The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 338

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332 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES ^'All things are for your sakes," lie said, ''that the abnndant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." Not for selfaggrandizement did the apostles preach the gospel. It was the hope of saving souls that led them to devote their lives to this work. And it was this hope that kept them from ceasing their efforts because of threatened danger or actual suffering. *'For which cause/' Paul declared, ''we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Paul felt the power of the enemy; but though his physical strength was declining, yet faithfully and unflinchingly he declared the gospel of Christ. Clad in the whole armor of God, this hero of the cross pressed forward in the conflict. His voice of cheer proclaimed him triumphant in the combat. Fixing his gaze on the reward of the faithful, he exclaimed in tones of victory, *'Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." Very earnest and touching is the apostle's appeal that his Corinthian brethren consider anew the matchless love of their Eedeemer. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," he wrote, "that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." You know the height from which He stooped; the depth of humiliation to which He descended. Having once entered upon the path of self-denial and