The life and work of St. Paul

418 THB LIFE AND WORK O! ST. PAUL.
from my own race, in perils from Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in toil and weariness,
in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often besides ; the things
additional to all these, the care which daily besets me,i my anxiety for all the
Churches. Who is weak, and I share not his weakness ? who is made to stumble,
and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast of this, the
weakness to which I alluded. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I am not lying. In Damascus the ethnarch
of Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes, wishing to seize me ;
and through a window in a large basket, I was let down through the wall, and
escaped his hands." 8
Such had been his "preparation of feebleness," without which he could neither
have been what he was, nor have done what he did. Such is one glimpse of a life
never since equalled in self-devotion, as it was also " previously without precedent
in the history of the world." Here he breaks off that part of the subject. Did he
intend similarly to detail a series of other hair-breadth escapes ? or glancing retrospectively
at his perils, does he end with the earliest and most ignominious ? Or
was it never his intention to enter into such a narrative, and did he merely mention
the instance of ignominious escape at Damascus, so revolting to the natural dignity
of an Oriental and a Rabbi, as a climax of the disgraces he had borne ? We cannot
tell. At that point, either because he was interrupted, or because his mood changed,
or because it occurred to him that he had already shown his ample superiority in the
" "
weakness of voluntary humiliation to even the most " super-apostolic Apostles,"
he here stops short, and so deprives us of a tale inestimably precious, which the
whole world might have read with breathless interest, and from which it might
have learnt invaluable lessons. However that may be, he "
suddenly exclaims, Of
course it is not expedient for me to boast. 8 I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord." I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago (whether in the body or
out of the body * I know not, God knows) snatched such an one as far as the third
heaven. 5 And I know such a man (whether in the body or apart from the body I
know not, God knows) that he was snatched into Paradise, and heard unspeakable
utterances which it is not lawful for man to speak. Of such an one I will boast
but of myself I will not boast except in these weaknesses for ; even should I wish
to boast I shall not be a fool for I ; will speak the truth. But I forbear lest any
one should estimate about me above what he sees me to be, or hoars at all from me.
And to prevent my over-exaltation by the excess of the revelation, there was given
me a stake in the flesh,* a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I may not be
over-exalted. About this I thrice besought the Lord that it (or he) may stand off
from me. And He has said to me, '
My grace sufficeth thee ; for my power is
perfected in weakness.' Most gladly then will I rather boast in my weaknesses that
the power of Christ may spread a tent over me7 That is why I boast in weaknesses,
insults, necessities, persecutions, distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak,
then I am mighty. I have become a fool in boasting. You compelled me. For I
ought to be ' commended '
by you. For in no respect was I behind the '
out and
out '
Apostles, 8 even though I am nothing. Certainly the signs of an Apostle were
1 xi. 28,