Page images
PDF
EPUB

on this side of eternity,-the joy of seeing his people "walking in the truth,"—of seeing multitudes aroused by his warning trumpet making good their escape from the region of the curse into the refuge of God's Eternal Favour, and therein abiding safe in persevering faith and holiness,-until the time when, having accomplished the work which has been given him to do, he exchange the post of vigilance and warfare for scenes of eternal rest and triumph,—a conspicuous place of labour for a conspicuous sphere of glory, and shine forth effulgent in the kingdom of our Father, with many souls, saved by his blessed instrumentality, clustered around him in his heavenly orb, into one bright constellation of felicity and glory manifold.

And now, "I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up" in mutual edification here, and to give you a joint inheritance hereafter among "the saints in light." Peace be within your Zion's walls,-prosperity in all her borders! For our friend and our companion's sake, many will say, "Peace be among you," and for this the house of the Lord our God we will always wish your good!

DISCOURSE XX.

ACTS, xx. 28.-"Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock."

FATHERS AND BRETHREN,

THE sentiment of diffidence which I might well be expected to feel in discharging the office of exhorting such an audience is greatly relieved by the recollection that the exhortation is not mine, but an Apostle's, that whatever lack there may be of weight and authority belonging to him who conveys it, there is transcendent weight and authority belonging to him from whom it originally comes. If ever there were an individual of our order entitled to "exhort with all authority" his brethren in the Christian ministry, it was surely the great Apostle Paul. It will readily be allowed that there never has appeared in the Christian church a man who was himself more richly provided with all gifts of nature and of grace for the sacred function, and more amply fitted to be, as it were, the mirror and the monitor of all who should succeed. Let me shortly sketch his character. He had been originally endowed by

the God of nature with a very lofty, acute, and energetic mental conformation,-a keen penetration, and a masculine vigour of understanding, with a glowing ardour and profound intensity of feeling, not often found in such eminent degree and such harmonious union. The convictions of this powerful intellect, the impressions of this glowing heart, were uttered by him in an eloquence of speech, which, rude though it might appear and artless to the Grecian masters of discourse, was yet in no ordinary measure imbued with a home-striking nervousness and an overwhelming fervour more powerful to sway the heart than all the rhetorician's studied graces, and often soared into a sublimity or melted into a tenderness alike beyond the reach of art. To these high qualities of mind and speech our Apostle added a corresponding degree of active skill and energy in the conduct of affairs, with an eager decidedness of purpose, an unbending stedfastness of perseverance, and an indefatigable patience of exertion, which marked him out as likely to prove the foremost champion of any cause in which he might decidedly embark. Talents and qualities of character like these had in Paul been cultivated by profound and various study,-by an enlarged and not superficial acquaintance with men and things; while, in addition to these rich gifts of natural endowment, and this wide extent of acquired cultivation, he had received from above, far beyond

the ordinary measure even of inspired men, abun dance of heavenly truth and knowledge, derived not from any secondary sources, but from the fountain itself of Celestial Wisdom,-the direct revelation of Christ and of God. To complete his singular equipment as a man and an ambassador of God, he had received from the same source, not only the light of heavenly knowledge, but the glow of heavenly grace. The sentiment of entire devotion to God,―the principle of intense and overwhelming love to the Redeemer, the eager desire, the holy passion for saving souls,-the elevating consciousness of a noble cause and a glorious calling,-and the pure flame of generous, sublime, divine enthu siasm in its prosecution,-such were the ruling, the directing, the controlling influences of his nature and his life, which proved to all his ministerial and apostolic labours an ever-prompting impulse and ever-sustaining support.

You are aware how brilliantly and effectively these high endowments and holy principles appeared in the Apostle's practical discharge of his office as a Christian missionary; in what harmony and power they developed themselves through the course of a ministry unparalleled for magnitude and intensity of labour,―for depth and variety of suffering,-for extent and splendour of success; how in all things he approved himself the minister of God, and not simply a minister,-one of many, but so far out

stripping the ordinary measure of ministerial labours, that if others were ministers of Christ, he "was labouring more abundantly than they all,—yet not he, but the grace of God which was in him." Nor have ye forgot the splendid success by which this high career of heavenly heroism, with all its profusion of labour and of patience, was accompanied and crowned,— "the things which Christ wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed," so that he could recount,—and he was no man "to boast of things beyond his measure," how " from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum," yea, far beyond towards Europe's western shore, he "fully preached the Gos pel of Christ," fulfilling the sublime commission which had been given him at the first, that he should go far abroad among the Gentiles, "opening their eyes, -turning them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God."

While we thus glance back upon the ministerial character of the Apostle Paul, I am sure there is none among you all, fathers and brethren, who will disdain him for a monitor, or think it unworthy of you to "suffer" from him "the word of exhortation,"exhortation which he was so richly qualified to offer, as well by his eminence in the practical work of the ministry, as by his celestial inspiration and apostolical authority. It is for this reason I have set out with reminding you whose words they are which I have read in your hearing,-that, remem

« PreviousContinue »