SERMON IX.

THE FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

HIS CONVERSION VIEWED IN REFERENCE TO HIS OFFICE.

1 COR. XV. 9, 10.

I am the least of the Apostles, that am not meet to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

TO-DAY we commemorate, not the whole History of St. Paul, nor his Martyrdom, but his wonderful Conversion. Every season of his life is full of wonders, and admits of a separate commemoration; which indeed we do make, whenever we read the Acts of the Apostles, or his Epistles. On this his day, however, that event is selected for remembrance, which was the beginning of his wonderful course; and we may profitably pursue (please God) the train of thought thus opened for us.

We cannot well forget the manner of his conversion. He was journeying to Damascus with autho

1

rity from the chief priests to seize the Christians, and bring them to Jerusalem. He had sided with the persecuting party from their first act of violence, the martyrdom of St. Stephen; and he continued foremost in a bad cause, with blind rage endeavouring to defeat what really was the work of Divine power and wisdom. In the midst of his fury, he was struck down by miracle, and converted to the faith he persecuted. Observe the circumstances of the case. When the blood of Stephen was shed, Saul, then a young man, was standing by, "consenting unto his death," and "kept the raiment of them that slew him '." Two speeches are recorded of the Martyr in his last moments; one, in which he prayed that God would pardon his murderers, the other his witness, that he saw the heavens opened, and Jesus on God's right hand. His prayer was wonderfully answered. Stephen saw his Saviour; the next vision of that Saviour to mortal man was vouchsafed to the very young man, even Saul, who shared in his murder and his intercession.

Strange, indeed, it was; and what would have been St. Stephen's thoughts could he have known it! The prayers of righteous men avail much. The first Martyr had power with God to raise up the greatest Apostle. Such was the honor put upon the first fruits of those sufferings, upon which the

1 Acts xxii. 20.

Church was entering. Thus from the beginning the blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church. Stephen, one man, was put to death for saying that the Jewish people were to have exclusive privileges no longer; but from his very grave rose the favoured instrument by whom the thousands and ten thousands of the Gentiles were brought to the knowledge of the Truth!

1. Herein then, first, is St. Paul's conversion memorable; that it was a triumph over the enemy. When Almighty God would convert the world, opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, who was the chosen preacher of His mercy? ? Not one of Christ's first followers. To show His power, He put forth his hand into the very midst of the persecutors of His Son, and seized upon the most strenuous among them. The prayer of a dying man is the token and occasion of his triumph which He had reserved for Himself. His strength is made perfect in weakness. As of old, He broke the yoke of His people's burden, the staff of their shoulder, the rod of their oppressor1. Saul made furiously for Damascus, but the Lord Almighty "knew his abode, and his going out and coming in, and his rage against Him;" and "because his rage against Him, and his tumult came up before Him," therefore as in Sennacherib's case, though in a far different way, He "put His hook in his nose,

1 Isa. ix. 4.

and His bridle in his lips, and turned him back by the way by which he came 1." "He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly 2," triumphing over the serpent's head while his heel was wounded. Saul, the persecutor, was converted, and preached Christ in the synagogues.

2. In the next place, St. Paul's conversion may be considered as a suitable introduction to the office he was called to execute in God's providence. I have said it was a triumph over the enemies of Christ; but it was also an expressive emblem of the nature of God's general dealings with the race of man. What are we all but rebels against God, and enemies of the Truth? what were the Gentiles in particular at that time, but "alienated" from Him, "and enemies in their mind by wicked works?" Who then could so appropriately fulfil the purpose of Him who came to call sinners to repentance, as one who esteemed himself the least of the Apostles, that was not meet to be called an Apostle, because he had persecuted the Church of God? When Almighty God in His infinite mercy purposed to form a people to Himself out of the heathen, as vessels for glory, first He chose the instrument of this His purpose, as a brand from the burning, to be a type of the rest. There is a parallel to this order of Providence in the Old

1 Isa. xxxvii. 28, 29.

2 Col. ii. 15.

3 Col. i. 21.

Testament. The Jews were bid to look unto the rock whence they were hewn 1. Who was the especial Patriarch of their nation?-Jacob. Abraham himself, indeed, had been called and blessed by God's mere grace. Yet Abraham had remarkable faith. Jacob, however, the immediate and peculiar Patriarch of the Jewish race, is represented in the character of a sinner, pardoned and reclaimed by Divine mercy, a wanderer exalted to be the father of a great nation. Now I am not venturing to describe him as he really was, but as he is represented to us; not personally, but in that particular point of view in which the sacred history has placed him; not as an individual, but as he is typically, or in the way of doctrine. There is no mistaking the marks of his character and fortunes in the history, designedly (as it would seem) recorded to humble Jewish pride. He makes his own confession, as St. Paul afterwards; "I am not worthy of the least of all Thy mercies 2" Every year too the Israelites were bid bring their offering, and avow before God, that "a Syrian ready to perish was their father3." Such as was the father, such (it was reasonable to suppose) would be the descendants. None would be "greater than their father Jacob," for whose sake the nation was blest.

'Isa. li. 1.

3 Deut. xxvi. 5.

2 Gen. xxxii. 10.

4 John iv. 12.