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in the will of your heavenly Father, as it respects your lot, and find a comfort in that state of mind which nothing else could impart? Let us appeal to the apostles, and ask these men, Did you not find in his service an abundant compensation, even here, for all your sufferings? Was it ever a source of regret to you that you renounced the world, and that like your Divine Master, you were by the world rejected? Was it a matter of regret that you were called to suffer for Christ's sake? Did you envy the rich man his possessions, when you knew you were rich towards God? Did you envy the mighty man his power, when you were assured that you were under His protection, who hath all power in heaven and in earth; and even that you yourselves could do all things through Christ who strengtheneth you? Did you look with earnest desire on the pleasures of this world, when there was in your view the prospect of the world beyond it? Nay, when, in this suffering state were you not thankful for all things to God the Father by our Lord Jesus Christ? Did you not, even here, consider godliness with contentment to be great gain? And how will that feeling be increased, and how will the profit of godliness be appreciated, when you reach the world of immortality! Never till that period shall we know it in its full extent; never till then shall we perceive the vast importance of securing the salvation of the soul, the wonderful contrast between them who live only for this world, and them who live for eternity. The one has lost everything that he had; his good things, they are gone: the other is an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ; the possessor of a happiness which all the grandeur and all the glory of the world are utterly unable to shadow forth. Is it a house? It is "a house not made with hands." A crown? But it is "incorruptible." A kingdom? But it "cannot be removed."

May that portion, my brethren, be ours! May we have the wisdom that cometh from above; and look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: and whatever are the trials and temptations of the world, count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord

THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

REV. R. C. DILLON, A. M.

ST. JAMES'S CHURCH, CLERKENWELL, JANUARY 25, 1835.

"Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting."-1 TIMOTHY, i. 16.

A GREATER man never lived than the Apostle Paul. His labours and travels in preaching the Gospel are without parallel. His zeal had carried him to some of the most renowned cities in the most distant regions of the then known world. He had toiled his way over no small portion of Syria, Arabia, Asia-Minor, and Europe. He had sailed the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and had thrice suffered shipwreck. He had carried his tract amongst the innumerable islands that so beautifully stud the Grecian Archipelago; and on the site of ancient Troy, on the classic shores of Greece, at Antioch, at Ephesus, at Philippi, at Corinth, and at Athens, he had planted the standard of the cross, and proclaimed the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How marvellous is it, then, to find him, even to the end of his unwearied ministry, frequently recurring to the day of his conversion, and embracing every opportunity of speaking of himself in his unregeneracy, and of testifying, even to those who might not have known it before, his former hostility to Christ, in order to exalt to the uttermost the honour of that God by whom he had been elected, redeemed, and sanctified.

You have observed, both in the morning and evening services, that this is the day to which our Church more especially directs our notice to the conversion of St. Paul. As the Church, therefore, has brought it under our consideration, we may find it profitable, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, to consider three points which that conversion brings before us. The first is, the necessity that existed for the conversion of St. Paul; the second is, the circumstances attending it; and, thirdly, the fountain of consolation springing from it to every contrite, penitent heart.

Let us first examine (for it requires examination) into THE NECESSITY THAT THERE WAS FOR THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

The Apostle says of himself, in the verse preceding the text, that he was the chief of sinners. Then, of course, there was a necessity for his conversion. But what made St. Paul the chief of sinners? What had been his peculiar guilt before his conversion to the faith of the Gospel? Had he been an idolater, or an adulterer, or a drunkard? Had he been, in any marked degree, a slave to

his licentious appetites? Is it to be said that he was so low in the scale of guilt as to have committed gross crimes? Had he been unjust? Had he been dishonest? Had he given any signs of covetousness? Was he ever chargeable, as Saul of Tarsus, with the guilt of oppressing the poor, the fatherless, or the widow? Do we ever hear of him in the days of his unregeneracy notoriously violating the command to keep holy the Sabbath-day? Do we ever hear of his openly expressing his disregard and contempt of religious duties? Was it in all, was it in any of these particulars, that he had been guilty? Strange as it may appear, he had not been guilty in any one of them so far from it, that I apprehend no man ever carried a code of morals—that is, of external righteousness-further than it was carried by Saul of Tarsus. (I say Saul of Tarsus and you will understand me to mean before his conversion; after his conversion he was called Paul.) He declares in his epistle to the Philippians, that "touching the righteousness which is in the law," he was "blameless :" no man could point, in the course of his life, to any open infraction of the ten commandments.

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Then does it not strike you-it is very likely to strike some in church to-night, as strange beyond expression, that an individual who had not been an idolater, nor a profane man, nor an immoral man, nor a covetous man, nor a dishonest man, nor a Sabbath-breaking man, nor a man who poured contempt upon religious duties-that such a man should be truly called "the chief of sinners?" Ah! brethren, we come now to enter into the essence of sin-to shew wherein lies its desperate and deep malignity. We are too much in danger of judging of sin merely by the outward act, and often when called to visit the dying bed, are we struck with astonishment to hear the individual say, he has done no man any wrong; he has been an affectionate father, a faithful master, a kind and accommodating neighbour, and as we all have ou infirmities, God is merciful, and will take him to his reward: all this springing from the belief, that if we do no wrong in our lives, there can be no wrong in our hearts. Now, brethren, you are not to measure your guilt so much by the injury which it does to society, as by the contempt which it pours on the holy law of God. The sinfulness of sin consists in its being committed against Him; in the opposition and the enmity of the heart to the divine character and will.

Taking this, then, as the standard by which to form our judgment, we shall find that St. Paul's malignity was, in the sight of God, of no common order. It is certainly true he was outwardly moral, and even zealous, in his religious profession; but he was inwardly a bitter enemy of God and holiness. He hated the Gospel, because it opposed his prejudices, and bade him lay aside his selfrighteous hopes of justifying himself by his own works. And because he hated the Gospel, he refused to attend to the proofs which might have convinced him of its truth: he obstinately shut his eyes that he might not see, and his ears that he might not hear; while he conceived and cherished the most rancorous enmity against the holy Jesus, and his faithful followers.

I apprehend, then, that even if our examination into the necessity for the conversion of Saul of Tarsus were to terminate at the point to which I have just brought it, we must admit it to have been guilt of no common order. But the description does not end here; much remains to be added. The virulence

of the Apostle's heart broke out into open hostility against God. It is a fine proof of hostility, that, in the closing scene of his life, writing to his beloved son in the Gospel (Timothy), he tells him in his very first letter, that he had been "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious." How many blasphemous speeches had he uttered against the blessed Jesus, and the Gospel of his grace! How many false, malicious, and blood-thirsty words had he spoken against the unoffending Christians! But his rage against them had not been confined to words: he was 66 66 a persecutor" as well as a blasphemer;" he was "injurious." The first time his name is mentioned in the Sacred History is in connexion with the martyrdom of Stephen: when, it is said, "the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul." I cannot help thinking that there is some very strong proof of virulence against Stephen, marked even in this apparently unimportant circumstance. The young men who were witnesses against Stephen, and whose duty in consequence it was, by the existing laws of the land, to be the first to stone him, stripped themselves to a certain extent of their clothes, in order to be unfettered in throwing the stones; and they laid down their clothes at the young man's feet. I can imagine him probably to have been reproaching them for their slackness, saying, “Strip, and stone him; I will take charge of your clothes." He himself indeed testifies very nearly to the same effect; and how feelingly does he mention it: "When the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting to his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him."

After this, he made havoc in the Church, entering into every house, and, without regard to sex or age, throwing them into prison. His own confession is, "Many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." You cannot but see, then, how great was the necessity for the conversion of this extraordinary blasphemer and persecutor.

Let us consider, in the second place, THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS

CONVERSION.

Where was Saul when he was converted? Was he attending the sanctuary? Was he smiting upon his breast with agonizing contrition, like the poor publicau who went up to pray in the temple? Was he found in the use of any of the means of grace? It pleases the Most High God oftentimes to reveal himself to the sons of men when they are attending the ministry of his word: they have been brought to repentance under the sermon of the minister, whose doctrines they came rather to ridicule than to respect: the Word has reached the heart, and turned the stone to flesh: they have thrown down the weapons of their rebellion, and, weeping as they have looked on those weapons, they have acknowledged the force of all-conquering grace. But it was not so with the Apostle Paul. God is a sovereign, and can have mercy on whom he will have mercy, in the very way in which he himself chooses. We sometimes say he works by means; but he always works by his own means-the means of his own choosing, and at the time of his own choosing. It so pleased him, in his infinite wisdom, that the Apostle Paul, at the time of his conversion, should not only not be

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seeking for mercy, but that he should not be in the way of seeking for it; that he should neither be hearing, nor reading, nor praying, nor attending in the sanctuary: in fact, he could not have been at any time more unprepared to receive any manifestation of the divine grace. He was engaged, you know, in a journey of iniquity, in open defiance of the Son of God, crucifying him afresh, and putting him to an open shame. He had received letters from the High Priest, the highest authority of the Jewish people, to the synagogue at Damascus, which was at some distance from Jerusalem, that if he found any of the disciples of Christ, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And he went forth, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter" against the disciples of the Lord. O there is much malignity folded up in the words" breathing out." I can conceive no representation more strikingly graphic of a mind abandoned to a storm of persecuting rage. Breathing out threatenings and slaughter;" as the panting of the beast of prey. And there is something peculiarly strong in the word, "still." Saul is said to be "still breathing out threatenings and slaughter." The havoc he had already made; the injury he had already done; the families he had already been the means of butchering, had been by no means sufficient to satisfy his vengeful spirit. His cruelty to the disciples of the Lord seems to be heightened as he proceeds. What, perhaps, was at first only a warm attempt on the part of the youthful Jew to protect the religion of his forefathers from being overthrown by the Christian, seems to have been increased into an unmitigated thirst for spilling Christian blood. His very existence seems to have depended on the gratification of his rage. His sword was always unsheathed; and he had, it appears, a satisfaction in making the Christians taste the last dregs of the cup of bitterness he placed before them.

But it is not needful that I dwell on the dark story of the wrongs and wretchedness which the Churches of Christ for a time endured at the hands of Saul of Tarsus. I cannot go into the detail of what we may conceive to have been his merciless, and indiscriminate, and unpitying barbarity. Let it suffice to remind you, that multitudes (we know not how many) of pious and peaceful believers, both men and women, were driven from their homes and their families, hunted like wild beasts, persecuted even unto strange cities, driven beyond the limits of their own country, punished oft in every synagogue, compelled to blaspheme the name by which they were called, and then sent down with violence and butchery to the grave.

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But this career was cut short; and about noon on one memorable day, day of his miraculous conversion (I say miraculous, because so it was in point of circumstance and outward manifestation, though by no means miraculous in point of inward principle; because all conversions in point of principle are precisely the same, although in circumstances there may be something miraculous and memorable)-about noon on one memorable day, as he made his journey, fully bent on the imprisonment and persecution of the disciples of Jesus Christ, just as he was coming to Damascus, on the point of setting his foot in that city, which he designed as the next scene of his barbarity, he saw in the way a light from heaven (above the brightness of the sun, or he could not have seen it at noon-day) which shined round about him, and them that journeyed with him. He dropped to the ground, trembling with astonishment; knowing not what had

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