Paul’s Last Letter
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alarming evils? The answer is found in Paul’s exhortation to Timo-
thy: “Preach the word.” In that word are the only safe principles of
action. It is a transcript of the will of God, an expression of divine
wisdom. It opens to man’s understanding the great problem of life.
It will prove a guide to all who heed it, so that their lives will not
be wasted in misdirected efforts. God has declared his will, and it is
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absolute madness for men to change or even question that which has
gone out of his lips. After Infinite Wisdom has spoken, there can be
no doubtful questions for man to settle, no wavering probabilities for
him to adjust. All the interests of time and of eternity are involved
in a frank, earnest concurrence of the mind and will of men with the
expressed will of God. Obedience is the highest dictate of reason as
well as of conscience. Those who choose to listen to other voices
and to follow other guides, will be turned unto fables, and, trusting to
these, they will in the day of God meet with infinite loss.
Paul continues his charge: “Watch thou in all things, endure afflic-
tions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
Now that Paul is called to finish his course, he would have Timothy
supply his place, and guard the churches from the fables and heresies
with which Satan and his agents would in various ways endeavor to
seduce them from the simplicity of the truth. He therefore admonishes
him to shun all temporal pursuits and entanglements which would
prevent him from giving himself wholly to this work; to endure with
cheerfulness the opposition, reproach, and persecution to which his
faithfulness would expose him; to “make full proof of his ministry,”
by employing to the uttermost every means of doing good to the souls
of men for whom Christ died.
Paul had never been afraid or ashamed to confess Christ before
men. He had stood in no doubtful position, but under all circumstances
had unhesitatingly committed himself upon the side of justice and
righteousness. His own life was a living illustration of the truths he
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taught; and herein lay his power with the people. The voice of duty
was to him the voice of God. Cherishing in his own soul the principles
of truth, he never shrank from maintaining them in full view of the
world. His soul was ever pervaded with a deep and abiding sense
of his responsibility before God; and he lived in close and constant
communion with Him who is the fountain of justice, mercy, and truth.
He clung to the cross of Christ as the only guarantee of success. The