTAINS. By 
 
 the Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D. Eighth Thousand. Post 8vo, 6s. 6d. cloth. 
 "Mr Macduff has rightly appreciated the characters he has described, and 
 has truthfully deluaeated their features." — Church of England Magazine. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 By Peter Bayne, M.A., Author of "Christian Life." Post 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
 cloth. 
 " An original and valuable work." — British Standard. 
 
 "We commend it to intelligent Christians. We trust it will obtain a very 
 wide circulation." — Aberdeen Free Press. 
 
 HERBERT PERCY ; or, From Christmas to Easter. By 
 
 L. A. MoNCRXEFF. 16mo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 " This little book is excellent in style, in tone, and in moral. The story is 
 well sustained, the conversations natural without being wearisome, the events 
 striking enough to awaken interest without being improbable." — Edinburgh 
 Evening Courant. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE ; or, Lazarus 
 
 Revived. By the Rev. James Culross, M.A. Crown 8vo, Is. 6d. cloth. 
 " This is an able exposition of our Lord's most interesting miracles. Mr 
 Culri'ss clothes his thoughts with much force and beauty of language." — 
 Patriot. 
 
 THE LIFE OF ARTHUR VANDELEUR, Major, 
 
 Royal Artillery. By the Author of " Memoi-ials of Captain Hedley 
 
 ViCiirs," " English Hearts and English Hands." Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth 
 
 " It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful and touching story . . . 
 
 told as it is with the quiet pathos which marked the narrative of the life of 
 
 Captain Hedley Vicars."— J/orning' Post. 
 
 CIVILISING MOUNTAIN MEN; or. Sketches of 
 
 Mission Work among the Karens. By Mrs Mason, of Burmah . Crown 
 
 Svo, 5s. cloth, 
 "lively, fresh, and interesting, Mrs Mason's book wiU be found specially 
 suitable for the young. As a record of zeal and of self-denying labours 
 crowned with signal success, and of the rich fruit of women's work among 
 women, grown-up people wiU read it with much pleasure and much profit." 
 — Daily Revieio. 
 
 EARLY DEATH NOT PREMATURE. Being a Memoir 
 
 of Francis L. Mackenzie, late of Trinity College, Cambridge. With 
 
 Notices of Henry Mackenzie, B. A. By the Rev. Charles Popham Miles, 
 
 M.A., M.D., F.L.S., Glasgow. Fourth Edition, crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 
 
 " Young Mackenzie's life of two years furnishes prolonged illustration of 
 
 the value of a godly ' upbring.' With him the rule of Scripture, and the habit 
 
 of prayer, were associated with his earliest pastimes, his boyish sports, his 
 
 school-life and work, and his studies at college." — Quarterly Messenger of 
 
 the Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
JAMES NISBET AND CO. 13 
 
 MENDIP ANNALS ; or, A Journal of the Charitable 
 
 Labours of Hannah and Martha More. Edited by Arthur Roberts, 
 M.A., Rector of Woodrising, Norfolk. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
 "We close the pages of this diary with an increased respect for the memory 
 of Miss Hannah More and her sister." — Critic. 
 
 WORKMEN AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES. By the 
 
 Author of "Ragged Homes and How to Mend Them." Crown 8vo, 
 
 3s. 6d. cloth. Also, a cheap Edition, Is. cloth limp. 
 "This is a book that we could wish to find exclusively circulated among 
 the working classes. . . . The authoress has evidently studied her subject 
 carefully, and she embodies in her book much valuable and pregnant infor- 
 mation." — Scottish Guardian. 
 
 THE GRAPES OF ESHCOL ; or, Gleanings from the 
 
 Land of Promise. By the Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
 cloth. 
 
 "Mr Macduff has certainly produced a book of both pleasing and profitable 
 reading. " — Witness. 
 
 "The subject of the volume is the rest and joy of heaven. There is 
 nothing to exercise thought, but much to awaken feeling." — Evangelical 
 Magazine. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. By P. 
 
 H. GossE, F.R.S. With Illustrations by Wolf. Post 8vo, 1st and 2d 
 
 iSeries, each 7s. 6d. cloth. 
 " This is a charming book. . . . Every lover of nature, every lover of 
 the marvellous, every lover of the beautiful, every soul that can feel the 
 charm of true poetry, must be deeply grateful to Mr Gusse for an intellectual 
 treat of the highest order." — Daily News. 
 
 TRUE MANHOOD : Its Nature, Foundation, and De- 
 
 velopment. A Book for Young Men. By the Rev. W. Landels. Crown 
 
 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " This is a book true to its title. It contains on every page sentiments of 
 
 the highest value for the proper formation of manhood, in the Gospel sense 
 
 of the term. It is a book which every young man should attentively read, 
 
 and every family possess."'-iVori/iem Warder. 
 
 THE UNSEEN. By William Landels, Minister of 
 
 Regent's Park Chapel. Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 " We have been much interested in this series of Discourses upon the Un- 
 seen, as an able and vigorous, a full and impressive, setting forth of the 
 leading features of a department of Divine truth too much overlooked." — 
 British and Foreign Evangelical Review. 
 
 THE SONG OF SONGS : A Practical Exposition of 
 
 the Sony- of Solomon. With a Translation after the Order and Idiom of 
 
 the Hebrew, and other additions. By the Rev. A. Moody Stuart, 
 
 Minister of Free St Luke's, Edinburgh. Demy 8vo, 12s. cloth. 
 
 "In the very difficult part of exposition which Mr Stuart has chosen, he 
 
 has proved emmently successful. . . . He has produced a work of the 
 
 highest value — a work undoubtedly and by far the best for general use which 
 
 we posscbs on this part of the inspired volume." — Witness. 
 
14 SELECTION FROM CATALOGUE, ETC. 
 
 ABBEOKUTA ; or, Sunrise within the Tropics. An Out- 
 line of the Origin and Progress of the Yoruba Mi&sion. By Miss Tucker. 
 Foolscap 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 THE SOUTHERN CROSS AND THE SOUTHERN 
 
 CROWN; or, The Gospel in New Zealand. By Miss Tucker. Foolscap 
 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 THE RAINBOW IN THE NORTH. A Short Ac- 
 
 count of the first Establishment of Christianity in Rupert's Land by the 
 Church Missionary Society. By Miss Tucker. With Illustrations. Fool- 
 scap, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF 
 
 THE REV. A. JUDSON, D.D. By Francis Wayland, D.D. Two Vols. 
 8vo, 12s. cloth. 
 
 THE PUBLIC SPEAKER, AND HOW TO MAKE 
 
 ONE. By a Cambridge Man. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 "There are a great many very sensible hints in this little book, which 
 young men may study with advantage." — Church of Eng^land Magazine. 
 
 THROUGH THE TYROL TO VENICE. By Mrs 
 
 Newman Halt,. Crown Svo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
 " These short historical sketches convoy a great deal of interesting informa- 
 tion ; and we have no doubt, from its engaging style, that the work will be 
 appreciated by young people, for whom it chiedy appears to be written."— 
 Christian Observer. 
 
 THE VISITOR'S BOOK OF TEXTS ; or, the Word 
 
 brought nigh to the Sick and Sorrowful. By the Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, 
 Glasgow. Fcap. Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 " Mr Bonar, like the Master, has the tongue of the learned to speak a word 
 in season to him that is weary. This book will be found singularly valuable 
 in the sick chamber." — London Monthly Record. 
 
 THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. By Rev. W. E. 
 
 BoARDMAN. Edited, with a Preface, including Notices of the Revivals, 
 by the Author of " Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars," and "English 
 Hearts and English Hands." Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " There is a freshness and force in the work which pleases us much 
 
 The Preface extends to more than forty pages, and contains a rapid sketch, 
 interspersed with facts, of the gracious revival which is now spreading so 
 auspiciously through the chMvches."— Evangelical Christendom, 
 
 THE SONG OF CHRIST'S FLOCK IN THE 
 
 TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. By J. Stoughton, Author of "Lights of the 
 
 World," " Spiritual Heroes," &c. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 
 
 ' ' Mr Stoughton's volume may be earnestly nnd warmly recommended. . . . 
 
 Its chaste piety will make it deservedly acceptable to a large class of readers. 
 
 . . . We know of no recent volume of religious meditation which is likely to 
 
 be more profitably read or pleasantly remembered."— Dai^y News. 
 
 LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERBERS STREET, W. 
 
Princeton Theological SfH,? KiiiVmilf ' 
 
 1 1012 01252 4692 
 
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