thought that he was fulfilling the pleasure of Christ, even more than the obvious needs of men, urged him forward in the pathway of suffering and sacrifice. Love to Christ was the primary and fundamental incentive, an unselfish love for men being the outflow of a sympathetic union with Him who gave Himself for men. In a word, the life of Paul became, in the completest sense imaginable, a Christo-centric life. Marvellous change from intensest hatred to boundless, all-controlling love! How frivolous appears every naturalistic explanation! Paul himself gives the explanation which makes the least demand upon a rational faith. The actual revelation of Jesus Christ was the only cause commensurate with the result.1

Paul's conversion may be placed about the year 37.2 Forthwith, conforming conduct to conviction, after receiving the friendly offices of Ananias, he confessed his new Master in the rite of baptism. It is possible

1 It is noteworthy that Baur, in his latest references to the conversion of Paul, confesses, if not the objective miracle, a profound mystery in the inner experience of the apostle which he is not disinclined to call a miracle. (Kirchengeschichte, vol i., p. 45.)

2 This conclusion presupposes, (1) that the council of Jerusalem was held in the year 50 or 51; (2) that the journey mentioned in Gal. ii. 1 was identical with that described in Acts as Paul's third visit to Jerusalem, the one in which he attended the council; (3) that the fourteen years mentioned in Gal. ii. 1 are to be reckoned from Paul's conversion. The first supposition is made probable by reckoning back from subsequent points in the apostle's history. The second is strongly commended as being most in accord with the sum total of New-Testament data. See Schaff, History of the Apostolic Church; Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, note at end of chap. vii., vol. i. The third supposition is not entirely certain; but it seems most natural to infer that Paul made the great crisis in his life, rather than his first visit to Jerusalem, the point of departure in his reckoning. If this be denied, the conversion of Paul must be located at least as early as A.D. 35.

also that he declared his Christian faith in the form of public testimony and argument. The fact of his withdrawal into Arabia may have been due to a fanatical opposition, on the part of the Jews, called forth by the effective teaching of the new convert. But it is more probable that Paul proceeded with a measure of reserve at first, and that he retired of his own choice, wishing to find a more quiet theatre for thought and labor than could be enjoyed where he had been known as a most zealous champion of Judaism, and was now denounced and hated as the worst of apostates. How little opportunity Damascus afforded for a peaceful ministry, was shown upon his return, after an absence of two or three years.1 Unable to withstand him in argument, the Jews resorted to schemes of violence. Ast they gained the ear of the Ethnarch, who commanded the city for the Arabian king Aretas, Paul was compelled to have recourse to flight (Acts ix. 22-25; 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33). He now made the first of his recorded visits to Jerusalem, where he was introduced to the older apostles through the good offices of Barnabas, and by a vision in the temple received a new affirmation of his mission to the Gentiles (Acts xxii. 21). Eluding the plots of the mortal enemies who were on the watch for him in the Jewish capital, he set out, after a stay of only fifteen days, for his native city in Cilicia. During the uncertain interval which he spent

1 That Luke omits the comparatively uneventful sojourn in Arabia, and passes at once to Paul's preaching in Damascus, and his enforced departure from that city, is sufficiently explained by the brevity which characterizes his narrative in general, and especially that part of it belonging to the time before he became the travelling companion of the apostle.

here, he was probably engaged in preaching. Next we find him laboring for a year in Antioch,1 from which place he made his second visit to Jerusalem, bearing thither, in conjunction with Barnabas, a contribution for the poor and famine-stricken brethren.

Returning to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas began thence their first great missionary tour. They passed through the whole length of the Island of Cyprus, winning among other trophies the conversion of the proconsul Sergius Paulus. From Cyprus the missionaries crossed over to Asia Minor. According to their fixed principle, in each city they visited, they entered the synagogue, and first made an offer of the gospel to the Jews before extending their preaching to the Gentiles. They visited Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe; then turning upon their course, they revisited the congregations which they had established, embarked from Attaleia, and sailed back toward Antioch in Syria. To us this circuit appears as an illuminated pathway, a line of gospel light cast out into the Gentile world. To the apostle, like his course in general, it was a pathway along which the light of glorious victories was mixed with the shadows of great afflictions.

After spending a considerable interval in Antioch, Paul went for a third time to Jerusalem, having occasion, in the dissension which had arisen on the question of circumcision, to confer with the apostles. Provided

1 An indication that Christianity had become at this time a conspicuous fact in Antioch is given in the distinctive name of "Christians" which was now applied to its adherents. This name was probably first employed by Gentile outsiders, rather than by Christians themselves or by the Jews.

with the decision of the apostolic council, which harmonized with the demands of his work among the Gentiles, Paul returned to Antioch. In consequence of a disagreement with Barnabas about the propriety of taking Mark with them, he left him to pursue his separate course, and in company with Silas began his second great missionary journey. The churches already established in Syria and Asia Minor were visited, and the foundations were laid for new ones in Phrygia and Galatia. At Lystra Paul met Timothy, destined to become distinguished as the companion of his labors, -"the Melanchthon of the apostolic Luther," as he is called by Pressensé. From Troas, where it is presumed Luke was added to his company, Paul crossed over, as directed by a vision of the night, into Macedonia, and began the conquest of the European continent. Churches were planted in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. The headquarters of Greek learning and license were invaded, and foundation-stones of a new civilization were laid at Athens and Corinth. Paul remained in the latter city not less than a year and a half, during which time he wrote his two Epistles to the Thessalonians. At the expiration of his Corinthian sojourn, he made a fourth visit to Jerusalem, touching at Ephesus on his

way.

Returning once more to his headquarters in Antioch, Paul started thence, about the year 54, upon his third great missionary tour. After passing through Galatia and Phrygia, he came to Ephesus, where his own passing visit and the recent labors of Aquila, Priscilla, and Apollos had prepared a certain number of disciples. Here he abode, with perhaps some intermissions, for

about three years. During this period he wrote what is commonly termed the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which, however, was preceded by an epistle that has not been preserved (1 Cor. v. 9). The Epistle to the Galatians may have been written during the same interval; still, it is not certain that it was written before the sojourn at Corinth, which Paul made soon after leaving Ephesus. On his way to Corinth, Paul visited Macedonia, and sent thence his Second Epistle to the Corinthians. During the three months which he spent at Corinth and its vicinity, he wrote the Epistle to the Romans.

Paul now set his face toward Jerusalem for the fifth time since his conversion. Having passed through Macedonia, and halted for a little time at Troas, he met the Ephesian elders at Miletus, from which point he sailed to Tyre, and, passing down the coast through Ptolemais and Cæsarea, came to Jerusalem. Here followed a speedy fulfilment of the prophecies which had met him on his way, assuring him that bonds and imprisonment awaited him. Beset by a bloodthirsty mob of Jews, he was saved only by the interference of the commander of the garrison in the tower of Antonia, who sent him to the procurator Felix at Cæsarea, in order to place him beyond the reach of Jewish conspiracy. The lax and unprincipled Felix kept Paul a prisoner for two years. Under his successor Festus, the apostle, in pursuance of his appeal to Cæsar, was sent to Rome, having first proclaimed the gospel to Herod Agrippa II. and his royal company. Here he remained in easy confinement, having, as Luke says, his own hired house for the space of two whole years (Acts