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is reference to some physical infirmity (2 Cor. x. 10; Gal. iv. 13, 14, 15). Doubtless that stroke of judgment was to arrest him in his course of sin. often will a heavy affliction awaken the soul, when love fails. In like manner Zacharias was struck dumb for his unbelief. St. Luke is the only evangelist who records the fact (Luke i. 20). St. Paul's blindness may have directed his mind to it. And it is very remarkable that St. Paul commanded blindness upon Elymas the sorcerer when he withstood them, and sought to turn away the deputy from the faith: "Behold, the hand of the JEHOVAH is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season" (Acts xiii. 8-11).

We may suppose these bodily, and now increasing infirmities of St. Paul, were one reason of his so attaching himself to St. Luke, and so avail himself of his help to write, and perhaps to some extent to arrange his works. We should not meet with these expressions, "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand," if it had been his habit to write all his epistles himself. As the name of the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, and the name of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews were both concealed, the epistles may both alike have been published after the apostle's death, by St. Luke, and perhaps the names of both concealed from the same reason.

Noble and admirable as the character of St. Paul was, it is by no means my intention to make him more conspicuous than his Master, nor to give him a more prominent place than his Master; but only to show how he loved, honoured, worshipped, and exalted

that Lord and Master. Therefore I shall return to this my first great purpose in this work, the setting forth and exaltation of Him alone. But I may say here, if a Divine revelation of the Gospel of our salvation made a St. Paul, the man who wrought the change he did; who did the gigantic work he did; who planted Christendom, while Satan, incarnate in man, was walking to and fro upon the earth to tear it up by the root; I say, may we not confidently pray for such revelations of the Gospel to man? May not, not a St. Paul alone, but the Christian Church, in and with her multifarious gifts, go forth and bring the world within the pale of the Protestant faith? Is it not evident that the power is alone of Almighty God, that there must be more prayer, more spiritual communion with Him, more childlike trust in Him as our Father and reconciled God.

"All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

St. Paul was a monument of this power (1 Tim. i. 13-16; 1 Cor. i. from the twenty-fourth verse); not only of its regenerating, transforming character, but also of its sustaining and operating nature. As I have said, it wrought in St. Paul to plant Christendom; and I do believe now, a commission of the Gospel, instituted and protected by the government, and well supported by some imposed duty, and by the free-will offerings of the country, never forgetting that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of

strongholds" (2 Cor. x.). I scarcely dare think of the money spent in this country upon the most veritable follies that can be conceived of; in short, upon everything but the planting Christianity over the world this is only supported by a driblet from the ocean. If money spent upon pagan monuments to memorialize the dead, and some of that that is spent in diving into the mysteries of this world, and that spent upon vanities and indulgence, were put into the treasury of God, what might it not do? Let us remember the little free-will offering that was sent from the Philippian Church to the prisoner at Rome, to that giant in the faith who had no means, no weapon but "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;" the extent of whose charity was this: "I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."

The weak instruments that God ever calls for His work should teach us that "it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit." We see Christ in His distinct humanity, born in a manger, a feeble Infant, the son of a carpenter, no form nor comeliness, despised and rejected of men, not where to lay His head, scourged by Pilate, crowned by the soldiers with a crown of plaited thorns, clothed in a purple robe, smitten with their hands, set forth to public gaze, and the proclamation made-" Behold the man!" crucified between two thieves; and yet that holy Form that suffered all those indignities, and many more, was the uncreated Sacrifice that was to take away the sin of the world; the Divine, pure Body, that was to atone for the sin of all; the Offering appointed by

God, from a past eternity, to redeem mankind. It was God, reconciling us to Himself, restoring us to Himself. God came down to conflict with the devil, and to deliver all from him who are convinced of sin, and willing to be delivered. The God, in the full, free exercise of His nature, love.

The great apostle pales before his JEHOVAH SAVIOUR MESSIAH, but shines in his resplendent integrity as the faithful servant and soldier of Him, his God. In the proclamation of God having done a work that none but God could do, we have seen this already; but we must now return to his epistle to the Colossians, the essence of which is the Godhead of Christ, and then we may follow him on in his hold upon that doctrine to the end of his life; and worship God that by an object, outcast and despised, He could compass a work so great and glorious, so complete and all-sufficient; and pray Him to make it known to the world by revelation, as He did to St. Paul. If we are faithful in the means, He will be faithful in the grace.

We have seen the Epistle to the Colossians was written from Rome, during the first imprisonment of St. Paul there. Timothy was then with him, as he commended his apostleship with his own. And then his usual salutation: "Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the JEHOVAH Jesus Christ."

In verse 12, as although his spirit had already taken flight, he said: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

"Who hath delivered us from the power of dark

ness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." St. Paul could not forget that translation; it was a reality he could never enough make known.

Then what follows is one of those triumphs of faith that takes us out of ourselves, and beyond ourselves. "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins:

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." That is, God, as an Omniscient Being, would not have created man if it had not been that by "the Word" the human race was redeemed and forgiven before brought into being. Christ, the Being of the covenant, lived before them, "the firstborn of every creature.

"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:

"And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." This is the point in St. Paul's teaching that the Son, the sacrifice for sin, was the Creator, and that the Creator was the Redeemer-one Eternal Being.

"And He is the head of the body, the Church;" that is, Christ and the Church are one Being; they cannot be separated; in the presence of God they are one; He sees all in one. Christ is the representative of the human family. The Church takes his position, as the child the parent's, as the wife the husband's; all the holiness and the glory of the Head are hers, and all the munificence of heaven is hers.