Jesus Revealed in Paul

JESUS WAS REVEALED IN PAUL
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Galatians 1:15 15But when God, who set me apart
from my mother's womb and calledme by his grace,
was pleasedGalatians 1:16 16to reveal his Son in me
so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my
immediate responsewas not to consultany human
being.
Preceding Grace By Spurgeon
“When it pleasedGod, who separatedme from my mother’s womb and
calledme by His Grace, to reveal His Son in me.”
Galatians 1:15
You all know the story of the Apostle Paul. He had been a persecutorand
went armed with letters to Damascus to hail men and women and drag them
to prison. On the road there he saw a light exceedinglybright–above the
brightness of the sun–and a voice spoke out of Heaven to him saying, “Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute Me?” Bythis miraculous interposition he was
converted–three days he spent in darkness. But when Ananias came to tell
him of the GospelofJesus Christ, there fell from his eyes, as it were, scales.
He was baptized, became the most mighty of all Christian teachers, and could
truly say that he was not a whit behind the very chief of the Apostles.
Paul’s conversionis generally consideredso very remarkable for its
suddenness and distinctness and truly it is. Yet, at the same time, it is no
exceptionto the generalrule of conversions, but is rather a type, or model, or
pattern of the wayin which God shows forth His long-suffering to them that
are led to believe on Him. It appears from my text, however, that there is
another part of Paul’s history which deserves ourattention quite as much as
the suddenness of his conversion, namely, the factthat although he was

suddenly converted, yet God had had thoughts of mercy towards him from his
very birth.
God did not begin to work with him when he was on the road to Damascus.
That was not the first occasiononwhich eyes of love had darted upon this
chief of sinners. Paul declares that Godhad separatedhim and set him apart
even from his mother’s womb that he might, by-and-by, be calledby Grace
and have Jesus Christ revealedin him! I selectedthis text, not so much for its
own sake as to give me an opportunity for saying a little this evening upon a
doctrine not often touched upon, namely, that of PRECEDINGGRACE, or
the Grace whichcomes before regenerationand conversion.
I think we sometimes overlook it. We do not attachenough importance to the
Grace of God in its dealings with men before He actually brings them to
Himself. Paul says that God had designs of love towards him even before He
had calledhim out of the dead world into spiritual life.
1. To begin, then, let us talk for a little while upon THE PURPOSE OF
GOD PRECEDINGSAVING GRACE AS IT MAY CLEARLY BE
SEEN DEVELOPING ITSELF IN HUMAN HISTORY. You generally
judge what a man’s purpose is by his actions. If you saw a man very
carefully making molds in the sand, then watchedhim take several
pieces of iron and melt them down. And if you further noticedhim
pouring the melted iron into the molds, you might not know precisely
what class ofmachine he was making, but you would very justly
conclude that he was making some part of an engine or other
machinery. Perhaps you might guess a beam, or a lever, or a crank, or a
wheel–andaccording to what you saw the molds in the sand to be you
would form your idea of what the man was intending to make.
Now, when I look at the life of a man, even before conversion, I think I can
discoversomething of God’s molding and fashioning in him even before
regenerating Grace comesinto his heart. Let me give you an illustration of my
course of thought. When God createdman–we are told in the book of
Genesis–Hemade him “out of the dust of the earth.” Mark him beneath his
Maker’s hand, the framework of a man, the tabernacle for an immortal soul–
a man made of clay, fully made I suppose, and perfectin all respects excepting
one and that soonfollowed–forafter God had formed him out of the dust,
then He breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life and man became a living
soul.
Now it strikes me that during the early part of the history of the people whom
God means to save, though they have not received into their hearts any

spiritual life, nor experiencedany of the work of regeneration, yet their life
before conversionis really a working of them in the clay. Let us endeavor to
bring this out more distinctly. Can you not perceive rhetorician so noble that
there are in his works passagesofeloquence not to be equaled, much less
excelled, by Demosthenes andCicero.
As a logicianhis arguments are most conclusive as well as profound. Never
had man such eagle eyes to pierce into the depths of a matter! Never had man
such eagle wings to mount up into its sublimities! He argues out questions so
difficult to understand that at all times they have been the battlegrounds of
controversies!And yet he seems to perceive them clearly and distinctly and to
unfold and expound them with a precisionof language not to be
misunderstood. All Apostles of Jesus Christput togetherare not equal to Paul
in the way of teaching. Truly he might have said of them all, “You are but as
children compared with me.”
Peterdashes, and dashes gloriouslyagainstthe adversary!But Petercannot
build up, nor instruct like the greatApostle of the Gentiles. He has to say of
Paul’s writings that they, “containsome things hard to be understood.” Peter
can confirm, but scarcelycanhe understand Paul–forwhere intellectis
concerned, Paulis far, far above him. Paul seems to have been endowedby
God with one of the most intelligent brains that ever filled human cranium
and to have been gifted with an intellect which toweredfar above anything
that we find elsewhere.
Had Paul been merely a natural man, I do not doubt but what he would take
the place either of Milton among the poets, or of Baconamong the
philosophers. He was, in deed and in truth, a mastermind. Now, when I see
such a man as this castby God in the mold of Nature, I ask myself–“Whatis
God’s purpose? What is He doing here?” As every man has a purpose, so also
has God, and I think I see in all this that God foreknew that such a man was
necessaryto be raisedup as a vesselthrough whom He might conveyto the
world the hidden treasures ofthe Gospel. Sucha man was needed so that God
might speak His greatthings by him!
You will say, probably, that God reveals greatthings by fools. I beg your
pardon. God did once permit an ass to speak, but it was a very small thing
that he said–forany ass might readily have saidit. Whenever there is a wise
thing to be said, a wise man is always chosento sayit. Look the whole Bible
through and you will find that the Revelationis always congruous to the
person to whom it is given. You do not find Ezekielblessedwith a Revelation
like that of Isaiah. Ezekielis all imagination, therefore he must soaron the

eagle’s wings. Isaiahis all affectionand boldness and therefore he must speak
with evangelicalfullness.
God does not give Nahum’s Revelationto the herdsman Amos–the herdsman
Amos cannot speak like Nahum, nor can Nahum speak like Amos. Eachman
is after his own order and a man of this masterly order of mind, like the
Apostle Paul, must have been created, it seems to me, for no other end than to
be the appropriate means of revealing to us the fullness and the blessing of the
Gospelof peace!Mark, again, the Apostle’s education. Paul was a Jew, not
half Greek and half Jew, but a pure Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of
the Hebrews, speaking the Jews'native tongue and not a strangerto the
ancient speechof Israel.
There was nothing in the traditions of the Jews which Paul did not know and
understand. He was educatedat the feet of Gamaliel. The bestmaster of the
age is selectedto be the masterof the hopeful young scholarand the schoolin
which he is placedmust be a Rabinnical one. Now, just observe in this the
purpose of God. Paul’s life-long struggle was to be with Jewishsuperstition.
In Iconium, in Lystra, in Derbe, in Athens, in Corinth, in Rome he must
always be confronting the Judaizing spirit. And it was well that he should
know all about it–that he should be well schooledin it. And it does strike me
that God separatedhim from his mother’s womb on purpose that he might go
forth to proclaim the Gospelinstead of Law and shut the mouths of those who
were constantly abiding by the traditions of the fathers, instead of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
All this, remember, was going on while as yet he was unconverted, though he
was even then, as we see, being prepared for his work. Then observe the
spiritual struggles through which Paul passed. I take it that mental struggles
are often a more important part of educationthan what a man learns from his
schoolmaster. Whatis learnedhere in my heart is often of more use to me
than what can be put into my head by another. Paul seems to have had a mind
bent upon carrying out what he believed to be right. To serve God appears to
have been the greatambition, the one objectof the Apostle’s life.
Even when he was a persecutor, he says he thought he was doing God service.
He was no seekerafterwealth–neverin his whole lifetime was Paula
Mammonite. He was no mere seekerafterlearning–never!He was learned,
but it was all held and used subjectto what he deemed far more highly–the
indwelling Grace ofGod. Even before he knew Christ he had a sort of religion
and an attachment, and an earnestattachment, too, to the God of his fathers,
though it was a zealnot according to knowledge.He had his inward fights and
fears and struggles and difficulties and all these were educating him to come

out and talk to his fellow sinners and lead them up out of the darkness of
Judaism into the light of Christianity.
And then, what I like in Paul and that which leads me to see the purpose of
God in him, is the singular formation of his mind. Even as a sinner, Paul was
great. He was “the chief of sinners,” just as he afterwards became, “not a whit
behind the very chief of the Apostles.” There are some of us who are such
little men that the world will never see us. The old proverb about the chips in
porridge giving one pleasure either way, might apply to a greatmany people,
but never to Paul. If there was anything to be done, Paul would do it–yes, and
if it came to the stoning of Stephen, he says he gave his vote againsthim–and
though he was not one of the actualexecutioners, yet we are told that “the
witnesses laiddown their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was
Saul.”
He would do all that was to be done and was a thoroughgoing man
everywhere. Believing a thing to be right, Paul never consultedwith flesh and
blood, but girded up his loins and workedwith all the powers of his being–and
that was no mean force–as his enemies felt to their cost. Why, as I see him
riding to Damascus,I picture him with his eyes flashing with fanatic hate
againstthe disciples of the Man whom he thought to be an impostor–and his
heart beat high with the determination to crush the followers of the Nazarene!
He is a man all energy and all determination. And when he is converted, he is
only lifted into a higher life–but unchanged as to temperament, nature and
force of character. He seems to have been naturally constituted a
thoroughgoing, thorough-heartedman in order that when Grace did come to
him, he might be just as earnest, just as dauntless and fearless, in the defense
of what he believed to be right. Yes, and such a man was needed to lead the
vanguard in the greatcrusade againstthe godof this world. No other could
have stoodforward as Paul did, for no other had the same firmness, boldness
and decisionthat he possessed.
“But,” I hear someone say, “was notPeteras bold?” Yes, he was. But Peter,
you remember, always had the failing of being just where he ought not to be
when he was needed. Peterwas unstable to the very last, I think. Certainly, in
Paul’s day, Paul had to withstand him. He was a greatand goodman, but not
fitted to be the foremost. Perhaps you say, “But there is John–wouldnot John
do?” No. We cannotspeak in too high terms of John, but John is too full of
affection. John is the plane to smooth the timber, but not the axe to cut it
down. John is too gentle, too meek. He is the Phillip Melancthon. Paul must be
the Luther and Calvin rolled into one! Such a man was needed–andI saythat
from his very birth, God was fitting him for this position. And before he was

converted, preceding Grace was engagedfashioning, molding, and preparing
the man in order that by-and-by there might be put into his nostrils the
breath of Life.
Now what is the drift of all this? A practicalone. And to show you what it is,
we will linger a minute here before we go on to anything else. Some of the
goodfathers among us are mourning very bitterly just now over their sons.
Your children have not turned out as you wish they would. They are getting
skeptical, some ofthem, and they are also falling into sin. Well, dear Friends,
it is yours to mourn. It is enough to make you weepbitterly! But let me
whisper a word into your ears. Do not sorrow as those who are without hope,
for Godmay have very greatdesigns to be answered, evenby these very
young men who seemto be running so altogetherin the wrong direction!
I do not think I could go so far as John Bunyan did, when he said he was sure
God would have some eminent saints in the next generationbecause the young
men in his day were such gross sinners! He thought they would make fine
saints. And when the Lord came and savedthem, by His mercy–they would
love Him much–because they had had so much forgiven. I can hardly sayas
much as that, but I do believe that sometimes in the inscrutable wisdom of
God–whensome of those who have been skepticalcome to see the Truth–they
are the very best men that could possibly be found to do battle againstthe
enemy.
Some of those who have fallen into error, after having passedthrough it and
happily come up through its deep ditch, are just the men to stand and warn
others againstit. I cannot conceive thatLuther would everhave been so
mighty a preacherof the faith if he had not, himself, struggledup and down
Pilate’s staircaseonhis knees whentrying to get to Heaven by his penances
and his goodworks. O let us have hope! We do not know but that God may be
intending to callthem and bless them! Who cantell, there may be a young
man here tonight who will one day be the herald of the Cross in China, in
Hindustan, in Africa and in the islands of the sea!
Remember John Williams wishing to keepan appointment with another
young man who committed a certain sin. He wanted to know what time it was
and so stepped into Moorefield’s Chapel. Someone saw him so he did not want
to leave, and the Word, preached by Mr. Timothy Eastwho still survives
among us, fell on his ears and the young sinner was made a saint! And you all
know how he afterwards perished as a martyr on the shores of Erromanga.
Why may there not be another such a case tonight? There may be some young
man here who has been receiving a first class education–hehas no idea what
for! He has been learning a multitude of things–perhaps a greatdeal which it

would be much better if he did not know–but the Lord is meaning to make
something of him.
I do not know where you are, young Man, but O, I wish I could fire you
tonight with a high ambition to serve God! What is the goodof my being made
at all if I do not serve my Maker? What is the use of my being here if I do not
bring any glory to Him who put me and keeps me here? Why, I had better
have been a piece of rotten dung strewn upon the field and bringing forth
something for the farmer’s use than to have been a mere consumerof bread
and meat and to have breathed the air and lived upon God’s bounty and yet to
have done nothing for Him! O young Man! If such an army of you as we have
tonight could all be led by Divine Grace to saywith the Apostle Paul, “God
forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” why,
there would be hope for Old England yet!
We would yet fling Poperyback to the sevenhills from where it came. Oh that
God would grant us this blessing!But if He should not be pleasedto callall of
us by His Grace, yet may some here live to prove that they were separated
from their mother’s womb to God’s work and set apart that they might have
the Sonof Godrevealed in them and might proclaim His Gospelwith power!
We will now leave this point, but shall continue the same subject in another
form.
II. You would, perhaps, saythat all I have talked about as yet has been
Providence rather than Grace. Very likely, but I think that Providence and
Grace are very near akin. At any rate, if Providence is the wheel, Grace is the
hand which turns and guides it.
But I am now about to speak ofGRACE PRECEDING, CALLING IN
ANOTHER SENSE. It strikes me that it is impossible to say, concerning the
elect, when the Grace of God begins to deal with them. You can tell when the
quickening Grace comes, but not when the Grace, itself, comes. Forknow, in
one sense, Gracewas exercisedupon the chosen–
“Before the daystar knew its place,
Or planets ran their round.”
I should saythat is what I cannot callby any other name than formative
Grace exercisedupon the vessels ofmercy at their very birth. It seems to me
to be no small mercy that some of us were born of such parents as we were
and that we were born where we were. Some of us began right and were
surrounded by many advantages. We were cradledupon the lap of piety and
dandled upon the knee of holiness.

There are some children who are born with a constitution which cannot
escape sin, and which at the same time seems as if it inevitably led them to it.
Who can deny that there are some whose passionsseemnaturally to be so
violent that, notwithstanding almostany and every restraint, they run
headlong into sin? And often those failings may be distinctly tracedto their
parents! It is no small blessing when we canlook back and thank God, that if
no blue-blood of nobility flows in our veins, yet from our very childhood we
have not heard the voice of blasphemy, nor strayed into the haunts of vice–but
that in the very formation of our character–Divine Gracehas ever been
present with us!
This formative Grace, many of you, I have no doubt, cantrace in the examples
and influences which have followedyou from the cradle through life. Why,
what a blessing to have had such a Sunday schoolteacheras some of you had!
Other children went to schools but they had not such a teacher, or such a class
as yours. What a privilege to have had such a minister as some of you had,
though perhaps he has fallen asleepnow! You know there were others who
went to places where there was no earnestness,no life–but that goodman who
was blessedto you was full of anxiety for your soul–and at the very first,
before you were converted, his preaching helped to form your character!
Why, it strikes me that every word I heard and everything I saw while I was
yet a child or a youth, had a part in the formation of my later life. Oh, what a
mercy it is to be placed where a holy example and godly conversationtend to
form the man in a godly mold! All this may be, you know, without Divine
Grace. I am not speaking, now, of the work of effectualcalling, but of that
preceding Grace whichis too much forgotten, though it so richly deserves to
be remembered.
Think, too, of the prayers which brought tears to our eyes and the teaching
that would not let us sin so deeply as others. Think of the light which glowed
in us, even in our childhood, and seems to have dispelled something of our
natural darkness. Think of that earnestface that used to look so steadily on us
when we did wrong and of that mother’s tear which seemedas if it would
burn itself into our hearts when there had been something amiss that made
Mother anxious. All this–though it did not convert us–yet it helped to make us
what we now are and unto God let us give the Glory!
Furthermore, while there was this formative Grace, there seems to me to have
gone with it very much of preventive Grace. How many saints fall into sins
which they have to regreteven after conversion, while others are savedfrom
leaving the path of morality to wander in the morass oflust and crime! Why,
some of us were, by God’s Grace, placedin positions where we could not well

have been guilty of any gross acts of immorality even if we had tried! We were
so hedged about by guardian care–sowatchedand tended on every side–that
we would have been dashing our heads againsta stone wall if we had run into
any greator open sin.
Oh, what a mercy to be prevented from sinning–when God puts chains across
the road, digs ditches, makes hedges, builds walls and says to us, “No, you
shall not go that way, I will not let you. You shall never have that to regret.
You may desire it, but I will hedge up your way with thorns. You may wish it,
but it never shall be yours.” Beloved, I have thanked God a thousand times in
my life that before my conversionwhen I had evil desires I had no
opportunities! And on the other hand, that when I had opportunities I had no
desires–forwhendesires and opportunities come togetherlike the flint and
steel–theymake the spark that kindles the fire. But neither the one nor the
other, though they may both be dangerous, canbring about any greatamount
of evil so long as they are kept apart! Let us, then, look back and if this has
been our experience let us bless the preventing Grace ofGod.
Again, there is another form of Grace I must mention, namely, restraining
Grace. Here, you see, I am making a distinction. There are many who did go
into sin. They were not wholly prevented from it, but they could not go as far
into it as they wanted to do. There is a young man here tonight–he will ask
how I know–well, Ido know–there is a young man here tonight who wants to
commit a certainsin, but he cannot. Oh, how he wishes to do it, but he cannot!
He is placedin such a position of poverty that he cannotplay the fine
gentleman he would like.
There is another! He wants to be dancing at such-and-such a place, but thank
God he is lame! There is another, who, if he had had his wish would have lost
his soul–but since his blindness has come upon him there is some hope for
him. Oh how often God has thrown a man on a sick bed to make him well! He
would have been such as he was even unto death if he had been well–but God
has made him sick–andthat sicknesshas restrainedhim from sin! It is a
mercy for some men that they cannotdo what they would and though “to will
is present” with them, yet evenin sin, “how to perform that which they would,
they find not.”
Ah, my fine Fellow, if you could have had your own wayyou would have been
at the top of the mountain by now! So you think, but no–you would have been
over the precipice long before this if God had you climb at all–and so He has
kept you in the valley because He has designs of love towards you and because
you shall not sin as others sin. Divine Grace has its hand upon the bridle of
your horse. Or perhaps it is a womanand you may speak bitter words against

that wife, that sister, or that mother whom God has put there to hold you
back. But you cannot go on, you shall not go on. Another inch forward and
you will be over the precipice and lost, and therefore God has put that hand
there to throw your horse back on its haunches and make you pause and
think–and turn from the error of your ways. What a mercy it is that when
God’s people go into sin to any extent, He speaks and says, “To this point shall
you go, but no further. Here shall your proud sins be stopped!” There is, then,
restraining Grace.
We shall getstill further into the subject when we come to what Dr. John
Owencalls the preparatory work of Grace. Have you ever noticed that
parable about the different sorts of ground and the sowerof the seeds? A
sowerwentforth to sow and some of the seedfell on stony ground. You can
understand that, because allmen have stones in their hearts. Some fell on the
thorns and thistles. You cancomprehend that, because men are so given to
worldly care. Another part of the seedfell on the beatenpath. You can
understand that–men are so occupiedwith worldliness.
But how about the “goodground”? “Goodground”!Is there such a thing as
“goodground” by nature? One of the evangelists says thatit was “honestand
goodground.” Now, is there such a difference betweenhearts and hearts? Are
not all men depraved by nature? Yes, he who doubts human depravity had
better begin to study himself. Question–Ifall hearts are bad, how are some
hearts good? Reply–Theyare goodcomparatively. They are goodin a certain
sense. It is not meant in the parable that the goodground was so goodthat it
never would have produced a harvest without the sowing of the seed–butthat
it had been prepared by Providential influences upon it to receive the seedand
in that sense it may be saidto have been “goodground.”
Now let me show you how God’s Grace does come to work on the human
heart so as to make it goodsoil before the living seedis castinto it–so that
before quickening Grace visits it, the heart may be calleda goodheart–
because it is prepared to receive that Grace. I think this takes place thus–first
of all, before quickening Grace comes,Godoften gives an attentive earand
makes a man willing to listen to the Word. Not only does he like to listen to it,
but he wants to know the meaning of it. There is a little excitement in his mind
to know what the Gospeltidings really are. He is not saved as yet, but it is
always a hopeful sign when a man is willing to listen to the Truth and is
anxious to understand it.
This is one thing which preceding Grace does in making the soul good. In
Ezekiel’s vision, as you will recall, before the Breath came from the four
winds, the bones beganto stir and they came togetherbone to his bone. So,

before the Spirit of God comes to a man in effectualcalling, God’s Grace often
comes to make a stir in the man’s mind so that he is no longerindifferent to
the Truth but is anxious to understand what it means.
The next mark of this gracious work is an honestheart. Some persons will not
hear you, or if they do, they are always picking holes and finding fault–they
are not honest and goodground. But there are others who say, “I will give the
man a fair and an honesthearing. I will read the Bible. I will read it honestly.
I will really see whetherit is the Word of God or not. I will come to it without
any prejudices, or, if I have any prejudices I will throw them aside.” Now, all
this is a blessedwork of preparatory Grace making the heart ready to receive
effectualcalling.
Then, when this willingness and honesty are attended with a tender
conscience, as they are in some unconverted people, this is another great
blessing. Some of you are not converted, but you would not do wrong. You are
not saints, but you would not tell a lie for the world! I thank God that there
are some of you so excellentin morals that if you were proposedto us for
Church membership, we could not raise any objectionto you on that ground,
at any rate. You are as honest as the day is long. As for the things of God, you
are outwardly as attentive to them and as diligent in them as the most earnest
and indefatigable Christians.
Now, this is because yourconscienceis tender. When you do wrong you
cannot sleepat night. And you do not feel at all easyin being without a
Savior–Iknow some of you do not. You have not come to any decision. The
Grace of God has not really made you feel your thoroughly blind state–still
you are not quite easy. In fact, to go farther, your affections, though not
weanedaltogetherfrom earth, yet begin to tremble a little as though they
would go heavenward. You want to be a Christian–when the communion table
is spread, you dare not come downstairs–butI see you looking from the
gallery and you wish you were with us.
You know you have not believed in Jesus Christ, and the world keeps you
back from doing so–but still there is a kind of twitching in your conscience.
You do not know what it is, but there is a something in you that makes you
say at times, “O God, let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end
be like his.” Yes, and you even go farther than this and ask to live the
righteous man’s life, too. Now, remember, this will not save you–“You must
be born again.” But for all this the Church of God should feel deeply grateful–
for they have seenin themselves that this is often God’s preparatory work–
clearing awaythe rubbish and rubble and digging out the foundations, that

Jesus Christ might be laid there, the Cornerstone offuture hope and of future
happiness!
Another work of Grace is the creationof dissatisfactionwith their present
state. How many men we have known who were consciously“withoutGod and
without hope in the world”! The apples of Sodom had turned to ashes and
bitterness in their mouth, though at one time all was fair and sweetto their
taste. The mirage of life with them has been dispelled, and instead of the green
fields and waving trees and rippling waters which their feveredimagination
had conjured up in the desert, they can see now nothing but the arid sand and
wastenessofdesolationwhich appall their fainting spirits and promise
nothing! No, not even a grave to cover their whited bones which shall remain
a bleachedmemorial that, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Multitudes have been brought to see the deluge of sin which has coveredeven
the high places ofthe earth! They find no rest for the sole of their feet, but as
yet they know not of an ark, nor of a loving hand prepared to pull them in as
did Noahthe dove in olden times! Look at the life of St. Augustine, how
wearily he wanders here and there with a deaththirst in his soul that no fount
of philosophy, or scholastic argument, or hereticalteaching could ever satisfy!
He was aware of his unhappy estate and turned his eye round the circle of the
universe looking for peace–notfully conscious ofwhat he wanted–though
feeling an aching void the world could never fill. He had not found the center,
fixed and steadfast, around which all else revolved in ceaselesschange.
Now, all this appetite, this hunger and thirst I look upon as not of the devil,
nor of the human heart alone–itwas of God! He strips us of all our earthly joy
and peace, that, shivering in the cold blast, we might flee, when drawn by His
Spirit, to the “Manwho is as a hiding place from the storm, a coverfrom the
tempest, and the shadow of a greatrock in a weary land.” Of course, I have
not gone fully into this doctrine of preceding Grace, but I trust I have saidjust
enough to wakenthe gratitude of all the saints who have experiencedit and to
make them sing with greateremotion than they have ever done before–
“Determinedto save, He watchedover my path
When, Satan’s blind slave, I sported with death.”
III. And now we come to the last point, which is, PAUL’S ACTUAL
CALLING BY DIVINE GRACE. Allpreparatory work of which we have
spokenwas not the source ororigin of the vital godliness whichafterwards
distinguished that renowned servant of God–thatcame to him suddenly.
Beloved, there may be some here tonight who cannotdiscern anything in
themselves of God’s work of Grace atall. I do not wonder at this. I do not

suppose that the Apostle could discern it in himself, or even thought of looking
for it! He was as careless ofChrist as is the butterfly of the honey in the
flowers. He lived with no thought of honoring Jesus and no desire to magnify
Him–but with the very reverse passionglowing like a hot coalwithin his soul.
And yet in a moment he was turned from an enemy into a friend! Oh, what a
mercy it would be if some here tonight were turned from enemies into friends
in a moment–and we are not without hope but that this will be the case!
You have hated Christ, my Friend. You have hated Him boldly and decidedly.
You have not been a sneaking sortof adversary, but have opposedHim
frankly and openly. Now, why did you do it? I am sorry for your sin, but I like
your honesty. What is there in the Personof Christ for you to hate? Men
hated Him while He was on earth and yet He died for them! Can you hate
Him for that? He came into this world to gain no honor for Himself–He had
honor enough in Heaven–but He gave it up for the sake ofmen. When He died
He had not amasseda fortune, nor gatheredabout Him a troop of soldiers–
nor had He conquered provinces–andHe died nakedon the Cross!
Nothing brought Him here but disinterestedaffection. And when He came He
spent His life in deeds of holiness and good. Forwhich of these things canyou
hate Him? The amazing loving-kindness of Christ Jesus towards sinners
should, in itself, disarm your animosity and turn your hatred of Him to love.
Alas! I know that this thought of itself will not do it–but the Spirit of God can.
If the Spirit of God once comes in contactwith your souls and shows you that
Christ died for you, your enmity towards Christ will be over!
Dr. Gifford once went to see a womanin prison who had been a very gross
offender. She was such a hardened reprobate that the doctorbegan by
discoursing with her about the judgments of God and the punishments of Hell.
But she only laughed him to scorn and called him opprobrious names. The
doctor burst into tears, and said, “And yet, poor Soul, there is mercy for you,
even for such as you are, though you have laughed in the face of Him who
would do you good. Christ is able to forgive you, hard though you are. And I
hope that He will yet take you to dwell with Him at His right hand.”
In a moment the woman stopped her laughing, sat down quietly, burst into
tears and said, “Don’t talk to me in that way! I have always beentold that I
should be damned and I made up my mind to be! I knew there was no chance
and so I have gone on from one sin to another–but oh, if there is a hope of
mercy for me, that is another thing! If there is a possibility of my being
forgiven, that is another thing!” The doctor at once opened his Bible and
beganto read to her these words, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son,
cleansesus from all sin.” The greatestbrokennessofheart followed.

In subsequent visits the doctorwas gratified to find that she was brought to
Christ. And though she had to undergo a sentence formany years at the time,
yet years later the godly man saw her walking honestly and uprightly as a
Believerin Jesus Christ. Sinner, I wish that thought would bring you to
Christ! O that you would know that He has chosenyou, that He has separated
you for Himself, and to be His–evenfrom your mother’s womb! Ah, you have
played the harlot, but He will bring you back!You have sinned very greatly,
but you shall one day be clothed in the white robe and wearthe everlasting
crown!
Oh, blush and be ashamedthat you should ever have sinned as you have done!
You have been a thief and a drunkard. You have brought your mother’s gray
hairs with sorrow to the grave, but her prayers are going up even now to
Heaven and you shall be brought in yet. O stubborn Sinner, my Mastermeans
to have you! Run as you will, you wandering sheep, the Shepherd is after you–
yield, yield, yield now! O Prodigal, your Father’s heart is open! Arise! Go to
your Father! You are ashamed to go, are you? Oh, let that shame make you go
faster! Let it not keepyou back!Jesus bled, Jesus wept, Jesus lives in Heaven.
“Ho, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. And he that has no money, let
him buy wine and milk, without money and without price.” “Whoeverwill, let
him come and take of the Water of Life freely.”
There is no sinner too black to be forgiven! There are no iniquities that can
damn you if you believe in Jesus!All manner of sin and iniquity shall be
forgiven him who puts his trust in the shadow of Jehovah-Jesus. Look to Him!
He dies! He lives! Look, He rises, He pleads above! “Look unto Me and be you
saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am Godand there is none else.” Itrust
that the whole of your past mysterious life, my dear fellow Sinner, will be
explained to you tonight by your believing in Jesus. Thatwill be the golden
key which will open the secretand you will say, “Now I see it. I could not tell
what that mysterious hand was that keptme back from doing a certain thing.
I could not understand why I was led into such a path, but now I know that it
was to take me to the feet of the blessedSaviorwhere I might be happy
forever.”
As you look back and think of all the dealings of Divine Grace and Providence
with you throughout your life, you will sing–
“Ah, who am I, that God has saved
Me from the doom I did desire,
And crossedthe lot myself did crave,
To set me even higher?”

I must give one word of warning to those who are afflicting themselves with a
notion that in order to a true, real, conversionthey must have a long course of
agonizing soul-conflict. You must mark that I am NOT teaching this! The new
birth was instantaneous–atonce!Saul of Tarsus calls Him Lord and it is only
three days that darkness rests upon him. This is the longestcaserecordedin
the Bible–andhow short a time in darkness and anguish that is–compared
with the experience ofsome whom you are regarding as models on which God
must act in your case.
Remember that God is not the God of uniformity–though He is of union and
peace. He may lead you at once into joy and peace, as Nathanael, who said as
soonas he saw Christ, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of
Israel.” Godmay, and doubtless has been, blessing you through His Grace
from your birth. But He needs not to plunge you many days in the cold dark
waters of convictionto washawayyour sin–the blood of Christ at once can
cleanse from all sin if you confide your soul to Him. Believe, therefore, and
you are at once justified and at peace with God. May the Lord bless you all,
for Jesus'sake. [This sermon was originally titled “PrevenientGrace.”
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Destiny, Call, And MissionOf St. Paul
Galatians 1:15, 16
W.F. Adeney
I. THE DESTINY. St. Paul feels that from his birth he was setapart for the
greatapostolic work of his later years.
1. There is a destiny in every life. God has his purpose of calling us into being.
2. This destiny is determined for us, not by us. We do not choose the
circumstances in which we are born, nor our owngifts and dispositions. We
can with difficulty escape from our surroundings, and we cannever escape
from ourselves. Whethera man will see the light as a prince in a palace, or as
a beggarunder a hedge, is entirely beyond his control, and it is equally
impossible for him to determine whether he will have the genius of Newtonor

the inanity of an idiot. Yet how largely do these differences effecta man's
necessaryfuture!
3. We may be long unconscious of our destiny. St. Paul never dreamed of his
while he satat the feet of Gamalielnor while he was harrying the Christians.
It is a secretof providence gradually revealed.
4. It is our duty to work out our destiny by voluntary obedience to the will of
God revealedin it when once it is revealedto us. To resist it is to kick against
the pricks. We can do this, for, though setapart for a work, we may refuse to
follow it by our free-will, but at our greatcost.
II. THE CALL. In the Acts of the Apostles the external details of the call of St.
Paul are described;here he gives us only the internal experience. He only
could give this, and this was the really important thing. The flashing light, the
arrestedjourney, the audible voice, the blindness, were all accessories. The
one important thing was the inward voice that brought conviction to the heart
of the man. Every apostle neededa call from Christ to constitute him such.
But every Christian has some Divine call. We have not the miracle to convey
the call, and we do not want it. By the manifest claims that present themselves
to us, by the discovery of our own powers and opportunities of service, by the
promptings of our conscience, Christcalls us to our life's work, To see a work
for Christ needing to be done, and to be able to do it, is a providential call to
undertake it. It is a disastrous superstitionthat keeps us back while we wait
for a more articulate voice. God's will is manifest in the indication of what is
right. To know God's will is to be called to his service.
III. THE MISSION.
1. Its object. The revelation of Christ. St. Paul was to make Christ known. He
was not to spreadhis own religious notions, but only to revealChrist. He was
not to teacha doctrinal Christianity so much as to show Christ himself. This
was to be done, not only by his words, but also by his life. He was so to live
Christ that men should see Christ in him. Thus Christ was to be revealedin
him. Before he could preachChrist in words he must have the revelation of
Christ in his own person. If we do not revealChrist by our lives, all our words
will count for little, being belied by our glaringly inconsistentconduct. If we
act like Christ, the silent influence of our living will be the most clearand
powerful setting forth of Christ.
2. The scope of the mission. St. Paul was to preach Christ among the Gentiles.
His own specialgospelwas the messagethat God's grace in Christ extended to
the whole world. It was not for his ownsake nor even for the glory of Christ
alone that he was calledto his greatmission. The highestmissions are

unselfish and beneficent. We are all calledin some wayto minister to others.
We cando it in no way better than by revealing Christ to them in our actions
as well as in our words. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator
But when it pleasedGod to revealHis Son in me.
Galatians 1:15, 16
Prevenient grace
C. H. Spurgeon.
Although Paul was suddenly converted, yet God had had thoughts of mercy
towards him from his very birth. God did not begin to work with him when he
was on the road to Damascus. Thatwas not the first occasionon which eyes of
love had darted upon this chief of sinners.
I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD PRECEDINGSAVING GRACE, AS IT MAY
CLEARLY BE SEEN DEVELOPING ITSELF IN HUMAN HISTORY. The
life of men before conversionis really a working of them in the clay. You may
perceive God's purpose in St. Paul, when you think of
(1)the singular gifts with which he was endowed;
(2)his education;
(3)the spiritual struggles through which he passed;
(4)the singular formation of his mind.Even as a sinner, Paul was great. A man
full of energyand determination. His conversiononly lifted him into a higher
life, but left him unchanged as to temperament, nature, and force of

character. He seems to have been constituted naturally a thorough-going,
thorough-hearted man, in order that when grace did come to him he might be
just as earnest, dauntless, fearless,in defence of the right. Such a man was
wanted to lead the vanguard in the greatcrusade againstthe god of this
world, and from his very birth God was fitting him for this position; before he
was converted, prevenient grace was thus engaged, fashioning, moulding, and
preparing the man, in order that by-and-by there might be put into his
nostrils the breath of life.
II. GRACE PRECEDINGCALLING IN ANOTHER SENSE. It is impossible
to say, concerning the elect, when the grace of God begins to deal with them.
You can tell when the quickening grace comes,but not when the grace itself
comes.
1. Formative grace. This is to be born of Christian parents, in a Christian
country, and nurtured in piety.
2. Preventive grace. Savedfrom sins that others fall into.
3. Restraining grace. Debarredby circumstances from sins to which we are
inclined.
4. Preparatorywork of grace. Before casting in the seed, God is pleasedto
give to some
(a)an attentive ear. Willingness to listen to the Word when it is brought to
him;
(b)an ingenuousness ofheart;
(c)a tender conscience;
(d)dissatisfactionwith their presentstate.Apples of Sodom, at one time fair
and sweetto their taste, God turns to ashes and bitterness in their mouth.Thus
it was with , wandering wearily hither and thither with a death-thirst in his
soul, that no fount of philosophy, or scholastic argument, or hereticalteaching
could ever assuage. He was aware of his unhappy estate, and turned his eye
round the circle of the universe looking for peace, not fully conscious ofwhat
he wanted, though feeling an aching void the world could never fill. He had
not found the centre, fixed and steadfast, aroundwhich all else revolved in
ceaselesschange. All this appetite, this hunger and thirst, is not of the devil, or
of the human heart alone, but of God.
III. PAUL'S ACTUAL CALLING BY DIVINE GRACE. All preparatory
work of which we have spoken, was not the source ororigin of the vital
godliness which afterwards distinguished him; that came to him on a sudden.
In a moment he saw everything in a different light; and from a foe he was

changedinto a staunch and loyal friend of Jesus. He was not disobedient to
the heavenly vision.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Providential dealings
C. H. Spurgeon.
Some of the goodfathers amongstus are mourning very bitterly just now over
their sons. Your children do not turn out as you wish they would; they are
getting sceptical, some ofthem, and they are also falling into sin. Well, dear
friends, it is yours to mourn; it is enough to make you weepbitterly; but let
me whispera word into your ear. Do not sorrow as those who are without
hope, for God may have very greatdesigns to be answered, evenby these very
young men who seemto be running so altogetherin the wrong direction. I do
not think I could go so far as John Bunyan did, when he said he was sure God
would have some eminent saints in the next generation, becausethe young
men in his day were such gross sinners, that he thought they would make fine
saints; and when the Lord came and savedthem by His mercy, they would
love much because they had had so much forgiven. I would hardly like to say
so much as that, but I do believe that sometimes in the inscrutable wisdom of
God, when some of those who have been scepticalcome to see the truth, they
are the very best men that could possibly be found to do battle againstthe-
enemy. Some of those who have fallen into error, after having passedthrough
it, and happily come up from its deep ditch, are just the men to stand and
warn others againstit. I cannot conceive that Luther would ever have been so
mighty a preacherof the faith, if he had not himself struggledup and down
Pilate's staircaseonhis knees, whentrying to getto heaven by his penances
and his goodworks. O let us have hope. We do not know but that Godmay be
intending yet to call them and bless them. Who cantell, there may be a young
man here to-night who will one day be the herald of the Cross in China, in
Hindostan, in Africa, and in the islands of the sea? RememberJohn Williams
wishing to keepan appointment with another young man who committed a
certain sin. He wanted to know what time it was, and so just stepped into
Moorfields Chapel; some one saw him, and he did not like to go out, and the
word preachedby Mr. Timothy Eastfell on his ears, and the young sinner was
made a saint; and you all know how he afterwards perished as a martyr on
the shores ofErromanga.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Apostolic credentials
Emilius Bayley, B. D.
St. Paul here claims to be an apostle, an inspired apostle, one qualified to
speak with authority, and to teach infallible truth.
I. A DIVINE COMMUNICATION OF LIGHT AND KNOWLEDGE WAS
MADE TO HIM. He had been blind, now he saw.
II. THE SUBJECT OF THIS DIVINE COMMUNICATION WAS THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST.
1. In Christ was seenthe glory of the Divine nature.
2. In Christ was seenthe glory of the Divine attributes. As the wax bears the
perfect image of the seal, so were all the perfections of the Divine character
reflectedin him.
3. In Christ was seenthe glory of the Divine purposes. Redemption is the
masterpiece ofDivine wisdom; in redemption Christ is the central figure.
III. THE SPHERE IN WHICH THIS DIVINE COMMUNICATION HAD
PLACE WAS THE SOUL OF THE APOSTLE. "In me." He saw, believed,
and loved. His intellect was more than satisfied;his heart was at peace.
Judaism was superseded, and like a dissolving view, passedrapidly away;
heathenism was seenmore clearlyto be a lie and an imposture. To know
Christ, to win Christ, to preachChrist, to love Christ, to be with Christ, was
all he desired.
(Emilius Bayley, B. D.)
Personalconviction
What we need is the revelation of Christ within us; not the communication of
truths yet unrevealed, as was necessaryin the case ofthe founders of our
religion, but the communication of truths alreadymade known; the removal
of the veil from our hearts, and the giving of the knowledge ofGod in the face
of Jesus Christ. Eachof us must for himself discoverthe hid treasure;
whether the light flashes upon us in an instant, as with the woman at the well
of Jacob, or comes to us as the result of long searchand patient inquiry, as in
the case ofthe Ethiopian eunuch, we must find the Messiah, we must hear
Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the
world. It will not suffice, in this day at least, to take religionupon trust, to
acceptthe popular faith, just because it is popular. Such belief will not stand

in the day of trial; it certainly will exercise no constraining influence upon our
hearts and lives. Whether for our peace or for our usefulness, Christ must live
within us; the reasonable mind must apprehend Him, the heart must cleave to
Him. Thus our lives will tell upon the world around us. There will be a living
powerwithin, full of holy joy, and peace, and comfort; whilst a living power
will go forth from us, and act silently, it may be, but effectually, upon the
world without.
God's call and Paul's reply
A. F. Barfield.
The Christian religion is emphatically one. It may differ and does differ, in its
development; but the foundation must be belief in Deity — an intelligent,
devout recognitionof the Almighty in His varied relationships to the world.
Hence a perfect belief in a perfectDeity means this: That you believe in and
regard that Deity as the Creatorand Controller of the universe; as the
Saviour of the world; as the appliancer of the redemptive scheme — in other
words, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Unless this is recognized, there canbe no
true Christianity.
I. CHRISTIAN LIFE IS IDENTIFIED WITHA KNOWLEDGE OF
CHRIST.
1. To know Christ is to know the greatcentre to which all other doctrines
converge.
2. Knowing Christ as a Saviour, you realize the damnable nature of sin.
II. CHRIST IS KNOWN ONLY AS HE IS DIVINELY REVEALED.
1. Ordinary means. Bible reading. Church going. Conversation. Sunday
Schools, etc.
2. Extraordinary. St. Paul's conversion.
III. THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST IS GIVEN IN PURSUANCE OF A
DIVINE PURPOSE.
IV. KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST IS PREPARATORYFOR THE HIGHEST
USEFULNESS.
(A. F. Barfield.)
Doctrine of predestination

A. B. Grosart, LL. D.
I look upon this earth in which I live. I find it graspedand girded by God's
all-embracing laws, as of gravitation, of the ebb and flow of the tides, of light,
of the processionof the seasons — all utterly and absolutely beyond my
control. They reachabove, beneath, around, within me; I cannot touch them.
There they are; unalterable, unswerving, necessitated — in its profoundest
sense, predestinated. And what is the issue of obedience to these laws?
Happiness, in the measure of such obedience. Is that no revelation of the
characterof the God of the universe. No revelation! I could shut my Bible,
and from creation— from the meanestflowerthat blows, up to the stars that
hang like lamps before the greatwhite throne — find infinite proofs that my
God is also my Father. Exactly so, I cannot tell how free will, choice,
contingency, accordwith predestination, election, foreordination, substitution.
I do not feel that I am calledupon to do so. But as we have seen, our own
consciousnessatteststhe former, while the Word of God recognizes and
addresses them — recognizes andaddresses man as free to think, feel, will,
choose, reject. Equallydoes the Word of God affirm the latter. I therefore
acceptthem also, and can defer knowing how the All-wise harmonizes them,
until He pleases to revealthem to me. Nay, more, I have deepestbelief that
even as the physical world is graspedand girded by its great laws, so must the
other and grander world of mind have underneath it, like the granite base of
the everlasting hills, above it, like the dome of the sky, kindred laws. These
laws I recognize and acceptin predestination, election, foreordination,
substitution.
(A. B. Grosart, LL. D.)
The threefold revelation of Christ
W. B. Pope, D. D.
I. TO HIM. When he was "called" onthe wayto Damascus,and so to every
one who becomes His servant Christ appears to arrestand claim him.
II. IN HIM. The Lord is revealedin His servant's heart as his life and
strength.
III. THROUGH HIM. The new life of Christ's servant is a perpetual
(1)reflection;
(2)proclamationof His Redeemer.
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)

Distinguishing grace
T. Goadby.
I. Is the FOUNDATION OF ALL DOCTRINALAND ETHICAL TRUTH.
II. Tends to PERSONALEDIFICATION, DEEP EMOTION,AND
DUTIFUL SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL.
III. DETERMINES THE TONE AND STRENGTHOF OUR LIFE.
IV. Is a means to CONSCIOUSNESS OF DIRECT PERSONAL
RELATIONSHIP TO GOD.
(T. Goadby.)
The personalhistory and public purpose of the conversion
D. Thomas.
I. Its PERSONALHISTORY.
1. The inner revelationof Christ to the soul, which is something more than His
revelation to
(1)the senses,
(2)the understanding,
(3)the conscience.
2. The inner revelationof Christ to the soul through God.
(1)By predetermination.
(2)By sovereignty.
II. Its PUBLIC PURPOSE.
1. Nothis own good.
2. But to preach.
(1)Paul felt the duty of preaching to be paramount.
(2)He employed the best means for its effective discharge.
(D. Thomas.)
Ministers are separatedto their own work

I. A soldierwho went to the war took with him some of the small instruments
of his craft — he was a watchmakerand repairer — thinking to make some
extra shillings now and then while in camp. He did so. He found plenty of
watches to mend, and almostforgot that he was a soldier. One day, when
ordered off on some duty, he exclaimed, "Why, how can I go? I've got ten
watches to mend!" Some ministers are so absorbed in self-seeking that they
are ready to say to the Master's call, "Ipray Thee have me excused!" They
are nominally ministers of Christ, but really only watch-menders. Mr. Moody
says:— I remember when I was in Chicago before the fire, I was on some ten
or twelve committees. My hands were full. If a man came to me to talk about
his soulI would say, "I haven't time; got a committee to attend to." But now I
have turned my back on everything — turned my attention to saving souls,
and God has blessedme and made me an instrument to save more souls
during the last four or five years than during all my previous life. And so if a
minister will devote himself to this undivided work, Godwill bless him. Take
that motto of Paul's: "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 Godin Christ Jesus."
Divine calling
C. Simeon.
A river flowing with rapid and majestic current to the sea would defy the
efforts of the whole world to turn it back again to its source;yet, by the
returning tide it is not only arrestedin its course but driven up againwith
greatrapidity towards its fountain head. It is thus that a sinner is stopped in
his careerofsin, and turned towards high and heavenly things.
(C. Simeon.)
The inward revelationof Christ
R. S. Storrs.
Now, there is nothing mysterious about this. Have we not all felt this inward
revelation of Christ? — a discoverylarger, sweeterand more and more
luminous, of this nature and work, which enters and is wovenlike a thread of
gold into the fabric of thought and character. The disciples doubtless had a
conceptionat first of the Saviour as a generalbenefactorto the race and His
teachings as generallyhelpful to men, but after their characters beganto
mature they came to understand the personal, individual and vital

relationship betweenHim and them. A keensense ofpersonalsinfulness must
precede any vivid conceptionof the grace of Christ as shownto burdened and
aspiring souls. Again, in the silent government of the soul's activities we
recognize Christ revealedin us. We recognize inward impulsions that are not
born of us, but of a resident and daily more regnant power that is working
through our own volitions. In labour and worship, in acts of beneficence and
in all the service of life, we feelthe silent government of the indwelling Master.
With these inward revelations and spiritual intuitions we are guided in duty.
Truth is verified in our vision, because it is illuminated by Him who is the
light of the world. Christ finds a home in our affectionalnature. At first we
feel that we ought to love Christ more than all else — parents, friends, or
treasure;but it is hard to do this, and our obedience is apt to be mechanical
until the inward grace and subtle sense ofthe indwelling Helper comes to be
recognized. It is as indefinable a sense as the odour of the lily and rose that
perfumes our dwelling, yet we know it to be a reality. We see bane changedto
blessing and a spirit of nobleness begottenin us, so that we come naturally,
that is, reasonablyand by the tutelage of His grace, to love Him better than all
things else. This love towardChrist as He is within us testifies of the Divine
indwelling, and it is a love which He will crownand glorify. In the joyful
assurance ofthe future we find evidence of this revelation of Christ in us. He
satisfies and gratifies us every hour by these revelations to us. Men of the
world wonder at us. They callour confidence credulity and superstition. Nay,
it is the dictate of our assurance ofChrist in us. The text illumines other
utterances of Paul. The life he lived was the life of Christ in him: "I, yet not
I." Thus was fulfilled the promise, "We will make our abode with him." We
see from this subject how progressive Christianexperience is. One may say,
"Would that I could at once step into the fulness of the knowledge ofGod!"
Do you expect to step at once into the fulness of earthly knowledge?Shallnot
this more augustrevelation be continuous and progressive? Beginnow in
obedience to Christ, go on stepby step till Christ's life is enthroned within
you, and then it will be manifested by you. We have here a suggestionas to
how the world influences us and crowds out Christ. Work for Christ wears a
new significance whenthe factand propulsive powerof this indwelling are
thus revealed.
(R. S. Storrs.)
Paul's accountof his conversion
R. Nicholls.

I. CONVERSIONDESCRIBED. Paulwrites of the change through which he
had passedin brief but forcible terms. "It pleasedGodto revealHis Sonin
me."
1. The change in Paul was a spiritual one.
2. God's great work is done in the soul, because the fountain of evil is there.
3. Conversionis a clear, definite recognitionof Christ as the Saviour. He was
revealedin Paul, so that he had no doubt of His Divinity or of His
Messiahship. He believed Him to be the Christ, the Son of God.
II. CONVERSIONEXPLAINED.
1. Conversionis an act of God's grace. It pleasedGod to reveal His Son in
Paul.
2. Conversionis precededby means which are altogetherof God's
arrangement. Paul here refers to plans, remote and immediate, and both are
of God. "He separatedhim from his mother's womb."
III. CONVERSION MANIFESTED.
1. By his renouncing that which he had formerly sought after.
2. His voluntary exile and solitude was a further manifestation of his
conversion.
3. His conversionwas manifest by his return to Damascus,and engaging in
active service.Lessons:
1. The methods by which men are brought to Christ vary, but conversionis in
every instance the same, the revealing of the Son of God to the heart.
2. All who have been renewedby the power of God, manifest in themselves the
reality of the change. Conversionis regenerationrealizedin the heart and life.
(R. Nicholls.)
The inward realizationby St
E. Johnson, M. A.
"It pleasedGodto reveal His Sonin me." He needednot to go to the
traditions of the life of our Saviour. Christ was knownto him in a more
immediate way. He found in his own heart the living oracle, and needednot to
travel further. One of his remarkable words is this: — Say not in thine heart,
Who shall ascendinto heaven, etc. But, more closely, whatwas this process? It
was the translation of the historicalChrist into the present Christ; of the

Christ according to the flesh into the Christ of spiritual consciousness. Whatis
translation? It is was the extracting a thought from its visible, or
representative envelope, and then(2) it is the recasting ofthis thought into
another form of our own intelligent selection. By this process, faithfully
carried out, you make the thought your own. You bring it out of its mere
external relation to the mind as an object, and you make it a part of your
mind, as subject. It is no longer now something that you contemplate merely
with the mind's eye, and which passesfrom memory when your attention is
withdrawn, but it is now bound up with your mind, and must remain a part of
your conscious being. We are always performing this process upon some
matter or other. In this way the student gathers the thought of a foreign
author, throws it out againinto the best form in which he can recognize it in
his ownlanguage, and now it is his possession. The artist gazes for hours at a
picture of which we see little more than the surface, and throws out the sense
of it on the canvas of his brain, or in visible studies of his own. The friend
watches the face of his friend, quickly seizes the thought that is playing in
living expressionon his brow and eye and mouth, and projects the meaning
againinto some image or some verbal expression. In whateverinterests us we
separate the form from the contents; we graspthese contents, we pass them
through our mind in deep reflection, until of themselves they flow into a new
shape, which is a form of our consciousness, and may be a permanent stamp
of it. So St. Paul gazed at the cross and the resurrectionof Christ, extracted a
marvellous fund of Divine meaning from them, which in turn he threw out
into forms of thought which are so mighty in their powerover us because they
were first so mightily realized in himself. Thus the significance ofthe cross,
translated into his own consciousness,became a personalexperience:death
unto sin, because Christ died; or, a revelationof Divine love: "the Son of God
who loved me." The resurrection in like manner, "raisedup togetherwith
Christ," "alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." There was
something deepereven than this process oftranslation; there was an
identification of himself with Christ (no other word will hardly express this
deeper process). He felt that he was included in Christ. In the Sonship of
Christ he saw his own sonship to God realized. As in Christ the Holy Spirit
dwelt in a human body, so St. Paul realized the indwelling of God in himself.
He saw a contrastof weaknesswith powerin the crucifixion — he realized
that contrastin himself. It seems no strain of language to say that in the
consciousnessofPaul, Christ was inseparable from himself. He could not
abstractthe ego, as metaphysicians would say, from a non-ego. He could not
think of himself without thinking of Christ. "I am crucified with Christ," etc.
He applies the same mode of thought to his converts and disciples.

(E. Johnson, M. A.)
Christ manifestedto the soul
B. Beddome, M. A.
The co-essential, co-eternalSonof God, was revealedin the Apostle Paul.
Were we possessedofall the knowledge Adam had in innocence, or which
Solomonacquired by labour and industry, or which the prophets and apostles
obtained by Divine inspiration — yet, without this internal revelation of
Christ, we should be as remote from happiness as the devils in hell. Now
observe —
I. HOW THE REVELATION OF CHRIST IN A MAN DIFFERS FROM
THE MERE EXTERNALREVELATION OF CHRIST TO A MAN.
1. They differ in their original source and spring. Both proceedfrom God; but
the one is the fruit of His generalfavour, the other of His specialgrace.
2. In the means by which they are wrought. The one, by outward means; the
other by the internal agencyof the Divine spirit. Moralsuasionand human
instruction may revealChrist to a man; but it is the peculiar office of the
Spirit to revealChrist in us, to take of His things and show them to us so
convincingly that we shall have no doubt of their truth and reality.
3. The subject of this knowledge is different, as well as the manner of
conveyance. The externalrevelation of Christ affects only the head; that
which is internal, the heart. The one reaches only to the understanding; the
other influences the practical judgment, directs the will, and gives law to the
affections. The necessityand excellencyof Christ, in all His characters and
offices, is now so clearly discerned, that the soulgoes out after Him, and rests
in Him, as its supreme goodand everlasting portion.
4. In their nature and essentialproperties. The one dark and confused; the
other clearand distinct. The one is seeing things in our own light; the other, in
God's light. The one is distant, and therefore undelightful; the other,
appropriative and satisfying, — not equally so in every saint, but in a greater
or less degree in all.
5. In their continuance. The revelationof Christ to a man may be lost,
eclipsed, or destroyed; but the revelationof the text is permanent and abiding.
God is the Author of it, and His gifts are without repentance;the Spirit is the
efficient cause, and He never wholly withdraws His influence.

II. THE NECESSITYAND EXCELLENCE OF AN INTERNAL
REVELATION OF CHRIST.
1. It is the beginning of all Christian experience, the first blessedfruit of the
Spirit's influence on a sinner's heart. Without it, no grace here, and no hope of
salvationhereafter. The meritorious sufferings of Christ will not save us
without the spiritual knowledge ofHim.
2. The foundation of all spiritual comfort. When Christ enters, light, peace,
glory enter, applying what He has done, bringing home to us what He has
purchased.
3. The grand spring of holiness and obedience. The more we know of Christ,
the more we shall love Him; and the more we love Him, the more
conscientious, universal, and unwearied will be our obedience;subjection a
delight and pleasure, instead of a task or burden. Knowledge which reaches
the heart, will regulate the life and conversation.
4. This revelationis especiallynecessaryto form the ministerial character. A
faithful minister must be a goodman, as well as bring goodtidings.
5. This revelationis connectedwith eternallife, and a certain pledge of, as well
as necessarypreparation for, a future state of happiness and glory. If ignorant
of Christ, we cannotbelieve on Him, or be savedby Him. Closing
inferences:(a) No wonder so many men of greatability arc enemies to the
gospeland its doctrine of salvation. God has never yet revealedHis Son in
them.(b) How should we pity those destitute of this revelation! Other wants
may be afflicting: this is damning.(c) What reasonfor thankfulness have those
who are blessedwith the spiritual saving knowledge ofChrist.
(B. Beddome, M. A.)
Conversiona revelation in the soul
T. W. Handford.
Conversionis a revelation, i.e., not a discoveryof something new, but the
unveiling of what has been hidden. No explanation for such a change as
followedthis revelation, save in the regionof the supernatural.
1. This revelationwas to St. Paul a vindication of Christ's character. St. Paul
had thought Jesus animpostor; God removes the veil from his heart, and he
sees Him to be the Christ, the only begottenSonof the Divine Father.
2. It was a revelationto him of his own position He not only saw who Christ
was, but what he himself had been.

3. A revelationof the Divine long-suffering. When the light of that day of
mercy dawned, what was the message?It might have been a message ofdoom;
and Paul felt that. It might have been a voice of wrath, proclaiming wrath for
his countless sins. But no; the voice comes with the old messageofentreaty,
"Why persecutestthou Me?" The voice comes with the Divine pathos and the
Divine hope: "Saul, Saul, arise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared to
thee not to hurl the bolts of judgment, not to rehearse the catalogue ofthy
transgressions, notto ring the knell of thy doom, but to announce the true
advent of thy noblest life, to make thee a minister of My gospel, to send thee to
men." What wonder, then, that Paul counts himself an example of God's long-
suffering? What wonder that he speaks in such terms of redeeming love, of
the riches — the unfathomed and unfathomable riches — of grace?
4. A revelationof a glorious destiny. No higher honour than to preach Christ,
to be the minister of reconciliation to thousands.
5. This revelationwas all-inclusive, In this Divine light, all things looked
Divine. Henceforth, Jesus Christ was stampedon everything. The world was
His; life was His; labour was His; love was His.
6. This revelationwas ever increasing. The horizon widened. Every hour the
light grew clearer, and spread to wider stretches. Evenafter thirty years
acquaintance with Christ, Paul only feels there is so much to be known, that
what he does know is as nothing to what he has yet to learn (Philippians 3:8-
14). Is our conversionlike his?
(T. W. Handford.)
The inner revelation of Christ
John Eadie, D. D.
The objectof this Divine revelationwas "His Son";not the truth about Him,
or His work, or His death, or His glory, but Himself — Himself including all.
His personis the sum of the gospel. This revelationmay have been in some
sense subsequentto the direct call, or it may refer also to the appearance of
the RedeemernearDamascus qualifying him for the apostleship(1
Corinthians 9:1). It gave him full and glowing views of the Redeemer's person,
including His various relations to God and to man, — such views as fixed the
apostle's faith upon Him, centred his love in Him, and enabled him to hold
Him out in his preaching as the one living and glorified Saviour. It was by no
process ofreasoning that he came to such conclusions, by no elaborate and
sustainedseries of demonstrations that he wrought out his Christology. Gad

revealedHis Son in him, Divine light was flashedin upon him, so that he saw
what he had not seenbefore, fully, suddenly, and by a higher than intuitive
suggestion. He had not been taught, and he did not need to be taught by any of
the apostles.
(John Eadie, D. D.)
Revelationunlike reasoning
John Eadie, D. D.
Revelationis opposedto knowledge gainedby prolonged and patient thought.
It is unlike the common process by which an intellectual conclusionis reached,
the inference of one syllogismforming but the premiss of another, till by a
series ofconnectedlinks, primary or abstracttruth is reached. For it is
sudden and perfectillumination, lifting the receptive power into intensest
susceptibility, and so lighting up the whole theme disclosed, that it is
immediately and fully apprehended in its evidence and reality. We know not,
indeed, what the process is, what the waking up of the higher intuition is, or
what the ecstasywhich throws into momentary abeyance all the lower
faculties. It may resemble that new sphere of vision in which genius enjoys
gleams of unutterable beauty, or that "demonstration of the Spirit" which
gives the truth new aspects ofrichness and grandeur to the sanctifiedsoul in
some mood of rapt meditation. But still it is different and higher far both in
matter and purpose. It was God's revelation of His Son, — not glimpses of the
truth about Him, but Himself; not merely summoning His attention to His
paramount claims, so as to elicit an acknowledgmentofthem, — not simply
presenting Him to his intellectual perception to be studied and comprehended,
— nor even shrining an image of Him in his heart to be loved and cherished,
— but His Sonunveiled in living reality; and in him — in his inner self, not in
any distinct and separate realm of his being — with the consciouspossession
of all this infallible and communicable knowledge whichwas given, perhaps,
first in clearand vivid outline, and then filled in surely and gradually.
(John Eadie, D. D.)
Conversionof St. Paul
B. Jowett, M. A.
The vision which St. Paul saw on the way to Damascus, followedhim through
his whole life. There was one image which hovered over him, one thought
which urged him onward, one spirit which he breathed, one life which he lived

— the image, the thought, the spirit, the life of Christ. In the ruder times of
Christianity we have heard of saints whose eyes were everfixed on the
material image of the crucified Redeemer, who bore in their body the marks
of the Lord Jesus. Whatis true of them in a grosserand more literal sense, is
true of St. Paul figuratively and spiritually: he felt himself and all other
Christians to be crucified with Christ. In all His affliction they are afflicted,
even as they are the partakers of His glory, dying with Him in sin and to sin,
buried in baptism, filling up in their body the measure of His suffering,
partaking of His hidden life in the grave, that with Him also they may rise
again. If the apostle rejoices,he is as one risen with Christ; if he suffers, he is
crucified with Him; if at one and the same instant he suffers, and triumphs,
and is a spectacleto the world, to angels, and to men, he is but as Christ was,
Who was lifted up from the earth that he might draw all men after Him. He is
as one strickento the earth, at the same time that he partakes ofthe vision of
the Divine glory. It is this thought and image of Christ, not freedom or faith,
or any form of the subjective principle, which is the primary idea of the gospel
in the mind of the apostle, Neitheris it the belief in Christ as an object without
him, to whom he is to transfer all his sins, but the ever-present consciousness
of Christ within him, Who is one and inseparable from him, that is the
support and anchorof his soul. As it is to the apostle more than any other
human teacherwe trace back the greatdoctrine of righteousness by faith, so
to this event in his life we must refer that impression of Divine truth, which
opened the kingdom of heavento all mankind by the sight of Christ Himself.
St. Paul was the human medium through which it was conveyed;an apostle
not of man, neither by man, but of Jesus Christ, in whom it pleasedGod to
revealHis Son. As it was necessaryfor the other apostles that Christ should go
away, or otherwise the Comforter would net come unto them, so also it was in
a certain sense a preeminence that he possessedoverthem, that as one born
out of due time he had not known Christ according to the flesh, but only in a
heavenly and spiritual manner.
(B. Jowett, M. A.)
Life in the revelationof Christ
H. G. Salter.
A man often passes through many stages before he becomes truly converted to
God. When he is first awakenedto serious impressions, and sees the folly of
intently pursuing worldly things, to the neglectof the more durable riches, he
resembles a boy emerging from childhood, who throws aside his trifles and

playthings for amusements of a higher and more intellectual kind. He now sets
himself with all diligence to working out his own salvationin his own strength;
multiplies his religious duties, and reforms his bad habits; yet all this while he
is like one who has been employed in new painting and varnishing a wooden
statue — it has no life within. But when the Holy Spirit influences his heart,
and reveals Christ in him, he is in the state of one who has awakenedfrom a
dream, in which he has been acting a fictitious part, to live and move and use
all his faculties in reality, and enter on the greatbusiness of life.
(H. G. Salter.)
Readiness forservice
C. H. Spurgeon.
Brutus visiting Ligarius found him ill, and said, "What! sick, Ligarius?" "No,
Brutus," said he; if thou hast any noble enterprise in hand I am well." So
should the believer say of Christ; what might excuse us from other labour
shall never prevent our engaging in His service.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Personalresponsibility as entrusted with a revelation
The Deanof Ely.
"To revealHis Son in me," might seemto imply some internal revelation;
doubtless there was, but St. Paul more immediately referred to the factthat
God intended to reveal His Son to mankind by and through him; he was to be
the instrument of the revelation; God had revealedChrist to him, that he
might reveal Him to others. For God cannever make a revelationof His Son
through a man, until He has first made the revelation within him; the lamp
cannot illuminate until the light has been lighted within it; the light shines
without because it shines within; and if St. Paul could speak confidently of
God having been pleasedto callhim by His grace, and to revealChrist
through him to the heathen, it was because he could speak confidently of that
revelation of Christ to his own soul, which had so thoroughly convertedhis
mind and changedthe purpose of his life. Let us leave St. Paul, however, for a
few moments, and let me remind you how that God has from the beginning
revealedHimself to man, and that the spiritual condition of man before God
has depended upon the way in which he has receivedthe revelation. To be
able to receive a revelationfrom God, this is one mark of humanity; and to be
able to rejectthe revelation, this is another. Next observe that the whole

course of sacredhistory, since the days of Adam, has been a history of
revelations. Godhas revealed, unveiled, discoveredHimself to this man and to
that, in order that he to whom God has been revealed may reveal Him to
ethers; the process ofwhich St. Paul speakswhenhe says, "to revealHis Son
in me," is the very process which has been going on from the beginning. Look
at Noah. Look at Abraham. "The Lord had said unto Abraham." That is the
very beginning of his history. Once more, look at Moses. You see preciselythe
same characteristicsofconduct. He, too, receiveda revelation from God; and
the pressure of the responsibility which that revelation brought with it is
made all the more conspicuous by the fact that Moses shrank from it, and
tried to evade it. We wish to regard ourselves as laid under a pressure of
responsibility by the factof our having receiveda revelationfrom God.
(The Deanof Ely.)
The duty imposed by revelation
The Deanof Ely.
Let us then take the Holy Scriptures in our hands, or press them to our hearts,
and say, Here is the recordof the way in which God has at sundry times and
in divers manners spokento our fathers by the prophets, and has in these
latter days spokento us by His Son; and having done this, then let us go on to
ask ourselves whatought to be the practicalconsequences ofhaving such a
possession?It is a common saying in these days that property has its duties as
well as its privileges, and so the possessionofthe Word of God, compared
with which all other possessionsmust be poor and trifling, must bring with it
very greatduties: what are they? These, atleast;to honour it, to love it, to
strive if necessary, or even to die, for it; but besides these, there is the more
common and perhaps the more important duty, of exhibiting in our own lives
the ideal which Holy Scripture sets before us, the duty of living like Christ,
and becoming (as it were)a living practical commentary upon the contents of
God's book. This is just the difference betweenthis book and others;other
books you may read and forget, this you must not forget; others you may have
on your shelves and not readunless you like, this you must read if you can;
upon others you may pronounce any opinion you please, but this must govern
your opinions, and you must take it as the light of your feetand the lamp to
your paths. Yes, this is the way in which you must treat the Scriptures, not
only for your own sakes, but for the sake ofothers. I said just now that you
must strive, if necessary, for the Holy Scriptures, but undoubtedly the most
effective way of defending them from assaults, andmaking men honour them,

is to act them out in your conduct, and let Christ be revealed to men in your
lives. St. Paul speaksin the text of Christ being revealedin him. I have spoken
of the force of that phrase; and now, finally, I would ask you to compare it
with a similar phrase with which the apostle closes the chapter from which I
have takenmy text; he says, "they glorified God in me;" they saw his life, they
saw the change made by God's revelation, and they glorified God in him when
they saw Christ revealedin him; and so, Christian brethren, if we have
receiveda revelation from God, and if a deep responsibility is laid upon us by
the receptionof that revelation, then the best mode of discharging our
responsibility is to lead a holy and godly life. That will show forth Christ.
(The Deanof Ely.)
St. Paul's call to the apostolic office
The Evangelist.
I. THE SOURCE WHENCE HIS RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONSWERE
DERIVED. What does Paul mean to teachus when he says that he was called?
He means that it was not he who first came to the Master, but that having
been calledto Him, he obeyed;that he did not spontaneouslyseek andfind,
but that he was found when he was wandering;that it was not he who first
lookedup to the light, but the light which sent its rays upon his vision, and
having closedhis outward, opened his inward eyes.
II. HIS DESTINATIONTO THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE.
1. That this commission was co-incidentwith his conversion, and he became a
successfuladvocate ofthe truth he once opposed. The suddenness of his
preparation for the office strikes us as much as the suddenness of his call to it;
and his history teaches us that Christ is at no loss for instruments in the
advancementof His cause. If the interests of religion require some
distinguished champion, He reverses the ordinary laws of procedure, and goes
down to the camp of the enemy, and fixing His eye upon the hope and pride of
all their hosts, converts him from a foe into a friend, and presents him to the
world as a trophy of His power, and a successfulherald of His praise. Christ
rules "in the midst of His enemies," and from the very stones that threaten to
impede his triumphal march, "canraise up children to Abraham." Luther
was educatedas a monk in the University of Wittemburg, and was so eageran
upholder of the existing system, that he publicly defended, in a thesis, the
martyrdom of John Huss. He was, evenafter his conversion, long reluctant to
throw off the authority of the Pope;yet this man was the instrument of the
emancipation of Europe, and, once engaged, as Atterbury has observed,

againstthe united forces ofthe papal world, stood the shock with bravery and
success. "Iwas," says Latimer, "as obstinate a papist as any in England, and
when made Bachelorof Divinity, my whole orationwent againstPhilip
Melancthonand his opinions." Soame Jenyns was for many years a deist, yet,
after emerging from a labyrinth of scepticism, he wrote an ingenious work on
the internal evidences ofthe Christian religion, the successofwhich gave him
much joy on his death-bed. The late Mr. Biddulph, in his work on the Liturgy,
states ofGilbert West, and his friend Lord Lyttleton, that they were both men
of acknowledgedtalents, and had imbibed the principles of infidelity from a
superficial view of the Scriptures. Fully persuaded that the system was an
imposture, they were determined to expose the cheat. Mr. Westchose the
Resurrectionof Christ, and Lord Lyttleton the Conversionof St. Paul, for the
subject of hostile criticism, Both sat down to their respective tasks, full of
prejudice and contempt for Christianity, but the result of their separate
attempts was truly extraordinary. They were both convertedby their efforts
to overthrow the truth, and came together, not as they anticipated, to exult
over an imposture turned to ridicule, but to lament their own folly, and
felicitate eachother upon their joint conviction that the Bible was the Word of
God. And their inquiries have furnished two most valuable treatises in favour
of revelation: one entitled, "Observations onthe Resurrectionof Christ," and
the other, "Observations on the Conversionof St. Paul." "This also cometh
forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellentin
working."
2. That the decisionand energy he displayed in the service of Christ are
worthy of universal imitation. "Immediately I conferrednot with flesh and
blood." In the concerns of salvationflesh and blood are very bad counsellors.
Fleshand blood would have kept the three Hebrew youths from the fiery
furnace; Abraham from offering the child of promise, etc.
(The Evangelist.).
The inward revelationof Christ
T. Goadby.
I.THE SUM OF EXPERIENCEIN CONVERSION.
II.THE CHIEF ESSENTIALQUALIFICATION OF THE PREACHER.
III.THE GREAT RELIGIOUS WANT OF THE WORLD.
(T. Goadby.)

The inner revelation of Christ
T. Goadby.
Education refines and elevates but does not save and sanctify the soul; law
civilizes but cannotchange the heart and the will; science andphilosophy give
powerand endless resources to enlarge the faculties of the mind, but they
leave the problems of sin and pardon unsolved. The revelation of Christ fills
the soulwith light, and life, and joy; is the only solution of the problems of our
moral being; the only deliverer from the law of sin and death; the only pledge
of everlasting life, and indeed the beginning of a Divine educationwhich
ennobles and saves, and the dawn of a heavenly day which brings wisdom, and
righteousness, andpeace.
(T. Goadby.)
Regeneration
W. B. Pope, D. D.
is the calm exercise ofomnipotent powerlike that which commanded the light
to shine out of darkness:it commands the light of the glory of God to shine on
the soulfrom the face of God internally revealed.
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)
Conversion
W. J. Irons, D. D.
is the personalinterview of eachconsciencewith God the Judge of all.
(W. J. Irons, D. D.)
The conversionof St
F. W. Farrar.
He was not separatedfrom the events, as we are, by centuries of time. He was
not liable to be blinded by the dazzling glamour of a victorious Christendom.
He had mingled daily with men who had watchedfrom Bethlehem to
Golgotha the life of the Crucified. He had talkedwith the priests who had
consignedHim to the cross;he had put to death the followers who had wept
beside His tomb. He had to face the horror of a Messiahwho "had hung upon
a tree." He had heard again and again the:proofs which had satisfiedan

Annas and a Gamaliel that Jesus was a deceiver. The events on which the
apostle relied as proof of His Divinity had takenplace in the full blaze of
contemporary knowledge.He had not to deal with the uncertainties of
criticism or assaults on authenticity. He could question not ancient documents
hut living men. He had thousands of means close athand whereby to test
truths which up to this time he had so passionatelyand contemptuously
disbelieved. In accepting this half-crushed and wholly execratedfaith he had
everything in the world to lose — he had nothing conceivable to gain; and yet,
in spite of all — over-whelmed by a conviction which he felt to be irresistible
— Saul the Pharisee became a witness of the resurrection, a preacherof the
Cross.
(F. W. Farrar.)
PreachHim among the heathen.
Paul's mission
A. F. Barfield., W. B. Pope, D. D., DeanStanley.
I. HIS GREAT MOTIVE. To preach Christ.
II. HIS PROMPT SURRENDER.
1. Personal.
2. Decisive.
3. Final.
(A. F. Barfield.)The very theory of Christianity, not merely its finest
enthusiasm, is that when once Christ is in the heart the whole life must be
entirely His.
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)Paulwas not like the missionaryof later times, whose great
work is accomplishedif he can add to the number of his converts; he was this,
but he was much more than this; it was not the actual conversions themselves,
but the principle which every conversioninvolved, that constitutes the
enduring interest of that life-long struggle. It was not merely that he
reclaimedfrom Paganismthe Greciancities of Asia Minor, but that at every
step which he took westwardhe tore up the prejudice of ages. Itwas not
merely that he castout the false spirit from the damselat Philippi, hut that
here religion ceasedto be Asiatic and became European. It was not merely
that at Athens he converted Dionysius and Damaris, but that there was seena
Jew standing in the court of the Areopagus, and appealing to an Athenian
audience as children of the same Father, and worshippers, though

unconsciously, of the same God. It was not that at Rome he made some
impression on the slaves ofthe Imperial palace, but that a descendantof
Abraham recognizedin that corrupt metropolis a field for his exertions as
sacredas the courts of the Temple at Jerusalem.
(DeanStanley.)
The work of a missionary
R. Wardlaw, D. D.
I.BY WHOM sent.
II.WHITHER sent.
III.To WHOM sent.
IV.FOR WHAT sent.A missionary's work is not that of —
1. Science.
2. Politics.
3. Civilization.
4. But that of preaching to the heathen.
V. With what ENCOURAGEMENT. God's command: that is enough.
(R. Wardlaw, D. D.)
The missionary an enthusiast
C. Stanford, D. D.
Whom shall the Lord send? The passive neutral? The respectable indolent
selfist? The tame, dull, average religionist? The mere doctrinist, whose faiths,
instead of being alive and part of himself, are like dry botanicalpreparations,
classifiedand kept in a book? The man who studies how little he can give, or
be, or do, or suffer for Christ, and yet be safe? The sluggardwho, when a
shadow shakes ora leafrustles, says, "a lion is in the way"? The cowardwho
makes his professionunder shelter, and creeps along with slow cautious steps?
No I all these must be clearedout of the way. Lord Lansdowne askedDr.
Price the Unitarian what was to be done to reform the profligate people of
Calne? "Sendthem an enthusiast," was the reply. And only an enthusiastis
likely to be a divinely successfulmissionaryto the heathen, whether at home
or abroad.
(C. Stanford, D. D.)

Religious impulses
R. Tuck, B. A.
I. God's way of working in the hearts of His people is to START AND
QUICKEN RELIGIOUS IMPULSES.
1. By preaching.
2. Bible study.
3. Prayer.
4. Religious biography. But
5. there are impulses for which we cannot accountat all.
II. God carries on His work in us by SETTLING IMPULSES INTO LIFE
PRINCIPLES. This is sanctification. The leaping mountain spring that
bounds from rock to rock, and rushes over hindrances, gathers strengthand
becomes presentlythe noiselessquiet river that flows smoothly along,
breathing out refreshment as it flows, and singing to its ownquieter music the
same song to God.
III. SIN CHECKS THESE IMPULSES by suggesting delayin acting them
out.
IV. THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF THESE IMPULSES MAY BE TESTED by
their tendency to —
1. Devotion.
2. Work.
3. Holiness.
4. Beneficence.
V. SUCH IMPULSES MAY BE SAFELY FOLLOWED.
VI. DIVINE IMPULSES ARE CHECKED BY THE COOL
CALCULATIONS OF SELFISHNESS. Application:
1. Some of you are not naturally impulsive. There is a side of your nature
which needs cultivation.
2. Some of you are naturally very impulsive. Don't lay violent hands upon
them, but strengthen your other faculties.
(R. Tuck, B. A.)

I conferrednot with flesh and blood
Apostolic independence
It is difficult for us, at this distance of time, to feel, as St. Paul did, the
importance of his apostolic independence. Thatthe point was, in his opinion, a
vital one, is evident from the fact that he devotes nearly a third part of this
Epistle to the proof of it. It was important in two ways.
1. If it could be shownthat for some considerable periodafter his conversion
the apostle held little or no intercourse with the twelve, that he soughtnot
their teaching, but maintained an independent course, and actedsolely upon
his ownresponsibility, it would go far to prove that he occupiedno
subordinate position, but possessedanauthority which was equal in all
respects to theirs.
2. Whilst if it could be further shownthat, although deriving no instruction
from the twelve, he yet taught a system of Divine truth which was recognized
by them as identical with their own, it would be a strong argument in favour
of his position that he had receivedhis gospel, not of man, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ. For these reasons St. Paul asserts strongly, and
argues out at length, the fact of his independence.
Divine teaching for all
No man must restsatisfiedwith merely human teaching. In its proper place
such teaching is most valuable. But it is not all that is required. There is a
sense in which eachChristian ought to be able to say, "I conferrednot with
flesh and blood" — "I felt the necessityof higher teaching than that of man; I
knew that there were endowments which flesh and blood could not bestow
upon me; I soughtthem directly from God." There is doubtless a spirit of
independence which is a spirit of pride; but there is an independence of man
which is the independence of humility — an independence which is so
conscious ofthe inadequacy of everything human to satisfy the longings of the
soul, that it can only carry its greatneed to a source which is Divine.
The duty of obedience

Anon.
Implicit obedience is our first duty to God, and one for which nothing else will
compensate. If a lad at schoolis bidden to cipher, and choosesto write a copy
instead, the goodness ofthe writing will not save him from censure. We must
obey, whether we see the reasonor not; for God knows best. A guide through
an unknown country must be followedwithout demur. A captain, in coming
up the Humber or Southampton Water, yields complete authority to the pilot.
A soldier in battle must fight when and where he is ordered; when the conflict
is over, he may reflectupon and perceive the wisdom of his commander in
movements that at the time of their executionwere perplexing. The farmer
must obey God's natural laws of the seasons, if he would win a harvest; and
we must all obey God's spiritual laws if we would reap happiness here and
hereafter.
(Anon.)
Nature of obedience
C. Buck.
Obedience is —
1. Active; not only avoiding what is prohibited, but performing what is
commanded (Colossians3:8, 10).
2. Personal;for though Christ has obeyed the law for us as a covenantof
works, yet He has not abrogatedit as a rule of life (Romans 7:22; Romans
3:31).
3. Sincere (Psalm51:6; 1 Timothy 1:5).
4. Affectionate;springing from love, not from terror (1 John 5:19; 1 John 2:5;
2 Corinthians 5:14).
5. Diligent; as St. Paul's at this time.
6. Conspicuous (Philippians 2:15; Matthew 5:16).
7. Universal; not one duty, but all must be performed.
8. Perpetual;at all times, places, occasions.
(C. Buck.)
Obligation to obedience
C. Buck.

We are bound in all to obey God:
1. From the relationin which we stand to Him as His creatures.
2. From the law He has revealedto us in His Word.
3. From the blessings ofHis providence which we are constantly receiving.
4. From His love and goodness in the grand work of redemption.
(C. Buck.)
Advantages of obedience
C. Buck., C. Buck., C. Buck.
1. It adorns the gospel(Titus 2:10).
2. It evidences grace (2 Corinthians 5:17).
3. It rejoices the hearts of the ministers and people of God (3 John 1:2; 2
Thessalonians 1:19, 20).
4. It silences gainsayers (2 Peter1:11, 12).
5. It encouragesthe saints, while it reproves the lukewarm (Matthew 5:16).
6. It affords peace to the subjects of it (Psalm 25:12, 13;Acts 24:16).
7. It powerfully recommends religion, as that which is both delightful and
practicable (Colossians1:10).
8. It is the forerunner and evidence of eternal glory (Romans 6:22; Revelation
22:14).
(C. Buck.)Actualobedience is the practice and exercise ofthe severalgraces
and duties of Christianity.
(C. Buck.)Obedienceis the performance of the commands of a superior.
(C. Buck.)
Perfect
C. Buck.
obedience is the exactconformity of our hearts and lives to the law of God,
without the leastimperfection.
(C. Buck.)
Virtual

C. Buck.
obedience consists in a belief of the gospel, ofthe holiness and equity of its
precepts, of the truth of its promises, and a true repentance of all our sins.
(C. Buck.)
Thorough obedience
T. Brooks.
A soul sincerelyobedient will not pick and choose whatcommands to obey
and what to reject, as hypocrites do. An obedient soul is like a crystal glass
with a light in the midst, which shines forth through every part thereof. A
man sincerelyobedient lays such a charge upon his whole man; as Mary the
mother of Christ did upon all the servants at the feast, "WhatsoeverHe saith
unto you, do it." Eyes, ears, hands, heart, lips, legs, body, and soul, do you all
seriouslyand affectionatelyobserve whateverJesus Christsays unto you, and
do it.
(T. Brooks.)
Prompt obedience
A story is told of a great captainwho, after a battle, was talking over the
events of the day with his officers. He askedthem who had done the best that
day. Some spoke ofone man who had fought very bravely, and some or
another. "No," he said, "you are all mistaken. The best man in the field to-day
was a soldierwho was just lifting up his arm to strike an enemy, but, when he
heard the trumpet sound a retreat, checkedhimself, and dropped his arm
without striking the blow. That perfect and ready obedience to the will of his
generalis the noblest thing that has been done to-day."
Paul's promptitude
H. Melvill, B. D.
I. There was no PAUSE, for he says "immediately."
II. There was NO GIVING OPPORTUNITYFOR ANY COUNTER
INFLUENCE. He "conferrednot," etc. He neither took counselwith himself
nor with others.

III. It is as though he felt THE DANGER OF A MOMENT'S DELAY: fearful
lest his convictions should be weakenedif they did not at once produce great
energy of conduct.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Promptness discriminated
H. Melvill, B. D.
In matters of prudence secondthoughts are best; in matters of conscience first
thoughts are the best.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Promptness:its importance
H. Melvill, B. D.
Act "immediately" on your impressions of what is right. Stay not to debate
when consciencehas decided. Turn feelings into principles by forthwith
employing them in practice. Do as Paul did. He was like the mariner who, if
he can get a glimpse of the sun, seizes anobservationand shifts the rudder.
Get you but a glance of God's will, and instantaneously shape your course by
it.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Promptness:the danger of a want of it in religion
H. Melvill, B. D.
You felt a conviction as to duty, but you determined to take time for
consideration, and the convictioncooled. It was a golden moment, but in your
prudence — the prudence when a leak is found out in the ship of waiting till
to-morrow before trying to stop it — you determined to do nothing hastily,
but to wait and see whetherthe convictionwas aught else but a transient
feeling. Of course it proved a transient feeling. The first touches of God's
Spirit are meant to be transient unless attended to. The Spirit is likened to the
wind, and the soul is breathed upon rather than struck. It is your business to
prevent the impression being transient. If you would keepthe dew on the
grass you must keepthe sun from it. If you would keepthe impression of the
heart you must keepthe world from the heart. But because you have paused
to confer with flesh and blood, you have given the world time to rally its

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