THE KEYNOTE OF TESTIMONY
‘Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.’
Galatians 1:16
These words are the keynote of the Apostle’s testimony. They describe in one terse sentence his attitude as an apostle of Christ and a teacher of the Gospel. As we carefully ponder his utterances, three points emerge to which attention may be directed.
I. The true knowledge of Jesus Christ is a revelation.—It was so in St. Paul’s case, and he appeals to it to prove that the Gospel he preached was not by man, nor after man. It is interesting to find him again and again in his career appealing to this revelation.
II. Such a revelation of Christ confers a certain independence on those who receive it.—St. John says, ‘Ye need not that any man teach you’—that is, there is a point beyond which human teachers cannot go. It is not, of course, intended that a Christian is to be independent of guidance and help from his fellows; we are intended to help one another; but it remains true that that help, after all, cannot proceed beyond a certain point.
III. This independence involves responsibility.—Now that you know the truth, what are you going to do? When St. Paul knew the truth he had no question about his action. What a moment that was for the Apostle on the way to Damascus! What an awful disillusionising it must have been! But now what was he going to do? That was the question, and that is the question which comes again and again to the soul that sees the light. Am I going to be faithful to what I have seen, or am I going to shrink back from it? To all such waverers the noble reply of the Apostle for ever speaks: ‘Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.’
—Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustration
‘A story is told of a friend who joined the Church of Rome with Cardinals Manning and Newman, that, afterwards reading original authors in the libraries of Europe and becoming convinced that the claims of Rome to a universal supremacy were unfounded, he paid his old friend and former colleague a visit. He laid the facts before him, and when Manning had sufficiently recovered from his surprise he said to him, “And now, my lord, what are you going to do?” “To do!” said Manning. “Have you gone out of your senses? What do you mean?” “I mean,” replied the other, “that whatever else I am, I hope I am at least an honest man. I joined the Church of Rome sincerely seeking truth, and now that I find the truth is not in her I am going to leave her. ‘What are you going to do?’ is the question I would ask.” Manning waved his hands impatiently. “You must be mad!” he said. “All that you and I have to consider is the voice of the Church to-day and to believe that her voice is the voice of God to us.” So the interview ended. The one man true to his convictions, when he had the light, walked in the light; the other rested on the authority of the Church of Rome.’

ALONE WITH GOD
‘I went into Arabia.’
Galatians 1:17
There is nothing that carries on the soul, and promotes the spiritual life, like secret conversing with God. The great test of every Christian is, what time he can spend in devotion; and, what he is when he is alone with God. How shall we secure it in the full and crowded life which most of us have?
I. It will be a good thing sometimes to retire for a few days from your usual avocations. Not for bodily rest only—not as a holiday—but for more communion (during the retreat) with your hearts and with God.
II. It is a better thing to go to your own room as often as you can in the day (even if only for a few minutes), that you may commune with the Invisible and dip into the Eternal. It is astonishing how it invigorates the mind, and how different things look afterwards, and men ‘will take knowledge of you, that you have been with Jesus.’
III. But best of all is that which, at any time, and in any place, can draw the curtain of the sanctuary of thought around your heart, and catch one moment with God. A hallowed solitude even in a crowd is a wonderful secret of a quiet mind, a heavenly wisdom, and a holy walk!
Arabia touched Canaan, and the boundary of the one was the confine of the other.
—Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
‘The order of the events of St. Paul’s life, immediately after his conversion, as chronologically given, is not clear. In the history, as given in the Acts, there is no mention of this visit to Arabia. And the question is, whether it took place directly after his conversion and baptism; or, whether he had preached in the synagogues of Damascus before he went into Arabia? He certainly went back to Damascus and preached there; and the whole time occupied, before he went to Jerusalem, was three years. But how this time is to be divided—how much he was in Arabia, and how much in Damascus—of this we do not know. I am inclined to think he stayed a short time in Damascus after his conversion; then, for a longer period, he was in Arabia; and then he returned, having stayed a considerable time to escape the persecutions of the Jews, to Jerusalem. So the early summary of his life would be: first with Christ (only Christ); then a little with man; then in solitude with God; then work—an order full of suggestive thought and guidance.’