LESSONS FROM ST. PAUL
‘The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.’
I put St. Paul before you as the breakwater that withstands sceptical attacks upon the faith, as the man who combines preaching with practice, as the rallying point for all parties in the Church, and as the guide of all the wandering penitent souls into the haven where they would be.
I. Are you a victim of scepticism?—Have you taken home the astonishing fact of St. Paul’s conversion at all? I wonder whether I am speaking to some one who is kicking against the pricks of conscience, and who is, by his or her life, persecuting Jesus—that sneer which chilled that boy’s faith, that shrug of the shoulders which made the girl who trusted you so much give up going to church. They were Christ’s little ones. Are there any here living in that state of light and airy scepticism as if it did not very much matter whether they believed or not, and as if their life and how it was lived made little difference to the world at all? If there be such, I pray God that this day may not pass before you go down upon your knees humbly, as St. Paul did.
II. Or, again, are you a victim of that common delusion that because there are good men and good women who live good lives and yet are not Christians, that therefore it does not matter what you believe?—I do not know of any more common delusion, especially among the young, than the sight of some one whom they admire who is not a Christian. They say: ‘What does it matter what I believe?’ But have you ever thought that in order to judge as to the practical effects of belief and unbelief you would have to start belief and unbelief on two separate islands, separate from the rest of the world, and then see in a thousand years what the effect would be. Why, to-day we breathe the Christian atmosphere whether we want to or not, and therefore your friend is breathing the Christian atmosphere. He is following unconsciously the teaching of Christ which he finds in the country in which he lives, and unconsciously sees the Leader Whom he is following. But to found upon that the idea that it does not matter what you believe is one of the most awful mistakes that you can make. No; St. Paul teaches you that if you would be a power in the world you must receive unto your souls the Christian spirit of Christ.
III. Or, again, are you divided by party spirit?—We are growing in our Church to an understanding of the Gospel as St. Paul understood it. We believe in conversion, but we believe also in the gift that is given from heaven. We prepare our candidates for confirmation, for we read in the Bible, ‘Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.’ We have our preparation classes and our services to prepare our hearts for the Holy Communion. But, above all, we understand that when we come to that Holy Communion we receive a special gift which we can receive in no other way; and therefore try and take home the third lesson of St. Paul—of toleration and understanding of those of a different school of thought from you, and the seeing how two sets of truths complement and supplement one another.
IV. And lastly, and above all, are we taking home the lesson—of what the Christian life really is?—If not, let us look again at this wonderful man, who never felt alone, for his Master was with him, who feared no task that might be laid upon him because he was keen for the task, who had a thorn in the flesh but was not discouraged by it. ‘My grace is sufficient for thee,’ he was always hearing, and ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Can we feel like that? We may not attain to it. That is the ideal. Oh, that I could feel that every man and woman here wanted to be like St. Paul, giving up their will, and letting the life of Christ rule them and be within them.
Bishop A. F. Winnington-Ingram.
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‘No man can sneer at St. Paul as a mere peasant or fisherman who would believe anything. In St. Paul we have an intellect that could form and write the Epistle to the Romans, and yet a man who was the humblest and most believing of Christians. We have a man who is deeply spiritual, who can say, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Yet he left the most extraordinary work that ever man left behind him. He was a practical man, who had to deal with the most perplexing problems, and did deal with them in the most astonishing way. We have a man who was full of a most fervent evangelical zeal, and yet one of the strongest and most definite Churchmen that ever lived. He preached Christ and the resurrection, and yet he believed as firmly in baptism, confirmation, and the Holy Communion, and in the glory of a Divine society as the strongest Churchman who is alive to-day.’