Life of St. Paul for the Young, V–IX

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG, BY GEORGE LUDINGTON WEED. CHAPTER V. THE YOUNG PHARISEE AND RABBI. The Temple School — The Boys Jesua and Saul — Other Boys — Saul the Young Pharisee— God's Laws and Jewish Traditions — Rab, Rabbi, Rabban — The Moat Promising Young Man — Great Changes to Come — Onkelos. There was a school of the Rabbis in the Temple in Jerusalem where any who chose could go and learn about the Old Testament Scriptures and the Jewish religion. We suppose that Gamaliel was one of the teachers, and that his favorite pupil would follow him thither and attend to all the questions that were asked, and all the wise replies. Perhaps he would sometimes ask questions himself, so wise that the doctors of the law would admire him, and make Gamaliel proud of his young pupil. It is possible that Saul was present on a certain day when there came into that school another boy about his own age, who astonished the Rabbis even more than Saul had done. It was that Tt)Oy's first and only visit unless he had been there the day before. He came alone. Modestly, reverently, solemnly, attentively, earnestly, silently he sat. For a little while he was "hearing them," listening to the only kind of teaching they gave; but he was not satisfied: he had other and deeper thoughts. At last he broke his silence and began "asking them questions." We wish we knew what was the first and the rest. They replied, and he made answer, and "all that heard him were astonished at his Copyright, 1899, by George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia.

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 193 understanding. ' ' Saul had heard no such discussion in the Temple school or in that of Gamaliel. Perhaps it was about the Messiah of whom they were studying, and for whose coming he was looking. He little thought the expected One had come, and that he beheld him at the very time when Jesus was probably discovering himself to be the Messiah. It is possible that then and there the eyes of Jesus and of Saul met, and that the young pupil of Gamaliel listened with tender interest to the voice which one day he would hear calling his own name from the skies. Between those two events how many and what great things were to happen to them both. At the time of that meeting in the Temple school, there were other boys in Palestine of about the same age as Saul, of whom he did not know. John, afterward the Baptist, was in Hebron; Peter and Andrew, James and John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Saul was to know them as apostles of Jesus who would call him to be greater than any one of them. During all this time Saul, the young Pharisee in Jerusalem, was careful of his outward conduct, and tried hard to obey the traditions which men had added to the laws of God. In so doing, we may think of him as being very careful of the exact size of the piece of parchment he wore, and of the number of the lines of text upon it, and of the form of the letters, and of the shape of the box that held the text, and just how it should be fastened on his forehead or his arm where men could see it and think him very holy. We call this foolish, and know God did not require such things of him, but he had been trained differently from us, and thought it was right and pleasing to God and would make him happy. Long after his school days were ended, he said, not boastingly, ' 'I advanced in the Jewish religion beyond many of my own age in my race, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ' ' God's laws are like the good fruit on a tree; traditions are like false fruit made by man to look like the real, and hung upon the branches. The one can satisfy hunger: the other cannot. Obedience to God's law can give happiness; obedience to traditions cannot. Paul tried hard to study and obey the laws his fathers had made; but this did not give him the happiness he sought. We

194 IMPROVEMENT ERA. shall see how he learned and taught ''a more excellent way." He had already received the title of Rab, the first given to a student of Jewish law, and now receives the higher one of Rabbi with his diploma from the University of Jerusalem which would make him welcome to any synagogue in any land. He has fulfilled the highest hopes of his father in sending him to Jerusalem. He may rise to the highest place in the nation. He is fitted to be a scribe or lawyer explaining the Jewish Law and traditions, and pleading in the Jewish courts. May he not, like Gamaliel, to be called Rabban, and so there be eight instead of seven to receive the highest title given only to the most learned men? Perhaps he would have received it, had he not sought the honor which cometh from God only. His university life is ended. He is proud of his success. He thinks of himself as wiser and better than his companions. Full of ambition and ardor, he is determined to do great things for his nation and their religion. Men call him learned and good. He is looked upon as a perfect example. Active, bold, eloquent, he is probably the most promising young man in Jerusalem or among all his people. They may well ask, ' 'Will he not become the pride of our nation, and help to deliver us from the Roman power?" But their thoughts and his concerning him are to be greatly changed. He is now boasting of things of which he will be ashamed. Truth which he now rejects, he will some day preach as the word of God. There is a people whom he now despises and persecutes, but who will become his choicest friends and for whom he will willingly suffer. There is One whom he now ardently hates, but whom he will love supremely and serve faithfully, and for whom he will willingly die. But that future is hidden from him and all who know him: he is "a chosen vessel" — one through whom God will do great things, but not of the kind which now fills the heart and mind of Saul. As Saul leaves the university, it is with grateful memories of Gamaliel, whom he honored even when he had rejected the false teachings of his master; for the pupil became more truly wise than the wisest Rabbi. When the great teacher died, one of his pupils, Onkelos by name, in love and gratitude built a splendid and costly monument to his memory, such as nations build for their kings.

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 195 For this deed and his writings, he is remembered. But Saul is remembered because of nobler deeds for which he was fitting himself, though he knew it not, while he * 'sat at the feet of Gamaliel." We do not know in what year Saul finished his education in Jerusalem, begun when he was probably thirteen years of age. He had become a young Rabbi. It is supposed that he returned to his early home in Tarsus. CHAPTER VI. CHRIST AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY. John the Baptist— Jesus the Teacher— Jesus the Miracle-worker — Jesus Rejected and Crucified — The Resurrection and the Great Command— Farewell in Jerusalem— Ascension — Meaning of the Word Gospel — Followers of Jesus in Jerusalem— A Strange People — Day of Pentecost. The years when Saul was absent from Jerusalem were the most wonderful in the history of the world. On the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist proclaimed to a multitude that the Messiah had come. Jesus suddenly appeared before him to be baptized. He gathered about him a company of apostles trained for his service, and to whom he would entrust the establishment of his Church on the earth. He was the Great Teacher. No man evej. spake as he did. He declared only the truth of God. In the Temple in Jerusalem, on the seashore, and on the mountains of Galilee, gracious words proceeded out of his mouth — words of invitation and comfort; also words of warning and woe to those who repented not, but continued in sin. He perfectly obeyed the law of God, rejecting the traditions of men. He was the only perfect example for men to follow. He showed his divine power by the miracles he wrought, both on things and men, commanding the winds and waves, walking on the sea, healing sicknesses, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and strength to the palsied, and even restoring the dead to life. Many believed his words and in him as their Savior, and were united to him in closest friendship. Many more believed him not, but rejected his teachings and salvation through him. Bitter enemies reviled him, saying all manner of evil against him, and

196 IMPROVEMENT ERA. sought his life. Among them were Priests^ and Rabbis and the most powerful men of the nation. Though innocent, he was charged with great crimes, arrested, unjustly tried, and condemned to a shameful death on the cross. When Jesus was crucified, his life on earth seemed to be a failure. His friends, even his disciples, were disappointed and sad: his enemies rejoiced. But on the third day, he rose again. On a mountain in Galilee where he had told them to meet him, their hopes revived. "When they saw him, they worshiped him" as the God and Savior they thought him to be before his death. Five hundred true friends were gathered there. They had seen the power of his enemies in Jerusalem, and also how powerless had become the attempts to destroy him and his work by putting him to death. He said to them, "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. ' ' And because of his power, he gave them this command, "Go ve, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;" and then he added this promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." But this was not the farewell meeting of Jesus with his apostles and friends. That was in Jerusalem where he told them to stay until the Holy Spirit should come into their hearts. There he said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. ' ' ' 'And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass that while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And a cloud received him out of their sight. ' ' By the Gospel we mean the good news of salvation through Christ. As he commanded, it was first preached in Jerusalem. For a time, the only church was there, numbering at first only one hundred and twenty persons, but very soon increasing to five thousand. They had no church building, but went from house to house for prayer and study of the Scriptures, and communing together about their once dead but risen Lord. Their affection for him was so great that they loved one another and were called Brethren. The name Christian was not yet given to them. They

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 197 still attended the Temple worship and the Jewish festivals. In many things which were right they did as other Jews. They were careful in their conduct, trying to do as Christ would have them do, so that none could justly speak against their new religion. Their love for Christ made them different from the people about them, making their lives more lovely, their friendships closer, and their happiness more complete. But they were considered a strange kind of people, believing things which others did not, and explaining the Scriptures differently from what the Rabbis did. Strangest of all, they believed that Jesus, who had been shamefully crucified as ' 'a malefactor, ' ' was the Messiah for whom the Jews had been looking, and that he had risen from the dead. Fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ, and ten days after his ascension, there was the first great gathering of Jews into the Christian Church. Many had come from different countries to attend the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. There were pilgrims from the Tigris and the Euphrates, in the far East, the Nile in Egypt, the Tiber in Italy, from provinces of Asia Minor, the deserts of Arabia, and the islands of Greece. "They were all with one accord in one place," The Holy Spirit, promised by Christ, for whom they had been waiting, came **and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Peter preached a wonderful sermon proving that * 'Jesus of Nazareth was Christ the Lord." Three thousand people believed his ■ words, repented of their sins, and were baptized. CHAPTER VII. ST. STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. Church Deacons — Stephen — S3Tiagogue of Cilicia — Three Great Questions — Saul in the Synagogue — Stephen jn the Sanhedrin — "The Face of an Angel" — A Heavenly Vision — Stephen Dragged Out of the City — Memories of Olivet — Stephen Stoned — Saul the Guardian ofiRobes — Two Short Prayers — "A Friend and Witness Near" — Answered Prayer— A Lasting Impression — A Terrible Name. The early Christians cared for those of their number in need. The richer gave to the poor. Seven deacons were appointed to take charge of the money, 'and especially to look after a fund for

198 IMPROVEMENT ERA. widows. The chief deacon was named Stephen. It is said that he was very beautiful. Better than that, he had learning and eloquence. Best of all, he was a devout man, "full of faith and the Holy Ghost." Because he had these, by God's help, he "did great wonders and miracles among the people." Day after day he went from synagogue to synagogue, preaching about Jesus the Messiah, the crucified but risen Savior. He claimed that we must be saved by repentance, and faith in him; and not in the way by which we have seen Saul and the other Pharisees trying to be saved. One of the places Where Stephen used to speak was the ' 'synagogue of them of Cilicia, " where people from that country were accustomed to worship. We are told that ' 'there arose certain of the synagogue disputing with Stephen. " The chief questions about which they disputed were three — Was Jesus the Messiah? Why did he die? Did he rise from the dead? As Saul was from Tarsus, he would worship with his countrymen in the S5magogue of Cilicia; and, as he was probably the most learned of the Rabbis in it, he would be again and again the chief disputer with Stephen. But "they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake. ' ' His holy zeal for Christ only increased the madness against him. They determined that his voice should no longer be heard in that synagogue or any other; it should be silenced in death. He was dragged before the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish court. False witnesses said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. ' ' Such witnesses had said such things against Jesus when he was unjustly tried before Pilate. Stephen calmly looked into the enraged faces of his enemies. His appearance was a great contrast to theirs. "All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." He made a charge against them, not in anger but in faithfulness, awful because true — that they had been the betrayers and murderers of their Messiah. This enraged them yet more. "When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth," like wild beasts rather than men. But the holy man turned his eyes away from them. "Being

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FUR THE YOUNG. 199 full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. ' ' Continuing his gaze, seemingly unconscious of the strange and far different scene about him, not heeding the voices of malice and rage, he exclaimed with ecstasy of delight, ''Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. ' ' One of the early fathers notes that word "standing' ' as if the Son of Man, crucified, then glorified, "rose from his glorious throne, to welcome his first apostle and martyr. ' ' After an absence of several years from Jerusalem, Saul returned soon after the death of Jesus. We may think of him as present in the Sanhedrin even if not yet a member, and so not qualified to give his vote against Stephen. But while ' 'they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city," "Saul was consenting unto his death. ' ' It was a mixed multitude that went with Stephen, as he was led from the Council Hall, adjoining the Holy House, to the spot made sacred by their unholy deed. There were Priests and Scribes, exciting by words and actions the passions of the rabble ready to do their bidding. Following them were Christian disciples, faithful to their leader as were the women who followed Jesus to his cross. Passing through the eastern gate of Jerusalem, to this day called St. Stephen's in precious memory of him, they entered the valley of Jehoshaphat. Did not Stephen glance across to the slope of Olivet, to the garden of Gethsemane, and in remembrance of the agonies of his Lord say, "Thy will be done?" Of Jesus it is said, in that hour of his agony, ' 'there appeared an angel strengthening him." Did not Stephen also receive strength from him who is greater than angel or archangel, for whom he had been a faithful witness, and who had an hour before appeared to him in a vision of glory? ' 'They stoned Stephen. ' ' Such is the brief and simple record, leaving our imagination to supply the horrible details. Those who performed the awful deed were determined to do thorough and earnest work. For it they laid aside their loose upper garments, that their arms might be free in casting the fatal stones. They had been false witnesses in the Sanhedrin, and were now adding

200 IMPROVEMENT ERA. murder to their lying testimony given to secure Stephen's death. "The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. " Could they not trust the rabble that followed them? Were they afraid of theft while engaged in murder? Were there many colored robes of more value than the bloodstained form at which they cast stone after stone? Yet there was one whom they could trust as guardian of their robes. This is our first distinct view of Saul. In following him thus far, we have had to depend on what we know of the times when, and the places where, he lived, and on what was said of him in after years. As he stood by the pile of garments watching them, and much more the martyr a little distance from him, we wonder what were his thoughts and feelings. Had he no pity? If so, there was a deeper sense of satisfaction in what he and the others were doing to destroy, as he hoped, the religion of the despised Nazarene. Stephen uttered two short prayers. The first was for himself. It is possible that he had heard the dying words of Christ — ' 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. ' ' And now with like trust he cries, * 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. ' ' Stephen remembered the agonies of the cross as he felt the tortures of the stones. He remembered the voice of prayer that rose above the sound of the crucifiers' hammer, "Father forgive them. " Above the rabble shout, in the same spirit of Christ, rose Stephen's prayer for his murderers, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." "With such aT Friend and Witness near, No form of death could make him fear; Calm amid showers of stones he kneels, And only for his murderers feels. " With this forgiving prayer, "he fell asleep." For one, at least, of his enemies that prayer was answered, but not as soon as the dying thief had the blessed assurance of living with Christ, for Saul was not yet ready to cry to him, ' 'Lord, remember me. ' ' Saul never could forget that scene, the looks, words, spirit, vision, peace, calmness, love, prayer, forgiveness, of him in whose death he had a share. Years after, in the temple, almost on the spot where Stephen had a vision of Jesus, he also had a vision in which with shame and sorrow he confessed, ' 'When the blood of

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 201 thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consent, ing unto liis death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him." When John the Baptist was beheaded, ' 'his disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. ' ' To whom else could his disciples go when ' 'devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him"? Though comforted by that name, another was full of terror in every Christian home in Jerusalem. It was that of Saul, the persecutor. CHAPTER VIII. SAUL THE PERSECUTOR. Persecution — Saol a Leader — Mistaken Zeal — Cruelty — Christians Scattered Abroad — High Priest's Letter — Saul Starts for Damascus — Gibea — Bethel — Shiloh — Samaria — Sychar — Tomb of Joseph — Sea of Galilee— Busy Thoughts — Possible dottbts. For a while after the Pentecost, the followers of Christ were allowed to worship him and preach the gospel without harm. But as their numbers increased, opposition grew. The Sadducees had the greatest influence in the Jewish nation. The high priest was one of them. They denied and hated the doctrine of the resurrection which the Christians believed and taught, and so hated them. The death of Stephen was followed by a most violent persecution. Saul's aeal in the martyrdom of Stephen made him a hero in the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were ready to give him more honor than he had yet received, even the greatest they could bestow. He was made a member of the Sanhedrin, probably as a scribe. He gave his vote against Christians falsely charged with wrongdoing. A great work was given him to do in trying to destroy the Christian Church. He was ready to do it. Strange as it seems to us, and as it did to him afterward, he had an honest but mistaken feeling that this was pleasing to God. He declared, "I verily thought with mj^self that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ' ' Believing that Jesus was not the Messiah, he thought that faith in him and belief in his resurrection, were displeasing to God. He thought that in opposing the teachings of Christians and in persecuting them, he could

202 IMPROVEMENT ERA. make up what was lacking in his obedience to the law of God and Jewish traditions, and so gain the happiness he had vainly sought all his life. After the death of Stephen, Saul was more zealous than before in the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem. He went from house to house, full of rage and cruelty, carrying sorrow into once happy homes. He tried to make the friends of Jesus revile his name, and deny that they were his friends. They refused to obey him. He dragged them from their homes in chains, separating parents from their children. He whipped and scourged them, tortured them in many ways, persecuting them even unto death. He had no pity on the old or the infirm; he was exceedingly cruel even to feeble and helpless women. Perhaps some of them were the faithful, loving "daughters of Jerusalem" who had followed Jesus when bearing his cross, to whom he said, thinking of this coming time, ' 'Weep not for me ; but weep for yourselves and your children." No enemy was so feared by Christians as this young Rabbi. Distant towns and cities heard of his awful deeds. In Damascus it became known ' 'how much evil he had done to the saints of God at Jerusalem. ' ' We remember — what he did not know — that the time was to come when he also would endure stoning, scourging, imprisonment, and even death, for being one of "the saints of God." Just before Christ's ascension, he told his disciples that they should be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. This became true after the death of Stephen, but in a way they did not suspect. It is written in the Acts: "At that time there was a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. ' ' ' 'They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." This work of the Christians was very displeasing to Saul. "Being exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted them even to strange cities. " One of these was Damascus, the capital of Syria, to which Christians had fled and where they were persuading men to become the followers of Jesus. A few months after Stephen's death, Saul, not satisfied with

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 203 the persecution of Jerusalem Christians, asked of Theophilus, the powerful high priest, letters to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him power, if he found any Christians there, to seize, bind and bring them to Jerusalem. He had no right to ask such permit, nor had the high priest any right to grant it, but he did. Damascus, which claims to be the oldest city in the world, was the capital of Syria, about one hundred and fifty miles north of Jerusalem. The journey between the two cities required six or eight days, over mountains, plains and deserts. Unlike the humble band of Jesus and his disciples traveling on foot, Saul went in great pomp. His attendants treated their Rabbi with great respect. They were of like spirit with himself, and were ready to obey his most cruel bidding. Let us follow him and the way he probably journeyed. His road first wound through a mountainous region. At ' 'Gibea of Saul" he would recall the king whose name he bore. He passed through a rocky country on whose terraces were fields of grain and gardens of melons and cucumbers with which the cavalcade could refresh themselves. He passed through many scenes of sacred story, but his thoughts were on the future, not the past. At Bethel, he possibly spent the night where Jacob did seventeen hundred years before. What dreams should have haunted him there. He had no bright vision of angels: he heard no voice of God saying, ' 'I am with thee to keep thee whither thou goest. ' ' At Shiloh, he would be reminded of the priestly boy Samuel, ready to obey the call of the Lord. Crossing the hills of Samaria, he caught glimpses of the Mediterranean sea, over which he had sailed from his early home, and which in later life would bear him to its bordering countries to establish the religion he was now trying to destroy. Entering the beautiful vale of Sychar, between the twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, he would refresh himself at the well at which his father Jacob drank. What words had been spoken there. ' 'I know that Messias cometh, ' ' said the woman of Samaria. ' *I am he," said the weary, thirsty stranger. Had Saul met her at the well as was possible, and believed her testimony, he would have returned to Jerusalem without completing his errand. As he gazed at the neighboring tomb of Joseph, did he receive

204 IMPROVEMENT ERA. an impression which was yet fresh when he wrote to the Hebrev/s, "By faith Joseph gave commandment concerning his bones" — that they should be buried here. Entering Galilee, he would gain his first view of Mount Hermon, the tower of ' 'Lebanon that looketh toward Damascus." From a lofty range, he could look down upon the Sea of Galilee; but, while admiring its beauties, he had no precious memories of him who made it the most sacred of waters. Nor cared he then for a sight of the mountain where Christ commanded, "Go ye and teach all nations" — the command which Saul was yet most faithfully to obey. Crossing the Jordan, then the barren uplands, there stretched before him a vast plain, dry and sterile in the burning sun. As Saul journeyed day after day, in the cool, early dawn or in the brilliant starlight of the clear eastern sky, he had abundant leisure for reflection. His thoughts must have been busy concerning himself and the despised Nazarenes whom he persecuted, and the Messiah in whom they believed. He must have thought that they had a kind of peace which he had not, though he had sought it through many years. Was he quite sure that in going to Damascus he was on God's errand? "That face of Stephen that he had seen bathed as with the light from heaven, until it had been dimmed in blood, must have haunted him, as we know it did for long years afterward." Could he forget Stephen's prayer for murderers? Did he not begin to feel, if he had never felt before, that in fighting against Christians possibly he was fighting against God? ¥/as he quite sure after all that Jesus was not the Messiah? Did not his very doubts increase his madness? Was he not vainly striving to check the promptings of his conscience? We shall find occasion for so believing. CHAPTER IX. THE VISION OF JESUS— THE CHANGED LIFE. Contrasted Scenes— Leader of a Cavalcade — An Earthly Paradise— An Aarab Prince— A Great Light— "Jesus of Nazareth" — The Great Change — Saul's Blindness — Damascus — Three Silent Days — Saul's Vision of Peace — Ananias' Vision — "Brother Saul." The tedious journey is nearly ended. The weary company will soon exchange the treeless, bleak and blaring desert for the

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 205 shady avenues of palm, orange and citron groves; the barren sands for gardens where grow flowers of endless varieties, and the damask rose yields its sweetest perfume; where the fainting travelers can feast themselves in the groves on luscious fruit, and cool their heated brows in natural and artificial streams; and where the lively song of birds takes the place of the deathlike silence of the desert. But all this does not calm the raging spirit of the cavalcade. "The leader of that martial crew, Seems bent on some mighty deed to do, So steadily he speeds; With lips firm closed and fixed eye, Like warrior when the fight is nigh. So steadily he speeds." At last they reach the place of the modern village of Kaukab, meaning brightness, so called in remembrance of a brighter light that nineteen hundred years ago gleamed above and around it. Here burst upon them that beautiful view which more than any other has been called throughout the ages a ' 'Paradise of God. ' ' The Abana and the Pharpar known in Scripture as ' 'streams from Lebanon" and the "rivers of Damascus," which Naaman called "better than all the waters of Israel." made the wilderness blossom as the rose. The green foliage of olive, walnut, pomegranate and palm, is a magnificent setting for the roofs that rise in terraces among them, and the cupolas that glitter over all. ' 'A handful of pearls in its goblet of emeralds, ' ' fittingly describes the city which Saul with his company is approaching. It is said of an Arab prince that on first beholding it he would go no further, and on the spot erected a monument with this inscription: '1 expect to enter one Paradise, but if I enter this city I should be so ravished with its beauties as to lose sight of the Paradise which I hope to enter." * 'The midday sun, with fiercest glare, Broods o'er the hazy, twinkling air. Along the level sand. The palm trees' shade unwavering lies, Just as thy towers, Damascus, rise To greet yon wearied band."

206 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Unlike other travelers, who seek khan or tent for shelter from the Syrian sun at high noon, Saul with impatient haste passed on, caring not for the fierce and quivering air and the glare from the earth. Suddenly "there lightened a great light." The whole atmosphere was ablaze. The whole company fell to the ground in terror or stood in amazement and fear; the scene was one of confusion and alarm. When the others were partially recovered, Saul, for whom it was all intended, lay still prostrate on the earth. Saul had a vision hidden from his companions. There was a voice meaningless to them, saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" It was like that of a man, whom he respectfully addressed as "Lord," or "Sir," asking, "Who art thou?" It was the Lord in a different sense who answered, ' 1 am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." Saul had often heard and spoken that name with contempt. Why did Jesus use it now? Why did he not say, as St. Chrysostom asks, "I am the Son of God; the Word that was from the beginning; he that sitteth on the right hand of the Father; he who is in the form of God; he who stretched out the heavens; he who made the earth; he who leveled the sea; he who created the angels; he who is everywhere and filleth all things?" Had Jesus said these things of himself, Saul would not have thought of him as the one whom he was persecuting; but when he called himself Jesus of Nazareth, Saul understood who and what he was. It is as if he had said: "I am the expected Messiah. I came to earth, lived, died and rose again, and ascended to heaven. So truly believe the Christians whom you persecute. In so doing, you persecute me. With your troubled conscience you are finding this hard to do. From this hour do thyself no harm by opposing me and mine." As Peter's heart melted under the earthly glance of the Lord, so did Saul's under the heavenly. The Lord said to him, ' 'Arise and go into Damascus. ' ' That was just what he had intended to do. His commission to destroy Christians was yet in his rabbinnic robe. But his commission was changed to what he did not know. He had fallen from his horse a proud Pharisee; he rose a humble Christian. The strong man had become as a little child.

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 207 The chief persecutor of the Nazarenes was to become their boldest defender. He had seen the Lord Jesus as truly as any of the apostles, and was fitted to become his chief apostle. The line that divided his journey to Damascus was the dividing line of his life. That moment on the ground was one to which he never looked forward as possible; but it was the one to which he ever looked backward with gratitude and praise. The brilliancy of Saul's vision had made him blind. This his companions discovered as soon as he rose. They led the riderless horse which ne could no longer guide. He who planned to lead men and women bound to Jerusalem was now led blind to Damascus. Those whom Saul would have made his victims were probably the best prepared- of any in the Paradise below to hear their Lord say, ' 'Today shalt thou be with me in the Paradise above. ' ' But that day had not yet come, for the crucified Lord had arrested the executioner's arm that would have hastened them thither. Damascus is a walled city. One of its gates is called St. Paul, in memory of his entering it; as that of St. Stephen, out of which Saul passed with him, helps to keep the first martyr in everlasting remembrance. From St. Paul's gate, extending through the city, a mile in length, was and still is a street called ' 'Straight. " In it was the house of a man named Judas, which may be the same as that pointed out to the traveler today. There Saul for three memorable days sits in silence, in darkness, alone, helpless and friendless. He has even more leisure for meditation than on his journey. He reviews his life. He sees what great mistakes he has made and what great wrongs he has done. He once thought of his own goodness; he now thinks of God's love. Jesus has given him the peace which he once thought he could purchase by being a strict Pharisee. He thinks of his future. What shall it be? It is as completely hidden from him as is the world to his sightless eyes. For these three days and nights his bodily sufferings are so great, his thoughts so busy, and his feelings so deep that he can neither eat nor drink. Oh for companionship and help! To whom shall he look? To the same Jesus of Nazareth that appeared to him in the way. As a Pharisee, he has long used the words and forms of prayer, but now he has the spirit of the Publican. His prayer is answered, and before

20S IMPROVEMENT ERA. the three days are ended he knows the great plan of his life's work, and something of what he is to be, to do, and to suffer. God gives him a peaceful vision in which he sees one of those whom he had come to destroy, coming to him with comfort and help. "Not Peter, or James, or John, no great and eminent apostle, need be sent for, to instruct the learned and highly-talented Saul; but Ananias, some poor, simple-hearted Christian, of whom the Divine Word has never before made mention, is fully sufficient, in God's hand, to teach this most richly endowed of all the early converts." To Ananias the Lord also appeared in vision, bidding him go to Saul of Tarsus, adding as reason, ''Behold he prayeth." Even this assurance hardly overcame the fears of Ananias, who knew the evil Saul had done in Jerusalem, and for what purpose he had come to Damascus. "But the Lord said unto him. Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me. ' ' ' 'And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said. Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus has sent me." This was the first Christian greeting to- him who was to give and send so many such to others. Ananias laid his hands on him, bidding him rise with returning sight, be baptized and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And so Saul the persecutor was received into the Church of Christ; to whom we hear him saying in amazement and .ioy: "And can I be the very same Who lately durst blaspheme thy name, And on thy gospel tread? Surely each one who hears my case, Will praise thee, and confess thy grace, Invincible indeed!" (to be continued.)