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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

SAINT PAUL:

FIVE DISCOURSES

BY

ADOLPHE MONOD.

Craitslahir ham tjp $xtnt§t
B Y
KEY. J. H. MYERS, D. D.

ANDOVER:
WARREN F. DRAPER.
BOSTON : GOULD AND LINCOLN ; CROSBY, NICHOLS, LEE & CO.
SEW YORK: JOHN WILEY.
PHILADELPHIA : SMITH, ENGLISH & CO.
1861.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859,
BY W. F. DKAPEK,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

W. F. DRAPER,
SLECTROTYPEK AND PRINTER,
ANDOVER, MASS.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

BY THE TRANSLATOR.

This work on St. Paul, by A. Monod, was character
ized by an European writer, at the time of the author's
lamented death, as follows: "His five sermons on St.
JPaul are remarkable for force and copiousness of thought,
and for the constant application of the Apostle's princi
ples and practice to the wants of our time"
This is a low estimate of a book unsurpassed in its
department, in any language, for manly eloquence, thor
ough research, profound reflection, — a most earnest, glow
ing, and winning Christian spirit, united to an exact
appreciation of the great Apostle's character and work, —
and a wise and cautious, but bold and unflinching, appli
cation of his teachings to the times in which we live.
The translator wishes to say nothing of his labor, —
which has been most pleasant to him, — except that he

IV INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
has sought to give the precise thought of his author,
without extenuation or addition, in such English as he
could command. With regard to the Biblical citations
occurring in the volume, he submits the single remark,
that, saving his allegiance to the original Scriptures, he
has scrupulously given the meaning of the author's lan
guage, slightly departing for this purpose, in a very few
instances, from the words of our common English Version.
With this explanation, .this little volume, by an illus
trious Christian Orator, is commended to all admirers of
the great Apostle of the Gentiles, with the humble prayer
that they may become, also, imitators and followers of
Saint Paul.
October 29, 1859.

PREFACE.

In these discourses an historical study of the
life and writings of the apostle is not to be
sought; their object is more humble, more practi
cal, and relates more nearly to the present time.
Solicitous as I am of beholding a people of God
taking form that shall fulfil the spiritual task of
this epoch, I ask for them a real and living type ;
and such a type I find in Saint Paul. To estimate
the good which Saint Paul has done to the Church,
and, through it, to the world, — to study the moral
springs of his immense activity, and on this side,
which is accessible to all, to hold it forth as an
example, — expresses the design which I have
cherished. I speak on behalf of those of my brethren in
Jesus Christ who, " determined to know nothing
save Jesus Christ and him crucified," deplore with
me the languishing condition of the believing
Church, and prosecute the work of reforming it,
— a work to which we are called on every side,
1*

VI PREFACE.
— by unfolding its spiritual life. Those brethren
who sigh, but not without hope, wherever they
are, or whatever name they may bear, have all the
sympathies of my heart ; may I not count upon
then* affection and their prayers 1 More than a
common need of this do I feel. In these stormy
and solemn days, how speak, above all, how write,
of the "one thing needful," without a holy trem
bling'? What it is to tremble thus, I know too well.
.... I entreat my kind readers to receive noth
ing from me without applying the scriptural rule:
" Prove all things, hold fast that which is good."
To return to Saint Paul: I wish to express here
a desire which is graven deeply on my heart ; and
that is, that our religious literature might be en
riched with a history of the great apostle. Shall
there not be found a young minister of the gospel
who, realizing what was with me only a dream at
the opening of my theological career, shall, at the
very outset, choose Saint Paul as the object of his
favorite study, and in the end give to the Church a
thoroughly elaborated work upon his life and his
writings \ He would find the way already opened
by more than one publication, ancient and modern,
French and foreign. Not to go beyond our own

PREFACE. VII
age, Neander1 and the Germans would supply him
with abundant and precious materials. But the
most complete contemporary work which exists
on this subject, is that now publishing in England,
by numbers, with this title : " Life and Epistles
of St. Paul, comprising a complete Biography of
the Apostle, and a translation of his Letters, inserted
in chronological order; by the Rev. W. J. Conybeare,
M. A., and the Rev. J. 8. Howson, M. A.2 It is
difficult to judge of a work which is not finished ;
but it is allowable to say, even now, that this com
bines solid research with all the embellishment
which art can bring to the aid of science.
It will be observed that I have sometimes de
parted from the received versions in my biblical
citations, although these differences rarely affect
the meaning of the text. Whatever my anxiety
to restore to the sacred language — as far as our
idiom permits — its primitive simplicity and en-
1 The views of Neander respecting Saint Paul have, been summed up
by himself, in a popular form, in two articles of the excellent collection
published by Dr. Piper, of Berlin, from which I have here borrowed more
than once — (Evangelische Jahrbuch, 1850: Pauli Bekehrung ; " Pauli
Leben und Leiben). r .
2 Longman & Co., Paternoster Row, London, 1851 ; injwenty parts, of
which fourteen have appeared. [ In this country, the entire work is repub
lished by Charles Scribner, New York, 1855.] —Trans.

Vin PREFACE.
ergy, I should hesitate, in general, to touch, with
out urgent necessity, the text which is sanctioned
by long usage, and which enjoys popular respect.
But at this day, when divers minds are occupied
with the work of correcting the French version,
it seems to me that every one should seize on the
occasions of bringing at least his fragment of
stone to aid in the construction of the new edifice.
In the present work I have often made use of the
version of the New Testament which appeared at
Lausanne in 1839, entitled, "The New Testament
of our Lord Jesus Christ, translated from the orig
inal by a society of Ministers of the Word of
God." ' This version, too literal, in my view, to
be commonly adopted in worship, presents an ad
vantage of great moment, connected with this
very defect ; being scrupulously exact, it takes the
place — so far as that is practicable — of the orig
inal, for those who cannot have recourse to it.
This numerous class of readers of the New Tes
tament ought always to have the Lausanne ver
sion within reach, at least for consultation.
1 It has been recently reprinted, in a more portable form, with this
somewhat singular title : " Version of the New Testament, translated in
Switzerland."

CONTENTS

FIRST DISCOURSE.
PAGE
HIS WORK  11

SECOND DISCOURSE.
HIS CHRISTIANITY; OE, HIS TEAKS,  42
THIRD DISCOURSE.
HIS CONVERSION,  72
FOURTH DISCOURSE.
HIS PERSONALITY; OR, HIS WEAKNESS  97
FIFTH DISCOURSE.
HIS EXAMPLE,  126

FATALISM,  164

^SAINT PAUL.

FIKST DISCOURSE.
HIS WORK.
"I have labored more abundantly than they all." — 1 Cor. 15:10.
MY BRETHREN:
To regenerate Christian society by means of the
Christian Church restored, is the object which the true
disciple, and more especially the true minister of Jesus
Christ, sets before himself in our day.
Everything announces it, and every one anticipates
it: the time is approaching in which the Christian
Church will have surrended itself to this great mis
sion which it has to such a degree forgotten in the
turmoil and crisis through which it is passing now.
It is approaching ; but has it come ? I can hardly be
lieve it. Had it come, the good would be less divided
in opinion, with regard to the reconstruction of the
church upon foundations at once sufficiently strong
and sufficiently extended.
But, while we wait for its coming, it is our duty to
hasten its advent by a work analogous, although dis
tinct; by a spiritual work, which must precede the eccle-

12 SAIKT PAUL.
siastical work ; by that work, of which I have more
than once discoursed to you, and of which I shall often
speak to you again, if it please God, since it is among
the dominant, themes of my ministry.
There must be formed " a peculiar people of Jesus
Christ,"1 gathered together out of all Christian com
munions, in the name of whatever is most vital in
Christian faith and in Christian life, who, walking by
the grace of Christ, in the love, of Christ, after the
footsteps of Christ, shall go about from place to place
doing good,2 and clothe with fresh honor the gospel,
now lowered in the minds of men, by exhibiting what
it is, and of what it is capable.
This beneficent people, in order to take form, has
need of a type by which it may pattern itself. The
bare description of the Christian life in the gospel
does not suffice. The distance is so great from will
ing to doing, both in us and around us, that we are
inspired with a degree of involuntary distrust by any
theory, it matters not how well established, if prac
tice does not come in to its help. The surpassing
holiness of the evangelical morality only increases our
need — in order to believe it practicable — of seeing it
practised by a living man, or, at least, by a man who
has lived.
But have we not this type which we seek in " the
Man Christ Jesus," — that living law, in whom the
ideal is one with the reality? Doubtless; and his
example — the only perfect — is also, you well know,
that to which I appeal in all my discourses. The
very perfection, however, of this model, while it gives
to it unequalled value, invites us to seek out some
1 Titus 2 : 14. 2 Acts 10 ; 38.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 13
other less raised above our reach, and which, there
fore, shall be at once more accessible to our imitation
and more humbling to our unfaithfulness. This type
of the second class — which is eminent, but not per
fect — I come to present before you in the person of
an apostle, who, by his faithfulness in following the
example of the Master, has won the right of pointing
to himself as an example : " Be ye followers of me,
even as I also am of Christ."1
Saint Paul is not the only model which I could
have chosen in evangelical history ; but he is, in my
view, the most complete. Besides, setting aside the
question of personal superiority, I have two additional
reasons for giving him the preference. Of all the
apostles, Saint Paul is both the one whose history is
the best known to us, and the one who most directly
interests us, — he having been ordained of God the
apostle to the Gentiles : hence the apostle to us, who
are descendants of those Gentiles. Fear not from me,
however, a panegyric in which the saint of the day
shall usurp the place reserved to his Master and ours.
Besides that the imperfection of the picture is not
less necessary than its beauty for the object which I
have in mind, it would be poorly apprehending the
spirit of Saint Paul, to render to him thai which be
longs only to the Lord. Could I forget myself to
that extent, I should expect to see his image rush to
meet me, crying out to me, as formerly to the inhab
itants of Lystra, " O men, why do ye these things ?
We also are men, subject to like passions with you." a
To be true, is all the grace which I ask of God, know-
1 Cor. 11: 1. 2 Acts 14:15.

14 SAINTPAUL.
ing well that there is in our apostle holiness enough
to place him far above us, with enough of infirmity to
keep him far below the " Lord of glory."
Were I asked, who among all men appears to be
the greatest benefactor of our kind, I should name,
without hesitation, the Apostle Paul. His name I
regard as the type of at once the most extended and
the most useful activity of which the history of men
has furnished the remembrance.
Whether believer or not, no one will deny that the
revolution effected by Jesus Christ is the greatest and
the most beneficent that has been accomplished in the
world. In proof of this, I have a testimony yet more
reliable than that of historians, — I mean the testi
mony of all civilized nations. They have so pro
foundly felt that Jesus Christ is the key-stone of hu
manity, and the centre of all its history, that they
have counted their years from him. We are in 1851.
Why ? Because one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-one years have passed since Jesus Christ came.
Nay, more : even the ages that preceded his advent are
reckoned in the same manner, notwithstanding the
inconveniences of a backward computation. Before,
as after, the place of an event or of a man is marked
in history by the distance which separates the man or
the fact from Jesus Christ. It is superfluous for us to
make out the proof: the establishment of Christianity
in the world is the event of events.
The author of this revolution was more than a
man; but he employed as his instruments mere men,
— the apostles, — who became, under him, organs of a
movement at once the vastest and the most fruitful

FIRST DISCOURSE. 15
that has stirred the race of man. The spiritual germ
which they dropped from place to place in the bosom
of our poor earth, has changed the face of it. The
manumission of slaves, the emancipation of woman,
the amelioration of laws, the elevation of domestic
life, the softening of manners, the diffusion of knowl
edge, the progress — I ought to say the creation — of
benevolence, the world springing up to a new life, —
such is the fruit which we every day gather from their
toil, without remembering, unthankful as we are, the
faithful hands by which God has sown it for us.
There was a diversity in the apostles. Among his
twelve apostles, augmented by a thirteenth on the
conversion of Paul, Jesus Christ divided the two great
tasks in which was comprehended the regeneration of
the world, — the evangelization of the Jews and that
of the Gentiles. The Jews were but a single nation,
small and despised; the Gentiles possessed the re
mainder of the globe, and counted in their ranks the
most illustrious nations of the earth. Would not you
have reserved the greater number of the apostles, for
the greater of the two works to be accomplished?
But God's ways are not our ways. Aside from the
unavoidable penetration of each of the two works by
the other, and the beginnings of both promised to
Simon Peter, God leaves the first twelve apostles to
the Jews, and gives to the Gentiles but one, whom he
forms expressly for the work among them, and who
shall be called the apostle of the Gentiles, or only the
apostle — this name alone sufficiently describing him
among the children of the Gentiles.1 With this alto
gether special calling which constitutes Paul an apostle
apart, corresponds a certain jealous carefulness on the
1 Gal. 2:7,8.

16 SAINT PAUL.
part of the apostle himself, in freeing his mission from
all connection with that of others.1 A spiritual Atlas,
Paul alone bears the. pagan world upon his shoulders.
That Roman empire which a whole people — the most
powerful on the earth — took seven centuries to create,
this single man took one quarter of a century \o create
anew. It is his work, his special work, — I was about ,
to say his work exclusively, — so greatly do the labors
of a Saint Peter at Caesarea or Antioch, of a Saint
John at Ephesus or Patmos, — not to mention that
of the secondary apostles, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus,
and many others, — lose their lustre in the presence of
his labors. He acquired the right to say, in a spirit
of humility and thanksgiving, as he compared himself
with all the other apostles united, " By the grace of
God I am what I am ; and his grace which was be
stowed upon me, was not in vain ; but I labored more
abundantly than they all ; yet not I, but the grace of
God which was with me." 2 The greatest among the
apostles, who were made by Jesus Christ the greatest
of men, — such is Saint Paul.
But, to leave this relative valuation, let us take the
work of our apostle by itself, and let us make an
estimate, if we can, of the good which Saint Paul has
done to the world.
Do not think, however, that I design to follow with
you our apostle in all the labors which he performed
during the nearly thirty years comprised in his apostle-
ship.3 To follow him, journeying as he did through
1 Rom. 15 : 21, et. seq. 2 1 Cor. 15 : 10.
3 The most reliable chronology places the conversion of Saint Paul
between the year 30 and the year 40, and his death between the year 60
and the year 70. — Neander, et. al.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 17
all the world, and in an age when journeys were so
slow, so difficult, so perilous ; — to follow him, preluding
his missionary life by spending four or five years in
a retreat in Arabia, in the evangelization of Damas
cus, in the flight from Damascus to Jerusalem, and
from Jerusalem to Tarsus, and in the guidance of this
new people at Antioch, among whom was inaugurated
the new name of Christian; — to follow him, in obe
dience to the voice of the Holy Spirit which calls him,
passing over the vast Roman empire, scratching the
soil, to judge only by the extent of his career; digging
into its depths, if we credit the marks which he leaves
after him, and sowing the earth, as he journeys, with
a succession of rising churches, from Jerusalem to
Rome (if not beyond), and from Rome to Jerusalem ; —
to follow him in his first mission, traversing the island
of Cyprus from Salamis to Paphos, converting the
proconsul and shutting the mouth of the false prophet;
thence running into Pisidia, to Antioch, to Iconium,
to Lystra, to Derbe, to Perga, to Attalia ; going from
Jews to Gentiles, and often repulsed by both ; at one
moment worshipped as a god by a people in their
intoxication, and stoned by the same people in their
fury, and not the less for this passing a second time
through all the churches to give them pastors; — to
follow him in his second mission, after new labors in
Antioch and Jerusalem, resuming his career, and now
crossing the strait, filling our Europe with the name
of the unknown God, and founding the churches of
Philippi, of Thessalonica, of Berea, of Athens, of
Corinth (I do not enumerate them all); — to follow
him in his third mission, embracing both Europe and
Asia in his immense circuit of inspection, to Galatia
2*

18 SAIST PAUL.
(we reckon here by provinces), Phrygia, Ephesus, that
is to say, all the west of Asia Minor, Macedonia, and
Greece; and on his return, Troas (with that resurrec
tion of one that was dead), Miletus (with that inimi
table farewell discourse), Cyprus, Tyre, Ptolemais,
Cassarea, and finally Jerusalem, where Jewish rage and
Roman bonds were awaiting him; — to follow him
in his fourth mission, apostle-prisoner, but prisoner-
apostle, borne amid tempests upon a vessel which,
by merely hearkening to him, could have been saved ;
dispensing to his companions in danger present life
together with eternal life ; recompensing, when a poor
shipwrecked man, the hospitality of Malta by estab
lishing a church, and reaching Rome at length only to
bear thither the gospel into the very household of
Caesar; — to follow him in his last journeyings (where
the Book of Acts no longer follows him, and we are
reduced to some hints scattered through his last epis
tles), up to his second captivity in Rome, and to those
words so full of his approaching martyrdom, " I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand,"1 — to follow him in this manner, had I
the time, had I the boldness for it, yet, how poorly
would justice thus be rendered to my subject. Ah!
in what way carry into human speech all the move
ment and action of that life, the hero of which wea
ries out the historian ? In what way carry into it
also those combats, those joys, those sorrows, those
prayers, and all that travail within, without which
the outward labor would offer to us but a» body des
titute of soul? Word for word, I should much pre
fer citing the apostle himself, and to sum up, in his
i 2 Tim. 4 : fi.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 19
own language, either his external labor in the simple
testimony respecting himself which he gives in writing
to the Romans, when his course as yet was but half
completed : " I will not dare to speak of any of those
things which Christ has not wrought by me, to make
the Gentiles obedient by* word and deed, through
mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit
of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about
unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of
Christ;"1 or his inward work, in that appeal which
he directs to the conscience of the Corinthians, after
a succinct enumeration of all which he had suffered
for the name of the Lord : " Besides those things that
are without, that which cometh upon me daily is the
care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I also
am not weak? Who is offended, and I also burn
not."2 Saint Paul's missionary life is one of those
subjects which are too vast to admit the attempt to
paint them in full ; they must be taken in profile. Let
us, then, be satisfied to estimate his work indirectly ;
let us measure it by its results.
I place before me the map of the Roman empire.
I perceive on it those famous cities, centres of power
and of civilization in the East and in the West : Anti
och, Tarsus, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth,
Rome, and so many others. Then I ask myself this
question : In those towns, and in the countries which
they represented, what was the moral and religious
state of the populations before the mission of Paul
had begun? — and what was it when his mission
closed with his martyrdom? To give greater precision
to the question, let us limit it to a single one of
1 Rom. 15 : 18, 19. 2 2 Cor. 11 : 28, 29.

^.0 SAINT PAUL.
those cities ; Ephesus will serve as an example for
them all.
A blind and puerile superstition had invaded Ephe
sus, placed as it was under the protection of a lying
divinity, the proud and merciless Diana. Her temple,
celebrated throughout the world for the magnificence
of its architecture, the richness of its adornments, and
the beauty of its statues, embraced in its bosom all
kinds of idolatry, as if with the purpose to seduce
more surely all classes of minds. Images, gold, and
ancient art, were all idolatrously worshipped in that
temple. A corruption of morals unknown to our gen
eration (thoroughly corrupt though it be) had followed
this erroneous doctrine, in which it found at once its
apology and its support. A few superior men alone
escaped the universal delusion ; but these ended, in
general, after having exhausted all resources of genius
and of study, by plunging into a gloomy and despair
ing skepticism, — fatal refuge of all the wisdom of the
wise, — or they joined themselves to one or the other
of the two systems of philosophy, which vaunted
themselves on responding to the loftiest demands of
human nature. One of these (stoicism) intoxicated
them with intellectual pride and an impious deifica
tion of themselves; the other (platonism) led them
astray into a sentimental spiritualism, which, far from
boldly assailing the popular fanaticism, sanctified it,
under pretext of purifying it. What resource, then,
remained for the human mind, void of light and of
faith, aspiring after truth but sunken in materialism,
save to call to its help the follies of art-magic, that
chimerical attempt to fill up the abyss which separates
the visible world from the invisible, or, it may be, that

FIRST DISCOURSE. 21
unholy compact with the Spirit of Darkness against
the Spirit of God ? Add to all this, one portion of the
city the slaves of another, the poor more crushed than
they have anywhere been in modern .times, woman
degraded, and the entire domestic life with her ; disso
luteness adopted as a maxim,1 — and conceive, if you
can, the frightful confusion which such a state of
things must have produced in the minds and in the
conduct of men. Nothing will be seen but a world
which hastens on to dissolution, not knowing whither
to betake itself to arrest the work of moral decom
position; while the generous but vague aspirations of
certain intellects, of certain hearts, perhaps of some
rare consciences, are lost, and vanish away like an
empty sound in the air. Such is the humiliating and
mournful spectacle which proud Ephesus (not to speak
here of Antioch, Athens, Rome, nor of all the other
capitals of the civilized world) offered to the eyes of
the impartial and judicious observer,2 when the doc
trine of Jesus Christ had not yet crossed the narrow
bounds of Judea.
Let us pass on thirty years from that time. Thirty
years are but little for a spiritual reform. The thirty
years which have just fled, in France, will be reckoned
in history among the generations that have moved
with the greatest power upon sentiments and ideas ;
and yet, with so many admirable inventions, so many
surprising discoveries, so many fabulous novelties,
what have we gained, during these thirty years, for
religion and morality, which have no other innovation
1 Rom. 1 : 32.
2 Neander's History o/Beligion and the Church, during the three first cen
turies. Introduction.

22 SAINTPAUL.
to pursue except a return to the ancient maxims
of the gospel? Something, I acknowledge; a more
earnest attention directed to the things of God — yes;
a little people called to the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
and glorifying him by a new life — yes, again; but of
pledges of an extended and deep reform, not one. It
was not thus in Ephesus during the thirty years — I
might say the twenty years — which precede the year
65 of our era.1
Behold us, then, at Ephesus in the year 65. Scarcely
five years separate us from the day on which the de
struction of the temple of Israel, and of their nation
ality, completed the work of delivering up the king
dom of God to the Gentiles. About twenty years
since, an event at once very small and very great, was
accomplished in our city: a Christian church was
born there, separated from the bosom of paganism,
like an island from the bosom of the sea. This is not
an exceptional church like its elder sister at Jerusalem :
so far as we know, it has not adopted that blessed
heritage of a charity almost too celestial for earth ;
but, nevertheless, it is a living church, which, in the
extent of its faith and its love, realizes and reveals to
the world the spirit of Jesus Christ. Nor does it
reckon up its new disciples by thousands in one dav ;
but it is, nevertheless, sufficiently numerous to require
the services of several pastors.2 Besides, it is not
numbers which here determine influence, — it is fidel
ity. Jesus Christ is alone ; and yet he fastens on him
self the attention at first of an entire people ; after-
1 The church at Ephesus was founded about the year 45, near the close
of Saint Paul's second mission. — Acts 18.
2 Acts 20 : 17, 37.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 23
wards, of all the peoples of the earth. This shall be
done by every church, small or great, which, with
his name, inherits his Spirit. Such is the church of
Ephesus. I might cite as evidences of its activity
the Divine Word, carried from the synagogue into a
school of philosophy, and spreading thence through
all the surrounding country ; the power of that Word
manifested by those sinners who "came and freely
confessed their deeds," and by those books of magic
burnt before all men, the price of which was "fifty
thousand pieces of silver;" and finally, those manu
facturers of shrines for Diana, fearing for their goddess
the loss of her glory, and for themselves that their
craft should be set at nought.1 But let us leave all
this, to confine ourselves to the bare presence, to the
bare existence, of a Christian Church in Ephesus. It
is there — that church is there — under the eyes of the
Ephesians ; that suffices.
Henceforth, neither can truth and holiness be re
garded any longer as chimeras ; nor superstition, unbe
lief, intemperance, as deplorable necessities of man's
condition. Whoever, by the side of the Christian
Church of Ephesus, sighs after the good and the true,
has found wherewith to satisfy himself. Whoever, by
its side, still yields himself to error and to evil, is con
vinced of falsehood and of wilful wandering. There
is a way of escape all open to the one class ; 2 there is
a condemnation all prepared for the other.3 On the
part of those who are witnesses of this moral phe
nomenon, there is need only of that upright heart
which Jesus Christ himself requires in man, in order
"¦ Acts 19 : 19, 24—30. s 1 Cor. 14 : 24, 25. 8 Eph. 5 : 11—13.

24 SAINTPAUL.
to perform within him his own work.1 The germ
exists, — it is in this new church, — which has but to
grow, and it shall give to the population of Ephesus
the precious fruit which it is unconsciously seeking.
Let it grow; then the life of the Spirit is here, "and
that abundant life," which shall succeed to the luxu
riant but scattered and wasted sap of a life wholly
lavished on the flesh. Let it grow, and there shall be
seen a divine charity, an unknown brotherhood, a
public and private benevolence without name in an
tiquity, which shall take the place of an unbridled and
shameless selfishness. Let it grow, and lo ! the dawn
of a domestic affection between husbands and wives,
between parents and children, between masters and
servants, which shall cause the family to become the
cradle, the school, and the church of a regenerate peo
ple. Let it grow, and from this alone shall spring up
in Ephesus upon the ruins of the old world a new
world, in which man, in finding " the living and true
God," finds himself. I have spoken of Ephesus alone ;
but the same light is kindled up in Antioch, in Tarsus,
in Thessalonica, in Athens, in Corinth, in Rome, in a
multitude of other cities of less importance. Give to
these scattered firesides time for communicating one
with another, and the heavenly flame, spreading far
and wide, shall at length cover the Roman empire ;
and the time approaches when it shall reach to the
ends of the earth.
I seem to be uttering prophecy, and yet am only
repeating history. Yes; the result justified those
happy anticipations in exact proportion to the fidelity
of the church. Because she falls off little by little in
1 John 3 : 20, 21 ; Luke 16 : 31 ; Mark 6:5. 2 John 10 : 10.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 25
faith and in life, she performs but imperfectly that
great mission ; but because, however, she possesses
something of Jesus Christ, she performs it to a cer
tain extent; and assuredly, notwithstanding all which
is wanting in our modern society, one must be yery
blind, very unjust, very ungrateful, not to recognize its
superiority to the society that was contemporary with
Jesus Christ. Half of the human family in slavery;
woman disregarded and dishonored ; the domestic
sanctuary profaned by the worship of sin ; materi
alism accepted by the human mind as its goal, and
almost as its refuge ; gladiators butchering one another
for the amusement of Roman ladies; foreign kings
dragged in chains behind the triumphal car of their
conqueror; — we have not, in truth, all these horrors.
Yes; during the generation which elapsed from the
year 35 to the year 65, the Roman empire was sown
with a seed of eternal life, which comprehends the
germ of a total revolution, not only moral, but domes
tic, civil, political, and even material, if so be only
that the world is faithful in cultivating this seed which
has come down from heaven, but is acclimated in
humanity. We ask, then, who was the sower of this health-
bearing seed, the field of which is the pagan world?
Go and inquire at Ephesus who it was that gave them
a Christian Church ; Ephesus will answer, with one
voice, the apostle Paul ; Tarsus, the apostle Paul ;
Thessalonica, the apostle Paul; Athens, the apostle
Paul ; Corinth, the apostle Paul. Are you wearied
by this enumeration? Let us cut it short. Salamis,
Paphos, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe,
Perga, Troas, Philippi, Berea, Cenchrea, Galatia,
3

26 SAINTPAUL.
Phrygia, Mysia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, and how many
others — the apostle Paul. And with regard to those
two great capitals, — one of the Greek East, the other
of the Roman West, — if Antioch and Rome cannot
tell you that their churches were founded by the apos
tle Paul, they will tell you that he has so strengthened
them by his word that they regard the foundation of
those churches as due to him more than to the found
ers themselves, — he having so often exhorted the one
in the Lord, and having twice visited the other, after
he had nourished it by that divine letter which Saint
Chrysostom surnamed " The golden key of the Scrip
tures." -
We are astonished at the amount accomplished by
a man — a single man. The wonderful activity of
our apostle imparts to him a kind of omnipresence in
all the Roman empire, over the vast extent of which
the name of Paul projects everywhere its immense
shadow. What are we, the preachers or missionaries of
to-day, before such a man? — for he is a man, a mere
man; we are obliged, indeed, to make an effort, in
order not to forget this. Would not his history seem
incredible to us, were it narrated anywhere except in
the sacred Scriptures? Would not the chronicler seem
to be speaking of one of those fabled giants, to whose
adventures fact has hardly contributed its humble
quota, or its modest starting-point? Wherehave van
ished those grand figures of the first century ? Is the
race forever extinct, the mould broken, the tradition
lost, as in the case of those animals that have disap
peared from our globe, whose transit over the earth is
1 There is, moreover, reason to believe tint the Church of Rome was
founded by disciples of S.tint Paul.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 27
revealed to us only by dry fragments of their bones ?
But, no ; such as Paul appears to our effeminate gen
eration, such must a Moses or a Samuel have appeared
to the worse than effeminate generation in which Saul
of Tarsus saw the light; and well-nigh such to-day
still appears to us a Luther or a Calvin. Prophets,
apostles, reformers, separated by so many centuries, —
all those great men of God, — were found at the very
moment when God had need of them ; and they would
reappear to-day, if the faith of their hearts should be
renewed in some one of their descendants, according
to that admirable saying of Luther: "If I had Abra
ham's faith, I should be Abraham."
However this may be, whether possible or not in
other ages, such is in truth the stupendous career
which Saint Paul exhibited. You cannot better meas
ure it than by asking yourself what would have been
the changes in the history of the world if this single
man had not been born. You or I not in the world,
and the effect would scarcely have been felt beyond a
circle composed of a few friends, of a limited public,
or, at the most, of a generation or two. But without
Saint Paul, who can estimate the immense results of
this change in the maxims, the morals, the literature,
the history, the entire development of the race, begin
ning with our old Europe, which can apply altogether
to herself that which he wrote to the Christians of
Thessalonica: " For what is our hope, or joy, or crown
of rejoicing? Surely, ye are our glory and joy."1
Without Saint Paul ! take heed, step aside, or fear lest
you be buried beneath the ruins of the entire social
edifice of eighteen centuries, sinking to its founda-
1 I Thess. 2 : 19, 20.

28 SAINTPAUL.
tions. Were there no Saint Paul, blot out all the
churches that sprang up by hundreds in his footsteps ;
rear again those temples and those idols which he has
beaten down, not with his hands, — that is not the
manner of the apostles, — but by the virtue of his
speech alone ; suppress those fruitful germs of regen
eration for the individual, for the family, for society,
which he planted from place to place ; plunge Europe
again (the Roman empire) into the barbarism of a
civilization, " without God and without hope." But
truly of whom do I speak? — of the Son of God?
No, it is but of his humble messenger ; but of a mes
senger animated by his grace, and who has shown us,
in a sickly body and in his weakness of speech, what
can be done by a man — a mere man — when he wills
only that which God wills.1
Let us admit, however, something is wanting to the
estimate thus formed of the labors of Saint Paul;
there is wanting the point of comparison, the reference
to ourselves and to our personal experience. We shall
approach it more nearly by contemplating the labors
of our apostle in that work which still survives in our
day, and the influence of which we are every day
directly experiencing — the work which we have in his
written speech.
The precaution taken by Saint Peter — "I will
endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to
have these things always in remembrance"2 — was, in
like manner, adopted by Paul, and to a greater extent
than was done by Saint Peter or any other apostle.
Here, again, he has a right to say, " I have labored
1 John 15 : 7. 2 2 Peter 1:15.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 29
more abundantly than they all." Two-thirds of the
apostolical letters bear the name of our apostle.
Some will, perhaps, be astonished at the place which
I assign to Saint Paul's correspondence in his apos
tolical labors. Fourteen letters, the longest of which
does not exceed sixteen chapters — is that, then, so
great a production ? And, however great it may be,
is it not to divine inspiration that the honor is due,
rather than to the act of man ? But surprise like this
would be unthinking, or it would proceed from nar
row conceptions, whether of human or divine agency.
The labor of a writer is not to be measured by the
number of pages which he has written. A great tragic
actor, in modern times, has somewhere said (pardon
this comparison, I have need of it to illustrate my
thought), " I am complimented for awakening in the
mind a crowd of thoughts by one word, very simple
in appearance ; my intonation seems to be the page of
a book; it is because in fact that intonation is the
result of a book of reflections." A profound thought,
because true, and which, on account of its being
drawn from an order of facts fallen into deserved dis
credit, does not cast the less light on many things
which escape the common eye ; for all kinds of human
greatness touch upon one another at certain npints.
The same thing applies to such a stroke of Raphael's
pencil, to such a stroke of the chisel of Michael Angelo,
as to such an, intonation of a Roscius ; an instant only
is required to give it, but years were required to pre
pare it. Let us speak only of the art of writing, which
most closely resembles that labor on the part of our
apostle which I am inviting you to remark. Every
one of those fruitful words that you admire in a great

30 SAINTPAUL.
writer, is the product of a long series of thoughts and
of experiences which he was obliged, by a double
effort, first to gather from every side, and then to con
centrate into a vital resume". You say, as you read it,
It is only a line ; but it is because you see not under
that line the infinite number of essays and of erasures
that have preceded it. I am not speaking of essays
and erasures which are made on paper, although it is
right to make an estimate of those : I speak of essays
and erasures which are made in the inward man, in
the mind, in the heart, in the conscience, by medita
tion, by reading, by watchings, by trials, by griefs,
by blood, by tears. But though this great writer is
a great apostle, — that is to say, more than a great
philosopher, since it is from the depths of divine truth
that his understanding will be fed, — and more than a
great poet, since it is upon the heights of the divine
intelligence that his imagination will renew its strength ;
an apostle, — that is to say, one of those clouds that
float between heaven and earth, freighted with the fire
of the skies, and hurling into the bosom of the dark
ness of this world those lightnings which, with sudden
brightness, illumine the spiritual horizon of a man,
or rather of humanity itself, — ;; I can do all things
through Christ who strengtheneth me;" or this, " When
I am weak then am I strong ; " or again, " For me to
live is Christ, and to die is gain," — who can doubt
but that each one of these strokes of light discloses, in
the mind and in the heart from which they escape, a
long, anxious, and painful travail?
Inspiration, especially that of the New Testament,
changes nothing in this. The Spirit of God unites
itself with the spirit of man in inspiration, very nearly

FIRST DISCOURSE. 31
as the divine nature with the human nature in the
Incarnation. But if the Son of God, present in Jesus
Christ, hinders not the sorrowful participation of the
son of man in the salvation begotten, the Divine Word,
vibrating in the human word of the apostle, does not
any more hinder the laborious participation of 'the
human work in the salvation announced. God and
man in the first case, the Spirit of God and the spirit
of man in the second, are not mutually lessened —
they are each perfectly entire by the side of the other.
Thus, each one of the words just cited (and I have
chosen them, as if at random, on the first page of our
apostle that came to hand), by reason of their being
found in the celestial regions of the Spirit of God, are
not the less sought out in the inward depths of the
spirit of man — in the lessons of experience, in the bit
terness of trial, in the formation and development of
the new man, in all the prolonged discipline of the
spiritual life. Who shall say what battles must have
been waged with the natural heart before conceiving,
or, if you prefer it, before receiving, the fourth chapter
of the first epistle of Saint John ? The organs of the
Holy Spirit are, in the eyes of the vulgar, regarded as
the spoilt children of inspiration; and they are its
martyrs. Blessed be the fire which comes down from
heaven ! but woe to the cloud commissioned to trans
mit it to the earth, whether it weary itself in the
effort to keep it back, or rend itself in order to make
for <it a passage ! J
I might, therefore, speak with good reason of the
prodigious labor implied in letters like those which
have come to us from the apostle Paul. But this
l Jer. 20 : 8, 9 ; Dan. 10 : 8, etc.

O J SAINTPAUL.
thought would not strike all minds alike; and I desire,
above all, to estimate the writings of the apostle — as
I have judged his travels — by the fruit which they
have borne, by the good which they have done to the
world. The fruit which the writings of Saint Paul have
borne, the good which they have done to the world. —
In order to recognize this, you have not need to inter
rogate either a remote antiquity or unknown shores.
Do you interrogate yourself, and by yourself judge of
all others ? You have not had intercourse with Saint
Paul save in his writings, and, nevertheless, it seems
to you that you have known him personally. So much
life and warmth throb in his speech, that one is ready
to think he has only to place his hand there to feel the
beatings of that heart which ceased to beat eighteen
hundred years ago. Grateful reader of Saint Paul,
who anticipate with holy impatience the day when
you shall be able, "in the heavenly tabernacles," to
tell him "what God hath done for your soul"1 through
his ministry, I appeal to you to bear testimony hence
forth to the part which the epistles of Saint Paul have
had in your spiritual growth. Do you recollect the
epistle to the Romans? and have you read some
where else, even in the Bible, a more complete, con
densed, and persuasive exposition of that saying of a
prophet, " The just shall live by faith," that is to say,
of the salvation given of God "freely through grace"
by faith in Jesus Christ, and imparting to the soul suc-_
cessively the life of righteousnes,2 the life of peace,3
and the life of holiness ? * Do you recollect the epis
tle to the Galatians? and have you read elsewhere,
\Ps. 66:16. 2 Rom. 1:4. ''Rom. 1:5. ' Rom. 1 : 6— 8.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 33
even in the Bible, an explanation more concise and
more luminous, of the hidden bonds which join to
gether the two covenants, or a more solid demonstra
tion of the superiority of the economy of the spirit
over that of the letter, — the one suppressing the visible
glory of the other only to enhance the invisible, the
only real, glory ? Do you recollect the two epistles to
the Corinthians? and have you read elsewhere, even
in the Bible, a more instructive and ample collection
of practical directions for the regulation of the Chris
tian life, for the government of the church, for the
celebration of the sacraments, for the administration
of the gifts of God, for the mission of woman, for the
exercise of benevolence ? — and the epistle to the Ephe-
sians, with respect to the natural division and the
spiritual fusion of those two peoples which make up
the one new people of Jesus Christ? — and the pas
toral epistles, in regard to the ministry of pastors ? —
and the epistle to Philemon, as respects the spirit of
Christian charity ? I have not said all ; but how can
all be said ?
I asked just now, Without Saint Paul in the world,
how much would the world lose by it ? I ask now,
Without Saint Paul in the Bible, and how much
would your soul be a loser ? Drop out of your New
Testament the hundred pages at the top of which you
read the name of Paul — surely, I shall not go so far
as to affirm that there no longer remains in your Bible
that which can save you. Nothing but Jesus Christ
alone is necessary for our salvation ; and in order to
know Jesus Christ, so little is required : a word from
his mouth, a word from one of his disciples, a word
in the Old Testament,^*— JB&aJ^do I say? — a bare

34 SAINT PAUL.
name, and that name spoken in an obscure promise,
with stammering tongue, to the ear of the first man, a
long time before anything was written — before a Bible
was known in the world. But a little bread and water
suffices to keep us alive ; and yet we gather with
thanksgiving both that substantial food which God
gives us in the flesh of animals, and those delicious
fruits which he hangs upon the trees to refresh our
parched pa4ate, and that blood of the grape which he
commands the vine to produce abundantly, to "rejoice
the heart of man."1 We could, also, save our "souls
without Saint Paul in the Bible. Yes; but of what
solid food, of what delightful refreshments, of what
healthful virtue should we be deprived, by losing those
hundred pages! Where could you have learnt so well
to know 1hat new and yet simple method of justifica
tion by faith without works, if Saint Paul had not
written the four first chapters of his epistle to the
Romans ? Where the inestimable, supreme, and in
comparable worth of charity before God and before
men, if Saint Paul had not written that dear and
precious thirteenth chapter in his first epistle to the
Corinthians? Where the Christian glory of domestic
life, and the place of Jesus Christ between the hus
band and the wife, between parents and children, be
tween masters and servants, if Saint Paul had not
written the fifth chapter of his epistle to the Ephe-
sians ? Where the potent efficacy of each one of the
helps which God puts within our reach for the holy
warfare, if Saint Paul had not painted the panoply
of the soldier of Jesus Christ in the sixth chapter of
the same epistle? Where the ambition conceded to
1 Ps. 104 : 15.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 35
Christian holiness, if Saint Paul had not written the
last chapter of his first epistle to the Thessalonians?
Where the law holding us in bondage to sin, without
Romans 7 ? Where the rejection of the Jews hav
ing become the calling of the Gentiles, without Ro
mans 11 ? Where the germ of real strength, without
2d Corinthians 12 ? Where the deep meaning of
Moses, without Galatians 4 ? Where the relation of
faith to works, without Ephesians 2 ? Where all that
remains, without all that remains? If you are. not
the most ungrateful of men, or the most unbelieving,
rise up and confess, that among all the mortals that
have passed beneath the vault of heaven, there is not
one to whom you owe more than to him — to whom
you owe so much as to Saint Paul.
This is true respecting ourselves. But extend your
view a little farther, — on the right, on the left, before
you, behind you. See those hundred pages translated
into two hundred languages, forcing the same testi
mony — I do not say from the Englishman, the Ger
man, the Italian, the Spaniard, the Greek, the Russian
— but from the inhabitant of Asia, even in the depths
of Siberia; but from the inhabitant of America, even
amid the icy fields of Labrador; but from the inhab
itant of Africa, even on the desert plains of Bassooto ;
but from every Christian heart that lives among the
millions of baptized persons who cover the earth ; nay,
more, extorting it even from those who are Christians
but in name, if they only possess, notwithstanding their
want of faith, intelligence enough to comprehend that
in sowing those principles of eternal life, to- which
alone I have just called your attention, Saint Paul
has sowed broadcast in the world all the germs of cul-

36 SAINT PAUL.1
ture, of education, of justice, of order, of liberty, of
civilization. And then, after understanding the con
temporary epoch, trace back the path of centuries, and
measure, if you can, the part which Saint Paul has
had in all the good which has been accomplished in
the Christian world; — the part which he had in the
religious awakening of our days, he who has been
always consulted first in all the religious awakenings
among the nations that are offspring ©f the Gentiles ;
— the part which he had in the Reformation, he having
awakened, in the library of Erfurt, that Luther who
was soon to waken the church; — the part which he had
in the faithfulness of the Vaudois and the poor people
of Lyons, he having given his name to that section
of the Eastern Church, of which they appear to be
descendants;1 — the part which he had in the labors of
Columban, Boniface, Patrick, Cyril, and Methodius,
and of all the missionaries of Europe, for they had only
to follow his example and to carry out his work; —
the part which he had in the conversion and develop
ment of the Fathers of the church, he having been the
friend of Barnabas and Clement of Rome, the favorite
master of Athanasius and Chrysostom, — until you
reach that solemn moment in which his head falls at
the gate of Rome, — that moment which would have
created so vast a void in humanity, if the letters of
our apostle — his fourteen short letters, eagerly sought
for and scattered far and near — had not come in im-
mediately to complete the great influence of his living
word by the yet greater influence of his written word.
But, if you desire to forget nothing, you should follow
him also into the obscure ages, in advance of which
1 G. S. Faber, Waldenses and Albigenses.

FIRST ^DISCOURSE. 37
we are walking ; you must endeavor to appreciate the
salutary influence, growing every day in depth and in
extent, which is yet reserved for hiin among future
generations, even until the entire fulfilment of the
prophecies which he wrote himself, and till the return
of him whom he loved so much, and longed for so
ardently. Ah ! the obligation of the world to Saint
Paul! — that which it has owed, that which it shall owe
to him, — pious pastors, zealous missionaries, eminent
Christians, useful books, charitable foundations, exam
ples of faith, of charity, of purity, of holiness — who
shall estimate it? — who shall attempt even to esti
mate it? It belongs to the entire human family to
rise up, and to confess that, among all the names of
its benefactors which it delights to proclaim from age
to age, there is not one which it proclaims with so
much agreement, gratitude, and love, as the name of
the apostle Paul.
In two words : Paul not in the world, and the gos
pel is held back during centuries, perhaps, upon the
confines of Asia, and far from our Europe, which Paul
— next to Jesus Christ — has made the centre of the
world's conversion and civilization ; Paul not in the
Bible, and Christian truth is but half revealed, the
Christian life half understood, Christian charity half
known, Christian faith half victorious. But we have
paused long enough upon the greatness of his work.
Let us fear the very appearance of rendering to the
apostle that which belongs only to the Lord. Once
more I say, no idolatry! Between the apostle and
the Lord there is all the distance between imperfec
tion and perfection, between the redeemed and the
4

38 SAINTPAUL.
Redeemer, between man and God. Moreover, I have
said it, — and you will see it in the progress of these
discourses, — far from wishing to cloak the infirmities
of Paul, I have need of them, in order to place his
example within our reach. It is because of their ex
istence that he can say to us : " Be ye as I am ; for I
am also as ye are." x My design is too solemn to suf
fer that I amuse myself by floating in the clouds of
an eulogistic preaching. I hasten to the practical appli
cation of my subject; and if I set Saint Paul before
you, for your contemplation, it is with a view to assist
in forming among us a people, followers of Saint
Paul, who shall understand and perform their work in
like manner as he understood and performed the work
which was appointed him.
To him his own work, and to us our own ; to every
man that which pertains to him. I do not preach up
ambition, even a spiritual ambition, but fidelity. Far
be it from me to disgust you with your appropriate
work, by proposing to you a chimerical one which
would be beyond your reach, and which, besides, does
not enter into your calling. To Saint Paul, the work
of a Saint Paul, to which Saint Paul was called of
God, and for which Saint Paul was prepared of God ;
and to you, your work, to which you have been equally
called, and for which, doubt it not, you have been
equally prepared. You have not a world to traverse
and to convert; but you have other things to do for
the glory of God your Saviour. You, a flock to
nourish with the Word of Life , you, a family to sup
port, and to guide in the ways of the Lord ; you, my
sister, a household to direct, and young children to
1 Gal. 4 : 12.

FIRST DISCOURSE. 39
instruct; you, my young friends, have studies to prose
cute with reference to a future career, already known,
or as yet unknown. Whoever you are, and whatever
you may have to do, be content with the task which is
fallen to you; and while magnifying it, if God shall
afford you the opportunity,1 be less solicitous to mag
nify than to fulfil it, — to adopt a happy expression
which is received in all the languages spoken by man ;
to fulfil it, that is, to leave no part of its duties which
shall not be entered and penetrated by your action.
It remains to be considered, that we are bad judges
of the extent of influence which God can give to our
labor. Saint Paul himself, while preaching the gospel
or writing his letters, did not form an estimate of all
the good which God was accomplishing through him
in the world. To know it, would perhaps have been
too great a snare for the humility of a man. Let us
only be faithful, and leave the results with God.
Whatever these may be, we shall not lose our recom
pense, which will be proportioned less to the success
than to the labor, and less to the labor than to the
spirit in which it is performed. Were they a nullity,
we should, at least, have gained the right of saying, in
the words of a holy prophet : " I have labored in vain ;
I have spent my strength for nought, and without
fruit: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and
my work with my God."2 But they shall not be a
nullity. He who holds the language which I have just
borrowed from a prophet, is not the prophet ; it is the
Messiah, whose work, after a time of trial, was- to
overspread and subdue the whole earth.
Whatever may come of it, carry, each one of you,
1 1 Cor. 7.21, 22. 2 Isa. 49:4

40 SAINT PAUL.
into your work, the spirit which the great apostle car
ried into his, and the aim of this discourse will have
been reached. Is this your will? I do not ask, would
you wish for this ? but I say, do you will it ? Those
who would wish it, are all the world, from the most
unworthy who yield themselves to evil without suc
ceeding in disavowing the claims of goodness, up to
those almost Christians, who, moved by the beauty of
the Christian life, cannot, however, determine to do
all that pleases God; — sorrowful, but like the rich
young ruler, and choosing that sorrow for their portion
rather the required sacrifice. I count not upon such,
at least if their heart be not changed, but those who
will (and there are before me more of this number
than is supposed ; more, perhaps, than in my little
faith I think myself); those who are willing, like Saint
Paul, should it cost them their most cherished idol,
the most seductive pleasures, the most rooted self-
will ; those who say to God in their prayers, My God,
thou seest my heart, here am I to do thy will ; those,
those alone, form that peculiar people of the Lord of
whom I spoke to you at the first, and whom I have it
on my heart to collect together in spirit by the Word,
waiting for the time when it shall be granted me, or
to some other more honored of God, to convert that
word into act, and to gather that people together into
a visible body, in order that it become the candle
placed on the candlestick — the city set upon a hill.
However, with the practical object which I have
before my eyes, it is doing but little to arouse you to
jealousy by the faithfulness of our apostle ; we must
search out the explanation of a faithfulness so earnest
and unequalled. How was Paul rendered capable of

FIRST DISCOURSE. 41
«
doing all which he did? The examination of this
question will occupy not less than three discourses ; so
extended is the subject-matter. We shall recognize in
the apostle, as we trace back the course of time, a
three-fold preparation for his work : An inward prep
aration, -his Christianity ; an historical preparation, his
conversion ; a natural preparation, his personal char
acter. Thus we shall look at the apostle, at one time
in Paul, then in Saul, and again in the transition from
Saul to Paul.
And it is only after travelling this whole journey in
the apostle's footsteps, that we shall be prepared, in a
closing discourse, to discover whether we are ready to
follow him therein, and take our places among that
apostolic people to whom the Lord hath reserved the
reestablishment of the church and the regeneration of
the world.

SECOND DISCOURSE.
HIS CHRISTIANITY; OR, HIS TEARS.
" And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the pastors of the
church. And when they had come to him, he said unto them, Ye know
after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, from the first day
that I came into Asia, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and
with many tears, and amid many trials, which befell me by the lying in
wait of the Jews ; and how I kept back nothing that was profitable to
you, and failed not to show you, and to teach you publicly, and from
house to house, testifying both to the Jews and the Greeks, repentance
towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ And now, behold, I
go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things which shall
befall me there, save that- the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, sayino-
that bonds and afflictions await me. But none of these things move me,
neither count I 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. And now, behold ! I know that
ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall
sec my face no more. Wherefore, I take you to record this day, that I
am pure from the blood of all men ; for I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, to
feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock ; and from among your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them. There
fore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not
to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I com
mend you to God, and to the word of his grace which is able to build
you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanc
tified. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.1 Yea, ye
i Or, " I have asked of no man either silver, or gold, or apparel." — Be Wetu,
etc.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 43
yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities,
and to them that were with me. In all things I hay.e showed you how
that so laboring 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.
And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them
all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sor
rowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see
his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.'' — Acts
20 : 17—38.
Wishing to explain to-day in Saint Paul the apostle
by the Christian, I have thought that I could choose
no text more appropriate to this subject than the dis
course which he addresses to the pastors of Ephesus.
Paul excites them to fulfil their work with fidelity, by
the faithfulness with which he fulfilled his own. Thus
he places himself in a personal point of view (in the
high sense of the word), and speaks to them of him
self, of that which he has done, of that which he is.
This is a happy circumstance for the investigation
with which we are now occupied; for, what can we
desire more than to take Saint Paul in the act, as
painted by himself, and with those strokes which rep
resent to his own eyes the substance of his apostolical
ministry ?
It is true that he is painting himself as an apostle,
and we wish to contemplate him as a Christian ; but
this difference, quite considerable in another, disap
pears in his case. For him, the apostle is simply the
Christian authorized by God to live only for the pur
pose of communicating his Christianity to the world,
and those clothed, in order to this communication, with
certain supernatural powers, which are a grace of the
apostleship, but do not constitute its inner essence or
its peculiar strength. Hence, while he paints himself

44 SAINT PAUL.
as an apostle, he is not describing himself as an orator,
as a ruler, as a man of science, nor even as a depos
itory of the power of working miracles ; but he paints
himself as regards his self-renunciation, his charity,
his tenderness, — having gone down into that region
within which the Christian and the apostle are blended
together in the inward man. He delivers to us, in a
few lines, the secret of his apostolic life, in showing
to us the secret of his Christian life.
But those few lines are so full, that I am still con
strained to make a selection from this summary. The
doctrine of Paul, his faith, his charity, his zeal, his
activity, his devotion, his patience, his watchfulness,
are all in this discourse so brief, yet so full of matter,
and which one may regard as a kind of funeral ora
tion, by anticipation, respecting his entire apostolical
work. Among so many different traits, of which is
composed the Christianity of Saint Paul as depicted
by his own hand, I look for some prominent feature
commanding all the rest, and constituting the unity of
the picture. I find it in the tears of the apostle. The
more marked the contrast between the indomitable
energy of the greatest of the apostles, and this touch
ing indication of human weakness, — his tears, — the
more am I struck with the place which they hold in
the scene at Miletus. It is said, sometimes, that a
man has tears in his voice : it might also be said that
Saint Paul has tears throughout his discourse, with
out marring (wonderful paradoxes of the gospel!) the
Christian joy which, undiminished by this, breathes in
it not the less freely. At the outset, I hear him recall
ing the tears with which his whole apostolic career
was sown : " Serving the Lord with all humility of

SECOND DISCOURSE. 45
mind, and with many tears." A little farther on, he
puts us in mind of the tears he was wont to shed
while exhorting his beloved Ephesians : " Remember,
that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn
every one night and day with tears." Then, behold
him, after' having wTith great difficulty restrained him
self for a few moments that he might pray with them,
mingling his tears with those of his hearers, because
they should see each other's faces no more. " Then
they all wept sore."
The tears of Saint Paul, which are not the tears of
a soft or (jarnal sensibility, but tears more serious,
more significant, the source of which lies in the depth
at once of nature and of grace, will produce a higher
good than merely to start a tear in our eyes. They
will awaken in our spirit more of healthful reflection,
and will permit us to discern in the heart of the apos
tle that inward and personal Christianity for which
we seek. Let us study them, therefore; they do not
all, however, possess the same character. The first,
those which were wrung from him by the sufferings of
his apostleship, are his tears of sorrow. The second,
flowing from his anxiety as pastor, are tears of charity.
The last, those which fell from him at that moment
when he thought of not seeing again his friends in
Ephesus, are tears of tenderness. Singular thought,
you are saying, perhaps, thus to break up the Chris
tianity of Saint Paul into his different kinds of tears!
As singular as any one may please, provided that it be
true ; and it is so much the more true since the apostle
thus presents himself to us in an entirely natural man
ner, yielding to the impulse of his heart, and with no
thought of taking an attitude before any person what-

46 SAINTPAUL.
ever. Furthermore, that no man may fear lest the
point of view at which I place myself be below my
subject, bear in mind that the trait which I employ in
characterizing the apostle, is among those by means
of which the Holy Spirit paints the Master himself.
Jesus had his tears, and the very same tears with
Saint Paul. His tears of sorrow, when he wept at
Gethsemane;1 his tears of charity, when he wept over
the future of Jerusalem;2 his tears of tenderness, when
he wept at the tomb of Lazarus, his friend.3
The first tears by which the inward man of Saint
Paul is revealed to us, are his tears of sortfoiv. Saint
Paul is a Christian, he is not a stoic ; no more than
his Master, does he vaunt himself on stifling the ex
pression of a sorrow which he cannot help feeling, and
the dissembling of which he would regard as affecta
tion. When sorrow wrings from a philosopher of
antiquity the proud exclamation, " O pain ! thou shalt
never make me avow that thou art an evil," he is only
substituting a forced and covert avowal for the frank
and sincere avowal which a cry or a tear would ex
press. It is truth alone that -possesses real strength.
Paul suffers, he weeps ; and he has wept much in his
life, because he has suffered much.
What he suffered — how tell it, without relating his
whole history from his conversion ? What evils were
not inflicted upon him by the Jews, whom alone he*
here names, because they were everywhere either the
authors or the instigators of all the persecutions which
he encountered! Scarcely converted at the gates of
Damascus, and behold the Jews of Damascus who
would have killed him, had he not escaped by night
l Heb. 5:7. 2 Luke 19: 41. 3 John 11 : 35.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 47
from a window, being " let down by the wall in a bas
ket." Having arrived at Jerusalem, the Jews of Jeru
salem, in their turn, seek his life ; and no other means
are found of withdrawing him from, their rage, but to
send him in all haste to Tarsus. At Paphos, a false
Jewish prophet opposes his ministry ; Jews drive him
from Antioch in Pisidia ; Jews persecute him even
into Iconium ; Jews stir up the people to stone him at
the gates of Lystra. These are but the first steps in
his career : all that follows corresponds with such a
beginning. The entire ministry of Paul is a ministry
of tears, realizing all the bitterness predicted by the
Psalmist, in order to realize one day all the glory
promised : " They that sow in tears, shall reap with
songs of triumph. They shall go their way weeping,
bearing the seed that is to be cast forth ; they shall
come again with songs of triumph, bringing their
sheaves with them." 1 By the power of his faith, Paul
anticipates the days -of reaping, and triumphs while
he weeps; but he weeps also even while he triumphs.
He weeps as he sings at midnight in the prison of
Philippi. He weeps as he writes to the Thessalo
nians, " Rejoice always." He weeps at Miletus, in
our discourse, while "finishing his course with joy."
He weeps while lifting up at Rome his parting song,
" I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight; I
have finished my course ; I have kept the faith." 2
Let us refer this matter to our apostle himself.
What a picture of sorrows is this epitome of his life,
traced by his own hand: " Are they ministers of Christ?
(I speak as a fool) I am more. In - labors more
1 Ps. 126 : 5, 6. s 2 Tim.4 : 6, 7, explained by Phil. 2 : 17.

48 SAINTPAUL.
abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times re
ceived I forty stripes save one ; once was I stoned;
thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have
been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of
waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils on the sea, in
perils among false brethren ; in weariness and pain-
fulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those
things that are without, that which cometh upon me
daily, is the care of all the churches. Who is weak,
and I am not also weak ? who is offended, and I also
burn not?"1
When writing thus to the Corinthians, during his
long abode in Ephesus, and a few months before the
meeting at Miletus, Paul had scarcely passed over
two-thirds of his course. He has yet nearly ten years
in which to labor — that is, to suffer — for the name of
his Master. What, then, will he say when he shall
have reached the term of his apostleship, and when
'the event shall have verified, perhaps surpassed, the
sad presentiments which disquiet his mind at Miletus,
though they cannot affright him ? " And now I go to
Jerusalem, not knowing the things which shall befall
me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in
every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await
inc." Moreover, he for whom the future holds nothing
that is hidden, had said all respecting this, at the be
ginning, in a single word, briefer and still more certain
than all those spoken by Paul. " Go," said the Lord
1 2 Cor. 1 1 : 23—29.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 49
to Ananias, when he sent him to Saul, " go, 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 show him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake." 1
These last words, which I would gladly style Saint
Paul's consecration sermon, do but constitute one for
his apostleship and his sufferings. If it is true, that
" through many tribulations we must enter the king
dom of God," it is by double afflictions that it must
be proclaimed to the world ; but the abundant tears
with which the holy apostle shall sow his path, will
not water the earth in vain — they wTill render it fruit
ful. Men listen attentively to the advocate who has
suffered for the cause which he defends : what surer
pledge could he give of sincere and profound convic
tion? Yet more than this is true. Apart from all
inferences, sorrow has its rights over the heart of man ;
it exercises an empire, it obtains a respect which are
all its own. The apostle himself, with that knowledge
of the human heart which breathes in all he says,
appeals to this natural sentiment in writing to the
Galatians : " Let no man trouble me, for I bear in my
body the marks of the Lord Jesus."2 Be no longer
astonished, then, if Paul returns so willingly to the
recital of his sorrows. He is not moved by a proud
desire to speak of himself, but by a charitable desire
to persuade other men. Besides, he had learnt from
a greater than himself this tender pathway to the heart
of man. If the sorrows of Jesus Christ plead with
God for the pardon of sinful man, they plead also
i Acts 9 : 15, 16. 2 Gal. 6 : 17.

50 SAINTPAUL.
with man for the doctrine of the Saviour-God. Who
has not felt how greatly the ministry of Jesus Christ
gains in authority over our mind — I ought to say
over our heart — by that terrible struggle in the desert,
which opens his redemptive career ; by that series of
incessant persecutions, which continues it; above all,
by that bitterness of Gethsemane and Golgotha, which
marks its close ? Our apostle was then truly entering
into the spirit of his Master when he wrote those
words, so perplexing to commentators, so edifying to
the simple, in which the sufferings of the disciple are
made almost as necessary for the instruction of the
church, as are those of the Lord for its redemption:
" I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that
which is behind, of the afflictions of Christ in my
flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church."1 Yes,
my brethren, from the day when Jesus purchased us
upon a cross, all that is great, powerful, healthful, is
tinged with sadness ; and all the seeds of life and
regeneration are sown in sorrow and in death. Do
you know that which I would desire to do, in order to
arouse unto salvation even those among you that have
the least of faith ? Would that it were in my power
to place in this pulpit a Paul, emaciated by fasts, worn
out by toils, exhausted by watchings, pining away
from confinement in prisons, mutilated by the rods of
Philippi and the stones of Lystra ! That sight, those
recollections — think, what an exordium for his dis
course ! What weight, what savor would they give to
the least of his words! What power, such as never
will be attained by a minister of the gospel, faithful,
in the contemporary acceptation of the word, but Hv-
1 Col. 1 : 24.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 51
ing in comfort, a stranger to suffering, largely shar
ing in the sweets of individual, domestic, social life;
honored, beloved, sedulously cherished by all men !
Those evangelical ministers of ease and comfort —
alas ! must one go so far to find them ? Ah ! were we
other than we are, how could we have been produced,
or how endured, by this contemporary generation of
the children of God? Is it not itself the generation
of ease and comfort?
It has been remarked that the gospel has made
most progress in our days, in distinction from preced
ing ages, in the classes of society that are placed in
easy circumstances; add that, in order to penetrate
into their bosom, the gospel has been conformed to
their image, and that the Christianity by which those
classes live is a Christianity easy, like themselves.
For, in short, what does it cost to-day to be a Chris
tian, — I mean an orthodox Christian, an irreproach
able Christian, — according to the Christian ideas of
the day? The question was in ancient times a terri
ble one. What did it cost to be a Christian? It
might be, according as the times were, the sacrifice of
one's ease, of fortune, or of honor, or of family, or of
life. With us, let us confess it, there are not such
hardships ; and this difference, which has its merciful
aspect as regards our Lord, has it not also an aspect
solemn, almost fearful, in regard to us, my brethren
and sisters in Jesus Christ ? It is written, " Whoso
ever doth not bear his cross and come after me, can
not be my disciple."1 Well, then, your cross, — the
cross which you bear, — where is it? What are the
sacrifices, the bitternesses, the humiliations, to which
i Luke 14 : 27:

52 SAINTPAUL.
your faith condemns you? What are also — weigh
especially this question — what are the pleasures, the
delights, the vanities, to which your gospel is incapa
ble of accommodating itself? No; neither a life of
frivolity, nor a life of indolence, can be in alliance with
the Christian enterprise which I have in view through
out these discourses. If you have it in your hearts to
take part in the regeneration of the church and of
society, be assured it will never be in your power to
do this, without a serious, humble, and crucified life.
We need here, not men like Jabez, whose prayer is,
" to enlarge their coasts, and to be without sorrow," 1
but Saint Pauls, who " bear about in their body the
dying of the Lord Jesus." 2 Am I deceived, my breth
ren, in thinking that more than one among you, out
stripping my exhortations, has been sighing in secret
after this dying life, so bitter, yet so full of strength ?
May there rise up for the holy work wmich is set
before us a generation more capable than we are of
answering the call ; and if, in order to give them birth,
the earth which bears us is not sufficiently fertilized by
the tears of the holy apostle, may it be at least by the
blood of the cross !
" Watch, and remember that by the space of three
years I ceased not to warn every one night and day
with tears." I read this verse ; I read it again ; I am
not tired with reading it yet again. In those tears of
charity I discover the Christian, to the very depth of
his inward man ; I foresee the apostle, to the very end
of his career. " By the space of three years I ceased
not to warn every one night and day with tears."
What a method of warning ! not a stroke which does
1 Chron. 4 : 9, 10. 2 2 Cor. 4 : 10.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 53
not take effect. " Three years," without losing a single
one of the days which he had spent in Ephesus, from
the first to the last, — so much for the duration; "day
and night," refreshed or fatigued, easy or difficult, " in
season or out of season," — so much for the occasions ; 1
" I ceased not," — no relaxation, no interruption, — such
was the perseverance ; " every one," not solely pastors
of the church of Ephesus, but its members, — such
were the persons ; finally, " with tears," — such was the
charity.2 Endeavor to represent to your mind that scene, by
putting yourselves in the place of those whom Paul
was wont thus to warn. You are one of the Jews or
the Gentiles of Ephesus, who are beginning to lend an
ear to the gospel ; the point is, to settle your mind,
floating between the world and God. Or, it may be
you are one of those members of the church who have
not yet accepted the gospel with any very earnest
purpose, or who attempt to reconcile it with the times ;
and the point is, to gain you over, without reserve, to
Jesus Christ. There is the holy apostle, who leaves
you no more rest than he gives himself; he urges you
during the day, he keeps hold of you far into the night.
Do not go to complaining of his importunity. Your
repose, ungrateful man, he troubles but once ; but he
takes every night from his own, — when' it is not for
you it is for others. Besides, it is in vain to resist ; he
1 Eph. 5 : 16. " Redeeming the occasion/' and not "redeeming the
time." 2 These last words, with respect to the authenticity of which there is
neither doubt nor dispute, were omitted — I know not by what accident —
in the most ancient of our French versions ; a very unfortunate omission,
for it is the last stroke which completes the picture.
5*

54 SAINTPAUL.
will not let you go until he has obtained, what ? some
favor, some kindness ? — Ah ! the greatest favor, the
greatest kindness you could do him — that of turning
to Jesus Christ, or of serving him with greater fidelity.
You refuse him this, you tear yourself away from his
urgency, you repel him, perhaps ; but, before having
done with him, look at him — he weeps. He weeps
over the sins in which you abide, over the evil which
your example does to the church, over the scandal
which you are giving to the world ; above all, over the
future which you are preparing for yourself. That
apostle in tears before you — I was on the point of
saying at your feet — what do you say of him ? The
God whom he serves did one day sum up, in a single
word, all which his apostle was about to be for him :
"Behold! he prayeth."1 You can, in your turn, — you
to whom he is preaching the gospel, — sum up all
which he is for you in this single word : " Behold ! he
weepeth." 2
For, in a word, do not the tears which you cost him,
do not they enable you to read the very heart of his
Christianity ? I draw from them, in my own view, an
entire course of Christian dogmatics, or of Christian
morals. I find there what is better still — instead of
dogmatics, truth; and instead of morals, charity; —
truth, so clearly seen that it forces him to foresee for
you a frightful woe, if you persist in rejecting it;
charity, felt so intensely that it renders your salvation
almost as necessary to him as his own. What is it
but his beautiful definition of the Christian faith, —
"the truth in love,"3 — completed by a practical reali
zation yet more beautiful?
i Acts 9: 11. 2 Phil. 3 : 18; 2 Cor. 2 : 4, etc. B Eph. 4 : 15.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 55
I here address myself to those of you, my dear
hearers, who charge our discourses with exaggeration,
and to whom the faith which we preach seems too
strange in its maxims, too exclusive in its affirma
tions, too severe in its menaces. I propose to them a
single question, which I entreat them to answer with
out prejudice. Did Saint Paul — in whom you, as
well as I, honor the faithful depository of divine reve
lation — understand the gospel as you, or as I under
stand it? And, to resolve this question, I confine
myself to this sole feature : Saint Paul cannot see his
gospel rejected without shedding bitter tears; that is
enough for me. What is, I ask now, what is evan
gelical truth, according to that man who conjures you
with tears to receive it ? Men wish to know if the
gospel of Saint Paul is only a purified deism, which
announces as its entire doctrine the existence of God
and the immortality of the soul ; as its entire revela
tion, divine paternity and human fraternity ; as its
entire mediator, Jesus Christ, living as a prophet and
dying as a martyr: or if that gospel is a religion
quite distinct from this, discovering strange novelties —
proclaiming an unknown God, promising an ineffable
deliverance, exacting a radical change, merciful at once
and terrible, vast as the world, high as heaven, deep as
hell ? It is not necessary to go and inspect the writ
ings and discourses of the apostle, all filled with "the
good news," with a grace astonishing, unheard of; it
needs only to see him weeping at your feet. Yes;
explain to me the tears of Saint Paul, if he" had no
other doctrine to bear to the world than yours. Do
you weep, on account of your doctrine, when men do
not receive it ? and what has it then done for you which

56 SAINTPAUL.
obliges you to do so much for it ? Explain' them to
me, if he proclaimed less than an incarnation, a re
demption, a regeneration, a grace wholly .free, and a
Saviour-God — " the way, the truth, and the life ! "
You wish to know whether the gospel of Saint Paul
is but an interpretation more or less solid, but an
opinion more or less firmly established, which we are
bound modestly to defend against the interpretations
and opinions of other men, without absolutely affirm
ing things, under penalty of pride and intolerance ; or
whether this gospel is the very truth — one, immuta
ble, eternal — which must be maintained in the pres
ence of, and against all men, with the unwavering
firmness of a faith perfectly sure of itself? It is not
necessary to go and scrutinize the writings and dis
courses of the apostle, in every part of which breathes
this zealous faith, penetrating into the most mysterious
depths, and yet losing nothing of its marvellous pre
cision ; there needs only to see him weeping at your
feet. Yes; explain to me the tears of Saint Paul, if he
had to bear nothing to the world save a probable belief,
as you might have done in his place ; explain them to
me, if he announced anything short of the truth, which
is the alone true, the alone necessary, the alone health-
giving, and outside of which there is but wandering,
sin, and perdition. You wish to know, finally, whether
the gospel of Saint Paul forebodes to those who reject
it only exercises more or less sorrowful, new trials
more or less painful, in the obscure evolutions of an
impenetrable future ; or whether it denounces on them
the terrors of divine judgment, the horrors of the
wrath to come, the bitter pains of an eternal suffering?
Let others discuss the precise force of the word eternal;

SECOND DISCOURSE. 57
let them examine if it be never used respecting a
limited duration; let them question text after text in
the Scriptures, and search through the writings and
the discourses of the apostle. You have not need of
all that: it needs only to see him weeping at your feet.
Yes; explain to me the tears of Saint Paul, if he has
at his command all the resources in which your sensi
bility delights ; explain them to me, if he has not
before his eyes the image of some fearful punishment
in reserve for those who reject the truth or turn away
from it ; if he does not discern before them a wretched
ness, frightful, inexpressible, surpassing all his concep
tions ; or, to borrow his energetic language, " a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries." 1
I have now been speaking in behalf of those who
do not share our faith. You who share it, you applaud
yourselves, perhaps, within your own hearts, for being
able to explain the tears of the apostle, whose gospel
is yours. Do we applaud ourselves ? Ah ! how much
reason have we rather to smite upon our breasts! If
we know how to explain the tears of the apostle, we
are only the more miserable if we know not how to
weep them. We challenge heresy to explain the tears
of Saint Paul without the truth which he proclaims ;
let us suffer that, in its turn, it should challenge us to
explain them without the charity by which he is ani
mated. Even with that unheard-of novelty in his
revelations, even with that immutable assurance of his
faith, even with that vengeful fire which he denounces
on the impenitent, — explain to me the tears of Saint
Paul, if he does not unite with that divine truth a
l Heb. 10 : 27.

58 SAINTPAUL.
divine charity, if he does not long for your salvation
as ardently as his own, if he does not live in accord
ance with that maxim of his Master, " Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." Explain to me, also, how it
is that you and I, who have tears for our physical suf
ferings, tears for our family griefs, tears for our public
calamities, find the fountain dried up when the subject
is only the loss of souls and the glory of God; explain
this to me, if we are not as cold and changeable as the
apostle was charitable and faithful to his convictions.
Saint Paul weeping at your feet! — what other thing
is it but the love of God living in the heart of a man,
and converting the gospel into action, into evidence,
into a real and palpable fact ?
What power, also, in those tears! and who could
resist them? Could you yourself ? Think of it. You
have, I. will suppose, lent an ear to exhortations the
most eloquent, the most urgent, the most pathetic, and
you have not yielded yourself. You have read solid
treatises, admirable alike in style and in thought, in
which the truth of miracles and the fulfilment of
prophecy are proved with a strength almost mathe
matical, and you have not yielded yourself. You have
heard the holy Scriptures, Moses and the prophets,
the apostles, and this same Saint Paul, setting forth
the faith with that clearness formed in the depth of
the subjects contemplated, which is of itself alone an
argument, and you have not yielded yourself. But had
you seen that Christian orator, or the author of that
treatise, or that inspired witness of Jesus Christ — had
you seen him enter your closet, and there, alone wiih
you, with no possible motive of human glory, urge you
to be converted, conjure you to have pity on yourself.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 59
and at last, perceiving your obstinate resistance, unable
either ta -prevent you from destroying yourself, or to
suffer that you be lost, become agitated, grow silent,
and burst into tears — say, could you refuse to yield
yourself? Alas! let us not proceed too far; many,
many have seen the tears of Saint Paul, and have not
yielded. But, to resist the gospel when thus preached,
thus demonstrated, must not a man carry within him a
stone instead of a heart?
People of God ! when thou shalt arise in the midst
of this erring generation, with the tears of Saint Paul
in your eyes, your voice, your heart, — " bearing the sick
nesses " of this great people by which thou art encom
passed, " and laden with their infirmities,"1 — thou shalt
see then if thou dost not make the world listen unto thee.
But those tears — when wilt thou have them? Thou
wilt have them when those shalt become the people of
that of which Paul was the apostle, — the people of
truth in charity ; thou wilt have them when thou shalt
have ceased being that which thou art to-day, — feeble
in faith, timid in doctrine, cold as regards God's claims,
ignorant of his terrors, vacillating about things essen
tial, disputing about things secondary ; — that is to say,
that in order to weep as he wept for others, thou must
begin by learning to weep for thyself.
Whatever impression may have been produced on
the hearers of Paul at Miletus, by the double remem
brance of his tears of sorrow and his tears of charity,
neither the one nor the other could have moved them
equally with those tears of tenderness, which they see
starting from his eyes at this very moment, and with
l Matt. 8:17.

60 SAINT PAUL.
which they mingle theirs. " Then they all wept sore,
and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing
most of all for the words which he spake, that they
should see his face no more." Those tears, shed by
Christian friendship, while they crown the touching
scene of my text, contribute also, in their way, to our
instruction ; they complete the portraiture of the apos
tle's personal Christianity, and the explanation of his
influence. The ideas of greatness and energy, which even a
superficial perusal of the gospel causes us to associate
with the name of Saint Paul, might easily lead us to
forget another trait of his character, disclosed by a
more attentive study of his history. By a rare privi
lege of nature (shall I term it?), or of grace, Saint
Paul, combining opposite qualities in himself, and tem
pering force by gentleness, possessed one of the tender-
est hearts that ever beat beneath the sky. I do not say
merely a warm heart, but a feeling heart, with tender
attachments, lively emotions, and quick to weep; — so
far was his greatness from having any element of pride,
or his energy any element of harshness.
What can be more affectionate than the language
of the apostle to his brethren of Thessalonica — his
children in the faith : " We could have- used authority,
as the apostles of Christ ; but we were gentle among
you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children 
We desired to impart unto you, not the gospel of
God only, but also our own souls, because ye were
dear unto us  Being separated from you for a
short time, in sight and not in heart, we endeavored
the more abundantly to see your face with great de
sire  Wherefore, when we could hold out no

SECOND DISCOURSE. 61
longer,1 we thought it good to be left at Athens alone,
and sent Timothy our brother to establish yon, and to
exhort you concerning your faith?"2 This relates to
all whom he had begotten to eternal life ; they are so
many friends whom he bears on his heart before God.
The churches without number founded by him contain
no member who does not have his place in those
prayers, the frequency of which is almost as astonish
ing as their fervor. One is tempted to ask where the
apostle found time (to speak only of time) to pray so
constantly for so many persons ; and the inexhaustible
tenderness of his soul assuredly enters largely into the
solution of this touching problem.
But fraternal love does not exclude special prefer
ences. Sufficient attention is not given to the place
which friendship, a tender friendship, held in the life of
Saint Paul and in his apostleship. Paul had freely
renounced, in order to promote his ministry, his right
of "leading about a sister, a wife, as well as other
apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas ; "3
he did not wish to be chargeable to the churches, or to
restrain' his own liberty by the support and the cares
,of a family. But it is allowable to believe, in con
sistency with the lively affections to which we have
seen that his heart was surrendered, that it was not
possible for him to renounce the sweet ties of domestic
life, without a sacrifice greater, perhaps, in his case,
than it would have been for many other men. There
is, however, no sacrifice without compensation ; and
that very isolation which Saint Paul took care to wrap
about hinlself, opens for him a readier access to the con-
1 A literal rendering. . 2 1 Thess. 2:3. «1 Cor. 9 : 5.
6

62 SAINTPAUL.
solations and helps of Christian friendship. I desire
no further proof of this than the great number of
brethren and sisters that are named by their names at
the close of many of his epistles, and each one of them
saluted by him with all the most delicate shades of the
most faithful Christian affection ; the apostle's fraternal
family, far more numerous, and perhaps yet more
devoted than would have been the natural family of
which he had voluntarily deprived himself.1 There is
a Priscilla and an Aquila, " his helpers in Christ Jesus,
who have for this life laid down their own necks ; "
there is an Adronicus and a Junia, " his kinsmen and
his fellow-prisoners, who also were in Christ before
me;" there is a Persis, "the beloved, who labored
much in the Lord ; " a Rufus, " chosen in the Lord,
and his mother, who," it is added, " is also mine." 2 In
this point of view, those chapters of salutations, which
you perhaps have been wont to pass over at a bound,
as possessing no general interest, would present you a
study as attractive as it is instructive, by enabling you
to penetrate into the private life of the apostle, and
into his personal relations.
This is not all. Among so many Christian friends
that throng around him, Paul reckons a few to whom
he reserves his most intimate attachment, — Luke, the
historian, so true, yet so affectionate ; Barnabas, his
first companion in labor, towards whom he would not
suffer himself to be chilled by a momentary separation ;
Philemon, to whom he writes with a vivacity of senti
ment which the pen of the most loving woman could
not excel; Epaphroditus, whom God gave to his
prayers, " lest he '-should have sorrow upon sorrow ; " 3"
1 Prov. 18 : 24. 2 Rom. xvi. 3 Phil. 2 : 27.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 63
Epaphras, Tychicus, and, above all the rest, Timothy
and Titus ; — Timothy his right arm, and Titus his left
arm. What mother ever wrote to her son a letter more
filled with solicitude than the second epistle to Timo
thy ? The transparently affectionate language of the
teacher enables us to read the very heart of the dis
ciple, which is revealed to us in the pastoral (shall
I call them, or paternal?) directions lavished upon
him. Do hot you see Timothy here, yielding to
the double ascendency of a mind depressed and a
body enfeebled, and shedding abundant tears in the
bosom of his aged friend? Paul takes heed hot to
forget those tears. He knows too well what tears
are.1 That depressed mind he raises up by his holy
exhortations ; 2 he cares, also, for that enfeebled body,
on whose behalf he gives elsewhere the watchful and
almost motherly counsel, " Drink no longer water, but
use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy fre
quent infirmities."3
And what shall we say of Titus? If I painted to
you the apostle running from church to church after
his dear disciple, " his true son in the faith," 4 to find
rest in his sweet society, you would freely charge me
with exaggeration ; and yet I should be only repeat
ing that which Paul has himself said in an apostolical
epistle : " Furthermore, when I came to Troas to
preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto
1 2 Tim. 1 : 5.
3 2 Tim. 1 : 7, 8 ; 2 : 3—6. Does it not seem that Saint Panl wished
in this epistle to fortify his disciple in advance against the sad news which
was presently to reach him (2 Tim. 4:6)1
3 I Tim. 5 : 23. * Titus 1 : 4.

64 >SAINT PAUL.
me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit because I
found not Titus my brother; but taking my leave of
them, I went from thence into Macedonia."1 It is the
man who speaks in this manner, — the feeble man,
calling for the help of man, in distinction from that
man who has no parallel, because he is more than a
man, who, always alike strong in God, was able to
say, " You will leave me alone ; but I am not alone,
because the Father is with me."2 But if this be a
weakness, it is a weakness that charms, — permit me
the word, — and which is even useful. The brightness
of so rare a sanctity might, peradventure, dazzle our
eyes, or make us stand in doubt of its reality, if the
man did not betray himself somewhere.
Such is the source of the tears which our apostle
weeps at Miletus, while taking leave of the pastors of
Ephesus. I have called them tears of tenderness: I
might have called them tears of nature ; for they pro
ceed from his attachment to his special family, in
which one of the first places, doubtless, belonged to
those pastors of a church where he had made his
abode more than once, and remained at one time three
entire years. Furthermore, the character disclosed in
him by these tears, forms not merely an interesting
trait in his personal Christianity ; it constitutes, at the
same time, one of the forces of his apostleship.
This force operates in more than one way. It op
erates by winning hearts to the apostle. Every one
feels himself drawn towards this man, in whom the
1 2 Cor. 2 . 12, 13. Compare this passage with 2 Cor. 7 : 6, 7. The
consolation which the apostle finds in the presence of Titus, has a double
origin, — his friendship for Titug, and his affection for the Corinthians.
2 John 16 : 32.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 65
faculty of loving — the sweetest, at once, and the most
energetic faculty .that exists in man — has received an
extraordinary development; and as the greatest obsta
cles which the gospel encounters are those which it
finds in the will, it is prepossessing the hearer in favor
of the gospel, to prepossess him in favor of the man
who proclaims it. It operates by multiplying the apos
tle's means of action. That fraternal family which is
grouped around so loving a master, forms on every
side of him, as it were, a holy phalanx, in which every
one, placed by that skilful general at the post which
is suited to him,- furnishes his personal contingent
towards the common effort against the enemy, with
an ardor proportioned to the attachment which he
bears to his chief.1 It operates by refuting, with the
most conclusive evidence, — that of facts, — two preju
dices which turn the inclinations of the heart against
the gospel: the one being, that the gospel excludes the
preferences of friendship, while in truth those prefer
ences were so well known by Saint Paul, not to say
that they were by Jesus Christ himself; the other is,
that the gospel blunts feeling and unbinds human
attachments, while the example of Saint Paul, like
that of Jesus Christ, makes it clear that the gospel
sharpens all right feelings, and draws more closely
together all legitimate attachments. But it operates
also in a manner yet more profound, upon which alone
1 This is, perhaps, one of the subordinate reasons why Saint Paul is
that one of all the apostles of which primitive tradition lias the most to
say. The historians of Saint Paul, who began by being bis companions
in labor, speak of him from their heart's need as a friend of his friend.
Who does not feel the beating of Saint Luke's heart beneath the simple
and touching recitals in the Acts of the Apostles ?
6*

66 SAINT PAUL.
I wish to pause. The warmth and the vivacity o! Jie
apostle's affections, give to the gospt'l which he /ep-
resents an inconceivable simplicity and naturalness,
which greatly assist in bowing minds before him.
This demands some explanation.
The gospel possessing doctrines ana maxims op
posed to those which prevail in the world, it is quite
commonly imagined that it is unrelated to the wants
of our nature. It is a beautiful theory, men say, but
it cannot possibly become the law of humanity. In
order to that, humanity must necessarily have been
other than it is. Not only do public interests, com
merce, industry, politics, the arts and literature, escape
from the action of a gospel so little in agreement with
the world that surrounds us, but this gospel cannot
even become the generative principle of our private
relationships, of our personal sentiments, of our moral
life, because it is not fully adapted to our inward man,
certain of whose instincts it contradicts, while it grati-.
fies others. In two words, according to the phrase of
the day, the gospel is not human. This thought closes
many gates against the truth ; for man cannot depart
from the foundation of his being; and the cause of
the gospel is lost, if it is able to save man only by
denying his humanity. To-day, when the old objec
tions of unbelief have for the most part lost their
force, this one, on the contrary, is more accredited
than ever, and assists in keeping far from the faith
many intellects, and those among the best. It is, how
ever, but a prejudice, and arises from confounding our
nature, in its essential and primitive state, with our
accidental and fallen nature. No ; the gospel — God's
truth revealed to man — is not a stranger to the bosom

SECOND DISCOURSE. 67
of humanity; it contradicts only its false and per
verted tendencies. It allies itself with our normal
humanity, against our fallen humanity ; with man,
such as he ought to be, against man such as he is;
by means of which, altogether strange as it seems to
the unregenerate man, it is in perfect harmony with
the true and permanent wants of human nature, to
which Jesus Christ, and after him the apostles, Saint
Paul especially, everywhere make their appeal.
This is made comprehensible, it is rendered visible,
as if to the eye, by the gospel preached and lived, in
such manner as the preaching and life of Saint Paul
showed it forth. The Christianity of Saint Paul is a
Christianity essentially human. The gospel has re
newed everything in the heart of the apostle; but it
transformed in him neither the general character of
the race, nor the peculiar temperament of the indi
vidual. With whatever diligence Paul seeks to divest
himself of all the wickedness pertaining to his old
man, he is not less anxious to abide in all that which
constitutes the purely natural foundation of his being.
Hence the gospel exerts on him an influence at once
more profound and more comprehensive. Having be
come a second nature in him, it penetrates him in
every part; it assumes in him the characteristics of
instinct and its irresistible evidence. We see him ap
plying it by turns to the smallest things and the great
est, and always with the same simple ease. Whether,
rising to the highest celestial regions, he " could wish
to be anathema," like Jesus Christ, "for his 'brethren
who are Israelites," ] or sighs for the moment of " de
parting to be with Christ, which would be far better
» Rom. 9 : 3.

68 SAINTPAUL.
for him;"1 whether, stooping to the humblest earthly
applications, he regulates for Christians in Corinth the
organization of the church, the order of worship, the
celebration of the sacraments, and even the dress of
the women ; and concerns himself with regard to his
books, which he can no longer do without, and his
only cloak, which the approaching rigorous season will
make him need,2 — he is, throughout, animated by the
spirit of Jesus Christ. But that spirit has so pervaded
his entire being, that he has gained there the facile and
natural dominion which seems to belong only to the
spirit of the individual man. Paul is a Christian
friend, but a better friend by so much ; a Christian
relative, and a better relative3 by so much; a Chris
tian citizen, and by so much a better citizen ; a Chris
tian artisan, and — doubt it not — by so much a better
artisan.4 He is the type of the Christian man, but he
is not less the type of man a Christian.
Hence his ascendency over the human mind. This
gospel, so essentially human in the apostle, addresses
itself to whatever of essential humanity there is in his
hearers ; and " the heart of man answering to man, as
in water face answereth to face,"5 it finds a facility
in approaching them which it would never have had,
were, it not so completely "mingled by faith with those
who hear it," G after having been thus mingled with
him who proclaims it. When Saint Paul proclaims
to the Athenians the God of Jesus Christ as " the un
known God," to whom, without knowing him, they
have raised a nameless altar, you have read therein
nothing but an ingenious exordium, suited to fix the
l Phil. 1 : 23. 2 2 Tim. 4 : 13, 21. s Rom. 16:7. 4 Acts 18 : 3.
6 Prov. 27 : 19. 6 Heb. 4 : 2, a literal version.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 69
attention of a volatile and quick-witted audience. But
it is more, than an exordium — it is a truth. Saint
Paul is so skilful on this occasion only because he is
so true. Athenians that we all are, it is in vain that
we make trial of one idol after another. The true
God, to whom our heart aspires without knowing him,
remains ever unknown so long as Jesus Christ is not
found. Meanwhile, his place, which no other can
ever fill, continues empty in the depths of the heart,
until one day, when Jesus Christ coming to take it,
we cry out, Behold him whom I sought ! Thanks to
that gospel, so natural, and, if I may say it, so per
sonal of the apostle, his conflicts are the conflicts of
those who listen to him, his experiences are their expe
riences, his sentiments their sentiments. It is that
which draws them so strongly to him, and, through
him, to Jesus Christ, to whom alone he desires to win
them. My brethren, our Christianity has a fault that is too
commoit: it is outward, it is plated ; it is upon us, but
is not in us ; or, if you prefer it, it is in us, but it is
not we ourselves. From that surface of our being
where it stops, it has penetrated as far as our morning
and evening prayers ; but it has not entered every
where into our domestic life, — into the work of our
retirement, into our literature, into our commerce, into
our politics; it is not melted into our human existence,
and therefore it has so little hold upon humanity. It
appears to those contemplating us, that, in order to
receive our gospel, they must leave the world and sep
arate themselves from the great human family. But
when they shall have to do with Christians like Saint
Paul, they will understand that the gospel alone is

70 SAINTPAUL.
capable of renewing the foundations of man and of
society, being a stranger to nothing that is good and
true,1 either in society or in man ; and that it opposes
our superficial instincts only to satisfy the more fully
our profound instincts, like the beneficent toil of the
miner in boring the earth, removing the dry and sandy
soil which he finds at first in his course, but removing
this in order to seek farther on in a more hidden soil
those limpid and healthful waters which, until then,
the substances heaped upon them had kept from the
use of man and the smile of heaven.
The tears of the holy apostle have explained him to
us. The power of his apostleship was in his personal
Christianity, and his Christianity was a tearful Chris
tianity. Weeping from sorrow, he overcame through
respect; weeping from charity, he won through love;
weeping from tenderness, he allured through the hu
man simplicity of his gospel.
This concerns us, Christians. Paul (need it be re
peated?) is with me in these discourses but a means, —
the end, is yourselves ; let us rather say, it is Jesus
Christ in you. Far from me the thought of glorifying
a man ! The Lord alone ought to be glorified ; and
Paul would not be Paul if he did not say, with John
the Baptist, " He must increase, and I must decrease."
No ; I come not to glorify Paul, but I come to humble
you, and at the same time to arouse you by that
which a man has done, to whom the infinite distance
that separates him from his divine Master did never
theless permit so great an advance beyond us.
A true people of God must be formed, who shall be
1 Phil. 4 : 8.

SECOND DISCOURSE. 71
at once the generous people of the cross, the devoted
people of love, and the simple people of nature, but of
nature restored to itself by grace. Let those remain
far aloof from our holy enterprise who prefer comfort
to the cross, selfishness to love, semblance to reality.
But thou, people of tears, awake! In thy turn sow
with tears, that thou mayest reap with songs of tri
umph. Paul, who wept so much, does he now regret his
tears ? To-day, like him ; to-morrow, with him !

THIRD DISCOURSE.

HIS CONVERSION.

" And Saul, ye: breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters
to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any of this sect, whether
men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he
journeyed, he came near Damascus ; and suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven ; and he fell to the earth, and heard a
voice saying unto him, " Saul ! Saul ! why persecutest thou me ? And
he said, " Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest ; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Then he,
trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be
told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him
stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose
from the earth ; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man ; but
they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was
there three days without sight, neither did eat nor drink.
" And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias ; and to
him said the Lord in u vision, Ananias ! And he said, Behold ! I am
here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street
which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man
called Saul of Tarsus : for, behold ! he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision
a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he
might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by
many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem ;
and how he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on
thy name. But the Lord said unto 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 show him how great things he must suffer
for my name's sake.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 73
" And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house ; and putting
his hands on him said, Saul, my brother, the Lord (even Jesus, that ap
peared unto thee in the way as thou camest), hath sent me, that thou
' mightcst receive thy sight, and be filled with the holy Ghost. And imme
diately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales : and he received
sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received
meat, he was strengthened.
" Then was Saul certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus.
And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of
God But all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is' not this he that
destroyed them who called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither
for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests ?
But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that
dwelt at Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ." — Acts 9 : 1 — 22.
Like tree, like germ. So eminent a Christian char
acter as that which we have recognized in the apostle,
must have for its starting-point a conversion that sur
passes all ordinary proportions. Thus the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle is the greatest
event in the history of the primitive cnurch, next to
the acts of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Ghost.
It is not, however, the greatness of the event which
I wish to discuss, but its characteristics ; for if Saint
Paul is placed before our eyes, the object is not to
exalt him, but that he may instruct us. I desire, in a
model conversion, to contemplate the conversion which
every one of us needs in order to do his part of the
work to which God calls his people to-day ; and I find
this model conversion in Saul of Tarsus. In this truly
extraordinary man, everything is so strongly empha
sized in nature and in grace, that his practice assumes.
nearly the value of a complete theory ; among all the
features of resemblance between him and his Master,
this is not the least surprising. One is inclined to call
him, at one time, more the man than another man in
7

74 SAINT PAUL.
his natural state, and, again, more the Christian than
another Christian in the state of grace. As we study
painting in Raphael, or poetry in Dante, because at the
height to which such geniuses have attained, art seems
to be personified in the artist and poetry in the poet,
thus we study the gospel with almost the same cer
tainty in the person of Saint Paul as in the pages of
the book : in this apostle, the apostleship ; in this saint,
holiness ; in this believer, faith ; and also in this convert,
conversion. Let us unfold, then, out of the conversion of Saint
Paul, the characteristics of every true conversion ; what
it is, whither it goes, and whence it comes ; its nature,
its scope and its origin. This will be entering into the
thought of Saint Paul: "For this cause I obtained
mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all his long-suffering, to serve as a pattern to those who
should hereafter believe on him." J
What is conversion ? To this question the conver
sion of Saint Paul replies. Our text (and we here
recognize the word of God) nowhere tells us Saul con
verted himself; but it shows him to us performing
works entirely new, and leaves it with ns to conclude
that his heart was changed. It is only necessary, in
order to admit this change, to bring before the mind
that which he was before conversion, and that which
he is afterwards. Afterwards : Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ; yet more, the apostle of Jesus Christ,
of all ' the apostles that one who has labored the
most,2 and the one who has presented in his per-
1 1 Tim. 1 : 16. * 1 Cor. 15 : 10.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 75
son the completest model of faith and of Christian
life ; before : Saul, " a blasphemer (it is he who
speaks, or respect would never have permitted me to
use the language), a persecutor, an oppressor," leaving
nothing for grace to, lay hold of but his "ignorance," in
which he had been kept by " unbelief." 1 How easy to
understand the artless astonishment of his hearers at
Damascus, who when they heard him confessing Christ
to be the Son of God, "were amazed, and said, is not
this he that destroyed them which called on this name
in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he
might bring them bound unto the chief priests." 2
Suppose yourself a stranger to his history as given
in the Acts, and that you are told: There lived a
man, Saul, who "persecuted the doctrine (of Jesus
Christ) even unto death, binding and putting in prison
both men and women.; " 3 who, " often from synagogue
to synagogue compelled them to blaspheme by pun
ishing them" (that is to say, by torturing them) ; who,
" being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them
even unto Strange cities," 4 and who ran from Jerusa
lem to Damascus, "in order to bring bound to Jerusa
lem those that were there, that they might be pun
ished." 5 Let one say to you afterwards : There lived
a man, Paul, who with more ardor than any other
served Jesus Christ; who lived and who died, like
his Master, only for the good of the church; who,
being cruelly tormented by Pagans, more cruelly tor
mented by Jews, " was moved by none of those things,
not counting even his life dear unto himself," and who
ended by crowning with martyrdom, perhaps the most
'1 Tim. 1:13. 2 Acts 9: 21. 3 Acts 22 : 4. 'Acts 26: 2.
5 Acts 22 : 6.

76 SAINTPAUL.
active and devoted career which the world has ever
known. Could you conceive that those two men were
really but one ? Well then, endeavor to make out of
them but one ; bind them together, — as you can, — the
one to the other; the difficulty you will find in this
will give you the estimate of Christian conversion, and
of the distance which separates it from everything that
is not itself.
Conversion is not merely a reform of conduct. We
do not see that there was anything to censure in the
conduct of Saul. He appeals boldly to the testimony
of all his people, as regards " the life which he had led
from his youth up."1 We cannot then depict him
otherwise than one well regulated in morals, upright
in affairs, exact in the sacrifices of piety, liberal in
those of benevolence ; in one word, a man honored and
honorable. But with all this, Saul was still Saul, and
Paul had not begun. Conversion is not merely a sub
mission, although inward, to the moral law. We can
not doubt that Paul was a moral man in the full and
high sense of the word, subordinating his -own will to
duty, even to the point of self-renunciation and sacri
fice. He bears this witness, when writing to the Phi-
lippians, that " concerning the righteousness of the law
he had been blameless;"2 and it was not a small mat
ter for the conscientious and believing Jew to possess
that righteousness of the law, "that heavy yoke," says
Saint Peter, "which neither we nor our fathers were
able to bear." 3 But with all this, Saul was still Saul,
and Paul had not begun. Conversion is not merely
the acceptance, however sincere, of certain religious
1 Acts 26 : 4. s Phil. 3:6. 3 Acts 15 : 10.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 77
principles. Saul was a believing Israelite, a zealous
Jew, a rigid Pharisee, exact among the exact,1 submis
sive to the Scriptures, serving the true God, hoping
for the Messiah, equally scrupulous in observing and
ardent in defending all the ordinances of Moses. But
with all this Saul was still Saul, and Paul had not
begun. Conversion is not even a mere gradual devel
opment, a progressive amelioration of all the good dis
positions which we have just recognized in Saul.
Vainly had they developed themselves ; in vain this
amelioration, were it continued for a century : they
could never have yielded anything save that which
they contained in the germ ; Saul would only have
continued Saul, and Paul would never have begun.
Conversion is the starting-point of a new life, oppo
site to the old in its general direction, as is indicated
by the very name employed, for it marks the return
ing upon and total changing of one's path. By it,
Saul becomes not better, but he becomes other ; he is
not more faithful than formerly to his principles, but
his principles are changed ; that which he regarded
as evil, he regards as good ; that which he called light,
he calls darkness ; he undergoes the personal experi
ence of that which he was at a later day to express
with such energy : " Therefore, if any man be in Christ
he is a new creature ; old things have passed away ;
behold, all things have become new."2 A germ new,
unknown, and foreign, has been deposited in the depth
of his being; this germ is faith in Jesus, the Christ,
the Son of God. Henceforth, that which he had
sought in the law, he seeks only in grace ; that which
•Acts 26: 5. Phil. 3:5, 6. 2 2 Cor. 5:17.
17*

78 SAINT PAUL.
he had expected from his own righteousness, he expects
only from the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
With respect to other features, behold him here painted
to the life, by himself, in these words, at once so filled
with truth and so burning with love : " What things
were gain to me, those I counted loss for the love of
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteous
ness, which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith." *
Behold here the conversion of Saul : behold it recog
nized in its visible fruits, and also sought out in its
hidden germ. Saul is converted on the day, the hour,
the moment, when, confessing that he is in himself evil,
unworthy, lost, and forever devoid of all righteousness
before God, he substitutes the name of Jesus Christ for
his own in all his hopes of eternal life, and casts himself
without reserve at the foot of the cross, as a poor sin
ner who has no other resource in the world than the
blood of the Lamb of God. But this same Saul, from
the day, the hour, the moment that he is converted,
enters wholly into the spirit, into the thoughts, into the
works of the Saviour that redeemed him. It is not
merely his name with which he covers himself; he
clothes himself with his righteousness; he becomes
united to his entire being. As he lives no longer
except by Jesus Christ, so also he no longer lives
except for Jesus Christ, who has been at once the germ
1 Philip. 3 : 7—9.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 79
and the fruit, the beginning and the end, the alpha and
the omega of his new life.
. And now, every genuine conversion, beginning like
that of Saul, ends also like that. It begins by Jesus
Christ living and reigning in the heart before God;1 it
ends by Jesus Christ living and reigning in the works,
before men,2 and forcing them, by the contrast of the
old life with the new life, to say, as men said respecting
Saul at Damascus, " Is not this he " whom we have
known so different?3 — so greatly»is the convert trans
formed, so great is the difficulty in recognizing him in
himself. That man, so jealous of his duties, and so
easy in regard to his rights — is it not the one whose
susceptibility was offended by the slightest reproach,
and whose self-will was irritated by the smallest con
tradiction ? That man, so gentle, so respectful, so grave
— is, it not he who flew into a passion at everything
said, exclaimed against God and men, and with profane
levity mingled the holy name of the Saviour with in
terests the most vulgar, frivolous, and unworthy ? That
man, so liberal, so ready to give, seeking out opportu
nities for doing good, and seeing in his fortune only a
deposit which God had entrusted to his faith — is it
not he from whom you had so great difficulty in draw
ing a moderate subscription either for the service of
God or the relief of the poor ? That man, who lives
a life of prayer, of self-renunciation, of holy activity,
of generous devotion — is he not the one who took his
pleasure in the amusements of the world, its feasts,
vanities, arid lusts ?
Act so that you may be thus spoken of: then your
conversion will be a conversion; then, also, you will
12 Cor. 13:5. ' 1 John 2 : 6. 8 Acts 9: 21.

S3 SAINT PAUL.
have your distinct place in the labors of the people of
God ; then, but only then  O you, therefore, who
flatter yourselves that you belong to the Lord, — who do
belong to him, as I hope, in truth, — stop not until you
have proved your conversion before all eyes by the
possession of a " new man," sanctified even unto that
glorious contradiction, to your " old man ! " But of
those unmeaning conversions which, scarcely affecting
certain notions of the head, and certain superficial
habits, suffer the supposed convert still to retain the
tastes, the expenditures, the dissipations, the avarice,
the cupidity, the actual sins, perhaps, of his former life,
— speak to me no more in presence of the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus!
See, also, whither this conversion tends. I mean,
what influence it exerts in the world ; thus you will
learn what weight your own conversion will have in
the eyes of men when it shall possess the characteris
tics which we have just noted in that of Saul. The.
impression produced by the conversion of Saul was as
profound as it was extended. This is first seen in the
Jews of Damascus : " All that heard were amazed.
 And Saul increased the more in strength, and
confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving
that Jesus is the Christ." 1 It is seen shortly after
wards among the Christian churches of Judea, who
are filled by this news both with surprise and consola
tion, and who are excited by it to " glorify God in
him."2 It will be seen later among all those to whom
it shall come throughout the whole world, and who
shall find therein the truth and power of the gospel
» Acts 9 : 22. 2 Gal. 1 : 22—24.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 81
rendered visible as if to the eye. The apostle knew
so well the fruit which the world would gather from
his conversion, that he employs it as a favorite argu
ment in his preaching. Of the five discourses by him,
which have been preserved to us in the Acts, two
derive their subject from this event, not to speak of the
repeated allusions which he makes to it in Jiis epis
tles.1 In speaking to Jews, to Agrippa, to the churches,
and to all others, he depends upon the feelings which
must be awakened in every candid soul by so strik
ing an interposition in favor of the doctrine of Jesus
Christ. He is right in depending upon this. After the resur
rection of Jesus Christ, and the descent of the Holy
Spirit, the gospel history has no evidence equalling the
conversion of Saul of Tarsus. This has been felt in
all ages: and thoughtful minds have yielded them
selves before this page of the gospel, who have surren
dered to no other. I understand it without difficulty ;
those among you that have the least of faith will do as
much, if they are only willing to take the trouble of
weighing without bias the recital of my text.
A young Jew, whose birth and kindred strengthen his
religious prejudices, belonging to the most rigid class
of that rigid sect, the Pharisees, a disciple of Gamaliel,
but more ardent than his master, or carried further than
he by the new position which the boldness of Saint
Stephen had gained for the Gentiles,2 believes that
he will serve God by persecuting even unto death the
disciples of Jesus Christ.3 He makes a beginning at
the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, and the sight of that
first blood only arouses his fury. Having exhausted his
1 1 Cor. 15:9; 1 Tim. 1 : 12—16, etc. 2 Acts 6 : 14. 3 John 16 : 2.

82 SAINTPAUL.
work of "menaces and of murder" in Jerusalem and
in Judea, he solicits from the Sanhedrim the favor
of carrying it forward in strange cities (as Paul the
apostle was to desire earnestly, at a later day, the
honor of bearing the gospel into countries to which it
had not yet come). Saul, then, furnished with official
letters and commissions, journeys towards populous
Damascus, where the gospel had found an abundant
entrance among the Jews, who were very numerous in
that city, and among Pagan proselytes, who were in
yet greater numbers ; and of these many converts the
greater part were women. But as he approaches this
city, behold! he undergoes so extraordinary a change
in his convictions and his purposes, that we see him,
after fasting for three days, substituting, in Damascus
itself, the office of Paul the apostle for that of Saul the
persecutor. Such is the moral fact, separated from
the supernatural circumstances which accompany it in
Saint Luke's narrative, and oh which I do not pause
at present. How shall this fact be explained ? — for it
is no more true in the moral world than it is in the
physical world, that an effect can exist without a
cause. If the gospel is true, if Jesus Christ is the Son pf
God, if God has interposed, all is cleared up. God
does not lavish miracles; but it is easily intelligible
that he should have recourse to them in order to
exhibit such a proof of the gospel, and to gain over
to himself such a minister. But if God did not inter
pose, if Jesus Christ is not his Son, if, in fine, the gos
pel is not true, how, I ask, explain the change in Saul?
No one will think of explaining it by interest — that
great motive of human actions in the unregenerate man,

THIRD DISCOURSE. 83
and, alas ! too often in the regenerate himself. The con
version of Saul too plainly imperilled all his interests ;
instead of a brilliant career of honor, credit, and for
tune, it held up the name of Saul as one cast off by his
people, — his powerful friends turned into enemies, his
family apparently armed against him, his person be
come the object of persecution, his life constantly
menaced, and reserved, sooner or later, for martyrdom.
All that is so manifest, that it would be superfluous to
dwell upon it; all was disinterestedness, self-renuncia
tion, and sacrifice, in the conversion of Saul.
Shall we betake ourselves for explanation to influ
ence — to which the most sincere are the most accessi
ble ? Could not Saul, in a moment of great inward
trouble, have allowed himself to be persuaded, by the
sage and virtuous Ananias, that his doctrine was erro
neous, and the gospel true ? Admit this, — although it
then remains to account for this inward trouble which
preceded Saul's meeting with Ananias, — admit it,
again, although no human influence can suffice to
produce a change so sudden, so radical, and so. peculiar.
— I grant it, Ananias could have persuaded Saul, if he
had good reasons to give him ; in other words, if the
gospel is true. But it can never be made intelligible
that a man so enlisted as was Saul, by act, passion,
self-will, and self-love, should have yielded without
solid reasons. He, above all, so energetic a man ; more
accustomed to exert influence than to submit to it ;
or, if he were in submission to it — as may befall the most
energetic men — having his part chosen, his mind won
over, his heart given up, and all that in a direction
precisely opposed to the humble authority of Ananias.
There is a third explanation, to which it might be

84 SAINTPAUL.
thought that an appeal could be taken with more
propriety, and that is, religious enthusiasm ; — a man
as ardent as Saul being capable of passing, without
very mature deliberation, from one fanaticism to
another. But this hypothesis will not hold out against
four minutes of reflection with any one who recalls
the character of the apostle Paul. His natural enthu
siasm Paul was able to satisfy in the J.ewish and
Pharisaic faith, while, in becoming a disciple of Jesus
Christ, he lays all that aside. Instead of adopting a
new fanaticism, he breaks with the old. A strange
fanaticism, in truth, that of a man who speaks, even
on the most exciting occasions, a language stamped
with " truth and soberness ; ' * ¦ a man who chooses all
his measures with the most consummate prudence,
jealous of all his rights, even those that were social
and civil, whenever they may serve the cause of the
gospel, or merely spare him a useless sorrow ;2 a man
who aims always at going, for the sake of his ministry,
to the extreme limit in making concessions which are
counselled by wisdom and authorized by conscience —
" to the weak as weak, to the Jews as a Jew, to them
without law as without law ; " 3 a man, finally, who
for thirty years prosecutes . his ministry in this same
spirit, without ever awakening from his dream, even
in presence of the martyrdom which, like his Master,
he had sought as earnestly to delay, as he obediently
accepts when God's hour has come ! '
No ; I say to you, your attempts are in vain. Faith
alone can reasonably solve the difficulty, unless, pow
erless to suggest other explanation of the inexplicable
1 Acts 26 : 25 : 1 Cor. 10:15. 2 Acts 16 : 37—39 ; 22 : 25.
3 1 Cor. 9:20—22.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 85
change in Saul, you endeavor — despairing of a cause
— to deny it, and to regard as fabulous the entire
recital of my text. But do you not see that this
would be casting you into a difficulty yet greater
than all tfe others, inasmuch as that conversion, the
starting-point in the life of Paul the .apostle, alone
explains all that he did ? Deny the change in Saul
of Tarsus, if you will ; but then undertake to hold in
the air the apostle Paul, and the immense movement
in the known world which was determined by him, — a
permanent prodigy, the witness of which is humanity ;
the theatre of which, Asia and Europe ; the result of
which is the reconstruction of history and civilization ;
the fruit of which is I who speak to you, you who are
my hearers, if not through the faith which we learned
from our apostle, at least through the numberless ben
efits for which we are indebted to him. Deny the con
version of Saul, if you will ; but deny then, also, the
conversion of half Asia and of all Europe ; restore
Ephesus to Diana, Athens to Minerva, Paphos to
Venus, Rome to all the gods of her Pantheon, the
pagan world to its corruption and its decay, and our
Gaul to its Druids, its human sacrifices and its bar
barism. Thanks be rendered unto thee, O my God ! for that,
in the midst of doctrines which their disciples can per
sist in believing only on condition of putting out their
eyes, thou hast given me a doctrine to preach and to
believe, which I continually find firmer and truer in
proportion as I make progress in exploring its depths;
and the obscurities of which, being but the shadows
which our limited understanding encounters in all
8

86 SAINTPAUL.
things, cannot disturb the abundant and peaceful
light proceeding from so many gathered proofs.
Add to those proofs, Christians, each of you, your
own, like Saul of Tarsus, I say not here by your dis
courses, I say not even by your works, but by the fact
alone of your conversion. If this demonstration yields
in force and clearness to that we have just found in
Saul, let it not at least differ in spirit ; let the change
which is wrought in you suffice to attest the truth of
the gospel, and to confound the world by proving that
Jesus is the Christ.1 Constrain those who behold you
to say of your conversion that which we said just now
of the conversion of Saul, that it is impossible to ex
plain it except by acknowledging the truth of the gos
pel ; it being equally impossible either to deny it, so
many are the precious fruits it yields, or to account for
it by alleging any interest, any influence, any fanati
cism ; — not any interest, because your disinterestedness,
your self-renunciation, is too visible in all things ; — not
any influence, because you show yourselves too inde
pendent towards man, and too submissive toward God,
and God only ; — not any species of fanaticism, because
you manifest too much maturity, prudence, and wisdom,
in all your labors. Struck by the apparent smallness,
of the results produced to-day by the preaching of. the
gospel, we often ask ourselves what change must it
undergo in order to be rendered more effective. The
change most needful of all to introduce is this : transfer
the preaching from us to you. When you are here
assembled before God, you are silent, and we speak ;
but on leaving this place, parts are interchanged: it is
for us to keep silence, and for ytfu to speak. Ah !
1 Acts 9 : 22.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 87
speak, speak by the work of the Holy Spirit in you,
the living gospel, more convincing than our preached
gospel, and at the same time more present in the midst
of men ; for our preaching is but for a moment, yours
is during the whole life. But where are the Christians
who preach in this manner ? Where find those, who
would be an insoluble problem if the gospel were not
true ? There are a few such, doubtless — and may
God grant that his Spirit and his favor rest upon
them ! — but how rare they are ! But how much easier,
alas ! it would be to find those who are destroying our
preaching, who prove against it that it is erroneous or
powerless, because this conversion — if conversion there
is any — is explained so fully by human reasons, with
out so much mystery or so much grace !
*
But whence comes this decisive conversion, and how
is it attained? 'We are again instructed by Saul of
Tarsus. Conversion comes from God. It is not so
much man who converts himself to God, as it is God
who converts man unto him. Never did his grace
shine forth more clearly, more gloriously, than in the
conversion of Saul, converted as if -in despite of him
self. What advances had Saul made towards Jesus
Christ? What advances had not Jesus Christ made
towards Saul? It is when Saul is denying, hating,
and persecuting Jesus, that Jesus appears to Saul,
arrests him, throws him to the ground, declares his
own name, and changes Saul's heart. A sovereign
act, if ever there were such, accompanied by language
not less so : " He is a chosen vessel unto me  It
is hard for thee to kick against the pricks  I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a

88 SAINTPAUL. «
minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those in the which I will appear unto
thee, delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles ;
unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to
turn them from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan unto God ;"1 by which you see that the same
sovereignty which God displayed in regard to Saul in
making him a witness, he intends to display in regard
to those to whom he sends him, by opening their
hearts to receive his testimony. It is not until he had
been vanquished by grace, when he sought it not, that
Saul in his turn begins to seek it: "Behold he pray-
eth;" and his deliverance is completed in answer to
that prayer which God put in his heart and in his
mouth. With what clearness is here revealed to the apostle,
and to us in the apostle, that hand of God, powerful
as paternal, which comes undeserved, uncalled, unex
pected, and unknown, " to seek and save that which
was lost!" Grace, election, foreknowledge, predesti
nation — what language, what doctrine must not remain
below the simple fact which we have before our eyes ?
Ah ! how precisely it meets the case, to say, as Paul
writes, at a later day, to the Romans, and doubtless
writes with his eyes fixed upon his own history : " It is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy."2 Who can know this
better than thou, " Saul, my brother?" Of him that
willeth ? Thou didst will to arrest the gospel, and lo !
thou art preparing thyself to sow it in the very ends of
the world ! Of him that runneth ? Thou wert running
to persecute, and lo ! thou journevest towards martyr-
1 Acts 26 : 16—18. * Rom. 9 : 16.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 89
dom ! In like manner our apostle finds no expressions
sufficiently energetic and elevated to satisfy his con
ception of the gratuitous grace of God, whether it be
in the work which was accomplished in himself, or in
that which he desires to see accomplished in others.
" When it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal
his Son in me."1 This with respect to himself; and
concerning others — who has ever more clearly, more
boldly, one is tempted to say more crudely, announced
the absolute freedom of grace ? What reader has not
had his turn at being scandalized by such a verse of
the eighth and ninth chapters of his epistle to the Ro
mans : " Whom he did foreknow, he did also predesti
nate  moreover, whom he did predestinate, them
he also called ; and whom he called, them he also jus
tified ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified."2
Yes, conversion is the work of God. It is a foreign
germ, deposited irr our soul by a foreign hand; it is a
new birth, a resurrection from among the dead, a sec
ond creation. No man can change his own heart; he
could as well give himself life in his mother's womb, or
raise the dead from his tomb, or launch another world
into space. 'Whoever desires the new heart, must ask
it from God, " from whom, and through whom, and unto
whom, are all things. To him be glory, forever.
Amen." Must we, then, fold our arms, and wait for the mira
cle ? Take heed that you believe it not. And if you
could have been tempted to that belief by that which
l Gal. 1 : 15, 16; 1 Cor. 15 :9, 10, etc.
* Rom. 8 : 29, 30; Eph. 2:8; Gal. 4 : 9, etc. J Rom. 1 1 : 36.
8*

90 SAINT PAUL.
you have seen in Saul of Tarsus, undeceive yourselves
by a closer observation of him. As yet you have seen
only one of the elements in his conversion — the divine,
the foreign element. There is another, the element
which is human and personal; and if it is just to say
that never was the divine element more apparent, it is
not less true to say that the human element was never
more perceptible.
With all his sovereignty God works in Saul, and yet
God works in him but as in a creature free, responsi
ble, able to receive his grace — able also to reject it.
Caiaphas, in the Sanhedrim,1 hears Jesus testifying be
fore him, and declaring his own true character, with still
greater solemnity than he employs with Saul near
Damascus ; and yet the conscience of Caiaphas is not
awakened ; why ? Because Caiaphas is a priest less
fanatical than hypocritical, who serves only his own
pride and ambition, who questions Jesus merely for
form's sake, and who rends his garments only from a
false show of indignation. Balaam is stopped short,
being subdued by a prodigy yet more marvellous than
the vision at Damascus ; and, notwithstanding this, in
spite of the involuntary obedience extorted from his
lips, he retains that unrenewed heart which he had
before he saw " his madness rebuked by a dumb ass,
speaking with man's voice;"2 and why, again ? Be
cause Balaam is a lover of money, " who seeks the
wages of unrighteousness," who makes prophecy a trade
and merchandise, and who is busied, even in his pray
ers, with putting his conscience to sleep, in order that
it may give him up to his thirst for gold. In one word,
it is because neither the one nor the other possesses that
1 John xviii. • Numb. xxii. ; 2 Peter 2:16.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 91
rectitude of heart, apart from which God could act
without doubt, since he is Master of all things, but
apart from which it is not among the wonted processes
of his providence to act, and I say, also, apart from
which we have no reason to believe that he acts at any
time. Every conversion is an alliance ; the grace of
God requires of the heart which it wishes to renew, if
not something that calls it, at least something that
gathers it in, if it be only a void to receive it. There
exists always this difference between the material and
the spiritual creation, — that in the second, man has
some kind of a part — by action, shall I say ? or by
consent ; and a father of the church has rightfully said :
" God, who created us without ourselves, wills not to
save us without ourselves."
I say, then, this upright heart, which may be allied
with so great errors — this upright heart is in Saul; I
mean in Saul, " a persecutor, oppressor, and blas
phemer;" in Saul, keeping the garments of the mur
derers of Stephen, and approving of his death. Do
you remember Nathaniel, filled with prejudices against
Jesus Christ, but whose prejudices yield at his first
interview with him, because they are nothing but the
conscientious infirmity of "an Israelite indeed, in
whom there is no guile ? "1 Saul is a Nathaniel, but a
Nathaniel of giant size, whose prejudices God suffers
to assume terrific dimensions, in order to bestow on
the truth, which was appointed to conquer them, a
colossal development. Nathaniel would have yielded
himself ten times before such a spectacle as the death
of Stephen. Saul does not yield ; he is only the more
inflamed by it with wrath against him whom Stephen
1 John 1 : 47.

92 SAINTPAUL.
invokes with so much faith, and in whom he falls
asleep with so much peace  And yet, how do we
know whether that sight did not deposit in the heart
of Saul a beginning of disquietude, a beginning of sal
utary doubt? How know we whether this inquietude,
this doubt, repelled at first as an intrusive temptation,
changed perhaps into bitterness and into violence, did
not prepare the way for the scene at Damascus ? Saul,
murderer of Stephen ; Saul, disciple and successor of
Stephen. O the depth ! O the compassion! .... How
ever this may be, all that Paul says respecting himself,
shows him to us, before his conversion, an obstinate
Jew, but one convinced ; an ardent Pharisee, but sincere,
" and serving God, from, his forefathers, with a pure
conscience."1 What do I say? Even up to the jour
ney to Damascus, do not you discern athwart the sad,
criminal wandering of Saul, that blind desire of serv
ing God, to which Jesus rendered so just a testimony?2
At the very moment when the transition was taking
place, from hatred to obedience, from Saul to Paul,
those words, worthy of Nathaniel, " What wilt thou
have me to do ? " — to whom do they belong ? Is it Saul
that speaks, or is it already Paul? They belong to
both. Do not think that from Saul to Paul there
occurred an abrupt change, and one without transition ;
in Saul there is something of Paul, and something of
Saul is found in Paul. There is an inward and' secret
point, " hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept
close from the birds of the air,"3 at which grace joins
on to nature, the work of God to the work of man, the
new life to the old life, Paul the Apostle to Saul of
l 2 Tim. 1:3; Phil. 8:6; Acts 26 : 4, 5. 2 John 16 : 2.
3 Job 28 : 21.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 93
Tarsus. This point is that conviction which prompts
a man to say, "What wilt thou have me to do?" but
prompts such an utterance according to the light pos
sessed at the moment ; yesterday it was spoken to the
God of Moses, to-day it is to the God of Jesus Christ,
obscurely perceived for the first time.
Charge not this commentary with rashness ; I derive
it from a good source, from the hand of Saint Paul.
" I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath enabled me,
for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the
ministry ; who was before a blasphemer, and a perse
cutor, and an oppressor ; but I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly, in unbelief." This language is very
remarkable, very profound and instructive. It is not
said that Saint Paul's unbelief in regard to Jesus Christ
and the ignorance in which he was kept by this, gave
him a claim on the mercy of God. Claims! who has
ascribed less to himself than our apostle, and where
has he imputed less to himself than in this passage ?
Claims ! he discovers none in himself but to perdition ;
he, " the chief of sinners," whom Jesus Christ had
saved for this very purpose, " that in me first he might
show forth all his long-suffering." 1 But it is true that
such ignorance left him accessible to grace, against
which a conscientious and voluntary resistance would
have armed his heart with invincible resolution. He did
not merit conversion on account of having been igno
rant ; but, because he is ignorant, he is not among those
impenitent persons, those hardened ones for whom
grace itself has no further resources, — all that which it
possesses having been tried, exhausted, but without
profit.2 Saul, wholly Saul that he is, seeks God in his
i 1 Tim. 1 : 12—16. s Heb. 6 : 1—4 ; 10 : 26—29.

94 SAINTPAUL.
way, and, as if " feeling after him," amid the darkness
of the law ; very nearly as, in a later age, Luther was to
seek him, in his cell at Erfurt, by his macerations and
his penances. And for that reason God places a Bi
ble on Luther's path, and Jesus Christ on the path of
Saul. If, then, you wish to have part in the grace which
Saul found, await not, in order to seek God, the mira
cle whioh he waited not for, and which he would not
have obtained had he waited for it ; but, like him, bring
to God a heart zealous of knowing him, and mindful
to obey him. Then, were you, if possible, as blinded-
as he was, God will reveal himself to you ; and you
will experience in your turn the truth of that word of
the Saviour : " If any man will do the will of God, he
shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself." ' Is it necessary to ask
you to observe how much this maxim differs from that
which a world as little solicitous for truth as for holi
ness is accustomed to hawk about in these superficial
terms : " The important thing is not so much faith as
sincerity ?".... The sincerity of which Jesus speaks,
and which animated Saul, is a sincerity which seeks
God, and follows him when he is found; it is. ,a sin
cerity which does not act without some beginning of
faith ;2 it is a sincerity which is indeed thoroughly sin
cere. Bring, I say to you, a heart that seeks God, that
is resolved to do everything in order to find him, to
suffer everything in order to please him — and then de
pend upon his grace to accomplish in you his work, and
to prepare you for your own. Have you that heart ?
i John 7 : 17. 2 Heb. 11 : 6.

THIRD DISCOURSE. 95
If yes, all shall be well ; if not, deceive not yourselves.
You might live a century, hearing every Sunday the
best sermons, reading the holy Scriptures every day in
the week, surrounded by the most faithful Christians,
and you would never be converted. Nothing, nothing
in the world supplies the place of the simplicity of an
upright heart ; no, nothing, either in nature, or in
events, or in men, or in God himself. God — suffer
the boldness of my language — God cannot convert
those who have not the upright heart, any more than
Jesus can perform miracles on behalf of those who
do not believe.1 He cannot, because he will not act ;
and he will not, because his holiness does not permit
him thus to will.
I began by saying : Like tree, like germ. I say, in
conclusion : Like germ, like tree. Conversion — a true
conversion — radical, like that of Saul — demonstrating
the gospel, like that of Saul — the fruit of grace in an up
right heart, like that of Saul, — such a conversion con
stitutes the sinews of that holy war for which I desire to
enlist you. Give me such conversions, and I will give a
" willing people "2 for the service of God. O, you who
have lived hitherto far from the Saviour and his grace,
but who aspire to belong unto him, " to-day, if ye will
hear God's voice, harden not your hearts ! " But you
especially, brethren and sisters, who have known that
grace, who have served that Saviour, but who do not
find in yourselves needful preparation for the new
career to which I call you, — Christians, but having
nothing of Paul in your Christianity ; converts, but
i Mark 6 : 5, 6. 2 Fs. 110 : 3.

96 SAINT PAUL.
having nothing of Saul in your conversion, — retrace
your steps! return, return to the beginning of your
course ! Strengthen yourselves anew at the very
source of life ; and, to put order into your Christian
ity, begin by again converting your conversion !

FOURTH DISCOURSE.
HIS PERSONALITY; OE, HIS WEAKNESS.

" Op myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. But though I
would desire to glory, I should not be a fool, for I will say the truth ; but
now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he
seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted
above measure by the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be
exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it
might depart from me. And he said unto me : My grace is sufficient for
thee ; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, there
fore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake : for when I am
weak, then am I strong." — 2 Cor. 12 : 5 — 10.
I will suppose you, my dear hearer, at the close of
my preceding discourses upon the apostle Paul, per
suaded that you have a work to do for the glory of
God and the well-being of man, clearly discerning that
work, and earnestly resolved to accomplish ' it. Yet,
one thing troubles you ; your task is beyond your
strength. On the one hand, you are not suited to it,
for want of natural aptitude, and sadly you measure
your physical, intellectual, and moral infirmities; on
the other, you have not been practised therein, because
the past has- not been well employed, and you bitterly
9

98 SAINT PAUL.
reckon up the hours that have been lost, the opportu
nities that have been missed, the resources that have
been slighted, and the talents that you have buried in
the earth. Enough, surely, to deliver you up to dis
couragement ; discouragement, that characteristic trait
of our epoch ; discouragement, that subtle stroke of the
devil upon the minds of those to whom he would not
venture to speak of despair or of unbelief; and what
matters to him the word, provided that you yield him
the thing?
All, not excepting even our youth, are exposed to
these enervating thoughts ; and it is to youth that I
more especially address myself in this discourse. Are
not the young, in these days of crisis and of transition,
the hope of the church, as they are of society ? The
generation to which he who is speaking to you belongs,
chosen formerly to call forth the religious awakening of
our times, is perhaps at this day either too enfeebled,
or too. busily employed, to impart to the age that new
impulse to which we all look forward, and of which we
behold so many signs that herald its advent. Young
Christians ! it is on you that we rely, in the Lord, far
more than upon ourselves ; and our sweetest, as well as
our most earnest ambition, is to form you for the great
task which we descry lying before you. You perceive
it yourselves ; the greater it is, the more does it attract
you, and I am glad to bear you this testimony ; but
also the greater it is the more does it affright you,
and the more thoughtful among you are the first to
say: I am neither suited to it, nor practised therein.
Alas! and is it necessary, then, to have lived so many
years in order to strike the breast, on comparing what
we are with what we might have been, and what we

FOURTH" DISCOURSE. 99
have done with that which should have been accom
plished ? And what is more infectious than discour
agement ? It has a dominant place in the minds of our
contemporary youth. The weight of this common
preoccupation bows down the pleasing elasticity of
that age; it appears to be burdened with the years
that are before it, as much as men ordinarily are with
the years that are behind ; this, also, is among the
"signs of the times."
But do you think, my young friends, that young Saul,
called to the apostleship as soon as he was converted,
wasl spared the thoughts which trouble you? Think
you that in measuring the vocation assigned him, " of
bearing the name of the Lord before the Gentiles, and
before kings, and before the children of Israel,"1 with
the strength natural or acquired which had fallen to
his lot, he rests complacently in the belief that he pos
sesses both the required aptitude and the desirable train
ing? Oh no! in these thoughts you do not recognize
the pious apostle. He had his conflicts, his times of
sadness and bitterness, like you, — more than you, per
haps. He said also, and more than once, " Who is suf
ficient for these things?"2 and who knows if he went
not even so far as to say, with Moses, " I beseech Thee,
Lord, send him whom Thou shouldest send."3 But he
found peace in looking to God, whose " ways are not
our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts."4 He under
stood that that God, " who had chojsen him from his
mother's womb, and had called him by his grace,"
would not have chosen him without fitness, nor called
him without training. Such as he is, and for whatever
work the Lord had appointed him, Saul was prepared
1 Acts 9: 15. 2 2 Cor. 2:16. s Exodus 4 : 13. i Is. 55 : 8.

100 SAINT PAUL.
by God far better than he would have prepared him
self, had he foreseen it all. This preparation has two
parts ; a preparation of strength, of his natural gifts,
which he consecrates henceforth to the service of the
Lord ; and a preparation of weakness, of his infirmi
ties, which compel him to take refuge alone in the
grace of the Lord. The first appears to be but little in
his thoughts ; the latter, on the contrary, holds a large
place in his discourses and in his letters ; and of all
that he has elsewhere said respecting this, my text
gives the substance in four words, which I call Saint
Paul's motto : " When I am weak, then am I strong."
Astonishing thing ! The greatest of all men was for
tified for the greatest of all enterprises, by what ?
by his weakness. This is not an ingenious paradox ;
it is the simple truth, and you shall presently see it,
in order that you may learn that you are yourselves
prepared, such as you are, for your work, such as God
has appointed it, and that that which you style your
most crushing infirmities can prove your most pro
lific resources.
There is in Saint Paul a preparation of strength. I
mean to say by that that he possessed certain advan
tages, natural or acquired, which God, to whom he is
indebted for them both, causes to enter into his plan
and promote his designs. Saul of Tarsus was no
ordinary man, nor had God so richly endowed him
without a purpose. " All things serve Him," 1 and as
suredly the diverse aptitudes of men are not excluded
from this sovereign law. The history of Saint Paul,
his writings, his discourses, disclose even to the super-
1 Ps. 119:91.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 101
ficial observer a rare assemblage of gifts the most
exquisite and the most highly cultivated, appearing as
if athwart inspiration, which directs nature without
destroying it, and subdues it without making it a
blank; — gifts of character: an unconquerable energy,
an invincible perseverance, a will to be daunted in no
undertaking, to be foiled in no achievement; — gifts of
feeling : a vivacity of mind and heart, which is shown
in the least things; a warmth of affection, which raises
friendship to the rank of the closest ties of nature ; a ten
derness of sympathy, which leads him to espouse the
interests, the wants, the conflicts and even the infirmities
of his neighbors ; an unction of language which moves
the most hidden depths of the soul. Above all, gifts
of understanding : a power of abstraction, which the
most thoughtful reader despairs of following out to
the end ; a penetration at once so subtle and so strong,
that nothing can escape it ; a fruitfulness of thought,
exhausted by the tenth perusal no 'more than by the
first ; a richness and at the same time a terseness of
language, which crowds a world of things into a page
of words, and which becomes obscure only because it
has thrust itself beneath the soil trodden by the vulgar ;
a vigor of genius, tempered by a delightful grace which
scatters with a full, hand lively or touching strokes ;
and all ripened by long study, mainly devoted to
Jewish literature and theology, but a stranger neither
to the letters, the laws, nor the manners of other na
tions'. This is but an imperfect sketch of the great
apostle ; and who could presume to paint such a man
without enfeebling the peculiarities of the picture, or
without exaggerating them ? However this may be,
at the disposal of Saint Paul were placed human
9*

1Q2 SAINT PAUL.
resources such as are rarely given ; it would be affecta
tion not to recognize it. And why should it not be
recognized? Is it for the advantage of God's glory
that we shut our eyes to the gifts of his hand? No,
doubtless, provided that we ascribe the origin of them
to his grace, and use them for his glory, in the spirit
of this same Saint Paul. " Who ma'keth thee to differ
from another ? and what hast thou that thou didst not
receive ? — and if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
glory in it, as if thou hadst not received it." 1
Respecting this, let us hear one of the men who
have most thoroughly studied the history of the primi
tive church. " Divine grace," says the learned and
pious Neander, " is pleased, as Saint Paul himself
observes,2 to choose, at the beginning, the foolish things
of this world to confound the wise, and weak things
to confound the strong, and vile things of this world,
and things which are despised, and even things which
are not, to abolish those which are. It is for this cause
that Christ took for his first disciples, not wise men
and great men of this world, but simple, ignorant, rude
men, fishermen and publicans, who possessed not even
eminent natural gifts, and who, receiving all from him,
and bringing him nothing, were wholly dependent upon
his grace alone. But the God. of grace must be
acknowledged, in the result, as being also the God of
nature : and all the wonderful powers with which he
has furnished man in creating him, far from being
severed from the foundation and the unfolding of his
spiritual kingdom — the final end of all his works, and
the first element of his glory — we are bound con
stantly to connect with that kingdom, or they fail of
i 1 Cor. 4:7. 3 1 Cor. 1 : 27—29.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 103
attaining to their highest destination. Thus it entered
into the special designs, of Divine Wisdom, that the
work undertaken by fishermen and publicans should
be carried forward by a mind trained to the art of
thinking in the schools of Jewish wisdom. Without
dispute, Paul, had he chosen it, could have shone in
the first rank among the philosophers and orators of
all ages, and needed not to yield precedence to any
one of the masters of thought or of speech, of which
ancient Greece could boast."
This remark of Neander upon Saint Paul may,
with like force, be repeated concerning all the great
servants of God : each one of them has possessed an
element of individual force and of natural aptitude, to
which God has given its appropriate place in the coun
sels of his providence ; — one having the gift of speak
ings another, the gift of writing ; -a third, organizing
and administrative talent; a fourth, the art of acting
upon men ; another, still a different faculty. You also,
whoever you may be, and whatever it has pleased God
to give you to do, you have received — doubt it not —
the measure of strength and aptitude which is neces
sary for your work. Here, as elsewhere, the great thing
is, not to see, but to believe ; true fidelity 119 more con
sists in verifying our gifts, than true humility in deny
ing them; but we shall be both faithful and humble
in accepting them just as God made them, and in
consecrating them, whatever they are, to his service,
persuaded that he who calleth us doth also prepare us.
This preparation of strength is not, however, the
principal and distinctive preparation of our apostle.
The distinctive preparation — that which solves the
enigma of that grand life, that which made. Saint Paul

104 SAINT PAUL.
to be S^iint Paul — is a preparation of weakness. Saint
Paul could have dispensed, strictly speaking, with his
eminent gifts; released from them, he would have
thrown himself only the more completely, were it pos-
s sible, into the hands of that God who called him, and
who, in calling him, had tacitly engaged to prepare
him for his work. But, without his weaknesses, he
would have been no longer himself; without them, he
would have stopped short with being an Apollos, a
Barnabas, or a Timothy ; but he would not have at
tained to Saint Paul, because he would not have been,
in the full scope of the word, the man of faith. Not
withstanding so many promises made to faith, we are
always more or less enfeebled by a remainder of our
own strength, as we are always more or less troubled
by remains of our own righteousness, which even the
most humble bear with them everywhere. This
wretched strength of our own, this talent of our own,
this eloquence of our own, this knowledge of our own,
this influence of our own, forms in us, as it were, a
little cherished sanctuary, which our jealous pride keeps
closed against the strength of God, in order to reserve
for itself a last retreat. But if we could finally be-
'come weak, in good earnest, and despair absolutely of
ourselves, the strength of God, diffusing itself through
out our entire inward man, and penetrating into its
most secret folds, would fill us " with all the fulness of
God j1" and thus, the strength of man being exchanged
for the strength of God, " nothing would be impossible
for us,"2 because, "with God nothing is impossible."3
Such is the incalculable service which his weakness
confers on Paul, and which no strength could ever have
1 Eph. 3 : 19. ' Matt. 17 : 20. 3 Luke 1 : 37.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. ' 105
rendered him. Devoid, as he feels himself to be, of all
human strength, he presents himself — keeping nothing
back — to be acted upon by strength divine; and with
this, which is the only real strength, God enriches him
the more fully, that in such a disposition of mind there
is no reason to fear his taking the glory to himself.1
Happy weakness, which at the same time renders the
one more fitted to ask, and the other more eager to
bestow ! Herein lies the secret of Saint Paul's power,
and here also will be found the germ of yours, if you
desire to enter into his spirit.
The first weakness which Saul of Tarsus, when
converted, must have recognized in himself, is a loeak-
ness of education, — the greater because it resides in
the intellectual and moral man.
For, to what is Saul henceforth called ? and how had
he been preparing himself thereto up to this time ? An
apostle, but assigned to go among the Gentiles, he can
hope to secure this acceptance of that gospel, so
strange to them, only on condition that he proffer it,
stripped of all Jewish exclusiveness, and brought back
, to its inner, universal, and permanent essence. Justi
fication by faith, without the works of the law, accessi
ble alike to the Greek and the Jew, and necessary alike
to the Jew and the Greek,2 in distinction from that
legal righteousness which the Jew boasted that he pos
sessed alone among all the nations — such is the theme
that is born of the apostleship of Saint Paul. But,
for announcing to the world this grace wholly gratui
tous, what an education was that of Saul, — hitherto a
Jew among the Jews, a Pharisee among the Pharisees,
l Judges 7 : 2, 4. 2 Rom 3 . 27—29.

106 SAINT PAUL.
aspiring no higher than to that legal righteousness
against which he is henceforth commissioned to fight,
and knowing only that perverse logic of the synagogue,
which he shall find everywhere on his road! The
mind, the heart, the conscience of the new apostle —
can they so entirely throw off prejudices and habits so
strongly rooted, that he will not retain of them at least
some faint shadows clinging to his speech, and darken
ing the pure light of his gospel?
Rely upon the Spirit of God, to withdraw him
wholly from. the recollections and impressions of the
past; be calm — that Spirit can do it, he will do it, he
has done it. But acknowledge with -me that this in
ward deliverance once effected, the new doctrine of
grace will find in Paul an interpreter so much the more
intelligent and earnest, because of the clearer revela
tion of itself which it shall make to him by means of
the very contrast which it now presents with that
lamented past. Saul here experiences something analo
gous to that which, fifteen hundred years later, was to
befall Luther, the Saul of the Reformation. Why is
it the will of God that the young professor of Wittem-
berg should imprison his noble genius in the fantastic
and sterile scholasticism of the middle ages? It is for
the reason that God is preparing in him one who shall
rebuild theology; who, by means of the emptiness and
pomp of scholasticism, shall learn to relish all the
truth, solidity, and life, that are found in the wisdom
of the Scriptures, when these are welcomed by an hon
est heart and a sound judgment. Why, again, is it
God's will that the young monk of Erfurt should fruit
lessly use the faculties of his body and of his soul, in
order to satisfy the demands of the law, to destroy

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 107
lust by macerations, to smother natural pride beneath
the weight of self-willed penances and humiliations?
It is because God is preparing in him a reformer of the
church, whom the long, years of legal righteousness
will teach how to enjoy the delights of evangelical
liberty, and who, throwing off at last that intolerable
yoke from his wearied shoulders, shall teach the world
the meaning of the pure gospel by the very accent
with which he shall pronounce the words, faith, grace,
word of God — words which will seem risen again from
the tomb, when they shall proceed from the lips of this
blessed man now delivered from works, from the law,
and from the word of man. The chair of Wittemberg
and the convent of Erfurt made Luther and his re
form ; it was also the school of Gamaliel and pharisaic
rigorism which made Saul of Tarsus" and his apostle
ship. The matter in hand was to make head against Jew
ish doctors, bristling with scholastic distinctions, skil
ful in warping a text, while pretending to explain it,
" stfaining at a gnat and swallowing a camel," and
attributing to God the most foolish human imaginings.
What other man could better accomplish this than
that Jewish doctor, for so many years versed in their
captious arguments and forced interpretations; who is
prepared to contend against them with their own
weapons ; and who is able to set before them, at their
pleasure, either those ingenious and subtle arguments
to which they had been long accustomed, or the simple
and solid reasons which flash light upon every mind
that loves truth ? But, above all (and here is the main
point), the question was to prove the futility of that
legal righteousness from which the Pharisee seeks a

108 SAINT PAUL.
peace which either eludes him or deceives him, and to
show the world that nothing justifies, nothing sanc
tifies, nothing consoles a poor sinner but the grace,
wholly free, of God in "Jesus Christ, and him cru
cified." x Who could better effect this than the young
Pharisee, who began by a personal and painful appren
ticeship to that weakness of the law which he should
afterwards make known to the world ; * who found no
rest for his soul, and no strength against sin, till the
day when he believed in that grace of which he had
been for so long a time the ardent and sincere adver
sary ; and who, having penetrated much farther than
Moses into that saying of Moses : " Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness," 3
and much farther than Habakkuk into that saying of
Habakkuk: " The just shall live by faith,"4 is enabled
to say, like David, with a depth of conviction such as
was not felt by David : " I have believed, and there
fore have I spoken?"6
Behold here, to cite but one example, yet that an
example which includes all others, — the living and
fruitful source of the epistle to the Romans. I have
said, and I repeat it: in the inspiration of the Scrip
tures, it is the Spirit of God that speaks, but it is also
the spirit of man; — the Spirit of God, with all his
authority, but the spirit of man, with all his experi
ences, all his struggles, all his sufferings. This is
doubly true as respects the inspiration of the New
Testament, which is freer and more personal than
that, of the Old Testament, because it is more spiritual.
True as it is to affirm that the hand of the apostle
1 Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1 : 2. 2 Rom. 8 : 3. » Gen. 15:6.
4Hab. 2:4. "Ps. 116:10.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 109
Paul, in writing the epistle to the Romans, was
directed by the Spirit of God, it is equally true to
affirm that the hand of Paul the apostle, in writing
the epistle to the Romans, has drawn largely from the
heart of Saul of Tarsus. In the apostle Paul, render
ing this shining testimony to the grace of God: " No
flesh shall be justified before him by the works of the
law .... but now the righteousness of God is mani
fested without the law, being testified by the law and
the prophets; the righteousness of God by faith in
Jesus Christ, for all and upon all those who believe
.... being justified freely by his grace, through the
redemption which is in Jesus Christ,"1 recognize Saul
of Tarsus^toiling zealously to please God, but "with
out knowledge," as without success, " because, while
seeking to establish his own righteousness, he did not
submit himself to the righteousness of God."2 In the
apostle, wholly filled with this abundant consolation :
" Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have had access by faith into this grace wherein
Ave stand ; and rejoice in hope of the glory, of God ;
and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also,"3
recognize Saul of Tarsus, following after peace with
out ever attaining it, because he seeks it in obedience
to the law, instead of seeking it in the freedom of
grace. In the apostle Paul, discovering an inconceiv
able strength of sin in the holy law of God for him
who expects from it righteousness and life : " Sin, hav
ing taken occasion, has produced in me all manner of
concupiscence by the commandment. For without the
law sin was dead ; as for me, being without the law
1 Rom. 3 : 20—23. 2 Rom. 10:3. » Rom 5 : 1—3.
10

110 SAINT PAUL.
formerly, I was alive ; but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and I died; and the command
ment, which was unto life, is found for me to be
unto death,"1 recognize Saul of Tarsus,, struggling
with that terrible law, and gathering no other fruit
of that rash struggle than to feel within himself sin
more lively, more tyrannical, and at the same time
more accursed than ever. And in the apostle Paul
breaking forth in a song of triumph, as if he could no
longer restrain the thanksgiving which bursts from his
soul: " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall oppression, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword ?  In all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who
hath loved us. For 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 Jesus Christ our
Lord,"2 recognize Saul of Tarsus, conquered, exhaust
ed, breathless, falling beneath the weight of a burden
which he cannot bear, and which he dares not lay
aside, ready at last to distrust both God and himself.
In two words : Paul could no more have written the
epistle to the Romans without Saul's experience, than
he could have written it without the illumination of
the Spirit of God. And thus throughout the whole :
never had Paul become Paul if he had not begun by
being Saul; the weakness of Saul is the strength of
Paul."3 1 Rom. 7 : 8—10 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 56 ; Gal. 3:21.
2 Rom. 8 : 34, 36—38.
3 Thus the apostle takes pleasure in everywhere recalling that which
he was formerly. Acts 22 and 26 ; 1 Tim. 1 : 13— 16, etc.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. Ill
To you, now, my dear brother : You have moral
weaknesses, which weigh upon you more than all others.
There is an old spirit of discouragement and of mel
ancholy, which cuts the nerve of all persevering action.
There is many a prejudice of birth and education, from
which you are not able to set free a faith as yet poorly
established, because not acquired till years had rolled
on. There is a long subjection to habits, ties, usages,
that do not consist with the requirements of the Chris
tian life. There is — is there all that, and are there
other things besides ? It is well, my dear Saul of Tar
sus ; you are in a good school for becoming an apostle
Paul. Give yourself no rest until you have found the
means of changing each one of those weaknesses into
strength ; and say to yourself, confidently, — there is no
error, no prejudice, no evil habitude, no moral weak
nesses, which cannot, when once clearly seen, enter
in their own way into the plan of God, and render you
more fitted to serve him to-day than you could have
been without their help : " When I am weak, then am
I strong." If moral weaknesses lie at the greatest depth, physi
cal weaknesses are most felt, and, if I may so say, are
nearest to us : our apostle was not exempt from them.
When- we see, in the Acts of the Apostles, or in the
epistles of Saint Paul, all the journeys that he made,
— traversing the Roman empire from one end to
the other in every direction ; and the gigantic labors
which he accomplished, by preaching, by founding
churches, by correspondence, by watch ings, by prayers,
— one is surprised into attributing to him, without spe
cially thinking of it, a physical force quite uncommon,

112 SAINT PAUL.
a vigorous constitution, a temperament proof against
all kinds of weariness. Such a thought is very natu
ral; ordinary artists have been guided by it in their
attempts to delineate our apostle, — lofty, beautiful, im
posing, ideal, approaching in figure to the demi-gods
of paganism. Such does Saint Paul appear in their
statues and paintings. But it is well known that not
so has Raphael represented him; for that master un
derstood that the highest achievement of genius is to
reconcile the demands of art with the data of history ;
and his inspiration, in painting Saint Paul, was drawn
from that second epistle to the Corinthians, which is so
precious on account of the glimpses here and there
given of the person of the apostle and his character.
I say glimpses, for he takes heed not to speak at
length of this matter ; he has better work to do than
to be spea]cing of himself; we are obliged to catch his
thought in some fugitive strokes. I do not enter upon
the ingenious discussion which has arisen with regard
to the nature of Saint Paul's physical infirmities ; but
that they were great, and seemed to be a necessary
hindrance to his ministry, I do not fear to affirm, espe
cially in view of the two indications contained in our
epistle. One is found in my text itself: " There was placed
in me (literally given to me) a thorn in the flesh, a
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be
exalted above measure. Thrice I besought the Lord
that he would depart from me j1 but he said unto me,
1 The pronoun — in the third person — refers, in my opinion, not to the
messenger of Satan, but to the Lord, whom the apostle asks to withdraw
his hand laid heavily upon his servant. Job 7: 16; 14:6. Ps. 39 : 14
(explained by 11).

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 113
My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made
perfect in weakness." Vain' is the attempt to make of
this thorn a spiritual thorn, that is, some extraordinary
and unknown temptation which the apostle despaired
of subduing. There is question here of a man who had
been given to the world to say to it and to show to it
that the believer "can do all things in Christ who
strengtheneth him;"1 and that invincible temptation
does not exist, any more than inevitable sin. Let us
take the words in their natural acceptation ; " a thorn
in the flesh," is not a thorn in the spirit. It need not
be alleged in opposition that this is attributed to the
influence of Satan; for Saint Paul,2 who is here only.
following his Master,3 imputes to Satan a large share
in the physical evils of humanity.
But if some doubt still remained in respect to his
thought, it must be dissipated by the second intimation
given in our epistle : " His letters, say they, are weighty
and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his
speech contemptible."1 Entirely prejudiced against
the apostle's ministry as are the men whom he credits
with such language, they may be believed as regards his
bodily weakness, since they are ready to do justice to
the power of his letters. That they have exaggerated
that weakness, is possible ; but all exaggeration implies
a reality, that serves for its basis. Moreover, the apos
tle impliedly admits the truth of their report, in the
answer which he gave : " Let such a man consider
that such as we are in word by letters when we are
absent, such also are we in deed when we are present."
He docs not deny the 'infirmity which they remark in
' rhil. 4 : 13. 2 1 Cor. 5:5. 3 Luke 13 : 16.
4 2 Cor. 10: 10. See also 10: 1.
10*

114 SAINT PAUL.
his bodily presence ; he maintains only that it is more
than redeemed by his vigor in action.
After this it cannot be doubted that Saint Paul had
a feeble body. This weakness was, as regards other
men, sufficiently apparent to be cited as a notorious
fact, and was of a nature to cast discredit on his min
istry by the- glaring contrast which it presented to the
energy of his letters. It was also, as regards himself,
sufficiently painful, sufficiently humiliating, sufficiently
prejudicial to his work, to cause him great difficulty in
resigning himself to it, and to make him pray three
times to be delivered from it. Three times would be
little for us ; it was much for him. To ask thrice with
out obtaining the boon, was something unheard of in
the history of his prayers. Could the granting of any
one of them give us more instruction as to their power,
than is given in the rejection of that prayer, by the
astonishment which it occasions him ? How has the
infirmity of which I am speaking come upon Saint
Paul? Was it from his birth, or by accident? Was it
by the macerations and penances which he had inflicted
on himself, in the blind days of his self-righteousness?
Was it by the weariness and the persecutions which he
had suffered, and which were fully capable of ruining
the most robust health ? 1 We know not ; every one of
these causes may have had a part in it. However this
may be, — and here is all which it imports us to under
stand, — this 'giant apostle, this spiritual conqueror of
half Asia, and all Europe, was subject to a bodily
weakness, which struck all eyes, which emboldened his
adversaries, which troubled himself, and which seemed
to render him forever, unfitted to his work.
'1 Cor. 11: 23—29.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 115
And yet, it served only to render him more fitted to
his work, in the judgment of God ; or rather, God did
thus weaken him with the very design that He might
be able to glorify Himself in him without hindrance ;
as in a former age he reduced the army of Gideon, by
cutting off one part after another, to such a little band,
that he could at last give them the victory without
any fear that it would be attributed to the number of
the conquerors.1 With a healthier body, and a more
vigorous constitution, Paul would not have trembled
as he trembled, despaired of himself as he did despair,
cried unto God as he did cry, nor consequently would
he have accomplished that which he did accomplish.
" Most gladly then will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
Such an experience is not confined to Saint Paul.
Many men who have done the greatest things in the
world, above all those who have labored for the Lord
and his kingdom, have been of a feeble constitution.
Saint Bernard was weak; it was difficult to under
stand where he found time and strength for so vast
and so varied labors. Calvin was weak; he died at
the age of fifty-three, after having struggled day by
day against painful infirmities, and cruel sufferings.
Luther himself was far from having the robust health
which it is common to ascribe to him. Contemporary
history would furuish us other examples; which every
one will easily find in his own recollections. Women —
feeble, nervous, ailing, almost constantly changing from
one malady to another, and having but a breath of life
— have some of them exhibited careers the most com-
i Judges 7 : 2, 4, 7.

116 SAINT PAUL.
plete and the most useful that ever appeared on the
earth. In the explanation of this astonishing phenom
enon nature may rightly claim her part: we know that
the more feeble constitution is often allied to the more
elastic temperament; and not without profound reason
do certain words, such as tender or delicate, indicate at
once a bodily weakness, and a spiritual strength. But
that is, however, only the subordinate side of the ques
tion, when it relates to the things of God ; the true
explanation is moral, is providential, is the explanation
of Saint Paul.
Do you all, therefore, frail and melancholy household
of God's people, — minds animated by a holy ambition,
but sadly imprisoned in fleshly bonds; aspiring to
heaven in your desires, but bound to the dust in your
members; who burn to spend yourselves for the glory
of God and the good of humanity, but who throw a
disheartened look on that body so feeble, on those
members so fragile, on that health so precarious, on all
that "outward man," so full of languishing, — suffer
not yourselves to be cast down. Lift up, "lift up your
hands which are cast down, and your feeble knees."
Think only henceforth of deriving a strength from your
weakness, as did Saint Bernard, Calvin, Luther, and
the apostle Paul. You can do it; always can it be
done. Yes, by redoubling faith and prayer, you can
acquire more fitness for your work than you would
have had with the strength that is wanting, and with
the health which you regret : " When I am weak, then
am I strong."
There remains one final weakness, more to be
dreaded than all the others as regards the apostleship

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 117
of Saint Paul ; shall I venture to name it ? — a weak
ness of speech.
Among the different weaknesses which threaten to
mar an enterprise, there is commonly found one special
weakness which attacks it so directly at the core, that
it seems as if it must infallibly be destroyed. Such
would be for a painter, weakness of sight ; or for a
musician, weakness of hearing ; such, for an apostle, is
weakness of speech. For the work intrusted to the
apostle is essentially a work of speech ; to travel, to
organize, even to write, are but accessories of the apos
tleship ; to speak, is its substance, soul, and life. Thus
we can scarcely call to mind the successes won by
Saint Paul, without endowing him with all that forms
an accomplished orator, — a sonorous voice, a ready
elocution, pleasing language, noble and expressive ges
ture. And yet, it would be a mistake to imagine
Saint Paul furnished with all these advantages. Apol-
los, yes; Saint Augustine, yes; Theodore de Beza,
yes; James Saurin, yes; but Saint Paul — no.
I hasten to explain. Be it far from me to deny to
Saint Paul all the natural gifts of eloquence. He pos
sessed many of them ; he possessed the finest gifts, —
clearness of thought, vigor of conception, energy of feel
ing, aptness of expression, warmth and life of language
— it cannot be doubted; and I say again, with Neau-
der, " He needed not to yield precedence to any one of
the masters of thought or speech of which ancient
Greece could boast." But there must have been want
ing in Saint Paul certain outward gifts, which hold
only a secondary place with the thoughtful man, but
which constitute the glory and the worth of speech in
the eyes of the vulgar, — strength, voice, action, splen-

118 SAINT PAUL.
dor.1 Paul was a man of great eloquence, in the high
est sense of the term ; but Paul was not a great orator,
in the popular acceptation of this title. I find the
proof in the same epistle, and even in the same passa
ges, which just now led us to see his physical weak
ness ; and this suggests the thought, that this physical
weakness of the apostle was the principal, perhaps the
only cause of his oratorical weakness. — I must be
allowed this expression ; it is exact, as you shall see in
a moment. You heard the remark of certain persons concerning
Paul: " His letters are weighty and powerful; but his
bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible."
Think of it; this relates to Saint Paul: it is difficult
to convince one's self of this. Once more, I must not
be answered with, " It is an enemy's statement ; it is a
suspicious statement." Those who used such unkind
language, were perhaps not so much enemies as ill-dis
posed hearers; but I do not insist on this observation.
Enemies, if you will, let it be ; even an enemy would
not say of a great orator, before those who had heard
him, " His speech is contemptible." The eloquence
of a Mirabeau, of a Benjamin Constant, or of a Royer-
Collard, that of a Pitt, of a Canning, or of a Robert
, Peel, is not disputed, even by the most infuriate party
spirit. Every man feels that he would harm only him
self or his cause by going about repeating, from place
to place, Mirabeau cannot speak, or, Pitt cannot speak.
Even the enemies of Saint Paul could not have applied
the epithet "contemptible" to his speech, whilst they
spoke of the weakness of his bodily presence, unless
that bodily weakness drew after it (I know what) ora-
1 This does not at all contradict Acts 14 : 12.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 119
torical infirmity, on the precise nature of which I
designedly refrain from all conjectures. In like man
ner, Saint Paul, in the reply which I have already cited,
does not defend himself from the reproach brought
against him ; to appeal from it only to his power " in
action," is to ad,mit by implication that he has it not
" in speech." There is even an explicit admission of it
in the following chapter, in a verse which appears very
strange, it must be confessed, when read for the first
time: " Though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowl
edge." x To which you may a"dd this testimony in his
first epistle : " And I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, in
declaring to you the testimony of God. I was. among
you in weakness, and fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not with per
suasive words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power; in order that your faith
should not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the
power of God."2
All this discloses an amount of infirmity which
would truly have confounded us if we had seen it with
our own eyes. When we meet for the first time a
man whom we had previously known only by his writ
ings, or by his works, we are sometimes altogether sur
prised at finding him so different from our imagina
tion ; but I think that never has a man existed, the
sight of whom would awaken this sort of surprise in a
more vivid manner than Saint Paul. In our own case,
notwithstanding all the reflections we have just made,
if he had been pointed out to us in some corner of
Cornith, Athens, or Rome, we could scarcely have
' l 2 Cor. 11:9. 2 1 Cor. 2:1, 3-5.

120 SAINT PAUL.
believed our eyes. What ! — we should say perhaps —
that man, so inconsiderable in appearance, so fearful
and trembling ; that man, with a body so feeble, his
language common, his speech contemptible ; that man,
who drags from place to place that grievous thorn in
his flesh, — is Saint Paul, is the apostle of apostles?
Yes, it is he ; and it is he so much the more that you
see him thus weak and sickly.
Weakness of speech may have its kind of strength,
even in the eyes of man, because such weakness exalts
the moral worth of speech, which constitutes its real
power. Who does not know, for example, how often
the speech of a child has produced effects to which that
of a man could not have attained ? How many times,
also, have the last exhortations of a dying person —
slow, feebly articulated, hardly intelligible — moved the
heart, more than could have been done by the strongest
and most eloquent discourse ? But let us put aside
this class of considerations, that we may see only that
which weakness gains before God, by having now no
other resource beside his strength, seized upon by faith,
and substituted for human strength by whomsoever
recognizes that he has it not.
Stripped of his weakness, deprived of his thorn in
the flesh, — whatever it was, — endowed with the beau
tiful voice, lofty stature, and oratorical power which
you claim for him, Paul could have taken his place
among those Chrysostoms or Whitefields, whom hun
dreds of souls shall hail at the last day as their spirit
ual fathers, because they employed in the service of
Jesus Christ the fine gifts with which nature had
enriched them ; but he could not have been Saint
Paul ; of this he would have been incapable by reason

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 121
of too great capacity. For then there might have
remained in the folds of his heart a hidden germ of
complacency and of self-confidence, perhaps forever
impossible to be thoroughly rooted out. T3ut, such as
we have just seen him, and with the task which he
had before him, there was but one course to take, and
he took it, — he threw himself without reserve into the
arms of the Lord. The orator is stricken out in his
discourses, as the man in his life ; and he who said, " It
is not I that liveth, but Christ who liveth in me," 1 is
he who could say also, in the extremity to which the
weakness of his speech had reduced him, It is not I
that speak, but God who speaketh in me. Thus Saint
Paul has renewed the experience of Moses, who was
constrained, by his "stammering speech," to take for
himself the part " of God " who reveals, while he leaves
to his brother Aaron that of " the mouth " which trans
mits divine revelations, and was thus rendered " pow
erful in words " by the infirmity of his speech, as he
was rendered " powerful in works " by the infirmity of
his character.2 A double wonder never to be forgot
ten : Moses, without dispute the greatest organ of the
Spirit of God in the Old Testament, Saint Paul, with
out dispute his greatest in the New Testament, pos
sessed, neither of them, power of speech ; which is the
more significant, since each of them had near him an
orator — Moses, Aaron, who "spoke well;" and Paul,
the "eloquent" Apollos.3 Strength makes an Aaron,
but weakness alone makes a Moses; strength makes
an Apollos, but weakness alone makes a Saint Paul.
Dare to complain, after that, that the special strength
1 Gal. 2:20. m 2 Ex. 4 : 10— 16 ; Num. 12 : 3; Acts 7 : 22.
3 Ex. 4 : 14 ; Acts 18 : 24.
11

122 SAINT PAUL.
you have need of for your work has been denied you ;
that you have a great household to guide, without hav
ing the spirit of organization ; that you have weighty
and complicated affairs to pursue, without having the
spirit of perseverance ; that you have to speak or to
write, without having the gift of speech or of writing.
Leave, faithless one that you are — leave that depress
ing calculation. The work which you have in view —
is it indeed your work, which God has assigned you, to
you peculiarly ; — your work, as the guidance of Israel
in the desert was the work of Moses, and as the evan
gelizing of the Gentiles was the work of Saint Paul?
That is the question to solve, by reflection, by prayer,
by all the means within your reach — unless it be
entirely solved by your position ; — since there is need
neither of reflection nor of prayer, to satisfy one's self,
for example, that a father of a family has a mission to
bring up his children, or that a servant has a mission
to keep in .order his master's house. This question
once solved, and your work rightly determined, go for
ward, and fear not! God, who calleth you, at the
same time saith to you, as to Gideon, — whether to the
ear of the body or of the spirit, it matters little, — " Go,
with this strength which thou hast; have not I sent
thee ? " x That special weakness from which you could
not be delivered — it remains that out of it you make a
special strength, by means of faith. Yield yourself up
to be a Moses, since you cannot be an Aaron, — a Saint
Paul, since you cannot be an Apollos. . . . What a
doctrine, O my God! Who can believe it? Even
those who preach it, do they in truth believe it ? " We
Judges 6 : 14.

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 123
know these things — happy are we if we do them ! " J
Yes, " when I am weak, then am I strong."
Such as he was — such had Saul of Tarsus been
chosen by God to become Paul the apostle, through a
preparation of weakness, of which his career would
present many other examples, and which, in addition
to all the services it had already rendered him, finally
confers on him the revelation — for him and for us —
of the profound truth of my text: " When I am "weak,
then am I strong." Christians, who have it in your
hearts not to pass through the world without perform
ing your work, but who in your weakness are crushed
by that work, take then to-day for your motto the
motto of Saint Paul : " When I am weak, then am I
strong," and apply it without further delay, — fearing
lest, according to that solemn word of a servant of
God, " You should come to die before you have begun
to live." Such as I am — not such as I was yesterday ;
not such as I shall be to-morrow, but such as I am to
day. Such as I am — if my heart is right before God,
if I am resolved to accomplish his work at whatever
cost — here am I, prepared with a preparation which is
worth all those the absence of which I regret. Such
as I am — " here am I, to do thy will, O God!" Such
as I am, and such as I may become! — were I but a
poor Saul of Tarsus, and might I become a Paul the
apostle! Leave not in me, O my God! a single weak
ness which thou shalt not convert into strength ! a
single sorrow which thou shalt not change into joy!
a single temptation which thou shalt not turn to vic
tory! a single void which thou shalt not fill with
thyself! •John 13: 17.

124 SAINT PAUL.
Young men who hear me : it is with you that I
began, — it is with you also that I wish to end. For
you, all is full of earnestness, — your age, because it is
the entrance upon a career; the times in which we
live, because ihey are freighted with storms ; may I
add, before God who searcheth the hearts, that your
heart, too, is full of earnestness? Are you willing,
whatever may come of it, and whatever may be said
of it, to do the work which God has entrusted to you
on the earth ? Begin, then, this day, by devoting your
selves to his service, rich in all that which you possess,
enriched further by that which is lacking in you.
" Gather up the fragments, that nothing may be lost,"
said He who had just multiplied the loaves, and who
is able also to multiply your resources of every kind.
Gather up all that which you have of strength, health,
vigor, ardor, natural fitness, acquired knowledge, —
bear all to Jesus Christ, and take heed to keep nothing
of it back for yourselves. Do not you pertain to him
wholly ? and do you not so much the more pertain to
yourselves because you will be more completely given
up to him ? Gather, also — gather up, above all else,
whatever you have of weakness, — your physical infirm
ity, your ignorance, your inexperience, your slowness
to conceive, the difficulty you have in learning, what
ever casts you down and discourages you, — bear it to
him, in order that out of it he may produce the
strength of God, which is better than all your collected
strength. Strong in your weakness, just such as you
are, my young friends, through faith !
Of Saul, what made a Paul? — Faith. Who has
practised, like him, that which is written in the elev
enth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews 1 By faith,

FOURTH DISCOURSE. 125
Saul of Tarsus, journeying towards Damascus, ex
changed the path of persecution for that of martyr
dom. By faith, Saul filled the known world with the
name of Jesus Christ, and did a work which no other
human work has equalled, either in extent or in depth.
By faith, Saul, victorious over a rebellious nature,
attained to a height of Christian life which would have
been judged above man, if it had not been realized in
his history. ..." Go, and do likewise." It is not a
question of strength — it is a question of faith.
11*

FIFTH AND LAST DISCOURSE,

HIS EXAMPLE.

" If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the
flesh, I yet more : circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a
Pharisee ; concerning zeal, persecuting the church ; touching the righteous
ness which is by the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me,
those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord ; for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,
that I mny win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own right-
eousnesss, which is of the law, but, that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith ; that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect ; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended by Jesus Christ. Brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended ; 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 Jesus Christ. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded :
and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this
unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk
by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be ye all followers
together of me, and mark them who walk so as ye have us for an ensam-
ple."— Phil. 3:4— 17.
Such is the result which all these discourses were
intended to promote. Let us say it once more ; in
speaking to you of Paul, I have not desired to glorify

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 127
Paul; I have wished to set before you a model, in
accordance with which they might govern themselves
who have it in their hearts to conform to the will of
God and to accomplish their work. The perfect model
we have in Jesus Christ, and in him alone ; but God
accommodates himself to a necessity of our weakness,
and shows to us also imperfect models, which, while
remaining far behind the Master, yet proceed greatly
in advance of us, and in whom natural infirmity, with
out being destroyed, has been to such an extent
restrained, that it leaves the field open for a Christian
life, which is real, complete, and victorious. Paul is
one of those imperfect models, and the least imperfect,
perhaps, which has ever been given to the earth.
If I needed a final proof of this, after all those which
we have considered, I should find it in the exhortation
of my text: "Be followers of me," — an exhortation
familiar to the mouth of our apostle, and which he
addresses, at different times, to Philippians, Thessalo
nians, Corinthians, and to all the churches.1 Endeavor
to represent to your mind the most exemplary Chris
tian known to you as saying, it matters not to whom,
" Be my follower ! " . . . There are but two methods
of explaining such language : it is either the proudest
blindness of mind with respect to one's self (and Heave
you to think whether this explanation is suitable in
reference to the apostle Paul), or a holiness both so
great and so simple that it rises as far above the pre
cautions of modesty as the pretensions of self-love,
giving the glory only to the grace of God. Do you
not think, with me, that he who could say, " Be my
1 Phil. 4 : 9 ; 1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; 1 Thess. 1 : 6 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 6—8 ;
Acts 20 : 35, etc.

128 SAINT PAUL.
followers," must have led a Christian life, not merely
more faithful, but quite other than that of those per
sons who are the least unbelieving among us ?
But if you partake the sentiments which Saint Paul
has inspired in me, and which have been only increased
by the new study which I have just made of his life ;
if you are penetrated with respect, with gratitude, with
love, for the apostle of the Gentiles, I rejoice at it ; but
on one condition, — that you shall not remain there ;
that you shall seek for yourselves that which you praise
in him ; that you shall not dispense in your case with
the duty of imitation in favor of the pleasure of admi
ration ; that, finally, you will not complacently impose
upon yourselves, by substituting the proud and barren
lesson, " Be my admirers," for the urgent, fruitful, self-
renouncing exhortation of the holy apostle, " Be ye
followers of me."
Yes, it is self-renouncing. I am watchful against
taking you by surprise. Servant of a Master who was
so far from concealing from his disciples the cost of
following him, that he seemed to labor to exalt, by
paradoxical energy of expression, the sacrifices which
he demanded of his own : " If any man come to me,
and hate not his father and mother, and wife and chil
dren, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. Whosoever doth not
bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disci
ple. Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot
be my disciple."1 I desire to employ with you the
same sincerity of speech which he makes use of with
them. Furthermore, this career of self-renunciation,
1 Luke 14 : 26, 27, 33.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 129
when frankly set forth, possesses an inexpressible, hid
den attraction for faithful disciples ; it drives away only
the doubtful, who would sooner or later separate them
selves, and whose alliance would be less a support than
an embarrassment for the true people of Jesus Christ. If,
then, your minds are prepossessed in favor of " earthly
-things," — earthly glory, earthly fortune, earthly con
tentment, or even earthly affections, — mistrust the
example of Saint Paul, and the application which I
am making of this to you. It is not without a pur
pose that, while listening to me as I speak of imitating
him, you feel within yourselves, as it were, an invisible
hand stretching itself forth to protect your money, your
comfort, your human glory, and your idolatrous attach
ments ; if this movement has the quickness of instinct,
it has also its intelligence. You put in jeopardy all
that treasure of self-will by engaging to follow in the
footsteps of Saint Paul. Of him the sacrifice was
required, and he made it ; of you it may be required
also, and the more imperatively since to you the sacri
fice would be more costly.1 Ah ! if Jesus Christ were
about to constrain you to give up the general favor
which you enjoy, for the humiliations of his life and
the shame of his death ; the riches which abound in
your houses, for the abasement and the destitution of
poverty — do you understand ? of poverty ; — this com
modious life, this delicate nurture, all those desires, sat
isfied as soon as formed, for the privations, the disquie
tudes, the sufferings of the body, and distresses of the
mind ; or the sweet society of those loved ones, who are
the delight of your eyes and the joy of your heart, for
separation, rude sundering, and bitter solitude; — do
1 Matt. 19 : 21.

130 SAINT PAUL.
you feel within yourself that you are ready to " suffer
the loss of all things, provided that you may win
Christ ? " If you answer, with Saint Peter, " I am
ready to go with thee, even into prison, and unto
death," 1 it only remains that you probe yourself thor
oughly, in order to be sure that you are not practising
an illusion upon yourself. But if you reply inwardly,
" That word is too hard — who can hear it ? " 2 all is
said. I do not here inquire whether you can save your
soul, being such as you are ; but assuredly, being such
as you are, you cannot be a follower of Saint Paul.
True, if you renounce the imitation of him, you will
renounce it in a very numerous, alas! and in very
Christian company. Saint Paul instructs you respect
ing this himself; but he sees in that only an additional
reason for pressing you to follow his example, so much
the more precious in proportion to its rarity : " Mark
those who walk bo, as ye have us for an ensample. For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the
cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who
mind earthly things." There are many such ; so much
for the number; and as respects their character, they
-ire Christians, not Pagans, or the apostle would be
less astonished at their sins, and would less fear the
reduction of their examples. I say more than this:
Uich are, according to all appearances, Christians
Whom the church has not cut off from its communion,
their unfaithfulness being of such a nature that human
discipline cannot lay hold of it. It is true that they
make " a god of their belly," that their " glory is in
l Luke 22 : 53. s John 6 : 60.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 131
their shame;" but these sharp accusations must be
interpreted from the biblical point of view, which is
severe with a holy severity upon some subjects which
escape the censure of the world, and even the rules of
the church. The true meaning of the apostle is dis
closed in a final stroke, which sums up his sorrowful
portraiture : " who mind earthly things." This trait
of character agrees not only with men who are given
up to shameful, fleshly irregularities ; it agrees equally
with a class of Christians irreproachable by the world's
law, unassailable _as regards that of the church, and
whose whole crime consists in the preponderance
which they concede to material interests, while having
" their citizenship in the heavens. " 1 And if the apos
tle styles them " enemies of the cross of Christ," that
does not imply that they are opposed to the doctrine
of the cross. It is not of their doctrine that he com
plains, but of their life ; they are enemies of the cross,
because they reject a life of crucifixion. In this sense,
a man may be an enemy of the cross, and yet very
orthodox ; he may be an enemy of the cross, and zeal
ous for the propagation of the gospel ; he may be an
enemy of the cross, and an active, influential member
of the best religious institutions ; he may be an enemy
of the cross, and preach the cross with fervor and with
eloquence. . . . Here, a comparison Strikes me and
affrights me. If there are enemies of the cross in the
little church of Philippi, — all alive, all apostolic, all dis
ciplined as it was, — how many such will there be in our
great church, fallen, languishing, devoid of the ancient
order, and in which every one does that which is right
in his own eyes ? 2 How many, perhaps even among
1 Rom. 16 : 18; Titus 1:11, 12, etc. ! Jujjgos 17:6.

132 SAINT PAUL.
those who have known the truth, who profess it, who
defend it ? Ah ! to escape the cross of Christ, and the
example of Saint Paul, you have only to live as live
the greater part of Christians, — of believing Christians,
of Christians honored by the world, and quoted in the
church. But, finally, mEthy are not all. There are to-day, I
know, here and elsewhere, in this communion and in
others, many Christians who desire to be, whatever it
may cost them, followers of Saint Paul, as he was of
Jesus Christ;1 who sigh after a true Christian life,
acknowledging that hitherto it has been wanting in
them ; who understand that henceforth there is no pos
sible rest for them except in following the light which
they have, even to the end, — in accepting the gospel
with all earnestness, and in unreservedly conforming,
submitting, and immolating their will to that of God.
I know this, I said ; nay, more, I feel it. Yes, at this
very moment, by that mysterious sympathy which is
formed, in a great assembly, between him who speaks
and those who hear, I feel that my language finds an
echo in more than one heart. I feel, I say to you, that
more than one heart burns, like mine, at the very name
of that Christian life, which ought to be so well known,
and which is so little known. Moreover, this is not
with me a local or passing impression ; I love to pay
this testimony to our generation of Christians, which I
am not wont to flatter. At no epoch of our contem
porary religious history have I seemed to see this want,
this "hungering and thirsting after righteousness,"
either more profoundly, or more generally experienced,
than it is to-day. I hear it said on all sides that the
' 2 Cor. 11 : 1.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 133
4
religious awakening has suffered a decline ; for myself,
I love to think that the decline is more apparent than
real. That there may be less fervor than formerly, less
exactness in practice, less of glowing zeal in labor, less
steadfastness in doctrine — I should say, perhaps, inthe
conceptions of doctrine — I grant ; and you can con
ceive what it costs me to grant this. But, of " hunger
and thirst after righteousness," there is not less, — -I
even believe that there is more ; and it is that which
reassures me, for it is the capital point. Is it not writ- '
ten, " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled ? " x
That occurs this day to the awakening, which at
times occurs to the believer. After the happy years
of his first love, when prayer was frequent, labor sweet,
life easy, the sky serene and the earth fruitful, there
comes on, with many, a season of darkness, languor,
and cold. Deceived in more than one pious endeavor,
reengaged in more than one contest where he supposed
that he had conquered forever, taught to distrust him
self by a bitter experience, disturbed, disconcerted, cast
down — the faithful soul begins to ask itself whether
the gospel has made good to it all that which had .been
promised. It complains of itself, of others, it may be
of God and of his word ; but it complains like Job,
without giving up its hope ; 2 and like him, also, it shall
gather the fruit of its faith. There is going on thus in
the soul a work inward, sorrowful, but healthful, out
of which you will see it come forth, if you have the
patience to wait for it, "blessed of God "in his latter
end more than he had been in his beginning;"8 less
a
1 Matt. 5:6. 'Job 13: 15. » Job 42 : 10, 12.
12

134 SAINT PAUL.
ardent, but more earnest ; less assured, but more hum
ble ; less satisfied, but more sanctified.
It is in like manner with the awakening. It is in a
critical and transitional period. Sad, melancholy, dis
satisfied with itself, restless with regard to the future,
it is in agitation — it turns itself in every direction, find
ing nowhere repose. It tries its doctrine, and its doc
trine has lost in precision ; it tries its morality, and its
morality has lost in strictness ; it makes trial of Scrip
ture, and Scripture itself appears to have lost a portion of
its clearness and its authority. But this also proceeds
from an inward work, the final results of which shall
profit the awakening ; if it is not found consenting to
remain where it is, and if the " hunger and thirst after
righteousness " shall continue to torment it, without
cessation, until this shall be appeased by the holiness
of the truth.1 Well, then, be at rest — this condition is
fulfilled in the awakening; witness the groaning which
characterizes it in all its parts, — the groaning which is
felt in its prayers, its discourses, its affections, its joys,
its good works, its religious assemblies, — so different
from that which they were in former days. This
groaning is a weakness, I admit; but.it is a weakness
whence God causes his people to draw new strength.
Shall I say it ? — the preacher of the gospel knows
in a twofold way the bitterness of this laborious tra
vail : he knows it as a Christian, he knows it also as a
preacher. With silent regret he recalls to mind days
when his speech flowed with spontaneous freedom,
when his pen ran on without hindrance, when things
to be said came to him as if by their own will, and
1 Epn. 4 : 24.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 135
when he proceeded, with a firm and assured step, in a
road plainly traced, towards an end clearly perceived
and uniformly followed out : that time has passed.
Aside from the great questions — I should say the great
question of life and of death — upon which a Christian
conscience cannot possibly change, the remainder pre
sents itself to him only as intercepted by clouds. Too
often he journeys, like one groping his way, through a
perpetual alternation of light, of darkness, and of inter
mingled light and shade. He knows not always what
must be said, because he sees not always what must
be done. The numerous assembly that meet together
to receive from his mouth, on the appointed day, the
word of truth, no more hears the mute prayer of his
soul in its distress, than they saw his conflicts in the
night-watches, and the barren sorrow of his travail, — a
blind people, a cold people, but say rather a people
ignorant of that which the Evangelical ministry is for
an earnest soul in these earnest days. He nevertheless,
rising at the hour indicated, has already begun to
stammer the first words of his discourse, while scarcely
discerning as yet how he ought to speak. ... It mat
ters not; let him look to that God who sends him.
Behind the clouds that darken his horizon, does he not
perceive a hand which is stretched forth, and which
seeks his own ? Let him boldly place his hand in that
paternal hand, and let him march on with courage!
He shall then be able to say, like the prophet, and all
the believing people with him, " As for me, I will be
on the watch, waiting for the Lord ; I will wait for
the God of my salvation, my God will hear me 
When I fall, I shall arise ; when I sit in darkness, the
Lord will be a light unto me  he will bring me

136 SAINT PAUL.
forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteous
ness." 1
Whatever may be the result, the hour has come, not
to be cast down, but to strengthen one's self in God ;
if he " forsakes his people for a small moment," it is
in order to " gather them with great mercies." 2 The
hour of Mary Magdalene is upon us. Mary Magda
lene is seeking the dead body of Jesus, and she cries, in
the trouble of her soul, " They have taken away my
Lord, and I know not where they have laid him ; " and
lo ! Jesus is before her, not dead, but living — more than
living — raised from the dead, glorified, and preparing
to disappear from her eyes, only that he may come and
dwell in her heart. A touching image of our contem
porary church: the days of crisis are the days of
renewal. It is to such souls, athirst and ahungered, that I
address the exhortation of our apostle : " Be ye follow
ers of me." Saint Paul came in a day which had
more than one point of connection with our own,
stirred as was that age by a movement in all respects
as profound and as formidable as that of which we are
witnesses. In presence of the Pagan world falling to
decay, and of Judaism wandering in unbelieving paths,
to effect the renovation of the Roman Empire by
means of the gospel, is the work which God had
entrusted to the apostle ; and this work the apostle
accomplished. What, then, did he do in order 'to
bring this to pass ? and what would he do to-day, were
he in our place, and called of God again to raise up
the church from its decline, and society from its peril,
l Micah 7 : 7—9. 2 Is. 54 : 7.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 137
by raising up again the Christian faith? We are not
given over to our conjectures for an answer. Before
writing, " Be ye followers of me," Paul had taken care
to say in what he desires men to follow him, and by
what means he became himself such as he was. To
glory in Jesus Christ, and in him alone — this was all
his secret.
This -explanation, which dates back eighteen hun
dred years, is not less applicable to us and to our
wants* than if it had been derived from contemporary
history. It is peculiar to the men whom God inspires,
that they speak for all ages ; by this single sign they
are to be recognized for men apart. Whilst they
" speak of the earth," they yet share in some measure
the privilege of Him who " speaketh of heaven,"
because He " came down from heaven." J Their word
rules the course of time, and traverses the entire move
ment of history, without losing anything of its truth.
Augustine has grown old, because he is filled with
things which pertain only to his epoch ; for a simi
lar reason Bernard also has grown old, Calvin and
Luther have grown old; Saint Paul,. Saint John, Saint
Peter have not grown old, and never shall they grow
old. Every generation that passes, comes in its turn
to draw from the inexhaustible treasure of their word ;
so true is it that it proceeds from a region lifted above
human vicissitudes, and that " men of God spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost."2 To glory in
Jesus Christ, and in him only — that comprehended all
for Saint Paul in the first century ; that would com
prehend all for him in the nineteenth; for "Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."3
1 John 3 : 31 ; Heb. 12 : 25. s 2 Peter 1:21. 8 Heb. 13 : 8.
12*

138 SAINT PAUL.
And that which we have ourselves to do, is not to
invent a new Christ, as some appear to assume the
task of doing, but to penetrate further into the knowl
edge and into the service of the Christ of old — always
the same, and always new, who of Saul made Saint
Paul, and who of us can make his followers.
Furthermore, Saint Paul can with so much the
greater force propose his example for our imitation,
since that example, such as he here presents it, is that
of the Christian far more than that of the apostle ; or,
rather, it is the apostle's example only because it is
that of the Christian. Read again the verses which
precede my text ; you will not find a word there, if I
may thus speak, which savors of the apostle : the apos
tle is blotted out, the Christian alone appears, and the
Christian wholly in Christ. I have said it elsewhere,
and I willingly revert to this thought which is of prime
moment in the subject now occupying us : it is through
his personal Christianity, beyond all else, that Saint
Paul is an apostle ; it is through an exceptional Chris
tianity that he is an eminent apostle ; we might say
that he is an apostle, that he is the Apostle, only
because he is a Christian. And this fact is admira
ble — it is profoundly instructive. There is no appear
ance of the sacerdotal spirit in Saint Paul ; he shows
himself as anxious to be confounded with the simple
people of God,1 as they are to separate themselves from
it who give themselves out for the heirs of the apos
tles. Let them boast of their clerical character, or of
their apostolical succession, as if an accusing instinct
was pressing them to make good by outward signs of
calling their lack of the inward ; he glories only in
» Rom. 1:12; 2 Cor. 12 : 5, 6, etc.

F'IFTH DISCOURSE. 139
that which he has in common with the least of God's
children ; by which means he more clearly sets forth
the essential qualities of his apostleship, which are
spiritual, while at the same time he is exciting in us a
more lively desire to imitate him, since he augments,
by putting himself on our level, both our courage and
our feeling of responsibility. Fear not, then, an obtru
sive splendor.1 Paul paints himself with no halo of
glory, and with lineaments which nothing hinders you
from wearing, whoever you may be.
Those traits of character (I speak only of marked
traits) are reducible to two, which in all time have
constituted the true Christian, — his life, and the princi
ple of that life, his faith, — two things which at bottom
make but one, so that Saint Paul passes from one to
the other without indicating in any way, a change of
subject. And the reason is, that both meet together
in Jesus Christ : faith, is Jesus Christ in the heart ; life,
is Jesus Christ in the works ; faith, is Jesus Christ
dying for us ; life, is Jesus Christ living in us.
The life of Saint Paul, which we ought to endeavor
to make our own, is this : " To know Christ, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."2
The centre, the soul of this life, is in the word, " being
made conformable unto his death." If Paul associates
himself with "the power of the resurrection" of his
Master, it is through " the fellowship of his sufferings ; "
if he marches on to glory, it is in the pathway of the
cross. Paul breathes only to suffer. His career might be
summed up, with no less accuracy than David's, in
» Ex. 34 : 35. • Phil. 3 : 10.'

140 SAINT PAUL.
those sorrowful words : " My tears have been my meat
day and night."1 So true is this, that in a preceding
discourse we were enabled to define his Christianity
by his tears, and to follow out, by their traces alone, the
entire course of his life. He explains himself on this
point with sufficient clearness in the remainder of our
epistle. The disciple of a Master who was " highly
exalted " for having " humbled himself in becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,"2
Paul aspires to share to-morrow the blessedness of
Christ, by sharing to-day his sorrows ; until death
appears to him but as the desired termination of his
living martyrdom : " For me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain."3 The Master calls the hour of his sacri
fice the hour of his glory, and likens himself, by a hope
full of sadness and of love, to a grain of wheat falling
into the. ground which cannot bring forth fruit except
on condition of its death ; 4 the disciple is of the num
ber of those who go through the world, " while living,
always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that'the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in their mortal
flesh." 5 The Master dies crucified for his church ; the
disciple — O boldness! O holy imprudence! — "rejoices
in his sufferings for his brethren, and fills up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh, for his
body's sake, which is the church." 6 Let those explain
this astonishing language who have received grace to
penetrate into the mysteries of faith, of love, and of
the Christian life — one thing is certain, and it suffices
to my present purpose : the pen which traced these
words was steeped in the experience of a life wholly
i Ps. 42 : 4. s Phil. 2 : 7, 9. 3 Phil. 1 : 21.
4 John 12 : 23, 24. 6 2 Cor. 4 : 10, 11. '001.1:24.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 141
crucified with Jesus Christ crucified. Such a life was
that of Saint Paul ; such a life ought to be yours, if
you are among his followers. Oh, my friends! it is
here that our Christianity has need, I do not say of
gradual increase, but of a total renewal. Where do
we see such conformity unto the death of Christ sought
for, where known, where understood among its ? By
dint of living in the world, and with the World, Chris
tians — I mean true Christians — permit themselves to
be confirmed imperceptibly by its example in the fol
lowing of self-will, instead of obeying that voice of the
gospel, austere and yet gentle, which calls them to
glory by following in the steps of the crucified. Such
Christians do not refuse, of set purpose, to make the
sacrifices of the Christian life; no, I suppose them
more sincere in their faith. Were they made to choose
directly between apostasy and the loss of all things,
between apostasy and suffering, — I say more, between
apostasy and death,-— I wish to believe, I do believe,
that they would undergo the spoiling, the suffering, the
death, rather than abandon the Lord. But this terri
ble choice is presented only in certain extreme and
rare conjunctures. In the ordinary circumstances of
which our every day life is composed, the cross pre
sents itself under a form less fearful and altogether less
definite, though not less real, not less bitter — that of
an entire life of obedience to God, of devotion to one's
neighbor, of renunciation of self. But from this daily
crucifixion the flesh shrinks : that cross, which men do
not wish to accept, and which they dare not reject, they
shun. The eye is turned away from it, to escape the
alternative of either bearing it or withdrawing from it,
and the* Christian life of the greater number among us

142 SAINT PAUL.
is perverted into a perpetual study to be on terms with
Christian fidelity, without "being made conformable
to the death" of Christ. Of what are we speaking?
Do I wish that the Christian should go in search of
macerations and of penances? Oh, no! that is not
required of him ; that would even put him in peril of
presumption, of self-righteousness, and of humiliating
falls; for why should God be bound to strengthen us
against temptations which we had freely chosen and
rashly provoked ? The point of duty for us, as for the
Master, is not to seek the cross, but by the cross to
seek the glory of the resurrection, which is found in no
other path. The cross, for the cross, never ; but the
cross for the Lord, always ; for no man can accept the
crucified one without the cross, except he take the
shadow for the substance. Christianity without the
cross, is Christianity without Christ. But what have
you then done, I ask of this generation so enamored of
ease and so hostile to suffering — what have you then
done with that word of the Master, " Whosoever doth
not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my
disciple?"1 Yotfr cross! — before it can be borne, it
¦must be seen. Show it to me. Where is it ? Do you
know even that you have one, which is properly yours,
being as really assigned to you by God as was that of
Golgotha to Jesus Christ? If we desired to charac
terize by a special epithet the Christianity of this gen
eration, we should be tempted to call it a comfortable
Christianity. If the primitive church, in days of grief
and of glory, solved the problem of learning what is the
extent of suffering to which faith can attain without
flinching, the church of the nineteenth century appears
» Luke 14 : 27.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 143
to have set before itself the contrary problem of learn
ing the extent to which it may lower itself, without
denying the faith. Come, then, martyrs of past ages,
— victims of Pagan Rome, and victims of Christian
Rome, — all you who have taken up the cross far too
earnestly, — come and learn from us the secret of serv
ing the Lord at no cost except poor pleasures on which
one would blush to put a price, — except a few worldly
friendships, to which otherwise one might not adhere, —
except a little money, which death would always finally
tear from us, and which is taken out of neither the
arteries nor the veins, nor from any perceptible part of
a man's fortune.
Bear with the bitterness of my language. I am ask
ing myself, in very truth, if the spirit of Saint Paul,
the spirit of Jesus Christ, is not still more misunder
stood in this path than it is in the opposite path of
voluntary privations and expiatory sufferings. How
ever this may be, neither the one nor the other of these
two extremes is necessary; imitation of Saint Paul
will preserve us from both at once. His example will
instruct us not to load ourselves with a burden of our
own choice ; l but this same example will warn us not'
to withdraw ourselves from any one of the trials which
God places before us, when we desire to know nothing
" but Jesus Christ and him crucified." Let us walk
boldly in his steps, and give no occasion for thinking
that error has more of self-denial than truth, the law
than grace, and fear than love. Let us prove, by
showing it realized in ourselves, that beautiful alliance
of a doctrine the richest in promises, with a morality
the most fruitful in sacrifices. Then, as I know well,
1 Col. 2 : 22, 23.

144 SAINT PAUL.
we shall have our tears, like the apostle ; but, like him
also, we shall have our joys, our great joys. Then we
shall have wherewithal to answer those who speak evil
of the gospel of grace; whilst to-day more than one
faithful soul feels itself drawn towards self-righteous
ness, in order to array itself against that ease in which
the greater part of God's children lull themselves to
sleep. Then we shall be associated with Jesus Christ,
and we shall be his ; and this world, which we have
scandalized in so many different ways, will learn from
us what power there is in faith, what disinterestedness
in a Christian soul. Then — but are not my words
lost in the air? Are there here many souls in which
there awakes a sympathetic ambition ? How know I ?
May there not be here some Pharisee who is deriding
me in his heart?1 Yet once more, it is not progress
barely which I ask from you, and which I ask from
myself; the direction should be entirely changed: our
Christianity needs to be revised.
A tree cannot stand erect without roots. The life
of- renunciation and crucifixion which Saint Paul made
his own, — that life so contrary to self-will and to the
entire natural man, — could not have commenced in
him, nor be preserved to the end, without having been
produced, without having been daily nourished, by an
iuwajd sentiment. This inward sentiment — this prin
ciple of the life of Jesus Christ in Saint Paul — is
Saint Paul's faith in Jesus Christ. Hear how the apos
tle explains it himself: " What things were gain to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
1 Luke 16 : 14.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 145
knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord ; for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the right
eousness which is of God by faith." L The alone right
eousness of God in Jesus Christ, and that righteous
ness applied by faith only, " that it may be by grace," 2
— such is . the source whence is derived the suffering
and dyftig life of the apostle ; so far is he removed from
seeking there a personal expiation, a meritorious vir
tue, or any aliment whatever to feed self-righteousness.
A wonderful thing ! the holiest and the most devoted
of men — the one, of all others, who could have most
boldly claimed a righteousness of his own, if self-right
eousness there were — is that one, of all others, who
has most clearly rejected all self-righteousness, and who
has rested most absolutely in the alone grace of Jesus
Christ.3 It is not a coincidence — take heed that you
do not think it ! — there is a profound relation between
the two ; no one has been more holy and more devoted,
because no one has accounted himself more freely
saved. Minds less enlightened, souls less elevated, in
all Christian communions, in all the religions of the
world, have sought in privation or in suffering an
imaginary method of appeasing God, of effacing their
sins and meriting heaven ; but in his case, that which
calls for, that which sustains, in his heart and in his
works, a devotion without reserve, is the distinct con
templation, the profound feeling, of the sacrifice by
which Jesus Christ had been beforehand with him
' Phil. 3 : 7—9. ! Rom. 4 : 16. ' Rom. 3 : 23.
13

146 SAINT PAUL.
without his works, before his good works, and not
withstanding his evil works. The crucified love of the
lost creature responds to the crucified love of God the
Saviour. Is it necessary to gather up, in Saint Paul, the testis
monies he has given to grace ? The easier this would
be, the more is it superfluous. I leave it to any man's
decision, who has even a superficial knowledge of his
discourses and letters. Everywhere in them, justifica
tion " by grace, by faith," holds the first place ; ^t is the
central point to which all the rest is bound fast ; it is
more than one of the doctrines of the apostle — it is his
doctrine ; he is apostle only for that, as he had become
apostle only by that ; for, before it became the object
of his entire ministry, it had been the principle and the
soul of his conversion, since the transition from Saul
to Paul is nothing but the transition from the law to
grace. Paul and grace, grace and Paul — this name
and this idea are so inseparable, that the one should be
regarded as the ¦ living personification of the other.
Besides this, to what good end seek elsewhere for tes
timonies, when we have under our eyes language so
clear, so ample, so strong as that of my text? It is
only needful to read it over : " What things were gain
to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord ; for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ." Such is the estimate
which he puts upon his own works — "a loss — dung ; "
and here is the value which he attaches to the knowl
edge of Jesus Christ — " The excellency of the knowl
edge of Jesus Christ my Lord." Do you require a

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 147
declaration more precise, and with more detail ? You
have that also in the following : " That I may be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith." I should be ashamed to explain language like
this, besides that I should be greatly embarrassed in
the attempt, such is its simplicity and power. Never'
did theologian sum up gratuitous salvation in fewer
words, and more filled with meaning. Let no one, then,
flatter himself that he can imitate Paul's life, if first he
does not imitate his faith, — if he does not yield him
self, like a poor sinner " devoid of the glory of God,"
to the alone "righteousness of God," in order to be
"justified freely by his grace, through the redemption
which is in Jesus Christ."1
I should not so much insist upon this topic if I were
speaking fifteen or twenty years ago. In those early
times of our religious awakening, — times of the first
illumination, and, alas ! of the first fervor, — this salva
tion wholly gratuitous, this justification by faith only,
was the A B C of the gospel for whomever hacl opened
his heart to the truth ; and we who announced it could
not find language too expressive in which to bear wit
ness to it; let us rather say, we could not too faithfully
reproduce the language of Saint Paul; for it is impos
sible to go beyond that. But to-day there is diffused
in the atmosphere a certain vaporish theology, which
turns away from, which blushes at, that firmness which
was seen at the beginning. Justification by faith is al
most banished by some persons among obsolete expres
sions ; expiation wounds more than one delicate mind,
i Rom. 3 : 23, 24.

148 SAINT PAUL.*
and no longer ventures to show itself, except when
veiled under circumlocutions, under penalty of clashing
with philosophy; grace — that little word so full and
so sweet, that delicious music to a Christian ear — has
lost something of its charm, and is less often upon the
lips; redemption itself — the ancient and immutable re
demption, that eternal joy of the people of God — gives
place to a more modern redemption, which appeals to
the entire life of Jesus Christ, without leaning upon his
death, and which affects to absorb the sacrifice of the
Son of man inxthe incarnation of the Son of God.1
It would be too difficult to accommodate Saint Paul
to these novelties ; but there is a theory fully prepared
to reassure those who depart from his teachings. Saint
Paul, it is said, had his special mission among the
apostles of Jesus Christ, as Saint Peter and Saint'
James had theirs. Commissioned to set forth promi
nently that side of the gospel by which the Gentiles
were to be gained over to it, he was enabled — and it
was his duty — to clothe it with a clear, accurate, and
absolute expression, and one which needs to be modi
fied, not to say corrected, by the language of Saint
Peter, or of Saint James, — less systematic, less theo
logical, and, moreover, enlisted in another direction.
For myself, I should hold this objection as sufficiently
refuted by that which is written respecting " the word
of the prophets," and which assuredly is not less true
in respect to that of the apostles : " No prophecy is
of a private interpretation ; for holy men of God
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 But
1 Meditate upon John 12 : 27 ; Heb. 2 : 14, etc. Ear from subordinating
the redemption to the incarnation, this class of passages does the very
reverse. 2 2 Peter 1 : 21.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 1-19
to this first reason, which can influence only .those who
believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures, let us add
considerations derived from the very nature of things.
Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, that is to say, our
apostle; and, consequently, of all the apostles, if there
were room to choose, the one whom we can listen to with
the most entire confidence, since he comes to us with
a special message from God. Neither Peter, nor James,
nor John himself, have over us rights equal to his.
Paul, being the apostle of the Gentiles, that is to say,
of all the nations of the earth with one exception, was
called by his very mission to present the gospel in its
most general, and, at the same time, its most essential
aspects. If any particularism were to be feared, it
should be from Peter or James ; but the apostle of the
Gentiles is the universal apostle, in whom we ought to
look for only the common, permanent, and substantial
basis of the gospel. Paul alone has himself written
more letters than all the other apostles together, with
out reckoning that the Gospel of Saint Luke pertains
indisputably to his school. Well, then, where shall we
seek with the greatest certainty, all other things being
equal, the complete development of saving truth, — in
Paul, discussing by turns all the great questions of
dogma, of morals, of worship, of discipline, which he
considers under the most varied forms ; or in Peter and
James, whose teaching is concentrated in a few pages,
and included in a comparatively restricted circle ?
Finally, Paul was born in Judaism, -brought up in.
Phariseeism. Prejudice drew him in a direction op
posed to the doctrine of grace ; and this doctrine, far
from exhibiting in him the marks of custom and pre
possession, has all the indications of a conquest pain-
13*

150 SAINT PAUL.
fully gained over inveterate predilections, over rooted
habitudes. There might be an appearance of reason —
I say only an appearance — for suspecting as prejudiced
the tendency of James or Peter to continue their incli
nation for the side which they had embraced at the
outset ; but there is no shadow of this on the part of
Paul, who became a thoroughly new man, and pro
claimed a doctrine which he begun by persecuting with
fury. No, no ; let us take heed that we do not suffer
the least assault to be made upon the pure doctrine of
the apostle Paul. The faith of Paul, which is no other
after all than the faith of Peter, John, and James,
aside from the shades of each man's temperament and
mission, — the faith of Paul is the faith of the apostolic
age; it is the-faith of th'e Reformation; it is the faith
of our awakening ; it is the faith of Jesus Christ ; it is
the inner essence, the living marrow of the gospel.
And is it not for that very reason that the spirit of
doubt, or of demi-faith, ever chooses this as the object
of her violent attacks ? As for us, who are followers
of Paul, let us hold to this firmly, immovably. Whilst
increasing in the truth, whilst accepting with eagerness
whatever new light it shall please God to impart to us,
let us at the same time " show unto the end the same
care for the full assurance of our hope," 1 of that sole,
of that eternal hope, "" Jesus Christ and him crucified;"
and let men behold us at all times in such wise,
" rooted and grounded " in the grace proclaimed by our
holy apostle, that our name, no more than his, can be
separated from that grace.
To imitate the Christianity of Saint Paul, is a career
1 Heb. 6:11.

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 151
great enough, it might seem, to tempt the highest
Christian ambition ; and yet, my brethren and sisters,
in concluding these discourses I see opening before us
a career still greater than that. If we follow the apos
tle in his Christian life by his Christian faith, we shall
not only be imitators of his Christianity, but also of
his apostleship. Paul, I said just now, is an apostle
only because of his being a Christian ; but we, in the
path which I am inviting you to enter, and myself with
you, if Christians indeed, we shall be apostles in our
turn. For we also have — doubt it not ! — our apostol
ical mission. It is not the mission of the first century ;
it is that of the nineteenth. The point of duty now, is
not to bear the gospel to Gentiles, but to clothe it anew
with power in the sight of Christians. The gospel has
been lowered in the religious awakening of our epoch,
because the world has not seen between the life of
believers and that of unbelievers a difference propor
tioned to the difference of their principles ; and the
question is to render visible before all eyes, faith's real
ity and power. " The salt hath lost its savor : where
with shall it be salted ? " This insoluble problem it is
now time to solve ; and its solution, the true apostle
ship of the epoch, can be given only by the works of
'God's children, our contemporaries ; let me say, rather,
by the works of the people of God in our day. It is
not the business of one man, were that man a Saint
Paul ;. it is the business of an entire people of brethren.
Is it asked, What would Saint Paul do, were he alive
to day ? I know not ; but that is not the question of
the day. The gospel abides, the means suffer change.
Perhaps there is not to-day, in the plans of God, any
task prepared for a Saint Paul ; but there is one pre-

152 SAINT PAUL.
pared for a Christian people having Paul's spirit : and
it is this people which I labor, so far as in me lies, to
form or to awaken by these discourses.
One could say that Saint Paul himself enters into
this thought. He writes not only on this one occa
sion, " Be ye followers of me ; " he writes, " Be ye all
followers together of me," by which he provokes a col
lective invitation. Not that one Christian entirely
alone cannot do much for the cause of that practical
apostleship of which I have just been speaking to you ;
— he can prove by his example, as did Saint Paul by
his, that the gospel exacts nothing which may not be
realized ; and this would be taking away the most for
midable obstacle which the truth encounters in upright
hearts. But, in order that this proof become clearly
visible and, truly decisive, it must be furnished not by
some exceptional or isolated individuality, but by an
organic body, whence it breaks forth at once in every
member, and in the relations, also, of the members one
toward another. I say designedly an organic body, not
an organized body ; for I am speaking of that natural
unity which is engendered in the necessity of things,
by the common principle of life, — not of that factitious
uniformity which, through the choice of the human
will, is produced by a common administration. The
people whq/n I call, is neither an association, nor is it
even a new church ; it is a spiritual people, freely yet
necessarily united, within by the life of the Spirit, and
without by the life of good works. Saint Paul called
it before me, in those beautiful words which contain
the sum of all these discourses : " The grace of God,
that bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,

FIFTH DISCOURSE. 153
we should live soberly, and righteously, and godly, in
this present world ; looking for the blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour
Jesus Christ ; who gave himself for us, that he might
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto himself
to be a peculiar people, and zealous of good works."1
Christians ! followers of Saint Paul! the characteristic
of the gospel throughout is reality ! Let us express all,
and say, it is the incarnation. The Son of God, that
Living Word, had his incarnation in the Son of Man. It
is necessary, also, that the revealed word have its own
incarnation in a people of God, in whom every one
may see practised that which we preach, and lived that
which we say. Behold ! behold the contemporary re
ligious work, greater than that of an apostle Paul,
and which alone has promises of spiritual renewal for
Christianity! Behold here the sole hope of renovation —
spiritual, ecclesiastical, even political and social — after
which the world sighs from every quarter ! May, I say
not my voice, but God's voice itself, — of which I know
well that I am only the feeble yet faithful echo, — speak
to the heart of the children of God who hear me ; and
" in the day when God shall gather together his army,"
— and is not this day coming on? — may his people
arise like "a willing people, adorned with holiness,"
and " his valiant youth offer themselves unto him like
the drops of morning dew!"2 Amen.
1 Titus 2 : 11 — 14. Literally, a zealot of good works, as the Jews were
"zealots of the law." — Acts 21 : 20, literal version.
2Ps. 110:3.

FATALISM.1

" If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." —
John 8 : 36.
As every people has its own moral atmosphere, so,
too, has every generation ; and this atmosphere is dif
fused at the same time over all civilized nations. The
air which they breathe is impregnated, as if were, with
certain maxims peculiar to the age, which men do not
so much accept as feel, and from the influence of which
no one can withdraw himself, except by a resolute
act of resistance. Such resistance is rare ; and it is not
in the power of reflection alone to render a man capa
ble of it. Men of reflection, — that is to say, those who
turn their minds back upon themselves in order to
study man in the individual, — pilosophers, if they
aspire to rise to the heights of human knowledge, —
poets, if their aim is to descend into the depths of the
soul, — since they possess, after all, as their field of ex
ploration only the common basis of human nature, —
can never discover within themselves, how far soever
they may penetrate, anything save that which is in
man, and more especially in the man of their epoch.
More truly men than other men, and more truly of their
age than their contemporaries, they feel, yet more than
] This discourse was delivered at Paris, April 2, 1848.

FATALISM. 155
others, the general movement ; and it is only on this
very coudition that they govern and direct it. In them
the characteristic spirit of the age attains to its highest
power. After this, having become revealed to itself, it
descends again from those kings of men to the multi
tude from which it sprang, and, clothing itself in popu
lar forms, goes forth to strengthen in the mass that
moral condition which gave it birth, creating first —
according to the character of the epoch — sometimes a
healthful support, sometimes, alas ! and more com
monly, a temptation fraught with peril. For, in this
world which " lieth in the wicked one," 1 the successive
forms borrowed by imagination and reflection appear
to be so many means which the great Adversary wields,
each in its turn, against our feeble race.
Let us apply this remark to the times in which we
live. The prevailing doctrine in the intellectual move
ment of the epoch, is known, in the language of the
schools, under the name of pantheism. To lay open
this doctrine, would here be out of place ; and you will
presently see that the unwonted ground on which I
place myself for a moment, is with me but a transition
necessary in order to reach a discussion more closely
conformed to the object of this discourse. Let us limit
ourselves by saying that pantheism, by subjecting feel
ing to pure intellect, and by unreservedly yielding to
that need of unity which acts upon the intellect, fears
not — with contemptuous disregard of good sense and
of evidence — to abolish the distinction established in
all time between the human mind, nature, and the
Creator, — confounding in one these three great sub
stances. As regards the choice of that one into which
1 The correct translation, we think, of 1 John 5 : 19.

156 FATALISM.
it shall absorb the other two — at one time it was God ;
later, it was nature ; and now it is the turn of the hu
man mind. But it matters little ; the name merely, or
the point of view changes ; the essential character and
the results remain the same. Wherever this confusion
may begin, each one of the three substances loses, by
means of it, its peculiar character : nature is now
devoid of reality, man of personality, and God of life.
This system, absurd but sublime, sublime but ab
surd, occupies to-day the first rank. Almost without
a rival, it reigns in the highest schools of philosophy,
to say nothing of the incursions which it ventures to
make into the field of theology itself; and such is the
fascination which it exercises, that genius of the first
order has been seen exhausting glory and influence,
while trying to arrest its progress.
If less clearly perceived in literature and poetry, the
empire of pantheism is no less real in those depart
ments. I might adduce the proof of this from the very
work produced by our great poets of the day, French
or foreign, which a superficial reader would perhaps
quote to me as being inspired by exactly opposite sen
timents. This being true, do not think that you are
able to hold yourself entirely aloof from this tendency
of your epoch. It is in vain for you to remain strang
ers to those philosophers and those poets ; the bond
which unites you to them does not depend upon the in
considerable question of ascertaining whether you have
read them, or whether they have met you in some way.
It is in the common soil which bears us up, and which
nourishes us all. It is in the general intellectual spirit
breathed by the multitude in the midst of whom you
live; which you breathe in common with them, in spite

FATALISM. 157
of yourself; and from which, in their turn, the men of
thought and of imagination derive their inspiration.
Those leaders of men would never have placed pan
theism in their systems or in their books, if they had
not found it in humanity, where they delve as do
others, but at a far greater depth.
Thus. we see, following after the speculative panthe
ism which bears sway in the schools, a practical pan
theism which reigns in common life. It would be only
too easy to point to it in the field of politics, or of social
economy, where it is giving birth to m^re than one sys
tem that conforms- to the order of the day.1 But it is
not in that field that we are called by our ministry to
contemplate it. We have to follow it only in the do
main of religion and of morals. Here pantheism pro
duces fatalism, — that is to say, the negation of moral
liberty. I take this word in its simple and popular ac
ceptation. Without entering into the infinite discus
sions to which it has given origin in philosophy, I call
man free in the sense that he acts as determined by
himself, not constrained by an irresistible power ; and
that in doing evil, he does it through a criminal use of
his will, and not under the dominion of a fatal neces
sity. Pantheism does vnot understand it thus. From
its point of view, evil is not only necessary, but it
ceases to be evil, and becomes identical with good.
How could it be otherwise, since the human mind is
denied its distinct and personal existence ? If man is
confounded with nature, the external world reigns over
1 In discussing this subject, in 1847, I here remarked : " We have seen
it recently at work in a Swiss canton ; we see it in Germany, England,
and France ; and more than all, alas ! — unless we are blinded by sinister
presentiments — it will continue to be seen."
14

158 FATALISM.
him by the same right which his conscience possesses,
and the distinction between flesh and spirit disappears.
If man is confounded with God, the law of God now
reigns over man only by the same right which pertains
to the law of his own mind ; in other words, law exists
no longer, and the distinction between obedience and
disobedience, holiness and sin, in its turn disappears.
All that which constitutes man is then at once human
and divine in its nature ; and that which is called evil,
in ordinary language, — selfishness, intemperance, im
piety, — is butlhe inevitable and regular development
of a supreme order. This doctrine, perhaps, appears to
you, at first sight, so far removed from you that it is a
loss of labor to occupy ourselves with it on this occa
sion. It is far from you as an intellectual speculation,
I admit ; but is it equally remote when regarded as a
secret motive-power of conduct ? Is it not true of
fatalism, as of atheism, that, very rare in theory, it is
very common in practice ? To this grave question you
will perhaps be better able to reply, after having heard
me to the end.
But, before setting forth to view the reign of fatalism,
it is necessary that I first exhibit the whole danger re
sulting from it, of which men, for the most part, have
formed no just conception. At the risk of seeming to
force in a door already open, I shall, then, begin by
showing with what strength the natural conscience, and
especially Christian faith, make their protest against the
fated subjection of man to evil.
The natural conscience protests against the necessity
of evil. Unfortunately, it cannot deny the existence of
evil: it recognizes it in the world, it feels it within
itself. But rather than admit its necessary existence, it

FATALISM. 159
prefers to condemn the world, and to condemn itself. I
say designedly the conscience, and not the understand
ing. For the mere understanding, there is here pre
sented an insoluble problem. Being a witness of the
dependence in which man is evidently placed with re
gard to the objects which urge and sway his will from
without and from within, — with regard to man, who
forms it and develops it by means of education and
example, — with regard to God, more than all else, who
foresees its determinations, controls them, and causes
them to subserve his design, — the understanding asks
itself how man can be thus blended with all that which
surrounds him, without being constrained to do all that
which he does ; and it finds no satisfactory reply to this
question. But conscience cuts the knot which the un
derstanding cannot untie ; and, without taking the
trouble to prove how man is free, it establishes the fact
of his freedom by an instinctive revelation and an in
ward conviction. We feel that we are free, just as we
feel that we exist. Such are first truths, too evident to
be demonstrated, that is to say, justified by means of
another truth clearer than they, — and they are also too
evident to be brought into doubt. Upon these, all hu
man sciences are confidently built up. No one amuses
himself at propping up the soil of the globe, ¦ — but
edifices, cities, and nations, rest upon it in security.
And were any one even- desirous of making a distinc
tion among axioms, it must be held that the most cer
tain, the most indubitable of all, are moral axioms, to
which class belongs that of freedom. Yes ; between
doubting whether it is evil to lie, or whether I am re
sponsible for lying, and doubting that two and two
r-'ake four, or that the whole is greater than any part,

160 FATALISM.
I would choose the latter. In both cases the certainty
is complete; but in the first Case it is more living,
more personal, more imperious than the. second. In the
one case, to doubt is not possible for me ; in the other, it
is not even allowable.
Thus sound philosophy, ancient and modern, has
loudly protested against fatalism, without pretending
to have cleared up the apparent contradiction which is
alleged to exist between moral freedom as established
by the conscience, and that union with external objects
which is recognized by the understanding. The sys
tem of the Stoics — which, regarded as a whole, is the
purest philosophy offered to us by pagan antiquity — at
tested and exaggerated human freedom, elevating it to
the proud rank of absolute sovereignty, of a first cause ;
and this, be it observed, was declared in the midst of
the universal fatalism to which stoicism itself subjected
external objects, — as if it had exalted necessity in
the world only for the purpose of casting it down more
signally before the conscience of man. Thus again,
Kant, in modern times, — who may be styled the most
moral of our philosophers, — has proclaimed the evident,
irresistible, or — to use his own expression — the cate
gorical nature of moral freedom ; and he did this in
the midst of the universal doubt in which he shrouded all
other notions of the understanding; — the most skeptical
of philosophers on all other subjects, the most dogmatic
with respect to freedom. But a higher philosophy has
borne testimony to moral freedom, — the Scriptures,
especially in the admirable epistles of Saint Paul, who
would be the prince of philosophers, were he not the
greatest of apostles. For, on the one hand, Saint Paul
proclaims — nay more, he everywhere takes for granted,

FATALISM. 161
and gives as a basis for his exhortations as well as his
rebukes, his promises "not less than his threatenings
— that kind of freedom which is necessary in order to
render man accountable for his works, and inexcusable
in his sin ; and, on the other hand, he proclaims at the
same time, and with a clearness never equalled, man's
inability to do that which is good and his bondage to
evil. But this inability, besides leaving man free in
regard to every one of his acts, is not a physical and
absolute inability, fatally binding the conscience; it is
a moral inability, whose seat is in the will, and which
constitutes man's guilt precisely as much as his misfor
tune : he cannot, because he will not.1 By the knowl
edge thus imparted, revelation completes the justifica
tion of the natural conscience in its energetic protest
against the necessity of evil, and the proof, also, of the
immorality of fatalism.
But the protest which the Christian faith makes
against fatalism is entirely different from this in force
and energy. The freedom announced by the natural
conscience is, after all, only what might be denominated
a negative freedom, which suffices to take away all
excuse from the man who doeth evil. But the freedom
promised by Jesus Christ in my text, " If the Son shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed," is a positive
freedom, and it makes man capable of doing good, by
reestablishing his communion with God, which had
been broken through by sin. This is in its essence the
true freedom, and alone is worthy of the name, since
this alone brings man into harmony with the law of his
being, and into peace with his conscience. And thus
Jesus Christ has called that man a slave who is a
„ , „ i Rom. 8:7; John 5 : 40.
14* \

162 FATALISM.
stranger to this faith: "He that committeth sin, is
the slave of sin;" yet voluntarily, and — if the lan
guage is admissible — freely enslaved. But when the
soul is united to Jesus Christ by faith, it becomes, for
the first time, " free indeed." If ever the Christian faith
has been charged with a tendency to fatalism, that
faith must have been either very imperfectly explained,
or very imperfectly understood.
As the inability to that which is good, which it es
tablishes in the unregenerate, has nothing of fatalism in
it, because it is a moral inability, the seat of which is
in the will, — that necessity of doing good, which it re
cognizes in the regenerate, has also nothing in it fatal
istic, because it is a moral necessity, the seat of which,
in like manner, is in the will, through which alone the
grace of God acts within the heart of man. And what
is there in the world which presents a more lively con
trast with the idea of a fated necessity, than the religion
of Jesus Christ ? That religion is the very doctrine of
freedom ; freedom is its condition, its soul, and its
life, and in it alone finds the means for unfettered self-
development, and for the complete unfolding of all its
parts. Christian conversion, by which a man becomes
another man, and, taking a new direction, as unexpected
to himself as to others, breaks off from the past — from
past habits, associations, education, interests, and in
fine, the entire circle of his fatum (fate), if such had
existed ; — Christian faith, by which he enters, as I main
tain, not merely into the possession of freedom, but
upon a certain mysterious participation in the almighti-
ness of God himself, and receives the power of under
taking all things, and accomplishing all things, "through
Christ who strengtheneth him ; " — Christian study, by

FATALISM. 163
which he discovers in his Bible that truth which the rest
of the world seek, but do not find; and, piercing the
thick fog in which other men walk, groping about or
stumbling, discerns with a sure eye, and grasps with a
strong hand, a belief for his mind, a rule for his will,
an object for his life, and a support for his last hours; —
Christian sanctification, by which he progressively re
news himself in detail, as he had done at first in the
mass, and carries on an unceasing struggle against all
his evil inclinations, and changes his sentiments to their
very foundation, forming them anew after the image
of his will, which at the outset was transformed into
the image of God; — Christian action, by which he im
parts to his fellow-men the life which he has received
from God, introduces into their spiritual constitution
a new principle, and — if I might thus speak — new
blood, and gives them no rest until they also, becoming
transformed, have " communion with him," as he has
" communion himself with Jesus Christ ; " — finally,
Christian prayer, — ah ! more than all besides, Christian
prayer, — through which, as one has so well observed,
" he moves the hand that moves the world," obtains
what he asks for, and asks what he will, and asks with
even the greater confidence the less he has of it by na
ture, — " strong when he is weak," — and acts in a free
and almost sovereign manner, alike upon the visible and
the invisible world; — what is there, let us ask again,
that could present a more vivid contrast than all this
with the idea of a fatal necessity, in whatever form this
may be disguised ?
It must, then, be confessed that fatalism, which is
rejected in an equal degree by the natural conscience
and by Christian faith, could not establish itself in the

164 FATALISM.
world, unless it overthrew in its course all the author
ities most revered by mankind. Fatalism overturns the
gospel from top to bottom, — for it denies to the gospel
that renovating power which constitutes its essence
and its glory. Suppose that the idea of an inevitable
necessity should actually penetrate the heart of a Chris
tian — on the very instant his spiritual life is suspended,
like a clock when the pendulum is stopped. Hence
forth each one of the living forces which we have just
enumerated will be devoid of use, and devoid of real
ity, since its existence will be only the blind play of a
machine set in motion, which will do its work quite as
well without our having any concern regarding it.
Conversion is merely an idle word, since a new life,
which is but an unavoidable prolongation and develop
ment of the old, has nothing new in it save the name ;
faith wields a power which is but a mockery — we are
in subjection to it at the time when we think we are
exercising it ; study is but a barren research, shut up
within a circle which no one can cross, and unable to
terminate anywhere, after all its vigils, except at its
starting-point ; sanctification struggles on without cour
age and without object, having before it as the reward
of the sublimest efforts only the attainment of a seeming
victory ; action uselessly troubles itself to effect in others
that which will be accomplished as well without us
as through us ; and prayer, alas ! prayer itself, no longer
flattered with the hope of receiving anything, — what
do I say? — having lost all, and even the living God who
lent his ear to its petitions, — reduced at last to turn
back fruitlessly upon itself, keeps silence rather than to
speak in vain, and suffers to flow on without hinderance
that irresistible current of affairs, of which it is itself
but the blind product.

FATALISM. 165
Fatalism does a greater evil : it overturns even the
moral conscience — that basis of human -nature, which
was anterior to revelation, and which offers to it the
only foundation on which it can build. For, by divest
ing sin of the quality of freedom, which alone renders
it inexcusable, it justifies sin ; "it sanctifies the flesh,"
— to use an expression received in pantheistic systems ;
it equals evil with good, lying with truth, selfishness
with charity, revenge with forgiveness, murder with
self-sacrifice, faithlessness with integrity, aside from the
comparatively unimportant distinction in the character
of outward acts, — the only distinction which it leaves
standing. Where would be, for example, the moral,
essential, and inward difference between lying and
truth, if a fated and irresistible power constrained us to
lie ? A disobedience which is compelled and inevit
able, has in it nothing immoral. Denying freedom, fa
talism does nothing less than destroy the moral senti
ment itself, — that is to say, the holy and inviolable
citadel of man, — the sole asylum in which he finds a
never-failing refuge against doubt and error. We are
to look beyond this. Still higher does fatalism aim its
impious strokes. It annihilates the judge with the
judgment, the legislator with the. law; and, if only
logical, will finish its work by annihilating the Creator
himself. Out of nothing God made all things, visible
and invisible. Out of all visible and invisible things,
and Him who made them, fatalism makes nothing,
again ; — a destructive and sacrilegious doctrine, which
causes a void wherever it passes. It is the tomb of
human personality, and of the Divine existence — a
true counter-creation, a universal moral murder, of
which the first pages of. (Scripture, in their sublime

166 FATALISM.
simplicity, set before us a terrible emblem in the first
physical murder which affrighted the world, into which
it had entered following in the footsteps of fatalism.
Those words which God spoke to him, " If thou doest
well, shalt it not be accepted ? but if thou doest not
well, sin lieth at the door," disclose to us, in Cain, the
doctrine of inevitable evil, and enable us to anticipate
all which shall be engendered by the doctrine. He who
utters the language of the pantheist, is uttering the
language of Cain — the soul and marrow of that origi
nal corruption which is eating up humanity. Fatalism
is more than immoral — it is immorality itself.
What will you think of me, if, after having depicted
fatalism with such odious features, I add that fatalism
— I mean practical fatalism — reigns over the society
in the midst of which we are living ? This would not
be, moreover, any new thing. In the history of man
kind, fatalism has always played a great part ; and the
reason of this is as simple as it is sad. Enslaved as he
is to evil, man feels an interest, for his own personal
justification, in convincing himself that his will counts
for nothing, and that he is but obeying an irresistible
necessity. It is this very thing which made Cain a
fatalist, in spite of his conscience, to which God ap
peals against him. Beginning in this shameful manner,
fatalism has entered into all the errors which have suc
cessfully shared the moral empire of our fallen race.
The slightest observation is sufficient to disclose ele
ments of fatalism, more or less fully developed, in the
paganism which makes of destiny not only a god, but
the father of the gods; in philosophic skepticism, which
from age to age kept dashing itself against necessity,
until, while following the great philosophers of the day,

FATALISM. 167
it has gone to the bottom ; in deism, teaching its disci
ples to depend upon a God who is dead, lavish in vir
tuous precepts, but grudging the help necessary in order
to keep these precepts ; in Mohammedanism, which, to
the physical fatalism by means of which it stimulated
the valor of its warriors, adds that moral fatalism in
whose honor it had erected a famous school at Cairo,
under the name of the House of Wisdom ; in the exist
ing Judaism, which puts its disciple beneath a law of
God to which it is absolutely impossible for him to
render obedience, since the dispersion of Israel and the
destruction of the temple ; and, finally, in degenerate
Christianity itself, which, substituting- a foreign con
science for the individual conscience, creates for him —
as we have seen in a recent procedure — a moral neces
sity of doing that which is immoral. But it belonged
to our age, in which all principles, true and false, seem
to be taking a new development, to impart a system
atic character to this tendency of all ages, and thus to
render it at once more profound and more comprehen
sive. Look around you, and you will see it everywhere
at work. Need I inform you that the society from which
I am about to derive my proofs, is society such as it
has been known to us for years ? I hear it said that
the vast movement which, within a few weeks, has
been going forward to accomplish its ends, is the inau
guration of a new spiritual era.1 That may be true ;
and if it be, blessed be the universal overturning, not
withstanding the blood and the tears it has cost —
which it may cost in the future ! But in order to
expect such blessings from it, and in order to know
that it has not, on the contrary, formed an alliance with
1 See note on page 157.

168 FATALISM.
the systems which I combat, the opposing elements,
still glowing and melted together by the white heat
which was generated on the instant, must be allowed
time to extricate and separate themselves one from
another. Furthermore, to remedy so deep-seated an
evil, I do not count upon a form of government, nor
upon the organization of labor, nor even upon the new
constitution of the church. Whatever may be said on
that point, I am to describe not a new society unknown
to me, but the old society amid which we have been
formed, and whose essential and active elements are
still in existence.
Open your eyes, and say if all that is passing around
ns does not attest the presence and the empire of fatal
ism. What a man is, that he was destined to be ; it
was not possible for him not to be it : such are the sen
timents which we find everywhere, whether avowed or
not. When has individual responsibility been more
disregarded than in our days ? When has there been
so unreservedly proclaimed a general necessity, which
drags along the personal will like a resistless torrent,
and which absorbs the conscience of the man into that
of the generation, and the conscience of the generation
into that of the race ? Recall to your minds the man
ner in which history was often treated in our semina
ries. How frequently have we heard the sequence of
its annals presented, by masters alike skilful and esti
mable, as being a series of inevitable evolutions of the
forces hidden in humanity ; whose most fearful wander
ings were coolly accepted as a phase of development,
if not of progress ; and whose successive periods were
assimilated to the different ages of a man, as if for the
purpose of more thoroughly supplanting the real and

FATALISM. 169
living individuality by that factitious individuality'!
But, especially, follow out the operation of fatalism in
the unrolling of the sad picture of our vices and our
crimes. I point you to those suicides in which our
epoch abounds, and a very great number of which have
for their real cause — in the last analysis — a secret
fatalism. A man is unfortunate in his undertakings,
in his career, in his studies, in an attachment, in his
turn of mind, or even in his moral inclinations. He
then judges himself not as one visited, tried, and
chastened of God, but as ill-used; — a disgrace, fatal
and irreparable as it is involuntary, from which the man
thinks there is no escape but by death. And those
same principles which make him desire death, permit
ting him also to go forth in search of it, suicide quickly
comes, — final refuge of unbelief, or of fatalism, for it
is the very same thing. I point you to the records of
our tribunals at the trials of great criminals, the num
ber of whom is less fearful than their character. It has
been reserved to our age to behold the spectacle, as in
fectious as it is frightful, of those chosen men and mar
tyrs in the service of vice and crime, who, while perpe
trating the most execrable offences, complacently take
an attitude, and put on their costume before the public,
as if called to fulfil some fearful mission (whether of
heaven or hell, it matters little ; and this, besides, is
one of the distinctions not recognized by fatalism), and
they deliberately wait for the final punishment, regard
ing it, if not as a new species of sacrifice, at least as.
the unavoidable consummation of the drama which a
sovereign power has compelled them to enact. But
there is something more marvellous still that remains to
be considered; I mean the connivance of the public,
15

170 FATALISM.
without which the excessive audacity of these wretched
beings could not be explained. They are looked upon,
not with the commiseration due to misfortune and even
to sin, but with curiosity blended with interest, as one
would look upon any combination in nature partaking
both of irregularity and grandeur. And provided that
their wickedness is consummate and systematic, doubt
not that the popular magistracy will find for them ex
tenuating circumstances. And this is because people
are, wont, through confusion of mind, to say of such :
They are ruled by their destiny ; they are more to be
pitied than to be blamed ; and they are not monsters so
much as victims. I point yoiij again, to the crushing
preponderance of material interests, of which so much
complaint is made in our days, and which, also, is allied
by a mysterious association with fatalism. Instructed
by a profound instinct, the man who has ceased to be
lieve in his freedom, feels himself to be no longer a
man, but a thing. Then, realizing, after a way of his
own, that absorption of the human individual in the
great whole which is dreamed of by the philosophy of
the day, he ceases to belong to himself, confounds his
personality with the things around him, and diffuses
himself through surrounding visible objects. He passes
into matter, into money, into sensual pleasures, into
outward show; until he ends by being no longer able
to separate himself from those things, and by yielding
himself to their seductions, without resistance, without
scruple, without conscience. Hence that thirst for gain,
that ardor for enjoyment, that rebellion against suffer
ing, that impatience of all restraint, that disdain of
opinion and authority, and that general self-surrender
ing to an unbridled selfishness, — solitary and sad

FATALISM. 171
remains of the despised individuality, — as if Nature
desired to take vengeance for the forgetfulness of self
by the abuse of self. I should, perhaps, appear to ex
aggerate, were I to add, that I might point you even to
that religion of forms, wherewith the deep unbelief of
the age has covered itself, and which being really, in
the case of most men, only a mode imposed by the
.spirit and interests of the hour, is thus but an addi
tional homage rendered to humanitarian fatalism. Ah !
it is not necessary to visit remote lands in order to find
fatalism. We need not seek it in the deserts of Arabia,
or beneath the banners of the Crescent. We have it
immediately about us. ' This difference, perhaps, exists,
and not to our advantage, that Mohammedan fatalism
acts less upon the inner than upon the outer life, whilst
ours bears directly upon the inner life ; that is to say,
upon the peculiar domain of the human will, and of
human responsibility.
From this universal temptation one man ought to be
secure — the believer, and, above all, the Christian. For
although reflection — which is, after all, only a human
power — could not bring this to pass, even in the supe
rior intellects of the epoch, faith ought to effect it in
him, because faith is the power of God in man ; — that
faith, I mean, to which Jesus Christ has expressly
promised freedom : " Ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free ; " and which gives fatalism,
as we have seen, a formal contradiction at every point.
Thus the humble family of believers appears in history
uttering its protests, from century to century, against
the different forms which fatalism has successively as
sumed. By faith there is formed at the side of Cain,
and under the same influences, " righteous Abel," mas-

172 FATALISM.
ter over his own heart, conqueror of sin, arid free even
to the suffering of martyrdom.1 By faith the saints of
the old covenant throw off the fatalistic yoke which
weighs upon the pagan races, triumph over men, over
things, and over themselves, and practise a holy isola
tion in the midst of a world which persecutes them,
and which is not worthy of them.2 By faith the apos
tles of the Primitive Church separate themselves from
Jewish fatalism, give to the world — astonished to feel
itself reviving — the example of an unknown freedom
and power, and before the world's eyes perform yet
greater works than those of their Master. By faith the
Fathers of the church break off from philosophic fatal
ism ; and, after a life consumed in the sterile search for
truth, and in the yet more sterile pursuit of holiness,
come at last to find rest at the foot of that cross which
gives them, together with truth" and holiness, the
strength to seal them with their blood. By faith the
church of the middle ages, notwithstanding its dark
ness, subjugates the fatalism of the barbarians, restrains
the fatalism of the Mohammedans, and alone teaches
nations groaning under the weight of an organized op
pression to take rest in the bosom of God, while wait
ing for better days to come. By faith, the church of
the Reformation regains from the degenerate church
not only ecclesiastical liberty, but moral freedom ; and to
souls wearied with ultramontane fatalism, it exhibits
Christ dying that they might be transferred from bond
age to man, and made servants of God. By faith, in
fine, the religious awakening of our day arms a believ
ing generation against the assaults of pantheism in
philosophy, of communism in politics, of materialism
"Heb. 11:4; 12:24. ! Heb. 11:38.

FATALISM. 173
in morals, of fatalism in religion ; and, not content to
save lost man from the terrible hands of Divine justice,
it also saves from the proud hands of human wisdom
the living and true God. Such as this ought to be our
work : it is the work which the gospel binds upon us,
which all history bequeathes to us. But, alas ! despite
his principles, has not even the Christian been, to some
extent, invaded by fatalism ? Let us examine ourselves,
my dear brethren, without self-flattery ; and if we have
had the misfortune to yield to the general current, let
us not at least add to this the yet greater misfortune
of misconceiving the fact.
It would be difficult to cite an epoch in which the
doctrine of the faith has been set forth with greater
clearness, maintained with greater firmness, or de
fended with greater rigor. But the life of faith — the
inward freedom which it promises, the moral power
which it imparts — where is this to be found ? I seek
for it in our awakening, and, with rare and humble
exceptions, I do not find it. While speaking in this
manner, I do not accept the judgment of an ignorant
and prejudiced world, which confounds in a common
condemnation the weaknesses and the virtues of the
children of God, and which would more willingly par
don the former than the latter. I refer it to yourselves
alone ; and I need only appeal to a word which I hear
repeated around me to satiety, by men whose piety is
not suspected ; — I mean the word discouragement,
which, quite common at it is among Christians in our
days, is yet less common than the thing. Discourage
ment with regard to the state of the world : so profound
is the unbelief of the age, that they know not at what
point to assail it, and every great Evangelical movement
15*

174 FATALISM.
seems to them like the obliterated remembrance of a by
gone age. Discouragement with regard to the state of
the church : it appears to them so sad, and the religious
awakening of the epoch so far from having kept its prom
ises, that those words, " The state of the church," have be
come a kind of sacramental formula in their mouths, and
they make use of them to explain everything, to justify
everything, and to yield everything. But discouragement
especially and universally exists with regard to their own
spiritual condition. This is the central point, on which
all besides is dependent ; for it is impossible that the
Christian's inward life be rich and abundant, without
reacting, both upon the church and the world, with that
sovereign power which is assured to faith. But at this
point, where a man's whole strength should be concen
trated, he concentrates his weakness. To attain per
sonally to the disposition depicted, commanded, and
promised in the gospel, is more than all else despaired
of by Christian men. One is hopeless in regard to
fervor of spirit ; another, in reference to perseverance
in prayer; and a third, as respects fruitful meditation
on the Scriptures. This man desponds concerning
Christian joy, or, it may be, only patience ; that one,
concerning sincere charity — toward whom? — toward
his enemies ? Alas ! toward his brethren, toward the
members of his own family ! And what now are all
these discouragements but fatalism, except merely the
name ? Why does a man become discouraged, unless
he believes that he ought to be this, or to do that, and
cannot? I say — and remark this particularly — that
he cannot. To discover that a man is not. doing that
which he ought to do, or that he is not such as he
ought to be — that is doubtless humiliating, but is not

FATALISM. 175
discouraging, so long as there remains the hope of a
fundamental change. With this hope there is even
blended a secret pleasure, in the sadness occasioned by
the sight of our weaknesses, inasmuch as that sadness
is the pledge, indistinctly marked, of victory and pro
gress in the future.1 Discouragement only begins
where one comes, either in matter of principle or expe
rience, to the conclusion in one's own mind that the
evil is without remedy. Discouragement utters in a
low tone, what is spoken aloud by indifference and un
belief, " What can you expect to do ? A man cannot
create himself. Vainly would I struggle ; it is stronger
than I." In other words : " I am not free." And then,
follow that discouraged Christian into the details of his
life, and you will find the stamp of fatalism impressed
on every phase of his spiritual history. He believes —
yes ; but how ? At the approach of the three armies
combined against him, King Jehoshaphat, strengthened
by that word of a prophet, — " Set yourselves ; stand
ye still, and see the salvation which the Lord shall give
unto you," — proceeds from Jerusalem, and marches to
the enemy, at the head of his feeble army, with the
Levites going before, and singing by anticipation the
song of deliverance : " Praise the Lord, for his mercy
endureth forever." In this we behold faith. One word
of God suffices. Fortified by that single word, it en
ters into the conflict without wavering, knowing that it
has on its side the omnipotence of God. Our Chris
tian has read, admired, quoted that history ; but it does
not become his history. At the first appearance of
danger, he is troubled, notwithstanding the surest prom
ises, unless he can discover some visible support, by a
1 2 Cor. 7 : 10.

176 FATALISM.
human computation of contrary forces and opposing
probabilities; that is to say, that the gospel appears to
him but as the necessary development of the course of
things ; and the sovereign hand which reaches forth
into the midst of events, to arrange them according to
its will, he reckons not at all, or gives it only the last
place in his anticipations. This is fatalism — true
fatalism. It seeks for truth — yes; but how? With
so many questions before him, that are matters of dis
cussion to-day, concerning the Scriptures, doctrine, the
church, prophecy, fraternal union, — everything in fine,
— he felt profoundly, as he entered upon his career, the
need of " proving all things," in order to " hold fast that
which is good;" and he boldly put his hand to the
work. ' For some time he surrendered himself to this
noble study, with an ardor worthy of it. All .his
thoughts were filled with that question of questions,
" What is truth ? " But, little by little, when he saw
the answer slow to come, — minds continuing to be
divided, — both sides in argument maintained in turn
with equal warmth, and perhaps with equal conviction,
— the word of God invoked to furnish opposing testi
monies, and everything obscured by contradictory ex
planations, — Jesus Christ himself drawn in all direc
tions, and threatened with impious laceration in the
strifes of his own people, — then, when there remained
no other resource except by a vigorous act to separate
his personal affiance from the general perturbation, he
did not feel himself capable of making this free effort ;
he suffered the public conscience to absorb his individ
ual conscience, and ended — despairing of the object —
by resigning himself to settle down tamely where he
was, for the single reason that he was there. This is

FATALISM. 177
fatalism — true fatalism. He struggles against sin —
yes ; but how ? He has left nothing behind, save to
gain a few victories. But the greatest still remain for
him to win, which he followed after at first, but which
have always escaped him. He recognizes in himself
grievous infirmities, which, because they do not fall
under censure from the world, are not the less prejudi
cial to the fulfilment of his duties in the family, in the
state, and in the church. His emancipation is desirable
— is of urgent necessity for the good of many, for the
honor of the gospel, for the glory of God. But habit,
but temperament, example, position — but this or that —
has hindered ; and with the purest teachings, the most
magnificent promises, and the holiest models before his
eyes, he goes on in a cowardly way to the very end of
his course, continuing to settle accounts with his acts
of faithlessness, unless set free by some accident. This
is fatalism — true fatalism. He labors for the gospel —
yes ; but how ? God wills that the reign of his Son
be extended over the whole earth ; and every generation,
every member of the church, is bound to contribute his
part to this, in order to hasten the time when there shall
be no longer " but one flock under one shepherd." Our
Christian has had his part in this holy war, and he brings
to mind a time when he was wont to enter fully into
the sentiment which led an apostle to say : " We preach
Christ, warning every man, and teaching every man in
all wisdom, in order to present every man perfect in
Jesus Christ." But he has moderated his zeal from the
time when, instead of simply learning what God com
mands, he betook himself to compute what can be
done by a few thousands of missionaries, — what the
contemporary church is doing, — what has been done,

178 FATALISM.
since the promulgation of Christianity, to cover the
earth with the gospel, " as the depth of the sea is cov
ered with its waters." With such calculations before
him, what will his personal action accomplish ? — At
the utmost, the function of a small wheel revolving in a
great machine, which will not go more slowly if that
stops, nor more swiftly if it moves. He labors ; but it is in
order to acquit his conscience, and without hope or joy.
This is fatalism — true fatabsm. He prays — yes ; but
how ? He falls on his knees when goaded by tempta
tion, and you believe that he will rise delivered from
the evil one. He kneels with a troubled conscience,
and you believe that he will rise assured of pardon.
His heart is tossed by resentment as he kneels — you
believe that he will rise filled with the charity of his
Master. His spirit is restless, irresolute as he goes to
his knees — you believe that he will rise calm and de
termined. Undeceive yourselves. Thus Moses prayed,
and Saint Peter, and Luther, and thus the Saviour ;
but with him it is-very different. Such as he was when
he fell upon his knees, such he rises again ; or, if he has
gained something, it is little more than a vague and
fugitive feeling, that passes away with the religious at
mosphere that had thrown it over the soul. But what
has he done, then, while praying ? Has he not asked
for strength, pardon, love, peace ? — and is it not the
A B C of the gospel that he who asks receives ? Doubt
less ; but because he does not see how the disposition
of mind in which he is can produce that into which he
desires to enter, he wavers, he hesitates, and falls be
neath the stroke of that threatening, the application of
which to himself he fails not to make, " Let not that
man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."

FATALISM. 179
And so little does he expect this, that, if he comes to
obtain it, you see him quite astonished, and almost em
barrassed by this gift from heaven. There remains the
healthful reaction naturally exercised upon a Christian
soul by the sense of the Divine presence, which, how
ever, is no more the answer promised to prayer, than
the vigor exercised in the artisan when he uses his
strength is the wages promised to his labor. This,
again, is fatalism — true fatalism. I exaggerate, per
haps, in your opinion ; and the Christian at once strong
enough and weak enough to sit for this portrait will not
be found in real life. Well, then, let it be so ; in my
picture I have overdrawn the features : but acknowl
edge, at least, that no one of these features is purely im
aginary, and that, according to the most moderate esti
mate, fatalism appears in the life of the Christian in
bur day, at least in the stage of temptation, and a
temptation to which he half yields, if he does not
wholly succumb to it.
A subtle temptation is here to be noted. Everything
aids in furthering it ; even the holy resources which
God has given us in order to contend against it, become
its instruments. That admirable system of Christian
truth, sole rampart of moral freedom against- the spirit
of the age, is not only charged with fatalism by the
unregenerate man, who does not comprehend it ; but
the Christian who comprehends it, who receives it, and
venerates it, finds in it at every step — perhaps I ought
to say seeks, although in an unconscious way — temp
tations leading to fatalism. The doctrine, the promises,
the language, the history, the morality, even, of the
gospel are successively turned aside to this anti-evan
gelic purpose. To confirm the believer against all the

180 FATALISM.
might of his enemies, and against his own weakness,
the Scriptures proclaim the sovereignty of God, accom
plishing the work of salvation in his own children from
the beginning even unto the end — " foreknowing them,
predestinating them, calling them, justifying them, glo
rifying them;" — a blessed sovereignty, supreme sup
port of the believing soul, kind hand of a father, which
is extended in order to open the door for his child, never
to shut it, and without which no one could hope to en
ter within. But, in place of this sovereignty of com
passion, the prejudiced mind, aided by the petty logic
of the schools, represents to itself a sovereignty of
compulsion, and almost of caprice, that withdraws its
hand, or extends it only to create an obstacle ; and,
while the mouth keeps silence, the heart is indistinctly
repeating the impious murmuring : " Why doth he yet
find fault ? for who hath resisted his will? " x To him
who groans on account of his powerlessness, and prays
to be delivered from it, the gospel promises " the grace
of God which bringeth salvation unto all men," and
which requires only that it be implored, in order to
be " given unto all liberally and without upbraiding."
What further is needed in order that, " strengthened in
the Lord, and in the power of his might," the Christian
should no longer know any such thing as an impossible
conquest ? But, instead of fixing his eyes upon the
new virtue which this grace imparts to us, he prefers to
fasten them upon the weakness which it charges on our
nature, when devoid of such succor. And, thereupon,
if his spiritual life is wanting at some particular point,
he refers it to the grace of God ; he says to himself,
This is a grace which has not been granted to me. He
1Rom. 9:19.

FATALISM. 181
even takes measures of precaution with it, or, rather,
against it, for the future. He will be holy, fervent,
pure, charitable, if God will bestow on him grace for it ;
by which means he reserves, in case of unfaithfulness,
an excuse for himself in a sort of connivance on God's
part. The language of Scripture flashes out words of
consolation and encouragement, a single one of which
ought to suffice — and does suffice to the simple — to
fortify us for all time to come against despairing, or
being cast down ; — words which, as Luther was wont
to say, in his picturesque style, were worthy that a man
should go on his two knees from Wittemberg to Jeru
salem, for no other purpose than to find them. But
this same Scripture contains some mysterious passages,
which 'it is difficult to reconcile with human freedom :
those sons of Samuel who refused to hearken to the
representations of their father, " because the Lord
wished to destroy them ; " those unbelievers, who
" stumble at the word, being rebellious, to which also
they were appointed ; " those executioners of Jesus
Christ, who, in crucifying him, "did only the things
which the hand and counsel of God had before deter
mined should be done ; " that people who " could not
believe, because Esaias had said, " He hath blinded
their heart," and to whom Jesus Christ " speaks in par
ables, so that seeing, they shall not see, and hearing,
they shall not hear." Well, then, the sick heart disdains
the daily bread offered to it in every page, in order to
feed upon those inexplicable obscurities which it pro
ceeds to unearth in a few dark corners. Still, if earnest
attention we're given to the subject, all would perhaps
be made plain ; but he takes of it only so much as
suffices for a stumbling-block, and goes away repeating,
16

182 FATALISM.
with the men of Capernaum, " This is a hard saying,
who can hear it ? " instead of uttering again that ad
mirable word, " The secret things belong unto the Lord
our God, but those things which are revealed belong
unto us, and to our children."1 To the lessons of the
Word, it has pleased God to add the teachings of ex
ample, so powerful over the heart of man ; and Scrip
ture sets before us completely — as in a picture ad
dressed to the eye — the moral freedom of the true
believer, in the history of so many saints under both
covenants, " who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises," and won
victories of every kind. But, in place of renewing his
courage by the spectacle of their triumphs, he goes on
complacently to look up the rare cases in which a
greater weakness of faith rendered them less success
ful. What do I say ? Such go further, and invent for
them — to serve a purpose — insurmountable infirm
ities, in order to find in these advocates of fatalism. If
Jeremiah says, " However it may be, it is an evil which I
must needs suffer," pleasure is taken in understanding
this of a spiritual malady, to which the prophet yielded
in a cowardly manner, whilst a glance at the context is
sufficient to convince any one that he introduces the
people of Israel as speaking thus beneath the weight
of a just temporal chastisement. If Saint Paul him
self, the free man, and eminently the preacher of free
dom — if Saint Paul writes, " There was given me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me,"
some men desire to make this thorn a spiritual thorn ;
that is to say, the holy apostle has it assigned to him
to live even to the end with some temptation uncon-
1 Deut. 29 : 29.

FATALISM. 183
quered and unconquerable. More than this : God, they
wish us to believe, has condemned him to this resigna
tion of a new kind, and encourages him to this by these
words : " My grace shall be sufficient for thee ; " in
other words, as they seem to understand it, With that,
thou hast not need to be holier than thou art. An at
tentive study of the context might perhaps disclose in
what consisted that thorn of Saint Paul ; but whether
discovered or not, I know one thing — that it is not,
that it cannot be, an insuperable spiritual weakness,
otherwise Saint Paul would not be Saint Paul, and
God would not be God. Finally : there is nothing, not
even Evangelical morality, which does hot share in this
immoral abuse made of the gospel. The gospel every
where requires us to renounce our self-will in order to
fulfil only the will of God ; and this is enjoined upon
us in order to advance our true freedom, which is found
only in a state of servitude to God. Upon this, the
fancy is entertained that the Christian should have no
will in himself. It is formed into a habit, and regarded
as almost a Christian virtue, to be indifferent, and to be
wanting in energy. Men are irresolute, timid, imper
sonal, dependent upon things, and what are called
signs, more than upon one's own judgment and con
science. And it is not perceived that there is a confu
sion in this, as deplorable as it is blind ; that it is the
objects which we have willed that we ought to re
nounce, and not the faculty of willing; that to despise
the will because it henceforth seeks that which God
commands, in place of that which is craved by the
natural heart, would be acting like the foolish man who
should propose to throw away as useless the vessels of
Cana, because they were now filled with a generous

184 FATALISM.
wine, instead of the water formerly contained in them;
and that a Saint Peter, a Saint Paul, a Saint John, —
not to speak of their Master, — have been the most
humble and gentle of men, for the very reason that they
were, at the same time, the most energetic and the most
indomitable. So many occasions for temptations to
fatalism, seized upon in gospel truth ; as if it were not
enough to be fatalists, without constraining God to be
so with us and for us ! And who knows if in this very
discourse, in which I rise up against the fatalism of the
epoch, I have not suffered some thought to glide in
which the fatalism of the epoch has imbreathed in my
despite ?
I have spoken of none but the true Christian. Yet,
if he gives ground himself, to so great an extent, to the
malady of the age, how shall it be with those half
Christians, whose defects in doctrine, as well as in life,
deliver them up, almost without defence, to influences
from without ? But, as regards those half Christians,
have you ever asked yourselves what proportion they
constitute in an assembly like this ? Who shall meas
ure the hidden dominion swayed by fatalism over my
auditory ? Who shall reckon up the practical fatalists
whom I have before me ? .... I pause here, leaving
with God that secret thing which is his, and with every
man the care of probing the wound of his own heart.
Well, then, — it will be said, — what is to be done?
I say, in my turn, What answer is to be given ? Yes,
what answer? What kind of nourishment can be
given to a sick man whose malady consists in not be
ing able to take nourishment ? And what means of
deliverance are to be proposed to a soul whose error
consists in believing that it cannot be delivered? If I

FATALISM. 185
.say, "Believe," it will reply, " I cannot believe." If I
say, "Act," it will reply, " I cannot act," — it will think
so, at least : did it not think so, it would not be under
the yoke of fatalism. It is the peculiarity of this evil,
that there is a contradiction in speaking to it of a rem
edy. To sit down and look at the running water, the
floating cloud, life flowing on, time passing away,
eternity approaching — such is logically its whole re
source, its whole despair. .
But I accept that contradiction ; and I appeal from
that logic to the cry of conscience. Unable to solve
the difficulty, I propose to you to break through it in a
manner sublimely illogical, by an immediate act, as
irresistible as spontaneous. To become free, be free,
and perform an act of freedom at this very moment.
Christians! sincere disciples of Jesus Christ! — you
whose personal inability Jesus Christ has directly con
nected with the almightiness of God, and for whom
the question no longer exists, What can we do ? but,
What can he do ? — you have Jesus Christ ; make use
of Jesus Christ. You have up to this day struggled in
vain against a given spiritual infirmity, which tempera
ment and habit have so strongly united to your person
ality that you have lost the hope of ever triumphing
over it. Well, then, have done with this practical
atheism ; go straight to those invincible infirmities", and
prove to yourselves that you can overcome, by over
coming. Begin not by saying to me that you cannot
overcome, and that I am only proposing to you a chi
mera. You ought, then you can. You cannot, in
yourselves, I know too well ; but you can in him who
has said, " My strength is made perfect in weakness."1

16

* 1 2 Cor. 12 : 9.

186 FATALISM.
" There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is
common to man ; and God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that you are able ; but
will with the temptation also make a way of escape
for you, that ye may be able to bear it."1 Victory a
chimera, do you think? Do you dare, then, to say that
faith is a chimera, the gospel a chimera, Jesus Christ a
chimera? . . . . Be silent, and go to your work. Strive,
watch, pray, fast, persevere until your complete success
shall have confounded the doubts of others, your own —
and mine, too, perhaps  You will not obtain this
success the first day. Let it be done, then, in ten days,
if one is not sufficient; let it be accomplished in one
hundred days, if" ten do not suffice. As Christian faith
is strengthened by prayer, so Christian holiness is de
veloped by exercise ; and up to what point ? What
rash hand shall dare to place any limit whatever ? It
has been remarked, and rightly, that there are no as
signable limits to the progress of the understanding.
How much more truly is this beyond dispute in the
domain of conscience, where success is more necessary,
the action of the will more decided, and God's help
guaranteed by sure promises ? Let no one tell me of a
height of holiness, reserved for the days of the Reform
ers, or of the church in its infancy, but surpassing the
reach of our era in spiritual things. Whence do you
learn that ? Do you find it in the word of God ? Show
me, then, this passage, which to this day I have vainly
sought for in my repeated perusals of the Bible, and
which confers on a few persons the exclusive privilege
of eminent sanctity. Read again, read over, the thirty-
eighth chapter of Job, and you will uerceive that when
1 1 Cor. 10:13.

FATALISM. 187
God said " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther,"
he spoke not to the human conscience, but to the blind
waves of the sea. Do you find it by experience ? But
how long is it since what we have done is the measure
of what we could have done ? Ah ! suffer me to cherish
humbler sentiments, in order to justify a loftier ambition.
Is it then, O my God ! a vain illusion which I am pur
suing ? Is my soul wearying itself in seeking after a
phantom that can never be grasped — never able either
to attain to the end, or to cease the attempt ? Is there
absolutely nothing to be done ? Must I — a Tantalus
as regards the only goods truly worthy of my ardent
pursuit — see before me exemplary holiness, profound
piety, unwearied charity, sincere humility, unresting
activity, all-powerful faith, unconquerable prayer, per
fect patience, fulness of joy, fervor of spirit, subjugation
of the flesh, constant communion with the Lord, and
all that spiritual feast to which Isaiah invites the thirsty
and destitute soul,1 — must I see all that, and say to
myself, Behold that for which thou dost hunger and
thirst ; behold the treasure of the gospel, the promise
of the Father, the price of the blood of the Son, the
fruit of the Holy Spirit ; but it is not for thee. If thou
wert called Luther, or Bernard, or Augustine, or Paul,
well and good ; but thou, thy name, thy epoch, thy
country, thy sky, thy mind, thy body, thy past history,
doth not permit thee to aspire so high. O you, who
ever you may be in this assembly, to whom, as to me,
this language is revolting, — my brother, my sister, —
come and let us form — were it for us two alone — a
holy alliance. Let us break the yoke of this desolating
immoral necessity. Let us burst the charm of fatalism.
1 Isaiah 55 : 1.

188 FATALISM.
Let us justify conscience and the gospel. And let us
show unto all that "Jesus Christ is the same to-day,
yesterday, and forever," and that he has not said in
vain, " Blessed are they* who do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled."
But you who have been hitherto strangers to Jesus
Christ, you have also your act of freedom to perform,
¦ — an act, if possible, yet more free. You believe not
in Jesus Christ ? Do you, then, believe in Jesus Christ.
He alone — know it well — you have some knowledge
of it — can render you truly free. " If thou canst be
lieve, all things are possible to him that believeth."1
Believe, and you shall be new men ; believe, and all
things shall be yours ; believe, and " you shall be more
than conquerors through him who hath loved us." Tell
me not, " I cannot believe." Such language — (suffer
my boldness, and permit me to speak with your con
science) — such language would not be sincere; no, it
would not be sincere. When it relates to Jesus Christ,
who alone appeals to the need of freedom which works
in you, — to Jesus Christ, who alone engages to answer
and to satisfy that want, and who alone shows you its
true and perfect pattern in himself, — the impossibility
is, not to believe. Let us surrender, if you will, those
external reasons, those miracles and prophecies, which
have not found the road to your soul. Come with me
only to those reasons drawn from within, which are
shorter, more closely pertaining to the will, and more
conclusive. In the impenetrable sanctuary of the heart,
at that inward depth whence gush forth the springs of
life, the question is to be decided ; and there, in point
of fact, it always is decided. There, to believe in Jesus
1 Mark 9 : 23.

FATALISM. 189
Christ, you have need to vanquish yourselves ; for he
is the crucified man. But — it is true also — to believe
in Jesus Christ, you have only to believe yourself; for
he is the God of man. Gain, then, that terrible vic
tory, beside which all those of a Csesar or a Bonaparte
are but the games of children; gain it, by yielding to
the instinct of your heart with such a confidence as
Columbus sailing in the vast ocean, or Montgolfier in
the fickle atmosphere, never experienced in equal inten
sity and power. Fear not that element of the vague
and inapprehensible remaining in the moral sentiment,
through faith in which you launch forth upon the great
deep of the holy and the true. Man accomplishes
nothing great, unless a spirit of divination be in him.
Neither the understanding nor the conscience discovers
any power to reveal hidden things, save on the indis
tinctly traced boundaries which separate them from
Divine inspiration. Columbus waits not for the com
ing to him from beyond the seas of a letter duly signed
and sealed, attesting to him the existence of a new
world. He questions the sky, the earth, the trunk of a
tree ; and then he launches forth, without a letter, but
not without testimony ; without proof, but not without
reasons. And what a moment was that when his faith
was justified by sight! Go and do you likewise; and,
anticipating the day in which shall be disclosed before
your eyes that moral world now revealed to you by
conscience, throw, as a bridge over the abyss which
separates you from it, — throw boldly, heroically, —
Jesus Christ, whatever it may cost you. Heroically, is
the very word. Ah ! what heroism can be compared
with that of the poor Canaanitish woman, whose name
even is unknown to us, who will not doubt of Jesus

190 FATALISM.
Christ, whatever may do or say the world — whatever
the apostles may do or say ; nay, more, whatever may
be done or said by Jesus Christ himself; and who, in
vading his retreat, braving his coldness, wearying his
silence, confounding his denials, finally constrains him,
I say not merely to hear, but to admire his creature !
Go ye and do likewise. Or, if you do not feel your
selves capable, as yet, of following that poor pagan
woman, — if in your heart you find but a single spark
of that faith that burned in hers, — hasten then with
that precious remnant, and offer it to the breath from
heaven, which can change it into a consuming flame.
With an holy inconsistency in your reasoning, complain
of your own slowness to believe unto Him in whom
you cannot believe ; say to Him, like that father, with
tears, " I believe ; Lord, help mine unbelief!" Say to
Him, as did his apostles when ready to fall under the
burden, " Lord, increase our faith ! " If you say it in
truth, the road will be thrown open before you; and
from prayer to prayer, from combat to combat, from
fall to fall, perhaps, you shall attain, like that father, to
the desired deliverance — like those apostles, to the
needed strength ; and you shall mount, by successive
steps, to that height of freedom, where necessity shall
exist for you only as a vain name, and discouragement
will be but an old remembrance, and fatalism but a
miserable dream. Happy he who, in spite of hell and
earth, in spite of the world and himself, shall choose
for the rock of his heart Him who shall be ever —
whether we choose it or not — the Rock of Age's!
Happy he who, beaten by the tempest, shall be able to
continue firmly united to that Supreme Refuge of the
soul, the only changeless and ever peaceful, in the midst

FATALISM. 191
of the tossing waves ! Happy he who shall seize this
with the strong hand wherewith a drowning man
grasps the means of his safety ; with a hand which
neither the wave that strikes, nor the crag that rends,
nor the fatigue that exhausts, shall be able to unlock ;
and which death itself will only seal and fix in its place
forever ! Amen.

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