sin. Naturally open and ardent in his temper, he was ready to follow violent rather than deceitful courses-to be a warm friend and a determined, but not concealed, enemy. His zeal, though misguided, and his prejudices, though strong, differed from those of a person of weak intellect, or who is actuated by interested motives; and having embarked in a cause which his judgment approved, it is probable that he was endued with a resolution and courage which disposed him to prosecute it, notwithstanding difficulties and dangers. I say it is probable; for there are unquestionable instances of persons, naturally irresolute and timid, who, under the influence of religion, have acquired a high degree of firmness of mind and moral courage. What was vicious or excessive in the temper of Paul, the grace of God corrected, while it strengthened and sanctified whatever was of a different kind, and rendered it eminently conducive, under the guidance of higher principles, to the advancement of the divine glory, and the best interests of mankind.

I shall, in the first place, take a general survey of the character of Paul; and, in the second place, point out some of its discriminating features.

I. Let us begin with a short survey of his labours as an indefatigable preacher of Christianity. This was the sphere in which he was formed by the grace of God for moving, and in which all the excellences of his private character shone forth. He was chosen, not merely for his own sake, but “for the elect's sake, that they also might obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." The heavenly treasure was bestowed on him, that he might "make many rich" along with himself. He was called at the same moment to be a saint and an apostle; and "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" shone upon his mind, that being made "light in the Lord," he might irradiate the minds of multitudes. "It pleased God," says he," who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen.” *

* Gal. i. 16.

Paul was invested with the entire apostolical office, and we find him discharging every part of it. He dispensed both sacraments, planted and watered churches, ordained elders in them, corrected abuses which crept into them, assisted in settling such controversies as disturbed the whole Christian community, or particular sections of it, and on more than one occasion promoted and took charge of charitable contributions made for the relief of poor or persecuted saints. But the principal employment to which he considered himself as called was that of preaching the gospel. To this he devoted himself, his time, his talents, his strength, suffering nothing to interfere with it, and devolving upon his companions and helpers those duties which might distract him from his main and most appropriate work. "For Christ," says he, "sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel."

No sooner received he his commission, and his qualifications for executing it, than he entered on the arduous undertaking, which he prosecuted during a period of nearly thirty years, with amazing success, until his course was terminated, and his labours crowned with a glorious martyrdom. Besides Judea, he preached over the extensive countries of Syria and Cilicia; of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia; of Phrygia and Galatia; at Ephesus, and other cities of proconsular Asia; and passing into Europe, he taught in the principal cities of Greece and of Macedonia, as far as Sclavonia; in the islands of Cyprus, Crete, and Melita, and the city of Rome. In the course of his travels, he converted thousands to the faith of Christ Jews, Jewish proselytes, and idolaters, and erected Christian Churches in all the principal towns, the most of which he visited thrice, confirming the disciples, and adding to their numbers and their gifts. From the commencement to the close of his career he was never idle, teaching from house to house, preaching in season and out of season, by night and by day; and when the door of usefulness was shut on him in one place, he removed to another. During the period of which we read in the New Testament, the other apostles

1 Cor. i. 17.

resided chiefly at Jerusalem, and they appear to have seldom preached beyond the bounds of Judea before the destruction of that city. But Paul was specially chosen to propagate Christianity among the heathen. Considering himself as "the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles," he, with the approbation of his brethren, went into all the world, preaching the word every where, and seeking out those places, in preference to others, which had not heard the gospel. "I will not dare to speak of any but those things which Christ hath wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that, from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ: yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation.” *

In the midst of these great labours he composed the letters which have instructed and made wise to salvation so many thousands besides those to whom they were immediately addressed, which have diffused the knowledge of the Gospel far beyond the sphere of his personal exertions, and will continue, along with the other Scriptures, to diffuse it more and more, until, having accomplished all their purposes, they shall be burnt up with the earth and all that is in it.

2. Consider him as a sufferer for the gospel. It behoved him to submit to more than toil and fatigue, privations and hardships, in pursuing the course which he had chosen. At the very commencement of it he "suffered the loss of all things,”—of every thing which he had formerly coveted and laboured to acquire, and valued at the highest rate, and gloried most in, the love of his friends, the high reputation which he had acquired among his countrymen, the prospects which he had of worldly advancement ;. and, what was still dearer to his proud and pharisaical heart, that goodly and rich garb of personal righteousness which he had woven and embroidered with infinite care, in which he had so often looked on himself with inward gratulation and complacency, and trusted

*Rom. xv. 18-20.

for the approbation of God and men-all, all this he sacrificed cheerfully, threw it at his feet, and trampled on it as so much dirt and refuse, that he might "win Christ and be found in him," clothed with his righteousness; and that he might discharge that high ministry to which he was called of heaven. "I will show him" (said Jesus to Ananias, when he sent him to baptize his new convert), "how great things he must suffer for my name's sake;" as if the only thing to which he had been called was to suffer! And he gave him an early proof of the treatment which he might expect from men in his service for scarcely had he avowed himself a believer in Christianity, and begun to "preach the faith which once he destroyed," when the Jews sought to kill him; and so keen was their search after him, that it was necessary for his new friends to let him down by a basket over the wall of Damascus. From this time forward he was continually exposed to the deadly hatred of his unbelieving countrymen, along with the contempt and rage of the heathen world. Luke has given us some account of the sufferings he endured, and the hairbreadth escapes he made by sea and land, during the period that he accompanied him. They are frequently adverted to by the apostle himself in his writings. But we could have had no idea of their number, variety, and greatness, if he had not been led to specify them in one of his epistles, in answer to certain false teachers who aimed at marring his usefulness by derogating from the proofs of his apostleship. "Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the

care of all the churches." (2 Cor. xi. 23-28.) You will observe, my brethren, that this was written ten years before his death, and that it is but a bare catalogue of the kinds of suffering to which he had been subjected, without mentioning particulars or detailing instances. What a fine opportunity would this have afforded to some persons to gratify, what is called, an innocent vanity, cover their detractors with shame, and awaken the slumbering sympathies of their friends, by entering into a minute detail of some of the most interesting and affecting of the tales of danger and death, by which it would have been easy to fill a letter larger than any in the New Testament! But the apostle hurries rapidly over them. So far from boasting of them, he apologizes for mentioning them, and declares that he "will glory in the things which concern his infirmities." The only one of which he gives any particulars was the most inglorious of his escapes (Verses 32, 33). And he states as the crowning and heaviest article of his distress, the burden which daily pressed upon his mind from (what many would have contrived to make light enough) "the care of all the churches."

3. Consider him as an advanced and experienced Christian. Deeply impressed as he was with the importance of his apostolical office, and assiduous in the discharge of its duties, he did not forget that he had a soul to be saved or lost, as well as the meanest of those to whom he preached. He found time to attend to and watch over this amidst the multiplicity of his public cares and watchings; and hereby left an example to all who should afterwards be intrusted with the gospel. He knew that persons might possess the most splendid and even edifying gifts; and that they might perform the most specious acts of charity and piety, and after all be destitute of saving grace, and strangers to the power of godliness. And he did not neglect to apply this test to his own character: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." (1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.) He