tion of business, and directing the concerns of others, which, by an ordinary mind, would have been pleaded as a valid reason for suspending spiritual ideas, and dismissing spiritual feelings, they yet mix themselves, as it were involuntarily, with his secular cares; there is not only a satisfaction, but a joyfulness, in these escapes of affection which seem to spring from his soul, in proportion to the depression of his circumstances, to the danger which surrounded, to the deaths which threatened him.

When Paul and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi, it is recorded that they prayed at midnight. This would naturally be expected from such men, under such circumstances; but it is added, "they sang praises unto God." Thus they not only justified but glorified Him, under this suffering, as well as degradation. For it must not be forgotten, that this imprisonment was not merely a measure for securing their persons, they were stripped bare, many stripes were laid upon them, and the iron entered into their soul. Yet they sang praises unto God!

What a triumph is here of the element of spirit over the force and violence of outward circumstances !

"Th' oppressor holds

His body bound, but knows not what a range

His spirit takes, unconscious of a chain;

And that to bind him is a vain attempt,

Whom God delights in, and in whom he dwells.”

In the Epistle to the Ephesians, to which we have just referred, we are presented with a fresh instance how much his devotion rose under the same circumstances of distress. It was written from a prison, and is almost one entire effusion of love and praise. It is an overflowing expression of affectionate gratitude, that has no parallel. It seems to be enriched with an additional infusion of the spirit of God, and has perhaps more of the heroism of Christian feeling than, except in the discourses of our Lord, is to be found in the whole sacred treasury. It seems to come fresh from the celestial world. He speaks not as from a prison, but as from a region of light, and life, and glory. His thoughts are in heaven, his soul is with his Saviour, his heart is with his treasure: no wonder, then, that his language has a tincture of the idiom of immortality.

As Archimedes, when Syracuse was taken by the besiegers, was so intent on a mathematical demonstration, that he knew not when the city was lost; so the Apostle, absorbed in a concern as much superior to that of the philosopher as Scripture truth is to scientific, lost sight of the cruelties of Nero, forgot his former sufferings, felt not his present captivity, thought not of his impending fate: - present, past, and future, as they related to himself, were absorbed in his zeal for the salvation of the Church, for the glory of its Founder! Mark the Divine sup

ports vouchsafed to this imprisoned Saint! Note his state of grace! Observe the perfection of his faith! How the motion of his spirit was accelerated as it drew nearer to its centre! He, whose deep humility had suggested to him the possibility, that, after converting others, he might himself be rejected: he who had desired not to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon now declares that he is ready to be offered up, now desires to depart; not in the gentle decay of exhausted nature, not in the weaning languor of a sick bed, not in the calm of a peaceful dissolution, suffering only the pains inseparable from an ordinary death; but he is prepared to meet the hand of violence: he is ready to pour out his blood upon the scaffold; he is longing to join "the souls of them which were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God." So far from being dismayed, because he knew that his martyrdom was at hand; he who knew not what it was to boast, yet, knowing in whom he had trusted; feeling his eternal redemption drawing nigh, could exclaim with a holy bravery: “I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith."

Then, in a rapture of triumphant joy at the mental view of the crown of righteousnes, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, "had prepared for him against the great day," that same unparalleled philanthropy, which he had so con

stantly manifested, breaks out and consecrates a moment, when we might have supposed the immediate nearness of his own unspeakable blessedness would have engrossed his whole soul. His religion was no selfish piety, his hope no solitary salvation. Gratitude swells into its highest transport from the reflection that the Lord Jesus had not exclusively reserved the Crown for him, no, nor for the beloved Timothy, to whom he writes, nor for the multitude of his own friends, nor for the converts who were to be peculiarly "his joy and crown of rejoicing;" but "for ALL them also which love his appearing," for all "the redeemed of the Lord" to the end of the world.

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CHAP. XIII.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE QUALITIES OF SAINT PAUL HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATUREHIS DELICACY IN GIVING ADVICE OR REPROOF

HIS INTEGRITY.

THERE is in Saint Paul's writings and conduct such a warmth and openness; so much frankness and candour; such an unreserved pouring out of his very soul; such a free disclosure of his feelings, as well as of his opinions; such an elevation, mingled with such a soberness of thinking; so much social kindness, with so much divine love; so much practical activity, with such deep spirituality; so much human prudence, with so much of the wisdom which is from above; so much tenderness for the persons of men, with so little connivance at their faults; so much professional dignity, with so much personal humility, as it would be difficult to find in any other human being.

Yet in all these opposite excellences there is nothing that is not practicable, nothing that is not imitable. His religion, like his morality, has a peculiar sedateness. His ardent feelings betray him into no intemperance of speech, into no inequality of action. His piety is free from eccentricity, his faith from presumption.

VOL. X.