The Smiter Smitten

Saul made havoc of the church. — Acts viii. 3.

Having stoned Paul, they drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. — Acts xiv. 19. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. — Ezek. xviii. 25.

Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. — Acts ix. 1.

Certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. — Acts xxiii. 12.

Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not EauAL.

Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. — Gal. i. 13.

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. — 2 Cor. xi. 23.

Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal.

Many of the saints did I shut up in prison. — Acts xxvi. 10. And when they had laid many stripes upon Paul, they cast him into prison. — Acts xvi. 23.

Yet ye sAy, The way of the Lord is not equal.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. — Gal. vi. 7.

All these experiences were undergone by the same man: the persecutor was persecuted; lie who shut up others in prison was shut up in prison himself; he who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the saints was himself stoned beaten with rods and pursued by the vengeance of furious men. What are we taught by such facts?

I. That a mans life comes back upon him. — - ‘^ Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.^’ One feels in reading such experience that the sense of justice is satisfied. Suppose that Saul had after his conversion settled down into a state of Christian comfort and enjoyment; in such a case there would have been a want of moral completeness. Paul himself would have been injured. To have allowed him to wash the blood of the saints off his hands, and to enter upon a course of personal luxury, would have been to demoralize human nature. He must reap what he himself had sown! Such is the severe but beneficent law! This law keeps things equal. If any man could mingle bitter cups for others, and never be compelled to drain their dregs himself, he would soon become a devil. God shows him that his turn is coming. Every blow he strikes will be re-delivered upon himself: every pain he inflicts upon others will sting his own heart: every harsh word will come back to him: his mockery, his pitilessness, his selfishness, will return to him, and vex him like a plague com-F manded of God. All history lias shown this. Adoni-bezek said, As I have done, so God hath requited me;^’ Samuel said to Agag, “As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. ^’ The testimony of holy writ is consistent and emphatic:” He shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy.^^ “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.-’^ “The Lord of recompences shall surely requite.” ‘^’’ Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.-*’ See how literally and terribly this was fulfilled in the case of Paul. He made havoc of the church; he persecuted and wasted it; many of the saints did he shut up in prison; his breath was hot with threatening; his hand was heavy upon the church of God: but turn to his Christian history, and see whether God had forgotten one of his misdemeanours, or allowed one of his own rods to be overlooked! In reading Paul’s Christian experience, we feel that justice is satisfied, and that honour is vindicated!” Having stoned Paul, they drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead.’’ “And when they had laid many stripes upon Paul, they cast him into prison.” “Five times received I forty stripes save one: thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep: in journeyings often, in perils of water in perils of robbers in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness/^ It is enough! Justice, spare the rod, for the most terrible of persecutors has received the measure of his own fury!

II. That a mans christian experience must be

AFFECTED BY THE UNCHRISTIAN LIFE HE HAS LIVED. This

is the most remarkable thing in connection with the subject. One would suppose that after conversion ail the former life would be done away. Such is not the case. Tliysically it is not so; why should it be so spiritually? The man who has physically abused himself will feel the effects of his sin after conversion; old age will come upon him swiftly; his energies will decay before their time; his memory will betray him; and even trivial difficulties will fill him with dismay.

Look at the reasonableness of the doctrine. A man has lived a self-indulgent life: he has been careless of the rights of other people: he has sneered at the piety of his own family, it may be: he has offended his conscience, and profaned every relation of life: after all this he becomes converted; is he then to

f2 complain of the trials of the Christian way, as if some strange thing had happened unto him? Were there no old judgments to be satisfied? Were no old injuries unredressed? After we have worn out our best powers in the service of evil, are we to complain that Christianity is sometimes almost a burden to us and sometimes quite as much a pain as an enjoyment?

You say that Christian discipline is often severe. What then? Is there not a cause? Old neglects have to be made up: old wrongs have to be avenged; old wanderings, riotings, and wastes, have to urge their accounts, and insist on settlement. Is not the way of the Lord equal?

We complain of the arduousness of the christian way. There are many duties, many trials, many mountains pierced with caverns in which beasts of prey wait the approach of man. What then? In all this is there not something of our past life? Was the devil’s way easy? What of the carousals which lasted beyond midnight? What of the costliness of vicious luxuries? What of the aching and torment which quickly followed the shameless debauch or the public scandal? We were selfish, peevish, tyrannical, inconsiderate, defiant, and is it likely that all this can have passed away without leaving deep eflPects upon our life? Across our very prayers there will be b lown the bitter wind of the land we lived in so long; and through our tenderest charities there may be breathed somewhat of the old selfishness which once enclosed us in its prison. Let us, in honesty, trace many of our trials to the life we lived in the flesh rather than to any arbitrariness of divine grace.

In reviewing these statements in the light of history and revelation, we see —

First: That the distrihution of penalties is God’s worlij and not man’s. “Vengeance is mine/^ etc.

Second: That under all the ajoparent confusion of human life there is a principle of justice.

Third: That the greatest sufferings may he home with patience and hopefulness. When did Paul complain of his lot? When did he say that he had suffered more than his share? From him let us learn ‘^ how good a thing it is to suffer and be strong.’’^