If Paul learned to cease working for righteousness, he also learned to begin working for Christ. When we behold on Damascus' road the shattered fragments of this worst and best men--when we hear those pathetic accents emanating from the depths of a broken heart, "Lord, what wilt _Thou_ have me to do?"--when we see that man who had left Jerusalem in the mad fury of a persecuting zealot, now stretching forth the hand of blind helplessness to be led like a little child into Damascus, we are led to form the very highest expectations as to his future career; nor are we disappointed. Mark the progress of that most remarkable man, behold his gigantic labors in the vineyard of Christ; see his tears, his toils, his travels, his perils, his struggles; see him as he bears his golden sheaves into the heavenly garner, and lays them down at the Master's feet; see him wearing the noble bonds of the gospel, and finally laying his head on a martyr's block, and say if the gospel of God's free grace--the gospel of Christ's free salvation, does away with good works? Nay, my reader, that precious gospel is the only true basis on which the superstructure of good works can ever be erected. Morality, without Christ, is an icy morality. Benevolence, without Christ, is a worthless benevolence. Ordinances, without Christ are powerless and valueless. Orthodoxy, without Christ, is heartless and fruitless. We must get to the end of _self_, whether it be a guilty self or a religious self, and find Christ as the satisfying portion of our hearts, now and for ever. Then we shall be able to say, with truth,
"Thou, O Christ, art all I want, More than all in Thee I find."
And again:
"Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all."
Thus it was with Saul of Tarsus. He got rid of himself and found his all in Christ; and hence, as we hang over the impressive page of his history, we hear, from the depths of ruin, the words, "I am _chief_"--from the most elevated point in the legal system, the words, "I _more_"--and from amid the golden fields of apostolic labor, the words, "I labored _more abundantly_ than they all."