obstructed in one place he instantly departed for another. He could say, "From Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ." And preaching was only the commencement of his occupations. He watched over his converts with incessant and particularizing solicitude, guiding them and admonishing them in words of heavenly wisdom. Upon him also came "the care of all the churches," while he stimulated their activity, superintended their charities, and solved their questions of discipline and creed. Frequently, too, he labored with his own hands for his support "lest any should say that he made a gain of the Gospel," and everywhere adapting himself to the ideas and habits of the people, he became "all things to all men that he might by all means save some." Thus he passed a life more devotedly laborious than any other on record.

Many mental motives contributed to this unexampled diligence of the Apostle. He reflected on the guilt of neglecting to make known the everlasting Gospel; hence his cry, "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." He had great love for souls, for whom he "travailed in birth" that "Christ might be formed within them," and for whose welfare he was willing "to spend and be spent." He felt a noble ambition to be a founder

of Christian churches, and therefore "would preach the Gospel where Christ had not been named, lest he should build on another man's foundation."

And, like the Master whom he loved, he looked "to the joy that was set before him"-"to that crown of righteousness" with which the Lord, the righteous judge should recompense his faithful servant. But there was one consideration incomparably more influential with him than all others combined. He refers to it frequently in his epistles, but it is written on his life "unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." When grace raised him from a blasphemer to be a disciple, and then raised him from a disciple to be an apostle, he felt himself placed under infinite obligations; thenceforth he was not his own but the Lord's servant, "the bond-slave of Jesus Christ."

AN EXAMPLE TO BE FOLLOWED

Most Christians must honestly confess to being too much influenced by low and selfish motives—and that they reflect too exclusively on the danger of neglecting duty and on the reward of its performance. Let such considerations arouse the guilty and interest the indifferent; those of

mature spiritual life should act from higher principles. Especially should believers strive to feel more and more that peculiar sentiment of the Gospel, that grandest of all impulses, a sense of the infinite grace of God. By what computation shall we express the magnitude of those obligations under which saving mercy has laid us? Shall we say that we are the purchased ones of heaven? Nay, we that are God's own by a thousand obligations of natural justice are ten thousand times his repurchased ones through the matchless gift of his atoning Son and the regenerating work of his Almighty Spirit. Let us open our hearts to the reign of grace that its gentle yet divine energy may assume dominion there; let us ponder the unspeakable love of God for our perishing souls, and, constrained by that love, let us consecrate ourselves to his service!

As a concluding thought let it be remembered that Paul's ability to realize his own unworthiness and the exceeding greatness of the grace of God was itself a gift of the divine goodness. If, therefore, we would experience the power of that spirit which just views of truth produced in this Apostle, let us earnestly solicit enlightenment from on high. Let us pray for the help of the Holy Spirit that we may sincerely and under

standingly acknowledge our own great unworthiness, and that we may ascribe to God the glory of his salvation! So shall we walk humbly before our Maker; so shall we speak for Christ with holy boldness; so shall we praise God out of heartfelt gratitude, and serve him with unwearied devotion.

XV

THE FULNESS OF THE TIME

No science is comparable with the knowledge of God. A mere intellectual acquaintance with the ways of this glorious being is extremely elevating; a spiritual apprehension of the truth concerning him is the only unfailing fountain of happiness. In man's present weak and sinful condition the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are our most important source of information regarding divine things. Without a written revelation our enfeebled powers could not attain adequate conceptions of Jehovah; the Creator of worlds would be hidden in the midst of his own universe. Whatever ideas of Deity have been produced by ancient or by modern philosophy the best fall far short of the glory of that everliving holy and merciful God who speaks to us in the Gospel and whom Christians worship.

THE NATURAL REVELATION OF GOD

But while our most positive instructions come from the sure word of prophecy, God also reveals