Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-02-02
pau1,s rIACE N HIsroRY.
The First of a Series of Interesting Dis
courses.


hear the first of a most interesting series OF
sermons, by Rev. DR.. A. Cunningham, the
pastor. Following Is the sermon
Text: Timothy, lie: 'fIOwbeit for this cause !
obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ
mjsht shew forth sll long suffering. fora pattern
10 them which should hereafter believe on him 70
life everlasting"
In the preceding verse Paul says: This
Is a faithful saying and worthy OF all &C
eeptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world TO save sinners, of whom | am chief.
One of the ends which God had in view
in the conversion Of Saul of Tarsus was,
that there might be for all ages. perma-
nent proof that sins Of the deepest aye
might be forgiven. 1t was to have one
such example at the outset that doubt
might never arise about the possibility OF
toIgiyipg great transgressors The ques-
from thps would be settled forever. The
case Of Paul was an example for the en-
eourapement of sinners in all subsequent
times. 1t was that to which they might
look. when they desired forgiveness and
salvation, II furnished all the illustration
and argument which they would need to
show, that they might be forgiven. 1t set
tied the question forever, that the greatest
sinner might be pardonedi for as ne was
the chief of sinners" it proved that case
could not occur which was beyond the pos
sibility of mercy.
sUBJECT-"PAUL's PLACE N HISTORY.
Now. there are some men whose lives It
is impossible to study without receiving the
impression that they were expressly sent 10
10 The world to do q work, required by the
iuncture of history on which they fell. The
story of the Reformation, for example, can
not be read BY devout mind without won
der at the providence by which such great
men as Luther, Zwingf, Calvin, and Knox
were simultaneously raised up in different
parts of Europe to break the yoke of the
Papacy and repuDlish the gospel of grace.
When the evangelical revival, after blessing
England, was about to break into Scotland
and end the dreary reign of Modernism,
there was raised up in Thomas Chalmers a
mind of such capacity as completely to alb.
sorb the new movement into itself, and OF
ssuch sympathy and influence as to dittuse it
to every corner of his native land.
This impression is produced BY no life
more than by that of the Apostle Paul. he.
was given to Christianity when it was in
its most rudimentary beginnings. 1t
was not indeed feeble, nor can
any mortal man be spoken of as indispensa-
BILE TO it; for it contained within itself the
yigor of a divine and immortal existence,
which could not but have unfolded itself in
the course of time.
But if we recognize that God makes use
of means which commend themselves even
10 our eyes as suited to the ends He has in
view, they we must say that the Christian
movement, at the moment when Paul ap
ccsred upon the stage, was in the utmost
ne, d OF man of extraordinary endow-
merts, who, becomming possessed with its
81 irit, should incorporate it with the general
history of the world; and in Paul, it found
the ran it needed.
| Christianity obtained in Paul an IN.
comparable type Of Christian character.
1t already indeed possessed the perfect
model of human character in the person Of
Christ Jesus its founder.
But be was not as other men, because
from the beginning He had no sinful imper-
lection to struggle with; and Christianity
still required to show what il could make Of
imperfect human nature. Paul supplied
the opportunity OF exhibiting this.
He was naturally Of immense
mental stature and force He would
have been remarkable man, even if he
had never become Christian. The other
apostles would have lived and died in the
obscurity of Galilee if they had not been
lifted into prominence by the Christian
movement; but the name Of Saul Of Tar
sus, would have been remembered still in
some character or other, even if Christian
.ity had never existed Christianity got the
opportunity in him Of showing the world
The whole force that was in it. Paul was
aware of this himself, though he expressed
it with perfect modesty, when he said in the
text, For this cause obtained mercy, that
in me as chief, might Jesus Christ show all
His long.suffering for pattern of them
who should hereafter believe on Him to
everlasting life.
His conversion proved the power Of
Christianity to overcome the strongest
preiudices, and to stamp its own type on a
large nature by a revolution both instanta
neous and permanent. Paurs was per-
sonality so strong and original, that no
other man could have been less expected to
sink himself in another; but, from the mo-
ment when he came into contact with Christ
be was so overmastered by His influence
that be never afterwards had any other de-
sire than to be the mere echo and reflection
Of Him to the world But If Christianity
showed its strength in making so complete
a conquest of Paul, it showed its worth no
less in the kind of man it made of him when
he had given himself up to its influence
1t satisfied the needs of peculiarly hungry
nature and never, to the close of his life,
did he betrsy in the slightest sense that this
abstraction was abating. His constitution
vas originally compounded Of fine mater.
ais, but the spirit Of Christ passing into
hem raised them to a point of excellence
altogether unique. Nor was it ever
doubtful, either to himself or to others, that
it was the influence of Christ which made
him what he was. The truest motto for his
life would be his own saying, Il live, yet moi
!, but Christ liveth in me" Indeed, go per
Gctly was Christ formed in him that we can
now study Christs character in his, aud be-
ginners may perhaps learn even more Of
Christ from studying Psurs life than from
studipg Christ's own.
In Christ Himself there was
blending and softening of all
the excellencies which make His greatness
elude the glance of the beginner, Just as the
very perfection Of Raphaels painting makes
it disappointing to an unframed eye; where.
as in Paul few of the greatest elements Of
Christian character were exhibited with a
decisiveness which no one can mistake,
Just as the most prominent characteristics
of the painting Of Rubeus can be appreci-
ated by every spectator
2. Christianity obtained in Paul a great
thinker. This it especially needed at that
time. Christ had departed from the world,
ard those whom He had left to represent
Him were unlettered fishermen and, for the
most part, men of no striking intellectual
mark. In once sense this fact reflects a
peculiar glory on Christianity, for it shows
that it did not owe its place as one of
the great influences of the world