ays wrote straight out of
his own experience; and partly by the various forms of error which he
had at successive periods to encounter, and which became a providential
means of stimulating and developing his apprehension of the truth, just
as ever since in the Christian Church the rise of error has been the
means of calling forth the clearest statements of doctrine. The ruling
impulse, however, of his thinking, as of his life, was ever Christ, and
it was his lifelong devotion to this exhaustless theme that made him
the Thinker of Christianity.

9. The Missionary of the Gentiles.--Christianity obtained in Paul,
thirdly, the missionary of the Gentiles. It is rare to find the
highest speculative power united with great practical activity; but
these were united in him. He was not only the Church's greatest
thinker, but the very foremost worker she has ever possessed. We have
been considering the speculative task which was awaiting him when he
joined the Christian community; but there was a no less stupendous
practical task awaiting him too. This was the evangelization of the
Gentile world.

10. One of the great objects of the appearance of Christ was to break
down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile and make the
blessings of salvation the property of all men, without distinction of
race or language. But he was not himself permitted to carry this
change into practical realization. It was one of the strange
limitations of his earthly life that he was sent only to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. It can easily be imagined how congenial a task
it would have been to his intensely human heart to carry the gospel
beyond the limits of Palestine and make it known to nation after
nation; and--if it be not too bold to say so--this would certainly have
been his chosen career, had he been spared. But he was cut off in the
midst of his days and had to leave this task to his followers.

11. Before the appearance of Paul on the scene, the execution of this
task had been begun. Jewish prejudice had been partially broken down,
the universal character of Christianity had been in some measure
realized, and Peter had admitted the first Gentiles into the Church by
baptism. But none of the original apostles was equal to the emergency.
None of them was large-minded enough to grasp the idea of the perfect
equality of Jew and Gentile and apply it without flinching in all its
practical consequences; and none of