dear Edward, walk steadily in that way! May we never turn into any crooked paths; but, keeping straight on, advance in it daily, nearer and nearer to our heavenly home! Hitherto Saul had been ignorant and "out of the way" but, through the mercy of Christ, "a great light from heaven" burst upon him at last: a fit emblem of that still better and brighter light which was to illuminate his soul; "when God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, should shine into his heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 1." The persecutor should become an Apostle, and he, who had hitherto led others to withstand the truth, should guide them now to the knowledge of it.

E. It will be very strange, Mamma, to see the fierce and persecuting Saul trying to persuade people to believe in Jesus.

M. Yes, it was very extraordinary that Saul should not only be brought into the way himself, which he once so despised, but, that he should be made an honoured instrument in bringing others into it also. "A chosen vessel" as Christ calls him, an "earthen vessel" as he calls himself, weak and fragile like Gideon's pitcher, yet "chosen" to carry the torch of truth into the very camp of the enemy, into the very midst of the heathen, with wonderful success.

E. But not broken, I hope, at last like Gideon's vessel, Mamma?

M. Even here the resemblance was but too closely maintained, as we shall see by-and-by; for we must

1 2 Cor. iv. 6.

2 2 Cor. iv. 7.

not run on to the end of the Apostle's labours, before we have considered their commencement. The history of Saul will occupy us, I hope, many a long evening before we have to speak of his last sufferings for Christ. E. And meanwhile you will go back, I hope, to the beginning of all this? You know we left Saul struck to the ground by that bright light and that solemn voice. What did he feel and say, when our Lord said to him, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest ?"

M. "The meek upbraiding call" entered into the inmost soul of this furious Saul, and in a moment he was as gentle as a little child, and, "trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" So easily can God make the greatest persecutor tremble. So easily can He bring His fiercest enemies to His feet, and make them "willing in the day of his power;" willing to do and to suffer His whole will. Behold Saul humbly desiring to learn the will of God. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Nor shall even the persecuting Saul ask in vain. "The Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." Being thus wonderfully called by Christ to the office of an Apostle, Saul "was not disobedient to the heavenly vision', but proceeded as he was directed to the city of DamasHow different his entrance there, from what an hour or two before he might have expected! A little sooner, and what a sensation would his arrival have produced! Every Christian heart would have been filled with consternation; every synagogue would have become a scene of confusion and cruelty! But "fear

cus.

1 Acts xxvi. 19.

not, thou worm Jacob," and ye Christians of Israel: "I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel." "I am with thee, my people, as a mighty terrible One; therefore my persecutors shall stumble; they shall not prevail, they shall be greatly ashamed." Had the disciples of Christ known how near their most zealous adversary was to the gates of the city, they would have thought their case desperate; not taking that Almighty Being sufficiently into account, who can say at any moment, “Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." What encouragement may the Christian Church in all ages of the world gather from the consideration of such a circumstance as this! The tongues and the hands of men may be raised against her; but there is One, who is invisible, restraining them at all times, and they cannot even utter one word more than He permits.

We were speaking of Saul's entrance into Damascus. Who could have recognised him for the same Saul, who, a few days before, had left Jerusalem with letters to the high priest so fatal to Christian peace? Behold him now mournfully approaching that beautiful city, led by the hands of those who travelled with him; for "when he arose from the earth, he could see nothing;" that bright light from heaven had completely blinded him!

E. What a melancholy sight it must have been! I little thought that I should so soon have pitied Saul. M. The scene is changed indeed. But he was in the hands of a wise and skilful Physician, and is a far

more enviable object now in his blindness and penitence, than in the proudest days of his spiritual darkness. Three days he continued in this melancholy state, neither did he eat nor drink; anxious, perhaps, to show by his fasting the humiliation of his soul, as well as to give himself more unto prayer, to that mercy which he had so signally outraged. How different his condition from what it had been so short a time before! then, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, and hastening to bring the disciples bound to Jerusalem; now, bound himself in chains of darkness, and breathing out supplications for mercy; showing his "zeal and revenge'," not against others, but against himself; no longer insulting over the faith of Christ, but humbled under his sin, and meekly waiting to receive instruction from one of the despised disciples of the Lord Jesus. How completely, under such circumstances, must he have felt himself at the mercy of that just One, whom he had so recently been persecuting!

See Acts ix. 1-9.

ELEVENTH SUNDAY EVENING.

SAUL AT DAMASCUS.

E. We return this evening to the history of Saul, do we not? I hope his blindness did not prove a lasting one, any more than Zacharias' loss of speech,

12 Cor. vii. 11.

but only a punishment for a time, and a warning to him?

M. Yes; a warning not to shut his eyes any more against the light of truth. Even had he remained always blind, it would have been far better than to be blinded as he was before by bigotry and unbelief. But it was not so. For three days he continued in blindness, and solitude, and fasting: but those awful days passed by, and at the end of them the Lord appeared to one of the disciples at Damascus, saying unto him, “Ananias, arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth."

E. And did the Lord condescend to notice not only his name, but even the very street and house in which Saul dwelt, Mamma? This seems rather strange;

and yet I do not know why it should, for I am sure I have learnt since I was quite a little child, that "God's eye is always on me."

M. You have known it as a fact; but it is difficult to realize this important truth, until some particular circumstance brings it home to us in a striking manner. We see here that God has a most minute knowledge of particular persons and places, so that our names, our characters, our employments, our habitations are all familiar to him; and all, it may be, beheld by Him with tender concern and love. It is a most encouraging, as well as a most awful, thought! How careful should it make us as to all our pursuits, all our conduct, all our thoughts, words, and actions! How anxious to be ourselves "living temples" in which God may dwell continually, "habitations of