of this illustrious servant of God, which have been the directory of the church, the joy of believers, and the testimony of the spirit of Jesus to the world, for so many centuries, issued from this consecrated prison, and proceeded from the lips of this apostle, while his right hand was bound to the soldier, and his person deprived of that liberty which, hitherto, he had devoted to the most sublime of all objects. Yet his mind was not imprisoned; and now he preaches, not as before, to a single congregation or city, but to all the churches; to all nations, to all ages. This confinement, like John's in Patmos, was made subservient to high and mysterious revelations. As his great Master had done more by his death than by his life, so Paul effected more good in his imprisonment than in his state of freedom, and ministered a larger and higher service to the Messiah's kingdom, while bound with that chain, than when traversing Judea and Achaia. The epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and, most probably, that to the Hebrews, all bear testimony, and will to the end of time, and through eternity, to the Divine wisdom which overruled this temporary suspension of his public labours to the most sublime of ends. How often have God's ministers blessed the world from their solitude, their incarcerations, or their sick chambers! Bunyan wrote his Pilgrim in a dungeon. How many of the proud conquerors, the martial sons of Rome, did Paul, the captive, lead into captivity! While her heroic warriors were extending the terrors of her arms, the influence of her arts, and the wisdom of her laws, and thereby giving the Roman Christians free access to all parts of the west, they were, in fact, preparing a way for the ransomed of the Lord, out of many nations, to pass over. While they were subduing provinces, Paul was subduing hearts; and, while Rome was pouring forth the soldiers of a carnal warfare to subdue all kindreds, and tongues, and people, to its government, he was sent thither to raise up soldiers for the cross, who should be witnesses for the truth to the ends of the earth. He wore trophies of a brighter lustre than were ever earned by Cæsar, or presented at the Capitolium. The peaceful and bloodless triumphs of the gospel are always causes of rejoicing and praise; they are so in heaven, and they would always be so on earth, if earth did but emulate heaven. Every sinner converted to God, won from sin to holiness, becomes an imperishable crown an amaranthine wreath of glory more honourable and more illustrious than the corona triumphalis, or the opima spolia. All such victories of grace and truth should be improved, to confirm our faith and hope in Him to whom we must look for a victory over sin and a triumph over death. - Towards Him, too, our faith should be exercised for the continuance and extension of such noble and enduring triumphs. But there are special reasons for glorying in the early proofs of divine influence accompanying the gospel of Jesus. The victories of the gospel were the more illustrious, when men had set themselves against the Saviour, or when human power flattered itself with the idea of successful resistance, but was, at the same time, suffering an utter overthrow; and when, at the expense of all that was dear, the minister of Jesus went forth to proclaim to a lost world the counsels of Eternal Love. Here was the victory of the cross over the world; of Paul, the prisoner, over Nero, the Emperor;-of divine grace over obstinacy and malice. All powers, projudices, feelings, habits, interests, appeared in a warlike array-in threatening attitude, against the humble emissary of the cross. The magistrate joined with the populace, the noble with the vile, the Jew with the Gentile, in endeavouring to repress the doctrine, and intimidate the minister, of Jesus; but all in vain. The men suffered, but still the cause went forward; the advocates were silenced or imprisoned, but they still made converts; the prison-doors were opened either to let out the preachers or to let in the hearers, and either way the gospel advanced its triumphs. The enemies of Christianity combined their energies, multiplied their numbers, increased their severities, but still they could do nothing against it. It was of God; He had put his Spirit into it, and they could not overthrow it. GOD had said, "rule thou in the midst of thine enemies!" That God, whose voice is obeyed by the sea and the wind; by the planets in their lofty courses, and the angels in their holy ministeries; and, though the enemies, whom the gospel has to brave, are firm, stubborn, and impenitent, yet He who rends the rocks with his voice, and shakes the earth at his pleasure, can make the stoutest heart to melt, and bend the neck which is as an iron sinew. Behold, God can make the elements his ministers! Flames of fire, tempests, shipwrecks, earthquakes, shall become preachers, and proclaim with the voice of thunder, and the impetuosity of the whirlwind, those truths to which, on the whispering breeze of love, the ear of the sinner was as the deaf adder; or they shall become the moral pioneers to his grace, to go before it, to break down barriers, to level mountains, and to raise the vallies. This G gospel is now winning its way through the whole world. Let its enemies take warning. Let them "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and they perish from the way." Let its friends rejoice in its success, and aid its triumphs by their prayers and their acclamations: "Hallelujah! for the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our God and his Christ." |