St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-30
PAUL'S AUTOGRAPH
Grace the Keystone to Final Sal
walton.

Rev. David James Burrell, at West
minister church last evening, took for
his text II, Paul, with mine own hand;
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ De
with you all."-I. Thes. ill.,, 17-1S.
Said he: The text introduces us to
tentmaker's shop at Corinth. The pro-
prietOr is man named Aqulla, who,
with his wife Priscilla, has been ex-
PEELED from Rome on account of being
Jews. The floor is occupied by work
men who, with legs cross. are busily
engaged In sewing cilicium or hair
cloth. Among them sits man of small
stature, bright. eager eyes, a bold fore
head, and pointed beard; the Apostle
Paul. What is he doing here? Work
ing for his livelihood. He was formerly
distinguished member and en-
ploye of the Sanhedrim; a profess
sional heresy-hunter, earning his bread
by prosecuting the followers of Christ
But on that day, when on the Damascus
highway, the great light from heaven
shone in upon his soul, he lost his occu
patton. On becoming disciple and
preacher of the Gospel of Christ, he
found it necessary to fall back on the
trade which he had learned when boy.
1t is a proverb among the Jews, "Who-
ever trains up a son without trade,
trains him up for destruction;" and
again, "He that hath trade well
learned is like vineyard well fenced"
Paul, being determined to be beholden
to no man for his living, hired
himself out to Aquila and resumed
hts needle. But while thus engaged
in manual labor his heart was set pri-
marily on higher tasks. He had fully
resolved to seek first the kingdom of
God. Busy man that he was he man
aged to find time for Christian work.
1t was probably through his efforts that
When the days work was over at the
shops, and particularly CD the Sabbath,
he wended his way to the synagogue,
where he opened the Scriptures and
sought to persuade his Jewish brethren
that Jesus is the Christ. Nor was this
all; the burden of all the churches was
upon him. mo pent-up Utica con-
fined his powers" Out of that
tent-shop went letters to the vari-
Gus churches which have been
mighty power through 1.-THE centuries.
These letters were not written with his
own hand, but dictated while he was
busy with his needle, and at the close
of each he appended his signature, II,
Paul, with mine own hand" L cOyet a
glance at that autograph; doubtless it
was bold enough to satisfy the soul of
John Hancock, and sufficiently clear
cut to please the fastidious taste of
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. But the
notable thing about that autograph was
that it was always accompanied with
the one word "grace." This was his
sign-manual: 81, Paul, with mine own
Lo,,d rrro IN ho 11ntn Won
What is grace? 1t is defined to be
s'the unmerited favor of God" Three
terms are used to characterize the di-
vine benevolence-love, mercy and
grace. Love is the most general. Mercy
means favor to the miserable. Grace
means,favor to the undeserving. ltwas
Infinite grace that made the wonderful
PRAYER, "Father, forgive them; they
know not what they dol"
What are the offices of grace? 1t
prepared lamb, from all eternity, to
be sacrificed for the sins of our fallen
race. 1t consummated that sacrifice on
the cross. 1t applies the benefit of the
atonement to the Individual soul as a
priest, with hyssop branch. sprinkled