Ver. 17. _The Divine Call to the Apostleship._--1. That extraordinary way whereby the Lord made known His mind to the penmen of Scripture was so infallible in itself and so evident to those to whom it came to be no delusion that they were above all doubt and needed not to advise with the best of men in order to their confirmation about the reality of it. 2. The Lord maketh sometimes the first piece of public service as hazardous, uncouth, and unsuccessful as any wherein He employs them afterwards, that His ministers may be taught to depend more on God's blessing than on human probabilities, and that they may give proof of their obedience. Thus it was with Moses (Exod. ii. 10), and Jeremiah (Jer. i. 19). 3. The apostles were not fixed to any certain charge, as ordinary ministers are. Their charge was the whole world. They went from place to place as the necessities of people required, or as God by His providence and Spirit directed.--_Fergusson._ Ver. 18. _Requirement of a Preparation for Work._--"I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus." 1. Affording opportunity for thought and self-testing. 2. Gives leisure for study and forming plans for future service. 3. Is often the prelude of a busy and prosperous career. Vers. 18, 19. _The Divine Call acknowledged._--1. That nothing of Peter's supposed supremacy over Paul and the rest of the apostles can be gathered from this place appears from this, that Paul went first to his work before he came to Peter, and that his business with Peter was not to receive ordination from him or to evidence his subjection to him, but from respect and reverence to give him a friendly visit. 2. It ought to be the endeavour of Christ's ministers to entertain love and familiarity one with another, as also to make their doing so evident to others, it being most unseemly for those who preach the Gospel of peace to others to live in discord among themselves. 3. As ministers may and ought to meet sometimes together, to evidence and entertain mutual love and concord, and because of that mutual inspection which they ought to have one of another, so their meeting ought neither to be so frequent nor of so long continuance that their flocks suffer prejudice.--_Fergusson._ _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 20-24. _God glorified in His Servant_--