THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.*

[JANUARY 25.]

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Acts ix. 4, 5. [Scripture for the Epistle.]

[O God, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the gospel to shine throughout the world; grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

THE mid day sun, with fiercest glare,
Broods o'er the hazy, twinkling air;
Along the level sand

The palm-tree's shade unwavering lies,
Just as thy towers, Damascus, rise
To greet yon wearied band.

* [Paul, whose name was Saul, was a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicià. He was instructed in all the learning of his nation by the celebrated Gamaliel. In accordance, however, with Jewish usages, he learned the trade of a tent-maker. Being a great zealot for the law, he exerted himself in every way to oppose Christianity, and destroy its professors. It was on a journey of persecution to Damascus, that he was suddenly arrested by a light from heaven, and miraculously converted to the Christian faith by the voice of the Lord Jesus himself. At the same time he was called to be an Apostle, and sent especially to the Gentiles. After great labours and perils, in which he planted many churches, and wrote fourteen epistles, he suffered martyrdom at Rome, under Nero, A. D. 68. The festival appointed in his honour commemorates, not, as usual, his death, but his conversion. The argument for the truth of Christianity from this event, has been most admirably stated by Lord Lyttleton.]

The leader of that martial crew.
Seems bent some mighty deed to do,
So steadily he speeds,

With lips firm clos'd and fixed eye,
Like warrior when the fight is nigh,
Nor talk nor landscape heeds.
What sudden blaze is round him pour'd,
As though all heaven's refulgent hoard
In one rich glory shone?

One moment-and to earth he falls:
What voice his inmost heart appals?-
Voice heard by him alone.

For to the rest both words and form
Seem lost in lightning and in storm,
While Saul, in wakeful trance,
Sees deep within that dazzling field
His persecuted Lord reveal'd

With keen yet pitying glance:
And hears the meek upbraiding call
As gently on his spirit fall,

As if th' Almighty Son
Were prisoner yet in this dark earth,
Nor had proclaim'd his royal birth,
Nor his great power begun.

"Ah wherefore persecut'st thou me?"
He heard and saw, and sought to free
His strain'd eye from the sight:
But Heaven's high magic bound it there,
Still gazing, though untaught to bear
Th' insufferable light.

"Who art thou, Lord?" he falters forth :— So shall sin ask of heaven and earth

At the last awful day.

"When did we see thee suffering nigh,*
And pass'd thee with unheeding eye?
Great God of judgment, say!"

Ah! little dream our listless eyes
What glorious presence they despise.
While, in our noon of life,

To power or fame we rudely press.-
Christ is at hand, to scorn or bless,
Christ suffers in our strife.

And though heaven gate long since have clos'd;
And our dear Lord in bliss repos'd

High above mortal ken,

To every ear in every land

(Though meek ears only understand)†
He speaks as He did then.

Ah wherefore persecute ye me?
'Tis hard, ye so in love should be‡
With your own endless wo.
Know, though at God's right hand I live,
I feel each wound ye reckless give

To the least saint below.

*St. Matthew xxv. 44.

The

[Is it not to meekness, as the fruit of faith, that the richest encouragements of the Scripture are given? "The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.' same sentiment is imbodied in the promise of the same Psalm, (25,)"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." It is the meek and contrite spirit which is described by Isaiah as trembling at God's word. And is not the spirit of meekness the spirit of that precious text, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God?" At least it may be said, that meekness is eminently the element of Christian discipleship.]

["It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks"-resistance to the will of God is self-destruction. The figure is taken from the Eastern mode of driving oxen with a goad, against which the restiff animal kicks back, and hurts himself.]

*

I in your care my brethren left,*
Not willing ye should be bereft
Of waiting on your Lord.
The meanest offering ye can make—
A drop of water-for love's sake,t
In heaven, be sure, is stor'd."

O by those gentle tones and dear,
When Thou hast stay'd our wild career,
Thou only hope of souls,
Ne'er let us cast one look behind,
But in the thought of Jesus find
What every thought controls.

As to thy last Apostle's heart
Thy lightning glance did then impart
Zeal's never-dying fire,

So teach us on thy shrine to lay
Our hearts, and let them day by day
Intenser blaze and higher.

And as each mild and winning note
(Like pulses that round harp-strings float,
When the full strain is o'er)

Left lingering on his inward ear
Music, that taught, as death drew near,
Love's lesson more and more:

So, as we walk our earthly round,
Still may the echo of that sound
Be in our memory stor❜d:
"Christians! behold your happy state:
Christ is in these, who round you wait;
Make much of your dear Lord!"

["The poor ye have always with you."] t St. Matthew x. 42.

THE PURIFICATION.*

[FEBRUARY 2.]

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

St. Matthew v. 8.

[Almighty and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that as thy only begotten Son was this day presented in the Temple in substance of our flesh; so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

*

BLESS'D are the pure in heart,
For they shall see our God,

The secret of the Lord is theirs,

Their soul is Christ's abode.

[This is a double festival. It commemorates the offering under the law made by the blessed mother, and the presentation, in agreement with the provision of the same law, of the incarnate Son, in the temple of his Father. The narrative, as it is recorded by St. Luke i. 22—39, needs no explanation, and can receive no additional interest. In the Book of Common Prayer, the name of the festival is more fully descriptive of its objects,-"The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called the Purification of St. Mary the Virgin." It is also known in England as "Candlemas day," because formerly at its celebration candles were lighted in the churches. "We carry lights in our hands," says a writer of the twelfth century, quoted by Bishop Sparrow, "first, to signify that our light should shine before men; secondly, this we do this day especially in memory of the wise virgins, of whom this blessed virgin is the chief, who went to meet their Lord with their lamps lighted and burning." But a better reason is found in the description given of our Lord on this occasion, by good old Simeon, as "a light to lighten the Gentiles." The prac tice was interdicted in 1348, by the order of Archbishop Čranmer.]