the sense
of having a divine mission to preach Christ, which he was bound to
fulfill. Most men merely drift through life, and the work they do is
determined by a hundred indifferent circumstances; they might as well
be doing anything else, or they would prefer, if they could afford it,
to be doing nothing at all. But, from the time when he became a
Christian, Paul knew that he had a definite work to do; and the call he
had received to it never ceased to ring like a tocsin in his soul.
"Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel;" this was the impulse which
drove him on. He felt that he had a world of new truths to utter and
that the salvation of mankind depended on their utterance. He knew
himself called to make Christ known to as many of his fellow-creatures
as his utmost exertions could enable him to reach. It was this which
made him so impetuous in his movements, so blind to danger, so
contemptuous of suffering. "None of these things move me, neither
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with
joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to
testify the gospel of the grace of God." He lived with the account
which he would have to give at the judgment-seat of Christ ever in his
eye, and his heart was revived in every hour of discouragement by the
vision of the crown of life which, if he proved faithful, the Lord; the
righteous Judge, would place upon his head.

127. Devotion to Christ.--The other peculiarly Christian quality which
shaped his career was personal devotion to Christ. This was the
supreme characteristic of the man, and from first to last the
mainspring of his activities. From the moment of his first meeting
with Christ he had but one passion; his love to his Saviour burned with
more and more brightness to the end. He delighted to call himself the
slave of Christ, and had no ambition except to be the propagator of His
ideas and the continuer of His influence.

He took up this idea of being Christ's representative with startling
boldness. He says the heart of Christ is beating in his bosom toward
his converts; he says the mind of Christ is thinking in his brain; he
says that he is continuing the work of Christ and filling up that which
was lacking in His sufferings; he says the wounds of Christ are
reproduced in the scars upon his body; he says he is dying that others
may live, as Christ died for the life of the world. But it was in
reality the de