Think of Paul up yonder. Why people are going up every day and every
hour, the men and women that have been brought to Christ through his
writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a
thousand years. I can imagine men going up there and saying, "Paul, I
thank thee for writing that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in
that." "Paul, I thank thee for writing that epistle to the
Corinthians." "Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the
Philippians." "I thank thee, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians;
I found Christ in that." And so, I suppose, they are going up still,
thanking Paul all the while for what he had done. Ah, when Paul was
put in prison he did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness. No,
he began to write; and his epistles have come down through the long
ages of time, and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of
Christ crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, "I will make thee a fisher
of men if thou wilt follow Me," and he has been fishing for souls ever
since. The devil thought he had done a very wise thing when he got
Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he overdid it for
once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked God ever since for that
Philippian gaol, and his stripes and imprisonment there. I am sure the
world has made more by it than we shall ever know till we get to
heaven.