110
Sketches from the Life of Paul
strongholds of the enemy. Many who wrought as builders of the
temple of Christ’s church could be likened to the builders of the wall
in Nehemiah’s day: “They which builded on the wall, and they that
bore burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands
wrought in the work, and with the other held a weapon.”
One after another of the noble builders fell at his work by the hand
of the enemy. Stephen was stoned; James was slain by the sword; Paul
was beheaded; Peter was crucified; John was exiled. And yet stone
after stone was added to the building, the church increased in the midst
of the terrible persecutions that afflicted her, and new workers on the
wall took the place of the fallen.
These faithful builders sought diligently to bring precious material
to the living foundation. Paul labored to have his own heart and
character in harmony with the law of God, and then earnestly sought
to bring about the same result with his converts. He exhorted Timothy,
“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine.” This is the duty of
every teacher of Bible truth,—to illustrate in his own life the active
Christian virtues, to be pure in heart, given to holy conversation, to be
good, and to do good.
God will not accept the most brilliant talent or the most able service,
unless it is laid upon the living foundation stone, and connected with
it; for this alone gives true value to ability, and makes the labor a living
[158]
service to God. We may look back through centuries, and see the
living stones gleaming like jets of light through the darkness of error
and superstition. These precious jewels will shine with continually
increasing luster throughout eternity. Although dead, the righteous of
all ages testify, by the record of their words and deeds, to the truth
of God. The names of the martyrs for Christ’s sake are immortalized
among the angels in Heaven; and a bright reward awaits them when
the Lifegiver shall call them from their graves.
The flashing light of these polished stones, set for beauty in Christ’s
temple, has ever been exceedingly annoying to the world; for their
brightness in the midst of surrounding darkness shows the strong con-
trast between righteousness and sin,—the gold of truth and the dross
of error and tradition. Those who refuse to obey the truth themselves
are unwilling that others should obey it; for the course of the faithful
is a continual reproof to the unbelieving and disobedient.