The portrait of Saint Paul

Front matter

DDDD4b3fl372 e

Glass Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

Author's Preface

MANY celebrated writers have offered excellent tre-a- *%ises to the public, some on the character of a true christian, and ethers on the duties of a good pastor. It were to be wished, that these two objects might be so closely united, as to fall under the same point of view : and to effect such an union is the design of this work, in which may "be seen, at one view, what were the primitive christians and the apostolic pastors; and what they are required to be, who are called to follow them in the progress of piety.

As example is more powerful than precept, it was necessary that some person should be singled out, who was both an excellent christian, and an eminent minister of Jesus Christ. The person we fix upon is St. Paul, in whom these two characters Were remarkably united, and a sketch of whose wenderous Portrait we endeavour to exhibit in the following pages. When this apostle is considered as a christian, his diligence in filling up the duties of his vocation, his patience in times of trial, his courage in the midst of dangers, his perseverance in well-doing, his faith, his humility, his charity, all sweetly blended together, constitute him an admirable model for every christian. And when we regard him as a dispenser of the mysteries of God, his inviolable attachment to truth, and his unconquerable zeal, equally distant from fanaticism and indifference, deserve the imitation of ev4i y minister of the Gospel,

A 2

The Holy Scriptures furnish materials in^abundance for the present work, The Acts of the Apostles from chapter viii. containing little else than a narration of the labours of St, Paul, or an abridgement of his sermons and apologies. The new Testament, besides the Acts, contains twenty-two different books, fourteen of which were composed by this Apostle himself, with ail the frankness suited to the epistolary style, and all the personal detail, into which he was obliged to enter, when writing in an uncommon variety of circumstances, to his friends, his brethren and his spiritual children. It is on such occasions, that a man is most likely to discover, what he really is : and it is on such occasions that the moral painter may take an author in the most interesting positions, in order to delineate, with accuracy, his sentiments, his circumstances, and his conduct.

Let it not be said, that in proposing this Apostle as a mode! to christians, we do but cast discouragements in the way of those, who are at an immense distance behind him, with respect both to gruce and diligence. The masterly skill, that Raphael and Rubens have discovered in their pieces serves not to discourage modern painters, who rather labour to form themselves by such grand models. Poets and orators are not disheartened by those chef* aoeiivresoi poetry and eloquence, which Homer ami Virgil, Demosthenes and Cicero, have transmitted to posterity : why then sh ould we be discouraged by considering the eminent virtues and Unwearied labours of this great apostle ? The greater the excellence of the pattern proposed, the less likely is the laboured copy to be incomplete.

It is granted, that all the faithful are not called to be ministers, and that all ministers are not appointed, like St, Paul, t<* establish new churches : but it is maintained, that all christians, in their different states, are to be filled with the piety of that Apostle. K the most inconsiderable trader among us is not allowed to say, " 1 deal only in trifling articles, and therefore " should be indulged with a false balance".. ..if such a trader is required to be as just in his shop, as a judge on his tribunal ; and if the lowest volunteer in an army is called to show a* much valour in his humble post, as a general officer in his more exalted station; the same kind of reasoning may be applied to. the christian church : so that her youngest communicant is not 'lk.I to say, " my .youth, or the weakness of my sex, «-

TH« AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

* cuses me from exercising the charity, the humility, the dill- « genccj and the zeal, which the scriptures prescribe."

It should be laid down as an incontrovertible truth, that the same zeal which was manifested by St. Paul, for the glory of God, and the same charity, that he displayed, as an apostle, in the very extensive scene of his labours, a minister is called to exercise, as a pastor, in his parish, and a private person, as father of a family, in his own house. Nay, even every woman, in propor* tion to her capacity, and as the other duties of her station permit, should feel the same ardour to promote the salvation of her children and domestics, as St. Paul once discovered to promote that of the ancient Jews and Gentiles. Observe in the harvest-field, how it fares with the labourers, when they are threatened with an impetuous shower. All do not bind and bear the weighty sheaves. Every one is occupied according to their rank, their strength, their age, and their sex ; and all are in action, even to the little gleaners. The true church resembles this field. The faithful of every rank, age, and sex, have but one heart and one mind, According to their state, and the degree of their faith, all are animated to labour ia 'the cause of God, and all are endeavouring to save either communities, families, or individuals, from the wrath to come; as the reapers and gleaners endeavour to secure the rich sheaves* and even the single ears of grain, from the gathering storm

If, in the course of this work, some truths are proposed, which may appear new to the christian reader, let him candidly appeal, for the validity of them, to the Holy Scriptures, and to the testimony of reason, supported by the most respectable authorities, such as the confessions of faith adopted by the purest churches, together with the works of the most celebrated pastors and professors, who have explained such *onfessions .

Among other excellent ends proposed in publishing the following sheets, it is hoped, that they may bring back bigoted divines to evangelical moderation, and either reconcile, o? bring near to one another, the orthodox professor, the iiE£#F« f«ct chrUtiaJij aad the sincere desist.

THE FIRST TRAIT

IN THE

MORAL CHARACTER

OF

SAINT PAUL.

HIS EARLY PIETY.

THE great apostle of the gentiles bore no resemblance to those, who reject the service of God, till they are rendered incapable of gratifying their unruly passions. He was mindful of his Creator from his early youth, and as an observer of religious rites outstripped the most exact, and rigid professors of his time : so that the regularity of his conduct, the fervour of his devotion, and the vivacity of his zeal, attracted the attention of his superiors In every place. Observe the manner in which he himself speaks on this subject, before the tribunal of Festus : " My manner of life, from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, (if they would testify) that after the straitest sect of our religion I lived a pharisee." Having occasion afterwards to mention the same circumstances, in his epistle to the Galatians, he writes thus : " Ye have heard of my conversation in time past, how I profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." And to what an extraordinary pitch of excellence he had carried his mor-

JO rax portrait or ST. PAUL,

ality, may be inferred from the following short but solemn declaration, which was made in the presence of persons, who were very well competent to have convicted him of falsehood, had there been found the least blemish in his outward conduct : " Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God, unto this day." Such was the early piety of St. Paul ; and such was the righteousness, in which he trusted, when through zeal for the church and state, of which he was a member, he persecuted christians as disturbers of the public peace.

As we have seen the beautiful side of this apostle's early character, let us now consider his defects. Asa member of the Jewish church, he was inspired with zeal, but that zeal was rigid and severe : as a member of society his manners were probably courteous, but on some occasions his behaviour was tyranical and inhuman: in a word, he possessed the whole of religion, except those essential parts of it, humility and charity. Supercilious and impatient, he would bear no contradiction. Presuming upon his own sufficiency, he gave himself no time to compare his errors with truth : and hence, covering his cruelty with the specious name of zeal, he breathed out" threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." He himself, speaking of this part of his character, makes the following humiliating confession* " I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor and injurious. I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests ; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme ; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."

Nevertheless, this rigid pharisee, who carried his devotion, to bigotry, and his zeal to fury, had an up* right heart in the sight of God. " I obtained mercy," says he after his conversion, " because I did it ignorantly in unbelief," imagining, that when I persecuted the disciples of Jesus, I was opposing a torrent of the most dangerous errors,

Piety is that knowledge of God and^he various re* lations he stands in to man, which leads us to adore, to love, and to obey him, in public and in private. This great virtue is the first trait in the moral character of St. Paul ; and it is absolutely necessary to the christian character in general, since it is that parent of all virtues, to which God has given the promise of the present life, and of that, w T hich is to come. But it is more particularly necessary to those, who consecrate themselves to the holy ministry ; since being obliged by their office, to exhibit before their flock an example of piety, if they themselves are destitute of godliness, they must necessarily act without any conformity to the sacred character, they have dared to assume-

If Quintilian, the heathen, has laid it down as a general principle, that it is impossible to become a good orator, without being a good man; surely no one will deny, that piety should be considered as th© iirsg qualification essential to a christian speaker. Mens* Roques, in his Evangelical Pastor, observes, that " The minister by his situation, is a man re- " tired from the world, devoted to God, and called " to evangelical holiness," " He is," continues he, « according to St. Paul, a man of God i. e. a person " entirely consecrated to God ; a man of superior * 5 excellence ; a man, in some sense, divine : and to " answer, in any degree, the import of this appella- 44 tion, it is necessary, that his piety should be illus- * trious, solid, and universal." Without doubt this pious author had collected these beautiful ideas from the writings of St. Paul, whe thus addresses Tk a the same subject : " A minister must be

blameless, as the steward of God ; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not

It fHE PORTRAIT OF ST. PATJ&.

given to filthy lucre : but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate : holding* fast the faithful word, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince, the gainsayers. He must use sound speech, that cannot be condemned : in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity ; that he, who is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of him."

A pastor without piety disgraces the holy profession, which he has made choice of, most probably from the same temporal motives, which influence others to embrace the study of the law, or the profession of arms* If those, who were called to serve tables, were to be men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, it is evident, that the same dispositions and graces should be possessed, in a more eminent degree, by those, who are called to minister in holy things. " When thou art converted," said Christ to Peter, "strengthen thy brethren."

No sight can be more absurd, than that of an impenitent infidel engaged in calling sinners to repentance and faith. Even the men of the world look down with contempt upon a minister of this description, whose conduct perpetually contradicts his discourses, and who, while he is pressing upon others the necessity of holiness, indulges himself in the pleasures of habitual sin. Such a preacher, far from being instrumental in effecting true conversions among his people, will generally lead his hearers into the same hypocrisy, which distinguishes his own character: since that, which was said in ancient times, holds equally true in the present day, " Like people, like priest." Lukewarm pastors make careless christians ; and the worldly preacher leads his worldly hearers as necessarily into carnal security, as a blind guide conducts the blind into the ditch. And to this unhappy source may be traced the degenerate manners of the present age, the reproach

TEE PORTRAIT OE ST. PAUL. 13

under which our holy religion labours, and the encreasing triumphs of infidelity.

* The natural man, saith St. Paul, receiveth not the things of the spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can 'he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Now, if a minister, who is destitute of scriptural piety, is counted unable to comprehend the doctrines of the Gospel, how much less is he able to publish and explain them ? And if those, who live according to the vain customs of the world, have net the righteousness of the Pharisees, with what propriety can they be called, I will not say, true ministers, but even pious deists ?

Though every candidate for the sacred ministrymay not be in circumstances to declare, with St. Paul, " I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day :" yet all who aspire to that important office, should at least, be able to say with sincerity ; " Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence, toward God and toward man." Such were the morals and the conduct of a Socrates and an Epictetus : and worshippers like these, " coming from the east and from the west," shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, " while the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness."

TRAIT II.

HIS CHRISTIAN PIETY.

IT has been made sufficiently plain, under the preceding article, that St. Paul was possessed of a good degree of piety from his very infancy. Having been brought up in the fear of God by his father, who is supposed to have been a zealous pharisee, he was afterwards instructed at the feet of

B

M THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.

Gamaliel, a pious doctor of the Law, to whose wis* dom and moderation St. Luke has borne an honourable testimony. And so greatly had he profited in his youth by these inestimable privileges, that " touching the righteousness, which is of the Law, lie was blameless." But this piety was not sufficient under the new Testament.

To become a christian, and a true minister of the Gospel, it is necessary to have, not only the piety of a sincere deist, or of a devout Jew, as St. Paul had before his conversion, but also those higher degrees of piety, which that apostle possessed, after he had received the gift of deep repentance toward God and living faith in Jesus Christ. The basis of piety, among the Jews, was a knowledge of Gcd, as Creator, Protector, and He warder : but, in order to have christian piety, it is necessary, that to this knowledge of God, as Creator, &c. should be added that of God the Redeemer, God the Destroyer of ail our evils, God our Saviour; or in other words, the knowledge of Jesus Christ. " This is life eternal, that they -might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." But who can truly know, I will not say his Saviour, but merely his need of a Saviour, without first becoming acquainted with his own heart, and re* ceiving there a lively impression both of his sin and iii s danger r A student in theology, who has not yet submitted himself to the maxim of Solon, know thyself; and who has never mourned under that sense of our natural ignorance and depravity, which forced Socrates to confess the want of a divine instructor ;.... a candidate, I say, who is wholly unacquainted with himself, instead of eagerly soliciting the imposition of hands, should rather seek after a true understanding of the censure, which Christ once passed upon the pastor of the Laodiceanchurch : " Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

If a young man steals into the ministry without this knowledge, far from being able to preach the Gospel, he will not even comprehend that first evangelical principle, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And instead of devoutly offering up to God the prayers of an assembled congregation, he will constantly begin the sacred office by an act of hypocrisy, in sayin g.,.. u Almighty Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have offended against thy holy Laws. There is no health in us. But Thou O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners." After making these confessions in public, when he is interrogated in private respecting that misery and condemnation, under a sense of which he so lately appeared to groan, he Will not scruple immediately to contradict, what he has so plainly expressed : thus discovering to every impartial observer, that when he prays in public, he prays, either as a child, who understands not what he repeats; or as a deceiver, who appears to believe, what he really gives no credit to, and that merely for the sake of enjoying the pension of a minister, and his rank in society.

What is here said of ministers, is equally applicable to christians in general. If anv one dares to approach the sacramental table, there lo make k profession of being redeemed from eternal death by the death of Christ, before he isdeeply humbled under a sense of the condemnation due to his sin : can such a one be said to perform an act of piety ? Is he not rather- engaged in performing an act of vain ceremony and presumptuous dissimulation in the presence of God , ? The feigned humiliation of such a communicant, would resemble that of a rebel subject, who, without any consciousness that his actions had merited death, should cast himself, from motives of interest, at the feet of his prince, and affect to rejoice under a sense of that unc e-erved

ttemency, which permitted him to live. All our professions of faith in Christ are tinctured, more or less, vviih hypocrisy ; unless preceded by that painful conviction of past errors, whence alone can cordially flow those humiliating confessions, with which we are accustomed to begin our sacred services.

The true Christian, and consequently, the true minister, is constrained to cry out, with St. Paul, when he discovered, the purity of Jehovah's Law and the greatness of his own guilt : " The law is spiritual," and* demands an obedience correspondent to its nature ; u but 1 am carnal, sold under sin : for what I would, that I do not ; but what I hate, that I do. I know, that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. O wretched man, that I am 1 who shall deliver me from the body of this death/'

In this manner the true penitent, weary and heavy laden, makes his approaches to the Saviour; and while he continues to implore his grace and favour, an incomprehensible change takes place in his soul. His groans are suddenly turned into songs of deliverance, and he is enabled to adopt the triumphant language of the great apostle 2 "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. There is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit."

Every true follower of Christ, therefore, and especially, every true minister of the Gospel, has really experienced the evil of sin, the inability of man to free himself from such evil, and the efficacy of that remedy, which endued the first christians with so extraordinary a degree of purity, power, and joy. And in testimony cf the virtue of this sovereign remedy, every such follower ha& a right to declare with his happy predecessors, " We give thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light : who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son ; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."

When a preacher is possessed of christian piety ; or in other words, when he has made his peace with God, by that deep repentance which enables us to die unto sin, and by that living faith which unites us to* Christ, he naturally invites the world to embrace a Saviour, who has wrought for him so wonderful a deliverance : and this invitation he enforces with all that power and warmth, which must ever accompany deep sensibility. After having believed with the heart to the obtaining of righteousness, he is prepared to confess with his lips, and to testify of his salvation : crying out as sincerely as Simeon, but in a sense far more compleat, " Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace ; for according to thy word, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. " " Here," says Mr. Ostervald, u may be " applied, what was spoken by our blessed Lord...." " A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things," Ct Erasmus speaks the " same thing. ..Nihil potentius ad extandos bonos " affectus, quam piorum affectuum fontem habere M in pectore. Sivisme Here, dolendum est, &c, i. e. u following the idea, of the author, You will never u win others over to a religious life, unless you " yourself are first possessed of piety. This inspires " thoughts* dispositions, and words, which nothing "else can produce. It is this, that animates the " voice, the gesture, and every action of the chris- " tian preacher. When he is thus grounded in piety, " it is difficult to conceive with what facility, and H with what success he labours, still enjoying an un- " speakable sweetness in himself. Then it is, that

8 2 f& THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.

" he is truly sensible of his vocation ; then he speaks " in the cause of God, and then only he is in a prou per situation to affect others. "

It appeared so necessary to the fathers, who composed the synod of Berne, that every minister should be possessed of solid piety, that they believed it impossible for a man to be a good catechist without it. After recommending it to pastors to explain among the youth, the Lord's prayer and the Apostles' creed, they add : "This will be abundantly " mors effectual, if first of all, we are careful that " Jesus Christ may arise in our own hearts. The " lire, with which we should then be animated, " would soon stir up and warm the docile minds of " children. Otherwise, that which reason alone " draws from books, and is taught by other men, is ." no more than a human work, and will be ineffecfci tual, till the great master, the Holy Spirit itself, " becomes of the party, creating, renewing, and 44 regenerating to a celestial and eternal life."

REFLECTIONS

UPON THE SECOND TRAIT OF THE CHARACTER OF

ST. PAUL,

h THE experimental knowledge of our misery as sinners, and of our salvation, as sinners redeemed, is the portion of every believer under the Gospel. If we are destitute of this two-fold .knowledge, we are yet in a state of dangerous ignorance, and are denominated christians in vain : for christian humility lias its source in the knowledge of our corruption, as christian charity flows from a knowledge of the great salvation, which Christ has procured for us .• and if these two graces are not resident in our hearts, our religion is but the shadow pf Christianity.

THE PORTRAIT OF ST. FAUL. 1$

3. As there are some persons, whose physiognoray is strongly marked, and who have somethingpeculiarly striking in the whole turn of their countenance ; so there are some, the traits of whose moral character are equally striking, and whose conversion is distinguished by uncommon circumstances. Such was the apostle Paul. But a train of wonderful eccurrences is by.no means necessary to conversion. For example. ...It is not necessary, that ail believers should be actually cast to the earth : or that groaning beneath the weight of their sins, and under the conviction ©f a twofold blindness, they should continue in prayer for three days and nights, without either eating or drinking. But it is absloutely necessary, that they should be sensible of an extreme sorrow for having offended a gracious God ; thai they should condemn themselves and their vices by an unfeigned repentance ; and that confessing the depravity of their whole heart, they should abandon themselves to that sincere distress which refuses all consolation, except that which is from above. Neither is it necessary, that they should hear a voice from heaven, that they should see a light brighter than the Sun, or behold, in a vision, the minister chosen to bring them consolation in the name of the Lord Jesus. But it is absolutely necessary, that they should hear the w^ord of God, that they should be illuminated by the Gospel, and receive directions from any messenger sent for their relief; until, placing their whole confidence in God through a gracious Redeemer, they feel a new and heavenly nature produced within them. This sincere repentance and this living faith, or, which is the same thing, this christian piety, is strictly required of every believer under the New Testament. 3. Christian piety constitutes the great difference, that is observed between true ministers and unworthy pastors. The latter preach, chiefly, either in order to obtain benefices, or to preserve them ; or, perhaps, to relieve one another in the discharge of those duties, which they esteem heavy and painful* But the desire of communicating to sinners that spiritual knowledge, which is more precious than rubies, is the grand motive for preaching with the true ministers of God. They publish Christ, like St. Paul, from sentiment and inclination ; exposing themselves even to persecution on account of preaching the gospel, like those faithful Evangelists,- who, when commanded to teach no more in the name of Jesus, answered with equal respect and resolution ; " Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye ; for we cannot but speak the things, which we have seen and heard. "

4. It is worthy of observation, that St. Paul sup* plicates not only for all public teachers, but for every private believer in the church, the highest degree of grace and christian experience. u I cease not, ? * saith he to the Ephesians, " to make mention of you in my prayers ; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him : the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know, what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance, in the saints : and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward, who believe/* And the same end, which this apostle proposed to himself in his private supplications, St. John also proposed to himself in writing his public epistles.... " That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." As though he had said, we write, if haply we may excite you to seek after higher degrees of faith, charity, and obedience, " that being rooted and grounded in love, ye may be able to comprehend with all saints, the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge ; that ye may be filled with the all fulness of God." The attentive reader will easily perceive, that what was once the subject of St. Paul's most ardent prayer, is at this day considered, by nominal christians in general, as a proper subject for the most pointed raillery.