1 H. N. Grimley. 2 Buskin, Architecture and Painting, 89.
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be had known the Divine and human Christ, was near and dear to Paul. There is sometimes a danger in sympathetic characters of some flaw of weakness. Not a touch of weakness in him. Strong, unflinching, unswerving, decided. Probably never, except in his Divine Master, was there such a combination of tenderness and strength. Think of his woman-like tenderness towards Timothy ! Think of, his lion-like strength in the face of Galatian treason to Christ ! Certainly in his nature there was a very wonderful combination of qualities; but here they are reinforced, chastened, extended, when once he has impressed upon his soul the personality of Christ, when once he is "not disobedient to the heavenly vision."
^[ Eemember that it is not saints and heroes alone who are privileged to see visions ; it is ordinary folk like ourselves who hear these voices from heaven and these calls to duty. Men become heroes and saints, in God's eyes if not in men's, by obeying those calls. Father Damien was not a saint when he went to Molokai, nor Livingstone a hero when he went to Africa. The visions came to them when they were as undistinguished as ever. But then they obeyed the call : and still to-day men obey the call.1
III.
The Beward of Obedience.
The reward of obeying one vision is the gift of another. There were five visions given successively to the Apostle Paul. There are five visions graciously granted to every one who is obedient. And when the fifth vision comes, which is the vision of Ministry, it comes in four different ways for four different purposes.
i. St. Paul's Visions.
1. First, St. Paul was obedient to the heavenly vision that arrested him, that convicted him, that changed the whole current of his being, and adjusted his whole life towards God. That is the vision of our text. Its experience is usually spoken of as the Conversion of St. Paul.
2. But St. Paul was also obedient to the heavenly vision that enlightened him, that equipped him, that empowered him for
1 J. M. Wilson.
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holiness, witness, and all aspects of service. " Behold, he prayeth " (Acts ix. 12), " and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight." Then the seventeenth verse : " And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house ; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way that thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." He was enlightened, equipped, and empowered for witness and for all service.
3. St. Paul was obedient also to the heavenly vision in which he saw his self-life crucified and slain, and his heart cleansed for the enthronement and reign of Christ. The passage is 2 Cor. xii. 1-10. Marvellous vision it is, with a wonderful combination of realities in it : paradise, the third heaven, balanced by the thorn in the flesh, a vision closing with a sufficiency of grace, wholly grace, only grace, self and self-life renounced and crucified, that the power of Christ alone might rest and work through His servant.
4. And St. Paul was obedient to the heavenly vision in which he saw the appalling condition of a lost world, and took up and carried to the last the burden, not of theological problems, but of perishing souls. This vision was obtained at Troas. He saw a man of Macedonia, who prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
5. Last of all, St. Paul was obedient to that heavenly vision in which he saw the finished course securing the Master's approval, in which he saw the mark for the prize of the high calling in his own perfect conformity and likeness to his Master, and in which he saw the prize itself in the gift of the crown by his Master. Study that wonderful passage, 2 Tim. iv. 8, and you will see these things, and study it in connection with the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians.1
ii. Our Visions.
1. First there is that vision of the Lord which marks the opening of the soul to God. There are those in whom the life of
George Wilson.
23o VISIONS AND OBEDIENCE
God has begun so early, so sweetly, and so gradually that they can no more tell when they began to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour than they can tell when they first saw their mother's smile. The question is, Have we now a sight of Christ in our soul ?
2. But if we were obedient to this vision we got another vision. When we tried to follow in the footsteps of Christ, we were con- scious of the infinite distance between Him, the Holy One, and ourselves, full of all uncleanness ; Him, the Loving One, and us, full of all selfishness ; Him, the Humble One, and us, full of pride and vanity. And as we tried to follow Him, we also found that we dared not approach God, because we felt by the side of Christ our own pollution, our own wickedness, and not only our wicked- ness, but our guilt. And as we studied the teaching of Christ, we saw that Christ does not simply say, Do as I do, and it shall be well, but "the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost." Then we heard the voice of John the Baptist saying, " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Then we had a vision of One hanging upon a Cross for us, and we felt that the majesty of God's law was never more revered and honoured than on that Cross. And the infinite love of God through Christ crucified was poured upon us in boundless streams of mercy. What a vision that was ! Have we been obedient to that vision ?