Thou knowest :" but having premised this, I turn to the record of what he did and of what he suffered; and I hear him, yea rather I hear the very Voice of Truth bear witness by his mouth : one. In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Five times received I forty stripes save Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus. I am now ready to be offered.-2 Corinthians xi. 23, &c.; Acts xxi. 13; 2 Timothy iv. 6. It may be, as has been alleged, that St. Paul challenged his lawful privilege not for his own sake, but for the protection of his weaker brethren; thus maintaining their rights, against any future time of persecution :-" To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." And if so, he but trod in the steps of that Divine Master who came 66 eating and drinking," and was content to wear a less startling appearance of sanctity than invested His own servant St. John Baptist. "Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."-St. Matthew ix. 13. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.-Romans xv. 1. There is neither Cherub nor Seraph who, sounding depth or scaling height, beholdeth not God as a fathomless Wisdom still beneath him, and God as a measureless Perfection still overtopping him. There is no saint how ever entranced or hart-footed, who yet copies not only afar off the beatitude of our Saviour's devotions, or the gracious swiftness of His Feet as He went about doing good. Nevertheless, such as are Christ's must in their degree be made truly like Christ: and profitable it is so to contemplate the reflection as to adore that which is reflected, and that same which cannot be reflected. Thus there is a loneliness which our Lord shared with His favoured servant: 'Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me."-St. John xvi. 31, 32. Even so St. Paul in his last imprisonment writes to Timothy, his dearly beloved son:"-" At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me."-2 Timothy iv. 16, 17. Whilst there is a loneliness which He Who trod the winepress alone shareth not nor can share with His elect :—" At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"-St. Mark xv. 34. Yet under the Old and the New Dispensation have two of His saints alike so loved the Bride that they have seemed to yearn even after this exclusive prerogative of the Bridegroom. For Moses in the extremity of his intercession cried out:-Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin......; and if not, blot me, pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. -Exodus xxxii. 32. And fifteen hundred years later St. I Paul affirms with deliberate conviction:-I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites.— Romans ix. I, &c. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.-Philippians ii. 5. The Festival of St. Paul's Conversion, though Septuagesima may fall so early as to include it, does very commonly occur within the season of our Lord's Epiphany: thus bringing together Christ the Light of the Gentiles, and St. Paul His chief light-bearer unto them. "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."—Isaiah xlv. 22. A Prayer for Grace. GOD with Whom nothing is impossible;Who out of due time didst bring to the birth, and after the number was complete didst add an Apostle, and createdst him not out of a saint but out of a persecutor, turning a vessel fitted to destruction into a chosen vessel of mercy;-Thou Who bestowest grace on the last to become first, and gavest to St. Paul such grace that in labours he was more abundant, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft, yet not he, but Christ in him ;-Thou Who didst exalt him to things celestial, and didst guard him by a thorn in the flesh, and giving him the best gifts leddest him along the more excellent way, by steps of faith and hope to heights of charity:-O Lord, if not on us Thy gifts, yet lavish upon us, I beseech Thee, Thy graces. In Thy treasure-house are visions celestial, and under Thy control messengers of Satan; these we dare not ask: but to each and all of us, to first and last, least and greatest, be Thy grace sufficient; whatsoever we lack let it not be humility, nor suffer Thou our faith to fail, nor our hope to be ashamed, and most of all grant us charity. For very love's sake, Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. A Memorial of St. Paul. Psalm cxix. 33-104. St. Paul:- is brought up in Jerusalem. I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, LORD, what love have I unto Thy law: all the day long is my study in it.— Through Thy commandments I get understanding : therefore I hate all evil ways. And my delight shall be in Thy commandments : which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto Thy commandments, which I have loved: and my study shall be in Thy statutes. and was zealous toward God.-Acts xxii. 3. The Church appeals a The proud have digged Many of the saints did gainst her persecutor,- pits for me which are not after Thy law. I shut up in prison; and All Thy commandments are true: they persecute me Thou my ble. who is struck down on If my delight had not the road to Damascus.- been in Thy law: I should I obtained mercy, because have perished in my trouI did it ignorantly in unbelief.-1 Timothy i. 13. "I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.”Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee?-Ezekiel xxii. 14. "Lord, what wilt Thou O Lord, Thy Word: endureth for ever in heaven. Thy truth also remaineth from one generation to another: Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve Thee.— The law of Thy mouth have me to do?" is dearer unto me than I was not disobedient unto thousands of gold and the heavenly vision.-Acts silver.xxvi. 19. Blinded, He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.-1 St. John ii. 9. It is good for me that I have been in trouble: that I may learn Thy statutes. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: O give |