Observe the fervid thought which inspired St. Paul! His success was due to the conviction that he preached the plain Truth. Boldly mocking all danger, triumphing over all hostility, turning oppressors into friends, making no compromise with error, he marched on in his own God appointed way.
This same thought in a bad cause makes bigots; but in the benevolence of right, it is a stimulus to zeal. A man may have force and energy, and not have zeal born of a holy conviction that works for righteousness. How different in tone was St. Paul's teaching from the Christianity taught by Jesus' students! Theirs, more pure, gentle and spiritual, was therefore more powerful. While it has all the energy of the hero, it has a potency in Divine Love and meekness that Paul thought to match with a coarser passion, a more earthly, indomitable zeal.
The Divine flows through channels hushed and silent; not by noisy rhetoric and ungoverned gestures. Truth sits serenely upon the brow of its advocate, softening into sweet composure, and stealing over us in a hallowing influence of righteousness. In the silence of the meek, and the dignity of the wise and virtuous, the sun seems to stand still. Material creation recedes, or withers like a fig tree, and Soul sheds its lofty, consecrating radiance of infinitude.
