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THE CHURCH.

"Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone."

JANUARY, 1873.

SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF THE GREAT APOSTLE. BY THE REV. N. HAYCROFT, D.D.

I. PAUL'S CONVERSION.

ONE of the most satisfactory proofs of the Divine origin of our faith is its moral power in human regeneration. The believer has in his own consciousness a witness for the truth whose evidence no sophistry can shake. The unbeliever finds in the conversion of a sinner a phenomenon which cannot be ignored, and which no human philosophy can explain. Conversions occur in such numbers, in all classes of society, and under such different circumstances, their effects are so marked and constant,—and they have so uniformly followed the preaching of the Gospel, that they imperiously challenge explanation from the unbeliever, if he will not acknowledge them as supernatural.

The most remarkable conversion on record is that of Paul. It stands on the threshold of ecclesiastical history as one of Christianity's noblest triumphs. Paul's position and circumstances, his high gifts, Jewish prejudices, religious earnestness, his fidelity to truth and conscience, the extraordinary incidents of his career, the extent of his apostolic labours, his contributions to the sacred canon, and the impulse he gave to the progress of the truth, render him a pre-eminent example of the Gospel's power. If the miraculous element were eliminated from the history, it would still be impossible to account for the moral phenomena presented except by the Divinity of our faith. Paul's conversion is a book of Christian evidences, which "he that runs may read."

Paul, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, was born at Tarsus in Cilicia, where he obtained, as his birthright, the freedom of Rome, which Agrippa had forced on the inhabitants. It was here that he learnt the trade of tent-making, as cloth of goats' hair, which was used for tents, was largely manufactured in Cilicia. The educational advantages of Tarsus made him familiar with the Greek language and literature; and he was afterwards removed by his parents to Jerusalem, at what age we know not, to be trained in the religion of his people. His

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teacher was Gamaliel, an eminent Jewish Rabbi, mild and tolerant in spirit, but rigid and narrow in doctrine, and of the sect of the Pharisees. As Paul became familiar with Jewish lore, his ardent nature made him fiercely intolerant. Though he was in all respects a Pharisee, sharing their zeal for the law and the traditions, their excessive ritualism, and their professions of superior sanctity, there is no reason to suspect that he was tainted with their immoralities. He seems to have been upright in life, fearless in spirit, earnest in his religiousness, and conscientious in all his proceedings. The pride of family, caste, and faith was in him unusually strong. He was not likely to relinquish any substantial advantages under the influence of illusion; nor could his faith in Judaism be easily stormed or sapped. The Christians at Jerusalem, few and without influence, were not likely to shake his convictions; yet he could not be indifferent to their progress and the boldness of their speech; and he was probably one of" those from Cilicia" who disputed with Stephen. Cherishing a bitter hatred of the new faith, he deemed it his mission to suppress it. He distin guished himself at Jerusalem by persecuting the saints, and was present at the murder of Stephen. Not content with his success at home, he obtained from the Sanhedrim a commission to visit Damascus on the same bitter errand. His zeal was fanatical, and himself tells us that he "persecuted beyond measure the Church of God," and was "exceedingly mad against them." His fanaticism was inspired, as that of the fiercest bigots has usually been, by a mistaken conscien tiousness. "I verily thought," says he, "that I ought to do such things contrary to this name." Christianity was, in his view, a mischievous imposture, which it was right at any cost to extirpate.

A man of such character and antecedents was not likely to consecrate his life to the promotion of a faith which he so deliberately opposed. Having judged and condemned it, his antipathy to it had become inveterate. Paul would be one of the first men in Judea to unravel sophistry and detect imposture. His keen intellect and balanced judgment would render him impossible to be deceived. Not lightly would he be induced to abandon his convictions, and confess his past course a blunder. He had everything to lose by embracing the Gospel, and everything to hope for in persisting against it. The Jews would consider him the most unlikely man of their nation to become a Christian. His training, habits, learning, strong convictions, position in society, and pronounced zeal against Christianity, rendered his apostasy from Judaism impossible. The Christians regarded him as beyond hope of conviction. Although they knew the power of Divine grace, they never imagined that this relentless bigot, who was carrying misery to so many homes, should pause in his career, and become their brother in the truth; that this firebrand should cease from his mission of destruction, and become a torch Divinely-kindled to guide men to salvation; that this wolf should cease to ravage the helpless flock, and become a lamb in the Great Shepherd's fold; that this vulture, preying on the vitals of the Church, should lose his fierce

instincts, and be changed into a dove. When he was converted, the Christians at Damascus refused to believe it until assured of it from God; and when, years afterwards, he returned to Jerusalem, and "essayed to join himself to the disciples," they doubted his sincerity until supported by unquestionable evidence. The change would appear to himself still more extraordinary. He abhorred the very name of Christ; regarded His doctrine as blasphemous, His disciples as mischievous fanatics, if not sacrilegious impostors. The remotest insinuation that he might become a Christian he would have resented as an unpardonable insult.

The period of Paul's conversion was when it might least reasonably have been expected: in the height of his success, when his prejudices were strongest, when the fierce enthusiasm of youth was unsubdued and least capable of reflection, and when he was accomplishing a work to which he had publicly pledged himself. Had his conversion occurred in old age, when time had revealed his errors, and his fiery ardour had cooled down, it might not have so much surprised us.

There seems to have been no human agency employed in effecting this extraordinary change. There was no reflection on his course, no examination of the Scriptures, no intercourse with other minds. Nothing seemed to have occurred to divert him from his purpose, or to guide his thoughts into another channel. Yet from the time he approached Damascus he became a changed man; and where he went to persecute, he remained to pray. There is no reason to suppose that Paul's account of his conversion contains any exaggeration. The miraculous element in it will only offend those who tell us that miracles are impossible and incredible, and who deny the supernatural basis of our faith. To us, the miraculous manifestation to Paul was only in harmony with the other events in the sacred narrative. The different accounts are substantially the same. There was the sudden light from heaven revealing the glory of Immanuel, the voice addressing Paul and directing his course, Paul stricken to the ground, blind and dazed, the three days' suspense, and the visit of Ananias with its results. The narrative discloses both an external manifestation and a spiritual communication, the former being the emblem of the latter. It is not needful to explain, if we could, the outward manifestation; suffice that it was supernatural,-Paul saw Jesus, and heard His voice. The light and sound were apparent to his attendants, but not the personage or the articulate voice. To Paul, the outward phenomenon was the accompaniment of the inward influence it emblazoned. Externally, there was a light; internally, the light of God's truth shone into his soul, and disclosed his true position. Externally, Paul fell to the ground; spiritually, he was prostrated with shame and contrition when he knew whom he had been persecuting. Externally, sounds issued out of heaven; spiritually, the crucified One spoke to the soul with tender remonstrance and ineffable benignity. Paul confessed himself, in spirit, the servant of Him whom he had hated-" Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do? "—either intelligibly to his compa

nions, or audibly only to the Lord Jesus in the voiceless surrender of the heart; it matters not which. He gave himself up, without being able to see his way, to the disposal of One who had vindicated His claims over him by the very cross which Paul had so much despised. The proud Pharisee was changed, once for all, into a disciple of Jesus the Crucified. The effect of the spiritual phenomena is not impaired, even if the external phenomena were excluded. At an unexpected moment he undergoes a moral transformation, not surpassed by any of the Redeemer's miracles, or His transfiguration on the mount. His relation to Christ and His truth is radically changed; the moral effects of his education, prejudices, convictions, public commission, and unrelenting bigotry, are all swept away; and he is a trembling sinner at the feet of Jesus, crying for light and guidance and salvation. The inward influence, the revelation of Christ to his soul, disarming his hostility, eradicating his fierce hatred, and subduing him to the "obedience of faith," is a moral miracle as great and as inexplicable by human philosophy as the resurrection of Lazarus. This inner revelation was accompanied by an immediate recognition of the Saviour's claims. The vision and the voice showed him his ini quity, and brought him to repentance. During the three days of darkness and solitude, his mental exercises were probably severe. The shock to his system was so great, that during three days "he neither ate nor drank." Stunned and bewildered, the man was the of prey his own thoughts, under the new influence which had fallen upon him. He would review the past in the new light given him; remember all that he had heard of Jesus, and what Moses and the prophets had written of Him; and as Divine grace removed his darkness and alienation, he was brought to a humble reliance on Christ, and an impregnable conviction of His Messiahship. His proud spirit made him tremble at the possibility of committing new errors, and placed his evil doings before him as in letters of fire. It was now that he imbibed those lowly views of himself which he so frequently expresses in his writ ings, especially in the bitter self-reproaches with which he alluded to his persecuting career. But help awaits him in his extremity. Ananias is Divinely informed of his conversion, and directed to give comfort and instruction. Slow at first to believe so extraordinary an event, he visits the penitent, and tells him of receiving his sight and being filled with the Holy Ghost. The restored vision is the emblem of the Divine illumination of the soul. Paul learns his life's work as a disciple-to devote his energies to the promotion of the enterprise which hitherto he had laboured to frustrate. If we drop out the material miracle, the moral miracle loses none of its significance. The only explanation to be given of the event is that which he himself has furnished, and which describes it as wholly supernatural: "It pleased

God to reveal His Son in me."

him

The subsequent history of Paul tends at every point to confirm the Divine character of the change he had experienced. Had he been influenced by a spurious enthusiasm, there would have been no per

manence in the results. His life and writings showed the strength and deliberateness of his convictions. He acted not from impulse, but from judgment and duty.

The first feature of piety displayed was his devoutness. "Behold, he prayeth," satisfied Ananias of the Divine change in Paul's mind. The habit of devotion continued through his life. His writings are baptized in the spirit of prayer.

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Devotion was followed by the public avowal of his discipleship. He was not ashamed of the cross of Christ;" he must profess Christianity as publicly as he had denounced it; and he must fortify his new-born love by taking the solemn pledge of fidelity and obedience. Having openly confessed Christ, he associated with the disciples at Damascus, and afterwards at Jerusalem. Instead of keeping aloof from the persecuted saints, he willingly shared their fate. He sought to profit by intercourse with "the brethren," and to be instrumental in advancing their welfare; and he shrank from no duty imposed by scattered sheep into a closer unity; and their sense of common helpfaithfulness to the Lord. Those were days when peril drove the lessness led them to seek refuge in God.

Having consecrated himself to the Gospel, Paul commenced his public labours in the city where he had been converted, and where he had intended to persecute. His gifts, learning, and fervid spirit, gave force to the truths he uttered. How long he thus laboured in Damascus we know not. During a portion of the three years which followed he was in Arabia, and the nature of his employment there is unknown. Returning to Damascus, he renews and continues his ministry until he is driven from the city; when he commenced that

series of remarkable labours and travels which have made his name so prominent in Christian annals, and whose effects remain to this day. We never read of Paul's being shaken in the faith. Not a taint of Judaism was left in his nature. He was a man of broad sympathies and catholic large-heartedness, without tincture of the Pharisee or the bigot. He was pre-eminently the Apostle of the Gentiles, and traversed a large portion of the Roman empire preaching the Gospel and planting Christian Churches. For the instruction of these nascent communities, he wrote many letters, which remain for the permanent edification of the Church, invaluable repertories of inspired wisdom. Every year added to his confidence in Christ, imparted fresh beauty to his character, and new consecration to his life. He persisted in his Course from deliberate conviction amid the most chequered fortunes. He writes of his apostolic successes only with humility and thankfulness, always glorifying the grace of God. He anticipates his reward in his Master's presence. He remains the same man when "Paul the aged," and at last seals his testimony with his blood.

The career of Paul formed a fit sequel to his extraordinary conversion, and showed the Gospel which effected it to be the "power of God." Paul's conversion contains in itself sufficient evidence of the truth of our religion. Until Paul's name is eliminated from history nothing can

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